"I'd like to propose a toast," Chuck announced as if he were speaking to a room of 100 people, even though he was in the intimate company of his wife and their two best friends.

"Another one?." Serena questioned with her childlike giggle from where she was nestled close to Nate on the opposite side of the firepit.

Blair, who was already sitting in her husband's lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and threw her head back in laughter. If they were being honest, they were drunk about 2 hours ago, but now they were well past overserved and were loving every moment of it.

Earlier in the evening had been the Waldorf Designs fall fashion show, which, to no one's surprise, was a hit amongst the audience and critics. To celebrate the success, Chuck and Blair had hosted a small fete at their townhouse for the entire WD team. Spirits were high and everyone was in a party mood, so even as the crowd thinned out and only the Non-Judging Breakfast Club remained, they decided to take their more private party up to the rooftop and continue imbibing for the foreseeable future.

Clearing his throat to call back everyone's attention, Chuck began again, "I'd like to propose another toast - to my unbelievably sexy, successful wife, and my wonderfully talented sister. Over the last decade and a half, Nathaniel and I have had the immense pleasure of watching you two take Waldorf Designs to new heights, season after season, as a sort of dynamic duo that the fashion world certainly didn't know it needed. You two are a force to be reckoned with and we couldn't be prouder of you both. To our incredible wives!"

"To Serena and Blair," Nate concurred and raised his champagne flute.

"To US!," both women cheered simultaneously and then fell into a fit of laughter as the foursome threw back their glasses.

#

After Eleanor passed away, Blair inherited Waldorf Designs. The first few years she stayed in the background, involving herself mostly in the business side of things while she set up her practice with Andrea and established a name for themselves in the legal world. As time went on and their family grew, however, Blair's interest in law began to dwindle. As she looked for something to reignite her passion in her career, she began sketching and found that she actually had a talent in design. She started taking a more active role at WD and brought Serena along for the ride.

Serena had previously been working with the Bass Foundation and also dabbling in PR for Bass Industries, so Blair decided that Serena could help her as she worked to reinvigorate the WD brand and reemerge as a relevant brand. And guess what? Turns out Serena had a real knack for PR and marketing. Her unique ideas for promoting the brand combined with Blair's fresh designs put WD back on the map and helped the brand achieve more success than it had in the preceding decade.

Year after year, season after season, Chuck and Nate continued to be impressed by how well the two best friends worked together. Together they dress inspiration from their own lives, whether it be color palettes based on the scenery of their most recent vacation or fabrics they came across while shopping. And at every single show, their families gathered to cheer them on, both in the front row and backstage.

While Nate and Serena had decided that the twins were more than enough for them, Chuck and Blair had set their sights on creating a new regime for the Upper East Side. A year after Cornelia was born, Henry joined the party, and was followed by Violet three years later and finally Audrey another six years after her. They had established the perfect family and could not be more ecstatic with their lives.

#

After Chuck's toast, the group continued drinking, laughing and joking around. Chuck and Blair would occasionally block out their friends' voices as they got caught up in making out like they were teenagers again.

"C'mon guys! We're right here," Nate groaned at the sight of his friends being inappropriate as always.

"Don't mind them, Natie. They aren't married so they can still act like that," Serena chimed in.

Hearing this, the Basses paused their kissing to pull back and press their foreheads together, smirking at their friends' comments.

"Do you want to tell them, or should I, beautiful?," Chuck murmured.

"Mmm, I suppose I'll do the honors," Blair replied breathily as Chuck resumed his kisses and worked his way down her neck, pausing here and there to playfully bite her.

"Actually, we are married," Blair quipped matter-of-factly before cupping Chuck's jaw and dragging his face from her collar bone back up to kiss her square on the lips.

"Yeah okay," Serena replied as she rolled her eyes and poured herself another glass of Dom.

"Do you two expect us to actually believe you got secretly married?," Nate interjected.

"Whether you two believe it or not really has no bearing on the matter, Nathaniel," Chuck lazily replied as he briefly pulled himself away from Blair's mouth. "All that matters is the marriage certificate locked up in our safe downstairs."

"Wait - are you serious?! Oh my god, Nate, I think they're serious."

"Ugh, since when have we ever lied to your two?," Blair questioned with an apparent air of annoyance.

Nate and Serena just stared back with pursed lips and raised eyebrows.

"Okay, fine. Yes, maybe we have stretched the truth or told you both a white lie or two, but that's only because we love you and wanted you to be able to employ plausible deniability as an alibi if necessary."

"What my wife is trying to say is that yes we are in fact married. Have been for over 17 years now," Chuck clarified.

"Are you effing kidding me?," Serena managed as she gaped at the couple before her, who continued pawing at one another as if they had shared a common fact like the grass is green or the sky is blue. "You two got married before Cornelia was born and just never bothered to tell us, your best friends?"

"S, what did you think the roman numerals on Chuck's side were for?"

"Cornelia's birthday."

"Cornelia's birth is July 16th, the date on Chuck's side is June 16th."

The roman numerals in question were tattooed on the left side of Chuck's rib cage, along with a collection of other little symbols that each held a significance for their relationship and family. In addition to , Chuck had also gotten a B in Blair's script, a small limo, a victrola, and a myriad of other little symbols representing each of their children and different milestones they had shared together. Due to the secret nature of their union, Chuck had never been able to publicly wear a wedding band, so this was his way of publicly signifying their marriage.

"Dude, seriously? You really never thought to clue us in?," Nate finally gathered his wits and formed a response.

"As much as we love you both, secret keeping has rarely proven to be either of your strong suits," Chuck explained. "It was a very private thing that we, as a couple, wanted to hold onto together."

"But the cat's out the bag now, darling," Blair pointed out. "Perhaps it's time to finally reveal it to all of the world, too?"

"Mmm," he pondered for a moment. "Only if you'll finally let me wear a ring."

"Only if I get to buy it for you," she smiled warmly back at her husband before resuming their kissing from before.

"Are you going to tell us anything else about the wedding that we clearly missed or is that still going to remain a mystery?," Serena huffed.

"Fine. We got married on Father's Day before Cornelia was born. I planned it so that only Andy knew about it. She signed an ironclad NDA and performed the ceremony right here on the rooftop that morning. Nothing glamorous or exciting. Just simple, intimate, us. We decided that since the secrecy of my pregnancy had been robbed from us, we'd hold onto this for as long as we could. Honestly, I never thought we'd make it this long," Blair finally elaborated.

"Wow, that's actually kinda sweet," Serena warmly observed.

"I think that deserves another toast!," Nate chimed in as he popped open yet another bottle of Dom. "To Mr. and Mrs. Bass. Our best friends. You two deserve all the happiness in the world and we couldn't be happier to hear the news, except for if we'd heard about it 17 years ago!"

"The Mr. and Mrs. Bass!," Serena cheered.

The NJBC tossed back yet another round of champagne and soon were back to reminiscing.

#

A short while later, Alice came upstairs with a pensive look on her face.

"Mr. Bass, I'm sorry to bother," she began.

Pausing the conversation to turn his attention to their longtime housekeeper, Chuck replied, "Nonsense, Alice. You're never a bother."

"There's a call for you on the house phone," she explained as she extended the phone and he accepted it.

The rest of the group continued joking and laughing as Chuck took the call, assuming it was some sort of business in the Asian or Australian market; however, when he hung up they noticed that they had been wrong in that assumption.

"Archibalds, you'll have to excuse us. There's an emergency," Chuck said in an eerily serious tone.

"Chuck?," Blair looked at her husband in concern.

"Blair, we have to get to Lenox Hill immediately," he calmly stated as he lifted her so he could stand and place her on her feet as well.

AN: Aaaand I'm back! Not that it took long. I have the first few chapters sorted out, but I want to see how everyone feels about the first chapter or two before i decide how far and where i'm going to take this one. Let me know what you think!