Hi again! Feeling inspired so here's another finished chapter =) I don't have much to say this time, except, as always, thanks all of you who review! I'm really glad I've been able to hold your interest for over ten chapters even though nothing really "happens" in this story.
Hope you'll enjoy the read!
"Do you know what I've come to realize?" Blair said to Nate as she walked into the Empire penthouse.
"No, but I'm sure it's wonderfully enlightening" Nate said in a bored tone.
"We own too much stuff" Blair said, placing her purse on the floor before sitting down on the couch.
"Blasphemy!" Nate fake-gasped.
"What are we supposed to register for really?" Blair whined, paying no attention to the tone in his voice.
"You don't own lots of stuff" Nate protested. "Look around you Blair. Everything in here might technically be owned by Chuck, but it belongs to the hotel. You need everything. When you guys move into your own place you will have what, a glass pitcher and a breakfast trey that you stole from the Empire?"
"Chuck inherited basically everything when Bart died. Technically all we have to do is send Dorota to Lily and have her pack up everything we feel we might need."
"Perhaps not the best way for you to create a good relationship with your mother-in-law" Nate pointed out.
"Well, I don't agree with you on the we-own-nothing thing, but on the other hand… It might be nice to get our very own stuff. We can even bring Dorota with us when we pick out kitchenware! She will be the one to use it, after all. Or maybe we should just get everything monogrammed with our initials."
Nate chuckled and poured himself a glass of scotch. Blair looked around the room with a frown.
"Where is Chuck? I told him I would stop by before lunch!"
"It's nine-thirty. He's still asleep."
"Time for him to wake up" Blair declared and skipped to her feet.
Nate shrugged and went to his own room while Blair walked over to Chuck's. She opened the door and stopped in the doorway for a second. She smiled at the sight of him, curled up in a fetal position with the two largest pillows in the bed under his head. He was wearing the new satin pajamas she had bought him, but she had to admit that they didn't look as good on him as his favorite ones did.
She walked over and got on the bed, crawling over to him. She let one hand help support her weight while the other gently caressed his cheek and moved the bangs away from his face. He made a noise but didn't wake up so she leaned in and kissed his cheek.
"Wake up, love…" she said softly.
He opened one eye and looked at her. Then he moved over on his back, reached an arm around her waist and pulled her down on top of him, letting his other hand grab the back of her head and press her face down for a hard kiss.
"Chuck!" she gasped when he loosened his grip.
"Man you look sexy…" he mumbled.
"Time to wake--" she began, but the word 'up' turned into a cry as he rolled her over so that he was on top.
"Morning, baby" he mumbled and kissed her neck.
"This is so not what I came here for" she tried to protest.
He didn't answer. Instead he fumbled with the comforter until he had gotten rid of it, and then continued to plant kisses along her neck, moving downward, as his hand moved up her thigh. He could hear her breathe heavily and grinned into her collar bone.
"Chuck… That's quite enough…"
"You don't seem like you want me to stop…"
She moaned and he gave her a deep kiss before resuming where he had left off on her chest, tugging at her clothes while working his way downward. She gave serious consideration to simply giving in and letting him have his way with her. They had been torturing themselves for far too long. She knew that if he got far enough with his kisses she wouldn't be able to resist anymore, but she couldn't quite bring herself to push him away.
"Hello?" a voice called out in the other room.
Blair lifted herself up on her elbows. Saved in the nick of time. She gave Chuck a light slap on the head. He hadn't stopped his trail of kisses.
"That's enough Chuck. Serena is here."
He mumbled something incoherent but didn't stop, so she pinched his ear.
"Ow!" he complained.
"Go hop in the shower" Blair said, pushing him off her and rearranging her clothes as she got up from the bed. "Make it a cold one."
He groaned loudly in frustration and buried his face in the mattress. Blair did her best to shake the desire that didn't take much to waken these days and refused to let on that his advances had had the desired effect.
"Chop, chop Chuck" she said. "We have to get moving."
"Blair?" Serena's voice called from the other room. "Chuck? Nate?"
"Coming!" Blair said and tugged at Chuck's foot to get him moving before she hurried out to Serena. "S, I'm so glad you're here!"
Serena smiled at her and gave her a hug. Blair motioned to the couch and they sat down, Blair already back on the subject of what sort of gifts she and Chuck should be registering for. She had called Serena the day before asking for her assistance in the matter, and Serena had been more than happy to help out with anything that could be considered shopping.
"Chuck!" Blair yelled, pausing in the middle of a minor monologue, wishing he would hurry up already.
No response came and she sighed with frustration but decided to leave it for a few minutes more. Five minutes later, just as she and Serena had gotten to the subject of porcelain, Chuck appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a thick robe and sporting the sullen face that always made Serena want to run and hide. She couldn't quite understand how Blair voluntarily would put up with that face for the rest of her years.
"Good morning" she offered her stepbrother weakly.
"Not exactly" he growled and made his way to the bathroom.
"Remember baby, cold!" Blair called after him but only got a slamming door in response.
"What's up with him?" Serena asked.
"Oh nothing…" Blair said sweetly. Then she grinned mischievously. "Nothing is literally what is bothering him."
A solid half hour later Chuck emerged from the bathroom and ignored the two women has he went back into his bedroom to get dressed. Blair smiled to herself at the strained look on his face. Served him right for almost getting her to capitulate, and with only two months left to go. She casually pulled her hair into a pony tail, exposing her neck. If he was going to make this whole thing all the more torturous for her then she was going to play his game. And she was not about to play fair.
When Chuck finally came back out, dressed and ready, he was still looking grim. He sunk down in an armchair, cast one glance at Blair and her neck and then firmly placed his glare on the pool table. Five seconds later he realized all he could think of when he saw the pool table was the time he and Blair had had sex on it, and he went up to grab himself a whiskey to stare at instead.
"Don't drink on an empty stomach" Blair scolded. "There's some of Nate's breakfast left, have that."
"Yes dear" he mumbled in a tone which made Serena wonder why Blair liked teasing him when he was in this mood.
"Had a rough night?" she offered weakly.
"Even rougher morning" Chuck said and glared at Blair as he sat down with Nate's leftover omelet.
"All work and no play makes Bass a pain in the ass?" Serena concluded.
"Sis, I'm overworked, under slept, I've got wedding plans up to my eyeballs, have to get hitched in a scary ass cathedral, in the name of a divinity I don't quite believe in, I haven't had sex since circa the civil war and I'm eating a disgusting, cold omelet. Choose your words wisely if you want to make it to twenty-three."
"You're in luck" Blair told Serena. "He's in one of his good moods."
"You're joking, right?" Serena said, eyeing Chuck with a touch of trepidation.
"He's just PMS-ing" Blair shrugged, getting an evil glare from her fiancé. "Ignore him."
"Why are you even here, sis?" Chuck growled between bites. "Blair hardly ever sleeps here anymore so randomly dropping by here to see her would be stupid even for you, and you don't seem like you're here for me or Nate."
"We're supposed to start looking over what we want to register for" Blair reminded him. "Remember?"
"Fantastic" Chuck said with complete lack of enthusiasm.
"Cranky pants" Blair shrugged to Serena. "But you've got to love him."
"No" Serena said. "You've got to love him. I will be making no such promise."
"And she loves cruelly" Chuck said.
"How is this productive?" Blair asked him. "Seriously, I am done fighting with you over this. Now eat your omelet, start getting greedy and focus all that pent-up energy on what we want people to give us for our wedding!"
"I nominate handcuffs, massage oils and edible underwear."
"Ew gross!" Serena complained.
"I was thinking more along the lines of artwork and household items" Blair said. "Oh, we should include some stuff that's way below our price range, so that the Brooklyn folks won't feel threatened or whatever. Like a blender!"
"Oh, or maybe an orange juice press" Serena suggested. "I saw this really pretty pink one the other day."
"Nate get out here!" Chuck more or less roared.
Nate stuck his head out from his door and gave his friends a confused look.
"You barked?"
"I need some help with these two" Chuck sighed. "Or else I will be stuck discussing silverware and china patterns all day."
"Oh! China patterns!" Serena exclaimed, clapping her hands with excitement.
Blair opened her large bag and lifted out numerous catalogues which she placed on the table as Nate came over and raised an eyebrow at Chuck eating his cold, leftover omelet.
"Serena, you can take the Tiffany's catalogue" Blair said and handed the top one in her bunch to Serena. "Boys, do you want to look at furniture or glass?"
"You're on your own, dude" Nate told Chuck and hurried out the door.
"Defector" Chuck muttered.
-
Three hours later Chuck, Blair, Serena and Eric were walking down Fifth Avenue, en route to go on a registering spree. Blair had one of her notebooks in hand, full of lists of stores to visit and what to register for in those stores.
"Spontaneity really has no place with you two, does it?" Eric remarked.
"Trust me" Blair said. "It will go a lot faster this way."
"I take it death will come on swift wings to he or she who thinks to add something they spot and like in one of the stores?"
"If you do it, yes" Blair said. "If Serena does it, maybe. Chuck… if he wants something then register for it."
"Nice" Chuck mumbled, still in a bad mood.
"This should be so much fun" Serena said, not bothering to disguise the lie with a cheerful tone.
"We have a lot of stores to visit so we really should get a move on" Blair said.
"How about we split up?" Chuck suggested. "Eric and I will take a bunch of your notepads and go visit the stores you've chronicled in them. You and Serena take the rest, and we'll meet up later to get something to eat. And don't forget, we need to go down to City Hall and get our marriage license."
"Fine."
Chuck reached inside her purse and grabbed two out of three notepads she had in there. She saw which two he had gotten a hold of and protested.
"No Chuck, not the Tiffany's one! Serena and I wanted to go there."
"You've already looked through the damn catalogue twice, what does it matter if you go there or not?" Chuck growled. "Come on Eric. Let's get a move on."
He headed off in the direction of the first store in the notepad with Eric in tow. Serena breathed a huge sigh of relief when he was gone.
"God Blair, I don't know how you put up with this mood" she said.
"I don't, really. I spent most of my nights at the dorm. He's just frustrated Serena, you know how he gets."
"I know. And just so you know, I am on Team Chuck on the whole sex thing. At first I thought it was highly entertaining that you would put him through that, because let's face it, watching Chuck Bass squirm can be endlessly entertaining. And it's not like he doesn't deserve it. But now that I'm more often subjected to his grumpy mood I don't like it."
"I will cave" Blair said reassuringly. "On my wedding night."
"That doesn't count as caving."
"If we've made it almost to November then we can make it to the end of December. I promise I will keep him properly satisfied post-nuptial."
"I would be just as fine with having him chemically castrated."
"He's your only shot at a biological niece or nephew" Blair said.
"He's not my biological sibling" Serena pointed out.
"Yeah I realized that came out wrong. I meant to say something about how... Ah, never mind. Let's just hurry and get to the first store on the list."
"Do you really think it's wise to register for so much stuff?" Serena asked. "Isn't it better to go with less stuff so that you can feel sure you will get what you want?"
"I want a lot of stuff" Blair shrugged. "Plus I like the surprise."
She grabbed Serena's arm and headed off to the first store on her list. Secretly she was happy Chuck had suggested that they split up, since he was being kind of a buzz kill at the moment. They had never had any of the typical fights other couples seemed to have when they got engaged, instead they had a lot of conflict arise from the sexual frustration. He was beyond over the idea, had been for months, while she still thought it would end up making their wedding night ten times more special. Unfortunately they were driving each other crazy over it, and not in a good way.
-
That evening Chuck retreated to his bedroom once he and Nate had finished their room service dinner. Nate appeared in the doorway after ten minutes, checking to see if getting food in his stomach had done anything to improve Chuck's mood. It hadn't.
"I downloaded the latest 'Sherlock Holmes' movie" Nate tried. "We could watch it. Give you something else to think about."
"No thanks, I'm not in the mood."
"Dude, why are you reading 'Catholicism for Dummies'?"
"Camille gave it to me. So I don't mess up in front of the priest."
"The closer we get to your wedding, the more I realize I really dodged a bullet with Blair" Nate commented.
"I don't mind…" Chuck said. "I don't really care either way who marries us, so long as we end up wed. But it matters to Blair."
"Devoted catholic Blair."
"Indeed."
"So why bother?"
"You know it's not the catholic thing that's important to her, it's the cathedral. If that makes her happy then I can stomach reading a book or two about whatever religion my father chose to pawn me off to when I was an infant."
"Yeah, but you don't seem as happy as you were this summer" Nate pointed out. "Are you sure about all of this?"
"I'm tired" Chuck admitted with a sigh. "But I am sure."
"Sure it's not cold feet?"
"No, no cold feet. I've wanted this for far too long. But putting everything together in only half a year is a lot of work, and I'm not even all that involved."
"I bet half the work is stomaching Blair doing most of the work."
"Yeah, she's easily the most annoying bride north of the south pole. In all honesty, I'm beginning to feel like Sam Gamgee to her Frodo Baggins" Chuck sighed. "Except instead of throwing a ring into a volcano she's striving for getting a ring on her finger, and organizing the best wedding of all time. She's the one with the quest but more and more I feel like I'm the one who has to carry her."
"Who is Gollum in this incredibly far-fetched metaphor?" Nate asked.
"I'll have to get back to you on that one."
"Maybe we should have another Lost Weekend" Nate suggested. "Take your mind off things."
"I think we're done with the Lost Weekends" Chuck said. "But thanks for the offer. Listen, you go ahead and watch the movie. I'm gonna see if this book offers some catholic tips on how to quench your libido."
Nate gave him a small wave and went away. Chuck sighed heavily and tried to focus on the ever so fascinating book in his hands. After about an hour his door opened again. He looked up, this time seeing Blair.
"Hey" he said. "What are you doing here?"
"Came to spend some time with my fiancé" she said, closing the door behind her.
He didn't say anything, waiting for her next move. She walked over and got on the bed, casting a glance at the book in his hands before gently taking it from him and putting it aside.
"Listen… About this morning…"
"We don't have to talk about it" he said.
"I think maybe we should" she said. "Look I know this is hard. Frustrating. I wish I could tell you how much I appreciate that you're doing this with me."
"I don't really have much of a choice" he pointed out. "We both know that it wouldn't take more than the slightest insinuation on your part for me to throw this whole romantic scenario out the window and get my complete satisfaction."
"We also both know that you could be pressing the issue much harder than you are" she replied. "So thank you."
"You owe me big time."
"People have gone longer without having sex."
"Yeah, but lack of sex turns people evil. Ever read the 'Malleus Maleficarum'? Why is this so important to you anyway?" he asked.
"I've told you why."
"I seriously wish you would stop defining romance based on Old Hollywood."
"Well, it started as something I thought would be incredibly romantic… Now, after a few months, it's turned into something more."
"The word you're looking for is 'unbearable'."
"I… I like the confirmation that we are about more than just sex."
"Blair have you been accidentally sniffing glue while making one of those planning collages of yours?"
"No, look I know we're about so much more than just sex, but at the same time we have always been very sexual and it's been a huge part of our relationship. It feels good to get confirmation that we can still have true intimacy without the sex."
He nodded slowly. She did have a point. Their emotional intimacy was unchanged, if not improved. Their physical intimacy was of course only a shadow of what it had been when they had an actual sex life, but they still had a lot of physical closeness.
She slumped down by his side and draped her arm around him, sighing heavily. He let his arm reach around her waist and kissed the top of her head.
"Fine" she sighed. "I admit it. This is torturous and excruciating and all the circles of Hell rolled into one."
"But it matters to you" he reminded her. "And who knows, maybe you're right? Maybe the payoff will prove it all worthwhile. But in the future, promise me you'll find your inspiration for our sex life more from Jean M Auel and less from Queen Victoria."
"I promise. If you promise to still marry me, no matter how crazy I go during these last few months."
"You have yourself a deal, Waldorf."
That's all for today! Take care =)
