Summary: Chuck is adjusting to his life as Henry when he decides to check GG to see how Blair is on her 20th birthday. What he finds might ruin his new life before it really even gets started.
Thank you guys for all of the reviews! I know a couple people said they didn't like the fact that Chuck said I love you, but I think it's completely natural that Chuck would say that after living with a woman who saved his life for six months, especially when he thinks his life with Blair is over forever. I mean, this guy was ready to run off and move to a different continent with that Elle chick because he loses himself in other relationships when he's trying to run from Blair. Plus, and most importantly, there are different ways of loving people. I appreciate people speaking out on that tho- any thoughts you have on this I'd love to hear as well! :)
2
It's another day, another city, and somehow Blair holds out hope that it won't be the same outcome here as in all the others.
She checks into a hotel but barely stays five minutes, just long enough to drop off her bags, before she's gone again.
This has all become routine at this point. She walks down the streets with nothing but a tiny clutch grasped in her hand and steps into every bar and nightclub she can find. It's mid-afternoon, so the establishments are nearly empty except for the owners and the bartenders getting ready for their nightly business.
Reaching into her clutch, she pulls out the only picture of him she had allowed herself to bring with her when she left home at the beginning of summer. He's smirking, of course, and his signature scarf hangs from his shoulders, and every time she looks at it, it breaks her heart a little bit more.
"Have you seen this man?" she asks hopefully, handing over her beloved photograph.
She studies the man's face for some flash of recognition because she doesn't trust anyone. She knows Chuck has to be paying someone off to be able to hide so well, without even any PIs being able to find him. But no sign of recollection shows and the grimy club owner shakes his head and her shoulders drop with the weight of yet another disappointment.
She continues to walk through the city like a lost child, searching everywhere there is even a chance he could be. Her wide eyes stare tiredly ahead of her as she passes by people on the street, not even noticing the appreciative looks and cat calls she gets from many of the European men.
The sun has long since set by the time she heads back to her hotel room. It's not nearly as nice as the ones she's been staying in throughout this awful trip, but it's worth it to stay some where less expensive if it allows her live off the cash she withdrew and stay under the radar for a little while. She just wants to be left alone for awhile.
Dropping onto the hard, uncomfortable bed, Blair lets out a shaky breath as the crushing disappointment of coming up empty in yet another city lands on her. She hates to admit it but she is running out of places to look. She'd been running from city to city since the moment summer ended three months ago and soon she'll be back in Paris where this all began. She hopes and prays that she'll find Chuck before she goes back there because if she doesn't, she's not sure what she'll do.
What she does know, though, is that she can't go back to New York without Chuck by her side. She just can't.
It'd be like giving up; admitting that he's gone when she knows in her heart that he's not. He's out there somewhere and she will find him and bring him home with her if it's the last thing she does.
Blair lays back against the bed as a few stray tears helplessly escape her eyes.
It's been almost six months since she's been at home and every day since she left has been a struggle. The whole summer she was trying to hide her broken heart and forget about him, and once she finally admitted to Serena how badly she was broken and how much everything hurt she thought she'd start getting better.
Instead, the next day Chuck had been declared dead.
If she thought she was in pain before, she had no idea what she was talking about. Now, she is completely shattered. Her heart is in pieces and there is only one thing that she knows will put those pieces back together, and that's finding Chuck.
But if she doesn't…
She rolls onto her side and shakes with silent sobs.
What if Serena is right? She couldn't deny that Serena had a point. If Chuck really was okay- why hadn't he called? Where was he? What if he really is…
She clenches her jaw shut and pushes herself up in bed.
No. She will not think like that.
She desperately wipes her eyes and forces herself to cry.
She can't give up- she won't. Chuck is her other half. No matter how mad at him she was all summer, no matter how much she just wanted to forget him and get over him forever, he was still supposed to be there. There was still supposed to be the possibility of one day, but if she gives up then there's no more hope of a future, just regrets and a bunch of what if's she never wants to ask herself.
Standing up she tells herself she's just tired. It's been a long day, a long few months, and she just needs to relax. She decides to take a nice, long, warm bath and promises herself she'll order some room service afterwards.
She has to regroup and pull herself together because tomorrow is another day, which means another city awaits.
–––
Chuck leans heavily against the railing as he looks thoughtfully down at the Seine as it flows beneath the bridge. It's late, very late, and the lights of Paris are glowing across the horizon and shining against the water with a warm glow.
He had left Eva back at their apartment after revealing he wasn't Henry Prince, but instead Chuck Bass. Suprisingly she hadn't seemed upset. In fact she seemed to expect their relationship to be a sham of some kind. She'd let him leave to deal with his past and he'd promised her that this wasn't the end. Once the world knew Chuck Bass was still alive, and Blair was free to get back to her life and go back to hating him with all of her being, he'd come back for Eva. Since the moment she'd saved his life, he'd believed she was future, and really even once people know he's not dead, he still doesn't have a future in New York.
He pulls the cheap, prepaid cell phone he'd been using the last few months out of his pocket and takes a deep breath before dialing a number he knows by heart.
He's nervous, more nervous than he's been in his whole life, but he knows he has to do.
It rings and rings and his heart thumps with anticipation, because really he has no idea what he is going to say to her, but apparently it doesn't matter. The click of her voicemail picks up and he's not sure if he's relieved or disappointed, but the second her voice plays on the line his heart jumps into his throat.
"You've reached Blair Waldorf. Obviously, I'm busy or I would have answered but leave a message anyway and maybe I'll have time to call you back later."
He smiles to himself at the sound of her sweetly annoyed tone reciting her familiar message and he takes a deep breath in preparation as it comes to an end. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, when something happens on the other end that never has before. Suddenly three beeps play in rapid succession before a robotic tone comes over the line informing him that her mailbox is full.
Frowning, he pulls the phone back from his ear and stares at it in confusion, his heart suddenly thumping not in nervousness, but in worry.
He looks back out at the city and wonders what to do next. He could go to Eleanor and Cyrus's, he knows where they live only a few blocks away, but that doesn't sound like a good idea. He could call Nathaniel or Serena, but he doesn't even understand why neither of them is with Blair, making sure she is okay, so he doesn't know if they are all talking at this point. So instead, he calls the only person he knows, or hopes rather, will help him no matter what.
"Hello?"
He takes deep breath, his emotions on high.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Lily.."
Absolute silence rings out on the other end of the line and his heart races.
"Lily. It's.."
"Ch-Charles?" she stutters in utter disbelief.
A melancholy smile ghosts over his lips. "Yes, Lily.. It's me."
"Oh my god," she mumbles to herself. "Oh my god! Charles?"
He hears her let out a sob on the other end of the line and his stomach drops with guilt and sadness.
"What.. Where.." she mutters, a million question running to her mind.
"Lily, I-" he starts and hears muffled voices on the other end of the line, and hears his step-mother tell whoever she's with that it's him on the other end of the line before her attention turns back to him.
"Where are you?" she barks quickly, her voice shaky. "Are you hurt? Are you in trouble?"
He considers mentioning the shooting but decides against it. There is time to talk about all of that later. "I'm fine," he assures her gently.
"Well were are you?" she questions in frantic concern. "I'll send the Bass jet to pick you up immediately and bring you home where you belong."
"I'm afraid I can't come home just yet," he tells he her gently.
"Why not? You need to come home, Charles," she demands tearfully. "Don't you understand? We all thought you were de-" she stops herself abruptly and he can hear her sharp intake of breath. "Oh my god," she breathes, "Blair."
He swallows painfully at the mention of her name. "That's why," he answers simply, his voice raspy with emotion. "Where is she Lily? I need to find her."
"I'm not sure," she answers sadly, "Hold on."
He can hear her start speaking to someone else quietly before there is some rustling on the other end of the line.
"..Chuck?"
He frowns in sadness when he hears his step-sister's tearful voice on the line. "Serena." She sobs and he doesn't exactly know how to handle all this emotion from his former family from just hearing from him. He definitely wasn't expecting it.
"Chuck! You bastard!" she cries across the line and he can hear the relief in her watery voice. "Are you really okay?"
"I'm fine," he assures her quickly, "but I have to know where Blair is."
"How'd you know she's gone?" Serena asks quietly.
"I checked Gossip Girl because I wanted to see how she was on her birthday. When I read what was on there though…" he let out a heavy breath. "I just need to find her, S."
Serena doesn't hesitate to give in, knowing her step-brother was the key to bringing back her best friend. "She was in Barcelona until this morning, but she was leaving to go somewhere else."
"Where?"
"I don't know," she admits reluctantly and his heart falls. "She hasn't been picking up her phone this afternoon, but I could call Harold and have him check his credit card to see where she is staying tonight?"
His heart soars a little with that hope. "Thank you."
There's movement on the other end of the line and he finds himself on the line with his step-mother again.
"Oh, Chuck, she's going to be so happy to know you're okay," Lily explains erratically. "She was the only one who believed that you were okay." She pauses and sniffles. "I'm so sorry that we stopped looking for you, but there was a body found with your ID..."
He sighs to himself because he couldn't feel more guilty if he tried. His whole body hurts with the ache of what he knows Blair must be feeling; he knows how he would feel if he thought she were dead.
"I was robbed," he explains, not going in to detail. "I never meant for you to think I was dead," he tells his step-mother honestly. "If I knew.."
"I know, Charles," Lily interrupts him in understanding. "I just can't even describe how relieved I am to know you are okay."
He smiles to himself, a warm feeling in his stomach at his almost-mother's words.
"But where have you been this whole time? Why haven't you been in touch with anyone?"
"I've been in Paris," he tells her quickly, "and I promise to explain everything to you later, but right now, I really just need to find Blair."
"I understand. Promise me though that you'll come back with her."
He looks out across the city and thinks of Blair and Eva and New York and finds himself nodding. "I promise."
Serena's voice starts muffled on the other end of the line and he frowns at the fact that he can't hear her, but he can hear the concerned tone in Lily's voice. "What? Is he sure?"
"What's going on?" he questions uneasily.
"Harold says there is no charges on his credit for any hotel tonight or any charges at all today," Lily explains. "Except it looks like Blair took out 7,000 dollars in cash this afternoon."
His blood instantly runs cold. "What?"
"And he said tried to call her this afternoon to wish her Happy Birthday and she never called him back."
His stomach drops in worry, remembering that her voice mail had been full when he called. "So no one has any idea where she is?" There is only silence on the other end of the line and it does nothing to calm his nerves. No matter how strong and smart Blair is, she shouldn't be by herself in a foreign city; it just isn't safe. He sets his jaw and quickly formulates a plan, his concern forcing him into protective mode.
"Call your PI and tell them everything you know. I'm going to look for her."
TBC...? Let me know how you are feeling this one, I'm still unsure of it. :)