Grace

by Ronja-R

Continuation of "Baby Makes Three". Chronicles Grace's childhood, or at least parts of it.

2. First steps

It only took like three months, but here's another update =) It's kind of fragmented with no strong narrative line but focuses on some key events until Grace is about a year and a half. It's not very Chair-heavy and more about them finding a way to be around one another after the romance thing falling through again. Hopefully it's an entertaining read but beware that it's pretty long!

---

Blair wasn't sure what to expect when she returned to Manhattan. She and Chuck had not spoken since his surprise visit in New Haven two days earlier other than saying "hello" to each other each night when Blair called to say goodnight to Grace. Blair was bursting with curiosity over what Chuck would say and do when they met again. Would he be ready and willing to tell her the words she needed to hear? What would his next move be? She had to admit that she was pleased with the turn of events bringing them from the awkwardness and over to their familiar games. Above all it made her feel better knowing he still wanted her.

She knocked on the door before fishing out her key and walking inside. The first thing she saw was Grace sitting in her high chair in the middle of the living room. Then Chuck came into view, casting her a quick glance and then bending over to pick something up from the floor. She could tell he was tensed but she hadn't gotten a good enough look at his face to see where his mood seemed to be at.

"Hi Gracie!" Blair cooed and walked over to the baby. "God I've missed you! Mommy's back, sweetie."

"She's been fed and changed" Chuck said in a toneless voice and set down a bag by Blair's feet. "Here's all her stuff."

"Oh" Blair said, slightly surprised. "I wasn't expecting you to have everything packed and ready."

"All three of us will be happier if we make this as quick and easy as possible" he answered and nudged Blair aside to lift Grace up from her chair. He held her close and walked over to the windows. "Goodbye now. I'll see you on Sunday night. Next week we're going to go swimming. How about that?"

Blair studied him with a strong feeling of disappointment. It was clear as day that his walls had gone back up. She could see him struggling a bit with keeping his casual exterior but it was obvious that he wasn't going to show her one bit of the Chuck who had come to New Haven in hopes of getting a second chance. This was not the reaction she had expected and her heart sank to the soles of her shoes. He wasn't even going to fight for her, it seemed. She wanted to hate him for giving up at the first sign of hardship but she was too weary from everything that had happened between them. If this was how he wanted to play it then she would go along with it. When he decided he was mature enough to really fight for her then she could begin to consider being with him. Right now it felt like she was always on the losing end and she had enough to deal with as it was.

Once he had finished saying goodbye to the baby he walked over and sat her down in the stroller. Blair grabbed the bag and flung it over her shoulder while Chuck adjusted the tiny beret he had bought for Grace the previous day.

"I have some news" Blair said. "I found an apartment."

Chuck froze for a second. Then he continued fussing with the beret as if he hadn't heard what she just said.

"It's a beautiful three bedroom apartment overlooking-"

"Congratulations" he cut her off.

"I move in November first."

"Thanks for the warning."

He kissed the baby's forehead and then stood up straight. Without as much as a glance at Blair he walked over to the bookshelf and started flipping through his DVDs. Blair eyed him with confusion. This was another reaction she hadn't expected.

"That's it?" she said. "That's all you have to say?"

"The agreement was made weeks ago" Chuck answered. "I knew it was only a matter of time. Doesn't mean I like it but what's the point in arguing?"

Blair stood there for a minute, not quite sure what to say or do next. She couldn't make sense of any of his reactions today. Since she didn't know how to handle this situation she decided to just leave and give him some time. She hated that things were awkward again but at least they weren't fighting. She grabbed her purse from the floor and turned the stroller around, heading for the door.

---

Chuck spent the weekend in his hotel room, not sticking his nose out the door for as much as a minute. He felt depressed and alone but he knew those were feelings he needed to get used to. Blair wanted more than he could give so that door was closed for now and she had found an apartment and would be taking Grace to college with her. Chuck's weeks would be spent without Blair and without his daughter and there was nothing to say to that.

When Blair dropped Grace off on Sunday he was extremely relieved to be holding his baby in his arms again. Before he put Grace to bed in the evening he gave her a bath and noticed that she seemed to be in quite a mellow mood as well. This was nothing new. She had stopped crying when Blair dropped her off but it always took her a few hours or sometimes a day to stop looking for Blair and stop being sad that she was nowhere to be found.

"Guess we're both kind of blue tonight, huh?" he said while drying her off.

Grace said nothing but tried to stick a bit of the towel in her mouth. Chuck let her and tried his best to dry her hair which was easier said than done since she didn't enjoy it very much. After a few minutes he gave up and decided it could dry on its own before he tucked her in. Grace looked up at him and dropped her grip of the towel to lean forward and place one hand on each side of Chuck's mouth.

"Dada" she said.

"Dada" Chuck said back and rubbed his nose against hers. Then he wrapped her in the large towel and lifted her up. "Come along. Let's go heat up your gruel and then we'll find you a pajamas and brush your tiny little teeth."

He went through their evening routine on autopilot though he knew he should be savoring each moment. Before long he would be getting only a few nights a week with her. Having her for four to five days every week had been a luxury but he had always known it was only temporary. He had hoped though that Blair wouldn't find an apartment just yet.

When Grace was ready for bed he carried her into his bedroom and sat down on his bed. He contemplated letting her go to sleep there but he had only let her do that a handful of times before and he knew she needed to be used to sleeping in the crib. He rocked her gently back and forth and sighed.

"I don't regret being a young parent" he told her. "I do regret being a single parent. Part-time parenthood sucks. Maybe once you get older and start bugging me all the time I'll be relieved when you go to your mother's so I can go out and live a normal teenage life but right now this is pretty much all I have. Kind of sad, huh? I'm Chuck Bass. I should have the world at my feet." He snorted. "You know what Grace? This is pathetic. Chuck Bass does not sit around feeling sorry for himself. Tomorrow you and I are going to start getting serious about my business agenda. Next weekend when Blair is taking care of you I'm going to go out and get drunk and… well, do some stuff you'll never want to hear about me. I've allowed myself to be dragged down for far too long by this whole thing with your mother and it's about time I got myself together."

Grace sneezed and it brought him out of his musings. He stood up and carried her to the crib, carefully laying her down next to the balled-up scarf.

"Sleep tight, little princess" he said. "We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

---

Anxious to see Grace Blair walked through the doors, finding the baby wobbly standing, holding on to the couch, Chuck sitting right next to her with a hand on her back. They both looked up when Blair entered though Chuck's eyes went right back to the baby as if Blair was nothing of interest. Grace on the other hand reached out her hand and, letting go of the couch, took three steps towards her mother.

"Mama!" she said.

Chuck's and Blair's jaws fell in what almost looked like a synchronized motion. Chuck practically dove forward to catch Grace as she lost her balance and tipped over forward while Blair rushed over and was down on her knees pulling the baby back up on her feet and into a hug in an instant.

"My God, Grace!" she cried. "Oh my big girl you walked!"

"Did you see that?" Chuck exclaimed. "Good girl Grace. Good girl!"

"My little angel" Blair said, pulling Grace even closer and slowly rocking her while tears filled her eyes. "I can never leave you again!"

"Blair" Chuck said in an amused tone before frowning at how she was bogarting the child when he wanted to hug her too.

"You walked to me" Blair said to Grace. "Took your first steps to get to me! Chuck I am serious, this is it, I cannot be parted from her for this long, not ever!"

"She's going to have the most awkward college experience, social life and above all honeymoon of all time" Chuck replied dryly. "Blair let go, let me hold her."

"You had her all week" Blair said, tears falling down her face. "Grace Mommy promises you she won't be gone for this long again, okay? I simply cannot be. I need to be with you, don't I? My walking little sweetheart!"

She rose from the floor, Grace cradled in her arms. Chuck flew to his feet, trying his best to get access to the baby as well. Grace seemed surprised at all the attention but wasn't one to complain. Chuck ran his hand through her hair and grinned.

"What a little superstar you are" he said. "Blair I'm serious, stop hugging her. Put her down, let's see if she can do it again."

"I don't know if I'm horrified or overjoyed" Blair said.

"Horrified?"

"She just took her very first steps so she could get to me. Because she missed me. Because I've been gone far too long."

"Can we please put your issues on hold for the moment and see if our daughter can walk again?" Chuck asked.

Reluctantly Blair kneeled and put the baby down on the floor. She had Grace standing up and held on to her hands.

"Walk for us Grace" she said. "Good girl, you can do it."

Very wobbly Grace took a few steps, Blair holding on to her hands keeping her upright. When the baby stopped Chuck scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tight.

"This calls for a celebration!" he said. "But first, get the camera Blair. We have to film this. We missed capturing the first steps but we can at least get her tenth on camera."

Blair nodded and hurried over to her purse to get her camera. Chuck lifted Grace high up in the air, making her squeal with delight.

"Just look at her Blair, all cool and calm as if this is no big deal" he said with a smile. "Just taking it all in her stride. We're going to have her running around all over the place before we know it."

"This means she'll be able to reach things she hasn't been able to reach before" Blair said, returning with the camera.

"She's going to be a full-time project for sure."

"I'm going to have to make sure the apartment is completely baby-proofed before we move in there."

Chuck's smile faded somewhat at the reminder of Blair taking Grace to New Haven. He decided to try and ignore it and focus on his daughter right now. She was laughing happily at being lifted up in the air and said a whole bunch of nonsensical syllables. He put her back down on the floor and backed away a few steps.

"Chuck be careful" Blair frowned while filming. "She could fall."

"Nah" Chuck said. "It's not as cool if I'm holding her as she goes. Come here Grace. Come and walk to Daddy."

Grace took a wobbly step towards him and then lost her balance. He reached forward and managed to catch her in time. Blair's frown deepened.

"I want to get Grace's first steps on camera, not Grace's first black eye."

"Would you relax?" Chuck said in a slightly irritated tone.

Blair didn't feel much like relaxing but she also didn't want their film of Grace's first steps to include tons of bickering between herself and Chuck so she didn't reply. She watched in silence as he helped Grace find her balance and then took a few steps back.

"Oh, careful there" Blair said as Grace wobbled.

"Let's show your future self what you could do at this age, huh?" Chuck said to the baby. "Walk to me. We know you can do it."

Grace took three steps forward and reached her father. Chuck grabbed her while she threw her tiny arms up and down and cried happily, very satisfied with having learned a new and perhaps more efficient way of moving forward.

"Daddy's little strider" Chuck said in his talk-to-babies voice.

Blair smiled a little and kept filming. It was the first really good moment they had all had together since Grace's birthday.

---

"I can't believe Gracie took her first steps and you didn't get it on camera" Serena said as she and Blair walked down the street. She was looking at the footage Blair had shot the other day showing Grace's almost first steps. "For shame, B!"

"It's not like she announced it in advance" Blair objected. "One minute she was standing wobbly by the table, the next she had taken her first steps! Please, no Neil Armstrong jokes. It just seems a bit strange though, you know? It's like one minute she's this tiny thing the size of Chuck's forearm and the next she's walking and talking and before you know it she'll be wearing makeup and riding a bike."

"Given what an early walker Chuck was she's kind of late on the whole first-steps thing" Serena remarked.

"Oh what do you know?" Blair asked and snatched her camera back.

"Oh!" Serena exclaimed and pointed. "Prada! Let's go inside."

Blair followed her friend inside the store and casually looked around. She wasn't in the shopping mood but she had barely seen Serena at all since she had gone off to college. Serena had deferred from Brown for a year and Blair barely even knew the details. It had seemed impossible to say no to a round of shopping with her best friend even though Blair would much rather take Grace to the park.

"How about this, B?" Serena said and held up a maroon shirt. "Wouldn't this go with Yale? Or how about this jacket?"

Blair feigned a smile and feigned interest in the clothes. Serena quickly got one of the store clerks to show her all the latest items while Blair tried to avoid the clerk's attention. It used to be that shopping helped make her feel better when she was in a bad mood but it didn't seem to be doing anything at the moment.

"Come on B, isn't this fun?" Serena said, a touch too excitedly.

Blair smiled at her, feeling a bit bad for not being able to show enough interest.

"It's great S" she said. "Sometimes I miss the old days. Remember? We used to go shopping and then stop by Nate's and he would be completely uninterested in what we'd bought but Chuck would comment on practically every garment."

"It's been a long time since the four of us did anything together, just the four of us" Serena noted while holding up a dress in front of herself in the mirror. "What do you think Blair? Does this color suit me?"

"I'm pretty sure the day they found a color that didn't suit you the headlines would be worldwide."

"We should do something together some weekend."

"What, like… something different than this?"

"No, no, not just you and me" Serena said and handed the clerk the dress. "The four of us. Like in the olden days."

"I'm not so sure that's a wonderful idea" Blair said skeptically, deciding to try on a blouse. "Nate and I haven't really seen each other much since we broke up and Chuck and me…"

"Are things really that bad?" Serena asked with a worried frown.

"They're just… sort of awkward these days" Blair said. "We're not fighting anymore but Chuck has apparently decided that we're going to pretend like nothing ever happened. I'm not so good at that."

"You know, you have to try and become friends again" Serena said.

"Can't I just take care of Grace in New Haven and Chuck can have her like ten days a month and we can parent together without interacting much?" Blair said, knowing how lame it sounded. "I mean…"

"You mean what?" Serena asked. "You're going to have to sit down over a cup of coffee when we're done shopping and explain what's really been going on because I don't get it. I know how you feel about him. Why pretend like you don't want to see him? I thought you were past all of that."

"It's not that I don't love him" Blair said. "It's that he can't love me or doesn't want to or is too damn cowardly to. I'm done putting myself in that place. The ball is one hundred percent in his corner now and he's choosing to act like there never was a ball in the first place."

"So… what? You're going to be stuck in emotional limbo until Grace beats both of you to the altar?"

"I don't know Serena" Blair said.

"Here's what I propose" Serena said. "We find a weekend that fits all four of us and we have dinner and play some cards or whatever. Now that Chuck and Nate are finally starting to be able to spend time together without bludgeoning one another I think it's about time you and Chuck became more amicable. Who knows, it might even be easier for you to hang out together when you're not alone with the baby. Come on B, it would be fun!"

"Okay, fine" Blair said. "But you're going to have to put it all together. You can call Dorota and get mine and Grace's calendar."

"It will be fun" Serena smiled. "Just like old times! Except in the old times there wasn't a baby. You think Dorota can babysit?"

"The baby is part of the deal nowadays" Blair reminded her. "You want both Chuck and me to be there? Then Grace comes along."

"Maybe it will benefit Grace" Serena smirked. "Mom and Dad forced to be friends while taking care of her and hanging out with their best buds."

"We're Upper East Siders" Blair pointed out. "We don't say 'buds'."

Serena laughed and took her impressive pile of clothes to go and try them on. Blair followed her and wondered if maybe Serena didn't have a point after all. Spending time together with Serena, Chuck and Nate could be just what they all needed.

---

Grace pulled herself up on her feet, took two steps and then fell back on her rear. She looked surprised for a second and then began to cry.

"Oh, poor baby, she hurt herself" Serena said.

"She's fine" Chuck said while Blair walked over and gave the baby some attention. "She's not crying because that hurt. She's crying because she's stubborn and it annoys her that her legs won't carry her when she thinks that she should be able to walk."

"You sound like such a loving father" Nate commented.

"She's fine" Blair agreed, lifting the baby up to standing again. "Like Chuck said, the only thing she hurt was her pride."

"Aren't you worried she might hurt herself though?" Serena wondered. "Okay if she lands on her ass but she could really hurt herself if she fell face forward."

"She won't" Chuck shrugged. "And even if she does it's not like she has a long way to fall. She'll be fine."

"She's got to learn somehow, S" Blair said. "Let her try and try and try again. Sooner or later she'll get the hang of it, and when she does there won't be a dull moment."

She walked back over to the table where the other three were sitting and grabbed her cards, keeping half an eye on the baby on the floor. Serena had finally managed to gather them all at the van der Woodsen residence for a Saturday evening of poker, dinner and a valiant attempt at rekindling old friendships. Grace was in the middle of an intense period of trying to learn how to walk properly and take as many steps as she wanted to but things weren't quite going her way even though it had been almost non-stop for two weeks.

They continued to play for a while, all four of them constantly looking over to see how the child was doing. Grace never managed more than a step or two at a time and got just as angry every time she fell but when nobody came to comfort her she eventually stopped crying each time she fell and just made some angry noises.

After about twenty minutes she seemed to have given up on walking for now. She began to move over to the kitchen with the same substitute for crawling that she had used since the summer. Blair and Chuck followed her with their eyes until she was out of sight. Then they heard a series of loud bangs.

"What is she doing?" Nate asked warily.

"She has some toys on the floor" Chuck said, eyes on his cards.

Serena looked from Chuck to Blair but neither seemed about to walk over and see exactly what was going on. Not even when a louder bang was heard, followed by an enthusiastic shriek. Apparently whatever the baby was up to, it was nothing new.

They continued to play for a few minutes, trying their best to make themselves heard over the banging coming from the kitchen. Judging by the sound Grace was banging something against a pot. Then suddenly the noises stopped and everything was quiet. Chuck and Blair shared a look before throwing their cards down on the table and walking into the kitchen to see what was going on.

"The baby bangs on stuff and creates a ton of noise and they're not the least bit concerned" Nate noted to Serena. "Then she stops making noise and all of a sudden they couldn't get in there faster."

Blair and Chuck came back out with the baby in Blair's arms. Serena looked up with a raised eyebrow.

"She had decided it would be a good idea to try and reach for a bowl on the counter" Blair said. "She was only reaching, but she was probably only a second or two away from deciding to try and climb kitchen drawers to get up there."

"I don't get why you would leave her unattended in a kitchen to begin with" Nate said with a frown.

"So long as she stays on the ground there's no danger" Chuck said. "The place is baby-proofed, and we have nothing in there that she could get a hold of that might hurt her. So long as she sits there banging a ladle against a pot we know what she's up to. But if she tried and climb the drawers she could fall and hurt herself."

"Yeah but still. A kitchen. You don't know that she can't hurt herself. In fact, you guys just ran in there to stop her from hurting herself."

"She's fine Nate" Blair said, not in the mood to get parenting advice from someone who was barely a functioning adult.

"Where were we?" Chuck asked and sat back down.

Blair put the baby back down on the rug and handed her a puzzle where each piece had a handle, which immediately caught Grace's attention. Then she walked back and sat down, grabbing her cards.

"The good thing about this baby is that you can easily distract her with toys" Blair said. "So long as she has something to occupy her mind with she's self-entertaining. She can sit for the longest time with something that challenges her mind."

"Which is why we've made sure to secure her a spot at an elite preschool" Chuck said. "Then it's off to the best private schools of course. The girl's got a lot of brain and we intend to make sure she uses every iota of it."

"So there's no pressure on her then" Serena commented dryly.

"We want our daughter to maximize her full potential" Blair said.

"Sure" Serena said. "Side-effects include gastric ulcer at age ten and a lifelong inferiority complex when she can't live up to the monumental expectations her parents put on her when she was only a baby."

"Spoken like someone who never had to live up to any expectations because everyone realized from the start that she simply had very little potential" Chuck snorted.

"Right, this coming from the guy who didn't get into college" Serena bit back.

"I could have gotten into college if I had studied harder" Chuck argued. "I have intelligence, I just chose not to channel it into school."

"Then how intelligent are you really, if you don't realize that you need to use your brain power to study and get an education?" Nate replied.

"My grades were better than yours" Chuck mumbled.

"Enough" Blair said. "Serena there's nothing wrong with wanting your child to realize their full potential. That doesn't automatically mean we'll push her too far."

"All we're saying is that if she doesn't get straight As she can forget about dating, hanging out with friends and using the computer" Chuck joked.

"Poor baby" Nate said.

All four heads turned towards the child as Grace began to angrily slam a puzzle piece down over and over where she thought it ought to go. Chuck laughed, finding it endearing that she had the stubborn mindset of "it will go here because I say so" that reminded him of Blair. Nate and Serena both raised an eyebrow and looked at the parents.

"Smart, is she?" Serena said dryly.

"Don't you just admire that determination?" Blair asked with a loving sigh.

Chuck put his cards down and walked over to Grace, kneeling to help her out with the puzzle before she broke it.

"Here dearie, let me show you" he said.

He grabbed the puzzle piece from his daughter who immediately began to cry. Serena rolled her eyes and Nate covered his ears with his hands.

"What?" Blair said defensively. "She's too young to know to share. Chuck give her the piece back."

"Here, this is where it goes" Chuck instructed and put the piece in its rightful place.

Grace frowned, but stopped crying. She looked at the puzzle with a thoughtful face and then grabbed another piece.

"And where does that go?" Chuck asked.

The baby tried a few different variants before finding the proper place for the piece. Chuck looked up at Serena and Nate with a triumphant look.

"How is that not a genius baby?" he asked.

"Chuck the puzzle has four pieces" Nate pointed out.

"She's just over a year old" Blair countered. "Most babies her age probably can't do any puzzles at all."

"I think you're a genius" Chuck told the baby and gave her forehead a kiss.

"Come on man, you want to play cards or what?" Nate asked.

"Yeah just a minute" Chuck said, waiting while Grace placed the final piece in its place. "That's my girl."

"She's going to be doing 500 piece puzzles by the time she's five" Blair said with a content smile.

"Not on your life" Serena snorted.

Chuck turned the puzzle upside down so that the pieces fell out, allowing the baby to start over. Then he walked over to the table and sat back down.

"Okay where were we?"

"Waiting for you or Blair, again" Nate said with a sigh.

"Patience is a virtue, Archibald" Chuck replied.

They continued to play for a while, Grace entertaining herself on the floor. Serena kept losing and finally she seemed to get tired. She leaned back in her chair, tossed the cards on the table and sighed.

"Is anyone else getting hungry?" she asked.

"Yes" Blair said, glancing at her wristwatch. "But more importantly, it's time to get some food in Grace. Then we can put her down for a nap and have dinner ourselves."

"Hungry, kiddo?" Chuck asked the baby as he put his cards down. "I'll pick her up, you go warm something for her?" he suggested to Blair.

"Oh let me help!" Serena chirped. "Can I feed her?"

"I don't think you want to do that" Nate said. "You're wearing a white blouse."

"Yeah?"

"It won't be white after Grace has eaten."

"He's right" Blair said, putting her cards down and getting up from her seat. "She's one, Serena. Have you forgotten how grossed out you where when you saw her eating this summer? Proper dining etiquette comes later on in life."

"Oh but it gives her daddy so much joy to see the look on Blair's face whenever Grace spatters food all over her" Chuck grinned, picking the baby up.

"Oh and you don't make funny faces when she get spaghetti all over your imported shirts" Blair retorted.

She walked to the kitchen while Chuck placed Grace in her high chair. Grace didn't seem too keen to be sitting there and squirmed, wanting to get back down to the floor.

"Can I trust you two to keep an eye on her while I get her bib?" Chuck asked Nate and Serena who were still sitting by the table.

"Of course!" Serena chirped.

With a nod Chuck walked to the kitchen to get the bib. Serena made faces at Grace and grinned widely.

"Don't you wish you could have one of your own?" she said to Nate.

Nate frowned and eyed the one year-old who was still squirming in her seat.

"Honestly the more I think about it the more appealing the thought becomes of adopting a ten year-old when I decide to have kids" he said.

"No, this is the age when they're the most adorable" Serena cooed.

"Yeah, and they're a pain in the ass."

"They are not" Serena protested. "How is she a pain in the ass?"

"She can't sit still for two seconds, for one" Nate noted.

Chuck came back out with the bib and sighed at Grace's squirming.

"Sit still, Mom's on her way with some food" he said and did his best to try and put the bib on the child.

"No" Grace protested.

"Adorable" Nate commented sarcastically to Serena.

"Sit still" Chuck repeated, sounding less patient. "You're hungry aren't you? Mom will be here any minute."

"No!" Grace insisted.

"Seriously S, you long till you have one of these?" Nate had to ask.

"No one in their right mind longs till they have a stubborn one year-old who doesn't want to do what you want them to" Chuck remarked. "Wait until she's eaten and it's time to lull her to sleep for her nap. That is the kind of thing people look forward to when they talk about wanting to have children."

"Well you can't have the cuddly baby without the fussing baby so count me out for now" Nate said. "She was so much easier to deal with this spring."

"Thank goodness you didn't become a long-term stepparent" Chuck muttered under his breath before turning to Grace. "Would you stop squirming? Mom's on her way with dinner. Yum. Don't you want food?"

"Food" Grace said but still tried to squirm and get down on the floor.

"You eat your food at the table and not on the floor" Chuck said firmly. "You're not a dog." He groaned. "How can a person be so interested in eating yet so difficult to get to sit at the table for a meal?"

"She's awfully loud" Nate commented, wrinkling his nose.

"I'm going to go see if Blair needs any help" Serena said, getting up.

Nate rolled his eyes at her quick escape. A grin then spread across his face when Serena bumped into Blair coming back with Grace's food.

"Did you get her bib on Bass?" Blair asked, stirring the food with a spoon.

"I did. Then she got it off. So I'm trying to get it back on again."

"Why don't you let Serena do it?" Nate suggested.

"Fine Nate, I get your point" Serena sighed.

"Sit still Grace" Chuck said firmly, tired of the baby's squirming.

Blair sat down next to Grace and held up a spoon full of spaghetti.

"Look at this Grace! Yummy!"

Grace paused for a moment and looked at the spoon. Then she made a protesting sound and tried to wriggle away again. Chuck sighed and threw his hands up in the air.

"She's all yours Waldorf. I'll go and order some food for us."

"What is wrong with her?" Serena asked.

"I don't know, for some reason she sometimes gets really angry if she has to eat by herself" Blair said. "If we're eating at the same time she never fights us."

"Then why not just wait until our food arrives?" Nate asked. "Chuck where are you ordering from? Can we go Thai?"

"No, no way, I don't want to eat at the same time as her" Serena protested. "Feeding her is fun but she's a complete slob and I'd lose my appetite."

"Okay the next person who criticizes my daughter gets kicked out" Blair snarled. "I don't want her to eat with us because she can't wait that long. Gracie, come on, open wide and take a bite. One big bite for Mama."

"No!" Grace protested and turned her head away when Blair held up the spoon.

"When I leave here I'm stopping at a drugstore to buy condoms" Nate said.

"Open wide Grace" Blair said and mimicked what she wanted the baby to do.

Grace squirmed a little but obediently opened her mouth and took the bite. Once she had started to eat she was more easily convinced to continue, at least until Chuck came back a few minutes later.

"They're a bit backed up" he said. "Food will be here in about an hour."

"Dada" Grace said, squirming around in her chair.

"Hey there dearie. How's your dinner?"

"Chuck stop bothering her" Blair frowned. "Grace look at Mommy. Look at Mommy. Come on, open wide. Take a bite for Grandpa Harold."

"No" Grace whined.

"Grace, Mommy's getting a little tired of this."

"She's really not in the mood today, is she?" Chuck commented. "Do you think we waited too long? Or is she getting too tired?"

"She was eating just fine until you came in and interrupted her" Blair said.

"What, this is my fault?"

Serena sighed and made a face. Chuck and Blair had been getting along fairly well all evening but apparently that was over now.

"Grace stop it" Blair said as the baby squirmed even more. "Eat your spaghetti. It's going to get cold."

Chuck walked into the kitchen and came back carrying a couple of fruits. He handed an apple to Nate and a banana to Serena and took a seat net to Grace while taking a bite of a pear.

"A snack before dinner?" Nate questioned.

"Just eat it" Chuck said. "Maybe she'll be more inclined to eat if we're eating."

"Well why does Serena get the banana and I get an apple?"

Chuck rolled his eyes and didn't answer. He turned to Grace instead and made sure he caught her attention.

"Yum" he said. "Food. Don't you want some food too Grace?"

The baby eyed him for a moment and then glanced over at Serena and Nate who were eating their fruits as well. When Blair held up the fork to her she opened her mouth without fuss and took the bite.

"That's more like it" Chuck said.

"We have to make her knock this habit" Blair said. "She has to be able to eat properly without us eating too."

"Why?" Chuck asked. "She's going to spend most of her life eating with other people."

"She can't sustain herself on only three meals per day."

"Could you please not bicker" Serena said. "We were having a good time until you started squabbling."

"Nobody's squabbling" Blair said.

Chuck didn't say anything. He finished his pear and then got up to clear the table for dinner. Blair got Grace to finish her meal and then cleaned her off with a napkin.

"Let's go change your diaper" she said, lifting the baby up. "We can put your pajamas on while we're at it."

"So at this point, does she sleep quietly through the night?" Serena asked.

"Sometimes" Chuck said. "Why?"

"No reason."

Chuck smirked. He had decided to leave his hotel room and move back in at the van der Woodsen residence since neither him nor Grace felt much at home at the Palace these days. He had told Serena earlier in the day and at first she had been thrilled to get to live with the baby a few days each week but now she seemed to be having concerns.

"Don't worry sis" Chuck said. "You could go off to college if you wanted to get to get to sleep through the night."

"Very funny" Serena said.

"Are you sure all this back and forth is healthy?" Nate asked. "First she's at Blair's, then she's here, then she's at a hotel room, then she's at another hotel room, then she's at Blair's, then she's back here, then she's in New Haven…"

"If the movie stars can do it then what's the problem?" Serena shrugged.

"It's not ideal" Chuck admitted. "And I won't be staying here indefinitely. I'm going to start looking for a place of my own."

"Why not just stay at the hotel until then?" Nate asked.

"I feel like I've outgrown the Palace" Chuck said. "Besides, it's time for me to step out of my father's shadow. I can't live in his hotel all my life."

Serena found the conversation boring and got up to go see if Blair needed any help. She found her in the bathroom putting a new diaper on Grace who was uncharacteristically still on the changing table.

"There we go, doll" Blair cooed. "Let's get you a pajamas. Are you getting sleepy?"

"How come she squirmed like crazy when she was eating and now she's perfectly calm?" Serena asked.

Blair shrugged.

"Who knows? She just decided not to wiggle too much right now."

"It's so weird to think you'll be moving her to New Haven for real" Serena mused and leaned against the wall, looking down at the baby.

"Things change S" Blair said.

"Yeah I know… Still, I'm going to miss having her close. I kind of wish you didn't go to school so far away sometimes."

Blair groaned and grabbed a pair of pajamas with little frogs on.

"Am I the only one who recognizes that we live in a millennia where women get to have an education even if they have babies?"

"Oh this has nothing to do with Grace" Serena said. Then she smiled. "This is all me being selfish. I miss having my best friend nearby."

"Connecticut is practically around the corner" Blair pointed out.

"Not really" Serena said. "Maybe I should try and get in at Yale instead, for next year. What do you think?"

"I think you should go to Brown, S" Blair said and struggled with getting the pajamas on Grace. "Brown was always your dream."

"Not the way Yale was yours. I don't know, maybe Brown is completely wrong for me. Why else would I hesitate to go?"

"Because it's a big commitment and you've always been weary of them" Blair said.

"That is not true" Serena objected. "I was more than willing to commit to Dan."

"Dan was your junior year boyfriend" Blair argued. "At that age committing means agreeing to go to the next three parties together."

"Really?" Serena said and motioned to the baby.

"Really" Blair said. "Even Chuck and I who had a baby together during high school never committed to one another."

"I don't think age was the problem there" Serena said dryly. Then she cooed at the baby. "Look at you Gracie, all ready for bed! We need to have a serious talk about your wardrobe though. PJs are out this fall."

"Didn't you hear, S?" Blair asked and grabbed a firm hold of Grace. "Frogs are the latest in baby fashion. All the cool toddlers are wearing them."

"I'm pretty sure penguins are what's cool right now."

Blair snorted and sat down on the toilet seat with Grace to brush her teeth. Serena handed her the toothbrush and watched as Grace opened her mouth without struggle to allow her mother to brush. Sometimes she marveled at how much a mother Blair was. Though it was even more strange seeing Chuck taking his fatherhood so seriously. Especially since it had taken months for him to even show any real interest in his child.

"Okay Grace, you are all done" Blair said. "Let's go sit on the couch and wait for the food to get here."

"Food?" Grace said, interest woken.

"Not for you, honey" Blair said. "You are going to get to sit down on the couch with me and have some gruel. How about that?"

"You give her gruel after she's brushed her teeth?" Serena questioned.

"Gruel before bed helps her go to sleep and it helps her sleep through the night" Blair said, annoyed at being questioned. "If she falls asleep with her bottle we can't wake her up to brush her teeth so we do that beforehand."

"I hope you get a good dentist for her."

Blair ignored Serena and got up, adjusting her grip on the baby. They walked back out to Nate and Chuck who were arguing over the rules to Gin.

"Hey there Grace" Chuck said. "Are you ready for your bottle?"

"Cutting it close, aren't you?" Nate said, glancing at his wristwatch. "Our food will be here in like fifteen minutes."

"Maybe we should wait and let her have the bottle after we've eaten" Chuck said to Blair.

"No" Blair protested. "She's sleepy now. If we keep her waiting she's going to get overly tired and we'll never be able to get her to go to sleep."

"Okay, fine" Chuck said. "I'll go get the bottle."

Ten minutes later he sat on the couch cradling Grace who was working on her bottle. The other three were by the table having their dinner. Serena looked over at Chuck and made a disappointed face.

"This was not what I had in mind for tonight" she griped. "We're supposed to have dinner together."

"What?" Chuck said. "I'm in the room."

"It's not the same thing."

"Once she's done with the bottle I'll take over and you can get some dinner" Blair offered and took another bite.

"No that's alright" Chuck said. "She'll fall asleep more easily if we don't move her from my arms to yours."

"How long will it take before she's asleep?" Nate asked.

"Five minutes" Blair shrugged. "Or thirty-five. There's no off-button."

"You're going to have to eat your dinner cold" Nate frowned at Chuck.

"Welcome to parenthood" Chuck said.

Nate shook his head, thanking his lucky stars that Grace had turned out to be Chuck's daughter and not his own. Even Serena seemed cured of her baby love for the moment. He hoped Grace would fall asleep soon and stay asleep. They were too young to be constantly interrupted by a one year-old when they were trying to have a good time.

"This is so not what I had in mind for tonight" Serena mumbled under her breath.

"At least no one's arguing" Blair offered with a smile.

"Small comfort" Serena said. Then she laughed a little. "Okay, Grace's presence doesn't actually bother me. But once she's in her crib can we please just… be teenagers again for the rest of the evening?"

"Okay" Chuck said and put the empty bottle down on the coffee table. "You heard the woman, Grace. Go to sleep so Mommy and Daddy can party like it's -99."

"Oh!" Serena exclaimed with excitement. "That's what we need!"

"A new millennia?"

"Alcohol!"

"Perfect" Nate agreed.

Serena jumped up and hurried over to the bar to check what they had at home. Blair and Chuck shared a look.

"One of us has to stay sober" she said. "I vote that it be you."

"I vote that it not be me" Chuck argued.

"I had to stay sober while I was pregnant and while I was nursing" Blair objected. "Your turn, Bass."

"I'll flip you for it."

"Really glad I don't have a baby" Nate said and got up to go help Serena.

Blair went to get a coin to determine who would stay away from the alcohol. Chuck focused on rocking Grace to sleep and smiled a little. After fifteen minutes Grace had fallen asleep and he went to put her down in her crib before returning to his friends in the living room. He took the glass of mineral water a smirking Blair handed him and took a large sip. It did feel nice to just act like a regular teenager for a night, even if he was drinking non-alcoholic beverages.

---

A few days passed and Chuck was slowly beginning to feel better about his situation. He had made plans to open up a club and it would require a lot of work and keep him properly distracted when Grace was away. It would also distract him from the situation with Blair and that was distraction he much needed. It was difficult to have feelings for her yet know he couldn't give her what she demanded and so he threw himself head first into his new project and he begun to feel quite excited about it. When Blair came back on a Wednesday evening to spend the night and then jet back to Yale in the morning he decided to tell her what he was doing.

"I'm petrified to even ask the question" Blair said, pulling a blanket up over her sleeping baby. "How is it that you've been able to have so much success with the company in such a short amount of time? That kind of achievement seems to require full-time work but you've had Grace at least three days out of the week since I went to college."

"You're asking if I do all my business from home?" Chuck asked. "Or are you asking who I dump the baby with when I go running around on business meetings?"

"You were so adamant about me not taking Grace to New Haven to be looked after by nannies when she could be with you in New York instead. For your sake I'm telling you you'd better not be leaving her with other people all day so you can go out and do stuff. If you are then she's moving to New Haven with me full-time."

"I do have a nanny" Chuck admitted. "But she only works for me a few days a month, and part of that time I'm still at home. I figured it might be smart if I'm here while Grace gets to know her, make the transition easier."

He had hired his nanny about month earlier when he realized he really would need one. Countless young, beautiful women had showed up for interviews but he had chosen to hire a woman in her early fifties instead. Her name was Belle, and she was anything but. Which was partly the reason why Chuck had hired her. The last thing he wanted was a beautiful temptress in his home, looking after his baby. It had always made him uneasy that his uncle had put the moves on his own nannies, babysitters and au-pairs and was determined to never put Grace in that kind of position. The odds of him wanting to sleep with Belle were miniscule, which suited him perfectly.

In addition, Belle was a highly qualified candidate. She had no children of her own but had worked as a nanny on the Upper East Side for more than thirty years, with excellent credentials. So far Chuck had been very pleased with the way she took care of the baby and he knew Blair would approve when she met her.

Right now however Blair did not seem too thrilled.

"You hired a nanny?" she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I did."

"And when were you planning on telling me this?"

"I don't know" he shrugged. "When were you planning on telling me you bought a new stroller?"

"What? How does that even compare?" Blair asked with an annoyed frown.

"We share custody but that doesn't mean we have to share everything. If I want to hire a nanny part-time then that's up to me."

"This nanny of yours, you found her at a Victoria's Secret fashion show, am I right?" Blair asked.

"Through a lot of hard work actually" Chuck replied. "I must have interviewed a hundred women for the job."

"No men? How sexist. But poor Chuck, it must have been agonizing to have to see that many people before you found the right amount of perky" Blair said, pointing to her breasts when she said the last word.

Chuck laughed.

"When you meet Belle, remember that you said that."

"Belle? Her name is Belle?"

"Yes. And no, she does not double as a stripper. That's her actual name."

"That's just great" Blair sighed. "I can hear why you hired her."

"You're welcome to take a look at her credentials if you wish" Chuck offered. "I'll even make a deal with you. If you meet her and see her take care of Grace for one day and you don't want me to keep her after that… then I will fire her and hire someone else."

"Good" Blair said.

"Good. We're agreed then."

She gave him a joyless smile and walked past him out towards the living room. He followed her, entertained by the thought of what her reaction would be when she met Belle. Seeing the surprise on her face would surely be hilarious.

"So should I call Belle and request her services for tomorrow?" he asked.

"Not if you call it 'requesting her services'."

"Calling it anything else wouldn't result in that delightfully indignant look on your face" Chuck smirked. "I'll go give her a call."

He walked off to get his phone and Blair slumped on the couch with an annoyed frown. She didn't approve of this new development. Not that she wasn't aware that Grace would get a nanny at some point, in fact she had begun to toy with the idea of getting an au pair to help her out at Yale, but she didn't trust Chuck's judgment in hiring one as far as she could throw him. He was, after all, a Bass.

After a few minutes he came back with a smile on his face.

"Belle has been summoned. The beauty shall arrive at eight Saturday morning."

"That had better be a Disney joke."

"Perhaps" he said, taking a seat next to her.

"For the record I highly disapprove of all of this."

He smirked.

"Blair on Saturday afternoon you will be contemplating hiring her to look after Grace when you have her in New Haven."

"That will never happen."

"Care to make a wager?"

"No" Blair frowned.

"What's the matter?" Chuck asked, eyebrow teasingly raised. "Scared you will lose?"

"I'm a mother" Blair said. "I'm a student at Yale. I would have been valedictorian if I hadn't spent so much time at home with Grace during senior year. I am far too mature to engage in silly wagers."

Chuck threw his head back and laughed.

"Tell me you don't actually believe that!"

"I do" Blair frowned. "You should think about maturing a bit yourself."

"I am maturing" Chuck said. "I hired a nanny. That's a big step, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm thinking we should go with an au pair instead" Blair said. "Not a young, sexy one but a young, mousy one. Au pairs are easier to push around and they work differently than nannies. If I hire one she'll be looking after Grace all the time, even when she's with you. Your little beauty can be let go."

"My little beauty will be able to kick your young, mousy au pair's ass" Chuck countered.

"Doubt it."

"You think a European chick in her early twenties would be a better caretaker for our child than a woman with vast experience?"

"Oh I'm sure she has vast experience" Blair said dryly.

Chuck laughed a little. Blair looked annoyed but he didn't care much. He knew she would change her tune once she met Belle.

"I'm going to start looking for an au pair" Blair said and stuck her chin in the air. "Even if by some obscure miracle this Belle person is at least semi-competent enough to care for our daughter I still believe an au pair is the best choice. And you will come to see that I am right."

"Really? What makes you think that?"

"Because I know about these things."

"You forget who you're talking to" Chuck snorted. "I was raised by au pairs. Some are good, some will really help you become a man, but overall they're not all they're cranked up to be. Glorified live-in babysitters with foreign ideas in their head and no real motivation other than that they want to see another country."

"Maybe that's what happens when a Bass hires one" Blair said. "I'm a Waldorf and we do things differently."

"So basically what you want is to hire a Dorota? That seems to be how Waldorfs choose to raise their children. No offense to Dorota, but at least Belle is an actually nanny and not the maid who got stuck taking care of the kid."

Blair's jaw dropped and she snorted angrily at him. He wasn't sure if she was mad that he had insulted Dorota or mad that he had implied she hadn't been raised by someone proper enough, but clearly he was not on her list of favorite people at the moment.

"How dare you?" she asked.

"I know I'm speaking of our child's godmother but she's never been a professional nanny" Chuck said calmly.

"Well I'm not looking to hire a new Dorota" Blair reminded him angrily.

He smirked at her and got up from his seat on the couch.

"I'm bored" he declared. "I'm going to go plan my weekend. I'll be looking forward to hearing you admit that Belle was a terrific choice."

"Then you'll have to wait forever."

---

Saturday morning Blair got up early and put her robe on, yawning as she went to get Grace from her crib and start her morning ritual. Before she could reach the crib Chuck held out an arm to stop her.

"Not so fast, Waldorf."

"Bass…" Blair said, glaring at him like he'd lost his mind. "The baby needs to come up from her bed."

"Leave that to Belle. The point is for you to see her work."

"Your stripper nanny was supposed to be here at eight" Blair pointed out.

"It's 7:56."

"Cutting it close, isn't she?"

The elevator rang and Chuck grinned.

"There's our Mary Poppins now."

"I'm delighted" Blair said with as much obviously feigned sincerity as she could muster.

Chuck just grinned at her and walked out to greet the nanny. Blair crossed her arms over her chest and followed him. When she saw the woman who had walked inside, dressed in a grey dress suit and her almost white hair up in a tight bun, she couldn't conceal a scoff. This was the woman Chuck had hired?

"Blair, come and say hi to the nanny" Chuck said, wildly entertained by the expression on Blair's face.

"Ms. Waldorf" Belle said, her voice calm and smooth. She walked over to Blair and extended her hand. "I'm Belle Raver. It's a pleasure meeting you."

"Likewise" Blair said skeptically, shaking the older woman's hand as if it might be a bomb.

"Mr. Bass tells me you're not comfortable with little Grace being looked after by someone you've neither met nor approved" Belle said, pretending not to notice the angry glare Blair shot in Chuck's direction. "I hope you will feel at ease after today."

"Well, I, I mean it's certainly not personal" Blair managed to say.

"Oh don't worry about it, it's a perfectly normal reaction" Belle said. "I brought a copy of my credentials if you wish to take a look at them."

"Mama!" Grace yelled from the bedroom.

"I was just about to bring her up for the morning" Blair said.

"Allow me" Belle said and walked right past Blair to Chuck's bedroom.

Blair watched her go with eyebrows raised. The woman walked in short yet efficient steps that made Blair wonder if Chuck had hired a nanny from some sort of military facility. But she did seem calm and perhaps even a tiny touch warm and most of all she was so far from what Blair had been expecting that it wouldn't have surprised Blair if she had indeed taken out an umbrella and flown into the bedroom.

"Say, how much do you figure she makes during one night of stripteasing?" Chuck asked, enjoying the moment far more than Blair thought he should.

Blair huffed and strode into Chuck's bedroom where Belle had just lifted Grace up into her arms. Grace had a pacifier in her mouth and the scarf ball in one hand, her pink pajamas wrinkly and her hair a mess.

"Good morning sweetheart" Blair said.

"Let's take you to the bathroom" Belle said to Grace.

Chuck walked in and nearly managed to catch the scarf ball when Grace let go of it. Belle walked to the bathroom and Chuck studied his once pristine scarf with a frown.

"She's more than a year old" he said. "She shouldn't need to have it abused into a ball to keep her from strangling herself with it. My poor Boris, this kind of treatment is not what he was made for."

"God Bass, it's just a scarf" Blair said with rolling eyes and followed Belle to the bathroom to watch her handle Grace.

A few hours later she sat down on the couch with Grace in her arms while Chuck followed Belle to the elevator. She had to admit he had found a very competent nanny. Not that she would praise Belle to the high heavens. She didn't want Chuck to get too cocky.

"Fine" she said when he walked over and took a seat. "She's not half bad."

"She's terrific" Chuck argued. "You saw her credentials, you saw how she was with Grace. More importantly you saw that Grace is comfortable with her."

"I suppose you can keep her."

"How very generous of you" Chuck snorted.

"I'm still getting an au pair."

"And what precisely is she going to do when Grace is with me? Perhaps tidy up your apartment and do the cooking? A little like what… Dorota did around your house when you were a kid."

Blair didn't bother to answer and her silence made him grin. For once he had won parenting points over her and he planned on enjoying it. The decision to hire Belle was a good one and he wouldn't let her act otherwise.

---

Blair collapsed on the couch with a groan, putting her feet up on the coffee table. Who ever knew that moving could be such a pain? It had taken days to pack everything she and Grace would need and the better part of a weekend to get all her new furniture in place and all their boxes unpacked. She had left Grace with Chuck until Sunday afternoon so they wouldn't have a toddler crawling around, getting in their way, and going back to Manhattan to get her had not been a fun experience. Not just for the trip but for how difficult it had been to watch Chuck say goodbye to her. He would see her again in a few days but this was the first time in almost a year that he hadn't been in the same state as her and she knew how difficult it was. It was unfortunate but it had to happen.

Then once she had arrived with the baby in New Haven Grace had been fussy and spent the better part of the evening screaming and protesting against everything Blair wanted her to do. Either she missed her father or she didn't like the travel or she didn't like her new home or something else was wrong. Whatever it was it was the last thing Blair needed at the time and it had been a relief when she finally went to sleep, especially since the process of getting her ready for bed had taken almost half an hour longer than usual and Blair had had to sit by her crib for fifteen minutes before she fell asleep.

Blair wiggled her toes a little and studied her feet with a bored expression. This was the first night she had spent all alone without anybody but the baby in the house with her. It felt weird, lonely and a bit scary. She had never liked being alone in the evening and the idea of sleeping by herself was unsettling. If someone broke in to do something bad to her or Grace there would be nobody there to protect them.

She got up and walked over to the cupboard where she had put a few bottles of alcohol in various kinds. It was too high up for Grace to reach but she had still put a lock on it just to be sure. She opened it and grabbed a bottle of wine, pouring herself a third of a glass. After putting the bottle away again and locking the cupboard she walked back to the couch and sank down. It was Sunday night, tomorrow morning she had an early lecture and then in the afternoon she was going to take the first active step to getting an au pair. Until then Dorota had promised to baby-sit.

The first sip of wine felt like heaven. She really needed this after the weekend she had had. She closed her eyes and sighed, letting her head fall back. Then the peace and silence was broken by Grace beginning to cry in her new bedroom. With a groan Blair put her glass down on a coaster and got up to tend to her daughter.

---

Two weeks later Blair found herself having to cram for an exam and decided to call Chuck and ask if he could take Grace on Thursday instead of Friday. He was more than happy to comply but then realized he had a business meeting that evening. Rather than telling Blair about it and finding some other solution he decided to find a baby-sitter. Even if he would be gone for a few hours in the evening he would still be able to spend all Friday with Grace and that was too good an opportunity to pass up on.

He began to worry for a while when neither Belle nor Dorota nor Lily could baby-sit that night. When Serena cheerfully volunteered he didn't hesitate for too long before agreeing to it. She was quite good with Grace even though she didn't always seem entirely comfortable holding her and it was only for a few hours. When Thursday evening came he changed into a nicer suit, kissed his daughter on the cheek and headed out to his meeting while Serena stayed at home to look after her little niece.

When Chuck had left Serena gave Grace a tour of her closet which the baby seemed to enjoy. She reached out for any garment with a bright color and especially seemed fond of the red ones. But when she started trying to put them in her mouth Serena decided the tour had gone on long enough. She carried Grace back to the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Okay, there we go" Serena said, sitting Grace down on her lap. "You're having a good time with Aunt Serena, aren't you? Yeah. Let's watch the DVD."

She smiled at Grace and felt really confident. This was going splendidly. What had she been so nervous about?

Grace looked up at her and took the pacifier from her mouth.

"Dada?" she said.

"Your dad is out to dinner" Serena said with a cheerful smile. "You'll see him first thing tomorrow morning."

Grace looked contemplative for a second and then she looked back up at her auntie.

"Mama?"

"No… Mama's at school."

When Grace realized neither of her parents was near her face scrunched up and she began to cry. Serena sat baffled for a second. Everything had been going great just a minute ago. What had she done wrong?

"No don't cry sweetie!" she said, lifting the baby up for a hug. "Don't cry. Daddy will be home. He'll be home real soon, okay?"

Grace kept crying and Serena started to get really nervous. She had no idea what to do in this situation. She got up and started to walk back and forth with Grace the way she had seen Chuck, Blair and Bart do with her when she was smaller. It didn't have any effect whatsoever.

"Grace… Grace don't cry honey."

She let out a frustrated whimper and glanced at the time. It was barely time for entrees, Chuck's dinner wouldn't be over for another few hours. What on earth was she supposed to do now?

---

"Now then, if we should…"

Chuck drifted off mid-sentence when his phone started to ring. He made an excusing gesture to his dinner company and snuck the phone from his pocket, glancing down on it to see who was calling. It was Serena. He felt part worried, part annoyed, and looked back up at the others.

"If you would excuse me for just one moment" he said. "The babysitter's calling. I need to take this."

He got up and walked off while answering.

"What is it S?" he asked, hearing Grace's loud crying the second the call went through.

"Chuck I don't know what to do" Serena complained. "She started crying twenty minutes ago and nothing I can think of shuts her up."

"Did she hurt herself?" Chuck asked with a frown. "Is she hungry? Does she need a diaper change? You did check the diaper did you? I know it's gross but it's part of the deal until they're potty trained."

"It's not like that" Serena whined. "She asked for you and Blair and when you didn't come she started crying. Chuck I'm freaking out over here!"

"Relax" Chuck said. "If that's the only thing wrong with her then she'll be fine. Find some way of distracting her."

"I've tried but nothing works with your stupid child!" Serena said with frustration.

"Don't call my child stupid."

"I've tried nursery rhymes, I've tried toys, I've tried putting on 'Sesame Street'… She just keeps screaming like a banshee."

"Find some way" Chuck said. "Serena I asked you if you could manage babysitting her and you assured me there wouldn't be a problem. I am in the process of buying a hotel here, I can't just run back home to soothe a baby and then expect them to still be here when I get back. It's not that hard to distract her sis, she's fifteen months old."

"But what should I do?" Serena complained, not picking up on the change in his business venue.

"Put her on the phone" Chuck said with a sigh.

"Huh?"

"It's worth a shot, just put her on the phone."

"Okay, hang on."

The screaming got louder and Chuck assumed the phone was now by Grace's ear. He wondered if this would help at all or if it would just make matters worse but apparently Serena was grossly incompetent and he needed to try something.

"Grace? Gracie can you hear me? Grace it's Dad." The crying halted. "Hi Grace. I'll be home with you as soon as I can okay? In the meantime Serena can read you a story. You're such a big girl now, you won't cry just because Mom and I are gone for a few hours."

Halfway through the last sentence the crying started again.

"It didn't work" Serena needlessly complained, back on the phone. "She looked around for you and when she couldn't find you she started all over again."

"Then I'm all out of ideas" Chuck said. "Serena I really need to get back to my meeting. There's nothing I can do from here, you'll have to figure something out. She's not hurt, she's not sick, she's just a bit clingy of Blair and me. It went fine up until now, just take her mind off it and you'll be okay. Bye now."

"But-"

He hung up and exhaled. It was heartbreaking hearing his baby crying like that over his and Blair's absence but there wasn't anything he could do about it. He hated abandonment more than anyone but they couldn't be with Grace every second of her life. She had to learn to be okay with someone babysitting her for a few hours. He glanced back at his dinner company and hoped the meeting would soon be over so he could go home and see her before she went to bed. He knew that wasn't a possibility though. By the time he got home she would have been asleep for hours.

---

When he stepped off the elevator a few hours later the first thing he noticed was Serena sitting on a blanket on the floor, trying her best to entertain Grace with building blocks. He stopped and frowned while both girls looked up at him and he wondered what on earth the baby was doing up hours after her bedtime.

"Chuck" Serena exhaled with relief. "Thank God. I thought you'd never get back."

Chuck took his coat off and walked closer. He was about to ask Serena why Grace was still up when she had clearly calmed down but then he looked over at the baby who was reaching out her arms to him and starting to cry again.

"Hey Gracie" he said and knelt to lift her up in his arms.

She wrapped her tiny little arms around his neck and buried her face against him, sobbing a little at first but then just making complaining noises. Serena got up as he gently shushed his daughter and felt guilty for having left her.

"There now dearie…" he said. "I'm home. You had fun with Aunt Serena, didn't you?"

"It was a nightmare" Serena said. "It took me over an hour to get her to start to calm down and since then she's only been quiet for like ten minutes at a time. She's kept looking at the elevator, trying to walk or crawl over to your room to see if you're there…"

"Poor baby" Chuck said. "Grace it wasn't so bad, was it?" He looked at Serena with a frown. "She's probably cranky because she's overly tired. Her bedtime was hours ago, what the hell is she still doing up?"

"You try putting her to bed when she's crying like that! Chuck this wasn't my fault. I didn't do anything bad."

"I know" he said. "But I would have appreciated it if you tried putting her to bed. You got her pajamas on so I guess that's something, but eventually she would have quieted down if you had put her in the crib."

"I don't know everything about babies!" Serena said, sounding about ready to start crying herself.

"Well she's okay now" Chuck said, deciding to drop the subject. Serena was right, it wasn't her fault Grace had started to cry for her parents. "I'm just going to put her to bed, take a shower and then get some sleep. You should get some sleep too. I know how exhausting it is to try and soothe a child when nothing seems to work."

"Sleep does sound nice" Serena said and smiled weakly. "Hey how did your meeting go?"

"You are now looking at the owner of the Empire hotel" Chuck said.

"Owner?" Serena echoed. "I thought you were looking to rent a place to have your new club, not buy real-estate."

"The Bass fortune was built on real-estate" Chuck said. "It's time I started trying to expand my daughter's inheritance. Besides, I want something within the company to be something I built and not just my father's work."

"Are you sure you can handle running a hotel on top of everything else?" Serena asked.

"I have no idea" Chuck admitted with a little laugh.

"Well…" Serena said, a bit too tired with members of the Bass family to want to dig deeper into the topic at present. "I'm heading off now. Goodnight Grace." She gave Chuck a worried look. "You don't think she really dislikes me now, do you?"

"Of course she doesn't" Chuck said. "It probably didn't matter who was with her tonight, the problem was that neither Blair nor I were here. She'll have forgotten it in the morning."

He walked to his bedroom with Grace and reached out a hand to close the door behind him. He could really use a shower but Grace was being really clingy and he was worried that even if he got her to go to sleep she might wake up while he was in the bathroom. He decided to shower first and put her to bed later. He could bring her into the shower with him, letting her sit on the floor while he washed himself quickly. It would require drying her off later too but it seemed like the favorable option.

Less than fifteen minutes later he was in his pajamas with Grace sitting on a towel on the bed while he tried his best to dry her hair with another towel. She had calmed down noticeably but it was clear that she needed to have gone to sleep hours ago. Now she was overly tired and that on its own made her cranky. He felt a sting of bad conscience over having left her for several hours but at the same time he was surprised. She had been without both him and Blair for a few hours before and it had usually been fine. Was her reaction tonight caused by the fact that she had never been left without them in the evening before?

"I'm sorry I was away" he told her. "I honestly thought you would do just fine with Serena. I had no idea you'd miss me that much. I missed you too."

"Mama" Grace whined.

"Well we both miss her. That's a given. Come on Hobbit, let's put your pajamas back on and then get us both into bed. I'm exhausted so I can only imagine how tired you must be. We'd better not tell Mommy you were up so far past your bedtime."

"Mama" Grace said in what was almost a sob.

Chuck rose and lifted her up into his embrace. He kept talking to her while he got her ready for bed again and then he walked over to her crib with her. When she realized she was about to be put in the crib she loudly complained and put her arms around his neck.

"You don't want to go to bed? Baby it's late."

He knew he needed to put her to bed but he couldn't bring himself to place what would no doubt be a screaming and protesting fifteen month-old in her crib and then just walk over to his own bed and try to ignore her. Instead he walked over to the light switch and switched it off, leaving the bed lamp on his nightstand the only source of light in the room. Still with Grace in his arms he walked over to his bed and used one hand to remove the towel she had been sitting on followed by the bedspread. He pulled the comforter down and took a seat on the bed. With a little coaxing he was able to get Grace to loosen her grip and he put her down on his bed.

"What do you say to sleeping in Daddy's bed tonight?" he asked.

He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a pacifier. When he leaned over to put it in her mouth a few drops of water from his hair fell on Grace and she flinched at first but then laughed. He smiled, pleased to see her happy.

"Do you think I should dry my hair before I go to bed?" he asked. "No, I don't think I need to either. Let's just try and get some sleep. We can both use it."

He made himself comfortable next to her and pulled the comforter up. He reached over and turned the lights off then he curled up on his side next to Grace, wrapping an arm around her. He gave her forehead a kiss and was relieved that she didn't fuss.

"You're a good girl" he told her in the darkness. "This is kind of nice."

His eyes began to adjust to the darkness and he could see that she had closed hers and was about to drift off to sleep. He smiled contently and nuzzled her cheek for a second before closing his own eyes to get some much needed sleep.

---

Blair hated group projects. She had thought that once she was in college she would be done with them but the class in psychology and pedagogic she had decided to take was apparently all about group efforts and team spirit. She had signed up for it only because she thought the pedagogic might be interesting to her as a parent but now she deeply regretted it. At the moment she had a report she needed to do together with two other people in her class and it seriously grated.

At least she had managed to convince the other two that they should do their work from her apartment rather than the library. This way she didn't have to be away from the baby quite as much. Melissa and Geoff had both been hesitant but eventually they had caved. Blair had thought Melissa would melt over the idea of getting to spend time with an adorable one year-old but apparently she wasn't overly fond of children.

They were sitting on the couches by the coffee table going over the literature and the scientific articles Geoff had found. Grace was awake and moving around in the room with her mother and the other two students. So far she had been on her best behavior, quietly playing with a large teddybear on the floor with a pacifier in her mouth.

"I disagree that we should put our main focus on Piaget" Blair said to Melissa and Geoff. "It's too ordinary. Everybody's going to write about Piaget."

"For a reason" Melissa said in a snotty tone.

"Yeah, the reason being that it's so easy" Blair retorted. "We're going for A here. We need to think outside the box."

They kept debating what to put their focus on while Grace was getting bored on the floor. She got up and made her way over to Blair, reaching up her arms and calling for attention. Blair lifted her up in her arms and let her stand on her lap while she continued the discussion.

"Writing this about Piaget is like writing a psychology paper on Freud" she said, slightly annoyed. "Who hasn't?"

Grace began to pull on her earlobe. Blair tried to ignore it, by now used to the baby's various attempts at discovery and of getting attention. Grace then reached for her mother's nose and Blair moved her tiny hand away.

"I still vote Piaget" Geoff said. "Hell I spent hours finding good articles on his theories. Give me a break."

"The fact that it took you hours to do that is alarming" Blair noted dryly as Grace shoved her little hand in Blair's ear. "Ouch! Grace leave Mommy's ear alone."

"I thought you said the kid wouldn't be a bother" Melissa said.

"I thought people took this course because they're interested in the development and learning of children" Blair shot back.

"Mamamamamamamamamama!" Grace said in a loud voice, trying again to put her hand in Blair's ear.

"Shush Grace" Blair said, feeling both annoyed and a little embarrassed.

"Dada?" Grace asked cheerfully.

"No, Dada's not here" Blair said and lifted Grace down on the floor again. "Go play with your teddybear."

"She's a little hyper" Melissa said with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

"She is not" Blair frowned. "She's a one year-old. She's supposed to be this way. Which you would know if you had read the course literature."

"Can we get back to Piaget?" Geoff whined.

"Forget about Piaget" Blair snarled. "Where's your ambition? Aim higher. Let's set our sights on something challenging."

Grace shrieked loudly and Blair lifted her back up again, growing more and more annoyed with her baby.

"Maybe you should put her to bed and then we can focus?" Melissa suggested.

"It's not like there's an off-button" Blair pointed out. "It's not her bedtime for another couple of hours."

"Children nap."

"She napped before you got here."

"Haven't you heard about nannies?" Geoff asked.

"I'm getting an au pair but she won't arrive until January so until then Grace and I are at the mercy of Dorota."

"Where's her father?" Melissa wondered.

"Manhattan. Grace honey, don't pull my necklace. Be careful with that."

"Maybe we should go" Geoff said, sharing a look with Melissa. "We can get started on the project and when you have your… Dorota around we can look it over together."

"No don't go!" Blair frowned. "I intend on being as much part of this project as everyone else in our class."

"Yeah, but everyone else in our class doesn't have a baby" Melissa pointed out.

"She's just eager to explore" Blair said. "She's a really good baby but they have a right to be curious. She'll calm down in a minute."

"Even so…" Geoff said, rising from his seat, "I think it's better we left."

"We'll text you with our results!" Melissa said, eagerly following him towards the door.

Blair got up and began to follow them but Grace's wails halted her. She put the baby down next to the teddybear and hurried up to her classmates who were already getting their jackets.

"Look, this is stupid" she said.

"Blair don't worry about it" Geoff said generously. "We'll bring you up to speed tomorrow. Your daughter needs you more than we do right now."

They gathered the rest of their things and left before Blair could protest. She turned and eyed her daughter who was sitting still and quiet on the floor with a wide grin on her face.

"Oh now you're calm" Blair said and walked over to pick her up.

---

"Christmas is coming up" Blair said, trying to sound casual. It was the first week of December and she had taken a long weekend to get started on her holiday shopping.

"How very rude of it" Chuck said. "Like we don't have better things to do than trim trees and eat candy canes. The whole world just stops for a few days for no good reason."

"Yes, well, I was kind of hoping we could try to make Christmas a magical time for our child" Blair said, frowning at his attitude.

Chuck shrugged.

"She will be on the receiving end of presents. That's enough to make it magical when you're sixteen months old."

"I was thinking more along the lines of reindeer and snow and carols. And don't you dare tell her there is no Santa!"

He rolled his eyes at the hushed tone she said the last word in and leaned over to adjust the hat on Grace's head. They were out walking with her in the stroller, en route to get coffee and cake at a newly opened bakery. A slice of cake there cost $20 so Blair had decided it had to be a quality establishment.

"Chuck I think we should sit down and talk about who gets her over Christmas" Blair said pointedly.

"There's nothing to talk about" Chuck shrugged. "She'll be with you."

Blair gave him a surprised look.

"You're not going to fight me for her?"

"Why would I do that?" Chuck asked. "Christmas means a lot to you and it barely matters at all to me. If we want her to learn about the wonders of the holiday then I'd consider it counterproductive to have her be with me."

"But it's our daughter's first real Christmas" Blair said, not sure why she was arguing this point with him since she wanted to have the baby over the holidays.

"Are you aware of when she was born?"

"Last year she was four months old and could barely hold her own head up. This is the first year she'll be aware of what's going on around her."

"I wouldn't want you to miss out on that" Chuck said. "It matters less to me."

Blair studied him with her forehead wrinkled but he didn't elaborate any further. He downright hated Christmas and each year he wished he could simply pull the comforter over his head and sleep from mid-December to January. Christmas at the Bass residence had never been a particularly joyful event, even though a few nannies had attempted to make it such. Chuck knew Bart had missed his second, third and fourth Christmas, believing his son to be too young to care or notice that his father wasn't there. After that he had actually been at home for Christmas every year up until Chuck was thirteen, at which point he had probably figured there was no point in upholding the charade any longer. Christmas to Chuck had always meant uncomfortably formal meals with his father and gift openings where Chuck had always suspected his father was hoping he would hurry up so he could go off and do some work. Sometimes this scene also included a tremendously homesick au pair, which didn't exactly help brighten spirits, and Uncle Jack who would sometimes try to hit on said au pair.

When he was thirteen Chuck had gone away on a ski trip with a Jewish classmate over Christmas and had found it a relief to not have to celebrate the holiday. Bart seemed to have taken that as a sign that he didn't need to make an effort around Christmas since the holiday didn't matter much to his son and after that Christmases had actually been more bearable. The last Christmas before his father died Chuck had been abroad, nursing his freshly broken heart over Blair. He knew Bart had done the whole gift opening thing with Lily, Eric and Serena and even though it had been Chuck's decision to leave the country, and he hadn't even given his father a heads up that he was going anywhere, it had stung to know Bart had shared a family moment with his girlfriend and her children but without Chuck. Still, that had been a fairly good Christmas by Chuck's standards. Nate had shown up two days before Christmas and they had spent the holiday together. Most of the few happy Christmas memories Chuck had from childhood had taken place at the Archibald residence on Christmas Eve when Anne and the Captain had treated him like a member of the family. It had been a welcome refuge from his own lack of a traditional family celebration of the holiday. That year in Monaco it had been Chuck who offered Nate some refuge by spending Christmas together Bass family style. It had also been one of the last really good times he had spent with Nate before the pregnancy bomb detonated.

"Charles?" Blair said, drawing out the name into a two-syllable one, bringing him back to the present.

"Why are you full-naming me?" he asked, slightly confused.

"Because I've said 'Chuck' five times in the past minute and you didn't react" Blair said. "Whatever it is you were thinking about to zone out completely like that, it better not be something that involves nudity."

"Sadly, no, it didn't."

"Mama!" Grace said. "Want doggy!"

Blair glanced over at the golden retriever passing by. Grace had leaned forward in her stroller and was pointing at it.

"No dogs, sweetie" Blair said. "They're only fun for fifteen minutes and then they're just demanding."

"Kitty?" Grace asked, turning to look at her mother.

"No kitties either."

"How about a goldfish?" Chuck suggested.

"Go… fish" Grace said, in a tone that suggested she was giving it some serious consideration. "Doggy?" she then returned to.

"Oh look, we're here" Blair said, relieved to have arrived at the bakery and not have to answer more questions about doggies.

They stopped and Blair leaned over to lift Grace up from the stroller. While Chuck busied himself with folding their child's transportation Blair studied the baby and wondered why it didn't feel like a complete victory to know that she would be getting to have Grace for Christmas. It wasn't that she was upset with Chuck for not expressing any particular desire to get to be with Grace. It felt more like being sad for him for not looking forward to the holidays.

"Chuck I was thinking…" she said. "For Christmas, why don't you-"

"I'm going to Barcelona over Christmas" Chuck cut her off. "So whatever it is you plan on saying, the answer is probably going to be 'no'."

"Barcelona? Why? Why didn't you mention this sooner?"

"How I spend Christmas is none of your business" he said shortly. He had decided to go abroad for Christmas about twenty seconds before he just said it, and didn't care to go into detail on the when and why.

"Fine, but I just thought that after last year-"

"Do you want a cup of coffee and ridiculously expensive cake, or not?" he asked, clearly irritated.

"Let's just go inside" Blair sighed.

"Doggy" Grace insisted.

Blair made a face. She had been looking forward to a nice cup of coffee and delicious cake in the company of her adorable daughter and the boy she pseudo-secretly loved. Instead she was getting the company of an unreasonably sullen Chuck Bass and a toddler whose new great desire was to have a dog. As if the logistics of life weren't complicated enough without adding a golden retriever to the mix.

"Are you sure about this place?" Chuck asked once they were inside. "It looks awfully empty for the new hot spot."

"It's a café, not a club."

"It's a bore" Chuck concluded and took a seat.

"Bo?" Grace asked.

"It's something that's boring."

"You've got a wonderful pedagogical side" Blair sniped.

"Do you want cake and coffee or not?" Chuck asked sullenly.

"What a wonderful outing this is turning into" Blair said with a sarcastic smirk.

Chuck made a face and wished he had brought a flask to turn his coffee Irish. He opened the bag they had brought for the baby and fished out a couple of toys. Dorota had packed toy animals, one of which was a dog, which Grace was very excited about.

"Woof, woof!" she said, grabbing the toy.

"I'm not buying her a dog" Blair said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't care so long as I don't have to buy a dog" Chuck replied.

"Woof!" Grace said, playing excitedly with the toy. She held it up to Chuck. "Woof Dada! Woof, woof!"

"Woof yourself" he said.

"Mama!" Grace went on. "Woof, woof! Want woof!"

"You have woof" Blair said, nodding to the toy.

"Want woof. Doggy!"

"I want a cappuccino" Blair said.

Grace picked up a toy fox and studied it for a second. Then she held it up to Chuck.

"Woof?" she asked.

"See how bright she is?" Blair remarked.

"You're right Grace" Chuck nodded. "Foxes technically go woof too. Good girl."

With a contemplative look on her face Grace picked up a pig and held it up.

"Woof?"

"Oink" Chuck corrected. Then he sighed and rolled his eyes to Blair. "I cannot believe I just said 'oink' at a public place."

Blair suddenly felt her bad mood vanish and burst out laughing. The combination of Chuck's facial expression and what he had just said was too comical to maintain a straight face. Chuck looked puzzled at her sudden amusement but Grace laughed too and cried 'oink' a few times while waving the toy pig in the air.

"Care to tell me what was so amusing?" Chuck asked before shushing Grace.

Blair just shook her head through her laughter. After a moment the corners of Chuck's mouth began to turn upward as well. He even managed to send a bright smile to the waitress who came to take their order.

"My, my" she said with a smile. "Looks like spirits are high here. Can I take your order?"

"A cappuccino" Blair said. "And… a slice of chocolate cake."

"I'll have a latte" Chuck said. "No pastries."

"And the little lady?"

"She'll have a German shepherd if you have one."

"I don't think that's on the menu" the waitress said with a thoughtful frown.

"Never mind" Chuck smirked.

The waitress disappeared and Blair searched through Grace's bag to find a bottle of juice. She placed it in front of Grace who dropped the pig and grabbed both handles on the bottle. Blair managed to get her bib on before she lifted the bottle to her mouth.

"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider Barcelona?" Blair asked.

"Positive. It's just any other day of the year, Blair. Grace is too little to know what it's all about and you know I don't give a damn about the holidays."

"She doesn't know yet what it's about" Blair argued. "You'll miss out on all the excitement and seeing how happy she is when the day arrives. Besides, think of the future. Don't you want her to see pictures of you around for Christmas when she's older and looking through photo albums? You've already missed her first Christmas."

"Fine, I'll think about it" Chuck said with no intention of doing so.

"I hope you mean that."

He didn't answer, focusing on wiping the baby's face clean of juice. Christmas this year was not just Christmas, it was also just after the anniversary of his father's death. He really didn't think he would be able to fake merriment this year and Grace was probably better off without his presence. Next year he could reevaluate. The older she got the more important the holidays would become to her and he had no intention of standing her up for things that mattered to her. This year however it didn't matter to Grace and therefore he considered it unimportant that he should be present.

"We can talk about it more another time" he said as the waitress approached with their order. "Let's just try the coffee, shall we?"

---

On Christmas Day Blair dressed Grace up in a red velvet dress with a matching bowtie and almost grabbed her phone to take a picture and send it to Chuck. Then she changed her mind, deciding that if he wanted to be part of Grace's Christmas it was his damn responsibility to do something about it. She lifted her daughter up and carried her downstairs to open up their presents. Cyrus and her mother were there and so was Dorota. It was pretty much the way it had been last year, including Chuck's stocking being empty. It was still in its box in Blair's closet, waiting for whatever year Chuck would decide to partake in the festivities.

As Blair had predicted Grace loved Christmas morning. The gifts themselves were of little interest to her but the wrapping paper and the bows were an endless source of fascination and she seemed to love the sounds she was able to make but jamming her hands into the pile of paper. She kept at it for almost an hour straight and screamed loudly when Dorota tried to gather up all the garbage. Eventually she grew more hungry than playful and Eleanor was able to move her from the floor to her high chair for some early lunch.

"Pity Charles couldn't join us this year" she remarked dryly as everyone sat down to eat.

"Yes, pity" Blair agreed, helping Grace eat her lunch.

"At least last year he had an excuse" Eleanor went on. "Losing your only parent at such a young age would throw you off your balance. This year I see no reason why he wasn't here to watch Grace open up her presents."

"He hates Christmas and thinks Grace is too young to know what it's about anyway" Blair said. "At the end of the day it's his loss."

"Sometimes I worry about that boy's mental stability" Eleanor muttered. "It's a bit disconcerting that my granddaughter spends so much time alone with him."

"He's her father, Mother" Blair pointed out, glaring at Eleanor.

"Yes, and he's an eighteen year-old who's not in college and is not exactly emotionally stabile. I hope you're on your guard."

"He would never do anything to hurt Grace" Blair protested.

She continued to help the baby with her food while thinking several unflattering things about Chuck for standing them up on Christmas. Next year he was definitely not going to get away with it.

---

Chuck lifted Grace up and carried her into the doctor's office. It was the first time he had taken her for one of her check-ups; Blair had always gone in the past but today she wasn't able to. Chuck wasn't sure he liked taking his daughter to one of these things. He knew she was getting a vaccination, which he did not look forward to, and he didn't like the idea of his baby being scrutinized by a doctor and a nurse. But there was no way around it.

"Mr. Bass good day" Dr. Harrison said without bothering to get up from his seat by the computer. "How is Grace today?"

"Sleepy" Chuck said. "She fell asleep in the car on the way over."

"Most of us do in New York City traffic" the extremely cheerful elderly nurse clucked. Chuck disliked her at first glance. "This is the first time I've seen you here Mr. Bass."

"Grace's mother usually handles these checkups" Chuck said, taking a seat with his cranky daughter in his arms.

"I'm glad I finally get to meet you" the nurse said. "I like seeing how both parents interact with the child. Attachment is so important."

"So what do you want to start with?" Chuck asked Dr. Harrison, done with the nurse.

"How is she doing?" Dr. Harrison asked, abandoning his computer and turning around in his chair to look at his patient. "Has she been feeling well lately?"

"She's… as always" Chuck said, feeling like they were trying to find signs that him and Blair were bad parents.

"Sleeps okay, eats okay?"

"For an eighteen month-old."

"Well let's find out" Dr. Harrison said. "Let's see how much you weigh, Grace."

Chuck got up and walked over to the changing table. He put Grace down on it and she fussed. Without talking to the doctor or the nurse he took off her clothes and lifted her up in his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and grabbed a hold of his shirt.

"Okay now what?" Chuck asked.

"Put her on the scale, please" the nurse said.

Chuck carried Grace over to the scale and sat her down on it. She kept her arms around his neck and protested loudly when he untangled her. She didn't start to cry but she was definitely not happy about it. Once she had been weighed Chuck lifted her up again.

"I can't believe we start making a big deal of how much they weigh when they're this little" he muttered under his breath.

"We monitor their growth to make sure they are getting the right amount of nutrients and to make sure there's nothing else wrong" Dr. Harrison said.

"And now?"

"Now we measure her" the nurse said. "Lay her down here."

Chuck tried to lay her down on the measuring board but this time she was even more reluctant to let go of him. She began to cry and fidget and despite the nurse's best efforts she refused to be quiet and lay still.

"Would you mind holding her head?" the nurse asked.

Chuck shot her a look, finding this more than a little unsettling, but obediently tried to help hold his daughter still. After a while the nurse was able to get a measurement and Chuck could lift his screaming child up again. Once she was back in his arms Grace quieted.

"She's Daddy's girl I see" Dr. Harrison noted.

"Can I get her dressed again?" Chuck asked, not in the mood for socializing.

"Go right ahead."

Chuck parked Grace on the changing table again but let her remain standing. She stood with a firm grip on his shoulders while he struggled to get her clothes back on, at the back of his mind promising himself that he would never go to one of these checkups again. Grace was cranky and her cheeks were wet but she stayed mostly silent while her father dressed her. Chuck then lifted her up in his arms and took a seat with her in his lap.

"Okay, can we get the shot and leave?" he said.

"Just a few questions first…" Dr. Harrison said. "I know she began to speak at an early age. How many words does she say?"

"Many" Chuck said. "I don't keep count… but she can put words together in short sentences and she seems to learn new words every day."

"Children usually don't start forming sentences until a bit later" the doctor remarked.

"My daughter's above average."

The nurse rolled her eyes at the complete seriousness in his voice but he could care less what she thought.

"I read in the books that children her age can say like ten words or so but Grace says far more than that" Chuck said, adjusting Grace's top. "She learns new ones all the time. Her vocabulary is really extensive."

Dr. Harrison made a few notes in the chart and then looked up.

"Can she build with blocks?"

"Not all that much" Chuck said. "She can put two on top of each other and that's about it."

"Two is good. How is her walking?"

"Better, although it's mostly a trot or a slow stumble. She gets really pissed when her legs don't carry her the way she wants them to and more often than not she'll stop trying and stick to her version of crawling instead."

"Early talker, late walker" the doctor noted.

"Unlike her father" Chuck commented. "I was the other way around."

"Can she follow simple commands?"

"She can go get my scarf if I ask her to."

"Your scarf?" the nurse echoed.

"It's… like her security blanket" Chuck said, sighing at the frown on her face. "I don't like it any more than you do."

"And what about other types of commands?" the doctor asked. "If she's asked to point to a body part on someone can she do that?"

"Grace where is Daddy's nose?" Chuck asked.

Grace gave him a look like he was a moron and reached for a ladybug toy sitting on the table next to them. Chuck picked it up and held it up to his face, trying to get her eyes to go there.

"Gracie where is Daddy's nose?" he asked again.

She reached up and accidentally smacked him on the nose, then grabbed the ladybug and studied it with interest.

"That's good enough" Dr. Harrison chuckled.

"She likes the color red" Chuck said. "Whenever she sees something in that color she'll go for it."

"It's a very pretty color, isn't it Grace?" the doctor grinned.

"You should have seen her when she smacked her hand in ketchup and smeared it all over" Chuck said. "Nothing pretty about that. Are we done with the third degree now?"

"I'm asking these questions to keep an eye on her development" Dr. Harrison said. "I think I got everything I needed."

"Good. If there's nothing else then give her the shot please so we can be on our way."

"Are you in a hurry?" the nurse asked.

"I want to get it over with" Chuck said recoiling when Grace almost hit him in the eye with the ladybug.

"I understand" the doctor chuckled. "I can assure you though that it's worse on you than it is on her. She has no idea what's coming."

Chuck wasn't so sure about that. The nurse prepared the injection while the doctor exposed Grace's arm and cleaned a patch of skin with some alcohol and Grace gave him a very skeptic look and pulled her arm free. She seemed to have some idea of what was going on and didn't like it. This wasn't going to be very pleasant.

"It's okay, Grace" Chuck said and caressed the back of her head. "You've done this before and you've survived."

"Okay, young lady" the doctor said. "Dad, why don't you take a firm hold of her so she doesn't squirm and this will all be over in just a second."

Grace's high-pitched screams a few seconds later made Chuck wonder if anything this doctor said could be considered reliable. He managed to get Grace's arm back into her sleeve while she cried with indignation and pain, swearing to himself that he would never bring her to another doctor if needles were in any way involved. That would have to be Blair's specialty.

---

That evening Blair and Grace both came to spend the night at Chuck's new penthouse suite at the Empire hotel. They were getting concerned about all the moving around she was doing so they had agreed that it was in the baby's best interest to have both parents around for the first few days in this new environment.

"Grace has become so clingy lately" Blair complained, walking out of the guest bedroom. "It's like she needs me to mother her all around the clock."

"Well you are away a lot" Chuck said, looking up from his newspaper. "That's just the reality of the situation. She doesn't see you enough during the weeks when you're in school and I have her during weekends."

"I am not a bad mother" Blair said defensively.

"And I am not Bob Woodward."

"What?"

"Oh, my mistake. I thought we were randomly throwing out declarations of things we were not."

She made a face at him and sat down. He chuckled.

"I didn't say that you are a bad mom. You should be glad that she's so clingy with you. When she starts to be indifferent to you, that's when it's time to be concerned."

"You think she's going to start being indifferent to me?" Blair asked worriedly.

"I hope not. But you are away a lot."

Blair was quiet for a long time, biting her bottom lip and staring out the window. Chuck continued reading his paper. He knew she was troubled but he had no intention of sugar coating anything for her.

"I've always dreamt of Yale…" Blair finally said. "Giving it up, I just… I just don't know if I have it in me to do that."

Chuck looked up from his paper and folded it.

"I keep telling you to defer. Yale will still be there a year from now. I wish you could have it all Blair but sadly we're not living in a romantic comedy. How many mothers do you know of who go to Yale a year after giving birth?"

"I can have it all" Blair said. "If you would only consider going to New Haven with me. Grace can be with you while I'm in class and we can split the weekends more evenly."

Chuck rolled his eyes and rose from his seat. Blair got up as well.

"Chuck I'm serious about this. You, me and the baby, we could get a place together or I can cancel the au pair and you can take her room. We can both see Grace every single day, like we did during summer."

"I'm not going to play house with my non-girlfriend" Chuck said, pouring himself a drink. "Especially not the playing-house edition where I sit around the house all day long throwing away my youth while you're out frolicking among your Yale-mates."

"Spending all day with Grace is throwing away your youth?"

"I'm not cut out for the whole housewife thing" Chuck argued. "You forget I have business here in New York. I have the hotel, you know, the one we're currently in. For me to move to New Haven makes about as much sense as for you to transfer to NYU."

"Well we've got to do something" Blair complained. "This arrangement isn't working."

"It is for me" Chuck said. "I'm safely rooted in New York. You're the one who insists on going back and forth like a mad yoyo."

"Actually I believe I am the one kind enough to let you have the baby here with you on weekends while I go off to get an education. At least one of us has to set a good example for her and actually make something of our lives."

"Yeah you're so kind and generous. And so bound by the custodial agreement. Don't try to fool me even for a second that you wouldn't waste any time moving her to New Haven with you permanently if you had the legal option."

"Hey, better that she lives full time with me than with you. I'm her mother and you are that guy who ditched her for almost a full month last year."

"Oh we're bringing that up?"

Blair had a very smarting reply at the tip of her tongue but before she could get a word out the baby started to call for her.

"Would you look at that?" she said to Chuck. "Grace wakes up and she calls for me."

"Too bad you're not here all the other times during the course of a week when she calls for you" Chuck shot back.

Blair ignored him and hurried into the bedroom. Grace was fidgeting in her crib.

"Mommy" she complained.

"What is it sweetie?" Blair asked, leaning over the crib.

"Thiwwy."

"Thirsty? It's after bedtime, sweetie" Blair said. "You can have water, I guess."

"No."

"I'll go get some for you, okay?"

"No!"

"I'll just be in the bathroom, pouring you a glass of water."

"No."

Unsure of what else to do Blair lifted the baby up into her arms. This immediately stopped the fidgeting.

"You want water from the kitchen?" Blair asked, getting a nod in response. "Okay. But then you have to go to sleep, okay?"

Grace nodded and wrapped her arms around Blair's neck, burying her face at the nape. Blair walked out to the other room and headed for the kitchen. Chuck put his tumbler down on the pool table and followed.

"What's wrong, dearie?" he asked Grace.

"She wants water" Blair said.

In the kitchen she opened a cabinet and grabbed Grace's favorite cup. It was bring red and had Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on it but trying to tell the baby that it was a Christmas cup was a waste of energy. Grace liked it and so they continued to use it. Blair filled the cup up with water, which was easier said than done while holding an eighteen month-old.

"Don't fill it all the way up" Chuck objected.

Blair gave him a look and poured some of the water down the drain.

"And she wants ice."

"No she doesn't" Blair snorted.

"She always has ice nowadays" Chuck said.

"Since when?"

"Since a few months ago."

"Fine, then you do it" Blair snarled.

She walked back towards the living room while Chuck picked up the cup she had put back down on the counter. Grace protested and reached out her hand towards the cup.

"Thiwwy!"

"Chuck is going to get you water" Blair said, refusing to refer to him as 'Dad' right now. "We'll wait for him in the other room."

"Thiwwy!"

Blair ignored her complaints and sat down on the couch, placing Grace next to her. A few seconds later Chuck came out with the cup, now half-filled with water and with two ice-cubes in it. He handed it to Grace who took a large sip.

"How's that?" Chuck asked her.

"Bababa" Grace said.

"Super."

He moved to take a seat next to Grace, but Blair shook her head and harked.

"You go sit over there" she said and nodded to the other end of the couch.

Chuck rolled his eyes but obeyed. Grace drank her water slowly, taking one sip then waiting for almost a minute before taking the next. Blair was starting to lose her patience and the fact that Chuck was looking at Grace without a trace of impatience or boredom only fueled Blair's irritation.

Chuck was well aware of what Grace was doing. She was taking her sweet time with the water because the water was mainly an excuse to get to stay up for a while and sit with Blair. He couldn't for the life of him understand how Blair could choose any college or education above being with their daughter and he resented her for making their year and a half-old daughter employ the same kind of tactics Chuck had used with Bart when he was little to get his father to spend more time with him.

"That's enough water" Blair said after almost ten minutes. "Drink more and you'll need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night."

"She wears diapers" Chuck pointed out.

"I know that" Blair said. "But she shouldn't get accustomed to having lots of water before going to bed. If you've been giving her ice water right before her bedtime then stop that immediately. Clearly things go to crap around here whenever I leave."

Chuck sighed and rolled his eyes yet again while Blair put the cup on the coffee table and got up from the couch.

"Sweet dreams, dearie" Chuck said.

Blair took the baby back to the bedroom and stopped by the crib.

"Grace, you're going to have to let go of Mommy, okay?" she said. "Time for you to go back to sleep."

Grace shook her head and wrapped her tiny arms tighter around Blair's neck.

"Grace don't be difficult" Blair said. "You need to let me put you back down into bed. You've got to get lots of rest or you won't be rested for our day of fun tomorrow."

"No" Grace said, looking up at her mother and pointing to the bed Blair slept in during the weekends.

"Honey I won't be going to bed yet so you wouldn't be sleeping next to me."

"Daddy."

"Daddy and I have some things we need to talk about" Blair said. "You will be fast asleep by the time I go to bed."

"No!" Grace whined and pointed again to where she wanted to be put.

Blair frowned and was barely able to keep in a sigh. She refused to put the baby down in a large bed all by herself.

"Daddy yes" Grace said in a sad, small voice.

"Okay" Blair caved. "I will move you to my bed when I go to sleep. But just this once, okay? And you have to promise you will go to bed right now."

She realized there was no point in trying to reason with a person who wasn't even two years old, but she still hadn't quite gotten used to Grace being able to speak in something resembling sentences. Grace loosened her grip and Blair was able to put her down in the crib and pull the comforter up to her neck.

"No" Grace protested.

"Later. I promise. Which stuffed animal do you want?"

"Buh."

The bug was the bumblebee Serena had bought way back when. Blair grabbed it from the foot of the bed and tucked it in with the baby.

"There we go. Now sweet dreams Grace. I love you."

Blair placed a kiss on two of her finger tips and then placed the fingers against Grace's lips. The little girl looked sullen but at least didn't protest further. Blair caressed her cheek and then walked back out to Chuck, who had grabbed his tumbler again.

"I don't care" Blair said.

"About what?"

"I don't care what the custody arrangement says. We can't keep going with all this back and forth. It's not good for her."

"I could not agree more."

"You agree?"

"Most definitely."

"I cannot tell you how relieved I am to hear that" Blair said, taking a seat. "I'll put the brakes on the au pair thing and you can move out to New Haven as soon as possible."

"Wait, hold it for a second bulldog" Chuck said, holding up a hand in protest. "I said I agreed that the situation is untenable; I never said anything about moving."

"Then I don't understand."

"She belongs here, on Manhattan. With parents who have time for her."

"If I had known you were nothing but an old fashioned women-should-be-chained-to-the-stove-and-the-crib ass before I slept with you that night in the limo would never have happened" Blair snarled.

"It feels like we're going over this time and time again; I do not care if you want to go to Yale so long as you don't do it at such a critical stage in her life. And please God don't go near the stove, you probably can't cook worth a crap."

"I'll have you know I make an excellent apple pie."

"Right. One of the major food groups."

"You know what, that is not even the issue here" Blair said. "We can't keep this up. I will have my daughter with me and I won't have her going back and forth several times a week and I don't give a damn what you or any court of law has to say. You can come to New Haven to see her during the weekends instead of me bringing her here."

"Hold the phone, why does her not commuting mean her being in New Haven?"

"Because I'm her mother and that is the most important thing in the world."

"Aside from Yale or we wouldn't be in this predicament."

"Ensuring my future ensures her future."

"Did New York suddenly run out of Ivy League colleges? Transfer to Columbia if Grace really does mean more to you than Yale."

"I have a better idea."

"I warn you Waldorf, I will declare full on war if you so much as try to move her off the island of Manhattan full-time, let alone to another state."

"I find it interesting that all of a sudden you're the poster child for a devoted father when last year you seemed to find it exhausting to spend more than an hour at a time with her" Blair shot back.

"Last year is irrelevant. We're talking about right now."

"Right now I'm going to find a way to keep my daughter's life stabile and get my degree at Yale" Blair said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I am done talking to you. I'm going to bed."

"Go ahead, but keep in mind that no matter what you come up with the baby is not permanently relocating. You'd have better success convincing Yale to let you study from Manhattan."

"That would defeat the point of going to Yale, now would it?"

"Oh so it's the campus you're after. Here I thought it was the education."

"Like you would even understand. You barely finished high school."

"I understand where my priorities should be."

"Do you seriously want me to give up my entire life, throw away my entire future, and focus all on just being Grace's mom? I'm not cut out for the housewife thing so what am I supposed to do when she turns six and heads off to kindergarten? Or when she's all grown up and doesn't need me anymore?"

"Maybe you could go to Yale then" Chuck said dryly.

"And what, be in my thirties when I graduate?"

"Solve the problem whichever way you want to. Just remember that Grace belongs here on Manhattan and while I'm okay with her staying in New Haven with you a few days a week I'm not letting her move there permanently. Now if there is nothing further you would like to add I am going to bed."

"Not before I go to bed" Blair said snottily and strode off to her bedroom.

"Whichever way you want it" Chuck said to the empty room and walked slowly to his own bedroom.

---

Hope that didn't suck =) Thanks for reading!