AN: Thanks to all that reviewed. I really appreciate it. Just so everyone knows, there will be serious treading of the line between T and M in this chapter. I'm desperately trying to keep this T-rated, so bear with me.
To: All
From: gossipgirlxoxo
Subject: Seconds Are Always Better!
Gossip Girl here,
You liked your first helping I hear you say?
Then here's your second helping of UES juice, freshly squeezed for you.
Enjoy!
xoxo
Dan had not been this excited about waking up in as long as he could remember. He rose out of bed with a spring in his step and a uncharacteristic smirk on his face, despite being a little tired. He had had trouble getting to sleep the previous night after getting back from Blair's apartment, all he could think about was the text Blair had sent him. He grabbed his phone, and flicked through the messages until he got to the text sent at 2am the previous night, and couldn't help but give himself a proverbial pat on the back for playing it cool in such a contrived situation. Chuck had treated everything he said as a personal challenge to one-up him throughout the entire discussion about how they could help Lily, and he had stayed calm and collected. He hadn't given away anything.
Despite how proud he was he managed to pull through it, he did however feel guilty about keeping Serena in the dark, and having to lie to her all night. He cared too much about her for it to not hurt him inside having to keep secrets from her, but he was still very uncertain about the whole situation between him and Blair. They hadn't had time to talk at all since being interrupted. Today's visit would be very interesting.
He poured a coffee for himself, and started on making some waffles.
*beep*
Dan jumped as his phone signalled a text had arrived. He dropped the waffles iron so quickly, it popped open and the waffle inside flew high into the air landed in the sink.
Humphrey,
I'm here.
B. xx
His heart missed a beat.
*Knock Knock*
He took a huge breath in, and composed himself.
He opened the door, and before he could mouth a hello, he was being kissed with such force, it made him step backwards with his trailing foot. All thoughts were wiped from his mind, and everything became zoned in on the brunette who was now running her hands through his hair, as they moved inside the loft, and backwards over the arm of the sofa. Blair was now lying back first on the sofa, and Dan was slowly taking her various layers of clothing off.
"Dan, I did want to say..." Blair mouthed through the kissing, while Dan continued to perform his magic trick of clothes flying off with no effort at all.
"Yeah?" Dan replied, as Blair started to search for the waistline of his sweatpants. She honestly didn't care that he was wearing sweatpants at 11am. Maybe she did, but she was too desperate to get inside them, one feeling was overwhelming the other.
"I wanted to..." She repeated, flicking off her heels, as Dan directed their bodies towards his bedroom.
"Waldorf, just shut up, please!" Dan said, jokingly, as they both laughed a little, falling backwards onto his pillow and covers, while still glued to each others lips.
Dan started to move down from her face with the kisses; to her neck, her collarbone.
"Oh my..." Dan heard her moan, as he smiled a little, now looking down at her for a moment. This was all so surreal. The feelings he was getting here were not the same as with any other girl. Not even Serena. There was extreme voltage here. He could tell she felt it too. Blair quickly took control though, grabbing hold of his body and pulling him around onto his back, with her on top. She undid her hair, and let it fall freely. Dan couldn't imagine this going any better in his dreams.
*ring, ring*
"Oh come on! Of all the textbook clichés, Humphrey!" Blair almost shouted, lowering her head down onto his bare chest. Dan half wanted to let it ring out. But they both knew today was an important day for other people, not just themselves. The call could be coming from Serena, who was due to meet her mom and Rufus for a crisis meeting ahead of Lily's trial.
Blair fought back the urge to curse, as she looked down at Dan, as his cell phone continued to ring. They both stared into each others eyes for a few seconds, waiting for the other one to say something.
"Fine, I'll be the one to ruin it. That really needs to be answered." Dan said, as Blair reluctantly nodded, and unwrapped her legs from around his waist, and let him get onto his feet by the side of the bed.
Dan picked up the Cell, and checked the caller ID.
'Nate Cell'
"Oh, shit." Dan whispered, trying not to let Blair hear him. He clicked the little green button.
"Hello?" He said, already grabbing hold of some jeans and a shirt, as Blair let out a loud sigh.
"Good morning, Dan! Have you been a bad boy today?" The voice of Nate said, as he laughed down the phone.
"Oh very funny. When you said you would bring lunch, I thought you meant Archibald lunch, meaning the meal that takes place at about 2pm?" Dan retorted, looking at Blair with widened eyes, signalling to her that she should panic.
"No...the normal persons lunch, Dan. Now, if you'll please come down to the door to the building and open it for me, I have outdone myself in my sandwich picks today." Nate said, as Dan heard the sound of cars flying by on the street.
"Erm...Okay...give me like..." He quickly zoomed his eyes around the loft, thinking of what he and Blair could do. Then a lightbulb went off in his head. "Two minutes." He finished, looking at Blair, and pointing at the closet he had that was out of direct eye shot of the loft door. Blair looked like she might spontaneously combust at the very thought of this idea.
Dan quickly told Nate he would be down in a moment, and clicked off the phone.
"NO. WAY." Blair said, shaking her head profusely. "Not happening." She reiterated, putting her dress back on angrily.
"Blair, we don't have any other choice, unless you want Nate finding out about this whole thing." Dan said, buttoning up his shirt, and tidying up his hair.
Blair furiously put the rest of her clothes on, apart from her coat and heels, which were now in an unceremonious heap behind the bedroom door, and out of sight. This would not stand in any other situation conceivable on the planet earth.
"Just a forewarning here. There's a few flannel shirts about to be ripped to shreds. The more time I spend in here, Humphrey, the more of your disgusting items of clothing I dismantle." She warned, as Dan opened the doors to the closet, gave her an innocent smile, which was greeted with a sound akin to a tigers growl, and closed the door behind her.
Dan quickly ran down to the entrance to the building, and opened the door to Nate, holding so much food, it was no wonder he couldn't open the door without help. It looked like he had come prepared for a nuclear disaster. "How many people did you think were coming to lunch, Archibald?" Dan said, opening the door for Nate to step inside.
"Well, there were so many sandwiches, Dan, I just couldn't choose one. Brooklyn maybe the filler capital of the world." He joked, as they opened the door to the loft. Nate unloaded all the food onto the island, and hung his jacket over one of the chairs. Dan took in a breath in slight panic; he had left the bedroom door wide open. He signalled Nate onto the sofa, as they both grabbed something to eat.
"So, to what do I owe the pleasure today, Nate?" Dan said, raising an eyebrow.
"Straight to the point then. In a rush for something, Dan?" Nate questioned, smirking. Dan sensed that his friend knew something was fishy.
"No, you just interrupted me in a deep, philosophical trance. The ones I get into when I'm writing."
"Is it going well then? When can I see a draft?" Nate said, biting off a segment of his sandwich.
"Soon, I hope. I'm still trying to get into the real good stuff." He said, realising afterwards what a stupid person he was.
"Oh, is that right? Well, I hope I didn't interrupt anything too good. I did have something I wanted to talk to you about." Nate said, becoming more serious in his tone.
"Okay, what is it?"
"It's about Raina. It's all going good this morning, we have some of the best...sex..." He said, cringing. Nate and Dan did not talk about this stuff often, "I've ever had, and then she asks me if I want to go to a business party with her, in Chicago." He finished, waiting for a few seconds to hear Dan's reply.
"And that's bad...because..." Dan said, busy munching.
"I can't go to some important business get-together with the CEO of a huge company...I don't even know what the company does. This takes me so far out of my comfort zone, man. I do actually want our relationship to go somewhere other than directly south." Nate explained.
Dan didn't know what to say. Nate didn't get like this about...anything, especially about a girl. This Nate was unsure of himself and unconfident in his abilities. "Nate, just be yourself. You are the most cool and collected guy I know. Nothing phases you. My best advice is to be Nate Archibald." Dan said, trying to keep Nate's eyes from wandering anywhere other than at him.
"What happens if her father shows up? I need another sandwich." Nate said, as Dan complied with his request.
"Look, are you sure there isn't something more here? You really don't look like you've had much sleep, Nate, and I'm not talking about just last night." Dan said. Nate's eyes were slightly bloodshot, and he looked like a couple more sandwiches might do his stature some good.
"Yeah, I think it's just about this. I mean, I've missed a few classes lately, but it's not having too much of an effect." Nate said, looking at the floor.
"Bro, you were never good at hiding anything. Whats the problem at Columbia?" Dan asked.
"Okay, it might be more than a few." Nate said. Truthfully, his grades had been slowly declining over a period of a few months. His father hadn't gotten a job after prison, and his mom and grandfather had refused to pay next years tuition until he got his grades up. So many things had been happening in his life this year, that college had taken a backseat, and he didn't think he could rescue himself from failing a lot of his classes now.
"Honestly, bro, I don't think I'm going to be able to pay for college next year. My mom won't pay my tuition unless I get my grades up, and I don't think I can make the credit I need to do it anymore." Nate confessed.
"Nate, aren't your family the richest people in the Upper East Side? Surely college tuition is nothing to you?" Dan said, as Nate shook his head.
"My mom said because I decided I wanted to go to Columbia instead of Dartmouth, that if my grades went down, I was on my own. I've spoken to her about it, but she's not backing down." He said, sounding utterly dejected. Dan couldn't believe this had been going on for so long and Nate hadn't told anyone.
"I don't know what to say, Nate. This sucks." Dan finished, as they both took their last bite of their sandwiches.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to anyone about this. I'll fix it on my own. I just needed some advice about Raina, that was all. I mean, you are the guy from Brooklyn who took the UES by storm." Nate said, trying to lighten the mood. Dan decided to not pursue the matter any further.
"That is true. I am something of a visionary."
After they had spent a few minutes with Dan explaining that everything was under control with Lily and Serena, Dan said goodbye to Nate, and shut the door quietly. He picked up a sandwich, and walked over to the closet door.
*Knock Knock*
"I do not have the words to describe how unfunny that is, Dan." Blair murmured through the wood, as Dan opened the closet with a quick pull. They both sat down slowly on the side of the bed. Blair had heard all of the conversation, and clearly didn't know where to start. She wanted to help Nate, but there were so many other things they she knew they had to try to fix too. They both were aware that they all had bigger problems. They hated the thought of it, but Nate would have to deal with this on his own.
Dan kissed Blair on the forehead, and looked into her eyes. "I know its hard, but can we get back to where we were before?" He said, smiling.
"I think it's passed, Dan." Blair answered, as Dan pulled himself up against the headboard of the bed, and Blair lay on top of him. After a while, she moved sidewards so she was lieing by his side, and kissed him much more slowly than before. Dan kissed back, and suddenly they were making out, but the kisses were less chaotic than before. This time, they would take their time to explore the new connection between them.
Blair, however, stopped for a moment. "Dan, if this is going to continue, we need to think of a cover story. The last thing everyone needs is a Humphrey-Waldorf outage right now. There's clearly already enough for everyone to deal with."
Before Dan could open his mouth to speak, Blair's cell phone made a sound. Dan passed it to Blair, who studied the message for a second.
Blair,
You told me if I was ever in New York, that I should get in touch. I land this afternoon.
Regards,
Louis.
Blair looked from the phone to Dan, and back to the phone. "I may have an idea. You won't like it."
Serena and Eric both stood in the living room of the apartment, neither willing to sit down. It seemed like a situation that called for standing up. Serena had gotten a phone call from Rufus, which signalled that Lily had been granted bail, and that they were arriving back soon. Serena didn't know what the future held, but she knew it would not be good. The Van Der Woodsen family had been through a lot in the past few years, but nothing like this. She looked at Eric for a second. He looked as fearful as she felt. She knew that her mom was doing the right thing, but she couldn't imagine a world in which her mom wouldn't be around.
She also couldn't fight the feeling that this was partly her fault.
"Hi, guys." Rufus said, popping his head around the door, followed by her mom.
"Hello, both of you." Lily added, as all four of them sat down.
A few moments passed where nobody spoke. Rufus broke the silence. "Where's Dan?"
"Don't know. I couldn't get through to him. His cell was off." Serena said. That was another thing she was confused about. Dan had picked up a new habit of disappearing off the map every so often in the last few weeks.
"Well, we'll just let the cat out of the bag, then. There's no point in holding anything back. You'll probably hear about it eventually anyway." Rufus continued, looking at Lily, who stayed silent.
"Serena, Eric. Your mom and I are going to be moving out."
"What? where to?" Serena asked quickly.
"Well, we will be permanently locked in meetings and litigation from now on, until this is all dealt with. We are trying to get this settled out of court." Rufus said quietly, looking from Eric to Serena.
"Typical. I thought you were going to take responsibility for this, mom?" Serena snapped, looking at Lily, who didn't answer.
Rufus interjected, "Serena. You surely can understand that your mother is taking responsibility for this in the best way she can. Anyway, we are going to move into a rented apartment closer to the place the court deals with settlements and litigation. So Serena, you'll have to look after Eric for a while. I'll come check up on you both every couple of days."
Serena was astounded at this whole thing. Her mom was getting away with it yet again. Eric quickly interrupted Rufus, "But we can't look after ourselves alone. No offense, Serena. Mom, this is silly."
"You can look after each other until this is over. Serena is capable, arn't you darling?" Lily finally said, looking at her daughter hopefully.
"Ugh...I can't believe this." Serena said, standing up, "Fine! Eric doesn't need me to look after him anyway. It's just like you to think that he does, mom. We arn't children anymore." She said, folding her arms, looking furious.
"Well, good. Then you won't have any trouble, then." Lily answered, dialling a number into her cell phone for a car to pick her and Rufus up.
"You understand why we have to do this, don't you, Eric? There is nothing more important right now than keeping your mom out of prison." Rufus said, looking worried.
"I guess. I just don't see why you need to leave." Eric said, hugging Rufus, as Serena slammed the door to her old bedroom behind her.
"Look, I'll be here probably everyday to make sure you are both okay. We just can't afford to be an hours drive away from the courts right now. We need to show the right intentions." Rufus finished, as Lily and Eric shared a long embrace. Serena made no sound from her room, as Rufus shut the door behind them.
Eric sat down on a chair, and switched on the television. He knew better than to go and try to talk to Serena now. He wished to himself that this would all turn out alright. He picked up his cell phone, and flipped through the names in his contact list. There was only one person he could think of who he could call who wouldn't tell him he was being foolish to worry.
"Hi, this is the message line for Chuck Bass. For business calls, please leave your name and number, for personal calls, please refer to..." Eric hung up the phone quickly. He felt alone.
Serena picked up her phone. She called Dan. Again, no answer. She left a message, "Dan. Call me. Where the hell are you? I need you."
A tear slowly fell down her cheek. She couldn't tell whether she was crying because she was angry, or because she was sad. Her mom could still go to jail, and despite her many faults, she was still her mom. She did love her.
Serena jumped as her phone started ringing. It was an unknown number.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Serena. It's your dad." The voice of William Van Der Woodsen said, sounding as serious as ever.
"What do you want?" Serena said, with contempt. Serena was still furious with her dad, after the sick measures he went to in order to stick around and destroy what Rufus and her mom had.
"Look, I know about everything with your mom. I just want to help. I spoke to Rufus, and he told me to stay away." William said.
"Well, you should. What you did to her was awful. I don't think we'll ever forgive you." Serena replied, her throat was getting heavy. She was still on the edge of tears.
"I know that your mom and Rufus have moved out for a while and can't look after you properly. I can't have that. Serena, you know that you can't look after Eric on your own." William said, with his usual clear and calm voice. Serena looked around the room for a moment. She imagined Eric sitting in the other room, alone. She immediately started sobbing.
"Look, we both know that you can't do this. I am the only person who can make sure you are both okay. I'm living in LA right now. You should come stay with me until this has all blown over." William finished, with the same calm tone of voice he had maintained throughout.
"Dad, this isn't a good time to be saying things like that. You know I can't just leave. I have college. Anyway, I can do this. You don't know what I'm capable of." Serena said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Serena, there will come a time soon where you will realise I'm right. Just call me when that happens." William added, before saying goodbye.
Serena quickly hung up the phone, and redialled, before leaving another message, "Dan, I really need you. Please call me."
She lay back on the bed, as she heard the sound of the door opening, and Eric nodding to her in silence.
This was the worst time to be hosting a board meeting. Chuck didn't feel at all up to going. His head was pounding, and he really didn't feel like dealing with all the insufferable parasites that sat on the company board. Bass Industries was already starting to feel like a poison chalice to him. He was still reeling over the revelation Russell Thorpe had revealed to him the previous night, whether it was true or not. He looked down at his cell phone. It had seven missed calls, all from his office. He reluctantly dialed.
"Sir, I have been calling you all day." His assistant said, sounding annoyed.
"Think about who you are talking to, Kelly."
"I apologise, sir. But you have a board meeting at four, and it's getting urgent. The board are already arriving." Kelly replied. Chuck had hired Kelly for one reason; she was the best looking girl out of all the candidates. She wasn't a smart girl. "Did you never think to just call my driver? He would have known where I was." He said, pulling himself onto his feet. He was still at Blair's apartment.
"No...sorry, I didn't think." Kelly answered, sounding worried.
"Well, do it. Just tell him I'm at Blair's apartment."
"Yes, sir." Kelly said, as he ended the call.
It didn't take long for his driver to pull up outside the building. Chuck hailed him down, and soon they were pulling up outside the Empire. Chuck raced up to the conference room he had been informed the meeting would take place. He straightened his tie, and opened the door.
"Good afternoon, everyone. I apologise for my lateness. I was misinformed as to where the meeting was being held. New assistant is as dim as she looks." Chuck said, surveying the room. Every single member of the board had showed up. That was very strange. He was under the impression that the meeting was just a routine business practice. He sat down at the head of the long table.
"Yes, well, we can get started now." A voice said, as Chuck nodded to Bradley Kidd, his new partner, who was sitting a few feet away down the table.
"Please do." Chuck answered, shuffling in his seat a little.
"Okay, we would like to get straight to the point. Bass Industries has taken a huge hit in both PR and profits, after the debacle of the Russell Thorpe takeover failure. We're looking at a 40% reduction in profits. I'm sure you've checked the numbers before hand." Kidd said, looking at the rest of the members, before looking back at Chuck.
He hadn't checked the numbers. He didn't even know the company was in trouble.
"Now, the board has previously discussed a number of measures to correct this problem. Measures you will not have heard yet, because you choose to arrive at board meetings extremely late."
"Bradley, what..." Chuck muttered, searching the room.
"We have come to what we think is the best option for the company. You currently own 50% of Bass Industries, with the rest of us members owning various amounts of stake between us. The board rules that you must sell 50% of your current stock in the company, to be sold to an investor we have chosen." Kidd added, emotionless.
Chuck stood up quickly. "What? I will NOT sell anything. Do you know who you're dealing with here? I'm Chuck Bass. I could buy and sell each and every one of you." Chuck almost shouted, overcome with fury.
Another board member stood up. "Yes, well, we have already voted. We rule in favour of Bradley's proposal of an outside investor."
"You can't do this!" Chuck said, slamming his hand on the table. Suddenly, Chuck came upon a a thought in his head. An unbelievable thought. "Who is this investor?" He said, still standing.
"I believe you know him. It is your uncle, Jack Bass. He will buy 50% of your stake in the company, which will steady the ship, and give us a member of the Bass family we can trust." Kidd said calmly.
Chuck was already half way to the door, and was already dialling his lawyer.
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