A/N: Hey guys... here's another update, within two days of the last one! Aren't you proud? So I know I said this chapter would be a return to the more traditional sexcapades, but I had so much fun writing a sweeter story for the last chapter, and you guys responded so well to it (thank you so much for all the great feedback, it honestly makes my day to read your reviews), that I decided to write another fairly fluffy one. Don't worry though, it's fluffy and emotional but also filled with plenty of CB steaminess. As for the next chapter, I'm not sure when I'll have it done, but I have lots of ideas. I think the next one really will be dirtier and less focused on feelings, but who knows? I need to find some way to fill the void that has been left in my heart by the lack of new episodes and the recently posted pictures of Nate and Blair kissing (gag). Anyway, I'll try to finish the next chapter relatively soon. And again, I'm rambling, so sorry. That's all I have to say... please read and review, as usual!

Chapter 16

"Miss Blair, phone for you," Dorota said, carrying the cordless phone into Blair's bedroom. "It is your father."

Blair's face lit up, and she grabbed the phone from Dorota. "Hello Daddy," she said happily.

"Hello Blair Bear, how are you?" her father replied.

"I'm fine. I can't wait to see you!" Harold would be flying into Manhattan that night to be with Blair on her birthday, which was tomorrow.

"Yes, about that... Blair, I'm so sorry, but I'm not going to be able to make it to New York for your birthday," Harold said apologetically.

Blair froze. "What do you mean?"

"Roman has fallen terribly ill with the flu, and I just can't bear to leave him alone while he's this sick," Harold explained.

"Okay," Blair said numbly. She couldn't think of anything else to say. Her father was blowing her off to be with his gay lover. Again. Couldn't the butler take care of Roman or something? With any luck, Roman would fall for the butler and then her father could come back to New York. Blair could feel the tears beginning to form in her eyes, but she blinked them back furiously.

"I'm so sorry, Blair," her father repeated. "I'll come visit as soon as I can."

"Okay," Blair said again, fighting to keep her voice steady. "I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

"I promise to call you tomorrow, on your real birthday." As if a phone call could make up for the fact that her father was missing her birthday.

"Great. I'll talk to you then. Goodbye, Daddy." Blair pressed end, then flung the phone across the room. It fell with a clatter on the floor. How could her father do this to her? It was her eighteenth birthday - that was a big deal! Fathers were supposed to be there for their daughters' eighteenth birthdays. Especially if they weren't there the rest of the time, because they preferred to spend their days in French vineyards with their gay lovers.

Tears pouring down her face, Blair left her room and hurried down to the kitchen. "Dorota! Where's my birthday cake?" she barked.

"Right here, Miss Blair," Dorota said, taking the cake out of the refrigerator.

"Thank you," Blair said, grabbing a fork and pulling the cake towards her.

"But Miss Blair, the cake is for you to share with your father -" Dorota began.

"That's enough, Dorota. Now go polish something," Blair ordered. Dorota looked concerned, but obeyed Blair's command and left.

Now that her father wasn't coming, Blair didn't really see the point in waiting until her birthday to eat the cake. She knew she shouldn't be doing this - she had been looking fat lately, and she really didn't need to be eating any more. But somehow, she felt as if eating the cake she was supposed to share with her father would make her feel better. If there wasn't any cake to eat tomorrow, then maybe she could just forget that she was supposed to be spending her birthday with her father. Feeling extremely vengeful, she dug her fork into the cake and ate a huge bite.

Blair was on her tenth bite when her mother walked into the kitchen. "Blair, what on earth are you doing?" Eleanor asked sharply.

"Daddy's not coming anymore, so I figured it didn't matter when I ate the cake," Blair said bitterly.

"Well, you really can't afford to eat that right now, Blair. I thought you cared about keeping your weight down."

Blair looked at her mother in shock. "I do," she said. Ever her own mother thought she was fat. "Excuse me, mother." She hurried out of the kitchen and up to her bathroom, locking the door behind her and turning on the water. Looking at herself in the mirror, she ripped her appearance apart, appalled by the excess fat on her hips and thighs. She was disgusted with herself - for her appearance, for eating the cake, and for what she was about to do. Tears streaming down her face, she knelt before the toilet and stuck her finger into her throat.

xoxo

When she had finished throwing up, Blair brushed her teeth, then sat back down on the bathroom floor and sagged against the wall, sobbing. She couldn't believe she had let herself do this again. Wasn't she past all of this by now? But she had just felt so horrible about herself that she couldn't think of anything else to do. And then it hit her - Chuck. Why hadn't she called him before? He could always make her feel better, and he would have come over right away if he had known what happened with her father. She was an idiot for not thinking to call him. Grabbing her phone, she pressed speed dial number 2 and held the phone to her ear.

He answered on the second ring. "Hello?" he said. The smooth sound of his voice was incredibly comforting.

"Chuck," she said, her breathing ragged. "I threw up again."

"I'm coming over now," Chuck said, and Blair felt instantly better. Chuck was coming. He would save her.

xoxo

Chuck arrived in Blair's room ten minutes later. She had unlocked the bathroom door for him, but she was still sitting on the floor. Chuck slipped quietly into the bathroom, closing the door behind him, and sank down beside her. "What happened?" he said, concern etched across his face.

Blair explained the day's events, from her father's call to her mother's scathing criticism, and Chuck listened quietly. He swore he was going to kill Eleanor Waldorf one of these days. If only she knew what she did to her daughter. It killed him to see his beautiful, flawless Blair like this - so weak and broken. She was the epitome of what it meant to have it together, but one word from her mother and she fell apart. He wished that he could make her see the level of perfection that he saw in her.

When Blair finished her story, Chuck took her hand and laced his fingers with hers. "I'm so sorry," he murmured. "But I promise you I will do everything in my power to make your birthday the best it can possibly be."

"Thank you," Blair said, resting her head against Chuck's shoulder.

"And your mother doesn't know what the hell she's talking about," he continued.

"Yes she does," Blair said. "I shouldn't have eaten the cake. I've been getting fat."

"Blair," Chuck said sharply, taking her chin in his hand and tilting her face up so that her eyes met his. "Never say that again. I hate it when you say that. You are not fat. You are perfect."

"No I'm not," Blair said sadly, shaking her head. "I stuff my fucking face and then throw it all up. How are you not disgusted by me?"

"Blair. I need you to listen to me," Chuck said forcefully. "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met. How can you not see that? Your hair, your eyes, your lips, your skin, your breasts, your stomach, your legs... it's all perfect. If I had my way, I would never stop touching you." And when Blair looked into his eyes, the deep longing she saw there made her believe that maybe she really was beautiful. "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met," Chuck said again. "And I'm going to prove it to you by making love to you right now." With that, he slid one arm around Blair's back and the other under her legs, lifting her up off the ground. He kissed her gently, then carried her princess-style into her bedroom and lay her down on the bed. He crawled on to the bed as well, placing his hands on either side of her and holding himself above her.

"Your hair..." he said, brushing a stray strand off of her face and then running his hands through her long, luxurious curls. "Your eyes..." he breathed, gently kissing her closed eyelids. "Your lips..." His lips met hers in a soft, sweet kiss. "Your skin..." He kissed her jaw as his hands found their way to her waist and began untucking her shirt. She sat up slightly so that he could pull it off over her head, then lay back down as his fingertips glided up her sides. "Your breasts..." He slid the straps of her bra off of her shoulders before sliding a hand beneath her back and unhooking the clasp. As he pulled the bra away, his eyes devoured the sight of her bare breasts. He lowered his head and took one nipple in his mouth as his hand caressed her other breast. With satisfaction, he heard her whimper slightly. "Your stomach..." he murmured, his lips never leaving her skin as he kissed his way down to her belly button. His kisses went lower and lower as he gently pulled off her stockings and skirt. "Your legs..." his hands skimmed over her hips as his lips found her inner thighs, and he felt her squirm slightly beneath him. "It's all perfect," he said, looking up from his position between her legs to meet her eyes. "But there's one part of you that I love more than anything else," he breathed, and he reached up to slide off her panties.

Now she lay beneath him, completely naked, and he simply looked at her. She wasn't used to being this completely exposed before him - normally he was so busy running his tongue all over her body that she could convince herself he wasn't really looking at her. But now he was staring at her intently, his eyes roving over every inch of her naked body. Her first instinct was to cover herself, but the look in his eyes stopped her. His eyes were filled with a mixture of emotions - burning, all-consuming lust, the deepest love, and, if she was not mistaken, wonder. He was in awe of her. "You are so beautiful, Blair," he murmured, locking his eyes on hers once more. "Please believe me when I say that."

"Okay," Blair said, nodding slightly. How could she not believe him? The way he was looking at her made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

Chuck smiled. "Thank you," he said sincerely. And then, because he felt he had finally gotten to her, he lightened the mood. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to return my attention to my favorite part of you."

"I was hoping you would," Blair giggled, and with a smirk he slid off the bed and knelt on the floor. Grabbing her from behind the knees, he pulled her towards him, hooking her legs over his shoulders. He hardened instantly at the sight of her glistening wetness just inches away from his face. He placed a few kiss on her inner thighs before lightly trailing his tongue over her entrance, just barely grazing her clit. She let out a moan and arched her hips towards him, silently begging for more. And he obliged. She let out a gasp as he slid his tongue inside of her, lapping up her wetness. As his mouth devoured her, he began rubbing slow circles around her clit with his thumb. Her heels dug into his back and she clutched desperately at the bed sheets, the tension building in her body. He grabbed her hips and pulled her even closer to him, his tongue delving deeper inside of her. "Chuck!" she cried, her back arching off the bed as her orgasm washed over her. He licked the cum off her thighs as her breathing gradually returned to normal. Then, smiling, he climbed back over her, lowering his head to kiss her slightly parted lips. She felt his impressive erection brush against her through his pants, and suddenly she realized that while he had been pleasuring her so selflessly, he had inevitably been dying for his own release.

"Thank you, Chuck," she whispered, running her hands through his hair and pulling him in for another kiss. "I'm really tired now, so if you don't mind I think I'm going to take a nap," she said innocently, trying not to smile. She was impressed at how quickly he was able to hide the disappointment that had flashed briefly across his face.

"Okay," he said, only the faintest trace of desperation in his voice. He rolled over so that he was lying on his back beside her, debating what to do. He was far from done - he had been planning on making love to her the real way after he made love to her with his mouth. He had simply assumed that she would love that (it was Blair, after all - she loved anything that involved him and sex), but if she was exhausted after the day she'd had, he wasn't going to force himself on her. He supposed that he could wait till she fell asleep, then sneak into her bathroom to get himself off.

Blair closed her eyes and snuggled against him, intentionally placing her hand on his stomach, dangerously close to where his erection was straining against his pants. Was she trying to kill him? he wondered. She lay like that for about a minute, and then, before he knew what was happening, her hand had drifted down to his crotch and was cupping the bulge in his pants. "What are you doing, Blair?" he managed to choke out as her fingers wandered up to the button of his pants.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him wickedly. "You didn't think I was really going to go to sleep without getting you off, did you?"

Chuck gaped at her. He loved her. He loved her so fucking much. "That was a nasty trick, Waldorf," he growled.

"Unless I'm very much mistaken, it's nasty tricks like those, that, among other things, made you fall in love with me, Bass," Blair retorted, slowly dragging down the zipper of his pants.

"Very true," Chuck admitted, rolling back on top of her and pressing his lips to her neck. She tugged down his pants and boxers, and his breath caught in his throat as she wrapped her hand around his swollen dick. "And it's times like these," he panted, "that make me love you even more."

She positioned him at her entrance, and their lips met as he slid smoothly inside of her. He began to thrust into her, filling her completely, hitting her sweet spot as blissful moans fell from her lips. He was breathing heavily, relishing the way she moaned into his mouth as her body clenched around him. He pulled back slightly and looked at her again, taking in the beauty of her flushed cheeks, swollen lips, and deep brown eyes. His eyes bored into hers, again filled with that same expression of wonder, and for the third time that day, Blair was overcome with the unfamiliar feeling that maybe, just maybe, she really was beautiful.