A/N's Thanks so much for the reviews. They inspire me to keep going with this! This is the first time I've published anything warm, so I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think.

And I forgot to say earlier. I can only worship at the altar of Dan and Blair and have to give them back after I get to have this little play with them.

Dan threw Vanessa's letter down onto the kitchen bench and then leant down to pick up the cheque. His eyes widened at the amount printed on the slip.

He had known she had taken the manuscript because the copy he had printed for himself as a final proof to read, and then archive and put behind him forever, had disappeared on the disastrous night she had called him from the loft. He hadn't looked at it since; his only copy of the final draft was now stuffed at the back of a drawer on an old thumb drive.

He rifled through the drawer, throwing papers to the floor in a panic, desperate to reacquaint himself with the words he'd written.

Dan had been working on the manuscript for the past 5 years but it had only been shaped into it's current form during the past winter and fall. Working feverishly, editing and rewriting in every spare moment he had, which had been many since Blair had hooked up with the prince. His journal ignored as he'd poured all his hopes and final disappointments into the 257,862 words.

Until it had been done. Dan consigned it to the devil then, sure it would just be another useless piece of writing to file away and forget. Not even reading it completely in it's final form after Vanessa had desecrated it.

He finally tipped the drawer upside down, emptying it onto the floor. Scrambling through the debris until his fingers closed on the thumb drive. With trembling hands, Dan plugged it into his laptop. There it was - Inside/version6/draft11.PDF.

Hesitating to open it, he walked to the fridge to grab another beer. This was probably going to take a while.

Dan read the words he had written with his heart pounding in his chest. It was even worse than he had remembered. His mind raced. They are seriously going publish this? It's just a romantic rant, that just happens to detail all the secrets and misdemeanours that my circle of friends…soon to be enemies…had got up to in the past five years. I never wrote this to be published.

He sank back into his words. Letting himself revisit all the raw emotion he had felt when he was writing them.

If Angela was the sun, radiant and energetic, then Sophie was the moon, luminous in her darkness.

And he knew then. Sophie had eclipsed Angela for him, forever. He couldn't work out when she had started to rule his heart and mind. But it was done. And there was no turning back, no matter the consequences.

Dan awoke with his cheek pressed into the keyboard of his laptop. He sat up with a start, knocking over the empty bottle next to him. He stretched his arms and yawned, blinking in the strong morning light. His eyes took in the mess around him.

It doesn't matter in the end. She's marrying the Prince anyway. I'm going to have to tell her. What will be will be.

Depression descended like a spectre but it only hardened Dan's resolve. He knew he could try and get the book publication cancelled. But he wasn't going to. He was going to take this bus, no matter where it took him.

xoxoxoxo

Blair arrived home to an empty house. Dorota had left for the day and the silence of the penthouse pressed upon her. She felt disconcerted; she had had less contact with Humphrey over the past 12 days than she'd had for months. While she had been in Monaco, they had contacted each other every few days, every email always soliciting an answer. Being unable to make themselves stop, the emails kept bouncing back and forth across the Atlantic. Not allowing herself to contact Dan felt peculiar. She had become so accustomed to it.

Blair had filled her time playing wedding planners off against each other and refamiliarising herself with the Columbia campus. She had dropped her modern American literature and journalism classes for European history, politics and global economics.

She had thought she would have enjoyed herself more, getting her teeth back into something meaningful, but she found her minions clingy and her new classes unfulfilling. Louis had been occupied entertaining visiting heads of state in Monaco and was impossible to get hold of at any reasonable hour. She felt removed from the life she had lived with him over the summer. It had been pale and transparent; linen and champagne; white curtains before an azure sky; glass walls and muffled sounds. Strangely, the noise and dirty streets and stifling late summer heat of New York had pleased Blair more than she thought possible. It had been the most satisfying thing about returning.

She would find herself distracted. Finding herself with her phone in hand, planning on telling Dan every infinitesimal detail of her day. Just looking at his number. He hadn't contacted her at all. Clearly his life was doing fine with out her.

She was just putting her phone back in her bag when it sounded a message.

Dan.

The message he sent her was simple.

Tess? 7pm. I'll be there, I've never seen it. Will you come? I want to talk to you after.

She already had a ticket. I won't go. I'm staying home to study.

She walked up the stairs to her bedroom and sat down on her bed, pulling textbooks out of her satchel. Policy-Making in the European Union sat on the top of the pile.

Blair groaned and threw herself back onto her bed. Every time she picked up a book to study she felt the knot of anxiety growing in her stomach. Studying used to be just about her and her own ambition, but now it just made her future feel so oppressingly imminent. She was going to marry Louis and rule over a principality. She would charm heads of state and wave to crowds and make small talk. Maybe pop out an heir or two. She would make more social impact by wearing an unknown fashion designers clothing than by stating any political opinion. It would be like ruling through the pages of a magazine. But not in a way that she had any control over.

They might want her charm, but they didn't want her brains. She had wanted to engage with the court and Louis's advisors, to show them that she was more than a clotheshorse, but every time she tried, she felt they dismissed her as irrelevant. When she pushed the issue, they would just shut down on her. It didn't matter how much she learned about European politics, they would never let her make any kind of real contribution. She felt horror at the idea it might be like that forever. Stuck behind a pasted on smile, while her real opinions were mute. Folded up conveniently into a nice little envelope. It was the same as it had been with Chuck. Suppressing herself in order to be the required decorative sidekick.

Blair gasped and clenched her fists as she tried to control her sense of panic.

I need to get out of here for a while!

She checked her clock. Six pm. Before Blair quite realised what she was doing, she plucked her phone from her bag, opened the message from Dan and replied. I have a ticket but don't bore me with talk.

Blair stood up from the bed and went over to survey her closet. She vacillated distractedly but finally selected a short yellow Balenciaga skirt to team with a loose floral blouse.

Her anxiety ebbed as she thought more about seeing Humphrey. She was back in the same dilemma. Polanski with Humphrey at MoMA; she knew she really shouldn't go. She shouldn't check herself in the mirror again, asking herself whether he would think she was as pretty as Serena. Shouldn't think of the things she wanted to tell him. She definitely shouldn't go and sit in a dark theatre with him and the thoughts she had circling through her head.

But it was the only thing she could do. She felt compelled to see him. Avoiding him wasn't working so it was time to try the opposite tack. Surely enough exposure to Humphrey would weaken the attraction she felt.

Blair grabbed her purse and went to meet up with Dan Humphrey, yet again.

xoxoxoxo

"Oh God, I'm drunk. With you. Again." Blair hooked her arm though Dan's as they staggered down the street.

"At least we didn't get kicked out this time."

"But that just meant we stayed until closing. I have class at 8.30!"

"C'mon Blair you can skip class this once, it's only the second week back."

"I can't miss it. I have a presentation next week and I have to see what the competition is like."

"Get a minion to record it, Waldorf, and sleep in. God knows you need it.

"Are you saying I look haggard, Humphrey?" Blair's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"No! I only meant you need some you time. Your life is crazy."

"Maybe, but at least it's not tedious. Like yours. Ok, I'll ditch class. Let's go somewhere else." Dan opened his mouth to speak but she put her hand up to stop him. "Not the loft. Anywhere else. I think there's a club around here somewhere."

"Uh, can we go somewhere we can talk? I really want to tell you something."

"Humphrey, we've been talking non stop ever since we left the cinema. I'm sick of the sound of your voice."

"But…"

"I don't want to hear any of your lame confessions, Humphrey. Let's find somewhere really loud so I can't hear you."

"Ok, but, Blair, I don't know quite where we are. You're leading, I'm just following."

"It's what you do best, Humphrey."

They turned down into another street. It was empty of people.

"I keep finding myself drunk in dark alleys with you, Humphrey."

"You're the one who made us go this way, this time."

"Hmm, it still doesn't make me feel quite safe."

Dan laughed. "I'm the only one here who could possibly attack you."

Blair stopped in the shadow of a building and grabbed his hand. He turned to her as she said, a little nervously. "That's just the thing." She looked around her to take in the terrain. "Come with me." She pulled his arm to make him follow her down an even darker lane. "This is more like it."

Before he could put voice to thought, she stepped close to him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "I've wanted to do this all night." She lifted her fingers to his face and pulled it toward her own.

Dan couldn't help himself. He lowered his lips to hers. They opened beneath his, encouraging him to explore further. Her fingers moved down to his shirt, pulling him closer. Dan hesitated, startled at first by her eagerness, and then backed her against the wall of the alleyway, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Humphrey, what is about to happen, never happened. Right?"

He breathed in the spirits on her breath as she pushed her lips up towards him, devouring his mouth. "Uh, you mean what is happening right now?" He kissed down her neck.

"No, this isn't happening. We're dreaming." She laughed as she pushed her hands up under his shirt and ran her hands around to his back. His skin shivered at the contact and she felt goose bumps rise on his skin under her fingers.

Dan drew a breath "Louis..."

Blair withdrew a hand and clamped it over his mouth.

"The rest of my life I'm going to be trapped in a palace with people watching my every move. Let me have this one last adventure. Please, Humphrey?"

Dan looked down at her with a doubtful expression. "I'm not sure if this is the right way to express your uncertainties."

"You don't have to look at me like it's going hurt you. Even if you don't think of me in that way, I assure you, you'll have a good time." Blair's hands crept down to Dan's buttocks. "You'd be doing me a favour."

She kissed her way down his jaw as she pulled his body closer to hers. Dan wavered with uncertainty. He felt the damning rush of heat through his body and leaned in to capture her lips with his own. Running his hands down her back and pulling her in closer. In response, Blair wrapped her hands around Dan's neck and pushed up onto the tip of her toes. Dan ran his hands down her back and legs, exploring the silk of her dress. He gripped her buttocks and lifted her slender body up onto his hips, bracing her against the wall. Dan could feel her silk panties and the garter belt that he knew she habitually wore. They both felt him grow harder as they ground together with frenetic movement.

Blair gasped as she pulled away from his kiss. "Dan…I think you should just fuck me…here…now."

"In an alley way, in Brooklyn, with me. How your standards are dropping." Dan murmured as he kissed his way down her chest, running one hand up under her blouse.

"Not like you, who has the highest of standards." Blair sighed, leaning her head back further while Dan continued his ministrations.

"That's right, you'd better not tumble off that pedestal you're on." He lifted his head and kissed her again, pressing her into the wall. They continued, each kiss more searing than the one before, until Blair slipped her leg down to the ground, reaching down to fumble with Dan's belt.

"You're not kidding then. Uh, you're sure you want to do this here?" He reached down to stall her but she slapped his hands away.

"No, I'm not kidding, Humphrey. Just shut up and fuck me" Blair found his fly and eased it down. Her hand reached into the open zip, her fingers exploring inside. "Well, at least something's ready for me."

Dan's brain ceased to work. She eased out his hard cock as Dan pushed her dress up around her hips and pulled down her panties. His hands gripped her buttocks to press her further up the wall as he pushed his hard cock inside her hot tight wetness. Blair muttered wordlessly as he thrust between her thighs, gliding into her. A shoe dropped to the ground as she wrapped her legs around his hips, forcing him to penetrate further. He began to grind into her with long, sweet strokes, as her teeth held her bottom lip to stifle her moans.

Blair wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, painfully pulling his hair. "Dan." She pushed her mouth up towards him and thrust her tongue deeply between his lips. Dan moaned into her mouth. He grabbed her hips more firmly and drove into her faster, his breath coming heavily.

"Blair, you don't know what you're doing to me."

Blair buried her lips in his neck and panted into his ear. "Don't stop what you're doing to me." Her teeth bit into his shoulder as she throbbed around him. She muffled a cry into his skin as her body tensed, tugging at his hair and pulling his head towards her for another burning, open mouthed kiss.

Dan groaned and shuddered. "Oh God, Blair." He let out a strangled sound as he withdrew from her, ejaculating on her thigh as he continued to hold her against the wall. Her legs slid off his hips and she leant her head on his chest, regaining her balance and her breath as he clutched the wall behind her.

"Blair…"

"Thanks for obliging me, Humphrey. You sure know how scratch a girl's itch."

"Uh, sure." Dan replied weakly. "Any time"

Around them lay her purse, her shoe and her knickers. She stood on one foot trying to regain her composure. She tugged down her skirt and collected her scattered belongings, shoving her panties into her purse. Dan stared at her, unable to collect his thoughts.

"Blair…don't…that probably shouldn't have happened…but…"

"And now I have to go and have a shower. And I really need to go to this class tomorrow."