Disclaimer: I do not own gossip girl or anything associated with it.

Dear readers,

Just a quick note before I let you get into the story. I originally planned for this to be a one-shot but I've been having some plots rolling around in my head for a while so I decided to make it multi-chapter. This is my first story ever, so please forgive my beginner mistakes. :)

Chapter 2

Ever since he had received that check from Vanessa he had been coming up with schemes to find out who had his manuscript. His relative inexperience in scheming was showing as every scheme was more ridiculous then the last. He began by randomly calling publishing companies, graduated to calling Jeramiah Harris, and now had degraded himself to cyber stalking Vanessa in a pathetic attempt to get clues. He knew Blair would have solved this problem days ago, but he was not going to alert her to this problem if he could help it. Asking Louis again was out of the question. He was at his wit's end when Blair called and asked (read ordered) him to come to the penthouse immediately to serve as a buffer between her and Louis's sister who had flown in from Monaco. So he abandoned his manuscript searching mission and headed to Blair's, thinking that at least he would be able to spend some time with her.

He walked into her room and saw her sitting at her vanity and the moment he stepped into the room he knew he had already done something wrong.

"Humphrey, have you learned nothing in the last five years? I invited you to a formal meal to which you should have worn formal clothing but you look like you're still vacationing in the Hamptons!"

He looked down at his attire under his jacket. He was wearing a pair of jeans and t-shirt with a v-neck. She was right, he was underdressed for a meal with a princess. He shrugged as if to say, it's too late now, and took his jacket off.

She huffed as if angry at him, but did not say anything else on the topic of his attire and continued her primping. He reclined back on her bed and grabbed a magazine from her side table to pass the time. He noticed what he picked up was a copy of The New Yorker which she had apparently started subscribing to and he could not control the smirk that appeared on his face, which did not go unnoticed by her since she responded by rolling her eyes. Trying to keep his voice casual, he asked her about something that was nagging at him since he left the loft.

"Won't Louis mind if I am here? I'm guessing that I'm probably not his favorite person right now."

"Louis is much more forgiving than I am, he has nothing against you. Besides, he won't be here. He has business to attend to at the consulate. So I'm afraid it's just us against the wicked step sister."

"I thought she was his actual sister, not a step."

"It's an expression Dan."

He took a moment to examine her. She looked a little different. She was tanner, her hair looked more brown, and the rounded curve of her hips had increased slightly. She looked good. At long last she stopped her primping and asked him to wait downstairs for her while she grabbed something from her bathroom. So he put The New Yorker back on her side table and left to go downstairs. He was half way down the staircase then he remembered he forgot his jacket in Blair's room. He climbed the staircase quickly, bounded into Blair's bedroom, grabbed his jacket, and turned around to leave. He was almost out of the room when he heard a sound coming from the bathroom. It was Blair and she had left the bathroom door slightly open. He was turning around to leave again when the he heard the noise again, this time it was loud enough for him to place the sound. It was the sound of retching. He almost walked out, feeling like he shouldn't be there but he hesitated. He knew what he wanted to do, he wanted to go in there and stop her but he stood frozen trying to assess the best way to approach this. He knew that one false step and she would end up running the other way. So he went and closed her bedroom door, took a seat on her bed and waited. It was possibly the longest fifteen seconds of his life. There was a toilet flush, running water, gargling, and then she was in the room with him. She stopped mid-step when she saw him sitting on her bed.

"I thought I told you wait downstairs for me." He got up from the bed and faced her.

"I forgot my jacket," he said, not entirely sure how to broach this subject with her. What was he supposed to say? Why are you doing this? How much thinner would you like to be? How could you think you don't look perfect? No, none of those seemed right. He decided to let her tell him, maybe he had gotten it wrong, maybe she just wasn't feeling well.

"Is something wrong?" That was good, it was vague, non-judgmental, and open ended, she could say what she wanted to.

She gave him a look that said she thought he clearly was out his mind. "Yes Dan, I'm fine. Now let's go before the evil step sister shows up."

Being indirect and non-judgmental hadn't worked, it was time to use the direct approach.

"Blair, I heard you in there, I know you were throwing up."

"Congratulations, Sherlock, you've solved the case," she said as she walked away.

He swiftly sidestepped so he was in her way. "Come on Blair, don't pretend in front of me. I know what that was."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"You know what I am talking about. I'm talking about a certain condition that you used to have, which may have just now recurred, in the bathroom." His implications hit Blair like ton of bricks and it left a shocked look on her face. She then scathingly said, "I was not throwing up on purpose." But he was not satisfied with her answer just yet. He was not going to let this go without getting to the bottom of it.

"Then why were you throwing up?"

"Because I was nauseous!" She hesitated before continuing, "I have the stomach flu. You know that actually does happen to people. They get sick, feel nauseous, and throw up involuntarily."

"Fine, then look me in the face and tell me that." It was the perfect litmus test. She was a good liar, but not that good. Everything always ended up on her face. She looked like she might hit him with something. Instead she looked him dead in the eye and said, "I did not throw up on purpose." There was not a trace of a lie in her face and so Dan decided to believe her for the moment.

"Okay, okay." He was ready to leave and go downstairs when she spoke again.

"How did you know that?"

"Know what?"

"About my… my problem."

"Is it that odd that I would know?"

"Yes it is. I never told you. The only person I ever told was Serena. Did she tell you?"

"No, no of course not," Dan shuddered thinking of the war Blair would declare on Serena had she been the one to tell him.

"Then how did you know about that? Who told you? I want their name right now." She was now slightly hysterical.

"Blair, no one told me anything. I figured it out myself."

"Excuse me? You 'figured it out'? What is that supposed to mean? There is no way that's true. I haven't had a problem for a while now, and we only just started hanging out a few months ago. Someone must have told you and if you know what's good for you, you'll tell me who it is." She was now in full scheme mode and looking hungry for vengeance. If this hypothetical person who let Blair's secret slip to him actually existed, he would feel sympathy for them right about now.

"For the last time, no one told me anything. You think I wasn't perceptive enough to notice something that big? Blair, I might have crushing after Serena van der Woodsen since ninth grade but my vision wasn't so narrow as to miss the fact that her best friend was unusually thin, never ate lunch during lunch hour, and would disappear in seventh period everyday for more ten minutes only to come back to class looking suspiciously pale and clammy in the face. It actually wasn't that hard to piece together if someone was actually looking at you."

She was stunned into silence. She couldn't decide what was more absurd, the fact that Dan Humphrey knew one of the few secrets she kept from him or the fact that he figured it out in ninth grade. No one had ever figured it out. Her parents were too wrapped up in their own drama to notice, Nate, sweet Nate was naïve, Dorota was suspicious, but never found any proof because Blair Waldorf was nothing if not meticulous. She never knew with Chuck, he either knew and never said anything or was completely oblivious. Not even Serena had figured it out, Blair had to tell her.

"Blair, are you sure you're okay?"

As much as she hated this, she knew that she was going to have to spell this out for him, otherwise he was not going to let this go. "I am not bulimic again, alright?"

"Alright."

"This conversation is over."

"Fine."

"Fine." She was glad this conversation was finally over, at least for her. However, looking at his face, she could tell that he was still itching to say something.

"Blair, if you ever feel like talking about it. Or if you ever feel the urge to suddenly do it, just call me first."

"Oh for God's sake, this is not that. I've got it under control. I am not going to do anything to myself." But Dan was no longer listening, his eyes were fixated somewhere over her shoulder.

"Are you even listening to me?" He obviously was not because he did not answer her. He simply walked past her toward her bookshelf looking like he might have seen a ghost.

"Dan, this is hardly the time to peruse through my book collection. Beatrice will be here any minute now and I need to make a good impression." By the time Blair had finished talking Dan had already made himself over to the bookshelf and was now reaching for the object of his attention. As his hand reached up to the top shelf, Blair felt a sudden jolt go through her as she realized what he was going for. He now had it in his hands and was looking at it as if it might hold the answer to life. Blair was now ready to screech for him to put it back now. But before she could say anything, he spoke.

"I can't believe you! You have one of these? You made fun of my Cabbage Patch Kid for years and you had one the entire time? That is…you are…such a hypocrite!"

"Oh please, spare me Humphrey, I never said that I didn't have one. And can you please stop trying to act like I purposely hid this from you. That has always been on my shelf and you have been in here a thousand times and didn't notice it."

"That's beside the point! I lost count on how many times you poked fun at me for having one of these and yet you have one!"

She was now frustrated with him. Dan Humphrey had discovered too much about her today in a very short amount of time and she was ready for this little exploration of Blair Waldorf's psyche and childhood to end. She put on her sternest face and said, "Give it back to me right now." She bit the last two words out harshly and Dan was afraid that he might have overstepped some invisible line. But he plunged forward anyway, if he was already over the line, he might as well satisfy his curiosity before he let her kill him.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"What is that supposed to mean? No?"

"It means no."

"If you really want to play with dolls right now, why don't you run home and get Cedric, and give me my cabbage patch back."

"I'll give it back on one condition."

She snorted in a decidedly un-princess like manner and said, "I do not need to fulfill your inane requests in order to get back my own property!" She had moved closer to him while she was talking and was now toe-to-toe with him. The proximity made him nervous in more ways than one. Mostly it was because he knew that if he did not cooperate immediately, she was prone to behave in a very un-ladylike manner and proceed to pummel him until she got what she wanted. But he was on a high. It was like he had struck gold, and he was not about to let it go. He did not care if she yanked his right arm off, there was no way he was going to stop now. Not until he got what he wanted.

"You will cooperate if you want it back," he replied with a newfound confidence. If she wasn't ticked before, she definitely was now and she was desperate enough to make a quick swipe for the toy. But he was quicker and held it out of her reach. It was unnerving her to see her childhood toy in his hands. He sympathized on some level for her, but mostly he was glad she now knew how he felt every time she brought up Cedric. She made another desperate lunge and failed yet again. She was now out of breath. She tired herself out more easily than he thought she would. She now had him backed into a corner of her room. He was trapped between her bed, her vanity and her. She was glaring daggers at him but he was going to win this one, he could feel it.

She begrudgingly asked, "What will it take to get it back?"

It was then he made the most ridiculous request Blair Waldorf had ever heard. "I want to know her name." She laughed outright at him and felt her warm breath touch him slightly before it drifted away.

"No way."

"Then you don't get her back." He was pretty sure she was going to kill him now. Instead she made one final lunge for her precious Cabbage Patch and this time she hit her mark. She landed right into him with a thud and he was knocked off balance, as he always is with her. He held the Cabbage Patch out of her reach with one arm and used the other to stabilize her while they landed in a heap on her bed. She was now squirming trying to both overpower him and get the Cabbage Patch from him. While he was distracted by trying to make sure she didn't inadvertently hurt herself she had managed to crawl on top of him and pin him by the shoulders. It was not the sexy image he would have liked to have conjured up in his head as she had done it in the most awkward way possible. She had her knees bent and they were digging straight into his chest causing no small amount of pain. She had her hands on his shoulders and her entire body was resting on top of his chest, all ninety-five pounds of her. There was no way he could move without risking hurting her in some way so he laid still, at her mercy. He was now taking shallow breaths to accommodate her weight on his chest. She was looking at him straight in the face and he thought that Blair Waldorf had never looked prettier. She was slightly out of breath, her cheeks were tinged pink, and her brown hair was falling across her shoulders and face in a way that she would never have normally allowed.

"Give it back now."

"Name first," he managed to croak out from underneath her.

"No."

"Then no deal." He could now see the genuine frustration on her face, her forehead wrinkled, her eyes got a little rounder and he felt a little tug on his heart. He did not want to surrender first, but he knew where he was. He was stuck underneath Blair Waldorf, her knees were digging into his chest, she had that look on her face, and her Channel number 5 was going to his head. Fortunately, he saved face because Dorota called up to say Beatrice was now on her way up from the lobby, which meant she had to get off him or risk her future sister-in-law finding her brother's fiancé straddling some guy on her bed. She slid off his chest and stepped off the bed and if he was not distracted by her completely then he would have been able to prevent what happened next. She snatched her Cabbage Patch Kid right out of his willing hand and sauntered away with it out of the bedroom. He sat there trying to breath normally again rubbing his sore chest. He still could not believe he had not noticed that Cabbage Patch sitting there the entire time.

The meal was tense to say the least. Blair was trying to get along with her soon-to-be-sister-in-law but finding it difficult since she can never manage to stop herself from telling someone how ignorant they were about, well, anything. His chest was still a little sore and he only spoke when he saw the need to buffer the two women. For the most part he sat there watching closely how Blair ate her food and wondering what the name of her Cabbage Patch was. After what seemed like an eternity, Beatrice had finally had her fill of Blair and rose to leave. After some over extended social niceties at the elevator during which Beatrice invited him to a party tonight being held by Monaco's consulate, she finally left and he was again alone with Blair. He turned to her ready to continue the argument that had been cut short before. He looked at her and knew immediately he was in trouble again. She had that, hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-Waldorf look on her face and unfortunately for him, he was right.

"You can show yourself out Humphrey, and there is no need for you to come to the party tonight," she said coldly and walked away from him without another word. She must have been really upset. She didn't even take the time to yell at him.

He had not originally planned to go to the party when Beatrice invited him, but in light of his newest fight with Blair, Dan decided to make an appearance. It was ridiculous to him that he could be forgiven for one transgression and then cast out of her sight for another, not even a few hours apart. So he found the most acceptable suit in his closet, put it on, and headed for the party.

When he arrived he was accosted by Beatrice who took him by the arm to take him to Blair while introducing him to people he would never remember along the way. When they reached Blair she simpered in her thick and oddly attractive accent, "Blair, look who I have found, our dear friend Daniel." But there was nothing friendly about the way Blair Waldorf was looking at him right now. She gave him a tight lipped smile and the look in her eye expressed the desire to throttle him for his gall.

"Thank you Beatrice for delivering him to me. If you'll excuse us, we have some catching up to do," she said sickly sweet to her soon to be sister-in-law. She then proceeded to claw his arm with her fingers. Still so handsy, thought Dan as she dragged him away. Once they had reached a place in the room where they were relatively out of everyone's earshot she started in on him.

"What are you doing here? I thought I made myself clear, I don't want you here."

"But Beatrice invited me. I thought it would be rude to turn down an invitation from a princess." She scoffed at him as he said this and then bit out, "if you don't leave this instant, I am going to make your existence a living hell!" She said it angrily, but it was an empty threat, at least that was what he thought. Throwing caution to the wind, Dan decided to call her on her bluff. "Do your worst Blair, but I'm not leaving until we straighten a few things out."

"A few things like what?"

"Like, why you are mad at me again, after having forgiven me just yesterday." She tensed up immediately and just when he thought she was going to say something to him, she turned around and walked away from him. Dan was determined and he was not ready to let this go so he followed her. She seemed to be heading out of the party room, walked down a deserted hallway and into someone's office space. She let him in and locked the door behind him. He turned to face her ready to battle with Blair Waldorf but as soon as his eyes rested on her he could see the all the fight had gone out of her and she just looked weary, like she didn't want to have this conversation. But he was not going to let this go and suffer another two weeks of silence from her.

"Alright, I'm sorry about the Cabbage Patch Kid thing. I didn't realize you were so sensitive about it. I figured if you had it sitting out in your room, it couldn't have been that private. But I crossed a line and I'm sorry."

"This isn't about the Cabbage Patch Kid."

"Then I'm sorry about showing up here after you made it clear that you didn't want to see me."

"It's not about that either."

"Then what is it?" He was desperate now, even desperate enough to start accepting responsibility for things he had not actually done. But she was not budging, she stood there silently in front of him. "Blair, please just tell me what it is so we can move on. If you're waiting for me to figure it out on my own, we both know that we'll be at this forever." She glared at him one last time before she exploded into a tirade. This relieved Dan to an indescribable degree, because this Blair he could handle, he could handle her as long as she was talking.

"I'm mad about the… the bulimia thing. I can't believe you knew this entire time. I can't believe you knew the entire time and didn't tell me that you knew!"

"Well I didn't really know how to tell you. What was I supposed to say exactly? Sure, I don't mind watching Breakfast at Tiffiany's with you. Oh, by the way, I know you have a disorder which causes you to purge things that you eat under emotional distress. I mean, this kind of thing doesn't really come up during normal conversation until it actually comes up like it did earlier today." The look on her face showed that she knew he was right, and that he did not hide it from her on purpose. But she was upset and was going to find some way to fault him for this even if it was the last thing she did.

"That's beside the point. You weren't supposed to know anyhow. I didn't want you knowing that. I didn't tell you and you had no business knowing!"

"It's not something I went digging around for. It's just something I happened to notice in high school. You can't really blame me for being perceptive?"

"Yes I can and I will! You should have minded your own business instead of being Serena van der Woodsen's creepy stalker!" The argument was now spiraling out of control, Blair had officially become irrational and both their words were now coming out instinctively, without proper thought.

"How is me inadvertently knowing something about you my fault? What do you want me to do about it? Acquire selective amnesia?"

"I don't really care how it happens, I just don't want you knowing it!"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want you knowing that part of me. All this time I've been thinking I could control what you think about me, or at least what I thought that you think about me. But you've probably seen me as nothing more than a basket case with control issues. I didn't want you knowing it. I didn't want to know that you knew it and now that I do I can't help but want you to un-know it! And, yes, I know how completely insane that sounds." Dan's mouth was left hanging open. He was still trying to process her little rant but before he could come up with any sort of rational explanation she turned on her heals and walked out of the office. There was only one rational explanation he could come up with. But placating her on that account could make things worse. He took a moment to work up his nerves and headed back out to the party.

He found her standing near the corner of the party room leaning her back against a dinner table for support. Her arms were folded across her chest and she was staring out into the sea of party guests. He approached her from behind and took the spot next to her. She did not move a muscle as he leaned against the table next to her and made no move to acknowledge his presence. He offered her one of the two flutes of champagne he picked up on his way over to her. She made no move to take it from him and after a few seconds he set it down on the table behind them. He had not really planned what he was going to say to her and so just decided to be honest. He polished off his flute of champagne and began.

"I didn't think any less of you after I found out." This seemed to surprise her and let him know that his words were being registered so he continued.

"I was actually more impressed with you after I figured it out than I was before. Before I thought you were a spoiled rich girl who got everything she wanted simply because she felt it was her birth right. It was after the fact that I realized that you worked for all those things you had. You worked for your grades, you worked to be popular, you worked to be someone that people wanted to be around, you worked so hard that you actually hurt yourself in the process. And I do think that you hurt yourself badly, but you never let on anything to anyone. You just let everyone carry on thinking you were perfect and did everything perfectly with complete ease. And that was when I also realized that not only was Blair Waldorf an Upper East Side, over-achieving, scheming, snobby queen, but she was also a little messed up. And more human than I had ever given her credit for." She still had not so much as spared him a glance throughout his little speech. He paused for a moment then continued. "I wanted to tell you to stop. I never had the courage to walk up to Blair Waldorf to have such a conversation. I mean, I couldn't even work up the courage to say hello to Serena, so there was no way I could have that conversation with you. But I wish I had actually told you that you didn't need to do that to be a straight A student, or be queen B of Constance, or have minions, or be popular, or have people, people like my sister, tripping over themselves just to be in your vicinity. I wish I had the courage to have actually walked up to you one day and just said it. That way you wouldn't have felt like no one could really see you and we probably wouldn't be having this argument right now."

He had nothing else to say. Even his prone-to-rambling brain could not come up with anything else to say and she still had not spoken a word to him. He figured it was a lost cause to push her further tonight and decided to drop the subject. He stood there with her gazing into the indistinct faces of party goers for minutes on end and lost himself in people-watching. He was jerked out of his reverie by her voice. It was so quiet that he almost missed what came out of her mouth.

"Sara," she said still not looking at him. Dan looked about themselves comically expecting to see some third party but found no one.

"My name is Dan Humphrey," he said to Blair slowly, like she was losing her mind. She rolled her eyes and looked at him for the first time since he stood next to her.

"That's the name of my Cabbage Patch Kid. Sara… you said you wanted to know." He felt a smile slowly spreading on his face. He felt giddy enough at having finally learned this piece of information that he almost laughed. But it would not do to laugh at Blair's Cabbage Patch Kid. So he settled for a small smile and said, "that's sweet," which earned him a small smile from her.

"We should set up a play date for Cedric and Sara," said Dan trying to keep her smiling.

"We will do no such thing. Sara has no interest on going on a date of any kind with Cedric," she replied adamantly with a small smile playing at her lips and mischief dancing in her eyes.

"Because Cedric is from Brooklyn and can't afford the expensive label cabbage patch clothing?"

"Among other things, yes."

"I bet if Sara gave Cedric a chance she would see they have a lot in common, that he can make her laugh, and they would a lot of fun together," replied Dan, continuing the joke. This got a breathy sort of laugh out of Blair and she gave him a slight push with her elbow in retaliation for his remark.

Still so handsy, thought Dan.

Author's Note:

I hope you enjoying the reading. I am certainly enjoying the writing. Just wanted to say a quick thank you to all the reviewers who said lovely things about my last chapter, which I read and re-read about 1000 times. Thanks very much for being so sweet.

Some notes about this story:

*I will try to keep this as true to the past of this show as much as possible. That being said, I did make some changes that you may have already spotted. One of those being how Dan knew about Blair's bulimia. I just felt like handling it differently than the show writers did so I changed it.

*Blair CPK name Sara: I tried to put some thought into her name. The following is the reason I chose Sara for those of you who might be wondering. I was researching the name Cedric and came across a famous novel called Little Lord Fauntleroy in which the main character's name is Cedric. In the novel, Cedric is the son of a wealthy Englishman who gets thrown out of his family because he marries a poor American woman, Cedric's mother. Cedric lives his childhood as a poor child in Brooklyn, New York with only one parent (his mother) until his wealthy grandfather gets in touch with him and decides to take him in and raise him as an English gentleman of wealth. Although Cedric comes from a poor background and everyone expects him to be uncouth and unrefined the English aristocrats are all surprised to find that he is intelligent, charming, innocent, trusting, and noble (sound familiar to you?). While his grandfather is trying to teach him the ways of English aristocracy, Cedric inadvertently teaches him compassion for others… Sounding familiar now? In a movie adaptation of this book, Cedric has a crush on a girl named Sara who had not noticed because she is focused on her work and this other guy she likes. This was sounding eerily like Dan and Blair to me, so I called Blair's CPK Sara. And I apologize if you didn't actually want to know any of that.

I might as well just tell you this now, this plot is going to be slow moving, so please don't yell at me if Dan and Blair are not making out by the next chapter. Otherwise, enjoy!

~ Jane