At the start of the spring semester, Emily had begun taking classes at Columbia. She and Ed had worked it out so that one of them could usually be home with Tristan while the other was in class. And on the rare occasions when they both had to be on campus, Blair had been extremely helpfully in making sure that either she or Dorota or someone would be there to watch Tristan.

Emily enjoyed being back in school, but it was hard for her to readjust to the social aspects that came along with it. Although she didn't have Ed to fall back on, since she rarely saw him, she still had Anne and she typically spent her time between classes with her cousin and her friends.

The girls were all nice and behaved similarly to how her minions had in high school, but Emily knew they wouldn't associate with her if it wasn't for Anne. She hadn't yet told them about Tristan, so they didn't understand why she never wanted to spend time with them off campus or on weekends. They did know about Ed, however, and they were under the impression that he was the one forbidding her to go out and monopolizing all her time.

They thought of Ed as a cold, angry guy who was nothing like his fun-loving brother. They believed that Emily was just with him because of his last name, but when they actually met him, they realized how wrong they were.

They were standing together on campus, talking about their weekend plans and the girls were trying to convince Emily to come out with them.

"Come on, Em, you can come out for us for just one night!" One of them said.

"Yeah, your fiancé can't keep you locked up all the time," said another.

Emily sighed, "I don't know ladies…" She was so busy trying to come up with an excuse that she didn't notice the girls' eyes widening or Anne rolling her eyes until she felt a pair of familiar arms wrap around her waist from behind.

"Fancy meeting you here, Beautiful," A husky voice that never failed to send chills down her spine whispered into her ear.

A huge grin spread across Emily's face as she spun around and pressed a kiss to Ed's lips, "What are you doing here?" She asked, "Why are you on this side of campus?"

Theo, who had walked over with Ed, answered before his brother could as he slung his arms over two of the girls' shoulders, "There is a lecture in the Economics building that our professor recommended we attend. And when we saw a group of such beautiful ladies just standing here, we couldn't help but approach."

The girls giggled, but Emily and Anne just rolled their eyes. Ed nuzzled his nose against Emily's hair and said, "Plus, I wanted to see you as much as possible before I leave tomorrow."

The girls perked up at this, "Oh, you're going away?" One of them asked.

"Just for the weekend," Theo said, "My brother and I are accompanying our father on a short business trip."

"Really? Well that is just perfect. Now you can come out with us tomorrow night, right Em?" The girl said, "You won't have any other plans?"

Emily hesitated, but Ed answered for her, "Of course she won't." She met his gaze with wide, questioning eyes and he just smiled in return, "You should go out. You don't get to spend enough time with your friends."

"But-"

Ed stopped her protest, placing a finger to his lips, "Don't worry about it. We will work it out."

The girls were confused by this, but quickly got distracted when they noticed Anne and Theo engaged in a quiet, but heated conversation a few feet away.

"Leave me alone, Bass" Anne hissed, "I thought by completely ignoring your many attempts at seduction that I made it clear; I want nothing to do with you."

"Why, because of your new little boyfriend?" Theo sneered, "Please, we both know he is just a way to keep your parents off your back and a convenient lay for you, though a mediocre one at best." He leaned in closer and whispered sensually in her ear, "But I could be both of those things for you, and you know as well as I do that I would be much better at it than him."

Anne quirked an eyebrow dubiously, "You want to be my boyfriend? I didn't think commitment was your thing."

"Maybe I've changed."

Anne took a step away from him and crossed her arms over her chest, "I heard about your party last week. Alcohol, drugs, more than a handful of prostitutes." She slowly shook her head, "You're not ready for monogamy. Not even close."

Theo's jaw clenched, "And you think you are? I know you, Archibald. You enjoy a good time as much as anyone. You're not ready to settle down."

"You don't know anything about me." Anne snapped.

Theo smirked, "Au contraire, Blondie. I think I know you quite well. In fact-"

"Theo," Ed interrupted before his brother caused Anne to completely lose it, "We better get going. We don't want to be late to the lecture."

"Fine," Theo said before turning back to Anne, "We'll finish this discussion later," He told her as he ran his finger along her jaw.

She quickly slapped it away and glared at him, "In your dreams, Bass."

"Yes, you are," Theo said, "But they usually go beyond just talking."

Before Anne could respond, Theo began to walk off, with Ed following after he had kissed Emily good-bye, "Nice talking to you, ladies," Theo called over his shoulder, "Hopefully we will run into each other again soon."

…

The next day after Emily's last class of the week, she was planning on going out with the girls since Blair had agreed to watch Tristan for the evening at Ed's request. All the girls were planning on getting ready together at Anne's apartment, so Emily invited them to come over to the Bass's while she grabbed her outfit and stuff.

The doors to the elevator opened in the penthouse and the girls looked around in amazement, "Wow, I can't believe you live with the Basses." One exclaimed.

"Yeah," said another, "This place is amazing!"

Emily shrugged, "Like I said, when my parents moved to DC, the Basses offered to let me live with them so I could finish my senior year here with my friends."

They all walked a bit further into the penthouse before they heard someone coming from the second floor, "You hear that kid? It sounds like your mom is home."

All the girls looked up and saw Ed walking down the stairs with a dark haired baby boy in his arms. He was smiling down at the boy and bouncing him slightly in his arms causing the child to giggle, but when Ed looked up and saw his audience his smile instantly vanished, "Hello…" He said slowly, looking at each of the girls before his eyes locked on Emily with a hint of panic behind them.

But Emily had a large grin on her face as she walked forward and kissed Ed on the cheek, "Hey, Bass," she said before tickling the baby's stomach and offering out her hands so Ed could place him in her arms, "And hello, my favorite little man. I missed you all day!"

"I'm sorry," Ed said softly as he handed Tristan over, "I had no idea they were coming over here with you."

Emily just shook her head with her smile still in place, "It's totally fine, Ed. Really." She turned around to face her friends with Tristan in her arms, "Girls, I'd like you to meet Tristan, my son." She looked back at Ed before correcting herself, "Our son."

Their eyes widened and for a moment the girls had nothing to say. "Wow, uh, we didn't know you had a baby." One of them finally managed.

Emily laughed, "I know. We've kept it pretty quiet. But this is the reason I deferred for a semester. I wasn't traveling or anything like that. I was being a mom."

The girls were still pretty quiet, obviously in shock, until Ann decided to break the tension, "Let me hold my godson. It's been forever since I've seen him!" She lifted Tristan out of Emily's arms and took him back over towards the girls, "And I need to show him off to all my friends!"

Emily laughed at her enthusiasm and while the girls were distracted by Anne and the baby, Ed put his hand on her back to get her attention, "Hey, look, I really am sorry. If I had known they were here-"

Emily frowned slightly, "I told you, it doesn't matter. I wanted them to know."

Ed looked confused, "You did?"

"Yes! I may have hidden my pregnancy, but I am not going to make my son into some kind of secret. I would never want him to grow up thinking I am ashamed of him."

"He would never think that." Ed reassured her.

"I know that, because I'm not. And if these girls really want to be my friends they need to know what my life is really like."

Ed leaned forward and kissed her forehead, "You're amazing."

While this was going on, the elevator had arrived once again, carrying both Theo and Chuck. Chuck politely greeted the group as a whole before quickly escaping to the second floor, undoubtedly to find Blair and say his good-byes.

Theo, however, had begun smirking the minute he saw the group of girls gathered in the penthouse. "Well hello, ladies," He said as he approached, "Lovely seeing you all here tonight. Come to see us off?"

Anne rolled her eyes, "You wish, Bass."

"No, what I wish is that you were coming along to entertain me, keep the bed warm while I am in meetings all day, and help me renew my membership to the Mile High Club, amongst other dirty, dirty things." Theo said, running his hand down her side before Anne jerked away with a scowl.

"Do you have to be so disgusting?" Anne said, "I'm holding your nephew."

Theo shrugged, "I'm teaching him young. And you never minded my lechery before."

"Okay, that's enough you two," Emily said walking over towards them, "Let me take my son before you scar him any further with your bickering." She took Tristan from Anne and smiled down at him, "He gets enough of that as it is around here."

She looked up and stuck her tongue out at Ed who winked back at her, "Love you too, Vanderbilt."

The young people continued to talk together and fawn over the baby until Chuck and Blair emerged from the second floor. "Edward, Theodore, I think it is time we get going." Chuck said almost reluctantly.

Chuck hated business trips, which came as a surprise to most people, since his company required a great deal of travel. But anyone who had worked closely with Chuck knew that he loathed being separated from his wife and family overnight. He always tried to keep the trips as short as possible and the longer he was away from home, the worse his mood tended to be. That is why he had taken to bringing his sons along with him, once they were old enough to appreciate the business and contribute to the meetings. Blair had thought it might help make him a bit more tolerable when they were separated.

Chuck kissed his wife and gave her hand a squeeze before he straightened out his jacket and walked towards the elevator, "Come on, boys, the limo is waiting."

Ed said his good-byes to Emily and Tristan while Theo just smirked at the other girls, "Try not to miss me too much, ladies." He said before stepping onto the elevator after his father and brother.

…

A/N: No, I haven't completely forgotten about Fitz. He'll be back; possibly as soon as next chapter. And I tried to throw in a smidgen of Chuck and Blair for you all, since they have been absent for the last few chapters.

Also, you can thank Kadlin for the vast amount of the wonderful Theo in this chapter! Isn't he adorable?