Hi, this is me again after a while I haven't posted anything new. I know I have to update my Valentine's Day fic and my I'm not pregnant fic, but a lot of things have happened in my life lately, one of them being my mother passing away. That didn't let me have the right inspiration to write more. I promise I will make it up for you. For now, I hope you enjoy this short fanfic that I'm currently writing. It is post S5 finale and it's mostly what I would wish would happen in the last season of the show. I want to thank my friend Cat who was my beta for this chapter.
Let me know what you think! I appreciate the feedback :)
...
After they left the green table, Blair suggested they go for a drink. He was still surprised because of her arrival and he didn't seem to find the words to say anything.
She had loved his reaction; he didn't predict this. She always aimed to do things that he didn't expect, that was one of the biggest and exciting things of their relationship. With Chuck, Blair would not get bored, and the other way around.
She tried to push him to open up and tried to capture what was possibly going on in his mind.
The waiter at the bar brought them two Martinis, she was really astonished that he didn't ask for a stronger drink.
"How do you feel?" she asked with a coquettish voice.
Chuck opened his mouth as if caught off guard again. "Relaxed, I think I feel relaxed."
She smiled. He was being honest at least. "I bet that's because we totally won at that table. Four millions, that is?"
"I think I lost the count" he answered as he grabbed his Martini and drank a small gulp.
Blair kept grinning and decided to have a little of her drink too. She felt somehow dehydrated.
She was trying her best not to ask about his strange cold behavior, she knew she had to wait. He was detached and possibly stunned and she had to give him his time.
She was really happy to be there.
She felt as if she hadn't been that happy in a long time. Even when she spent summer holidays in Monaco, the enjoyment she felt wasn't quite close to what she was experiencing in that moment.
Although she and Chuck had exchanged few words and he was lost in his thoughts, she couldn't handle her cheerfulness. She was in the place she loved the most in the world besides New York, and she was spending time with the man she loved. It was a perfect picture.
Of course what she would need in that moment was a tight hug and an I love you back, but she would give him time. She knew he loved her as much as she loved him, that was something.
"Of your many talents, I didn't know you played Blackjack so well" Blair said randomly after a few moments of silence. "We only used to play strip poker when we were together." She said the words with a certain calm, hoping to trigger his attention. He didn't turn.
He shrugged. "Nate and I always played it when we were younger. Jack was also one of the best mates to play with, he has a good memory."
"I bet he does" she giggled. Her giggle made him turn. Chuck had a little smile on his face, but it faded when their eyes met. She felt a bit sad about that but she wasn't discouraged yet.
His features changed after a few seconds. He seemed to have realized something that he hadn't in the previous minutes. "You are betting on everything tonight" he said, matter-of-factly.
It wasn't far from the truth. She was betting on a lot of things that night but everything came back to him.
"I'm just doing what I should have done all along" she tried to justify herself.
Chuck sighed and he looked at his legs for an instant. "I'm not a prize to win. You should know it better than me."
"I'm not trying to win you, Chuck. I just want to open your eyes."
"To what? To show me you can finance my future by playing Blackjack?" he asked a bit rudely.
She shook her head. "I'm not financing you, I'm trying to help you. I didn't do anything more than playing with you at that table. Most of what we won was your merit."
"That is not helping me. I will never make it alone if I don't try it alone. This is not a question that regards you. This is about my family."
"Is Jack your family now? After all he's done to you?" she asked bitterly.
"Like I said, he has good memory."
She shook her head again. "Is that the only person you need right now, then? Someone that has good memory?"
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to look for him now."
He stood up with no efforts from the chair and never looked back when he walked away, leaving her alone at the bar with a half Martini glass to empty.
She wasn't surprised by his actions, she expected him to act like that. And she was ready to respond in her own way and not give up. She would keep up this time, he would let her show him that together they would make a great team. Sooner or later.
…
The last time she had heard of him, he shut himself up in his hotel suite. He hadn't called nor texted her after they had gotten back from France, and he didn't seem as he would do it soon.
She had tried her best to show him that they could be together and at the same time be happy although he didn't have Bass Industries anymore, but he had been resentful. She thought he was still lost in his thoughts and machinations on how to win those properties back, as if it hadn't been taken by someone who was blood of his blood.
Blair recognized that Chuck didn't want to be in charge of the company again for the solely purpose of owning something. That meant a lot to him, he felt that he had made it grow through these last three years where his father was supposed to be dead.
Chuck needed the industries back for anything other than showing his father that he was able to take care of something. He also wanted to show Bart he could do that job for life, that he could be a good business partner if he wanted to.
He wanted his father to acknowledge him for who he was, something he had probably never done.
Blair was sure that this was stopping him from opening his heart to her again and accept her bet. She will be gambling until he would just say yes. There must be a way.
"Mom!" Blair called from her room. "Are the phones broken? They haven't rang for days."
Blair's mother run to the bedroom to answer her. "Phones are alright, Blair. I called the man to check on them yesterday and he said everything is okay" she said, although it was a lie. Eleanor hadn't called anybody to control the phones of the Waldorf penthouse, she just knew nobody had called Blair.
She sighed and held her pillow tightly on her chest. "That's so annoying. I feel so bored!" Eleanor rolled her eyes while she was turned to the window and Blair couldn't see her.
"We have gotten back home on Monday and he still hasn't checked on me. I am impatient."
"Patience is a strong quality, Blair. But if Chuck still won't call, you should go to him. He'll see that you care" she added.
Blair nodded and looked away. "You know, maybe you're right mother."
"When two people are in love, they can't be far from each other for long" she commented. "You know he is a very stubborn man, he needs to know you are here."
"He is just so complicated... I have already reminded him a lot of times that I wanted to help. I just believe he doesn't want to be happy."
Eleanor shook her head. "I think Chuck's real problem is Bart. That man is powerful and he's treating his son so badly. He is arrogant and wants it all after these three years he hasn't been in town. Maybe Chuck needs to feel powerful again."
"How can he? He feels weak with no company to look forward to. It's stupid. Bass Industries isn't everything."
"Maybe for you, but for him? Chuck wants a future."
She sighed. "I could be his future!"
"I didn't mean that. I just meant that he doesn't want just someone next to him, he also wants to have an identity. You are a powerful woman, Blair. Chuck also was a powerful man before his father took back everything from him. He now feels lost and insecure. You have to understand that as much as he feels something for you, it's not enough for him to feel happy."
"I could bribe Bart Bass?" she offered, but her mother rolled her eyes.
"I think that would be impossible even for you, sweetie" she laughed. "But you can help Charles get through this."
She looked down at her feet and snorted. "I have tried to do what I could, mom. I reached him in Paris and showed him that we could help each other."
"And?"
"And it wasn't enough. He's just too focused on getting his place back and his uncle getting his company in Australia back. It's helpless" she murmured as if she couldn't think about a solution.
Eleanor made a face, "and here I thought you were persevering."
"I was! I still am. I'm trying to come up with something to get him back."
…
After he left her alone at the bar, Blair decided to take a break and go out on the balcony to take a breath of fresh air.
She wasn't really feeling like she was already losing, but she wasn't too much sure of herself either. She thought his first rejection few minutes before, had helped her mood change a little. She was already tired because of the trip from Manhattan to there and she just remembered she needed to rest if she wanted to get what she wanted.
Chuck had been surprised she was there and she was sure it would take a while to make him realize she would remain there, because he wasn't giving up.
She started to think about a lot of things while out in the open air.
She had traveled so far to make him change his mind but she actually didn't think about a plan. She was usually full of ideas but this time she felt there would be much more to make him change his mind. This time the question was more personal and deep, familiar; like he said.
She probably didn't have to put a finger between Chuck and his father, but she could go between the two men and help them reconcile in some way.
She had to help Chuck know first that he wasn't alone in this, that despite he thought Jack was the only one helping him against a common enemy there was also her by his side. She wouldn't leave him, she wanted to fight for him.
And what more than helping him against Bart so he would finally see that his son has the right cards to run a company and even more?
Second, she wanted to make him see that he had a future. He could create his future. She would help in any possible form that would not offend him, because she was well aware that he didn't want his career to be financed by her money.
Last, she would desperately try to show him they could help each other and not bet against each other for the rest of their days.
The only thing she ever wanted was Chuck, and she wouldn't be happy until she got him.
She hated though that with Bart, Chuck's old issues with him sort of reappeared. She knew he was changed now and that he wouldn't fall back in his old patterns, but it still maddened her that man could be the cause of most of their problems.
Chuck had never really set himself free from his father's ghost when Bart was supposed to be dead. He had always tried to find a way to complicate his life by making a lot of things in function of what his father would have thought of him.
This, according to Blair, was what in the first place helped their first and real relationship, sink.
He had not done things for himself, he had done everything to prove Bart something although he still had disappeared for a while.
He had to let go of this belief that everything revolved around Bart Bass. It was natural that he wanted to be appreciated. Every son and daughter wants to. But every man and woman also has to detach from their parents to start his own business, whatever that'll be.
Chuck's business had been Bass Industries first and his hotels next. He had thrown himself in work too much, he had become a workaholic. He hadn't enjoyed his life much, his only incomes were made of money and love at first, and of pure material things after he and Blair broke up.
He had never really invested in something that wasn't worth in Wall Street, and he had acted as if anything other than that didn't matter for a while.
Blair kind of didn't like that the moment he had chased her again, she was lost in the arms of a man she didn't love and a friend that was obsessed with her. She didn't appreciate him then either, she thought he was going to take her to a bad path and ruin her dream.
When her dream was irremediably ruined by her reveries of a perfect life, she realized that she couldn't be safe anymore although she wanted Chuck so badly.
She thought that he could die at first, then that they would be destroyed together. But truth was that she had only been afraid of getting with him into something so unknown that they had both briefly tasted for a short amount of time and hadn't fully appreciated.
"Aren't you getting cold outside?" she heard Jack's voice and turned. He had put a hand on her arm and was checking if she was okay.
She shook her head. "I'm alright outta here."
"If you say so... I'm sorry that failed" he said, cutting to the point.
"Me too, but I could not expect otherwise. Chuck's very first and great love his Bart Bass. How can I compete with him?"
Jack laughed. "You are a woman. Women always have something more than men."
She raised an eyebrow and then looked away. "I don't really know what to do" she admitted with a low voice. "I'm not hopeless, but I think it will take more than I thought to make him change his mind. I am a person. I can't replace something material."
"That's clearly evident" he commented, and Blair rolled her eyes. "But I know you are a smart girl. You changed him, Blair. Don't you think I remember how he was before he fell for you? If you did the impossible, you can also do this."
"Bart is a beast; I'm sorry."
"Nah, don't be sorry. I know he is. He tried to manipulate me too when I was Chuck's age and as a result he sent me to run Bass Industries in Australia. Guy loathed me because I stole his girlfriends" he laughed at the memory as Blair made a disgusted face. "The thing is: you can win against Bart Bass if you play the right cards."
"He would never give me half of Bass Industries to me" she answered.
He shrugged. "Yes, that I doubt he'd do, but you could convince him to recognize us as part of a family. As much as I'm not a family man nor really am considering about making one of my own, Chuck is my nephew and Bart is my brother. Legally, we are related. This whole act of power done by that wolf is so subtle and egoistical and it's making him look like a bastard, which he is, but that's not the main argument of discussion here."
"What do you think I could do?"
...
When she left her penthouse, she knew where she would be going. Jack had assured her that Chuck still hadn't left the suite. He was trying to come up with a plan against his father and he was helping him as much as he could.
She found this really stupid, as much as Chuck wanted to brainstorm to find a solution, maybe hiding in a building wasn't the right choice. By going to the Empire, she wanted to help him realize that he could count on her. He didn't have to shut her out, she wanted to support him and reach a sort of resolution together.
When she arrived to his suite, she found him sitting on the red couch. He didn't notice her until she reached the furniture and sat down not too far from him.
Chuck looked astonished, but probably not surprised like one week earlier.
"You shouldn't be here" he simply murmured. His voice wasn't rude but she could sense the unwelcome tone in it. "I have lots of work to do."
She made a face. "Mmmh, alright. Maybe I could help you?"
"I thought we discussed this. I don't want your help."
She nodded. "Yeah, I know. But would you still push me away if I knew how to show your father you are good at your job?"
"What do you mean by being good at your job? I don't have a job anymore."
...
"For which one of your problems, exactly?" Jack asked her.
Blair shrugged and bit her lip. That wasn't a tough question, technically, but for her it was. She wasn't sure what came first, fighting for his love or his legacy. She thought that the two things could be fought at the same time but the results could be evident at different times. The fail was also around the corner and she surely hadn't blurred it out of her mind.
"Do you think there can be a balance between love and money?"
Jack was caught off guard for a second. He thought about it then he answered her. "Why do you think I'm not married?"
She sighed. "Because you are incapable of love" she answered frankly.
"Besides that; why do you believe I'm still a bachelor at the age of 33?" he asked again, sounding redundant. She didn't answer nor felt as if she wanted to. "Right, you may not want to admit it. But you know that the reason why me and my lovely brother didn't settle down is because of our jobs. I think business is the love of my life."
"I'm sorry you can't marry money" she tried to mock him.
He shrugged. "I ain't even mad about that" he laughed. "Nor you should be. I don't think Chuck is a brother of that train of materialistic thought anymore. He is different now. So my answer is that every random businessman doesn't have to have any serious tie with any woman, if he wants to succeed in his business. But like I said, I highly doubt Chuck is like that anymore."
She wasn't sure why Jack seemed too confident that Chuck could have both. She thought he would have to choose between one of them and there would be someone unhappy in the end. Not that he wouldn't be pleased of having her, but she knew he also needed to have something to keep him busy to fulfill himself and his masculinity.
"And if you want me to be honest, I don't think business is what he really wants to do."
Blair frowned. "How can you say that? I think doing that is one of the things he was made to be."
He walked to the balcony and looked away. "I have to disagree on this, I'm sorry."
"No you are not" Blair complained, and he rolled his eyes.
"If you'd let me explain... anyway, what was I saying. I think you've missed a point in this. Chuck became CEO of the Bass Industries because Bart faked his death, right? He didn't choose to walk on that path. This doesn't mean he wasn't fit the job because you saw him at work, but what if he wanted to be – I don't know, a doctor?"
She glared at him. "I don't think he would want to become a doctor" she interjected. Although Jack's speech worked, she could not see it completely. Chuck seemed to love his job and seemed as if he wanted to live his life doing that.
He rolled his eyes. "That was an example. But you got what I meant, right?"
…
Blair tried to expose her idea to him. "What I meant was that despite your father isn't considering you a part of his company, you still are a part of his company. You've worked these three years and half as if there wasn't anything more important than your work in your life" she said as mentally cursed herself inside for the statement; "and being taken aback from Bart Bass didn't restrain what's in yourself. It didn't destroy your talent."
Chuck measured her words and then tried to avoid her stare. She wasn't sure but she felt as if her words moved something in him. Probably not a lot, but it would be a good start if she had at least provoked a reaction in him.
He sighed before he answered. "He said I only bought this hotel to redecorate. Same thing as the others. I have never really created anything from the foundations."
"This is not entirely true" she interjected.
He turned and looked up to meet her eyes. He was quite confused.
"Have you forgotten what you wanted to do last year? Chuck, you and your bad memory."
He snorted, kinda annoyed. "You and I both know that project ended up in flames. Maybe it wasn't meant to be."
"Maybe. But don't forget there is plenty of buildings like that in New York. Since you've won money at the Casino, you could buy a new one and actually start from zero."
He shook his head and massaged his temples. "No, it's not. I had no idea what I had in mind when I bought that old building last year."
"See? You're letting yourself down before time's up. You can still make it" she tried to encourage him. "You can still buy a damn building where you want to, and start your own business. Don't you think your father would be happy of your result?"
…
She decided to get back in the room where people were playing when Jack left her alone to go to another blackjack table.
She wasn't feeling lonely, but she felt as if she didn't want to be alone either that night. Both the men that she knew at that place, went to do their own business. She had business to do too, but she still hadn't got any results and that was depressing her a bit.
She started looking for Chuck then. He must be there at some table playing, she thought. She didn't think he could have already gone back to his hotel. They still had to win some more money and she wanted to spend time with him.
After a while, she found him sitting at the bar. This bar wasn't like the other. This place was darker and with low lights, kinda hid from the rest of the Casino.
She thought that he came there to drink alone and in peace, but she wouldn't care if she would actually disturb him now.
She sighed and removed her heels before she walked to him. The carpet was soft under her feet, and clean that it made her forget she was barefoot. She had also kicked off her shoes because her feet hurt after a couple of hours standing up.
Blair sat down next to him on an empty chair. He didn't even turn to greet her, he just kept drinking what it looked like scotch. She noticed he had also asked for the whole bottle.
She was about to tell him something when he beat her to it. "I can't even drink" he complained. "I thought you had got back to your hotel."
"You won't free yourself from me anytime soon. I'm not regretting what I said at that table."
He shrugged. "Neither am I. I let you play with me and then that's it, we won and now I'm kinda tired to even talk about anything. End of the story."
"I can't even believe you are" she tried to provoke him, but he didn't turn. She saw a little smirk appear on his face, though. "You are just finding an excuse not to be with me, the same way I was trying to do up to last week."
He tilted his head a bit to face her. "I'm not being a coward."
"No one is saying you are. But you are still holding yourself back from me." She explained as she tightened her grip on her box clutch. "If only you'd try to start something new with me... we could be invincible. We could destroy your father together."
He sighed and poured himself another glass. Blair hoped that this time he wouldn't answer rudely as if he was pushing her away again. Of all the things she couldn't afford of him, putting her aside and not letting her help him was probably the one that pissed her off the most. She knew how much he had needed emotional support, and she had offered him. But sometimes he had acted as if he didn't need nor care for that.
"Let me say this straight, Blair. The only reason why right now I'm acting like this, it's because of how you've been treating me after your wedding. I tried to be there for you and to show you what you are doing right now – we are meant to be together. But you weren't ready for that the same way I'm not ready right now."
She was surprised he looked slightly calm than few minutes before. "Do you still believe that?"
He opened his mouth, doubtful for a second. "I have never stopped believing that. And I probably never will. But this time there is something more that I didn't think possible before. My father is back and he's trying to destroy the man I've became through these last three years. Fighting against him won't let me give you the time you'd need."
"We could fight together. Don't forget about it."
"I need to win this battle alone, Blair."
She shook her head and sighed. She didn't like when he pushed her away but he somehow was right. "I know what this means to you. But we may have great ideas together. I'm sure you will make it alone, but I don't want you to squeeze yourself out."
"Jack will be by my side."
"It's not the same thing" she murmured softly, her words were spoken really softly.
"I'm well aware of that. But I think he's the right person right now." he answered consciously. "Jack may be my uncle but I'm not afraid to hurt him as I would be afraid to hurt you, if this whole thing fails. I would never forgive myself another misstep towards you."
She managed a little smile. She wanted to get closer and take his hand, but she decided to vote against it. "There won't be any this time. I can feel it."
…
After their brief encounter at Chuck's suite, Blair thought they now were at good terms. Not that they weren't when they were still in France, but he had been kinda moody to her. He had first treated her rudely and pushed her away, then he had seemed okay with the idea of her remaining in Paris to play various games at the Casino so that he could win more money.
Blair really hoped that mood would settle and that he wouldn't change his mind and that he would actually accept her help, but as every time she hoped something would change with Chuck, he always changed everything. She thought he looked like a woman on her period with all of his changes. He really was unpredictable.
When she came to greet him the day after their return from Europe, he had changed again. Not only he was back to cold and stubborn, he was also still denying her help.
She had tried slowly to make him open up again and show him that they could be good as partners, but he had been tremendously detached as if he never paid attention to the things she was trying to suggest him.
She was that desperate to create a contact with him, that she also sought for Jack's help, but neither he could do something to change Chuck's mind.
The only time she thought she had triggered something in him, was the last time they had met.
Maybe it had been the place where they talked, or he had had an illumination when he woke up. She didn't know what made him change a little.
Possibly he was feeling beaten up. He hadn't found a solution yet despite Blair had tried to suggest him some things. She felt as if he was now without a chance, that he had already lost without even trying the first time.
His father hadn't spoken to him in a few days and never missed the chance to tell him how he was just having fun and nothing more. This clearly added to his already dark humor, but she thought nothing was lost yet. She had to encourage him not to give up now that he was letting her.
So when she found him sitting on the couch of her living room a night where there was a storm outside, she didn't wonder why. It was three days after they had met the last time and he still hadn't let her know anything yet about what he had decided.
She quickly came down the stairs to greet him. She was wearing her red robe and she was trying to tighten the cord so that what she was wearing beneath wouldn't be visible to him. He had a simple trench coat.
Before she reached him, she turned on the soft light next to were he was sitting. She didn't want them to talk without seeing each other. She then walked towards the couch and sat down not too far from him.
"What's wrong?" she asked, and she saw him closing his eyes for a brief moment before he could answer her.
"I'm sorry if I came this late, but I couldn't wait tomorrow morning" he said.
Blair decided that then he didn't come to tell her bad news. "What it is that can't wait tomorrow?"
She could see the corners of his lips forming a little smile. He had seemed a bit depressed and worried when he was in the dark of the room, but now he looked satisfied. This was a step ahead.
…
Side note: Hopefully the flashbacks weren't confusing. I really wanted to create a fanfic that mixed present and past, I believe what happened right when GG ended and CB were left at that green table was important to be left out but I also wanted to give you a look of how CB are in the future, and I wanted to do it quickly, lol. Like I said, this is supposed to be a short story so most of the things that will happen, will go really fast (count that the show will have max 10 episodes, that is my aim). Hope you enjoyed, if you did, please leave a review. It's important for my inspiration ;)