Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to Cecily von Zeigesar and The CW.
The First Day of the Rest of His Life
He woke up in the very early hours. The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon for the first time, and it was going to be a lovely day. There wasn't a cloud anywhere in sight. Not that she would have stood for it anyways.
He smiled at the sight of his beautiful bedmate still sound asleep in the lily-white satin sheets. She was going to be angry that he was still there, but he knew that today of all days he could get away with it. She wouldn't risk staying mad at him for very long, it would ruin the pictures.
He had come to her late last night after his bachelor party had wrapped up. She was surprised to see him of course. Chuck Bass leaving a party before midnight was unheard of and almost completely sober, but last night's party was unlike any other he had ever been to.
He was supposed to be celebrating his last night of freedom, his last night of bachelorhood, but instead he felt more like celebrating the fact that in less than twenty-four hours she would be his legally forever. She'd been his spiritually, physically and emotionally for much longer, but this was the last threshold that they needed to cross, and he couldn't be more ecstatic.
She had tried to push him out the door before midnight struck. It was bad luck for the groom to see the bride on their wedding day. He talked his way into staying by saying that it wasn't technically the next day until he fell asleep and woke up again. She bought into his argument much quicker than he thought. He gave her his smug grin as they fell onto her bed after throwing each other's clothes haphazardly across the room and made love.
His last true night of freedom and he chose to end it by making love to the woman he knew he would spend the next fifty plus years with. "I should only be so lucky," he thought as he gently caressed the satin skin of her back.
He allowed himself to think back on how they had gotten to his wonderful place. It seemed improbable even to him. The first meeting was when they were five years old. She had chosen his best friend over him almost immediately. For the next eleven years, he teased her, he baited her, and he did his best to lure her away from his best friend without overstepping the unwritten boundaries that would jeopardize his friendship.
It finally worked one wonderful night in the back of his limo. She had given herself to him . . . him, and not Nate. She regretted it almost instantly, he could tell by the way she looked at him as she exited the limo after it stopped in front of her building, but he was not discouraged. He was Chuck Bass. He would get what he wanted in the end.
He pursued her. He threw away his friendship with Nathaniel for her. He almost destroyed her and himself in the process. He realized that when he finally had her that he would damage her, so he hurt her. She waited for him in Tuscany, but he never showed. He regretted it, his first true moment of regret, but he told himself that in the end she would thank him for it.
He tried to move on. Found woman after woman to keep his bed warm. He disappeared into the drugs and alcohol, but nothing worked. He couldn't get her out of his system. Perhaps if he had her one more time, he rationalized as he pursued her yet again.
Then the most horrible thing happened. His father died. The one person that had mattered to him more than she did was gone. It didn't know how to recover from the pain. She tried her best to be there for him, telling him that she loved him for the first time. He wanted to take her in his arms in that moment and never let go, but he couldn't. He was hurting, and if she stayed he was going to destroy her. He ran this time, ran as far away from himself as possible.
His entire body tensed at the thought of that wasted time. He took several deep breaths as he allowed himself to return to the much happier times that eventually followed, like his romantic declaration of his affection. She had been waiting forever to hear him say the three little words. Naturally he was terrified and ran away again. How could he say those words to her. Everyone that he had ever loved at left him. His mother died while giving birth to him. His father died without ever telling his only son how much he truly believed in and loved him. He was convinced that as soon as the three words were out that it would be the end for them, but he forced himself to wait outside her building with all several gifts he hoped would make amends for the hurt he had most recently caused her. He finally uttered the three most beautiful words. She smiled and threw herself into his arms and never let go. If it was truly the end, he thought in that moment, it was a hell of a way to go.
He chuckled at the thought. It had only been the beginning. Together they both accomplished their dreams. She graduated at the top of her class from NYU in fashion design. Yale had come begging during her sophomore year, but she turned them down flat.
She went to work with her mother for a short period of time after she finished school. After three months, she stormed out of the office after making one of her more impressive scenes and decided to launch her own line of fashion. With Chuck's initial investment, she threw together one of the most successful fall runway shows that Olympus Park had ever seen. Within eighteen month she had repaid Chuck every penny of his money while she continued to thrive and expand her fashion line. CB Fashions (taken from both her and Chuck's first initials) had become one of the premier names in the fashion industry, completely overshadowing her mother's line.
He of course had taken over Bass Industries the fall after their high school graduation and revolutionized the direction it was heading sending profits soaring and stock prices threw the roof. He was now considered one of the top three riches men in the world, not that he even cared. He felt he was the richest man in the world because she was by his side.
They still had their monstrous disagreements. They still fought tooth and nail from time to time. He was convinced that she liked it. It gave them a reason to make up which is what he liked.
Suddenly she began to stir slightly, pulling him from his thoughts. He held his breath. He wasn't ready for her to wake up yet. He wasn't ready to be chased out of her room and away from her for seven long hours he quickly calculated he had left as he saw the time flash on her bedside alarm clock. She mumbled something incoherent and then fell back into her peaceful slumber.
He smiled once more as he began stroking her long flowing brown hair that was fanned out on the pillow. He looked towards her closet to see a large white garment bag hanging from the open door. His breath caught. It was her wedding dress, a collaborative effort designed by both her and her mother, the first attempt at reconciliation the two had attempted since she stormed out her mother's office two years earlier.
He had begged her for weeks to allow him to see the dress, but of course she had refused. She was so bent on keeping up with those wedding day traditions. He remembers the night that he had "accidentally" seen a sketch of her dress when he came to her office to take her to dinner. She immediate tore up the drawing and put it through the shredder. She spent the next two weeks locked in her office with her mother working on a completely new concept for the dress. He didn't go looking for the designs again, not that he could because she now kept them under lock and key in her large walk in safe. Once the sewing on her dress had begun she forbad him to even step foot into her design loft.
God he loved this woman. How could he ever think that this emotion could be the most frightening in the world was now beyond him. Each day he found himself falling more in love with her than he was the day before. Each night that they spent in each other's arms, which was pretty much every night, was the next most wonderful moment of his life. His future no longer scared him.
She began stirring again and this time he knew that this time she was going to wake up.
"You're still here," she mumbled as she smiled lazily at him, "You're not supposed to be here."
"I'm sorry," he responded his voice filled with his deepest sympathy as he bent over to kiss her forehead, "I couldn't force myself to leave."
"You had better go before Dorota chases you out of here with a broom," she chuckled as she turned over so that was now lying on her back as she pulled the satin sheet to cover her chest. He groaned in disappointment when she covered her breasts, which raised the volume of her laugh. The sound of her laughter was like church bells to his ears. He loved her laugh.
"I love you, Blair Waldorf," he replied as he pressed his lips to hers passionately.
"I love you too, Charles Bass," she responded as she fought through the adoring haze that the kiss sent her into. "Now go!"
"I'll see you soon, my angel," he replied as he kissed her once more before he stood and gather his clothes that were strewn around room the previous evening.
Once he was dressed, he gave her one more passionate kiss before he forced himself to her bedroom door. He was about to leave when she called out to him, arising quickly as she pulled the bed sheet with to the door to stand before him.
"I'll be the one in the white wedding gown," she teased as she kissed him once more before she nudged him out the door.
Once it was closed behind him, he leaned against the door and thank god one more time for giving her to him. The first day of the rest of his life had begun.