Hello! I can't remember if I've said this before, but I work in a place that has the radio on all the time. This is a first for me. My only prior experience with the radio was the three hours drives up to the cottage when I was a kid. It implanted some strange tunes in my brain. Right now? I have to say I missed the George Michael generation. I came after that, but they play him at least three times a day on the radio. I now know all the words to both Faith and Freedom… and maybe dance at the office to them when no one is looking. Even if they were… I've got moves. Look out So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Here we go…
All eyes were on Chuck, and only two pairs were surprised to see him. They were both blue. After Blair's exclamation, silence had taken over the attic. The tense minutes that followed were broken by a voice from inside the trunk.
"What's going on? Is Dad here? Hello? Is anyone still there? Mom?"
Chuck raised a brow at Blair but she tossed her chin in the air and looked away. He then met Bart's eyes and winked at him, and he relished the grin he got back. Chuck sauntered over the trunk and cleared the lid, opening it to reveal his rather sweaty first born.
"Hello, Father. Fancy meeting you here." Harry said as if they'd met up during a polo match.
Chuck held out his hand, which Harry took, and was helped from the trunk. With the shock wearing off a stuttering Aidan stared at his daughter handcuffed to a bed with a boy, a very young boy, but still not an image a father wanted to see.
"Violet… What have you done now?"
"Daddy…" Violet tried to think of words. None came to her.
Chuck broke in on the tension by addressing Harry. "Harold, kindly go to your mother's jewelry chest and retrieve the key to those handcuffs. You'll find it under your grandmother's pearls."
Chuck shot pointed look at his wife, who still wasn't looking at him, but he caught her eye roll. The attic was filled with an uncomfortable silence, broken only by Violet or Bart tugging on their chains. Finally Harry returned with the key, handed it to his father. Chuck was tempted to ask Blair if she would like to do the honours, since she was most often the one to use that key, but he refrained. He released Bart first and then the girl. She got up off the bed rubbing her wrist and both she and Bart rotated their shoulders after their arms being held in place so long.
"Don't worry. The stiffness should let up in about a half hour or so." Chuck commented and rubbed Bart's shoulder a little.
All the blood had washed out of Aidan's face and his eyes drilled his daughter before he spoke tightly to her. "Violet, let's go."
"I…" She started, but her head dropped in defeat and she followed her father down the stairs and out of the house.
And so the Basses were left alone in their house. After he'd gotten Bart's call, Chuck had sat back in his seat and stared at the ended call on his cell. He'd though about his son's words, but he didn't need to tell his pilot to change course. The Bass jet had already been on route to New York. If anything he'd just needed to tell them to fly faster. Now they all stood together, quiet until they heard the Chamber's car pull down the driveway.
All male Bass eyes were locked on the only woman in the room. She contemplated her nails. It was Harry who spoke first, eager to boast of his and his brother's triumph.
"We did it." Harry boasted. "We got Dad to come home."
He'd laid it out like their own personal victory, which he had truly believed it was… Until Harry saw it. The nearly unperceivable quirk of her mouth and the minute raising of one brow. Anyone who wasn't a Bass might have missed it, but it was all Harry needed to know to realize the one truth.
He and his brother had been played.
It swept in on both boys like a flood. They hadn't been the manipulators. They were the manipulated. It became clear by just the gleam in her eyes that they had, in actuality, been the pawns in her game, and she'd been moving them the whole time to gain the outcome she's wanted; their father rushing home without her even having to say a word.
"You played us!" He gasped as his young voice dropped an octave and gave hint of the voice of the man he would one day become.
A smile spread across her red lips and her shoulders swung from side to side, but her eyes were the very picture of innocence. Chuck thought to himself that she looked practically seventeen again in that moment of glory. She loved to win. She walked slowly over to her most stunned yet indignant son, and her hand lifted his slack jaw. She kissed his cheek very gently and then whispered into his ear. "Never try to play a player… Especially one who taught you all her tricks… Well… almost all her tricks."
With a keen smile across her lips, she waved at her boys and headed downstairs.
Bart looked after his mother in awe and Harry's eyes followed her with shock. Chuck patted his son firmly on the back in sympathy before asking, "How would you like to spend the night at your grandmother's?"
Harry shrugged off his father's hand, saying nothing and moving away. With the revelation passed Harry had remembered he was angry with his father.
Chuck and the boys headed downstairs and Blair was nowhere to be seen. He went into Bart's room and helped him pack an overnight bag. When they were done Chuck sat down on Bart's bed and pulled the little boy into his lap, hugging him to his chest. His son's head rested against his shoulder and one of his little hands squeezed the lapel of Chuck's jacket so tightly the fabric creased under the pressure. A while latter Bart looked up and nodded, and Chuck smiled at him and leaned down to kiss his forehead.
"Wait in the car?"
Bart nodded and ran out of the room, leaving Chuck to head to Harry's room on his own. Chuck stood in the doorway of his oldest son's room and watched Harry carefully fold his clothes and place them in a large bag. He knew that Harry knew he was standing there, but Harry ignored him, not even looking up to acknowledge his father's presence. Chuck couldn't help but think how much he was like his mother. He'd been hurt, and although he wanted to make up, Harry's stubbornness wouldn't let him.
"I'm sorry." Chuck said truthfully.
For long moments Harry didn't say anything.
"You should be."
Chuck was actually relieved to hear his grumbled reply. It was a start.
"I had a drink. That's what Mom wanted me to tell you."
Chuck was still for a time. "And?"
"And?"
"Did you have another?"
"No. I didn't want one… and Mom would have killed me. Actually, she'd disinherit me, make me donate all my purple clothes to charity, send me to a youth boot camp in Northern Alberta, post my most embarrassing baby pictures online… and then she'd kill me."
Chuck nodded and for the millionth time he was grateful for Blair. When Chuck was younger he had drunk because he could, he was Chuck Bass. But there had also been one other thing… there had been no parent around who loved him enough to see it and stop him. His sons would never know that feeling. Blair would be on all of them for eternity, and Chuck liked it that way.
"I shouldn't have done it…"
"No, you shouldn't have… But you did. You won't do it again." Chuck told him firmly, because like his wife, he loved and cared too.
Harry looked up when he heard the tone in his father's voice. He nodded. A little while later the boys were loaded into the limo that would take them to their grandmother's house for the night. Chuck climbed in after them and the car pulled away from the house. He was tempted to look back, but he didn't, because he didn't need to. He could feel her eyes watching them.
Hours later, after sharing dinner with his boys, Lily and Rufus, Chuck came home to a darkened house. He turned the light on in foyer and walked through the main floor, taking note of the single finished meal that was left on the dining room table for servants to clear tomorrow. He reset the alarm and walked up the stairs and to his open bedroom door. The room, much like the rest of the house, was in darkness, but a shaft of light shone out from under the bathroom door, like a beacon leading him to her. He was actually surprised when the knob gave under his grip having expected the door to have been locked.
The bathroom was lit only with candles… but they weren't what drew his eye. Blair lay, covered in mountains of bubbles, in the bath, and only her head, neck and the perfect slope of the tops of her shoulders were visible. Her hair was swept up and her eyes were closed. The cool air from the open door chased through the room making the candle flames dance, but still she didn't open her eyes.
He walked across the tiled floors to the sink and pulled himself up to sit on the counter where he had a bird's eye view of her. He'd missed looking at her even though he'd committed her face and body to memory many years ago. Time moved by and finally those dark brown eyes he loved opened and met his for the briefest of seconds before they slid away from him. She sat up and pulled the plug from the drain. His eyes sharpened. She stood up gracefully in the tube and stepped out like a ballerina. Chuck swallowed hard. His eyes followed the remaining bubbles as tried to cling to her, but slid down her skin leaving trails in their wake. He wanted to catch them. Damn, his wife was sexy. Even after all these years he wanted her even more than ever.
Blair could feel his eyes all over her and she turned to reach for a thick white towel. As she patted herself dry Blair ignored him and she hid her face from his so he wouldn't see her smirk. Still acting as if he didn't exist, she wrapped the towel loosely around her body and moved to her vanity. Once seated she picked up his favourite lotion, squeezing out a portion into her palm and began to smooth the cream over her skin, starting with her shoulders and arms. She shut her eyes and tilted her face towards him, letting him see the sultry expression on her face. With her arms finished, she stood so she was in profile to him and placed on led up on the vanity's seat, now bending to rub the cream into her legs in long strokes. She bit her lip to not react when she heard him stifle a groan.
She was working him over just like she'd planned… but then she made a near fatal error. She glanced over at him. Her mouth went dry at the site of him, which was the direct opposite of what was happening in other parts of her body. His body looked to be in complete repose, but this was countered by the intensity in his eyes. He sat on the sink counter and slouched into the wall, his head lulling. His legs were resting apart and his feet hung in the air. His dress shirt was buttoned, but his tie had been loosened. His hair was ruffled by his own agitated caresses, and she wished it had been her fingers to have did the damage. Her look lasted but an instant, but desire hit her like a speeding truck. Damn, her husband was sexy. Through all the years her desire for him only grew.
Flustered she grabbed her silk robe as she dropped her towel, and she slipped it on and quickly walked out of the room. Blair was having trouble catching her breath as she stood by the bed, and it got even worse when she felt him come to stand behind her. He was so close that she felt his breath sweep across the back of her neck and gooseflesh ran down her arms at the sensation.
Chuck's hands shook as he stood at her back, not touching her but desperately wanting to. Her moistened skin caused the silk to cling to her wetly, the sent of the lotion still strong enough on her body that it filled him with it, and he licked his lips in want.
He leaned in and she could now feel the heat of his body so close to hers. Shivers chased through her body and straight to her centre.
It had been so long since he'd touched her, is what both of them were thinking, but neither said.
Finally, feeling as if his free will had escaped him against his desire for her, he ran his fingers down the length of each of her upper arms. He felt her trembling, as he pressed closer to whisper into her ear. "Blair…"
On a gasp of pleasure she spun around and threw herself into his welcoming arms. They wrapped themselves tighter and tighter around themselves as their mouths met in wet, fiery kiss that they both felt down to their toes. Chuck tumbled them back onto their large bed, their mouths never breaking apart, and they claimed each other as they had dreamt of doing all the weeks they'd been apart.
TahDAH! Okay, I know I told you all it was going to be CB heavy, but I never really know everything until it comes out. This was only half CB centric, but I have I think the next will be more flush with our couple. I know it kind of breaks off there at the end, but… it will pick up in a good place. Forgive me? I did try to give you a little hotness.
And I don't know if I've mentioned this before… but I'm pretty cheap. I know I have to buy a new computer… but I'm chicken to spend the cash. Plus… My computer is like six years old. I dragged her with me from Toronto to Ottawa, back to Toronto, and then across the country to Vancouver. She was problem free through my undergrad. I've written every fan fic I've ever written on her… I have way, WAY to great an attachment to Mallory. Did I mention I named her?
Oh, and forget Twilight. I want to see Like Crazy. (no offense to the Twi-Hards intended)