Disclaimer: I own nothing relating to Gossip Girl.

Packages and Portrayls:

The package had arrived from some town in Spain of where Blair knew absolutely no one. She pushed it aside for much of the beginning of the summer as she and Louis were busy apeasing the royal family and various government officials with their status as an engaged royal couple as well as beginning the various prep for their weddings, and the long hours of "royal" duties that seemed to fill every waking hour. It was a life that Blair did not expect. One of duty and of careful eyes on her every move. What she ate, did, said, saw, and talked to was carefully noted, and many things had become "suggested to her" as well as many things became "discouraged." Blair did her best to fulfill every duty and requirement of her future royal life; to be what her new country would want her to be, but it was slowly wearing her down, as she always felt she was never quite perfect or fit the mold she needed to. Every night in bed Louis said to her sweetly: "The people will come to accept you for who you are my dear, and love you as I do," but everyday Blair wondered when that day would come.

Finally Louis and his mother needed to go on a trip for which Blair was "discouraged" from attending and she was finally given three whole days to herself to just be and wander through the palace. She called Dorota immediately to hear how her pregnancy was coming along, as Dorota was pregnant with her second child, and very hopeful for a boy. But afterwards she was restless, and so she sat at her desk and stared at it. It was then that she remembered the package and pulled it out delicately from the drawer. She too the antique bone mail opener and slowly opened the package sliding out what she was suprised was a book entitled: "Inside" by annoynomous. Hmmm she thought, so fan had sent her a book to read. She look inside and found a inscription:
Your portrayl in this novel may be of some interest to you. ~ A friend.

What an odd inscription Blair thought, no one she knew had written a book about her she thought, but alas she had had her interest peaked as usual by anything that was about her and so she opened to the first page and started reading. Fifty pages in Blair could not believe it, the book was about her; but not just about her but Serena, Eric, Lily, Rufus, Nate, Vanessa, Dan, even Chuck. And not only was it about them, but it reaked of a certain Brooklynite that we all know. At first she snapped the book down in utter disgust. Humphrey was a. better than this and more original and b. she was scared what the book would say about her next, but after a box of maccaroons she opened the book again, got into the tub and read. She couldn't believe it, she had expected a book about all of them to have Serena or Humphrey or even Vanessa as the hero but instead it was none other than herself. In the text Blair herself was the character portrayed yes with a mixture of good and bad, the dupilicity of her character was clear, but what she displayed in schemes and difficulties, she made up for in the text in heart, and love, and loyalty, and by the end of the text Blair realized that she must hardly know herself in Humphreys eyes to be portrayed in such a virtuous and yet human way. While Serena was effaced over time by her beauty and addictions to men; she was beautiful and captivating, but never lived up to the promise she first showed on initial contact. When she finished it was late and dark, and the castle was lonely. So she opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a large glass and went to her netflix que she didn't know how to digest what she had just read so she figured a movie might be the right solution. On her third glass of wine and forty five minutes into The Big Sleep, Blair's phone rang. It was none other than Humphrey.

Blair answered with a quiet hello, much less sassy than her normal response and Dan inquired about what she was doing. She told him drinking wine and watching The Big Sleep. Blair slowly tried to hint at the book and ask him what he had been up to but Dan didn't mention it and instead tried to suggest they watch Laura together afterwards. Finally Blair gave up and agreed as they watched the movie together. By the end of the film Blair had drunk the whole bottle of wine and was thoroughly past her limit which Dan found amusing. It was then that Dan asked how the prince was and Blair, sighed explaining that he was well but that royal life well, it lacked something of an intimate life at home that she missed in New York. She mumbled on about how she missed feeding the ducks with Dorota, and taking walks through the city, walking though bookstores with antique books and the quiet of her own home, until slowly she started drifting off to sleep. Dan stayed on the phone with her until she was asleep and then hung up the phone as he imagined Blair curled up in bed, phone cradled in her hand, sleep on her face, and closed his own eyes to fall asleep.

The next morning Blair awoke late to a headache. She cleaned up her own room and bathed for a long time in the claw footed bathtub. Finally dressed and up she stared at the book once more, where to put it so Louis wouldn't find it and realize that Humphrey had written an entire book about her. She couldn't think of a spot, so she packaged the book up and mailed it home to Dorota to place on her bookshelf. A day later Louis arrived back home with his mother to a refreshed and sparkling Blair; but what Blair didn't know was that while he was away a copy of "Inside" had come into his hands as well, and Blair Waldorf was not the only one that had made the discovery that she was someone's heroine.

Odd Man Out:

By the end of the summer, almost everyone had read Inside, and yet Dan still had't taken credit for it. He had received mysterious checks in the mail from Spain/ Vanessa with his pay checks inside from the publishing house. Dan as happy to be published as he was, knew the repurcussions from coming out that he truly did write the novel would be huge. (Although anyone that knew him could guess that he was the author.) And it was clear that although he saw the book on quite a few coffee tables there were no pleasing remarks and happy thoughts about it so clearly the novel was not popular with those it depicted or were based on. At least Dan was happy that Blair was abroad and had not had a chance to read the novel yet he assumed which gave him comfort since that was not something he wanted to discuss with her or anyone. In fact, Dan wanted to move on, he had tried all summer to move on with summer flings, dates, even thoughtful and well educated literature students from ivy league schools vacationing in the Hamptons for the summer and yet he was still lonely, and desperately trying to hide it.

It was finally Eric who said something to Dan about the novel: "You wrote this didn't you," Eric said throwing it on Dan's bed. "What's that Dan asked looking away fidgeting with something." "Don't play daft with me Dan, I can tell your writing style anywhere now explain," Eric said as he sat down and listening. Dan explained that he hadn't published it himself and he assumed that it was Vanessa who had stolen it and published it after he told her not to, since he didn't want to publish a book about his friends and family. Eric looked at the floor and sighed running his left hand through his chesnut hair: "Well, it's out there Dan and everyone is going to know it's you, and everyone is going to know how you feel, so you're going to have to come forward with your feelings, because you can't hide them now, you know what I'm talking about. . ." and turned and left the room.

Two weeks later the summer was over and Dan and Eric were on their way back to the city, "Let the circus begin," Dan said to Eric and they sat side by side in a car to the city.

Welcome to the Jungle:

Two hours after Dan arrive he was paid a visit at the loft from his father. "Did you write this Dan?" Rufus asked. "Write what?" Dan played stupid. "This novel: Inside, I mean son I would of been glad for you to get published, but getting published at your family's expensive, that I do not approve of," Rufus yelled. "I didn't write that, although I heard about it, it's probably some crazed Gossip Girl fan or something Dad, really I told you at the beginning of summer that I'm done with writing, and well that really hasn't changed," Dan shifted through the papers on his desk, and heard Rufus give out a huge sigh. "Maybe it's a huge coincidence or maybe you just won't admit it, but I know you wrote this, and I think there are a few people who deserve appologies, but you can stay here and play dumb all you want, but I always thought I raised you better than that," Rufus turned and walked out of the apartment leaving Dan sitting there with his head in his hands cursing Vanessa under his breath.

Dan had decided he was done with writing at the beginning of the summer. The last five years he had worked on a novel about the upper east side, and all he had ended up with at the end of the five years was, well, a novel about the upper east side, money, a heroine based on Blair Waldorf and a broken heart. He was tired, exhausted, sick of being something he wasn't anymore. He wasn't a thoughtful man from Brooklyn he had assimilated, been drawn in; this was his family now and he couldn't believe he has spent five years writing about them, and in the end he was still the same lonely boy from Brooklyn with nothing special to show and so he just was done. No more bookish dreams, midnight writing sprees, or last minute edits; time to throw in the towel and succeed a loss to the manhattan caste system. He had finally accepted who he was and who he had become and then Vanessa went and published his damn book! That was it for her, Dan would never forgive her. There was a time he fancied himself in love with her but that time would not be now or ever again. Instead he was to be pushed out of the world he now called home, alienated, and yet ironically making money as the novel slowly moved higher and higher on the best seller list.

A week later it became clear that Serena had read the novel as she wouldn't speak to him anymore and wouldn't be returning home for another month because she was busy filming in Los Angeles (apparently she had been discovered over the summer) although Dan knew it didn't take a brain surgeon to discover Serena Van Der Woodsen.

He was mortified a week later when Georgina had sent him a card congratulating him on his insightful piece of "fiction" on the bitches of the upper east side; as she had devoured the novel which Milo was taking naps and she was drinking scotch. A few days after that Chuck's publicist sent a note thanking Dan for the fabulous publicity as it had been wonderful for Chuck's image and the promotion of his new hotel. Nate had come by and told him that he needed to appologize to him for making him look like such a scumbag and a slut, but that other than that he really didn't care to much for reading, or for novels, and figured they had had their lives chronicled on Gossip Girl for so long what was the difference. Jenny had stopped by one day and thrown the book at him and then gone back to the Rhode Island School of Design where she now attended, telling him he needed to take a hard look at himself and where his own soul had gone. But it wasn't any of these reactions that Dan was most concerned about, what he was most concerned about was how Blair would react and what she would have to say if anything, and if he could ever show his face in front of her and Louis again.

It was then when he received a forwarded letter from Spain asking if the author would come forward for the second edition since the first limited publishing had ran out already. Dan knew that it would never end well and that by now it was too late, so he walked into the publishing house letter in hand and looked for the editor listed on the letter. He was led by a secretary into an office with books and manuscripts all around and sat down in the chair across from a tall middle aged man. "What can I do for you, I really don't have much time, make it quick please." the man instructed. "I'm Daniel Humphrey and I'm the author of Inside,". The man looked up and stopped, "Finally!" he said.

The Return:

Blair returned to New York in the middle of the night late in September. She was tired, her hair was a mess, and her eyes felt heavy and tired. She plopped down on her bed and took off her coat. Louis would arrive in October so she had two weeks to prepare before his arrival, but right now all she needed was sleep. She didn't even bother to take off her shoes she just curled up in her long missed bed and fell asleep on top of the covers. Dan had seen the blast that Blair had arrived and the fact that he had already had a few drinks made him even more sure that he better get it over with right away and clear the air with her. He got in a cab and rode straight to her house. He took the elevator up and then walked quietly into the penthouse looking for Blair, but he finally found her asleep on her bed all the lights on, fully clothed in her bedroom. He pressed open the door and she stired a little looking up: "Humphrey," Blair mumbled half asleep half startled, "what are you doing here?". "Oh I saw you came home and I thought Serena might be home soon too, I wanted to appologize to her about something," Dan lied through his teeth. "She's not here Humphrey. . ." Blair sighed. Dan walked over to her and stood next to the bed, he brushed a curl from her cheek, and quietly said to her: "sorry for waking you, welcome home Blair," as he slowly placed a blanket on her, backed away, left the penthouse, and went home. "Yes it was true" Blair thought to herself as she fell back asleep "Humphrey hadn't just made her the heroine of the novel because he felt she deserved it most, no he was in love with her,".