Eleanor was back in full-on hover mode, not leaving Blair's side for a moment. Not even Cyrus' urges would budge her. And the looks she was throwing Chuck were causing him to squirm.
He didn't do parents. It wasn't his thing. He was the guy the parents gave warnings about. That's who he was. He was that guy. Not the guy that stood by and held your hand while doctors worked on. Not the guy that tried to make small talk with your parents. It was all a new experience for him and he didn't like it.
He enjoyed being the 'warnings' guy so much more.
But Blair just pushed on, clutching his hand and smirking at her mother defiantly. Trying to shove him into a part he wasn't cut out for.
He was trying though and the look in Blair's eyes as she watched him so carefully said she knew about his effort and she was grateful. That look made him stay beside her, despite how uncomfortable Eleanor was making him.
" I have a flight this afternoon." Blair's mother answered suddenly as she glanced at her watch. " I have a meeting in Paris first thing in the morning. How much longer is this going to take ?"
The Doctor at Blair's back glanced up and grimaced. " I'm done actually, but Miss Waldorf can't be left alone. She may have a concussion. She needs to be monitored."
" Dorota is on vacation until Monday." Her mother huffed. " Maybe I can call her back early."
" Mom, she has been looking forward to this vacation for months. She never gets to visit her family. You can't do that." Blair insisted.
" I'm working on my opening argument for what could be the biggest case of my career. I need to be at the office tonight." Cyrus interjected when all eyes fell to him.
" I'll stay with her." Chuck offered, drawing everyone's attention.
" If you really think that I'm going to leave you alone with my daughter all night by yourselves, you're the one that should have your head examined." Eleanore announced adamantly.
Chuck stood from the bed, coming to his full height and leveling her with his classic narrowed eyes.
" I'll take care of her. She's important enough to me that I'll drop everything else I have going on in order to be with her." He said, quietly.
" You're seventeen years old, what could you possibly have going on that you'd need to drop." Eleanor spat as she eyed him right back with her arms crossed over her chest.
" Let's see," He smiled deviously. " I have a meeting with a couple of very big Japanese investors first thing in the morning. Then I have a shareholders meeting right before lunch. After lunch I have a budget meeting planned and then I have dinner with my legal staff. But none of that, not one thing on that list is going to keep me from being with Blair until I know for sure she's alright."
" You're seventeen ?" The doctor asked, from the sidelines of the conversation, with awe and disbelief in his voice.
" I don't need a babysitter. Honestly, all of you just go about doing what you need to do. I'll be fine." Blair told them all.
" Someone needs to wake you up every two hours and check your pupils. Make sure you're still okay." The doctor explained. "I'm sure we can find a bed for her here, if we need to."
Blair's eyes turned panicked as she caught Chuck's. " No, she isn't staying. She's coming home with me."
" No, she isn't." Eleanor insisted again.
" Sweetheart, I think if Chuck is willing to stay with her, we should let him. It solves all our problems. It's not like he's going to hurt her. He just saved her life." Cyrus said with a hand on Eleanor's shoulder. Then he turned to Blair. " Is it okay with you ? Do you want to stay with Chuck ?"
Blair nodded quickly then winced at the pain. " Yes, I think that's a perfect solution."
" But I'd hate for him to have to disrupt all his plans." Eleanor answered sweetly.
" Like I said, whether I'm taking care of her or not, I'm going to be there, wherever she is. So really my plans are already disrupted."
" Fine. But there are going to be rules." She finally relented.
" I"m great with rules." Chuck beamed at her.
Three hours later she was, at last, settled into her comfortable bed. Cyrus had already left for his office with a promise to check on them at regular intervals. Eleanor had gone to the airport with a promise to call as soon as she landed. And Chuck was sitting beside her, still holding her hand and smiling at her indulgently.
" So what's it going to be ? Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's or Cary Grant in An affair to Remember ? " He asked, holding out both DVDs to her.
" Right now, I just want a nap." She answered honestly. " I feel like someone dropped a house on me."
" Okay then, a nap it is." He agreed pulling her blankets more securely around her.
" You're coming to bed, too ? Right ?" She asked, her eyes panicked again.
" That would be against the first rule on your mother's list." He smiled.
" Yeah, but you're Chuck Bass, since when do rules apply to you." She smiled back.
" Cyrus will be checking on us." He continued.
" Cyrus is going to call us on the phone every once in a while in order to indulge my mother. He likes you. I know it sounds strange, but he does. And more importantly, he trusts both of us."
He let go of her hand and began working on the buttons of his shirt. " So you think we're all alone ?"
" Yes, Bass. We are all alone. Why are you suddenly so scared of my parents ? You never cared before."
He stopped in the middle of shrugging off his shirt. She was right. Their opinion of him had never mattered to him before. He wasn't sure why it was suddenly so important to him that he had their approval.
Maybe it was this new role she was making for him. The possibility that he might be spending time with her parents occurred to him. That was boyfriend thinking again. Where had all this new way of seeing things between them come from ? What had changed ?
He suddenly no longer felt like just a friend with an arrangement. He no longer saw her in that category. She was more. Had been more for a long while. He couldn't even remember the last time he considered her a friend.
" What are you thinking so hard about ? It was a simple question. Are you coming to bed or not ?" She asked, breaking him from his inner thoughts.
" Of course I'm coming to bed." He answered. Sliding off his shirt, he let it fall the rest of the way to the floor without another thought. Then he toed off his shoes and began to slip in beside her.
" You're coming to bed like that ?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
" Yes, is there some problem with my attire ?" He chuckled.
Her small hand slide out from under the blanket and slowly up his thigh. He stilled instantly and watched her fingers graze over the fabric of his pants.
" Now wouldn't that have been so much better on skin ?" She asked as she batted her eyes.
His pants were off and laying on the floor before he really registered what he was doing.
She huffed out a pout and pursed her lips. " I thought you said next time I could help."
" This isn't next time. This is a nap." He informed her as he pulled her into the croak of his arm and settled against her.
Her fingers snaked out and began to make small circles over his bare chest, teasing through the light dusting of hair she found there. " But Chuck, " she whined before her lips brushed over his arm.
" You're hurt. You're exhausted and you need to rest." He persisted.
" What I need is you." She shifted and before he could protest, she was straddling his waist.
" Blair." The word was meant as a warning but came out as a sigh as she rocked her hips against his, causing his breath to catch in his throat.
She laid out over him, pressing her breasts into his chest and let her lips play over his throat. His hands found her hips and let them rest there for a moment, lingering on the feel of her smooth, soft skin under his fingertips.
Then she set up suddenly and smiled down at him with a twinkle in her eyes. " I've been thinking about our little trust game all day long. And I've come to a conclusion."
" What conclusion is that ?" He prompted as his hands ascended from her hips and over her ribcage, not stopping until he was cradle her breasts in his palms. His thumbs flicked over her nipples in unison and she shuddered, but never lost the daring look in her eyes.
" I'm upping the stacks." She announced as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
" If you think you can threaten me into saying it, it won't work. It wouldn't mean anything if you did."
He explained.
" I'm not threatening you. You're right. It wouldn't mean anything that way." She ground against him.
" And using sex as a weapon is so childish and immature. That isn't going to work either."
" That is so not me. You're right. Again, it would just be a means for you to get what you want. That isn't what I want from you."
" Then what is this master idea of yours ? Should I be worried ?" He smirked.
Then she reached up and took his hands in hers and held them tightly. The look in her eyes shifted from twinkling to smoldering and all mischievousness was instantly gone.
" No, I'm making it easier for you." She told him. " I'm saying it first. Maybe then it won't be so hard for you. But honestly, whether you say it or not, really doesn't matter anymore. Not after last night and the elevator. I've never come so close to dying before." She looked away and snaked her tongue out to wet her lips, which suddenly looked dry. " I don't want to take the chance of missing my opportunity. So whatever happens next, whatever you do with the information. At least you'll know and I won't have to worry that you don't." She shrugged, telling him with the gesture that it was simple logic driving her actions. " So, I love you. I will probably always love you and I most likely always have. Since we were five years old and you were pulling my pigtails and calling me a brat. Since we were ten years old and you were putting frogs down my shirt. Since we were thirteen and you spent an entire summer trying to catch Serena and I changing so you could see us naked. I've loved you. And no matter what you do or say, there is nothing that is going to change that. I think I've proven that by still being here after all this time."
He had no idea what to say to her. His mouth opened and closed again as he searched for his witty comeback or emotional, heartfelt response. He still hadn't decided which he was going to go with. The old Chuck would have used the comeback. He would he thought of a smart, humorous quip to make her laugh and lighten the situation. The old Chuck would have tried to divert her attention by dragging her under him and slamming into her until she screamed. The old Chuck would have tried anything, attempted anything to escape the situation he now found himself in. The old Chuck would have faked a seizure to get out the room if that was what it took.
He didn't do any of those things and because of that, he knew she had changed him, altered him on a fundamental level so carefully that he hadn't even realized he was being changed.
So , when the knock came to the door at that moment and Blair scrambled away from him and answered Serena's calling voice, the old Chuck would have be so grateful, he could have kissed his step- sister.
The new Chuck hated her and wondered silently what power was doing its best to keep him from telling her what he desperately wanted her to hear suddenly.
