Eleanor Waldorf lay in her bed. She stared at the shadows on the wall, they danced so eloquently and beautifully it was what kept her awake. She was cold and alone. Harold was away on business again. She hated those nights when the space beside her was vacant and she didn't have his warm body next to her. Although lately, she felt he was becoming distant.
"Mommy." Eleanor heard a soft voice from her door frame. A curly haired girl with a white nightgown scuffled across the floor and jumped on the bed loudly.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Eleanor whispered to the little girl, lifting the blanket and putting her beside her.
"No. I had nightmares." the young girl whispered with a shaky tone. It seemed whenever Harold was gone, their daughter had terrors.
"What about Blair?' Eleanor spoke, brushing Blair's hair away from her face. Eleanor looked into her daughter's big brown eyes and saw an eerie resemblance of herself.
"A monster in my closet." Blair spoke and Eleanor chuckled slightly.
"A monster huh?" she said beginning to braid her daughters hair. "Well do you want me to go check?"
"NO!" Blair yelled holding her mom back. "He is a malicious monster mom."
"Malicious? Blair you are 7 where did you learn that word?" Eleanor spoke and Blair shrugged. For a 7 year old Blair was way ahead of her time. Eleanor began to realize that when Blair already color coordinated her dresses and began to read novels that high school students wouldn't even dare read.
"Well how about you sleep with me tonight since daddy is gone?" Eleanor said hopeful. She had glanced at her alarm and it read 2:30. She needed some sleep and with her Blair beside her, she could.
"Okay!" Blair said flopping on the pillow with her new French braid taming her curls and her arm thrown over her Mother.
"Goodnight Blair." Eleanor whispered to Blair and she replied:
"Night mommy. I love you." Eleanor smiled genuinely.
"I love you." Eleanor laid with her daughter and fell asleep. It was the best sleep she got in ages.
She stared at the ceiling. It wasn't the first time this had happened….it certainly wouldn't be the last. Her sleeping prescription was up and she wouldn't get it filled till the morning. Harold had left her. She was a mess without him beside her. She was a mess that he left her for someone else. She was a mess that he left her for a man. She needed her pills and a goodnights sleep. She needed some reassurance that everything would be okay. She needed something. She heard someone across the floor and saw her 16 year old daughter standing in her door frame.
"Mom?" Blair said in a whispered yell. She was wearing silly pajamas and her hair in a messy bun. She was Queen B to her minions, Eleanor thought but to Eleanor she was just her beautiful daughter.
"Hi sweetie." Eleanor said and Blair scurried across the floor and got in the bed with her mother. Her mother she sometimes resented, but right now all that was history.
"You couldn't sleep?" Blair asked her mother and Eleanor shook her head."No, not tonight." Eleanor spoke and Blair nodded.
"Your Ambien ran out, didn't it?" Blair said and Eleanor huffed.
"Yes it did. What's your excuse?" Eleanor said and her daughter looked down and shook her head.
"I am having a hard time I guess. Nate is acting weird. Serena deserted me mom. I just am not sure what to do anymore." she shrugged. Eleanor had to admit, this side of Blair was seldom for her to see.
"Well you have Kati and Isabel. And that Charles Bass." Eleanor spoke and Blair stuck her nose up.
"They are dumb as rocks and he is a jackass." she said blatantly and Eleanor giggled.
"Well you have me. And I am sure there are some nice people at school for you to hang out with." Eleanor said rubbing her daughters back.
"I suppose. What do I do about Nate?" Blair said and Eleanor listened intently. "He hasn't been the same since Serena left. He is quiet and he doesn't even look at me. It is strange mom." she said, her voice cracking.
"He is a man, darling. He doesn't share his feelings the way women do." Eleanor said in a hopeful tone. She wanted her daughter happy and if Nate made her happy. Its what she needed.
"I guess mom. I just wish things were easy. Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty. Snow White. That is easy love. Kiss on the lips wakes your true love. Why doesn't it exist?" Blair groaned.
"Blair. It exists. Just not in those interpretations. Sometimes your prince isn't always a prince. He could be anything. He could be a frog and you won't know he is your prince until you kiss him a few times." Eleanor said laughing and Blair giggled a little.
"I guess…but I don't want to kiss any frogs. I just want to kiss a Prince…do you think Prince Harry is looking for a girlfriend?" Blair chided softly and her mom shrugged.
"Don't doubt me though Blair. Nate could be the one, but so could some guy in France or Canada or even the Upper East Side, or Brooklyn for all you know. Don't close your heart to those ideas."
"Alright. I won't." Blair agreed and laid beside her mom.
"You sleeping with me in here?" Eleanor asked hopeful.
"I am. Goodnight Mom." Blair said cuddled between the sheets.
"Goodnight Blair."
"I love you." Blair said in a quiet whisper before dozing off into a deep dream.
"I love you." Eleanor fell asleep within a minute.
She was alone for the first time in a while. Cyrus was on a overnight business trip and they were spending some time in New York with Blair. She laid in her bed and couldn't sleep. This was a new occurrence since she met Cyrus. He was the love of her life. She couldn't have met a better man. Love comes at all ages and she was glad she met him when she had. She tossed and turned before laying on her back staring at that same ceiling she had stared at before many times. She heard the pitter patter of footsteps and there stood her daughter in the door frame with Ben and Jerry in one hand and two spoons in the other.
"I heard you shuffling around." Blair said smiling and hopping in the bed beside her mother.
"Yeah. I couldn't sleep. Your excuse?" Eleanor spoke and Blair thought for a moment.
"I think I have West Nile." Blair said taking a bite of Phish Food from the container and handing it to her mom.
"Blair I do not think you have West Nile. I don't even think Mosquito's are out yet." Eleanor spoke and Blair paused.
"Maybe its consumption." Blair breathed and Eleanor shook her head as she ate another bite.
"Why are you really up Blair?" her mother whispered and Blair hadn't been able to say it, she hadn't wanted to even think it.
"I kissed Dan Humphrey." she scrunched her face in a disgusted face and Eleanor stared in utter shock.
"That Cater Waiter who dated Serena?" Eleanor spoke and Blair squirmed a little when her mother said Serena.
"Yes Mother. Dan "the Cater Waiter" Humphrey." Blair stuffed a big spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. She felt it softened the Serena blow.
"So. What does it mean?" Eleanor spoke dropping her spoon in the pint of ice cream and waiting on a response.
"Nothing. It meant nothing." Blair spoke softly.
"Well ok-" Eleanor began but Blair interjected.
"Less than nothing. It was a speck on my radar. Smaller than a speck. It was a tiny thought in my head. Nothing. It was ridiculous and a horrible kiss." Blair spoke shoving the rest of the ice cream in her mouth.
"Well are you sure about that?" Eleanor said.
"Yes I am sure. If anything it made me see how much I want to be with Chuck. I want to be with Chuck." Blair said in a forceful tone. Eleanor wondered if Blair was trying to convince herself of that very notion.
"Blair. You be with whoever you want to be with. Whether its Chuck or Dan or whoever. " Eleanor said simply and Blair nodded.
"Well what if I am scared?" Blair spoke.
"Of what?" Eleanor said and Blair shrugged.
"Of actually wanting to be with Humphrey. I don't know if it was a kiss I regret, or a kiss that is worth taking a chance on." she said honestly and Eleanor knew Blair had feelings for Dan.
"Well, Blair. I think that maybe you should give yourself time and think if Dan is right for you." Eleanor spoke like a true mother.
"What about Chuck? Serena? And every single person on the Upper East Side? Gossip Girl would have an absolute field day and I don't think he even feels the same." Blair spoke with a simple reaction that let Eleanor know Blair wasn't sure on that last part. Dan Humphrey could love Blair, and Blair wouldn't even notice.
"You don't know that." Eleanor said.
"Yes I do. When we finished the kiss I walked away and he just left." Blair said and Eleanor stared at her daughter.
"What? How does that say that." Eleanor Waldorf-Rose was confused and waiting for a good, solid answer.
"He left. He didn't stay. He could have stayed. But he called the next day though." Blair went into deep thought. " But still…I could never admit it meant anything Mother. Ever. He and I are from two different worlds."
"Blair. You are 20 years old. Don't you think you are a little too old for that excuse?" Eleanor said and Blair sighed."Maybe. Can we just sleep? This discussion on Cabbage Patch is making me tired." Blair said tucking herself in the bed and Eleanor laughed.
"Just promise me you will follow your heart. Not now. Not next week. But when its all said and done?" Blair heard Eleanor say this and she nodded.
"I promise. Goodnight Mom." Blair said yawning.
"Goodnight Blair." Eleanor whispered.
"I love you."
"I love you." Eleanor said dozing into a wistful sleep.
She hummed the tune from Happy Days silently. She stared at the shadows on the walls once again. She hadn't done this in ages, she usually slept amazing, but today was different.
"Mom. Are you awake?" Blair said opening the creaking door and seeing her mother sit up and smile.
"Yes ma'am. I am okay to be awake, but you aren't. Why aren't you asleep!" Eleanor spat and Blair glared softly at her mother.
"I am a little nervous, so sue me." Blair chuckled sitting on the foot of the bed and fixing her flannels.
"I understand, but you have to be up and about in less than 3 hours." Eleanor glanced at the clock that ready 5 am.
"I know. I will be to. Not something I want to miss or really could miss." she said giggling and looking into space.
"Are you getting cold feet?" Eleanor said slightly worried, and Blair looked at her mother.
"No. Of course not. I honestly don't think I could be happier, but you know that moment when you feel the happiest? Well I think its happening tomorrow and I don't think I am ready for it just yet." she said and Eleanor smiled.
"Your never gonna be READY ready, your marrying the love of your life, your soul mate, and your best friend tomorrow. Tomorrow is gonna be just that. One day. But you get to be with him forever. That, that is what makes you the happiest." Eleanor said and Blair gave a small genuine smile.
"Your right. I swear the moment me and him first kissed I thought it was a mistake. He was suppose to be a mistake." Blair said recalling the detailed memory of that first kiss that tasted of "denial" and "utter sweetness."
"I remember. You thought you had consumption." Eleanor chuckled.
"Now. 3 years later. Here we are." Blair reached for her mothers hand and the gleam of her engagement ring illuminated the walls and inside Blair felt sheer happiness.
"The Waldorf- Humphrey wedding is gonna be one for the ages." Eleanor spoke honestly. She had watched Dan and Blair begin their relationship one night in Paris, he flew there to tell her how he felt and she replied with a kiss. A kiss that Prince Louis and his entire Royal family witnessed during what was suppose to be a wedding for Louis and Blair. She had watched their relationship blossom into one of those old black and white movies. She had seen them hold hands. She had seen them be everything she wanted for Blair and much more.
"I love him so much mom." she said smiling in such a way, Eleanor had to grin back.
"And he loves you." Eleanor spoke pushing the loose curls away from her daughters face.
"I know. He lets me know it everyday." Blair said laying back in the bed and staring at the diamond on her finger.
"If he didn't. I would kill him." Eleanor said lightheartedly.
"He told me once that, that first kiss changed him. That he wanted to be with me ever since it." Blair confessed. She hadn't told her that little known fact.
"I knew that." Eleanor admitted and Blair looked at her Mother.
"How?"
"Before we all left for Paris for your first wedding.." Eleanor continued and Blair shook at the thought. "He came here one day when you weren't and asked me questions. He told me they weren't about you, of course, but even then I just knew they were. He said he kissed someone and it changed him, but not in the way it changed her. He wanted to be with her, but she was with someone else and I told him that maybe the girl he wanted was scared of being with him." Eleanor said and Blair nodded.
"You're the reason he chased after me?" Blair asked.
"No. He was going to do that anyways. I just made him do it more hastily. I couldn't have a daughter divorced." Eleanor said with a small chuckle and Blair thought back on that moment when Dan said he wanted to be with her. It was one of the best moments of her life.
"Well I am glad you pushed him. I was to scared to be with him, I was scared to admit I like him." Blair couldn't believe the man she was about to marry was also the man she had denied in the past. "I know and have always known Dan is going to give me everything I want in life and more. He is my Prince. He always was." Blair said shrugging.
"I know he is. You deserve better than the small minded Upper East Side gossip. You deserve discussions on art and literature and everything important in life cause you're the most brilliant woman I know." Eleanor spoke these words to Blair and she began to weep a little.
"I am who I am because of you mom. I love you." Blair hugged her mother and Eleanor shed a few tears.
"I love you Blair." she said squeezing her tightly.
"I better get to sleep. I am getting married tomorrow!" Blair said smiling and laughing laying back on the bed.
"Yes you better Future Mrs. Humphrey" Eleanor said and Blair squealed.
"Goodnight Mom." Blair spoke with a grin on her face.
"Night Blair." Eleanor whispered and closed her eyes.
"You better give that remote back to me or so help me God I will shove it down your throat." Blair yelled trying to grab it and Dan looked at her in shock.
"You know, these insults are really becoming." Dan said keeping her at a distance and she rolled her eyes.
"You enjoy them." Blair spoke kissing him and swiping the remote, flipping it to an old Golden Girls re-run.
"Again?" Dan watched as Blair gave him a sweet glare.
"Yes. I love this show. Its hilarious." Blair said laying on Dan's shoulder and he kissed her forehead. They laid together like that until a small girl with a mess of curly hair stood in their doorway and began rubbing her eyes.
"Mommy, Daddy, there's a monster in my closet." the young girl said running and jumping in the bed between them.
"Oh no. Daddy should go and check it out. Shouldn't he?" Blair said and Dan began to stand up but the little girl stopped him.
"No! He is a malevolent monster!" she spoke both Blair and Dan looked at their 5 year old daughter with a curious face.
"Okay. We won't go see it. Now how about you sleep with us tonight, Lucy?" Blair said and Lucy smiled and cuddled between them.
"Mommy." Lucy spoke.
"Yes sweetie?" she replied and Lucy gave a sheepish face.
"Can you tell me a story. A fairytale with a Princess and a Prince." Lucy asked quietly and she smiled.
"Well..okay. There once was-" Blair began and Lucy interjected.
"It has to start out…Once upon a time." she corrected her mother and Dan chuckled.
"Okay. Once upon a time…there lived a beautiful Princess named Blair. She was the fairest around and she lived in the most beautiful castle. She soon began to get lonely when she realized she had wanted to fall in love and meet her true love. She decided to throw a ball where she could meet suitors and find her perfect match. While the party was happening, three men made themselves visible to Blair's palate. A Prince. A real one from a far away Land named Louis. He captivated her status…but not her heart. A Knight. He came from the Royal court and his name was Chuck. He captivated her spirit, but neglected her strengths. Finally. The Pauper. His name was Dan. He captivated everything that Blair had wanted, wished for, and aspired to be, but he was a commoner so Princess Blair decided to ignore his advances until she knew he was her perfect match. She decided to find her Fairy God Mother and ask which one would ultimately be the one. The Fairy God Mother showed her, her life with all three. Blair's life with Louis would have been dull and boring. Blair's life with Chuck would have ended in tragedy. But Blair's life with Dan ended in magic and true love. Princess Blair called her servants and found Dan. They had a reunion and kissed. Blair and Dan married immediately after and lived…"
Lucy and Blair spoke in unison:"Happily Ever After."
Dan smiled as Blair spoke of their trials and turmoil's. He waited until Lucy was sound asleep in between them to look at Blair.
"You were worth it all." he spoke and she looked at him.
"What?" she replied.
"You were, are, and have always been worth every battle we had to fight. Every lie we had to hear or tell. Everyday we snuck around to see a movie. Our plausible deniability was what kept us apart, but it kept us from rushing into anything fast. I know I am meant to be with you cause I can see my entire life in your eyes and I have since that very first kiss." Dan finished and leaned over and kissed Blair. Love might be simple, but fighting for that person never is. Dan Humphrey did it and got his soul mate.
"I love you Blair Humphrey." Dan whispered and Blair smiled widely.
"And I love you Dan Humphrey." she responded and all three of them laid together snuggled.
Blair Waldorf slept peacefully that night. And every night after.