Chapter Five

Hurrying back to his car. Chuck cheeked his watch, he wanted to see his wife. Fifteen minutes took him back to the hospital.

The car pulled to the curb and he stared out at the half-finished building that overshadowed the hospital. His work site, the new medical building.

Wind blew dirt in his eyes, blurring his vision. He wiped a film of sweat off his neck as the early spring sun soaked through his suit. Work continued on the medical centre despite the trouble with Bass industries finances. Thoughts of the troubles with Jack made him sweat more.

The board of Bass industries had voted against telling the employees until they knew the extent of the problem. Chuck had argued, but he'd finally agreed to hold off. Deciding to lie to Blair had been shamefully easy.

Maybe her injuries gave him a real reason to hide the truth. Getting acquainted with her family again would be hard enough. Maybe by the time she remembered everything, the police would have found Jack and the funds he'd stolen. Blair might not have to know.

Her accusations came back to him loud and clear and all to accurate. He'd always followed the same pattern, trying to fix business problems before he had to tell her about them.

He climbed the slight rise to the hospital entrance. Inside he drank in the cooler air.

The guard who patrolled the lobby stepped forward. Chuck knew him and the gray-haired women behind the information desk. After a curt nod to the guard and the older women, he evaded their sympathetic glances.

Their pity turned him back into the little boy whose mother had left him and whose father had deserted him.

The elevator doors wheezed open, pulling him out of the past. He glanced at the number painted on the pale blue wall. Blair's floor.

At her door, he knocked lightly before he went inside. To his surprise, she was sitting up, reading a magazine. She looked up, stroking the dressing that bulged against the sheet on her thigh.

'Hey,' she said, her tone lush and deep, like the East river.

'How do you feel?' Idiot, he thought. Idiotic question.

Blair set the magazine aside. 'I want to talk to you about how I feel.'

She looked younger then twenty three. Far younger. He still saw her as the little girl he had grown up with, the young lady he'd had a crush on and the women he'd fallen in love with.

He steeled himself. 'Tell me now if something's wrong.'

'You're making me nervous. Can you sit down so we can talk eye to ye?'

Wondering how hard his heart could pound before it exploded, he dropped into the chair beside her bed. 'How bad is it? Just tell me.'

Confronted with the threat of another injury she found hard to discuss, he realized once and for all how they'd changed. Not just because he didn't trust her to love the part of him that felt so afraid.

'Chuck, I need to know your listening to me.'

Her demand surprised him. She sounded exactly as she had the day of the accident. 'You're still yourself, after all.'

'Am I?' Interested filled her blue eyes as she held out her hand. 'Tell me how.'

'What you just said, that you needed me to listen. Just before you got hurt, you were trying to make me understand exactly what you…'

'We argued?'

'I'm afraid so.' If she'd given him time, he might have tried to paint a better picture of those last seconds. 'It wasn't important.'

'But you didn't understand me?'

'We've known each other a long time. We've learned a shorthand, but shorthand may not have covered the conversations we needed to have.' Jeez, he sounded like a talk show therapist. 'What's wrong with you, Blair?'

'It's not serious …I'm not….oh, I give up.' She pushed her hair behind both ears. 'I'm trying to tell you gently because I'm not sure you'll be pleased, but I'm pregnant.'

He heard but didn't hear. Chuck leaned forward, seeing her as a stranger. Her watchful eyes couldn't belong to his Blair. 'How pregnant?'

'Sixteen weeks.' She spread the gown over her belly , and he saw why she'd begun to avoid his touch.

He'd trusted her with his life, but she'd kept his child a secret. Her betrayal cut deep. 'I thought you didn't even want me to make love to you anymore.'

The only time they'd still communicated.

'Why didn't I tell you?' Blair asked.

Rage made him harsh. 'Since you didn't, I can't explain.' she'd planned to leave, but her decision hadn't been spur of the moment. She'd planned to take her child. His heart stuttered over a few beats.

'I can't talk any more.'

'But I need to know…'

With his own lie foremost in his mind, he met her tear-sharpened gaze. He didn't trust her tears, but he'd been no paragon of honesty.

'Why are you crying?' he asked.

'Because I don't understand. Were we unhappy?'

'I can't guess how you felt, I remember the last six years . I remember how happy I was when you agreed to be my wife.' They had be so happy and so in love. 'I would have been so happy to be the father of your child, too.'

…...

'Just find somewhere to pull up' Eleanor's orders bounced around the roof and doors of the town car.

The driver braked beneath the canopy at the hospital's front door. 'Hurry up and get out of this car Cyrus, I'd like to visit my daughter before tomorrow morning.'

They were still arguing as they walked through the doors. 'Do not tell me not to shout, Cyrus. I never shout. Are you suggesting I'm not considerate of sick people?'

'I'm suggesting, my love, you button your lips before that guard throws us all out.'

They crowded into the elevator along with Serena, Nate and Dan. When they arrived at Blair's room she was standing by the window. Serena followed the others inside. Just in time to catch the way Blair's bewildered smile lingered on her family.

'Come in. Let me ask for more chairs. Cyrus, take this one.' She offered the only seat in the room, but he pushed it toward Eleanor.

'I'll go the nurse's station and ask for more. They should have brought more chairs inhere anyway. They know you have a big family. Sit down, Eleanor.'

'No, I'll go with you.' She nodded encouragingly toward her daughter. 'The kids can have some time to talk.'

Good thing Nate was a grown man, or he'd have grabbed Eleanor's skirt as she passed him. He was suddenly afraid to be left in the room with Blair, unaware of how to act around her. Rocking on his heels he looked at his life long friend. Trying to think of something worth saying. She limped toward him, and for a second, he thought she was going to hug him. Instead, she kept going. He lurched out of her way as she closed the door.

'I have to ask.' She held the door shut. 'Are they always like that?'

Serena shrugged. 'Pretty much.'

'Well…' she cleared her throat '…I shouldn't say this but they don't seem like a normal couple.'

Nate forgot they didn't know each other any more. 'Blair, that's rude.'

She raised both eyebrows. 'I guess it was. Sorry, but still…'

Just like that, she looked like his ex girlfriend, except laughter tugged at her mouth, and for noo reason he could think of, he laughed with her.

'Blair?'

'Huh?'

He chewed on his lip. He wasn't a guy who clung to his feelings but he'd been so scared she was going to die. 'Can I hug you?'

She tilted her head back, startled. 'Well,' she said 'yes.' she opened her arms, but he could see she felt funny about it, too. Then as soon as he put his arms around her, she hugged back. Tight.

'I'm glad you're okay,' he said.

'Thanks.'

They both moved to neutral corners and avoided looking at each other. But he felt better.

END CHAPTER FIVE

Quick little chapter, I'm trying to stick to the main plot line but also deal with the other characters feelings too.

Please review and let me know what you think.

Xoxo