Disclaimer: Usually this is where I offer something witty about how I own nothing, but I'm too lazy to come up with anything good. You all know what I own and don't own, anyway.

AN: This story is bound to contain multiple flaws (like the fact that both Harold and Roman are white and that Lea Michelle looks entirely different from Leighton Meester), but I like this plot. Can I hope that you'll forgive the rough patches and overlook them? The story is set after 'A Thin Line'. My take is that Blair left for Ohio instead of France and Serena didn't get to stop her. In Glee time, everything's basically the same (ish). Try to enjoy it!

Introduction:

Blair glanced at the reflection the window tingled when the morning sunlight hit it.

She was happy. Or really, the better word would be content. Yes, that was it! She was content. Nothing alarmingly exciting occurred in Lima, nothing to split her world into pieces or peel away layers of protection that she had woven painstakingly around herself. Here she reinvented herself.

Granted, it was strange to not experience the popularity or respect or admiration as Queen B of the Upper East Side, but it was wonderful to feel the shoes of another personality.

"Rachel! Honey! Time for school!" The smell of Harold's pancakes wafted through a crack in the door.

Rachel Berry. It was the first name she had thought about selecting for herself when she fled from all that was familiar. It had taken her some considerable time to get used to the sound and the sense, but it had been a year already. She felt more Rachel Berry than Blair Waldorf at times.

Her mother had begged and pleaded when she announced her decision to leave. Eleanor Waldorf never begged or pleaded, but she did so on bended knee at the thought of her naïve young daughter leaving for a strange new world. Blair was too heartbroken at her life to consider many consequences. She only thought about rushing forwards into obscurity.

Harold and Roman had moved from their large vineyard in France to a quiet town in Ohio. They hadn't sold the vineyard, but decided to understand the peaceful life for some years before heading back to the territory of parties and wealth.

Blair had taken this opportunity to discover what was lost. She just needed to leave.

It had taken a lot of persuading on her mother's behalf. But her endless tears and forlorn silence and empty social calendar had won Eleanor over. Harold and Roman were more than happy to have her all to themselves. They welcomed her with ready arms. Blair told no one she was leaving. She told not Nate, not Chuck, not even Serena. Well, Nate and Chuck wouldn't care, but Serena would try to hold her back.

Blair was broken. She left to fix herself. She knew that the glue she needed wouldn't be lying casually on any old pavement. It would take an immeasurable amount of time and healing to be wonderful and fresh and new. She couldn't risk any part of the UES dragging her back down through slippered cracks and splintering her being once more. Blair wasn't sure she could survive anymore pain.

It was too easy to introduce herself as Rachel Berry. She was the beloved daughter of her gay fathers and had a driving ambition. Ambition was something Blair knew she would never be able to bury. Instead, she just changed where her ambition was headed.

But enough of the reminisces. Blair shook out her brown hair. She had it straightened everyday, as to feel distanced from the curls she had once donned. When she left the Upper East Side, she took no item of clothing with her. She couldn't be someone new if she still looked the same way. She started fresh. Everything had changed, and although there were no mind numbing events, Blair (or Rachel, now) was content.

The smart clicking of her platform shoes marked her entrance into the kitchen.

"Morning, Sweetheart." Harold had taken some effort to stop his endearment of 'Blair Bear'. She was Rachel now and it was strange. Neither he or Eleanor or Roman understood what she was doing. He wondered briefly and much too often if she understood herself. All he saw was that she was as happy as she could be after that horrible incident. That was all he needed.

Roman folded his newspaper in half neatly and gave Blair a sunny smile. "Rachel, have some breakfast and then get going. You don't want to be late."

Blair would had rolled her eyes, shrugged him off, adjusted her headband and refused breakfast in favor of coffee. But Rachel trilled out a happy good morning and sat down to dig into a healthy sized plate of eggs and pancakes.

A tinkling tune rang from her phone. It was a modest and plain cell phone. Not long after she left, she had barely glanced at the million messages Serena sent her, laughed bitterly and loudly, then proceeded to smash her orange EnV against the buttered concrete of the school wall.

It had felt awesome.

The time had come for her to dump her trolley bag into the back of her car and drive to school. Rachel was a girl of independence, Blair decided. She was going to do everything by herself. She didn't need help or support or other people. Rachel would be strong. And judging from the amount of slushies and ugly comments thrown in her face, Blair was right.

Although the rest of the school had not found her extremely likeable, Blair was still content because she knew this façade was temporary and she had Glee and she had the comfort of thought that nobody would mess with Blair Waldorf. But then she would remember that people appreciated Blair Waldorf even less and being Rachel with the dripping slushies was better than Blair with the yoghurt.

In the end, her thoughts would confuse her and Blair would stop thinking altogether. She would just drive.

-

"Mr. Bass, we have managed to locate Miss Waldorf."

Chuck flicked his eyes up lazily from the tumbler of Scotch he was swirling around. "Really? I must say, this has taken a lot longer than I expected."

"Sir, we apologize. It was not easy finding her."

Chuck laughed. Blair had tried to run. But he had still found her.

"Nate!" His throaty voice echoed across the suite and reached his best friend. They had managed to reconcile after Blair's departure, acknowledging their equal love for the girl and the empty feeling her absence left in their minds. Serena had been desperately upset. Chuck hated seeing girls upset. It made him squirm and want to leave because he wasn't very good at taking care of people.

"What is it, Chuck?" Nate emerged from the bathroom, cigarette alight in the corner of his mouth.

"I think, Nathaniel, that we call Serena and pay Blair a visit."

"You found her?"

"Apparently she's in… Limi? Limo? Well, a town in Ohio, anyway."

"When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible."

AN: It was short, but this is the introduction. I know it sucks and am half heartedly considering not to continue this. Also, I am faced with the dilemma of ending Blair/Rachel up with Puck or Chuck? Hmm…