Two weeks after she had gotten fired from W and then rehired again, Blair still had not talked to Dan about his help getting her rehired at W. She knew he had gone to bat for her and yet she still couldn't admit it to herself to say thank you so she continued to avoid his presence until he showed up at her penthouse. "Humphrey, what are you doing here?" Blair asked him shocked to see his presence in her home. "Don't worry, I'm not here to see you we aren't friends after all, I'm here to find Serena," Dan explained. "Oh well she's not here, I assumed she was with your roommate Ben," she replied. "No, no she wasn't at home, well thanks anyways, tell her I stopped by," Dan turned to leave. "Dan," Blair stopped, she wanted to thank him but didn't say anything as he turned and looked at him, "I assume you'll be at Chuck's party tonight and I know Serena will be there, as will I, although we are not friends it might be nice to see you there,".
Blair looked haughtily away from Dan and picked up her jacket and coat and prepared herself for the weather outside. "On your way out?" he asked her. "Yes, I'm off to see a movie," she answered as she pulled the hair out from under her jacket, "Walk with me Humphrey," as they both exited the penthouse.
Two hours later Blair arrived back home she had to get ready for Chuck's party. After hours of prep Blair arrived at the party to see Serena snuggling up to Ben, Chuck with Raina, and Dan and Nate drinking glasses of scotch on the sidelines. She wandered her way over to Dan and Nate at the bar and ordered herself a glass of champagne. She turned to them glass in hand and smiled, "Nate. . . Dan you two look nice this evening. Humphrey I'm glad to see you got rid of that horrible tie you seemed to be wearing everywhere," Blair smiled sweetly. Dan smiled back and shot her back a remark about her being the spitting image of an ice queen. Nate laughed at them "You two will never be friends will you, please lets just have a drink and enjoy the party," as all three of them turned to look around their surroundings.
It was then that Blair noticed Eric standing across the room so she went over to check on him. She had heard that Eric had been having a hard time so she wanted to say hi to the young man she considered a surrogate brother. "Eric," she said. "Hello Blair," Eric responded. "Care to dance," Blair asked. "Don't you have a line of suitors waiting for your dance card," he asked. "Sure, but none of them are so smartly dressed as you," Blair responded. Eric laughed and led Blair to the dance floor.
Nate saw Blair dancing with Eric and Nate smiled and pointed it out to Dan. "Looks like our ice queen has a heart after all Dan," he said as they laughed at Blair towering over Eric and smiling at him as he led her around the dance floor. The song ended shortly and Nate left Dan to go pursue dancing with a new girl at Columbia he had a thing for, she was tall, blond, and long-legged. Dan stood there sipping his scotch as he watched Nate flirt with the blond, Eric chat with a friend, and Blair dance with some ivy league creep. Blair was dressed in a long silver dress that scooped in the back, it was no doubt that she looked amazing, it was just too bad that she had to attract such "high class" losers in it.
Dan was watching her on the dance floor when Serena came and stood next to him. "Who are you watching Dan?," Serena asked smiling "Oh you know just a red-head from my English class," Dan said nonchalantly. Serena laughed "well why don't you ask her to dance instead of just watching her silly,". Dan laughed and ordered another scotch as he turned and saw Chuck pull Blair off the dance floor and into the next room.
A few minutes later Dan saw Blair enter the room again, her cheeks flushed and her face seemed to show anger all over. He saw her look around for Serena or Nate but saw both of them occupied with other people so she wandered across the floor to the bar where Dan was. She ordered a scotch and swallowed it in two big sips. "What's wrong Blair," Dan asked her. "Nothing! Another," she answered as she took another big sip of her new drink. "Come on Blair, talk to me" Dan asked. "No," she finished her drink and turned to walk away, but Dan uncharacteristically stopped her as she placed her glass down and caught her in his arms "Let's dance," he said as they moved out onto the dance floor.
As she he held her on the dance floor she closed her eyes for a second and felt the liquor she has just drank She couldn't believe what Chuck had just told her. His relationship with Raina was real and not fake, and he would rather loose the Empire to be with Raina than hurt her; he had just wanted Blair to know from him. It destroyed her inside to realize that Chuck would rather loose the Empire than Raina, especially after he had used her to get it back from Jack. "What was she, worthless?" she asked herself. She felt her eyes welling up with tears and she looked up at Dan, she felt him rub the top of her back with his hand and she looked down. The song ended and she left the dance floor and went back to the bar. Dan followed her, and ordered another drink as well. She sat there angry but then she knew what she needed now was not another drink, but revenge. "I'll be back shortly," she said.
All night she tried to drive a wedge between Chuck and Raina, but nothing seemed to work and she still saw them at the end of the night go off arm in arm. Serena had left hours before with Ben to go back to the loft in Brooklyn she assumed and Nate seemed occupied with his blond; so she decided it was time to go. Nate bid her goodbye as she put her jacket on and went down the street to the a bar. A moment later she got a blast that she was seen at the bar alone nursing her wounds, Blair didn't care she just sat and stared into her glass.
Half an hour later Dan entered the bar to see Blair nursing yet her drink. He sat down next to her and ordered a scotch. He looked over at her, and said hello. She laughed, "Come to gloat Humphrey?" she asked. "Gloat about what?" he said, "I'm here to nurse my sorrows just like you. I was at home and well Serena and Ben, well it was just too much to deal with right now,". "So what brought you here," Blair laughed, "I won't believe you if you tell me chance,". "I saw the blast, needed to get out, and thought you might not mind if I joined you," Dan answered. "You know if I wasn't so drunk already, I might mind, but since I'm pretty sure this is my third drink in the last two hours, well knock yourself out,". Dan smiled finished his drink and ordered another.
An hour later Dan and Blair finished their drinks, put on their coats on, and walked out into the New York streets. They were both drunk and couldn't feel a single bit of the winter cold as they walked through the streets to Blair's. Walking down the street they stopped to wait for a car to pass before they crossed the street and Dan looked over at Blair as she closed her eyes toward the sky to feel the wind on her face.
They entered Blair's penthouse tripping over each other and laughing. As they entered the door Blair kicked off her heals and dropped her coat on the ground. Dan laughed at her and immediately accused of her of leaving the house a mess for Dorota, so Blair picked up her clothing items and carried them back to her bedroom. Back in her bedroom Blair opened her closet door and filtered through her items as Dan watched her drunkenly try to find something to wear. "And why do you think you need to change right now?" Dan asked. "Cause this dress while stunning is particularly uncomfortable. Now unzip me please Dan," she directed as she pulled a soft black shell out of her closet. Dan hesitated to approach her, but did when she yelled at him again to unzip her. He walked up to her and put her arms around her waist and searched for the zipper. He finally found it as his hands lingered on her back for just as second too long as Blair looked over her shoulder and asked "Is it stuck or something Humphrey what's the problem?". He unzipped her and she dropped her dress to the floor as he turned around quickly and yelled "Wow you're not a shy drunk are you Waldorf,". Blair laughed and pulled the soft dress over her head and walked out of her room "Coming Humphrey?" she asked.
They wandered back downstairs as Blair pulled a bottle of scotch out of the cabinet, "Really Blair I think we're done," he turned his head sideways at her. "Don't tell me you're a lightweight," she said challengingly as she walked back upstairs. Back in her room she took a swig of scotch from the bottle as she leafed through her DVD collection and picked out an old french film to watch on the television.
Dan watched her as she looked through the other films and then settled on her bed. "You know what Dan, I know I said you looked nice earlier but I really don't think formal wear may be your thing. Maybe that's why you wear flannel all the time or something, maybe you just instinctively know that formal wear just doesn't suit you,". Dan stood up insulted stepped back from the bed and stared at her. But Blair just got up off her bed bottle in hand and walked over to Dan. She handed the bottle to him, "Drink" she instructed as she undid his tie and threw it on the ground. Dan took another swig as he watched her step back and study him. She sighed and took another step forward and starting pulling his jacket off. "Blair!," he yelled "what do you think you are doing?". "Being an evil dictator of taste!" she smiled back at him and she took the bottle and placed it on the ground as she finally tugged his jacket off. She took another step back and sighed again as she unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt. Dan started laughing at her and finally said "If you want me to take my top off Blair all you have to do is ask," he teased. Blair too drunk to get the joke picked up the bottle and said, "Please Humphrey take that horrid shirt off, I'll buy you a new one tomorrow!". Dan laughed and unbuttoned his shirt, took it off, and sat down on the bed in his undershirt and dress pants and asked for the bottle. Blair finally settled on her bed and started wiggling, Dan looked at her awkwardly as he realized she was taking her tights off. "You really loose your lady like dignity when your drunk don't you Waldorf," he said as she threw her tights on the ground. Blair smacked his arm and threw some jaunt back at him as she told him to take his damn shoes off.
And so there they were, two "fake" friends watching films passing a bottle of scotch back and forth between them until they both were to tired to drink anymore. Blair looked over at Dan as she put Casablanca on the television and turned to him: "Dan," she said, "As much as I may regret taking pitty on your poor ass tomorrow, you can stay here if you're too tired to go home, on two conditions,". He asked her what those conditions were and she replied: "A. you absolutely never tell anyone ever that you stayed here, and B. if anyone finds out I can ruin your life,". He replied that those conditions might be acceptable if he could at least have some kind of pajamas to sleep in to which Blair replied sarcastically that "quite honestly she didn't give a damn," and so Dan in protest started unbuttoning his pants threatening to end up in his undershirt and boxers, but Blair laughing so hard just kept repeating "I don't give a damn,". "Blair I'm serious," he laughed "seriously if you don't give me some pajamas I'm going to end up sleeping next to you in my boxers,". Blair at this point, rather uncharacteristically was on the floor laughing as Dan took off his pants in protest and he lied down on her bed arms crossed and pouting. "Here" she said as she threw him a blanket to cover himself, "I don't need to see what you got going on down there, I've heard enough from Serena!" Dan laughed at her as he took another drink and watched as Blair sat back down on her bed next to him.
After a while Dan leaned over and asked Blair what Chuck had said to her at the party, admitting that he had seen her come back upset and he had been worried. Blair went silent. "Sorry Blair, I didn't mean to pry,". Blair rolled over looking at him with her big brown eyes and closed them for a second as a tear began to roll down her face, "He's falling in love with Raina, that's what he needed to tell me. After everything we've been through and all the times he's put the Empire before me, he's falling in love with Raina,". A handful of tears rolled down her cheeks as Blair looked back at the television and watched the movie. Dan rolled on his back and watched the movie too for a second before he looked back at Blair and reached his hand out for hers. "You could do better," Dan told her as he saw her bite her lip watching the movie, and she saw her look over at him and squeeze his hand as she sat up and took another swig all the while not letting go of it.
Blair looked at Dan and sat up to face him. "You know Serena may be my best friend, but you could do better too Humphrey, she's not exactly the most dedicated of women. I told her she was lucky to have you, a good man, who never seems to stray, and yet look at her, she's just so damn selfish sometimes," Blair muttered. Dan reached for the bottle and took a big gulp, and passed it back to Blair who did the same. They went back and forth like this for a good ten minutes in silence just staring at each other in solitude until finally Dan put the bottle down on the bedside table. He stared at Blair for a good minute solid, and Blair started to worry because she had never seen him look at her this way before. And then all of the sudden he scooted closer to her on the bed and placed his hand on her cheek. She closed her eyes for a second reacting to the touch of his hand and then felt him kiss her.
It was a soft kiss, and to be honest, not a bad one. She was shocked, this was something she had never expected, but she didn't dislike it. He pulled back and looked away ashamed of what he had just done, but something had changed between them and as he looked back at her, Blair leaned over and kissed him. They sat there for a while kissing on the bed until it was too much to bear and Dan ran his free hand up her bare leg. Her skin was soft beneath his fingers and he rubbed his hand up and down her leg slowly moving his hand further up her thigh. When his hands finally moved below her dress, Blair instead of having him slowly move his way up her body simply push him back on the bed and straddled him lifting her dress over her head revealing a deep red lacy lingerie set. Dan stared up at her for a moment, he could barely take it and he knew that he couldn't hide his arousal in this position as Blair rocked back and forth on top of him a bit, so he rolled over lying her on her back and kissed her moving down her body until he reached her waist and then moved back up her body again. He pressed his groin against hers and she sighed beneath him. She could feel him against her and moved her hands down his back around his thighs pressing him against her. She then moved her hand back up his back and wrapped her legs around his waist rocking him against her. When she finally stopped rocking and removed her legs and they lied there for a second and looked at each other finally realizing that they could go further and actually sleep with each other or they could lie down and go to sleep. "Blair," Dan said, "I don't want you to regret what we do tonight tomorrow," he told her. Blair sighed and looked up at him she wanted to sleep with him but knew that the repercussions on her friendship with Serena might be too much. So she leaned in and kissed him one last time pulling away and responding: "I know, I don't want to hurt Serena, please don't say anything to her Dan, this needs to stay between us,". As she rolled over and pulled the blanket over her body. Dan lied there next to her trying to sleep.