tampered | (no subject)

(no subject)

When; April 20th, late morning
Rating; PG
Characters; Arthur

miss_waldorf
Summary; Arthur comes with a peace offering of sorts, and all is forgotten.
Log;

Blair had specifically told everyone she knew professionally that she was taking a week off of work. As for those she knew completely outside of work, which left out only a few, she had simply refrained from contacting them. Yes, of course the ticking drove her mad, but all things considered, it was better than having to put up faces and deal with people.

Sometimes she took walks to the park, with sunglasses and scarves and non-matching outfits to throw people off. Feeding the ducks always made her happy.

This morning, she felt like staying in. It was too much effort to have to do her hair and make-up, put together an outfit, open the door and walk out. Sitting by the kitchen counter with a glass of orange juice in hand, she let herself zone off. The dreams last night were beyond weird, and they left her with lots to think about --at least, lots to replay in her mind. It was better than replaying reality, anyway.

The ticking was persistent at the back of her mind, and if only it did not grow to a crescendo then she would have learned to tolerate it.

She spiked her orange juice with gin yesterday morning, and the mornings before that, but she would hate to think of herself similar to CeCe in any way, including drinking before twelve. So today her breakfast was completely non-alcoholic. It was an accomplishment, really. She prodded her croissant with disinterest.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Arthur still thought that the fact that he had to apologize was ridiculous (yes, he was using that word) but he hated the thought of Blair being so upset with him and not wanting him around even more than the idea that this was his fault. And perhaps he cold have communicated things more clearly to her than he had. Or spoken to her in person.

Which is why he had come with a peace offering of sorts. The pendant and the cat. Between the two he hoped that Blair would at least talk to him. If after this she didn't want anything to do with him, well then she wasn't who Arthur thought she was.

Arriving at her apartment, Arthur gave a sigh and knocked on the door, shifting the cat carrier in his hand as he waited for her to answer.

Blair let out a groan at the sound of knocking. Placing her glass on the counter, she stomped over to the door. It must have been that idiot of a milkman who rang her door everyday. He must get off of seeing her in lingerie, the creep. Well, she would show him an irate Blair without all the make-up and frills --which should be enough to scare off even Fred Krueger.

She started yelling at him as she opened the door. "I told you to leave the bottles there. The money's always under the--" Then she saw who it was. "Arthur?"

A look of fear crossed her face. Good job presenting yourself to a Crown Prince, Waldorf. She had busted her chance of ever becoming anything a few days ago, and now she just sealed herself to the realms of mediocrity forever. But whatever, what was done was done. She averted her gaze, looking down and away from him.

"You want the diamond bracelet back?" She willed herself not to cry, giving him the coldest face she could make.

Edited 2009-04-20 02:48 (UTC)

When she opened the door and started shouting, Arthur was a bit taken aback. Bottles? It wasn't until she got a look of horror on her face that he realized she didn't think that it was going to be him at the door. Blair had obviously been taking this harder than he imagined though. He had never seen her so... not put together before. She looked like she hadn't been sleeping well, if at all.

A frown of concerned passed across his face and only deepened when she spoke as he could hear the emotion in her voice.

"Don't be ri-" he said before stopping himself. He had rehearsed what he was going to say to make sure that he wouldn't make an idiot of himself or make things worse.

"Can I come in?" he asked. "I want to clear things up."

Now maintaining the bitch face was one of her life's accomplishments, but at the moment she found it to be a challenge. She tried to give him the most hateful look she could muster, but it probably came through as a betrayed look instead. Apart from the image of walking down the aisle with Arthur in hand, she also remembered some other things from that curse day; like how she thought, honestly thought, herself as someone good. And she remembered what his wish was before that happened.

Was it true? Or were the deities just messing with her mind?

"I thought you already did that." Blair let out a dry chuckle, shaking her head. "But who am I to go against your wishes, Your Highness." She stepped back anyway, walking back into the apartment and letting him walk in if he wanted to. As if his presence did not matter, she went back to her breakfast, taking the glass of orange juice and gulping it all down like medicine.

Arthur clenched his teeth to bite back from saying anything that he might regret. He had to remind himself that women were irrational and emotional and prone to do and say crazy things. And as Serena pointed out Blair had a tendency to sabotage herself. With a deep, calming breath Arthur stepped into the apartment.

"I want to apologize for saying proposing to you was ridiculous," he began, saying the words that he had rehearsed in his mind and with Anne. "I think I gave you the impression that I thought the idea of us being engaged was ridiculous, and that's not the case. I care about you, I care about us far too much to ruin what we have by proposing prematurely. You're very important to me Blair and I want you in my life. I want you in my life now and I imagine you'll be a part of my life for a long time."

He paused for a moment and double checked to make sure he had said everything that he had wanted to say before continued.

"Besides," he said, holing up the cat carrier. "Cat Jr. would be very disappointed if he had to return to the apartment with me and live with Merlin, Anne, Will, Lancelot, and myself."

Blair turned to him at the word 'apologize'. Was he really saying sorry to her? She knew, despite how she might act, that the fault was hers, only she also knew that she was not big enough to step up and apologize first. She could feel a sob choking her at every word he was saying. Was it a curse day again today? Was it a sprinkling of salt on still raw wounds?

She swallowed her saliva to recompose herself, looking away from him and at the empty glass. Running her mind through many possible retorts, a thought gnawed at her that it was possible that he really meant the words he said. After all, did he not think so well of her?

When she turned back to him, as he spoke up again, there were already tears in her eyes. He had a knack for making her cry, but maybe that was not really a bad thing. Feeling her knees go weak, she sat herself back down on the stool, putting a hand over her eyes and biting back the tears. But already the sobs wracked her frame, and Blair did not cry prettily like Serena. "I'm sorry," she croaked.

When he saw the tears he set the cat down on the nearest surface and came over to her. The apology was unnecessary and honestly, unexpected, but he was very glad to hear it. He wrapped his arms around her and held her for a moment, slightly awkwardly because this was not a situation he was familiar with in any way.

"I have something else for you," he said, pulling back just a bit and reaching down into his pocket. He took out a silk cloth and carefully unfolded it. Inside was a gold dragon pendant (http://www.celticattic.com/jewelry/images/celtic/dragons/beowulf_dragon.jpg) with a small ruby set in its eye.

"It's the symbol of my house," he explained. "I had it made for you. As a reminder that I'm serious about our relationship."

Blair put her arms around him as he held her, crying freely now that there was no mascara to worry about. How much worse could she look anyway? And he was still here despite of how awful she looked. That should count for something.

When he pulled back, she took a deep breath to stop her sobbing, wiping the tears off her cheeks with one hand. She reminded herself that it was very unladylike of her to sob like a madwoman like that, but she had to bite back her tears again at the sight of the pendant. Jewelry was a sure way to a girl's heart, of course, especially girls like Blair. But it would be a terrible underestimation to brush this off as common jewelry, with all the significance that came with it.

She blinked back the tears and smiled at him. "I--" No, of course she knew she did not deserve it, but that would be beside the point. A gift was a gift because the receiver did not deserve it. "I'll make myself deserve it."

Arthur was thankful when Blair stopped crying. Not that he was upset that she was or thought less of her for it, but he had absolutely not idea how to deal with it. Unfortunately, he seemed to make her cry on several occasions already, although she seemed rather stoic most other time.

"I wouldn't give it to you if I didn't think you already deserved it," he said, smiling at her. Arthur had spent his entire life living up to the unobtainable image his father had for him, he would never do that to anyone else. "I'm with you because I like who you are. Not who you could become."

Blair laughed off the tears, smiling brightly up at him. She placed a hand on the side of his face, tracing his cheekbone with her thumb and his jaw with her other fingers. She really felt like Cinderella now, after the Prince had finally found her to be the one who left the glass shoe behind. Finally, finally, he found the one he wanted after those stepsisters had been disposed of!

"I'll wear it everyday," she promised. "To mean that I'm yours." If anyone was an anti-feminist, it would be Blair. She would willingly be anyone's trophy wife if it meant she would be well taken care of and paraded to the people who matter.

Of course, she was getting ahead of herself again now. "I really like you, Arthur."

"I really like you too," he said, leaning into he hand a bit. He was glad that she said 'like', he was very sure that he wasn't ready to throw around the other 4 letter l-word anytime soon.

"And I would hope that would mean in the future if we have some sort of argument you would be willing to talk about it rather than just say we're over," Arthur added, his voice taking on a bit of a stern tone. The sort of behavior that Blair had displayed was not the sort he would put up with very often.

Blair looked up at him like a scolded kid, which was probably what she really was. For all her antics, she was really quite simple, and Arthur was sounding much like her dad.

"I'm sorry, I don't want it to be over, us to be over," she pleaded to him, like a child making a promise not to steal anymore cookies. Only Blair really meant it, for all her vices, she never made promises lightly. She was just very out of it the last few days, on top of Serena leaving and general business and keeping bulimia at bay, she could not imagine Arthur leaving too. So she had thought that it would be better if she left first.

It was better to leave than to be left behind. "I will always talk, I wouldn't leave like that again."

"I don't want it to be either," he told her, touched by how... contrite she looked about the whole thing. He wouldn't have imagined she felt that strongly about them. "I was miserable to think you didn't want to see me again."

He was glad to hear that she wouldn't leave again. Arthur believed in people keeping their word and if Blair said she wouldn't do that again he believed her.

"Then it's all forgotten," he assured her, leaning forward to lightly kiss her on her lips.

Blair smiled gratefully at his reply, leaning forward too to meet his kiss. Before he could pull back again, she placed a hand on his neck to pull him to her, returning the kiss with more passion. She let herself slide off the stool to be closer to him. She needed him to know that she really did not want him to ever leave her.

But then her ears caught the persistent sound of mewling. It must be Cat, Jr. --Wait, Cat, Jr.? She broke the kiss to turn to the source, laughing delightedly at the realization. "Aww, Cat!"

Arthur was more than willing to let her deepen the kiss and eagerly returned her passion. He slid an around her waist and was pulling her closer when she leaned away from him.

When he realized it was the cat he rolled his eyes. Something told him that he was going to regret getting her the kitten.

"Yes," Arthur said, reluctantly pulling away from Blair to go get the cat carrier. "The woman at the pet shop promised me it was well behaved and would help with the ticking."

Blair simply laughed some more at his eye-rolling, but she let him pull away to fetch her the cat anyway. That he named it Cat, Jr. was quite telling of his source of information. Chuck and Arthur were not on speaking terms, and that Bass would never give useful information. That left only Serena. Why she would help Arthur, Blair could not guess, but she supposed that those two could still be friends despite her and Serena's current rift.

Current, she thought, but she also knew that the issue that set them apart this time were more serious than even Yale. But this was a happy time, and she only wanted to think happy thoughts.

Bending over to level her eyes with the carrier, she prodded through the cage with a finger, cooing delightedly at it. "Hello, Cat~ Hello, Junior~ Aww, Arthur! Look at its little paws!"

Edited 2009-04-21 12:31 (UTC)

"Yes, they're very small," he said, leaning over to look at the cat with her. Really, all of the cat was little but he didn't point that out to Blair. She liked it and that's all that mattered. And it would help with the ticking. He knew she would never say anything about it but Arthur was sure it had to be getting to her.

"I hope it doesn't need as much as an iguana," he said. "Will requires a lot of different things like a tank and special medicine as well as food."

It was. The ticking was one of the things that drove her positively mad. It was bad enough to feel lonely without having it confirmed by some invisible clock that also finds it amusing to get louder and louder. No more ticking now, she thought, no more not ever.

Mewling and pawing at her finger, Cat Jr. stumbled closer to the door of the carrier. Blair giggled, stroking the side of its face. "No~ All that Cat Jr. needs is lots and lots love, hm~?" And cat food and plushies and more, but first on her list was a manual on kittens. She would take excellent care of it, for sure.

With a flurry of laughter she stood up again, reaching for his hand to take it in both of hers. She held it adoringly. "You give me the best presents."

Arthur watched Blair interact with the cat and was struck by a side of her he hadn't really seen before. He could already tell that she absolutely adored the kitten and he didn't think he had ever seen Blair take quite so quickly to anyone or anything before.

When she laughed and spun to face him he smiled back down at her.

"That's because I think you deserve them," he said.

She always did have a soft spot for animals (whoever said that you can know a bad person by watching how they react to puppies never met Blair). One of her hobbies, admittedly, was feeding the ducks over at Central Park with Dorota. That always made her feel better no matter what was going on in her life. The ducks here in Xanadu were less friendly, but now there was fuzzy little Cat Jr. Her life was complete.

Blair stopped at his reply, smiling but dropping her gaze to his hand. She never thought she meant that much to him. Sure, it was not the first time the realization struck her, but she usually followed it up with much questioning.

She looked up at him with a bright smile. "I don't doubt you."

"Good," Arthur said with a nod. "I would hate to have to waste much time trying to argue with you about how you deserve anything I give you. I still wish you could see yourself like I do, but I suppose I'll have to settle for not arguing."

Arguing would have reminded Arthur far too much of Morgana. It seemed one of the main ways that the two communicated. With Blair it would have just been... odd. He much preferred holding her, or kissing her, or... doing other things with her.

Other things, now?

"I know how you see me," she said, looking at him coyly. Oh, she knew it well, having seen it for herself during that curse day. She noticed that she was very excited, for lack of a better word, by the sight of herself --very slight sights included. The thought of it had bothered her when she woke up the next morning, but she supposed that he was as much as a guy as... the next guy. Either way, at least he wanted her, not his step mom or anything creepy like that.

She noticed that he thought other things of her too, which she knew were not true, but she would rather forget those quicker than even the previous one. They would have been a burden to her mind.

She placed the hand she held in hers on her waist, moving over to rest both hands on his shoulders. "Cat Jr. can wait," she whispered.

Arthur gave a slight cough and glanced to the side when she mentioned that she knew how he saw her. He had wondered if his wish had actually taken effect and apparently it had. Some of the ways Arthur thought about Blair were not ways he wanted her to know about. Not that he hadn't already made those ways perfectly apparent in other ways.

When she moved his hand to her waist though and moved hers to his shoulders he couldn't help but give a bit of a smile.

"Do you have something else that requires your attention?" he asked.

"Nothing other than you," she replied, angling her head and reaching up to kiss him on the lips. A thought crossed her mind that he might have thought her strange for having said yes to the proposal in the first place. Did he think she was desperate? Or that she was completely smitten? Or that she was after his crown? Or just plain cursed?

Blair hoped it was the latter, but she felt an inch of guilt at knowing it was closer to the third reason. It did not mean she liked him less, it meant she liked him more.

Oh, Arthur liked the sound of that. He also liked it when she kissed him. His other hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to him so he could feel her body pressed against his. Any thoughts about why she had accepted his proposal were far gone from his mind and would probably never return.

For the immediate future he had no more plans that to keep kissing Blair and not let go of her.

Even logically thinking, there was absolutely no reason she could not not like him. Social standing, check. Pretty blue eyes, check. Likes Audrey Hepburn, check. Gives her nice gifts, check. And every girl knows that even when there was a logical reason not to like him, pretty blue eyes tilt the scale for sure. So who cared about being from different universes? Blair certainly didn't, and she didn't want to think about it.

"Do you have anywhere to be?" She asked against his lips, pressing herself close. Say no.

"Nowhere but here with you," he murmured back as he kissed her again, this time a bit deeper.

Blair was nearly everything Arthur could want in a woman. Beautiful, smart, driven, and capable. Perhaps she wasn't royalty but that was only a minor concern to Arthur and it would only really matter in Camelot. And they weren't in Camelot.

Blair grinned at the nod to her previous reply, gladly accepting his kiss. He turned out to be less that prim and proper Prince she had met at first, and much more... human, closer to home. That still baffled her sometimes, but she supposed that she would hate to be with a mannequin of a Prince Charming. Arthur could be irritatingly dense, but he was far from cold.

"Then we have a whole day," she replied, pulling at his shirt, her edges of her lips curling slyly.

"Oh? Oh!" he said, eyes widening just a bit as she began to pull at his shirt and give him a grin that sent shivers down his body. He swallowed thickly for a moment before he smiled back.

"I think I'd like that," he told her. "I'd like that a lot."

"Mmhm~" She held back a chuckle. She placed slow kisses on his neck. After awhile she started to notice the persistent mewling that the kitten was making. It could be hungry, but that could wait. She would not be long, maybe.

Standing on tiptoes, she whispered into his ear, "let's not make Cat Jr. watch." Blair took his hand and led him away.

Arthur gasped as she kissed along his neck. He hadn't noticed the mewling, but that was because Blair was far too good at making him feel good for him to pay attention to anything else.

"I think that's a good idea," he told her.

With that, he picked her up off her feet in one smooth motion and began to carry her into the bedroom.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only