I started a rewatch of Gossip Girl earlier in the month so this fic is what happens when I binge watch that show directly after watching the first season of Veronica Mars. I will be taking plot points from both shows but only using characters from GG. I will not be going episode by episode and this fic will probably be only at most ten chapters.

I do not own either the characters or really the underlying plot of this fic.

xoxo

Blair Waldorf tried not to fidget as she waited near the bottom of the steps that led to the main building of St. Jude's School for Boys. Waldorfs did not fidget, as her mother had pointed out many times over the years. They also didn't wait, especially on insignificant nobodies from the dregs of Dumbo, but in this case Blair supposed a special dispensation could be made. She was using blackmail as a setup for this meeting after all. Which meant that Humphrey should be more prompt. Hell maybe even early.

How the mighty had fallen. A half a year ago the thought of waiting for anybody, let alone the local charity scholarship student for copies of some of the guidance counselor's notes wouldn't have made Blair laugh so much as ask you what meds you were on and if you needed to up the dose.

But that was before the video and the breakup and the accident. Except it wasn't an accident. Blair had been too blinded by rage and grief and maybe just a bit of self-pity to see it at the time, but she saw clearly now.

What happened to Serena wasn't an accident. Neither was the fallout. Someone was responsible and they were going to pay.

It was still ten minutes until the first bell would ring for St. Jude's and Constance Billard. Blair could feel the eyes of others on her and was probably not imagining the whispers from the other students in the quad. She'd become inoculated to it by now, mostly. She was sure someone would probably send a picture to Gossip Girl about it. Not that there was anything noteworthy about the former Queen B of Constance waiting around the steps of her former domains male counterpart. Not unless it was a slow day and GG thought it was because…

"Shit," Blair cursed under her breath. Waldorfs didn't really do that either but Blair had been breaking a lot of Waldorf rules of late, what was one more.

She caught a glimpse of Nate Archibald coming through the gates. The sun glinted off blond hair and the boy had an easy relaxed smile on his face as he listened to something one of his lacrosse teammates said. Blair was pretty sure some of that relaxation was due to medicinal help. Word on Gossip Girl was that her ex was spending all his time smoking up behind the lacrosse field when not spotted falling asleep in the park. Well not all his time.

Blair tried to push away the jealous knot of energy that was forming in her stomach and throat. Nate and her had been broken up since the end of sophomore year. That was almost an eternity in high school terms. Truth was it hadn't really been a breakup as an implosion. Fall out.

A flash of blond hair and ruffled skirts flashed across her brain along with the noises that still haunted Blair's waking life sometimes, thanks to that stupid video someone sent to Gossip Girl of her BFF and boyfriend ravishing each other on top of an barstool. Tasteless especially considering what came after.

Blair was over it. She was…

So her ex-boyfriend had slept with her best friend at some UES wedding. It was months ago and Blair had come to find there were worse things. And if Nate wanted to sleep his way through the Chapin female population that was his business. God knew the guy had some wild oats to sow since him and Blair hadn't ever gotten past second base in their relationship. Though that hadn't really been her choice either.

As Nate and his jock friends approached the steps Blair turned away. If he stopped for a stutter of a second on seeing her or even acknowledged her presence at all she missed it. She refused to be such a glutton for punishment. She'd been doing that enough lately. Blair tried not to think about the slip up she'd had in the second floor bathroom last week.

Everything had been going so well…

Okay that was bullshit but she had thought she wouldn't need to do that that day. But then her mother had announced that she'd be gone for at least a week to Spain, nothing new really, and Humphrey had decide to have some sort of backbone and those two bitches Hazel and Penelope had decided to try to humiliate her some more…

Blair snapped her eyes shut and took a few calming breathes, willing her stomach to settle down.

It doesn't matter. None of it matters anymore. Think about Serena.

Which was a bit morbid but it seemed to help her from having a full-blown panic attack lately. It didn't stop the other thing but Blair was past the point in believing in miracles.

It was funny in a way. Serena had made her feel so inadequate and less whenever she was around and yet Blair felt almost the exact same way now that the Amazonian blond was not around.

So it wasn't Serena's fault. Maybe not even Eleanor's. Blair was just broken from the get go. There were always more pieces to smash though, she'd found that out the hard way. Someone was going to get cut with them though, she'd make damn sure of that.

After another long minute Blair opened her eyes...locking them on Chuck Bass who was leaning against the nearest building cigarette in hand. For a half a second he had some strange look in his eyes that Blair couldn't quite read. Then he noticed her eyes on him and his face slipped back into the borderline boredom look he always had when he wasn't sneering. Except those dark eyes of his. They were cold and glinting with malice.

St. Jude's resident bad boy had gotten the best of Blair of late, always having the last word but she'd be damned if he got the first one, at least in this instance.

"I thought I smelled weak scotch and skank," she said giving him her best look of disgust.

Chuck threw his cigarette away and crushed it under his loafers before sliding closer. A slow smile spread across his face as if Blair had somehow stepped right into some sort of trap. Knowing Chuck's perverse mind she probably had. The Basstard had made the first few weeks of school a living hell for her. Blair was certain that shit Hazel and Penelope had tried to pull last week had been at his direction.

To think she had once thought of him as one of her closest friends.

"Better than eau de desperation," he said reaching a hand out to caress one of her dark curls. Blair slapped his hand away and that just made his smile widen to Cheshire Cat proportions.

"Desperate?" she scoffed, trying to keep her face from redding with anger. "You sure that's not your aftershave or just your natural musk? You're on the outs too you know."

Blair wasn't the only ex in Nate's life now that the Prince of St. Jude's had cut ties with the boy who had been his bestie since grade school. Blair didn't exactly know the details of that since it had happened about the same time as her breakup with Nate and the rest of the Serena thing. By the time she even noticed or thought to ask, Chuck had some sort of vendetta against her.

"Least I still get the invitations, Waldorf," he said. "And you know I only drink top shelf."

Just because Nate had exiled Chuck didn't mean the rest of their peers had. Which just proved that if someone had enough money, or their father did, you could over look what a psychotic jackass they were.

"Still hoping for a reconciliation, Waldorf? You'll be holding your breath a long time."

Blair wasn't sure if he was talking about Nate or everyone in general. Maybe Chuck didn't know himself.

"I'm sure that's what you say to all the girls, Bass. Except the ones that get away."

She smirked as he narrowed his eyes and frowned at her.

"That reminds me, you owe me. The Kiss on Lips party."

He slipped his hand against her lower back and she refused to cower or kick him in the shin. Instead she gave him a sickeningly sweet smile and batted her eyelashes at him as she trailed her fingers across his chest. He knew it was some sort of trap of hers but Chuck couldn't help his response. His breath hitched and he leaned in closer.

Blair got a bit of a thrill at seeing the effect she had on him. It had been a long while since anyone had looked at her with anything but derision or worse: pity. The thrill wasn't enough to make her let him get any closer though. Like she needed him to think she was desperate enough to be one of his harem.

The worst would be if someone decided to snap a shot of them and send it to Gossip Girl. Blair had been keeping her head down lately and she knew that the anonymous blogger would love any little tidbit about Blair's further fall from grace. Especially after the whole thing with Nelly Yuki.

Blair caressed her hand over Chuck's heart for a moment longer, flushing a bit at feeling it pick up speed, before shoving him away, hard.

"I think it's the other way around, Bass. Prison orange just isn't your color," she spat.

Chuck was about ready to give what was surely a biting retort when they were interrupted by an out of breath Dan Humphrey, rumpled chinos and all.

"Uh…Hey," he said giving the two students a crooked smile. Then he remembered that he wasn't exactly friends with either of them and let it drop. He looked at Blair. "I. uh… Have that stuff."

"What is he? Your dealer?" Chuck asked.

Blair thought Daniel Humphrey should have been used to getting looked at like dog poop one scraped off a shoe, but apparently not. Or maybe Chuck Bass had the same affect on Humphrey as he had on Blair.

"Seriously, man? I go here. I'm wearing the same uniform. I sit two behind you in English."

"Ignore him," Blair said to Dan. "I know I do."

Chuck took her dismissal gracefully thank god, but not exactly lying down. He flicked her curls off her shoulder and leaned in close as he whispered, "You wish you could, Waldorf."

Dan waited for Chuck to be out of site and mind before her spoke.

"Did I interrupt some sort of weird foreplay?" He didn't actually want to know the answer.

"Hardly and as if it's any of your business. Which is what you're here for now that you've come to your senses."

Dan let his distaste at her reminder show but he whipped his backpack off his shoulder and started to dig through it.

"Senses? You're blackmailing me!"

Blair let out a huff of annoyance at his indignation. How the hell had he survived this long in her world with that attitude? Well that question was easily answered really. He hadn't really lived in it. Sure he'd somehow become the topic in a few Gossip Girl blasts but those were mostly about his complete lack of social standing.

"First off blackmail is a little strong. In this instance I'd prefer to say I'm outright threatening you."

"You don't even have anything to threaten me with. Nothing happened!"

"Thanks to me."

"Oh yeah, you're a freaking hero. Threatening to slander a freshman's reputation. It's not even true," Dan said.

"Again, thanks to me. If I hadn't decided to help you Little J most certainly would have made it up to the roof with our dearly departed frienemy."

"I almost wish I had to deal with Chuck Bass over you. Or that I had that night." Dan clenched his fist around his backpack.

"I wouldn't. Word is he has a hit man on speed dial," Blair said holding out her hand. She was getting impatient at Humphrey's saintly act. If he was trying to play the angel on her shoulder he was out of luck. Even before everything had gone to hell Blair had always listened to the devil. "The files, Humphrey."

The bell was going to ring any second. Sure Blair had let her social standing slip a bit but Yale was still very much on the table and she wasn't about to receive the first tardy of her academic career because of Dan Humphrey's morals.

The boy gave her one more disgusted look before digging the requested paperwork out of his backpack and placing it in her hands. It was quite a haul.

"Don't you feel even a little bit disgusted with yourself. These are your friends. Your ex."

Blair rolled her eyes at him otherwise ignoring his comments. She'd have to stash this in her locker. Maybe just keep one or two in her Prada for light reading during lunch.

"What do you even expect to do with all that?" Dan asked.

Though he had a pretty good idea. Blair could guess his thoughts but he'd be unpleasantly surprised by it all. Sure she could use tidbits from these files to reek havoc and social homicide on those who had no problem doing the same to her, but that wasn't the goal anymore.

If Humphrey had done his due diligence as an office aide, which if he professed to love his little Cinderella of a sister he better hope he did, there would be notes from not just the beginning of this semester but of the last semester of sophomore year.

After what happened last spring the headmistress and headmaster of the two prep schools had made it compulsory for certain members of the student body who had been closest to Serena Van der Woodsen to seek counseling from the guidance office.

Most of these dregs would be useless. They wouldn't really give her the answers she wanted but if there was even a chance someone knew something about those last few hours before Serena's accident…

Not an accident. Blair scolded herself. It was deliberate.

Blair was not crazy.

Plus Gossip Girl might be persuaded to help her out a little more if Blair could feed the blogger some prime pieces. As might as she hated the blog she had no better resource right now. Not even Nelly Yuki's keystroke skills.

She looked up from the stack in her hands to see Dan still standing there.

"We're done here. You can go." She waved him off.

She felt like telling him to stop looking so affronted or his face would stay locked like that.

"I need your word," Dan said. "…that you won't do what you threatened. That you won't send a tip… a lie to Gossip Girl about Jenny and Chuck Bass."

This guy really was getting on her last nerve. Like he should think he could even dictate some sort of terms to her.

"Unclench, Humphrey. Nobody cares about the fight you're waging for your sister's soul. If anything she might even thank me if I sent in that she was just another notch on Bass's very used bedpost. Nobodies anybody until they're talked about and no one is talking about you or your sister."

"You're…." Dan trailed off not having the right words or more likely the backbone to finish.

"Go ahead," Blair tried to goad him.

Her run in with Chuck had gotten her heckles up and she was just a bit unsatisfied it had ended so soon. Not enough blood had been spilled for her taste.

When Humphrey didn't take the bait she scoffed. Humphrey needed a villain for his little social satire piece and Blair was more than happy to play the part. God knows she had before.

"I've been called everything, Humphrey, by people much more socially relevant than you. Do yourself a favor and go back to Brooklyn. You should take your sister along with you, though I must say she has a better chance of getting in around here than you."

She knew those words would hurt him. This kid liked to think he was above all this, like he was better than, but the truth was he was just as power hungry as that Little J. He was just better at masking his desire for acceptance. And Blair wasn't above using this fact to her own ends.

"Word to the wise, Humphrey. Next time someone gives you an opening like that, take the shot, because they damn well will."

Dan glared at her.

"Unlike you I actually like to be able to look at myself in the mirror," he said.

Blair was almost impressed. Almost.

The first bell rang and she shuffled the files to one arm while she maneuvered to take out her compact. She pretended to fix her hair. It was perfect of course. No trace of the turmoil she felt beneath. She snapped her compact shut and stuffed it back in her Prada bag before heading off, barely giving Humphrey another look. She did throw one last barb though.

"Good for you. Too bad it's not much to look at."

xoxo

It was well into homeroom before Gossip Girl sent out her first blast of the day. Blair should have expected it. The blogger might have been playing nice and even thrown her some crumbs, but Gossip Girl was still a raging bitch that couldn't pass up a chance to dish.

Good morning, Upper East Siders. Many of you have been commenting on how I've been neglecting a certain former Queen B of late. Truth is I have been taking it easy on dear Ms. Waldorf, what with my last blast about her at the Kiss on the Lips party. Not to mention the hard hits of last spring. B seemed to have more than paid her penance and even seemed to turn over a new leaf. Too bad the tree that leaf came from seems to be infested with rodents.

Directly underneath this was a picture of Blair and Chuck looking rather close but they had been anything but comfortable in Blair's eyes.

We hear turnabouts fair play and B puts the capital in Bitch. Everyone knows what happened between N & S last spring before the unfortunate accident. It seems boyfriends & bffs are back in style. Or gfs this season.

We heard Chuck Bass was on the outs with princely N too and C never was one to go home lonely.

Could C&B have found a way to weather the cold while serving up a dish of payback?

Hope you have all your shots up to date B.

You know you love me, XOXO

"Great," Blair murmured.

xoxo

If this first chapter is a bit confusing it's meant to be. This takes place a few weeks into junior year. The next chapter will have some flashbacks both of what exactly happened with Serena and the fateful Kiss on the Lips party. And in the universe of this fic Dan is not Gossip Girl.

Blair isn't going to be full on Veronica Mars in this fic. She's not going to be solving a bunch of side mysteries, though their will be some schemes.

Hopefully this isn't too much of a mess. Feel free to comment on what might not work and what you might like to see in general.

Please like and review.