Nate and Blair

The relationship Nate and Blair, also known as Blate, is the friendship and former romantic relationship between Nate Archibald and Blair Waldorf.

Overview
Nate and Blair are together in the first episode, at Blair's birthday party they are very much an item but haven't yet slept together, a fact that means Blair is very worried over her hold of Nate. So when she hears Serena van der Woodsen is back in town she decides to sleep with him to stop him from going off with Serena, who, it is later revealed, he lost his virginity to. Their relationship was often strained when they were dating and they broke up for the first time when Nate told Blair he had already slept with Serena, also ruining her friendship with Serena.

However, Nate's father tells Nate to get back together with Blair so that he gets the Eleanor Waldorf deal. They get back together but Nate doesn't realise Blaie slept with Chuck in the back of his limo after they broke up. They break up once again and go on to be with other people before getting together shortly in Season 2.

Whilst together in Season 2, Blair realises she still loves Chuck and wants to be with him, she dances with Nate at her prom but says that he was her high school boyfriend. Blair and Nate remain good friends with Nate often telling Chuck to go for it with his on-again off-again girlfriend.

Novels
In the novel series Blair is very possessive of Nate, she has always worried about Serena's hold on him so when her best friend left for boarding school she was pleased to have her out of the way. Nate, on the other hand is tired of waiting for Blair to be ready to sleep with him and often finds her to be clingy.

They dated on-off for the first few books before breaking up in Nobody Does It Better when Blair walked in on Nate and Serena having sex. Nate and Serena's affair caused Blair to be on the warpath once again, however it is shown in Only In Your Dreams that Nate still has feelings for Blair.

In Only In Your Dreams, Blair forgives Serena and Nate for sleeping together, as she has found a new boyfriend, Lord Marcus Beaton. This upsets Nate because he is still in love with Blair, and the only reason he and Serena were dating was to make it seem as if they weren't just random hook-ups.

In Would I Lie To You, Blair and Serena move into a house in the Hamptons which just so happens to be right next to Nate's. When Nate comes over, and he finds out things between Blair and Marcus didn't work out, he tries to get her back. After Blair realised she was also in love with Nate, they stay together, and on Serena's birthday, leave town to go on Nate's boat and take a three month cruise.

Season 1
In Season 1, we are introduced in "Pilot" to Blair and Nate at Blair's party. After hearing about Serena's return Blair decides to sleep with Nate hoping it would mean he would stay with her. However before they got round to it they are told about Serena's arrival causing Nate to quickly leave the room to see if it's true. Blair follows but slowly and she is obviously annoyed about her best friend's return. Serena leaves the party early but stops anything from developing between Nate and Blair.

In "The Wild Brunch" Nate goes round to see Serena before brunch, and without Blair knowing, even though Blair had made him promise to never talk to Serena again. Nate is confronted by Dan Humphrey who is already waiting for Serena. It makes Nate uncomfortable and both boys are waiting anxiously for Serena's return from meeting with Blair. Meanwhile at Blair's house, she informs Serena that she knows all about her and Nate just before Serena left for boarding school and she tells her to stay away from him causing friction between them.

While at brunch Nate gives Serena's Chuck's suite key telling her they need to talk. Serena reluctantly agrees but Blair is also given the idea of meeting in Chuck's suite by Chuck himself. Blair drags Nate up there ready to sleep with him but when she sees Serena there she goes out for revenge instead. She rushes downstairs to Dan and tells him everything leaving him gobsmacked and wondering as to who his new girlfriend really is. The episode ends with Nate and Blair lying in bed together, tired and wondering where their relationship goes from here.

"Poison Ivy" sees things come to a head between Serena and Blair who foul each other whilst playing hockey. Later, at the Ivy Schools evening Blair announces Serena's drink and drug problem to the world. Serena ass Blair if they're even yet but Blair makes it clear they're not.

It isn't until the masquerade ball in "The Handmaiden's Tale" we really see a proper storyline between Nate and Blair again. Whilst in masks Nate thinks Jenny Humphrey is Serena and tells her that he isn't over her but this is one secret Jenny can't keep so she tells Blair causing Blair to realise her boyfriend really does like Serena. But she only comes to this conclusion after setting him a scavenger hunt, the prize was that she would finally sleep with him if he found her by midnight. However, Jenny and Serena swap masks and Serena gives Jenny her shawl so that Chuck won't recognise it was Jenny who locked him on the roof in his underwear.

Nate reveals he still has feelings for Serena, only he doesn't know he's talking to Jenny. After Jenny runs away, though, Serena grabs Nate and says he has to go find Blair. Nate is confused, but does as he's told. Meanwhile, Blair tries to stop who she thinks is Serena, to ask where Nate is, only for Jenny to blow by her, leaving only her bracelet behind. Blair recognises it and knows Jenny attended the ball against her orders.

It is in "Victor Victrola" that Nate and Blair break up for the first time as things are getting too hard for them all to handle. Nate witnesses his dad buying drugs, Blair is getting closer to Chuck Bass by the minute but still doesn't know  about the case of mistaken identity back at the ball. This causes Nate to try and buy Jenny's silence, Blair comes along and knows something is amiss. She tells Jenny she knows she was at the ball against orders, this means Jenny can easily tell her.

When Blair tells Jenny that Nate is planning on giving her the family ring she sniffs out that there is something wrong. Jenny tells her what Nate said at the ball and they break up again. Blair sleeps with Chuck after the break-up but Nate and Blair get back together to please his father and Nate thinks that this time might be the right time for him and his girlfriend.

They sleep together but Chuck later posts a blast on Gossip Girl which breaks them up again, for good.

Season 2
Chuck, however found out about Nate and Blair being together overnight when he came round to tell Blair he wanted to be with her and saw Nate's family blazer. Vanessa Abrams and Chuck decided to work together when they realised that they were both turned down because Blair decided she wanted to be back with Nate. However Nate and Blair are stuck in a bedroom  together and Blair realises that while she is now a friend with Nate but will probably be nothing more.

In the next episode "Seder Anything" Blair tries, half-heartedly, to talk Nate into Yale, but he is dead set on Columbia. However at the start of "Southern Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" the episode starts with Nate and Blair walking around the village, talking about Blair's mixed feelings about NYU.

Nate wants to show her around to all the great Village pizza places and pot dealers, etc. He proposes they try out the subway, which will be the quickest way for them to see each other next year. He's worried about being across the city from her but Chuck helps him out with his worries. In "The Wrath of Con" Nate and Blair talk about moving in together but agree it's too soon. However, Blair does ask Nate to Prom.

At the Prom, Nate and Blair are running for Prom King and Queen, but some of Blair's old crowd are trying to rig the votes so that Blair is beaten by Nelly Yuki. The girl who took her Yale place and told on her to the Principal about Blair plotting against Rachel. Blair becomes Prom Queen though and has her dream come true to be the Queen while Nate was the King.

But at the end of the night Blair and Nate break up once again, they know their relationship has run its course, and as they dance their last dance they think. Blair sits out on the steps afterwards and tells Serena that Nate was just her high school boyfriend.

Season 3 - Season 6
Despite their break-up Nate and Blair remain close friends. In Season 3, Blair shares her concerns with Nate when she notices something fishy about Bree Buckley, Nate's new girlfriend. Nate was also the first person Blair told about the incident concerning Chuck, Jack Bass and herself. He promises that he would never tell anyone. Nate is also sometimes protective of her from Chuck. On Blair's wedding day, as he and Dan were talking, he mentioned that he would be solo at the wedding of the girl "he spent half his life assuming he'd marry". During Blair's walk to the altar, a short clip of Nate is shown with a facial expression that would clearly state that he missed her for a minute. Nate, along with Serena, is one of Blair's best friends, and understands her remarkably well. Nate and Blair may not always spend time together and hang out the way Chuck and Nate do, but they are extremely close, and both are aware that they may rely on one another no matter what. Nate is present at Serena and Dan's wedding.