Chuck came back to the suite from work that night to find Nate sitting on the couch flipping through the channels. He threw his briefcase onto the side table and plopped down onto the chair across from him.
"Long time no see," Chuck said as he kicked his feet up and placed them on the ottoman in front of him.
"Yeah, it seems I haven't been seeing or hearing much from anyone these days," Nate groaned not taking his eyes off the television.
Chuck let out a small laugh, "Is someone feeling left out?"
"Well, let's see, I have pretty much had to keep myself scarce around here to avoid catching you and Blair in any awkward positions, Serena hasn't returned a single one of my calls and Dan is a psychopath who is looking to destroy all our lives. On top of that the Spectator, while doing well, hasn't had a major story break in weeks," Nate rambled.
"Nathaniel, cool it with the dramatics. We have all been home what a few days? And we did just go on a bender a few days ago. As for Serena what can I say? Somethings never change."
"I'm just so bored," Nate relented throwing the remote onto the couch.
"You need to get out, find some fresh meat," Chuck replied with a head tilt. "Why don't you call up Jack, I hear he is on the prowl."
"On the prowl? Seriously Chuck? I just need a change."
"Well, actually speaking of change there is something I needed to discuss with you," Chuck began sitting up straight. "I've been speaking with a realtor about trying to find a townhouse."
"Chuck Bass living in a townhouse? How did Blair get you to agree to this one?" Nate asked unamused.
"It was my idea. We have just had such a rough start and I want something for us to have that's just ours. A new beginning per say. Even though were together I know she feels in someway like I have been holding back and I just want to prove to her that I'm in this and I forgive her," Chuck explained.
"So you prove you forgive her by moving in together? That feels a bit rushed don't you think?" Nate asked.
"Blair and I have never really been ones for slow. I want this. I feel like this is what we need to move forward. We need to show each other that the trust is there and this is one of the biggest steps we can take."
"So are you saying that I need to start looking for a new place to live?" Nate asked grimly.
"I'm saying that the place is yours once I find somewhere," Chuck stated with a smirk.
"Well, thats certainly a change," Nate mumbled.
"Really Nathaniel, I just gave you a suite in a prestigious hotel at no cost. Please show a little more enthusiasm or at least some mild appreciation," Chuck replied.
"If you had made me pay rent before maybe I would be more enthusiastic."
"Blair text me when I was on the way home. She said that her and Serena would be coming back here soon after they finished up their shopping day," Chuck commented.
Nate turned his head towards Chuck suddenly with a look of surprise.
"Uh, I didn't think we would ever end up back at this point," Chuck mumbled running a head through his hair.
"What are you talking about?" Nate asked trying to play cool.
"You are totally having twisted thoughts about your ex. Who also happens to be my sister. Who also happens to be my girlfriend's best friend."
Nate let out a sigh, "It's stupid really. I know it's not going to go anywhere it's just, I don't know."
"You do whatever you need to do but just be aware she came back with someone. I'm sure you read the blast," Chuck reminded him.
"What do you say tonight we hang out just the four of us? Catch up on old times," Nate suggested.
"Well, you'll have to run it past them but sounds like a plan to me."
Shortly later Blair and Serena came walking through the elevator with a few hotel employees behind them carrying a slew of shopping bags. "You can place hers over there and put mine in that bedroom please," Blair spoke as she headed through the hall and into the living room. The employees placed the bags down as Chuck walked up and slipped them all a tip before they made their way back to the elevator.
"Oh, if it isn't the elusive Nate Archibald in the flesh," Blair commented as she strolled towards Chuck and planted a kiss onto his cheek.
"Hello to you to Blair," Nate replied as Serena came into view. "Serena."
"Nate!" Serena exclaimed walking over to him. He stood up and they embraced in a quick hug. "How have you been?"
"Good. Pretty good. And you?"
"I've been better," Serena groaned. "But, now that I'm back in the city with all my favorite people things are finally starting to look up."
"I was just suggesting to Chuck that we should all hang out tonight and catch up on the summer," Nate suggested.
"Oh, I wish I could but I haven't even been to see my mom yet and I am supposed to meet up with Steven later. I can't wait for you guys to meet him this weekend at the Gala," Serena stated jovially as she rummaged through her purse trying to find her phone.
"Yeah, about that, I think I'm going to pass this time," Nate grumbled as he walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer.
Chuck approached him and waited till the girls were emerged in conversation before addressing him. "Not even going to come check out the competition?"
"Weren't you the one who told me she was a lost cause?" Nate asked.
"No, I said that you two working was a lost cause. Serena is fickle. She floats from one relationship to the next based purely on whims. I am not judging her. In many ways I commend her but she isn't exactly who I would suggest you getting involved with again," Chuck explained.
"Well, supposedly Blair has changed. What makes you think Serena isn't capable?"
"Nathaniel, you going to do whatever you want to do so just do it. But, just so you know, when it all comes crashing down neither Blair or I are going to be taking sides," Chuck replied. He walked back to the living room to join the girls.
"I really should be going," Serena stated looking at her phone. "I hope you reconsider Saturday though Nate. I really would love for you all to meet Steven together."
Nate nodded trying to ignore the amused look that was plastered on Chuck's face.
"Oh, Nate your coming. This is going to be a big night and we may at least need you for comic relief if everything blows up," Blair insisted while taking a seat on the couch.
"Why thank you Blair," Nate replied as he sauntered off into his bedroom and away from the other three individuals.
"I'll call you later tonight B. And thanks for everything earlier. I know that probably wasn't easy for you," Serena stated while leaning down to hug a seated Blair. Blair smiled slightly and patted Serena's back.
"Bye S," Blair replied sweetly. Serena made her way to the elevator and headed out.
Blair turned and faced Chuck giving him a look that he had seen many times before. A look that typically meant that what was to follow was going to be extremely unenjoyable.
He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Scotch and poured himself a drink before he joined Blair in the living room to address the look that he could feel burning through him from across the room.
"So, I'm guessing by that face that Serena told you everything," Chuck began while settling into a chair and taking a sip of his drink.
"I'm going to try my hardest to be understanding here because I agreed to let this go, well agreed until I knew exactly what it was. Why the hell would you not tell me that after you went to see her?" Blair asked obviously confused.
"Blair for the final time Serena asked me to keep it to myself," Chuck huffed.
"That's not it," she combated back.
"What are you trying to get me to say?" he asked with agitation.
"Chuck, you have never been one to keep something to yourself no matter who asked you," she reasoned.
"Blair, you and I were not even in a relationship when I found out about this. The last thing I wanted to do was fill you in on Dan's two timing ways and feel like you chose to be with me by default," Chuck confessed.
"Chuck, I came to you months before that. I came to Monte Carlo in May and you didn't even find out about this till July. I told you I was all in. Why would you believe that would effect a decision I had already made. I came to you before or as that was happening," Blair asked genuinely concerned.
Chuck said nothing but stared at the glass as he shifted it back and forth in his hands.
"And then you asked me to get back in a relationship the next day? Why would you do that if you thought that I was choosing you by default?" she asked still waiting for any type of response. "Chuck this isn't going to work if you don't trust me and talk to me. Why did you make us official the day after you found this out?"
"I'm over it okay?" he replied in genuinely.
"Well, I just found out about it so excuse me if I feel we need to go back and look over the details a bit more before we put it to rest," she fumed.
"I just wanted you to know that I wanted us. I may not have been ready but I knew we could ease back into things. I could learn to trust you since we were spending so much time apart and I guess part of me felt guilty for the Serena business," Chuck mumbled before taking a large gulp.
"So you got back together with me partially out of guilt?" she asked with sadness laced in her voice.
"It was probably why I chose that moment but it was not the reason why."
"And you didn't trust me? Or should I ask do you trust me now?" Blair replied biting her lip.
"Not completely," he stated while looking in her eyes.
"Is that why you asked me to move in with you?" Blair asked.
"Excuse me?" he replied turning his attention completely to her and placing his drink down on the table.
"Why did you ask me to move in with you? Was it so that you could keep track of me until you truly believed that I was in this for good?"
"You know damn well that I never kept track of you when we were in a relationship. True I may have had some of my PI's do some tracking before we were official or when we went to war but you know I respect you and your privacy," Chuck stated angrily standing up from his chair.
"Then why?" Blair asked.
"You have a lot of nerve. After everything, I am giving you what you want. You waltzed back in my life three months ago and I have blown every rule I tried to apply to this relationship to please you. I keep worrying that if I want to slow things down or if I question anything then you are going to make a run for it."
"Maybe that's the problem with this relationship," Blair stated seriously looking him in the eye.
"You're right. Me forgiving you was a mistake," he replied picking up the drink and walking away into the kitchen.
"Chuck, that's not what I am saying. I'm saying that we haven't been ourselves. I am walking around on egg shells not only around you but around Serena too. When you told me that you spoke with her or that you went to visit her, I was so angry but I bit my tongue because I thought things were too fragile to be already fighting. Then the other day at Bart and Lily's. I couldn't remember the last time you made me feel so insignificant. Even when I tried to talk to you when you got home. I just forgave you the next day like it was nothing even after that blast and everything. You go through mood changes constantly. Some days you seems all in and some you seem like you have one foot out of the door," Blair began to shout. "Didn't you think that was weird? Didn't it occur to you that I have never been that calm and rational without a blow up being the result?"
"I'm sorry that I cannot read your mind. If you have something to say then say it. Don't make me play this guessing game," Chuck yelled back.
"And this attitude of yours. This whole holier than thou, have never done anything wrong attitude. You think that you can just take everything out on me and throw me under the bus every time things don't go how you want," Blair countered.
"What the hell are you even talking about? I was sitting here minding my own business when you went off on me because your best friend slutted it up with your boyfriend and I knew and didn't tell you. History certainly has a way of repeating itself doesn't it?" Chuck asked with a cocky smirk.
"Congratulations, what can I say? All my boyfriends loved Serena more then me except the foreign guy who only married me to save face and you because it's not within New York's legal constraints. Happy?" she screamed finally rising from the couch and heading into his bedroom.
"Where are you going?" Chuck asked annoyed while standing up and walking into the bedroom. He saw her collecting her bags and she dragged them past him and into the entryway.
She placed all her bags near the elevator and turned around to face him. She grabbed his hands in hers and attempted to explain, "I love you and I wanna be with you. I wanna live with you and marry you and do all those wonderful things but I want it to be you and me. I can't handle waking up every morning and not knowing if today is the day you decide to trust me completely and stop holding me at arm's length and I can't keep holding my tongue for fear that you will leave or fight with me if I say the wrong thing. I can't keep being someone else to try and get everyone to forgive me. I need to be myself and I haven't been ever since I figured out everything I really wanted."
"So what are you saying?" Chuck asked in a hushed tone.
"I'm saying that I think we need to slow things down. I think we need to start back at square one and for you to see if the people we have become in all our time apart are in most ways the same one's that both of us thought we wanted to spend forever with before everything. I can't try to convince you anymore because nothing I say or do is going to magically fix this. Moving in together isn't going to fix this. I just need to be patient and hope that over time you will come to see what I do" Blair said with a tear glimmering in the corner of her eye.
"Blair, I don't need to start back to square one to know your the person I want to be with," Chuck tried while pushing a strand of hair from her face. "Moving in together isn't supposed to be a quick fix. It is supposed to be our fresh start."
She eyed him skeptically and let go of his hands, "Chuck, chances are it would cause more harm then good."
"I don't believe that," he replied grabbing her hands back.
"I do. I don't think were ready," she explained quickly.
Chuck dropped her hands from his and turned around back to the living room to his seat and his drink. He sat down calmly and refused to glance back in her direction. She let out a large sigh and walked over to the chair and lowered herself so that she was at eye level with him.
"Chuck, I need to know that you really forgive me and love me. The real me. Not this version I have been parading around as. I need to believe that I can still be myself with you and that you aren't going to jump to the assumption that because I get angry at you for something that I'm heading for the door. I need to be able to tell you how I really feel and not be worried that you are going to lose it on me or bring up old wounds. We need to work on being a couple before we can work on living together or everything that comes after that," Blair tried to explain. "There has been so much in the past couple of months that I never would have stood for before but I feel like I owe everyone so much that I have allowed you all to treat me as a doormat because I'm afraid if I don't you will all turn your backs on me."
"I apologize that you feel that me taking you back had conditions attached to it. I told you that I needed time, I didn't say that I needed you to act like a different person," Chuck groaned.
"And I think the fact that you didn't even question the way I was acting how I was speaks for itself. I'm not blaming you, I'm sure that this hasn't been easy for you to navigate either. As for conditions, I think you know very well whether you have stated it or not that this relationship has been a series of conditions since we got back together. We can keep talking in circles but it doesn't change anything. I want this relationship but I need to feel comfortable in it too. That's the only way we are ever going to work," she explained with the sound of confidence increasing with each passing sentence.
"So what exactly do you propose?" Chuck asked, his voice a mixture of both anger and the attempt to hide it.
"I propose we keep doing exactly what we have been doing but just as ourselves. We just got back to the city, we don't need to rush everything," she said lifting herself up slightly and planting herself on his leg.
"Fine," he mumbled giving her a fake smile.
"And you mister need to work on this new found personality disorder you have been sporting lately," she stated playfully trying to lighten the mood.
"Noted," was all he offered as he leaned further back and took a long sip of his scotch.
She observed him for a few moments before deciding that it was probably best to give him time to absorb everything. She leaned in and captured his lips with hers and offered a sweet kiss before smiling at him. "I'm going to head home. I've got some stuff to go over for tomorrow and Dorota is going to have a fit when she sees everything she needs to place into my newly organized closet."
He nodded at her with a slight smile.
"Chuck, this is the best thing for us. I know it is," she asserted.
"I'll play by your rules but I'm still going to the appointment tomorrow whether your coming or not," Chuck disclosed.
Blair looked at him confused.
"I won't rush you into anything but it's time for me to move on from this," he explained with a hand motion displaying the suite. "Besides, I think Nate will learn a lot from having to pay for room service and cleaning costs."
She let out a small laugh, "You may want to let him know that's not included in rent."
"I'll call you when I'm done tomorrow, meet for lunch?" he asked with a kiss.
"Sounds perfect," she replied.
Across town Bart Bass sat at his desk scrolling over pages of print out's. He heard the elevator ding and recalled that Lily wasn't expected home for at least a few more hours. He pushed his papers aside, stood up and walked out of his office and into the foyer.
"Mr. Bass," Dan greeted him.
"Daniel, what are you doing here?" he asked coldly.
"I'm sorry to disturb you but I have a business matter that I need to discuss with you," he explained with a look that was easily recognizable to someone like Bart.
"I suppose I could hear you out. Why don't you step into my office," he replied as he began walking back to the room he had just come from.