"So I'll drop her off on Tuesday?" Dan confirmed.

"Right," Serena affirmed. "Casper and I should be back at around four so any time after that is perfect."

"Well, have a great time." He hoisted the 'Jessie" backpack over his shoulder before yelling the stairs.

"Charlotte hurry up!"

"I'm coming Daddy," she answered, skipping down the stairs, carrying with her a teddy bear named Ralph and her school bag.

"Good girl. Now say goodbye to Mommy." The eight year old ran to her mother and threw her arms around her.

"Have fun baby," Serena said, kissing her blonde curls.

"Thanks, you too. Say hi to Casper."

"I will. And I'll call you when I get there and every night, okay?"

"Okey dokey. Let's go Dad." she took Dan's hand in hers and led him to the elevator. Dan waved back to Serena.

"Be good for your Dad!"

"She always is," Dan said with an affectionate glance towards his daughter.

"So kiddo, what are we making for dinner?" Dan asked once they were back in Brooklyn. He had returned there after his and Serena's marriage had fallen apart, and he currently lived in a three bedroom loft, with the third bedroom transformed into an office space. It was spacious and bright, and very him.

"Waffles?" Charlotte suggested hopefully.

"Waffles? Waffles?! You crazy lady! We can't have waffles for dinner!" Dan said in mock horror, walking towards her as he did so, and tickling her, causing his daughter to giggle.

"Stop! Stop! Okay not waffles!" she wheezed between fits of laughter.

"Okay then Spider, what shall we have?"

"Spaghetti?" Charlotte suggested.

"Excellent choice mademoiselle! And hey, if we do a good job, we could have waffles for breakfast tomorrow, even though it's a school day!"

"Look Alessandra, I understand that it's important, I'm just asking if you could move the meeting forward. I told you I had Charlotte this week. … I know but- … Okay fine, I'll do my best. … Yeah okay, I'll see you then. … Bye." Dan hung up with a huff of frustration. He knew as well as anybody how important editorial meetings were at this stage of a book, but he had told Charlotte he'd pick her up from school, and even though she wouldn't mind, he hated letting her down. He was about to text his Dad to ask him to collect her when he remembered that his Dad had an exhibit at the gallery this evening, and so would be busy for the day. He stared at his phone, considering his options before sending a text to Charlotte's favourite non-family member in the world.

"Hello?" Dan called.

"Mister Dan! You're earlier then expected," Dorota greeted.

"Yeah, thankfully my meeting was shorter than I expected. Where are they?"

"In Miss Blair's bedroom."

"Thank you Dorota. How's Vanya by the way? And how are Leo and Ana?"

"Very good! Ana start school a few weeks ago and love it. Leo go to preschool where he make new friends."

"Ah very good! He must be getting big now."

"Indeed. Now go see Miss Charlotte and Miss Blair!" Dan nodded and hurried up the stairs. He paused outside Blair's bedroom door, hearing the chatter between the pair.

"I love the red one. It's beautiful!" Charlotte said in awe.

"You think it's nicer than the green?" Blair asked, which Charlotte responded to with an eager nod.

"Well alright then Lotte, I trust you," Blair smiled. Dan straightened up and rapped gently on the door to draw attention to himself before walking in.

"May I interrupt the fashion show?" he teased.

"Daddy!" Charlotte squealed.

"Hey there Spider!" Dan grinned, picking her up and hugging her tightly. "I'm really sorry I couldn't pick you up."

"It's okay, Blair and I had lots of fun! We got ice-cream in Giovanelli's! And we stopped off at the atelier!"

"Well it's a good thing Blair is so good to us, isn't it?" Dan asked with a grateful smile in her direction. "Thanks Blair, I owe you one." She rolled her eyes.

"If we were keeping count I'd say you'd owe me a hundred, so let's not pretend we are," she said drily.

"Alright then," Dan smirked. "Nice dress by the way. Red is your colour."

"Thanks. It's for a date."

"Well I'm sure he'll love it."

"Daddy?" Charlotte interrupted.

"Yes sweetheart?"

"Blair said she was going to ask Mommy to take me with them when they went shopping next time, and we could go look for dresses 'specially for me!"

"Well aren't you a lucky duck!" Dan said, attempting to muster the same apparent enthusiasm of his daughter at the notion of a day's shopping with Manhattan's most hard-core fashionistas.

"Anyway, we don't want to keep you Blair. Thank you so much again for collecting her."

"No problem. You know I love spending time with her. Right Lotte?"

"Yep. You're my best grown up friend!" Blair smiled.

"Thank you. You're my best-kid friend."

"Well say goodbye to your best adult friend then," Dan smiled, grabbing his daughter's backpack by the door before carrying her down the stairs and to the elevator, throwing a grateful 'thanks' and 'goodbye' over his shoulder.

"Bye Miss Dorota!" Charlotte yelled. "See you soon I hope!"

The pair returned to Brooklyn where Charlotte, helped by Dan, finished her homework quickly. They made a stir-fry for dinner before going for a stroll in the park, followed by a movie in their pyjamas on the couch. At her bedtime, Charlotte obediently brushed her teeth and climbed into bed.

"Hey Dad?" she began, as he tucked her into her very pink bedroom. "How come you and Mommy don't live together any more, like Lily's mom and dad?" Dan's eyes widened at the question. He hadn't expected it to come up at random like this.

"Well… Um… Sometimes people fall in love when they're really young, like your Mommy and me did-"

"How old were you?" she interrupted.

"When we fell in love? Sixteen. Anyway, when you're really young like that-"

"Sixteen isn't that young. It's twice my age."

"Yes but I mean being a parent at barely eighteen is pretty young," Dan explained patiently.

"Oh yeah, it is. I just meant it's not young when you're a kid like me. It is when you're old like you!" Dan laughed.

"Okay. Well anyway, we were sixteen when we fell in love, and we were so in love that you were born less than two years later and we got married. But the thing is, we weren't even proper grown-ups then, so we were still changing a lot. By the time we were proper grown-ups, we realised that even though we loved each other, and loved you more than anything in the entire universe, we had changed too much to be in love like we had been-"

"How had you changed? Were you taller?"

"Well I mean, maybe, but I mean emotional changes. Like we wanted different things- but we both wanted you of course! Anyway, we realised we were too different to make each other fully happy. But because we loved each other we still wanted the other to be happy. So we decided that the best way for all three of us to be happy was for me and Mommy to live apart. You'll get it when you're older."

"I think I get it now."

"Oh you do?" Dan asked.

"Mhm. You and Mommy loved each other so you guys had a baby- that's me- but because you guys weren't proper grown-ups you weren't the same people you are now so back then thought you wanted to be together forever and ever, but then when you guys grew up you realised that maybe being together forever wasn't the greatest idea if it meant neither of you were as happy as you could be. Right?"

"You are so smart, do you know that Spider?" Charlotte blushed proudly.

"All three of us did live together for a while though?"

"Right. We lived together when Mom was in Columbia and I was in NYU-"

"Why didn't you go to the same school?"

"Well, we did different subjects- I did writing and Serena did business. NYU was better for what I wanted to study, and Columbia for business. So anyway, when I finished you were four and a half. I had book tours, and Mom and you stayed in the city because she had some bits of school to finish, and your grandparents were here to help out with you. So anyway, we were apart for a while, but I came home every chance I could, to see you especially, and during one of those trips home your mom and I had a long talk and realised neither of us was as happy as they should be. So when I came back from my tour for good I moved out. And then we got a divorce but we promised we would always be a family, and that both of us would get to spend tonnes of time with you. And I really hope we've succeeded in that, and that you never feel as though you've missed out."

"Don't worry, I don't! In fact, I think I'm lucky! I have two homes! One here, in Brooklyn, and one in the Upper East Side. Which means I have two bedrooms, extra toys, and i get to see more of Grandpa then when we lived in the city!"

"You sure do. Anyway, it's late sweetheart, you should get to sleep."

"One more thing!" she begged, opening her eyes wide, knowing Dan was a sucker for her puppy dog eyes.

"Fine. What is it?"

"Mommy has Casper, and I think she loves him- at least they kiss quite a bit. Do you have anybody? Or will you? Because I want you to be happy too Daddy." Dan melted.

"Thank you my Princess. You know you make me happiest of all."

The rest of their week together passed with a regular enough routine. They got Chinese on Friday, went to a movie on Saturday, and spent a rainy Sunday afternoon building a fort and watching a movie and reading inside of it. When Tuesday rolled around, as always Dan was sad dropping her off to the penthouse, but Charlotte was looking forward to seeing her Mom, who was even more excited about seeing her daughter. Usually her and Dan split weeks and did every second weekend, depending on their schedules, so being apart from her daughter for a week had her anxious to see her, and Dan all the more lonely dropping her off. Dan dropped her off at five after collecting her from ballet and getting a milkshake together. He and Serena chatted for a while, her telling him about her trip, and he telling her about his and Charlotte's week, laughing at her horrified expression when he explained she'd asked the question. He hugged her goodbye and hugged and kissed Charlotte.

"I love you lots Spider, see you in a couple of days, okay?"

"Okay. Love you too." Dan held her tightly again before standing and leaving with a call 'goodbye' to Serena.

When he got home he distracted himself by writing for a while. At around seven he heard a knock. Stretching, he made his way to the door of the apartment. His face lit up when he saw who it was.

"I know the evenings Charlotte leaves, especially after a full week, are pretty tough, so I figured I'd come cheer you up," she offered.

"Well you know I don't need any explanation for you being here, but you are certainly a worthy distraction." He stepped back allowing her into the loft before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a kiss. Taking her coat he smirked.

"Nice dress."

"Thanks," she said with a grin. "Your daughter picked it out."

"Impeccable taste."

"Well she certainly didn't get that from you," Blair teased. "I missed you all week," she added.

"I missed you too. Mind you, if we just told people, that wouldn't be a problem."

"Are you sure you actually want to do that though?" Blair asked nervously. "I mean how would Charlotte feel? And what about Serena? What would we even tell people?"

"The truth," Dan said simply. "That when S and I divorced I didn't see you for almost a year, and then I ran into you in the Met. We got talking, about Charlotte mostly. Then we ran into each other at the movies a couple of times and began a friendship from there, realising we had more in common then we could have imagined. And that then, eventually, four months ago, I finally grew a pair and got the courage to tell you that I'd fallen in love with you. And that by some miracle you told me you had fallen in love with me too." Blair's face lit up.

"When you say it like that…"

"Charlotte loves you, and she wants me to be happy. And Blair, I have never been this happy with anybody. At least not anybody that wasn't Charlotte," he joked.

"Neither have I," she agreed, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning towards him. "So... We start telling people?"

"We do."

"I think we should start with Serena… out of respect."

"Alright," Dan agreed. "And then tell Charlotte together."

"Obviously, she's the most important, but… Are you sure I should be there?" Blair asked, her lips getting closer and closer to Dan's.

"Certain," he murmured, eyes glued to her perfect lips.

"And then?"

"And then everyone else will find out when they see me do this in public," he said, kissing her gently. "And this." He kissed her again. "And this." He moved to her neck, causing Blair to sigh in pleasure.
"Hey Humphrey? You know how you said you owed me one?" Dan looked up and his eyes started to twinkle. "I have an idea as to where you could start."

AN: Just a semi AU I really enjoyed writing. I just randomly got the idea last night so I decided to run with it. I hope you enjoy, and I apologise for any mistakes. Let me know what you think!