Disclaimer: I own nothing except a great love for CB/BRo and the many inhabitants of the UES.

A/N:Here's a new chapter as promised. Having a ball writing this and so glad that you're enjoying reading it. There is so much more to come. Little comedy, lots of romance and a heavy dose of intrigue. I'll stop talking now and let you read on. Have fun ;) Much love to my girls and Wifey who is all kinds of awesome.

Chapter 2

Plan of Attack & Head in Bag

Karl Saunders dropped his bags to the gleaming marble floor with a shrug, one of the servants would collect them soon enough and see that his things made it upstairs to his room. He turned to his college roommate, Seth Blaylock and waved the other man inside his family's Upper Eastside Brownstone.

The two best friends were finally returning to the city after two weeks of post-finals detox in Mykonos. They'd partied on the decadent, lively Greek island until the days began meshing together. Sleeping all day and running wild. Dancing all night and fucking every piece of ass they could sweet talk into their beds.

"God, I think I want to sleep for a fucking week." Seth followed suit, dropping his own bags.

"Getting old there, Blaylock." Karl clapped his friend on the shoulder, "I couldn't help noticing what a hard time you were having last night with the triplets."

"They were triplets. A lot of shit going on." His friend shrugged, "Besides, didn't seem as if they were all that dissatisfied when we left, eh?"

"Not even a little." The two made a lingering stopover in the kitchen, stuffing themselves until they could barely move. Still, they hurried away from the scene of the crime before his mother or Cook could arrive and read them the riot act for eating straight from the container or digging into dishes that were clearly marked for the meal that coming night.

It wasn't the first time he'd done as such and Cook usually had a backup set to go. However, she'd catch hell from his mother for switching at the last moment. Karl could've cared less but he knew better than to really fuck with Cook. Not if he still wanted to eat.

The two friends wandered back the way they'd come and just as he'd predicted, Karl found that their things had disappeared from the entrance hall, almost as if into thin air. However, the family's longtime butler stood at the foot of the stairs. As if he'd been waiting.

The older man tipped his head in deference to the two young bluebloods. "Sirs."

"Good to see you, Jacob." Karl offered the older man a genuine smile.

"You as well, young sir." The butler paused in his usual sober manner before he informed. "Your father asked that you come up to his study once you've settled in."

Fuck! The old man must've been in a mood. A meeting with dear old dad just right then was a fucking buzzkill. Literally.

Shit. Nothing to do but get it over with.

Leaving Seth to get settled into the guestroom down the hall from his own room, Karl dragged his feet as long as he could before making his way to the old man's study.

He realized two things at once. His father wasn't alone and he was even more pissed than Karl had initially figured on. Karl did a mental catalogue, trying to think of all the ways he could've screwed up this time. He'd aced all of his final exams and there was no way that his father could know exactly what he and Seth had been up to in Mykonos. Actually, as far as, Phillip Sanders knew the two boys had spent that past three weeks in Sydney, surfing and visiting Seth's oldest sister.

"This is bullshit." His father was saying. "How long are we supposed to let this ride?"

"It's his company, Phillip."

"He's a fucking teenager. I don't know what the hell Bart could've possibly thinking when he left his goddamn brat in charge of a multi-billion dollar company."

His father's companion seemed to be the voice of reason. Karl couldn't see him through the crack in the doorway and dared not push it open any further. Not with the topic of conversation being that son-of-a-bitch, Chuck Bass.

Karl had taken a chance last Fall and gotten screwed over.

"I'm certain it never entered his mind that anything would happen to him when it did." The vaguely familiar, yet still faceless voice contended, "Bart likely thought that the boy would have time to grow up and put his wild ways behind him. That he could groom Chuck into a proper leader for BI."

"You know what Helen and I walked in on…and that was just a few months ago. Half-naked women and drugs everywhere. Do you really trust that boy to lead this company anywhere?" Karl's father demanded. "In all honestly."

The room was quiet. Silence, offering neither affirmation, nor denial.

His father seemed to take it as an agreement to his way of thinking, "I thought so and now he's eighteen. No morality clause to rein him in this time around."

"I don't know. Maybe he's ready this time. People can surprise you."

"Not Chuck Bass." Phillip argued.

"Well, what are you suggesting? The will was ironclad. He met with Spenser Jones today and signed the final papers."

"I know that. I'm the one who told you."

"He's taking over the company. It's all but done."

"Maybe." Phillip conceded, "but it can be undone."

"You're banking that he'll get bored."

"Not really. Sure, that could happen, but CEO is a very demanding job. One that could overwhelm a man with even decades of experience under his belt." Phillip said, "No, with just the right amount of pressure, I think young Bass will fold."

"You've got something in mind." That voice came, smug and poisonous.

"Just a few ideas that could help speed along the process." Phillip told him, "Won't be long before Bass takes off to lick his wounds."

Sensing movement at his back, Karl jumped, barely catching himself before he could thump his head.

"What are…" Seth started, his words cutoff as Karl covered his friend's mouth and shoved him backward, footsteps backpedaling until they were out of sight should anyone suddenly come leave his father's office.

Out of earshot, Karl dropped his hand.

"What the fuck, man?" Seth shoved hard against his friend.

"Sorry. You shouldn't have snuck up on me like that."

"What were you doing back there? Spying on your old man?"

"Something like that." Karl admitted, "Let's go to my room. We need to talk."

Seth didn't move "About what?"

"Not here," he left his roommate to trail behind him, as his long strides quickly ate up space. His excitement growing more and more as he thought on his father's conversation.

The old man was actually going after that little bastard, Bass. Maybe summer in the city wouldn't be all that bad, after all.

~*~

The others were all clustered together in their usual booth at McClaren's. Barney signaled the waitress for a beer. He doesn't sit immediately but stands there facing his best friends.

Lillie's eyes hone in on the large shopping bag gripped in his hand. "What's in the bag?"

"Yeah, buddy. What'd you've got there?" Marshall echoed.

"What's in the box? What's in the box?" Barney echoed sotto voce, his expression over the top. When no one at the table took the bait, he shook his head, heaving a disappointed sigh. "Come on, guys. Kevin Spacey. Head in box. Classsic."

"Barney, do you have a head in there?"

He looked at Ted as if his friend had lost his mind. "Pfft…no."

"Barney. Would you just put us out of our misery." Robin rolled her eyes, as curious as the others. "Please."

"Okay. Since you asked so nicely." His mouth twitched, offering an audacious grin as he met Robin's gaze. "I do aim to…wait for it…please."

"Barney." She groaned, though he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was secretly pleased.

He squeezed into the booth beside her. "In this bag, I have the crucial elements for the next step in what I like to call Operation Baby BRo. Waddup."

"Marshall said you found a way to get us all into the party." Ted relayed.

"Marshall was correct. Do you remember when I told you about GNB working with Bart Bass a few years back?" Barney finally told them, "Well, I called a few old contacts and scored an invite. It wasn't easy, I tell you."

"That's great, man." Ted breathed what sounded like a sigh of relief. He exchanged a quick glance with Lillie and Marshall.

"All right, what's that look?" Barney glanced between them in askance.

"We were all talking before you got here and we were getting worried that you'd come up with some off-the-wall scheme…trying to sneak us all in."

"Please. La—me." Barney singsonged, "please give me a little more credit than that."

Ted scoffed, "This from the man who 'suited up' into four different costumes at the same party, just to get some girl's number."

"Ooh, baby. How about when he dressed up as the mascot when he couldn't get into that prom with me and Robin." Lillie reminded them of the wild escapades that had ensued when she'd insisted they sneak into that prom just so she could test out the band for she and Marshall's wedding.

"Couldn't imagine how we were going to sneak into this high society shindig, anyway." Ted laughed. "Not without getting caught."

"You'll be dressed as Cater Waiters and you won't get caught because you'll actually be Cater Waiters." Barney told them, bringing all conversation at the table to a stunned halted. Then they were all talking at once.

"But you said…"

"What do you mean Cater Waiter?"

"What the hell is a Cater Waiter?"

The friends talked over one another.

Barney held up a hand until they all quieted, "I know a guy." He reached into the shopping bag he'd been carrying and grabbed the black polyester vests and white shirts inside. Tossing one to Lily, Marshall, and Ted.

"What happened to all that talk of having an invitation? Barney, we can't sneak into this party. We won't even be able to get into the building. Even posing as…cater waiters or whatever." Robin piped up.

"No one's posing as anything. They'll be dressed and working the party."

"What is this 'they'?" Ted demanded.

"Well, I meant it when I said I scored an invite…but I'm only allowed a plus one." Barney shrugged, taking a long swig from his beer.

With those words, Robin suddenly realized that he hadn't handed her one of the uniforms. "Oh."

"You, of course, will be my plus one, Scherbatsky."

"Why not. Beats Cater Waiter any day." She nodded, "No offense, guys."

The five friends toasted their plans. Strategizing their plan of "attack." They asked no questions when Barney suddenly pull something else from the shopping bag he'd been carrying around.

A floorplan. Somehow. Someway Barney had gotten the floor plan for the van der Bass apartment. Of course they didn't have a clue whose room was whose beyond the master bedroom.

"What do you think your father's widow is like?" Lillie looked up from her end of the floorplan. "Do you think she's the kind of woman who'd hold on to momentos. Maybe she has his brush or something. That's what I would do if something happened to Marshall. Ooh. Maybe all of his things are still in the master bedroom like he never left at all. Like some creepy shrine to his memory. That would work out great. That way you could just slip into the bedroom without wandering around and getting caught…ohmigod. Suppose we get caught. Do you think they'd throw us in jail if we got caught." Faster and faster the words came spilling out. "I'm rambling. I'm know I'm rambling. I can't stop. They can't arrest us because it's your father's DNA and we're not exactly stealing it. It's half yours…"

Marshall clapped his hand over his wife's mouth, only to have his hand slapped away as she tried to catch her breath.

"Thanks, baby." Lillie finally said breathlessly, her chest heaving. "Guess, I just got a little carried away there."

"Anytime." Marshall told her.

Robin frowned, "Barney, maybe Lillie had a point…somewhere in there. I think. Maybe his wife held on to some of his things. Couldn't you just call her up and arrange a meeting with your brother that way?"

"All I was trying to say." Lillie said in between long drags from her beer.

Now it was the guys who shared a look, as if they knew a secret the girls weren't in on.

"I'll take this one..." Ted looked to Barney.

Tipping his blond head, he motioned the other man onward. "Be my guest."

Quickly, Ted told them about the Spotted post they'd seen just after Bart Bass' funeral. The not so grieving widow had been spotted with her then ex- and now current live-in lover and babydaddy at Penn Station. Less than 24 hours after her dear husband was in the ground.

Robin cringed, glancing in Barney's direction. Her joking, laughing Barney wore an expression that was deadly serious. Was he worried about his newfound little brother? Did he feel the connection with this unknown boy so quickly?

Please don't let Barney get hurt in this, she found herself thinking.

Once Ted had stopped talking, Lillie clearly looked disgusted. "God, who are these people? It sounds so unreal. Dynasty meets Jerry Springer. Thank god you're not actually related to these people." She said, "I meant everyone except Chuck."

"Some of that stuff we read." Marshall said, "He actually kind of reminds me of you."

Barney smiled a little at that. "Yes. He does seem to have a way with the ladies and the kid does have style."

"God, two Barneys in the world. I don't know if the world is quite ready for two of you."

"Well, ready or not." Barney drained his beer. "Here we come."

~*~

Uptown, Seth Blaylock watched his clearly agitated roommate pacing back and forth about the bedroom. A strange look in the other man's eyes that left him cold. "Dude, what the hell's got you so worked up? Would you please just tell me what the fuck happened back there in your old man's office."

Seconds dragged before his friend finally answered, "Bass has officially taken over as CEO and my father couldn't be more pissed. He's working on something to bring the little bastard down."

"Shit…" Seth fell quiet, letting it all sink in. "Do you think that's such a good idea? I mean, if Bass gets wind of your father's plans it could fall back on the rest of us."

"I think it's a damn good idea. I've wanted some payback after that shit he pulled last Fall." Karl ground out, yanking out his desk chair so that he could fall into it. Fingers pounding furiously at his keyboard as he booted up.

"Bad idea, K. We all talked about this and we agreed that going after Chuck Bass would be a supremely bad idea. Suicidally bad idea. As in career and social suicide." Seth shook his head, "Bass owns us, or have you forgotten? All of us, man."

Karl glared at the computer screen, "Those fucking pictures. That son-of-a-bitch has done ten times worse than anything in those pictures."

"Yeah, well his Daddy doesn't have aspirations and a ten friggin' year plan for getting him into the governor's mansion, now does he?"

"No. His father had the good grace to keel over and leave him in charge of billions." Karl ran a hand through his spiky, dark blond hair.

"You've lost it." Seth accused.

"I'm pissed. Those pictures ever surface, my old man's cutting me off. No questions asked."

Dark head bowed, the other boy fell into a thoughtful silence. He knew for a fact that his friend wasn't exaggerating. He'd seen Phillip Saunders in action. The man was not to be crossed, especially when it came to his lofty plans for his only son and heir to the Saunders' fortune. The old man would cut his friend off without a second thought, financially and in every other way that mattered.

Seth knew his own parents wouldn't be all that happy with him if those pictures ever came out, but he was very glad that his parents were nothing like that self-righteous prude, Saunders. Politics aside.

"We have to get them back." The silence between them broke.

Seth frowned at his best friend, who leaned back, his head lolling and gazed fixed on the blank canvass that was the ceiling. His icy blue eyes were almost frantic though, as if he was painting one scenario after another. All the ways things could go wrong. All the ways they could destroy Chuck Bass and walk away unscathed. He tried to rein his friend in, "We all talked about this already, Karl. Everyone voted and agreed to just leave well enough alone."

"I didn't agree." He'd argued until the bitter end, wanting to go after Chuck. It'd been his idea in the first place to try recruiting young Bass once they'd found out the heir to Bass Industries might be walking the Ivy League halls of Yale University. He'd convinced the others that Bass would be a worthy addition to their brotherhood and Bass had conned them all.

"It doesn't matter. The majority voted in favor…"

"Of what? Of waiting until he's feeling bored one day or just wants to yank our strings for the hell of it. I'm nobody's puppet." Karl said coldly, "Are you?"

Not liking the judgment that he could already see in his friend's expression, Seth found himself seething and as frustrated as he'd felt that day last Fall when they'd discovered Bass' duplicity. The night of debauchery that would ruin them all if the truth ever got out. Their entire futures waiting to be destroyed at the whim of one teenager. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Thin lips curled into a frigid smile, triumph light blue eyes, "We find some leverage. A weak spot."

Disappointment welled. "We checked into that. The guy doesn't have any." Seth reminded. "He could care less what people think of him."

Karl nodded, "You're right, but she…" he turned back to his computer screen, fingers flying again in his excitement. The page loaded and his smile widened even further. "She definitely would care."

"Gossip Girl?" Seth leaned over the blond's shoulder, scanning the screen. "You actually read this shit?"

"Hey, unlike some people, I don't discriminate in how I choose to remain informed. If we'd been more thorough we could've handled all of this when he was in New Haven. When she was there."

"Gossip Girl?"

"No, dumbass." He scrolled down, "Her? Bass' girlfriend."

Seth read on doubtfully, his eyes full of appreciation as they took in the dark-haired beauty pictured there. "She's hot, but Bass doesn't do girlfriends." He smirked, "Unless they're someone else's." Laughing at his own attempt at humor, he threw in a quick rimshot for effect. Bass could've been cool to hang out with…if he hadn't crossed them, that was.

"Well, there's one now. Blair Cornelia Waldorf." Karl told him. "WASP princess. Old money to his Daddy's new money."

"Okay, but Bass is a playa. What makes you think that this girl isn't just another piece of ass…high class but still…"

The blond pushed away from his desk, vacating his seat. "Read it. This shit goes back for months. Read it and tell me what you think. Tell me I'm wrong and suffering from wishful thinking. I say we finally found Bass' weak spot and we can get to him if we go through her. But see for yourself."

"Fine."

The room fell quiet and at one point Karl muttered something about the coast being clear to meet with his father. He promised to return but Seth only half heard him as he became enmeshed in the high school drama that he'd thought he left behind when he graduated himself. Though, his own lovelife hadn't become quite as tangled as it seemed to have for a certain pair of Upper Eastsiders.

Interesting. Bass had a girlfriend.

Seth found himself smiling. That was just too bad. For Bass, anyway.

~*~

Her boyfriend. Blair couldn't help the thrill of it. Everything was perfect.

She'd talked him into this party, celebrating his birthday and to an extent his new role as CEO of Bass Industries. It'd been a long time since she could remember feeling so happy. Really, truly happy and not just putting on a mask for the world.

So what if she wasn't going to Yale after all. Or that her father had skipped out on her high school graduation. Or that her best friend in the world…was halfway around the world with that creep, Carter Baizen.

S had been so stingy with details, only saying that Carter was helping her with something important. Ha! Helping himself to Serena was more like it.

She was by no means jealous. She just missed her best friend.

Sure everything else in her world was turning out not exactly the way she'd planned or would've preferred in the past but she was slowly coming to find out that that wasn't such a bad thing.

In all the years they'd been friends, who'd have thought that she could find such happiness with Chuck Bass. Even as recent as a few weeks ago, she'd been doubtful that it would ever really happen. They'd tried so many times and just kept screwing it up.

"Miss Waldorf."

Blair blinked in surprise realizing that she'd been just standing there for who even knew how long staring off into space.

Arthur cleared his throat and held the door open for her. "Are you okay, Miss?"

"Just fine, Arthur. Long day." She slid inside, dragging in a deep breath, the chilly, night air filling her nostrils. "Any clues as to where we're heading or what your employer has up his sleeve for tonight."

The older man shook his head, "Sorry, Miss Blair. He gave explicit instructions."

"Of course, he did." She settled back against butter-soft leather. Wondering just what her boyfriend had up his sleeve for the night. Earlier when they'd spoken on the telephone, he said he wanted to do something special to celebrate the day.

Maybe they were having dinner at Butter. Or no Victrola. She'd had more than one fantasy of returning to the place where it had all began. He'd shut the place down for the evening and it would be just the two of them. Perfect. It would be so perfect. She'd convince him to sing for her while dangling the possibility of another teasing dance.

Sighing impatiently, Blair held down the intercom button. "Just a hint. Come on. Chuck won't hear it from me. Didn't he say anything?"

"Actually," the driver said after a moment, his tone one of polite deference, "I was to give you a message if you asked."

Blair rubbed her hands in anticipation. "Which was..."

"And I quote. 'Shut up and enjoy the ride…Waldorf'."

Her eyes narrowed at that. Oh, that sounded exactly like the Basstard she knew and loved.

Perfect.

A/N: And there you have another new chapter. This one with a heavy dose of intrigue. Not one but two threats to all Chuck holds dear. The past come back to bite Chuck on the…well you know the saying. Barney's setting his own plan into motion to sneak into the upcoming UES soiree honoring yet another year of Chuck Bass. Also you've got Blair and Arthur at the end there, Blair being whisked off to an undisclosed location for a little celebration of Chuck's official installation as CEO of BI. What did you do? What could Chuck possibly have in store? Are you with B and thinking a little trip down memory lane, starting at Victrola? Guess you guys will see soon enough. Thanks for reading and as always, let me know what you're thinking.

Courtney