A/N: Another update in a week! WOO-HOO! Okay, so we're in Roman Holiday, the most boring episode of season one. -lol- I'm going to do my best to get through this episode as fast as possible while still building my story properly. Hopefully it'll only take two or three chapters in total. This is very much a set-up chapter, so I'm sorry if it's not very exciting. Oh, and since all my betas have disappeared, this will probably be un-beta'd from now on unless otherwise noted.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gossip Girl's Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf, I just want to prove they can stand by each other through anything.

Chapter 26

"Christmas (Baby, please come home)"

For Blair, time was passing slowly; the heavy burden of carrying such a delicate secret was almost too much to bear alone, causing the days to stretch like weeks.

It had only been a week since the ill fated phone call with Chuck; a week that she'd suffered through unpredictable bouts of morning sickness and her best friend's piteous looks. The heartache had become such a constant companion that it had it was a part of Blair, but every time Serena looked at her, the pain increased. There was a part of Blair that wished she could confide in the blond, but she found herself avoiding her out of self-preservation. It hurt less without Serena there to remind her.

Strangely enough, her consolation during the past few days had been the unpredictable ease she found in Nate's company.

Two days after the disastrous events of Cotillion, she had finally returned one of the dozen phone calls she'd received from Nate, fearing he'd done something wrong. She had explained to him that her abandonment after the ball was due to a hesitance about starting a relationship with him, rather than something that he'd done. It wasn't truthful - since it mentioned nothing about Chuck, her relationship with him, or the possibility that she was carrying his best friend's child - but it was an excuse that Nate readily accepted.

When she'd asked if he would settle for being her friend, he agreed that it would be best for them to start over. Nate began by calling her regularly, asking about her day, her plans, and taking her out for activities that she knew pleased her more than him. All things that she had wished for back when she was in love with him; the irony was not lost on her.

It was a refreshing thing to take comfort in his carefree company; she hadn't experienced that in a quite a few years. Being in love with him had made interaction with him more stressful, but now she could truly say that was no longer a hindrance. He was being sweet and caring, but she was not at all pulled to him the way she'd once been even as recently as two months ago.

But she was enjoying having her friend Nate back. The return of his presence in her life had a balancing effect that Chuck's never had; she always knew where she stood with Nate. With Chuck she had been taken by surprise several times and it had been a wondrous thing, but she needed an anchor at the moment. Without Chuck there to share her panic with, spending time with Nate made things simple and helped her temporarily forget what a mess her life had become.

With Nate, she could pretend she was still on course to live the life she'd always dreamed, even if she was lying to herself.

She couldn't face the truth of how much had changed.

Right now, she was buzzing through the school's annual Constance Billard's and St. Jude's Bazaar, preparing for her father's visit. The fact that he would soon be arriving on a plane from France had given her something to look forward to instead of a future to fear. She needed her father right now and his calm, loving presence would be a great source of solace; her mother had never been much for outward affection.

While rushing around a corner with her purchase, two very large traditional candy canes, she stopped short. Somehow, she had managed to run into the one person on this continent that served as a reminder that nothing was as normal as she wanted it and brought her crashing down to reality again.

"Blair!" Serena's mother called to her, a smile on her face as she embraced Blair. The two women exchanged Happy Holiday's greetings and then parted, at which point Blair was forced by propriety to acknowledge Lily's companion, Bart Bass. Of course she would run into Chuck's father, the only person who might know where Chuck had gone.

Dammit.

Turning on her most polite society smile, Blair addressed them both, "Mrs. van der Woodsen. Mr. Bass." Blair fought the urge to break down when Bart met her eyes, the piercing blue seemed to cut through her like his son's hazel never failed to. Suddenly she wondered if Bart knew about her time with Chuck. Sure, Chuck's relationship with his father was about as open as hers was with Eleanor, but it was still a possibility.

At the least, he would know where Chuck was hiding.

Although she knew it was a imprudent course of action, and she'd probably hate herself for it later, she couldn't help but give him the chance to satisfy her curiosity. "I didn't think that you were still in town; I figured you were..."

"With Charles, sadly, no," he replied politely. "I'm stuck here on business while he suns himself at my hotel in Monaco. I have my staff keeping an eye on him and I'll join him for New Years."

More like Chuck was keeping his eye on the female staff.

Regardless of what Chuck could be doing in Europe, just knowing where he was lifted a slight amount of the weight she'd been carrying between her shoulders the last week.

"Oh, right," she sighed in relief, "I was wondering why he'd been so quiet and Monaco answers my question. Lovely to see you two, bye." Smiling brightly, she hastened away from the older pair as fast as she could, walking into the school courtyard before pulling out her phone. She typed a quick message to Chuck and hit send before she could re-think the action.

Monaco, huh? Anything I need to know?

Just after sending the text message and before she could dwell on the feelings churning her insides, Serena popped up. "Blair, there you are!"

Fearing what she would stay if Serena kept her for long, Blair started to back away from the blond. "I can't talk right now, Serena, I'm late and I have..."

"A huge sweet-tooth?" Serena asked with a grin, her gaze coming to the giant peppermint canes in Blair's arms.

Blair looked down at them as well, having totally forgotten they were there.

"They're for my dad and me, we get them every year, and he landed from Paris twenty-seven minutes ago." She was running late because of her brush with Chuck's dad and how shaken up she was. How could Chuck throw her off track from across an ocean?

Serena grabbed her by the arm and whisked her off to the exit of the school, flagging down a cab for Blair when they reached the street. Settling down on the dingy seat, she breathed a sigh of relief that she'd escaped Serena without getting one sad look from her. Then her phone rang, blaring Girls just wanna have fun... which happened to be Serena's ring-tone.

Steeling herself for a barrage of questions about Chuck, Blair picked up the call. "S?"

"So, it's going to be a real Waldorf Christmas?

At least it wasn't a question about Chuck.

"A real Waldorf Christmas Eve," Blair corrected. "Eleanor drew the line at Christmas Day; that's only for me, her, and Dorota."

"Well, that's still a couple days with your dad."

There was a sudden intense longing to have her dad with her and Blair made a decision. "It's going to be more than a couple of days... I'm going to convince him to stay in New York." It sounded like an excellent idea now that she'd said it out loud. Her father wouldn't be demanding when he found out her possible condition, he would be supportive. He also wouldn't try to force any decisions on her; it would be easier to stand up to her mother's eventual wrath with Daddy around.

The rest of the phone call consisted of Serena trying to convince her that it wasn't a possible goal, but Blair's mind was set. She would get her father back... there was no way Roman needed him more than she did right now.

Blair flounced into her penthouse apartment, glowing with joy at her forming plan. Of course, that happiness was dimmed when she saw Roman standing there in her living room next to her father.

"Blair Bear!" Her father opened his arms and embraced her tightly, making her want to cry with the relief. He was here, even if he wasn't alone, he was here.

The fact that Roman was there also only put a slight crimp in her plans.

Even though she had to give him her candy cane.

The next day, Blair tried to wrestle them back onto their traditional Christmas schedule by dragging her father out to ice skate with her in the park. Of course, losing Roman had been impossible until her mother said something that caught his attention and finally left Blair alone with her father to work on her plan.

Linking her arm through her father's, Blair sighed happily. "It's so good to have you here."

Harold kissed her on the forehead, "Well, it's good to be here." Then he met her gaze and asked, "Uh, where is the handsome Nate? Am I going to see him tonight?"

"He's in Connecticut with his mom," Blair answered delicately then added, "He said he would try to catch a train and make it to the party tonight... but we're not together anymore, Daddy."

The shock on her father's face was cautious. "Oh, well, when did that happen?"

"Just before my birthday." The memory of that break-up lead to images of what happened after, causing her throat to close up in pain.

He studied her face carefully, "Is that a good thing?"

Breathing deeply, Blair replied steadily, "Yes."

"Then why do you look so sad, mon amour?"

Smiling halfheartedly, she sighed. "Now's not the time, Daddy. Maybe after the party tonight?" Confiding in her father, at least about Chuck, was something that she was longing to do, especially if she could convince him to stay.

"Ah, an Eleanor Waldorf Soiree: another New York institution that I miss."

With the perfect lead-in, Blair broached the project that was currently keeping her mind off of other things. "You know, you don't have to miss any of it."

"Yeah, well," her father smiled at her, "I wish I could be in two places at once, my dear, but it's impossible. I'm sorry. You know that Chateau near Lyon that I told you about?"

Blair nodded nervously, "Uh-huh."

"Roman and I bought it."

He had burst her bubble before it could even fully inflate. Dejected, she asked, "You bought that place?"

"Yes. The house is flooded with light. The fireplaces are big enough, I mean, you could walk into them. The gardens are incroyables." His slip into French only stoked Blair's disappointment further. She would have pushed the issue even further, but their private conversation was interrupted by her mother and Roman.

Once they hit the ice, accompanied by Roman in a last minute twist, Blair felt like a third wheel. Her father spent the whole time trying to keep Roman on his feet and basically ignored Blair. She was standing against the wall of the rink, fiddling with her phone, when it signaled a new text message.

A text message from Chuck.

She could no longer hear her father and his struggle to help Roman, nor his pleas for her to join them. All she could see was the little indicator on her phone screen that meant he'd finally replied.

Now that he had, she didn't want to read it. Their last conversation echoed in her mind and she knew his reply could not be a good sign.

Trembling with nerves, she pressed the button to open the message.

Only 1 question: how did you fake your virginity for N?

Tears were welling up in her eyes. He truly thought she'd slept with Nate minutes after breaking-up with him. Chuck thought her so calloused and cold that she could sleep with someone for revenge.

At one time, Serena had thought that was all Chuck was to Blair.

Apparently, he'd come to that conclusion too.

Wiping a tear that had escaped, Blair didn't even see Roman careening toward her and she definitely wasn't responsible for his stumble over her skate.

Now more than ever, she could not let her father leave.

From the lonely king-sized bed of his hotel room, Chuck sent a message to Blair that he wished he didn't have to. When he'd received her message the day before, he didn't know what to think. She'd finally figured out where he'd gone, but why did she even bother to solve the mystery?

According to Gossip Girl, she had Nate to keep her company.

The blasts over the last week had driven Chuck further and further down into a depression that he never thought he'd be capable of. There were reports of their outings, pictures of her smiling... every one had pierced the remains of his heart.

So when she contacted him, told him that she knew where he was, he didn't know how to reply. Was she unaware of what Gossip Girl was saying? Did she think that he was unfeeling enough to be having the time of his life and ignore the way that his chest ached at the news she and Nate were back together?

It angered Chuck that she could forget him so easily. He'd thought she had known what he felt for her... apparently not.

Just because she was across an ocean, settling back into her fantasy life with Nate and forgetting all about him, doesn't mean he could make himself stop loving her.

Not that he hadn't tried.

A/N: Well, that's it for now. Hopefully my roll will continue and the next update will be just as timely. :D