A/N: Again, if you can tell that i'm not as focused on this as I used to be it's because i'm not. I'm sorry. Almost done!

DON'T CRY YOUR HEART OUT

OASIS

BUTTERFLY EFFECT

XOXOXOX

Nina was signing her name on a million forms at the law office while Nate's eyes wandered to the glass door. The T.V. in the reception area was listing statistics of the game he was missing. He did ask Nina if they could do this on a different day but she refused to work around his sports schedule. Suddenly a breaking report flashed on the screen. "Nate?" Nina said in a warning tone. He ignored her as he opened the glass door and approached the television. "Nate!" Nina sounded appalled. A few gasps came from people in the lobby. He pointed to the screen and she saw why everyone was gasping. They left the office without another word, steady pace, no words exchanged.

"And what do I owe the pleasure?" Blair smiled up at her two friends who stormed into the apartment.

"Blair?" Nate looked at her solemnly. "Is Nicky here?"

"She's at school. But it's a half-day so we're going to have lunch and start a book club, she's so excited about it. It's adorable," she picked up the water pitcher and began pouring into lemon wedge filled glasses with ice and tall straws.

"Blair come sit down," he gulped.

"What's going on?" she squinted wondering why he was acting so weird.

Nate carefully explained what he had seen at the bank. Blair pulled from the counter still holding the pitcher. It happened so quickly Nate didn't realize she fainted until the sound of cracking and shattering glass erupted.

"BLAIR!" Nina yelled rushing over.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Life flashed before Blair's eyes in her unconscious state. The mere seconds seemed to last an hour in her mind. She could hear her friends voices, "Nina, stay there! There's glass everywhere!" Nate yelled. "Blair, Blair,..." he helped her sit up.

"No,..no...no..." she shook her head back and fourth and clumsily got to her feet. She was very confident and calm, she didn't believe Nate. Once she stood she walked over to the living-room not concerned about stepping over the glass, she fought through any pain she may have experienced because she was so numb she couldn't feel a thing. She turned on the news, her eyes wide and glued to the screen, she swallowed hard listened intently to the reporter. Her eyes widened further with the footage of the aircraft in a blaze of smoke and flames.

"Again, the airline has reported there are no survivors. We'll keep you updated on any new information following..."

Blair immediately turned around and trudged through the apartment looking for Dan's flight receipt. "Blair,..." Nina winced.

"No I refuse...I,..." she shook her head, "No,"

"Two O'clock, LAX to JFK?" He asked in a whisper, his eyes filled.

"There could have been two..." she noticed people going on about their day below them on the city streets, completely oblivious to the fact her life had just shattered.

Once she found it, she ran back to the television and checked the flight numbers. After a beat, Blair felt dizzy again, Nina rushed to her and grabbed her hands that she could no longer feel, her legs gave out. Horrifying, blood curdling screams filled her apartment. She shrieked so loudly and wailed in such utter pain Nate felt his hands shake. He should have tried talking to her, but his own grief led him to sit on the floor and pull Blair into his arms.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

That Morning

Dan picked up a newspaper from the stand before finding a good place at the airport gate. There was a small baby sleeping soundly in her father's arms, he smirked knowing the peace wouldn't last long. He dug into his bag and grabbed a pen so he could start his crossword. He probably should have been working on his notes for the producers but he needed some downtime to relax. Whenever someone else joined him by the gate he looked up and smiled. There were a few men dressed in nice suits, writing franticly on their laptops. He figured they were writing screenplays as-well. He found it funny to think he was one of those guys now, he never imagined himself writing for a film. There was an older couple to his left arguing about who misplaced their passports but it seemed trivial considering they had been found. There were two young women looking exceptionally excited to finally see New York City as they talked about all the sites they wanted to see. Dan apologized for eavesdropping and told them that one of the museums they had on their itinerary had been closed that week for an installation. They thanked him and asked if he lived in the city. He then laughed as they told him how incredibly lucky he was. The girls explained that they were from a small town in Ohio, just spent a week in Los Angeles but they were capping their vacation off in New York City. He spent the next ten minutes answering all their questions about where the best places to eat and shop were.

"I'm not the best person to ask about shopping but my uh my fiancé," it sounded ridiculous. "...actually just became a buyer for bendels so I'd say...,"

"WHAT!" one of the girls shrieked and Dan laughed again. It was like being back in high-school when Gossip Girl was rampant. He never would have thought he missed that but something about this was nostalgic.

The girls left to get lunch before the flight and Dan found himself observing a young couple. He probably wasn't more then ten years older than them but felt a certain paternal instinct towards them. They were newly married and he saw himself and Blair, he wanted to give them advice but knew a guy like him hadn't earned his stripes to give advice on marriage just yet. An announcement was made as soon everyone sitting at the gate got up and formed in a line, waiting to get on the plane.

XOXOXOXOXOX

"What are you doing?" Nina asked Nate as she held on to Blair who was coughing and choking.

"I'm,..." he shrugged. "I don't know what else to do," he dialled Dan's cell and waited with his eyes pressed tightly closed.

Nina watched him intently hoping and praying Dan would answer. Nate's eyes closed and he let out a sob as the call wouldn't go through. "Oh my god..." he sucked in short panicky breaths.

"I can't,...I can't," Blair cried. Suddenly Blair had an epiphany, she stood up carefully and rushed to her phone, "he doesn't,...he doesn't use his phone when he's flying..."

"What honey?" Nina gulped.

"He called me," her eyes starred out into space.

"What are you talking about?"

"He called me," she blinked trying to keep some tears from running down her face. "He,...Dan doesn't ever ever use his phone when he's flying," she looked for her phone.

"Always follows the rules," Nate sniffed and wiped his eyes.

"He wasn't on the plane," Blair said softly.

"Blair,..." Nate's lips shook knowing she was still in a stage of denial. "Blair,..." he tried to take the phone from her.

"He never uses his phone on the plane!" she yelled. "Never!" she pointed at Nate.

"Blair that's an old rule..."

"No he never. He called me at,..." she looked at her phone. "five after three..."

"I can't believe this,..." Nate wiped his eyes.

"I'm going to call!" Blair said.

Nate had already tried calling Dan's phone and he knew Blair was going to be hit with reality the moment his phone went to voicemail. Blair's eyes focused on her feet that were soaked from the pitcher of water that shattered on the kitchen floor. Nina felt sick to her stomach as it rang for the eighth time. Nothing. The voicemail didn't even kick in. Blair swallowed hard. "Ohmygod," she mumbled. "Ohmygod...," she hyperventilated.

XOXOXOXOX

EARLIER

Dan pulled his earbud out curious as to why there was such a long wait to get through the gate. "Are you serious?!" the husband of the young couple complained to the gate attendant.

"Well, then we'll just take the next flight," The wife said with ease.

"The next flight is full so you'll both have to take the flight you had originally booked," the gate attendant explained.

"There has to be a way to fix this! we didn't realize,"

"Sir, take your seat on this flight and your girlfriend will be on the very next flight, it's only a three hour wait,"

"My wife! She's my wife!, we're going on our honeymoon and I don't want to take separate flights because of your error!" he yelled.

"Sir, this is not our error, you booked two separate flights," she explained.

"Well if your company had a decent website then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation,"

"Adam, it's fine. It's only three hours. I'll meet you later," the wife said.

"Are you sure there's nothing you can do?" he asked the gate attendant.

"If someone was willing to give up their seat then we could get you on," she explained.

"Yes, please can we at least try it?,"

The attendant made an announcement and no one budged. Dan knew there was no way in hell the couple with the baby were going to test their luck in the airport for longer than they had to. The men with laptops probably had meetings and deadlines to make. He really didn't want to switch his flight, he was exhausted, he wanted to get home to Blair. Still, not a soul wanted to give up their seat on this plane. The airline offered an incentive, but still not a single person offered to switch their flight. "I'm sorry sir, you'll have to take your original flights or rebook for another time," the attendant explained.

Dan sighed, knowing as soon as he said something, he couldn't take it back. "Excuse me!" he waved. "I can take the next flight,"

"Are you serious?" Adam smiled.

"Yeah, I uh,...I have work to do anyway so the three hours will force me to do it," Dan said with a slight shrug.

"Thank-you so much," he looked completely shocked but incredibly grateful. The gate attendant printed Dan a new ticket and thanked him. "Seriously man, thank-you. We'll never forget this,"

Dan nodded with a soft smile and walked back to his seat. After about an hour of brainstorming, he gave up and pulled out his cell-phone. "Hey!"

"Hi! I can't talk i'm shopping. Nicky and I are starting our very own book club this afternoon so i'm picking up some macrons," she took half a breath before continuing, "She wants to read Jane Austen but I was thinking we could ease into it with Judy Blume. I know what you're going to say, that she's already read Judy Blume, but she hasn't read them all and to be honest, I wouldn't mind doing a reread," suddenly she stopped talking into the phone and started talking to the person in the bakery. "My order is vanilla bean and raspberry. No! No chocolate!, Dan I have to go! Love you. Can't wait for dinner tonight,"

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk about. Don't be mad,...but I...Blair?,..." he realized she hung-up

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Sit down, sit down," Nina feared Blair was going to pass out. Blair grabbed on to Nina , her fingertips digging into her bestfriend's back as she heaved in the most heart wrenching sobs. The phone was ringing now and Blair cried harder knowing she was going to have to tell his parents.

"Do you want to answer it?" Nina asked softly.

"I'm so afraid,..." she admitted. The only thing she could imagine was the person on the other end had identified Dan as one of the passengers and this was her notification.

"Hello?" she sniffed fearing the absolute worst. It took a moment but it felt like she had been ripped out of deep water only a millisecond before drowning, like waking up from the most horrible nightmare she could imagine. Blair pulled the phone from her ear and rested it against her chest. Slowly she brought it back up to her ear and wiped at her eyes.

"...Hi baby," she whispered.

"I'm shaking," his lip trembled.

"So am I," she cried."Come home, I made you cookies," she giggled softly through her cries, she dragged her sleeve across her face.

"I'm going to catch the next flight, i'll be home around..."

"Can you please take a bus?"

"Blair, I understand your concern due to the circumstance but that's a forty hour bus ride. This will probably be the safest flight i've ever been on. They're calling it pilot error, what are the chances this would happen again?" there was a pause, "You there?"

"Just keep talking," she cried.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

When Dan arrived home, Blair rushed down to the foyer, everyone followed, as he stepped in the door she ran towards him and jumped up into his arms, placing both hands on his face and kissing him with all she had. Dan's bag crashed to the ground as he took hold of her thighs and kissed her. Blair wrapped both arms around his neck and devoured his mouth with hers.

Nicky made a funny face, with her eyebrows raised as she looked to Nate. Nina squeezed Nicky and played with her hair. "You're going to sleep at my place tonight," Nina tapped her niece on the shoulder.

"I think that's for the best," she looked up at her wide eyed.

"So it took this to make you want to put the rings on?" Dan laughed seeing she had both an engagement ring and wedding band on.

"I've been wearing them all week," she admitted before wrapping her arms around him again.

That night Dan couldn't sleep, he laid with his forehead pressed against Blair's. "I feel..."

"You shouldn't feel bad. You didn't know," she explained.

"I can't help it. I,...it was supposed to me and I thought I was doing them a favour. And now,...I just...," he rubbed his eyes. Blair leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to his cheek.

"Dan,...If you got on that plane. Two two relationships would be destroyed. They get to be together forever now. And,..." she closed her eyes, "and you,...get to stay here with me," her finger tips drew soft comforting circles on his temple. He nodded gently and kissed her.

"So are we getting married?" he asked out of nowhere.

"Humphrey, all this time and you still don't even know me?" she sighed.

"Blair," he was exhausted. "I'm not asking you ever again," he smiled.

"Next week?" she bit her lip.

"My dad's wedding is next week," he laughed lightly as he reminded her.

"Right. Well, that gives me time to find a venue and buy a dress that's even more spectacular than the first one. What about exactly one month from now?" she nuzzled into him.

"It's a date," he kissed her.

XOXOXOXOX

Blair commended Lily's choice to wear blue to her second wedding to Rufus but she had other plans for her own second wedding. Wedding magazines littered the coffee table, the kitchen island and her nightstand until she found the exact, pure white Vera Wang that was made for her. Rufus and Lily's wedding was so emotionally charged she couldn't wait for her own day to arrive. These days she was so happy, not even Serena sitting three seats away could bring her mood down.

"Feels like I've done this before," Dan offered as he found himself in Serena's line of vision.

"Right?" she smiled uncomfortably. "At least she didn't marry in between," she glanced at her mom and Rufus having their first dance.

"That's always a plus," He nodded then thanked the bartender who slid over his glass. "So Rufus is husband six AND seven then?" he pursed his lips trying not to laugh.

"That he is," she confirmed. "A little birdy told me you're going to be Blair's first and second husband,..."

"Yeah,..." he bashfully looked into his glass.

"I haven't seen Nicky in a long time," Serena gestured to where Nate was spinning Nicky around on the dance floor. "I thought Nicky and Isobel were going to be like Blair and I," she commented. "But in a way, I'm glad they aren't,"

"They're cousins," Dan smiled.

"Yeah. They are," she smiled back.

Dan watched Nate and Nicky dance hilariously, jumping around and shaking their arms in the air. Nate looked to be trying to teach her how to do the robot but he wasn't very good at it himself. Nicky's perfect hair braided into a pretty crown around her head was starting to fall out and Nate tried fixing it but Nicky swatted him away.

"Can I cut in?" Dan asked. Nicky pushed herself away from Nate and reached out to Dan.

"Wow, didn't even think twice," Nate pretended he was offended.

"I'll save a dance for you!" she giggled as he sulked and walked away.

They danced for a full song, Dan spun her around a few times and then a slow song started.

"You having fun?" Dan asked as they swayed back and fourth.

"Yes!" she smiled.

"You wanna go to another wedding in a few weeks?" he smirked.

"Who's getting married?" she asked in confusion as she rested her head on his chest.

"Hey," Blair approached them. "Think I could cut in?" she smiled at her daughter.

"Well we were in the middle of a conversation but I suppose,..." she practically pushed them together.

"Well that was easy," Blair laughed as they began to dance. "Did you see your sister and Nate?" Blair gestured.

"What do you mean?" Dan asked looking around. Blair pointed to a table in the corner where Jenny and Nate were sitting incredibly close, they seemed to be holding eachother's hands.

"I don't know how I feel about it. I mean Nina is,..."

"Blair, stop. Nate and Nina are never going to get together," he told her.

"You don't think that after the baby is born that they might?"

"No," he shook his head. "Now, let's stop talking about Nate and Nina. Did I tell you that you look incredible?"

"Yes," she said coyly.

"Well, may I say it again?"

"Oh Humphrey, I assumed you had a more abundant vocabulary than that," she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You look unbelievable," he pulled her closer and she laughed. "Can I kiss you?"

"In public? what will people think?" she looked side to side.

"That takes me back!" he laughed.

"You were the best dirty little secret," she smirked and moved in for a kiss.

"Do you two need a room?" Nicky interrupted their makeout session.

"Enough with the sass," Blair smiled and started fixing her hair.

"Daddy said we're going to another wedding,"

Blair looked to Dan shocked that he would say something when they both decided to tell her together. "Yeah," she nodded and moved away once she was done fixing Nicky's hair. Dan wrapped his arm around Blair.

"Who's getting married?" she asked.

"We are," Blair looked at Dan. Nicky's face went completely blank, she frowned and her eyes filled with tears.

"Seriously?" she asked in a shakey voice.

"Yes," Blair nodded and pulled her into a hug. "Is that okay? because we wont if you dont want us to,"

"I want you to! I want you to!" she nodded.

"Okay, then stop crying!" Dan laughed.

XOXOXOXOX

A/N: Thanks for reading!