Author's note: Hello and good evening, my darling readers! I'm so, so happy and grateful for all of the reviews you've graciously taken the time to write to me! It's your comments that keep me going and I truly couldn't ask for better readers! This story has me so inspired and I can't stop writing! The credit for this inspiration must be shared equally between Chuck and Blair as well you, my dearest readers! Please, as I've said before, if the characterizations aren't the way you'd like them or the dialogue seems off - anything! - please tell me and I'll do my best to fix everything to make this the most enjoyable story possible! However, if you're enjoying my story, then a little comment would be greatly, greatly appreciated as well. Thank you and please enjoy the second chapter! :)

Disclaimer: I don't like putting these as they make me sad, but: I don't own Chuck Bass or Blair Waldorf.

c h a p t e r 2 .

1 : 0 8 a . m .

Eventually, the ardor of Chuck's sobs ebbed away and little hiccups that would have been adorable under normal circumstances echoed in the silence of Blair's room. She could tell he was making an effort to regain some control, but he was still trembling from his tears. She pulled him gently up and onto her soft bed and felt how weak he was; he succumbed to her and lay down on her pillows, exhausted. Her hands fluttered over him; straightening his jacket, brushing away stray tears and smoothing his hair. Blair then turned away and, with her feet dangling over the edge of the bed, bent down to remove her Jimmy Choos. It was quite a process to free her dainty toes from the harsh upright position those five inch heels created, but she did so with deft fingers weaving and winding her feet to sweet, sweet freedom.

The room was dark, save for the faint glow of the moon spilling in from the window opposite her bed and everything was oddly peaceful. The distant clinking of glasses, laughter and chatter from her mother's wedding downstairs was easily ignorable and, barefoot, Blair scooted over closer to the heir of Bass Industries and settled in beside him, her left arm draped over him protectively.

She listened to his deep, rattling breaths and made a faraway wish that, someday, she would be able to fall asleep every night to just the sound of him beside her. "Do you want to sleep?" she asked quietly, wondering if he wanted to simply be left alone now.

"No," he replied blankly. The emptiness in his voice scared her a little – to think of a Chuck Bass without a drawl or a witty remark was a terrifying thought indeed.

"Do you… want me to just leave you be?" she wondered solemnly. This was one instance where she wouldn't be offended in the slightest if he agreed.

"No," he answered quickly and forcefully. "Please don't." he amended in a softer tone, "I'd rather not be left alone to my thoughts… They're not too pleasant," he said gruffly, but with a hint of dark humor. Even a glimmer of the old Chuck was enough to infuse Blair's heart with a hint of hope.

In the silence that followed, she took to running her hand up and down his arm absent-mindedly, "Should I talk?"

"Can you ever help yourself?" he asked with a small smile she caught curving his mouth and she almost started in surprise; his moment of light-heartedness produced soft giggles and a radiant smile that broke out upon her face. She was so caught up in him that she forgot to put on a frown of mock irritation as she normally would have…

She pulled an errant lock of his hair playfully, but soon brought her fingers up to her lips, kissed them and pressed them to his forehead in compensation, "Is that a 'yes'?" she continued with mild sarcasm.

His face had become grim once more and he nodded silently. She sobered at his quietness. "Is there anything in particular that you'd like me to talk about?" she questioned him, pursuing the conversation; it was probably best to feign normalcy, at least for the moment – distract him somewhat. Who else did he have?

That thought hit her – truly, who else did he have? Nate was his friend, but they seemed to have drifted apart after their spat over her and she was sure Chuck wouldn't be able to talk to Nathaniel about this, nor did she think Nate capable of knowing what to say or how to deal with his best friend's grief. Chuck's father was gone, he'd swiftly severed his ties with the Van der Woodsen's this afternoon and… there was no-one else - only Blair.

This realization shocked her to the core; she'd never fully understood how alone he was. Was that why he was the way he was? Was that why he entertained so many girls? Did they make him feel like there were more people in the world who cared about him than there actually were? Was that why he drank? Not for pleasure as he always said, but… to escape? Forget?

Blair shook the thoughts away; she could ruminate some other time… Right now, Chuck was here with her and she wasn't sure how long he would decide to stay.

He was still pondering an answer to her question earlier and she waited patiently. Slowly, he shrugged lethargically, as if the action cost him much strength, "I don't know…" Put on the spot, she began racking her brain for something interesting to say, but was interrupted when he finished his sentence, "I wouldn't mind talking with you," he added a bit sheepishly.

Blair Waldorf had never, ever heard Chuck Bass do sheepish, but it melted her heart. She supposed there was still a Hell of a lot of alcohol still left in his blood and he wouldn't be back to normal until his heart healed… The loss of his cold, harsh father had impacted him tremendously and Blair wondered if it had affected him so much because his father had never loved him back…

"What's your favorite kind of ice cream?" asked the young Waldorf suddenly. She and Serena constantly used to play the Question Game during sleepovers and over morning coffees and Blair was now the master of coming up with random questions. Serena had never been very good at coming up questions, but her answers were always interesting…

Chuck turned his head toward her a bit and, even though he omitted his usual eyebrow raise, his eyes traced with red registered a bit of amused shock. Who knew Blair Waldorf did casual, he was probably thinking…

Half-heartedly, he chuckled a bit and thought her question over a moment. "Strawberry," he answered decisively and Blair could definitely see Chuck Bass loving strawberry flavored ice cream for some reason…

"If you had –" Blair began, but was abruptly cut off.

"Just a second," interjected Chuck, "It's my turn to ask a question, is it not? Or am I mixing up my female sleepover games?" he asked with an almost amused tone. Every word he said was an almost version of the way he used to speak… He was a mere shadow of his former self and everything from his mannerisms to his voice seemed like a watered-down charade of the old Chuck Bass. The man lying in her arms was a disaster, a complete train wreck and the degree of his destruction scared her a little. She'd never felt that sort of total devastation and so she didn't know exactly how to proceed… She supposed she could do nothing but just keep trying to be there for him and love him fiercely, yet quietly.

She forged a happy smile and replied, "It is your turn to ask a question, oh, king of the sleepover games… I'm sorry I almost disobeyed the rules," she said with as much playfulness as she could muster.

Chuck was now staring aimlessly at a spot on her wall and the expression on his face erased her smile. The heavy sadness in the room suddenly overpowered her and it hit her like a freight train would an unsuspecting idiot wandering on the railroad. She had just been starting to feel as if things were getting better, but it had all just instantaneously fallen apart before her eyes with his face. His grief was so great that it seemed impossible to overcome. However, she refused to give into it at the moment; its great weight was crushing her Chuck and pressing down on her… She hated it, wanted it gone! If only things in real life were as simple as they were for Blair in high school. If only Chuck's sadness was like a Nelly Yuki she could just command and banish with the wave of a hand, spill her lunch on and force to pry the gum from under her Prada heels.

This unbearably poignant and immeasurable pain he was experiencing wasn't something she could get rid of with the toss of her magnificent head – it was something that needed to be worked at constantly and, eventually, she knew, he wouldn't feel sad anymore…

And she just happened to be Blair Waldorf. Therefore, if she wanted to lift a bit of the sadness, then damn it, she would.

Squeezing his shoulder, she only said his name only once in way she never had before, "Chuck," and it was enough to bring him back from whatever dark abyss he was visiting in his mind. The faraway glaze over his eyes melted away and he was her Chuck again, not Bart's.

"If you bought a plane ticket to go away tomorrow… Where would you go and who would you bring?" he asked in that voice hoarse from tears and almost monotone in his agony.

His question made her pulse stagger. Had he asked that on purpose or without thinking? Her answer felt obvious and she hated making herself vulnerable…

However, this didn't feel quite real; Chuck Bass curled up peacefully in her arms, dried tear streaks upon his face, her bare toes beside his black Armani shoes… It felt like she was in some sort of alternate reality where they didn't have to put up fences, play games or pretend they didn't feel something they obviously did. The four walls enclosing Blair's bedroom felt like they were enclosing so much more; a haven, a safe haven where Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf could actually be a normal couple. The couple that talked 'till two in the morning on the phone, the couple that picked off each other's plates in a restaurant and the couple Chuck has said they'd never be. He'd been so, so wrong.

"I would go to Italy with you," she answered honestly and she saw Chuck eyelids flutter shut and felt his intake of breath. They shared a minute in utter silence and they both knew. They just knew.

Soon, the question game resumed and they played on for a while more.

That was how they spent their second hour together.

Final note: Thank you again and again and again for reading! I hope you liked this new chapter and I cannot wait to hear from you all! Let's see if I can crank out Chapter III as fast I did Chapter II... ;)