A/N: Darn, I tried posting earlier, I really did. Review and favorite if you like what you're reading!

"So the three of them teamed up," Nate says flatly.

"I guess Vanessa and Juliet were humiliated by their takedown and wanted revenge," Serena speaks. "on me. And Nate too. They decided Nate was a good enough fall guy."

"And Dan's friend from their shared dumpster decided to bring the skinny bitch into their circle," Blair adds.

Before the livid Dan can come the closest he's ever been to hitting a girl, Chuck steps in. "But now the question is how we can gather enough hard evidence and present it to that detective of yours, the one who believed you, in time to clear you as a suspect and put the three of them in the courtroom instead. With any luck you can avoid the trial."

Unfortunately, Dan doesn't calm. Regardless of his disappointment in Jenny, she's still his little sister. He couldn't imagine being responsible for putting her on trial, nor imagine that she could really do something like this. "I won't believe my sister would try to harm you like that. She may be involved, but she wouldn't have condoned what happened. She's changed, but she's not a criminal. And I've known Vanessa for years. She's not capable! "

Serena puts a hand on his arm, making him look at her. "I wouldn't have thought any one of them were capable of it, but everything points towards this."

Dan jerks his arm away, his eyes cold. He looks around at the four of them. "You guys already convicted her. You don't care that the so called evidence you have is subjective. Jenny's already guilty. And Vanessa too." He looks at Serena, face unchanging but mentally begging her to speak up and deny it. She stays silent. His face grows even colder. "I'll prove she isn't."

Serena moves to stop him as he backs away, words on her lips to make him stay, but he brushes her and her words away. "On my own."

Serena sighs as Chuck picks up the cell phone. She runs her fingers through her hair. "This was our last hope for finding where she was."

Chuck had gotten Andrew to track Serena's SIM card in an act Serena was sure could catch Jenny Humphrey. Blair and Chuck would force an explanation out of her and record it-they had foolproof methods and ways. The pair had been flawlessly successful at their tried and true method in high school, and as long as Jenny was found from her rabbit hole, there was no reason Nate couldn't be released.

But the satellite tracking-which had gone without a hitch at the beginning, meaning the cell phone was miraculously on and not off-had led them to the an alley in a lively but poor street on the outskirts of Brooklyn.

"We've run around for a week trying to find her, Vanessa and Juliet. I don't understand where they could be," Serena says, fingers tugging at her hair frustratedly.

Nate nods, agreeing. "We haven't heard from Dan, Gossip Girl hasn't seen them and assumes Jenny went back to Hudson, and Juliet and Vanessa went back to whatever hole they popped out of after being humiliated at the ballet."

"The school Jenny's at in Hudson is still on winter break for a while, and she doesn't have any close friends she could be with. Plus, Rufus and his ex-wife are still under the impression she's at each other's houses. No help there," Chuck adds.

Blair rolls her eyes with a twist of her lip. "In a classic Parent Trap move. We should tell Rufus."

Chuck shakes his head decisively. "If we can't find her after a week of work, there's no way Rufus can do anything. We also don't have a single clue on the whereabouts of Juliet or Vanessa. Nate, our perfect boyfriend here, doesn't even know where Juliet's from, or if she has family," he says, jerking his chin at Nate. "Not to mention the fact that she doesn't even have a ghost of a record. Vanessa been arrested a few times for hugging trees, but Juliet is snow-white."

Serena can't help but feel smug that Nate doesn't know Juliet well, even though it means they are no closer to finding her.

Blair interrupts Serena's thoughts."Even poor people have to have mothers and fathers. Who spawned Vanessa?"

"No sign of a father, but Andrew checked the last address that was written on Vanessa's mother's income taxes three years ago, and she doesn't live there anymore. She hasn't filed anything else since then. Guessing from the various lists of organizations he's found her on, she's a conscientious government objector who's committing tax fraud who hasn't been found out yet." Chuck pinches the bridge of his nose. "He feels like he could dig up more documents on her address, but he needs more time since he can't exactly go through official channels."

"It also doesn't help that Gossip Girl reported us trying to look for Jenny. She knows we're on to her," Serena says. "So what do we do now? We've exhausted all of our choices."

The group sighs. Blair snaps her fingers (or as much as she could with her new obsession with Dior's kid leather gloves) and, grasping at straws with a desperate glint in her sharp eyes, says, "Jenny's minions from Constance!"

"It had to have been Juliet, Dan. I was with Vanessa the entire time. I told Mom that I'd be back next Saturday, and I couldn't go back early or else she'd be suspicious. I was going to stay at the loft, but then you were there and I couldn't, and I had nowhere to go. I stayed with Vanessa at her apartment for a couple days, but then Gossip Girl said they were looking for us. Juliet disappeared, so Vanessa and I decided to stay at her friends' apartment while they're away until it's time to go back to school in Hudson. They would've gone looking for me in Hudson at Mom's house, and then she would find out that I lied about staying with Dad. You have to believe me, Dan, Vanessa and I had nothing to do with the drugs and kidnapping!" Jenny seems to be on the verge of tears.

Dan found her after two days of constantly monitoring the Gossip Girl map for their position, giving up on that idea, and then calling Gabriela Abrams, Vanessa's mom. He had hit himself on the head for not thinking of it beforehand. After he drove two hours in a rented car to get Jenny, not trusting her enough to come back by herself, and she answered the door, he practically had a meltdown on the porch yelling at her. But he's relieved now. Jenny's a liar, but he knows that this is not a lie. Just one look at the desperation in her kohl-lined eyes is enough.

"Okay, okay, calm down. I believe you. But that doesn't mean we aren't going to talk about how even though you had nothing to do with the drugging, you tried to hurt Serena," Dan says. "For now though, we really need to find out who really did it. Think of it as your redemption."

"It has to be Juliet. She disappeared after Chuck's party, when we dressed up as Serena. I couldn't find her and Vanessa and I haven't heard from her since. And plus she would never tell us what grudge she had against Serena in the first place."

"So do you have any idea at all where Juliet is?" Dan asks.

Jenny shakes her head. "I don't. Gossip Girl hasn't posted anything either. But she wouldn't be any use to us. She won't spill. We have to have proof first. What did Nate say really happened?" Before Dan can open his mouth, Jenny lights up, grabbing her purse and taking her brother by the arm out of Gabriela's apartment. "Come on, tell me everything as we drive back to the Upper East Side, I have an idea."

Stepping outside the dingy dark apartment (economically and ecologically sound, Gabriela would say, away from the corporatization of Manhattan), they get inside the car. Dan hopes she actually knows what she's doing as he begins the story.

"Blair, don't talk, just listen to me. Pretend it's your mom or something, please don't argue," Dan says into the phone. He is standing in the lobby of Carolina Herrera's minimalistic atelier, and Jenny is nowhere to be seen, having disappeared into a cherry wood framed door off to the left when she asked for Carolina herself. But Jenny gave him enough instructions in the car that he knows what to say. He was directed first to text Blair that he was calling, but not to say his name out loud. He has to hand it to her: she knows what she was doing. He's alarmed at her formidable scheming, but this time, it comes in handy for a good cause.

There is a brief moment of hesitation on the phone. It has been days since anyone heard from Humphrey. Blair looks at her bored friends sitting at the small café they tucked themselves into dejectedly when the girls from Constance hadn't been much help. She gives an annoyed huff. "Mother, you know I'm busy this time of day-you're lucky I just finished my interrogation with Jenny's minions. They haven't a clue about anything, by the way. So what do you want?

Dan blows out a breath, relieved. "I found Jenny-I know you won't believe me when I say she wasn't the one, but she was in Poughkeepsie with Vanessa. Juliet is the one behind all of it. They were working together at the party pretending to be Serena to turn all of us against her-you can have fun with that later-but Juliet disappeared after the party. None of them could reach her. Then they heard we were trying to find them, and they bolted to stay at a friend's house."

"I don't understand why- "

"Why you have to keep a secret? We can't involve Nate and Serena anymore. Jenny apparently turned into a PI overnight and said that if they helped, the validity of the evidence we gather might be compromised. Call me Watson, but I think that's solid logic."

Blair's voice is icy cold when she replies. "So, Mother, what's the point of that? We don't have any evidence apart from the trashman's word, and we all know how much that's worth."

"I'm going to ignore that. You don't have much choice but to trust me. Serena told me that Nate said that there was some weird bag-lady that handed him an envelope with the address of the building Serena was in? You have to find her, somehow. Ask the homeless around that same street. Jenny thinks you can somehow extricate the information from her, you being Blair and Chuck."

There is a momentary pause as Blair pushed back the fake leather and brightly colored chair, motioning to an alternately bored and baffled Serena, Chuck, and Nate as she moves away from them to a relatively far away corner to talk. Blair bites out a reply as soon she is out of earshot. "Oh, shut it, Watson. We don't even have a name. Nate barely told us anything about her! And why all the secrecy? We'll just tell Serena and Nate to stay home."

"Do you think Serena will really stay out of this if she knew what was going on? And I'm willing to bet Nate wouldn't either. What else do you propose as a plan? The envelopes and the dress were nowhere to be found in the apartment; Juliet is too smart for that. It would be impossible to find all the people Nate talked to that night on the street, from what I gathered from what Serena told me. Finding the cab driver Nate told to follow Serena's cab would work against him." Dan continues, more passionately. "Not to mention that people might recognize him, if they haven't already. There's been no newspaper headlines, but could you imagine if any reporter got ahold of Nate and Serena walking together near where the kidnapping was supposed to have happened? No, our only chance to make the right people pay is this way, and you and Chuck are more than experienced enough to pull this off."

There is a long, long pause. Dan can imagine the grimace on Blair's face, ruby lips twisted in disgust at having to take orders from someone from Brooklyn.

"Let it be on the record that I will have your head if this is a wild goose chase. I'll see what I can do. I suppose you and Jenny will be joining us then?" There is barely concealed distaste.

"Actually, no, we have another assignment from the mastermind."

"Oh, do tell, I'd love to hear her perfectly-laid out grand scheme."

"We're in Carolina Herrera's atelier-Jenny wants to see Juliet's receipt from when she bought the copies of Serena's dress. We know we can't take it, but at least want confirmation so if we take it to the police we won't look like fools. It'll support Nate's claim that there was two people in the same dress-"

Blair cuts him off. "I knew the 'mastermind' would fail. Humphrey, put Carolina on the phone. Jenny'll never confirm it. Carolina has a strict no client info policy with unfamiliar clients, obviously. It will be a miracle if the bitch ever gets an audience with Carolina."

Dan scoffs. "And you think you can pull it off? Forget it-"

"Do it, or so help me, Humphrey."

Dan reluctantly walks up to the door and knocks. A throaty voice tells him to come in. He steps into an enormous stark black and white office, complete with translucent chairs that looked like with one tap they would shatter. Jenny looks up from her perch on one of the chairs, her eyebrows knitted together, and mouthes, "What?"

He turns to Carolina. "Uh, I have a Blair Waldorf on the phone for you."

The designer's eyebrows raises, making her face crinkle. "Ah! Miss Waldorf." She frowns, looking at his worn button down and dark blue jeans up and down. "I didn't know we had a new intern. Who are you?"

"This is Dan Humphrey, my brother," Jenny says quickly. He hands over the cell phone to Carolina's outstretched hand, and the brother and sister wait while Blair works her evil magic.

Carolina finally hands the phone back after a series of "Do come soon, Blair darling, I have a couple of pieces set out for you" and "Lovely to talk to you Blair darling" and "Good-bye, Blair darling,

She opens a drawer on her polished black desk and rummages through it, her long nails clacking with the manual labor. Jenny makes a subtle 'get out' gesture, and Dan attempts to argue. Failing, he excuses himself from the room, exiting the massive, shiny black door. He presses the cell phone back to his ear and says to Blair, "I suppose I have to thank you."

"You do. Now, Chuck and I will need everyone we can get, as much as I hate to admit it, so meet us at Dean and DeLuca in an hour. I'm craving a coffee," she sniffs distastefully at the awful cheap café she's in presently as she makes her way back to their table-she had spotted the Dean and DeLuca in the corner of her eye next to Constance; it had been a favorite haunt during lunch when she was in high school. She needs as much of the hour as possible with Chuck to distract the other two, so the rendezvous with the Brooklynites had to be close. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to figure out a way to keep Nate and Serena out of this." The line goes silent.

Meanwhile, Carolina draws out a fancy cardstock paper with flowing black script and takes a look at it. "Here it is. Two blue tiered dresses. Fall 2010 RTW. Juliet Sharp. Money wired to Carolina Herrera Ltd." She passes it over to Jenny waiting patiently. "Take a look, but I can't let you keep it. And this never happened."

Jenny looks it over. Yep, it's solid evidence for the police to come and recuperate. She nods, passes it back, and thanks the designer, who looks her up and down with an appraising eye. She grabs her bag and pushes through the huge doors.

"Come on, Jenny. Dean and DeLuca's with Blair and Chuck to find Bag Lady,' Dan says, motioning his head at the exit when he spots her walking towards him. She pauses in her tracks.

"Dan, no, I can't-"

But Dan is already dragging her by the arm outside with his other arm held up so he can see the time on his wristwatch. The pair will expect him and Jenny in an hour, and with the traffic from people heading home from work, it'll be a struggle getting to SoHo.

Dan can see the light at the end of the tunnel; a light that could signify being together with the girl he loves, the girl he always has loved. He's so close to catching the real person who drugged Serena and clearing Nate-so close to ending it all. Serena will choose at the resolution of all of this, he knows. There is no way she can put it off any longer after this, and no way he and Nate will allow her to. He has the beginnings of a sense of a definite end, unlike at the masquerade. This decision will be it.