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Chapter 4: Wish You Were Here

So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell?
Blue skies from pain
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?

-Pink Floyd

"Rise and shine, B!"

Rudely awakened by a whirlwind of bouncing limbs and hair, Blair groaned in annoyance. "Serena, please respect the sleep mask." She grumbled. An uncaffeinated Blair Waldorf could be quite unpleasant indeed, especially after a long night spent tossing and turning.

A beat of silence followed, and she could practically feel her best friend pouting. "But I've been waiting for you to wake up for an hour..."

Blair sighed, pulling the mask off and giving up on feeling rested for the remainder of the day.

A radiant, 1000-watt smile greeted her. Serena sat cross-legged on top of the duvet, clad in a silky baby blue nightgown and looking so happy, she might as well have had a thought bubble over her head with a big cartoon heart in it.

"I take it the rest of the evening went well, S?" Not that there much question of that, given the thin wall separating their rooms. Blair couldn't fathom Dan Humphrey possessing the necessary bedroom skills to elicit that kind of enthusiasm, but the evidence spoke for itself. Clearly her face mask was going to require an accompanying set of earplugs.

"It was just perfect." Serena sighed dreamily. "I know I said I was finally feeling better, getting over the breakup, but… I guess in the back of my mind, I was always hoping he would come after me. Our eyes would meet across a crowded room, and then we'd kiss- like a big movie kiss, you know? And it was just like I imagined it."

Blair smiled with only a touch of wistfulness, genuinely happy for her best friend. "Well, if he makes you this happy, I suppose I can resign myself to another year of Humphrey's tedious presence."

Serena giggled, giving Blair an exuberant hug. "Your vote of confidence means so much to me, B." She teased.

"So did you two… talk? About the breakup, and everything?" Blair asked cautiously, not wanting to spoil her friend's good mood.

Not to worry, as Serena waved off the concern with a pithy grin. "Not yet, but we will. We were… otherwise engaged last night." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, causing Blair to groan in response.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was made aware of that. I do sleep right on the other side of this wall, you know." But her pointed comment fell on deaf ears, as Serena didn't have the grace to look even slightly embarrassed.

"So how was the rest of your night? I don't remember even seeing you after Dan showed up."

Blair shrugged. "Uneventful, I guess."

A long pause fell between them as Serena examined her shrewdly. "Did you know that Chuck wanted to transfer? Nate seemed kind of upset by that."

For someone so clueless, Serena could become observant at the most inopportune moments.

"No, I didn't." Blair shook her head. "He never even told me he was leaving. The only time we've spoken since then was at the wedding, and it was… brief."

She felt her chest tighten as she remembered his icy indifference, how he'd ignored her for the rest of the evening, and that disdainful look in his eyes. Their encounter had left her feeling so empty inside, wondering if she'd just imagined the teasing, amorous boy who had once pinned her to the bed so he could cover her neck and chest with playful nibbles… those same eyes growing warm with desire when she'd stopped pretending to struggle and arched her body up against him, fervently returning his kisses.

Blair swallowed, feeling her cheeks grow flushed.

She decided to refrain from mentioning the several unanswered texts she'd sent him, ranging from a forced-casual "hey", to an embarrassingly misspelled message about missing him, which she'd discovered in her outbox one particularly hungover morning a few weeks ago.

"That pregnancy scare must have really freaked him out. Although, I have a hard time believing it's the first time Chuck might have slipped one past the goalie." Serena commented dryly. "He's probably left a trail of illegitimate children across half of western Europe by now."

"Or maybe…" Blair took a breath, trying to quell the inevitable guilt that arose every time she considered this possibility, "It's too hard for him to be around Nate and lie to him like that? I mean… they've been friends since they were in kindergarten." She knew more than anyone how much Nate missed his best friend, and it pained her to think that his absence could be her fault.

"Well, he had no problem keeping Nate in the dark for months, I doubt his conscience suddenly kicked in." Serena shrugged. "Anyway, the way Bart was talking last night, it sounds like Chuck's European vacation may be coming to an end sooner rather than later. Something about, if he's just going to dick around anyway, it might as well be in Manhattan so someone can keep an eye on him."

Considering the possibility, Blair felt assaulted by a rush of conflicting feelings- guilt, happiness, fear, excitement, and a weird quivering sensation in her stomach that she tried to avoid analyzing too carefully. Having Chuck around would make Nate happy, she reasoned, and of course she fully supported that outcome.

"Well, that does sound like Bart… never one to mince words." She smiled and pushed back the covers, swinging her legs around to the floor. "Hey, how about the four of us head into town and get some brunch?"

"Mmm, sounds great. I've been craving those banana-nutella crepes all week!" Serena bounced up off the bed. "Just let me go wake up Dan, he's probably still passed out. I really wore him out last night." With a wink, she left the room, laughing at the pillow that ricocheted off the doorframe behind her.

Chuck had awoken that morning to a vague text message from Nate, saying he'd talked to Bart about Chuck returning to St. Jude's in the fall. His friends were supposed to be terrified of his father, when the hell did they start having actual conversations with him? Chuck had barely even reached that point himself.

Luckily, he had several hours to ponder his response, as Nate was a notoriously late riser. By the time his phone rang around 3pm, he'd worked out a believable cover story in his head- only to pause nervously when he saw "BART" highlighted on the screen. He could count on one hand the number of times his father had called him since he'd left, exactly zero of which had been friendly, heartwarming conversations. It was most likely either bad news, or an "I'm so disappointed in you" lecture with some reference to Chuck's head being up his own ass.

He hit "accept" and cleared his throat. "Hello?"

"Chuck." Bart didn't waste any time on pleasantries. "Care to explain why you're still at school when your finals concluded 3 weeks ago?" Since when did Bart keep track of his academic schedule? Probably the work of some eager beaver administrative assistant.

"Well… I had extra coursework to make up." Chuck improvised quickly.

"I'm sure you did, by the look of these grades. But I assume you've finally completed your work for the semester?" A pause, to make sure the full weight of his disapproval was registered. "The Bass jet is leaving London tonight for New York, I expect you to be on it." Bart's tone of resigned disappointment invited no further discussion.

Chuck conceded, realizing that the issue was not up for debate. "Of course, father."

"And I've taken the liberty of re-enrolling you at St. Jude's for the fall semester. If you're going to squander your academic opportunities on booze and women, you'll at least do it somewhere I'm available to bail you out of jail." Oh please, like Bart had ever actually come down to the station himself- wait, what?

"I expect you at family dinner tomorrow." With that, the line went dead. Chuck swallowed hard, realizing he would soon be forced to face everything he'd spent the last 7 months avoiding.

How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year

Running over the same old ground.
What have we found
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

Dan and Serena were happily chowing down on their eggs benedict and crepes, respectively, while Blair nibbled on a piece of croissant and Nate worked his way through some sausage-laden cholesterol bomb. Blair wrinkled her nose at his plate, but didn't comment- she understood stress eating, after all, and he had a lot on his mind at the moment. She sipped her coffee, hoping it would clear the fog from her brain.

"Are you okay?" He asked her quietly, eyeing her mangled croissant and half-shredded napkin.

Blair smiled brightly, her heart swelling just a little at his concern. "Oh, I'm fine. Just a bit sleep deprived, since someone didn't have the common courtesy to keep it down last night." She arched her eyebrow towards Serena, who at least had the decency to turn pink this time. Dan responded with a proud, dorky grin, like last night had been the single greatest accomplishment of his entire life. Which it very well might have been…

But Blair's temporary happiness deflated a little at Nate's tight, evasive smile. Clearly he didn't see the humor in Dan and Serena's loud, inconsiderate hot monkey sex. Recommencing her napkin shredding, Blair struggled to think of a more appropriate topic. What did people from Brooklyn talk about? Smelly ethnic food? Increasing the minimum wage? The perils of gentrification? "So, Dan… Serena tells me you play soccer? Are you thinking about trying out for the St. Jude's team?"

Dan looked surprised for a moment, like he couldn't believe she was actually addressing him, and it could possibly be some sort of trap. "Umm, yeah… I was thinking about it… if they happen to need any extra midfielders."

"Actually, we just lost one of our starters for the season." Nate commented. "Broke his leg in a jet-ski accident in Dubai."

"Oh, well… maybe I'll try out then. I'm a little rusty, but I have been playing in a summer rec league." A co-ed league that's 60% girls, he thought to himself, deciding to leave that part out.

"That'd be so great! I can come to your games and cheer on the sidelines." Serena grinned happily, squeezing his arm. "And it'll give you two a chance to get to know each other."

"Yeah, that sounds awesome." Nate's tone betrayed how entirely un-awesome that sounded to him, but a second later he was distracted by the vibration of his phone. "Oh, it's Chuck, I should take this." Excusing himself from the table, he headed towards the front of the restaurant. Blair was momentarily thankful that Dan and Serena were distracted by mooning all over each other, as she nervously nibbled on one perfectly-manicured nail.

"Nathaniel." Chuck greeted him. "Out of bed before noon on a Saturday? What's the occasion?"

"Ugh, yeah, Blair dragged me to brunch with Serena and Dan." Nate sighed, uttering that last syllable with barely-contained annoyance.

Chuck snorted. "Is that back on? I give it 2 months before one of them manages to fuck everything up again."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Nate smiled wryly. Then, remembering why he'd needed to talk to Chuck in the first place, he cleared his throat. "Listen man, I was talking to Bart last night-"

"I can't imagine why, I try to avoid it as much as possible."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I peed my pants. But anyway, he said something about you…" Nate paused, not sure how to phrase his question. "Wanting to go to school in England?"

"He said that, did he?" Chuck's voice maintained its laconic, indifferent quality, as he recited the words he'd already practiced to himself several times. "The man has quite a talent for manipulating the truth. I requested to be transferred here because it was the least unpleasant option he offered me."

"Oh." Nate exhaled in relief. "Right, I figured it was probably something like that." He felt silly for ever doubting his friend.

"But good news on that front." Chuck continued, forcing a note of enthusiasm into his vote. "He agreed to let me come home for my senior year. As a matter of fact, I'm on my way to the airport right now."

"Anyways, so while we were brainstorming over some of my short-story ideas, he suggested I could use the people around me as inspiration for the characters, like Serena, of course, and Jenny, and even Chuck Bass. I mean, every story needs to have a villain, right? Speaking of Chuck, is he not coming home for break? I figured he'd be making up for lost time by drinking his way through Manhattan by now." Jesus Christ, did Dan never stop talking? Ask the guy one question and it was like opening the conversational gates of hell.

Blair shrugged, feigning an air of indifference. "I haven't heard from him."

"You know, in spite of everything, he did keep things interesting around here. I almost miss the sleazy bastard." Dan chuckled. "Well, probably not as much as you miss him." He added with a knowing glance at Blair, grinning at his own cleverness.

Blair froze instantly. Oh, hell no. Her grudging tolerance of Dan evaporated, and he was left cowering under her withering glare, legitimately afraid that she might melt his face off with her eyes. "I'm sorry, Dan, were you looking for some of your business? Because I don't see any of that over here." Icy fury dripped from every word, and even Serena looked nervous.

The fact that Dan Humphrey was privy to her most shameful secret was already completely unacceptable, but if he ever dared joke about it again, she would honest-to-God shank him right in the leg. And her searing death glare clearly indicated as such.

"I'm… sorry, I was just… uh, making… I didn't mean..." Dan's timid stammering trailed off, as he wished he could crawl under the table and die. Blair narrowed her eyes at him, clearly wishing the same.

Thankfully, he was rescued by Nate's return, upon which Blair evidently flipped on her happy switch and greeted him with a smile and a "Hey sweetie!"

Nate smiled back, obviously in a much better mood. "So guess what- Chuck's coming home tomorrow!"

"…Tomorrow?" Blair's eyes widened and she swallowed hard, wondering why her mouth suddenly felt so dry.

"Yeah, he's flying in tonight and meeting Bart and Lily here tomorrow. I guess the whole thing with his transfer was that he did request it, but only because Bart didn't give him any other options…" Nate babbled on, recounting the details of their phone call, but Blair had long since stopped listening. All she heard was her heart pounding in her ears and Nate's words echoing through her head.

"Chuck's coming home tomorrow."

A/N: So... who's excited for his arrival? :)

Thanks again to Terrabeth for her mad editing skills. If you haven't checked out her stories, you should do so, like, immediately.