I run the streets and I break up houses/ River runs deep and the flame devours it... Steady friction in this bitch/ Creepin' in just like an itch/ So far I got the last laugh.../ Blindside tend to hit real hard/ You should heed the warning, get a bodyguard...

Nate struggles back into his blazer, pissy still about how he doesn't need to explain himself to Blair of all people, but she grins to herself. "No explanation necessary! I think I got it." Nate calls to Catherine as he's leaving, but B assures him she'll be just a minute more. She retrieves the Duchess's shoe, Princess Charming in word and deed, and smiles sweetly: "Here you go. Can I just say how sorry I am that I judged you earlier?" Admirably, Catherine has enough presence of mind to be appalled: "You judged me?" Um yeah, Julie Cooper. "I thought you were just a callow, social-climbing former swimsuit model who married above her station only to be enslaved by her own insecurities." (And how great is it that B nailed it in one, but would never say it aloud until she had the upper hand?) "But now that I've seen you rolling around on the floor with my adolescent ex, I understand you have a compassionate side, too..." Catherine asks where she's heading with this: "I think you'll find it in your heart to take pity on me, and in spite of my common, lowly, unroyal ways, accept that I have true feelings for Marcus and that he has them for me, too. I think that would be the best thing for both of us, don't you?" Steady friction in this bitch, indeed. Oh, Blair! Look at you! You're doing so good!

Lord Marcus comes around the corner and the two women chorus, like the best movie ever, "Hello, darling!" That killed me. Marcus come around hard to protect Blair, asking if he's too late to rescue her. "As soon as I heard you were at Blair's party, Duchess, I knew I had to find you and do damage control. Is there still time, or have you already scared Blair off?" Catherine smiles and gives her approval through gritted teeth."She never likes my girlfriends," he says, wagging tail, and Blair assures him the D just needed to meet the real Blair Waldorf. And, oh, did she. "...Did you say girlfriend?" she simpers, and throws her arms around him, cutting death glares at Catherine over his shoulder.