Sorry that I haven't been updating this story. I haven't abandoned, just got distracted by life. However, now, hopefully I should be able to write new chapters more regularly.

NB: Here, it wasn't Chuck but Georgina who released the photo of Blair and Dan kissing. Blair doesn't think it was Dan either, and is purely mad at him for posting the video to Gossip Girl during her wedding

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the storyline

Somebody That I Used To Know

Chapter 3

Standing up straight he looked around the living room of the penthouse in an attempt to seek out his father. He frowned as he noticed Carter Baizen, wondering what he was doing here, then he saw the tall blonde attached to him and the two of them making a beeline for the exit.

Walking towards the duo Dan was very confused. He couldn't help but question why Serena's ex was back in town and what they were doing leaving Cece's wake. As the lift door began to close Dan managed to get his hands between them causing them to once again slide open.

Serena looked away from Carter towards the doors as the lift beeped signifying their reopening and was surprised to see Dan standing there. She felt her heart jump at the sight of him in his dark grey suit with, and cursed herself for still reacting like a school girl to his presence. She was supposed to be moving on from him. Making eye contact with him she shook herself from her prior thoughts, determined to stick to the plan of keeping him at an arm's length.

"What are you doing?" She asks, surprising Dan by the steely expression that had appeared on her face at his appearance.

"What am I doing? What are you doing? . . . Are you leaving" He says, eyes wide full of questioning as he stares at her.

"Yeah" she replies, "So If you wouldn't mind moving, I'd like to get going" and with those words she pressed the closed button for the lift

He frowns at her response "Wait," he says, raising his arms to block the doors once more before running his hands through his hair, "You can't just leave, this whole thing is for your grandma"

"Actually I can. This stopped being about my grandma as soon pretty much as soon as it began and quite frankly I'm surprised you're still here. Anyway shouldn't be running around after Blair about right now"

"Serena, that's not . . . " Dan began but she cut him off saying "Actually that doesn't matter. The point is I don't have to justify myself to you and quite frankly my grandma deserves a better send off than this and I intend to give it to her."

"Yeah I bet you're off to do a lot of mourning" he said snarkily looking Carter up and down, "Hi by the way"

The look on Serena's face as he says those words made him mentally slap himself as he could see her walls going up.

Bye she said stonily, lips now pursed together as she began to press the lift button furiously.

"Serena . . . wait . . . I didn't mean that" Dan stuttered blocking the doors once again.

She looked up at him the hurt and contempt in her eyes clear for him to see "Move" she said firmly

Dan new that he'd screwed up and staying there would only make things worse so he allowed the doors to shut and watched as she and Carter began to descend.

Furious at himself he punched the wall, causing the people surrounding the area to turn to look at him with shock. By this point he didn't even care and stalked past them all to seek out ice from the kitchen to dull the pain in his now throbbing knuckles.

Serena was fuming as she and Carter went down in the lift. She couldn't believe what Dan had just said to her, he'd basically implied that she was bailing on Cece's funeral to go off and fuck Carter. In spite of telling herself that she was letting him, go his words had hurt more than she'd thought possible. One of the best things about her relationship with Dan is that he didn't know her before she went away to boarding school. While many rumours had spread through school about her drug use and sleeping around, Dan didn't have firsthand knowledge of it, and he only saw her for the girl he met after she'd pulled herself together. So, unlike Blair, Chuck and even Nate, he never jumped to those kinds of assumptions about her and up until this moment, even though Dan wasn't always there for her, Serena always felt he understood more than anyone else, because he could see the person she had become rather than the person she had been. Now she couldn't help but consider the fact that, the Dan she knew wasn't there, and that he either no longer understood or believed in her, or that he'd finally succumbed to the spiteful ways of the Upper East Side. Even though, she could tell from the look in his eyes that he'd regretted his words, it still didn't change the fact that he'd said them, nor did it change the pain she felt at hearing them and she hated that he still could affect her like that.

"So . . . That was interesting" Carter said beside her, reminding her that she wasn't alone in the lift.

Serena sighed as the door as the doors opened, "I need a drink", she said walking out with Carter following behind swiftly.

-DS-

Blair looked up as Chuck appeared in the doorway to her bedroom.

"What are you doing here?" Blair asked, already knowing the answer. He was here for her.

"I think we need to talk" Chuck stated advancing slowly towards her before halting at Blair's raised hand.

"No Chuck. I can't deal with this right now, there are . . . "

"Why not," Chuck interrupted her, "For the first time since the accident, we're free, we can be together, there's nothing in our way."

"Nothing, except the fact that Gossip Girl has ruined my marriage and bankrupted my family!" Blair snapped, her frustration level hitting an all time high.

"The dowry," Chuck mumbled realisation hitting him, "Surely it wasn't that much?"

"Yeah it was," Blair replied tearfully, "I don't know what to do. Everything has just become really screwed up"

Chuck was shocked at the news. He hadn't known just how bad the dowry situation was for the Waldorfs and he couldn't take seeing Blair in such distress.

"Let me pay it. I'm sure I have more than enough to cover it," Chuck attempted to persuade Blair, but she was having none of it.

"No, I can't let you do that" Blair shook her head, but Chuck pressed on.

"Why not, I have enough money," he stepped forward, taking her hands in his own and looking her straight in the eyes, "I'd do anything for you. You know that"

"But this is something you shouldn't do for me," returning Chuck's desperate gaze with an unwavering one, "the whole problem with our relationship was power. For us to work we need to be equals, and you doing this prevents us from being that. It'd never work."

Chuck shook his head in disagreement, "That's not true,"

"Yes it is. You may not want to accept it but it's true. You're only offering to do this because you want us to get back together and that wouldn't be right" Blair said, this time stepping away from Chuck's grip, "Especially because I can't say that's what I want right now"

"What do you mean it's not what you want?" Chuck asked baffled, "You and I are meant to be. After everything we've been through, you must know that."

"I thought I did, but not anymore," she said, releasing his hands as she backed away, "I love you Chuck and I think I always will. But I'm not in love with you."Blair didn't know when or how but somewhere along the line she had stopped seeing him as being her forever.

"Is this because of Humphrey," Chuck said, "Can't you see that he's been playing us the whole time."

"This has nothing to do with Dan, " Blair clarified, "I'm just not in the same place as you right now and it wouldn't be fair of me to let you pay the dowry when you deserve more."

They stood in silence for a moment, Chuck holding her gaze intently as he tried to process her words. He stared at beautiful brunette in front, as if trying to memorise every inch of her. It was one thing to not let him free her from her marriage. Those insecurities, after everything he had they'd been through, were understandable. But for her to tell him that she no longer believed their love was meant to last, stunned him, as every fibre of his being was telling him the opposite. As he looked into her eyes, he knew that this wasn't just a case of Blair running scared, but that she was simply being honest, and she truly believed her words. She wasn't in love with him anymore, and that fact had completely changed the game.

-DS-

"Hey, it's Dan. I just wanted to apologise for today. I was a judgemental idiot, and you didn't deserve that, especially not today" Dan said after reaching Serena's voicemail, "Although I'm guessing you know that already as you haven't returned any of my calls and you probably won't listen to this message anyway, but I figured I should say it anyway . . .that I'm sorry for how I behaved and it was out of line." He could only cringe as he listened to himself but he couldn't seem to shut up, "I should probably also say sorry for this horrific message. You can't really call it a message though, it's more of a soliloquy . . . actually it's more of a monologue as I'm not talking to myself but to you, although technically you aren't there, it's your machine, so one could say I was talking to myself which would make it a soliloquy . . . and I'm rambling so I should probably stop." He said as he rested his head mournfully against the fridge, "I'm sorry."

Hanging up the phone Dan repeatedly banged his head against the fridge at his own idiocy. He couldn't believe how badly the day had turned out. He hadn't stayed at the wake long after his altercation with Serena, just about long enough to grab some ice for his hand and talk to his Dad about everything that gone on, who'd only hammered home how badly he'd screwed up before telling him to just man up and apologise, albeit phrased slightly differently. The only issue now was who to see first tomorrow considering both Blair and Serena weren't taking his calls.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts and Dan went to the door wondering who it could be at this time. HE was surprised to see Blair on the other side of it.

"Hey," she said softly,

"Hey," confused at her presence, Dan could only ask, "What are you doing here? I figured you'd be plotting my downfall"

Blair smiled a little as she walked into the loft and Dan shut the door behind her, "I was," she replied. "then I had a change of heart. I need to know why?"

Running his hands through his hair Dan sighed heavily, before responding, "You didn't love him and I could tell you weren't happy"

"That wasn't your call to make," she stated

"I know and I'm sorry," Dan nodded, "but that doesn't make it less true."

At this Blair averted her eyes from Dan's gaze, but he turned her towards him again cupping her cheek in his hand and staring at her intently he continued,

"Somewhere along the line it seemed like you just gave up, like you'd decided you weren't worthy of love and happiness and you were going to settle." Dan said slowly, never breaking eye contact. He needed her to know he was being sincere, "But Blair, you do. Despite whatever pact you made with God, you deserve to be happy and you deserve to find that all consuming love that makes everything feel worthwhile. I need you to know that"

"Even if that means being with Chuck," he finished, dropping his hand from her face.

Blair's eyes glazed over at his words. She wanted to be mad him, with every fibre of her being she wanted to be angry but she just couldn't be. He was right, and even with the dowry weighing over her head, she couldn't remember the last time she had felt this free and she couldn't be angry at him for that. Especially, when looking into his eyes, she believed every word and actually felt worthy of her second chance, a feeling she wanted to hold on to.

"What if Chuck's not what I want," she whispered, "I told him he doesn't have my heart anymore."

At this Dan creased his brow, confused. "Why?" he asked. He wanted to believe that she'd turned down Chuck for him but with everything that had gone on today that just seemed too good to be true.

"I guess you could say I've found myself drawn to someone else." she said, the edges of her mouth curving upwards

"Who?" Dan said bluntly, still unable to believe his luck.

"Really Humphrey," she said throwing her hands up exasperatedly, "you just completely ruined the moment."

"Well, I have to be sure. This situation is a little delicate so I think I'm going to have to ask you spell it out." Dan said with a boyish grin on his face.

Laughing a little, Blair leaned kissed him softly before murmuring, "How's that, clear enough yet?"

Shaking his head in disagreement, Dan recaptured her lips with more fervour.

-DS-

"I can't believe you hit that guy," Serena said as she and Carter attempted to hail a cab.

"He was being a dick." Carter replied, grumpily, "He clearly saw me talking to that girl first."

Serena laughed, "Considering she was his girlfriend, I think that was the problem."

"I can't help it if girls seem to find me irresistible, you should know " Carter threw a cheeky wink in Serena's direction to which she fake swooned in response. With both of them now laughing loudly, Serena nearly missed the message alert on her phone. A cab finally pulled up as Serena checked her phone seeing it was a message from Gossip Girl.

Opening the cab door for her, gesticulated wildly as he dramatically bowed, "Where to, milady,"

But the smile had dropped off Serena's face and she sombrely replied, "Suddenly I'm ready to go home." Handing him her phone, she got into the cab giving the man the address for the Waldorf building. Carter looked at the blast which showed a picture of Blair getting out a taxi with Humphrey's building in the background.

"seems like B's decided to settle for pauper status, apparently Brooklyn is all the rage"

-DS-