Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Gossip Girl' world.

A/N I couldn't resist. Dair is taking over my life right now. I know that none of this is going to happen but I took some inspiration from the promos for 4x17. Enjoy!

She barges into the loft without any sort of a greeting but he shouldn't be surprised; exchanging pleasantries isn't really their style.

"What the hell is this, Humphrey?" Blair asks, her curls swaying due to the force of her movements as she turns around to face (interrogate) him, brandishing a few sheets of paper.

He's about to reply exactly that – 'it's paper, Blair,' but then he realises which sheets of paper those are and his brow creases.

"Where did you get those?" he queries.

"You left them in my room when you had to leave abruptly this morning." She replies.

"You mean when you forced me to escape via Serena's bedroom so that Dorota wouldn't see me in your room." Dan corrects her.

Blair blinks. "That's what I said."

Dan raises his eyebrows slightly. "Right, well, thank you for returning them," he says, plucking the papers out of her hand, "You needn't have come all the way to Brooklyn to give them to me; they're nothing important."

Blair narrows her eyes. "I read what it says, Dan. It's one of your stories."

Dan shrugs, casually, "Exactly, I've written a ton of stories – this is nothing special."

Blair's mouth tightens. "Unfortunately, I am more than familiar with your run of the mill tales of a carefree blonde living in style in the Upper East Side and the Brooklyn mongrel who can never seem to move on with his life but, as I'm sure you're more than aware, this one is different because it doesn't feature that blonde."

"What? I'm not allowed to write new characters once in a while?" Dan scoffs.

"Humphrey! You've written about me!" Blair accuses and he shrugs.

"And?" he asks.

"You write about Serena, and your feelings towards Serena and how your life revolves around Serena and whichever man she's decided she's in love with next." She points out, disdain clearly showing on her features.

"Not true." Dan retorts. "I wrote about Chuck for a little while."

"That is not the point I am trying to make and you are perfectly aware of that." Blair intones. "You are using me as a muse – one with romantic undercurrents."

"Uh, no I'm not." Dan replies, looking confused. "Look, Blair, however much you want to deny it, we're friends now. And my friendship with a princess of the Upper East Side who used to loathe me is proving to be quite inspirational for my writing. I didn't put any 'romantic undercurrents' in the story. I simply transferred our rapport into writing, nothing more. Any romance you're perceiving is purely wishful thinking on your part."

Blair's mouth falls open slightly. "Wishful thinking? Oh, yes, I regularly find myself hoping that one day I will become Mrs Blair Humphrey!" She laughs. "As if a Waldorf would ever stoop so low as to become infatuated with someone of your breeding, Humphrey. That is beyond impossible."

Dan frowns, "Hey, the only reason that it would be 'beyond impossible' is because you care way too much about your reputation."

"Of course I do. It's the only things that matters, Humphrey. Now, I had reluctantly begun to quite enjoy the time that we spent together but I think it's perfectly clear that you and I should spend some more of it apart, seeing as your subconscious seems to be getting carried away with itself."

"Yes, well, if you're seeing romance in literature when there quite clearly isn't, then I think I'd rather not be around someone delusional."

"You're delusional if you can call that twaddle 'literature'." Blair snaps before storming out of the loft.

Dan sighs and pulls up a seat, frowning at the paper in his hand. He starts to read through his work again, to make sure he hasn't missed something. It gradually dawns on him how blind he's been. "Oh, shit."

"There is someone here to see you, Miss Blair," Dorota informs her, with an accusatory look on her face. Blair sighs and marks her page in her book.

She walks briskly towards the elevators, keen to get this visit from whoever may be there over quickly. She's been in a sullen mood all day, ever since her confrontation with Dan, and the fact that it is Humphrey who's causing this mood makes her even more irritated.

This disagreement they've had over his story has readily confused her because she's sure that there was possible romance between the two characters, but Humphrey seemed sincere when he claimed that he didn't put any in.

She walks into the foyer and is met with the person occupying her thoughts. "What are you doing here?" she asks.

He looks nervous as he rubs the back of his neck. "Look, Blair, I read the story again after you left."

"So, you've come to apologise," she states, not even bothering to try and keep the triumphant look from her face.

"No, well, not exactly," Dan mutters and pulls the all too familiar pieces of paper out of a pocket. "I didn't add anything to our…acquaintanceship…that wasn't already there."

"Don't be ridiculous, Humphrey," she scoffs. "There's nothing romantic about our…acquaintanceship."

He holds the paper towards her. "Read it then and tell me what I've changed."

She stares at him for a few seconds, trying to come up with a reason to defy him, but really, she wants this whole business to be settled, so she snatches the papers from him and begins to read.

About halfway through she begins to get an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She can't find anything that one of them hasn't said or acted towards the other over the last few weeks and the fact that she even remembers their times together so clearly, supremely bothers her.

She finishes reading and shoves the pages back at him, her stomach twisting in knots. She can't quite look him in the eye right now so she looks at a spot on the floor. "There must be some sort of mistake." She mumbles.

"Blair," Dan begins, exasperatedly.

"No, Humphrey!" she can't help but look at him now. "The idea of me and you is just utterly preposterous. We may have become closer over the last weeks and disregarding your horrendous taste in fashion, you're not the most unattractive person in the world, but I don't feel that way towards you. As if I ever could."

"Can't you just be true to yourself for one minute?" Dan implores and Blair swallows nervously. "You're scared, I get it."

"I'm not scared," she snaps, even though her heart is beating furiously.

"Yes, you are, because this," he indicates between the two of them, "was never part of your plan. You were going to become 'Blair Waldorf' and be a successful woman and give yourself over to Chuck Bass in two years' time and the thought of someone else getting in the way of that is making you lose sight of what you think you want. You'll no longer be in complete control of your future and that scares you."

Blair's heart flutters as his words strike deeply within her. Too deeply. "I think you need to leave, Humphrey." She says as she motions towards the elevators.

"One kiss."

Blair stares at him. "You must be kidding me."

"No. One kiss to find out, either way." He explains. "We could argue over this until next year but if we want to find out the answer then we have to be proactive."

"Can't we just agree to disagree?" she asks, weakly.

"Blair, you normally like to know the answer to everything." He points out.

"I know, but this is different. If there's…something, then it's completely hopeless. I've been telling you, we simply wouldn't work in the real world. I doubt Manhattan has ever heard anything as pathetic as Blair Waldorf slumming it with someone from Brooklyn. Imagine what the society pages would make of that."

Dan's expression tightens. "Don't go hiding behind that society and class crap. You're better than that. In fact, you're probably the strongest person I know, so, if anyone's going to come up with a new set of society rules, then it's going to be Blair Waldorf."

A warmth spreads through her body at his words. Why does Dan Humphrey have to have such a way with words? "Fine, let's get this over with so you'll stop with the soppy sentimentality."

Dan nods, cautiously taking a step towards her. "Okay…well…"

Blair sighs. "Humphrey, if you could hurry this up a little, I would really appreciate it so that I can get on with living my l-mph!" She's cut off when Dan presses his lips against hers. She's furious with him – for a split second – and then she promptly forgets everything.

He pulls away a couple of seconds later, his hand still cradling her cheek and he smiles. "Well, I think that answered our question, didn't it?"

"Definitely," she responds, her hands moving to play with the hair at the back of his head. "Now shut up and kiss me again."

A/N Hope you liked!

Fingers crossed that we all like 4x17 and it's not just a giant let down.

Love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx