A/N: So it's been a year since I've updated this story and I am so sorry about that. Unbelievably though I still get alerts for it and therefore I'm determined to give it another go as I hate it when a story I am reading is abandoned. It's strange writing this now as I began writing it at a time when the relationship Dan and Blair have on the show now had barely begun. When reading this therefore please bear in mind that in this universe Dan left the Upper East Side at the end of Season 3. Although it is no excuse that is part of the reason I have struggled with this story. Their relationship on the show has developed so beautifully that I find myself struggling to disregard all of that but I have to in order for this story to work. That led to the most terrible case of writer's block. I'd be very grateful to hear if anyone still has the slightest interest in reading this. Although I know I have a cheek asking for reviews after all this time, I'd love to hear from you.
Dan and Blair had been talking for almost an hour without really touching on anything of any importance. For this Dan was actually grateful. It was one of the strangest experiences of his life to be sitting here with this girl; a girl he had genuinely believed would stay firmly in his past.
Despite that there was something oddly pleasant about speaking to someone who had actually known the person he used to be. It had been a relief to leave the Upper East Side behind, but he did sometimes feel like he had lost a part of himself in the process. There was really no-one in his life now who had known the boy he had once been and in many ways he felt that was a very artificial situation.
As they sat there discussing books and movies, it was refreshing to have someone call him on it when he veered towards the pretentious. Blair had never been one to pull her punches and although this seemed to be a softer version of the Blair he had once known she was still more than capable of matching him in any debate.
As time went on and they sparked off of each other, he could see her coming to life before his eyes. It actually almost gave him a sense of pride that he was bringing this out in her. It was nice to see that part of the old Blair was still there beneath the unmistakable veneer of slight melancholy that she now wore.
He was very aware of the fact that neither of them had mentioned anything about their previous lives or what had brought them to London. He certainly didn't want to upset her again as he had unintentionally done earlier so, for the time being at least, he was perfectly content to leave the past locked up untouched.
He knew however that if he was planning on keeping her in his life there was one big topic that he would need to introduce. It just seemed awkward to suddenly jump into something real when they were steadfastly avoiding anything of importance.
For her part Blair was surprised by how much she was enjoying Dan's company. For a while before he had disappeared, there had been a few moments that had almost felt like the beginnings of a friendship between them. Then overnight he had vanished and as much as she had hated to admit it, even to herself, there had been a definite Humphrey shaped hole left in their unconventional group.
There was something unexpectedly nice about seeing him again. It was like a link to her past, but a fairly unthreatening one. She was fairly sure that he knew nothing of what had driven her away from the Upper East Side, because clearly before any of that unfolded he had already removed himself. Moreover it seemed like he had been keeping himself as out of touch as she had been and that was a relief.
She wanted to maintain that sense of ease so when Dan suddenly announced that he had something important that he had to tell her about she quickly changed the subject,
"Plenty of time for that later Humphrey. First I think we've procrastinated long enough and we should go and take a look at the damage to your apartment."
He frowned at her, "First of all, as we agreed, it's Dan not Humphrey. It's not that hard Blair. It's only three letters. Secondly, you know we can't avoid real life forever and there is someone very important that I do need to explain about if we are going to try this friendship."
Blair realised in that moment that she hadn't even considered the fact that Dan could be in a relationship. Why she wasn't sure. Just because she lived like a virtual nun these days was no reason to make her believe that he was living a similarly lonely existence. Irrationally in that moment she had no wish to hear about any woman in his life and she didn't really know why. Not willing to examine her motives too closely she determinedly steered the conversation away from anything of that nature again.
"OK Dan, but as I said, before we embark on any serious topics I think we should check out exactly how much damage my accidental flood has caused."
She pulled him to his feet and towards the door, and then pushed him in front of her out into the hallway.
"Why don't you lead the way? Let's go and take a look, shall we?"
Faced with Blair's determination to avoid discussing anything of any consequence Dan allowed himself to be guided towards his apartment. He had forgotten what a force Blair could be when she put her mind to it. That was certainly coming back to him swiftly. Putting any sort of serious conversation on hold once more, he opened the door and braced himself for the sight of what the water had done to his beloved apartment.
The place was swimming and although there was no longer a torrent coming through the ceiling there was still water dripping from the light-fitting in his kitchen. He realised with resignation that there was no way he would be using his electricity for the rest of the day at least. Fortunately the damage did seem limited to the kitchen and living areas. The doors to the bedrooms and his office were closed but he could see clearly on the ceiling and floor where the flood ended, and the water did seem fairly contained. Nonetheless it was going to take a fair bit of cleaning up to get it back to looking as it did before.
Blair gasped behind him, "Dan, I am so sorry, this isn't the best way to re-introduce myself into your life. Fortunately for you, these days I actually know one end of a mop from the other, so you have let me help you put this right right."
He grinned at her in surprise, "OK, who are you and what have you done with the Blair Waldorf I knew? You're actually going to help me clean this up?"
He was a little taken aback when she looked genuinely offended.
"You can't seriously believe I would flood you and then leave you to clean up the mess yourself. Even back in the Upper East Side I wouldn't have done that."
Privately Dan had his doubts about that as he could imagine that is exactly what would have happened all those years ago. Apparently not now though. Blair swiftly disappeared and returned with her own mop and bucket.
Before long the two of them were working side by side to try and dry the place out. After they did as much as they could with the mops they used a pile of towels from both his place and Blair's to dry up as much of the residual moisture as possible.
Beside him Blair worked with the same purpose and determination that he had seen her put into her scheming in their youth. More than once he found himself looking at her with admiration as she steadily worked away.
Now he was a little distracted as he thought about how this Blair differed from the princess he had once known and as a result didn't move quickly enough when she opened the door to one of the bedrooms while announcing that they should really double check that there was no damage.
He could only see the back of her head and was therefore unable to see her reaction when she opened the door to reveal a child's bedroom.