Author's note: It is safe to presume that several months have passed since the content in the last chapter. My plan with this story is to focus on the stand out moments/days. So between Dan and Blair sharing a dance together and now you can assume there have been arguments over movies and plans and squabbles over Dan monopolizing her friends and the like. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter or added the story to their alerts or favorites list, I smile because of each and every one of you.

002.

Over the course of November, December and January there are three occasions in which they exchange gifts. The first is Blair's birthday and the pressure to choose her present well becomes considerably more substantial when Dan learns from Serena in a very hushed tone that Blair recently found out her parents are separating.

Everything has to be kept quiet to save Blair and Eleanor from the scandal that Dan thinks is imminent; after all, Harold is leaving Eleanor for another man and such relationships are unspeakable. He's seen those that were unwisely proud beaten and bloodied and bruised, a warning to the others, and a reminder to the rest that the intolerance of the masses will not be absent anytime soon. What's more than that he doesn't see how such a thing can be kept a secret amongst the gossip hungry elitists they involve themselves with.

Blair's eyes don't light up when the blonde singer at the bar sings Etta James anymore, so he knows she's upset. She scowls at him more, criticizes his clothes and claims that 'everything was fine before you came along' as if she believes that her parents' separation is his fault. She leaves part way through Serena's dance routine. (After practicing a lot she's been promoted and gets to do a solo. The crowd loves her, so in turn, the director does as well.)

She apologizes later, even comes to Brooklyn just to do it.

Dan's surprised when, home alone one Sunday morning, he answers the door to see the fragile and broken looking girl he could only tentatively call his friend standing in his doorway.

"Serena gave me your address" she explained, drinking in his curious expression.

Her big brown eyes are flat and heavy and her whole body shakes. Autumn settled in at the beginning of October and now, almost halfway through November winter is beginning to make its impending arrival known. She's wearing a dress, (she always wears dresses, Dan's not sure he's ever seen her in anything else,) but a coat is nowhere in sight. Her bowed bottom lip quivers though he can't be entirely sure it's because she's cold.

He bustles her inside, his hands at her bare arms, rubbing to generate some sort of heat.

"I'm sorry" she says. She doesn't explain what for and he doesn't ask. It doesn't really matter.

"You're freezing" he says instead. Blair tries out a smile that feels (and looks) strange on her lips before deciding against it.

"I was in a hurry."

Dan takes her into his room, sits her on the bed and wraps her in a blanket and a promise of hot chocolate. Blair can't remember the last time anyone took care of her this way.

His room is quite neutral, not necessarily boyish, but a simple space to live. The walls are brick (brick!) and painted a dark navy blue. His bed is modest, big enough for two, though she's sure that unless Serena has paid him a friendly visit, there's only ever been one person in it. He has a desk hidden behind the door, and rows of clattered books stuffed in the shelves above his bed.

The desk is chaotic she notes under close inspection. She rises from his bed on wobbly legs to investigate it curiously. There are open notebooks and stray leafs of paper covering every available space. His rushed, lazy and yet charming handwriting covers most of the pages but there's an occasional snippet that belongs to someone else; notes from teachers she presumes, writers she knows he's been working with.

Clutching the blanket close to her body (it smells like him, a scent that's not decipherable but is familiar) Blair mindlessly sorts through his papers to see what lies beneath them. She finds a picture of them that Serena took while they were at the bar dancing and for just a moment she thinks that they look nice together.

They sit in the middle of his bed facing one another. Dan takes off her shoes, carefully undoing the buckles, and places them neatly on the floor. Their legs crowd the same space and Blair holds the steaming cup of hot chocolate in her small hands while he keeps the blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

When it cools enough to be sipped at Blair surprises Dan by sharing. She shuffles closer to him, holds the mug to his lips and tilts it for him and no words are spoken until the cup is empty. They look at one another, dissimilar brown eyes floating over his bone structure, the shape of her lips, his jaw, her curls.

Words that could be said but are going left unspoken add weight to the air around them but Blair is tired and Dan doesn't think conversation for the sake of conversation will help. The only words he chances provide permission in a roundabout way for the thing that Blair wants the most.

"What do you need?"

"Just hold me."

Thanksgiving, Blair's favorite holiday, is the last one spent with both Harold and Eleanor in the house. On the verge of the holidays Serena and Lily made up and now, even she is gone. His suitcases are packed and placed by the door that night and in an effort to avoid saying goodbye (because it seems so final and Blair's not quite sure that she can take it) she slips out after dinner, forgoes dessert and heads across the bridge.

Rufus is at the gallery and Jenny is on the train to Hudson, planning on spending the remainder of the holiday with their mother. Normally Dan would have accompanied her, but he makes excuses about being 'on to a really good thing' with the story he's writing and stays behind, just in case. He doesn't even bother telling himself that he isn't doing this for Blair. He is doing this for Blair.

She doesn't knock anymore.

He smiles sadly when she appears in his doorway.

"I'm too old for it to hurt this much" she says.

So they share a bottle of wine and a packet of cigarettes and for the night everything seems okay.

By the time Christmas rolls around Blair is herself again and everything is back to normal.

The season is busy. Serena has dance rehearsals every other day and Dan spends a lot of his time helping his father out at the gallery. Blair alternates between Serena's rehearsals and Dan's work shifts and spending time with Nate who finds himself in the same situation as her but without a book to occupy his time. Chuck is spending Christmas somewhere warm, with a topless beach.

She works on her assignments. She works on herself and she works on buying everyone presents.

She buys Serena a camera because the blonde has been clicking away incessantly with a Polaroid and more than once voiced an interest in photography. She buys Nate a sweater, because she always buys him a sweater and he always buys her a headband. Chuck is left until later; she knows she won't see him until after the New Year. School doesn't matter all that much to the future head of Bass Industries.

When it comes to Dan Blair has to think. For her birthday Dan had given her a safe place which begged for reciprocation of something equally as thoughtful and considerate. Sentimental as she may be Dan is an obscure person to buy for. Money is an issue because his pride is always getting in the way. He wouldn't let her get him anything that he couldn't accost himself.

It's a miracle when –after enlisting Serena's help- Blair finds the perfect gift for him amidst their perusal of a second hand store. She had cringed at the thought of merely entering such an establishment and warred with herself before eventually making the purchase. But the typewriter has 'Humphrey, writer from Brooklyn' written all over it and Serena practically squeals in delight when the brunette asks her if she thinks he'll like it.

Despite Serena's encouragement Blair is still nervous about giving her gift to Dan because it absolutely has to be perfect and she refuses to accept anything less.

"Don't worry B" the blonde chides as they all bundle into the car Nate somehow managed to convince his parents to let him drive. He's shocking on the roads and Serena's giggles and gasps in the passenger seat. "He'll love it."

Sitting in the backseat by herself, their Christmas presents piled in beside her, the brunette grumbles that at this rate she won't get to give Dan her gift anyway.

It's Nate who makes things worse as he looks at her in the rearview mirror with a mischievous smile and says "why do you care so much anyway? I thought you didn't like Dan."

It's hard to be convincing as she says "I don't. But I went into a grimy secondhand store, he had better appreciate that."

The blondes exchange a glance that Blair knows means nothing good.

Christmas at the Humphrey's is almost everything that it used to be in the Waldorf house. Blair finds herself desperately trying to ward off her envy as they decorate the small space and the large tree and Dan's father hands everyone festive mugs filled with cocoa. His little sister Jenny, whom she had happened upon a couple of times in the past, shares conspiratorial smiles with her while she and Serena thread popcorn on string and speak animatedly of this and that.

Irrespective of the secret that she shares with the Humphrey's Blair feels devastatingly out of place in amongst everyone else's joy. It isn't until Dan cuts through her self pitying thoughts with a sharp 'Waldorf' that she feels like she's meant to be there.

"Come on" he says, a wry grin tugging at his lips, "Nate tells me that you orchestrate one hell of a Christmas tree."

Beaming with pleasure Blair folds her arms across her chest and states, "yes, I do" more than a little smug.

Eventually the four of them are left alone, Rufus and Jenny exiting in the hopes of checking out Christmas lights throughout the city. Serena and Nate, with red cheeks and half lidded gazes, are lying under the tree staring up through the branches of tinsel and fairy lights when Dan reaches for Blair's hand and tugs her into his room without a word. The blondes, too absorbed in the bliss of doing nothing, barely notice their absence.

Once the door clicks shut behind them Blair, cheeks flushed, pulls her hand from his grasp and turns on him instantaneously. "What on earth are you playing at?" she hisses. She gestures vaguely over her shoulder as she carries on, "do you want them to think something is going on?"

Dan, no longer offended by the sharp words that thoughtlessly spill from her pretty pink mouth, infuriatingly takes a step closer to her. And another, and another until her back is against the door and she can't escape him anymore. "Why would they think anything was going on" he countered, raising a challenging brow before his tone became teasing, "it's not as if you've spent the last two weeks fretting about whether or not I'll like the Christmas gift you got me."

And it pleases him in an only all too self indulgent way when Blair squirms under his gaze and his words, looking adorably put out and at a loss for anything to say. But she narrows her perfectly sculpted brows and pushes against his chest and demands him to 'stop being so annoying' and states that she doesn't know why she bothers.

She has to fight the urge to childishly stomp her foot when Dan tells her that it's because she likes him.

"As if" she scoffs, indignant as she turns up her nose. "Girls like me don't end up with boys like you."

Dan is unperturbed as he throws back "it's a good thing I'm not asking you to break the stereotype then, isn't it?"

And Blair feels a bit bad about saying what she said when Dan passes her the hazardously wrapped gift he got her. She had expected that just as she had the Brooklyn Boy would enlist the help of Serena, but Blair can tell it was all him once she's torn the paper away.

His gift is a ragged flannel shirt that smells more like her than it does like him and has kept her warm during impromptu visits and sleepovers that she would never confess to. Tucked away behind the buttons there is a vinyl copy of the first song they danced to which makes Blair feel truly awful and she doesn't feel any better when Dan is completely thrilled with his typewriter.

She's a horrible person. Or perhaps just a guilty one.

When they all pile into Nate's Studebaker Blair is forced to share the cramped backseat with Dan and his horrendously long legs. She glowers petulantly, frustrated, because she says mean things to Dan and he doesn't blink twice. Because in the past few weeks she's relied on him so greatly and it doesn't seem to bother him at all when she goes back to treating him poorly. Because during those weeks he went to such great lengths to cheer her up and he doesn't demand more respect from her. But mostly because she foolishly thought that maybe, just maybe he liked her and yet he seemed completely unaffected when she insinuated that she would never date someone like him.

The club is decorated for Christmas in a way so decadent that Blair's foul mood is momentarily replaced with admiration when they arrive. Dan helps her out of her coat and she doesn't say thank you or even look in his direction. She's not sad anymore and it's not as if they're friends. She tolerates him, for Serena's sake. And Nate's too she supposes, seeing as they're thick as thieves all of a sudden.

She misses Chuck, because Chuck would tell Dan in ways much more unkind to get lost. But that thought makes her feel bad too and she doesn't really miss Chuck and his penchant for the melodramatic anyway. Things are nicer when he's gone.

Not that Chuck doesn't have his uses.

They manage to secure the same table they always do, just up front with a good view of the stage and Dan and Nate go to check in all their coats. It occurs to Serena that this is her opening and she fixes her excited ocean eyes on her best friend with unquenched curiosity.

"So..?" she draws out the sound girlishly, her eyes flickering to the boys retreating figures.

Blair is unimpressed when she raises her brow and demands, "what?"

But Serena laughs off Blair's abrasive demeanor and proceeds, leaning forward to speak to her in a scandalized tone. "You, Dan, in his bedroom, alone. What was all that about?"

The brunette lies smoothly, "it looked like you and Nate could use the privacy." And changes the subject before Serena can think to dig deeper, inquiring, "What's going on with the two of you, anyway?"

Serena shrugs her shoulders, wears a smile that's just as coy as it is flirtatious. "Nothing" she says simply. "I don't know. It's Nate." The way she says it eludes to the unmistakable something that is almost always brewing between them but they never indulge; as if their friendship is so much more important to them. Blair doesn't know why they don't just get together already because it's obvious that he's completely in love with her but Serena always seems to prefer keeping her options open.

Blair supposes that if she were in Serena's position she might do the same. That is, until she determined just who was the best of them all. Besides, even though Serena is desired by the masses her failure to choose often leaves her on her own. What is a slew of admirer's at the expense of that?

Sometimes Blair has to wonder why she's really jealous of Serena at all.

As the night draws on and Serena and Nate get good and drunk Blair takes to reading the book that she told Serena she wanted for Christmas. She shoots furtive glances at Dan over the top of the pages every so often and swears she won't bother again when she sees him smiling at Serena who laughs like a four year old and insists "Dan, come dance with me!"

Nate shoots her a million dollar smile and Blair is reminded of why she liked him all those years. "You love to dance" he attempts to sway her, "and you didn't come here to read. Dance with me" he requests.

So the brunette fights the urge she has to smile while she marks her page, rolls her eyes and extends her hand to him with an exaggerated "fine." And Nate grins because he knows her well enough to know that all she really wants is someone to ask her to dance, to buy her a drink and to tell her she looks beautiful, which she does. Even more than that he thinks she wants those things from Dan.

But Nate keeps his suspicions to himself and twirls Blair out onto the dance floor before pulling her close. The singer's voice is cigarette smoke and champagne, accompanied by a brass section and a simple back and forth sway of movement. Music even he can dance to Blair would say but she's polite enough not to.

"How are things at home?" he asks instead.

Blair looks at him with wide brown eyes and informs him "I refuse to participate in my parents delusions."

The people that know them are under the impression that the Waldorf's will be moving to France once Blair graduates and that Harold is there already, setting up their house. Eleanor will be joining him in the summer, and Blair too her parents expect. No one knows about Roman, and definitely not about the separation.

"They're not even getting divorced" she states. She thinks it's completely absurd that her father suggested such a thing to spare her mother the shame of being a divorcee. She thinks it's even more absurd that her mother is going to go along with it. Her father is gay, why can't the world just to accept something like that?

She wonders why people can't just love whoever they want to but she knows life is not that gracious and neither is she. After all, she's the girl who told Dan Humphrey 'boys like you don't stand a chance with girls like me.'

One of the people who reviewed chapter one made note that the sixties element of the story was not very heavily featured. It's a vague element, I admit, because the way I write is centric to the characters specifically with very little mention of the world that exists outside of theirs. I hope that this is something that will grow in prominence as the story progresses when the characters each face things such as college and marriage and expectations. However it is a lot easier to imagine it all correctly if you have the songs that go with each scene. Every referenced piece of music throughout the story is based on a real song so if you would like for me to compile a playlist for each chapter specifying which songs go with which scenes it can easily be arranged-just let me know!