final gift for inkstainedskin
Happy Holidays inkstainedskin !
I hope you enjoy. I was definitely suffering from some writer's block and I noticed on your lj that you enjoy crossovers, so I went in that direction.
Title: When the World Shifts
Rating: PG-13
Fandoms: Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, Zombieland, Heroes
Summary: 3 roads not taken and one destination reached.
i. A bite.
Blair had been her first kiss.
I'm Serena/I'm Damon/It's very nice to meet you, do you go to Columbia with Nate?
She let Nate tell everyone it had been him.
It is getting late/I have a room upstairs/I guess one nightcap couldn't hurt
She let Dan think that his was the first that mattered.
You remind me of someone/I get that a lot/They died a long time ago
She told Chuck the truth about all of it.
Is your boyfriend going to mind/I don't have a boyfriend/Do you want one?
It didn't hurt at first. She could imagine Blair's nose crinkling when she finally told her about this, or the scarf she would have to wear to cover the marks from her mother. She muttered something about Twilight and shaked her head as Serena tried to explain why someone had bit her.
But then it did hurt. A lot. More than the little tattoo on her ankle. More than after any night with Georgina. More than the day her dad came back and left again.
When he finally let go, she felt herself falling into him, surrounded by the pulsing noise of her heart pumping emptiness.
She heard a chuckle break through the noise and the world seemed to sharply focus on his face looking down on her.
"Don't speak," he said amused, petting her hair softly as she gasped for air, "I can fix you. Do you want to be fixed?"
Serena nodded and years later, she wished she had known what she had agreed to.
ii. A bang
She figures out that something has changed when she doesn't guess her Christmas present, but sees it through the box.
She knows that she has changed when she can look at Dorota and see the two heartbeats synchronized within her.
Blair had gotten used to seeing through people and picking out their indiscretions and fears.
But she didn't know how to look a person and not want to cry for the tumor growing from their liver.
When she sees the dark man approaching one day on the sidewalk, she knows to cross the street away from him and get in the first cab to the airport.
She never knew there were others like her until she saw them all crowded together under the man's skin, trying desperately to break out.
iii. A gun
The world goes to hell on a Tuesday morning.
They bombed the bridges on Thursday and canceled the evacuation.
Chuck threw a party for the last of them, stuck in the city that didn't sleep or have a heartbeat anymore.
Nate didn't make it, he had gotten out in a helicopter before they had instituted the no fly rule.
No one was quite sure where Rufus and Lily were and if the island they were vacationing on was safe. Cell phones had been one of the first things to go, but no one was sure if they had been shut off or had gone down.
No one was really sure of anything anymore.
But everyone else was there, behind the boarded windows of his hotel, waiting for the end because everyone was sure it was set to arrive fashionably late.
A few days turned into a few weeks and jokes about how they were glad it wasn't a mall but instead a luxury hotel got boring once the gin ran out.
One gun between them and 4 rounds left (one used when Jenny didn't tell them the truth about the hickey on her neck, one used by Eric when no one was looking).
They started sleeping in the same bed with each other that night, Blair and Serena linked together with Chuck's arms wrapped around them both.
When he wakes up, he still tries to call for room service.
Old habits die hard.
iv. A room
She was registered under A.M. Barnard but he found her at the second hotel by smiling at the desk clerk and giving him one of Chuck's cards.
She didn't smile when she saw him, but she didn't slam the door either, so Dan considered it a victory.
When dating Blair, sometimes the only thing you have are small victories. If he didn't celebrate all of them, he knew she would never understand how important they were. He knew she would never understand that sometimes love is celebrating the little victories and wanting to dance because you didn't get the door slammed in your face.
"Is there someone else?" He finally asked, pacing around the room, "Did Chuck come back?"
She grimaced, "You will never get past that, will you?"
"I will the day that you let me take taxis with Serena alone," he shot back, watching her shrink back in her chair.
Rufus had never prepared him for this part of a relationship, the knowledge that the person you will hurt the most will always be the person you love. You know the hidden corners of their life and every secret they leave unsaid. He knew why she only ate pie once a year and that Serena was always off the table for discussion.
Watching Blair Waldorf steady herself is a lesson in self-reliance. A straightening in posture, a slight clearing of the throat, and bats of her eyelashes showing that no tears will fall from them. Dan imagined it was like encountering Cleopatra at her court, strong but distant in her seat of power.
"I left because I had to," she explained, crossing her arms defensively, "You wouldn't understand."
"How about you let me decide what to understand," he moved towards her, kneeling in front of her chair, "I watch you run every time something dents your perfect world."
"And I don't plan on stopping anytime soon," she leaned back in the chair, looking towards the ceiling.
Watching Blair Waldorf break down is the second lesson in self-reliance, that no person is ever truly all together and that no person can be perfect. It is eyes welling up slowly, cheeks reddening, and a beauty in the crumbling. This was not for public consumption, this was for locked bathrooms and elevators.
"I just keep imagining these other lives, other paths," she said softly, "These fantasies, plagues and super powers, where the world is failing and it's not me that needs to be rebuilt."
"Why do you need to be-" he started.
"Because I'm pregnant," she interrupted, "Because I'm 25, pregnant, unmarried, and in love with someone from Brooklyn. I'm a crack-habit away from being a Lifetime movie."
"You're pregnant," he repeated, placing a hand on her stomach, "That is amazing."
"We don't even live together yet and it's amazing," she said sadly, "You don't have to do this. I can take care of it."
He stood up and looked her in the eyes, "Absolutely not."
She stared back, "What are you going to do about it?"
"Bring you home again," He said simply, offering her a hand.
"And if I run again?" She asked, intertwining her fingers with his.
"Then you better think of a better alias, because I will never stop looking," he pulled her up and into his arms.
She folded herself into him, burying her face into his shoulder and somewhere in the back of her mind she told her subconscious to not be angry that he wasn't wearing the jacket she bought him.
"The coat is at the cleaners," he whispered into her ear, and Blair cried.
Because the fantasy was real.
She didn't need to pretend anymore.
I hope you enjoy. I was definitely suffering from some writer's block and I noticed on your lj that you enjoy crossovers, so I went in that direction.
Title: When the World Shifts
Rating: PG-13
Fandoms: Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, Zombieland, Heroes
Summary: 3 roads not taken and one destination reached.
i. A bite.
Blair had been her first kiss.
I'm Serena/I'm Damon/It's very nice to meet you, do you go to Columbia with Nate?
She let Nate tell everyone it had been him.
It is getting late/I have a room upstairs/I guess one nightcap couldn't hurt
She let Dan think that his was the first that mattered.
You remind me of someone/I get that a lot/They died a long time ago
She told Chuck the truth about all of it.
Is your boyfriend going to mind/I don't have a boyfriend/Do you want one?
It didn't hurt at first. She could imagine Blair's nose crinkling when she finally told her about this, or the scarf she would have to wear to cover the marks from her mother. She muttered something about Twilight and shaked her head as Serena tried to explain why someone had bit her.
But then it did hurt. A lot. More than the little tattoo on her ankle. More than after any night with Georgina. More than the day her dad came back and left again.
When he finally let go, she felt herself falling into him, surrounded by the pulsing noise of her heart pumping emptiness.
She heard a chuckle break through the noise and the world seemed to sharply focus on his face looking down on her.
"Don't speak," he said amused, petting her hair softly as she gasped for air, "I can fix you. Do you want to be fixed?"
Serena nodded and years later, she wished she had known what she had agreed to.
ii. A bang
She figures out that something has changed when she doesn't guess her Christmas present, but sees it through the box.
She knows that she has changed when she can look at Dorota and see the two heartbeats synchronized within her.
Blair had gotten used to seeing through people and picking out their indiscretions and fears.
But she didn't know how to look a person and not want to cry for the tumor growing from their liver.
When she sees the dark man approaching one day on the sidewalk, she knows to cross the street away from him and get in the first cab to the airport.
She never knew there were others like her until she saw them all crowded together under the man's skin, trying desperately to break out.
iii. A gun
The world goes to hell on a Tuesday morning.
They bombed the bridges on Thursday and canceled the evacuation.
Chuck threw a party for the last of them, stuck in the city that didn't sleep or have a heartbeat anymore.
Nate didn't make it, he had gotten out in a helicopter before they had instituted the no fly rule.
No one was quite sure where Rufus and Lily were and if the island they were vacationing on was safe. Cell phones had been one of the first things to go, but no one was sure if they had been shut off or had gone down.
No one was really sure of anything anymore.
But everyone else was there, behind the boarded windows of his hotel, waiting for the end because everyone was sure it was set to arrive fashionably late.
A few days turned into a few weeks and jokes about how they were glad it wasn't a mall but instead a luxury hotel got boring once the gin ran out.
One gun between them and 4 rounds left (one used when Jenny didn't tell them the truth about the hickey on her neck, one used by Eric when no one was looking).
They started sleeping in the same bed with each other that night, Blair and Serena linked together with Chuck's arms wrapped around them both.
When he wakes up, he still tries to call for room service.
Old habits die hard.
iv. A room
She was registered under A.M. Barnard but he found her at the second hotel by smiling at the desk clerk and giving him one of Chuck's cards.
She didn't smile when she saw him, but she didn't slam the door either, so Dan considered it a victory.
When dating Blair, sometimes the only thing you have are small victories. If he didn't celebrate all of them, he knew she would never understand how important they were. He knew she would never understand that sometimes love is celebrating the little victories and wanting to dance because you didn't get the door slammed in your face.
"Is there someone else?" He finally asked, pacing around the room, "Did Chuck come back?"
She grimaced, "You will never get past that, will you?"
"I will the day that you let me take taxis with Serena alone," he shot back, watching her shrink back in her chair.
Rufus had never prepared him for this part of a relationship, the knowledge that the person you will hurt the most will always be the person you love. You know the hidden corners of their life and every secret they leave unsaid. He knew why she only ate pie once a year and that Serena was always off the table for discussion.
Watching Blair Waldorf steady herself is a lesson in self-reliance. A straightening in posture, a slight clearing of the throat, and bats of her eyelashes showing that no tears will fall from them. Dan imagined it was like encountering Cleopatra at her court, strong but distant in her seat of power.
"I left because I had to," she explained, crossing her arms defensively, "You wouldn't understand."
"How about you let me decide what to understand," he moved towards her, kneeling in front of her chair, "I watch you run every time something dents your perfect world."
"And I don't plan on stopping anytime soon," she leaned back in the chair, looking towards the ceiling.
Watching Blair Waldorf break down is the second lesson in self-reliance, that no person is ever truly all together and that no person can be perfect. It is eyes welling up slowly, cheeks reddening, and a beauty in the crumbling. This was not for public consumption, this was for locked bathrooms and elevators.
"I just keep imagining these other lives, other paths," she said softly, "These fantasies, plagues and super powers, where the world is failing and it's not me that needs to be rebuilt."
"Why do you need to be-" he started.
"Because I'm pregnant," she interrupted, "Because I'm 25, pregnant, unmarried, and in love with someone from Brooklyn. I'm a crack-habit away from being a Lifetime movie."
"You're pregnant," he repeated, placing a hand on her stomach, "That is amazing."
"We don't even live together yet and it's amazing," she said sadly, "You don't have to do this. I can take care of it."
He stood up and looked her in the eyes, "Absolutely not."
She stared back, "What are you going to do about it?"
"Bring you home again," He said simply, offering her a hand.
"And if I run again?" She asked, intertwining her fingers with his.
"Then you better think of a better alias, because I will never stop looking," he pulled her up and into his arms.
She folded herself into him, burying her face into his shoulder and somewhere in the back of her mind she told her subconscious to not be angry that he wasn't wearing the jacket she bought him.
"The coat is at the cleaners," he whispered into her ear, and Blair cried.
Because the fantasy was real.
She didn't need to pretend anymore.