Holy crap!! Thank you all so much for the response to my first chapter of Checkmate! Now, this is only my second GG fic, and I've come to a conclusion… You guys rock as readers! Thank you so much for all your reviews! However, I'm sensing a lack of trust in some of our reader/writer relationships… I was reading through the reviews and I had to laugh when I began to notice a pattern of "good start", "nice job so far", "looks promising" etc. You all sound like me on a first date. It makes me wonder if you've been burned before? I promise, I try not to suck. I have follow through. Trust me! This is going to be so good! And, yes, maybe I've stolen those lines from ex-boyfriends, but I really mean them. I hope this second chapter lives up to the promise of the first. Okay, here we go, chapter two…

Blair stared at the ceiling, reciting the history of the French Revolution in her head in order to avoid the complete indignity of her current situation, which was irritating her as it always did. This was the 21st century, there'd been a man on the moon, a vaccine for polio, Kate Winslet had won an Oscar, and yet here Blair was.

"Okay, that's it. You can sit up now."

With a sigh of distaste Blair quickly moved into a more civilized position, and crossed her legs at the ankle, her knees firmly clenched together. Not making eye contact with the doctor, she carefully smoothed her silk robe over her knees, having brought it with her to shun the donning of that wretched paper one. Even still, it was hard to regain her usual composure with a man who'd just seen her in stirrups.

"You can wait for me in your office." Blair informed him with a dismissive air.

Blair was known for having nerves of steel. It was one of the many reasons she'd come as far as she had, but as she quietly dressed in the examination room, something in her stomach churned. She was gambling everything on how well she knew her husband. If she could just outmaneuver him, he would come around. Of course he would come around. He'd been in her life forever, and she didn't see that stopping now. As she checked her appearance in the mirror behind the door, her mind drifted back.

Flashback.

The air was heavy with the dampness of early spring. Blair hated spring. Everything in the city that had been kept frozen by winter had melted and released its odor all at once. It was disgusting. Pulling her coat tighter against her body, she waited on the steps of the school, tapping the spoke of her umbrella with impatience. Where was he? Scrolling through her phone, she scanned her messages. Nothing.

Blair was just about to call him again, when a door at the top of the stairs crashed open and Chuck Bass stumbled out. His clothes were askew, and he repeatedly glanced behind him as he hurried down the stairs. Spotting her from the landing above, he slowed his pace, and walked past her several steps, adjusting his clothing as he went, finally stopping and looking her in the eye.

"Waldorf." He greeted his best friend's girlfriend. "You do know that you have to go home? Don't worry. Your kingdom will still be here tomorrow, waiting for you to terrori—"

He cut of with a sly smile at the way her eyes flared at him. He could never figure out why some people, her boyfriend included, classed Blair as a "good girl". Chuck recognized a kindred spirit when he saw one.

"… reign again." He finished, a smile pulling at the side of his mouth.

She'd achieved Queen in her freshman year, which was unheard of in the past. But that was the past and she was Blair Waldorf. No one had ever wanted it more, and no one had ever been prepared to do what it had taken to get it at such a young age. The former Queen had had to transfer to a public school in Idaho once Blair had finished with her. And now here she was, still on top, with no upstarts on the horizon ready to make a play for her crown. The Jr. School held a prospect, but Blair would handle her when she arrived. Jenny Humphrey? Blair wasn't about to quake in her Manolos over a girl named Jenny. Blair had the grades, the looks, the name and the power, and she had Nathaniel Archibald. She had everything she wanted. She had the perfect picture.

"I'm waiting for Nate." She commented ignoring the way Chuck kept looking at her regardless of the fact she'd turned her attention to her phone.

"Well, you'll be waiting a long time. He left after lunch."

"What?" She snapped, dropping her phone in her lap. "He was supposed to come with me to Bergdorf's so I could approve his shoes for the lower classman Spring Formal!"

Chuck chuckled at the speed of her words and their sharp pitch. "Sorry. His mother picked him up… I think they're paying a mandatory social call on her parents…"

"I can't believe he didn't call me." She commented with impatience. Blair began scrolling through her phone again, eager to make new plans for the afternoon. She couldn't do "nothing". She could never just do nothing.

"Hmm. Blood trumps brunettes… blondes however…" Chuck mused smoothly, before extending his hand. "Care for a ride?"

With a sigh of resignation Blair took his hand and let him help her to her feet. As she took a step to follow her him, her hand still in his, the world tilted around her, and her knees buckled. Chuck's arms quickly came around her to steady her.

"Are you alright?" He asked sincerely his brow furrowing.

Chuck couldn't help but notice how slight she felt in his arms, and he realized the strict architecture of her clothes hid how thin her body actually was underneath them. Most girls dressed to look thinner, but he'd always known Blair dressed for her role. Now he thought that maybe her clothing choices aided her in other ways as well.

"I'm fine." Blair murmured, surprised that Chuck had sounded like he was actually concerned. Pulling out of his arms, but allowing him to keep a hold of her elbow she began to lead him out of the courtyard to his waiting limo.

Settled in the back as the car pulled away from the curb, she could feel him still looking at her and she changed the subject.

"So?" She questioned, her hand reaching out and straightening his scarf. "Who were you on the run from? You're practically disheveled. How very un-you."

"I was accosted in the bathroom."

She raised a brow.

"Against my will." He clarified.

"Really…" She drawled her curiosity piqued. "Anyone I know?"

"Georgina." Chuck sneered, his lip curling.

Blair's nose crinkled in distaste. If anything Georgina Sparks was the exact opposite of Blair Waldorf. Where Blair craved perfection and control, Georgina sought excitement and chaos. Other then the fact that they grew up in the same circles and went to the same school, the only overlap in their lives was their shared friendship with Serena. Even still, Blair saw no reason to extend herself in any way towards Georgina, and she was surprised Chuck had any use for her… until she thought of Chuck's favourite form of use.

"So you and Georgina…"

"It was years ago at what had been a rather dull party. There was a first that occurred… for one of us that is. The bitch has been stalking me ever since."

"You lost your virginity to Georgina Sparks?" Chuck didn't reply but merely smiled looking out the window again, as Blair watched him closely. "I take it you made an impression…"

"What can I say? My natural talent was evident from the start." His head rolled on the seat to look at her.

"You're disgusting."


"And yet, you're intrigued." He half teased.

Blair was just about to comment, but broke off as she felt her heart flutter in her chest. Her head suddenly swam, the car around her began to spin, and she slumped back in her seat, her body going limp, as the world got blurry around the edges.

Chuck, who had always been astute, but even more so it seemed when it came to Blair, quickly hovered over her.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his hand already reaching for the speaker to signal the driver to change their destination.

"Nothing." Blair managed, as she reached for his wrist to stop him.

Her hands were weak, and he let her pull his arm down till his hand rested against her stomach. Her hands remained lightly on his arm.

"Sure, and I'm planning on joining the Priesthood." He commented, lifting his hand from her to gently push the damp hair off of her cheek. "What's wrong with you?"

Chuck had a feeling he already knew. His father dated models, and so he recognized some signs that he couldn't believe he was seeing in Blair. As he moved away to the bar to pour her some orange juice, he thought that he shouldn't be surprised. Blair was the epitome of a Type A, and this type of behaviour was textbook.

As she took the juice he handed her, he could see the desperation in her eyes. This was Blair's secret, and now Chuck knew it. Chuck knowing any of your secrets was reason alone to panic.

Any conversation was cut short by the limo pulling up outside Blair's building, and for a second she looked surprised to see her best friend and her brother standing on the curb. On a hunch Blair guessed that Serena's mother had fled to Zurich, so the Van der Woodsen siblings would be staying at the Waldorf's till she returned.

Blair opened the door and quickly alighted from the limo, but Chuck caught her hand before she could move away.

"Blair…"

Glancing back she saw Serena and Eric looking curiously at them, and she rushed out in agitation. "It was nothing. I just miscalculated today… Please, don't say anything to them…"

Chuck looked at the way her eyes implored him, and he caved this once. "All right."

Her face was flooded with relief, but she was brought up short as he continued. "… But Blair… whatever you're doing to yourself… you're worth more than that."

End of Flashback

Blair shut her eyes for a moment, her hand on the knob of the doctor's adjoining office door. Chuck would forgive her for this, but even as she told herself that, she realized she wasn't so sure. Shaking her head she yanked the door open.

"So?"

Later that day, Serena walked into the waiting area of Blair's office and nearly broke her ankle stepping on a stuffy. Righting herself she looked around and wondered if she was in the right place. Glancing at Blair's assistant who was trying to console a weeping woman and her child, Serena walked into Blair's office.

"B, what's your emergency?" Serena asked, looking around a room crowed with women and babies. It took her only a moment to spot her friend at the centre of the action.

"Numbers 12, 8, 3, and 7 can go." Blair said shortly, as her pen made checkmarks down a clipboard. Her eyes narrowed on a woman holding a curly haired blonde baby in the corner. "Number 4, what are you still doing here? You were dismissed in the first round. I want him to think of fatherhood, not question humanity."

Serena moved out of the way as the woman hurried past her with her baby, her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm scared to ask." Serena commented, rolling her eyes as she came to give Blair a quick hug in greeting, before standing next to her friend to peer at the clipboard.

"2, 6, and 10." Blair commanded with a wave of her pen.

Three women quickly fell into line in front of Blair and Serena, their babies held before them for inspection.

"Well? What do you think?" Blair asked, not looking at Serena, but carefully inspecting the rolls of a baby's ankle. She poked it with the end of her pen.

"What do I think of what?" Serena asked, now totally lost.

"The babies! These are my top three. Each is visually attractive, clean and smell good. They need wardrobe, but Dorota is working on that. I'm leaning towards 2, because of the dimple, but 10 almost has that certain Bass look to it." She studied 10 now, her pen resting at her lip.

"Oh, god. Blair, are you buying a baby?" Serena cringed, hoping against hope that this wasn't illegal.

"I'm not buying one of these." Blair snapped, as if the idea was abhorrent to her. "They may fit the bill, but none of them have the Waldorf/Bass genes I really want. They're like a prop… a little bait to lure Chuck into fatherhood. Once he sees what babies are like, and I explain how superior our baby will be, he'll get with the program and put an heir in me."

Serena smiled, ignoring the situation she'd just walked into, because she'd long since given up being surprised by anything her best friend did. Serena focused on her friend.

"Wow. A Bass/Waldorf baby… I don't know, B? Do you think the world is ready for that?" Serena smiled, knowing that motherhood was a role her driven friend would excel at, as she did with almost everything.

"Who cares about the world? I just need to prepare Chuck." Blair's lip curled as a stream of drool came out of 10.

Both the women looked at the babies.

"6?" Serena offered.

Blair rolled her eyes. "Number 2, a car will pick you up at 4pm. Be ready."

TaHDah! Okay, I actually wrote this before I watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother, but now it's all I see in my head. Another thing the OTH readers can tell you… I have long and somewhat random Author's Notes. Oh and just so you know, I've only ever used a flashback once before now. I was going to make the one I used here into a one shot or the beginning of a series of one shots, but I decided to put it here. I love a timeline. It kills me that OTH doesn't have one, but I figured out a GG one for the flashback. In season one they're juniors, and the Thanksgiving flashback is them when they're sophomores and Blair's parents comment on her condition being under control for months, so the flashback is set in the late spring of their freshman year. Make sense? No? Humour me.

PS-I read this puppy three times looking for typos and such. Forgive me if I missed any!