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"I'd take another chance, take a fall, take a shot for you
And I need you like a heart needs a beat, but it's nothing new."
~One Republic "Apologize"
A slight shove, and Blair was awake in seconds. The light flashing in her eyes blinded her. Her eyes adjusted enough to see someone standing in the doorway. She felt it instantly, the urge to run. That look in his eyes seemed to say everything. It was the cold, calculating look in his icy eyes that he reserved for when he was either drunk off his ass or extremely mad. But she was paralyzed by this look. There was more to it than she thought possible. All at once, he was a lover and a fighter.
For some reason, Chuck didn't even feel the need to say anything. He just stood there and paralyzed her with his eyes. How could she? After all that they'd been through, now she did this to him? What confused him the most though, was why he even cared enough to come here. And why it was he and not Nathaniel. But Serena had said he needed to fight for her and that's what he was here to do.
Blair somehow found the willpower to stand up. Chuck involuntarily moved to help her, but she didn't know why. She was somewhat steadier on her feet than she was on the ground. On the ground, she was below him. She was more vulnerable. She went to leave the bathroom. She took a step forward and he took a step back. This pattern repeated until he had backed into her room, around the bed to the other side so that she stood on one side of her bed and he stood on the other.
This situation had presented itself to them before, but this moment was so different from that one. It was hard to believe that the atmosphere had changed so dramatically in less than 2 months. Lust, greed, submission, relief, Chuck thought, registering the feelings both he and Blair had felt in this very room, on this very bed. And maybe even Nathaniel. But he didn't know. And he couldn't bring himself to think of anyone else claiming what he already knew was his; what he had marked as his own. And she had marked him too. Her ruby red lips had parted and screamed his name first. This brought him an intense wave of pleasure.
"Why are you here?" Blair managed to say softly. She wanted to scream it, but it didn't seem necessary. Their last encounter had been proof enough of how she had felt. At least then, at that moment in time. She wasn't even counting their encounter in the snow because that hadn't even been a conversation. Blair and Chuck's last encounter had not been one of great pleasure. Blair had cried and Chuck had mourned for his past life and for his one true love. But Blair had been unwilling to let him even come into her penthouse, turning him down at the elevator. At that moment, their games had stopped and they were just two scared kids who were hopelessly in love with each other. But it didn't matter. None of it mattered. That had been the second time in Chuck's life that he had given roses to a girl. Ironically, both times had been with Blair and both times he had been rejected. Why was he here? He knew this could only bring more pain for both of them. But Serena had pleaded desperately with him and he couldn't pass up the chance to see Blair again.
"For you," Chuck whispered. He turned around and sat down on her bed, his back facing her, and put his head in his hands. He couldn't speak for a couple of minutes. He couldn't speak, not after what he had just seen. And smelled. And now Blair was acting as if nothing had happened; as if nothing was wrong. Blair was worried that he was drunk. She moved instinctively towards him, across the bed.
"What's wrong?" she asked softly, moving her hand to his shoulder softly to comfort him.
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