(Untitled)

[filmstarbeauty]

"There's nothing there," Blair said fingering the double strand of pearls around her neck. Hair slicked back into a low knot at the base of her neck, she touched the coffee table. Not much, but what could one expect from a man who lived alone? It didn't matter really, he could be such a dear when he wanted to be

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[filmstarbeauty]

When a girl is trying to decide if the past year and then some of her life had exactually happened or just been one very bad post-Thanksgiving nightmare there was really one method of coping. A very strong Bloody Mary and a nice review of the Post. Sitting in the living room, she scanned the various headlines having a serious sense of deja vu as she waited for people to show up.

Was this just her and S or had everyone else been drinking from the poorly filtered water?

[turnthebadinme]

Admittedly, Serena had taken her time over breakfast, enjoying the opportunity for a quiet morning with Beat at Sant Ambroeus. That it had made her Gossip Girl fodder had neither crossed her mind nor come to her attention yet. All lingering aside, it was good to be home -- and the Waldorf townhouse was as much that as anywhere else was. Stepping off the elevator with Beat in tow, she headed directly for the living room, seating herself beside Blair. "No one else here yet?"

She'd never doubted that B would remember if she did. It was the others she worried about.

[filmstarbeauty]

Munching lazily on a celery stalk, Blair had been in the midst of wondering if her mother had redecorated or not during her absence - an absurd thought since she hadn't really been gone, but still possible given her mother when Serena burst in. Not exactly on time, but clocks weren't exactly a big deal on the island.

If there had been an island at all. Seeing the boyfriend who was not Dan Humphrey lagging behind her, Blair gave Beat a casual wave as she nodded and swallowed. "No. You are the first. Naturally."

[turnthebadinme]

Serena sighed, slumping back into the corner of the seat, fidgety. "I just hope everyone else remembers," she said, shaking her head. "What if it's just the three of us? What if everyone thinks we're crazy?"

There was a comfort in knowing they weren't, but that didn't make her care any the less about what everyone else would say if she started talking about a magic island. They'd been through such a lot there, it would be upsetting at the least if no one else remembered.

[satdownandwrote]

The ride over had been plesant enough that I had almost forgotten why I was headed for Blair's in the first place. Once there, though, I remember, and I stand by the elevator, scanning the crowd for Serena or the guy from the picture. Preferably Serena, since I want to give her a chance to explain herself.

I don't see her. I see alcohol, despite the fact that it's still early in the afternoon, and I'm dismayed by how I'm not surprised.

I can't stop thinking about the story Jenny and Vanessa told me. They're right, they wouldn't just invent some kind of matching island story to get Serena out of the whole caught with another guy thing. Also, it's... I have no idea how to describe it. I'm so messed over it that I don't even realize that I'm just leaning against a drink cart or something, looking vacant and kind of ridiculous. I pull myself up, check to see if anyone caught that.

Right. Serena. I have to find Serena.

[turnthebadinme]

When Serena steps back into the room and spots Dan there, something twists inside her, leaving her standing stock still, worrying at her lower lip as she contemplates whether or not she ought simply to turn and run. It seems a valid option. She stopped expecting to see him again, stopped needing it, and now he's here in front of her, it's too much.

It's amazing, too, how the guilt floods through her automatically. She's done nothing wrong, she knows she's done nothing wrong, but it's impossible not to feel terrible for doing this to him. Stepping gingerly forward, she slips into view, looking hurt already. It's been so long, but she still remembers all too well how crazy she was about him, how much some part of her still cares. "Dan," she murmurs, scarcely able to meet his eye. "I didn't think you'd be here."

[satdownandwrote]

I'm checking my phone when she comes up, to see if she's called or texted me or something. I'm not a battered wife, I'm just a guy at a house he doesn't belong in, checking my phone.

Yeah, I'm pathetic.

When I look up, there's Serena, looking at me in that guilty, forlorn way that almost propels me to the elevator. I don't want to stand here and watch her feel sorry for herself, I want an explanation, and I'm sure the way I look at her projects that much.

"Apparently not," I say with a wave of my phone before I shove it back into my pocket. "Jenny got your text. The text that I didn't get."

[turnthebadinme]

Serena takes a deep breath, letting it out again so fast in a sigh so big, it's doubtful any air actually made it to her lungs. "Sorry about that," she says. It's the other text she's worried about, the one she knows he got, that everyone got. "Things are just... really confusing right now. I needed to figure it out before I saw you."

God, that sounds awful, she thinks, like she's breaking up with him, like she's ending it.

Except, she reminds herself, that she ended this long ago. She made a choice, almost a year ago now. She picked not being alone. It's one of the few decisions she's made she can't regret, except that looking at him, she regrets this part.

[abrams_vanessa]

As soon as she entered the Waldorf Prison (as she liked to think of it) that old 'I don't belong here' instinct kicked in. She'd been here quite a few times by now, usually at parties she'd crashed, but the feeling never quite went away. With Dan now preoccupied with Serena - and boy, she had never been so glad not to be Serena van der Woodsen in her life - there was nothing for her to do but wait awkwardly.

Obviously Blair must be here but V valued her life enough not to go looking for her. What about Nate and Chuck, did they come back? Or are they like Dan, unhappily clueless?

Where was Dorota when a girl needed someone to talk to?

[throw_it_off]

It didn't take a genius to figure that Vanessa would be uncomfortable here, or that the only reason she'd be here at all without a video camera was because she was from the island too. So Nate headed over to her side without hesitation, wanting to give her some company and support. Kate couldn't blame him for that, not after what he'd gone through in her home with Eli.

"Hey," he said with an easy, friendly smile. "Really weird, huh? Back home and more than a year in the past."

[abrams_vanessa]

"Hey!" Vanessa answered, returning his smile. "This is beyond weird. I'm not even sure we know each other yet, back then." Even if that were true, she wasn't going to pretend she and Nate were near-strangers. It seemed like pretty much everyone here was also from the island, except one. "Dan is completely convinced I've dropped acid or something. He's doing that thing where he acts like he's humoring you but he's really thinking you're insane."

[throw_it_off]

Nate had to stop and think about that for a second, but the truth was he couldn't remember. His life from more than a year ago, his life from nine months ago, his life on the island-- it was too much to organize and keep straight.

He shook his head, then raised an eyebrow in a knowing sort of look. "Oh yeah. The 'I'm not judging you, but I sort of am' act?" Nate grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I can't really blame him. It's kind of ridiculous when you lay it all out in a penthouse."

[im_chuckbass]

If the past year had been intended to be some sort of lesson to teach him the Things That Really Mattered, the moral had, as they so often seemed to for Chuck, gotten lost somewhere along the way. Waking up in his bed at the Palace that morning had never seemed so sweet; if anything, the tropical stint had only served to show that he'd been right all along - Manhattan really was as good as you could get. His hand had been on the phone, ready to dial room service - he had a lot of catching up to do with Kristi and Kim, after all - when the text from Serena came through. Service with a smile, it seemed, would have to wait.

When he arrived at the penthouse, he was pleased to see that Dorota had proved as reliable as ever. "Better and better," he murmured, mostly to himself, heading first for the platter of eclairs and then for the scotch. Once he was fortified, then perhaps they could start trying to figure out what, precisely, had happened.

[filmstarbeauty]

"Chuck."

Standing over him, Blair has switched the Bloody Mary for something that looked suspiciously like orange juice. It was. Mostly. And what it pretended to be wasn't hurting anyone.

"I need to know what you know and fast." She snapped her fingers. "Quickly now."

[im_chuckbass]

Chuck looked her over with a lazy smirk. "Are we talking carnal knowledge? Because that could take a while." The tan had been enough to clue him in to the fact that this Blair had spent the last year and a half or so soaking up more sun than was ever accessible in Manhattan proper. Not that he'd really wondered, after the Gossip Girl blast, but confirmation was always nice. He sighed and surrendered before Blair had a chance to beat it out of him. "Fine. What I know is that we seem to have traded sun, surf, and sand for civilization again. How or why, I have no idea, but I'm not exactly complaining."

[filmstarbeauty]

Exhaling slightly Blair felt a touch relieved that Chuck was sipping from the collective kool-aid. At least they could share that massive anxiety together.

Sitting down on the arm of the chair, she crossed her ankles.

"Good. I'm not saying I'm sad to be home, but there are certain details I wish I could edit out of my past life if you know what I am saying."

[renegade_reaper]

Beat had been through breakfast an' then his first experience watchin' Serena shop. Now he was here, in a gigantic place that was apparently where Blair lived, an' it was hard not to be a little overwhelmed.

At least he was dressed the part now. Showin' up in what he had before woulda been pretty bad.

He was by no means a heavy drinker, but even he couldn't say no to one. He figured it'd help settle his nerves. He didn't remember the last time he felt so outta place.

[turnthebadinme]

When Serena returned to Beat's side, she was far more subdued than she'd been earlier that day. Dan tended to have that effect on her, even now, it seemed. Linking her arm through his, she rested her chin on his shoulder. "Hey," she murmured. "You doing okay?"

[renegade_reaper]

It was actually noticin' Dan was around that kept him from bein' the one to approach Serena. He didn't want no trouble, an' he knew it as her issue to sort out. He wouldn't talk to the other guy unless he came up to him himself.

"Still tryin' to figure out what you guys do with all this space, yo," he said with a sheepish laugh, shakin' his head, An arm slidin' 'round her, he did turn a littl emore serious. "You doin' aight?"

[turnthebadinme]

Serena nodded, emphatic as she stood a little straighter. "Fine," she said, smiling. She didn't for a moment regret the choices she'd made on the island, not the ones that had led her to Beat. Hurting Dan hadn't been her intention, but it couldn't be helped now. "And we need all this space for somewhere to put the million things we buy. And the bags of cash."