Dan squeezed Blair's hand, leaning over to kiss the side of her head. "Are you sure you think this is a good idea?"

"No, Daniel," Blair said, letting out a heavy sigh, "I do not think this a good idea. I know it is not. However, if this is going to work we are going to have to introduce you to proper society at some point."

"And your friends are 'proper society'?"

"They are a start," Blair said, giving him a look.

He knew that look well, it signaled for him to stop talking. However Dan had had a glass of whiskey before meeting up with Blair and then a glass of whiskey with her and he was feeling loose. "Would we say that Chuck Bass fits in with your proper society friends?"

Blair huffed, "I told you, he won't be there."

"I know," he said, bouncing on his toes. He could see that she was getting wound up and he knew if he pushed too hard, she would go over the edge. However, he got a secret thrill of watching Blair try to navigate a party when she was like this- on the cusp of annoyance and frustration. In their last month abroad, he had seen the wonders of it a couple of times. She would smile tightly to the people they talked to while whispering to him on the side about why whatever he had said was ridiculous. " I am trying to figure out if you would consider him proper society and if he is someone I need to be introduced to in order to fit in to the mold of being proper?"

Blair rolled her eyes, "You really need to let that go, Dan. I told you already that there is no chance-"

The door opened in front of them.

"Blair!" Serena screeched, throwing her hands around Blair. Blair looked over to Dan helplessly as she patted the blonde's back. "And Dan!" Suddenly her arms were now around Dan and Dan looked away from Blair, who he was sure was not appreciating the warm greeting. "I wasn't sure if you were coming. I'm so happy to see you two. And you two together. Nate filled me in on Thanksgiving, I was so upset not to be there."

"Yes, well," Blair said, looking over Serena's shoulder, "there is always next Thanksgiving. Oh, I see Kati. Come on, Dan, you have to make a second first impression."

Dan smiled at Serena, "Talk to you in there? After Blair has done the rounds in trying to make people forget about what happened last year?"

Serena nodded, "You'll do great."

Blair made a sound before taking Dan's hand and dragging him inside the apartment. "Kati!" she said, giving the girl two air kisses before pulling back. "Do you remember Dan?"

"How could I forget?" Kati said. She was perched on the arm of the sofa and making no effort to hide that she was giving Dan the once over. He, unlike the last time he attended an Upper East Sider party, was dressed the part. Or the most like the part he could while still being Dan. He was wearing a black v neck (to Blair's utter dismay) but he had allowed Blair to pair it with a blazer and dark wash jeans. "You brought us so much entertainment last year. Who will you punch in the face this time?"

Blair's mouth pinched, but Dan answered the question with a light laugh. "Hopefully no one. But," he looked down at his hands, which he was pressing into fists, "sometimes these guys have a mind of their own. Do you have any grudges with anyone? Maybe I can point them in their direction."

Kati laughed and took a swig of her champagne. "Delightful. In fact," she said, looking around the party and lowering her voice, "I have quite the list that I could give you."

Dan saw from the corner of his eyes as Blair's shoulders relaxed. He had done well. That was one point to Brooklyn.

"Dan, my man," Nate's voice boomed across the party. He threw his arm around Dan as he approached and gave him a squeeze. "I was hoping Blair would let you come to the party, wasn't sure if you were off probation from last year."

"I'm keeping a watchful eye," Blair said, giving Dan's hand a squeeze. "He got off early for good behavior but I reserve the right to send him back to Brooklyn at any moment."

Nate chuckled, leaning in to give Kati a hug. "Kati, you look great. Where is your partner in crime?"

"Isabel is coming later," Kati responded, looking up adoringly at Nate. Dan took that in, happy that it wasn't just his sister that couldn't help but swoon in Nate's presence. "She had a thing beforehand."

"Who are we talking shit about?" Serena said, joining the group. She looped her arm in Nate's and gave him a long kiss. Dan had seen them together a good number of times but it never failed to surprise him just how perfect they looked as a duo. He glanced sheepishly at Blair who was taking in their PDA with a slight hint of disgust on her face.

Kati shrugged. "If you count me saying Isabel is currently at her married professor's house to give him a very personal gift for Christmas as talking shit…" she trailed off as she grinned mischievously at Blair.

"Tell me," Blair said, putting her hands together as though praying, "that he is at least under the age of 70?"

Kati took a sip of her drink as a response.

This was how the rest of the night went as well. Most of the people who Blair introduced him to had either seen his fist make contact with Chuck's face or heard about it as sort of a legend. He was an Upper East Side legend, just not in the way that Blair would have liked. However, Dan was able to mostly maneuver the conversations with a joke about it which either elicited a groan from Blair or her leaning in and giving his hand a squeeze.

Towards the end of the night, Blair had finally given him enough trust that she had left him alone while she ran to the bathroom. In previous incidents, when she had to use the restroom, she either had him stand outside the bathroom or left him with Nate.

"Daniel," Kati said, beelining towards him once Blair was out of sight. "I was hoping to catch you alone."

Dan looked around nervously, "I can't imagine why. I'm not that great of a conversationalist and I'm from Brooklyn."

Kati gave an over-exaggerated laugh. "You were funny earlier, I thought out of Blair's clutches you might be even funnier."

"I promise that I am no funnier without Blair than I am with," he said, shifting his weight to his other foot as he tried to catch Nate's eye. He could see that this was going to go downhill, he just wasn't sure the trajectory it was going to take.

Kati laughed again, stepping forward to close the gap between the two of them. "I just have to imagine," she said, her hand on his blazer, "you must have something interesting to offer if Blair has been able to forgive you after that embarrassing incident the last time you were here. I am curious to what it is and how I get some."

"You could try to take the subway to Brooklyn," Dan said, her voice quavering with nerves. He was trying to back away from her but he had hit a literal wall behind him. "If you on a Saturday, maybe even a Sunday, you'll be sure to find someone able to provide what I can. Dry humor, a good book collection, less than 1000 dollars in their bank account…"

"Funny," Kati said, taking a step back. "Really funny." She turned to the door of the apartment which was opening as though on cue, "Chuck!"

Charles Bass walked in, smarmy as ever, and Dan was taken aback by this development. He knew the night would go sour, it was bound to with him in this environment, but he had not put this option on his bingo card. Blair had promised him Chuck wasn't coming, wasn't even invited she had said. However, there he stood.

Dan looked at Kati and then back to Chuck and nodded his head to himself before walking back in to the party and away from the door. He practically ran into Nate, who was looking at his phone in the middle of the kitchen. Nate hurried to put his phone in his pocket before Dan could see who he was texting which made Dan more suspicious.

"Did Serena leave?" Dan asked, his voice cool as he glanced over his shoulder to see the welcome wagon approach Chuck with glee.

"She's on the balcony."

"Texting you from there?"

Nate looked up, grinning at him. "Yeah, asked me to rescue her."

Dan didn't press, although he was pretty confident it was not Serena that Nate had been texting. He had seen his sister buried in her phone, smiling at whatever texts she was getting, since he got back from England. Dan was trying to be cool about it, Jenny was her own person and Nate still was dating Serena, but he felt inner turmoil about the entire situation. If it wasn't for the fact that he had onetime witnessed her phone light up with Nate's contact, he would have tried to stay blissfully ignorant about the situation.

"Unfortunately for her," Dan said, thumbing at the scene behind him, "I need you to be my knight in shining armor tonight. Chuck just walked in."

Nate looked over Dan, "Ah, so he has. Blair is going to murder whoever invited him. You should have seen the email she wrote to the group. It should have been enough to turn anyone off of inviting Chuck. Although, we're not in high school anymore. Blair doesn't have the pull she used to."

"Yeah, well, I need to not speak to him because despite punching him in the face once- I feel like a second time wouldn't hurt."

Nate snorted, "No amount of hitting Chuck is ever going to get him to stop being Chuck Bass."

Dan shrugged, feeling his heart start to race knowing that Chuck was in the same room as he was. It was no longer about Jenny at that point. It was the fact that Chuck was still able to walk into a party and people celebrated his entrance. "Blair is in the bathroom, do you mind telling her I went home?"

"Come on, man," Nate said, hitting Dan's chest with the back of his hand. "You can get through this. Blair can't ban Chuck from everything and the way you have been received tonight, I expect a lot more UES events in your future.

"I came," Dan responded, "I saw, I conquered. And now I need to leave."

"There you are," Blair said, appearing out of nowhere but seeming agitated. "I was looking for you. I came out of the bathroom and I saw Chuck- Dan, I was told he wasn't-"

"Nate told me about your email," Dan said, smiling at Blair who's cheeks had gone pink. As mad as he was at Chuck's presence, he was trying to not let that spill out to his girlfriend. It was not her fault that she was born into a life where the likes of Chuck Bass ran in her circles. "I think," he said, biting his lip, "I should go though."

Blair nodded, her shoulders rising. "Give me a second, I will get our jackets."

"You don't have to go, Blair," Dan said.

"I know, but this party is lame. I would rather spend it in with you, on the couch, listening to your dad ramble on about all of the cool parties he went to in the 80s."

"You know I'm not allowed girls in my room," Dan said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Blair leaned into him, her chin tilted up and her lips pursed. "Isn't that half the fun? I sneak out in the morning, get some donuts, appear with breakfast- your family loves me."

"They already love you."

"No one likes a liar, Dan."

"You're home early," Rufus said from his spot on the couch. "I was just about to go to bed myself. Jenny just left to go meet some friends." He rustled into the old, cracked leather, "But if you guys are going to be up, you will need a chaperone."

Dan dropped his head into his hands, "Dad."

"Dan, you know the rules."

"I'll make popcorn," Blair said, cheerily as she slipped off her jacket. "Do you need a drink, Mr. Humphry?"

"Blair, it's Rufus. And yes, I would love a scotch."

"Wait," Dan said, settling into the arm chair as his dad was sprawled out on the couch. "Where did you say Jenny went?"

"Daniel," Rufus sighed, "I am your father but not your keeper. She said she went to meet a friend and that she would be home by curfew."

"Curfew is at 2 AM, it's already midnight."

"As long as there is not a rule broken, I am a happy man."

Blair delivered Rufus's scotch to him and settled on to the couch, throwing her legs on to Dan's lap, "Jenny has friends, Dan. Relax. What are you worried about?"

Dan raised his phone so Blair could see as he opened up Jenny's snapchat story. "Exactly this," he said as they both took in the photo which was a screenshot of a text message, the name of who it was from cropped out, and a mostly legible address. It was the address of the place that Blair and Dan had left.

"Oh," Blair said.

"Exactly."

"Maybe it's not what it looks like," Blair said, chewing on her bottom lip.

Dan looked at her, lowering his voice so his dad wouldn't hear him, "There does not need to be another Humphrey, Archibald, Van der Woodsen love triangle."

"Would you call what that was a love triangle between the three of you?" Blair tried to look upset but laughed.

"There were three of us and there was a thing and now," he said, pointing to his phone, "this."

Blair took his hand, rubbing her thumb against the back of it to soothe him. "Maybe she knows someone else at the party."

"Sure," Dan said, "or maybe Nate, out of the goodness of his heart, has invited her to a place where Chuck Bass is going to be. Oh my god," he dropped his phone, suddenly remembering that Chuck Bass was actually at the party and that his sister was seemingly headed there. "I need-" He stood up, Blair's legs crashing into a water glass on the table. "Shit," he cursed under his breath. "I'll-"

"I'll get this," Blair said, looking over to Rufus who had polished off his drink quickly and started to nap in his chair. "You do whatever you need to do."

Dan hurried to his room, dialing Jenny's phone.

"This is Jenny," her voicemail answered back.

Dan pressed dial again.

"This is Jenny."

Dan tried a new tactic, dialing Nate. Nate picked up on the first ring. "Nate?"

"Dan?" Nate said.

"Are you still at that party?"

"No, Serena and I left right after you and Blair. Serena," Nate said, giggling into the phone which is a sound Dan never needed to hear again, "stop for a second. It's Dan."

"Hi Dan," he could hear in the background.

"Hi Serena," Dan said, calmed briefly knowing his sister wasn't with Nate. He lowered his voice, "Did you see Jenny at the party?"

"Your sister?" Nate sounded confused. "Why would she be at that party?"

Dan didn't think Nate was that good of an actor which led him to be more confused by the entire situation. "I saw something- you know what, it doesn't matter. You and Serena seem occupied."

"Alright, well, if you need to send out a search party for Jenny, we're not too far away."

Dan heard the door of his room open and Blair slipped in, closing it quietly behind her. Dan hung up, "He's with Serena."

"And your sister is not at the party," Blair said, holding up her phone which showed Jenny's location. Jenny was in the Upper East Side, but not at the address they had come from. Importantly, she was also no where near Nate's address. "We shared our location in France, just in case. I think we forgot to turn it off."

Dan sunk on his bed in relief, "Jesus. I was-"

"I know," Blair said, stepping further into the room. "By the way, your dad is passed out on that chair."

His eyebrows raised, "What are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting now is the perfect time to not leave your room until I sneak out tomorrow," Blair said, approaching the bed. She put her hand on the back of his neck and kissed him.

"That doesn't seem like proper society behavior."

"The best thing about proper society," Blair said, putting a knee on either side of Dan so that she was straddling him, "is that it's a complete misnomer. There is nothing proper about what we get up to."

"If you led with that, I would have been more inclined to go to the party."

Blair kissed his jawline, "Just shut up already, Dan."