It was 10:15 in the morning when Nate Archibald woke up at the sound of his phone ringing and saw the other side of his bed empty.

"Hello?"

"Hey man." It was Dan on the other phone. His wife asked him to call Nate up to see where his mind's at and to know if everything between him and Blair are fine.

"Yeah, what's up?" Nate felt a throbbing pain on his head and he was feeling nauseous. He searched for a bottle of aspirin on the side table. Every time Blair knows he's going out with the guys and he ends up going back to his apartment drunk, she'd put a glass of water and a bottle of pain relievers on the bedside so that when he finally wakes up, he'd just take them and go back to sleep or take a shower. This time, he looks for the pain killers in the medicine cabinet at the rest room.

"We're fine. Serena was just worried about leaving Blair alone last night. We left early." Dan replied. He was actually late for work. After college, the New York Times hired him and he's now working as a journalist. He also writes a column for the New Yorker, the magazine that published his first short story when he was still in his junior year in high school, while he helps his father with running the Art Gallery. Moreover, he has just written a bestselling novel and sold thousands of copies, earning the respect of his in-laws and those in the Upper East Side who thought he was not good enough for the Van der Woodsen heiress. Adding a tone of sincerity in his voice, he asked, "I don't mean to pry but my wife practically directed me to ask how you guys are. You know how Serena still gets with Blair…" Taking a pause he continues to ask, "Where'd you go last night?"

"I-well-uhm…" Nate stops to think of words to say to explain what happened and found it was easier to lie but not exactly since it's the half-truth, "Went to a bar and had a few drinks. Blair and I didn't really have the chance to talk. When I got home, she was already asleep and I was just tired."

Dan knows how easily Nate can get drunk just after having a few drinks. Nate may tend to get a bit fierce when he's drunk but Dan knows he'll never get violent towards Blair so he pushes the thought out of his mind. "Were you able to talk to her this morning?"

"No, she left. Fitting for clothes or something." He answered, just getting a bottle of mineral water from the fridge.

"You're not doing anything later, right?" Dan asked.

"Nope. I'm just gonna take a shower. There's no food in here so I might go out for…" Taking a quick look at the wall clock in the kitchen which says 10:30, "Brunch", he says. They really have to do some grocery shopping soon.

"Listen— I'm just gonna drop by at the office to submit an article. My editor's going to kill me. I'll probably be done, like, at around 12:30. We can both meet up for lunch. There's this Chinese restaurant near our building."

"Okay, sounds good. I've to go get showered."

"Aryt, man. I'm running in late too."

"Thanks for your help yesterday."

With that, he went back to the bedroom when he noticed Blair's ripped pink night gown on the floor. He picks it up, inspects it as he remembered how rough he had been on her last night. He was no longer angry with her but he knows Blair isn't. He'll need a lot of major apologizing to do. He calls Blair's agent and asks her where Blair could be then calls the flower shop.

At the Humphrey-Van der Woodsen apartment, Serena was helping his husband with his neck tie and asks him how his conversation with Nate went. He informed her what Nate told him saying, "We're meeting up for lunch."

"Great. You can explain to him that Blair had only wanted to give the box back to Chuck and Nate can finally realize that he's being such an idiot jumping into conclusions just like that."

"You know— Whatever problems they're having as a couple, we should just stay out of it and let them fix it on their own."

"Then how come you asked him to meet up?" Serena snapped back tying the tie too tight.

"Hey! Are you planning on strangling your husband to death?" Dan said choking out the words, Serena loosening up the tie.

"You know I love you, Dan. I can never do that?" Serena said giggling like a four year old. "Seriously though, let's be honest here. I know you're as concerned as I am when it comes to them. You're just as nosey as a friend as me." Serena knowingly said.

"They seriously have trust issues— especially when it comes to Chuck."

"But don't we all?" Serena asked.

"Do we?" Dan said pulling Serena into him. "I think we're happily married enough to get past that."

"I don't trust you as much around the kids." Serena said in a joking tone. Dan and the kids always do all sorts of pranks around her.

Blair Waldorf arrived the photo studio, wearing black Dior top, black satin pants, a pair of red Manolo Blahnik high heels and black Gucci sunglasses. She was carrying a cappuccino in one hand and her bag on the other. Christian, her 'personal assistant' from the Victoria's Secret photo shoot, greeted her showing her a vase of hydrangeas.

"They just delivered these flowers. They're from your handsome fiancé, I suppose?" Christian announced in a good-natured tone mixed with a hint of envy.

Blair was about to ask him something when her phone started ringing. After getting it from her bag, she flipped the phone and tossed it aside after seeing Nate's picture on the small screen. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet so she turned to Christian instead, "Rule #1, don't snoop around my personal affairs. I still don't want or need a personal assistant and I could easily fire you in an instant. But then again, I kind of enjoy bossing people around…"

Christian just looked at her in awe and said nothing. He has heard rumors about Blair Waldorf being such a big Prima Donna, possessing a bitchy attitude. There was even this one time, he heard his co-workers talking, when she threw an angry fit at a new assistant for no reason at all. But of course, none of these rumors were true. People just like making up stories about celebrities or successful people to make them think they're better.

"Relax. I'm just kidding. I just hate people poking their noses into my business, that's all. I actually like you. You've been very helpful in the last shoot and I can tell we can get along. It also helps that you have a good sense of humor. So… I've thought about it and you can work with me." Blair smiled at him and gestured her right hand for him to shake.

"Thank you, Ms. Waldorf. I feel so honored and privileged to be working with you. I'll do everything you ask me to do, I promise." Christian smiled back, feeling relief. You can't ask people to stop talking about you, but you can prove them wrong.

"Just call me Blair."

The make-up artists and hair stylists came in the room. Blair puts on her earphones and opens a book in her hands, reading it to get through another two hours of hair and make-up.

Dan Humphrey was sloppily eating his stir fry noodles and dim sum with his chop sticks. Nate Archibald was sitting in front of him, having spring rolls, lemon chicken and fried rice.

"Blair says we should have dinner—all of us—on Sunday." Dan said after taking a sip of his iced tea.

"Yeah, sure. Our place. It'll be great." Nate casually replied. "That's the least we could do to thank you for helping us yesterday. Place looks really nice."

"No problem, dude. You also helped us with our home when Serena and I were just starting out and sometimes with babysitting the kids, too, when you can."

"I love them. Your kids are awesome."

"So… how many kids do you wanna have with Blair? I'm not saying right now seeing that the two of you are busy with your careers and stuff. But in the future, you know."

Blair has always told him about her dream of them having 2.5 kids, a house with white picket fence and maybe a dog. When he asked Blair to marry him, he has thought about their future as well. He said, "Blair and I were both an only child and I wanna have a big family on my own." He then thought of little Nates and little Blairs running around the garden in front of their huge home. "Blair on the other hand, she wants to keep it simple. Ironic, huh?"

"If you only knew what I thought of her back then." Dan let out a laugh. "Who would've thought she'd turn out okay? We'd turn out okay."

"Yeah." Nate ponders this for a while. He had tried calling Blair earlier but she didn't answer and he thought it was only because she's currently busy working. He was planning on visiting her at the studio after lunch but he also thought that he'll have the chance to talk to her in private when she gets home. He tells Dan, "I shouldn't have acted the way I did last night. For all I know, there's a good explanation to that."

"About the pictures and everything, yeah." Dan looks at him straight in the eye, "I shouldn't probably be the one to tell you this but you really have to know. Blair was only gonna give it back to Chuck."

"I know. I considered that possibility. I've been a jerk." Nate admitted to Dan. "It's just that, whenever I'm reminded of what Blair and Chuck had, I get so…"

"Jealous?" Dan suggested.

"Yeah, jealous and mad. I can't seem to control those feelings and I just snapped. I didn't wanna get into a fight with her so I left, to clear my head, you know."

"She asked him to leave after you stormed off." Nate looks at him raising his brows in surprise Dan continued to talk, giving him advice. "Blair really loves you and if you keep up that act, you're just gonna push her away. Just talk to her, apologize. Tell her you've been stupid, she'll dig that. Let her explain and everything's going to be fine again."

"Maybe have some make-up sex." He then jokes.

Nate wanted to confess about hurting Blair last night physically when he didn't mean and that he was only drunk but he didn't. Instead, he says, "I sent her her favorite flowers. I've been waiting for us to talk at home later but I guess, I'm just gonna pay her a visit at the studio. She's the cover girl for Vanity Fair next month."

"You're lucky to have a girl like her. And I say that not only because she's insanely beautiful and famous."

"She's perfect, I know. There's nothing more I can ask for."

Ever since what happened last night, Chuck Bass could not wait to talk to Blair so after two hours of contemplating and staring at his phone, he dialed Blair's number and after a few rings, he heard an unfamiliar voice answer.

"Who's this? Where's Blair?" Chuck asked crossly.

"This is her assistant speaking. Miss Waldorf is currently working right now. Can I get your message?"

What! Blair hired someone to answer her calls now when an answering machine can do the job for her perfectly? He thought to himself and asked this 'assistant' where they were.

"I'm sorry, sir but you might just have to try calling again later." Christian replied as politely as possible although he was getting annoyed by Chuck's arrogance.

"Don't you know who I am? I'm Chuck Bass. I'm friends with Blair, okay?"

With that, Christian texted him the address of the studio and he gave it to his limo driver anxiously waiting to see Blair.

Blair had just finished being interviewed by the writers and was about to change back into her clothes when Chuck showed up in the make-up room.

"Hey, Blair. I just wanna talk to you about last night. Serena told me what happened and I just…" Chuck mumbled seeing her, being taken aback by her beauty.

"I'm busy right now. Let's talk later. I'll call you." Blair calmly said, walking away from him.

Chuck got to her and grabbed her wrist.

"What! You're hurting me! Stop!" She shrieked looking at him in anger, pulling away from his touch.

He was surprised to see her overreacting to this when his grip on her wasn't even hard and then he demanded, "Tell me Blair. Did Nate hurt you?"

In a defensive tone, she quickly replied, "No. Nate would never hurt me." She looked up at him saying, "I'm just stressed, that's all. I've been really tired from yesterday's events and I didn't get enough sleep last night."

But Chuck did not buy her explanation. She could still be transparent to him and he could tell something's wrong and that it's got something to do with Nate. He didn't push it though and instead, he said, "I can tell when something's troubling you and if you don't want to tell me about it, it's fine. I just wanted to know if you're okay."

"I appreciate your concern but whatever Nate and I are going through, we'll fix it." As much as Blair wanted to convince herself that, she could not stop thinking about what Nate did and although she could not reveal this to Chuck or anyone else, for that matter, she couldn't help being vulnerable in front of him. She just started crying softly, finding comfort in his arms.

Chuck brushes her hair with his fingers, his other hand gently patting her back. "It's going to be fine. I'll talk to him."

She softly speaks, "I think it'd be better for all of us if you just stay away for a while until I make him understand."

He looks down at her and slightly nods, wiping her tear-stained face and breaks away from her when he sees…

Nate didn't bother to knock and upon entering the room, he was shocked at the sight in front of him. Her fiancé and ex-best friend sharing an intimate moment alone.

Blair looks at the person standing behind Chuck. "Nate."

AN: Every time I see new reviews, my face lightens up and I couldn't help smiling feeling overwhelmed with such great comments. Thank you so much you guys!

Almost all BlairChuck fanficts depict Nate as an ass and I know I may have made him a jerk (an understatement at that) in the previous chapter, I only wanted to show his "bad" side behind the perfect gentleman he perfectly plays. So in this fic, Nate's really a good guy and I wanna prove that he deserves someone like Blair in here unless you guys convince me enough to turn this into C/B in the end. Hehe.

Please feel free to write your comments/suggestions. Thank you so much.

And…. Can somebody please tell me how to use line breaks? I've been trying to add those and whenever I upload, the line breaks and tabs don't show. I'm using Microsoft Word 2003 so…