"What do you mean all flights are canceled?" Blair tried no to yell at her phone. "Because of the snow…You cannot to this to me, Pierre. You are making me look like a fool in front of everyone. Okay, fine. Just…just come, please," she said in a weak voice.

"Very touching," Chuck startled her.

"Shouldn't you be bonding with my daughter?" se picked up the phone after she had just dropped it.

"I can't exactly bond with her when she's sleeping."

"You always find a way to shove yourself back into my life."

"Your life keeps calling me back," he shrugged. "And for the record if I still was your husband I wouldn't have let you leave."

"What are you trying to say?" Blair had an annoyed look on her face.

"Let's say I had work to do and I had to stay in New York. I would have never allowed my wife to be away from on Christmas. I would have told you to stay with me."

Blair listened to him in silence. "That's selfishness."

"That's love."

Blair left the room. Chuck looked after her. That was why he was there: to be with their daughter and her.

Her father, Roman and Marie were having breakfast.

"Blair!" he father said. "Roman and I were thinking about taking Marie to show her around. Would you like to come?"

"Gladly," she answered. It wasn't that she was a big fan of Marie, but she didn't want to be anywhere near Chuck.

"Did Pierre call?" Roman asked.

"Yes. There's a snowstorm back in New York, but he'll com. He is going to take the first available plane."

Marie gave her an understanding look.

"My little Belle," Roman cried as she entered the dining room. "Did I ever tell you it was I who picked your name?"

"Only a million times," she laughed.

"When Blair gave birth, we went to the hospital and all that I could say was 'belle, belle, and belle' and they named her that way," Roman proudly told Marie. She just nodded.

"Hey, kid!" Chuck came in the room.

"Hi, dad," she said. "I saw it snowed. Would like to make a snowman?"

"Sure. Want to help, Blair?"

"I'm going for a walk with dad, Roman and Marie. By the way where is Edward?"

"I don't know," Marie said in her whispery voice.

"I met up with him this morning. He was heading for town. Perhaps we'll meet up with him"

"Are enjoying your stay here, May?" Lily asked her as she drew the outline of a dove on the wall.

"Yes, very much," she answered.

"White, please."

She gave her the white can.

"I see you are getting along nicely with Kurt."

May blushed.

"He was always a strange and troubled boy. He seems to be better now. I think your friendship is precious to him."

"Me?" she asked.

"Yes. He needs friends and you are a good and special girl."

"I'm not so sure," she looked at the newspaper covered floor.

"Of course you are. Blue, please."

"What do you think you're doing, Jenny?!" Alison spat.

"Mom, please, they'll hear," Jenny said in a whispery voice.

"So what? As if it is a secret. How can you allow them to prostrate you in such a way?! More over, how can I allow it?"

"Mom, please, understand. I'm fine. Everybody's fine. Only you aren't. You're hurting Alexander," Jenny said through her teeth.

"I don't care. For Alexander I am allowing them to stay here. For Alexander, I turn my eyes whenever they…touch. It's disgusting and it's making me sick. I-," Alison paused. "Erik."

Jenny looked behind her. Erik was in the doorway.

"Erik…." Jenny reached for him.

"No, Jenny. I understand when I'm not wanted. Now if you'll excuse me I have some packing to do," he left.

"Apologize to him!" Jenny cried. Alison gave no sign of regret.

"Erik, wait!" she ran after him.

He passed through the library where Paolo was with Alexander.

"We're leaving," he said.

"Why?" they both asked.

"Start packing," he stormed upstairs to their room.

"Erik, don't be hasty," Jenny said.

"I knew it was a bad idea coming here," he said.

"Did my grandmother do anything?" she heard Alex's voice.

"She did enough," Erik answered.

'I'll go packing too," Alex said.

"Can anyone please listen to me?! It's the holiday, where are we going to go?"

"You can go wherever you please," Erik said. "I'm going to Vegas."

"Vegas?" Paolo asked.

"We're getting married."

"Married?!" both Jenny and Alexander exclaimed.

"That's not exactly very romantic," Paolo said.

"Do you want to marry me or not?"

"Yes…"

"Then start packing!"

"I'll go get my suitcase," Alex ran out the room.

"Alexander!" Jenny cried.

Jane was wandering through the house. Her mother was again out. She decided to pass. Another two hours in Lexi's presence and she would snap. She was now exploring the ground floor. She passed by the living room and down the hallway. She stopped in front of a black door. Since she was alone, she decided it wouldn't hurt if she went in. The room was slightly obscure, only one faint sun beam coming from behind the thick curtains. She tripped. Looking down she noticed she had just overthrew a pile of magazines. Her hand searched for something to hold onto: a leather sofa. She paused and looked around her. It seemed to be someone's private office. There was a bookcase and a desk with a computer on it. The rest was all covered in photos: the walls, the desk, the floor. Photos of people, photos of the sea, photos with fishermen. She looked around the room. It probably was Aaron's study. A door opened. It wasn't the one she used. It was a door that she did not see because of the desk.

"Who's there?" she recognized Isaac's voice.

"It's me, Jane," she came closer.

"What are you doing here?" he asked clearly annoyed.

"The door was unlocked and…" she shrugged.

He rolled his eyes. "Get in."

She carefully stepped in. The door closed behind them. She paused and looked around her with excitement: a darkroom, just like in the films; with the red light and the solutions and the place to dry photos.

"Amazing," she said.

"Did you just discover Mars?" he asked her. She didn't reply.

He decided to resume to his work. He still had a couple of photos. He started carefully dipping one of them in the chemicals.

"How do you do it?" he heard her voice over his shoulder.

"It's no great philosophy. You just dip them in these chemicals until they're done and you hang them there."

"Can I try?" she asked.

The question annoyed him to no end. "Sure, why not?" he passed her the photo.

She took in her hand then unsurely started pulling it up and down the watery surface.

"You're not doing it right," he scoffed.

"No?"

"Sink it in a little more. Don't be shy," he encouraged her. "Here let me help you."

She winced as she felt the warmness of his hand over hers slowly guiding it above the chemical pool. She tried to keep her eyes on the photo. He started nibbling on her ear; teasing her. She could no longer resist and turned her lips in his direction. They gently started kissing. The photo was long forgotten.

"I've ruined it," she looked at it.

"Don't worry, I have plenty."

"Do you?"

"Yes, come see," they went into his office.

They stopped in front of his desk.

"Here's a more recent one," he gave her an album.

She carefully took the album in her hands. It was black and white themed with pictures from the dock. It fascinated her. Her eyes lingered on a photo with a wave crashing against a bridge. It was taken on a stormy day.

"Wow, you did this?" she asked.

"Yes," he looked up at her. "And this is my favourite one."

He unlocked a cupboard and revealed another hard-cover album.

"I can't see right. It's too dark in here…" she pulled the curtains and light flooded the room.

The album was full of people from San Francisco.

"Amazing," she said madly flipping the pages.

"I took them two years ago when I first got my professional camera," he revealed a photo camera. "I've been taking pictures with her ever since," he snapped a photo of her.

"Nice," she continued flipping the pages laughing like a child.

Isaac couldn't resist the urge to take a few, actually a lot, of photos of her.

"I also have my favourite spot," he continued.

"Really?"

"Yes. Want to see…?" he had no idea why he asked her that.

"Sure!" was the exact answer he feared.

"There," Belle proudly placed the hat on the snowman.

"Great job," Chuck smirked at her.

"He's quite a charmer," she said admiring his tie. "I think I hear them coming."

"I see them too," Chuck grinned picking up snow and shaping it in a perfect sphere.

They could see Roman, Harold, Marie and Blair approaching them. He threw the snowball. It hit Blair in the shoulder.

"What in the- Chuck!" she screeched.

Another snowball came flying in their direction. It hit Harold.

"I see you have quite an aim, Belle," he laughed.

"I think this is a challenge!" Roman threw another snowball.

They all started fighting.

Three things happened simultaneously: May dropped the books on the floor when the door opened. She turned only to see a bare-chest Kurt with a towel hanging around his broad shoulders. She blushed.

"Oh, sorry. I was looking for book in these," here eyes lingered on his six-pack a little longer than she intended to. "Boxes," she squeezed her eyes and turned to the boxes.

"Okay," he shrugged digging in his luggage for a shirt.

"Now where could it be?" she muttered.

"What book are you looking for?" he asked.

She looked at him over her shoulder. He slipped on a silvery gray striped shirt that complemented his detached blue eyes. She was envious. Almost everyone around her had blue eyes. Only she seemed to be deprived of that trump. If she was going to marry some guy, he was going to have clear blue eyes. That way her children might be lucky.

"Wuthering Heights," she replied.

He warmly smiled. "Could it be this one?" he picked up an old book resting on his bed.

"Oh," her cheeks turned even redder.

He continued smiling. "You can have it. I have already finished it."

"Oh, thanks," she accepted the book.

"You know," he sat down never removing his eyes off her. "I have some favourite quotes, if you like, I could just…"

"Okay," she said, her fingers clenching on the book.

He gently tried to remove it from her hands. "You know, you have to let go of it."

"Oh, right," she awkwardly smiled as he opened it.

Jane tiptoes all the way to the beach. She was quite excited for apparently no reason.

"Look, there's another seagull!" she pointed out to the evening sky.

Isaac rolled his eyes and smiled in another direction. He was used to seeing seagulls all the time. It was Jane's excitement that was so contagious.

"We're here," he looked ahead of them at the deserted beach.

"Here?" Jane's eyes became twice their average size trying to catch in every little detail.

"Yeah," he led her through a small portion of grass. "It's called a virgin beach. Not many people know of it," he continued as they took off their shoes.

"It's cold," Jane wiggled her toes on the smooth sand.

Isaac closed his eyes for a moment and listened to the waves. "I know."

"Seagulls!" Jane cried out with excitement and ran towards a pack of birds.

Isaac laughed amazed that such a little thing made him now feel so happy. It was like losing oneself; listening to the waves and Jane's crystalline laughter getting caught up in her game. The sun was setting around them covering the whole place in an incandescent aura that was not familiar to him. For a few moments he had thought the place was blessed. Shrugging, he picked up his camera and started snapping photos.

Charlotte watched how her grandmother sat on the porch admiring the sunset. She was so quiet and so serene. The wind blew for a moment and she coughed.

"Grandma?" Charlotte walked up to her.

"I'm very tired, Charlotte," she looked up at her wit half-closed eyes. "Very, very tired," she continued.

"Do you want me to help you to your room?" she asked tugging onto her blue sweater.

"No," she gently stroke her cheek. "Just stay with me until sunset," she smiled.

"Okay," he gaze turned to the fading sun.

Belle wrapped her arms around her. The snow fight was very refreshing, but still cold. She was on her way to the kitchen, when she noticed someone in the living room.

"When did you get here?" she asked.

"I got back here like an hour ago," Edward answered in a bored tone.

"Why didn't you join us?" she asked.

"Didn't feel like it," he continued.

"I'm going for some cocoa. If you would like to join me, I don't mind," she carried on, but soon enough she heard another pair of steps behind her.

"Here," she gave him his mug.

"Tanks," he said breathing in the pleasant smell. "If you're trying to win me over, cu it out. There's no need for you to be nice anymore. I give up; you can do whatever you want. I'm not telling anyone about us."

She was startled. "I wasn't being nice to you because of …that, but thanks. Proof, that there's still some humanity in that hollow thing you call heart."

"The, Miss Wittiness, why are you acting so nice?"

"I wasn't. Just trying to be a good host. Plus, I'm a nice girl and I'm happy. I'm here with both my parents and granddads."

"Right," he bitterly said.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he looked away.

"Did something happen between you and your mother?"

"Marie and I are fine. Nothing special."

"I've always found it funny that you call her by her first name."

"She wants me to call her that way," he grumbled. "She feels old when I call her 'mom'. Unlike you, I wasn't exactly a wanted child."

"Don't say that."

"Well my mm was a successful model before me. She pretty much married my father just for his last name and then I appeared in the scene. They divorced when I was born and she insisted on giving him custody. The only reason I still see her from time to time is for the media. We're here together, just because Marie wants to get under Roman's skin to get into some castings. Whatever."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's not your fault. I don't know why I bothered telling you," he weakly smiled. "That's why I sometimes like to call Blair 'mom'. She's the only one that doesn't seem to mind."

She looked at him and wanted to reach out and hug him. How wrong she was about him.

And as I sat down and watched the fireworks numerous things came back to my mind….

Capitu closed her phone and walked up to her friends. Sawyer placed one arm around her shoulders to keep her warm.

Things that made me happy…

Serena excitedly clapped her hands, while Aaron and Lexi kissed. Without removing his eyes from the fireworks above, Isaac reached out for Jane's hand.

The craziest things I'd ever done…

"I now pronounce you man and husband. You may kiss," the priest said while Erik leaned into kiss his new husband.

Jenny hugged her son tight. There was no other place she'd rather be.

Things I've never tried before…

Kurt and May rested side by side on his back looking at the fireworks above them.

Things that I don't regret…

Rebecca held her champagne glass high and for a moment she saw of her pixie shaped pendant through the sparkling surface.

But things that I do regret…

Blair glanced at how her father and Belle danced alongside with Marie and Edward. She rested her chin on Chuck's shoulder.

"Mind if I cut in?" a familiar voice startled her.

"Pierre!" Blair left Chuck's arms and jumped into her husband's.

And things that I'll miss…

Nate halfheartedly closed his mother's cold staring eyes. Charlotte's cry pierced through the nigh as he hugged her tight. A trembling hand he dialed Serena's number.

"Nate?" Serena anxiously answered her phone. Her friend didn't use to call her at five A.M. in the morning.

The answer did not come.

"Nate, are you there? What's wrong?"

"It was so fast, Serena," he sobbed.

"Nate, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" her voice was a little too high than she intended.

"It happened so fast. Right in front of me. I couldn't do anything to save her. I just helplessly watched," he cried harder.

"Calm down. Please, tell me what happened," Serena tried to maintain calm although her voice was just as shaky.

"She died, Serena!" Nate cried. "Last nigh," he sniffed. "She died."

"Oh, God," Serena whispered.

Happy New Year, G Girl

Good to finally get back on track. After this chapter my updates will be normal again. Thanks for being this patient with me.