Save the Date

November 7, 2017

The limo was already at the curb when Blair Waldorf Bass stepped onto the sidewalk outside the Waldorf Designs atelier. Still, it wasn't the familiar vehicle that caught her eye, but rather the handsome, well dressed gentleman leaning against it.

Chuck Bass looked like he could've stepped off the cover of GQ, from his carefully coiffed hair to his perfectly tailored suit to his shiny Italian loafers. The appreciative gleam in his eye and the bouquet of pale pink peonies in his hand were the perfect accessories.

The piece de resistance, however, was his ready smile when Blair spotted his presence. It felt like time stood still and his heart stopped as her eyes widened and her lips spread in a wide smile.

"Chuck! What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be home until later tonight." The words tumbled out as she rushed the final steps into his arms, her lips already raised for a kiss.

This was what "coming home" truly meant, Chuck thought. He'd been in Thailand on business for a week—seven long, agonizing days away. Between the time difference and the hectic schedule of meetings for him and overseeing fashion shipments for her, not to mention parenting their three-year-old son, they were run ragged and sorely missing their usual amount of couple time.

"What can I say?" His voice was right at her ear, even as his lips caressed the silky column of skin at her neck. "Business wrapped up early and I have more pressing business here." He pulled her closer for just a moment before stepping back and opening the limo door. "Especially tonight."

She happily sank into the rich leather seat and waited for him to come around the car and get in on the other side.

"Tonight?" Her brow wrinkled in confusion. "Did we have plans?"

"You don't remember what tonight is?" Surely she must be joking.

"Of course I do! It's November -."

"I'm not talking about the date itself."

She tried again. "It's the day before my birthday."

"It is," he agreed. "But it's something with a bit more historical significance." He managed to make historical sound very sexy.

He poured two champagne flutes from the bottle of Dom chilling in the ice bucket and handed her one.

"A very special anniversary," he dropped another hint. "For both of us." He watched as the dawning realization spread across her features.

"Limoversary," she whispered.

"The night my whole life changed…because of you."

Their relationship, their marriage, their businesses, their child….it had all started that night ten years ago tonight.

Ten years.

Had it really been a whole decade since she'd come to Victrola to escape her breakup with Nate?

Since she'd boasted that she had moves and he'd dared her to get up on the stage and prove it?

Since she'd told him to guard her drink…but no one told him to guard his heart?

Since she'd shed her headband and that puritanical little dress her mother had designed and let him see a side of her no one ever had before…

And the butterflies had been set free.

He'd been in love with her before the night was through.

Of course, things couldn't be quite that easy.

She'd been in his arms, in his heart, and then the following morning she'd told him to go away and not come to her birthday party.

He'd never been very good at following instructions.

Thus began a chaotic courtship dance that had spanned years and hadn't been very conducive to celebrating Limoversary.

Their first year had been spent playing games, passionately pursuing who would say those 3 words, 8 letters first.

The year after, they had been together but distracted by Lost Weekends and mentoring for Cotillion.

The year after that, they'd been at war and bound by a truce with an inevitably doomed no-touching clause.

A year later, she was engaged to a prince and he'd kissed her at a masquerade-not to entice her back, but to set her free. When she'd stepped back and slapped his face, his heart had felt some of the sting as well.

The following year, they were all in…mind, body and scheme…but still not able to truly be together. That had changed during one of the blackest periods in his life, when out of grief, fear, guilt and pain, one thing had emerged to change everything: their marriage.

Since that day five years ago, they had celebrated Limoversary every year. Some might say it was because Chuck had been too happy and too impatient to wait another month for their first wedding anniversary, but they would have to know that Chuck Bass was a romantic…and no one knew that but his wife.

They had built an amazing life together. Their respective businesses were growing and thriving, and they had truly become a family when Blair gave birth to Henry three years ago.

Chuck had so much to be grateful for…

He couldn't really be disappointed that, with the hectic pace of their lives, she'd forgotten a special date, right? She exceeded his wildest dreams as a lover, as a wife, as a mother, as an entrepreneur…what was that compared to one forgotten holiday, especially one they had made them up themselves?

"Chuck? Chuck?!" Her voice broke him out of his silent reverie and he looked over at her.

And then did a double take.

Her rain coat had been discarded on the floor, as had her day dress, and she was sitting there in front of him in that magic little ivory silk chemise, delicate stockings and strappy sandals.

Her hair, formerly secured in a sleek chignon, was now curling in a dark cascade over her shoulders.

It was like he had traveled back in time to that night.

But some things were different…

The strands of pearls she'd been wearing that night were now replaced by the glittering stones of the Erickson Beamon necklace he'd gifted her for her seventeenth birthday. The custom engagement ring and wedding band set sparkled on her hand.

If anything had changed in the last ten years, it was that she was even more beautiful and he loved her more now than ever.

Her hand reached up to gently touch his face. "I was just teasing you. Did you really think I'd forgotten? Don't you know, Bass, that, for you, I will always save the date?"

He couldn't say anything; he could only stare, transfixed, at the vision in front of him.

"How could I forget," she whispered, "the night my life changed too?"

Her dark eyes were shining and they never left his as she drew closer to him, eyelids only falling closed just before her lips met his in a light kiss.

"Are you sure?" The words slipped out.

Just like the first time, her eyes were steadily focused on his, but this time she answered with words. "I'm not sure I fully understood what you were asking that night, but I knew the answer was 'yes'. It was the best decision I ever made."

Then words were unnecessary. Their lips met again, slowly at first then deepening in intensity, in the way butterflies sip at nectar before diving in directly.

It wasn't enough, could never be enough. Even though a decade had passed, with thousands of kisses exchanged, each one still electrified something in him, brought something to life that he hadn't even known existed before her.

Her hands came up, gripping the lapels on his jacket and then moving to his familiar purple bow tie and unknotting it and casting it aside. Then she gently stroked his jawline, just as she had that first time and countless times since, including during their wedding vows.

There was heat and driving desire in her caresses, also in the way Chuck's hands ghosted over the curve of her hip and the valley of her waist. He explored the silky contours of her arms and back, tracing the thin straps of her slip and gently sliding them aside so that he might kiss her upper arm, her shoulder, the magical little divot where it met her neck…

Oh, God, her neck…

The little noise that escaped her lips was part sigh, part purr and all dreamy pleasure. It was at odds with her determined little hands that were single-mindedly focused on unfastening his belt and unzipping his pants.

Somehow she was in his lap and his hands had gripped the hem of her slip and were sliding it up, over her hips, her breasts, her head. When she rose up on her knees to shimmy out of the lacy wisp of her panties, he took advantage of being at just the right spot to lathe the rosy tips of her breasts with his tongue and then suck them deeper into his mouth, one at a time.

She was purring in his ear and her fingers tightened in his hair, as if she was holding on for dear life, as she pulled him close…closer…until they were sinking into the seat together and it was obvious that she was more than ready for him.

Breath ragged, he arched up and shed his suit jacket, tossing it aside to join her coat and dress. Her fingers made short work of the remaining buttons on his shirt, splaying her hands beneath it and tracing whorls in the hair on his chest before sliding lower…lower…

If he expected her to slow down to remove his pants, he would've been mistaken. She boldly bypassed his open fly and fumbled for the merest of seconds with his silk boxers before wrapping her hand around his hard length.

They both gasped.

"I've missed you," she whispered the words in his ear. "So much."

Between her lips at his neck and the torturously slow, rhythmic strokes she was giving his cock, Chuck was rapidly losing control. He needed to be inside her…right now.

He gently removed her hand from his body and kissed her fingertips, her palm, before his hands went to her bare thighs, taking a moment to appreciate their silky softness, before spreading them even wider and entering her.

Just like the first time, he did it slowly, gently, with reverence, all the while holding her hands in his.

And it felt just as magical, just as miraculous as it had ten years before.

The warmth of her body welcomed him. He wanted to continue to go slow, he did, but she was so very wet and her arms and legs pulled him closer…

The heat between them was rising…

Their bodies moved together in an ancient erotic dance…

Faster…faster…faster…

The little sounds she was making grew in volume and intensity….

Nothing had ever felt like this.

It was instinct.

It was chemistry.

It was inevitable. It had been from the first moment she took the stage and looked over her shoulder at him in invitation.

He couldn't decide which was the greater miracle: that they had found each to begin with or that, ten years on, they were married, parents…and they felt it just as strongly now.

"I love you." The words were murmured against her lips and she gasped, twisting her fingers more tightly in his hair and letting out a long, keening cry that bordered on a scream.

He could feel it, her pleasure going through her body…and through his as he joined her in bliss. He could still feel the wildfire coursing through his veins as he collapsed back into the seat and pulled her flush against him.

For a few moments, they lay there, trying to regain their breath and come back down to earth.

Eventually, she spoke. "You broke character."

"Did I?" He shook his head.

"You did," she insisted. "Limoversary rules clearly state that we recreate that night exactly as it happened."

The corners of his mouth curled into a smirk. He loved his straight-laced, follow-the-rules Blair as much as his naughty, wild child Blair. "Your point being?"

"There were no 3 words, 8 letters that night."

"Maybe not spoken, but they were definitely there. It was why I didn't want to let you go, why I couldn't wait to see you the next morning, why I couldn't stay away from your party."

She tried to scoff, but it came out as a fluttery breath instead.

"Maybe I didn't know exactly what it was, and maybe I ran too hard and too long from it. But it's always been true: I love you, Blair. And even if our path hasn't always been smooth…."

She outright snorted at that.

"I wouldn't change a thing, because it's brought us to where we are now. Chuck and Blair…."

"Blair and Chuck," she finished before kissing him again. "I love you, Chuck Bass." She kissed him again. "I love you." And again…

They slid back down into the seat to further celebrate a love that was as unexpected as it was unequaled.

A couple of hours and several champagne flutes later, it was a very giggly and somewhat wobbly Blair Waldorf Bass that stepped out of the limo in front of their townhouse. Luckily, Gossip Girl no longer existed or surely tips would've poured him about how the lady was kissed senseless on her doorstep by her handsome billionaire husband and how he scooped her up and carried her across the threshold to continue their celebration in private.

It had been ten years…and they were just getting started.

December 17, 2017

"Sorry I'm late." Blair was a bit breathless as she made her way down the stairs at the Bass townhouse. "Henry wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than three readings of Green Eggs and Ham."

"I had to read The Cat in the Hat twice earlier this evening." Her husband grinned and kissed her hand. "It's alright; you were worth the wait." His eyes ran appreciatively over her form clad in a new navy satin gown from Waldorf Designs and paused at the magnificent sapphire bracelet on her wrist. "I see you're wearing your anniversary present. I hope you like it."

"I adore it. It's perfect." They shared a secret smile. "I hope you liked your gift as well." She gestured to the sapphire and platinum cufflinks peeking out from under the sleeves of his navy suit jacket.

"You have excellent taste."

"I do, which is more than I can say about your offer of 'anniversary wood' this morning. Ten years later and I'm still waiting for you to learn to behave yourself," she sighed.

"Wood is both the traditional and modern fifth year wedding anniversary gift. And I wanted to give you something I knew you would like." The smirk on his face morphed into a concerned frown. "Are you feeling better now, sweetheart? My, er, naughty offers to you are not usually met by your throwing off the covers and running for the en suite. You know, we don't have to go out tonight; we can stay in."

"Don't be silly! Of course we have to go out and celebrate; it's our wedding anniversary. I made special plans for Dorota to stay late with Henry."

"I just worry about you not feeling well. You're not pushing yourself too hard at Waldorf Designs, are you? Because we can get you extra help with your schedule."

"It's funny you should say that, because I was just talking with Jenny and the rest of the staff today about possibly making some temporary changes in the chain of command."

Chuck gaped at her. Blair willingly delegating? What could this mean? Who was this woman and what had she done with his wife?

"You see, I went to see the doctor this afternoon and…"

"The doctor?" Chuck heard a ringing in his ears and a cold jolt of fear passed through him.

"I'm not explaining this well. Here," she took an envelope she'd been holding at her side and thrust it into his hands.

It was a plain manilla envelope with one thing written on the outside: July 31, 2018 in Blair's familiar script.

"What is this?"

"A very important save-the-date." She smiled up at him and she was practically glowing. "Go ahead, open it."

It took a second for his shaking hands to cooperate. Then he slid a series of photos into his hand. They were black and white, grainy, and for a second, he had no idea what he was looking at. "It looks like a solar system, a universe."

"It is, in a sense. Don't you remember what Henry's ultrasounds looked like?"

"Ultrasounds?"

"Yes. You see, we have another Baby Bass on the way. I think we're going to need some more bedtime stories for the rotation."

"We're having a baby?"

"Again, yes." She pointed at what looked like a squiggly sun in the middle of the galaxy. "There's the embryo. The baby is developing exactly as it should, the doctor says. They measured the heartbeat and it's just over a hundred. 90-110 is normal for six weeks."

"I feel like my heart is going way faster than that. How—how did this happen? We said we weren't going to try for another year or so."

"I think you know very well how it happened. I wasn't in the back seat of the limo by myself," she reminded him.

"Are you sure-?"

"That this baby is the product of Limoversary love? Absolutely. When they asked if I had any idea of the conception date, I didn't even have to think about it. Magical things happen in that limo."

He kissed her then, because he couldn't stop himself, and then his hand came to rest over her lower stomach, fingers splayed.

"It's going to be a while before you can feel anything."

"I know," he conceded, "I'm just…anticipating. I think it's going to be a girl."

"Do you? Girl or boy, this child will be very special. I think you'd better block off the whole month of July next year."

"Why?"

"Because I know from experience, the best things that have ever happened to us have happened on their own timetable and taken us completely by surprise."

It had all started with a limo ride home…ten years before.

Fin

Author's Note:

Happy Limoversary, my friends! This story is dedicated to all of you that I have gotten to know because of our love for this show and for Chuck and Blair's amazing journey. The story may be fictional, but the feels and the friendship are real. You truly enrich my life.

I hope you enjoyed Save the Date. Hit the review button and let me know if you did. Reviews give me butterflies!

Xoxo