Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl.
Paris, France
Chuck Bass tapped his foot on the ground in annoyance. He hated shopping but here he was in Carolina Herrera waiting outside the dressing room.
"Are you done yet?"
"No there are still a few more things I need to try on."
"You have got to be kidding me? I have been held hostage in this uppity boutique for the past three hours."
"Quit whining."
The curtain of the dressing room flung open.
"So what do you think?"
She wore a short strapless red and white floral dress with a black rosette.
"You look perfect."
She gave him a megawatt smile and twirled around in front of the mirror.
"You think so?"
"Yes, go change I want to get the hell out of here."
She spun her way back into the dressing room and emerged a few minutes later wearing skinny jeans, an old led zeppelin t-shirt and assorted necklaces. Her black pep-toe heals made her almost Chuck's height. Her red-brown hair fell loosely around her face and the bangs fell over her green eyes.
"Okay let's pay then we can get lunch."
"Thank god."
The cashier rang up the dress.
"$4,300."
"My dad is going to kill me."
Chuck pulled his credit card out of his wallet.
"Consider it one of your many early birthday presents."
She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"Like there was any doubt that I would end up paying for it."
She gave the cashier the address to have the dress delivered to before the two of them walked out of the store onto the streets of Paris. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she tangled their fingers together. They looked like the perfect couple walking down the street her in her vintage concert tee and him wearing jeans and a black dress shirt. Only they weren't.
"So any special reason you are dressing up extra special for the charity dinner."
"Maybe…"
"Come on tell me. What's his name, Zoë?"
Zoë Hesse gave her best friend a sheepish smile and bit her lip.
"Ummm… Christopher Rockwell."
"I knew it."
"What you did not?"
"Did so? You stare at him during English."
"Is it that obvious?" She groaned hoping the guy didn't know about her crush.
"Only to me."
"Thank god. You think he likes me?"
"Come on Zoë are you that dense… he was hitting on you the other day."
"What? When?"
"At lunch the other day… he asked you to come sit with him then asked for help in World History… classic move."
"What are you talking about?"
"He's a tutor for history."
"Oh, you're kidding."
"Fraid not he probably thinks you don't like him."
"Well we have to change his mind."
"We there is no we in this."
"Come on Chuckie, you're my best friend. Please."
"Fine."
"Yes."
"Now guess what we have to do."
"Get lunch."
"No, buy shoes."
"I should have seen that coming."
She nodded before pulling him into Jimmy Choo.
New York City
Serena and Eric sat on the couch of the penthouse staring at their mother in shock. She had just told them that they were going to leave for a family trip two days after school ended.
"We are not going to spend all summer in Europe."
"Look Serena I know this is not ideal for you but we will have lots of fun. We can go to Paris and Venice and I can see Bart's ex-wife."
"That is what this is about? You want to see your fiancé's ex-wife?"
"Well, they work together, and they are still friends, so I need to know if she is a threat."
"A threat… this isn't a war mother." Serena could see that her mother was worried about Bart's relationship with his first wife. She had never met Chuck's mom but him and Bart spent all major holidays with her in Paris and Chuck would often go for weeks during the summer.
"No but I do want us to be able to spend time as a family."
"The three of us are a family."
"I know but Bart and I are getting married so we should spend more time with him and Chuck."
About five months earlier...
Serena sat in an armchair in Bart Bass's suite with her mother and brother. They were waiting for Chuck to get here because their parents had some 'big news'. She could tell that she was not going to like it. Her mother had been tapping her foot anxiously since they had gotten here twenty minutes earlier and Bart had been pacing back and forth across the floor. No this was not going to be good at all.
Finally, ten minutes later Chuck walked in. He noticed the Serena biting her lip and gave her a questioning look, she just shrugged in response.
"So… what's going on?"
"Son, I think you should take a seat."
He perched himself on the edge on the brown leather couch.
"Okay… so?"
Bart and Lily looked back and forth at each other silently urging the other on.
"Mom?" Eric looked over at his mom from his seat on the couch next to Chuck.
"Well… kids… Bart and I have some news."
"Yeah we figured."
Bart sent his son a glare, which promptly shut him up.
"Okay well here goes nothing… I asked your mother to marry me last night."
The three teenagers stared at them with black expressions on their faces.
"And I said yes."
The three faces quickly turned confused and then angry and they yelled at the same time.
"YOU WHAT?"
"We love each other very much and…"
The kids soon tuned them out. Eric was mumbling under his breath.
"This is not happening. This is not happening. This is not happening…"
Serena was beginning to hyperventilate and Chuck opened and closed his mouth a few times before getting up and leaving the room saying,
"I need a drink."
Serena and Eric quickly got up and followed in leaving their mother and soon-to-be stepfather alone.
"Well that could have gone better."
Lily looked over at her fiancé and nodded.
"How could they do this?" Eric was pacing back and forth in Chuck's suite while he and Serena sat on the couch drinking straight from a bottle of Patrón Tequila.
"Do they not care about us at all?"
"How many times has your mom been married?"
"Three." Serena said quietly.
"Huh… I think… my dad has been married five times… but I'm not sure."
"How do you not know?" Chuck looked up from the bottle in his hand to Eric who had finally stopped pacing.
"I haven't been invited to the last few weddings and the average span is like… twenty minutes."
"Same as the age of the average girl." Chuck snorted and handed the bottle back to the blonde. She finished off the tequila and slammed the empty bottle down on the table. She watched Eric as he began to pace again.
"I'm gunna be sick."
A week later Serena, Chuck and Eric all weren't talking to their parents, actually they weren't talking to anyone really. Serena hadn't told Dan or Nate or even Blair, Eric had only told his shrink and the only time Serena had heard Chuck talk about it he had been on the phone ranting to an unidentified person. They spent most afternoons locked in Chuck's suite drinking and ordering room service. Eric would pace back and forth while the other two sat on the couch half-listening. Chuck hadn't gone to Victrola and hadn't hooked up with any random girls. Serena hadn't answered many of Dan's calls and could tell he was getting suspicious about the amount of time she and Chuck were spending together.
Serena, Chuck and Eric had formed a sibling-like bond while commiserating about their parent's marriage. She had been shocked when Chuck didn't return from the trip he took to see his mom. She had gotten a short email explaining that she wanted them to spend more time together but that was it. They had been emailing and text messaging for the few months he had been gone. Serena would tell him about what was going on in New York and he would always ask how Blair was. It surprised her that he hadn't been talking to her, they had gotten back on good terms after their affair gone wrong ended, but when she asked he just said he hadn't had time, or didn't know what to say. He had still been talking to Nate and he had even flown over to Paris for a week long break they had, Serena just figured it was because the best friends missed each other. Nate didn't really talk about the trip when her got back, he just said that Chuck was good. Bart had gone over a few times as well, including the initail trip that Chuck never returned from. He had just ordered one of the maids to pack up his things and have them shipped to his ex-wife's home.
There seemed to be something else going on but no one would tell her. When Bart had gotten back he and Lily had a long talk and when they were finished it looked like she had been crying. Nate was come over to the apartment they had moved into when Bart got back and the two had a long talk in the study, Nate seemed worried. Serena had asked her mom what was going on but no one had told her. She hadn't asked Chuck, Nate or Bart who were the three she was sure knew what was going on and she wasn't sure why. She was going to ask Eric, he talked to Chuck a lot, but she didn't know if he knew and didn't want him to worry if he didn't. The entire thing was driving her insane. Now she also had to deal with telling Blair and Dan that she was going to be gone for the entire summer.