The Seven Stages of Love and Butterflies
Part 7 – Acceptance
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Summary: Two rings, two lives, and a never-ending amount of butterflies. This is where the story begins and does not end.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl.
Lyrics: Remembering Sunday by All Time Low
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They say some things are meant to be. Chuck Bass likes to think that Blair Waldorf was created for him, and vice versa. While their relationship was never perfect, their friendship was. The fact that it built up to something more, well, Chuck likes to think of that as fate.
It's been four years. Four years in a relationship no one believed would last for more than a week. But Chuck has learned to take the unexpected. In fact, the unexpected has made him who he is.
They graduate college in a couple of weeks. Both part of Yale's class of 2013. College was hell, but they enjoyed it on some level. Especially those late nights in their apartment – they shared one in New Haven – that were definitely not filled with study sessions. They definitely hadn't lost the passion in their relationship, which was probably the thing he was most afraid of.
They were relatively stable. Their first year was rocky, but after they had sorted out their squabbles, they coexisted peacefully. Most of the time, anyway.
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It's coincidently his birthday. Blair said it was just ironic. He begs to differ. His birthday's not the best day in the world, but this might seemingly make it better.
Some things never change. And as Harold walks his daughter down the aisle, Chuck knows that she is just as beautiful as the day he met her. Gorgeous brown locks and ruby red lips. He can't see her through the veil, but he knows her that well.
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They were talking yesterday as they were packing for their honeymoon. Chuck suggested Tuscany, and promised he wouldn't ditch again.
Blair packed her Oscar de la Renta dress from their first Valentine's Day. "Kids?"
Chuck grunted. "If you insist."
Blair threw a pillow at him. "Yes, I do insist."
Chuck feigned annoyance. "How many?"
Blair thought for a moment. "Two…" She thought again. "Wait, three…No, two-"
Chuck held his hand up. "How about zero?"
Blair stuck her tongue out. "You know you want kids. You just won't admit it."
Chuck puckered his lips. "As long as they're pretty. And as long as my daughter takes a vow of abstinence until she gets married."
Blair furrowed her brows. "So your sons can whore around Manhattan, but your daughters have to stay in their rooms and pray?"
Chuck stopped in his tracks, serious for a moment, and then started laughing. "Do you realize we're talking about kids that won't exist for a hell of a long time?"
Blair laughed too. "Good point." She started packing again then stopped.
"How long are we talking?"
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Chuck smiles at the thought. He wants kids, but he's terrified as hell to have them. Then he remembers he's with Blair, and she forgives for most of his screw-ups. He's calmed.
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I don't mean to be a bother, but have you seen this girl?
She's been running through my dreams, and it's driving me crazy, it seems.
I'm gonna ask her to marry me.
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He proposed to her, ironically enough, in his limo. He thought he might as well, considering it was where their relationship first began. They were back in New York for the holidays.
Blair's ring was just as unorthodox as Misty's. It had a large oval shaped purple diamond with an outline of red diamond. It actually cost more than anything he had ever gotten her, but he would never tell her that.
The proposal was rather unorthodox, in fact.
He just slid it on her finger inconspicuously when she was looking out the window.
She first thought that he was just trying to turn her on, and gave him an amused look. Then she examined her hand and then the ring. Then she just had a look of her shock on her face.
Chuck's mouth slowly transformed into a grin.
"Please?"
Blair puts her finger on her chin and thinks for a moment. Chuck wants to pee on himself. She's messing with him.
"I'd have to think about it…" She taps her chin.
"Blair." He's shaking.
She rolls her eyes. "Fine, I'll marry you."
"You sure?"
She laughs because she's heard that line one too many times.
"Absolutely."
Chuck can still picture the dirty things that happened in that limo after she said yes.
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They'd had a small bicker over Blair's last name. She was completely set on having her name hyphenated.
"Bass."
"Waldorf-Bass!" She pouts then smiles innocently. "Please?"
"Nope."
Blair takes off her nightgown to reveal her band new La Perla underwear.
She smirks. "Fine." She walks up to him seductively.
She stops just short of touching his lips, and puts her finger on them.
"Then we're going celibate until we get married."
It was only February. The wedding was three months away.
"You're kidding."
"Sweetie, I went without sex for sixteen years, and then some after I broke up with you." Blair raises her eyebrows. "I can do it."
Chuck raises his hands up in defeat. She's got him in his weak spot. He'd rather life without water than sex.
"Fine. Waldorf-Bass it is."
Blair giggles in victory as she pecks his lips. "I always get my way."
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Harold gives her away and she proceeds to her spot right in front of him. This is when he realizes that the game is finally over. Things are real, serious. And for the first time in his life, he isn't scared of that concept.
The ceremony passes by slowly. Chuck gets jittery until it's time for the vows.
Chuck's are short and sweet. "I fell in love with this girl when I was five years old. She was a gorgeous brunette with red lips and she had the need to be a princess. I never stopped loving that girl. And I'll keep on loving her. I'll keep on loving her until the day I die, and probably beyond that. There is nothing I want more in this life than to love this girl and be loved in return. She is my life, my everything. And she'll always be that."
Blair was a bit quirky as she said hers. "I wasn't always in love with my best friend, but when I did fall in love with him, I denied it. I became obsessed with trying not to love him. I wanted nothing more than to have him disappear. One day I realized that he wasn't going away. I accepted him for who he was. I accepted that I loved him. It was probably the best choice I ever made. It's one of the few things I don't regret. I will never regret loving Chuck Bass; I will accept him, his love, and all that he has given me."
Things are silent for a while. Nate and Dan are sharing the "He's whipped," look behind him. (He couldn't choose between them as his best man, so he just chose both.) Nate snorts a bit but quiets down after he realizes everyone's staring at him.
They're the first to be married out of all their friends. Dan's engaged to Serena, and Nate's planning to propose to Vanessa. Chuck knows they'll understand when they get married. It's a totally different game. In fact, it's not a game at all.
Nate hands him the rings. Blair wanted to inscribe them, so Chuck had no idea what was on the inside of their rings. Chuck examines it. For the butterflies. The inscription could not be more perfect.
They're declared man and wife. Chuck's heart is pounding for the first time in his life. He finally acknowledges that his life has changed. He just needs to find out if that's a good thing.
He lifts her veil and stares at her; she's surpassed gorgeousness. When their lips touch for what seems like the first time all over again, Chuck Bass says goodbye to an era, and hello a new one. An era with a Waldorf-Bass, some imaginary kids (for now), and a whacked-out relationship.
And he's finally accepted it for what it is: everything he's ever wanted.
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Even though she doesn't believe in love, he's determined to call her bluff.
Who could deny these butterflies? They're filling his gut.
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Author's Note: And so the story commences. It's been so amazing to write this story, and I could not be more thrilled that people responded to it. I realized that I liked stories in a set order instead of a large plot as I was writing this. So my new story in the works, The Things We Regret, is about just exactly that. There's going to be seven parts from the seven main characters. Here's a sneak peak of the first chapter, which is about Serena.
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Sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder why people say I'm beautiful.
Actually, I do it all the time.
Every blonde-haired, blue eyed person is declared beautiful. It was like that during World War II. Hitler saw it that way. Nate, Jenny, and I? We would have been the beautiful ones. Chuck, Blair, Vanessa, and Dan? They would have been the undesirables, the untouchables. The ones with dirty blood. They were the ones to be considered better off dead.
I am not beautiful. I am a monster.
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Like it? Don't like it? Let me know. And the "He's whipped," comment will be panned out in a one-shot in Season Two time. Reviews are awesome! Thanks, Cass