July 13th 2012
Argentina
"Well, it all started when Blair kicked me out of the apartment," Serena began while pausing to raise the partition separating them and the driver. "She kicked me out the night of the Shepard divorce party and I was furious with her after everything. I came up with a scheme knowing that Blair was suppose to meet Dan at the party and my hope was that she might catch us in a compromising position. When I realized she wasn't showing, I still wanted revenge so I made sure that Dan knew that Blair was probably going back to you and proceeded to booze him up, make a waitress spill a drink on me, lead him into the back bar, strip out of my dress and then defile the same bar top I took Nate's virginity on," Serena articulated while staring at the floor of the car.
Chuck stared at her for a few moments before breaking out into a laugh. Serena glared at him harshly. "What is so funny about this?"
"I mean that plan was amateur at best and he bought it," he chuckled back at her.
"Well I'm glad to find this so amusing. You are really giving me confidence in my decision to call you," Serena stated sarcastically.
"Listen, Serena. You were right. Blair came to me. Dan told her that if their relationship meant anything she would meet him there and she didn't. In my mind it was over already. Now, that is my logic and I'm hoping Blair would share in the same view but she may have slight issues that it was all for revenge. You know she hates to be second to anyone in scheming," Chuck explained empathetically.
"Oh it gets better," Serena revealed while picking at her skirt nervously.
"Now, I'm intrigued. Please go on," Chuck murmured as he leaned across the back of the car and into the mini fridge grabbing an airplane sized bottle of scotch and cracking it open.
"I taped it," she whispered as he was taking a swig and he spit the liquid out.
"Wait, run that by me again? You? After all that trouble that almost snuff film Georgina created gave you, you decided to tape it?" Chuck asked astounded.
"And Dan caught me taping it. He flipped out on me and told me that I made him cheat on Blair and pretty much said it meant nothing to him and stormed off," Serena replied tearily.
"So, Humphrey hates you? Consider yourself lucky that your free of that vermin," Chuck spat.
"Chuck you don't get it. I justified what I did by saying it was to get back at Blair but really it was just to get Dan back. I thought that if we slept together he would remember what we had and see that everything with Blair was all wrong and that he was just living in a fantasy land, a type of story he created from his book," she tried to clarify. "But, all I did was push him farther away. When I went to see him the next morning he completely turned me down and told me there was no us and never would be."
Chuck sat back taking in what she was saying and trying to be sympathetic even though his hate for Dan would inevitably be shining through in anything that he said. "So, what happened next?" he asked hoping to avoid the rest of the Dan context as long as possible.
"Then I did what I do best. I went off the rails. Meet up with some old friends, took up some old habits, lost my phone with the tape on it," she mumbled.
"You have got to be kidding me. You didn't think to delete it after what happened?" he asked stunned yet again by her confessions.
"I was to far gone. I spoke to Blair and my mother briefly and made them believe I was fine without giving away to many details and I've been MIA ever since."
"But, you look composed right now," Chuck offered.
"Yeah, I'm fine. A couple close calls but I got off it as quickly as I went back on," Serena replied.
"Well, at least that's taken care of. So, what exactly did you need me to help you sort out. It seems for someone who made a string of rash decisions lately you have held together quite well," he said.
They felt the car come to stop and the driver opened the door in front of a small hotel that Chuck would have guessed didn't cost more than $100 dollars a night.
"Really sis?" he asked with disgust.
"Keeps things on the low," she mused pulling him forward. They entered the hotel and took the elevator up to her room where Serena plopped onto one of the twin beds.
"This is. This is," Chuck stuttered at a loss for words.
"Come on, you have spent nights with skanks in more despicable places than this," Serena combated him.
"I've done my best not to slip back to old habits," he goaded her.
She rolled her eyes at him before letting out a groan and settling back against the headboard.
"So, are you going to explain to me why I am stuck in this place? I can't even compel myself to engage in jokes about incest with my fear that I may catch something merely from removing my shoes," he grimaced.
"Blair told you that Dan was trying to get in touch with me right?" she asked him.
"Yeah, she has been on a mission to find you for weeks to no avail. I have been having to dodge her and Lily and you must know how persistent those two are when they are snooping for something," he commented as he pulled a robe from his bag and laid in across the bed before sitting down.
"Turns out that somehow they got a hold of the tape."
Chuck looked at her puzzled, "And how is this a bad thing? It's not like Mr. moral compass would be willing to ruin his pristine image by releasing his own sex tape. Plus, I'm guessing it would be quite embarrassing for him as well."
"Chuck, he doesn't care about image anymore. He wants to destroy us all, no matter what the cost. They told me if I didn't sign a sort of statement of some kind saying that I vouch for what he has written about all of us then he is going to release the tape. He wants it to pretty much be a biography that he can write to his own tune," she explained.
"Serena, I'm not trying to sound like an asshole here but what harm would the tape really do?" He asked coyly.
"Thank you for thinking so highly of me," she groaned while banging her head back against the headboard.
"It is going to just as much damage to him if he puts that out and you know it."
"No it isn't. Chuck, the last thing I need is for my mom to see that. Blair to see that. On top of that, I met someone and I wasn't exactly honest about my whole past," she stated shyly.
"So really this is what all this is about?" Chuck asked with a hint of disgust. "You met some new guy and you once again want to hide your past so you willing to throw us all to the literary lion to do it?"
"Listen, I have held them off this long. I just need to figure out a plan."
"Your plan is tell them do whatever they want with the tape. Don't negotiate with terrorists," Chuck replied.
"So I walk around for months wondering when they are going to release this? In front of who and how?" she asked dramatically.
"Okay, just stop. We need to look for a new angle. Something on Dan or Georgina that we can use as leverage," Chuck stated deciding that taking a scheming approach was probably the only way Serena could get out of this without giving in.
"Well, I'm pretty sure the person that would have the most on Dan would be Blair," Serena said looking at Chuck shrinkingly while waiting for a reaction.
"You said you didn't want her in on this and personally I am not sure how comfortable I am with scheming with her at this point," Chuck stated definitively. "If you wanted her help, you should have called her and left me out of it."
"Geeze, Chuck what is your problem?"
"My problem is I already had to lie to her about where I am and now you want me to bring her into this. I'm not exactly over the whole Dan thing yet so excuse me if I don't want to conspire to scheme with her on something that involves him," he snapped at her.
"You know what? This is silly. We can come up with something together it's fine. Why don't we go downstairs, get a drink and brainstorm. Really Chuck, I'm thankful you came and if you want to keep Blair out of this then I can respect that," Serena caved feeling bad for having made Chuck so agitated when he had come to her aid.
Chuck took a deep breath and looked at her, "If you think that you have it in you then I will be more than willing to aid you in a scheme but were playing by my rules," he told her.
Serena stood up and grabbed her purse. She walked towards the door and opened it and stood holding it open waiting for Chuck. Finally he stood up and walked towards her, "We're going to a bar in the city. I can't imagine sleeping here let alone drinking anything they serve."
Paris
Same Day
Blair sat at the table pushing her food around and staring down.
"Blair darling, is something wrong with your meal," her father asked with a look of worry on his face.
"No daddy, it's delicious. I just have a lot on my mind," she stated absentmindedly.
"Blair you haven't taken a single bite," her mother chimed in.
"I'm sorry I just, I need to make a phone call," she stated abruptly while standing up from the table and walking away at a quickened pace.
"Blair, this is a family dinner," her mother shouted to her fruitlessly as she continued to walk.
She walked into her bedroom at the chateau and lightly closed the door. She sat down on the bed and pulled out her cell phone and scrolled down to Jack's number and hit the call button. It rang a few times before he finally answered.
"Blair, pleasure to hear from you," Jack drooled into the phone.
"Save it Jack. Why is Chuck in Argentina?" Blair asked with venom.
"Excuse me," he replied.
"Chuck. Argentina. You. Croatia. Explain," she demanded.
"Well isn't that something. Little nephew seems to have pulled a fast one," Jack mused.
"Explain!" Blair yelled into the phone.
"Hey, I don't know why you are screaming at me. I'm just as confused as you. I was under the assumption that he came to see you for the holidays. Blow off a little steam. Get his head back in the game," he offered.
"He told you he was coming to Paris?" she asked with uncertainty.
"Well, you haven't lost your powers of deductive reasoning."
"So, he lied to both of us," she replied feeling somewhat better she wasn't the only one.
"It appears."
Blair's phone let out a ding indicating she received a text.
"Hang on," she told Jack as she opened it.
The message was from Georgina and it was a black and white picture of Chuck at a bar standing next to a girl in a short mini skirt with long hair and his hand placed on the back of the bar stool she was sitting on. "Happy holidays B!" was the message underneath.
"I'm going to kill him," Blair groaned into the phone.
"Um, hello?" Jack said.
"Hang on. I'm sending it your way," Blair explained as she sent Jack the picture. After a few seconds Jack got the message and opened it.
"Listen, I'm not sure what's going on here but there has to be some kind of explanation," Jack offered trying to sound neutral.
"What's going on here is he is a cheating, lying, bastard," Blair screamed into the phone.
"Now, now. Let's not get over zealous. To be a cheating bastard one must be in a relationship, correct?" he asked her sarcastically.
Blair sighed deeply. "Your right. Whatever he wants to do or contract is his own concern," she stated with distain.
"Let me get to the bottom of this and I will check back in with you. Just don't do anything stupid," Jack requested.
"Whatever," Blair replied hanging up the phone.
Argentina
Next Day
"So, it's all taken care of," Serena asked skeptically while taking a bite of her breakfast.
"All set. You present them with the paperwork with your signature, they turn over the tape and sign a confidentiality agreement and then when they go to publish the lawyers will intercept it," Chuck explained with pride.
"You really think it will be that easy," Serena asked skeptically.
"You leave that to the people in charge. You meet them when you get back in New York and someone will accompany you through the whole thing."
"Chuck, I don't know how you did this but really thank you," she replied enthusiastically.
"No problem. I'm just happy we solved this quickly enough that I can make a quick stop in Paris and return to Croatia before Jack or Blair know that anything is up," he replied while sipping his coffee.
"You know she really does love you," Serena offered.
"I know that. And I love her but I don't trust her and I don't know when I will be able to," he stated with a sullen expression.
"Don't let your fears get in the way. Blair did that and if you do the same thing then your both going to miss out on finally having what you both deserve. You love each other and in the end that should make it all simple," Serena said while smiling at him.
"I appreciate your advice and I have faith we will get there but it's going to be slow and controlled. I'm not jumping in with both feet till I know for sure that she isn't going to change her mind on the spur of the moment," Chuck explained.
"I understand where your coming from but don't make yourself miserable because your not certain. You were miserable without her and being miserable by not being with her when you can is not any better," Serena reasoned.
Chuck nodded as he finished off his coffee and glanced at his watch.
"I have to get to the airport if I have any hope of making it while it's still the holiday," he stated.
Serena got up as Chuck did and embraced him in a hug. "Really, thank you for everything," she stated.
"Were family," he responded with a smirk before grabbing his bag off of the chair. "Be careful and please try and stay out of trouble. I'll see you back in the city."
Ok, so I'm not going to lie, I have not been that motivated lately and I'm going against my own plans and schedule lately. So obviously July is going to get one more chapter since we are going to see Chuck go to Paris and how the whole lying situation shakes out. I will definitely be pushing out the next chapter tomorrow night since I have that framework pretty much figured out. I'm also really disappointed by the lack of reviews. Again, this is my first time doing this and I'm pretty certain a good amount of you are reading a ton of fics on here so I was hoping for a bit more feedback then I have been getting. Thank you to those who have reviewed and followed and I hope that you are enjoying this and that I'm doing the rewrite justice :)