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bold=text messages
italics=flashbacks

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The annoying sound of constant beeping was the first thing Blair heard after her eyes opened. She was lying on a hospital bed in a dimly lit room. Her head was bandaged and throbbing with even the slightest movement of her body. Maybe she had suffered a concussion. She glanced outside of the glass door. There Eleanor was exchanging heated words with two police officers while making large gestures with her hands. Great, just what she needed. Now she would know everything. The one thing Blair was trying to avoid. Nate lingered next to Dan and Serena, all watching the chaos from a few feet away. What were they all doing there? Who had even called them?

She started to piece together the night's events in her mind. Went to the address in Brooklyn. Waited for Corey to come out. Confrontation in the lobby. Thrown to the floor. Can't breathe. Scared. Have to get away. And then... Chuck. The thought made Blair use her arms to sit up. There was no way he'd walked away without a scratch. The bastard was killing him. What if he was hurt? She had to know if he was okay. This was all her fault.

She ripped out the tubes in both nostrils and after pulling at the one in her arm, a hand stopped her. "Stop." The voice demanded.

Chuck had been in the room the whole time. In the dark corner, sitting in a chair. She gasped, not able to stop her eyes from taking in his battered appearance. He looked like he had been used as a human punching bag. She also couldn't stop herself from tightly embracing him. Not feeling him next to her was not an option. His breathing was unsteady, and seemed to come out in small spouts. She forced herself to let go after almost a minute, and felt a tear roll down her cheek after seeing his mangled face for the second time. "Chuck, look at you..."

He stood from the chair. "I'm not the one you should be worried about." He responded, gruffly. His expression was angry. Conflicted. "How could you go over there alone?" He asked her in one breath.

"I wasn't..."

Chuck rolled his eyes. "I know. Vanessa the amateur YouTube filmmaker was hiding in the broom closet armed with a cheap video camera. Ready to pounce, obviously." He ran a hand through his hair, and started to pace the floor. "I can't believe she didn't do anything. They should arrest her as an accessory."

Blair absently stared down at the bedsheets. "It wasn't her fault. I asked her to help me."

"Some help she was." Chuck argued, a bitter chuckle escaping from deep in his throat. "When I came in it looked like he was... I wanted to..." He mumbled. Blair couldn't make out half of the conversation he was currently having with himself. She didn't know if he was mad at her, or at Eleanor, or just that the situation had even taken place. Maybe all three. There was no telling. She reached for his hand, hoping to calm him down. "Chuck, just stop. He didn't do anything to me. You got there before it went that far. I scratched him and he pushed me and he..."

"Deserved worse!" Chuck exploded. He took a few steps back, chest heaving, fists balled at his sides. "I can't believe you'd do something that crazy. That stupid! Do you even realize what could have happened if I hadn't put two and two together? You should have told me."

Blair's head snapped angrily in his direction. She was just as mad as he was now. "I tried. At lunch yesterday. I found the address in your pocket the morning after you went out, and left me to be babysat by Serena! You didn't tell me where you'd been. You were acting weird. Your knuckles were bloody. Then I find the address and it's in the same neighborhood as...! What was I supposed to think, Chuck?!"

He was only looking at the floor. Unresponsive. That infuriated Blair more than anything. If Chuck was purposefully trying to get her going, he was doing a great job so far. "You know what?" She pointed her finger towards the door. "Just get out. Ugh, I KNEW this would happen! I knew we'd find a way to screw this up! It doesn't even matter if we love each other. That doesn't change the fact that we'll always end up back here. At each others throats." Blair said, her voice breaking. "I should have taken the hint in the Hampton's when you couldn't say it. Or less than a week ago when I knew you weren't telling me everything. So stupid."

"Blair." Chuck said, eyes still on the floor.

"If you're waiting for a thank you for saving me, you can forget it, you selfish ass! You've completely ruined any chance of me feeling remotely grateful. I would have been better off if you'd never showed up tonight in the first place. If Vanessa had never called you that night. If I'd never gone to that stupid concert. If I'd never gotten in the limo." Blair choked out, bitterly. Did she really just say those things? Yes. Did she mean them? Maybe. She needed to be alone. "GET OUT!" She shouted at him.

Chuck felt his stomach drop to the floor. Her words had cut deep. As angry as he was that Blair recklessly put her life in danger, again, deep down all he really wanted was to tell her that those twenty minutes in the car on the way to Brooklyn, not knowing what was happening or if she was hurt, was one of most horrifying things he'd ever experienced. And that he didn't like feeling that way. Especially when it came to her. But she just said that she wished none of this had ever happened. That they had never happened. Sighing in defeat, he headed for the door. But then something stopped him.

She was crying, face hidden in the white sheets.

No, they had come too far. Been through too much to give up now. He had to at least try. Stay and fight. "I did go to his apartment that night, but I didn't knock on the door."

Blair looked up at him after a moment, wiping her eyes. "Why?"

"Because I knew that's not what you wanted, and that I was being an idiot. I left the building and the next thing I knew, I was punching the hell out of the brick wall. Then I came back to you. That's all that happened." Chuck explained, glad to finally get it off his chest.

"Why didn't you just tell me that?" Blair asked, confused.

"Partly because I was ashamed that I beat up a wall of bricks instead of him. Party because I thought you'd think I'd gone behind your back, and you'd never trust me again. I didn't want to lose you. I guess I was trying to protect you too... in my own way."

Blair's face softened. Why did he always do this? Make her hate him in every way, shape, and form, and then say something genuine like that. It was infuriating. But the anger from before was slowly diminishing. She pulled him by the sleeve down beside her. "Thank you for telling me the truth. I didn't mean those things..."

He took hold of both her hands. "I know. I'm sorry, too."

Blair leaned her head on Chuck's shoulder after he situated himself next to her on the bed. "This is never going to be easy is it?"

"Probably not." Chuck responded, kissing her hair. "But it's worth it."

She smiled at his words and then started to laugh for the first time in God knows how long. "Why can't we just be like other normal, cute, high school couples?"

"I'd give us a little more credit. We're more interesting than that." Chuck said with a smirk, leaning in for a kiss.

Suddenly, Eleanor burst through the door like a bat out of hell, and didn't look happy about what she walked in on. "Charles! What do you think you're doing? Get away from my daughter this minute. There are plugs and tubes everywhere. Are you insane?"

Chuck quickly scooted away. "Hello to you too, Ms. Waldorf." He said, hopping off the bed.

"We were in the middle of a conversation, mother." Blair whined, arms crossed over her chest.

Eleanor nodded sarcastically. "So I saw. But I think Charles has done enough for one night. Certainly pulled you into enough excitement in any case." She turned to Chuck, who wasn't moving. She stared him down. "Translation: Go home."

"Mom!" Blair shouted defensively. "Don't talk to him like that. After everything he's done for me, you should be thanking him. He saved my life!"

Eleanor started to laugh. "Saved your life? I think that concussion has affected your train of thought, my dear. He's the one who got you into this mess! You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And you know what, I don't even care why he attacked the other young man, or what the fight was about, or why you were there in the first place. I just want him away from me and you especially." She turned to Chuck again, trying to get the point across to him. "Am I making myself clear?"

Blair glanced from Chuck to Eleanor. She assumed her mother knew what happened, but obviously she was wrong. "You didn't tell her."

Chuck shook his head slowly. Now Eleanor was the one confused. "Tell me what? What are you talking about?" She asked them both.

"Chuck, can you give us a minute? I need to talk to my mother alone."

--

Eventually, Blair convinced Chuck to leave her alone with Eleanor. But while she was explaining the events of the past few weeks, Blair could have sworn she saw his coat tail every few minutes. Eleanor was furious that Blair didn't confide in her. But to Blair's surprise, she was very understanding and insisted on finding a qualified counselor, following her hospital stay. "Well, there's one thing I do agree with Charles about. You should have never gone to that apartment alone, Blair. That was a foolish thing to do. Very dangerous." She enveloped her daughter in a hug, something she hadn't done in ages. "I could have lost you tonight."

Serena and Nate weren't exactly thrilled either. With Blair or Chuck. They wanted to know why they were kept out of all this, and what ever happened to the non-judgemental breakfast club. Dan stayed out of the whole conversation, or maybe better described as a one sided argument. But when things went a bit off the rails, he finally spoke up. "The important thing is that she's okay, right? Or she will be. You can help her now." Blair released a breath, and locked eyes with Humphrey appreciatively.

Jenny, Eric, and Lily popped in with flowers and a box of chocolates a little later. And the visitors didn't stop there. Her father would be landing in New York with Roman within the next few hours. She could thank her mother for that added piece of drama.

As for Chuck, he barely said anything the entire time. Even when he was spoken to, asked a question, or yelled at (mostly by Serena), he would only offer shrugs and one word answers. He stayed in his chair by the bed, holding onto Blair's hand under the blanket. Every few minutes, they would exchange squeezes to let the other one know they were okay.

This was going to be a long night. A long week. A long month. A long year.

But it was worth it.

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~fin