As soon as Rufus punched Bart in the face, he looked up just in time to see a fist fly at his own face. Then he blacked out.
When he awoke, he was on a couch that felt very familiar and his face ached.
He groaned as he sat up, and his hand immediately flew to his throbbing face.
"No, don't touch it," a familiar voice sounded. It took him a moment to register who it was. "It'll only hurt worse if you do."
"Lil?" Rufus asked, as Lily's gorgeous face swam into view. "What-what happened? How did I get here? The last thing I remember is-"
"Punching Bart," Lily filled in. "Yes, I know." She pursed her lips in that way she always did when she was struggling with trying to remain angry at Rufus. "What were you thinking? You're lucky someone at the bar called me and told me to come pick you up. You could have really been hurt!" She knelt down beside him, concern etched upon every crevice of her face.
"You lied to me about going out with him tonight," Rufus said. Lily tore her eyes away from him. "And I need to know why."
"I don't have an answer," Lily said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don't know what to say."
"Well, you can start by telling me why you're out to hurt me," Rufus said angrily. "You can start by telling me what I did to make you hate me so much. I've been nothing but a damn good and faithful husband to you and all you ever want to do is hurt me. I need to know why."
"I don't know," Lily whispered, still staring away from Rufus.
"Well, figure it out!" Rufus exclaimed, throwing his legs over the side of the couch.
"Where are you going?" Lily asked, standing up with him. "It's three am."
"Why does it matter to you?" Rufus demanded.
"Because I-" She cut herself off, before she could say anything she would regret. "Please, just stay here tonight. You're intoxicated and you just got punched in the face. I don't want to worry about you all night."
Rufus turned around to look at her, and suddenly, he was dangerously close to her, his lips only inches from hers. "I need to know," he said. "Is it possible you still love me?"
"No," Lily lied automatically.
Something in him broke. And at the same time, something inside of her broke too. "So you just can't stand to let me be happy?" Rufus said, his nostrils beginning to flare.
"That's not true," Lily said, her lower lip quivering.
"I think it is," Rufus said, his head nodding. "Well, let me tell you something. I love the single life. I love going to the bar, getting drunk, staying out late, hanging out with the guys whenever I want, never having to ask permission, never having to worry about you or what you're doing. I love sleeping with other women, which I have done plenty of since we've been apart." This was a lie. The girl he had just slept with was the first since Lily.
Lily's eyes went wide. "You-you slept with other women?"
"Yeah," Rufus lied, gritting his teeth, his frustration and anger empowering him. "And I think this split was the best thing that ever happened to me."
Lily stared at him in silence.
Neither of them spoke for a few moments.
Rufus turned around to walk toward the elevators. Lily's small voice stopped him. "Did you really sleep with other women?"
"One," Rufus said quietly.
"And is the split really the best thing that ever happened to you?"
"No," he said, and continued to walk out, leaving her standing in the living room all alone, tears streaming down her face.
Nate was laying in bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling, when the sun came up. He didn't know why he was still awake. He was extremely exhausted when it came to his body, but his mind was buzzing. He was supposed to be going to breakfast with Serena in a few hours. He wanted to tell her how he felt, wanted to tell her that he wanted them to be exclusive, that he wanted her to be his and his alone. But he didn't know how she felt about that. She had admitted to not being in many relationships in the past, admitted that relationships weren't really her thing.
And the same went for him. But it was so different with Serena. She was so charming and beautiful and she always made him think and challenged him. She was incredible. And he knew a good girl when he saw one. He may have made ignorant choices in the past but this was one girl he knew he had to hold on to, or he might regret it for the rest of his life. He decided on going to take a long hot shower, when he heard the front door close. "Just getting home?" he asked Chuck, who was still dressed in his suit from last night, and looked tired as hell. Chuck nodded. "How'd it go with Blair? Did you tell her how you feel?"
"No," Chuck grunted.
"Why not?" Nate asked.
"I ran into Eva," Chuck said.
"Is that where you've been all night?" Nate assumed. "With Eva? What about Blair? I thought-"
"I thought so too," Chuck said. "But that was before Eva came into town. And she might be moving to New York. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
"What do you mean?" Nate asked, confused.
"Don't think too hard," Chuck tried to joke. It failed. On both ends. "Seeing Eva brought back old feelings. I just need to think about it."
"What!?" Nate exclaimed. "She was horrible to you. She crushed you. You can't just take her back like that." Seeing the look on Chuck's face, he shut up. He knew this had to have been hard for him. "Sorry. I'm sure you already know that." He cleared his throat. "Have you spoken to Blair?"
"Not since last night," Chuck said, shaking his head.
"I think you should," Nate said. "You don't have to apologize to her. You just need to make sure that what you feel for Eva is higher than what you feel for Blair."
"Yeah," Chuck nodded in agreement, heading into his room. He closed the door behind him, wanting to be alone with his thoughts. That was when he spotted a pair of Blair's underwear across the room. A pang of guilt shot through his chest. What would his world be like without Blair here almost every day? He couldn't even stand to think about it. It would drive him mad. Not even Eva could fill a void like that.
Suddenly, he made a decision. He turned and opened the bedroom door back up. Nate gave him a weird look as Chuck walked back out of the apartment. He got into his limo and headed toward Blair's penthouse. When he arrived, her maid, Dorota, was sweeping the floor in the hallway right in front of the elevator. She looked up at him with surprise. "Mr. Chuck," she gasped. "It is very early. Miss Blair asleep with Miss Serena."
Chuck cocked his eyebrows at her, restraining from cracking a joke, knowing she wouldn't appreciate it. "I just need to speak with her for a moment. It's very important. So if you could please go wake her, it would mean a great deal to me."
Dorota nodded and did as he said. She returned with a sleepy Blair, mumbling under her breath as she rubbed her eyes and dragged her feet, slumping down the stairs. When she spotted Chuck, she immediately woke up, her nerves jolting her awake. For a moment, she was almost overwhelmed with the feelings inside her chest. For a moment, so was he.
He swallowed hard as he watched her walk slowly toward him. Damn, he wished she would speed up. He just wanted to hold her, feel the warmth her body gave off, smell the scent of vanilla bean that she always smelled of. Her eyes widened at him as she approached him, expecting him to speak. He cleared his throat and swallowed hard, trying to find the words, as Dorota disappeared off somewhere. "Blair," he said softly. He studied her face, the redness of the corners of her eyes and the puffiness underneath suggested she had fallen asleep crying. A pain tugged at his chest.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, knowing it had come out rather rudely.
"I was going to come last night," Chuck said. "To apologize-"
"But your ego got the best of you?" Blair guessed, annoyed.
Chuck laughed and shook his head. "No, something just came up. I just needed to come here and see you. I missed you. I'm so sorry about what I said, how I jumped to conclusions like that. I know I hurt you and I feel so awful about it. I really do."
"Great," Blair said, her voice full of sarcasm. She wasn't done being angry yet. He didn't get to just apologize and whisk her away. This wasn't television. This was real life. And he was an asshole and she deserved much better. "Is that all?"
Chuck chewed on his bottom lip, unsure of what to say. It was silent for a few seconds. He had said all that he felt he needed to say. There was much more he could say - he could tell her he loved her, he could fight for her - but his pride got the best of him. "Yeah," he said, tightening his lips and nodding his head, turning and walking away from her, leaving her standing in the foyer alone.
When Chuck returned to his apartment, Nate had already gone to meet Serena for breakfast. He sat on the couch, sighing loudly to no one but himself. He had tried to apologize to Blair but she was so damn stubborn and he didn't feel like fighting her. Not today. He was just exhausted. He pulled his blackberry out and found a missed call from Eva from several minutes ago. He groaned loudly and decided to call her back.
"Hello?" her french laced voice came over the phone.
"Hey," Chuck said.
"Chuck," she greeted warmly. He could hear the smile in her voice, mentally picture her face lighting up. "What happened last night? You kind of disappeared on me."
"Yeah," Chuck replied, running his hands through his thick hair. "I'm really sorry about that, I just had a lot to think about."
"And?" Eva prodded. "What did you think about? Did you think about me?"
Chuck didn't want to lead her on but for some reason he did. Maybe it was because he still had feelings for her somewhere deep down, or maybe it was just because he was lonely. "Yeah, I did," he lied.
He heard her squeal on the other end of the line. "I knew you'd come around," Eva said. "I knew you missed me, too."
"Yeah, I did." That was the one thing Chuck had said that was honest and true. He had missed Eva. He didn't miss her as a girlfriend, though. He just missed her presence and how she made him laugh and how comfortable he was around her. Regardless of the fact that she was his ex girlfriend and she had hurt him so badly, she was his best friend.
Nate walked into the cafe, scanning the room for Serena. He spotted her in the corner, her book in a nose, her blonde hair cascading over her face as she poured into the book, intrigued. He watched the way her fingers gripped the edge of each page so she could turn it as fast as possible to get to the next part. As he approached, he fought with himself about just standing there and watching for a moment, daring not to interrupt her, but then he realized how entirely creepy that would look to everyone else in the diner. So, he decided to interrupt. "Serena," he said, sitting down at the booth across from her.
"Nate," she smiled up at him, bending the corner of the page she was on to mark her place and closing the book.
"No, don't stop on my account," Nate said. "You looked pretty into that book."
"I am," Serena said, her eyes lighting up. "It's a love story."
"Oh?" Nate asked, begging her to continue. He loved the way her eyes lit up when she described the story to him and the way the words rolled off her tongue, as if there was nothing she knew better than this story. "You've read it multiple times then?"
Serena nodded. "Several. It's one of those stories that you can read over and over again and never get tired of. It's incredible. I hope one day I'll have a love story like that. One everyone envies and wants to hear so many times because it's so incredible."
Nate chuckled at her. "You're adorable, but you're such a girl."
"Wow, Nate," Serena feigned surprised. "You're so observant. I'm so proud. You know, I've actually been a girl since you met me."
Nate looked back at her with the same amount of fake surprise. "No, really? And all this time I thought you were a dude."
"But you were into me," Serena pointed out. "So that would make you gay-"
"Okay," Nate said. "Don't you dare. Enough with the funny."
Serena giggled at him as the waitress came up to ask what they wanted to drink. After Serena and Nate ordered their coffees, Nate began to ask her more about the book, hoping that she would get all excited again. He loved how passionate she was. He loved how happy and bubbly she was. She was so beautiful, inside and out.
He sighed. He wanted to be her boyfriend, wanted them to be exclusive, but he wasn't entirely sure how to bring that up. That was something that they had sworn wasn't going to happen when they first started this little event as friends with benefits. But he had fallen for her. Hard. And he had no idea if she felt the same way about him.
Serena got a text from Blair, asking her to come over as soon as possible. Serena sighed. She had just left there earlier this morning. What could have happened that was so awful in such a short period of time.
"Everything okay?" Nate inquired, raising his eyebrows.
"No," Serena said honestly. With much regret, she rose to her feet. "I'm so sorry but I've got to go."
"Why?" Nate asked, confused. Had he done something to offend her?
"It's Blair," Serena said. "She's hysterical. I'm her best friend, I have to be there-"
"I get it," Nate cut off. "It's okay. Go to her. I'm sure she needs you. We'll reschedule, okay? How about dinner?"
"I'd like that," Serena said, leaning down to kiss him on the cheek. "Thanks for being so understanding."
Nate shrugged. "I'm awesome, what can I say?"
Serena laughed and rolled her eyes, walking out of the cafe to head towards Blair's penthouse.
When she arrived, she didn't find Blair in her room. She found her in the bathroom, slumped down in between the toilet and the tub. She ran to her side. "What is it? What's wrong?" Serena asked, concerned about her best friend's behavior. Blair said nothing, just sobbed into Serena. Serena looked around, trying to figure it out. That was when she realized that Blair was holding something tightly in her hand. It was thin white stick. Serena's eyes went wide as her mind registered what it was, registered the scenario. She gently tugged it out of Blair's hand and stared down at it, hoping she was reading it wrong. It was positive.
Blair was pregnant.
A/N: CLIFFHANGER! :D This chapter is SO SHORT. I am SO SORRY. I really am. I just felt like I said all I needed to say and put in all the scenes I wanted. I also really wanted to leave it at this cliffhanger. Please don't kill me! I know there isn't much Chair in this chapter like you all asked and I know you all hate Eva and how she's worming her way back into his life but just be patient, loves. ;) Now EVERYTHING will change! Chapter five will be up soon. :)