I got a lot of questions and comments about what I said in my previous AN. I said this is not a Chair romance story and what I meant by that is that the main plotline is not how Chair get together. It's about how they handle parenthood. This doesn't mean there won't be Chair. It just means that any romance stuff between them is a subplot not the main plot. I still haven't decided if Chuck and Blair will end up together in the story. On one hand I like writing Chair romance. On the other it seems like the original premise works better if they're not together. So it's still undecided, which is probably why that storyline is moving slowly.

Anyway, new chapter!


"Miss Blair you must hurry, or you'll be late for school."

"I know" Blair snarled.

She had her uniform on and her makeup and hair done, and her new satin headband completing the look. With one hand she was trying to pick up her bag and throw it on her shoulder but the baby she was holding with her other arm and hand was making it difficult. She didn't dare to bend over since she was afraid of gravity taking over and making Grace fall down on the bed, and if she kneeled she wasn't sure she would be able to get back up with the weight of both a baby and a heavy school bag to struggle with. Her eyes went from the baby to the bag but neither offered a solution.

She sighed. Sometimes it seemed like motherhood was about ninety percent planning how to do something. How to pick up your bag, how to take an uninterrupted shower, how to avoid getting spit-up on every single top in your possession.

"You know what?" she said to the baby. "Mommy's just going to put you in the crib. Then I'll just grab my bag and go."

"Miss Blair you must hurry" Dorota said, coming in to the room.

"I know" Blair snarled again.

"Don't put baby down. Is not time for nap."

"I have to put the baby down because she is not going to Constance Billard today" Blair said in a tone reserved for the mentally challenged.

"Let me take her" Dorota offered and walked over.

"She's fine in her crib, Dorota" Blair said and put the baby down.

The moment Grace realized she was being put in her crib she began to scream at the top of her lungs. Blair tried to offer her the pacifier to calm her down but the baby was having none of it. Blair glanced up at the clock and stomped impatiently on the spot. She knew perfectly well that if the baby intended to scream and cry she wouldn't be just a little late to school. She would be very late to school.

"Not now baby, please" she pleaded. "Mommy has to go!"

"I told you not to put baby down in crib" Dorota said, pushing Blair aside to lift the baby up again.

Blair made a face at her and in turn shoved Dorota aside, picking the baby up herself while shooting Dorota a look.

"No, I'll do it" she said. "I don't want her to feel abandoned by me. Let me just hold her for a second... There, there, sweetie…"

To her relief the baby calmed down. Dorota still looked impatient.

"Hand baby to me. You must leave now or you will be even more late."

"I know" Blair sighed. "Alright. Mommy's just going to go to school, but she'll be back before you know it sweetie! Okay? Please don't cry anymore. I promise you, I will be back real soon, okay?"

"You're being overly fussy with baby" Dorota said with a touch of annoyance and held out her arms. "Give her to me."

Blair obediently handed the child over to Dorota, rolling her eyes at how Dorota acted like an authority on babies when she really had no more experience than Blair. Grace protested immediately with a loud wail that turned into another fit of crying.

"Grace please don't do this" Blair pleaded. "I can't be late."

"You must toughen skin" Dorota said. "Let baby cry. She will get over it soon enough, but not if you keep fussing. Off you go."

Blair felt about ready to start crying herself, but an angry nod from Dorota in the direction of the door made her grab the bag from the bed and hurry out. As she ran down the stairs she could hear the baby crying and Dorota trying to comfort her. She felt like a horrible mother, and wondered how often this feeling would be occurring. Probably on a daily basis until she was on her deathbed.


Five days later Blair walked slowly up the stairs to her bedroom, having just finished breakfast and not so eagerly getting ready for another half-day at school. This morning she had handed the baby over to Dorota immediately after nursing her, in the futile hope of avoiding the usual morning scene of the baby screaming bloody murder whenever Blair handed her over to somebody else. She had a sneaking suspicion that even at her tender age Grace had figured out that when Mommy handed her off in the morning she would then be gone for several hours before coming back home.

The whole thing frustrated Blair beyond words. It was both annoying and heartbreaking at the same time, making her feel like the worst mother on the planet for abandoning her child, even though she knew it wasn't damaging to the baby that she went off and attended school for a few hours. It was beginning to wear Blair out, and she wasn't sure how much more of it she could take.

She walked into her bedroom, which was currently empty, and sat down with the pump Chuck had gotten her to get Grace's bottles ready for the morning. It occurred to her how warped it all was, to be sitting there, doing that in the morning instead of having breakfast at the Met steps with her friends. She felt so left out. She never had the time to have breakfast with them since breakfast was now something she squeezed in between all her baby related morning business. And after lunch she went home and missed everything that went on in the afternoon. While she once more held power over her classmates she knew deep down that Serena was queen, not Blair. It was impossible to be queen and not be there all day.

She finished her task and called for Dorota. Dorota came in holding Grace, and seemed to be contemplating how to get the bottles downstairs while still holding the baby. Blair got up and walked over to her, giving the baby a kiss on the cheek which she hoped wouldn't trigger a reaction.

"Blair, time for you to get going" Eleanor said as she came walking in. "If you insist on going to school I insist on you not being late. Come on."

Blair took a quick look in the mirror and adjusted her curls. Then she picked up her bag from the floor.

"Dorota, make sure those bottles are in the fridge immediately" she said. "I don't want my daughter drinking milk gone bad."

"Yes Miss Blair" Dorota said, looking around, slightly unsure. "Though I have logistics problem."

"What?" Eleanor snorted. Then she got what Dorota was talking about. "Here, hand Grace to me. I'll take the baby, you take the bottles."

Dorota handed the baby over, and Grace immediately began to cry. Blair froze halfway out the door. Grace had never cried before over being handed over, except for when it was Blair who was the one handing her over.

"Blair, school, now" Eleanor said firmly, bouncing the baby up and down.

Blair obediently walked out the door. She froze again after only a couple of steps when she heard Dorota's voice.

"Don't cry, Miss Grace. Dorota will be right back."

Blair stood there gaping for a few seconds, tempted to rush right back into her bedroom and take the baby. Instead she stomped off down the stairs in fury. What the hell was this? Her baby, her baby, was reacting the same way to Dorota leaving as she was to Blair leaving? That was just not right.

She sulked all the way to school, angrily drumming her foot on the floor of the cab. How could her baby do this to her? This was unspeakable! Suddenly it was no longer annoying that Grace complained when Blair handed her over to leave. Suddenly that was just the way it was supposed to be. She was, after all, the girl's mother. Dorota was just a member of the staff. She didn't deserve the special reactions reserved for Grace's mother.

She thought back at how things had been since the baby had been born. Blair had done her best to be a good mother, but she handed the baby over to Dorota quite a lot too. Dorota was in charge of changing diapers, cleaning up baby messes and now also sometimes of night feedings. And when the baby cried and Blair just couldn't listen to it any longer, or was too tired, she let Dorota take over comforting the little girl. Blair couldn't deny it. Dorota was acting as mother for her baby in some ways, and Blair had let her. No, asked her to. Without a second thought. It was a truth that was hard to swallow.

Fortunately, it was a truth that was easily remedied.


"Hello, baby mama" Chuck said the next day as he walked up to Blair, who was getting her French book from her locker.

"Morning" Blair replied.

"So, all is well at Casa Waldorf?" he asked.

"Right as rain" Blair said, not really interested in early morning chit chat.

"Huh." He leaned against the locker next to hers, ignoring the girl who owned the locker and needed her math book. "Kind of makes one wonder…"

"Uh-huh" Blair said, barely even listening. She couldn't seem to find her workbook and Chuck was distracting her.

"Incidentally, I got a call from Dorota last night."

"Mmm…" Blair mumbled.

"Why is Dorota calling me, tears galore, saying you've fired her?"

Giving up on finding her workbook, about the same time as the girl with the locker next to hers gave up on being able to get her math book, Blair slammed her locker shut and gave Chuck a smile which didn't come close to her eyes.

"I didn't fire Dorota."

"Really?"

"Really" Blair said, and began to walk away.

"She said you told her she could no longer take care of the baby" Chuck said, hurrying after her down the hallway.

"Yes, I said that, which is hardly the same as firing her" Blair said, turning around to flash Chuck another joyless smile. "I just told her that looking after Grace is no longer in her job description. That's good news, wouldn't you agree? We said we weren't going to pawn the baby off on others."

"Yes, but telling Dorota she can't look after the baby anymore? Who's going to look after her when you're at school?"

"My mom" Blair reluctantly admitted.

"Eleanor is going to look after Grace ever day from morning to lunch?" Chuck asked skeptically.

"Yes, now just shut up about it already."

"Blair…"

"Okay, fine" Blair sighed. "I'm considering hiring a nanny. Someone who just comes in after breakfast and takes care of the baby until lunch. That is all."

"Fine, I have no objections, but why not just have Dorota do it?" Chuck asked, thoroughly confused.

"It's not her job" Blair said simply.

"Isn't it? I thought it was. You of all people ought to know how maternal she is."

"I don't think she would be too pleased to hear you think she was around when I was Grace's age" Blair said. "I was ten when Dorota came into the picture."

"So? You still know better than anyone how good she is at the motherly stuff."

Blair stopped outside her classroom and looked down, not willing to answer. Chuck suddenly realized what was going on.

"That's the problem, isn't it?"

"There is no problem" Blair said, shooting him a look.

"You know far too well that she is an excellent surrogate mother and you don't want Grace to see her as the real mother figure in her life the way things are with you and Eleanor."

"Please" Blair scoffed. "You couldn't be more wrong."

"Oh I could be a lot more wrong" Chuck said, looking concerned. "Has Grace started to become too attached to Dorota?"

"Look, it's just a matter of me being the one who carries the bulk of the responsibility with the baby" Blair snapped.

"You do, I'm not arguing with that."

"Good. Then there's no problem."

"Blair… You should let Dorota continue to be the one who primarily helps you with the baby. She loves Grace."

"I know" Blair said. "But she's my daughter."

Chuck nodded slowly. Blair felt embarrassed. He seemed to understand far too well what was going through her mind, though at least he wasn't passing judgment. He could have easily said that if the baby was showing the same amount of attachment to Dorota as she did to Blair then maybe Blair should simply parent more. After all, the reason Blair herself felt so attached to Dorota was that she had been more of a mother to her than Eleanor. But Chuck didn't say anything like that.

"Look, maybe…" he began, hesitating slightly. "Maybe I can do more. I spend several days a week with her after school but maybe I should take her home more often. Not just one night a week. If she's becoming a handful and you feel like you need some help, I mean. It could give you some time to relax. She's getting bigger and there's no real reason anymore why she can't be with me."

"She's two months old. And I nurse her" Blair pointed out.

"I can bottle feed her."

"I like nursing her."

"I like watching porn spoofs. That doesn't mean I need to do it every day of the week."

"Ew" Blair said. "Chuck stop involving the sordid details of your gross mind in matters that involve the baby."

"All I'm trying to say is, if you need help with her then why not come to me? I'm not a rival for motherly affection."

"I don't need help with her Chuck" Blair said.

"Yes you do. Anybody would."

"Yeah I need someone to watch her while I'm at school, but unless you're suggesting that we divide the school day and I go in the mornings and you in the afternoons then there's not a lot you can do to help me with that."

"This thing with Dorota can't just be because she looks after the baby for a few hours every morning. Blair I'm serious, let me take some more responsibility. You can't do this on your own, and she's my kid too."

"I'm doing just fine. I just need some clearer boundaries at home. I am Grace's mom, not Dorota or anyone else."

"Okay, have it your way, just… just let Dorota spend time with the baby."

"I'm not going to put locks on my door to keep her out" Blair snorted. "I just need it to be clear that it's not her job to drop everything and come running the moment the baby needs something. This is important to me."

He nodded.

"Okay."

"Good. Now I'm late for class."

She walked inside her classroom, feeling like crap. She couldn't believe Dorota had called Chuck asking him to help her. Maybe Blair had been a bit harsh yesterday when she made it clear to Dorota that her job description no longer included tending for the baby. It made Blair feel terribly sad to know Dorota was upset. But she'd rather take Dorota being upset over Grace having the same type of relationship with her as Blair did.

She opened her textbook with a sigh and tried to focus on her French.


The next day Blair felt like crap when she arrived to school. The previous afternoon had been far too tiring and she hadn't gotten a good night's sleep . Things had gone well yesterday so long as Chuck had been there but as soon as he had left Dorota had come in to beg Blair to let her keep looking after the baby. Blair had sternly told her not to, and to stop pressing the issue. Seeing Dorota so upset had been really difficult and Blair had felt a bit like she was betraying the woman who had taken care of her most of her life. She just couldn't bring herself to let another woman spend enough time around Grace to risk the baby caring for that person the way she only ought to care for Blair.

This morning hadn't been much better either. Eleanor had been home and was looking after Grace while Dorota sported a wounded look which made Blair feel even worse than before. It annoyed Blair that Dorota couldn't mask her disappointment better and she didn't exactly long to spend another evening listening to Dorota's pleas. She most definitely didn't long to spend a whole afternoon listening to it. Chuck had a doctor's appointment after school and wouldn't be showing up for quality time with Grace so she would be on her own with an upset Polish woman all day after school.

After their first class Blair spotted Serena in the hallway and hurried up to her. She needed someone to talk to, badly.

"S!" she said, grabbing her friend by the arm. "There you are. I need to talk to someone. Care to join me in the courtyard?"

"What's up B?" Serena asked while Blair ushered her outside.

"It seems like no matter what I do these days I'm a magnet for drama" Blair sighed dramatically, taking a seat at one of the tables. "Which is frankly annoying since that ought to be your job."

"Oh I think drama is more your forte than mine" Serena replied, reaching inside her bag to grab a fruit. "What's going on?"

"It's Dorota" Blair sighed.

"Dorota?"

"Yeah, she's gone into an incredible mood over not getting to be Grace's number one caretaker" Blair said, wrinkling her forehead. "As if she should even aspire to be! Hello, who carried the baby?"

"Ah I see, it's a Grace issue" Serena said, keeping in a sigh.

"What else is there of importance?" Blair said. "I know I may have relied on Dorota once or twice to change the occasional dirty diaper. Since when does that mean she should be the one who spends the most time with my baby?"

Serena made a face, sick and tired of everything being about the baby. She longed for the good old days when Blair's problems had been about things like boys or her minions or her relationship with her mother. These days it was as if Blair couldn't open her mouth without saying something about the baby.

"How is this a problem?" she said, letting her annoyance shine through a bit. "You don't want to change the diapers yourself, you want to go to school for a few hours every day and you want someone you can trust to look after your baby. I don't get what the big deal is."

"The big deal is when Grace says her first word, which is going to be 'mama', I'm the one she should be saying it to."

"Oh for crying out loud" Serena sighed. "You know, not everything regarding Grace has to be a big deal. So Dorota looks after her, so what?"

Blair frowned. What had gotten into Serena all of a sudden?

"Why does it bother you that this bothers me?" she asked.

"It doesn't" Serena said, starting to get up from her seat. "I just have more important things to worry about right now. Excuse me B, we'll talk later."

Blair's jaw fell and she turned her head as Serena walked by to see where her friend was going. Off to mingle with Blair's pseudo-minions. How could that be more important than what Blair was talking about?

She was reminded of something Chuck had said a while ago. Something about whether or not things were going well between Blair and Serena. She hadn't thought much about that comment until now but maybe he had asked her for a reason. He was Serena's stepbrother now after all and lived under the same roof as her. Was Serena up to something behind Blair's back? Or was it just that she didn't like being best friends with a teenage mom? When Blair thought about it they hadn't spent nearly as much time together as before once Grace had been born, and it did seem like Serena grew awfully tired awfully fast whenever the subject of the baby came up.

Fantastic. As if she didn't have enough to worry about without her best friend deciding she needed friends who didn't have babies to look after.


That afternoon Blair stepped off the elevator at the Bass-van der Woodsen residence, holding Grace in her arms. Whatever was going on with Serena right now she would have to step up and help Blair out because she couldn't stand one more minute at home with an upset Dorota. The older woman had now gone from outwardly sulking to passive aggressive and Blair just couldn't deal with it on top of everything else.

She hadn't taken two steps inside the place before Eric materialized from the kitchen. She offered him a disingenuous smile, not in the mood to socialize with little van der Woodsen. He walked up but stopped a few feet away from her.

"Hey Blair."

"Yeah hi."

"And hi Grace." He smiled a little. "She gets bigger every time I see her. You can really see that she looks like Chuck."

"It's just her bone structure" Blair said. "She might still get more of her features from me. Please tell me someone else is home here."

Eric frowned a little, looking a touch offended. Blair sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Not that you won't do but I didn't think you were overly interested in spending quality time with my daughter."

"She is my niece… Though I don't really know what to do with a baby at this age. I think I'll do better when she's at that age where I can play peek-a-boo with her."

Blair smiled halfheartedly and was about to comment when she heard a door open down the hall. She looked up and saw Serena, confused and disappointed when her best friend seemed to hesitate for a second before putting a cheerful smile on her face.

"B!" she said. "And Grace. What a lovely surprise."

"Serena doesn't she look more and more like Chuck every day?" Eric said, nodding towards the baby.

Serena walked up but before she or Blair could think of something to say Chuck's bedroom door opened and he came out to see what was going on. Blair let out a sigh of relief, not really caring that it was obvious she hadn't been looking forward much to Serena's company either. She walked past the van der Woodsen siblings, heading for Chuck.

"Chuck, thank God you're back" she said. "Grace and I are in need of refuge."

He frowned but didn't ask any questions. He held the door open for her and she walked into his room with the baby without another glance at Serena. Chuck looked up at his stepsister with a frown, not really sure what was going on between the two of them but with a look making it clear that whatever it was he was siding with Blair. Serena sighed and he shut the door before she could begin to talk.

"I would say this is a pleasant surprise but the need for refuge sounds disconcerting" he said, turning to look at Blair.

"I just had to get out of the house for a while" she said tiredly, sitting down on his bed, gently placing Grace on the comforter.

"Dorota?"

"She's gone from whiny to passive aggressive."

"She's probably just confused" Chuck offered. "She's been helping you look after Grace ever since she was born… She probably doesn't know what she did to get booted."

"I just made it clear I don't need her help anymore" Blair said.

"Did you?"

She sighed.

"I did not tell her the real reason if that's what you're asking. I can't tell her that. It's too… I mean…"

"Look I know it must be really difficult for you to imagine Grace having a closer relationship with Dorota than with you" Chuck said, walking over with one hand shoved in his pocket and the other gesturing. "However I don't think Dorota will think it's stupid if you tell her. In fact I think she will think it's great that you want to be a more responsible and attentive mother than Eleanor. Dorota loves you but I don't think she wants to outrank the mother in the mother/daughter relationship."

"I think she sees Grace as a surrogate daughter."

"There is no way my daughter is going to love Dorota more than she loves you" Chuck said. "Come on, you're her entire world."

"She's already showing signs of being more attached to Dorota than to me" Blair said with a quivering voice, looking away to try and keep herself from crying.

"I don't believe that" Chuck said softly.

"It's true" Blair said, hating the fact that a tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it away and prayed it would be the last one. "She used to be upset whenever I put her down or handed her over. Now she reacts that way when Dorota does it."

Chuck was silent for a moment, not entirely sure what to say to that. He walked over and sat down next to Blair, grabbing her by the wrists and gently moving her hands away from her face, letting her tears fall freely.

"Grace follows you with her eyes when you move around a room" he said.

"What are you talking about?"

"When I'm holding her or when she's been put down somewhere you can see her little eyes following you wherever you go. If you're out of sight she'll listen to the sound of your voice and move her head that way."

"She will?" Blair sniffled.

"See for yourself."

She turned her head and looked down at the baby. Grace's eyes met hers and the baby smiled happily. Blair sobbed and felt Chuck's hand at the back of her head, gently pressing her closer to him. He kissed her forehead and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm stupid aren't I?" she asked.

"You're doing fine."

She felt better but still couldn't stop herself from crying. It seemed like once the flood gates had been opened there was no closing them. Chuck said nothing, just held her while she cried, his hand stroking her back comfortingly.

After a while she began to try and dry her tears and laughed a little.

"Geez, I don't know where all that came from…" she said.

"Is there something else going on?" he asked.

"Like what?"

"Am I completely crazy for thinking that things aren't all rainbows and sunshine between you and my sis?"

She swallowed and tried drying her tears with the palm of her hand.

"You've mentioned that before" she said. "Do you know something I don't?"

"No" he said. "What is there for me to know that you don't? If you girls aren't getting along you reasonably ought to be aware of it. If you are getting along then there's nothing to know."

"Unless Serena's said something."

"She hasn't."

"Sure about that?"

"I am. Question is if you're having problems with Serena."

"I didn't think I was… She's been acting weird though. Or not weird, but…"

"But what?"

"She doesn't seem to want to hang out as much anymore" Blair said. "At first she was upset that we weren't hanging out as much but lately it's like she's changed her opinion and doesn't have time to talk to me. She's out with friends most of the time or making plans for fabulous nights out." She began to sob again. "I used to make plans for fabulous nights out!"

Chuck said nothing, letting her cry. Up until now Serena seemed to have been able to mask her lack of interest in everything baby related but apparently it couldn't be done anymore. Chuck didn't blame her one bit for wanting to talk about other things than infants and wanting to do things that you couldn't include a little baby in. He had hoped Blair wouldn't pick up on that though, that the baby would be keeping her so busy that she didn't have time to notice that she at present had very few common interests with Serena.

"Nate dumped me, my minions haven't exactly proven to be faithful, my reputation has been completely shot to hell and now I don't even get to keep my best friend?" Blair sobbed.

Chuck made a face at the mentioning of Nate.

"You don't know that you won't get to keep her" he said. "You girls just have different focus right now."

"You mean I've become boring!"

"I did not say that."

"Yes you did. That was the gist. She's still Serena van der Woodsen, every man's fantasy and every girl's idol, the best, funniest girl on all the Upper East Side. And I'm that girl who had a baby in high school and who slipped into oblivion and when we're at a reunion ten years from now the only thing people are going to remember about me is that baby."

"You're being dramatic" Chuck said.

"I am not."

"Instead of covering my shirt in enough tears to fill a bathtub why don't you talk to Serena and ask her what's going on?" Chuck suggested.

"What?"

"You can either just assume that she's no longer interested in your friendship and cry your eyes out about it, or you could go talk to her and actually find out what's what. If she is avoiding you then it seems better to talk it out."

"I'm supposed to take friendship advice from the guy who had only one friend and managed to alienate him?" Blair replied, sitting up straight and drying her tears.

"Talk to her or don't, either way is fine by me" Chuck said, rising from the bed. "Seeing as you will be stuck here for a couple of hours until Eleanor gets home you might as well make good use of the time."

He lifted Grace up from the bed and walked over to his dresser, fishing out a pacifier from a top drawer. Blair watched him with the baby for a moment and decided he was right. She was emotional enough as it was, she didn't need to add any drama that might not even exist in the first place. Right now she could have a discussion with Serena without Grace being involved in any way and if an overdose of baby was the root of the problem that might be an advantage.

She got up and quickly checked herself in the mirror, noticing her puffy eyes and realizing no amount of makeup could fix this fast enough. She shrugged a shoulder and decided to blame it on the Dorota thing if Serena wondered what she had been crying about. There was no way she would let Serena know she had cried over her.

She walked up to Serena's door and knocked. Then she felt stupid for knocking on her best friend's door but since she had chosen that road she might as well stay on it. She stood there prim and proper, her hands clasped at the small of her back, giving Serena her best casual look when she opened the door.

"Going somewhere S?" she asked with an uninterested voice, raising an eyebrow at the not-exactly-school-night clothes Serena was wearing.

"The girls are meeting up at Butter in half an hour for drinks" Serena said.

"Really?"

"We would have invited you but since you just canned Dorota I figured you wouldn't be able to get a babysitter."

Blair frowned. Serena sounded so snarky, as if she was mad at Blair over something. If anyone should be upset it was Blair. Hearing that the girls were meeting for drinks and hadn't even thought to mention it to her really stung. It couldn't be any clearer that regardless of whether or not her minions were beginning to return to the fold she still wasn't one of them the way she had used to be. She might be able to rule during school hours but once the bell rang they went off to parties and bars and fabulous shopping trips while Blair went home to battle with her maid over the affections of her daughter.

"Oh" was all she could muster to say. "Well then I should leave you. You're busy."

She turned on her heel and walked back into Chuck's room, too confused over what was going on and too saddened by the feeling of being an outcast to have any desire to talk things out with Serena.

Chuck looked up from the baby when she closed the door and leaned against it.

"Go" he said with a frown. "You're not getting the baby back until you've talked to her."

"I did talk to her" Blair attempted.

"Then let me be more specific. Until you've had a good and long talk to Serena about everything that's going on between the two of you, Grace stays with me."

"God Bass, must you do parenting dress rehearsals on me?"

He raised both eyebrows urging her to get moving and with a groan she walked out of his room and back to Serena's. Again she knocked on the door and fell into her most prim and proper pose waiting for Serena to open up.

"What B?" Serena asked with a sigh when she opened. "Let me guess. You're selling girl scout cookies on Grace's behalf."

"You know I find the scouts lewd" Blair frowned.

"What do you want then? I'm running late."

"I want to talk" Blair said.

"Can't it wait? Look I'm sorry you messed things up with Dorota but that problem is either getting solved on its own today or it will still be here tomorrow. We can talk about it then."

"Serena" Blair said. "Did I do something? Why are you acting like you're mad at me?"

"I'm not mad" Serena said, leaving the door to walk over to her dresser. "I just have places to be and people to see."

"None of those people ever seem to be me anymore" Blair said, walking inside and closing the door.

"Drinks are better at Butter than in your room."

"Serena please, you've got to talk to me" Blair said. "You're the only friend I've got left since I had Grace."

"What about Chuck?"

"He's not a friend, he's… I mean yeah he's sort of a friend still but… Come on S, you know what I mean."

"Look B, I may be your only friend right now but I've got a lot of friends aside from you" Serena said, putting on a pair of large hoop earrings. "And I'm meeting those friends really soon so if you don't mind this conversation can wait."

"So you're just… done being my friend?"

"That's not even almost what I said."

"It is what you're saying, just not in those words. You've been avoiding me lately."

"Okay" Serena admitted with a sigh, one hand placed on her hip. "Maybe I have been avoiding you. Subconsciously. B it's just… I want to spend time with my best friend. I want to be able to talk to you about the things that are going on in my life."

"You can."

"I want to be able to do the same kind of stuff with you as I used to. But now everything is always about the baby, and you can't do this or that because of the baby, and we can't talk right now because the baby needs something, and on the subject of whatever I'm talking about you've just got to tell me something that has to do with the baby."

"I'm sorry if I'm a bit single-minded these days" Blair said. "Grace is pretty much all I see. I think it's some kind of instinct that makes you have nothing but your infant on your mind. What I don't get is why you don't just tell me that you're tired of that."

"I've tried telling you B" Serena said.

She had tried, but she hadn't been completely honest. She didn't like to admit it to herself but the truth was that she was quite a bit jealous of Grace. She knew it was insane to be jealous of an infant but she couldn't help it. Whenever she wanted to see her best friend or talk to her about something she got upstaged by the child. Blair had always come first to Serena and Serena had always come first to Blair. Now she had been booted to second place and even though she knew that had to happen when the baby came it was still difficult. And she couldn't tell Blair about any of this. She had no idea how Blair would react to something like that and it didn't seem wise to bring it up. Blair would probably get upset and tell Serena she was being selfish and childish and Serena knew that Blair would be right. She knew her feelings were stupid and wrong but she couldn't help feeling them.

"I also don't get why you can't show a little time and consideration for the fact that everything in my life has been turned on its head and I have a need to talk about this huge life-altering thing" Blair said. "You're supposed to be my friend too, you know. I'm not just supposed to be there for you. I get that it's annoying that when you try to talk about some new club you want to go to I end up talking about something Grace did that day but why is it such a bother to you that you don't even want to be around me anymore?"

"Because my stuff matters too" Serena blurted out.

Blair silently studied Serena for a moment before answering. It was not the answer she had expected.

"I never said your stuff didn't matter" she then said.

"Maybe not but the more you talk about Grace all the time and the less you're able to do anything without including her the more I feel like none of the things I do are important. Like my life is stupid and pointless just because I'm not a mother."

"S I would trade lives with you in a heartbeat" Blair said. "God, I mean… I love Grace so much but I want to be able to be young and have fun and go out and hang with my friends. I'm the one who doesn't have a real life. Mine only revolves around an infant. Diapers and spit-up and bottles and pacifiers and baby-wipes... You, you're out there, having fun, meeting guys, wearing great outfits, getting on page six… You get to be a teenager. Do you have any idea how much that's worth? I wouldn't give my baby up for anything but... every once in a while it would be nice to get to be... you know... young and irresponsible again."

Serena looked surprised at Blair's comeback. She took a while to say anything back, not sure at first what to say.

"B I… I didn't even know you wanted to do stuff outside of taking care of Grace."

"S do you really think that I've changed so much that I am fully content just going to school and taking care of a baby? Admittedly that was all I had the energy for at first but don't you think I long for the lifestyle you're supposed to have at seventeen?"

"It doesn't really feel like you think I do much of value when you can't stop talking about your baby."

"It's annoying. I know" Blair winced.

"I know she's important" Serena said. "But you can try to talk about something else every once in a blue moon."

"I'll try to tone down the baby talk" Blair agreed.

"Good" Serena said and smiled slightly. "And I'm sorry too. I know I haven't been overly supportive lately."

"You should get going. You're going to be late."

Serena grabbed her purse from the nightstand and followed Blair out the door. They ran into Chuck who was just walking out of his room with Grace in his arms.

"She needs a diaper change" he told Blair, looking slightly disgusted.

"Have fun tonight" Blair said to Serena with a small smile.

"B I wish you could come too" Serena said, grabbing Blair's hands. "It's nowhere near as much fun without you."

Blair smiled but turned her head and looked at the baby.

"I've already got a date with someone else" she said jokingly.

"You know what?" Chuck said. "Go. You should go."

"Really?" Serena said.

"You could use a night out like a normal teenager, Blair" Chuck said. "Grace is fine with me. We can have a little bonding session or something."

"You're sure that's okay?" Blair asked.

"What, me looking after my spawn? You might want to run to Serena's closet and pick something out that doesn't smell like spit-up."

"B what do you say?" Serena asked with a big grin.

"I love it" Blair said, laughing a bit. "Great, I haven't been out for ages!"

Serena cheered and clapped her hands. Blair walked over to Chuck and spontaneously placed a kiss at the corner of his mouth.

"Thank you Chuck!" She then gave the baby a big kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you later, angel face. Have fun with Daddy!"

Laughing giddily she and Serena more or less bounced back into Serena's room to find Blair some other clothes to wear. Chuck smiled slightly, resisting the urge to let his fingers touch the spot she had kissed, and headed for the bathroom to change Grace's diaper.


It was almost midnight by the time Serena and Blair came back. Chuck was sitting on his bed with his laptop and Grace was asleep in the crib when he heard the two girls getting in. He got up from the bed and walked out to greet them. To his surprise Blair was quite tipsy.

"So I see you girls had fun" he commented.

"S says I'm drunk" Blair giggled. "I so am not. I only had like… three drinks."

"Your first three in almost a year" Chuck pointed out.

"God Chuck we had so much fun!"

"Yeah I figured you did. Even more so after ten when you stopped calling every fifteen minutes to see how Grace was doing."

"I had to take her phone" Serena shrugged.

"Did everything go okay?" Blair asked.

"Baby's sleeping peacefully."

It had gone well, for the most part. The only problem had been that Chuck had soon realized Blair hadn't brought any bottles with her so he had had to call Dorota and ask her if there were any bottles at Blair's place. Dorota had brought a couple of bottles over and he had let her feed Grace, though he would never let Blair know it.

"You know what?" Blair said. "It's a school night. Grace and I should be on our way."

"Blair I'm not sending you off with the baby when you're tipsy" Chuck frowned.

"I'm not tipsy!" Blair objected.

"Yeah you are. Besides, put Grace down for the night already, we should let her sleep."

"It's not like I'm going to go running around with my baby after I've had alcohol" Blair snorted. "I'm not a complete idiot. I'll call Mother and have her come pick us up."

"Spend the night B" Serena said. "Come on, it will be fun!"

"Serena's right" Chuck said. "Like I said Grace is asleep. You might as well spend the night."

"Why not?" Blair said with a shrug and strolled towards Chuck's room. "I'm just going to go say goodnight to my baby. And then I'm going to stop talking about my baby."

Chuck glanced over at Serena and wondered if he should ask more about what they had been up to, or even if they were okay now. Then he decided against it. It was none of his business anyway.

"I should go after her" Chuck he said, just to say something.

"Sure."

Chuck shrugged and followed Blair into his room. He smiled at the sight of her leaning over the crib, beaming after a fun night out, whispering to the sleeping child.

"It's getting late" he said gently. "You need some sleep and frankly I think I do too. I'll bottle feed her in a few hours and then come wake you up if she's hungry again before morning."

"Okay" Blair nodded. She walked towards the door and stopped just before exiting the room. "I had a great time tonight. Thanks for looking after her."

She planted another kiss on his cheek. Before he could answer she had left the room. He smiled slightly and headed to bed.


So that's all I have for this week =) See you next time.