A/N: I know I said this story was based on Scandal, but the election rigging is the only similarity. Other than that it's entirely different. Hope you enjoy!

xoxo Gia

Dan slipped the knife into his pocket and took a step back, letting Blair turn the corner to greet their intruder. He swallowed when he saw Governor Archibald approaching them, brow furrowed.

"I've been looking all over for you," he said quietly, "Who is this?" The Governor's hand gestured to Dan.

Blair cleared her throat, straightening her trembling posture. In a moment of impulse, she slid an arm around Dan's waist and grinned. "This is my boyfriend, Daniel."

Dan felt incredibly nervous as he watched the Governor try to read Blair's gaze, as if he was searching for dishonesty. He didn't know their relationship, but it appeared Archibald had at least a few trust issues. Dan's pulse was still racing under his skin as he spoke;

"Humphrey. Dan Humphrey," He extended his hand, "I voted for you in the last election."

Nate narrowed his eyes suspiciously before taking Dan's hand. "Nate Archibald," he looked to Blair again, "What are you doing back here?"

"Just sharing a private moment," she shrugged sweetly. Dan wanted to laugh. "Surely you understand."

Nate nodded, rather hesitantly, and lead them back down the hallway. When they entered the ballroom, Nate trailed off to talk to his grandfather. Blair moved to walk away but Dan grabbed her wrist, yanking her back to him.

"Let's talk," he whispered, nodding to the dance floor. She took his hand as an arm wrapped around her waist. His fingers grazed the bare skin of her back and he felt her shiver against him. Dan met her eyes and smiled. "Let me guess, Governor's mistress?"

Blair narrowed her eyes at him, "Don't be ridiculous."

She really was beautiful. It was sort of distracting while he was trying to interrogate her (and intimidate her). One of her hands moved to his waistband but Dan caught it immediately.

"Don't get handsy, Waldorf" he raised a brow. "The knife is mine now."

Blair let out a frustrated sigh and moved closer to him, her shoulders relaxed slightly. He couldn't stop his gaze from flickering over her mouth. She licked her lips carefully and Dan wanted nothing more than to run his own tongue over the same path. He had never found himself so intensely drawn to someone. Aside from Georgina, who would tear off his clothes the moment they completed a mission. Anything further than physical intimacy was a thought he had to shake out of his head.

"Who's your superior?" He asked, in the midst of a heavy silence.

Blair glanced over her shoulder before continuing the conversation. "I could've killed you today. I should have killed you."

"But you didn't."

She rolled her eyes. "But I should have."

Dan released her for a moment to spin her on the middle of the dance floor and she spun back into his arms. His hands gripped her hips tightly and felt something hard digging into this leg. As they moved across the floor he carefully pushed the slit of her dress aside and was greeted with his Walther PPK hooked in her garter.

Blair started to pull away as Dan pulled her closer, his other hand moving to the gun.

"I'll be taking this back," he mumbled against her ear, "Sexy hiding place."

Blair let out a huff of frustration as all of her defenses were being taken from her. Dan realized that at this point it wasn't even a fair fight. All he had to do was get her alone and he could fire a clear shot.

"You don't get it, do you?" She asked quietly.

Dan looked at her, amused but silent.

"You just follow Lily's orders. You never ask why. You never ask who you're hurting and you never ask who you're protecting."

"Blair-" He tried to cut her off, but she persisted.

"You're not a spy, Dan. You're a hitman."

Dan rolled his eyes, a small laugh escaping him, "Oh, come on. Just because I killed your lover Bart Bass doesn't mean that I'm-"

She cut him off again, grabbing his lapel firmly and yanking him down, "You don't know anything about the Basses."

He placed a hand gently on the side of her face, brushing away a few strands of hair. Her eyes were so cold, relentless.

"I know enough," he said softly, smiling.

Dan slipped the knife out of his pocket and pressed the metal firmly against the silk of her dress, digging it into her hip bone.

"What if you're right?" He asked, using the blade to push the slit of her dress aside. "What if I am a hitman?" She gasped when she felt the cool metal skating over her bare skin. A strangled noise escaped her throat when he rested the sharp tip against her rib cage.

"Should I go deeper?" He asked, voice gravelly.

Blair swallowed hard, staring back at him. The Governor's security was starting to notice him, exchanging glances. A moment later Dan flicked the knife into his sleeve and kissed the corner of Blair's mouth. He then excused himself from the ballroom and hurried out to the parking ramp.

xx

Dan stayed up for hours that night, studying Blair's file. His desk was covered in papers as he tried to connect the dots. Where did her loyalty to Bart Bass come from? She couldn't have been born into corruption.

He was losing steam, about to fall asleep, when a word caught his eye on one of the reports.

Engaged.

The report said she had been engaged for three years before she began working for Bass Agency. The report left out who her betrothed was.

Dan reached for his phone and dialed the only person who could find him the answer.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding," Eric's voice came through the speaker, groggy, "The sun will be up in an hour."

Dan ignored him, as he often did. His job always came first. "Who was Waldorf engaged to?"

"Nope, this can wait," Eric said. Dan could picture the eye roll already.

"It really can't. I'm about to lose my mind if I can't figure this out."

Eric sighed then, and Dan could hear him rustling for his computer.

"Always with the dramatics," he said softly.

The clicking of a keyboard filled the silence as he waited for a response. What felt like hours went by before Eric finally picked the phone up again.

"She was engaged to Charles Bass for three years, until he was assassinated in 2011. He was shot accidentally. The hit was on Bart Bass. He went straight to Intensive Care and died the next day from internal bleeding of the brain."

Dan muttered a thank you and hung up. He felt sick to his stomach. His first thought was Lily. It was clear Blair had a vendetta against her, and now the reasoning made it seem all the more plausible.

But ISIS agents never made mistakes. Carter was the agency sniper, and he had never missed a shot in his entire career. He would never do something as careless as shoot Bart's son by mistake.

Blair's word, hitman, was starting to ring truer and truer. He never asked Lily why he was ordered to kill Bart Bass, because he was trained to never question orders.

But now it was starting to feel like they killed a lot more than they saved.

Dan opened his computer and searched the ISIS image database with the keywords "Waldorf and Bass."

Hundreds of pictures had been collected over the years, presumably as soon as Blair became a threat to the agency. There were the candid shots of her on security footage infiltrating ISIS missions, but Dan scrolled further. He stopped when he arrived at the year 2008. He had seen pictures of Charles Bass before in newspapers and magazines after he was killed. Dan was always surprised there were no pictures of him in Bart's room the night that Dan murdered him.

But these photos were different, because of the beautiful, happy, person standing next to him, a glimmering ring on her third finger.

Blair.

And the first emotion he felt was sadness.