A/N: Ok so October's post is here. Work is quite bust at the minute but I might try and get another post in this month if you are agreeable. Lua J Blair and Josh interaction in this post. No Chuck and Tabitha but they will be in the next post. Thanks for your review. Svenjen Thank you, no more absences for a while I hope. Missy I don't think you will hate Mila but you might not have to after this ;)Thanks for the review, keep them coming. Krazy4Spike you did try, but maybe it paid off. Blair and Josh probably won't be the catalyst you would like, but something else will. Wrighthangal Thanks, no C/T this time, maybe next time. Threewordseightletters thank you. Anataly you are right it is October so I guess I should post. Good job I have one ready then. Thanks.
Ok guys thanks for your patience with me. If you are very nice people I might try to change to posting every two weeks. Read and Review, and I might be back soon
Chapter 13: The start of something new
The door to Chuck's suite opened and Mila walked into Chuck's living room. The big clock facing her told her it was six twelve PM. She knew he would be another hour at least before he was home. She dropped her bags and threw her keys on the table. She was slightly taken aback by the woman's bracelet sitting on the table. Mila picked it up and looked at closer. It had the letters "BW" engraved in it. She sighed and put it back on the table. She wandered into his bedroom. Sitting on Chuck's nightstand was his phone. She couldn't help herself. She was now suspicious of what was going on with Chuck and Blair. She picked the phone up and unlocked it. She remembered he had pictures of their last visit to the Hamptons on it. They would remind her that it was her Chuck wanted to be with. Then she saw it. There staring straight in the face was a fact she was trying to avoid. It was a photo of Blair and Tabitha in Chuck's suite. She could tell it was his suite because there was the ugly vase he insisted on keeping because it was an heirloom. She locked the phone and set it back down, knowing what she had to do.
Chuck came into the suite three hours later. He was snowed under with paper work and had brought a good bit of it home. He saw the bags straight in front of him and frowned. He knew Mila was home but there were six bags in front of him and Mila always travelled light. Most of her clothes stayed in the second wardrobe in his room. He knew this wasn't good. He pinched his nose and took a deep breath before walking into the living room. Mila was sitting on the bay window sill looking out over the city.
"What's going on Mila?"
Mila didn't move for a moment. She wasn't sure what to answer. She knew what she wanted to answer, and she knew what she should answer and they were two different things. She had to listen to her head this time. She owed it to herself, Chuck and Blair. Then she ran her hand through her hair and turned towards Chuck. He could see she had been crying and he walked towards her. She put her hand up to stop him. "I am going to go back to Ohio."
"Is there something wrong with your family? I can come with you if you like?"
"No it is nothing with my family. It's me, and it's you. It's the fact it is me and it is you, but not us."
Chuck unbuttoned his jacket and sat down on the chair, "What are you talking about?"
Mila looked back towards the window, "I am a photographer. It is what I always wanted to do. My Dad bought me a Fisher Price camera when I was five and since them I was obsessed with photos." She paused for a minute but did not look at Chuck because she knew if she did she might change her mind and she had to do this for her own sanity, "I think photograph a person takes can tell you more than a photo of the person."
"You are still not making sense."
"Chuck, you have a photo of Blair and Tabitha on your phone and you don't have one of me. I have sixty seven photographs of you and me together on my phone and I have thirty three of you. Doesn't that tell you something? I know it is a sad that I counted but I have been waited three hours for you. I had to do something."
"You know that my job is very demanding Mila. And you know where my office is. If you rang and told me you were here I would have come up."
"But you are never really here Chuck. Even if I had of rang, you would of come up for five minutes and then left again. I was ok with the way things were. I always assumed you put your work above everything else. Until Blair came back. You invented a job for her, you gave her the most popular suite to live in, you gave Tabitha part of your company. You don't do that for just a friend." Mila paused and took a deep breath, "I was ok with ignoring all that, I really was. Then I came up here and I found Blair's bracelet."
"Nothing happened between Blair and I. I was looking after Tabitha and she fell asleep. Instead of waking her I asked Blair to sleep here. That was it Mila, just to sleep."
Mila smiled sadly, "I never thought you slept with her, but you can't deny you three are like a family. I can't come between a family."
"She is not mine"
"I know, but you love her like she is. A love between a parent and a child is unbreakable. And I am happy that you found it. I always thought you would be a great Dad and you are."
"Mila…." Chuck stalled because he didn't know what else to say. It did tell him something. All the things he had had been pushing to the back of his mind for far too long came rushing to the forefront. He did love Mila but he wasn't in love with her. He was in love with Blair, always would be. And most of all, he did want to be Tabitha's Dad. He tried to hard not to love her but he did. He wished every day that Blair was going to tell him that she was his.
A tear rolled down Mila's cheek and she fiercely wiped it away. She ran her hands through her hair before standing up and turning towards Chuck, "You don't need to say anything. You can't help who you fall in love with Chuck. I am going to go and stay in the Hilton for a few nights then I am going to go home."
Mila walked over to Chuck. She kissed him on the cheek and then walked past him. She paused and wondered if she was doing the right thing. Maybe Chuck could learn to love her. She was about to turn round and ask Chuck if they could work of things but then he said something that made her decision final.
"I wish I could have been in love with you. You deserve somebody who loves you more than anything."
"So do you Chuck. And you deserve to be with somebody you love and that is clearly Blair."
The door closed and Chuck stood up. He looked around the suite to see how much it had changed since Mila had left. He realised there were no changes to the suite. He felt guilty because he clearly hadn't treated Mila the way he should have. He poured himself a large whiskey and took a sip of it. He had no idea what he felt. He knew he should feel sad but he thought he felt mostly relieved. Relieved that it was over, not because he didn't care about Mila but because he knew he couldn't hurt her anymore. He had always known that they had lasted so long together because they didn't spend that much time together. He was drinking out of habit rather than sadness.
~~~~
Blair and Tabitha were in her office. Blair was trying to get her work done before ten o'clock and she didn't think it was going to happen. She wanted both her and Tabitha to get a proper nights sleep. This week seemed to be nonstop in the hotel. She liked her job but nobody could possibly like their job so much that they still wanted to be in the office at this time of night. She looked over towards Tabitha who was sitting on the sofa pretending to read through some of Blair's paperwork. Blair rolled her eyes as the child scratched her head and then nodded. "Working hard there Tabs?"
"Yes, you owe me wages."
Blair laughed, "I'll get right on that. We won't be very much longer then we will have some ice-cream and cookies ok?"
"That's fine. I will read this now."
"Ok then."
Blair lifted the rest of the mail that was addressed to her and began to open it. Most of it was from companies trying to sell Chuck things he didn't want or need. Once again she started to make piles. There was a knock at the door and both Blair and Tabitha looked up to see Josh standing in the door way with two coffees and a bottle of juice, and some cookies. "I thought you ladies could use a little break seeing as you are both working hard."
"This working thing
"Yes a break sounds good." Blair took the coffee from Josh and blew on it before drinking it. She looked at Josh and frowned, "do you live here?"
Josh laughed, "no I live on the next block so it doesn't take me long to get home. I guess I like my job."
"I guess you do. I am only here more than you because I live here. But don't tell anyone that."
"Your secret is safe with me. Anyway, do you think you will be here for much longer?"
Blair smiled, "probably. I just want to get ahead with my work load. I am hoping to maybe get Saturday off and go somewhere with Tabitha. She spends too much time in this place now. We used to always go to the park and museums. I worry she misses that."
"I'm sure she doesn't mind." Josh turned to Tabitha, "Hello Tabitha, I don't think we have met yet. I am Josh, I work for your Mom."
"I thought this was Mister Chuck's hotel, do you not work for him?"
"Well yes, but your Mom is my boss, and Mr Bass is her boss so I guess I have two bosses."
"Wow, that's not fun for you."
Josh laughed, "you know it's not that bad. I like both my bosses. They're quite ok."
"That's good. I like your bosses too."
Josh lifted his phone and unlocked it, "Tabitha have you heard of Angry Birds?"
"No, why are they angry?"
Josh and Blair both had to stifle a laugh. Josh never really thought about why they were angry. He thought about it and realised that was a question only a child would ask, "I don't really know why they are angry but I do know how to play it. I could show you if you like?"
"You know that sounds good."
Josh walked over and sat down beside Tabitha. He started to tap the screen explaining to Tabitha what he was doing while he was doing it. He was about to tell her what to do when she did it anyway. "You are a smart wee cookie aren't you?"
"Yes", Tabitha stated as a mater-of-fact.
Blair raised an eyebrow, "Tabs you are meant to say thank you Josh."
"Oh, thank you Josh"
Josh smiled lifting his eyes to meet Blair, "that's no problem. You can't help it if you are smarter than me. I never paid attention in school so it's really my fault."
Blair got up and sat on the other side of Tabitha, "right I think it is my turn. I want to see what all the fuss is about."
"In a minute"
Josh chucked and Blair raised her head to give him a sarcastic comment. Before she could even open her eyes she was caught off guard by Josh's eyes boring into hers. For the first time she realised that they had chemistry together. There was something between them and she was unsure what. She hadn't felt like this in a long time.
"Oh look, they all fell down." Tabitha said punching the air. That broke Blair and Josh's eye contact and Blair quickly looked back down to the game.
"Awesome", Josh smiled, "ok next level"
Chuck got out of the lift in the lobby. He was busy replying to the emails he had been ignoring all day. His mind had been preoccupied with many things, including the break up with Mila. He did feel guilty that he wasn't more upset. He felt so guilty that he may have hurt her but the fact that Mila had broken up with him had showed him something. It showed him that he was totally ready to be a family with Blair and Tabitha. No matter who Tabitha belonged to in the past, he wanted her to be part of his family now. Blair had come back and since then he knew they were meant to be. They were Blair and Chuck. They were undeniable. He smiled to himself as he approached the office. He lifted his head up from his phone and saw Tabitha and Blair sitting on the sofa. Then he saw Josh walk over and sit beside Tabitha handing her a cookie. Josh said something to Blair and she lifted her head up and laughed. Chuck smiled and turned back towards the elevator. She might have been his Blair, but it was clear he was no longer her Chuck.