Blair was waiting for Ben at the atelier. His flight was scheduled to land an hour ago and he should be there any minute. His business with his mother had gone well in France and he wanted to report it back to her. Blair couldn't help her mind from drifting to Chuck and his revelation that he had tried to kill himself because she had left. She shivered as she thought of the pain she had seen in his eyes when he told her that the reason he tried to kill himself wasn't because of Bart's death but rather because she had left and never looked back. The guilt washed over her in waves and she regretted her actions with every fiber of her being. She wondered if a person could actually drop dead from guilt. If so then she was on her way to a slow and painful death.

She hadn't seen Chuck since she had told him that she couldn't be around him anymore. He seemed to be honoring her wishes and another stab of pain grabbed hold of her heart. They had fucked things up to the point that they would never be repairable.

Blair moved over to one of the dress forms that currently were holding one of the new designs she had created. She fingered the black eyelet lace absently and didn't even hear Ben come in until he placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Blair?"

She jumped slightly and pasted a smile on her face. "Ben, I've been waiting for you." She hugged him.

"Are you alright?" He questioned her after she didn't let go of him.

"No. No, I'm not but I don't want to talk about it." She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and sat down in a plush chair and tried to focus her mind on the events at hand and not what she couldn't change. "How was your trip?"

Blair's mind tuned out what he was saying and she found herself toying with her engagement ring. She twisted the sparkler around and around her finger until she ultimately took it off. She held it in her hand and looked at it shinning against the palm of her hand. "I can't do it," she said as she interrupted him from what he was saying.

He looked down at the ring in her hand and sighed. "I figured it was going to come to this at some point. You want the arrangement to be over?"

"It has to be, Ben. This isn't right for us anymore. I need more than an arranged marriage and so do you." Blair smiled sadly before continuing, "I love you. I think the future holds more for us than this. We're better than this."

He knelt beside her and put a hand on her knee. "Are you sure, Blair? There isn't anything that I can do to change your mind? This can still be good for us and just what we need."

She shook her head. "Be proud of who you are, Ben. It's time to show your parents that they can't control you anymore and that you won't stop being who you are because they don't deem it proper or right. You have nothing to be ashamed of and never have." Blair finally looked at him with tears swimming in her eyes. "You're such a good man and you've proven that to me so many times. Take a chance on yourself and be happy. If your parents can't accept you still then you'll prove to them that you can be a success on your own and don't need their money. I have faith that they'll come around eventually."

Ben nodded once and squeezed her hand. "You're right, Blair."

"I'm a Waldorf. Of course I'm right!"

He chuckled softly. She made a move to give him back the ring but he closed her palm so the ring remained nestled in her hand. "Keep it as a memento of all the good times we had together."

"I will, Ben. I'll remember how our friendship brought us together."

Xoxo

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"

Chuck heard Meg shrieking his name with exuberance and smiled to himself. They had just gotten back from the park where she had tried to bury him in the sandbox. Not once or twice but three times. They had also played on the swings and slide. He loved his daughter but she sure could wear him out. He had a lot left to learn about three year olds he supposed.

He went into his daughter's bedroom and saw her sitting on the floor with her dark brown hair covering her face. He had to marvel again on how much she looked like him. It was almost like looking into a mirror and seeing himself in girl form. It made him happy that she looked so much like him.

"Play with me!" she giggled happily.

Uh-oh he thought as he got a good look at the toys she wanted to play with. Barbies. He got uncomfortable immediately of playing with something so girly and stuffed his hands in his pinstriped trousers.

"Are you sure you want daddy to play these with you?"

"Uh-huh!" Meg said gleefully.

Chuck sighed inwardly but sat Indian style on the floor next to her. She had her wrapped around her finger. Who would have thought Chuck Bass would ever contemplate playing with Barbies? He would do it for her though. He would do anything she asked.

He laughed before saying, "Then Barbies it is!" Meg smiled at him and he felt his heart melt. The happiness this little girl brought him. She made him whole and he loved her more than he thought it was possible to love another person. He might still have had a lot to learn about being a father but he couldn't wait to learn it with her.

"Which one am I playing with?"

She passed him a Barbie with blonde hair and took another one with a glam ball gown on for herself. "Why is mine naked, Meg?"

She laughed that girlish laugh he loved so much and said, "Because you have to dress her daddy!"

His eyebrows raised slightly on his forehead as he couldn't believe that he had a naked doll in his hand. Then he noticed a case of doll clothes and starting sorting through it before picking out a long and sparkly red dress.

"Brush her hair too daddy!" She handed him a brush and he started doing as she asked. His daughter was having so much fun and that's when he realized that he was too. He wouldn't rather be doing anything else then be right here with her. After a time Meg got tired of playing and leaned her head against Chuck's chest and started to fall asleep. Just before she drifted off to sleep she asked, "Take a nap with me daddy?"

He put an arm around her and said, "Always."

Xoxo

"S!" Blair practically screamed her name as she stormed into Serena's penthouse that she shared with Nate. Serena came out a moment later looking confused at the tone of the voice that Blair was using with her.

"What's the matter, B?"

She moved closer until she was toe to toe with Serena. "How could you not tell me, Serena? How could you keep it from me? Why would you let me be blindsided by such a secret?"

Serena's eyes got wide as she finally seemed to realize that Chuck had told her what he had almost done. She grabbed Blair's hand and pulled her down to the couch. She put an arm around her shoulders and calmly said, "It wasn't my secret to tell. The only person that could ever tell you that was Chuck." She pleaded with her eyes for her to understand.

"You could have at least warned me that what he had to tell me was life-changing!"

"B, think of how Chuck would have felt if I had told you. The emotional pain behind keeping that in was bad for him. I'm so glad he finally told you. You needed to know."

Blair knew she was right but wasn't about to say so. She was still miffed that Serena didn't at least give her some type of warning. Her eyes were suddenly drawn to her slightly rounded tummy. She was starting to show and Blair felt a stab of envy. What Serena had with Nate was what Blair wanted. She wanted that with Chuck. She would never have that though. She had killed part of the soul of the man she loved.

"Blair?"

Tears fell down her face silently. "I can't believe that I made him do that, S. If I had known…" she trailed off and didn't finish what she had been about to say.

"Would you have come back home if you knew about his suicide attempt?"

"I don't know," she said honestly. "I was just a kid, S. I didn't know what I was doing. I thought I was doing the right thing because I knew Chuck and I weren't ready to raise a child. Look at all the pain I caused him." She wiped at her tears with her hand.

Serena noticed her swollen Blair's eyes were and would guess that she probably had been crying for days. "You can't change what happened, Blair. It's in the past and while you both will never forget what happened, all you can do is move on and try to fix the mistakes that you both made."

"When did you get so wise?"

Serena laughed lightly. "I did a lot of growing up while you weren't here too, Blair. I'm a different person, a better one."

"You were always a good person, S." She hugged her best friend and they stayed like that for a while before Blair spoke again. "I'll never forgive myself. I don't think I can ever face him again."

She seemed to get an inkling of what Blair was trying to say and her mouth gaped open. "You're not going to say what I think you are, are you?"

Blair nodded. "It has to be this way, S. I'm leaving and this time I'm never coming back."

"Blair! You aren't thinking clearly! Chuck just found out that Meg was his daughter and now you're going to take her away from him?"

"Of course not. I'm not that cruel Serena. We'll have to work out some kind of custody arrangement. How many parents don't live in the same state or country and share custody? Millions. This is just the way it will have to be."

Serena couldn't believe what she was hearing and was going to have to get through to her friend in some way. "What about your job? Where will you live?"

"I already talked it over with mother. I'm going back to France and taking over the reins there. I'll go back to Paris and leave Meg here with Chuck for a week while I set everything up and then we'll work up an agreement and it will be best for the three of us." Her mind was made up. Serena might think she was being selfish but Blair knew differently. She was doing this for Chuck. He would always look at her and see what she had driven him to. She needed to set him free and not look back. Chuck needed to heal, not be reminded of her betrayal and what she had done every day of his life.

"How is this best for Meg?"

"She won't have to see us argue, Serena. She won't see the ugliness between us. Time isn't going to heal his wounds and I can't stand seeing the pain I've caused him."

Serena chose her next words carefully and did everything she could to convince Blair she was making a mistake. "It doesn't have to be this way for the both of you, B. Chuck can forgive you in time but you can't run away. You have to stay and deal with what your leaving did the last time. There can still be hope for the both of you. Don't give up. You owe it Chuck but more importantly you owe it to Meg."

Blair shook her head and her curls cascaded everywhere. "It's done and the arrangements have already been made. I leave tonight."

Xoxo

Once Meg was tucked in and asleep for the night Chuck checked his phone. There were seven missed calls from Serena and two voicemails. Fear took hold of his emotions and he knew even before listening to the voicemails that he wasn't going to like what she told him.

"Fuck," he muttered out loud before dialing his voicemail and carefully listening.

"Chuck!" Serena started out the message shrieking. "You need to call me back immediately. Drop whatever you're doing and call me before it's too late."

The second voicemail was more of the same. Serena had a tendency to overreact and make a big deal of things but he didn't think that's what she was doing here. She sounded serious and for the first time in a long time fear clutched his heart and wouldn't let go.

He dialed Serena's number and cursed her for not answering on the first ring. She did answer on the second though.

"Chuck! Finally!" Her voice was high pitched and he knew something was horribly wrong.

"What is it sis?"

"Blair's leaving tonight. She isn't coming back, Chuck. You have to stop her before it's too late."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" The rage was boiling up inside of him again.

"She thinks that she needs to leave and never come back so she doesn't hurt you again. Blair can't take what she made you do and she needs to get away from it."

"What about our daughter?" he barked out.

"She's leaving Meg in your care for the week while she sets everything up in France. Then she wants to work out a custody arrangement that suits you both with your lawyers."

"Fuck!"

"Chuck, calm down. You have to get her before she boards that plane. If she does she's never coming back and you know it. We both know how headstrong Blair is when she gets an idea in her mind. She's unrelenting."

Chuck tore at his hair as he thought of what Blair was doing. Surprisingly he wasn't as angry as thought, more disappointed that she felt like this was the only option.

"Bring her back, Chuck."

"I'm already on it, sis."

Xoxo

As soon as the limo came to a stop at the private airport Chuck almost tore the latch from the handle trying to get out. His eyes looked around wildly until his eyes found her. She was just about to step foot on a plane. He ran until he caught up to her and she didn't seem to notice the pounding of his footsteps on the pavement that signaled his arrival. He grabbed her arm and turned her around before quietly saying her name.

"Chuck." She turned around and looked at him before lowering her eyes. "You won't change my mind. I'm leaving."

He wanted to shake her at her proclamation. "You aren't leaving, Waldorf."

"I am."

"God damn it! No you aren't, Blair!"

The light returned to her eyes as she narrowed them at him. "Don't tell me what I'm going to do, Bass! If you haven't noticed you aren't the boss of me." She shrugged his hand off of her and said, "Just let me go."

He noticed that she seemed defeated again. His anger came roaring back. "I can't let you leave. I just found Meg after all this time and now you're going to take her away from me again! What the fuck kind of game is this?"

Blair's dark eyes shot daggers at him once she heard his statement. "This isn't a game! I feel guilty that I'm the one that almost drove you to suicide and would have if it wasn't for Serena and Nate. I need to leave so we both can move on from the pain, Chuck. We can't live in the same city, let alone the same country. It just won't work."

"What's your plan then?" he hissed the words out. "Am I supposed to wait months to see my daughter?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought it all out yet. We can make it work though. I promise you that."

"Your promises mean nothing to me, Blair." He instantly regretted his words when he saw her head whip up and meet his gaze. He knew his eyes were cold and she looked crestfallen. Even when she was planning on taking his daughter away from him he wanted to comfort her. All he wanted to do was take her in her arms and reassure her that everything would be alright. He never wanted to let her go. He didn't do what he wanted to do. Instead he gripped both of her hands in his and pleaded with her not to go.

"I don't see any other option, Chuck. I'm sorry but if I stay it's always going to remind you of what I almost drove you to."

"If you leave I will make your life living hell and sue for full custody." He enunciated every word and a look of pure fear spread across her face.

"You wouldn't."

"I might."

"Chuck, don't."

"Then don't make me, Waldorf."

"I just don't want to be the cause of your pain anymore."

He touched her cheek and caressed it with the pad of his thumb. "You'll be the only cause of my pain if you leave. I want you to stay."

Her breath hitched at his words and she placed her hand around his. "Why?"

"This is where you belong. In New York. With me."

Her eyes searched his for the meaning behind his words. She didn't know if he meant that he wanted them all together to raise Meg or that he wanted her in New York for more than that. "Serena thinks there's still a chance for us."

"I don't know if there is or not, Blair. If you leave we'll never know."

"Do you want there to be a chance for us, Bass?"

"I can't say I do," he said honestly. "I want you here so we can raise our daughter together but who knows what can happen if you do stay."

She looked like she was still going to bolt and she looked sad. His words had cut her deep but Meg was the most important thing right now and she was his priority.

"Stay for me."

"I don't know if I can, Chuck." Blair said as her eyes welled up with tears.

"You can. I need you here. I'm not Chuck Bass if Blair Waldorf isn't here with me. Stay."

A/N: That's an evil cliffhanger, I know! The next chapter will reveal if Blair left or stayed and many other things. I just have to say a personal thank you to anyone who is still interested in this story and reading it. Thank you for sticking by it! Remember that reviews feed my creative muse.