AN: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my friend and fellow writer, Sam, who has been having a very difficult few months. These past few weeks have been particularly trying and I want to send all my love out to her. When life fails to make sense, we must seek comfort and truth through writing…

Chapter 12

Neither Chuck nor Blair could say for sure how long it was before either of them said anything. They just lied there, still connected in the most intimate of places, and listened to the sounds of their mixed breathing.

Blair stared at the ceiling as she rubbed her hands adoringly up and down the planes of his back, soothing the newest marks she knew her nails left on him.

She reveled in the feel of the slight moisture against her fingertips that formed on his skin—a combined result of the dewy summer night and the passion of their lovemaking. It made him feel more real; like a man who was actually there with her in the moment—not just in a dream or wishful thinking. He was there and she told him the truth. She loved him.

Now she just had to wait until he said something back. Anything. Just…

"I'm crushing you" he stated more than asked, interrupting her stream of consciousness.

Automatically and almost self-consciously, Chuck began to lift himself both off and out of her.

But Blair wasn't having any of it.

"No" she protested, hooking her legs around his body and keeping him in place "Well, I mean, you are a little…but it feels nice."

It was a moment of desperation on her part; a silent plea for him to do everything in his power to not break this perfect moment between them. Because once he did, the two of them would have to face the purple elephant in the room.

They could not pretend that Blair had not said the three little words that relationship-girls like her died to hear, while commitment-phobes like Chuck most likely dreaded more than anything else in the world.

"Doesn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah" Chuck answered before flipping their bodied until she was the one on top of him.

"But this feels even better."

Blair sighed in relief as his hands wrapped themselves around her naked back; her own face buried in the crook of his neck.

"But now I'm crushing you" she said, unable to resist the urge to place a kiss behind his ear.

Chuck smiled at the feel of her soft lips on his skin.

"You could never crush me" he told her, holding her closer for good measure.

He knew that they were just wasting time, delaying the inevitable, but he couldn't help it. He did know what to say to her anymore then she did. So instead, he said the only thing he could think of—the only thing he knew for sure.

"You're perfect" he whispered.

"You don't have to lie to me" Blair said, despite the fact that his words melted her heart.

Chuck did something drastic then, he lifted her face and looked into the eyes of the woman who just moments before professed her love to him—him, a scared little boy who had convinced himself at a very young age that no person would ever care about him the way he needed to be. And yet, against all odds, she had said it. Three times, she had said it.

Blair's hesitant, almost sheepish eyes slammed into his raw gaze instantaneously. In the few words he had spoken in the past minute, Chuck managed to keep his own tone of voice so calm and nonchalant she was almost convinced that he had chosen to ignore her three word confession; but here in his eyes Blair saw with perfect clarity the beautiful soul he carried somewhere deep within himself. And it took her breath away.

"I'm not lying" he said, cupping her face in his hands "You're perfect to me, Waldorf."

At a loss for a response—because honestly what is a girl to say after a confession like that?—Blair settled for kissing him sweetly in a way she knew Chuck never kissed any other girl but her.

"Will you say it again?" he asked when she pulled back, his eyes still closed.

Blair ran her thumb over his full bottom lip as she contemplated his question.

"Do you want me to?" she asked, honestly unsure of what his answer would be.

He opened his eyes.

"More than anything" he told her.

She smiled them, almost coyly, as she mustered up the courage to say the words to his face without the cloak of sexual pleasure to hide under. She lifted one of his hands from the side of her face and kissed his palm intimately.

"Charles Bass" she began tenderly, "I love you."

The sincerity in her voice brought inexplicable tears to his eyes. Not only was Blair the first person in his life who ever expressed her love for him, but she was also the first to ever speak his name in such a way that made him feel like his very existence was a blessing and not the curse his unloving father believed him to be.

"I've loved you for so long…" she told him, wiping a traitorous tear from where it rested on his cheek.

"I don't deserve you" he repeated their sentiment from earlier in the night. It was pathetic, but it was true. There was no getting around it, "Or your love."

Blair quieted his residual guilt with a kiss so passionate she felt his manhood begin to stir from its current residency deep within her womb. Chuck shuttered in response to the affect she had on his body.

"Of course you do" she began "and you have it. Don't you understand? I've never felt this way about anyone before. You're everything to me."

"I feel the same way" Chuck said quietly "I never…ever thought I'd be here. But I am, and have been for a lot longer than my old ego would care to admit."

"I love you too, Blair" he told her.

It had been a while, a very long while, since Blair had heard someone say those reverent words to her and genuinely mean it. With Nate and her mother, responding with a quick "love you too" always seemed like force of habit more than anything—as if they were going though the motions of the ritual without actually realizing what that phrase means to a person.

To say "I love you" should not be a throw-away term one uses in passing, nor should it be a backup plan to get ones self out of the doghouse. It should not be used gratuitously for it will lose its meaning, but it also should not be neglected to the point that when someone finally hears the words, they are hard-pressed to believe it.

"You do?" Blair asked him out of habit.

"Very much so" Chuck told her with an assertiveness that would never make her doubt him again.

The next thing Blair knew, Chuck was lifting her off of his semi-hard member and maneuvering her until she lay on her side—her back spooning against him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, knowing full-well what was about to happen.

"What was it you said earlier? About us having a lot of lost time to make up for?" Chuck grinned seductively as he separated her thighs with his leg and wrapped her top leg over his hip.

Before Blair had a chance to respond however, she felt the wind nearly knock out of her stomach as he swiftly entered her from behind. Chuck, the man she loved who loved her back.

"Ahhh" she gasped as her brain and body finally caught up to each other.

With each smooth thrust, Blair could feel him get progressively harder as his semi-flaccid cock grew and expanded deliciously inside of her wet heat.

"God that feels so good. I can feel you getting bigger" she groaned.

"How could I not? You're the fucking sexiest woman I've ever met. Open your eyes and look at yourself, Blair" he said.

There on the back of the door in front of them was a full length mirror which currently reflected their perfect image back at them.

Chuck reached his hands around her small frame and cupped her breasts in his palms.

It was freeing to have their feelings out in the open. It made it so much easier to let themselves go and allow their raging hormones to take over.

"I get hard just thinking about your body" he purred "Your smile, your voice" his own voice dropped "Your scent. It drives me crazy—like a man possessed, and the only thing that will make me sane again is to bury myself deep inside you."

As if to prove his point, Chuck thrusted inside her a fraction harder than the thrust before it.

Blair's eyes were transfixed on the image of him making love to her in the mirror. Watching their bodies move together as one was incredibly erotic and was turning her on even more.

"Harder, Chuck" Blair moaned, winding her hand in his hair as his lips found her the soft flesh of her neck.

Chuck surprised her a minute later by using his teeth to bite down on her shoulder.

"Mhmm" she purred, turning her head until her lips connected with his.

Chuck in turn devoured her mouth—forcing his tongue past her lips and mimicking the actions of his cock inside her with it. Meanwhile his right hand took a break from its place tweaking her nipple and slid down her stomach. Finding her swollen clit with the rough pads of his fingertips, he began to massage the bundle of nerves.

"Ohhh Chuck" she whispered "I missed you touching me."

"You'll never have to miss it again, I promise" he said, increasingly the speed of his hand.

"Holy shit" she muttered as she felt her orgasm built up.

"You gonna cum for me baby?" he asked her, nipping at her ear.

Blair nodded furiously, biting down on her lip.

"I love you Blair" he whispered in her ear.

"Oh fuck—love you!" Blair exclaimed as she came hard, clenching down on him.

Moments later, Chuck came crashing down after her, repeating her name over and over again until he was totally spent.

A girl could get used to this Blair thought dreamily as they dosed off in each other's arms.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

TBC…Reviews make me squeal