A/N: This one is a little short, I know. But it took me ages to write this, it kind of functions as a passage between the first part and the next part of the story. I promise the next chapters will be longer. I mentioned some of the other cast members in this chapter but they will be physically available in the next chapters. Chapter five will be posted much sooner.

I'm dealing with a lot of shifts at work, and with my parents being on vacation I'm in charge of a household of two people. No wait, two teenagers. Kind of a tough job. So I have limited time between cooking, cleaning and raising my older brother to write.

Please leave a review, I like them. Enjoy.

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4: Hatch

Chuck immediately set himself into action, he walked over to Blair who was standing all by herself in the middle of the big room looking more than a little scared. He grabbed her arm,

"There's a situation, I need to get you out of here." He made a promise to her father and he was going to keep it.

"A situation," she stumbled along after him. Her heels were a little too high so she could barely keep up with him. "What do you mean 'a situation?'"

Chuck didn't slow down. "I don't have time for that right now," he snapped and then sighed. "Will you just follow me, please."

She ripped her arm from his grasp, "I want you to tell me what is going on. I'm not a four year old, you know."

"Then why are you acting like one." He was beginning to lose his patience, how was he supposed to explain family rivalry to a girl whose life existed of diamonds, dresses and how to fix their hair. He knew Blair wasn't that shallow, but she wouldn't understand it, she just wouldn't.

Blair let out a sigh as well. "Whatever, just stop manhandling me. I can walk by myself." She walked ahead of him, her head up high. He watched her walk, her gentle curves swaying from side to side. Her long pale legs seemingly endless and adorned by the beautiful pumps with high heels. He admired them and then saw something that made him scoff at her previous statement; her ankle wobbled. She fell down and grabbed her ankle letting out a small cry of pain.

"Fucking shoes," she muttered.

"Hey, hey, princess. No cussing, daddy wouldn't approve." He chuckled.

She glared at him… and if looks could kill. "Would you shut it already, that hurt okay." She started to unclasp her shoes and took them off. "That's going to swell."

He walked over to her, "I'm sorry I laughed. Do you need help?"

"No," she snapped before adding a much nicer, "thank you."

He ignored her and grabbed her hands to help her get up from the floor, she was a little wobbly at first but then she managed to take a few steps. He pointed to a set of double doors and they walked towards them. The doors let into the house's giant kitchen. Some staff was cleaning up the dishes and leftovers from the family dinner that had been hosted before.

"Are you taking me out of the house, or are we going somewhere inside."

"Inside." He nodded to on of the staff members who immediately seemed to know what was going on because he ran ahead of them and started dragging boxes from one spot to another revealing a floor hatch. Chuck thanked the man and then opened the hatch, a narrow staircase led downstairs. "Ladies first."

Blair slowly climbed down the stairs trying not to show her ankle hurt like hell. When she stepped off the last step she found herself in a small room. It was simple, nothing like the fancy decorating that was to be found around the rest of the house. It held a small cot, a sofa, a table and chair and a small basket with some books and other objects in it.

"Weird, isn't it?" Chuck said from behind her. "A room like this. This is my hiding place. Whenever something dangerous is going on upstairs my father would send me down here with a maid." He laughed a little, and pointed to the cot. "That would be the bed where I lost my virginity, to Carmen the maid."

"Ew, you're so crude, Basshole."

"Basshole, haha. Clever, Waldorf. You made that up all by yourself?"

She ignored him and flipped her hair over her shoulder, she replayed his earlier words over and over in her head, because she still didn't completely understand what was going on. It was dangerous, or else he wouldn't get her down here. That was obvious, but she didn't know what it was precisely.

"I should be up there, helping them. My father's men, they're not just metaphorical family, to me they're real family. They're all I have. I'm crazy, protecting a client's daughter just because I promised the lowlife I would." Chuck mumbled and Blair could only pick up a few words. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes he grabbed his lighter and lit one of his cigarettes taking a deep drag and ravelling in the relaxation

Blair's mouth fell open when she saw him, she marched over to him and grabbed the cigarette from his lips and crushed in on the table's surface.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing," he yelled grabbing her arm.

"You must be crazy. Lighting up in small room like this, I refuse to be stuck in a room that is filled with disgusting cigarette stench."

He shook his head. "I should have just let you up there, get caught in the crossfire and have your smartass comments be dealt with right then and there." He was yelling loudly, scaring her, but not enough to make her speechless.

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because I can't."

The answer made her curious, but not less mad. "Why the hell not?"

He dropped down onto the cot, his head in his hands. "I don't know, I just feel this weird urge to protect you. It came up to me the moment I saw you in your father's shop. I just need to make sure you are okay, and then everything is alright. For example what happened upstairs, I went up to you. Not Maria, my family. No, I went up to you."

"And I'm grateful for that," she sat next to him. "But you have got to understand that you and I, it's nothing. I tend to have that effect on people, don't laugh or make a snide comment. My father always tells me I let out this innocence that everybody needs to protect."

"It's true," he admitted.

"I hate it. I can't even try to rebel, everyone goes into full protection mode when I am around. Sometimes I just want to let go and have irresponsible fun."

"I'd love to see you have irresponsible fun," he laughed.

"See, you can't even imagine it. You should see this one friend of mine, Serena. She is really irresponsible, she drinks and has you know what and she even dates people from Brooklyn. Can you imagine, someone from the factories. Ew, I wouldn't want that in my silk sheets."

Chuck laughed whole heartedly this time. "You really are something, Blair. What do you describe as responsible fun, then?"

"I don't know, feeding the ducks with Nate in Central Park, painting or playing the piano. Helping my daddy sort out diamonds to put in a custom necklace. It's what I like to do." She smiled thinking of the good times she has like that. "What do you do for fun."

He thought for a minute. "I like to check up on the businesses I invested in, it shows me that I am successful in what I do. Also, women, music and dancing."

"Oh my, Chuck Bass dances?"

"Actually I like women, dancing to music. Preferably with little to no clothing."

"You are disgusting, Chuck Bass," she playfully smacked him the chest. They laughed loudly.

A light came from the stairs and one of the Bass' family members walked down the stairs looking troubled.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something," he stammered looking at the floor. "The Rosetti family has left after a brief confrontation that we won. But there is some bad news.." the man hesitated.

Chuck rose from the cot, "What is it?"

"Your father, he got hurt, sir."