A/N: This one goes out to one of my most loyal readers, Klarobass, who has a birthday at the end of this month. Happy early birthday, friend.

Chapter 26

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bass," Dr. Morgan shook her head regretfully. "But Ms. Fisher took a turn for the worse overnight, and she had to be placed into a medically-induced coma."

Chuck raked his hands through his hair as flashbacks of the last time he was in the hospital waiting for news of a parent's condition flooded his anxious mind. He'd run away from Bart, but, a year later, when he wrestled with the guilt that his cowardice left behind, Blair told him that it was because of his inability to handle emotions. Surely he'd been through so much - with Blair and Cora - that he had overcome his fear of allowing himself to be vulnerable.

He drew a slow, ragged breath, debating on if he could just give up now. He'd made the attempt, but he was too late. Blair's hand slipped into his open palm, and new resolve washed over him. She was with him for this very purpose – to support him as he made a tough yet necessary step toward healing. The destructive effects of family-induced trauma wouldn't disappear by hiding from it, so, to move forward and be the best father (and hopefully partner) that he could be, he had to face his remaining demons. Elizabeth's betrayal and abandonment hadn't been the catalyst to Chuck's downfall, but it had certainly been a contributing factor in manifesting the spiral that ultimately led to the worst mistakes of his life.

With Blair's thumb passing soothing strokes over his knuckles, he raised his head to meet the doctor's eyes and asked, "What are the chances that she will come out of the coma?"

"It's highly unlikely that Ms. Fisher will recover without significant and irreversible brain damage." Chuck appreciated Dr. Morgan's matter-of-fact explanation, but the grim prognosis caused his stomach to jolt violently, and he was afraid that if Blair let go of him, he would vomit all over the waiting room floor. She was his anchor in more ways than one, it seemed. "Mr. Bass, your mother's cancer metastasized to her brain, and there are very few treatment options remaining. Our only option now is to keep her as comfortable as possible until she passes." The blonde woman offered an apologetic smile, and said, "I'm sorry. I wish I had better news for you."

Blair's grip tightened around Chuck's hand, and she leaned in closer, as though her slender body could act as a shield to the never-ending pain that his parents brought on him. Chuck nodded to the doctor, and asked quietly, "Can I see her? We've traveled from Japan, and I would like to say goodbye before I have to return to Tokyo tomorrow morning."

"Of course." She gestured toward patient room #361. "Take as much time as you need, and don't hesitate to page the nurse to call me if you need anything."

After the doctor walked away, Blair turned to Chuck, who seemed frozen in place, simply staring toward the ominous door at the end of the hallway. "Chuck," she prompted quietly.

"Yes." His response was little more than a husky whisper, and she knew that he was already lost inside of his own head.

She raised her hand to cup his cheek, and when his eyes found hers, his clenched jaw relaxed. He leaned into her touch, letting the comfort of her warm skin wash away his nerves. "I'm sure that Holmberg would understand that you need to stay a little longer if -"

"No," he disagreed firmly. "I'm here to say my final farewell to a woman that I don't know - a woman who made a conscious decision not to know me. She had multiple chances, and at every turn, she chose anything except me. She gets one day - that's all the time I will allow her to occupy my mind ever again." His expression turned cold, and his shoulders tensed with resolve.

"Okay," Blair nodded. She'd pushed him hard enough, but she knew it was time to let him make the decisions about how much or how little grace he was willing to give Elizabeth. "Would you like some time alone with her, or -"

"Come with me?" His eyes were pleading, and she broke at the vulnerability hidden in his face. For a moment, he no longer looked like the strong, confident man he'd grown into in his mid-twenties; he was a sad, abandoned little boy who wanted nothing more than someone to love him. She flashed back to the moment she told him that he carried people, that he carried her. Those had been some of the sincerest words she'd ever spoken, but, in the end, he couldn't believe them for himself. Bart had won the battle, and years later, Blair realized he'd claimed victory over his son before she'd even picked up her weapon. She was resolved to do everything in her power to make sure this time resulted in an entirely different outcome for Chuck. This time, she would carry him through it all; this time, he didn't have to be strong for anyone. She was strong enough for both of them.

"I'm here." Those two words gave him more courage than anything else she could've said.

His footsteps felt heavy as they carried him toward the hospital bed that his birth mother occupied, and it took considerable effort to will his body forward. As he approached her bedside, he was struck by the fact that she looked so much different from the pretty doe-eyed brunette he'd met years earlier. She was sickly thin without an ounce of color in her sallow cheeks. Her entire appearance was evidence that she had reached the end of her life. Chuck's heart thudded hard against his chest in an eerie contrast to the pathetic, desperate thump of hers.

Blair stood quietly behind Chuck, unsure of how to best support him. The hospital room was deafeningly silent except for the machines keeping Elizabeth alive, and even those seemed to be on the verge of flatlining with every mechanical beep. Chuck stood stock-still for a long period of time, taking in the woman in front of him, considering how his entire life might have been different if she'd been there from the beginning. He thought about how different he might feel in this moment if she'd been a doting mother instead of a stranger with whom he shared DNA; he thought about the sorrow and grief that he might've felt at the possibility of losing a loving parent. He allowed himself a second to mourn the loss of the family he'd always wanted and never had, but the pain was gone before he could dwell on it for very long.

Pulling a chair closer to the bed, he sat down and let out a deep sigh, collecting his thoughts before he spoke. "I don't know if you can hear me or not," he started, as Blair pushed a chair directly beside him and placed her hand on his back. He sat forward with his elbows resting on his knees so that he could run his hand over his jaw in anxious movements. Blair never ceased her soothing strokes against his spine. Her touch acted as a silent reminder: I'm here; you're not alone. He continued, "I hope you can hear this: I spent so much of my life blaming myself for your death, blaming myself for my father hating me. Now that I see you lying here, I've come to the realization that none of it was my fault, and I will do everything in my power not to be like you." He swallowed hard, and closed his eyes, anger becoming the predominant emotion swelling in his chest. "What do you have to show for your life? You're alone. Not a single soul here to mourn your loss, and I actually feel sorry for you. I won't let that be me. I will not die alone – pathetic and unloved. You chose that for yourself when you chose yourself over your son."

Blair felt tears prick the corners of her eyes, and she felt conflicting emotions well in her stomach. She hated this woman for every ounce of pain she put Chuck through, but she still felt a sense of guilt for pushing Chuck to let her in in the first place. She would never fully be able to comprehend the internal suffering that Chuck had endured as a result of being the product of neglectful parenting. She suppressed a sniffle for Chuck's sake, startling when he spoke again, and resumed rubbing his back in reassurance. "I'm making myself this promise today." He turned to Blair and looked into her eyes to make sure that she understood that this part was meant for her. "I'm making you this promise: Cora will never know that pain. I will spend every second I have left on this earth making her feel loved and valued. I will make sure she damned well knows that she is the single best thing that has ever happened to me. She will never feel like a choice or a burden."

He stood from his seat and pulled Blair up by the hand, stopping at the foot of the bed to deliver one final message. "May your final days be filled with peace, but, from this moment forward, I will never pay you another thought. Your choices, Bart's choices will no longer define me."

XOXO

Upon checking into their hotel room, a new anxiety washed through Blair. It was as though leaving the hospital marked the end of a years-long struggle, and they were now entering new territory. The feeling was equally freeing and terrifying, but for the time being, she was more concerned about Chuck's fragile state of mind than the status of their relationship. She knew he wouldn't spiral the way he had with Bart; for one, he was more mature now, and there was more at stake. Secondly, Elizabeth's scars didn't run nearly as deep as those inflicted by Bart, but, still, Chuck had just said goodbye to the only other biological parent he had. His family ties only extended to Jack, and Blair figured that was almost worse than having no remaining blood relatives at all.

Chuck hadn't said a word since they left the hospital; the entire trip was filled with silence, but Blair knew him well enough to see the battle raging inside his mind. His speech to Elizabeth broke her heart, and she could only hope that speaking his pain aloud would offer some form of closure to a man who'd suffered more than any one person deserved. He held her hand against his thigh for the duration of the ride, as if that small connection was enough to keep him grounded, to ward off his most destructive thoughts.

Blair removed her coat and set her purse on the couch, watching Chuck pour three fingers of scotch from the decanter on the bar top. He downed the liquid in one gulp and refilled the tumbler before dropping onto the couch and loosening his tie.

"Come here," she invited him into her open arms, kicking off her shoes and helping him shrug out of his coat. She reclined into a large cushion, pulling him closer to her chest so that she could run her fingers through his hair.

"Thank you," he murmured softly, letting his eyes drift closed at the soothing sensations of the scalp massage. "For being here, for your understanding and patience."

"Like I told you all those years ago Chuck, I'll always be your family." She pressed her lips to his hairline, remembering a time when she'd tried so desperately to keep him anchored to her in the midst of his grief. "Are you okay?"

He exhaled softly, and she could tell his emotions were weighing heavily on him. This time was different, though; this time he pulled her closer instead of shutting her out. His words were tentative when he spoke, his vulnerability evident in the low pitch of his normally thick voice. "I wasn't prepared for -" He stopped for a moment, searching for the right words. "For her to look so frail, so fragile. I expected the woman I met years ago. It felt wrong speaking so candidly to someone so sick."

"Her illness doesn't excuse her life choices," Blair responded. "You deserve peace, Chuck."

"I feel nothing for her, Blair." He looked up at her, his eyebrows knitted together. "I don't feel angry or sad. I just feel like it was a complete waste."

"You don't need to justify yourself to me. You don't owe her tears or sorrow; she's taken enough from you already." Blair trailed her hand down his arm to grasp his hand tightly in hers, offering him a gentle squeeze. "But what do you mean it feels like a waste?"

"Meeting her, finding out the truth," he sighed. "I thought that nothing could be worse than thinking I killed my mother, but then it turned out that she just didn't care. I know that it was through my own actions that you and I…that I'm the one who destroyed us, but if she'd never shown up -"

"You can't think that way," she cut him off. "Maybe knowing the truth doesn't ease the pain, but now you can truly move forward. Leave Bart and Elizabeth in the past and look toward the future."

"The future." He gave her a soft smile. "Thinking of the future used to be so depressing. I couldn't dream about what the future might hold because there was no possibility of you being a part of it."

"You once told me that we are magnetic, inevitable," Blair recalled, causing Chuck's smile to transform into a playful smirk. "As much as I tried to fight you in both of those circumstances, I think you were right. No matter how far we drifted away from each other, the universe was always going to pull us back. Cora is proof of that."

"I know that it's too soon to talk about what this means for us, but -"

"Chuck, I just called off my engagement," Blair admonished gently. "Cora doesn't even know, and I don't know how Louis's absence will impact her. I can't -"

"I know," he acknowledged, nodding his head impatiently. "I know. I'm willing to wait as long as you need, but this is the only life I want; it's the only future I see for myself – you, me, and Cora. I want us to be a family." He turned his body so that he could look directly into her eyes, ensuring that the significance of his words were not lost on her. He reached his hand out to stroke her cheek, brushing away the solitary tear that escaped from her eye. "I love you, Blair, with everything in me."

She felt his words in every inch of her body; the sincerity of his confession washed through her, and she was overcome with an onslaught of emotions. Fear had been the most prominent of those feelings when she'd departed France for Japan, but now, sitting beside Chuck, seeing the truth in front of her, she understood exactly what he was saying. There was no other path for her than directly into his arms. No one would ever complete her the way he does, and there was no use in fighting it anymore. It may not be the storybook romance that she'd dreamed of since she was a little girl, but she believed with everything inside of her that Chuck was the only future she wanted.

She leaned into him, closing her eyes when he brought his other hand up to rest against her neck, completely surrounding her in his touch. When she opened her eyes, she saw that his were glistening under the weight of his emotions. "I love you, too, Chuck," she whispered, fresh tears rolling down both of her cheeks to melt into his fingers. "I don't think I ever stopped."

"Blair," he begged, ready to break for her, whatever she needed he would become for her. He couldn't find the words, so he repeated her name in a desperate plea between ragged breaths that burned his throat. "Blair."

The pounding of her heart echoed through her mind, and she gave him a small nod of affirmation. He gripped the back of her neck firmly and pulled her to him, her lips trembling as he pressed his mouth to hers. A small sob escaped her, and she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. The kiss was frantic and needy – a physical representation of the feelings that were far too complex for words. Chuck's hands found purchase on her thighs, and he lifted her into his lap; a guttural groan emanated from his mouth at the delicious friction their bodies created. Her fingers clumsily worked the top buttons on his shirt, and she grew increasingly frustrated when the tiny disks wouldn't cooperate to her liking.

She yanked at his collar impatiently, and he reluctantly pushed her back by the shoulders, resting his forehead against hers to calm his overstimulated body. His blood swooshed through his veins in a rush of heat, and he struggled to draw enough oxygen into his lungs to speak. He finally rasped out, "Are you sure about this?"

"I've never been so sure of anything in my life." She lifted his hand and pressed it to her chest so that he could feel the erratic beating of her heart beneath the thin material of her blouse.

"God, Blair," he groaned, burying his face against her neck to lavish reverent kisses across her collarbone. She raised her hands to the hem of her shirt and slowly lifted the material over her head, letting her silky hair fall over her shoulders seductively. Chuck's eyes fell to her chest encased in a demure lace bra, and he exhaled a shaky breath. Far too many years had passed since he'd seen her this way, and he was having trouble maintaining control. He ran his hands softly along her ribcage, just barely grazing the sides of her breasts. He pressed a softer kiss to her lips before lifting her off his lap and pushing her to her feet. "Come on," he said, guiding her toward the bedroom.

They undressed one another slowly, taking their time reacquainting themselves with each other's body. Chuck intended to worship Blair for the rest of the night; his every reverential touch was a symbolic representation of his devotion to her. As he entered her, he clasped their hands together and raised them above her head, whispering sweet endearments in her ear between shallow thrusts.

After several hours of love-making, the sated lovers fell into a blissful sleep in one another other's arms, each filled with renewed hope for the future.

XOXO

Blair awoke tangled in the sheets with Chuck's arm draped over her waist. She rolled over and studied him; for some reason, he looked so much younger when he slept, and it warmed her heart to see his more youthful side show through. She'd always felt a little saddened by the fact that he'd had to grow up so quickly. Inheriting a business at seventeen and buying a hotel at eighteen was far too much responsibility for even the most mature person, but then again hadn't motherhood forced her into the same fate?

Chuck's eyes fluttered open, and he sighed into her neck, pulling her flush against his nude body. He whispered against her chest, "So it wasn't a dream?"

"Does this feel like a dream to you?" She giggled, wriggling against him.

"Mhm, you're going to make it really difficult to get on a plane back to Japan, aren't you?" He pushed her to her back, positioning himself over top of her so that he could trail kisses down her clavicle and between her breasts.

"As much as I wish you could stay," she frowned, pulling him gently back to face her. "We can't let this cause distractions."

"How am I supposed to not be distracted when you're all I can think about?" He pinched her bottom in emphasis.

Blair eased herself from beneath him and dressed in a fluffy robe, throwing another one in his direction. "Getting dressed is a good start. I don't think your wandering hands will allow us to have this conversation naked."

"Can you blame me?" He winked, motioning at the blatant evidence of his arousal tenting beneath the sheet.

She cleared her throat and narrowed her eyes in warning, but there was no malice in her expression. She'd always found their sexual compatibility to be the perfect counterpart to their equally intense emotional connection, and she secretly loved how insatiable Chuck was when it came to her. He made her feel desirable in a way that no other man ever had. "Let's have breakfast and an actual conversation," she directed with a raise of her eyebrows.

"If we must," he rolled his eyes playfully.

Once they were seated at the breakfast table, Blair broached the topic that had been weighing on her mind since she woke up around three in the morning with Chuck clutching her so tightly she thought he might bruise her hip. She needed him to know that she was serious when she told him that she would always be there for him because, on some subconscious level, he seemed to still harbor fears that it was temporary, that she'd come to her senses one day and leave him.

On the other hand, though, she had to make her expectations clear. Chuck obviously had very specific thoughts about what their coupling meant, and while she felt the same way, she had more reservations than he did. Her anxiety had nothing to do with his ability to hurt her the way he had in the past and everything to do with her maternal instincts to protect her daughter. "Chuck, we have to take precautions."

"Shit." His eyes widened as realization dawned on him. "I didn't wear a condom. I'm sorry, Blair, I -"

"No." She shook her head quickly. "That's not it. I'm on the shot."

He exhaled a sigh of relief and took a sip from his coffee cup. "Then what is it? Why do we need to be careful, Blair?"

"Don't take this the wrong way," she offered as a disclaimer, "because I meant it when I said I love you, and I do want to be with you, but we have to take this slow."

"Whatever pace you're comfortable with," he nodded. "We'll do this however you want."

"It's just that…Cora can't know." She bit her lip, gauging his reaction. He stiffened and dropped his fork from his hand. The metal clanked against his plate, echoing through the quiet room. "That's non-negotiable, Chuck."

"So we are just going to lie to her?" His voice wasn't angry, but there was tension behind his words that hadn't been there before.

"Not lie necessarily," she explained, "But, if we're going to try to make this work, we have to keep it a secret for a while. We both want this to work, but even the best of intentions isn't a guarantee that we won't screw up. She can't get hurt because of this, and if we broke up, it would crush her. Besides, she will need time to process the canceled wedding and Louis's absence. It's just too much for a little girl. We have to protect her at all costs. If we can't do that, then this won't work."

Chuck nodded his head in agreement. "I understand, Blair. What about everyone else?"

"I think that we just need to keep this to ourselves while we flesh out the details," she said apologetically. "Plus, to be fair to Louis, I don't want the tabloids to find out and make up bullshit stories about an affair. It's just best this way." She pushed her chair from the table and made her way to pull Chuck to his feet. She toyed with the belt on her robe before slowly untying it and letting the front drape open, just barely concealing her naked form from his eyes. He focused in on the round 'o' of her bellybutton before trailing his eyes to the swells of her breasts hidden between the curtain of her robe, and desire swirled through his veins at the sight. She leaned up on her tiptoes and whispered, "Besides, if you remember back to junior year, sneaking around can be a lot of fun."

"Mmhm," he moaned as she nibbled the shell of his ear, "If this is what secrecy entails, then we don't ever have to tell anyone."

After an intimate shower and a tearful goodbye, Chuck boarded the plane back to Japan while Blair made plans to return to France to pick up Cora before the flight back to New York. The distance between them felt like an even crueler form of torture given their recent reunion, but they promised each other that their separation would be filled with creative ways to stay connected from across the globe.

A/N: Honestly, I struggled a little bit with wanting to actually write their physical reunion while maintaining the T rating to this story. I didn't want an overly explicit sex scene here, but given the fact that sex is such an integral part of C/B's dynamic, I couldn't leave it to mere implications either. I hope it translated well here. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but thank you for sticking it out with this story.