Here is a new chapter.

I really have to thank you all for your wonderful reviews. I haven't had the time to answer them but I read them very carefully. I appreciate so much that you take time in order to let me know your own take on this story. All my 3

Ps: someone volunteer to be my beta reader for this but, since I'm a total mess, I can't find the comment anymore. If you're reading this, please volunteer again!

"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them."

Ernest Hemingway

CHUCK'S APARTMENT

"Shut up! Both of you!"

Chuck couldn't stand it anymore. Deep down he knew both girls were on his side; he knew they were yelling at each other in order to defend what they believed what benefic for him but he just couldn't stand it anymore.

He carefully walked towards Serena and stopped in front of her. Then, with a suave voice, he asked:

"Why?"

Such a simple question, thought Chuck. Honestly, Serena's suggestion seemed plain absurd to Chuck. It defied any kind of logical though and she had to know it. She was a smart girl; she had to know it didn't make any sense to trust Jack.

Jack Bass. The man that had sabotaged him every chance he had gotten. Serena didn't get it. She was too innocent to understand how the Bass worked. Chuck had to learn to survive between them, to become one of them; he knew what kind of shit they all swam in. Could a Bass act out of generosity? That was out of question.

Chuck couldn't help himself but to think of a little story; the story of the turtle and the scorpion. Once upon a time there were a nice and peaceful turtle on the side of river. A scorpion, dangerous as any scorpion was, came to the turtle and asked her to help him cross the river. The turtle, that wasn't stupid, refused; he was a scorpion after all! How could she be assured he wouldn't kill her? Easy, answered the scorpion. If we cross the river and I bite you, we'll both drown. It is in my best interest that you stay alive and well. It made sense, thought the turtle. She accepted; the scorpion popped upon her and she began to swim. Halfway the river, the scorpion bites her. Why did you do that? Asked the turtle. Now we'll both drown! The scorpion answered that, although he tried, he couldn't avoid it; it was his nature.

The Bass family was one of scorpions. Even if, by some miracle, Jack had good intentions, he was still a scorpion. Chuck knew, he was one himself and he refused to become the poor damned innocent turtle. If there was something Chuck wasn't, that was innocent. So every cell of his body was screaming at him: don't ever go there! Blair was right; he knew so. That's why to take the time to ask why someone would suggest otherwise was a demonstration of love. If it had been anyone other than Serena, he wouldn't have accord him the time of a question.

Since Serena proposed such an extravagant thing to do, he assumed that the least he could ask for was a reason. The reason, however, didn't seem to come since Serena was staying there, speechless. So he gave her a second chance.

"Serena, why would I do that? Why would I trust Jack Bass of all people?"

Serena looked down. She hadn't thought about that. Why, indeed, should he? He should because Jack was his father, because Barbara was his mother and cared for him. Those were good enough reasons but she couldn't share them. They had to stay secret. Why, then, should he listen to her? Serena believed easily in people; she was a trusting person and she knew that it had landed her in a lot of problems that people like Chuck and Blair, colder people, had to solve for her. She firmly believed, however, in Barbara's story. Chuck's life was on the line; what was she supposed to do?

"Because."

Blair snorted and sighed exasperated.

Chuck just kept watching Serena.

"Because?" He repeated, bemused.

"Because."

Blair gathered her things and walked towards the door.

"Whenever you've talked some sense into her and want to discuss seriously what to do, call me."

The sound of the door closing didn't modify their positions at all. Serena could have melted under Chuck's intense gaze; she sighed.

"Look, I know "because" is not a good reason. In fact, it's not a reason at all but I can't give you any better."

"What am I missing here? You come out of nowhere to tell me I should sell my company to Jack. How did you even know he wants to buy it? Have you talked to him?"

"Well, I'd loved to have been informed by you but, apparently, you preferred to go to Blair. That is the way things work out, isn't it Chuck? You come home to me and go to her when it really matters."

Serena made the saddest face she could muster and prayed. She prayed her little stratagem would work; she prayed Chuck would believe her act. Maybe if she made him feel guilty enough, he would feel the need to choose her side over Blair's on this.

She knew it wasn't the cleanest of moves but, at the moment, it was everything she got. She didn't like to manipulate Chuck but it was her only chance and she knew how to do it; she was Lily's daughter after all, manipulating men was in her genes. Logic wasn't on her side but maybe emotions would.

Chuck studied her closely.

"You didn't answer my questions. You can't bargain in here and talk to me about trust issues."

"Oh my god, are you suspecting –even for a moment- that I could be teaming up with Jack?"

Come on, thought Serena. Let's put on your most scandalized face you can, he has to buy this one.

"Of course not. Serena, do you want me to trust you? I am dying to but give me something to help me here."

Serena sighed.

"It's very simple Chuck. Do you trust me or do you trust Blair?"

Chuck erupted into a fit of hysterical laughter. She couldn't be serious. Women, he thought, they never are where you expect them to be.

"You're kidding, right? There has to be a hidden camera somewhere. This isn't about us or about Blair and me! There are facts Serena. There is history. We're talking about millions and millions of dollars. We're talking about everything I've got. Bass industries is my life Serena."

Wrong, thought the blond one. Bass Industries could be the death of you.

"You say it's not about you and Blair but it is Chuck. Of course it is. Are you going to call her every chance you get? We're a couple Chuck, which means we're also partners from now on. I am the one you should come to in this kind of cases. If I am not good enough for this, maybe I'm not good enough for anything else when it comes to you."

She couldn't believe she was doing this. Guilt tripping Chuck Bass? What was wrong with her? Her heart was breaking seeing the tortured expression of his face. She was giving him an ultimatum. What if it didn't work? What if he told her that she was right, that he was better off with Blair?

Maybe she should have told him the truth. They could have worked it out together but now it was too late. She had taken a road and she would travel it until the end. Her strategy was risky but it was the only thing she had.

What she didn't want to confront was the part of truth that lied in the stratagem. It was too son to make him choose between her and Blair; she knew it. He hadn't lied to her about it. She knew the brunette still held so much power over him. Chuck's reaction wouldn't only determine the course of Bass Industries, it would also determine the course of their own relationship.

"This is unfair Serena. Maybe you're right, maybe I should have called you but what would you have said? "Because"?"

Serena walked towards Chuck and took his hands into hers.

"I know trust is a concept you don't manage Chuck. I know trust isn't an issue when talking about economical empires. I know all that. I do."

She squeezed his hands and felt absorbed by his intense stare.

"But love is about trust. I am asking you to trust me. I know Jack is on the good side of this scheme. I can't tell you why but I just know it."

Chuck shook his head but Serena didn't let him move away.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me what you see."

"What?"

"Just do it! Do you see a girl who wants to hurt you or do you see one who wants to protect you with everything she got?"

Chuck studied her carefully. He studied a face he had learned to know by heart over the years. He could still tell her childhood's traits in the womanly face she had now. Her face was a map where he loved to travel. What did he see when he looked at her like that?

"Can you find a single thing in my eyes that could make you not to trust me?"

Could he?

He concentrated deeply; he knew this was a defining moment for both of them. What did he see?

He saw the prom queen; beautiful without trying, powerful without caring, loved and admired from afar without intending to.

He also saw a little girl who wanted to be daddy's little princess but, sadly, daddy was never home.

He saw the crazy and rebel teenager who tried every kind of excess, just as he did.

He could feel the hurt, the desire for revenge locked deep inside, the lack of self-confidence that lied beyond the surface.

He saw a girl who was in love with him. He saw a girl who needed the reassurance; a girl who wanted him to prove to her that he was hers and not Blair's anymore.

When he looked at her, everything he could see was devotion and trust.

Those were emotions totally unknown for him. No hidden interests like when his family was involved; no underlying game like when Blair was in front of him.

The pureness of the feeling was so intense; he thought he would faint from it.

Maybe that's why he did something he shouldn't have done. The first rule of business was to not let emotions in it. Deep down, Chuck knew it all came down to that.

Have you ever asked yourself why business people are so cold? It's because they cannot be otherwise. Why are they so inhumane? It's because humanity always ruins it all. Feelings, people, conscience; the three of them are the enemies of a good deal. No, thought Chuck, he wasn't cold because of a hobby of his. Coldness meant clarity of mind.

What Chuck was experimenting right now was exactly the opposite: clarity of soul. It was a new experience to him. He felt drugged. He believed he was hallucinating. He forgot everything he had once known by heart. In one moment he relearnt everything; he relearnt the world, he relearnt himself, he relearnt her. A bonded was being created looking into those amazing sapphire eyes. He felt sucked up in a new life. Woodstock, he thought at the moment, must have been something like that.

The logic of his thoughts disappeared slowly; so did his brain as a whole. In the end, only remained absolute trust, total peace of mind. What did he see when he looked at her? God, that's what he saw. The feeling of God, whatever religion you belong to, must be this.

"I do."

"W-w-what?"

Chuck's voice had interrupted the trance Serena had lost into. What had just happened? It had felt like some kind of extra corporeal experience. She had seen his soul. She had touched it. For a moment they had reenacted the act of birth; that moment when you're one and only with the world and everything that lies around you. She felt as if it was the first time she saw him at all and she was amazed by his beauty; by the complexity of his soul. The transcendence of it all brought tears to her eyes.

"What did you just say?"

"I said I trust you. I'll sell."

He loved her, thought Serena. Blair was over. He loved her. Now she knew. She slowly tangled her delicate hands in his jet hair and kissed him. What she then felt was amazing; she knew, right there, that this was her first kiss.

BLAIR'S HOUSE

"Can you do it?"

"What exactly?

"Looking into this. I need everything you can find on Jack Bass and Barbara Mansfield. You know I'll pay whatever is needed."

"It's always a pleasure to make business with you Miss Waldorf."

"Be fast. I need the information as soon as humanly possible."

Blair hung down the phone and turn around to see her boyfriend sprawled over the sofa.

"You're loosing your time. He'll never listen to Serena."

Blair snorted at her boyfriend's innocence. Or was it stupidity?

"If only you could be right."

"You can't really believe he will. It's Chuck Bass!"

"He's a man. Love is a liability. Chuck Bass is not immune to liabilities. Unlike the general belief, Chuck's problems are not the result of his lack of humanity but of his excess of it."

Dan finally caught onto something and took a deep breath.

"Do you realize that if he does listen to her, it means he is completely over you?"

Blair sighed before looking into her boyfriend's eyes.

"Of course I do."

"And yet you're still working to save his ass?"

Blair chuckled deeply.

"My dear lonely boy, for a writer you sure are slow to catch up on our dynamics."

Dan looked expectantly at Blair, awaiting a more detailed explanation.

"Chuck and I may be toxic about each other but that doesn't mean I don't care about him. I love him and I always will, whether we're together or not. If he needs me, he needs me –him wanting me or not has nothing do to with it-."

Dan sighed. How could it be possible? How could people as immoral as Chuck and Blair have access to a bond's depth he couldn't even imagine?

"You are so twisted."

Blair smiled.

"Chuck, Serena, Nate and I are a family; a sick, twisted and dysfunctional family but a family nonetheless. We may stab each other in the back but that doesn't mean we are going to let anybody else do so."

SOMEWHERE IN MANHATTAN

"Did she buy it?"

A high and easy chuckle escaped her throat.

"Absolutely. You were totally right; she is such an innocent girl. Are you sure she grew up on the Upper East Side?"

"You'd be be surprised at her scandalous past. She must have seen too many Disney movies as a child."

"Well, what's the next step Mr.?"

"We wait for the mouse to get into the trap all by itself."

"I never understood why Clark Kent was so hell bent on keeping Lois Lane in the dark."

Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

Chuck was kind of drunk on emotions. That's the only way he would have made such a decision. The question is: how much does an emotional hangover last?

What did you think of Serena's strategy to make Chuck to agree with her? Our girl is brilliant!

But a bit innocent maybe? Oh the cliffhanger at the end… Dot dot dot.

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