Through The Looking Glass
Summary: Carter and Chuck have to learn to deal with each other, seeing as they are both important parts of Serena's life. Romantically, it's Serena/Carter with a little bit of Chuck/Blair.
Author's Note: I'm still flexing my CaS writing muscles, and they're not very big yet, since we haven't seen much of them. There are no real spoilers here, so don't worry about that.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl, and Josh Schwartz does not personally know me. But I bet he wishes he did. :P
---
Blair saw Chuck clench his right fist and grit his teeth as they walked hand in hand out of Sunday brunch at the van der Humphrey household. She smiled to herself, thinking of how much she liked angry Chuck. It always made him seem so much more… virile. But that wasn't the issue right now, of course.
"What's wrong?" She asked him, even though she already knew the answer. She just liked to hear him rant.
"Did you see that sleazy smirk on his face as they walked out?" His face contorted with a barely concealed fury as he spoke, and Blair tried not to laugh at how strange it was to see him be so overprotective.
"I'm sure Carter was just pleased Lily let Serena out of brunch early," she offered by way of explanation.
Chuck sneered disgustedly. "Oh, come on. More like he was pleased Serena is falling under his sick spell." He huffed angrily for a minute, as if trying to collect his thoughts. "Why doesn't Lily do something to stop it? Why doesn't Dan?"
Blair smiled indulgently at him before replying. "Lily loves him. And what could Dan possibly do? Yell out 'Please don't date my ex-girlfriend-future-step-sister' as they walk away?"
He grew silent for a few moments, stumped by her sound words. Once they had entered the limo, though, and Arthur had shut the door, he burst out with, "Why is everyone so gullible? Can't they tell that the guy is slime?"
This time, she could not contain her laughter, and she earned a dirty look from her boyfriend as a result of it. "I'm sorry," she amended. "I just can't believe you're getting so self-righteous about this when –"
"When what?" Chuck challenged her, already bracing himself for what she was about to say.
"– When you two are exactly the same," she continued, as if there had been no interruption whatsoever.
She might as well have told him he was no longer allowed to wear purple, the way his nostrils flared and his eyes widened dramatically.
"Excuse me," he countered as smoothly as he could, given the circumstances. "I do not steal the prized possessions of others, nor do I kidnap women under the orders of secret gentlemen's clubs."
"But you do prey on hot, desperate women alone at bars," she reminded him. "And try to join said secret gentlemen's clubs in order to have sex with mysterious call girls." There was no malice in her words, just a playful push off his high horse.
"Used to," he corrected her with a quick peck on the lips. "I used to do those things."
"Well, maybe Carter used to do those things, too," she suggested as she ran her fingers through his hair. The limo was not the place to discuss Carter Baizen. It was the place to do other, better things.
"I don't think so," Chuck replied in between soft kisses along Blair's jaw. "He's up to something. I just have to find out what it is."
---
Chuck didn't have to wait long. He walked right into what Carter was up to in his office Monday afternoon. He had just come back from finishing revisions for the Brooklyn Inn deal and met with the surprise of Carter Baizen sitting behind Chuck's desk like he owned it.
"Who the hell let you in?" Chuck asked in a low voice, ready to call security and have him forcibly removed.
"Good to see you, too," Carter greeted him with a signature smirk that was meant to infuriate. "Your wannabe mommy let me in, actually."
Before Chuck had the chance to look confused, Lily herself walked into the room with tea and biscuits for everyone.
"Oh, hello, Charles!" She exclaimed brightly as she set the tray down, not noticing Carter's mocking expression as he mouthed an amused 'Charles?' in Chuck's direction.
"I have the most wonderful news," she declared, oblivious to Chuck's deadly expression. "Carter here wants to join Bass Industries!"
Clearly, Chuck did not seem to think this was the most wonderful news, for he reacted with a shocked splutter, nearly choking on his half-eaten biscuit.
"Of course, he would have to start in an entry-level position, but he'd surely move up fast," Lily continued, lost in her own world of high society wonders. "His father has such a good eye for business, you know," she said with an approving nod to Carter. "But not as good an eye as his mother has for fashion!" She giggled, delighted by her own clever wit.
Chuck tried to think of something to say, but no words came out of his mouth. It wasn't like anything could happen without his consent, he reminded himself calmly. As long as the board didn't hear about it, so that they wouldn't be breathing down his next to forge an alliance with the Baizens, he could do whatever he wanted.
"I already spoke to the board this morning, and they all agree –"
"You spoke to the board? Without telling me first?" He thought his head might explode from the tension.
"Well," she began nervously, worrying she had upset her stepson. "Since Carter's an old friend of the family, I just thought –"
"He's not any friend of my family," Chuck cut in angrily. "And, besides, that's not how I do business in my company."
Lily's eyes widened, and he could tell he had genuinely hurt her feelings. Crap. Fucking Baizen.
"Well, I'm sorry, Charles, dear," she replied in a firm voice once she had regained her composure. "But this is the way most of the world does business. Connections. It's certainly part of the way your father did business. You can choose to do whatever you like, of course, but this is an instance where I think you could learn a thing or two from Bart."
And with that speech, as close to motherly advice as she might ever get, she left the two young men to hash out their issues alone.
---
Once it was just the two of them, Chuck sat down across from Carter and stared at him with an impassive expression. Carter grinned right back at him like the Cheshire cat.
"What are you really doing here, Baizen?" Chuck asked sharply once the silence had gone on long enough.
"Honestly? I just like to watch you squirm." Carter leaned back and contemplated Chuck's scowl before adding, "And I need the job. The parental units require that I show some promise if I plan to stick around New York, living off their ancestors' hard-earned money." He said it as if it was some boring chore he hadn't thought twice about, but there was real determination in his eyes.
"And you are so interested in sticking around because…?" Chuck fished, trying to imagine a Carter that wasn't constantly jetting off to exotic locations, making deals on the black market.
"I think you know why I'm interested," he laughed, setting Chuck's radar off and ending the semi-civil conversation.
"I want you to stay away from Serena," Chuck gritted out, standing up and leaning over his archenemy from across the desk. He momentarily towered over Carter until the latter stood up as well and resumed the upper hand (or at least the upper height).
"See, I don't think Serena wants that, though," he shot back.
"I know what you're doing," Chuck announced, smiling as he tried to at least look like he was in control of the situation.
Carter gave him a look that clearly said, 'Oh, this should be fun,' and patiently waited for him to continue.
"You're trying to get to me through my sister," Chuck accused, getting more heated by the moment. "You did it with Blair, and now you're doing it with Serena."
Carter rolled his eyes, beginning to feel more irritation than he was comfortable showing. "Oh, please. Blair was just a meaningless game to me. Nothing more."
"And so is Serena!" Chuck practically shouted.
Carter stared at him stonily, unwilling to say anything to give himself away. Another charged silence settled between them, and this time it was Carter who broke it.
"You are going to give me a job at Bass Industries," he explained matter-of-factly. "Because you don't want the board – and maybe all of New York City – finding out everything I know about Bart Bass and his predilection for certain secret clubs. Clubs that might make your precious company look very, very bad."
Chuck did not gulp, but he wanted to. "How do I know you won't tell people even if I do hire you?"
"I might tell them even if you comply, true. But I definitely will if you don't." Carter shrugged as he put his suit jacket back on and prepared to leave. "This has been a great interview. I look forward to working with you."
He reached out to shake his new boss' hand, but Chuck just looked at him as if he were a very slimy worm. Carter gave him one last trademark grin before turning to go.
"I'm not going to let you play Serena like a pawn," Chuck called out after him.
"Do you think I'm obsessed with you or something?" Carter sighed, pausing before he walked out the door. "Not everything is about you, Charles."
Chuck sat fuming at his desk. Nobody but Lily and his father got to call him Charles. And nobody got to mess with his business or his family and get away with it.
---
Chuck couldn't do anything to Carter in his office for fear of creating a scandal, but he certainly wasn't worried about making a scene in front of the Palace hotel. He and Blair were on their way to Butter when he noticed Serena and Carter strolling their way into his line of vision.
Without thinking, he lunged himself at Carter and grabbed him by the collar. "First, my company, now my hotel?" He yelled. "You've got some nerve."
Blair immediately rushed over to see what was wrong, and she and Serena tried to pull the two boys apart, but not before Carter pulled on Chuck's tie and used it to send him straight into the nearest wall. That was when Chuck decided he should have thought about the fact that Carter was bigger than him.
"Chuck!" Serena cried angrily once she and Blair had successfully gotten ahold of their respective men. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Serena," he tried to explain, but it was hard to do when he was so out of breath. He really needed to start working out, and not just in the bedroom with Blair. "This guy is a –"
"This guy," she interrupted him, "is… here with me, and you need to respect that." She had been about to say 'is my boyfriend,' but she thankfully stopped herself in time. Carter Baizen was many things, but he most definitely was not her boyfriend.
"Carter is just using you!" Chuck blurted out as fast as he could, which was not all that fast, given his usual talking speed. "He's blackmailing me with secrets about my father just to work at – OW!"
He had been momentarily deterred from his goal by Blair's heel digging into his left foot, and he turned to glower at his girlfriend imploringly.
Blair's heel had not stopped Serena from hearing what was necessary to form her own opinion, however, and she looked at Carter with a mixture of disbelief and hurt. He tried to hold onto her hand, but she quickly pulled herself out of his grasp and began walking away.
Carter briefly turned to look at Chuck with his eyes full a hatred Chuck had never seen before. It was so startlingly different from the two expressions he was so used to seeing on his enemy's face – those of self-satisfaction and amusement – that he was struck speechless for a second.
"Fuck you, Bass," Carter growled, but it sounded less like a threat and more like an admission of defeat. Then he turned around to chase after Serena.
---
"Is it true?" Serena asked him desperately once he had caught up with her and grabbed her waist to keep her from leaving again.
"No, it's not." He shook his head vigorously. "I would never –"
"So you didn't try to blackmail my step-brother?" She was torn between wanting to believe that Carter was innocent and not being able to believe that Chuck would lie.
He averted his eyes and cursed under his breath. "I did do that," he admitted, immediately feeling Serena struggle against him, trying to get away. "But that was just a game! What he said about me using you to get to him – he's crazy. That's not true."
"Everything is a game to you!" She exploded in frustration.
"You're not," he insisted. She was the only person he'd ever admit that to.
But Serena wasn't interested in hearing that at the moment. "You're exactly who I always thought you were," she accused him in a cutting voice, not sure whether to blame him or herself for being in this position again.
He was taken aback by her comment, but he didn't pull away. "What exactly have you always liked about me, then?" He whispered, his breath brushing against her slightly parted lips. "What you thought I wasn't?"
"I don't know!" She beat on his chest with her fists for a moment, trying to push herself off, but it made no difference. The fact that he just smirked back at her made her want to beat him more, though. "You're one way with me, and you seem genuine, and it's wonderful. But then you cheat, blackmail, lie to, steal from, and sleep with everyone I know, so..."
"Okay," he agreed, trying not to feel any kind of panic. "But, see, I don't have to do any of those things."
Serena shook her head sadly. "Yes, you do. It's what you like. It's who you are." She had spent her whole life trying to change and mold herself into being what she thought others wanted her to be. She wasn't about to turn around and start trying to mold Carter. Even if he sincerely wanted to change, he would just end up unhappy and resenting her.
He pulled her even closer and cupped her face with his hands. "Listen, Serena." He spoke softly, but with force. "I care about you. I want to do this. I know you do, too. If you care about me, forget about all that other stuff. I'll leave Chuck alone – he's not important. I'll be a good boy." He gave her his best impression of a puppy dog grin, unaware that being a good boy for her was exactly what she didn't want.
"If you don't care me…" He continued in response to her silence, not wanting to think about the option he was proposing. "If you don't care about me, then I'll go. I'll leave you alone for good. Just tell me how you feel."
Serena took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She sucked at this.
"I … I don't care about you," she finally said with difficulty. A knot was forming in her throat, making it nearly impossible to get the words out. "I got carried away this summer. This was just… a mistake that went on for too long."
She avoided looking at his devastated expression and tried her hardest to stave of the tears that threatened to fall.
Carter immediately released her and stepped back, nearly staggering. "That's fine," he said as calmly as he could manage.
He smiled at her one last time – a sad, broken, maybe knowing smile – and nodded. "Goodbye, S."
She held her breath as she walked away. He didn't turn back once, so he didn't see her cry.
If Blair could see this right now, she thought bitterly, she would be so proud.
---
"I hope you're satisfied now that you've won your little game," Blair spat moodily at her boyfriend as he stood on the sidewalk trying to figure out what he had just seen on Carter's face.
"What game?" He asked her, tired of the mysterious comments she was making – not to mention the physical abuses she was doling out.
"The game where you defeat Carter and feel like a man again," she teased him with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Sure, you had to make Serena cry to do it, but all's fair in –"
"I was trying to protect her!" He defended himself. "Carter doesn't care about her. At least know she knows and can get rid of him before it's too late."
Blair stared at him for a full minute, trying to decide if he was serious. Upon realizing he was speaking in earnest, she broke out into a smile that bewildered him.
"You poor thing," she clucked sympathetically, kissing him and playfully biting his lip. "You are so very blind."
Chuck allowed her to kiss him again while awaiting further clarification on the state of his apparent handicap.
"Carter plays as many games as we do, and cheats a lot of people, and generally is the scum of the earth," she acknowledged good-naturedly when she was done leaving lipstick marks on Chuck's cheeks. "But he does care about Serena. He might even love her."
He pulled back to search her face for signs of insanity. "Are you high?" He asked, aghast. "Weren't you the first person to suspect Gabriel was up to no good? The first person to decide Georgina wasn't as reformed as she claimed to be? Why is your radar turned off? What makes you so sure Carter isn't just playing your best friend?"
"I know he's not," Blair said in all seriousness, smiling softly as she wiped a lipstick stain off his face, "because he looks at her the way you look at me."
---
Chuck entered Carter's room with reluctance (convincing him to do things was Blair's forte, but that didn't mean he had to be happy about it). He leaned back and watched as Carter haphazardly stuffed some clothes into a black suitcase without recognizing anyone else's presence.
"Going somewhere?" He called out, shocking Carter out of his reverie. "I'll miss you – don't forget to write."
"Wonderful," Carter groaned, rolling his eyes. "Good to know you still love to gloat. I think I taught you that."
"I do love to gloat," Chuck assented. "But, alas, that is not why I am here."
"Then, pray tell," Carter replied, leaning against the frame of his bed. "Why are you here?"
Chuck stared at him, hard. "You love Serena," he declared. It wasn't a question.
Carter smiled wryly. "Love," he scoffed. "It's not really worth it, is it? All that effort, and the girl still drop kicks you in the balls at the end of it."
"That's usually what happens, yes," his nemesis agreed, almost chuckling. "But it is worth it. Especially when it comes to our particular girls."
"Serena doesn't want me," Carter stated bluntly, sitting down as he spoke.
"True." Chuck nodded solemnly. "And, in other revelatory news, pigs can now fly."
Carter laughed, but still shook his head and resumed his packing from where he was now perched.
"Running gets you nowhere, trust me," Chuck advised him sternly. "You're still not going to have her, but you're not going to forget about her, either."
"The student now becomes the master. How cliché." Carter replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. But he soon took on a more vulnerable tone, asking, "What do I do, then?"
"Wait," he instructed his long-ago idol with a knowing smirk. "She'll come to you eventually."
"You're not going to be able to convince Serena that I'm worth it," Carter said sullenly.
"I don't think you are worth it, so I'm not even going to try. For some unknown reason - possibly the work of Satan - Serena is going to decide you are on her own."
Chuck took the suitcase and threw it back in the closet, where it belonged. "Don't be late tomorrow. My workday starts whenever I feel like it, but yours begins at 8 o'clock sharp."
Carter eyed him, impressed. "You're seriously offering me a job?"
Chuck shrugged. "It's just business, don't take it so personally." He moved back towards the door, but stopped at the entry way as a new thought hit him.
"One more thing: if you ever hurt Serena the way I've hurt Blair, even once, I will destroy you."
Carter's Cheshire grin reappeared with full force. "I'll do my best." He laughed, but he meant it.
---
One week later, he heard a knock on his door. He didn't need the maid's announcement to tell him who it was.
"Long time, no see," he greeted her, smiling with his eyes.
Serena entered the room and wandered uncomfortably to the edge of the bed. She realized suddenly that she had never been to his home – she'd never even thought of him as someone who had a home. They were similar that way.
"You're still here," she observed when she finally felt she had the courage to speak.
"And I'm still going to be here, for many days to come," he replied good-naturedly, not wanting to veer too close for fear of scaring her away.
"Chuck said you two are working together now," she ventured after a short silence. "He said you're getting along."
"He might be exaggerating slightly," he said with a grin. "I work for him, and I can do my part practically anywhere with internet access and a telephone, so we never really see each other." Thinking he might want to give himself a little more credit, he added, "We don't beat each other up on the street if we do see each other, though. So it's a start."
She gave him an encouraging smile and motioned that it was okay for him to sit next to her. When he complied, she took a deep breath and tried to search for the words she wanted to say.
"I got your letter," she told him. "You were right; my dad is New York. I went to go see him today."
He instinctively clasped her hand, and she let him rub small circles on her palm with his thumb. She could hear the question he wasn't asking and responded, "Yeah, it was … " She didn't know how finish that sentence, and she knew that with him she didn't have to.
"When it was over," she continued, "the only person I wanted to see was you." She leaned against his shoulder and sighed with a mixture of pain and pleasure as he wrapped his arm around her.
"I'm always here for you, if that helps," he whispered, kissing the top of her head.
She looked up at him and smiled gratefully, her eyes full of warmth and desire… and something like love.
"It helps a lot," she said before leaning in and kissing him full on the lips.
He reciprocated as chastely as he could, letting her set the pace. It wasn't long at all before she deepened the kiss. Not long after that, they were lying together on the bed instead of sitting.
Chuck was right, he decided as he ran his fingers along her back. It was worth it.
---