It's Thursday again, so that means another chapter. For some of you that's excitement, for me it's losing another chapter, just kidding! Well I'm excited because it means a new episode (THE HOPEFULLY BEST EPISODE) of Emma Approved, but enough about my dorkyness.

Thanks for the great response on the previous chapter. I've passed the 100 review point, which is kind of amazing. For those of you who guessed correctly, congrats, C and B's outfits were from the scene where C bought the Empire, the 'because you believe in me' scene. Thank you for the reviews, the reviews that have been mentioning that they haven't read GG fanfiction in awhile until this story have been super flattering, thank you so much, I can't say that enough.

I think the only concern to address about last week's chapter was the kiss. While mostly everyone was thrilled that they kissed, a few people were surprised by Blair's lack of reaction to the kiss. In my defense, I feel like B was really thrown off by it. I also think it affected Chuck more than it did Blair, just like their first time affected C a bit more than B.

Sidenote, this chapter was such a pain in the butt to upload because ff was acting up. Sigh, the things I go through for you guys, just kidding, again!

Anyway, I hope this chapter more than makes up for that, if you felt that way. I'll stop blabbing and let you read. Allons-y!


Despite their agreement that he would stay out of the wedding planning, Blair continued to send him biweekly updates of the wedding planning. He supposed it was her way of continuing to remind him that they were getting married.

He had stayed out of it, as she requested. And he initially been ignoring the updates, until he realized that they came with questions for him, and when he didn't send his responses back to her, she had sent Serena to him.

"Blair's been planning this entire wedding," Serena had stared him down, her foot tapping angrily, "the least you could do is help."

"But she doesn't want my help," he protested, a bit weakly, leaning back in his chair.

"Obviously, that's not true," Serena rolled her eyes, "Now," she pointed to the stack of wedding planning. "Read them."

He knew he was being selfish in ignoring Blair, not that he had ever cared before. But under Serena's heavy gaze, he nodded quickly and promised to call Blair back.

In some ways he had been avoiding the updates as a way of avoiding Blair after their kiss. It had been easy to pretend in front of the cameras that their kiss hadn't affected him, but later, when he was alone in the limo with her, it was all he could do not to drag her towards him and continue the kiss.

Kissing her had surprised him. There was something about her that he just couldn't explain, something about her that kept him wanting more. It wasn't healthy, especially considering their situation.

So he kept his distance from her, trying to school himself into the belief that he didn't like her. He didn't, he assured himself, picking up the updates.

She had booked the Conservatory Garden for the wedding, and he was slightly grateful she hadn't insisted on a Church wedding. The invite list was small, relatively speaking. Mostly family and friends, but there was a few names that he knew her mother or his father had added. He was surprised to see that Serena was her maid of honor, but he supposed it went with Nate being his best man. Evelyn was the flower girl.

The one thing he had argued with was the color scheme.

"I thought we agreed on purple and cream," he had snarled over the phone as soon as she picked up.

"I went with a different route," she said entirely too casual. "It didn't go with my dress."

"Then pick a different dress," he demanded.

"I will not," she huffed. "I didn't get to pick my dress last time, that certainly won't happen this time." She inhaled deeply. "Didn't you get the swatch I sent over?"

He fingered the tiny scrap of cloth, ice blue with flowers and pearls. "I did," he gave a short laugh. "Ice blue?"

"I liked the design," she defended.

"I guess there's no point in trying to fool anyone into believing that you're a virginal bride," he spat out.

Blair huffed in indignation. "Take that back." She ordered immediately.

"Fine," he said suddenly, an idea coming to him. "You can wear the dress."

"What?" She asked, caught off guard. "Bass, I was never not asking for your permission."

He ignored that. "If you're wearing that dress, then I'm wearing white." He fingered the cloth, leaning back in his chair.

"What?" She asked, the anger leaving her voice, leaving it dead pan.

"I'll be wearing a white tux." He explained, his voice sounded entirely too satisfied. "And an ice blue bowtie, I suppose, to match your dress."

She sputtered for a few moments, unsure of what to say.

"Pleasure talking to you, as always, Blair." He laughed out, before hanging up the phone.


"I have a surprise for you," Serena skipped into Blair's room, stopping in the doorway of the room. "What's going on?"

Blair looked up from her curled up position under the duvet. "I'm relaxing," she sniffled a bit. "I'm going to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's," she said pointing to her nearby laptop, "and I'll go to bed soon."

"But that's so boring," Serena huffed out, jumping on Blair's bed. "Come on Blair, it's the night before your wedding."

"Yes, S," Blair nodded along mockingly at Serena's exuberance. "It's the night before my wedding, so I have to get as much rest as I can, so I don't have enormous bags under my eyes. I will not look like a raccoon on my special day."

"Rest is for the weak," Serena proclaimed. "And you've always been anything but weak, B. Come on," she pulled Blair back and forth. "We're going out. No excuses," she snapped before Blair could protest. "I've got the perfect dress for you."

Blair eyed the garment bag holding the supposed dress. "If I want to come home, we will?" She verified.

"Sure," Serena rolled her eyes. "But you won't."

Grabbing the bag, she stepped into the bathroom to change. When she came out, she was in a form fitting black dress with a put off expression. "You got the wrong size." She said flatly.

Serena squealed happily, clapping her hands. "That looks fantastic on you, it's the perfect size."

"Serena," Blair said through gritted teeth, "I look like a prostitute."

"I'd say high class escort, which is what we're going for." Serena said absently, tugging on Blair's arm. "Now come on, it's time for your Bachelorette party."

"What?" Blair gasped pulling out of Serena's grasp.

"I know you said no bachelorette party, but Nate was going on and on about how great Chuck's bachelor party was going to be," Serena said quickly, attempting to cover up her mistake, "and I really just needed to show him up, so please, humor me." She clasped onto Blair's hand tighter and tugged her out of the room, finally.

They rode down the elevator in silence as Blair tried to formulate the right response. They slide into the town car parked outside.

"I really don't think this is a good idea. I don't need a Bachelorette party." Blair tried pleading with Serena again, as they rode down the streets in a town car. Blair tugged on her short black dress, trying to pull it down to a respectable length.

"Blair," Serena rolled her eyes for the fifth time, "it's not what you need, it's what you want."

"I don't want one either," she huffed before turning to look out the window.

"You may not now," Serena teased, poking Blair a little. "But you will when you see what I have planned for you." Serena glanced out the window and gave an excited shriek. "We're here," she trilled, jumping out the door.

Blair slide out behind her apprehensively, looking up at the building in front of them. She eyed the place critically, "Victrola? Is this some sort of club?"

Serena shot her a teasing smile. "Sort of. Now, come on."


"Man," Nate said slapping Chuck hard on the back. Chuck winced as the slap radiated throughout his back. "You're supposed to be enjoying yourself, this is your Bachelor party, and," he eyed one of the dancers as they walked past him, "it's awesome. Instead you're parked out by the bar, and you're not even getting drunk."

"A bachelor party implies that one is celebrating the end of single life, my wedding is simply a hiatus," Chuck said simply, taking a sip of his scotch.

Nate rolled his eyes. "Come on man, it's no fun if you're all moody in the corner. You're special surprise should be here soon."

Chuck simply raised an eyebrow. Nate had been going on and on about a special surprise all evening, and at this rate, all Chuck hoped for was a stripper popping out of a cake.

Nate checked his phone, smiling widely at whatever was on there. Chuck hoped suddenly it wasn't a picture of his step-sister. "In fact, she's here now."

Despite himself, Chuck looked towards the door curiously. Serena walked in first, he felt himself sag a bit in disappointment. Serena wasn't a good surprise, and he turned around to tell Nate so, when Nate tugged on his shoulder, "Look man, she's here."

He spun around to see Blair walking in looking apprehensive. She was wearing a tight black dress, and he felt himself grow a bit dry mouthed at the sight. "What do you think?" Nate tugged on the corner of his jacket again, Chuck was sure it was permanently wrinkled at this point. "It's a joint Bachelor/Bachelorette party."

What did he think? He turned on Nate angrily, about to give him a piece of his mind when he felt a clap on his shoulder and turned around to see Eric standing beside him with a pleasant smile. "Be careful, Chuck," he said quietly, "Nate and Serena invited everyone we know."

"Did you know about this?" Chuck felt himself loosen up at the sight of his old high school friends walking by. He couldn't make a scene, not here, where everyone could see.

"Not until it was too late to stop it." Eric said, holding up his hands in surrender.

Chuck inhaled deeply; he pasted on a large fake smile, and glared at Nate. "I'm going to go greet my future wife."

As he walked away, he heard Nate ask Eric, "Did I do something wrong?"


Blair's stomach swirled as Serena looked at her in anticipation. "So, what do you think?"

She eyed a few of Serena's friends standing a few feet away from them, and she schooled her expression. "I think it's a great idea," she enthused as realistically as she could manage. "Where's Chuck?"

Serena clapped excitedly. "He's around here, somewhere," Serena said waving her hands, "Who cares? Let's go do some shots!"

"Alcohol before me," Chuck's silky smooth voice interjected, and Blair felt herself relax a bit at his presence. "I'm hurt, Sis."

"Chuck," Serena squealed, launching herself into Chuck's arms.

Chuck caught Serena, but pulled back a little instantly, "Started the party a little early, S?"

"I just had a few glasses of champagne to calm my nerves," Serena squinted at him. "I was worried you wouldn't like the party."

"The party's fine, Serena," Chuck smiled exasperated. "Now why don't you go find Nathaniel and give me some alone time with Blair."

"Of course," Serena said with an obvious wink towards Blair. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she sung as she walked away.

"What's going on?" Blair turned on Chuck the moment that Serena was out of earshot.

"Hold on," he hissed at her, slipping his arms around her waist, maneuvering her to a dark corner where they wouldn't be overheard.

She waited for a moment patiently, until he stopped shuffling. When he stood still in front of her, she slapped his chest.

"Ow," he snapped, rubbing his chest. "What the hell was that for?"

"Because you didn't answer my question," she explained simply, crossing her arms over her chest. "What's going on?"

"Didn't Serena tell you?" He mocked Serena's high pitch girly squeal. "It's a joint Bachelor/Bachelorette party."

"I didn't even want a Bachelorette party," Blair huffed out irritated.

"I'm sure they were trying to be helpful in their own way." Chuck shrugged. "But there's no point in blaming the blondes any further. What's done is done. Now we have to do damage control."

"You don't think they've planned," Blair sneered, "games."

"Knowing Serena," Chuck exhaled, "I think that's a given."

"Oh god," Blair slapped her forehead.

"Focus Waldorf," he said grabbing both of her hands, tugging her towards him. "Look we'll deal with it, okay? It'll be fine."

She felt breathless as he stared at her intently. For a moment, she was grateful that he was in this with her. She didn't think that she could handle it with anyone else.

She felt warm under his gaze. Her eyes drifted to his lips absently and all that effort she put into not thinking about their kiss was gone out the window. She forced herself not lean towards him, no matter how much she wanted to feel him up against her.

"Okay," she inhaled deeply, trying to clear her head, "what are we going to do?"

He smiled widely at her, holding out the crook of his elbow towards her. "I'll introduce you to everyone we know, and as soon as we've made one round through the party, before the games, we'll excuse ourselves. We have to be up early tomorrow, after all."

It was simplistic, and there was room for trouble courtesy of Nate and Serena, but it could work, or at least she assumed it would work by his confident smirk. "Fine," she nodded, placing her hand in his elbow. "Lead the way."


Fifty handshakes, twenty hugs, and three glasses of scotch later, they were nowhere near leaving.

"Blair," Serena slurred, now completely drunk, "Come meet my good friend Poppy. Poppy," Serena almost shrieked, "this is Blair, my new best friend."

Thankfully, Poppy was just as drunk, and hadn't noticed her demotion from best friend to good friend. Blair, however, did.

"Blair Waldorf," she said sticking out her left hand with the ring and a proud smile.

Chuck smirked slightly as Poppy struggled for a moment, trying to figure out with hand to stick out in reciprocation. "Nice to meet you Blair," she slurred back.

With every introduction, Blair grew more and more confident. There was a sparkle in her eyes that he had never noticed, and he was starting to enjoy it, even letting her take the lead with some of Serena's friends. She handled herself well, and it was something that he had admired.

"Now it's time for games," Serena shrieked, clapping her hands. She looked towards Nate who was holding a set of index cards looking equally as excited.

"We'll pass," Chuck interjected immediately, standing up to slip a hand around Blair's waist. She turned into his embrace a bit. His hand curled around her. Steady, he reminded himself, don't push it.

"Chuck," Serena whined, "don't be a party pooper."

"Yeah, Chuck," Nate mumbled, stumbling up behind Serena, fumbling with the cards in his hands. "This is where the real fun begins."

"Nathaniel, you've said that at least five times tonight." Chuck said monotonously. "We're just going to sit down over there for a bit." He pointed to a couch right in front of the stage.

"We'll watch," Blair offered immediately at Serena's pout.

"But it's not the same," Serena whined. She sighed dramatically. "Fine, go sit down and be boring. Natie and I will have fun for the both of you."

"Thanks, Sis," Chuck said quickly, maneuvering Blair towards the couch before Serena could change her mind. He handed her a glass of champagne as they sat down.

"Thanks," she said softly, leaning forward on her knees to watch the girls on the stage dance. "This is your place?"

He raised an eyebrow at her curiously, "How'd you know?"

"It seems like your type of place," she said nonchalantly looking around. He continued to stare at her for a moment longer, before she cracked. "Okay, I saw the manager come up and ask you a few questions about staffing, I figured you have to own the place."

He leaned back into the couch, smirking. "It was my first business investment, when I was 16."

"Really?" She turned back to face him.

"Yeah," his eyes glazed over, "I made a business proposal and presented it to Bart. He thought this place was just another reason for me to booze my way through life. I bought it anyway." He shrugged. "He saw the way this place grew and how much time I put in it, and he began to trust me more. Until Evie, of course."

Blair listened silently, perking up a bit at Evelyn's name. "What happened?" She asked cautiously, knowing that she was treading on dangerous ground.

"I slept with Georgina Sparks and I knocked her up. It happened the night after Bart rejected my Victrola proposal, before I thought to buy the place myself, and I was just," he trailed off, "I was pissed at my father and I made a really stupid decision." He paused for a moment, shaking his head at the memory. "I regretted it immediately. So when the opportunity to toss her out of Manhattan presented it self, I took it. That's when she told me she was pregnant." He struggled for a moment, "She wanted money," he said slowly, "to get rid of the baby. But I couldn't let her, I just," he trailed off, looking away from the stage. "I made her keep the baby, I promised to pay her off, as soon as she had the baby." He gave a short bitter laugh. "Bart never trusted me after that."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Blair interjected quickly, feeling for him. She knew how it was to have an eternally disappointed parent.

"I know." He looked at her shortly. "I may regret sleeping with Georgina, but I would never regret Evelyn. Ironically, I think that's the only redeeming thing about me, at least in my father's eyes."

"It's not," she said quickly, looking away. She could feel Chuck's gaze on her.

He cleared his throat, waiting until her attention was back on him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she said slowly, a bit unsurely. "It's just," she trailed off, "I know what it's like to have a parent feel constantly disappointed in you."

"Eleanor?" He mused, twirling around his glass of scotch.

"I was never good enough for her. I was never skinny enough, or pretty enough, or smart enough," Blair mused quietly. She clammed up, unsure whether it was the champagne speaking. Chuck's gaze was friendly, almost as if he was inviting her to say more. "It was a blessing when my Daddy took me to Paris with him. It meant I only had to see her during summers. But her disappointment in me it was never more than when I married Louis."

He perked up a bit at that, he knew the story, but hearing it from her was another thing. "Not when you divorced him?"

"I got married to Louis when I was young," she said vaguely. "I thought I was so in love with him, because he seemed to love me unconditionally. Mother never really approved of him. I thought it was because she thought I wasn't good enough for him." Blair laughed bitterly, "She thought he wasn't good enough for me, that he wouldn't stand by me through anything." She sighed, "It was our worst fight."

Unconsciously, Chuck reached out to her, placing a tentative hand over her trembling hands. She stared at him surprised for a moment, but she didn't remove her hands from under his.

Blair frowned, "I always knew she was wrong about the way she saw me, so I thought she was wrong about the way she saw Louis. But I was the one that was wrong." She inhaled deeply, "Some rumors cropped up early into our marriage, and he instantly turned on me. He slandered my name in the press, said I was a lot of nasty things. I didn't know what to do, so I stood by his side, no matter what he did. Until he brought up the dowry."

Chuck fingered his scotch glass, "Dowry?" He questioned, "Like from back in the day?"

She looked away from him. "It was in the pre-nup. Apparently if I wanted to get divorced to Louis without his consent, I'd owe his family a lot of money, enough to bankrupt my family. You can guess what happened."

He leaned back on the couch, "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but—?"

She stared at him strangely for a moment, before speaking, "Relief, I feel relief." And it was true. She had been devastated when it happened, she thought Louis was the love of her life, and to lose him like that, it was tragic. But she knew better know, if Louis had truly loved her, he wouldn't have done that to her. He wouldn't have put her through that.

She lifted her eyes to meet Chuck's gaze. He was staring at her intently, making her uncomfortable with the intensity of his gaze. For a split moment, she thought he might kiss her again, and she panicked. Looking around for a distraction and her eyes landed on the dancers on stage. "You know," she said conversationally, "I've got moves."

"Really?" He sat up, looking interested all of a sudden. "Then why don't you get up there?"

She laughed shortly, blowing him off. "I'm just saying, I've got moves."

"Come on," he nudged her a bit, "you're ten times hotter than any of those girls."

Her breath caught a bit, but she turned on him quickly, "I know what you're doing, Bass." She paused in thought for a moment, and frowned, "You really don't think I'd go up there?"

He smirked, leaning back into the couch, looking satisfied. "I know you won't."

She huffed for a moment, "Guard my drink." She instructed him standing up and making her way to the stage. Shaking her hips to the beat of the song, she slowly slide her headband off and coyly tossed it towards the crowd. By this time, everyone was paying attention to her on stage, and letting out whistles and catcalls. The headband landed square in Chuck's lap, and the entire establishment let out a loud yell.

She slide to the floor and back up, tracing her hands all over her legs. Chuck stared up at her like he was seeing her for the first time, a large smile on his face. She continued to dance until she saw him lift his glass towards her, as if he was accepting defeat.

Slowly, she hopped off the stage and made her way towards him, as he walked towards her, wrapping his arms around her as they met. He wrapped her up in a passionate kiss, even dipping her back a little. The place around them roared in excitement. She barely heard them as she focused on him, the feel of his lips against her. This time she responded to his kiss enthusiastically, she expected it, she reveled in it. Her hands threaded through his hair, pulling him closer towards her, until there was no room between the two of them.

It could have been days, hours, minutes; she no longer felt the passage of time. The crowd's roars faded to silence, she didn't care about them, she didn't care about anything but him.

"You were amazing up there," he breathed out as they pulled away. The catcalls broke through his Blair induced glaze and he quickly remembered himself. He turned away from the crowd to face Blair and cleared his throat a bit, "I think we have them fooled for tonight, right?"

It was as if he had poured ice cold water on her. For a second, she had forgotten herself, lost herself in him. Until he had practically slapped her back into the present. She struggled to catch her breath for a moment. "Yeah," she pulled away from him quickly, and his face fell. "I should probably get going. Big day tomorrow, after all." She plastered a fake smile on her face.

"I can give you a ride," he offered immediately, taking a step towards her.

She took a step back, she couldn't have him near her, not when her hands were still itching to pull him close. "It's okay, the groom's not supposed to see the bride before the wedding anyway, it's bad luck."

"Blair," he began slowly, knowing he said something wrong, but not entirely sure what it was.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Chuck," she said quickly, cutting him off. She smiled at him too brightly and walked away from him, right out the door.

Nate came up behind Chuck, laughing, and clapped him on the back again. "What just happened up there, man?"

He shook his head, bemused, "I have no idea."

Tbd.

So? Surprised that C and B had a heart to heart? This chapter wasn't supposed to happen in all honesty, I wanted this chapter to be the wedding, however, it occurred to me that maybe C and B needed to talk a bit before they got married. Especially B. If you've noticed, B hasn't come completely clean and I've hinted to you guys what those rumors that ended her marriage with Louis were, well, they'll play into the rest of the story. Also I hope that you guys were okay with me including my own version of the Victrola scene.

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, as always, please review and favorite if you enjoyed, and follow if you want to see more, because there is definitely more to come!