Disclaimer: 'Gossip Girl' belongs to Cecily von Ziegesar, Josh Schwartz, and the CW. No copywright infringement intended.
"Good morning!" Lily van der Woodsen greeted her children as they sat at the dining room table.
"Hey, Mom," Serena replied as she took a sip of orange juice.
"Morning," Eric kissed his mother and took a bite of his eggs.
The three sat in a peaceful, comfortable silence for a few minutes before Lily looked around. "Hmm…where is Charles?"
Serena shrugged and rolled her eyes.
Eric took a sip of juice and shrugged, too. "I don't know. Maybe he left early to hang with Nate before school?" which meant walking through Central Park and smoking a joint.
"Hmm…" she thought. "I haven't seen him at all though. He must still be upstairs. I'm going to go check," she stood up and started walking in the direction of Chuck's room.
"Mom?" Serena paused, waiting for her mother to look at her, which Lily did. "What are you doing? Don't baby him," she rolled her eyes again, annoyed at Lily's motherly behavior towards her - cringe - step-brother.
"Finish up. You don't want to be late," Lily said curtly and continued to Chuck's room.
She reached his bedroom door and knocked. A moment passed with no movement or sound. Lily knocked again. "Charles?"
Silence.
She put her hand on the door knob and twisted it. The door opened; he was not there. The bed was made. He hadn't been home last night. And Charles always came home.
She decided to discuss this with Bart. Something was not right. She could just tell; call it motherly intuition.
Lily went to Bart's office. He had received a phone call from Italy before breakfast and had needed to handle his business.
She knocked.
This time, a response greeted her: "Come in."
Lily opened the door and found her husband putting his files away.
Bart stopped when he saw the worried look on his wife's face, "What's wrong?"
"Do you know where your son is?"
"Why?" he inquired.
"Because I don't think he has been home all night," she replied.
"Don't worry about it," Bart said and returned to his work, putting a couple of files into his briefcase.
"Bart –"
"Leave it be, Lily," he cut her off sharply, in a tone she had never heard directed towards her from him.
She flinched at his harshness and opened her mouth to say something else.
He cut her off before she could continue. "I said leave it alone. This isn't your concern, Lily," his voice rose.
"Excuse me?" she paused. "We're a family. If something's wrong, let me help," she pleaded.
He let a humorless chuckle escape his lips. "If you can deal with Serena alone, then I'm sure you can understand that I can handle this without you."
TBC