Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to Cecily von Zeigesar and The CW.

Those of you that have stuck with me through this story, I owe you a gigantic thank you.

"Mom, Daddy, why are you home so early?" Charlotte inquired as she came home from school a few days later to see her parents talking quietly in the dining room. On occasion her father would duck out of his office and greet his children as they returned from their school days, but never was her mother home and never did they have such serious expressions on her face. "Is everything alright?"

"Daddy has something to tell you, Charlotte," Blair bit her lip as she looked towards her husband. The guilt was written all over his face. He'd been dreading this moment since he'd been given the news a few hours earlier.

"What's wrong?" Charlotte asked as she took a seat. She instantly feared that perhaps one of her grandparents was ill, most likely Lily. That would certainly be the worst news she could receive and explain the somber expressions on her parents faces, particularly her father's.

"I was given some news today," Chuck began as he reached for his daughter's hand with his free one, "Evan's mother is in the hospital."

"That awful Georgina," Charlotte replied, "Why?"

"She was found unconscious in a hotel room in Lower Manhattan," Chuck replied, "It appears that she overdosed."

"Is she going to be okay?" Charlotte inquired as her father raised her hand to his lips and kissed it softly.

"It's too soon to know for sure," Blair spoke up as Chuck became a loss for words.

"There is something else that you need to know, Charlotte," Chuck replied as he found his voice again. As Charlotte looked at him with her doe eyes, his voice faltered once more.

"Daddy, just tell me," Charlotte requested.

"I had Georgina brought to see me a few days ago. I wanted to make it clear that if she caused you any pain as a result of her relationship with her son, that I would do anything within my power to make her life miserable," Chuck replied.

"And Daddy thinks he might be directly responsible for Georgina's overdose," Blair added as once again Chuck's voice faltered. Blair hated how hard he was being on himself. She knew that Georgina had been spiraling towards this moment for most of her life. That she hadn't ended up in the hospital before then had been a miracle.

"So Daddy gave Georgina the drugs," Charlotte concluded.

"No," Chuck's eyes went wide at his daughter's thought.

"Daddy, I don't understand how you could be responsible then," Charlotte frowned, "Evan says that she's been in and out of rehab since he was a little boy. He said it's just going to be a matter of time before he got a call from his brother saying that she was in the hospital or the morgue."

"Charlotte's right," Blair chimed in, "Georgina has been looking for any excuse to lose it. You might have given her a nudge, but she's been heading towards this inevitable conclusion since before you and I ever knew her. You may have been party to her life style, but you certainly didn't start her down this path nor did you give her the push this time."

"Tell that to Fred and Evan," Chuck replied as he stood up from the table and exited the room.

"I should call Evan," Charlotte stated.

"That's a good idea," Blair nodded, "He's going to need your support."

"What about Daddy?" Charlotte inquired.

Blair smiled warmly at her daughter. She was every bit the adoring 'Daddy's Little Girl' that she had been since birth. The number one man in her life was still her father, despite the other man in her life that was making an attempt to lay claim to that title. Blair suddenly realized that although her daughter was fond of the young man, Evan wasn't going to be the leading man in her life forever. Charlotte had been right in saying that Evan was her Nate. He was her safe first dip into the world of dating.

"Don't worry about Daddy right now," Blair smiled, "Go call Evan. I'm sure he'll be in need of a good friend right now."

"Okay," Charlotte nodded after taking a few moments to contemplate her options.

"Blair, I know what you're going to say, and I appreciate the effort," Chuck began as a familiar hand pulled the glass of vodka out of his and set it aside.

"What are you really worried about?" Blair inquired as she began massaging his shoulders as he looked out the picture window of his study, "The sudden turn Georgina's tale has taken is tragic, we both know that you are not responsible for it."

"I don't believe that it is a coincidence that she ended up in the hospital not even a week after our conversation," Chuck replied.

"Did you load the syringe for her? Did you push the drugs into her system?" Blair pressed.

"No, but . . ." Chuck began.

"No buts," Blair cut him off with a finger to his lips, "This is Georgina Sparks. This was bound to happen. Tipping point or not, she made her choice. You were only doing what you thought was best for our daughter."

"If I'd spoken to you first, you would have talked me out of it, and this never would have happened," Chuck insisted.

"What makes you think I would have talked you out of it?" Blair replied, "My anger regarding your meeting with Georgina was strictly based on the fact that you never told me what you were up to or that you would exclude me from the conversation. I never said that I disagreed with your tactic. I don't want Georgina anywhere near our daughter. As proven over the past few days, she is far from the positive influence I want my daughter exposed to."

"You don't think I went too far?" Chuck inquired as he swiveled around in his chair and pulled her into his lap.

"No," she shook her head, "You did what was necessary to protect Charlotte. Your original threat to Georgina when she was my roommate in college was much more harsh."

"If she doesn't make it through this, I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself," Chuck admitted.

"Don't say that, Bass," Blair scolded him, "I'm going to say this until I'm blue in the face, and then I'm going to bring in Charlotte to say the same thing. This is not your fault."

There was a timid knock at the study door that startled them both.

"Who is it?" Blair called out.

"Charlotte," their daughter called from the other side of the closed door.

"Come in, Sweetheart," Blair encouraged her, "Your daddy and I are decent."

Charlotte took a tentative step into her father's office. It had been her experience that her definition of decent was much different from her mother's. She let out a pronounced sigh of relief when she realized they were still fully clothed.

"What is it, Princess?" Chuck inquired as Blair rose off his lap.

"Would you mind if I wasn't home for dinner?" she asked, "I just spoke with Evan. He and Fred are at the hospital. He's pretty upset, and Magnus is on some Vanderbilt family bonding retreat. I think he needs some company. I'll be home by curfew, of course."

"I'll go with you, Sweetheart," Chuck offered.

"You don't have to," Charlotte replied, "I can go myself. Fred and his sister-in-law are there, and . . ."

"I'll stay out of his sister-in-law's sight," Chuck assured her.

"Okay," Charlotte nodded, "I'll just go get my bag. I already called Arthur. He said he'd have the car downstairs in a few minutes."

"Are you sure this is wise?" Blair inquired once she and Chuck were alone again.

"Charlotte is my first priority," Chuck told her.

"Just don't do anything silly," Blair cautioned him.

"Like confess?" Chuck offered with a sullen smile.

"Yes, that would be silly," she nodded, "You didn't do anything."

"I just want to be there for Charlotte," he insisted, "Aside from the few ear surgeries she had as a small girl and the trips to visit you after having Brice and Aiden, she's never spent any time in a hospital. They can be scary places when you aren't visiting the maternity wings."

"Okay," Blair sighed, "But if you get the urge . . ."

"I'll call you first so that you can talk me out of it," he assured her with a gentle kiss to her lips.

"Good," she replied as she pulled him to her to give him a deeper kiss. "Remember that it's a school night, so do not let Charlotte stay out too late. I love you, Bass."

"I love you too," Chuck nodded as he kissed her one more time before he joined Charlotte, who was waiting patiently at the elevator.

"Mister Bass, it wasn't necessary for you or Charlotte to come," Evan stated as he greeted his girlfriend's father with the familiar stutter as he shook Chuck's hand.

"Charlotte wanted to come," Chuck replied as he stepped back as Charlotte leaned in and kissed his cheek. "How is your mother?"

"The doctors don't really know yet," Evan replied as he slumped down in his chair again, "They're running all these tests and talking over all of our heads. All we really know is that Georgina is still unconscious, but breathing on her own. From the sound of things, that was pretty miraculous."

"If you'd like, I could call in the best in whatever field is needed," Chuck offered.

"How about a neurosurgeon to perform a lobotomy?" Evan spat out bitterly.

"Evan," Charlotte scolded him, "You do not mean that."

"If you could just find some sort of procedure that will erase the last forty-eight hours?" Evan sighed.

"Did something happen Evan that you haven't told me about?" Charlotte inquired.

Evan thought for a moment about the best way to approach the situation before he settled on the truth. "I had a run in with her on my way to school yesterday morning," he admitted, "She was high on lord knows what and talking like a crazy person. Her words all ran together and it was hard to make out what she was saying, but the general gist I was able to get out of it was that I was to leave Manhattan forever with her. It was supposedly safer that way. I lost my temper. I told her that I would never go will such a crazy woman. I told her that I wished that she wasn't my mother and that I was better off if she'd just died. I didn't mean it though. I was angry. I didn't think she'd actually listen to me. She never had before."

"Evan, did she O.D. on purpose?" Chuck pressed.

"We don't know," Evan admitted as a stray tear rolled down his cheek, "There was no note left as far as anyone is able to tell. The police are leaning towards accidental because of what was left in the room."

"Evan, the doctors are wanting to speak with us," Fred stated as he popped his head into the waiting room. He did a double take as he recognized the two additional visitors sitting next to his brother. "Oh, hello, Charlotte, Mister Bass."

"How's your mother, Mister Sparks?" Charlotte inquired as she rose to her feet as Chuck quickly extended his hand to Fred in greeting.

"She's regaining consciousness," Fred replied as Evan tried to discreetly wipe away the unshed tears in his eyes without having his brother notice. Fred generally kept a stiff upper lip when it came to issues concerning their mother. He was always admonishing Evan for being too soft. "The doctors need us to come to some sort of conclusion regarding her care. It's still too early to be certain, but it appears that she suffered a stroke and has some paralysis."

"We're very sorry to hear that," Chuck replied, "Is there anything that we can do for you?"

"Nothing at the moment," Fred shook his head, "But Evan, you need to come with me."

"Go ahead," Charlotte encouraged him, "We'll wait here for you."

Evan nodded as he squeezed her hand before he followed his brother. It was clear that he was in over his head.

As Chuck and Charlotte waited for Evan's return, Chuck's mind raced back to his father's accident. The parallels were unmistakable, yet there were definite differences. Chuck hadn't let Blair join him at the hospital. She wasn't waiting for him in the waiting room despite how much he knew she wanted to be there for him.

"What are you thinking about, Daddy?" Charlotte inquired as she observed her father for a few moments. She knew him so well that she could tell his mind was racing.

"Grandpa Bart," Chuck sighed, "And his accident."

"When he died," Charlotte added.

"I pushed everyone away in the days following," Chuck replied, "I couldn't handle everyone telling me what I was supposed to be feeling, how sad I must be that my father had passed away, but sadness wasn't an emotion that I was having. I felt guilty for that, so I drowned myself in whatever I could get my hands on."

"But Mom and Nate rescued you," Charlotte prompted him.

"For a little while," Chuck nodded, "It's hard to remember what thoughts were going through my head. I remember feeling safe with your mother that night I went to her, but as I watched her sleep I knew that I'd drag her down by staying."

"That's when you left," Charlotte nodded.

"To save your mother," Chuck replied as he grasped his daughter's hand and kissed it lightly, "I should have stayed. I didn't need to save your mother. I needed her to save me."

"Mom always says that you saved yourself," Charlotte smiled.

"She saved me," Chuck corrected his daughter. Before he could elaborate, Evan returned to the room looking like he'd just been run over by a Mac truck. Charlotte didn't hesitate as she went and embraced him.

"The doctor says that she may never fully recover. When she's a little better, they want to move her to an assisted living facility. The doctors were quick to warn us that it might be permanent," Evan explained.

"What about home care?" Charlotte suggested.

"That would require her having a home to go to," Evan replied, "In case you've missed it, my grandparents aren't here, and Julia will never allow our mother into her home."

"I'm sorry, Ev," Charlotte smiled slightly.

"Charlee, we're going to be here pretty late. You should go home. I'm sure you have a ton of schoolwork," Evan stated.

"Nonsense," Charlotte waved off his suggestion, "I'm going to get everyone some coffee. I'll be back in a minute." She sent her father a cautionary look. She'd learned that look from her mother. It was his warning to behave.

Once the two men were alone, Evan turned to Chuck. "Mister Bass, please make Charlotte to go home. I know she means well, but she can't do anything here."

"Evan, I'm going to get you a bit of free advise when it comes to dealing with the opposite sex," Chuck laughed, "Never will she do what you want her to do if it is not her idea, especially my daughter. Charlotte has her own mind."

"She can't do anything by staying here," Evan insisted.

"She can be here for you," Chuck replied, "Trust me when I say you cannot have enough support when going through something like this. Charlotte wants to help you, and the more you push her away the harder she is going to fight to stay."

"How do you know this?" Evan inquired as he slumped into the chair next to Chuck.

"Because she is just like her mother," Chuck replied, "And I was in a situation similar to yours. The parallels between you and I are hard to ignore. We both are loners with absent parents. My mother died the day I was born. My father died my senior year in a car accident, so I know what you are going through right now. My relationship with my father was distant. Even when we were in the same room together we were virtually strangers. I had the same thoughts as you had, that I'd be better off without him and that it would be better if he was dead because emotionally he already was."

"How do you live with the guilt of those feelings?" Evan asked as the tears began well in his eyes.

"I don't," Chuck replied, "I had to find a way to let those feelings go entirely. It took a long time. What's done is done. I could not change anything from the past, but I had a chance to change the future. I chose to let go of the anger so that I could be the father that mine never was, the one that Charlotte and her brothers deserved."

"Charlotte is so different from me," Evan replied, "She has this perfect life with perfect parents. She knows nothing of what I've gone through."

"Perhaps not first hand, but my wife and I have been very open regarding our difficult childhoods. History does not need to repeat itself if you put your mind to it."

"I don't want any part of my mother's life," Evan spit out bitterly.

"That's good to hear," Chuck replied, "Because I don't want my daughter associating with someone who would, but the game has changed. Georgina is going to need your support now. It may be the last thing you want to do, but for better or worse, she is your mother."

"I expected you to be the last person to tell me to support my mother," Evan replied.

"And no one is more surprised with the words of advice I'm offering," Chuck replied, "You know a little of the life that Georgina led during those years you were raised by her parents, but you've always had someone else looking out for you. She wasn't as lucky. She's been searching her entire life for someone to care about her."

"She has never been anything close to the mother that I've needed."

"But in her own messed up way, she does love you," Chuck assured him.

"Maybe I'll give it a try," Evan sighed.

Chuck nodded as Charlotte bounced into the waiting room while balancing several cups of coffee on a tray.

"Sorry I took so long. I kept spilling cups of coffee on my way back here. This serving thing is harder than Dorota makes it look," Charlotte explained as she offered Evan the first cup.

"Thank you, Charlee," Evan smiled as he took the first sip as Charlotte stepped towards her father with another cup.

"I brought some for Julia and Fred too," she replied as she set the tray down and took a seat next to Evan. "Did Daddy behave while I was gone?"

Chuck couldn't hide the chuckle that escaped, "No, Sweetheart, I threatened to grind Evan into hamburger in your absence. He took it pretty well."

"Daddy, you didn't!" Charlotte gasped in surprise.

"He's kidding," Evan managed a chuckle of his own, "He actually helped me see that while Georgina hasn't been the best mother, I can still be the best son and stand by her through her recovery."

Charlotte began looking around the room for something.

"What are you looking for, Princess?" Chuck watched his daughter curiously.

"My father," Charlotte replied, "You look just like him, but from what Evan just said I think an alien has abducted you. To say you don't like Georgina is putting it mildly."

"She's certainly never been my favorite person, but she's still Evan's mother," Chuck stated.

On the ride back to their penthouse, Charlotte's head was resting on her father's shoulder as she fought to keep her eyes open. It was well after midnight. Chuck had already promised that she didn't have to go to school the next day. She'd put up a mild fight as he'd expected but conceded when she realized that she had a test that she was suppose to take and hadn't taken the time to study.

"Daddy, thank you for coming with me," Charlotte yawned as she burrowed into her father's chest.

"You never have to thank me, Sweetheart," he whispered as he kissed her forehead.

"Then thank you for being so nice to Evan," she replied, "And for being the best daddy in the world."

"For you, Charlotte, I would do anything," he replied.

"I know," she smiled, "And that's why I love you so much."

"I love you too, Princess," he smiled as she drifted off to sleep.

Not having the heart to wake her, Chuck carried his sleeping angel into their building. The elevator chiming the arrival on their floor slightly woke Charlotte as she stumbled to her bedroom.

"She's not going to school tomorrow, is she?" Blair asked with concern as she excited his study and greeted her husband with a smile and a warm embrace.

"She wanted to, but I talked her out of it," Chuck replied as he wrapped his arms tight around his wife's waist.

"You're looking a little lighter, Bass," she replied as she relaxed against his shoulder. The guilt he had been feeling earlier wasn't nearly as evident as it had been when he'd left with Charlotte earlier, "How's Georgina?"

"She conscious and breathing on her own, but she most likely will never fully recover," he replied.

"You aren't still blaming yourself, are you?" she inquired.

"No," he shook his head, "I'm only part of her problem. She also got into an argument with Evan prior to her overdose with is also to blame, and I'm actually wondering if she didn't get a tainted batch of whatever drug of choice she was using. I'm having my P.I. look into it."

"What don't you have your P.I. involved in?" she chuckled with an amused shake of her head. He'd given his private investigator a reprieve for a few years when they first became involved, but since the children had been born he'd worked the poor man to the bone.

"Blair, I think we should help Georgina's family chose the best assisted living facility," he told her.

"Don't you think that is a decision that should be left up to her family?" she inquired, "I know you feel as if you had a hand in all of this, but where are you going to draw the line. After she gets settled are you going to pay for her care, hire her a private nurse?"

"Perhaps," he nodded.

"You are tying Charlotte to this family for the rest of her life if you do this," Blair replied, "Yes, she's smitten with this boy, but Evan may not be the love of her life. But with you footing the bill, she may feel obligated to stick it out. That's not fair to Charlotte."

"What do I do? Nothing?" Chuck replied in frustration.

"Offer to help find a decent assisted living facility if you must do something, but draw the line there," Blair replied, "Her family expects nothing."

"It's this damn heart you've cursed me with," he sighed.

"It's a strong heart, a big heart," she replied as she tapped at his chest, "That heart has always been your biggest asset even when you thought it was a curse."

"It's your heart," he told her as his hand rose to cover hers, "Everything good in me is because of you. My heart merely had a beat until you taught me how to truly live."

"We taught each other, and together we've taught our children," she smiled as she began to slowly unbutton his shirt, "Now how about you and I lock ourselves in our bedroom, and I'll remind you of what a good teacher you once were."

"It's nearly three in the morning," he told her as he held up his wrist to show her the face of his watch.

"When has the lateness of the hour ever stopped us, Handsome?" she teased as she pecked at his lips before darting towards their bedroom.

TBC . . .

I think there is one chapter left in this adventure. Stay tuned.

And please let me know what you all are thinking for the next journey.