Hey there!
Here's the next installment of my 'Love Is...'/'Pretending Was...' franchise that I'm sort of plugging for all it's worth - apologies - so I hope you like it.


Title: Through Mist & Elegance
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.
Summary: Extension on 'Love Is…' And 'Pretending Was…'
They've been twelve years in the making; the series of moments that took them to where they are now.
Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf pondered the meaning of the little moments of love that always lay between them, but Misty Bass and Eleanor Waldorf have their own version of these little moments; and they shaped more than one relationship. There's a love story in friendship too.

"On being asked what is a friend, he said, 'A single soul dwelling in two bodies.'"
– Aristotle

"A memory lasts forever
Never does it die.
True friends stay together
And never say goodbye."

Prologue: Where Is My Heart? It Used To Be Six Feet Under. Now It's In My Hands

"The day I met Eleanor Waldorf she was fitting one of my model's with a glare such as I'd only ever seen on my husband, and giving him probably the biggest dressing-down he'd ever received in his life. Apparently he was incompetent, she couldn't see why anyone would hire him, let alone want him to promote their company, and she had no further use for him. She ended the 'discussion' with a dismissive suggestion that maybe he ought to consider another 'line of work' because he obviously wasn't suited to his current one, and flippantly added that she expected he knew the way out, before turning her back on him and moving onto the others without so much as a backward glance.

Eleanor Waldorf was a bitch. But she had also established near-legendary status in probably the shortest amount of time since I myself had entered 'our world'. And I was fairly certain if I weren't already married, I would've whisked her away in an instant. I'd already practically fallen in love with the woman with nothing more than a two-minute observation; I could only imagine what would happen when we were finally introduced (two more model dismissals later – she barely had any left, and they were each provided by yours truly.)

Yes, Eleanor Waldorf was a bitch; but she was a bitch after my own heart."

Abrupt laughter cut through the air at this, surrounding the words, "That cheeky little wench."

"Excuse me?" came the choked response, as the young male before her eyed her carefully.

She raised a hand to her throat, and smiled fondly, a hand tracing the age-old paper in the leather bound journal.

Looking up at him after a short reminiscing moment, she said, "I apologize, Charles. Your mother has always been able to bring out a side of me not many are privy to."

He nodded; however, his eyes never left those of his 'newly-appointed' mother-in-law, as her own quickly returned to the flurry of inscribed words before her.

"Have you read this?" she asked of him, looking up a moment later.

A light smirk crossed his lips as he shrugged; giving an air of nonchalance, "This and that."

"Would you like to join me?" she queried, and this time directed it at both of them, her daughter and son-in-law.

"I think some things would surprise you," she told them, the corners of her eyes softening in the slightest of movements.

"But I rather think you'd like it," she said, as she returned her eyes to the reminiscent words.

And something close to a smile crossed her face.


"She's a mother too, though. Not that you'd likely know it to look at her, with the figure she has and the way she conducts her business as if she isn't even aware of what a home is. I saw her eyes glance over to a figure huddled over in the far corner, watched her eyes soften ever so slightly, before she tore her gaze heart-wrenchingly away from the sight and went back to her previous task. She is a mother, through and through; I saw it in her eyes that very moment. Not but a mother could look at the sight before her the way she had.

And suddenly I felt an intense kinship with this woman; bonded originally, through nothing but a burning love for our children coupled with a need to succeed in our own way, our own right, beyond that of bringing such amazing individuals into the world.

- Except that was sort of already in our own job descriptions; she created them through fashion; I molded them by outer beauty -

I stared after her and saw a little girl: chestnut hair falling over her shoulders in loose curls, and the most gorgeous eyes I'd ever seen besides my sons; sitting primly beside her foreign maid, and her gaze trailing after her mother at every turn.

She was such a beautiful child; such perfection in one so young; such beauty, and elegance, and… mystery.

This last one stirred something inside me, and all I could see was the deep, encasing eyes of my son; eyes that held so much wonder and awe and… mystery.

The day I met Eleanor Waldorf, was also the day I met Blair Waldorf; and this day forever changed the lives of my son and I.

I am sure of it."


TBC…

This should be roughly 20-odd chapters - here's hoping ;) – and will make references to things in both 'Love Is…' and 'Pretending Was…' and then the plan is to continue on from this with another fic called 'ABC's of Love'.

Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think.
Steph
xxx