"What about Annalise?" Blair suggested as they sat together on the couch in the sitting room that evening after Henry had gone to bed. A fire was calmly burning in the fireplace before them as Chuck read through a financial report for work while Blair continued to flip through a baby name book.

"Annalise Bass... I don't hate it..." Chuck declared as he spoke the name out loud.

It was now early November and they had just visited her OBYGN earlier that afternoon in which the ultrasound tech had happily declared they were having a little girl. Blair of course was thrilled, eager to go on a hunt for her little girl's perfect first headband but what really made her heart soar was looking over to see the look on Chuck's face. At first he was completely speechless - a mix of emotions and thoughts swirling through his mind she could tell - but then, as he quickly processed the news, his lips soon curved into that adorable goofy grin of his that he wore on rare occasions when he was truly and utterly awed. Chuck Bass was going to have a little girl. She couldn't wait to break the news to Serena.

"Well, I let you pick Henry, knowing full well your fascination with Shakespeare's Henry VIII..."

"All I did was offer it as a suggestion and you couldn't come up with a valid reason to shoot it down," he quickly reminded her.

"True but still... you got to pick-"

"Blair, for the last time, we are not naming her Audrey or Holly or Ann or Sabrina or Jo or after any other character Audrey Hepburn played in her career..."

"What about... Cornelia? It is my middle name, named for my grandmother... mother would be pleased... we could call her Cor for short?" Blair offered up instead.

"Again, I don't hate it however..."

"Alright, fine Bass – do you have any suggestions?" she snapped, growing irritated at his current lack of decisiveness.

"What about... Evelyn?" he carefully spoke as the thought occurred to him.

"Chuck... I know growing up we all had thought your dearly departed too soon mother's name was Evelyn... but we both know now that it was all just an elaborate ruse to keep you from ever searching for Elizabeth... and given everything that happened since her appearance in your life and what it's done to us on several occasions now... I'd rather we didn't..." Blair paused, having cautiously chosen her words so as not to upset him - she knew the name and the idea of a mother named Evelyn who had chosen him over herself had to have meant something to him growing up. He wouldn't have suggested it otherwise. "You understand, don't you?"

Chuck merely nodded. He did understand. While as a child he had longed for his deceased loving, mother – Evelyn – his actual mother – Elizabeth – had been the cause of some rather painful memories they both had had from years ago.

"Any others?" Blair genuinely wondered as she sat there, continuing to skim through the pages in the baby name book.

"Charlotte?" Chuck responded after a moment of silence, thinking names over in his head.

"The feminine version of Charles, common nicknames being Charlie and... Chuck. Come on, Chuck – try and take this seriously!" Blair demanded, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"I am, it was an honest suggestion!" Chuck protested, taken aback that she thought he was joking.

"You honestly expect me to believe you're serious about naming our daughter after yourself? You are so egomaniacal..."

"Am not... and I honestly didn't realize that was a common nickname for Charlotte... Although I will admit I did take the initials into consideration..." he devilishly grinned.

"Henry's middle name already follows your family's naming tradition, bearing your name. They can't both share your namesake," Blair argued.

"Why not?" Chuck genuinely wondered only to receive a glare from her instead. "We could always let Henry name her..."

"Have my son decide the name of my first daughter? You can't be serious!" Blair exclaimed in disbelief. "He can name the next one..."

Chuck couldn't help chuckling at her reaction, although he'd be lying if he didn't admit it made those damn butterflies he had always felt for her to start fluttering all over again at hearing her declaration of 'the next one,' implying they most definitely weren't done having children together.

"Alright, alright... I was kidding about letting him choose the name... however I wasn't joking about Charlotte... which by the way... you know, you didn't say you hated it..." he called her out on it. One of the rules they had come up with when picking names for Henry was that a name would be kept on the table so long as neither of them hated it or ruled it out completely.

"No, but... ugh! This is getting tiring, you're not taking it seriously and I still have a few samples to look over before I can retire for the night," she declared in a huff as she finished her tea, closed the naming book and sat forward.

"Here, I'll get them... and I swear – I was serious about Charlotte," Chuck offered as he leaned over the side and reached for her handbag on the floor next to the couch in an effort to help as she was now six months pregnant and already experiencing plenty of growing pains. Accidentally knocking the bag over, he couldn't help noticing a manila envelope - addressed only to Blair from her gynecologist's office - had fallen out as well. "Blair... what's this?" he suspiciously questioned as he held the object up for her to see, the fabric samples in his other hand already forgotten.

Blair momentarily froze in place before snapping to immediately, quickly masking the look of horror she knew appeared as she realized just what it was he was holding, "That... is nothing to concern yourself with," she quickly finished as she reached over and attempted to snatch it away from him.

"Blair, it's from your doctor," he pointed out to her as he out maneuvered her. "If it's something pertaining to our child, I have a right to know," he informed her.

"It's nothing you need to worry yourself over," Blair lied as she once again tried to take it from him only to fail.

Chuck could read her like no one else though and knew she wasn't being honest. Finding that envelope had almost immediately put her on edge. She was keeping something from him and that something was now in his hand.

Eyes locked on each other, silently challenging the other, the fire crackling in the fireplace as the only noise, Chuck slowly moved to open it.

"Chuck, don't!" Blair yelled, breaking their showdown.

While she had gotten the results weeks ago, she was too scared to open them and find out the truth they would reveal. Honestly, she wasn't even sure if she actually wanted to know, she just wanted the option to be able to know if it ever came to her needing to find out.

Ignoring her desperate plea, Chuck proceeded, turning his back to her as he began to remove the papers from their casing, not noticing a smaller piece had fallen out and onto the floor.

"Based on the DNA voluntarily provided by Blair Bass, sample one was tested on October 15th and has proved positive for... paternity..." Chuck read, pausing as he quickly flipped to the second page. "Based on the DNA voluntarily provided by Blair Bass, sample two was tested on October 15th and has proved negative for paternity," Chuck stopped as he realized just what it was he was holding. "Blair... you had paternity tests done?" he questioned, confused and a little hurt. "But I thought we had agreed that we didn't need to know – that it didn't matter..." his voice trailed, sadness in his eyes as he turned and looked back at her, realizing what she had done. He was a little surprised to see her sitting there, hand over her ears as if she was trying not to hear, although he could tell by the look on her face that her attempt had failed.

"You said it didn't matter," she reminded him with a hiss. "And it still doesn't matter for you, Chuck – you said so yourself. You promised it didn't!"

"I know, but still I don't understand-"

"I needed to have it done, Chuck," she quickly snapped. "I needed to have the option of knowing in case something ever happened," she tried to explain. "What if... what there's an accident and she needs a blood transfusion? From her father," Blair went on. "If something happened and we had no way of knowing - she could die if the wrong blood was given to her!"

"Blair..." Chuck lowly spoke.

"I hadn't decided yet if I wanted to know – I was thinking I would lock it away in my own safe deposit box, just in case we did ever need it," she continued to ramble. "It was only in my bag so I wouldn't forget to take it to the bank with me tomorrow."

"Blair..." Chuck spoke again, demanding her attention. "Which DNA sample was mine?" he asked the million dollar question.

Blair remained silent for a moment before a quiet little gasp was all he heard from her. He noticed her subtly glancing down at a smaller piece of paper now in her possession.

"What's that?" he growled, as he began to move towards her and see for himself.

"It's... it's nothing," she quickly responded, as she crumpled up the paper and made a dash around the left side of the coffee table as he approached from her right side. She had just about made it to the fireplace when he grabbed her by the arm, stopping her. Fortunately her though she had gotten close enough.

"Blair!" he cried out in anger as he watched her toss the ball of paper into the fire. He lunged past her in a panicked attempt to catch it but it was too late. The legend of which sample belonged to whom had been destroyed as it fell down in between the logs where he couldn't easily retrieve it, the flames quickly eating it up.

"You said it yourself, it doesn't matter – this little girl," she firmly declared with a hand on her stomach, "is ours, Chuck," Blair reminded him as she turned away, stopping to retrieve the papers he had dropped in his attempt to stop her from destroying the key. "I'm locking these in the safe and then going to bed. Goodnight, Chuck," she stated as she made her way towards the stairs, leaving him kneeling there before the fire, watching wide-eyed in horror as the last of the legend turned to ash.

He snapped out of it once he heard the bedroom door shut from upstairs.

Furious, he retreated to his study, slamming the door behind him to make a point as he knew she would hear it, only to quickly realize that it might have woken Henry up too.

"Serves her right," he mumbled as he locked the door, telling himself that Blair fully deserved the pleasure of putting their son back to bed if he was woken up.

Pacing back and forth in the room, Chuck began to wrestle with his thoughts.

True, he had promised to love the baby – a little girl no less – regardless of whether or not she was his and had insisted all these months that he didn't need to know... well there was a difference between needing to know and wanting to know. And right now, knowing Blair had gone ahead and had the tests done... that the results had been in their home – in his hands no less! - he really wanted to know.

But what if she really is Dan's? He couldn't help thinking to himself.

Not knowing had provided him the luxury of being blissfully unaware. If there was no test, no proof that she belonged to anyone else, what harm could come of not knowing? They would all just assume she was a Bass, no questions asked and everyone would be none the wiser.

But now Blair knew.

He knew, despite her attempt, that she had heard him read the results and he knew she peeked at the legend before destroying it. And the fact that she knew and he didn't had him questioning it all over again.

"If she was yours... Blair would have just told you instead of destroying any evidence that said otherwise," he tried to ration to himself as he sat down in his oversized leather office chair behind his desk. "She's got to be his then... Blair wouldn't have been so surprised, so insistent that it didn't matter..." he paused as he thought for a moment before he quickly started rummaging through his desk drawers, remembering he had hidden a flask somewhere in his office.

He decided he needed something to calm his nerves as the realization that Blair was pregnant with Dan's child – Dan's little girl – started to set in. He rushed across the room to the built-in book shelves, frantically opening and then tossing book after book to the floor.

Finally, he found it in a hollowed out copy of The Count of Monte Cristo. "How fitting," he remarked, shaking the flask to confirm there was some liquid in it as he recalled the story of a man who had disappeared for years on end, only to return in disguise and find out his love was bound to another. He sighed in relief as he noted it was about half full.

Racing to unscrew the cap, Chuck paused as he held the object in his hand and just to his lips. Bringing it back down for a moment, an inner battle started inside him.

You've been doing so well, Bass... sober for five months now... do you really want to throw away all that hard work? All the progress you've made?

"It's just one drink... I need something to calm myself down," he tried to rationalize with himself as he continued staring at the flask in his now shaking hand. He needed this. It would help numb the pain he was now feeling, he decided as he once more brought the edge of the flask to his lips.

Except you know it won't. Maybe temporarily, but when it's gone... then what? The pain will still exist and yet you'll have to start your progress all over again.

"It's just one drink!" he roared in frustration as he gripped the flask a little tighter.

Fine, do it. But you know it won't be enough. You know one will lead to another and then another... you'll be drunk and back into your old pattern, just like after Nate died. After Elizabeth died... you'll lose Blair all over again. She won't take you back a third time. You know that. Three strikes and you're out, Bass...

"God dammit!" he screamed in frustration, tossing the open flask across the room.

He heard something break – a vase or a glass he presumed – as he slumped to the floor against the bottom cabinets of the built-in, among the pile of books he had tossed in his earlier search. "Dammit..." he began to sob as he clutched his knees to his chest, resting his head against the top of them.

A moment later he heard footsteps rushing along the hall and staircase up above, shortly followed by the doorknob rapidly being shaken.

"Chuck? Chuck, open the door!" he could hear Blair frantically calling to him as she took turns beating on the door and jiggling the doorknob.

"I don't want to talk to you, right now, Blair!" he yelled back as he closed his eyes and rested his head back against the wood.

"Chuck, what are you doing in there?! I heard something break – did you hurt yourself?" she begged him tell her.

"I'm fine," he growled back. "Just leave me alone right now!"

"Chuck... please, open the door," she pleaded, her tone sounding defeated. "Please..."

As he sat there, trying to calm himself down, he glanced over at the edge of the sea of books on the floor and noticed his cell phone lying there as it must have fallen out of his pocket at some point while he was pacing. Reaching for it, Chuck began scrolling through his list of contacts, looking for one number in particular he had hoped he wouldn't need to ever call. Reluctantly, he hit the dial button and waited.

"It's Chuck Bass... I know it's late and I'm sorry if I woke you but... can we meet? I... I almost had a drink," Chuck sadly confessed as he looked towards the direction where he had thrown the flask, noting that a Waterford Crystal bowl they had received as a belated wedding present had indeed been broken.

"Of course, Chuck – that's what I'm here for," the man on the other end of the line assured him. "I know a place we can meet - I'll text you the address and see you soon," he instructed before hanging up. Looking up the location, Chuck knew exactly which place the man was referring to.

Chuck let out a sigh he hadn't realized he had been holding in as he slowly pocketed his phone and pulled himself to his feet, still shaking a little bit from the episode he had just gone through.

Not sure if Blair was still around, he quietly opened the study door, only to see her sitting there on the bottom of the staircase, clearly waiting.

She was the last person he wanted to talk to right now though. Not after what she did tonight.

"Chuck?" she questioned as she saw him standing there in the door, nothing but concern in her eyes. "What happened?"

Completely ignoring her though, he made his way to the coat closet, retrieving his wool trench.

"Chuck, it's almost midnight – where are you going?" she wondered as she was now following him down the hallway.

"Out," was all he said as he slid his coat on and checked his pocket to make sure he had his keys.

"Out?" she wondered, confused. "Out where?"

"Just... out," he spoke again as he moved towards the front door.

"Chuck, please – let's talk this out," she told him as she grabbed him by the arm, desperate to stop him. She could only imagine the trouble he'd get himself into at this hour on a Wednesday night.

"Don't," he warned as he forcefully shrugged her off. "You've made it perfectly clear that there's nothing more to talk about on that matter," he reminded her as he poked a finger to her growing belly.

"Chuck, please!"

But he continued to ignore her as he silently made his way outside and down the street. He figured he'd hail a cab in a few blocks, but for now... the cool night air felt refreshing.

AN: Before everyone freaks out over who's the daddy - remember, Blair's the only one to have seen the results and she hasn't confirmed or denied anything. At this point, Chuck is merely assuming the worst.

Next few chapters, like this one, are shorter... but that means I'm more than likely to post them faster! (Reviews often help speed up the process too!) =D

Sorry for the hiatus - life happens. Still not a Dair story.