And They All Lived Happily Ever After…Or Not

Disclaimer: I own nothing except a great love for CB and the many inhabitants of the UES

A/N: Wow. Thanks to everyone who took the time to let me know what you're thinking. I'm extremely happy that you're enjoying the story because I'm just having a ball writing this. So seriously thanks and stick with me because if you were intrigued before…well, you just have to keep on reading. Thanks again to Lynnie, all my girls at fanforum, and the reviewers for your support…It most definitely helps.

Chapter 1

Five years later

"I thought I might find you here."

He felt moved under his back, as her heels demolished, colorful dead leaves underfoot. She threaded one arm through his and he allowed himself to be pulled close.

"Six years today. Can you believe it?" Lily sighed.

"No." Chuck whispered. His focus was on the two gravestones, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He tried to remember the man his father had been. He reminded himself of all the mistakes made so that he didn't end up repeating them.

Lily cleared her throat as the silence dragged on. "He'd be so proud of you. You've done well for yourself and for the company."

He tried to find solace in her words, even after all the time past. But he'd never really know what it felt like to have Bart Bass consider him with pride.

"I'm intruding, aren't I?" She started to pull away.

"No. Not at all. I'm glad you came." He told her, "Listen I needed to ask you a favor about this weekend. I've got a trip coming up. Can't be avoided."

Lily smiled, patting his hand. "Yes I did hear something about it. Eric has quite a few plans for Alex and the girls."

"I hate going away. Even for a handful of days."

"Charles, you can't exactly keep them in your pocket all their lives."

"You sure?"

"Yes. You can't hold on forever. No matter how much it hurts to let go." She glanced down at Bart's headstone. Trying to lighten the mood, she smiled "Besides, what are you going to do when they start noticing boys?"

"I've looked into that already and it's called homeschooling."

"Be serious."

"You're laughing. I'm not." Smiling despite his words, Chuck pulled away long enough to arrange the flowers he'd brought for both his mother and father. "Love you guys." The words came out gruff and unfamiliar, as if his old man actually stood before him hearing those words.

Lily stepped back giving a moment. He remained there, head bowed as seconds turned to minutes. She couldn't help but remember that morning outside the Palace. He'd looked so dejected. So disappointed. She knew he didn't believe her when she said that Bart would be proud of the man he'd become, but she truly did think so. He'd grown up.

Love welled up, dragging a sigh from her. Love and sadness. She might not have given birth to him but he was hers. As surely as Serena and Eric were. All she wanted was for her children to be happy. Despite the fact that they surrounded him with family and he had the girls, he seemed so sad at times. Lonely. What she wouldn't give to be able to fix this for him. For them all.

"Ready?" He stood slowly, offering Lily his arm and a reassuring smile.

"I was wondering if you might be able to spare an hour for lunch. There's something that I've been wanting to discuss with you." Lily said, wishing that she didn't have to bring it now. Not here, but he'd be leaving town soon.

Chuck groaned. Not again. "Lily, you know I love you. But the Frampton girl is a compl…"

She smiled. "No, sweetheart. I already promised. No more setups."

"Good." Heaving a sigh of relief, it took a few moments before the worry in her voice sank in. "Is something wrong? You're not sick, are you?"

"No. God, no. Nothing like that. I promise."

He didn't know exactly how scared he'd been until settled in his chest. "What is it, then?"

"Eleanor."

Chuck went hot and cold at the mention of Blair's mother. His expression hardened and fury poured like wine, free and undiluted in his veins.

Lily sighed, "Charles, don't be like that."

He spoke the woman's name like curse, that sneer curving and cruel "If Eleanor has any questions or problems with our current arrangements, then she can damn well contact my lawyers."

Hands fisted at his side, he stormed off to the waiting limo. Lily waved off her own driver as her son held the door open for her. She started to speak but one look her Chuck's face changed her mind. Later. Much later.

~*~

"Jennifer's this is Beth speaking. How may I assist you?"

"Hi, it's Serena. Is your boss in?" Serena pushed the stack of proofs and layout proposals off to the side. She thumbed through glossy magazine, a huge grin spreading across her face.

"Serena?"

"You are so sneaky. I just saw the magazine. Why didn't you say anything the other night?"

Jenny laughed, "I wanted to surprise everybody."

"Well, you did." Serena said, "I'm really proud of you, Jenny. We are so having celebratory drinks tonight."

"Forget drinks. Carter has Alex tomorrow night, doesn't he?" The younger woman asked.

"No, Alex will be spending the entire weekend with his Uncle Eric and his cousins. Why?" Serena asked, absentmindedly reaching out to straighten the framed photograph of her two year old. He was wearing the hugest grin and his eyes weren't on the camera but on his cousins and equally incorrigible Uncle who'd egged him on. Santa didn't look very pleased with anyone in her family.

"I thought we could have a little get together. You know fifty of our nearest and dearest."

"Hmm, I'm liking your idea better."

"Too bad Eric's going to have the kids. I totally forgot. Maybe we'll all have a celebratory lunch or something during the week." Jenny laughed. They both sobered at her next words. "I was going to invite Chuck, too. I mean I really owe him a lot, you know? This never would've happened without all his help."

"Jenny, you know my brother had his reasons for investing." Serena sighed, "Chuck's changed a lot. For the better, but no one would ever call him selfless."

"I know. I know." The other woman said, "He wanted to get back at Eleanor."

"He wanted to destroy her."

"Serena. I was there. I knew his intentions and things worked out for the best all around."

Bypassing the newest picture of her little boy, Serena reached for a much older photograph. One that Jenny had taken herself. The night of the Snowflake Ball. Before everything went straight to hell. Things had most definitely not worked out for the best but she didn't say that to Jenny. Instead she smiled sadly at the moment frozen in time. There she was, her arm loped around Aaron's waist and a big fake grin plastered across her face.

God she'd been so obvious. No wonder it hadn't taken the guy long to pull the jealous boyfriend card. She still felt the thrum of satisfaction when she saw how stiffly Dan held himself away from his date for the evening. Aaron's ex. God, what was her name…Lauren. Jezebel. Whatever. She hadn't gotten Dan that night. Neither had Serena. Unbidden, her fingertips skimmed glass, hovering over Dan's unsmiling face. And there was B, her eyes only for Chuck's smirking face. Serena didn't think that either one of them had spent all of two seconds with their respective "dates." Her best friend's expression had been standoffish as she made one snide remark or another but their possessive attitudes toward one another had spoken volumes to their "dates" and everyone else at the dance.

"Earth to Serena. Are you even listening to me? I really want your input about tomorrow."

"I'm listening."

"And about Chuck. Like I said. I know why he helped me. You don't need to warn me off. I know the deal." Jenny said.

Serena shook her head, pulling away from the past. "I wasn't warning you off. Besides you have a boyfriend. You and that photographer."

"That was Steven and I broke up with him last month."

"Well, who's the guy who came with you to Eric's birthday party."

"That was Rex…"

"Rex, yeah. Now I remember him." Ew. How had she forgotten him. Serena wrinkled her nose.

"Well, he's just a friend. Mostly."

"Jenny!"

"What? I had an itch…"

"Please, please, please don't say anything else. Please."

"Hey I didn't say that the last time Carter was in town. Booty call, anyone?"

"I'm hanging up now."

"Fine. Sorry." Jenny offered, sounding not the least bit repentant. "I need to go."

"Me, too. I've still got a pile of work to do before I can go home." Serena reached for said work.

"S? Uh there's one other thing."

"Uh-huh?" Serena asked, distracted already by worked she'd been putting off for the past hour.

"About tomorrow night. Dan's going to be there."

"What? Dan?" My Dan? She managed to scream only in her head.

"Yeah. I can't very well not invite him. I really want you to be there, Serena. It'll be like old times. I'm calling Vanessa, as soon as we hang up to invite her and Nate."

"That sounds great. Listen I'd better get back to work. We'll talk more later, okay? Okay. Bye." Serena hung up before her old friend could squeak out her own goodbyes.

He was back. Was she happy? Nervous? Serena wasn't sure what she should be feeling. She could count on one hand the number of times they'd seen one another since their high school graduation and each of those time had been before she hooked up with Carter. Before she had Alex.

God. Dan Humphrey back in New York. Maybe she should bully Chuck into going with her. Would make for a perfectly interesting night. Damn.

~*~

"I really need to go, honey. I've got a meeting…" He lowered his voice, feeling another argument coming on and not wanting his personal business aired within earshot of his co-workers. Yet again.

They'd been happy the first two years. Happier than he ever remembered being in his life, but the past few months…everything seemed to be sprawling out of control. He'd spent the past few nights in the guest room and felt actual dread creep in at the thought of going home that night.

He'd been toying with the idea of checking into the Palace. Give them room to breath, to think. Ultimately, Nate knew he wouldn't be checking in anywhere. That would only invite more accusations and he wasn't sure just how much more his marriage could withstand.

"Fine. Whatever, Nate."

"Jenny's party sounds like it'll be fun."

"Oh, so now you want to go."

Nate bit back the groan that would only send her through the roof, "V, I never said I didn't want to go. I just said that I'm loaded down with work and I don't know if I'll be able to get off." He glanced at his watch. "I really do need to go. Why don't we plan on a late dinner tonight? Then we can hit that new jazz club that you wanted to check out a few weeks ago." Nate offered the proverbial olive branch, trying not to sound too hopeful.

Silence fell on the other line and for a moment he was worried that they'd been disconnected. When his wife spoke she sounded tired. "I won't get my hopes up. Not when you'll probably just call and cancel on me later."

"Vanessa."

She retorted, bitterly. "It's the truth."

"Bullshit. When are we going to sit down and talk about what's really going on here. What our real problem is…"

"Not today because you have a work. A meeting remember." She offered.

"Goodbye, Nate."

"Don't hang up. Vanessa." He cursed as she did just that and slammed the phone down with more force than he intended, drawing the eyes of those around him.

"Better get a move on it, Archibald. Granddaddy's connections won't get your ass outta the sling, you keep Jeffries waiting." The older man sitting across from him, tipped his head to their Lieutenant's office just as the man in question came to stand in his open door. His hard expression and cold eyes sent a thrill a dread down Nate's spine.

Fuck. He didn't need the Lieu riding his back anything else. The man already hated his guts.

"What the fuck, Archibald. You waiting on a signed invitation or what? Get your ass in here." The Lieu's door slammed like a shot, bringing Nate to his feet.

"Cheer up, kid. He'll get tired of chewing on your ass way before he retires. Probably." His partner offered, his words doing nothing to make Nate feel better.

Mumbling something to that effect, he called on years of growing up on the UES. Appearances were everything. He wasn't going to let these guys get to him. He was here to do his job. They could kick at him all they wanted, he straightened his spine and put on his game face. His steps weren't hurried but he didn't want to keep the Lieutenant waiting any longer than he already had.

"Plant your ass." He was instructed the minute he stepped inside the office. "Archibald. This is Detective Miller. He wanted to pick your brain."

Nate shook the other man's hand, not letting his growing curiosity show too much.

"Archibald. Nice to meet you. Your lieutenant's told me a lot about you. All good things. Heard you're making quite a name for yourself in Robbery/Homicide. You helped in the Reynolds grand larceny case last month." Miller said.

"Yes, sir." He froze awaiting the jokes that always followed. Some allusion to his father. The Captain's current "jailbird" status.

"You do good work. Lieutenant says it won't be long before you make detective."

Nate resisted the urge to glance in the Lieu's direction. He couldn't believe the man was actually praising him. Granted not to his face but he always figured the bastard hated his guts. Weird.

"Listen. I need some help with a couple cases I caught a few months back."

New case. Excitement made him forget himself and he grinned, nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah. Sure. Anything to help. What do you need?"

Miller shared a look with the Lieu that brought him on alert making a quick memory of earlier his child-like excitement. The detective cleared his throat, turning his attention back to Nate. "I need to ask you a few questions about an acquaintance of yours. Charles Bass."

"Chuck?"

"Yeah the two of you ran in the same circles."

Still do. What the fuck was going on? Why were they asking about his best friend? Nate kept his tone neutral, "We grew up together."

"You still close?"

Close? Seeing as how Chuck had served as his best man and was the father of Nate's goddaughters, he'd say "close" was a fairly accurate word. "You could say that."

The Lieutenant interrupted catching Nate's eye. "Look. Sometimes the job gets personal. You gotta get your priorities in order, kid. Do your job no matter how things fall out. So you gonna help Detective Miller with his case or do you need to get the fuck out of my office."

Nate felt his expression harden, but he didn't get up. He didn't leave. He'd listen to their questions. Find out what the hell his best friend had gotten himself into this time. "Ask away."

TBC

A/N: All right, people. Let me know what you're thinking. Lots of questions, right? No worries answers are forthcoming.