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Blair waited by the fountain and remembered the many times she had spent by it.
Her and Serena on hot summer days would jump and splash in it and giggle obnoxiously trying to both gain the attention of one Nate Archibald.
This was the fountain that she and Dan had also first said I love you to each other.
They were walking around Central Park after their 4th date.
Their hands clasped together tightly.
He was the first to say it and she replied quickly and kissed him intensely. Her arms wrapped securely around his neck and his wrapped around her waist.
She couldn't believe that was over 6 years ago, and somehow she could still feel the electric current from the kiss that had followed their declarations.
Blair' s thoughts were interrupted by a text notification and she glanced at her cell phone.
Spotted in the city and a picture of her when she had first arrived.
Gossip Girl?
Yes. This was definitely high school all over again.
Blair closed it instantly and saw Serena walking towards her with a small girl in pigtails clutching tightly to Serena's coat. The little girl was wearing tights with red tulle and a long sleeved yellow bat man shirt.
Serena looked as she always had. She had her long blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail and was donning a pair of jeans and black sweater with golden sequins around the collar.
"Mommy. Who is that?" the small blonde haired girl said smiling widely. Blair immediately caught on and realized that the resemblance was in fact uncanny.
"I am Blair Waldorf. Me and your mommy used to be best friends since well…" Blair paused and thought for a moment. "…about your age. Now what is your name?"
"Nicole Colette Archibald."
"Archibald?" Blair screamed slightly. Blair may have not gotten her happily ever after, but she was pleased to hear that her best friends had.
"Yeah…well that is a long story." Serena whispered and place her hands on Nicole's shoulders.
"Do you like my batman shirt?" Nicole interrupted. She was twirling and smiling at Blair, waiting on a reply.
"I do. You look very pretty." Blair told Nicole and she giggled. Blair could tell she was just like Serena, not shy or afraid of anything.
Blair and Serena sat on the park bench discussing time passed and watched as Nicole feed sliced Wonder bread to the ducks.
"So you and Nate are…" Blair let the sentence linger for a moment and spoke the final words. "…separated."
"Yeah. We have been for almost a month now." Serena nodded and watched Nicole laugh at the ducks quacking.
Blair wasn't sure if Serena would explain the reasoning behind the separation, but she wasn't going to ask. The look on Serena's face told Blair she had better leave it alone and unlike Blair's constant meddling in the past, she didn't ask any further questions on the subject.
"So how has your love life been? Any kids?" Serena said lightheartedly and Blair almost choked on air.
"No! No kids." Blair hadn't thought about kids since she had dated Dan and she had plenty of meaningless boyfriends after him, but nothing that surpassed the 3 month mark.
"Boyfriend?" Serena asked and Blair stared with her eyebrows raised, assuming her facial expression gave that answer away.
"Girlfriend then?" Serena joked and Blair shoved her gently. Blair felt at ease for the first time since she had been in the city. She felt as if finally something was the same. Their friendship.
"So how is your mom and Rufus?"
"Great. I actually have a half brother about the same age as Nicole now." Serena uttered watching Nicole.
"Wow. That's great. Congratulations S." Blair spoke and realized she may have been a little late on the congratulations, but Serena still gave her a genuine smile.
"Thanks. Its been a life changing couple of years." she confessed. Blair didn't feel the same. Blair felt like the past 5 years have been anything but life changing. She felt like the last 5 years were a waste. She regretted them.
"How is Dan?" Blair finally asked the question she had been waiting to speak since she had gotten into New York.
"Good I guess. We email sometimes, and he is engaged now actually. Her name is Lauren and from what mom and Rufus tell me, she is very nice." Serena said it and Blair felt her body go completely numb. He was happy and she wasn't. It was painful to think about.
"That's good. He found someone who makes him happy."
Blair and Serena talked for another hour until Nicole began rubbing her eyes and the sky was almost completely dark. They both shared a cab and Blair watched as the cab pulled up to their home.
"Call me tomorrow?" Serena asked Blair and she nodded intently.
"Absolutely." they hugged tightly. Nicole watched her mom and Blair hug and joined in, clutching her mother's arm.
"You want to be the peanut butter in this hug Nic?" Serena asked and Nicole leaped from her seat and squeezed between them and the three of the hugged tightly.
"Goodnight B!" Serena said finally getting out of the cab and helping Nicole out.
"Goodnight S…." Blair said and she looked at Nicole. "…and Nic."
"Bye." Nicole said in a yawn.
The cab then zoomed off and Blair sat back, watching the city lights go by her and she pressed her head to the window. She couldn't remember why she hadn't been back here in so long.
She needed to go somewhere before she made her way back to her penthouse.
"Cab driver. I need to go to Brooklyn."
Dan finally awoke to an obnoxious ring tone and a stomach rumble. He saw it was Lauren and answered swiftly:
"Hello." he said groggily and sat up from his bed.
"Hey sweetie. Were you asleep?" she said surprised. He cleared his throat and stretched his legs to stand up.
"Yeah. I accidentally fell asleep I guess." he said with a chuckle, making his way into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator. Hoping for something to eat.
Nothing was in it and he shook his head.
He had remembered that he hadn't lived there in years.
Why was it so hard to remember that fact?
"Oh. Well how is the writing going?"
"It isn't. Or well it hasn't yet." he said honestly. He felt like maybe coming back to the city wasn't one of his brilliant ideas.
"Well it will. I am sure of that." Lauren spoke sweetly. She had been partially to blame for his sudden move back to Brooklyn.
She believed that the city and Brooklyn were his great inspirations, but it was actually a 95 pound doe eyed bon mot tossing label whoring package of girly evil.
"Thanks babe. So how was work?" he spoke glancing around the loft for his old take out menus.
"Good. Long day as usual."
"Oh well you will be here in 4 short days to see me. Hold onto that wonderful thought." he said softly and she giggled.
"I can't wait. It will be nice to see where you grew up." Lauren said and Dan finally gave up on the search for the menus. He had made his mind up. He was going to go get some groceries.
"Well I have to go. Can I give you a call after I get back from the store?"
"Yes of course. I love you."
"Love you."
He clicked the phone off and grabbed his coat, wallet, and keys in a swift motion and
made his way out his loft, down the stairs, and outside of his building. He looked both ways for a cab and nothing was in sight.
He began walking the short distance and his thoughts went back in time:
"Blair if you don't keep your eyes closed, so help me God!" Dan cursed loudly and Blair laughed loudly.
"Your one mean Humphrey when it comes to surprises, you know?" she said with a scarf tied securely covering her eyes and her arms out in front of her so she didn't run into anything.
"I just don't want you to ruin….." he said removing the scarf. "…this"
"Oh my God." she entered the loft with a giant grin on her face. The entire loft was covered in candles and soft music was playing on his dad's old record player.
"Tada" he said quietly with a small fidgety smile and one hand on his hip. He was nervous and shuffling the small velvet box around in his pocket. He was nervous because he was going to propose to the woman he loved in about 20 seconds.
"What's all this for?" she walked further into the loft, and paused realizing Dan wasn't walking beside her. Blair turned around and placed her small hands on her hips and bit her bottom lip.
"Blair you know how much I love you right?" Dan started his speech. He had practiced the very speech at least 30 times in front of his mirror.
"Yeah.." she let it linger until he began speaking again:
"I love you so much and I couldn't imagine my life without you in it. I couldn't imagine not having you there criticizing my outfits-"
"Someone has to do it." Blair interjected with a chuckle.
"-I feel like ever since you have entered my life, you have turned it upside down in the best way possible. You challenge me and make me this amazing person and this amazing writer. I love everyday with you because I know I have someone to argue with. I bought this two weeks after we started dating-" he paused and pulled out the small box and got on one knee. "-I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you a long time ago, and now I think we are ready."
Blair stared with a dumbfounded look and watched him open the box slowly and she was anticipating the actual question.
"Blair Cornelia Waldorf, will you marry me?" he looked into her big brown eyes while Billie Holiday played in the background. He noticed her eyes welling with tears and she gave him a giant smile.
"Absolutely Dan. I will marry you any day." she spoke and he hastily ran over to her and crashed his lips on hers. He felt like his insides at that moment could explode in utter pleasure.
He pulled the diamond ring from the box and slid it on her dainty finger.
It fit perfectly.
Dan had found the Rite Aid around the corner and went in and bought a tv dinner, cheez its, and a 2 liter of Pepsi. He stopped on his way at the ABC store and purchased two bottles of wine. He argued it would bring inspiration.
He was set for the night.
He wished that of all the memories he and Blair had, that that wasn't the one he immediately thought of. He tried to remember the trust issues, and the many endless nights of his heart hurting.
He rounded his corner and pulled out his cell phone to see if Lauren had tried to call again.
She hadn't.
His eyes landed on a small brunette in a dark red peacoat with her hair long and wavy. Dan choked on the chilly air and clenched the plastic bags in his hands and the only complete thought he had was how beautiful she had looked.
The picture from Gossip Girl didn't do her justice.
"Blair?" he whispered to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. She veered her eyes from the building and looked at her Dan Humphrey.
Except he wasn't hers anymore.
"Dan?" she responded slowly and noticed how good time was to him. He had his hair cut short and was wearing his classic plaid and jeans.
"Why are you here?" he asked tensely. He knew she was in the city, but he never imagined she would make it to the other side of the bridge.
"I didn't know you were in New York." he didn't expect such a small reply, he half expected her to insult him and stalk of like she had done millions of times before.
"Well I am." he sounded too harsh and she felt like he was purposely being cold. She didn't know if it was what happened the many years before that kept the icy demeanor.
"I guess I better leave you to your frozen dinner and 5 dollar wine. I honestly didn't expect to see you Dan." Blair remained calm even though her entire cover was about to break and she was sure she was going to break down and cry.
"I saw your picture on Gossip Girl." he paused and chuckled. "I never thought I would ever say that sentence again."
"We may have went away I guess, but she never did. She was just waiting for us to return." Blair said and realized that maybe they would be able to actually have an adequate conversation, unlike the last one they shared many years before.
"I guess your right." Dan saw Blair shiver slightly and immediately wanted to wrap his arms tightly around her, but he resisted the urge and stepped further away from her.
"I think I better call it a night. It was really…" she hesitated and continued. "…surprising seeing you Dan."
Blair turned away from him and walked away. She felt like this entire encounter was fate being a bitch once more.
Dan stayed stagnant until she was completely out of sight and opened the door to his building. He climbed the stairs and unlocked the loft. He placed the bags on the counter and noticed the 3 missed calls from Lauren and felt utter guilt.
"Hello" he heard her whisper on the other end of the line.
"Hey babe. Sorry I didn't get your calls. I left my phone at the loft accidentally." he didn't lie about that fact. He just left out the fact that his past just walked into his life before he even unpacked all of his bags.
"Its okay Dan. I just wanted to make sure Brooklyn didn't swallow you up yet." Lauren gave a small laugh and Dan joined her in it.
"Not quite yet."
They sat on the phone for another 20 minutes discussing each others day, she talked about work and he discussed his walk and how nice it was to sleep in his old bed.
He clicked off his phone after she said she was going to take a bath and he said he needed to feed his empty stomach.
Dan made a tasteless dinner and drank half a bottle of wine. He just kept thinking of Blair and how beautiful she was. He could write pages on her eyelashes. He tried to imagine what she was doing right now. She was probably eating a meal entirely too pricey and drinking wine that was entirely too old and thinking about a man who was entirely too good looking and too smart. She was thinking of a man who was probably not Dan Humphrey.
Probably.