Everything She Ever Needed Ch.17 - Bringing Home Baby
Chapter 17 - Bringing Home Baby
“Man, six pounds, seven ounces, starts to feel like a lot when you have to keep carrying it around.” Serena voiced her observation as she followed Blair across the foyer and into the living room of the Waldorf penthouse, while she carried Carabella in her pink fabric trimmed car seat.
“Oh, S, I do not want to hear about carrying her around, I did that and then some. Just try pushing her through your -”
“Miss Blair! Finally, you are home!” Dorota basically shouted, as she shuffled towards Serena and Carabella from the kitchen.
For once in her life, Blair did not mind having someone else devour all of the attention. In fact, the only thing she could feel as she watched Dorota hastily undoing car seat straps and lifting her daughter into her arms was intense pride. It also helped that the maid continued to repeat the phrase, “So gorgeous, just like your mommy!” If Blair hadn’t already known she was gorgeous, she surely did now, because it was all she had been hearing over the past two days; she could not complain.
“Dorota,” Blair began, adjusting her sore body on the chaise lounge while sending her girlfriend - corrected, her fiancé - a sneaky smirk. “What do you think of this?”
“Of what?” Dorota tore her focus from Carabella and turned to the young woman who she had been caring for, for nearly all of her life.
Serena was now standing behind Blair as she laid back, running her fingers through her hair and anticipating the maid’s reaction to Blair announcing their engagement. Her hand was already extended as she spoke the words, “Of this.”
At first, Dorota’s face seemed to form a scowl as she examined the lustrous ring and the blonde wondered if Blair was recovered enough from delivery to protect her if need be. It was a well known fact that she was probably the most protective figure in Blair’s life, aside from Serena herself and now that Serena was taking her Blair and brand new baby-Blair away, the outcome was liable to get nasty.
“A ring? From who?” The woman spoke in her thick accent, still appearing somewhat confused.
Blair wiggled her fingertips and gave her a bright grin. “It’s from Serena, silly Dorota…we’re getting married!”
This was the ultimate test for Blair and Serena. In her genuine concern, Dorota was normally their toughest critic, so if they gained her approval they would be in the clear. Because their parents had already broken the news to themselves when they found the two asleep at the hospital, with Blair’s hand wrapped around Serena’s fingers, a frosty Tiffany engagement ring reflecting glints of morning sunlight. Needless to say, they did not remain sleeping for much longer.
“Married?” Dorota echoed. Her expression was devoid of any emotion and she was clutching Carabella to her chest as if she was some type of collateral against their brash decision.
Blair’s face fell a bit and the blonde behind her was prepared to sprint for the elevator. “Um…yes?”
A few seconds slowly ticked by and then suddenly Dorota’s face was splitting into the biggest smile either of them had ever seen her wearing and she was letting out various strings of excited, yet horribly broken English.
“I always know you would be with Miss Serena, always! Not Mister Nate or Mister Chuck, but always Miss Serena!” Dorota gushed loudly, sending Carabella into a crying jag which Blair quickly began to remedy.
“Here, Dorota, give her to me, please.”
The maid rapidly but gently settled the infant into Blair’s arms, before patting Serena’s cheek in a congratulatory manner. She then stepped back and held her hands up like she had just formulated a brilliant idea. “We must celebrate! I go fetch champagne!”
“Oh no, Dorota, I don’t think we’ll be needing any -” Serena tried to explain, but was swiftly cut off by her brunette counterpart.
“Let her go!” Blair hissed under her breath. She was still attempting to hush Carabella and she already knew it would be much easier to do so without her excitable maid in the room.
Dorota had already fled to the kitchen again before Serena could even acknowledge the statement, so she took it as an opportunity to take a seat beside her daughter and soon-to-be wife.
“Carabella, why are you crying? You don’t have anything to cry about.” Blair smiled and offered her index finger, which the baby immediately grasped in her tiny fist. Just hearing her mother’s voice seemed to take affect and her face gradually began to relax.
“Oh yes she did!” Serena announced. “Cry all you want, baby girl, because I was about to cry too! Dorota is scary!”
“Shut up, S…” the brunette jokingly scolded after nudging Serena with her elbow.
The tall blonde stretched her legs out on the chaise and pet Carabella’s head, before letting out a triumphant little giggle. “But you saved me, Cara, you’re too adorable to let Dorota get angry.”
“Cara? Is that what you’re going to call her?” Blair questioned lightly, feeling content and happier than ever as she turned to Serena.
“Yeah, probably…why?” Serena met her gaze with an easy smile.
“Nothing…I just like how it sounds when you say it.” Reaching up with her other hand, she traced the blonde’s jaw line and then pulled her face towards her own. “I love you, Serena, you know that right?”
Serena felt herself blush under Blair’s sincere words; her dark eyes were so intense as they pierced into her own. “Yes, because I love you too.” Just as Serena had tilted the brunette’s head back to accept a kiss, her cell phone buzzed in the front pocket of her designer jeans. Blair made a pouty noise and pulled away, knowing that the message should probably be answered.
Taking the phone from her pocket, Serena pressed a few buttons and huffed in response to the sender. “It’s Gossip Girl, should I look at it?”
“Might as well. It can’t be about us, the only place we went this weekend was the hospital.” Blair scoffed.
“True…” Serena trailed off, beginning to read, but then suddenly she was looking more pleased than anyone should while reading a Gossip Girl post. “Aww!”
Spotted: Our two UES Queens debuting a little pink bundle of royalty, fresh from Lenox Hill. Reported to have familiar dark brown locks complete with tiny bow intact and pouting lips; a sure sign that there will be another generation enduring heartbreak and havoc courtesy of Waldorf - van der Woodsen. Yes, that’s right, Waldorf - van der Woodsen! Congrats on the engagement, S & B, we just can’t thank you enough for carrying on the legacy…
You Know You Love Her Already,
XOXO
Gossip Girl
“Oh my God, that has got to be the nicest Gossip Girl blast I have ever read!” Serena exclaimed, after having repeated the words to Blair and showing her the picture, which was an image of the two leaving the hospital earlier that morning; Serena holding Carabella, while helping Blair into their car. “I mean, come on! She even devoted her signature sign-off to Cara, that’s pretty significant!”
“Did you hear that!? Your first Gossip Girl blast, Carabella, this is like a major milestone in your life and you’re only a day and a half old!” Blair stated with glee. She sounded nothing like her usual self, the cold tones and sarcasm that had previously colored her language was completely gone.
The blonde tossed her cell phone down to the thick carpeting below. “Seriously, it took me over half of my life to get on Gossip Girl.”
“Umm, S, I think you have had plenty of posts to make up for lost time!” Blair laughed and then leaned closer to the infant she was holding, like she was telling a secret to her. “She’s the bad mom, I’m the good mom…just so you know.”
“Blair!? Don’t tell her that!”
The brunette gave Serena a sweet, oh-so-innocent smile.
“Speaking of moms, where did you learn to be such a good one? Because really, you are, B.” Serena said honestly, interested to know how Blair would respond.
Blair shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know…Mary Poppins?”
Serena immediately erupted into a fit of laughter. “Oh, you liar! You never even liked that movie when we were younger!”
“Well, I just really don’t know,” Blair said softly as she gave Carabella her other fingertip, “it’s not that hard to do, it just happens.”
*****
The breezy air was cool and refreshing as it blew in from the shore of the nearby Atlantic Ocean. It was the perfect afternoon to enjoy a late summer polo match in the Hamptons, which was exactly what the infamous Chuck Bass intended to do.
A bartender had just handed him a freshly poured drink and he was now leaning his back against the bar, surveying the scene with his mocking eyes. He could have returned to his seat alongside Bart and his potential business partners that he was entertaining for the day. But Chuck was almost certain that there was some lonely and beautiful, preferably single woman just begging to be relieved of the smell of polo ponies and newly turned divots.
It only took a matter of moments for his assumptions to ring true, as a stunning blonde tipped her glass of golden Veuve Clicquot champagne his way. Chuck’s slow nod of acknowledgment - which was probably more like personal approval - occurred within seconds, and soon the young woman was standing from her seat and making her way towards the bar area.
As she sauntered up to his side and her eyes roved over his crisp finished-with-a-salmon-colored-bow-tie outfit, Chuck made no move to give her a proper greeting. Instead, choosing to keep a grasp on his drink and utter the classic, “I’m Chuck Bass.”
“Really?” the woman murmured, tilting her head and showing him a smile which looked more stupid than sexy. Chuck immediately picked up on her accent, it was something European that he could not quite place, but all it meant to him was that after whatever exchange they might have, he would never see her again. “Well then, it seems I have heard a lot about you.”
“Oh, have you? Well, it really comes as no surprise…I have a lot of traits that are worth talking about.” Chuck spoke smoothly as always and took the blonde’s hand into his, stroking his thumb in circles within her palm.
The woman seemed to have forgotten her own name under the weight of his easy charm, because she had yet to offer him one, although it was not as if he minded. He did not want to have to remember some odd sounding word that hardly resembled a name. There were plenty of general endearments he could use.
Suddenly, Chuck began getting a little bored with the situation. He needed to take this elsewhere or move onto the next willing participant, polo matches only lasted so long.
“Perhaps, I could interest you in another drink, maybe something stronger?” Chuck stated, intentionally loud enough for the bartender to overhear, so that the man would began busying himself with finding clean glasses.
Then, leaning in close to the blonde’s ear, he said the words that spelled out his real intentions. “Or, maybe we could take this to my limo and you can tell me if the rumors are true.”
She started grinning enthusiastically, but before she could voice her agreement Chuck’s cell phone beeped from the pocket of his gray plaid Ralph Lauren sport coat.
“Excuse me…” he mumbled in distraction, pulling the phone from his pocket and opening the text message.
Chuck quickly read the message, and then scrolled down to a picture of Serena, Blair, and their newborn daughter; the two young women looked ecstatic outside of Lenox Hill Hospital. He was not sure what to make of the image and he really did not care anyway, but before he could change screens his acquaintance had snuck a glimpse as well.
“Who’s that? Your wife!?” The girl hissed, it was obvious that she knew her way around rich men and their usual behavior. Chuck almost wanted to laugh, almost. He would have if his anger had not been set off just because of who the picture contained and what it supposedly meant.
“Wife!?” Chuck spat back with venom. It did nothing for his pursuit, but it was a sudden reaction.
The blonde sneered at the two new drinks that had just been placed on their napkins. “I think you should keep your drinks. I guess I’m not interested in another after all.”
She turned away with a huff and walked off, teetering in her designer heels and in an out of character display, Chuck could not help but yell after her.
“Hey! Did any of those rumors concern me having a wife!? I don’t think so!”
Chuck spun around to face the bar again, he was thoroughly enraged now. He slammed his glass on the bar’s surface, letting some of the amber colored liquid spill over its crystal edges. He was ready to leave and moved to do just that, before deciding that it would be ridiculous to leave a drink that he now, definitely needed. Picking it back up, he stormed across the neat lawn. Somehow, Blair and Serena were unknowingly beginning to even the score.
*****
As Eleanor entered her home, she amusedly gaped at how her lavish, professionally decorated living room had been turned into what resembled a very ritzy day care center. Random items in various hues of pinks, yellows, purples, and other colors fit for little girls set throughout the room, as did countless flower arrangements, sent by family, friends, and others that they hardly knew. In the middle of all the baby chaos, Serena lied heavily asleep on the chaise and alongside her; Carabella was dozing in her swing, still being swayed gently.
Her own daughter was nowhere to be seen, but Eleanor could not have blamed her for retiring to her room for a few hours. Blair had obviously just been through a tiring whirlwind of events and what better way to sleep off the stress than to collapse into her plush bedding. Though Serena, it seemed, had not yet made it that far.
Eleanor quietly made her way across the floor, with a bouquet of peach, coral, light pink, yellow, and white roses accented by sprigs of fern and other greenery, in her hands. Setting them on one of the glass topped tables; the leaded crystal vase clinked with the surface, making Serena’s eyes flutter open in investigation.
“I hadn’t meant to wake you, dear. I was just adding this to your growing collection.” Eleanor explained with a glint of humor in her voice, because truly all of the buds and blooms they had amassed could only be described as a collection.
Serena smiled through her sleepiness and snuck a glance Carabella’s way before responding. “It’s beautiful. Who is it from?”
“I left it for you to check. The woman at the desk downstairs said it just arrived for you and Blair.”
“Hmm…” Serena murmured in curiosity and then rose from her resting place. She found the tag within the grouping of flowers, and an abrupt and uncouth reaction spilled from her lips. “Take it back.”
Eleanor looked a bit dumbstruck. “Well, why? What does it say?”
“It’s from Bart Bass, and Chuck’s name is there too.” There was a dark tone to Serena’s words as she answered and it all became very clear as to why she would refuse the gift.
“Serena, Bart couldn’t have known…he was just -”
“I know,” Serena interrupted, “he was just carrying on with the proper social gestures, but I think his son has given us enough of his sentiments. I don’t want that here.”
Eleanor did not speak but watched as Serena pushed both of her hands through her hair, and then began to explain herself further, even though there was really no need.
“I just…Blair is so happy and now, of all times, I don’t want her to even have to think of him.” Serena finished and looked up, finding Eleanor nodding her head in agreement.
“I understand, I’ll have Dorota take it back down to the lobby.”
“Thank you…” Serena answered absentmindedly, watching but not really seeing as Eleanor retreated into the kitchen.
She lied back down as she had been before and studied Carabella’s face as she slept. Fortunately, most of her features had come from Blair, but there was no doubt as to who the other half of her came from. They could try to ignore it if they liked, but they could not ignore the fact that Chuck would always be in the back of their minds.
Yay, two updates within two weeks. This chapter is just sort of a filler to bring Gossip Girl and Chuck back into the mix, because I couldn’t forget about those two. Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!