Disclaimer: Don't own.
A/N: Not much to say, just here it is! I hope you enjoy it and thanks to ALL of my reviewers, especially the ones that contribute regularly. You guys have no idea what it means to me and I appreciate you all to no end! So, this is for you.
"Dad, you're not letting me tell you why I was—"
"I don't have time for excuses, Chuck. Frankly, I don't know what the hell has gotten into you these past couple of days. Do you even give a damn about the fact that we have two deals that have almost completely fallen through because you've been late with the paperwork. I told you that we don't have time for your personal problems getting in the way of—"
"It's not Blair, alright? I was out with Dan Humphrey, because he thinks—" Chuck interrupted indignantly. It always proved to be more convincing when one believed themselves to be the injured party.
"He thinks that Serena is having an affair with Mr. Baizen," Bart put in smoothly, not seeming in the least concerned about his stepdaughter's supposed infidelity. "I assumed that your wife would put a lid on that one as soon as possible."
"Assuming that Serena is doing anything…" Chuck thought aloud. This provoked a snort from Bart. "Wait, how did you even know—"
"I've got men that are doing the same things that yours are doing. Don't pretend you aren't aware of this. But this is all beside the point. You don't have the time to be thinking about whether to give your sister the benefit of the doubt. Whatever you have cooked up, drop it and, if you must, let Blair handle it." He cleared his throat. "I'm sure she's more…equipped to deal with Mr. Baizen, in any case."
Chuck knew that tone of voice that Bart was employing, and he didn't know what his father meant by those words or the hint of slight sarcasm in them, but he could tell that Bart was trying to be deliberately cruel and he wasn't sure why. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means…let Serena sink or swim on her own. You have a position to consider," there was a distinct warning in those words, "and I doubt that you'll want Blair dealing with this on her own."
"What do you…" Chuck trailed off, not sure what to ask, but frantically trying to find the question. Bart knew things, that much was definite. Bart knew things and Chuck needed to know things. Then it struck him. "You have files…on all of us…"
"I didn't call to have my time wasted with the obvious," Bart said in a bored voice. "Drop your vendetta with Carter Baizen if you can't take on both him and your day job, or you'll find that it costs more than you're willing to lose, Chuck."
The click on the other end told Chuck that his father had swiftly hung up on him and he sighed. He would not be giving up the business with Carter, because it was the only way to even things out with Blair, and he had little choice but to do so. Serena herself was of no great concern to him, really. The worst that could come of this was her leaving Dan, and he would do nothing but applaud her for it. And who was he to stand in the way of Serena's actions? Chuck didn't fancy himself a hypocrite.
Blair appeared at the door, taking in Chuck's slightly slumped posture, and a flicker of emotion passed through her face. Chuck couldn't name it, but then she smiled at him rather haughtily and there was no trace of the softness he had seen. "Done taking calls?"
"Depends," Chuck said, spreading out on their bed. "Do I have to call you to get time?"
"Why would you think something like that?"
"Oh, I don't know…" Chuck answered, staring up at the ceiling. "Yesterday, 'Evan' seemed to grab your attention pretty fast with one simple phone call. And here I thought we were engaged in something much more enjoyable."
He felt the bed dip and then Blair was beside him, drifting a finger down his cheek. "Green isn't your color, Bass," she told him softly. "But if I constantly lost my head over you and your talents, I would be out of a job."
"Oh, I'd hire you," he smirked.
"You don't want to hire me."
"Why not?"
Blair turned and joined him on her back, staring upwards with him. "Bart has that 'no sexual harassment' policy…"
Chuck laughed at her easy wit. Making him laugh was one thing she had never seemed to have trouble doing, and he wasn't easy to please in that respect.
"What did he say?" The question startled him out of his reverie, but when he looked down at her, her eyes were gentle and inquiring. It made him feel oddly warm. He cleared his throat.
"He was furious…told me that if I couldn't juggle everything, then I'd better stick to my day job."
"Are you going to take his advice?" He could see that it was a serious question, and that she would willingly fix this for Serena on her own, but he wasn't about to let her do that. Something about Bart's unsubtle remark left him uneasy. He was afraid that Carter had some kind of power over Blair that he didn't know about. Even though she had seemed like nothing but a devoted mother and loyal wife, he wasn't about to take the chance with her. He had to remember that it wasn't his life he was living right now. And Blair was not a lamb up for the slaughter. Blair meant a lot to Other Chuck… that was clear, and Chuck didn't have the luxury of knowing exactly what happened with Carter and Blair during their senior year of high school. All he knew was that it was something that had really upset Other Chuck. So Blair couldn't do this alone.
"Do I ever?" he finally said.
"You know, I can handle Carter myself…I don't want your father to have an excuse to be pissed off at you."
"Tough luck, Waldorf. We're going to clean up this mess together." Chuck paused, as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "Where's the kid?"
Blair rolled her eyes and turned into Chuck affectionately, speaking into his neck. He winced when he felt her lips in the crook by his collarbone, but he settled almost immediately. He was getting more used to this…more used to her. "Asleep. I wasn't going to wait until after you got off the phone to put her to bed."
"She didn't throw a fit?" Chuck was envisioning quite a temper tantrum in his mind's eye. Liliana seemed to be very comfortable with having both of her parents available for bedtime, and she wasn't a child that was used to being denied.
"Of course she did. She's your child," Blair teased. "But she can't always get what she wants."
"My child," Chuck repeated. "I'm pretty sure that the demanding princess within is all Waldorf genes, baby. Let us not forget the time I wouldn't give you the green crayon when we were six. You stomped on every last Crayola I possessed."
"I don't remember that," Blair said vehemently. "What I do remember is asking politely to have your crayon for a moment, and you refusing to give it to me despite the fact that you weren't even using it. I suppose you expect me to answer your selfish behavior by humoring you?"
Chuck rolled his eyes. "I was six. I probably thought you had cooties." Though, he was pretty sure that there was never a time when he thought Blair Waldorf had cooties. He had never been repulsed by her, feigned or otherwise…and something small creeping into his head wondered why that was, especially when he felt free to think of the world as beneath him. Why hadn't that ever applied to her?
She was against him, soft and sure and contented. Even though their relationship had been rocky at best ever since he had gotten here, she was still curled up into him. He couldn't understand why.
"I thought you were mad at me…" he muttered, even as his arm went around her waist to pull her closer. This was beginning to get ridiculous; this…cuddling with her. Part of him was begging her to slip away from him because that other half of him—the part that was reckless and didn't care that he was simply torturing himself in the long run, was unbelievably at peace with her so close. Nate. Blair. Serena…they were all names just running together now. He didn't know where they existed, where he existed. He just wanted the answers before he set himself up for a lot of pain. "I thought you wanted answers…"
Blair sat up so she was looking down at him, her curls falling down over her shoulder to just lightly caress his chest. Suddenly the air was charged with her every slight movement. She cocked her head to the side with a small smile that made him want to tear her from above him and plunge into her like his very life depended on it. "…maybe I do. But I still do what I want."
"And what do you want?" he asked hoarsely as she dipped her head and her lips met his. He didn't need the words, then. She was eloquent enough without them. Her body on his, just the feel of her skin was more erotic than anything else. Before he knew what he was doing, he was desperately ripping at her clothes, needing to feel her more.
Their kisses were hurried and furious and Chuck realized that he was a fool for thinking that he could put this off. He got the impression that the Blair and Chuck of this world weren't used to delayed gratification in any sense of the word. This had been put off for too long, they were too heated, too absorbed in each other to deny it any longer.
Her hands were grasping the sides of his face and he sat up so she was straddling his lap, her shirt torn half-off of her, strips of lace and silk revealed underneath. He kissed her hard as the cloth slipped further down her shoulder. "You're so good," he breathed over her lips.
"Is that news to you, Bass?" she smirked, moving against him, prompting him to grit his teeth and pray for control, or things would get ridiculously embarrassing. "I thought you knew me better than that."
He assaulted her throat and the tops of her breasts, tearing away at the rest of the material impeding him. He had to touch her. He had to make her his…even if she technically wasn't. Even if he had to break any and all rules, and he was being incredibly unfair to Blair and himself. He had to make love to her.
"Relax…" Blair said softly, suddenly moving back and pressing him back down with one hand. "What's the rush?"
The colloquial question made him laugh softly even as he began sweating. She was going to torture him. "It's been a lifetime," he moaned.
Something glinted in her eyes as she undid the buttons of his shirt at an agonizingly slow pace. "It's been two days," she reminded him.
He reached for her skirt heatedly. "You really don't know what you're saying," he answered cheekily, but she batted him away again.
"Ah-ah, wait…we're going to talk first." The coyness in her voice made his body boil.
"I prefer to talk after," he growled, but he stilled as her hand tickled down his chest and stomach until it went under her in dangerous territory.
"No," Blair dictated. "First, we decide how to do away with the ever-so-base Mr. Baizen, then we'll…reward ourselves for our own brilliance…come on, Chuck."
She bit off the tail-end of his name harshly and all he could think of was how badly he wanted to fuck her senseless. "Tell me about Carter," Chuck demanded, playing into her game. He grasped her beautiful shoulders and flipped them so he was on top, licking her from the side of her neck to her ear, nipping at her lobe. She tasted so sweet.
Her breathing was deep as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back in pleasure. "Blair," he warned when she didn't answer, wanting her to tell him what she knew as quickly as possible. "Tell me…about Carter." His hand drifted under her skirt with practice he had never had.
"Serena…" she uttered throatily as she clenched her teeth with his touch. "Serena's been meeting with him—mmm—at different hotels every week…oh God!"
"And?" He already knew this, from Dan. And there was no doubt that the various locations were to promote secrecy.
"And I heard her—" she groaned. "Chuck, please!"
He left a hot, open-mouthed kiss on her lips, and she all-too-willingly invited him entrance, twining her tongue with his and squirming under his hand. "Keep going, sweetheart," he pushed.
"She was on the phone…oh, can you stop?" Her frustration was palpable and he was fully pleased with her predicament, having turned the tables on her masterfully. "She took the call from Carter and mentioned a 'him.'"
He moved off of her slightly so he could pull her skirt off and she took that moment to push his shirt over his shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. "Whose 'him'?"
"If I knew, I wouldn't be bothering to explain about the phone call," Blair snarled, for Chuck had resumed his ministrations and it was harder to think. "It's blackmail."
"My favorite," Chuck grinned against her cheek, pressing his mouth to her ear. "Do you want me to stop?"
"N-no," though she told him the truth, she clearly hated herself for it.
"Are you sure?" She answered with a suppressed scream and he continued their conversation with the joy of besting her at her own seduction. "What kind of blackmail? A person?"
"Enough of this," Blair bit out, pushing him to the side with all of her force and recapturing her position over him. "The call was from Carter and she clearly said, 'you found him?'. She was stunned as far as I could tell, and after that, she was meeting him and putting up with his every demand. Dan got suspicious and she covered by lying." All the while she spoke, Blair was taking a hold of him with her movements, her hips working through their clothing (though Blair was wearing little) and he was gasping at her mercy while she smirked in triumph.
"What if she's just taking him to bed?" Chuck questioned, barely able to retain what he heard, let alone process it. Her movements quickened.
"I trust Serena," Blair said pointedly, though she too was clearly close to the edge. "She's not having an affair. It's…oh…it's blackmail. Carter has something on her."
"Yes, Blair…maybe even blackmailing her into having an affair. Serena's not like you, she doesn't have those scruples."
He realized that he had said the wrong thing when Blair stopped suddenly and looked at him, unblinkingly. The air became heavier around them. "I wouldn't, would I?"
Too late, he knew what he had said. He had reminded her of all the uncertainties surrounding who he was. Something was different, and maybe Blair would become sure of it once they lost themselves in each other. Maybe it all felt familiar to her and yet, foreign at the same time…the way it was strangely feeling to him. But he would die if she stopped now and she would do exactly that if it felt wrong to her. He hoped it didn't.
She was gazing at him sharply, their breathlessness dissipating as they stared at one another. Chuck couldn't read her face. She was waiting for him to say something and he was sweating desperately at the loss of her. "Chuck," she said softly, "I wouldn't have an affair."
"I know," he said imploringly, his voice barely reaching above a whisper. "I mean, at least, as far as I know." He tried to make it sound as detached as possible, but he was finding it increasingly difficult with her fully sitting against him in nothing but her underwear. He knew that his words were supposed to reassure her, and that right now she doubted whether she was even truly aware of whom she was with. But he couldn't let her get away now. Yes, he wanted her to an unbearable degree…but there was something deeper to this, and he had known it from the moment she had whispered into his neck. He was deathly close to lying right to her face simply to have her. Only the barest sense of respect was keeping him from doing that. Blair and Nate and Serena still existed for him; he still owed them something…his honesty, maybe.
Blair seemed to take their discussion back to mind once he had spoken. His vague reassurance was enough, for now. "Carter is using someone to get to Serena. What he's doing it for remains to be seen."
"Right," Chuck scoffed.
"Whatever doubts you have about her…keep them to yourself. I just want the wannabe-Bohemian out of town before he destroys Serena's marriage."
"Is that the only reason?" Chuck couldn't help but ask. The idea of Blair and Carter left him with a dark, ugly presence in the forefront of his mind that he had never experienced before. He might as well try and get the truth.
But Blair's face became like stone once she realized what he was insinuating and she slid off of him and watched him with clouded eyes. "You can't be serious…"
Chuck sat up as well, his eyes innocent, though Blair would probably consider them more deceptive than innocent. "I don't know whether I'm serious or not. I want you to tell me."
"Tell you," she scoffed as he stood in front of her. "That's all you've said all night: tell you. And why should I, exactly, when you've given me nothing? When you haven't even answered my questions?"
"I can't give you what I don't have." Another honest excuse that would come to absolutely nothing. Blair kept forcing them into a conversation that they didn't know how to have. She expected that he would know what was wrong with him when the truth was he had no idea and couldn't even convey that to her. Everything was being spoken in half-measures, and he was tired of having an impossible talk with her. "Whatever it is…whatever we're talking about right now, I'm giving you the best that I can!"
"How can I believe that?" she asked. "Last night…and now, you know what I'm talking about. I can tell that you understand me, and yet you keep telling me that you know nothing. And you expect me to help you. And, for what? What do you need from me, Chuck?"
"Everything!" he hissed, getting in her face again. "You and Carter…what happened? I don't really care if you don't know why I'm asking you this now, I just need to know!"
"You already know!" Blair laughed in his face, but he could see that she was furious. "That's the real paradox, isn't it? You already know!"
"What did you do? What happened senior year of high school? Between you and Carter?" Chuck asked again and Blair took a step back at the passion in his voice. "Answer me."
He didn't know why she decided to do as he ordered, but she looked confused by herself as she spoke. "Nothing important. And that, I can promise you."
"I need more than that." He was grasping her arms, almost shaking her. There was a heaviness in his chest that was filling him and he didn't know where it stemmed from, but he knew that it had everything to do with her.
She didn't even flinch, but leveled him with a righteous glare. "Too bad, because that's all you're getting." She wrenched out of his grip. "I've already made the losing trade."
He knew that she was right. And when she turned her back on him, he cursed himself for being an asshole to her, but couldn't stop the way his mind ran. Images of Blair with Carter were provoking him into this anger that she didn't deserve and couldn't comprehend. But at the very least, now he was pretty sure that Carter held little fascination with her.
And he didn't think that she slept with him.
He knew Blair well enough to know that sex was not something that she took lightly. He used to take time out of his day to openly mock her fairytale outlook on losing her virginity, and offered several times to let her "rehearse for the real thing with Nathaniel" if she were ever interested. He had seen her lip curl in disgust thousands of times. Blair definitely hadn't known Carter long enough or intimately enough to actually sleep with him…she wouldn't. No matter how many times Bart's words rang in his head.
He stared at her pale back with a resigned look on his face, drinking in her beauty despite feeling like a fool for doing so. He was already painfully unsatisfied from getting left off in the drama of the moment and this was not doing much to help stave off his desire. "I'm sorry."
She turned back to face him and gave him a sad smile. "What for, Chuck?"
He shrugged. "I told you before…that I trusted you. That was true. And it hasn't changed."
Blair shook her head. "Don't tell me what hasn't changed. Tell me what has."
But it couldn't be that easy for them, and Chuck could dodge the demand with the uncommon skill that only he possessed. "Definitely not the fact that I can see you standing there in these scraps of silk and want to fuck you until you can no longer breathe. That certainly hasn't changed." He was predatory again, reverting to something that he knew how to do again. She stilled like a frightened deer, but didn't move away from him. "Come to me."
"It won't help, Chuck," she said as he stroked her hair back from her face, looking almost afraid of him, of the power that he had over her.
"At the moment, I'm not trying to help." His lips descended on hers again and she met them with equal fervor. They were best when they weren't talking.
Chuck wanted to know the important things.
He wanted to know every inch of her.
"Ms. Blair." A tap at the door had them breaking apart and Chuck contemplated murdering Dorota. "Ms. Serena here for you."
"Of course!" Chuck raged as Blair went for her robe. "You'd better get rid of her before I go out there and kill her!"
Blair sent him a brief, apologetic look. "Do you think I'm happy about this either? She probably found out that Dan is staying with his father…it will be the perfect time to see if I can find out when she's meeting Carter next…or find out what he's got hanging over her head."
"Carter can't blackmail a dead person," Chuck reasoned vindictively. "I'm serious, if you can't get her out of here in five minutes, that's it for your shiny-haired, well-endowed BFF."
Blair crossed the room and kissed him once more, but not nearly satisfying enough. "I have to be there for her, Chuck."
"Whatever."
"Trying using your head, please…the one more to the north. And stay in the room for God's sake!"
He didn't respond and the door clicked behind her, leaving him alone and incensed. "Who the fuck does Serena think she is?" he muttered. "Cock-blocking Chuck Bass?"
No, he decided. He was not going to sit in here and wait for Blair to return hours later once a tearful Serena made her way home…if she ever did. He was going to torment the dumb blonde as much as she was tormenting him.
A/N: Really, just one long scene this time, but as promised, it was full of C/B, and I hope you enjoyed it! And yeah, these two just can't get a break, but that's the way the cookie crumbles…don't worry, they will get their reward in the future :). Still, I hope this scene wasn't so bad in getting in some sexy-time :). Please review and tell me what you thought! Reviews are the best!