Thank you all who replied last time and major thanks to my beta. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. To my newest fan Kou Shun'u I think any woman who could con her own flesh and blood doesn't deserve the title mother so as far as I'm concerned Evelyn is dead.

Happy Reading everyone!

Chuck sat at the counter in Blair's café. Serena had kicked him out of the hospital about an hour ago, saying that he looked like crap and needed to sleep, eat, and 'for the love of god, please take a shower'. So, he'd come back to Blair's apartment. He'd taken a shower and changed into the clothes Nate had had sent from the penthouse for him. He'd eaten the food one of Blair's waitresses had put in front of him before she'd left, locking the door behind her. But it was the sleep part that Chuck didn't want to attempt right now. He was afraid to close his eyes. He knew when he did, he'd replay what had happened to Blair, and he didn't want to imagine her lying on the ground bleeding while her mother lay dead a foot away.

"Hey, what are you doing down here," Nate said from the kitchen door. He'd come down to get a little late night snack and saw Chuck sitting, mostly in the dark.

"What are you doing down here? You're supposed to be upstairs with-" Chuck trailed off when Nate waved a baby monitor in response. "Doors?"

"Locked," Nate nodded as he came into the café and sat on the stool next to him facing the café. He looked at his friend, "Talk to me, Man."

"Serena kicked me out. What happened to you two switching places?"

"When she called to tell me Blair was awake, we decided to switch tomorrow. I'll be there to keep the peace between you and Harold, and she'll be here taking care of your kids and this place."

"I think Harold and I will be okay. I have to say, your girlfriend really surprised me today."

"Yeah? How," Nate asked curiously. He smiled as the word 'girlfriend' was tossed out. They hadn't really discussed it, but it felt as if they were headed in that direction again.

"Do you remember Easter when we were about eight?"

Nate thought and nodded his head, "We were all at the Waldorf's for dinner." They'd spent nearly every holiday at the Waldorf's, so it had hadn't required much thought.

"Remember just before dinner all those fights broke out. It was like a ripple effect or something. One minute everyone's fine and getting along and the next-"

"Everyone's screaming at each other," Nate finished. "I remember standing in the hall with you guys and Eric, watching all the adults fight. It was insane and a little scary."

"But not half as scary as when Blair's grandma walked down the dining room table and shouted 'That will be quite enough', in this commanding voice that you really wouldn't have expected such a small woman to have."

Nate laughed, remembering Blair's grandmother standing on top of the dining room table yelling at all the adults. He looked at Chuck, "But what does that have to do with Serena?"

"Well, today when Serena got to the hospital, Harold and I were having a fight of our own. Serena heard us and came in. Harold and I didn't even notice she was there until she got up on the coffee table and said 'That will be quite enough'," Chuck smiled.

"You're kidding," Nate laughed.

"No. She then proceeded to lay into me and Harold. I believe the words 'most selfish people on earth' were bandied about. She was right," Chuck admitted grudgingly.

"She's worried about you," Nate told him.

"I know," Chuck nodded. "So, I hear you and she have finally gotten your acts together at the same time."

"I had a feeling you were the one that filled her in on my secret," Nate raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"Yes, I did," Chuck admitted. "It's stupid to waste whatever time you have with someone being angry."

"Tomorrow is not guaranteed," Nate echoed Chuck's words to Serena.

"No, it's not."

"I called my dad," Nate told him.

"How is he," Chuck asked curiously. Their fathers had been a sticky subject with him and Nate since Howard had gone to jail and Bart had died.

"He's okay. He said to tell you he hopes Blair pulls through and that when we speak to Cyrus we should pass along his condolences. He thought a lot of Eleanor."

"How's Anne?"

"I think she was in shock. Apparently, I forgot to mention Blair was pregnant when she disappeared."

Chuck stared at his best friend, "What?"

"I wasn't really thinking clearly. First there was me trying to prove that I was over Serena-"

"Which you weren't," Chuck interjected.

"Then there was me trying to make it work with Juliet-"

"Who turned out to be a little bit psycho."

"Yes, thanks for bringing that up. Then there was the Jenny thing and me and Juliet breaking up and now this mess. I'm on information overload. I can't imagine what my mom would do if she knew the entire story."

"Did you mention that you and Serena were back together?"

"I told her we were talking about it."

"You lied."

"I temporarily bent the truth. You know Mom's not all that crazy about Serena," Nate defended himself. He frowned at Chuck's smirk. "I can't wait for Sabrina to bring home a guy for the first time. You'll try to lock her in her room 'til she's thirty."

"Forty and if she's anything like her mother, forty five," Chuck replied as the panic set in. What if she fell in love with someone like himself? He realized he could never allow her to leave the house.

"And then there's the chance that she'll fall for Dan's kid," Nate smirked.

"Over my dead body," Chuck said.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Blair's eyes opened slowly and blinked as the room around her came into focus. She smiled slightly when she spotted Serena in the chair beside her bed, asleep. The pink peonies were still on her bedside table as her smile involuntary widened.

He'd come for her.

"Blair," Serena said quietly. "Good morning," she said, groaning at the stiff muscle ache from having slept in the uncomfortable chair all night.

"I'd offer to share the painkillers, but I'm rather enjoying the psychedelic colors," Blair told her.

"Funny," Serena said sarcastically. "How do you feel?"

"Kind of loopy," Blair said. "I wonder if this is what having an acid flashback feels like."

"If you share, I can let you know. I've had a few in my day," Serena tried to joke.

"Too soon," Blair stated as she winced in discomfort.

"Right," Serena nodded. "So, what do you remember?"

"Nothing," Blair admitted.

Serena nodded, "Okay. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Do I even want to know the details?" Blair inquired.

"Maybe not yet. The doctors said you're still pretty fragile."

"I hate that term," Blair groaned.

"That bullet was way too close to your heart, B," Serena reminded her. "You scared us all."

"Us," Blair prompted her to elaborate.

"Well, to begin with Dan. He found you bleeding on the floor. He pretty much saved your life. Then there was Rufus, Mom, Eric, and me. Then your dad, Chuck, and Nate."

"Is Daddy here?" Blair asked hopefully. "I want to see him."

"He and Roman went to a hotel," Serena told her. "They should be back in a little while."

"Good," Blair nodded. "Where's Nate?"

"At the apartment taking care of your kids," Serena filled her in.

"You left Nate alone with my babies? Have you lost your mind? He has no clue how to take care of an infant."

"He's not completely alone. Mrs. Katz, Dan, and Chuck are there too. And he's better with Sabrina and Sebastian than I am, which isn't saying much, but we both know Chuck will be hovering over him."

"And what the hell does Chuck know about taking care of a baby," Blair snapped.

"Will you relax, we have everything under control," Serena assured her. "Dan will make sure that Nate and Chuck don't dive in too deep. Which brings me to my question, are you going to see him?"

"Dan, sure why not," Blair replied, knowing full well that wasn't who Serena was referring to.

"No, not Dan," Serena shook her head. "Chuck. He wants to see you."

"No," Blair shook her head as vigorously as she dared. "What part of 'I never want to see him' do you not understand?"

"The part where he loves you, he's been worried sick about you, and I had to threaten him with bodily harm to get him to leave the hospital last night. Come on, B, you almost died," Serena reminded her.

"I can't see him," Blair stated tearfully. "Sooner or later he's going to get bored and move on, leaving me with just our children to remember him by. If the separation is on my terms, it's easier to deal with."

"Really? Is that why you were crying when I gave you his Valentine's Day gift? Blair, Chuck isn't going to get bored and leave. He will stay with you forever and you know it."

"No, he won't," Blair held firm as tears streamed down her cheeks, "Sooner or later everyone leaves me . . . first Daddy, then you, then Nate. Chuck will be no different, and I cannot bear to be the reason that he is driven away."

"But you are the reason he's being driven away," Serena insisted, "He wants to be here. He wants to hold your hand and beg for forgiveness, but you won't let him."

"I just can't," Blair continued to hold firm.

"God, you are quite possibly the most stubborn person I have ever met," Serena growled.

"Call me what you will. I'm still not seeing him."

"Yes, you are," Serena said. "You are and you will. You need to see him. He needs to see you. I'm sick of seeing my best friend and my brother so miserable."

"So what are you going to do," Blair challenged her, "Bring him in here while I'm convalescing and unable to move. That's low even for you."

"What are you going to do," Serena snapped. "Are you going to keep playing hide and seek for the rest of your life? For the rest of your children's lives?"

"I hate you," Blair told her.

"No you don't," Serena smiled.

"No, I think I really do this time, because this time you have a point," Blair snarled.

"I know," Serena said. "So, when should I tell him to come?"

"I want some decent clothes and to wash my hair," Blair said.

"Is that some sort of negotiation ploy?" Serena chuckled, "Because that's really easy to manage, especially for one Chuck Bass."

"No, I just want to look halfway normal when I see him."

"You want to look less helpless when going up against the big bad Bass," Serena guessed.

"Something like that," Blair replied, "I don't want him to think I'm as fragile as you think I am."

"I don't think you're emotionally fragile," Serena said. "But I do know that you're physically fragile. I was there when your doctor told us how close you came to bleeding out all over the floor of the café."

"I don't want to be physically or emotionally fragile when I see Chuck," Blair told her, "Perhaps this encounter can wait a few days." She was delaying the inevitable in hopes Serena would take pity on her in a few days and back off this idea all together.

Serena got out of the chair, "Nice try. I'm gonna call Nate and get him to bring you some clothes and stuff. Then I'll talk to Chuck."

Serena was out the door before Blair could say anything more to try and dissuade her.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chuck walked down the hallway towards Blair's room. To say he was nervous would be a vast understatement. Those butterflies that had taken up residence in his stomach after the first time he and Blair slept together now had wingspans that rivaled pterodactyls and they were going warp speed in his stomach. His mouth was dry and he was pretty sure his palms were sweaty.

Dear God, he was a wreck.

He reached Blair's door and took a deep breath before he knocked.

"Come in," Blair answered from the other side.

Chuck pushed the door open and walked in. Blair was sitting up in bed wearing a plaid printed, button down the front shirt. He spied a camisole underneath and her hair was pulled back from her face. She looked up at him and managed a small smile.

His breath caught at the sight before him. Just hours removed from major surgery, she was still as beautiful as ever.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Hi," he replied as he found himself frozen in the doorway.

"Coming in," she asked.

"Yes," Chuck nodded as he stepped into the room. "How are you?"

"Lucky to be alive from what I hear," Blair tried to lighten the tense mood.

"That's not funny," Chuck shook his head.

"How are you," Blair turned the conversation around.

"I'm glad to see that you're on your way to recovery," Chuck told her as he eyed her hand. He wanted to touch her, to feel her familiar warmth, but Serena had specifically warned him against that. They sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment before he settled on a topic that they could perhaps get through without too much shouting. "I met our children."

"I figured," Blair nodded. "I can't tell you how many times I've looked at Sebastian and seen you looking back at me."

"That's how I feel when I look at Sabrina," Chuck admitted. "I have this incredible urge to lock her in her room whenever I think about her going out with someone like me."

"Don't worry," Blair told him. "I've already started laying the groundwork for that."

"Really? How?"

"Every night before I put her to bed, I whisper 'Limos are bad' to her," Blair smiled.

Chuck laughed in response. "And I'd be telling her how good they are because my limo brought me to you."

"Maybe we shouldn't go down that road," Blair said. "At least not right now."

"Blair, I am truly sorry for everything I put you through.

"There are so many mistakes that I made that I wish I could take back. I hurt you in a hundred different ways, and I wish I could go back and undo every last one of them. Even with my money, there is still not enough money in the world for me to travel back in time, so I have to start from this very moment. I need you to know that I will do whatever it takes to fix this."

"I don't know if you can fix this," Blair responded softly as she felt the tears forming in her eyes.

"Please don't say that," Chuck said softly as he felt his own tears start to form. "There has to be a way to fix this."

"I will never hold what happened with Jenny against you in any way ever again," Blair told him. "Dan's a friend and Jenny deserves post-mortem respect even though she never got any when she was alive. Jack doesn't get that consideration."

"Are you saying nothing I can do can fix what I tried to get you to do with Jack?" Chuck asked as a rogue tear escaped.

"You traded me to your uncle for some stupid piece of real estate," she snarled. "In what world do you know of where that deserves any level of forgiveness?"

"In the world where we love each other," Chuck told her. "And don't bother trying to tell me you don't love me anymore. I saw your face that day you spotted me in Paris. I know you better than you like to acknowledge. If I didn't mean anything to you anymore you would've stayed in New York and gone after me for sole custody.

"Besides you aren't exactly a saint in all this. Like it or not, when you didn't think I knew, you were going to follow through with Jack and never tell me. Then you ran off while pregnant with my children and kept them from me for how many months."

"Don't turn this around on me," she growled, "What I did was completely different."

"How?"

"I did what I did for self-preservation. You did what you did for yourself."

"You ran away to hurt me. You kept my children from me again to hurt me," he told her with a startling calmness. "Spin it however you like but your primary motivation was to hurt me as deeply as I hurt you. You know better than anyone how much I've longed to be a part of a real family."

Blair shook her head, "You don't get to lecture me about hurting people or running away. You may be better at it than I am, but you don't get to lecture me about it."

"Maybe forgiveness right now is asking for too much," he rationalized. "We both are hurting because of what the other has done. We can try to play the 'my pain is bigger than your pain', but we're just going to spin ourselves dizzy. Maybe we have to put that aside and try to find some solid ground to stand on. We have the two most beautiful children to think about. They deserve parents that can stand being in the same room together."

Blair looked down at her hands, "I don't know how to do this with you. I don't know how to be in the same room as you without hurting. I was fine until this happened. We were fine."

"I wasn't," Chuck told her. "I couldn't sleep or eat. I hated the sight of any and all family I saw on the street. Flowers made me want to vomit. The only thing that made me happy was looking at a picture of you or our children."

"I guess I wasn't doing that well either," she admitted reluctantly as she continued to inspect her hands as if they were the most fascinating things in the world only so she could avoid looking at him. This wasn't the time to put up a brave face. It was time to be real. "I had other things to focus on, but you were always in my thoughts. I picked up the phone to call you about five times a day. When Sebastian smiled for the first time, I broke down in the most painful sobs because he looked that much more like you."

Chuck fought the urge to hold her hand in his as he watched her watching her hands, "Blair, we need to fix this. I know it's not going to be easy but I'm not giving up. You have my heart. You have since we were children. I don't want it back even if you want to give it back to me. It's non-refundable."

"I don't know how we're going to do this," she responded as she shook her head slightly.

"Do you love me?" he asked simply.

"I do. I probably always will. That's not the problem. I don't know if I'll ever trust you again."

"That is something we can work on. As long as I know you still love me," he told her with a soft smile.

"Where do we go from here?" she asked as she wiped a tear from her cheek.

"We go home when you're ready," Chuck told her. "For now, you just focus on getting well. We'll wait for everything else."

"Chuck Bass is going to wait for a girl."

"Not a girl," he shook his head. "The girl."

Whatever else would've been said was lost as Harold entered the room.

"Daddy," Blair smiled happily.

"Blair-Bear," Harold grinned widely as he presented her with a token teddy bear he picked up at the hospital gift shop.

"Aw," Blair smiled again. "Thank you. Is Roman with you?"

"He'll be along tomorrow," Harold nodded. "He wanted to get you something a little more special."

"He doesn't have to," Blair yawned. "Sorry. I think this might be a short visit. A nurse was in before Chuck arrived. She might have given me pain medication. It makes me loopy and causes me to fall asleep faster than Serena did during freshman history."

Chuck snorted out a laugh.

"That's okay, Sweetheart," Harold assured her. "Sleep as much as you need. I'll be in the waiting room if you need me."

"Stay until I fall asleep," Blair requested.

"Of course."

"I should be going," Chuck said. "We'll talk more tomorrow, alright?"

Blair nodded, "Goodnight Chuck."

"Sleep well, Beautiful," he smiled as he gave her a little wave. He wanted to kiss her goodbye, but he didn't want to erase what little progress they made with their talk.

"Kiss our children for me," she told him.

He stopped and looked at her. Then he nodded, "I will."

After Chuck left, Blair looked at Harold, "Thank you for being here. I know how much I must have scared everyone when I disappeared."

"That is unimportant right now," Harold told her as he kissed her hand gently. "What is important is that you're here. You're getting well, and soon you'll be able to come home which is good because your family needs you."

Blair nodded as she leaned back against the pillows, "I know. Have you met your grandchildren yet?"

"Tonight. I'm going to your place once Nate gets here."

"I don't need people to sit with me around the clock," Blair protested sleepily. She was fighting a war with her eyelids. There was something in the back of her mind that wouldn't let her relax.

"Get some sleep," he urged her, "You may not need people around you twenty-four hours a day, but right now we need to be around you. We all missed you so very much."

Blair nodded as her eyelids drifted closed one final time.

Harold kissed her forehead and sat down beside her bed with her hand in his. Sighing, he thought of the news that would come once she was well enough.

Eleanor had been a good woman. He may not have been in love with her, but he did love her. He was dreading the final goodbye that was coming up faster than he could imagine. But he had a feeling that if there was a higher power, she'd convinced him to spare their daughter. Eleanor was like that.

He knew his daughter and ex-wife's relationship had been strained at times, but they'd been in a fairly good place before Blair's life spiraled when she found out she was pregnant and felt the need to disappear. She'd been so worried about what Eleanor would think of her when she found out she was pregnant out of wedlock.

Eleanor had surprised him. She hadn't cared one wit about her society friends or what the gossip rags would print, she only wanted to find her daughter to ensure her safety.

Then of course, she wanted to meet her grandchildren.

Harold knew that had never happened. He hadn't heard anything but he assumed that there was no sign of the shooter and since Blair had no recollection of the events at the moment, the police had been keeping their distance. Which was more than he could say for the media. They were of course banned from the hospital but that wasn't the case where the penthouse was concerned. Cyrus had told him that there were reporters everywhere and that once Dorota had calmed down she'd loaded an antique shotgun that had been Eleanor's great-grandfather's and stationed herself in the lobby of the building where the Waldorf penthouse was. Anyone who wasn't invited or known to the residents of the building got a ten second head start.

He didn't know how he was going to break the news to his little girl that her mother was gone. He didn't even know when would be an appropriate time to do so. The doctors had warned anyone entering her room to keep her stress to a minimum. He knew from the puffiness of her eyes, that the conversation with Chuck had been any but stress free, but they must have found some neutral ground because they hadn't been shouted at each other when he'd arrived as he expected.

Knock-knock

Harold turned around and smiled when he saw Nate poking his head in.

"Nathaniel," Harold greeted as he stood up.

"How are you, Mr. Waldorf," Nate asked.

"It's Harold," the older man said. "And I'm doing as well as can be expected."

"Right. Chuck's waiting in the car for you. He's going to ride with you back to the apartment."

"Don't strangle him, Daddy," Blair warned him as she woke up only slightly at Nate's words. "You may not have much civilized to say to him right now, but he is the father of your grandchildren."

"Thought you were sleeping," Harold told her.

"Behave," she warned him as she yawned widely and promptly fell back to sleep.

"You sure you wouldn't rather me stay here," Harold asked Nate.

"I'll be fine," Nate assured him. "I've got some magazines and I'll turn the TV on low."

"If she wakes up and starts asking questions, keep her calm until I can get back here. She shouldn't hear this news from anyone but me," Harold instructed him.

"Agreed," Nate nodded.

"Good night, Nate."

"Good night," Nate nodded as he sat down and Harold left the room.

-x-x-x-x-

Blair's mind wouldn't shut off even in sleep. Everyone had been there today.

Serena, Nate, Chuck, her father. But someone was missing, she realized, someone she wanted to see and someone who should want to see her.

"Mother," she mumbled in her sleep as the memories from what happened in her cafe began replaying in her mind.

Nate looked up in surprise. Had Blair just said-

"Mom!"

Blair's eyes opened wide with terror as they locked with Nate's. "Where's my mom?"

"Let me call your dad," Nate picked up the phone and started to dial.

Blair's hand covered his, "Where's my mom?"

"Blair, I . . ." his voice faded as he couldn't find the words to explain what had happened.

"She's gone, isn't she," Blair cried out as the emotional pain overtook her instantly. The nightmare had been real. Her mother was shot, just before she was only she hadn't pulled through.

Nate got up from his chair and sat on the bed with Blair. He hugged her to him and rocked her gently, "I'm so sorry Blair. You don't know how sorry."

"Oh, god," she cried into his chest as the sobs came with no end in sight.

She wasn't sure which her worse, the pain in her chest from the bullet wound, or the whole in her heart from losing her mother.

"Blair, you have to calm down. You're going to pull a stitch," Nate tried to calm her. "If that happens, I don't think Chuck or Serena will ever forgive me."

"I w-want Chuck."