Chapter 4 - How could you do that to her?

"Chuck! So, it is true?" Serena asked and stood up from the couch in his old penthouse and walked towards Chuck and Blair.

"Yeah, what the hell man?" Nate asked and followed Serena's lead.

"Look, I'm sorry, this has all been a massive misunderstanding." Chuck responded.

"Misunderstanding? Chuck, we thought you were dead, we had a funeral and you didn't think you owed us? What you couldn't tell us that you were still alive? At least not us? We don't judge remember." Serena didn't know whether to be angry, confused, upset or happy. Chuck and her had had a complicated friendship and as much as she tried to deny it, he had become like a brother to her but his actions over the years had made it hard not to be angry with him, especially when he hurt Blair.

"I didn't know. I left, yes, but I lost everything in Prague and I thought you would all be better off after what I did. You say we don't judge but none of you reached out." Chuck didn't want to place the blame on them but it had hurt him that they didn't try and reach out to him when he left.

"Chuck! Seriously?" Serena couldn't believe he was trying to turn the blame on them.

"Maybe we should all just take a seat." Blair took a seat on the sofa and the rest of them followed.

"No, let's clear the air. If we don't judge how comes only Lily tried to find me this summer? Where was your concern? What I did before I left was despicable and I'm not denying that, the way I treated Blair was unacceptable and I don't blame her for not wanting anything to do with me but you two." He pointed to Serena and Nate. "Serena who did you turn to when you didn't want to tell anyone else you didn't want to go to Brown? Why was that? Because I didn't judge you but you still took my concern as me trying to get back at you. If you came to me asking for help, I did, even if I didn't agree with your actions. Nathaniel, my oldest friend, who was the one person that has never judged when you slept with Serena on the bar at the Campbell apartment? Who tried to help you when your family was struggling after your father went to prison? I let you live with me and when I made a mistake you judged me for that mistake. I know I slept with Blair and I owned that mistake too, even though it wasn't a mistake, it was the best thing that happened to me." Blair bowed her head, she couldn't make eye contact with him while he was talking about her like this, not when he had already moved on.

"Chuck, come on man, you're leaving out the part where you tried to sell Blair for the hotel, we're standing in. You're hotel. How could you do that to her?" Nate wanted to remind Chuck that he wasn't the only one that had used Blair for the wrong reasons.

"You told them?" Chuck turned to look at Blair.

Blair knew she would have to look at him so he would know she wasn't lying. Her eyes found his instantly and she could see the shame, "of course not, do you think I want people to know?"

"Then how?" Chuck asked.

"Jack, he was all too happy to try and ruin your name after you left the Empire to Blair and Bass Industries to Lily." Nate answered for Blair.

"Well, I'm glad you all know. It's one way to hold me accountable for my actions but you didn't know that when I left for Prague."

"We knew about Jenny." Serena added.

"Is that any worse than what you've all done before? Look, I'm not here to throw blame at anyone else for what happened and what I did. It's done and I can't change it but the non-judgemental breakfast club we claim to be doesn't exist for me. The only person that has the right to judge me is Blair, she had every right to sell this hotel, to tarnish my legacy and she didn't. Yes, I owe you two an apology for what you've been through thinking I was dead but I don't owe you anymore."

"Chuck, how can you say that? You're back in New York now let's make this right." Serena didn't want the four of them to be on bad terms. The last few months had been hard on everyone and having Chuck back meant they could go back to the way things were.

"I'm not back. I'm not staying."

"What do you mean, this is your home." Nate was angry but didn't want to lose Chuck again. Chuck was right to some degree; he had judged him when Chuck had only ever tried to be there for him. He didn't reach out after he heard about Jenny but he continued to live in his penthouse and didn't even question it even after they thought Chuck was dead. Neither did Blair she kept everything the same even when she took over ownership.

"He has a new life now, a new name and a fiancé." Blair didn't realise what she had said until it was too late. She was annoyed she let her anger get the better of her and avoided Chuck's eyes once again, she knew it would tell him that she was hurt and she didn't want him to know he still had that power over her.

"A what? You've just stood here trying to make us feel bad for judging you and while Blair has been doing everything to run your business and keep your legacy alive you've reinvented yourself and are getting married?" Nate stood up and started to pace.

"It's not like that." Chuck responded.

"Then what is it like Chuck? Nate sit back down." Nate followed Serena's instruction to sit back down.

"I thought you would have all moved on. I thought after what I did you would all be happier if I wasn't in your lives anymore and when you didn't reach out, I believed that to be true. The person I am with now is the one that found me in the alleyway after I was shot."

"So, you were shot?" Nate moved from anger to concern again. His best friend had been shot and he didn't even know.

"Yes, that part of the story is true and Eva found me. She saved me from death and I owe her my life." Chuck winced at his own words, he knew they would hurt Blair hearing him talk about Eva like that, Blair had saved him more than once. Blair was the first person to ever look past what everyone else saw and love him despite his dark side. She taught him what loving someone meant.

"Does she know who you are?" Serena asked.

"She thinks he is Henry." Blair was done sitting back and not voicing her anger at the situation. How dare he claim that he owed Eva his life? He had chosen to move on with another woman after everything she had done for him and he didn't even care about everything she had given up since he left for him. How could she ever believe he had even loved her? How could he claim that she was his legacy when he had placed a ring on another woman's finger? No doubt he had already given her the ring that was meant for her.

"She doesn't know you're Chuck Bass?" Nate questioned.

"No, because I don't want to be him."

"You're a coward." Serena was done trying to tiptoe around telling the truth about this whole mess.

"Excuse me?" Chuck was confused, how was he a coward when he was trying to do what was best for all of them?

"You've just stood in front of us telling us how you're owning your mistakes, that you've moved on, that you've reinvented yourself but you don't want the person you love to know who you truly are or was. You want to walk away from your family again and hide from the mistakes you have made. If you wanted to own them you would stay, face up to what you did and let your fiancé know who you really are."

"You are not my family! My father is dead. A father that made me who I was. That was more interested in business and whores and hell even my own nannies instead of raising me. He let me grow up thinking my mother died giving birth to me and I thought that is why he hated me. Then I had nothing and when I learnt she was alive, I let her in because the only person I ever loved tried to teach me loving someone wasn't a weakness. My mother only got close to me to take everything I had to please my uncle. She chose Jack over me. Oh, and Jack, my uncle, who slept with Blair as a deal to try and find me no doubt. He then tried to steal Bass Industries from me, attacked Lily, and used the one person I actually loved to prove that it was a weakness to either destroy everything I built or destroy myself. I did both! This life is toxic. I don't want Eva to be a part of it and I like who I have become with her. She doesn't need to be a part of this. She doesn't need Jack trying to destroy her. I'm not doing this to protect me, I'm doing it to protect her. She doesn't care if I'm Chuck Bass or Henry Prince. She doesn't care if I'm a billionaire or if I'm poor. She loves me for who I am. She doesn't judge me like you are all claiming you don't."

"You say she doesn't judge you for who you are but you are not Henry Prince and you certainly cannot enjoy dressing like that."

"Blair"

"No S he needs to hear it. The final straw was him claiming that Eva saved him when she didn't know who he was. I fail to believe that when everyone knows who Chuck Bass is. Everyone even if they don't know about Gossip Girl. You can't hide now; you think that now people know you are alive they are just going to let you ride off into the sunset with your great love story and not tell her who you are?"

"Are you threatening to tell her Blair?"

"So, what if I am? If you don't and I don't someone else will. You like to propose to people over fake pretences though don't you Chuck?"

"Blair, maybe that's enough." Nate knew where this was heading with the pair of them. He knew they both knew how to engage in a war and how bad it could get for everyone around them that was left to witness it.

Chuck stood up he had to leave before this got out of hand.

"Doing what you do best Chuck? Leaving instead of facing reality? Or is it time to get lost in some scotch? I hear there's still a nice view from the rooftop or is your fiancé waiting for you?"

"Blair"

"Oh, come on, I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking. Better yet, shall I give Jenny a call? Maybe you two can catch up?"

"There's the Blair Waldorf I remember, about time you showed yourself. Did it upset you that I'm back or that I'm not alone or that someone has actually managed to change me and that person wasn't you?"

Before Blair realised what she was doing her hand had made contact with Chuck's face.

"I think that's my cue to leave." Chuck made his way to the elevator and left the other three in shock not by what they had witnessed but by his reaction.