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Instead of going to lunch that day, Blair went to the Met.
She did that from time to time. On the days when work, marriage and life in general became a little too much, walking through those rooms and corridors full of beauty and creation alleviated something inside of her.
Of all the museums she had been that one was her favorite and it certainly always would be. Not necessarily because it has a superior architecture or collection, but because it felt like it was a place that belonged to her in a way that very few places did.
She was looking at the Portrait of Madame X by John Singer Sargent, one of the painting that she visited semi regularly when she was there, when she heard a child's voice saying:
"Aunt Blair!"
She followed the sound and saw a blonde girl running towards her smiling. She also saw the girl’s father looking at her seeming slightly surprised.
Blair opened her arms to be embraced by the girl.
"Hello Lizzie" Blair said wrapping her goddaughter in her arms when she reached her, and planted a light kiss on her forehead, and her eyes went up to meet the man who accompanied the girl "Hello Humphrey"
"Hello Blair" Dan said.
"I didn't know you guys were in town" she said, looking at the girl.
"We came to spend Christmas with Grandma Lily" the girl said.
"I'm sure Serena will call you, we just arrived this morning" Dan said.
Blair wasn't sure if that would really the case, if someone asked who her best friend was, Serena would be her automatic answer, but with life and Serena’s move to Boston they spoke much less nowadays. Distance didn't erase all the love that came before, but it had undeniably made communication more difficult.
"And you two are already sightseeing?"
"Lizzie wanted to see the ballet paintings"
"I'm a big fan of Degas," the girl said, clearly thinking herself very sophisticated for knowing the painter's name.
That brought a smile to Blair's face, when she was Lizzie's age she was the same. And although she hadn't met Dan at that age, she imagined that he as a boy was like that too.
That thought brought a line from The Philadelphia Story to her mind "You are the worst kind of snob there is, an intellectual snob", and with this realization that she hasn't watched the movie in over a decade despite being one of her favorites. She was pretty sure that the last time she had watched it was with Dan in the Brooklyn apartment. And that time she hadn't even seen the end, having fallen asleep on his shoulder in the middle.
"Only we can't find where they are" Lizzie continued.
"I know where they are, I can show you" Blair said.
"It's not necessary, we can ask one of the security guards for directions." Dan said.
"I don’t mind. Come on” she said, extending her hand to Lizzie.
And the girl took it and they started walking.
On the way Lizzie talked about the flight and her school and her little brother, and Blair was listening and responding. But she was also looking at Dan, it had been a few years since they last met in person. He was aging well, the only thing she disapproved of was his beard.
She remembered once shortly after they started dating Dan decided to let his beard grow for a week, and she complained that the hair prickled her skin when they kissed and the next day he appeared completely shaven. That had been sweet. She imagined that Serena didn't mind his bearded kisses, maybe she even liked them more that way.
"We're here" Blair said.
And the girl released her hand to go and admire the paintings.
"Thank you for helping us, she loves ballerinas" Dan said.
"She is a girl with good taste, you should take her to see a performance while you are in the city, The Nutcracker is always a good show for this time of the year"
"Good idea, maybe I will... it's weird that I couldn’t find the Degas paintings on my own I used to know all the paths around here"
"Don't feel bad Humphrey, it's normal for age to make your memory weaker"
"We are the same age," he said, laughing.
“I never said that I'm not getting old too. And we are not the same age, I am six months younger than you”
"Do you remember my birthday?"
“Only the month” she lied, and continued “And I remember mostly because you being a Taurus explains so much about your personality”
"And you being a Scorpio explains everything about yours"
"I know you said that as an criticism but I will take it as a compliment"
"Good, it wasn't an criticism"
He smiled at her, and she remembered how much she used to like his smile. She still did, even with the beard.
She looked away and walked over to Lizzie and asked her opinions about the paintings.
A short time later they started walking around the museum again, this time with no target in mind, with the girl between her and Dan. It was easier that way, the roles they had to play clearer. A girl's father and godmother.
Lizzie probably had no idea that her father and godmother once were together. And why would she know? Their romance was so brief and at least in theory had so little bearing in everything that came after, just a footnote in the personal history of their lives.
It was already dusk when the three left the museum. On the steps at the entrance Blair hugged her goddaughter again, and said goodbye to Dan.
His face was strange, looking at her, but also as if he was looking through her. For a second she didn't understand, but in the next all the memories came back and she was almost sure what was on his mind, because it was on hers too.
The two of them on that same spot at a different point in time. With her wearing a pink dress and a tiara on her head. And feeling so much happiness and so much love that life for the first and only time really felt like a fairy tale.
"Goodbye Blair," Dan said, took his daughter's hand and the two went down the rest of the steps and walked away.
And Blair, instead of walking in the opposite direction, allowed herself to just watch them for a moment. Her mind merging the vision of two pairs walking down that sidewalk hand in hand, one of the father and daughter in front of her, and the other one of the girl in the tiara and the boy who loved her.