Disclaimer: I own nothing except a great love for CB and the many inhabitants of the UES
A/N: *screams* Less than 30 minutes until showtime…Forgive me for any mistakes I might have missed. I can't think straight…it's been the same all day. Wanted to get this baby posted for you guys. Hope you like it :D and I'll just leave you with that :D. Kisses to Wifey and my girls. SQUEE. I'm seriously just bouncing off the walls here…can't wait.
Chapter 26
On a normal day, nothing could've possessed him to switch off with Blair, even for a few moments in favor of talking to Dan Humphrey. He didn't give her a chance to demand any further answers from him.
Rather than thanking the other man for buying him some time, he growled a sour greeting to the former Brooklynite. "What do you want, Humphrey? Now's not the best time."
Dan jumped right in, "Sorry, but I just thought you'd like to know that your best friend was being arrested for trashing your bar...well the hotel's bar but still…"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Chuck interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What do you mean arrested."
"Exactly what I said." Dan clarified, or tried at least. "Look, Vanessa just told him that about her and Carter."
"You're not making any sense." Chuck drawled, but even as he spoke he was very sure that he understood. Vanessa and Carter? Not the likeliest of combinations. His mind immediately spun, trying to figure out angle in it all. "Who called the police?"
"Some of the other guests. They saw what he was doing and had the front desk call it in."
"My employees called in the police?" The wheels were already spinning in Chuck's mind, trying to figure out what the hell his best friend had gotten himself into this time and what means he'd need to employ to get him out of it.
"They didn't see who it was...not until the cops were already here. Your people are telling them it's fine but they—the boys in blue, want to take him in for drunken, disorderly and destruction of private property.
"Give me a minute," Chuck cursed vehemently. He switched back over to Blair and hoped his next words didn't sound as if he were merely delaying the inevitable. "Waldorf, we can't have this conversation right now. Not with me flying halfway around the world."
"That bad, huh?"
Chuck hated that he wasn't there with her now. Loathed Eleanor for what she'd set in motion five years ago. A new way for Chuck Bass to break her daughter's heart, as if he didn't have more than enough expertise on his own. "Yes"
"Why wait? Just tell me now."
Chuck shook his head, "No. Tomorrow when I get back we'll have it out, but do me a favor and refrain confronting your mother until I get back."
"I shouldn't have made you go," she said, quietly.
"Waldorf." Chuck tried again.
She nodded slowly, as if he could see her curled into herself, like some defeated creature. Blair pictured herself from the outside and was glad he wasn't there. She was stronger than this.
Blair Waldorf wasn't some little girl sitting around waiting for her mother to remember to love her. Hell, Blair was the mother this time around, if not for herself than at least she needed to do better for the twins' sake.
"I'm not hanging up until you promise me that you won't say a word to Eleanor. Not until I get back at least."
"I won't." she lied.
"Good. I need to go. We'll talk in the morning?"
"Of course." Blair frowned, listening to the sound of rustling on the other end. "Who was that on the other line?"
"Brooklyn." Chuck said, "Apparently, Nathaniel hasn't had the best of nights, either."
"What…hmm. Vanessa must've told him about Carter. Is he okay?"
"Depends on your definition of 'okay'. He's drunk off his ass and about to be arrested. So I wouldn't consider him so well off at the moment." Chuck backtracked, "So wait…you knew about the Carter thing?"
"Serena told me. She apparently knows better to keep secrets from me."
He sighed, silent for one aching moment, "I'm sorry, Waldorf. I can only say it so many ways."
"And it's enough. Besides, you're not the one who owes me an explanation." Blair felt her face burn as she thought of her mother. How many times had the woman just stood there while Blair sounded her praises to the world for "being there for Chuck"?
People must've known the truth. Hell, Chuck had admitted to driving her out of New York. The truth had to be nothing short of common knowledge.
Then again neither Penelope nor Nelly had taken great pleasure in giving her all of the gory details.
"Go take care of things for Nate. I'll be fine. Just try not to get stuck over there."
Chuck promised. Again, "You have my word. Now, go get some rest. Crazy day ahead for all of us tomorrow."
The twosome said there goodnights but Blair didn't move even after hanging up. Instead she sat there wondering just what she was supposed to do about her mother. Chuck wanted her to wait but Blair wanted—needed answers now.
The hurt sank into her below the surface of her anger and sense of betrayal. Blair found herself embracing the harsh fires of those latter emotions, taking comfort in them. Dragging in deep breaths, she didn't move. Couldn't have if she'd tried. She sat there in that spot until her wayward emotions were back firmly under her control. Donning the cool veneer that had protected her in times such as these over the years.
She left the bathroom, surprised to find her best friend wide-awake. "I thought you were sleeping."
Serena shook her golden head, sitting up with Alex cradled at her side. "No. Just a catnap. You woke me up when you went closeted yourself in the bathroom… hmm, I wonder who you could have been calling. Could it have been, I don't know a certain relation of mine."
The blonde's teasing smile fell away as she gauged her best friend's expression.
"B, what's wrong?"
"Everything." Blair stared down at her best friend.
"What happened?"
"What hasn't happened, S. " Blair quizzed bitterly, she motioned violently towards the clock on the wall, which did indeed show it to be well after midnight, "Chuck's on his way to Prague on New Year's Eve. Nate's getting arrested. As we speak."
"What? Why?" Serena kept her voice at a fierce whisper. She hissed her disdain. "Vanessa."
"Exactly."
"What did Chuck say happened"
Not much of anything, Blair frowned again wondering what details he'd left out concerning Nate's current dilemma and earlier about her mother. "No burning details. He said something about your favorite ghost of boyfriend's past, calling him."
"Carter?"
Blair rolled her eyes, "Please. I'm still having a hard enough time dealing with the idea of you and Carter Baizen procreating, let alone doing something as subdued as tackling coupledom."
"B, would you focus." Serena said, "So Dan contacted Chuck. We could call him now and find out what happened. Could you grab my phone?"
Blair was halfway across the room, reaching for the charging cell phone when she turned back, get empty hands held aloft.
"It's right over there, B. You couldn't have missed it."
"I didn't." the brunette came to stand before her best friend, . "I know it's just that there are a few things...questions that I need answered."
The blonde fidgeted beneath her best friend's scrutiny. "About what?" she tittered nervously, glancing away from Blair after a moment.
"Same question as always and no dancing around the truth this time. I want all of it. What happened between Chuck and my mother?" Blair demanded.
"Um, maybe you should be talking to Chuck about this."
"He wants me to wait until he gets back."
"Good idea." Serena nodded.
Blair cocked a brow, waiting but Serena was looking everywhere except in Blair's direction. Time stretched, pulling at the brunette nerves until she finally threw up her hands. Serena's expression spelled out her own relief quite loudly, her shoulders sagging under the weigh being lifted off. That feeling proved short-lived, as Blair turned away, reaching for her new uniform of blue jeans and a blouse.
"What are you doing?"
"You won't tell me anything. Chuck's not here. I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to go straight to the source."
"Blair, you can't just leave like that." Serena called out, forgetting at first to temper her tone. She gently maneuvered herself away from her son's dozing form, "B, you haven't even been released yet."
"No. Not officially...I shouldn't be gone long enough for it to make a huge difference." Blair slipped on another pair of flats.
"Would you just stop it. Wait until morning."
"No."
"Blair, be reasonable. What are you going to do? Walk...because I'm not giving you cab fare."
That stopped Blair, but only a split second before she made a beeline for her cell phone. "Fine, I'll call Arthur."
Serena let her tap out five digits before she gave in. "Dammit, Blair. You win."
"You'll tell me what I want to know?
Serena didn't answer still looking torn.
"Serena!" Blair said, eyes slitting in warning. She dialed out the rest of the telephone number and held her thumb poised over the send button.
"Come sit here. Just give me a minute." she scooped Alex into her arms, automatically nuzzling his neck and drinking in that baby smell.
Wordlessly, Blair put the phone away and settled down in the spot that her friend had just vacated.
Minutes dragged as Serena settled the toddler in between his sleeping cousins, re-checking to make sure that the side rails were locked firmly in place. Then she started re-tucking the blankets around the three children. Only when Serena cycled through the routine a third time does Blair call her on it.
"And now you're just stalling, van der Woodsen."
"Maybe because I happen to think that this is a supremely bad idea, Blair." Serena reluctantly came back to sit with her friend.
"And yet here we are. Start talking."
"Where do you want me to start?"
"The beginning would be nice, S. For starters, at any rate."
"Fine, but don't say that I didn't warn you. It's not pretty."
--
July 2009
Eric stepped off of the elevator and almost tripped over a box blocking his path, he tried bypassing it and ended up bumping into another. He tried to get a look at the side to see just in the world Blair had ordered now, but he saw nothing beyond the word "Fragile" stamped n the side. Not a Bergdorf's, Barney's, or FAO Swartz logo in sight.
He found his mother and Serena in the living room sifting through one of the open boxes. He saw blankets and baby clothes and knew immediately that he'd been right about his earlier assessment of the avalanche of boxes he'd returned home to. Eric glanced at the coffee table and saw three wine glasses, a half empty wine bottle and Blair's pomegranate juice. He didn't have to look beyond the old albums spread all over bit of the coffee table to know just what they'd been up to during his absence.
Serena spotted him first, "Eric."
"Darling, what are you doing home so soon? Was the movie that bad?"
"I wouldn't know. I couldn't get my date to shut up long enough for me to enjoy it."
"Eric, that's a horrible thing to say."
"Mom, Richard talked nonstop through dinner and then the previews. I thought he'd stop once the actual movie started but no such luck. I was forced to do something that I'm not particularly proud of."
His mother and sister were expectant in their silence.
"Well don't keep us on suspense." Lily prompted. "Did you tell him he was being a…"
"Pompous jackass." Serena supplied, helpfully.
Eric smiled, shaking his head.
"Oh my god." Serena laughed suddenly, "Eric, you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
Lily looked between her children. Trying to decipher the cryptic turn in their exchange. "Well for godsakes, what?"
"Do you think he's still there?" Serena wondered.
"Oh, I'd say it's a safe bet. He's definitely probably still there, talking to himself…about himself."
"Oh." Understanding dawned and Lily tried not to smile, her chin wobbling with the effort. "Darling, why didn't you just say something to him and where was Jenny...I thought this was a double date."
"She had a family emergency."
"Oh no. I hope it was nothing serious." Lily said, her expression distracted as she pretended sudden, renewed interest in the photo album splayed across her lap. "Did she tell you anything?"
"Actually, she told us that her sister…Danielle had gone into labor and she needed to fly right out to be with 'him, er her'."
Both blondes looked at him in disbelief and then at one another. Suddenly the room erupted with their breathless, hysterical laughter.
"Oh, dear. I take it that her date was no prize, either."
"Yea, not so much." Eric made a face in response and glanced over at the photo albums, "So what's with all of this stuff? Reminiscing? You do know that Serena's only moving a few hours away and not to Alaska, right?"
"I had an inkling." Lily pulled him down beside her on the sofa, "no really we're just all looking through this stuff with Blair..."
"We were trying to keep her too distracted to be a pain in the..."
"Be nice."
"I was." Serena told their mother. It was no secret that with each day that passed without a word from Eleanor or Chuck...the moodier and therefore bitchier Blair became.
"Don't be like that. Whether eighteen or forty, this can be a very trying time in a woman's life. Yes she's more demanding than usual. Years and years from now you'll understand and be able to slip in a little payback."
"Mom, you can say it. Blair's a bitch. She revels in the title...hey who's this? Is this Chuck?" Eric finally got a closer look at the photo albums stacked in the open box between Lily and Serena.
"Yes. As I informed you both weeks ago, the renovation of the Bass villa in Tuscany is underway and the overseer found boxes of old albums and things from Chuck's nursery."
We were sorting through them earlier with Blair, see if there was anything here that she wants to keep for the babies." His sister scooped up a thick blanket, colored in the richest of cream and shot of gold threaded through, the prominent initials CBB were painstakingly stitched with the same golden thread. Serena brought the material to her face and breathed in. She promptly yanked it away, wrinkling her nose. "This goes out for cleaning, too."
"Wow, check out Chuck's mom and Bart," Eric lifted out a candid shot of His brother's dead parents. Eric recognized the exotic beauty, features soft and fuller as she regarded a very relaxed Bart Bass with a teasing smile. Bart had eyes only for her swollen belly, that not quite a smile alive for seconds enough to be captured on film. "Where's General Waldorf?"
"She decided to turn in early." Lily covered a yawn. "I suppose, I'm not very far behind her. Serena what do you say we pick this up in the morning and that way Blair can let us know what she wants to hold on to "
"Sounds like a plan."
"Good, good. In the meantime, Gertrude can see what she can do about that blanket and the christening gown." Their mother stood slowly, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I think B already bought two of those." Serena glanced at the christening gown in question.
"Whatever Blair doesn't need, we can have cleaned and stored until Chuck is found and brought home." the threesome glanced sadly.
It seemed the courtship had lasted longer than the marriage itself but in that time both Bart and Chuck managed to carve out places in the van der Woodsen family that now felt gapping and emptiness of their absence. Lily frowned remembering her final moments with Bart and her harsh words for the manchild shed come to consider one of her own even before she and Bart signed adoption papers or even before that June afternoon when he slid the wedding band on her finger and made them a family.
" Mom, are you okay?"
Lily managed a small smile, hugging her own baby close. "Just fine, honey." She lied trying not to think about the extent of the damage done. For once. Lily had been fully confident that she was getting things right this time as a mother to Serena, Eric, and Chuck. Her false starts firmly in the past but then she'd feel the phantom sting of her palm striking out, flesh against flesh. All the times, she'd wanted to throttle her daughter for her wild ways, she'd never actually done it. And yet she'd struck Bart's son, her child on the day they buried his father.
It wasn't a question of her own guilt and making amends when the girl sleeping upstairs had arrived weeks before. Yes, Lily wanted to do right by Chuck and take care of Blair and their unborn children when he couldn't. But it was Blair, her expression pallid, manner as is she'd been dealt the worst of blows.
Lily hadn't understood the extent of the situation until Dorota showed up with luggage on tow for her "Miss Blair" and Cyrus called not long after to be sure that hid stepdaughter was with the van der Bass family. Blair and Serena were sisters in all except blood, and the girl's situation hit home just a little too close for comfort. Eleanor's entire attitude a little to reminiscent of her own mother's.
Eleanor would come around, Lily only wished...no, life would've been too changed had she defied Cece and kept her firstborn No Serena or Eric. No Bart or Chuck. A completely different life. No, no she'd done the right thing for herself and that baby. Knowing that didn't stop the ebb and flow of regrets or whatifs. Never had. Blair had chosen differently and Lily fully intended to offer the support Eleanor refused.
"You can head up...between me and Eric I think we can get through this last box until morning." Serena said.
Lily reached for the framed pictured, angling from Eric's fingers, "May I?"
Eric handed it over without a word and settled on the spit she'd vacated. He and Serena watched as she carried the photo of Chuck's parents to the mantel.
"For when he gets home. "Lily's finger tips skimmed across the glass, caressing Bart's cheek and resting on Evelyn's swollen belly. A sad smile curved her mouth, she bid Eric and Serena goodnight and headed up to her room. She poked her head briefly into the dark recesses of Chuck's room and listened for the sound of Blair's even breathing.
At first she heard nothing and wondered of Blair was in Serena's room.
Lily pushed the door inward, no longer blocking the slender cone of light seeping in through the crack in the doorway. Almost immediately she spotted the blankets that'd been shoved to the floor and she saw Blair lying on her side in the middle of the bed. She was curled into herself with her back facing the gaping doorway.
"Blair, sweetheart." Lily whispered, tipping close to the bed.
The girl moaned, her body quavering.
Lily reached immediately for the discarded blankets and wrapped them about Blair's slumbering form as she'd never been able or rather around to do for Serena and Eric when they were younger.
"Hot." Blair murmured in her sleep, immediately kicking them away. Again, her body trembled covered only in her nightgown, gooseflesh pimpling her exposed arms.
Lily tried again, carefully arranging blankets and met with the same results only this time Blair's lashes slitted open and for a brief moment, unfocused brown eyes were skimming across Lily's face. The girl sighed sleepily, her eyelids seemingly to heavy to be burdened with wakefulness.
"Blair, honey."
The girl mumbled unintelligibly, shoving away the heaviest of the blankets. "Too hot."
Brow furrowed, Lily didn't renew her previous efforts. Instead, she tested Blair's forehead and found no sign of fever. Fully intended to adjust the thermostat, she started to pull away, only Blair's hand shot out, fingers forming a bracelet about Lily's wrist.
"Blair, what…" Lily sputtered, glancing over to the sleeping girl, eye's still hidden behind bruised eyelids.
"Don't go."
"Honey, are you wake?"
"Please," Blair shivered. "Don't go."
"Okay. I'm not going anywhere."
--
Present Day
Blair squirmed, listening as Serena took her at her word and started at the beginning of it all. More than once Blair had to stop herself from interrupting. She had the vaguest recollections of everything that had happened once she'd left Serena and Lily to finish unpacking the boxes from Tuscany.
She remembered being tired but resisting the need to lay down as much as she could until she felt so dizzy that her eyes crossed with. Blair didn't remember, Lily coming upstairs. She didn't remember, begging her to stay. Not to leave her alone. Blair listened intently, trying to pull the pieces of vague memory together and line things up with what Serena was saying.
"It must have been a few hours. I remember going into my room and falling asleep watching reruns of the Closer." Serena told her, eyes troubled and words edged in remembered panic. "When I woke up and everything was happening…I was half-asleep and I was so sure that it was the television instead of my mom, calling out. It didn't click at first. Why would she need an ambulance? Then it all started to sink in and I was on my and in Chuck's room so fast. B, I don't remember ever feeling so…terrified in my life. I kept thinking about when you blacked out at the park. You'd talked me into going to feed those stupid ducks…"
"Hey, do not insult the ducks." Blair interjected, smoothing a comforting hand across her friend's back, as she recalled her own horror. She'd talked Serena into going with her to the pond, but it hadn't been relaxing, in the least. Instead, she'd become fixated on the pairs and trios abounding around them. Small children with their parents. Mothers and daughters. A man with his son, teaching him to ride the bike. Serene, moments straight out of some magazine and Blair had gotten more and more pissed with each passing minute. Ducks. Forgotten. Peace. Some alien ideal.
She'd sent Serena off, using food as an excuse. Once her friend was out of sight, she was dialing a number that she hadn't tried in months. By now the voicemail didn't even switch over, it just kept ringing. Next, with only a moments hesitation she was calling her mother. At that point, it was only two days after her blowout with Eleanor. They hadn't spoken since Eleanor leveled her ultimatum to go through with the adoption or "get out."
Blair hadn't regretted her decision, and it'd only taken minutes to find that Eleanor was just as unmoved in her resolve. They only ended up arguing again. By the time, Serena returned, Blair was in full rant mood. Ducks scattered and mothers and nannies gave her wide berth. Serena had tried to get her to calm down but Blair would have none of it. She'd raged on about Eleanor's laundry list of maternal failures over the years. One moment she'd been rehashing her appendicitis with only Chuck and Dorota for company, while Eleanor as usual was off looking out for number one. Then in the next instant, she was seeing twice the Serena and then nothing at all.
Later that day, Blair woke up in the hospital for the second time in her life and again Eleanor Waldorf-Rose had been nowhere in sight. It had been Lily and Serena who'd taken care of her, promising Blair's OB that they'd make sure she adhered to her bedrest and keeping her life as stress-free as possible.
Certainly not the easiest of tasks, even under normal circumstances, and Blair's life had left normal behind a long time ago.
--
July 2009
"Mom, what's happening? B, are you okay?" Serena asked though she knew the truth of it, the moment she stepped inside the room. Or even when she'd shaken off the final dregs of sleep and realized that it hadn't been voices from the television but from the next room, rising and panicked.
She watched as her mother visibly pulled herself together, calm and control reining in the wild fear in her eyes. "Serena, grab my phone from my room and bring it to me. I programmed Dr. Schulman's number there after that first scare." Lily revealed, as if Serena needed to be reminded of that day in the park.
"Blair?" Serena didn't move, her eyes were trained on her best friend. The brunette's face was flushed and every inch of visible flesh was bathed in sweat. Her expression pained, one hand clutching at the sheets and the other cradling her abdomen. "B…"
Lily barked, "Serena! Go, now!"
Movements automatic, Serena rushed out to do her mother's bidding. She didn't remember racing from the room and going into Lily's. She only knew that she suddenly had her mother's cell phone clutched in her hand and she was bumping into Eric in hallway. "Eric, oh god. Move. Move."
He stepped aside, but she heard his hurried footsteps following close behind.
"Here it is." Serena shoved the phone into her mother's hand.
"Good. Good. Come sit with Blair."
The blonde was already moving. She knelt down beside Blair, , "Talk to me. Tell me what's wrong, B?"
Her friend moaned, her words stilted and hoarse. "S…Hurts."
She gripped Blair's hand, "Where? Tell me where?"
Blair didn't answer.
"B, what does it feel like? Are you in labor?"
"Serena, Dr. Schulman wants to know if she's feeling any aches or pains in her side or her back." Lily said, "Eric, I want you to go downstairs and wait for the paramedics to get here."
"Yeah, okay." Eric nodded slowly and stumbled from the room. He didn't bother changing from his t-shirt and boxers, his mind was too full. Too worried about Blair.
"B, come on. Talk to me. What are you feeling? Is it like we read in the books?"
"My head hurts, S. Turn off the lights." Blair peeked out through squinting eyes.
Lily dimmed the lights but didn't shut them off. "Serena, check her belly. Dr. Schulman wants to know it feels hard."
"Here." Blair groaned, guiding her friend's questing hand high on her belly. "Doesn't feel like I thought. This hurts way way more."
"Ask her on a scale of 1 to 10." Lily relayed from Blair's O.B.
Blair laughed without a trace of humor. "Remember those Prada boots I had to had to have…that took me forever to break in."
"Yeah." Serena nodded.
"Remember the first time I wore them."
"I remember they had you walking funny for almost a week." The blonde said. "Oh, okay."
"Exactly." Blair tried to sit up. "So I'd say about a twenty on that scale."
Lily repeated Blair's analogy and assessment of what she was feeling.
"B, maybe you should just sit still."
The brunette shook her head slowly. One hand creeping up to her mouth. "Can't. Help me up."
"That's a good idea, Serena. Walk around with her and see if that helps."
"No. Bathroom. I'm going to puke." Blair explained. "God, I thought this was supposed to end months ago."
Serena scrambled to her feet. She made it to Blair's side just as the brunette began wavering, swaying. "Hey!"
"Hmm," She stumbled backward until she was sitting on the bed again. "Think I'd just better stay right here."
Serena settled back down at Blair's side. She spent the next few minutes trying to get her best friend to use the breathing techniques they'd been practicing. Meanwhile, Lily paced the length of the room, glancing every few seconds at the two girls huddled together.
"Blair, sweetheart. Is the pain getting stronger?" Lily questioned.
"No." She shook her head, "Pretty much the same level of excruciating as before."
"B, what can I do for you? Can I get you water or something?"
Blair shook her head. She frowned and started to say something. "Well…no. Nevermind."
"No, tell me."
She mumbled, her words obscured and unintelligible.
Eric came rushing in the room before Serena could ask again. Soon enough Serena was being edged out while two paramedics checked Blair over. Or rather, one took the pregnant woman's blood pressure and checked her vitals, while the other peppered them all with questions. Some similar to what Lily had been asking on Dr. Schulman's behalf.
Serena studied the two men. Trying to gauge the seriousness of the situation in their expressions, but they gave her nothing to work with.
At one point, the fair-haired medic took the phone from Lily and conferred in hushed tones with Dr. Schulman. He came back not long after, "Your OB will meet us at the hospital. Which of you will be riding in the ambulance with Miss Waldorf?"
"Me." Serena's hand shot up.
"Actually, I want Lily to come with me." Blair informed.
"What?" Mother and daughter demanded in unison.
"Ladies. Calm, soothing tones." The dark-haired medic advised, hefting Blair in his arms as a bridegroom would his newly wedded wife. As if she weighed less than nothing.
Blair's arm went around his neck automatically. Her other hand unconsciously tracing soothing circles across her belly. "S, I need Lily with me."
"But…but what about our plan."
"And I want you and Eric to get my mother."
"We can call her on the way." Serena assured, keeping her tone as neutral and deferring as possible.
Blair shook her head, "She won't answer."
"B, this is crazy."
"Please, S. I want her there. I need her there."
"What about Dorota?" Serena asked, "We'll call her cell and she'll let us up."
"You can't. She's visiting her sister." Blair reminded.
"We'll go." Eric piped up. "Don't worry. We'll get Eleanor to the hospital."
"Darling, why don't I go with Eric to retrieve your mother?" Lily suggested, "That way, you and Serena can head to the hospital together."
"Won't work. I know my mother and you'd be lucky if the doorman even lets you in the building…let alone upstairs." Blair smiled despite the dire circumstances, "You didn't exactly make a bosom buddy for life the last time that you two spoke."
"What makes you think that I'll have better luck?" Serena questioned, trailing behind the group as Blair was carried from the room and downstairs to the waiting stretcher.
"Really, do you have to put me in that thing. I can make it downstairs and to the hospital perfectly fine on my own two feet."
Serena snorted her disbelief, "Yes, because you didn't almost just fall flat on your face trying to get to the bathroom."
"Aren't you gone yet, Serena?" Blair rolled her eyes, seeming more like her old self.
"We're going."
"Fine. Just don't have those babies until I get there." Serena leaned down, "You hear that down there. Auntie S says that you have to stay in Mommy's belly for a while longer."
"Don't worry. It's probably those Braxton-Hicks thingies. This is just a huge overreaction." Blair said, "The girls can't come for another month at least. It's way too soon. You'll see. It'll be just like in those movies. Did you know I was born two weeks after my mother's due date. Fash…"
"Fashionably late, even from the womb. Yes, I remember." Serena sighed, shaking her head.
"Ladies, we need to go."
Serena stepped back, standing with Eric as the medics strapped Blair in and Lily returned with her jacket and purse. "Blair, honey. Where's your bag for the hospital?"
"We haven't put it together yet." Serena said.
"There's no reason to pack it yet." Blair assured, "I'll be home…back here tomorrow night. With more strict orders this time, to not even so much as lift a pinkie. You'll see."
Serena and Eric started into the elevator with everyone else.
"Um, S. Don't you think it'd be a good idea to maybe run a comb through your hair. Put something more than that robe on. Though, that might be the way to get past the doorman."
"I'll take care of her, Serena. You just get to Eleanor. Maybe this'll knock some sense into the woman. Let her see how screwed up her priorities have been in this." Lily met her children's eyes briefly. She tried to reassure them both. "I'll take care of her."
--
Present Day
"You seriously don't remember booting me as your Lamaze coach in favor of my mother and sending me into the lion's den with yours?" Serena asked.
"Sorry, but I really don't. Some things are crystal clear in my head and others I'm completely blanking on." Blair admitted. She dragged in a fortifying breath, preparing to ask the question that would sting in the knowing.
Serena beat her to the punch with one of her own, "Why'd you ask for my Mom?"
"What?" She didn't understand what Serena meant at first.
"To stay with you…ride with you to the hospital. You asked my mother to go with you."
"Well, about that." Blair said, "I don't know, really. I didn't plan it. I just really needed her with me right then. You're my best friend in the world, S. But Lily took me in and well…she's a Mom and since I couldn't have my own right then and there…Lily was it, I suppose."
"I guess that makes sense."
"Sorry, if I hurt your feelings."
"You didn't really." Serena said before admitting, "I don't think I was in the best frame of mind to deal with your mother, though. Good thinking sending Eric along. He did most of the talking."
Blair steeled herself, waiting for what would come next.
--
July 2009
"Who are you calling? Please tell me you're not trying Eleanor again. She didn't answer any of the half-dozen times on the car ride over and I doubt she will now." Serena warned as they hurried onto the service elevator.
The same service elevator that Serena herself had used frequently in the past. Or rather, Blair had used it to sneak her wasted bestie in, right under Harold and Eleanor's noses. She used the key that Blair had secretly copied for her and stabbed with mounting impatience, at the call button for the Waldorf-Rose apartment.
The sooner they got this over with, the sooner they could get to the hospital to check on Blair.
Eric cleared his throat. "Actually, that wasn't Blair's mother. Not every single time, at least."
"Then who...oh." Serena nodded, "but...wait. He's not answering his cell phone. The voicemail isn't even working anymore...who'd you leave that message for earlier."
Eric looked away guiltily.
"Oh my god. You've talked him. All this time we've been going out of our minds, worried and Blair oh my god. BLAIR."
"Stop it. I didn't talk to Chuck. I just tried an old number."
"But you admit that you've talked to him since he took off." Serena accused again.
"Look, he called a few months ago. The night before my birthday or I guess it was my birthday wherever he was holding up. The point is that yes he called. He apologized about Bart's wake,"
"Eric, why didn't you say anything?"
"Chuck made me swear not to and I wasn't exactly reassured by the way he sounded."
"Eric," Serena looked at him, that moment and everything else in the past few hours, feeling like some great, unfunny cosmic joke, "I can't believe you kept this to yourself. I'm your sister for crying out loud."
"And he's our brother." Eric retorted.
"Exactly. I had a right to know and B is having his children."
"I know!"
She demanded, "Did you tell him that we've been looking for him everywhere. Some of us who haven't benefited from a late night call to let us know he's still alive."
"Serena, when's my birthday?
"What?" Blinking in confusion, she tried to reconcile his words.
"When. Is. My. Birthday?"
"Eric, we don't have time fo...wait. Your birthday isn't until next month. Oh my god."
"Right. We need to find him and bring him home as soon as possible and not just for Blair. He needs us,"
"I know, but we've done everything, looked everywhere and still managed to stay one step behind him."
"Thanks to Jack."
Serena frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly, what I said. He's never been away this long"
"Well, Bart died and this is how he's dealing. At least, he called you. Maybe he's ready to come home"
"Not if Uncle Jack can help it. As long as, Chuck stays away, Jack can go on running things. He's holding the purse strings, I think he knows exactly where our brother is..."
The service elevator jolted to a stop, doors sliding open to the familiar sight of the pantry door and a corkboard, covered with dozens of lists scratched out in Dorota's handwriting.
Serena interrupted, her voice falling immediately into whispered tones, "Look, we do this for B first and make sure she's okay, then we can confront Jack. "
Getting into the building had been as hard as Blair had predicted. They'd almost given up completely on getting past the doorman when Serena remember having a key to the service entrance and the elevator. Serena figured that the hard part was over. That now they'd only have to tell Eleanor that her daughter had been rushed to the hospital and they'd be on their way.
Twenty minutes later, Serena was checking her phone for any word from Lily and again found no new message. No texts. Nothing to tell Eleanor who seemed unmoved by the fact that Blair had asked for her.
"Lily's there. I'm sure she'll offer all the support Blair could possibly want." Eleanor said, "Oh, wait. Those were her words exactly."
"Eleanor, please." Eric tried.
She wasn't listening, "Blair doesn't need me. She knows exactly what she's doing. She's the soul of responsibility and ready to parent not one but two children."
"That doesn't mean she doesn't want you with her."
"Yes, it does. She's eighteen and making her own choices. Well, I gave her one here. Give those…those children up and go to Yale like she's always planned. Live the life that she's been preparing for since she was a little girl."
Eric said, "But she is going to Yale."
"With babies in tow." The older rolled her eyes, "What does she think this is one of those god-awful Lifetime films? You and Blair are both still too young to understand just how much she'll ruin her life if she doesn't go through with the adoption."
"She's made her decision, Eleanor."
"Yes and so have I." She said, "Dorota, show them out."
Serena looked around to see that the maid who'd appeared at some point during the less than cordial exchange point was looking on, wearing her bathrobe and wringing her hands. "Wait. But I thought Blair said you were visiting your sister."
"I postpone. Miss Blair say to go but I wait until babies born."
"For godsakes. Get them out of here and don't forget that I pay your salary, Dorota. Not Miss Blair."
"Fine. I show them out, but please , Mr. Eric and Miss Serena. You wait for me. I need to change."
"You're not going anywhere."
Dorota pulled herself up to her full height, shoulders squared. "I have the night off, Miss Eleanor. Remember?"
"That was yesterday and would you look at that. It's after midnight. A brand new day and I need you here." Eleanor retorted, avoiding her husband's disapproving bearing, as he stood slowly. "Then again you could quit and go work for Lily Bass. She seems to love taking in misfits and cast-offs."
"Dorota, go get dressed. No one's leaving without you. I'll get our coats." He said.
Dorota spared Eleanor barely a glance before she disappeared from the room.
"What do you think you're doing?" Eleanor turned on the husband that she usually adored and not quite mustering the disdain she'd shown to the van der Woodsens and her own daughter.
"Exactly as I said, dear. Getting our coats. You might want to grab your shoes." Cyrus told her.
"I'm not going."
Serena and Eric stood back anticipating the coming standoff and wondering at the flipside of the usually cooing pair.
"Eleanor, your only child is in the hospital. The daughter whom I know you love. If I just stand by and support this foolish attitude, you'll hate me and yourself if any happens to that girl. I love you both too much to let that come to past."
"But…"
"You're going."
"No, I'm…" She sputtered as he slipped her coat on over silk pajamas. "Well, I can't just go outside like this."
"And I know better than to let you go upstairs. You look just fine." Cyrus assured her, "Besides, the hospital is full of people in hospital gowns and pajamas. You'll fit right in."
"Fine. It's probably nothing, anyway. Braxton-Hicks. I had them myself with Blair." Eleanor revealed, "and do you know she ended up coming late after all."
"You don't say." Cyrus threaded his arm through hers. "Like mother, like daughter."
--
Present Day
Blair couldn't sit anymore. Serena kept talking. Telling her about the uncomfortable ride to the hospital and the hours of waiting. The doctors barring Serena's entrance into the delivery room and her mother's refusal to trade places with Lily. As much as she hated them, Blair found there were definitely upsides to the gapping holes in her memory.
She moved away from her best friend, needing to think. Needing space. Instead her feet carried her closer to the hospital bed.
"I don't get it, S." Blair whispered, looking down at her sleeping children. Eleanor's grandchildren. Kat asleep on her belly, dark curls hiding her face and her twin squirmed closer and closer to the edge of the bed, one arm flung over her eyes and her mouth hanging open.
"What, B?"
Blair reached out, smoothing the hair from Kat's face and her other hand curving Evie's baby soft cheek. "How'd she just walk away? From them? From all of us?"
"Well…" Serena chewed on her bottom lip.
"No, you know what? Don't bother, Serena. There's no explanation. I was in a coma. Her last link to me and she stayed away from them for five years. Who does that?" Blair reached for the anger.
"Your mo…"
"Exactly, my mother!" She turned back to Serena. "That's who."
The blonde was on her feet, "Blair, shh. You'll wake the kids. Hell, the entire floor."
"Sorry, but I just don't get it. I knew she was upset with my decision but I honestly thought that she'd come around. I guess I forgot who I was dealing with, the woman is as bullheaded as can be."
"Guess you come by it honestly, then."
"Don't compare me to that woman."
Serena held up her hands in mock surrender as her friend on her with the full force of her upset. "Sorry."
"I'm her daughter, Serena. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. I was out of commission and she should've been there. Helping Chuck like the rest of you, but instead she just goes on with her life as if they don't exist. As if I don't."
"B, that's not exactly true. You didn't let me finish."
"There's more?" Blair snorted in disbelief. Her relationship with her mother was at rock bottom. What more could there possibly be? "Well, don't keep me in suspense, Serena."
"Come back and sit down with me."
"I don't want to," She pulled away, arms crossed. "Spill it, S."
"She didn't walk away…not really. Not away from you." Serena told her.
"Oh." Blair said, but it didn't soothe the hurt that she'd been nurturing at the core of her since she was a little girl, that hope that one day she'd been just perfect enough and deserving enough of her mother's time and devotion shriveled even further and turned into a brittle thing that might crumpled and fly away under just the briefest disturbance in the air.
Eleanor hadn't walked away. What in hell did that even mean?
"She didn't exactly make life easy for any of us. My family was basically barred from your room for months."
"So, what? She got all territorial and wanted me all to herself." Blair said, taking no pleasure in the idea.
"I guess you could say that." Serena tried again to get Blair off her feet. "Seriously, B. I'll tell you the rest just come back over here."
Blair rolled her eyes but did as her friend asked, plopping down onto the cot with a dull thud. She absently rubbed at bottom, wayward thoughts drifting briefly to Chuck. No. the truth first. She wanted to know all that they'd been keeping from her. And the way S was acting, Blair wasn't sure what to think.
"The rest, Serena. Finish it."
--
July 2009
Lily turned to the woman at her side and spoke in hushed tones. "Eleanor, for godsakes. I am begging you for the last time not to do this."
"It's already done. The minute the judge signs off on it, that child will be going to the parents Blair chose."
"You can't split them up. You cannot sit there and tell me that Blair ever intended that to happen."
"Don't preach to me about what my daughter wanted," Eleanor whispered, her eyes focused on the three men huddled just yards away, shuffling through seemingly reams of legal documents. "Besides, the separation won't be permanent. As soon as…the other baby is healthy enough, they'll come back for her."
"You can't even say her name. Either of their names." Lily accused, "Evelyn and Katherine. Say it."
"The adoptive family haven't disclosed the names they've chosen for their children." Eleanor retorted.
"What the hell is wrong with you? We shouldn't be here…doing this. We should be back at that hospital…waiting for Blair to wake up. Enjoying the first days of those babies' lives." Lily said, "They share your blood. Don't you feel anything?"
Eleanor's head whipped around at that, "My daughter…my only child is in the hospital right now, clinging to life. She should be out having fun…getting ready for Yale. She's going to lose everything that she ever worked for. Everything she's always wanted. That is what I feel."
"You talk about what she worked for…but what about respecting what she wants?"
"This is what my daughter wanted. I mean what she wants…Blair has her entire life planned out. This adoption is what's best for all parties involved."
"What about what my son might want?"
Eleanor chortled, her entire manner derisive, "Oh, I think young Charles got exactly what he wanted months ago. We wouldn't be here if he hadn't, would we?"
"Dammit, Eleanor. We should be supporting them here. They both messed up. Blair is just as responsible for our present circumstances. "
"Yes, she is. Which is why she decided to do the responsible thing and give these children a family."
"They have a family. This isn't what she wants. Blair changed her mind."
"Well, the adoption papers that she signed, say something entirely different." Eleanor said, "Be serious, Lily. If Charles gave a damn about her or your so-called family, where in the hell has he been?"
Neither woman realized that a some point their fast and furious, whispered exchanged, had escalated to a full on shouting match. At least not until the sound of the pounding gavel pulled them back to themselves.
"Enough. Mr. Sawyer…Ms. Phillips. I suggest that you get your clients under control…or I will. We may be in chambers but the same rules still apply." the judge cleared his throat, his sharp gaze pistoning between the two women.
"I'm sorry, your honor. It won't happen again." Lily assured.
"See that it doesn't." He said, "Mrs. Rose?"
Eleanor sighed, "Oh, fine. No more insults shall pass between me and Blondie here."
"Good, now before you two so rudely interrupted, I was preparing to announce my decision concerning the validity of this adoption." The judge glared, obviously finding something lacking in her obviously insincere contrition.
Blair's mother tried again, "Again, I apologize. Please proceed."
Lily forced herself not to fidget in her seat. She forced herself to breathe as she wait to hear what the judge had to say. All she needed was more time. Serena and her friends. The detectives and Jack were all working overtime to bring Charles home before he the chance to have any kind of say about Katherine and Evelyn's futures. He'd suffered more than enough heartache in his young life. She didn't want this added in with all else. Just a postponement. That was all she needed. Just more time.
The judge looked between both Lily and Eleanor. Finally his focus settled on Lily and she couldn't help squirming just a twinge. He made that face. The same face that she was growing familiar seeing whenever she visited Blair's hospital room. That distant, pitying glance.
"Mrs. Bass. I appreciate your passionate argument on your son's behalf, but as Mrs. Rose has pointed out…he has shown no interest in forestalling these proceedings. And these papers clearly state Miss Waldorf's intentions."
No. Lily gasped out, "But your honor she changed her mind. She's been setting up a nursery at our apartment."
"The woman is delusional, your honor. My daughter is set to attend Yale in a few months. She can't very well set up house with two babies in her dorm room."
Lily glared at her, before turning back to the judge. "I…"
He held up his hand. "I truly am sorry but Young Mr. Bass has grown quite the reputation for himself and he's shown that he's not willing to return home to stop this adoption…"
"Because he doesn't know about it…he didn't know Blair was even pregnant."
"Hmm," the judge frowned down at the papers spread across his desk. "Well, I have a sworn affidavit from one Jack Bass…the boy's uncle that he delivered a letter from Miss Waldorf detailing the entire situation…and yet…here we all sit. With not a sight or word from your son."
Letter? What letter? "No, that's not possible. I'm sorry. It simply cannot be true." Lily shook her head, "Charles would've come home if he knew what was happening."
"Are you saying that there is some reason to doubt the validity of this affidavit from the boy's very own Uncle?"
Well, Jack wasn't exactly her favorite person in the world and she couldn't think of why he would say he'd delivered Blair's letter, if he really hadn't. It was far more likely that he had sent it off and either it never caught up with Charles. Or maybe it had and he hadn't been ready for any words that might pull him from his grief and bring him home. "Your honor, all I'm asking for is just more time."
"You've said yourself that your family has been searching for months. The boy doesn't want to be found." He said, "Look, he'll make his way home soon enough…both, he and Miss Waldorf will have the option to change their minds before this is final. Until such time…I am forced to uphold the validity of these papers…Evelyn Bass and Katherine Bass are to be surrendered into the custody of their adoptive parents, as soon as, the hospital sees fit to release them. This hearing is hereby adjourned."
He offered Lily another of those glances before leaving the room.
"We can appeal. We'll start the paperwork right now." Lily's lawyer hurried to her side.
"Don't waste your time." Eleanor stood to her feet just as Lily did the same.
The blonde stared at Blair's mother. Making no attempts to hide her disgust. Lily didn't utter a single word as she breezed past Eleanor.
"Nothing to say."
Lily bit her tongue, but couldn't help turning back as she reached the door. "Congratulations."
The other woman's surprise was immediate but she covered quickly with a sly smile, "Why thank you, Lily. How gracious of you."
"Don't thank me. You just lost."
"Hmm…I think you need your hearing checked because I heard the judge clearly enough."
"No, I heard him. You've lost everything you hold dear. You just don't know it yet." With that, Lily made her exit as graceful as possible, walking easily from the room when she wanted to hurry. Resisting the urge to slam the door at her back. She did give into the urge to curse when she was out of earshot. "Stupid. Stupid bitch."
Lily reached for her phone, preparing herself to deliver the bad news.
"Mom?"
"Hello, darling. We just got out and it's not good."
"No, Mom. Listen. I just got a call from Kati Farkas." Serena said, her voice relieved for the moment of the dull, sadden pall that had shadowed them all since three nights before. "She thinks she knows where we can find Chuck."
"What?"
"Chuck, Mom. I know where he is."
--
Present Day
"B, say something. You're scaring me."
"Oh my god." Blair stared at her friend, her eyes unseeing. "Oh my god."
TBC
A/N: Again…sorry for whatever I may have effed up on but the SF is minutes away and my grape martini awaits. B knows the truth and you guys got the rundown of…well how it went down. Let me know what you think. Hope you enjoyed this one. As always let me know what you're thinking. And *snoopydance* TWO MINUTES & COUNTING…hugs all around…Love you guys so friggin much :D
Courtney