Author's Note: I'm estimating this part to be 6-8 chapters total. It was going to be longer but it was too much angst with no clear end. And I've started considering an possible storyline for a light and fluffy and sweet part 3.

Chapter 3

Three weeks ago, Lily and Rufus had their second wedding anniversary. They had thrown a lavish party at the Palace and hundreds of guests had arrived to celebrate with the loving couple. To the married couple's chagrin, two of their guests, the wife's adopted son and his ex-girlfriend who was also her daughter's best friend, had a loud and public fight.

Or at least it had seemed so.

One day after, Chuck Bass made a public announcement that he was in love with his publicist K.C. Cunningham. They had spent so much time together that it was only natural for them to fall in love with each other. Pictures of the loving couple were caught by the media and society had to speculate. Was this the woman who could tame the wild billionaire playboy? His past history would forever cast a dark shadow on any romance he was involved in. But their public displays of affection pointed towards yes- this couple could last.

Or at least it had seemed so

Exactly one hour and six minutes after the aforementioned public declaration of love, a distraught Blair forced herself away from her studies to ask Jack Bass if she could move with him at the Empire. Exactly thirty-two minutes after that, Blair and Dorota were packing clothes and books at the Waldorf residence so that Blair could move in to the Empire. A few hours later, Nate's old bedroom became her new bedroom and Jack was introduced to the Polish bodyguards that would tear off any of his appendages that offended their lady.

It was now three weeks after that whirlwind chain of events. And this planted them directly in the middle of the fall semester which meant midterms.

Serena and Blair were studying in Serena's bedroom. Or, more accurately, Blair was studying while Serena kept finding things to distract herself with.

It had, without her notice, become a habit for her. She never wore the diamond ring on her finger- that would invite far too many questions and speculation of an engagement. She never had it out when she was with Jack or in a public setting where the media could snap a picture of it. But right now she wasn't in public. She was in Serena's room and they were studying. Well, at least Blair was studying.

"That ring looks familiar," Serena remarked as she turned the page of her textbook. She hadn't even read a word off the book or looked at the pictures or charts on it.

"It should," Blair replied. Her eyes stayed focused on the Psychology text. In the back recesses of her mind, she could still hear his mocking words about the education from an Ivy League Psychology class versus a non Ivy League Psychology class. She continued to absentmindedly caress the ring with the tips of her thumb and index finger.

Serena pushed her book to the side and leaned forward so that her head was right next to the book Blair was reading. "I know that ring. You know I know that ring. Are you and Chuck engaged?"

This question pulled her eyes off the page. Blair shifted her attention to the side to meet Serena's curious eyes. "S, you know I would tell you if I were. You're my best friend. There is no way I would keep it from you."

"Yeah, it's not like you and Chuck kept secrets like pretending to be fighting and at war with each other," Serena said sarcastically.

"That was different," Blair objected. "We had to set things up. And once they were set up, the two of you were the first we told. Well, after Dorota. And K.C." Dorota had been a given. She had to be informed of their plans so that she could speak on their behalf to the Polish bodyguards and government.

"K.C.? Nate and I ranked beneath K.C.?" The disgust in Serena's voice was overwhelming.

"Would you have agreed to pretending to be Chuck's girlfriend? No offense, S, but even if you had been willing, I wouldn't have." Blair sighed, and resignedly placed a bookmark into her book and closed it. She was getting ahead on her reading, anyway, and could afford a break from studying.

"Why would Chuck even need a fake girlfriend?"

"It was the best solution. He was getting calls from past girls he was with but he didn't want to be with them so he kept turning them down. Come on, S, you know that makes zero sense. Him pretending to be committed to his girlfriend gets a lot of those girls off his back," Blair explained. "K.C.'s not elated about it, but she likes this plan better than him acting like he has physical problems and can't perform sexually."

"Too much information." Serena made a face.

"And him publicly declaring his love to K.C. gave me the perfect excuse to tell Jack I needed to step up our pretense and move in together at The Empire."

"Which I still don't understand," Serena frowned. "Blair, didn't Chuck tell you what Jack did to Lily at the opera? Didn't Chuck tell you what Jack would have done if Chuck hadn't been there in time?"

Blair grimaced. They had actually argued long and hard on this. "Yes. But you need to remember, there was a time when I offered myself to Jack in exchange for The Empire. And he accepted and signed all the contracts to sign The Empire back to Chuck. But then he refused to sleep with me and said he'd prefer the women he slept with to be willing."

"My mother was not willing," Serena snapped furiously. "He lied to you. He was playing you and Chuck and just trying to mess the two of you as much as he could."

"And wouldn't sleeping with me have messed us up more than refusing to sleep with me?" Blair said slowly. She and Chuck had argued so much on this issue, that it had seemed like it would be impossible for them to come to an compromise that both of them could accept. "I don't feel threatened when I'm at The Empire, S. I feel safe as can be."

"How?" Serena asked incredulously.

"Well, for one thing, Jack was introduced to Maciek and his partner. Have you met them, Serena? The two Polish guys in charge of my safety?"

"So they threatened him?"

"They basically told him he would suffer a fate worse than death if he hurt me and I told them to hurt him back," Blair nodded. "And they live in a room in The Empire a couple floors down from the penthouse. But, even with that, Chuck wasn't satisfied and wasn't willing to go with the idea of me moving in with him."

"So what happened so that he was willing to go with the ruse?"

"Do you remember that time you and Trip were caught together in the elevator at The Empire?" Blair smirked. Nate hadn't told her the story, but Chuck had found it amusing and, unlike Nate, hadn't been heads over heels in love with Serena. "There's not a spot in that entire penthouse that isn't under surveillance. Well, my bathroom, but that's it."

"There are security cameras?"

"Several per room," Blair nodded. "All the video gets fed to Maciek's room downstairs. They have someone in the room twenty-four seven to make sure the wrong people don't discover it. And, of course, Chuck still has some loyal people at The Empire. We made sure Maciek took a floor taken care by people loyal to Chuck. If Jack ever tries anything on me, they'd be there in less than two minutes. In fact, we timed it once, when we were first setting up, and it took one minutes and thirty seven seconds exactly. I'm pretty sure I can hold out for that long." It had taken them several trips, and several different guests with various aliases, to bring all their equipment in without arousing suspicion of the staff at the hotel. But setting the cameras up had been much quicker. The first few nights when there had been no cameras, due to time schedule conflicts and inability to get Jack out for long enough periods of time, had been inconvenient.

"Okay, so you're safe there. I still don't understand why you have to live in there with him anyways," Serena frowned.

"We live in an age of technology. Everything is done on the computer and all records and files are kept on the computer. Now imagine what could happen if I hid a camera near his computer and had it focused on the keyboard. Imagine rewinding the film over and over again, in slow motion, to see what his exact passwords are. Computer password, e-mail password, business accounts password- nothing's sacred. Security tells me, I get on the computer when Jack is gone, download everything on his computer, pass it to Maciek to pass to Chuck who then spends the next several days going through all the files. Anyone Jack associates with is on our list. Do you remember that guy who gave us the fake liquor license? By next week, if Nate's grandfather keeps his word, that guy will be lucky to get a job at a Best Western. We're getting all the names of Jack's connections in government or whatever other businesses and we're going to make sure they're all taken care of."

"It's going to be a bad birthday," Blair conceded. "But, hey, that's why I loaded my course schedule this year. Seven classes, twenty one credits, something I needed the Dean to personally approve, gives me the perfect excuse on why I often need to be at campus. Mix in the psych labs I have to partake in, our yoga lessons, and I barely have to spend time at The Empire with Jack."

Blair made cutting motions with her index and middle finger. "We're cutting him off completely. The lawyer that betrayed us, the crooked liquor license man, everyone. And that's not even our best weapon," Blair said coldly. She met Serena's eyes with a steely gaze and, with finality, reopened her textbook and resumed her reading.

To say that Serena was shocked would have been an understatement. She stared incredulously at her best friend. She had been on the receiving end of Blair's anger and schemes before. But beneath all of the anger, she had always known Blair was acting out of hurt and betrayal because she had felt betrayed by someone she loved. "When will it all end?"

"When Jack signs The Empire back to Chuck," Blair said icily, "without me having to compromise myself. We're doing this right this time, even if we have to get our dirty on." And things were going to get very dirty.