Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They belong to Cecily von Zeigesar and The CW.
"Papa Bart," Luca greeted his grandfather when he arrived for dinner with an exuberant smile. Luca's arms went around Bart's legs.
Bart bent down and engulfed the little boy in a hug.
"Where's Lily?" Chuck inquired, greeted his father with a handshake, "I thought she'd be with you."
"She had a meeting with her attorneys," Bart explained as he lifted Luca up, "She'll join us when she's finished."
"Looks like he's not avoiding you any more," Blair greeted Bart with a kiss to his cheek. She could see the relief in her father-in-law's eyes as he held his grandson. Being ignored by him for the three plus weeks Chuck had been in the treatment facility bothered him more than he'd let on to Blair.
"How are you feeling, Chuck?" Bart inquired.
"It's good to get back into a familiar routine," Chuck replied, "Even if I had to add a little daily physical fitness to it."
"How's the jogging going?" Bart inquired.
"I'm outrunning Nate," Chuck snorted with amusement, "I never thought I would be able to say that."
"I'm surprised he has time with the Spectator up and running again," Bart stated.
"It was a condition I placed upon the transaction," Chuck replied, "It's nice to have someone to run with, and if he stays as busy as he currently is he'll appreciate the morning exercise."
"I run when bigger," Luca chimed in, "Me short legs."
"Where did you hear that?" the boy's father laughed.
"Mommy," Luca replied.
"When your legs are longer, you can run with me and Uncle Nate," Chuck chortled with amusement. His confirmation earned a cheer from his son.
"I admire your commitment," Bart laughed, "I don't think I have such ambition. Physical fitness was never really my thing."
"Mine either," Blair chimed in, "I'll stick with my pilates and yoga. One of the benefits of Chuck's new daily ritual, he has more energy with the rest of his day. He gets to keep up with the seeming endless supply of energy his son and his son's puppy seem to have."
"And how is Monkey?" Bart inquired, "Still chewing on the designer shoes?"
"Fortunately no," Blair smiled, "But that's because we keep our closet door closed. As mad as I was at you for getting the puppy, he's actually been a good addition to the family. He seems to wear Luca out faster than Chuck and I ever could."
"So not so endless supply of energy," Chuck teased.
"Where's my granddaughter?" Bart inquired.
"She's napping," Blair replied, "At least she's supposed to be napping. She's a feisty little thing when we try to put her down for a nap when she doesn't want to."
Chuck was about to comment about how like her mother their daughter was, but Blair tossed him a challenging look. He wisely remained quiet.
"How are things at the Spectator?" Bart inquired as they all filing into Chuck's study where Blair promptly poured her father-in-law a glass of scotch.
"I'm not spending too much time there," Chuck replied, "Nate says that circulation is back up to the levels it was just before the feds pulled the plug."
"I'm sure the editorial where Nate virtually disowned his Vanderbilt family helped with that," Blair chimed in as she handed Chuck a glass of water.
"I'm sure William loved to read that from his cell," Bart snorted, "You have a good friend in Nate. I don't know if I would have done what he did in turning in his family."
"He still struggles with it," Chuck stated, "He tries to not show how much it bothers him that his mother won't return his phone calls, and his senate scum cousin calls him out in nearly every speech he gives."
"Sounds like Tripp needs to be put in his place," Bart stated.
"What he needs is to be voted out of office," Blair chimed him, "Hopefully there will be a viable candidate in the upcoming election to challenge him. I can assure you that he doesn't have my vote. Honestly, I can overlook him cheating on his wife. That almost seems to be a perquisite to get into politics. What I can't overlook is him getting into an accident and leaving Serena virtually to die. Now he's openly lying about his cousin's motives. Saying that Nate made up the allegations against William because he's jealous that their grandfather favored Tripp over Nate. That's so backwards, it's laughable."
"You should run against him, my dear," Bart teasingly told his daughter-in-law.
"I'm busy enough with the children," Blair waved off the suggestion, "But you should do it, Bart."
"I think there are too many skeletons in my closet," Bart confessed, "I don't think anyone would take me seriously as a candidate."
"I think you'd be surprised," Blair stated, "I think you'd be a good senator. You started your business with not much, and built it into the empire that it is."
"It wasn't always done the ethical way," Bart confessed, "I think it's best for the Bass family to stay out of politics."
"I don't know," Blair mused, "President Bass has a nice ring to it."
"And if Evie or Luca want to run, that can still be a possibility, but many years down the road," Bart chuckled.
"Do you want to be president, Peanut?" Blair tapped his nose affectionately.
"I be a fireman," Luca informed her.
"You'd better keep eating your vegetables," Chuck chimed in.
Luca had been taking his father's advice seriously, eating all his vegetables without protest each evening.
"I'll go wake up the princess," Blair stated, "Dinner should be ready soon."
"Lil should be here by the time you get down," Bart stated. Blair and Chuck could see the shine in his eyes as he spoke about his ex-wife.
"Grammy coming?" Luca's eyes lit up in excitement as he clapped his hands together.
"You have such a mismatched collection of grandparents," Chuck laughed, "So many people that love you so much. You are the luckiest little boy...Blair said that Rufus is trying to get the prenup thrown out by claiming you and Lily were having an affair."
"Ironic, isn't it," Bart replied, "She slept with Rufus just before our wedding, yet I'm the one that is accused of having the affair with her...Lil's actually trying to get her wedding to Rufus completely invalidated."
"How's she trying to do that?" Chuck inquired.
"She's trying to claim that our union was not legally dissolved, therefore she's still married to me and not Rufus," he explained.
"Lessor of two evils?" Chuck theorized, "Would you be okay if you and Lily were still married?"
"There are still some hurt feelings that we're both working through, but I'd be alright with us remaining married."
"I thought the feds did some legal maneuvering to dissolve your marriage when you went into protective custody," Chuck recalled.
"Lily is challenging the validity of that as well, saying that she should have been entitled to representation and notification. Since that has never officially been done..." Bart trailed off.
"Interesting angle to play," Chuck stated.
Just then the doorbell rang.
"Grammy," Luca exclaimed as he darted out of the office to greet his grandmother as Rosa allowed her into the home.
"Hello, Luca," Lily bent down to greet the little boy, "How's my favorite grandson?"
"Tummy hungry," he replied as his arms went around her neck to hug her.
"Tummy hungry," she laughed as she picked him up, "Well, we'll have to do something to fix that."
"Hi, Lily," Blair greeted her mother-in-law, having come down the stairs with Evie in her arms.
"Hello, Darling," Lily leaned in to kiss Blair's cheek before bending down further to kiss the top of Evie's head, "And how is my granddaughter?"
"Grumpy," Blair bounced Evie on her hip, "She just woke from her nap."
"Did you have a good nap, Sweetheart?" Lily cooed in Evie's ear.
Evie's only reply was to pout, rubbing her eyes in the process.
"Papa here," Luca inserted himself into the conversation.
"I hope I didn't hold up dinner," Lily replied, "It took longer with my attorney than I expected."
"You have perfect timing," Blair assured her as they made their way to Chuck's study were father and son were laughing at something they were discussing.
"I hope you're not laughing at us," Lily stated as she stepped in to kiss her son and then ex-husband in greeting.
"Never," Bart assured her as Luca was transferred back to his arms just as Evie was handed to Chuck. The little girl's mood began to improve.
"We were just laughing about the suggestion Blair made earlier about Bart running for political office," Chuck explained.
"Is running for political office really something you're interested in pursuing?" Lily's eyes lit with surprise.
"God no," Bart snorted, "Luca would be elected to office before I ever would."
"Thank heavens," she sighed in relief.
"How did your meeting with the attorneys go?" Blair inquired as she poured Lily a drink.
"Surprisingly well," Lily stated, "The angle that Bart suggested of fighting the dissolution of our marriage will actually work in dissolving my marriage to Rufus. The only hold up now is convincing a judge that I would have fought Bart to keep our marriage together had I been presented that option."
"That was your idea?" Chuck looked to his father with intrigue.
Bart shrugged in reply.
"Maybe if the judge can see how happy the two of you are together now, they'll agree," Blair suggested, "Maybe you should start dating again, officially."
"That's probably not a good idea," Bart spoke up quickly, almost too quickly.
"But I thought that the two of you…" Blair trailed off, "You are dating again, aren't you?"
"We're taking things slow," Bart corrected her, "And if we aren't able to convince a judge that our dissolved marriage was invalid, then Lily will have to proceed with divorcing Rufus. The knowledge that we could be dating now would help Rufus sell his story that Lily and I had an affair during their marriage, which would invalidate their prenup."
"I guess I didn't think of that," Blair conceded.
With the conversation taking a serious tone, Luca felt it best to chime in. "My tummy hungry. We eat?"
"Your tummy hungry," Bart chuckled as he began tickling his grandson, "We'd better fix that. You are a growing boy."
"I eat veggie tables," Luca proclaimed proudly as he darted towards the dining room.
"God bless that fireman that told him to eat his vegetables," Blair added as she and Lily linked arms and followed the boy.
"Chuck made a donation in their name, didn't he?" Lily laughed.
"A very generous one," Blair laughed along.
"You coming, Dad?" Chuck asked as he realized his father wasn't following along.
"Yeah," Bart agreed as he got up from the chair.
"Is there something you want to talk about?" Chuck asked as he saw the hesitation written across this father's face as Evie reached out a hand towards her grandfather.
"Maybe after dinner," Bart nodded as he allowed his granddaughter to wrap her tiny fingers around one of his, seemingly pulling him along.
"You were quiet tonight," Chuck observed as he and Bart retired to his study after both children were asleep for the evening. Lily had gone home, but Bart had stayed behind, claiming that he wanted to play a game of chess with his son.
"That's a Bass's nature," Bart stated as he studied the board in front of him.
"We'll have to teach that to Luca," Chuck laughed, "That little boy never stops talking."
"Takes after his mother," Bart nodded as he made his move.
"Anything on your mind?" Chuck tried to start the discussion, "You seemed fine until Lily arrived. Are you two arguing about something?"
"No," Bart shook his head, "We're fine."
"You're going to need to find someone else that believes you because I certainly don't. You're brooding like I do when something is bothering me," Chuck stated, "Blair doesn't leave me alone until I tell her what is wrong. It annoying that she keeps on me about it, but I feel better after I unburden myself."
"That's not the way I work," Bart stated.
"Bart, I'm trying here," Chuck told him, "We're trying to have a father-son relationship, aren't we?"
"We are," Bart nodded, "But sharing my feelings is a foreign concept. I've kept them bottled up for two decades."
"I remember," Chuck replied as he made his next move, "But keeping all those feelings bottled up didn't seem to work well, so how about a new approach. Something is bothering you. What is it?"
Bart rose from the table with a sigh, going to the bar to refill his glass, "If Lil is successful in challenging the dissolution of our marriage, we'll be married again."
"I thought you'd want that," Chuck replied.
"I'm not a good husband, Chuck," Bart stated after he took a healthy gulp of the liquid, "I never was, not even with your mother. I worked long hours. I forgot birthdays, anniversaries. I had affairs."
"Was there more than just Elizabeth Fischer?" Chuck asked.
"A couple," Bart confirmed, "But with Lil, there were dozens."
"What's all that crap about you being hurt by her affair with Rufus before the wedding then?" Chuck challenged him.
"My affairs never involved feelings, Lil's did," Bart stated, "They had a past together…a son even."
"You're a different person now," Chuck reminded him, "I can see that. I'm sure Lily can too…Do you think she knew about the affairs?"
"Probably," he nodded, "I wasn't discreet."
"Maybe you should apologize," Chuck suggested, "I did some pretty horrible things to Blair, things that I thought would be unforgivable, but I earned her forgiveness. When you're in love, those things you think are unforgivable become forgivable if you're will to do the work to earn that forgiveness."
"Love," Bart snorted, "What the hell is that?"
"It's that hitch that you get in your gut every time Lily walks into the room. It's what makes your eyes light up and brings out that smile. I get that every time I see Blair," Chuck explained, "It's wanting to do the hard things to make the relationship work because you cannot see yourself happy with anyone else. Does any of this ring any bells?"
"My relationship with Lil is complicated," Bart held firm.
"What do you see happening then?" Chuck challenged him, "She gets her marriage to Rufus invalidated. Then you turn around and divorce her?"
"Nobody is mentioning divorce," Bart replied.
"You're also not mentioning staying together," Chuck stated.
"I don't want to get hurt," Bart admitted after several moments of silence.
"I get it," Chuck nodded, "I know all about running from feelings for fear of getting hurt. I stood Blair up when we were going to summer in Tuscany. I fled to Thailand when she first told me that she loved me. It was easier to leave than admit what I was feeling. It was easier to run from my feelings than risk letting Blair in, to see all the ways in which I was damaged and risk her wanting nothing to do with me. As easy as running is, life was so much more satisfying when I stayed. Blair and I are deeply in love. We have two amazing children. I would suffer through all of that pain and agony again and again if it means that I get to end up right here where I am."
"You can say that now, but you've never watched the woman that you love take her last breath," Bart hissed, "That does things to you that you cannot imagine."
"But I do know what it's like to have a father that can't even look at you because he blames you for his wife's death," Chuck growled, "How the hell could you do that to me?"
"You didn't kill your mother, Chuck," Bart insisted, "As I told you before, I never blamed you for what happened."
"That's complete bullshit," Chuck snarled, "You said what everyone wanted to hear. You blame me. I took your wife away, so you saw to it that I led a miserable life. Is that why you came back, to see to it that I was punished? Are you planning on taking my family away?"
"Chuck," Blair gasped upon entering the study to find pieces of the chess table flying across the room. "What is all of this about?"
"We're bonding," he growled, "Please leave while we sort things out."
"I'm not going to just turn my back so you can pummel your father," Blair crossed the room as forced his eyes to connect with hers, to dispel the rage that had built up inside him, "You're better than this."
Chuck's eyes closed reflexively to soak in her words. Her magical powers over him absorbed all his anger as she stroked his chin softly.
"I know you're angry, Chuck," Bart took a chance that his son had calmed down enough to continue the conversation, "And I know you question my motives in coming back to your life after six years away. My only wish in coming back is to establish a relationship with my son. Whether you believe me or not, that was my only reason to return. Bonding with Luca and Evie and potentially reuniting with Lily are all secondary."
"Chuck," Blair prodded him when he remained silent, "Do you believe him?"
"The little boy in me wants to," Chuck spoke finally as his eyes opened and locked with Blair's once more, "But I'm not that little boy anymore. I don't know how to trust you, Bart. I don't know if I can get past it all."
"Try," Blair requested softly.
Chuck nodded as he turned towards Bart, "I'm trying, Bart. I honestly am, and I'll keep trying."
Blair slipped her hand into his and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Bart stepped forward and patted his son's shoulder. "I should be going."
"I'm sorry for the abrupt ending to our chess game," Chuck looked at the game pieces littered across the floor.
"We'll start again tomorrow," Bart replied.
Chuck nodded as he bent down to start picking up the game pieces.
"I'll walk you out," Blair offered as she guided Bart towards the door. "Don't give up on him, Bart. He's a stubborn basshole, but he's also a good man with a gigantic heart. He's carried his pain and anger in him for over twenty years. It's not going to disappear in a few months."
"I didn't expect it to," Bart assured, "Honestly, our relationship is further along that I thought it would be. I thought it would take months to get him to even speak to me. Don't worry, Blair, I'm not going anywhere."
"Good to hear," she smiled as she rose up to kiss his cheek.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he told her as he left.
Blair returned to Chuck's study where he'd finished up putting away the game.
"I don't want to talk about it," Chuck cut her off before she could say a word.
"I wasn't going to say anything," she replied as she took his hand and pulled, "Take me to bed."
Chuck lifted her into his arms and carried her off to bed.
TBC…