This is a story based off of the last/latest GG novel 'I Will Always Love You' and how it had ended. This is about Chuck and Blair from about five years later.

You Had Me At A Glance

Blair Waldorf walked into the office building on Madison Avenue with her briefcase and legal portfolio in one hand and a skinny double caf latte from Starbucks in the other, as she entered the elevator ready to ride it to the meeting she was scheduled to attend in ten minutes...if the elevator behaved as it should. She stared off into space contemplating the legal document she was carrying in the portfolio under her arm, which pertained to the case she had been able to worm her way into by the skin of her teeth almost literally.

The case mainly was a business law matter pertaining to some mishandling of funds through a large bank in the financial district and was fairly cut and dry, and most likely would be wrapped up quickly if her legal associates could keep the matter out of court. It wasn't perhaps the most exciting case, but business law rarely was, yet it was still a higher profile case given the bank her office was defending. Being involved in it whatsoever though would certainly be a boost to her resume and once she passed the New York State Bar Exam, she could move from legal clerk to full on attorney and hopefully partner in a matter of time...though hopefully before she turned thirty years old.

Blair contemplated her life then and felt somewhat satisfied, but she knew she could strive for more. Currently she was nearly 27 years old, had graduated from Yale in pre-law, then Yale Law School after an eighteen month break traveling Europe with her best girl-friend, Serena Vander Woodsen, even living together in a flat in Paris for a few months. The experience was definitely one of growth for both girls, where they not only got into delicious, yet mainly minor trouble, ate rich foods, briefly dated a few rich men and a few poorer ones, and more or less had the time of their lives. Still, after eighteen months of doing that, Blair felt the tug of the United States pulling her back home, so thus she went, was able to enroll then graduate from Yale Law School, and finally get an internship at Morgan & Associates Law Offices. From there she was working her way through the position of Legal Clerk, and into attorney, with the auspicious goal of becoming a partner in only a few years time.

All in all her life was a full one, with work associates, friends, and an occasional date here and there, but no one tremendously serious. She'd been too busy the past three years especially getting through law school and securing a position at a reputable firm to even think about settling down and getting married just yet. Still it wasn't that she didn't want to, she just hadn't found the right guy yet...or perhaps she had but had let him slip through her fingers.

Blair was about to ponder on her lost loves, when the elevator door suddenly opened on the floor that she'd needed, as shifted thoughts about her past off to the side and began to mentally prep herself for the meeting today, while she walked the hall. Entering the boardroom, Blair took a seat at the table beside some of her own associates and pulled out her documents, a pen, and her electronic tablet to keep track of the schedule, as well as a regular paper tablet and pen.

Settling back in her chair, Blair began to take a few notes, then scanned the row of employees who represented the clients the law offices she worked for were going to defend, as well as a few from the prosecutor's side. Most of the employees were men, though there were a few women, but almost all were at least a decade or more her elder. Many were old enough to be her father or grandfather even, if the one gentleman's nearly white hair and jowls were any indication.

Mentally dismissing most of the defendants as old guard, Blair settled back to listen to the case, when suddenly out of the corner of her eye was a younger man looking sharp as ever in his pin striped suit, dark hair, and slight tan, exuding and air of cocky confidence many of the other men had let go of years earlier. Here was a young businessman who could definitely pique her interest, even though she legally wasn't supposed to become involved with the clients. Still this guy warranted a second glance. It was in that glance that not only did Blair look at him, but he glanced at her, his face crinkling into a slightly bemused smirk, as he recognized her and she recognized him. Sitting across from her looking as handsome and suave as ever was none other than her ex boyfriend, Chuck Bass.

It was then that it all came flooding back to her from nearly five years before. The apartment he'd showed her on Cornelia Street and briefly planning their futures together over a glass of Chablis...until Serena called her up wanting to relive their high school days and sneak in to have a nearly naked ice cream filled slumber party at Nate's. Then the dinner with Chuck at the restaurant a few days later and how he'd seemed to be on the cusp of a marriage proposal, when she suddenly panicked, and said more or less that she wasn't ready to become Mrs. Charles Bass at 22 years old yet, before she left the restaurant in a veil of tears.

Her pronouncement to Chuck back then turned out to be a decision that she simultaneously both thanked and regretted on some level as the years passed. She'd been thankful for the taste of life abroad and the life experiences she'd gained through her eighteen months abroad with Serena, then her years at Yale Law...but then there were times, especially while in law school, when she blatantly missed the little things her ex boyfriends did for her while in school, especially Chuck. She hadn't realized how much of a little pick-me-up the little things Chuck had done for her while they'd been at Oxford, then her last year or so at Yale for her undergraduate studies, until he wasn't there for her at law school. Perhaps not having Chuck (or any of her other old friends) around her during her years at law school had helped her to become more self sufficient, but sometimes Blair still pondered how it would've been having Chuck around to bring her flowers, dirty martinis, a listening ear, and even a bubble bath from time to time while studying at Yale a second time. Surprisingly, he'd been the one, out of all of her old high school friends, to know her even better than she knew herself. A revelation that both surprised and pleased her once she'd briefly dated Chuck Bass.

Now, as she sat in this office boardroom, contemplating her past, her relationship with Chuck, and Nate and Serena and so forth, she became nostalgic in her memories of the past, guilty that he may still hate her nearly five years later, and reflecting on an old daydream she'd once had while they studied at Oxford, where he was a banker and she was a barrister and they were living in the St. John's Wood neighborhood in London, married, with two or three young children with adorable accents, and a pet Pekingese, and they'd spend their Sundays picnicking in Hyde Park. In her daydreams, she and Chuck would be about thirty years old when this would occur...and now with a 27 year old Chuck Bass sitting across the table from her, staring at her with a sly expression...her daydream of 'the future' was becoming all too real.

She tried to look away and pay attention the case, but her attention kept being drawn back to Chuck. After not seeing him for five years, Blair had wondered what he'd look like and although she'd seen a few photos of him here and there on facebook or more gossipy websites, there was nothing like seeing him in the flesh again. From the looks of it, Chuck Bass had definitely aged well so far. Sure he may have a few new wrinkles on his forehead and probably around his eyes and mouth, and his hair might be a little thinner at the temples than it was at 22, but otherwise he was definitely still a young man in his prime. Oh yes, if memory served her right, Blair suddenly recalled that Chuck hadn't been a bad bed partner either, especially when he was aroused, and maybe because she hadn't slept with anyone in awhile, she began to ponder on some of the more memorable instances of sex with Chuck...wondering if it'd still be the same now, five years later...instead of paying attention to the case.

It was then that the lead attorney asked her a question, which snapped her out of her sensuous revelry, as she quickly thought of an answer to try to cover her inattention to the case. Afterwards, they broke for lunch, with Blair slipping into the ladies room to recompose herself and use the toilet. She was startled by how much seeing Chuck Bass again could affect her, although she just chalked that up to residual guilt from their parting five years ago, and the fact that she hadn't been with a man in far too long. Feeling that she was recomposed well enough to face the world again, Blair left the ladies room only to run into Chuck Bass himself, who'd been seemingly waiting for her outside the door.

"Blair Waldorf, I presume? Long time no see..." he slyly mused as he greeted her.

"Yes it is. Let me guess, Chuck Bass is it?" she slyly replied.

"Guilty as charged...although I probably shouldn't say that around you these days. Especially since you're now my defending attorney." he teased.

"You're correct, Chuck. You shouldn't be spouting off comments like that in front of my colleagues or else you will be spending some time where most don't care to be. Hm...I see someone's gone back to his old ways, at least with being a bit of a sleaze. So are you back to your other 'old ways' again, like in high school." she pondered aloud as she pulled them out of sight.

"To answer your question...yes and no. After our ceremonious break up, I played the field again...both ways...but despite who I was with, none could compare to you." he admitted, more honestly.

"Really? You've dated various...people...and yet I'm your gold standard?" she skeptically replied.

"Yes...you could say that. You were the only one I've ever felt that serious about, Blair...and I know you felt it too." he replied, staring her in the eye with a searching look.

"What do you mean? I haven't thought of you in...a long time. Seeing you again...was just a mild surprise." she nonchalantly replied.

"Honestly? Ha ha, somehow I doubt that." he chuckled. "I saw your face today, when we were in that boardroom, and I could tell you were remembering...us."

"Oh and how would you know that?" she asked, trying to dismiss him.

"Easy. While glancing at me, you got this expression on your face that you used to only get when we made love. I'm glad that I continue to give you so much pleasure, even now." he seductively teased.

"Very funny Chuck Bass. Perhaps I was thinking about my favorite macaroons...or éclairs...or..." she pondered in excuse.

"Oh you were thinking about an éclair all right. Mine...and how much we both liked it when you'd take that mouth of yours and..." he seductively whispered as she gasped in retort.

"That is enough Chuck Bass! We are no longer in high school, so I don't have to listen dirty innuendos anymore. I'm nearly a lawyer now, so you sir are just one comment away from a sexual harassment suit! And anyway I probably shouldn't even be seen talking to you...so goodbye Chuck, I'm going to lunch." she declared as she walked out of the building.

"Hm...you always loved it when I talked dirty, but I'll see you in the boardroom." he bemusedly replied as he watched Blair saunter away.

Blair ate her lunch with her colleagues then, listening to them discuss their families, cases, investment portfolios and so forth, while she tried to listen in and forget about Chuck Bass and the crazy comments he'd made to her during the break. Eventually they reconvened in the boardroom, where Chuck gave one sly wink to her, then regained his composure, eliciting a mask of total professional control.

The rest of the preliminary hearing went as usual, eventually leading to a final recess for the day, with the plan to reconvene in two days, after the weekend was over. Blair was getting ready to leave, trying to slip her coat on over her jacket, when she realized that a pair of hands were helping her. Ready to address the person helping her, she spun around to notice her helper was none other than Chuck Bass.

"Ah...Chuck Bass! So now you decide you remember how to be a gentleman. Here I'd thought you'd forgotten." she sarcastically replied.

"I just thought that I should make amends to how I'd treated you earlier. You do know I was just trying to wind you up for old time sake." he replied apologetically.

"I see. So are you going to behave yourself now?" she inquired.

"Oh but of course...but only if that's what you prefer...So do you have any plans tonight?" he replied in question.

"Mm...actually no. Unless drinking Cludamel '95 and reading over court briefs for your case count as plans...then my answer is no." she replied.

"One should never drink alone! I'll take you out for dinner and drinks and we can talk. Catch up on old times..." he suggested with a whisper.

"All right, although I shouldn't be seen fraternizing with a client, I think I can make an exception for my old friend, Chuck Bass." Blair mused as she stepped out with Chuck and into his waiting Towne Car.

The two of them went on their impromptu date, first to dinner at a five star restaurant, then drinks at a tiny up town club where some of the people seemed to know Chuck quite well. Their conversation seemed to flow so easily that when he invited her to his apartment off of 69th and 3rd, she eagerly went along to see it. Even though it wasn't on 5th Avenue or Park Avenue, it was still a step in the right direction compared to the apartment on Cornelia Street his parents had bought him five years ago. For a bachelor pad, Chuck's place was rather luxurious in its own way and had a decent view in its own way, although Blair always preferred being able to look out over Central Park if she had her choice.

After giving her a brief tour, they settled back in his living room where they chatted some more, while he made her her favorite dirty martini, as he told her how he'd acquired his current place from a friend, after he'd become more successful in his banking career, and that he hoped to be able to move into his parents place on Park Avenue, once they moved to Pebble Beach, or wherever they planned to move to. This piqued Blair's interest most certainly, since the townhouse the Bass family had lived in was certainly the type of place she'd always dreamed of living in...even though if it'd been on 5th Avenue it would've been absolutely perfect.

Nonetheless, both Blair and Chuck had so much fun talking, reminiscing about old times, neither wanted it to end, so he suggested that they unwind in his hot tub...which at that moment sounded good to her. They relaxed in the hot tub laughing and flirting and soon old feelings from the past started resurfacing...that with the addition of a bit too much alcohol...inhibitions were released and soon what came natural to them did. Kisses were shared, which led to more kisses, a trip from the hot tub to the bedroom, and soon before either realized it, they were having sex in Chuck's bed as if no time had passed at all since their last time. Eventually, after doing it several times, they both fell asleep happily exhausted from their vigorous physical activity.