Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. They belong to Cecily von Zeigesar and The CW.
Enjoy
"Charlee, play catch," Aiden begged his sister as they watched their brother play catch with his best friend on the baseball field at the start of practice.
It was Charlotte's turn to play the annoyed sibling as she sat on the bleacher and read her book while Brice played baseball with his little friends.
"Charlee, play catch," Aiden tugged at her skirt to get her attention, "Charlee, catch."
Charlotte lifted her eyes in her mother's direction for a moment looking for some relief, but Blair's attention was on Brice who had just been hit in the shoulder by an errant throw from another one of the boys on the field.
"Okay, Aiden, go get one of those baseball," Charlotte pointed to one of the balls in a bucket near the fence.
Aiden darted towards the balls as quickly as his legs would carry him.
Charlotte rolled her eyes in mild annoyance as she stood up and follow Aiden to spot with enough room to play catch with him.
Aiden was actually good at throwing the ball. He'd been learning from Chuck during Brice's practices, but catching was his downfall. Every time Charlotte lofted the ball towards him it went right through his arms, but he was determined to get it right. He kept lobbing the ball back to his big sister and waiting for the next opportunity to catch the ball. Charlotte's annoyance went right out the window as she was caught up in Aiden's determination.
"You need a glove, Aiden," Charlotte told her brother when he chased after another ball he'd let get past him.
"Mommy forgot," Aiden tossed the ball back.
"Then we should send Arthur to retrieve it," Charlotte lofted another attempt in his direction.
The ball hit Aiden's hand this time and bounced up slightly. He began juggling the ball in his hands as he tried to get a grip. Suddenly, eureka, he had it. He was so excited he didn't hear the frantic calls from all the boys on the field as one of the balls of batting practice had gotten away and was sailing in Aiden's direction.
Thunk! The ball hit Aiden squarely in the face.
Charlotte, Blair and Brice all dashed to the little boy's side as he fell to the ground. His face was dazed, but he didn't make a sound except for when his butt hit the dirt.
"Oh my goodness, Aiden, Sweetheart, are you okay?" Blair gasped as she brought her little boy's head to her chest when he began crying out in pain. His agonizing cry stopped Blair's heart. She'd never heard such a sound from her little boy. "Brice, find me some ice."
"I'm so sorry, Mom," Charlotte began to apologize, "I didn't see the ball coming until it was too late."
"It's not your fault, Sweetie," Blair assured her.
Aiden stopped crying for a moment only to suck in a giant gulp of air before he let out another ear splitting scream. Blair pulled his head away for a moment to determine where exactly the ball had hit him. His right eye was already swollen, but his nose wasn't bleeding. It looked like the ball hit him squarely in the cheek.
Brice returned with a bag full of ice that he handed to his mother, which she promptly pressed to Aiden's wound.
"We'd better get you to Doctor Coffey," Blair stated picked up Aiden in her arms and rushed him to the limo that was waiting. Arthur moved at double speed once the family was safely inside the limo.
"Aiden has a very hard little head," Doctor Coffey announced as she returned with the x-ray films that had been taken when Aiden first arrived in her office.
The little boy had settled down, but he was still weepy. Making things worse, he was back to asking for Chuck.
"No broken bones, just a lot of bruising," Doctor Coffey elaborated.
"What about a possible concussion?" Blair inquired as she ran her fingers through Aiden's hair in a soothing manner.
"You said he didn't lose consciousness. He answered all my questions to the best of his abilities. He says he doesn't have a headache," Doctor Coffey shook her head, "I don't think there is any reason to suspect a concussion. If a headache does develop or his balance starts to falter, by all means call me. I'll be right over."
"It's never a dull day in the Bass household," Blair sighed in relief.
"Aiden is going to have quite a shiner for a few days, but the swelling should subside by the weekend," Doctor Coffey explained.
"Chuck's out of town for three days, and his son ends up with a shiner," Blair sighed, "He's going to think I can't take care of my own children."
"Which is the furthest thing from the truth," Doctor Coffey chuckled, "Ice Aiden's face three more times today to keep the swelling down. If he needs something for the pain, it's okay to give him a dose or two of baby Tylenol.
"I not baby," Aiden snapped at his pediatrician as he hopped down from the examination table.
"You are absolutely right," Doctor Coffey bit her lip to keep from chuckling as she looked towards Blair and softly added, "Half dose of children's Tylenol."
"Thank you, Doctor Coffey, for fitting us in," Blair smiled as she extended her hand to her son.
"I'm always available for my favorite patients," Doctor Coffey assured her as she walked Blair and Aiden to the waiting room where Brice and Charlotte were waiting patiently with Arthur, who had volunteered to sit with the children while Aiden was tended to.
"Oh, Aiden," Charlotte moaned as she hugged her little brother tight, "I'm so sorry."
"It not Charlee fault," Aiden hugged her in return.
"Alright, let's get you three home," Blair stated as she ushered everyone out of the waiting room.
Charlotte took Aiden's hand and led him to the elevator, playing up the protective older sister in the most adorable way.
Back at the penthouse, Charlotte fussed over Aiden for the rest of the day. Aiden soaked up the attention like a sponge. When it came to bedtime, Charlotte insisted on sleeping with both Aiden and her mother in her parents' bedroom.
"So day three was a little rocky," Blair admitted while she spoke to Chuck that night after everyone was tucked in.
"What happened?" Chuck inquired.
Blair hit a few buttons on her cellphone to send him a picture she took of Aiden's shiner.
"Check your phone," Blair stated when she heard his phone beep to signal that he'd received her message.
"What happened?" Chuck gasped. His eyes went wide as he caught sight of the black eye on his youngest son.
"You built up all the possibilities of Brice getting hurt at baseball practice, you forgot to mention that Aiden could get hurt too," Blair explained.
"This happened at baseball practice," Chuck gasped, "Did they use him for batting practice instead of baseballs?"
"Close," Blair replied, "Aiden and Charlotte were playing catch during batting practice. One of Brice's friends hit a ball that zeroed in on Aiden's face."
"Is he okay?" Chuck inquired.
"I took him to see Doctor Coffey. There were a lot of tears, some of them mine, but no broken bones," Blair assured him, "He'll be fine in a few days."
"Black eyes," Chuck waxed nostalgically, "A right of passage for a little boy."
"If memory serves you had to wait until your sixteenth year for that particular right of passage," Blair chuckled.
"Courtesy of Humphrey," Chuck added, "Have you talked to Serena about what we discussed yesterday?"
"I haven't had the time," Blair shook her head, "Watching Charlotte watch over Aiden has occupied my entire day."
"Run that by me again," Chuck looked at her in confusion.
"Charlotte felt so guilty for not protecting her little brother from being hit by the baseball that she has hovered over him all day. I even have an extra bed buddy tonight as a result," Blair snickered in amusement.
"As long as they are your only bed buddies," Chuck replied.
"Still didn't sleep last night," Blair realized the bags under his eyes had increased since the previous evening.
"Maybe another hour," he shrugged.
"You need to start bringing sleep aids when you go on trips without me," Blair replied.
"Or maybe just not go on trips without you," he amended.
"I like that suggestion better," she smiled.
"Is Aiden really going to be okay?" Chuck inquired, "I believe an injury to a child would be a valid excuse to leave these mind numbing meetings early."
"He's going to be just fine," Blair assured him, "You'll need to find another reason to duck out early."
"Don't tempt me," he sighed, "Remind me of this retreat the next time the board tries to suck me into another one. This is just an excuse for many of them to play endless rounds of golf, couple of tennis matches, eat expensive dinners on the company's dime, and seek out entertainment from women that aren't their wives for the week. In between all of that they manage to fit in a few seemingly pointless meetings where nothing of any relevance is discussed."
"It's only a few more days," Blair reminded him, "I'm sure you can tough it out just like the children and I will be doing."
"Charlotte has riding lessons again tomorrow," Chuck reminded her.
"I remember," Blair nodded, "That has to go better than the baseball practice."
"It will be a good story to tell one day," Chuck reassured her.
"Hearing your son getting struck in the face by a baseball is the worst sound in the world," Blair glared at him, "This is not a story I will enjoy telling any day, and the way he was crying. Oh my god, I thought my heart was going to explode. Thank goodness it wasn't more serious. Chuck, if the ball had hit him a little higher, he could have lost his eye."
"Don't think like that," Chuck stated, "You said he's going to be just fine. Focus on that."
Blair nodded as she wiped away an errant tear that fell.
"I want to be home," Chuck clinched his hands together in anger, "I want to be the one to wipe away those tears for you."
"I want that too," she smiled weakly, "It's just a few more days. You'll be home on Friday."
"Sleep well, Beautiful," Chuck replied as he reached towards his monitor to touch the outline of her face.
"You too, Handsome," she replied, "I love you."
"I love you too," Chuck responded before they simultaneously disconnected their video chat.
Blair went into her bedroom to see her oldest and youngest children curled up together in her bed. If she weren't worried about the flash waking either of them she would have found the camera and taken a picture to send to their father. It was the most adorable thing she'd seen all day.
She disappeared into her closet to pull out her nightgown before slipping into the bathroom to go through her nightly routine. She was sitting at her vanity applying moisturizer to her face when her son stumbled in.
"Mommy, my eye still closed," Aiden nudged her leg to get her attention.
"Your eye is just swollen shut," Blair assured him while she lifted him into her lap, "I'm sure it will be all better soon."
"I can't see," he pouted.
"I know," she kissed his eye tenderly, "And it isn't fun, but it will get better I promise."
"Have you had wollen eye?" Aiden inquired.
"Yes," Blair nodded as her eyes reflected a hint of sadness. Her son missed it as he was half asleep, but she knew Chuck wouldn't have missed it if he'd been there, "I've had two swollen eyes at the same time. It wasn't fun. I could barely see at all. If Daddy wasn't around I would have walked into a lot of walls."
"Your eyes look all better now," Aiden pointed out when he reached out and touched her cheek.
"It was a long time ago, Sweetie," Blair explained as she brought his fingers to her lips and kissed them, "Daddy and I weren't even married then. Your eye will heal just like mine did."
"I want Daddy to come home," he stuck out his lip in a pathetic little pout.
"I know, Baby," Blair tapped at his bottom lip before she pressed her forehead to his, "Daddy wants to come home, but he can't. I know three more days seems like forever, but its really not. Soon, he'll be home, and you can do all the things with him that you did before. Do you want to learn a trick to make the time go faster?"
"Yes," Aiden's head bobbed up and down.
"Time passes quicker in your sleep than it does when you're awake, so the more you sleep the sooner it feels like he'll be home," she told him.
Aiden quickly climbed off her lap and pulled on her hand, "It's bedtime, Mommy."
"Go ahead, Aiden, I'll be right there," Blair assured him, "And we can cuddle until you fall asleep."
"Okay," Aiden dashed into the bedroom while Blair finished her routine before joining her son and daughter in bed. Aiden cuddled right into her when she laid down and was out within minutes.
It took a while longer for Blair to fall asleep. When she did it was a fitful sleep as disturbing dreams she'd kept at bay for a long while came to the surface.
TBC…
This chapter brings up events from 'In The Rut'. If you haven't read the story, it's suggested reading before the next chapter gets published.
As always, feedback is strongly encouraged.
