A/N: Thank-you again to all my reviewers and to those who added me to favourites and alerts after the last chapter. I hope this doesn't disappoint. I will get back to some other characters eventually but meanwhile I'm indulging myself with a chapter that is purely Dan and Blair. Please forgive me if it gets a little too fluffy at the end. Blair will toughen up again eventually, I promise.

Dan has to do some extremely quick talking to get a cab to take them anywhere. Strangely a young guy carrying a semi-conscious girl isn't anyones first choice of fare. He really should have considered that. To begin with he was relieved that Blair wasn't struggling against him but now he's just worried that might be because she isn't really aware of who he is right now. By the time he persuades a cab driver he isn't a delinquent he's almost frantic. This is so much worse than the night of the wedding. She might have been an emotional mess but at least she was fully conscious and talking.

Getting her into the back of the cab is no easy task. After he manages that he cradles her in his lap and tries to rouse her with some shaking, then a couple of gentle slaps to the side of her face. He's just starting to think about redirecting the cab to the emergency room when she finally starts to come round. Then it clearly starts to dawn on her who she's with and he's presented with a whole new set of problems. Now she really is struggling and he starts to think that maybe she's even capable of diving out of the moving car and into the street. Clearly he is far from her first choice of company right now as she starts to mutter very Blair sounding phrases using words like 'betrayal' and 'Brooklyn loser'.

He grabs her arms firmly to stop her making a break for it, trying not to hurt her but determined to make her listen.

"Blair you have to understand me. At no point over the last few days have I betrayed you. We'll discuss it later but for right now I can guarantee you that so please believe me. You've made a mistake."

"Do you promise?" she whispers under her breath.

"Of course I promise," he answers. "You can trust me, I swear."

That must be enough because she stops struggling and is silent until they finally make it to the loft. He hasn't even asked her about going home. If she didn't want her family to see her last time he's pretty confident it isn't an option this time either. Besides what's one more night anyway? He has to admit it almost felt strange without her there last night. He knows his Dad won't be home because things finally seem to be looking up with Lily.

He pays the cab driver. (The last few days have cost him a fortune in cab fare.) Then he swings Blair up into his arms once more. She's far from heavy, despite the fact he's been lugging her around for half the night, and it seems much easier than trying to get her to make it on her own. At this point he's just desperate to get her inside so he can convince himself that she really is OK. He does need to put her down briefly while he gets the door unlocked and then he deposits her on the couch.

She hasn't said a word since asking him to promise he hadn't betrayed her but she's still awake and her eyes follow him as he moves around the kitchen getting her a glass and filling it with water. He keeps up a string of meaningless platitudes about how everything is going to be OK to try and break the silence. Then he sits down beside her and persuades her to drink because re-hydration definitely seems like a good idea. He quickly changes his mind as he sees her start to gag and the colour drains from her face. Clearly the water was the final straw. He half carries her to the bathroom and is right behind her holding her hair back as she empties what he thinks must be the entire contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl.

He rubs her back as she reaches the dry-heaving stage, mentally adding this to the list of situations he never thought he would be in with Blair Waldorf.

"Are you done?" he asks gently and when she nods her head slightly he leaves her sitting on the floor with her back against the tub while he dampens a washcloth and fetches her some mouthwash, which she quickly uses.

"Do you want to go to bed and get some sleep?" he asks. "We can talk more in the morning."

She shakes her head, "I think I'm going to stay here for a while. I'm not sure I trust my stomach enough to go to sleep quite yet. You go to bed though. Can you get me a towel? I can just stretch out here."

"That's OK. I can stay. If you're up anyway maybe we can get a jump start on that chat. It'll help me sleep if I can explain to you properly what happened with Gossip Girl."

He spreads a couple of fluffy towels out on the bathroom floor and encourages her to lie down, while he sits against the tub with his legs straight out. Then he lets her use his lap as a pillow.

She lies on her side while he gently plays with her hair. He's relieved that she sounds a lot more like Blair as she says, "Out with it then Humphrey. I'm still waiting for your explanation. Persuade me you're devoid of blame here because only two people know about me and Jack; you and Nate. It wasn't Nate was it?"

"It wasn't me or Nate but I still feel sort of responsible." He pauses and takes a deep breath before he begins, "Nate turned up here yesterday. I think he wanted to check that my intentions were honourable." He relaxes a little as she laughs slightly at that. "Anyway we got to talking and I totally forgot Jenny was in the next room. I'm almost certain it was her that tipped off Gossip Girl. It's the only logical explanation. I'm so sorry Blair."

"Humphrey come on, I think I can forgive you for that. After all you had to watch me throw-up tonight. Besides I suppose I should have given you a chance to explain. God knows your Boy Scout morals may have annoyed me in the past but I can honestly say you can usually be relied on to be pretty trustworthy. Most of the time at least. I guess I'm just not used to that."

He breathes a sigh of relief, "Now it's your turn. Tell me how Blair Waldorf ended up alone at a party in an NYU dorm."

"It'll sound really pathetic," she says quietly.

"Blair, as you pointed out a minute ago; I just held your hair while you threw up. I think we're way past pathetic don't you?"

She turns on her back and shoots him a dirty look, "Can we never speak of that to anyone else?"

He grins, "I think we can probably negotiate that but for now do you want to explain what was going on tonight."

She turns back onto her side, and he reckons she's probably trying to avoid eye contact while she explains, "If you must know Humphrey, I wanted to prove to myself that I could go through with my plans to fit in at NYU, even without you."

"You certainly went at it full throttle didn't you? For once we've got Gossip Girl to thank. I would never have found you otherwise. Do you have any idea how worried I was when I saw the picture of you with that guy?" He frowns as he thinks about the pure panic he felt as he tried to locate her in the busy dorm.

She reaches up and briefly entangles her fingers with his, giving his hand a squeeze before she pulls hers away again.

"I'm sorry for worrying you. It sounds like a ridiculous college stereotype but too be honest the last thing I remember clearly is that there was a lot of beer. I'm not really a big drinker. You've seen how it affects me, and spending a lot of time with Serena growing up kind of put me off, but it felt good to let go for once. To not be uptight Blair Waldorf who never knows how to have any fun."

"I do understand but maybe next time you could dial it down just a notch." He catches himself, "Sorry now I sound like your Dad."

She smiles, "It's OK, I think considering you were the one who had to pull me out of there you can be forgiven for sounding a little preachy. Besides it's kind of nice to have someone looking out for me. For years it was always me looking out for everybody else."

He thinks about that and realises it's true. Serena, Chuck, even Nate, from what he understands none of them were exactly the poster children for responsibility growing up. He supposes a lot of that responsibility probably did fall on Blair's shoulders and ever since he's known her she's seemed older than her years.

"OK then Waldorf, this weekend we'll do something fun," he says. "Think of something you liked to do when you were a kid, before all the scheming and the Upper East Side politics."

"I'll need to think back a long way," she answers.

"I'm pretty confident you can think of something. I refuse to believe you started planning world domination in elementary school."

She smiles slightly, "OK this weekend then, you and me Humphrey, it's a date."

Her breathing starts to slow and her eyelids are drooping so he shakes her shoulder gently before she falls asleep, "Come on Blair, sleeping on the bathroom floor might seem like a good idea but you'll regret it in the morning."

She snuggles further into his lap, "I'm too tired to move now and it's comfortable here."

"It's not comfortable for me," he replies. "This floor is cold."

"You could always carry me," she says persuasively. "You seem to have gotten pretty good at that."

"Your legs do work you know Blair," he answers, but he immediately caves in as she gives him her sad eyes and he wonders exactly when Blair Waldorf wrapped him round her little finger. He sweeps her up into his arms for one final time that night and they head to bed.