Chronicles of Chuck Bass
Chapter Four
A/N: Sorry guys, this took forever to write, well between my spring break and college I haven't had any motivation to write. So with that said I don't think this chapter is any good but that'll be your opinion.
Blair was still having misgivings about accepting Chuck's offer when the taxi drove down the narrow roads leading to this town house. A frown marred her features when just ahead she saw what she thought to be the most dilapidated looking structure she had ever seen. It resembled an old worn-down town house more than it did what he explained it to be.
She blinked twice, wondering what happened. As the taxi drove her down the narrow roads, she could see all the lovely, multi-colored homes with the finest flowers lining their driveways. Thinking she must be seeing things, surely this building, this house wasn't the place Chick had been going on about. Apparently so, she thought a few seconds later when he stepped out of the house as her taxi pulled to a stop. She blinked again, of course nothing had changed when he was currently in some slacks, a white button up shirt, yellow tie and yellow sweater. Blair could never remember a time when Chuck Bass didn't look professional, always in business attire no matter what. He'd always stressed that a person should always dress for success, so even while lounging around the house he was in designer slacks and shirts. She couldn't help but appreciate the well-put-together male body he was sporting now, a definite eye-catching look. It was the kind of look that could distract a woman something awful. She shifted her attention to his face and caught her breath at the same time that her heart stuttered. The look in his eyes, the outfit he was sporting only made her think about how much she missed waking up to that everyday and falling asleep with it every night.
"Good morning, Blair." He greeted her with his warm eyes and a heart-stopping smirk as he opened the door for her.
"Good morning, Chuck. Are you sure today is a good time to start?" she asked, trying not to concentrate on the deep huskiness she heard in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm sure. We can get started just as soon as I get your opinion on this place."
Blair walked around letting the taxi drive away take a good look at the building that was supposed to be a town house. Up close it was worse than she'd thought.
"Well Blair, what do you think?" He asked, coming to stand next to her.
She tried to focus on his question and not on him standing so close beside her. Once again it was beginning to bother her that after nearly two years, he still had the ability to stir her physically. "Well, I guess it has potential," she finally responded. "But it depends on what you plan to do with it."
He smirked. Blair has always been blatantly honest; almost too much at times. "I plan to live here." he said softly, hearing her gasp quietly with made him chuckle. "Only when have vacation time, other than that I have a penthouse at the Palace here."
Blair exhaled before looking at him interested, "You're going to tear it down and rebuild?"
Chuck shook his head softly, "No, I plan to remodel."
Blair glanced back at the house that seemed to barely be standing. He had got to be kidding, and she told him so.
"No I'm not kidding. Believe it or not the structure of this place is till good. I've hired a really good team of professionals to assist me in restoring it to how it used to look, plus the inside isn't as bad as it may seem."
She couldn't help but find that idea extremely amusing. "Back in the eighteen hundreds? Looks like Anne Boleyn and her sister lived here."
Chuck shook his head, grinning. "No, not quite that far back; but I have plans for this place. It will take a while but I hope to have it livable within a couple of months."
"That will take a lot of time and work."
"I have the time and I will enjoy doing the work."
Surprise showed in Blair's face. "You won't be working?" she asked, then clarified by saying, "Your regular job I mean?"
"Yes, I'll still be working. In fact I'm meeting with some investors again later today. But I no longer will spend all my time working my regular job, Blair. I have a couple of young executives for that. That gives me the time to do some of the things that I enjoy doing."
"Well, that's a switch," she said before she could stop herself. "I remember a time when all you did was work." And never made for yourself or for me, she thought bitterly.
"Yes, I know. And I hate that I did that when I think of all that I lost in trying to be even more successful than I already was."
Blair actually heard regret in his voice but a part of her hardened. Too bad he hadn't realized that two years ago. It would have spared her a lot of heartache and pain. He'd bee so quick and eager to make a marriage commitment with her but hadn't been so quick and eager to do what it took to make their marriage work. In the beginning a part of her had understood his need to do what was necessary to make it to the top. But she could not understand nor accept the degree in which he had done so. First there had been the countless hours of overtime that would extend into the weekends. Then, when he had made it even more successful than he needed to be, there were endless business trips that carried him from one part of the country to another. He literally thrived on the hustle and bustle of the business world, and more times than not he was paced and ready to fly out, destination unknown, at a moment's notice. It became a norm for her to come home from work and find a note letting her known he was gone again.
Blair sighed. There was no reason to waste time thinking about their past. The only reason why she was here was to talk to him about the interview. But still, she couldn't help glancing around and asking, "So, where are you staying? At a hotel in town?"
"No I'm actually staying inside the house.."
Blair laughed, looking at him with a wide smile on her face. "You're staying in that? Aren't you scared it'll fall all on top of you in one night?"
"No Blair, just because the outside looks like it, doesn't mean that the inside isn't good enough to live in."
Blair knew he could afford a hotel, hell he basically owned a whole bunch of hotel rooms, so that couldn't be the issue. "Why are you staying out here instead of at a hotel?" she couldn't help asking.
He smiled. "I like it here. It's so quiet and peaceful. Out here I'm attuned with nature, my surroundings and with myself. I think this is the perfect place to be right now." He met her inquisitive gaze. "This use to be my mother's home."
Blair sucked in her breath, shocked at his revelation. "But…I thought you're mother died giving birth to you?" she asked lightly.
She could see the tension in his eyes as he stared at the ground. She didn't like the feeling that he had kept whatever it is he was about to say to her inside of him for so long even when they were married. "My mother didn't die….giving child birth to me."
Blair's eyes grew wide as she stared at him, hoping he was met her gaze sooner than later. "Chuck I don't understand…"
"Look, my mother didn't want me and she didn't want my dad, I know I gave my father years of hell because it seemed as if he blamed me for my mother 'death' but I figured it out he really was just mad at her…she up and left to come here to Paris to live…which I know this may sound horrible, but this was the only reason why I wanted to move here…I needed closure."
Blair sighed, all those years she'd though he had cheated on her he really was just out visiting his mother, she knew she should say something but he couldn't even share that intimate description of his life to her, which only made her feel as if she did something wrong.
"I know….I should have told you, I should have but you would have tried to get into this." She wanted to protest but he kept going forcing her to be quiet. "I know you Blair, you should have gave me pity and I didn't want that…her dying wish was to meet me, so I met her and when she started to die I spent more and more time with her to get to know her….she gave me this house as a memory of her."
She stared at him, dumbfounded. Mother? House? He had never ever mentioned that he had found her. In fact, after his father died he never walked about any of his family besides his Uncle Jack who she had the pleasure of meeting so long ago, when the wedding invitations went out and she asked him about family he told her there were none…..she believed him.
Blair suddenly felt rattled. She had learned more about Chuck in the past few minutes than she'd known in their entire life together. There had been certain things he'd never discussed with her. His family, or lack of one, had been one of those topics he liked to avoid even when they were such close friends. A part of her was surprised at the depth of what he'd just revealed.
"So, where do we start?"
His words were casual, soft-spoken, yet they had the effects of something hot and luscious, snapping Blair back to the moment. Nad the town, all sexy and sensuous, sank right into her bones. "Where do we start what?"
He gave her a crooked grin. "The interview."
Realizing that her thoughts had gone off in another direction, one that had a tingling settling in her midsection, she quickly reeled them back in. "How about if we agree on the questions I want to ask you?"
"You can ask me anything, Blair?"
"Well, yeah, but I'm sure there are some things you'd want to avoid sharing with the world. Things you hold sacred that you want to kept private."
"Like our marriage?"
She lifted her chin. "I said things you hold sacred, Chuck. Our marriage was never one of them."
There was a sudden quietness. The only sounds that could be heard were those of insects buzzing about and the distant sound of water flowing through a nearby stream. The smile on his face was gone, replaced by something close to misery. If that were the case, then the saying that misery loved company was true because she was right there with him. For two people who had once loved each other deeply, they had made a complete mess of things.
"I did hold our marriage sacred, Blair." he finally said softly, "Maybe not as much as I should have, but I did. I want very little said about our marriage in this article. There's no reason letting the entire world know what a complete fool I was in letting you go."
"Dammit, Chuck!" Blair exclaimed, staring up at him and feeling the sudden threat of tears in her throat. How dare he say something sol bold, that he realized he'd made a mistake in letting her go? A party of her was glad he did recognize it, but then another part knew the realization had come years too late.
"Why, Chuck? Why are you saying these things? And why now? Why are you being so repentant?"
His expression went from misery to regret. "Because I am. I'm fully aware of what I lost the day you divorced me. I'm also aware that too much damage was done for any type of repair. I've accepted that, Blair. But that doesn't keep me from acknowledging just how wrong I was and what mistakes I made."
Blair took a breath, full of emotions. He hadn't been the only one who had made mistakes. She had to admit that she had made a number of them as well. She had gone into their marriage thinking it would be simple and easy. After all, they loved each other and love would certainly be enough; however, the first time she saw that it wasn't enough had been difficult for her to handle.
She sighed. Rehashing the past was a waste of time. Their marriage was over. There was no way they could ever go back. She knew it and hoped that he knew it as well. She decided to ask him to make sure. "You do know that we can never go back, don't you, Chuck?"
He sighed deeply. "Yes, Blair, I know it and I've accepted it. But we can be friends, can't we?"
"And I'm in a relationship Chuck, and I'm happy…we've always been friends Chuck, even when we weren't in touch. My parents are separated and remained friends because of me. And although we didn't have any children together…"She paused before taking a breath. " I see no reason to become enemies just because we decided we could no longer live together as man and wife. Things between us just didn't work our and we moved on. End of story."
Chuck's face tensed as she mentioned being in a relationship, Nate failed to mention this to him. Chuck knew that this wasn't the end of the story. It was just the beginning. He hadn't been completely truthful with Blair just now when he'd said that he had accepted the fact that they could never go back. He had every intention of winning her back, and he knew it meant patience on his part. Patience had never been on of his strong points, but somehow, someway, he would pull this off. He had to. First, he would strengthen their friendship and then go from there. He glanced down at his watch. "How about if we decide on those interview questions over lunch?"
"Lunch…in that?"
He smiled. "Yes, I can still fix a mean grilled chicken and cheese sandwich if you're interested. And I just might be able to find a few lemons to squeeze while I'm at it. You've always loved my lemonade."
Blair smiled remembering the first time they had cooked together, it was just as an experiment but they eventually found out that Chuck indeed from all those years of fixing drinks and what not could actually fix something to eat, she couldn't have been any more proud of him. They could have lived on Chuck's grilled chicken and cheese sandwiches, lemonade and love.
Love.
They had been so much in love that first year, even more than the year before and the years before that, she thought. Then things had changed after he got a sense of wanting to be successful, "I'd love a sandwich and lemonade."
"Come one, then, my modest kitchen awaits you."
He held his hand out to her. She hesitated a brief moment before placing her hand in his. Immediately the touch of his hand on her made her shiver although the Paris sun.
Chuck felt her tremor and looked at her. "Are you okay, Blair?"
She nodded that she was okay. However, a part of her doubted she would ever truly be okay again now that Chuck Bass was back in town.