Summary: Blair and Chuck's confrontation. Read and Review and tell me if you want to see Chuck in the next episode, at Blair and Nate's housewarming.

Comments and suggestions are very much welcome.

Author's Notes: I've seen Leighton and Chace's pictures on regarding the new episodes they had been shooting recently. I am so excited to see what's going to happen. The "raining scene" inspired by Breakfast at Tiffany's is supposed to be a dream sequence, I'm sure. What do you guys think?

Serena's face was filled with concern, "What did he do now?"

"I thought he would be in a business trip to Europe for a couple of months?"

"Yes. Bart asked him personally to take over the business deals…"

Blair frowned slightly at this. But Serena would have warned her of course if this hadn't been the case. "I saw him two days ago."

Serena gasped and could only mutter a silent "sorry" to her friend. "I really didn't have an idea he would cancel his plans…"

"Obviously, he did cancel his business trip in an attempt to make me feel guilty or something."

"So the two of you eventually had met up again, how? Where? When did this all happen?"

"Two days ago, the Modeling agency sent me a limo to pick me up for another photo shoot. This time, it's supposed to be an ad for Victoria's Secret. When the limo came to a stop, I was so shocked to be standing in front of Victrola! So, when I was about to tell the driver that he must have been mistaken, Gerald, this PR guy led me inside the club and I saw the photographer, make-up artists, crew people going in and about." Blair continued to recount to Serena what had happened.

/Flashback/

"Good morning, Miss Blair. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask for me." A tall and thin guy with curly blonde hair who kind of look like the Fashion guy in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (that make-over show) appeared in front of her, giving her a caramel macchiato fresh from Starbucks and some bagels. "I'm Christian, by the way. I'll be assisting you from now on."

"Why, thank you Christian! But honestly, I can take care of my own needs, no worries. Please tell my manager that I really have no need for an assistant."

"But Miss Blair, Madame Clau-"

"You may stay and watch the photo shoot and help me with organizing my things but I will say this for the last time, I do not need an assistant."

With that, Christian left and Blair took a sip of her coffee while one of the hair stylists started brushing her hair.

"The backdrop would be the stage. There should be a 40s feel to the entire area…" Blair heard the photo shoot director say, she thought about calling her manager and demanding an explanation. Clearly, she was not informed that the photo shoot she had been told about two weeks ago was going to be held in Victrola, with a 40s theme, sexy and Burlesque. A model's got to do what a model has to do, she thought to herself.

After an hour and a half and being fully made up and airbrushed, she walked in the area where the other models were already posing, being given instructions by the photographer. She approached the photographer and gave him a hug, "My good friend, Darius. I didn't have any idea that you'd be the one for the job." If she weren't wearing layers of make-up, she would've kissed him each on the cheek in the same way she did as a greeting to her friends. She settled on giving air kisses, though in which Darius graciously accepted and threw her a compliment, "My, my, my, I can't believe I'm standing in front of one of the most famous top models in the country right now. To be working with her is such a great pleasure."

To which Blair answered, "No. My being able to work with such an excellent photographer is a great pleasure. I wouldn't dream of it but here we are."

"Ah yes— let's skip the pleasantries and act like professionals for the mean time. We'll get to the friendly part again, later" Darius smiled at her. In the eyes of others, it would appear as if they were dangerously being flirtatious with each other. On the other hand, everybody in the room knows that Darius is well, gay, to be blunt, and Blair is now engaged. "Before I forget, I haven't introduced you to the owner of the club yet."

As if it was cue for him to come out, Charles Bass entered the scene. His usual smirk and trademark scarf was in place. Blair stood there frozen in his eyes and so in an effort to hide her dismay, she said, "There's no need for that. Mr. Bass and I have known each other since uh, Preschool." There was no way in hell she'd be adding "We used to date."

As if Chuck had just gotten the words out of her mind, he said: "As a matter of fact, Blair and I—" Blair cut him off by stepping into his Prada loafers the same way she did in their junior year when Chuck told the New York Times journalist about Nate's wrongdoings. "Yes, Blair and I had been close friends but now, you see, we kind of fell apart for reasons I can never comprehend," Chuck had managed to say. "I've always treasured our friendship and I hope we can have that back again."

Blair winced at his words but all she could do was nod.

Darius looked at them back and forth and smiled, "Blair, why don't we invite Mr. Bass here to dinner tonight? I can only be glad to be a bridge for you and him to repair your friendship again."

Friends. Yeah, right. As if that's ever going to happen, she thought. "I'd love that, Darius but you know how businessmen are and knowing that Mr. Bass here is one very successful businessman, I'm sure he has a lot of things to attend to." She again, winced at how she had mentioned the words businessman and businessman in the same sentence and at how silly it must have sounded to Chuck.

Chuck smirked, again with that annoying smirk of his that says nothing and everything at the same time. "But seeing this as an opportunity to catch up with an old friend, I'd be more than willing to oblige to be of company." He paused for a second and ending his statement with satisfaction, "with your equally wonderful company."

Blair was glad that she still had her white and silky Victoria's Secret robe on but that did not help the fact that she could feel Chuck's gaze under her skin, his brown eyes already undressing her.

"Now that it's been settled, Mr. Bass will be joining us for dinner tonight." Darius clapped his hands showing his enthusiasm in the moment that has just unfolded.

"I could not wait to get to it." Chuck said glancing back at Blair. "I only dropped by to see how things are going. So far so good, I see. As much as I want to witness the going-ons in a fashion shoot further more, I should go back to work so I could freely have dinner tonight with my new acquaintance, Darius, please do call me Chuck and of course, my old friend Blair." Chuck gave them a wink and left, leaving a bewildered Blair and an amused Darius. Truth is, he didn't have anything going on but he didn't want to bother Blair at work as much as he was tempted to see how that goes.

Blair was appalled at how Chuck had to reiterate their 'dinner plans'.

The whole spectacle was watched by everyone who was present, of course but they immediately went back to their work as Darius yelled to them, "Chop! Chop! People! We don't have all day!" As he got to his camera and arranged the rest of his equipment, Blair had climbed the stairs to the familiar stage once again like she had done so not so long time ago. She remembered how free she felt when she let herself surrendered to the wonderful feeling, how exciting the entire experience had been. How she remembered every detail of it all with a very vivid memory— the way her hips swayed to the music, the way her dress had dropped to the floor, the way the crowd cheered and clapped in standing ovation to such an amazing presentation. With that in mind, she arched her back and showcased her beautiful features and well sculpted body, her movements graceful and charming, and her smile seductive. The outcome was of course, outstanding seeing that each frame had been perfect giving the clients a lot of choices to choose from for the perfect ad.

"Okay, people! Let's wrap this up!" Darius commanded the people with an air of control only he could have over them. The photo shoot went on smoothly. He was impressed by all the models most especially Blair. She would do exactly what he asked her to do and take it to a higher level. He had been surprised to find out that the start of her career had been on an 'awkward' route, from being rejected at a lot of go-sees to having been lucky to be featured in some ads in Seventeen magazine. His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his phone, after pressing the green button, he casually answered, "Yeah?"

"Mr. York?" A female voice on the other line replied.

"Yes. Who is this?" Darius wondered who this could be on the phone.

"I'm Mr. Bass's secretary, I was asked to call you about your dinner plans with him tonight. What time is he going to pick you up?"

"Oh, yes. We just finished with the shoot. Tell him, we could just meet him up at Le Souffle at, let's say…" He glanced at his watch and it was already 5:30 in the afternoon. "Yes, Le Souffle at 6."

"He'll pick you up at 5:45, then."

Darius was annoyed at how the secretary told him that, like he had no say in the matter. Didn't she hear what I just said? He thought and when he was about to give this secretary a piece of his mind, the woman said, "Now that it's settled. Goodbye then. Have a good dinner, Mr. York."

Talk about being rude. The phone went dead.

After about ten minutes, Blair had already changed into a silver dress; her hair was hanging down to her shoulders and her make-up was lighter this time. "Shall we go now?"

"Actually, no." He glanced at the confused look written all over Blair's face and explained, "Mr. Bass will be personally picking us up. He's on his way, I'm sure."

"He didn't have to do that. I already have a limo waiting outside." When "Did he think that we didn't have means of transportation?" was all she was dying to remark.

"I didn't know so I wanted to offer you both a ride." Charles Bass having shown up out of nowhere interrupted their exchange. "I thought it would be nice to go together." Both Blair and Darius looked at him, speechless.

"Right you are, conceited jerk," Blair was about to say but she bit her lower lip instead and said, "Well then I guess a debate would be useless… riding separately would be nonsense." She winced, again at how she rhymed with what she had said. She would have almost laughed while Chuck on the other hand, almost laughed as well not at what she had just said but at how he could make her wince a lot in his presence. Blair went on with what she wanted to say, "I'll tell the driver that I would no longer need his service. Darius and I are going to take your offer seeing that it is in your most sincere intentions." And you guessed it right; Blair winced again for the nth time.

"Shall we go, then?"

Darius was far from dense. It was obvious to him that the two of them have had a romantic past upon detecting the sexual tension going on between them ever since that morning. Hadn't he known that Blair Waldorf had been in a serious relationship for 5 straight years now; he would have come to the conclusion that his model friend and Manhattan's richest playboy standing in front of him have been having an affair. He would've joked about this but he didn't and so he followed them to the limo waiting outside the burlesque club.

The ride to one of the most exclusive restaurant in New York, Le Souffle, would have been long and akward if Darius hadn't been there to make snide comments about the fashion industry he's in. He told them that if he hadn't been paid that much, he would have rather traveled the world and published a coffee book. Blair had been amused and Chuck hardly listened at all.

By the instant they got there, being seated at the best table possible to the time Chuck Bass had struggled with saying the French dishes written on the menu finally pronouncing the words properly with Blair's help of course, Blair still could not get over the fact that she's having dinner with Chuck Bass. She just wanted to be done with it the minute she boarded the limo earlier.

"I could still not believe that someone whose height is 5 feet and 4 inches could become one of the most celebrated top models in the country." Charles commented, looking at Blair directly in the eyes. His usual smirk plastered on his face, of course.

"I'd take that as a compliment, Bass." Blair paused gathering the right words to say, "FYI, I'm 5'5 and adding the 4-inch heels of the Gucci's I'm wearing right now and knowing that I'm beautiful and sexy and you can add more adjectives to describe how well I look, I'm sure you and my friend, Darius will agree, becoming a model is what I had been destined to do."

"I may not be the tallest girl in the bunch, but whenever I walk the runway or whenever I'm posing for pictures, I make sure that people forget I'm the shortest girl in there and then they'd think to themselves, wow, that girl is beyond doubt amazing." She finished the sentence with a smile of confidence and Chuck Bass could not simply take his eyes off her. This was not the Blair Waldorf he had known, this was another person he was quite sure of.

"I can attest to that. Blair simply took my breath away in the photo shoot earlier. I couldn't ask for anything more from a model. She's just perfection."

"Now that you have mentioned it, I would love to see how it came about. I'd also ask for permission from the management to use some of the pictures to promote the club as well."

"Ah, yes, that would be awesome." Darius commented.

"Now, gentlemen, let's change the topic. As much as I love having compliments thrown to my feet, I'd hate to become an airhead."

The dinner went by fast. Both Blair and Chuck had been pleasant to each other the rest of the evening— or pretended to be, at least. Darius said that he would rather take a walk home since he's condominium unit was only a few blocks away from the restaurant.

A limo ride and thirty minutes later, Chuck opened the door for Blair to get out. He looked up at the familiar apartment building where the Waldorf's live and back to the lady in front of her.

"It had been a wonderful evening." He said, putting a stop to the silence surrounding them.

"It had been interesting, yes." She looked up at him, her eyes questioning whether he would be saying anything else. "I have to go now, Chuck. There's this commercial shoot I have to get to tomorrow morning and I have to have my much needed beauty rest."

"Can't we talk? For a while." His eyes plead with hers.

"Okay. Fifteen minutes. No more, no less." She marched towards the building and after a minute or two, a ding was heard and the elevator doors opened to the Waldorf foyer and into the living room, they walked. "Go on, Bass, time's running out. What do we have to talk about?" Blair had wanted the dinner to be over, and she can not wait for this conversation to be over as well so that she could finally comfortably sleep under the covers of her thousand-count Egyptian cotton sheets.

"Why Blair, you certainly have lost the hospitability of a good hostess. Couldn't you at least offer me a drink first?"

"What do you want, Bass?" Blair's eyes narrowed at him as she got a glass and waited for his order. And now I'm playing maid, how wonderful, Blair thought.

"You've forgotten my favorite drink?"

"But of course." Blair gritted her teeth, putting ice cubes in the glass and pouring scotch. She decided to also make herself drinks. She was sure she'll need some.

"Thank you. Now that's the Blair I know." Chuck said after taking a hold of the glass Blair had given him.

They both took a sip of their drinks. "You should've told me."

Blair knew what he was talking about but still asked, "Told you what?"

"Oh, you know Blair! Don't give me that innocent look."

She should have said, "I know, I apologize," but being the stubborn and bitchy girl she was, she retorted glaring at him instead, "Told you what, Chuck?"

"I wouldn't have known that you, the love of my life, are getting married to the man of her dreams, my so-called ex-best friend… I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't read the news from the papers or if I hadn't watched the interviews. I should have heard it from you, Blair. You should have told me. He should have told me." He emphasized the latter part of his speech and to control the anger welling up on his insides, he took the bottle of Scotch on the kitchen counter and poured some on his glass. He knew it's going to happen for sure, but his masochistic tendencies wanted to hear the news from them, hell he'd even attend their wedding if he was invited. He wanted it so bad because witnessing all of it could maybe, just maybe, make him stop thinking about what could have beens, make him stop hoping that he could still bring them back together.

"It's not my fault that I hadn't wanted to tell you. You disappeared from our lives, remember?" And how you dare say you had no idea how it happened, Blair thought remembering how Chuck casually told Darius about their "falling apart".

"But still—"

"But still what, Chuck? What was I supposed to do? Or say? And him? And how was I supposed to tell you that we will be getting married soon?"

"Blair— please don't do this. I still… I still love you" Chuck said the last words quietly as possible but loud enough for her to hear.

Blair looked at him, "You and I have been over for so long, Chuck. We gave it a try, okay? I wanted to make it work as much as you did but you had strayed again. You were never gonna change; you and your womanizing ways. But nevertheless, I've forgiven you."

"Just like you've forgiven him." Chuck said in a sarcastic tone. He almost chuckled at how quick he changed the tone of his voice from desperation to a mocking way.

"Yes and you know, I even tried to get a hold of you. Even your step sister didn't have an idea where you've been then we just found out that you were already enrolled in Harvard. I tried so hard to talk to you— I left you messages every day! You never replied, when in fact, you should be the one who's supposed to be doing all that, not me."

"I should have called you and I regret not doing so. You know me, Blair. I would rather let things be than confront you. I was ashamed of myself for what I did to you. I hated what Nate did and I did the same thing to you and despite everything, you could still be forgiving. I loved you Blair and I still do. I'm sorry I had not been man enough to face you back then but here I am now."

"Listen, Chuck. I loved you and yes, despite everything that has happened between us, I still care. But you have to know, Nate and I are completely different persons now than we were before, we've learned from our mistakes and we're better persons now. We're both in love with each other and we are finally getting married, soon. You have to accept it. I could only hope that you find happiness as well."

5 minutes after Chuck left, the elevators opened once again as Blair came into the foyer to see who it was this time.

"Nate." She came up to him to give him a small kiss on the lips. "I didn't know you'd be in here. It's late."

"I tried to call you but you weren't answering your phone. I was going to ask you something."

"Couldn't it wait in the morning? I'm exhausted."

"I saw Chuck leave. Blair, I thought we'd be cutting him off from our lives? And now he's giving you late night visits? You were avoiding my calls while you're with him?"

"Nate, listen! It's not what you think, okay?"

"Then tell me, what could it possibly be about this time?"

Blair carefully explained to him what occurred earlier. "What happened today with Chuck was inevitable and I'm now relieved that it did 'cause sooner or later, we'd have to face him anyway."

"He didn't try to do anything else, did he?"

"No! Not at all, Nate. We just talked, honestly that's it. Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you. It's the guy… I don't trust him around you." Nate paused and moved closer to her. "I just don't wanna lose you to him again, that's all."

"You won't, okay? It's you who I love." They kissed passionately and when they broke the kiss, Blair spoke, "So what did you come here for?"

/End of Flashback/

"I didn't think he'd do that." Serena said. "You've always been very good friends. Or scheming partners at that. Sooner or later, he will have to realize that and you'll be friends again. After all, It's been so long, Blair."

"I hope you're right, Serena."

"I'll try to talk to him, know where his mind's at." Serena then asked Blair what Nate had asked her that night in order to change the topic.

"I've just finished packing all of my things and I'm moving in the apartment on Sunday. If you don't have anything planned, you can bring Cabbage Patch with you along with the kids, and maybe Eric, the more people who can come, the better."

Serena was going to decline but knowing that Blair wouldn't take no for an answer, she said, "Sure, we can take the kids first for ice cream then drop them off at the nearby day care center while we help you with your stuff."

"Sounds good. I'll tell Nate."