Chapter 10

August 29,2019

Landry left early the next morning under the pretense that she had some errands to run before another spa appointment, but Chuck knew that she was just giving him time alone with his thoughts to ponder their previous conversation.

Sitting at the bar counter with a cup of black coffee, he thought about Blair. The feel of her in his arms, the softness of her skin, the solitary tear that he caused to roll down her cheek. Finally, the look of utter heartache when he revealed the truth (or half truth) about his relationship with Landry. She deserved better than him.

Then he thought about Landry, his wife. He still had a hard time thinking of her that way. She was a wonderful companion, and he loved her in a very different way than he loved Blair. She probably knew him better than anyone else, but she was right. Their marriage had been out of necessity, and he would never be able to open his heart to her in the way that she deserved. There was a part of him that belonged solely to a petite doe-eyed brunette and he would never be able to get that piece back. He felt entirely guilty for the way his fucked-up life affected Landry. He laughed sardonically and realized that she deserved better than him, too.

He shook his head with a soft "Fuck" muttered under his breath, and walked to the liquor cabinet. It may be early, but coffee wasn't nearly strong enough to deal with his thoughts today.

A hard knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts, and he released the bottle of scotch before pouring any. Opening the door, he rolled his eyes to see Serena standing in front of him, "It's early, and I'm not in the mood."

Serena could no longer contain her anger toward her step-brother, and she shoved past him into the suite, "When the fuck will you grow up, Chuck?"

"Nice to see you, too, sis. No hug? No welcome back?" He said sarcastically, though his heart ached the tiniest bit at the masked pain he heard in her voice.

"Why should I welcome you back, when we didn't even get so much as a goodbye?" She asked as tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

"Serena..."

"No, Chuck, I have something to say, and I need you to listen." Drawing in a deep breath, she continued, "How could you do it, Chuck? You destroyed Blair when you left. She almost didn't survive. Do you know that her bulimia came back? No, of course, you don't because you didn't bother checking in on any of us." He started to speak but she continued before he could interrupt, "Nate blamed himself. His life went to hell when his grandfather cut him off, and he could've really used a friend. I've never seen him cry in my entire life until you left, and then I saw it on a weekly basis for months!"

"Serena, I need you to understand…"

"I'm not finished," She snapped. "You didn't just abandon Nate and Blair. You also abandoned your family. Eric lost a brother. I..I lost.." She sighed without finishing that thought, "Mom felt like she lost a child, Chuck. She loved you so much, and you didn't even care about her enough to check on her, to let her know that you were okay. We thought you were dead; when we got that phone call that there had been an accident…" She was sobbing now. He could no longer make out the words, and he felt guilt creep into every inch of his body.

He had no words. When he left at 18-years-old, he really felt like Blair and, maybe Nate, were the only ones who cared. He figured that they would be sad for a few months, but eventually they would both move on and realize that they were better off without his presence in their lives. Seeing the physical evidence before him of what his absence did to his family broke something inside of him.

He and Serena didn't do heart-to-hearts. They didn't do hugs and emotions. They did banter and sibling disputes. But now as his step-sister sobbed in front of him, and he realized that he was the cause of her pain, he embraced her and rubbed her back soothingly.

"Serena, I can't erase the past ten years. I made some stupid decision, but I also made choices that felt like they were the only right answer in the moment. I am so sorry for the pain that I've caused, but all I can do now is move forward."

"Will you go see, Mom? You owe her that," She said pulling back.

"Of course," He thought of Lily's kindness to him after his father's death, and felt a pang of guilt and shame stab him in the chest.

Serena offered him a sad smile, "Can you please give me some answers? I feel like I'm in the dark here."

He sighed and shook his head, "Serena…"

"Chuck, Blair said you are married. The Australian police called and said that they found your blood at the scene of an accident, but they couldn't locate you. You can't just expect me to accept that with no explanation."

Chuck relented, knowing that she was right, "Let's call Nathaniel over here. I only want to do this once."

"What about Blair? She deserves the truth, too, maybe more than any of us."

"Serena, I can't."

"Chuck, you don't know what it was like for her. What it is like for her for you to be back now. You should've seen her last night."

"It's beyond complicated…"

"Why, Chuck?" She interrupted, "Because you went and got married after leaving her here alone without a word?"

Chuck felt himself growing frustrated, "Serena, could you just stay out of my business with Blair? Your meddling never helped us in the past."

"In this case, Chuck, Blair is my business,and your return has turned her world upside down. You owe everyone you left behind an explanation, especially her!"

"Fine!" He closed his eyes, "You're right. I have to talk to her, but I want to do it alone, on my own terms."

XOXO

"Ms. Blair, you have visitor," Dorota yelled.

Blair figured that Serena would stop by to check on her at some point, but she was surprised that she had arrived before noon. She checked her reflection in the mirror and took a few moments to get her emotions under control. She was ashamed of the display she had put on at the reunion the night before. It was highly unbecoming of a future princess, she'd told herself. Why had she allowed an old high school lover to affect her so deeply? She convinced herself that it was just the shock of seeing Chuck after so many years.

She was now a grown woman with a future in the royal court. It was silly to concern herself with the likes of Chuck Bass. She'd all but forgotten about him in the past ten years, she lied to herself, and she'll forget him again. He didn't owe her an explanation, and she sure as hell didn't owe him anything.

"I'll be right down, Dorota," she called.

She slipped on her tried and true Chanel ballet flats and started for the stairs. No need for formality with Serena. They'd likely end up curled up with Breakfast at Tiffany's and more than their fair share of macaroons. As she descended the steps, however, she realized something was amiss. Instead of long blonde, slightly messy hair, she saw perfectly smooth black waves.

Oh, shit.

Blair almost tumbled down the last step when she realized who her visitor was. She composed herself just as the woman turned around, "Alexandria, please forgive my shock, but I wasn't expecting you. To what do I owe this pleasure?" She tried her best to keep the snark out of her voice.

"Blair," She stammered, unsure what else to say. Maybe coming here hadn't been the best idea, after all. "I thought we could talk."

"I'm sorry, but I'm confused. I'm not sure what we have to talk about," Blair replied coldly, crossing her arms over her chest. She really wished that she had slipped on a pair of heels because Landry towered over her, adn Blair really didn't appreciate the power position held by the other woman.

"Blair, please," She began quietly. "I know what Chuck told you, but there are some things I think you should know."

"Like what? What...or who.." She said looking Landry up and down, "Chuck chooses to do in his personal life is none of my business. It hasn't been my business in ten years." She added with a hint of resentment.

"He still has feelings for you," Landry said. "Please just hear me out."

"Fine I'll have Dorota start the tea," She led Landry into the sitting room.

"Thank you," Landry reached for the tea cup from Dorota and turned back to Blair, "I know that this is awkward, but I appreciate you sitting down with me."

"My patience is limited," Blair snapped. "Please get on with whatever it is you think I need to know." She hated being such a bitch, but this woman made her feel so inferior that she couldn't control herself.

"Of course," Landry drew a deep breath. "I met Chuck for the first time in 2013 after he had spent an extensive amount of time in a rehabilitation facility. He applied for a position at Bass Industries in Australia where I worked as a receptionist -"

"Chuck Bass - one of the richest men in the world - applied for a job at the company he owns?" She raised her eyebrows, unconvinced.

"I know it seems so out of character for him, but after finishing rehab, he decided that he wanted to earn his place at BI by working his way from the ground up. He applied under a pseudonym - Henry Prince."

"That would explain why my private investigators couldn't find anything on Chuck Bass," She said sadly.

Landry gave her a meek smile and continued, "Anyway, at first, we were simply coworkers, but the more we worked together, the closer we got. I called him a chauvinistic asshole when I first met him, but he surprised me. He was kind, caring, and compassionate. He cared about my thoughts and feelings. He treated me like I was precious -"

Blair's heart hurt at hearing Landry describe all of the ways that she had hoped Chuck would treat her when she was younger. She felt her lip start to quiver, so she cut Landry off, "I get it. He was the perfect gentleman, and then he asked you to marry him because you are the love of his life."

"No, Blair, you've got it all wrong." She said pointedly, "I am not the love of his life. He never even asked me out on a date. We flirted often, but he never made a move on me."

"Okay, you're going to have to fill in some blanks for me. You're married, so obviously that can't be true."

"My father was a really bad man, Blair. Over the years, I told Chuck what I knew about him, but I didn't even remember him well enough to say what he looked like. My mom moved us to another country when I was four years old to get me away from that bastard," She felt her hands start to shake and the tea sloshed over the edge of the cup from her tremors. Placing the cup back onto the table, she drew a deep breath and continued, "He found me in 2016. Chuck and I...he tried to kill me…"

Blair was desperately trying to follow Landry's story, but her erratic breathing and choppy sentences were making it difficult. She tentatively reached over and placed her hand on the girl's trembling arm. "It's okay."

Landry gave her a grateful smile, "He tracked me down to Bass Industries. He caught me in the stairway and tried to corner me with a knife. I still don't know why. It had something to do with his hatred of my mother," Looking down at her hands, she shook her head as memories of her mother quickly passed through her mind, " Anyway, Chuck found us and a scuffle ensued. My dad ended up stabbing Chuck multiple times. I shoved him down the stairs as hard as I could." Tears flowed freely now, and Blair felt her own eyes start to water. "H-he broke his neck in the fall."

"My, God," Blair whispered, raising her hand to her mouth.

"Chuck and I ran. At that point, I still only knew him as Henry Prince…"

"What.." Blair paused to lick her lips, "What happened then? After you left?"

"Chuck was in terrible shape. I had to get him to the hospital. I called my mother, and she had the security tapes erased. I'm sure it would've been ruled self-defense, but we were so scared. I need you to know how scared we were. We didn't know what to do -"

Blair shook her head in understanding.

"Chuck lost a lot of blood, and he almost died. I don't even know how he survived. When he woke up, we were in no shape to deal with an investigation. I was distraught and in desperate need of intense therapy; Chuck couldn't even walk. We had heard of a thing called spousal privilege, so we decided to get married. It seems so silly now, but at the time, it felt like the only option."

"I don't know what to say," Blair said quietly, hanging her head low.

"I'm not asking you to say anything. I just wanted you to understand where Chuck's coming from. He's fiercely protective of me, but he will never feel for me the way he feels about you."

"You can't mean that. After everything you two have been through."

"I know him better than anyone else. There's a lot that he doesn't say, but he can't hide it." She closed her eyes, hiding the emotions that threatened to erupt, "Anyway, there's more to the story, but the rest is Chuck's to share. I've already betrayed him by telling you this much, but his stubborn ass wasn't going to do it any time soon. I felt like you deserved to hear the truth."

Blair stood, humbled by the woman in front of her, "Thank you," is all she could manage, but there was so much more she wanted to say.

"You're welcome," She said with a nod. "Just please remember that, no matter how much he hurt you, he's been through hell, too. He's strong, but he's still hurting."

Landry turned to leave when she heard Blair call, "Alexandria, he's lucky to have you, you know."

She gave Blair a slight smile before stepping onto the elevator, praying that she made the right decision in going behind Chuck's back.

A/N: This is the first part of Chuck's story, but there's more to it. I included some similar details to the show - like Chuck using the name Henry Prince to escape and the idea of using spousal privilege to get out of interrogation. In the next chapter, Chuck and Blair will finally talk privately.