A: I wrote a story called called My Saving Grace years ago. I had started a sequel straight after but then my life got crazy and I was too busy. I have just finished my degree and I have the summer off before my Masters starts at the end of September so I thought I would rewrite the sequel. Please read and review.

Chuck closed the door behind him and loosened his tie. The house was quiet, meaning Blair probably hadn't come home from work yet and the kids were (hopefully) upstairs doing their homework. Tabitha had protested when they moved from their house into this one, they had lived there for two years after Savannah, their second child was born but when Blair got pregnant with Charlie it wasn't practical to live in an apartment building, especially given Charlie was a mini Chuck and he made both the girls look like angels. Charlie was now five and he was nothing like Tabitha or Savannah had been at that age. Chuck couldn't imagine having a sixteen year old, a nine year old and a five year old cooped up in an apartment. Tabitha came into Chuck's life when she was five years old and moved straight into his hotel. She became his best friend over night. As Blair put it, Charlie was "spirited", as Tabitha put it Charlie was "the only contraception she ever needed". Savannah was exactly like Tabitha, she was too smart for Chuck to keep up with, she looked exactly like Blair and she had an answer for everything. Chuck was always glad he had Charlie to do manly things with, and from the age of four answered everything with "because I'm Charlie Bass".

Tabitha came out of the kitchen with a candy bar hanging out of her mouth and her fingers feverously texting on her phone. Chuck reached up and took the candy bar out of his daughters mouth and took a bite of it, "hello number one child. How was school?"

Tabitha put her phone in her back pocket and took her candy bar back, "urg it was awful, Melissa wants to do a circus theme for the welcome back party and I already have three assignments. Do those people not know who I am?"

"They do, you're a student. That means you have to do homework. Harvard doesn't just accept people like a little clique from the Upper East Side. You have to work Tabs."

"Dad, how many assignments did you do in high school?" Tabitha sighed as she followed her dad into the kitchen. "And don't lie we both know the answer is none. You paid people to do them. Plus, I have the party to organise, I have ballet tonight, piano tomorrow and I need to go shopping for an outfit."

Chuck patted his daughter on her knee as she threw herself on one on the kitchen stools dramatically, "Tabitha take a break from the extra curricular activities, you are going to burn yourself out. You can't do everything."

"Mom has always done everything and she has done it in six inch heels. Plus, you graduated high school second in your class so I need to beat you"

"When it was really necessary your Mom asked for help. She knew the benefit of sharing the burden. And I was just a genius and you my dear are ten times better than me."

"Yes but when Mom was in high school she had people to do her homework. I was going to do that and Mom threatened to take my credit card off me" Tabitha raised an eyebrow at her father, "and as for you, I am pretty sure you bribed your way through high school. You seem to forgot Gossip Girl has an archive and so I can always check what you did at my age."

"Tabitha I am your father, do what I say not what I did" Chuck rolled his eyes at his daughter, "plus, there is nobody in the school smarter than you, so paying someone would get you a lower grade than you would get, and let's not lie, we both know you have a credit card Mom doesn't know about."

Tabitha smirked "You always were the soft parent"

"And as for Gossip Girl, I wish you wouldn't go on that abhorrent website. I made a lot of mistakes Tabs" Chuck looked at his oldest child and quickly stroked her hair "and remember that website was BT."

"Is that some silly slang you think is cool?"

"That, my wonder child, means before Tabitha. Your Mom coming back into my life certainly made it so much better but you changed it. And one thing you taught me is that people need to take breaks. When you were younger and we lived in the hotel I used to come to the playroom to find you to take a break from work. You always brought fun into my life, you need to bring some into your own."

"I am totally your favourite child, everyone knows it."

Chuck rolled his eyes, "I love all my children equally Tabs"

"You keep telling yourself that, I am going to go and get my ballet things ready."

Chuck kissed his oldest child on the head, "remember to take some time for yourself Tabitha, you are only young once."

Tabitha put the candy bar back into her dad's mouth as Charlie and Savannah came bounding down into the kitchen, "you are pretty wise for an old guy". Tabitha smirked before turning on her heels and walking away. As she exited the kitchen her two younger siblings ran passed her to jump on their dad. She knew her dad loved all his kids equally but maybe because she was the oldest they shared a special bond. Her mom could drive her crazy sometimes, but her dad always seemed to understand. For the first couple of years of her life it was only her and her mom. Tabitha didn't remember much of it and she didn't think about her life before they came back to New York. She knew they travelled around a lot, and her mom liked to remind her from time to time they hadn't had much money. She knew when things got really bad her mom made the decision to come back and find Dad, or Mr Chuck as he was in the beginning. Her mom told her those two had such a bond from the beginning it was almost like they were related. The biology never bothered either her or her dad. She never had any questions about it, and if anything he spoiled her more than the other two. Tabitha watched how unreserved her dad was while her two siblings clambered over their dad, making it impossible for her to cuff her round the ear for her cheek. Charlie was pulling his dads tie when Blair came through the front door, "hello people, good to see we are all acting civilised."

The two kids jumped up and threw their arms around Blair as she slipped her heels off. Chuck took the pause in attack to jump up and escape his children's grasp. He kissed his wife as he took the mountain of paperwork she always assisted on bringing home out of her hand. It always amazed Chuck that she carried so much paperwork, she never seemed it do anything with it, she just carried it from her office to her, and then back again. Blair still ran the foundation Chuck had set up for her six months after she came back. It had grown significantly and had offices all over the country. After Savannah was born it took a while for Chuck to convince her somebody else could help her run it, but eventually she hired a chief-operating-officer. Some days that made no difference, and Chuck still had to drag her from the office. Blair extracted herself from her children and followed Chuck into the kitchen. She hopped onto the island as Chuck opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. He poured her a glass and handed it to her, "how was your day darling?"

Blair rolled her eyes at her husband's attempt to be funny "Chuck Tabs would be sick if she heard you call me that. It was good. The New York Times wants to do a big editorial on my life, the reason why I set up the foundation and how it's grown. They want to visit some of the other offices too."

"That's amazing Blair, you should do it."

"Yeah right", Blair laughed at her husband "I would be away for a week, there is no way you could handle three kids on your own for a week."

"We have a personal chef, a housekeeper and a driver. We have the same amount of staff as children so I think I could handle it. I am very good at organising what other people need to do."

Blair nursed her wine glass in her hand and looked at her husband "But I would be away for eight days and Tabs has her exams coming up"

Chuck sat down on a stool and put his hand on her thigh, "I just had a conversation with her singing your praises about sharing responsibilities, I can make sure she studies enough and takes regular breaks. Where do they want you to visit?"

"San Fran, LA and Miami."

"Think of all the sun", Chuck tried to entice his wife, "and the little boutique shops we don't have here. San Fran has the best froyo".

"As long as you are sure you can handle the three kids."

Chuck smiled, "it doesn't matter if you are here or not, they still run rings around me. They are all half you. Don't worry about the kids and think about how many other women you could help if you got all that publicity".

Chuck knew that was what it would take to convince Blair. As much as Tabitha had changed him, she had changed Blair even more. Blair had run away from New York and got pregnant four months later. For four years it was just her and Tabitha, they lived in shelters and moved around a lot to prevent private investigators finding them. Blair didn't sleep the whole time, she stayed awake to make sure nobody touched Tabitha or stole what little possessions she had. After two nights of not getting into a shelter, Blair got a bus back to New York and turned up at Chuck's hotel. Even though Tabitha wasn't his child, Blair knew Chuck would take care of her. No how much Chuck had protested that he was a tough guy, Blair knew he was a big softie on the inside and he took Tabitha and her in. As soon as she saw them both playing together she knew she was still completely in love with him. Blair had worried when she got pregnant with Savannah that there would be a change between the relationship with Chuck and Tabitha, but if anything it made their bond stronger. Tabitha had her dad wrapped around her little finger. She had hardly been away from Tabitha since she had come back to New York and she had never been away from Charlie.

"Are you going to be able to cope with breakfasts?"

"Tabs can help me, and worse case scenario we can go and stay in a hotel".

Blair rolled her eyes at her husband and knew that was probably the option he would take. She only knew how to cook because she had to cook. Chuck had grown up in hotels for most of his life, he only moved out because he wanted Tabitha to have a proper home. This was still New York and most people didn't cook. Take away restaurants were the most used businesses in the city. Tabitha came back into the kitchen in her ballet outfit. She picked up an apple out of the fruit bowl. She rubbed it on her ballet skirt. Chuck raised his eyebrow "you just had half of a candy bar, and now you are having an apple. That's a healthy diet. You need to eat more".

"Stop being old and take me to ballet" Tabitha answered kissing her mom on the cheek "you can buy me dinner on the way home".

Blair hugged her oldest child and then kissed her husband. It really was amazing how much of Chuck's personality Tabitha had picked up over the years. Charlie was just the same. She was glad she had Savannah, she was Blair's mini-me. It still didn't prevent the others from ganging up on her but Savannah always took her side. Charlie came bounding into the kitchen with a picture in his hand "look what I did in school today."

Blair took the picture out of his hand, "that's brilliant Charlie, now what do you want for dinner?"