Ten

Nate was asleep. Blair had been let in by a sleepy Ann Archibald who hadn't even asked what Blair was doing there at three o'clock in the morning. She simply stepped aside. Something in Blair's eyes spoke of danger, and Ann was of the opinion that anything important enough to bring Blair Waldorf here must be beyond her understanding. She returned to bed.

Blair entered Nate's bedroom, feeling slightly detached from what she was about to do. What she knew she had to do.

She woke him by ripping the covers off of him. As cool air hit his body, Nate sat bolt upright with a startled shout. Blair flipped the light on, blinding him.

"What the hell –?" he paused. "Blair?"

There was his confession. A slight quiver in his voice revealing that he knew exactly why she was there. Too bad Blair never had any doubts to be chased away.

"Get dressed," she told him coldly. "And come downstairs. Now."

She left and was waiting in one of the sitting rooms when he arrived. He looked crumpled, handsome, and confused. Blair didn't see any of it.

"What are you doing here?" Nate asked, and Blair laughed. She was surprised by herself, but the sound left her mouth before she could understand it. Nate looked unnerved.

"Were you trying to kill him?" Blair asked, truly intrigued.

"Who?" Nate's wide-eyed innocence was a look she recognised. That it was fake was something she'd never considered. It stunned her for a moment.

"You know who." She was even angrier now. Colder. That Nate feigned ignorance just made it all worse. It cheapened Dan, made him insignificant, and she wouldn't have that. "How dare you touch him!"

Nate's nostrils flared. It was hideously unattractive. "How dare he touch you! How dare you treat him better than you do me!"

"You are not going to dictate this conversation Nate," she told him, still using that quiet voice. It was even more frightening than her screams. Nate swallowed, trying to get a read on her, but he finally realised that the woman before him was a stranger he'd never bothered to listen to.

"Why did you do it?"

Nate raked his fingers through his hair, suddenly aware of how much he had to lose. It had all seemed so easy in daylight. Then, Blair's earlier words hit him. She'd asked if he'd meant to kill Dan. Kill. As though ...

He staggered back. "Oh my God. Is he –?"

"He's alive," said Blair in clipped tones. "That doesn't change what you did. Now tell me why you did it."

Nate took a moment to revel in relief. For a moment, his future had morphed before him into a world of shame and jail. Even his father's plans were better than that! He looked up at Blair and saw the pain he'd inflicted upon her. It struck a chord within him. She was beautiful when she was sad. How had he never noticed that before?

"I saw the pair of you in the park earlier," he said quietly. "And I just snapped. You're my girlfriend Blair, not his. But he's the one you're feeding the ducks with. He's the one touching you as though you're his!" Nate shook his head. "I couldn't cope with it."

Blair looked at him without any change to her facial expression. She was examining every inch of his face, and found it devastatingly handsome. There was a tug in her gut. The tug that came whenever he said things like that. Whenever he said I love you. Whenever he said that he couldn't stand the fact that she gave all of her attention to Dan instead of him.

They were lies. All of them. She could see it now, so clearly. She never gave Dan attention that she had previously bestowed on Nate. She'd been lonely when they met ... because Nate was never there for her. Not like Dan. Not like Nate should have been.

"So you snapped and followed Dan," she mused, and Nate nodded.

"Yeah, I did."

She smiled coldly. A viper ready to strike. "Then where did your hired help come from?"

Nate froze.

Blair laughed again. Clear and loud. "You're a liar Nate. You've been lying to me for so long ... How didn't I see it before?"

Nate's brow furrowed. He took a step forwards, about to plead his case, and that wouldn't do at all, so Blair spoke over him angrily, striding towards him purposely as she did so.

"You had them with you already. You were waiting. You planned this, all of it. You followed me because you knew I was meeting Dan in the park and you waited until I was gone before you snatched him and beat him until his chest caved in!"

Her voice rose into hysterics and then she was beating him, her hands slapping and scratching every part of him she could reach. She was mad, frenzied, unable to stop until arms dragged her away. Nate was cowering on the floor, bleeding across his cheek where one of her nails had found its mark. Ann bent over him, horrified, and Blair realised it was the Captain, Nate's father, holding her away from his son, shouting that she'd gone crazy.

Nate looked up at Blair, shocked, and she saw him for the first time in her life. He was a coward. Pathetic. Beneath her. She deserved more, and when she found it, he tried to take it away. Nate didn't do this out of love for her, or even jealousy. It was possession. Nate considered her his property and was prepared to do whatever it took to recover her. But Dan, Dan loved her for her. He knew more about her in a few months than Nate had learnt in ten years. He had protected her, had taken this beating for her, and she'd been the one foolish enough to believe that Nate and Dan could ever be friends. She must be mad!

She struggled out of the Captain's hold and strode towards Nate. Ann stepped in the way, and Blair paused. You're above this, a voice in her head murmured. It sounded like Dan.

"Dan is the most important person in my life right now. Without him, I don't think I'd even be alive right now. And he comes first. So you need to stay away from him," she told Nate. There was no more fury left in her. Only weariness so overwhelming it nearly knocked her over. She just wanted to go to the hospital and help Dan and his family, the way they had helped her when she needed them. "Don't come anywhere near Dan again. If you do, we'll go to the police and you'll be arrested for attempted murder."

Ann and the Captain gasped. They began to shout questions at her, but Blair had had enough. She left the house and walked home to change. Turning up at a hospital in your pyjamas was fine in the middle of the night, but not during the day. Besides, she didn't want Dan to see her in this state. He had enough to worry about.

Eleanor was in the hallway shouting at Dorota when Blair stepped out of the elevator. The moment Eleanor saw Blair, she ran across the hall and hugged her daughter fiercely.

"Where on earth have you been?" she demanded, pulling back, her relief returning to anger. "You weren't in your bed! What ... Is that blood?"

Eleanor was silent as she reached out and lifted Blair's hand. It was the one that had torn through Nate's cheek, and his blood stained it. Blair was surprised she hadn't noticed.

"Blair, what happened?" asked Eleanor, suddenly frightened. "Dorota, fetch hot water and some towels," she ordered, and pulled Blair over to the staircase. They both sat on the bottom step and Eleanor carefully examined Blair's hand, searching for the cut.

"Dan's in the hospital," Blair murmured. "Nate Archibald attacked him for being my friend."

Eleanor didn't know quite what to say. She pulled Blair into her arms as Blair broke down into tears and rocked her as she hadn't since Blair was a little girl. Dorota returned and she gently cleaned the blood from Blair's hand tenderly and then began to bathe Blair's face with the same care. Blair's eyes were swollen from the force of her pain.

"Darling, I'm so sorry," Eleanor whispered over and over, wondering which subject to tackle first. "Will Dan be ok?"

Blair nodded, hiccupping. "He has concussion and three broken ribs. He looks awful, Mom. He's so ..." she trailed off, shaking her head. "I didn't know what to do. His little sister was so scared, and his parents started having some stupid argument about money, and then he told me about Nate."

Blair paused, and looked up at her mother. She needed some reassurance, but Eleanor knew the story had not yet ended, so she remained silent.

"I went to see him. He planned it, Mom. He hired people to do it for him." Eleanor shuddered with abhorrence. "How could he do that to me? I don't understand! How could he hurt Dan? Doesn't he know how much I need him? I do need him, Mom, so much, and he's in pain because of me and I don't know what I'll do if –"

Eleanor pressed a finger against Blair's mouth. "He'll be fine, darling. I promise you. As for Nathaniel Archibald –" her voice dripped with loathing and contempt "– you will never have to associate with him ever again."

Blair sniffed once, twice, and lay her head back on Eleanor's shoulder. Eleanor began to rock her once again. Dorota sang a gentle Polish lullaby, but Blair couldn't sleep. The sun would be rising soon and then she had to return to the hospital to be with Dan, to help him through this the way he helped her.

She found herself talking uncontrollably, filled with a desire to have her mother know who Dan was and what he had done for her. Eleanor was silent as she listened and found herself crying too. She'd never considered that Harold's leaving might have caused Blair to relapse, and was ashamed of herself. Ashamed of the distance she'd enforced towards Blair. She should have known, should have been there, and would be in the future.

But there was also this boy – from Brooklyn, of all places! – who had ridden in on a white horse and rescued Blair from it all with such ease. She was momentarily jealous of Blair, before being unimaginably grateful that she'd been saved.

Eleanor felt like a mother again. Blair looked and dressed and talked like an adult, but she was only a child. She was so young and needy and Eleanor was revelling in it. She and Dorota worked in sync to bathe Blair. Eleanor couldn't help glancing at the toilet and every time she did, she stroked Blair's hair with added softness. Blair was a pliant doll, allowing them to towel dry her hair, moisturise her hands, and dress her.

Eleanor took Blair back to the hospital, and didn't object when Dorota climbed into the cab as well. She wasn't an employee at that moment; the way she loved Blair was evident in the way she held Blair's hand. There was something fierce in her gaze.

Eleanor hated hospitals, but she didn't hesitate in following Blair through to the correct ward. Jenny was fast asleep, curled up in a chair next to her father Rufus. Alison was obviously in the ward with Dan. Blair waited for her turn patiently, fetching Rufus another cup of coffee. He looked terrible; tired and drawn. Dorota disappeared in search of a viable breakfast for the Humphrey family when Alison emerged and Blair hurried in to see Dan.

It was then that Eleanor reminded Rufus of when they'd met before, when Lily had been rebellious and made the polar opposites of New York mingle. Alison's eyes hardened, Rufus blushed, and Eleanor pushed the advantage. She insisted on paying for Dan's medical bills.

Alison and Rufus were united by outrage at the situation, but she would not back down. She pointed out how many times Dan had helped Blair, even hinting towards her daughter's condition, and the Humphrey's were silenced. Eleanor insisted and they realised they couldn't fight that.

Blair found Dan half asleep, but he perked up when he saw her. Their hands fused together as Blair asked how he was feeling. Dan shifted awkwardly.

"I want to go home," he complained. "I'm not sick enough to be in here."

Blair glared at him sternly. "You're not leaving for as long as it takes to make you perfect."

"Great, I'm never getting out of here," Dan groaned, and Blair couldn't help smiling at him. She leaned forwards, resting her head on his arm and gazed at his battered face. Knowing him, she could see his handsome features, blurring out the imperfections. In fact, was she seeing things, or was the swelling slightly reduced since a few hours ago?

"Did you see Nate?" Dan asked gently, and Blair nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Blair smiled at the selfless question. She squeezed Dan's hand, resisting the urge to kiss it. "He's not important right now."

Dan nodded his agreement. "Good, because it would have been a conversation filled with metaphorical Nate-bashing. Maybe a bit of Chuck too."

Blair laughed and didn't mention she may have bashed Nate a little too literally.

NB - Unfortunately, this is not the last we see of Nate. Dan's recovery and Blair's part in it coming up!