A/N: Mostly Chuck/Eva central. You've been warned. CB will be included though, as I've promised from the beginning. =)
*Dedicated to MiaTonili. Because, amidst our chatter after seeing the epic new GG promo, a few scenarios came to mind, and I can't put them away until they're written. =) Thank-you.
…
Drabble 1—
Maybe she should have known that it was him all along. Perhaps she should have put two and two together, despite how nice he seemed, and how much of a good guy he looked. He was the perfect gentleman and the perfect lover. Had it all been a dream she concocted in the magic atmosphere of Paris? It didn't seem likely. Tourists got caught up in that type of romance – not that she didn't from time to time – but she had lived in France all her life, and most of that time had been spent in Paris. She did not think she could be swept up so easily into the arms of someone she had not known, until this instant, was the notorious playboy and billionaire baby of New York's Upper East Side, Chuck Bass.
In hindsight, she decided he had been rather smart to change his last name. It wasn't like she was used to saying last names that often, unless it was for some formality. When his friends called him Bass or Chuck Bass, she simply passed it off as an inside joke. Nothing to really focus on or be concerned about. Now, she was surprised she hadn't asked about it, just out of curiosity. It was because she was a nice girl, she realized. If things were meant to be shared, she believed they would be eventually. If she wanted to hear something, her body almost involuntarily sent off signals to said individual. If things were meant to be said, they would be. Looking at Chuck Bass's – who she thought was her boyfriend – passport lying in her hands, she felt like she'd been completely betrayed. It was a case of stolen identity, but this one had obviously been done on purpose. For one too long moment, she wondered if he had actually even been shot. She'd never seen the wound, or the scar. Somehow, when they'd made love, she'd just bypassed it, accepting it was there. Maybe it had all been her imagination.
What was worst of all was the fact that Blair Waldorf, her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, was practically hovering over her, watching her take in the information. It wasn't as if she'd really felt threatened by Blair since meeting her, but she wasn't blind. She was present during many of those spare moments when Chuck and Blair's eyes locked from across the room. There was a lot of history between them. She didn't really know much about their past, and probably not who her boyfriend actually was, but she did wonder for a bit if Blair had done this all on purpose. From what she had gathered, the break-up between the two of them had been mutual. Was she trying to take back what was hers? Was he the one to break up with her? Eva realized, without a shadow of a doubt, she did not know very much about her boyfriend, or anybody who was associated with him for that matter.
"Eva." His voice called to her throughout the penthouse, but for some reason it did not really register to her. Blair blinked, still looking down at her expectantly, the little booklet loosely clutched in her hand.
"Eva." She heard his voice call again. Blair tipped her head to the side, almost playfully. It looked as if she were actually enjoying this exchange, and that Chuck was about to walk in on them. Eva could have sworn a moment ago she looked sympathetic.
"Eva! Wh—?" Chuck halted where he stood in the doorway. He gaped and his eyes widened at the sight, Eva on one side of the bed, hardly gripping the fact of what the passport said and meant to her and for the two of them, and Blair standing on the other side, hardly trying to hide her victory smirk. She turned to him when he came in.
"Chuck," she said cheerily, walking towards him about halfway across the room. "Eva found something." Her bitch smile shined brightly at him. His face was blink for several long seconds before he glowered. He looked truly angry for her manipulation, but some part of him knew he was not as pissed as he appeared. A part of him he did not think still existed knew she would fight for him eventually. Blackmail was her favorite tool.
Slowly, Eva's eyes lifted to his. Blair brushed past Chuck on her way out the door. She did not leave the penthouse though. She was convinced she had won, and planned on taking great delight on hearing the break-up conversation.
"What is this?" Eva asked, her voice a deathly low whisper. Chuck hadn't ever heard her upset. It was new, and it scared him. He hoped he would recover. He took a step towards her and swallowed hard.
"I can explain," he began carefully. She dropped the passport on the bed and folded her arms across her chest. She did not look amused at all. She looked mad.
"I'm waiting," she said plainly. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"You wouldn't have wanted me if I told you—"
"What?" she asked, suddenly exasperated. "The truth?"
He pursed his lips fiercely. "I'm not that person anymore, Eva." He came around the bed and held her hands tightly in his own. "You have made me a better person." She sighed and rolled her eyes, trying to pull her hands away. He didn't let her. "Please," he begged. "I'm sorry I hid this from you. I just didn't want to lose you."
"Am I just a stand-in?" she asked, her eyebrows raising. He looked at her with a blank expression on his face. "Are you just waiting for Blair to fight for you?" His lips parted. "Because, let me tell you," She snapped her hands away. "She is more than ready to. I wouldn't be surprised if she—"
He kissed her before she could say another word. "No, I'm not waiting for that." He breathed softly. "I'm done waiting for that."
Eva breathed warily. Something inside her was nagging with the possibility that he was responsible for what happened with Blair. She broke out of her good girl exterior, forced herself to. She had to know everything he was hiding from her.
"Tell me everything," she said. His face was lying lightly against hers, nuzzling her close. His hands had come around her waist. How he tensed made her think he either didn't know what she was talking about or he was afraid to give in to that request.
"I will walk out of here and never look back, if your idea of a relationship with me is pretending the life before you got shot doesn't exist." She lifted her head to look at him. "What happened in the past matters now. It explains how you became what you are today."
"Eva—" She put a hand to his lips.
"Don't you dare tell me everything you are is because of me. You were someone before I met you. That person was made from the past, and I'm sure you weren't all bad. You hiding that person is pretending to be someone you're not." She sighed, stepping back once. "I won't be with your outer shell," she said. "I want to be with the real you." She took the step back and put her hand over his heart. He put his hand over hers and nodded once.
"Okay."
She left a grand total of ten minutes later. Chuck did not miss the lingering brunette standing hidden in the shadows of the short hallway. After he'd pecked Eva on the lips and sent her into the elevator, he turned to Blair, leaning against the wall. They said nothing for a long time. Finally, she looked at him. He was not smirking like she'd thought he would be, like she had prepared herself for.
"I'm not apologizing," she said.
"I wouldn't expect you to," he said in response. She wanted to get angry, but all that surged up in her was hurt and helplessness. She forced confidence and straightened herself.
"Well, I best be going," she said lightly, pressing the button for the elevator. It came quickly. She was about to step in when she felt his hand wrap around her forearm. His touch burned her, but she forced herself to at least look calm, unaffected by whatever he was trying to do.
"Don't ever do anything like this again, Blair." She blinked at the request, didn't know what to make of the order when it wasn't delivered with a threat in his eyes. Her lips thinned into a bitch smile.
"I can't promise anything."
He released her as she stepped into the elevator. She waved playfully at him as the door closed. He sighed and ran through his hair as silence ensued. He moved across the room and collapsed onto the couch. Then, he pulled a picture out of the pocket of his pants. He cursed himself for looking at it so often, but after every encounter with Blair, he felt the need. It was a picture of her after all. Staring at it long enough usually convinced him he was no good for her. Calling Eva afterwards, laughing with her on the phone, delighting in how beautiful her giggle sounded in his ears, usually confirmed that belief. Usually.
He didn't know about today.
….
Drabble 2—
He couldn't even remember why he'd wanted to see her. They hadn't decided on a date. He thought maybe he'd just pay her a visit. But he couldn't get a hold of her. He was half tempted to hang out with Blair, but he knew that was still dangerous territory. Neither of them were fully healed from the experience to really attempt a full-fledged friendship. Baby steps, he reminded himself. Baby steps. So, he continued to call after Eva. Nothing.
She had made a few friends in the city – Eva had. He called them. They didn't know where she was. He called her friends back in Paris. Surprisingly, most of them were unaware of him. He'd sworn she'd introduced him to a lot of them. Even more shocking was the fact that some of them didn't even sound like they knew Eva. Something was up, he decided. It was very possible she just lost her phone or forgot to get back to him. Maybe she was busy with some new friends. He sighed at the thought. It sounded very pathetic to him in his suddenly very paranoid state.
Finally, he reached her, or at least someone who knew where she was. It was someone who knew her, though his voice sounded very raspy and like he'd lived on the streets for years. His English was rough and dirty. Many words he couldn't make out properly. Chuck sighed, wondering what he'd gotten himself into. Eventually, he got an address, proud of himself for not resorting to his P.I., and not having done so since before the accident.
It didn't hit him till about halfway there that he was heading towards a brothel. He panicked, and then his overprotective side kicked in at high pitch. He wondered what she could possibly be doing there. He hoped she hadn't accidentally gotten herself into something she'd been unaware of in the light of day. She was sweetly naïve about the underground business world of Manhattan. His hands clenched on the handle on the side of the door. When he arrived, he did not wait for Arthur to open his door. He practically jumped out of the limo and charged straight for the brothel. The owner clearly didn't recognize him – it was a private club he realized, but after informing the man of who he was – something he had not done for some time, to anyone – he was let in, with gracious hand gestures and females in feathery outfits down the main corridor.
A jolted memory flooded through him when he walked into the large room where most of the guests resided. There was booze, multiple whores, and age-old music resounding throughout the room. What froze him where he stood was the sight of Eva dancing and stripping on stage to the beat of the music, looking like she was having the time of her life. Her blonde hair sensually draped around her shoulders. She looked hot, he had to admit, but it did make him upset that she'd hid this from him. Was she a prostitute? Or had she simply done this on a dare like he'd made Blair do three years earlier?
He shuddered at the thought, of all the thoughts running through him. He couldn't believe he was comparing Blair yet again to this new blonde beauty. He found he'd been doing it a lot since he started seeing Eva. A lot of the time the comparisons had been very different, but now he saw a distinct similarity and he needed the answer to his question. He tried to block out the images of Blair stripping and dancing at Victrola out of his head, but it was nearly impossible. He knew who he was then would have been overwhelmingly proud of him for hooking up with a prostitute – and staying with her. Though, the sixteen year old Chuck probably would not have been able to comprehend the staying with her part, unless the only thing that consisted of the relationship was lacy lingerie and sex. He was somewhat different now, in a huge way. He did not want his girlfriend to be a prostitute.
He strutted straight up to the side of the stage, and when the song was over, he called to her. She did not seem to hear him, and he couldn't blame her for that the first time. It was incredibly loud in the crowd. He would not have heard himself either, unless he had been trying to listen in for it. He called her name again. She turned her head a little, but couldn't find him.
"Eva!" he called. Her eyes found him and widened dramatically. He felt a terrible clenching down in his gut. She hadn't wanted to know. He'd put everything right up front for her, had told her everything about Blair and all that he'd done. She'd accepted him without a second thought, though he had to admit, she put on a good show, looking like a mournful girlfriend as she listened. Now he knew why she'd accepted him. She was not exactly proud of what she did. She hadn't wanted him to know. She'd kept it from him.
"Chuck," she made out, her voice sounding half strangled in her throat. His brows narrowed and he knew she was debating whether she should make a run for it and confront him with the truth.
"Explain yourself," he demanded when they'd made it to the quieter hallway. "What is this?" he asked, looking her up and down briefly. "Is this some sort of sick joke, or—"
"Yes!" she shouted in a heated whisper. She could barely look at him, but when she did her eyes were wide and in some sort of defense she did not feel. "I'm a call girl, okay?"
He looked at her in shook his head in disbelief. He blew out some air, exasperated. Suddenly, he looked very relieved, as if he'd come to a conclusion that would give her a decent excuse, and save them. "Why didn't you tell me you needed money?" he asked gently, rubbing her bare arms softly with his hands. "I could have helped."
She looked angered by the thought. Her brows narrowed. "I would never ask for your money, Chuck." She almost spat the words. He sighed at her stubbornness and shook her head, now confident he could deal with the situation. He dug his wallet out of his pocket and began writing her out a check.
"How much?" he asked point-blank, not looking at her.
"What?" she asked, aghast.
"How much?" he asked again, looking up at her this time. She only blinked.
"I'm not taking your money, Chuck." He frowned.
"Then, what exactly do you plan on doing to support yourself?" The thought of her moving in with him flashed through her mind, but it horrified him. That was his initial reaction. He could not explain it. He didn't want to think about the fact that the last woman to spend so much time in his suite was none other than Blair Waldorf.
"This," she said, as if it were obvious. He rolled his eyes, moving past his shock.
"Look, if you really want to work, we can find you a more…decent job," he said. He knew he should probably be intrigued by the porn aspect of what she was doing, but he was drowning in a sea of indecency. He felt more like a disappointed father than an overprotective and offended boyfriend.
"Chuck, I'm good at this," she defended. It was true, he admitted, but it still did not fix the situation. He crossed his arms across his chest and gave her a once over.
"You can't live like this," he said finally. She looked at him, not able to determine what she really wanted to say.
"This makes me feel alive." She looked him up and down, and he felt as if he didn't even know her. Who was this girl? "If you can't accept that, then," She shrugged. "it's probably best we part ways." She actually smiled sadly, and he wondered if she meant it. He didn't know what to think anymore. She turned away to walk back into the huge room. He half-contemplated telling her to perform at Victrola, because at least it would be of better…quality, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that a life like this, an enjoyed, intended life like this would cause him more embarrassment than he'd known yet.
"Don't worry." He heard through muddled thoughts. "I take precautions."
He felt as if she was him at sixteen. Him always informing his conquests and his friends that he always had a condom handy, because he'd never want to be caught dead with a pregnant one night stand. He didn't know if they were together or not as she walked back into the large room, but he didn't think he wanted to be. He was the good guy now, and even when he wasn't, he hadn't thought dating a prostitute would be a good idea. There would have still had to be feelings.
He shook off the bewildered, betrayed feeling that had taken over him and walked out of the brothel. He headed towards his limo, allowing Arthur to hold the door open for him.
"Waldorf residence," he muttered numbly. Arthur nodded.
"Right away, Sir."
Inside the vehicle, after some zoning in and out, Chuck pulled out his phone and found her number on speed dial. He was beyond relieved and a feeling of euphoria soared through him when she answered on the first ring.
"Hey, Blair, I know we're not exactly on good terms yet, but," he sighed. "I was wondering if you had—"
"—time to talk?" she finished for him. He nearly smiled, and then nodded, unaware for a few moments that she actually couldn't see him. Beautifully, as only she could, she continued on in his silence. "I've got loads. Meet me in ten?" she offered up nonchalantly.
"Uh…yeah, I—" he paused to look around at his surroundings, and sighed.
"Chuck?" she asked, sudden confusion settling in.
"Make it twenty-five," he informed her, "I'm in…Brooklyn."
The disgust filling his voice made her ecstatic. She smiled wide and shut her phone. Finally, he hated Brooklyn again. It was beginning to appall her how he accepted every city on earth after having come back from Paris with that French nobody, that Eva.
…
A/N: Mostly Chuck/Eva, I know, but I warned you there would be some in this collection. I also told you that CB would always be in there somewhere, and they were. *nod* Hope you enjoyed, despite CEv being central. XD They were SLs I found interesting and refused to toss out the window. Lol. Please review! =D