I was sitting on the bed, having meandered back into the bedroom because I didn't know what else I was supposed to do.

We were stuck. There was nothing we could do about it. All we could do was sit back and wait for something, anything to change. Then we could react. But for the time being we were trapped.

Stuck together in a tiny apartment-like living space for God knew how long. Trapped with Chuck. For weeks. Maybe months. Definitely days. With the one person in the world I did NOT want to be trapped with.

I didn't even want to be in the same room with him. I was trying to avoid him. How could I possibly avoid him now ? I was never going to get through this. The kidnappers, whoever they were, were torturing me without even realizing it.

Two days, tops and I would tell them anything, give them anything to escape. I was sure of it. Maybe they knew exactly what they were doing.

Crafty kidnappers, GREAT!

Just as I was thinking that maybe it was possible for me to fake a comma until someone rescued us, Chuck appeared at the doorway and cleared his throat.

" Are you hungry ?" He asked, his voice quiet and strained.

I sighed. It was inevitable. I was going to have to deal with him eventually. But I wanted him to know they we were in no way okay. This wasn't going to be some vacation for us where we get to play house for a little while and spend all our time in bed together, bonding or whatever.

No, there would be distance here. There would be space and there absolutely, positively would be no bonding or whatever.

" I think we need to discuss how this is going to work." I announced as I sat up straighter.

" I found some boxes out here. There's all kinds of stuff in them. Towels, clothes, bed linen. There's even a kit with some medicine and stuff."

" Good. At least we'll have everything we need." I answered as I wrapped my arms around my chest.

" So what is it you want to discuss ?" He asked as he came and sat down beside me.

" Sleeping arrangements for one." I began.

" I'll take the couch." He offered before I got very far. " You can have the bed. It's fine."

" There's only one heater that I've seen and its freezing down here. I was thinking we could just switch off with the floor in here." I explained my much saner solution.

" Or we could just be adults and share the bed since there are only so many blankets to go around and neither of us wants to sleep on the floor."

I glared at him for a moment. But his argument made since. I was already dreading my night on the cold concrete floor. " Okay, I suppose we can try it. But you stay on your side of the bed. I'll stay on mine and no touching."

He nodded. " No touching. Got it."

" As for food, I don't know much about cooking, but I'm betting I know more than you do. So I'll cook, you can clean up afterwards."

" I can cook." He protested. " A little anyway. As much as you can I'll bet."

I huffed. " Fine, we'll take turns."

" Fine. There's another problem." He told me quietly.

" What ?"

" No hot water. I tried all the faucets and nothing comes out. Just cold."

I glared at him in shock. " What about bathing ?"

" I guess we take cold baths." He shrugged.

" It's freezing in here. Like you said. We'll catch pneumonia."

" Okay." His hands gripped his thighs like he was trying to hold on to his temper. " We'll have to heat the water up in the kitchen."

" Is there anything else I don't know about yet ?"

He nodded. " Not that I've found yet."

" Good. I'm starving. I'm going to take my turn cooking first." I stood and started for the door.

" No, let me. You can work on unpacking the boxes. Maybe find us a movie to watch while we eat."

I turned to him with my hands on my hips. " Chuck, we are not watching a movie together. We aren't eating together. I'm going to eat in here. You can eat in the kitchen or the living room, or where ever you want as long as it isn't in here with me. We aren't going to hang out. We aren't together. We are two people stuck in the same place. Two people that hate each other, I might add."

He stepped up to me with a look on his face that I didn't really recognize but it looked close to hurt. " I don't hate you. I've never hated you."

I stomped my foot childishly and whirled on my heel away from him. " Well, in your own words, That's too bad."

I was elbow deep in a box filled with reject clothes that looked as if they belonged in a salvation army, when Chuck announced that lunch was ready. We assumed it was lunchtime anyway. Having no contact with the outside world it was hard to tell whether it was daylight or dark, night or day.

" I've made a decision regarding this little arrangement." He announced as he put the plates filled with steamy food down on the table. " I will agree to stay away from you. We can take turns between the living room and bedroom, if that's how you want it. But, we eat together."

I opened my mouth, about to protest, but he held his hand up. " You have set all the rules here. And I'm agreeing to follow them. Give me this, at least. We are the only human contact we'll probably have for I'm not sure how long. I realize you have never had this happen to you before and it may seem novel to you. But I'm telling you, I've gone long periods of time without another soul around. It isn't nice. It'll make you crazy before too long."

I stared at him for a moment, not sure how to respond. He was giving in to every one of my demands. I guessed the least I could do was agree to this much.

I sat with my back rigid and a napkin I'd found in one of the boxes draped over my leg. The food wasn't bad though I wasn't sure what it was supposed to be. I decided not to ask. It was eatable and that was good enough.

Chuck hadn't said a word to me since we started eating and I was beginning to wonder what the point of this whole eating together thing was all about. If we weren't talking, weren't even looking at each other, why did we have to go through the discomfort of being in the same room with each other ?

Then he took a drink from his glass and cleared his throat.

" I want you to know that I'm sorry all this has happened to you. Whatever is going on, I would have done anything to keep you out of it, had I known." He said, sincerely and honestly.

" I know you would have. I don't blame you for any of THIS." I made sure to emphasize the last word so he would understand that all was not forgiven.

" Are you really going to keep this up the entire time we're here ?" He answered finally.

" There's nothing to keep up. I just don't want to be around you. It's that simple."

" Blair, this is ridiculous. Can't we just put everything aside so we can get through this ?" He sat his glass down with a thump.

" I am. I'm not planning on fighting with you. I'm not planning on talking about anything that's happened between us. I'm not planning on dealing with you at all. That means I'm setting things aside for now." I explained simply as I finished eating and used the napkin to dab at my mouth. Then I sat it down on my plate and stood from the table. " I'm done. I'll be back a little later to clean up."

I walked away before he could say anything else.

I made it through the dishes with little incident, though honestly I had no idea what I was doing. But I figured how hard could it be, a little soap, a little water, rinse, done.

When I finished, I retreated back to the bedroom and started trying to make it into some place I could live in. I found the sheets in the box along with a few blankets and a couple of pillows. By the time I finished the bed definitely looked more comfortable anyway.

I could hear noise coming from the living room, so either he was watching the T.V. or listening to music or playing with the game system.

I remembered when we were younger, he and Nate would sit in front of his television, playing games for hours on end. I'd even caught him recently playing with Eric a couple of times. Serena said it happened a lot when they were both home with nothing else to do, not that there had ever been a time when I found myself keeping tabs on him. That would have been desperate and clingy.

I found a trashy romance novel in one of the boxes and I flopped down on the bed to read it. I hadn't even noticed how much time had gone by until Chuck came to the door again and cleared his throat.

" Do you want the living room for a while ?" He asked, still in that eerily quiet, strangely subdued way.

" Is there anything good to watch ?" I asked over the top of my book.

He shrugged. " There's a cabinet full of movies and T.V. shows."

" What have you been doing out there all this time ?"

" I watched a few movies and played a game. There's a Wii and a Playstation3. You should try them." He suggested. " It'll at least give you something to occupy your time."

" What are you going to do ?"

" I'm heating up some water for a bath. Unless you want to use it. I can take one after you."

I shook my head. Then hesitated. A bath sounded wonderful. I felt grimy having spent the first part of my day crawling through dusty, dirty boxes. But again, I didn't want him to feel like he was doing me any favors. " It's okay. I'll take one after you."

He sighed. " You obviously want a bath. Just let me fix it for you. It's no big deal."

" Okay." I gave in.

" Give me about thirty minutes. I'll have it ready for you." He nodded. Then paused. " I need the heater."

" Why ?" I asked, glancing at the same device that was serving to keep me warm.

" Because I want it and you've had it all afternoon." He announced a little defensively.

" Fine." I huffed. " Take it."

Half an hour later he called to me from the hallway, telling me the bath was ready.

I stepped into the small bathroom and stepped back in shock. Chuck had cleaned.

The bathroom was no longer the filthy little hovel that it had been when we first found it. It was sparkling clean and warm. The dust, dirt, and cobwebs were gone. In the corner, the tub looked so inviting with steaming rolling off the water filling it. The little heater purred away in the corner, making the small space toasty warm and very relaxing. He had even found some candles, there were several of them lit around the room casting it in a soft, yellowish glow.

I had found heaven. There was a fluffy, indulgent-looking dark blue towel sitting on the counter along with a smaller one on top of it. And he had dragged the speakers from the stereo in the living room to the counter. Soft, peaceful music drifted from them, adding to the feel of the room.

It was wonderful. The feel of the water as I submerged myself was like a warm cocoon, wrapping me in its comfort and easing the tension from my sore muscles.

I lost myself, closing my eyes and laying my head against the porcelain of the tub, I allowed myself to drift away and forget about everything that was going on around me.

It was a long time later that I heard a knock on the door and I blinked my eyes open and squinted into the near darkness.

" Yes," I called out.

He cracked the door an inch so I could hear him.

" I thought you might need something to help get the shampoo out of your hair." He answered and I instantly sat up and huffed again. Leave it to him to do something nice then go and ruin it a minute later. He just couldn't follow through with a good deed for some reason.

" No, I don't need your help getting the shampoo out of my hair. I thought I made this very clear, Chuck."

He eased the door opened further and pushed what looked like a pitcher through the crack. " I wasn't offering my services." He answered, flatly. " I was trying to give you this, but I'd be more than happy to assist you if you'd like."

" Oh," I mumbled. " Well, then thank you."

He stepped inside with one hand covering his eyes like an idiot. I took the pitcher from him and thanked him again.

" We don't have to be enemies, Blair. We could try to just be friends again. I seem to remember that we made it work for a really long time when we were kids." He announced before turning away.

" Thank you for the bath. It was really nice of you." I offered.

" Does that mean we can stop fighting and just try to get along ?" He turned back to me and his hand fell away from his face.

" I suppose we could try. Stranger things have happened, right ?"

He smiled though it didn't really reach his eyes. " Yes, they have. Are you sure you don't want some help with the shampoo ?"

I splashed him with water and he held his hands up in front of him defensively. " It wasn't a come on. Your hair's really long. Its gonna to take some work to get it clean like that. Now do you want some help or not ?"

" I'm supposed to believe that, right ?" I asked, pointedly.

" Yes, you are. Its the truth. But you know, never mind, do it yourself. Dinner is almost ready."

Then he turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

Okay, he was right, getting my hair washed and rinsed was a problem and when I was done, I still wasn't sure I'd gotten all the soap out of it. Still, there was no way I was going to call him back and ask for his help. Though it had not escaped my attention that the entire we were having a conversation with me naked in a bathtub, his gaze had never strayed from my face.

I climbed from the tub and wrapped one towel around myself and the other around my hair. Then I went to the living room to find something to put on in the reject clothing.

I stopped the moment I entered the large space, once again taken aback.

Chuck had been busy. All the boxes were unpacked and their contents apparently stashed away in their proper places around our temporary home. There was a fluffy-looking blanket covering the couch and another one laying over its arm. The screen of the television along with all the other surfaces had been wiped down and freed of the dust that previously covered them. More soft music drifted from the T.V. filling the room with the same kind of relaxing vibe that occupied the bathroom.

There was a tablecloth over the table and two long, red taper candles lit in its center. Two plates filled again with delicious looking, steaming food sat on opposite sides in front of the rickety chairs. A bottle of wine sat beside the candles.

" Your clothes are in the top drawer in the dresser in the bedroom." He said without looking up at me.

I turned without a word and went to get dressed. I choice a pair of ill-fitting sweatpants and a huge sweatshirt. I had never in my life worn anything like it and as I looked down at myself, I felt like climbing back into the tub. But I resisted the urge and made way to dinner.

" I thought maybe you'd like to catch a movie after dinner." He suggested from where he stood with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the sink, when I reentered the room.

" What movie ?" I asked as I moved to the table and took my seat.

" I found 'Gone with the Wind'. I've never seen it, but I know you liked it."

He took his own place and poured us both a glass of wine.

" You've never seen ' Gone with the Wind' ?"

He shook his head. "Not really my style."

I rolled my eyes and gave him a smile. " It's everyone's style."

" Maybe I'll watch it later, after you go to bed, or tomorrow." He answered.

I waved him off. " You can just watch it with me. I guess we can try this getting along thing. I'm not making any promises though."

" I'm not asking for any." He smiled. " Just give me a chance."

I took a drink from my glass to wet my suddenly dry throat. He sounded so honest and sincere it was frightening. He wasn't professing his endless love or anything that monumental. But it was a step. It was progress. I didn't know why he was suddenly being so nice, but I was willing to just let myself go with it, for now anyway.