Chapter Four: Sway

"Well, the instructions seem pretty simple to me. You pee on the stick, and if it's blue, you're pregnant."

Chuck raised an eyebrow as he stepped in to Nate's office, apparently interrupting a phone call. Nate was pacing around and running his fingers through his hair, and Chuck could tell how frustrated he was getting. Nate nodded in Chuck's direction and then gestured to a chair to tell him that he could sit down. He also held up a finger to show that he'd only be one more minute.

"You're not?" Nate spoke in to the phone after a minute or two of humming impatiently. "Oh, yeah, in a weird way, I'm sort of disappointed too," he lied as look of relief crossed over his face. "Oh, congratulations! When's the wedding?"

After hearing that, Chuck's eyes went wide. Had that much really changed with Nathaniel in the past couple of years? He didn't know that his best friend could be so... sleazy. It was pretty damn awful. Yet, strangely enough, he was almost proud that he taught Nate well.

"That's great. Alright. Bye," Nate said before hanging up.

"Who was that?" Chuck asked, leaning back in the chair he had just sat himself down in.

Nate shrugged. "Just some girl," he replied simply.

"Some girl? You got some girl almost pregnant?"

"What? You've never found yourself in a slow elevator without a condom?" Nate scoffed, walking behind his desk. "Actually, never mind. You're like a walking condom advertisement."

"Only because I feared the thought of some woman tracking me down, stuffing some bratty kid in front of me and demanding child support," Chuck explained.

Nate raised an eyebrow and sat down in his chair. "Oh, so this little Corinne Bass I hear about is legitimate? Or did that nightmare come true?"

Chuck let out a deep sigh. How was it possible that he knew about Corinne already? It meant that he was talking to someone. A pang of jealousy hit him as he thought of the possibility of Blair running to Nathaniel, just like she always did. He was shaken out of his thoughts when Nate sent him an expectant glance.

"Legitimate. Definitely," he spoke quickly. "Her bitch of a mother didn't leave me until Corinne was five. It was six years of marriage more than I needed."

"Why wouldn't you just leave her, then? You always were a hump and dump sort of guy."

"Was, Nathaniel. I'm getting married again. Which reminds me of why I came here. I'd like to invite you to our engagement party next week."

More like Haleigh forced Chuck to invite him. She was intrigued by his old best friend, despite the fact that she had yet to meet him.

"I'll check my plans, and then... I'll call you, alright? But right now, I have a lunch date. Thanks for stopping by."

How lovely. Chuck had waited for days just to get an opening in to Nathaniel's schedule and their visit had only lasted a few mere minutes. Ah, at least he got to see that hot secretary again.

Seven Years Ago

All it took was a rough hit to the shoulder, complete with sharp nails piercing his skin, to wake Chuck up from his sleep. He grumbled a mixture of swear words as he rolled over to see who dared wake him up at this time. Standing beside the bed was Natalia, arms crossed over her chest and a piece of paper held between her two fingers. Her jaw was clenched and he knew that he must've done something wrong.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" she asked in an accusing tone.

He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, putting on his best puzzled and "I don't know what the hell you're talking about" look.

"Uhhh, no," he answered.

"Don't lie to me, Chuck. What could possibly be on this bill that would piss me off?" She extended her hand and waved the credit card bill she was holding in front of his face.

The name of a jewelery store stuck out like a sore thumb, and he cringed at his own stupidity. He should've known better than to leave that out in the open where his wife would without a doubt find it.

"I can explain," he stammered, pulling himself up from the bed to stand in front of her.

Natalia laughed, thrusting the bill against his chest. "Go ahead. I'm just dying to hear this one. Buy jewelery for the mom you haven't seen in five years, did you? Or is it your secretary's birthday? Oh, I know, Serena's back in town with a new boyfriend and you decided to get her a present," she ranted on as embarrassment and guilt bubbled up in Chuck's chest.

He needed to think up new excuses. He was begging to think that she was catching on to him.

"She's mad at me."

Blair turned her head to the side, moving her gaze from the ceiling over to Chuck. They were currently laying in her bed, an odd silence settling over the after their latest session of secretive sex. They always talked a lot about anything and everything, unless there was something wrong. And now Blair knew what that something was.

"Natalia?" she questioned for her own assurance just so she didn't misunderstand what he said next.

He gave her a short nod. "She found my credit card bill."

She swallowed her breath and then fixed her eyes on the ceiling once again.

"And she asked about the jewelery?" Blair asked, unconsciously tightening her grip on the bed sheets.

"Yes." She could feel him shifting and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that he was sitting up. "She needed to know who I was buying such expensive jewelery for."

Blair took an opportunity to point the most logical solution out, "You could've lied."

He made a noise of disgust, like he was insulted with what she said. "Do you think that I never thought of that, Blair?"

"Hey! No need to get pissy with me. It's your fault for leaving the bill out in the first place."

"It's your fault for needing fucking jewelery," he snapped back at her as he stood from the bed.

Blair's jaw dropped. It made her angry that he was trying to pin this on her. As she rolled her eyes, she moved from the bed as well, pulling on her robe and tightening it around her waist.

"I've tried to be understanding, Chuck. You know what? I can't do it any more. You said you didn't care about her, so why the fuck does it matter if she's mad at you? Buy her something. The stupid slut will forget it in a second," she insisted.

His head shot up now while he buttoned up his shirt. "Don't call her a slut, Blair. My wife is not a slut. I wouldn't throw that word around, especially not if I was in your shoes."

If it were a cartoon, there would be steam flowing from her ears right now, or there would be a countdown to when she'd blow up and maybe-possibly-most-likely slap him for being so inconsiderate to her feelings.

"Why is it that the mistress is always the whore? You're the one that's cheating. I'm just along for the ride, my feelings being toyed with," she yelled. Her voice softened when she spoke next. "Do you even love me?"

"I-" he started, casting his gaze to the floor. "Of course I do, Blair. You just don't realize how hard this is for me. If it weren't for my position... I'd be with you in an instant, you know that."

She shook her head in a nod, understanding what he was saying. They had already been over this many times before.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

He sucked in his breath. "So am I. For everything."

Present Time

Corinne was dragging Chuck along behind her, her tiny hand struggling to grasp on to his. She was eager to show him her new school and the 'fascinating' things inside it. It was if she had never seen a chalk board in her life, because it just seemed so interesting to her. The explanations of everything were adorable, too. He couldn't deny that it made him happy to hear her go on about the water fountain that she had a drink from after recess, or the sink where she was forced to wash her hands before lunch. Then, there were the stories that she told. 'There was no paper towel one day' and 'Tara got her hair wet in the fountain' were amongst his favourites.

"Do you like school, Daddy?" Corinne asked, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

"Obviously. If I didn't, I wouldn't have such a good job."

It wasn't like he could just tell her that he spent most of his school days bullying, talking back to teachers and in later years smoking pot. He was trying to set a good example for her, because she looked up to him in almost every aspect. He used to dream of the day that he had a child who wanted to be him, but he never expected it to be a little girl. The child in his dreams was a spunky boy who had a dirtier mouth than he did, and high-fived Chuck every time he got a good piece of ass, because they were just that class.

That would be kind of awkward with Corinne.

"Do you want to meet Mr. H?" she asked him, pointing to a closed door with the name 'Mr. Holmes' on it.

There was also a large picture of a purple butterfly, and Chuck guessed that was how younger kids were expected to remember what room to go in to.

"Sure," Chuck shrugged, allowing himself to follow Corinne as she knocked softly on the door.

Corinne reached up and appeared to be very proud of herself as she turned the doorknob and pushed the door open to reveal Mr. H in an awkward position, leaning against his desk with a woman pressed against him.

Chuck's stomach flipped when he recognized the brown curls and slim figure. What the fuck was she doing with a teacher? Corinne's teacher, nonetheless.

Before he could stop himself, the words rolled off his tongue, "What the fuck is wrong with you, Blair? Jesus fucking Christ."

"Daddy!" screeched Corinne.

Her cheeks were bright red in embarrassment. He figured that he wouldn't end up embarrassing until she was a teenager, though. Guess he was wrong.

Corrine wasn't the only one blushing. The teacher was now smoothing himself down, trying desperately to recover.

"Mr. Bass! Great to finally meet you. This is Miss Waldorf but... I guess you already know her," Mr. Holmes stuttered, distancing himself from Blair, who seemed irritated that they had just been interrupted.

"Yeah, kind of," he replied bitterly through gritted teeth.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry that it took so so so long. School has been hell. But I forced out a chapter, and I hope it wasn't too awful. The first part of the chapter was inspired by Two and a Half Men and a conversation that Charlie had on the phone. I thought it was kind of perfect for the situation.

Anyways, for those of you who are wondering, it's alright to be confused. It's not supposed to make total sense.

I'm hoping to update again soon, depending on how bad school gets again. I swear, it's like my teachers want to torture me.