Part III
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Gossip Girl. I'm just showing my appreciation for it.
As expected, Gossip Girl went haywire when Chuck and Serena went public with their relationship. For three weeks, Upper East Siders were treated to detailed accounts of Chuck and Serena's every move: shopping, coffee at Starbucks, Belgium chocolate shopping or dancing indecently close at society gatherings.
Bart only had one comment to Chuck: "If you make me look bad in front of Lily, I will personally ruin you." Chuck merely smirked and thanked him for the fatherly advice.
Lily was kinder but Chuck caught her on occasions looking covertly at him with apprehension. Eric had no tact, and had threatened bodily harm and called him a dirty pervert and sleaze bag. At that, it had taken all Chuck's restraint from swinging a punch at Eric. He knew how much Serena doted on Eric and it was only picturing her disappointed and horrified face if he had laid a hand on her brother that prevented him from doing so.
Blair was openly hostile towards Chuck, though to Serena she was sugary sweet. Nate had punched Chuck in the face when he heard the news.
Chuck now knew what love was, if he was prepared to face all this hostility and animosity just for Serena's sake.
As cliché and cheesy as it sounded (and he would never voice this to anyone) whenever he was with Serena, he felt as if he was a completely different man. Her love of life, vivacity and goodness were contagious and he could never feel other than optimistic when he was with her. The fact that she wanted to be with him never failed to awe him.
All the whispers, nudges and hostility made the time with her all the sweeter. It gave him some satisfaction to see her castigate Nate sharply for punching him and calling him a pathetic lout.
Two months later, Chuck caught Lily fucking Rufus Humphrey on the Viennese carpet in the Bass Penthouse.
"Please don't tell Bart, Chuck," Lily pleaded, buttoning up her blouse while a red-faced Rufus was fumbling around for his pants.
"I'm no moral compass, Lily, and I'm in no position to judge you, but you have to understand that I won't allow my father to be made a cuckold. You have to tell him Lily, or I will."
"But you don't even get along with your father…he doesn't even have to know…" Rufus chimed in.
Chuck glanced contemptuously at Rufus. "My relationship with my father is none of your business, Humphrey. He is my father and with that tie comes certain obligations and one of them is notifying my father that his wife is fucking another man on our Viennese carpet."
Both Lily and Rufus flinched at Chuck's crudity.
Lily looked defeated and insisted that she would tell Bart herself. Chuck felt like he would throw up when Rufus kissed a tearful Lily and hugged her, saying tritely that everything was going to be alright.
At that, Chuck said that if Rufus did not leave immediately, he would call security and have him thrown out on his backside. Rufus fired up at that and would have lunged at Chuck if Lily had not intervened and told Rufus to leave. Rufus reluctantly agreed but only after pulling Lily to him for a lingering kiss.
Just as Rufus walking down the hallway, Chuck called after him, "I would have thought you'd have had more class than to do my stepmother on the rug—oh but wait, you come from Brooklyn, so why should I be so surprised? Sleazy motels, flea-market couches and moth-eaten rugs are your forte."
Rufus stopped in his tracks for one moment and Chuck could gleefully observe that Rufus was itching to slug him one. Instead, Rufus continued on his walk with Chuck's snicker ringing in his ears.
Lily confessed to Bart that night and Bart immediately set divorce proceedings in motion. Eric was positively joyful and would have high-fived his mother if Serena hadn't glared at him.
"I have to move back with my mom," Serena whispered to Chuck as they lay together on his bed whilst Bart and Lily were arguing about possessions in the living room and Eric had escaped to Jenny's house.
Chuck sighed. "I know."
"I don't like it either—I rather liked the convenience of having you in the next room," Serena said, the sly look in her eyes alerting to Chuck what kind of convenience she was thinking of.
"I will miss those benefits," Chuck replied, smirking as he kissed her lightly on the lips.
"But I will be around here as much as possible," Serena continued, her face becoming serious again.
"Good, but I won't go over to your's because it would just be awkward because your little shite of a brother despises me and since I caught your mom copulating with Humphrey, I think any semblance of a relationship I had with her is officially over."
This time it was Serena's turn to sigh as she ran her fingers through his hair. "What are we going to do?"
"Well, I'm no Yoda but as my uptight and anti-depressant pill popping school counsellor says, all we can do is just take one day at a time and beat back any fucker who wants to bring us under."
A whimsical smile spread over Serena's face and she turned herself on her side so she was facing him. "I love you, Chuck."
Chuck threaded his fingers through her free hand and kissed her deeply. "I love you too, Van der Woodsen," he said steadily, his cognac eyes warm and sincere without the trademark Bass smirk.
There were no overblown declarations of love, weeping or violins playing in the background. It was a simple fact that had long been felt between the two but had only been voiced for the first time.
The pair just lay together in uncharacteristically quiet contentment.
Lily married Rufus indecently quickly (one month to be exact) after her divorce and Serena was her matron of honour. It was a small, quiet affair in a quaint chapel in Brooklyn. Chuck did not attend. Nor was he invited.
One week later, Serena moved back into the Bass Penthouse. And what a change she wrought in the Bass household. She was such a breath of fresh air and vitality that even Bart's emotionless heart could not withstand her cheerful assault for long. In three days, she made him laugh—a feat that impressed Chuck who had probably made his father smile only three times in his adolescent life. Even Bart, a notorious grudge holder, could not hold any animosity towards the golden daughter of his adulterous ex-wife. How could he, when she just dazzled her way into the kitchen with her bright smile and easy laugh in the morning?
Just watching Serena bring Bart out of his taciturn and granite mood made Chuck grateful and loved her more than ever. Gone were the silent and awkward father-and-son meals. Now there was a new energy and life that reinvigorated the Bass family. And it was all because of Serena.
She was truly the eighth wonder of the world.
Three weeks later, Graduation happened.
By then, Blair and Nate had reconciled themselves to Serena and Chuck's relationship grudgingly and an uneasy truce lay between the quartet.
As Chuck walked onto the platform to accept his diploma (having surprisingly excelled), he found himself scanning the crowd for his father and silently castigated himself for allowing himself to foolishly hope his father would actually appear. The Archibalds, the Waldorfs and the Humphey-Van-de Woodsens were all present but his father was not. Everyone else had someone cheering for them, bursting with pride for them.
But not Chuck.
But then his eyes locked on Serena's and in her eyes, he saw her pride and her love and he realised there was someone who cared about him. Just because she was not blood related, it did not mean he was not alone. He grinned at her in his trademark Bass style that made her roll her eyes amusedly, blew her a kiss and then descended from the platform.
Life was only just beginning.
Later, as the crowds were dispersing, Serena spotted a familiar close-cropped grey-haired man covertly head to a black limo that was parked discretely by the neighbouring park.
"Bart!" she called.
Bart briskly continued his walk.
Serena rolled her eyes. God, these Bass men were exasperating.
She caught up with him. "Bart, stop!"
Bart halted. "Serena," he greeted her formally with no emotion in his face.
"Look, I'll cut to the chase. Why won't you let Chuck know you attended the ceremony today? It would mean a lot to him. You don't have to skulk in the shadows and lurk back to your limo like a thief."
Bart coolly raised an eyebrow, obviously not used to someone speaking so bluntly and tactlessly to him.
"Please, for Chuck's sake, please come back with me and join us for the lunch. I wish the two of you would break down that barrier between the two of you and let each other know how much you care about each other. I know how Chuck has always strode for your approval—his Victrola venture, his marks—but he has been too proud to admit that he cares what you think. Why do you think he turned to the womanising and the drinking? Because it was a way to get your attention. And—"
"Serena, stop," Bart said, holding up his hand and appearing as if he had a bad migraine. "Just stop."
Serena crossed her arms and waited for him to continue.
"I can't go in there."
"Why not?"
"Because Charles needs to learn to be self-sufficient. It is the only way he'll survive in this cut-throat world."
"Do you think turning up for your son's graduation is going to make him clingy and dependent on you?"
Bart's lips thinned.
"By the time we were all eleven, Chuck was the only one of us who knew how to travel solo, how to open his own bank account and how the share market works, for goodness sakes! Now, he successfully manages Victrola. Does that not sound self-sufficient to you?"
Bart's eyes softened imperceptively. "You have to understand, Serena, that Charles will thank me in the long run."
"The long run?"
"Yes, the long run," Bart repeated, though there was less self-assurance in his tone.
"Please come up to the auditorium for the lunch. You don't even have to stay for the dessert. Just appearing will mean the world to him even though he won't admit it because he is just as stubborn as you."
Bart coughed and made a show of going through his digital planner. "I guess I can fit this lunch in before the meeting with GloboCorp at four pm," he said gruffly.
Serena bit back a smile. She had won. She had defeated Big Bad Bass.
Bart formally held out his arm to her. "Would you like me to escort you into the luncheon."
"It would be a pleasure," Serena replied, grinning.
When they arrived in the luncheon hall, she saw with secret satisfaction, Chuck's eyes briefly lighten at the sight of his father and then quickly settle into his traditional smirk. "Glad you could make it, father," Chuck said lazily, his eyes gleaming. "The school committee actually extended its budget this year and are supplying wine from the Loire Valley instead of dishwater rubbish from downtown Brooklyn."
Bart smirked. "Good. When I heard they decided to upgrade the refreshments, I decided it would be worthwhile to attend."
And father and son shared an unholy chuckle.
Hope you all enjoyed this—I've decided to extend this story for another few chapters because of many requests for me to do so. Please review and tell me what you think!
