Author's Note: Hi. Long time, no update, huh? It was a crazy, hellish summer, and I've been trying to focus on school and work and everything. But I've been inspired once more by Dair (fingers crossed the writers get their shit together for the rest of the season, right?) so here is an update. Hopefully the next won't be so long in coming! Thank you for holding on and sticking with me! And, without further, ado: Gone with the Will!

Gone with the Will

So, Dan had a half-sibling somewhere that he didn't know about. A half-sibling that he shared with Serena and Eric, that Lily was apparently the mother of. It made his head spin, that his life could take this kind of a turn, and he wasn't entirely sure what to do about it. Usually, his life was made up of boring things, mundane things, average, everyday things. This though, this was an Upper East Side sort of scandal, a Gossip Girl entanglement and he was at a loss over how to cope. He would have liked to discuss it with his father, but he was still away in Boston with Lily because of this whole thing. He would have liked to divulge this information to Jenny, but she was wrapped up in her own little world of Constance and Eric and teenage troubles once more. He especially wanted to talk to Serena about it. They had been so close, after all, and they now shared a sibling, but it wasn't his place to tell her, and she wasn't actually speaking to him anyway– not since he had turned her down upon her return from winter break.

Blair was the first person he wanted to talk to about it– the only person he felt he could share it with without betraying someone or feeling guilty. The only problem was that Blair was so busy with Chuck, keeping his head above water, and stopping him from tail-spinning before the reading of his father's will, that Dan hadn't been able to properly talk to her since the night Chuck had nearly jumped off the roof of his club, and it scared him more than any secret, unknown sibling could.

After he had woken up and showered for school on Tuesday morning, he called Blair as he got dressed, hoping to catch her on her way to school.

"Hello?" she answered after several rings.

"Blair," Dan said. She sounded rushed, as if she was in motion and stressed. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," she sighed. "I'm on my way to The Palace– They're reading Bart's will today and Chuck asked me to be there."

Dan winced. He hadn't forgotten what had happened on the roof of Victrola. Of course he hadn't. He remembered Chuck's almost-jump and Blair saying she loved him in order to get him down. He hadn't asked her to clarify what she meant that night– hadn't even wanted to think she might mean anything other than a friendly kind of love– but the amount of time she was spending with Chuck, trying to put him back together, made him wary of what Chuck might think.

"And you agreed," was all he said in reply.

Blair sounded defensive when she replied, "Of course I agreed. He's one of my best friends– he needs support today."

Dan bit his tongue. He didn't want to be an ass hole and suggest Chuck get support somewhere else, but he hated the way Chuck was monopolizing her.

"Besides, Nate's coming too, so tame the monster of jealousy, Humphrey," Blair said, and he could hear the smirk in her voice.

Cracking just the slightest smile at this, Dan shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Blair, I just– I worry Chuck will get the wrong idea– that he's still attached to you and this is only going to make it worse."

"We'll always be attached," she replied. "Me and Serena and Nate and Chuck– we've been together practically since birth. It's a weird connection. I can't change that."

Blair didn't want to talk about what Chuck may or may not think about her and her feelings for him– what wrong ideas he might have. The guilt would swallow her up and destroy her if she let it.

"I know," Dan said anyway. "I just– I miss you. When can I see you? I need to talk to you about some things."

"I'm not sure," Blair replied. "Can I text you? Jack just pulled up and he's walking over, and Nate should be here any minute."

"Oh, okay. Call me later–"

"I have to go," she said abruptly.

And without another word, the call ended.

After a verbal sparring match with Jack outside of The Palace, and the late arrival of Nate, Chuck met them in the courtyard and they all trooped inside to the Bass Industries suite. Nate and Blair were relegated to the waiting room, while Chuck and Jack disappeared inside with the lawyers. Sitting down and shedding her coat, Blair pulled out her cell phone and immediately thumbed a quick message to Dan.

Sorry for being MIA. Will make it up to you. : )

"So what's going on?"

Blair jumped a little when Nate asked her the question. Guiltily, she closed her phone and said, "What do you mean?"

"With you," Nate urged. "What's going on with you?"

Shaking her head, she said, "I don't know what you mean. We're here for Chuck–"

"I'm not talking about Chuck," Nate said. "I'm talking about the fact that even I can see you're somewhere else lately."

Blair swallowed, feeling her heart beating a little faster at this.

"You know I'm the last person to judge," Nate said. "I cheated on you with Serena and I dated Dan Humphrey's kid sister."

At the mention of Dan, Blair tensed.

"You can talk to me," Nate said.

While she wanted to tell him everything– lean on him, spill it all and confide in him, her Nate, still sweet and solid after everything they'd been through– she knew she couldn't. It wasn't that simple. She could never explain her relationship with Dan so that he'd understand, her lying to Serena and everyone about it, her telling Chuck she loved him so he wouldn't do anything else stupid, her tangled life and everything knotted within it. Instead, she bit back her confession and managed a tight smile for him.

"There's nothing to talk about," she said.

Nate watched her for a long time, and she felt herself fidgeting under his penetrating gaze that was still so soft and sweet.

Finally, the door to the suite opened and Chuck came out, with Jack trailing behind him. Blair and Nate stood and faced the pair.

"He left me Bass Industries," Chuck said, sounding stunned and cowed. "He wants me to head his company."

"Chuck that's great!" Blair said. If he focused on Bass Industries it might pick him up out of his depression, he might become his old self again.

He shook his head. "What if he's just waiting for me to fail? Waiting for my downfall from the grave?"

"He's not," she replied. "He believed in you, Chuck. You can do it– You can prove to him he made the right choice here!"

Chuck considered this, and then after a long moment he nodded. "You're right." And as Nate shook his hand and congratulated him and Blair smiled on, she caught sight of Jack's face, and the calculating look behind his steely eyes was anything but pleased.

gossipgirl

According to several sources, some strange behavior has been spotted throughout the Upper East Side these days. Queen B has been all a flutter for weeks now, sneaking around, disappearing, surprisingly M.I.A. for someone of her caliber. And now she's the perfect, doting beauty for our mourning C. C has also been a scattered mess, though his behavior is anything but fishy considering the death of Daddy B. And then we have our lovely S, who has been anything but bright and golden since her return from South America. Could it be the loss of her stepfather, her former stepbrother's erratic behavior, or the rejection of one Lonely Boy? And what has been going on with Lonely Boy? He seems even lonelier than usual– not to mention suspiciously preoccupied and involved in the UES world once more. Could he be in love with another UES girl? Is that why he rejected S? Could it be someone we know? What has gotten into everyone these days, and why am I not 100% in-the-know?

Get out your shovels, kids. I need some help digging the dirt on my chickadees– and who better to help me than those in the trenches?

Waiting for your finds with bated breath,

You know you love me,

XOXO,

Gossip Girl

To make matters worse for Dan, he heard all about the Gossip Girl blast he had been grouped into with Blair, Serena, and Chuck, from Jenny. Now people knew he had turned Serena down for another go at a relationship, and they were all shooting him dirty looks every time he walked down the hallway or crossed the courtyard between classes. Blair's periodic, apologetic or suggestive, texts throughout the day did not make him feel much better, and by the time the day was out he had lost his phone all together. He could only hope it didn't fall into the wrong hands because, not only did he have texts to and from Blair, he had texts to and from his father about the elusive and scandalous Van der Humphrey sibling.

"What do you want, Jack?" Blair asked, as soon as the elevator doors opened onto the penthouse to reveal the unwanted Bass himself.

"You," he said, smirking. She scoffed, and was prepared to tell him exactly when and how he could leave, when he strode around her and into the foyer, taking off his gloves as he went.

"I'm sorry," Blair said, striding after him with disgust painted across her face. "I must've missed the part where I invited you inside."

"Let me be more specific before you kick me out," he cocked another crooked half-smile, shoving his leather gloves into the pockets of his coat. "You're going to want to hear me out, sweetie."

"Don't 'sweetie' me, Jack," she countered. "What do you really want?"

"I want you," he paused suggestively, "to convince Chuck to give up his share of Bass Industries to me."

Blair let his words set in with the horror that surrounded them, blinking furiously– as if that could decode what she'd just heard.

"What?"

"You're the only one that can do it, Blair," Jack explained. "He'll listen to you."

Shaking her head, Blair said, "No! No, I won't. His father left the share to him, it's his."

It's going to make him happy again, she thought to herself. It's going to take my guilt away.

She bit her lip.

"You're going to do this for me," he said, as if driving the point home.

"No," Blair echoed, shaking her head and folding her arms, putting up a defensive stance. "Why should I?"

Jack paused, licking his smiling lips in pleasure. "Because," he said, "if you don't, I'll tell everyone– Chuck first– about your tryst with the Brooklyn dodger."

It took a moment for the dread to start in her toes and creep up her body. The shock factor of people knowing about her and Dan was wearing off– she almost didn't care at all if people knew. The only thing still linking her to the fear was the need to maintain her status, but mostly her desire to keep Chuck and Serena from harm. And she knew they would both be tremendously hurt if they found out she had been seeing Dan and lying about it– especially if they found out from Jack Bass.

"You can't d–do–"

"Can't I?" Jack countered.

He watched her squirm under his gaze and his triumphant smile. And squirm she did, not physically anyway, but emotionally she was writhing.

"Convince Charles to give me his share and no one will ever find out about you and Brooklyn," he said. "At least not from me anyway."

Blair felt sick. This was supposed to be her ticket out from under Chuck's need– supposed to bring him out of his depression, and free her from the duties that currently chained her to him as some kind of guardian. But what other choice did she have? If Jack told everyone Chuck would be in worse shape, and she would probably lose Serena on top of it all.

Jack continued to smile at her, and she felt herself slipping under a heavy blanket of guilt, dragging her down to shame and horror and nausea.

"Fine," she said, her voice barely audible. "I'll try."

"You'll succeed," he corrected, putting his hand out for her to shake.

She grudgingly extended her arm. He took her smaller hand in his, and kissed her knuckles. She yanked her hand away, and instinctively wiped it on her shirt.

"Don't want to play today?" he asked. "You'd rather slum it with Danny boy?"

Blair took one more look at Jack's sickly smile, feeling her stomach turn over.

Through clenched teeth, she snarled, "Get. Out."

Though he took his time replacing his gloves and walking over to the elevator, he did leave. And when the doors chimed shut, Blair hurried upstairs on shaking limbs, and just made it to her bathroom when she threw up crying.

That night, Chuck took Blair out for dinner. He said he wanted to thank her for being there for him for the reading of the will. Blair almost wanted to bite back at this and say, "I don't see you taking Nate out for dinner!" but she refrained. There was no use fighting it. She knew why Chuck was taking her out. He was happy– finally happy– his father was showing him that he believed in him, even if it was from the grave. He had inherited an empire. And Blair had technically screamed her love for him on a rooftop. Their fate was sealed.

It made Blair feel sick.

He ended up picking her up in the limo, dressed in a neat, pin-stripe suit, a purple button-up, and an intricate paisley, lilac and gold tie that she had always liked. His hair was slicked perfectly and he was oozing Drakkar Noir, filling up the back of the car with a cloud of cologne. Blair's own red dress clashed with his purple, and it didn't go unnoticed by her.

He took her to a restaurant near the Empire State Building. It was a ridiculously expensive (even by her standards) French place with celebrity clientele, a six month waiting list, and intricate, gold-infused décor. They sat at a table on the second floor, in a little alcove enclosed with tapestries, with low candles on the table and white roses between them. It was probably the most beautiful, romantic place anyone had ever taken Blair.

It made her want to flat-out throw up.

Without them even ordering, the waiter brought them champagne, and Blair's favorite stuffed mushrooms in truffle butter, and Chuck smiled proudly at his own romance and thoughtfulness.

Blair quickly and ceremoniously downed her first glass of champagne in one shot.

"I hope you don't mind that I ordered ahead for appetizers," Chuck said, his voice a low, husky drawl. His eyes were low and staring, and his smile was shadowed in the candlelight.

Blair shoveled a mushroom, dripping with butter, into her mouth and shook her head, unable to speak as she chewed.

"Blair, I wanted to take you out tonight to thank you for being there for me the past few weeks," she said. "It means a lot to me."

Is this what I get for being a good friend? Blair thought angrily. How is that fair?

"Of course, Chuck," she replied. "You're one of my best friends."

She put another mushroom into her mouth whole, swallowing it down with more champagne.

Why don't you just guzzle it from the bottle, B?

The friend card didn't faze Chuck, and he continued to smile at her in that smug, calculating way of his.

"You know," Chuck said, examining his silverware and touching his fork thoughtfully, with an amused smile on his face. "I was sure you and Humphrey were doing the deed in secret," he continued, looking up and smirking wholly, "but I know now I was mistaken."

Part of Blair wanted to shout, "No, you're right! You're right!" if only to stop Chuck from thinking she loved him, but she knew she wouldn't.

"When you told me you loved me on that rooftop–"

"Chuck," she had to stop him, she could feel the mushrooms and champagne churning in her stomach, mixed with guilt.

"You saved my life, Blair," he whispered, his eyes locked on hers. She looked away.

The waiter approached them and asked if they were ready to order.

"I'll have the steak, rare," Chuck said, handing the waiter his menu. "Blair?"

She scrambled for a French dish she liked, though she hadn't glanced at the menu at all and wasn't even hungry. "Just the scallops, please," she told him, handing off her menu as well.

The waiter nodded, said, "Very good," and walked away.

After a beat, Chuck continued on his last note, saying, "And it's a good thing you did save my life. If you hadn't I never would have inherited Bass Industries– I would never be where I am right now," he smiled warmly over at her, and she knew it was now or never. She knew she had to make her move.

"Chuck, have you considered letting Jack take over Bass Industries instead of you?"

She felt like she had just dropped a bomb, she nearly winced as she waited for it to hit, for the after-effects.

Chuck's face fell for a fraction of a second, and then tensed up. "What?"

"It's just– You're too young to man a whole empire like that," she said, feeling her stomach clench.

He shook his head, anger slipping into place and he looked down, before glancing back at her, his eyes steely with disbelief. "What are you saying?"

After a beat, with her heart pounding in her chest, Blair swallowed and said, "I don't think you should do it."

"Wasn't it you who said I could do it– that I could prove myself to him?" Chuck snarled, his words were so cold and clipped that Blair shivered.

Blair stared at him.

"What are you saying then?" he said.

She couldn't say anything.

"What are you saying?" he repeated. "Huh?"

After a minute she swallowed and said, "I don't think you can do it."

He stared at her, his mouth open in disgust, his eyes narrowed.

"You know you can't," she whispered.

Chuck looked down again, and then, slowly, he took his napkin off his lap and distractedly put it down on the table. "You're right," he said. "But I will."

Then, he stood up and left her at the table alone.

Dan was sitting at his laptop, trying to focus on a history paper, while Blair was being abandoned in Manhattan. Jenny was out with Eric, and his father was still chasing down lost offspring with Lily, so Dan was home alone, in a brutally silent loft. He stared at the blank, white document open in front of him and sighed. He couldn't think straight– couldn't stop thinking about Blair and Chuck, and his possible half-sibling– how exactly was he supposed to focus on the Civil War?

Suddenly, there was an insistent banging on the front door that made him jump. He got up and felt his heart racing his chest. He didn't recognize the pounding– knew they couldn't be produced from Blair's tiny fists, her pounding was of a higher pitch– and it worried him. Who could be trying to break down his door at eight o'clock at night?

Opening the door a crack, he saw that it was Serena. This confused him even more, though he knew he could handle her if need be, and he unlocked the chain from the door and opened it all the way for her.

Striding into the room and turning on him, her hair and coat fanning out around her like halos, she demanded: "Why didn't you tell me?"

His first instinct was, Blair, she found out about Blair, but instead of crumbling before her, he held out under the pressure.

"Tell you what?"

Serena thrust her phone at him and he took it, squinting down to see the Gossip Girl homepage.

Hold onto your hats kids, one of Lonely Boy's secrets is finally out of the bag, and this one's a doozy. It seems D and S share a sibling. Is that why Lonely Boy turned our Upper East Side princess down? Perhaps. Or perhaps someone else is making Lonely Boy a little less lonely these days. I'll keep that secret for later though. You never know you're going to need a juicy scandal for a rainy day.

Dan's mind was caught on the fact that Gossip Girl probably knew about him and Blair. Which, priorities? but he couldn't shake it. If she knew about the half-sibling, then she knew about Blair too. And now Gossip Girl was going to hang it over his head until she felt like spilling the beans.

Immediately, Dan wondered if Blair had seen the blast. Then, he realized Serena was staring at him with fury and hurt in her blue eyes.

"You knew about this?" Serena demanded, taking her phone back, her fist clenched around it. "You knew about this and you didn't tell me?"

Sighing tiredly, his whole body drooped under the weight of just too much. "I'm sorry," he said. "I wanted to but my dad told me not to– it wasn't my secret to tell."

"Is that why you won't be with me?" she asked. "Because we share a half-sibling?"

"No," he replied, wanting at once to be alone in the loft again, when he had been drowning in dreaded aloneness just minutes before.

"What is this other secret Gossip Girl mentions?" she asked, and he had never heard her voice so shrill, she had never nagged him like this before.

Shaking his head, Dan lied: "I don't know."

There was silence between them for a long time, Serena staring at Dan with big, wounded eyes, accusing eyes, spoiled eyes that were not used to not getting their way. He wanted to apologize, but another part of him just wanted to tell her to accept it and move on, it wasn't always about Serena van der Woodsen and pleasing her. He had other responsibilities now. There were bigger, more important things going on.

"Dan, I've loved you," she said, her voice soft and pleading. "We owe each other more than this."

Dan shook his head, confused by this. "There are some things I don't owe you, Serena. These are two of those things."

For a moment, Serena looked at him in surprise, then her face faded into hurt, and she left the loft, closing the door quietly behind her.

Guilt immediately settled onto Dan's shoulder. He hadn't wanted to hurt her, and now he had. Terribly. But he also felt relieved. He didn't owe Serena these secrets, she had demanded them unfairly. Now she was gone. Now he could focus on what was right in front of his face, what was important.

He didn't go back to his paper then, instead he laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

He wondered if Blair had seen the Gossip Girl blast yet.

It was past midnight when Jack called Blair.

She was sitting up in bed, trying to watch My Fair Lady, when she saw her phone light up from across the room. It had been lighting up all night, with texts and calls, and posts from Gossip Girl, but she had been ignoring it, unable to handle it. Now, inexplicably, she jumped up and saw that it was Jack, answering after a pause.

"What?"

"Always a pleasure to speak to you, Blair," Jack said cheerfully, and there were party sounds going on behind him. "I'm calling to tell you Chucky didn't hand over Bass Industries."

Blair felt her chest fluttering, with nervous bird wings though, not butterflies.

"But that's okay," Jack continued. "You did well."

"Wh– What– How–?"

"Charles is determined to run Bass Industries and do it well now," Jack said. "He's also determined to have fun while doing it– he feels he deserves it– so that's what he's doing right now."

Blair could only guess what this meant.

Without question, Jack explained, saying, "Right now, he's sitting with pretty with a couple of very sweet escorts, a bag of pretty-colored pills, and enough Grey Goose to inebriate a horse."

She took in a sharp breath. "Jack!"

"Once the board catches wind of this– and sees the photos to go with it, which I will provide of course– they won't let an immature mess of a seventeen year old run their company," Jack told her gleefully. "They'll kick his ass out and I'll be given the position. Nice work, Miss Waldorf. Always a pleasure doing business with you." And he hung up.

Blair dropped her phone onto her dresser and considered what she had just done. Not only had she destroyed Chuck's perception of her belief in him and their relationship, she had also sent him plunging into his worse habits once more, and lost him his chance of happiness with Bass Industries. She had potentially ruined Chuck's life– for the time being at least. Chuck, who might be skeevy, but had always been one of her best friends, Serena's step-brother, Nate's best friend. Just to protect herself. Just to give Jack his way so she could save her own neck.

Without warning, Blair heard the elevator open and close downstairs. She ignored it, thinking it was just Dorota. Then, after a minute, Dan appeared in her open doorway, and she fell apart.

"Blair, I tried to call but… Blair?"

She was crying, fast and hard. Dan crossed the room and took her into his arms immediately.

"Blair? What is it?" he asked, looking down at her, where she was curled up against his chest, sobbing into his shirt and jacket like he was the only thing that could save her from this travesty– though he didn't know what that was. "What happened?"

Blair had never been so glad to see Dan, so relieved, and she fell apart before him, cracked open like an egg and oozed tears and pain.

"Blair," Dan said, his voice so gentle and compassionate and concerned that it made her cry even harder. She didn't deserve someone as good as Dan Humphrey, and it hurt. "Talk to me," he cajoled quietly.

"I did something bad," she managed to tell him, through endless tears and a gap in her sobbing. "I did something terrible. So terrible."

Dan couldn't get any more out of her, so he just held her for the rest of the night as she cried and cried and cried. And her tears and panic frightened him more than any threat or scheme she had ever put together had, and he vowed to fix whatever this was, hurt whoever had caused this, and he forgot all about his own issues in the process.