" Do you know what today is out there in the real world ?" I asked with my back against the oven door so he couldn't see inside it. There wasn't much I could do about the smell though and I noticed him casually sniffing the pungent aroma that filled the air.
" No," he smiled. " How do you know what day it is either ?"
He came up to me and laced his arms around my waist as he kissed me.
" Well, I'm guessing. We've slept twice since we got here. So that would mean we've been here two days. So two days from the night of your party would have been...." I was leading him, hoping he would arrive at the right destination all on his own.
" Your birthday is in November. So I know that isn't it. Our first time together was the eighth of November. So that isn't it."
I stopped him with a kiss. " I can't believe you remember the date of the first time we had sex." I said, running my fingers through his hair. " That's so sweet."
He leaned in and kissed me again. " I remember everything about that night. Every little detail. My birthday is in June, so again, can't be that. It wouldn't be this damned cold."
He was teasing me. I could tell by the glint in his eyes. I batted his shoulder and stepped back a little and he gave me his signature smile. " Okay, so I know what day it is. Are you planning something ?"
" Do I have a reason to plan something on Valentine's Day ?" I asked, innocently as I turned back to the stove.
His arms snaked around me again. " What are you cooking up, Waldorf ?"
" Wouldn't you like to know, Bass." I answered.
" Actually, What I'd like," He licked my earlobe. " is for you to stop insisting on wearing clothing and come with me back to the bedroom."
I pushed my elbow into him just hard enough to get him to back away. " I'll be back soon. I promise. But it's my night to cook and I can't just let us starve. We have to keep our strength up."
He stepped back and went to lean against the other counter. " I've been thinking about this whole Valentine's day thing actually. Normally, I would be lavishing you with diamonds and spiriting you away somewhere special in my private jet." He sighed and shrugged hopelessly. " But since my sources are somewhat limited it means I've had to think outside the box."
I couldn't contain my smile. " So you are planning something ?"
" Of course I'm planning something. This is me. You didn't think I'd forget, did you ? I know this is my first Valentine's with an honest to goodness or badness, whichever the case my be, girlfriend. But I have seen this done. I've watched Nate do it several times, in fact. And I've seen movies."
I crossed the small space and put my head against his chest, hugging him tightly. " You don't have to do it just because Nate always did. You aren't him. If I wanted him, I'd be with him right now. I want you."
" Why ?" He asked after a minute of silence.
I raised my head and looked at him like he had gone crazy. " What ?"
He shrugged again. " Why do you want me ? I don't understand."
" Because I love you, you idiot." I answered.
He shrugged yet again. " And again I say, why ?"
I pulled away from him and rolled my eyes. " What are you looking for here, Bass ? A little ego stroke. Cause I'm sure I could find better places to stroke."
He quirked his eyebrow at me in that devastatingly sexy way that made me wonder why I insisted that we wear clothes as well. " We are so going to revisit this conversation in a moment. But first I really want to know. After everything, how can you still love me ?"
" Because I know you." I answered.
" Even more reason for you to have some serious psychological tests done as soon as possible." He told me, resting his hands on the counter beside him and propping one foot over the other.
" Do you really think that you are so unlovable no one could possibly care so much about you ?" I asked him, turning back to my dinner to keep it from burning. I stirred a pot and flipped some food before turning back to him when he chose not to answer.
Then I saw it. It was written all over his face. Of course that was what he thought. I went to him and grabbed both his hands in mine. " I love you because you're the guy that would sacrifice his most priced, irreplaceable baseball to help a friend in trouble." He smiled at that. " I love you because you're the one in our little circle that would move mountains in an instant if any one of us needed you to. I love you because you're ferociously loyal to the people you allow to share your life. You would do anything, and I mean anything, no matter how unthinkable, for your friends. I love you because I know that deep down, under all that cold, calculating, evil exterior there is a good person. I know it because I've seen it with my own eyes. You were the one, Chuck. You were the one that stood by Serena's side through all the craziness. When he found her drunk and puking, even after Nate and I had had our fill of her, you were there holding her hair and hosing her off. You never let her fall on her own."
" Everybody hates me." He commented dryly.
" No we don't. None of us hates you. Do you think a guy like Nate would hang around a guy that he couldn't stand ? Even Serena doesn't hate you as much as she lets on. You are part of us. You're the disgusting, demoralizing, break all the rules, one of us. But that's why we like you."
" Sometimes I just feel like the only reason you guys are all still around me is out of habit or something. We've all been together so long. I'm not sure of my place in the circle sometimes." He admitted.
" Well, first off, you're usually our financial backing. That is an important role." He rolled his eyes and I kissed him quickly to let him know I wasn't finished. " But the fact that you have no inhibitions, no limits. That's good for us. We are the privileged, shelter kids. Without you, Nate would never know what it's like to smoke a joint."
" How is that a good thing ?" He laughed. " I've corrupted him."
" Yes, you have and your corruption of us is just what we all need. Otherwise all we'd be is cardboard cutout of our parents. Nate and I, at least, need the bit of darkness that you bring us. We'd never make it through life brought up the way we were. Not real life. And sooner or later, as you well know, real life comes at you, whether you want it to or not. You have helped prepare us for that more than you know."
" Okay, so now I'm Satan, visiting my own form of evil to your quiet little existences." He laughed again.
" No, not Satan. Though don't for a minute think that Nate doesn't envy you and live vicariously through you exploits." I laughed with him.
" You think ? He always seems so disproving." He muttered, distantly.
" And yet he hangs on every word. Listens intently to every detail." I said, sarcastically.
He shifted and drew me tighter into him. We were quiet for a while, just holding each other and thinking about what I'd said. Then suddenly he raised his head from where it was propped on top of my own and sniffed the air. " Whatever you're cooking, I think it's burning."
I noticed the smell and ran back to the stove to try to assess the damage.
" Stay out of the bedroom for a while." He called over his shoulder as he left the room.
" Okay, you stay out of the kitchen." I answered as I stirred frantically.
" It's a deal," he agreed. " Separate corners it is."
I knocked softly on the door to the bedroom an hour later when dinner was finally ready.
He answered it and pushed me out of the way, snatching the door closed before I had a chance to see inside.
" Don't I even get a peak ?" I
asked as he took my hand and lead me away.
" Not even a hint
until after dinner." He shook his head.
I had set the table to the best of my limited ability. Stealing a couple of candles from the bathroom, I had them in the center of the table and they flickered with a warm yellowish glow that lite the space.
Dinner was steaks, a salad and steamed vegetables. A bottle of red wine that wasn't too awful and for dessert, a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and the words, 'I love you, Chuck' written over the center in red.
Chuck smiled as he spied it sitting on the counter. " I love you, too." He whispered as he leaned in to kiss me before holding out my chair for me.
Apparently the first time was the hardest, because I didn't seem all that difficult for him now. In fact, it was almost like he enjoyed hearing himself say it. He initiated the sentiment more often than I did.
" I've been thinking about when we get back home." I began as I started to eat and he poured us each a glass of wine.
" What about it ? You know that I have no intention of letting things go back to the way they were. I have you now. I'm not letting you go ever again." He said in such a matter-of-fact way, it was like he was telling me the colors in a rainbow. It was simple statement of fact and it broke no room for argument.
" I didn't think for a minute that they would. I was just thinking about all the people that will be so shocked when we're seen together all over town. Blair and Chuck. Chuck and Blair, a real life, out in the open couple."
He laughed quietly. " I'm sure we'll be all the rave on Gossip Girl. We'll make headlines for weeks."
" Well, " I took another bite. " That was actually what I was thinking about. You know how everyone always takes people names and puts them together when they post gossip. Like they do celebrities. I was trying to image what they would be calling us."
" Insane ?" He offered unhelpfully.
I rolled my eyes. " How about Bluck ?"
He laughed out loud around his wine glass. " Bluck ? It sounds like something you scrap off your shoe or something that oozes out of an infant. I will not be a part of a word like Bluck. Besides, isn't obvious what our names will be ?"
" I guess not." I laughed with him. " What do you think our name will be ?"
He reached across the table and took my hand in his warmer one. " Blair even our names merge well together. Of course, we will be known as 'Chair'."
" Chair," I let the name fall from my lips, testing it out. Then I watched as he brought my hand to his lips and kissed it softly. " This half of 'Chair' loves the other half of 'Chair' very much."
He chuckled and let my hand go. " This half of 'Chair' agrees. I love you."
I felt the now familiar shiver run up my spine. It did it every time he said the words. It was my body's involuntary response.
" Do I get to see my surprise yet ?" I asked merrily as I sipped at my wine again.
" Do I get to sample my deliciously wonderful smelling cake ?" He countered.
" After my surprise, you can have yours." I told him.
His eyes narrowed and he grinned at me. " I intend to sample my surprise until neither of us can move so much as an eyelid. And I'm not talking about the cake."
He stood up, blew out the candles on the table and held out his hand to me. I took it and joined him as he led me down the hall. Then he stopped right outside the door.
" Let me explain first." He said turning to me.
" It needs an explanation ?" I quirked my eyebrow at him.
" Possibly." He nodded.
That was the last thing he said before the lights went out and we were plunged into darkness. I heard movement towards the end of the hallway, coming from the impassible door. I grabbed Chuck's shoulder as he pulled me tightly in behind him and held me against his back. His hand gripped bruising into my waist, letting me know that no one was taking me away from him without a fight.
I wish it had been that simple. But the next thing I heard was a pop and Chuck fell forward in a limp heap at my feet.
I screamed, then another pop sounded in the blackness and I joined him on the floor.