A.N.

so here's the penultimate chapter...

I hope you like it! Thank you for reading!

Previously...Marcus escapes with the Cypher, Chuck and Blair reunite...who's at the door?

"I cant believe I almost lost you," she suddenly said seriously. She looked at him with sad regretful eyes, thinking of all the horrible things that had gone on between them and how much she wished they could go back and do things differently.
"And I almost lost you...but forget that...it's in the past. I'm here now." he reminded her and she smiled in relief.
"You are." she said proudly and snuggled into him, "and you smell so good." she giggled.
He laughed at her silly compliment before adding one of his own, "and your breasts are bigger."
She cocked her head up to look at him weirdly, before laughing at him and he laughed back at her before beijar her and rubbing his hands over her chest to confirm his anterior compliment. She moaned in approval as he continued to pleasure her.
Then the door knocked.



Chuck groaned in defeat and let go of her, she pouted in disappointment as he got out of the cama and opened the door.
"Aah....if it isn't my super-model of a sister...how's it going?" he asked seductively, seeing Serena in the doorway and looking her up and down.
"Cut the crap Chuck...where is she?" Serena answered tiredly, she had travelled from Jersey in such a state, thinking that Blair was hurt and needed her.
Chuck opened the door further so Serena could see into the room. Blair almost leapt off the cama at the sound of her best friends voice and Serena rushed past Blair flying into her arms for a tight hug.
"Blair! Are you ok! Nate told me everything!" she exclaimed worriedly.
"I'm fine S! I missed you!" she replied before hugging her friend again.
"Sorry to break the reunion.." he looked to Serena, "..sis," and then gave a pointed look to Blair, "and...wife. but we all have some things to discuss." he finished whilst winking at Serena who just scoffed in return.
Blair blushed in embarrassment, still not used to him calling her wife, especially in public and then giggled at how he was trying to wind Serena up with the winking and flirting, if it were any other girl Blair would have kicked Chuck in the balls, but she knew he was just trying to wind Serena up. They nodded as Serena left the room to let Blair and Chuck make themselves presentable.

They met again for breakfast in the dining room where Nate had already started eating. He nodded at Chuck and said hi to Blair as the four of them began filling themselves up with breakfast.
"So Chuck...fill me in. Nate told me everything about Marcus and what happened but I know nothing about what's about to happen..." said Serena as she stared at Chuck waiting for him to reveal all.
"Well...Nathaniel and I are going to find Marcus and....dispose of him...appropriately." he answered truthfully.
"How do you plan of finding him?" asked Blair.
"And what do you mean por appropriately?" added Serena.
"Well, I'm always a step ahead you see...I left the portal tracker on and I know when the seguinte portal openings are...there are two this year." he answered and the others looked at him in shock. It was a clever move...if Chuck hadn't known where the seguinte portal was there would be no chance in finding Marcus.
"And...?" asked Serena.
"The seguinte portal is in 5 days time." he said and the others froze in shock.
"That's so....soon." whispered Blair. She had expected it to be at least months from now...but five days was too soon.
"Exactly....Nate and I have to mover fast. Like today, right now even." he added. He looked at Blair waiting for her to speak. He knew she would be afraid of him leaving so soon, that's why he had called Serena, so she could stay with Blair whilst he and Nate were gone.
"How do you even know all this...how did you know what Marcus was after?" asked Serena. She knew Chuck was intuitive but this had to be pure luck.
"I planted cameras in the house...I was watching him. It's how I knew Blair was in trouble last night. I saw everything." explained Chuck. Blair sighed in realisation. So that was how he had known to come and save her, he was watching it all. She thanked the sense in him that had made him put cameras in the house, if it wasn't for his surveillance she could have been hurt last night and Chuck would never have known she was in trouble.
"I kept a close eye on everything and made sure that if he was after the Cypher, he would get what he wanted. I left the tracker on so that he would know where to go and we would be right there following him. He probably wont expect us to follow him so we'll have the upper hand. Also, we need to get there before him, which is why we're ready to leave immediately." he finished, trying to avoid Blair, knowing that she would be angry right now at news of his imminent departure.
"Why now? Where's the portal?" asked Serena as Blair looked on with indifference.
"Japan. Nate and I are already prepared to leave. I told Nate a while ago, we have everything planned out to the fine details. We leave any time now. We have to, if we want this to work. I have to get the Cypher back and get rid of Marcus." he explained, keeping a close eye on Blair. He watched on as Blair got up from her assento almost too calmly.
"So you should go then." she said before storming off upstairs. Serena stood to follow her but was stopped por Chuck who offered to go after her instead. He gave Nate instructions to get ready to leave once he came back downstairs and Nate nodded in agreement.

***

She couldn't believe he had hidden such details from her, he had the opportunity to tell her about his plan for Marcus so many times and she would have been right there helping him with the plan. She could have been in on it all, manipulating Marcus would have been easy.
Now Chuck would be walking away again, just as they had been reunited, it was too good to be true.
She slumped down onto her cama and heard the door creak open. It was him.

"What do you want Chuck? Shouldn't you be preparing to leave?" she asked angrily making sure not to turn towards him.
"Blair I have to. We have no choice... I have to get rid of Marcus once and for all. Sending him straight for a portal is the only way of making sure he leaves and never comes back." he tried to reason.
"Japan?" she asked, looking up at him with hurt eyes.
"Yes Blair...it's not my fault it's so far away. In a way we're lucky it's only about a week away...imagine we had to wait months or years for a portal?" he explained softly whilst joining her on the bed. She stood up and walked away from him, "Right then....so you should go. Do what you have to do. Like I've ever been you're priority anyway." she accused. She understood the need to get rid of Marcus but she couldn't stand the fact that he was delaying their make-up. She needed to be with him mais than ever and she couldn't believe he was just getting up and leaving so soon.
"Blair, you're being ridiculous! I have to do this! And everything I've done is for you! Because of you!" he knew he shouldn't have said the last bit as it sounded like he was blaming her for all this, maybe he was.

"Oh so there it is! Finally you let out how you really feel! You blame me! you think it's all my fault! So go! Go and be a hero and fix everything and then come back and say I told you so!" she was angry with him for blaming her, was this all about winning to him.
"That's pathetic Blair! I'm doing what's best for us can't you see that!" he accused. After everything and here she was picking a fight with him again, he just didn't have the time for this.
"All I can see is that i'm always last on your list of things to do...what's important right now is that you only ever think about your own agenda...getting rid of Marcus! I don't want him! I don't care where he is right now and I don't care about the damn Cypher! I'm done with that, we don't need any of that! Just let him run with it and we can stay here and live our lives!" she exclaimed desperately, "but of course you don't want that!" she turned away from him sadly not wanting him to see her cry. Why couldn't he just let go of the Cypher and their past and just be with her once and for all. She had the most horrible feeling that wanting the Cypher meant wanting to get out of this world one day.
He sensed her worry and her doubts but she just didn't understand. The Cypher meant a lot to him and he couldn't let someone steal it from him. No one was ever going to stop him from doing what he had to do.

"Blair, you have nothing to worry about. This isn't about winning for me...it isn't about proving to you that I was right or whatever...this is just something I have to do." He paused, waiting for her response but none came, so he walked towards her and placed a lingering kiss on her shoulder, "I have to go. I'll see you in a week...wife."

Wife, that was the last thing she heard from him before he was gone. Again.

It was a long tense week later when the moment Blair and Serena had eagerly been waiting for finally arrived.
A beeping noise coming from the foyer of the house signalled that someone had disarmed the security device for the front door and was entering the house. Only four people knew the code to that front door and only two of those people (Chuck and Blair) could get in using their finger prints (which would not need for the code to be entered or the system to be disarmed). Blair rushed to the foyer at the sound of the beeping knowing that it couldn't be Chuck as he wouldn't need to use the code to get in, he would just use the finger print recognition. It obviously wasn't Serena as she was in the house already, so it had to be Nate. Nate without Chuck.

The door swung open the moment Blair reached it. In walked Nate (just as she suspected), he was startled por Blair's sudden appearance at the door the moment he walked in and instead of greeting her he watched nervously as she brushed past him and outside looking around furiously. After a couple of moments of searching she ran past him again into the house and turned towards him just as Serena reached the foyer.

"Where is he!" she demanded angrily. Nate looked at her and then down at his shoes, shuffling them slightly on the floorboards.
"I swear if he's off celebrating the fact that he was right about ..Marcus...I swear i'll kill him!" she continued and Nate opened his mouth to answer her but Blair cut him off.
"He's gone back to his stupid hotel right? He expects me to go over there or something? Beg for his forgiveness and ask him to come home...?" she flung her hands in the air wildly and turned to Serena, "can you believe him S! I could have been attacked or kidnapped or killed por that imposter and all Chuck cares about is rubbing it in my face that he was right and I was wrong!" she yelled angrily before placing her hands on her hips.
"Blair...look...it's not like that..." began Nate, shaking his head, "I don't know how to say this Blair..." he finished before sighing and shaking his head.
"What Nate? What's going on?" asked Serena, beginning to worry por the look on Nate's face and the tone of his voice.
"Maybe we should go inside....I should tell you the full story." he motioned towards the inside of the house.
"Wait....shouldn't we wait for Chuck....if he wants to play games then fine...two can play at that game and im used to it por now....just tell him to come início Nate," she almost begged, "please, tell him, I need to see him, or at least hear his voice, I need to know he's....ok." her eyes had watered slightly as the hope of seeing Chuck return had faded. This was it, she thought, he and Nate had gotten rid of Marcus but Chuck still refused to come início to her, was it over between them again, she worried as she thought of their argument before he had left.
"Blair, let's just sit down so I can just tell you everything." repeated Nate as he placed his hand on her back and guided her and Serena back in to the lounge. Blair and Serena sat down quietly and watched as Nate began to pace the room and stop abruptly each time he tried to speak.
"Just spit it out Nate!" demanded Serena as she began to lose patience, "Start from the dia you two left."
Nate turned and looked at Serena and then Blair, "Ok, fine," he began, "well you both know that Marcus was after the Cypher so that he could escape this world right?" both girls nodded, "well, Chuck had suspicions right from dia one as he already told you before we left," he tried not to look at Blair but he noticed her head dip in shame as she was reminded that Chuck had been right all along, "well the cameras he told you about planted here in the house, there were a number of them, in the guest room where Marcus stayed and there are cameras in Blair's bedroom, one facing the door which opens up as the seguro room and there's one in the seguro room, where the Cypher was. He had set the Cypher's portal tracker so that he would know where the seguinte portal would be, like we told you before we left..." the girls nodded as they remembered the final conversation they had with Chuck where he had quickly explained how he had known about Marcus's attack on Blair and how he had known where the seguinte portal was.
Nate began recalling the following events as the girls listened intently.

Around One Week Ago

"So you're sure that he'll have no suspicions about us following him?" asked Nate and Chuck and he drove to the private jet after leaving Blair and Serena seguro in the baixo house.
"Look, the guy's an idiot, he knows nothing about the Cypher. He''ll assume that the tracker is always on, he wont suspect a thing." explained Chuck. The last thing Chuck had done the night he had left Blair and moved to the Palace hotel was plant cameras on the bedroom and in the seguro room which was where the Cypher was kept. He had started the Cypher tracker to find out when the seguinte portal was and was surprised to find one straight away. He had got down the co-ordinates and left the tracker on, hoping that Marcus would find it. He trusted himself to chase Marcus down to the portal and get the Cypher back, having Marcus so close to a portal would be a perfect situation.
"But don't you think he'd expect us to follow him, he cant be that stupid right?" wondered Nate. The first thing you worry about when running away from someone is the fact that they'll be after you, so of course Marcus would try his best to stay hidden.
"Which is exactly why we need to find the location of the portal before he can, that way we can be prepared for him. Besides he wont be able to start the portal, he probably thinks the portal starts up itself." explained Chuck.
"Oh yeah, Mr. genius. I forgot that only you know how to do all that technical stuff!"
laughed Nate.
"Well yeah, obviously. I'm the one with the brains remember?" joked Chuck as their limousine rolled into the airbase. The flight to Japão would be long and tiring so it was lucky that Chuck owned the best private planes.
"So i'm guessing we're sticking to the plan right...you know about what to do with Marcus?" asked Nate, wondering if Chuck still wanted to follow through on the plan he had informed him of over the phone the other week.
Chuck looked at him and simply nodded, "it's for the best." he replied meekly as the car came to a standstill and Chuck opened the door.
"Hey, don't you thing we should have brought some luggage? Seeing as the portal is in four days, we're going to be there three days early." asked Nate whilst he joined Chuck on the other side of car.
"We can get anything we need there, besides I don't have these co-ordinates on a map so it'll take us a couple of days to find this place....I think it's some deserted valley or something," he said as they walked towards the plane. The moment they got on they went over their rough plan again before calling it a night.

"So what exactly was you plan then?" interrupted Blair. Nate had kept mentioning some sort of plan on how they would deal with Marcus but as of yet he had failed to elaborate.
Nate looked at her for a moment, lost in thought before answering, "I'll get to that, let me continue."
Serena placed a hand on Blair's thigh for comfort and smiled at her warmly, understanding her frustration, "carry on Nate," she encouraged.
"Well, it took most of the night and the following dia to get to our destination, we arrived at the airport and had to hire out a helicopter for the rest of the journey. The bloody pilot couldn't even speak English properly and it was difficult to communicate with the guy so we decided to stay at a hotel and try to figure out exactly where the co-ordinates would take us before setting off the seguinte dia in the helicopter."

Day 2 in Japan.

"Hey can you pronounce the name right? I don't want that stupid pilot taking us to the wrong damn place!" complained Chuck as he handed the piece of paper he had written on to Nate.
"Uhh, yeah I guess.." answered Nate as he looked at the piece of paper trying hard to practice the name in his head. Hopefully he could just show the written word to the pilot and the guy would understand. It wasn't even the exact spot that Chuck had found, it was just the closest place on the map that had a name, they would still have to narrow down the exact co-ordinates which were probably in the middle of nowhere. Chuck had printed out the map and circled the spot where the portal would open and would somehow have to get the pilot to take them there. Luckily for them only Originals, like Chuck, Nate and Marcus would be able to see the portal and the Cypher, the pilot would just feel the force but not actually see anything.
They walked out and caught a taxi to the helipad where they had been told to meet the pilot. It was a half hora journey where they continued to catch up and discuss their plans. Nate used it as an opportunity to find out exactly what had happened with Blair and Marcus.
"Uh...so what did he do to Blair then?" he questioned and watched as Chuck's happy mood turned azedar, azedo at the mention of Marcus hurting Blair.
"The bastard laid his hands on her and i'm going to make him pay." he answered sternly.
"Well, you kind of knew something like that would happen though remember...?" Nate pointed out. Chuck had already informed Nate long atrás that he had planted cameras in the house and would ensure Blair's safety, but there was always the risk that Blair was in danger.
"Yeah, well luckily I got there in time, she's a fighter though you know..." he smiled at the fact that she had fought Marcus off and managed to escape, "she would have been able to handle it herself." He closed his eyes in relief, going over the fact that so far his plan had worked relatively perfectly, Blair had been attacked but she wasn't hurt and he was a step closer to finding Marcus, assuming that Marcus would be in procurar of the portal here in Japan.
"So, you and Blair...is everything going to be ok between you two?" he asked, watching his best friend fidget in his seat.
"Uhh...let's just do this and we can talk about happy families when we get back." he responded casually, hoping that Nate would drop the subject on Blair and mover on.

They had arrived at the heli-pad soon after and spoken to the pilot the best they could. He seemed to understand where they wanted him to go and so they fastened themselves into their seats and the helicopter began moving.

"That's all he said about me?" intervened Blair, "sorry I didn't mean to but in...it's just is that all he said...he didn't tell you if he was going to come back home?" she asked hopefully. Maybe that's what Nate was getting at, maybe Chuck had decided not to come início after all. "That's why he's not here? You're not telling me where he is because he's not coming back right?" she finished, almost in tears again.
"B, come on just let's hear him out ok. Maybe he just needs to tell us the whole story first." Serena held Blair in her arms and soothed her por stroking her hair as Blair held back tears.
Nate nodded and then began talking again, "ok, so we had reached the little village, the name that I cant pronounce, it had taken most of the dia and it had already gotten dark. We landed and the pilot told us we would have to find a room for the night before we could travel again. So we did. We stayed in this little hut, it was almost like camping. Then the seguinte dia we ate and stuff and kicked a ball around with a few of the local kids while the pilot went to the nearest town to get fuel and supplies for staying out in the valley nearer to the portal spot. It was midday when we finally set off."

Day 3 (The dia before the Portal Opening)

Chuck and Nate had reached the valley late in the night and the two of them and the pilot had set up camp to stay the night. The pilot had agreed not to ask any perguntas about why they were there and what they were doing (of course a large lump sum from a certain baixo ensured he'd keep his mouth shut).

"Do you think he's going to be here tomorrow?" wondered Nate out loud as he and Chuck lay resting in their tent.
"Yeah, I know he will. He's probably on his way here right now. I'm hoping the camouflage net on the helicopter will be enough to cover it, he wont know we're here. Besides there's plenty of forest here to cover us. I just hope we see him." countered Chuck as he covered himself with a sleeping bag. He was tired from the dia of travelling and wanted to get some shut-eye for their big dia tomorrow.
"Yeah, we just need to find the exact spot and keep an eye on it."
"We'll be fine," he assured his friends, sensing a little scepticism from him, "I've got it all worked out. I've got it circled on the map, all we need to do is find it and then wait for 6pm. You remember the plan right and the stuff I said about all the things that can go wrong?" he asked seriously. Chuck had gone over all the different things that could happen and exactly what they would have to do under each circumstance.
"Yeah man...although i'm not to happy about you abandoning our usual code. Especially after what happened when we jumped the portal to this world. You didn't leave me behind." he reminded his friends.
"Yeah...but this is different. Another person is involved now and getting rid of him is the priority."
"I know. I just...don't want things to end badly. Blair and Serena are counting on us. They're waiting for us." Nate's main worry was the girls and leaving them behind for too long or having to face them if anything went wrong.
"New York is início just remember that." replied Chuck, Nate knew exactly what that meant.

"What the hell does that mean! New York is home?" Blair hated the fact that Nate was being vague, she wanted answers, she'd had enough of being patient and wanted to know where her husband was.
"Blair...please...I need to just tell you in order of the how things happened....so you'll understand why I did what I did." explained Nate.
"Oh, God...what did you do Nate? What did you do!" Blair jumped up towards Nate poking him in the chest as Serena came from behind her and eased her away.
"Blair, there's no point getting worked up, he hasn't even told us everything yet...please just give him a chance," she reasoned whilst guiding Blair back to her seat, "Nate it's fine, just carry on." she commanded her friend.
Nate shuffled his feet feeling slightly guilty for not just getting to the point, but he knew that if he told her what she wanted to know straight away he wouldn't get a chance to explain himself because she would just attack him.
"Ok, well we spent the night out in the valley, it was awful. It rained and it was cold and there were a lot of noises in the night. Chuck acted like he wasn't afraid but every time I got scared he was right there with me trembling and everything!" he laughed at the memory. Chuck kept pretending that there were no animais out there and even if there was there was no use getting scared about it. But every time they heard growling or squawking they would both tremble and gasp, yes, even Chuck!
"Trust Chuck to act like a hero and be scared in reality!" laughed Blair, she knew that Chuck always acted rough and tough, pretending that he wasn't afraid of anything.
"I know," Serena contributed whilst also laughing, "he was always like a big brother to us, always looking out for us and being our rock, if it wasn't for him we would probably be dead por now, like the rest of us in our world, we never would have found this world...this happiness." The laughter turned to silence and both girls turned to Nate waiting for him to continue his story, Nate could see the tear filled eyes of Blair begging to tell her that Chuck was safe.
"Blair, just let me finish ok, I know you're probably thinking the worst right now but it's not like that, i'm not about to tell you that Chuck's dead or anything" he explained and Blair finally let out a gasp in relief, she had seriously began to think the worst.
"Anyway, so we got through the night and then the seguinte morning we managed to drain our comida supplies for breakfast so we new we'd have to get back to the village as soon as we got Marcus back. So we had like three hours before we were expecting Marcus to arrive because the portal was due for 12.45pm so we just waited around after Chuck had shown me the exact spot where the portal would open. It was about 7 foot off the ground above a path in the forest so there was some clear ground around it. Chuck said it could be anywhere within or just around that area so we would have to hide out in the trees and wait to see if Marcus would show..."

Day 4 - The dia of the Portal Opening.

"So where exactly do we hide?" asked Nate nervously, looking around for some cover.
Chuck pointed towards some trees in the nearby distance, "you see those there? That's where we'll hide, well me anyway..." he smirked at his friends.
Nate began to look even mais nervous than before, if Chuck's smirk could talk it would definitely be saying something evil right now so he had every reason to be worried!
"What's that supposed to mean? Where do I hide?" he asked Chuck and Chuck just let out a laugh whilst patting Nate on the back.
"My dear friend, you will have to stay on ground." he laughed.
"And why's that? You think I can't climb a árvore or something? If anyone here is unfit or non-athletic it's you man, you haven't trained a dia in your life!" he teased.
"Exactly my point, which is why i've given you the task of jumping Marcus. You'll be in those bushes over there," he pointed to some high risen bushes near the árvore Chuck would be hiding in, "the moment you think Marcus is close enough you simply jump out and attack him, make sure you give him one hard kick in the balls on behalf of my beautiful wife whom he dared to lay his hands on, I would amor to do it myself but I have the Cypher to attend to, whilst you beat the shit out of him, ill get the Cypher and do my thing," he continued whilst cracking his knuckles.
"Right, so I guess compared to that, climbing a árvore is child's play." he laughed and Chuck winked at him in acknowledgement. He should have known that Chuck would allocate him the most physical task, "of course we wouldn't want poor little Chuckles to break a nail." he teased whilst walking towards the bushes to get a closer look.
"Hey, i'll have you know that climbing a árvore can be quite fatal. Beating up a guy, for you, is like breathing air, you'll be fine, and besides I've already tackled him once, at jantar remember and he wasn't so tough, even for me." he reminded Nate. Of course Chuck hadn't gotten into many physical fights por himself, he had always had Nate to back him up, or otherwise a weapon, he wasn't very used to using his fists.
"Fine, whatever, you're the boss," he said whilst saluting Chuck with his hand to his forehead, "your wish is my command."
Chuck patted his back once mais and they both walked back to where they had set up camp. It was almost 11am and the pilot had drifted off to sleep so it gave Chuck and Nate some time to brush up on their plan of action.

It was almost 12.30pm when they heard an aircraft coming towards them. They quickly put out the fogo they had started in the morning and made sure they were safely hidden in the forest whilst keeping an eye on the sky and the aircraft they had spotted. It was heading straight towards them coming ever so low as it went past and seemed to land somewhere in the distance. It had to be Marcus, why would any other plane land here in the middle of nowhere. The Cypher had a built in navigation system which would lead Marcus to the exact spot where the portal would open so he wouldn't have had to go through the procurar that Chuck and Nate were forced to go through.
Chuck looked towards Nate and then to the pilot who was still asleep. He motioned to Nate that it was time and they both raced towards the path they had planned to hide near. They reached the bushes that Nate would be concealed in and them Chuck headed up the tree, ready to give Nate instructions from above as he would be able to see better and guide Nate.
"I cant see anything right now, but i'm not climbing any higher as you wont be able to hear me, I'll just wait until I see something." he almost whispered, he couldn't risk being heard por the wrong person.
Nate nodded in response, "What about the plane? Do you see that?" he asked.
"Sssh I think I see someone...." he tried to squint to get a better look, he was sure he could see something moving through the trees in the distance, "it's him! shhh." he placed a finger to his lips and made a hand gesture for Nate to stay still.
Chuck kept watching as the man he was waiting for came running out of the trees in the distance and reached the open plain of the large path. It was Marcus, and he had the Cypher in his hands.....

tbc

A.N.

Sorry to leave it there....the finale will be up in dia or two (or 3)

what do you think so far...what do you think will happen to Marcus....?

Review plz as there's not much to go now so I would amor to hear your final thoughts...!