Love Has Many Guises - Alternate Ending
Author's Notes:
The one thing that kept coming to mind after writing Part 1 and 2 was Blair's words in Season 5 Episode 15 - Crazy Cupid Love, where she told Dan, "…Just be your charming wonderful self like you've been with me all year…so if you are that guy with Serena, how could she not love you." And it made me wonder, how could she not love him? She practically declared it in that episode, so what is stopping her from loving him. As a result of my many ponderings, I came up with this alternative ending which basically consists of an additional 500+ words to create an alternative ending to Blair's POV from the previous chapter.
The two previous chapters and their endings still stand. However, if this chapter is not your cup of tea, please accept the previous two chapters as how the story ended and ignore this one. Thank you for reading.
Note: Unfortunately the pictorial inspirations behind Blair and Dan's houses have been removed from the realtor's websites, sorry that I couldn't share them with you.
Part 1 - Dan's POV
Part 2 - Blair's POV
No beta, all mistakes are mine.
Love Comes In Many Guises - Alternate Ending
The kids are settling into the New York state of mind very easily and their first year here has passed by so quickly.
Belle especially seems to be making friends at school and often mentions 'Joe' in her conversations. This often results in Olivier teasing her mercilessly about herboyfriend, which would often make Belle scream or blush furiously.
Belle has been pestering her about going to Joe's house for a play date. Blair is happy for Belle to do so provided she is acquainted with Joe's parents first. The forthcoming Teacher-Parent-Student night would be an excellent opportunity to meet Joe and his parents, provided they attended the event that is; Blair recalls that Dorota often attended hers instead of her parents.
A last minute meeting with a new investor based in China causes Blair to be late for the event. She instructs the nanny (Marie) to go in her place. Olivier will be going with them, if the nanny was with Belle; there would be no one at home with Olivier. Dorota being away in Poland was really messing with her plans.
Forty five minutes later Blair is in a town car praying Belle is not too upset with her.
On arriving at the school Blair is directed towards the main hall where all the teachers, students and parents are congregating. Blair spots Olivier skulking in a corner looking bored. Belle close by chatting animatedly to a young boy with a massive ringlet of blond curls and she can Marie is hovering in the background. Blair advances towards them with a smile on her face.
Olivier spots her first and rushes in her direction. Without giving her a chance to say hello, he asks if he and the nanny can go home now. Giving him a peck on the nose, she says firmly "Not yet mon cherie."
They walk over to where Belle and the boy are standing; nodding at Marie, Blair bends down to give Belle a hug and apologizes for being late.
"Maman tu me embarrassant" Belle hisses (Maman you are embarrassing me).
She rolls her eyes, "My apologies ma cherie."
Blair focuses her attention on the boy standing next to Belle, extending her right hand; she smiles and says, "You must be Joe, pleased to finally meet you. I'm Belle's mother."
Joe smiles shyly in return and takes her outstretched hand in his little soft one.
"Pleased to meet you Mrs Collins." He replies in a strong English accent.
She wants to correct him that it's Ms Waldorf but, lets it slide. It would be excruciating explaining to a five year old why she's Ms Waldorf and not Mrs Collins.
A familiar face walks in their direction and Blair freezes.
It can't be.
He looks the same but, older. He wears glasses now which makes him seem more learned.
She sees the shock register in his eyes, there is some hesitancy there too. They stand there staring at each other for what seems like eons, not knowing what to say.
Silencing the petrified inner girl child within her, she fakes the courage she doesn't have and says with a smile, "Fancy seeing you here Humphrey."
"You too Waldorf." He replies returning her smile.
Belle chooses that moment to start tugging at her hand. Blair turns away from Dan to focus on her daughter and hisses in irritation, "Not now Belle?"
"Do you two know each other?"
Shaking her head at her daughter's impudence. "Yes Belle we do."
"Oh, that's great then" she says excitedly.
"Great? What do you mean?"
"You said that I could have a play date with Joe if you met his parents, well since you already know Joe's Dad, it is ok to have the play date, non?"
Dan is Joe's Dad? Is fate playing a cruel trick on her?
"You are Belle's Mother?"
As if the shock of recent revelations is not enough, Olivier uses that moment to launch into a repeated whine about wanting to go home.
She needs to process what she's just heard and she can't do that with Olivier whining.
Belle also picks that moment to ask both Dan and Blair, if she and Joe can go home with Olivier. "Joe's Dad can come pick him up later when you guys are done." Puppy dog eyes ensued from both Joe and Belle following Belle's request.
The headmaster announces that the parents and teachers need to congregate in another room for a short meeting.
Blair reasoned that there was no point in Belle and Joe staying, their bit is finished now.
"I'm ok with it, if you are ok with it Dan."
Dan agrees. Belle and Joe jumping up and down in excitement, Blair is bemused by their antics.
Part of her is still in shock that Dan gave in so easily, she had been expecting more resistance.
Blair instructs Marie to take the kids home in the town car, she and Dan will make way back in a taxi. Giving Olivier and Belle goodbye hugs and kisses, she overhears Dan telling Joe to be good while engulfing him in a hug.
With the kids on their way, they join the other parents.
The meeting isn't very long. it's a short presentation about the school from the headmaster and it was peppered with talks about their hopes and vision. After the presentation there is a bit of parent/teacher engagement. As Belle and Joe are in the same class, she and Dan end up speaking to the same people.
She can't help wondering where Mrs. Humphrey was.
When the event comes to an end, Dan and Blair make their way outside, silently walking side by side on the street adjacent to their children's school on that cool October evening.
Dan breaks the silence, "So you are Belle's mother?"
"I think we already covered that part of the conversation Humphrey." she replies teasingly.
"I just can't believe that out of all the kids in that school, my kid chooses to make friends with, he chooses yours."
"Hey! Your kid should be thrilled to be friends with my kid."
"I don't mean like that Blair, I just meant what are the odds?"
"Yeah, what are the odds"
"So where do we go from here?" He says quietly.
"We try to be civil for the sake of our kids."
"What about if they ask us how we know each other? At their age they tend to be very inquisitive and I'm not ready to tell my son about the birds and the bees yet."
She laughs, still the same old Dan with his humor.
"We can tell them we are old friends." Blair says calmly. "We were friends at one point."
"Yeah we were, weren't we? Sounds good Waldorf."
They hail a cab and head to her place.
After their original encounter, with the knowledge that their parents are friends, Belle and Joe decide that they want to have play dates every day. Blair doesn't exactly discourage this sentiment; more Joe means means more Dan. Dan is not buying into the new way of thinking and only agrees to play dates twice a month.
The thing is, her children are just like her. They can be obstinate when they don't get their way. 99.9% of the time she can curtail their obstinacy, they may be headstrong but, they are not as headstrong as their mother. In this particular instance she doesn't try to curtail Belle and hints that she is happy for Belle and Joe to have as many play dates as they wOuld like. It was Dan that needed convincing.
Belle comes up with a strategy that involves writing Mr. Humphrey a letter which will include pictures of her and Joe crying at being kept apart, Belle plans to give the letter to Dan after school.
Later that afternoon Blair gets a phone call from Mrs. Simpson, who is distressed about that nice Dr Humphrey keeping those two children apart. Apparently Mrs Simpson was at the gate when Belle gave the letter to Mr. Humphrey, upon getting no immediate response to her letter, Belle latches unto Dan's leg, crying and begging him not to keep her and Joe apart.
"That poor brokenhearted child." sniffs Mrs Simpson.
Internally Blair congratulates Belle for being her mother's daughter through and through, and makes a note to buy her a present. She doesn't dare express her glee outwardly else, Mrs Simpson might wonder what type of mother she is.
Her only outward response is, "I know, I hope he changes his mind. I'll speak to Belle about it as soon as I get home."
Upper East Side mothers haven't changed; they behave the same way now like they did when Blair was a child. One whiff of scandal was enough to ignite the flames of gossip. The news of that nice Dr Humphrey breaking a little girl's heart spread quickly like wild fire in a matter of minutes. Blair has been getting calls left right and center after speaking to Mrs Simpson.
The one thing Blair doesn't anticipate is Dan being able to decode Blair Waldorf related schemes; a Belle Collins scheme to be fair. He comes bounding into her office the next morning in irritation.
"Did you put Belle up to this?"
"No but, I didn't exactly discourage her. Come on she only wants to spend more time with her friend, what is the harm in that."
Dan responds by saying the kids already see each other every day at school in addition to their existing play dates. Kids need a bit of discipline and they (the parents) can't give in to their every whim willy nilly just because they decide to throw a tantrum in public.
"Would you be spewing such psychological garbage if Belle wasn't my kid? Is it such a bad thing if our kids want to hang out more often. Do you hate me that much?"
"I don't hate you!"
Pushing his hand through his hair, he says in almost a whisper, "The reason I'm not allowing any more play dates apart from the discipline aspect of things I mentioned earlier is because, Joe spends most of his after school time with his grandfather and a majority of his weekends at my mother in Hudson. Dad never had the opportunity to spend much time with Joe because we were leaving in the England. Since Joe lost his mother to cancer last year; I have been very keen to remedy that. My parents are the only grandparents he has, his mother's parentspassed away before he was born."
"Oh Dan, I'm so sorry…I didn't know."
"Goes to show that you don't always know everything Blair."
"I'll speak to Belle and tell her to back off."
He nods at her and exits her office.
Blair feels extremely wretched, as if there wasn't enough for him to hate her.
Blair speaks to Belle when she gets home and gets her to write a letter apologizing for her behavior. The letter is accompanied by an apology note from Blair and a muffin basket, which is delivered to Dan at Columbia the next day, where he is now a professor.
Blair also calls Mrs Simpson to explain and clear Dan's name. Not soon after that Dan returns to his position of adoration among the mothers.
A few days following her apology, Dan leaves a message with her secretary saying that Joe and Belle can have weekly play dates on Wednesday. Apparently like the kids, Wednesday is a half working day for Dan. He also proposed that if it is ok with her, he can pick them up after school and take them to his place, and would bring Belle home around 5pm.
Blair calls Dan back and tells him that she is ok with his proposal, however she would be picking up Belle from Dan's place on her way back from work instead. He gives her his address and they bid each other goodbye.
Dan lives at "The Brittannia" apartment block in Morningside Heights? All this time and she disn't realise he had been living so close. The play dates so far has been held in her home. As Dan had just returned to the states, she assumed he would be staying in Brooklyn with Rufus.
On Wednesday, she arrives at Dan's place filled with nervous anticipation. Dan buzzes her in and upon getting to his floor, an excited Belle and Joe let her into the apartment and take her straight into the living room.
She hesitates at the door leading to the living room and takes in the sight before her. Dan's apartment is a bit different from what she had been expecting. There was the obvious double book cases however, it is the simplistic and semi sparse style of the decorating that was surprising. She had been expecting something as densely populated like the loft.
There was a pair of white book cases (separated by a plasma TV) on the wall; the book cases faced the direction of doorway. The rest of the living area consisted of a three seat brown leather sofa, a brown leather chaise, a mahogany coffee table in the center of the room, and an ebony grand piano by the window. There were a bunch of toys littered in front of the fire place which was underneath the plasma television. She guesses that this is where Joe and Belle have been playing.
Dan's voice behind her startles her. He wants to know if she would like to join them for some ice cream. She nods and he disappears through a set of double doors.
Belle and Joe ask her excitedly if she would like a tour of the house. She agrees with the same amount of enthusiasm, curious to see the rest of chez Humphrey.
Chez Humphrey turns out to be a two bedroom apartment that is all on the same floor. The first port of call is the dinning room, then the kids show her the bathroom, next is Joe's room which Joe takes pride in showing her. The stop in Joe's room takes longer than expected, Joe and Belle decide to show her how springy Joe's bed is by jumping on it enthusiastically. Belle uses that opportunity to ask for a bed like Joe's, her wooden bed was no fun. Blair promises to think about it.
From Joe's room they turn left into Dan's room. The bed spread and duvet cover on the king size bed are a dark purple color; there is a bedside cabinet on both sides of the bed and on top of it are lamps with a dark brown brocade lamp shade . By the window is a desk laden with papers and above the desk is a book case, strewn with books piling over each other.
Their tour ends in the kitchen, where there are generous scoops of ice cream waiting for them in stainless steel ice cream bowls on top a laminate breakfast bar.
They congregate into the living room and tuck into their ice cream. Blair only has a few spoonfuls, not because she doesn't like the ice cream but, because she doesn't want to pay for her indulgence later by a week of intense dieting.
"Come on Waldorf, treating yourself is not going to make you obese, tuck in!"
She glares at him playfully and proceeds to take another spoonful.
"Why do you call my maman Waldorf? Her name is Blair."
Blair nearly spits out her ice cream.
Dan explains to Belle that when they were in school, he and Blair used to refer to ech other by their surnames, he called her Waldorf, and she called him Humphrey.
"But why?" Belle asks emphatically.
Blair can see Dan struggling for an answer. She saves him from his misery and explains to Belle that sometimes people just refer to each other by their surnames and there wasn't necessarily a reason for it.
She can see that Belle is still not wholly satisfied by the answer but, decides to let it go. Belle then turns to Joe and calls him "Humphrey" for the sheer fun of it. For the next few minutes Dan and Blair listen to their children referring to each other good-naturedly by their surnames.
Blair rolls her eyes at Dan and accuses him, "Look at what you started."
He shrugs at her, which results in them smiling at each other.
It is time to go home and Blair meets with some resistance from Belle. The kid must think after her stint with Dan at the school gates and the increase in play dates, it means she gets a say. All it takes is a look from her and Belle is packing her things and saying goodbye to Joe with a glum face.
Dan and Joe see them to their car. When they exit the main entrance, Dan and Blair turn to the other to say their good byes and it's a bit awkward.
"So..."
"So…"
The kids take their awkward pause/silence to mean that they can race each other to the limo. How Blair wishes things could that simple between them.
"So why don't you and I have coffee some time."
"Blair..."
"I insist. If our kids are going to be friends and have regular play dates, we kinda owe it to ourselves to clear the air."
"You know what, coffee sounds good."
She beams at him. "So can I call you say sometime next week to arrange something."
"Sure."
There first coffee date is at Columbia; Blair thinks Dan will feel more comfortable in his own habitat. They arranged to meet at 12:30pm, Dan's lunch break. Blair she decides to arrive early and sits in on his 11 o' clock lecture.
Dan seems to be very in touch with his students. He takes time to explain things and enjoys engaging them in dialog to spur their contribution and invigorate the way they think. Who knew comparative literature could be so interesting.
At the end of the lecture, Blair descends the stairs and makes her way to the podium where Dan is currently putting away his stuff.
"That was very good Dr Humphrey."
He looks up, surprised to see her and then ends up biting his lower lip.
"I thought we were meeting at 12:30?"
Blair shrugs, "I decided to surprise you."
Dan finishes packing his things, they walk over to his office to drop his things first before heading out for their coffee. Dan's office consists of a mahogany desk laden with papers and books, and a wall encased with bookshelves that contained many old looking books.
On their way out, they bump into a few of his colleagues. Dan's colleagues tended to stop him for a chat and seemed to pay Blair no mind. Blair didn't seem to mind the interruption the first time but, by the time they were interrupted for the third time, she was beginning to lose her patience and was feeling a bit testy. Colleague number three is a lady and her chat with Dan seems to be of a lengthy nature that consisted of her playing with her hair.
Blair hadn't really spared her a glance when she came up to Dan, a female lecture with a dowdy outfit, glasses and unmanaged hair were a dime a dozen. She had been keeping herself occupied by staring at the building's wooden beams for the umpteenth time. Her rising impatience makes her give Dan's colleague a second glance.
"Nelly Yuki is that you?"
"Blair Waldorf?"
"In the flesh."
"So...long time no see, what brings to Columbia", Nelly asks awkwardly
"Well...Dan and I are going to have some coffee before his lunch break runs out, but people keep stopping him to talk to him."
Nelly stammers something and high tails it out of there.
Dan apologizes for the interruptions and they finally make their way to Joe Coffee.
Coffee becomes a two, three or maybe a four time thing, not that Blair's counting.
Slowly they begin to forge something akin to friendship. They still banter like they did at twenty, have similar taste in books and movies. Their debates on current affairs always keeps her on her toes. They and the children begin to hang out on the odd weekend when Dan and Joe are available. Everyone is getting on so well though she still senses some hesitancy from Dan.
Dan is incredibly good with her kids; even brooding Olivier has taken a shine to Dan and sometimes of his own accord Olivier joins Belle at Dan's during her play date with Blair clears her afternoon diary and joins them.
The Humphrey family and Waldorf-Collins-Meyers gradually become regular features at each other's houses.
With such close and frequent proximity, it is not long before old feelings burst through the seams. It is the little things she is crazy about, like how his eyes crinkle when he laughs, or the way he bites his lips or how his eyes pour into hers when they are talking. She had missed this, a lot.
Her kids tell her that she laughs a lot more now. She seems more more relaxed. Dorota can't help chiming in her contribution.
Gossip Girl may no longer exist but, the gossip mongering on the Upper East Side still does. Dan features heavily from time to time due to his eligibility as a single father, in addition, he is not unattractive and is one the few fathers who makes an attempt to regularly come to pick his kid up from school. Plus he tends to engage the other parents (and help) in chitchat at the school gates, the few parents who deign to come and pick up their kids that is.
The current gossip is that Dan and Nelly have a thing.
Continued