A Cinderella Christmas

Apartment 4C

It was nearly midnight when Blair stood outside an apartment block in Soho, nearly having frozen her ass off waiting for the subway in Brooklyn after finishing at the diner, she had arrived at Katie and Nate's apartment in Soho an hour later and just as frozen.

Blair quickly pressed the intercom button for apartment 4C, a few moment passed until the buzz was answered: "Hello?" Katie's familiar voice echoed out of the silver box.

"Hey its me! Let me in I'm freezing!" Blair replied, she could hear Katie's laugh before there was a buzz and door opened.

Blair quickly entered the quiet foyer, mailboxes lined the wall and a dull orange light shone from the ceiling above. Blair moved quickly, deciding to take the stairs as she knew the elevator was a) slow and b) scary.

She only had to knock once on the door of apartment 4C before it was opened to reveal Nate. He was wearing a dark blue knitted cardigan that made his equally blue eyes feel even more intense, his hair was ruffled in that perfectly imperfect way guys were so good at. As soon as he recognized Blair he smiled, "Hey Blair! Good to see you!"

Blair returned the smile and greeted him with a hug, "Hi! Happy Christmas!". As soon as Blair and Nate separated Blair was almost tackled into a hug. She laughed into the whirl of brown hair that had engulfed her face, "I've missed you so much!!" Katie said, squeezing Blair tightly, "And it's only been a week since I last saw you!"

Blair laughed as they pulled apart, "I missed you too!"

Katie grinned, "You have so much to tell me!" she said, pulling Blair through an archway. Nate closed the door behind them and Blair was lead into the living room. Sofas were crammed into the space, facing a large tv and bookshelves lined the walls. The exposed brick was covered in family photos and paintings that Nate had inherited. Christmas decorations covered the room and a large Christmas tree stood, twinkling happily. The adjoining kitchen stretched out with a dining table at the center, a wide door stood at the end of the kitchen and Blair knew it lead out onto a balcony where she and Katie had had many late breakfasts after nights out.

Katie lead Blair to a sofa where they both sat down, while Nate followed, "Coffee, Blair?" He asked.

Blair took off her scarf and coat, "Yes please! It's so cold out there I'm surprised it's not snowing!"

Nate laughed slightly, "Anything for you, babe?" He asked Katie.

"I'll take a tea thanks" Katie smiled warmly, Nate nodded and walked to the kitchen.

"Anyway! I thought you had loads to tell me!" Katie said, crossing her legs as if in preparation for the gossip.        

Blair took a deep breath and then launched into the story of Gossip Girl and what Serena had told her the other day, she had put Serena's number into her phone but had been too scared to actually send her a message. Nate brought the drinks over half way through the retelling and stuck around, sitting next to Katie and listening with rapt attention while drinking his own coffee.

"I've heard of Gossip Girl..." He said once Blair had reached the end of her story, "She's  technically one of The Specter's competitors." The Specter was the online news outlet that Nate ran, based in New York it was one of the newest and fastest growing outlets in the industry.

Blair drank the last dregs of her coffee, "Do you know who it is? Who runs it?"

Nate shrugged, "No one knows but it has to be someone on the Upper East Side, otherwise how do they know the tips they get through are legitimate?"

Blair nodded thoughtfully.

"So what are you going to do?"  Katie asked, setting down her empty mug.