Blair took a deep breath before pushing herself off of the couch, "Ava, can you sit still for two minutes? I need a break. Or a glass of wine. And I'm not allowed to have the second one." Blair watched the five year old squeal as she ducked away from Blair and ran across the room. "Did your parents tell you to do this? Did they give you sugar before dropping you off? Dan!"
She tried to square off with the little girl, standing like a sumo wrestler and trying to grab her. It was as though Ava was coated in oil because she slipped right through Blair's grasps. It could, also, be that Blair was 7 months pregnant and had been on bed rest for most of the month. Her tolerance for physical activity was at an all time low which was saying a lot for someone who considered shopping at Barney's equivalent to going to the gym.
"Blair?" Dan said, emerging from the office, looking concerned. "Are you okay?"
"Can you please do something with her?" she asked, holding her lower back. "Like a long walk. Or play fetch with her."
"Ava," Dan said, putting his arms out. The five year old launched herself into him and he picked her up, resting her on his hip. "Do you want to get out of the apartment for a bit? I think your Auntie Blair is a little tired."
"Ice cream!"
"No!" Blair said, looking wide eyed and panicked. "No sugar."
"How about frozen yogurt?" Dan said, compromising with the little girl who gave him a brief nod before Dan swept her out of the apartment. He poked her head back into the room before they left, "Do you want anything while we're out?"
Blair shook her head, "Just for you to not come back for awhile. She's killing me."
Dan rolled his eyes, "This is our future."
Blair laid back on the couch, fanning herself. Ava had been dropped off late the night before and was going to be with them for two more nights. She did not know if she could handle the energy. It was the middle of the summer, but even with the apartment being cooled by central air, Blair was lately always warm. Adding that she was now chasing a 5 year old up and down the hallway, she was overheating.
Blair grabbed for her phone on the coffee table and shooting off a quick text message to Dan to bring her home a pint of something cold and then walking down into their bedroom and collapsing on their bed. How Serena and Nate did the parenting thing was a mystery to her. Maybe a little mysterious given that they had a couple of nanny's on rotation that they did not offer to lend to Blair for the couple of days. She would blame Dan for that, it was in his mind that they would be nanny free for their child's childhood. If his parents could do it, so could he.
He didn't care that Blair's parents outsourced to as many nannies as possible.
She must have dazed off because she was awoken by the bed suddenly moving up and down and the joyful giggles of Ava. She struggled to open her eyes, one at a time before looking at the child. "Ava, what are you doing?" she yawned.
"Uncle Dan told me to wake you up. It's dinner time."
Blair sat up, rubbing her eyes and then her stomach. "What time is it?"
Ava stopped long enough for Blair to register a shrug before starting to jump again. "Dinner time," she repeated. "Time for dinner."
She pushed herself off of the bed, standing and gesturing for Ava to get off the bed. "Come on, Avs. What's Uncle Dan making?"
"He called for delivery," Dan answered, leaning against the door frame. "Pizza. Your ice cream is in the freezer." He opened his arms for her and Blair walked over, settling against him. "Ava and I are going to grab a movie after."
"I can come," Blair said, half-heartedly.
Dan kissed her temple, "You should take a nice bath."
"I'm going to be a horrible mother," Blair said, watching (and cringing) as Ava continued jumping on their bed. "I can't even handle her and she's already house trained."
"Stop," he ordered. "Don't say that."
"Dan, I'm already annoyed and she's been here less than 24 hours."
"She has a lot of energy."
"You're not annoyed."
"I'm not in my last trimester," he said, rubbing her back. "Babysitting is completely different than having your own child, Blair. By the time ours gets like this, you'll be used to it and not super pregnant."
"Promise?"
"If you're not, we can ship him or her away to boarding school."
Blair laughed before being interrupted by their buzzer. "Food?"
"Don't get too excited, I ordered pizza."
"Yum," Blair said sincerely. "I'm starving."
Blair sat on their couch, flipping through a deliciously trashy romance novel when Dan and Ava got back from their movie. Ava was noticeably subdued as she entered the room and immediately curled up into Blair on the couch. Blair put down her book, stroking Ava's hair. "How was the movie?"
"Good," Ava said, yawning into her hand. "There was a princess. I want to be a princess."
"You can be the princess of the Upper East Side just like your mom and I were," Blair said, catching Ava's yawn. "I'm sure your dad would love that."
Dan cozied himself at the other end, lifting Blair's feet on top of his lap and starting to lightly massage them.
"Daddy said I can be anything I want to be."
Blair started to braid Ava's hair, "And he's right."
"It's not so terrible once you tired her out," Blair said, as Dan crawled into their bed. He had just carried Ava into the spare room, keeping a small light on in the hallway for her. Nate and Serena had said that Ava had gotten over her fear of the dark recently but neither of them were willing to take that risk.
Dan chuckled, "She was fine in the movies. I think she just had a lot of nervous energy from waking up in a strange place."
"But she knows us," Blair complained.
"But we're not her parents. Kids like to test their limits."
"My limit is very short since I look like a whale."
"You don't look like a whale, Blair," Dan said, nuzzling his face into her neck. "You look like Blair, just a little more pregnant." He put his hand on her stomach, "What do you think we're having?"
"I hear girls suck out all their mother's beauty," Blair said, "and I feel disgusting… so definitely a girl."
"I think a boy."
"We would have already known this if you let me find out," Blair complained, settling down into the pillows. "I wouldn't have told you."
"But you would have decorated the nursery in pinks or blues."
"That's very gender conforming. I would have made it a neutral sea-foam green regardless," she said, throwing her arm over his torso. "And I would have referred to the baby as he sometimes and she other times just to throw you off."
Dan kissed the top of her head, lingering for a second. "We could still find out, if you're that desperate."
"We've come this fair," Blair said, closing her eyes. "If we have another one, we're finding out."
"Fine," he agreed.
Blair nodded, her head resting against his shoulder, "But that is a major if."
"Daddy!" Ava said, breaking into a sprint from her seat on the floor playing with dolls to her dad's arms. "You've saved me."
Nate let out a hearty laugh, "Was it that bad?"
"I'm right here, Ava," Blair said, her legs spread out as it was the only comfortable spot she could find to sit in on the floor. She was propped on a bunch of pillows, "Be careful how you answer that."
"We were just playing Princess," Ava told Nate. "Auntie Blair was the bad guy. You saved me just in time. She was going to eat me."
"I was just going to cook you," Blair said. "What I did after that, who's to know."
Nate laughed, throwing Ava in the air as Blair awkwardly pushed herself off of the floor. "Thanks for taking her," he said, smiling in Blair's direction. "Lilly felt terrible."
"She had the flu," Blair said, "what was she going to do?"
Nate leaned down to kiss Blair's cheek, squeezing her shoulder. "Where's Dan?"
"Ava finally wore him down. He had to take a nap," she said, motioning to the bedroom.
"Uncle Dan said I'm a handful," Ava boasted to her dad.
Nate rolled his eyes, "If Uncle Dan only knew how many handfuls you are." Nate turned to Blair, "We should head out. Serena's in the car downstairs. Long flight, she, like Dan, couldn't take it. She's snoring."
"Ew," Ava said.
Nate laughed, putting Ava down and taking her bag on his shoulder. "I'm sure Mommy will be so happy to see you."
"Bye, Nate. Bye, Ava!" Blair said, giving a small wave as she closed the door on them. She gleefully danced her way to the bedroom where Dan was laying down, his eyes watching the door. "They're gone."
"Boarding school is looking like a viable option," Dan said, as Blair curled up next to him. "Kids are a handful."
"And yet Nate seemed happy to get her back," Blair joked, turning her head to kiss Dan. "There must be something good about them."
"Well," Dan said, rubbing her stomach, "we're about to find out."
"Maybe our little girl will be calm."
"Or maybe our little boy will just want to play the silent game."
"It's a girl. Blair Jr."
"Definitely a boy."
"Still could be Blair Jr. Like Blair Underwood."
"Or… Dan Jr."
"Or Blair Daniel."
"Or Daniel Blair."
"Just doesn't have the same ring to it."
