Carrie Bradshaw Van der Woodson was awoken as the sun rays shone through her bedroom drapes, she stretched out and yawned. Rolling over she looked to see that her husband wasn't there, he must have left for work already, she thought glancing at their bedside clock. She sat up, surrounded by 1200 thread count egyptian cotton sheets that more closely resembled a cloud than a bed, and rubbed her eyes. She still couldn't believe that this was her life sometimes. Although she had been married to Mr. Big for going on twenty years now and they had two beautiful children, Eric and Serena, she remembered the days of her small studio apartment and nightly takeout Chinese food like they were yesterday. She got up and padded down the hallway toward the kitchen in her baggy pink flannel pajama pants and wife beater. Big had bought her so many pajama sets she had lost count; slik ones, short ones, night gowns. But she felt more comfortable in flannels or a pair of sweats, besides she preferred to spend more money on clothes she could actually wear out of the house ..or shoes ..especially shoes.

When she arrived in the kitchen she was in for a surprise, seated at the table devouring the breakfast Angie, their housemaid, had put out for them was Big.

"Hey ..what are you doing here?" She asked sitting across from him and beginning to pick at the glass bowl of blueberries that sat in front of her seat.

"I took today off" he answered stuffing another forkful of waffles into his mouth.

"What do you wanna do today?" He asked his eyes scanning the paper laying on the table in front of his plate.

"What about couples spa day, massages ..sauna ..hot tub" She suggested sipping her tea. He laughed as he watched his wife, she was made for Upper East Side living. But he clearly remembered the days when she would order the least expensive thins on the menu because she didn't want to make his bill too high, or offer to go dutch once she saw the bill. When they had first moved in together she didn't see how two people could need or even want such a big place. One thing she had been good at from the beginning though was dressing like an Upper East Sider, but he was still working on the pajamas.

He had gotten up and moved to her side of the table. "Let's go" he said kissing her on the side of her head.

"So how are you doing?" Serena asked "has the press gotten any better?"

"The press doesnt get better Serena ..they only get worse" Tripp sighed.

Tripp's father, William Vanderbilt II was running for President and as a result his family had been under a microscope, especially today, with Tripp's first day at Columbia being today. Serena, Nate and Blair had made their way to the Upper West Side after school to visit Trip and Eric, well Serena and Nate had come to visit Tripp and Eric, Blair had come mostly because it meant being close to Nate for a couple more hours.

"I'm sorry" Serena said holding tight to his hand and stroking his arm with the other hand. He shook his head, Tripp hated that his family was followed nearly everywhere, but he was proud of his dad and he knew that he had no choice. Tripp's grandfather William Vanderbilt always got what he wanted and what he wanted was for his son to be President, he had even pressured his two grandsons and even his oldest granddaughter to take internships at the mayors office and even to work under Congressmen.

"I'm just proud of him, I guess it's a small price to pay."

Serena nodded in agreement, she had her fair share of run in's with the media, her mother being Carrie Bradshaw-Van der Woodson, the semi-famous "Sex Blogger" and her father William Van der Woodson, world renown plastic surgeon.

"Anyway ..how was your first day back at Constance" Serena shook her head, now that she was back from boarding school she was trying her hardest to do well in school academically, but socially she was over high school. Going into senior year she and blair agreed that neither of them would get sucked into the drama, or the battle for "Queen Bee." Penelope Shafai could have it if she wanted.

"School was ...school" Serena replied. Tripp chuckled as the stopped walking he pulled her around to face him.

"Well" he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist "You have one year until you're up at Columbia with me" he offered kissing her.

"I can't wait" she smiled after they pulled back from their kiss.

As Blair and Nate walked behind them engaging in meaningless small talk Blair became increasingly distracted by Serena and Tripp. She was happy that her best friend seemed to have found the one, but she had been envious of Tripp and Serena's relationship for some time now. She saw the way Tripp looked at her, how comfortable they were around each other, all she wanted was for Nate to look at her like that, to make her feel that comfortable.

"You know what I mean?" Nate finished his sentence- that Blair hadn't been listening to.

"Yeah ..yeah" she said waving him off, never once taking her eyes off Serena and Tripp.

That weekend at the palace hotel Serena and Blair decided to host a back to school party. Not that they needed a specific occasion to throw a party. ninety- eight percent of constance was there and the majority of the Saint Jude boys were there as well, mostly just to get a glimpse of Serena, and maybe even the chance to talk or dance with her. There wasn't one of them who hadn't fantasized about Serena at some point or another over their many years in school together.

"Hey B" Serena gushed as she approached her best friend from behind, clearly already intoxicated. She wrapped her arms around Blair's shoulders.

Blair smiled weakly, "Hi Serena"

"What's wrong?" Serena asked taking a seat on the barstool beside Blair, nut she had answered her own question before she had even finished asking it, it was Nate of course.

"He'll be here" Serena assured her friend. "but until he is, drink!" she urged, "and dance" he playfully nudged her friend.

Blair laughed, Serena could be so goofy sometimes, but there was never a dull moment with her. That's why she loved her. She swiveled around on her barstool and ordered a Manhattan.

"That's my girl" Serena exclaimed as she hopped up from her barstool and made her way to the dance floor, as her favorite song had just began playing over the top of the line sound system.

By the time Blair had drained her second Manhattan she had just about given up on seeing Nate, but she turned and looked at the door one last time for good measure, as soon as she turned her head she looked up just in time to see non other than Nate Archibald coming through the door, and he was looking straight at her, he smiled his perfect smile and offered a little wave. She waved back shyly. Blair was not bashful at all she never had been, but Nate brought out a different side of her, around him she was like a shy little school girl. She hated it.

"Hey Blair" he said approaching the bar.

"Hi Nate" she said straightening up, trying desperately to act as if her heart wasn't beating double time. She caught Serena's eye on the dance floor, winking and giving her a thumbs up. "You wanna dance?" she asked as the bartender handed Nate his Scotch.

"Yeah, of course" he said, "Just let me finish my drink"

Of course? she thought to herself Of course? she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

Once he had finished his scotch Nate jumped up and grabbed Blairs hand, leading her out onto the dance floor, they danced for about 10 songs straight, of course making pit stops at the bar every couple of songs. Blair couldn't have been happier, she knew there were plenty of other girls there pining over Nate, but he was dancing with her, and she would be the only girl he danced with that night if she could help it.

"Come on" Blair drawled "stay with me"

Nate was trying to usher her into a hotel room upstairs from the party she had one too many Manhattans and had nearly gotten sick all over Nate as they were dancing to about their fifteenth song in a row. That's when he decided he needed to check her into a room so she could sleep it off.

"I don't wanna be alone" she plopped down on the bed and playfully pulled him down with her.

"I'll stay until you go to sleep" he reasoned.

"Fine" she said crossing her arms. He made his way to the bathroom and grabbed on of the robes.

"Here put this on" he said "so you don't mess up your dress"

She snatched the robe and stood up on the bed to unzip her dress.

"Blair come down from there"

"I'm fine Nathaniel" she said as she began to wobble a little bit. She dropped the dress around her ankles, revealing red La Perla's, her favorite. She took her time wrapping the robe around herself and tying it and Nate still seemed to show no interest in ravishing her. He must be gay she reasoned with herself before making herself comfortable on the bed and falling into a deep sleep, but that didn't stop her from melting inside when she felt his arms wrap around her.