Author's Note: It just came to my attention that I've been numbering all the chapters wrong since chapter five or six, so I'll be reposting and fixing everything. Anyway, I hope you all liked chapter nine (not eight) and here is chapter ten now! Hope you all like it!

Chapter Ten
"Your eyes don't lie
They give you away
You say, you say
Everything is different today
Your footsteps fall
All over the place
You're up, you're down
A butterfly
Caught in a cage."
-The Last Goodnight

Blair awoke during the early hours of the following Sunday morning. The traffic outside sounded far away and quiet, and she nestled into the quiet contentment she felt in Dan's arms. Almost like Nate, she thought to herself, trying to remember the last time she had fallen asleep in Nate's arms, or the last time he had acted as her knight in shining armor. She could recall times... She wasn't sure of the last time though.

This happiness, and that fact that she felt so comfortable with Dan sent a finger of anxiety to twist around in the bottom of her stomach. The bile rose in her throat, and were she home she would have raced to the bathroom. Because she was at Dan's though, she swallowed hard. She didn't like how warm and at peace she felt in his bed, under his sheets and cheap comforter. She couldn't admit that she liked wearing his t-shirt, even if it hid her whole body from view and probably made her look fat. How could she possibly confirm the truth that she loved the smell of his shirt, of his pillow, of his blankets, of his room- of him!

Well, Blair reasoned with herself, it's just a smell- a comforting smell. I don't like him.

Sure you don't, a voice retaliated, but she ignored it.

This is all part of the plan though, she reminded herself. He thinks he's comforting me and helping me, like I'm falling for him and I need him. It's all to get back at Serena and Nate. If I like the way he smells in the process, well, it's even better. At least I picked the cleanest boy in Brooklyn.

But even as she tried to reassure herself, the anxious feeling wouldn't go away. In truth, she didn't like what she was feeling about Dan, or even about his house. In her eyes, it wasn't how she ought to feel. So the anxiety grew. Her stomach swirled and felt empty. She was nervous and jittery all of a sudden. Her breathing was speeding up and she didn't know why.

On the clock beside Dan's bed, Blair could see it was nearly five in the morning. And lying with his arms wrapped around her, was Dan himself, sleeping. His breathing was heavy and rhythmic; in through the nose and out again. She felt his chest rise and fall against her, and his heart beat faintly through the woodwork of his body. As embarrassed as she felt about it, Blair gently pressed her ear to his chest, wanting to be closer to his breathing- to his heartbeat. She wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but it comforted her some. Until she thought of the actual fact that it comforted her, which, in turn, made her even more anxious. Why was Dan Humphrey's heartbeat comforting her? Why was she getting so close to him? He was just a pawn in her plan, nothing more.

Very suddenly, she knew she had to get out. She had to get away from Dan, out of his room, out of his loft, out of Brooklyn all together. She felt a desperate need to be grounded, to get back to the beautiful imposing buildings of the Upper East Side. Even if it was the dark blue of morning outside, even if no one was out and she could get raped or mugged. She needed to get back to the familiar world of Manhattan and away from this anxiety-inducing world of Dan Humphrey.

Silently and carefully, Blair extricated herself from Dan's arms and dressed in her own clothes. She quickly folded the clothes he had given her and put them on a chair by his computer desk.

Feeling awkward and guilty, she opened his bedroom door, glanced up and down the hallway, and stepped through the doorway. She crept down the corridor and straight into the kitchen. Her plan was to tiptoe across the kitchen, to the front door, and out into safety. So what if she couldn't lock the front door for them? For the sake of her sanity, she needed to go home. But her plan was cut short, and she was stopped dead still in her tracks by the sight of a man, who she assumed was Dan's father.

He was dressed in boxer shorts and a t-shirt. His dark hair was messy and tousled, and he was holding a juice carton in his hand, looking just as surprised as Blair.

"Hello..." he managed to say.

She gave him a nervous smile, "Hi- I was- just-uh- leaving early from a sleep over with Jenny," she tried to salvage some form of privacy in the situation.

Mr. Humphrey gave her a 'don't even try to fool me' smile.

"Uh- I think if either one of my children had a sleep over last night I would have known," he said. "Considering Dan was so insistent on us not going into his room without knocking, I think I know who had the little soiree."

Blair didn't say anything in return.

Mr. Humphrey placed the juice carton back in the refrigerator, then he turned to Blair and asked, "What's your name?"

She considered lying, but didn't even care enough to, "Blair Waldorf."

The surprise on Mr. Humprhey's face increased tenfold.

"Blair Waldorf? As in Serena's best friend?"

She raised her eyebrows in return, "Yes?" she said, daring him to challenge her.

"Dan!" Mr. Humphrey yelled, trying to quickly wake Dan up.

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Dan startled awake.

The light of the sky was a milky blue, and the traffic outside was quiet. His room was chilly and he wrapped his blanket more tightly around him. He had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach, as if something was off-kilter. He tried to put the pieces together. First, he knew instantly that it was early morning. 5:07 A.M. He rubbed his eyes. Secondly, why did his bed feel like someone had gotten up from it moments ago, and it was now cooling from their body heat? Now he began wondering why he had awoken so quickly.

Looking around, he felt as if something was very wrong; wrong and out of place. Then he noticed the folded up clothes on his computer chair and the empty space in bed beside him.

Blair.

He leapt out of bed and instinctively ran to the kitchen. There he found Blair, now sitting at the island counter, staring almost defiantly at his father. Rufus Humphrey looked nothing but uncomfortable as he tentatively eyed Blair, dressed only in boxers and a t-shirt. His eyes met Dan's as he appeared in the kitchen and he looked immensely grateful.

"Dan, would you like to explain to me what's going on?"

Blair turned in her seat and her eyes met Dan's, she didn't have a fleck of apology in her eyes, even though she knew Dan was probably going to get in trouble. Why should she feel bad? She was the one who was trapped here. She was the one who would have ultimately helped Dan, had she gotten out of the loft. She was the one who was so anxious and screwed up in her own plan.

Dan didn't know how to reply.

Rufus looked between Dan and Blair, whose eyes were locked in an entirely mysterious stare down. Because he couldn't decipher it, he decided to interrupt them.

He cleared his throat, "Dan, who is this?"

"This is Blair," he finally managed to say, looking at his father. And because he knew it would be brought up, he added, "Serena's best friend."

"Right, we got that," Rufus said. "What is she doing here?"

Blair jumped in, feeling like she ought to help Dan, at least a little, "I told you, I was sleeping over with Jenny."

"Should we wake her up and ask-"

"NO!" both Dan and Blair shouted quickly.

Rufus nodded slowly, "I see."

Dan sighed, "Look, Dad, it's not what you think."

"What am I thinking Dan?" Rufus asked cockily.

His son squirmed a little. Dan glanced at Blair, who looked perfectly confident, sitting carelessly on a stool she had been shaking in, with nowhere to go, only hours prior.

Dan gave in, "You probably thought I had Blair sleep over last night so we could have sex."

Blair sat casually on the chair, just as Dan had noticed. She felt anything but casual though, she felt as if she was watching the Discovery Channel. Watching Dan and his father was like witnessing a squid in the depths of the ocean, writhing around. It was just so foreign to her that she found she was confused and interested in it all. Were this her home on the Upper East Side? Had her mother found Nate, or even Dan, in their house at five in the morning? She would ask him what he was doing there, he would give her an answer, and they would move on. Eleanor Waldorf would never be so deeply concerned in her daughter's social life. Maybe she'd ask about birth control in passing, but she would never sit the boy down, wake Blair up, and have a whole discussion on it. Blair knew Nate's and Serena's parents were the same way. Was not caring an Upper East Side thing? Or was caring just a Brooklyn thing?

And the fact that he was so honest with his father in return was another matter entirely.

Rufus glanced at Blair, looking back at his son with a confused look on his face, "Generally, yes, that's what came to mind- But, this is Serena's best friend?"

Dan knew his dad was hinting at the fact that he had talked about Blair in a most unflattering way just the other day. He recalled all the things he had said, sitting across from his dad in their living room.

Blair Waldorf. Who is basically everything I hate about the Upper East Side, distilled into one ninety-five pound, doe-eyed, bon mots tossing, label-whoring package of girlie evil.

He cringed at the idea of his own words. Looking at Blair now, he felt a guilty pull at the bottom of his stomach and he almost- almost- wanted to cry. The mere fact that she wasn't aware of what he had said, that alone made him upset. Maybe she could defend herself, but she didn't even know what was said behind her back, and it just seemed unfair. His own feelings confused him and he cleared his throat.

"This is Serena's best friend," he confirmed.

Rufus looked thoroughly confused and Blair felt as if Dan and his father had some kind of unspoken secret between them that they weren't sharing.

Dan's father spoke, "Uh- what is Serena's best friend- Blair- doing here, if not having sex with you?"

Blair snorted at the sheer frankness in Mr. Humphrey's voice.

"Dad," Dan said. "Blair was having some issues at home and she had nowhere to go."

"So she came here?" this clearly surprised Rufus.

Dan nodded.

Rufus cleared his throat, "Excuse me, Blair, I don't mind you staying at our loft as a safe haven- But what about Serena? Shouldn't she- as your best friend- be there for you?"

"I'm not exactly on the best terms with Serena right now," she told him. "Look, my mom was going to be up all night working out issues with her lawyer over the divorce," she sighed. "They were going to have me decide whether or not I wanted my dad to have custody of me... I just didn't think I could deal with it."

Dan was relieved to find the capacity of her problems didn't involve Nate.

Rufus nodded, "I have no problem with you being here, really, I only wish Dan had warned me."

"I didn't think you'd actually let her stay here," Dan said.

"If you need a place to stay, our door is open," Rufus said warmly. "Only- I didn't think you two were actually friends."

Blair smirked a little, "Things change, I guess."

"They most certainly do," Rufus gave his son a pointed look. "Well, I'm going back to bed- Blair, if you need to stay here for the rest of the morning that's fine, only Dan will have to sleep on the couch."

Dan rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same, "Thanks Dad."

Rufus began to walk toward the bedrooms, but Blair stopped him, "Mr. Humphrey?"

He turned, looking at her expectantly.

"Thank you, for being so nice- I was wondering though... Could you maybe not tell Jenny about all of this?"

He gave her a quizzical look.

She shrugged, "If people hear that I stayed at your house it would turn into something it's not. And as you mentioned, Serena's my best friend..."

"I'll keep it to myself."

She gave him a genuinely grateful smile, "Thank you."

"Of course- Good night," and he disappeared into his own bedroom.

The silence that settled around them was quickly turning awkward and Blair pulled at the hem of her coat.

"Why were you leaving so early?" Dan asked.

Blair lied very quickly, "I woke up- And I didn't want Jenny to see me in the morning," she shook her head. "I figured it would be best to leave before anyone woke up- I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Dan told her.

"But I should go," she said.

Dan shook his head, "Blair it's too early, give it an hour or so-"

"I'll be fine," she told him. "I've been out earlier- or later- than this."

"But-"

She cut him off, "Dan, I survived before I met you," she gave him a charming smile. "I'll survive now. I'm leaving, but thank you- really- thank you for everything."

She leaned in, gave him a slight squeeze of the shoulder and a light kiss on the lips. She pulled away, smiled at him and sauntered out of the loft.

Dan was left feeling out of breath and very disoriented.

Author's Note: Sorry if it was kind of short- I've been absolutely swamped with school work and laziness. Hope you all liked chapter ten! Chapter eleven will be up soon! This chapter wasn't very dramatic, I know. The drama will ensue very soon though, don't worry!