Chapter 2

Author's Note: Thank you for all of your feedback, it is very appreciated. Jack Bass will not be making an appearance in my story nor will the Thorpes be involved.

I want to once again reiterate the purpose of me writing this story. Yes, Chuck came off as a violent misogynist at the end of episode 4x20 and I hated that the Gossip Girl writers took his character there. They've effectively assassinated his character and in doing so have destroyed the progress he has made throughout the series, all thanks to the influence of Blair Waldorf in his life.

In no way, shape, or form do I condone violence. I too was appalled at how Chuck acted in the last episode, but seeing as Gossip Girl is only a television show and Chuck and Blair have always been my favorite couple on it, I wanted to fix the damage the writers have done in my own way, by writing about it.

This story is my way of recreating the Chuck/Blair interaction we saw into something less violent and something that could lead Chuck Bass down the road to redemption. It shows Chuck realizing that he's gone too far and owning up to his mistakes. He begins his path to becoming a better person in this chapter and the chapters to follow will elaborate on his progress as well as Blair finally becoming the powerful woman she's destined to be.

Let me ask you this, was Chuck violent in my story? No, he was not. Did he physically hurt Blair in my story? No, he did not. And that is because I didn't want to see it so I didn't write that way.

Those of you who left feedback about wishing this was how the show went, thank you. I hope you continue to understand the direction I'm taking the characters in and I look forward to your reading your further comments on this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl, or Ed Westwick – sigh.

May 6, 2011

After her talk with Chuck, Blair decided it would be best if she spent the summer with her father and Roman in France. She could email her last final and if she were honest with herself, New York was the last place she wanted to be.

Harold was ecstatic when his daughter called him and said she wanted to spend the entire summer with him and Roman at their villa. She sounded upset but he didn't want to pry over the phone so he told her that he'd have a jet ready for her to leave within a few hours. Blair was overjoyed that she would have the change of scenery and wasted no time in packing.

Dorota was extremely worried as her mistress went from prepping to be the next Princess of Monaco to packing to spend a quiet summer with her father in the south of France.

"Why you leave, Miss Blair?" her trusty maid asked. "Does this have something to do with you know who?"

"It most certainly does not, Dorota," Blair said indignantly. "I haven't seen daddy since last summer and is it so hard to believe I want to spend time with him?"

"Of course not, I just find timing too coincidental," she said with a look as she continued packing Blair's shoes.

"Knock, knock," Nate said with a smile as he stood in the doorway. "Can we talk, B?"

"Go away, Nate," Blair told him as she dismissed Dorota and continued packing. "I'm busy."

"I think you got through to him," Nate said as he sat at her desk.

"What does it matter?" she asked him. "He's so far gone that I don't know when I'll see the Chuck I remember."

"I know what you mean," he said. "This is the worst I've ever seen him, and we've seen him bad before."

Blair just looked at him blankly as he continued, "I get that you can't be with him now but from what I heard you tell him, you don't want anyone else either."

"It doesn't matter anymore, everything's gotten to be too much," she said. "Things need to change, I need to change."

"So you're leaving?" Nate asked as he sat on the edge of her bed.

"No," she told him, "I'm visiting daddy for the summer. I'll be back for classes in September. I just need to be somewhere else right now."

"It's time that I focused on me, figure out what I want to do after college," she said. "Maybe in a few years Chuck will finally be ready to join the human race as a normal, functioning human being. Until then I'm only going to focus on me and my future. I've spent too much time on Chuck, no more time will be wasted on him until he proves he's worthy."

"I get that, I do," he said sadly. "But I want you to know I'm here for you. Stay in touch with me this summer. Maybe I can visit you at the villa."

"I don't know," she said uneasily as she zipped up the last of her luggage.

"I'm not going to tell Chuck where you are," Nate assured her. "I won't tell anyone. You can trust me, B."

"Thank you," she said quietly as he pulled her to him for a hug.

"I love you, Blair," Nate told her as he kissed the top of her head. "You're one of my best friends, you always will be."

"Call me when you plane lands," he requested as she pulled back. "I need to know you're okay."

"It'll be a long time until I'm okay," Blair said. "But thanks for coming over. It was good talking with you."

"Anytime," he said as he picked up two of her bags. "I'll ride with you to the heliport, keep you company."

"I love you, too, Archibald," she said as she grabbed her coat and purse before walking with Nate to the waiting town car outside.

XOXO

Chuck woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in the windows of the Empire. His head was pounding and he felt like he had been hit with a truck ten times over. Even with his hangover though, he was able to piece together everything that happened the night before.

He remembered Nate draining the bar as he reached into his nightstand to find his coke stash gone. He rolled back onto the bed with a groan. If Nate found that he probably had every drop of alcohol and ounce of coke removed from the apartment as well.

"You can thank me whenever you want," Nate said as he stood in the now open doorway. "It's all gone, by the way. I found everything."

"Why would I thank you for flushing fifty grand down the drain?" Chuck asked venomously as he covered his eyes.

"Maybe because it's amazing you're still alive this morning after all you've taken," Nate said as he leaned against the doorframe. "Any normal person would be dead, or in the hospital needing to have their stomach pumped."

"I've built up a tolerance over the years," Chuck said with cockiness.

"Yeah, not something you should be proud of," Nate told him as he crossed his arms. "And drop this act about not caring, we both know it's bullshit."

"Cut to the point, Archibald," Chuck stated with irritation. "Because if you don't have one, I'd like to go back to sleep."

"Listen, man," Nate said as he got more and more aggravated with his friend's blasé attitude about his horrible downward spiral as of late, "I'm here for you but you've got to get your ass out of bed and stop wallowing in self-pity. You brought this all on yourself."

"You're not very good at this pep talk thing, Nathaniel," Chuck told his friend.

"I'm not trying to give you a pep talk, Chuck," Nate said. "I'm trying to get you to do the right thing. You've hit rock bottom, more so than you ever have. But you aren't alone, I'm here for you. I'm sure Serena will be, too. As for Blair, from what I heard her say to you last night, she's not done with you either. I'm not sure why but she's not."

"How touching," Chuck sneered as he rolled over to avoid the sunlight hitting his eyes.

"Snap out of this," Nate told his friend angrily. "You're Chuck Bass. Show the world you're better than this, that you're not some drunken lech. Do what Blair asked you to do and fight for her."

"And how would I do that?" Chuck asked as he stared at Nate.

"You have to figure that out yourself," Nate told him as he shook his head. "Find your balls and do what needs to be done. Don't let Bart win."

Nate left on that note and closed the door with a bang, leaving Chuck to wince from the noise that was only compounded with the ever-blinding sunlight.

May 16, 2011

It took Chuck ten days before he felt ready to leave his apartment at the Empire and face Blair again. Nate made himself scarce during that time but made sure room service was sent up three times a day for his friend. He said little to Chuck and usually just responded when he was directly spoken to.

As Chuck stood in front of the mirror while he shaved off the beard that grew on his face, he barely recognized the man staring back at him. This time last year he was in the same predicament. He made the stupid decision to use Blair as leverage to get back the Empire from Jack. If he had it to do all over again he would have let Jack keep the damn hotel. Blair was irreplaceable and what he did this time was something he didn't know if he could ever recover from.

Standing in his suit and sober for the first time in a month, Chuck felt somewhat more human but the filth he still felt at how he acted towards Blair remained with him. He knew what needed to be done but was scared and needed to talk to Blair before he could go through with it. She was the only person that understood him and always loved him and he needed her to know he wanted to change for her.

Arthur drove him to the Waldorf's apartment and Chuck had to take a steadying breath as the door to the limo opened before he stepped out. His heart was in his throat as the elevator made its way up to the penthouse. He didn't see anyone when he stepped off so he decided to see if Blair was in her room.

"She's gone, Chuck," Serena told him when she saw him climbing the stairs.

"When will she be back?" he asked as he made his way to where his stepsister was.

"I don't know," she said. "She was gone the morning after the party. Half of her closet is empty so it could be a while before she's back."

"What?" Chuck said as he sunk to the top step, distraught that she up and left in the middle of the night.

"When Louis left that night, she left shortly after him," Serena said. "I assumed it was to go after him but based on what I've seen in the papers I know she didn't."

"She came to see me," he told her as his elbows rested on his knees and he covered his face with his hands. "And I was in no shape to talk with her like I should have been."

"That you weren't," she said as she sat next to him. "Do you remember what happened?"

"You mean do I remember crashing the prince's party and making a fool of Blair and myself?" he asked with shame across his face. "Yes, I do."

"Well that's good, right?" Serena said in an effort to cheer up her stepbrother. "You didn't black out. What happened with Blair?"

"She told me the prince proposed but she couldn't say yes," he said as he looked at his feet.

"Chuck," she said as she put her hand on her back, "She still loves you. I know you love her."

"But too much happened, I've ruined us," he told her. "Blair told me I have to get my act together and wait for her this time."

"You need to do that if you want her back," she said. "Blair was always the one working to keep you happy, now it's your turn to keep her happy."

"She told me she wants to be a powerful woman," he let her know, "On her own terms."

"Don't even think of interfering, Chuck Bass," Serena warned as she slapped his arm. "When you did that at the photo shoot it blew up in your face. You were so close to getting her back then, too."

"Thanks for bringing that up, sis," he said wryly as he gave her a sideways glance.

"I'm trying to get you to see your mistakes," she told him. "And get you to learn from them and not make the same ones again."

"You really think I'm capable of that?" he asked doubtfully.

"Yes," she told him. "Now you need to believe you are."

"Come on," Serena said as she pulled Chuck to a standing position. "We need to talk to mom about this."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" he asked his stepsister as she looped her arm through his and led him down the stairs to the elevator.

"Because, you're family," she told him. "And you've been there for me when I've needed it."

Chuck looked close to tears as they stepped in the elevator. "Don't worry," she said, "Mom will know what to do."

Please review if you'd like me to continue.

My goal with this story is to show growth in both Blair and Chuck and have them do so separately before they can even fathom a future together. If you have any ideas about what you'd like to see, please let me know.