Author's Note: I am so pleased with the response this story is getting! Thank you for all the reviews and favorite adds! Chapter four is going to be a little aggravating, but it's very necessary. Dan/Blair will happen soon, I promise. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

Chapter Four
"You love the chase
But hate me for the runaround
We both just tired of the whole thing
You tell me what you want
You need, you know you have to have
And I just pretend I'm listening."
-Sara Bareilles

Although Blair's heart was hammering in her chest, she kept her appearance cool and aloof. Nate looked up at her, seeming almost regretful and angry. She figured it was because he was sorry about the whole fight and wished he had apologized sooner. Imagining that he had been eaten up with guilt for the past few days gave Blair some confidence and she sent Nate the most withering look she could muster. She shook her head and chuckled icily.

Walking down the stairs, Blair said, "What do you want to talk about Nate?" she smirked. "The fact that you hardly ever talk to me, that you lie constantly, or how about the fact that you accuse me of being wrong about your behavior, even though I'm right?" she shook her head. "Or maybe you want to talk about the fact that you care about Serena more than me?"

It hurt Blair just to say the words, but she knew it would hurt Nate more to hear them.

The expression on his face was that of someone being stung, or slapped, and he looked angry for a moment. The anger passed though, and he looked down.

He didn't say anything for some time, he didn't even look at her. Blair waited, hardly breathing, wondering what he was going to say, hoping against everything that he wouldn't walk back into the lift and forget all about trying to talk to her because she was a vicious bitch. But a certain feeling was chipping away at her anxiety, and that feeling was anger. What had taken him so long to come talk to her? Why hadn't he begged her for forgiveness when she had yelled at him in her bedroom? Why had he been asking Serena for advice? And why hadn't Serena helped her in turn?

When he looked up he stared at her for some time, and then he said, "You look beautiful."

"Don't give me that Nate," she snapped, even though her insides were tickled with happiness. "You came here to talk to me about something, so talk."

Nate looked away from her again for some time, at this point, Blair contemplated getting down on her knees and begging him for forgiveness, but luckily she didn't have to.

He spoke, "Blair, I don't want us to fight," he took a step toward her. "I want to be with you."

She snorted, "You could have fooled me."

"Blair, I know I've screwed up," he said, taking her hands in his. "I know I've screwed up multiple times, but I care about you... I want us to be together."

After looking down at their hands intertwined and feeling the warmness of his hands around hers, she looked back into his eyes, feeling her guard fall a little. She wanted this so badly, for him to beg her for forgiveness- for him to say that he wanted them to be together. He wants to be with me, Blair reminded herself. I've been waiting for this- I cried for this! How come I'm not as happy as I should be? For a brief moment Blair thought of Serena, and then an image of Dan Humphrey briefly entered her mind and pushed her supposed best friend out of it. All she saw of him in her mind's eye was him laughing as the puppeteer teased her at Avenue Q. Why had it offended her so deeply? Why had it upset her that Dan laughed at the man's jibe at her attitude? She simply didn't know.

Nate gave her a sort of questioning look, "Don't you want us to be together?"

Confusion threw her off and she said, "Of course I do Nate! I want to be able to trust you too, but can any of that happen?"

"Yes! I don't ever want to hurt you again, I want you to trust me again and I want everything to be the way it was, without drama and stupid mistakes- Please, say we can be together."

He looked so hopeful and so scared that Blair felt herself nodding.

"If you really mean it this time- if you really want us to be together and you'll work at it."

Nate hesitated for a moment, and then he looked sort of tense but, he smiled, "I do this time, I really do."

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"Truman Capote."

"Huh?"

Dan looked over at Serena who was sipping her soft drink, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

He cleared his throat, "Oh- That's-uh- that's the writer of Breakfast at Tiffany's," he gestured toward the movie screen.

Serena turned and saw that the trivia question being asked was, indeed, 'Who wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's?'

"He wrote the movie?" she quizzed.

Dan replied, "No, actually, the book."

"There's a book?" she asked, leaning in a little, genuinely interested.

"Yeah, it's a short novel, a little different from the movie, but, ya know..."

Serena smiled, "Blair would probably know that- She knows everything about Breakfast at Tiffany's."

Dan felt his body stiffen a little at the mention of the tiny package of supreme Upper East Side elitist's name. After having dealt with the dream in which Blair Waldorf was some kind of Victorian-Marie Antoinette-Les Miserables-prisoner who he couldn't help, Dan had thought all about her during his subway ride over to meet Serena. He had been so distracted by the whole idea of the dream and the flaming eyeball cake in it, and Blair crying hysterically over it, that he had missed his stop and had to walk a few extra blocks for it. But now Serena was staring at him oddly and he tried to loosen up a little.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Dan nodded, "Yeah- I'm okay." Serena was about to ask another question, but before she could he cut her off. "So, what are you plans for the rest of the weekend?"

"Actually," Serena began rather suspiciously. "Tomorrow night is Nate's parents' anniversary party... It's not too fancy or anything, just at their house, dinner, drinks, music, talk- I was wondering if you wanted to go with me."

Dan paused.

"There will be a lot of people there- So many we won't even have to entertain anyone else or anything," she pressed on. "We could just hang out with Blair and Nate and Chuck- Or maybe not Chuck... Or no one if we didn't want to."

Without even pausing a second time, Dan nodded, "Sure- Yeah, I'll go."

"Really?" she smiled.

"Yeah."

Just then the lights of the movie theater dimmed, the sound went up, the audience quieted, and the previews began to roll. But as new movies for that year were being introduced and people were laughing along with them or being intrigued by a specific title, Dan felt a little distracted again.

Who was Blair Waldorf really? She obviously wasn't the character from his dream. Was she the girl from his poem? Or was she who she seemed to be during their double date? Was she something else behind that I'm Too Good For You Because You're From Brooklyn attitude? Because he was starting to think there was even something more to him than his immediate dislike for her. Maybe, he could even try to talk to her... Maybe they could learn to understand each other, what made each other tick, maybe they could be friends.

Or maybe they could be more.

But that didn't even occur to Dan. Well, not yet anyway.

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That night Blair took a walk along the city streets. She didn't roam too far from her own home, but she did walk rather far. It had rained in the middle of the day and now everything was glittering with drops of water, making everything seem magical and pretty. The air hung around her, cold and sharp to her lungs. She shivered, looked up at the sky, smiling to herself. Everything was seeming okay.

Earlier that day, after Nate and Blair had reunited, he had insisted they leave the house and go out to brunch. Since she had no desire to eat, Blair suggested they just stay in and she could order him a great big meal of whatever he wanted.

But Nate was insistent.

"We could get your favorite crepes from Le Patisserie and have a picnic in Central Park."

"Nate, it's freezing out," she had laughed.

He had looked around anxiously, "Why don't we go to my house? We could watch BBC and drink tea, you know, how we always used to do with Serena-"

Then, Blair's gaze had gone cold, "Why do you want to leave so much?"

Nate looked tense again, "It's just- Isn't your mom home?"

"No," she smiled. "Why?"

"I just, I thought it would be nice if we could be alone."

Blair nodded, moving toward him slowly, "I see where you're going with this."

She had placed her hands on his sides, underneath his coat, and looked up at him seductively. But, in return, he hadn't looked very excited. He did pull her closer, only as if on reflex.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go for a walk."

And they did. They had walked around Central Park and eventually ended up eating at a cute little organic food restaurant that had a nice Asian ambiance about it. Nate had been so normal, so conscious about what he said and how he treated her that she had forgotten about being upset. She laughed with him and enjoyed her meal, she even ordered a hot chocolate with whipped cream for dessert. And she was so content that she went to the bathroom after the meal and didn't even feel like throwing up, she only touched up her make-up and checked her message, then she met back up with Nate and they left.

It had been on their way home, in the cab that Nate had brought up his parent's anniversary party.

"I hope you'll be my date," he had said with a smile, holding her hand in his.

She kissed him lightly in response, "Of course I will."

And now she walked, thinking.

I haven't talked to Serena, she thought. I wonder what she's been up to.

She decided not to call or text her though, she figured she would just see her at the Archibald party the next day.

Instead, she thought about what had happened when she had returned home that day. Nate had dropped her off by her doorman, kissing her goodbye and telling her he had some homework to work on and that he'd talk to her later. She had gone up to find her mother in the kitchen, drinking tea and looking through a smattering of portfolio photos and sketches.

"Where have you been?" Eleanor had said good-humoredly. "Out with Nate?"

Blair had gone to the refrigerator and grabbed a water, she froze for a second, and then slowly closed the door.

"How did you know?"

Eleanor shrugged, "Lucky guess."

"But the last time we talked about it Nate and I weren't even speaking," Blair reasoned.

Her mother paused for a moment, then she smiled, "Honey, I'm your mother- When you walked in here I saw that smile on your face!" she gestured toward her daughter. "It had to be that you and Nate got back together."

Blair smiled, "You were right- about everything being okay."

"Of course I was," was Eleanor's reply and she smiled knowingly at Blair.

And now Blair walked in warm contentment. Everything was falling into place. All she needed was Serena to be on her side as well, and everything would be perfect. Or so she thought.