Hello, everyone! Did you think I was dead? Not quite. Many apologies for my tardy chapter. My work is on strike, and I went to go to my mom's house for a couple of days and ended up staying almost two weeks. I'm a much more tanned writer at the moment. Come, on! You can't stay mad at me! I swear I'm too cute to stay made at! Here we go…

Blair lay sprawled on her bed, the bassinette at her side. She watched Charlie as he lay swaddled in his blanket, and she gently smoothed a lock of fine dark hair off his forehead. She tried very hard not to notice how the action reminded her of a similar one she'd used on Chuck a million times.

She quickly choked back the emotion she told herself she was imagining as she heard the elevator chime, and Dorota announce that Serena was here. Pulling herself up, she straightened her hair, and adjusted her nightgown. A moment later Serena swept into the room in her usual whirl of sunshine and smiles. If Blair didn't love her so much, it would have been enough to make her sick.

"Baby please!" Serena chirped as she flopped down on the end of Blair's bed, her arms reaching out for Charlie.

"Have you washed your hands?" Blair slapped Serena's outstretched hands away, already knowing the answer.

Serena rolled her eyes, but got up and headed for the en suite bathroom. "Ahh, Blair what would I do without your anal tendencies."

"You're the one who's been know to take mass transit. You touch Charlie and it's like everyone who's touched the handrail today is touching him. Why do you want the unemployed flasher from Queens to touch my baby?"

Rolling her eyes Serena went into the bathroom and washed her hands. She was about to dry them when she heard Blair call out.

"My, my… twenty seconds goes by faster then it used to."

Serena washed her hands again.

By the time she came out Blair had lifted Charlie from his bassinette and soon handed him over to Serena.

"God, he looks like Chuck." Serena said as she cooed down at Charlie.

"It's the hairline." Blair said dismissively, knowing it was more than that.

"And the nose, and the eyes, and the chin, and the—"

"Thank you! I get. Don't remind me." Blair snapped, cutting her friend off.

"Has he seen him yet?"

Blair shot Serena a look in response.

"I mean besides when you kicked him out of the hospital." She asked looking at Blair out of the corner of one eye as she kept her face trained on the baby.

"I didn't kick him out; he left a long time ago! And I don't see why I'm the evil Queen just for keeping him away. Everyone just goes on and on, about how much Chuck has changed, how much he wants to be a father to Charlie, blah, blah, blah!"

"I'll take that as a no." Serena decided to move on to another topic. "Okay, so… have you left the building yet? Dorota says you haven't made it past the doorman since you brought Jr. home two months ago. B, you're turning into the Howard Hughes of the Upper East Side!"

"I'm in recovery." Blair pouted falling back on the pillows. "I've been Bassed."

"You survived. Time to face the world, B!"

Her current hermit tendencies weren't exactly accurate. Blair had made it past the doorman exactly twice. Each time she had made it no more than a couple of blocks before a long black limo had come sliding up to the curb beside her. Turning on a dime she'd taken herself and her son back home, ignoring the man who had stepped out to watch them go.

As if reading her mind, Serena asked "Is this about Chuck?"

"No!" Blair bit out, folding her hands across her lap. "It's about me. I'm nesting. Read a parenting book. Plus, I'm not ready to be exposed in public. I had more people between my legs then Pink Berry has customers. I saw a woman on the street, and couldn't place her for a minute. And yes, I'm pretty sure she's touched my cervix. I just want to be able to control who I see, and who sees me for a while longer. That's not so unreasonable."

"Okay." Serena said to placate her friend. "But if it is about Chuck… I think he just wants to be Charlie's father. It's what you wanted too."

Blair changed the subject, putting it to the edge of her mind until later. Serena stayed for dinner and left shortly after. Dorota came and took Charlie away for his nightly bath, and Blair lay down to wait for them to return and inadvertently fell asleep. In her mind she saw Chuck. She always saw Chuck. They were in his office and she sat perched on the edge of his desk. He stood before her, his lips gently sucking on his favourite spot behind her ear, and his hands were slowly sliding up the hem of her skirt.

Blair came awake with a jerk. She was still breathless from the dream as she became aware of her darkened surrounding. Glancing at the clock she saw that it was just past 2am, and someone had shut the drapes, and turned out her lights. Getting up she checked the video monitor and saw that Charlie was sound asleep in his crib in the nursery. She walked over to the window, knowing she wouldn't get to sleep anytime soon, and wishing her thoughts didn't always run to Chuck Bass. Going with it tonight, she let her mind drift back to when they first became more than friends…

Flashback

Still breathless they finally broke apart, and they moved back to their respective sides of the limo. They redressed themselves in silence, Blair not looking at Chuck, and Chuck not taking his eyes off Blair. The alcohol and the numerous events of the night were spinning around her head, making it hard to focus on any specifics or any future repercussions. She'd just pulled her strap up over her shoulder when they pulled up in front of her building, and Chuck had barely finished straightening his tie before she was opening the door. About to flee, she paused, turned and threw herself back at Chuck, kissing him passionately, her fingers tangled in the hair at his nape. In the next instance, before he could even react or kiss her back, she was gone with the slam of the door.

She made it up to the penthouse and into her room without incident, her mind numb for the moment, and fell onto her bed and into a deep sleep before any realization even had a chance to sink in. The next morning was another story.

For a moment she'd been disoriented, and sat up, wincing slightly at the tender feeling the action caused. Something was off. Then it hit her. She smelled of Chuck. Dashing to her bath, she'd immediately scrubbed it from her body till her skin was pink. It took a lot to stun Blair, but losing her virginity to Chuck Bass in the back of his limo was definitely something that did it. Questioning her sanity and needing absolution she'd dressed and headed for the Cathedral. Her clean slate had been tarnished however by the events of her birthday party.

After having made out for several minutes on their host's brother's bed, Blair had pulled away. Looking him dead in the eye, she'd said steadily, "Meet me at your limo in ten minutes."

Chuck had slipped out of the room, allowing her to freshen up, and head out into the party with her head held high and jewels around her throat. She said goodnight to everyone as fast as she could, she'd barely noticed the odd way in which Serena was looking at her. Blair shrugged it off, and made a hasty exit letting them believe that it was Gossip Girl's bombshell that had killed her mood to party. Alighting the steps she's slipped into Chuck's limo and they'd made a quick groping trip to the Palace. They'd separated as they walked into the entrance way, looking much like they had a million times when Chuck would have Blair over for a late night raid of the Palace's kitchen after clubbing, and up to his suite, and then there hadn't been very much separating them for the rest of the night.

The next morning, she'd awoken face down in his bed, and shoving the cloud of dark hair that floated around her off her face, she not only saw him but felt him as well. His face was pressed into the curve of her hip, and his arm angled up slope of her bare back. His breath moved across her skin, and for a second she caught her own breath at the heated sensations that it caused to burn within her. Great, she thought, two nights with Chuck Bass and she turned on like a light. Easing away from him she'd made it to the bathroom without him waking. After showering, and trying to set some rights to her hair, Blair slipped into his silk robe that hung on the back of the door, and tried to mentally prepare herself to put her cocktail dress from the night before back on and do the walk of shame across the lobby. Well, that was one way to get Gossip Girl to stop talking about Nate and some girl. Coming out of the bathroom, she was just in time to see a bellhop roll in a silver covered trolley, and set the small table.

Chuck tipping him when he looked up and saw her there. He smiled as they were left alone and then pulled out a chair.

"At the very least, you should have breakfast with. I'm beginning to feel cheap."

He used that smile, the real one. The one that he let so few people see, but the one that she saw more than anyone. Taking her seat she let him push in her chair, but she felt the need to comment, even as she reached for a croissant, "I really should go."

"It's taken care of." Chuck said sipping from his cup. With a slight indication of his head, Blair turned to see there was a vintage day dress hanging from a hook.

With that worry out of the way she'd been able to enjoy herself through the rest of the quiet breakfast, knowing that anyone in the lobby with a camera phone would see nothing more then her leaving Serena's building and most likely assume she'd just come from a breakfast with her.

In the days that followed Chuck had given her space, as if knowing she needed it. It hadn't stopped the knowing looks he'd given her as they passes in the halls, but he'd kept his hands to himself, which was a good thing because apparently Blair had no willpower when it came to Chuck at all. They could never work. He was Chuck Bass. She was Blair Waldorf. Never.

Thanksgiving had come and been a disaster… until it hadn't. The moments she had shared in the kitchen with her mother, had been some of her favourites. After saying their goodnights, she wandered around her room touching this and that, and thinking about how nothing today had gone as planned, but somehow it still hadn't turned out half bad. Maybe it was time to go of grid a bit; do something she wanted to do, even if it wasn't the thing she should do. Blair knew she really should have just gone to bed. Instead she'd called Chuck.

End of flashback.

Coming back to the present, Blair shut the curtain. Those days had changed them, prior to that they'd never let themselves be more than good friends, but after… It was like they were never able to turn it off. Blair still burned for Chuck. However, she was still scorched by his absolute rejection. There was no place for him in her life.

Walking into the nursery she looked down on her sleeping son, he fussed in his sleep and she scooped him up in her arms and held him close to her chest as she sat down in the rocking chair in the corner. As she cradled him, she hummed Moon River softly until he settled back to sleep. Looking at her son she knew that while there was no place in her life for his father, Charlie deserved to have Chuck in his life. She'd always known that Chuck would be an amazing father… for the most part he'd just do whatever the opposite was of what his father had done. She'd wanted Chuck to be the father of her children, and now he seemed to want to be the father of her first, she thought, so maybe it was for the best if she just let him be.

The next morning, dressed carefully to match not only her son, but also the classic English pram her father had sent her, Blair adjusted her sunglasses and started down the street. She didn't have to wait long. This time when the limo pulled up she didn't turn tail and run, but waited as Chuck got out.

"Blair." He greeted looking at her resigned expression. "I hardly recognized you from the front… However… I didn't mind. You know how much I do so love all of you angles."

Blair's head slanted to the side as she looked at him from behind her glasses, dismissing his comment without a word. Chuck's gaze slid away from her and into the pram.

"He's gotten so big." Chuck said with near wonder as he gently reached out and touched Charlie's tiny hand.

Blair threw ice water on her heart as she saw the joy that crossed Chuck's face at seeing their son.

"Yes, from what I understand, they have a tendency to do that." Blair commented coolly, taking her glasses off so Chuck could feel the full effect of her gaze. "We have to go. We're meeting my mother and Cyrus for lunch. You can come to my apartment and see Charlie tomorrow at three. If that's not convenient th—"

"I'll be there." Chuck said, feeling out his victory. "I'll even bring the macaroons."

"Don't bother." She said, putting on her shades again. "I won't be there. Dorota will act in my place, and as per usual I would appreciate it if you didn't molest the help. Whether I've regretted my decision or not, you're still Charlie's father, and I would never deny him of that, but you and I Chuck? There's nothing left here."

Chuck made not comment to her last words, but merely reconfirmed his choice. "I'll be there at three."

Blair gave an infinitesimal nod, and started down the street, pushing the pram at a quick pace.

Chuck watched her, every part of her, walk away, and when she was a suitable distance he allowed himself to smile. "One down. One to go."

TaHDAH!! I hope you all enjoyed that! I'm headed up to my mom's again, because if you have to be broke you might as well be well rested. I'll be there about a week and a half, and I'll try to have a new chapter up when I get back. Did I mention the student loan people contacted me to tell me I can't have my this year's loan till I pay them back for them OVER paying me last year? THEY were the ones that figured out how much they were going to give me in the first place! Crap. I'm beginning to think post secondary education is HIGHLY overrated.