A/N: Christmas one-shot. Watch out, it's a bit angsty.

He wasn't a Scrooge. He was warm. He was welcoming. He didn't treat her like she was dust under his feet, and he let her in. She was every bit the angel in his eyes, but it was only a matter of time before the façade would fall. She was so sure he was holding something back from her. After the progress they had made on the anniversary of his father's death, she had hoped they were past this. The fact that they might not be only meant that something more burdensome, more overwhelming, had happened to him after he had left the hospital.

He had said he was going to put flowers on his father's grave, finally, and she had been happy for him. She told him she was going to spend the night, and from the expression evident in his eyes, she knew it soothed him that she had decided to remain so near. Regardless of the breakthrough, he needed her nearby to get him through to the next day.

He didn't come home that night, and wasn't back in the suite until noon the next day. She thought he had come and gone without her knowledge, but with how shaken up he had been the night before, she hardly thought he would've left without at least acknowledging his presence. She had just gotten her Chuck back and then he just…disappeared?

"Chuck?" she called to him, and his face turned to hers from across the room. His eyes sparkled and his lips spread in a wide, brimming smile. She had to fight to keep her butterflies at bay. Her head inclined in the direction of the hallway and his eyes darkened. She swallowed hard.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

"Don't you think we should wait till afterwards, Waldorf?" he whispered hot in her ear once they were out of sight in the hallway.

"Chuck—"

"Oh, playing hard to get, are we?" he moved closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Chuck," she demanded, almost stomping her foot. All she could manage though was the clenching of her hand on the fabric of his shirt, and it made his smirk deepen – the smirk that had implanted itself on his face the moment her needy desirous eyes called him into the hallway.

"Feisty," he snickered against her, pushing her weak knees against the wall.

"Chuck!" she said sharply, thanking the loud chatty people for being so oblivious to her shrieks.

Chuck stepped away from her and his eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what her true motive had been. They were in the midst of their pre-Christmas Christmas party and he figured there was only reason she would have drawn him away. Much to his disgruntlement, however, it did not appear to be the case.

"You tricked me," he stated, and as much as she wanted to deny it, it was nothing but the truth.

"What happened last night, Chuck?"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Can we not do this here?" he asked, rummaging his eyes around the lines on the floor.

She pursed her lips.

"I mean," his eyes lifted to hers," we've got a whole room full of people waiting for us, and—"

"They'll wait, Chuck," she said calmly.

He blinked, searching for a way out and finding nothing. He saw the worry and concern for him written all over her face. He knew blocking her out again, and especially so soon, wouldn't have been a good idea, but the possibility of his mother still being alive threatened his very existence. He had to find some way to fight what was clearly a scam. Or, if it was true, he didn't know how he'd deal with it. Being with Blair was what brought him peace, but he should have known she would pick up on something being wrong, even if he wasn't throwing stress daggers at her this time around. He nodded, and felt as the flurry of Blair Waldorf moved past him and informed the guests that there had been some sort of malfunction in the kitchen and it would be another hour before they would all sit down to eat.

He guessed she was hoping everything would be cleared up by then. He didn't know when that point came if he would have any appetite left to eat with. Regardless Blair had been right. The people thought nothing of the delay and just turned back to talk to one another. He hardly noticed when her soft, warm hand encircled around one of his and pulled him up the stairwell.

Her warmth left him when she turned to close the door behind him and when she turned back around she saw him holding a small golden locket necklace from his right hand. In hung and swayed from his fingers and he looked straight at her the whole time.

"I think…"

Blair swallowed hard, her eyes watering. It was just like at the hospital when he couldn't say that his father had died – he couldn't form the words. But this time she didn't even know what he was referring to. She took a step closer to him, hoping he would elaborate in some way, even if it was only to move from beside the dresser to on her bed.

His eyes flashed to the necklace that had finally come to a halt and he handed it to Blair, walking over to the bed.

"Look inside," he said, and hesitantly she did. Her head jerked back a little when a faded picture of Bart Bass shone back at her.

"It's—"

"My father. Yes, I know," he sighed. She turned and walked to him on the bed, taking her spot beside him.

"What happened last night, Chuck?"

He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. "I went to the cemetery to lie flowers on my father's grave. I took yellow roses. They were my mother's favorite," he swallowed hard and cleared his throat. Taking a pause, he opened his eyes and stared across the floor into some sort of imaginative wonderment. "There was a woman there. I thought it was Lily, but when I called out to her. She—she didn't look like Lily. She didn't look like any woman I've ever seen before, except…" he trailed off and Blair's eyes went wide.

It couldn't be.

"The woman ran off before I could get to her. She had been crying when I first saw her, over my father's grave. She left behind a bouquet of yellow roses, and this necklace."

Blair looked back to the small locket and discovered the 'E' on its worn encasing.

"Evelyn," she breathed.

He nodded weakly, subtly.

"Is this some sick kind of joke?" he turned to her, his weak eyes meeting her tear-filled ones. Now she understood why it had been so hard for him to open up. Again.

"Chuck…"

He turned his head back down to his hands, felt the warmth spreading from Blair's grip on his arm, didn't know where he'd be without her and why he hadn't told her sooner.

"I didn't…mean…to hide it from you, Blair. What you did for me yesterday was…" he turned back to look at her, and saw as she nodded, allowing him only a small smile so he wouldn't have to fill in the blanks.

She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. She felt his breath on her face and his lips pressed to her forehead as his hands encircled around her waist as well.

"I'm sorry I didn't come home last night."

She blinked, her mind suddenly falling back to her worry from what had kept him at the cemetery so long.

"I went drinking for awhile, and then I crashed at The Empire."

She licked her lips and lifted her head to his. "We'll figure this out," she said, her eyes pinned to his. The questions spinning through her mind would only upset him more. She knew as much as he did now. The woman had died giving birth to him. The more fictional story had been her death in a plane crash when he was six. But the thought that she had actually lived was another matter entirely. Chuck had thought that part of his father's harsh demeanor had come from the loss of his wife, of his one true love. But if she never died…

Those topics didn't need to be approached.

"Hey," she said, her soft, loving hand tracing the curves of his face when his uneasy breaths laid on thick. "I love you."

He smiled and pressed another kiss to her forehead.

"I love you too."

A couple weeks later on Christmas Eve, Chuck and Blair sat in a horse-drawn sleigh riding around Central Park. The party, and several parties following, had been a success. Their guests from the first party had hardly noticed their departure, and Blair thanked Dorota who had brought out the main course when it was originally going to be served. People hardly noticed the host and hostess' mysterious disappearance. Safe to say, Chuck and Blair hadn't wanted puffy, tear-streaked faces greeting and bidding farewell to their guests, so the dependable maid stepped in again.

Now things were well, and even if there was a slight uneasiness whenever topics were discussed that could be connected to Chuck's mother or biological family. Blair had told him it would be best if they waited till after the holidays, so they could enjoy themselves without the drama of his possibly alive or deceased mother. They wouldn't tell anybody else till then either, if that was even the right time. Something like this they would not allow to be mere gossip spreading amongst the social circles.

"You look beautiful," he said, in awe of her as he helped her down and off the sleigh.

"Why, thank-you, Chuck," she smirked, "You don't look so bad yourself." Her eyes glittered at him and as he nodded briefly for the sleigh-driver to keep his spot, his arm slipped around her waist. She pulled herself closer to him as they walked. "I'm glad I get Christmas with you this year," she turned her head up and smiled at him. He looked at her and shared a similar gaze.

"There better be mistletoe involved, or I'm out," he said, and she giggled, punching his stomach softly with her gloved hand. His smile spread wider and he stopped her right then and there to kiss her in a flurried passion of lips, tongue, and teeth crashing and colliding against each other. She had to catch her breath afterwards, and he loved how her face flushed furiously because of it.

"There'll be mistletoe," she managed.

He smirked and began to walk with her again. Very slowly the snow began to fall, creeping up on them as if by a carefully calculated and planned surprise. That was what love was supposed to be, Chuck thought. It was only those that love crept upon that were so mindblowingly caught up in its uncontrollable bliss and complications.

Blair gasped. "Oh, look! Snow!"

A/N: What was this?! *confused at self* lol. Well, I figured the issue about Chuck thinking he might have stumbled upon his biological mother could not be avoided, and so it is not as fluffy as my two prior holiday fics. Forgive me? I think also that I'm going to have this be a two-part, and include the New Year's holiday oneshot as a sequel to this one. Heh. I want to use what happened in this one for inspiration in the next one anyways. ;p Well, I hope you loved it! Please review, and Merry (early) Christmas! =D