The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
31st December 2007
Blair sighed in relief as she stepped out onto the steps of the Met, the noise of the party slowly fading into the regular noise of Manhattan as the cool air met her cheeks. Her father and Ramon had returned to Paris four days ago with her mother biding them a heartfelt farewell, promising to visit next time she was in Paris for work. Though Blair was rather upset at the fact that her family seemed determined to keep their meetings on another continent, she had pushed those feelings aside when she saw the peaceful and happy smile on her mother's face.
Looking around she smiled fondly as she watched two cabbies screaming at each other, as a nearby hotdog vendor recorded the whole thing on his phone. Hearing kids laughing, she redirected her attention and laughed quietly as she watched four little trouble makers run up and down the steps, their nannies watched with smug smiles as their parents desperately tried to herd the group back inside.
Letting go of the skirt on her own dress, she watched as it glided across the steps, smiling as she recalled Chuck, Nate, Serena and herself acting exactly like the unruly foursome when they'd been that age.
Dan leant against the doorway as he watched Blair get lost in her own world. He couldn't help but shake his head as one of the kids ran up and tried to hide behind him.
Bending down to the kid's level he took in his mischievous blue eyes and chocolate covered smile. Though he couldn't be more than five, those blue eyes were very distinctive and Dan chuckled as he recalled the one time he'd babysat this particular terror two years ago. "Jackson."
Bright blue eyes met his own as the boy nodded in recognition, before scurrying around him and back to his friends who had managed to form a circle around their parents and were tauntingly ducking out of reach every time a parent tried to grab them.
Chuckling to himself he couldn't help but sigh in amusement as he watched the nannies exchange money as the kids did various things. Though he knew it was probably incredibly immoral to bet on how much a kid would misbehave, this was probably one of the only nights a year when these parents decided they'd fulfill their resolution from last New Year to act more like a parent to their child and he had to admit it was very entertaining.
Moving closer to Blair, he stopped a breath away from her, smiling ever so slightly as she moved back into him, resting against his body.
Blair angled her head as Dan pressed a kiss to her neck, her eyes fluttering as her breath stuttered at the jolt of pleasure that ran through her. "W-what are you doing out here?" Blair's words were forced through her lips as she tried to keep up her annoyed tone when in reality his lips had already melted her resolve.
Dan sighed as he ran his nose up and down her jaw line, breathing in her sweet smell as his fingers held tightly to her waist, trying not to let her words affect him. "Blair…"
"I see you finally lost her." Turning in his arms, Blair pulled back enough to look into his soft brown eyes. They were filled with so much warmth and love but she could see he was hurting at the fact she was so mad at him.
She knew it wasn't technically his fault but that didn't mean she enjoyed watching the strumpet that Chuck had escorted to Cotillion throwing herself all over Dan, especially when Dan's arm had been firmly wrapped around her own waist.
Cupping her face in his hands, he ran his thumbs across her cool red cheeks, unable to help himself from remembering the first time they'd met. "I love you Blair. Only you." Pressing his lips to hers, he felt her shift further into him, her body's need for heat overriding her determination to stay mad at him, the action causing him to smirk before his next words slipped out. "Though this all would have been easier if you had just helped me get rid of her."
Blair pouted as she looked at him, there he went with his logic.
Wiping the lipstick that had transferred onto his lips off, she sighed in acceptance. "I'm sorry." Feeling his fingers thread through her own, she smiled slightly, running her free hand down the front of his chest. "Sometimes things just get a little…"
Dan tugged her hands down, encasing both firmly in his grasp as he stopped her from actually finding the word she was looking for. "I know."
Noticing Eric in the doorway calling them in, he knew it was close to midnight and that Blair would possibly kill him if she missed the ball dropping. Pulling her back towards the entrance, Dan pressed his lips to the top of her head as she rested it against his shoulder.
Quickly moving along the edges of the party, skirting past any adults that wanted to chat, the trio finally found the stairwell. Moving back up the path they'd travelled only fifteen minutes ago, Eric sighed in relief when they finally exited onto the roof of the Met. Though you wouldn't think it, it was rather stuffy in that stairwell and the fresh air was refreshing.
His eyes turned to the ball which had already begun it's final countdown, before they darted around the room, easily spotting various members of their group. Chuck and Nate were exactly where they had left them. The duo had returned with Bart earlier this afternoon and had shown up to the party already drunk and at this stage appeared to be well onto their fourth joint.
He noted with interest and slight pity that Vanessa was pulling a less than enthusiastic Jenny over to the pair, apparently wanting to kiss her boyfriend when the clock struck midnight, regardless of what the younger blonde wanted.
Serena, Kati, Is and Penelope were standing in a corner, apparently less than pleased by the male turnout tonight as evident in the way they crinkled their noses as they glanced at a group of guys who were currently groping a bunch of drunk girls.
While he knew he could probably get away with kissing Asher tonight - a simple New Years Eve peck, it happened all the time at these parties and if the way Asher was looking at him was any indication it wouldn't be much of an effort - Eric knew he owed Dan and Blair a favor tonight and he was more than happy to be of use. Well that and he was still incredibly infuriated by Asher's attitude.
"Ten…"
He watched with barely concealed amusement as people began counting down from ten and the rush began with people desperately clutching onto their significant other or the nearest free person in an attempt to get their midnight kiss. Moving closer to Blair and Dan, he shook his head in exasperation as he watched Audrey move towards Dan again, her eyes dazed but focused only on him.
"Three, Two…"
Dan looked over Blair's shoulder as he heard the crowd counting down. Audrey had her hand just above Blair's arm ready to pull the girl out of the way when Dan's plan went into action. Seeing the back of Eric's head now in place, Dan pulled Blair closer to him, wrapping his arms around her waist as the crowd reached one, softly pressing his lips against hers.
"Happy New Year."
The sentiment was heard all around but the only voice Dan focused on was the quiet one whispered in his ear as Blair embraced him. Her soft body melding against his as she let all her frustration go and focused on welcoming the New Year with the one she loved.
Eric covered his ears as Audrey pushed him away, shrieking once before storming out. It was moments like that when he was grateful he was not attracted to girls, sometimes they were just too obsessive. Smirking at Dan, he pat his friend once on the back, wishing him a Happy New Year before turning to Blair.
Moving so she could embrace Eric, Blair pulled the younger boy to her, ruffling his hair slightly. Still caught down memory lane, Blair remembered when they'd attended the annual Met ball when they were younger. With the same fond smile that had appeared earlier, she recalled Eric sitting on the steps and watch the four of them cause trouble until Blair dragged the younger boy off the steps much to Serena's displeasure and made him join in.
Now he was all grown up, but Blair smiled as she realised it was still up to her to make him join in the fun and as such she refused to let him go home just yet. Pulling away, she wrapped her arm around his neck as she leant into Dan and turned them to look out over New York. All around their were people partying in the streets - the cabbies from earlier had even taken a moment to stop fighting and share a smoke with the hot dog vender before they undoubtedly returned to their fight.
She could see the four kids sleeping happily in their nannies arms - apparently finally worn out - and was once again overwhelmed with love and respect for Dorota. She watched as the mothers and fathers quit their gossiping and working to spare a kiss for their spouse and a smile for their occasional friends, before looking fondly over at their children.
It was her city and it seemed for the moment at least that most people were happy and as she looked at her boys she was glad to see they were included in that.
xoxoxoxo
Serena stepped back as people cheered around her, she looked up at Penelope and touched her lips softly. There was something really wrong but she couldn't put her finger on it. Serena generally had no problem kissing girls but this was the first time she'd done it absolutely sober, besides it was a New Years kiss it's was not like it counted but even that wasn't enough to cause her unease. No there was something else.
She glanced over to see Kati and Is smile kindly at each other before turning to a group of boys that had formed around them and were heckling them to kiss again. Her eyebrows pulled together in concentration as she sucked her lip into her mouth in frustration.
Plum! Finally her brain caught on. She didn't know anyone else who used plum flavored lipgloss and if what she was thinking was right then Penelope was in trouble. Pulling the other girl away from the crowd ignoring Penelope's half-hearted attempt to get away, Serena led them to the stairwell.
Pulling her down the stairs, Serena kept going until she found one of the more deserted lower levels and breathed a sigh of relief at the privacy it provided. Penelope trailed out after her swaying a little as she began to lean on the blonde for balance.
Looking into Penelope's brown eyes, Serena fought to keep calm as she noticed how dilated the other girl's pupils were. Slapping her lightly on the cheek, she tried to keep the Penelope awake as she looked around for help. "Pen… come on focus on me. That's good." Seeing a small amount of clarity in Penelope's eyes Serena focused on her questions knowing it was important she get to the bottom of this quickly. "Hey, come on now. Penelope, who gave you that lipgloss. Do you remember what she looked like? What her name was?"
Penelope clutched her head as she tried to keep the world from spinning. She was so thirsty. She could vaguely hear Serena asking her questions again but it was all one blurry mess and she was so thirsty…
xoxoxoxo
Chuck smiled slightly underneath Jenny's soft lips. He hadn't even noticed her approach until she'd landed in his lap as the countdown had neared zero. Seeing his chance, he'd opened his mouth to talk, apologize… do something. But had frozen when he saw the fear in her eyes.
It wasn't as if he hadn't seen fear in girls before. He was Chuck Bass and he didn't get that way by being the good boy. Nonetheless it still hurt. Part of what had intrigued him about her that night at Kiss on the Lips was that despite her fighting him there was no fear in her eyes… only disgust and determination.
Fear was somehow worse. Stunned into silence he realized he missed his window of opportunity, but he refused to make the same mistake he had at Kiss on the Lips, this time he was not going to kiss her against her will and while everyone was cheering he was going to try speaking to her again.
"One!"
As the crowd called one, her soft, vanilla flavored lips touched lightly against his own and all his thoughts of not kissing her went out the window.
Jenny immediately slipped off Chuck's lap as she disconnected their lips. While she refused to break a New Years tradition, she also refused to get sucked back into Chuck's trap. A small flash of jealous rushed through her as she wondered who Cameron had found to kiss tonight given that she'd been his New Years kiss since they were kids.
Turning from Chuck, Jenny looked over to find Vanessa and Nate were completely caught up in one another. Frowning at the fact that Vanessa had dragged her over here and now left her in this mess, she grabbed her bag off the ground and pulled her coat tighter around herself before moved through the people. As she thought down to the adult party downstairs, she desperately hoped she'd be able to slip out without her dad spotting her, all she wanted to do right now was go home and sleep.
"Jenny wait!"
Unable to help herself Jenny looked back, shocked to find Chuck following her down the stairs. Shaking herself out of her stupor she quickly hurried down the next few flights, hoping he wouldn't catch her.
"Please." Both paused as the broken plea left his mouth.
Sighing in defeat, Jenny slipped out a few levels early, grateful for the quiet it provided, given that it was far enough away from both parties.
Chuck watched as she pulled at her blonde hair softly. Something he'd quickly come to realize she only did when she was nervous. While in Monaco he'd spent a lot of time analysing what had happened these past few months and he couldn't help but shake his head at the fact that a lot of that meant he analyzed the blonde in front of him, her devious brunette mentor and the other Humphrey.
As such he'd made some intuitive leaps while he was gone and was therefore not in the least bit surprised when Nate received a blast showing their very own Queen B and the Brooklynite together. Besides he knew as well as Blair - and apparently Lily - just how alluring the Humphrey's could be.
Hearing Jenny clear her throat next to him, he sighed slightly off put by her attitude. Though since he knew it was fairly earned he kept his protests to himself. "I'm sorry, Jenny."
Her neck cricked in protest as Jenny's head whipped around to face Chuck. Before she could help herself her hand was pressed against his forehead checking for a fever. "Are you feeling alright?" She knew to an outsider her actions may look dramatic but she was seriously concerned about her friend. This wasn't right, Chuck Bass doesn't apologize.
"I'm serious. I shouldn't have trapped you at Kiss on the Lips or slept with Serena while she was with your brother or ruined Blair's dream Cotillion. I destroy things - that's all I've ever done." Chuck looked into Jenny's guarded blue eyes and let out a breath of frustration as he wondered if anything he was saying was making it past her wall. A wall he put there.
Pulling her hands from his grasp, Jenny stood abruptly. Closing her eyes she tried to untangle her thoughts, sensing him reaching for her, she took another step back ignoring the flash of pity that went through her once she opened her eyes. He was slumped - well as slumped as Chuck Bass could ever be - on the bench, his head in his hands as if he'd given up.
"You can't possibly think that an apology - no matter how heartfelt - will be all it takes to get me to forgive you." Weeks worth of anger and self-doubt finally exploded, and she was somewhat started by how harsh her tone was. "You ran Chuck. No one saw you after the Cotillion, school wasn't even over for another two weeks but you ran anyway. You didn't apologize then, so you can't just expect me and the others to forgive you now. I need time. You had yours, now let me have mine." Jenny turned away from him, unwilling to pay attention to the fact that his shoulders had lifted ever so slightly at the fact that she had believed his apology and hadn't turned him him down completely.
Heading back to the stairwell, she heard him stand up and start following her, his uncertain gait worrying her slightly.
"Did you tell Blair what I did?" Chuck never really knew why he sought Blair's approval as often as he did. He figured it was probably because they all saw her as the mother of the group. While the Serena had rotating father figures and Nate had rotating Nannies - depending on how long it was until Mrs Archibald caught them with her husband - and he himself had rotating hotel staff to look after them, Blair had Dorota. As such she was the one most equipped to be the mother figure.
So whether she was picking out Nate's clothes, pulling back Serena's hair when she was sick after doing who knows what and cleaning up Chuck's own messes - especially with his father - the last thing any of them wanted to do was disappoint her. Nate and Serena had failed spectacularly but Blair had still pretended she hadn't known what had happened and Chuck had felt proud that he hadn't ever really let her down… until Cotillion - the ball she had talked about since she was able to talk, maybe he was worse than Serena and Nate after all.
Jenny looked over at Chuck, a sigh slipping from her lips as she realized he was looking like a little kid about to be scolded, who had just been told the Santa doesn't exist. "No, Chuck. I didn't tell her but that doesn't mean she doesn't know." She watched as he scuffed his shoe against the carpeted floor, biting his lip slightly as he nodded his head, accepting what she said. "But that doesn't mean that she doesn't care about you. She still texted to see if you were okay, didn't she?"
Chuck momentarily wondered how Jenny knew Blair had texted him before focusing on the bigger part. While in Monaco he'd thought back on his actions he realized that it wasn't really fair to Blair at all - the last time one of her friends left without a word, she hadn't contacted them at all had had taken over a year to return.
However, he'd eventually eased his guilt by reminding himself that she had Hum-drum Humphrey who was probably reminding Blair of why they were better off without him. But when his father had shown up relaying the worried well wishes of both Blair and Dan, Chuck had allowed himself to feel the guilt again. Guilt which Nathaniel and his father had quickly latched onto until they managed to coerce Chuck onto the plane home.
Opening his mouth to reply, Chuck was once again cut off by Jenny, however it wasn't by her lips on his.
"What was that?" Jenny titled her head trying to listen more carefully as she continued down the flight of stairs trying to get closer to the sound. "Serena?"
Finally Chuck was able to hear it, an echoing call for help was coming from Serena who was still a few levels down. Hearing the panic in her voice, Chuck picked up his pace moving in front of Jenny until they found the blonde holding a now unconscious Penelope.
Immediately he switched into knowledgeable Chuck mode. Growing up in this lifestyle meant he had a whole contingency plan when it came to unconscious girls. "Jenny I need you to go get as many bottles of water as you can find."
Nodding quickly, Jenny disappeared again. Her thoughts running wild as she raced back up to the roof. She knew Chuck had said nothing about grabbing Blair but she was scared and Blair always knew what to do.
Spotting the brunette over by Eric and Dan, Jenny wandered over, her stride determined until she saw the calm smile on all their faces. Frustration flooded her as she realized she was trapped. She wanted the security Blair provided but the three of them looked so at peace she couldn't drag them from that.
Turning away from them, she scooped up a nearby plastic bag, grateful someone hadn't thrown it away yet and began grabbing bottles of water. Her foot was tapping impatiently at the process she had to go through - first she searched for bottles that were still sealed then she took a sniff and if that proved odorless then a sip to test it wasn't alcohol.
Finally she had filled the bag with what she figured was mainly water and quickly set about returning to Chuck, Serena and Penelope not seeing the satisfied look on the slightly crazed brunette she passed at the door.
xoxoxoxo
Serena and Chuck froze at the one word that slipped from Penelope's lips now that they'd managed to slap her back into near consciousness.
"Svetlana…" Chuck repeated as he desperately tried to think back to where he knew that name from. His entire body had frozen at the name as if it were aware of something he couldn't consciously access. Feeling Serena start shaking beside her he turned to her, only to find his friend as pale as a ghost.
"I was right, she's back Chuck. Georgina's back." Serena's words were accompanied by a sob and Chuck quickly brought his nearly hysterical friend into his arms, rocking her slightly in an attempt to soothe her.
"It's going to be okay but you need to pull yourself together, you can't let Georgina know you're onto her. She'll be here somewhere so just focus on your worry for Penelope." Chuck moved Serena back to her spot and scooped Penelope up, grateful that she was conscious enough to move her arms around his neck. "I've got a room at the Palace, we'll take her there."
Hearing Jenny behind them as they entered the stairwell, he was incredibly grateful that she'd missed Serena's revelation. The less people who knew about Georgina the better. If you didn't know about her, she was a lot less likely to attack and he was not about to let Jenny stand on the other end of Georgina's gun - especially since she wasn't aware of just how unstable the other girl actually was. With a cynical chuckle he couldn't help but think that this was way more drama than he planned to start the New Year with.
Hello, Upper East Siders. Gossip Girl here. A new year is upon us and I'll be watching.
XOXO Gossip Girl
