Chapter 11

The rules for a model the day of a photo shoot are similar to those of a patient pre-surgery. No food or drink 12 hours prior, wear comfortable clothing, and make sure your affairs are in order. You never know what could go wrong in a flash…

At the sound of her alarm, Blair pushed up her sleep mask from her eyes and tossed onto her night stand, waking up with a smile. "Today is the day and it's going to be as wonderful as yesterday was," she thought silently to herself as she sat up and climbed out of bed, being sure to slip into her slippers as she stepped towards her windows.

She ran her hand through her long hair before reaching up for the curtains and pushed them open, letting the morning light stream into the room. Blair glanced at herself through her full length mirror beside her and found that she was still smiling and was genuinely excited about the shoot today and about making her mother proud.

She looked to her nightstand, seeing that her phone was blinking she picked it up and listened to the message from Serena that was waiting for her. "Hey B! You must either be sleeping or already on your way. I can't wait to see you at the shoot. We're gonna have so much fun!" Blair smiled as she sat down on her bed for a moment, enthusiasm from Serena, when Blair was in a good mood, was the equivalent to a large cup of espresso.

Checking the time, she decided to head downstairs to find out what time her and her mother was to head out for the shoot. Smiling as she took the last few steps, it froze on her face when she saw that her mother was already dressed and gathering her things to go without her. "Oh! Thank god you are awake!" Eleanor exclaimed as she walked past Blair to get to the table beside the elevator.

Blair began to panic a bit as she asked, "Am I late? Oh my god, oh my god, did I oversleep?"

Her mother finally turned towards her after packing up her bag answering, "Darling I have some bad news. Terry, that fool of a photographer, thinks we need to go in a different direction."

Blair raised her eyebrows as she asked her next question, hoping that this wasn't going where she thought it was, "With the theme?"

Eleanor reluctantly, and surprisingly gently, said, "With the model."

Blair took a quick breath before she played off her disappointment with a simple, "Oh." I wasn't good enough she thought to herself not good enough to represent my mother for Bendels…

She snapped out of her thought process as her mother began to speak again, nodding at the appropriate times as Eleanor justified her decision to go with what the photographer wanted, "Darling, I hired these people for their expertise. And ultimately they feel that…we would be doing the brand a disservice." Eleanor began to play with Blair's hair and hold her face in her hands as she continued, "I can not apologize enough; I know that you were really looking forward to it."

Unable to take it anymore, Blair put on a smile to mask the feeling of rejection and continued to play it off, keeping it simple she stated, "No I wasn't. I'm glad that I don't have to go. I hate shoots; they're so boring. You should have Alessandra Ambrosio, not an amateur." Blair finished candidly with a smile.

Feeling a sharp pain in her chest as a signal that she was going to cry she barely heard her mother ask, "We'll have dinner after, yes?" She quickly nodded, wanting her mother to leave so she didn't betray herself with her tears. Knowing that Eleanor would not stand for weakness and even though Blair wasn't going to be the face of Waldorf, they have already made such great progress in their relationship yesterday, there was no need to go back to square one.

Eleanor pulled her into a hug as she continued on, "Crapes, just like old times!" Blair felt a traitorous tear go down her face as her mother turned away; she quickly wiped it away as she picked up her phone to call Serena, knowing at this point that her mother didn't expect her to answer.

"I will see you later!" Eleanor called out over her shoulder, kissing the air in Blair's general direction as she headed towards the elevator. Blair waved, forcing one more smile, as her mother left her in the forum, just as Serena's voice mail answered and the elevator closed.

Blair continued on with the act that she was just a little disappointed and spoke into the phone, "Hey S. Alright, I hope you're not already there because, as it turns out, my modeling career is over faster than Jessica Simpson's acting one," she chuckled to herself at her absurdity that she could possibly be good enough to be a model. As she looked down at the entry table with all the programs for today's shoot, Blair got an idea, "Now that I think about it…maybe we should crash the shoot anyway. See who they replaced me with. Make fun of the skinny bitch?"

Blair felt herself genuinely smile at the idea as she hung up the phone and quickly headed upstairs to get dressed. "At least she didn't have to open herself up again in order to give the photographer what he wanted," she tried to reason with herself silently as she quickly picked out a green dress to wear for the day. "That's someone else's problem now."

xoxo

After a long, very pleasurable night, Chuck Bass came home to his suite in the early morning with a green hat upon his head, whistling a happy tune. He considered the Lost Weekend a great success and everyone had a great time; with the exception of Nate of course. Chuck shrugged the thought off figuring that he'd catch Nate later when he's done with his tantrum. Until then he could always hang out with Blair if he ever needed stimulating conversation or the wait staff here if he needed another kind of stimulation.

He grinned to himself as he lifted up the candlestick holder that hid the key that he put there a couple of days ago. Still whistling softly to himself he unlocked the drawer and opened it up, his smile quickly disappeared as he took in the sight before him. The drawer was completely empty; the watch and his baseball, his most prized material possessions after his scarf, were gone.

He took off his hat, no longer in a festive type of mood as he quickly came up with an idea of who the culprit was. Not wasting a moment, he pulled out his cell phone and texted Nate with a quick: We gotta talk. Where r u? He set the phone down as he felt the beginnings of panic at the thought of his stolen items stir inside of him.

It wasn't long before he got the answering text back: Five Star in Queens, call you later. Unable to wait for later, Chuck quickly left the suite, making a point to stop and pick up some cash along the way. "If he has it like I think he does, he's not going to give them up without something in return," he silently thought to himself as he had Arthur drive him to his destination, hoping that by letting that traitor into his home that all he did was take a couple of things.

xoxo

While Chuck was heading to Queens, Blair was just arriving at the rooftop designated for the fashion shoot for Waldorf Designs. Blair hitched her bag over her shoulder as she looked around searching for Serena. Since she didn't hear back from her earlier she figured that was somewhere around saving a spot of Blair for their afternoon together of trash talking.

Blair passed by a few of the assistants and make-up crew as she continued to look around, still not seeing Serena, it wasn't until Blair looked to the model that they chose to replace her with, that was currently standing over by the ledge of the building, in front of the Brooklyn Bridge, that she finally saw her. And all she could say about the sight before her was, "You've got to be kidding me."

The model they chose to replace her with was none other than Serena Van Der Woodsen. Her supposed best friend who stood there laughing and jumping around in Blair's mother's dress as the photographer praised her and took her picture. "I should have listened to my gut. I should have heed warning from that terrible dream I had when mother returned home early. I was such an idiot to think this would be a new chapter for Serena and me." Blair thought silently to herself as she shook her head and felt her anger grow more and more with every thought. If she were one to make a scene, Blair was sure she would have went over to the blonde and pushed her off the building to fall to her death.

It wasn't until Serena called out to her, asking her to come over, acting as if everything was fine and that she wasn't doing anything wrong, that Blair was finally able to move from her spot that she was frozen in. She quickly turned away from the sight with a scoff and left the rooftop and went down the stairs as Serena followed calling after her.

"Hey! Blair?! Blair, wait! Where are you going? Why are you so mad?" Serena called out after Blair.

It was that last question that caused Blair to break her silence and quickly turned towards Serena and began to yell, "Why am I mad? You mean why aren't I furious! I can't believe for one second that I thought it would be different this time!"

"You thought what would be different?" Serena asked; still not understand what she did wrong and it only fueled Blair's anger towards her.

"You couldn't deal with the spotlight shining on me for once could you?" Blair asked

"What are you talking about? I was told we were doing this together. What, did you not get my message?" Serena asked, trying to explain herself. It was while Serena was talking, Blair took a second to realize that her anger, although was partly towards Serena and herself for hoping that it would be better this time around, but was also towards her mother for once again preferring Serena over her. But since she couldn't focus her fury on Eleanor she'd focus it on the other person she was angry with, Serena, because she should have known better.

"What about this morning then? When you glanced at the call sheet, did you see my name on it? When I wasn't in hair and make-up didn't that seem strange?!" Blair continued on getting a bit louder as she went, "When the dressing room had only your name on the door, what did you think they just forgot?!"

"I was told you were running late and they asked me to do some tests shots first. Blair they told me you wanted me here," Serena looked at Blair obviously finally putting the pieces together of what she did.

"And you believed them?" Blair asked as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Look, Blair, I encourage you to do this," Serena said not answering Blair's question. Blair shook her head and felt her eyes fill with tears as she felt the pain of betrayal swell in her as Serena continued on asking, "Why would I try to steal something from you that I pushed you to do?!"

Not bothering to hold back any longer, Blair screamed at her in anger all of her insecurities and thoughts of her best friend, whom she loved and yet hated at the same time, "Because you take everything away from me! Nate, my mom-"

"Blair-" Serena tried to interrupt and make her see reason, but Blair was too far gone to even bother to reign in her temper as she interrupted Serena, not even wanting to hear what she had to say.

"You can't even help it! It's who you are!" Blair let that final statement hang in the air before saying softly, "I just thought that this time would be different. I should have known I'd be wrong."

With those words Blair finished walking down the stairs as Serena stayed where she left her, not even looking back as she almost bumped into someone who was around the corner. When she processed who it was, Blair felt her anger and embarrassment increase tenfold as she saw that Humphrey guy who has been hanging out around Serena lately. All she could even bring herself to say to this cherry on top of the worst day of her life was, "Great," before continuing on down the hallway, just wanting to get out of there.

Spotted: Lonely Boy's rude awakening, Upper East Side Queens aren't born at the top, they climb their way up in heels, no matter who they have to tread on to do it.

xoxo

Blair, having no place to go, plopped herself down on the floor with her phone in her hand and dialed a familiar number before placing it to her ear, listening to it ring a couple of times before it was answered. Blair leaned her head against the wall behind her as she replied, "Hey, how was the lost weekend?"

Chuck answered back, as he leaned his head against the back of the seat in his limo as he rode his way to Queens, with a simple, "About as good as yours it sounds like. It started off very promising, got an uninvited guest, and JP and my baseball that Bart gave me are now missing, yours?"

Blair frowned into the phone as she lifted her head at Chuck's brief run through of his weekend, "What? I'm so sorry Chuck. I know how much they mean to you. Any ideas on how to get them back, need some help?"

Chuck felt his lips curve into a half smile at Blair's immediate understanding of how important the items in question were before telling her some of the events that occurred this weekend, leaving out some of the more risqué parts and some of the conversations he had with Nate, before finishing with, "I'm on my way to rectifying it now, but thanks for offering. Now, tell me the reason that you called, I know it wasn't to exchange pleasantries judging by the sound of your voice."

Blair found herself half smiling at how well he understood her; more so than Serena or Nate ever did. She began to explain about what happened over the course of the weekend and wrapped it up quickly with her screaming match with Serena.

Chuck was silent for a moment before imparting his advice, "You and I both know who you're really angry with so I'm not even going to go there," Blair sighed as she shook her head silently as he continued on, "You and I also know that Serena isn't the most observant of people and it sounds like she genuinely didn't mean any harm. You two just made peace are you seriously ready to go to war again?"

Blair frowned feeling irritated, "I thought you were supposed to be on my side, Bass?"

"I'm always on your side, Waldorf. Even when I'm telling you you are wrong, I'm still on your side," Chuck smirked already visualizing Blair rolling her eyes, "Now, go make up with your best friend and, if you're feeling daring, say something to Eleanor."

Blair answered softly, "I think I've done enough daring to last me awhile Bass, but I'll go talk to Serena in a bit. Thank you, for being here for me, again. Want me to talk to Nate for you?" Blair smiled softly to herself as she tilted her head to the side as she listened to him chuckle on the other end of the phone.

"No, I'm about to talk to him myself, and thank you, for understanding and listening," Chuck looked out the window as Arthur pulled up in front of his destination.

"I'm always here for you when you need me too, Bass, don't forget that. Bye" Blair sighed softly as she hung up set her phone on her lap. She stared down at it as her mind went over her conversation with Chuck. Leave it to Chuck Bass to understand her feelings and her insecurities; it probably is because he has similar ones on his own plate. "But he's always there; even when he's in the midst of his own crisis," she thought silently as she heard someone walk towards her.

Blair looked up and sighed in irritation as she saw it was once again Humphrey. "It's like he's stalking me or something!" Blair mentally laughed as her thought reminded her of one of her conversations with Chuck in regards to this Brooklynite. "Did Serena send you here to talk to me?" Figuring that it was very unlikely, but Blair couldn't find any other reason for why he was there.

"Believe it or not, I actually came here myself," Dan said, a bit in disbelief as he stood there.

Blair looked up at him as he stood there waiting, "Normally I wouldn't be this close to you without a tetanus shot," that was as far as she was going to go in regards to accepting his company at this point in time. He finally seemed to get it after a moment and took a seat on the floor at an angle from her.

"My mom kind of left us a couple of months ago. Only my dad and my sister don't really see that. Cause she told us she had to go away for the summer to, um…follow her dream of being an artist," Dan looked at Blair as she sat quietly, listening to the story, "But it's not summer anymore, and she's still up there and that's all she seems to care about right now."

Blair looked down at her lap, the story being familiar to her own situation, but still saying nothing, figuring he needed to say this for himself as much as for her, "Every time I go to see her, I tell myself: This time, I'm gonna tell her what I think; I'm gonna look her in the eye and say "Either come home, or leave for good".

So there I was, just the other day, I was sitting across the table from her; looking at her straight I the eyes," Blair looked up at him, wanting to know if he did what he planned to do, if maybe it was that simple, "And I didn't say anything."

Blair frowned a bit and asked, "Why not?"

Dan thought about it before answering, "I don't know. But I wish I had. Cause even though it wouldn't have changed anything, she'd know how I felt."

Blair leaned her head against the wall behind her again as she took in his words, so similar to the advice that Chuck gave her only a few minutes ago on the phone. Could she dare? Could she finally speak her mind to her mother and at least be free from the burdens of it? At the end of the day, she knew it wouldn't change anything, but would it be better that she was at least told that she was wrong in what she did?

xoxo

As Chuck hung up the phone after talking to Blair, Arthur stopped the car and opened Chuck's door to let him out. Strangely enough after talking to Blair, Chuck felt a little bit better about his situation; knowing that he had someone always in his corner as an ally if plan A doesn't work out seemed to ease some of the burden that he felt on his shoulders.

He took a deep breath as he got onto an elevator and pushed appropriate floor number. As he waited for the doors to open his mind went back to his conversation with Blair. He realized that he was glad that she called. He'd only admit this to himself but…he worried a bit when Blair and Serena made up and were at peace once again, that his friendship with Blair would simply go back to how it was before the scandal; being nothing more than casual acquaintances since she had her real friend back. The phone call itself proved that Blair still valued him and his advice, and the fact that she listened to his own problems and offered to help him out, like he had done for her so many times this past year, showed that she considered him a real friend. Blair Waldorf was more than his best friend's girlfriend, she was his friend too, and Chuck liked the feeling it produced at that confirmation.

After coming to that conclusion the elevator doors opened with a loud bell. As Chuck stepped out he heard Nate talking and then he heard Carter speaking obviously to Nate, "Just give them the money man, money means nothing to you. These guys aren't playing, but no one has to get hurt. I'm trying to help you out."

Chuck rolled his eyes, deciding that he had heard enough, and made his presence known, "Yeah you're a real friend."

Chuck glared at Carter as he turned towards him as the other four guys held Nate back by the arms. Carter simply asked, not appearing to be surprised by the new guest's appearance, "Who let you in here, Bass?"

Nate yelled out to Chuck as he tried to wiggle free from his captures, "He set me up!"

Carter was quick to correct Nate, not taking his eyes off of Chuck, "No one forced his hand, your boy lost fair and square."

Chuck walked up to Carter, not showing a hint of fear. All he knew was that his friend was in a bad situation and it was up to him to get him out of it; no matter the cost. "Did you?" He questioned Carter, not believing his words for a second.

"Look man if you don't give them the money right away, I'm going to tell everyone where you live, and they can come get it from your daddy. What do you think about that?" Carter threatened as he turned his back on Chuck and focused his attention on Nate.

As Nate struggled to get free again, Chuck came up behind Carter, putting himself in between Nate and him and moving Carter away so they could talk, maybe come up with some sort of deal to get Nate out of this situation. "Look, you got my watch and my ball," stating it as a fact, not a question as Carter flinched a bit as Chuck continued, "You can keep them. Take care of these guys, I don't call the cops, and we walk out of here."

As the two boys silently had a battle of wills before Chuck's threat seemed to take hold in Carter's brain and knew that was as good of a deal he was going to get; reluctantly Carter walked around Chuck, running his hand through his hair as he said, "It's cool. I…I got it."

The gang immediately released Nate, who was none the wiser about just how big of a sacrifice Chuck had made for him to bail him out. They quickly left the hotel together before something else happened and climbed into Chuck's limo to head back to the Palace to relax. As they both sat in the back of the car, they were silent. Nate was silently scolding himself for being so stupid and believing Carter's con, and Chuck found his thoughts with Blair, making a mental note to send her an update on his situation later on.

When they arrived at the Palace, Chuck dismissed Arthur for the rest of the day, figuring that they were just going to hang out here for the night. As they walked into the lobby, Nate insisted that they head upstairs so he could transfer the measly 10 grand into Chuck's account.

Chuck decided to not tell Nate that he owed him a lot more money than that, in fact he didn't even want anything in return because he believed that Nate's life was worth a lot more than 10,000 dollars. After the duo get inside the room, Chuck motioned to his laptop for Nate to use, having already tried to talk Nate out of needing to pay him back in the elevator, as he went to the bar and poured himself a glass of scotch.

"I'm gonna have to transfer some money, and pray that the Captain doesn't notice before I find a way to put it back," Nate said out loud to himself as he logged into his account.

After taking a sip from his glass and walked over to Nate, Chuck attempted again to dissuade him, "You know you don't have to pay me back. I mean it was worth every cent to see the last of that guy."

"I want to," Nate insisted as he turned to look at Chuck to show his sincerity, "I mean it, thanks."

Chuck nodded and looked down at his glass with a small smile, liking that he could give back to Nate after all that he had done for him in the past. It made him feel as if he was worthy of this friendship with both him and Blair. Speaking of Blair, he took out his phone and sent out a quick text to see how things were going in regards to her crisis with her mother and Serena.

At the sound of Nate's confused, "That can't be right…" Chuck looked up from his phone and over at Nate.

"What's up?" He asked as he put the phone away in his pocket and took another pull from his glass.

"It says that I'm zeroed out!" Nate exclaimed.

"Maybe you have the wrong account?" Chuck offered as an explanation.

"No no no, there must be something wrong. I accessed this account last month and it said that there was almost 200 thousand," Nate stated as he looked back at his friend.

While Nate stood up from the laptop and began to make a call to the family accountant to get to the bottom of this, Chuck was sitting on his couch finishing up his scotch and texting Blair as she told him what happened with her mother and that she and Serena made up and he in turn told her majority of the story of what happened on his end, half listening to Nate's side of the conversation.

"Hey Tom, thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I was checking my account and I came across what I assume to be an error and that my trust seems to have a zero balance…?"

Chuck glanced over at his friend as he waited for some answer to Nate's problem; as he watched Nate went over to the window, whispering into the phone and wrapping up the conversation as he glanced back at Chuck. Figuring that it was bad news, Chuck gave Nate his privacy as he wrapped up his conversation with Blair via text message; kind of wishing that he was there when Blair finally spoke out against her mother.

xoxo

Blair took a breath of courage as she strolled into the room with confidence; she glanced around searching for her mother as everyone in the room seemed to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off. "I guess Serena made it right and quit the job," Blair silently thought, putting two and two together.

It was then that Mellissa, Eleanor's assistant finally noticed that Blair was in the room and quickly ran up to her with a welcoming smile, "Blair, honey! There has been a terrible mistake, how would you like your job back?"

Blair didn't even bother answering that question and walked away as she finally spotted her mother at the center of all the chaos. Not giving herself a chance to back out she just started as soon as she was within hearing range of her, "Did you choose Serena over me?"

Eleanor looked at her in the eye, but didn't respond. Her silence was enough of an answer though as Blair continued speaking softly, not wanting to give her mother an inch with some absurd claim of her causing a scene and being dramatic, "You could have picked a stranger; you didn't have to choose my best friend. Did you think I wouldn't have found out?"

Eleanor closed her eyes and looked away from Blair before she finally said something, "I was going to tell you tonight," obviously very uncomfortable with the conversation as she walked around Blair with a nod, assuming that she would follow, "At dinner. There was no right decision, there wasn't any time."

Eleanor turned back to Blair after they were away from prying ears to have this very personal conversation. Blair just looked at Eleanor, her face made of marble as she listened to her mother try to justify her actions, "I know you can understand all this. It was mishandled; the whole thing, from top to bottom."

Blair began to feel nauseated at her mother's words, which weren't the ones that she wanted to hear. She wanted a genuine apology. She wanted her mother to for once say that she was good enough to be her daughter. She wanted to go back to the ignorance she felt only yesterday when everything appeared to be perfect and she achieved her mother's approval.

Blair let a laugh of disbelief as she finally spoke, "You actually want me to agree with you." It wasn't a question, it was a fact.

Eleanor began to whisper as she explained, "Bendel's would legitimize this company! It would take everything to the next level; you know how hard I've worked for that."

Eleanor continued on with her game of manipulation, that Blair was very much player in, and began to play with Blair's hair gently like she did the previous night, only this time it was as based in the game, not in maternal affection; a game that Eleanor had proven time and time again to be a master, while Blair was simply a novice when it came to her mother as she said, "You've always been my biggest supporter, my biggest fan."

"I'm your daughter," Blair interrupted and took a step back, but refusing to back down.

"And as my daughter, I knew that you would forgive me. In time. But if my company had lost this deal because of you…I'd never forgive myself," Eleanor stated as if to gain some sort of sympathy from Blair.

Blair raised her brows in disbelief as she looked at her mother and realized that Eleanor Waldorf was more messed up than she was and she could do well with a bit of honesty. With that in Blair's head she simply replied how she truly felt before leaving the room, "I hope you never do."

Blair felt so exhilarated and proud of herself for standing up to her mother. So proud in fact that she could only think of one person who would truly understand how big of a deal this was.

She heard her phone go off in her purse as she headed up to the roof to find Serena to make up, and pulled it out, smiling as she saw who had messaged her. "Speak of the devil," she thought to herself as she quickly messaged Chuck back on what happened. She arrived at the roof before she got a reply back from him and heard Serena and Humphrey talking just out of sight of the door.

She casually walked up to the two, catching the end of the conversation about Serena taking back her promise for a date Blair supposed and reached them just when Humphrey confirmed that they were going out on Friday. Blair rolled her eyes dramatically as she answered for Serena, "I think we can agree to those terms," she smirked over at Serena before looking down at Humphrey's shoes in disgust, "But you can't wear those shoes…or that hair" she teased and yet was very serious.

"Blair," Serena lightly warned before reaching out to Humphrey and kisses his cheek, as Blair was unable to keep the look of disgust off her face as Serena said, "See you then."

Blair stood back and couldn't keep from making a sound of disgust to match her face as she was forced to watch this pairing up. Fortunately for her, her phone went off and she was free to see that it was a message from Chuck; Blair smiled lightly as she sent back a quick response as she waited for Humphery to go so she could talk to Serena.

When Serena turned to her, after giving a slightly awkward good bye to Humphrey, all the two girls could do was just look at each other; not knowing who should go first. It was Serena who took the plunge with, "So you were right."

Blair frowned and lifted her head up a bit more at Serena's words and answered nonchalantly, "I know."

Serena continued on, "When I got that call I should have known that you had nothing to do with it. And I never should have pushed you to do this whole thing in the first place."

Blair smiled a bit as she looked off in the distance at the city skyline beside them briefly before looking back at Serena and responding, "Actually, I'm glad you pushed me. It ended up being a very important day for me. I just…thought it would be more fun."

"I know, me too," Serena nodded as she looked down for a moment and looked back at Blair. Blair smiled and pulled Serena into a big hug and Serena went willingly. As they just stood there, holding each other, it reminded Blair even more of the good times they shared and how no matter how much they fight, they were sisters and they needed each other in order to survive this world.

As they pulled apart, Serena came up with an idea, "Hey, you know what? Who says it still can't be?"

Blair gave her a look of confusion as if to ask "what did she have in mind" as Serena pulled her along after her off of the roof top excitedly. Blair released a laugh and let herself get caught up in the enthusiasm that is Serena Van Der Woodsen.

The girls decided on doing their own fashion photo shoot and one could not have a photo shoot without clothes to model and luckily for them they had those in spades just downstairs. Blair and Serena laughed as they grabbed everything off of the rack and ran out of the room before they could be stopped; Blair laughed even harder as she heard the voice of her mother yelling from up the stairs, "Where are my clothes?!"

As they swung back at Blair's place to change and grab a camera, Blair quickly texted Chuck to tell him of the rest of her adventure and also to hear how it went with getting his things back. Almost as if he knew that she needed to spend this time with Serena he offered that they meet for brunch the next day to catch up on all the details; which she agreed. He wrapped up the conversation saying that he and Nate made up and that they were going to hang out for the night.

As Blair put her phone away and went outside with Serena to catch a cab to take their pictures all over New York, she realized that not once throughout her crisis that she even thought of calling Nate, her boyfriend, for advice or even a helpful ear to listen. She justified her actions to herself by stating, "He's not very good with tears and advice. He probably would have asked Chuck for help anyway."

Not letting herself think too much on it much longer, Blair let herself get caught up in the excitement and fun of spending the day with her best friend as they ran around New York, taking pictures of each other and having the tourist take pictures of them together. The two friends laughed and successfully turned what was turning into a bad day into a day to be remembered forever for Blair Waldorf.

This just in: S and B committing a crime of fashion. Who doesn't love a five fingered discount, especially if one of those fingers is the middle one? Everyone knows that you can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. And in a world ruled by bloodlines and bank accounts, it pays to have a pal.

As much as a BFF can make you go WTF there's no denying that you'd all be a little less rich without them. And Serena and Blair? They do besties better than anyone.

No that's not a tear in my eye, it's just allergies.

Without you, I'm nothing.

Gossip Girl

A/N: So there it is just as I promised chapter 11! I hope you guys appreciated how nice and long this and chapter 10 were because I was afraid that they were too long. Personally I love nice long chapters that you can spend an hour reading as you lay around in a comfy chair or your bed, but I know we all indulge in our fanfiction in different ways. So please tell me your thoughts! I gave you a little Chuck and Blair interaction, even though it was just through the phone and text messages.

I hope that I did a good job articulating Blair's thought process as well as Chucks because for me that's the most important thing in regards to writing this story. Unfortunately with television you don't have the luxury of knowing why a character does something, you have to be shown and it's not always clear and sometimes you have to speculate. Don't get me wrong speculation is great, but at the expense of becoming emotionally connected to a character? Not so much. Anyway! I hope you love this chapter as much as I love you all for your reviews and your continued support!

Next chapter is the beginning of something and I think you guys will like what it is! It's one of my favorite episodes Dare Devil. Granted there isn't any Chair scenes, but we all know that I'll make one happen! Lol I love this episode because I love any of the episodes where we as an audience get to see Blair as our beloved Queen B. Her in her element is most definitely a sight to behold and it's also what I like to call the labors of little J as well as the beginning of the end of my liking of Jenny as a character ;)

Don't forget my beta, EvelynBass, and her story Return Someday! I'd also love to send out a special shout out to a dear friend of mine who also helped me with this chapter, Dani Jones, who also has lots of stories she writes here on fanfiction, so I suggest you go check them out! Without these two lovely ladies I would not be able to submit these chapters on the schedule that I set up for once a week, in this case twice, in effect allowing me to keep my promise to you guys. So show them some love! See you all Saturday! :D