A/N: I keep telling myself that I am going to pace myself with writing, but here I am with two chapters in the same day.

The past couple of chapters have been filled with a lot of angst, so this one is filled with fluffy, smutty goodness. This fic is rated M for a reason.

Chapter 16

Blair started to stand after the others left, "Well, I guess, I should be -"

Chuck reached a hand out to stop her, "Blair, can we please talk? Please?"

Blair sighed, sitting back down beside him. His eyes were pleading, and she felt her resolve weakening. Closing her eyes, she said, "Chuck, I really don't know what we have to talk about. After we get your dad safely back in New York, we don't have to see each other anymore."

"Do you really feel that way?" He asked incredulously. "Do you really feel like we don't have a place in each other's lives anymore?"

"What do you want me to say?" She implored. "You are married, and I am engaged. I'm getting married in December."

"In December? In three months? Blair -"

"What? I shouldn't marry the man that I have been engaged to for nearly two years? The man who has been there for me for the past six years? The man who put me back together after you broke me to pieces?" Her voice started getting higher and more emotional with every question. Anger caused her voice to crack, as once again tears spilled from her eyes. "God, Chuck, I have cried more in the past two weeks than I have in the past two years!"

He was losing her, and he wanted to shut her out. The emotions were too heavy, and she was right. He had already caused too much damage. She deserved her fairytale ending with a prince who didn't make her cry, but then he remembered Landry's words: She's scared and she's hurting. You have to make her believe. "Please just let me explain. Just hear me out. If after tonight, you decide that you are done with me, then I will leave you alone forever."

She saw the sincerity in his eyes - the same eyes that have looked at her with lust and desire, the same eyes that spoke the words that he couldn't say, the same eyes that had always pulled her out of the depths when things got too hard. The chestnut-colored pools that betrayed his emotions when he was too stubborn to let her in now begged her to be patient and listen, so she did. "Okay, Chuck."

He took a deep breath, trying to find his bearings. The words that he spoke in this moment may very well become the most important words that he would ever speak in his life. "Blair, when I left ten years ago, I did it for both you and me. I knew it would hurt both of us, but I also knew that I was in no shape to stay. You - you're emotions were so deep and beautiful, and I didn't deserve you. I couldn't give you what you deserved. I was so damaged that I knew that I would just destroy you, and I couldn't bring myself to do that to you. I cared about you too much to hurt you in the way that I knew was inevitable. For months leading up to my departure, I had vivid dreams of you dying in front of me. In the end, I was the one who killed you through my selfish actions. If I stayed, who knows what would have happened. But I also did it for me. I was self-medicating; I was on a path to horrific self-destruction. I needed help, Blair, so I left to get the help that I needed."

She nodded and placed her hand on his as a way to indicate her understanding, "But Chuck? Why did you go to Australia under an alias? Why didn't you come home? We were all falling apart without you. I don't think you understand how much we all needed you." How much I needed you.

He shook his head and squeezed her hand, "Blair, I tried. I-" He swallowed, unsure how she would react to his next confession, "Four years after I left, I finally felt whole again. I felt like I could come home, and maybe be deserving of you for the first time in my life. I was ready to come back and tell you that -" He stopped and looked her in the eye before quickly correcting his word choice "-I wanted to be with you."

Her lip quivered at his confession, and she allowed the sadness to engulf her body as she mourned what could have been. "What happened? I was still waiting for you." She said quietly.

"No, you weren't," He answered defensively. "I was too late. You were with Louis."

She dropped her head again, remembering the moment that she had given into Louis's incessant request for a date. At that moment, she couldn't think of a valid reason to give him. It had been four years since she had given her heart to her first love and four years since he had trampled all over it. It had been four years since she had seen him or heard of him. It was time to start dating; it was time to give her heart to someone else. Why not a handsome, kindhearted prince who had been a good friend to her?

It was all too much for her to process, and she stood abruptly walking to the other side of the room. She started pacing with no clear reason or path. How could fate possibly be so cruel. "Chuck," She sobbed, "Why are you doing this now? What does it help to rehash this now?" Her voice cracked as she begged him to have mercy and stop the madness before she crumbled.

Standing he walked to her and placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "Because, Blair, I still feel the same way that I did ten years ago. I'm not complete without you. You are the very air that I breathe, and I've felt like I was drowning these past ten years just not being able to be near you." He brought his hands up to cup her face and force her eyes to his own, "I love you, Blair. I am in love with you. I have loved you since the day you danced for me at Victrola when we were seventeen years old. I may have even loved you before then."

She searched his face for any proof that this was only a cruel joke, but all she found in his expression was raw honesty and vulnerability. She felt her chest rise and fall and her hands shake, as she slowly reached up to touch his face. It would be easy to run back to Louis, to pretend like this moment hadn't happened, but Serena's words echoed in her mind: Stop being so stubborn that you stand in the way of your own happiness. With trembling lips, she whispered softly, "I love you, too," She pressed her forehead against his and added, "I never stopped. Not for one single day of the past ten years."

His heart swelled hearing the words that had haunted him every day for a decade, and he couldn't stop himself then. He had talked to her like Landry had suggested, and never could he have imagined that it would lead to this moment. He had to be with her. Nothing else in the world mattered now except him and her. His lips crashed against hers in a bruising, passionate kiss that left them both breathless. When he pulled away, he lifted her in his arms bridal style and headed toward the bedroom.

She latched her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. She knew the right thing to do would be to wait until she talked to Louis, but she couldn't wait. She needed this just as much as he did. She would talk to Louis in the morning.

He gently placed her on the bed, and bent to remove her sandals from her feet while caressing a soft pattern along the silky skin of her calf. He lowered himself on the bed next to her and began to place light kisses across her cheek and forehead before pressing his lips against her. He was determined to take his time in reacquainting himself with her body. Cupping her face, he opened his mouth to allow his tongue to trace her lips. Relenting, she allowed him access to her mouth as a small sigh of pure joy escaped her lips. Her hands slowly started to lift his shirt from his pants, while his softly massaged the supple flesh of her upper thigh.

Pulling back from her slightly, he gazed down at her, and whispered, "You're so beautiful," A pretty smile spread across her face, and he added, "So perfect. I can't get enough of you."

She sat up and started to unbutton his shirt when he caught sight of the engagement ring on her finger. He grabbed her hand and pulled the ring off, placing it on the bedside table, "You no longer belong to another man, so this is no longer necessary."

They both knew they were in a moral gray area - him still married and her still engaged, but nothing in the world could stop them now. They were in too deep, and they'd rather sink with each other than let go of this moment.

She pushed the shirt from his shoulders and relished in the feel of his muscles. She noted how much more toned and tanned he was now than he had been as a teenager. The light sprinkle of dark hair across his chest accentuated the hard lines of his body, and she couldn't keep from running her fingers over the toned indentations she found there. She looked back up at him, "Make me yours again, Chuck."

He groaned and unzipped the back zipper on her dress before helping her lift it over her head. She lay before him in a red lace bra that barely contained her larger breasts and a pair of sheer red boyshorts. He felt himself grow impossibly hard at the sight of her, and he allowed himself several moments to drink in the erotic image, trying to memorize every last inch. She smiled at him without the least amount of shyness, and he lowered his hands to squeeze her breasts through her bra. "God, Blair, you are so fucking gorgeous. How did I ever walk away from you?"

Seeing the desire in his eyes, she felt bold enough to tease him, "I don't know, but I bet you never will again."

"Damn straight," His response was muffled as he reached around her back to unhook her bra. He let his hands roam over the expanse of her body, basking in the silky smoothness of her skin.

He drank in the sight of her round, perky breasts topped with dusty pink areolas, and his mouth placed wet kisses to the swells of her breast, before he dropped lower to allow his tongue to swirl around her nipple until it hardened. He used his fingers to gently pinch the other nipple, and he smiled to himself when he felt her hands wind their way into his hair to hold him to her chest. Her back arched off the bed as a breathy moan escaped her lips. She'd forgotten how talented this man was with just his tongue. "Oh, God, I've missed you," She confessed as he continued his sweet torture to her breasts.

She worked her hands to his belt and blindly tried to unbuckle it. She grew frustrated when she couldn't pull it apart and he reached down to help her with a slight chuckle. Unzipping his pants, he whispered, "It's okay. We have plenty of time."

"That doesn't change how much I need you right now, though," She pouted.

"We're almost there, my love," He soothed, reaching down into her panties and running his finger along her folds. "Are you wet for me, Blair?"

"Ah, yes," She bucked against his hand as he gently slipped two fingers inside of her. "I am so ready. Please, Chuck, I need you."

He pumped his fingers into her a few more times and pulled her panties down her legs, while kicking off his own pants. She caught a glimpse of his erection tented through his boxers, and she gulped. She had forgotten how truly well-endowed he was, and her inner thighs throbbed in anticipation. She sat up and pushed his underwear down until his length bobbed free. She grasped him in her hand and pumped a few times, smiling to herself that she still had the ability to do this to him.

"Mmm, baby, that feels so good," he groaned and relished in the feel of her warm hand wrapped around his aching cock. After a few moments, she lowered herself to her knees to take him in her mouth. "Later," He whispered, pulling her up by her shoulders, "I need to be inside you now."

He reached to the bedside table to pull out a condom, and she placed a hand on his arm. "I have been on the pill for years now. I want to feel every inch of you. Please, Chuck."

He faltered a second, unsure if he should give in to her request, but the pleading in her eyes made him trust her and he nodded before positioning himself over her quaking body. "You sure?" He asked in a way reminiscent of their first time together.

In response, she wrapped her legs around his back and pulled him closer to her. He pressed his lips gently against hers as he guided his length into her. They both gasped when they were at last connected. Nothing in the entire world compared to the feeling of being wrapped around each other so completely. Chuck muttered, "Oh, my God," when the moist warmth engulfing him was almost too much to bear. He slowly started to pump himself in and out, while never taking his eyes off of hers.

She watched the emotions flicker across his face - desire, hunger, devotion, awe, love. Her lips parted, and she panted hard as she felt him pull her hips closer to his own, never slowing his movements. He penetrated her so deeply that her mind became hazy and she couldn't focus on anything besides the feel of him throbbing inside of her. "Oh, God, Chuck!" She screamed. "Don't stop."

He smiled and deepened his thrusts by cushioning her hips in his hands and angling them upwards. "Fuck, baby," He murmured, kissing her deeply before moving his lips to her ear, "You like that?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" She yelled, now no longer able to control her volume. "You feel so good."

His lips trailed across her shoulders and down to her breasts, where he allowed his teeth to lightly bite at her nipple. After moving back to her mouth, he sat back on his knees and pulled her right leg over his shoulder, bracing himself by gripping the backs of her thighs. She cried out his name as his strokes became deeper and more punctuated. The pleasure washing through her body erupted into a powerful scream. Her sounds of ecstasy turned him on even more, and before he could stop himself, he was thrusting into her with an impossible force. He had intended for their lovemaking to be slow and romantic, but the feeling of her surrounding him was too much for him to maintain a controlled pace. Within minutes, they were both moaning the other's name as their orgasms overtook all of their senses.

Panting hard, Chuck pulled out of her, as she whimpered at the loss of contact. "That was incredible." He said, as he kissed her forehead. "You're incredible."

She nodded in agreement, and said, "Tell me again."

He grinned at her and leaned in to place a kiss beneath her left ear, "I love you," moving to her right ear, he repeated, "I love you," finally he pressed his lips to hers again, and said, "I love you."

XOXO

Landry returned to the suite after several hours of working on gaining access to Gossip Girl's server. She was close, but there was something she was missing. She'd told Georgina that she would contact some friends of hers and return the next morning to continue working.

Walking into the suite, her ears were invaded with a foreign sound that she couldn't quite make out, until a loud, "Oh, yes, Chuck!" rang out throughout the entire suite. She smiled to herself and turned to leave again, locking the door behind her. He finally did it, she thought to herself, as both feelings of joy and sorrow washed over her body.