A/N

This multichapter One-Shot will fill the gap between the last episode in season five and the first episode in season six: I feel like 05x24 left a lot of things unsaid, as well as the emotional toll they both were enduring -not to mention the fact that we were robbed of their week long bliss in Monte Carlo.

This first chapter simply highlights the extremely different situations Chuck and Blair found themselves in; I just tried to give more insight to what has been shown to us.

I specifically split the chapter in Blair and Chuck's POVs to be as exhaustive as I could about where they were at with their lives and their relationship.

FYI: chapter I is definitely a safe read for minors, but it won't be anymore starting from the next one (i.e explicit sexual content), but I'll make sure to tag the rating.

I am by no means an experienced writer so I hope you enjoy my style and I hope that it's accessible enough for you all. English has basically become my third language now, so please let me know if you think I should write shorter phrases or if you have any other tips for me!

And finally, special thanks to Cristina, for being patient and understanding and for checking my characterizations. And to Rebecca, thanks for being the best editor ever!

And thanks to you for reading :)

- M

Chapter I

Kindled Spirits

Blair

From above, Port de Fontvieille looked just as beautiful and vibrant as Blair remembered. She couldn't help but grin broadly as the image of dozens of yachts crammed in Monte Carlo grew closer and closer under the bright mediterrean sun.

However, even just barely a year since her first landing in the tiny airport, she was a completely different woman. Not only did she have one less royal fiancé at her side, but also (and more importantly), this time she wasn't there to escape from her life; as it happens and as another twist of fate in her life, she came back to chase it.

A week ago

The few days before leaving for Paris with Eleonor had been frantically and carefully enlightening. In a matter of 48 hours, Blair had found herself set in both her career and life paths, leaving a failed best friend and a failed relationship behind.

Some delicate passages from her diaries had been leaked to Gossip Girl by none other than Serena, which had finally broken them apart just as Blair was finally getting everything back under her so-coveted control.

And through these certain "delicate passages", Serena had meant to show the world just how unsure Blair was about being with Daniel Humphrey.

She just couldn't feel sorry about it; Serena was done sitting and enduring Blair's yet another denial over the most obvious fact:

"No, you're the one who can't move on, you're still in love with Chuck and you still won't admit it", she managed to say before Blair kicked her out of her penthouse.

That simple truth felt like a sudden ice-cold shower, and it was that inalterable reality striking her once again; Blair had wondered if it had been really that bad to remind everyone, herself included, that she was rightfully doubting she could ever love anyone more than she still loved Chuck.

She wrote that one last entry just weeks before, even before he came to her asking to team up with him once more. Surprisingly, she felt relieved he picked her and her notorious scheming skills. Their brief but well planned act at the gentlemen's club re-awakened a particularly numbed part of her spirit and it quickly made her realize just how much she had missed being fully...herself.

Her relationship with Dan was easy, it was like two old friends sharing their favorite pizza, buzzing over having the same niche opinions on their favorite books. She genuinely and shockingly liked it, and after a disastrous period of time she finally felt in control over something, over him (hell, she even felt superior to him) and most importantly, their relationship was just as predictable as the endings in her favorite movies. And there was hardly anything more numbing and comforting than that for a wounded Blair Waldorf.

But was it enough? Was it really what she needed and wanted or was it what she simply thought would be good for her?

Indeed, shortly after their first month of a partially drunk bliss, she found herself longing for "more", for more stimulating days followed by more adventurous nights, for more elite events matched by more refined cocktails and socialites…

Not to mention, Blair was plainly and evidently (she was feeling way too edgy for her liking) missing steamier and longer hours in bed; she craved for more daring and unanticipated passions, and as someone would say, she could have used more action and less talking.

And indeed, spending the whole day finally freeing and then being her mischievous, ignited, brilliant and multitasking-self with Chuck had made all of her wishes (and all that was lacking in her relationship with Dan) much more overwhelming and crystal clear; everything started to catch up with her without delay.

The day of the diary scandal, besides just causing her to do some damage-control, gave her the perfect opportunity to check in on Chuck, which was a habit she had just recently taken up again, almost unawarely.

He could tell by the second he glanced at her what a poor excuse that was.

"Why would I be hurt about something that was in your diary over a year ago, when we've been through so much since then, talked about everything, made amends... or is there some other reason you're here? ...Maybe to tell me you and Dan broke up?" he guessed intuitively.

"No- ...we haven't" and there she was doing that thing Chuck knew too well, where her eyes didn't quite match her mouth.

She and Dan may have not broken up formally but she surely didn't feel "his" at that moment anymore.. not that she ever truly did, for that matter.

And for as much of a mediocre partner Dan could be, he sure was an attentive observer who quickly picked up that newfound verve about her, tragically reminding him whom he was up against. Chuck Bass never really left the back of his mind this whole time.

Besides, Blair was consciously dodging every question of his about their imminent summer together, which urged him to put her on an ultimatum: he'd had enough of her doubts and he most definitely wasn't going to sit and wait for an "I love you" back that may never come.

Reality had hit her like it did everytime she woke up from a frantic dream. Blair felt exposed all of a sudden, and not only to the people reading her diaries but to herself as well.

The final straw, however, came from her very excited mother that evening. They were having a quick intimate chat facing the mirror, just as they always used to, when Blair confessed that she wasn't fully sure which kind of "love" would be better for her. But that was an answer that only she could write for herself.

"Even moguls have hearts, my dear" Eleonor reminded her.

Blair did not have to feel pathetic nor weak, for letting herself embrace her vulnerability and her overwhelming feelings for Chuck; it was just the simple and very human nature of her amorous essence.

"Trust me Blair, there isn't a woman out there more powerful than you are" Eleonor confirmed.

And that was the moment she belatedly asked her (thunderstruck) daughter how she felt about stepping in and taking over Waldorf Designs. She had most recently realized how grown-up and mature Blair had become, and she trusted her cultured upbringing and fashion expertise, no matter how she might have behaved in the past in order to achieve her goals.

Besides, Eleonor wanted no one else but her own fierce daughter to represent her legacy and she trusted in her to make the right choices - unknowing that giving that final validation was the last push Blair needed.

She had undoubtedly faced some overdue confrontations that day (along with the diaries' backlash); confrontations which piled up quickly and pulled her back to where she had always stood.

For one thing, Blair had always admired her mother. She might have never expressed it out loud, but everything about Blair's personality, from the clothes she wore to the words she spoke, demonstrated that she was, in fact, Eleonor's most tenacious disciple.

Truth is, Blair never really let herself consider taking her place: but it wasn't because she didn't want it, she just didn't think she would be able to measure up to her mentor. Well, she didn't, until that day.

And the next thing, no matter how many times she had tried to deny it to herself, she never stopped being in love with Chuck, and at once she was excitedly accepting of the fact she wouldn't be able to love or want anyone else more.

She especially did not intend to give up on him, not once more, nor to deprive herself of the unrivalled overflowing happiness that only Chuck was able to tailor for her.

Blair indeed simply and instantly forgot about Dan's final call as she directed her town car to get her to the Empire Hotel.

She was ready to be honest with Chuck and to vocalize out loud what she had cowered to admit for too many of the past months.

She quickly marched to the grand reception hall, stepping in smiling bright and proudly, just in time to hear Bartholomew Bass publicly destroying his son by erasing him from the same company Chuck had impressively committed himself to ever since he had cut bait.

Blair didn't really have to pay attention to what that awful man was saying when Chuck was now standing behind him, seeming out of place with a quivering jaw and defeated, disillusioned eyes, absently looking at the floor. That scene was picture-perfect Bart's parenting method and that alone told her everything she needed to know; it had become just all too familiar at this point.

She sat at the bar and waited for a bit, pondering whether it would have been wiser to talk to him the next day, but she just couldn't leave him after what she had just witnessed.

Blair knew that if there was a place Chuck liked to be on his own, it was the rooftop. She had climbed up the stairs, expecting to cross paths with Bart -she knew he would follow Chuck upstairs just to give him one last kill shot in private.
Just as she anticipated, Blair found Chuck staring off into the dark distance, hands inside his pockets, his nostrils widened by his deep breathing.
She couldn't put together anything better than a heartfelt "I'm sorry"; she knew there wasn't much else to say when it came to Chuck's father.

"I don't want your pity", he snapped back.

"I'm not here because I pity you" she sighed "I'm here because it was time I was honest with you".

She couldn't help but beam and smile softly at his hardened face as those three words, eight letters broke free from her flickering lips once more.

Blair was almost gratified to see she had hit the mark as his eyes instantly turned watery. "...I'm in love with you. I have tried to kill it, to run away from it but I can't and I don't want to anymore".

But what came next, that, she had not quite expected right off the bat. "So what?" he spluttered.
At once, Blair felt that familiar little "crack" deep down her core, as it always would anytime something didn't go as she had planned.

It was just as if Blair had been a little kid again and her perfect, beautiful balloon had begun to slowly slip away from her tiny hand; because she had been captivated by the sparkly blinding lights at the luna park, because her grip had loosened up too much.

But she was no little kid anymore, she didn't panic. She knew her beloved balloon wouldn't go anywhere she intended to go, so she did not startle nor cry; instead, she only grasped tighter.

Blair had learned in the worst way that she couldn't let herself crumble before Chuck each time that a problem would emerge: she had to eventually grant him a separate space to grieve everytime that Bart ripped a little piece off his illogical and very much still present admiration and affection for him.

And that's why she was now quietly listening to Chuck, as he tried to regulate his words to somewhat disclose what was going on in his head: she knew his distress had nothing to do with his love for her, it hardly ever did, and it wasn't even about the money he had lost to save her from her dowry catastrophe.

Chuck simply and very suddenly found himself with no ground to stand on, he felt like nothing and he had finally realized that it was something he couldn't accept anymore.

She was thrilled to notice that the respect he had for himself was blossoming out of the reach of his father's corrosive shadow, it was the dignity and the pride he slowly (and tentatively) managed to build over the past few years under her admiring eyes.

Not only did he manage to survive and live without her during their darkest times, but he had also become a man in a way that his father never was. And she mutely vowed she would never misuse his unconditional love anymore.

Chuck was visibly hurt and disillusioned by Bart once more, she could feel it. Blair knew she couldn't expect a love declaration in the state he currently was, besides she didn't claim nor need to hear it right then.

She understood at once that Bart drained his son of his last bit of peace of mind,

and she perfectly knew how he liked to test Chuck and how he never allowed him to gloat over his achievements for more than 2 minutes.

The truth was that Bart couldn't bear the thought of his heir being a bigger man than him.

And Blair knew Chuck had worked hard, sometimes even too hard, to demonstrate that he was worthy of the business he was running, to show that he could be successful. What's more, he knew that he was successful and ultimately he wouldn't let Bart devour his personal victories anymore.

"I don't wanna be Mr Blair Waldorf. I'm Chuck Bass." he said, almost tearfully.

"I know you are," she thought, as he swiftly walked away, leaving her standing alone but relieved that she could finally recognise the Chuck she was so in love with.

Blair's memory of a grief-stricken 17-year-old Chuck, yelling that same sentence on top of the Victrola just 3 years before, was still too vivid in her mind for her to forget how he used to suppress his pain.

Bart's departure had crashed on him so suddenly, turning him inconsolable and empty, and Blair had to watch him almost give up on his own life, numbing each part of himself over the craziest trial Bart had ever condemned him to.

But the Chuck she had just talked to on top of his Empire proved to her, and especially to himself, that he was no longer a careless lost soul: Chuck evolved into a steady and proud man who wouldn't surrender anymore; Chuck was her man and she wouldn't let him slip away.

Today

Blair checked her phone as soon as she had service again when the little private aircraft touched ground.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you could ditch your boss mom so fast, she must really know your pretty heart.

So here's the plan: we're hitting the casino around 9 tonight...Well, let's say 10 in case our Chuck takes one more nap this afternoon, making us late at the restaurant... again.

We're staying at the Hérmitage, it's easy to find in this tiny loop of a state, just follow the tasteless flags on the one avenue that exists.

Thanks for sending me your passport scan by the way, I already had you checked-in. AND I'll have the concierge take Chuck's suitcases to the baroque master suite -seaview- once you get your key. You're welcome, I know I'm the best but I'm also rooting for you two. And I want to root for you two from a room floors away from yours.

See you later Blair."

Blair rolled her eyes at Jack's last voicemail: his questionable humour was a never-ending story, but she was grateful to him for helping her out with this Chuck situation; they both thought it was time to act and give him the sweet little push he was silently waiting for.

Moreover, they both knew he was missing Blair, but they also knew that he was too stubborn to reply to any of her last dozens messages (and calls) until he and Jack had secured themselves enough money to get back inside of Bass Industries.
She was now in her cab, waiting for Jack's "all clear" text, signaling her that Chuck was snoozing his grumpiness away.

Once inside their palace-looking hotel, she quickly got her keycard and took the elevator up to the top floor.

She could shame Jack for a whole lot of things, but when it came to grandeur, he was just as much a Bass as Chuck was.

At a first glance, the suite didn't look spacious enough for a long stay (or so she had thought at that moment), but it did look sumptuous, true to the baroque style, almost royal but not that kind of royal she grew nauseous of, it was a particularly darker regal style she loved.

Her eyes somewhat instinctively fell on the tall, wide mirror placed in a very interesting way at the left corner of the room -but she would go back to that just a bit later.

She then took some seconds to admire the flaming red and bronze soft silky duvets splashed on the big canopy bed; and the night blue and gold drapes that were elegantly plunging down to the many lustrous damasked pillows.

The whole place actually was relentlessly luxurious: crystal lamps and retro styled appliques soaked the room with a sensuous shimmer; a graceful vase filled with fresh red and yellow roses was sitting next to crystal chalices on top of the little glassy night table.

Cherry on top was the broad window through which the harbour casted its warm coloured glow, igniting the ochre and dark red tapestry imbued in both the carpeted floor and the wallcovering.

It was a voluptuous delight - and she hadn't even checked the en-suite bathroom yet.

By the time she stopped marveling at her new surroundings, Blair was famished.

She quickly showered and then called room service; some pâtes aux fruits de mer and a flute of her favorite italian rosé would give her plenty of energy and the aphrodisiacs, too, would have done the trick.

A couple hours later her outfit and make-up were perfectly in place, and as she was gazing upon the slowly swaying boats outside, Jack sent her his last signal:

"You can come now, we've just had a great round. We're good"

It was time to go. She gave a last-minute fix to the hairdo down her bare back and checked her dress once more before turning the lights off: she had picked a beautiful original Waldorf design, whose bright red and gold embroidery mirrored both the reverberating moonlight gloss outside and the blazing fire she felt arising in herself.

She had never been more ready to gamble in her life.

Chuck

Chuck's sluggish and just too decorous conduct in Australia wasn't exactly what Jack had in mind when, just months back, he invited his little nephew to come visit him down-under

"Chuck? - Oh come on now, it's way too early for bedtime. It's not even that chill outside and surfing season never ends here; the girls will be out in waves tonight. Just… I would like us to get outta here before we start our tour de force" Jack complained, as he spotted his nephew already laying down in his gray robe but energetically typing on his overheated laptop.

"Jack, I'm jet lagged by a lot. And may I remind you again that business and research are strictly what I came here to do'' Chuck sighed "I wouldn't have wasted 22 hours travelling to my least favorite hemisphere if what I was looking for were random girls and diversion. Besides, I still feel awkward about you hiding my resurrected father" he sneered.

"God knows that Jesus would be more fun than you, nephew. I told you: dear Bartholomew made sure he didn't leave a single trace of his movements in Portugal. And anyways, before we can dig up the dirt we need new money, and a lot of it." Jack huffed.

He was happy to team up with Chuck again, and this time they needed a plan against Bart himself: nothing would draw them closer than getting their vindication on the big bad man who stole their jobs and future capital.

Jack had envisioned their collaboration to be like it had been the year before, when Chuck indulged him with call girls and other diversified entertainment while working against Thorpe.

But, much to Jack's dismay, their past few days were nothing like that: Chuck had been lazy ever since he touched Aussie ground. He was no fun and just slept too much - even for someone with a 20-some hours jetlag. He drank half the amount of scotch his uncle had ordered specifically for him; he even refused to meet Daisy, one of Jack's dearest and closest friends at the best strip-club the city could offer.

Chuck was simply cranky and unimpressed the whole time and his uncle felt he'd had his fill of being reprimanded by his nephew every other hour.

Chuck had been busy and buried in his laptop so constantly that Jack was left clueless as to what was actually going on until that very same evening.

He was surprised to see Chuck's phone abandoned on the dining table, it was unusual of him. Intrigued, Jack decided at once to be his nosy self and have a look at the now-buzzing device, and that's when it all hit him; a new notification had lit up Chuck's phone screen and the long message (and call) queue was grouped under one name: Blair.

He scrolled down and noticed that she had tried to reach Chuck every 3-4 hours every day during the past week -with the one exception of a longer gap during her nighttime.

"Not this again" Jack thought immediately. Yet he couldn't help but grin to himself: how did it take him this long to figure this out?

Reconnecting with Chuck taught Jack that it was just better to not pressure him into talking about his relationship with Blair: he guiltily knew that the couple had been through hell way too many times already. But oddly enough, that was also the reason why he picked up Chuck's phone, slipped out to the balcony and took the matter into his own hands.

"Blair? Yes hello sunshine- yeah no, it's Jack, sorry. Chuck's currently in his sarcophagus, for a change.

Listen, something is bothering him, he's cranky like a bitter spinster, he's not drinking enough and you wouldn't believe how mismatched his outfits are these days (...)

No no, don't worry, he's good Blair, I mean, he's as mad as a bull obviously, but he's doing fine. Although, something is bugging his head at all times, besides risking poverty I mean, and I know you're better than an aspirin for him (...)

Yes Blair, I noticed that he's been avoiding you, but he's obsessed with taking Bart down and doesn't want to drag you into it, I suppose. I know he misses you, it's evident by the way he keeps his mind on this tight leash so that it can't wander back to you… which is also stressing ME out (...)

Yeah, I agree. He's stubborn, it has to be a surprise. (...) Yes, he will let you help eventually. Where are you located now? (...)

Wait, that's perfect, we're heading to the Swiss Casino in 48 hours, I can fly us to Monte Carlo the morning after. That has to be like, an hour flight or so from Paris right? When is the soonest you can get to us? (...)

Ok Blair, give us a couple days to come back up and get set and we'll be there."

A week ago

"Family business". As crazy as it was to have his father back, Chuck couldn't stop envisioning the two of them running their Bass empire as a dynamic, powerful duo on an equal footing.

He had been forced to mourn this scenario at once when Bart had disappeared; but now it absurdly started to look more like a reality rather than a foolish dream of an overprivileged billionaire kid.

But as it all too often happened in Chuck's life, the happy bubble quickly turned out to be a time bomb, damaging him one more time.
He had spent that afternoon making sure that absolutely everything would be perfectly ready in place for the Bass Industries celebration happening a few hours later, where a very proud Chuck would give the opening speech to his father's comeback.

Bart had recently been flattering Chuck about how well he had been handling business during his absence, he really acted like he felt appreciative and genuinely satisfied of his son; but alas, Bart was just a tragically good actor.

He could never restrain himself too long from toying with Chuck, and that day he just had to test him once more and prove to him that he still was bearing the most unforgivable shame a man could display to his eyes: being in love.

That's why he deceptively returned Chuck the engagement ring he meant to give Blair, and so he pushed him to follow his heart.

For the very last time in his life Chuck let himself be oblivious to his father's true intentions, and besides, he couldn't quite believe that once again, this ring came back to him.

Although Blair didn't explicitly sound as single as he hoped she would that day, Gossip Girl gave him the opportunity to re-read about five times what she had very recently written in her diary: "what if I can't love anyone more than I love Chuck?"

That was, in a classic Waldorf subtext, another example of "yes I know that, no I won't say it just yet".

A door that he had tried to keep shut for some time now, had suddenly swung open again in the back of his head: he could actually picture himself, maybe sometime soon, surprising Blair with the grand gesture he'd been, for years now, dreaming to make.

Chuck sincerely and heart-warmingly accepted his father's thoughtful backing, which set Bart off to give his son the final blow: Chuck will never become a real man, and to him he was nothing but a weak kid.

Later that night indeed, Bart's one-sided game had finally unfolded right under Chuck's appalled eyes; Bart took his centre stage back in the Bass company and by doing so, he intended to cut his son out like a bad penny.

And just like it had been for Blair that same day, everything had hit Chuck at once.

For one thing, he ultimately had absolute proof that Blair had never stopped loving him, no matter how he'd hoped she could find something better than what he thought he could offer her. And she obviously was who he would always want to be with, there simply was no changing that: Blair was and always will be his only one.

And the next thing, Bart never wanted, nor appreciated, nor respected him.

What's more is the certainty that he was just a god-awful, manipulative man who had no interest in taking a step further than what could turn into a profit for himself alone.

It was a mere, cruel truth Chuck had tried to silence and deny all his life, but now he finally and genuinely believed it.

Chuck went up to the rooftop to find some silent solace; staring at his city glimmering in the dark always brought some calmness back to him.

It didn't last long though, as Bart followed him up to better explain what he had just done, just in case Chuck wasn't feeling punished enough as he would hope.

"I was right. You still pine over Blair like a teenager, you'll never grow up", Bart declared "You'd give everything up for a girl who did nothing but toy with you all year".

Chuck knew he wasn't a kid anymore and he knew that he had become successful with the empire he built for himself, without his father's help.

But Bart was partially right about one thing: Chuck had always put Blair first and he couldn't deny that by doing so, he sometimes led himself to gruesome and desperate depths that he now just couldn't bear anymore.

He slowly and painfully learned how to not annihilate himself each time he went through something unpleasant, which ultimately unveiled that he couldn't let himself hand his existence over to anyone other than himself.

He'd had simply evolved to the revelation that the entirety of his existence just couldn't depend on the current state of his relationship with Blair, which, no matter how much they loved each other, couldn't always be a constant 24/7 bliss.

The past few years had taught him just how dangerous and reckless that could be. There had been times he didn't care about living or dying, when his heartache made him numb to even feel anything; and his recovery had been so slow that there was no way he would lose himself again. What changed is that Chuck simply stopped relying on Blair alone to keep himself alive. That was not the way to love her right, and that was not the way to respect himself, either.

Moments after Bart left, Blair had showed up too. Chuck didn't manage to reflect too much, but some part of him, deep down, suggested that she as well, might have come there to scold him; it wouldn't have been the first time that year, either.

"Chuck… I'm sorry", she said, and it stung.

"I don't want your pity", Chuck snapped back. He may have not intended to be, but he was bitter.

"I love you. I'm in love with you"... "We can be together, isn't that what you wanted?"

Chuck was mentally so far away already, that his senses took in what Blair had just said, before he consciously could too.

Oh Blair, of course it was. It still was. But Chuck was in no place to give her the romantic embrace under the stars she might have wanted.

He certainly loved Blair with all his being, he had always put her on a pedestal ever since he could remember (and he had no real intention of stopping doing so) but now that Bart took everything from him, his most pressing priority had changed.

"You have me", Blair comforted him.

"It's not enough," Chuck tearfully replied, and with difficulty.
His heart skipped a beat like it always did everytime he heard Blair say those three words and eight letters to him. He trusted her more than anyone else.

But that night had set Chuck off to a battle to win his dignity and his achievements back, and he absolutely had to do that before he could let himself focus on Blair again. Besides, he couldn't just forgive and forget so fast, either.

In time, both of them learnt that quick fixes can't heal deep wounds: Blair would have to realize on her own that she had, even if unknowingly, disrespected him.

Chuck knew he did nothing but love her and support every single thing she had done the past year, and so he thought it was in his right to not overlook her lies like he used to do when they were younger.
Chuck wasn't angry at her, nor did he expect her to make a list of apologies like he had once done: he simply realized that if he had been able to pursue her while at his worst, then she could just as well pursue him now while at her best. And if they were to be together for good, they both had to lay everything out to the table.

Tonight

"I can't even express how glad I am to be leaving this little hole of a country soon, nephew. I'm pretty sure I've been to golf courts bigger than this place... to think this could've been Blair's playground when Manhattan literally exists? Beyond me" Jack teased as he fixed his tie.

Chuck couldn't help but jolt a little at the sound of Blair's name, but he was really (and finally) at ease that evening, feeling sort of invincible; and how could he not be, when they had just hit a good number of 0's the day before.

But there was just something about that night: it might have been the warm spring breeze coming from the sea or the delicious blue lobster and Oscietra caviar he just had, but Chuck could've sworn there was something galvanizing in the air, invigorating.

"I couldn't care less where we are if that means we can get ourselves back to where we need to be, Jack. And aside from that, I'm feeling extremely lucky tonight." Chuck grinned to himself in the mirror.

He felt like everything, well almost everything, was falling back into place now that he left his miserable Aussie stopover behind and was stationed in one of the most lavish, most decadent and ostentatious corners of Europe; and that felt absolutely rejuvenating, not to mention auspicious.

"HA- are you now? I have to admit it Chuck, I really thought you were gonna need me to IV you with my emergency saline in Australia, you looked like you forgot to bring your spirits with you" Jack laughed.

"Such a dear uncle. So, are we set? I want to start our first round soon so that we don't miss the most gullible looking card dealer. And it's scotch o'clock as well", Chuck teased, as he checked his impeccable looks once more: he finally felt like wearing his best tuxedo and his favourite pearl colored bowtie after a long time.

The casino in Montecarlo was dashing and hustling, and it looked like something Fitzgerald would write to describe his own Las Vegas.

The main gambling hall wasn't probably as spacious as Chuck would have liked, but the suffused golden shimmer of the chandeliers, the constant murmuring and the clinking sounds of champagne glasses made the place pretty appealing.

Chuck and Jack's luck had confirmed itself that night already, when they managed to find free seats at the table of a young, newbie dealer awaiting new opponents.

And as expected, Chuck's first round of bets under his uncle's guidance (under his card-counting skill, to be more exact) had ended with rather impressive piles of chips.

Nobody would really say that one can cheat at Blackjack, but to win, one does need a certain amount of luck, money AND technique; and the Basses certainly had the whole package.

"Stay at S17", Jack recommended from behind his high stool.

A few glasses of scotch later, Chuck was waiting to place a new bet, calmly staring at hisRolex ticking towards 10:45 pm, as the most unexpected and striking sound shook him back to reality.

"Is there a seat available?" asked a very cristaline, steady voice.

Chuck turned into stone. He was sure his brain had just deceived him: this just couldn't be possibly happening.

He restrained himself for a millisecond to make sure his hearing was working just fine; he knew the voice he'd just heard could only belong to that one person, and besides, the scent got to him first: Chanel n5.

The brisk realization almost made him bolt from his seat, but no muscle in his body was commanding him to leave: he absolutely had no intention to run away from that moment of ecstasy.

"Here, take mine", Jack grinned playfully, before walking out on a dazed, frozen Chuck and a very resolute looking Blair.

Chuck became aware at once that he very much got played, but he couldn't bring himself to feel irritated, as unpleasant a rarity as it was for him.

Blair was now sitting at his left, still looking more like a vision rather than a person, as her eyes instantly locked with his.

Blair was attentively staring back at Chuck, immovably, letting the seconds fill their silent but clear understanding; even if she was thrilled to be finally with him again, she was as calm and determined as ever before.

Before trying to put together enough words to make a logical sequence of sounds, Chuck took a few seconds to actually look at her.

He tried his best to not appear too much a fool as he glanced at Blair's beautiful, stoic yet loving face.

Her compelling aura was casting its own glow: she was ravishing beyond belief in her flamboyant red dress, and it had been some time since Chuck last saw her flash such a piercing glare.

"You've fought for me all year. I've come to fight for you" she asserted, her plump red lips curving in a brief smile.

Chuck tried his best to say something, he really did, but the busy hall had suddenly gone silent just like him, and he could do nothing but keep staring at the woman who just quite literally had flown to him.

"You said I'd always bet against you. But this time I'm all in" Blair continued, just as Chuck could see her place her hefty stack of chips on the velvety board.

Blair did not come to play, she came to win and to prove to Chuck, once and for all, that she wasn't overreaching when she had promised him that she would always love him and be there for him. Besides, she could count on the fact that Chuck simply could not resist his indomitable, inevitable Waldorf.

"Don't look so surprised Bass; did you really think I'd sit back and watch you tackle this one alone with Jack?" Blair murmured; Chuck was a statue with heart shaped eyes, his mind in a whirlwind.

"Will you be joining the game?" interrupted the dealer. Rapidly and exhaustively enough, eyes still locked, they answered him in unison: "Yes."