This is something I decided to write for fun. I needed a break from writing the very emotional update to "White Lies and Dark Secrets". Hope you all enjoy this. Feel free to review and let me know. As always I own nothing except the original characters.
Blair Waldorf Bass adored autumn. She loved everything about it; fashion week, changing leaves, tights and wool skirts, Thanksgiving and her birthday, pumpkin pie and crisp, grey days. She was never happier than in the fall. Now that she had three children all under the age of six it held an even more special place in her heart. It was the excitement of school and holidays including Halloween.
Her favorite event of the season to attend with her children was the annual New York Botanical Gardens Halloween party. Every year the gardens held a huge fundraiser for its members and their children. They had a haunted garden, corn maze, bobbing for apples and all the other traditional party games. It was also a themed costume party. It was the perfect place for all the UES mother's to dress their children to the nines in the most ornate and gorgeous costumes. Every year Blair outdid herself and this one was going to be no exception.
The theme this year was Nursery Rhymes and Blair had decided to go as Little Bo Peep and each of her three children were dressing as her lost sheep. Her top designer at the atelier had come up with the most beautiful dress and bonnet for Blair and the most adorable sheep costumes for the children.
Three days ago she and the children headed to the atelier, along with Dorota and the nanny, so they could be fitted for their costumes. It was then that Henry voiced his disdain.
Blair was gushing over her three gorgeous children; Henry six, Cordelia three and Ned one. They were fluffy white, cute, little sheep and she couldn't get enough. She had just picked up Ned kissing his chubby cheeks when Henry pulled his wooly hood from his head.
He made a face at his mother and crossed his arms. "I can't wear this."
Blair taken aback looked down at her son, who in that exact moment was the spitting image of his father. "Why? Is it uncomfortable? Does Claudine need to let it out a bit?" She transferred Ned to her hip and bent over checking the fit of his costume.
Henry shook his head and pulled away from her. "I don't want to be a stupid sheep. I want to be Spiderman," he paused thinking a second, "or better yet Darth Vader." He started to remove his costume.
Blair passed a drooling Ned to his nanny and took Henry's hand stopping him from undressing any further. She bent down to look at her first born and extremely stubborn son. "Henry you cannot be either of those things. We discussed this. There's a theme and we need to stay with that theme. Remember its nursery rhymes?"
Henry pulled his hand free and pushed the costume from his shoulders and arms. "Well I think it's dumb and I'm not doing it." He pulled his feet free of the pants and Claudine, the seamstress, rushed to take it from him.
Blair gave him a stern look taking his hand again and pulling him a bit closer. She lowered her voice, "Henry Charles Bass you are being very rude right now. These ladies have worked very hard to make you an amazing costume and you need to appreciate that." She released his hand. "You are going to be a sheep and that's final."
She stood up deciding that it was settled and as far as she was concerned it was. But Henry had his own ideas and he decided it wasn't settled at all not until he got what he wanted. There was no way he was going to be a stupid sheep.
So here they were three days post fitting and there hadn't been a single mention of the costume since. Blair confident in her authority was completely oblivious to her son's continued discontent. It wasn't until he came running into the house that afternoon that she realized how much he hadn't forgotten his dislike of all things wooly and cute.
He was clutching a bag in his fist as he entered the sunroom where she was having tea with Serena. Nate, who had taken him to the park to play lacrosse, was following right behind.
Henry jumped up onto the couch next to Serena who was holding her teacup which nearly tipped as he leaned into her.
He was panting with excitement as he held up the bag. "Mommy, Auntie Serena guess what Uncle Nate bought me?"
Blair laughed softly at her son's excitement.
Serena giggled as she set her cup onto the coffee table and wrapped an arm around her nephew. "What did your Uncle Nate get you?" Serena squeezed him to herself as she smiled at Nate.
Nate sat down next to Blair leaning back onto the couch cushions. "I'm definitely the coolest uncle ever. Right Henry?"
Henry beamed at his uncle. "The best in the whole world."
Cordelia who had been sitting on the floor dressing her dolls decided she didn't want to be left out so she walked over to Nate and he picked her up placing her onto his lap. He kissed her cheek. "Hey Cor."
Cordelia held up her doll for him to see. "Isn't she pretty?"
Nate nodded smiling. "She is but not as pretty as you." He kissed her again nuzzling her neck and she laughed.
Henry reached into the bag and pulled out a mass of black fabric followed by a very familiar helmet. He placed it over his head and flipped a switch. Suddenly the room resonated with the heavy breathing of Darth Vader.
Henry stood up raising his fist. "Luke, I am your father." The voice simulator inside the mask made him sound very much like the movie character.
Cordelia immediately started to whimper. "I don't like that." She turned her face into her uncle's cashmere sweater and Nate squeezed her to himself.
"It's just Henry with a mask on, Cor," he laughed.
Blair stared at her six year old son knowing he had just won the battle. She glared at Nate. "What is that?"
Nate shrugged innocently. "What? He saw it and said he wanted to be Darth Vader for Halloween so I bought it for him."
"Well, what Henry neglected to tell you is that he already has a Halloween costume. That," she pointed at her son who was standing there still breathing like the Sith Lord, "is going back to the store tomorrow."
Henry stamped his foot. "I don't want to be a stupid sheep. I hate you!" The whole tirade was done in Darth Vader's voice. He turned and ran out of the room.
Blair took a deep breath picking up her tea cup as Serena and Nate exchanged looks and Cordelia looked at her mother wide-eyed. "Stupid isn't a nice word," she said shaking her head, her curls bouncing.
Blair took a sip of her tea. "No it is not my darling." Henry may have won the battle but she would win the war.
Chuck was exhausted as he entered through the front door and into the foyer of the house a few hours later. He had been away for the past five days on business and he was so ready to be home with his family. He set his briefcase down and tossed his coat onto the hall table. Everything seemed quiet. He glanced at his watch. It was seven-thirty and he knew he'd probably find his wife and children upstairs preparing for bed.
Dorota entered the foyer. "Hello Mr. Chuck. Welcome home. Did you have good flight?"
Chuck smiled at their faithful housekeeper. "I did Dorota."
She reached out picking up his coat and briefcase. "Dinner for you and Miss Blair will be ready at 8:15."
He nodded. "Thank you. Is she upstairs?"
"Yes she is getting everyone settled." She smiled as she turned and headed down the hall to put his things away.
Chuck headed upstairs. As he got to the second floor he could hear his oldest son crying and shouting. It wasn't very often that Henry cried. It was usually because he was hurt or exhausted. He sighed realizing he should've had a drink before heading into bedlam.
He headed down the hall noticing that all the upset was coming from the nursery. As he got closer he could finally make out what his son was saying.
"Mommy…p-p-please…I hate it."
Blair who was dressing Ned in his pajamas had her back to the doorway and didn't see Chuck standing there. "I don't care if you hate it. I am your mother and I have made a decision and that's the end of it."
Henry started sobbing harder. "You're the meanest…mom-mommy ever," he panted.
"That may be, Henry, but I'm the only mommy you have so you'll have to learn to deal with it." She lifted Ned to her shoulder and patted his back.
Ned seeing Chuck began to squirm. "Dada!"
Blair kissed his cheek. "Daddy will be home soon darling."
"Sooner than you think," Chuck said as he entered the room.
Blair gasped as she turned around. Ned immediately began to try and get down. She set him on his feet and he toddled over to his father giggling. Chuck reached down sweeping him up into his arms kissing him.
"I didn't hear you come in." She crossed to him kissing him gently. Henry who was lying in the overstuffed rocking chair was continuing to cry.
"How could you over all that noise?" He eyed his eldest son. "Hello Hen."
Henry sat up wiping his eyes and trying to catch his breath. "Hi Daddy."
Blair eyed her son with a slight frown on her features. "Henry why doesn't Daddy tuck you in tonight?" If she were being honest she was tired of her son. She needed a break from him.
Chuck kissed Ned one more time before handed him back to Blair. He then leaned in and kissed her cheek as he slipped an arm around her waist. "I've missed you," he whispered against her ear as his hand slid over her bottom squeezing her right butt cheek through the skirt of her dress.
She smiled up at him raising her brown eyes to meet his. "Me too. More than you could ever imagine."
He kissed her again and then walked over to Henry and held out his hand. "Come on buddy. Book and then lights out."
Henry still sniffling took his father's hand. Blair watched them as they started to leave the room. "I'll be in to kiss you once I get Ned down."
Henry didn't respond and Blair felt an ache in her heart. She hated being the bad guy but he had to learn that he wasn't in charge and sometimes he had to do things he didn't want to because that was part of being a child and not just any child but her child.
Chuck had read to Henry and was now tucking him into bed pulling his duvet up and over him. It was chilly tonight and he didn't want him cold.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and stared down at his son. "Do you want to talk about what had you so upset before?"
Henry rolled his eyes. "No. You'll just be on Mom's side anyway. You're always on her side."
Chuck smiled softly down at his son as he reached out and pushed his dark hair off his forehead. "Your mother and I are a team that is correct and we tend to see things from the same point of view but that doesn't mean I don't want to hear about your feelings or about what might be making you sad."
Henry sighed dramatically. "I want to be something cool for Halloween. I wanna be Darth Vader but Mom says I have to be a sheep. My friends are going to laugh at me." Tears started to well up in his eyes.
Chuck could understand his son's torment more than the average father. He was always the odd boy out while growing up. His father never let him dress like the other kids or do the things they were doing and it always made him feel like an outsider. It also made him hard and mean and he didn't want that for his son.
Chuck knew better than to go against Blair. He nodded his head as he watched a tear slip down his son's cheek. He wiped it away with the pad of his thumb. "Have you told Mom how you feel?"
Henry nodded staring down at his clasped fingers.
"I'm talking about sitting down and telling your mother exactly how you feel and why. Not while your crying or yelling but calmly."
Henry shook his head. "It won't matter anyway."
Chuck stood up leaning down to kiss him gently on the forehead. "I think you'd be surprised how understanding your mom can be if you talk to her like the big boy you are."
Henry shrugged. "Maybe." He rolled over pulling the duvet with him.
Chuck kissed him one more time on the cheek. "I love you Henry."
"I love you too, Daddy."
Chuck turned off his lamp and shut the door as he left the room. He'd speak to Blair and help her see things from Henry's point of view.
After the kids were in bed and the nanny excused Chuck and Blair sat down to dinner. They had just finished when Blair stood up tossing her cloth napkin aside approaching Chuck. He pushed his chair back as his wife sat on his lap. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his wrapping her arms around his neck. She could taste the chocolate cake he had eaten for dessert on his tongue (she had declined her piece as she did most nights).
"I missed you so much more than usual this week." She kissed the side of his neck as her left hand stroked down the front of his dress shirt.
He smirked at her. "How much more?" His hand which had been resting on her knee moved under her skirt and along her inner thigh until he felt the bare skin just above the lace edge of her stocking. He grazed the silken skin with his nails.
He kissed her ear and then whispered, "A little or a lot." His fingers slid against her panties and she gasped as he shoved them aside. She was very wet. "Wow that much huh?"
He covered her mouth with his and pushed his tongue deep inside as he did the same with his fingers buried between her legs. Her hands went back to the nape of his neck pulling at his hair. She moaned as he continued to move his fingers in time with his thrusting tongue.
His mouth kissed a trail along her jawline to her neck and to the spot where her pulse was beating at a frantic pace. He pulled his hand from between her thighs and reaching behind her unzipped the back of her dress pulling it down to her waist.
She pulled her arms free as she panted, "Chuck, we should go upstairs. Julia is going to want to clear the table."
He unhooked her lacey bra and pulled it from her covering her right breast with his mouth. He bit down once on her hardening nipple before looking into her eyes. "Julia will wait. I, on the other hand, cannot." He stood up suddenly. Blair let out a soft scream as her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist.
He held her tightly around her middle with one arm while he used his free hand to push his place setting along with the table cloth back. His wineglass tipped over causing a blood red stain to spread across the cream silk. He had a passing thought that Dorota would have a fit in the morning when she saw it.
He sat her on the edge of the mahogany table as he quickly unbuckled his belt and unbuttoned and unzipped his custom made pants. He pulled them down enough to free his raging hard on.
Blair was starting to protest again when he ripped her panties from her and entered her in one hard thrust. All her reasons for going upstairs fled out of her head as he hooked both her knees over his arms and cupped her ass pulling her nearly off the edge of the table as he began to pound into her.
When Julia pushed the butler pantry door open a few minutes later she immediately turned around and headed back into the kitchen. Clean up would have to wait a bit she thought blushing bright pink. One would think that after working in the Bass household for five years nothing would shock her but every once in a while it did.
An hour later and Chuck and Blair were showered, changed and in bed. Blair was curled up in Chuck's arms as he played with her curls. The lights were off and they were talking softly about the week. It was during a lull when Chuck brought up Henry and his upset over the Halloween costume.
"He is being stubborn and ridiculous." Blair was playing with the buttons on Chuck's silk pajamas.
Chuck was thankful for the dark and the fact that she couldn't see him rolling his eyes. What she didn't realize was just how stubborn she herself was being. The apple didn't fall very far from the tree.
"Blair he's a boy and he's six. How many more Halloweens is he going to have where he can actually dress up? Four maybe? I don't know too many boys his age who would want to dress just like their little sister and brother."
She sighed. "I know it's not something he would choose but this is probably the last year I'm going to be able to do this with the three of them. I realize he's getting older. I just wanted one last hurrah. Plus what will the other mothers think when I show up with my son not adhering to the theme?"
"Who the fuck cares what those women think? You are Blair Bass. You make the rules you don't follow them." He ran his hand down her spine and back up again. "Besides isn't Henry's feelings more important than anything else." He stopped stroking her back. "I was never allowed to dress up when I was little. My English nannies didn't understand the tradition and my father thought it was a ridiculous holiday. I want my children to be able to enjoy it, that's all."
Blair lifted her head looking up at Chuck's profile in the dark. "You're playing that card? Way to hit me where it hurts."
He lifted his head from the pillow and kissed her. "Whatever it takes my dear." He rolled her onto her back. "You are a fantastic mother and you know I'll support you no matter what. I'm just asking that you talk to Hen and listen to what he has to say."
She sighed. "Fine. I'll talk to him in the morning." She pulled him down for a kiss. "At least I now understand where your love of role playing comes from. All that childhood deprivation needs to be explored somehow."
"You have no idea." He pushed his leg between hers as he started to kiss her. Neither one of them would be getting much sleep.
Two hours before the party Blair sat Henry down with her on the couch in the sunroom to discuss the costume situation.
"Henry, I want to know exactly why you don't want to wear the costume we decided on for the themed party." She stared at her son's bent head.
Henry took a deep breath remembering what his father had said about remaining calm. "I was okay with it at first but then I went to school and Max asked everyone what they were being and when I told them he laughed at me and called it a baby costume."
"Is this Max Vreeland?" Blair asked as Henry nodded his head. Immediately her blood pressure began to rise. Leave it to Betsey Vreeland's son to be so rude. How dare he make fun of her child? She instantly made up her mind.
"You know what Henry. I've done some thinking and if you want to be Darth Vader and wear the costume Uncle Nate bought for you then you can. Cordelia and Ned will be my sheep and that's plenty for me."
He looked up at her beaming. "Really Mommy?" Blair nodded and Henry launched himself against her hugging her tightly.
Blair wrapped her arms around her son and felt her heart soar at his happiness. Who cared what everyone else thought. Chuck was right as long as her children were happy that was all that mattered.
Henry thanked her again and ran out of the room. She stood up happy in her decision even if it meant that she'd have one less lost sheep.
She was shocked two hours later when Henry came running down the stairs dressed in his sheep costume carrying the Darth Vader helmet in one hand and his light saber in the other. She looked at him questioningly.
"Henry I thought you were going as Darth Vader?"
Henry stopped in front of his mother staring up at her. "I decided to make up my own costume." He put the helmet on and lifted his light saber. "I'm the dark sheep lord. Get it Mommy? Instead of the dark sith lord I'm a sheep lord."
Blair started to laugh. "That is perfect Hen."
Chuck wrapped an arm around her waist. "There's no denying he's yours, making his own rules." He kissed her cheek.
Cordelia watching the entire exchange folded her arms and scowled at her mother. "I want to be a princess sheep Mommy. Can I wear my tiara?"
Blair shrugged. She realized that she had lost all control and she didn't even mind. "Fine." She turned to the nanny asking her to run up to the playroom to fetch Cordelia's tiara.
Cordelia started to jump up and down in excitement. She stopped suddenly as she looked at her father. "Daddy, you're not dressed."
Chuck was wearing his usual attire of suit and bow tie. He reached down lifting his little girl up. "Yes I am."
She shook her head. "No, you look like Daddy."
He kissed her cheek. "Well what you don't know is that Bo Peep was married to a man who looked just like me."
Cordelia giggled. "Really?"
Chuck nodded. "Really."
The nanny returned with the crown and Chuck nestled into the wooly material of Cordelia's hood and they all headed out to the party.
Upon arrival at the gardens the first thing Henry saw was Max Vreeland dressed as Peter the pumpkin eater pulling his little sister Meg in a wagon made into a pumpkin shell behind him. Meg was crying and Max looked miserable.
Henry started to laugh hysterically. "He told me he was wearing a Batman costume. He looks so stupid." Henry told his mother.
Blair smiled and then remembered her manners. "Henry be nice." Secretly she was thrilled to see little Max duly put in his place. She watched as her son ran over to his friend and Blair realized she had done the right thing in letting her son decide what to wear. At least he was happy which was much more than she could say for Max Vreeland.