A/N: Howdy guys. Thanks for coming back. This story has officially been bumped to an M rating, and you'll see why when you get a little insight into Jenny and Carter's past. Read at your discretion ;)

Wanton Humphrey

Since giving birth to her son, Blair's maternal instincts had become just that. Instinctive, as is the norm in new mothers. Not that this was new. She'd long considered herself the mother hen to her less intelligent, and by far sillier, friends. As such, she often found herself scolding her friends and family when they made bad decisions. Since this was, regrettably, a regular occurrence, Blair could often be found lecturing an unwilling participant in Chuck's office. It didn't matter if he had work to get on with at home – the room was usually engaged. It was really the main reason Chuck was overseeing plans to renovate one of their first floor reception rooms into an office for Blair. She had her atelier in the city and, given that she shared it with Jenny on occasion, it would have made sense for Blair to lecture Jenny there.

Given the urgency of the situation, though, Blair knew she needed to nip this travesty in its bud sooner rather than later. So she found herself, in the middle of a benefit for the local hospital, pacing her husband's office while Jenny Humphrey sat in one of the chairs facing Chuck's desk. Nate was standing awkwardly just inside the door, which Blair had insisted he'd closed behind him.

She was holding Jenny's cell phone gingerly in one hand, the other placed firmly on her hip as she walked.

'Jenny' she began. 'I understand, likely better than most, that Carter Baizen comes with a certain appeal. He's a bad boy; corrupted, and corrupting. But he'll always be a bad boy, and bad boys are not fit for queens of Constance.'

Jenny tried to interrupt, but knew it was fruitless. She cast a look at Nate, but he immediately ducked his head. Blair sat down opposite Jenny and clicked her fingers, drawing the blonde's attention right back to her.

'Let me set the scene, if I may. It's 2007. Carter returns to the city after a prolonged absence, broke and supposedly a good man. He invites our dear friend Nate to a poker game, only to set the young Archibald up to take the fall for his own debts. Luckily my husband arrives in time to stop any serious damage being done. Moving on, it's 2008. I am at a vulnerable point in my life, and Carter Baizen seeks to exploit that in order to gain a one up in his ongoing war with Chuck. He and Serena, thankfully, see to it that he leaves the country.'

'Let's fast forward again to 2009. Serena has been searching for her father with help from, of course, Carter Baizen. Once again his debt catches up to him, and he leaves her in the lurch after she and Nate jeopardized their friendship in order to help him. He returns in 2010, when Nate and Serena are finally acting on their feelings, and reveals he's found her father, but he withheld the information for a while in order to try and win her back.'

Jenny stared at her, mouth slightly agape across the desk. Blair didn't flinch; she knew she was impressive.

'What I'm getting at, Little J, is that Carter is no good. He's no more fit to be your boyfriend-'

'Carter Baizen is your boyfriend?'

Nate finally spoke up and Blair and Jenny turned their gazes on him. His arms had fallen to his sides in surprise, and while his demeanour was mainly that of shock, his eyes were dark and somewhat worrying in the way they were looking at Jenny. He was jumping to conclusions, and with that he was judging her. Silently, and to herself, Blair smirked. For years she'd wondered at the compatibility of her two friends.

Despite her previous wars with Jenny, and the fact that the timing was never right, Jenny Humphrey was more than a match for Nate Archibald. And now, with Dan proposing to Serena and the likelihood of a wedding being a guaranteed one hundred percent, Blair pondered that maybe it was time for Little J to get her moment in the sun. God only knew Jenny had been mad about the boy since she was fourteen, and there was plenty of unresolved tension there.

'He's not my boyfriend,' Jenny said earnestly, though she'd turned from Nate in favour of convincing Blair.

Blair raised her eyebrows and set about finding the text messages Jenny had received earlier. Upon unlocking the phone, she reminded Jenny that she really ought to have password protected it.

'Blair come on,' Jenny protested, rising from her seat. 'That's private!'

All trace of games and arrogance drained from Blair's face. She paused for a moment, then handed Jenny the phone. 'I'm doing this for your own good, Jenny. Carter is bad news, and you should keep away.'

'People change,' Jenny argued, stuffing her phone back into her clutch and zipping it closed with force. 'You should know that better than anybody, just look at Chuck.'

'Carter Baizen is no Chuck Bass.'

It was Nate who spoke. Blair didn't argue, of course, but Jenny wasn't finished.

'I changed too,' said the Brooklyn native. 'Just look at who I was six years ago – at all the things I did.' She stopped herself, looking quite ashamed, and turned her gaze on the ground.

Blair felt a kick in her chest, but nothing more. She and Jenny had long buried the hatchet and though the memories of that night were something Blair liked to keep hidden away, never to be disturbed, she could admit now that she understood. Jenny was her friend. She'd forgiven Serena and Nate for the same thing, though with Chuck the pain has been so much worse. Every part of her had ached, but it was in the past. She and Chuck were storybook, meant-to-be epic, and nothing could come between them.

'Look, I don't have to defend myself about this,' Jenny said, folding her arms. 'I'm nearly twenty four. I make my own decisions and I can look out for myself, okay? I appreciate the concern, but like I said, Carter is not my boyfriend.'

'Then why's he texting you?' Nate asked, his tone unfaltering.

Jenny shrugged. 'We're… we're friends. We met in London about six months ago and we've been hanging out-'

'I knew those business trips were suspect!' Blair interjected, pointing an accusatory finger Jenny's way.

'You've been sneaking off to London to see him,' Nate said, struggling to grasp the idea. He seemed to be taking issue with it. 'But you're just friends?'

'I haven't been sneaking anywhere. Look,' Jenny said, throwing up her arms and making for the door. 'I'm tired, and I don't have to explain myself to you. I appreciate the concern, but Carter is different now, and we're just friends. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and sleep this off. Blair, I'll see you for breakfast at seven. Nate…'

She stopped next to him at the door.

'It was nice to see you.'

Blair watched her go, and Nate soon followed, citing that he needed a drink. Her plan had been disrupted, but any good Queen B has plans B, C and D ready to go. Of course, now that Carter was no doubt in the mix, things were going to get complicated. But Blair was more than able to coax people over to her way of thinking, and with Carter all the way over in England and Nate right on Jenny's doorstep, it wasn't going to take much convincing until Jenny saw things her way. The right way. Surely.

Nate was feeling particularly tender the following morning. After his first drink of the evening, which had followed the unearthing of Jenny's friendship with Carter Baizen, he'd had another, and another, and another and soon he was being persuaded to stay in the Bass' second guest bedroom. Jenny was in the first, he remembered as he tiredly got dressed before heading down to breakfast. He had a free morning, which came as a welcome relief from his endless days and nights working on the Spectator's latest expansion.

He was overseeing the opening of their new office in Los Angeles. He'd been spending weeks – sometimes months – at a time over there. He'd been back all of one day when Blair's name flashed up on his cell and she'd insisted that he come along to the impromptu benefit. Nate had never known Blair to be impromptu. He suspected foul play, but had no idea what her game was. Since Henry's birth both she and Chuck had cooled it with the schemes, though they still crept up every now and then.

As he descended the stairs, the hustle and bustle of the Bass household found him and he smiled when he heard his godson's laugh coming from the dining room. He found Blair and Chuck in there already with Henry, and they all bid him a good morning. He ruffled Henry's hair as he passed the little guy, then turned his attention to Jenny, who was sitting opposite the three of them at the table. Nate took the empty seat beside her, where a place had been set for him already, and smiled in greeting.

'You look how I feel,' Jenny said, reaching for a plate of fruit.

'You're hungover, too?'

'Nope, jet lagged. Between Paris and Italy and London, I'm exhausted.'

Nate's stomach clenched at that. And London. And Carter Baizen, he thought. He'd always known Jenny to pursue the wrong kind of guys, from Asher to Damien and now Carter, but surely even she knew that Baizen was just one creep too far.

He regarded Jenny for a moment. She was certainly grown up, a far cry from her final days at Constance. Gone were the ragged extensions and black eyes, replaced by well kept, flowing blonde locks and, at that time in the morning, no make-up. She looked every bit the picture of perfection, and their brief, but sweet, time together his senior year of St. Jude's had opened a door between them that had never really been closed.

Despite everything she did before she left, including trying to sabotage his relationship with Serena and sleeping with Chuck, Nate had never turned his back on her. Not completely. They were friends; he'd trusted her with secrets about Serena, about his parents, his whole life, and that didn't go away just because Jenny lost herself for a little while.

She'd come back in the end.

'Nathaniel?'

'What?'

Nate tore his gaze from Jenny when Chuck spoke, only then realizing he'd been staring at her. He cleared his throat and accepted the Wall Street Journal from Chuck, though he wasn't much in the mood for reading. Ignoring the smug look on Blair's face, he set about reading the first page. He was beginning to think he needed glasses though; all those long hours staring at computer screens and reading and re-reading drafts of stories were starting to take their toll.

'As I was saying,' Blair said to Jenny. 'There's still the issue of the fabrics over in London, but I can handle that this week. You could take a look at the designs that have come in from Italy for me. I trust your eye to choose the best ones for the line.'

'No problem,' Jenny said, but her tone suggested she wasn't quite happy about it. 'But I can handle London. You haven't met with the team there in ages – it makes sense for me to just carry on as I have been.'

'No, I insist,' said Blair in a sickly sweet tone.

Jenny rolled her eyes, but didn't seem annoyed. More exasperated than anything, Nate decided, as she puffed out the air from her cheeks. She excused herself to go and get dressed, and after a few moments, Nate slipped out under the pretence of going to the bathroom. He caught up to her as she was halfway up the stairs, and by the time he'd called after her they were on the first floor landing, heading to her room.

'It's great to see you,' he said.

'You too,' she replied with ease, tightening the tie of the robe she had on.

They walked on in silence, but the weight of the words they weren't saying seemed too much to bear, and Nate gave in.

'I'm sorry I was so out of touch these past few years,' he began, just as Jenny spoke too.

'Sorry I haven't kept in touch so much.'

They chuckled at one another as they came to Jenny's door, but Nate wasn't quite satisfied with leaving it there. He'd always found her interesting. In fact, she always left him curious, and now with all of this coming out about her and Carter, when she seemed to be doing so well for herself – away from all the drama the Upper East Side entailed, Nate felt it was only right that he try and get through to her where Blair had failed the night before.

'Listen, Jenny, about Carter…'

'Just friends,' she reminded him.

'If you say so, but please just listen for a second.' She didn't say anything, and so he took it as a sign to carry on. 'He always came across the good guy at first, but in the end he just couldn't stick it out. Deep down, he's no good.'

'People change,' Jenny repeated.

'Some people do, yeah. But he's not one of those people.'

'How do you know that?' she challenged, placing a hand on the door to her room. Nate was sure she was about to disappear on him, and a feeling in his gut suddenly had him scrambling to find ways to make her stay.

'I just do. I know plenty of guys like him.'

'I really don't want to have this conversation again,' Jenny said, opening her door ajar.

'Alright, fine,' Nate said, a little too eagerly. He took a breath. 'Look, what I really came to say was that I think it'd be good for us to hang out some time, for old times' sake? I feel like I barely know you now.'

Not true of course. He'd always know Jenny Humphrey, likely better than she knew herself.

She didn't seem as convinced as him, he realized, as she bit her lip. 'I don't know, Nate. Things between us have gotten complicated in the past… I don't want to drag that all up again.'

'Hey,' he grinned. 'People change.'

She smirked and stepped into her room. At length, she agreed. 'The diner we went to for your birthday?'

Nate knew the one. He'd been treated to a real Humphrey birthday, complete with public humiliation.

'Sounds great. I'm in meetings all afternoon but how about tomorrow for lunch? One thirty?'

She gave him a great big smile and nodded, before closing the door.

It could have been the fact that he was just now properly waking up, or it could have been the smell of coffee and bacon as he went back to his breakfast. He was feeling clear-headed, and his hangover seemed to be lifting quickly. It might have had more to do with Jenny Humphrey making him feel seventeen again in amongst the stress of being a twenty six year-old Editor in Chief, but that was neither here nor there. He wasn't so sure what it was about her that brought it all out in him, but he liked the feeling.

When she was safely tucked away in the window nook later on, overlooking the streets of Park Avenue from her guest room at the Bass', Jenny flipped open her Macbook and began scanning her emails. Italy, Paris, even Madrid was calling and, further down the list, London. She smiled.

She'd never expected this level of success at such a young age, but she always knew she'd be successful one day. Blair had mentioned a promotion in the coming months, one that would see Jenny needing to permanently settle in Manhattan, leaving behind the glorious life of a well-travelled designer and instead find her heading up her very own design team at Waldorf Designs, answering only to Blair herself. She'd be second in command.

It would be a huge honour, and while Jenny was on board with moving home full time, something in the back of her mind nagged her about leaving the travelling behind.

As if on cue, Jenny's phone rang. When she spied who was calling, she glanced quickly to the door to be sure it was shut tight. One never knew in the Bass household, and the walls probably did have ears. She slid the answer button across and pressed her phone to her ear.

'Good morning.'

'Good afternoon, beautiful,' Carter countered on the other end.

It would be going on one in the afternoon there, Jenny figured. She relaxed back against the wall and settled her gaze on a group of high school students making their way to school.

'What can I do for you Baizen?'

'Always so direct,' he mused, and Jenny could just tell he was lounging in his chair in his office, feet up on the desk, smirking at every word she said. 'You never answered my texts last night.'

Memories of the previous night's fiasco appeared at the forefront of her mind, and she sighed outwardly, loud enough for him to realize something was wrong.

'What happened? Are you okay?' the alarm in his voice was unfamiliar, but not unwelcome. In fact, Jenny found herself wishing he would just catch a flight out to New York so they could show her friends that nothing was going on.

Alright, something was going on, but it was purely physical, and Jenny liked it that way. Since her disastrous exit from the Upper East Side all those years ago, Jenny had struggled to connect with people. Not just girls, but boys. With the girls, she could never tell which ones wanted to be her friend purely because they liked her, and which ones were hoping to gain some insight into the 'scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite', as Dan had so elegantly put it when he'd dreamed up the idea of Gossip Girl so long ago. With the boys, she never knew which ones to trust. It dawned on Jenny, somewhere in between arriving in Hudson and finishing her first week at school there, that the only boy she'd ever really trusted – outside of her family, which included Eric – was Nate.

And she'd royally screwed that up.

But now she had Carter; a genuine friend who understood her. He understood what her life in the UES had made her, how she'd lost herself in bitter hatred and struggled to cope with it all until she ran away. It just so happened that this new friend she'd made was someone the rest of the people in her life, simply put, detested.

'Jenny?'

'Sorry, I'm tired. I'm still on London time.'

'What's going on?'

'Nothing, I'm fine.'

'Liar,' he said, and he was right, but they didn't dwell on it. 'I was just wondering if you'd planned your next business trip yet.'

'Is your bed that cold already?' Jenny could practically hear the grin on his face through the phone, but it wasn't one she returned. In fact, her stomach took a turn and she felt guilty. Biting her lip, she clicked open an email from Blair and found a jam-packed schedule for the next few months. All the events were in New York.

'About that,' Jenny said at length, and then closed her laptop. 'Looks like I might not be back for a while. If at all.'

He didn't answer right away, but the silence was deafening.

'Carter?'

'Not a problem,' he said suavely, but Jenny knew him well enough by now.

Carter made no secret of the fact that he liked sex. In particular, he liked sex with her. Of course he was going to be a little disappointed. The friendship part of things would be fine; they could email and text and call. But the sexual part… well, Carter was going to have search long and hard for someone who could so intricately get to know his body like she did. Likewise, Jenny knew she'd have a hard time finding anyone to quench the thirst that Carter left her with every time they finished. He satisfied her in every way, but it was never enough. She always wanted more of him. Her mind began to drift, and soon enough she was reliving their first… encounter.

'Before…this…gets… out of-oh!'

Jenny knew her attempts at conversation were futile. With every word, Carter seemed to find a new place to make her feel incredible, and she was starting to lose her grip on reality. He had her up against the wall of her apartment, legs wide apart as he worked his way further and further down. Her underwear was pushed to the side as his fingers scraped the inside of her thighs and it was all she could do to keep herself from digging her nails into his shoulders. She grabbed his head and pushed him down, fingers rushing through his hair.

He was on his feet suddenly, one hand tangling in her hair and the other grazing her jaw, denying her the release he'd had her craving. He looked her dead in the eye, and all she could think was that she wasn't done with him yet. She kissed him hard, all tongue and hot breath and teeth scraping as her hands went to his belt and ripped it away from his trousers. His shirt came off next and was discarded in the living room. She guided him through to the bedroom, and he lifted her around his waist to carry her to the bed.

He threw her down and attacked her with kisses again. On the mouth, along her jaw, her neck, her collarbone. He ripped open her shirt, the buttons springing in all directions, and kissed her breasts along the top of her bra, but didn't wait long to pull it down. His hands went back up to her wrists, pinning them above her head. All she could do was writhe under the pleasure.

'What was it you were going to say?' he murmured, trailing teasing kisses along the hem of her lingerie.

Jenny pulled him back up, so that they were pressed up against each other with him on top. She tilted his chin up with one finger as the other hand roamed his chest.

'This is just a one-time thing,' she replied, and he smirked.

'Whatever you say, Jenny Humphrey.'

Carter's distant voice broke in. 'Jenny, you still there?'

Coming back to herself, Jenny had to force herself to speak. Her mouth was a little dry.

'My birthday is soon, don't forget.'

'Of course. I'll send something.' And by that, Jenny knew that he meant his assistant would send something. Erin had always had much better taste than him anyway. 'I should go,' he said.

'Alright. Talk soon?'

'Sure thing. Bye.'

'Bye.'

As the line went dead, Jenny couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She thought back to her schedule, ready to get on with her day. Before anything else, though, she needed a shower.

A/N: Hope you liked this one - more to come, and the drama hasn't even started yet!

Please leave some feedback - it's heavily appreciated! xoxo