I'm in love with Gossip Girl, and I'm completely intrigued by the Dan/Blair relationship. I'd kind of like to see them have a fling (but they better end up with Serena and Chuck, respectively!) or at least form a friendship. This is a short oneshot about crossing that bridge into friendship territory. (I don't mean to imply anything romantic here. This is strictly a "Dan and Blair realize they don't hate each other" story.)

A big thank you to Mac-alicious for the beta!

Enjoy! And review, please. :)

--Brandi

Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl.

Brooklyn Bound

Blair stormed through the diner's entrance, practically tripping over Vanessa.

"Hey, Blair, wha?" Vanessa got out, before being rudely shoved aside.

"Out of my way. I need Dan!" Blair breathlessly scanned the restaurant. "DAN!" She shrieked, when she saw him bent over a newspaper in the corner.

Vanessa looked on, a frown etching her features, as Blair stomped (gracefully, of course) over to Dan. "I need you!"

Dan looked up from the middle of sipping his coffee. "I'm sorry, you need me? Are you sure you have the right person?"

Blair rolled her eyes. "Take me back to your apartment. We need to talk."

Dan shot a worried and bemused glance at Vanessa, who merely shrugged, as Blair tugged him out of the building and into the street. She didn't stop pulling on his arm until they got all the way up to his apartment.

Slamming the door behind them, she pushed on Dan's chest to make him back up a bit, and looked directly into his eyes.

"Dan, you're the only one who can help me," she said seriously, and Dan's eyes widened.

"What is going on with you? First you throw a tantrum like a four-year-old, and you call me Dan, which you never do, then you drag me away from my delicious breakfast…"

"Quit babbling. I need your help to bring down Chuck."

"Uh, excuse me?!" Dan shook his head vehemently, clearly confused.

Blair sighed. "You did such a good job helping me take care of Georgina, I thought…"

"You thought I would do all your dirty work for you from now on, is that it?" Dan's eyebrows furrowed together and Blair winced.

"Of course not, I…"

"In case you haven't noticed, Waldorf, I'm kind of busy trying to leave your world behind this summer. I'm done with all of it."

Blair's eyes began to tear up and Dan stepped backwards. "Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute," he began.

"Dan, I'm sorry. You're the only one I can talk to. Chuck dumped me. He never showed up in Tuscany, so I hopped a plane back home for the rest of the week before I go to France to visit my dad. And when I got in, Serena wasn't answering her cell, and she's in the Hamptons anyway, and Dorota has her day off today, and Is and the girls are all abroad, and I just thought, since you hate Chuck, you'd help me get even…" As she spoke, more and more tears began to drip down Blair's cheeks. She didn't even bother to brush them away as she continued. "I'm sorry," she choked out.

Dan stared at her, realizing that he had never seen her looking so vulnerable. He really felt sorry for her if she had absolutely no one to turn to but him. But lately he had grown to tolerate, maybe even like, Blair, so of course he wasn't going to turn her away.

"Come here," he said gently, and opened his arms. Blair melted into them, still crying quietly. "You don't have to be sorry," he whispered into her hair. "Chuck's the one who's missing out. I'm sorry he's such a—"

Whatever word he was going to call Chuck was drowned out by Blair sobbing loudly. "You have no reason to be nice to me, Humphrey. Why?"

Dan lifted her chin so that her teary eyes met his. "Hey, I know what it's like to have a broken heart, remember?"

Blair nodded, and laid her head back against his shoulder. She realized she was soaking his shirt all the way through with her tears, but she'd buy him a nice Armani to make up for it later.

"Hey, I have an idea. Let's get Vanessa and watch a bunch of bad horror movies. We can just…hang out." Dan had no idea what had prompted him to propose this, and the look on Blair's face when she lifted her head showed that she didn't, either.

She wrinkled her nose. "Spend the day…here?"

"Yes, in Brooklyn. It won't kill you," Dan said firmly. "And we'll order food from the greasiest take-out place around. What do you think about that?"

Blair couldn't help but smile. "Actually, it might be kind of fun." She pulled back from their hug and wiped her face with a tissue she fished out of her purse.

"What's this? Blair Waldorf volunteering to spend an entire day on the other side of the tracks? The world just turned upside down."

"Very funny, Humphrey. I need to fill my charity quota for the summer somehow, don't I?" She stuck her tongue out at him and he smiled.

"Just you watch, Waldorf. This is going to be the best day of your life."

Blair couldn't really tell if he was kidding or not, but she was so thankful for a friendly face that she didn't even care. "As long as V doesn't mention Nate, I think we can manage to get along," she sniffed haughtily.

Dan nodded. "Deal. Today is an ex-free day. Because I don't think any of us want to talk about our failed relationships."

Blair led him back out of the apartment. "I don't fail, Dan. I'm telling you, one of these days I'll convince you to help me get even with that lying, cheating—"

Dan followed behind her, rolling his eyes as he cut her off. "Whatever you say, B."

And they headed back down onto the street, ready to start their day of cross-cultural bonding.