Let the Chips Fall Where They May

Chuck watched with guarded eyes as Blair slowly pushed all of her chips across the table in front of her. Incredulous, he saw her gaze at up at him with her big brown eyes, the flurry of the bright lights making him dizzy under the glare.

"Your bet, sir?"

It had been weeks since Chuck Bass had set eyes on Blair Waldorf 'the love of his life'; and to suddenly see her in Paris after all this time was like a bullet to the heart. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe. Why was she here? Why now?

"Excuse me." He murmured, not daring to look in Blair's direction as he removed himself from the table, running his hands nervously through his hair as he swaggered towards the door.

"Chuck?" She shouted after him, sliding off her seat, and ignoring the eye rolling of a curious Jack Bass, whisky glass in hand.

"Ahh, young love." He smirked from behind his glass, winking at the card dealer opposite.

"Go to hell." Blair snapped at him, pulling her Dior purse from the table and running after a rapidly departing Bass. "Chuck, wait!" She cried, catching up with him and tugging on the sleeve of his suit jacket.

"What, Blair? What do you want from me?"

"I want you..."

"Now, you want me." He choked, his voice breaking pitch unsteadily in his throat. "Six months ago, you didn't care. Are you going to marry a prince, again? Have Gossip Girl send photos of you making out with Humphrey in my bedroom?"

"It's over now, I promise..."

She ran her fingers along his sleeve, flicking her hair over her shoulder. The nape of the neck. Chuck's kryptonite. His eyes were burning, she could see it written across his face. She knew he'd been alone this summer, off the map practically. It had taken only the evidence from an unreliable Jack Bass to even locate him at all. She needed him again. She needed him to love her.

Chuck's breath was coming in raspy and uneven. She needed to take her chance, while she could still reach him. She stepped closer, her palm barely touching his chest.

"Blair..." He whispered huskily,

"Don't spoil it..." She murmured, running two fingers along his cheek and leaning in towards him. He couldn't resist. She knew he wouldn't resist. His lips reached for hers hungrily. It had been too long. She coaxed open his lips with her tongue, running her fingers through his soon to be messy brown hair. He was where he wanted to be. Maybe now she'd make him see that...

"Chuck!"

Quickly he snapped out of whatever trance had kept him still, and resentfully pulled his lips away from hers, wiping the guilty trace of lipstick from around his mouth.

"Your driver's here with the limo, the party at the Croft's, remember?" Everything was a muddle, he could barely think straight. Pulling his arm out of Blair's grasp, she struggled to let him go.

"You're leaving?" She questioned disbelievingly, her arms folded furiously across her chest.

"I made plans with a local businessman uptown, he and my father have... A history."

"But what about...?"

"Blair, this doesn't change anything." He sighed, looking away. An un-disguisable look of hurt making a mockery of his face. Looking at an impatient, Jack Bass, he let his eyes roam everywhere except on Blair. He knew that just one look would reel him in, and then they'd be back exactly where they started. Where they've always started. This time he promised that if he trusted himself to go down that road again with Blair, he'd make sure to do it right. The unfulfilled promise from over six years ago.

Blair stood in the middle of the floor and watched him walk away from her. She felt a knot in the pit of her stomach, disappointed in herself that she'd believed it to be so easy to once again win back his trust. Taking her phone out of her clutch, she texted Dorota "Call me a cab, I'm going home."

It was late before Blair arrived back at the hotel suite, ready for a relaxing evening to herself. She needed some time to think. The hurt and rejection filling her body like it had many times before. She swiped the key into the door, impatiently.

"C'mon..." She complained, "Just open already!" She wiped a hand across her face, already convinced that she'd be in tears before she'd even closed the door. Memories of the past kept blurring up her vision. And she regretted the mistakes that she'd made this year. "Divorced, at under twenty five." She laughed pitifully, "what a joke." She really needed her best friend right now, but just like everybody else, she was off the map. Blair flopped herself down on the bed, exhausted and began pulling off her heels, kicking them across the carpet. A lonely tear rolled sadly down her cheek. She thought she was getting through to him, she didn't expect to feel so... devastated.

Just then she felt the crumple of plastic under her elbow, and she rolled over to see a bouchet of peonies lying on the bed. Her head a whirlwind, she looked around her wildly. A smile protruding from her deep red lips as she guessed the name of her mysterious sender. Picking them up, she looked at the note card tucked inside the pink bouchet. "Wait for me" it said,

And wait she would.