The officiant begins the ceremony.
Dan and Blair have written their own vows. Blair had been writing them in her head and in her heart for a long time, but it was still hard when she actually sat down with pen and paper and she had started and stopped many times, tearing off page after page of the pad, crumpling those pages and tossing them into the wastebasket. She knew what she wanted to say but nothing felt good enough, and she envied Dan who wrote for a living, who had a way with words.
Now, as they stand in front of their friends and family, hands clasped together, Dan's eyes watching her, Blair feels the words come flowing out from her heart. Because she loves this man and she wants him to know this with no uncertainty. She swallows, clears her throat and begins.
"Daniel Humphrey, I was brought into this world to love you. You are nothing short of my destiny. You have made my heart full, you have made my life complete."
Blair falters a little, and she feels Dan squeeze her hands. She looks at him and sees strength, then continues.
"We found each other again, and now we stand here in front of everyone, and all I want to do is spend the rest of my life with you. To wake up next to you. To have a life with you. To grow old together."
She blinks back tears.
"I love you."
Dan's eyes are shining. He smiles at her and squeezes her hands again. Then it's time for him to say his vows.
"Blair," he begins, "almost a year ago we danced for the first time in fifteen years, and as I held you in my arms, I knew that I was never going to let you go again. I knew that I had never stopped loving you and I would love you for the rest of my life, and nothing would change that. Everything I have done has brought me down a path that led directly to you."
Dan pauses and looks at her. Tears are rolling down Blair's cheeks and she whispers to him as he grips her hands,
"Dammit Humphrey, you're ruining my makeup."
The people in the chairs watching them laugh a little, the sound tittering through the room, and Dan smiles, then he continues,
"You are my heart. Where you go, I will go. Because that is where my heart is. You are my home. Where you dwell, I will dwell. You are my muse and you always have been. You are my soul. You are my inspiration. You truly are my destiny."
Dan takes a deep breath and Blair's heart is floating, Dan's hands anchoring her, keeping her from drifting away, because she is so happy. This is what she had always wanted, what had always eluded her. Love. Pure and simple love. And she has finally found it.
"I love you, Blair. I have loved you forever and I will keep loving for the rest of my life."
As he says those words his eyes search her face and Blair smiles through her tears, warm, love radiating through her, filling her up until she thinks she might burst, and she mouths 'I love you' as she stares up at him, not wanting to break his gaze, never wanting this moment to end.
The officiant continues, and Blair barely hears his word as she stands there gripping Dan's hands, telling him all the things she can't say with her eyes, and she knows that this time everything is right.
They exchange rings, Blair slipping a plain white gold band on Dan's finger, giggling a little when it proves to be hard to get on. She notices that his hand trembles a little as she pushes it over his knuckle. Then he officially puts her ring on her finger, and Blair realizes that she's missed its weight since she took it off to have the wedding band soldiered on, and she's happy it's back. It feels right on her hand.
They are pronounced husband and wife and Blair looks up and Dan, and he pulls her towards him, wrapping his arms around her, and her head tilts up. There aren't people filling the rows of chair, watching them. There isn't an officiant standing there looking at them expectantly. It's just them. Dan and Blair. Like it should be.
"I love you," Blair whisper, wanting to say it over and over again, and she thinks she may never tired of saying those words.
"I love you too," Dan answers, then he bends down and his lips on hers and it's the sweetest, most tender kiss Blair has ever experienced, and she sighs against his lips and leans into him a little, and everything that she couldn't say in her vows, she says with that kiss.
They break apart and the room comes alive with applause. Blair looks out and sees people smiling and laughing the air is electric with joy. Her hand is still in Dan's and they walk together back down the aisle. Married. Finally. This moment has been fifteen years in the making.
People start to stand and mill around and staff come out and clear the chairs, and a band starts to play, but Dan and Blair see none of this. They are standing in the hallway, gazing into each others eyes, lost in each other in the way that people who have just gotten married should be.
"You are an amazing woman, Blair Waldorf Humphrey." Dan says. "I can't believe you're finally here, with me."
"Always," Blair answers. "The rest of my life."
They kiss again and then they turn and, still holding hands, walk into the reception. The room turns when they enter and there is applause again, and people are clinking silverware on crystal, trying to get them to kiss, and the band starts to play, and Blair recognizes the tune. It's The Way You Look Tonight. She smiles. He remembered. Dan leads her out to the dance floor.
There is nothing for me but to love you, and the way you look tonight.
Blair laughs and Dan takes her into his arms, and it's deja vu. They have come full circle.
"We might have to call this our song," she murmurs as Dan's arms wrap around her and pull her close. They sway together, just the two of them as everyone looks on, but Blair feels like they are alone, wrapped up in each other, and she lays her head on Dan's shoulder.
This is so right.
Blair twines her arms around his neck and looks up at him, and everything between them slips away, all the betrayal and pain that lives under the surface despite being dulled by years of separation, and Blair thinks maybe all those years weren't really wasted. Maybe they were bringing them both to this moment. However they got here, it is their story, their narrative.
They say their vows again, this time there are no words, just their bodies pressed against each other and Blair knows she will remember this moment for the rest of her life.
I will never stop loving you.
"Do you know what I love the most about you?" Dan asks as they sway slowly.
"My rapier wit?" Blair asks playfully. "Or the way I can make you beg me in bed?"
"Hmmmm, well I do like those things. A lot, but no, that's not what I'm talking about."
"Then what?" Blair asks and Dan looks down at her, his face serious.
"Your smile. It fills your face and I feel like the whole world lights up when you smile at me."
Blair feels her eyes start to grow moist again. Dammit Humphrey. How can he make her come undone on such a regular basis?
"Well, do you know what I like the best about you?" Blair asks, blinking back the tears. "Besides pretty much everything."
"Well, everything is pretty good." Dan says, a smile spreading across his face.
People are starting to join them on the dance floor now, couples holding each other close, but it still feels like just the two of them.
"I love your eyes." Blair tells him. "They are beautiful and I love the way you look at me sometimes and I feel like the only person on the planet."
"Well, you are. At least for me."
Blair blushes. Silly, romantic Dan, always sweet and knowing the right thing to say. Blair is so grateful to have this man in her life. The song comes to an end and the band starts another and it's upbeat and all around them people break apart and moving to the faster tempo. Dan and Blair stay there, moving back and forth to their own rhythm, completely absorbed in each other, and it's like their first dance and they are again lost in the moment, but this time the moment won't end. This time it's forever.
Someone bumps into Blair from behind and she turns and it's Serena again, cradled in Nate's arms, her dress flowing out from around her pregnant belly, and Serena laughs in that way she does where you can't help but laugh with her. Blair smiles at her friend and she's happy.
"You two are the best baby shower gift I could have ever gotten." Serena declares and Nate pulls Dan in for hug, giving him a hearty congratulations. Then Serena and Nate are dancing away from them and Dan pulls Blair even closer.
The night winds on and there is food and wine and more dancing, and everyone wants to talk to Blair, wants to congratulate Dan, and they smile and nod, and agree that it's been a long time coming over and over again. Blair's feet hurt and she's tired but she can't stop smiling, can't contain the joy she feels. They cut their cake and feed it to each other, and Dan laughs at the silliness of the whole thing but doesn't ignore Blair's glare telling him that if any of the cake ends up on her face he will pay later.
Then it's time to go and the guest line up to toss birdseed as the happy couple dashes from the doorway to the waiting towncar, and finally they are alone and Blair lets out a heavy sigh.
"Finally," Dan murmurs, and he leans across the back seat of the car and kisses her, hungrily, and all the weariness Blair has been feeling slips away with the touch of his lips. She moves closer to him and he deepens the kiss and her hands wind around his neck, missing the curls that used to be there. They break apart, but not very far, and their foreheads are touching, and Dan is breathing hard.
"Hello, Mr. Humphrey." Blair whispers.
"Hello, Mrs. Waldorf-Humphrey." Dan whispers back.
They will make love that night. Dan will carry her from the elevator into the foyer and up the stairs. They'll drink some of the champagne Dorota has left for them. Then Dan will carefully unzip her gown and slip her out of it, and Blair will lie on her bed in just her lingerie while he takes off his clothes until he's wearing nothing. She will cover every inch of his body with kisses and Dan will find all the spots that make her gasp. And when she comes, wrapped around him, her hair damp from sweat, breathing hard from exertion, Blair will tell him again what she's been saying all day long.
"I love you."
I love you I love you I love you
TBC