I'm beyond sorry for taking so long to update. Forgive me lol. The reviews were great. Thank you to everybody who did. Here's the next chapter for you.

Spotted: CJ and C walking hand in hand toward Central Park and then spotted again looking more than ravished leaving Pier 40. Have the King and Queen of casual sex resigned on their reign? Hopefully not for long because where would the fun be in that.

The night's too long
and cold here without you

And I forgot to tell you
I love you

Chuck woke up with long brown hair tickling his face and the smell of vanilla entering his nose. Hoping that the long dark locks preferably came along with a naked body he pulled the body closer to his. He groaned with upturned lips as he realized that he and the body next to him were in fact fully clothed.

With eyes still closed he moved his head towards the crook of her neck. It's been a week since the faithful day she came to his door adorably distraught and kissable. He for one would have been happy just to have her talk to him again but this was a much better venue.

Charlie felt his grip tighten and a small smile played on her face. She's the happiest she's been in a long time. Her life seemed okay for once. The only thing still plaguing her was the whole Dan thing.

She hasn't seen him face to face yet but she has texted Dan back and forth, she couldn't help but talk to him. He made her laugh, he gave her advice and she him. He didn't approve of Chuck, she knew that, but he kept his mouth shut anyway to keep her happy or to keep her from kicking his ass he joked most of the time. This is the most comfortable she's ever felt with a person other than Chuck and that's saying a lot seeing as her and Dan met only a few months ago.

He is just this genuinely good guy. In her own opinion he was too good for the dirt and grime of the city. She compared his personality to the first part of Pleasantville where everything was black and white, perfect, and unaware of reality. She felt that if she told what had happened between Serena and Nate the colors would spill into images of his delicate reality and just like in the movie everything would go haywire. The only difference was that she didn't think there would be a happy ending. Just him swallowing a hard dose of actuality he's going to want to throw back up when he finds out that the girl he put up on a pedestal is no different from the rest of the world.

But she tried to push that out of her mind, right now all she wanted to be was happy and she was. She had her best friend, her everything right next to pulling her closer to his warmth. The thing she's been daydreaming about for years had finally come true. She hated to admit she was sentimental. She always told herself never let anything to close to her but the problem with this situation was that Chuck was always close to her even before she realized her more than platonic feelings.

They never said I love you. It was never in their vocabulary seeing as their parents aren't exactly the spokespeople for it but they had their ways of letting the other know. Little things and movie quotes were how they showed their affection; saying you're my Chandler to my Joey, the Ducky to my Andie, They were each others Chuck and Larry, down for anything if it meant helping the other. Or they would say little quote that stood out the most. They were after all the original movie buffers.

Sometimes they wouldn't even need words, silence spoke volumes anyway.

It was late and Charlie was starting her five page punishment assignment. For once in Charlie James life she pulled a prank and got caught and it was all Nick Burin's fucking fault. She went on one date with him. He was popular, and hot, plus he played sports so Charlie didn't see the harm but when they went out he was so dull. He must have been since she was dozing off for most of the night. He asked her out again and of course she declined but he didn't seem to understand why and got angry.

"What do you mean no?" the smile slipping off his face.

"Exactly what I said…don't tell me your dim too" she said sarcastically wanting to get away from him as soon as possible since the evening was already a complete waste. She walked toward her house.

"Girls would kill to date me" he said as he wrenched her wrist.

"We're thirteen, you're not a great catch to anybody right now and from here it doesn't seem like in years to come you're ever going to be a great catch. So how about you let go." She said flatly. She wasn't intimidated easily she didn't know whether if it was because after seeing her father's glare anyone else attempting to glare didn't have much effect or because he looked like he was struggling to bruise her wrist as they spoke.

"I believe she said to let go" Charlie heard from behind her.

"This has nothing to do with you Bass" Nick growled

"You know as well as everybody that anything concerning Charlie concerns me, so I suggest you let go"

"Chuck I can handle it" Charlie said trying to avoid a confrontation as she pulled her wrist away from Nick. She pushed Chuck down toward the other side of the street until after Nick left. "You don't have to fight my battles for me Chuck" as she walked away

"Aw but then where's the fun" he smirked.

"Yea, yea I'll see you tomorrow" as she continued on.

--

The next morning continued the weekly prank on a selected teacher and it was Charlie's turn to pull it. She smeared the honey on the already glossy chair and super glued the drawers shut. Too bad she didn't know that Nick Burin was watching and waiting for the perfect payback.

And that's how she ended up with a five page paper to write. She would have had one months detention along with it if it wasn't for her fathers pull at the school but if she didn't hand in the paper tomorrow she would have to spend the next month in detention with the rest of the delinquents and the very teacher she pulled the prank on. No thanks.

She only finished her first paragraph when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. She looked at her clock and saw it was 10:30p.m. She made her way to the door and saw it was Chuck. He looked tired and broken down. She looked down at his hand and saw that it was cut and bruised. The only time Chuck came by this late without videos in hand was when his parents fought.

"Come on" she urged him in. She sat him down on her bed as she rushed to her bathroom to get a wet cloth. When she returned she found him staring blankly at the wall. She placed the cloth on his hand and dabbed around it. "So I see you took fancy into punching the walls." She muttered but looked up at his face and saw indifference. He didn't want to talk about it she knew so she got up, took off his shoes, laid him down, popped in Casablanca, and turned out the light.

Charlie woke up with Chuck's head on her shoulder and his arm around her chest. Leave it to Chuck to cop a feel unconsciously. She started to chuckle and felt him stir and then look up at her.

"Feel better?"

"As good as I can be with a swollen hand"

"Now who told you to go punch walls? Remember you're a lover not a fighter" she said jokingly pointing to the hand which was currently still on her breast. She was glad to see he was at least cracking a smile this morning. She looked at her computer and sighed, her paper.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just have a shit load of detentions to serve now" she leaned her head back on her headboard. "My dad is going to kill me."

Chuck straightened up when realization hit him, the prank and the paper. He didn't know what to say. "I'm sorr-" he started.

"Don't worry about it. You're top priority" she said closing her eyes and leaning her forehead against his.

Chuck stayed frozen. She gave up a month's worth of freedom to deal with his problem. She always put him first when no one else would. He looked at her with so much intensity and she stared right back. He wanted to let her know that she meant a lot to him too and he only knew three words that came close. Just as he was about to say it she put a finger to his lips.

"Ditto" was all she whispered with a small smile and he knew she knew exactly what he was trying to say.

Not being able to say I love you was a flaw they both shared. It wasn't pressured like it was when it came to other people. They knew how the other felt about the other; they didn't need to voice it out and that was the beauty of it.

--

She opened her eyes to see the TV static from the video that was put in the night before and then looked down to see a bouncing Mackenzie by her leg. They had picked her up yesterday from her nanny to surprise her and brought her to a carnival. She was so wired from cotton candy it took hours to get her to fall asleep and both her and Chuck had fallen sleep in the process.

"Char Bar finally. You took forever"

"Forever to what?" she smiled.

"To wake up… are you like my mom?" Mackenzie asked curiously after the pause.

"What do you mean babe?"

"She says she takes some pills to sleep because of me. She said I'm too much" Mackenzie recited her mothers words.

Charlie's face dropped. What kind of mom tells their four year old that? 'My mom would' she thought as she looked at Mackenzie. She saw so much of herself in Mackenzie. She wished she had someone there for her when she was Mackenzie's age. "No sweetie. I would stay up all night just so I could be with you" she said putting on a smile and started tickling her.

Chuck leaned back and watched the sight before him. His two favorite girls. Charlie never looked as beautiful to him as she did right at this moment surround with white sheets her olive skin glowed and so did her smile. And as for Mackenzie, even Chuck had to admit he held a soft spot for her.

"Well isn't this a sight for sore eyes?" he spoke up.

"Chucky!"

"Hey short stuff. How about you go get ready and I'll take you home okay?" he asked and she nodded with a pout. "I'll buy you ice cream if you take that face off" he bribed.

"Okay!" she said overjoyed as she jumped off the bed to get ready.

"Bribing the little girl with ice cream at 10 in the morning, have you no shame?" Charlie smirked.

"Aw if you're good I'll buy you one too" he grinned as he went in for a kiss.

"Good that was my goal"

"I'll be back. Are you going to be here when I get back?" he asked.

"I just need to get a change of clothes from next door"

"Why change I like you dirty?" he jested.

"Pig"

"Oh I love it when you talk dirty too" he smirked walking towards the door.

--

Charlie sat in the middle of Chuck's bed knowing he would take at least an hour and decided that even though ice cream was good she wanted to get her and Chuck a real breakfast.

She was on her way back, breakfast in hand, when she bumped into someone in front of the hotel doors. She looked up and saw Dan.

"Charlie" he stated with a smile and a hug.

"Dan hey I'm fine. Look no scars, no bruises" she smirked as he let go.

He laughed and held her out at arms length. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just haven't seen you in about, I don't know, 45 years. Are you finally going to tell me why you were M.I.A?"

"Uh…" she stuttered not wanting to explain but was saved when the ringing of Dan's ring tone entered their ears.

"Hold on" he said as he reached for his phone.

"Um I have to go up anyway. So I guess I'll see you later." She rushed.

"Ok. I'll stop by upstairs after I finish surprising Serena." He exclaimed as opened up his phone.

Charlie just nodded her head as her stomach knotted up when he spoke Serena's name. She gave him a quick smile and went on her way.

When she got upstairs she noted that Chuck still didn't come back from dropping off Mackenzie and went to take a quick shower.

--00—00—00—00—0-0-00--0—0--0—00-

Charlie got out of the bathroom with her short Abercrombie shorts and Armani Exchange hoodie. She pulled her hair back in a loose ponytail. She looked toward the bar area of her room and saw Dan sitting on the stool.

"Dan" she said worried

"You left your door open" he said still not looking at her. "Did you know?"

"Know what?" She asked cautiously.

"That's why you've been avoiding me for weeks, right."

"Dan, I-"

"You made me make a fool out of myself." He screamed. "I asked you for lessons, God that must have made for a good laugh."

"Dan I swear I didn't know then"

"Then when did you?" he continued to yell.

Charlie took a deep breath. "Remember when we were having one of our lessons and I had to rush out of here."

"That was weeks ago!"

"It wasn't my place to tell" she yelled right back. "Dan I wanted to tell you, I did. I told her she needed to make a choice and that I wanted nothing to do with it."

"Is that why you didn't come to school those two weeks because you didn't want to see me? So you didn't have to tell me?"

She nodded. "I was screening my calls and ignoring everyone"

"Why?" he asked lowly.

"Why what?"

"Why did you finally pick up my call?" he stepped closer. "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn that you people think less of."

"Because I wanted to, you're a good person and I shouldn't have ignored you. You didn't deserve that. And you're not just a kid from Brooklyn. You're more than that. Serena doesn't deserve you if--" She continued to ramble but before she knew it Dan's lips were on hers.

Chuck arrived in time to hear the end of Charlie's ramble and opened the door to see the kiss that Humphrey planted on her lips. With a venomous sneer that graced his face and the sting of his eyes with burning unreleased tears he walked away with a quick trigger finger to his speed dial.

"Hello" said a female voice from the other end of the line…

What better way to get back at somebody…then to get back at them threefold. Everyone knows a Bass shows their true colors when they feel crossed.

What's Chuck up to? And who did he call? How will Charlie react to the kiss?

Review and answers will come! LOL

You know what to do press that blue button.

P.S. The way Dan found out about Serena and Nate comes next chapter.