A/N: 20 reviews per chapter has been a pretty constant thing with this story, so I'm not posting this chapter until I have at least that much (in case you were wondering about the delay, lol). But OMG. I just got a FANTASTIC spoiler involving details (as in dialogue and surrounding events) about the hot Chair hate sex coming up. *gasp* I am way excited now, especially since in the following episode they have an epic scene that may smooth things over…sort of. *shrug* But I won't give away anything more b/c I KNOW there are some of you out there who don't want to be spoiled! *used to attempt this* *failed miserably* lol. Anyways, I will still have to watch in agony through the next 2 or so episodes, but then there will be some sort of relief, and if not, at least I'll have a hot Chair sex scene on my hands and I'll be able to vid again. XD haha. Please review. =) And vote on my profile poll if you haven't!

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

P.S. if you want to know more about the spoilers, just let me know… ;p It's not too much but it's enough to get you excited. Hehe.

…

Ch.6—Calling in for Back-Up

She felt rested, at peace. With Jenny safely out of town, there was no threat to her insanity except for Chuck causing havoc on her life. That would be treacherous to be sure, but at least it wouldn't involve the little slut hanging all over him. Plus, she hadn't purged intentionally in the last thirty-six hours. Things were looking good. She had a few classes today, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She had her minions to do what she said, Serena to keep her smiling face genuine and keen eyes to dodge Chuck when necessary. Things were good.

Tumbling out of the bathroom with less than appreciable fashion, came Serena Van der Woodsen, messy blonde locks and all. Blair smirked, and watched her best friend. She walked easily across the room and shook her head. Serena had yet to open her eyes all the way.

"Either you were up late or…" she paused, thinking about it briefly. "Yeah, that seems about the only option." She smiled. Serena head snapped up at the sound of Blair's voice. Her eyes widened as she noticed her crossing the room. She lunged at her just as she was about to pick up her phone on the far end table.

Blair shrieked, collapsing onto the floor beneath her.

"S! I was not prepared for tackle football!" She started pushing her off, but the blonde held her ground. Finally, Blair gave up and sighed loudly, particularly frustrated. "What is it? Get off me!"

Serena reached for Blair's phone and snuck it into her hand, daintily climbing off of her best friend who huffed and smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles in her nightdress. She stole back her phone in an instant, frowning at the intrusion. Serena stood to her feet and tried to snatch away the device again, but her best friend backed off, looking bewildered.

"What has gotten into you, S?" She pranced over back to her side of the bed and sat down, tucking her legs beneath her. Serena sighed.

"Don't read that…"

"Oh please, I'm sure it can't be that bad this early in this day," she chirped. The blonde slipped into a chair on the opposite side of the room, very tense and very still.

Good Morning, Upper East Siders. I know you're all dying to hear the juiciest gossip, but before I spill on those less important individuals, I thought I should confirm to you the ever awaiting question. Yes, Bass did spend more on the French fling that flew away than he ever did with our favorite little Queen Bee. Sorry B, guess you just didn't make the cut. Bass had business elsewhere.

-Gossip Girl

A shudder ran through her, but before she could fully digest what she had told herself shouldn't have been a big deal at all, her phone rang and with very shaky hands she picked it up.

"H-Hello?" She cursed herself for the inability to instantly recover. She cleared her throat. "Hello?" she asked again.

"Miss Waldorf." She wiped the sweat off her forehead, her heart slowing down when she realized it was not the Basstard rubbing in her most recent demise, but rather the dean of Columbia. She'd been an excellent student thus far and continued to do so in the future. She was done with schemes, except those that got her ahead, and despite the ruined party the other night and several road blocks to success that had gladly been stomped on her by Chuck Bass, she could not possibly be in trouble, and certainly not so early in the morning. It was barely 8:05.

"I'm afraid we need to arrange a meeting in my office."

She would have been elated that she'd been so singled out if his voice didn't sound so glum, so disappointing. She couldn't take this as an opportunity to look better than the situation. Had she done something wrong? Was she too much of a model student? She considered the possibility for a second.

"What would be the grounds for this meeting?" she asked politely.

"I need to talk with you in private about the circumstances surrounding your possible expulsion."

Her fingers were shaking again. Expulsion? She'd hardly started school! Barely a week or two in and the Basstard had managed to get her expelled?

"I…I don't understand, sir. I haven't done anything wrong. School just started two weeks ago."

The dean sighed on the other end. Blair got incredibly nervous. She was fidgeting like mad, vaguely aware that Serena was doing so on the other side the room. Either she had already known about this or she was very quick in reacting to a one-sided conversation.

"Look, this isn't something I want to discuss over the phone, Miss Waldorf, but I will inform you that it wasn't anything you've done since attending Columbia. It is something in your records from your high school that I seemed to have missed, everyone in admission seemed to have missed it as well. I am only too glad we found it now. We can't have this kind of behavior allowed on our campus, even if it has been forgiven and dealt with in the past."

"I…I…"

"Does this afternoon at 3 work for you? I gather you know where my office is," he said very professionally. Through her very muddled mind, she managed to clear a place to recall her schedule.

"Y-Yes, that works fine," she said very softly.

"I will see you then, Miss Waldorf. I suggest you bring a very good explanation."

"Of course," she said, her mind still going blank. The click on the other end sufficiently ended the conversation, but it was not until Serena's concerned voice and the operator hit her eardrums that she finally hung up her cell. Slowly, she turned to look at Serena, who was now walking across the room to sit beside her. She rubbed her back soothingly.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly. "Who was on the phone?"

"The dean at Columbia," she said after an eternity.

"What did he want?" she asked, confused.

"To meet," she said shakily. "I think Chuck told him about the hazing at Constance." Her fear-stricken eyes finally focused on her best friend whose mouth had dropped open and whose gaze was equally fearful. Blair closed her eyes, tears soaking up her lashes.

"Oh, B." Serena held her close.

"I-I can't believe…"

"I know, I know." Serena rocked her, speaking soothing sounds against her.

"No, you don't." Blair lifted her head and looked at her best friend with watery, piercing dark brown eyes. She sniffled and a breath caught in her throat. "I almost told him I loved him." She closed her eyes and collapsed against her again. Serena rocked her slowly, murmuring how it was all going to be okay somehow. Blair wanted to believe every word that left her mouth as she lay in her arms, but she was unable to. Columbia was her last hope at a decent school. Chuck had given it to her, and now he had just as easily taken it away.

….

It was different this time than it had been the day before, riding up the elevator to the penthouse suite in the Empire. Then she had been going up to give Chuck a piece of her mind, or to get some clue what he was up to, maybe to just track down Jenny. Hell, she didn't know anymore. But now it was so much different. She wasn't merely coming to give him a piece of her mind or tell him she didn't love him, that she never had, because even if it wounded him she knew she'd never know it. He'd always had a particularly excellent poker face but it had definitely been perfected since he'd decided to rip everything out from under her. Nothing on his face would tell her what he was feeling. She wondered what he did with all those bottled up emotions. She could only guess he pushed them further down with one-night stands and a limitless supply of alcohol, but what did she know about what he did anymore? She couldn't believe she'd almost told him she loved him. He didn't deserve to hear that. Not now, not ever. She wasn't coming for that. She was coming to tell him she'd given up, not on fighting him because she'd already told him flat out she wouldn't participate in his declaration of war; she was just giving up on everything. She'd remind him of every single thing she'd done for him that he'd conveniently decided to forget. She would tell him there was no point to living, let him think about that when he slept, if he slept. Let him think that he was the reason she decided to inevitably kill herself. If that didn't break through his cold, heartless exterior, she didn't know what would.

It wasn't all false. She'd relapsed before deciding to cause havoc at the Empire. Classes had blown by without interest and without point. Perhaps she should have taken the time to at least try and enjoy them with the possibility of not taking part in them for awhile looming over her. Three o'clock came far too fast and it fell to pieces like she'd hoped it wouldn't. She'd carried her head high all day, very sure of herself, though unable to think of anything else but that cursed meeting. There was nothing she had to offer though. That Chuck Basstard had ruined everything. Of course that was what he meant to do, she reminded herself, but for someone who had only ever wanted to assure her happiness, he had sure lowered his standards, if he had any standards left at all.

Ding.

His figure stepped out from the hallway. She looked just beyond him to see if anyone was there, any whore, any tramp, if Jenny had somehow flown back just to infuriate her. That would not be tolerated. Though, lately, it didn't seem like she was able to have toleration. Chuck in his robe bothered her. It was true that he didn't always wear it after sex, but it was a common occurrence. It gave her both chills about Jenny and glimpses of the fleeting memories of when they'd been together.

"Blair," he greeted, smiling contently. Her eyes were already narrowed, her head shaking slowly. There would be no false pretenses this time around. She would dive right in. She'd be direct and to the point because there was no longer any gratification in beating around the bush to save herself. The only thing she wouldn't say was that she loved him. That was the one thing she wouldn't tell him because it was the sole part of herself that she was ashamed of. She cursed herself for not being able to get over him. She'd wanted it so many times before, but always in the back of her head she'd thought he'd fight for her eventually and they would get back together. She didn't want that now. His actions mixed with her feelings triggered her "sick" spells every time.

"You have some nerve."

He raised his eyebrows. "Please, have a drink." He gestured towards the bar where two champagne glasses were already filled. He started to walk over to them and despite herself, her brows furrowed in confusion. Still, she followed him. Once he was behind the bar and she was seated on a stool across from him she managed to break free from the brief spell he'd put her under.

"Columbi—"

"Please. Drink." He gestured to her drink and she sighed, taking a sip of it. She would not admit to the fact that she found it extremely tasty, but she was sure that truth was written all over her face. Quickly, she set it down and looked back at him.

"You had no right to take Columbia way from me," she said darkly. He lifted a finger to contradict her.

"Ah, ah, ah, not true. I told you there'd be no limits. No limits means no limits, Blair. It's not a secret code," he said matter-of-factly. Her eyes narrowed.

"But it's Columbia," she said desperately. He smirked. "You gave it to me." His eyes flickered up to hers.

"What's that old saying? I gave life to you and I can take it away?" He smiled cockily. "Similar concept." He took a sip of his drink.

She huffed and slumped in her chair. She would not leave. She wouldn't. Not until she'd finished what she came here to do. She would not let him intimidate her or push her off the deep end. She would make him stop. She would make him feel the heat of his constant attacks.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked in a small voice. He pursed his lips, looking unaffected.

"I'm pretty sure we've already discussed my motivation on the matter."

She sighed and shook her head. She looked out the window. She'd told herself she wouldn't give in. She wouldn't tell him how vulnerable she was or what she was going, not when it regarded him, not with her broken heart, just her physically dwindling state of health.

"Is this how you repay everything I did for you?" she asked, turning to look into his eyes. His face looked like it'd been chiseled from stone, a terribly icy impenetrable hunk of granite.

"And what did you do for me, Blair?" he asked, sounding amused. She forced herself not to feel.

"What didn't I do?" She paused, waiting for another snide remark from him as he digested her words. She felt so very broken at the moment but as far as he knew she was just about to curse him for his recent actions. "I stood by you when your father died. I believed in you when no one else did, and then when it was only you who didn't believe in you, I still did. I believed in every investment you made, every decision you decided you absolutely had to do. I helped you with your mother. I…" Her eyes closed briefly. The following memories flooding over her like a dagger, twisting hellish pain into her stomach. "I got rid of Jack."

"Yes." He nodded. "And then you broke up with me."

"You were trading me for a hotel!" she shouted, bewildered.

"But I didn't," he growled. She scoffed.

"Only because Jack called it off. He had more of a heart than you did."

His eyes got very, very dark. They were almost as dark as hers. There was almost a fierce hatred and evil that set upon his face. He looked cold, freezing. His jaw clenched.

"And then you slept with Jenny," she sighed. "Right when I'd stupidly decided to give you another chance." She shook her head and looked down at the bar, eventually reaching for the champagne glass and taking another swig. When it was empty, she set it back down. Finally she looked back up at him with tears in her eyes. His face was undecipherable. "Because I thought I loved you." She gave a shaky sigh. "I thought that you were worth it," she growled. "I thought we were worth it. I thought, when all was said and done, we were unbreakable."

She slipped off the stool, readjusted her skirt and pushed the empty champagne glass towards him. She waited for him to say something, anything, but all she could hear was the dry air around her. She couldn't believe how close she was to letting those tears out of her eyes, the tears that weren't supposed to really be real. She didn't notice until afterwards in her memories how his face had turned from hard and stony to stiff and regretful, guilty, self-loathing. She didn't notice that his poker face was slipping away.

"I was wrong," she said.

The walk to the elevator seemed so long, endless, like it was taunting her with the possibility of never cutting her connection with Chuck. He would always be there, he would always mean something to her, and at a time like this she didn't want to be reminded of that, because then she couldn't pull it off. She wouldn't be able to pull any of this off. She breathed out heavily before turning to face him one more time.

"I'm going to end it," she said, just before stepping into the elevator. She gave no explanation, just stepped inside. Later she would also remember how his face had fallen to depths she'd never seen or even imagined. "But not the way you did."

The doors closed behind her and the suite was left in a crashing silence.

…

She was nervous, she realized. This was for the best, she had repeated to herself a million times in the hopes that she'd believe it herself. What really was there left for to do? Chuck had to be stopped. She didn't know if Blair had relapsed again, but she knew for sure that he had been the one to drive her to it, and she wasn't about to let him do it again. Blair still loved him, but there was no way he could still love her. If he was willing to torture her like this over Eva then Eva was the only one to keep him from turning Blair into the shell of a woman he'd once loved.

"Hello?"

Serena cleared her throat. "Hello, I don't know if you remember me. My name's Serena Van der Woodsen, Chuck's step-sister?"

The line was silent for a long time. The only thing keeping her from hanging up was the fact that she hadn't heard the dial tone yet. "I remember you," she finally said. Serena breathed a sigh of relief.

"Look, I don't what exactly happened between you and Chuck to make you leave, but—"

"He wasn't over Blair. That's what," she said simply. If Serena hadn't known who she was talking to she would have thought there was a bit of snap to her voice.

"I'm sorry?" She was beyond confused. Eva sighed.

"Blair lied to him and he believed her over me. He's still connected to her. I can't be involved with someone who's still in love with his ex-girlfriend. I'm sorry, Serena. You are a very nice girl, and I know you mean well, but I'm not coming back to Chuck. I flew halfway around the world for him and all the way back for me. I'm trying to start over, trying to…" she trailed off.

Serena bit her lip, very sure she should have interrupted her a lot sooner. She didn't have the right to know all her secrets, the inter-dynamics of her relationship with Chuck. She did for Blair's sake, but she certainly didn't for her own, and yet her mouth didn't work, not when Eva had spoken just now.

"I-I've said too much," she said. Serena shook her head, panicking a little.

"No, no, I'm sure you've needed to vent about this for awhile," she said quickly.

"That doesn't excuse it. I hardly know you, and for all I know you could be just like Blair. You are best friends after all."

"No," Serena insisted. "I am not like Blair. I guarantee it. I will not manipulate you in any way." The line was silent. "I swear," she said, sounding a little exasperated.

"Serena—"

"Opposites attract?"

She sighed.

"Chuck's out of control," she said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Eva asked after an eternity.

"I mean, he's out of control. He's torturing Blair for making you leave, manipulating her, making sure everything is stolen away that she wants, that he's regretted everything they've ever had together, I just…she's falling apart."

"You're asking me…to come all the way back to New York…again, just to solve some feud Chuck is having with his lying ex-girlfriend?" she asked, disbelief lacing every word she spoke. Her voice was a little snappy again too.

"I don't think you understand how serious this situation is—"

"I understand perfectly well. You all are rooting for them to get back together, you, Nate, maybe even Dan and Vanessa and Rufus!" she said, suddenly very outraged. "And since every other alternative has not proved successful, you think I can put some sense back into him and make him stop abusing Blair."

"Eva—"

"I have no fondness for Blair. I wouldn't wish any physical harm to her of course, as I wouldn't any human being, but from what you've said—"

"Blair's bulimic," Serena said very softly. She already regretted it. Blair would kill her for relaying that kind of private information to someone she probably hated for how she'd stolen Chuck away from her. But she had no other options. With Chuck torturing Blair, she could think of no one else who even had a chance of getting through to Chuck. There, was of course the possibility that a Chuck & Eva reunion would lead to them reuniting and that would tear Blair apart as well, but Serena had the feeling that seeing Chuck with someone new would at least stop her relapses. It wouldn't be so…direct, and after the gossip girl blast and the call from the dean that morning, Blair needed some sort of break. Sooner or later he would try to move on again. She needed to get past this.

The line had been quiet for too long, Serena wondered why the dial tone had not kicked in yet. Then she heard a little bit louder breathing and knew she had no lost the French girl who had given up her homeland for Chuck and maybe might be temporarily able to do it again.

"I'll do it," she said.

"Oh, thank-you so, so much. You have no idea what this means. I—"

"I'm not doing this for Blair," she said very sternly. "She has broken my trust too many times and I won't let it be broken again."

"Yes, I understand completely," Serena said sympathetically. Truly, people that had to experience the wrath of Blair Waldorf usually didn't come out alive. Eva had the extra unfortunate turn of events because she sincerely was a nice, caring, selfless individual. It was always doubly as bad for those types. They never saw the storm clouds coming until the lightning hit them on the head.

"I'm doing this for Chuck," Eva said softly. Serena smiled a little. "He kept telling me I was the reason for his change from bad to good. If that was really true, he shouldn't have become even worse just because I left."

"Thank-you, again," Serena repeated. Her heart soared, except the unease that started to crawl through her at everyone's reactions to the blonde French girl back in town, Blair's most of all. She hoped what she was doing was right. A part of her felt very strongly that it was. But an even bigger part told her that she should have just let nature take its course, because Chuck couldn't be so heartless to the woman he supposedly still loved – according to Eva – for much longer.

"I wouldn't have asked this of you if it weren't absolutely necessary. Oh! And your airfare will be paid for in full – first class," she assured her, probably with too much enthusiasm, she thought.

"You're very kind, Serena," she said quietly. There was a short pause during which Serena tried to avoid the inevitable of facing Blair before or after Eva interacted with Chuck. "I'll call you when I land."

"Great," she smiled, a little uneasily. "Come to the Palace. I'll have an escort waiting for you and we can discuss the next step to take after that."

"Sounds great," she said somewhat cheerfully. "I'll see you soon," she said politely, and hung up the phone. Very slowly, Serena hung up her own phone and pulled it away from her ear. She stared at it for a long time, wondering once again if she had done the right thing. She closed her cell and slipped it into her purse beside the bed. She would have to keep this all a secret from Blair for a few days while Eva was in town, though she doubted she could for very long. Gossip Girl had a way of digging up what was impossible to find.

She switched off the light and slipped into bed. Blair wasn't home yet, but she would be soon, and Serena just knew there would be an even larger cut in her heart that she would have to mend.

…

A/N: 19 reviews? NINETEEN reviews? Really? ONE short. *sigh* Well, I can't wait any longer & I really want to try as much as I can to get in a chapter every day or every other day. Heh. I hope all you wonderful readers are still going to keep reading despite the fact that Chuck is so obviously not going to go this far and doesn't even show any signs of regretting Blair, just hating what she did in getting Eva to leave. *sigh* In fact, from that last scene they had together it almost makes it look like he's hurting her to get her to realize that she still has feelings for him. *shakes head* Awful strategy, but it has worked for him in the past. Lol. Please review! And vote on my poll if you haven't! *demands*