I'll Be Seeing You

Rated: T

Title taken from "I'll Be Seeing You" by Billie Holiday

Chapter title taken from "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" by Bessie Smith

Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl, etc. You know the drill

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A week and a half after his first visit with Blair, Chuck is sitting in his suite, slumped in a plush red chair with a bottle of scotch in hand. The shades are drawn close together so that his room is enveloped in almost pure darkness. He is drunk and miserable. Chuck visits Blair every night, after Nate goes home, and there is still no change in Blair's condition. She hasn't shown any signal that she will be waking up soon and it kills Chuck inside. He tries to be better, really he does. But without Blair to reassure him everything will be okay, Chuck doesn't know how to react to what's going on. And so he handles the situation the only way he knows how; he drinks.

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Meanwhile, Serena sits beside Blair's bed, filling her best friend in about all the things that have been happening while the brunette recovers. Brushing a strand of hair out of Blair's face, Serena continues talking about Lily. "I can't wait 'til you wake up so I can practically live at your place. Mom's been a psychopath ever since her date with Rufus. I guess he freaked about her having me arrested. That's karma for her, right? On the bright side, Dan and I close again." Leaning forward, Serena places Blair's favorite diamond bracelet on her friend's thin wrist and laughs. "How could I hate a guy that bails me out of jail? Anyways, I figured you might want to wear this. No offense, B, but those hospital gowns are awful."

All of a sudden Blair's eyelids flutter and open to reveal her chocolate brown orbs. Serena jumps at the sight, startled. Regaining composure, she squeals, "Blair? Oh my god!" the blond flings her arms around her friend, giving the brunette a tight hug.

Blair blinks a few times, trying to adjust her senses to the world around her. Abruptly, she begins struggling in the embrace. "Who on earth are you? Get off of me!" Blair shouts hoarsely, pushing against Serena.

Serena drops her arms immediately, shocked. "Blair, it's me, S! Are you - are you okay?" she asks timidly with wide-eyes. She's never seen Blair look so terrified before.

"Clearly I'm not! I don't even know what's going on, and no offense but I still don't know you, S!" Blair raises her voice again and suddenly a coughing fit seizes her. Serena reaches into her maroon Balenciaga bag, pulling out a bottle of Fiji and handing it to her friend, who yanks it out of the blond's hand and drinks it down quickly. As she writes a mass text to Chuck, Nate, and Dan with trembling hands, Serena begins to realize something is seriously wrong.

After the text is sent, Serena turns to Blair and touches the pale hand for a second before Blair yanks it away sharply. " Calm down, okay?" Serena says soothingly, "You've been in a virtual coma for more than a week! Car accident, remember?"

Blair's expression contorts to that of confusion. "Accident? When was there an accident?" She pauses, looking around at the machines surrounding her and the IV in her arm supplying her with liquid nutrition. "Am I... am I in the hospital?"

"Yes B, we're at St. Luke's," Serena replies shakily, hitting the nurse's button anxiously. She pauses. "Do you not remember what happened to you Blair?"

Blair is getting angry now. "Why do you keep calling me Blair? I have no idea what you're talking about!" She winces as she adjusts her position in the bed.

The nurse walks into the room, catching the last part of Blair and Serena's interaction. She looks from Serena to the brunette lying in the bed. "Is everything alright here?" the nurse asks.

Serena's stomach lurches nervously. "I don't... I don't think so. She, um... she doesn't recall who I am... or the accident. Or herself for that matter."

Blair looks at the nurse expectantly. "Listen, someone needs to give me some answers because I'm really scared, not going to lie. And I have a terrible headache. Can you get me some Advil or something please?"

The nurse nods her head and says softly, "I'll get right on that, sweetie." She shoots a concerned glance at Serena. "I'm going to page the doctor immediately."

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Chuck's phone vibrates and he opens it to reveal a text from Serena.

-B's awake. Come ASAP.

His vision is blurry because he is plastered and he must use the arms of the chair to push himself up and off of the seat. B's awake, he repeats in his head. Chuck staggers to the bathroom and observes himself in the mirror to make sure he looks appropriate for when he sees his woman. He flips on a light, wincing because the brightness hurts his eyes. The young Bass looks beyond a mess. He recalls that he shaved for the first week of Blair's long sleep but after she didn't wake up on the seventh day, he stopped trying. So now he looks at his reflection in the glass and is met with bloodshot eyes and scruffy facial hair sprouting from his chin. Chuck's dark hair is ruffled and his clothes are unkempt. "Lovely," he mumbles dryly. Chuck turns on the faucet and leans down, splashing cold water in his face, and then he quickly brushes his teeth. He shaves in record time and changes out of his wrinkled monogrammed pajamas into a light brown suit and a brown, black, and maroon plaid Burberry shirt. After adjusting a maroon bow-tie around his neck and running a fine-tooth comb through his dark hair (parting it on the left side as usual), Chuck checks himself out in the mirror again. "Not bad," he remarks with a smirk, impressed with his ability to clean up so well even when slightly inebriated. He stumbles into the elevator and out to his idling limo, promising himself that he will not screw up with Blair this time.

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Chuck bursts through the door of room 302 and is none too pleased to see a stony-faced Nate sitting next to Blair on the side of the bed opposite Serena. Dan is leaning against the wall behind his on-again off-again girlfriend with his hand gently grasping Serena's shoulder, who is crying. Chuck's sudden entrance startles Blair out of a light sleep and she looks around at people who are now like virtual strangers to her, frightened.

"Chuck. Glad you could take a break from the bottle to join us," Nate says quietly, not making eye contact with the young Bass.

Chuck holds his hands up to his temples and massages them. He's getting a headache and really doesn't want to fight with Nate right now. "Shut it, Nathaniel." Chuck turns his attentions to Blair, whose well-being is the only important issue on his mind. "How are you feeling, Waldorf?" he asks softly.

Upon hearing her voice, Chuck's heart swells with happiness and he feels as sober as the day he was born. "Just fantastic," Blair pouts sarcastically. "Why do you people keep calling me these names? Waldorf, Blair, B; I can't keep up!"

"Is this a trick question or something? Come on, Blair, you haven't been gone that long." Chuck replies lightly, before noticing the tense expressions on his friends' faces.

Dan clears his throat anxiously. "Blair, uh, really doesn't remember us, Chuck. She kind of doesn't remember who she is, either."

Chuck feels as if his world has imploded. "Kind of doesn't remember? Are you telling me Blair has amnesia?" he asks in disbelief.

Dan nods solemnly and leans in to kiss a distraught Serena on the top of her golden waves. Chuck stares at Blair in horror, terrified that everything he has just promised her he will never get to come true. Nate cracks his knuckles and breaks the silence. "Before you got here I tried to talk to her about her situation, but apparently she had taken some painkillers earlier. She was practically knocked out before I even finished a sentence."

"Listening to an Archibald tends to do that," Chuck remarks with a shrug, his dark eyes glued to Blair's tiny form. There is no bite in his words, no sharp intonation; his voice is rather devoid of emotion.

Dan let out a snort. "Oops. Sorry Nate but you walked right into that one."

Nate shakes his head and tries again, "Thanks Chuck. Listen man, we all came to a consensus that you should be the one to talk to Blair. You've always been good at telling it like it is. She needs straight answers right now."

Meanwhile, Blair is listening to their conversation and snaps loudly, "Um, excuse me? 'She' is laying right here and I'm pretty sure my hearing is still functional although my hideous appearance might suggest otherwise. Serena introduced herself now can somebody else please explain to me who the rest of you people are? Sorry, but I'm really not comfortable being hooked up to some machine while a bunch of strangers ogle me like a zoo animal!"

"Well at least she hasn't lost her charm," Dan remarks jokingly, trying to alleviate some of the negative energy that is rapidly consuming the room. The room remains quiet, no one quite knowing how to discuss the situation with the confused girl.

"Well?" Blair asks expectantly, staring directly at Chuck.

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Short, I know. I just want to break it off because there's a lot I want to write about for this scene and it's going to take a long time! The next chapter's going to be pretty long, though - don't worry! Also I'm not following the current GG storyline as of 2.24 because I write a lot faster than it takes for the episodes to air! Oh and on lovely side note, I apparently missed a final today, isn't that just swell? Haha... Anyways thanks for reading as usual :)

BimboBoop: Thanks for the fantastic review! I loved writing the flashback because I completely agree with you about that scene. I got a lot of satisfaction in altering how it turned out =) And to be honest I haven't read any of the fics on here with this storyline because I want to create it without any influence at all. Anyways, Chuck has a lot of love to give so keep that in mind!

sailor cyanide: I think if we could all marry Chuck, we would ;)

BrittyKay247: Hell yes I watched the promo and I cannot freakin' wait til next week! This week's episode made me cry... partly because of Chuck's oh-so-sweet actions, and partly because we missed out on a fully-developed episode because of Lily's boring flashbacks. I'm not sure I'm going to be a fan of the spin-off

To everyone else that reviewed, you guys are the bee's knees. In all seriousness, though, you rock!

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UP NEXT: Blair gets enlightened.