I'm very glad people enjoyed the first installment of this story! Guess I'm not the only one craving some Chair-happiness right about now… Though on that topic, I haven't seen the 100th (nor 512) so please don't give me spoilers in reviews =) I hope things went well for Chair but I don't want to know before I watch.
This chapter is arguably more fragmented than the previous and many updates will probably follow this format. Little glimpses here and there rather than an ongoing, flowing plot.
On with the update!
Blair stepped inside their bedroom and stopped for a second. He was fast asleep and it was a shame to wake him but the nurses were adamant that he take his medication on a precise schedule. Seeing him asleep had grown to be one of her favorite occasions over the past couple of years since those were the moments she could pretend everything was normal. Lately though she didn't enjoy it as much. He looked haggard and not at all as peaceful as he had in his sleep before. This bout of the flu hadn't made it any better as every breath he took seemed strained and the sounds of it sometimes reminded her of coffee boiling in a percolator.
She walked over to the chair at his bedside and sat down. On the nightstand next to her was a tray with a small cup of pills and a mug of vanilla pudding enriched with extra calories and vitamins. She thought the puddings seemed completely gross and Chuck had never been a big fan of pudding to begin with but it was something sweet for him to eat and it could give him a bit of a boost so she let the nurses persist with them. She reached out and grabbed the cup of pills, looking at them with a displeased frown and waving to Paquita to come closer.
"These need to be crushed before he can take them" she said, annoyed that she had to remind the staff.
"Right away, Mrs. Bass."
While the nurse prepared the medicine Blair leaned in and gently shook Chuck's shoulder to wake him up.
"Rise and shine, Bass…" she said.
He frowned, grunted and didn't seem very keen on waking up.
"Blair?" he mumbled, more asleep than awake.
"It's me" she confirmed. "Time to wake up, darling. I've got something sweet for you."
His lips formed a smile.
"Would that be you, wearing nothing at all?"
Blair blushed and hoped the nurse hadn't heard that comment. He could be surprisingly raunchy even in this altered state, probably because in his mind he was in his early twenties again and so was she. They had enjoyed an active sexlife for as long as he had had his health and even after he had gotten sick they had kept having sex when he was in his lucid states but she was well aware that most younger people seemed to find the idea of old people fornicating completely absurd and somewhat gross. Chuck making sexual comments to her when other people were in the room felt inappropriate now and to Blair it seemed like it added to his loss of dignity, which she couldn't come to terms with.
He opened his eyes and looked at her with a confused frown. She gave him a smile.
"Here you go" Paquita said and handed Blair the crushed medicine.
"Thank you" Blair said and filled a spoon with vanilla pudding, sprinkling medicine on top. "Chuck, how about some pudding, huh?"
"Not a fan" he said, studying her with a frown.
"Try and sit up. I don't want you choking on this."
Paquita managed to get him up to a somewhat sitting state without him protesting too much. Then she excused herself and left the room, knowing Blair was more relaxed in these situations if she could be alone with her husband.
"Open up" Blair said, trying not to think of how she was feeding her husband the same way she had once fed her children.
"I'll pass" Chuck said, eyeing her still with skepticism. "Where's Blair?"
"I'm right here" Blair said.
"No, I mean Blair Waldorf. My girlfriend."
"I'm Blair Bass" Blair said, trying not to be impatient. "I'm your wife."
"Oh…"
"I thought you might like something to eat" she said. "Here."
He reluctantly opened his mouth and ate the pudding she offered. She prepared another spoonful with medicine on top and breathed a sigh of relief that he was being so cooperative today.
"When you're finished with this…" he said between spoons. "Could you go get my girlfriend?"
"Okay, details please!" Serena exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
"Where to start?" Blair said with a dreamy sigh. "He took me out on that yacht he once won at a poker game and I thought the plan was for us to spend the honeymoon cruising around wherever we felt like going, which seemed weird since it was early March, but it turned out he had actually gone and rented an island for us to-"
"Ew, no!" Serena cried, covering her ears with her hands. "Not honeymoon details! I'm talking about Chuck's upcoming birthday. What have you planned for the big day?"
"He's turning twenty-four" Blair said casually, whistling to Monkey who had taken a sidetrack to sniff at something. "I'm the one with the milestone birthday this year. Why would I have something huge planned for him?"
"Because a) you do that, b) in your world there's no such thing as a non-significant birthday and c) it's your first birthday as Mrs. Charles Bass and I'm betting you want to go all out the first time you plan a birthday party for him as his wife."
"I may have booked the ballroom at the Palace" Blair said and smiled mischievously. "There might be a multi-platinum selling singer providing the music for the occasion. And when last I glanced at the guest list it may have included a high profile name… or thirty."
"So when can I expect my invitation?" Serena asked, slurping diet coke through a straw.
"By the end of the week but please keep it to yourself. I'm not throwing a surprise party since those are so tacky and the guest of honor always figures it out anyway. All the same I'd like there to be little fuss made over it beforehand. He'll know there's a party but not the scale. Monkey! Come here, boy."
"Why do you have to keep him on a leash all the time?" Serena asked with a pout when the dog trotted up beside them. "Poor doggie. There's a whole park to run around in and he's confined to staying within twenty feet of you."
"He can roam free as much as he likes when we go out to the Hamptons" Blair said. "Or in the dog park. So should I expect you to bring a plus one to the party?"
"No" Serena said, shaking her head. "After the disaster that has been my love life this past year I'm going to go stag for a while. As stressful that it is to have Chuck Bass of all people settling down before I even find a boyfriend, I think I'm going to go easy on the dating thing for a while and just focus on me."
"Sounds like a drag" Blair said with a smirk. "Once you've experienced wedded bliss you cannot fathom how anyone would choose to be single."
"I hope that was a joking remark" Serena said. "You haven't even been married for a full month yet. Of course you think everything is roses and fluffy clouds in the land of matrimony, just wait till the honeymoon is over." She sighed. "Still, the knowledge that my creepy stepbrother managed to find true love and get married before I do is crushing to the soul."
"Who would have thought?" Blair said with a giggle. "God, if you had told me when we started high school that the year I turn twenty-five I would be sickeningly happily married to Chuck, fronting his company for a living and spending my afternoons taking his rather mangy-looking dog out for walks in the park I would have had a meltdown bigger than my mother had when my dad left her for Roman. Sometimes I wish I could just go… back in time and tell myself about my own future and see the look on my face. Then I'd tell Chuck and watch the look on his face."
"Is this an actual fantasy you've had?" Serena asked with eyebrows raised. "Sounds unhealthy."
"Well, I wouldn't call it fantasy…" Blair said with a mischievous grin. "Although if I could go back I could bring Chuck with me and then have two of him to play with. Talk about the world's greatest-"
"Please, please, please don't finish that sentence!" Serena yelped, covering her ears with her hands again and closing her eyes hard. "Gross, B! Really, really gross!"
Blair laughed and promised to be good. Serena gave her a skeptical look but took her hands down and adjusted the strap of her purse.
"Come on, let's take Monkey home" Blair said. "I want to get Chuck something nice for his birthday and I'm thinking a new watch from Cartier. I could use a second opinion on their selection."
"Only if you promise we'll go shopping for something fun afterward."
Blair nodded and took a left to head back to their apartment and drop off the dog. Chuck would be working late which gave her a great opportunity to continue planning his party. She was bursting with excitement, hoping it would be the best birthday he'd ever had.
Blair stopped just inside their bedroom and looked at him. He was fast asleep, lying on his side with an empty space next to him where her body had been ten minutes earlier. She had woken up before him just like she had hoped and gotten up to feed the dog and to use the bathroom. She enjoyed watching her husband sleep, studying his relaxed features as he took one calm breath after the other. She could never get enough of looking at him, never stop marveling over how handsome he was to her and reveling in the overwhelming feeling that came over her whenever she saw him, thought of him, heard him or above all touched him.
He would probably wake up any minute. It usually didn't take long for either one of them to wake up if the other one had gotten out of bed. They often slept close together and the loss of the other's body heat was usually enough to stir them from sleep. She didn't have much time if she wanted to actively wake him up.
She walked slowly across the room, feeling the softness of the cream colored carpet beneath her feet. In her hand she had a rectangular present, the only gift she would give him this morning. It was his twenty-fourth birthday and she had bought him a number of gifts but she planned on giving them to him later in the day. Giving him this one gift now had been an impulse decision.
She sat down on the bed and reached out her left hand, gently nudging him.
"Chuck…" she said softly. "Wake up, darling."
He grunted and opened his eyes, blinking in the soft light.
"Hey…" he mumbled.
"Good morning, sleepy head" Blair smiled warmly. "Or should I say, old man? Happy birthday, my love."
"It's that time of year again?" Chuck asked and lifted himself up on his elbow.
Blair smiled happily at him and moved a few strains of hair away from his forehead. She loved his dissolved just-woken-up look. It was only rarely that Chuck let anybody see him without his appearance in perfect order and the knowledge that seeing him with his hair a mess, wearing a white t-shirt and with still sleepy features was a privilege that was almost hers alone made her love it even more. She let her fingers continue to play with his hair for a bit and he chuckled at her tokens of affection.
"It's a day like any other, Blair" he said. "If you want to congratulate me how about taking off that nightie?"
"I have something else in mind" Blair said.
"But I'm the birthday boy, I get my way" he teased and tugged at her satin nightie.
"All good things to those who wait" Blair teased back.
"Well, if you insist on making a big deal out of today then I can comply" he shrugged, looking over at the alarm clock to see what time it was. "Though really, you know that I would be perfectly happy not making such a fuss and just having dinner with you. In fact, if I didn't have that meeting with the union rep at nine I would suggest we both cancel our days and spend all day in bed."
"Since we don't have that as an option I had a more traditional celebration in mind" Blair said. "I got you something."
"You didn't have to."
"I don't think I understand the words that just came out of your mouth." She looked down at the present in her right hand. "This isn't all you're getting for your birthday. You'll be getting everything else this evening but I didn't feel like I could wait giving this to you."
She handed him the present and he took it, studying it carefully as he rolled over on his back to be able to use both hands. He took a minute to admire the way she had wrapped it and to study the shape and size.
"It's definitely a box of some sort" he said.
"It is."
"Judging by the shape and size… New watch?"
"Go ahead and open and find out."
"No points for guessing correctly?"
"Not until you've opened it."
He smirked at her and then dutifully began to open the present. Once he had gotten the wrapping paper off he rolled back over on his side, supporting his upper body on his elbow, and ran his fingers over the black box in his hands.
"Come on" Blair urged, smiling impatiently. "Open it up."
"Relax" he chuckled.
He opened the box to take a look at the watch she had bought him but was surprised to find that she hadn't gotten him a watch. He stared with his mouth slightly ajar at what was inside and then carefully grabbed it between his thumb and his middle finger. Without saying a word he lifted up a positive pregnancy test from the box.
"Bet you weren't expecting that" Blair said, unable to contain her excitement any longer. "Happy birthday, Chuck. Expected delivery in late January or early February, I should say. If all goes well."
He looked at her with wide eyes.
"This is for real?"
"Yes of course it's for real" she laughed. "I took that test just now. I was going to give you just the kit I'd bought and then take the test and wait for the results together with you but… I figured if I was wrong then that would be a disappointment and it would be so much better to be able to give you this."
He sat up more straight and studied the test carefully. It seemed like the most wonderful thing he had ever seen yet at the same time he wasn't sure he really believed it yet.
"You just went off the pill like a month ago."
"I know" Blair said. "Guess fate really wanted us to have that baby. Or it was simply a matter of odds. That much unprotected sex is bound to lead to something."
Carefully he put the test back down in the box and set it down on the nightstand. Then he pulled Blair close and kissed her hard.
"You have got to be kidding me" he said. "I thought we would have to wait months before even standing a decent shot at conceiving."
"People get pregnant while they're still on the pill" Blair pointed out. She looked at him and felt a touch nervous. "Are you happy? I know we said we didn't want to start a family right this minute-"
"I couldn't be happier" he assured her and gave her another kiss. "How do you feel? Are you nauseous? Can I get you anything?"
She laughed and wrapped her arms around him.
"I'm feeling fine."
"That's the most important thing. I'm thrilled but I want you to be feeling good."
"I feel perfect."
They kissed again and Chuck maneuvered them so that they were lying down with him on top. He tugged at her nightie and after a bit of pulling and lifting he had gotten it off. She reached up and grabbed his t-shirt, eager to get all clothes off him as quick as possible too. Their lips met again and she sighed happily when they parted.
"I'm not usually much for birthdays…" he mumbled against her neck. "Not my own at least. This is without contest the best birthday gift anyone has ever gotten me. I should give you a proper 'thank you'."
"I can't find anything in this damn mess" Chuck growled, searching through heaps of documents on his desk. "Why the hell did my secretary have to go on an early summer holiday?"
"It's going to get even worse" Blair reminded him. She was sitting in a lotus position on the thick rug beneath the couch in his office with a bunch of binders in front of her. "Think of this as the calm before the storm."
"Please, don't remind me. It's bad enough we have to do complete financial statements once a year. The six-month statements are merely designed to be a huge pain in the ass. Do you have any idea where the statement of retained earnings went?"
"It's not due until next month."
"No, I mean the one from January."
"It should be somewhere on your shelves."
He got up with a huff and walked over to the bookcase where he kept most of the collected documents from the past eighteen month period. While he began to search for the documents he needed Blair eyed through 2014s financial statement for the Empire.
"This place hasn't had a decent turnover since 2013" she commented.
"In other words we've had one non-decent year" Chuck said, finding the proper binder.
"One too many."
"First rule of business, my love. You can't win all the time."
"First rule of being a Bass, my love" Blair replied. "We win all the time."
He turned to look at her and smiled.
"So you're lecturing me on how to be a Bass now?"
"Just a gentle reminder, dear. Seriously though, look at this!"
"I have looked at it. Very closely. In January. The results were analyzed and we're working to do better. Let's move on."
"The Empire is practically the flagship of your reign as CEO" Blair said. "It needs to be at…" She paused and gagged, hiding her mouth behind the back of her hand.
"You okay?" Chuck asked with a worried look.
"Yeah" Blair said after a few seconds. "God I hate this part. How long does it have to last? Last time around it was only a couple of weeks. Now it's been at least five."
"Five?" Chuck echoed, eyeing through the papers in his hand to find the one he was interested in. "You're seven weeks along."
"First two went by much more smoothly" Blair said. "Oh God… I can't wait until I reach that blissful stage where the nausea is gone and I haven't yet gotten unfashionably big."
"Is it true what they say about pregnant women hitting a horny stage?" Chuck asked, smirking at her.
"I don't know, I never got that far last time."
"Are you sure you're okay talking about it?" he asked tentatively.
"I can't pretend it never happened" Blair said. "I don't want to pretend like it never happened. This time things are going to end differently."
"It will" Chuck agreed.
"I can't wait to tell everyone" Blair said with a smile and glanced down at her belly.
"We can tell them tonight if you wish" Chuck said.
"No. Not for another five weeks. Telling people before the end of the first trimester is bad luck."
"It's not bad luck" Chuck argued.
"Besides, part of me likes that we have our own little secret, just you, me and the baby" Blair said.
"You, me and the person who's going to be running around here in little Armani diapers, charming the entire staff and providing us with pictures to put up on our walls" Chuck smiled, walking over to her and kneeling down on the floor in front of her.
"A cute little boy we can dress in Italian suits and put little bowties on" Blair said, her fingers playing with his lapels.
"Or a cute little girl we can dress in fine baby couture and put matching headbands on" Chuck replied.
"Mmm, I like it either way."
He grinned and kissed her gently.
"How's your stomach?"
"All better" she said and pulled him close for another kiss.
With a yelp she fell backward, pulling Chuck with her, laughing as she heard binders and papers flying everywhere.
"We're creating a mess" she giggled, wrapping one leg around his waist.
"I like a mess" he grinned back at her.
They kissed again and she began to tug at his jacket while he worked on her blouse. Before she had gotten very far the door opened and the twenty-two year old college student working extra for the summer as Chuck's secretary came walking in.
"Mr. Bass, you have a…"
He stopped in his tracks and turned bright red when he saw his two bosses in a tangle on the floor amidst a heap of binders and important documents. Chuck raised an eyebrow at him and he slowly took a few steps back.
"I, I'm sorry Mr. Bass…" he stuttered. "Mrs. Bass… I, uh, I'll come back later." Somehow his face managed to turn even redder when he caught sight of Blair's bra, exposed where Chuck had gotten a few buttons undone on her blouse. "Very sorry" he stuttered. "Didn't mean to see…"
"Get used to it" Chuck said, wondering how a college student could be so embarrassed by a little foreplay. He turned his focus back to Blair the second the door closed and they were alone. "I suppose we taught him the value of knocking."
"I swear on the black stone I shall kill them all!" Blair barked, storming into Chuck's office with a newspaper in her hand.
"What?" Chuck said, looking up from his work.
"Did you see this?" she asked, waving the paper and slamming the door shut.
"I think the more pressing issue here is how much 'Rome' you've been watching lately."
With an angry huff Blair tossed her purse aside and marched up to Chuck's desk where she slammed the paper down.
"Look! I will have their heads on a plate!"
"A serving dish is more fashionable" Chuck replied, lifting the paper up to read the page that had gotten her so upset. He only got three sentences in before she yanked it back and began to pace back and forth.
"These so called journalists are saying we only got married because you got me pregnant!" she exclaimed.
"Their math teachers must be so embarrassed" Chuck said with a laugh and an entertained smirk.
Blair stopped pacing and looked at him.
"This is not funny! This is insulting and annoying!"
"Blair" Chuck said. "Nobody is going to believe that article. We planned our wedding for ten months and were fairly open about it. You weren't even pregnant when we got married. This child was conceived within wedlock."
"I know that!"
"Then what are you so angry about?"
"Don't these people have better things to do than discredit the love and commitment of honest people?"
"Honest people? You and I? Take a seat, relax. This isn't good for your blood pressure."
"Screw my blood pressure!" Blair snarled.
Chuck got up and walked over to her, placing his hands on her upper arms.
"Tabloid journalists are always going to write a bunch of crap" he said in a soothing tone. "It's part of the deal. As the years go by we will become less and less interesting to them and they'll stop printing these things about us."
"Great, so we'll be irrelevant."
"Let me have that paper" he said and took it from her. "I'll have Cindy burn it or run it through the shredder."
"Have her do both" Blair said with a pout. "She can burn this one, then go out and buy another copy to run through the shredder."
"Okay."
He lead her over to the couch and sat down with her, keeping an arm wrapped around her. This was the first hormonal outburst he had seen from her but he expected more to follow. She still had half her pregnancy to go.
"Let's talk about something more uplifting" he said. "I think I'm going to take the whole afternoon off on Friday. After the ultrasound we can go out and buy things for the baby. Take him or her on their first shopping spree with Mom and Dad."
"Sounds lovely" Blair smiled.
"Good."
Thus far they hadn't bought anything for their baby. Blair had been afraid to jinx it if they went out and got lots of things too soon so they had agreed to wait until the ultrasound. It had been just over a week since they had made the news official to friends and family and today the media had apparently gotten wind.
"I must say…" Chuck said, eyeing the paper still in his hand. "It amazes me that they care so much."
"What surprises me is how giddy they are to see us fail" Blair sighed.
"Jealousy" Chuck said. "Who can blame them?"
"This town needs new celebrities."
"So how are you feeling?"
"You don't have to ask me that three times a day" Blair said with a little smile, sinking back against the comfortable cushions. "I'm just fine. Once the nausea ceased I've been feeling wonderful."
"You look wonderful."
"Feast your eyes. I'm starting to show and it won't be long before I look like a hideous, beached whale."
"I can't wait, actually" Chuck said, scooting further back on the couch. He tossed the paper on the floor and pulled up her blouse to place a hand on her belly. "Seeing you visibly pregnant with our child is something I've been looking forward to for a long time."
"I don't know that being pregnant is something I've looked forward to" Blair said. "I can't wait for the pregnancy to be over and to have that little baby in my arms."
"My competition for your time and affection."
"My competition for your time and affection" Blair replied with a chuckle.
"He or she will be here before we know it" Chuck said, stroking her belly. "Until then you're all mine." He kissed her cheek, then got up and walked back to his desk. "By the way, now that everybody knows we're in the family way I'll have Cindy schedule… all those prenatal checkups of yours."
"Don't forget Lamaze" Blair said, adjusting her blouse.
"Lamaze?"
"Yeah. We need to start planning the delivery in good time. I've already thought a lot about it. I don't want any monks or shamans or anything weird like that."
"I wasn't aware those were all the rage in birthing."
"I like the idea of candles and soothing music and… oh, and bringing our own sheets! My baby is not going to be born on anything less than Egyptian cotton."
"I'm confused" Chuck said, leaning against his desk with his arms crossed over his chest. "I thought you were going to go with an epidural and just sit back and wait. Maybe you should save whatever episodes of 'Rome' you have left. Or we could have an Audrey marathon."
"Drugs might harm the baby!" Blair protested.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I intend on having a natural birth."
"Why on earth would you want to do that?" Chuck questioned. "You have the complete arsenal of modern medicine available to you."
"Farmer's wives and other assorted peasants have been birthing naturally since forever" Blair snorted. "How hard can it be?"
"Pretty hard, I should say."
"What are you so worried about, you're not the one who has to do it." She got up and held her head high. "I am a queen and I can bear my children without the help of drugs."
"Much like your average peasant."
"I am strong and enduring and I will do just fine. Anne Boleyn did not need any medical help when she gave birth to Queen Elizabeth, now did she?"
Chuck rolled his eyes but refrained from comment. He didn't put much weight to what she was saying at the moment. Just three days ago she had rattled off a list of every method of birth pain reduction known to man and vowed to find which one was the most efficient. He would let her weigh all her options without his input unless he was asked about it, having a strong feeling that the thought of giving birth scared her and that this was her way of trying to control that fear. Either way it was her decision in the end. He would be more comfortable if she was as pain-free as possible but if she wanted to have a natural birth he would hold her hand through the whole thing just the same.
"I have to go" she said and walked towards the door. "Don't forget, ultrasound on Friday at eleven. Don't be late."
"Your office is just down the hall, I'm sure you'll remind me if need be" he chuckled. "And don't worry about what the media says. You and I know this is for real and I couldn't give a damn what anybody else thinks."
"All the same I think we need to buy a magazine and have them print more factual stories that contradict the lies."
"Those articles will surely be seen as reliable and objective" he replied with a smirk.
"I'm running late for a meeting." She stopped at the door and blew him a kiss. "Oh, and I crave spinach today. Make sure it's included in whatever we have for dinner, okay my sweet?"
"I will call the chef and have it arranged."
"Love you" Blair said with a smile and left.
That Friday they went to see Blair's obstetrician for a checkup and to have an ultrasound. Blair recoiled a bit when the cold jelly was squirted on her stomach and decided she didn't like the feel of the wand pressing against her like that. Was it really wise to press that hard? There was a delicate little person in there.
"Now let's turn this thing on…" the doctor said and pressed a button to start up the screen. "It's going to make a whole bunch of noise… and we'll see if we can find your baby's heartbeat there somewhere."
"What, there's a risk of not finding one?" Chuck asked.
"We'll find it" the doctor smiled.
Chuck didn't look reassured but kept from commenting. He took Blair's hand with both of his and looked at the screen. It was all a bunch of nothing to him, a little blob that could be their child or could be some internal organ for all he knew.
"There we go…" the doctor said, moving the wand a bit. "You see this here?" she asked, pointing to the screen. "There's your baby's head. And a healthy, steady heartbeat."
"That is amazing" Blair said breathlessly.
"Your baby is fifteen weeks old and is moving about quite a lot as you can see."
"Can you feel it?" Chuck asked Blair.
"No, not yet."
"You will, very soon" the doctor smiled. "Would you like to know the sex of your baby?"
Chuck and Blair both tore their eyes from the screen for a second to look at each other. Blair's smile widened a bit.
"We'd love to know" Blair said.
"Let's have a look."
Chuck glanced over at Blair, marveling at how excited they both were to find out even though they weren't hoping for any gender above the other.
"Right here" the doctor said and pointed. "It's a boy."
"Oh my God" Blair said, almost moved to tears.
"We're having a boy" Chuck said to her with a beaming smile.
She reached up her hand and wrapped it around his neck, pulling him closer for a kiss. In her mind she was already planning how they would design the nursery and what sort of themes they could go with for their little son's blankets and teddies and bowls.
"He looks perfectly healthy" the doctor summed up her examination and removed the wand from Blair's stomach.
"Thank you" Chuck said to the doctor. "Thank you very much."
"I will get you a print-out of the sonogram."
"I can't believe it's a boy!" Blair said, carefully wiping her tummy with the paper towels handed to her. "By the way we're not calling him Bartholomew for a middle-name."
Chuck laughed a little and helped her get down on the floor. She went behind a curtain to get dressed while the doctor spoke to Chuck for a moment. When Blair heard the doctor leave the room she walked back out, buttoning her silk blouse.
"I'm thinking a naval theme" she said. "For the nursery."
"I'm thinking racecars" Chuck replied.
Blair gave him a look.
"We'll talk."
She finished getting dressed and they left the hospital to go on their shopping spree. They had only gotten a block away from the hospital before Blair grabbed Chuck's arm with both her hands and jumped up and down like an excited five year-old.
"We're having a boy! Chuck can we please go buy lots of teeny, tiny bowties?"
"Easy there, skippy" Chuck said with a laugh. "Yes of course we can. Is this really my wife, jumping up and down this way?"
"I'm just so excited!" Blair grinned and kept a firm grip on his arm as they walked around a corner. "I think I was hoping for a boy a bit more than I was hoping it would be a girl."
"You're not sorry you won't get to dress our baby in pretty dresses and style her hair when she gets older and do the whole mother-daughter spa-treatment bonding thing a dozen or so years down the line?"
"Yeah a little" Blair said with the same grin on her face. "Still, a boy! A little you! Can you imagine how cute that will be?"
"He's only cute for a few years" Chuck pointed out with a smirk. "How cute do you think I was when I came home drunk the first time, or when I slept with Georgina Sparks at the age of- Ow! Why are you hitting me for?"
"I don't want to be reminded if your lewd former conquests" Blair said.
"I'm just saying, I'm glad we're having a boy but don't think he won't be a handful."
"Well maybe he'll take after me more than you."
"That's what I said. A complete handful. Ow, stop hitting me!"
"I do like the idea of a nautical theme…" Blair said with a dreaming expression, changing lanes at lightning speed. "Yet… blue seems so unimaginative for a boy."
"How about purple?"
"No. Too unisex. It's part blue, part pink. It's the color I want for my nursery if I ever have fraternal twins with one child of each gender."
"You've planned on this happening? Should my sperm start having performance anxiety?"
"I won't rule anything out. Come on though, be serious now. Is blue too unoriginal?"
"Perhaps. Then again so is yellow, and green seems to be the new blue for boys…"
"Ugh, this is such a hard decision" Blair groaned. "Whatever theme we settle on will be what surrounds our baby boy for the first few years of his life!"
"Or we can redecorate every four to five months."
"I want it perfect from the start."
"I said racecar theme and I'm sticking to it" Chuck said. "You can match any color with that theme, though traditionally I think the cars tend to be red or black. At least the ones on kids' stuff."
"We'll talk."
"Chuck!" Blair gasped, gripping his arm way too tight. "I can't do this!"
"You don't have much choice" Chuck replied.
She begun to say something in reply but it turned into a wordless scream of pain. He didn't know what to do to help her except wrap an arm around her shoulders and let her know he was there. She was five hours into to her labor and the cocky attitude she had started out with had long since disappeared.
When the pain began to fade she gripped his shoulder and leaned against him, letting out a couple of sobs. Outside the window they had a view of a beautiful, if icily cold, January day but neither the view nor the candles nor the music seemed to do anything to soothe her. She had opted for a natural birth and was now regretting it but had thus far been too stubborn to admit defeat even though Chuck had tried to tell her several times that it was okay to take the pain relief available. He couldn't comprehend why she was so adamant to do this the agonizing way but he had no other choice than to support her decision and try to be there for her.
Her sobs ceased after a few seconds and she let go of him, sinking back against the fluffy pillow.
"Do you know that the average length of a birth for a first time mother is nineteen hours?" she said.
"Where did you hear that?"
"I read it online. Nineteen hours, Chuck! I've been at this for five and it feels like a hundred and fifty."
"Nineteen hours is the average" Chuck pointed out. "You, my love, are never average."
"With our luck it will probably be a hundred and fifty hours before this stubborn child decides to enter the world."
"He likes it in there" Chuck shrugged. "So would I. It's warm, it's safe, it's always with you. Do you want me to go and get the nurse?"
"No, I'm fine" Blair said stubbornly. "I just really, really hate all this. Who was the idiot who decided childbirth had to be so damn painful?"
"It will be worth it" Chuck assured her, gently wiping sweat from her bow with a napkin. "Tomorrow you will be holding our son in your arms."
"I know" Blair said. "That's all I think about during the contractions. Baby, baby, baby. Son, son, son. To tell you the truth though I'm already a little pissed off at him for causing me so much discomfort."
Chuck laughed a little and lifted her hand to give it a kiss.
"You're doing real good" he said. "I'm a very proud husband."
Blair closed her eyes to get a few more minutes of rest before the next contraction. She didn't think she would be able to handle them getting much worse than they were now, and she knew she had most of her birth ahead of her. When they had last examined her twenty minutes ago she had been only at three centimeters. If that was the rate they were going at this would take almost seventeen hours at the least. She remembered her mother telling her that she had been in labor for twenty-three hours. It was not an encouraging thought.
Her next contraction seemed to be even worse than the previous and when the pain faded she opened her eyes and reached for whatever she could grab on the nightstand, which turned out to be a radio. She grabbed it and flung it across the room in a fit of rage. Chuck jumped back slightly, looking at her with eyebrows raised.
"Easy, tiger."
"I hate this!" Blair snarled. "This is the stupidest thing nature ever came up with. Let's get one thing straight here, I am Blair Bass and I am in charge over my own damn body and I will not put up with this any longer!"
"I'll call for the nurse, have her send in an anesthesiologist."
"Don't you dare, Charles Bass!" Blair barked. "If childbirth thinks it can win over me then it has another thing coming!"
Her sudden anger surprised him a little but he didn't mind it. He loved seeing the fighter in her and this process was easier for him to handle if she was angry than if she was broken down, sad or afraid. She fell into a pattern where she came out of each contraction being furious, mellowing after a few minutes and being calm and collected for a minute or two before the next contraction. After thirty minutes of that she finally seemed to reach her limit and yelled at him to get the nurse in there already.
"Give me something!" she barked at the nurse the second she walked through the door. "Anything. So long as it doesn't involve needles and my spine."
The nurse stayed behind only long enough to offer a few different kinds of pain management and hearing which one Blair wanted, then she left to go get the doctor. Blair groaned and closed her eyes for a second, rolling her head back towards Chuck. She opened her eyes and looked at him with defiance.
"Not one word to anyone about this."
"You haven't failed" Chuck insisted. "If anybody does ask I'll tell them you got it for my sake, to spare me the sight of you in pain."
"That almost sounded noble, Bass" Blair said and laughed a little. "Do you think babies have thoughts? When they're this little? If they do I wonder what our son is thinking right about now…"
"Hopefully that there's not enough space where he is now and he can't wait to get out" Chuck said. "What a shock he's in for. Being thrown out here where it's cold and bright and he has to breathe and eat on his own…"
"At least he'll see your face when he arrives" Blair said with a little smile. "I want you up here with me when that moment comes but as soon as he's out I hope you'll be the first person close enough for him to get a good look."
"That honor should belong to you" Chuck said. "You're the one he's going to be looking for anyway."
She smiled and reached for his hand. She then sighed and looked down at her large belly.
"I'm sorry if I'm being a pain in the ass" she said.
"You're not. I mean it when I say I'm proud of you."
"I'm so glad you're here."
"Where else would I be?"
"I keep thinking of how men weren't supposed to be there for the births back in the day" she mused. "I can't imagine going through this without you here."
"To be fair there's nothing I can actually do for you."
"Yes there is. You're here. That's all that matters. You're my baby's father. You're the person who knows me best, the person I can say and do anything in front of, the one who can comfort me and give me strength just by being near."
He smiled and leaned in to give her a kiss but changed his mind when the look on her face told him she was getting another contraction.
"Where the hell is that nurse?" she growled, mood back to angry. "And turn off that damn music! It's driving me insane."
"Here he is!" the obstetrician declared proudly and held up the five second old baby for the parents to see.
"Let me see" Blair gasped, trying to sit up straight. "Let me see him!"
The baby was tiny, red, wrinkly and covered in various things neither Blair nor Chuck longed to have identified. The sound of his cries was music to both their ears and Blair felt herself relax completely for the first time in twelve hours.
"A beautiful, healthy baby boy" the doctor said.
Before they could react or respond the baby was swiftly wrapped up in a blanket and nurses huddled all around him to coo and comment and get ready to have the cord cut. Blair tried her best to get a glimpse of her baby but when all she could see was nurses she turned to Chuck who looked like he had been frozen in place. She said his name and he snapped back and looked at her with wide eyes.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
"Who cares?" Blair said. "Go to him. Go!"
He kissed her brow and then got up and hurried over to get a closer look at the newborn. The doctor and the nurses babbled around him but he didn't hear a word they said. He couldn't quite believe that this little thing was his and Blair's son.
"Do you want to cut the cord, Daddy?" one of the nurses asked.
Wordlessly Chuck took the scissors offered to him and followed instructions. Once the cord was cut the baby was taken to be cleaned up, measured and weighed. Chuck heard Blair groan and turned to look at her with worried eyes.
"I'm okay" she said. "Just getting the last leg of this race over with. Stop looking at me and stay with him!"
He realized he was probably in the nurses' way while they prepared the baby but he didn't care. It seemed to take forever before the infant was wrapped in the cashmere blanket they had brought for him but still he wasn't fully prepared for when the nurse handed the baby to him. Petrified of holding his baby wrong or dropping him Chuck took the newborn and cradled him awkwardly. Finally he got a good, close look at the latest addition to the family and he had to admit it wasn't the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Aside from being wrinkly and red the baby's features made him look quite odd. The nurses didn't seem to notice or care and one of them beamed up at him with a kind of pride that would make you think she had been the one who had given birth.
"There we are, Daddy" she said. "Isn't he the most beautiful thing you ever saw?"
"No" Chuck answered truthfully. "But he's ours."
He tore his eyes reluctantly away from his son and looked at his wife. She looked spent but happy. The doctor was saying something to her which he couldn't quite make out. It occurred to him that the room was awfully crowded and he wanted a moment alone with Blair and the baby. He looked at the beaming nurse who was cooing the baby.
"How long before we can get some privacy?" he asked bluntly.
"Someone has to come and suture your wife" came the answer. "The doctor would also like to examine her to make sure everything's okay. Though we can give you a bit of privacy, for the moment."
"Chuck?" Blair said from her bed. "Is he okay?"
"He's fine" Chuck said, looking at his son with a smile while the hospital staff began to clear out. He walked slowly towards the bed. "Baby boy Bass, there's somebody I'd like you to meet. She's only the most incredible woman I've ever known and I don't think I have to tell you how amazing she has been today. You might just be the only person in the world who could love her as much as I do."
"Please be sentimental after you've handed him to me" Blair pleaded, dying to get a good, close look.
"Mama…" Chuck said. "Meet our son."
Gently he handed the baby over to her, relieved to no longer have the responsibility and at the same time very reluctant to let him out of his own arms. Blair's reaction to getting to hold and see her son made up for that last feeling and when she leaned in to kiss the baby and sniff him Chuck fully understood why people willingly got pregnant again after having gone through the ordeal of childbirth.
"Hi little prince…" Blair said. "Look at you… Look at your cute little face… Are you glad to be with Mama? I missed you. I'm not letting you go now, no I'm not. You're not crying anymore, are you? The only one crying is your father."
To his surprise Chuck realized she was right, his cheeks were wet. He hadn't even noticed. He wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand and as gently as he could got up in the bed with her. There wasn't enough room for him to lie comfortably but he wrapped one arm around Blair's shoulders and pulled her head closer to kiss it, deciding it was worth the discomfort to be with his wife and child right now.
"Sorry about all the things I said about wanting to die and thinking I was going to die" Blair said, looking a touch ashamed. During labor she had completely forgotten about his history with death by childbirth.
"I don't want you to apologise for anything you said or did."
"You're the wrong person to be saying things like that to."
"It's okay. I'm just happy that you're feeling well now. You and the little guy both."
"He's a bit weird looking" Blair said with a loving smile that didn't quite seem to match her words. "He's going to be so handsome when he grows up though. His features are just too perfect to fit well on such a tiny little face." She looked up at the nurse who had stayed in the room. "Can I try feeding him?"
"You might not have any milk just yet" the nurse answered. "But go ahead and try."
Fumbling slightly she tried to hold the baby with one arm and pull aside her gown with the other. Chuck reached out and helped her hold the little one who was sniffing and seemed to be searching for something to latch on to.
"Is he hungry, do you think?" Blair asked the nurse.
"Try and see."
It took two attempts for the baby to understand what he was supposed to do. Blair cringed a little when he first latched on but decided she liked it. Being able to finally nurse hers and Chuck's son filled her with happiness and a sense of fulfillment.
"I can't believe he's finally here."
"I have a real family" Chuck said with a mixture of disbelief and wonderment. "This little guy is going to have everything I wanted when I was growing up. A mother. A father who loves him and isn't afraid to show it."
"He already has everything a child needs and could ask for" Blair smiled. "Except a name."
They had discussed baby names from the day they had known they were having a boy but never been able to agree on anything. Chuck had been partial to Henry but Blair didn't like it. She had favored Robert but Chuck thought it was too common. In the end nothing had been decided but now they had to agree on something. They couldn't go around calling him Baby Boy Bass for all eternity, nor could they stick with Little Bassman which had been Chuck's nickname for the baby during the latter half of the pregnancy.
Blair gently caressed her baby's cheek and tried out a few different names they had discussed, not feeling any of them to be right for her son.
"He's not a Simon... Not a James... What do you think, Dad?" she asked.
"I think…" Chuck began but quieted when another nurse came into the room with two champagne flutes on a tray.
"I thought you might like to toast" the woman chirped.
Chuck sniggered. He had been the one who brought the champagne to the hospital. Blair's favorite vintage. He helped hold the baby steady while Blair covered herself up again and then he took both flutes and clinked them together. Carefully he held one out to Blair and helped her take a sip.
"Thanks" she said.
"Thank you" he said to her. "You had already given me everything I could have asked for and more. Now you've given me a son. I love you, you know that?"
"I love you more" she claimed. "The two of you are my favorite boys. I hope he will be like you. I hope he'll be everything I love about you."
"What do you think of Victor? That's a nice name. Reminds me of Victrola where all of this really began."
"I don't know…" Blair said. "Now that he's here I want him to have a name that's really special. A name that when you hear it you think of strength and courage and charisma… Something... regal without necessarily being royal."
"By those criteria I nominate Julius Caesar" Chuck said with a laugh.
"Julius…" Blair echoed.
"Blair. I was joking."
"But I like it."
"I don't. It's a little too… 1st century BC. Find a more modern tweak, perhaps."
"I like it" Blair said with a smile. "What do you think, baby boy?"
The baby squinted up at her and yawned, making both parents smile.
"I think you're right, son" Chuck said. "We should all sleep on it. It's late."
"Is it still Tuesday?" Blair asked, realizing she wasn't sure when her son had been born.
"It is. Tuesday January 23rd. Welcome to the world, little baby Bass."
Blair sighed with relief when the last of the medicine went into Chuck's mouth. He was unusually cooperative right now and she wondered if perhaps they should try and get him to eat some food while they were at it. He couldn't live on just pudding, no matter what they spiced it up with.
She saw him frown and lean forward a bit, squinting to see something better. She turned around but all she could see was the photographs they had up on the wall. Their wedding picture and old pictures of their children. Chuck eyed them with confusion.
"When…" he began. "When did… Is that a wedding picture of us?"
"Chuck we've been married for over fifty years."
"Of course" he said, clearly backtracking. "I'm just wondering whose bright idea it was to put that picture there and not someplace more fitting! Who hides their wedding photo away in the bedroom?"
"Careful" Blair said, hoping he wouldn't get agitated. "You'll set off a cough attack."
"I'm fine." He leaned back against the pillows and looked thoughtful. "Where is Julian? Is he home? Tell him to get in here. I want to talk to him. He hasn't done his homework once this week."
"Chuck he doesn't have any homework."
"Where are we?" he asked, looking around.
"The Hamptons."
"Ah… It's summer, then?"
"It's March. A week past our anniversary."
"Then why are we in the Hamptons? We have work to do in the city. Bass Industries does not run itself."
She didn't argue. There was no point. They had had variations of this conversation more times than she could count. Sometimes he knew where he was but not when in time. Other times he knew roughly what year it was but wasn't sure what the location was. In the past year he had jumped so fast back and forth between being in the present and in the past that it was impossible to try and keep track.
"Do you want anything to eat, my love?" she asked, trying to distract him from the conversation. "Something nice and warm? I could make that fish soup you like."
"No, thank you" Chuck said. "I'd rather you just… stayed here. I don't like it when you go."
"I never go far" she assured him with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I'm always nearby. You know that."
She got up and walked around the bed to the side where she slept. She got up on it and moved over to lie with him. He wrapped an arm around her and she nuzzled against him, reveling in this rare moment when he seemed lucid.
"I'm sorry you're chained to me this way" he said, his voice getting hoarse.
"I'm not" Blair said. "There's nowhere in the world I'd rather be."
"It's not nice to lie. Good thing I love you even when you're not nice."
"I'm always nice to you" she smirked and gave him a kiss.
He pulled her a little closer and began to drift off to sleep again. Blair was feeling cold but was hesitant to sit up and grab the quilt at the foot of the bed. If she did he might drift back to thinking he was twenty and not appreciating having a woman in her seventies snuggling up to him. She stayed where she was, shivering slightly from the cold and from hearing her husband's labored breaths.
I hope it didn't get too fluffy. Reviews are love =)