Summary: Even though she deserved so much better than him, they deserved each other. And the very real threat that the love of his life might possibly never look at him again, might end up married to some doctor, was more than he could bear.

Disclaimer: Quotes belong to GG. Thanks again to my beta comewhatmay.x.

Surveillance

Blair's favorite part: real-time surveillance playback. It's naughty.

Nate never thought about it much. It wasn't that he didn't care. She had been his girlfriend for almost half a decade. But the second she pulled away from him at prom, it was something he just accepted. He was even less surprised when he saw his ex seduce his best friend into the back room.

It wasn't that he didn't care. It was just a fact he had accepted.

That being said, it wasn't something he wanted to witness with his own eyes either.

Nate had only slept with Blair once. At the time, he had thought her frigidity had more to do with her virginity than anything else. And then he realized that was the exact opposite of the true problem.

So as Nate stood in front of his best friend's surveillance screen, he couldn't help but be strangely intrigued. The grainy screen had no volume, but Nate could pretty much tell what was happening in the elevator on its way up.

Nate had thought he and Chuck were going to actually hang out for the first time since he returned from Europe. It had never occurred to him that their roles were to be reversed. This time it was Nate whoring himself while Chuck had the steady girlfriend.

And that steady girlfriend had been shoved up against the wall of the elevator the way she never let Nate do to her. The elevator doors opened and if Nate hadn't been wondering why it didn't bother him that much, he would have thought to turn off the screen.

At least, that's what he would like to believe. Truthfully, he had never been that quick on his feet.

"Nate."

Blair's voice betrayed surprise, but looking at her, he wished he hadn't. Chuck detached himself from her neck, and Nate watched in surprise as he gripped her sharply.

"What?"

Nate was speechless at the tone of anger in Chuck's voice, but Blair put him in his place, shoving him away.

"Tone down the testosterone, Bass," Blair said sneeringly. "Your best friend is actually present."

Chuck turned around. However, his eyes didn't make contact with Nate's, but looked right behind him. Nate turned as well, seeing the television screen that still displayed the inside of the elevator.

"So," Chuck smirked as Blair rolled her eyes. "My best friend has become something of a voyeur."

Blair's smile was tight and Nate could tell that in situations like these, she would just humor her boyfriend.

And it was at his cousin's political celebration that he had to hold his tongue.

"Real-time surveillance playback."

Nate didn't answer, just smiled uncomfortably. If Chuck wanted to throw it in his face, he would allow him. Because it wasn't that he didn't care about his ex-girlfriend and his best friend. He was just glad that the two of them were finally happy.

Waldorf Subtext

The reason Blair attacked you is because she misses you. Don't tell me after eighteen years you can't read Waldorf Subtext.

As far as Serena was concerned, her only interaction with Chuck was due to the fact he was her future stepbrother. And even that was shaky. She knew exactly what he had done to her best friend, and it was the best friend's job to hate any man that ripped her apart.

Though she couldn't exactly admit that she understood why Blair cared. Chuck was Chuck, and someone as smart as Blair should have seen it coming. Even so, Serena wanted to protect her best friend against the cruel devil that took pleasure in causing misery.

Serena had to protect Blair.

Until she realized that maybe she didn't have to.

"Well, well. If it isn't the dowager princess."

"I believe you've got your references confused, Bass. Catherine of Aragon was only a queen through marriage."

"But she was dethroned quite easily."

"By a lascivious, womanizing, lecher if I recall."

Standing behind the wall of a party, Serena fought her instincts to rescue her best friend. She knew that the two of them did everything they could to avoid each other. And that included social obligations. Chuck usually liked to keep under the radar, which was why it surprised Serena that he'd shown up that night.

Then again, she did remember running into Chuck earlier that night, just outside of her room—right after a conversation with Blair that included the details of a certain party.

That was what worried Serena. Blair had no idea what Chuck's motives were. And neither did she.

Serena couldn't help herself. She couldn't help but hide discreetly behind the corner, wondering if Blair knew any more about motive than she did.

Then again, she was Blair Waldorf.

"You dethroned yourself," Chuck said coolly. "You could have refused me any time you wanted."

"I wasn't the one that sent the blast," Blair retorted. "That was all you."

"You can't prove it."

"Other than the fact that you were the only one who knew and you always know exactly how to hurt me?" Blair challenged. "It wasn't like you denied it."

"It's a gift," Chuck said nonchalantly. "You can't expect me not to use it."

"You think so?" Blair asked. "Well I have a gift too. And you know how I get when I've been scorned."

"Hell hath no fury."

"Just out of curiosity," Blair said, "have you seen Jenny Humphrey lately?"

"Why would I care about Little Jenny Humphrey?" he snorted.

"As it turns out, she happened to be the gay beard for Eric van der Woodsen's boytoy," Blair said. "But you're right. Those who have scorned me have nothing to worry about."

Serena heard a lapse in the conversation and was pleased with her friend's strength. It was something that she could never understand—how Blair could be so cold after everything that had happened. But in this case, she was glad that Chuck was taken aback.

"Did I ever tell you how sexy you are when you attack me?"

Then again, he was Chuck Bass. And for a moment, Serena had to wonder if Chuck's crime was more a crime of passion than a crime of disdain.

"You think after everything you've done that is actually going to work?" Blair laughed. "You know me better than that."

"And you know me," Chuck said. "You know how much I value retribution above all else. And you're right. You always did have a talent for destruction, even if you are using it against me."

"Oh, Chuck," Blair sighed. "Nothing you do will save you now."

There was silence, but Blair's heels clicked against tile and Serena knew to fall away. But Blair turned sharply into the bathroom and Serena had to worry. She finally looked down the hallway to see Chuck leaning his head against the wall. She was about to turn away when she suddenly caught something. There was a smirk corrupting his features and Serena felt her stomach churn. Because Chuck obviously understood something that she didn't.

And it pleased him.

Chuck opened his eyes finally to turn his head and before Serena could think to move, he caught sight of her. His face dropped and he started to scowl before she made her leave. Chuck's motives were becoming more and more unclear, and that was what caused her to trail immediately after Blair. But upon opening the door, Serena saw something that she hadn't exactly expected.

"B," Serena said in surprise, pulling Blair into a comforting embrace. "Why are you crying?"

"Don't worry about it," Blair smiled tightly, starting to redo her make-up. But there was an underlying subtext to her words that Serena wasn't sure she had heard.

You wouldn't understand.

And Serena really did have to wonder if Chuck knew her best friend better than her or not. Or exactly what motives were driving them at all.

Too Late

You think your friendship is going to take care of itself. You're not kids anymore. You can't say you hate each other and then make up an hour later on the Met Steps.

You tell her that.

I'm telling you. And you should be careful. Because one day you'll find yourself telling people about Blair Waldorf. The girl who used to be your best friend.

"And how do you feel about me?"

It was something that Chuck Bass could no longer hide from himself. And to be honest, he had been waiting. He had been waiting so long for this exact moment, that his breath caught in his throat.

Blair was standing before him, her dress hooked around her heels, her torso in his hands, almost pressed against him, and he knew he had been waiting for this moment. The minute she had walked into Nathaniel's party, he felt his heart thrum and his adrenaline jack. He cursed the small blonde that impeded his gratification, stalling Blair in the jacket that concealed exactly what he had been waiting so long to enjoy again.

And as she passed, her hand gracing his shoulder in that sultry way she had perfected, he knew that this was the night. It just had to be. Leading him into a sort of parlor with only a couch, he didn't care. He didn't care that her 'I want to talk' was so transparent. It just gave him an opening to husk his 'I prefer to talk after,' and as soon as he had sat on the couch expectantly, relishing her once again, he watched while she slid her dress down her body.

Instead of the virginal white slip he had seen more than a year ago, she was decked in black, and he couldn't help but smooth his hands over the thigh highs that she offered him.

"How do you feel about me?"

He was going to say it. He truly was. It was the excitement and his very apparent arousal straining for her that stopped him for a second. But it was a second too many, because his phone vibrated, and once again, the love of his life had broken his heart.

She had always been so apt at it, especially when she wasn't even trying. So standing there, as she pleaded her case, he couldn't do it. The words had been so ready to spill from his lips, but she had broken him. So even after she placed her hands imploringly on his face he had to push her away after her begging question.

"Tell me it was for something."

And he told her something he had thought had been true at the time.

"Maybe it was. But it's not anymore."

He had been so ready to say it. But he hated her. He hated for betraying him. He hated that she could hurt him so much, like no other woman ever had before or ever could.

That he was sure of.

So he stood before the Oak Room, watching her downcast face as she conversed with his stepsister, and his heart broke again. Because she looked up at him. She looked at him in the way he had been waiting for, but all he could do was walk away.

All he could do was run because she scared him so much. She frightened him because this felt final.

This felt like the end.

He was in Europe. Alcohol was consumed because he just couldn't bear the thought of those big eyes of hers, welling up because of him. He didn't even have to say anything and he could break her just as easily as she could break him.

He knew of Serena's fear that everyone would hate her. He knew how her ex-boyfriend/pseudo stepbrother wanted to discard her like she used to discard all of those conquests. And he knew that frightened her.

Everyone was leaving. Going to college, and starting their lives. And staring at the window display of Pierre Hermé, he understood that too. He wasn't going to college. He was building his empire. And Blair was relocating to the Village. He would be lucky if he saw her at all, save for awkward social functions.

That scared him more than anything else. That scared him more than her liaison with Jack and how much she could hurt him. Because when she was hurting him, at least she loved him. They weren't nine anymore, where he could push her and she would just sneer back, ready for retribution.

She could actually leave him without a moment's hesitation. She could get married to some Yale grad and have perfect blonde children. And she would never think about him again.

That was worse. That was a life without Blair Waldorf. And that was a life of torment.

"Why aren't you in Europe?"

Her voice was flat, with a little touch of anger, and he loved her for it. If he had to, he would spend the rest of his life making it up to her, because a life without her wasn't a life at all. This was what they were supposed to be.

Standing in Europe, with all of the unsanitary brothels and opium dens, he couldn't help but think of her. Because even though she deserved so much better than him, they deserved each other. And the very real threat that the love of his life might possibly never look at him again, might end up married to some doctor, was more than he could bear.

"I love you too."

Because this was it for them. And he was never looking back.