It had been a long day. A long, tiring day. The exuberance of their family and friends had taken a heavy toil on all of them, but most especially on Eve. She was laying across Blair's chest bonelessly, her tiny hand wrapped around her mother's finger as she slept soundly.

" Do you want me to put her to bed ?" A quiet voice asked from the doorway and Blair looked up to see Chuck standing there with his hands in the pockets of his blue pinstriped suit.

She nodded her head slightly, not wanting to move more than necessary in fear of waking her.

Chuck strolled forward almost lazily and gathered his daughter into his arms. Then he left the room with her without another word.

She sat up and got slowly to her feet, not looking forward to the long climb to her bedroom.

" Blair," A soft voice called from the doorway. " Do you have a minute ?" Lily asked stepping into the room.

Blair sat back down. " Sure." She allowed, though she didn't really want to. She wasn't sure what Lily wanted to talk about but she had a good idea and she absolutely didn't want to talk about any of it.

Lily came to sit beside her on the sofa and turned her body towards her, crossing her legs elegantly.

" How are things between you and Chuck ?" She asked without preamble.

Blair sighed helplessly. " Not good and I'm not sure how to fix it."

Lily watched her in silence for a few long moments. " How can I help ?"

" I don't think there's really anything you can do." Blair admitted.

" I can listen." Lily smiled. " Maybe you can tell me what exactly happened between the two of you."

Blair shook her head and frowned. " I don't really know what happened between us. After Eve..." She let the rest of the sentence trail off, not sure how to finish it.

" I know." Lilly patted her hand in a gesture of understanding. " Has it been better since she's been home ?"

Blair made a face. " We haven't been openly hostile to each other in the last few hours. I guess that's something anyway."

A new voice caused them both to turn their attention towards the doorway. " Am I interrupting ?" Serena asked, gliding into the room without waiting for either of them to object.

" We were just talking." Lily smiled at her.

Serena came to the coffee table in front of both of them, gathering her flowing white skirt in one hand and sat down squarely in the middle of it, crossing her legs Indian style. " What were you talking about?"

" My marriage and what a complete disaster I've made of it." Blair sighed wanting desperately to point out all the other perfectly comfortable pieces of furniture scattered around the room but resisting the urge. Serena was who she was and she guessed by now there was nothing she could do to turn her into a proper young lady, though she had spent most of her childhood pursuing that goal.

" Why do you say that ?" Lily asked, turning to her sharply. " Why are you blaming yourself ?"

Blair blanched and looked away. " You don't know. I thought Chuck would have filled you in on all the gory details. I'm surprised there wasn't a Gossip Girl blast complete with pictures."

" What don't we know ? What did you do ?" Serena asked leaning closer in concern.

Blair took a deep breath before barreling forward. This was Chuck's family. His step sister and his mother for all practical purposes. These people cared about him and sister and mother almost always trumped best friend where loyalty was concerned. " I cheated."

" What ?" Serena demanded. " With who ?" There was more concern there now and Blair immediately understood why. " No, not Nate. I wouldn't do that. Not to either of you."

" I can't imagine you doing it at all." Lily told her, but there wasn't really anger in her voice. Blair couldn't quite decide what it was, but it wasn't anger.

" My therapist. The one I've been seeing since this whole thing with Eve."

" You had sex with your therapist ?" Serena asked.

" More importantly, your therapist had sex with you ?" Lily interjected.

" It seems so." Blair nodded.

Lily shifted, there was the anger now, she could see it in her face and Blair shrank back from it. But her next words surprised her. " Have you reported him ?"

" Reported him to who ?" Blair asked her.

" Blair, the man was your doctor, your therapist in fact. He took advantage of you." Lily explained gently.

Blair shook her head. " It wasn't like that. Or least I don't think it was. We were talking about Chuck and how he was never home. We started talking about how I felt like I lost both of them the night Eve was taken and then I don't know..." She trailed off.

" What do you mean you don't know ?" Serena asked, sitting up further still.

" It's all a little fuzzy actually. I keep trying to remember how we went from sitting right here where we are to my bedroom, but it gets muffled somehow." Blair admitted.

" Blair, that man took advantage of you. From the sounds of it, he may have even drugged you." Lily announced dramatically. " You have to report him to the medical board. He shouldn't be allowed to practice."

" Drugged me ? He didn't drug me. I didn't take anything that day other than the things he gave me when I first started seeing him." Blair protested.

" He prescribed you drugs ?" Serena asked. " What drugs ?"

Blair hesitated suddenly feeling enormously stupid. " I never got a prescription from him. I just gave me the bottles and he filled them himself. He said they were an antidepressant and something to help me sleep."

" Oh, Blair." Lily said. " If he's just a therapist, he can't legal prescribe you drugs. He doesn't have a license for that. Only a medical doctor or a psychiatrist can do that."

Blair put her hands over her face and did her best to hold back the tears that were threaten to fall again. " I know that. I should know that. God, I feel so stupid."

Serena slid to the edge of the table and grabbed her hands, pulling them from her face. " No, don't feel stupid. You have been through so much in the last six months. We should have been keeping a better eye on you. This isn't your fault, B."

" Do not take another one of those pills." Lily told her. " In fact, I'll have Dorota give me the bottles and first thing in the morning I'm going to the police station and telling them everything."

" Great and approximately twenty minutes later the entire East side will know what a complete, helpless idiot I am." Blair moaned.

" You know, this almost constitutes rapes." Lily eyed her. " If he did this to you, he may be doing it to other women, too. You can't not report this."

" Who's going to believe me ?" Blair asked. " It'll be my word against his."

" Except that we also have these pills he gave you."

" Flunitrazapam." Chuck's voice rang out from the doorway. " It's a generic form of Rohypnal." He sauntered the rest of the way into the room. " You don't need to go to the station in the morning. I took a few of those pills yesterday and had my friend at the station find out what they were. Dorota was worried about them because there wasn't a label on the bottle so she gave me a couple."

" Oh, my God !" Lily exclaimed. " When is it going to end for the two of you ?"

" I think it may all be connected to the same thing, actually." Chuck announced. " I'm not sure yet. But I have some suspicions."

" What kind of suspicions ? What are you talking about ?" Blair asked, turning so she could see him better.

He shook his head. " I'm not ready to say anything yet. Give me a few days. I'll get to the bottom of this. Mike is looking into it for me." He shifted and came to stand in front of her. " Eve was out before I even put her down and Dorota has taken up a post in her room. I think she's planning to sleep in the rocking chair. I think I'll head up myself."

" You're staying here ?" Blair asked, turning even further.

" If you don't have a problem with that. I don't want to be that far from her yet." He admitted.

" Of course I don't have a problem with that. This is your home, too. You're welcome here as long as you like." Blair told him, trying to contain her smile. He was being so nice. She couldn't help but wonder if it was just a show because his family was there.

" Good. Then I'll say goodnight." He came around the sofa and leaned in to kiss Lily on the cheek.

" I'm so proud of you, Charles. I can't believe you really found her." She told him.

Serena got up before he could get too far away and hugged him ferociously. " Thank you for bringing her home. You did good, Chuck."

He chuckled and hugged her back just as tightly. " Thank you. I told you I would."

He let her go and gave Blair a look that she couldn't quite interrupt. " Dorota has determined that we both need a good night's sleep so she insists on getting Eve if she should wake up. So you can sleep peacefully tonight."

" Thank you." Blair smiled at him tentatively. "Goodnight. I'll see you in the morning."

" Are you going to actually eat breakfast ?" he asked, eying her carefully.

" I'm going to try." She assured him. " You have my word."

" Then I'll make sure Cook makes all your favorites." He answered with a nod before leaving the room.

Lily and Serena were gone ten minutes later and Blair was left to herself for the first time since everything had changed.

She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and glanced up the long flight, mentally preparing herself for the journey. The terrible tiredness was back again but it was different this time. It wasn't as impossible to fight as it had been recently and she realized it was because she hadn't taken her pills. An acute sense of embarrassment nearly overcame her. How could she be so stupid ? It was in that moment that she realized exactly how much she had changed. People didn't trick the old Blair like that. She was shrewd and wise and could take care of herself. There was no need for someone to watch out for the old Blair. The old Blair was the duper, not the dupee.

When had she become a helpless weakling that fell for anything and wasn't smart enough to look out for herself ? When had she fallen so completely apart ? It was no wonder Chuck didn't love her anymore. There was barely anything left of herself. It was humiliating and while she had dealt with humiliating before, this seemed different somehow, worse. It was one thing to make a fool out of herself. She had become a champion at that. But to have someone else make a fool out of her hurt so much more.

She shook her head to clear the thoughts away and started up the staircase. At the top, she stopped off in the bedroom to slip out of her shoes and grab her robe. A nice, long, hot shower sounded better than it had in a long time.

Stepping across the hall, she opened the door and stopped short.

Chuck was standing at the mirror, just finishing brushing his teeth wearing nothing but a fluffy white towel wrapped low on his narrow hips. The dampness of his skin glistened over his shoulders and chest. His hair was wet, smoothed back from his forward. He turned his eyes towards her as he replaced his toothbrush in its holder.

" I was just finishing up." He said in his famous low, throaty voice.

" I'll just use the other bathroom." She said, stepping back out of the doorway.

He stepped forward slowly and she halted, hypnotized by the way he moved towards her.

" You don't have to go." He answered. " Like I said, I'm all done here."

Her fingers twitched where they rested at her sides. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around him and pull him into her, but she wasn't sure how he would react. So she stopped herself and continued to watch him.

He stepped closer still, closely to remaining distance between them. Her breath stopped in her chest, too afraid to move even that much, afraid that it would break whatever spell he was under and cause him to turn and run from her. She so badly wanted to feel him against her. It had been so long. She felt like she was starving and he was a delicious plate of food she wasn't allowed to touch.

Then he moved again and she suddenly found herself pressed against the doorjamb, trapped between him and it. His chest pushed into hers making breathing impossible. His face was inches away, less than that, centimeters, really. She could feel his breath on her cheeks and his lips nearly brushed her when his tongue snaked out to wet them.

But he stopped and it was infuriating. He just stood there looking down at her, his eyes locked on her own lips while the whole world paused around them.

Then just as suddenly as it started, he was gone, brushing past her as he left the room.

" Chuck." She called after him and it caused him to pause there right outside the guest room door.

" I'm sorry, Blair." He shook his head. " I shouldn't have done that."

Then he turned the knob and darted into the room, closing the door firmly behind him.