So I got most of the ideas for this story from the various spoilers and speculations thrown around the Spoiler Thread on TWoP; I'm just too excited for what may happen at the end of this season and the beginning of next season. This is basically what I want to happen! I don't own anything and please review!

Chapter 1

"I have some news… I'm engaged."

If Blair Waldorf had left this message on his phone just six months ago, Dan would have laughed, but then again, six months ago Blair would never have called Dan to announce any news. Now, he just feels sick. He wasn't sure what Blair wanted him to do with this new piece of information or if she even wanted him to do anything at all.

Three months previously…

Everything was starting to become all too much; in short: it had been one hell of an emotional rollercoaster for Daniel Humphrey over the past few weeks. He could blame it all on his "all-consuming, paralysing thought" just two weeks ago, but if he was being perfectly honest with himself it went even further back than that. Just as their first meeting, their first realisation that they had anything in common had started with Serena.

Serena. She had been his first love, his first time, his muse and his gateway in to the Upper East Side; she had changed him from 'Lonely Boy' to the 'Ultimate Insider' – he still wasn't sure which was better. But now, Dan was beginning to realise, perhaps the biggest thing Serena Van der Woodsen had ever done for him had been completely by mistake; she had unwittingly instigated a Humphrey-Waldorf partnership. And from that partnership grew (much to the distaste and even resistance of both parties) a friendship. If only it could have stopped there. Because Dan had kissed her, well, rather she had kissed him, but it was his idea and it was this idea that had gotten him into this mess. As Eric had so eloquently put it: he was "ass-backwards crushing on Blair Waldorf". In his defence though, she does smell very nice. But apparently it wasn't meant to be because while he was left reeling after what he felt was a "weird-good" kiss, it seemed that Blair felt quite the opposite; "weird-bad". If anything, it was as if the kiss had pushed her further away from him and closer towards Chuck. But then she was off Chuck again; it was beginning to get a little confusing.

And then out of the blue came Prince Louis. Unbelievable. If it had been anywhere else in the world but the Upper East Side, Dan was sure this would never have happened. But Dan had taken this as his very obvious sign from the Universe that it was time to bow out of the race for Blair Waldorf's heart whilst his dignity was still in tact. And he had tried, he had tried very hard to be a good friend to her even going so far as to be involved in another one of her crazy-bound-to-blow-up-in-her-face schemes. She asked him to kiss her again so the Prince's mother would think she was in a relationship with him, and he had obliged (albeit a little more happily than was probably necessary) and it had blown up in both their faces. Charlie, Serena's cousin and latest worshipper, had caught them on camera and sent the video to Gossip Girl; the OMG-factor was off the Richter scale. They had both tried to explain to Serena that it had truly been nothing, that they were just friends (which was surprising in itself), and Serena had just given them a look of confusion, her head slightly tilted because she knew that there was something she was not seeing, something that they were not telling her. And Dan knew why, it was because she could feel it too; the energy in the room – the almost crackling of electricity between him and Blair as they finished each other's sentences and sent almost affectionate barbs each other's way.

He then retreated back to the safety and comfort of the loft but he was not alone for long. Vanessa showed up full of confessions, and he snapped; he finally cut the cord on their friendship. Not long after, Charlie showed up full of apologies, and they created some sort of new friendship. She told him that she knew he had feelings for Blair, and he was too tired to deny it, "I never thought that the one I would want would be Blair". Charlie had been a good friend for the next few days and even though he had an inkling that she may have more than just step-cousin-y feelings for him, he needed a companion so he invited her to the latest of the Upper East Side events. That night was a blur really; one minute the Prince was wanting to propose, and then the next Chuck was wanting to propose, and all Dan really wanted to do was forget this tiresome, irritating and highly-inappropriate crush on Blair Waldorf, so when Charlie dragged him into some conveniently empty room he didn't refuse her come-ons. With every kiss, and every gasp, and every moan all he could do was imagine it was Blair, and he knew it was wrong and he knew that he should stop. And when Charlie whispered into his ear that she was a virgin, that was all the cold water he needed, he pulled away full of apologies and explanations that her first time should be special and not with somebody thinking of someone else. And that was when Serena walked in.

Serena had yelled, and Charlie had yelled, and he had half-heartedly tried to defend himself. He was surprised to find that for the first time in a very long time he didn't really care what Serena thought of him. In fact, he was more relieved that it had been her and not Blair to walk in on them – how could he be so stupid? So he had left the two cousins to sort out their differences while he sought out Blair. It didn't take him long to find her, chatting amongst New York's elite. He quietly pulled her aside and looked at her, really looked at her. And he asked her, "Does he make you happy?" and he can't be sure but he likes to think that she hesitated before she answered, "yes". So he told himself that this is what is most important, that it doesn't matter who 'he' is as long as she is happy with him; that if he really cares for her he will let her go because that's what friends do and he would rather be in her life as her friend than not at all. He offered her his hand, somewhat reminiscent of a few weeks ago when they decided to end their 'non-friendship' but instead of shaking his hand, she pulled him towards her in a tight embrace and automatically he wrapped his arms around her petite frame and breathed in her scent.

For the next few days he threw himself into the family drama, selfishly trying to use Lilly Van der Woodsen's impending jail sentence as a distraction. He avoided talking with Eric (who kept sending knowing looks his way), apologised once more to Charlie, and tried to apologise to Serena. He knew that he was neglecting his writing but did not try to rectify that because he was scared of what might come of it. He sat his finals and briefly wondered if Blair bothered to even attend hers. And then finally it is the summer break and he hasn't got a job lined up, he hasn't got a girlfriend and he hasn't stopped thinking about her. And then it hit him, the one real thing he's got going for him at the moment: the Ultimate Insider. So he privately asked Lilly for the excessive amount of money that she has offered to him many times since their families united and he decided to live the life that he has for years now denied himself. He used to laugh in a holier-than-thou way at the idea that these Upper East-Siders would just swan off to whatever place in the world they chose at the drop of a hat but suddenly the idea of going off the grid for a while, maybe working on his writing, sounded exactly like what he needed. Because it's not just a crush anymore, it hasn't been for a while. So he left a note for his father, he packed his bags, and he walked out the door.

Not long after the door slams on the now empty loft, Dan's forgotten phone buzzes obnoxiously. Blair leaves him a message, not knowing that he won't receive it for another three months: "I have some news… I'm engaged."

So what do you think? The next chapter will be on everyone's (and more importantly Blair's) reactions to Dan's return – What has he been doing all summer? Has the summer changed him? Has it changed how he feels about Blair? And who did Blair choose in the end?