Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to Cecily von Zeigesar and The CW.
This is a continuation of my story, Daddy's Little Girl. Starts a little over a year later.
"Make sure you keep an eye on her, Chuck," Blair called out to her husband as she watched him carry their eighteen month old daughter down the sandy beach to the edge. He nodded in acknowledgement as he slowly walked further and further into the rising tide. She could hear Charlotte squealing in delight as she started to get wet.
"What a little beach bunny," she chuckled as she took her design sketch pad out of her beach bag and began drawing while she soaked in the sun's rays. Charlotte loved the beach, every one they had been to since they started taking monthly excursions.
Life was good for Chuck and Blair. They'd been married for over three years now. Each day was impossibly better than the one before. If she had envisioned her perfect life as a child, it hadn't come close to this.
She had just returned to CB Fashions five months ago a month after Charlotte turned a year old. The days away from Charlotte were torture, but she managed to get through them. It helped knowing that Chuck was with their little girl.
He had announced his leave of absence when Charlotte was four months old. The Board of Directors was understandably upset, but Chuck had already had a back up in mind that he knew would be capable of the job. The company hadn't skipped a beat in his absence. He still stayed on as Chairman of the Board, but all of his other duties had been transferred to his number two in command, and of course he was still the majority stakeholder in the company which kept him a very rich man if he even cared which Blair highly doubted he did.
Blair knew that he was contemplating giving his outright resignation, but they were still discussing that between the two of them. She wanted him to make up his mind before she gave him another bit of news that she knew would swing him in the wrong direction if he was leaning towards returning; she was pregnant with their second child.
She had been nervous about telling him about her first pregnancy, but she was perhaps more nervous with the second one. She knew he'd be thrilled. He wanted more children. He had been telling her that for a while, but she didn't want him to feel that he had to stay home and take care of the kids while she went out and made a name for herself in the fashion industry. In fact, she found that she would rather return home.
The original rush of creating a line and doing it better than her mother had been great. CB Fashions was rapidly becoming one of the elite names in the industry. She really was thrilled about that, but she wanted to be home. She wanted to be with Chuck and Charlee.
She was randomly drawing as her thoughts played through her mind. When she looked at the results she saw a picture of Chuck and Charlee playing in the waves staring back at her from the pad of paper. She hadn't even realized she was doing it.
She had no idea how she was going to tell Chuck about her feelings. He was so proud of her, and he given her everything that she had told him she wanted. Now she wanted something completely different.
"Mommy!" Charlotte squealed as she came running towards Blair as fast as her tiny feet could carry her. She quickly lunged for Blair, soaking her thoroughly with her wet bathing suit.
"Charlee, you're all wet," Blair exclaimed as she hugged the little girl close, "Did Daddy tell you to get me wet?"
Charlotte nodded her head as she began laughing as Chuck approached with his trademark smirk. Blair shot back a glare as he leaned down to kiss her, pulling away to shake his wet head so that she would be even wetter.
"Chuck Bass, you are asking for trouble," Blair shrieked as she pushed him away.
"Swim, Mommy," Charlotte insisted as she began pulling on Blair's hand as Chuck pulled the design pad out of her hands and admired it.
"In a minute, Charlotte," Chuck responded as he continued to stare at the drawing, "This is incredible, Blair."
"I was just doodling," she shrugged.
"You've been doing a lot of doodling then," Chuck responded as he began flipping through her sketch book. All of the pages were of him and Charlotte that she had drawn over the past week of their vacation.
She shrugged as she stood up.
"Seriously, Blair, I didn't know you could draw like this," Chuck responded in awe of the new discovery he had made.
"It's nothing, Chuck," she insisted as she snatched the book away from him and shoved it into her beach bag as she picked up Charlotte. "You said you wanted to swim, right Charlee?"
The little brown hair child nodded as she allowed Blair to carry her away.
"Blair," Chuck called after her. He was confused by what he had just witnessed. He quickly ran after them catching up just as Blair was waist deep in the surf.
"Daddy," Charlotte squealed as she held out her arms for him. Chuck took her from Blair, spinning her around. They continued their playtime until Charlotte was worn out and almost asleep in Chuck's arms. They decided it was time to head back to their rented penthouse so Charlotte could take a nap.
"Blair, can we talk?" Chuck asked as he joined her in their bedroom once Charlotte had been laid down in her room. Blair was lying out on the bed wrapped only in a towel as she had freshly showered. She had her sketchpad in her hand once again. She had set out this time to draw fashion sketches, but it still ended up being a sketch of Chuck in formalwear.
Blair nodded as she looked up at him expectantly. He quickly joined her on the bed as he took the notepad out of her hands.
"How long have you been drawing?" he asked as he flipped to the page she had drawn on the beach and held it up for her.
"Not long," she shrugged, "It's really a natural progression I guess to sketching for fashion."
"This is excellent," he responded, "We've both seen our fair share of remarkable artwork, this is on par with all of that. You should show this to Lily. You know her art connections."
"It's just something fun to do to escape the everyday grind," she replied as she took the paper away from him and set it on the nightstand.
"Everyday grind," he repeated, "Blair, is your work boring you?"
"I wouldn't exactly say it's boring," she responded slowly.
"What are you not telling me?" he asked as he put his hand on her stomach. She jumped a little in surprise, which greatly concerned him. "Blair, talk to me!"
"I want to resign from CB Fashions," she responded tearfully. Chuck pulled her into his arms as she completely fell apart.
"What's going on with you, Waldorf?" he asked as he stroked her hair as he attempted to comfort her, "I thought you wanted to continue with the line."
"I thought so too," she nodded into his chest, "But every minute away from you and Charlee gets harder and harder. You wake up every morning knowing that you'll get to spend the day with her, and I wake up knowing that I'll spend my day away from her."
"If you want to keep the line, we can work something out," he tried to assure her, "We can come with you to the office, or you could work from home."
"It's not about the line," she responded, "I'm not sure it ever really was. I guess I did it because I wanted to prove to my mother that I was better than she was, and I've done that. Everyday when I look at Charlotte, I get this fear that keeps building in the pit of my stomach."
"What fear?" he prompted her.
"The fear that I'm going to do to Charlotte what my mother did to me . . .make me feel like I'm invisible, that I wasn't more important to her than her career or her social status," she responded as the tears continued to flow. She couldn't stop herself now. She thought that part of it was the hormones, but most of it was her true feelings.
"So you want to sell the line," he concluded, "If that's all it will take to make you happy again, I'll gladly take the line off your hands and integrate it into Bass Industries. You know how hard I tried to buy it from you before our wedding. I wasn't doing it to keep you under my thumb, although that would have been an added bonus. I was doing it because it was a sound investment. I can keep it alive and well until the day you may want to take it back."
"You'd do that for me," she responded as she wiped her eyes as she sniffled.
"Don't you know by now that I'll do anything for you," he responded as he kissed her eyelids in hopes of drying her tears.
"I love you, Chuck," she responded as she melt into him.
"I love you too," Chuck responded as he kissed her. "Now talk to me about the stomach touch. You never flinch when I touch you."
"First tell me which way you're leaning with the CEO thing," she insisted.
"What does that have to do with me touching you?" he looked at her baffled.
"Answer the question, and then I'll tell you," she demanded in only a way she could.
"I've already got my resignation letter drafted," he replied with a dramatic sigh, "I wanted to talk to you about it first, but I want to step down."
"That's a good answer," she responded as she brought his hand to rest on her stomach once more.
"Blair," he responded as his jaw drop. She smiled, knowing that he had instantly made the connection. "Are you serious?"
"Knocked up once more," she grinned.
He quickly pushed aside the towel she had wrapped around her and kissed her stomach. She began giggling as his lips began tickling her stomach.
"How long have you known?" he mumbled into her skin.
"A few weeks," she responded, "I've been looking for a way to tell you. I'm almost three months along already."
"But there was no morning sickness," he responded, "You were sick for the first three months you were pregnant with Charlotte."
"I've been a little sick," she admitted, "But it wasn't the constant it was with Charlotte. It seemed to come and go so I passed it off as food poisoning and the stomach flu."
"Wow," was the only response he had as his lips continued to travel her body.
"You're happy right?" she inquired as she pulled on his hair lightly to get him to look at her.
"Of course, I'm happy," he replied sincerely, "A life with you and our children is all I've ever really wanted."
"You're going to get sick of me being around all the time," she stated, "If I quit my job and stay home with both you and Charlotte and this baby, we'll drive each other nuts."
"But in the best possible ways," he assured her as he pulled her into his arms so they could cuddle. It wasn't often they did, even after a night of passion, Blair and Chuck didn't cuddle . . . they prepared themselves for round two. It was only when Blair was pregnant that he did this, and she loved it.
She sighed as she closed her eyes and let herself finally be happy. She had everything that she ever needed and it turned out it was all that she wanted.
"Our life keeps getting better, doesn't it Chuck," she stated with a content sigh.
"How can it not?" he stated as he kissed her forehead, "We're together."
TBC . . .