Fall Forever

Title: Fall Forever

Part 3 of ?

Author: Raythe

Fandom: Gossip Girl

Pairing: Lily Bass/Chuck Bass

Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl and I do not make any money from these writings.

Warnings: AU, Angst, Romance

Background and Summary: This story was inspired by the episode where Jack Bass attempts to rape Lily in the powder room at the opera and Chuck saves her. Chuck moves back in with Lily, Serena and Erik. The closeness between Chuck and Lily grows, blossoming into something else.

Lily and Chuck travel to Miskatonic University in the city of Arkham to meet with Dr. Wilkinson, a professor of paranormal studies who was hired by Bart Bass to investigate various heirlooms from Chuck’s mother’s family. What will Chuck find out about his maternal roots? And will being away from Manhattan, alone with Lily, open up new possibilities between them?

Please let me know what you think. Reviews are my life’s blood.

Raythe

CHAPTER THREE: FAMILY RESEMBLANCE

Chuck’s Blackberry vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the screen. It was a text from Gossip Girl: “Newsflash! It appears that our favorite amoral hottie, prince-around-town, Chuck Bass, was adopted by Lily Bass nee van der Woodsen. Seems this action cuts off Jack Bass’ control of Bass Industries and puts the prince in line for the empire’s driver’s seat when he turns 18. Sometimes blood isn’t thicker than … well … money and power. You know you love me. XOXO Gossip Girl.”

“You’re about a week late, GG. Hardly a newsflash,” Chuck muttered. Then he noticed that his cell no longer had a signal. “Good thing you called Dr. Wilkinson and set up that appointment before we left Manhattan, Lily. We’re in a dead zone.” He held out the phone for her to see.

Lily had been looking out the window of the limo at the landscape, which held no interest for Chuck. All he could see through the glass was miles of dead tall-grass waving in the breeze. No people. No buildings even. Chuck itched for the hustle and bustle of a big city. This was not at all his sort of place.

Lily turned her head towards him and glanced at his phone. With a smile, she covered his hand with her own, “Somehow it’s appropriate that we don’t have a signal out here. It is a bit like going back in time.”

“More like the land that time forgot,” Chuck said.

Lily laughed. He loved how her eyes sparkled when she was happy. He laced their fingers together. Her hand felt warm and fragile in his.

Lily stilled, but she didn’t draw away. Her voice was soft as she said, “We should be at Miskatonic soon. I think the outskirts of city of Arkham are only a few miles away.”

“Arkham … isn’t that the name of the institution where all the crazed villains go in the Batman series?” Chuck asked.

“It won’t be that bad, Charles. Dr. Wilkinson sounded … sweet, if a little strange. And he’s very excited to meet you.”

“I wonder why.”

“Who knows why academic get hyped up? Besides, it’s nice to get away from Manhattan for awhile, isn’t it? Peaceful out here. You can almost forget …,” her voice faded off and Chuck wondered what she was going to say, what she wanted to forget. Suddenly, she said, “Look. There’s the ocean.”

The winding road they had been on for the last hour was now running parallel to the Atlantic Ocean. Chuck watched as huge waves rolled in, crashing over jagged rocks that lined the beach. The water looked dark under the pale winter sun: a slate gray with foamy white peaks.

Chuck had a sudden and fierce desire to have the cold surge of those waves all around him. He imagined what it would be like to feel the sucking sensation of the undertow on his legs, the sting of the cold spray hitting his face, and the bitter tang of ocean water on his tongue. And then … then he imagined launching himself into the water’s depths, not needing air or sunlight. The only thing anchoring him in the limo and stopping him from throwing open the door and leaping out to get to the ocean was Lily’s hand in his.

Chuck shook himself. His heart began to pound and sweat broke out on his upper lip. What had he been thinking? Why had he been thinking that? Jumping out of a moving car and then running into the ocean like his mother … he didn’t want to die. He wasn’t suicidal. Yet leaping from a moving vehicle and then swimming in that arctic water would be a death sentence … despite what a small part of his mind whispered. He looked away from the ocean, hating it just as fiercely as he’d been drawn to it moments before.

“Charles? What is it? What’s wrong?” Lily asked. She put her free hand on his forehead as if to check for a fever. He closed his eyes and enjoyed her touch.

“I’m all right. Just a momentary dizziness,” Chuck lied. “Maybe I did need some more sleep this morning.” He tried to give her a comforting smile, but he knew she didn’t buy it.

Lily’s brow furrowed with concern again. “If you want, I can go in and talk to Dr. Wilkinson myself. You can rest in the limo or we could find a local hotel where you could sleep for a few hours.”

“No. I want to know what my father was up to in his final days … other than spying on you, Serena and Erik,” Chuck said. “But if you wanted us to stay the night in Arkham … that would be fine with me.”

He expected Lily to laugh and tell him that his attempt at seduction was appreciated, but wasn’t going to work. Instead, her expression was deadly serious. “If you still don’t feel well after our meeting with Dr. Wilkinson then we will stay. Perhaps being out of the city and away from everything would be good for you … for both of us.”

Chuck swallowed. He hadn’t expected her to agree. He felt a knot of apprehension and pleasure, both at the thought of having Lily to himself overnight and that she felt his condition so serious that she was willing to risk being alone with him for his health.

“Do I look so bad?” he asked, half-joking. “I thought you said I was very handsome earlier today.”

“I am concerned, Charles,” she said and squeezed his hand then with a slight smile, she added, “Don’t worry. You still are handsome. In fact, most people wouldn’t notice a thing was wrong with you, but I’m not most people.”

Chuck rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “No,” he agreed. “You aren’t.”

The remainder of the ride was uneventful. Lily was right to think that Arkham wasn’t far away. Soon Arkham’s dark spires and gabled roofs came into view. The city reminded Chuck of an 18th century line-drawing. All blacks and grays and sharp angles. The houses were spindly Victorian things that loomed over the cobble-stoned streets. The people, those few Chuck saw, all walked with their heads down, hoods and scarves obscuring their faces.

“This place doesn’t look real,” Chuck said, breaking their comfortable silence.

“It really does feel … a part from everything, doesn’t it?” Lily remarked. “Like the rest of the world doesn’t exist.” She pulled her coat tighter around her slender frame.

“Fitting place for a university that specializes in the paranormal. I could almost believe in ghosts myself if I lived here,” Chuck said.

At that moment, the driver came around and opened Lily’s door. The air smelt of the sea and coming snow. Chuck followed her out of the limo and looked up at the threatening gray skies. A storm was coming. Maybe they would be spending the night here whether or not he played ill later.

“Let’s go see Dr. Wilkinson,” Chuck said and offered Lily his arm. She didn’t hesitate before looping her arm through his.

The entrance to the main campus of Miskatonic University wasn’t hard to spot. There was a black wrought iron gate with worn gold lettering at the top reading ‘Miskatonic University.’ Beyond the gates was a courtyard surrounded by gothic-looking buildings. The gate was open and Chuck led Lily through. They followed a crooked stone path towards an impressive set of double doors. An embossed brass plaque beside one of the doors read, ‘Library.’ Dr. Wilkinson had said he’d meet them in the Library just outside of the entrance to the Archive.

Chuck pushed one of the Library’s heavy doors open. The scent of leather, parchment and dust hit his nose. They filed inside and the quiet of the place settled over Chuck like a thick wool blanket.

“Now we’ve just got to find the good doctor,” Lily whispered.

Chuck just nodded, not wanting to breach the sepulchral silence.

He and Lily wended their way through slate-topped desks towards the far wall where there was actually a gate separating one part of the library from the rest. Chuck guessed that the gated area was the Archive. The room was deceptively dim as the only light came from green-shaded bankers lamps, which were placed on the center of each table. The library’s only concession to modernity were discretely placed Ethernet ports where students could plug in their laptops.

When they reached the gate, Chuck tried to open it, but it was securely locked. Beyond the gate were huge wooden shelves heavily laden with leather bound books that stretched off in either direction for as far as the eye could see.

“He did say he would meet us here,” Lily said.

“Ah! Mrs. Bass?” A male, aged voice asked from behind them.

Chuck nearly jumped at the sound. He whipped around to face the speaker. An elderly man with a wild shock of white hair and gold-rimmed half-moon glasses was staring at him. The old man’s eyes widened and he took a few steps towards Chuck. Before Chuck could stop him, the old man had grasped Chuck’s chin and was turning his head this way and that.

“My goodness! Oh, my goodness! I can’t believe it! Really and truly when you said that you had a Marsh descendant … I never thought … well, I guess I wasn’t prepared for it,” the old man said.

“Ah, Dr. Wilkinson?” Lily asked, stepping forward to catch the professor’s attention.

“Oh, yes, how rude of me. Yes, yes, I am Dr. Wilkinson. And you are Lily Bass and, of course, this must be Charles Marsh … I mean Charles Bass. My, my how fascinating!” Dr. Wilkinson said, his watery-blue eyes alight with interest.

It was at that point that Chuck recovered from the shock enough to take charge of things. He gently but firmly removed Dr. Wilkinson’s hand from his person and took a step back for added safety in case the other man attempted to grab him again.

“What do find so interesting about my face?” Chuck asked.

“Oh, well, let me show you!” Dr. Wilkinson said.

With a sprightly step he was over at the locked door to the Archive. Instead of pulling out a ring of keys, he waved a key fob in front of the lock and the door opened. Even though Miskatonic looked old there were clearly more than a few hidden modern conveniences. Chuck was beginning to get the feeling the university was not exactly what it seemed to be.

The professor bustled inside, urging them to follow him. “Don’t forget to close the door firmly behind you. Students are always trying to get in here and most of them mustn’t. It just isn’t safe if you know what I mean.”

Chuck looked at Lily and she raised a sculpted eyebrow. She clearly had no idea what Dr. Wilkinson was talking about either.

Dr. Wilkinson was muttering under his breath as he roamed down one aisle of books then another. “Aha! Here it is. I should have had it pulled out before you got here, but I was already cataloging what your late-husband had sent me. Such amazing finds that I simply couldn’t tear myself away.”

“What did my father send you?” Chuck asked.

“Oh, many, many things. But I’ll tell you about that all in good time, my boy. Let me first get this down. It’ll help explain all the rest,” the professor said.

Dr. Wilkinson pulled down a huge leather-bound volume bound with metal straps. He laid it on a table. Lily and Chuck gather around him as he opened the clasps and began riffling through the pages.

“Look,” Dr. Wilkinson said with a flourish as he pointed to a particular page.

He had opened the aged volume to a page that had an ink drawing on it of a face. Lily gasped and her hand fluttered up to her throat. Chuck felt something cold run down his spine. The portrait could have been of him. Only according to the caption it was the portrait of Alexander Marsh who had died over two hundred years earlier.