So just for clarification purposes, this story takes place in Season 1 Era. Pretty much before Chuck and Blair even hook up at Victrola (though I will find a way to fit that in here somehow, trust me). I believe someone asked if Serena and Blair are friends, so just so you know: yes they are. For all intents and purposes, this is just a shitty situation that Blair finds herself in all of a sudden. Chuck is her friend, she's dating Nate, and everything is fine with Serena.

Happy Readings!!!


"I hope you can behave a little more maturely than you did this afternoon, Blair. Honestly, I've never seen this side of you before," Eleanor nagged as she adjusted Blair's dress and walked alongside her into The Palace restaurant where Bart awaited them.

Blair pasted on the fakest smile she could muster at the moment and nodded obediently at her mother. Nearing their seat, she spotted Bart and Chuck standing up at the dinner table as they saw them approach. This is going to be one heck of a dinner.

"Eleanor," Bart said smoothly as he placed a chaste kiss against Eleanor's cheek. "Blair," he added softly as he smiled the only smile Bart Bass was able to force onto his face.

Blair smiled politely as she allowed Chuck to hold out the chair for her as she sat.

The waiter came and took their orders, and as their drinks were served and the appetizers presented, Bart began to speak up and broke the awkward silence that had become stifling.

"I know you two were not expecting the news of Eleanor and I's engagement, and especially not the way Chuck tells me you were made aware of the news. But I assure you two, what Eleanor and I have is real and we will indeed be joining our families together. I feel I owe both of you an apology for keeping you in the dark for so long, but it was what Eleanor wanted. And we both believed it would be in your best interest if we spared you any awkwardness during the courtship period," Bart explained as he continuously looked between Chuck and Blair.

Chuck cleared his throat as he nodded agreeably at his father and turned hard eyes to Blair. Blair swallowed with difficulty as she felt the perfect world she had built around herself beginning to crumble.

"I was just surprised to hear that you were engaged. As you mentioned, Chuck and I had no idea that you two were even dating," Blair said delicately, trying hard not to sound as revolted as she felt.

Eleanor's smile brightened as she clasped hands with Bart and turned to her daughter. "Well you didn't actually believe that you got your stealth and craftiness from your father, did you?"

Blair's gaze hardened as she stole a glance at Chuck who sat smirking as he ate his soup. "No I guess not."

"Well honestly Eleanor, I am honored on my father's behalf. I don't think he could have chosen a more perfect and exemplary woman. I am looking forward to the merging of our families and having the Waldorf's as a more prominent part of my life," Chuck finished in his always theatrical, which Blair read through easily but everyone else fell under the spell of, speeches.

Blair rolled her eyes as she dared a swift toe stomping under the table. Chuck glared at her angrily as he cursed under his breath and took a long drink from his champagne flute. "Isn't this wonderful, Blair?" he asked as the alcohol cleared the path down to his stomach.

"Yes, Chuck. I couldn't be happier," Blair bit out sarcastically, smiling a million dollar smile at Bart and Eleanor.

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xoxo

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Spring Break.

Normally Spring Break consisted of sunbathing and mimosas along the beaches of Cabo San Lucas with Serena.

Normally Spring Break was something she looked forward to. Planned and prepared for months in advanced.

Normally...was a word she could no longer use to describe any aspect of her life.

This Spring Break, she spent her vacation "bonding" with the Bass men as they prepped and furnished the Bass-Waldorf residence at The Palace hotel.

This Spring Break, she spent her vacation arguing with her mother, bickering with Chuck, and instructing the hotel staff to install a high tech security system at the door of her new bedroom in order to ward off the lecherous Chuck Bass.

Ugh. The very thought of sharing a house with Charles Bartholomew Bass made the hairs of her arms rise. Sure he was her friend....sort of. But having their families united and coexisting under the same roof was a completely different situation. Period.

"Sister dearest," Chuck's smarmy voice interrupted her thoughts as he made his way into her room undeterred. "Are you still having trouble with the design for your new room? Really, you should just ask Sophie, my father's interior designer. She does some wonderful things with her hands," Chuck murmured wickedly as he sat at the edge of Blair's bed and wrapped one of her pillows between his arms.

Blair scowled at him as she rushed over to him and tried to pull the pillow away from his hands. "You're disgusting. I can't believe you. You'll sleep with anything in a skirt, won't you?"

"I'm having a particularly hard time with a certain someone in a skirt," Chuck drawled as he took the hem of Blair's skirt between his fingers and pulled her gently towards him.

"Ahh, incest. The universal taboo. One of the, um, only one's you haven't violated," Blair whispered saucily as she stared down at Chuck with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well I'm game if you are," Chuck said roughly, his attention completely drawn to the look in Blair's eyes. He tugged her even closer still.

Blair leaned slightly forward, her face inches away from his own. Chuck smiled as he began to close the gap between their lips, only to have the pillow flung free of his clutches and watched the feisty Blair Waldorf sashay out of the room in a swirl of Chanel perfume.

Chuck's grin widened as he watched Blair bouncing away, her butt wiggling temptingly beneath her skirt.

"I'm going out with Nate. Don't wait up!" she shouted as she began walking down the stairs to exit the suite.

Chuck walked quickly to the top of the stairs and watched as she gathered her things to leave the apartment, "We both know you'll be here bright and early. Nate seems to have some ...how can I put this delicately... some performance anxiety."

Blair turned and glared at him once more. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Chuck's grin widened as he began walking down the length of the stairs. "Trust me, Waldorf. Guys talk too. So I know what Nate has and hasn't done," he winked smugly.

Blair turned around furiously as she walked out of the apartment and as far away from Chuck as she could possibly go.

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xoxo

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"I hate my life, Serena," Blair whined as she took a seat with her gelato in hand and watched as Serena licked up the sprinkles from her ice cream cone.

"Oh come on, Blair. I'm sure it's not that bad living with Chuck," Serena said, trying hard to keep a straight face as she said the words.

"Not that bad? Not that bad! Are you insane, Van der Woodsen? This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me," Blair pouted dramatically as she took a spoonful of the thick, creamy, frozen treat and stuffed her mouth.

"Worst than when...-"

"We're not gonna start that!" Blair cut in, stopping Serena from reminding her of every horrible thing that had happened in her life thus far. Because no matter how miserable she had been in the past, this definitely was the worst thing that could have ever happened to her. And besides...those things had gone and passed. This...this...this marriage was going to last forever!

"Sorry, B. Why don't you try to relax? How about you call up Nate and go out tonight?" Serena offered as she hurried to lick up the fast melting ice cream.

"I tried doing that. Nate's been acting so weird lately. He hardly calls. He never picks up his phone. He's never around. And when I see him at school his mind is always on something else and he's always coming up with excuses to leave me behind and scurry off somewhere. Just one of the many things that is going wrong in my life," Blair sighed desperately as she ate her gelato silently and stared down at the table.

"Hey. Cheer up. Look at the bright side. You're living three floors away from me now," Serena said excitedly as she bumped against Blair's shoulder with her own.

Blair smiled slightly. She could always count on Serena to brighten up her mood if even just for a few hours.

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xoxo

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Blair walked in quietly to the penthouse later that evening. It was around eight o'clock, making her incognito entrance into her home unnecessary. It wasn't as if she were breaking curfew. And even if she did, her mother never seemed to care too much or even notice. But Blair tiptoed in quietly nonetheless, trying to avoid being caught by Chuck on the way to her room. She'd much rather him think that she was out enjoying herself with Nate than sitting up in her bedroom at 8PM.

Blair walked quickly up the stairs and down the hall to her room, which ironically enough was right across the hall from Chuck. Some kind of sick and twisted plot designed by her mother and Bart in order to keep the family tight and close together. Funny, seeing as the happy couple had a room on the upstairs section on the other side of the penthouse. Tight family my ass, Blair thought to herself as she took out the key from her bag (yes she was making sure to lock her room at all times, especially when she was inside) and unlocked her door.

Before she stepped inside and locked herself in her room, she heard a roar of laughter coming in from the other side of Chuck's door and decided to go exploring.

Perking her ears up to the door, Blair leaned in close and struggled to listen in on Chuck's conversation. She stood there for a few minutes, recognizing Nate's voice on the other side of the door, and fighting with every strand of patience left within her not to go barging into the room and demanding answers from her boyfriend of many years. As the silence began to elapse on the inside of Chuck's room, Blair decided it was time for her to leave well enough alone and deal with Nate the next day at school.

Before she was able to turn away and walk into her room, Chuck's door suddenly burst open and Chuck stumbled out with a few empty bottles of scotch in hand.

"Waldorf. Back so soon? You know I found it kind of interesting when Nate called me and asked to hang out together. I thought you said the two of you had a romantic evening planned," Chuck mocked as he lifted the empty bottle to his lips, tilted it up to take a drink, and then eyed the inside of the bottle critically, too drunk and confused to realize that the bottle was empty.

"I don't need to explain myself to you."

"Trouble in paradise, sis?"

"You're drunk. And I can only assume that your best friend is way beyond drunk in there. Why don't you two go crawl under a rock somewhere? I don't have the stomach to deal with either of you right now," Blair sneered out quietly, unwilling to draw the attention of her mother and Bart who she imagined were somewhere in the penthouse.

"I'll be sure to come in later and tuck you in, sis. Don't worry," Chuck teased as he leaned over and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

Blair pulled away quickly and swiped away at the spot Chuck had kissed and groaned. "Ugh. Just go to bed and sleep that drunkenness off, Bass. Unless you idiots forgot, there's school in the morning. Goodnight!"

Blair hurried inside into her room and locked the door behind her.

Stupid Nate.

Stupid, fucking Chuck.

OK. So not much happened in this chapter other than the Bass and Waldorf's moving in together. I just wanted to set up the tension and the change in the relationship between Chuck and Blair now that they're living together and they're about to become family (legally). And if you guys caught on, I used dialogue from School Lies between Chuck and Serena when she mentions the universal taboo thing...I'm going to try to use some of the things said throughout the seasons that I find are fitting for their situation, even if it wasn't exactly things exchanged between C/B on the show. I also started showing the unhappiness in Blair's relationship with Nate which will help me set up the whole Victrola night. I'm definitely not planning on not including that, considering it is the beginning of the epic romance of Chuck and Blair. OK guys, so again let me know what you think, if you have any suggestions or ideas that you would like to see me work with. I'm going to rewatch CRUEL INTENTIONS and see if I can work some of the things in with this story, though I don't know about finding a girl for Chuck to seduce like Sebastian with Annette? (i think that was her name). Anyway, REVIEWS=LOVE. xoxo