"Sangre Azul"

By SnowyOwl17 and Tenshi noyo ryu taiga aka Peyton Leigh

Disclaimer: We do not own Roswell or Gossip Girl. The "Gossip Girl" we set up for this fic (the email) is in no way the real Gossip Girl.

Summary: When Liz Parker's parents get a divorce, she has to move all the way to NYC where she has to meet and blend in with Chuck Bass and the Upper East Side. Problem is, in New York, everyone loves a good scandal. And what bigger scandal is there than the Chuck Bass... taken? Seems like everyone's going to be watching Gossip Girl for this scoop.

Banner: i332.

Chapter Sixteen:

"You… you…" Elizabeth shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, "God, Chuck! Thanks for dropping this bomb on me!"

Chuck just laughed darkly. He poured a drink as he braced himself for her rejection.

"Okay," Elizabeth took a calming breath, "You ARE in love with me or you're FALLING in love with me?"

"Does it matter?" He asked thickly as he moved to stand behind the bar, as if the space could somehow lessen the pain he was feeling.

She stood up and turned around to face Chuck, who had turned his back to her and was steadily sipping his scotch, "Yes, it matters."

"I'm falling. I'm not in love with you," Chuck replied, the 'yet' at the end of his sentence was unsaid, but understood between the two of them none-the-less.

Elizabeth walked over and stood at the bar. She kept the countertop between them, knowing that Chuck needed the space at the moment.

Tracing random patterns on the hard granite, Elizabeth breathed deeply and tried to gather her thoughts. She was silent as she thought about how she felt before finally responding, "I'm falling in love with you too."

Chuck's knuckles turned white as he gripped the glass tightly in his hand. He turned around quickly to face her, "Don't patronize me!" He yelled out angrily as he threw his glass across the room. He took a deep satisfaction at the shock in her eyes as the glass whizzed right by her face and exploded at the far wall.

He took a deep breath trying not to do anything stupid.

"I'm not being patronizing… I'm being honest," Elizabeth whispered.

Charles gave a small condescending laugh, "You expect me to believe that?" He grit through his teeth as he walked away from behind the bar and went to the other side of the room.

Liz turned to face him, but made no move to cross the distance, "I freaked out a little when you said that. Sue me. We've only been dating a little more than three weeks, okay?"

"So, that makes what I feel invalid?" Chuck spat.

"No!" She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, "I was just shocked. I had to think for a second! I know I'm not in love with you; that's why I asked you to clarify. But I am falling, Chuck. I swear."

Chuck snorted derisively, "I bet."

Elizabeth let out a small scream of frustration, "I don't get it! Are you mad at me for not telling you how I feel right away or for feeling how I feel?! I don't understand!" She walked over to him and tugged on his wrist to make him sit down in a large white chair as she perched on the arm, "Please, explain it to me."

He sighed as he visibly just gave in, "Both."

"What?" She asked confused.

"I'm angry that you didn't respond. I've never done the relationship thing before, but I really feel a lot for you and I thought you did too," Chuck refused to look at Elizabeth as he said this.

"I do. I just needed to think. Just because I feel a lot for you, that doesn't mean I have these stages in my mind where I'm like 'Oh. Date 3. Yep, I'm falling for him now.' I just needed a second to think, I didn't mean to hurt you," She said this so earnestly that Chuck had no choice, but to look up at her. He saw the truth in her eyes and waved away the doubts he felt about her honesty, but there was something else in her eyes. More than just truth… Sympathy? Was Elizabeth feeling sympathy for the pain she had made him feel? Chuck's eyes narrowed. There was nothing he hated more than sympathy. Chuck Bass needed no one's pity.

Even as Chuck thought that, he realized he was wrong. It wasn't sympathy, it was something deeper... Empathy…? Had Elizabeth been hurt before?

His eyes softened, "Okay, I believe you," Chuck whispered, reaching a hand up to gently tuck some brown strands behind her ear, "I know you. You'd never hurt someone on purpose like that."

"Okay, so what about the other thing. Why are you mad at me for feeling how I do. I thought that's what you wanted?" She asked.

"I do. I just…" Chuck ran a hand through is hair, "I don't have the best history with people feeling the same way about me as I do them…" He admitted.

Liz nodded, "I understand… Do you… want to tell me?" She asked, but seeing his pained face, quickly back-tracked, "It's okay if you don't! I understand! You don't need to! I was totally out of bounds, I'm-"

"It's alright, Elizabeth," Chuck smiled weakly, "Okay. Well. I guess I should start with Blair. She was… manipulative and cruel and… just like me. We hated each other. She hid who she was behind a mask of popularity and feigned innocence. She used to date Nathaniel," He looked up quickly to verify she knew who that was.

After she gave a slight nod he continued, "They broke up and she went out drinking at my club. That night, we had sex. She was a virgin and I found a sort of… karmic balance in being the one who took that from her. But then things got more… complicated," Chuck looked down in remembrance. Elizabeth saw this and reached over with her hand to clutch at his.

Feeling her touch snapped Chuck back to what he was doing, "We continued our little affair in secret. I didn't realize it until later when I lost her, but I was starting to care way too much about what she did, who she was with… Nathaniel asked for her back and she left me for him. I was angry. More than angry. I actually felt something for Blair and she just brushed me off. And then she slept with Nathaniel, faking that he was the one who she gave her virginity to."

Chuck smiled viscously, "So, I sent an anonymous text to Gossip Girl telling what we did and Queen Blair became the lowest scum in Upper East Side."

Then Chuck's smugness at his revenge turned into a small, fond smile, "She eventually regained her thrown, we all knew she would. She still hated me and I still hated her, but we worked together briefly to help Serena out. Then at my father's wedding, I saw her and I realized I was in love with her. Or, at least I thought I was," He shook his head.

"Anyway, we got back together… and that lasted all of one week. I realized that I wasn't ready for commitment. I realize now that I simply wasn't ready to commit to Blair, but still. We had made plans to go to Europe together, but I bailed instead and spent the summer here," Chuck looked up and saw the vaguely horrified look on Elizabeth's face.

"Don't get me wrong. Blair and I have been friends since we were seven. We don't get along. We fight and we love nothing more than causing the other trouble. But we are friends and we do care about each other. Fighting is just who we are when we're together," He explained.

Liz nodded slightly. She could sort of understand that, "I had two friends back home that really don't get along with each other, but are still friends," Granted, Maria and Isabel were on a completely different level than Chuck's drama with Blair…

"Anyway," He continued, "I guess there are only three more people left. So, next up is Serena. She's… complicated," Chuck sighed in thought, "I think of Serena as two different people. There was the girl she was and the girl she is now. I care about the Serena she is now. She's…so different than before. She's kind and caring and… she's family. She's been through a lot this past year and I'd like to think that I've helped her through some of it… Serena's my sister and I take care of my family."

"And then there's the girl she was. She was… exactly like me," Chuck smiled reminiscently, "She partied and drank and fucked around. Serena was the bad girl to my bad boy. We were best friends. For as long as I can remember there has been four of us. Serena, Nate, Blair and me. But Blair and Nathaniel were off in couple-dom for years and that just left me and her. I… loved her. Not in the sisterly way I do now, but in… more of a shared camaraderie way. We were the same. Two of a kind, no one like us. We were rich and bored and needed to do something to get away from it all. Everyone looked up to us. We were the most popular because we were what everyone wanted to be," Chuck laughed darkly, "You could say we were the epitome of poor, little, bored, rich kids."

"I miss that." He said, "What we had. We talked all the time because no one else could understand. We hung out. For four years, ages twelve to sixteen, Serena and I did everything together. These days… I think I hate her a little bit. For turning her back on me and our friendship. Now, we barely say two words to each other," He sighed. Elizabeth's eyes showed understanding. She reached her arm out to hug him, but Chuck visibly moved his head, shaking himself out of it. Elizabeth pulled back. Now wasn't the time.

Chuck continued on, "Next up is the evil Georgina Sparks. She was the one who first introduced me to the world of lies, sex and manipulation. Another thing Serena and I did together. See, this part's the secret that no one really knows, not even Blair or Nathaniel. I lost my virginity to Georgina, but then two hours later, Serena lost her virginity to me."

"Georgina took me and used me and threw me away. She had no care in the world for me or my… well, I wouldn't call it innocence, exactly. Afterwards, I felt… disgusted with what I had done… with what I had allowed her to do. I went to Serena and I told her everything. And she, being Serena, held me in her arms and took away the memory the only way she knew how," Chuck looked up into Elizabeth's eyes, "We were twelve."

Charles disconnected their stare and looked down before taking a deep breath. This one would be the hardest to tell, "Lastly, would have to be my mother. I was eight when she left. I still remember the screaming and glass breaking of that night. She had caught my father with yet another woman, this time in my mother's own house. She was fed up and tired and she screamed she was through. My father tried to calm her down even as his mistress ran out the front door in nothing but a skirt. She slapped him. I remember my shock. No one had ever dared raise their voice to my father, let alone a hand. She said she was done and that she was filing for divorce. I was hiding in the living room at the time. Mother… went into their bedroom and he followed. I couldn't hear what was being said but I heard glass break and later a scream. They came out a little later and she had a bag with her. I had never seen my father so angry. He asked her what she was going to do for money. Said that she didn't know how to work. My mother spat back that she'd rather go into prostitution than continue living here. That's when my father must have caught sight of me because then he asked her what about me? 'What about Chuck? Are you going to just leave your only son?' That's when she faced me and I saw this… ugly red mark across her cheek and that's when I knew what my father had done to her. She said… she said 'I don't want him. God, knows he's just like you. He'll grow up to be a bastard, just like his father.' And then she left. And I never saw her or heard from her again."

Elizabeth had tears streaming down her cheeks. She couldn't believe that someone could do that to their son.

"A year ago, Serena just randomly up and left. It reminded me of her. I hadn't thought of her in years and then this ugly reminder came…" Chuck turned his head to look at Elizabeth. There was an odd look on his face. Like he felt guilty.

"I looked her up. I… was curious, I guess. She was alright. Moved to London. She had become a secretary. Fell in love with her boss. Got married. Two adopted kids from Russia and China. I had siblings and she never bothered telling me," Charles sighed, "I don't know why I thought she would."

"I am so sor-" Elizabeth started, but she was cut off.

"I got a phone call two months ago," He said, "It was the police or something. My mother and… my step-father… had died in a car accident. I was listed as family for her… I asked about her kids, did the caring oldest son bit, but I didn't really pay attention to the guy's answer. I just kept thinking about all the times I wished she was dead or the time I spent forcing myself not to think of her. I didn't know what to do. I… still don't know what to do. I don't think my dad even knows my mother's gone…" Chuck paused for a moment before changing the subject, "So, now you know why I'm so screwed up," He laughed standing up.

"You aren't screwed up," Elizabeth replied.

"Then you clearly haven't been listening," He chuckled fakely.

"That's your past. That's your influence. Chuck," She grabbed his hand to get his attention, "That isn't you."

He looked at her and her beautiful serious eyes before leaning down to kiss her deeply.

"I'm falling for you and it's scaring the hell out of me," He whispered.

"Me too. You aren't the only one scared, Chuck, I promise. I'm right beside you," She replied quietly.

He nodded his head and thought back to his earlier idea that she had obviously been hurt in the past before pushing those thoughts to the back of his head and smiling for her. With that one action, the entire room's atmosphere lightened exponentially, "I'm taking you out to dinner," He said.

"What?" She laughed.

"I owe you… a lot. So, I'm trying to make it up to. I'm taking you out," He replied, holding onto her hand.

"Okay," She smiled, "Just let me go to the bathroom and clean up," She said.

He grinned and pointed to which door it was.

As soon as she was gone his smile faded and he collapsed on the couch. What he had just told her… he had never told anyone in his life. Was he really ready for what that meant?

A song interrupted his thoughts. It was "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC. He remembered the song from a week and a half ago when he and Elizabeth were at dinner. Chuck looked up and saw that Elizabeth would not be returning soon and so he reached over and opened her purse and found her cell phone. He looked through her text messages and raised an eyebrow when he was well over fifty text messages from the same person. 'Max'.

Chuck wondered who it was. He looked up once more to ensure she wasn't on her way back before opening the text and reading it. His rage grew as he read more and more. This Max guy was clearly crazy. It sounded like he was stalking Elizabeth.

Chuck snarled. Clearly, Elizabeth had some explaining to do, but first, Chuck had some things to get. Elizabeth would need a new cell phone with a brand new number. No one touched a hair on his girl's head.

Speaking of his girl… Chuck returned the cell phone to her purse when he heard a door close.

"I'm ready," She smiled at him as she picked up her things.

"Great. Elizabeth?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"You're my girl, right?" Chuck asked seriously and with more than a little uncertainly.

Elizabeth's smile was blinding, "Right."

Chuck nodded and slipped a guiding hand to her lower back before leading her out. Today, he'd make things right with his girlfriend. Tomorrow, he'd get to work on this Max guy.

So, this is what made Chuck Bass, Chuck Bass. Interesting to see what made him the sick and twisted guy he is today. Looks like New Girl is going to have one interesting time…

Now, the real scoop of Chuck's confession is… Chuck Bass and Serena Van der Woodson, once Manhattan's IT Bad Two-some, were once… lovers? As if Waldorf didn't have enough issues, now to know that, not only did Serena get to Nate first, she also got to Chuck. Too bad Miss Blair, better luck next time.

With both Nate and Chuck out of the love game, exactly who is left for Queen B? Thoughts to ponder on a New York rainy day…

You Know You Love Me

XOXO

Gossip Girl