Hello! Happy Holidays! I just handed in my last assignment of the year and my goal for this week before I hit the big crazy of the Christmas days (Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing day), I'm going to try to be a good little fic writer and update a bunch of stuff. That way Santa will for SURE bring me the pony I've always wanted! Oh, and I wrote this thing, it's a long chapter for me, and I didn't proof it. It's the season to be forgiving. Here we go…
Blair carefully opened the door and crept across the dim room. It had been a disaster of a night and she hadn't slept a wink, but as always, just looking at Harry seemed to sooth her. He lay flopped on his side with his arms stretched out in front of him, as if he had just been spilled out of a barrel. He slept like Chuck. He slept like his father. Easing herself down onto the side of the bed, Blair just sat and looked at him for long moments before gently stroking the hair, made damp from sleep, off his forehead.
She hadn't always made the best, or what someone would consider the right, decisions regarding Harry, but she loved him with everything in her, and everything she had done since he was born had been with him in mind. Harry was the one person who had ever pushed Chuck into a secondary consideration.
Right now Chuck was more of a royal pain in her ass than a consideration. The events of Chuck's home office started to flit through her head.
Last night…
"You've lost your mind." She declared as she stared at the contract he'd shoved across the desk at her.
"Arguable." He said noncommittally.
"Wouldn't divorcing me be easier?" She snapped, grabbing up the contract and starting to porous it.
"Too easy. Plus, if history has taught us nothing, you and I are stuck with each other."
She flinched inside at his tone that made it clear that it was a negative to him. On the outside she was like ice as she began to read the contract. "I won't do this."
"There is always the other tit for tat option…"
She felt a cold chill run down her back at even the idea of not seeing Harry for at three years. She tried to reason with him to get him off this track. "Chuck, another child isn't the answer."
"Maybe… the years you stole from me with Harry… I can never get back. It is only a partial compensation. Like I said… I could have just taken my son from you for the equal amount of years… but this is new deal is what I'm offering. You have two choices, Blair. Agree to the second child… or forfeit Harry for the next three years."
"You are such an asshole." She said going back to carefully reading all the fine print.
"I believe you mean Bass-hole."
Not looking up she addressed him. "No. No this time I mean a regular asshole. I should divorce you for even suggesting this."
"That isn't one of your options. Harry stays with me… one way or another."
"Chuck…" She warned, not liking his threatening tone, and now using one of her own.
"Relax… But know that they'll be no divorce… unless initiated by me. Like I've said, you're lucky that you've made yourself and Harry a package deal. If it were anything else I would have thrown your sweet ass out hours ago." He derided.
Hating him, she had to fight not to clench her hands on the contract too tightly. She had to try to give as little emotion away as possible. After carefully reading the contract Blair scrawled her signature across the page and then dropped it back on the desk before him with an air of victory.
"What?"
"It says I'll go off birth control and not use any other methods of contraception… it doesn't indicate that I ever have to have sex with you again."
"You're wagering on me not being able to get you into bed?" He asked like she'd lost her mind.
"No means no, Chuck." She said with a cool smile.
"Hasn't it always when it comes to you?" He reminded, having never forced her into sex in all their history together. Tricked, yes, but never forced. "Do you really think you can hold out? You've got a great many fertile years left… Too many to go celibate."
"Unlike you, I am capable of a little thing called restraint."
"Good luck with that, lover." He said with the total belief that he could have her at any time.
Sensing this, Blair laid the bate of an out clause. "Care to make a counter wager?"
Seeing that cunning look in her eyes, Chuck sat up a little straighter in his chair, trying to read her and trying to figure out what she was up to.
"If I'm not pregnant within the next six months… you let me go… with a joint custody agreement for Harry."
A malicious chuckle broke from him. "You have nothing to negotiate with. I hold all the cards…"
"Let's be honest here, Bass. As much as you threaten, you know legally, and with the help of my fathers, I could easily retain custody. If a judge compared my history to yours? On paper there would be only one answer. You'd be lucky to get an invite to his graduation from Yale." She said with an evil innocence.
Blair watched as the knuckles of Chuck's hands turned white as the lay clasped together on his desk. Good. She was getting under the Mother Chucker's skin for a change. When she saw the muscle tick in his jaw she knew she had him.
"Fine. If I cannot get you pregnant in the next six months using consensual, passionate methods… I'll agree to let you go… with the provision that we must both reside under the same roof for the next six month, and after said period we would both agree to remain in Manhattan to facilitate an equal joint custody arrangement of Harry."
"Agreed." Blair said, feeling like somehow she'd managed, against all odds, to win tonight.
As she got up from her chair, ready to make a hasty exit, his voice stopped her.
"I wouldn't look so please with myself if I were you, Waldorf…"
"Why not? Six months… and you'll lose all your trumps. Voila!" She smiled happily, her shoulders rocking from side to side
He stood up and moved faster than she expected to come around his desk and roughly pull her into his arms. She stood still as a statue, not moving and not looking at him. The arms that had held her tightly a minute ago, now caressed her, and as she stared at a lamp across the room she felt his breath softly against her jaw.
"Really, Waldorf? You really think you can hold out…" He now whispered against her ear, before taking the lobe into his mouth and sucking gently.
Payless. Payless. Payless. Blair thought in her head as she tried to remain unmoved.
Dulling her eyes she turned her head to look at him. "Are you about done?"
Chuck smiled knowingly, but let her go. It took a supreme effort but Blair managed not to go running from the room. Instead she walked out steadily, went up to the master suite and calmly locked the door. Then she jumped up and down, and screamed into a pillow for the next five minutes.
A half hour later, as she sat at her vanity combing out her hair, she heard the handle to the bedroom door rattle.
"Blair…" Chuck said warningly.
Blair got up and stomped over to the door and gleefully told him through it. "I agreed to living under the same roof, Chuck, I never said under the same sheets. Enjoy the guest room!"
She smiled with satisfaction as she heard hit let out a string of curses.
"Uh, uh, uhhh!" She chirped. "Vulgarity is hardly likely to get me in the mood. Goodnight, Bass."
She jumped, as a hand seemed to fall hard against the door. His tone was remarkably civil when he did speak. "Goodnight, Waldorf."
She pressed her ear against the door till she heard his footsteps walk away, and then checked the lock with a nod of satisfaction. She told herself the next six months were just going to fly by. Tomorrow on the other hand…
The next morning…
Harry stirring beside her brought Blair out of her reverie, and her eyes regained their focus just as his opened.
"Mornin', Mama…" He grumbled as he stretched and reached out to her.
Blair smiled as she took him into her arms and pulled him onto her lap. He was getting so big, she thought, and it made her remember the tiny little being she'd first held in her arms. It also prompted her to use her baby nickname for him, one that he had tried to banish since his third birthday.
"Good morning, Hare-Bear."
"Mama…" He groaned as he buried his face in her chest. "That's a baby name."
"I'm sorry." She teased back. "How careless of me to forget."
She felt him nod against her, and she wished that she didn't have to have this conversation. She thought about lying, and would have if she believed she could get away with it. But it was time for the truth and both father and son deserved it.
"Harry…" Blair began, shifting him slightly away from her so she could see his face. "Harry, since you're not a baby anymore… Mommy needs to have a serious conversation with you. Can you do that with me?"
The sleepiness vanished from his expression as he put on his most serious look. "Is this about the play dough in the toilet?"
"What?" Blair's eyebrow quirked.
"Nothing!" He said too quickly.
She shook her head to ignore the new distraction and got back to the seriousness of the conversation.
"Harry, do you remember when we lived with Jack?"
He nodded gravely. Those had not been happy days for either mother or son.
"Do you remember when I told you it didn't matter? That it didn't matter if Jack was… distant or mean…
He nodded again, his brown eyes like giant saucers. "Uh huh. You said it didn't matter because Jack wasn't my Daddy."
"Right." She said reaching up to run a soothing hands through his hair. "Do you remember what else I said?"
The little head bobbed again, because he head clung to her words through all the cold things Jack had said and done. "You said Jack was not a nice man and could never have been my Daddy because I'm so wonderful. You said my real Daddy was wonderful like me, and he would never say the stuff Jack did."
"Exactly." Blair took a breath. "Harry… You like Chuck, right? He's pretty wonderful… to you… right?"
Harry nodded, and given who his parents were, was putting the hints together at a rapid rate despite his young age.
"Chuck is my Daddy?" Harry asked with such a light and hope in his eyes that it nearly made Blair shed the tears in her eyes.
She was taken aback at how relieve and happy she was that this news seemed to be good news to Harry. She sighed and for a moment she couldn't look him in the eyes, but forced herself too.
"Yes, Harry, Chuck is your Daddy."
It was like she'd told him everyday was going to be Christmas, and she could feel the excitement in his small body… and then his Bass-ness came out and he scowled at her.
"Why hasn't he always been with us?"
Blair sighed again, not wanting to open that can of worms for the moment, and not wanting Harry to be the first person, other than Dorota and Serena, that she told. But this was it. This was going to be the foundation for Harry and Chuck's relationship and for Harry's sake, and all of their sakes; she wanted it to be good and true.
"That's a longer story, but for now the most important thing is that he's here, he's not going anywhere, and he loves you. Harry, your Daddy loves you so much."
For now that satisfied the little boy and he threw himself at her, hugging her tight with happiness.
"Well done, Mama! Chuck is WAAAAYYY better than Jack!" He declared before his eyes shot wider. "I have to pee!"
She let him slip from her arms and run to the adjoining bathroom, and placed her hands in her lap before squeezing them together tightly. At least Harry was happy.
Her back was to the door and she didn't see the shadow that lurked there. Hearing a sound she turned and saw the door had been left slightly ajar, with a view into the empty hall. Ignoring the shiver that chased down her spine, she called out to her son.
"Oh, and Harry?"
"Yes, Mama?"
"We're going to discuss that play dough in the toilet later."
TahDAH! There we go, and you can thank some of the readers over on gossipgirlsss for their gentle encouragement of a chapter. Have I told you? Have I told you about how much I hate myself for like how Blair and Dan play off each other? Dirty, dirty, dirty of me. No worries. I know I am a Chair… with all my heart. Oh, and WTF? January 24? TOO long! Sigh. I'm SOOO looking forward to the second half of the season.