The Small Moments Between Chuck and Blair
Notes: Thanks to Dawn for the beta and for filling in my blanks (believe me, my brain goes blank a lot). GG isn't mine still. CB would have happened much sooner and wouldn't have gone through so many loops last season if it belonged to me.
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Chapter 2: Carnivals and Friendship Rings
Chuck Bass woke up to something cold placed on his shoulder. It cut through the dream he was having. Not that he remembered much of it except the sex with Blair, but truth to be told, the sex with Blair made it his favorite dream so far. Once again, they were in the back of a limo. The windows had fogged up but the air conditioner was on full blast. He was getting pretty far, slowly inching down, when the cold feeling landed on him. That took him out of the dream and away from doing Blair.
"Don't move!" He heard Blair say when he started to shift around. "I put a plate on you."
"...What?" He tried to move again but someone put a hand on his waist and stopped him.
"No move, Mr. Chuck!" Dorota, Blair's faithful servant, scolded him. "You are table for now."
Table? What was all this? He reached up and realized that Blair was right. She had put a plate on him, using his body as a table. "When did I become furniture?"
"When you decided to knock me up and go to sleep while I moaned in pain," Blair said, finally taking the plate off him. He turned to see that she was eating a piece of ice cream cake. That explained the cold feeling he received in the dream. Dorota shook her head at him in disbelief. "I was begging for something to eat but you didn't wake up. I kept poking you but you kept saying 'Harder, Blair! Harder! I love the pain!' Poor Dorota had to get me ice cream cake because we were hungry."
"We?"
"The baby, Chuck. Our baby. Your son or daughter," she reminded him. "Any day now, we're going to be parents to it."
"Son."
Blair rolled her eyes and turned to Dorota. Chuck was still determined that they were going to have a boy. "I'm so glad you live with us. Poor thing would have starved."
"Would you mind not calling the boy a thing?"
"Well, you don't know what it is either. You're just assuming it's a boy."
Chuck grimaced. Secretly, he was also thankful that Dorota was around. As soon as they got married, she moved in with them. She could deal with Blair's tantrums and pregnancy cravings far better than he could. Dorota had raised Blair since she was a young girl so she knew how to deal with her. He was also glad that he wasn't the one who was pregnant and carrying a baby for nine months. Then again, Blair was also extremely hormonal and got upset with everything. He was beginning to regret sex without a condom now.
"You pay attention in Lamaze class next time, Mr. Chuck. Baby get hungry. Baby must eat," Dorota reminded them. As she fluffed Blair's pillows, she gave Chuck that look. The one that scolded him for not being a good husband or listening to anything in Lamaze class. Lately, she had disapproved of his behavior a lot. When he disliked a pair of baby booties sent in from Eleanor and Cyrus, she glared at him for daring to hate them. The fact that Blair cried when he mentioned his hatred of the booties didn't help either. Her emotions were running on extreme highs and lows nowadays.
"It's okay, Dorota. We're fine." She smiled at Chuck, who rolled back on his side. "When the time comes, he'll be ready."
He'll be ready. The words sounded so confident but he wasn't. Being a father frightened him a little. He caught sight of their wedding photo that was sitting on the nightstand. It seemed so long ago now. Blair made a beautiful bride, standing next to Serena, the maid of honor. Then came the rest of the bridesmaids: Jenny, Vanessa, several girls from school and college. Some of these girls had not been friends before but they were now. Back then, Jenny and Vanessa would never have been at the wedding. Now they were. Time had changed them. He was next to her, proud to be a husband. Nate and Eric, his best men, were behind him with the rest of their family and friends. Even Dan Humphrey was there, much to his dismay. Unlike her, he still held a few grudges against the Humphreys. He had only come because it was polite.
It had only been a few years ago yet it felt like it was back in the past. When they tied the knot, they had taken their biggest step. Or so it seemed like the biggest step. Now a baby was on the way and neither was ready.
Of course, every step before this one seemed like the biggest. Back when he was six, he thought he was taking the biggest step that one day. The whole class had gone to a carnival for a field trip. As usual, he was making bets and winning them until that second when it stopped.
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Kindergarten: Age Six
"Kids! Kids, stay together! Stay with your buddy and your group!"
Those words fell on deaf ears again as Chuck, Nate, and their friends starting laughing loudly. Blair looked over in their direction and wondered what was so funny. Then she turned back to Serena, who seemed to have a good idea what the boys were up to. It spelled trouble since the teachers were getting involved as well. And of course, all those boys were in her group. Team Yellow. She would never forget how tacky that name was or how ugly those yellow bordered name tags looked on everyone.
"What did they do?" she asked.
"Chuck just bet Blaine Donahugh a billion dollars that he couldn't eat twelve hot dogs and go on the spinning teacups without throwing up. Blaine took his bet, tried not to throw up, and...I don't think we'll be riding the spinning teacups anymore." Serena shook her head. "Sorry, B."
Blair crinkled her face in disgust and looked back at Chuck. It was hard to see Blaine because all the teachers were around him but Chuck seemed pleased. Nate, on the other hand, was a little embarrassed. Obviously. Nate was a good boy. He followed Chuck's orders and that was why he was in trouble. She just couldn't understand why he was friends with Chuck. Then again, so was she. He listened to her go on about her nightmares last year. That was the reason they became friends. He was the only one willing to listen to her dreams and stories.
But now she hated him again. Because of him, Blaine threw up in the spinning teacups and she didn't get a chance to ride them. It was the one thing she had been looking forward to on their field trip. It would have been her first 'big person' ride. It would have made her feel like a grown up. Too bad it wasn't going to happen now. Stupid Chuck Bass ruined her fun. That was the only reason everyone was gathering around the teachers now. Her skin crawled when she saw Chuck wink at her. Gross. Everything about him was gross.
"All right, kids. I'm sorry to say that there will be no riding on the teacups today!" their teacher announced once all the children had gathered around. Several groans erupted in the crowd. "You can thank your classmates for this. But that doesn't mean that the fun ends! You will have plenty to do and we still have time. Be sure to stay with your buddies and your group leaders..."
Once again, it fell on deaf ears as the children ran off to do various things. All except for Blair, of course. She didn't want anything but the teacup ride. So much for being a grown up today.
"Come on, B!" Serena tugged at her sleeve. "Let's go on the Ferris Wheel."
"We already went on the Ferris Wheel!" Blair complained. "I wanted to ride the teacups!"
"You know we can't! Besides, there's other stuff to do."
"Like what?"
"Like...ride the roller coaster?" Serena suggested. "Or those big swings?"
"Those rides are for babies," she pouted. "There are no other rides besides the teacups. Just like there's no other school but Yale."
Serena rolled her eyes at that. "You're six. Why are you thinking about college now?"
"Because Daddy went there and I'm going there!" she said. "Everything else is a trade school! That's why I'm going to be the best at everything! I'm going to be a doctor and a lawyer and the President and a tree!"
"...B, you can't be a tree. Not even someone smart like you can be a tree."
"You're not getting it, S! Riding the teacup was the most important thing for me to do today! It would make me a grown up!" she sulked. "And now I can't ride it."
"But there's other stuff to do. Let's go eat something," Serena suggested. "Someone said they're making fried ice cream!"
"Ew!"
"Come on, it'll be cool!" With that, she started to drag Blair through the rest of the carnival. It was all right as long as they stuck together and they checked with the group leader. If they didn't go too far, then they could go out on their own. Serena kept making promises that something cool would come along so Blair followed. Maybe she did something else, she could forget about the teacups.
"Going somewhere, ladies?"
Or not. She sucked in her breath and turned to find Chuck and Nate right behind them. Unfortunately, those two were on Team Yellow as well. Wherever she and Serena went, they tagged along. Until they decided to make someone sick like Blaine. Nate was still embarrassed about the whole thing but Chuck didn't seem to suffer a bit. He had that gross smirk on his face and not a trace of remorse. He didn't care that he took away her chance to be a grown up.
"Go away, Chuck," she sneered at him. "I hate you."
"That's not a nice thing to say to your friend."
"I don't want you as a friend."
"Aw, come on, I got you a present!" Chuck tried to give her puppy dog eyes. Jerk. So she spent a few times telling him her nightmares. Big deal. "Don't you want to know what it is?"
"I don't want anything from you!" she snapped. "You're gross! You're mean! And you ruined everything!"
Chuck turned to Nate and Serena, completely confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I don't want to be your friend!" she finally blurted out. "I only went to you because Nate and Serena were asleep. I don't like you enough to be your friend or want you as a friend. No one does. They only hang with you cause you have money, not cause they like you! So just do me a favor and...get lost!"
If Blair Waldorf ever needed proof that words could hurt, that was it. Chuck's smile vanished and he looked down at her folded hands. Probably where he had been hiding his 'present'. "Fine. I'll go away forever."
"Good!"
"She doesn't mean that!" Serena pointed out. "Tell him, B. You know you didn't mean that!"
"Yeah, Blair's just mad!" Nate added. "I like you! You can stay, Chuck!"
But Blair wasn't going to take the words back and Chuck's mind was made up. He flung something to the ground before turning around and running off. Serena and Nate both called after him, trying to mend the broken bond between them. But it was too late and she didn't care. Who wanted to be friends with Chuck Bass anyway?
"B..." Serena began. "You shouldn't have said that."
"Well, it's true!" she huffed. "Who would care about him?"
"I don't know but I think he cared about you," Nate said, handing her a note. "That's why he got you this."
She took the note and read it to herself. Chuck had scrawled it all with crayon and it was no epic poem. Not to mention, his spelling wasn't prefect except for his name. She could understand what he was saying though. He obviously meant the words in it.
Blair,
Sorry. Here. Friends?
-Chuck Bass
Blair read the note again. Even at six, he wrote his full name. "What is the present?"
"Here." Serena handed her a plastic ring. "It's a friendship ring. He was going to give it to you."
"He was," Nate assured her. "He told me he wanted to give to you. He was sorry. We didn't know Blaine could puke that much."
And if there was a time in her life that she felt guilty, it was now. "Find Chuck and tell him I'm sorry. We can be friends."
Serena turned around in hopes of seeing Chuck there. But he wasn't. "Um...where'd he go?"
Nate followed her gaze as well and around. There was no sign of Chuck anywhere. They saw a lot of people from Team Yellow but no Chuck Bass walking around.
"Someone call 911!" Nate yelled. "Call 911!"
Blair and Serena both began look around, calling for Chuck. No one seemed to respond. So many kids but no Chuck Bass. Blair just looked down at the crumpled note and the friendship ring, feeling guilty. She had no idea why but she felt responsible. She yelled at him and drove him away. She told him to get lost and he did. Now no one could find him.
And looking how quickly the carnival was growing and all the people running around, he would never be found.
TBC...
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Note: Sorry for this doozy. This chapter was going to be longer but...I thought about tormenting you guys more with a cliffhanger. As you can see, future CB have better relationships with Brooklyn (or at least Blair does) and those will come into play later. In the meantime, I'm going to try and work on my EL's sequel and "Postcards" for those waiting for updates. Thanks for all your support as always. Tons of love! ~CT