A/N: Okay, this is going to be a long one, so bear with me. First of all, this is my first GG fic, so go easy on me! I've written for some other fandoms, but it's always a challenge writing new characters! I hope to get them as close to character as possible, but we'll see how it goes! Second, I know this plot has been done about a zillion times, but I couldn't get it out of my mind, and hopefully I'll have my own twist to add to a familiar tale. It's the basic 1x13 story, but I should note a few things. First of all, Serena hasn't gone to Chuck yet to ask for his help. Second, the timeline isn't going to be exactly the same as the show. I'm taking artistic license with the events to make it work with my story. Most of the major plot points will still occur, but maybe not precisely the accurate time. And finally, I'm a little fuzzy on how long Chuck and Blair were together before she went back to Nate, so I created my own details. I'm a big Chair fan, so this will be a C/B fic, but the other characters will join us from time to time. Please let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl or any of the characters. Just having a little fun with them. The story title comes from Alexi Murdoch's "Wait."

No. That was the only word in her mind at the moment.

No no no. This could not be happening. It could not possibly be happening. She'd been careful, she'd been safe. She was impulsive, but Chuck was prepared…as was Nate. There was no possible way that the test staring up at her could actually be correct.

Her first instinct was to reach for the phone, but who would she call? Chuck? Nate? Even if this really was happening, which one would she call?

She didn't want to answer that, because she was afraid she already knew the answer. Nate had been as perfect as she had ever dreamed he would be, and he was so sweet about her "first time." It had made it that much harder to fake, and she hated him, just a little, for caring so much about her virginity. Chuck had been sweet as well, but in his own way, in the way he was careful about her feelings, in the way he cared for her after. He had still been Chuck Bass, but a kinder, gentler Chuck Bass than the one she'd come to know. He also knew it was her first time, and he made sure to use protection. But they were in the back of a limo, and there was only so much he could do…she'd been afraid the condom might have broken, but she convinced herself it was first time nerves making her paranoid.

She had a feeling, if she calculated it all back, the odds were in favour of Chuck. She and Nate hadn't been back together that long, and now that she thought about it, she couldn't recall having her period during their time together. She and Chuck spent nearly a month sneaking around….a whole month of opportunities for poor choices. But you're not pregnant, she told herself. This can't actually be happening. It's a mistake. You just need another test to prove it.

With that thought in mind, she pressed her speed dial for the only person she knew to call. "Serena?" she asked as the tears started to fall.

"B, what is it?" her best friend asked worriedly.

"I really need you here. Can you come? Please."

"Of course, B, I'll be right there," Serena promised. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"I think….I think I need another test," she confessed, just barely holding back a sob.

"Oh," Serena answered. Then there was a long pause, and Blair could practically see the wheels turning through the phone line. "Oh God."

"Not helping!" she cried in distressed.

"Okay! Okay, I'm sorry. I just…okay," Serena managed again, and if her best friend was panicking, how the hell was Blair supposed to deal with this? "I'll be right there," Serena swore. "Just hang in there, B. It'll be okay."

"Please hurry," she added tearfully before hanging up. Still clutching the phone in her hand, she slid down the wall and tucked up into a ball, trying to hold herself together as she waited for Serena.

It seemed like hours had passed before her best friend finally appeared, breathless and holding a plastic bag, and Serena wasted no time dropping down to the floor to hug her.

"I'm so sorry, S," she apologised right away. Honestly, she didn't feel that bad about snapping at Serena earlier. She was feeling a little too terrible for herself to be worried about Serena's feelings at the moment, but she had been a bitch, and Serena had asked no questions and put up no struggle when she called in tears, desperate for help. "I never should have-"

"Shh, it's okay," her friend hushed her. "You don't need to apologise."

"I think there was something wrong with the test. Did you get another one?" she asked, trying in vain to wipe at the tears that just kept falling.

"Something wrong with the test?" Serena asked in confusion. "What do you mean? It didn't work?"

"It was…positive," she admitted. "But it must be wrong."

"Oh, B."

"I'm not pregnant!" she snapped. "I can't be pregnant. It's impossible. It had to be wrong. Please, just give me another test."

Serena opened her mouth to argue, but seemed to think better of it and handed Blair the plastic bag. Inside she found two more tests, and grabbed the first one she could reach. Serena went to wait in her room, and Blair forced herself to be calm. This test was going to prove it. This test would confirm what she already knew….that she wasn't pregnant, that it was just a fluke, a mistake. And as soon as she knew for sure she wasn't pregnant, she was going to write a very heavily worded letter to the company informing them of their awful, terrible product which had caused her so much distress for the last half hour.

When she was finished with the test, she left it sitting on the edge of her bathtub and went to sit with Serena. Her friend was perched nervously on the edge of the bed, so she joined her there, and neither of them said a word. After a moment, Serena reached over and grabbed her hand, stilling the nervous tremors.

"You should go check," Serena finally said when the time was up.

"I can't," she shook her head. "What if it says the same thing?"

"Then you need to know, B," her friend pointed out gently.

"No. I can't. I can't do this, S."

"Yes you can. I'll be right here," Serena promised. When Blair still made no signs of moving, Serena stood up herself. "Do you want me to look for you?" she offered.

"Could you?"

"Of course. I'll be right back," she promised, turning on her heel and disappearing into the bathroom.

When her friend didn't immediately return squealing in delight, she knew there had been no mistake. It was true. She was pregnant. After waiting all this time, after actually holding out long past most of her friends, a single stupid act had cost her everything. Well, maybe not one stupid act. More like a short series of stupid acts. But at least she could still claim some kind of temporary insanity that had made her do that same stupid thing on a repeated basis for several weeks.

Without waiting for Serena, she climbed into the bed and hid herself beneath the covers. Maybe if she could just go to sleep, she would wake up and discover this was all a terrible dream. If she just closed her eyes long enough, it would all just go away. A baby didn't fit anywhere in her life, in her perfect movie. Teenage pregnancies were an afterschool special; her life was an Audrey Hepburn film. There was never a happy ending when a seventeen-year old girl made a mistake and wound up a mother, and there would certainly be no happy ending if her co-star in this melodrama turned out to be Chuck Bass.

Without even wanting to, she inadvertently started to count back the days, trying to remember her last period. A sick part of her didn't even want to know. Maybe if she just didn't think too hard, she could pretend most of November was nothing more than a bad dream. She would be pregnant with Nate's baby, and though that was still a nightmare of near-epic proportions, at least her life wouldn't be utterly and completely destroyed. Maybe he would do something terribly romantic and propose to her on the spot, and she would act approriately scandlized while been secretly thrilled, and then later, much later, after making him sweat a little, she would say yes. Their family would start earlier than planned, but it would be their family. The family she was always supposed to have.

But as she counted, she realised it had been quite a while since her last period. And she slept with Nate the first week of December. It didn't quite add up, and she really just watned to die.

After a few moments, she felt the bed shift under Serena's weight and felt her best friend curl up beside her. "It's true, isn't it?" Blair asked quietly, needing to hear it, just once.

"Yeah, B, it's true," Serena confirmed softly. "It was positive. You're pregnant."

"Maybe I should take the other one. Just in case."

"Two tests said you were pregnant, Blair," her friend said gently as she reached over to play soothingly with Blair's hair.

"But I can't be," she shook her head miserably. "I'm supposed to go to Yale. I'm only seventeen. I can't be…I'm not supposed to be a mother."

"You could still go to Yale. There's still time," Serena tried to encourage her, though they both knew having a baby was practically the same as a death sentence when it came to Ivy Leagues and parties and everything else an Upper East Side teen was supposed to have. "There are more important things to think about now, though," her friend continued. "First you need to talk to Chuck," she said practically. Serena didn't know about Nate, so she automatically assumed it was Chuck's. It made the guilt that much worse, and Blair wondered if it was possible to just curl up tight enough that the whole world would just away. "Blair?" Serena prompted after a moment.

"I can't do this, S," she shook her head. "How can this be happening?"

"B, if you really don't want to do this, you know you don't have to," her friend pointed out gently. "You wouldn't be the first at Constance to go through this. No one would even have to find out. But you do need to talk to Chuck."

A lump formed in her stomach at the sound of his name, and she felt sick all over again. She finally had her boyfriend back, after all the tears and the drama and the fear that her future as Mrs. Nathaniel Archibald was over before it even began. It may be slightly less than perfect at the moment, but that was to be expected after everything they'd been through. The important thing was they were trying. Really, truly trying, and all she wanted was a chance to make it work, a chance to show him why he shouldn't give up on her. She wanted him to see that she was everything he wanted, not Serena. A baby would ruin all of the progress they made and all the progress yet to be made. And if the baby was Chuck's…well, Nate would probably never speak to her again.

"Blair, are you listening?" Serena asked her.

"I have to tell you something, S," she blurted as tears started to flow a little more rapidly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I'm terrible."

"You're not terrible!" Serena protested. "What's wrong?"

"I…I slept with Nate!" she cried. "I slept with Nate the night of Cotillion. Chuck ruined everything, and then Nate was so sweet, and I knew he wanted me back. So I slept with him!"

Serena got even closer and wrapped her arms tightly around her, hugging her close as she cried. "Shh," her friend tried to calm her. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."

"How will it be okay?!" she demanded hysterically. "I'm pregnant and I don't even know whose is it! This isn't supposed to be my life! I'm Audrey Hepburn! I'm not some dropout in a Lifetime movie!"

"Shh," Serena tried to hush her once more. "It's not that bad. When was your last period?"

"I don't know," she answered automatically.

"B."

"I don't know, okay! I don't know whose is it is!"

"Well you're going to have to figure it out! You have to tell them about this, Blair! You need to make a decision, and you cannot do that without telling the father."

Blair was silent for a long moment as she considered her options.

"Blair, promise me," Serena demanded. "Promise me you are not going to decide anything without either Chuck or Nate. That's not fair, and you know it."

"Like Chuck would even care," she snorted. "I'm sure he'd hand me the cash to do it without even flinching."

"You don't know that."

Blair said nothing to that, because honestly, Serena was right. She had no idea what Chuck would say about this. There were a lot of things that confused her about Chuck. She always thought he was good to have as a partner-in-crime, and he could certainly be entertaining, but she'd never given it much more thought than that. He was pervert, but it was funny, and he pulled it off somehow. But then that night at Victrola, he changed right before her eyes. If she was truly honest with herself, she'd seen hints at that vulnerability all along. When he pitched the club to her, she saw how desperately he wanted approval, and she had wondered, ever so briefly, if there was another Chuck Bass hidden beneath layers of sarcasm and smarmy jokes.

That night, she saw that there was. The way he murmured, "You sure?" before he even touched her had just melted her. She'd never wanted anything so bad in her life. He knew she was a virgin and he was everything she needed him to be. He guided her through it without saying a word, just showing her what to do and absolutely worshipping her with every touch. She thought the first time would be terrible, but it was far from it. There were moments of discomfort and fear, but the good had far outweighed the bad. Even though she regretted it the next morning, she found herself remembering, over and over, the sound of his voice in her ear, the electric feel of his skin on hers.

He surprised her again when he admitted he had feelings for her. She never thought he was capable of butterflies, or a gesture as sweet as buying that necklace. There had been a lot of things about Chuck that she never would have dreamed, but it had all been overshadowed by his scheming at Cotillion. He ruined her night because he was jealous. Jealous! Chuck Bass was so jealous that he destroyed her perfect night, and she hated him in that moment. She hated him because he was too much like her. He couldn't just tell her how he felt. He couldn't just explain his discomfort with the situation. Instead, he plotted against her. It was entirely too reminiscent of her own malevolent plots to get what she wanted, so she went back to what she knew. She went back to Nate, who was so gloriously empty-headed and gorgeously daft.

But while she was sleeping with him, she thought of the fact that he had touched Serena like that. And then she thought that as gorgeous as he was, he was unfocused and a little rough. He tried to be smooth and passionate, but he was a little awkward, a little clumsy. It had been….nice. She'd spent so much time trying to fake her virginity that she didn't really let herself enjoy it too much, but it was nice, and he held her afterwards…unlike Chuck, who had merely dropped her off at her door. Nate had whispered that he loved her when it was over, and he had been attentive and kind, so worried that she might still be hurting. It made her feel like a terrible person, but she tried to tell herself it was okay. At least they had been broken up when she was with Chuck, and she obviously couldn't tell him because he just wouldn't understand.

But she'd seen the expression on Chuck's face when he caught them making out. He tortured and blackmailed her, but wasn't that just his way? All in all, she had no idea what he would say if she told him she was pregnant. She had no idea what either of them would say.

"What am I going to do, Serena?" she asked miserably.

"You need to talk to Chuck first," her friend answered gently. "Does he know about Nate?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Okay, then go talk to Chuck. I think you should probably wait and find out if it's his before you say anything to Nate. It will only make things harder," Serena pointed out. "But Chuck already knows, so he can help you. And then you need to make a doctor's appointment so you can find out how far along you are. I'll go with you," she offered.

"I don't know if I can tell him, S," she protested weakly. "I just want everything to go away. I want to go to sleep and wake up and have this all be a really terrible nightmare."

"I know you do," her friend soothed, hugging her close once more. Normally Blair would shy away from the touch, but she found she didn't mind at the moment. Right now, she wanted to be held and comforted. "But you know you have to deal with this. No matter what you decide, you can't just ignore it. That will only make things worse."

So will telling Chuck, she thought wryly. "Can we pretend this doesn't exist today? Just for one day? Please," she begged Serena, desperate to stop thinking, for an hour or a minute or a second about the tragedy her life had suddenly become.

"You have to tell Chuck," Serena reiterated.

"I will," she promised.

"Tonight."

"S," she whined.

"We'll watch movies and eat ice cream," Serena proposed. "And then you and I will go to the Palace, and you will talk to Chuck. These are my terms."

"Tyrant."

"Deal?"

"Deal," she sighed heavily, reluctantly sitting up and wiping at the tears. "But we're watching Tiffany's first."

"I didn't expect anything else."

As promised, they spent the entire afternoon watching movies and eating ice cream in Blair's room. Serena had popped out briefly to pick up movies and brought back three different flavours of ice cream. For once, Blair forced herself not to think about the fat or calorie content and indulged. Her mother was out of town, of course, so Dorota offered to bring dinner up, but by that time they were both full on ice cream and couldn't even think about eating anything else.

They had just finished up Sabrina when her cell phone rang its distinctive Nate ring. Serena knew it well, and she turned to her friend in concern. "I have to answer that," Blair sighed. "I haven't talked to him all day."

"He'll be worried," Serena agreed.

Steeling herself for the agony of it, she answered the phone as cheerfully as possible. She'd actually been enjoying herself a little, but now reality had returned in the form of her boyfriend, and she was none too happy to see it.

"Hi, Sweetheart," Nate greeted her warmly. "What are you up to?"

"Just having a girl's day with Serena. I wasn't feeling well, so she brought over some movies to keep me company."

"Why didn't you call me?" Nate asked, sounded slightly wounded. "I could have come over."

She inadvertently thought back to about a hundred other times when she'd been sick and he'd kept far away from her, barely even remembering to call and check in on her on a semi-regular basis. Was he overcompensating now, she wondered, or had he really changed? "Oh, that's sweet of you," she managed. "But Serena and I just wanted some girl time. It's been a while," she tried to explain.

"Do you need anything?" he offered.

"No, I was just a little under the weather," she tried to evade, becoming a little irritated with the doting act. Nate Archibald was a sweet guy, a good guy, but he was not an attentive guy, and he was certainly not the type who fawned over his girlfriend all the time. She had often wished he would be, but now that he was, she was just annoyed. "I'll be fine. But I should probably get back to Serena. See you tomorrow?"

"I'll bring breakfast," he offered. "Your favourite croissants."

"Sounds perfect," she agreed.

"I love you."

"Love you, too," she managed before hanging up. She was tempted to throw her phone across the room, then decided it was too precious to her.

"So that was…" Serena began.

"Excruciating," she finished for her as she collapsed back on the bed. "Can you tell me something?" she asked, not waiting for an answer as she continued. "Do you think Nate's been acting weird?"

"Weird? Weird how?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "He's been so…sweet."

"Nate's a sweet guy, B."

"You know how he was," she rolled her eyes. She was tempted to add a snarky comment about how it was mostly Serena's fault, but she had (mostly) forgiven her friend for that transgression, and it really wasn't worth bringing it up again. "He was just going through the motions for a long time. He looked at me and it was like…it was like he saw right through me. Now suddenly he's like…like I always wanted him to be," she admitted.

"Why don't you sound happy about that?" Serena asked suspiciously.

"I am," she answered.

"Blair," her friend reprimanded, clearly not buying it.

"I don't know," she groaned again, flopping over onto her back and staring listlessly up at the ceiling. Nate Archibald was supposed to be everything she ever wanted, but now she was pregnant and she was just…annoyed with him. Maybe it was hormones, maybe it was self-preservation against the horrible fight that was sure to come. "Don't I get to do irrational things right now?"

"Yes, but…is it because of Chuck?" Serena asked.

"Gross. No, of course not."

"You're the one who slept with him, B," her friend so kindly pointed out. "So obviously not that gross."

"Chuck Bass is evil and I hate him."

"When you lie, your eyes don't match your mouth."

"I'm a great liar and you know it," she snapped.

"Quite an accomplishment, B."

"You're not helping!"

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry," her friend apologised. "But there was something there, right?"

"He's Chuck Bass," she responded, then hated herself when it came out so terribly sad. "Maybe he had feelings for me, but he has the emotional maturity of a five-year old."

"Compared to Nate, who is probably approaching his seventh emotional birthday."

"Okay, point taken," she conceded. "But Chuck would have gotten bored even if I hadn't called it off. He can't keep his attention on anything for too long. It was the right thing going back to Nate."

"What about you, Blair?" Serena continued to push. "Do you…you know?"

She refused to answer that, refused to let herself consider that she may or may not still have a thing for Chuck Bass, of all people. It was the stupidest thing she could possibly do, and it just destined her to a broken heart at some point. So she may have been the first one to give him butterflies…that didn't mean much. Nate had been the first person to do that for her, and then he'd gone and slept with her best friend and lied about it for months.

Which just brought her back to her unresolved hurt with him and started the cycle all over again. "I hate men," she declared. "Those two idiots ruined my life."

"It's not going to be that bad, B," Serena tried to assure her, like she actually had a clue. How was it that Serena escaped from all the things unscathed? How was it that Serena Van Der Woodsen, who had been sexually active since the age of fourteen, who had partied with the hardest of partiers, who had done drugs and who had frequently consumed enough alcohol to forget where she'd been the night before, came out all of that like a ray of fucking sunshine? That inane boyfriend of hers was completely head over heels for her, and she actually seemed to feel the same way for him. It just wasn't fair that someone like Serena just stumbled into being so happy. Blair had tried to plan her entire life, but as soon as she lost her virginity in November, she found herself pregnant in January.

"How would you know?" she asked accusingly, not even caring if she alienated the only person she had to rely on right now. "Nothing ever happens to you. You come out of every scandal like it didn't even touch you."

"B, you know better than anyone that's not true," her friend answered darkly, reaching over to take her hand. And that was the other thing; how was Serena always so damn nice? Why didn't she ever just act like a total bitch? "Seriously, B, it's going to be okay," Serena continued. "I'm going to be there for you. Through all of it. No matter what you decide, okay? We'll get through it together," she promised.

New tears began to leak from Blair's eyes, and she suddenly wanted another hug. And it was okay, she reasoned, because later she could blame this on the sudden shock and the whacked up hormones she was experiencing. "Will you come with me?" she asked as she embraced her best friend. "To talk to Chuck?"

"I'll go with you," Serena promised, "but you need to talk to him alone. I'm not a part of this. It's between the two of you."

"Just go with me," she pleaded.

"Okay, B. I'll be there."