Gossip Girl

. . .

Dominating the social calendar is an objective for any veteran Upper East Sider, but in Lily Van Der Woodsen's case looks like a simple brunch or gala for an endangered species wouldn't suffice – you're cordially invited to the parole party of the century, I've already got my outfit Lily,

Xoxo Gossip Girl

. . .

"Are you sure you want to do this, put yourself out there in the full glare of the media?" Eric quizzed as he helped arrange the various decorative drapes that would be adorning the apartment, his mother had at first seemed ashamed, then angry, then contented and then bored with her parole but he had never expected her to use it as a launch-pad to renew her otherwise limp social life. Most of the women of the Upper East Side had tried and subsequently failed to profit from Lily's extended leave of absence, Anne Archibald foremost among them had attempted to usurp Lily's rightful place on top. Luckily that little coup had failed to materialize into anything potent and Lily's traditional allies had rallied around, Eric had even seen Anne's name on the Guest List so clearly Lily was intending on drawing up peace accords.

"Darling either I put it out there on my terms or some so-called journalist cooks up a story for the tabloids about it and makes the problem ten times worse," Lily stated simply as she admired the quality of the fabric in the drapes, "it's going to be business as usual – tonight will go off like a hitch and things will go back to how they used to be – it'll be like I never left." Eric somehow doubted his mother's optimism but decided against mentioning it to her in case he received an acid-tongued rebuke from her.

He shrugged, "I guess I'm just worried mom, you've been locked up here for a while, I just thought you might want it to be low key, avoid the glare being put on the fact that you've been under house arrest," he could see a glare beginning as his mother's face started to crease, "but it isn't my call to make – as long as you're happy. Just one thing though – would you mind if I invited someone tonight?" Lily took her glasses of and grinned broadly. "Don't look so surprised." Eric snapped.

"I'm just pleased," Lily enthused, "to be honest since Jonathon I had worried about you a little but it's good to know that you're dating, do I know him? Is he from a good family – it would be so nice if you did better than Serena's latest run of boys." She remarked disparagingly, though Lily might have relaxed her ambitions for her children's future relationships she had long harboured hopes that one of them would marry well, she just wouldn't have predicted Eric.

"Relatively," he replied elusively, "Chuck introduced us actually; I just wanted to make sure that you were okay with it?"

Lily frowned mildly, not that she didn't trust Charles's judgement but something about his particular relationship history didn't inspire confidence for his viability as matchmaker, she removed herself of the thought immediately – Eric seemed happy and he could judge for himself what he wanted: most of the time.

"By all means," she said warmly, "so how were the Hampton's – is that were you two met?"

Eric grinned mildly, "They were interesting, it was good to get away from the City, quite an eye-opener actually, but don't worry I brought Dan back in one piece," he promised, prompting a rare laugh from Lily, "he's been acting a little strangely the past few days but I guess he's just a little anxious…this whole exposé thing is…putting a lot of people on edge, he's probably worried he's going to come across as Serena's groupie."

"Well he was at first," Lily reminded harshly, "but thankfully they moved past that phase in their relationship, I must admit even I'm mildly intrigued by it, and pensive – I have a feeling that some of Serena's antics might finally catch up with her. It's true that she hasn't exactly kept her indiscretions…behind closed doors but the slightest tweaking of events and things could become…immeasurably worse…but we'll just have to cross this bridge when we come to it," Lily paused a moment – obviously weighing up how to change conversation, "which shade of magenta do you like?" Lily asked indicating the drapes arranged before them, Eric gestured without looking – he was thinking about the exposé now – in only a few hours it would hit general release and then there would be no hiding place, for anyone.

. . .

She strolled into the dressing room slowly – it was the cavernous private type that allowed an entire judging panel to sit-in on wardrobe decisions – not that Blair needed that, she was attended by Dorotha who stood pensively at the sidelines, flitching every time Blair turned as though she was worried she was about to receive a storm of verbal abuse and one of the attendants who stood beside the dress rack offering her various ones.

The current one was a Vivienne Westwood, one-shouldered, indigo-coloured dress – one of Blair's preferred colours, Serena could see Blair admiring herself in the mirror but she somehow looked unhappy with her enviably slim form – as though she was finding the tiniest of imperfections in a sea of glorious beauty. Serena knew Blair was a perfectionist – she always had been since their days at Constance but this was something else, Blair was actively seeking out flaws in herself that simply weren't there, perhaps she'd just been going at it too long.

"You look beautiful," Serena declared as she strode into the room, she was embracing the summery weather, having chosen a paisley jumpsuit in magenta and jade, Blair turned to her grinning broadly and the two embraced and then drew apart, "how many have you tried on so far?"

"Fourteen," Blair commented drily, smiling, "unfortunately," she cast a reproachful look towards the attendant, "there doesn't seem to be anything that's quite…me."

Serena crossed the room to the rack and walked the length of it, admiring each individual dress and then swivelled back on her heels to face Blair, "All of these dresses are you – isn't there one you like?"

"I like them all, I chose them," Blair clued up, "but I'm a soon-to-be Princess now S and simply wearing what I like won't cut it – I have to look gorgeous: I have to outshine even you. And finding something that would have done for me a year ago simply won't do." She emphasized to the attendant who disappeared, obviously on the hunt for more dresses. "So California with Cece was a blast this summer?"

Serena laughed, "It was…interesting, I actually did some screenwriting which was pretty fun – so how was Monaco, all champagne and polo matches right?"

Blair produced a fake laugh that Serena recognized immediately as the Waldorf façade – when feeling unhappy or downtrodden Blair would close down her emotions, shutting herself down and instead produce emotions that were both unconvincing and half-hearted. Blair moved to the rack and began perusing dresses and then turned back to Serena.

"Not exactly," she turned back to the dresses, "I spent two glorious weeks at the start of summer with Louis – then it emerged that I couldn't use a telephone because that wouldn't fit in with Princess Sophie's preparations for a Princess to be and then to add insult to injury Louis spent the whole of summer travelling around Europe making friends with Royals and the Social Elite while I was only allowed out of the Palace when Princess Sophie wanted me to be free."

Serena's face creased in puzzlement, "But I thought this was what you wanted? That was why you didn't choose Chuck?"

"This isn't about Chuck," she snapped quickly, "I'm just…I'm not happy with Louis anymore…I think the spark died…or it's dimming, he was supposed to come on this trip and we were supposed to make things up and fall madly in love again. But he isn't here and I feel like I'm drifting further apart from him – and turns out that once I find the dress I'm flying home one-way, I won't be able to come back." Blair said in a curiously understated manner for someone who loved and thrived on the Upper East Side – it had been her home, her kingdom and her playground all at once for her entire life, and now she was giving it up to be with someone it was rapidly becoming clear was not the right man for her.

"Well you can't go through with it," Serena declared forcefully, "Blair if you don't love him then it'd just fall apart six months down the line, even if your love isn't there you owe it to Louis to tell him how you feel now."

Blair shook her head vehemently, "It's too late – I accepted his marriage proposal, nobody's broken of a Royal Engagement since…since ever S," the attendant returned with a fresh rack of dresses and Blair glared at her, "I hope these are my size, this one is clearly too small." She declared as she circled the dresses, tracing each with her hand.

"They are the size that you requested Miss Waldorf," the attendant replied – it was the closest someone like that could come to shooting back at Blair – it was a thinly veiled insult but Blair picked up on it and merely fixed her with an icy glare.

Serena looked at her watch and frowned, "Look I have to get back to my Mom's to get ready for tonight but we'll talk okay? Tonight?" Blair nodded absent-mindedly as Serena left her alone with the dresses. She couldn't keep this charade up with Serena – people would start noticing soon enough and she would need Serena on side, not distracted by the insult of not being told as soon as Blair found out about her pregnancy. And then there was Chuck.

. . .

"That's…intense," Nate said as he sipped at his Scotch, around them Lily's party was buzzing with life as the good, the bad and the ugly of the Upper East Side gossiped, drank and danced the night away – all under Lily's imperious gaze – for all intents and purposes the nature balance had been restored to the City, "so I mean do you think she'd leave him?"

"I don't think it's as simple as that," Serena sighed, "she's got it into her head that she can't leave Louis and that it's better that she tries to make it work with him…I just think she's heading for a fall but…it's Blair…she doesn't really like relationship advice," she cut Nate off before he remarked back, "and I'm hardly the person to give it to her."

He nodded sipping at his drink as the elevator chimed and he spotted Chuck sweep into the room, had anyone seen Chuck a few days earlier they wouldn't have associated this refined, dashing gentlemen with a drug-abusing party animal that had been travelling South-East Asia for most of the summer dining on the delights that the Orient had to offer. Nate shuck hands and Serena pecked him on the cheek, she stifled a laugh as she thought about how mature they were – a few years ago they would never have greeted so formally…it was a testament of how far they'd come over the five years since Serena had returned to the City.

"You get your business done man?" Nate quizzed.

Chuck nodded, "The greater part, unfortunately I had to rearrange my last appointment so I wouldn't miss the start of the party," he scanned the Party – the Apartment was densely packed with people, finding someone would have been difficult at a normal soiree but this was after all no ordinary soiree and Lily had flown in nearly her entire phonebook, "you haven't seen Eric have you?"

Serena shook her head, "I think he was meeting someone first."

"Of course," Chuck said knowingly and Nate cocked an eyebrow inquisitively, he plucked a Scotch of a tray as a Waiter swept past him and sipped at it, "how was Blair?"

"She was jet-lagged and dealing with incompetent staff," she addressed icily as she swept into a room that Serena hadn't seen her try on at the store – naturally she look stunning, having paired the long dress with a simple clutch and having worn her hair up to appear every inch the sophisticated Royal-to-be, she kissed Chuck awkwardly on the cheek, accepted a kiss of Nate and a hug of Serena, "oh is that Penelope? I think it is – excuse me." She said, exiting quickly. Chuck watched her go and Serena clocked the look – Chuck was in love, or at least still harbouring designs on a future with Blair. The elevator chimed again drawing her attention and Serena grinned excitedly as Eric entered on the arm of a guy that impressed Serena, he was broad-shouldered, blonde, tanned and gorgeous. He wasn't exactly what she'd have expected considering Eric's relationship history, she walked over to meet Eric.

"So whose this?" she enthused.

Eric smirked, "This is Carlton Wessex, we met in the Hampton's," he introduced, Serena paused a moment – Wessex, she recalled the name from somewhere, Eric eyed up Chuck as he came forward, "Carlton this is my sister Serena and my step-brother-"

"-Chuck Bass," Chuck greeted, shaking Carlton's hand, "Eric could I borrow you for a couple of minutes?" Eric nodded certainly and followed Chuck off deeper into the throng of people, Carlton seemed to fade back into the crowd and Serena found herself alone with Nate again, she'd had the little voice of girlish excitement in the back of her head all day, talking about the possibilities of her getting back together with Nate, talking about her underlying feelings for him…talking about her lack of feelings for Dan. Though she had dated Dan first her feelings toward him had turned more into the brotherly kind than the boyfriend kind, with Nate there had always been chemistry – a spark, something that just made them click. Perhaps that was what her subconscious was bringing to the fore again, now that they were back in the City again, and single.

"Maybe we should go talk somewhere more private?" Nate suggested and Serena nodded in assent, following him to her bedroom and shutting the door behind her as they went, in Nate turned toward her and Serena could see from his face that he was just as nervous as she was – she didn't know why but she felt like a little girl again, waiting to see if the boy she liked would ask her out or if she was going to be left heartbroken. It sounded ridiculous considering her past but she was just as nervy – especially when it came to visiting to past relationships – as anyone else, she could just put on a confident front when she needed to or when she wanted to.

"Well…" she began uncertainly, "I like you…I really do Nate, I mean we're in the City and we're single and things have just…become clearer, there's always been something between us, and maybe it's just time that we accepted that – so it didn't workout first time around, we're older now and we've both matured a lot…I…I think we should start going out."

Nate didn't say anything but just moved closer to her and tilted his head a little, pressing his lips to hers before making the kiss more passionate as Serena engaged in the kiss, giving him back just as much passion as she felt flooding into her, and then she broke apart as an arc of light was cast into the room and she heard Jenny snigger and then back out of the room awkwardly. Jenny always had to ruin things when something good came along for her.

. . .

"Oh," she said, clutching her chest as she narrowly avoided walking into Eric, "you scared me!"

"You might be staying in my sister's room," Eric stated coldly, "and my Mom might have taken you back in Jenny, but as far as I'm concerned you still aren't a part of this family, and I don't even know why she invited you back to the City."

Jenny groaned, "Look I'm only back for this week and then I'm gone from everyone's lives again, my Dad and Lily just wanted us all together, I don't care if you don't accept me Eric, if you still think I have a vendetta against Serena and Blair and the others then you can carry on deluding yourself…I got rid of those feelings a long time ago, this City is poisonous and for a time it sucked me in…this world changed me Eric – it made me into a horrible person. I've moved past it, I'm on the outside now, looking in, and I can see just what a depraved mess this is."

Jenny went to move past him but Eric grabbed her by the arm, "What were you doing at that Publisher's this morning?" Jenny shook of his arm and ignored him striding away – she wasn't answerable to Eric and she didn't need to have his acid-tongued insults directed at her, he wasn't worth her time and he had clearly been fully absorbed by the world with delusions of grandeur, sooner or later he'd realize that he would have to live his life in the shadow of an elder sibling and he would come to the same conclusions she had – that the Upper East Side wasn't where he belonged, he was so much more than just another Nate or another Chuck.

He would realize, someday.

. . .

"I knew it was you," Blair snapped as she drew level with Georgina, steering her away from the young, impressionable daughters of some of the older women attending the Party – best to not let Georgina get her claws into them when they were young, "what the hell do you think you're doing here? You weren't invited, Serena hates you and I'm fairly sure that if Lily knew you were here she'd have you thrown out."

"You aren't the only one with connections Blair," Georgina declared boldly, making eye-contact with a waiter on the other side of the Apartment who winked back at her, "and how could I miss Lily's getting out Party?"

Blair glared at her, "You know Georgina before as Queen of the Upper East Side I could just enforce a blockade of you, but now that I'm about to marry a Prince I could probably have a lot worse done to you – so why don't you just go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under and take whatever stupid plan you had for tonight with you, the Van Der Woodsen's have been through enough." Georgina sniggered and then stifled it.

"Oh the Van Der Woodsen's are going to make trouble enough for themselves," Georgina grinned as she cast her head towards the elevator as an auburn-haired girl entered, and looked around a few times before blending into the crowd, "don't you just love sibling rivalry?" Blair had however lost attention as tones rang out across the room and everyone in the room under the age of twenty-five dipped their heads to their cell-phones.

. . .

This just in – my biggest scoop of the year comes from one of my most frequent sources, our literary genius has a name – Jenny Humphrey – and her novel has set out to name and shame,

It was a risky gamble little J, but didn't anyone ever tell you, if you play with

Fire you're only going to get burned,

Xoxo Gossip Girl.

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Hope you liked Chapter 4,

Reviews appreciated and welcome,

Chapter 5 up soon,

Acrobat

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