Here's the next chapter. I know it's been a while since I've updated but I just couldn't get this chapter right. Hopefully everything makes sense considering that I've re-written and added to it so many times over the last few weeks. I think this is going to be the last chapter before I start really focusing on the wedding. There's a few more things I still want to cover in the next chapter, but then it's going to be all about the wedding. I also have an idea for an epilogue in mind. To sum up, there will probably be a couple more chapters. It may take me a while due to my lack of inspiration (due to the crappiness of the show at the moment), but I'm determined to finish this story so bear with me :)
"And then she had the hide to tell me that their planning to get married the week before us!" Blair finished telling her mother with a frustrated sigh. She had spent the last ten minutes voicing her annoyance about Serena and Dan's wedding plans to Eleanor, despite the fact that she and Chuck were there for a meeting with their wedding planner, Rachel. The woman was sitting in an armchair across from the lounge that Blair and Eleanor sat on, clipboard in hand and looking concerned at how worked up Blair had gotten. Chuck was sitting in the other armchair, nodding or voicing his agreement every few minutes whenever Blair looked to him to confirm something she had said about Serena.
Eleanor appeared to be getting just as worked up about the whole situation as her daughter. "Well this is definitely not on Blair!" she exclaimed in annoyance. "Serena will have to reschedule her wedding, it's as simple as that."
"And how are we going to get her to do that?" Blair questioned her. "If I tell her to change her wedding date she'll just accuse me of being jealous of her or something."
"Jealous?" Chuck scoffed. "Of what, Dan Humphrey? Please."
"I wouldn't put it past Serena to make that kind of accusation," she responded.
"Um," Rachel interjected, clearing her throat, "We just have to discuss a few more minor details regarding the ceremony and the reception-"
"Don't worry sweetheart," Eleanor interrupted, patting Blair's knee reassuringly. "Don't you spend another minute worrying about this. Your mother will take care of everything."
"What are you going to do, kill her?" Chuck asked with a smirk.
She shrugged, "If that's what it takes to ensure that nothing ruins my daughter's wedding day then so be it."
Blair smiled, sometimes Eleanor wasn't so bad after all. She certainly wasn't Mother of the Year, but Blair knew that she could always count on her mother to stand up for her whenever she needed her. "Thank you Mom," she replied gratefully.
Rachel cleared her throat once more, but louder this time. "I'm really sorry to interrupt," she began, ""but if we don't finalize these details very soon there may not be a wedding-"
The wedding planner was cut off once more by the sound of a screaming Alexander being carried down the stairs by Dorota, who looked extremely distressed by the crying baby. "Is he still fussing?" Blair asked, hurrying over to meet the maid at the bottom of the stairs.
Dorota nodded as she handed the baby to his mother, "I try to calm him down but I think he want his mama." Blair bounced the crying baby gently in her arms as she made her way back into the living room, with Dorota following close behind.
"What's the matter with him?" Eleanor asked, looking to the baby in concern as Blair sat down beside her.
"He's teething," Chuck explained. "He's been like this for a couple of days now."
"Hence the dark circles under both of our eyes," Blair added, rubbing Alex's back soothingly as he continued to whimper. He had calmed down a little, but he was obviously still in pain. "He's been really clingy as well, which has made it even harder for me to leave him everyday to go to work."
"Have you tried freezing a wet washcloth and letting him chew on it?" Rachel suggested, momentarily abandoning her attempt at sorting out the wedding details.
She looked to the woman in alarm, "I'm not going to give my child something to chew on. He's not a dog."
"Well he does seem to like putting anything he can get his hands on in his mouth," Chuck pointed out.
Blair's eyes widened in alarm, "Not when I'm present. What other disgusting things do you let him do when I'm not around?"
"Well now that you mention it, I did take him to a strip club the other day," he started with a teasing smirk. "Might as well start him off early-"
"Oh, quiet you," she interjected with a glare. She then turned back to Dorota and relented, "Go freeze a washcloth."
"Yes Miss Blair," she nodded, before turning and hurrying off in the direction of the kitchen.
"You can also buy these things called teething rings," Rachel continued. "They work pretty much the same way as the washcloth, you freeze them then let the baby chew on them."
"Teething rings," Blair repeated, looking to Chuck. "Remember that Bass, we'll have to get some of those."
"Apparently we've got a wedding planner and baby expert all in one here," Eleanor commented, raising an eyebrow at the woman.
"My sister has two kids and I babysit them quite a bit," Rachel explained. "Anyway, back to the wedding. Have you discussed what flowers you want?"
"Peonies," Chuck responded immediately.
"Roses," Blair said at the same time. They looked to each other in confusion, having not been aware that they had conflicting views of what flowers they wanted.
"I'm sorry, but did you say roses?" he asked skeptically.
She nodded, continuing to rub Alex's back to calm him down. "What's wrong with roses?"
"Well nothing, I just thought that you would want peonies," Chuck replied.
"Roses are more elegant Chuck," Blair insisted, gesturing for Rachel to take note of this. "Red roses to be exact."
"But you love peonies," he objected.
"I also love the colour blue, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to be walking down the aisle in a blue wedding dress," she retorted. "We have to think about what's going to be more aesthetically pleasing."
"I agree," Eleanor interjected, causing the couple to look to her. "There's a lot riding on this wedding Charles. We have to meet the expectations of society. Plus, the wedding will no doubt get the attention of the media, who are going to have high expectations of the wedding as well."
Chuck shook his head, "Am I going to get any say in this wedding at all?"
Blair and Eleanor exchanged looks, before she turned to her fiancee with a forced smile, "Of course. We'll take all of your suggestions into consideration, won't we Rachel?"
"Sure," the wedding planner responded with a nod, even though deep down she knew that the groom wasn't going to have much say in this wedding.
"How thoughtful of you," he remarked dryly.
"Have you decided on a colour scheme?" Rachel asked, deliberately changing the subject before an argument could break out.
"The bridesmaid and maid of honor are going to be wearing beige so we should probably go with that," Blair responded.
"What about purple?" Chuck suggested.
"I don't think so," she shook her head immediately. He sighed in annoyance, thinking that he may as well not even be there if Blair was going to make all the decisions regarding their wedding.
"What time did you tell Nate to come over?" Blair asked as she and Chuck were getting ready for dinner later that night. She had decided to introduce Nate and Juliet to one another over dinner in hopes that they would hit it off. It had taken Blair a while to convince Nate that he needed to get back into proper dating again. He had been spending the last few months having casual flings with models, aspiring actresses and mindless bimbos (sometimes finding all three qualities in the same woman). Even though he would never admit it, it was pretty obvious that he had just been using these women to pass the time until he hoped to reconcile with Serena. However, now that Serena and Dan were engaged, Blair and Chuck had decided that it was time for them to force Nate back into the dating world, starting with Juliet.
"He should be arriving any minute now," Chuck responded as he did up his tie. He smiled at Alex who was sitting in his walker, happily chewing on a teething ring. He made a mental note to thank Rachel for her helpful suggestion.
"Oh good," she replied, exiting the closet completely ready for dinner. "Juliet's coming in around twenty minutes so that gives me time to fill Nate in about her."
"No offense but I don't think you're going to be very helpful," he objected. "You've only known the woman for a couple of weeks."
"For your information, we've become very good friends in that time," Blair retorted, straightening Chuck's tie.
"Oh really?" he challenged her. "Are you inviting her to the wedding?"
"Of course."
"The invitations are being sent out this week," Chuck reminded her.
"I know," Blair nodded. "I've already had Juliet's name added to the guest list."
"After only knowing her for a few weeks?" he questioned her skeptically. "For all we know, she could be a complete psychopath." She glared at him and purposely tightened his tie too tightly. "Hey," he exclaimed, quickly loosening the tie.
She smirked at him and insisted, "She's not a psychopath. She's my friend, so be nice."
"If you say so," Chuck muttered, turning to leave the room.
Blair grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "What's wrong Bass?" she demanded. "You've been in a bad mood since we left my mother's."
He shrugged, "Nothing. I'm just having a hard time accepting the fact that I have no say in planning my own wedding."
"What are you talking about?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "We listened to every one of your suggestions today."
"And shot each and every one of them down."
"That's not true. We used some of them."
"Like what?"
Blair paused, struggling to think of something. "There were things," she responded, folding her arms across her chest defensively. "I can't think of any right now, but there were."
Chuck was about to respond when he was interrupted by the sound of the elevator opening. "That must be Nathaniel," he stated, before making his way out of the room.
Blair sighed, before proceeding to take Alex out of his walker. "Come on baby boy," she cooed as she took her son into her arms, grabbing hold of the teething ring so he wouldn't drop it. "We'll say hello to Uncle Nate, then it's time for you to go to bed," she continued as she carried Alex out of the room. To her surprise, she found Chuck and Juliet standing in the hallway.
"Blair," Juliet greeted her with a smile. "I'm a little early, I hope you don't mind."
"Oh no, not at all," she responded, returning the smile. "I see that you've met Chuck." She shot her fiancee a look to warn him that he had better be nice to Juliet.
"I have," she replied, nodding in his direction. "And this must be the famous Alexander," she said, approaching her friend to get a closer look at the baby.
Blair smiled, "He's much cuter in person, those pictures I showed you did not do him justice."
"I couldn't agree more," Juliet remarked. "Hello Alex," she cooed to the baby. "Your Mommy has told me so much about you." Alex began to whimper and rested his head against his mother's shoulder, obviously not liking being in the presence of someone he hadn't met before.
"Sorry," Blair apologized. "He's teething so he's been a little cranky lately."
"Aw, the poor thing," she commented sadly.
"Or he may just not like you," Chuck spoke up. Juliet looked to him in surprise. "Don't take it personally, he doesn't like being around strangers."
She blinked, "Oh. Well I'm sure he'll warm up to me eventually."
"I wouldn't hold your breath," he told her.
Blair glared at him, "Chuck."
"I said that it's nothing personal," he replied in his own defence.
"Why don't you go give Alex a bottle and put him to bed?" she suggested tensely, walking over to him to hand him the baby. "And while you're at it," she hissed, soft enough that Juliet wouldn't hear, "put away 'Asshole-Chuck' for the next few hours. I would actually like to have a nice night tonight." Chuck sighed and muttered something under his breath as he made his way to the kitchen to get Alex his milk.
"He's a pleasant man," Juliet remarked sarcastically once he was out of earshot.
"He's not usually like this," Blair insisted as she led her into the living room. "He's kind of in a bad mood because I'm making most of the decisions about the wedding. I don't know why he's so pissed off, this is more of a woman's thing anyway. Most men are happy when their only job on their wedding day is to show up looking presentable, with decent wedding vows prepared."
"It's good that Chuck wants to get involved I guess," she replied. "Like you said, a lot of men don't."
"I guess," she relented. "He doesn't have to be such an asshole about it though."
"So I have your number," Nate said to Juliet as they were about to leave a couple of hours later.
"And I have yours," she smiled at him.
Blair smiled confidently from where she stood a few feet away with Chuck. Fortunately, Juliet and Nate had hit it off and were going to see each other again. Everything had run pretty smoothly all night. Chuck had been a bit nicer to Juliet, although there were a few occasions where Blair had to jump in and prevent an argument from occurring between the two.
"I should be going," Nate announced all of a sudden.
"Me too," Juliet added, looking excited at the thought of being in the elevator alone with Nate. "Thanks for tonight Blair," she said, giving her friend a kiss on the cheek.
"It was our pleasure, right Chuck?" Blair said, turning to him with a forced smile.
"Right," he remarked. "It was nice to meet you Juliet," he added, with a hint of sarcasm that was almost undetectable.
"You too Chuck," she retorted with the same sarcastic tone.
Blair rolled her eyes as she ushered Nate and Juliet into the elevator. Once the pair were gone, she turned back to Chuck with an annoyed look. "Well..." she started expectantly, folding her arms across her chest.
"Well, what?" he remarked with a shrug.
"Let's get this inevitable fight over and done with," she told him.
"I'm not going to fight with you Blair," Chuck responded, turning to make his way to their bedroom while loosening his tie.
She followed him into the bedroom and asked, "So we're not even going to discuss this? You're just going to keep giving me the silent treatment until I give in and relinquish control over the wedding to you?"
"I don't want control over the wedding," he replied, removing his tie completely and discarding it on the bed. "I don't mind letting you have your dream wedding, but I would at least like some input. I don't think that's too much to ask."
Blair huffed in annoyance, knowing that he had a point. She still didn't like how he was acting, but she decided to give in a little. "Alright," she nodded.
"Alright?" Chuck repeated, looking up at her in confusion. "Just like that, you're agreeing with me?"
She shook her head, "Not agreeing, compromising. What part of the wedding do you want to have a say in?"
He approached her, peering at her suspiciously. "Is this a trap?"
"No," Blair replied. "I honestly want to know."
He eyed her once more, then nodded, "Okay then." He paused, before telling her, "I want to choose the church the ceremony will take place in."
"What?" she exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise. "You want to change the venue? There's only four months to go before the wedding, every other church in the city is probably already booked."
Chuck shook his head, "Not the one that I have in mind."
"Why do you even care what church we get married in?" Blair asked in confusion. "A church is a church. It has to be nice and fairly big of course, but it's just a church."
He sighed, before sitting down on the end of their bed and gesturing for her to join him. As Blair sat down beside him, he started, "There is a reason why I want to get married in this particular church."
"Which is...?"
"If I tell you, you have to promise not to make fun of me," Chuck said.
"What is it?" she asked impatiently.
"Well, this church...it's the church my parents got married in," he explained.
Blair's mouth dropped open, "Oh." She suddenly felt guilty. She grabbed his hand and replied, "Why would I make fun of you? I think it's sweet."
"You do?"
She nodded with a smile, "I think it would be a good way to honor your parents, since they can't be there." He returned the smile gratefully. "As long as it's nice," she added quickly.
"Do you really think that Bart Bass would've got married in a church that was anything less than perfect?" Chuck retorted.
"Well no, but that was over twenty-five years ago," Blair pointed out. "It may be really run down by now."
"It's not," he assured her. "I went to take a look at it the other day. I can honestly say that it surpassed my high expectations."
"Is it close enough to the Palace?" she asked. The wedding reception was being held at the Palace so it was important that the church wasn't too far away.
"It takes 16 minutes in the limo," Chuck responded immediately.
"And with traffic?"
"In peak hour, 28 minutes."
Blair smirked, "You've done your research Bass, I'm impressed." She leant in and kissed him softly. She pulled back slightly after a moment, "Okay."
He raised an eyebrow in surprise, "You don't want to see it first? To make sure that it's up to your standards?"
She shook her head, "I trust you. You know how high my standards are, so if you think that I'd love it then I probably will."
"I'll make the arrangements in the morning," Chuck smiled. "Can I make one more request in relation to the wedding?"
Blair groaned, "What now?"
"Can we incorporate purple into the theme somehow?" he asked.
"Fine," she gave in, leaning in to kiss him again. They were interrupted by the sound of Alex's cries from the nursery. "I'll get him," Blair announced.
"How long was he down for this time?" he asked as she made her way towards the door.
"About an hour I think," she responded, turning back to him when she had reached the doorway. Alex had been waking up every 45 minutes all night. Even chewing on the teething ring wasn't calming him down anymore. Most of the time he didn't actually need anything, he just wanted to be held and comforted by one of his parents. "This is worse than the newborn stage- actually I take that back, I don't think anything could be worse than those first few weeks."
"He'll be fine, it's just a phase," Chuck assured her.
"I know, I just wish it would be over sooner" Blair responded, resting her hand on the doorframe. "Maybe we should let him sleep in here tonight?" He nodded in agreement, then she went to retrieve the baby.
Twenty minutes later, Blair and Chuck were in bed with little Alexander laying in between them. Chuck rolled over to look at his family, happy that he had opted for a king-size bed as opposed to a queen. It came in handy on nights such as these. "You okay little man?" he murmered, looking down at the baby, who was crying softly.
Blair sighed, "I just feel so helpless Chuck. Our son is in pain and there's nothing I can do to make it better."
"We're doing everything we can," he replied. "And besides, every baby teethes and they get through it." He leant down and kissed Alex on the forehead. As soon as he did this, he froze, his eyes widening in concern.
"What? What is it?" Blair demanded, sitting up abruptly.
Chuck sat up and rested his hand on Alex's forehead, "Blair, I think he's burning up."
"What?"
"Feel his forehead," he instructed, removing his hand so she could rest hers on their son's head. "Does he feel warm to you?"
"Oh God," Blair commented as she realized that the baby definitely had a temperature. "What do we do Chuck?" she asked, looking up at him with a panicked expression. "I have no idea what to do, h-he's never been sick before."
"First of all, we have to stay calm," Chuck said, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly.
"Okay," she nodded nervously. "I can do that."
He stood up from the bed and announced, "I'm going to get a thermometer so we can take his temperature." He rushed out of the room, but returned a moment later with a confused expression on his face. "Where do we keep the thermometer?"
"Bathroom," Blair instructed, rolling her eyes as she lifted Alex up into her arms. He had started crying louder and she was starting to become even more worried. "Hurry!" she added, causing him to practically run into the adjoining bathroom.
Chuck emerged from the bathroom a minute later with a thermometer in hand, "I've got it."
"Okay, quickly," she said, starting to remove the baby's onesie.
"What are you doing?" Chuck asked in confusion as he sat down beside them on the bed.
"The thermometer needs to go under his arm so he can't have clothes on," she explained, discarding the baby clothes. He handed her the thermometer and she put it under Alex's arm, holding it down so he wouldn't move it. The baby wailed in protest. "It's okay baby, Mommy and Daddy are going to get you all better," she said, rocking the baby gently.
"Why is it taking so long?" Chuck asked impatiently.
"Give it a minute."
He sighed and pointed out, "We may have to take him to the hospital. He's just a baby so a fever could do a lot of damage."
"I'm aware of that Chuck," Blair snapped back. "That's what's scaring me." She held onto her crying son a little tighter, trying her best not to cry herself. Alex needed her right now, she couldn't fall apart.
Chuck reached over and pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear and replied, "Alex is going to be fine Blair. We're not going to let anything happen to him."
She just nodded in response, then they waited in silence for the thermometer to go off. It finally beeped and Blair quickly retrieved it, gasping when she saw the temperature reading. "102!" she exclaimed, looking up at Chuck in a panic. "102 Chuck, oh my God!"
He let the statement sink in for half a second, before announcing, "We have to get to the hospital."
Two hours later, Blair, Chuck and Alex were in the limo on their way home from the hospital. Alex had been checked out by a doctor, who diagnosed him with an ear infection and prescribed him some medicine, before sending him home. Despite being reassured by the doctor that their son was fine and would recover completely within a few days, both Chuck and Blair were still a little shaken up by the whole ordeal. It may not have been anything serious to the doctor, but for them it was the first time Alex had been sick and they were still extremely worried about him.
To help Alex drift off to sleep, Chuck had told Arthur to drive around for a while before they returned home. He and Blair had been sitting in silence for the last fifteen minutes, watching the sleeping baby closely for any signs that would alert them to the fact that he was experiencing any discomfort. "There is no way that I'm going into work tomorrow," Blair announced softly, turning her head to look at Chuck. "Or today I guess," she corrected herself, noting that it was just after midnight. "I need to be at home with my sick baby. They'll just have to deal with it."
He just nodded, knowing that there was no point in arguing with her. The only way she was going to be away from Alex in the next 24 hours was if someone dragged her away from him, kicking and screaming. "Well, at least he's asleep," Chuck pointed out.
"Shhh!" she responded with a frown, gesturing for him to lower his voice. "Keep your voice down, you're going to wake him up" she hissed.
"Sorry," he whispered back. "But to be fair, I don't think we'll be hearing another peep out of Alex tonight. He's completely exhausted." He put his arm around Blair and kissed her on the forehead as she rested her head on his shoulder
Blair shook her head gently, "Actually, I think he's going to want to be held a lot over the next few days." She pouted sadly, "The poor little thing, he must feel so terrible."
Chuck sighed, "I can't believe we were playing matchmaker with Nate and Juliet while our son was suffering in the next room. I should have noticed that something was wrong earlier."
"How were we to know? For all we knew he was just upset because he was teething," she objected.
"But aren't parents supposed to just know when something isn't right with their child?" he asked, as she lifted her head to look at him.
"I'm sorry, but weren't you the one who noticed Alex's fever in the first place?" Blair pointed out.
"Yes..."
"Well the fact that you noticed that just shows what an amazing father you are," she insisted, rubbing his arm comfortingly. He gave her a small smile. "And how well we handled all of this proves that we are amazing parents Bass. We can handle whatever Alexander throws our way." Blair paused, before adding with a smirk, "If he's anything like you were as a teenager, I'm predicting that that's going to be a hell of a lot."
Chuck shook his head and responded, "I'm really dreading his teenage years."
"You and me both," she nodded. She began to worry as she thought about all the trouble Alex would no doubt be getting into in the future. That was really going to test them as parents.
Review and let me know what you think! :) I'm also kind of worried that there's errors in the plot so if you notice anything, please let me know!