Chapter 26
In our modern age, when you can call someone and can't find them, you can pretty much be sure they'll get the message.
But if they don't call you back, it usually means they don't want to be found.
I killed someone
That was the sentence that kept going around in circles in Blair Waldorf's head as she rode around Manhattan in a taxi trying to find her best friend. She'd been up all night trying to find Serena after she disappeared the previous night and she was slowly running out of options in where the blonde could be. Despite Serena's confession swimming around in her head, Blair chose not to dwell on it and focus on finding and helping Serena. She'd figure out what to do with the rest of the story later.
Blair sighed as she checked her Cartier watch and looked again outside her window in desperation. She decided that she'd give it one more hour of trying on her own before she called in for reinforcement. She had already spent the entire night searching through all of Serena's old hang outs on both the Upper East and West side and still no luck. It wasn't until Blair leaned back against the back seat with resigned sigh and turned her head that the gods smiled on her.
She quickly ordered the driver to stop and climbed out of the car towards her best friend who just fell on the ground outside of some fifth floor walkup, obviously intoxicated, "Serena! Thank god I found you!"
"B.!" the blonde laughed and clapped before she attempted to stand up on her own, only to promptly fall over again.
Blair sighed and helped Serena into the still waiting cab and instructed the driver to go to her penthouse as she pulled out her cell to call for that reinforcement as she quickly called both Nate and Chuck, choosing to call Nate first.
Blair sighed in relief when he answered after a couple of rings, sounding wide awake, "Nate, thank god you answered. Look, there's trouble and I need you to meet me at my penthouse, like now."
"Is everything okay? Are you hurt?" Nate asked concerned.
"I'm fine, but…it's Serena. Look I'll explain when you get here, okay?" Blair looked over at Serena as she spoke on the phone.
"Okay, I'll be right there," Nate responded before disconnecting the line.
As Blair started dialing Chuck she continued to look at the blonde beside her, giving her a little shake to insure that she was still alive. It looked like Serena had had a very rough night and Blair could only hope that she didn't do anything stupid. She didn't know what was going on with Serena, but she knew that whatever it was, she needed her friends to help her get through it and that was exactly what they were going to do. Blair only hoped that Lily would remain in the dark about it all until it was over, otherwise there would be even more problems to handle for the day.
With that thought in mind she quickly dialed the one she'd wanted to call since she came back from upstairs to find Serena missing the previous night and she would have if she didn't know that he was going to be on the Bass jet heading home to her with his father from the bachelor party trip. The idea was for them to fly through the night and arrive in plenty of time for the dinner rehearsal scheduled for tonight for Bart and Lily's wedding. Blair only hoped he wasn't planning on sleeping the day away today.
xoxo
Meanwhile in the Palace hotel, Chuck was loading a light plate of fruit for his breakfast, feeling refreshed, relaxed and already forming a plan to call Blair later to spend some quality time together after going so long apart. Sure Monte Carlo was fun and Chuck got to spend that time actually bonding with his father, but with all the drama going on here, Chuck found that he would have been more useful on the home front. Now that he was back, he knew he needed to get updated on all fronts that he wasn't made aware of during his travels.
Granted he could have gotten started on getting his updates through Serena, but it appeared his sister didn't come home the previous night. Chuck chose to shrug it off, figuring that she was spending the night with Blair since he didn't get their traditional late night phone call before she went to bed. As much as Blair enjoyed their late night talks while he was away, Chuck, himself, enjoyed it just as much, and it made the time apart a bit more bearable to him. The bad news with Serena spending the night with Blair was that Chuck now had to reevaluate what time he could swing by Blair's to spend the afternoon. The blonde had a tendency to not be able to take a hint some times.
He'd just come into the sitting room just off of the dining room when he spotted the other Brooklyn vermin speaking to his father and Lily before the couple walked away. Chuck sighed, this was the last thing he needed this morning, before he gave his signature smirk as he prepared to give his usual greeting of insult as he watched Humphrey look into Serena's bedroom and noted that her bed hadn't been slept in, "Well, I knew housekeeping was hiring, but I had no idea their standards were so low."
Dan gave a forced laugh as he turned towards Chuck as he spoke, "I hate that I have to ask you this, but have you seen Serena?"
Chuck popped a raspberry into his mouth before he responded, "Oh, I've seen lots of Serena." Unfortunately, Chuck didn't get to hear what the vermin had to say in response because his cell phone chose that moment to ring.
Chuck glanced at the caller ID and grinned as he answered, "Are you taking up drunk dialing, love?"
"It's a little early for that, don't you think?" Blair replied, not breaking her stride.
"It's always Five somewhere," Chuck responded quickly, enjoying the banter.
"Listen, I have to ask you something. Serena didn't come home last night did she?" Blair asked a bit weary of the answer, but needing to know either way in order to figure out how much parental defence she was going to have to play for the day.
Chuck hesitated before he responded, "No, Serena didn't come home last night. I thought she was with you."
Blair closed her eyes briefly before she opened them as she answered, "She is now, but it's a very recent development and I know how important today is with Bart and Lily so I just wanted to make sure that they were as far in the dark as possible."
As Chuck nodded into the phone and slowly walked towards the front door, he paused as he sensed someone behind him. Fixing a glare on his face he turned towards the vermin standing there. Choosing not to say a word and let his expression speak for him, Chuck just continued to give Humphrey a cold look as he walked out the door and shut it behind him before he responded to his girlfriend on the phone, "What do you need me to do?"
"I need you at the penthouse, now. I don't know what's going on fully, but I do know that it's bad," Blair explained, "And I also need you to get every hangover cure known to man."
Chuck nodded, deciding it best to not ask questions as he got into the elevator to take him down to the lobby, "I'm leaving now and I'll be there in about 20 minutes."
"Thank you, I love you," Blair spoke graciously, felling a small part of the weight on her shoulders lessen, as she knew that Chuck would at least handle his part.
"I love you too, and whatever is going on, we'll figure it out, okay?" Chuck tried his best to reassure her, even though he was completely in the dark.
"I have every faith that it will. I'll see you soon," Blair said with a faint smile before she hung up the phone.
Chuck hung up his own cell as he greeted Arthur just outside the hotel and gave him the required instructions of what Chuck needed before having the driver drop him off at Blair's penthouse first before gathering the needed materials and bringing them by later. From the way Blair sounded on the phone, Chuck knew that it was better that he get there sooner rather than later.
xoxo
It didn't take long until Chuck was hopping out of his limo outside of Blair's building and sending Arthur off to run the required errands before Chuck quickly headed inside, just barely able to catch the elevator that was closing and slipping in. When he glanced over to see who else occupied the space he let out a chuckle, "Nathaniel, I can't say that I'm surprised."
"The feeling's mutual. Do you know anything about what this is all about?" Nate asked as he shoved his hands into his pockets with a sigh.
"As far as I know it's about Serena. Blair sounded overwhelmed on the phone, and with you here I can only assume it's pretty bad," Chuck spoke as the elevator doors opened to Blair's penthouse.
The two boys walked in without hesitation as they glanced around in search of the either the brunette or the blonde in question, finding no one to greet them. Chuck looked around in confusion as he commented, "Maybe this is Blair's idea of a perverse double date."
Before Nate could reply with more than a smile, Dorota made her presence known, appearing out of know where as she addressed them calmly, "Miss Blair asks that you should wait here. She's on her way now."
Chuck shrugged as he moved farther into the sitting room and stretched out on the lounge chair as Nate just frowned, even more confused as he asked, "She's not even here?"
Dorota simply shrugged before she turned and went back to whatever it was that she was doing before they arrived. Nate turned towards Chuck, watching as he got himself more comfortable, "Aren't you concerned at all about what's going on?"
Chuck scoffed, "Of course I am, I just choose not to show it. Besides it's not as if I can do anything until they get here, so I may as well get comfortable."
Chuck silently watched Nate pace around the sitting room anxiously before Nate decided to break the silence, "So how was your trip?"
"It was fine, although with all the drama getting stirred up here on the home front, I feel that I would have been of much better use here," Chuck spoke as he checked his watch for the time, "So I hear you've taken a page out of Serena's book and started dating a Brooklynite?"
Nate froze briefly before sighing, "Don't refer to her as that. Vanessa's cool. Besides it's just in the beginning stages; we haven't even gone out on an official first date."
Chuck smirked up at his best friend, "Just promise me that I'll get to be there when you tell Blair. Something tells me that I would find her look of disgust more than just a little bit amusing."
Just then the sound of the elevator door went off as it opened revealing the object of Chuck's affection looking flustered. Nate was the first to speak as Chuck stood up, "Well, is something actually wrong, or is this just some ploy to get a favor?"
Blair rolled her eyes and sighed, "I meant what I said on the phone. I need your help. We need your help." Both Chuck and Nate quickly followed after her as she turned and headed back to the elevator to hold it open. The look on Blair's face was sobering enough for both of them and they knew that it was even more serious than even Chuck originally thought when he first received the call not too long ago. When they reached Blair's side and looked into the elevator car, there was Serena sitting on the floor and breathing heavily; her face covered in make-up from the previous night and looked like a total mess.
Nate quickly stepped into the car first with Chuck as the two worked together, taking each of Serena's arms and wrapping them around their necks as they quickly walked Serena into Blair's penthouse and up the stairs. "What's wrong with her?" Chuck asked, feeling the stirrings of pure fear as Serena didn't respond.
"Take her upstairs," Blair directed as she gathered the rest of Serena's things and followed after them upstairs, calling out, "Dorota! Coffee, fast."
After the foursome was able to successfully get the blonde into Blair's bed, Chuck received a text from Arthur, informing Chuck that he was downstairs with all of the items Chuck requested earlier. Chuck quickly turned and headed out of the room to get the bags from his driver with the promise of a quick return. As Blair watched him leave she nodded as she removed her coat and tossed it onto a nearby chair as she took off her shoes and went over to her bed to attempt to get Serena up and in the shower to sober up.
"Come on, Serena," Nate helped to rouse Serena up from the bed as Blair explained, "We have to get her in the shower. We have to keep her talking and awake."
"No, I just want to sleep," Serena whined as she attempted to pull away, but Blair and Nate continued to pull as she continued on, "Why won't you let me sleep?"
"Here. No. Come on, come on," Blair coddle her as Nate tried his best to discourage Serena from attempting to lay back down on the bed as they finally got Serena to sit up.
AS the two worked together to get Serena towards the bathroom, Blair directed her next order to Dorota, who came into the room with the cup of coffee that Blair had asked for, as Blair snatched and threw down the comforter that Serena attempted to cling to, "Dorota, will you please get her a fresh change of clothes and a bathrobe?"
"Of course, Miss Blair," Dorota nodded before going off to fulfill her duties.
Thankfully, Chuck chose that moment to walk through Blair's door with two bags in hand. He began to explain what he had his driver get as he watched the two struggle to get the blonde in the bathroom, "So we have every hangover cure known to man, plus bagels. They should help soak up the alcohol and whatever else she took."
"Thank you," Blair replied over her shoulder as her and Nate finally made it to their destination and sat Serena down on the edge of the tub, "I'll take it from here." She said, dismissing Nate from the room as she began to undress Serena after running the water for the shower.
Nate took his cue and shut the door behind him to give the girls some privacy as Chuck began to unpack the two bags, smirking a bit to himself as he overheard Serena screaming that the water was cold. "Just like old times," Chuck spoke softly as he read the label on one of the bottles he pulled out of the sack.
Nate shook his head as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking exhausted as he leaned against the wall beside the bathroom door, "Why do I get the feeling that you're actually enjoying this?"
Chuck opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the sound of Serena throwing up in the next room, he smirked and shrugged it off with a simple, "Call me sentimental," before going back to his task.
Blair slipped out of the bathroom after another moment of Serena gagging, motioning over to Dorota to head in and help Serena as she spoke to the boys waiting for an update, "We may not need those bagels after all."
"What's going on with her?" Nate asked bluntly as he took a seat on Blair's bed.
"She was here last night, scared," Blair began to explain as she made her way over to her bed to lay out Serena's dress in her hands to be sent out to be washed, "She…she told me something totally crazy, but was too freaked out to find the words to explain it." Blair began to gather a bottle of water and a bottle of aspirin from the loot Chuck brought as she continued on, "I went upstairs to find my mom's valium to calm her down, but when I got back, she was gone."
Blair sighed as she went back to the bathroom, "It took me all night to find her."
Chuck frowned as he listened before asking the most prominent question on his mind, "What exactly did she say to you?"
Blair paused before turning towards her current and ex-boyfriends before she responded, "That's beside the point. We're here to help Serena, no matter what the problem is." With her final word, Blair headed back into the bathroom to help Dorota with Serena, figuring that she'd let Serena tell them the full extent of what was going on because Blair, herself, still had no idea.
xoxo
About an hour later, Blair was downstairs with Dorota gathering some fresh towels to take upstairs for Serena, who was now officially sober and cleaned up from the night before. Blair figured that once the blonde was settled the gang could settle down and figure out what exactly was going on. With all that was going on this morning, Blair hadn't even gotten the chance to properly welcome her boyfriend home from his trip abroad and she found herself sighing over the loss. She'd missed him this past week, but she knew that they would have time to focus on them later.
Figuring that she could go into the kitchen to at least get a hug in comfort, Blair led Dorota, who was carrying a large pile of towels in her hands, out of the laundry room, just as Blair's elevator door opened up revealing Dan Humphrey. Blair paused briefly before she quickly moved her maid along, "Dorota, bring those towels upstairs for me?"
The Polish maid nodded as she hurried up the stairs as she passed by Nate who was coming down. He leaned against the railing as he asked, "What's taking so long?"
Blair decided it was best to say nothing while she turned towards Humphrey as he entered her foyer as he cleared his throat, "Did I miss something?" Then he saw Chuck come out of the kitchen with the bagels plated and ready to be served in his hands and answered his own question, "Well that explains that…I guess."
As Chuck stood beside his girlfriend, setting the plate down on the entry table, Dan attempted to figure out what's going on, "What's going on?"
"Nothing," Nate replied.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Blair said at the same time.
"May we help you Humphrey?" Chuck responded along with the others with a sarcastic smirk on his face.
"Well, that was very convincing…but, um, I am looking for Serena," Dan explained.
"She's not here," Chuck answered for the group as he wrapped his arm around Blair's waist.
Dan clicked his tongue, not convinced, "I think she is."
Blair looked at him with a look of pure innocence as she continued on with the lie, "No, she just left. You must've crossed paths."
Dan raised his brows and looked away briefly before turning back towards the group, "I don't believe you."
Blair pressed her lips together and sighed in resignation, "Fine. I-I didn't want to have to tell you this, but…she doesn't want to see you."
Dan chuckled in disbelief, "Come on. Really?"
Blair looked him straight in the eye and responded firmly, "Yes. Really."
Dan paused for a moment, taking in the other two in the room and seemed to finally get that Blair was serious before he started for the stairs calling up, "Serena!"
The trio quickly moved to block him from going up the stairs, forming a wall as Nate spoke up, "She's telling the truth, man."
"Are you really going to stop me from seeing my girlfriend?" Dan demanded. When the group didn't say anything in response, Dan sighed and attempted again to go up the stairs only to be pushed back by Chuck.
"What are you doing?" a voice asked from up the stairs.
Blair looked up towards the voice and saw that it was her best friend, wrapped in her robe, obviously still upset over whatever was going on with her. She watched as the usually perky blonde walk down the stairs and made her way pass them. Wanting to protect her more than anything, Blair asked the blonde if she were sure that she wanted to do this with a simple, "S.?"
Serena sniffled and responded, "It's okay."
Blair watched as she went over to Dan to talk as the group stayed back to give them a resemblance of privacy as they listened to every word that was said. Blair looked down as Chuck laced his hand with hers in comfort as he held her close as if sensing how hard this was on Blair to watch her best friend in such obvious pain and not being able to fix it.
The group silently watched as Dan attempted to figure out what was going on while Serena continued to not give him a real answer. Blair glanced over at Nate and saw him tense up as Dan started to show signs of aggression and she knew that if Humphrey didn't watch himself, Nate was going to step in and make sure that he does and Blair wasn't going to do anything to dissuade him. When Dan mentioned Serena leaving a bar the previous night with a bunch of guys, Blair turned her attention back to the couple as Serena remained silent.
When Humphrey demanded an answer on if Serena cheated on him and she responded with a yes, Blair honestly didn't know what to believe about the situation. As she glanced at Chuck to see his reaction, he didn't even have the look of surprise on his face. It almost seemed as if he expected this to happen eventually, and to be honest, Blair couldn't blame him since this was kind of Serena's M.O. when it came to guys, but Humphrey, unfortunately, was different.
As the group silently watch the Brooklynite leave after declaring that the couple was over, no one knowing what to say to this new information only to be thwarted as Serena turned towards them with tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around herself and spoke softly, "I can't believe I just did that."
"Then why did you?" Nate asked as he made his way over to her, "I mean, did you cheat on Dan?"
"No," Serena denied, "I remember last night. I didn't do anything."
Now Blair was really confused and could no longer be silent, "Then why would you say that to him?"
Serena sighed as she uncrossed her arms as she attempted to explain, "Because I would rather Dan think I cheated on him…than know what I really did."
"What you really did?" Nate asked, shaking his head slightly in confusion, but remaining as patient as ever.
Tears started to stream down Serena's face as she spoke softly, "Dan puts me on a pedestal. If he knew the truth, he would never look at me again."
As Serena turned away from them and headed over to sit on the couch in the sitting room, Chuck spoke up concerned to know what exactly did Serena apparently did, "You're starting to scare even me. What did you do?"
Blair sat beside her best friend on the couch as the guys completed the circle while standing up. "Come on. You can tell us," Nate assured his blonde counterpart.
At the sight of Serena still refusing to speak up, Blair added in her own plea, "We've seen you with vomit in your hair, making out with investment bankers in the men's room at P.J. Clarke's. You don't have to hide anything from us."
"She's right, Serena," Nate nodded in agreement, "I mean, none of us are saints."
"I started off my relationship with sleeping with him," Blair motioned over to Chuck who remained silent through the exchange, "in the back of his limo, after being broken up with him," she motioned over to Nate next, "for about three hours."
"Several times," Chuck added with a smirk, resulting in Blair rolling her eyes at his need to gloat.
"I had sex with you at a wedding while I was her date," Nate added his own transgression before adding on, "Once," in response to Chuck's gloating.
The pair turned towards Chuck, waiting for him to chime in at any time to make Serena feel comfortable about opening up to them about what was going on. Chuck shrugged with a smirk as he spoke the truth, "I'm Chuck Bass."
Blair scoffed and rolled her eyes as she turned back towards her best friend, "You can tell us anything. We don't judge. We're the non-judging breakfast club." Blair held onto Serena's hand as she continued to speak, "We're your best friends. Anything you do is something we did, too."
After a moment of silence, Serena finally made her decision and started to talk, "If I tell you, it can never leave this room."
The group nodded in agreement as Nate sat down on the coffee table across from Serena and Chuck sat down beside his girlfriend on the couch as they waited for Serena to find the courage to tell the story that has been plaguing her for so long without any of them knowing.
Serena sighed softly before she began speaking, "You all know Georgina Sparks."
"Some of us better than others," Blair responded as she looked over her shoulder at her boyfriend with a look, "It's not like you didn't lose your virginity to her in seventh grade."
"Sixth, actually, and I've been avoiding her ever since," Chuck corrected as he squeezed Blair's hand gently, "The bitch is a psycho."
"What about her?" Nate asked, wanting to steer the conversation back on track.
"Well something happened the night of the Shepherd wedding," Serena answered hesitantly.
"I think we're all aware of what happened that night," Blair answered, choosing to not dwell on it.
"No, something else, something I've tried to escape, but Georgina won't let me," Serena spoke softly as she looked down at her hands, obviously afraid, but willing to give the group a chance to prove her wrong. "And now she's blackmailing me."
"Blackmailing you with what exactly?" Chuck asked from behind Blair.
"Well…it started when Blair thought Nate and I had too much to drink," Serena began, "She told us to go outside, get some air, sober up. Instead, we went into the empty bar, I opened the bottle of champagne, and we…well…-
"I think we can skip that part, okay," Blair cut in. She may have forgiven them and has moved on, but it wasn't as if Blair wished to relive that part of their history in detail.
"Go ahead. I'll reenact it for her later," Chuck spoke up from behind Blair with a complete straight face as Blair glared over at him over her shoulder. Chuck just smirked and kissed her shoulder before turning his attention back to Serena. Blair held back her smile as she too turned back towards her best friend to finish the story of what happened afterwards.
"I left in a hurry," Serena continued on, "I felt so terrible, so guilty for what I had just done. I just- I had to get out of there. Georgina and I had plans to meet up after, so I headed straight to her. Little did I know she had a surprise waiting for me.
"I didn't know it at the time, but she was taping me. Lucky for me, I was- I was too stuck on what had just happened to be much fun for anyone." Serena began to lose control and began to get upset again.
Blair gave her hand a gentle squeeze of encouragement, "Come on."
"I can't," Serena whispered back as she buried her face into her hands.
"Yes. Yes, you can," Blair reassured her.
"I'm scared," Serena explained in a clear voice.
Blair rubbed her hand up and down Serena's arm in comfort, "We're right here."
"Pete wanted to hook up, but I wasn't up for it despite his attempts to "Put me in the mood". I just knew that I just wasn't so I suggested we do a couple of lines first. I let him go first…and then…he started shaking and seizing. I freaked out and tried to call the police to get him some help.
"It was then that Georgina came in and said that we needed to get out of there, but I couldn't just leave him without some kind of help…so I called 9-1-1 using his cell phone before she could drag me out. She told me we had to split up. Then she said that people might be looking for us. But I couldn't go. I just couldn't.
"So I-I waited near the hotel, across the street. All I wanted was to see the paramedics helping Pete. But that's not what I saw," Serena pressed her lips together as she began rocking in her seat as she forced herself to finish, "I didn't know what to do. I-I just knew I had to leave right away. I-I took a train heading north, and I got a room and convinced my mom that boarding school was a good idea, and…"
Blair put the pieces together and finished Serena's sentence, "Never said good-bye." Serena nodded as Blair leaned towards her, "It makes sense now."
"But what does she even want from you?" Nate asked nothing but concern on his face for Serena.
"Well, when she came back, I-I told her that I moved on from the lifestyle that she was still in, but she didn't like that. So somehow, she became friends with Dan and-and Vanessa, and started calling herself "Sarah."
"Why don't you just tell Dan about her?" Blair asked with a slight shake of her head in confusion.
"Because she has that tape of me, and she'll use it. It's practically a snuff film," Serena explained.
Chuck leaned over Blair's shoulder as he spoke firmly, "We need to find her."
"No. Please," Serena begged as she took both Chuck's and Blair's hand in each of hers, "Promise me, please. Promise me you won't do anything. Because if you do, then she'll show Dan…if he even ever speaks to me again."
Blair and Chuck shared a look before looking over to Nate as Serena started sobbing, whispering to herself, "God, what have I done?" It was obvious to Chuck and Blair what needed to be done, but right now they knew that Serena needed them with her now more than to defend her honor against the psycho bitch. With Dan out of the picture, it was decided that Blair would stand by Serena's side tonight at the dinner rehearsal and the group will figure out what to do from there.
xoxo
Several hours later, Blair walked into the ballroom of the Palace hotel, holding Serena by the hand and Chuck following along behind them. Nate had to go home to get ready for his supposed "date". When he offered to back out and go to the dinner with the others, Serena dissuaded him saying that she'd be fine. After all the foursome had spent the entire afternoon together hanging out, watching movies and trying to keep the environment light. Even though it was mostly for the benefit of Serena, the group had enjoyed themselves and it brought to mind how often they used to spend that amount of time together. Before Nate left to go home, the foursome agreed to make a standing plan to hang out together at least once a month.
AS Blair took a glance around the room, Serena placed her other hand on top of their joined ones, giving it a light squeeze to gain her attention. Blair looked at her best friend as she smiled at her and spoke, "Thanks for coming with me, B. and for this afternoon. It was exactly what I needed today." Serena smiled over her shoulder to include Chuck in her thanks. "I'm really not feeling up to being social."
"Of course," Blair nodded in understanding, squeezing Serena's hand in comfort.
It didn't take long before the threesomes presence was noted by the hostess and thanks to Chuck's subtle, "Incoming," Serena was able to put on a forced smile and prepare to give her excuses to her mother.
Unfortunately before the blonde could even speak, Lily immediately started speaking as she reached her daughter's side, "You were supposed to be home hours ago. Come with me."
Blair sighed as she watched Lily and Serena walk away, stepping to her right to be closer to Chuck as she watched their exchange from a distance. Chuck decided to do what he did best and distract his girlfriend from her worries with a bit of flirting as he leaned towards her ear to whisper, "Have I told you how ravishing you look tonight?"
Blair smiled softly, "Not that I recall."
"In that case I hope to gain your forgiveness later tonight when the night is over and I can properly ravish you," Chuck offered with a smirk.
"And what makes you think that ravishing me is going to gain you my forgiveness?" Blair teased, not taking her eyes off of Lily and Serena.
"I can be very persuasive in that regards," Chuck countered.
Blair smile slowly disappeared as she watched Lily walk away, leaving Serena looking as upset as she was this morning, "Of that I have no doubt. Why don't you go mingle a bit while I go check on Serena?"
"As you wish, my Queen," Chuck nodded, leaving her side only after he placed a soft kiss on Blair's temple.
Blair quickly made her way over to Serena, taking her into her arms as she glanced over at Lily asking, "What's wrong? What happened?"
As Serena looked at her for a moment, she face immediately began to crumple up and began to sob in Blair's shoulder. Blair didn't know what more she could do for her friend except to hold her and try her best to give her some comfort.
It took some time before Serena was able to settle down and explain to Blair what Lily said. To say that Blair was upset would be an understatement. What Lily was threatening to do wasn't going to help Serena it was only going to make the situation worse off than it already was. After all hiding the problem and attempting to sweep it under the rug is what got Serena in this mess in the first place.
Blair could see that Serena just wasn't up for even attempting to get through the party, so she sent her upstairs to her room to clean up and relax, promising that she'd be up momentarily. Blair was beginning to feel helpless and she didn't like it as she watched her best friend slowly leave the room with a dark cloud over head. She just knew that there was only one card left to play on this front in attempt to make Lily see reason and actually do something to help Serena instead of sending her away.
She looked around the room, quickly finding her amongst a small group and Bart socializing, and without a second thought, Blair walked purposely over to the older Van Der Woodsen's side, gaining her attention with a simple, "Don't send her away."
"Blair, it's-it's, uh, not polite to interrupt," Lily responded with a light smile, about to dismiss Blair from her sight, but Blair refused to be deterred.
"I don't care who hears," she responded, knowing that Lily did, "Just don't send her away."
"Excuse me," Lily excused them from the group and led Blair away by the arm, which Blair did not appreciate as Lily spoke to her a bit condescendingly, "Thank you, Blair, but it's not exactly your business what I do with my daughter. If anything, you're one of the reasons I'm having to take such strong actions."
Blair stood in front of Lily with a slight tilt of her head as she responded, "I say this with all due respect, Lily," Blair shook her head gently as she continued on, "but you have no idea what your daughter's been going through. She's in a lot of pain, and I don't think the pain's going to go away if she goes away."
Lily looked away briefly before looking back at Blair, obviously growing frustrated, "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me."
Blair pressed her lips together as she thought carefully on her next words, knowing that she didn't have the right to tell Serena's secret and settled for attempting to get Lily to find out on her own, "Serena has a secret, and she's been holding on to it for a long, long time. And now it's finally catching up with her. I-I'm out of my league here. I can't do any more than I've done, and it's not enough. She needs you."
"I saw the video," Lily said bluntly, but the look of concern was creeping its way into her eyes as she continued on, "She doesn't need me. She needs boundaries."
"What you saw isn't the whole story," Blair responded, hoping that she was doing the right thing. She knew that the secret wasn't hers to tell, but at this point, Lily needed to know in order to understand. So Blair explained that Serena was upstairs in her room and suggested that Lily go up to find out the truth.
After she watched Lily leave the room, Chuck came over to her side, having watched the two talking at length for some time, to offer support. Not surprised when he learned what Blair told Lily. And knew it would be some time before anything could happen on that front so he led Blair around to make introductions to some of his father's business associates and she took the time to introduce him around to the ladies of the Upper East Side society. Despite the circumstances this was their first official society event after Cotillion and Blair focused on making the best of it.
Not too long, Chuck received a text message from Lily, asking him for a favor. He felt his lips tilt up briefly at the name and showed the text to Blair before excusing himself to fulfill the task just as Lily returned to the ballroom. Blair looked over at her with a silent question to which Lily responded with a gentle nod in Blair's direction of assurance. Blair smiled in relief before nodding her head in return before returning to the current conversation she was having with one of her mother's personal clients, who was going on and on about her mother's line.
Blair was just excusing herself when she saw Chuck return with a note for Lily when her cell phone rang in her clutch. She answered it quickly, "Hello?"
"Hey, I only have a second," Nate spoke through the phone, "I'm on my way to Queens."
Blair slowly made her way to find a quiet corner and made a look of disgust as she responded, "Ugh. Gross, why?"
"To meet Vanessa at a concert," Nate explained.
Blair paused as she retorted, "It got grosser."
"We've been hanging out, not that it's any of your business," Nate continued on in his explanation.
"Then why did you feel the need to tell me, Archibald?" Blair asked, intrigued.
"Because I like her, and she may be around if all goes well," Blair rolled her eyes, knowing that after what she saw when he picked up the girl after the SAT's that it was leading to this. Before she could respond though, Nate continued on, "Look, this wasn't the reason I called, I feel like I should tell you that apparently, Georgina's with her and Dan."
Blair was shocked and had to clarify, "She- she's there?"
"Yeah. And you know Serena doesn't want us to do anything, but I just thought you might want to know," Nate gave his explanation causing Blair to shake her head at his naiveté.
"Where are you right now?" She demanded, coming up with a quick plan.
"Uh, 74th and Lex," Nate answered.
"Don't move. Pick you up in ten," Blair ordered as she hung up the phone and made her way over to her boyfriend's side just after he helped Lily into her coat as she gave her excuses to Bart and left the rehearsal dinner with the slip of paper in her hand that Chuck gave her. As Blair arrived at his side, smiling at Bart politely as he nodded in return before returning his attention to the rest of his guests, and Blair turned her attention to her boyfriend with a mischievous smile that he knew well.
"What's gotten into you?" Chuck asked suspiciously, yes he knew that look very well.
"What if I told you I knew where Georgina Sparks was right now?" Blair asked, her smile never leaving her face.
Chuck smirked in return at the prospect, "I'd say, let's get the bitch." Blair nodded in agreement and led the way out of the ballroom with Chuck following after her casually. The bitch was going to be handled, one way or another by this time tomorrow and Blair looked forward to this particular take down.
xoxo
Blair, Chuck, and Nate arrived in Queens thirty minutes later. Nate went ahead inside to find Vanessa while Chuck and Blair lingered outside to see if they could spot their target, trying their best to forget where they are and focus on what their objective. When they didn't see Georgina outside, they headed in as Vanessa greeted Nate with a smile. The smile quickly turned when the Brooklynite spotted them, "Some date we're having. You even brought your friends, the ones I can't stand," she said disappointedly.
Not having time for this, Blair spoke bluntly, "Where's Georgina?"
"What are you going to do?" Nate asked, "You heard what Serena said."
Blair looked at her ex-boyfriend in surprise that he was seriously that dense as Chuck spoke with annoyance, "Yeah, like we care."
"Georgina left," Vanessa said.
"Left for where?" Blair asked getting even more irritated that she had to slum it up in Queens for a failed take down attempt.
"I don't know. She just took off," Vanessa started to look around the room as she continued to speak, "If I could only find Dan-He's around here somewhere."
"Well, let's go look for him," Nate suggested as he wrapped an arm around Vanessa as he added firmly, "Alone."
Blair sighed and rolled her eyes at Nate's lack of subtlety and spoke aloud as she watched them walk away, "Can you explain to me what I was thinking?"
Chuck smirked as he continued to look around the room, "You were young, you didn't know any better."
Blair released a laugh as she turned to circulate around the room only to stop in her tracks at the sight of Serena just arriving, "Hey, what are you doing here?" the two said in unison.
Blair quickly tried to come up with an answer, "I-I'm a big Leaky Hawk fan."
Serena smiled as she looked at Blair, tilting her head to the side at the obvious lie, but letting it go, "I'm looking for Dan and Georgina."
"You're out of luck. Georgina's gone," Chuck answered, still refraining from smiling at Blair's answer.
"And Dan?" Serena asked with hope.
"I'm out of luck. He's still around," Chuck retorted with a smirk.
Serena sighed in relief and smiled as Blair held her hands, waiting for Serena to fill her in, "It's all over now. I can finally tell Dan everything. Will you help me find him?"
Blair nodded eagerly, just glad that everything was working out for her friend and walked with Serena to help in the search for Humphrey as Chuck went in the opposite direction to help out in the search. The group formed again in front of the audience after the last set of the evening was finished, Blair had sent a text to Humphrey for Serena in the hopes that he would respond and give Serena his location to make it easier to find him. The trio was walking up the steps into the seating area when the phone rang in Blair's hand.
She sighed in relief as she saw who was calling and whispered up to Serena, "Hey. Psst. I think it's for you." Blair smiled as she handed over her phone to her best friend as she leaned back against Chuck who stood behind her, both hoping for good news.
Blair half listened as Serena answered happily as she looked around the room, "Hey, I'm glad you called. I'm here looking for you right now. Where are you?"
Whatever the Humphrey boy said caused Serena's face to pale dramatically and Blair grew a bit concerned. When Serena asked, "Georgina?" into the phone, Blair grew even more worried about what the psycho bitch was doing with Dan's phone.
"I'm not afraid of you anymore," Serena said firmly into the phone as Blair looked over at Chuck before focusing her full attention on Serena.
"No. I know Dan, he's too good," Serena said with a shake of her head. All Blair could do was look at her in concern as Serena hung up the phone, looking like she was going to be sick. Blair sighed, feeling as if she was in for another long night. Whatever Georgina was up to now that caused Serena to look that way, Blair knew that Georgina's punishment had to increase higher than what Blair originally planned. The bitch needed to be removed, permanently.
If I were you S., I'd be worried. In the city that never sleeps, a lot can happen in one night.
Sweet dreams, Serena.
xoxo
Gossip Girl
A/N: Here's chapter 26! I know it's technically Sunday and I'm a day late, but I hope with this chapter that I didn't come to the party with a dollar short and it was worth the wait of the extra day. One more chapter left and then the epilogue! It has been a fun ride and I'm honestly sad to see it end, but as you all know I'll return in a few months with Season two!
Would love to hear your thoughts on the chapter! There was more Chuck and Blair and some NJBC thrown into the mix, and just so it was said: Dan's an idiot/self-righteous prick.
I'll see you all next week! My birthday is in two days and I'm so excited! Hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend! I also want to send out a great big thank you to all my followers and reviewers! You bring joy to my day with your words of encouragement. :)
Love to you all!
-Plei4fun