Games

by pLei4fun

Games are the norm for our favorite NJBC: Love games, war games, etc. But it's senior year and that just means that the stakes are even higher. Sequel to the Queen and her Dark Knight can Blair, Serena, Chuck, and Nate make it to the end of their high school careers unscathed and together? We'll find out. Chair always, but the rest is up in the air.

4. The Dark Night

Chapter 4: The Dark Night

In these last hazy days of summer, a few simple tips to beat the heat.

One: Drink plenty of fluids.

Two: Stay out of the sun.

Three: Limit all physical activity.

That is, within reason.

Chuck Bass was in hell.

It had been a week since Blair cut him off and he could tell she was relishing in his punishment. He was more than aware that he deserved what he was getting after the stunt he pulled at Blair's party last week, but it didn't mean he had to like it! Throughout his week of purgatory, the city was suffering through a heat wave, resulting with his devious girlfriend taking her punishment up a notch dressing accordingly, and it was driving him insane with lust! Today she was wearing a dress that revealed her creamy shoulders and wore her hair up in a ponytail with a Hermes scarf as a headband, leaving the nape of her neck exposed for him to salivate over. Chuck didn't know how much longer he could take of this.

Not to mention that she insisted on coming over for sleepovers for majority of the week. Which in and of itself was a curse as well as a gift. A gift because Chuck could finally get some sleep. He still had problems getting a decent night of that without her there to cuddle with, he was embarrassed to admit. But it was a curse because that was all he got: Cuddling. Afterwards she would leave to shower in his bathroom and prepare for the day with a list of things to do, grant him a chaste kiss and leave him with the vision of her naked in his shower alone in his head.

Blair cleared her throat to gain her boyfriend's attention as she smirked at him, "Chuck are you even listening?"

Chuck mentally cleared his head of his thoughts and nodded, "Yes, you informing me of the things needing done for your party tomorrow night to welcome the masses back to school along with their parents."

Blair smiled genuinely, fully aware that he was distracted, but was pleasantly surprised that he was still aware of what she was saying; it took great skill to pull that off. She should know. She leaned towards him and ran her hands along his shoulder purposely and up towards the nape of his neck, "Yes, so I'll be busy today. What will you be up to?"

Chuck paused, relishing in the feel of a shiver anticipation sliding down his back before taking the opportunity to wrap his arm around her waist in response to her initiation of touching, doing his best to not get his hopes up, "I'll be working on the current situation at hand and getting to the bottom of it. The pattern leads me to believe that it will occur again today while you're busy, so I hope to gain some answers."

Blair smiled in approval, "Thank you. Once was a coincidence, twice is a plan, and a third…that's sabotage. Its times like these I hate Gossip Girl. She always makes the problem so much bigger than it actually is."

"True," Chuck nodded with a smirk as he added, "But she also makes our job much easier."

Blair laughed before she leaned towards her boyfriend and gave him a kiss before she whispered to him, "I've missed you, Chuck Bass."

He whispered back as he pulled her even closer to him, "As I've missed you, Waldorf."

Blair wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss with a moan to which Chuck eagerly returned, not wasting any time. He pulled her down onto his bed where they had been holding their conversation. He didn't want to give her a moment to think about pushing him away. Honestly, a week was far too long to go without. He pressed his body against hers as they couple hungrily kissed. He elicited a moan from her as he ran his hand up her thigh and hiked it up over his waist as he settled himself in between his legs, loving the feel of finally being in this position. As he grinded into her center resulting in her crying out in pleasure and moved to kiss along her neck that things started to go very wrong.

Blair began shaking her head and pushing him off of her with words like "No" and "I can't". All Chuck could do was roll over in despair as he watched his girlfriend quickly get up from the bed and adjust her dress with a smirk on her face. It was then that he knew that she did that on purpose. The again she had been prone to pulling that same stunt earlier in his punishment; he was just to blinded with need and lust to notice the signs.

"You are an evil minx, Waldorf," He spoke with a slight smirk not at all put out by the cock tease. It was, after all, part of the game.

Blair smiled lightly before leaning towards him, giving him the customary chaste kiss, "And you love me for it, Bass."

Chuck sighed as he watched her go, calling back to him as she left his bedroom, "I'll see you at my party tomorrow, but keep me updated on your progress?"

He nodded in response before looked down at his lap for a moment and just let himself fall back onto the bed as he tortured himself some more of what just happened on that very bed and the things that he was preparing to do to his girlfriend. Chuck Bass needed a drink.

And if the heat's still too much, there's always a cold shower.

xoxo

While Chuck was in purgatory of his own making, Nate was in his own uptown with Catherine. Ever since he accepted the money and ditched Vanessa, Nate couldn't help but feel how bad this situation was. He realized it even more as the week continued on that he overreacted to Chuck's help with his family situation. It was something that Chuck would do for those he claimed as his friends. And Nate proceeded to feel even worse for how he acted. Today he planned to swallow his pride and go see his best friend and make amends. But first there was something else he needed help with. Unfortunately, the generous amount of money that Catherine gave him last week went quickly and Nate was in need of more. He was more worried about what Catherine would want in return for her continued generosity and how far into the hole Nate was getting in with his next request. It seemed that Catherine started changing ever since he accepted the arrangement last week. She became more controlling of him and how he spent his time.

Presently she was having him fitted for a new suit and Nate just figured he needed to bite the bullet as he said firmly, "Catherine I need more money."

"Mmm," she nodded in appreciation as she finished buttoning him up, not appearing to have heard him, "Ralph Lauren adores you."

"Catherine, did you hear what I just said?" Nate asked her.

"I did," She responded as she flicked her bangs out of her eyes, "What happened to the money I gave you?"

"It's gone, but I can repay you back as soon as our accounts are unfrozen," Nate tried to explain, already having thought of the solution to this problem.

"Which won't be until your father gets back from, where was it again?" Catherine asked as she continued to fix his suit before answering herself, "Dominica?"

"I told you that in confidence," Nate hissed as he looked around, making sure they weren't overheard.

"You told me that in bed," Catherine retorted with a smirk. Nate pulled away, unable to believe how wrong he was about Catherine, as she placed her hand on his cheek as she spoke, "Relax, Gorgeous. We can discuss this tomorrow over lunch." Catherine moved over to the display beside them talking as if the entire situation was normal as she glanced over at him, "I got us a room at the Mercer. We can order in."

Nate, knowing that it was the best that he would get, found himself thinking that maybe it was best that he cut his losses and accept the loan from Chuck to pay off Catherine and get back on his feet. He looked up as she smiled up at him and sighed, "I'm so glad this didn't end."

Nate forced a smile as he responded, "Me too."

Catherine lifted some shirts as she smirked, "Try these on. I'm going to go find you some ties."

Nate sighed in exhaustion after Catherine got her handbag and walked off to search. He couldn't believe he was thinking this, but Catherine was even more controlling than Blair was when they were dating. It was then that his phone rang in his pocket. He set the pile of shirts aside and took it out, finding himself smiling at the name on the display, as he quickly answered, lowering his voice so Catherine wouldn't here, "Hey, Vanessa."

"Nate, hi. I hope it's okay that I'm calling," she responded hesitantly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course," Nate assured her, "Uh, how are you?"

"Good. Um, so listen. I was wondering if—" Vanessa began

"Hey, do you want to do something later?" Nate interrupted her seeing this as an opportunity to escape his current predicament for a while.

"Yeah. Sure. That sounds great," Vanessa responded without missing a beat.

"Cool. Okay," Nate responded with a smile, glancing over his shoulder and seeing Catherine making her way over, he quickly wrapped up the call, "Hey, listen. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay," Vanessa responded happily.

"Bye," Nate sounded off before hanging up the phone. He couldn't help himself but smile as he turned towards Catherine.

"Who was that?" she asked lightly.

"It's my mom. It's about the party tomorrow night," Nate lied as he looked down at the shirts that Catherine picked out for him, "I'm gonna try these on." He left her with a gentle kiss on her cheek in affection before heading off to the dressing room, knowing that if he wanted to pursue something with Vanessa that he needed to play it close to his chest around Catherine. This whole situation just got messier and messier as the days pass.

xoxo

While Nate was working hard to keep his secrets from coming to light, Serena was busy working on trying to get hers to have light shined on. She and Dan had been secretly meeting and dating all week and it had been great, but she was ready to tell everyone officially. She already had an idea that Blair may be suspicious since Serena hadn't even mentioned her talk with Dan after her party last week, but the last thing Serena wanted to do was lie about her relationship.

The couple was able to get together this morning and Serena couldn't help but smile as she remembered how they attempted to find little nooks and crannies to make out in. It was like the honeymoon phase of their relationship all over again when they couldn't keep their hands off each other. She had respected Dan's wish of them working it out together without anyone else's input, despite how much she would have loved to have gotten it from her best friend on how to proceed to do what she wanted to do in regards to their next step. When Dan asked Serena what was on her mind since she had been so quiet ever since the couple got some gelato and walked in the shadows of the buildings to keep the heat at bay. She figured that the best thing for her to do was to just offer it as a suggestion, "I was thinking…since we have been doing so great this week with getting back together that we should use Blair's party tomorrow as a sort of coming-out party."

Dan said nothing for a moment before asking in surprise, "A coming-out party?"

"Well," Serena shrugged lightly before taking a spoonful of her ice cream in her mouth as she rationalized the situation to him, "sooner or later, people are going to figure out we're dating." She smiled over at him as she made light of the topic as she fed him ice cream and kissed his lips, "We're not exactly the world's most covert secret couple."

Serena laughed as they continued to walk, feeling that the longer they stayed unofficial the more time the doubts would have to trickle in. They had been trickling in all week, but Serena chose to ignore them and be in the moment with Dan. But more often than not, as she watched how Blair and Chuck were together despite how he attempted to sabotage her efforts with the Duchess last week, she worried that with them keeping their relationship a secret it was another way to avoid them talking about the reasons behind their break up in the first place.

"Yeah, my family's getting a little curious about my new friend "Clyde" that keeps calling and calling," Dan joked as he looked at her, making Serena feel her hopes grow in excitement.

"See? Come on. We tell everybody once, and then it's done," she nodded to herself, "And now, thank you, universe, we have the perfect opportunity."

"Yeah, a party hosted by Blair Waldorf," Dan responded with a hint of sarcasm, "The biggest Dan Humphrey supporter in all of Manhattan."

Serena turned towards him and asked bluntly, not bothering to respond to his slight bashing of her best friend, "What are you afraid of?"

"Right now? Heatstroke," Dan responded, making a joke.

"Dan," Serena responded, rolling her eyes as she began to walk away. If he was this against them going public, what was the point of this week? Serena didn't want to be his dirty secret; it wasn't in her nature to be.

"No. Hey. No, no, no," Dan jogged after her and tugged lightly on her arm, "I know. I know. Look, right now things are just…they're so good between us." Serena let him put his arm around her as they walked as she listened to his words, smiling softly in agreement as he continued on, "You know, and if we just start telling people…"

"What?" Serena asked as she looked up at him, "What could anybody possibly say that would change this?"

"You're right," Dan responded, causing Serena to smile in relief as he said, "I'm in."

She laughed as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. The thing was, she knew what people would say. They would say the same thing that she was thinking and she was pretty sure that Dan was thinking the same thing too. They never talked about their issues and addressed how their relationship ended. Serena didn't regret this past week of bliss with Dan, but the one thing she found that she did regret was her not standing by her decision to talk before they got into the immediate honeymoon phase of the making up part. There was no turning back now though, and all Serena could do was tell everyone they were back together and work on eventually having that long delayed conversation.

She smiled as she broke this kiss, not leaving his arms as she assured him, "Everything's going to be fine."

It was then that their phones simultaneously went off informing them that they had text messages.

Spotted: S. and Lonely boy locking lips like all is forgiven. Will round two be any different?

As New York was informed it was greeted with a variety of responses: Chuck simply smirked and went back to work on a particular scheme of his for future use, Blair scoffed and muttered as she shut her phone, "I knew it." Feeling a mixture of disgust and disappointment in her best friend, while most others were intrigued and excited, it was definitely going to be an interesting party at the Waldorf residence tomorrow night.

xoxo

After getting everything he needed from the tailor, Nate left Catherine and immediately met up with Vanessa for lunch and were currently walking down the street holding hands and laughing after Nate announced that he was fine with walking with her instead of getting inside. Nate couldn't help but compare both Catherine and Vanessa in that moment. Where Catherine was very in control of their relationship, Vanessa was very laid back and went with the flow. It was a trait that reminded him of what he liked about Serena. With all of the expectations from his family and most of the people around him, Nate appreciated the fact that it was more fun to just enjoy the moment and the world around me rather than stressing about things that in the end don't even matter.

It was during this musing that Nate came to a decision that he needed to end it with Catherine. The only question was how he could do it without worrying about being in her debt. Maybe when he went to visit and apologize to Chuck later he could take him up on his generous offer of help so he could pay back Catherine in full and be able to just walk away. He wanted the opportunity to give this thing with Vanessa a real chance unlike their brief time together last year. They both decided to end it after Nate's father left the country because he was going through things and so was she, but now they were in a different place and Nate wanted to give it a real shot. He knew that, in order to do that, he had to remove Catherine from his life as quickly as possible.

"How is it that you're not hot?" Vanessa asked as she laughed, unaware of the decision that Nate had made.

"Well, it is the Upper East Side," Nate explained with a smile as he joked, "I mean, getting hot is kinda frowned upon."

At the sound of her laugh, Nate couldn't help but just go for it as he turned so that he was facing her, "So when am I going to get to see you again?"

"Depends. Can I count on you not to cancel at the last second?" Vanessa asked as she raised her brows in question.

Nate lifted his head as he enthusiastically responded, knowing he deserved that remark from her, "That will never, ever happen again."

"It's okay," Vanessa shrugged it off, but Nate was determined.

"No, no, no. I'm serious," Nate spoke firmly as he continued on to explain what he was feeling, "Like, I mean, everything with my family's been so crazy. But when you called today, it just felt like…like I could breathe again. So…I want to do this. I want to make this, us, right, okay?"

Vanessa looked up into his eyes for a moment before her face morphed into a beautiful smile. She leaned to the side before righting herself and giving her answer, "Okay. Tomorrow night?"

Nate paused as he realized that he had plans, "Uh, tomorrow night I gotta take my mom to this, like, school party."

"Fine," Vanessa responded easily, "Come to the Gallery. You can bring me lunch."

Remembering that he had plans with Catherine, Nate automatically attempted to back out of the alternative plan, "Oh. Well, I…"

At the sight of him backing out, the smile on Vanessa's face slowly disappeared before she spoke, "Well, it was a good speech."

Before she could get away, Nate quickly held onto her, "No, no, no, no, no. I'm serious." Deciding that since he planned to end things with Catherine soon, why not just start putting a little distance between them now rather than later. "I mean, I have family stuff, but I'll reschedule," Nate explained. Seeing that her smile was slowly making its reappearance, Nate smiled back as he began to pull her close, "And they'll just have to deal with it."

Vanessa chuckled at him as she let herself be pulled closer and Nate felt instantly lighter as he started to lace their hands together. This was exactly what Nate needed, someone to keep him grounded amongst all the crazy things happening in his world and just expects him to be who he was, not who they expect him to be.

Rumor is, Nate Archibald has a hidden Lady. Careful, N. Secrets don't keep long in this heat.

xoxo

The next day, Blair and Serena were busy sitting at Blair's dining room table, combing through all of the details that were set to be put into motion the for Blair's party. Blair had decided to not even mention the Gossip Girl blast from earlier in regards to Serena's newly rekindled relationship with Humphrey. The fact that she wasn't the first to know before Gossip Girl, just proved that Serena went the same route she always did. She didn't have the conversation that she said she would with the Brooklynite in order to go through their issues. If she did, she wouldn't have tried to have kept it a secret.

Unfortunately, Blair couldn't pretend that she just didn't know at all since Dorota decided to offer her congratulations to her best friend the moment Serena walked through the door, so Blair decided to just talk about anything else. She may be her best friend, but Blair knew that her council was taken and forgotten and she wasn't going to waste precious party planning time repeating herself on a subject that she had already given her views on. And if Serena wanted her to mention it, she'd just have to bring it up herself.

"So…," Blair continued speaking out loud as she went through her checklist, "The flowers won't arrive until 5:00." She glanced over at Serena and asked, "Did you get the order from the caterers?"

At Serena's nod, Blair held out her hand, silently asking for it so she could place it with the rest of her paperwork for the event in question. Serena silently handed them over, obviously wanting to say something, but not reaching the point of saying it…yet.

"Eleanor comes home today," Serena spoke as Blair silently flipped through the pages she was just handed, not responding. "Are you excited she finally gets to meet Marcus?"

Blair shrugged indifferently, "Marcus meeting my mother is just a social occurrence. At the rate that Chuck is going and his determination, I doubt that Marcus will be around for much longer."

"And you're okay with that?" Serena asked a bit confused.

"I managed to gain a card up my sleeve, and to be honest…the lord has been a bit tiring in his constant pursuing of me when I've made my stance on my relationship perfectly clear," Blair responded as she set the papers aside and continued on down her list.

"I still can't believe that you forgave Chuck for his attempt at sabotage from last week," Serena responded, reflecting on how hard Blair worked on that party she threw.

Blair scoffed as she looked over at her best friend, "Of course I forgave him. He's Chuck. Besides if he truly wanted to sabotage me he would have. His ultimate goal was to be rid of Marcus, not to ruin me. Not to mention that his punishment adequately fit the crime and he has now fully learned his lesson."

"And how's the punishment going?" Serena asked as she sat up, the look of concern that came onto her face showed Blair that her blonde counterpart had more on her mind then just her Dan Humphrey problems.

"It's been very effective," Blair responded with a smile, "He hasn't attempted to break the rules once." Blair smirked as she contemplated to herself aloud, "I give it not even 24 hours before that changes."

"Are you sure that he's being complacent in his punishment…or maybe it's something else?" Serena asked carefully, knowing that she was walking on thin ice with her questions.

Blair rolled her eyes as she look at her best friend, knowing exactly where she was going with her question, "Are you referring to the Gossip Girl blasts that have been popping up over the past week?"

"B, you know that Chuck had a reputation before you two got together," Serena tried to explain, showing her best friend what she thought of the blast regarding Chuck's fidelity. "Don't you think that it might be a little bit possible that they're true?"

Blair pursed her lips as she mentally looked back at the blasts insinuating that while Chuck was being cut off by her, he was off getting it from three other women over the course of this week. When the first blast sounded off, Chuck didn't even give it his attention and neither did Blair. It wasn't until the second and third that the pair actually sat down and talked about it since there was photographic evidence of the sluts in question leaving the building. It turned out that Chuck was innocent. The women kept showing up at random hours and would say that Chuck had ordered them or that they received a message from him personally. Chuck would respond with showing them the door and without fail Gossip Girl would be there to catch each girl in her exit.

If Blair was suspicious of her boyfriend's fidelity it was wiped clean as the posts continued to grow over the course of the week. Someone else was involved in this little game and Blair wanted to know who and why and how easily she could squash them with her Manolo blahnik heel like the bug they were. If it was one thing that needed to be learned quickly by the masses was you did not attempt to come between a Queen and her King. That was something unforgiveable. So until the culprit had been found and dealt with accordingly, Blair chose to keep silent and let them talk, for now.

"I don't," Blair responded bluntly as she remembered Serena's question, "I trust him and I love him. Not just parts, but all of the things that make him Chuck Bass. You may have little faith in him, but I have more than enough to know without a doubt that he would never cheat on me."

"Wow," Serena responded, a bit surprised, "You've actually discussed it with him?" Blair nodded as if it was the obvious thing to discuss her relationship problems with her boyfriend, easily finding the irony with Serena's situation. "I just assumed that you were pulling your usual Blair move and just pretending that everything was okay and hoped that it would go away."

Blair sighed with a shrug as she explained, "After the pregnancy scare and the attempted dethroning, I realized how irresponsible that was in regards to me and Chuck. We've agreed from that day forth, no secrets between each other to prevent another Humphrey incident. This current punishment is a type of reiterating on the fact that when we work on our own we're good, but together, we're unstoppable."

Not having anything else to say on the matter, Blair turned her attention back to her list of things, popping a berry into her mouth as she got back to work. Serena just looked at her best friend as the conversation ended, obviously waiting for Blair to inquire about her and Dan and was surprised that she didn't even mention it. Sure she kept this secret from her, but it wasn't as if Blair was very forthcoming about her own relationship with Chuck in the beginning. And Serena figured that she at least had Blair's support either way after the several conversations the pair had before Serena and Dan got back together.

As she watched Blair continue to say nothing, Serena decided to give her another push as she moved a bit closer, "Do you see what I just did there? I expressed an interest in your relationship."

Blair tilted her head towards Serena, refusing to play Serena's game. If Serena wanted to talk about her relationship, she'd have to start it herself. Blair found herself please as Serena just spat it out, "Look, I know you know about me and Dan. Even Dorota told me she was happy for me."

Blair set her pen down and gave her full attention to Serena as she simply stated, "I'm happy for you."

At the sight of the expression of her face, Serena could tell that her best friend felt more than just that and the fact that she started to return to working on planning this party, made Serena feel even worse, "B., I know you don't approve of him."

Blair found herself scoffing again, unable to stop herself from responding, "True."

"And I know," Serena continued on, "that he's not the 22nd Lord of Westmorelandshire."

"Also true," Blair responded, not looking up from her list, mentally adding not that it mattered if he was.

Serena just silently begged her best friend to just talk to her, needing her approval even though she knew she shouldn't in regards to her own happiness as she just asked the million dollar question, "Why can't you support me?"

Blair sighed and once again dropped her pen onto the table and looked her best friend straight in the eye as she answered her question with one of her own, "Have you two talked about everything, all the very real reasons you broke up last year?"

At the sight of Serena breaking her gaze and sighing, Blair knew her answer before Serena even spoke, "Well..not completely."

Blair rolled her eyes and raised her hand in the air in exasperation before issuing Serena her ultimatum, "Well, when you do, if you're still together I'll be happy for you. Till then, I think you're just fooling yourselves."

Serena looked at her in shock, but Blair didn't care. She knew that Serena would be angry and would most like leave in a huff at the ultimatum, but Blair was willing to accept that consequence if it meant that Serena would stop pulling a "Blair", as Serena so affectionately referred to it as, and confronted her problems in regards to Dan. Blair knew that she couldn't wait around for Serena to get over this façade and she had a renewed since of understanding of how exhausting it was for those around her who had to go through it when she went through the phase herself.

It was then that Blair's phone ring, interrupting the tense moment between the pair. Blair picked it up, surprised to see it was the Duchess calling and didn't even bother to glance back over at her best as she accepted the call, "Duchess, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Serena took her cue and stood up from the table and gathered her things, obviously upset. The girl truly was as predictable as she seemed as she spoke to Blair as she half listened to the woman on the phone, "Okay, I think you've got this taken care of. I'll see you tonight."

Blair rolled her eyes, not even bothering to wave as Serena stalked out. Fortunately, Blair was a master multi-tasker and was able to keep up with the Duchess's words over the phone. It turned out that the Duchess was having a problem that Blair knew all too well of keeping Nate's attention.

As the Duchess began to describe the girl in question, Blair couldn't help but smirk at the turn of events as she responded, "Sneaky little Nate. Yes, I know exactly the girl you're talking about. Her name is Vanessa. She lives in…Brooklyn."

xoxo

At the sound of Chuck's elevator door ringing to announce a visitor, Chuck strolled from the living room to greet the newcomer, while hoping it was another unwanted visitor. It turned out it was just his high horse sitting best friend Nathaniel, looking properly chastised for the occasion. Chuck kept his hands in his robe pockets, having not even bothered to dress yet for the day, despite the hour. He'd been doing that a lot since Blair issued her choice of punishment last week and when she wasn't around toying with his libido he sat around the penthouse plotting and setting certain things in motion for later uses.

Nate's timing couldn't be even more perfect because Chuck had just lighted up and if anyone would be good company while Chuck waited for a potential unwanted visitor to come it would be Nate. When Nate didn't say anything for a moment, Chuck leaned against a nearby pillar and lifted up his joint, "Smoke?"

"No thanks," Nate responded with a shake of his head, "It's, uh, a little early for me."

Chuck pursed his lips and nodded silently figuring that if Nate wasn't here to keep him company, he may as well find out why he was here at all, "So how can I help, Nathaniel?"

Nate took a deep breath. He had spent the day with Vanessa and he genuinely had a great time which only cemented his thoughts on his need to get away from Catherine. By the time he got home, he made a plan to come see his best friend and try to figure out a way out of his dilemma without actually informing Chuck of all the details. It was bad enough that Blair knew. Deciding to just start off with the apology and work from there, Nate slowly began to speak up, "About last week…um, the money? I, uh, I might have overreacted a little."

"A little?" Chuck asked, raising his brows at his friend, but not moving from his spot. In reality, Chuck was just milking the apology, he had already forgiven Nate for his outburst. Besides, in their world you only talk about money when you're blackmailing, or, in most cases, bribing which usually was disguised as a donation. It was just one of those unwritten rules of their society and Nate was embarrassed.

"Yeah," Nate nodded as he decided to just keep going down the line of conversation since they were on the subject anyway, "And, hey, if you can, I would love to take you up on the offer as a loan."

Chuck tilted his head a bit as he played with his joint in between his fingers, "I thought you were getting the money from somewhere else."

"Yeah, well, that person, um is asking for a lot," Nate responded as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Chuck thought on it for a moment before motioning Nate to follow him further into the main room as he spoke. The two knew the fact that Chuck just didn't kick him out showed that all was forgiven in their friendship. Chuck began to speak before he turned around, "Well…I'd love to accommodate you, but when you spurned my offer, I sent the money to my financial guides. It's tied up in bonds for six months."

Nate felt his stomach drop in disappointment as he quickly played it off, "Oh. Uh, no. that's cool. I'll just, I'll find another way." Chuck was his only hope of getting out of this clean, but Nate couldn't be angry at him for not keeping the money and waiting around for Nate to come around. It was a lot of money and if Nate just swallowed his pride last week he wouldn't be in the place that he was now and he'd just have to accept it.

Chuck nodded as the now familiar feeling of withdrawal. Who knew that going without sex could hit you harder than any other drug? Chuck didn't know how other guys deal with it; then Chuck reminded himself that in his world, they don't. They just take up a mistress. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Chuck attempted to be social, "So, uh, are you going to Blair's party tonight?"

"Yes," Nate responded before he took in his friend's appearance and immediately grew concerned, "Are you doing okay?"

"Hmm, hmm," Chuck responded as he slowly opened his eyes and turned towards Nate, "I'll confess, I've been feeling a little off my game…after my failed attempt at Blair's party…let's just say that I've been cut off and be done with it. But, I'm expecting a return to form very soon."

Before Nate could even respond other than a shocked laugh, the two heard the sound of the elevator door opening as Vanya stepped out and announced the newcomer, "Sir, the flight from Tokyo has landed."

Chuck smirked as a petite woman appeared in his place with her suitcase rolling behind her. "So I can see," Chuck spoke as he looked the girl over as he made his way over, whispering as he bowed, "Konnichiwa."

After motioning the woman to go into the sitting room, he turned towards Nate as his best friend asked, "Chuck what are you doing? I thought those stupid blasts were just rumors; I never would have thought that you'd actually be cheating on Blair."

"I'm not," Chuck responded patiently, knowing that this looks bad, "As I explained, I'm returning to form. Just not that particular form as of yet. Despite how it looks, I didn't order take out, but I do plan to find out who's been ordering it for me."

Nate frowned in confusion, but decided to just let it go after seeing the truth in Chuck's eyes as he denied that he was being unfaithful. Figuring that whatever Chuck was up to will be revealed in time, Nate rolled his eyes at how things were never simple in their world he simply responded with, "Well, good luck with that. I'll see you tonight?"

Chuck smirked as he saw his friend off to the elevator, "Of course."

As the elevator closed, taking Nate down, Chuck smirked as he turned towards the woman waiting for him in his living room. By the end of the day he will find out who was trying to sabotage him and Blair and the pair would proceed from there. Chuck almost felt better already. Almost.

xoxo

"She can be so infuriating," Serena spoke in frustration to Dan about her best friend as they walked through Central Park together. After her dramatic exit, Serena called him to go for a walk and to just have someone to talk to about it. "Sometimes I just want to…," Serena sighed, "Okay, enough Blair bashing."

"No. Don't stop on my account, please," Dan responded as he walked with her, "Please, keep on bashing."

"I mean, obviously we have things to talk about," Serena began again without much pause, "And we'll talk about them, but it's no big deal, right?" When Dan didn't say anything other than look at her, Serena knew what he was thinking because she knew, deep down, she was thinking it too, "Oh, god. You agree with her."

"No, no. I don't. No, I don't," Dan quickly tried to reassure her, "It's, it's just, uh…"

Before he could even attempt to explain himself, Serena's phone rang in her bag and she was all for escaping from the awkwardness that was slowly forming with the topic as she quickly went in search for it, "Wait. Hold on," Seeing who was calling she explained as she hit to accept the phone call, "Oh, it's my mom. She's calling from Shanghai. Can I take this?"

"Oh, yeah. Go," Dan nodded as Serena had already stopped walking and was preparing to take the phone call anyway. "Hello?" She answered her phone, grateful for the interruption. "Hi, mom."

At the sound of static and her mother's voice breaking up, Serena frowned, "Oh, my gosh. Where?"

After attempting to listen for another minute the call was disconnected. Serena sighed, hoping that it wasn't important as she turned her attention back to Dan as she explained, "I lost her. They were on a yacht with some Greek Prince."

It was then that she was aware that they had an audience. She glanced at the three tweens just standing there and slowly greeted them, not knowing what's going on, "Hello."

"Yeah, ignore them," Dan responded, waving them off.

"Serena, how could you forgive him after sleeping with Georgina?" the blonde girl asked in outrage.

Okay, now Serena was confused and couldn't help but laugh at this small strangers who apparently knew her personal business with her boyfriend, "What?"

"No. No, this is insane," Dan spoke aloud as he shook his head, "I didn't sleep with Georgina."

"No," Serena agreed, unable to help but silently add that he just made out with her.

"All right? Now, please go," Dan tried to get them to leave, obviously not for the first time.

It was then that one of the brunettes spoke up, "but we're on your side."

"Not me," the mini Serena spoke up, "His mouth kissed Georgina's. Think about that the next time-"

It was then that Serena had had enough and couldn't continue on with this conversation with these complete strangers as she interrupted, "Okay. Yeah. That's enough. Now I'm telling you to go." She began to wave them off, "Come on. Get out of here. Shoo."

"Thank you," Dan spoke as he looked off into the distance.

As the trio of tweens walked off, Serena shook her head and laughed briefly before hooking her thumbs in her pockets, "Wow. What was that?"

"That was, uh, that was Gossip Girl," Dan responded.

Serena chuckled nervously, unable to erase the things that were said. Even though the whole assumption of Dan sleeping with Georgina was untrue, it just showed that there were quite a few things that the couple should have talked about before they made getting back together official. Although Serena was all for discussing them then, she wasn't so gung ho about it now.

"So," Dan spoke as he looked at her, letting her take the lead.

Serena nodded at the urging to speak, "Well, maybe there are some things that, um, you know, we- we should talk about," Serena said reluctantly as she looked up at him.

Dan nodded in return, "Yeah. Well, I think so."

Seeing that he obviously wasn't ready to talk about it, Serena took the easy way out, "Yeah, there's some stuff I have to do. Now, before the party."

"Okay," Dan responded, looking more than willing to let her go.

"so why don't we talk, um…" Serena began as she watched Dan rock back and forth in place.

"Yeah, we'll talk later when I pick you up," Dan finished the offer for her.

"Yeah, perfect," Serena nodded and played it off that it wasn't a big deal that the two couldn't even bring themselves to have the conversation.

"All right, that'll be good," Dan responded.

Serena smiled and kissed him briefly before walking away quickly, "Bye."

"Bye," Dan spoke as he continued to stand there, "I'll see you later."

Serena waved as she quickly made her way home. She didn't know what she was even doing and why the thought that Blair may have been right earlier, that the two may have been fooling themselves in thinking that they could get back together, scared her half to death.

xoxo

Nate followed through on his plans for lunch with Vanessa. Unfortunately he wasn't much good company because every second that he was there he knew that was further putting a nail in his proverbial grave with Catherine and their arrangement. He tried to put on a good face and just enjoy his time with Vanessa like he did yesterday, but the text alert on his phone helped remind him of the decision that he was making by choosing to be here rather than that hotel room.

He looked down at his phone and read the message from Catherine: Where are you? He was so caught up in his thoughts he barely heard Vanessa call his name beside him to gain his attention.

"Nate. Hello?"

"Hmm?" Nate responded on full alert. Seeing that he didn't fool her he sighed before he began to apologize, "Look, I'm sorry. There's just a lot going on."

Vanessa smiled softly as she leaned against her arms at the table, "Maybe you just need to be properly distracted."

Nate found himself smiling back as he leaned towards her lips, only to be interrupted with his phone, once again, going off in his hand. At the sight of Nate's hesitation, Vanessa pulled back with an "I'm sorry."

Nate quickly attempted to right the situation at the sight of her annoyance, "No, no, no. it's me."

"No, Nate," Vanessa refuted, her annoyance becoming more pronounced, "You don't need to explain anything. It's fine. Really."

Before Nate couldn't even begin to speak the pair was interrupted by the last person they expected to be found in Brooklyn. Blair Waldorf.

"What an unusual little space: half gallery, half boho coffee shop," Blair spoke as she made her way to the couple's table with a light shrug as she leaned on the back of the third chair as she looked at them, "But then unusual parings seem to be the order of the day."

"Blair, what are you doing here?" Nate asked in confusion, knowing that it wasn't for the art.

"Being angry at you for one," Blair responded innocently, "Here I thought I'd surprise you by bringing Vanessa to tonight's party when lo and behold, you two have rekindled your love in secret."

"You came all the way to Brooklyn to invite me to a party for a school that I don't even go to?" Vanessa asked her tone full of suspicion.

"It was for Nate, dear," Blair responded with a condescending tone before turning her attention to Nate, "Anne called this morning. Poor thing has a migraine. When I thought of you coming all alone, I just wanted to do something nice. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Yeah," the pair responded in unison.

Blair said nothing as she kept up her look of doe eyed innocence just as a bell rang in the distance along with a voice, "Hello? I got a delivery!"

Blair smirked at the perfect timing; she knew that in order to get the two to come she'd have to work an angle that only Nate would be susceptible to. Vanessa sighed as she moved to stand up, "Excuse me."

Nate fell back in his chair as he watched her leave, knowing that she needed to do her job. He glanced over at his ex-girlfriend as she stood in front of him, looking at her nails silently. Unable to continue to be left in the dark, he leaned d forward and whispered, "Blair, what are you really doing here? You can't stand Vanessa, and you've never done anything when something wasn't in it for you."

Blair leaned towards him as she hissed back, "You think I'm just going to sit back and watch you have an affair with Marcus's mother? Guess again."

"So what are your plans, to distract me with Vanessa?" Nate asked, easily believing Blair's motives.

"Yes. What about it?" Blair responded without hesitation.

"It's just as your plans go, it's kinda nice," Nate retorted.

Blair scoffed as she rolled her eyes, "A: Don't be offensive, and B: From what I just witnessed, if you want to keep her, you're going to have to step it up."

Nate leaned back into his chair as he realized that Blair was in the gallery longer than he had originally thought if she was able to deduce that he and Vanessa were having problems already. He watched as Blair stood up straight and smiled as Vanessa walked in carrying a large box and continued on the previous conversation, "So I can look forward to seeing you tonight?"

Nate took his cue from her and responded, knowing that she was right about him stepping up his game if he really wanted things to work with Vanessa, "Sure. We'll be there."

"Really?" Vanessa asked in surprise as she walked back over to the table.

"Yeah. Why not?" Nate asked with a shrug and a smile, feeling relief that she wasn't opposed to the idea.

"Wonderful," Blair responded with a delighted smile as she waved, "Till tonight."

As Blair left, she wasted no time to take out her phone as she walked out onto the streets of Brooklyn and began to make a phone call. She had to admit that Vanessa and Nate made the game so easy with the bickering she overheard when she arrived. Nate was obviously drowning in attempting to salvage this supposed relationship and Blair simply offered him a way out.

She didn't have to wait long for her call to connect, "Duchess, it's me. He's bringing her. And for the record, whatever you're planning with Nate, my bedroom floor is off-limits."

She hung up the phone without another word as she waved her hand to hail her a cab to get out of this place. Just as she directed the driver to take her home, her phone went off indicating that she had a text message. She smiled as she opened it after seeing that it was from Chuck. Her smile immediately turned into a smirk at the message's content: Found out who's behind the rumors. See you tonight. 4w 3l –C

Yes it was definitely going to be an interesting party tonight, but it was going to be the start of a major take down and Blair couldn't help but relish in it. It was a sign that summer was coming to an end and fall was returning along with the old favorite games and, from the looks of things with Nate, Vanessa, and Catherine, new ones too.

xoxo

After sending the text to Blair, Chuck dismissed his guest, glad that he now knew the culprit behind trouble stirring up around him. Although he felt a great sense of accomplishment, it still didn't make him feel back to his normal self like he expected. As he slowly followed the flight attendant out, he paused as he read the response text from his girlfriend. He was unaware that Serena had just walked in, her stride slowing down as she passed by the flight attendant. Chuck mentally sighed as he saw the obvious conclusion that the blonde jumped to as he sat at the kitchen counter and began to pour himself a drink.

"Who was that?" Serena asked as she sat on top of the counter, placing her purse beside her.

Chuck sighed as he responded, "A whiff of the far east." He didn't see the point in explaining himself to Serena of all people about his love life.

Serena sighed as she slowly shook her head to herself, "It amazes me sometimes how much you've changed and then you do things like this that just reveals that you haven't changed at all."

"And what, may I ask, are you going on about?" Chuck asked, losing his patience rapidly.

"Blair believes that the rumors about your exploits weren't true, but after who I just saw leaving, I can't say the same," Serena spoke bluntly.

Chuck glared at her, "Relax. Nothing happened with Madame Butterfly. Unlike some people in this conversation, I AM able to control myself."

Serena scoffed as she leaned back on her hands, "Yeah, right. Just know that I'm not covering for you for Blair. And if you don't tell her the truth, I will."

"She already knows," Chuck responded as he looked into his glass, "And it's like I said nothing happened. Same as nothing's been happening all week."

"Then explain the women going through here recently," Serena demanded.

Chuck gave her brief glance before he took a sip from his glass, "I'm being set up. And it wasn't until just now that I've been able to have a name and a face to go with my perpetrator. Blair, of course, wanted to help, but with her party tonight, I offered to get a name and we'd proceed from there."

Serena stared at him for a very long time before she finally accepted that she had severely misread the situation and that Chuck Bass, of all people, was telling the truth and was being faithful. "Unbelievable."

"I'll take your incredulity as a compliment," Chuck responded as he sat his glass down behind him on the counter. "I love Blair, and one thing I've learned through this entire ordeal is that I physically can't cheat on her even if I wanted to."

Serena's look of shock continued to grow and was unable to help her smile at the last bit he spoke about how he couldn't physically perform, "No, but, I mean, come on. Not even a little bit? Not that I'm encouraging you to cheat on my best friend, but seriously?"

"Last year when my feelings became more apparent and before Blair and I talked, I tried everything…from the erotic to the pharmaceutical," Chuck turned and rested his arms on the counter in a huff, "Fortunately word didn't get out about my problem and when Blair and I first became involved I thought everything was back to normal. Then during my punishment and the first woman approached and attempted to try something, I noticed that I wasn't even the least bit aroused as I removed her from my personal space."

Serena couldn't help but laugh before she quickly got ahold of herself, "I-I'm sorry. I'm not laughing. It's just so obvious. You were into Blair long before you two got together and even now, a little less than a year later, all you can see is her. It's kind of sweet."

Chuck forced himself to look at Serena in disgust, while inside he smirked to himself at the revelation. He knew that he had feelings for Blair before the relationship began, the inability to sleep alone for the length of the night was just one of the surface symptoms and he had to admit that it was nice to know that if there was a time that he might mess this whole relationship up with Blair that it wasn't going to be because he cheated on her. But he was Chuck Bass and he refused to keep going on this way going without.

"I don't do sweet," Chuck snarled at Serena, keeping up the façade that the idea made him sick, "I don't have a romantic bone in my body, least of all that one."

"Wh-come on. This is your body's way of telling you," Serena explained with a smile, obviously amused at his predicament.

Reverting back to his original thought, Chuck came up with an idea. Since his punishment was set for indefinite status, why not attempt to persuade his vivacious girlfriend to let him, or in this case get him off, on good behavior. After all he did discover the name of their enemy; he more than earned his freedom from purgatory. "But you know…you do raise an interesting idea. Clearly there's some sort of…blockage. Perhaps…"

Serena quickly saw where this was going, "Oh no. No, no, no. What happened to just accepting your punishment?"

"It's just one more go-around, to clear the pipes," Chuck finished his thought process with a smirk as he stood up straight. He mentally figured that it would start off as one time around, but knowing that if he played it right, he'd be off punishment permanently. It was like Serena said he'd been very accepting of his punishment for the past week. Blair knew him and in the end she was probably waiting for him to snap. He was only giving her what she wanted…

"You are not using Blair as sexual drano," Serena exclaimed as she attempted to stop him from his one track mind.

"I have to make myself presentable," Chuck spoke as if he didn't even hear Serena, "I have a party to attend."

After finishing his glass of scotch, he gave another glance at Serena and decided that he felt well enough now that he had a plan of action to poke fun at her current state of her love life, "By the way…congrats on you and Humphrey. Water always finds its own level."

With a wink he left her there alone with her thoughts as he headed back to his room to prepare for the evening and his game play. It was definitely going to be a great party. Chuck could feel it. Who knew that the idea would be inspired by a conversation with Serena? Chuck shrugged and got to work his wardrobe choice, memories of the last party he worked to seduce Blair at and how satisfying it was once he had his way with her.

xoxo

The party was in full swing and Blair Waldorf was doing what she did best: Ruling over her court. Despite the string of rumors revolving around Chuck's fidelity, Blair refused to be looked at with anything other than envy tonight. Besides, since Chuck had found out whom the culprit behind the vicious lies were it wouldn't be long until the situation will be dealt with accordingly. But until then, she will give the masses something else to talk about.

Fortunately one of her many guests was the Lord so Blair chose to focus conversations about how close her relationship was with the Lord even though it was far from the truth. Personally the Lord had yet to be of much entertainment, the stories he told her of his childhood were dull even when he mentioned the royal family. It took a real talent for someone to make something like that boring. But in true Blair fashion she spun it to make the story sound even more fantastic as she made the rounds to talk amongst her minions, knowing that they would do the work for her to spread stories of Blair's friendship with real life royalty.

She made a point to adjust the stories accordingly to fit her minions personalities and what she already knew would impress them. She started with Nelly Yuki and began with the story of Marcus' ancestral home in Balmoral and added in a little snippet of Prince Harry running across the lawn naked when he was young. After deeming Nelly Yuki appropriately in awe of Blair's accomplishment, she moved on to her next minion, Penelope. Ironically enough, Penelope was more impressed with the educational opportunity mingling with royalty would bring so Blair mentioned one of her many conversations with Marcus where he offered to show her around Oxford in the future.

"But you've been wanting to go to Yale ever since you were a little girl," Penelope responded, her envy more than a little bit obvious.

"I know," Blair responded with a light shrug before taking a sip from her glass, "But Marcus keeps insisting that I consider Oxford."

"What a pity," a familiar voice spoke up at Blair's right, "So much wasted potential."

Blair smiled as she turned towards her boyfriend, effectively dismissing Penelope as she responded, "What are you talking about?"

"One of the things that always fascinated me about you," Chuck responded softly, not wasting time in setting his own game in motion the moment he arrived, "The cool exterior, the fire below."

"And why do you think I'm wasting this supposed potential?" Blair asked softly, sensing the change in Chuck from the last time she saw him. He was up to something and it was something beyond just a meager potential take down.

"All of this time you've spent with the Lord, knowing that he's pursuing you for more. You can't tell me that Bertie Wooster could even hope to satisfy your needs," Chuck explained as he took a step towards her. "Titles aside, he's proven he has nothing else going for him and he's wasting your time thinking otherwise."

"Not that you have anything to worry about, but you'd be surprised how some people are willing to rise to the occasion when it's presented to them," Blair teased Chuck lightly as she forced her breathing to remain consistent.

"Is that so?" Chuck asked with a smirk, knowing exactly what game she was playing as she nodded in answer. Chuck decided to play along as he leaned towards her and whispered, "I wonder what names he would call you when you would make love?"

Blair froze, realizing too late that Chuck Bass had finally come out to rebel against Blair's punishment. She knew she should have been better prepared but she made the assumption that after toying with him tonight he'd get the motivation to start the next morning. But leave it to Chuck to be ahead of schedule.

Blair gasped softly as Chuck spun her around, pressing her back against his front with his arm around her waist as he continued to whisper in her ear. Blair swallowed hard as she briefly let her eyes drift close as he held her left hand and ran his finger along her collarbone as he whispered softly, "Where would he put his hand?"

He then pressed their joined hands against her thigh as he continued to press himself against her from behind as Blair felt her breathing begin to shorten as memories flashed of all the things that her boyfriend had done to her on numerous delicious occasions. As if he could read her thoughts he whispered softly in her left ear, "Would he…" He paused and switched to her other ear, lifting her chin up and towards him with his right hand as he whispered a particularly adventurous and delish scenario that the couple performed themselves during their summer abroad.

Blair couldn't help but feel her eyes roll back into her head in pleasure as the memory played in her mind. How hard she had came as he took her hard and without warning, how he made her beg for him over and over again to grant her a second release before he finally granted it to her. Blair was pulled from her thoughts as Chuck went back to her left ear and whispered, "Have sex with me."

Blair was instantly reminded of the reason why the couple couldn't currently do those type of things as much as she wanted to, "What?"

"Just once. That's all I need," Chuck responded, not deterred by her initial reaction.

Blair seriously considered just ending his punishment because as much as he was suffering, Blair was too. It amazed her that since the couple's coming together that Blair had become just as insatiable as Chuck himself. The only thing that stopped her from giving in was the memory of the game they were playing. Up until tonight, Chuck had been passive and taking in his punishment accordingly, but Blair genuinely felt relief that he was here pursuing her to change her mind. She had to admit that there was a small part of her that worried that his lack of reaction was due to his lack of interest. And she could admit, if only to herself, that the past week brought back some of her insecurities with Nate. She knew she should have known better, that Chuck was different and if this conversation proved anything was that Chuck was simply biding his time this week to attack.

"You are on punishment," Blair finally responded, "And you disgust me."

Blair could feel the familiar smirk as he pressed his lips on her ear as he asked, "Then why are you still holding my hand."

Blair didn't even realize that she was in fact holding his hand until that moment and quickly pulled away from him as she turned towards him, "Out of habit." Chuck smirked, seeing through her as she continued speaking, "What ever happened to you accepting my punishment?"

Chuck took several steps towards her, resulting to her backing away to the point that Blair found herself pressed up against a nearby wall, out of view of her other guests in the main room, "Yes, about your punishment. I came to a realization today after my latest unwanted guest left."

"And what was this realization?" Blair asked as she lifted her chin in challenge, feeling her blood race in her veins.

"That I'm Chuck Bass," Chuck responded bluntly, "I don't go without unless I choose to, and I've gone without for far too long. Instead of sitting around waiting for you to decide to let me in…side," Chuck smirked as he lifted his hand to press against the wall behind Blair, caging her in, "Like some Brooklynite. I'm going to seduce, play, and show my worth as your equal until you allow me into your good graces again. No more of this "I can't touch until you touch", from now on I have free reign up until the act itself which would be considered your surrender."

Blair couldn't help but revel in the new game set up before her, and found herself smirking up at her partner in crime and the man that she loved as she whispered up to him, "It's about time you got your…head in the game. If you'll excuse me I have a party to host."

Chuck smirked as he watched her slip past him and strut away with a brief glance back over her shoulder as she continued on with her duties. Taking her words as an acceptance of his new terms, he began to plot ways to come out on top of this change of games. It wasn't until later as he watched her from a distance and did a little mingling of his own that he realized that he forgot to tell her the name of their saboteur. He mentally shrugged, figuring that he could tell her later or she'd figure it out on her own. At the rate of their adversary was going they were due to slip up.

xoxo

Serena sighed as she quickly grabbed her bag and walked down the hallway to meet Dan in her living room. She knew she was running late and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't deliberate. She knew that they were due to have a conversation about their problems and ironically she was the one putting it off. It was crazy to think back on about a week ago that Serena was the one that wanted to hold off on them officially being back together until the two of them talked about the reasons behind their break up in the first place. But, as with all things, Serena gave in to just enjoying in the fact that her and Dan was back together once it became obvious that Dan wasn't ready to have the actual conversation at the time. Now that it seemed that he was ready to do it, Serena was the one running scared.

Maybe it was because she was afraid that in the end the couple would realize that they just weren't right for each other as they once thought and that as much as they'd like to, they couldn't go back and pretend that everything didn't happen. Serena didn't want to admit it, but a small part of her couldn't help but say that they couldn't go back and that they weren't right for each other. Serena found herself sighing once again as she saw the object of her thoughts waiting for her as he leaned against the bar looking nervous.

"Hey. Sorry I'm late," She greeted as she reached his side.

"Oh, no. it's not a problem," Dan responded with a smile, "You look great, as always."

Serena smiled at the compliment, "Thank you."

It was then that the lights in the penthouse began to flicker without warning before they returned on. The couple looked around as they waited for the flickering to come to an end in surprise.

"That's, uh, that's troubling," Dan spoke first as Serena nodded in agreement, mentally hoping that it wasn't a bad omen for what was to come of the night.

"Maybe we should just go," Serena suggested as she rested her hand upon her boyfriend's arm. Dan agreed and led the way to the elevator.

Serena sighed as the pair waited for the elevator to arrive and glanced over as Dan spoke, "Didn't I say you looked nice?"

"Yeah," Serena responded, feeling the awkwardness grow as it did earlier in the park, "Thanks again, though."

"You're welcome," Dan responded as he looked at the elevator doors.

After a few silent moments Serena attempted to break the silence, "Did you do anything this afternoon?"

"No. No. You?" Dan asked politely.

Serena shook her head in reply, "No." She paused briefly before blurting out, "Chuck had a Japanese stewardess over today."

"Huh," Dan responded before he began hitting the button to call for the elevator once again, "It's a slow elevator.

Serena honestly didn't know what was going on that they couldn't even have a basic conversation, let alone that Chuck's antics couldn't even give them some sort of filler. As much as she wanted to just get this conversation over with all she could do was just stand there silently as they waited for the elevator to arrive. Letting the silence fill with everything the pair should be saying but refusing to, filled with questions and lack of answers. At the rate it was going tonight, Serena knew that it was definitely going to be a long night.

xoxo

Meanwhile an elevator door in a completely different building opened to reveal the first party of the school year in full swing. Nate slowly walked into the room, just ready to get this night over with. He couldn't believe how easily was fooled by Blair earlier. He, more than most, should have known better when she stated her good intentions. He was just fortunate that while he was out running a few hours earlier in the park that he ran across Lord Marcus. The conversation that the two had still playing in his head as he walked into the familiar foyer:

"Nate!" Marcus greeted him warmly, "It's a little warm for a run don't you think?"

"Yeah," Nate replied good naturedly, "But what can I say it helps clear the mind."

Marcus nodded in understanding, "Of course. So, I assume I'll be seeing you tonight at Blair's party then?"

"Yeah I am. Are you on your way over there now?" Nate asked, noticing Marcus's clothes.

"I'm afraid not, I'm on my way to pick up the Duchess," Marcus explained.

"Oh your mother is coming?" Nate asked in surprise. Even at that moment he didn't put two and two together until Marcus' next words.

"Yes, Blair insisted she come. The pair have become quite close. I always find them whispering in the corner like good friends," Marcus explained before he paused and released a light hearted laugh, "Although I guess I should be a bit concerned."

Nate nodded absentmindedly as he realized that he'd been played before he responded, "Yes. Blair has always been one to shine in the eyes of parents."

Marcus nodded in response, "Well I best be going. I'll see you tonight then?"

"Yes, I'll see you there," Nate responded as he watched the Lord head towards his car.

Not too long after that conversation, Nate didn't waste any time to call to, unfortunately, cancel on Vanessa at the last minute, once again. He couldn't help but blame Blair for this and when he was confronted with the girl in question, flanked by her minions, he didn't bother holding back.

"Where's Vanessa?" Blair asked confused as she glanced behind Nate, taking in the look of anger on Nate's face and immediately knew that he figured out a bit of her scheme.

"Not walking into your trap or whatever it is," Nate responded as he stopped in front of his ex-girlfriend.

Blair dismissed her minions from her side as she spoke in a patronizing tone and a smile, "Oh, please. You want me to feel bad? You're not exactly occupying the moral high ground, Archibald."

"I just hope it's worth it," Nate retorted as he looked Blair straight in the eye.

But before Blair could even respond, the Duchess came and wrapped an arm around his shoulders as she led him away with a lighthearted, "Nathaniel, you came! Seems like forever since I've seen you." As soon as the pair was adequately alone, Catherine lowered her voice as she turned towards him, dropping her arm as she added, "Or heard from you."

"So you use my friends for some power play to prove you're the one in control, huh?" Nate asked with a lowered voice.

"I don't like sharing my toys," Catherine whispered back unashamedly, "Especially if I've paid for them." Nate looked at her affronted as he jerked his head back as he watched her look around him as she continued speaking in a regular tone, "Where's your friend? I was looking forward to meeting her."

Nate grabbed her arms and shook her as he hissed at her, "No, no. Stop it. Look at me. I don't know where I'm going to get the money from, but you listen-"

Catherine interrupted him with a slight shake of her head as she placed her hands on his shoulders, "Okay, no, Nate, listen. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It was out of jealousy." She moved her hand down to hold his as she continued, "Please just don't do something we'll both regret."

Nate didn't buy it for a minute as he replied firmly, "No."

Unfortunately for Nate he didn't realize that the quick change in demeanor and tone was just as much a part of her game as her getting Blair to invite Vanessa in the first place because it was at that exact moment that Nate heard his name being called from behind him. He glanced over, instantly recognizing the voice and hoped with all his might that he was wrong, only to be proven right. There stood Vanessa. She didn't say anything for a moment as she took him and Catherine in, when she saw the fact that Catherine was still holding his hand that she immediately realized what was going on and spoke again, "Oh my God."

It was then the entire room went completely dark, and Nate lost sight of her as the room exploded with sound.

"Everyone stay calm!" Blair yelled at the room as she navigated around the room by the few lighted candles that were artfully placed around the room. She originally set them up for ambiance, but fortunately they were useful to grant the room some light as she stood in the middle of the room, attempting to keep everyone calm. "I'm sure the power will be back on in a second. It'll be fine."

"Vanessa!" Nate yelled as he managed to catch sight of her as she turned away from him and went after her with no thought of Catherine behind him.

Sorry to break it to you B, but this party just went over to the Dark side.

xoxo

"It's a citywide blackout, but we have candles," Blair explained with a smile as she motioned to the help to light and pass out all of the candlesticks to her guest as well as place them around the room for light, doing her best to keep herself as well as everyone else calm as she spoke again, "Everything's fine."

While Blair tried to calm everyone including herself, Nate was busy trying to catch Vanessa. He was fortunate that he caught her while she was talking to Marcus, "Vanessa."

Marcus and Vanessa both turned towards him as Marcus greeted him in obvious relief, "Nate, thank god. Would you please tell this young lady she can't go outside in the blackout?"

"Yeah. Well, I am," Vanessa spoke firmly with her arms crossed.

"No, it's okay, Marcus. I got it," Nate spoke up as he reached for Vanessa, not wanting her to go without at least hearing him out, "Just come with me, please."

Nate felt some form of relief when she reluctantly went with him into Blair's formal dining room. He didn't know how he was even going to articulate what he needed to say but he was willing to do anything in the hopes that he'd still have a shot to be with her. Nate carefully slid the door behind them as Vanessa wasted no time in revealing her thoughts.

"I can't believe this," she said, disgust obvious in her voice as she continued on, "Here I was thinking 'Nate's so much different than Blair and all the others,' but you're just as bad."

Nate turned towards her with a sigh, "Look, it's not that simple, okay?"

Vanessa looked at him square in the eye and asked bluntly, "Are you sleeping with that woman?"

Nate paused before deciding that the truth was most likely the best course of action in the situation, "Yes."

Vanessa's face fell as she continued to look at him, holding her candle as she continued with her next question, "Is that the reason you keep canceling on me?"

Seeing how much he hurt her with his admission, Nate softly replied, "Yes, but-"

"No, Nate. There are no "buts"," Vanessa interrupted with a shake of her head, "You lied to me, and you're sleeping with some Mrs. Robinson. And while on the Upper East Side that might be totally normal…," Vanessa paused as her voice broke but forced herself to continue on, "I didn't sign up for some creepy love triangle with you and someone's mom."

"She's giving me money," Nate spoke without thought.

The look on Vanessa's face proved that he didn't explain the situation well at all as she backed away from him, "Well that's just the capper isn't it?"

As she turned away, Nate quickly walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders as he continued on to explain, "No, my mom and I needed help. I just- I had no other option."

Vanessa continued to stand by the door for a moment before she turned towards him. The look on her face showed that she wasn't completely on board, but the fact that she didn't just leave him there proved that she was still considering. Nate watched her silently, choosing not to push her out of fear that she would end choosing to leave anyway. He once again felt relief at her next words, "Tell me everything."

Vanessa went over to the dining room table and took a seat as Nate quickly followed, more than willing to do as she asked. You never know, maybe Vanessa would be able to help him figure out another option or a way to get out of this mess that he put himself in. He arranged his chair to sit right in front of her as sighed and began to tell her everything from the beginning, not holding anything back from the beginning of the affair to just when Vanessa walked onto the scene earlier before the lights went out.

"But my mom still thinks Chuck's lending us the money, so just sending it through me," Nate concluded with his explanation. It amazed him how complicated everything had come to be in such a short amount of time.

He looked over at Vanessa as she began to speak, "So borrowing money from your son's friend is fine, but whoring him out to pay the club bill isn't." Nate shook his head softly at Vanessa's words, realizing just how true they were as the brunette asked him her next question, "Do you want to be with this woman?"

"No, I want to be with you," Nate spoke honestly as he leaned towards her slowly, "But I just know that's not going to happen now, so…" Nate looked down at his lap at the realization, knowing that it was true.

"Nate…" Vanessa spoke softly as she took his hand in hers, "You have to end this for yourself. Forget about what I said before. You are better than this."

Nate looked up at her and felt a semblance of hope that he could get out of this. He sighed softly as she reached towards him and cupped his cheek gently in comfort, making Nate smile as she whispered, "I'll be here when you get back."

Nate smiled as he took her hand from his face and gave a gentle kiss in thanks, his hope soaring at the knowledge that whatever may happen he'd at least still have her by his side. He stood up from his chair began his search to find Catherine and tell her that it was over and was willing to accept the consequences. Whatever that may be.

xoxo

While Nate and Vanessa were playing confessionals in the dining room, Blair was slowly feeling more at ease as more candles were lit and the room began to be filled with more light. Chuck was busy calling the building manager to get as much information as he could about their current situation, to which Blair was grateful. If anyone could get answers and fix things it was Chuck Bass, and all Blair had to do was keep the room full of people calm and in good spirits.

She had the caterers pass around drinks and candles as she spoke to the room and lit the last set of candles and set them down on the nearby mantle, "Now if everyone will just get a drink and a candle, I'm sure the power will be back in a minute."

The Duchess came from around the corner and approached her as she spoke, "Blair have you seen Nate?"

Blair instantly felt her irritation for this woman grow and felt no regret as she condescended back, "Um, no. it's a blackout."

Catherine paid her no mind as she continued to cast her eyes around the room in search for Nate as she continued on about her problems, "That girl showed up. They went off somewhere together."

Honestly Blair had more important things to worry about than poor, pathetic Duchess Catherine and her inability to hold her man's attention when he was obviously just not that into her. It was so sophomore year. "Honestly, Catherine, so what? If they want to be together, you can't stop them. Just deal with it," Blair spoke bluntly, she would know more than anyone that even the best schemes are fallible to people's emotions and desires.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," Catherine responded, speaking to Blair as if she were some child before she turned away.

"Hot young guy, aging beauty enjoying her last hurrah before the surgeries start," Blair spoke with a shrug as Catherine slowly turned back towards her, "It's called a cliché."

Catherine tilted her head and smirked as she slowly walked back towards Blair as she spoke, "Is Chuck everything you could possibly hope for?"

"Yes, absolutely," Blair responded without hesitation, wondering where she was going with this.

"Really? There's not one thing that's missing?" Catherine asked, "That one thing you tell yourself you can live without? That you'd happily sacrifice for the rest? 'Cause I tell you what. You're gonna sacrifice it every day for the rest of your life. Nate makes me feel alive." As Blair stood there, saying nothing as she let Catherine speak, Catherine whispered to her, "I'm not going to give that up."

Blair couldn't help but laugh once at the irony and smiled at Catherine as she slowly shook her head as she spoke softly, "It's simply amazing."

"What is?" Catherine asked, her irritation hidden but obvious to Blair.

"Just looking at you, hearing your words…it's like looking into the past," Blair explained in amazement. "You see, despite what you may believe, my relationship with Chuck isn't missing anything. It's everything we both want it to be and so much more than we could possibly imagine. With him I do feel alive, and challenged, and loved. And according to him, I make him feel the exact same way."

Blair smiled softly to herself before she continued on with her thought process as she took in this woman that older and yet not as wise as her in this relationship aspect, "What I found amusing though about your statement earlier, is that I did have a relationship similar to what you described of constant sacrifice. Sacrifice of self, of need and wants, and it's incredible that if certain events hadn't occurred I would be engaged to him and lived the rest of my life sacrificing instead of being with the man I've come to know and love as my equal. The funny part is…Nate wanted to be with someone else then too."

Catherine said nothing for a long minute as she took in Blair's words before she carefully spoke again, a look of respect showing in her eyes as she did, "Then consider yourself one of a very lucky few in our world. Not all of us are fortunate to get out and come out on the other side to have it all instead of nothing."

Blair watched as Catherine turned and left to continue in, what Blair assumed to be, her search for Nate and sighed. She understood that what she and Chuck had was unique when they first started their relationship, but it wasn't until she was having that conversation with Catherine that she realized just how rare it truly was. To be able to have love, status, and power in their world is extremely rare. Most of the relationships on the Upper East Side were just as Catherine described it, filled with sacrifice and hiding a part of you to accommodate the façade.

She truly felt grateful to that day when she let the butterflies break free and gave Chuck a chance that night at Victrola. She felt grateful that she didn't run away at Cotillion a month later, because in the end it was all worth it. She had the luxury of being herself with the man she loved and was even encouraged to do so without giving up her high standards. Blair smiled as she turned towards the room, feeling the urge to go find her wonderful boyfriend. Tomorrow she could play that she was in a vulnerable position and the game would be back on, but for tonight she just wanted to be able to fully appreciate what it was that she had with Chuck Bass and how close she could have come to not having it in the first place.

xoxo

Serena could not believe how bad her luck was turning out to be today. Not only did the electricity completely cut off, but she was now stuck in an elevator with Dan. She couldn't help but think that if she didn't purposely drag her feet in getting ready to go to this party they might not be in their current situation now.

Serena sighed softly to herself as she looked over at Dan as he talked to Vanya on the elevator phone. "Yeah, my name's Dan Humphrey. Yeah. Uh, the elevator's stuck."

Serena vaguely heard him say "Okay" a few times before he hung up the phone as she impatiently waited to find out how it was going to take to get them out. She gave her full attention to Dan as he began to take off his jacket and explained, "Well, it's a city wide blackout so the guy says we just have to wait, hope the power comes back on soon."

Serena couldn't help but smile to herself as a suggestion came to mind; she was brought back from her thoughts by Dan's voice, "What?"

Serena shook her head, but Dan was as persistent as ever, "No. No, I know when you're thinking of something, just tell me."

"No, it's nothing," Serena waved him off, figuring it wasn't that big of a deal now.

"Serena," Dan stated as he looked at her.

Serena sighed and decided to just go ahead and say it, "Well, you probably should have mentioned my name."

"Are you kidding?" Dan asked in disbelief.

Serena just waved it away again and turned toward another wall, knowing what he was going to say about her comment, "Just forget it."

"No, seriously. You think there's, like, a box that says, "Open in the event of Serena Van Der Woodsen emergency"?" Dan continued on.

Serena just smiled and shrugged off his obvious disdain at her apparent high thoughts of her worth as she explained simply, "I live in the building. That's all."

"No, it's a citywide blackout, so there- there must be hundreds of people stuck in elevators right now," Dan went on to the point that Serena was beginning to grow annoyed with him.

"Okay, if you're not going to call them, can we not talk about it?" Serena asked quickly as she leaned against the wall behind her, "You're making it hotter."

Dan let his head fall back as he looked up at the ceiling and sighed out before he turned back to the phone, "Okay. Why not?"

"No, Dan-," Serena tried to spare him from his incoming embarrassment, but the look on Dan's face was one of determination and she knew she was better off just letting him go at it.

She crossed her arms as she once again listened to Dan talk on the phone, "Yeah, hey. It's Dan Humphrey again. Uh, Humph- Humphrey, the guy in the elevator? Yeah. I know, I know, but I forgot to say that I'm with Serena Van Der Woodsen."

After a pause, Dan once again hung up the phone with an "Okay. Thanks" before informing Serena with an update, "Well, they're going to send someone, so…"

Serena glanced at him, but chose to keep herself from smiling and from saying anything else for a while. Dan would most likely assume that she was laughing at him or something worse. The simple fact of the matter was that she knew that her name and the status of her family, not to mention the new additions added to said family, made things more easy. Not to mention that the people who work for her family are more accommodating to help out in times such as these in the hopes of getting a good recommendation from her step-father or even a bonus. It was how the world worked and Serena chose to only take advantage of her name and status for emergencies such as these.

She was just glad that she didn't have to wait in a hot sticky elevator for much longer. The heat wave that has hit the city this week had yet to die down and with the blackout, which equaled lack of air conditioning, it just felt as if the heat had grown even more unbearable. Then again maybe Serena was just looking for something else to focus her attention on rather than the pending conversation that she had yet to have with her boyfriend that was currently standing not five feet away from her on the other side of the small room.

xoxo

Blair was walking through her penthouse, with her candlestick in hand, searching for her boyfriend with no luck. She didn't care about the people around her she just wanted to be with Chuck after the revelation that she had after speaking with Catherine. But no one could seem to tell her where he was. Last time she saw him he was going to call the building manager for an update on the current blackout problem so she'd be able to keep her guest informed, but, with the benefits of a cell phone, he could be anywhere on the premises.

Keeping in mind of the people around her, Blair refuse to appear frantic as she searched. When she heard her name being called from behind her she almost felt excited, until she turned around and found that it wasn't the man she was looking for, it was actually quite the opposite.

"Marcus.How are you?" Blair greeted politely.

"I'm well, but how are you? I haven't seen Chuck around and I was wondering if I could offer up my services?" Marcus offered.

"Oh that's not necessary," Blair waved off his offer with a smile, "Chuck went off to call the building manager for an update while I hold down the fort here."

"Are you sure that's what he's doing?" Marcus asked carefully, "I've seen the Gossip Girl blasts, Blair."

Blair refrained from rolling her eyes as she responded, "There's no truth only petty lies and gossip. Despite what Serena and you may think, Chuck is not cheating on me."

"How can you be so sure?" Marcus asked boldly, "How do you know that while you're here "holding down the fort", as you say, he's not off doing god knows what with that flight attendant?"

"Because I trust…," Blair trailed off as something about Marcus' words struck something in her mind. The mentioning of the flight attendant was what did it. That information hadn't been leaked to Gossip Girl today, Chuck had been careful to have the slut removed from the building without being seen after his meeting with her. The only people who knew that the woman was even there was Chuck, Nate, possibly Serena, and the person who sent her. None of them would have told anyone about what they witnessed without at least talking to her about it first. She knew that Nate was angry with her about her scheme against him and Vanessa, but overall he didn't have it in him to be that spiteful over something so trivial. Blair realized that Chuck never got around to giving her the name of the person sabotaging their relationship and now Blair felt as if she knew the answer. It was Marcus.

He'd been the one who had been hiring these women from Chuck's past dalliances to make their reappearances. With Gossip Girl, Chuck's past was heavily documented and very easy to accumulate the needed material for this scheme. Blair had to admit that it was a nice attempt at sabotage but the fact that all he posted was photos of the women leaving his building should how much of an amateur the Lord truly was.

"Obviously you don't," Marcus broke through Blair's thoughts, misinterpreting her trailed off silence for agreement to his argument. Blair decided to not dissuade him needing to be alone so she could process this new information. "Why are you with him, Blair?"

"He makes me feel alive," Blair couldn't help but smile softly to herself at her own answer.

Obviously taken aback by her answer, Marcus frowned in confusion as he looked at her before he asked his next question, "But is that feeling worth it if you can't trust him to be true to you?"

Blair seriously over this entire conversation, it would be a whole different thing if it was Serena questioning her relationship. The blonde had been her best friend since they were small and knew each other better most, but Marcus hardly knew Blair at all. He just knew a part of her that she showed everyone else. He didn't know her hopes and fears outside of the generic ones that even minions knew. Not enough to destroy Blair but enough to keep them from digging for the actual useful stuff.

"Listen Marcus, you've given me a lot to think about," Blair spoke to appease him as she made her way over to the stairs leading up to her bedroom floor, "I think I need some time alone to reflect on my options and what's best for me."

Marcus smiled encouragingly as Blair started climbing the stairs, using her candlestick for light, relieved to be free of him for a while. If there wasn't a blackout she would have just sent everyone out of her home. Unbeknownst to either Marcus and Blair their conversation wasn't as private as they first assumed. A figure emerged from the shadows and began to slowly follow Blair up the stairs with no one the wiser.

Looks like Queen B has a lot on her mind than her own party, or maybe she was just moving the party upstairs. Question is, who's invited?

Blair sat alone on her bed with only one candle to light the room as she contemplated the drama that has filled her love life without her permission. She had to admit that inviting Marcus to return to the States with her was a substantial mistake. The fact had become more and more obvious the more she ingratiated the Lord into her circle and life. He turned out to be a total liar and a sneaky manipulator. Granted Blair was two of those three things, but she never lied about who she was.

Yes, something needed to be done about Marcus. It was one thing when he had unrequited feelings was willing to remain friends, but to resort to attempt to sabotage her relationship with Chuck, knowing how happy he made her, was a line that should never have been considered crossing. This was going to require all of her resources available to her and Chuck in order to be rid of him. Blair couldn't help but smile a little to herself. If she succeeded it would definitely be a takedown to be remembered. It was one thing to take down high school girls; it was in another league of its own to take down royalty. And that was exactly what Blair was planning to do.

At the sound of her bedroom door opening behind her, Blair turned her attention to her full length mirror across from her by the window.

"Marcus, I'm really not in the mood to continue our conversation right now," she spoke, assuming it was he who disturbed her plotting thoughts.

As the figure came into the reflection before her the voice spoke softly in an English accent, "Blow out your candle."

Blair turned her head away from the mirror, knowing exactly who it was as he shut the door behind him. She purposely paused, drawing out the charade before she sighed in resignation as she stood up and walked over to her burning candle to blow it out. The room was instantly cast into complete darkness with only the moonlight streaming in through her sheer curtain window to illuminate her as she waited patiently. The figure approached her and wasted no time as he turned her towards him and took her lips with his.

It was everything she needed and craved for and Blair couldn't find it in herself to pull away as she let herself get swept away in the moment. She'd deal with the consequences of this night when the lights returned. She'll explain herself and play the victim of circumstances as was her game of choice. She, Blair Waldorf, had perfected the innocent doe eyed look and used it to her advantage from the age of 3, and when that didn't work she simply talked her way out of a situation as was the talent she gained from her father.

But she'd worry about all of that later. In this moment Blair wanted to do what she truly wanted to do. Games can wait until the lights come back on. She more than most knew that the truth came out better in the dark anyway and this was her truth showing bright as day; the passion she felt after going without for so long was intoxicating as the figure ran his hands up her thigh, gripping her dress in impatience. It was everything Blair wanted it to be and yet not enough. Definitely not enough.

xoxo

"What do you want, Dan, for me to never say my name?" Serena exclaimed in exasperation. She had been stuck in the elevator for what felt like hours having sat in silence with Dan since he called back the front desk to inform them that she was in the elevator with him. He had basically been sulking and Serena just couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm not going to get into this now," Dan replied with a shake of his head, frustrating her even more.

"We thought we could avoid dealing with last year," Serena spoke bluntly, "Well, this is fate telling us we can't." She frowned as she watched Dan looking for something in the ceiling and grew even more confused when he jumped up with his hand raised and pushed. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm getting out of here," Dan explained as he attempted to do it again, this time successfully pushing the latch to open up, exposing the shaft outside of their four walls.

"No," Serena attempted to dissuade him, "Someone's coming. The man said so."

"Right. Because someone always comes to save Serena Van Der Woodsen," Dan responded before he once again jumped.

Serena crossed her arm by way of protecting herself from the hurt his words caused her as she turned away, "That's not fair."

Dan got a grip on the edges of the ceiling as he got his footing stationed on the guard rails as he continued on with the conversation in a strained voice, "I know it's not. That's the point."

"Fine," Serena snapped back, turning her attention back to Dan, "You know what? Life's not fair, because it doesn't fit with the way you, Dan Humphrey, think things should be. But are you always right?"

"No, I never- I never said…," but before he could finish his thought, Dan lost his footing dropped down onto the floor hard, "Ooh! That hurt."

Serena gasped and quickly went over to his side, "Are you okay?"

"Oh," Dan groaned as he slowly sat up, deciding to stay sitting on the ground, "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Serena asked, not really believing that he was okay as she ran her hands over his arm that he land on.

"I think so, yeah. I'm sorry," Dan nodded to himself before inhaling sharply, "Uh, ooh. Ow."

As she watched him slowly lean back against the wall behind him and sigh, Serena blurted out, "I forgive you for Georgina."

Dan looked up at her for a moment before he broke eye contact as he spoke, "And I forgive you, but…I don't know."

Serena shook her head, feeling the now familiar frustration arise inside of her, but this time she wasn't going to ignore it. She got settled beside him as she spoke the thoughts that have been swirling around in her head, "We keep having the same fight…at Bart's brunch a year ago, at the wedding…"

Serena sighed as she pushed her hair out of her face as Dan continued her thought, "Where we talked about the fight at Bart's brunch…"

"And now here," Serena finished. Feeling like some sort of progress was being made, Serena continued on down the path of honesty, "I can't change who I am, Dan."

"Me neither," Dan spoke softly back, "So what happens now?"

Serena knew what happened now. She guessed, in a way, she always knew from the moment that she woke up on the beach in his arms. It was the real reason that she kept putting off this much needed conversation. She just wanted to enjoy the good parts of their relationship without having to deal with her past mistakes coming up in the middle of it and Dan not being able to handle it and leaving. It was a cycle that had gone on repeat for the past year and it didn't work for them then and it certainly wasn't going to work for them now.

Despite the talks, Dan couldn't deal with who Serena really was on a relationship level. He couldn't deal with the baggage that came with her and…she wanted nothing more than for him to be able to deal with it anyway, but she knew it wasn't fair. He was who he was, just as much as she was who she was. "I don't really feel like talking," Serena said softly to him her voice full of sadness of the actual ending of her and Dan for good.

"Yeah. Me neither," Dan agreed as the two just sat there quietly. Serena rested her head on his shoulder, in the hopes of finding the familiar comfort she usually found there. She wasn't ready to let them go just yet, but, then again, would she ever be. She sighed softly to herself as she clung to his arm like she used to. They were stuck in an elevator for now, and when the doors opened and the lights came back on, Serena would be forced to say good bye and close this chapter of her life, or any other lame clichés she could think of.

xoxo

Two things happened simultaneously when the lights came on at the Waldorf penthouse. Downstairs, Nate, having given up his search of Catherine, carefully made his way back to the dining room to tell Vanessa, not wanting her to wait in the dark for much longer. He raised the hand holding his candle half gone as he entered into the room.

When he saw a figure standing by the long table in the middle of the room, he began to whisper apologetically, "Vanessa, I couldn't find her." When she didn't say anything, Nate frowned and called out to her, "Vanessa?"

It was then that the lights came back on, revealing that it wasn't Vanessa at all, but Catherine and she did not look pleased as she responded to him, "Your friend had to leave. Is there something that you wanted to tell me?"

Nate froze, not knowing what to say now that he had actually found her. The more pressing thought in his mind was: why had Vanessa left, and what did Catherine say to make her leave?

While upstairs in Blair's bedroom, Marcus was walking in to find a surprise of his own. Blair was so caught up in the man in her arms that she didn't even hear anyone entering the room until she heard her name being called. Surprised she snapped her head to the side, breaking the kiss, to find Marcus standing there in complete shock.

"Marcus, what brings you?" Chuck asked, not leaving his girlfriend's side as he smirked in satisfaction.

"I came to check on Blair now that the lights were back on," Marcus explained, "Since you couldn't be found."

Chuck felt his smirk grow, "Yes, well as you can see I found her."

Blair silently stood beside Chuck as she carefully watched the person behind all of the lies and rumors revolving around her relationship. Marcus was the source of the brief return of her insecurities of not being enough for Chuck. He made her question her worth in her boyfriend's eyes with those small doses of doubt. And for that Blair wanted him to suffer.

So when he turned towards Blair and asked softly, "Blair, what is this?" Blair began to play a role worthy of her being called a bitch.

"You don't understand," Blair began as she slowly walked towards him, "I came up here to think alone like I told you, but then he came in and I assumed it was you. I mean he had an accent."

It wasn't lie.

"Please!" Chuck scoffed at her as he watched from his place, adjusting his ascot, "You knew exactly who it was."

Blair looked over her shoulder at her boyfriend and couldn't help but smile briefly at him as she shook her head at him to be quiet. As she was busy looking at Chuck Marcus walked from behind her and stormed up to Chuck and punched him in the face. Blair cried out in surprise, "Marcus! Are you insane?"

Blair went over to her boyfriend's side and checked him over as Marcus fled the room immediately after his assault. After Chuck assured her he was fine and waved her off to finish what she started with the Lord. "I just hope this was only the beginning of your takedown because me getting punched in the face was in no way fun."

Blair smiled at him briefly before she got up and followed after Marcus down the hall and the stairs where an audience was assembled, obviously ready to head home now that the lights were back on. Figuring it would be a great show, Blair kept up the façade of being concerned for Marcus' feelings as she called out to him, "Marcus, wait."

Marcus paused and turned towards her as he asked her bluntly, "Did you really not know it was him?" Blair slowly finished walking towards the first landing with a sigh as he spoke again, "Can you honestly tell me that?"

She looked him in the eye before replying honestly, "No, I knew it was him."

"How? How can you want to be with someone who hurts you? After everything he's supposedly done," Marcus asked her almost desperately.

That's just it Marcus. He hasn't done anything," Blair replied firmly. "Chuck has been completely faithful to me and I know it in my heart. And the fact that you don't trust my judgment and attempted to make me see things that aren't really there, has shown me that you and I can't be friends. I can't have a friend who makes me doubt myself; I need people that I can trust."

"But you can trust me, Blair," Marcus spoke as he tried to take her hands in his.

Blair just pulled away from him with a shake of her head, "No, I can't. I'm sorry, Marcus, but you obviously feel more for me still than I do you and in order to spare us both it's probably best that we go our separate ways."

As Marcus continued to stare at her in shock, Blair turned and walked back up her stairs to her room where her boyfriend awaited her, leaving him there to deal with their audience alone and Dorota to clear everyone else out of her home. Blair couldn't help but smirk as she reached her doorway, forcing herself to not look back at him to see the look of devastation on his face. Sure that her minions would adequately paint the picture for her at school on Monday.

As the show on the upstairs landing concluded, guests were left to gossip and speculate on the scene they just witnessed. Some saw the truth in Blair's words that Chuck obviously wasn't cheating on her if the pair was really upstairs in her bedroom as Marcus insinuated. That and the reaction that it brought out of Marcus at the prospect, proved the truth. Others were too busy speculating about the fact that Blair Waldorf turned down royalty for Chuck Bass; her status amongst them growing higher in their eyes.

While one member of the audience honestly didn't care and all she wanted to do was to get out of the Upper East Side and go home to Brooklyn where things made sense and she could lick her wounds in peace. Unfortunately for her, luck was not on her side as she finally reached the elevator doors and pushed the button only to be stopped by the object of her affection as well as the one person she was trying to avoid.

"Vanessa. Wha- where are you going?" Nate asked in confusion, grateful to having found her before she could leave.

"I looked for you, but I just-," Vanessa explained, her voice breaking and Nate could see tears forming in her eyes as she spoke, "I had to get out. Did you end it?"

Nate continued to look at her in confusion as he answered, "No, not yet, but I was just g-"

"Okay, good. Don't," Vanessa ordered with a firm nod as she got ahold of her emotions.

Now Nate was really confused. He wanted to know what happened to make Vanessa completely change her mind about them and why she was running away from him now. He thought that he was finally getting to the end of this thing and Vanessa was his starting point and now she was acting completely different.

"Did Catherine say something to you?" He asked suspiciously, figuring that was the only explanation possible for her complete 180.

"She really loves you, Nate, and all the money and all that, that's your business, but she loves you, and you should be with her," Vanessa spoke in a clear and calm voice.

Nate frowned as he held her arms, "You want me to stay with her?"

It was just that moment that the elevator door bell rang announcing its arrival and Vanessa took that as her cue to leave as she looked Nate straight in the eye, "I am telling you that I am out for good."

She turned and got onto the elevator, pulling herself free from Nate's grasp as he tried to make her stay as he called after her, "No. Vanessa!"

She didn't respond as the doors closed and she was gone. Nate was left with even more questions and anger at what Catherine may have said to make Vanessa change her mind. He didn't even notice until Catherine was right beside him that he was being watched.

He looked over at her as she smile at him in victory, "Tomorrow…you owe me lunch."

He pulled away from her as she reached up and stroked his face affectionately after putting something in his hand and continued to walk down the hallway away from him. Nate looked down and saw that it was a key to a Mercer Hotel room. He closed his eyes as he sighed, shaking his head as he felt even more trapped than he ever did last year. He was trapped in a prison of his own making and he had no way of figuring out how to escape.

xoxo

As the electricity came back on in the elevator, Serena and Dan couldn't be as happy as most people would be. Dan reluctantly pushed the button to indicate for the car to go up to Serena's penthouse and Serena reluctantly stood up from her place by Dan's side, her heart full of sadness. As the pair waited, they stood facing each other by the door, holding hands. Serena wanted to take the time to remember every part of his face because she knew this would be the last time she'd be able to as his girlfriend.

They were breaking up, again, but this time this was it. They talked about things and realized that they were two completely different people and their relationship couldn't work out. There wasn't any hope that the two could work past it because they both accepted that they were who they were. Serena felt true sadness because Dan was her first real boyfriend. Her first real relationship and she couldn't help but feel afraid that with it ending there was no hope for her.

She didn't know what Dan was thinking as he continued to look back at her, and before she could even contemplate to ask, the doors opened up beside them. Serena glanced out the elevator and refused to let go of Dan's hand as she whispered, "I'm scared."

Dan looked down at their joined hands before he responded just as softly, "I know. Me, too."

"When I step out of here, it's over," Serena whispered.

"I-I think it was already," Dan spoke gently, "It just took us this long to realize and get used to the idea."

Serena took a breath, knowing that he was right, as she let go of his hands. Not wanting to go she leaned towards him and gave him one last, lingering kiss by way of goodbye before she forced herself to walk out of the elevator door.

Before she could get too far, Dan called out to her, "Serena?" She glanced over her should back at him, trying to keep the tears from falling from her eyes, as she saw what he was trying to tell her. "I still-"

"I know," Serena interrupted so he didn't have to actually say the words. She knew that he still loved her despite the differences and she still loved him back. "Me, too."

She continued to look at him until the elevator doors closed between them. It wasn't until the doors completely shut and the sounds of the cables moved to take the car down that Serena actually said the words "I love you" before she turned and went to her bedroom to let herself cry. She'd call Blair tomorrow, but tonight was her night to grieve over the loss for the last time. Despite the pain, Serena felt grateful for that brief time back together with Dan. It allowed her to have the closure she needed this past summer and with that closer she felt that there weren't any more what ifs to them and she could slowly move forward from Dan and towards the rest of her life.

xoxo

After giving Dorota her last orders for the night and taking a call from her mother, Blair was finally able to go back to Chuck. She was only allowed a total of five minutes with him after her fantastic performance with Marcus before she was taken away to take a call from her mother. Blair wasn't surprised to hear that Eleanor was stuck at the atelier throughout the blackout and she promised to make it up to Blair later. Blair shrugged it off and said it wasn't necessary, it was, after all, about time for her mother to prepare for fashion week. After reassuring her mother that she was fine and hearing that her mother was planning to continue to stay in the atelier for a while longer, Blair ended the call.

She smiled as she leaned against her doorframe as she looked at her boyfriend lying on her bed. "Are you comfortable?" she asked with a smirk.

"I'd be even more so if a certain brunette would join me," Chuck lifted his head to look at her as he continued, "Don't tease me my Queen, I'm wounded."

Blair couldn't help but laugh as she made her way to her closet to change for bed as she called out to him, "Please. You won't even have a black eye."

"Still," Chuck responded as he sat up more, "It's only by the grace of the gods that Marcus' right hook wasn't nearly as impressive as his title. Did I mention that I dislike getting punched in the face, even when it's to defend what is mine?"

Blair peeked out from her closet half dressed with a look of confusion, "You don't? I had no idea." She rolled her eyes and went back into her closet finish up.

Chuck smiled, liking the brief peek at what she wore under that delectable, yellow dress, as he continued speaking, "This is the second time I got hit because of you, Waldorf. You and your inability to control your attempted 'consorts'; I'm growing concerned that you're slipping."

Blair stepped out in her night gown with her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed as she asked, "'Slipping'? You think that I'm slipping?"

Chuck smirked at her as he raised his hand in the air and held his index and thumb close together in response. Blair shook her head as she slowly walked over to him, sitting beside him on her bed, "I'll have you know that I had everything under control until you opened your mouth, Bass."

"If you say so," Chuck patronized.

"I did," Blair snapped back, "And this was only just the beginning. Humiliating him in front of the elite of New York was only a small step. I want him off of my island. It was sweet, at first, that he was trying so hard to gain my affections, but the moment that he resorted to sabotaging my actual relationship he crossed the line and he needs to be told who he's dealing with."

Chuck nodded in agreement, remembering his words to Marcus a little over a week ago that Blair would destroy him if he crossed her. It's such a shame that people can't seem to take a warning seriously. Now it was time for Marcus to pay the price. "And how do you plan to do this?" Chuck asked as he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.

"That's what I need you for. I know you've been digging into him and I assume that you haven't found anything yet?" Blair asked sweetly.

"I haven't, but only because I wasn't putting my full resources on it. I admit, I slacked off a bit when the 'guests' started appearing," Chuck explained as he pursed his lips, "But you can rest assured that I'll have my P.I. right back on it accordingly. I have to ask though: How did you figure out that it was Marcus?"

Blair sighed softly before she began to explain, "It was during this conversation he and I had at the party before I went upstairs. He mentioned the flight attendant and I knew for a fact that she wasn't mentioned to Gossip Girl and Nate and Serena wouldn't tell him something like that. So I drew the only logical conclusion left."

Chuck couldn't stop himself from placing a gentle kiss on her temple as he smiled at her, "I love you. And I want to thank you."

Blair frowned in confusion, "For what?"

"For believing in me and in us when those rumors came out. For defending me to both Serena and Marcus and taking it all in stride," Chuck spoke softly, "I can only imagine the kind of feelings it brought out of you from your time with Nate, but I appreciate your faith in me."

Blair smiled in response as she spoke back, "I have faith in you because I love you too. When I would just stop and think about it, it was obvious. You've never lied to me or have done anything to make me not trust you and I'd like to think I've done the same." Chuck nodded in agreement as Blair finished, "With odds like that, how could I question you?"

Chuck smiled feeling his hear t soar at Blair's words of trust. She was the only one that truly knew everything about him and the fact that she still trusted him to make her happy and be completely faithful was an experience he, unfortunately, had never felt before. He felt those pesky butterflies run amok inside him as a result.

As he kissed her lips in thanks he wasn't only granted a brief amount of time to which he frowned at her. Blair simply shook her head and smirked, "I distinctly remember you saying that you were going to work to earn your way back in, Bass. You didn't think that I would be that easy did you? I ended up figuring out our nemesis long before you told me in a matter of minutes of talking to them."

Chuck simply smirked back at her before he nodded in agreement of her assessment of his lack of working to achieve his goal. He slowly leaned towards her as if to kiss her again, pausing just before he reached her lip and whispered, "I'm definitely going to be having some fun earning my place back in…side you, Waldorf."

Blair smiled back at him, "I'm sure I'll be having a bit of fun of my own, Bass. Let the games begin."

Chuck couldn't help but think what his life would be like if he and Blair weren't together. The image that came to his mind that night as he lay beside her was not a pleasant one. He'd most likely be going from girl to girl watching Blair from afar as she lived her life. She'd most likely be with either Nate or Marcus pretending that she was happy and that things weren't missing. He'd be missing out on being in love and happy with his best friend and so would she and the thought pained him. He wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not even Marcus.

Love may fade with the season, but some friendships are year-round.

Like you and me.

You know you love me.

X.O.X.O,

Gossip Girl

A/N: I'm back! What did you think of the chapter? A lot of you have reviewed and most of you agreed with wanting the longer chapters and I have given it to you! There were a lot of changes in this chapter in comparison to the show, but I hope you love it as much as I do. Serena and Dan have broken up and Chair are plotting to get rid of Marcus for good and Nate's stuck selling his body for money…his very hot body…*shakes my head* Several of you wanted Marcus to be a bit darker than he was in the show and I already planned for that so I hope that I was able to portray that. I enjoyed writing the scene with Blair and Catherine along with Blair and Marcus at the end and I hope it shows!

To all of my USA people, Happy Thanksgiving this week! The thing that I am most thankful for other than my mama and a roof over my head is the fact that I have such awesome readers who encourage me to keep writing. I love you all! I decided to dedicate this chapter to the survivors of the Typhoon in the Philippines, know that you are all in my prayers and I hope that things only get better from here on out.

I'll see you guys next month with the Ex-files! Chair schemes will be in abundance and I'm so excited to write out the chapter finally! I love you all and have a great holiday season and I hope that if you should hear Eartha kitt's 'Santa baby' or you're drinking a glass of egg nog you'll think of me! I love that song and egg nog is the best part of the season besides gifts!

Love you all!

-Plei4fun