Title: Eternal Contemplations
Author: fading_tales
Pairing: Damon/Blair (Vampire Diaries/Gossip Girl cross-over)
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl or any of their characters.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Timing means nothing and everything when you have an eternity to live.

Chapter Three

"Who's that with Blair?"

Nate turns around to face the direction Chuck's nodding to and sees the dark haired couple moving towards them. A feeling of uneasiness and the niggling of something off struggles in his pot hazed brain. He should be worried about his girlfriend hanging out with dark, handsome strangers, but he doesn't.

"Blair!"

She turns to greet Nate with a chaste kiss on the cheeks. It's odd how distant she feels towards him now. Just a month ago he was the center of her world, but ever since Serena left, they've just grew… tired of one another. She tries so hard to be the perfect girlfriend, so hard to smile and brighten up when he walks into the room. That's how love is supposed to feel like right? At least she knows she's looking the part.

"Who's your friend?" Chuck asks a little too sternly for comfort.

"Just somebody I picked up when I was out getting some pastries."

"You make me sound like a stray."

"Yes, but don't worry. I'll make sure you get all your shots."

Blair's smiling a smile that Nate has never seen before. The dark haired pair is getting along a little too well and again, he feels like he should be jealous, angry, something. Chuck's showing more signs of anxiety than he was. All acts of affection are performed with a level of numbness and routine, like a well rehearsed dance choreography. The pretenses of being the golden couple grows old fast. Nate merely finishes another glass of champagne and let the sounds of polite society conversation wash over him. He bides his time until he can make an excuse and go out for yet another smoke.

xxx

Somehow at some point in the evening, Chuck Bass and Damon Salvatore finds themselves sharing a heart to heart. At least they would if either of them possessed one.

"Damon, is it?"

"That's right. Sorry, I didn't catch your name before."

"I'm Chuck Bass."

"Seriously?"

Chuck's dislike for Blair new friend seems to grow by the second.

"So tell me… where was it that you and Blair met each other?"

"A party."

"How descriptive," Chuck drawls.

"Do you have a problem with me or something?"

"Just looking out for a friend is all. I wouldn't want Blair to get caught up with any riffraff."

"Shouldn't her boyfriend, Nate, be the one having this conversation with me? I think you're overstepping your bounds, Chuck."

"Hey! What's going on over here?" Blair asks politely, sensing a strange atmosphere between the two dark haired boys.

"Nothing at all," Damon replies with a smile, not looking away from Chuck who's not at all hiding his disdain.

"Chuck, do you mind getting me a drink?" Blair asks.

Chuck doesn't answer her and instead the two boys maintain their steady glares.

"Please," Blair emphasizes pushing Chuck in the direction of the bar.

Chuck reluctantly allows himself to be shuffled away, but not without a lingering glare to spare for Damon.

"Do you two have a thing going on the side or something that Natey boy doesn't know about?"

The bluntness and ridiculousness of Damon's question stuns her into silence.

"What? You mean with Chuck? Don't be silly. We're just friends and sometimes that's a stretch. Just imagine, Chuck and Blair, Blair and Chuck. Wait scratch that, I can't even imagine it. It's just absolutely absurd."

"I see…"

His tone doesn't give her the impression that he's at all convinced.

"I love Nate."

She says it the same way she stated that she doesn't believe in fairytales.

He lets it slide this time.

xxx

Blair goes and gets her own drink when Chuck failed to bring her one. Just goes to show if you need something done right, you might as well do it yourself. She's just got her martini from the bar when Chuck suddenly remembers what she had asked him to do in the first place.

"I already got my drink, thanks."

Her sarcasm washes over him in waves.

"What are you doing with that guy?" Chuck snide, sparing another venomous glance at the invader to their little clique. Kati and Iz were already busy fawning over the leather-clad outsider.

"He's… a friend," Blair answers noncommittally.

"You know, Nate's my friend –"

"And he's my boyfriend. I haven't forgotten," Blair snaps.

"I'm glad you haven't. We wouldn't want your pristine picture-perfect plans for the future with Archibald get ruined, now would we?" Chuck replies with sardonic sarcasm.

She gives him a glare which is quickly replaced by a shallow plastic smile as Nate makes his way towards them.

"Hey there," Nate says as he presses a kiss to her forehead.

"Hi," she replies.

"Your mom and my mom have been talking about us all night."

"Have they?"

"Yeah. You know the usual stuff. They're probably already planning the engagement party."

Nate had said it as a joke, but the reality of the situation is that Blair Waldorf and Nate Archibald were going to get married. That is if their family has any say on the matter, and their families usually have a lot to say on the matter. It used to matter to her, too. What happened to that girl?

"Engagement? Wow. I didn't know people did that nowadays," Damon injects, coming from behind her.

Idly Damon recalls all manners of outdated, old fashioned rituals of courtship and matrimony, he has witnessed all of them after all.

"These two have been together since the dawn of time, it's only about time they sealed the deal… in more ways than one," Chuck sends Nate a smarmy nudge-nudge-wink-wink smirk while the blonde blushes prettily. Blair bites her lip in annoyance.

Meanwhile Damon tucks away the little bits of information about the golden couple and saves it for later use. A smile on his face emerges unconsciously with the knowledge that little Blair Waldorf has yet to be deflowered. Thinking about it, he realizes that it's only natural since her boyfriend is a totally impotent dud.

xxx

Despite the boring uptight social climbers that surround him, Damon has a good time. Much of the credit for this feat belongs to the brunette with a feisty attitude. Because of his good mood, he decides not to kill anyone tonight for dinner. Not even that Chuck Bass who continues to give him dirty looks or Nate who continues to monopolize Blair's time being boring and dull. He never thought she was one to go for pretty and dim. Of course, he's been constantly surprised by her every action so how would he know what's her taste in guys?

After almost all the guests have left, he finds her outside on the balcony alone examining how the light catches her wine glass. She makes a pretty picture in the moonlight, what with her glossy curls, ruby lips and melancholy gaze. Almost like one of those doomed heroines in some sort of epic Greek tragedy. He thinks 'almost' because while he's old, his time on earth doesn't date far enough back to know for sure how tragic Grecian heroines actually look like. Nevertheless, this is how he'd imagine they would be.

"Is the glass so interesting?"

She's startled by his voice and the glass drops from her hand, shattering on the floor.

"How clumsy of me."

She bends over to pick up the shards and in the process cuts her finger on the glass. Immediately the smell of blood fills Damon's nostrils and his eyes begin to dark the way they do when he's lusting for blood.

xxx

He regrets skipping lunch because now all he wants to do is sink his teeth into some nice soft porcelain skin. But he doesn't. Even though he really really wants to. She's not helping matters any what with the erotic way she's sucking on her finger wound. You'd think she was trying to seduce him if you didn't know she already had a boyfriend. Not that having a boyfriend ever stopped anyone before, but he could tell Blair wasn't the type to take a detour on the road less traveled by and throw a wrench into her picture perfect plans.

"Can you get me a band-aid? I think the cut is a bit deeper than I thought."

It's a good excuse as any and he quickly makes his way out the door to let himself calm down without the scent of her blood wafting seductively in the air. It takes him a while to get that blasted band-aid and when he goes back out to the balcony to find her she's no longer alone. Nate's with her and they seem to be in the middle of a conversation. He could be a gentleman and turn around and leave them to their business… or he could stay quiet and listen in on the happy couple. Damon was always a bit of creeper anyhow.

"You've been weird lately…"

"Have I?" Nate replies.

"Is something going on? I mean… after Serena left…"

"It's just weird, you know," he answers, a little too quickly. "Not having her around. It's… weird."

Damon rolls his eyes in the darkness at the lameness of Nate's reply.

"Yeah. It's just not the same without her. I just feel like… I'm losing you too."

"What are you talking about? I'm right here."

She looks as if she's going to say more on the matter, but she doesn't.

"I love you, Archibald."

He smiles the famous Nate Archibald smile and says "I love you, too" as if on cue. The whole exchange seemed almost rehearsed.

Nate gives her yet another chaste kiss on the forehead for the umpteenth time Damon shakes his head silently at all the wasted opportunities. The prick doesn't know what he's got. Sensing that he wasn't going to get much more information out of a conversation when Nate as one of the participants, Damon clears his throat loudly to interrupt the couple.

"Hey. I got you that band-aid." He waves the aforementioned bandage for emphasis.

"Took you long enough."

"Your staff couldn't find the first aid kit."

"It's so hard to find good help these days," Blair laments.

"Are you hurt somewhere?" Nate asks belatedly.

Damon wonders to himself exactly how dense is this Nate character.

"Just a cut. It's no big deal. It's already stopped bleeding anyhow."

"Here. Let me do it," Nate states, his hand extending out towards Damon, palm open.

Damon hands over the bandage and Nate proceeds to carefully cover Blair's wound. It's a small gesture, but throughout the little exchange Blair has on the most sweet, girlish, out-of-character smile Damon has ever seen to grace her face. He doesn't like it one bit.

"There. All better," Nate says with an equally syrupy smile.

"Thanks," Blair replies.

"Well, I gotta get going. I'm supposed to go running with my dad tomorrow at five in the morning."

"Five in the morning? What an ungodly hour," Damon proclaims.

Nate laughs. "Yeah. I guess I'm just use to waking up early. For like sports and stuff."

Damon smiles a little smile in his head because now that he knows Nate is a jock, everything makes sense. Sure, sure. That's stereotyping, but at this point Damon can't come up with any other explanation for the blonde bobble-head other than regular trauma to the noggin from contact sports.

"It was nice to meet you, Damon," Nate states before making his departure.

Damon's not sure he can say the feeling is mutual, but he waves and smiles like the best of them.

"He seems nice," he comments after Nate has turned the corner.

The way Damon says it sounds sarcastic to her ears.

"I know you were standing over there listening to us. Stalker much?"

And here he thought he was being stealthy. Nothing seems to get past her.

"And Nate is nice."

"I'm sure he is," Damon says with what looks to be his best pseudo sincere smile.

She still doesn't believe him.

"It's just… been a bit weird because of some family stuff that's been going on. Our parents are putting some pressure on him and me… And recently one of our best friends just got up and left without saying good-bye…"

The excuses sound lame even to her own ears and she doesn't know why she's making excuses to him.

"Uh huh."

"I just feel like he's always caught up with something lately and canceling plans. He's just been really busy, that's all."

The words just keep spilling out of her to him without her meaning to.

"Forget it. It's none of your business anyway. You don't know what it is like to love someone and yet always feel like your second in their eyes."

"I get it," Damon says seriously.

She believes him this time. They're kindred in that way. She could tell by the hurt in his eyes that he really does 'get it' and it makes her feel somehow less alone, not that she wanted him to feel as miserable as she does. She wonders what girl could have possibly broken his heart. It makes her want to reach out and hug him.

"I like you," she states.

His eyebrows quirks up in amusement. She realizes how it had come out and quickly scrambles to clarify.

"I mean as a friend!"

He smiles back at her.

"You're… easy to talk to."

She really needs a good friend right now what with everything going on in her life.

"You're just not use to having any fun. I'll make sure you get more of that."

"Does this mean you're sticking around?"

"Yeah… I guess I will. At least for a little longer."

He's surprised at his own answer. This had never been in the plans to stick around for so long. He's convinced she's some sort witch because she has her spell on him. Damon is sure he's still in love with Katherine. Of course, he's also in lust with Blair, but he's a guy! Not to mention Blair's very easy on the eyes. It's only biology... or magic in her case. It must be magic. But nevertheless, he needs her to open Katherine's tomb and if he can get her to do it easily by being her "friend", then why the heck not? At least that's how he rationalizes things.

A/N: First off, I just want to make known that I am not a Nate hater, but I'm trying to write in the perspective of Damon and truth be told… Damon's a jerk. And I really can't see him taking a liking to Nate. AT ALL. Especially since it has been revealed to him that this is Blair's boyfriend. That being said, I'm hoping to amp up Damon's more violent and mischievous side. I feel like past chapters made him out much too nice and not enough psycho!killer like he's capable of. So expect more of that. Anyways, any feedback is welcomed! Thanks for reading! =)