AN: I have outlined the plot for the events that will occur. Hope you stick around because it looks like several more parts. In other words, this fic is not ending soon.

Part 13

"You are so hard on him, Bart."

The duke looked up towards the sound of her voice, and saw his wife leaning against the closed door. "The boy has believed himself to be a man since he was seven years old and caught his first fish," came the quiet answer.

Lilly made her way to her husband and took the glass from his hand. Gently, she placed it down and drew him towards a chair. "Sit," she commanded, pushing down at his shoulders.

Bartholomew fell heavily into the cushioned seat and leaned his head back. His eyes closed as he felt the gently massaging pressure on his shoulders. "You are good to me," he breathed. "I shall never rue the day that I met you."

"Darling," Lilly said into his ear. "Speak to Charles about your torment. Once you voice it out, perhaps he will understand why you have such strong feelings against his marriage to the Waldorf girl."

He drew a sharp breath. "Lilly, we are never to speak of it again. It was a dark day in my life."

She nodded and placed a kiss on his cheek. "I understand, your grace," she assured him. "And I know what debt you will forever commit yourself to towards the Archibald family, for the Admiral's role on that day. It was well in the past," she reminded him. "But we never imagined that debt to haunt the lives of our children, Bart. It is time to let it go."

The duke removed her hands from his shoulders and stood to walk towards his desk. "I should return to work, Lilly."

"Bart—"

"Will you ensure that everything is prepared for tonight? I promised Charles that we will treat his bride well, and I will keep that promise to my son."

Lilly hesitated. "Saying nothing about that accident serves no good, Bart. It is bound to reveal itself in the future. We need to tell Charles now."

"Three years ago in France, I met you and I wanted you, Lilly. And I returned to London with a new family for Charles. I see absolutely no reason to disillusion the children."

She nodded, the finality of his voice not allowing her to give further arguments. "I'm afraid, Bart."

"It will all sort itself out, darling." The duke returned to his papers.

~o~o~o~o~

She had half run to the salon the moment she heard that her stepbrother waited there for her. Serena arrived breathless as she hurried to meet him. At the sight of Chuck standing there, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank heavens!" she gasped.

Chuck gave her a tight smile. "You look well, sister, considering the delicate situation," was his greeting.

Serena smiled and walked over to Chuck, then wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly. "I know you can save me from this nightmare."

He returned the embrace with as much warmth. "I am truly sorry, Serena. You are in this dire strait for my actions."

She pulled away and looked intently at her brother. "Tell me then, Chuck. I shall rest easier if I know this is not for naught. Is it worth it, my lord?" She took his hand and squeezed. "If you are happy, I will not weep at the thought of spending a lifetime with Nathaniel."

Chuck's eyes briefly closed in gratitude. "You are a good sister." And then, he met her eyes with such conviction that his promise made her heart soar. "But I cannot be content knowing I have torn you from the man you love, Serena."

She sucked in her breath, and her eyes burned. "What do you mean?"

"You cannot think that it would escape me, Serena," he said quietly.

Serena turned away. "My lord, I do not know of what you speak."

Chuck shook his head. "Trust me, sister. I reserve no judgment on your choice. My father cannot choose your future, Serena."

"So said many young ladies, all of whom are now either spinsters or living in poverty off some countryside," Serena scoffed.

He watched her expression intently. "Would it matter to you, if you can be poor with someone you love?"

Serena smiled uncertainly, unused to the very words coming from the marquis' lips. "Have you turned into a romantic, my lord?"

Chuck shook his head with a small laugh. "Perhaps I have only come to understand you, Serena. I have spent many days with Mr Humphrey." His voice lowered. "It is not a choice you should be ashamed of." The blonde smiled gratefully. "And if you do, I will not let you starve, sister. His grace can cut you off, but Humphrey will always find himself under my employ."

She deflated at the words. "If we could ever find him."

"You should never doubt your very own brother. I have men looking for him right now." Serena's hands clasped together in fervent hope. "I somehow cannot imagine our darling Miss van der Woodsen becoming a secretary's wife. However will Daniel Humphrey support you in the way you are accustomed?"

She shook her head. "I have never cared about these frivolous frocks, or the jewelry, or any of these," Serena told him, gesturing to the rich room around them. "In my heart, I was only ever a simple girl."

Chuck shook his head. "You were never a simple girl, Serena."

"I am the daughter of a man who went into business and succeeded. Unlike you, Chuck, I was not born into the Bass family, with all the hoops and dangles and the prestige the name brings. I can live without it all, for him."

"That is how you define love," Chuck realized. In the back of his mind, he remembered his satisfaction at the sight of Blair surrounded by a roomful of everything that he had purchased, everything he had thought would make her happy. And she appeared happy, he remembered. Blair, installed in a room in their home, surrounded by the finer things in life. He would ensure that she was the happiest she had ever been, the most content.

"My lord, we have been siblings since I was fifteen. Have you ever seen me more content than the months when Mr Humphrey joined our household?" There was silence as he thought back to the days when his stepmother had worried about her daughter so, when Serena rebelled against the duchess, as almost shook Society with nights of impropriety that they could barely salvage her reputation. "I was showered with everything this family could afford, but I was never happier than when he came along."

"There was a sadness in your eyes," Chuck remembered. "I remember, for such a young child, you had a sadness in your eyes." For a brief moment, he saw that sadness in Blair's eyes, standing in his grand house, when he pulled away from her embrace. "A favor, sister," he said abruptly.

"Anything, my lord," was the quick, practiced and expected answer.

"Lady Blair will be living here until we are wed." Serena nodded, to tell him that she was aware of the arrangement. "She is a wonderful girl, and I do not wish her to be lonely. Will you see to it that she does not feel alone? Blair has no friends to speak of in this country. She knows only myself and, of course, Daniel."

Her smile reached her eyes. "I will treat her as the sister she is going to be."

"Thank you."

The brief knock on the door announced the butler. Chuck looked up and nodded, allowing the man to speak. "Lord Nathaniel Archibald to see you, my lady."

Serena threw a panicked look at her brother, who only nodded his head. "I was about to see him. Now is as good a time as any." He moved to the back of the room to get himself a drink. For this talk, like the one with his father, Chuck needed to be armed with spirits.

She held her breath when her fiancé walked in, still the handsome figure of a man that sent the ladies of the ton fainting dramatically in gatherings. Nathaniel waved an envelope at Serena, and she grimaced.

"The Danvers' ball," she said, recognizing the invitation.

Nathaniel nodded. "And you are coming with me. Lord and Lady Danvers, after all, were the ones who informed many of our circle of Charles' burgeoning romance with my very own fiancé."

"Nathaniel," Chuck said softly.

Nathaniel turned towards the voice, and his eyes widened when he recognized him. "I heard you were coming back," was his only response.

"No welcome between two friends?" he asked.

Nathaniel turned to Serena. "Will you give me a moment with your stepbrother?"

She shook her head. "If the two of you will only scuffle, there is no possible way that you can send me out of here," she told them.

"Serena," Chuck added with exasperation. "Nathaniel and I are two adults. Leave."

She narrowed her eyes at the two and stalked out of the salon, slamming the door behind her. When she had left, Chuck turned back to Nathaniel. Before he could speak, he saw his friend barreling right out his gut headfirst. With a grunt, he found himself flying across the floor with Nathaniel on top of him. "What the—"

"You son of a—"

And then Nathaniel was leaning over him with his fist drawn back. Chuck fended him off by bucking, and sending Nathaniel sprawling across the floor.

"Traitorous basta—"

Nathaniel pulled himself up then lunged at Chuck, sending the marquis' body slamming against the legs of a delicate chaise.

"Nathaniel, stop being a horse's—"

Chuck threw a punch, then as Nathaniel moved his jaw to recover, he grabbed Nathaniel's collar. Chuck then pushed the other man towards the flower painted walls.

"So says the magnificent nincompoop rasc—"

Nathaniel fell against the wall, and Chuck stumbled onto his hands and knees. The two glared at each other, gasping as they struggled for breath. Stripped of all sophistication, the two merely stared at each other like two men who held a grudge. For long moments they glared, their jaws set and their hands fisted.

"You bastard," Nathaniel swore, being the first to catch his breath. "I trusted you."

Chuck fell silent. And then, "I know."

"Why, Chuck?"

A deep breath. "I have no defense," he admitted.

This made Nathaniel frown. "Then why did you throw a punch?"

"I was in the moment," Chuck answered. "I wasn't going to let you abuse me without a fight."

At that, Nathaniel's stance relaxed, and he chuckled. "You look like hell."

Chuck smirked. Nathaniel's shirt was almost torn, and his usually coiffed hair mussed. There was a trail of blood at the corner of his lips. "And you look like hell raked over hot coals, frozen in Siberia then dunked into a week old horse's water trough," Chuck described. Nathaniel winced. "It appears that you cannot join us for dinner, looking as you do."

"Chuck." Nathaniel sobered. "She is an innocent little girl."

"If you think that, you barely know her. That is all you have ever described her to be."

"And you know her now?" Nathaniel pushed. "One ball in Paris, a retreat to Tuscany, and now you know her more than I, who have been her fiancé for a decade."

"I know not to describe her as an innocent little girl and stop there. She is a beautiful young woman. She plays the piano skillfully, and sings like an angel. She knows how to save a life," Chuck added, and Nathaniel appeared surprised at that. "She adores trinkets from the jewelers and much as she adores worthless scraps of lace and ribbons that she can tie around her head." Chuck smiled. "She reads. A lot. And at the same time, she can be so playful."

This was where Nathaniel jumped. "She cannot play your game. She does not know the rules."

Chuck's gaze fell to the floor. He breathed deeply, searching for the words to assure him, but he found none. Instead, he lifted his eyes to meet his friend's. "What game, Nathaniel?"

Nathaniel stopped, and wondered if that flicker in Chuck's eyes, of something he could not name, was the very thing he should recognize. Vanessa had told him that he could be blind, but this was right in front of his eyes. Nathaniel could see it. He had vision. He just did not know what it was. "Not enough, Chuck."

"Disinvite yourself," Chuck said.

"What?"

"Do not come to dinner," the marquis repeated. "Give me another night of peace, Nathaniel. The truth of you will come out soon enough. I had wanted at least another day before I will need to talk her through your presence in our lives."

"She does not know then," Nathaniel gathered. Chuck shook his head. "You spirited away my fiancé, and she did not know you came to France for me?"

"Stay away for one night, Nathaniel. Do me this favor." Nathaniel did not speak. Chuck squeezed Nathaniel's bruised shoulder. "Can I trust you?" he asked, reminding Nathaniel of the night when he himself had placed his trust on his friend.

Nathaniel smiled grimly. "You did me a favor that night, when I was hurt. I will remember that favor tonight, Chuck."

tbc