Author's note: Hello, my loveliest and most cherished readers and reviewers! Here is the next installment to "If Just For Six Hours" - this is their third hour spent together and it involves a most beautiful song that I would love everyone to listen to in order to fully immerse themselves in the story and the mood of the chapter. If you were to search for "Golden Slumbers" on youtube, I'm sure you'll be able to find it. It truly is a beautiful song, it moved me and seemed to suit the purpose I thought up for it... Therefore, with that said, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and I would simply like to thank every single person who had left a most kind review and who had taken the time to read my story. Thank you, thank you, thank you. :)

Disclaimer: Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf are not mine. If they were, they would have gotten together on the show far before now. ;)

c h a p t e r 3 .

2 : 0 8 a . m .

The question game had died and silence drifted in between Chuck and Blair.

They'd shared a few smiles during the game, but Chuck had eventually retreated back into his tortured shell and getting answers from him for the last few questions was damn near impossible. Therefore, the conversation had slowly petered out and they'd settled into a silence that wasn't uncomfortable, but still felt heavy.

Swallowing softly, Blair found that she didn't mind the quiet and thought that that was probably what he needed. She had found out many new things about him and these little glimpses into his mind and heart warmed her in a funnily pleasant way from head to foot. She wondered if he'd ever had a real conversation with anyone before and just spoken about himself; what he liked, disliked, thought, so on and so forth. Oddly, even though she'd known him since he was four, had seen him unclothed and had let him touch her in ways Nate had never dared, she didn't really know his details. She knew what kind of person he was; what made him tick, what left him burning with longing, what sort of suggestive comment was resting on the tip of his tongue and which bow tie he wore on Wednesdays, but she didn't know his intricacies. She now knew that got manicures once a month, occasionally feasted on a McDonald's cheeseburger Happy Meal and hadn't the heart to throw out the toys, could whistle "Let's Get It On" and took midnight walks in Central Park when he couldn't sleep (and wasn't sleeping with someone).

Not once had either of them laughed at the other. Blair didn't know why, but for some reason it would have felt wrong to laugh tonight. It didn't seem to go with the safe, caring feeling in the pit of her stomach and Chuck hadn't mocked any of her answers either. It was as if they had some sort of unspoken understanding that tonight wasn't going to resemble any of the other times they'd spent together – tonight was different. Tonight was a dabbling in the sort of relationship they'd never had and had secretly always wanted. Tonight was the only time all bets were off and guards were down. Tonight was a Chuck and Blair stripped bare of all the social pressures, expectations, smiling facades, and fake happiness they surrounded themselves with to help them believe they didn't need each other.

Tonight was the only thing in their entire relationship that felt real.

In the darkness of her room, she held him in her arms and hummed softly in his ear. She comically made an attempt at his favorite Barry White song and he smiled softly into the calmness of her room, but his smile didn't last for long; it sank down under the heaviness of sorrow. She reached for one of his soft hands and alternated between gently stroking her thumb along the lines of his palm and smoothing back his wild hair from his face. Soon, she was humming bars from Beatles songs and he didn't complain, so she didn't stop.

She'd always loved to sing, but had been chastised constantly as a little girl for her non-stop, out of tune renditions of countless melodies. Blair used to want to be a singer and used to belt out show-stopping set lists in the shower, in her room and even when doing homework. She'd been convinced she was the next big thing, but with Eleanor's constant nit-picking ("Could you stop, Blair?", "At least sing in key!", "Could we have quiet for a moment?") and her father's gentle advice ("Perhaps, darling, you should concentrate on your schoolwork instead…"), Blair had eventually given up her dreams of being a singing superstar years ago. Nonetheless, in stolen moments, she'd hum little bars of her favorite songs and had never stopped loving music… Her extensive CD collection in the corner of her room and her three iPod Touchs (one filled with music for studying, one filled with music to dance to alone in her room and one filled romantic music that made her sigh) were proof of her enduring love affair with song.

She hadn't sung in so long – she hadn't dared - but her little voice (which was, even after all this time, still not meant for singing) clumsily picked out the tunes to "Here Comes the Sun", "Hey Jude" and "Something" – her everlasting favorites.

Her humming was low and slightly dissonant, but Chuck didn't seem to mind; his eyes were shut and his expression was almost tranquil. Her tiny voice drifted through the air of her shadowy room and it almost had an unearthly quality to it; a lone, shaking melody dancing shyly above their heads and attempting to break through the thick, black and blue veil of sadness enveloping them… The sweet, pure tune that contrasted so sharply with Chuck's mourning made her eyes glassy and her face pained. All of a sudden, she felt a wave of sorrow wash over her and chill her to the bone; what did this mean for them? Were they going to come away from tonight and pretend as if it never happened? Would this change everything – change him – and give them the chance they'd always wanted?

Would they only have tonight?

She was halfway through the chorus of "The Long and Winding Road" when his hushed voice broke into her off-key melody.

"Sing 'Golden Slumbers'," he whispered. The unexpected urgency in his tone cut through her song and made the weak note she was holding die in her throat. His all of a sudden intensity sliced through her and she was struck dumb. Struggling to find the melody in her head as she didn't want to disappoint him (ever), Blair searched quickly and desperately though her head to remember the words… How did it start? She knew the tune…

"La da, dee da dum," she began, but he interrupted her again.

"No," he said harshly, his shoulders stiffening and she clapped her mouth shut, stung by the violence of his displeasure. There was this poisonous temper in him that didn't show often, but when it did, it hurt. She'd seen it in him before and perhaps it was because he always managed to wear that expression of suave indifference that those fleeting moment where the power of his emotions leaked through the seams of his mask stirred a flash of terror in her heart. She understood why he had that corrosive anger bubbling and simmering inside of him, but it still burned those around him when his words were a product of that dormant acid. He had a moment where his muscles tensed and his entire being was strung as tightly as the strings pulled taut across a violin, but he somehow found it in him to calm down and he breathed out in a long sigh. "With words," he murmured and she heard sobs in his voice.

Finding the words in her memory in a flash, she shakily began, "Once there was a way to get back homeward," and Blair found her voice to be trembling, but more on-pitch than usual. "Once there was a way to get back home…"

She paused with a silent question and listened to his ragged breathing. He swallowed roughly and audibly and choked out, "Go on," paying no heed to her unspoken query.

Accepting his push to make her continue, she did just that, "Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry," she sang while hesitantly running the backs of her left fingers along his jaw line, "And I will sing a lullaby." The whispers of stubble near his chin and lower cheek tickling the flesh of her hand, she marveled at how he let her treat him with such tenderness… Under normal circumstances, would Chuck Bass let himself be touched so shyly and soothingly?

Blair watched in fascination as tears blossomed in those somber eyes of his, slipped one by one down his face at an alarming rate and she didn't know whether to stop or continue.

"Keep going," he insisted thickly through clenched teeth. The streams of tears drew shimmering trails down his cheeks and she traced each one, trying to chase them away.

"Golden slumbers fill your eyes," she trilled almost prettily, "Smiles awake when you rise," she whispered with the ghost of a sad grin tugging at her mouth. Suddenly, she tasted salt on her lips and she realized she was crying too… "Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry… And –" her voice broke momentarily, but Blair quickly recovered, "I will sing a lullaby." She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to finish the song; her throat was constricting painfully and she felt her own tears trace her jaw and dribble down her neck, but Chuck's pained whimper of, "Finish," forced her to continue.

"Once there was a way," she breathed, "to get back homeward… Once there was a way to get back home…" Chuck was openly sobbing at this point, but she needed to finish because he'd told her to… She couldn't seem to stop; this beautiful melody slightly warped by her less than stellar voice had cast a spell on her and she felt almost connected to Chuck in some way. She felt this overwhelming sense of melancholy running through her blood and knew that she was a part of whatever he was going through right now. She was a part of him and that made her feel good; he'd been a part of her for as long as she could remember.

"Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry…" she sang with a few tremors laced into the words and paused to hold him tighter to her before she finished the song. Enveloping him firmly in her arms, she murmured, "And I will sing a lullaby."

She felt his body convulse in a fit of sobs and she heard him splutter and gag pitifully as he cried in an ugly manner onto her pillows. He wept loudly and painfully, but she didn't care. She made circles with her hands on his back and laid her head on his shoulder. He grabbed her hand encircling his chest and dragged her closer; Blair felt her arm torque a bit at the rough gesture, but ignored the shots of pain in her elbow and shoulder. She didn't give into her sobs, but tears poured unchecked down her face and she knew that most of her makeup had most likely disappeared by now… She imagined black lines of mascara cutting blunt stripes on her alabaster cheeks and almost laughed at the visual, but forgot the fleeting urge at the sudden sound of his voice.

"It was her fa-favorite s-song," he sobbed hollowly and his breaths were coming in heaving gasps – his fingers were curled around Blair's left hand and were like ropes cutting into her skin. Blair frowned softly at his words, not understanding, but not questioning either. "My father," he tripped over the words and doubled over in a fresh wave of cries, "s-said she'd sing it a-all the time… S-said she u-used to sing it to me all the time before –" and he stopped as he couldn't continue. His sobs sounded almost like muffled screams of agony and each one tore at her heart.

Blair felt her lower lip tremble dangerously at his words and sniffled loudly, holding herself together by a thread. There was a pressure building in her throat, behind her eyes and in her heart that was begging her to cry, to break down, but she refrained. She breathed deeply once, twice and then three times, trying to collect herself, while holding on for dear life to her Chuck. She closed her eyes and felt tears cascade down her already shimmering cheeks. Oh, Chuck…

They didn't let go of each other for quite some time, as if they were waiting for a hurricane to pass and they were each other's lifelines... Hurricane or not, they probably were each other's lifelines.

That was how they spent their third hour together.

Final note: Once again, if anyone's curious about the song I used, look up "Golden Slumbers" on youtube and I'm sure you'll be able to listen to it. I really, really hope that you all enjoyed this chapter! All of the reviews you've left me so far have made me so happy and I appreciate each and every single one of them. It would be mean the world to me and more if you let me know what you're thinking, how you're liking the story so far, what could be made better, what you're liking, what you're disliking... Anything and everything on your mind! I'm here to write the story you want, so if you'd all be willing to let me know what you're thinking, that would be more than wonderful!

Have a great day everyone! :D