Hello! Merry Christmas! Hopefully you are reading this before Christmas, but it's been a crazy last few months... so yeah. Really hope you're all reading this before Christmas 2014. FYI, this chapter was inspired by a Christmas song. Here we go...
"Daddy!"
Chuck smiled at the sound of his son's voice. He never got tired of hearing his son call out to him, and he had loved it since the first time a baby Henry had managed to get out, "Dada".
Right now Chuck looked up from where he sat at his desk, and then Henry did another thing that Chuck loved. He ran into his arms, and Chuck swept him up and into a hug.
"Are you ready, Daddy?" Henry asked excitedly. "Because I don't see you're coat on..."
Chuck smiled, because it was very much his mother's words. He put his son down and put his coat, scarf and gloves on, and they headed out of the office and onto the waiting elevator.
Down in the lobby Chuck paused and knelt in front of Henry. He folded his son's scarf carefully around his neck and tucked it into his jacket. Then he straightened Henry's hat and tugged his mittens on more securely.
"Ready?" Chuck asked and gave Hen a quick kiss on his forehead.
With his son's hand held securely in his own gloved hand, they headed out down the street. He listened to his son tell him about Christmas presents, pre-school, presents, Monkey, and presents. He was his mother's son. They didn't stop until they got to Harry Winston.
The doors were quickly opened for them. The Basses were expected.
Two hours later...
"That one's nice..." Chuck offered his opinion as yet another velvet box of jewels was placed in front of Henry.
"Nah uh." He shook his dark head. "Not special enough."
The anxious looking jeweler would have wrung his hands if he wasn't so scared of offending one of the richest families in the country.
He nearly wet himself when young brown eyes fixed on him. "Where's the good stuff?"
Chuck hid a smirk, and another tray was brought in. His smirk was quickly wiped away when Henry's eyes locked on an exquisite sapphire necklace, laced with diamonds. It was ornate yet elegant. It was the perfect Christmas gift for Blair Waldorf Bass, which Chuck would know since he'd had the same necklace in mind for her. He could only hope that Henry wouldn't pick it.
"That one! That one is good enough for my Mommy." Henry nodded and smiled. "I'm ready to go see Santa now!"
Chuck sighed, but signaled for the attendant to wrap it up. He'd just have to buy more lingerie. He smiled at the thought.
That night Serena tumbled out of her limo, her arms wrapped around a giant stuffed Santa for her nephew, and made her way up the steps of the Bass townhouse, leaving the driver to gather the other gifts. It was Christmas and her nephew was getting a little pre-Christmas present... Because that's what aunts do.
The door was answered by Dorota and then Serena was practically running into the living room to see Henry. She came up short as she found the 3 year old sitting atop a rocking reindeer and being spotted by his godfather, Nate. She dropped her Santa.
"Nathaniel." She said coolly at being foiled again. Nate really was a jackass at upstaging her spoiling of Henry. Now ignoring him, she rushed over and scooped up her favourite boy, and hugged him tight, loving the feel of his small arms hugging her back.
"Merry Christmas, Henry!" Serena chirped and started placing loud kisses on his cheek.
"Hello, Auntie Serena! How are you? You're looking so pretty tonight!" Henry said with his hugest smile, and then looked over at his parents who'd just walked into the living room.
Blair and Chuck shared a look, but let everyone know that dinner was ready.
Sitting at the dinning room table the NJBC and their first Jr. Member talked of Christmas. Tomorrow night, which was Christmas Eve, they'd be at Lily's for dinner. All of Blair's parents were getting in to New York tomorrow morning, and so the big, family Christmas dinner would be at their home on Christmas day.
They were suddenly all distracted by the loud clinking of Henry's fork off the fine china as he speared Brussels sprout after Brussels sprout and rammed them into his mouth. Chuck sat back with a smirk to watch, and Blair raised an eyebrow, while Serena's eyes seemed about to pop out of her head. Nate took his drink and raised it in solute of his nephew.
With great effort, that seemed to verge on torture, Henry managed to swallow the last to his vegetables. Grabbing his milk he gulped it down, all the while looking like he was about to puke.
Finally he looked up at his mother. "Mommy, did you see what I did?"
She nodded, but before she could speak, he announced. "I ate all my vegetable. Like a good boy!"
Blair's eyes rolled, and she took a drink of wine.
"Can I be excused?"
Still trying not to laugh, Chuck cleared his throat. "Dorota made candy cane pudding for dessert..."
"No, thank you. I'll... brush my teeth... And go to sleep!"
"Alright." Blair nodded. "Daddy and I will be up in a few minutes."
The adults watched him leave. He stopped a couple of times to give them his best smile and a wave. It was a very charming smile. No one at that table was easily swayed by that smile. They'd seen it too often on his mother's face.
"Okay, what's up with my nephew? I love the boy, but super-angel-darling-perfect-boy he is not." Serena burst out when Henry was out of earshot.
Blair just smiled and looked over at Chuck.
"Chuck took him to see Santa today. Perhaps Santa reminded Henry that he only brings presents for good little boys and girls..."
"I sense... A certain doe eyed mother had a hand in Santa's talk?"
"Talk to me when you have one of your own. Wait. Scratch that. Yours will probably come out breathing sunshine and angel dust. I'm raising a Bass."
Late in the night Henry woke up, and rubbed his eyes sleepily. He didn't know what had awakened him, but he sat up in his bed and looked around. Nothing, but a sleeping Monkey at the foot of his bed. Henry pushed his covers off and got out of bed. At Monkey's whine, he looked back.
"Shhh! Monkey, go back to sleep."
Opening the door to his bedroom he sleepily padded across the hall to his parent's master bedroom, tugging up his slightly too big pajama bottoms as he went. He was about to just open the door when he remembered being repeatedly sat down and told not to open their bedroom door without knocking. He disregarded it every time, but at the moment he had to stay on Santa's good side, so he knocked on the door.
When there was no answer he turned the handle... and found the room empty. This agitated the young Bass more than it scared him. Parents should be where you expect them to be. With a frown on his face, he headed down the hall, and started down the large twisting, central staircase.
Henry wasn't more than halfway down when he heard the Christmas music playing from the formal living room. He smiled, and sat down on the stairs when he saw his Mommy up on a ladder, adding more ornaments to the tree. Watching from between the spokes on the handrail he looked for his Daddy. They were often a matched pair, but he couldn't see him from here, so he got ready to head down for a better look.
Before he could even get up, however, his Daddy's office door opened and... Santa Claus walked out. Henry's eyes nearly fell out of his head as he watched Santa saunter down the hall and into the living room. What he saw next nearly had him sic Monkey on Santa.
Henry Bass marched back to bed.
The next morning Eleanor and Cyrus arrived in a cloud of French greetings and presents. They were all seated around the living room, sipping tea, when Henry finally came downstairs.
"My grandson!" Eleanor glowed, and she scoped him up into a hug.
After she put him down, he hugged his Grandpa Cyrus, and then walked over to his father. Henry hugged Chuck as tight as he could, all the while casting his mother cut eye from over his father's shoulder.
"Happy Christmas Eve, my love!" Blair smiled brightly and held open her arms. She was affronted with Henry's Bass-iest scowl, and even more so when he walked silently by her and over to the Christmas tree. He then, very deliberately picked up the present he'd placed there yesterday, and then walked out of the room.
"Did he just take my present away?"
"Henry?" Blair called her son back, with just enough edge to her voice to get him to listen. When he was back in the door way she fixed him with a steady gaze. "What seems to be the matter?"
"Mommy, only good girls and boys get presents. I saw what you did!"
"Oh, dear god." Eleanor muttered, scared to know what her grandson had seen her daughter do.
"Henry, I don't know what you're talking about? What have I done since we tucked you in last night?" Blair was baffled. While Serena and Nate were sitting with coffee, she and Chuck had gone upstairs to tuck Henry in. They'd read 2 Christmas books with him, and Blair had cuddled with him till he'd fallen asleep.
Henry's eye narrowed. "Mommies should only kiss Daddies, and Daddies should only kiss Mommies." With that Henry Bass marched out of the room, stomping his feet as they hit every step.
Blair's eyes shot to Chuck as she realized what he must have seen.
"Oh, god. He must have..."
"It would seem..."
"And we were..."
"We were..."
"Maybe it would be best if Henry came to live with me and Cyrus in Paris..." Eleanor commented.
"Nice try, Mother." Blair said offhandedly as she tried to think her way out of this.
Last night...
Blair stood on the ladder, adding a few ornaments to the tree since the designer had clearly been off her rocker and left bald spots. A noise at the door had her looking up with a smile on her face, since she expected to see her husband joining her. She's raised a brow at the sight of Santa... a Santa that she could see a familiar smirking from under his beard.
"Ho... Ho... Ho..."
She carefully descended the ladder, and slowly started walking across the room to him. He met her half way, and she kissed him before either of them could speak. It was a chaste kiss by their standards, what with the heavy fake beard in their way. Blair pulled away, but left her hands to run up and down his red covered chest.
"Why, Santa... you're early... There's still one more sleep till Christmas Eve..." Blair purred as she walked away from him and over to the double doors and pulled them shut.
"I was checking my list again... And I realized I couldn't decide what list to put you on... Naughty... or Nice..."
Blair's hands were already undoing the buttons on her blouse as she slowly walked back to him. "Oh, I think I can straddle both..."
"Oh, dear god." Eleanor muttered as she pulled her glasses off and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Nothing happened, Mother!"
"I believe that as much as when I walked into your room when you were 17 and you told me you were tutoring Chuck Bass." Eleanor rolled her eyes.
"I stand by my answer." Blair said coolly.
"Chuck's boxers were half in the fireplace." Eleanor fixed her daughter with a pointed look.
Blair's eyes were still on her mother's when she smacked Chuck in the shoulder. "Stop smirking!"
"You aren't even looking at me..." He drawled, rubbing his stinging shoulder, but liking it.
"I don't need to look at you to know what you're about." She got up, snapped in his face and started towards the door. "Now come on, you need to fix this!"
Her quick pace got her to Henry's room before Chuck had sauntered up too, and she stared at the door, thinking. And cracking her knuckles.
"Blair, it will be fine."
"Oh, sure! You're free and clear, while our son thinks I'm kissing around with an obese elderly man!"
"And in fifty years... you will be." Chuck teased as he tried to kiss her neck.
She pulled away, denying him her skin, but grabbed his collar to pull his face in line with hers. "If you think I'm letting you gain excessive weight and put your heart at risk, you've got another thing coming. I'm going to live to be a hundred, and I'm going to drag you along with me whether you like it or not."
"Yes, dear." Chuck leaned in and kissed her hard.
Her lips softened for a moment and he could feel her lean into him... a moment before she shoved him away.
"This is your fault."
"How's that?"
"You wore the Santa outfit!"
"And you tore it off me..."
"Thank god we closed the door."
"We should just put a bell on him and be done with it..."
"Ch-uck!" Blair stomped her foot. She was tired of their back and forth teasing. She wanted a solution. "I don't want my baby to hate me!"
Chuck softened and took her into his arms. "Henry could never hate you... Well, at least until we give him a little brother or sister. He may not be so understanding with you then."
Talk of another baby Bass inside her, had Blair smiling and resting her head against her husband's chest. "Yes... when we make another little Bass... it will be rather unforgivable of us..." She whispered lovingly.
Chuck kissed her forehead. "I'll fix this."
She nodded, but as his hand touched the nob she Blair-freaked. "But don't tell him there's no Santa! You crush my baby's childhood and I'll crush you, Bass!"
Chuck rolled his eyes and headed into the room, followed closely by Blair. Henry was sitting at his lego table and smiled at Chuck as he sat down with him. "Hi, Daddy!"
He then scowled at Blair, so she took a seat on the edge of his bed.
"Henry... Last night-"
"I saw Mommy doing something naughty. Kissing Santa." Henry looked over and shook his head at Blair.
"You saw Mommy kissing me." Chuck said firmly.
"CHUCK!" Blair gasped, ready to tell her son that his father had hit his head and wasn't speaking sense.
Henry just looked confused, until Chuck continued. "Henry, you know Santa doesn't come until tonight. He's too busy... checking the deer... and packing the carriage."
Blair rolled her eyes. He really did have to pay more attention to the Christmas stories she read to Henry all December.
"What?" Henry demanded.
"I put on the same kind of suit Santa wears to... practice. Make sure there was nothing he can trip on tonight... Ensure he can reach the scotch-"
"Cookies." Blair added in happily, seeing that Henry was starting to buy his father's line.
"And then Mommy was just looking so pretty... I had to kiss her."
"You do that a lot." Henry nodded.
"Mommy is pretty a lot." Chuck smiled.
Henry looked over at Blair. "It was really Daddy you were kissing?"
"Believe me Henry, I would know your Daddy anywhere."
Henry nodded and a smile broke out on his face as he jumped up and ran to her. She wrapped him in a tight hug and smiled at Chuck over their son's dark head. "I love you." She mouthed to him. "Merry Christmas." He whispered back.
TahDAH! Okay it's a little late. BUT in my defense... I fell on Christmas Eve and had to go to the emergency room. I didn't break my hand, but it was really great for a few days. Do you all feel sad and sorry for me? So... MERRY CHRISTMAS, CBers!