A/N: I'm thinking about writing a sequel. I've had a major writer's block in terms of continuing to write this story. And it took me 7 months to update with an unfinished chapter. Geez. But I love this story. So.. Tell me what you guys think
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And then it hit him. It had to be Blair. Who else could it be? He was sure of it but he had to ask, "Was it Blair?" Chuck was too stunned to say anything and Blair was also shocked.
Serena came up to them and asked if there's anything wrong. Nate ignored her and repeated the question again, sounding more demanding this time, "Was it Blair?"
Noticing the discomfort in both Blair and Chuck's faces, Serena tried to divert their attention. "The dining room is all set. Dinner's ready."
Nate glowered at Chuck, yelling out to him. "Answer the question, Chuck!"
Blair threw him a beseeching look, "Let's not ruin this night. We can talk about this later."
"Now's a good time as any," Nate insisted as he broke away from Blair's touch, still scowling at Chuck and preparing himself for what he was about to hear.
Blair sighed in exasperation as she helplessly looks at Serena who was all too surprised herself in the sudden turn of events. Everything was going on smoothly until now.
Chuck didn't know how to explain. He has already moved on with Alex and he was almost sure that Nate saw that now.
Alex dreaded confrontations especially now with people she hardly knew. She looked at her reflection in the mirror as she ran her hand through her wavy jet black hair, thoughts filling her head. Her mother suggested that she dye her back to its original color and she did, it suited her more. Chuck said she still looks stunning no matter what her hair color is but he really preferred her dark brown hair. It brings out her hazel eyes.
What am I doing here? She thought, closing the door behind her. She walked back to the living room in a hurry hoping that nothing bad has happened. Since she only had a vague knowledge of Nate, she figured that she should just help Chuck explain things to him. Things are different now and she didn't want him to get the wrong idea.
Chuck was about to explain when he saw Alex approach them. She looked at him briefly before turning her attention to Nate. "I don't think this is the perfect time and place for us to discuss things like that. On the other hand, it might be better for us to get it over with so if you must really know, I just want you to keep in mind that Chuck and I have already gotten past that. We've already talked about it before I even decided to go back to London with him. You don't have to worry about anything or feel threatened. I don't. " She said firmly, looking at him intently in the eyes.
Nate's eyes softened up as he waited for Chuck's response.
Chuck didn't know how to put it into words but he tried. He started talking about his previous conversation with Blair that Alex overheard.
"I just want you to know that I will always feel the same way about you. No matter what," he hung up after having said that and saw Alex standing by the door, a stunned expression on her face, the grey blanket covering her naked body.
Chuck glanced at Alex for a sign of assurance. "Blair will always be a special part of my life, she will always hold a special place in my heart... But Blair and I weren't meant to be. I have Alex now. I love her. Having said that, I hope we could finally close that chapter in our lives."
They all turned to Nate to see his reaction. His face showed a look of relief and understanding as he still comprehended Chuck's words. "I apologize for however I may have acted," they all heard him say after a moment of long silence. "I just needed to hear that."
"Shall we go have dinner now? I'm starving," Serena proposed. Both Chuck and Nate smirked as they follow her into the dining room while talking.
Blair also finally understood what it was all about. Before Alex followed after Nate, Serena and Chuck, she spoke, "Alex!" Alex turned to her and Blair continued, "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't mean for that to happen. I hope you don't think—"
Alex shook her head and told her, "There's nothing you have to be sorry for. I completely understand. You and Nate are happy now. Chuck and I are happy too."
Nate and I are happy now, she smiled at the thought but, were they really? "I wanna let you know that I totally agree with what Chuck has just said. We can all be friends now," she said.
Alex smiled and hugged her. Serena looked back and saw them. Chuck and Nate were truly back to being friends.
"Tell us, how did you manage to convince her to go back to London?" Blair asked Chuck while holding her glass for Nate to refill it with red wine.
"After Nate called, it took me two hours before I finally decided to pack up and leave." Pack up meaning, getting his passport, credit cards and only some clothes. "The whole time I was on the plane, I thought about what to say to Alex, how I was going to face her… I didn't even know how I was going to be able to enter the palace grounds with the palace guards around, her father being there…"
"Fortunately for him, my dad was on a royal visit to Austria," Alex said, cutting in.
"Being Chuck Bass, I was up to the challenge," he remarked confidently.
"Don't be fooled by his confidence. I'm sure he had been nervous about the whole thing," Blair teased.
Chuck was about to open his mouth when Blair beat him up to it with a wave of her hand. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You're Chuck Bass; you don't get anxious at all."
Chuck smirked and said 'but of course' making Alex roll her eyes and the others laugh in hilarity. "So anyways, there I was, pacing back and forth at the enormous receiving room, waiting for Alex to arrive when the butler announced that Princess Sophia will arrive shortly."
"Princess Sophia as in Alex's mother?" Dan asked in disbelief.
Chuck nods and said, "As I was saying, so her mother walks in carrying an aristocratic air around her. She looks at me with her piercing eyes, trying to find out if I'd be intimidated by that, I suppose then she asked me to take a seat…"
"Would you like some tea, perhaps?" Princess Sophia offered him and moments later, a chamber maid came in and carefully placed a cup of tea on the coffee table. He thanked the woman before she left them.
"So tell me, Mr. Bass, what's the purpose of this unexpected visit of yours?" Princess Sophia demanded with her eyes fixed on the man sitting in front of her.
"Your daughter," Chuck merely said receiving a disdained look from his "girlfriend's" mother.
"Yes, I am well aware of the fact that you're not here to make yourself acquainted with me," Princess Sophia knowingly said. "What I would like to know is why you wanted to see my daughter."
Chuck took a moment to recollect his thoughts before he replied. "I came here because I wanted to apologize to her. I wanted to see her because I felt horrible about her being away… I miss her a lot. I wanted to tell her that I do like her a lot and that I am willing to do what it takes to make her forgive me, for her to give me a chance to prove it to her."
Princess Sophia continued to stare at him with a blank face. "What do you have to apologize for?"
"For being such an idiot in general," he said apologetically. Dan always tells him whenever he screws something up that a good apology must have 3 parts: 1) I'm sorry. 2) It was my fault. 3) How do I make it right? Out of desperation, he added admitting that he had been a complete idiot, chicks would surely soften up at that or so he hoped. He went on and on about how sorry he was for hurting Alex, that he never meant to hurt her, etc.
But Princess Sophia was not convinced. "What makes you think you deserve another chance?" She asked, giving him a smug look. "It seems to me that you are only using her as replacement for someone whom you cannot have. My daughter won't be a replacement for anyone, not now, not ever. You are just going to hurt her. She is way too precious and special... I simply cannot let that happen."
His face showed a look of surprise at her claims, mixed with determination in his eyes to prove her wrong. He assumed that Princess Sophia must have found out about his relationship with Blair or that Alex may have told her mother about it. He looked intently at the princess's eyes as he spoke. "But here I am willing to make up for my mistakes and I came all the way here to prove Alex that I want her back in my life. I can imagine myself falling in love with her and even though I can't say that I love her right now, I certainly do have strong feelings for her. I never expected for it to happen, it just did, I'm grateful that it did and that I met her. She makes me feel good, she brings out the good in me and I'll be the most stupid man in the planet if I don't see how good we both are to each other, how we exactly fit like two pieces of puzzles together. She was never just a replacement."
"I was, of course, dreading what her mother's reaction would be like. Would she still be doubtful? For a moment I thought she'd ask the palace guards to throw me out in the streets or put me in jail or something because she had this unreadable expression on her face." Chuck professed. Never had he talked like this in front of Eleanor Waldorf while he was still dating Blair. At that moment, he was willing to do whatever it takes to get Alex back and if whatever included him telling Alex's mother his true intentions to her daughter, pouring his heart out for her, he would.
"That was when Alex came in, the whole time she had been standing behind the door, eavesdropping on our conversation," he added, feigning an accusing look at Alex.
"Well, that's what I learn from being around you," she reasoned out.
Chuck placed his wine glass back on the table after gulping the rest of its contents. The others were still listening attentively while at the same time, trying to eat. "So her mother stood up and said, 'I do admire your honesty but whether she takes you back or not, it's my daughter's decision to make.' I'm almost sure she meant to say 'whatever her decision is, I still don't like you.' Her mother's very intimidating, I must say."
Alex glared at Chuck and disagreed to what he said. "My mother's hard to please but she likes your self-absorbed ass so don't talk about her like that." All of them looked shocked at her words. They didn't have any idea Alex could speak such inappropriate words but they were amused. Was she offended with the way Chuck has described her mother?
First she called him a complete idiot in front of his sister, now she called him a self-absorbed ass in front of his friends. He doesn't find it annoying but rather interesting. "Now that's a very unlikely attitude for a princess," Chuck teasingly said, grinning at her. "Don't forget that you're talking about the man you're about to marry," he smugly remarked.
Alex turned to Blair and Serena, feigning annoyance, she said, "Mimi once told Janey: 'Disrespect is part of the package. The day a man marries you, a part of him loses respect for you because of the very fact that you did marry him— he knows his flaws and thinks he's wife is a fool for putting up with him.'"
"But who's Mimi and Janey?" Serena asked, passing the gravy to Dan.
"Fictional characters. Alex's always quoting from this book by Candace Bushhead or something… The one who authored Sex and the City," Chuck said rolling his eyes. Sometimes it annoys him how Alex gets these ideas from reading chic literature and how she philosophizes on it. "And I have such high respects for you." Though I just don't understand why you rely on those books for relationship advice, he mentally adds. "You're the one calling me an idiot in front of my sister, heck; you even called me a self-absorbed ass."
"The title of the book is Trading Up and it's by Candace Bushnell, not Bushhead," she explained in a duh like fashion. "And 'Sex and the City' was based on the novel she wrote entitled 'Four Blondes.' How many times do I have to tell you that? I know all your favorite food, movie, book, color, etc and you can't even remember what my favorite author's name is?"
What the fuck is wrong with her? Chuck thought. He faced her and whispered, "Is it that time of the month?" Alex only pouted her lip. "She always gets a little feisty when she has her period."
"That is not true! I only get like this because of your 'high and mighty' attitude! You know what? You annoy me so much some times!" Her face was already getting redder and redder. She hastily grabbed her wine glass, taking huge gulps of iced cold water. "Maybe I'm stupid enough to even agree to marry you! All this time putting up with your shitty attitude!" She started to look very uncomfortable. The others only kept quiet. "I shouldn't have worn this dress! It's making me itch," she complained, resisting the urge to scratch her sides.
Both Nate and Blair shared a look. Dan and Serena looked clueless as to what to do.
Chuck was about to retort to what Alex has just said when an idea suddenly popped in his head. "Did they add a bit of grinded almond nuts in the gravy?"
Serena gave him a confused look. "I'm not sure."
Alex stood up and left, not bothering to excuse herself from the group. Chuck also stood to follow her in the bathroom when Serena said, "Oh wait! I'm so sorry. I completely forgot to mention it to the caterer!"
Chuck glared at her and rushed to follow Alex.
Dan and Nate both looked at her in confusion. She bit her lip and explained to them. "Chuck told me before at Lunch."
"But that doesn't explain the sudden mood swing," Dan commented.
"I guess, nuts make her unreasonably hypersensitive," Blair supposed. "Plus the rashes. More gravy? Anyone?