It was late Thursday afternoon when Chuck Bass entered the townhouse he shared with his wife and son. It had been a grueling day at the office, having personally met with multiple buyer prospects the previous two day, today was spent mostly with the Bass Industries board, weighing the pros and cons of each and finally narrowing down the list. The offers were being made tomorrow as was the announcement that they were having to sell. They could only hope, come Monday morning, for a successful bidding war amongst the buyers selected for the purchase and that the stock market numbers wouldn't dip too much.
Needless to say, Chuck was exhausted as he walked into his study, placing his briefcase on the coffee table near the plush leather sofa as he plopped down, resting the back of his head against one of the arms. Releasing a deep sigh as he massaged his temples, he was glad to be home for the evening. Normally on days like today he would have poured himself a scotch without a second though, but he knew he couldn't do that.
He had just closed his eyes and began to wonder why it was so quiet at four o'clock on a Thursday afternoon when he heard a pair of familiar footsteps in heels clacking across the tile in the foyer with a familiar sounding bell ringing just behind them.
"Chuck? You're home early – I didn't even hear you come in," Blair remarked as she stepped into the room, a cup and saucer in one hand with a teapot in another, Monkey following right behind her, his tail wagging.
"Yeah, got everything wrapped up with the board. The offers are being made first thing in the morning... now it's just a waiting game, see who accepts what and who can offer the better deal," he explained, as he watched her place the cup, saucer and teapot down on the coffee table before them while he sat up and scratched the beloved dog behind the ears.
"Well hopefully they bite," she smiled as she sat down beside him, pleased to hear that despite everything, Chuck and the board were able to come to an agreement on whom to sell to. Knowing he was tired after a long day, she lovingly pulled him backwards against her, helping him to relax in her embrace.
"What have you been up to today? I must say, with Fashion Week starting on Sunday, I am a bit surprised to see you home. And calm," he wondered as he reclined against her, gently entwining the fingers on one hand with the fingers of one of hers draped around him.
"I'm calm because everything is going swimmingly," she spoke with a light laugh. "And Dorota's tea helps too," she added with a grin as she motioned to the teapot on the table. "Want some?"
"Maybe in a bit," he uttered as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the calming ministrations of her fingers carefully working against his scalp. "Where's Henry?"
"He went home with Tegan for a bit after school."
While Chuck couldn't see her face at the moment, he slightly chuckled at the annoyed infliction in her voice. He could imagine she was rolling her eyes too. He knew she really couldn't stand the mother of their son's best friend.
"Although I guess it's for the best as it's been quiet this afternoon, allowing me plenty of peace to finish up my seating chart for the show..." her voice began to trail. She paused for a moment as they both heard heels moving across the foyer, heading towards the study. "Jenny! Good, you're here!" she exclaimed only for Chuck to quickly open his eyes to see for himself.
Sure enough, there was Jenny Humphrey stepping into the room.
"Hey, sorry... I can uh... come back later if you want..." Jenny's voice trailed now as she spied Chuck and Blair comfortably sitting together on the couch.
"Nonsense," Blair remarked as she gently pushed Chuck upward, making it known to him that she needed to get up. "I need you to look over my seating chart, offer any suggestions," she stated as she now stood, carrying her cup and saucer with her as she led Jenny over towards the desk in the room which Chuck now noticed was covered with said seating chart. "So...tell me," she insisted, as she waited for Jenny to say something.
"Well, let me see..." Jenny began as she eyed the chart over. Blair noticed out of the corner of her eye that Chuck was making his way to leave.
"Blech! This tea is room temperature!" Blair declared, lying as an idea occurred to her, interrupting Jenny in the process. "I'll just be a minute," she spoke with a smile as she carried her beverage and collected the teapot from the table near Chuck. "Make yourselves at home," she said as she turned on her heel to leave with a small smirk on her lips. A smirk that Chuck most definitely caught. "Oh Dorota!" he heard her call out as her heels sounded against the tile floor. And was that a skip in her step?!
Dumbfounded, Chuck watched her leave, his mouth slightly open as he couldn't believe she was forcing him into this. He was willing to bet that her tea was just fine. Looking over towards Jenny at the desk, he noted she too was just as shocked. They briefly made eye contact as a silent "Did she just do that?" exchange was made between them before Jenny quickly looked away, averting her attention back to Blair's seating chart. Not one for small talk, he didn't really know what to say or do around her anymore.
He picked up a magazine from the coffee table and sat back in his seat, pretending to read through it despite having already done so cover-to-cover, as he carefully observed her. It was obvious she was nervous and uncomfortable, being left alone in the room just the two of them. The awkwardness was driving him insane. He hated it.
This is ridiculous, he thought to himself as he tossed the magazine down. Both of them walking on eggshells around the other and for what? One stupid night and lapse in judgment nearly ten years ago? Blair had obviously forgiven them both and moved past it, why couldn't they? One of the infamous twelve steps to recovery was to make amends with those you had harmed – had he been of sober mind that night, things most likely would have been different. This had to end, he decided.
"Jenny, a word?" he abruptly requested. Curious, she nodded in response and with a raised eyebrow in suspicion she allowed him to indulge her. "That's quite the seating chart you two have put together – very impressive," he started in an attempt to put off their long overdue confrontation and make casual conversation even though he hadn't actually looked at the seating chart.
"Thanks...?" Jenny replied, unsure of what else to say. "Chuck, just get to the point – things are uncomfortable enough as it is between us and I'd like to get back to work if you don't mind. I know you hate small talk, especially to me seeing as how you've hardly said anything more than pleasantries out of courtesy to me in the last ten years and you know full-well that the seating chart has always been Blair's pet project."
"Alright, fine. You're right – I have no desire to make small talk with you," he confirmed her suspicions.
"Then what?"
"Look, when Blair announced several years back that she was hiring you on... she had suggested we... clear the air, so to speak," he attempted to explain.
"Chuck, you don't have to say anything," Jenny interjected, having some idea what he was getting at. "Really, you don't."
"Just... hear me out, okay?" he almost pleaded. "One of the steps they teach in recovery is making amends with those you've harmed-"
"Chuck, you didn't-"
"We have to cross paths on occasion, such as right now - just let me get this over with. I know you hate the awkwardness as much as I do," he went on. "If I hadn't been drinking away my pain like I always did back then... we were both in a bad place at that moment, both dealing with presumed rejections... but if I was in a sober mindset... I wouldn't have taken advantage of your pain, using you as a distraction to escape my own pain and rejection like I did. And for that I'm sorry. Your first time should have been special, with someone who actually gave a damn about it..." his voice trailed as he reluctantly recalled that night in more detail that he cared to."
"Wow..." Jenny uttered, completely shocked as she stood still, leaning over the seating chart, letting his words sink in. "I... appreciate what you're trying to do, Chuck – I really do," she confessed as she slowly began to approach him, taking a seat on the opposite end of the plush leather sofa he was sitting on. "And I accept your apology. Truth is, I got over it years ago – and yeah, you may have been my first but there's been countless others since then, some that actually did mean something to me, others... just drunken mistakes and I've also since learned that almost no one's first time is ever how they imagined it to be. I'm sure yours wasn't... Serena's wasn't... I highly doubt Blair imagined losing it to you in the back of your limo," she reminded him with a nervous laugh. "But you can't take all the blame for that night – you didn't pressure me into anything, you may not have been of a sober mindset but I had had maybe two sips of your drink, you even gave me a chance to leave... plus, you didn't know at the time as I made everyone think I gave it to Damien. I was upset at myself - not you – for just throwing it away like I did. Like you said, it should have been special with someone who meant something to me."
"At the time we were legally siblings," he pointed out as he looked off in the distance. "I should have acted more like an older brother, someone you could have felt comfortable talking to, someone you could trust... instead I only took advantage of my little stepsister."
"But I did trust you, and I did feel comfortable being there – if I didn't I wouldn't have stayed when you first told me Nate wasn't home," she reminded him only to pause as at the mention of Nate Chuck immediately looked over and made eye contact, almost staring her down. "Sorry, I... I forgot you're still sensitive to the mention of him," she quickly apologized, realizing her error.
"It's fine," he dismissed it as he shook his head of the memory of living with Nate at The Empire before he got lost in it once again. "It's not even something I can control – anything that suddenly reminds me of him... I just... I can't help it. Supposedly it gets better and less frequent over time..."
"I'm sure I'd be experiencing something similar if I lost Dan," she sincerely admitted, unable to fully understand the depth of the pain Chuck had been dealing with when it came to losing Nate.
Sure, she missed him too, having once been close to him and even possibly being in love with him for a time, however she knew it wasn't to the same degree as Chuck felt. He and Nate had been best friends for over twenty years, since they were like five. Having grown up together, living together after high school and Nate even had his own set of keys to the Bass townhouse, everyone knew they were brothers in every way except by blood.
"And hey, in some ways you did look after me like a big brother during that time in my life," she tried to remember. "With Damien and the drugs? Granted, I made my own choices after, but you at least tried... and that day when everyone including my own father and brother turned their backs on me you at least didn't kick me out... and oh! You got me my Parsons interview, even if it was just to spite Blair as part of your little war games with her..."
"And again, one more thing I'm sorry for," Chuck muttered in lament as the thought occurred to him.
"Don't be - I still got to meet Tim Gunn and make quite the impression on him," she chuckled at the memory. She had been devastated at the time when Blair had her interview dresses ruined and learned she had just been a pawn in one of Chuck and Blair's power struggles however they had come so far over the years that she could laugh about it now as she was completely over everything that had happened back then. "So thank you, actually," she said with a smile.
"You're welcome...?" he questioned, not entirely sure if that was the correct response. "So we're good?" he wondered, not knowing what else to say.
"We're good," she confirmed with a nod.
"Good," Chuck remarked in agreement.
"No more speaking of or ever thinking of that night ever again. No guilt, we've said our apologies, it's done and over with and we can finally move on," she firmly announced.
"Fine by me," Chuck sighed in relief, glad to have gotten that conversation finally done and over with.
"So... three months in rehab?" she asked, changing the subject as he nodded. "And I thought a year exiled in Hudson was rough," she joked. "So nothing at all? No more drugs, no more alcohol?" she curiously wondered.
"Nothing," he stated. "Not even cigarettes," he added for good measure.
"Wow... that's some real dedication, especially for you," she spoke in awe. "Before this summer... when was the last time you were completely clean? I always remember seeing you with something at school, whether it was a flask or a joint or a cigarette..."
"Don't forget the coke," he playfully confessed as she gasped in surprise.
"Really?! At St. Judes?!"
"My reputation did precede me – they didn't call me a 'bad boy' for nothing," he smirked. "But to answer your question... fifth grade maybe? I started having sips here and there at various events my father would host or we would attend... and then there was The Captain's decanter..." he recalled only to pause as he started to get lost in the memory.
"And just what are you two talking about?" Blair's voice suddenly chimed, drawing him back to reality
as she returned. She couldn't help a pleased smile on her lips as for several minutes she had quietly watched Jenny and Chuck sitting opposite each other on the sofa, actually engaging in conversation together like normal people. It was refreshing to say the least.
She and Chuck had made peace with what happened that night years ago, deciding that everything that had happened, preventing them from being together at that time, was merely fate and beyond their control. When she realized years ago she needed to hire Jenny on for the sake of the company the two women had had a lovely talk, forgiving each other for things that were said and done to each other at that time in their lives. Blair had made amends with them both years ago, putting it all behind her. It was long past time that Chuck did the same.
"Oh you know... just the past," Jenny casually responded as she stood and began walking back to the desk. "So, about the seating chart..."
"I was thinking, what if we sat Marc Jacobs over here..." Blair suggested as she moved the name plate around on her infamous seating chart which had taken over the entire top of the desk in Chuck's study.
"Do you really want him that close to Nicolas Ghesquière though? He was Marc's replacement at Louis Vuitton... don't you think that might be a little awkward?" Jenny pointed out as she noticed the two nameplates almost next to each other.
"Ugh, good point!" Blair huffed in frustration as she picked up the name plate once more. As she did so, the sound of a notification sounded on Jenny's phone.
"On second thought... I don't think finding a seat for Marc is going to be a problem now," Jenny announced, her eyes glued to her phone screen in a look of shock.
"What? Why?" Blair demanded as she frantically located her own phone which had been left carelessly on the desk. "What?! He can't do that!" she exclaimed a moment later, having read the alert that had been forwarded to the Waldorf Designs email account. "I purposely scheduled my show after he and the other bigger competing names had theirs scheduled just to avoid this problem!"
"Yeah, well... .he's Marc Jacobs. And I guess he changed his mind," Jenny stated matter-of-factly. "I'm going to go run out and get some coffee, maybe check in with the atelier, see if we can't come up with something last minute to draw more attention? Want anything while I'm out?" she asked, knowing that on top of all the last minute preparations for Fashion Week, now they were going to be focusing extra hard on getting press coverage. She hoped that maybe they could come up with something to prevent losing the bulk of their audience.
"No thanks," Blair muttered as she stood there in total disbelief over what had just happened.
"Okay, I'll try to hurry back," Jenny assured her as she gathered up her bag and proceeded past her boss. "Sorry, Blair," she sincerely spoke before heading out the door of the office.
"Goddamnit!" Blair snapped in frustration as she carelessly tossed the Marc Jacobs nameplate she realized she was still holding across the room, not bothering to see where it went.
"Blair?" Chuck spoke up, glancing away from the closing stock numbers on his phone as he sat up straight on the couch. "What's wrong?"
"It's Marc Jacobs! That ruthless bastard... he just announced his show is on the same day as ours! The same time to be exact!" she informed him.
"Oh really?" Chuck wondered as he sat his phone down and rose to his feet, carefully strolling across the room towards his wife who was now leaning over her seating chart, clearly studying all the names that were on it.
"Yeah and that means all the socialites and major media are now going to be at his show!" she angrily declared as she began picking off nameplates one by one. "He and Kors and Dior and Spade and Klein... they're all household names, we're not. People of all stature flock to them."
"Is that so?" Chuck inquired further as he sauntered around the desk, calculating how easy it would be to kill two birds with one stone. Clearly Blair was stressed out, in need of relief and a temporary distraction and well... subtly watching her at her work, being the powerful force he knew her to be... it had been quite the turn on.
"Waldorf just doesn't generate the same amount of buzz, Chuck..." she sighed once more as she closed her eyes in defeat.
"But... what if it did," Chuck suggestively whispered in her ear, now completely behind her.
"What are you thinking, Bass?" Blair questioned, her eyes flying open almost immediately as she sensed his presence and cocked her head to look at him over her shoulder.
"I'm thinking... if I recall correctly, Little Jenny made quite the buzz about her... talent years ago, crashing one of Lily and Bart's parties with a guerrilla fashion show," he continued to speak in her ear as he inhaled her signature scent mixed with the comforting smell of her shampoo as he gently moved her loose curls over to one side, fully exposing one side of her neck to him.
"Ah yes, the pop-up show..." Blair recalled as she allowed her eyes to roll to the back of her head, his breath having been hot against the skin on her neck.
"She had calls and offers for days, yes?"
"She did..." Blair moaned as she tilted her head just slightly, granting him full access to the nape of her neck. "Are you suggesting we do a pop-up show?"
"Exactly – give them a little preview... a taste if you will," he spoke as he delicately trailed kisses down her exposed neck. "Make them salivate for more," he added with a slight nip, causing her to give a startled yip in surprise. He grinned in delight at her response before his lips continued.
"It's not entirely a bad idea..." Blair admitted as she once more allowed herself to get caught in the moment, reaching behind as she ran her fingers through his hair.
"Jacobs has been a bit predictable over the years... entice them with something they're not expecting from you and their curiosity will force them to seek out your show instead of his," he told her, as he ran a hand along the front of her white silk blouse, toying with the buttons.
"But when?" she questioned with a gasp as he had undone one of the buttons and suddenly slid a hand inside, cupping her breast through her lacy bra, his thumb delicately stroking the skin on top of it. "Our show is scheduled for Tuesday evening – Fashion Week starts Sunday night," she reminded him, her arm dropping to her side as she abruptly remembered the schedule for the week.
"So do it Monday night. Surely there's some event or after party going on you ladies can takeover. It'll give less than 24 hours notice which is plenty of time for people to change their plans yet not nearly enough time to make Jacobs come up with something to win back his audience," he pointed out, his voice grown husky as he gave her breast a playful squeeze. She quickly turned around and noticed the devilish smirk now on his lips.
"You, Chuck Bass, are a genius," she declared as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her for a passionate kiss.
"Well I most certainly try, that's for sure," he smirked once more between kisses.
"I should let Jenny know," she breathed out a moment later, reaching with one hand for her phone on the desk, quickly tapping out a text, informing her to assemble the minions and fetch a list of all the events going on Monday evening.
By this time Chuck had managed to completely undo the rest of the buttons on her blouse, his lips having worked their way down to her now exposed collarbone. "Now... where were we?" she grinned with a smirk of her own after having set her phone back down, her hand pulling his chin up, forcing him to lock eyes with hers as they got on the same wavelength once more.
Suddenly she felt him tightly clutching the fabric at her lower back, pulling her into him as their lips mashed against each other, devouring one another hungrily. Pushing her backwards a step with him attached to her, her bottom cheeks were now pressed against the edge of the desk, she had nowhere else to go. She gasped in surprise against his mouth as the next thing she knew he was lifting her up onto the desk. She reached between them and started fiddling with the buttons on his shirt as one of his hands trailed along her stocking-clad thigh, pushing her pencil skirt upward giving her the mobility to spread her legs enough to accommodate him between them. She breathlessly gasped once more as she felt his hardened covered self pressing against her clothed center.
While they had spent the majority of the previous weekend making love all over their townhouse, the one place they had yet to re-christen was the study as Blair had declared work to be off-limits for the weekend and Chuck had left the majority of his paperwork still on the desk.
She began to lean backwards onto the desk, pulling him with her by his necktie, her seating chart completely forgotten and now in disarray beneath them. They were so consumed and caught up in each other that Blair didn't even flinch when Chuck tore her panties off nor did either of them notice Jenny briefly standing in the doorway in such complete shock and horror at the sight she had walked in on that she almost dropped her coffee before quickly retreating around the corner and back down the hallway, knowing it would be best to come back later rather than interrupt a Chuck and Blair coupling.
They stayed connected together on the desk like that, Blair's legs now wrapped around Chuck's waist as he pumped in and out of her.
"God, Blair..." he breathed. "Why stress about Jacobs... or Kors... or Dior... when you already have Chuck Bass who worships you?" he quickly uttered between breaths.
"I love it when you talk couture," she purred as she arched herself into him.
"I love you," he firmly declared, pausing and pulling back for just a moment as he looked into her eyes, wanting her to know how much he meant it.
She responded by suddenly sitting up, throwing her arms around his neck, causing him to stumble backwards into the desk chair, bringing her with him as her lips passionately met with his once more.
"You always know exactly how to calm me, don't you, Bass?" Blair playfully spoke with a grin as she straddled him.
"I'd say it's a mutual effort, Bass," he hissed in return between his teeth as he ran his hands all over her, along her thighs and up her back, holding tightly to the back of her shoulders, his breath short as she rode him with great pleasure.
Nuzzling the exposed flesh of her cleavage, he shuttered as he inhaled the scent that he loved and had missed so much. Reaching up with one hand, only using his thumb and index finger, he flawlessly undid the front clasp of her bra, pushing the cups out of the way making her breasts now fully exposed to him. "God, you're perfect..." he breathed against her right nipple, teasing it with his tongue before playfully taking the harden bud between his teeth, his right hand firmly squeezing her left breast as his thumb made sure to pay mind to that quickly hardening bud as well. If the little mews of pleasure she was now emitting hadn't turned him on enough, the additional wetness her body was producing in response to his stimulation had most definitely done the trick.
"Oh... Chuck..." she managed to breathlessly moan, her walls tightly clenching him. The way he worked her body, knowing just where to touch, kiss, grip, nip... no matter how much time had passed and they had been apart, he always knew just how to get her to unwind. It felt so good she felt tears beginning to form behind her clenched shut eyes as she bit her lower lip.
"The things you do to me, Blair..." he groaned as he now gripped her ass tightly with both hands, feeling himself on the brink of release. "The things you do... You're absolutely amazing," he breathed as he arched up into her, coming as she moaned as well, throwing her head back in pleasure. "One hell of a woman..." he panted as they finished together.
"You know exactly what to say," she breathed as she collapsed on top of him a moment later, her head resting on his shoulder as they stayed in each other's arms, their chests rising and falling against the other's.
"It's easy when it's all true," Chuck spoke as he turned his face ever so slightly, kissing her temple. "Monday night, you give em hell. Come Tuesday... Jacobs'll never know what hit him."
"Well I do hope you're right," she playfully stated as she gave him a quick peck on the lips, grinning.
"Mommy! Daddy!"
They were both broken out of their blissfulness, now exchanging looks of horror as they heard the front door burst open and realized they only had a matter of seconds to make themselves appropriate before their five-year-old son found them.
"Shit!" Blair quietly exclaimed as Chuck quickly helped her out of his lap and to her feet her, rushing to pull his pants up as she pulled her skirt back down. Chuck had just finished buckling his belt while Blair leaned back against the edge of the desk, frantically attempting to button her blouse when a small voice spoke up behind her in the door way. She was glad at that moment that her back was turned.
"What are you two doing?" Henry questioned, confused as he noticed his father's shirt was completely unbuttoned and untucked. Monkey, who had of course followed on the heels of his youngest and favorite master, even cocked his head in a questioning stance. "Daddy, you have bedhead!" the boy began to laugh as he took in his father's disheveled, post-coital appearance.
"Sorry! I tried to stop him outside," Jenny quickly explained as she came following in behind Henry.
"It's alright," Blair tried to assure her, having now turned around, her appearance put back together enough that Henry most likely wouldn't notice. "Chuck, you should go fix your bedhead before dinner," she smirked at him only to receive a playful glare in return while Henry continued to giggle.
"Fine," he muttered as he leaned forward and gave her one more kiss on the forehead before bending down and passing off a small scrap of lace fabric to her while their son was still distracted. "But only if you take care of that," he smirked back.
He shook his head in amusement as he rounded the desk and noticed the embarrassed look on her face once it dawned on both her and Jenny just what it was he had given her.
"C'mon, Hen – let's get cleaned up before dinner," he announced to his son as he ushered the boy out of the room with him and towards the stairs in the hallway.
"So... about that seating chart..." Jenny awkwardly spoke, her eyes now trailing to the mess of nameplates scattered all over the floor around the desk and the board that previously displayed them now a crumpled mess. Blair sheepishly stood there and shrugged, not having any comment on the matter nor feeling the need to explain.
AN: Originally this chapter was about 24 pages long, having combined this whole scene plus the upcoming Fashion Week, however... I decided to split it up =)
So, C and Jenny have come to terms with what happened years ago and are on normal speaking terms again. Next chapter is Fashion Week and another familiar face from the series makes an appearance and of course has to offer their 2 cents - any guesses? B's pregnancy is also discovered by someone else as well!
Thank you to all the reviews, comments, favorites and follows on this story thus far! I do appreciate it so much! Also, shoutout to my wonderful friend and Beta Scarlett2u - before sure to check her works as well (she posted an update to her One Secret I'll Never Tell fic)!
Since the next chapter was originally part of this one, I'll be sure to get it posted much sooner than this one was (I went out of town for a weekend - anyone else attend Chicago Open Air? - and then had a bunch of other stuff IRL that took precedence to writing - sorry!).
Until next time,
XoXo