Part 37

"Swear," Chuck said into the phone. "I'm not putting the phone down until you swear, S."

"I said I promise, didn't I?" came Serena's retort over the phone.

"The helicopter is on its way to pick you up," he informed his stepsister. He had only just finished making arrangements for Harold to fly back in time for tomorrow, and Chuck needed to make sure that Serena would be there as well. "Bring a couple of stuffed animals for the kids."

"You want me to haul stuffed toys from Brown to Manhattan? Please, Chuck, it's not like you can't buy factories of stuffed giraffes yourself."

Chuck's eyebrows rose as he made his way towards Blair's hospital room. "That's not the point, Serena. The point is that I want my wife to see that you got the kids something."

He could almost hear the eye roll. "Look, I don't want to have to stop over to get gifts, Chuck. I want to see my best friend who suddenly has to get a c-section the day I arrive in Brown." A moment's pause, and then she asked, "Have you called Nate yet?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"He's not family," Chuck responded.

"Stop it with the jealousy already."

"I'm not jealous," Chuck denied. "You're invited because by some stroke of luck you happened to be my sister."

"You're telling me because I'm Blair's best friend," Serena pointed out. "And you need to tell Nate because he's your best friend. I thought you settled this. Blair is all yours," Serena told him slowly, like she were talking to a child.

"That doesn't mean he's completely fine with it. I don't play well with guys who think they have some hold over my wife." Forcing himself into a tentative friendship with Marcus had been awful enough, even if he only did it to find a way to get Blair back.

"Call him," Serena insisted. "Because I'm going to tell him anyway. Wouldn't it be better if it came from you?"

"Fine," Chuck bit out.

He looked up when he saw the door of Blair's room slightly ajar. He walked over, then stopped when he heard Blair say, "Just tell me what you want."

"Do you honestly think it would be that easy? Do you have any comprehension of how much we're talking about?"

"I signed a prenup. I think I have an idea. Actually, everyone in New York has an idea."

"He'll never got for it."

"I'll take care of it."

Chuck locked his jaw, then pushed the door open, and was taken aback at the sight of a man whose back was turned to him. Blair sat on her hospital bed, her attention turned to the guest.

"Hello," Chuck greeted. Blair started up on the bed, and the man turned to face him. "Jack," Chuck said softly when he recognized the man. "You're visiting my wife."

His uncle took a deep breath, then flashed him a smile. "Well, I found out that the little Basses are arriving early," Jack explained. "From the secretary too. Such a shame I didn't get your message."

"I didn't leave you any," he replied.

"You must have been busy," Jack said dismissively. "Anyway, I know now so I came to bring Blair some flowers." Jack nodded towards the tall flowers in the vase behind him, which he had arranged himself. "Blair always did love stargazers."

"She does," Chuck agreed. She looked exhausted, just a little on the pale side. "I didn't know you knew enough to get her favorite flowers."

"Of course. Every man has to learn his environment, especially when it's new." Jack gave Blair a cool smile. "And I found out a lot about Mrs Bass those weeks that we were looking for you."

Chuck walked up to the bed, and saw at once his wife's open hand. He twined his fingers with hers, then informed his uncle, "We have an early day tomorrow."

"Well," Jack said, clasping his hands in front of him. "That's my cue to leave." He turned to Blair, then took her free hand and raised it to his lips. "Always a pleasure, Mrs Bass," he said, dragging out the last name, prolonging, almost caressing it with his tongue.

Chuck waited until Jack was a few steps away, then asked his wife, "What was that?"

Her response was, "What did you hear?"

"I didn't hear anything," he answered testily.

She shrugged, took a deep breath, and Chuck worried about the tension on her face. The door opened and Blair's nurse stepped into the room. "Lola," Chuck greeted the woman. Jack slipped out behind the nurse.

The nurse smiled, then approached Blair and checked the heart monitors beside the bed. "Just checking on you and the babies, Mrs Bass," she explained.

"You just left a half an hour ago," Blair responded. "You weren't due for another hour and a half."

"Lola's very attentive," Chuck commented.

"There was a spike on your heart rate, and the monitors at my station were showing distress. I wanted to be sure."

Chuck turned and glared at the doorway. "While Jack was here," he concluded.

"You should rest, Mrs Bass." The nurse refreshed the monitor, then said to Blair, "Your stress levels aren't going down. I'll give you something to calm you down."

Chuck waited while the nurse administered the low dose, then told Blair, "Serena and Nate will be here to see the babies. Everything will be fine. Your father is already in flight with Roman. Everyone will be here. You don't have anything to worry about."

Blair nodded, and Chuck despised the nervous look in her eyes. He placed a kiss on her forehead, then sat down on the bed. He watched her, observed every flicker of her gaze from him to the door behind him, noticed the large movement of her chest as she struggled to maintain her breathing. He reached for a glass of water and handed it to her. Blair drank and returned the glass to him gratefully.

"Relax," he reminded her.

She gave him a thin smile. "We'll be parents tomorrow. The word won't exist in our world."

He was not trained to read those monitors, but as uneducated as he was at the profession, he knew enough to know that the erratic lines on the monitor was not good. He did not appreciate the lie, but knew better than to push.

"Blair," he said.

He felt a pang when she looked at him and almost looked ashamed.

"We haven't decided on the names," he told her, covering a hand that shook. Tonight when she was asleep, he would settle this. Right now, she needed to be calm. "I was thinking we could do what we do what we do best."

Almost reluctantly, her face pulled into a smile. "I'm not in any condition to have sex with you, Chuck."

He celebrated his little success in his head. "If we wanted to, I could find a way."

"I'm sure you could," she murmured, then pressed her lips on his.

"But what I meant was, we could make a game of it. We're never going to mutually agree on a name," he said, "do the best way to address this is to give just one person the decision."

"Easy," she responded. "I'm carrying them, and I'm going to get sliced up tomorrow for them." Chuck winced at the little, humorous description she used. "I should get to decide."

Chuck took her hand, and raised it to his lips. "Mrs Bass, I'm expecting you will use that a lot to get your way during this marriage."

She grinned. "You know I will."

"I wouldn't expect any less from you," he replied. "So what about if now you gave me at least an opportunity to name the kid. And then every day after this, you get to use the c-section and the nine months you had to carry them to get your way?"

She giggled, then nodded. "Although technically, it's seven and a half."

Chuck winked, then offered, "You can use nine for maximum effect. It should work with the children too if they become uncontrollable." Blair's shoulders relaxed, and Chuck quickly glanced at the monitor. The lines were becoming more regular, so he continued, "Imagine the kind of advantage it will give you if your son starts dating someone you don't approve of."

She made a face. "Like someone from Brooklyn." Blair shuddered. "Then I'll pout and remind him about the arduous months I carried him, and the fact that I had to get a bikini cut c-section to deliver him." She laughed. "That won't work, especially if he has my temper."

"He'll fall for it hook, line and sinker if he's anything like me."

"Really?" she said with a grin.

"Bass men can't resist you."

Her grin faded, and she pulled her hand out from his grasp.

"Blair—"

"Chuck, it's late. I have surgery tomorrow," she reminded him.

Chuck licked his lips, then sighed. He offered, "I'll sleep here with you."

"That's ridiculous," she replied. Blair gathered the blanket around her waist, then lied down on the bed. "Just come back early so you can see me before we go in."

"I'm going to stay with you," he decided.

"Whatever you want."

"I'll be right back." He leaned down to kiss her, and she turned her head so his lips met her cheek. Chuck placed his hand on her belly, then said, "I'll see you tomorrow, guys. Sleep tight."

He took his phone out of his pocket, then made his way out of the room. He closed the door behind him, then found Jack standing outside, leaning back against the nurse's station. He narrowed his eyes, then strode towards his uncle.

"Mrs Bass asleep for the night?"

Chuck did not answer the question. He jerked his head towards the fire escape. Jack followed behind him. When they were both in the staircase landing, he demanded, "What the hell do you want?"

"I knew you were lying when you said you didn't hear anything." Jack shook his head. "You sound angry. I'm not the person you should be angry at. I did what I do. You shouldn't be surprised."

"What do you want?" Chuck repeated.

"I want more shares than Lily. It's ridiculous that she has more control of this company than I do," Jack replied.

"Is that it?" Chuck whispered, his voice a little menacing.

Jack's lips curved. "I want to run my own division."

"You're running Bass Australia," Chuck reminded his uncle.

"That's because my brother wanted to throw me out of his life. It's worth nothing to a man who wants to establish his business credibility here."

"I worked my ass off to get my own division," Chuck told him.

"I worked my ass off for this company," Jack returned. "I want real estate." It was the biggest, the most profitable, the most influential.

"Done."

Chuck turned around to go back, but Jack called to halt him. "Don't you want to know?"

Chuck stopped with his hand on the knob. He turned his head, but did not look at Jack. "I have an idea."

"Don't you want to know for sure? You just gave me control over more than eighty billion dollars, Chuck."

"I don't want you talking to my wife. That's it."

Jack frowned. "You're really just going back in there? You're going to pretend that's everything's fine?"

Chuck rested his forehead on the doorway, counted to ten, then slowly turned to face his uncle. His voice was low when he recounted, "My wife is sick, and we need to deliver the twins prematurely because she can't carry them full term. After tomorrow, Jack, Blair is going on medication and I'm going to have two children in incubators. That is what I'm going back to, and I will damn well pretend everything's fine."

Chuck turned and opened the door.

"You're just like your father."

Chuck gave his uncle one last glare, before slamming the door resoundingly behind him. He walked down the corridor to return to Blair's room. His eyes widened when he saw the door wide open when he had made sure to shut it.

And then the flurry of white coats flew out. Chuck heard the wheels, the metal, then saw them pushing Blair out of the room. Chuck pushed his way forward, saw the oxygen mask.

His heart stopped when he met her eyes. She was terrified.

He raced after the team to the elevator, then grasped Blair's hand as they wheeled her to the operating room. "I love you," he whispered into her ear as they took her.

Blair removed the mask, then gasped, "We didn't get to play the game. They don't have names."

"We'll do it first thing when you wake up."

She nodded. "Chuck, I'm sorry."

And it was all about tonight, and all about Jack. And somehow, it did not seem fair to him that it would be the thought in their heads at this point. "Don't worry about anything." And Jack was right in that at least. He was going to go back to pretend. "It's all perfect, Blair. We're perfect."

Jack could insult it all he wanted, but he had made Blair nod and smile. Chuck placed the oxygen mask back on.

"You have to bring it when you wake up because I will wipe the floor with your ass on any game. I might name the girl after you. Cornelia."

She made a disgusted face, and Chuck smiled when they took her away.

Blair's OB stopped beside him. Chuck turned to the doctor, bewildered. "She's scheduled for tomorrow. What's going on?"

"Nurse Giles called me with the reading from Blair's monitor." Lola, Chuck recalled. "Mr Bass, I want you to understand that your wife is on the verge of an arrest. We need to do this now."

"The doctor," Chuck gasped. "The surgeon is going to fly in California tomorrow."

"We can't wait."

Chuck glanced at his watch.

Stupid.

As if looking at the time would make a difference, as if checking the watch would make the plane go faster, as if glaring at the short and long hands of the diamond-studded face would freeze time.

"I won't have any middle-rate doctor cutting into her when she's in this condition."

"As if happens, Mr Bass, one of the premier OB surgeons are here in Manhattan right now for another patient. The chief has called in Dr Johnson for this case."

The woman killed his mother.

"She is not touching my wife."

"We need to do this, Chuck. Dr Johnson has been practicing for thirty years and she has a pristine record. Jump at this chance. It will save your wife's life."

Chuck frowned. "A pristine record," he repeated.

"Of course, Mr Bass. We wouldn't give you anything less."

tbc