A/N: Here is the ninth and final chapter! I am so happy to have this complete. I obviously decided how this love-triangle fic was going to end. And I apologize to any of those people hoping for a Blair-Nate ending, but I stayed true to my Blair-Chuck ship. :D Oh and you might notice another little tidbit I borrowed from Season 2. You should be able to pick it out. It doesn't have anything to do with Blair/Chuck really, but it's in there and pretty obvious. Enjoy this last chapter. R&R! Thanks! –Mac

Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl.

Chapter Nine

The One Who Knows You Best

Blair had been walking for, she didn't know how long. She knew it probably wasn't safe for her to be out walking the streets of New York in the middle of the night, but no one had bothered her so far so she kept moving forward. She had no destination. She only followed her feet. When she finally arrived in a familiar place, she should have been surprised that she ended up there of all places but she wasn't. What had she said? "History repeats itself if we don't intervene." She thought maybe, without even knowing, she had let it happen. Maybe she had even wanted it to.

The next thing she knew the elevator doors were opening into the Bass penthouse suite. She found it empty. The lack of party goers caused her to check the time. It wasn't like Chuck to end a party so early. She had to push aside some left over party debris from the couch to take a seat and wait for Chuck to reappear. She knew he couldn't be asleep yet, so he was bound to emerge from wherever he was hiding eventually. Besides, all the alcohol in the suite was in her direct line of sight and Chuck never passed on a nightcap.

The sound of footsteps coming down the hall drew her attention but she was disappointed when it was only Serena that rounded the corner.

"Blair?" Serena frowned, "What are you doing here? I thought you were—"

Blair cut her off, "Where's Chuck?"

"He left. He's taken up occupancy in his old suite until the mess left over from the party can be cleaned up. I stayed behind so someone could explain to the house keeping staff what happened here." Serena answered. "What's going on?"

"Nothing…it's nothing," Blair sighed, "I'll tell you everything later. I have to go."

Blair began to leave but Serena's voice halted her in her tracks, "You turned Nate down didn't you? How are you two supposed to move past this?"

"We don't have to," Blair responded.

"What does that mean?"

"It means we broke up. I ended it," Blair exclaimed, "But if you're so concerned with Nate's feelings on the matter then why don't you go have this conversation with him."

"Hey, I tried to tell you what would happen if—" Serena began.

"Yeah you told me so Serena," Blair closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down. "And you were right. If I tried to ignore the past, I couldn't have a future. I learned my lesson, thanks."

"B, you know I was only trying to help," Serena scowled.

"Yes, you always have the best intentions. Your actions just don't always have the best results," Blair said. "So, what I'm about to do, I would like to do without your help. I know what I'm doing now."

"You're going to Chuck," Serena replied. It wasn't a question.

Blair turned to Serena one last time, "You may have been right about Nate, but you have never been right about Chuck. I know him better than anyone and you just don't." Blair laughed lightly, "You think what you will about him, but he's been better for me this past month that Nate even could be." Serena was silent so Blair finished with, "I'll talk to you later, S."

The trip to suite 1812 was different than the one to the Penthouse. Her conversation with Serena had only convinced her that what she was about to do was right. She knew what she was going to find as she walked down the hall. Without hesitation, she raised a hand and knocked on the door. She waited for him to answer with her hands clutched firmly together. She was forcefully keeping her breathing even as a sudden wave of nervousness enveloped her—breathe in, breathe out, repeat. Soon enough the door was swinging open to reveal Chuck in the doorway.

"Blair," he replied and gestured her inside.

"You don't seem surprised that I'm here," Blair commented as she stepped inside.

Chuck closed the door and followed her. He responded simply, "I'm not."

Blair whipped around, a frown set in deep on her features, "You were expecting this?"

"I told you, Blair," Chuck breathed out, "I know you best."

"So you knew this wasn't going to work out with Nate and you still told me to…" Blair shook her head. This wasn't going as she planned.

"I told you to do whatever made you happy," Chuck corrected, "Did I actually believe that moving in with Nathaniel would make you happy? No. I had hoped you would realize that as well. I've seen how you've been tortured this last month. Possessiveness has never looked good on Nathaniel, but I was never going to be the person to tell you to leave him. Had you decided to move in with him and proved me wrong, proved that he has made you as deliriously happy as you've pretended he has, then I would have accepted that somehow."

"I don't believe you," Blair responded, shaking her head back and forth. "I don't think you know me at all."

"But I do," Chuck affirmed.

"Prove it," Blair challenged.

"Are you sure you want me to do that?" Chuck offered her the opportunity to take back her words.

"Yes," Blair stood her ground.

"You had your chance," Chuck replied. He took a step closer to her, "There's this thing you do, when you're unsure of yourself. You would never let anyone see you nervous, so instead of actually biting your lip, you bite just inside so you can hide it. You're doing it right now."

Blair was startled and immediately released the hold her teeth had on the inside of her lip, "That doesn't prove anything. If that's all you've got…"

"That's nothing," Chuck shook his head, "But if you want me to continue…"

"Go on," Blair urged. "I'm waiting to be impressed."

"Back in high school you said you hated Dan Humphrey because he wasn't good enough for Serena, and that may have been true, but part of the reason why you couldn't stand him was that he gave Serena something you didn't have during the time they were together."

"And what's that?" Blair questioned.

"He made her happy, and you were miserable. You and Nate had fallen apart at the seams and as well, we were never quite right either, were we?" Chuck answered.

Blair had to tell herself to breathe. She had resented Dan and Serena both for being the definition of the perfect couple when her relationship had taken a dive off the top of the Empire State Building. But she had never let it show. She couldn't fathom how Chuck had seen right through her.

Blair swallowed hard, but managed to say, "Any other bright insights?"

"I bet you were devastated when Gossip Girl had her final send off. Senior year, when Serena was contemplating a full-fledged campaign against her, you reveled in every post about you. You shine brightest when there are eyes on you. You love the attention, as long as it only grazes the surface."

Blair took a deep breath. This was hitting too close to home as it went further, but she refused to back down. She was Blair Waldorf, and she was not going to lose a challenge to Chuck Bass again—she had already lost too many in the past. "Please continue."

Chuck shrugged, "As you wish. This one, I know you'll appreciate. You forgave Nate for sleeping with Serena, because he's a man and you couldn't blame him for lusting after your best friend. Honestly, who didn't lust after her in high school? Yet there is a part of you that will never forgive Serena. A part of you will always hate her for what she did because she should have known better. That's why you were still so suspicious when they saw each other again. That part of you thinks that if she let it happen once, then she has it in her to let it happen again."

Blair found she was unable to respond to that one, but Chuck continued anyway, "And there's this moment when you first walk into a room where you consider walking out. Your eyes flicker with fear and insecurity. Because you're strong but you're still afraid that someone might see right through that thick skin of yours if they look closely enough. Underneath you're vulnerable and if they could catch a glimpse of that part of you, they could break you so easily."

"Chuck," Blair shook her head.

"I know that look so well," Chuck smiled slightly, "because it's the same look you get whenever you're around me. You're afraid because you know, you know, that I've always been able to see you. And that's how I knew that, with Nathaniel, it was never going to happen for you. He's never seen you. He barely grasps the idea of you. You deserve so much better than that." With his last words, Chuck moved closer to her, so that he was only inches away. He caught her chin gently in his hand, tilting her face toward him. "I could give you what you deserve."

Blair let out a breathy sigh, "Yes."

Chuck let another smile curl across his lips, "Are you sure?"

"Mmhmm," Blair affirmed.

Without another moment's hesitation, Chuck closed the remaining distance and kissed her. It had been years since the last time they kissed, but it felt as if this was right where they were meant to be. He still tasted the same as Blair remembered. She couldn't resist the urge to wrap her arms around him and pull him as close to her as humanly possible, and even then he wasn't close enough. But when she thought about it, it had always been that way with Chuck. She had never been able to get enough and it seemed she never would.

Everything she and Nate had might have been gone, but everything she and Chuck had was just beginning.

—the end—