A/N: Ok this is the post for this month. I am going away on Saturday so it will definitely be October before the next post is up so I hope this one will satisfy you lot. Poppy72 thank you. I loved your wee review, Tabitha is in this post. Classicsaretimeless, welcome to fanfiction. I am glad you got your account. When I watch Gossip Girl it is Chuck's soft side I love the most so I guess I focus on that. All I will say is that Chuck and Blair are meant to be together but of course it might not be as simple as people would like. Thanks for your review. Rajamoon Thanks. This post should please you, plenty of Chuck/Tabitha and Chuck/Blair interactions. A wee clue about Chuck's feelings is included. Look out for it ;) Stella thanks. Nicole Lovely, thank you. Krazy4Spike Chuck always was soft. He just put a front on. Thank you for the review. Svenjen thanks, I'll try and post more often. Anataly and even more shock, another one. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Threewordseightletters Thanks. Ok you know the drill, read and review.

Chapter 12: Pictures of you

Blair woke up the next morning to find Tabitha in the bed beside her eating breakfast and watching television. It took her a minute to realise where she was. She sat up and ran her hand through her hair. She was in Chuck's suite. She had stayed her last night with Tabitha, after working late with Josh. Her mind went from Chuck to Josh. They had been up working late last night. That is why she was so groggy. She hoped Josh got everything ready for the meeting today. She groaned as she remembered the meeting this morning.

"What's wrong Mom?"

"Nothing pet, I just realised I have a big meeting today and I had a very late night."

"Is that why we stayed here?"

"Yes, but that was a one off ok?"

"I don't mind. I like staying here with Mister Chuck. We had chocolate in bed last night, and pancakes today."

"That's ok but don't get used to it." She kissed Tabitha on the head and got out of the bed. She looked at the clock and realised it was seven thirty. She had half an hour before she had to leave to take Tabitha to school. She walked out into the living room and found Chuck sitting at the table reading a newspaper. Blair grabbed her cardigan from the back of the sofa and slipped it on. She then joined Chuck at the table.

"Morning," Chuck said folding up his paper, "Did you sleep ok?"

"Yes thanks. Thanks for letting us stay. I was exhausted."

"Anytime. Do you want some breakfast?"

"No thank you. I need to get dressed to take Tabitha to school before work. I have a meeting at ten so I am really pushed for time," Blair answered as she reached for her cup of coffee. Chuck lifted the pot of coffee and poured it into her cup. She took a big sip of a cup of coffee.

"I can take her to school if you want. "

"Are you sure?"

Chuck smiled, "I would love to have an excuse to skip work for half an hour."

"That's ok; I don't want her to keep you back from work."

"Blair she is not keeping me back. If it was really important I would tell you to hurry up and get dressed but it's not. Now you sit down and have some breakfast. I will get Tabitha's school stuff ready."

"That would be great Chuck. Thanks so much"

"Blair it is always a pleasure to spend time with her."

Blair smiled, "she will love the fact you are taking her to school."

Chuck got up from the table and put one hand on Blair's shoulder. He let it linger for a second before he walked away. Blair stared out the window, not allowing herself to look at Chuck, she could not let herself go down that road. Tabitha deserved much better. She had finally got a steady home, and was now in school. She could not run anymore, so she could not mess this up. She and Chuck were friends, and he had a girlfriend. That was the most important thing. She poured herself a coffee and wrapped her hands around the warm cup. She sipped the coffee slowly.

Chuck and Tabitha came back into the room hand in hand. Blair smiled as she saw the pair. Tabitha was wearing her uniform. Chuck had tied her tie neatly for her, and buttoned her blazer. She had an old fashioned satchel on her back.

"Well don't you look very smart? Where did this uniform come from?"

"Mr Chuck gave it to me."

Chuck smiled, "The school sent a letter to me the other day to say she needed one before she started. I sent someone over to the school to pick it up. It arrived yesterday. I only tied her tie."

"Well it is a very nice knot."

"Right Miss Tabitha, go and stand beside your Mom so I can get a picture of your first day at school."

Blair stood up and smoothed down her hair, and then her dress. She walked round to the front of the table. She pulled Tabitha in front of her stomach and held her hands loosely around her neck. Chuck lifted out his Blackberry and took a photo of the two them.

"Mister Chuck, can you be in the photo?"

"Sure."

Blair smiled, and changed places with Chuck. He rested his hands on Tabitha's shoulders but her hands reached up and took them. She pulled his hands down around her neck and held onto them. Blair turned back to face them and a small lump formed in her throat. She pointed her phone at the two people in front of her and took the photo, "ok Tabs, you are done posing now."

"We can exchange photos later. Ok, right now we need to go. Say good bye to your Mom."

Tabitha danced over to Blair and stood on her tip-toes. Blair leaned down and gave Tabitha a kiss on the nose, "have a good day at school and be good for Chuck."

"Ok Mom."

Chuck walked over to the table and lifted his keys and wallet. He squeezed Blair's arm and took Tabitha by the hand. He shouted his goodbyes as they both left. Once they were gone, Blair looked around the suite. She was starting to let herself believe that this was really her home and she liked it. She lifted a piece of toast and popped it in her mouth. She was really relaxed in Chuck's home and she liked it. Blair picked up her phone with the pretence of checking her emails, however something distracted her. She was caught off guard by the photo staring back at her. Her breath caught in her throat. Both Chuck and Tabitha looked so happy into the photograph. After a few moments Blair was brought back to reality by the screen changing to tell her work was waiting.

"Good morning Josh….. A coffee and a beagle would be great thanks. I will see you soon. Oh and why don't we go out for lunch today? We can charge it to Chuck."

"Could you please stop here?" Chuck asked the driver.

Once the car had stopped he opened the door and got out. He lifted Tabitha and set her on the footpath before leaning back into the car to retrieve her school bag. He asked the driver to meet him at the school and closed the door. Tabitha slipped her hand into Chucks. He smiled at the fact the child was comfortable with him.

"It's a nice morning so I thought we would walk from here."

"Ok Mr Chuck. Is it far?"

"No just up here a little bit. Are you looking forward to school?"

"Yes we are going to paint today and then we are going to bake buns."

"Will you bring me one home to eat?"

"Yes." A moment of silence past, and then Tabitha looked up at Chuck, "why do you, me and Mommy live in a hotel but nobody else does?"

It suddenly dawned on Chuck that it would be strange for a four year old to live in a hotel. It had always been normal for him to live in a hotel and Blair was used to it from going to Constance but it must have been a whole new experience to Tabitha. "Well, I own the hotel so it always seemed better for me to live there in case there were any problems during the night. And as for you and your Mom, you guys needed a place to stay so the hotel was the only place I could offer you. Do you like living in it?"

"Yes but you know I will leave soon," Tabitha answered matter-of-factly.

Chuck looked down at the child with an amused look, "why are you going to live on your own?"

"No, me and Mommy always leave after a while. She says it is a big adventure game, so we have to leave to win. And there was a race at the start to pack clothes fast. I always won."

Chuck stopped walking for a minute. He knew Blair had moved around a lot but he hadn't considered the implication it would have on Tabitha. She now thought she didn't have a home. And that was his fault. If he hadn't of chased Blair around the country then Tabitha might have had a stable family. Tabitha expected to leave again and that was his fault. He had been so desperate to find Blair he hadn't even considered the consequences. He even paid Gossip Girl to run a campaign to find her.

"Mr Chuck, why have you stopped?"

Tabitha's words snapped Chuck out of his day dream. He looked down at her, "Sorry, I got lost in my own world there. Come on." After a few minutes of debating how to address the child's understanding of home he said, "You know that no matter what you can always stay with me. No matter where you are, you can always come home."

Tabitha frowned, "where is home?"

A small lump formed in Chuck throat, he swallowed, "my hotel. That is your home now."

"Ok, that's awesome."

Chuck smiled at Tabitha, in some ways she was a miniature Blair and then in some ways she was a world apart from what he thought Blair's child would be like. She had the wit that Blair always had, she was as smart as Blair was, and even though he shouldn't think this, she was as adorable as Blair was.

Once Tabitha was safely delivered at school, Chuck walked back to the car. He climbed in and shut the door. He waited for a few minutes to make sure that Tabitha was really settled. Chuck took the phone out of his pocket and flipped through his photo's. He stopped on the photo of Blair and Tabitha together. He smiled, and then Mila's name flashed up on the screen.

"Hey, how was your shoot?"