178. someone like you (one)
Title | someone like you
Rating | pg-13
Characters | Blair (x2), Dan (x2), Nate (x2), Serena (x2).
Summary | AU after s2. This is loosely, loosely based on the show Fringe. In which everyone has a doppelgänger.
Notes | Yes, I have two thousand and seventeen things to update. Whatevs. Thank you to lookinglassgirl for (a) planting this idea in my head and (b) being an excellent sounding board.
Serena van der Woodsen (1): Manhattan (1); December 5, 2022 (1).
"It is the middle of the night," she says for what must be the third time, hurrying down the alleyway after Blair. Blair's wearing flats that make next to no noise; Serena's heels click-clack noisily on the pavement in comparison.
"I am aware, Serena," Blair says, her voice soft and not quite as cutting as it would normally be.
"You interrupted my date," Serena whines, following her as she turns a corner and begins to enter a code at a locked, large door.
"My apologies to Pierce," Blair says wryly. "He'll have to get laid another night…" She frowns at the screen when it flashes, incorrect code. "Who the hell names their kid Pierce, anyway?"
"He's actually nice," Serena says, somewhat half-heartedly. This is the third date with Pierce that's been interrupted, and she doubts he's going to want to see her again. It's been like this ever since March when the division was established, mysterious case after mysterious case interrupting her dates, or her yoga classes, or her sleep. They were all spending much more time in the office than out of it. Dan never seemed to leave at all (much to Blair's irritation; she was constantly whining that she had not signed up to spend every waking hour with Dan Humphrey).
"If he's nice then he'll understand," Blair says, finishing entering the code, and this time the screen flashes, access granted. "Come on, S."
Serena follows her in with a little sigh. The room they step into is dark but Blair seems to know where she's going, so Serena just follows her until they reach a larger room with a moderate amount of light.
"Okay, we're here," Blair calls softly.
"About time," Dan says, emerging into the limited light, dark circles under his eyes. He looks at Serena, taking her in from head to toe, blue dress and high heels, earrings and hair that's now half-out of its carefully constructed ponytail. "That date sure went late," he comments.
"That is none of your business," she tells him cheerfully, grabbing his arm for balance as she takes off her heels. "Want to explain to me what's going on here?"
"Marquis wants to brief you, I think," he says, referring to the head of their division.
That sparks her interest a little. "Okay…" she says slowly, moving further into the room, glancing around. There's unfamiliar machinery everywhere and a soft, glowing light coming from behind double-doors at the other end of the room. She moves toward it and stumbles into Nate. "Hey," she says surprised. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
He smiles. "Same thing you are, I guess…" He looks her over the way Dan had, amusement in his blue eyes. "How was the date?"
She rolls her eyes a little. "Unfinished," she huffs. "D'you know what's going on here?"
Nate shrugs. "M'waiting to find out."
She sighs. "Okay, well…I don't want to wait." She moves forward again, the floor cold under her bare feet, until she comes to stand next to her boss. "Hi," she says.
He looks at her and visibly holds back a sigh. "Agent van der Woodsen, hello."
She smiles a little; he's always liked Blair better. "What's going on?"
"We are not…entirely sure of that yet."
"You're investigating?"
"Not…precisely."
"Okay. Precisely what is going on then?"
He looks at her, his eyes serious in his face. "It would appear…"
She gives him a moment, and when he doesn't continue, she prompts, "Yes?"
"It would appear that those doors, over there…" He gestures across the room. "Provide a bridge to a universe that parallels ours."
Serena can feel her eyes widen in her face, and leaving her date seems incredibly insignificant all of a sudden. "Holy shit," she says softly.
Marquis sighs heavily beside her, but in the end, all he has to say is, "Well put."
Nathaniel Archibald (2): Manhattan (2); December 5, 2020 (2).
"Everything alright?" Nate asks as Blair moves back toward him, his cell phone in her hand.
She hands the phone back to him with a wry smile. "Depends on your definition of alright."
He slides an arm around her waist, rubbing his thumb idly over her hip. "Delia's up?" he guesses.
"It's like she has a sixth sense," Blair sighs, exasperation slipping into her voice. "She knows when you leave the house."
Nate grins briefly, pressing a kiss to her temple. "You're just jealous that I'm her favourite."
"You are not, Nathaniel Archibald," she huffs. "She's just…remarkably perceptive."
He tries to subdue his grin as he says, more seriously, "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. Lacey will get her back to sleep." The live-in nanny had become a necessity when Blair didn't want to leave her job and he wasn't able to leave his; if not for Lacey, they'd have to call his mother to come stay with the kids every time they were called out in the middle of the night like this.
"I hope so," Blair murmurs. "Or she'll be cranky tomorrow."
"They call 'em the terrible twos for a reason."
She glances at him, pouting slightly. "Fitz was never like this."
He leans in, kisses her pout. "We got lucky with Fitz."
"B," Serena calls softly, moving toward them. She's still wearing her pyjama pants beneath her FBI jacket. "Marquis's ready to talk to us."
Blair nods and taps Nate's phone. "Answer if Lacey calls back."
He rolls his eyes a little. "Yes, ma'am."
They walk off together, Blair and Serena, arms looped and heads close together. Watching them like that is like watching his childhood play out all over again, S and B, always inseparable. There had been a period of time, when they were seven, eight, nine years old, when he'd fit in with them pretty well, but then they'd gotten older and their threesome divided along stronger lines - he and Blair started to date, got married, had kids; Blair and Serena went to the college together, moved up the ranks together, became partners.
He slips his glasses off, rubbing at either side of his nose for a moment before he puts them back on and moves toward Dan, who's standing off to the side, studying his tablet. "Hey," he says.
Dan glances up at him. "Hey."
"Do you know what's going on here?"
"Waldorf didn't tell you?"
"I think Marquis is telling them now," Nate says, nodding over at where Blair and Serena are standing with their boss.
Dan thinks for a moment and then says, "I don't think I'm supposed to tell you."
"Off the record?" Nate asks hopefully.
Dan sighs, considering. "You know about…the weak spots?"
"Between the universes? Yeah. We've known about them for a long time." He glances over at Blair again. "Is there another one here?"
"Sort of, yeah."
"Sort of?" Nate presses.
"Look, Mr. Archibald - "
"Nate," he cuts in. "Seriously, call me Nate."
Dan sighs, correcting himself, "Nate. I don't really know if I should be the one to explain this to you. You should probably wait to speak with Marquis."
Nate smiles a little, the way he does when he needs Blair to forgive him for a trivial faux-pas, the way he does when wants Serena to agree to something, the way he does when he's asking people to vote for him. "Or you could just tell me."
Dan rolls his eyes, but it's not so much exasperated as it is fond (the way it always is with Blair, with Serena). "It's a bridge."
"A bridge to wh - " Nate's jaw drops in the middle of sentence. "Oh," he says. "Oh."
Dan nods, looking vaguely amused, but there's a sense of understanding on his face, too. "Yeah."
Daniel Humphrey (1): Manhattan (1); December 5, 2022 (1).
"So…what's the plan?"
He blinks at Serena, startled at the way she's in his personal space all of sudden. "What do you mean?"
"I mean…what's the plan?" she repeats. "To seal it? Explore it?"
He shrugs. "That's Marquis' call. Or Nate's." He pauses. "Or maybe even the president's."
Her eyes widen, brighten. "Did someone call - "
"Not that I know of, but maybe they will."
"Wow," she says softly, glancing over at the door, at the glowing light. "In the middle of a warehouse. Who would have guessed."
"Warehouses aren't good enough for you?" he asks wryly.
Serena's eyes narrow slightly, her lower lip slipping into a slight pout. It's a look he knows well by now, the look she gives him every time he sounds mildly bitter about their history.
He holds up his hands as if in surrender. "Sorry. It's late. I'm running on negative hours of sleep."
Her lips purse and he can tell he's already forgiven before she even says, "It's okay."
Dan's quiet for a beat and then he says, "Sorry your date got interrupted."
Serena laughs a little. "It's okay. I'm over it." Her eyes drift back to the door, the light.
Nate joins them then, a tray with three coffee cups on it in his hands. "Hey," he says, holding it out to them. "So…that's crazy, huh?" he asks, nodding toward the door.
"Crazy," Serena echoes, reaching for one of the cups.
He shifts the tray around so that a different cup is closest to her. "That one's yours," he explains. "No cream, unhealthy amounts of sugar."
She smiles at him. "Thanks, Natie."
Dan resists rolling his eyes, reaching for the cup closest to him. When he takes a sip he finds that it's black, just the way he likes it at this hour, and he echoes Serena, says, "Thanks, man."
"Thank Lacey," Nate says with a little laugh, taking the last cup for himself. "Having a personal assistant is kind of the best thing that's ever happened to me."
One of Serena's eyebrows arches. "Really?"
And Nate nudges her. "Not like that."
"It's you," Dan points out, smiling slightly. "One has to clarify."
Nate huffs a laugh, doesn't contradict him.
Blair walks over to them, holding a cup of coffee of her own, looking entirely put-together, even at this hour of the night. "I think it's imperative that we monitor before we take any action," she announces, handing her coffee to Serena so that she can adjust the headband that's keeping her hair out of her face.
"Are you kidding?" Serena asks. "We should go."
Dan blinks at her. "Are you kidding? We should seal it."
"Really?" Nate asks. "We all came here in the middle of the night just so you could seal it off?"
Dan looks at him seriously. "There are consequences involved in breaches between universes."
"You didn't say it was a breach. You said it was a bridge."
Blair sighs. "Are you a scientist, Nate?"
"No," he says. "But neither are you."
"It should be obvious to you that you can't just waltz over to another universe - "
"What's obvious about it?" Serena interjects. "We're not going to break it, it's already broken. The bridge is proof of that."
"Serena," Blair sighs. "You're being impulsive."
Serena sighs, too. "I'm not saying we have to march in there right this second. We can wait until morning, make some kind of plan first."
"Crossing can be dangerous," Dan points out, frowning a little.
Serena rolls her eyes at him. "Live a little."
"That's my point, Serena," he murmurs. "Staying alive."
"You think crossing over would kill you?" Nate asks, eyes widening considerably.
Dan hesitates. "There's potential, yes…"
"But?" Serena prompts, eyebrows tilting up.
He sighs, admits, "It's…relatively unlikely. That doesn't mean it's impossible."
"Don't you think it's worth the risk?"
He stares at her. "I'm not going to let you kill yourself just because you're curious."
"Loathe as I am to admit it," Blair says with a sigh. "Humphrey is right."
Serena frowns and Nate nudges her. "You're being reckless," he murmurs.
"So?"
Blair crosses her arms. "It's late. Can we please agree that I'm obviously correct that monitoring is the best game plan at this time?"
Nate shrugs, easygoing as always.
Serena frowns, brushing her fingers through her hair. After a moment, she says, "Fine. For tonight."
"Humphrey?" Blair asks.
He thinks about it for a moment, glancing over at the door, and then concedes. "Yeah. It's the best time for the plan being."
"Thank you," Blair sighs. "We should all go home and get some rest; we'll reconvene at six."
Dan looks at her in disbelief. "It's almost four."
Her gaze flicks over him dismissively. "You better hurry home to Brooklyn, then," she says, before turning on her heel. A beat later, she calls, "Serena!"
"Yeah, I'm coming," Serena calls back. She glances at Dan. "You want to crash with us?"
"With you and Blair?" he repeats sceptically. "No thanks."
Nate elbows him lightly. "Come over to my place, I have four guest rooms. One of them should get some use."
Dan sighs, too tired to protest. "Yeah…alright."
"Serena!"
They all wince at the shrill tone Blair's voice has taken on. Serena gives them a quick smile. "See you tomorrow."
"See you, S," Nate answers.
Dan watches them go and then follows Nate out to his car.
They'll figure all of this out tomorrow.
Blair Archibald, née Waldorf (2): Manhattan (2); December 2, 2022 (2).
She sits in the front row in the theater, her eyes on the stage, on the swatch of moving light. Nate had gone off to speak to Lacey again and the room is quiet, except for the sound of Marquis and Dan talking over the side.
Serena walks over, dropping down into the seat next to hers and tucking her legs up. "What are you thinking, B?" she asks.
"Not thinking so much as…wondering," Blair murmurs. She glances over at her best friend. "Do you think they've found it?"
"They?" Serena echoes, and then realizes, "The people over there."
Blair nods.
"I don't know," Serena says thoughtfully. "They could be over there staring at it, too, I guess. Do you think there's a correlation in the sequence of events? The time-space relationship?"
The thought makes Blair shiver, makes her feel watched. "No," she says firmly.
Serena looks over at her. "Not even…slightly?"
Blair sighs, deflating a little. "I don't know, S."
"I wonder about it sometimes," Serena murmurs. "What's happening…over there."
"You shouldn't," Blair murmurs back. "We shouldn't. We're in separate…spheres. What happens over there is none of our concern."
"I guess," Serena says quietly.
Blair pokes her, reminds her, "I'm always right."
Serena smiles at that. "Right, right…" She bites her lip. "So you want to…seal it off, then?"
"From what Dan said, I don't even know if that's possible," Blair admits. "The best course of action might just be to…monitor it. Twenty-four hour onsite surveillance. We'll have to close down this venue."
Serena's eyebrows rise. "This is one of the oldest theatres in the city."
Blair shrugs even as she looks around wistfully; it really is beautiful. "Safety trumps history, S, you know that. The public will understand, we'll say something about asbestos."
"What if we…opened it?" Serena asks softly. "Joined things."
Blair glances over at her. "That couldn't work."
"Couldn't it? They can't be that different from us."
"They could be completely different," Blair says firmly. "Just because we're not dealing with another species, it doesn't mean we're not dealing with a radically different society."
"We exist over there," Serena murmurs. "They can't be all that different from us."
"We exist here, Serena. Whoever's over there isn't us."
Serena still looks hesitant. "Do you think we're friends? The you and me over there."
Blair sighs. "Of course we're friends," she says softly, grudgingly. "You're my sister in every universe."
Serena smiles a little, glancing at the stage, at the trembling wave of light. "You're probably right," she says after a moment. "Two Blairs would be too many to handle, anyway," she teases.
Rolling her eyes, Blair says, "I'm just going to pretend you said you're right, B."
"So…what's our plan?" Nate asks, dropping into a seat in the row behind them. He presses a quick kiss to the back of Serena's head and then leans between them to kiss Blair.
She touches his cheek softly, briefly, and shrugs. "Surveillance. Around the clock. At least until we establish a long-term plan."
Nate nods, shrugging too. "Sounds good to me." He takes her hand in his, kisses her fingers. "Are we good to go home then?"
She sighs, knowing from the tone of his question that they need to. "Delia's still awake, isn't she?"
He smiles. "You have a very stubborn daughter."
Serena touches her arm. "Go home," she says. "I can hang out here with Marquis until morning."
Blair hesitates. "S…"
"I'm fine with it, really," Serena insists.
Blair touches Nate's arm. "Sweetie, go ask Dan if he can stay for the next few hours, too."
He nods, getting to his feet. "See you, S," he tells Serena.
"Bye," she tells him softly before turning back to Blair, an exasperated look on her face. "No one's going to burst through the hole between the universes and kill me overnight."
"I know that," Blair says. "Do you honestly think Dan would make a good bodyguard?" She arches her eyebrows. "You should have some company, that's all."
"I'm not lonely," Serena mumbles. "I have a fish."
"Yes, and I'm sure he provides you with stimulating conversation," Blair says wryly, getting to her feet. "There's nothing wrong with needing friends," she says more gently.
Serena frowns up at her. "You don't need to baby me. It's been four years. I'm over it."
"Your so-called break from dating has lasted nearly the entire expanse of those four years," Blair points out, and pre-empts, "Pierce did not count, he was utterly boring."
"That lasted nearly a year. Boring people count," Serena pouts.
"They do not," Blair says in a gentler tone, leaning down to kiss the top of Serena's head. "I'll see you in the morning. Love you."
"Love you too," Serena murmurs.
Blair steps away from her, moving toward Nate, who's waiting for her in the middle of the aisle.
"Ready to go home?" he asks, looping an arm around her.
"More than ready." She smiles, leaning up to put a kiss to his lips and letting him lead her out of the theatre.
They'll deal with all of this tomorrow.
tbc.
Rating | pg-13
Characters | Blair (x2), Dan (x2), Nate (x2), Serena (x2).
Summary | AU after s2. This is loosely, loosely based on the show Fringe. In which everyone has a doppelgänger.
Notes | Yes, I have two thousand and seventeen things to update. Whatevs. Thank you to lookinglassgirl for (a) planting this idea in my head and (b) being an excellent sounding board.
Serena van der Woodsen (1): Manhattan (1); December 5, 2022 (1).
"It is the middle of the night," she says for what must be the third time, hurrying down the alleyway after Blair. Blair's wearing flats that make next to no noise; Serena's heels click-clack noisily on the pavement in comparison.
"I am aware, Serena," Blair says, her voice soft and not quite as cutting as it would normally be.
"You interrupted my date," Serena whines, following her as she turns a corner and begins to enter a code at a locked, large door.
"My apologies to Pierce," Blair says wryly. "He'll have to get laid another night…" She frowns at the screen when it flashes, incorrect code. "Who the hell names their kid Pierce, anyway?"
"He's actually nice," Serena says, somewhat half-heartedly. This is the third date with Pierce that's been interrupted, and she doubts he's going to want to see her again. It's been like this ever since March when the division was established, mysterious case after mysterious case interrupting her dates, or her yoga classes, or her sleep. They were all spending much more time in the office than out of it. Dan never seemed to leave at all (much to Blair's irritation; she was constantly whining that she had not signed up to spend every waking hour with Dan Humphrey).
"If he's nice then he'll understand," Blair says, finishing entering the code, and this time the screen flashes, access granted. "Come on, S."
Serena follows her in with a little sigh. The room they step into is dark but Blair seems to know where she's going, so Serena just follows her until they reach a larger room with a moderate amount of light.
"Okay, we're here," Blair calls softly.
"About time," Dan says, emerging into the limited light, dark circles under his eyes. He looks at Serena, taking her in from head to toe, blue dress and high heels, earrings and hair that's now half-out of its carefully constructed ponytail. "That date sure went late," he comments.
"That is none of your business," she tells him cheerfully, grabbing his arm for balance as she takes off her heels. "Want to explain to me what's going on here?"
"Marquis wants to brief you, I think," he says, referring to the head of their division.
That sparks her interest a little. "Okay…" she says slowly, moving further into the room, glancing around. There's unfamiliar machinery everywhere and a soft, glowing light coming from behind double-doors at the other end of the room. She moves toward it and stumbles into Nate. "Hey," she says surprised. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
He smiles. "Same thing you are, I guess…" He looks her over the way Dan had, amusement in his blue eyes. "How was the date?"
She rolls her eyes a little. "Unfinished," she huffs. "D'you know what's going on here?"
Nate shrugs. "M'waiting to find out."
She sighs. "Okay, well…I don't want to wait." She moves forward again, the floor cold under her bare feet, until she comes to stand next to her boss. "Hi," she says.
He looks at her and visibly holds back a sigh. "Agent van der Woodsen, hello."
She smiles a little; he's always liked Blair better. "What's going on?"
"We are not…entirely sure of that yet."
"You're investigating?"
"Not…precisely."
"Okay. Precisely what is going on then?"
He looks at her, his eyes serious in his face. "It would appear…"
She gives him a moment, and when he doesn't continue, she prompts, "Yes?"
"It would appear that those doors, over there…" He gestures across the room. "Provide a bridge to a universe that parallels ours."
Serena can feel her eyes widen in her face, and leaving her date seems incredibly insignificant all of a sudden. "Holy shit," she says softly.
Marquis sighs heavily beside her, but in the end, all he has to say is, "Well put."
Nathaniel Archibald (2): Manhattan (2); December 5, 2020 (2).
"Everything alright?" Nate asks as Blair moves back toward him, his cell phone in her hand.
She hands the phone back to him with a wry smile. "Depends on your definition of alright."
He slides an arm around her waist, rubbing his thumb idly over her hip. "Delia's up?" he guesses.
"It's like she has a sixth sense," Blair sighs, exasperation slipping into her voice. "She knows when you leave the house."
Nate grins briefly, pressing a kiss to her temple. "You're just jealous that I'm her favourite."
"You are not, Nathaniel Archibald," she huffs. "She's just…remarkably perceptive."
He tries to subdue his grin as he says, more seriously, "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. Lacey will get her back to sleep." The live-in nanny had become a necessity when Blair didn't want to leave her job and he wasn't able to leave his; if not for Lacey, they'd have to call his mother to come stay with the kids every time they were called out in the middle of the night like this.
"I hope so," Blair murmurs. "Or she'll be cranky tomorrow."
"They call 'em the terrible twos for a reason."
She glances at him, pouting slightly. "Fitz was never like this."
He leans in, kisses her pout. "We got lucky with Fitz."
"B," Serena calls softly, moving toward them. She's still wearing her pyjama pants beneath her FBI jacket. "Marquis's ready to talk to us."
Blair nods and taps Nate's phone. "Answer if Lacey calls back."
He rolls his eyes a little. "Yes, ma'am."
They walk off together, Blair and Serena, arms looped and heads close together. Watching them like that is like watching his childhood play out all over again, S and B, always inseparable. There had been a period of time, when they were seven, eight, nine years old, when he'd fit in with them pretty well, but then they'd gotten older and their threesome divided along stronger lines - he and Blair started to date, got married, had kids; Blair and Serena went to the college together, moved up the ranks together, became partners.
He slips his glasses off, rubbing at either side of his nose for a moment before he puts them back on and moves toward Dan, who's standing off to the side, studying his tablet. "Hey," he says.
Dan glances up at him. "Hey."
"Do you know what's going on here?"
"Waldorf didn't tell you?"
"I think Marquis is telling them now," Nate says, nodding over at where Blair and Serena are standing with their boss.
Dan thinks for a moment and then says, "I don't think I'm supposed to tell you."
"Off the record?" Nate asks hopefully.
Dan sighs, considering. "You know about…the weak spots?"
"Between the universes? Yeah. We've known about them for a long time." He glances over at Blair again. "Is there another one here?"
"Sort of, yeah."
"Sort of?" Nate presses.
"Look, Mr. Archibald - "
"Nate," he cuts in. "Seriously, call me Nate."
Dan sighs, correcting himself, "Nate. I don't really know if I should be the one to explain this to you. You should probably wait to speak with Marquis."
Nate smiles a little, the way he does when he needs Blair to forgive him for a trivial faux-pas, the way he does when wants Serena to agree to something, the way he does when he's asking people to vote for him. "Or you could just tell me."
Dan rolls his eyes, but it's not so much exasperated as it is fond (the way it always is with Blair, with Serena). "It's a bridge."
"A bridge to wh - " Nate's jaw drops in the middle of sentence. "Oh," he says. "Oh."
Dan nods, looking vaguely amused, but there's a sense of understanding on his face, too. "Yeah."
Daniel Humphrey (1): Manhattan (1); December 5, 2022 (1).
"So…what's the plan?"
He blinks at Serena, startled at the way she's in his personal space all of sudden. "What do you mean?"
"I mean…what's the plan?" she repeats. "To seal it? Explore it?"
He shrugs. "That's Marquis' call. Or Nate's." He pauses. "Or maybe even the president's."
Her eyes widen, brighten. "Did someone call - "
"Not that I know of, but maybe they will."
"Wow," she says softly, glancing over at the door, at the glowing light. "In the middle of a warehouse. Who would have guessed."
"Warehouses aren't good enough for you?" he asks wryly.
Serena's eyes narrow slightly, her lower lip slipping into a slight pout. It's a look he knows well by now, the look she gives him every time he sounds mildly bitter about their history.
He holds up his hands as if in surrender. "Sorry. It's late. I'm running on negative hours of sleep."
Her lips purse and he can tell he's already forgiven before she even says, "It's okay."
Dan's quiet for a beat and then he says, "Sorry your date got interrupted."
Serena laughs a little. "It's okay. I'm over it." Her eyes drift back to the door, the light.
Nate joins them then, a tray with three coffee cups on it in his hands. "Hey," he says, holding it out to them. "So…that's crazy, huh?" he asks, nodding toward the door.
"Crazy," Serena echoes, reaching for one of the cups.
He shifts the tray around so that a different cup is closest to her. "That one's yours," he explains. "No cream, unhealthy amounts of sugar."
She smiles at him. "Thanks, Natie."
Dan resists rolling his eyes, reaching for the cup closest to him. When he takes a sip he finds that it's black, just the way he likes it at this hour, and he echoes Serena, says, "Thanks, man."
"Thank Lacey," Nate says with a little laugh, taking the last cup for himself. "Having a personal assistant is kind of the best thing that's ever happened to me."
One of Serena's eyebrows arches. "Really?"
And Nate nudges her. "Not like that."
"It's you," Dan points out, smiling slightly. "One has to clarify."
Nate huffs a laugh, doesn't contradict him.
Blair walks over to them, holding a cup of coffee of her own, looking entirely put-together, even at this hour of the night. "I think it's imperative that we monitor before we take any action," she announces, handing her coffee to Serena so that she can adjust the headband that's keeping her hair out of her face.
"Are you kidding?" Serena asks. "We should go."
Dan blinks at her. "Are you kidding? We should seal it."
"Really?" Nate asks. "We all came here in the middle of the night just so you could seal it off?"
Dan looks at him seriously. "There are consequences involved in breaches between universes."
"You didn't say it was a breach. You said it was a bridge."
Blair sighs. "Are you a scientist, Nate?"
"No," he says. "But neither are you."
"It should be obvious to you that you can't just waltz over to another universe - "
"What's obvious about it?" Serena interjects. "We're not going to break it, it's already broken. The bridge is proof of that."
"Serena," Blair sighs. "You're being impulsive."
Serena sighs, too. "I'm not saying we have to march in there right this second. We can wait until morning, make some kind of plan first."
"Crossing can be dangerous," Dan points out, frowning a little.
Serena rolls her eyes at him. "Live a little."
"That's my point, Serena," he murmurs. "Staying alive."
"You think crossing over would kill you?" Nate asks, eyes widening considerably.
Dan hesitates. "There's potential, yes…"
"But?" Serena prompts, eyebrows tilting up.
He sighs, admits, "It's…relatively unlikely. That doesn't mean it's impossible."
"Don't you think it's worth the risk?"
He stares at her. "I'm not going to let you kill yourself just because you're curious."
"Loathe as I am to admit it," Blair says with a sigh. "Humphrey is right."
Serena frowns and Nate nudges her. "You're being reckless," he murmurs.
"So?"
Blair crosses her arms. "It's late. Can we please agree that I'm obviously correct that monitoring is the best game plan at this time?"
Nate shrugs, easygoing as always.
Serena frowns, brushing her fingers through her hair. After a moment, she says, "Fine. For tonight."
"Humphrey?" Blair asks.
He thinks about it for a moment, glancing over at the door, and then concedes. "Yeah. It's the best time for the plan being."
"Thank you," Blair sighs. "We should all go home and get some rest; we'll reconvene at six."
Dan looks at her in disbelief. "It's almost four."
Her gaze flicks over him dismissively. "You better hurry home to Brooklyn, then," she says, before turning on her heel. A beat later, she calls, "Serena!"
"Yeah, I'm coming," Serena calls back. She glances at Dan. "You want to crash with us?"
"With you and Blair?" he repeats sceptically. "No thanks."
Nate elbows him lightly. "Come over to my place, I have four guest rooms. One of them should get some use."
Dan sighs, too tired to protest. "Yeah…alright."
"Serena!"
They all wince at the shrill tone Blair's voice has taken on. Serena gives them a quick smile. "See you tomorrow."
"See you, S," Nate answers.
Dan watches them go and then follows Nate out to his car.
They'll figure all of this out tomorrow.
Blair Archibald, née Waldorf (2): Manhattan (2); December 2, 2022 (2).
She sits in the front row in the theater, her eyes on the stage, on the swatch of moving light. Nate had gone off to speak to Lacey again and the room is quiet, except for the sound of Marquis and Dan talking over the side.
Serena walks over, dropping down into the seat next to hers and tucking her legs up. "What are you thinking, B?" she asks.
"Not thinking so much as…wondering," Blair murmurs. She glances over at her best friend. "Do you think they've found it?"
"They?" Serena echoes, and then realizes, "The people over there."
Blair nods.
"I don't know," Serena says thoughtfully. "They could be over there staring at it, too, I guess. Do you think there's a correlation in the sequence of events? The time-space relationship?"
The thought makes Blair shiver, makes her feel watched. "No," she says firmly.
Serena looks over at her. "Not even…slightly?"
Blair sighs, deflating a little. "I don't know, S."
"I wonder about it sometimes," Serena murmurs. "What's happening…over there."
"You shouldn't," Blair murmurs back. "We shouldn't. We're in separate…spheres. What happens over there is none of our concern."
"I guess," Serena says quietly.
Blair pokes her, reminds her, "I'm always right."
Serena smiles at that. "Right, right…" She bites her lip. "So you want to…seal it off, then?"
"From what Dan said, I don't even know if that's possible," Blair admits. "The best course of action might just be to…monitor it. Twenty-four hour onsite surveillance. We'll have to close down this venue."
Serena's eyebrows rise. "This is one of the oldest theatres in the city."
Blair shrugs even as she looks around wistfully; it really is beautiful. "Safety trumps history, S, you know that. The public will understand, we'll say something about asbestos."
"What if we…opened it?" Serena asks softly. "Joined things."
Blair glances over at her. "That couldn't work."
"Couldn't it? They can't be that different from us."
"They could be completely different," Blair says firmly. "Just because we're not dealing with another species, it doesn't mean we're not dealing with a radically different society."
"We exist over there," Serena murmurs. "They can't be all that different from us."
"We exist here, Serena. Whoever's over there isn't us."
Serena still looks hesitant. "Do you think we're friends? The you and me over there."
Blair sighs. "Of course we're friends," she says softly, grudgingly. "You're my sister in every universe."
Serena smiles a little, glancing at the stage, at the trembling wave of light. "You're probably right," she says after a moment. "Two Blairs would be too many to handle, anyway," she teases.
Rolling her eyes, Blair says, "I'm just going to pretend you said you're right, B."
"So…what's our plan?" Nate asks, dropping into a seat in the row behind them. He presses a quick kiss to the back of Serena's head and then leans between them to kiss Blair.
She touches his cheek softly, briefly, and shrugs. "Surveillance. Around the clock. At least until we establish a long-term plan."
Nate nods, shrugging too. "Sounds good to me." He takes her hand in his, kisses her fingers. "Are we good to go home then?"
She sighs, knowing from the tone of his question that they need to. "Delia's still awake, isn't she?"
He smiles. "You have a very stubborn daughter."
Serena touches her arm. "Go home," she says. "I can hang out here with Marquis until morning."
Blair hesitates. "S…"
"I'm fine with it, really," Serena insists.
Blair touches Nate's arm. "Sweetie, go ask Dan if he can stay for the next few hours, too."
He nods, getting to his feet. "See you, S," he tells Serena.
"Bye," she tells him softly before turning back to Blair, an exasperated look on her face. "No one's going to burst through the hole between the universes and kill me overnight."
"I know that," Blair says. "Do you honestly think Dan would make a good bodyguard?" She arches her eyebrows. "You should have some company, that's all."
"I'm not lonely," Serena mumbles. "I have a fish."
"Yes, and I'm sure he provides you with stimulating conversation," Blair says wryly, getting to her feet. "There's nothing wrong with needing friends," she says more gently.
Serena frowns up at her. "You don't need to baby me. It's been four years. I'm over it."
"Your so-called break from dating has lasted nearly the entire expanse of those four years," Blair points out, and pre-empts, "Pierce did not count, he was utterly boring."
"That lasted nearly a year. Boring people count," Serena pouts.
"They do not," Blair says in a gentler tone, leaning down to kiss the top of Serena's head. "I'll see you in the morning. Love you."
"Love you too," Serena murmurs.
Blair steps away from her, moving toward Nate, who's waiting for her in the middle of the aisle.
"Ready to go home?" he asks, looping an arm around her.
"More than ready." She smiles, leaning up to put a kiss to his lips and letting him lead her out of the theatre.
They'll deal with all of this tomorrow.
tbc.