Hello. Okay this is something that has been floating in my head since the finale. This isn't spoilers. This is just me snowballing a story in my head. I have no idea what the writers have planned. Like I said, this is just something in my head. It's short and it's a two-part story, so there'll be one chapter after this. Remember I don't proof read. Please be kind. Here we go…
Serena sat with Eleanor and Cyrus in the nearly empty waiting room. Over the past two weeks they'd taken to being at the hospital in shifts. But tonight they had all ended up there together, united and yet heartbroken about what they were trying to do.
Two weeks ago, at only twenty-six weeks, Blair's water had broken. The prince had been in Europe, but Blair had stayed behind, not wanting to fly, but to put the final touches on their coming wedding. Having taken the semester off to plan her wedding and get ready for the baby, Blair was at home when she went into labour. Dorota had left early for a weekend away with Vanya and Ana. All her parents were in Europe. Serena had been writing a mid-term and her phone was off. Which all was moot since she hadn't been able to call her first choice. Since their final goodbye they had been happy for the other, kind when they ran into each other, and had stayed clear of one another when they could. She knew he was seeing someone. She knew he was okay. She didn't call him.
Dan met her at the hospital after she'd called an ambulance. It was the first time Blair had taken anything this close to public transit. Ever the optimist Blair had been sure that her labour could be stopped. She almost broke herself trying to keep the baby in, but there had been no stopping this.
The diagnosis had not been good right from the start. The doctor's had insisted that there was no hope for the small boy, and on top of a massive list of conditions, he was also showing no brain activity and breathed only with the help of machines.
The same day he was born, Blair dragged herself from her hospital bed, insisting he just needed his mother and she was going to be there for her child. Only parents were allowed in the NICU, but one of the nurses had let Serena in to try and convince Blair to go back to her room. Blair had blocked Serena out, and in the end they had just sat in cushioned rocking chairs beside the incubator for hours until Serena couldn't take it anymore. She'd kissed Blair's cheek, promising to come back with tea. She'd gotten up and searched for a place to be alone for a moment and had chosen Blair's room because she knew the private room would be empty. It wasn't.
"Is she going to live?" He asked in the barest whisper, as if just voicing the words nearly broke him.
"Yes."
"The baby?"
"I don't know…"
He nodded and left. Minutes later Serena collapsed on the floor crying for her friend who couldn't.
Over the next couple of days, family flooded in. At first they had felt like Blair, that there was hope, but upon seeing the small body, and see how Blair seemed to wither before their eyes, they began to realize what the doctors were saying was true. More doctors were contacted, but they said the same thing. The baby was going to die.
The moved him to a private room, which the family all thought was better because there could be more privacy, but in the end several of them began to wonder if it was worse. Blair never left it, and now instead of other parents and the action of the ward… aside from their visits, there was only her voice, the machines and the passage of time.
Blair barely ate, barely drank, she just sat by his incubator. She'd talk to him; she'd touch the glass, and tell him all the wonderful things that were in his life waiting for him.
Louis had been the first to try to get her out of the room. She didn't even look at him when she told him about the blood work that had come back. Louis had stumbled from the room and straight into Serena and Dan. Louis looked stunned and he opened his palm. It was hard to miss the massive diamond that was there. Serena cringed.
"Louis, she's just emotional right now. She worried about the baby, she's hurt, and she doesn't know what she's doing…"
"Yeah, man. Give her a few days… till we know she and your son are okay."
"He is not my son…"
Dan and Serena exchanged a look. There was only one other person who could be the father of Blair's child. Louis left and never came back. Serena looked at Dan. "We have to call him. I don't know how much time the baby has left… he'd want to meet his son."
Serena and Dan had gone to the waiting room where all of Blair's parents sat. They had looked confused, because Louis had hurried in, said nothing and everything had changed, had a whispered conversation with his mother, and left. It had been up to Serena to tell Eleanor, Cyrus, Harold and Ramon about the baby's blood type not matching Louis'. Like her, it hadn't taken them long to figure out who's it would match.
Eleanor had shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "This boy… it always comes back to him…"
Pulling out her cell phone she'd scanned through her address book and made the call. They had been sitting in their chairs for only half an hour when they saw him stride down the hall. It was clear he had taken to heart the last word Eleanor had said to him. "Hurry." He'd paused seeing them and Eleanor had nodded at him and told him what he needed to know.
"Room 814."
Since he had heard what had happened he'd lived by his phone for weeks. He'd waited for word from Serena. Waited to hear. He'd wanted to be there for her, but hadn't wanted to intrude. Then Eleanor's voice had told him that he wasn't the intruder. He was the father.
Not wanting to startle her or the baby, Chuck opened the door. The room was lit mostly lit by soft mobiles that danced patterns across the walls. The only other light came from the incubator and machines that had been quieted to calm the room. The sound of soft Mozart set off her voice as he heard her speak to the baby.
The light from the hall is what finally caught her attention and Blair looked up to see Chuck standing in the doorway. Chuck flinched at the circles under her eyes and the frailness of her body. Even that didn't make her seem weak though. He could see the determination in her eyes, and he knew that would be her downfall.
Blair stood and moved to block the monitor. It wasn't just him. She did it with a lot of people, actually anyone that tried to tell her to let go. This was her son. She wasn't letting go.
Chuck could see the edge she was standing on, and he knew he had to handle this right. This moment was the only one that mattered. Not 28 weeks ago. Not tomorrow. Not even one minute ago or one minute from now. This was everything.
Very gently, as if speaking to an injured animal, Chuck spoke to Blair. "Can I meet him?"
A broken yet hopeful smile came to her lips. So few people wanted to meet the baby. So many were set on saying goodbye. She nodded, but then got nervous. What if he didn't see what she saw? What if he didn't want the baby? Her gut twisted as if with him, more than any other, she had to defend the baby.
"He's just a little on the small side…" She began.
She moved aside and Chuck came to stand beside her as they looked down at their delicate son. Their shoulders touched as she reached out and gently caressed the hard plastic.
"We aren't allowed to touch him… he could get an infection."
Chuck nodded.
They stood there for hours.
"When was the last time you slept?" He finally asked.
"I'm not tired."
"You could sleep here… I'd wake you if anything changes…"
She knew he was trying to be helpful and for once she didn't snap at someone's concern for her. She was honest with him. "I just… don't want to miss anything."
Chuck nodded and he indicated the chair beside the incubator before he sat in the other. They sat vigil together for another two days. At times Chuck go Blair to drink, eat and even sleep for short periods at a time. It seemed like this could go on forever.
That was until the baby stopped breathing. Until his tiny hear stopped. A medical team had rushed in, but there had been nothing for them to do. When it was over the room cleared out except for the devastated parents and a doctor.
"Do you want to hold him?" The doctor asked kindly to the young woman who sat broken her the chair she had lived in for weeks.
Blair nodded and two big tears ran down her cheeks. She wiped them away quickly as she held her hands open for her baby. An impossibly small bundle was placed in her arms and Chuck knelt down in front of her, gently sandwiching their child between them.
"He's still warm…" She murmured.
It was the last time they would see him.
TahDAH! It's a little dark but I'm feeling a little dark after the finale.