Uhm, not much to say about this chapter… Hope you'll enjoy!
Chuck stirred in his sleep and wondered what had woke him up. It was their last night at Harold's beach house and he had been fast asleep. He didn't usually wake up in the middle of the night without something or someone disturbing him.
He lifted himself up slightly on his left arm when he noticed Blair wasn't in bed next to him. He looked around the room and spotted her by the window. He could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.
"Blair what are you doing?" he groaned and laid back down. "Come back to bed."
"Did you hear the thunder?" she asked.
"Mmm…" he mumbled.
He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. But when he realized she hadn't gotten back into bed he opened one eye, feeling a bit annoyed.
"Seriously Blair, come back to bed" he complained. "I'm trying to sleep. You'll wake me when you get back in bed."
There was a flash, followed by a rumble several seconds later.
"There?" Blair said. "Did you hear that? We need to go unplug the TV."
"What?"
"Dorota always unplugs the TV when there's a thunderstorm" Blair said.
"We'll buy Harold a new TV if the one he has is zapped by lightning" Chuck mumbled. "Now get back into bed before I lose my patience."
Blair closed the curtains and obediently got back underneath the covers. She clutched the comforter and stared at the ceiling, occasionally glancing towards the window. Chuck threw an arm around her and drifted back to sleep.
Another flash, brighter than the one before, lit up the room. Blair sat up with a start, waking Chuck up again.
"What the-" he began but Blair shushed him.
He studied her with a mixture of curiosity, annoyance and confusion while she seemed completely focused. When the crack that belonged with the flash came it was loud. Lightning had clearly struck somewhere.
"It's just two kilometers away" Blair said, sounding spooked.
"Blair please don't speak metric in the middle of the night" Chuck groaned. "Lie back down."
She did, and curled up close to him. He wrapped his arm around her again and attempted to go back to sleep. But when the next flash came and she flinched he realized he probably wasn't going to get any sleep anytime soon. If nothing else it probably wasn't very boyfriendly to ignore your oddly spooked girlfriend and doze off.
"Ten seconds" she whispered after another rumble told them that lightning had struck again. "Three kilometers."
"Since when are you bothered by the thunder?" Chuck asked.
"It's scary."
"If you're out on the ocean, or dallying around underneath a tree" he replied. "What's the thunder going to do to you indoors?"
"It can strike the house" Blair argued.
"Why would it do that? I've been with you in New York during thunderstorms, you've never been jittery."
"It's not scary in New York" Blair argued. "In the city there's always some higher building for lightning to hit. Out here…"
"Do you honestly believe we're going to be struck by lightning?"
"I don't believe it's going to happen, but I think it's scary that it could."
As to accentuate her words another flash came, and the rumble followed only seconds after. Blair sat up again.
"Chuck that was almost right by us!"
"Why don't you let me take your mind off it?" Chuck asked, sitting up next to her, caressing her side and moving slowly over to her breast.
"What? No, I can't relax."
"I can make you relax."
"I think I'm going to go downstairs, so I can have a better look" Blair said, throwing the comforter to the side. "See where the thunderclouds are."
"How is that going to make you feel calmer?"
"Knowledge is power. If I know where the clouds are and I can see which direction they are heading then-"
"The last bolt was around half a mile away. We know where the clouds are. Stop acting like a baby and just go back to sleep."
She shot him a look. Apparently those were not the correct words to use in this situation. With a huff she was out of bed, grabbing a robe from the floor. She left the room and with a sigh he realized he was already too awake to be able to go back to sleep within the next thirty minutes or so. He might as well follow her.
He got up and wondered where his robe had gone to. It was hot and humid and he realized he probably didn't need it, so he walked off to the downstairs livingroom in just his boxers. There he found Blair, sitting on the couch by the large windows facing the patio and the ocean. She was facing the windows, staring intently at the dark clouds.
"Want to go for a late night swim?" he teased.
"It's not funny."
He sat down next to her on the couch.
"I never pegged you for someone who's astraphobic."
"I'm not scared" she insisted. "I just don't like it."
"You are scared" he said frankly.
"I'm not Bass."
"You are. And I think it's kind of endearing, although it would have been more so if it wasn't the middle of the night."
She gave him a look.
"Nice try Bass. You think I'm an idiot."
"Come on, everybody's afraid of something. Fear of thunder is at least something that makes good sense. If one of those suckers zaps you you'll be having a barbeque with Mozart and Michelangelo by the end of the day."
"How is this helping?" she asked.
Another bright flash came, followed by a deafening rumble.
"Every other bolt seems to strike ground" Blair complained.
"Or the water."
"I don't think it would make this much noise if it just hit the water."
He moved closer and wrapped an arm around her.
"Look, why don't we go back upstairs" he said. "I don't think sitting here staring out the window is the smartest thing to do if you're this nervous. We should go back to bed and find some way to take your mind off of it."
"I already told you Bass, I do not want to have sex."
"I am capable of other means of distraction."
"Oh yeah? Can't prove it by me."
"Come on" he said, getting up and extending his hand to her.
She didn't look at him. When another flash came, followed by a rumble a few seconds later, he saw her make a very unhappy face.
"Please" he said. "Come back upstairs with me and let's get into bed. Come on, let me hold you and feel like the big, manly man comforting his worried woman. It would be an act of love on your part."
With a sigh she got up and took his hand, continuing to look out the window for as long as she could while he lead her towards the stairs. When they got back to the bedroom she wanted to open the curtains to be able to look out the window but Chuck grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back to bed.
"For the last time, get into bed like a good little girl or I will have to pull up your nightie and spank your bottom."
"For the last time, I don't want sex."
He pulled back the covers and nodded for her to get under them. She got into bed and he climbed over her and settled in on his side. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, so that they were lying side by side, looking up at the ceiling, her head on his shoulder.
"Do you remember that time in fifth grade when I suddenly disappeared from school for a week?" Chuck asked.
"Yes" Blair said, wondering where that random comment had come from.
"Did I ever tell you where I went? Or why I left?"
"I know there was some massive speculation" Blair said. "Serena lost five dollars in a bet that you had moved to Morocco to become an oil sheik."
Chuck burst out laughing.
"She what? That was a stupid bet to make even for a blonde person. Even in fifth grade."
"So where did you go?" Blair asked, trying not to count the seconds as another flash lit up the room.
"I booked a plane ticket to Prague using my dad's credit card. I wanted to see how long I could be gone before he noticed anything."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"So… I mean, you were gone for a week. Bart really didn't..?"
"I never got to find out how long it would take" Chuck said. "I forgot to take into consideration that while my father might not notice that I wasn't home, the au pair most certainly would. She freaked out completely. Rest assured Bart figured out where I had gone off to and arrived in Prague to get me, and it was the angriest I had ever seen him be up until that point."
He continued to talk and she listened, occasionally coming with a question or a comment. They had been growing closer every day since they became a couple, but his relationship with Bart was still something he had a hard time opening up about. She knew this moment was a rarity.
At first she kept flinching whenever a lightning bolt lit up the room but after a while her focus became completely on her boyfriend. She turned her head to cast a glance at him every once in a while and was completely focused on hearing what he was talking to her about.
Somehow the conversation then drifted off into childhood games they had used to play together with Nate, Serena and the other kids they hung out with when they were younger. From there the conversation went into several other directions and after a while Blair realized she hadn't jolted at a flash for quite some time.
"Is the thunder still rolling?" she asked.
"I think it moved past us about twenty minutes ago."
"I haven't even thought about it for a while now."
He smiled.
"Good. It was a bit scary seeing you that spooked. I want my girl to feel safe."
"I do with you" she smiled. "I can't believe you made me forget all about the weather."
"The power of love."
"Or of Chuck Bass."
"When it comes to you Blair, those two are the same."
She smiled and shifted so that she was lying on her stomach, resting her upper body on his. She gave him a kiss and then settled in to go to sleep.
"Good night…" she mumbled.
"Oh now you want to sleep?"
"Mm-hm…"
He ran a hand through her hair.
"Then sleep. Chuck Bass will keep you safe."
"Even in your sleep?" she mumbled.
"Even in my sleep."
"Even from thunder?"
"Especially from thunder."
"Love you…"
"Yeah whatever."
She giggled and then sighed contently, completely relaxed. He held her close and soon fell back asleep. His last thought before drifting off was that it was a luxury to be able to make her feel safe and forget her fears.
Thanks for reading! Please review =)