Title: Better Than Love
Pairing: MAJOR Chuck and Blair
Rating: T
Summary: Chuck and Blair both have reputations to uphold, but how long can they cope with hiding their feelings for one another, and when feelings are finally revealed will they be able to pull through and be together?
AU, but does involve some scenes from show in first few chapter, also shows more of a sensitive and romantic Chuck
Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl or the characters, but I am saving up.

A/N- Sorry for not updating sooner, I have had loads of work to do this week. I didn't even know they were doing Blairs 18th at the same time as this so I hope you also like this version! This is over 3000 words so make yourself comfy :)

Also warning about language, but I think the drama needed it.

Blair stretched her arms and rolled over, she sighed and looked at the clock- It was her 18th Birthday, she smiled as the realisation hit her. Of course birthdays weren't as exciting as they were when she was little, but it still made her happy that this year she was exactly where she wanted to be. At 18 she used to want to be successful and elegant like Grace Kelly, she imagined herself in a perfect relationship with a bright future ahead of her. Well of course she was already like Grace Kelly, and maybe she didn't have the relationship she used to want but right now it felt just about perfect to her - and that was all that really mattered.

She tried to put the niggling worry about her party tonight and what might happen with Nate to the back of her mind. It was the only thing putting down the day so she decided she would just try and occupy herself all day by getting all the preparation for the party ready - that way she wouldn't worry.

"Miss Blair!"

"Mmm?" she said sleepily

"I have a present for you!" she sounded like she was struggling with something.

"Aw, thanks Dorota"

"No, not me. Help!"

What the hell is she doing now? Blair thought. She got out of bed disgruntled and went to see what was wrong. She stepped into the hallway to see Dorota holding a present, but it wasn't what she expected. Dorota was struggling to stand, in her arms she held the largest and most exquisite bouquet of flowers Blair had ever seen. Blair was stunned, there were vast amounts of gorgeously delicate flowers in all variations, pink roses, hydrangeas, as well as her favourite- white lilies. They were all intertwined between white and fuchsia satin ribbon, Blair knew her flowers and she knew these were the very best, arranged by the very best. Blair stood stunned.

"Miss Blair"

Blair snapped out of her daze and rushed over and helped Dorota lower them carefully onto the table.

"Miss Blair, they beautiful"

"I know"

"Who are they from?" usually Blair would not allow Dorota to be so nosy, but she was glad she had someone who was equally as amazed.

"Oh probably Dad, or Serena. They always get me the nicest gifts but they didn't need to do this much."Blair rummaged between the petals to find the card, she found the little envelope and took it out to read-

Happy Birthday,

These are just to let you know how much you mean to me.
I will always be there for you, whatever happens - I will always protect you.
Chuck

Blair read it three times over, not believing what she read. They were from Chuck? She smiled as the effect of his words hit her, she felt ...more than happy- she felt loved. He couldn't love her though could he? No, he was surely just showing affection. What ever this feeling was it felt great to her, she grinned as she realised how romantic it was and how much it would have taken Chuck to say that- to anyone. Having it written down was even better. She knew she was over-reacting to just some flowers, but her heart was telling her something entirely different.

"Well, who are they from?" Dorota said slightly frustrated.

Blair just smiled "Someone close to me. Now get these in the freshest water and our most expensive vase. They can be the centre-peice for the party tonight."

Blair skipped back up the stairs, whatever happened tonight she could deal with, this was definitely going to be her best Birthday ever- it already was.

Blair intertwined the last piece of hair into her complicated bun, she was wearing a black a-line dress from Barneys with a tight waistline to emphasise her curves, even by her measure she looked pretty good. People had already started to arrive, there were more people than she expected but then again there always were at these kind of parties. It worked out better anyway as the more people, the easier it would be to avoid Nate.

She heard Serena laugh downstairs and realised she must have arrived, so she went down to greet her. The place was buzzing with light chatter as the music in the background set the mood. She carefully stepped down the marble staircase, everyone turned to look at her while her loyal friends all gave compliments about how nice she looked. It would have made her feel smug but tonight she just wanted to have fun and not worry about looking good.

"Happy Birthday!" Serena cooed as she ran up and hugged Blair,

"Thanks S"

Dan walked up awkwardly behind Serena with his hands in his pockets, he didn't look that bad, but Blair had a suspicion he was wearing one of his Dads suits from the 80's.

"Happy Birthday Blair, its a lovely place you have here, very...expensive" he looked around feeling out of depth wondering why Serena had bothered to bring him along in the first place.

"Why don't you go get us a drink?" Serena said trying to make him feel more comfortable but also giving her the excuse to talk to Blair alone.

"So, excited about tonight then?"Serena asked

"Yeah I guess, um do you know when Chuck's getting here?"

Serena smiled as she realised just how much Blair had changed, she would have normally been worrying and making the night even more about herself but tonight Blair seemed genuinely happy. "He'll be here in about 10 minutes don't worry."

"Good. And you haven't seen Nate-" As soon as she said his name Blair saw Nate arriving in the elevator "Damn, he's here."

"Look just go and say hi, that's all you have to do."

"Yeah well the longer I have to put it off the better." Blair turned and tried to mingle in with the rest of her guests.

Blair sipped a specially made cocktail and scanned the room, it had been nearly half an hour now and Chuck wasn't here. She was grateful everyone was here but she secretly wished she could swap them all for the one person she actually wanted there. At least everyone else was having a nice time even if she wasn't.

"Hey, been avoiding me?" Blair cursed herself for not hiding better as she recognised Nate's voice.

"No, of course not" Blair turned to face him and gave a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Well, Happy Birthday. I can't believe you're 18 already,"

"Well I am" she said not trying to be funny or polite.

"I remember when we were younger and planned what we'd do together for your 18th"

"That was a long time ago Nate"

"But there were good times though"

Blair smiled back, not quite knowing what to say. There was an awkward silence and Blair looked away, to her joy she could see Chuck was talking to Serena. Finally, she thought, she couldn't take anymore of this uncomfortable silence. She was just about to make an excuse to leave but Nate got there first.

"Blair, the reason I came here tonight wasn't just for your birthday." Blair wasn't liking the way the conversation was going, "Its just we have a lot of history, you and me,"

"Nate, don't. I'm not-"

"Wait, you don't have to decide anything now, just think about it."

Blair just stared at him, partly in annoyance and partly angry at herself for not stopping this sooner. She should have just come out with her and Chuck's relationship weeks ago. None of this would have happened, Nate was quite clearly not meant for her. Even if going public about her and Chuck risked their relationship changing, it would be worth it, as having no relationship with him at all would be unthinkable.

"I have to go Nate" she made her excuse and headed back up the steps to her room, she needed some time to think and the middle of a party wasn't the best venue.

"I hate him" Chuck said to Serena

"No you don't, you just like Blair more."

That was true, he thought, a lot more. "Why can't he just leave Blair alone, he doesn't really miss her. He doesn't even know her" Chuck watched as he saw Blair talking to Nate, she didn't look very happy which was a good sign but it still made him jealous as hell to even see them together. He couldn't stand people not knowing about them, all he wanted to do was go and put his arm around her and have everyone know she was his- but he couldn't.

He saw her stop talking to Nate, he watched as she went up the stairs, presumably to her room.

"Now's your chance, go and see her" Serena nudged him.

Chuck walked over to the stairs, careful not to draw to much attention to himself and followed Blair up to her room.

He opened the door and saw her back facing him, she was lying on her bed. She had obviously heard him come in as she sat up and turned to face him.

"Finally" she sighed but smiled to let him now she wasn't really angry. He walked over and sat down next to her.

"Hey...I saw you talking to Nate"

She realised why he seemed a little distant, he obviously felt slightly uncomfortable about Nate.

"Talking? I think you mean dying, it was horrible."

He looked up as if to ask why.

"I think he wants to get back together with me" Blair saw Chucks emotions change negatively so she was quick to explain "Of course I said no. You have to know Chuck," she paused to make sure the words would be right "that you are the most important thing to me now. I would never even think about getting back together with Nate."

"I know, it's just hard sneaking around. I just want to be with you Blair, that's not too much to ask is it?"

"No, I'm sorry, I'll fix everything don't worry." once again the conversation she was having was not going where she wanted it to be.

She turned to face Chuck better "I love the flowers."

He laughed "I thought you would."

"They were very classy, I'm rather impressed with you Chuck Bass."

He smirked "You haven't seen anything yet"

She smiled as she could see his walls coming down again, "Well how about you impress me further" she grabbed the front of his suit and pulled him closer so she could get the kiss she had been waiting for all night. She tried to keep the upper hand but as soon as his lips touched hers she melted away into her favourite place to be.

Nate stood annoyed downstairs, his conservation with Blair hadn't gone as he had intended. He didn't quite know how he felt about Blair, he just knew he didn't like being without her, he didn't like being on his own. He did know that he needed to do something about it, he put his glass down on the table when he noticed something that caught his attention. He noticed Chucks name on a card in an arrangement of flowers. He thought he was surely wrong, he looked around to see if anyone was looking then reached to get the card. He couldn't quite believe what he was reading. What the hell? Were his only thoughts, Blair with Chuck? - there was no way. He wanted to know whether this was a mistake or not, it had to be.

He remembered Blair going up to her room, he pushed his way past some of the guests to try to find her- or Chuck.

He walked down the corridor and reached Blairs door, he decided he wouldn't mention it first, he would see whether she wanted him back or not. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

2 minutes earlier...

Chuck was becoming more and more frustrated with the amount of clothes they both had on. He ripped his bow-tie off and continued to kiss down Blairs chest, he was seriously enjoying the way Blair was reacting to his touch. She seemed to become completely undone whenever she was with Chuck, its like her senses took over and all rational thought was lost. She tugged at his collar and moaned when she couldn't get her hands on his skin, she was completely unaware of anything going on outside of just them.

However suddenly Blairs stomach twisted with horror, the last thing in the very world she would want to see right now, was her ex-boyfriend stood with a face like thunder watching her make-out with his best friend. And yet this was what she was faced with...

"What the fuck are you doing?" Nate yelled as he pulled Chuck off of Blair.

Chuck grimaced as he snapped out of his previously involved mood and realised just how bad this situation was.

"Nathaniel, wait, this isn't-" He didn't have time to continue as he felt the force of Nate's fist hit the side of his face, he had seen it coming but he thought it would have been better to let Nate get it out of his system.

Blair scrambled off the bed panicked "Leave him alone!" she grabbed his arm in case he decided to hit Chuck again. Nate turned to Blair in disgust and pulled her arm off him aggressively causing her to cry out in pain.

Before he could do anything else Chuck had grabbed his shirt and slammed him with full force against Blairs wall. "Don't you dare fucking touch her!" Chucks thoughts were clear
now- he was fuming, neither Blair nor Nate had ever seen him like that.

"Get off me Chuck, this is between me and Blair" Nate tried to push Chuck off him but had no success.

Chuck had never felt such anger for his best-friend, to see him physically hurt Blair brought out such rage within him it was unbelievable. He tried to calm himself down as he realised this was Blairs Birthday. He didn't want her seeing this "If you touch one hair on her head. I will kill you." He took his grip off Nate and turned to face Blair to see whether she was ok. She had a complete look of shock and worry on her face.

She had no idea what to say, she stood motionless. Chuck sensed how she was feeling and decided to take charge of the situation himself.

"We can't do this here" he said

"Well where do you suggest you find out your best friend is sleeping with your ex-girlfriend?" Nate asked angrily

"Outside." Chuck gestured.

Chuck and Nate stormed out onto the street below Blairs penthouse, neither knew what to say first. Chuck had calmed slightly from his enraged state.

"How long?"he demanded

Chuck didn't really know how to answer "A while"

"While we were together?" Nate began to pace.

Chuck sighed "Yes. But look, we didn't plan any of it. It just happened"

"I can't believe this" Nate shook his head "We were going to get back together"

"No you weren't Nate, she wants to be with me. We just didn't know how to tell people"

"That's bullshit Chuck, you in a relationship?" he laughed spitefully "You haven't even got a relationship with your own family, why the hell would Blair want you over me."

"Honestly, I don't know. But she does, and I know you won't understand this. But I need her Nate"

"I know you better than anyone Chuck, there's no way you could have feelings for someone. I can see why Blair might have gone with you as a rebound, but c'mon you know she means nothing to you. You'll never protect her, you'll never be there for her" Nate spat out as he mocked Chucks note to Blair.

"You don't know me!"Chucks anger had now returned "You don't even care. You can't even begin to understand the way I feel about her" he was nearly shaking with frustration

"Well how do you feel then! Big man, Chuck Bass. C'mon, enlighten me!"

"I love her!" he shouted at Nate before he could think.

Nate stared in confusion "You don't love her"

Chuck ran his hand through his hair, he had said he loved her. It should have shocked him, it should have terrified him, but it didn't. For so long he had been missing something from his life, he had been missing something within him, and suddenly it had all fallen into place.

"Yes I do." He nodded his head "I'm sorry about all of this, I am. But Blair wants me too. She's the most important thing to me." He slowed down his next few words to savour them "and I'm in love with her"

Nate looked at Chuck, still confused. But Chuck could see everything clearly now, it was Blairs birthday, and the party may have been ruined but he had just received the best gift of all, he realised he could, and was, in love.

A/N- That was so long! I really hope you all liked it, I know I loved writing it 3
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