He was running out of time.

In a matter of minutes she'd be lost to him. For good.

"Please Blair don't do this!" Chuck said as he busted into the Ladies' Room with a bouquet of flowers in hand.

"Chuck, are you crazy?! You aren't allowed in here!" Blair scolded as she smoothed out invisible creases in her dress.

"You can't marry Nate" he said with conviction.

"Of course I can, and I will" she said, fixing her hair in the mirror.

"But I love you" he said quietly.

Blair sighed and turned to look at him.

"I know you do. But Nate loves me more" she said. Looking back to the mirror, she applied some pink lip-gloss that Chuck thought smelled like cherries.

"No he doesn't, he loves Serena, he told me so" he said in a desperate attempt to change her mind, not thinking about how the news would affect her.

Blair's face immediately hardened.

"You're lying. He loves me and we're going to be together for the rest of our lives, just you watch Bass."

Without thinking, Chuck pushed Blair against the wall and pressed his lips to her newly glossed ones.

She tasted like cherries too.

"What are you doing?!" Blair said, hitting his arm "Are you trying to ruin my marriage?"

"You aren't married yet" Chuck told her.

"Well I will be shortly. If you'll excuse me, I have to get to my wedding" she huffed as she pushed past time.

Chuck glanced in the mirror, his purple bowtie got crooked when he decided to jump Blair. Adjusting it back into place, he made his way outside.

Still clutching the flowers he brought for her, Chuck snuck up to the back of the ceremony.

He felt his palms sweat as he watched Blair walk down the grassy aisle in a white dress her mother made especially for her.

Chuck grimaced when he saw Nate standing at the end of the aisle, near a giggly Serena.

He hated how serious Blair looked when she professed her love to Nate.

He hated how prettily she blushed when he slid a ring on her finger that looked like a piece of plastic. He would have bought her a better one.

Chuck fought the tears in his eyes and he turned away from the sight of the woman he loved kissing his best friend.

He let the small bundle of dandelions he had picked fall to the ground.

At five years old, Chuck Bass had lost the love of his life.

Turning away from the happy couple, he ran to monkey bars and climbed until he was sitting on top of the bars. Slouching over, he allowed the tears he tried to suppress moisten his cheeks.

"Chuck?" Serena squeaked from below. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, leave me alone."

"Why did you leave the wedding?"

"It was stupid. The whole thing is stupid."

"We're just pretending, Chuck" she said climbing up to sit next time him "It's just pretend."

"Not to me its not. I love her" he said, furiously trying to wipe the tears from his eyes without her noticing.

"Yeah I know" Serena said quietly.

"Do you love Nate?" he asked.

"I love everyone!" Serena exclaimed "Even you, Chuck."

"Thanks" he sniffed.

"If you want you can marry me."

"Really?"

"Sure! We can have my mom bring Eric in for Show and Tell again, and he can be our ring bearer!"

"Um, thanks but no thanks. I like you Serena, but not like that. You're like a sister to me."

"Then I'll be your sister, okay?"

"K" he said as she leaned over and wiped his tears for him.

"Serena!" a little voice called from below "What are you guys doing up there? Recess will be over soon and Nate and I still need to go on our honeymoon!" Blair cried.

"I better go" Serena said, leaning over to kiss Chuck on the cheek.

"Aren't you coming too Chuck?" Blair asked.

"No; I'm never coming down" he told her, crossing his arms in from of him and swinging his legs.

"Charles Bass, get down here this instant" Blair stomped her perfect little foot on the saw-dust ground.

"You can't order me around, you're not my wife" he said.

"Ugh, fine!" she said, as she climbed up the bars to sit next to him.

"Waldorf, you're gonna fall and get hurt!" Chuck scolded. Serena was a tomboy, she knew how to climb around the playground, but his Blair was a delicate little flower.

"I am not Bass" she said, although her voice sounded shaky at best.

When she finally reached him, Chuck held out his hand so she could sit down safely.

"Are you…crying?" she asked him when she saw his face.

"No."

"Yes you are. Boys aren't supposed to cry" she said matter of factly.

"Why not?" Chuck asked, feeling even more embarrassed.

"I don't know" Blair sighed. "I guess its okay. But I don't want to see you sad."

"Then you should have married me instead" he said quietly.

"If I kiss you, do you promise to stop crying?" she asked.

Chuck nodded his head furiously.

"Okay" Blair said.

She hesitantly leaned forward with her eyes closed. Chuck noticed her trepidation so he leaned forward too, until the gap between their mouths was nonexistent.

Chuck counted to two Mississippi before she pulled back. That was one whole Mississippi longer than when she kissed Nate.

"All better?" Blair asked.

Chuck nodded.

"You should probably get back to your husband" Chuck said sadly.

"Naw, he's pushing Serena on the swing. He's fine without me" she said "Wanna go down the big slide? I know it's your favorite."

"Sure" he said, taking her small hand in his and helping her to the ground.

"Hey Chuck, maybe if things don't work out with Nate, we can get married" she said as they walked to the slide.

"Really?" he asked in amazement.

"Maybe."

"Like tomorrow?" Chuck asked.

"Maybe Bass" she laughed "C'mon, first one to the slide wins!"

The pair took off in a mad sprint, grinning from ear to ear.

Their lips tasting like cherries.