Disclaimer: Don't own

A/N: Okay, I know I'm terrible. It's been months and still no update, but I promise you that it is not for lack of trying. I had several different idea's for this chapter, but every time that I began to write a new episode would air and force me to change my mind. I'm going to try and keep these new chapters more regular though, no matter what new hurdles the writers give us. Also I am fully aware that this is most definitely NOT my best work, but I've been hesitating in posting this for days and after countless re-writes and changes I'm just gonna say to heck with it and post. I promise that the next one will definitely be an improvement. So, on with the story!

****IMPORTANT: 'Kay so without giving too much away, this is basically a re-doing of the play episode without the whole Yale and Dan/Miss Carr thing. I've decided to use my favorite Shakespearean play 'Much Ado About Nothing' because it totally relates to Chuck and Blair as Beatrice and Benedick and also because I just love it. If you're familiar with the play or even the general outline then I think that you'll be okay in understanding this, but if not I STRONGLY suggest looking it up on Wikipedia and getting just a summery of what happens. Hope you enjoy...

"I... I'm just not feeling this Claudio guy," Nate said frustratedly.

"What do you mean Nate." Director Julian asked impatiently. "What don't you feel?"

"Well for a start he says he's completely in love with Hero, but yet he's willing to believe that she's unfaithful without even talking to her? I mean what's up with that?" Nate complained.

"Yeah, you know I agree." Serena piped up. "My character doesn't even have a backbone, I mean Claudio, Hero's future husband, the man who's supposed to love her unconditionally, humiliates her and accuses her of sleeping around in front of everybody they know... And she just faints? Seriously?"

"At least your character is proved innocent," Penelope pointed out. "Margaret just stays some dopey slut."

Hazel snorted. "You'll be perfect on opening night then."

Penelope focused her glare on her, "My character may be a whore, but at least she's female. Unlike you, Balthasar."

"Enough!" Julian yelled finally, pinching the bridge of his nose with his finger and his thumb. "Everybody just be quiet, and listen. This play opens in two days. We have to be ready in two days."

"Good luck with that," Blair scoffed, sharing a superior smirk with Chuck at the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

"We will be ready in two days." Julian corrected, glaring at each of them. "I will not let a bunch of unruly high-school students mess screw up my reputation as a renowned director of the arts. Now, I am going to go around to each of you, and discuss briefly whatever troubles you are having relating to your characters. Alright?"

He received mute nods in reply. "Serena, let's start with you."

"I just feel that there should be more to Hero, you know? I mean she's like this timid little mouse, crying over the unjustness of Claudio's accusations, but then the second he looks past his own arrogance and self-propriety to realize that he was wrong she jumps at the chance to marry him like all is forgiven." Serena said.

"But you must understand, those were different times. Back in Shakespearean times there was no question of who was the dominating presence in any marriage; wives, according to the customs of the time, were duty bound to serve their husbands bidding. Hence the whole problem of Beatrice and Benedick." Julian explained.

"I guess I just don't get how she can just look past all he had accused her of and forget that it ever happened. He and her father literally killed off her entire entity, replaced her with a fake name and title, and she goes along with it? Without any complaint? I mean Beatrice is like the only one who believes without a doubt in Hero's virtue, even going so far as to make Benedick challenge one of his closest friends to a duel in order to proclaim her cousin's honor. Shouldn't Hero have been spurred on by Beatrice's fire and self assurance?"

"Serena, let me be frank." Julian sighed, "This is a high school drama, not Broadway. There will be no talent scouts in the audience waiting to snap you up, much as I would like there to be. Your job, is to go on stage and recite some lines, take a bow, and have your parents write me a check. It's that simple."

"I hardly think that's a good example to set for your students," Serena folded her arms across her chest disapprovingly.

"Okay fine, you want some advice? Then listen up, Hero is a shallow, delicate little society princess who obeys her father without complaint and keeps her tongue in check. Now how about you practice that while I attempt to pry my Beatrice and Benedick away from the others lips."

Serena let out a huff of indignation and stormed off to find her boyfriend in the hope that he could explain the play to her.

*****

"I just don't get it!" Serena exploded, laying her head back against the seat of the chair that she was leaning up against and flinging the script down to the ground.

"What don't you get darling?" Lily asked helpfully, "I studied Shakespeare in college, maybe I can help."

Serena explained to her the difficulty she was having in relating to her character.

"What is there to get?" Blair rolled her eyes. "All you have to do is stand there and look pretty. Shouldn't be too hard for you."

Chuck and Nate snickered as Serena glowered at her best friend. "Not helping B."

Bart entered the room and he looked faintly surprised to see the congregation of teenagers sitting with his wife. His gaze narrowed in on his son who had a faint look of annoyance on his face. "Aren't you two supposed to be going out tonight?"

Chuck and Blair both made faces. "Director Julian asked us to help Serena and Nate run lines and get into character." Blair explained.

"Why you two?" Bart asked, sitting down next to Lily.

"Because Blair here was stupid enough to boast that we had our lines already committed to heart." Chuck said bitterly.

"It's not exactly hard for you two," Nate complained. "All you have to do is argue with each other and make some great proclamations of hatred and love... You do that on a daily basis."

Serena giggled as Blair and Chuck rolled their eyes in perfect synchronization.

"Come on, let's get this over with." Blair sighed. "Let's start with Act 5, scene 4."

"We need someone to play Don Pedro, and Friar Francis. And Leonato." Serena looked at her mother and step-father pointedly.

Bart sighed, "Who has the least amount of lines?"

Nate scanned the text quickly, and highlighted Bart's lines for him. "Friar Francis."

Bart signaled for Nate to hand him a copy of the script.

"Nate, start from 'Which is the lady I must seize upon'." Blair instructed, leaning back against the sofa.

"Which is the lady I must seize upon?" Nate recited dutifully.

"This same is she, and I do give you her." Bart read.

Twenty minutes later...

"And so they dance and live happily ever after, blah, blah, blah..." Chuck said boredly, "We done now?"

Serena groaned, "I still keep messing up my lines."

"Hero says very little all through the play S, how are you still stuck?" Blair asked wearily.

"Sis, you should just be grateful that you don't have to learn as many speeches as I do," Chuck drawled.

"Charles you do have added help," Bart reminded him.

"Yes, thank you." Serena exclaimed. "Blair's like a genius at this stuff, I bet she's been making you run lines with her for weeks."

"Oh she has," Blair assured her, "But that's not what he's talking about."

"Chuck has a photographic memory, remember?" Nate told her.

"Semi-photographic," Chuck corrected smugly. "I don't retain all of what I see, but the little I do learn does come in handy sometimes."

"Wait, how did I not know this?" Serena asked in disbelief. "And better still, how the hell are you failing every subject?!"

"I often wonder that too," Bart muttered under his breath, Lily patted his knee comfortingly.

"While I admit that my aptitude for soaking in knowledge may be greater then most others, the fact still remains that in order to remember facts and details, I still have to read them at least once." Chuck explained.

"And therein lies the problem." Nate chuckled. "He's never opened a book to study in his life."

"We open tomorrow night. We only have one more practice session, what if we mess up?" Serena asked fearfully.

"Yeah, I mean I still don't get how Claudio proclaims to love Hero, when really he's only marrying her to keep in Leonato and Don Pedro's good books. Their entire relationship is built on keeping people happy." Nate shook his head. "How the hell am I supposed to relate to that?"

Blair glared daggers at him while Chuck choked on his scotch.

"Really Nathaniel? Perhaps a certain Vanderbilt diamond would refresh your memory." Chuck smirked.

Nate paled.

"Who's hungry?" Serena changed the subject brightly. "Why don't we all go out tonight?"

"Serena you have school tomorrow." Lily reminded her.

"Not really, tomorrow is all about setting up stuff for the play. Please Mom? I promise we won't be too late. Thank you!" Serena planted a kiss on her mother's forehead before ushering her friends out of the door.

"Serena I never agreed to this," Lily called after her, "Serena!"

"You know Eric is staying at Jenny's tonight." Bart said thoughtfully.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "You want to tag along?"

"Serena!" They both yelled.

*****

"Well I must say that this was a wonderful idea." Lily complimented as Bart passed her another drink

"Yes, it really was." Bart agreed. "This place cleans up well."

Blair looked around at the familiar faces and strobe lighting of Victrola, but with considerably more clothing and less lucrative dancers. "I kind of prefer it the way it was before."

"Of course you do." Serena rolled her eyes.

"Hey is that Jack at the bar? I thought he'd left town." Nate asked, peering through the thick crowd of people. "And who's that girl with him?"

Chuck and Blair followed his gaze and were shocked at what they saw.

"Is that...?" Chuck snickered.

"EMMA!" Blair shrieked, jumping up from the table and rushing over to where the two in question were flirting. "Emma is that you?"

"Blair?" Emma giggled, attempting to smooth down her very promiscuous dress. "Blair Waldorf? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," Blair snapped, grabbing her hand and pushing her drink out of reach. "Hands off Jackass she's fifteen."

"Sixteen actually," Emma hiccuped, allowing Blair to lead her away. "My birthday was a few days ago."

"Well bully for you." Blair snarked, making her sit beside Chuck in the booth that the Van der Bass' were occupying. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Uh?" Emma looked around nervously at the many eyes that were fixed on her. "Having fun?"

"Wrong answer," Blair snapped, "Try again."

Emma looked close to tears. "Well I just found out that my so-called best friend – you guys remember Muffy – slept with my boyfriend! Before me!"

Serena and Nate had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Of course she did," Chuck rolled his eyes. "Anybody else feeling deja-vu?"

"Excuse me?" Blair narrowed her eyes.

"Best-friend sleeps with boyfriend, check." Chuck listed.

"Girl dumps boyfriend, eventually, and runs off to Victrola, check." Chuck struggled not to laugh at the murderous glint that was in his girlfriend's eyes. "Girl hits on Bass, check."

"Girl strangles Bass," Blair said through gritted teeth. "Soon to be checked."

Bart cleared his throat awkwardly.

"So... Emma are you feeling calmer?" Lily asked caringly.

"After this I will be," Emma downed the rest of Blair's drink in one. "Feeling calmer already. Oh and did I mention I found out that my Mom is having an affair?" She giggled humorlessly as she moved onto Serena's drink.

"Nate fix her," Serena hissed quietly.

"Why me?" Nate protested.

"Well you like the infantile types." Chuck smirked. "Isn't she the same age as Little Brooklyn?"

"Son of a -" Blair swore, "Jack would you please stop groping her!" Blair looked at Bart imploringly.

"Jack leave her alone." Bart ordered tiredly. "She's underage."

"But ever so interested." Jack winked. "Besides, I'm already on a 'look but don't touch' basis with these three," He indicated Lily, Serena, and Blair, "The least you can do is give me mini-Blair."

"That's it. We're leaving." Blair decided, "Emma, come."

Emma tilted her head to the side as if considering it. "Thanks for the offer, but I'd really rather not." With that Emma hopped up from the seat and skipped off into the crowd.

"Emma!" Blair yelled after her. "Come back here right now!"

"Not again," Serena groaned, getting to her feet and standing next to Blair. "I assume we're going to go find her."

"Stupid, annoying little brat." Blair muttered under her breath, craning her neck to see through the crowd. "I swear if I end up at some guy's apartment again..."

Blair turned to look beseeching at her boyfriend who shook his head. "No. I am not going on another wild goose chase Waldorf. No way."

Blair glared at him. "Fine. If you won't come with me then make yourself useful and dig up some dirt on this boyfriend and on Muffy. I want both of them ruined by the time I get back. Archibald come with me." Blair grabbed Nate's hand and dragged him away.

Serena came up behind Chuck and said with a smirk, "The hand thing is bugging you isn't it?"

"Shut up." Chuck muttered as he took out his phone and rang his PI.

*****

"Jack what are you doing back in town?" Bart asked warily.

"Business," Jack shrugged, "I'm only just back, I was going to call but I figured I'd-"

"Seduce high school students instead?" Lily said disapprovingly.

"-wait until the morning." Jack finished, throwing Lily a charming smile. He nodded to Chuck, "Who's he calling."

"His PI." Serena sighed, "Blair's demanding that they destroy whoever hurt Emma. I actually feel sorry for whoever they are, they don't deserve whatever those two will cook up."

"Well surely it can't be worse then what they did to you." Lily told her.

Serena scoffed. "Mom I hate to break it to you but embarrassing me in front of every Ivy league college is mild for Chuck and Blair."

"Chuck has a PI?" Bart seemed overwhelmed by the idea. "He's only eighteen. I didn't hire my first one until I was twenty-five."

Lily laughed, "That's supposed to be your idea of a good example?"

*****

"Serena, hey, there you are. I've been trying to call you all morning. Where have you been?" Dan frowned. "We were supposed to run through our lines together. You said that you could use the extra help?"

"Yes, I did, I do... need extra help I mean." Serena shook her head, "Sorry, I'm just a little lightheaded. I got barely any sleep last night."

"How come?" Dan asked, "And who's that over there with Blair and Jenny?"

"She is the cause of my lightheadedness." Serena sighed, "I need coffee, I'll explain on the way."

***

"Emma here is going to be your helper for the day," Blair told Jenny, she turned a stern glare at Emma. "Aren't you?"

"Yes," Emma replied morosely.

"Well I suppose I could use an assistant..." Jenny said hesitantly, "I guess you could start by putting these dresses back in the store room?" She handed Emma several garments and pointing her in the right direction.

Emma sighed, "Happy to help."

"Blair what's going on?" Jenny asked the second she had gone. "And why do you look so tired?"

"Emma decided to go wild and Nate, Chuck, Serena and I spent all night tracking her down." Blair yawned. "I don't look that bad do I."

"You keep yawning in my face." Jenny told her. "C'mon. Let's go get you some coffee."

Blair was to tired to put up much of a fight and so she went with the younger blonde.

***

"Nate I need humor, not anger." Julian urged Nate as he, Dan and Chuck practiced one of their scenes. "Claudio and Don Pedro are mocking Benedick, you think his challenge of a duel is comical. For goodness sake you compare him to an ape!"

"But why isn't he mad? I mean one of his closest friends has just told him that he considers him to be a murderer." Nate asked.

"But Benedick doesn't truly believe that," Dan interjected. "He's only challenging him because he knows that he'll lose Beatrice if he doesn't."

"Then shouldn't he be angry that his friend is siding with his girlfriend instead of him?" Nate pointed out, "You know, 'bros before hoes'."

Julian let out an incredulous whimper. "Bros before hoes," he whispered. "Bros before.... hoes. You just called Beatrice, one of Shakespeare's greatest female protagonists, a hoe." He flung his hands into the air and walked away dramatically, still muttering under his breath as he went.

"I think you broke him," Dan remarked as Chuck shook with silent laughter.

"What did I say?" Nate asked in confusion.

***

"Blair, you don't quite need to be as theatrical about it." Julian winced. "You're having a revelation about how people perceive you as a person, coupled with conflicting emotions for Benedick, not having a seizure."

Blair looked offended. "If you didn't want me to put my own spin on Beatrice's character then why would you appoint me as her?"

"I wasn't aware that I had much of a choice," Julian said dryly. "Your intercepting me the second that I stepped foot inside the building and demanding that I give you lead female didn't leave much room for negotiation.

Blair flushed and sniffed haughtily.

***

"Charles please try and stick to the lines." Julian asked, once again pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're attempting to insult Beatrice, not woo Blair."

Blair smirked.

"And Blair do you think you could hold back a little on the insults? I asked for passion and pent up emotions, not cattiness and spite."

This time it was Chuck who smirked.

***

"Nelly you are meant to say 'senseless' not 'sensible'. And Dogberry is supposed to confuse 'odorous' with 'odious'."

"But then the lines make no sense," Nelly complained, "I refuse to butcher my sentences by using so many malapropisms."

"But you're supposed to!"

***

"Hero, you're supposed to take Claudio's hand right about now."

Nate waited as Serena crossed her arms across her chest defiantly. "I haven't heard any apology yet."

"Apology for what?" Julian sighed impatiently.

"For slandering my good name in front of everyone I know." Serena said stiffly. "I expected better of you Nate Archibald." She slapped his cheek before angrily storming off.

Nate raised his hand to his cheek in bewilderment. "But I didn't do anything."

*****

"All this over a stupid wedding." Chuck shook his head in amusement as he and Blair watched Julian 'direct' the last of the rehearsal. "I'm never getting married."

Blair nodded absently before freezing, "Whoa, wait, what was that last part?"

"I was just saying that all the drama in this stupid play is caused by one wedding. If Hero and Claudio had married before the war then none of this would have happened. Beatrice and Benedick would have eventually gotten married, sure, but the whole deception thing is ridiculous. It's not even a very good scheme." Chuck shrugged.

"No, no," Blair said tensely, "After that. The part about not marrying?"

Chuck's eyes narrowed. "I was just stating a fact. Why?"

"Now when you say fact," Blair brushed some stray lint off of his suit. "I say exaggeration. Right?"

"Waldorf what are you getting at?"

"You're inability to commit!" Blair snapped.

"..."

"I mean God Chuck, I know that we've only just started dating officially, but surely now you've gotten over yourself and admitted that you wouldn't be able to live without my loving presence in your life, you've reconsidered your prior plane."

Chuck scoffed, "Loving presence? More like annoying presence."

Blair opened her mouth to yell at him but Julian called them just in time.

"This isn't over Basshole." She hissed.

***

"Blair, that's your cue." Julian prompted.

"Soft and fair, Friar — Which is Beatrice?" Chuck repeated.

"I answer to that name. What is your will?" Blair replied coldly as she pulled off her mask.

"Is there a problem?" Julian asked as he noticed that his two leads looked ready to kill each other.

"Yes actually, I was just wondering why my character actually likes this guy," Blair said, glaring at her soon-to-be-ex boyfriend.

"Well... he's handsome." Julian ventured wearily.

Blair scoffed, "I think my character is a little less shallow then to like someone based off of looks alone. I need more then just 'handsome'."

Chuck narrowed his eyes, "Here's an idea. Maybe you like him because it says so in the script."

"Once again, Charles, I need just a little more to go on then that." Blair informed him sweetly.

"What I want to know is why my character likes someone who the script clearly states as a bitch." Chuck countered.

"It does not say that in the script," Blair said angrily.

"Really? Well it does in mine." Chuck said informed her.

"Thank God we're not doing the Taming of the Shrew," Serena muttered to Dan. "I think she might have actually killed him."

***

"Everybody gather around," Julian called some hours later. "Now, the curtain opens in ten minutes so I want everyone ready and in their places in five. I mean it guys, there is a critic out there who had better give me a stellar review or else I might possibly kill you all. Do you understand that Mr and Mrs Idiot?" He glared daggers at Serena and Nate, "Or would you like me to analyze it for you word for word?"

"This is the thanks we get for trying to learn?" Serena muttered.

Nate rubbed his cheek while glowering at her, "Tell me about it."

"Hey Serena," Dan rushed up to his girlfriend and smiled. "You ready to go on?"

Serena nodded brightly, "Uh huh."

"Great, so I guess I'll see you on stage?" Dan laughed.

"I guess you will." Serena replied as he gave her a quick kiss before rushing off.

"Do you know if Blair and Chuck have made up yet?" Nate asked her.

Serena winced, "Judging by the sounds coming from the storeroom as I passed, I'd definitely say that they made progress."

***

"Chuck stop, we're on in five minutes," Blair said breathlessly as Chuck kissed his way down her neck. "And I'm still mad at you." She added as an afterthought.

Chuck groaned, "What for now?"

"You said that you didn't ever want to get married." Blair reminded him. "Not the best thing to say to a girl who's had her dream wedding planned since she was five years old."

Chuck raised his eyebrows, "You mean your wedding to Nate?"

"No, actually. I've changed some of the details around to go with the change in groom." Blair told him.

"Such as," he pressed.

"Why should I tell you if you're obviously so dead-against the idea." Blair huffed.

"Waldorf," Chuck said patiently. "This time two years ago I was adamant that I would never fall in love, least of all with my best friend's bitchy, uptight, pain-in-the-ass girlfriend, but it happened. I was equally as adamant that I would never think of girls as anything more then conquests, love anyone more then I love myself, or that I would continuously choose you over Nate, but that also happened. So if you could do all that over the space of a year and a half, why the fuck are you worried about something that you have the rest of our lives to change my mind about?"

Blair was stunned speechless. "I... I think that was actually romantic." She stuttered eventually.

Chuck smirked, "Why thank you. Now, are you going to stand in this room all day or are you going to follow me out so that we can get this whole debacle over with?"

Blair just nodded and took his hand as he led her away.

They were halfway to the stage area when Blair finally overcome some of her shock. "A white limousine."

"What?" Chuck asked confusedly.

"Instead of the horse and carriage," Blair told him with a small smile. "We were going to have a limo. And the reception was going to be held at Victrola."

Chuck ducked his head and turned away but she could still see the wide smile – smile, not smirk – gracing his features.

"Come on then, hurry up, we don't want to miss the start." Blair ushered him along, upon glancing at her watch.

***

"That guy is really starting to get on my nerves," Nate said as he and Chuck watched Julian sitting in the front row and whispering to the critic about his success with the play. "It's only the first act and already he's boasting about what a flawless triumph this stupid play is."

Chuck smirked wickedly, "Nathaniel I do believe that you have given me an idea."

Nate narrowed his eyes, "I know that look, what are you planning?"

"All in due time," Chuck still had a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Just recite you lines as normal until I give the sign and then just follow my lead."

"You realize that this play is for extra credit?" Nate pointed out. "Blair and Serena are going to kill you if you mess it up."

"They'll get over it... they always do."

"Can the world buy such a jewel?" Nate recited a few minutes later.

Chuck clapped him on the back, "Why of course you can buy a jewel, you're rich, you can buy whatever the hell you like. Tell you what, I'll even buy you a matching case."

Nate's eyes widened and he paused for a second before saying the next line; "In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on."

Chuck scoffed loudly, "Oh please, I'm young enough to still see without glasses and I can honestly tell you that I see none of what you claim to. Personally I find that her cousin Beatrice is far hotter then she is." Chuck mused. "If it wasn't for her nasty temper I'd probably do her myself..."

Nate clearly heard a gasp from backstage and he could see Julian having heart palpitations in the audience. Making a spur of the moment decision... "Dude, seriously, even if I had vowed never to get married I'd still reconsider if it meant that I got Hero every night. She's smokin'."

Chuck sighed dramatically, "Honestly, is every man here really idiotic enough to take a wife? I swear, I'll be the only bachelor left in the world but at least I'll know that I've never let a woman play me like a fool. Go on then, marry her if you must, but don't come crying to me when your kid looks more like the stable-boy then he does you."

A few laughs were heard from the audience as Dan stepped on stage again.

"Oh look, here's Humpty-Dumpty back again to criticize us on our acting skills." Chuck cheerfully. "What's up Don Pedro."

"What secret hath held you here that you followed not to Leonato's?" Dan/Don Pedro asked, he leaned in close to Chuck and Nate and whispered. "Blair says to tell you that if you don't knock it off she'll rip both your heads off and feed them to her cat!"

Chuck just rolled his eyes, "Dear Claudio here is determined to marry Hero, you know, Leonato's slutty daughter?"

"So much for keeping it a secret," Nate hissed.

"What? You want me to make a pinky-swear next time? Cross my heart and hope to die? Stick a needle in my eye?" Chuck drawled.

***

The play continued like that for the remainder of the night, with Nate and Chuck improvising on their lines and the audience roaring with laughter. Blair and Serena joined in on the fun on occasion, and Chuck and Blair even added an extra make-out scene that was most definitely not in the script. Penelope took to calling Howard Zippata who was playing Borachio, 'Romeo' in the bedroom-window scene instead, Nelly Yuki's sentences as Dogberry were flawless, and Chad Cranford who was playing Leonato took to giggling every time a comment was made on his daughter's virtue. Dan even gave up his role as Don Pedro long enough to curse every one of them for destroying Shakespeare's play and storming off stage in a fit of rage before meekly being dragged back on by his sister who stopped long enough to give Nate a peck on the cheek.

Emma even made a cameo as she rushed on stage to throw her arms around Chuck and Blair while yelling something about 'drug charges', and 'payback' and 'ex-boyfriends' and 'lacrosse-titutes'.

"How dead are we when this curtain goes back down again," Serena asked nervously as they took their final bows.

"Headmistress Queller did not look happy," Nate murmured back in reply.

"I think my mother went into cardiac arrest when you practically molested me in the middle of my sentence that time." Blair said through gritted teeth as she smiled and waved.

"I forgot that we were acting," Chuck said defensively. "Kissing you is usually what I do to shut you up."

"Remember what I said about the white limo?" Blair asked as the curtain closed and they heard footsteps in the corridor. "We'd better change it to black. White would clash against the cream colored roses that I plan on having at my funeral, and if this goes the way I think it's going too, then we both know which will come first."

"If I survive long enough I'll be sure to send the memo to Bart's secretary." Chuck said, clasping her hand in his own and gulping as the door opened.

R&R