Chapter 2:

The Most Perfect Night Out of the Year

Blair Waldorf was one of those perfectionist types. From the way she dressed herself to the way she educated herself, she strived for flawlessness.

Of course nobody was perfect, but it didn't mean that Blair couldn't try to be.

Perhaps that was why the New York Times had chosen her for "A Night Out With" for her cotillion. It was going to be a magical night. Her Vanderbilt boyfriend was going to look perfect on her arm as she was presented to society as the daughter of the highly esteemed Harold and Eleanor Waldorf. She couldn't help but sigh contently as Nate swirled her around in dance practise. Blair tried to look into Nate's beautiful blue eyes, but there seemed to be a faraway look in them. He tended to have that look a lot lately. It was like he was never really here even when she was in his arms. Perhaps he's getting bored of me, she thought to herself in worry, unconsciously biting her lip. Maybe it's the whole waiting-to-have-sex thing.

Blair had turned 16 not long ago, and she still felt like a little girl about most things. Sex was still an unfamiliar territory to her, unlike her best friend, Serena, who was very nonchalant about the whole thing and had slept with several guys already. It was just another insecurity that was brought on by having Serena Van der Woodsen for a best friend.

It didn't matter though, because Blair Waldorf didn't do anything unless she felt sure about it. But sometimes when Blair was with Nate, she wondered if she would ever feel ready.

On the other side of the room, Dan and Chuck were standing together studying the dancing couples. As the 100 year old, prissy dance teacher made another comment about traditional debutante values, Chuck scoffed out loud. This was so not his scene.

"Remind me again why we're here Humphrey?" Chuck muttered.

"Your father said so" Dan murmured back simply as he watched the dancing couples in interest.

Earlier that morning...

Chuck and Dan were hanging out in Chuck's suite. They had developed a pattern of sorts, where they watched movies and talked from time to time between school and other activities. Since Dan had punched Carter, there was an unspoken agreement that they were friends. Of course they still had their differences, (which actually translated to Chuck's snobbery towards Dan) but they had developed a begrudging respect for each other. Once Chuck had actually convinced Dan to try pot (which he quickly decided was useless to him, although entertaining). Something even more shocking was that Dan had convinced Chuck to attend school more often.

Today they were just talking aimlessly about people from school with nothing else to do on a Saturday morning. They were chuckling at something Dan had said when Bart entered the room, and seemed momentarily struck by the sight before him. Chuck rolled his eyes inwardly. Yes, we're friends. If you were around more then you'd be aware of that by now he thought.

Bart cleared his throat and cleared his face from surprise.

"Gentlemen, I have a job for the both of you" he said. Dan perked up in interest, and Chuck just stared suspiciously. "It appears that Lily Van der Woodsen requires some white knights for the cotillion tomorrow night. I told her that you two would be happy to oblige."

Dan didn't know what to think. Here was his next chance with Serena, but the way she seemed with Carter at the party the other night disheartened him. Cotillions seemed embarrassing and ridiculous to him, but here was a cemented invitation to join an "Upper East Sider only" event. Did this mean he was already being considered part of them? He tried not to get too confident in that idea, but nevertheless he decided he was on board with this "white knight" thing.

Chuck, on the other hand, stared in disbelief and anger. He had no idea why his father was insistent upon Chuck's induction to so many of these old-money events, but cotillion was where he drew the line.

"You cannot be serious" Chuck said.

"When am I not?" Bart replied, fixing Chuck with a withering glare. He had expected this kind of reaction.

"What exactly about either of us screams 'white knight' material?" Chuck exclaimed.

Bart considered this for a moment. "While you both aren't the traditional types of partners the girls will be expecting, no offense Daniel," (Dan waved it off, but felt offended on behalf of Chuck, who didn't get the same apology. Chuck didn't even bat an eyelash however.) "You will be attending the dance class this afternoon in which you can learn the fundamentals."

Chuck exhaled loudly, and Dan was waiting for him to explode.

"Before you even think to argue Charles, remember that you are currently being made to attend every society event if you want any funding from me for anything else" Bart stated with a cold smile. Chuck clenched his jaw and glared at his father. Dan began to recite words in Italian in his head to deal with the tense situation.

"The limo will pick you up at 2 pm" Bart said after a moment of silent stare-downs, then headed out of the suite. Dan saluted to Bart's back jokingly, and Chuck couldn't help the tiny smirk that appeared on his face despite his overall pissed-off mood.

Present

"Right" Chuck said huffily, feeling his mood turn dark again as his shoulders dropped. But then he heard Blair laugh at something Serena said across the room, and he couldn't help but brighten up as he stared at her pretty smile. She should do that more, he thought.

Dan noticed this, and was about to comment when Serena approached them.

"Hi" she said with a cautious smile, as thought she expected them to be angry.

"Hey" Dan said with a friendly grin, and that caused her to visibly relax as her smile widened. Chuck just nodded in acknowledgement.

"I just wanted to apologize about the party" Serena said sincerely. "I don't know why Carter does that, he's just-"

"An ass?" Chuck supplied.

"Protective" Serena finished, narrowing her eyes slightly at Chuck.

Dan appreciated her saying that, despite the constant "Carter owns you" reminder. She was such a lovely person. Was it weird that he was already imagining introducing her to his family? Probably, but he didn't care. She'd fit in well with the Humphrey's. His parents would be won over by her charm, and Jenny would idolize and adore her.

"It's okay" Dan replied softly. She turned back to look at him and saw a warmness in his brown eyes that made her hold back a blush. The music started again and she smiled before walking back to Carter, her partner for cotillion. Dan sighed.

"Why is she with that moron?" Dan asked.

Chuck shrugged. "They're not dating, but he seems to think he has some hold over her. Serena Van der Woodsen is too much of a loose canon to be tied down to anyone."

Dan turned to Chuck to give him an annoyed look, but was faced with the side of his head.

"You couldn't be more obvious in your infatuation with her too" Chuck said smugly. This was the first time they had discussed girls. Dan freaked out at first, wondering if he had been embarrassing himself. But then he realized that he wasn't the only one here with a crush.

"Mm, like you with Blair?" Dan said knowingly and was rewarded with a scowl from the seemingly heartless playboy.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Chuck muttered with a convincingly blank look. If Dan didn't know better, he would have believed it.

"Right...so do we get corsages for our partners? In the bathroom I overheard Nate Archibald mention that he picked out lilies for Blair's corsage" Dan asked.

"Blair likes peonies" Chuck said, and realized his mistake too late when Dan grinned at him. "Fuck off Humphrey" he said, before storming off and leaving Dan to chuckle to himself.

After Blair had finished from rehearsal, she returned home in a spirited mood. As she walked into the foyer of her penthouse, she overheard her parents arguing in the next room.

"How long?" Her mother asked in a cold yet tight voice.

"Eleanor, I-"

"How. Long?" she asked in a lethal tone.

"A few months, but I didn't...I never meant to-"

"Get out."

"Eleanor, please. I still care for you, and what about Blair? Think of her for a moment" Harold Waldorf pleaded.

"Don't you dare bring her into this. Were you thinking of her at all?"

"I...I love my daughter more than anything" he said brokenly.

It was silent for a moment, and then Blair was certain she heard crying. She had never heard her mother cry, and it was something that despite all their issues, broke Blair's heart to hear.

"If you care about her at all, you will put an end to all of this" Eleanor finally said, her voice wavering.

"You know I can't. I told you this because I can't live a lie."

More sobs.

"Then you will smile and fake it for her cotillion. You will not mess up one of the most important nights of her life" her mother finally said.

More silence, and then a sigh from her father.

"That's fair."

Blair felt a panic attack come over her, and she ran upstairs before her parents could discover her overhearing.

What the hell was going on?

Sunday night came fast for all of them.

Blair looked perfect in her dress designed by her mother as she was introduced to society, escorted by Nathaniel Archibald. But when they said daughter of Harold and Eleanor Waldorf, that was the crack in the perfection, even if Blair was the only one to know it. They were not the highly esteemed people that society believed them to be. Something was wrong.

It didn't help that Nate seemed even more distracted than usual, holding Blair as though she was a mere prop as they danced. Everything that Blair knew about her perfect life was on the precipice of total destruction.

About half-way through their 3rd dance, disaster struck.

"He's a thief" a man yelled out, and everyone looked to see Carter Baizen's father punch Nate's father to the ground. The room went silent in shock, and then whispers began to scatter across the room. Nate ran to help his father, pulling Mr. Baizen away but struggling as he put up a fight. Nate was forced to shove him a little, and it wasn't long before Carter stepped in angrily to help his own father.

Security escorted all four of them out not long after that.

"I'm sorry about that everyone, just a misunderstanding. Let the dancing resume" Lily Van der Woodsen said at the microphone in a freakishly calm voice. The music started up again, and Serena and Blair headed to one side of the room to try and figure out what had gone on between their two old friends and their parents, and to examine their now dateless situation.

Dan and Chuck's dates eventually ditched them, and they were relieved of their duties. They now stood near the bar area and watched the scene before them.

"Are all these events like that?" Dan asked in reference to the fight.

"Not usually with ones this prestigious" Chuck replied with an amused smile. "Perhaps attending wasn't such a boring idea after all."

Dan's eyes wandered over to Serena who seemed to be comforting a miserable Blair.

An idea.

"We should ask them to dance now" Dan murmured. Chuck followed Dan's line of sight and froze.

"No way."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Oh come on, this is perfect. We get to be the heroes of their cotillion" Dan said with a grin.

"Do you hear yourself Humphrey? We're not white knight material, like my father said" Chuck said firmly, but Dan didn't give in to it.

"Since when do you agree with your father? Come on" he said, and pulled him along as he walked over to Blair and Serena.

"This couldn't get any more horrific" Blair cried, throwing her head in her hands. Serena put her arm around her best friend, trying to comfort her.

"We may have lost our dates, but there is still a whole night ahead for us to dance with the many handsome boys surrounding us" Serena said with a wink.

"I have a boyfriend, in case you forgot, and even he seemed to only dance with me out of duty. What makes you think any of the other guys here would be any different?" Blair said sullenly, letting her guard down in front of her friend as the night weighed in on her. She couldn't believe how messed up things were getting. 24 hours ago she was on the road to a perfect night out. Now she wondered if the New York Times were even going to publish anything. This, combined with her situation with her parents was getting to be too much for her to handle.

"B, you're young, beautiful, and in an amazing dress designed by Eleanor Waldorf. A guy will ask you to dance in about ten sec-"

"Hi" Dan interrupted with a grin, suddenly appearing with Chuck standing quietly by his side. Serena beamed at Dan, pleasantly surprised by his appearance. Dan looked over at Chuck and gave him a pointed look.

"Would you like to dance?" Chuck asked Blair. She nodded shyly and took his offered hand, rolling her eyes at Serena's huge 'I-told-you-so' grin.

"My friend is besotted by your friend" Dan said to Serena once they were out of Chuck and Blair's ear shot.

"He's got good taste."

"So how about dancing with me, Miss Van der Woodsen?"

Serena bit her lip in a smile and nodded.

Dan and Serena talked about anything and everything as they danced. He was funny, and Serena loved it. She had resigned herself to the fact she was going to have a boring, 'proper' night, but Dan was making it fun.

"So you really are a kid that Mr Bass took in?" Serena asked in interest.

"Yeah, and trust me, I'm just as confused by his hospitality" he replied, loving the attention she was giving him. Things couldn't be going more perfectly.

Serena giggled in response to his honesty.

"So, what does Serena Van der Woodsen do for fun?" Dan asked, trying to get onto the subject of activities that they could do if he asked her out.

"Live my life" she said with a grin, and he chuckled at that.

"Sounds fun, mind if I join you some time?" Dan asked half-jokingly and Serena laughed again.

If Dan and Serena were loud as they danced, then Chuck and Blair were the complete opposite. The two brunettes moved silently, unaware of the picture that they made.

Chuck was quiet as he stared at Blair, taking in her breath-taking beauty and the feel of her waist in his hands. She seemed distracted, a broody look across her doll-like features. He wondered what was going on in that pretty head of hers. Chuck was secretly excited by this situation, and he was dying to talk to her, but he couldn't think of a single thing to say.

Blair's thoughts were on her own problems, and she barely registered who she was dancing with until it was too late.

The song ended, and she managed a small smile. Chuck noticed how her sad doe-eyes didn't match her mouth, and felt his heart sink at her unhappiness.

"Thank-you for the dance" she said weakly, before walking away.

Chuck's face fell, and he didn't notice Dan approach him cheerily.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Dan said happily, because he had gotten Serena's number.

"Never do that again" Chuck stated coldly, before walking away.

There you go folks :)

Just a thought: I know this is weird, but I always felt that Dan and Chuck could have been the same person had they been raised the same way. I read somewhere that after a personality evaluation, both characters were found to be the same type of personality. They should actually both be shy guys, and in a way they both are but they show it differently. I think if Dan had also been raised by Bart he'd probably be a lot like Chuck, and if Chuck had been raised by Rufus and Alison he'd probably be a lot like Dan. Nate was always the "normal" guy out of the 3 when you really think about it. Chuck and Dan were the unusual ones with weird hangups and strange life choices. I also loved their interactions in Season 5 because it was kind of like they were meeting half way as they moved in the opposite direction to where their characters started. They also really helped each other significantly. I wish they could have stayed good friends, but they kind of secretly did because Dan helped Chuck out against Bart in 6x09 with the speech.

Anyway, I'd love to know your thoughts on this chapter, the next one will come soon!