A/N: I wanted to take a breather since I finished two of my exams yesterday. I still have more, but I needed a break. I hope you enjoy this chapter! I plan to update A Week In The Hamptons today as well. Please take a moment to review this chapter!

A Single Spark


Blair remained silent, refusing to look him in the eye lest he realize he had an unexplainable control over her whenever he was near her. His voice swiftly cut through her muddled thoughts.

"Miss Waldorf, I am not going to ask you again. What are you doing here?" he repeated.

He leaned slightly towards her, hoping to intimidate her. It seemed to have worked like a charm in the past. Much to his disappointment, she merely smirked at his words.

"You just did," she pointed out, stating the obvious.

"What? What did I just do?" he asked, genuinely confused by her statement.

Blair leaned slightly towards him this time as he held his breath in anticipation. His eyes bore into hers neither of them willing to back down. The rest of the world shrank back in silence as they continued to stare at one another. Blair was the first to surrender when she finally took note of the sincere confusion in his eyes.

"Never mind then Detective Bass. I figured an intelligent man such as yourself would have caught on to what I was pointing out, but never mind. I was wrong about you," she started, knowing full well it would only irritate him further. "To answer your previous question detective, I was here to question Eric and his boyfriend and you and I both know you hate yourself for not thinking of it first."

Chuck opened his mouth in retort only to be interrupted by her angelic voice.

"No need to make something up Detective Bass. Eric already told me," she informed him, grinning from ear to ear.

She was thrilled that she has been one step ahead of him. It was exhilarating. Blair Waldorf never backed down from a challenge nor had she ever lost one in her entire life.

"What do you mean his boyfriend Miss Waldorf? Did Robert tell you this when you paid him that apparently very necessary visit to his house today? Your boyfriend won't be happy to hear about this," he teased, shaking his head at her behaviour.

Blair stood back as if slapped and was evidently at a loss for words.

"You need to stop following me! Find your own leads detective!" she warned him, her eyes flaring up with anger.

Who did he think he was following her around like that? Before she could ponder over her question, Chuck grabbed her wrist harshly and let her know that he meant business with his charcoal eyes.

"I am not going to repeat myself Miss Waldorf. I may care that you went to find Robert and I may have an issue with you questioning Eric and Jonathan, but you will not under any circumstances tell anyone about Jonathan being his boyfriend. Do I make myself clear? I will destroy you."

Blair could only nod numbly in his direction. Truthfully, the sudden change in the tone of his voice had scared her. She shrugged off his tight grip on her wrist.

"What makes you think I would blab about something like that? I would never betray Eric like that! Robert told me you had no idea about his sexuality. How did you find out?"

Chuck rolled his eyes. "Robert also said he would love you forever. Nice to see that worked out for you Blair. To answer your question because you seem to be brimming with them Miss Waldorf, I happen to have a very close relationship with my brother. He confides in me and I will always be there to protect him, so believe me when I say that I will destroy you if you so much as breathe a word to anyone. Eric will make his sexuality known when the time is right for him. Do you understand me?"

Blair could sense the seriousness in his voice. "I understand. I promise I..."

Chuck held up his hand to interrupt her as his cell phone began to sound off.

"Detective Bass," he said, motioning for Blair to stay where she was.

Chuck directed a sarcastic laugh at the caller.

"You must be seeing things," he said after a long pause and proceeded to hang up.

"What was that all about? Do you have a new lead or something?" Blair questioned curiously as Chuck slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"Do you really think I would share a new lead with you?" Chuck responded, raising an eyebrow. "That was Eric. He seems to think we have some unresolved sexual tension between us. What do you think about that Miss Waldorf?"

Blair was about to make a snide remark when she realized that he was telling the truth. Her eyes grew wide upon her awareness and she took a step back from him for good measure. He pointed behind him and sure enough Eric and Jonathan were spying on them from the upstairs window. Blair sent them both an intense glare, causing them to scurry away from the window in fear. She cursed inwardly to herself as the curtains fell back into place. Damn Eric for being so perceptive all the damn time!

Blair cleared her throat to dispel the awkward silence.

"Well, this has been interesting detective. However, I do have places to go and people to see, so if you'll excuse me."

She turned around and began walking towards the limo before she felt herself being pulled back abruptly. Before she could protest, his lips were on hers, sending an involuntary shiver of pleasure up and down her spine. She struggled to escape from his grasp as he wrapped his arms tightly around her delicate waist. Eventually, she gave in to his touch, looping her arms around his neck and deepening the kiss. He pulled away from her after awhile both of them gasping for air. Neither of them would deny the sparks they had felt, but neither of them would openly admit to them either.

"So, did you feel anything?" Chuck inquired, trying to steady his ragged breathing all the while.

He sure as hell knew he had felt the sparks. He had been with his fair share of women over the years and yet this one kiss left him with a feeling he had never had before. It was as if there was something fluttering in his stomach. It was as if his stomach had suddenly become a habitat for nothing less than a million butterflies.

"Of course not," she replied, her lips still burning from his touch. "I have a boyfriend. Did you feel anything?"

She sure as hell knew she had felt the sparks. She had only been with Robert and Dan so far to be fair, but somehow she knew that no one would ever kiss her again like Chuck Bass had just now. It left her with a familiar fluttering in her stomach. Those butterflies had visited her during her relationship with Robert and made their presence known whenever she had been around Dan as well, but this feeling had been foreign to her for awhile.

"Of course not," Chuck retorted out of an attempt to save his pride. "I was simply resolving the sexual tension that Eric claims that exists between us."

Blair glanced away to hide her disappointment. "Then we can forget this ever happened Detective Bass."

She climbed into her limo without looking back at him once. His face fell slightly, but he quickly freed himself of such an expression as he walked back towards the house. This had to be a fluke. Chuck Bass felt butterflies for no one, especially not Blair fucking Waldorf.


"You were the one who wrote me that love poem in senior year?" Serena asked, shocked at his confession.

Nate nodded, staring down at the food before him.

"I wanted to ask you to the prom as well, but I chickened out at the last minute," he added, pushing his peas around his plate.

Serena smiled at his discomfort. He really was a sweetheart. She felt slightly guilty that her intentions had been to use Nate solely for the purposes of security. This was becoming a whole lot more than what she had bargained for. She had encountered Nate many a times in high school, but they were merely friendly with each other. They were far from close friends, but tonight she had seen him in another light. He was a gentlemen and he really knew how to make her laugh. He fed her with all the right compliments as well. They were honest, but not too over the top. Yes, this first date was definitely more than what she had bargained for.

"I would have gone with you had you asked. How is the case coming along?" she inquired, swirling the wine in her glass around.

Nate was thrilled that Serena had agreed to a first date, although technically she had been the one to ask him out. This was everything he had imagined in high school. They were at a wonderful restaurant, the food was amazing, and most importantly, the girl he had always dreamed of was sitting directly across from him. She was beautiful and smart and she had a wonderful sense of humor as well. He felt like he was the luckiest person in the world at that very moment.

"All the evidence is currently still being tested at the lab, but we already have a few suspects in mind. I think Chuck has you on his suspect list, but he really has everyone on there, so you have nothing to worry about. Besides, innocence is innocence, right?" he answered her quite eagerly.

Serena let out an awkward laugh and decided it would be best to change the subject of the conversation for now. She should be prying further into the subject, but for some reason, she wanted their first date to be perfect. Her unexpected change of heart for Nate forbade her from ruining the glossy atmosphere of the evening.

"More wine Serena?" he offered, interrupting her thoughts.

She accepted and tilted her glass towards him. Nate picked up the bottle nervously, wanting to make a good impression and began to pour the liquid into the glass. However, nothing came out from the mouth of the corked bottle.

Serena giggled. "You have to take out the cork Nate."

Nate blushed furiously. "Of course. I seem to forget the simplest things in your presence Serena."

He lifted the bottle and pulled on the cork. It refused to budge. He pulled harder this time only to have it fly across the table to hit Serena in the eye. She cupped her stinging eye, giving a tiny yelp as he apologized profusely for what he had done. He reached over the table to comfort her, forgetting that the bottle of red wine was still in his hand. Serena let out an exasperated scream as she felt the liquid course down the length of her dress.

"I am so sorry Serena!" he cried, putting the bottle down on the table, which a nearby waiter whisked away immediately to prevent any further accidents of the Archibald kind.

He went over to her side of table and handed her a few napkins as she began to dab at the splotches on her dress. Suddenly, Serena burst out laughing as Nate continued to stare at her in horror.

"I could charge you for attempted murder detective," she teased, trying to lighten the mood of the current situation.

Nate did not find the situation quite as funny as she did, but he was glad that she was far from upset.

"I am sorry Serena. I wanted the evening to be..."

"...perfect," she finished for him.

The next thing he knew, her lips were on his and they both lost themselves in their kiss as a few people in the restaurant let out a cheering whoop.


"Have you found anything yet?" Dan asked, panic evidently laced in his question.

Vanessa let out a frustrated sigh.

"You've been asking me that for the past half hour. Will you just relax? He said he'd be back in an hour," she reminded him. "I'm nervous enough without having you remind me of the fact that we're snooping."

Dan remained unconvinced, poking his head out of the office door again to analyze their current situation.

"Stop checking the hallways Dan. Don't you think it would look even more suspicious if my father saw your head peeking out of his office door?"

Dan closed the door quietly and began pacing around the room.

"Sorry Vanessa. I still think we should hand this over to the authorities," Dan pleaded with her.

Vanessa ignored him and continued to look through the numerous computer files before her. She sighed in frustration.

"None of these documents or spreadsheets look suspicious to me," she murmured. "Can you please check his schedule book? The old secretary, Sarah, was kind enough to drop it off for me this morning. I haven't had a chance to look at it though. Meanwhile, I'll see if he has any encrypted files or folders on here."

Dan stopped his nervous pacing and did as he was told. The sooner they found something, the sooner they could get out of here.

"I feel bad for Sarah by the way. You offer to be his personal secretary and before you know it, she's being transferred to another department. I suppose the raise she received made the move more than worth it. Anyway, your father had a clear schedule on the night of the murder. I honestly think that he had no alibi and simply panicked," he reasoned.

Vanessa continued to type a string of commands into the computer as she addressed his statement.

"I've told you this over and over again Dan. My father is smart enough to know that having no alibi doesn't exactly frame him for murder. Look, I'm not saying that my father murdered his own son, but I have a strong feeling..." she trailed off, staring intently at the computer screen.

Dan understood that she had probably found what they were looking for and made his way over to the desk. Honestly though, he still really didn't know what they were looking for.

"What is all this?" Vanessa asked, clearly confused by all of the technical terms and jumbled numbers displayed before her.

Dan motioned for Vanessa to get out of her seat and took control of the mouse, scrolling down slowly to assess the contents of the encrypted file.

"They're stock transactions. Apparently, Bart has been buying a large amount of stocks in Fairmont Industries," he revealed.

Vanessa looked at him, complete bewilderment evident upon her face.

"Why would my father need to buy shares in his own company?" she asked, questioning the logic behind such an act.

Dan frowned as he continued to view every single transaction that had been made recently.

"Well, your father is the primary share holder in the company, but the board owns a part of Fairmont Industries as well. It seems like Bart was purchasing stocks from the board members themselves," he explained.

Vanessa scoffed. "Why would he want to do that? I mean, what would be his motive? He already has full control of the company being the primary shareholder and all."

Dan shrugged. "I have no idea. I know what you're getting at and I completely agree with you."

He printed off a few pages of interest and handed them to Vanessa.

"The really odd factor about all of this is that Bart is actually purchasing these stocks for much more than what they are actually worth. No wonder some board members have been more than willing to sell them to him! Heck! I would sell them to him if I had any!"

Vanessa chuckled. "I'm sure you would. Now, is there anything else you can deduce from these files oh wise one?"

Dan grinned. "As a matter of fact, I do notice one more thing. Bart is only contacting two members on the board about purchasing their stocks. So either he hasn't had the chance to contact all the other members or he has some secret reason for doing all of this. Clearly your father doesn't want anyone to find out about any of this."

Vanessa nodded, taking all of this information in. She bit her lower lip, trying to think things through.

"He is definitely hiding something. I mean, all the other board members would probably jump at a chance like this, especially since you said he was paying much more than what those shares are actually worth."

"That's exactly my point," Dan affirmed. "Not to mention the fact that he's paying well over double for them."

Dan closed the encrypted file and proceeded to bring up the financial records for Bass Industries. He had hunch that the records would probably be able to help them with mission impossible.

"These are the financial reports for Fairmont Industries over the last ten years. Apparently, the company has recently recovered from destitution and is bringing in a lot of business from all over the world. Well, I guess maybe your father just had some extra cash to spend. Could you please tell him that the Dan Humphrey Foundation is looking for generous donations the next time you see him?"

Normally, Vanessa would have laughed at his question. Instead, she remained silent, a tinge of confusion gracing her features.

Dan sighed. "What are you thinking Vanessa?"

"What do you mean the company has recently recovered from destitution and is bringing in a lot of business from all over the world?"

Dan crinkled his nose before replying.

"Let me try this again. Fairmont Industries was poor and now..."

"I know what you meant Dan! I mean, how come I had no idea the company was tanking?"

"According to these financial reports, it all started a few months ago after a deal gone bad," he informed her. "Thank God I ended up taking a few basic business classes or this would all be gibberish to both of us. How did you even manage to find and decode the encrypted file by the way?"

Vanessa smiled. "I have practice. I use the technique to hide all finished documentaries on my computer. You never know when someone happens to want to steal your masterpieces. So, do you think this has anything to do with the murder at all?"

Dan shook his head. "I know your brother was involved in that secret society of his, but why would he delve into Fairmont Industries? His dirty work has never involved the company before."

Vanessa did not make a remark, so Dan continued to speak.

"Bart could be involved in a shady operation. I have a theory. It is possible that what we have discovered today really is some illegal operation your father happens to be running. I have no idea what proof we really have of that, but just flow with it for a moment. Maybe he was dealing with said operation on the night of the murder, which is why he wouldn't give up his alibi even if he had one. Chances are it was his partner or even partners in crime. That's probably why he asked you to be his alibi," Dan said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"What if he killed Pete because he found out about said operation Dan? He still could have hired someone to do his dirty work for him as well," Vanessa countered.

Dan sighed again as he closed the remaining open windows on the computer screen.

"I think this whole mission impossible notion is messing with our heads. There is nothing incriminating about what we have found. Sure some of the transactions are a little odd, but your father is an odd man."

Vanessa laughed at this. "I suppose you have a point. I am totally over thinking everything. I just really want to find out who killed my brother. I loved him so much."

She chocked as she spoke those heart-wrenching words. Despite their differences in the way they lived their lives, no one understood her more than her brother did. Even Dan came in second to Pete.

"I think I need to be honest with my father and just ask him what this is all about. Even if I did find proof that he did it, I would need to hear it straight from him to truly believe it, you know?"

Dan smiled as they both headed towards the door. However, the sound of a jiggling doorknob and voices on the other side stopped them dead in their tracks.

"We can talk about this in my office Jenny, but please keep your voice down."

Dan could only stare at the door in horror upon hearing his voice. Not only was Bart Fairmont about to catch both of them red-handed, but his own sister was standing on the other side of the wooden barrier. What could Jenny possibly have to say to Bart?

The doorknob started to turn at an excruciatingly slow pace. Vanessa was quick to snap out of her state of shock and dragged Dan with her into the closet directly to their right. It would be the only thing that would conceal them on such short notice and she secretly prayed that neither her father nor Jenny would be donning a coat today.