A/N: This is extremely short, I know... but I it got away from me and wrote itself. I couldn't make my fingers type another word after it ended where it did. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last few chapters. This is a major set-up chapter and I'm thinking that Roman Holiday will be wrapped up in one more chapter.

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 27

"I Almost Care"

The fall that Roman took at the rink was symbolic of how the rest of Blair's day would go; wobbling along uncertainly until it all came crashing down around her. As Christmas Eve's go, this was going to go down as the one that she wished everything was different about.

After her father ditched her to take care of Roman, Blair was fuming and did something she never thought she'd have to do: she set a scheme in motion to win her father's affection back from the French Fox. Even if it was going to be underhanded, it was best in the long run. Best for Blair, that is.

It wasn't like she even wanted them to break up, so much as she wanted him there to support her. Her father's romantic relationship was just acceptable collateral damage, really.

Sitting in her bedroom, she was racking her brain for an idea that would be simple to execute but not entirely harmful. The thought crossed her mind that she could look up Roman's wild ex-boyfriend, but that would cause Daddy pain. She loved her father and hurting him wasn't something that exactly served her interest.

She didn't need to sever the couple completely, just separate them long enough to have him there while she needed him most.

Feeling uninspired, Blair picked-up her phone and scrolled through all the un-opened Gossip Girl blasts that she'd been recently ignoring. Choosing the most recent one, she knew upon opening it that ignoring them had been a huge mistake.

Inside the message was a picture of her and Nate strolling through central park with snow falling down around them. There were smiles on both of their faces and they looked like the most nauseating couple to have ever walked the earth. The caption read, "King & Queen of Winter-Wonderland; N and B prove that making up can be a walk in the park." Her heart was beating rapidly, her hands shaking as she flipped through the last five blasts and it turned out they were all her with Nate in various neutral places that could be considered date destinations.

Her face looked perfectly happy, like a snap-shot from one of the movies she'd grown up idolizing... and it made her eyes tear up. By putting on a brave face for the world, she had ruined everything. Now she knew why Chuck thought the worst of her. The last time Chuck saw her, she was kissing Nate and being pulled into a hotel room. Couple that with Gossip Girl's step by step coverage of her burgeoning friendship with Nate, she couldn't blame him for the conclusion he'd come to.

But she couldn't let him be wrong any longer.

Her finger was depressing the number three key on her phone before she could even think about what she was doing.

The phone rang several times, her heartbeat speeding up every time the tone echoed through the receiver. When voice-mail answered the call, she hung the phone up and dialed again. After four tries, she was pissed enough to leave a message after the beep.

Chuck's voice reverberated through her head, causing a pang of longing in her heart as she listened to his outgoing message, even though it wasn't anything special: "Leave a message and I might listen to it."

It took her a moment to speak because she'd suddenly lost her train of thought. "Chuck," she blurted, "You are not answering my calls, to torture meI'm sure, but please, for the love of God, pick up the phone and call me."

Clicking the button to disconnect the call, Blair threw her phone down on the bed beside her, watching it bounce slightly before settling. It was exasperating how lost she'd felt once she heard his voice; he would just laugh at the message she'd left, his twisted side enjoying her misery and ignoring her plea for him to return her call. It had accomplished nothing.

Then her phone sang, keep with me forward all through the night...

Trembling, she reached for her phone and turned it over in disbelief to look at the caller ID. Sure, it was Chuck's ring-tone, but surely there'd been some mechanical malfunction and it was really Serena calling?

The screen read Charles Bass. He'd actually called her back.

Her thumb hit the answering button automatically and she put the phone to her ear... but she was speechless.

There was silence for a moment, but then he cleared his throat. "For someone who wanted me to call, you sure don't have a lot to say."

His droll tone stoked the fire inside her, causing her temper to flare. "I was just shocked you had the courtesy to call back so quickly," she spat, "considering it took you a day to answer a simple text."

"Ah, so you called to scold me," he chuckled dryly, "I must have offended your so-called delicate nature by calling things as they are. We both know you're no innocent... I was just curious as to how Nate doesn't know too."

"For your information-"

"Please," he interrupted, "Don't even try to deny it. You know I saw the two of you and you've done nothing to hide your reunion from Gossip Girl. In fact, I assumed you've been spent this whole time putting on an act... for me."

Blair scoffed, unsure of what accusation to protest against first. "Nate and I haven't shared so much as a kiss. Surely your beloved Gossip Girl confirms that."

"Since that night, you mean?"

That night... that night... that night... it echoed through her head and wouldn't let her escape. The night of the dance. The night she lost Chuck. The night her world fell apart. Her eyes were filling up with tears and her voice wouldn't function to answer him, to dispel the false conclusion he'd come to.

Her silence must have made him uncomfortable because he added stiffly, "It's not like I care."

"Then why did your suite look like a war zone?" Clapping a hand over her mouth, she couldn't believe the words had slipped out. It seemed unfair that she knew about his heartbreak when he couldn't seem to fathom hers. She had intruded on his very private display of pain when she opened his hotel door that night.

It was his turn for silence.

Her mind racing, trying to think of something, anything to say that would keep him from hanging up, she sputtered, "I-I... I left Nate. I went looking for you..." Tears started to fall and she gasped, "Chuck, I'm sorry."

"It was all a game," he replied tersely, "I just hate to lose."

Then he hung up.

What the hell just happened?

She had apologized and that was his reply? Not a single moment they spent together had been a game to her and she would bet her life on the fact that he was only trying to throw her off by calling it that. He was being cruel to prove she hadn't affected him...

Nothing made sense anymore. He had to know that she wouldn't be fazed by such a false claim, especially after seeing the evidence of the break in his precious control. She had to put herself in his shoes, to think like he did...

And he was lying to himself.

The fact that he was trying to write off their time together as a game he'd lost caused rage to boil up inside of her. She'd given him so much! She'd loved him with her body and grown to let her heart share in the feeling. It was possible that she was even carrying his child!

This was how he would repay her attempt at reconciliation? To push through their mutual pain with a lie?

She wished she'd never called him.

It hurt her deeply to know how he was dealing with this. Why had she called? Oh, right. Gossip Girl had been touting Blair and Nate's non-existent reconciliation and Blair had felt obligated to tell Chuck the truth. All the truth had gotten her was more heartache.

Why is it that everyone she loved left her? Her whole life turned upside down when her parents divorced and her father moved to France. Shortly after, Nate had slept with her best friend and become so distant that she'd broken up with him. Now Chuck wouldn't even let her explain her side of what happened the night they fell apart.

Just like she wouldn't let him explain his.

The catalyst for it all had been her father's ex-patriotism, so that was the first step to getting her life back. Now she was even more determined to win her father back.

It seemed like fate when her best friend walked through the door at just that moment, just she'd settled on a plan of action and a means of setting it in motion.

"Hey, S... I need your log-in for your agency site from your modeling days."

Chuck was staring at his phone, half expecting the screen to light up with another call. He wouldn't blame Blair for calling his bluff.

She'd thrown him off when she mentioned his room. In the blind emotion he'd been acting on that night, he hadn't dreamed she would come to him. He'd only been trying to get out of there before he made a fool out of himself. She must have used her key and let herself inside when he hadn't answered the door.

How must it have looked to her? Did she think he'd lost his mind in grief or rage? What had brought her to his room in the first place?

What would have happened if he'd stayed?

He shouldn't have called her back. She had sounded so desperate to talk to him in her message that he'd gone against his mind's insistence that he stay away from her and listened to his heart. When it had such a terrible track record lately.

There was nothing he could do now. Blair knew his hand now, knew he was hurting over their break-up, and no last minute attempt to play it cool was going to save him from her discerning his true feelings. Her reaction to his silence was proof enough that he'd been discovered.

She could use the information however she pleased, now. If Nate was back under her thumb, as she hadn't exactly disproved, then she could probably use the knowledge as she saw fit and not risk losing her on-again beau. She could ruin his reputation, the one that he would need again since he'd lost her.

That would not be tolerated. Even if it wasn't a game before, it was now...

And Blair had always been his favorite opponent.

A/N: Evil? Me? Yeah, I know. Let me know how evil I am.