A/N: Try to forgive me for the dialogue. Pretty sure it's way too random. But it was something that I just had to write.

Summary: "You know exactly how to fix this. You want to hurt me. We are sickeningly sadistic and masochistic and you want to test me. You want to rip out my heart just to see that it belongs to you."

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. All is Gossip Girl and the awesome beta was done by comewhatmay.x

"Ms. Waldorf reserves the right to her income provided by the magazine. She became editor before the marriage..."

"Mr. Bass is adamant about his ventures in strips clubs in the outer boroughs. Ms. Waldorf has no right to ask..."

.

"It brings up memories. Doesn't it?"

She looked so cold, so cruel, so beautiful.

He knew she was doing it just to torture him. And she would take every vindictive, delicious moment of it.

Blair Waldorf-Bass crossed her legs coolly, her black dress and blazer more appropriate for a funeral than divorce proceedings. Then again, he knew that the way she saw it, something was dying.

But he wasn't going to let that happen.

"Memory doesn't serve," Blair remarked as the lawyers trailed out of the room.

"Doesn't it?" he drawled. Her mask didn't move an inch, but he knew he was gaining territory on her. "You. Me. A notary. Mediations on who gets what..."

"I'm going to stop you right there," Blair held up a hand. "This isn't some childish game. We are dividing our assets and that is that. It's your own fault that you didn't have me sign a pre-nup."

"You didn't issue me one either," he pointed out. "You have as much wealth as I do."

"That is a mistake I will never make again," she promised.

"The pre-nup?" Chuck asked. "Or the divorce?"

"I'm talking about this sham of a marriage and you know it," Blair snapped.

"Don't," Chuck growled warningly, "say that. Ever."

"What did you expect?" Blair asked. "After everything that's happened?"

"You're right," Chuck responded. "This isn't some childish game. So you can't run whenever you get scared."

"Scared?" Blair asked. "Scared? I'm not the one who flees the country at the first sign of commitment."

"If you haven't noticed," Chuck said. "I proposed. And I'm still here."

"For now," Blair answered.

"What did I do?" Chuck asked. "Tell me. Did I cheat on you?"

He watched as her jaw set, knowing the answer to that question.

"I never abused you. Never could," Chuck said. "Just tell me what the problem is."

"You know," she said quietly. "So don't make me say it."

"Am I in love with someone else?"

Chuck was surprised he didn't get hit. She was so apt in delivering punishment as he deserved, but she didn't.

"Are you?" Chuck asked. "That must be it. You're in love with someone else so you're divorcing me."

"Don't even suggest something so preposterous-"

"So you still love me."

"I do," Blair said reluctantly. "That's the whole problem."

"Then this isn't over."

"It isn't that simple," Blair said. But as the words came from her mouth, she couldn't help but feel discomfited. He was smirking at her in that way that made her suspicious that he could see into her innermost insecurities.

That was what always got her in trouble.

"You were vindictive in there."

Her stomach jerked because he was nearing her and that tone of admiration and desire was the exact thing that she didn't need.

"Like when we were twenty," he said, rounding the table so it wasn't separating them any longer than he could stand. "How you pretended you actually wanted Victrola so it didn't look like you were giving up too much territory. Just like you're doing now."

"Don't do that," she said.

"Do what?" he asked, feigning ignorance. "Do you remember that night? All of your inhibitions hidden away. So suppressed that all it took was a little push to make them explode all over that piano?"

"We're not twenty anymore, Chuck," Blair said.

"Let me fix this."

"You can't fix me," Blair said.

"So you're the problem?" Chuck asked. "I doubt that."

"The issue is that my problem is you," Blair said curtly.

"Why?" Chuck asked. "There has to be actual grounds for divorce."

"And I gave them," Blair said. "Dissolution of marriage."

"Dissolution of marriage," Chuck repeated. "The only thing that has been dissolved is your sanity."

"All the more reason."

Chuck laughed shortly. Sometimes, he had to wonder. He had to wonder if she just jerked him around like this purposely. If she was afraid he would get bored and that this was the only way to keep his attention.

But he knew the real reason. The real reason was that she was so insecure. Just like him. How they grated and fought because really, they were the same. It was hard, but it was worth it.

"You don't need to tell me," Chuck finally said. "It's the same problem we've always had."

"And what problem would that be?" Blair asked. "Your abandonment? Prostituting me for a hotel?"

"It's just us," Chuck said. "We destroy ourselves from the inside because we can't stand the thought of watching ourselves die out. That's the reason."

"You're rationalizing."

"And you're in denial," Chuck responded.

"You and I are too volatile," Blair said.

"Too volatile."

She hated the way he repeated her words. Like she was just some delusional child. But then he would smirk at her and she cursed her heart for fluttering.

"This problem isn't going away," Blair said.

"You don't want it," Chuck said. "You don't want me to stop being the person that I am. You would hate me for that even more."

"I don't hate you," Blair said. "I just don't want to be afraid of vendettas anymore."

There was a split second and he knew it.

"You're lying."

She visibly stiffened, and rage spread through his bones.

"You can't expect me to fix it if you're lying."

"You think you want me to tell you the truth," Blair said. "But you don't."

"Everything I do is for you."

"That's your rationalization?" Blair asked. "That's why your obsessive need to best your father overtakes your life? You need to face the facts. He wouldn't care, even if he was alive."

"So that's it," Chuck nodded, not even fazed of her disrespect. "It's the company."

"How can I ever accept something that has brought us nothing but misery in the past?" Blair demanded.

"Because it's for you," Chuck protested. "How am I supposed to compete with lords and princes? The company is all I have to offer you. I make all of this money for you."

"You make it for yourself and you know it," Blair retorted.

"You're doing this just to hurt me," Chuck said.

"Now who's rationalizing?" Blair asked. "Don't make this an easy fix. We're getting divorced. That's it."

She should have known he wouldn't back down.

"That's what you want, isn't it?" he asked. "You know exactly how to fix this. You want to hurt me. We are sickeningly sadistic and masochistic and you want to test me. You want to rip out my heart just to see that it belongs to you."

"And what would that prove?" Blair asked. "I know you're not going to give up the company. Would the next best thing work? What would hurt you? If I slept with another man?"

His hands held a crushing grip on her upper arms, but she never backed down. His wife was never one to back down.

"Don't be stupid," he said warningly. Blair shoved him away.

"I don't want to hurt you," she said. "I just want to get out before both of us get destroyed."

"We already are," Chuck retorted. "We were destroyed the moment you got on that stage. And the moment you got into my limo, it was too late. You know that. You want to sleep with someone else? You know exactly what I would do."

"And what would that be?" she asked sneeringly.

"You know I would destroy him," Chuck said. "Whoever he was. But you don't really want to sleep with someone else. You don't want to hurt me. You want to pretend that you can break us that easily. But no matter how many times we're broken, I will always piece us back together."

"I have the strongset urge to hit you right now," Blair said coldly.

"Take your best shot," Chuck said slyly. "It's not like you haven't before."

"You deserved it then."

"And what about now?" he asked. "Can you honestly fault me for wanting to give you everything?"

"I hate you," Blair snapped in frustration. "Why do you have to make everything so difficult?"

"Why do I have to make you leaving me difficult?" Chuck laughed. "It's in my nature."

"I loathe you," was all Blair said as an answer.

"And you and I both know where that leads," he smirked.

True enough, there was a conference table behind them. And that frightened her most of all.

"I want a divorce," Blair said petulantly, doing everything but stamping her foot.

"You want to make sure that I'm not taking you for granted," he said soothingly. "And you know I'm not."

At least she didn't slap him. That was the only thing he thought of when her palms made contact with his lapels.

And just like when they were teenagers, it all went to hell.

He wasn't the one to kiss her this time, but he was the one to shove her against the table where their previous divorce proceedings had been going on.

And that said it better than either of them ever could when firing their lawyers.

Fuck divorce.