Author's Note: I just felt like picking this up again. Nothing special, but I do have a plan for how it's going to end. Happy Holidays and I hope you enjoy!
A year and a half later
A lot had changed since the last time he saw her at the bar. Blair had refused to see him again after that. He almost understood. It was probably too much for her; she didn't want to be hurt or whatever. But why did she have to hug him like that and leave him with the scent of her hair and the memory of her crying for the rest of his life? She made him love her more and then just left him heartbroken.
Meredith had sent him pictures of the wedding. Blair looked beautiful and almost as happy as he'd ever seen her. She had been married in Paris at a gorgeous ceremony with about three hundred guests. He was just happy it hadn't been at St. Patrick's because that would have been too much. Meredith wasn't able to go to the reception though because she was too tired. At the time she was eight months pregnant with their daughter, Grace.
Grace was perfect in every way, or as much as he could tell from the total of five days he had spent with her. Meredith was overwhelmed but would never admit it and never ceased to send him care packages every week with heart shaped cookies and the shampoo he used.
He wanted to be happy, he really did. He was alive, he had a beautiful baby girl, and his perfect, blonde wife loved him enough to bake for him. He should have been happy, but he wasn't.
Nate had expected war to be exciting, all consuming, and well for lack of better words- cool. What he actually went through was nothing close. It was boring and he learned not to make friends because there was no certainty of them being around for too long.
With all the time on his hands he had little to do, but think. He realized that if he could turn back time he would change everything. He would have never slept with Serena, never broken up with Blair after finding out about Chuck and her, maybe gone to UCLA or some other place in California for college, or just do anything other than listen to his Grandfather.
He didn't always think about Blair but she definitely concentrated most of his thoughts. Sometimes he schemed up ways to get her back, other times he just remembered her various faces. But what he never really thought of doing was calling her.
Then one day he did. There wasn't any immediate reasons why, he just felt like it was time. He wanted to hear her voice and know that she was okay. He dialed her number from memory and held his breath while his phone read. One rings, two rings, three, four, five. And finally when he lost all hope he held her voice.
"Hi, who is this?" She seemed peaceful if not a little tired. It was probably about three o'clock in the morning in New York.
"Blair? It's me." The second he said it he felt stupid. Maybe she didn't even remember his voice or maybe she just didn't care.
The he realized he did hear something. She was crying. Not dramatic, loud sobs but softly. He no longer knew what to do, so he just went to the main reason he called. "Are you happy, Blair?
And the sobs began to grow louder and he heard to close the door, leaving the room. "No, Nate, not at all. I mean I made assistant partner and we moved into a bigger apartment and we have this dog, but I'm just not happy…"
There's a silence but it's thoughtful instead of awkward. "I want to see you." Nate says.
"I just can't leave Nate. I'm married now and where would we go?"
"I get a three day leave in a couple of months. We should go to Rome. I've never been and we can figure stuff out."
"Nate, I… I… when exactly did you say you had leave?"
He got off the plane and straight into the arrival section. He made sure he packed everything he needed into a carry- on so he could spend as much time with Blair as he could.
At first he doesn't see her. But then he does and his whole world stops. She's more gorgeous than he remembers, maybe she's gained some weight in all the right places, maybe her hair's a little lighter, or maybe he's just tried to downplay her beauty so he can get over her.
She's in a yellow dress with black detail and black heels. She's nervously tapping her feet, looking around to see if Nate's here yet. He knows that this is just another moment he'll always remember; this single image will flash before his eyes when he's dying.
Then their eyes meet and she starts running to him, either unaware or uncaring of everyone's eyes on her. She hugs him and doesn't let go. Her hair smells the same and he just thinks it's a continuation of that last night they were together. She looks up and simply says, "I missed you and I'm really happy you're not dead"
