A/N: So sorry this took so long to get out. I got tied up with other things and just laziness to write. Especially since Gossip Girl is back, I've been writing other things. But I'll try to be updating my neglected fics. I hope this fic isn't going too offbase, but this is the direction its going.
Summary:
"I merely illustrated the obvious point that what belongs to me is untouchable."
"And what would that be?" Blair asked softly.
He sent her a sly smirk. "The thing that was always mine."
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. All is GG.
in the not too distant future.
Chuck held an ice pack to his face. He watched the cops warily scout the members of the party that were not in the ER. They wouldn't pick him up. Humphrey, maybe. But not him. He was not to be touched.
She entered the wing and he was relieved. He was glad she didn't get in the middle. If his jaw was any testament, it could have turned ugly. Did turn ugly. The other guy was even worse. She sat primly next to him, pretending that she didn't in fact have a very obvious tear in her dress. They were quiet for a moment.
"She's playing you."
"She's not," he said shortly.
"Why?" Blair asked, turning to him. "Inconceivable that your betrothed would betray you?"
"Stop it," he growled. "You know why. I don't get played."
She eyed him pointedly.
"Present company excluded, of course," he amended. She smiled in satisfaction. "I'm not the only one. You know that he's not exactly pure and innocent, don't you?"
Her face turned stony and he could relax again.
"We're going to take them down."
She cast her eyes over to him. "We?"
He looked back. "Yes."
"I know."
That was all the reason she needed.
two hours previous.
It wasn't a secret. Chuck's detestation for any male who came in the proximity of Blair meant certain death. It was just a rule. It was a rule that was well known and everyone abided by. It was Karl who would face the consequences.
Chuck never liked him to begin with. Even when he was "innocently" working for Harold's company, Chuck saw right through that charade. It was more than obvious.
This, however, was crossing a line. Chuck knew exactly what was going on in Paris. He didn't have a PI on retainer for nothing. Bills for hotels were proof enough that Chuck had to murder him. Be it social or physical, anything would do. Chuck usually didn't do physical. It was uncivilized, but that wasn't the point. The point was, Karl was on his turf and this had to stop.
Chuck Bass had never hit anyone in his life. It had never come down to that. He would stew in his revenge haze until it came time to destroy the perpetrator (usually with the help of one Blair Cornelia Waldorf.) However, desperate times called for desperate measures. Chuck was nowhere near that stage yet, but his emotions, as always, were just brewing beneath the surface.
There he was. The source of all his anguish in the past two years. He was just leaning against the counter, society in a basic ring around them, waiting for something to happen that even Chuck didn't know was occurring.
"Darling," Penelope said smoothly, moving in between Blair and Chuck (a dangerous feat to be sure.) "It seems that Karl just came to drop by. He's great friends of daddy's."
Of course he was.
"And it seems there have been a lot of uninvited guests these days," Penelope finished, shooting a pointed glare at Blair.
Blair was not fooled. Chuck wouldn't have been either if he wasn't in a scotch and jealous induced rage. Blair scowled at Penelope. Her manipulation senses had ignited the minute she saw Karl. This was not Karl's idea. This was someone who had experience. Not a lot, or was very talented at it, but someone who had been around the art of manipulation before.
She was not fooled for one second. And the minute she could have done something about it, she was stopped.
"Bass," Karl said as Chuck vaguely registered Blair being dragged away by his invasive sister.
"What are you doing here?" Chuck asked shortly.
"Why, I was invited," Karl said coolly. "I mean, we do have a friend in common."
"Maybe," Chuck said admittedly, "but I know for a fact that she didn't invite you. She didn't even know she was coming until she spontaneously hopped on the G-5."
"Darling," Penelope said, her hands on Chuck's shoulder. He couldn't find the strength in him to shake her off since all of his anger was being channeled towards the cretin who had kept the one thing that meant anything to him away.
"We don't want to get caught up in a lovers' quarrel. Blair and Karl should work this out on their own."
Something in Chuck clicked. He didn't know why he hadn't seen it before. He was not fooled for one second. But the minute he could have done something about it, he was stopped.
"Blair asked me here," Karl said. "She didn't want to be accosted by some jealous ex who was never good enough for her.
"Really?" Chuck asked. The hit wasn't even good enough to faze him. "Then I wonder why it was that she was screaming my name in the back of my limo not moments or go. Or the real reason you came which probably had something to do with the fact that you were just a filler who couldn't even fill her enough. Or my personal favorite, when she should have been crying your name, she was yelling mine."
Karl's fingers curled into a fist.
"What are you doing?" Serena demanded, her arm painfully tight around Blair's arm.
"What?" Blair said, wincing in pain. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be by Chuck's side, protecting him and stopping him from doing something stupid. He was prone to bad reactions in situations like this. But instead of telling her ex that Carter Baizen was tapping that and starting a brawl at Cotillion, he was... starting a brawl at his own engagement party.
"Where have you been?" Serena demanded. Blair just shot her a pointed look. Like she needed to ask.
"You're causing more trouble than you're fixing."
"But I wasn't trying to fix anything," Blair deadpanned.
"Really?" Serena asked skeptically. "So you didn't come here to break up Chuck's engagement?"
"That was an accident."
"Then what are you doing?"
Before Blair could even think of an excuse, they heard it. The crowd was suddenly hollering and they turned to see what had happened.
"What were you thinking?" Blair parried. "Apparently two years of high school isn't enough to teach you."
Sure enough in the midst of the brawl was Dan Humphrey. Karl was trying to get around him to where Chuck was wiping blood from his nose.
"And what were you thinking?" Serena asked back. Blair always picked the ones who got punched in the face. Figures. At least he wasn't the instigator.
Mostly.
Apparently a party goer thought it would be insanely hilarious if they called the cops. The red and blue lights flashed across the building as Blair down in dismay at the state of her dress at the brawl. Damn that Mother Chucker.
Blair was quite certain, however, that you couldn't arrest anyone in their own homes without a warrant, especially when you lived on the Upper East Side. However, assault was apparently assault and Blair watched in horror as they clasped handcuffs on Humphrey, Chuck, and Karl. Okay fine, in dismay at just Chuck. He sort of already had a rap.
Blair did her best to stall these proceedings but she accepted the opinion that the NYPD was a bitch.
"Miss," the cop sighed as she stepped in front of him and Chuck. Chuck's eyes relaxed at the sight of her but she knew that didn't really make up for the fact that he was being hauled of to a prison cell. Again. "You're going to have to get out of the way."
"But he didn't even do anything," Blair protested. "He was the attacked."
"I have to take everyone down."
"But that's not fair."
"And according to the witnesses, he did use provocation."
The cop walked by her while Chuck threw her a smirk. He liked it when she got feisty for him. She resisted her desperate urge to slap that smirk off his face.
"Don't worry, Waldorf," he said smugly as he passed. "I'll be highly anticipating my release knowing that you're waiting for me on the outside."
Blair glared after him, however not able to stop the spread of warmth in her stomach. He was technically engaged. Her eyes slid across the crowd and landed on something she shouldn't have. Vanessa was looking around with a distinct look of guilt in her eyes. She looked for an escape as Blair made her way towards her to no avail.
"You didn't," Blair snapped. "You at least have to deny it."
"It was for the best, Blair," Vanessa said.
"Really?" Blair asked. "You saw a brawl in the middle of a society event, which I have no idea how you got invited to in the first place by the way, and thought to yourself, 'what can I do to make this situation better?'"
"Well its better than sneaking off with the groom-to-be and seducing him in the back of his limo."
Blair's manicure dug into her palm, leaving red crescent marks.
"If I wasn't just discovering a conspiracy among the ranks," Blair seethed, "I would so take you down right now."
She spun around. This so wasn't over.
"Blair," came the sickly sweet voice. Blair turned to face the bitch who had caused her so much angst. "What an unfortunate twist of events."
"That's right," Blair said thoughtfully. "Your fiancé just got hauled off to jail. What would your parents think? The scandal would kill them. Especially after the one where you were screwing your father's junior partner."
"They would pity me because a harlot stole my husband," Penelope spat angrily.
"What a paradox," Blair replied. "A harlot calling another woman a harlot. What would they think when they heard you stole him first?"
"He was fair game, B," Penelope sneered. "You weren't here."
"Is that so?" Blair asked. "So that wasn't you who was coming on to him at that gala the night before I left?"
Penelope's face fell.
"You had this all planned, you little bitch," Blair snapped. "You got Karl to come here. And what was the main objective? Leave the scheming to the experts. You need brains and a little something called talent. You lack both."
"Maybe you're the one who does," Penelope replied. "You're the one who was caught completely off guard."
"It doesn't matter motive, as long as my endgame is the same," Blair replied. "Facts are facts. And the fact is I'm going to take you down."
"I'd like to see you try."
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Blair said thoughtfully, "that sounds oddly like a challenge."
Blair picked up her phone abruptly as it vibrated.
"Hello?"
Serena looked at her as they waited in the parlor with Eric.
"You have got to be kidding," Blair muttered.
"What is it?" Serena asked.
"We're going to the ER."
Blair found him first. He was slumped in a chair in the hallway, an ice pack pressed to his jaw.
"I can't believe that I was your phone call," Blair said, not letting flattery enter her tone. She looked around her surroundings. This definitely wasn't a prison cell.
"Well?" she asked. He grinned painfully at her.
"My wounds were critical," he said. "They had to make sure I was taken care of."
He rattled the handcuffs that linked him to his chair. Blair rolled her eyes.
"When are they shipping you back?"
"Oh, they're not," he smirked. "I'm not to be touched. This is just for show."
"Lovely."
She looked to see Humphrey was being escorted out of the building by the police.
"So?" Blair asked. "What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Is that so?" Blair asked. "Because that completely explains why you're chained to a chair."
"I'd rather be chained to you," he said, leaning into her as far as the handcuffs would allow. She lightly pushed his face away. He smirked against her hand.
"I need to know if I was lying to the police or not," Blair said shortly. "Did you really start it?"
"Does it matter?"
"Bass," she snapped. She could always get him to do what she wanted when she used that voice on him. He liked it when her bitch was showing.
"I didn't throw any punches."
"Provocation," Blair said dryly, knowing him far too well.
"I merely illustrated the obvious point that what belongs to me is untouchable."
"And what would that be?" Blair asked softly.
He sent her a sly smirk. "The thing that was always mine."
"This caused him to attempt to put a dent in your face?" she asked, pulling away from their close proximity with slight reluctance.
"What can I say?" Chuck asked. "I bring out the worst in people. But when Karl pulled back his fist, Humphrey decided to get involved."
"How romantic," Blair said sweetly.
"Speaking of romantic," Chuck said, rattling his cuffs again with suggestion, "they said I could keep them."
"You're heinous," Blair laughed lightly, sitting next to him. She looked at him thoughtfully. He met her gaze with his intensity and Blair knew she never wanted to be anywhere else. She would never run or hide from him again. She placed her hand delicately over the flesh that had been rubbed raw by his restraints.
"Chuck," she said softly.
"Yes, gorgeous?" he asked. Blair rolled her eyes. But she had to tell him. They had to take them down.
"She's playing you," she finally said.
"She's not," he said said as though it was impossible. No one played Chuck Bass.
"Why?" Blair asked. "Inconceivable that your betrothed would betray you?"
"Stop it," he growled. "You know why. I don't get played."
She eyed him pointedly.
"Present company excluded, of course," he amended. She smiled in satisfaction. "I'm not the only one. You know that he's not exactly pure and innocent, don't you?"
Her face turned stony and he could relax again.
"We're going to take them down."
She cast her eyes over to him. "We?"
He looked back. "Yes."
That was all the reason she needed.
"I know."
