Hi lovelies! Here it is, the final one. Not much to say except thanks for reading, and fair warning this thing is so fluffy that your vision might actually turn pink when you're done reading it. I remember someone telling me that this fic somehow felt canon, well it stops right there. Actually, I think it stopped from the moment where Serena had a black baby :)

Anyway, I really really hope you enjoy this one, and I hope you'll read my other fics too!

It took Dan only three words to know what his life was supposed to be.

A few days after Summer was born, they all said goodbye to the island of Curaçao. Nate, Serena, the baby Eric and Blair got on the jet. Dan and Jenny took a flight to London.

Saying goodbye to Nate was harder than what Dan had expected. For two years, it had been only the two of them. Now Nate was a father, someone's life partner; it was him and Serena and the baby, and Dan, alone. When he watched Nate get on the plane, he felt a chapter of his own life ending. Then Blair came, and kissed him on the cheek. What Dan felt was close to what he had felt for Nate; bittersweet, but something about Blair –or everything about her made the moment unfinished.

Dan liked living in London. It was an active city that reminded him that he was only twenty three, and that he should take advantage of it. So he didn't mind living on Jenny's couch instead of finding a flat of his own. He liked reconnecting this way with his sister. Over the first month, they started to grow their habits, a little routine.

They had a favorite pub, "Puckle's"; and a favorite café "The Muffin House". They would go out every weekend. Dan loved giving Jenny's one-night-stands the threatening big brother look in the morning. And one must never feel more close to their little sister than when sharing a terrible hangover with her. Their Sunday afternoon was what Dan liked the most. They would get up at noon, eat pancakes for lunch, then spend the rest of the day working, Jenny in the little room that she used as an atelier, and Dan with his computer at the kitchen table, both with a bottle of water and some aspirin next to them.

He made himself a little circle of writers, and started writing poetry again. It hadn't since high school, and it felt good to rekindle with the genre. Soon, as people started to know that he was living in London, he got invited to all sorts of fancy literary parties, where he always brought Jenny with him. Once, they bumped into Marla, the journalist. She gave them a dirty look, and Jenny "accidentally" spilled champagne on her. A magazine did a piece on them, the American siblings taking over London with their designs and short stories, and Jenny framed it, hung it in the living room. Rufus did the same, in their Brooklyn loft. Sometimes, Dan would look up from his computer and smile at the picture of him laughing at Jenny sticking maliciously her tongue at him. He realized that he could really settle there when he came back one day, and Jenny had turned her atelier into a bedroom for him.

Dan liked living in London, but he missed New York every day. He didn't like the idea of the city going on without him in it. He didn't like that he missed when Nate's mother passed out when she learned that her son was the adoptive father of Serena's baby with an NBA player. He didn't like that he missed seeing Blair drunk at Chuck's new firm launch party. What stung the most was when Blair texted him a picture of Nate on one knee in front of Serena on a night in Central Park.

But what Dan liked mostly about being in London, was how the distance never affected his relationship with Blair. They were friends again, and it felt so good. She would call him to tell what exhibit he was missing at MoMA. He would drunk dial her sometimes, in the middle of the night for him, the beginning of the evening for her. She would laugh, listening to his intoxicated rambling.

She never visited, because she was busy with getting back to work, expanding Waldorf Designs. He never visited, because he was busy not falling for her again.

Then, when Nate and Serena announced that they set the date on November 2nd, Dan whished Blair wasn't his friend anymore. She called him twice a day, taking way too seriously her Maid of Honor role, turning into a hysterical dictator, and Dan usually put her on speaker, saying "Yeah" and "That's nice" when there was a pause at the other, while doing something completely unrelated.

When Dan landed in New York, two days before the wedding, she summoned him to her penthouse. Leaving Brooklyn in the fresh autumn air to go all the way to the Upper East Side to have breakfast with her still felt much familiar.

He arrived at the penthouse fairly early, to find Dorota waiting for him in the foyer.

"Mister Dan! Let me take your coat" she had a big smile on her face, and Dan was somehow shocked about how good it felt to see her again.

"Hi Dorota. It's been way too long, we need to catch up"

Dorota blushed slightly "It would be nice, Mister Dan"

"Why don't you two get married tomorrow, instead of Nate and Serena?" Blair's voice rang out from the dining room.

Dan winked at Dorota before walking over to Blair. He was surprised when he saw Summer sitting in a baby chair clung to the table.

"Hey" he said, putting his finger in her little fist "Oh my God, look how big you are"

Summer looked at him curiously, because obviously, she didn't know him, but Dan melted anyway. She had brown skin, and curly dark hair with a bow in it, and piercing blue eyes; Serena's eyes. He was so mesmerized by the little being that he had almost forgotten about Blair. When he looked up, he saw Blair staring at them with a light smile on her lips. Dan thought she was beautiful.

"She doesn't know you" Blair said "But she likes you already"

Dan smiled, and walked over to kiss Blair on the cheek. They both closed their eyes at the contact.

"What is she doing here?" Dan asked, taking the seat next to her.

"Serena has a final fitting for her reception dress, and Nate had some work to do"

"Reception dress? How many does she have?"

"Three. One for the rehearsal dinner, one for the ceremony, and one for the reception"

Blair spoke as if she was stating an obvious fact and Dan restrained to roll his eyes. He served himself a pancake, and a cup of coffee.

"So, how have you been?" Blair asked.

"Excellent. You?"

"Great"

Dan nodded. He hesitated before saying;

"You lost weight"

Blair sighed "I did. Do I look better?"

"Jesus, what am I supposed to answer to that?" Dan laughed awkwardly.

"Certainly not 'no'"

Dan laughed "You never stopped looking great, Blair. You know it"

Blair's lips pressed into a smile.

"Well, it's always good to hear"

They started eating, talking a bit about each other's works before Blair remembered she was a maid of honor again. She started questioning Dan about his outfits, and his toasts, wanting to approve everything. Dan didn't make the tiniest effort to hide how annoying he thought she was.

Sometimes, Summer would make funny noises, and innocently laugh at them bickering.

"You like when Auntie Blair is being a control freak, don't you?" Dan asked her.

"She likes when Uncle Dan is making a fool of himself by thinking that a grey suit is appropriate for a rehearsal dinner" Blair pursed her lips.

"Wow. Uncle Dan. When did I become that old?"

"Ugh, I know" Blair shook her head "It's like everything is going too fast in New York. Three months ago, we were doing cocaine on a tropical island"

Dorota, who was walking by, stretched her eyes at Blair's comment. Dan choked on his bacon, laughing.

"Don't look at me like that, you still have my shoes to polish, get to work" Blair waved away Dorota who kept looking at her with a worried look

"I should go too. I promised Nate I would help him with his wedding vows"

Blair gasped "He hasn't written them yet?"

"And you weren't supposed to know that" Dan cursed himself "Don't worry, we'll get it done"

"You better. I put my soul in this wedding"

Dan rolled his eyes "Sure, you did"

They got up together, and Blair picked up Summer.

"I am going to give this young lady a bath, and put her down for a nap because she barely slept last night"

Blair gave Dan her cheek as a goodbye. Dan leaned down, and right before his lips were supposed to touch her, he shifted to kiss Summer on the head.

"She smells better" he grinned at Blair.

"She smells like poop"

"Still better"

Blair reached to punch him on the shoulder, and Dan didn't dodge it, cringing when her fist hit him. Then he leaned back down, laughing against her forehead.

"You'll pay for that" she told him, before turning around to go up the stairs "See you at dinner"

Dan watched her go, until she looked down and gave him a slight smile. When he went to take his coat, Dorota was there, staring at him.

"Is everything okay?" Dan asked.

"It's happening again" Dorota whispered.

"Um…what is?"

Dorota took a step closer to him.

"Miss Blair" she said "She…"

Then Dorota looked warily up the stairs, before looking back at Dan and bending forward, mimicking vomiting. Dan's heart skipped a beat.

"Is the reason why she lost weight because…?"

Dan couldn't bring himself to finish the question, because he was interrupted by his own voice pounding his mind. If there is too much pressure, perhaps you could go back to sticking your fingers down your fucking throat to lose the weight you took for him. He felt sick.

But Dorota looked at him confusingly, then waved her hands in negation.

"No, no, Miss Blair don't do that. She lost weight because of intense Polish diet" Dorota rubbed nervously her hands "It's other thing"

"What other thing, Dorota?" Dan was losing his patience.

If Dorota had scrubbed off the bulimia theory, it didn't make his heart beat slower. He watched as Dorota rubbed a hand on her stomach, then when she saw that Dan still didn't get it, formed an arc over it.

Dan stopped breathing.

"Dorota, are you saying…"

"Dorota!" Blair yelled from upstairs "Bring the diapers!"

"I must go!" Dorota hurried up the stairs "Please talk to her, Mister Dan. I think Miss Blair in denial again"

She left him there, with a whole thread of intertwined thoughts in his head.

When Dan could move again, he went directly to Nate's office. Nate had already done writing his vows, and Dan gave his approval without really even reading them.

"Are you okay, man?" Nate asked him "I thought how reunion would be much more jovial than that."

"I think Dorota told me Blair is pregnant"

"What?"

Now that Dan was saying out loud, it was taking a whole other dimension. It wasn't like the last time he had learned Blair was pregnant, because now, there was a fairly good chance that he…

"Jesus, Nate, I can't breathe"

"Hey, calm down. Do you know if…I mean, are you the…?" Nate seemed as uncomfortable as Dan.

"I don't know!" Dan rubbed his face "Has she dated anyone since you guys came back?"

That was also plausible. He had been with a couple of girls in London.

Nate shrugged "Blair and I don't really talk about that. Do you want me to ask Serena?"

"No! Don't. No one can hear about that until I talk to her myself, okay?"

Nate nodded, patting him with compassion on the shoulder.

It turned out that Blair made him pay his comment at breakfast by sitting him next to Chuck at the rehearsal dinner. Dan was sure he was about to have a panic attack. The situation would have been already awkward without Dorota's confession, but then, Dan couldn't help thinking: what if it was Chuck? He could picture it; Blair feeling lonely and stressed out by work and the wedding prep; casually sipping on a bottle of wine at the end of the day; dialing Chuck…

He got up to go get some air. He loosened his tie once he was outside the restaurant, and sat on the sidewalk. About ten minutes later, he heard the door open behind him.

"Did you really think your suit wasn't disgusting enough that you had to sit there?"

Blair's voice pierced through his heart. He couldn't even turn around to look at her. He heard her sigh deeply, then she took a whole minute to fathom the concept of sitting next to him, trying not to think about her dress too much.

"Are you okay?" she asked

Dan shook his head. Blair put a hand on his arm, urging him to turn to her. She was looking at him with worried eyes.

"What's going on?"

"I need to ask you something" Dan coughed to make his voice sound less hoarse "And I need you to be honest, Blair."

She nodded, but her hand left his arm. Dan took a deep breath.

"Have you been with another guy than me, in the last three month?"

"In what is that your business, Humphrey?" Blair frowned.

"Please, just…answer, Blair"

"I haven't. There. Are you happy?"

Dan snorted bitterly "No, Blair. Actually, I'm not. When were you going to tell me that you were pregnant with my child?"

Blair's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to let out a breathy sound, before she understood and rolled her eyes.

"Oh my God, did Dorota tell you this?"

"Yes. Always great to hear that kind of things from your housekeeper"

"Calm down, Humphrey, I'm not pregnant" Blair waved away the accusation.

Dan blinked "You're not?"

"If I am, then so is Nate. We had oysters for lunch, a couple of weeks ago, and both went home vomiting our guts out"

Dan closed his eyes, relieved, but still slightly upset.

"I don't understand. You two know that you can't digest oysters, why do you keep…"

"We're tired of everyone telling us not to eat something we like" Blair said

"Because it's bad for you"

"We're adults, we can handle it"

"Apparently not"

"We are not having this fight again, Dan!" Blair yelled, and a couple walking by turned to look at them. "Bottom line is I am not bearing your Brooklyn child. My womb would not stand hipster blood"

"Okay. Good." Dan didn't even take notice of the insult.

They stayed there for a couple of minutes, silent.

"What would you have done if I had been pregnant?" Blair finally asked.

Dan loosened up his tie a bit more.

"I don't think…I'm not sure it would be good for us to have that kind of conversation"

"You're right, I'm sorry"

Another silence.

"Do you still have your nightmares?" Dan asked.

Blair shook her head "Do you still have you dreams?" she asked too.

"They stopped"

"I had one"

Dan looked at her, waiting for the tale. She laughed nervously.

"It's silly, really. But it's about you…and me. We were meeting in front of some Parisian café. I don't think we knew each other in my dream"

"That's…weird" Dan said, when he couldn't find any other word.

"Don't I know it"

They laughed together, until they heard the restaurant door open again. Lily was getting out, clutching her coat around her. Blair and Dan stood up.

"You're leaving early, we haven't even had dessert yet" Blair pointed out.

Lily gave a polite smile "Everything was wonderful, Blair. But I just need to rest if I want to last all night tomorrow. If I know something about those two in there, it's that the party will go on as long as there will be music and champagne"

She kissed Blair, before turning to Dan. It was the first time they were seeing each other since the divorce. Lily smiled at him, and reached out to take one of his hand in hers.

"Thank you, for everything you've done for Serena."

"I didn't do much. She is pretty amazing all by herself"

Lily put her other hand on his cheek, warm, and grateful. She had done this so many times over the years, that it didn't surprised Dan. But he knew that this kind of gesture belonged to a time long gone.

"You look so much like him" she said "When he was your age"

When she was in love with him. Lily finally released him and with a last smile, got into a waiting town car. The following year, Dan would publish his third novel, entitled The Wife. His main character's name was Daisy, and he felt warmth in his chest when he heard two weeks after the book was published that Lily Bass had filed for divorce. He laughed when he received a card with the initials CB on which was hand written "Well played".

Serena's and Nate's wedding was nothing but spectacular, to Blair's eyes. When Nate staring saying his vows, Blair was the one tearing up. At least at first. Serena's eye filled with water when Nate actually thanked her for giving him a black baby.

She had trouble starting saying her own vows, but managed in the end.

"Nate" she said, after swallowing "I really, really love you. With all of my heart. And you have beautiful eyes. And also, I love you"

The minister wasn't sure if he was to go on or not after that, and Dan tried not to laugh at his face when the minister realized that those were Serena's vows. During the whole ceremony, his eyes kept going from Nate and Serena, to Blair, standing opposite him in her curacao blue maid of honor dress.

The buzz they got from the wedding lasted two days. Right before Dan had to catch his flight back to London, he went for a walk in Central Park with Nate, Serena, Blair, and Summer.

Nate pushed Summer in her stroller, Blair hanging on one of his arms and talking about putting Waldorf Designs ads in the Spectator, while Dan and Serena walked behind, discussing the future. Serena told him she wanted to go back to college, and become a PR agent.

Blair was the only one to drive him to the airport. She even walked with him to the boarding gate.

"Do you remember the last time we were here?" she asked.

Dan laughed at the memory "You could really make me do anything. You never reimburse me the plane ticket, by the way"

"You never reimbursed me my Prabal"

"Fair enough"

They smiled at each other, and the speaker called for the boarding of his flight. Dan pulled Blair tight against him. She responded to the embrace.

"I'll miss you" he whispered "It was really good to see you. Come visit, someday"

"I will" Blair nodded as they pulled away.

She watched him go with a last wave.

A week after the wedding, Dan took a decision. He was ready to start a new life, to really start fresh. So he sat down with Jenny, and explained to her he was moving out.

"What? Where?" she asked.

"Hopefully, I'll find a flat –when did I start saying 'flat'? Anyway, hopefully, not far from here"

Jenny frowned and crossed her arms "I thought you liked it here"

"I do, Jenny. I love it. But you have a worst influence on me than Nate"

"Oh, rubbish" Jenny scoffed.

"Jenny. The other night, you came back home with a girl that I had kissed three hours earlier. I think this drew the line"

Jenny shrugged "So uptight"

"Are you mad?"

"I am not mad, Dan" Jenny sighed "I do however suggest that we go to The Muffin House, get a coffee and talk it through"

Dan accepted, only because Jenny being this compliant was too good to pass on it. She didn't say a word as they were walking to the café. Dan understood why when they got in front of it. He looked at Jenny, who just shrugged, and turned around, probably going back home.

Dan took a few steps forward, really facing Blair standing in front of the café.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Blair smiled and shrugged "I don't know, I hear London is nice at this time of the year"

"So this has nothing to do with giving life to a certain dream of yours?" Dan stuffed his hands in his pockets, unable to process how happy he was to see her.

"Perhaps" Blair admitted.

"Mmh kind of breaks the whole magic of it, doesn't it?"

"Fortunately, I don't believe in magic" Blair answered "But I believe in us"

Dan didn't know anything else to do, but smile. They sat inside the café, ordered two cups of tea. Then Blair talked, straightforward.

"I want to be with you, Dan" she said, amongst other things, but that was really the one Dan remembered. "I know we can be…so good together. I know you know it too. We don't have to keep pretending that you being in London isn't the only thing that's kept us from being together because it is."

Dan listened, still smiling, all the time. She was authoritarian, and confident. She was the Blair he fell for, and he had nothing to do with her reappearance. She had done it on her own.

It took really only three words for Dan to know that his life would change forever. Blair scribbled them on a napkin that she folded afterward, and handed to him saying it was her hotel information. Then she stood up, and left the café with a simple "See you".

Dan waited until she was gone to read the napkin. He let out a breath, when he read the words, then started laughing, out of pure joy, all by himself. He left the café in a hurry, more from the excitement because he knew she would be waiting for him outside.

She was standing there, her green trench coat wrapped around her, looking nervously in his direction. She relaxed when she saw him smile, and let him pull her into a kiss.

Months later, while Dan was rocking his son back to sleep, he would laugh, picturing the face of the waiter who cleaned their table, and saw written on a napkin "Dorota was right".

Again, thanks for reading.

xo