I have been very busy with family emergencies and have spent much of the last two weeks in the hospital. I had most of this chapter done but very little time to edit everything that I want. But I had two hours of free time to be able to look this over and post. Hopefully, when I look back I won't think it is horrible.

There were so many reviews for the last chapter. I just wanted to thank everyone for all the support. I am sorry to say there is little C/B in this chapter but the next chapter should have plenty. This chapter is pushing the other storylines forward.

To the guest reviewer who wrote about the school-girl crush I would like to thank you for pointing out the much better phrasing that Blair would totally respect and admire Chuck. Which is what I wished to convey. She is not fawning over him but she is aware of his power and his good looks.

Hydridkingbass, Scott has much more of an appearance in this chapter. He is not an OC character so get ready for that. Chuck's background and his relationships with his family is in play in this chapter as well.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

It was Friday in the early evening and Nate was not getting drunk. He needed to finish a paper soon if he wanted to go out to a college party this night with his lacrosse team. He was the captain so he felt pressured to show up but he also needed an A on his paper to save his G.P.A. Instead of any of that he was being driven up to Westchester County. Where the wind was free to howl and blow unrestricted to the wind tunnels that the city skyscrapers created. As a child Nate would love this drive this time of year since he usually marveled at the Christmas decorations that still hung beautifully. Tonight he was busy trying to re-read his essay draft giving no thought to the views.

The town car slowed before stopped in the horseshoe driveway. Nate informed the driver that he could let himself out not seeing the purpose in making the man walk in the cold to open his door. He knew his mother would waited for Armageddon to come before she opened her own door. The Van der Bilt compound was a vast home that the family gathered at for most major functions but usually his grandfather was the only full time resident. It was a soul-sucking mansion. But when you are called you must come. So when Nate's grandfather called and said get in the car Nate got in the car. Half an hour later he had arrived annoyed but ready to face whenever dram his family presented tonight. Briskly he walked to the door only stopping himself to prepared for whatever family issues were going to consume his time. Then he rang the obnoxiously loud doorbell.

Only Tripp and his grandfather sat in the 'small' dining room. The dim chandelier made the rich mahogany look dark and grim. His grandfather rose with a smile, greeted him and announced dinner was to be served. The conversation was light throughout dinner but Nate knew whatever hammer his grandfather was going to drop after dinner. So he waited on edge the entire diner waiting for it to drop.

Back in the city, Chuck was watching the elevator rise making its way to the penthouse floor. Serena mentioned a family dinner on Wednesday he knew it was one he would not want to miss. Lily had not personally invited him but he knew the invitation was always opened so much so that she only served dinner at 6:30 on Fridays on the dot so he could make whether he informed them beforehand or not. Friday was the one day that Bart could be home without fail and Lily had continued their tradition even now.

So Chuck held her favorite bottle of red in his leathered glove hands eager to find out what was troubling his stepmother. When he exited the elevator and rounded the corner he was a bit hurt to see they were all already seated and were at least midway through their meals. Since Lily always served an appetizer and they were consuming entrees he knew that dinner must have started half an hour or more prior.

The tension in the room was thick. He thought his siblings looked pained to be sitting there and he glanced quickly over the other occupants. Taken aback Chuck's eyebrows moved together as if puzzled when he looked at Dan Humphrey then back at Serena who shrugged and then at Lily. He noticed the entire Humphrey family were seated across from his siblings. Jenny was the only one who seemed comfortable in the setting and continued eating.

Lily rose from her seat as she touched the back of her bun in her nervous habit. "Charles, you came for dinner." It was painfully obvious that she was not expecting him. "Rosie, a setting for…" she began but her order trailed off since Rosie, the ever capable help had anticipated the order and had already made a setting for him on the Van der Woodsen side of the table. He was bunched next to Serena.

"I could…" he began to offer to leave but Serena jumped out of her chair and all but begged him to stay with her eyes before he could finish his sentence.

"Please sit," Lily said with a smile and more in control of her surprise.

Jenny quickly began to fill the silence as she talked about the food, the art work in the living room, Christmas in New York, Constance and such. The only one who bothered to speak were Lily, who only answered all the girl's questions with no embellishment, and Eric who was friendly with her at school. Rufus only spoke to mention something about waffles on Christmas as tradition. Chuck, Dan and Serena were silent. Serena and Dan looked at their plates for most of the meal but Chuck surveyed everyone. He wanted to know what this was about. He hated surprises and with every moment that passed he felt the tension building.

Finally, when dessert was served Lily said she had an announcement. The little conversation that was occurring stopped.

"So I know everyone must be wondering why we are all here?" Lily said smiling as she pretended this was not an awkward dinner.

Serena and Dan had dated in high school but he cheated on her secretly for months and then wrote about it in the New Yorker. In response, Blair had cleverly met with the Yale college rep along with some blackmail and some maneuvering made it clear that another boy in Dan's class would get his coveted Yale spot. Dan was now attending Cornell University and had come back to the city solely for this dinner. He was still bitter that he was attending Cornell rather than Yale and partially blamed Serena. Dan held his tongue not wanting to lash out at his former girlfriend. Added to his tension that both Eric and Chuck were shooting dangers at Dan the whole night when he finally spoke with more anger than he intended.

"Are you and my dad dating?" Dan asked his question laced with disgust. But still he voiced the opinion of everyone in the room besides Rufus and Lily.

"No!" Rufus bit and Lily eyed Rufus as if to say 'you wish'.

"No, we wanted to talk to you kids about something. Something we have been hiding from you for a long time," she said as she looked at Dan and Serena clearly concerned over their reactions.

"We dated when we were younger. And…" Rufus said the words dying on his lips as he glanced at Chuck who eyebrows shot up as he realized what they were going to say.

"We had a baby. I was too young to raise and child and CeCe put him up for adoption." Her voice cracked when she said him and her hand quivered a bit as she reached up to touch her bun again. She glanced at Chuck with a smile "He would have been around your age. A few months younger," she said sweetly.

But Chuck's inside twisted. Lily had a son. A son his age. A real biological his age. Eric and Serena had an older brother who was not him.

"We share a sibling?" Serena asked the distaste on her voice as she gestured with her finger between Dan and herself.

It hit Chuck then. Why he was not invited. Everyone in this room shared blood with this missing boy but him. He was alone no biological link to any person here. He swallowed the lump in his throat. The turning of his nerves got worse.

"Do you know his name?" Eric asked with a little more grace than Serena had shown.

"No. The P.I is digging through the records but CeCe was good at covering her tracks and is refusing to help at this point," Lily said with a tight smile.

"Why wait so long to look for him?" Chuck asked betraying his own promise to himself to stay out of it but needing to ask the question.

"Well I wanted to for a long time. I've thought about it forever. I never knew how to tell your father. But when Rufus and I met again when Dan and Serena were….in high school, we talked about. We both decided that when the kids were old enough to understand we would look for him. Eric and Jenny are sixteen this year and felt about right," Lily said speaking to Chuck directly knowing he must still be angry about the early dinner and lack of invitation. She did not mean to exclude him because she did not think he would been as invested in this conversation and she had wanted to talk to him privately about the situation for other reasons.

But for Chuck all he heard was that she thought about her son, her real son all the time. Being almost the same age as her son Chuck let his mind question whether all those moments Lily showed him love and compassion had she pretended that she was showing it to her real son. Easily Chuck's insecurities and the loneliness that pained him pushed him into believing that he was only the replacement son, needed until her real one showed up. But he said nothing and leaned back into his chair as he pretended to be bored by the whole situation.

"This is ridiculous," Serena said throwing down the napkin that was placed on her plate as she stormed off to her room visibly upset. No doubt everyone in the room knew way. Dating your half-brother's half-brother was a bit weird for anyone.

Lily made eyes at her sons hoping that one of them would go see to their sister. Chuck rose ready to go talk to her even though he completely agreed with Serena's statement. However, at the same time Dan rose.

He put his hand out to halt Chuck. "I know what she is going through. Let me try to talk to her… It is weird you know… cause," his voice trailed off as he rubbed the back of his neck not able to meet Chuck's eye any longer. But Chuck nodded letting Dan go with a stern glance to serve as a warning.

With Dan and Serena gone from the room and Eric and Jenny pretending to be excited as they asked their parents for information. Chuck suddenly felt a bit lonely in the penthouse that he considered home above any other location. Feeling dejected he stood to leave.

"I need to be off. Thank you for a lovely night, Lily. Of course let me know if you need any help at all locating your son," his greeting was said stiffy without emotion. Lily raised an eyebrow out of concern and stood to walk with Chuck to the elevator.

"Chuck, I am sorry I needed to start dinner earlier than usually. Dan needs to head back to Cornell tonight," she said in way of explaining but gave no explanation as to way she would have not informed him of the change of time considering the significance of the dinner.

Nodding; he quickly walked out of the dining room to the elevator not wanting to have any conversation. But Lily, hot on his heels, followed him out knowing she needed to say something.

"I would like to talk to you about all this Chuck. There is more to this…" she said trying to catch his eye to figure out what he was thinking. But he was dodging her gaze as he busied himself with putting on his coat and gloves.

Finally meeting her gaze. "About your son?" he asked his voice bitter. He was cursing at himself internally for displaying so much emotions.

"No, about you. All this talk of long lost family. There is something that you must know about your mother. Something I should have told you years ago," She placed her hand on his wrist as a show of comfort. But an icy chill ran through Chuck's body instead.

"My mother is dead," he shot back. That was a fact, he thought. But maybe the long lost relatives were her family members or something. He could not help but wonder if perhaps out there somewhere in the world someone was walking around with the same blood as him. A family relative. Someone anyone out there with some ties to himself. Someone who was not as scheming and cruel as his uncle Jack.

At that moment an excited Jenny and Eric came rolling into the foyer. "Mrs. Bass, Eric and just had the greatest idea. We should throw him a surprise party when we all meet. A family party," she gushed. The words came back hitting Chuck. He knew on some level the girl was just excited to be somehow related to the UES famous Rhodes/Van der Woodsen clan. He was only related by his dead father.

"We will talk later," he whispered to Lily before leaving. He needed to get out of this place. She nodded sadly at him and then turned to addressed Jenny and Eric.

The long way down the elevator left Chuck feeling more like an outsider than he ever had before. Needing a release through women, booze, and maybe some dope he called Nathaniel. But there was no answer.

Nate saw the call but hit ignore since he was trying to process what his grandfather and Tripp wanted. He knew it would be better if he did not pause the conversation to talk to the man that his grandfather suddenly seemed so obsessed with.

"Tripp is down by a lot in the polls. I am unsure how me bringing Chuck in is going to help with his run," Nate said as he put his phone back into his pocket hoping Chuck would not call again.

"He is a billionaire. Don't be such a fool as to question why that matters. We need the money. The donations have dried up," his grandfather berated him as he sipped from his glass of scotch. Nate eyed the brown liquid in his glass. He was never a scotch man. Not like his grandfather and Chuck. He much rather preferred gin and maybe a beer every now and then.

"I am pretty sure he is a Republican," he said shrugging wanting to pretend this was not a big deal.

He thought it was ironic since he was pretty sure that if his grandfather was not a part of the New York political machine he would be undoubtable a Republican as well. Political parties meant nothing to the Van der Bilts. Power was the only thing that mattered. But with the increasing cost of running political campaigns even small ones the cost added up. Between the TV ads, online ads, radio ads, newspaper editorials, and social media presence in a district with twelve million people it cost a hell of a lot of money. Being in the spotlight in New York meant national attention and national attention meant name recognition which was half the battle in Presidential and State primaries. His grandfather of course knew all of this of course which was why he wanted one of his two grandsons to become mayor of New York City eventually.

"It is a two-pronged attack. We need dirt on Luther Mulligan and we need money for ads. Charles can help us with both," Tripp said as he basically repeated his grandfather's words from dinner.

Luther Mulligan was the U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York who was only running in a non-winnable seat for a Republican in order to make a play for governor next year. Mulligan was a hardline pick up yourself by your bootstraps conservative who was running a moral campaign. Everyone who knew him thought him fair but ruthless. Nate wanted to laugh. The entire that Mulligan would have an ounce of dirt to be hidden was heard to believe. Plus, even Tripp knew how much Chuck hated his cousin and he doubted he would give him a cent but ever the negotiator Nate did not want to be so bluntly rude.

"Why would he even have dirt on Mulligan?" Nate asked as he shifted in his seat before bringing the glass that was still half full to his lips.

"Back when Mulligan was an AUSA he had a RICO case against the Mob back a decade or so ago. The crimes were for things going back into the early 90s. Back in the eighties, with Bart being young in the real estate business and the nature of the city in those years you had to be in bed with the mob. No way around it and Bart knew how to play the game. So when the RICO trial came up Bart's name was on the original arrest warrant list. From the way I hear things Bart had some serious blackmail on the man and got that warrant to disappear. I have never seen that son of a bitch back down from anything like that. What I understand about both the they kept their blackmail material always close at hand. We need what Bart had," William said. His eyes drifted off as he spoke as he remembered the old days of politics. When his political machine was strong and both the Gracie Mansion and the New York State Executive Mansion were under his control. Then a fierce determined look washed over him as glanced back at Nate. Suddenly, Nate became nervous under that glare as if his own grandfather would rip him apart if Nate stood in his way of his ultimate goal.

Running a nervous hand over his face, Nate took a deep breath as he silently asked God or the universe why was he in this family. Certainly Nate loved politics as much as his grandfather did but for all the different reasons. While his grandfather wanted him and Tripp to be the next Bobby Kennedy and John F. Kennedy with all the fame and power, all Nate wanted was to have a long distinguished career as a liberal like Ted Kennedy. He cared a strong sense of morality and duty to help those less fortunate than himself. But he knew politics was a game of deceit and in that arena no one was more valuable to him then his grandfather.

"Okay I will talk to him," Nate said hoping the conversation and this evening was near an end.

"Talk! Nate we need this to work. Maureen needs me to win," Tripp said in anger. Maureen did not need him to win. Tripp needed Tripp to win.

"How is Maureen?" Nate asked to change the conversation.

Tripp did not answer for a moment as his back was turned to Nate while he poured himself more of a drink. Nate glanced at his own glass to see it was still a finger left of liquid. He was going slow tonight. He liked to keep a clear head around his family.

"She behaving. Your mother is a god send. She has her acting, talking, and thinking right." Nate's stomach clench at the thought and he quickly threw back the alcohol deciding he needed to be a bit drunk. Standing up to get more as Tripp sat down. "She really understands the way that Maureen needs to act to be a good wife."

Nate wanted to smack his cousin a few times for that comment and remind him that he was the one cheating on his wife. But there was also that sickening feeling of knowing that Tripp was right. A women married to a politician needed to be a politician herself. There was no doubt an aura and persona that wife must display. His mother raised by her cold father always played the part so well. There was no doubt that Anne would have been a ruthless business women, lawyer, or politician herself but she was raised to never really work. It was a different thoughts drifted to Serena trying to picture her at his side. Serena was so different. He could never picture her wanting that life.

"I'm happy she is feeling better," Nate said with dryly since not once did his cousin actually mention his how his wife was feeling.

"Nate, Tripp is making a good point here about a wife. Have you thought of taking one," William said. Nate squeezed the glass in his hand to stop him from screaming out. Their disregard for anyone not there to help their plans was giving him a horrible headache.

"I hardly think it is relevant to his conversation," Nate said smoothly.

"Well you should be thinking about it. I had internal polling done and we found you are best suited for a girl who comes from a blue collar family and/or a minority girl. Even better if she is from the rust belt," Willian said off handedly. Nate glared at him but said nothing. Not wanting to have this discussion yet again. His grandfather had mentioned this to him before and they had a fierce argument. No doubt William thought polling would sway Nate's mind.

"Stop it," was all Nate gritted out. Since he had the leverage at the moment through his relationship with Chuck that they were desperate for William Van der Bilt for once bit his tongue and said no more.

Back in the city, Blair was finishing up dinner with Scott. They had grabbed a bite to eat at a Thai restaurant in SOHO and were headed to see a French Film at the IFC center. For Blair it was unlike any date she would have pictured herself at. The food was mediocre, Scott didn't even wear a dinner jacket or tie, and he did not refuse her when she offered to pay half the bill. Despite all these reasons that she thought she would hate she found that she was actually having a good time. Never before had she thought her intelligence to be an attractive trait but Scott continued to compliment her and her knowledge of art, movies, and culture. She found herself having a real conversation about a dozen different topic with him never once was there an awkward silence. Maybe it was the feminist in her but the dinner was so different than that with Chuck. With Chuck she felt like a piece of the meal at dinner and with Scott she felt like a person. After dinner the two were planning on seeing a Éric Rohmer film.

"I love the French New Wave films. There is something so fresh and refreshing," Blair said as she walked along with Scott. It was cold out and the streets were emptier than normal.

"So true. I think they are playing one of Rohemer season films. I think the summer one and if I remember correctly it doesn't have a soundtrack. But there are these birds on the beach, seagulls that croak so loud sometimes and I remember thinking it was so refreshing and different. It makes it feel real in a way that engineered sounds don't do," Scott said.

"Well there goes your career plan," she joked with him giving him a teasing smile.

He laughed and then went on to explain how he wanted to be in charge of the music that creates a scene and conveys emotions but admitted that the sometimes it was unnecessary. "It is always best used correctly but some of the time it could be overdone which makes the viewer ignore the subtle changes that music can convey," he said and she followed along commenting her thoughts which he seemed to appreciate. They were nearing the theater when the Scott stopped and give Blair the bag he was holding. He had it with him at dinner and had told her it was a surprise.

Peeking into the bag Blair smiled widen when she saw it was macaroons from Ladurée. One of her favorite New York bakeries.

"My favorite," she said a bit surprised but elated that he did this.

"You mentioned it at the coffeehouse and I figured a French film deserves a French dessert."

"How sweet," she said before he reached down to kiss it. It was a merely a touch of lips for their first kiss. Pulling back, he looked at her smiling and she smiled back. Unable to stop herself she compared his fleeting kiss to Chuck's demanding one. It was unfair, she thought, to compare because they were vastly different people. Then she began to think about herself. Who was she more like cultured plain Scott or ruthless brilliant Chuck? Who was Blair Waldorf going to be and who did she want?

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is the name of two famous Hollywood movies and since most of the characters are seen at dinner or after dinner. In this chapter, the guessing is who missing from the Van der Woodsen dinner. If you are a fan of the show you should at this point be aware of who Lily and Rufus's son is. I am surprise no one guess this earlier and I never intended this to be that much of surprise but I think it might be for some so I won't come right out and say it.

So Scott and Blair's first date was never supposed to be written. It just kind of popped into my mind because I thought I should show Blair and Scott's relationship before the jealous Chuck and Scott scene. It helps create that Scott/Chuck binary.

Chuck is feeling very isolated and is hurt by Lily's secret child. We see that he feels alone in the world a bit since he has no blood ties to his closest relatives. As close as he is with the Van der Woodsen he feels replaced by Lily's 'real son'. FYI, Uncle Jack plays a very small role in this story and does not have a close relationship with Chuck.

Also, for those wondering or unfamiliar with (The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) RICO it is a federal law that allows for the prosecution for racketeering against a group of people for an ongoing criminal ring (family). The seventies, eighties and earlier nineties in New York were really embedded with organized crime in a way that is very different than now so I think it would be plausible that Bart would have gotten involved with them. Also, an AUSA (Assistant U.S Attorney) which Mulligan's character was but is now a U.S federal Attorney. This is a position that is appointed by the U.S president which in this timeline is going to change because the president is newly elected. The governor's race in New York would take place in 2010. I think I explained everything. If there are any questions let me know. The Rust Belt is the area were the declining Steel-producing cities in state such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and other cities in the upper North-Eastern United States, the Great Lakes, and the Midwest States.