AN – Penultimate chapter! Not proof-read or Beta-ed in anyway, simply bashed out and posted so I can give you lucky ducks a treat and post another chapter tomorrow as well :)

Not completely sure about this, it's sort of vague and nothing particularly happens between Chuck and Blair but I just wanted them to have some holiday/Hamptons fun. Enjoy! x

20

"Could I interest you in a stroll, kitten?"

Blair kept her eyes closed behind her Prada sunglasses but allowed a smile to spread across her face at Chuck's voice intruding on her peaceful sunbathing. She was lying on a lounger on the terrace at the back of the Van der Woodsen's summer estate in Southampton wearing a red, halter neck one piece with a mimosa at her side. She didn't reply to Chuck but only wiggled her toes in delight as she felt him perch beside her on the narrow tanning bed.

"You're blocking my rays, Bass." She finally deigned to say.

"It's only because I care, Blair. I'm worried about your poor skin being burnt by the sun, I was thinking I might be very chivalrous and offer to lie down on top of you, cover your body with mine, just to ensure your porcelain complexion won't be marred by the UV rays." He murmured softly, brushing a hand up her thigh and over her hip before letting it rest on her waist. She felt his weight shift before he kissed her lips softly and she sighed at the feeling of his chest pressed against hers. He pulled away and she opened her eyes and pushed her sunglasses onto her head to hold her hair back.

"A stroll, did you say? I can't possibly go like this." She said, referencing her swimsuit.

"Well," he smirked, bringing a gift bag into view dangling off his index finger, "never let it be said that Chuck Bass comes unprepared."

Blair sat up eagerly, grinning from ear to ear. Chuck happily allowed her to snatch the bag from his fingers and pull the simple, but exquisitely tailored, red cotton halter dress and gold Jimmy Choo flat sandals.

"Chuck they're perfect!" She exclaimed, hopping off the lounger and slipping on the sandals. "Will you help me on with it?" She asked with an arch brow and a smirk.

"Delighted to." He replied, taking the dress from her as he knelt near her feet allowing her to step into the dress. He languidly pulled it up around her chest. He leant very close and her eyelids became heavy as his lips brushed hers. "Turn around sweetheart." He breathed onto her lips. She turned slowly and held her hair away from her neck as he moved closer behind her, tying the halter straps in a bow at the base of her neck before kissing her nape softly. "Let's go."

They soon fell into step together, their elegant gaits as in synch as their outfits. Chuck's red shorts and white checked shirt complemented Blair's dress perfectly, the reason he'd chosen to give her that particular dress that day. Blair slipped her arm through Chuck's as they set off into the airy woodlands that abutted the estate. They walked for some time in silence, simply enjoying the cool of the shade after the blazing heat of mid-summer in the Hamptons. Blair contemplated the imminent beginning of her final year of college while Chuck wondered how he would explain to Lily that the bed in his room would have to be replaced after he and Blair had irrevocably damaged the frame the previous night. His smirk caught her attention and she smiled softly at his face, his expression unreadable to most behind his wayfarers but his gentle amusement was evident to her.

"You're in a good mood, did you have a good morning with Eric?" She enquired. "I was surprised to have you all to myself again so soon, I thought you had something planned for all day?"

Chuck smirked knowingly. "I did, but at lunch the waiter was being particularly verbose, apparently he's working over the summer to earn money for Yale in the Fall... I rather think the young Van der Woodsen was rather taken in."

"I see, he found a future school-mate... Do you think the waiter was as enamoured with Eric as Eric was with him?" She asked with a smile, excited for Eric's college career as well as his new potential romance.

"Well it certainly wasn't me he was trying to impress with his exemplary SAT scores and tennis-flirting." Chuck replied with a grin.

"Interesting... What was his name?"

"No family we know of, I already checked. He's from a small town in Connecticut, one of the smaller private schools, very good sports programme apparently. Either way, my brother will no doubt have donned his tennis whites and rushed off to meet young James by now."

"I look forward to interrogating him about the grass stains when he returns, then." Blair said fondly with a wicked smirk. She had always adored Eric but seeing the brotherly bond he and Chuck had developed over the past few years made her feel all the more attached to him. Since her mother's permanent relocation to France she had experienced family life like never before at the hands of Chuck and the Van der Woodsens.

She wriggled her arm through his and tucked herself under his arm as they walked along. They had reached the pebbly path that lead to the private beach they had access to and continued along it, Blair laughing when Chuck tripped or wobbled a little but scowling fiercely at him if he so much as smirked when she tripped on the larger stones. Eventually they reached the secluded strip of white sand and sat down for a while, despite both of their concerns about getting sand or dirt on their expensive summer wear. Chuck watched as Blair slipped her sunglasses back over her face and gazed out at the ocean. He gently rearranged her hair where it had got caught around the arms of the eyewear.

"How about you? I thought you would spend today with Serena." He enquired. He was surprised by her scoff and, even behind her dark shades, he could tell she had expressively rolled her eyes.

"Humphrey." She spat out.

"He's in town? I thought he was working all hours to get his over-emotional drivel finished." Chuck replied with much derision, replying to the novel Dan had recently got a significant advance for.

"Yeah, well Serena convinced him that he was missing out, locked up in his loft all summer, that he needed to come here for the sea breeze and the sun's warming rays... They haven't even left the bedroom yet, it's sickening. They're siblings." She finished disgustedly.

"I know, I can't believe Humphrey beat me to the last taboo, the guy's got game." Chuck smirked, even after Blair's sharp slap to his upper arm. "Anyway, Blair, you have to let this go. They've been sneaking around in plain sight for six months now, they're the new Lily and Rufus, the over-come all romance of the century, the love that dare not speak its name, the highest form of love..." He broke off at Blair's laugh. He loved her during the summer, how carefree she would become, and he influence she would therefore have on him. He grinned widely. "Although strictly speaking the only people enjoying the highest form of love around here are Eric and the waiter at the tennis club."

Blair burst off into another peal of girlish laughter. Chuck pounced at her, ignoring her squeals about her hair and the sand and kissing her all over her face, provoking more laughs from her. Eventually he broke away and gazed into her beautiful, glowing face as her laughter tailed off and she simply smiled innocently at her.

"Were you always this childish, Bass?" she asked lazily from where she lay under his weight.

"No," he replied, placing a kiss to her lips as he rolled off her to lay on his side behind her, "but then I've never been this happy, either."

Blair's cheek's glowed with joy. "Me neither, Chuck." She said softly, smiling as he leant into her and rested his head on her chest.

They lay quietly for a while before Blair cautiously raised the subject she'd been trying so carefully to skirt around all summer.

"Do you miss him?" She whispered, stroking his hair.

"I have you, I have Eric. Serena is... around. I'm fine."

"It's ok if you do, you know. I mean you two used to get away together, alone, lost weekends, stupid excursions to Tokyo, this year you've just been between here and the city. I know it's not the same without Nate." She continued.

"It's not so different. I mean, sure, he doesn't stroke my hair like you do, but we often spent a hot afternoon laying together on this very beach." He murmured into her chest, making her laugh and smack him lightly again. "Anyway, it's Reading, it's not the end of the earth."

"No, just the end of England. I can't believe he gave up Columbia to go work for his dad's cousin."

"Opening a new international branch of an insurance firm is hardly 'working for his dad's cousin'." Chuck replied, leaning up on his forearms beside Blair and playing with the sand. "Anyway, we talk, he's fine. I think he's just looking forward to September more than anything."

Blair's face scrunched up. "Yes. Humphrey. What is it with Nate and following Brooklynites all over Europe?"

Chuck chortled at her indignation. "Yeah, one backpacking trip and one amazing new job opportunity. Let's not stage the intervention just yet. I thought you liked him and Jenny together, anyway?"

"I, no, what? I thought it was cute, their doomed romance, her going off to London for St Martin's, him staying here for Columbia where he would find a more appropriate girl; he wasn't supposed to reverse-stalk her to England!" She hysterically cried.

"Blair, you must simply pity the poor mortals. Serena, Nate, they'll find their places and their partners in the world. Not everybody can be inevitable, Waldorf. Some people have to work for it." He murmured, kissing her shoulder. Blair scoffed.

"Yeah, because you and I, that was such an easy ride." She bitterly rambled. Chuck smirked widely.

"Baby, you were never an easy ride, I have the marks to prove it, but you were the most enjoyable by far." He said, standing up and stripping off his shirt. Blair sat up in intrigue.

"What are you doing?"

"Going for a swim." Chuck replied, pulling off his white plimsolls.

"I didn't know you were wearing your suit." Blair commented.

"I'm not." He stated simply as he pulled down his shorts and standing before her naked. "Are you coming? No suits allowed." He smirked knowingly at her.

She tossed her sunglasses down beside her and squinted up at him, finding it hard to match his eyes with his crotch at eye level. "You don't think I'll do it." She stated.

He grinned, knowing the script by heart. "I know you won't."

Moments later he was chasing her pale, naked body down the beach. She called over her shoulder to get him to hurry up as she ran into the waves but her words were whipped away by the breeze. He stood for a moment and gazed at her, her brown curls whipping round her face and shoulders, her face free and alive and so happy, her alabaster skin resplendent in the afternoon sun. He grinned as he purposefully strode down the beach towards her, determined to get salt water and sand in places he didn't even know he had.

AN – St Martin's is a v. prestigious college of art and design in London, v. big on quirky talents and produced some amazing designers over the years. Please review! x