A/N: Once again, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. I don't usually respond to reviews, but I do read them all avidly and it really does give me such a high to know people are reading and enjoying what I've written.

This chapter gave me fits at first, and then the last half of it almost wrote itself - writing is strange like that. :) I hope you all enjoy this latest instalment.

# = #

In the end, it was a couple more days before Blair was able to prove her point about her singing voice. Dan had half forgotten about their little argument (they had so many, after all) when she suddenly squealed in his ear as they drove through a little town not far from Hartford, almost making him swerve into a fire hydrant.

"Jeez, Blair," he said, heart rate slowly returning to normal, "Can you not make that noise when I'm driving?"

"You know, for someone who's so easily spooked, you may have picked the wrong woman to marry."

He shot her a look. "What can I say? I like living on the edge. So, what was all the shrieking in aid of?"

She grinned at him, that Cheshire-cat smile that never boded well. Dan felt the usual accompanying sense of creeping dread, knowing that no matter how much opposition he put up to whatever hare-brained scheme she'd come up with, inevitably he would get dragged into it anyway. "I spotted a notice outside that bar we just passed. They have karaoke here tonight. It's clearly a sign."

"Yeah, it's a sign that says 'Karaoke'," Dan said incredulously. "You can't be serious about wanting to do that, can you?"

"Well, you obviously didn't believe me when I told you I could sing, so I'll just have to prove it to you. Who knows? Maybe they'll even be able to make a passable margarita, unlike everywhere else we've been for the past three weeks." She sighed in frustration. "I live in hope that one of these backwoods barmen has actually read a cocktail manual. I mean, how hard can it be? If they'd just let me back there, I could probably make one myself!"

"Well, it's good to know you've got an alternative career path all picked out… you know, if the whole 'Devil Wears Prada' thing doesn't work out for you." He smirked, waiting for her to pick up the bait.

"Why wouldn't it work out for me?" Blair glared at him. "I'm perfect for that job!"

"You're right. What am I thinking? I mean, you practically are Anna Wintour. Only, you know, younger, prettier and with better hair." He grinned over at her and noticed she was trying not to smile at the compliments.

"Flattery will get you nowhere you haven't already been, Daniel. And, stop trying to change the subject. I want to participate in the karaoke tonight, therefore we need to find somewhere suitable to stay around here. Preferably somewhere that isn't run by inbred mountain people." She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

He chuckled slightly. "We're hardly in Appalachia, Blair. This is central Connecticut and there aren't any mountains for miles. I can assure you that practically no-one plays the banjo around here."

"Oh, you laugh now, but it's always the husband who gets picked off first, you know," Blair pointed out with a sweet smile in his direction.

"You may have a point there," he conceded. "Be sure and let me know if you spot anyone suspicious loitering around."

"They all look suspicious," Blair insisted. "Who but a deeply suspicious character would possibly want to live here?" She sighed heavily. "I miss New York…"

Dan reached over to squeeze her hand in sympathy. "I know. I do, too. But, we'll be back there in just a couple more days. Then, you can make up for all the slumming you've been doing."

"I suppose." Blair glanced out of the window, then slapped at his arm. "Pull over here."

"Will you stop with all the hitting? Why are we stopping?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Stop being a baby. We're stopping because I think I just found us somewhere to stay for the night." She gestured over to a small guesthouse set back from the road in well-tended and picturesque gardens.

"That could work," Dan agreed, and turned the car into the driveway.

# = #

The room and large en-suite bathroom had met with Blair's grudging approval, and the walk-in double shower had met with Dan's (and Blair's too, once he demonstrated its possibilities to her… extensively). As a result, they were both feeling contented and relaxed as they walked into town later that day, hands clasped between them. The bar that Blair had noticed earlier was easy enough to spot, since it seemed to be the only one in town. From the outside, it was innocuous enough: low lighting, what appeared to be the world's tiniest dance floor, and neon signs over the dark hardwood bar that wrapped around one side of the room.

Dan pulled back on Blair's hand as she went to enter. "Are you sure about this? You really don't have to prove anything to me, you know. And I'm not sure this is your kind of place."

"Are you calling me a snob, Daniel Humphrey?" Blair's lips pursed together and her eyes narrowed in that expression that he'd already grown to recognise as her 'tread-carefully-or-you're-sleeping-on-the-couch-tonight' look. "I am perfectly capable of spending time amongst the hoi polloi. I married you, didn't I?" The glance down her nose suggested she was rethinking that decision.

"And while I greatly appreciate that sacrifice on your part, I was merely suggesting that we could try to find somewhere a little more quiet… and romantic," he suggested, giving her his best puppy-dog eyes.

"Nice try, Humphrey. But, we're still going in." And with that, she tugged him along behind her into the dimly lit, noisy bar.

A tray of nachos and two so-so margaritas later, and Blair was scrawling her name and chosen song on a slip of paper to hand to the guy organising the karaoke. She slid a blank piece of paper over to him and he stared at it for a moment before giving her a 'you've-got-to-be-kidding-me' look.

"Pick a song, Humphrey," she instructed. "If I'm doing this, then you're doing it too. That way, neither of us has anything to hold over the other."

"Yeah… I don't really sing in public," Dan said, reluctant to commit to making a fool of himself in front of a bunch of strangers.

"Yes, well, you didn't do a lot of things before you met me," Blair said brightly, batting her eyelashes at him and making him chuckle. "Time to broaden your horizons yet again, Humphrey. Loosen up a little."

Dan shook his head in disbelief, but he did look through the song list and write down a choice. Neither of them let the other see what they'd picked and they spent the next fifteen minutes or so guessing at possible song choices. Dan nearly choked on his drink when Blair suggested he might have gone with 'I'm Too Sexy'.

"Um, n-no," he spluttered, pounding on his chest to try and stop the coughing.

Blair merely raised one shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. "Pity," she said. "Seems like a fairly obvious choice to me." She eyed him flirtatiously over the rim of her margarita glass and Dan felt the impact of that look all the way down to his toes.

He leaned over and nuzzled the side of her neck. "You know, you really shouldn't look at me like that in a public place, Blair. Not when there's no way you can follow through on it right now."

She tilted her head to the side to give him better access and hummed happily in the back of her throat. "Hold that thought, lover boy. Looks like I'm up." Then, trailing one finger lovingly down his cheek and pressing an all-too-brief kiss to his lips, she sashayed up to the stage area.

She looked beautiful in the warm spotlight, he reflected, her cheeks flushed a little with nervousness, hands clasping reflexively at the microphone. He put his fingers in his mouth and gave her a piercing whistle of encouragement, enjoying the look of admonishment she sent his way in response. When the first soft chords of the song kicked in, he found himself almost holding his breath and then her voice came through, strong and sweet, and hit him somewhere in the middle of his chest.

"How do I… get through one night without you? If I had to live without you… what kind of life would that be?"

She stared straight at him as she sang, and he thought he'd never loved her more than at that moment, where every emotion was laid bare for him in her eyes. Her voice was every bit as good as she'd claimed, effortlessly soaring into the crescendos, but it was her openness that moved him. For once, she wasn't Blair Waldorf, society queen and scourge of Manhattan. She was simply Blair… his Blair… standing there in front of dozens of people they'd never met and would never see again, and telling him that she loved him, with simple and devastating candour.

He joined in with the enthusiastic applause that greeted the end of her song, watched as she bobbed a quick, graceful curtsey and smiled at the crowd, then stood to meet her as she walked slowly and confidently back to their table. He pulled her into his arms and leant down to capture her lips in a tender kiss.

"I love you, too," he said, and if he'd thought she couldn't look any more incandescently lovely than she had singing her heart out up there, he'd have been wrong. His words seemed to make her glow from within, smile widening, eyes shining like stars, and he had to shut his eyes for a moment, as if he was staring directly at the sun.

"That's quite a reaction," Blair whispered. "Perhaps I should sing more often."

"I don't think my heart could take it," Dan admitted wryly, brushing a wayward curl away from her face.

She laughed girlishly, placing a light kiss on his cheek before sitting back down. "Well, I hope you brought your A-game, Humphrey. Because, as you can see, I've been quite the hit tonight."

"I'll do my best to live down to your expectations," he said, sitting back down at her side and wrapping one arm casually around her shoulder, so that her head tilted easily to rest on him.

In the end, they'd both had a couple more drinks before Dan was called upon to display his vocal prowess. Since he knew he had no hope of matching Blair's emotional punch, he decided to ham it up for entertainment value instead, hoping that Blair would still recognise how much he meant the lyrics of the song he'd chosen.

"Now, if you feel that you can't go on, because all of your hope is gone… And your life is filled with much confusion, and happiness is just an illusion… And your world around is tumblin' down… Darling, reach out…"

He attempted his best 'Four Tops'-style dance moves, complete with spins and dramatic reaching movements, and was pleased to note that, by about three lines in, Blair was giggling hysterically in the corner. By the second time through the chorus, tears were rolling down her cheeks as she tried to control her mirth. Knowing he could bring her so much happiness, even if it came from playing the clown, always gave him such a buzz inside. And when he walked back to their table afterwards and she looped her arms around his neck and planted salty kisses all over his face, he figured it was worth making an idiot of himself.

They were both extremely tipsy by the time they got up to do an impromptu duet of 'It Takes Two', but they still managed to bring the house down. And curled up around Blair later that night, as she hiccuped quietly into her pillow, Dan thought that maybe this was the best part of what they had found with each other: true companionship; a connection that allowed them to find joy in the simple things, as long as they experienced them together. He placed a soft kiss on the nape of his wife's neck and drifted off to sleep.