Chapter Six
He was in Brooklyn when he got the call.
Jenny was on a rare visit to Brooklyn, and he thought to just hang out with her and Dan, and to catch up with some studying at the same time. They were barely half an hour into their reunion when his cell phone rang.
It was his Mom, and the only time that she sounded like that – so frantic and afraid – was when Serena got into that car accident. So, he had immediately expected the worst – it was Serena again, or Rufus … or …
"Chuck?" he said out loud in shock.
Jenny looked up from the Vogue magazine she was leafing through. He could see the curiosity, tempered with caution, in her gaze.
He allowed his mother to ramble on. The longer she spoke, the deeper his shock. He was already stunned at "he's in the hospital", but to hear "critical condition", and "gunshot wound" in the same sentence was too much.
"Mom. I'll meet you there right now," he said breathlessly.
He shut the phone off and hastily threw his books into his bag. Jenny looked worried now.
"Eric. Is everything okay?" she asked in a quiet voice. Obviously, nothing was.
He shook his head. "It's Chuck," he said shortly. He didn't want to elaborate further, especially since his name was still anathema in this part of town, especially in this loft. Jenny was still mixed up about it; sometimes hating Chuck, sometimes pitying him, and most of the time hating herself for what happened.
And Dan …
Dan let out a loud snort.
"It figures," he muttered as his fingers with clickaty-clack on the keyboard of his laptop.
Despite all that he knew – what Jenny had gone through with Chuck, why Dan – being her brother and all – now hated Chuck's guts with a passion – he felt anger bubble up from within him.
"What do you mean by that?" his voice sounded unnaturally sharp in his ears. Even Jenny looked surprised.
Dan, however, didn't seem to notice.
"It's some Chuck drama that you have to attend to, isn't it? What is it this time? Chuck got into it with some girl and Blair Waldorf exploded?"
"Dan –" Jenny said in warning.
"Or maybe an old flame poured oil on one of his expensive suits and lit it on fire? Ooh, that's an emergency," Dan chuckled, his eyes still on the screen.
"Dan!" Jenny yelled this time, desperate.
Surprised, he looked up from his laptop. It was then that he realised that he had perhaps gone too far – Jenny had gone pale, and Eric glared at him with barely contained anger.
"Something … wrong?" he said hesitatingly.
Eric let out a small, bitter laugh. "If you must know, Chuck is in the ICU in critical condition. And I'm going to join Serena and mom there now."
"Eric –" Jenny reached out for him, but conflicted, he shrugged it away and gave Dan a flat look.
"Look, I know why you hate him. I get it. But he's still my brother," he said through clenched teeth.
With that, he left, slamming the door behind him. He heard Jenny calling out after him, but right now his mind was on Chuck, and that he was perhaps inches away from death.
GG – GG – GG
Lily's expression didn't change. Those who didn't know her well would accuse her of being cold and uncaring, but in truth, she was far too stunned to react to the doctor's words.
He was shot. Four months ago. She blinked.
And his condition now is a complication of his gunshot injury. She gripped Rufus' cold hand.
Liver abscesses were rare, but they do occur in wounds like his. The option now was to drain the abscess, but because of his relatively unstable condition, it would be fraught with risks. The other option was to treat him with strong antibiotics first and hope that it would rid him of the infection, or at the very least, stabilise him enough for them to attempt the surgery.
Lily listened to all this without a flicker of emotion on her face. But inside, she was riddled with fear and anxiety.
Gunshot. Bullet wound. Liver damage.
The words bounced around in her head.
How could she not know? Why did he keep this from them? Charles had always been private, but surely he knew that he could turn to them for help? And, as his family, why didn't we realise that something was wrong?
What kind of a mother am I?
"We managed to lower his fever from 105 to 104, but his condition remains critical. I'm afraid that you may have to decide soon – whether to go ahead with the surgery … or wait."
Lily blinked.
The doctor frowned. "Mrs Humphrey?"
Rufus gripped her hand and leaned forward. "What are the risks if we go ahead with the surgery?"
"Waiting for the antibiotics to take effect is a gamble at best. Judging from his condition, the infection appears advanced, and if we do not go ahead with the surgery to drain the abscess as soon as we can … we're looking at sepsis and multi-organ failure."
Lily gripped Rufus' hand so hard that he flinched.
She finally managed to gather herself.
"What … what do you recommend, Dr Harding?"
"I would recommend the surgery," he said without hesitation.
She nodded slowly. "Will he … is it dangerous?"
"I won't lie to you, Mrs Humphrey. Your stepson is very weak right now, and many things could go wrong in a surgery as delicate as this one. But the surgeon, Dr Patel, is the best in his field and I have every confidence that he'll be able to help him."
"But … there's still a risk?"
"Mrs Humphrey – "
"Please … I need to know everything if I have to make this decision," Lily's voice wavered. Charles' life was literally in her hands. Never in her wildest imagination did she think she'd ever be in this position.
Dr Harding paused for a moment, then nodded grimly. "His heart could fail; it is overtaxed already by the fever and the stress of surgery could make it worse. His blood pressure is also all over the place … it is not the best time to perform a surgery, I admit, but Mr Bass is young, in good health, and without previous history of serious illnesses. That will be on his side during the surgery."
This was too much for her to take in.
She lost control then and allowed her tears to fall and ruin her make-up and wondered what Bart would do in a situation like this. She came up with a blank; the most Bart had done for Charles, if he had ever gotten into trouble, was to dispatch his team of lawyers. Charles – in the time that she got to know him – never got sick, and Bart didn't seem to show any concern for his wild ways. So, it was up to her to make the decision somehow.
But Rufus, ever-reliable Rufus, pulled her to him and kissed her forehead.
"It's going to be okay."
She nodded feebly.
And she made her decision.
GG – GG – GG
Eric arrived just when Chuck was being readied for the operating theater.
Chuck was in his room surrounded by orderlies who already placed him in a gurney. Eric saw his mother bend over the still, white figure on the gurney, and kiss him on the forehead. He didn't recognise the man on the bed; he looked like a mannequin, or a slab of marble – he just wasn't Chuck.
He stared at the needles sticking out his hand … and then at the bags of liquid that hung above his bed. And noticed how Chuck's hair, and the red, blue wires of the monitoring devices around him made such stark contrasts against his alabaster skin. He didn't look real. None of this was real. Eric shook his head in disbelief. He just spoke to him yesterday. Chuck was obviously under the weather, but he had thought that he was weathering a hangover. He had seen it more times than he cared.
He had actually felt bad about what happened months ago, and a little guilty for the events of that night. If he hadn't told Dan when he did, Dan wouldn't have caused Chuck to fall out so spectacularly with Blair and Chuck wouldn't have run off to Europe, fell off the face of the Earth for months, only to return to New York so … strange.
Strange was an inadequate way to describe the current Chuck. He may have the same sarcasm and bitterness that defined him, but he was listless and that word was never used describe the man ever. Chuck was always doing something – going around about town striking a deal or another, or scheming with Blair to take down some upstart socialite or two – but this Chuck preferred to stay away from society and spent most of his time holed up in his penthouse at the Palace. And The Empire? Word has it that he was planning to sell it soon.
His Mom noticed it, of course, and planned a series of galas and parties because she thought Chuck would like them. It was sweet of her, but Eric could see Chuck was only tolerating them for her.
So, he felt it was his job to coax Chuck out of his shell, and maybe find out what the hell was wrong with him.
Yesterday, Chuck actually responded to his efforts for once. They spent an hour just talking about school and the new mean girls trying to take over Jenny's reign, and about the new guy he was seeing. Chuck even teased him once or twice, and appeared interested in what he was saying, even if his eyes betrayed his exhaustion.
He should've known that he was sick.
Why didn't he tell him that he had been shot?
He felt a hand on his shoulder and knew, from the whiff of distinctive perfume, that it was Serena.
"Hey," she said softly.
But he couldn't tear his eyes away. When they wheeled Chuck out of the room, he saw, up close, just how bad Chuck looked and went cold.
"Is he going to die?" he whispered when they were finally out of the room.
"Oh, Eric," his Mom appeared by his side and just hugged him. He could see that she didn't know the answer to that either, and that scared the hell out of him.
GG – GG – GG
NOTES: I know, I know. Some of you may be wondering. Where the hell is the C/B already?
But I promise you, there will be another update tomorrow, and it will have CB.
Chapter 7 was a tough one to write, because it involves a difficult C/B scene, and their dynamic is one of the most difficult to write in all fandom, not just Gossip Girl, if you tell me. It also involves another complicated argument between another couple, and boy … all I can say is the next chapter is full of fights, LOL. Hope you enjoy that one.
To answer ggxoxo who said, in his/her review of Chapter 5, "its stupid that you excited us whith an update and then almost the whole thing was a flashback of something we already know happened."
A: Perhaps the word you're searching for is redundant, and yeah, I can understand your point of view. (Though using the word "stupid" is a tad indelicate IMHO.) I did wonder whether I should include the flashback as I already described it in such detail before in an earlier chapter. Originally, I only started the flashback with Serena handing him the pills, but in the end I couldn't resist fleshing it out with more details – especially to include how Serena acted towards Chuck before she found out about the shooting. So, yeah, it's a little redundant, but my intent was to show the interaction between the two, how Serena was hostile in the beginning and how she came to be more sympathetic to Chuck's plight. And, of course, how can I resist adding the "Your first blackmail" line? :)
Annablake – I'd have to say that my Serena is the ideal Serena in my head which I have a big feeling doesn't exist in such a (cough) pure form in the show :) Personally, I don't know how Serena will react if she ever did find out about the whole "selling Blair for the Empire" thing. I have a strong feeling that show Serena will never forgive Chuck. But hey, this is my fanfic so … my rules. ;)
Thanks guys, and just wait a little longer until I edit and polish up the next chapter. :)