Author's Note: I'm back! Thank you to everyone who has read and subscribed!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you.

"Carter, come on," Charlotte called from down the stairs, her hand resting on the railing. She had just checked her phone for the tenth time since he'd gone up to get changed. "We've got to get going… Blair's expecting us…"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he shouted from upstairs.

She let out a sigh and glanced around the Baizen's empty home. His parents weren't back from Europe yet and Sarah was on her way home from Miami, so she felt comfortable yelling at her boyfriend. She smiled to herself at the thought – her boyfriend.

After spending the rest of their days in the Hamptons barely leaving the house, they'd opted to spend most of their time locked in heated make out sessions on the couch, Carter had asked her to be his girlfriend. He'd been blushing when he'd done it and she'd never seen him look so vulnerable or adorable and she hadn't been able to stop laughing when she'd said yes and kissed him over and over again.

She also hadn't noticed how uncaring Blair had looked when she'd told her that she was now dating Carter, but then again, Blair was dating an English lord and Charlotte was used to this. She loved her sister to death, but whenever Blair had a boyfriend, it was the Blair Show and now that this particular boyfriend had secretly been nobility, it'd been like the Blair Bitch Project.

Glancing at her phone again, she noticed the time and then opened her mouth to call out for him once more. Honestly, she thought. He takes more time than I do – probably fixing his hair… again.

Suddenly the power went out and Charlotte jumped, letting out a cry of surprise.

"Fuck!" Carter's voice shouted from upstairs, followed by a crash. Charlotte blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the darkness as she grabbed onto the railing of the stairs.

"Carter?" She frowned. "Are you okay?"

He was quiet and she took a deep breath, feeling for the stairs with her feet as she went. Once she made her way to the top of the stairs, she was able to feel along the wall in the direction of his room. Though she had yet to go in there, she knew that his room was next to Sarah's and she'd found her way to Sarah's room before in much worse circumstances.

"Carter?" She whispered out, holding onto the doorframe.

Suddenly there were hands on her waist and she shrieked, jumping backwards. Carter's laughter filled her ears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered out as he put his hands back on her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"You asshole," she laughed as she lashed out and luckily hit his chest. "Are you okay?"

"I tripped over my overnight bag," he scoffed. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he assured her. "Is the power out downstairs?"

"Yeah," she whispered out. She felt her phone go off and she held it up to look at the message from her sister.

Hey, C – hope you're okay. If you haven't left yet, don't. It's a citywide blackout and I don't trust Baizen to keep you safe from the creeps. (Since he is one.) Love you!

Charlotte sighed, rolling her eyes at Blair.

"It's city-wide," she informed him. "Looks like we're stuck."

"Oh?" She could hear the grin in Carter's tone. His hand inched forward to take her phone out of her hand and he tossed it gently to the floor, where it hit the rug with a soft thud. "Oops."

She had to laugh at his action, before his hands came up to cup her face and pull her up so that her lips met his own. She smiled into the kiss, letting her hands rest on his chest.

"Now," one of his hands trailed to play with a strand of her hair. "What are we supposed to do in the dark… all alone?"

"I can think of a few ways to stay occupied," she offered.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, if you have any candles I'm pretty sure that Sarah still has that princess board game around here somewhere," she snickered. "I think you'd look quite dashing in a plastic tiara…"

He had to laugh. "Not exactly what I was thinking, but I'm sure there's some way that we could make that interesting. Maybe if-"

She cut him off, her hands grasping the sides of his face as she leant up to kiss him with her eyes sparkling. Every day that she spent with Carter made her question why she had ever hated him in the first place.

His hands made their way back to her waist as he yanked her even closer to him. He broke away from her momentarily to glance behind him – the moonlight lit his room just enough that he could determine where his bed was.

Spinning them so that her back was to the bed, he led them over to it as he kissed her once more. Once her knees hit the edge of the bed, she allowed herself to lie down and Carter to climb on top of her.

"I just want you to know," he whispered as he suddenly broke away. "Don't get your hopes up for where this is going – I want to be able to see you when…"

"That's fine," she laughed, grabbing his collar and pulling him back down into a kiss.

They were so caught up in themselves that they didn't even realize the power was back on until a shocked, and somewhat disgusted sounding cry of: "Ew!" broke them apart.

Charlotte's wide eyes darted to the doorway to see that Sarah was standing there with her mouth open.

"Ew!" The blonde exclaimed once more. "You mean it's real? I thought it was a hoax!" She cried out, throwing her hands up in the air.

Carter simply glanced over at her from out of the corner of his eyes and a small smirk on his face. "Sarah… you're home early…"

"I can't believe you two," she whined. "I really thought that it was like… a joke, or just really bad camera angles, or terrible photo-shopping skills…"

"Sorry, Sar," Carter's smirk stayed in place as he turned back to face Charlotte and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before getting off of the bed and offering his hand out to her to help her up.

She accepted, blushing bright red under the stare of her oldest friend. "Hey, Sarah."

"How did this happen?" Sarah asked dramatically. "I left you alone in the beach house – and you, you were supposed to be in Europe," she pointed at Carter. "Eugh, Carter, you ruin everything. Charlotte was my one friend that never liked you!"

"Sorry," Charlotte winced; though she was surprised that Sarah didn't seem as mad as she thought she would have been.

"I'm totally kidding," Sarah broke out into a grin, unable to keep up the act any longer. "I always thought this would happen. Mom's going to be over the freaking moon," she snickered.

"Wait," Charlotte glanced around the room as if searching for hidden cameras. "You're… you're not mad?"

"No," Sarah scoffed. "I knew it the second that I saw you look at each other when you came over for dinner in your freshman year."

"Did everyone know we liked each other except for us?" Carter frowned as he addressed Charlotte, confused.

"I guess… so?" She glanced up at him and tried not to laugh at how wild his hair looked from her running her hands through it.

"I'm going to go call mom and tell her that she won't believe what I just saw!" Sarah's grin returned as Carter's frown deepened.

"Oh, no, come on, Sarah…. Don't do that to her, she's your friend."

"You're going to have to tell mom eventually and I don't know what you're so worried about," Sarah scoffed. "You know she loves Charlotte. Don't you remember when you asked Mom to call Eleanor about coti-"

Carter was at his sister's side in seconds, his hand covering her mouth. "Okay, you go make that call now, Sarah," he led her out of his room and pushed her down the hall.

"And never mention that again!" He stuck his head out into the hallway and whisper-yelled at her before he slammed the door shut.

Charlotte was giving him a knowing smirk from where she stood by his bed. "So cotillion was your idea," she teased.

"Shut up," he grinned.

"Why don't you come over here and make me?"

A few days later found Blair cornering Charlotte on her way out of her bedroom. "I need to talk to you," she demanded.

Charlotte blinked, adjusting her designer messenger bag on her shoulder. "What's up, B? I've got to get to class."

"What's up with you is more like it? I thought you were coming back home to be closer to mom and me – it's like you've been even farther away, Charlotte. When you're not at school, you're with Carter and even when you're not with Carter, your brain is off in Carter-land anyways!"

"Blair," Charlotte sighed. "I…"

"Are you going to the fashion show tonight?"

"I…" She paused, taking a deep breath at the look in Blair's eyes. It screamed not to mess with her.

"Serena's sitting in the front row with Poppy Lifton," Blair continued on and Charlotte could see through her sister's tough act immediately – she was hurting.

"Oh, B," she frowned. "Don't worry. I'll be there – right backstage with you. Just don't tell mom I'm going because she'll try to get me to sit with Carter out in the audience. I want to be with my number one," she playfully nudged her sister.

"Thank you, Charlotte," she beamed and allowed her sister to pass. "I love you!"

"Love you, too, B. I'll see you tonight."

Charlotte instantly called Carter once she was outside, on her way to the nearest subway station.

"Hey, babe, what's up?"

"Nothing," she sang out with a smile on her face. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing," she could hear the smirk in his tone. "But there's gotta be something if you're calling me this early – you skipping class to come over and play?"

She laughed loudly, catching the attention of a few people passing by. "No!" She giggled. "I'm actually calling because I have some bad news."

"Uh-oh."

"Blair and Serena are fighting again," she sighed.

"I think they fight more than they get along," Carter joked.

"I know… Anyways, Serena usually watches my mom's fashion show from backstage with her, but they got into a fight and now Serena is sitting front row with Poppy Lifton and Blair is so upset… I may have promised her that I would go to the fashion show with her tonight."

"Go ahead, Char – your sister needs you. And I guess I can live without you for one night."

"Thank you," she breathed out. "I'll talk to you after class."

"Alright. Bye, babe."

"Bye," she hung up with a smile on her face at the pet name and raced down the steps to the subway.

"Charlotte!" Eleanor exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Did you bring Carter?" Her eyes darted around, looking for her eldest daughter's boyfriend.

"No, mom," Charlotte gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm here for Blair."

"Oh... okay... thank you, dear – she's sulking backstage right now. She tried to move Serena out of the front row, can you believe that?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes as she smiled and made her way past her mother to find Blair backstage. "Yes, I can," she muttered under her breath. She ran into a small blonde, who began apologizing profusely.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry –"

"It's okay," Charlotte laughed, before pointing at the blonde. "Jenny, right?"

"Right," she beamed. "And you're Charlotte. Hi! I didn't know that you'd be here. I –"

"Charlotte!" Blair's voice cut in as she grasped her sister's forearm in one hand. "Come on, we don't talk to the help, you know that," she smiled in a deathly sweet fashion at Jenny as she led her sister off, away from her.

Once they were in the hair and makeup area, Charlotte frowned and looked around. "Uh, B? Where are all of mom's models?"

"Eugh," Blair scoffed, glancing into the audience. "What is Carter doing here? He's like a stalker," she rolled her eyes. "When was the last time that you two actually spent a day apart?"

"Carter's here?" Charlotte squeaked, sticking her head next to her sister's in order to catch a glimpse of her boyfriend. She saw him standing around in the emptying venue.

The show had been a success, despite Blair's attempts at sabotage, and the only people left were Eleanor's daughters, the staff and the socialite-model stand-ins.

"I guess he must have missed you," Blair teased as she noticed Poppy walking towards her sister's boyfriend. The brunette socialite was grinning at Carter flirtatiously and Blair made a noise of disgust.

"B, Can I talk to you?" Serena's voice caused the sisters to glance behind them.

"I'd better go take care of that," Charlotte pointed in the direction of Poppy and brushed past Serena without a second glance. When Serena and Blair were fighting, it was always the same – Charlotte was Team Blair no matter whether or not B was right or wrong.

She slid up next to Carter and nudged his hip with her own. "Hey, there," she laughed.

"Oh, there you are, babe," his face lit up and Charlotte couldn't miss the way that Poppy's cheerful look faded. He wrapped his arm around Charlotte and kissed her cheek. "Have you met Poppy Lifton? She's a friend of Serena's."

Charlotte grinned at the young woman, almost victoriously once she saw her look of disappointment that the attractive young man was already spoken for. "No, I haven't. I'm Blair's sister, Charlotte."

"Oh, you're Eleanor's other daughter?" She glanced over at Carter and mock-pouted as if to say 'pity'. Charlotte ground her teeth, but kept her smile on.

"Yes." Charlotte bit out. "Yes, I am."

Carter could immediately sense the tension between the two young women and he cleared his throat, moving his arm to rest around Charlotte's waist. "Why don't we get going? I've got the limo outside, I thought we could go get a drink? Maybe we could bring Blair and try to cheer her up?"

Though Charlotte knew that she shouldn't go out because she had a test the next day, her grin only grew. "Of course, baby," she smiled up at him in a sickeningly sweet manner. "Let's go. Nice to meet you, Pippy."

"It's Poppy," the socialite glared as Carter led her off.

"Were you jealous, Miss Waldorf?" He teased, whispering in her ear as he led her towards the backstage area.

"Please," Charlotte scoffed. "What am I supposed to be jealous of on that stick figure back there?"

"The city really brings out your best bitchiness, babe," he laughed as he held the door open for her.

"Awh, that was the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," she smiled at him.

"Well, you deserve much more than words," he nuzzled his nose up against her own.

Charlotte giggled before his lips found her own and her hands tangled into his hair. She was terrified of how much she liked Carter, but he was like a drug that she couldn't get enough of. And all of the bitchiness that she used to reserve especially for him had come out in her mental battle against Poppy Lifton. And she had loved it.

A throat clearing broke them apart and Charlotte blushed under her mother's stare.

"Oh," she squeaked out. "Hi mom," she dropped her hands from Carter's hair.

"Charlotte," Eleanor smiled tightly, though her eyes conveyed amusement. "Carter – lovely to see you again, dear. You've really whisked our Lottie away."

"Yes," Carter chuckled as his hand found Charlotte's and he intertwined their fingers. "I really have, right, Lottie?"

She scowled at him, but he could see that she didn't really mean it. She turned back to Eleanor.

"Have you seen Blair?"

"She's having a tantrum in the dressing room," Eleanor noted - ignorant to Blair's hurt feelings as usual. "She won't even come to the after party."

"I didn't think she would," Charlotte mused, pursing her lips. She loved her mother, but God, was Eleanor clueless. She may have tried for her daughters' sake, but she was blinded when it came to her business and they always came second. She began to tug Carter along, heading towards the dressing room. "I'm sure I'll see you later, mom."

"Alright, dear. Bye, Carter!"

"Bye, Mrs. Waldorf," he offered her a smile as Charlotte continued to tug him along. "So is your mom always putting Blair on the back burner?"

Charlotte snorted. "You think it's just Blair? She and I have been on the back burners for years. It takes one of us bubbling over for her to pay us any mind."

"Oh. And here my parents are too observant."

"Yeah, I don't think I would switch," she mused. "B!"

"What?" Blair glared over at the couple in the doorway. Her hair was a bit frizzy and Charlotte sighed, dropping Carter's hand in order to make her way over to the younger girl. She sprayed some product on her hands from the nearby makeup station and rubbed them together before smoothing them over her sister's mane. When she was finished, she rested her hands on the younger girl's shoulders and gave her a warm smile.

"Come out with us. Let's go to Butter."

"Butter?" Blair glanced up with wide eyes. "With you?"

"Yes, Butter with me," Charlotte wrapped an arm around Blair's shoulders. "And Carter," she pointed out. He grinned.

Though she was scowling at the idea of Carter's presence, Blair agreed. She wanted to spend time with Charlotte and if she had to share her with Carter, she would do so… for now.

The trio made their way to Carter's limo, which was parked out front, and Blair vented about Serena the whole way to the restaurant.

"I don't understand why you're still friends," Carter shrugged as they entered. He allowed Charlotte to go and get them a table, while he stayed with Blair. "I mean, I know that if your sister and Sarah got into any of the fights that you have had with Serena… they would have stopped talking a long time ago."

"I've just… I've known her for so long," Blair frowned. "I can't believe I'm talking about this with you."

"Ah, I'm a good listener," he assured as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry. You know your sister's always there for you and I'm more than likely going to be there, too. Whether I like it or not."

"Well that makes two of us not liking it," Blair offered a small laugh.

Charlotte returned with a smile at the sight of Blair and Carter getting along. "Hey! You leaving me for my sister?"

"Yeah," Carter's arm dropped from Blair's shoulders as he grinned. "You're getting a little old there, Waldorf."

"Shove it, Baizen," she teased as she grabbed onto Blair's arm. "Come on, they've got our table by the bar so that we can people watch."

"Ooh," Blair smiled up at her sister fondly. The older girl knew her so well. Charlotte shot a smile to Carter who was shaking his head, laughing, as he followed the pair of brunettes to the table.

Charlotte was beyond ecstatic to spend time with Blair and to top it off, she was glad that she and Carter were getting along.