WARNING: I hate spoilers, please do not spoil me!

NOTE: This story is based after 2x04 "The Ex-Files". Later concepts may be used, but everything basically deals with the plot from 2x04 on back.

"Someone has to."

Why did he feel as those words were a direct slap to his face?

Probably because they were.

Nate Archibald had actually given a clever retort.

It would have been cause for celebration if it weren't for the fact that he'd said it while attempting to put Chuck firmly in his place.

As far as Chuck knew, Nate and Blair hadn't said 'boo' to each other since… well, he didn't really know how long ago it was, but there definitely hadn't been any premise for Nate to go into full-on protection mode for his ex.

And now they were going to dinner?

Nate had been the one to ask her, and she had agreed…

…in front of all her friends, of course.

Chuck wasn't an idiot. He knew that there would have been no way she would turn Nate down, especially since—according to Nate—Blair and the lord had parted ways. It gave Blair the perfect opportunity to regain some attention from the girls and inform them all of her breakup without them feeling sorry for her or making some derogatory comment.

He still had no idea how Nate got the jump on him for that information, but maybe it had something to do with the reason Nate had become Blair's savior today.

He'd prefer not to think that Nate had asked Blair out because he actually wanted to go out with her.

That was ancient history.

Nate knew how Chuck felt about Blair. Nate had forgiven him for everything and Nate was supposedly fine with Chuck being involved with Blair. He'd given his blessing and was supportive and happy for them… or, for Chuck at least. Nate hadn't said much to Blair after the wedding either. But he knew about the plans to go to Tuscany, and had clearly been all for it.

Nate was completely over Blair.

Right?

Damning himself for allowing his old insecurities to rear their ugly head, he paused as he walked past his step-sister's room and overheard her squeal in frustration.

"Hey, Blair, it's me. Again… just wanted to catch you before the big date," Serena grumbled sarcastically. "Call me!"

She closed her phone with a snap and threw the phone on the bed, glaring at it, wishing it would ring and be Blair.

"First day on the job and already your subjects are avoiding you?" Chuck smirked.

Serena snapped her head up, startled to see Chuck in the doorway. She looked away quickly, not liking it whenever he caught her off guard.

"She won't answer your calls, hmm?" he murmured, stating the obvious.

She glared at him. "Stuff it!"

"I thought you weren't interested in being queen," he said, laughing inside, wondering if she'd ever figure out that he was the one behind her rise. He had to try hard not to outright snicker when he realized that the likelihood of that happening was very slim.

"I'm not!" she huffed before walking to the bed and picking up her phone again before sitting down with an ungraceful plop.

"Could've fooled me," he said.

"No," she shook her head, wincing. "You just don't understand. And now she won't talk to me. If she would just let me explain! But she's just ignoring me! Its junior year two point oh!"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Its senior year; your year. And besides, she didn't exactly ignore you at the beginning of last year, if I recall… You might have been better off if she had." He smirked recalling every little thing Blair had done to get back at her then former BFF: destroy potential relationship, destroy chances of getting into college.

Not to mention the smack down on the hockey field he would have paid dearly to see.

"I don't want it!" she exclaimed. "I wouldn't have, except…" she trailed off. "Why am I even explaining any of this to you? You're probably ecstatic about this! You just love to see Blair knocked down a rung or two!"

"Or three," he said, still feeling completely justified in his scheme. Except for the unexpected ripple that was Nate Archibald, everything would have gone off without a hitch.

He had built Serena up; he could just as easily knock her down and make Blair reign again if he wanted to. He had it all planned out, actually. All she had to do was ask him for help… of course, she probably would never concede defeat, but she might drag him into her schemes to get back on top, especially if she knew he wanted to be involved…

Which is actually what he was missing besides her. If he couldn't have Blair back in his bed, at least they could go back to a distorted version of what they were before. She was the only one even remotely close to his caliber.

If Nate had given him a chance to explain all that, then none of this would be happening. But Nate just didn't understand how they worked. Nate couldn't possibly know that part of what made him and Blair fit so well was that they enjoyed their little games. It was a continuous challenge, spicing things up and making things interesting.

It was probably why this obsession he had for her wouldn't go away.

Serena glared at him. "Or four! You're like the bully on the playground who likes the girl and wants to get her attention, so instead of saying 'hello,' you pull her hair! Or, in this case, yank off her headband!"

"She likes it," he said simply, shrugging, admiring Serena's wittiness. The blondes were having a good day… was the moon out of orbit or something?

Serena threw her hands up in exasperation. "Sure, she just loved when you blogged to Gossip Girl last year. Loved it so much she nearly left the country! There is a line, Chuck. And boy did you cross it big time! Anyway," she waved her hand at the puzzled look that came over his face at her words, "that's not the point. You didn't cause this, this time. I did. If she would just answer my phone calls, we can work this out!"

"The mountain didn't come to Mohammed," he murmured, still wrapping his mind around whatever the hell she was talking about with the whole 'leaving the country' thing. He shrugged. He'd ask her about it later.

"Right, because if she's not talking to me, I'm sure she'll let me into her building!" Serena said sarcastically.

"Don't go to her place, meet her elsewhere," Chuck said, having a thought, "unexpectantly…"

"What are you talking about?" she turned her head and raised an eyebrow at him. Understanding dawned. "Absolutely not!"

"Why not? You know where she's going to be, just drop by for a second if you want to talk to her so badly," he suggested wryly, liking where this was going.

Let Serena crash Blair and Nate's little date. After all the gossip following around Serena and Nate this summer—as untrue as it may be—it was sure to turn the tables a little and instead of speculation on Blair and Nate getting back together, all the gossip would be about Serena.

"I don't think so," Serena sighed. "You know, she didn't even tell me about breaking up with Marcus? And she acted like it didn't even bother her, but I know it did." She stopped herself before she said anything else, realizing who she was talking to and that Chuck was listening very attentively.

"All the more reason to force her to listen to you," he said. "Go tonight, just stop in for a second. What could it hurt?"

Serena thought about it. She really could just pop in and pop out… maybe catch Blair when she's on the way to the bar or bathroom or something… She needed a chance to explain, and she needed to make sure Blair knew she was there for her if she needed help getting over Marcus.

Serena glanced at her silent phone one more time before finally conceding that maybe Chuck had a point.

"Why are you really doing this?" Blair said, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow at Nate.

They were walking.

She should have realized that it would be up to her to figure out transportation.

Since she hadn't, she was just going to have to settle for a taxi. Of course, she was going to take the opportunity to find out what was really going on here before she hailed one. They needed to talk before they popped up in the public eye.

She was grateful that he was trying to help her out… but, in reality, he'd been involved in so many crazy things this year (and school had just started) that if any of it came out, the backlash would fall back on her as well if they continued this charade.

And she wasn't sure if she did want to continue this…

"I owed you one," Nate said, shrugging slightly, still feeling like a bit of a dolt for not realizing that there was no way he could "pick" Blair "up" because limos weren't exactly at the top of the list of necessary expenditures these days. He would have been better off meeting her.

"I thought we were sort of even…" Blair said, not looking at him.

He saw that she appeared to be a little uncomfortable and decided—what the hell?

"Not even close," he remarked, shaking his head exaggeratedly.

Blair heard the words and snapped her head toward him.

"What?"

"You heard me," Nate replied. "The thing with the duchess was cool and all, but don't think that gets you completely off the hook."

Blair stopped walking and dropped her mouth open in disbelief.

Nate just kept walking, trying not to burst out laughing. It'd been so long since him and Blair had any sort of fun conversation… in fact, the majority of their conversations had to do with… nothing important. It was all quite formal. He wondered how she'd take his teasing. He couldn't remember ever seriously teasing her before…

"Who knew you could be such a slut, Archibald!" Blair said, finally catching up to him.

Whoa, there's the claws, but she didn't seem too serious. "You too!" he managed.

"Excuse me?" She said, grabbing his arm to make him stop so she could snap at him properly.

That was when he couldn't hold back any longer. He started laughing.

She finally realized he was just teasing the entire time.

"I believe you have me beat," she teased back.

"By what? One?" he asked, seriously thinking about it.

"More like two!" she rebuffed.

He started laughing again. "I feel like that guy from American Pie. Poor guy broke up with his girlfriend after graduation and they ran into each other the next year. Remember that? What was the tally score thing?"

"I, uh…" she thought about it, slightly appalled that she even remembered parts of that movie and its sequel… but Nate had watched her black and white chick flicks, so it was only fair that she watch a couple of gross-out comedies for him… on very rare occasions. "She said one, but really meant three; and he said three but really meant none. I think that was it…"

Then she paused and turned on him. "You did not just compare me to Tara Reid!"

He laughed and shrugged, stepping away before she decided to smack him with her purse.

"I don't know, I think there were a couple resemblances between them and us," he smiled.

"They had entirely nothing to do with us," Blair disagreed with an exaggerated huff, ruined only by a small quirk of her lips.

"Still, I could sympathize with the guy," he clarified.

"That had nothing to do with your abilities… uh, or… whatever," she started to blush, realizing she'd broached a very embarrassing-never-should-be-broached topic.

Nate grinned and looked at her.

"Don't even think about it Archibald! You and I are so over!" she laughed at the expression on his face.

"If I remember, that was my idea," he said, finally seeing an opening for his true intent for the evening. "You didn't want to break up. What changed?"

Blair's face immediately closed up, and she wouldn't look at him. She just kept walking, thinking that now would be as good a time as any to try to hail a cab.

He watched her in silence for a moment before nodding in understanding.

"Ah, he who shall not be named," he remarked, referring to Chuck.

"Don't go all Tom Riddle on me, Archibald," Blair snapped, still face forward. "Besides, I'm over him too!"

"Really?" he asked sarcastically, not really believing a word she said. If she was over Chuck, she wouldn't be acting the way she was.

She was silent, not deigning to answer his question.

"He really does care about you, you know," Nate dared to say.

"What?" Blair froze and turned on Nate again, this time her eyes were flashing dangerously. "Don't tell me that's' what this is about? Did Chuck put you up to this? Is this another part of his little game?"

"Whoa, chill," Nate said soothingly, resting his hands on her upper arms before she could get too worked up. "I'm doing this because you helped me, and I want to help you. That's all, I swear," he finished innocently.

"Because I'm fine with us being friends, Nate," Blair said, calming slightly. "But if I find out you're helping Chuck to make things worse for me—"

"Blair!" Nate said loudly, drowning out her words. "I'm not helping Chuck," he smiled reassuringly. "He did not put me up to this. Honest."

She stared him down before nodding.

"So, it's time to get to dinner, don't you think?" she said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Taxi!" she yelled, stepping up to the curb and hailing one quickly.

"Sorry about this," Nate said softly, losing some of his earlier bravado.

"Friends, not a couple," Blair reminded him. "After ten years, I think it's my turn to return a favor or two." She shrugged and got into the car, hoping he wouldn't bring it up again. She hoped if she acted nonchalantly enough, he'd just get over it for now.

He still cringed a little inside, but he knew that she was trying to let him know that it didn't matter.

He couldn't help but be grateful to her for that.

To be continued…