Missing Moments 2

It was probably the oddest Thanksgiving of Blair's life. None of her parents were there for dinner. With Nate waiting on his soon-to-be-released ex-con father, Serena not speaking to her mother, and Chuck being Chuck, there were no parents present at the dinner; an oddity, since the day is supposed to be about family. But in a way, her friends had been more her family than her actual family at certain points in her life. This was the first Thanksgiving since her father left her mother for Roman that she had actually helped in the preparation of the meal. After her father left, Blair couldn't bear to make Thanksgiving dinner without him and her mother could not bear the memories when she stepped into the kitchen. So for the past five years the Waldorfs had taken to catering their Thanksgiving meal. To top off the oddest Thanksgiving of her life, she had spent almost the entire day with Dan Humphrey. After rescuing Serena just in time for her to make a big show for her mother, Humphrey insisted that they have Thanksgiving together instead of just eating out. He also insisted that they split the duties which Blair considered incredibly stupid since it ended up saddling both Dan and her with most of the work, much like the mission they had been on earlier.

So Dan volunteered to go shopping, Chuck sat around making sarcastic comments about middle class living and the lack of hookers available in the city during the holiday season, Nate just sat around, Serena set the table as she claimed that it was her assigned chore in the Humphrey Thanksgiving dinner, and Blair waited for Dan to get back with the groceries so she could do the cooking. Although she loathed to admit it, she was excited to be using her dad's recipes again after such a long time.

She had hurried through the preparation of the turkey and the side dishes by happily bossing Humphrey around so that she could get to her favorite part: her dad's pumpkin pie. She went almost with childlike excitement towards the last shopping bag with the ingredients for her dad's pie. But she was disappointed once she opened it because instead of ingredients for a pie she found a pie. Pre-made, from a bakery. Humphrey had been so helpful with the food and if it was someone else she would almost say she enjoyed herself throughout the preparation. Which is why when she turned around she was only slightly biting and venomous. She gritted her teeth and asked, "what is this," brandishing the pie under his nose. She waited for his answer while Dan backed away slightly to properly examine what was being shoved in his face. He looked at her sardonically before replying, "it's a pie Blair," before going back to check on the turkey.

"I know what it is Humphrey. I am asking why it is here instead of the ingredients for an actual pie."

"It is an actual pie. We're pressed for time and I thought it'd be easier to just buy one instead of failing to make one. Besides I hate having to make them from scratch."

Blair took a deep breath and tried not to explode all over Humphrey. Although it felt like he had just sucked the fun out of this whole day with his laziness, she bit back her spite and said, "I have never met someone so uncouth and unrefined in my life. Although I guess I shouldn't expect something more from someone raised in Brooklyn."

He laughed slightly before turning to listen to the rest of her rant.

"You are going back to the supermarket and you are going to buy the exact ingredients I write down so I can make homemade pie."

"No I'm not, because we already have a perfectly good pie sitting right there."

"Yeah, plucked from some indiscriminate bakery made by some seven dollar an hour baker from a recipe found on google."

"I'm not traipsing all over Manhattan on Thanksgiving just because you have the urge to make pie."

"Yes you are."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"And why is that exactly."

"Because if you don't, we won't have dessert."

"We have dessert, you're holding it in your hands."

Dan could have never predicted what happened next, although he probably should have. Blair very calmly walked herself over to the wastebasket in the kitchen, pressed the lever to lift the lid and dumped said pie into it. Then she just as calmly walked over to a drawer and got a pen and paper and wrote down everything she needed and waved it front of his face until he took it. He wanted to say something. Call her a name perhaps. Something like controlling psychopath or raving lunatic but one look at her saccharine smile convinced him the fight wasn't worth picking and that she would also win. So he took the offered piece of paper, collected his coat, and went out into the city to look for the ingredients that Blair needed.

When he came back with grocery bags in hand she actually rushed to take them out his hands with an exclamation of, "finally!" After which she supervised him in the proper preparation of her dad's famous pumpkin pie. He was both surprised and taken aback, who would've known that Blair Waldorf was fond of something as commonplace as baking?

~ It's a Blair thing, I find it's best to pick my battles. – Dan Humphrey to Rufus Humphrey about Blair Waldorf

Dan woke from his sleep because he could no longer ignore the discomfort of his left arm. He tried to shift it but it wouldn't move. He cracked open his eyes and what he saw puzzled him and surprised him at the same time. He held his breath for a few seconds before he acknowledged what was happening. Blair Waldorf was pressed against him sleeping peacefully. Ever since he and Blair had started spending time together there had been surprises at every corner. No one had ever kept him on his toes like Blair Waldorf did. So by now, he was getting used being constantly caught off his guard with her. Sort of…

She looked so calm and still. This girl was wildly different from the girl he spent the entirety of the day practically stalking. That girl was high-powered, hell bent on control, sleep deprived, and verging on manic. She was like one of those energizer bunnies that just kept going. Except the energizer bunny didn't snipe at you and was not ungrateful when you offered help.

But this girl, this girl was calm, peaceful and relaxed. In fact, Dan didn't know if he had ever seen her so relaxed. She looked almost innocent and harmless as she slept. But Dan knew better by now.

The position she was in could not have been comfortable. Her legs were folded awkwardly underneath her, one of her arms was squished underneath his, and he was sure she would have a crick in her neck when she woke. So as much as he did not want to, he shook her gently awake.

"Mmm. Stop it Humphrey, this is the best sleep I've gotten all week and you're ruining it."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just wanted to ask if you want to take my bed so you'll be more comfortable." The only answer he got was her snuggling closer to him. This is not what he had in mind when he asked her to get more comfortable. In fact, this was probably more uncomfortable for him. He could now feel her hot breath on his neck and the warmth of her body through their clothes. Not to mention, he was now inhaling her scent with every breath he took, no doubt some fancy Parisian perfume that was intoxicating. He tried to stay extremely still, trying not to disturb her or draw attention to his current state of mind. She sighed softly and Dan berated himself for finding it adorable before she said, "Dan."

"Yes," he said, almost holding his breath.

"I'm sorry I used you as my drug mule."

He almost laughed because Blair Waldorf just apologized to him. No doubt she would deny it in the morning. For all her adamant declarations that they were not friends, he had never felt that she was more his friend than this moment. After all, this is what you do in friendships, right? You apologize when you're wrong, watch movies, eat pizza, and…fall asleep pressed against each other? He stopped thinking there. It was probably better not to examine this further. Instead, he slowly extracted himself from under Blair, laid her down properly on the sofa and covered her with the quilt laying on the couch.

The next morning they took plausible deniability and pretended nothing out of the ordinary had happened last night. He did not prod her about apologizing to him in her sleep and she did not ask why he left her there on the couch alone. They ate breakfast together and made plans to meet up later that day to finally go see the Degas exhibit.

~ Paris is complicated and beautiful, much like you. – Prince Louis Grimaldi about Blair Waldorf.

She ran as quickly as she could into her room and slammed the door shut leaning her forehead against it taking deep breaths to calm herself. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She couldn't believe what she had just done. She had kissed him. She, Blair Waldorf, had kissed lonely boy Dan Humphrey. Then she left him standing there and ran up to her room. She could hardly let the voice in her head speak what she thought just in case someone could hear her thoughts. Just in case he could hear her thoughts. The last few weeks had only encouraged her to believe that he could hear her deepest, darkest thoughts. With a moment or two more of trepidation she admitted to herself what she couldn't admit downstairs. And that was that their kiss had left her breathless. She admitted that it had felt exhilarating to finally act on the desire she had had since he let her order whatever takeout she wanted, let her choose the movie they watched, and let her fall asleep on his strong shoulder. She admitted this wasn't the first time she'd thought about kissing him. There were more times than she'd like to count and now that she'd finally done it she couldn't remember why they hadn't been doing this all along. She couldn't fathom at all why they spent late nights talking and instead of melded together at the lips on his couch. It was safe for even Blair to assume that she had liked kissing Humphrey, even with his bad taste in clothing. Although he did look passable tonight. Except for the fact that he could have used a good tie. She supposed with some helpful direction from her his fashion sense could improve.

She stepped away from her door and began pacing the length of her room repeatedly with a nervous and excited energy that she hadn't felt it some time. She hadn't felt like this in a long time. She hadn't felt like this since she thought Nate was going to come to her birthday party and give her a diamond necklace and tell her that he loves her. No, she hadn't felt this excited since she was waiting for Chuck to whisk her away to Tuscany after Bart and Lily's wedding. No, she hadn't felt this excited since she ran into the Empire late in meeting Chuck hoping to convince him to give her another chance. No, she'd never felt this excited at all. All those times had always ended in heartache. But this, this was different. This was Dan Humphrey. When that had become something that made her want to trust him and not loath him, Blair didn't know. All that she knew he wouldn't do to her what the others had. He wouldn't hurt her. Her thoughts were running a mile a minute. So much so that she was having trouble keeping up.

What should they do now?

I felt something. I don't know what it is. I can't put a name to it because I'd never felt this way before.

He obviously had to have felt something. If he hadn't he wouldn't have showed up here asking to kiss me.

Of course Humphrey would go the Prince Charming route and ask for a kiss.

That was beside the point.

What now?

We both felt something.

But I can't imagine sleeping with Humphrey just yet.

Okay, maybe I could imagine it but that doesn't meant that we were there yet.

The most they'd done before the kiss was fall asleep with each other.

She stopped abruptly and stood idly in the middle of her room when the thought occurred to her. She remembered an offer made to her by another hipster she had met at a loft party. She had called him Columbia and he had offered to take her on a date.

A date.

Her and Humphrey could go on a date.

Granted I had only been on a couple of dates with someone I wasn't already seeing seriously. But still.

We could go on a date.

It could be fun. Although she loathed to admit it to another human being, I enjoyed spending time with Humphrey.

We could keep doing what we had been doing.

We could go see a movie or an art exhibit.

But maybe this time he'd come to the apartment instead of meeting me at a predetermined destination disguised in some strange place.

Maybe this time he could put actual thought into his wardrobe and compliment me on mine.

Maybe this time he'd try to hold my hand while they watched a movie.

Maybe this time our flirting over dinner would be intentional.

Maybe this time he'd walk me to my door and kiss me goodnight.

A broad smile spread involuntarily across her face at the mere thought. She was almost bouncing on the balls of her feet before she almost jumped out of her skin at a very loud sound. There was a loud banging sound on her door accompanied by a very unexpected voice.

"Blair, Blair it's me Chuck. Let me in. I need to talk to you!"

Blair's heart froze as it was doused in the cold water of harsh reality. Chuck. In all her lofty plans she had forgotten entirely about Chuck and now he was back at the front of her thoughts with full force. She had forgotten. She had forgotten she loved Chuck.

"Go away Chuck!"

"I need to talk to you Blair! Please!"

"No! It's late and I'm tired. I don't want to see you. Leave or I'll call Dorota!"

Chuck always was a little frightened on Dorota so he ceased trying to beat down her door and left her alone. She only sighed with relief when she heard the ping of the elevator. She sat heavily on her bed and continued to let her newest revelation dawn on her. She had forgotten. She had forgotten she was in love with Chuck. She had promised that they would be together. She still remembered how he had so sadly promised her that two people who were meant to be together would find their way back to each other. She had believed those words then and she believed them now. Chuck was her destiny. He always had been. So why should she delay the inevitable?

Yes, spending time with Humphrey had been great.

They always had things to talk about even if it was the most inane things. But even when they didn't talk it was comfortable.

His taste in movies could use some improvement which I had most definitely made.

But the quality of his Netflix cue far surpassed my own, that I'm not ashamed to admit.

And he wasn't bad to look at. Although his taste in art was more abstract than I'd like.

Despite his plaid shirts and those t-shirts that made him look homeless, he was almost handsome.

And I felt this nervous fluttering thing in my stomach whenever he looked at me in that teasing sort of way.

But all that was moot point because Chuck was my destiny. There was no use in having a frivolous rendezvous with Humphrey when Chuck was meant to be the Prince Charles to my Princess Diana.

Besides, Humphrey was meant to be with Serena. They belonged together. He'd always loved her. No matter who he'd dated after, he always chose Serena in the end. It was stupid of me to think that he wouldn't do the same to me.

He and Serena were perfect together. She was golden and he idolized her.

Even though Serena would never be able to keep up with Dan at an art exhibit like I could. And he and Serena could never debate like they could. But that doesn't matter.

They should both stop trying to run from the life they were meant to have. She should stop avoiding her future and embrace it and go back to Chuck and he should. . .do what he wants. He could go back to Serena if he wanted.

Yes, that's it.

She was going to go back to Chuck.

She looked dejectedly at her door where Chuck had been pounding moments ago.

It was late.

Reunions could wait.

She climbed into bed, put on her sleeping mask, and pulled her duvet over her head.

She'd deal with Chuck tomorrow. . . if she felt up to it.

~ She just walked away, stunned and left me standing in her foyer. – Dan Humphrey about Blair Waldorf's reaction to their first kiss.