A/N: I've got the day off today which is ideal because I wanted to get one more chapter out before the finale. Can I ask a quick favour? The finale doesn't air here in the UK till Wednesday. Can you please not include any spoilers if you are reviewing? I'm not saying I'll be able to remain spoiler free but I'm going to give it my best shot. As always I am so grateful for all the comments I received on the last chapter and I'd love to hear what you think about this one. Also a quick shout-out to the reviewer called Olivia who mentioned jeans several chapters back. You weren't signed in so I couldn't thank you personally but you planted the idea in my head for the mention of jeans in this chapter. Finally my internet explorer kept crashing when I was replying to reviewers after the last chapter so if anybody didn't get my reply I apologise. Now back to the story.
Blair spends the rest of the week trying to stay as far out of the public eye as possible. There's no denying that a lot of that time is spent with Dan Humphrey. They've been almost constantly together on campus talking and studying. As expected Gossip Girl had a field day because of Dan turning up to rescue her. Blair still smiles when she thinks of the situation being described as, 'lonely boy rushing to save his damsel in distress.' She isn't exactly keen on being cast in the role of damsel but on this occasion she supposes she kind of deserves it. She has to admit that things could have turned out very differently if Dan hadn't appeared when he did.
Unfortunately it led to a situation where she and Dan now feel a little under siege. There has been almost constant harassment for explanations from Chuck, Serena and Jenny. Both she and Dan are now spending large parts of the day with their phones completely turned off. She knows it's cowardly to avoid any confrontation but she's enjoying spending time with Dan and she doesn't need the additional drama.
Now Saturday has rolled around and she is a little ashamed of how excited she is about how she and Dan will be spending the day. She's asked him to meet her in Central Park and has even donned jeans for the occasion because it seemed appropriate. Jeans were never a part of her childhood but there is a tiny, hidden part of her than wishes they had been. She's always loved the pretty clothes she has owned all of her life but it can be a little hard to have fun when you're constantly worried about getting into a mess. She knows her mother would be horrified if she could see her now.
She sees Dan approaching and laughs as he looks at what she is holding with more than a little suspicion. When she thought back to her childhood there weren't really that many things she could remember doing that were purely for fun but this was one of them. It brings back memories of spending time with her father before everything changed. In winter she loved to ice-skate but in summer roller skating was almost as much fun. She hands Dan the pair of boots she brought for him and he looks at them as if they might bite him.
"Seriously Blair, I'm terrible at this. I have no co-ordination. I think there's a good reason why you don't see as many people skating as you used to. Do you want me to meet my end in a horrible, bloody, skating accident?"
"Maybe you were terrible at it once but you obviously just didn't have the right teacher. With me sharing my expertise I promise you it will be different. Besides you promised me a fun day. This is what I chose." She pouts at him quickly and knows she's won.
"Fine but you're coming with me to the hospital if this ends badly."
Minutes later he's laced up his boots and the two of them are making their way, extremely slowly, around the park. Dan is clutching her arm like a drowning man as he shuffles along and she is trying desperately not to laugh.
"This is ludicrous, you need to relax a little if you have any chance of doing this," she tries to persuade him. "Here, watch how I do it." She skates a little ahead of him, executes a neat turn and heads back towards him. "Now you try."
He skates a few paces nervously ahead, and then hits a small bump which causes him to lose his balance. He's on the ground before she can catch him.
"See I told you, no skating skills whatsoever," he says as he rubs at his elbow that made contact with the ground first.
"You're so quick to give up. I promise you by the end of today you'll be able to skate, at least a little."
He looks doubtful but allows her to help him up. She takes both of his hands this time as she skates backwards and pulls him along. She tries to ignore the group of children pointing and laughing from the sidelines and moves beside him once more only to have him clutch desperately at her arm again.
"You're cutting off my circulation Humphrey," she scolds as she removes his hand from her arm and laces their fingers together instead, struck with the irony of how much like a couple they must look just now. Fortunately this part of the park seems fairly quiet just now and she has yet to see a cell phone pointed in their direction.
Over an hour later her tuition has paid off and, although Dan is still lacking in more than a little style, he can at least stay upright and propel himself forward without clutching her hand. She's also laughed more than she has in weeks. She has to admit he was good at not taking offence as she giggled at his misfortune. The funniest thing of all though was the look of triumph on his face when he finally managed to skate successfully along. It was very much like a 7 year old boy who's had the training wheels removed from his bike for the first time and she had to choke down her mirth when he looked genuinely offended at his achievement being belittled in such a fashion.
Now she's left him sitting on a bench while she skates off to get them some drinks. He's persuaded her that he's in dire need of a break. She turns the corner and to her horror almost skates straight into Jenny Humphrey. What a great way for the universe to ruin her day.
She turns to leave but Jenny grabs at her, "I think you and I need to talk, don't you Blair? Can you explain what the hell you're doing with my brother?"
"I think you'll find that it's got nothing to do with you but if you must know, we're friends. We enjoying spending time together and I don't see why that should bother you." Even to her that argument sounds a little weak and she isn't surprised when Jenny seems unconvinced.
"You've got to be kidding me Blair. How can you not see why that would bother me? You may have my brother fooled, and I can't convince him of your real intentions, but you don't fool me. Dan likes to see the best in people but I prefer to look for the truth. There is no way this can make you happy. Roller-skating in the park with Dan Humphrey? Seriously Blair, you're trying to tell me that this is your life now. "
"I still fail to see how any of this is your business," Blair answers stiffly, trying to inject every ounce of Waldorf iciness into her tone. "I'm the first to admit this isn't a situation I would have predicted a few weeks ago but I enjoy spending time with your brother. It makes me happy and I don't hear him complaining either. He's more than capable of making his own decisions without any input from his little sister."
"The whole situation is ridiculous," Jenny splutters. "You two have always hated each other and now you expect me to just accept that you're the best of friends. Chuck will come running back to you and by then my brother will have given you his whole heart, because that's the kind of person he is, and you'll destroy him.
"For God's sake Jenny, don't you think you're over-doing the drama a little here? Everyone seems to think I have some sort of elaborate scheme to draw Dan into my web. You need to get something through your head. I'm not out to 'destroy' your brother and he certainly isn't part of some plan to get to Chuck. The truth is I don't want Chuck back. I'm done with him and I'm moving on."
Jenny looks at her in disgust, "You say that now but give it a few weeks and you'll miss the drama and the passion and everything you had with Chuck. I know you Blair. We might not like each other but we're more alike than either of us would like to admit. There is no way that Dan can make you happy."
"But that's just the point. It's not about Dan making me happy. It's about me making myself happy." She can't believe she's being this open with Jenny Humphrey of all people but to be honest the whole conversation is forcing her to put into words what's been going round in her head for days. It's the same thing she tried to explain to Serena. She takes a deep breath and continues, "Being around Dan just makes it easier because he actually accepts me as I am with no other expectations. We're just two friends spending time together."
"OK let's say I accept that you and my brother are friends and I agree to support that. Will you promise me one thing? It's just friends. I can just about stomach that I suppose but anything else is just a step too far. Promise me that and I won't cause you anymore trouble."
"Why should I promise you anything of the kind? First of all why should I care whether you support my friendship with your brother or not? You are of no consequence to me." She is almost spitting with rage. "I think you'll find that your brother would be disgusted if he even knew you were having this conversation with me. Why don't we agree on this instead? I leave now and I pretend this never happened. You don't follow me and you keep out of my friendship with your brother. You keep bothering me and I make sure Dan finds out you're trying to manipulate his life. I think we both know how he'd feel about that."
With that parting shot Blair leaves Jenny standing alone. Right now she really wishes she wasn't wearing roller-boots. Skating away definitely lacks the dramatic flair of her usual strut and right now she could do with a really dramatic exit to emphasise her point. She is done with people interfering in her life. What nags at her the whole time she is buying drinks and making her way back to Dan is her reluctance to promise Jenny that there will be nothing besides friendship between the two of them. She finally dismisses it as merely her determination that the younger Humphrey has no right to set her any kind of ultimatum. She had to make sure that Jenny was completely sure who was controlling the situation and if her heart flutters a little in her chest when she sees Dan sitting waiting for her then that's just relief that Jenny isn't with him and has obviously taken her words to heart.
He smiles as she approaches, "Finally, I thought you'd abandoned me here to my fate, too embarrassed to be seen with me and my limited skating skills any longer."
She returns his smile and sits down beside him, "Dan come on, if I let everything that's embarrassing about you bother me then we wouldn't be able to spend any time together at all."
He gently nudges her shoulder, "It's Dan now is it? I was starting to wonder if maybe you'd forgotten my first name and were too embarrassed to ask."
She flushes when she realises her slip. He's been Dan in her head for so long now and she's even been referring to him as Dan to other people. It was bound to come out sooner or later. She's ashamed of herself though because she sounds almost shy when she replies, "I can go back to Humphrey if you'd like."
Her heart does that fluttery thing again when he smiles at her once more and says, "Don't you dare. To be honest the Humphrey thing was getting more than a little weird."
She slaps him lightly on the arm, "Hey, I prefer to think of it as an adorable nickname."
"Nice try," he replies, "but there is no way I am ever going to believe you intended it as an adorable nickname."
"Ok maybe not, but I think we can agree on first names from now on." She leans against him gently and they finish their drinks in comfortable silence.