A/N: This chapter is short by my standards, but I want to have all the room I need for the next scene I have in mind. Also, this allows me to update tonight which is awesome since I also wrote a one-shot this week. :lol: I'm on a ROLL, Baby! :D I hope you like this. We are, in technical timeline terms, between "Seventeen Candles" and "Blair Waldorf Must Pie," so this is pretty much all me, except for… well, you'll know when you see it. ;) Enjoy.

Special Thanks: Tatiana for giving this a quick once over. :hug:

Disclaimer: I don't own Blair, Chuck, or Gossip Girl. If I did, Blair would realize that Nate is a whiney baby and Chuck is all the man a girl could ever need.

Warnings: Rated T but may change to M in later chapters.

IF ONLY

Chapter 10

"Speechless"

When the elevator opened on Serena's floor, Chuck and Blair slowly inched toward the open door. She tried to break their floor-spanning kiss with a giggle, but didn't fight him when he backed her against the gap where the doors were hidden and kissed her again. After a moment, the door behind her bumped into her, breaking the mood by reminding her they were exposed to whoever decided to walk down the hall.

Pulling away gently, she spoke as strongly as she could without catching her breath, which was basically a whisper, "Chuck, stop."

His mouth moved to her neck and he peppered the area with kisses, responding between pecks, "At least try to sound convincing, Blair."

Stifling a moan from the sensation of his tongue against her skin, she growled, "I mean it, Chuck… stop." She pushed him away abruptly, "Someone could see us!"

When his back collided with the other side of the door opening, he lifted hurt, frustrated eyes to hers, "You make it sound like you don't want to be seen with me." The condescending sneer on his face made her heart clench in her chest, "Why's that? You afraid that N--"

"Think before you say what you're about to say, Bass," she cut him off, "You were the one who, only minutes ago, was worried about Nate finding out, not me." His insecurity was disconcerting, his face wary of trusting her words and eyes studying the floor, but she pushed on, "Do you want one of the maids to tip off Gossip Girl and break the news to him? You, of all people, know how hands-on they can be." Her reasoning seemed to calm the storm brewing in his expression, so she approached and pushed a loose strand of hair out of his eyes.

The soft touch brought his downcast eyes to hers, "I just…" He threw his hands up in the air, "Whatever." Raising an eyebrow, he chuckled sarcastically, "Since we're being surreptitious about the situation, I guess it's best that we didn't go out to breakfast this morning."

"Unfortunately, yes," a smile lifted her lips as she considered her options and settled on one that would work for both of them. "But, dinner at my penthouse wouldn't be out of the question."

The struggle on his face against smiling was humorous, he seemed to be trying so hard not to show emotion after his outburst, "Dinner it is, then." Giving her a chaste kiss on the lips, he added, "It'll probably take me until then to convince Nathaniel that your break-up was a good thing, anyway."

Her tone was dry as she rolled her eyes, "It works out perfectly, then." Leaning in and pressing a kiss to his cheek, she whispered, "I'll see you at seven."

Turning from him, she rounded the corner and approached Serena's door. It was only a moment after she knocked that her best friend opened the door, a less than pleased look on her face. Ignoring her friend's sour disposition, Blair greeted her with a smile and flounced into the suite, taking her place on the sofa. Once her skirt was arranged satisfactorily, she looked up to see the blonde staring down at her. "So, S, what's have you been up to this morning?"

"Funny," Serena spoke with a cautious tone, "I was going to ask you the same thing, B… after you left the party last night, you didn't answer your phone and you didn't show up here, so where were you?"

Trying to remain in control and not give anything away, she answered the expected question swiftly, "Actually, I did come by here, but you weren't home. And Nate was here looking for me."

Now looking concerned, rather than perturbed, Serena took a seat next to Blair on the couch, placing her hand on Blair's arm, "Did you guys get back together?"

Recoiling at the thought, Blair spat, "After Gossip Girl published pictures of him with some skank?" She sighed, "No. It's over… for good this time. I finally feel like I'm free of him."

This was obviously not what the blonde expected to hear, "So, where were you if you weren't with him all night?" Her worry turned to suspicion, "Not at home, because I called Darota."

Now was the time to get defensive, so Blair tried to be as vague as possible: "A friend gave me a ride home and I was with them all night." She turned her head and pulled out her mirror to check her reflection so that she'd have somewhere else to direct her gaze.

The compact fell from to the floor when Serena grabbed her forearm with both hands and shook it slightly. "I know all your friends, B. What aren't you telling me? And why?" Her eyes were pleading, "You know you can tell me anything."

Blair's head kept telling her to be nonchalant, to not give anything away. Attempting to look bored with the conversation, she rolled her eyes, "What am I supposed to be telling you, S? You obviously know better than I do what you want me to say."

"All I want to know is why you were M.I.A. all night…" The blonde's fingers suddenly became uncomfortably tight on her arm and a glance at Serena's eyes confirmed that it was the exact second she noticed the bauble around Blair's neck. "And where you got that necklace."

Blair opened her mouth to explain, "I--"

"Don't tell me it was a gift from someone at the party." Serena cut her off, "You left before the presents were opened and they're all in my bedroom. If it wasn't your mom and it wasn't Nate, who would give you something that expensive?"

Blair sighed in frustration. Usually Serena was easy to distract, but today she was unusually astute in her observations; it was incredibly annoying. "Just come out with it. I'm tired of playing 'Twenty Questions,' S."

The blonde must have realized that there would be no confession, so she did as she was asked. "Blair, I saw you… getting out of the elevator with Chuck a few minutes ago." Checking to see if Blair would react, she continued when the brunette stayed silent: "I saw the two of you… kissing."

The combination of disgust and accusation in Serena's voice really angered Blair. Was the golden slut of the Upper East Side actually ashamed of her? "So?"

"So…" Serena continued carefully, "What's going on, B?" She put an arm around the brunette and continued, "You know I'm the last person to judge anyone, but Chuck?"

That was the last straw; the revulsion in her best friend's voice caused Blair to spring from her seat to stand over the blond. "Congratulations, you figured it out," she threw up her hands and shouted, "I slept with Chuck Bass." At the way her friend's eyes bugged out, she continued, "What's the big deal? Upset that you didn't get to sleep with him first?"

Serena jumped from her seat and took Blair's shoulders in her hands, "YOU SLEPT WITH HIM?! Blair!" Emphasizing the brunette's name with a slight shake, she wailed, "I thought you wanted to wait… that you wanted it to be special!"

Taking a step back, Blair let the blonde's hands drop from her and snarled, "You're in no position to judge me, S. When I needed you, the night that Nate and I broke up, you were off in Brooklyn with Cabbage Patch, but Chuck was there for me. He always has been, even when you fled town after sleeping with my boyfriend." She paused in her tirade to stomp over, retrieve her fallen mirror, and shove it into her purse. When she looked up, Serena was still silent in shock, so she persisted with her story: "So, I went to Victrola, and he offered me an ear if I needed one… or a way to forget if I wanted one."

Purse in hand, she started towards the door, but turned to face her friend with self-satisfaction in her eyes, "And, not that it's any of your business, but that night was extremely special to me. So, yes, he's the one who drove me home last night. He's the one who gave me this necklace. And he's the person that I trusted enough to give what Nate couldn't be bothered with."

Standing at the door, Blair waited for some kind of response. She knew her best friend had never been all that sharp and the information must have been entirely too much for her to process, but Blair was pissed off by her reaction to the news, so she didn't care. After watching her friend staring blankly ahead for a few seconds, it was amusing to her that all Serena could ask was, "Two nights in a row?"

Opening the door and walking through it, Blair snickered, "Yeah; and you better get used to it, because the chances are tonight's going to be the third." She pulled door shut behind her, causing a soft thud when it closed and headed back to the elevator. Feeling like she had finally given her friend her due for her past transgressions, she skipped into the car and pressed the button for the lobby. She had a dinner guest to go home and prepare for.

A/N: So, I'm sure you spotted what wasn't totally mine. :P But, did you enjoy it? I really wanted to slap Serena in "Blair Waldorf Must Pie" for her reaction to BC, so I guess this was my revenge. :lol: Let me know what you thought, okay?