Hey, everyone! Sorry it took so long for this update...I made this chapter extra long to make up for it! Anyway, on with the story!
Chapter 10 – There Will Be Blood
Serena pushed her hair back as she abruptly lifted her head, trying to locate Blair's cell phone which was buzzing loudly nearby. She blinked her eyes and looked down at Blair, who was still asleep, but furrowing her brows trying to block out the noise. The glowing cell phone screen on the nightstand finally caught Serena's attention and she swung her arm out, effectively sweeping the nuisance onto the floor and ridding their senses of the obnoxious rattling.
"Mmm…" Blair moaned.
"Shh, go back to sleep…" Serena whispered to her and kissed her temple. It was still early in the morning and the sun had yet to rise, so Serena lay back down against Blair's back. She rested her hand on Blair's belly and caressed the soft skin, listening to the brunette's breathing, until suddenly her cell phone started blaring from across the room.
"What the hell!?" Serena mumbled under her breath, as she began stumbling across the room to locate her purse. Perfume bottles and other cosmetics clattered together while Serena's hands searched around on Blair's vanity. Once, she found her cell phone she quickly flipped it open to stop the upbeat music of her ringtone and then snapped it shut, before turning it on silence and roughly throwing it back into her bag.
"Serena, who was that?" Blair asked groggily, she was now fully awake and sitting up in the bed.
"I didn't recognize the number…it doesn't matter, let's go back to sleep." The blonde responded, rolling back onto the mattress and slipping her arm around Blair's waist.
"Okay…" Blair said, putting her head back down on the pillow and immediately closing her eyes.
Just as the girls were drifting off to sleep again, Blair's cell phone began to vibrate from its place on carpeting once more. They each listened to the muffled hum of the vibrations for a moment, before Serena sat up.
"Maybe we should check that…" She stated.
The brunette pushed herself onto her side and Serena heard her fingers land on the floor as she felt around for the cell phone. After she had found it, Blair tossed it onto the comforter next to her girlfriend.
"You check it…" Blair grumbled, flopping against her pillow.
By the time Serena had the cell phone in her hand, the call had been missed. "I don't know these numbers…" She stated, as she studied the number on the screen, and then suddenly the device buzzed back to life indicating that a text message had been received. Blair opened her eyes a bit and gave Serena a curious glance, only to receive an equally confused look from the blonde.
1 New Message: Gossip Girl
S & B, we can't thank you enough for making yourselves available anywhere and everywhere! Now we can have you whenever we want…which as you know, is all the time! Thanks again, ladies! XOXO!
- Gossip Girl
"You've got to be kidding me!" Blair practically shouted, as Serena finished reading the message to her. Within seconds, the blonde had already grabbed her laptop from her bag and was punching at the keyboard, trying to navigate toward the Gossip Girl website. When the home page opened, each of their jaws dropped. Two images, an individual picture of each of them with a caption consisting of their cell phone number filled the screen.
"Oh God!" Serena murmured, pushing her hands against her forehead.
"I should have known he would do something." Blair stated softly and then looked up to her girlfriend. "I don't want to deal with this, Serena, I shouldn't have to."
Serena reached out and ran her hand over Blair's smooth dark hair. "I know, B, I know…but we've been through a lot worse from Chuck and Gossip Girl…we can just delete the messages and after awhile people will get bored."
"I really hope you're right, because who's to say he will stop there. You know how Chuck works." Blair replied quietly.
Serena sighed deeply and nodded her head, the angles of her face softly illuminated by the light of the computer screen. Then she raised her hand in a gesture of defeat. "We just need to tell him soon and hopefully he will understand. I don't know what else to do, but we just have to ignore whatever he throws at us because it doesn't matter." Serena said as she laid her hand on Blair's belly. "She's what matters right now."
Blair placed her hand over Serena's and held onto her fingers. "I know…that's why I don't want to give into this...being pregnant has made me realize how stupid the rumors and gossip are, I have better things to worry about."
"I feel the same way, it's just not important anymore…" Serena whispered and then smiled when the baby thumped against her hand.
"I don't think she likes it either." Blair said, smiling at first and then wincing a little when she felt another kick.
"Oh, she has her mommy's temper, she's mad!" Serena laughed, feeling the harder kick against her hand as well.
"I guess so…it feels like she's doing somersaults, ugh…" Blair groaned and set her forehead on Serena's shoulder. "Keep rubbing your hand over her so she moves. It's making me feel sick."
Serena began to gently press her palm back and forth on the spot where the baby was kicking. "How is that?"
"She's not moving…" Blair sighed.
"Alright, well let me get this out of the way so you can lay back, she will probably settle down after a while." Serena replied, as she set the laptop on the floor and then adjusted the pillows for Blair.
The brunette just rolled her eyes jokingly. "Easy for you to say, you're not the one getting kicked in the ribs."
Serena laughed in agreement and picked up Blair's cell phone, silencing it as she had done to hers. Once the blonde shut the phone, Blair snatched it out of her grasp and pitched it across the room through the open closet door, smiling when she heard it smack against the wall.
"You'll never find that in there." Serena chided with a smirk.
"Good!" Blair exclaimed from where she was propped against her pillows. Serena just giggled as she moved further down the bed and rested her cheek on the side of Blair's belly. Pressing her mouth to Blair's skin she could feel the tiny bumps against her lips.
"Can you feel it?" Blair asked quietly, looking to her girlfriend.
"Mhmm…" Serena nodded while still smiling against Blair's stomach. After a few minutes Serena fell back to sleep curled up to Blair's side, as Blair ran her fingers through her hair.
Leave it to carefree Serena to not worry about Gossip Girl or Chuck at all, while she lied awake. The combination of her own swirling thoughts and her daughter having a dance party in her abdomen kept her staring at the ceiling. Every time she closed her eyes and felt as if she might fall back to sleep, the baby would move or some idea of how Chuck may be plotting to ruin her life would run through her mind. She pressed her hand along the curve of her protruding belly, willing the restless baby inside her to stop moving. Come on, baby girl, I need to go back to sleep, she thought to herself, thinking that if the baby stopped kicking she could probably rein in her wandering thoughts. Serena sighed contently in her sleep and the sound made Blair huff in exasperation as she tossed her head to the side, glancing at the clock. 4:56 and it didn't seem as if she would be sleeping anytime soon.
Three sleepless hours later, Blair was trudging tiredly down the stairs in her robe after quietly retrieving her cell phone from the closet. When she reached the living room she set her cell phone on the end table and took a deep breath. 'Delete the messages,' Serena's voice kept telling her, but the obsessive perfectionist side of Blair kept telling her that she needed to know what was in those messages. The brunette was eyeing the cell phone and practically seething by just imagining what her Upper East Side peers and frequent visitors of the Gossip Girl website were saying.
"Miss Blair?" Dorota's voice suddenly startled her back to reality, making her body jump.
"Oh, Dorota, you startled me!" Blair exclaimed.
"I apologize, Miss Blair, would you like for me to bring your breakfast?" The maid inquired, as she took in the exhausted look in Blair's eyes.
"Um…yes please, I'll take it in here…" Blair nodded, trying to gather her thoughts.
"Alright," Dorota responded, and then retreated towards the kitchen only to turn back to Blair after a few paces. "Miss Serena is still sleeping or should I bring tray for her as well?"
The brunette rubbed the pads of her fingers under her eye. "Yes, Serena is still sleeping, which is exactly what I should be doing," Blair mumbled under her breath, "but please bring something for her. I'm sure she will wake soon."
"Yes, Miss Blair." Dorota replied dutifully and finished making her way to the kitchen. Once Dorota was out of sight, Blair quickly snatched her cell phone off the table and flipped it open because if Serena deleted the messages before she could read them, she knew it would drive her mad.
6 Missed Calls
31 New Messages
3 New Voicemail
Blair was a bit shocked by the volume of text messages and calls, but she figured that when the entire city of New York had your number, anything was possible. Ignoring the missed calls and voicemail, she pressed a few buttons and prepared herself to open the first text message. She took a calming breath and hit the 'Ok' key with her thumb.
1 New Message: Isabel Coates
B! I cnt believe U didnt tell us U were giving up the bby! I thought U and S were doing the whole 2 mommies thing and like having a big happy fmly!?
- I
I'm not giving up the baby, you bitch! What is she talking about!? Blair could feel her pulse quickening, just as it always did when her reputation hung in the balance and countless souls were about to be socially destroyed. She definitely needed to read these messages.
1 New Message: 723-4875
Hey B! We've nvr met, but UR totally hot! I wish I coudlve gotten 2 U bfore U got preggers!
1 New Message: Penelope Shafai
U may have had a socially unforgivable fall from grace, but H and Is and I have decided 2 allow U 2 remain friends with us. Just watch urself.
- P
1 New Message: 577-2398
I alwys knew yur pristine classiness was an act…yur such a slut!
1 New Message: 364-8648
1st we find out UR a dike and then we find out UR a sleaze! Queen B has fallen so hard!
Blair was thoroughly angry now, but she wasn't ready to stop. Just then she heard Serena making her way down the stairs and she quickly opened one more message.
1 New Message: 723-6403
I hope u give up ur baby, that way u wont b able to screw up a kid as badly as ur mom screwed u up.
The last text message hit a nerve and a little gasp escaped Blair's lips as she abruptly dropped her phone. Letting it fall to the floor as if it had burned her. Serena crossed the room to sit with her, concern written all over her face. Blair bit her trembling bottom lip between her teeth and tried to hold back the tears, she should have listened to her girlfriend.
"B?" Serena murmured as she set her hand on Blair's knee and then noticed Blair's cell phone lying open on the carpeting with a text message displayed. The words made Serena shake her head sadly as she looked at Blair, who was concentrating on staring out the window.
"Blair?" Serena repeated, putting her fingers to the brunette's jaw line so she could turn her head and pull her into a hug.
Blair kept her neck stiff and swiped her knuckle under her eye. "Don't, Serena, I'll just start crying and I don't want to cry over this…"
The taller girl just let her hand drop back to Blair's leg and studied her girlfriend's profile. Her chin was quivering from trying to hold herself together, but Serena could still see Blair's watery eyes shimmering with the light coming through the curtains. When Dorota walked into the room carrying the breakfast tray, the brunette took it as a welcome distraction, swiftly wiping her eyes and putting on a smile for her maid.
"Your breakfast, Miss Blair, and this envelope just arrive for you." Dorota stated, gesturing to a thick off-white envelope lying on the tray.
"Thank you, Dorota…that will be all." Blair announced, and then flipped over the envelope. Her face immediately fell when she read the name of the sender…Charles B. Bass.
"I won't open that, you can Serena, but I refuse!" Blair snapped, tossing the envelope onto the table.
Serena nodded and carefully picked up the envelope, then slipped her finger under the bold, cursive, capital B seal that held the flap down. She pulled the article out of the envelope and to her surprise; she was holding a card that read 'I apologize…' on the front. Blair's eyebrows knitted together as she studied the card in Serena's hands.
"I think you should read it…" Serena said quietly and handed the card to Blair.
She accepted it with shaky fingers, finding it hard to believe this was from Chuck. Blair, then slowly read the words 'I apologize…' again and opened the front cover. A pile of pamphlets and brochures from several adoption agencies and abortion clinics spilled into her lap, and her mouth fell open. The inside of the card read in black permanent marker, 'for not getting these to you sooner!'
Blair let out a frustrated noise, half scream, half sob, as she rapidly brushed the papers off her lap and leapt from the couch. Her face was already wet with tears by the time she made it to the stairwell and when she suddenly stopped and turned around, she was glad to have Serena practically run into her and wrap her up in her arms.
Serena was seeing red, and for once she honestly had no idea how to comfort her girlfriend. It was unfair and foolish to keep telling Blair that it would be okay and that everything would work out, when she kept getting hurt. So Serena did the only thing she could do, she sat Blair down on the steps and held her as she cried.
Tremors ran through the petite girl's body as she sobbed so hard she bordered on hyperventilating, and Serena couldn't help but think that in all the time they had known each other, she had never seen Blair cry like this. Even though Blair was strong, if given the chance people could crush her, but Serena knew this had to do with more than just that. It was about the powerful connection Blair had with the child she was carrying.
In all her life, Blair had never had anyone or anything that was solely her own. Her parents were tied to their careers and love lives, friends came and went, and most everything she did, she did for others' approval. The baby needed her though, depended on her, and Serena knew that Blair already loved her unborn daughter more than she had ever loved anyone. Blair had never considered aborting the baby or giving it up for adoption no matter how hard she knew it would be for her. In the beginning it had been difficult trying to fight her own demons and convince herself that she could raise a baby, and now her resolve was being tested.
"M-maybe everyone is right….I-I s-shouldn't do this!" Blair choked out.
"Blair, hush, you're just upset…" Serena told her sweetly, even though she was trying desperately to keep her anger under control.
"I don't know what to do anymore!" The brunette gasped.
"But I do…" Serena replied tersely and withdrew her arm from around Blair's back. She stomped back into the living room to retrieve the house phone, leaving a teary Blair on the steps staring after her. When she reemerged, her tall frame was rigid and she was already holding the phone against her ear much to Blair's dismay.
"May I speak to Chuck, please!?" Serena spat into the phone and assuming that she was asked who was calling by the staff member on the line, she quickly replied in an icy tone. "Tell him it's the tall, leggy, blonde from the bar, I'm sure he'll come running!"
Blair's sad eyes pleaded with her from the staircase to end the call, but she solemnly shook her head in disagreement. This had to be done.
"Chuck!? Blair and I need to talk to you, soon…like tonight!" Serena demanded, just waiting for his slimy excuse. The blonde took a few steps forward, and then her brows went together in annoyance.
"No! I don't care about any plans you have! You meet us in my apartment at eight o'clock or you can be sure that I'll search every Palace suite until I find you!" Serena yelled at the phone and then hit the 'End' key as soon as the last syllable fell from her lips.
Serena's hands fell to her side and she turned to Blair from where she was now standing on the black and white tiles. "We're meeting Chuck tonight…"
"So I heard…" Blair answered softly.
*****
After an extremely long day of nervous anticipation, Blair was now sitting on the couch in Serena's apartment. It was now 7:57 and Chuck would be coming up the elevator any minute, needless to say Blair was nearing a panic attack. When the ding of the elevator finally pierced the silence Blair's body jumped, but Serena gently rubbed the back of her hand reassuringly.
"I'll be right here with you…" Serena whispered and then touched her girlfriend's cheek, before rising to greet Chuck in the foyer.
She leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and watched Chuck as he cockily strode into her apartment. "Chuck, happy to see you could make it." She stated with a curt nod and a sarcastic smile.
"I would never break a date…especially not with you, Serena…" Chuck drawled as he adjusted his lavender colored tie.
"Well, unfortunately for you this isn't a date…now, come on." Serena sneered, the once over Chuck gave her body not going unnoticed.
Once they entered the living room, Serena sat down next to Blair, and Chuck sat opposite of them in an arm chair. He stared poignantly at Blair for a few moments, waiting for her to break and look away, but when she did not he finally began speaking.
"Waldorf…it's always an extreme pleasure to see you." Chuck spoke smoothly.
"Chuck, please don't make this any harder for me than it already is." Blair said meaningfully, truly hoping that he could understand.
"Fine…" Chuck answered as he glanced nonchalantly at his Cartier watch. "Let's make this quick."
Blair took a deep breath and Serena gave her hand a squeeze, letting her know she was there for her. "Chuck, this baby is yours!" Blair suddenly blurted out, surprising herself as well as Serena and Chuck.
"What!?" Chuck hissed. He had been quite sure this was what she was going to tell him, but he wasn't going to let her know that and he still refused to believe her.
Serena could feel her anger rising already and she squeezed her girlfriend's hand a little tighter. "You heard what she said."
"Yes, I did, it sounded like she said she was a lying slut." Chuck yelled, rising from the chair.
"Why would I lie about this!?" Blair pleaded, sounding so unlike herself.
"It was one time! I know it was probably exciting for you, but I doubt I was the cause of this mess!" Chuck yelled even louder and stepped towards Blair, making Serena instantly rise from her position on the couch.
"Chuck, you need to listen to her! This is serious…it's not some stupid thing like Gossip Girl and your games!" Serena said venomously, as she stepped in front of her girlfriend. She was nearly the same height as Chuck and when it came to Blair's well being; he didn't scare her a bit.
"Oh it's definitely serious alright! All of this…you and her together, her having this baby…it's all a serious mistake!" Chuck snarled. Before Serena could even stop herself, she pulled back and punched Chuck in the nose as hard as she possibly could.
"Serena!?" Blair yelped in surprise and then watched Chuck turn away and touch his nose, finding it oozing with blood.
"I'll give you one thing…you definitely don't hit like a girl." Chuck said lowly and then hastily made his way toward the elevator.
Serena glared at Chuck's back until he was out of sight and then turned to Blair grimacing in pain. "God, that hurt!"
Blair just nodded and a tear slipped down the side of her nose. She rested her forehead against her palms, feeling helpless. The blonde had been holding her injured hand, but she automatically let go to stroke Blair's back.
"I can't do this anymore…I'm so tired, Serena…" The brunette stated quietly and turned her glassy brown eyes to her girlfriend, seeking guidance.
"I know, baby, how about you just get in bed and try to rest. You told him what you needed to tell him and now you don't have to worry about it, even if he doesn't believe you." Serena exclaimed and then they made their way from the living room and up to her bedroom.
*****
Serena set a glass of water and a box of tissues on her night stand next to the spot where Blair was laying. Bending forward she pulled Blair into half a hug and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
"Are you going to be okay?" The blonde questioned.
"Yes…" Blair sniffled, "but would it be alright if I was alone for a while? I just need to think."
"That's fine, Blair, but try to rest, okay?"
"Okay. I love you, Serena…and I thought it was hot when you punched Chuck." Blair said and even smiled a bit when she did.
"I love you too, and I'm glad you thought so." Serena laughed and held up her slightly bruised knuckles, before leaving the room.
*****
After eventually crying herself to sleep, Blair was able to rest for a few hours until a stabbing pain tore through her lower back and stomach. She immediately sat up in bed, only to have the same pain repeated even stronger. She quickly noticed that Serena had never come to bed with her and she flung back the comforter in order to get out of the bed, but the sight of the blood on the sheets stopped her. Her shaky fingers touched her inner thigh and felt the slippery wetness of more blood; suddenly she was almost too dizzy to think straight.
"S…" Blair called, putting her hand under her stomach when she felt the sudden pain again. "Serena!"
A few seconds later Serena rushed through the door and was stunned by the image of a pale and trembling Blair looking dazed as she examined her bloody fingers.
"Oh my God…"
I know you love that ending...haha! Thanks for reading! Reviews = Love!