"I lost Blair!"

"What?" Chuck said mildly confused, and more than a little irritated.

He was in his bed with some brunette girl he'd just picked up at the latest party. He'd made quick work of entering and leaving tonight. As soon as he saw that both Blair and Nate were there--though not together--he'd wanted to escape as quickly as possible.

He and the girl were almost out of their clothes and he'd been on his way to sweet oblivion when his cell phone started ringing. He'd been intent on ignoring it, but the caller just kept calling back each time it went to voice mail. He'd finally rolled over to grab it and answered with a "What!" when he saw that the caller was Serena.

"I lost Blair!" Serena said more desperately in the phone.

"Well go find her Serena," Chuck rolled his eyes. He didn't understand why she was calling him or what the hell this was even about. He'd had enough of Blair. She was nothing to him now.

"You don't understand!" Serena sounded like she was starting to cry. "I went to the bathroom. The line was long and when I got back she was gone!"

"Well maybe she had to go home or something," Chuck said. "Why are you even calling me?"

"Chuck! She was wasted! I was supposed to be watching her. I don't know where she is or who she's with!" Serena tried to make him understand.

Chuck's stomach twisted sickly.

"What are you saying Serena?" he whispered dangerously.

"Nobody will tell me anything! They all hate her! We shouldn't have even been here but she was trying to prove a point. Everybody just keeps smirking at me whenever I ask them! I think she's in trouble Chuck, I don't know what to do," Serena said, gasping around her panic.

"She's probably with Nate. Why don't you just find him? Or better yet, call her. She does have a cell phone," Chuck was trying to keep waves of panic at bay. Of course she had to be with Nate. There was no other acceptable alternative.

"He's here! He's just as wasted as she is. He can hardly walk, much less get off his ass to help me," Serena cried into the phone.

"Serena…" Chuck felt like he was about to explode.

"And I just found her cell phone on a table. Chuck, please, I need your help," Serena said, begging Chuck Bass for the second time in her life. The first time was when she came to him to get Blair to take that damn pregnancy test.

"I'll be there in ten minutes," Chuck snapped.

He closed his phone and jumped out of his bed. He started looking for his clothes.

The girl looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"The festivities are over for tonight. I have to go," Chuck said as he shoved a foot into his pants, then the other one and pulled them up quickly.

"But…" the girl said.

"Look, just leave okay?" Chuck didn't have time to waste on her. "Take a cab or something, there's cash in that drawer," nodding toward the side table. He didn't care right now if she took the entire lot of it. He had to get to that party and find Blair before anything happened to her.

He shoved his feet into his shoes as he buttoned his shirt with shaky hands.

He grabbed his coat and went running for the door before the girl could say anything else. He took the stairs down. He was in no mood to wait for the elevator.

He kept telling himself she would be okay. She was smarter than to get herself into that sort of situation. He would arrive at the party just in time to see Serena give Blair some sisterly sort of hug of relief before chewing her out for scaring her. They would both turn to laugh at him for racing to try to help her.

Except Blair was wasted…and he knew too well what guys were capable of when a girl was out of it.

He started taking the stairs faster. Shit, Shit, Shit… the look of devastation on her face when he'd sent her away the last time she'd come to him wouldn't leave his thoughts.

Please Blair, please be alright. He needed her to be okay, because anything else would destroy both of them.

He stormed into the party and quickly found Serena. She was clearly upset and questioning Kati and Is.

He raced over to her.

"Anything?" he snapped.

Serena shook her head, before turning back to Kati and Is. "Well?"

The girls were looking at each other and then back at Serena. They seemed hesitant about something.

"If you two know anything, talk. You were friends with Blair," Chuck growled at them. Of course he had been the one to ruin all that. He had destroyed every relationship Blair ever had.

Kati opened her mouth hesitantly, before closing it again and looking at Is.

Chuck had enough. He reached out and grabbed Kati, yanking her toward him and glowering in her face.

"TALK!" he yelled.

"Yeah, we saw her. Some guy bought her a drink and she left with him a little while later," Kati said.

"Who? Where?" Chuck was starting to really freak out.

"I don't know, some guy from Regis," Kati said before looking over at Is again. Is quickly looked down. Regis was another all boys private catholic school on the Upper East Side.

"What? What aren't you saying?" Chuck knew the look on Isabel's face. She was holding something back.

"I don't know; she was just really wasted. She was stumbling all over the place and grinning like an idiot," Is said, trying to be as flippant as possible.

Chuck finally let go of Kati and looked at Serena. Serena's eyes were wide. She looked like she was about to cry again.

"He must have slipped her something, Chuck. She wasn't in a good mood before I left her. She was in upset drunk mode," Serena said. "She's not here! I've looked everywhere," Serena wrapped her arms around her stomach and hunched forward. "Oh God."

Chuck felt like everything was moving in slow-mo around him. He couldn't accept what he was hearing although he knew it was true. He didn't know what to do either.

"A name, a name, Is…Kati? Anything?" Chuck snapped at them.

"We seriously don't know Chuck," Kati and Is said, looking a little worried now. They honestly just thought Blair wanted to go. She hadn't been struggling, and she was sexually active now. Two guys in one week? Worthy of something only Kati and Is would do.

Chuck had never felt more helpless in his life.

Chuck and Serena started going around the room, questioning everyone again; trying to find out who the hell Blair had left with, hoping the added bonus of Chuck's glare would spill the information.

Nobody knew anything. They had been questioning for almost an hour now, and they still didn't know anything more than when they started. And everyone just kept laughing it off anyway, not really paying attention to them, forgetting about the questions as soon as Chuck and Serena walked away.

Serena was past the point of holding back her panic. Chuck had to slap her to get her to calm down at one point. Chuck was trying everything to hold back his own panic.

They were both lost as to what to do next. They finally decided to go to Blair's penthouse. Maybe the guy had just given her a ride home. They were both reaching at straws though; they knew in the real world that sort of thing never happened.

They got out of his limo as soon as it came to a stop. They went for the elevator. When they got there, the house was completely empty. They searched everywhere for her. All the bathrooms, all the bedrooms, even the kitchen. There was no sign. The only person at the house was Dorota, asleep in her servant room behind the kitchen. Serena had opened the door quietly to peak in there.

They were out of options, and they knew it.

They took the elevator back down and started walking through the lobby to the front entrance. Serena saw a cab pulling away from the front of the building and spotted a figure stumbling forward. She raced forward and was out the glass doors before Chuck even knew what she was doing.

Chuck watched Serena go to the figure and put her arm around her, talking to her gently.

Chuck still couldn't make out Blair's features, and he held back. Everything inside of him was still, waiting for the news that confirmed his worse fears, but not wanting to go there in his mind.

Blair and Serena made their way inside the building and walked past a sleepy front desk man who just eyed them briefly before returning to look at his magazine.

Blair was looking down and Serena was holding her, urging her forward. Chuck stepped out of the way to let them pass. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now, but he needed to know what happened. He really did.

They made it to the hall, almost to the elevator when Blair collapsed.

"Blair!" Serena said, stumbling down next to her. Blair sat with her head against the wall. She tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling, grinning in fascination at the lights.

"So pretty," she whispered. She started lolling her head back and forth as the lights moved in front of her.

"Jesus," Chuck said. He walked over and crouched in front of her. "Blair, snap out of it," he said before waving a hand in front of her face and snapping his fingers.

She brought her head down slowly and looked at him, her mouth still open from her gaze. "Chuck," she drawled out. She shook her head. "You need to go away. You're not nice," she slurred her words before dropping her head down to look at the floor.

"Chuck, stop, let me," Serena said. She wrapped her arm around Blair's shoulders and pulled her close into her side.

"Blair, sweetie, what happened?" Serena whispered to her.

Blair didn't say anything, just started tracing the pattern of her skirt as if it was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen.

"Blair…" Chuck started to say, wanting to shake her to get the truth.

Serena silenced him with a glare.

"Why did you leave the party Blair? I looked for you, but you were gone," Serena said slowly. She needed to ease into this, much like if Blair was a child.

"Gone, gone, gone!" Blair said, bringing her head back up and smiling ruefully at Serena. "Everything's gone," she said in a sing-song voice.

"Blair…" Serena said.

"Just like everyone's gone!" Blair continued in the same sing-song voice. "No one around, no one cares, just gone, gone, gone!" She started giggling.

"Blair, listen to me, I care," Serena said, trying to get through to Blair. "I love you Blair."

Blair looked over at Serena again. "Thank you," she said with a nod.

"Blair, what happened? How did you get home?" Serena asked.

Blair stared into Serena's eyes curiously, like she was really trying to remember.

Serena knew the instant Blair started to remember because a darkness came over her eyes.

Blair started pulling away from Serena. "No, no, no," she cried out, pushing at Serena. "Get away from me."

"Blair, calm down!" Serena said, struggling to grab her hands and make her stop flailing. It was no use, Blair was inconsolable. She was freaking out now. She pushed at Serena before managing to smack her in the face. Serena fell back, holding her cheek, gasping at the pain.

Blair was scrambling, trying to get up, the tears coming down furiously now as she tried to get away. She froze when another pair of arms came around her from behind before she could run. She gasped and started shaking uncontrollably. She pushed at the new arms. She somehow knew they weren't Serena's. "Stop, stop," she was almost screaming.

"Shhhh," she heard from behind her. It wasn't entering her conscious though. She didn't want to be quiet. She was scared and she needed help. She continued to struggle, gasping around her sobs.

The arms clamped tighter around her and she felt the person behind her bring her back closer to him. "You're safe Waldorf, you're safe," Chuck murmured in her ear. Inside he was falling apart, but he knew he had to calm Blair down now. It hurt him to see her hurting like this.

He kept repeating the words over and over again until finally they sunk in. Her struggles seized and her knees went weak again. She was falling forward, still crying.

Chuck sat down with her, pulling her on to his lap. She wouldn't look at him, or even turn to him. She just sat, bent forward, silent tears coming down now as she stared at the floor.

As Chuck watched she reached up and adjusted her skirt, pulling it down to cover her knees. It had only been resting just above the knee. He sucked in a shaky breath. That's when he knew. Even after her freak out, even after her tears, even after she collapsed a second time…this was the moment that he finally knew what had happened. She wouldn't have been coherent enough to tug her dress down for any other reason. Of course, if he really thought about it, he should have known the minute he saw her because she wasn't wearing her stockings.

That son of a bitch had raped Blair.

He was going to die.

There was no other alternative.

He just needed to find out who it was.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up at Serena.

"We need to go," Serena said.

He looked around. There was no one out and about. This building wasn't too busy at night. No one had paid any attention to the spectacle because no one was around. He looked up at Serena in confusion. She wasn't the type to worry about image anyway.

"To the hospital Chuck," Serena said quietly.

He looked down, sucking in a harsh breath. He slowly nodded. She was right.

Serena walked around and crouched down in front of Blair.

"Blair, honey, we have to go somewhere," Serena said slowly.

Blair looked up at her, the drug taking hold as she spaced out again…or maybe Blair just didn't want to be in her mind at the moment. "Tiffany's? That's the best place in the whole world."

Serena reached out for Blair's hands and pulled her to her feet. Blair wobbled for a minute before Serena put her arm around her again and Blair leaned into her for support.

They started walking back toward the exit. Chuck got up and called his driver. He knew the limo was near the vicinity. He had told the man to hover because he knew he'd need the car soon.

He followed behind Blair and Serena who were moving slowly.

"Holly is so beautiful, you know?" Blair slurred at Serena.

Serena just nodded.

"Audrey did play a good call girl. Who would have ever guessed she could play a slut so well?" Blair said in admiration.

Serena just kept nodding, dragging Blair along beside her.

"Why does everyone keep thinking I'm a slut? I'm not you know," Blair said, rolling her eyes and giggling. "That's not part of my movie."

Chuck froze behind them, more pain lacing through him at her words. It was his fault everyone thought she was a slut.

"Don't worry Blair, your movie is fabulous. Absolutely fabulous," Serena said, almost choking on another round of tears threatening. "You are beautiful and romantic. Your movie is going to have a happy ending and many, many more sequels with happy endings."

"I know," Blair said dreamily. Her attention was diverted to the door as Serena pushed it open and pulled her through. "Glass is so pretty isn't it? All the lights shine off it. They go round and round."

Serena said nothing now.

Chuck walked around them and hurried down to open the door to the limo as it pulled up.

Serena managed to maneuver Blair into the seat. Blair slid over and leaned against the door frame on the other side. Serena slid in next to her and wrapped her arms around her again.

Chuck got in and closed the door. The driver took off. Chuck had already told the man on the phone where they were going. He didn't want to say the destination in front of Blair.

"Next stop, Tiffany's!" Blair mumbled against Serena's hair. Serena ran her own hand down Blair's, trying to comfort her. Soon after, Blair fell asleep.

Serena finally gave in and started to silently cry.

Chuck sat against the back of his own seat, trying not to look over at them. He couldn't stand to see Blair hurting this way. He closed his eyes tight against another wave of pain lacing its way through his gut.

What had he done? He'd lashed out at Blair and managed to destroy her completely. He'd thought only of tearing down her reputation. He knew how much the other girls' opinions mattered to her. He had thought only of that.

He never once thought about what everybody else would think—all the guys. They all thought she was easy now. They thought it didn't matter what her name was. All they saw was a new girl on the block, plumb for the picking. Blair wouldn't be the first of Manhattan's elite females to sleep around. And they actually thought they would be able to get away with it. They all came from money, with parents who didn't want a scandal to break. The guys had nothing to worry about because the girl's parents' wouldn't want it to become public knowledge that their child was taken advantage of.

He should know.

He wasn't sure if he was ever going to be able to look at himself again.

To be continued...