AN: Some people mentioned that in a Chair story they were a bit bemused at an all-Serena chapter! This story is seriously still just starting out and I'm trying to establish the situation before I get into the nitty gritty. I'm sorry! Hopefully this will make up for it.

Blair didn't stir until about 2am. She woke when something changed in the room, unsure at first of what it was. She felt Chuck lean slightly away and the soft click of him placing the remote on the bedside table and realised he must have finally turned off the television. She knew it must be the early hours of the morning; he could never get to sleep earlier than that.

She remembered being furious when she had got to her room, after leaving Nate and Serena behind. She was appalled at Serena. Nate's return was difficult, but she had thought she could handle it if Serena had at least kept her promises.

She had turned when she heard the door close softly behind her and felt a rush of relief when she saw Chuck. She immediately rushed into his arms and hugged him fiercely, feeling a deep sense of relief when he gripped her firmly back, stroking the back of her head gently as he shushed her. He had launched into a speech, that he had undoubtedly rehearsed on his way up the stairs, about it being difficult for Nate to come back. She had interrupted him with a laugh that came out choked and tearful

"I could care less about Nate. It's her. How could she have lied again?" Blair had whimpered, looking searchingly into his eyes. She had gazed at him as he gently brushed a tear from her cheek with his thumb before leaning down to give her lips the softest of kisses. They had closed their eyes and, when they had broken the fragile kiss, put their foreheads together and sighed.

Blair was pulled from her reminiscence by Chuck's hands dragging her into the present. He was wriggling down the bed from where he had been leaning up against the headboard and trying to wrap his arms tighter around her without disturbing her sleep. She smiled softly when she felt him kiss the top of her head and let out an unconscious sigh of contentment. She felt him stiffen a little.

"Blair," he whispered, "are you asleep?"

"Yes." She giggled in reply. "I hope your neck isn't cricked from watching The Barefoot Contessa at such a stupid angle." She lifted her head off his chest and leant over him, smiling. "Thank you for taking care of me."

"Anytime." He whispered as she leant down to catch him in a deep kiss.

10th January 2006 12:30pm

"Why are you staring at Chuck?" Serena asked Blair abruptly.

"What?" Blair replied, her cheeks colouring, as she turned to face her best friend. "What about Chuck? I was staring at that girl over there... her stockings are a really revolting yellow. I should talk to her before she embarrasses herself anymore than she already has." She moved to get up but Serena grabbed her arm.

"Ok, you're staring at mustard-tights, but a moment ago you were staring at leather jacket and before that it was unusual eyeliner, and they were all talking to Chuck." Serena said, giving Blair a knowing look. Blair contorted her face into a look of baffled amusement.

"So? Chuck talks to every girl. Why would I care?" She snorted.

"Because you spend like every moment of free time that you have with him." Serena said, matter-of-factly.

Blair pulled her arm away from Serena but acquiesced her and sat back down. She desperately wanted to know what Chuck was saying to these girls. She had been putting her new fascination with Chuck's conquests down to a social investigation into the art-form that he made of seduction, but she knew that in reality it was nowhere near as pragmatic as that. She hadn't been able to rebuff Serena's last point as it was basically true. Blair knew full well that there was an entire thread on Gossip Girl debating why she had been spotted so often with the infamous ruiner of UES innocence.

The speculation had been primarily that they were plotting against somebody; there was a poll about who was the most likely victim. Blair had found this unusual and had absently wondered aloud to Serena why nobody assumed they were sleeping together. The look on Serena's face had instantly made it clear why; Nate.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone alerting her to a new text message. She read it and smiled.

Stop staring. I can't concentrate on what Ellen is telling me about – C

Blair glanced at Serena to make sure she was suitably distracted before rattling off an instant reply.

I'm staring at her tights. What was ERICA thinking? – B

She subtly watched him as he excused himself from listening to Erica and looked at his phone. He smirked, making Blair feel warm from her toes to her chest.

I knew it was an E. Your place, 5pm? Important development. –C

She didn't need to reply. She glanced up to see him watching her and gave him a curt nod.

10th January 2006 5:15pm

"- but I don't know, the minute she started talking about the summer she spent doing charity work in Brazil I lost it completely. Between the tights and the generous spirit, she really wasn't doing it for me." Chuck finished, smiling. Blair laughed loudly, rolling onto her stomach on the bed beside him and burying her face in the pillows. She loved the way he told stories. Everybody knew Chuck was good for fun, but she wondered how many actually knew he was pretty funny, too. Her laughter died down and she leant up on her elbow and looked at him, reclined on her bed inspecting his cufflinks like he belonged there. The thought made her smile.

He looked at her and seemed pensive. He let his hand fall from in front of his face and his fingers landed near her elbow on the bed. She longed to reach out and take his hand, to be the first to hold Chuck Bass' hand, but she didn't dare. Instead she waited for him to carry on.

"Blair, it wasn't an excuse to come and see you tonight. I do have something to tell you." He said, looking suddenly pained. "But I don't know how to."

"About my parents? You know, things have calmed down now, we just had the holidays and it was really nice..." She said dreamily, trailing off as she thought of all the couture and jewels her parents had lavished on her over Christmas. She eventually brought herself back to the room and looked down at Chuck, who looked torn. "Chuck what's wrong?"

"I hate having to be the one to tell you this. I don't want-" he looked furious with himself, "I don't want you to hate me."

Blair boldly leant forward and touched his cheek. "I could never hate you. You have to tell me, Chuck. Is it mom? Has she got an offshore account? Has she bankrupted the business? Has-"

"Blair-" Chuck butted in, his eyes closed, "It's your father. Harold is having an affair. I think your mother knows; the gentleman works-" Blair sat up suddenly and stared wide-eyed at Chuck.

"Gentleman? What are you talking about? Daddy would never do anything like that, he couldn't! Whatever he has been doing with this 'gentleman' has been misunderstood, Daddy loves me, he would never-" Blair cried, becoming more and more hysterical, tears beginning to stream down her face. Chuck pulled himself up to sit in front of her and grabbed her arms as sobs began to rack her body.

"Blair I am so, so sorry. But Mike is sure. As soon as I put him onto your parents' trail he mentioned something about rumours surrounding Harold and his old Yale roommate, but I didn't know what he meant. But he showed me the photos, Blair. Your dad is gay, he's leaving your mother for another man. He's going to divorce her." He said steadily, gripping her arms.

Blair couldn't believe it. She fell forward into Chuck's arms, sobbing, shaking her head and refusing to believe it. He tried his best to soothe her, holding her to him tightly and whispering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" over and over again.

At length she became quiet, but stayed in his arms, tears still quietly trickling down her cheeks as he rocked her. She brought her hand up to his chest and steadied herself as she sat back up to face him. He looked like she'd always known him; beautiful, like a roman statue. Something was different, though. His perfect cheekbones and strong jaw were still intact but there was a softness about him. She thought it was probably his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Blair." He said, simply. She smiled and put a hand to his cheek.

"It's not your fault. Thank you for telling me. You're apparently the only one that thought I needed to know."

"Will you talk to them?" He asked.

"Later. Maybe tomorrow. I can't face them right now." She said, looking at a point just over his shoulder. Her eyes re-focused, and she noticed his shirt. "Oh Chuck! I've ruined your Prada, I'm so sorry!" She cried, leaning forward to inspect the wet patch on his shirt. He put a hand on her cheek to bring her back to face him.

"It doesn't matter. I have a hundred." He said, Chuck Bass charm threaded through every word. Blair found herself feeling the warm from his hand creeping into her skin, down her throat and into her chest, making her feel breathless and tense all at once. She looked into his eyes and saw him glance at her lips. She gently placed a hand on her shoulder and leant towards him, their lips meeting carefully, sharing the softest of kisses.

She felt him begin to pull back but she wouldn't let him. She brought both of her hands behind his neck and crushed her lips harder to his, feeling fresh, hot tears rise up beneath her eyelids. He took the hand from her cheek and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her closer to him as she deepened the kiss. She clutched him and scrambled forwards, settling herself into his lap as his tongue teased her lips.

He brought a hand up to the side of her neck, gripping her and caressing her all at once. She found herself forgetting everything; her father, her mother, Nate, Serena, school, the lot. All that filled her mind was Chuck Bass, and making sure he never stopped kissing her.

Their lips didn't separate as he moved her slightly to lie on the bed and then settled on top of her, his hands at her collarbone and her hip. She still held him tightly at the neck, but moved one hand to his back to pull his body closer to hers. She felt his erection brush her hip and felt the tightness in her chest move between her legs. She felt like a tightly coiled spring that didn't know how to get release, so she clutched Chuck harder and kissed him more fiercely.

There was a sharp rap on the door, and Dorota called "Dinner, Miss Blair."

Chuck and Blair tore their mouths apart and stared at one another. She sat up and he backed off her, ending up crouched at the bottom of the bed.

"That, that was-" Blair began, unable to explain how he'd made her feel.

"A mistake, I know. Don't worry. I know you're upset. I shouldn't have taken advantage. I apologise." Chuck said, tightening his tie and not meeting her gaze.

Blair turned pink and pulled her skirt further down over her thighs. "Of course. I've had some troubling news. You were just being supportive and things... got out of hand." She said, feeling her stomach churn at the excuse. She longed to reach for him, to pull her back to him.

She thought about Chuck for hours after he left and he followed her into her dreams. She hadn't felt this way about anybody since Nate had left and now she really thought about it she wasn't sure if she had felt this way about Nate. She'd always told herself she loved Nate, that they were meant to get married but if that was the case then why had she never felt this fire when she was with him? Why had she been able to leave their make out sessions and go straight to thinking about her next trip to Bergdorfs? She had kissed Chuck for two minutes but it had felt like hours, and now she couldn't think of anything else.

She troubled herself over his apologetic response. She understood his guilt. He had less than a year ago promised Nate that he would tell Blair that he loved her and now here he was kissing her in her bed. She knew that Chuck thought mostly with his dick, but she also knew that he would never do anything to hurt Nate, particularly steal the girl he loved.

She sighed as she began to feel sleep closing around her. She tried to remember what shoes she had wanted to buy next time she went down 5th Avenue, but all she could see was Chuck.

"Maybe you should talk to her. She didn't look too happy to see him." Chuck reasoned from where he sat at the end of the bed. Blair whipped round to face him, her chocolate curls flying out around her face.

"Please. Nate arrives and within five minutes she grabbing at him like some crazed groupie. I never should have believed her." Blair snorted and turned back to her reflection in the mirror and continued fiercely combing her hair. "'It meant nothing, Blair, I don't want him, Blair. It was just another drunken mistake, Blair.'" She imitated in a high pitched voice. "I should have known she was lying. Like she'd ever choose me over some guy." She slammed the brush down on the dresser and walked across the room to him. "But it's fine. I've met Serena, I know what she's like. I don't even know why I'm surprised."

She stood before him and he took her hands in his and kissed the back of both of them gently before looking up into her eyes. She gazed back at him adoringly. She hated that Nate had come back and ruined everything. Everything had gotten so simple without him; she and Serena never fought, she didn't get jealous of all the other girls swooning at him and it had meant that she and Chuck could do whatever it was she and Chuck did. She had been delighted for a moment when she had heard he was back, because she could finally resolve things with him, give him some closure, and hopefully then be free to be with Chuck whenever she could, but the Serena situation had distracted her. But now she was resolved.

"I have to talk to Nate." She said, gently releasing her hands from his. She saw his face fall and knew he feared that she would ruin his friendship with Nate by telling him about their friendship. She smoothed his hair and kissed his forehead before stepping away from him. "Don't worry, I won't tell him about this... thing that's been happening." She said, smiling. She glanced at her full length reflection briefly and missed how downcast he suddenly looked. She turned back to him, her society smile back on full-beam, elegantly dressed in a white blouse, polka-dot cardigan and striped kilt. "How do I look?" She asked.

"Devastatingly beautiful." He said flatly. She smiled at him and picked up her bag as she left, completely missing how keenly Chuck felt the devastation.

AN: Please review!