Chuck Bass sat in a cramped, uncomfortable chair in the tiny police station in a suburb of Houston. He tried to suppress his grin as he watched the good ole boy police officers with their cowboy hats strutting around the office as if they had too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Chuck couldn't imagine that that was anywhere near the truth.

His foot tapped restlessly where it was resting on his knee. He wanted to get up and pace. He needed to move but he was afraid that if he drew too much attention to himself, the 'cowboy' officers would try to engage him in conversation and he certainly didn't want that.

Drawing in a deep breath and sighing heavily as he exhaled, he glanced at the Rolex on his wrist and sighed again. Mike had been gone for over an hour. Too long. He had been gone too long.

Chuck Bass didn't do waiting.

His eyes fell to the chair beside him and he cursed under his breath at its emptiness. Blair should be in that chair. Blair was supposed to be in that chair, waiting impatiently right along beside him. That was how it SHOULD be.

He had been on his own, a once again single man, for a little over a week now, although if he were honest with himself, he had been alone a lot longer than that. It had been months since he felt close to her. Months since he stopped feeling the way he used to feel when he looked at her.

And he missed her. He missed her so badly it felt like a physical ache in his chest sometimes. Missed her so badly he found it hard to get himself out of bed each day.

And more than that, he was tired. Tired of all the do-gooders and well-wishers. Tired of telling people he was fine. Tired of lying to the people he cared about. Lily hadn't believed him anyway, neither had Serena. He wasn't sure about Nate. Nate was riding so high on his own bliss at his upcoming wedding that very little sank into his brain beyond it. And Chuck couldn't begrudge him that. He wanted nothing more than to see his best friend happy. In all honesty, he was grateful Nate's distraction. The last thing he needed was another person trying to mother him. Serena and Lilly were almost more than he could take.

But what really bothered him about the whole thing was the ease at which the world went on spinning on its axis. Everything kept moving. Despite the fact that Chuck's entire world had fallen down around him, it hadn't affected the rest of the world at all. That seemed wrong to him. It seemed like there should have been more of an impact on the world at large.

He shifted, sitting up straighter and craning his neck as the tiny bell above the door sounded out over the bustle happening around him. Mike walked in with a local officer and he immediately began to search the room for Chuck.

Chuck held his breath, trying desperately to gauge the news simply from the look on his friend's face, but he couldn't get a read on him. Mike had one of the best poker faces Chuck had ever seen.

Getting cautiously to his feet, Chuck stepped around the half wall that separated the room and made his way towards him.

Then his footsteps halted so abruptly that he nearly stumbled. The clanging of the bell above the door sounded out again, bringing his attention there and in the next instant the entire world around him faded from his view.

There was another local police officer standing in the doorway, a female officer with long blond hair pulled tightly into a neat bun at the back of her head. She was a small woman, Chuck guessed she wasn't much more than five feet and some change. She was wearing the same khaki colored uniform as the rest of the officers. Her shirt was decorated by the same thin black tie as everyone else. The only thing that made her different, the thing that made her stand out in Chuck's mind was the tiny hand wrapped around that tie.

The tiny hand that lead to the arm that lead to the shoulder, that lead to the body of Eve. She looked different, of course. There was no way she could not have changed in the four and half months she'd been gone. She had more hair, for one thing. A head full of dark brown colored hair, in fact. The hand that wasn't wrapped around the officer's tie was curled into a fist and planted firmly in her mouth. Her head was resting on the woman's shoulder and her eyes were nearly closed in sleepiness.

Chuck couldn't make his body move. His feet weren't listening to his commands. And he suddenly realized why. He had dreamed this scenario over and over in the last months, so many times it was a scene permanently etched into his brain. And in the dream, every time he got close, every time he reached out to her, she disappeared. Gone before his fingers could touch her entirely too soft skin, gone before he could wrap her in his arms and feel her wiggling against his chest.

He couldn't do it again. He couldn't make himself get close enough to her to make her disappear again. Maybe if he just stood still, he could continue to watch her for a while without her going anywhere.

Mike was suddenly beside him, concern written all over his face. " Tell me it's her." He insisted worriedly.

Chuck tore his eyes away from the baby long enough to glance at his friend and nod. " It's her." He confirmed.

At the sound of his voice, the baby picked her head up from the woman's shoulder and began to glance around the room. She smiled and gurgled as her eyes found his and he felt all the air leave his body.

He must have staggered from the sudden loss because Mike put his hand on his elbow to steady him, though how he could have staggered without moving was beyond him.

" So what are you waiting for ?" Mike asked, " Go get your daughter."

He started to move forward, before stopping and glancing back at the big man. " Is she okay ?"

" Healthy as a horse as near we can tell. We are going to need to get her checked out at the hospital just in case, but I thought we'd stop here first and let you take her." He replied.

The woman was walking towards him now and he was grateful that she had taken the initiative and decided to bring the baby to him instead. Chuck wasn't sure he could make the journey on his own.

She stopped right in front of him and paused as she searched his face, waiting for him to make the next more.

His arms came out instinctively as soon as she was within his reach and he pulled the baby from her arms and into his chest.

Eve came willingly as if she still remembered exactly who he was and what she meant to him. She snuggled into his chest and let her eyes become droopy once again. Chuck watched her in awed disbelief as he carefully cradled her against him.

" Georgina ?" Chuck asked, looking around for Mike again.

" She is in custody and being processed as we speak." He answered.

" And Jack ?"

Mike shook his head. " No sign of him but they have a detail on the house for now. The neighbors say they haven't ever seen anyone else around the house. Looks he just gave her Eve and disappeared."

" That sounds like Jack." Chuck muttered and wasn't able to say anything else as Eve looked up at him and yawned.

" We'll find him, Chuck. I promise." Mike reassured him.

" She won't really be safe until we do." Chuck agreed.

Blair Waldorf-Bass was a mess. She had been a mess for longer than she could remember, but it seemed the last week had been worse. She threw the blankets back and sat up on the side of her bed as someone began knocking at her door.

" What is it ?" She demanded tiredly but with just enough bit to let whoever was disturbing her know she didn't want to be disturbed.

The door creaked open slowly and Dorota entered the room carefully. " It's time to take your medicine." She informed her as she came to the side of the bed and handed her a small cup with three pills inside and a glass of water.

Blair took them dutifully, tossing back the pills before downing half the glass of water. She was incredibly thirsty lately.

" Miss Blair, we should go out this afternoon. Maybe we go shopping, Maybe some new shoes make you feel better." Dorota tried though she knew the effort was wasted.

" I'm not really feeling up to going out." Blair told her predictably and got back into bed, securing the blankets around her as she did.

" Is not good for you to lay in bed all day, Miss Blair. We should go out." Dorota insisted.

" I'm not going anywhere, Dorota." Blair said firmly.

" How about dinner ? Will you at least eat something ?"

The younger woman huffed in exasperation and gave the maid her most frightening glare.

" Fine," She announced finally as she threw up her hands.

She turned to leave but stopped half way to the door. " Mr. Chuck is coming by in a while. He said it was important. Should I tell him you don't want to see him ?"

Blair shifted, sitting up abruptly amidst the blankets and eying Dorota suspiciously. " This isn't just some trick to get me out of bed, is it ?" She asked.

" It's no trick. He said he'd be here as soon as he got back in town. He said to tell you to wait up even if it gets late." Dorota answered.

Blair raised a shaky hand and ran it through the tangled mess of her hair. " When did he call ?"

" About an hour ago. I tried to tell you he was on the phone, but you were sleeping and I couldn't get you to wake up."

" What should I do ?" Blair muttered mostly to herself.

" You should get up, take a shower, get something to eat and wait for him in your best dress." Dorota answered quickly.

Blair her an uncertain look. " Do you think he's coming here to talk about us ?"

Dorota came back to the side of the bed and gave her a gentle look. " Maybe. He sounded.."

Blair blinked at her expectantly. " What ? How did he sound ?"

" Happy. He sounded very happy." She said finally after trying for several moments to find the right words.

" You don't think this is about Eve ?" Blair asked. " I swear if he's coming here to tell me about another lead that isn't going to pan out, you can tell him I'm not taking visitors."

" Miss Blair, what if one day one of the leads does pan out ? What if he finds her ?"

" He isn't going to find her. She's gone." The tears were stinging her eyes again and she brushed at them violently. She was so tired of crying all the time. So tired of the empty, hallow feeling that seemed to consume her every waking minute. She just wanted things to be normal again. And she knew if she kept holding on to the hope that Eve was still out there somewhere, things would never be normal.

Dorota almost reached out a hand to touch her but thought better of it at the last moment. She wasn't sure how Blair would react. Lately, it seemed she didn't want to be touched by anyone, for any reason.

Finally with a heavy sigh, Dorota turned away from Blair and left the room.

It did get late. Then it got later still with no sign of Chuck and Blair was becoming irritated. She had gotten out of bed, taken a shower and even willed herself into some make up and heels. Her Dior hugged rather loosely, but it wasn't as bad as she had expected it to be. She was putting aside the fact that the dress in question was one she only reserved for days when she was feeling especially skinny. Meaning, under normal circumstances when things like how she looked mattered to her, it was a tightly fitting dress. Now it hung on her scarecrow frame rather awkwardly.

She stuck out her chin and refused to acknowledge that anything was wrong with the dress.

She had already very nearly worn a hole in the carpet between the elevator doors and the sitting room. Her nails were little more than nubs and she could tell that her constant nervous fidgeting was driving Dorota mad.

Still, No Chuck. One o'clock in the morning and there had been nothing from him, not even a phone call.

Standing with a perturbed grunt of disgust, she gathered her drink and drained it before sitting it on the table beside her and nodding to Dorota.

" I'm going to bed." She announced. " This is ridiculous. Its typical Chuck. He's playing with me, getting back at me. Well, I'm a grown up now and these games are tiresome. If he shows up at all, tell him I said to go to Hell."

Dorota blinked at her in sudden shocked surprise and got slowly to her feet as if she was afraid of startling her. " Miss Blair," She breathed in a watered down voice backed up by tears brimming her eyes. " You are in there."