Author's Note: I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your reviews, questions, and support. This story began as a fun diversion for myself and morphed into one of the more challenging things I have written. Basing a story on events of late-S5 and staying in Blair's head is hard. Harder than I anticipated it being. So thank you again for reading this, offering your comments and suggestions, and encouraging me to keep challenging myself.
Five years later...
Over the rim of her cup, Serena peers at the men seated in chairs opposite the chaise from where she sits conversing with Blair. In the circles those gathered moved within growing up, the name Bass was synonymous with a certain type of man, with the kind of man born into power and wealth and trained to use it because the ends always justifies the means.
Yet Serena cannot help but notice the way his eyes soften every time they rest on Blair, every time they hear his wife's laughter. Even the austere lines of his face and of his lips seem to ease under her presence, and the troubled expression etched into him following the death of his mother has all but disappeared. The light touch of his hand against his wife's back, the light look of their shared glances makes it clear that the deep, almost startling vibrant connection between them has not changed in the five years since Serena last visited their home.
Another power rules in this empire – one that Blair and Chuck have equally surrendered to – and Serena cannot help the way her lips pull into a smile at the realization that her childhood friends are more than simply happy. Mister and Mrs. Bass are deeply, powerfully connected in a way that no young lady is raised to expect to experience with her husband.
And yet some things have not changed in the five years she has been gone. Blair is still Blair. Taking a sip of her tea before carefully balancing the cup on her knee, before looking at her closest friend with a calculating and scheming grin.
"A select gathering has been summoned to attend to Anne Archibald tomorrow for morning tea," Blair informs the blonde before raising her cup in salutation. "You should come with me."
The invitation causes Serena's eyes to meet Blair's, causes the blonde to shake her head emphatically at the offer. The Dowager Countess nitpicks more than Serena's own mother, and Serena's flightiness is one of her favorite topic to discuss. It would not matter that Serena is now married, that she and her husband moved back to town in order to care for Dan's elderly father, or that Serena is now related to the Dowager through her marriage to Jenny's older brother. The thinly veiled references to poor matchmaking and fallen women will still be thrown her way.
"You know perfectly well she will pounce on me and lecture me. You're just trying to divert her attention."
"Of course," Blair replies over the rim of her cup with eyes shining in false innocence. "What are friends for, after all?"
Serena's hearty laughter attracts the attention of the men seated in the room. Nate jerks his head towards the door in a gesture for them to adjourn to Chuck's study, and the other man rises to his feet in agreement. Blair turns to view them inquiringly, and her husband places a soft kiss against her cheek in farewell.
"There are a number of matters I need to clarify with Nate so if you will excuse us, we'll retire to my study."
The men retreat from the room, and memories of them strolling off to partake in scotch and cigars and other unmentionables swiped from Bart Bass' study flash in Serena's mind. Yet Blair seems unconcerned as the door closes behind them, as her best friend raises a quizzical yet suggestive brow in her direction.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Blair replies with a shrug. "No matter. I'll drag the information out of him later."
She places her cup and saucer on the table before rising to her feet, outstretching her hand in an invitation for Serena to join her. The blonde accepts, allowing Blair to drag her through the beautifully decorated drawing room towards the open doors leading out to the terrace.
"Come," Blair bids. "I want to show you the other half of my life."
From the open doors, Serena can hear the shrill laughter of children playing outdoors on an unusually warm spring day. She strolls with her best friend through the doors to the railing of the veranda, linking her arm in Blair's and bumping her shoulder against Blair's in a gentle prodding.
"Henry is five, George is three, and Evelyn is one."
The satisfaction and deep happiness that rings in Blair's voice pulls Serena's attention to her best friend, but the brunette is looking ahead towards the scene in front of her. Love and pride glows in her face; the happiest Serena has seen her in a long time. She follows her gaze to where two children romp and play on the lush lawn in front of the lake as the ducks swim merrily past.
Two brown-haired young boys – the older one taller and ganglier than when she last saw him – hold wooden swords and are staging a fight under the watchful gaze of two nursemaids, one of which bounces a toddler on her hip. Blair steers her down the steps towards them, and Serena offers her a teasing smile.
"No wonder you could never visit me. You have been busy."
"No, Chuck's been busy," Blair corrects. "I've been occupied."
Serena closes her eyes and huffs at the suggestive undertone to Blair's comment, and the brunette laughs at her formerly scandalous friend's prudish ways. The toddler on the nursemaid's hip turns her head at the laughter, and she waves her arms excitedly when she spies her mother.
"Mama!"
The shouted demand to be held is assuaged when the pair strolls towards the little girl and Blair immediately lifts her daughter into her arms. The little girl wraps her arms about her mother's neck and snuggles her curly head into Blair's chest. Her wide eyes with their impossibly long and lush lashes remain fixed on Serena, however; openly inquiring as to who this woman standing beside her mother could be.
"Contrary to all appearances, this is the dangerous one," Blair informs Serena as she bounces the little girl in her arms and places a kiss against the crown of her head. "She's already has her father wrapped around her little finger, and her brothers are hers to command when they aren't busy fighting each other."
"Did you expect anything else? She looks exactly like you, Blair. I'm surprised she hasn't already hatched a scheme to earn her own necklace."
"Ow! You did that on purpose!"
The wail deflects their attention to the swordsmen progressing further down the lawn. George holds his knee as he rolls in the grass, and Henry stands over him with a scowl on his face.
"I didn't hit you there! That would be a foul blow," Henry protests, having studied and versed himself on the rules and regulations of proper swordsmanship. "It was your own sword. You stuck yourself!"
"Did not!"
The nursemaids hover unsure whether to intervene give that their charges have yet to come to blows. Blair, however, takes one look at her eldest son's face, at the hard and determined features he inherited from his father and immediately hands Evelyn off to Serena.
"Here, hold her. A deadly insult is going to be uttered at any minute, and then it will have to be avenged, shattering the idyllic imagine I have managed to present to you in my letters."
Left with no other option, Serena hefts Evelyn into her arms and watches Blair walk quickly down the lawn. Ever the fixer, the brunette calls upon the boys to take their corners until a just and suitable solution can be found. The jab of fingers into her eyes, though, forces Serena to focus on Evelyn.
Unlike how she behaved in her mother's arms, the little girl sits up in Serena's embrace and stares directly into her face. Little hands touch her cheek as Evelyn leans closer, peering into one eye and then the other. She points at them with pudgy fingers leaning closer still in obvious fascination.
"You have very pretty eyes, too, Miss Evelyn," Serena informs her. Everything about the little girl may be a copy of her mother, but her eyes are her father's eyes. A softer, more mesmeric shade and yet still as piercing as Chuck's. Evelyn blinks at her then lifts her gaze to Serena's hair, offering the woman holding her a huge and delighted smile.
She reaches towards the arrangement of frizzy gold and although Serena expects to feel a tug, the tiny hands touch gently, patting Serena's hair before lacing her fingers lightly through. Evelyn's face fills with wonder as she stiffens her pudgy fingers and draws strands free, marveling over the color.
Serena knows she should stop her; her hair is wayward enough as it is. Yet she can only watch as the little girl explores; curious and enthralled with the difference between her own hair and the blonde strands framing Serena's face.
"Thank you," Blair replies at her return. "War has been averted and peace restored."
She reaches for Evelyn, and Serena readily relinquishes the child. Yet Evelyn makes noises of protest until Blair allows her to place her little hands on Serena's face and plant a damp kiss on her cheek.
"Prt!" Evelyn announces as she turns back to gaze up at her mother. She curls her fingers around the heart-shaped pendant on the necklace hanging from Blair's neck and drops her head against Blair's shoulder once more.
"Of course, my daughter would find your beauty more fascinating than my own."
The malice of their youth is gone, replaced with the soft indulgent laughter of a woman finally secure in her own life. Serena reaches out to run her fingers through the little girl's brown curls, to admire the little girl's beauty just as Evelyn admired hers.
"She's very beautiful, Blair. Bring her to Anne Archibald's tea tomorrow and the Dowager Countess might very well decide that Evelyn is entitled to be the next Countess of Constance with all the jewels and estates and fashionable attire that comes with it."
Boots on the stone drags their attention towards the house, and the two women watch as Chuck and Nate stride across the terrace towards the staircase leading to the lawn. The boys spy their father, and they run past with swords waving and shouts of delight as they charge up to terrace and launch themselves into their father's arms.
Smiling, Blair glances back to check that the nursemaids are gathering the scattered toys. Then, with Evelyn in her arms and Serena at her side, she starts back up the gently sloping lawn to where her husband and sons await her presence. And yet halfway up the lawn, she reaches out to hold Serena's hand, to stop the blonde long enough to correct her.
"If there is one thing I would like my daughter to repeat from my own life, it is that she finds her great love because the only thing Evelyn is entitled to is happiness."