I'm baaack! There is no excuse for the wait I've put you guys through, so thank you if your still interested in the story, and a double thanks if you review it; it'd make my day.

This one is for Fatimah, who basically wrote this chapter while I was figuring out how to get over writer's block. & also, for all my new friends at Fan Forum, I love you guys (:

Enjoy!

-----

After Nate finished running Blair's brush though his hair he put the it down and took out some hotel stationary from the drawer of the dresser. He knew from experience that Blair took an extremely long shower, so he knew he'd have enough time to write a quick note to her and get out of the hotel room before they had the chance to talk again.

He desperately wanted to talk to her again, but he knew that it most definitely wouldn't be the wisest thing for him to do in their current predicament. The morning had held many delights for him; but he would never tell her how much their talk had meant to him, or the fact that he had been thrilled when she finally confessed her feelings for him.

Secretly, he wondered if Blair would stop him from leaving if she were in the room. But Nate would rather not know because it was egoistical and he'd rather not be disappointed with the answer.

These thoughts kept residence in his head until he got to the elevator, where he realized that if anyone saw him, he and Blair would have hell to pay.

Once the elevator reached the lobby, Nate tentatively looked around to make sure no one who would know him was around. No one was, so he took a deep breath walked as fast as he could to the front doors of The Palace. He had made it.

Almost.

"Nathanial!" A voice called out from behind. This was a voice Nate knew. ****. He was done.

Chuck. Bass.

-----

Chuck Bass was on a mission. He knew that in order to confront Nate before the wedding he needed to get to the main lobby before the fucker could make a run for it. Chuck couldn't believe the nerve. Blair had been his for years now. Years. And now Nate just suddenly figures out that he loves her too? Unbe-fucking-lievable.

Chuck raced as quickly as he could up to the main lobby, cursing when then elevator proved to be a horrible decision. He was sure that he could've run up the stairs faster than this thing was carrying him.

Finally, when he had made his way past a curious chief and annoying wedding planner, he arrived in the lobby. It was perfect timing actually, Nate was currently just exiting the elevator lift, trying to look covert and sneaky, but Nate had never been good at the spy games, so he actually looked kind of ridiculous.

Taking a second to catch his breath, Chuck casually called out. "Nathanial!"

Nate turned. Slowly. An uneasy look flushing his face, looking as if he were a deer caught in the headlights.

It was all Chuck needed to know.

-----

Dammit.

Of course this had to happen like this. Nate couldn't catch a break, except, of course, last night, but that hardly counted now. This was the consequence of his actions. Maybe if he had brought Blair back to the hotel earlier or if he had just left when he was supposed to, instead of crawling under the covers with her like he'd been doing it his entire life, then he wouldn't have to face the youngest Bass. Karma was such a bitch.

Chuck was going to murder him. He knew it. Chuck knew it. So it surprised Nate more than ever when the next words out of Chuck's mouth weren't hostile at all, they were actually sort of…friendly.

"Nathanial. How have you been?" Chuck asked politely, mentally envisioning himself strangling Nate.

"Uh, I'm good. What about you?" Nate said after a pause.

This was extremely awkward. And the fact that he wasn't absolutely sure that Chuck knew about him and Blair made it difficult to think of the correct thing to say. Was he supposed to be nice to Chuck? Pretend that there was nothing he had to be hiding from him?

"Great. I'm great. Today's the big day." He said a bit smugly, it wasn't his fault Nate had ****ed up so much. "Why are you here so early?"

"Uh, I was just looking for you. You know, wanted to see if you wanted to grab a drink in the bar before everything got crazy."

"Oh," Chuck said, nodding his head. "That sounds like a good idea, lead the way. Friend."

Nate led the way to the exclusive guests-only bar in the back, ready for Chuck to take a swipe at him from behind. This was Chuck Bass; after all, Nate hadn't even expected to get a word out before Chuck tried to do away with him. But Nate knew from all the years that he had been friends with Chuck that this was just how he did things. He schemed, planned, and plotted, waiting for the perfect moment to strike on his unlucky adversary. Today, that was Nate.

Once they took their seats at the bar and ordered their drinks (Jack and Tonic for Nate, Apple Martini for Chuck), the real fun began.

"So why were you coming from the elevator, Nathaniel?" Chuck dead-panned, watching Nate like a cat eyed a mouse.

"Like I said, I was looking for you,"

"Yeah, I heard that. But how did you know where to find me? You didn't know what floor I was going to be on."

At that moment Nate knew he was certainly dead. Chuck knew, he had known, this whole thing had just been a game. And Nate had lost, badly.

When Nate didn't answer his question, Chuck got to the real point of the conversation.

"I know about you and Blair."

"I figured." Nate muttered, looking down at the wooden, bar counter.

"What was that? You're lucky I don't beat the shit out of you right now for fooling around with her, but you need to at least have the decency of speaking up so I know what the hell you're saying. We're done, Nate, our friendship has been over since the second Blair walked out of the hotel with you on her arm last night. There's nothing you can say at this point to make your actions right, so I suggest you speak a little louder."

Nate still didn't speak. He didn't know where to begin. He wasn't about to come out and say that he had only fooled around with Blair that night, he had still betrayed Chuck, there was no easy way to say that.

"How long has it been going on?" Chuck asked impatiently, with just a hint of worry mixed in his voice. He didn't want to think that Blair and Nate had been having an affair all this time behind his back and he hadn't noticed a thing. What kind of fiancé would he be then?

"It was just last night." Nate said, finally finding the words to speak, refraining from telling the man across from him that he and Blair hadn't done anything severe.

"You expect me to believe that, Nate? After all, you came out of her room and lied straight to my face just a few minutes ago," countered Chuck, anger pumping violently through his veins. "I can't believe you did this to me; to Blair. You crossed a line."

"I crossed a line, Chuck? I crossed a line?!" spat Nate, clenching his jaw as his eyes flashed with aggravation before he stood up angrily from the bar stool. He let out a frustrated laugh. "You crossed the line first, Chuck! You destroyed this friendship when you slept with Blair."

"That was years ago, besides, it was over between you guys!" roared Chuck, also getting up from his seat, his anger matching his best-friend's.

"So what? Blair and I have been friends our whole lives. We would still be together if it weren't for you. I didn't do anything to screw up things with you and Blair, I've been a good friend to you this whole time, but you know what? I'm tired of it. I wasn't even trying to ruin things between you two, I just wanted to have dinner with her, that's it. Nothing happened last night; she needed someone and I was there. She doesn't even know why she ever wanted to be with you in the first place. You bore her." Nate spat, taking out all the anger he had been harboring for Chuck over the past few years.

"Up until last night you were still my best friend. You're supposed to be done with her!"

"Has it ever occurred to you before that I'm not? Have you ever seen me with another girl longer than a week, a month tops?" Nate sneered, roughly taking a hold of Chuck's caller, speaking into his face. "Or has poor Chuck Bass been too busy with Blair too notice how his best friend really is? If you had paid attention to anyone but yourself you would have noticed that I stopped coming over once you and Blair became a 'thing', you never cared though; you never even apologized for taking her."

Chuck pushed him back, turning his head to signal to the nervous bartender to give them some privacy.

"Don't," the shorter of the two spoke in a grave tone, a cold realization punching him in the stomach, enough for him to topple over. Those moments when it would be just the three of them, Chuck had never noticed how much wider Blair's smiles were and how much louder her laugh was around Nate. Nor had Chuck thought twice about those yearning looks he'd seen Nate send to his fiancée when he'd wrap his arms around her. Or how Blair was so adamant about him making Nate the best man, he should have seen, should have noticed long ago. She still loved Nate, of course she did. "Don't blame this on me. I'm the one who's engaged to her. I'm the one who's marrying her today."

And Nate knew it was true. He wasn't going to marry her that day, Chuck was. He realized that horrible people like him, the ones who took their first loves for granted, who almost slept with their best friend's fiancée, who were selfish enough to think that their feelings could vanish, didn't deserve the company or comfort that people like Chuck or Blair could give him.

"Stay away from Blair," warned Chuck, glancing at him, fixing his collar, "stay away from the both of us."

Nate watched silently as he left.

Unsure; insecure; alone.

Unsure of what to do next, insecure about what he was doing, and more than anything, alone in this big world, where he knew nothing and had no one to turn to.