Chapter XIII

Stairway to Heaven, Elevator to Hell

Bart checked his Italian watch, noting the time. Business had tied up faster than he expected, and he thought to come home early without telling Lilly as a surprise. He patted his pocket, the one that contained a small box from Tiffany's. Small it may be, but far from cheap. He was slightly nervous, wondering if Lilly would like it. It had been a while since he'd actually courted a woman, had to actually think about what she may like and dislike. When he'd been going through half the models in Manhatten he hadn't spared a thought about anything he bought, most of the time he hadn't actually chosen it himself, but had his secretary pick it up. Now things were different…he wanted this to work, and yet he felt completely and utterly inadequate. The last time he'd wanted something so badly yet felt unequal to it, was nineteen years ago. He tried not to think of another woman, one with Chuck's soft brown eyes and smile.

The elevator opened, pulling him out of his reverie. He exited it, expecting the suite to be empty. No doubt Lilly would be out organizing a school fund raiser. He thought absently if perhaps he should ask Alfonos to make them something special for lunch, perhaps get a few candles and flowers, but he brushed that thought aside as silly. His thoughts occupied so much, he didn't notice at first as he turned the corner into the lounge, that the TV was on. He paused however, as he noticed the two people sitting on the couch, laughing at the movie which was on a high volume. There was Lilly, her hair out, her feet bare. And next to her, sitting on the couch, was Rufus Humphrey. Bart immediately stiffened, a thousand thoughts going through his head.

"Oh, this reminds me so much of New Orleans," Lilly said, laughing. "Do you remember Ralph?"

"How could I forget," Rufus replied, and there was something in his voice Bart definetly did not like. It unfroze him and he cleared his throat loudly, making them both jump and turn around.

"Bart?" Lilly was the first to recover, her eyes wide, her face slightly pale. Bart noticed Rufus had instinctively gone to take her hand, but she slid hers away from his, almost guiltily.

"Lilly," he said, keeping his voice cool. There was no use shouting or yelling, there was no real evidence of infidelity, just bowls of ice cream and a DVD. He kept himself calm, though he couldn't control bristling a bit.

"What a pleasant surprise," Lilly supplied, quickly rising and placing her social smile on. "Rufus was keeping me some company, we were trying to decide what movie to play for the parent student movie night to welcome the freshman."

There was a slight challenge in her voice, as if daring him to voice suspicions that were unfounded. Bart didn't bite, he wasn't an unnecessarily harsh or suspicious man, not usually anyway.

"Yes, things wrapped up faster then I expected," he said, unable to keep the stiffness out of his voice.

"I'll just go then shall I Lils," Rufus said quietly, Bart didn't fail to notice he was watching for Lilly's reply hopefully.

"Yes…I'll…see you around," Lilly said, glancing at him, then at Bart. Rufus looked slightly disappointed.

"Bart," he said collecting himself stoically, and nodding his head, Bart inclined his own but didn't say anything, watching as Rufus exited the suite.

As soon as the elevator doors closed behind him, his eyes turned to Lily.

"Don't look at me like that," she said quietly, looking defensive.

"Like what?" he asked.

"You know like what," she replied, brushing past him she made to go up the stairs.

"How do you expect me to look then?" Bart queried, keeping his voice low and looking up at her as she made her way up a few steps. "I come home early and find…"

"Two friends watching a movie together," Lilly said, turning. She too kept her voice low, though it was more concern that the help may hear. "It was nothing Bart…and you don't have a right to look like that."

"Well maybe I wouldn't look like this, if perhaps you weren't watching a movie with an old boyfriend," Bart noted.

"Well maybe I wouldn't be watching a movie with an old boyfriend if you were here more often," Lilly countered.

There was silence at this, Bart blinked slowly, her words sinking in. Lilly sighed, leaning against the banister in defeat and looking down at him sadly.

"Why does it feel like we've been here so many times before?" Lilly sighed sadly.

"I'm sorry," he finally managed to say. "I know I…I promised you things Lilly, and I've yet to deliver. But I can change," he added as she avoided looking at his eyes, glancing at her wedding ring. "But you have to give us a chance too. I want this to work Lilly."

She was silent, still looking down at the glittering diamonds.

"I brought you something." He thought now was a good time as any, he took out the tiffany's box, pulling the ribbon and opening it to reveal a large ruby heart pendant resting on the green velvet.

He watched her reaction carefully, she looked down at it, and he noticed with a sinking heart there was no delight in her eyes.

"You don't like it," he voiced, feeling rebuffed.

"No, no it's beautiful," she said quietly, making an effort to smile as she made her way back down the stairs and stood in front of him. It was so like Bart, wasn't it? When he couldn't or didn't want to find the words to deal with something, he whipped out an expensive present. "Thank you."

He looked down at her as she took the box, bending her head to examine the pendant. She tried not to show him that she hated this kind of corny jewellery, that she would have much preferred turquoise to a ruby, that she loved silver, not gold. All these little things, all these little things he had no idea about her, the things that made her more than just Lilly Rhodes. He knew there was something wrong, something he hadn't gotten right, but he couldn't quite place what it was.

"I meant it you know," he finally settled on saying. "I want this to work." He tentatively put a soft finger to her chin, guiding her face up so he could look into her blue eyes.

"I know, and I appreciate it Bart, I do," she said, leaning forward to place a soft kiss on his lips. He didn't fail to notice that she was silent about wanting it to work too.

Chuck stumbled into the boy's bathroom. He felt terrible. Last night was a blur, he hadn't gotten that drunk in a while, and he had a splitting headache to prove it. Not only that, but he couldn't really remember much after he dropped Humphrey off at his try hard loft. He had however found his phone pressed to his cheek when he'd woken this morning. He'd checked his calls, and found out the last one he had made had been to Blair. He really hoped she had not answered it, but he had a sinking feeling she had. That was why he was avoiding her, and why when he spotted Serena and Blair at the head of the boys corridor, he'd quickly made his escape into the bathroom.

However the bathroom turned out to be less of an escape then he had hoped. He walked into a scene which made him freeze . Three large jocks were standing in front of them and in the middle of their triangle was Eric, with a bloody nose.

"What the hell is going on here?" Chuck asked, slowly and precisely. His muscles tensed, his fists clenched as fury pounded through him, hard and fast clearing his head.

"None of your business," one of the more brave ones said, glaring at him. He was muscly, most likely steroids in Chuck's opinion. And he had an arrogant smirk on his face. Chuck looked at him darkly, causing him to back up a step involuntarily. His memory came back to him, this was Toby Ashton, Martin's cousin.

"I wasn't asking you," he said venom in his voice. He walked up to Eric and took his arm.

"What's going on here?" he asked the younger boy, catching his eyes as Eric tried to avoid looking at him. Eric didn't reply, Chuck felt like shaking him, but resisted, instead grabbing some of the expensive paper towels in the dispenser he handed them to the younger boy.

"He…fell," another burly jock said, avoiding Chuck's gaze himself and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, clumsy fa-" Toby spoke up again, feeling the need to reclaim his manliness.

"Finish that and I will see to it personally that your Daddy dearest finds out what you do behind the bleachers after a game." Chuck snapped, his voice icy, his gaze dark and dangerous. His fists were clenched, but he was just managing to prevent himself from launching on this idiot. If his father had taught him anything it was that threats were always more effective then fists. "He's running for mayor right, a very family friendly conservative campaign? I wonder how he'd like to find out that his little boy like-"

"Shut up you don't know anything," Toby snapped, paling and looking scared despite his aggressive stance. "

"Oh contraire," Chuck said, steel in his voice. "I have pictures," he whipped out his phone, and pulled up the pictures with a few flicks of his thumb. He then threw the phone to Toby, who looked down at it in horror. "And don't bother deleting it, I have more copies where that came from." Chuck commented.

"W..what do you want?" Toby asked, Chuck didn't fail to notice his hands were shaking, his fellow goons were looking at him with wide eyes, looking slightly afraid themselves. Typical, you tore down the leader and the rest followed like sheep.

"My phone back," Chuck noted, smirking confidently. Toby handed it to him, almost respectfully, avoiding looking at Eric standing beside him. "Now, I think you should ask Eric what he wants to do, seeing as it's up to him." Chuck queried, looking down at the younger boy and trying to avoid his anger rising as he noticed that, though Eric had managed to clean the blood off his face and stem the flow, some of it had spilled onto Eric's scarf as well.

Eric looked up at him with wide eyes, Chuck gave him an encouraging smirk he handed Eric the phone with the photos, then folding his arms he leant casually against the sink, giving Eric the floor.

Eric glanced down at the photos, his mouth slightly agape.

"What would you like us to do…Eric?" Toby finally choked out, looking even more scared as Eric's mouth thinned at the sound of his voice, and he looked at the older boy with hard eyes.

"I want you to never come near me or Jonathon, or anyone else again. If I hear you even bumped against someone I am personally going to make sure these get out to the newspapers. You all understand that, or do you want me to draw a picture?"

"No, no," Toby said quickly. "We got it don't we guys?"

"Yes," the other two piped up, obviously scared about what Chuck might have on them.

"Good," Eric said, snapping the phone shut. "Now get out of here. I can't stand bigots."

Toby hesitated for a second, then quickly turned and fled, the other jocks following obediently behind him. Eric watched the door slam behind them then looked up at Chuck, who was watching him with an unreadable expression.

"Uh…thanks…" Eric finally said.

"That's what big brothers are for right?" Chuck drawled, giving a sardonic smile.

"Yeah, I guess it is," he replied, returning it with a wistful smile of his own. "Look about before…perhaps I over reacted…"

"No," Chuck cut him off, shifting uncomfortably from the sink. "I can see why now, and I'm…I apologize for causing you so many problems Eric. Next time I'll let you deal with it your way." Mentally he was amending that to 'maybe,' as in no chance in hell. Next time he would just make sure he tied up all the loose ends before they erupted, without Eric's knowledge. He had been careless and Eric had gotten hurt, he would make sure that didn't happen again.

"Yeah…maybe my way wasn't so great…" Eric muttered, turning his back on Chuck he grabbed a few more paper towels fitfully, pretending to be occupied with scrubbing his shirt. He felt ashamed, ashamed that Chuck had been man enough to start the battle, and then had to swoop to Eric's rescue yet again.

Chuck didn't reply to this, he was sure that he'd probably say the wrong thing anyway. He tentatively reached out, to perhaps put his hand on Eric's shoulder, but at the last minute decided against it, letting it fall to his side uselessly.

The bell interrupted any further awkwardness, making both the boys jump slightly.

"Shame I dumped art, otherwise I could have said this is a form of expressionism," Eric said, feebly smiling as he looked down at the blood on his shirt.

"I'll call Arthur," Chuck said authoratively, glad there was something he could do. He took his phone back from Eric, pressing the speed dial.

"Thanks," Eric replied softly.

"B, how long are we going to wait out here?" Serena groaned. After Blair had caught site of Chuck slipping into the boys bathroom, she'd determinedly taken up residence in front of the door. Somehow, she'd convinced Serena to follow. The two of them were now spending their spare period waiting for Chuck to come out, like two hunters ready to pounce, at least Blair was, Serena was just bored.

"Until he comes out," Blair said, glancing at the door. While Serena had made herself comfortable sitting on the empty corridor floor with her back against the locker, Blair was resolutely standing ready.

"Don't you think you're taking this tormenting thing too far?" Serena queried, looking up at her friend with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not tormenting him, I just want to talk," Blair said, her voice controlled and a note too high.

"Sure," Serena huffed, but she didn't press her further, just got out her iphone and powered up kids doodle, proceeding to draw fluro pink love hearts. She could tell this was going to be a long wait.

Chuck suggested they wait until Arthur was out front before they exited the bathroom. He'd confidently locked the door to prevent anyone interrupting them, sat on the counter top, and gotten out his flask. Eric had refused any offers of refreshment, but had commented dubiously that perhaps Chuck should go to class. Chuck had smirked away his concern, and noted he had a free period. The younger boy still wasn't sure if he was telling the truth as ten minutes later he checked his phone and ushered Eric out of the bathroom.

"Arthur said he'd-" Chuck trailed off as the door closed behind them and they were met with both Serena and Blair in front of the toilet door. They had apparently been talking, but stopped as the two boys emerged.

"Serena, what are you doing?" Eric asked, his eyes wide, frozen.

"B wanted- is that blood? Oh my gosh are you okay Eric?" she quickly rose from where she had been sitting on the floor, rushing forward, noticing the blood on Eric's shirt. She frantically grabbed his hand and instinctively checked his wrist.

"It's not like that," he quickly said, reclaiming his hand with embarassment. "I just…I fell."

"You didn't fall. What happened?" she turned to Chuck now, her eyes flashing.

"Nothing to worry about," Chuck said, unfazed by her protective glare.

"What happened," Serena demanded, realising she wasn't going to get anything from the older boy she turned to her brother now. "Eric, please…"

He wasn't able to withstand that soft plea, avoiding her gaze he muttered an explanation. Telling her how some jocks had cornered him in the toilet and decided to rough him up a bit.

"But we took care of it," he quickly amended as Serena's blue eyes hardened and she blushed with fury. "Chuck…"

"Chuck," she snapped, turning on the older boy now, he was standing there silently. "This is all your fault."

"I fail to-" he began to drawl.

"Why do you think they were picking on him?" Serena demanded. "All because you decided to have some vendetta, and Eric got hit in the crossfire. Do you even have any sort of human feeling?"

"I didn-" he began to say slightly perturbed. But Serena wasn't in the mood to listen. She felt helpless and angry that she hadn't been there for her brother, yet again. She needed to vent against someone, needed an enemy to attack.

"Like I said before, Eric will be better off if you just leave him alone. And that goes for me too. Come on Eric, we need to get you cleaned up," and without glancing at him began to stalk towards the exit.

Eric looked behind him with an apologetic glance, but followed behind her dutifully.

Once the doors slammed behind them, Eric quickly caught up to her, catching her hand.

"Don't you think you were a bit tough on him, it's not really his fau-" Eric began.

"Don't," Pausing she ran her hand through her long blonde locks, and turned to Eric. "You can't say that ultimately he isn't the reason you have a bloody nose. You don't know Chuck, not like I do. He…he can't help himself, he always has to get into trouble, regardless of the consequences. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He has no control, and I won't let him drag you down with him."

"I'm a big boy Serena, I think I can take care of myself," Eric pointed out, giving her a wry smile. "Besides he did-"

"Where was he when you got punched?" she cut across his defence. "Too concerned with his own selfish problems to even notice that his little brother-" her voice had risen now with something other than anger, and it suddenly clicked into place for Eric.

"It's not your fault Serena," he quickly said, looking up at her with wide brown eyes. "You can't always be there for me, and really I don't need you to be."

"I promised," she said softly, the fight going out of her as she looked down at him with pleading blue eyes. "I promised that I would stop being so selfish, that I'd start making you a priority. And then I did it all over again, I had no idea what was…"

"This isn't the same thing," Eric amended. "Sometimes you have to try and deal with things yourself. Besides, you can't watch me twenty four hours a day, and I don't think either of us really want you to."

He smiled crookedly and she returned a shaky one herself.

"With that in consideration, maybe you could let up on Chuck?" he queried hopefully.

Serena's chin stuck out at this, her mouth firming, burying Eric's hopes. She wasn't yet ready to let up on her grudge against Chuck, or maybe she wasn't ready to let up on her own wild past.

"He still-" she began, Eric quickly lifted up his hands in defeat.

"Okay, but could you at least think about it? The tense breakfasts are kind of getting old."

"Fine, I'll think about it," she relented slightly. "Now let's go get you cleaned up huh?"

"Sure, Mom," He muttered under his breath.

"Well someone's got to do it?" she laughed reaching out and ruffling his hair.

As soon as Serena and Eric disappeared through the doors Blair turned to look at Chuck. His gaze was still trained on the door, his brow slightly furrowed. She wondered fleetingly if perhaps what Serena had said had gotten to him. More likely he was planning some sort of revenge, she would be in his situation.

"You should let it go," she said authoratively, deciding to speak first and break the silence. He turned to her, looking slightly confused. "She's worried about Eric," Blair said impatiently, trying not to fold her arms and tap her foot impatiently. "Right now is not the time to mess with her, and I'm saying that on a best friend capacity."

Surprisingly he didn't sneer, or make some lewd comment, he just shrugged and turned as if to go.
"Chuck," she said, gathering herself after he had taken a few steps. He stopped, turning and raising his eyebrows.

"I have a class to get to," he pointed out as she didn't continue. He was not in the mood for a confrontation, he was still wondering if perhaps Serena was right, perhaps this was all his fault. "Other people's lives to ruin." He added it as a bitter after thought, she noticed the tone and frowned slightly, wondering if maybe…maybe he was actually feeling bad about Eric.

"I was just going to ask, what was the name of the idiot who dared to hit Eric?" she queried, changing tact, her voice all business now.

Chuck couldn't help a smirk creeping over his face in appreciation. The offer was tempting, when they did unite their scheming abilities were imaginative and unparalleled…He struggled with himself for a second, but then he remembered that the reason he hadn't even noticed Eric was in trouble was because he had been preoccupied with chasing Blair. He couldn't afford that now, he needed to ensure this revenge was followed through to the end.

"I've got it," he finally drawled.

Blair felt slightly rebuffed, but his small appreciative smile showed her that he wasn't rejecting her, this was simply, for a less cliché term, personal.

"Fine," she said pertly. "But when you do call me for help, make sure it's before ten." With that she turned on her superior dignity, and started down the corridor.

"Blair," he called after her, she turned instinctively at the sound of his velvet voice. "Thanks," he said. She simply raised a brown eyebrow.

"I wasn't offering for you, I was offering for Eric," she said smoothly, then flicking her chocolate curls she turned and walked away, unable to repress a small smile.

Spotted: C and B caught having a quiet moment in the school corridor…again. This is starting to become a habit guys, or perhaps it's not coincidence? Either way I hope they do something soon, or I may be in danger of getting bored with this little lust/hate story, which is starting to have less lust/hate in it then a Disney movie.

xoxo GG

"Okay, I've got the popcorn, the chocolate cookies, and milkshakes," Serena pronounced, entering the lounge room with a full tray she'd taken from the room service cart. Eric was sitting on the couch in front of a pile of DVD's Serena had dumped on the table and the wide screen TV. He'd convinced her to let him go home with Arthur by himself, and she'd relented grudgingly. By the time she'd gotten home from school herself Lilly was absent. Eric had explained that Bart had taken her out to dinner and Serena rolled her eyes. Obviously Eric had typically fed Lilly some story about a head ache and their mother hadn't bothered to probe further. Well Serena was determined not to leave her younger brother alone, even if it meant staying in on a Friday night, even though Blair was planning to go to Butters with all the girls. It was a small sacrifice to make.

"Uh…really Serena I don't think I can eat all of that," Eric said, his eyes wide as he saw that there were three kinds of different cookies and two milkshakes each.

"Of course you can," Serena said, smiling brightly. "Come on, this is going to be fun. We haven't had a sibling evening in forever."

"Right, fun," Eric muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. Honestly he had been hoping for a quite evening where he could listen to some music and wallow in self pity for a while. Serena obviously had other ideas however, and no matter how much he tried to hint tactfully, she wouldn't leave him out of her sight.

Serena didn't notice his less then enthusiastic response, too busy trying to find a place to put the tray on the table without dropping the mountain of DVD's.

"So," she said as she successfully placed it down with skill and jumped onto the couch beside Eric, trying to keep up the bright upbeat mood. "What do you want to watch first? Avatar, or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part uno?"

Eric looked at the two DVD's with trepidation. Right then he was more in the mood to watch Sweeney Todd, but he knew that would probably worry Serena, like the suggestion that he would rather be alone. Thankfully he was saved from having to make a choice as Serena's cell rung.

"Eurghhh, it's probably Blair again, complaining about some sleazy guy who tried to dance with her," Serena said, rolling her eyes in mock exaggeration.

"Answer it," Eric said, quickly grabbing for the mobile, pressing the green button and shoving it into Serena's hand before she could protest. Maybe while she was busy talking he could figure out how to tell her he wanted an early night without hurting her feelings, or making her worried. After all a boy needed some pride, and having his older sister coddling him like a ten year old just because he got a bloody nose, was not helping his manly status.

"Hello," Serena said, quickly shoving it to her ear as she heard someone on the other end.

"Serena, hey," a smooth voice answered, a smile in his voice.

"Damien?" Serena replied, shocked, her blue eyes widening. Eric looked up curiously at her surprised tone.

"Yeah, I was just…uh just wondering. I'm in the Palace bar and perhaps if you…"

"Damien now's not really…" Serena began, biting her lip nervously with her white teeth.

Before she could finish the sentence Eric impulsively grabbed the phone.

"Hey Damien, it's Eric here, Serena would love to meet up with you, just give her about ten minutes okay?" Before the shocked Damien or Serena could reply he hung up, grinning.

"What was that?" Serena cried out, recovering.

"Hey, I'm your little brother remember, it's my job," Eric said, smiling. "Besides I think you should go. Damien's a nice guy, and it's Friday night, you don't have to be stuck here with me."

"Eric, I wasn't stuck we were doing a movie night," Serena protested.

"Really?" Eric raised his eyebrows, trying to go for Chuck's speculative look which always managed to make people cave. To his surprise it worked and Serena dropped her eyes, blushing slightly.

"I don't want to leave you alone," she protested softly.

"It's okay, I'll call Jenny and Jonathon, I'll be fine," Eric said, lying easily. He knew Jenny was working late, and he and Jonathon had been acting weird around him lately.

"I guess that would probably be a better Friday night then hanging out with your big sis huh?" she said, smiling slightly.

"Probably," he replied, grinning. "Now you better get dressed, you've got about seven minutes left, and you need a lot of work."

Serena quickly got up, and playfully threw a pillow at Eric's face.

"Hey," he protested as he pushed it off, and saw she was already making her way towards the stairs.

"I'm your big sister, it's what I do," she called behind her laughing.

Damien allowed the smirk to take over his face as he spotted Serena entering the bar. There she was, his dream girl, the one he had been thinking about since she'd showed up at boarding school with that infetous laugh and endearing smile. The girl that could convince him that anything was all right. The girl that had introduced him to the wonders of blow, a wonder he'd partaken with tonight. Perhaps a bit too much, but he wasn't so high that he wasn't coherent, at least he thought so. Wiping his nose surreptitiously to make sure he had no powder left, he quickly raised his hand up, waving to catch her attention. It took her a minute or so, but then her blue eyes alighted on him and she smiled sweetly, walking towards him with her high heels and gold dress.

"Hi," she said, all white teeth, and sweetness.

"Hey," Damien said. "I'm so glad you came." His hand reached up, to brush her cheek. Serena's smile faded quickly and she jerked away, looking at him with wide blue eyes now in shock.

"Damien," she said, her voice a soft admonishment as he looked at her with confusion.

"What?" he queried, "I thought…when you agreed to come, dressed like that…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, her usually soft blue eyes turning hard. "I came to have a friendly drink Damien…I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea but that's obviously your problem…" as she said this she grabbed up her sequined clutch again, going to rise.

"Hey, hey Serena, no wait," he said desperately, feeling frustrated and annoyed, but trying to reign in his anger. "I'm sorry…I guess I just assumed after the kiss, but you're right that is my problem."

She fell for his quietly sad look as he knew she would. Sighing she settled in her seat again, looking at him guilty now, wringing her hands unconsciously.

"About that…I'm sorry about running out on you and then avoiding you…but I just…I needed to sort through some things Damien. And I know that I should have told you this sooner, but I…I really don't think now is the right time, what with Chuck and Eric and my Mom and…I'd love to be your friend but.."

"But just a friend," Damien finished for her heavily, preventing himself from sneering at the word. Of course the perfect Ms Serena van der Woodsen would never want to go out with a boy like him, even if he'd had a dozen other girls running after him since he'd started at St Judes. All she probably still saw was the nerdy boy in the glasses who would do her homework just for a pathetic smile. Damien's jaw tensed at the thought.

"I'm…I'm sorry," she said, going as if to touch his hand gently, but then deciding against it. "I should probably go," she murmured, going to rise again. As Damien watched her blonde hair, fists clench he though hazily that perhaps she didn't have to. Right now she didn't think he was good enough, but he'd seen her kiss anything when she was high. Perhaps this night didn't have to be a complete humiliating failure after all.

"Wait, you don't have to go," he said, reaching out and grabbing her hand once more. As she turned he tried a pleading smile. "You want to be friends right, and friends drink together?"

"I don't know…" she hesitated, biting her lip.

"Only one drink?" he said persuasively, trying to keep the impatience out of his voice. "At least that way this night won't be a complete embarrassing bust."

"It is Friday night," she relented, her guilt swaying her to settle back in her seat once more. "And I guess one drink won't hurt."

"Right," Damien said, showing all his teeth as he grinned widely.

Chuck drowned a second glass of scotch. After last night, he had been slightly put off trying to pick up women at the Palace bar, for now at least. Tonight he'd opted to sit in a corner booth quietly, trying to think, or not think, he wasn't entirely sure.

He looked up for a waiter from the bottom of the second glass, that's when he spotted Serena and Damien at the bar. He rolled his eyes, no doubt Serena was pulling on another heart string typically. After her righteous tirade here she was, drinking a cosmopolitan and…looking far more drunk then she had been in a while. Chuck frowned slightly, Serena was slipping off her seat, giggling profusely, her hair mussed. She looked like she'd taken something, then again she was with Damien and no doubt she probably had, something good.

He smirked sardonically, typical really. She pretended like she was reformed, yet here she was completely out of it. Indicating for the waiter to bring over another glass, Chuck watched minimally amused as Serena waved her empty glass in the air, trying to get the waiters attention. He was contemplating taking out his phone and sending a video to gossip girl, when he noticed Damien forcefully grab the glass from her hand and place it on the table.

"Sorry," Damien quickly said as the bar tender looked at them with a frown. "I think she's had too much to drink."

"Really Sherlock?" The bar tender replied, unimpressed.

"I'll just take her up to her suite," Damien quickly amended, grabbing Serena around the waste who was now looking pale and slightly sick. "Come on Serena."

Chuck frowned now, watching them make their unsteady way towards the elevator. He was tempted to ignore the prickling on the back of his neck, to go back to drinking his scotch. After all Serena had made it very clear she didn't want him anywhere near her, and she'd been in plenty of situations before, she could look after herself. But when the waiter came over with his full scotch glass he couldn't help asking.

"How many drinks did Ms van der Woodsen have?" he said smoothly expecting an answer.

"One Mr Bass," the waiter replied promptly as Chuck held up a twenty.

Chuck frowned at this, looking after Damien and Serena, but they'd already left. Rising he buttoned his suit.

"Sir?" the waiter called as he made his way towards the door, he still held the full scotch glass on the tray.

"Put it on my tab," Chuck muttered behind him, distracted. "Hey, hey," he said quickening his step as the bar tender went to pick up Serena's almost empty glass. "Can I have a look at that."

The bar tender looked at him confused, but shrugged as Chuck held out his hand, he was the boss' son after all. Chuck took the glass, waiting for the bar tender to go serve a customer before he discreetly dipped his finger into the remnants of the drink and tasted it. He put it down, his doubt justified, eyes darkening. It tasted unusually salty. Quickly he made his way towards the bars exit.

Spotted: Reformed S acting like wild S at the Palace bar, with new boy Damien in tow. I wonder what brought on this relapse? Does it perhaps have anything to do with a certain N having a romantic candle light dinner at Brooklyn with his bohemian girlfriend? Give me as much deets as you can people, this promises to be juicy.

xoxo GG.

A/N: Sorry it's been so long. I'm buy moving house =(. Thank you so much for the reviews, I'm really appreciative of them, and they have all been so positive. I don't think I've ever reached the 90s in reviews for any of my stories, especially not this quickly. You guys are great = ).

I'm sorry if this chapter has grammatical errors and is not flowing right. I was really trying to get something up among this chaos. Next chapter: someone will get punched and someone will get kissed lol. Sorry this didn't' follow what I said last time but sometimes my muse has different ideas for what I write in any given chapter. But I do have a basic stencil, so never fear. = P.

Oh yeah and sometimes Gossip girls speculations can be wrong like in this case = ). But it will effect how everyone else will view a situation.

Thanks again, and don't forget if you read review ; ).