A/N: I'm not going to try to excuse my absence... the show sucked the inspiration from me and that's all there is to it. I was able to write this, so I think it may be back now. I apologize in advance if it's not up to par... I'm feeling very rusty. Thank you to everyone who left me reviews when I wasn't writing; it was all of you that reminded me that I needed to get my head back on my shoulders. I'm extremely grateful for the push.

For those that read "Lost in this Moment," it was updated about a week ago after a hiatus as long as this story's was... just in case you missed it.

This is unedited because you waited long enough. Please excuse my human errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl's Chuck Bass or Blair Waldorf... I just like them in character. The show doesn't seem to feel that way anymore.

If Only

Chapter 22

"What's going on in the City?"

It was finally Sunday; this was the day of the dance that Blair had been waiting for most of her life... and the last day she had to convince Nate that he was nothing more than a friend.

She'd accidentally overslept that morning, so there was the feeling that she was running behind as she went about her packed schedule for the day. There was her hair appointment and her nail appointment before lunch, then she had the interview with the New York Times reporter for her "A Night Out With" feature before she could get into her dress and over to The Palace.

Speaking with the Times reporter had been less nerve-wracking than she'd thought it would; she found her mind wandering, thinking about how everything was going quite according to plan, even with her twelve hours of sleep the previous night.

Through the entire conversation with the interviewer, John-something, something felt quite off and she couldn't place why. It felt like there was something she was supposed to tell him, but she had forgotten to...

"Thanks so much for your time, Miss Waldorf," he bid her goodbye with a smile on his face, "I'll guess see you and the prince later tonight." He'd stepped closer to shake her hand and suddenly his cologne was overpowering her.

As soon as he mentioned her formerescort for the ball, she snapped out of the discomfort she was feeling; everything clicked back into place once she remembered what it was that she'd forgotten. It was time to set him straight and work on her mission to shake Nate's affections by the end of the night.

"Oh, I'm not going with the prince anymore," Blair explained cheerfully.

John-something looked scandalized before she clarified: "Since my ex-boyfriend and I are still such good friends, and neither of us are attached at the moment, I'm going with Nate Archibald." She shined a perfectly crafted grin up at the random man and continued, "Given our history, it was only right. He is the perfect gentleman... the perfect date!"

"Take care," John smiled down at Blair fondly and then turned to walk to the elevator...

And that was when she spotted Chuck standing in the hall, a tightly controlled expression on his face.

Once John had stepped onto the elevator, she smiled and rushed toward Chuck, intending to put her arms around him. "What are you doing here, Chuck?"

His hands closed over her shoulders, holding her away from his at he looked into her eyes. "I should ask you the same question; 'perfect gentleman, perfect date?' That broken record was a hit last year, Blair." His hands dropped to his sides, "If I'd gotten here a moment sooner, I could have straightened baldy out on the subject; Nate bores you."

Suddenly that recently familiar urge to verbally strike him welled up inside her again. For some reason, she was powerless to check herself before speaking nowadays, so she said what came to mind first: "Nate would never cause a scene."

There was a moment that he looked so shocked that she went there, when they'd had basically the same argument the day before, and the beaten look on his face tugged at her heart.

An apology was on the tip of her tongue, but then his face morphed into that of the Chuck Bass that she used to know; the one that slept with girls and forgot their names, the one that she'd only tolerated for his mind because he didn't have a heart.

He tipped the corner of his mouth in a lecherous smirk, his voice toned so low and practiced that it made her skin crawl. "He never got your blood going, either," he drawled in that voice that he was famous for, the one that girls always dropped their panties for... the one he hadn't used on her since they started their affair.

All of a sudden her mood changed again, as swift as lightening she was incredibly sad at the transition to their former manipulative selves. What was happening to the bliss they'd been hiding in? The perfect bubble of happiness that they'd been existing in was cracking around her and she was powerless to repair it.

She could at least pause the destruction for today; if the cause of all the tension was due to their secretive situation, then everything would be back to their recent normal after tomorrow night. If it wasn't... well, she would concentrate on finding the leak in their balloon after she could rule 'going public' out as the pin that punctured it.

In the interest of peace, she replied tiredly instead of rising to his rude bait: "speaking of going, that's what you should do."

He looked shaken that she'd decided to give up before the argument started; in fact, his eyes looked almost concerned. The pang that gaze caused in her gut felt more like a fencing sword then a pin prick. Obviously, he knew something was breaking them apart as well and he was looking out for the signs.

Even though it took considerable effort, she tilted her lips in a reassuring smile and gave him a reason for her suggestion he leave: "Carter Baizen is on his way here right now and I think it's best if you were gone when he gets here. There's been enough scenes for today."

Instead of her reasoning ensuring Chuck know she wasn't asking him to leave because she wanted him too, his expression grew dark enough to seem almost menacing. "Blair," he said with a brittlely calm tone, "What are you doing with Carter Baizen?"

His reaction surprised her, to say the least.

"It's nothing," she replied defensively, "he left his jacket here yesterday after tea and he's coming by to pick it up."

He didn't look any closer to being contented by her answer and it peaked her curiosity that Carter would get this reaction from him. Especially since it was a slightly more violent than the one he had to any mention of Nate.

Hadn't the three of them been friends at one time?

Shaking her head, she pushed the thought away; it didn't really matter now. Time was flying so swiftly past that she could feel how late it was getting just by the weariness that was setting in her; maybe she had time for a quick nap before getting dressed...

"Really, Chuck, it's nothing," she sighed, "but you should go just in case we aren't as sneaky as we think we are."

Leaning forward, she kissed him softly on the lips and lingered as long as she could before he would attempt to deepen it; if there was no time to find out what this problem was in between them, there was no time for making out to avoid talking about it.

"I'll see you after the ball, right? Meet you in 1812?"

He was obviously disappointed in still being dismissed, but seemed to take that as his cue to leave. He walked over and pressed the call button for the elevator then he turned back to her, his face blank, like he had something on his mind that he was trying to hide from her. "Tonight," he agreed, "I'll be waiting for you."

They would continue their argument later.

The ding of the elevator resounded through the silent atrium and he stepped through the doors when they opened. She watched as the doors closed over him, his hooded eyes never leaving hers as he disappeared from view.

He was aware that something had changed between them, too, and again, they'd left things unsaid for another time. There was something keeping them from achieving the happiness they'd had prior to their fight the previous day and Blair knew that answer lay with her.

She also knew that she needed to figure out what it was quickly... before she lost him.

To Chuck, it seemed like he was going to have to go without discussing his plan for throwing Nate off of their scent... especially since they could seem to have a conversation without fighting about his best friend.

He'd gone to her apartment to talk to her because he was drawing a blank on how to distract Nate and walked in to hear her gushing about her ex.

The few words he'd heard had made him sick to his stomach and he couldn't help but lash out. There was a bit of truth to what Blair had said the other day about defense mechanisms and insults... they both seemed to take the same course of action when feeling vulnerable.

It was only when the doors had closed on the elevator that he realized he hadn't even brought up his reason for coming over. Needless to say, it had been an unproductive conversation.

Chuck was starting to feel like he was trapped in a rerun of some terribly nauseating soap opera where the characters were doomed to repeat their mistakes. There was this place where he and Blair were trapped and no matter how hard he tried to escape, it felt like the walls were closing in.

Something was wrong with his girlfriend.

She had fallen back under Nate's strangely effective spell or she was hiding something from Chuck; there was a reason for her starting fights to distract him. Unless she truthfully didn't know why she was so irritable lately; in which case, he didn't know what to do.

It was time to take at least a small part of what was the matter in his own hands; Nate's presence in his girlfriend's life was something that he could remedy.

One thing that had come out of the 'conversation' with Blair just now was the key to accomplishing that... and since he couldn't ask Blair her thought's on the plan without risking her claws coming out, he would just have to go this one solo. All it would take is one picture and one well timed message to Gossip Girl; then all Chuck's worry at being prematurely uncovered for his betrayal would be for nothing.

Now he just had to wait for that low-life Carter to show up.

A/N: I'm keeping my fingers crossed that ya'll don't hate me for making you wait so long for such a short chapter; there was nothing I could do, it just ended there. Please forgive me?