I Love You

Marry Me...?

Disclaimer: I only own Darcy, all other characters unless otherwise noted belong to someone else.

Darcy sat in her old bedroom packing some of her things for California. It was coming up fast and she needed to prepare. She also had things in boxes to transfer over to the Empire. She found one of her photo albums and opened it. The first page was of her as a little girl with her mom. She touched her mom's face and smiled.

"You would be so proud of me mom." She said then flipped through the pages landing on a photo of her, Brooke and Austin. Then flipped more toward the back. On one page was of her and Nate from Highschool graduation. On the other was of her and Chuck at their hotel opening. She smiled again and traced his face. She use to swear up and down that her and Chuck were only friends. But now they were a few months shy of their 1 year anniversary. She closed the book and put it in one of the Empire boxes then closed it. She stood up grabbing it and carrying it out.

She arrived at the Empire as Nate was leaving.

"Hey" she said seeing that he wasn't entirely in a good mood.

"I told him I would keep Raina from digging her past so don't get onto me too" he replied then stepped on the Elevator. She set the box down next to the bedroom door and walked into the room Chuck was in.

"Um care to explain a cranky Nate?" she asked. Chuck took a drink of his scotch. "I guess it's 5 o'clock somewhere?"

He kept silent and kept drinking.

"Talk Bass" she said then spotted the pile of papers on the pool table with Blair's face. "Does this have to do with the fire or with Blair?"

"Ellis" he said.

"Bass" she responded.

"It's just stress. Between the fire and everything with our new building in Brooklyn"

"Then let me destress you" she smiled grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the bedroom.

About an hour later they sat on the couch Darcy's legs over Chuck's. Andrew Tyler walked in.

"What are you doing here? I told you I was done" Chuck said.

"I know but I found this" he replied "I think it was in the box with all the tapes. It's dated before the fire."

"Read it" Chuck said.

"I'll read it" Darcy said grabbing it from Andrew and opening it. "You know how much you mean to me but I can't do this anymore. I'm so sorry, Avery"

"So my father and Avery were having an affair?"

"Yeah and it sounds like she was leaving him to go back to Raina's father" Darcy replied.

"That's your motive. The tape shows opportunity and we already know that Bart admitted he was responsible for the fire so" Andrew replied.

"Well at least you can't hang a dead man" Chuck responded.

"I'm sorry Hun, I know you didn't want your father to be guilty" Darcy said grabbing his hand and giving it a light squeeze. Andrew left as Nate entered.

"Was that Andrew Tyler? What was he doing here?" Nate asked. "Are you guys okay?"

"Nothing my Queen can't fix" Chuck responded kissing Darcy's hand "Andrew and I were just wrapping things up"

"How did Dinner with Raina go?" Darcy asked.

"Not well. She walked out on me"

"She what?"

"Sorry but she is dead set on looking for her mother"

"Hopefully she doesn't and gives up on her own" Chuck said.

"Or she finds her mom and you'll have nothing to worry about" Nate replied.

"Right" Chuck said then handed Nate the letter. He read it but didn't believe it.

The next day she walked out into the bar area to Nate and Chuck fighting. Chuck very drunk. Nate walked past her.

"Good Luck. He's very drunk" he said.

"What the hell are you two fighting about now?!" she asked.

"Nothing!" he replied

"Bullshit Bass. It was something!"

"Leave it alone Ellis!"

"No! I won't! You need to talk to me Bass. Whatever is going on in your head and don't tell me it's the new building or the fire. Something else is bothering..."

"Marry Me" he said.

"Excuse you" she said taken back. This was not how she imagined getting proposed too. She thought it would be on the Palace rooftop and it would be related to them becoming friends. Or on top of a ferris wheel. Something totally them. Not her boyfriend drunk. "You're drunk, you don't mean it"

Chuck walked away and got in his safe grabbing a ring box. She walked back over to her.

"I'm serious Ellis. Marry Me" he said opening the box showing Blair's ring.

"I can't" she said taking the box and shutting it. Setting it on the pool table.

"Ellis, I know you love me and I love you too. What we have is real."

"Yes Bass, that may be true. But this is Blair's ring" she said feeling a tear falling.

"Don't cry" he said wiping her tears.

She stepped backwards and wiped her face. She couldn't believe she was about to say this but her going to California was gonna be good for them.

"Maybe Bass, maybe we should...we should take the summer to figure this all out. We're both super stressed. So much has happened." She said wiping her tears as they fell.

"Ellis..." he said grabbing her hand.

"I can't" she said turning around. She grabbed her packed bag next to the bed she had for California and walked out. She got back to the apartment dropping her bag in the entry way. She was crying so hard. She found her dad's hidden scotch and poured a glass. She stared at it for a while crying. She took a sip then instantly spit it out into the glass. Her stomach hurt and she felt like throwing up. She ran to the bathroom and threw up. She sank to the floor crying. She found her phone in her pocked and went through her contacts stopping on Bass. She almost hit call but closed the phone instead and laid down on the bathroom floor. Wanting to forget the last few hours.