AN: This is gonna be a long chapter. I do hope I don't bore you so enjoy!
Whenever I write, I try not to re-read the whole thing because I might end up re-writing the whole thing again, which is troublesome so… If ever you find any mistakes or if you have comments/suggestions, I'd be very much happy to hear it.
To all those who have read and reviewed, I thank you very much. I really appreciate your comments and support. I'll try my best to make it more interesting so that you can keep yourselves posted.
I could not wait to see new episodes of Gossip Girl! I wanna see more ChuckBlair moments! Haha! They're actually my favorite couple in the series and I find it odd that I'm writing a BlairNate fanfic, my first GG fanfic at that. I really really hope I attract more readers.
Chuck Bass was on his way to the Humphrey-Van der Woodsen apartment in middle Manhattan. Placing the paper bags he had on his left hand, he rang the doorbell and was greeted by his stepsister ten seconds later.
"You're early." Serena gave him an awkward hug and he patted her back uncomfortably, in return. In that instant, Paulo and Andy rushed to his side, 'accidentally' knocking him down.
"Uncle Chuck!" The twins hugged him and he most certainly gave them a genuine smile, one that can rarely be seen from him.
"These things I have right here," he said referring to the paper bags he was still carrying, "are for the two of you."
"Thanks, Uncle Chuck! You're the best" The two kids said in unison (they always say that whenever somebody gives them gifts) as the two disappeared into the living room opening the bags and letting out screams of excitement.
"You should not spoil them, Chuck." Serena said in her usual lecturing tone.
"You should not be cheap like your husband, sis."
"You really are a lot like Blair." She paused for a while at how easily she had just said that but shrugged her shoulders as she turned to him, "Speaking of Blair, do not mess this up, Chuck or else I do not know what I might do to you."
Her glare didn't even make him flinch but because he didn't want to do anything that would mess his relationship with Blair and Nate any more than it already is; he just told Serena that he had no plans of doing anything stupid and that he was really sincere about getting into Blair and Nate's good graces again. In which, Serena had only nodded in satisfaction.
Dan Humphrey, who was wearing a grey vintage shirt and washed out jeans at that time, entered the room and gave a quick peck on the cheek of his wife. "Bass," he greeted him in his usual perplexed manner.
"Humphrey." Chuck managed to say in utter disinterest.
The two men looked at each other, scrutinizing the other silently in their minds.
"You're not seriously gonna wear that, carrying heavy appliances, moving furniture around?" Dan pointed out his index finger to the suit he's wearing. "It's not a black tie event we're attending, Bass."
"Meeting with a client," He lied under his teeth.
"Right, right. A meeting." Dan rolled his eyes and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "This early in the morning."
Dan left Chuck for a minute or two and returned with a pair of jeans, a yellow green Lacoste polo shirt and white Nike sneakers. "You're lucky Serena didn't burn your things," Dan handed him the clothes. Chuck had stayed over their apartment for a week and a half the summer of their junior year in college because his father had cut him his allowance. His father had been furious over the way he had been spending too much money on expensive dinners and liquors and women and other useless things. Bass Junior was supposed to crash over there for a month but Serena had kicked him out early on because of his laziness when it comes to household chores, among other things. He had left yelling to the door shut at him, "I'm Chuck Bass. I don't clean apartments nor do I wash the dishes." He has no idea what he signed up for when Serena had called him last night.
With Dan now carrying Andy and Serena holding Paulo's hand on her left side, the tall blonde said, "We're ready to go if you are."
Chuck, in his now casual attire, emerged from the guest room and went straight to the door, opening it for the family. "I'm more ready to go than you are."
This is gonna be interesting, the three of them thought to themselves as they headed their way to their destination— the Archibald-Waldorf apartment in Park Avenue.
All sorts of pieces of furniture, from center tables to bookshelves, dining room chairs and lamps, paintings, a grand piano, vases and other glassware, kitchen appliances such as the microwave oven and blender, were already brought inside the 10,000 sq. meter 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment. They were disorganized along with other dozens of boxes of clothes and other things. Blair Waldorf sighed in the 'mess' in front of her. Clearly, there were lots of things to be accomplished today.
"I can't believe you agreed to that, Blair." Nate Archibald eyed his fiancé from the kitchen, having just placed a box containing plates and China on the kitchen in the center.
"You've been best friends for how many years! Let's just put everything bad that has happened in the past, behind us. There's no need to hold a grudge against someone who has been a part of our lives at one point."
"And I can't believe you just said that." Nate replied thinking about the change in Blair's attitude over the years. Though she can still be demanding and mean whenever she wants to be, she has become a well rounded individual. Ever since she got into modeling, she had thrown her insecurities out of the window and gained confidence. The 'life-changing' event that took place in her junior year at Constance became a humbling experience for her and it made her realize a lot of things in life. It opened up her eyes to the fact that not everything revolves around her and that not all things could go her way. She has gotten her throne back, of course, but anyways.
"And I'm not angry at him or anything like that. It's just that…" When Nate broke up with Blair after he learned about their affair, it took him two weeks of thinking (and wallowing his sorrows on Jose Cuervo) before he had forgiven Blair and talked with her again. People expected that Nate had quickly forgiven Chuck as well and he did; it just so happened that their best friend status became irreparable. He had never grown accustomed to the idea of his best friend and ex-girlfriend (at that time) dating throughout the rest of their junior and senior year. He also found a true friend in Dan through Serena and Jenny. Once Chuck and him had been into gambling and pot, boozing and partying; Dan, on the other hand, introduced him to movie-watching on Friday nights and pool-playing at Brooklyn bars as a form of male bonding.
"It's just that?" Blair interrupted him from his thoughts.
"We don't have anything in common anymore. Sometimes, you lose just touch with people you've been with almost your entire life and end up not knowing them anymore."
"You really won't if you don't give it a try." She was standing in front of him now.
"I bet he's still the same man whoring son of a bitch." He said wearing his usual brooding face, adding a tone of distaste.
"Just be nice to him, kay? Do it for me?" She placed her arms on his broad shoulders looking at him with her persuading brown doe eyes. "I'll wear the lingerie I wore in the Victoria's Secret photo shoot for you tonight as your reward if you do better than civil."
"Why, Waldorf, you really know how to motivate an Archibald." He kissed her on the lips as her arms tightened around him.
Their make-out session was cut short by the sound of the door bell. He opened the door, revealing—
"Uncle Nate!" The twins tugged at his pants as he picked Andy up while messing with Paulo's dark brown roots. "How are you doing, little angel?" He asked the little girl in his arms. Blair trailed after him as he released his hold on Andy.
"Aunt Blair!" The twins, squealing in unison, yet again, hugged her.
"Paulo! Andy! My! My! You've both gotten bigger than when I last saw you." She grinned at the two adorable kids.
Paulo gave her a quick kiss. "I miss you, Aunt Blair," the boy shyly said.
"Oh! I certainly miss you too. I heard you were being a good boy so I have something for you." She turned to Andy as well, "And you too, of course. The both of you have been good while I was gone, right?"
The two nodded and Blair stood up from her kneeling position. She was wearing a tank top from Victoria's Secret with sequined beads spelling the word SEXY in bold letters in the front, matching it with a white Michael Kors mini skirt. Serena, on the other hand, was wearing one of Dan's vintage shirts with a black vest and a pair Levi's. The look can also be seen with models at the backstage before a fashion show, Blair thought. The two girls gave each other a hug as Dan and Nate did the same, in a manly manner of course leaving Chuck out of place. The latter thought it was ironic that he was the one feeling out of place in the situation, not Dan as it had been long ago.
"Cabbage Patch!" Blair greeted Dan in her cheery voice, no traces of mockery this time, and also gave him a hug as Serena kissed Nate on the cheek.
To make his presence felt, Chuck let out a cough as if to say "I'm also here, you idiots!"
"And Chuck! How have you been?" Blair came to him immediately and gave him a peck on the cheek while Nate gave him a slight nod in greeting.
"Good to see you Blair, Nate. Nice apartment you have in here." Chuck politely said. Since when did Chuck become so polite?
"I hope you already have eaten your breakfast, a heavy one at that, since we'll be having a lot of work to do." Blair said in a bossy and no-nonsense tone.
"We can see that, Blair." Dan commented, gesturing to the entire room.
"As for the children, follow me to the entertainment room where you can watch DVDs for the mean time. I have everything from The Lion King to Shrek." The twins shrieked in excitement. They're both easy to please. "I also brought some brownies and prepared some snacks, as well. Anna will be watching you as soon as she arrives. The rest of you, find yourself something productive to do."
Nate was drilling a hole where he can hang a painting Blair bought from one of her trips in Milan. Chuck and Dan were carrying a couch and placed it where Blair had instructed them to. Serena had just positioned a vase on a side table after putting one on the other.
"When did you get the painting done?" Dan asked.
"Blair and I finished painting last Sunday. We repainted it white, Blair thought black's just too Goth. We love the combination of black and white, nevertheless."
"And there's a pool by the bar. How cool is that?"
"Yeah, we can call Eric and play on Saturday nights. I gotta tell you, though, Blair had been fuming like crazy. She was afraid I'll be turning the loft into some frat house so we have to be discreet."
"Nobody wants an angry Blair." The two men laughed and Dan continued to talk, "The entertainment room's almost done, right?"
"Yeah. We already have the bed in the master's bedroom, too. We have to move the chest over there to the room along with those boxes."
"Okay. Sounds like a lot of work."
"You could have just hired people for this." Chuck said wiping a sweat forming on his forehead. "It would've been easier."
"Nobody forced you to come." Nate retorted. "So don't complain."
"I'm not complaining. I'm just saying. It's not like you can't afford getting around here."
"Painting's fun but then again, you wouldn't know. Too busy drinking and whoring, the Bass way?"
"And what makes you think you're better, huh? You're always too busy brooding, taking things for granted."
"Don't you take things for granted yourself?" On a defensive tone, he added, "I may have been ungrateful at one point, but now I'm very much thankful I've been blessed. And sorry, you're damned."
Chuck was about to throw his fist at Nate when Serena, always the peace maker in the group, spoke. "Chill out, you guys! We're almost done in the living room."
"I just wanted to do something ordinary, for a change," Blair said. The closest to being treated as a regular person she can get was when she was with her friends. "Besides, everything's coming together." True to her word, the living room looks classic and modern. Nate's a bit more on the practical side while Blair's sophisticated and creative. Their differences in style blended perfectly together. A long white sofa and another couch were picked to accommodate as many guests they could invite in future parties they'll be throwing. Conversational pieces such as an unusually shaped lamp placed in the center table were added to give the room a remarkable look, along with other accenting pieces.
By this time, Nate was already hanging the painting on the wall. It was a picture of old buildings and houses with a bridge where people crossed to get to the other side and underneath were small ships. The painter used unique strokes to give texture and details, the result giving it an interesting touch.
"A little more to the right, Natie." Blair ordered him, Nate followed. "Everything looks good."
"Good, Blair? Everything looks perfect!"
"All thanks to you, S! Helping us with our ideas and everything."
"Don't thank me, yet. We're still not done. There's the kitchen and the dining room—"
"Yeah, I know, I know. You have to venture into interior designing, though, with your talent you'll be helping a lot of clueless people out there."
Serena smiled. She majored in Fine Arts at Brown and she was currently working as an eventologist, planning parties and various social events which is something Blair would typically do while she was supposed to be the one into modeling.
Ding! Dong! Blair got her wallet as she paid the delivery boy for the pizza she ordered. The delivery boy asking for her autograph in which she casually agreed. "Come on you guys! Lunch is here! I'm not planning on starving you or making you overwork. I'm not that sadistic."
"Blair eats pizza now?" Chuck sarcastically said raising his left brow.
"No. I have a packed salad." Taking a slice of pizza from the box, she said. "But since you asked, I don't mind having one."
"Sorry Bass, no scotch." Nate said passing him a can of beer.
"This will do, I guess." Chuck opened it, spilling his shirt with the contents of the can bursting out. "Thanks man," he said rolling his eyes.
Blair eyed him so Nate apologized and said, "I'll get you a shirt." He chose an oversized black shirt from a box and handed it to him.
"You'd look like a hip-hop mogul if you add in the bling blings." Serena said in a mocking tone seeing Chuck wear the shirt, the rest of them had burst in uncontrollable laughter imagining Chuck rapping and all that. The ringing of Blair's phone had cut in and after 3 minutes, she nodded to whoever she was talking to on the phone and informed the group that she's got an emergency meeting with her agent so after putting on a Chanel dark brown leather jacket and sliding on a suede ankle boots, she left holding a brown oversized bad giving Nate a quick kiss and waving goodbye.
Opening the door, Vanessa suddenly appeared carrying a box of Krispy Kreme donuts in one hand and her bag on the other. "Wow, I was just gonna ring the—"
"Va-ne-ssa!! Oh-my-Gosh, you're here!" Blair cooed as she hugged her. "Catch with you later, though. Have to go. Be back soon." She left giving her air kisses, leaving Vanessa more puzzled than ever. Never in a million years had they thought that they could be at this point, sharing pleasantries and so much more. When Blair had realized that Vanessa had no intentions of breaking Serena and Dan's relationship, she instantly grew to like her instead and found out that the black-haired gorgeous girl is actually sincere and jolly, which is quite refreshing since she doesn't really know a lot of people who can be as genuine. They eventually became friends and have gotten closer ever since their best friends got married.
"What is up with her?" Was all she managed to say, getting a hug from Serena and then Dan.
"Some meeting," Nate was the only one who answered her while Chuck, being Chuck, just smirked at her.
"I thought you'd be in Vermont?" Dan asked.
"Well, yeah, but I got a job offer in here with Blair's help." Vanessa was now working as a freelance photographer. "I have to find a new apartment, though."
"You can stay with us. The guest room's free." Serena offered. "And besides, the kids love having you there."
"Your kids love everyone."
"How'd you know we're here?" Dan asked.
"Well, I went to Blair's and no one's home then I ran into your dad and he said you guys are gonna be helping with Blair and Nate's new apartment but then he didn't know the exact address so I had to ask around and now I'm here." She paused for a breath, "So, donuts anyone?"
She entered the room and was actually surprised to see how great the living room looked. "You did all this?"
"Yes. I can hardly believe it myself." Chuck replied.
"But there's a lot of work needed to be done, still." His step sister said.
"Oh, no, I didn't sign up for this." Vanessa pouted while the other girl just laughed.
Serena was left in charge so she gave each a task to do. Nate and Chuck were in charged of the kitchen while Dan and Serena were to arrange the living room. Nate and Chuck argued at first but Serena was persuasive enough saying, "now that Blair's gone, you can talk out your issues as adults." She didn't think that with Blair gone, they won't have a strong force to stop them from killing each other.
"Well? What about me?" Vanessa asked but more so, confused about Chuck and Nate's 'reactions'.
"Oh, don't mind them, they're just being childish. You can wipe those wine glasses in there and put them in the shelves. Now, there's a certain order to that but I'll supervise you so we better start now."
Twenty minutes have passed in silence. Nate knows Blair likes to keep things organized so he had arranged the sets of plates by color; the whites go together and so on. Chuck, on the other hand, was told to put the cooking pots in the cabinets.
"Can't believe we're doing this." Chuck declared hopefully breaking the silence between them.
"Organizing kitchen tools and utensils. Yeah."
"The kitchen's just for display. Neither you nor Blair even knows how to cook."
"Blair does."
"That, I have yet to find out for myself." Chuck closed the cabinets and turned to Nate, "That wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be."
"So, I guess you're sorry."
"I've been sorry for such a long time, Nate." It's the first time Chuck said his name that day. "I just thought you didn't want to include me in your lives anymore."
"Guys are supposed to bump into each other's chests, spank each other's backs and have a good laugh about it. We shouldn't hold out for how long like girls do."
"But we did."
"I know I said I've forgiven you then but you see, something like that's hard to forget and maybe I only have forgiven you half-heartedly. It sucked for me at that time. When I had finally realized I love Blair, she was already with you. I was jealous and maybe a little bitter so I stayed away since it hurts too much to see you two together. I was happy but a big part of me was wounded and hurt."
"There's this unwritten rule I broke. But me and Blair, it just sort of happened and you have to know how much I fought the feelings back…" Chuck cringed at how he's talking about his feelings now. "I'm not sorry it happened. I'm just sorry that I had hurt you. I'm sorry for being selfish."
"I know." Nate paused. "Blair's right. We should just forget the past and move on. Try to be friends again."
"I couldn't agree more."
"I'm just… Sorry about the shirt. Can't help it." Nate grinned.
"Just letting you have the fun, dude."
Serena and Dan were smiling like idiots, eavesdropping at the two.
"You both can come out now," Chuck said rolling his eyes.
"You owe me one, bro."
It was already 4:30 in the afternoon when they were almost done and the two kids were sleeping soundly in the new guest room. They were hanging out in the entertainment room, talking and laughing and singing/humming to the Beatles song playing in the background. Nate had found his favorite Beatles compilation album and put the record on the component. Songs such as A Day in the Life, Imagine, Yesterday and Hey Jude have just been finished and when Blair entered the room, I Wanna Hold Your Hand was already playing.
Dan and Serena were dancing with Chuck sitting down the black leather couch, smirking at their antics.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Blair asked, confused.
Nate approached her instead ignoring her reaction, singing off-key, "O please, say to me.. You'll let me be your man.. And please, say to me.. You'll let me hold your hand.." Blair held Nate's hand and he twirled her around in a dance and she giggled. She just sang along, "Now let me hold your haaaand.. Let me hold your haaaand.."
Vanessa stood in front of Chuck asking for a dance, "C'mon now Chuck, let's hit it. Nobody lets a Bass stay behind as a wallflower."
They were all dancing in pairs until Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da started playing and all of them sang along laughing, "Obladi oblada life goes on bra..
Lala how the life goes on"
"I see you've patched things up with Chuck." Blair said.
"You were right about everything."
"Yes, I'm always right."
"So…"
"So??"
"Remember what you said earlier?"
"About what?" She batted her eyelashes innocently at him.
"You know, you modeling lingerie for me." Nate whispered to her ears. "In private."
"Ah… yes. I do remember." She got a clear book from her bag and gave it to him. "As a matter of fact, I can let you see some samples. Darius, the photographer, also met up with me and my agent and he gave me some hard copies to add to my portfolio."
He was glancing at Blair's photos. "Sweetheart, you look…"
"Hot?"
"Yeah." He paused flipping the pages. "And there's gonna be a billboard in Madison Avenue?"
"Yeah. Don't tell me you're not approving. We've already talked about this before, hun."
Serena approached them and asked, "Are these your photos for the Victoria's Secret ad?" Blair nodded.
"Wow, you look amazing in these!" Serena hugged her friend, "Congratulations!"
Chuck, Vanessa and Dan looked at the photos as well.
"I can't believe I'm friends with a lingerie model." Dan commented.
"Not just a lingerie model, a Victoria's Secret model at that." Vanessa corrected her best friend. "What do you think about that, Nate?"
Nate snatched the clear book from them saying, "I-well-I'm proud of her, of course. I just have to get used to the knowledge of having the world see her like this." He let out a cough. "Now if you could just excuse me, I think I have to cover the bed with sheets and pillows in the other room."
"He's not mad, is he?" Serena asked in concern.
"Of course not. It just has something to do with a reward." Blair flashed her best friend a knowing grin.
Nate got the bed sheets from one of the boxes and went to the master's bedroom. He was about to spread the sheets when he noticed a medium sized red box on Blair's dresser. Curious, he took a peek of what's inside and was shocked when he saw a velvet box inside containing a Diamond necklace, the one he saw Blair wore at the cotillion years ago, along with pictures of Blair and Chuck, love letters and other memorabilia.
"Need help with anything, sweetie?" His fiancé yelled out to him upon opening the door. She was about to cover the pillows with the pillow sheets when she saw what Nate was looking at. She was about to explain when Nate beat her to it—
"Put everything in the past behind us, Blair?" He threw her the necklace and held out the photos in front of her. "When you were clearly hanging on to the past."
"No, Nate! Let me explain. I was just—"
"I can't deal with this, now. I'm going out for a smoke."
"You can, in the balcony."
"No, I'm taking a walk."
He grabbed his jacket and left the apartment leaving the others confused.
"But I thought he wasn't mad?"
"No, it wasn't about that, Serena. Chuck, I think you should leave."
"I didn't do anything."
"Just leave, okay? I'll call you. Thanks so much for the help."