AN: Wow. Just wow. Thank you all for the warm welcome back after a dry spell of little to no inspiration. It means the world to me, truly. Here's the next part. Also, I switched the tense from the first chapter sorry about that! -KJ


Here's the thing: Blair isn't entire sure how this happened, but somehow Chuck managed to stay at the Waldorf penthouse through the entire weekend without being seen by anyone but her. And while she knew a large part of that should be credited to the fact that the spent practically all of Sunday in bed together, she refused acknowledge it for her own benefit.

Sure there were some close calls, but none so close as to just now when Serena mindlessly plopped down on her bed, unknowingly bearing witness to Chuck covertly going down on her best friend for the seventh time in two days. That was the moment Blair knew she needed to end things. Or rather, the moment after she climaxed was.

"This has got to end" she tells him with as much conviction as she can with her thighs still twitching and her nightgown pushed up to her stomach.

"I thought I just did" Chuck replies smugly, knowing just how delicious he looks rocking his bed-head.

Blair winces, knowing she walked right into that one. Licking her lips, she tries again:

"That was the last time."

Chuck lifts and eyebrow and slides up next to her.

"Oh please" he drawls.

"I mean it. I don't know why I keep falling back into the habit of sleeping with you on or around every birthday I celebrate...but I'm not a teenager anymore. I'm twenty now and I need to start acting like it. Sleeping with you isn't healthy for either of us" Blair says.

"That would be a more convincing speech if you weren't playing footsie with me right now" Chuck tells her.

"My toes are cold, sue me" Blair says, moving further from him on the bed as she does so.

"I can suck on them, if you want..."

"Chuck, no!" Blair scolds.

"A little louder Blair, maybe Serena will hear and come back in" Chuck says, the wheels in his head turning as he does "Actually, that's not such a bad idea...Ser-"

Blair slaps her hand over Chuck's mouth.

"Don't even think about it, Mister!"

Chuck mutters something unintelligible against her palm before licking it.

"Eww gross!" Blair exclaims, wiping her hand on his shirt.

"As I was trying to say, this could be the perfect way to give you that threesome you've always wanted" he says with a grin.

"You mean you've always wanted" she snaps back.

"Right, I almost forgot...because you get jealous and don't like to share. You want to keep me all for yourself" he teases.

"That certainly didn't stop you from continuing to fuck all of Manhattan...and let's face it, most of Brooklyn."

"Need I remind you that you managed to get around yourself with a few people I may have taken issue with at the time, like my uncle, my best friend and my former nemesis" Chuck throws back.

"See, this is exactly why I knew this would be a mistake. We've burned too many bridges to just-"

"Keep fucking on the remains? I couldn't disagree more, this is exactly what you and I should be doing" Chuck insists.

"I'd love to hear the logic on this one" Blair says.

"Well for one, you don't love me anymore. You told me yourself in Paris. Some might argue you could never love me again for what I did to you last year" he begins.

"I couldn't agree more" Blair tells him.

"So let's stop talking about feelings and who hurt who and petty jealousies and just focus on sex part, because we both know it's the best part anyways" Chuck says.

"But on my birthday..." Blair stops herself.

"What?"

Blair keeps her eyes fixed on the ceiling as she says:

"You said you missed me. That it wasn't just about the sex. Were you just saying that so I'd sleep with you?" she asks.

"What do you think?" he asks.

"I don't know, Chuck, I'm asking you" Blair says.

Under the covers, Chuck moves his hand to cover hers as if to hold it, before moving it very deliberately to the front of his boxers.

"Oh you basshole!" Blair exclaims, hitting him on the chest for good measure "Get out, I have to get ready for class."

Blair climbs out of bed and storms to the bathroom, but Chuck is one step behind her and grabs her by the hips.

"Let go" she says, trying to push his hands off of her.

"Hey" he says quietly, almost as if he thinks that if he speaks soft enough, the walls won't hear the truth in his words "You and I both know that we could never fully erase what went on between us. We may not love each other anymore, but that doesn't mean parts of us don't still care for one another."

"Yeah but which parts?" she throws at him.

"Blair..."

"I need to shower and you need to leave" Blair says firmly, not fully aware of the fact her hands are now gripping his in a death-lock.

"But I need to shower too" he tells her as he nuzzles the nap of her neck.

Blair sighs.

"Fine, but this is the last time."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

They were naked before the water of the shower even got hot. This is a problem, you see, because suddenly the former loves and currently ambiguous lovers found themselves sharing a "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" sandbox standoff and neither really knew how to proceed.

To say things were awkward would be an understatement.

Back when they were in love, back when they were openly infatuated with each other without a shred of embarrassment or modesty, the two of them rather enjoyed their pre-shower ritual of admiring and caressing one another.

But this new fuck-buddy mentality meshed with the what are we/what aren't we question neither seemed willing to answer. So instead the pair settled for regarding each other's nude bodies cautiously, if not self-consciously.

Blair stood, arms crossed over her chest and facing away from him somewhat preserve her modesty-a view Chuck very much enjoyed.

He on the other hand stood relatively casual save for one out-of-character gesture-his hand resting on the right side of his stomach. It took Blair only a few moments to realize he was covering the scar the gunshot wound had left-although whether he did this out of shame, guilt, embarrassment or without conscious intent she didn't care to ask.

Without preamble or much debate on her part, Blair found herself lowering herself on her knees in front of him.

"Blair, what-" he begins, but stops when she pushes his hand away and looks at his scar.

When he feels her fingertips dance over the rough white line, he jumps.

"Does it still hurt?" she asks.

Chuck shakes his head.

"Sometimes it feels like the bullet is still stuck in there, just from the memory I guess" he tells her.

Blair wants to make a comment about the possibility that his french prostitute wasn't as equipped to help him as she thought and left the damn thing inside him, but she swallowed her jealous instinct and washed it down with the guilt of not being there for him.

"Do you regret it? Being at the wrong place at the wrong time and getting shot so senselessly?" she asks.

"It wasn't senseless" he answers automatically, without question.

"How can you say that? Those monsters that mugged you-"

"Not about them. I meant getting shot at all...I could have prevented it, all I had to do was give up the...give up the dream that I was desperate to cling to, even though I knew it was already a lost cause" he tells her "but at the time, I was willing to die or it, so you can't possibly call it senseless."

Blair leans forward and kisses the scar softly.

With a shaky breath, Chuck lifts Blair up to stand by her shoulders and helps her into the shower. Kissing her, he guides her back to the wall and lifts her up.

Blair, knowing this dance all too well, wraps her legs around his hips-subconsciously feeling his scar press against her inner thigh as he slid into her.

They didn't speak, they didn't need to. Steam against their faces, wet hair matted to their skin-the moved together in the type of synchronized rhythm two people could only fall into when they knew each other as well as they did.

It was intense, it was blissful. It was anything but "just sex."

It was also anything but the last time.


TBC...reviews are always loved and appreciated :)