He has his breakfast on the balcony of the hotel dining room, with black sunglasses on, even though it's a cloudy day. Serena spots him and without a "good morning" or a kiss as she used to do just a day before, she sits next to him. He doesn't say anything also.

"So…" – Serena starts after a while. – "I guess you don't have to answer, but where were you last night?" – He takes a sip from his coffee and calmly replies.

"On the beach. I was laying on a deckchair, observing the sky…It will rain."

"Really?"- She asks a bit sarcastically.

"I might be a scumbag, but I didn't spend the night with her."

"I don't care if you did." – She sighs.

"Good. Because you and I both know perfectly well why we are forcing this…thing"

"Actually I don't" – Serena says. – "I'm here because I really care about you. And you are here, apparently because, I don't know…Well till yesterday, I could have sworn Blair started fading away from your head and heart."

"You don't love me Serena." – He replies.

"Will you take off those sunglasses, it's not even sunny!" – She snaps.

"You want to pretend. I thought Blair had warped logic but this…You and I are so done…You just can't stand to be alone. I guess I kind of got into that phase too, you know…after Blair and Chuck…"

"I can not even forget the stupid reaction you had when she told us…" – Serena looks away.

"You knew the terms Serena. I rushed and made mistakes, tried to force myself to think that I could, but…I can't be with you."

"Of course you can" – She says calmly. – "But you don't want to. And after this, I'm not sure either. I'm not even jealous. I'm just sad." – The waiter brings her the usual breakfast she has for the entire week they are there. She takes the fork and leaves it lifelessly.

"You're right" – He agrees.

"I saw your face yesterday, when she arrived, and I knew it. I thought…He's with me just to be near her. And he'll wait, he'll lurk till the time is right. After all Rufus is your father."

Dan doesn't say anything after that. He lets her words sink in and keeps drinking his coffee calmly as the clouds are getting darker and heavier and the breeze slowly turns into a wind.

He spots Blair walking down the beach, holding her long summer dress in one and her sandals in another hand. She has braided her hair and has a deep green silky scarf tied on the top of her head. He observes her for a moment. Everything on her is perfect. The brown dress made from a very delicate material, her scarf, her braid, her aristocratic white skin. She lost weight he thinks, noticing her collar bones sticking out. He stands up from the table on the terrace and walks down the stairs that lead to the beach. Blair is sitting on the deckchair, and even though the sun is nowhere to be seen, she applies a sunscreen.

"You can never be too careful" – He says with a smile. She doesn't respond, just finishes applying the sunscreen, puts on her big Audrey style vintage brown sunglasses and rests her back on the prop of the deckchair. – "I'm sorry about last night." – He continues. – "It's just…You know already." – He stutters. Still no reaction. Her face is deadly serious, she seems as she didn't even hear him. – "You know, Serena said that I am with her so I can be near you. And although it sounds pathetic it might be somewhat true. I know everything is over now…" – He lets himself sit by her feet and she doesn't even move to make spot for him. He thinks it's a good sign. He knows that when Blair is pissed she would make him feel like the ultimate piece of crap. She keeps ignoring him. He sits there by her, staring to the sand and the sea shells in front of him. After a long pause and no other sound but the waves, Blair opens her mouth.

"I'm not the one you should apologize to" – He turns towards her. – "If I were Serena, I'd made you suffer for this. I'd thrown your luggage out of the window, or slapped you…"

"Why didn't you do that to your husband?" - He can see her rolling her eyes underneath the sunglasses.

"I was just waiting for you to bring that up!" – She signs, and the awaited sassy line is missing. - "There are some situations where even Blair Waldorf acts like a sissy."

"Wow. You…said sissy" – He smiles. She doesn't.

"I said what you wanted to hear last night. You were right about many things, now can you please give me a break" – She raises her voice.

"I'm sorry." – He stands up from the deckchair.

"Where are you going?" – She asks.

"Well I annoy you apparently, so…"

"Yeah…Go and apologize to Serena for last night" – She adds with a slightly commanding tone as she used to make him do things against his will.

"Oh yeah about that…" – He says. – "Don't tell me what to do! And for once stop trying to fix me and Serena up. It doesn't work for years, it didn't work that Valentine's Day and for sure it won't work now" – And he leaves her with awoken butterflies in her stomach when she remembers that Valentine's Day.

The three of them are spending the day in different parts of the resort. Blair sits at the beach alone, with few older people who read and enjoy the wind and the clouds. Dan gets a new room, where he idles on the balcony, reading a newspaper and Serena goes to the town with her new friends and buys tones of clothes she doesn't need.

In the evening Blair prepares herself to get downstairs when she opens the door and Chuck is standing in front of her.

"What are you doing, Blair?" – He asks with quiet but sharp tone.

Dan has his second coffee that evening forcing himself to drink it, feeling scared that if he falls asleep he might miss things, like Blair leaving the hotel. He sits alone in the corner, while outside the rain finally started pouring. Serena arrives, wearing new dress, yellow one that makes a beautiful contrast with her tanned skin and her blond hair. She truly is a vision and everyone in the dining room is staring at her. Dan keeps his eyes on the cup of coffee.

"Hey" – She smiles radiantly as she sits down. – "Where's Blair?" –She asks. Dan shrugs. – "Oh…" – Serena doesn't lose the annoying forced smile. – "I thought you moved to her room"

"I didn't" – Dan mumbles.

"Interesting" – She smiles and orders a glass of white wine when the waiter comes to their table.

They keep sitting in silence, when Blair and Chuck show at the double door, Blair resting her hand over his forearm. Serena smiles victoriously and Dan's jaw slightly drops.

"That face" – Serena says, as they are both observing the couple sitting down on a table on the other side of the room.

"What?" –Dan asks, pushing the coffee aside.

"Your jaw dropped again. You seem surprised when you really shouldn't" – She says.

"I will always be! She's smart and intuitive and has the sharpest mind and she knows that this is a bad choice, yet…"

"Yet what, Dan? What makes you think that you are a better man than Chuck? You also cheated, schemed, lied…" – He listens partially and focuses on Blair.

"So you decided to just come over, Hawaii? Blair you hate the beach, unless it's the Hapmtons or South France." – Chuck mumbles, when the waiter serves them sea fruits and wine. Blair doesn't even pick the fork.

"I'm so tired" – She says quietly. – "Did you get the documents?" – She asks.

"I will not sign that. What's got into you Blair?"

"I'm not happy" – She simply says.

"How can you not be happy? Is this because I didn't make it coming home for Christmas Eve?" – He asks with a cynical voice.

"I am too young to be married, Chuck. Not until the other day, I realized this. I have missed so many things I wanted to do. My life turned into a rush. I jumped from one bad marriage to another in less than couple of years. I'm tired. I need some alone time" – She says.

"I am giving you some alone time…" Chuck bites his tongue the moment he says that. – "You need more time with me" – He tries to fix the damage.

"I need to keep defining myself, Chuck. I've become what my mother and I always despised. A wifey. Yes, I do work but it's not what I wanted for myself."

"Let's go, a private jet is waiting for us…" – Chuck says as he finishes his glass of wine, irritating her even more because he doesn't even care what she says.

"As we speak, Dorota is taking my things from our penthouse. Even if I go back to New York now, I'm going home. My home"

"You thought, that she came here, a bit sad because the love of her life missed a plane to come home for Christmas and that bam…she'd jump into your arms" – Serena giggles, slightly tipsy.

"No, it's Blair we're talking about. She doesn't jump!" – He points out. - "The only one she'd do that for would be that creature over there, but…"

"Wake up, Dan!" – Serena says a bit louder and an older couple near them looks at her.

"You know what? If I were you, I'd rather die than to be with someone like me." – He shuts her up and she knows exactly what he means. They both know that Blair will always be there even when she won't.

"Serena told me, you were groping with Humphrey the other night, is that true?" – He asks with a face so well known, a face that says more than any humiliating word.

"I don't understand where this goes" – She looks away.

"It's cheating Blair. If I sign those papers, I might destroy you and you will get nothing"

"Do I actually have anything now?" – She replies with a sassy tone. – "We hugged, as old friends."

"I don't think it was a friendly hug" – Chuck says. – "That Humphreak never got over you. And it would be really mean even from you, to give him false hope."

Blair stares into her husband's eyes and in that second she can not believe that she said yes to him. She realizes that all she really wants is to be free, Chuck free, her old self free, just free.

"After all, you know that if you go and sleep with him now, get delusional again that you and him might work because you like the same crap, sooner or later he'd sleep with your friend. It's who he is. It's who she is. It will always be that way. I'm the only one who will prefer you over Serena till the day I die" – He says that with convincing voice which causes the worst nausea in Blair's guts and she stands up and heads to the bathroom.

"Are you ok?" – Serena asks her, when she gets out of the cabin.

"Yes, I think their bottled water damaged my stomach" – She says. – "Why did you tell Chuck, where I was?" – Blair asks as she washes her mouth.

"I was worried about you" –Serena says and pets her face.

"And Dan and I groped? Really?"

"Blair, please" – Serena says quietly. – "If you ever cared about Chuck…if you ever cared about me…Please, please don't stay here." – Blair looks at her incredulously. – "If he is not seeing you, he'll forget about you. We may never work things out, but…You love Chuck and I don't think I'll be able to see you and Dan together again."

"Wow" – Blair blinks fast not believing how easily Serena said those words. – "I knew you were selfish…Would you do this if I have asked you the same when we were kids, and you stole Nate from me?" Serena makes one of her innocent faces and Blair already knows that the double standards were reserved for the blond since the day she was born. – "And what if I don't leave? What if I can't help you this time, Serena? What if I actually want to be with Dan?" - She feels nauseated again and walks into the cabin and vomits.

A knock on her door around three in the morning wakes her up from a bad dream.

"Thank god, I thought you left" – He smiles, trying to steady his breathing.

"It's three AM, I was asleep" – She says.

"Is Chuck here?" – He asks.

"What do you want Dan?"

"Please tell me you aren't going back home with him?" – The circles under his eyes make him look even more vulnerable than she remembers and the tone in his voice, the tiny hope that was making his tone always soothing and pleasant for the ears stabs her ears and her heart.

"Dan" – She ties the belt from her silky robe around her tiny waist. – "He's my husband. I don't know what you expected but…It was a tiny crises and I will try to save my marriage." – She says quietly. His eyes are glued on the floor and he's afraid that if he lifts them and looks at her, he might actually start crying.

"I understand" – He mumbles. – "I'm sorry for bothering you…"

And when she blinks he's gone. Her phone rings and it makes her unglue from the doorstep.

"Yes?" – She says quietly.

"I signed it" – Chuck says on the other side. – "You're free"

She should be happy because the heavy burden from her chest is gone, but suddenly a new one replaces it. She knows perfectly well that Serena would never ever do such a thing for her. As a matter of fact she would do the complete opposite, as she always did. But even now when she has her chance, she can't and won't do the same thing.

She turns off the lights as she feels the tears coming and with her last atoms of strength and will she refuses to call Dan. The following day there is no sigh of Dan and Serena in the resort. The concierge tells her they both checked out early in the morning.

tbc