The Villard Ballroom at the Palace Hotel was filled to capacity on Saturday night. The champagne was overflowing, hors d'oeuvres were plentiful and the guests in attendance were the crème de la crème of both the Upper East Side and Wall Street society. It was a warm and humid August night, but everyone was dressed to the nines and mostly staying within the confines of grand, air conditioned room.

For the past hour, Chuck had prowled the ballroom like a caged animal. After standing in the greeting line for the first thirty minutes, he had excused himself and made his rounds as the guests continued trickling in. The last ten days had been a bitch—correction, Serena had been the bitch—and he was still waiting for his prize at the end of the tunnel to make an appearance. Serena had been in rare form, tormenting him almost as well as he had done her. She had him run all sorts of errands, even sending him to the drug store at 2 a.m. last night to buy her a box of tampons. When he came back with item in hand, she had viciously said, "Oops, I forgot I had an extra box in my closet. But thanks!"

Chuck had just flashed her a grin and told her not to worry, instead of reacting in any sort of negative way. He had been absolutely unflappable, doing everything she requested without complaint. It had driven her crazy that he hadn't given her any leverage to threaten him, but that was the only countermove he could employ. But beneath his mask of indifference, he had had to stop himself from strangling her several times. However, in order to insure that things went smoothly this evening, he had procured an obscenely expensive and highly coveted pair of Jimmy Choos for his soon-to-be sister. Serena had squealed with joy and hugged him voluntarily.

What he wanted to do at this moment was find her and demand she call Blair, but instead he waited with concealed impatience. Nate caught his eye from across the room, and moved his head just a fraction towards the courtyard. With a curt nod, Chuck started to head towards him. He wouldn't share a joint—he wasn't suicidal, and Bart would surely kill him if he got caught—but perhaps a cigarette would take the edge off. He felt suffocated and was desperate for Blair to show up. She had been out of reach when they had first met, and he'd be damned if he would let her slip through his fingers this time around.

"Man, you look super tense," Nate observed as they stood outside. "I thought you said you were ok with the Bart getting married thing."

"I am fine with it," he answered tightly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

He felt Nate's eyes on him, and commanded himself to remain motionless.

"Seriously?" Nate asked in astonishment as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to him. "Let's see, for one, Bart's age. Two, something about your—."

"The question was rhetorical," Chuck hissed as he lit up the smoke. "I'm fine, really."

"Hey, if you want to talk about it. I mean, if you're not ok…" Nate said hesitantly.

Leave it to Nate to pick now of all times for a heart-to-heart.

"I appreciate the offer," he said sincerely. "But I assure you, I really am fine with the whole Bart and Lily thing. Besides, Eric is pretty cool."

"And Serena?" Nate asked too casually.

Chuck rolled his eyes—could his friend be any more obvious? "She makes me want to hug Bart for never giving me a sibling."

"Really?"

"Trust me, if you had to live with her in her natural habitat, it would kill any vestigial attraction you might have," he answered as he took a deep drag from his cigarette. "However, if you'd like, I'd be more than happy to introduce her to you. Although she'll probably deduct points off bat, you being my best friend and all."

"It's probably for the best," Nate said with a sigh. "I was actually hoping you'd have nothing but your typical pervy comments and detail the number of ways you'd fuck her."

Chuck choked on the smoke from his cigarette and managed to cough out a strangled, "What?"

"It's just that she's one of Carter's exes," Nate explained with a smile of chagrin. "And I figured if you were hot for her, then maybe she'd be worth pissing off Carter over. He's tends to be very possessive."

Truthfully, Chuck had never quite understood Nate's close relationship with the younger man. But then again, Nate was also much less selective than he was. While he didn't mind occasionally shooting the shit with Carter, Chuck had never exactly warmed to him either. Their run-ins were far and few in-between and he preferred it that way. Although, he wasn't going to deny that his indifference had turned to mild dislike when he discovered Carter's connection to Blair.

"Why are you so concerned about what Carter thinks? If you want to ask Serena out, why don't you? She just got out of a relationship and as Eric put it, 'she's on the prowl'."

"Who are you, and what have you done to Chuck Bass?" Nate said in wonder.

"What are you talking about?"

"Excuse me? Where's my boy? I've got your back. Bros before hoes."

"She's his ex for a reason, Nathaniel. He's acting like a kid in the sandbox."

"You do make some valid points," he pondered. "Still, Carter's a good friend."

"Fuck Carter," Chuck said dismissively, as he took a final drag from his cigarette and flicked it into the courtyard. "He's cockblocking you."

He could feel Nate staring at him from the corner of his eye. "Someone's bitchy tonight. Maybe this has to do with your lack of getting laid. Have you even slept with anyone since you moved into the van der Woodsens?"

"Are you really questioning me about how active my sex life is? What's next, Archibald? Are you going to pull out a calendar and make sure our monthly cycles overlap?"

Nate let out a low whistle. "Sounds like sexual frustration to me."

He said nothing. No need for Nate to find out that he was in fact a bit frustrated—the last ten days had been filled picturing the many ways he was going to make Blair Waldorf scream his name. Even picturing her writhing naked on his bed was enough to bring a smile to his face. Tonight would be exquisite—he was sure of it.

"You've already picked someone out!" Nate observed admiringly. "Who's the lucky girl? Who's next on your to-do list?"

Instead of answering, Chuck looked back inside towards the ballroom. He smirked. She was finally here. And unsurprisingly she looked stunning in the taupe, one-shoulder fitted Grecian style dress that fell to her knees and hugged all her curves. Her hair was half swept up, with her brown curls falling onto her shoulders. Before he could even picture peeling the dress off of her, Carter Baizen materialized to hug her, forcing him to scowl. From where he stood, there was no way to determine how welcome Carter's attentions were or not—and for once Chuck was grateful to Serena for interrupting the rather lengthy embrace. His jaw clenched as Carter's arm found its way back to rest around Blair's waist somewhat possessively.

Nate chuckled when he followed Chuck's line of vision. "I wouldn't bother, if I were you."

"Bother with what?" He asked coolly.

"Blair Waldorf," Nate answered wryly. "Yet another of Carter's exes. I asked him a couple of years ago to introduce me to her—when she was in between fiancés. Needless to say, it didn't go over well. Apparently Blair is his favorite toy, and he doesn't want to share her with anyone, especially with friends."

He remained silent for a moment. "It's a good thing that he and I aren't friends then."

"Chuck—," Nate started to say.

"And she's not a toy. However, I have no intention of sharing her with anyone."

Without another word, he walked away from his friend and into the ballroom, there was someone he needed to be introduced to.

.

.

.

"Carter," Blair said sweetly. "I would love a glass of champagne. Would you mind?"

"Of course not," he answered.

"Me, too," Serena chimed in with a smile.

"It'll be my pleasure ladies," Carter said before leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.

"Ugh," Blair muttered as he walked towards the champagne tower in the corner. "Why does he insist on suffocating me?"

"Because you let him?" Serena teased.

"Not so much let, more like avoid causing a scene. He always picks such public events to be so clingy," Blair clarified irritably. "It's like he can't take the hint."

There was a wicked glimmer in Serena's eye as she snickered, "Maybe it's because you're the one that got away?"

Blair couldn't help but note with irony that Carter was just like every other male on the planet—he only wanted what he couldn't have. It had been almost four years since she had decided with finality that he was a permanent fixture of her past. He had still failed to acknowledge her decision. Pointedly, Blair reminded her best friend, "And yet, he wasn't all too keen on paying me any attention when he had me."

"Blair, you know it's not like that," Serena said softly.

"Really? It isn't?" She paused. "Because I could've sworn Patrick caught you in bed with him and that's why you two broke up. That was, what, a month ago?"

"You know it's just sex, B," Serena half-heartedly defended. "If you were serious about giving him another chance…"

"I spent all of high school and most of college giving him a second chance," Blair snapped. She tried to repress the irritation that bubbled to the surface when she reflected on the details of her relationship with Carter.

The last thing she needed was a reminder of her best friend's betrayal—how Serena had slept with her boyfriend at the Shepherd's wedding back in high school. When Blair had finally slept with Carter, she had wondered the entire time if he was wishing she was Serena instead. It hadn't been until a couple of months later that she had relaxed and started to actually enjoy having sex with him. Back and forth Carter had danced between her and S and a bevy of other women. Yet somehow, he had still managed to be the reason she ended her first engagement. But all that had taught her, was that Carter could be silver-tongued when need be. And while she knew that Carter really did love her, she knew that she would never feel as though she had his complete attention—which brought her to the topic she needed to discuss with her best friend.

Blair took a deep breath and offered a semi-apology, "I don't want to talk about Carter, he's ancient history."

Serena smiled contritely in return.

"But there is something else I did want to ask you about."

"Should I be concerned?"

She shook her head. "It's about your stepbrother, actually."

"He is not my stepbrother," Serena glowered. "You're not really thinking about saying 'yes' to his ridiculous date request, are you?"

"I need to know if anything has ever happened between the two of you," she blurted out.

"No. I already told you, B, we were never dating, no matter what Gossip Girl said. Do I really need to tell you about the events of that night all over again? I can get the hotel surveillance from Chuck, lord knows he won't shut up about having video evidence of my vomiting all over him. Nothing happened."

"I'm not talking about recently. I mean ever. It seems like you and Chuck travel in the same circles," Blair explained. She didn't know how to explain it in words, that she couldn't stomach the idea of being involved with someone who had climbed atop Mt. Serena first. Yes, Serena was still her best friend, and yes, Carter was ancient history—but it didn't mean that Serena couldn't occasionally make Blair feel like she was an insecure twelve year old girl, who wasn't as beautiful or bubbly or as shiny, all over again.

A hesitant look crossed Serena's face.

Her heart dropped. "Oh, you have."

"Not exactly. Last year, when I was in Barcelona with Poppy—."

"Didn't you say that Poppy ditched you for some millionaire that was her potential future husband?" Blair interrupted.

"She did. She ditched me for Chuck."

Blair furrowed her brow. She wasn't certain what bothered her more, that Serena was avoiding telling her something or the idea of Chuck being married. She shot her a look that said hurry up, but the blonde wouldn't meet her eyes.

"I'm sensing a 'but' here," Blair prompted impatiently.

"It's just that, if it had been my way, that night, he wouldn't have gone home with her," Serena mumbled.

"And?"

"And, what? That's it."

"So you hit on him, that's all that happened?" Blair asked slowly.

"Technically, no."

"What am I missing here?"

"We had been staring at each other across the bar…" Serena trailed off.

"Ok, and so what? You did your typical S move, stretched so everyone could see how perfect your body was before dipping your finger into your drink and then sucking on it like you're some common slut whose mouth is open for—."

"Shut up!" Serena hissed, her cheeks flushing a bright red. "That is not my move!"

"Are you kidding me? Serena, that's your go-to move. I've had to watch you perfect that move since we were in high school."

"Chuck called it my 'come hither' move," she admitted unhappily.

"It works, what 99% of the time?" Blair consoled soothingly as she tried not to roll her eyes.

"Well that's it. Poppy intercepted Chuck before we could even talk. And that's the extent of my interactions with him."

Relief flooded her veins and she couldn't stop the big smile from stretching across her face.

"You're happy about this?" Serena asked in confusion. "Do you want to go out with him?"

"Well, I couldn't very well accept his invitation for a date, if he'd shoved his tongue or any other part of his body into any part of you, now could I?" Blair confessed. "But since you haven't, and you're going to be related, there's no real reason for me to say no."

"We're not related!" She denied hotly.

"Oh, Sis, methinks you doth protest too much," Chuck smarmed as he walked up to the pair and bumped shoulders with her best friend.

Blair watched in amusement as Serena glared at Chuck while trying to inch away from him. He continued to smile, all the while tilting his head in her general direction.

"Fine," Serena huffed as she made an unhappy face. In the most uninterested tone she could muster, she flatly said, "Chuck this is Blair, Blair this is Chuck."

"All class, that one," Chuck said with a glint in his eye.

She smirked back at him. She loved the way he didn't bother disguising the fact that he couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

"Seriously, you would think she could be a bit more gracious," Blair bandied back.

"Guys, I'm still here, I can hear you."

"I'm Chuck—."

"Bass. Yes I know," She interrupted with a wink. She offered her hand out to shake. "I'm Blair—."

"Waldorf," he cut in smoothly as his hand curled around hers.

She felt a thrill from the way he rubbed his thumb gently over skin. Neither of them moved, as they just stood there. She could drown in his eyes, she thought, as the rest of the world seemed to disappear.

Serena cleared her throat loudly, snapping Blair from her daze.

Without relinquishing hold of her hand, Chuck asked, "Can I get you a drink?"

She nodded, uncertain she'd be able to speak.

"We'd both love some champagne, Chuck," Serena said.

"Actually, you'll have to fend for yourself, S," Blair managed to say. Her friend's words reminded her that Carter was soon to return—and there was no way she was going to allow him to cockblock her, especially tonight. She looked at Chuck. "I'll come with you."

He smiled as he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. "Right this way."

As Serena watched them disappear into the crowd, she muttered to herself, "Said the spider to the fly."

.

.

.

tbc

A/N: I have been remiss in thanking all of you who read this story. Please know, I appreciate your taking the time.

And a special thank you to Iluvenis, for being my sounding board. The entire damned Greek alphabet has nothing on you.