Chapter 10

A/N: Hey guys. I've actually had this chapter written since a few days after my last update, but I wanted to wait and let everyone catch up on chapter 9. I had originally planned to post a week and a half after chapter 9, but then I realized I had gotten a whopping ONE REVIEW on the last chapter, and honestly, I was a bit miffed (Special thanks, however, to BikerChick101, had it not been for her lone review, who knows if I'd ever have posted this next chapter). Now I'm not sure if people didn't like the last chapter or just didn't review, both of which lead me to question my writing. REVIEW please. It really lets me know whether or not continuing is necessary, and after the reception the last chapter got, I'm not really sure if this story is worth continuing in the opinions of my readers or not. Now that I'm done ranting, I here is the next chapter. Enjoy. Oh yeah, in this story, just think that Lily and Bart's relationship started around this time, still in secret like it did on the show, but just earlier in their high school years.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl or anything related to the series or its characters.

Chuck Bass stood outside of his father's study as he had many times before. His nerves were eating away at him as they always did before he had to have a conversation with Bart. The older Bass had a way of bringing out the insecurities in his teenaged son and easily got under his skin with a few carefully placed 'suggestions' or 'pieces of advice'. Chuck mindlessly fidgeted with his suit jacket and tie; he had been careful to avoid any flamboyant or showy colors today and instead stick to basic and business acceptable colors, knowing that he would have to speak with his dad. He took a long, deep breath before knocking on his father's door. When he heard Bart give the okay, he gingerly made his way in but made sure to remain close enough to the door, just in case he wasn't welcome.

Bart Bass closely inspected his son, noticing that he at least wasn't wearing one of those ridiculous colored suits. He was beginning to lose his patience, though, when the boy lurked near the door to his study instead of just coming in. "Are you going to stand awkwardly all night, or did you actually have something to say?" he snapped.

Chuck cleared his throat and nodded, "uh, yes, sir, I needed to speak with you about something involving business" he said, hoping he sounded confident enough while subtly wiping his sweating palms against his pants. He approached Bart's desk as the older man gestured for him to take a seat. His father eyed him apprehensively before speaking again, "Well, what is it?"

Chuck was glad to be at this point in the conversation. This was the part of the discussion that he was prepared for, that he could handle. He knew exactly what his plan was and exactly what he wanted to say about it, as well as what it should reveal. "I know that Bass Industries doesn't normally mix business with personal affairs, but I know that you have been involved with Lily van der Woodsen, and well, I assume you care about her" he trailed off, but quickly recovered. "Anyway, this has to do with Serena…she was raped" he knew that he hadn't exactly eased himself into this story, nor given proper preparation time to his father, but he hoped that by catching him off guard, he would be less likely to react in a cold, more business-like manner.

Bart wasn't sure what to say. He was certain, though, that he had not been expecting that. Everyone knew that out of his son's group of four, Chuck and Serena were the…least reserved. He was well aware that they seemed to be the ones to stay out the latest and to be the more scandalous teens, but regardless he didn't think something like this would happen. "I" he cleared his throat, still at a slight loss of words, "I'm sorry to hear that, son" he awkwardly patted Chuck on his shoulder in what he hoped would be a comforting gesture. After a few awkward moments of silence, it registered in his mind that Chuck wouldn't normally tell him this; Chuck didn't normally tell him anything. "While that is very disheartening to hear, I'm not sure what this has to do with Bass Industries".

Chuck had been waiting for this question, biding his time until it was asked. Now that it had been, he smiled inwardly, before responding to his father, "Not so much as what, but who. I happen to know that we've been competing with V.H. Enterprises for quite some time now, and that V.H. happens to stand for Vincent Harrington. This Harrington is the father of Andrew Harrington: captain of the swim team, involved in class council, honor roll student, and rapist." He met his father's eye then, and nodded in response to his questioning glance.

Nate had been to the van der Woodsen apartment late last night and waited for Serena to return. She had missed their date and hadn't even called, nor had she answered her phone when he tried to reach her. He was hoping everything was okay, but the nagging feeling in his gut told him that whatever was going on now was probably a connected to the message that Gossip Girl sent out and why all of his best friends had been nowhere to be found since lunch. He was worried. Serena had always been flaky, but usually her flakiness was at least covered by an even more shaky excuse. He couldn't ever remember a time when Serena had just stood him up. In fact, he didn't know of a time when Serena stood anyone up – she wasn't the type of person to do that. Blair, now she did that to people regularly, she said it reminded them exactly why they were lower than her, 'because they actually waited for her to show, and she would have left had they not been early'. Yeah, Blair had no qualms messing with people's minds like that, but Serena did.

As he left the van der Woodsen residence and in the direction of Blair's house he was left with the unnerving question of 'what happened'. Since Serena's, situation, had occurred it was like he just couldn't stop worrying about her. He worried if she was getting enough sleep or if she was doing more damage by not really talking about things. He worried if she thought everything was her fault and about what she may do to herself when he or Chuck or Blair wasn't around to help her. More than anything, he worried that something like this, or something worse, would happen again. He arrived fairly quickly, glad that the two girls lived so close to one another.

After passing through the front door and a quick wave of his hand at the doorman, he made his way to the elevator and up to Blair's floor. Not bothering to knock, (seeing as it was late and Dorota would probably be asleep for the night already), Nate went up the familiar staircase two steps at a time and then rounded the corner to Blair's room. He was momentarily relieved when he saw the head of long blonde hair that he couldn't ever miss in the room, but that relief was short-lived because soon after he heard the heart-breaking sobs of the girl he loved, followed by the consoling words by one of his best friends.

"What's going on?" he decided to finally make himself known. Blair jumped a little at his voice but quickly regained her composure. Serena, however, at the sound of his familiar voice, seemed to break down even more. Blair's attention was immediately pulled from him and refocused solely on the girl in her arms once more. Nate was baffled. He didn't understand what had changed so much in the past 24 hours to send his girl back into a crying mess. "Serena, what's wrong? What happened?" She was the picture of beauty and brokenness intertwined when her blue eyes raised to meet his matching and confused pair.

"I am so sorry".

I had about double of this length originally written, but I didn't want to put the entire chapter out today, I'd rather see how it is received by you guys. Once again, it was really sad to only get one review on this, even though that was TRULY APPRECIATED, and so I need to know from the readers that you want to see this story continued or not. Leave a review, cause at this point, I'm unsure whether this will be continued because of the lack of interest it seems to get. Thanks for reading, and any thoughts, like, love, loathe, they're all appreciated. I hope there's a next time, but it's up to you guys…

Aryn