Disclaimer: I own Elizabeth, all the rest of the characters unless otherwise noted do not belong to me
~London calling, yes, I was there, too
And you know what they said? Well, some of it was true
London calling at the top of the dial
And after all this, won't you give me a smile?~
(The Clash)
Chapter 107: London Calling
Even on the Upper East Side, the laws of physics dictate that what goes up must come down. Even when it feels as if our feet are a million miles off the ground. But when we've hit rock bottom, we hope that some way, somehow, our fortunes will change and that great force will reverse the trend
Elizabeth heard her dad play and she walked into the kitchen. She had brought Ella over to cheer him up.
"Sounds sad" she said
"Yeah" he replied "So you meeting with the band today?"
"Yeah now that every member has gotten sick and now better." She said "I can't afford to get sick and ruin my voice for the tour"
"So 10 cities in 7 weeks, busy schedule. Won't have time for Chuck"
"He's gonna come to some of the shows. He was gonna come on the tour and stay with Ella but then you and Lily." She said then he looked away. "Sorry, are you still taking Ella over the summer?"
"I think so. I'll know more in the coming weeks. I guess it all depends on what happens with Lily and me"
"You're Rufus and Lily, you can make it through anything"
"It's a little different this time" he replied.
"I'm sorry Dad" she said
"It will be okay. You just be happy"
"I am" she replied "I should go to my meeting. Are you good with Ella?"
"Of course"
She got to the coffee shop and walked in and spotted Carter.
"Carter" she said. "Why are you here? You are seriously driving me crazy"
"I know I said that I would go to Europe but I couldn't"
"You can't be here Carter. I told you that I need you to…" she replied.
"Can we talk? Take a walk in the park maybe?"
"I have band practice"
"After?" he said. She looked away and then glanced at him and smiled.
"Gelato? And the park" she replied and he nodded.
"Gelato? I think that can be arranged" he said and kissed her cheek.
"I should get to practice" she said.
"Give them hell"
"Always" she smiled and ran down the stairs. She got to their practice room and saw Drew sitting there. "Okay where is Liam and Zach?"
"Liam had a family emergency"
"Well then we should go over set list. We have our first album songs and then we have songs from our new album were working on so we should decide which ones were gonna do this summer. We have 10 sets in 7 weeks. We have to be perfect"
"You sound like you have a song in mind?"
"I do" she said digging into her bag and pulling out sheet music. "It's a song that I've been working on for a while and I finally finished it"
Drew took it and began reading it
"Is this about Chuck?"
"Yeah"
"Okay. Give us a day to read over the notes and we will meet up again and practice. The rest of the set I think is good. Yeah?" Drew said.
"Yeah" she replied. "So?"
"Practice over?"
"Okay" she said then smiled and went back upstairs and saw Carter sitting at their table.
"Gelato?"
They grabbed Gelato and then went to the park and started walking.
"So you and Chuck?" he asked.
"Yeah" she replied "He told me that he loves me the other night"
"Wow" he said "I didn't know that he…"
"Carter" she said stopping in front of him. Her phone buzzed and she noticed it was her brother. "Hey Dan what's up?"
"It's Blair"
"B hey" she said "Is Dan okay?
"Dan and I are hosting a Salon and well we would love if you came. You're the only one invited out of our friends and I know you and Chuck have been…"
"B, I get it. I'm invited but not my boyfriend"
"So will you come?"
"Can I bring a date? I promise it isn't Chuck or Nate. I'll ask Drew to join me. Courtney is out of town."
"Sure"
"Thank you"
"It's London Calling theme"
"Oh so I need to find an outfit of some sort?"
"Just something nice, preferably not from a thrift store but I'll forgive you if you do. Oh and it's at the Loft"
"Okay" she said then hung up.
"What?"
"My brother and Blair are hosting a Salon." She replied "I don't know what one of those are really but they asked me to come so I'm going"
"But you can't bring your boyfriend?"
"Chuck did some stuff to mess with their relationship at the beginning of it. It was before he and I were official"
"What were you about to say?"
"You should go to Europe. Meet some girl at a bar or in a coffee shop and just be happy" she said "I am, so please just let me go."
He nodded then kissed her cheek and walked off. She sighed and took out her phone and saw a text from her dad.
Dad: Taking Ella to see Lily.
She called Drew.
"What up boss?" he asked answering.
"Do you have plans tonight?"
"No"
"You wanna go to a Salon with me at the Loft. It's for Blair and Dan and I can't take Chuck. It's London themed"
"Sure" he said.
"I need to change but I will see you outside the Loft?"
"It's a friend date"
"Business meeting" she laughed.
"I like that better, we are after all going to London to start our tour"
She got home and saw Chuck and kissed him.
"Hey" he said "How was your meeting with the band?"
"Good, not everyone was there but I gave them a song I wrote to work on that we are gonna debut on tour. Like the start of a new album"
"That sounds exciting" he said "What are your plans tonight? I figured with your dad having Ella that we could…"
"I have plans" she replied. "My brother and Blair invited me to something and unfortunately…"
"I'm not allowed to be your plus one"
"Sorry" she said "I can call and cancel and we can do what you want"
"No go" he said kissing her. "Give them my best and hopefully the next outing we can get past it all"
"Okay" she said "I love you"
"Love you too" he replied.
She got changed and met Drew outside the loft. They walked in to see London stuff everywhere.
"Wow" Drew said "They went out"
"It looks nice though, thank you for coming with me"
"I had nothing better to do" he replied "Except learn your new song which is really good."
"Thank you" she replied. "I've been working on it since…"
"That summer?" he asked raising an eyebrow and she nodded.
They found a seat and glasses started clinking and Blair stepped to the front of the room.
"Welcome everybody. Tonight is about wit and wisdom and discussion. Our theme of the evening, as you know, is all things British." Blair said.
"And our menu, prepared by Chef April Bloomfield, takes inspiration form that theme. So as each new dish is served, a new topic of discussion will be introduced." Dan said.
"You didn't tell me this was a smart person's thing?" Drew whispered.
"Sorry, I didn't think you'd come if I told you"
"So where is Ella tonight?"
"My dad said he was gonna take her over to see Lily" she said.
"Food service will begin momentarily, but until then, Dan and I are so pleased to be hosting you. Cherrio" Blair said.
"I'm gonna say hi to them" Elizabeth said standing up and watched Serena walk in. "I don't think she was invited."
Lola walked in next. She walked over and saw Blair and Dan talking.
"Hey guys" she said.
"Finally someone I invited" Blair said hugging her.
"I promise I didn't tell either of them about tonight" she said
"What about them?" Blair asked and Elizabeth turned to see Chuck and Nate. She looked back at Blair.
"Chuck knew I was coming but knew he wasn't invited." She replied then walked over to him. "Hey"
"I didn't know the thing was here when Nate asked me to join him"
"It's okay" she said. "Let's grab a seat"
Drew walked over.
"Hey your dad just texted me. He didn't want to bother either of you. I saw Chuck walk in so I told your dad I'd go get Ella. Something about him and Lily and he didn't want to bring Ella into it."
"Oh my god, let's go" she turned to Chuck.
"No you guys stay, I will grab her and take her to your place." Drew said "You two deserve a night out just the two of you even if it's this awkward"
"Thank you Andrew" Chuck said shaking his hand.
They sat down and she grabbed his hand.
"You look amazing" Chuck replied.
"Thank you" she replied and kissed him. "I only came to this to support them. We should have just…"
Every ones phones went off. She opened it to see Diana and Serena talking and Diana admitting to being Chuck's mother. Everyone looked around and Chuck looked toward Dan's bedroom door where Diana and Serena were walking out.
"Is it true?"
"Yes, Charles, it is" Diana replied stepping toward him.
"Don't" he said "Just don't. Stay right there. You have been in New York for months. Inviting me to parties, hiring my friends. Hanging out in my apartment in your underwear banging my best fringed. Did it not occur to you to mention this that you were my mother!?"
"Please Chuck, I can explain"
"I can't do this right now" Chuck said "Or ever. I can't!"
He got up and ran out. Elizabeth grabbed her stuff and followed him. They got into the limo and she grabbed his hand in hers and kissed it. She leaned on his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head.
"I'm glad that you were there just now. I don't think I could go through this with anyone else. I'm so glad that you are Ella's mother because I couldn't stand to see her go through that one day."
"She never will have too. Because she has us" she replied "Two parents that not only love her but love each other"
"And that's how it should be" he said.
They got home and Drew was sitting in the living room playing with Ella. Chuck walked over and scooped her up and held her close.
"I'll leave" Drew said and hugged Elizabeth.
"Thank you" she said and hugged him again.
He left and she sat on the couch next to her family.
"You okay?" he asked as she got up and poured a drink. She took a sip then handed it to him.
"I should be asking you that?" she replied sitting back down. Ella played with Chuck's tie and he turned to her.
"You seem like something is on your mind?"
"I had a run in with Carter" she replied "I thought that he got that you and I are happy and he just keeps pushing"
"What did you tell him?"
"That he needed to let me go. He walked away so we will see. I promise I was gonna tell you all about it when I got home tonight but with the whole this with…yeah."
"I get it" he said
"Right now. I just want to sit here with you and Ella. My beautiful family." She leaned over and kissed him.
"Same" he said and took a drink. Nate walked in.
"Hey" he said "Am I interrupting"
Ella yawned
"I take that as a maybe" Nate joked.
"I'm gonna take her to bed" Elizabeth said and they heard the elevator ding. Elizabeth picked up Ella and Diane walked in.
"You need to go now" Nate said.
"It's okay" Chuck said. "I may be angry but I need to know the truth"
"Come on Ella, Daddy needs to talk to this nice lady. Maybe Uncle Nate will read you a story" she said "Uncle Nate?"
"Of course I will" Nate said and grabbed her from Elizabeth and took her to the other room. Elizabeth looked at Chuck.
"You okay?"
"Yeah" he said and she kissed him and left the room. She went into her bedroom to see Nate sitting on the bed with Ella in his lap reading a story. After a while she passed out and he put her in her bed. He sat back on the bed and turned to her.
"So you and Chuck are really making it work?"
"I love him Nate"
"I know you do" he said "And I finally get what you meant by Carter not being our problem. It's been Chuck the whole time and I was too blind to see it"
"Were you though? Or did you just not want to see it?"
"Probably the latter" he replied.
"Yeah"
"When did you figure it out?"
"That he was our problem?"
"That you loved him more than you loved me?"
"The accident" she replied then looked down.
"Seems about right" he replied "Did you talk to him about what was wrong?"
"Yeah" she replied "And he was the one I needed to tell."
"Can you tell me now? Or are you?"
"I was pregnant" she replied. "I had my suspicions and I was so excited but scared at the same time because you and I were on our way back and the baby was Chuck's. And then the baby was gone and the doctors told me what happened. A chromosome thing, it was all a blur really but with that and Chuck lying there"
"I get it, well I don't but I am trying too" he responded. "I've missed you Liz"
"Same" she replied. "I'm gonna go check on Chuck"
She walked out into the living room to see him sitting there.
"Hey" she replied sitting down. "How'd it go?"
"She's my mother and I don't know how to deal with that" he said.
"Then we will do it together" she said "But right now, we have had the longest night ever so some good night sleep is just what we need"
He smiled and stood up. She pulled him toward the bedroom. She was right he needed a good night's sleep next to his girl.
The Upper East Side is filled with high rollers. Some people choose to bet on themselves while others are happy to bet on someone else but luck is a funny thing. It's easy to accept it when it goes your way but when it doesn't call it injustice, call it treachery. But remember the most important rule in gambling is that the house always wins. You know you love me.
X.O.X.O, Gossip Girl.