"Hello?" Ryan Vander Woodsen answered his phone groggily. It was almost noon, but he had had a late night the night before. He was currently out in the Hamptons along with most of his old high school classmates, including Audrina Bass. He and Audrina had been 'official' for about two weeks now, but the party last night had been their public debut as a couple and it had caused quite the stir. The attention caused them to have to remain at the party for far too long in Ryan's opinion, and by the time they had finished with their own private 'after party', it was closer to dawn than midnight. Ryan tried to get Audrina to stay at the Vander Woodsen house with him (he loved waking up to her) but she insisted that she had things to do in the morning and her father would be furious if she wasn't home when he woke up.

So while he was still disappointed he hadn't convinced her to stay overnight with him, he decided the second best option was having her phone call wake him up so her voice could be the first thing he heard.

"Aw did I wake you? I'm so sorry!" Audrina answered with sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"I can tell you're really broken up about it" Ryan responded as he started to sit up. "Can I ask the reason you are calling at this ungodly hour? Not that I mind waking up to your sweet voice, though I'd rather hear it in person than over the phone…"

"You need to get up and get in the shower"

"Oh I do? Are you offering to come over here and help out with that?" Ryan asked suggestively.

"I already showered. And I did my hair and make-up. Sorry."

"Again, you sound really disappointed"

"And you do not sound like you are getting up and in that shower!" Audrina said with a huff.

"May I ask what the rush is?" Ryan asked as he began to get himself out of bed and over to the bathroom.

"You're coming over" Audrina answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I am? Did I miss the memo?" Ryan was genuinely confused at this point. He didn't remember making any sort of plans with Audrina yesterday.

Audrina sighed, "No, no. It's kind of a new development. But if you know what's good for you, you'll be over here in an hour."

Audrina had a mysterious tone to her voice that Ryan couldn't quite place, but he assumed it meant good things for him. Maybe she missed him last night and regretted leaving. Maybe he was in for quite the treat when he made it over to the Bass' house. "I'll be there, don't worry. I'm assuming there will be some sort of reward when I get there…" Ryan said suggestively with a smirk firmly in place.

"Something like that" Audrina replied vaguely, "An hour. Be here." And with that she hung up.

"I wouldn't miss it." Ryan said out loud even though she couldn't hear him as he put his phone down and went into the shower.

…………………..

When the maid let Ryan into the Bass's Hampton house exactly an hour later Audrina was waiting for him in the sitting room. When she saw him coming she got up and met him with a small smile on her face.

"You're here." She said as he took her into his arms and placed a quick kiss on her lips.

"Of course I'm here. You call and I come running." He smiled as he leaned in to kiss her again. But when he went to deepen the kiss, Audrina pulled away.

Ryan gave her a confused look. "Baby, what's the proble-"

"Ah, Ryan you made it."

Ryan turned to see none other than the legendary Chuck Bass standing in the doorway. Even though Ryan had spent many Vander Woodsen family dinners around Chuck, and though Audrina always talked about her father in glowing terms like he was completely harmless, Ryan was still scared shitless whenever Chuck walked into a room.

Ryan knew enough about Chuck's reputation, both as a teenager and as a business man to know that he should be afraid. Chuck Bass could destroy him. He could have Ryan kicked out of Yale before he even got there. He could ruin any chance he had at a career before he had even chosen what he wanted to pursue. He could probably have Ryan killed if he wanted to.

As far as Ryan knew, Chuck had never had much involvement in Audrina's love life before. He didn't think her father had met any of her previous boyfriends. Audrina had never been serious enough about any of them to subject them to Chuck's inevitable interrogation. While Ryan was thrilled that Audrina considered their relationship serious enough to bring him home to her father, he was still terrified of Chuck.

"Mr. Bass; how nice to see you." Ryan greeted as he shook Chuck's hand.

"You too Ryan. I'm glad you could join us for lunch today" At this Ryan shot a glare at Audrina, and in the same instant Chuck's phone rang.

"I'm sorry Queenie. I know I asked you to invite Ryan over today…" Ryan was glaring at Audrina with full force now, "…but I need to take this call really quick. I promise it will only take 2 minutes" Chuck gave his daughter a quick kiss on the forehead and then began to walk out. At the door way he paused and called over his shoulder; "I'll be right back. Don't get any ideas you two." He stared pointedly right at Ryan as he continued out of the room.

As soon as Chuck was gone, Ryan turned on Audrina. "What the Hell? You tricked me! You never said anything about lunch with your father!"

Audrina gave him a glare of her own "I know. I knew you would make up some excuse so you didn't have to come, so I may have left my father out of the invitation"

"You little bitch" Ryan tried to sneer, but he couldn't really pull it off. He was too frightened.

Audrina just started to laugh as she brought Ryan to sit with her on the couch. She snuggled close to him and Ryan put an arm around her shoulders.

Audrina took one look at Ryan's still worried face and laughed again. "Babe, he doesn't bite. You need to relax. He can smell fear and he preys upon it."

"I thought he doesn't bite?" Ryan answered bitterly.

Audrina giggled again. "He doesn't. But if you act like you're going to shit your pants he's going to question your manhood. And you don't want that. Trust me. My father won't bite, but he will ridicule you mercilessly. So pull yourself together before he gets back here."

Ryan looked at her with a completely serious face "Don't leave me alone with him"

"Oh God. Would you calm down? I promise I won't let him hurt you." Audrina continued to find her boyfriend's reaction to the situation extremely humorous.

"Why is your dad even here? It's a Tuesday afternoon. Doesn't he have a billion dollar company to run?" Ryan asked with a mixture of anger and fear still evident on his face.

"My father is taking an extended vacation this summer…" Audrina said slowly.

"He can do that?" Ryan asked skeptically.

"Of course. He's the boss. My father has always worked his schedule around me. He's always made sure he was home for breakfast in the mornings and dinner at night. My mom never wanted me to be raised by a nanny so my dad sacrificed sleep and hours at the office and probably a few million dollar business deals to make sure he was the one who raised me. And now that I'm on the verge of moving out, my dad is taking time off so we can spend as much time together as possible." Audrina finished with a shrug and a said tone in her voice, "I'm going to miss him so much when I'm at school."

"Audrey, we'll be only a few hours away. You can come home every weekend if you want." Ryan pointed out to his worried girlfriend.

"You don't understand. It won't be the same!" Audrina exclaimed, "I talk to my dad about everything. I'm going to be calling home like every day! It will be strange not to see him every day after school"

Ryan's face dropped in fear, "You talk to him about everything?"

Audrina frowned slightly in confusion, "Of course. My dad is Chuck Bass, remember? He has done things that are way worse than I have ever done."

"So you even talked to him about…us.....um….you know…" Ryan trailed off uncomfortably.

Audrina laughed. "No, actually. That is the one thing I have not talked to my dad about, though I'm pretty sure he knows."

"He knows!?! How?" Ryan exclaimed in fear. Chuck Bass was going to murder him. He deflowered his one and only daughter. That was it. He was a dead man.

"I'm Chuck Bass. I know everything." Chuck said as he reentered the room. "Sorry about that. Just a quick business issue I had to take care of. So Ryan, how do I know? That was your question, right?" Chuck took a seat in the chair next to the couch and set down his scotch.

Ryan's eyes got wide as he stuttered "Um, y-yes, yes sir."

Audrina had never seen Ryan so terrified or speechless and she could not help but laugh a little bit at his embarrassment.

"Well Ryan, having indulged in the pleasures of the sexual experiences more than once, actually, much more than once, and having deflowered my share of virgins back in my heyday; I know the look of a freshly christened first-timer. I know what the glow looks like, the expression that is on their faces afterwards. And I know my daughter well enough that I would be able to recognize those qualities on her. So yes, I know. And there was no way you could have ever hid it from me." Chuck finished with a smirk as he picked up his scotch and took a sip. "Now Audrey, could you please go help the maid set up lunch while I have a chat with young Ryan here?"

Aurdina slowly started to rise, "Ok Daddy" She said cautiously.

"Audrina…" Ryan began, giving her a pleading look.

"Don't worry" She tried to reassure him as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "He will be nice, won't he?" She said as she turned and glared at her father.

"Of course. Who is nicer than Chuck Bass?" Chuck answered with a smirk.

Audrina smiled as she moved towards the door, "Just about everyone. So please, take it easy on the poor boy." She was at the door way when she turned to give Ryan one last apologetic glance, "I'll let you both know when everything is ready"

"Ok Queenie. Thank you" Chuck called after her.

Once Audrina had left, Chuck leaned forward and turned his gaze back to a terrified Ryan. "So Vander Woodsen, what exactly are your intentions with my daughter?" He asked with a dark hint to his voice.

Ryan coughed and took a second to clear his throat, "I-, ah, well I-"

"I hope you're serious about her."

"I am" Ryan was able to choke out.

"If you know what is good for you, you won't hurt her" Chuck warned in a menacing tone.

"I wouldn't dream of it" Ryan said with as much confidence as he could muster given the situation.

"Because you obviously know she has never been as….involved with anyone as she is with you"

"Yes sir" Ryan answered seriously.

Chuck settled back into his seat and cast a piercing look at Ryan. "Now as the boy who stole my one and only daughter's virginity, I should have you castrated…" Ryan's eyes got a bit wider at Chuck's words, "…but because Audrey seems to really like you, and because you seem to be committed to her, I will let you go with a warning…" Ryan visibly sighed with relief, "….if you ever hurt her, or betray her, or leave her I promise I will make sure you regret it every day for the rest of your life."

Ryan gathered up every last ounce of courage he had and concentrated on being honest with Chuck. "Sir, you have no need to worry. I-, ah, I love your daughter. I would never, ever hurt her. You can trust me. I'm glad you can recognize how we feel about each other."

"Well, I've known how my daughter has felt for a while now, probably before she did. And it doesn't hurt that I was kind of rooting for you two all along." Chuck finished as he took another sip of his scotch.

Ryan could not believe what he just heard. "Um, excuse me?"

Chuck's signature smirk returned. "Let's just say you and my daughter remind me a lot of my wife and I back when we were your age. Audrey has always been a spitting image of her mother, and I see a lot of myself in you."

Ryan was genuinely shocked that Chuck would say something as complementary as comparing Ryan to himself, but in the back of his mind he did remember Audrina saying the same thing. "Thank you, sir" he managed to choke out in his surprise.

"You better watch over her at Yale in the fall. I can't be there with her. It's time for me to let her grow up. I'm counting on you Ryan to be there for her; to be good to her."

"I will. I promise. I will always, always be there for Audrey. I've been in love with her for years. All I want to do is take care of her" When Ryan spoke his voice was strong and he was able to look steadily at Chuck. He was completely confident in his feelings and what he was saying.

Chuck's smirk faded as he gave an approving nod, "I am trusting you with the most valuable thing I have. Something my billions of dollars could never replace. Don't prove me wrong. Don't let me down."

"I won't, Mr. Bass. I can assure you that will never happen." Ryan answered completely serious.

With that, Chuck put his scotch down and moved to stand up, "Well then, if we are agreed, let's go see if our lunch is ready shall we?"

Ryan had a slight smirk on his face as he followed Chuck out of the room and he answered, "Yes Sir."

After their little talk, Ryan was still scared shitless of Chuck Bass and the things he could do to him, but he understood Chuck a little bit better and he realized they had more than their reputation in common. They both wanted the absolute best for a certain brown-eyed, brunette Upper Eastside queen.