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

A/N: Thanks for all your thoughts and good words on the last chapter. I'm a little in love with Daddy Chuck myself :lol: And Eleanor :evil look: . I am simply loving writing for all the different characters...most especially the Van der Bass family, as well as another character whom you'll be seeing/reading by chapter's end. Here's another chapter for you. Hope you enjoy it as much as the last. As always thanks for the show of support from my fellow CBers, fanforum buddies, and reviewers. Love you all and just keep reading. Lynnie…Great, minds…haha, thnx again hon :hug:

Chapter 4

The next morning, working on his second cup of coffee, Nate found himself trying to reach his best friend for the umpteenth time. Wondering, all the while, just where he'd gone wrong in life. He tipped his head, listening for movement, some sign of life from the second floor. Of course there wouldn't be, she was probably still too damn exhausted from her night on the town.

It'd been just after 2 in the morning when he'd heard her come in. After hours of ignoring his calls, leaving him to wonder and worry. He'd resisted the urge to confront her, finding that he didn't have the energy to go another round with Vanessa.

Last night, he'd arrived at their Brownstone as promised, ready to treat his wife to a night out. Only instead of his wife waiting, he'd arrived home to an empty house. He hadn't even been in the mood to go anywhere, not with his mind on overload, working through details and questions from his meeting with the Lieu and Detective Miller. Still Nate had been more than willing to go, just to make his wife happy.

"Fuck, man." He said as his call was finally dumped into Chuck's voicemail. "Hey, it's me again. Call me as soon as you get this. I need to ask you about something. It's really important…All right, talk to you later."

He was hanging up just as Vanessa entered the kitchen.

"Oh, don't hang up on my account. Go ahead and call her back." She said, grabbing cereal from the cabinet.

"That was Chuck. Or his voicemail actually."

"Of course it was."

"Why are you acting like this?" Nate tracked her movements through narrowed eyes. "I'm the one who should be pissed. Where were you last night?"

Vanessa shrugged, pouring her cereal and milk as if she hadn't a care in the world. She didn't answer him at first and she sure as hell didn't meet his eyes. Mouth full on her second bite she told him, "Went out with friends. Caught a movie."

"Oh, that's great. That's just fucking great, Vanessa." Nate smiled bitterly, "You couldn't pick up the phone. You know, let your husband know that you weren't lying in the gutter somewhere."

"I turned the ringer off during the movie and forgot to turn it back on—sorry." She shrugged again, making Nate want to throttle her. "Besides, I figured you'd take your chance to make a date with your girlfriend."

Fists clenched, Nate moved across the room, his frustration making it hard to breath. He'd never hit a woman in his life. Never would, but God he wanted to shake her. Shake her until she was the woman he knew. The woman he'd fallen in love with, not the bitter, insecure creature in front of him now.

Nate reached for the folder that he'd gotten from Detective Miller the day before, "I'm going in to the precinct. I've got a bunch of reports that still need to be filled out. Didn't get a chance to do it last night. I wonder why."

"Tell her I said hello," She called after him.

He stormed out of the house, not even bothering to shrug into his coat until he was halfway down the street. The old woman who lived next door, smiled in greeting until she caught sight of his thunderous expression. He wanted to stop and talk. Apologize, but he'd probably only make things worse. He'd just about reached his limit. She didn't believe him anyway so maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to move into the Palace for a while. Or better yet, Nate figured he could bunk at Chuck's place. Vanessa couldn't very well accuse him of cheating with Kat and Evie running around.

Head bowed against the cold weather, Nate flagged down a cab and pushed thoughts of his troubled marriage to the back of his mind. He considered trying to call his best friend again. Let Chuck know about Detective Miller's questions and the string of fires being linked back to him.

Giving the cabbie his destination, Nate shuffled through the pages of thick file. Dread slithered down his spine, the more he read as he saw the picture that had began taking form for Miller. All the connections. Cursing, Nate reached for his phone again and called. This time his call was unceremoniously dumped to voicemail.

First Vanessa. Now Chuck. What the hell was going on with everybody?

~ஐ~

As promised, Lily arrived bright and early—well relatively speaking. The twins chattered happily about their plans for the day with their Uncle Eric. Lily tried not to cringe at the idea of Happy Feet on Broadway. She loved the movie…had watched it at least a few dozen times courtesy of her grandchildren but Broadway? Really.

The on-call nurses smiled as the girls greeted them all by name. They squealed, catching sight of Dorota lounging outside of Blair's private room.

"Girls, no running." Lily called out but they were already halfway down the hall. "Nevermind."

"Dorota, look. Uncle Eric let me have my Christmas present early. Look…isn't it pretty?" Evie held up her arm for the maid to survey her charm bracelet. "It has my birthday and look at the ballerina."

"I got one, too. And the necklace to match." Kat informed her.

"Oh, girls. They're beautiful. Mr. Eric have excellent taste." She met Lily's eyes, smiling over their heads, as she paid proper deference to newest treasures.

"You should've come with us. We had so much fun. We ordered pizza and had hot cocoa with like a ton of marshmallows. Uncle Eric let us stay up late, too."

"Evie." Kat elbowed her sister.

"Oh, right. Forget that last part." She said, "We were gonna watch a really, really scary movie, too, but Kat was being a baby…"

"Was not."

"Ya huh."

"Enough, girls." Lily sighed, "Dorota, have you been here long?"

The maid shrugged, "Hour. Not very long." She glanced at the closed door of Blair's private room. "Miss Blair physical therapist in with her right now."

Kat frowned, "How come Mommy has to exercise when she's sleeping?"

"So she won't get fat, silly." Evie told her. "Right, Grandma?"

"Not entirely, sweetheart. They just want to help your mommy stay strong."

"Hello, Mrs. Bass. Girls." One of the nurses came over. She smiled at Dorota before turning back to Lily. "They should be done with Miss Waldorf in just a bit. While you're waiting I could take the girls to the lunchroom. One of the nurses got an ice cream maker for her birthday and she keeps bringing the stuff in, experimenting with all these great flavors. Do you think it'd be okay if Kat and Evie give us a hand getting rid of some of it?"

"Well—I'm sure that would be fine." She hesitated for a barely seconds as the girls turned on her, wide-eyed and expectant. They were gone, dragging the nurse along before Lily could change her mind. "So Dorota…a whole weekend to yourself. Any plans for the night?"

The maid smiled, her eyes dreamy and nervous. "Date with Fritz. He drive for Ben and Jennifer. We argue…he say Miss Violet is most talkative child in world but I say Miss Evie have her beat. No contest."

"She does like to argue, doesn't she?"

"She has motormouth like that pink bunny. She go on and on and on." Dorota laughed, her expression sobering after a moment. She cleared her throat. "Uh, Miss Lily. I have question. Something I need to say."

"Go ahead." Lily motioned for her to continue.

The maid fiddled with her fingers, suddenly extremely interested in Lily's new pair of boots. She'd fallen in love with them the moment she'd spotted the Suede Kid Wedge boots at Barney's but Lily doubted Dorota's sudden fascination had anything to do with admiring the new purchase.

"Well, I—" Dorota started and made a face. Dragging in a deep breath she met Lily's eyes. "Last night before he leave I hear Mr. Chuck on the phone with Blair's papa."

Chuck had called Harold. Well, that was good. Maybe he wasn't completely resistant to the idea of reconciling with Eleanor.

"Mr. Chuck worry about Miss Eleanor's 'sudden' interest in his girls. Mr. Harold tell him that he know nothing about it and would check into things." Dorota told her.

Lily nodded, processing all that the maid her taken in. The woman didn't miss a thing. "That's good. Maybe after Harold talks to her, Chuck will be more secure about Eleanor's intentions."

"There is something else. I should say. Wanted to tell Mr. Chuck, but thought he would be angry." There she went wringing those hands again. "You aware that I stay in touch with Miss Eleanor and Mr. Cyrus. To keep them updated on Miss Blair, you know."

"Yes…" Lily said.

"Well, Mr. Cyrus. He call a few months ago. Say he caught Miss Eleanor looking at the pictures of the girls when they were visiting. He ask I send more pictures."

Lily was starting to where the maid was headed, but she didn't interrupt, letting Dorota finish her story. She only nodded.

Dorota made a face, looking worried. "Then when on phone, she ask about girls. Not a lot at first. Just little things. She sound so sad, Miss Lily."

"Did she ask to see them? Have you taken the girls to her without Charles' knowledge." Lily asked, softly.

The maid's eyes widened and she looked so insulted that Lily felt guilty for asking. "What? No. Of course, not. Dorota would never never do this."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Of course, you wouldn't. I still had to ask."

"Miss Eleanor don't ask that I do this either. I don't know she want to until last night I overhear Mr. Chuck." Dorota said, "I should say something to Mr. Chuck. Is bad, no?"

"It's okay, Dorota. You didn't do anything wrong. Like you said. Eleanor saw pictures of Kat and Evie here. Charles wouldn't be angry with you for sending more." At least Lily didn't think that would be the case. "And you're free to speak with whomever you choose."

"I just no like this, Miss Lily. My Miss Blair would hate what they do to one another." The maid sighed, appearing relieved to release her burden.

Lily didn't tell her that she'd voiced the same concerns to her stepson, just the day before.

Blair's door opened behind them and the physical therapist and nurses came loaded down with wrinkled sheets and linen.

"Looks like we can go in now." Lily glanced down the hallway in the direction where the twins had disappeared.

"I get them. You go in. Sit with Miss Blair." Dorota bustled away, her step lighter.

Lily's heart heavy, she pasted on a smile, as if the sleeping woman inside could possibly see it and moved into the room. "Hello, Blair."

~ஐ~

She heard them before she actually laid eyes on them. She was just entering lunchroom, to grab her lunchbag. Sure it was more than an hour before her scheduled time but the old biddies hadn't said anything to her about it yet. She hovered in the doorway watching the two little girls.

Well, well, well. I spy with my little eye, Katherine and Evelyn Bass, the spawn of a fallen Queen and her demonic King. Interesting, she smiled.

"We gotta tell Daddy to get us an ice cream maker too, Evie."

The other little girl, almost her mirror image looked up smiling, her rosebud mouth dripping with the sugary treat.

"You guys ready to vote on which one is the best?"

"I like the Chocolate Mint." Kat said.

Her sister shook her head, expression one of stark disapproval. "You always get the same thing. Here try this one. Brown Sugar Rum Swirl. It's good."

"Nope." Kat retorted, turning away from the offered spoonful.

"I should be taking you guys back," The nurse with them consulted her watch. She pushed away from the table, catching sight of the woman in the doorway. "Better get you cleaned up. Oh, hey Olivia. I didn't even see you standing there."

Stretching her mouth into a practiced smile, the other woman stepped forward until she reached the table's edge. She stopped just far enough away to avoid sticky fingers.

"Girls, this is Nurse Olivia George. This was her first week. She's been working with your Mommy."

"Hello." Evie said, tipping her head, her tone cordial and well-mannered, reminding the woman once more of the fallen Queen.

"Hello. Miss George." The other chimed in, as both girls swiped up napkins and dabbed at their sticky mouths.

"Please. Call me Olivia." She smiled at the twins.

"Miss Kat. Miss Evie. There you are. Come now. We see your mama, now." Olivia froze as Dorota called out to the little girls. Carefully keeping her back to the door, she smiled at the other nurse and moved to the far reaches of the lunchroom, grabbing a magazine from a nearby table. "Look at you. You both a mess. Come. We get cleaned up in Miss Blair's room, no? Come."

"Bye, Miss Olivia. Bye, Miss Carol."

Olivia didn't turn but raised her hand in farewell. Her co-worker stuck around long enough to clean up mess left behind by the Bass duo. She made conversation to which Olivia gave distracted and monosyllabic answers. The other woman got the point soon enough, leaving the room with an uncomfortable laugh.

She didn't think the twins or Blair's maid would be returning anytime soon, but she saw no reason to tempt fate. She figured a little work might be the thing to do, keep herself out of sight until Blair's visitors departed, then maybe she and B could get back to their quality time.

~ஐ~

Halfway around the world, Chuck Bass was wrapping a meeting with his business associates. He stood in deference, returning their quick bows. "Sayonara, gentlemen. It was a pleasure doing business with you."

He didn't leave immediately once his companions left the restaurant but wandered into the bar. Instantly he regretted his decision as the tone deaf gentleman on stage, began belting out REM's "The One I Love." He could always wait until he reached the hotel, damn suite had a full mini-bar.

Still Chuck didn't leave. Accustomed to the noise and energy, his girls generated, he wasn't looking forward to sitting in his hotel room, drinking until sleep came for him. He signaled the bartender.

Cringing as the man on stage, reached futilely for a high note, Chuck downed his scotch in two gulps, enjoying the delicious burn as it slid down his throat and fired his insides. "Arigatou," He thanked the bartender, ordering another straightaway. The next one he savored, nursing it as people filtered in and out of the restaurant. More people going up on stage, pretending they weren't making complete asses of themselves.

He pulled out his cell phone, checking to see if Nate had tried reaching him again. They'd been playing phone tag for most of the day. Something had his best friend wound up. Chuck wondered briefly if things with Vanessa had gone from bad to worse. He knew they were having problems but these days Nathaniel shut him down anytime he inquired about it.

Chuck was dialing Nate's number when someone sank down on the stool beside him, waving her hand in his line of vision.

"Mr. Bass. Hi. Gia Kumari. We met last year at the Winstons' ball."

Beautiful. Olive skin and exotic, dark eyes. She looked familiar but he couldn't place her face. Hell when had he ever been able to. Playing along he took the hand she offered, "Gia, yes."

"Amazing, isn't it? Fly thousands of miles away from home and who do you run into?"

Smile stiff, Chuck nodded, all the while racking his brain, trying to figure out who in the hell this woman was. While he hadn't exactly been totally celibate over the past five years, his one night stands had gone from few and far between to practically non-existent. The pleasure was fleeting and not quite worth the gnawing guilt that always followed. He was well aware that Lily and others believed that the time had come for him to move on, but he couldn't see his life with anyone by his side that wasn't Blair Waldorf.

Not like the Bass line would die out with him, anyway. His Uncle was Lord only knew where. And Chuck had the girls. One day he'd step aside and let Kat and Evie take over the reins at Bass Industries.

"Yes, amazing."

"I'm leaving for a shoot…"

Model?

She said. "But I just saw you over here and couldn't resist saying 'hello.' If you're free later, maybe we could catch a late dinner."

"Unfortunately, I have a previous engagement that can't be avoided. Another time, perhaps." He said. She seemed the clingy type. Were he even tempted for a one-night wham bam, beautiful Gia wouldn't be a good choice.

"Count on it." She smiled seductively, brushing close against him as she walked by, "Definitely, count on it."

Chuck watched her go, wondering what in the hell had happened to him. Years ago he'd have been on that and out before she could even think to sink hook one into him. He downed the rest of his drink and ordered another for the road. Fuck, he missed B.

Back at his hotel. The quiet room wanted to close in on him and he let himself out onto the balcony, watching as dusk settled over Osaka. Chuck glanced at his watch and instead of calling Nate back as he should, he found himself dialing a different number. The familiar voice answered almost immediately. "Dr. McCarty. It's Chuck Bass."

"Mr. Bass." The good doctor said after a moment, Chuck could almost see the older man grinding his teeth. What the hell was that about? Not like he'd chewed the man out…since last spring. "Haven't heard from you in a while."

"Figured if you had any news for me, you call. Immediately. How are the trials going?" Chuck questioned.

"The same. Nothing viable. Nothing with the percentages that you quoted. Last time we spoke, you insisted that the potential side effects and dangers were…unacceptable. Nothing has changed." McCarty said.

"Right. Of course." Voice cool, though he would've like nothing better than to heave his phone into the body of water below. Fuck. Probably ideal that the good doctor wasn't standing in front of him. Chuck cleared his throat, "Well the minute you get anything…"

"I call you. Yes, that we've established. You just stay out of the lab as we agreed and I'll keep the trials going."

Bastard didn't have to sound so indignant. Not like Chuck had hit him. Not hard anyway.

Hanging up. Chuck wandered back into his hotel suite, bored and ready to go back home. He'd have been on the redeye back to New York, if not for the meeting that he had scheduled for the following morning.

Grabbing his jacket, he cursed. Kids or not, Chuck Bass hadn't changed that damn much. No way in hell was he going to bed this fucking early. The night was young and there were parties to be found in Osaka, and Chuck didn't plan on spending the next few hours on his ass, watching foreign infomercials.

~ஐ~

The minute he got Bass off the phone, he was dialing another number. McCarty was just about to end the call when she picked up.

"What?"

"Well, hello to you, too." He glared at the receiver, as if his hateful glance could be fully translated over the phone line.

"What do you want?" She demanded.

"He just called."

She didn't ask 'who.' Damn woman was well aware, "What did you tell him?"

"Same as before, Miss Sparks. What we agreed." He said, "We do have a small problem, though."

"What's wrong?" She sounded worried. Good.

"My last payment was late. Don't let it happen again. Not unless you want Chuck Bass to know exactly what you're up to."

Her voice sickenly sweet, she retorted, "If you told him, well then you'd have to admit your part in it now, wouldn't you? What do you think he'll do to you?" He was quiet, her tone dropped to a hard whisper when he didn't answer. "That's what I thought. Don't threaten me again, freak. Bass shouldn't be the one that scares you."

He was getting a bad feeling she was right and Bass terrified the piss out of him. It wasn't fair. If only the man hadn't overreacted before and attacked him, then McCarty might not have been so open to helping Bass' old "friend" when she'd come calling.

Teeth grit. "I have the file you sent. I'll call you back with my findings."

"You do that. And don't contact me a moment sooner." She hung up.

"Bitch." Shaking his head, he turned back to the file she'd faxed over earlier in the day

TBC

A/N: Yes that bitch is back. :) And I am so not an expert on the care of comatose patients…tried to research and found couple things but same as with adoption laws kinda played it by ear. Hope you enjoyed this, let me know what you're thinking. Will update as soon as I can.

Courtney