A/N: I will update "A Year Of Doubt" ASAP, but the idea for this came to me and I had to write it. Excuse any mistakes, I wrote this in one go. Ok so, imagine that this happens just after 2x24, and 2x25 doesn't happen. :)
Blair returned from Prom quite late at night, and alone. Serena had asked her to stay over at her house, but after breaking up with Nate all she wanted to do was go home. It was the right thing to do; breaking up with Nate. She knew the other day when he told her he loved her and all she could do was imagine that it were Chuck saying those words to her. Nate was her first love, yes, and they would always have the memory of a long, mostly happy relationship. However, Blair's (twisted) relationship with Chuck was full of fire, full of passion, and her love for Chuck consumed her. It wasn't fair to either her or Nate to stay in the relationship when Blair was still so in love with Chuck, even if he wouldn't admit his own love to her.
Blair took off the elegant black and gold dress she had worn to prom (exactly the same as the one in her scrapbook), and hung it in a garment bag on the doorway to her closet. It was amazing how the dress made her feel – as though she were a princess, and she decided to call her father and thank him for sending it over from Paris.
"Hello?" Harold answered, and Blair smiled at hearing her father's voice. The last time he was in New York he had told her he was disappointed in her, but after a few phone calls and conversations about being accepted to NYU, their relationship was almost back to normal.
"Hi, Daddy." Blair gushed into the phone, and she walked over to her bed and sat down.
"Blairbear! How are you!" Harold asked in an excited tone.
"I'm fine Daddy, I've just come home from prom, actually." Blair said, suggestion in her tone, trying to get her father to admit to sending the dress. It had been a shock when Blair had received the dress, and it was lucky she had received a new dress too after the mess the dry cleaners made with her original outfit. There were only 4 people who knew about her Scrapbook other than herself; Dorota, her father, Serena and... Chuck.
She had shown Chuck the scrapbook one day when they were both 12 years old, his father had gone on business and Blair had invited him around to watch a movie (Breakfast at Tiffany's of course, but Chuck was the only one who ever wanted to watch it with her). Halfway through the movie, Blair had gotten up from the bed she and Chuck were laid on and walked to the kitchen to get some more popcorn. While she was gone, Chuck noticed something on her vanity table, and went to look. There it was, the Scrapbook. He tried to look through it quickly before Blair returned (she hated people looking through her stuff and Chuck knew it), but Blair returned just as he reached the page about Nate.
"What are you doing?" Blair asked, embarrassed. She placed the popcorn on the bed and walked over to where Chuck was stood. He turned around, and Blair swore she saw a pang of sadness in his eyes before he masked it with his usual coldness.
"I'm reading about your perfect senior prom." Chuck said, matter-of-factly. Blair reached in front of him and shut the book, then hid it under her bed.
"I want everything to be perfect." Blair said, sitting back on the bed.
"It's not for another 6 years." Chuck mused, but when Blair didn't reply he carried on. "You still think you and Nate will be together then?" He almost smirked, but then refrained (Blair would throw him out if he made fun of her and Nate's relationship.)
"Me and Nate will be together forever." Blair said in a steady voice, as though she said it all the time.
"Okay Waldorf, I believe you."
Chuck had never mentioned the Scrapbook again, so she assumed he had forgotten about it.
"Oh, I didn't think it was prom until next week..." Harold said, in a worried tone as he forgot his own daughter's prom, the event she'd dreamed of for years.
"Really? You don't have to lie to me, Daddy." Blair laughed, but her father remained silent.
"Really, Blairbear, I'm so sorry, You should have called, I would have sent a gift for you!" Her father said, and Blair became confused.
"But you sent me a dress..." Blair said, glancing over to her closet. The dress was from Paris, and the only person she knew who lived in France was her father, and Roman, obviously.
"A dress? What dress?" Harold asked, also confused.
"A dress from Paris! It's exactly like the one in the scrapbook, I..." Blair trailed off as her father remained silent.
"Well I don't know who bought you that dress, but it wasn't me. I'm having your graduation gift sent over tomorrow, though." Harold said happily, but Blair remained silent as she was confused.
"Thanks Daddy, I'll speak to you soon." Blair said, her mind racing with the same question: Who bought the dress?
"Bye Blairbear, I love you." Harold replied, then hung up the phone.
Blair began to pace her room. Her dad didn't send the dress, so who did? It certainly couldn't have been Dorota, she couldn't afford to buy a custom made dress from Paris, but maybe she assisted with it? Dorota had to know something; after all, she was there when the dress was delivered.
"Dorota!" Blair shouted, and though her bedroom door was closed, she knew that the maid would hear her. Sure enough, two minutes later, Dorota shuffled into the room with flushed cheeks, from rushing up the stairs, of course.
"Yes Miss Blair?" Dorota said, standing in the doorway.
"What do you know about this dress?" Blair said in a stern tone (which had been known to break Dorota in the past), as she pointed to the clear garment bag hanging in the doorway of her closet. Dorota gulped, but shook her head.
"All I know is it come from Paris." Dorota said, but she couldn't meet Blair's eyes, and she noticed.
"Dorota, I know you're hiding something." Blair said in a slow voice that would scare even the toughest of people.
"He asked me not to say anything." Dorota said, but then gasped, realising her mistake. Blair noticed too, of course, she was too perceptive for her own good.
"Who is "He"?" Blair asked, moving closer to Dorota and intimidating her with her eyes. Dorota made the mistake of looking into her eyes, and before she knew it, the truth had left her lips.
"Mister Chuck..." Dorota said in a quiet voice. Blair's expression became one of shock, and she took a few steps back to sit back on her bed for fear of fainting. When she didn't say anything, Dorota took a step forward.
"He said he wanted you to have perfect dress, so he had it made in Paris for you and asked for me to not say anything." Dorota said, but Blair still didn't say anything.
Chuck. Chuck Bass. The Chuck who told her that his pursuit of her was just a game and that his feelings for her weren't real, the Chuck who had ran away for a month after she confessed her love for him (granted, his father had just died), the Chuck who she loved with all her heart, had sent her a dress. A specially made one of a kind gown that probably cost thousands of dollars. Sure, he was rich, but why would he spend all that money on Blair if he didn't care about her?
"Dorota, you can leave now." Blair said, walking over to her vanity where she had placed her phone. Dorota obediently left the room and went to the kitchen to make some tea.
Blair pressed number one on the speed dial, and waited impatiently through the ringing for the person to answer.
"Hey B!" Serena said as she answered the phone, sounding rushed.
"S, is this a bad time? I just really need to talk to you." Blair said, and there was urgency in her tone that Serena picked up on.
"No it's fine B, I just dashed out of the shower that's why I was out of breath. Why? What's wrong?" Serena asked, and Blair took a deep breath.
"It's about Chuck." She admitted, and she heard Serena sigh.
"It usually is when something's wrong." Serena replied, only half joking. She knew that Blair and Chuck both loved eachother, but the pain they'd both caused eachother over the past few months made even Serena a little upset to think about. She hated seeing both her best friend and (although she'd never call him it) brother upset.
"He bought me the prom dress. He had it made. For me. Why? Why would he do that Serena? He said he was done, that I was just a game. He let me go, S!" Blair said frantically, tears forming in her eyes as she remembered the painful conversation she'd had with Chuck last week. Serena remained silent on the other end of the phone, however.
"S?" Blair asked, confused as to why Serena wasn't replying, or at least trying to calm her down.
"I know about it already, Blair." Serena stated, hoping that Blair wouldn't be mad with her for not telling her earlier, when they'd shared a moment outside the prom. Serena had intended to tell Blair about all of Chuck's scheming to make Blair's prom perfect then, but the time just didn't seem right. She knew the time had to come eventually, however.
"Why didn't you tell me, S! I thought my father sent me that dress! What else are you hiding? Oh what, did Chuck organise the carriage too?" Blair ranted on.
"Well, yes, actually..." Serena said, then paused for Blair's reaction.
"Tell me everything S. Everything you know." Blair said, angry that Serena didn't tell her sooner, but inside her heart was swelling at the thought of Chuck doing all this for her.
"Well he... He made you win Prom Queen." Serena said, then paused again for Blair's inevitable comment.
"But... He had the votes for Nelly Yuki. You saw him too, S!" Blair said, confused. But then she thought about it. Why would Chuck buy her her fairytale dress and carriage, then stop her from being Prom Queen?
"He was taking the ballots out. He voted for you, too. 150 times." Serena said, almost gushing at how sweet Chuck had been. Blair's breath caught in her throat as she imagined Chuck going through all that effort just for Blair to win a tiara.
"Wow." Blair breathed, and Serena nodded on the other end of the phone (although Blair obviously couldn't see her).
"There's something else, too. He... He gave me a key to a suite at the palace, I was going to give it to you, but you said you and Nate broke up so I didn't..." Serena explained, and Blair glanced over to her scrapbook, which was on the bedside table she had left it on this morning. On the last page of the scrapbook was a picture of the honeymoon suite at the palace hotel, and a picture of her and Nate when they were 12. Chuck really did know everything about her, she concluded, and she closed the scrapbook and replied to Serena.
"It's fine, S, I just... I'm actually kind of confused. Why would Chuck do all this if he let me go? He said it was just a game..." Blair said, trailing off before memories of the conversation came back. Serena was silent for a very long time, and Blair almost thought she'd hung up, but then:
"You weren't just a game to him, Blair." Serena said quietly, but Blair didn't quite understand. How would Serena know that? Blair had believed his words when he let her go, because she knew how much Chuck loved to play those hurtful games that she too had once played with him.
"He looked me in the eye and told me I was, S." Blair said in an upset voice. Serena sighed.
"He was lying to you." Serena stated simply, and Blair was taken aback by her seriousness, as though Serena knew something she didn't.
"How do you know?" Blair asked, hoping for Serena to be less cryptic.
"I was there, B. The conversation you two had at the Russian Tea Room. I heard the end of it, and when you left, I asked him why he said those awful things to you." Serena explained, and then Blair remembered, she had passed Serena on her way to the bathroom, her eyes clouded with tears.
"What did he say to you?" Blair asked, her heart racing. She knew what she hoped Serena's reply would be, but past experiences told her that she should probably give up those hopes.
"He... He told me he did it because he loves you, and that he can't make you happy." Serena said, then waited for Blair's protests that he could make her happy, but Blair was silent.
Chuck had admitted to someone that he was in love with her. So his feelings were real, it wasn't just a game. He loved her. Loved. Why couldn't he say it to her? And why did he think he couldn't make her happy? She'd had many fun times with him in the past. That week after Lily and Bart's wedding had been the happiest week of her life! Sure, he had ruined it, but it didn't mean she just forgot about how he made her feel that week. Plus, he'd just organised for her to have the perfect Senior Prom. She'd had one of the best nights of her life – apart from breaking up with Nate, of course – and it was all down to him. He could make her happy. She knew he could.
"B? Are you still there? I'm sorry I shouldn't have told you I know you..." Serena rambled, but Blair interrupted.
"I need to see Chuck. Is he home?" Blair asked, hoping he was and that she wouldn't have to search all of New York for him.
"Yeah he's in his room... Why? What are you going to do?..." Serena asked, a little cautiously. She was worried about Blair, and hoped she wouldn't so anything rash for risk of getting hurt by Chuck again.
"I'm going to show him that he made me happy." Blair stated simply, then hung up. Serena didn't know what to think, just put her phone down and went across the landing to make sure Chuck was actually in his room and Blair didn't waste a trip. Sure enough, Chuck was sat on the edge of his bed nursing a scotch, in the same position Serena had found him the night of Blair's rebellion a couple of months ago. Serena stood in the doorway, not quite sure if Chuck had noticed her yet, but then he said something:
"You're not coming to take it off me this time?" Chuck drawled, referring to his drink. Serena rolled her eyes, despite Chuck not being able to see her.
"I think you deserve a drink." Serena stated, and Chuck nodded his head.
"Goodnight, Chuck." Serena said, and Chuck nodded again.
"Sis." He replied, and Serena walked back into her room. She hoped that whatever Blair was going to say to Chuck tonight would solve all their problems, and that maybe her brother would stop being so depressed every night.
Twenty minutes later, Blair arrived at the van der Bass home. Lily was in the living room with a glass of wine when she arrived, and she looked a little shocked when Blair walked out of the elevator looking like a woman on a mission.
"Blair! What a surprise! Here to see Serena? You might have to wake her up, she's asleep, I think..." Lily began, but Blair interrupted.
"I'm here to see Chuck, actually." Blair said, and Lily nodded, giving her a knowing smile. Blair walked up the stairs as quick as possible (trying not to fall in her heels, of course), then the long walk down the hall to Chuck's room, passing Serena's on the way. Sure enough, Serena's door was wide open and Serena was passed out on her bed. That was quick, Blair thought, then shut Serena's door for her. Then she carried on down the hall. Chuck's door was closed, and Blair hoped that he didn't have a girl in there with him.
Mustering up all her courage, she knocked on the door.
"Go away, Serena." Chuck shouted in his usual dark tone, but Blair wasn't scared anymore.
"It's not Serena." She said quietly, and the room on the other side of the door was quiet for a very long time. Blair was beginning to think Chuck hadn't heard her, but then his door opened, revealing a still fully dressed Chuck. Blair didn't know what came over her – perhaps it was all the romantic gestures from Chuck tonight – but she quickly reached up and kissed him fiercely. Chuck was shocked; Blair was supposed to be in the honeymoon suite with Nate, but here she was, kissing him. He pulled away first though, wanting to know just what the hell was going on.
"Blair what are you..." Chuck began, but was stopped when Blair forced her lips on his once again. This time he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his room, closing the door behind them with his foot. This time, Blair pulled away first.
"I know what you did for me tonight." Blair explained, and Chuck cursed Serena and her big mouth. But then a thought occurred to him:
"What about Nate?" Chuck asked, and Blair shook her head.
"I broke up with him at Prom... I... it wasn't fair for him to be with me when I'm in love with someone else." Blair said, but then looked at the floor, praying and hoping that Chuck wouldn't reject her. Please.
Chuck gulped. He had to say something. What though? His words just hurt her. All the time.
"I..." Chuck began, but then Blair interrupted.
"I know you think you can't make me happy, but I know you can, Chuck. I know it."
"What are you saying?" Chuck choked out, looking Blair in the eyes.
"What I'm saying, Chuck, is that I love you, and I know you love me too." Blair stated simply, as though those three little words were the easiest things to say in the world. Chuck gulped again. He had to say it now. He couldn't hurt her again, he couldn't. Plus, he wouldn't be lying if he told her the three words now, he was in love with her, she was the only girl he'd ever felt this strongly about, the only girl (apart from Serena to some degree) he cared about. He had to say it. Now. Say it now. Deep breath.
"I love you too." He said, surprising himself at how confident he sounded saying those words, the words he'd never said to anyone before in his life. He'd always been scared to say them to anyone, because their reaction would probably be one of disgust and mocking. He was Chuck Bass after all, nobody loved him. Except Blair. He didn't even have time to think about what her reaction would be, because she was forcing her lips against his once again. He let out a sigh of relief against her lips.
It all felt so easy now, and he was regretting not saying the words earlier. When they broke the kiss for air, he say the size of Blair's grin. He'd never seen her smile like that before, and before he knew it, he was returning the smile with a grin just as wide.
It had taken them a while to get there, but Blair and Chuck, Chuck and Blair were ready, ready for a relationship, ready to love, ready for the future.