A/N: This is the last installment, Hope you've enjoyed this walk down What Might Have Been Lane. Please review!!

The Crazy Thing Part 4
Conclusion

The rest of the week was quiet. On Friday, Bart came back to the penthouse alone. Serena hadn't come home from Blair's house. Eric assumed that she wasn't going to come back. She was upset with him. He would let her stew and eventually she would forgive him. Even though Eric still thought he was right.

Chuck slept in, he had passed out early the evening before. The drinking had begun around five and he passed out around eleven. When he woke up at noon, his hangover was significant, so he showered and self-medicated. The thought of food made him nauseous (he hadn't felt like this since he was fourteen) but he forced himslf to go downstairs for lunch.

Chuck found his father and stepbrother talking quietly by the fireplace in the living room. His father called him in, surprised that he was home. Bart quickly explained the situation to Chuck but it sounded vaguely familiar to him. Had he heard it the night before when he was drunk?

Chuck nodded as he listened to his father then agreed to join him at the office for a few hours. Before leaving, Chuck pulled Eric aside. "Are you okay with everything?"

Eric nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I've had a while to get used to the idea so I'm okay. Just worried about Serena, you know." Chuck nodded and said goodbye, dutifully joining his father in the elevator to go to his office.

Eric watched his stepbrother follow his stepfather to the elevator and couldn't help but smile. Bart was actually talking to his son, and Eric couldn't help but feel like he had played some part in that.

Saturday was a bit more eventful. Bart had decided to take his boys to a hockey game and proceded to get more drunk than either boy had ever seen. Eric had slightly more experience dealing with a drunken Bart than did Chuck. Chuck had actually never seen his father drunk enough to actually cause him to act out of the ordinary. It just wasn't something that Bart Bass did.

But by the time the Basses returned home, Bart had passed out and Chuck wasn't far behind him, passing out as soon as he hit the living room sofa.

Chuck left for school on Sunday afternoon. Serena had texted him, saying to just meet her at Blair's, so he packed the bag she had brought and hugged Eric because pride was now long gone and left for school.

Eric watched Chuck's car leave with Bart by his side and wondered at how things had changed in the last few months. He hadn't heard from his mother in days, wondered if he would. Wondered if he wanted to, wondered if she even cared. But when Bart put his arm around him and led him back to the penthouse, Eric found that it didn't matter anyway. He didn't really care. He had finally found a family worth fighting for and he was going to stick with it, regardless of his mother. Maybe it wasn't so crazy after all.