I hope this chapter is realistic and Jack doesn't seem too crazy and out of character. Please tell me what you really think, I won't be offended.
Chuck sighed in relief as his son laid contently in the baby bath, kicking his legs happily. He kept one hand under Alexander's back and glanced over at Blair, who was sitting on the edge of the bath tub with a handful of documents from the Jack Bass folder. "Well at least he likes something," Chuck commented, watching the baby wriggle around in the water, cooing happily.
She looked up and couldn't help but smile at the sight of Chuck Bass with messy hair, wearing a wrinkled shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of casual trousers. She set the papers aside and made her way over to where he was standing at the bathroom sink, which the baby bath was set on. "You know Bass," she started, leaning over to brush Alexander's wet hair from his forehead, "The casual Daddy look suits you."
"Really?" he asked with a pleased smirk.
"Yeah," Blair insisted. "It's actually kind of sexy." She nudged him playfully.
"Maybe we should of had a baby earlier then," he teased with a wink.
"Ha," she replied sarcastically, giving him a look before looking back down at the baby, "You like baths, don't you baby?"
"I almost don't want to take him out of here," Chuck commented. "He's like a completely different baby in the bath."
"He loves the water," she observed with a smile. She suddenly had an idea, "Once this mess with Jack is sorted out, we should take Alex to the Hamptons for a week or so. Seeing that he likes the water, he would probably love the beach there."
"It would be nice to get out of the city for a bit," he agreed. "We could go early next month and be there for the fourth of July."
Blair immediately started rambling excitedly, "Oh and maybe Serena and Nate could come t-" She stopped when she realized what she had said. "Oh."
Chuck gave her a sympathetic look, "It's weird isn't it? Serena and Nate not being together."
"It's going to take a bit of getting used to," she nodded. She glanced back down to the baby, "I think we should get him dressed, he's starting to fall asleep."
"Yet another perk of bathtime," he pointed out with a grin, as he lifted Alexander out of the water carefully. He cringed when he felt the water drip onto his shirt, "And there goes a $300 shirt."
"It's just water," Blair told him, shaking her head as she wrapped a towel around her son and took him into her arms. After a moment, little Alex realized that he was cold and began screaming his head off. She sighed as she made her way into their bedroom, calling out, "Maybe we should of kept him in the bath." Chuck picked up the pile of documents Blair had been looking at and followed her into their bedroom, flipping through the papers curiously. One of the papers suddenly caught his eye and he paused to read it. "Chuck, can you help me?" Blair requested as she tried to calm down Alexander. When he didn't answer she repeated louder, "Chuck!"
He jumped, glancing up at her, "Sorry, it's just this document..."
"What is it?" she asked curiously, bouncing her son in her arms. Thankfully, he started to calm down.
"Jack has a daughter," Chuck said simply, a look of surprise on his face.
Blair's expression quickly matched her fiancée's, "You've got to be kidding."
"I wish I was," he commented, gesturing down to the paper in his hands. "All the details are right here. She's ten years old and lives with her mother in Brooklyn. Surprisingly, he pays child support to this woman every month, and quite a lot too."
She rolled her eyes, "Let me guess, the mother is some prostitute that he got pregnant?"
"I don't think so," he replied, continuing to read through the document. "It says here that she's a teacher. So unless that's something she does on the side..."
"Then Jack must have had a legitimate girlfriend who he got pregnant," Blair finished, setting her now silent baby down on their bed. She picked up the diaper she had set out before and began to put it on her son.
"I don't believe this, why don't I know about her?" Chuck asked.
"Well it looks like he's been trying to keep her a secret," she replied. She glanced over at him, "Chuck, this is just what we've been looking for."
"What do you mean?"
"We can use this as blackmail," she explained, beginning to dress Alex. "He's obviously paying this woman a lot of money to keep the fact that she's raising his child quiet. I doubt he would want us telling the world about it."
He nodded slowly, before finally being brought back to reality, "I'm sorry, do you need help with the baby?"
"It's alright, I've got it," Blair said, as she finished buttoning up the light blue onesie. She picked Alexander up and handed him to Chuck. "Can I see the papers?" she requested, holding out her hand. Chuck handed them to her, before turning his attention to his son. "Hmm," she murmered after a moment.
"What is it?"
"Well according to these papers, the mother's married to another man now and he's adopted her daughter," Blair explained. She gave him a small smile, "Her name is Stephanie by the way."
"That doesn't really mean anything to me, I don't even know her," Chuck pointed out.
She shrugged, "Technically she's still your cousin. Aren't you just a bit curious about her?"
"I don't know," he started, glancing down at Alexander. Obviously, this little girl was related to him too. This was pretty significant considering they didn't have many blood relatives.
"So are we going to use this as blackmail?" Blair asked, not sure if he still wanted to go through with it.
"Of course, you can't get much better than a secret, illegitimate child," he replied.
"Okay then. Did you find out where Jack's staying?"
"Yeah, at a hotel across town," Chuck replied.
"So we'll go see him tomorrow, tell him what we know and what he has to do in exchange for our silence," Blair said. "We'll get him to make a statement about how he made the whole sexual harrassment thing up and everything will go back to normal."
"What if he doesn't care that we know?" he asked skeptically.
She stepped towards him, wrapping her arm around his waist, "Then we'll figure something else out. It's going to be okay Chuck."
"I hope so," he replied.
Blair held Alex to her chest, not wanting to let go of him. She suddenly felt a hand on her back and glanced up to see Chuck standing beside her, "Blair, it's time to go."
She pouted, glancing back to her baby son, "I'm going to miss him so much."
He just gave her a sympathetic look. He was used to this by now. Blair always had trouble letting go on the few occasions that they had left Alexander with a family member or friend. They were leaving the baby with Dorota this time while they went to see Jack. They were currently standing in Dorota and Vanya's living room and Chuck was patiently waiting for Blair to be ready to leave. "Maybe you should stay here," he suggested, seeing how reluctant she was to leave their son.
She shook her head, "I'm not letting you go there alone."
"I can take care of myself Blair," he insisted.
"I know, but I'll still be worried about you if I don't go," she told him as Dorota re-emerged from one of the bedrooms with Anastasia in tow.
"Don't worry Miss Blair," Dorota started with an understanding smile. "I take good care of Mr Alexander."
"I know you will," Blair nodded, giving the baby one last kiss on the forehead before setting him down in the stroller and buckling him in.
"You're leaving?" Anastasia pouted disappointedly.
"I'm afraid so honey," she replied. "But you get to go to the park with your Mommy and Alex."
"But I want you and Chuck to come," the four-year-old persisted, grabbing onto Chuck's trousers.
He glanced down in amusement, "Maybe another time Anastasia. Blair and I have to go see someone."
"Okay," she replied defeatedly.
"Be careful with Mr Jack," Dorota warned them. "I hear bad things about that man."
Blair nodded, "Don't worry, we've got something planned." She glanced down at Alexander sadly, "Okay baby, Mommy and Daddy have to go now, but we'll be back." She kissed him on the cheek, "We love you."
"See you kiddo," Chuck said, kissing the baby on the forehead. "Be good for Dorota okay?" He glanced over at Blair, "Are you ready?"
She nodded, "Let's get this over with."
As the elevator ascended to the 18th floor of the hotel Jack was staying at, Blair felt extremely uneasy. Something didn't feel right about this situation and she couldn't work out what. She shrugged it off, figuring that she was just experiencing a little separation anxiety from being away from the baby. Chuck sensed that she was feeling apprehensive and suggested, "Why don't you wait in the hallway? I'll go in and see Jack."
She turned her head towards him abruptly, "Absolutely not. Who knows who else he has in there, you need back-up."
"This isn't a raid Blair, we're just going to talk," he told her.
Blair shook her head, "It doesn't matter, you're not going in there on your own." As the elevator doors opened onto the 18th floor, Chuck gave up on trying to convince her to wait outside and they began to make their way to room 1826.
They eventually found the room and paused in front of the door. "You ready?" Chuck asked, raising his hand to knock on the door. She nodded, gesturing for him to do it. He knocked three times, before withdrawing his hand back. After a moment, they exchanged confused looks. He knocked again, this time five times. Once again, the door remained closed.
"Maybe he's out?" Blair suggested with a shrug.
"Mmm," he murmered, scratching his head. "That's what's worrying me. If he's out, what the hell is he up to?" She didn't answer. They were standing there, wondering what to do next when Blair's cellphone began to ring.
She checked the caller ID. Realising that it was Dorota, she began to panic. Somehow, she knew that something was terribly wrong. "Hello?" she answered the phone shakily.
"M-M Miss, B-B Blair," Dorota stammered through anxious sobs.
"Dorota what is it?" she asked in alarm, her heart starting to beat faster.
"I-it's Mr A-Alex," she started to explain with a sob.
Blair immediately tensed up and Chuck looked to her worriedly. "W-what about Alex?" she demanded, raising her voice as she started to panic.
"What's going on?" Chuck exclaimed, his eyes wide in concern. Noticing that Blair's hand was shaking, he grabbed the phone from her and demanded, "Dorota, tell me what happened!"
"I-I'm so s-sorry Mr Chuck," she sobbed. "We were at p-park. I turn away for second to c-catch Anastasia. Sh-she was running away. I look back and h-he was gone!"
"Oh my God," he commented, his free hand clenching in anger and frustration. He had actually done it. Jack had taken their baby. Chuck didn't think he would ever stoop that low, but apparently he wasn't as humane as he had thought. He hung up the phone. He felt bad for leaving Dorota hanging, but he had to find his son before Jack did anything to him. He immediately stormed off towards the elevator, before realizing that Blair wasn't behind him. He looked back to see that she was still standing where he had left her, frozen in shock.
He rushed back over to her, grabbing her by the hand. "We have to go Blair," he said sympathetically, attempting to drag her towards the elevator as gently as possible. However, she stayed put. "We've got to get to Alex before Jack can do anything to him."
"I knew it," she said simply, shaking her head. "I didn't feel right leaving Alex today."
"What?" Chuck asked impatiently, wanting to get out of there as fast as they could.
"It was my maternal instincts trying to warn me and I didn't listen," Blair ellaborated, her eyes filling with tears. "This is all my fault."
"This is not your fault," he said strongly. "You've done nothing wrong. But we really don't have time to do this right now. We need to get out of here and find our son." He tugged on her arm impatiently and she eventually allowed him to lead her to the elevator.
Once they were in the elevator, Chuck took out his cellphone to call Jack. It took him a couple of times to select the right number, since his hands were shaking so much. He immediately tensed up when he heard his uncle's voice, "Why hello little nephew, I was wondering when I'd hear from you."
"Where is he?" he demanded.
"You'll have to be a little more specific-"
"Where's my son Jack?" Chuck exclaimed, hitting the side of the elevator with his palm angrily. Blair jumped in surprise, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Now now, there's no need for that," Jack chuckled. "Alexander and myself are just getting to know each other a little better. I thought it was about time I spent some quality time with my new nephew-"
"Cut the crap!" he interjected. "What's it going to take for you to give him back safe and sound?"
"Well that's simple," he replied, his tone becoming darker. "I want the hotel Chuck."
"What the hell do you want with my hotel?"
He paused. "It's the principle of it. You took what was rightfully mine, Bass Industries, so now I get to take what's yours. I either take the hotel, or your son, it's your choice."
"You're out of your fucking mind," Chuck grumbled. "Do you realize that this is kidnapping? I could have you arrested!"
"You have to make a choice Charles," Jack replied, completely ignoring what he had just said. "Meet me in Central Park by the lake in an hour." He paused, "Oh, and don't involve the police." And with that he hung up.
"Damn it!" he exclaimed, shutting the phone angrily, before turning back to Blair, who looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. "Are you okay?" he managed to get out, finding that he was a little short of breath.
"We're doing what he wants Chuck," she replied shakily. "We're giving him the hotel."
"I'm hoping it won't even come to that," he said, dialling 911 on his phone. "I'm calling the police."
"But Jack said-"
"I don't give a damn what Jack said," he retorted a little too harshly. "This is a criminal offence Blair, we need to involve the police."
"This is about your precious hotel isn't it?" Blair exclaimed, suddenly becoming extremely angry. "You're putting a god damn building before our child!"
He looked at her in disbelief, "I'm doing everything I can to get Alex back."
"Except the one thing that would guarantee his safety," she snapped back, leaning against the wall of the elevator with a frustrated sigh.
Chuck shook his head as he put the phone to his ear. They really didn't have time to argue right now. There was no way he was letting Jack get away with this.
"Where is he?" Blair exclaimed anxiously, as she paced back and forth along the footpath. They had arrived at the lake in Central Park around ten minutes ago and Jack still hadn't shown up. They had picked up the documents for the Empire on the way there but Chuck was hoping that they wouldn't have to use them. It wasn't that he thought the hotel was more important than their baby, he just didn't want to let Jack succeed in his plan. But of course if it came down to the hotel or Alex's safety, he was going to hand over the hotel, no questions asked.
"He'll be here," he replied monotonously, staring at the ground. They waited for another ten minutes until Jack finally showed up. However, there was no sign of Alexander.
"Where's my baby?" Blair demanded, storming towards him. She had to control herself from attacking him there and then.
He shook his head, "You have to follow through with your half of the deal first."
"Let me see him," she demanded, her teeth clenched in anger.
"Let her see the baby!" Chuck repeated. "This isn't a game Jack! He is our son, a human being."
"Do you really think I care about your pathetic offspring?" he chuckled with an evil grin. "I don't want him. He's just a prop that's going to help me get the hotel."
"I don't believe that," Blair spoke up suddenly. The two men looked to her in confusion.
"What?" Jack asked.
"You can't say that you don't care," she started, glaring at him. "Like it or not, both Chuck and Alex are your family. I think you care about them more than you let on."
He scoffed, "That's ridiculous."
"Is it?" she challenged him. "If you didn't care about either of them you would have hurt the baby by now, because you know it would have hurt us. But you didn't."
"Don't even bother Blair, this thing isn't the slightest bit human," Chuck said bitterly.
"We know about Stephanie," Blair revealed suddenly.
Jack glanced up at her in surprise, before attempting to cover it up with a glare. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I highly doubt that the fact that you have a daughter would slip your mind."
"She's not my daughter," he said bitterly.
"Give it up Jack, we know that she's yours," Chuck said, starting to become even more impatient.
"Maybe biologically," he shrugged. "I just pay child support. She has a real father and that's definitely not me."
"Just let us see Alexander, then I promise I'll give you the hotel," Chuck proposed, realizing that this was getting them nowhere. "Until he's right here in front of me, there's no way I'm signing the papers."
Jack paused, thinking for a moment before nodding. "Fine," he said, getting out his phone. He quickly called someone, ordering them to bring the baby over. A few tense minutes later, a tall, large man who was obviously a body guard of some sort approached them with Alex in his arms. Blair breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her son, before attempting to rush towards him. However, Jack stopped her by grabbing her by the arm, "Not so fast, we had a deal."
"Get your hands off of her," Chuck demanded, pulling her back towards him and out of his uncle's grasp.
He let out a sharp breath. "Here's how this is going to work," Jack started. "You're going to sign the papers and hand them over, then you'll get the baby back."
"No," Blair replied. "You're going to hand over the baby, then you'll get your precious papers."
"Or I could leave right now and take him with me," he threatened. "It's up to you."
Blair and Chuck looked to each other and she gave him a slight nod. "Fine," he gave in, pulling the document out of the large envelope he was carrying. He took out a pen and signed his name on the line at the bottom of one of the papers. Blair looked on, anxious to have her baby back in her arms. When he finished, Chuck cleared his throat and held the envelope out towards his uncle. Jack glanced at him, before gesturing for his body guard to bring Alexander closer. He took the envelope with a snide smirk. "The baby Jack," Chuck demanded.
"Of course," he replied, nodding towards the large man beside him, who stepped forward and handed Alex to Chuck.
As soon as he had his son in his arms, he breathed a sigh of relief and backed away towards Blair. She immediately took the baby from him, hugging Alexander to her chest tightly while planting kisses on the top of his head.
"Pleasure doing business with you Chuck," Jack taunted.
A smirk slowly appeared on his nephew's face. "Oh believe me, the pleasure's all mine," he retorted.
His uncle looked at him in confusion for a moment, before suddenly realizing that about a dozen seemingly innocent bystanders around him had their guns pointed at him. "What?" Jack muttered, glancing around in disbelief.
"You didn't think we would come here without the police to back us up did you?" Blair asked with a confident grin.
"Jack Bass," one of the police officers started, approaching him with the gun still pointed at him. "You're under arrest for kidnapping."
Chuck put his arm around Blair protectively as they watched the police arrest his uncle and the other man, putting them both into handcuffs.
Blair shifted uncomfortably in the chair at the police station. She and Chuck had to come down there to answer some of the police's questions so Jack could be offically charged with kidnapping. Chuck was still in one of the office's speaking with one of the officers. He had been in there for about an hour and Blair was starting to get anxious, wanting to go home as soon as possible and forget that all of this ever happened. She rubbed Alexander's back comfortingly as he started fussing. "It's okay sweetie, we'll go home soon," she murmered to him. She knew that he was probably exhausted, which was another reason why she wanted to go home.
One of the police officers suddenly approached her and asked, "Is there anything I can get for you Mrs Bass?"
Blair blinked in confusion, realizing that the officer must have assumed that she and Chuck were already married. She shook her head, "Oh, we're not-" she paused, deciding that it wasn't that important. "I'm fine, but thank you," she finished with a small smile. It was actually kind of nice to be called Mrs Bass and she couldn't wait until people would be able to call her that officially.
"Your husband should be out soon," he told her, before walking off and leaving her alone once more. Blair smiled at the word 'husband'. She and Chuck really needed to hurry up with the wedding plans so they could actually be husband and wife for real.
"Blair," someone called out behind her.
She looked up to see her mother rushing over to her. She had completely forgotten that she had called Eleanor not too long ago. "Hi Mom," she greeted her casually.
Eleanor looked alarmed as she approached her daughter, eyeing her grandson worriedly. "Is he alright?" she asked, taking Alexander from his mother's arms and into her own.
"He's fine," Blair nodded. "Jack didn't want to hurt him, he just wanted Chuck to give him the hotel."
"Oh my poor baby," she said, hugging Alex tightly. "I swear if I ever get my hands on that man..." she started, narrowing her eyes angrily.
"Hopefully justice will be served and he'll get what he deserves," she replied, standing up from the unbearably uncomfortable seat. Both women glanced up as the door of one of the office's opened and Chuck and two police officer's stepped out.
"Hey," Chuck greeted them softly.
"What happened?" Blair asked.
"Jack Bass has been charged with kidnapping," one of the police officers answered her. "He will definitely be going to prison, but we won't know how long for until he's sentenced in court next week."
"That's good," she nodded, glancing at Chuck happily.
"I hope they put him away for life," Eleanor commented bitterly, as she held onto the baby protectively.
The other police officer chuckled, "I'm afraid it won't be for life, but it will be at least a two-year sentence."
"What about the sexual harrassment case that Jack made up?" Blair asked.
"We're getting a court order that will force him to make a statement about it," the police officer explained. "He'll have to admit that he set the whole thing up."
She breathed a sigh of relief, "So it's all over?"
"Yes," he answered with a nod.
"So that's all?" Chuck asked. "We can go home?"
The man nodded, "Of course."
"Thank you for all your help today," he said, extending his hand towards him.
"We really appreciate it," Blair added gratefully.
"No problem," the police officer replied, shaking Chuck's hand.
"Come on dear," Eleanor said to Blair. "Let's get Alexander home, he's had a traumatic day."
She nodded, grabbing Chuck's hand as they followed Eleanor out of the police station.
"I just don't believe that Jack would go this far," Lily commented, shaking her head from her seat next to Eleanor on the couch in the Empire penthouse. She had heard what had happened and she and Serena had immediately rushed over to Chuck and Blair's place to see if they were all okay.
"Tell me about it," Blair agreed softly.
"Well it could have been worse," Serena offered with a small smile. "At least Alex is home safe and sound."
"Thank God," Chuck commented, shaking his head. "If anything had happened to him-"
"Don't even think about it Chuck," Eleanor cut him off. "Alex is okay and that's all that matters."
"Thanks to his extremely smart Daddy," Blair smiled, rubbing Chuck's back comfortingly. "I have to admit, the undercover police thing was good."
He smiled, "I just did what I had to, that's all."
"You called Dorota didn't you?" Blair asked her mother. "She was so worried."
"I did," Eleanor nodded. "She was very relieved to say the least."
"Poor Dorota," Serena commented sadly. "She must feel so guilty."
"I can't believe that Jack just took the baby when she wasn't looking," Chuck said, shaking his head.
"Where is Alex anyway?" Lily asked.
"He's asleep," Blair replied. "He's completely worn out, the poor thing."
"Well on the plus side, you might actually get a good night's sleep tonight," Serena pointed out.
Chuck shook his head, "I don't even care anymore. He could wake up a hundred times tonight, I'm just glad to have him back."
"Me too," Blair agreed. "I'm never complaining about the lack of sleep again."
"How about we leave you two alone?" Lily announced, standing up from the couch and gesturing for Serena to do the same. "I'm sure you want to want to be alone after a day like today."
Eleanor also stood up from her seat, but glanced at her daughter worriedly. She looked very reluctant to leave. "Are you both going to be okay?" she asked.
They nodded. "We'll be fine," Blair assured her.
"I'll see you later you guys," Serena said with a small smile. Blair noticed how upset her friend looked. She was obviously still hurting about the break-up with Nate. She would have to have a talk with Serena eventually.
When everyone had finally left, Blair rested her head on Chuck's shoulder with a sigh. "Are you okay?" he murmered.
She nodded, before asking cautiously, "Are we okay?"
"What do you mean?"
She lifted her head off his shoulder and looked at him, "Well I basically implied that you thought the hotel was more important than Alex." She paused and he sighed. "You know I didn't mean it Chuck, I was scared and wasn't thinking clearly."
"I know," Chuck nodded.
"Do you?" Blair asked worriedly.
"Yes Blair," he insisted, kissing her gently.
As the kiss ended, she slowly opened her eyes and said, "I love you."
"I love you too," he replied softly. They sat quietly for a moment.
"Bass?"
"Waldorf?" Chuck retorted immediately, maintaining eye contact with her..
She smiled at him, "I think it's time we started planning our wedding." He gave her a surprised look. "What?" she asked worriedly. "Have you changed your mind about getting married?"
"Of course not," he assured her, rubbing her shoulder. "I just didn't expect you to be ready so soon."
Blair eyed him worriedly, "Is it too soon?"
"No," he insisted, taking her hand. "Well not for me anyway. But if you're having second thoughts then we can wait-"
"No way," she interjected. "I want to be Mrs Bass as soon as possible."
"Mrs Bass," Chuck repeated with a smile. "I like the sound of that."
She returned the smile, leaning in to give him another kiss. She broke off the kiss, pausing for a moment. "What do you think about a Spring wedding? I'm thinking early April."
"April? That's ten months away," he pointed out.
"Well we need time to plan," Blair explained.
"But ten months?" he asked. "What about January?"
"Are you kidding? It will be freezing," she replied.
"February then?"
"That's still winter."
"Blair," Chuck started. "Does it really matter what season it is? I just want to be married to you."
She gave him a small smile and gave in, "I guess February would be okay. But late February...the 28th to be exact."
"Of course you suggest the last day of February," he chuckled.
"Hey, you're going to be in a suit," Blair said. "I'm the one that's going to be freezing in my wedding gown."
"April then?" he gave in, realizing that it was probably the more sensible choice weather-wise.
She grinned triumphantly, "It's settled, we're getting married in April."
So Jack's going to prison! :D That's where he belongs in my opinion. By the way, I hope the wedding talk at the end wasn't too random. I thought it was about time Chuck and Blair started talking about their wedding since they've been engaged for a while. Don't forget to review.