A/N: C/B's eldest daughter is called Magdalena, but depending on the viewpoint I'm writing from, she will usually be referred to as 'Lena', sometimes 'Magda'. The same goes for their son Augustus and the nickname 'Augie', and their daughter 'Vivian' to the occasional 'Viv'. It makes more sense in the context, depending on who's 'speaking'.


Chapter Two: The World Changed Before I Knew It

His Uncle Nate had suggested Cooper take him to play tennis at his club. He'd agreed, only because he knew it was less strain on his sister to have him around while she tried to make headway with the detectives and agents on their parents' disappearance.

He'd watched his older cousin stiffen slightly when Nate had used the term, son. He thinks it must be unnerving for Cooper to have him here. His own parents have barely been gone a full day (Eastern time) and already their presence is greatly missed. He imagines his Uncle's reappearance is as unsettling to some as his own parents' disappearance is to him.

.

He's present when the investigators announce that the Bass jet went off radar and has yet to be recovered. His sister is here too, along with his brother-in-law, and his ex-brother-in-law; he stands aside with his niece, and the divide couldn't be more apparent, at least in his eyes.

He'll call his mother after and inform her of the development that doesn't really offer them anything at all, but it's information all the same; and it's all they have just now. He'd do the same for Eleanor, but he knows she'll have her own line direct to the investigators. Their absence is only questioned by those that think their own presence should be a given in this situation. After the years of minimal contact and missed opportunities, he's not sure any of them have the right to think that.

Serena moves towards Lena when the man delivers the news, backed by his two associates. The nineteen-year-old waves her off and keeps her gaze on the men before her.

"So what you're telling me, gentlemen," Lena bites out instead, "Is that the plane carrying my parents has disappeared, and despite the million-dollar equipment and advanced technology at your disposal, you have yet to locate it?"

She shoots them all a cool look.

"I sincerely hope you're not the ones I'm supposed to pin all my expectations on," she remarks, without letting them respond.

And then she turns on her heel and walks out.

Mere minutes have passed when the teenager comes barreling back into the room demanding to know where her younger brother is.

Eric's eyes widen at this turn of events. "What do you mean? He's not here?"

One of the member's of security enters the room as Nate begins to get that familiar sheepish look on his face: even after all the time that has passed, his facial expressions have progressed about as far as his actions have.

"I asked Cooper to take him out," the older man explains.

"Where?" Lena all-but growls at him.

"To play tennis, at the club," his ex-brother-in-law replies, and then quickly continues, "I thought maybe it would take his mind off things, and it would give you a break from looking after him."

He has to give his niece credit; she doesn't look nearly as murderous as he knows she's likely feeling.

"They have security accompanying them," Nate hastens to further add.

Lena's cool gaze narrows on him. "My parents are currently missing and you thought it would be a good idea to send my brother out with your son, and the barest of protection detail, to play sports – in a city that he hardly knows, and without informing me first?"

"I – I – " he stammers as he tries to search for an answer; it proves her point for her.

"Harris!" she calls out to the Head of Security, eyes still on the elder before her. "I want the number of the man in charge of watching over my brother and I want a car to take me to him. Now!"

She doesn't say anything else towards the other, but turns to her uncle instead.

There's already a change in her demeanor and she says, "You won't mind if I take Viv with me?"

Eric reaches out a hand to her and rubs her arm, his lips curving slightly as he reassures her, "Keep them as close as you want, Lena."

She nods, smiles slightly in thanks and then leaves the room.

"That was a really stupid thing to do, Nate," his sister rebukes her ex-husband almost the second Lena has stepped out from their space.

"Yes, thank you, I've already been told off by a – "

"She's nineteen, Nate," Eric offers quietly.

"I don't need it from you as well," Nate finishes.

He sends him the briefest of looks afterwards, which Eric supposes is the older man's way of acknowledging his input simply for what is was rather than any form of condescension or reprimand.

"I didn't realize how much trouble it would cause, alright?" the elder says next, eyes beseeching her to understand where he's coming from with this.

He's not sure his sister has much left in her to understand Nate Archibald anymore.

"This whole thing, it's just caught me off-guard, ok?" the other man continues, "I guess I wasn't thinking – "

"Like a parent?" Serena finishes for him, confirming Eric's own thoughts on the matter. "Well, that's not exactly a new occurrence, now is it, Nate?"

"Serena," Carter speaks up then, and they share a look; it seems to dissolve much of the resentment that was just burning in his sister's eyes.

"There are bigger things going on here than your half-assed attempts at making anyone feel better, least of all yourself," his sister bites out, and there is no doubt that her words are directed at Nate.

And with that Serena turns and walks out the room.

Carter sends him a look, and Eric nods at his brother-in-law, before the elder follows the same path his sister took moments prior.

"She's right you know," he tells the other man after a few moments.

Nate opens his mouth to say something, but Eric cuts him off before he can give some other excuse that has no place here, especially not right now.

"I understand where you were coming from, but Nate, you have to understand as well; you don't know Lena or Augie or even Viv. You haven't seen Chuck or Blair in years, and even then you don't know how their children are, how they've been brought up," he tells the elder.

He stares at Nate, hard, as if willing him to listen to him; really listen to what he's saying.

"Lena is nineteen," Eric says again, this time with a different purpose. "Her parents have disappeared and she has been left alone in a different country with her younger brother and sister and no clue what has happened or even if she'll ever see Chuck and Blair again."

He releases a small sigh.

"She's trying to stay in control, Nate, and do what is best for her siblings; and you sending her brother off to play tennis without telling her is not helping," he explains further. "It's interfering in a world you haven't been part of since she was a child, and it's confusing, alright?"

He doesn't wait for the older man to nod, though he catches the slight movement as he continues.

"And we do not need more confusion right now," he tells Nate.

"I'm not even sure I'd have come if Serena hadn't called me and told me to," the other admits quietly after a few minutes of silence have passed between them. "Even then… "

The impact of these words isn't as great as he'd have once taken it to be. It's a truth they've all known for a while. Nate Archibald hasn't been a part of any of their lives for a long time. It's sad, and Eric would help change it if he thought it'd benefit the children; but he's not entirely sure it will. He can't say at their age he'd ever have thought he'd hold Carter Baizen in higher esteem than the van der Bilt heir, but the elder has been nothing but loyal to his sister; and he's been there, for her, for the children, when Nate hasn't. In Eric's experience, when given the choice, there's no contest of whom he'd rather have as father figure in their lives.

"We're all adjusting to being in one another's company again, Nate," Eric tries to placate him. "Just…"

He sighs again, trying not to create more waves when there's a chance for the tiniest section of calm in this chaotic world.

"Just try running it by someone else before you go chasing after what once was, alright?" he comments, giving Nate a small smile.

He can't help it, even after all that has happened, all that has been said and done; Eric van der Woodsen still tries to keep the peace.

It's what he's best at, after all, what he does. It's why his brother values him so much within his company; why Chuck consults him on nearly every project he undertakes. He excels at staying composed, being the voice of reason.

Except this is different. His brother and his wife have vanished, no one seems able to locate them; and amidst those left floundering in the wake of their disappearance, is the jumble of family ties that threatened to tear them all apart not so long ago.

This is turning out to be his biggest test yet; and failure is not an option.

.

"How are you doing?" he hears his sister ask.

He looks across to see her standing by the side of the court with Vivian in the pram in front of her and two other members of their security team behind her.

"I won," Augie tells her simply, with a smile.

"Well done," she awards him, and he knows she's being genuine; her praise for him is never anything less.

"Lena plays tennis," he turns to inform Cooper.

"Oh really?" the older boy's eyebrow rises along with his tone of voice.

In truth, although they've spent time together over the years, the younger doesn't think his cousin really knows that much about their family: he's not alone, though, none of his parents' friends and their families seem to know much about them. Well, except his Uncle Eric, but that's different; Uncle Eric practically lives with them.

"She was ranked in the European Juniors circuit for years," Augie expands.

"That so?" the teenager seems even more intrigued. "What ranking?"

"Does it matter?" Lena asks at that.

"Number one," Augie cuts in, beaming at the elder.

Cooper inclines his head and says with a slight smile, "Of course."

She rolls her eyes and he smirks proudly from beside her: when the Basses do something, they do it nothing less than flawlessly. Of course she was number one, what did his cousin take his sister for, a runner-up? Basses get the trophy, or nothing at all. They simply don't do consolation prizes. It just isn't in their nature to lose.

Lena takes the moment to snatch the racket from his hands and saunter past the two of them, calling out a minute later, "If you don't get your ass on the baseline within the next five seconds, Cooper, I'm going to ace you; and you'll be losing before you've even begun."

His sister flashes their cousin a smug smile and Augie comments, "She's not lying – she has a mean serve."

Watching the other boy scuttle across to the line makes her smile that bit more.

The time passes quickly and before either of them seems to realize it, they've played three sets and she's beaten him in every one. Admittedly, some points were closer than others, but Lena still won; and he thinks that's all that really matters, obviously. He's kept their little sister occupied with his running commentary; which Cooper jokingly tried to put a stop to mid-way through with a nicely aimed ball to his wiry frame. Vivian was already asleep by that point, so she missed out on the added drama.

"Impressive," the other boy comments, as he jogs over to them both. "You still play then?"

Lena smirks lightly, shrugging one shoulder, "On occasion."

"I'd guess more than just intermittently considering I'm the best St. Jude's has, not to mention one of the best in the state," their cousin says to that.

"Once or twice a fortnight, if I have the time," his sister rephrases.

Cooper screws up his eyes as if trying to gauge whether she's telling him the truth or not.

"I think that just means I'm better than you," she remarks, and smirks at him.

The other boy scoffs at this and remarks, "You used to be ranked."

"In the world," Lena reminds him, with a sparkle in her eye. "I was the best a whole continent had to offer. You aren't even the leader in your state. I imagine the number of those beneath me is that bit greater than those that trail behind you."

.

When Eric hangs up the phone he turns to her and tells her that the children are returning.

Serena nods and takes a breath in, even and deep, before releasing it.

"How're you doing?" he asks after a moment, watching her the entire time.

She nods, her mouth shut, tries for a smile.

He frowns.

"I'm fine," she tells him.

His expression doesn't let up.

"This isn't about me, Eric," she says then. "It shouldn't be about me."

"Oh, but it is," her brother tells her, and his lips spread out into a smile.

She meets his eyes and then looks away as she releases a small sigh.

"You invited him?" he says next, raising an eyebrow.

Serena shrugs, makes an attempt at casual. "He should be here."

"He shouldn't have to be told to be here. The fact that you had to call him, for him to even consider appearing is telling in itself," the younger continues.

"What do you want me to say, Eric?" she asks of him. "He's Chuck's best friend, he's their Godfather."

"And he's your ex-husband, the father of your children," her brother counters quickly, effortlessly.

Sometimes she really hates it when he does that.

"Plus, he hasn't seen Chuck in years," Eric adds, casting a glance off to the side, raising a hand dismissively. "I wouldn't put it past him not to have known Vivian even existed the way he's taken to avoiding us all these days."

He doesn't add anything further; doesn't relate this to her own absence in their brother's life of late, though she knows it's there, knows it annoys him just as much, if not more. They're supposed to be a family, after all. But then, that was why the four of them had formed the Non-Judging Breakfast Club all that time ago, so they'd have a family that would be there for them no matter what.

She wonders if maybe it's time to let go of the past, when her brother breaks her from the reverie.

"How are the kids taking it?" he asks, and then clarifies, "I mean yours, obviously."

She shakes her head and draws her gaze back round to meet Eric's.

"Well, since his father sent him off to play tennis, I've yet to hear from Cooper, though I've no doubt he'll have a few choice words to say on the matter," she replies, taking a deep breath and shaking out her hair. "And Hadley is pretending it doesn't affect her in the slightest and has said she'll be round tomorrow since she promised Carter she'd go with him to take Atlas to the park and then to the toy store today."

Her brother only raises an eyebrow at this information, and she can't even read the meaning of that.

"So, all in all, I think they're about to either fall apart at the seams or completely blow up at him," she concludes.

"And you and Carter?" Eric asks then. "How are you two doing now that Nate's reared his rather dashing looking head once more?"

Her lips fall into a smile at his words, and she sends him a grateful look.

"Carter's been amazing," she says; and she means it, because he really has.

She doesn't know how she'd do it if it wasn't for him; knows from past experiences that she likely couldn't do it without him.

"And we're doing ok," she tells him; because they are, and she's determined to make sure it stays that way.

She turns to face her brother.

"Which leaves us with you," she addresses Eric fully; eyes on his, never wavering. "How are you coping with all this?"

"You want the God's honest truth?" he asks, head titled to look up at her.

She nods. "Of course," she replies easily; but the realization of what this could actually mean lies heavily on her heart already.

"I'm scared," he admits. "I'm scared we'll never find them and the kids will have to go on with their lives never knowing what happened. I'm scared that we do find them, but something terrible has happened; that nothing will ever be the same again."

His eyes shine with unshed tears.

"I'm scared I'll never see my brother or his wife again," he tells her.

She takes a step towards him, reaches for him, but he takes a step back; wipes at his face, rids himself of anything that might suggest he is functioning any other way but completely effectively.

"I can't, Serena," he tells her.

He raises his head to meet her eyes.

"It can't all fall to Lena, it's not fair on her," he says. "And I won't let her shoulder this alone."

"That's what we're all here for, Eric," she replies, trying to give him a look that will reassure him of their presence. "We want to help, in any way we can."

"And that's great, Serena, it really is," he responds.

She knows he means it, but it's not all he feels.

"But you haven't been there during the times when they didn't need you," he explains; telling her what she already knows, what the past and the people who lived through it can attest to. "And they need to be reminded that not everything has changed; that some things are still the same."

He releases a shallow breath.

"Lena wants normalcy for them," he expands, as if to brace her for any further outbursts from the teenager by explaining the reasoning. "Viv's too young to understand, but Augie is old enough to know what's going on. He's just a boy, Serena, he doesn't need the worry of wondering if he'll ever see his parents again."

He swallows, and his eyes shine brighter; which only means he's suffering more inside than he's willing to show the world. More than he's wiling to show her.

"I need to be strong for them," Eric tells her, and he's unyielding, and it breaks her heart to see her brother grasping at life like this. "If only to offer them the smallest semblance of hope that things will go back to the way they once were."

.

"Why did you stop?" His question nearly causes her to halt; he catches the falter in her step.

"Stop what?" Magdalena asks, her eyes still on the pair ahead, accompanied by two members of her security team: a body for a body.

He honestly doesn't think he's ever had so many people swarm him at one time for his safety before; at least, not when he wasn't at some political event for his father, but the last time he attended one of those was years ago. This is life for them.

This is what power and money produces, a fear that at any moment you could just vanish, disappear into nothing without so much as a trace left behind.

It's a completely sobering thought that despite all they've done, despite all they continue to do, they still aren't safe.

Their parents' absence is proof enough of this fact.

"Tennis. Why did you stop playing – competing – whatever?" Cooper asks, trying to rid his mind of the paranoia that is slowly starting to overcome him.

He tilts his head and surveys Magdalena as they walk together; he wonders how she does it. He's not sure he could live like that, like this.

She pauses and then replies easily, "Because I made a choice."

She shrugs lightly.

"Because I realized there are more important things in my life than the game," she tells him, as if it's really that simple.

Her eyes are on her brother as he pushes their baby sister's pram and he can't help but be intrigued. He wouldn't put it past her to have given up her sporting achievements because of him. As if it isn't apparent enough already, he thinks maybe he's beginning to understand this idea that she's willing to do anything, to give up everything, for her family.

It makes him wonder if the reason her parents are not around is because they did just that.

.

"Was that ok?" Augie asks his sister when they step back inside the house.

"Sure, why wouldn't it be?" Lena replies easily, instantly, but something flickers in her eyes that the younger can't quite make out.

"Because you keep looking at the time," he says, still watching her.

She stops and turns to face him. "I just hadn't realized how late it was, that was all."

"Oh," he voices.

He tries to read her, but he's not his father and moments like these are difficult.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asks then.

"What? No." His sister turns back to look at him. "No, Aug, why would you say that?"

"Because you're acting strange, and I can't think of anything that's happened apart from us going to the tennis club that would have made you so."

And then it hits him.

"Is it mum and dad; is something wrong? Have they found them? Where are they? What do they know?" he hastily inquires.

The questions come fast and hard, and he watches the veil come down over his sister's face as she lays a hand on his shoulder and tells him gently, "There's nothing you can do about it by worrying yourself like that. I will let you know when I know something."

She squeezes his shoulder encouragingly.

"For now, you can keep on playing tennis or whatever – beating Cooper and I've no doubt Hadley too, and then anyone else who tries to cross you – and just leave all that silly worrying to me, alright?" Lena says, watching him carefully.

He doesn't really like this idea, but he doesn't dispute it; no one ever really argues with his sister.

"Just make sure you tell me where you're going, alright?" she requests, her eyes searching his like she's looking for something in particular.

He nods, because he suddenly understands. His mum hated when he ran off and didn't at least leave her a note telling her where he'd gone (and he knows it wasn't just having to ask the staff of his location that fueled the stern look she gave him every time he returned). His sister is acting the role of parent right now, and it affects her in much the same way as it did his mum. He inwardly berates himself because he thought he was helping her, but he realizes now that it probably gave her more things to worry about. He vows to try to minimize this from now on.

She's smiling. It doesn't quite reach her eyes, and he's more than a little certain that it's more for his benefit than anything else, but it's a start at least.

He lets her lead her up the stairs to the room he's been staying in since they arrived. And after she's tucked their baby sister in the room along the corridor and he's heard her specifically instruct two of the maids to stay with the child (though he knows there's security placed at each end of the hall that are on full alert) she returns to find him already under the covers.

She sits on the edge of his bed, and he closes his eyes and pretends to sleep.

He doesn't move, even when she reaches out and brushes the hair from his eyes, her fingers lingering that moment longer. Nor does he stir when she tucks him in, or when she makes sure he's covered with the blanket to avoid a chill in the night.

She leans forward and kisses his forehead, murmuring, "Goodnight, my little soldier," and still he does not move.

When the door clicks shut he feels the tears spring hot in his eyes and he gasps in a breath, the sob escaping before he can catch it.

He hates that he pretends, but he can't bear to look in his sister's eyes as she performs a routine that their mother usually does.

It's barely been two days and already he's finding it impossible to live with. He can only imagine how his sister feels: trying to live the life of three people to keep the five of them alive.

But this is what it means to be a family: so he will continue to pretend, as will his sister; and hopefully, soon, there will be no more need of their pretence. Hopefully, soon, their parents will have returned and they can go back to being children in this adult world.

He lifts his hands from under the covers and clasps them together, closes his eyes tightly and starts to pray.

Dear God, he says: in his heart, in his mind.

Please bring my mum and dad back to me. Please let them be ok. Please help my sister look after us until they return. Please help me be strong.

Please…

.

TBC


A/N: the dynamic between all the children will be explained in the next few chapters – there are reasons why they don't know much about each other, and there's also a reason why Cooper didn't recognise that Lena played tennis and was ranked. It might be more easily understood when the relationship between the parents is further explained
I used the GG world spelling of Nate's family name, 'cos I don't wanna get sued either ;)
Also, the spelling in the last part is deliberate – the Bass children have never lived in America, so the only Americanisms they adopt are the ones their parents use; and that doesn't extend to the terms they use for their parents.

Thanks so much for reading – please let me know what you think, it really means a lot!
Steph
xxx