Chapter 9: The Traitor
"This has 'trap' written all over it," Puck said firmly. "I don't think we should go anywhere."
They were all sitting in a circle around a lone candle, their merriment long forgotten. As soon as Santana had told them about Brittany's revelation, chaos had broken out. Each person seemed to have a different idea about what they should do.
"I just don't think Blaine would sell us out like that," Mercedes said. "I never thought he had it in him."
"Either way, a person is a person," Rachel said. "No matter what he's done in his past, he deserves to be saved."
"But maybe he doesn't even need saving," Puck said hotly. "He could have gone with them willingly! Who knows? I mean, they're his friends, or at least, they used to be."
"Obviously they're not his friends, why do you think Blaine left them in the first place?" Rachel shot back.
"Look, Rachel, stay out of this," Santana said, rubbing her temples. She felt that, as captain, she should have some suggestion for what they should do next, but she was drawing a blank. "You're not even part of the crew," Santana continued. "You barely even knew Blaine."
Rachel looked like she wanted to say something, but there was too much truth in Santana's words to ignore, and she thankfully shut up. "One thing we haven't discussed yet," Quinn said, "is whether or not Blaine is dispensable. You know the Pirates' Code. Anyone who gets left behind stays behind."
"He's not dispensable, you twat!" Kurt said from outside the circle. It was the first time he'd spoken since Santana had told them what she knew. He had been standing by the galley in a state of shock, but now he stepped forward into the candlelight. "You guys, I don't think Blaine is in with them. Maybe they targeted him because they know him, but whatever is going on, he wants to be back here with us. I know it."
"No offense, Kurt, but you don't know anything," Tina said. "I mean, you never even knew that Blaine was in the Royal Navy before. There could be any number of things you don't know."
"I know that he wouldn't betray us!" Kurt said angrily.
"Okay, hold on," Artie said. "Are we even sure that Blaine was the captain? All we have is Brittany's memory of hearing Sebastian mention his name..."
"I know I remember it right," Brittany said. She looked nervous but her tone was firm. "I have a pretty good memory."
"It only matters what Santana thinks," Quinn said, looking towards her. "You're the captain. You make the call."
Santana looked around at all of them. She knew that whatever she said would end up making someone angry. "Blaine...didn't even want to go to Port Lima," she said slowly. "He tried to talk me out of it, he was worried about the Dalton catching up to us. If he had a plan to run off with them, he would have wanted us to go there, right?"
"Maybe," Puck said. "Or maybe he just knew you would disagree with whatever he said and he was using reverse psychology."
"Come on, Puck," Kurt said. "Be reasonable."
"The fact remains that he knew something about the Dalton and didn't tell us," Quinn said. "There was a ship following us to every corner of the Caribbean for an entire year, and we had no idea why they were doing it or what they were capable of. And he used to be captain and he just, what, forgot to mention it?" Quinn shook her head. "That's a pretty big lie. I don't think we should trust him."
"He probably thought that if he told us, we wouldn't want him anymore," Finn said. Santana looked up in surprise. It was very unlike Finn to defend Blaine. "What? It makes sense."
"I suppose it does," Santana said.
"That doesn't make it right!" Quinn replied.
"True," Puck said. "Besides, he's smart. He might find a way out."
"You guys, please," Kurt said. "If it were one of you..." He looked at Santana pleadingly. "We have to try to rescue him. You know we do."
There was a long silence. Santana sighed, her body aching with exhaustion. She was suddenly acutely aware of how late it was. "I think we should all go to sleep and talk about this in the morning," she said. "Maybe it will give us some time to think over what the best plan of action is."
"This is a time sensitive thing!" Kurt said. "We can't take the chance, he might not be okay right now!"
"He's strong," Santana said. "He can handle it. And Puck has a point, they were his friends at some point, even if they aren't right now. He knows them."
She leaned forward and blew out the candle, a sign that the conversation was over. One by one, they all got up to leave. Santana saw Finn walk away with Rachel, talking to her quietly. Quinn eyed them suspiciously as she went downstairs.
Santana turned to Brittany. "You can stay in Blaine's cabin again," she said. "Since he's not here and all."
Brittany nodded. "Maybe I can try sleeping in the bunks...tomorrow night," she said.
"Whenever you feel comfortable with it," Santana said. "Seriously, though, you can have the cabin. It doesn't matter. If Blaine ever comes back, I'll kick him out."
"No," Brittany said. "It-it wouldn't feel right. I want to be with the rest of the crew." She got to her feet and looked down at Santana. "Well, goodnight."
"Night," Santana replied. She waited a few more moments before dragging herself to her feet and heading slowly towards her cabin. Finn and Rachel were still talking by the railing, and Kurt was standing near the galley. He looked like he was cleaning up.
"Sleep well, Captain," he called out as she started to leave.
"Bye Kurt," Santana replied tiredly.
She went into the cabin and fell onto her mattress without even taking off her shoes. The day had definitely taken an unexpected turn. It was weird to think that just that morning, she'd been so happy, thinking about how Brittany was going to join their crew. They were going to spend a wonderful few days in Port Lima and then sail off to somewhere exotic and fun. It was summer, and the water would be warm and the weather would be nice. They could still have all of that, of course. But now they had the Dalton to deal with, too.
After what felt like hours, Santana finally gave up on falling asleep and walked out of her cabin. Nobody was expected to be on watch, since they were docked and the day wasn't part of the normal watch schedule. Finn and Rachel were no longer on deck, but someone was standing where the couple used to be, fussing with something on the railing. The person moved farther down the deck and made the same movements there. Santana closed her door quietly and squinted into the darkness. The figure stepped into a ray of moonlight and Santana saw who it was. Kurt.
"Orchestrating an escape?" Santana called out, causing Kurt to jump. He turned around and looked at Santana fearfully. Santana walked over to the railing, where the ropes that had tied them to the dock were now neatly coiled around the wood. "Interesting," she said.
"Santana, please," Kurt began.
Santana looked around. "You pulled in the anchor," she noted. "And adjusted the sails to catch the wind. That's nice, I didn't know you knew how to do that."
"I watch you guys while you work," Kurt said.
"Well," Santana replied. "We better tie all of this stuff back up. Come on, help me out and we can both go to bed."
"No," Kurt said, shaking his head. "Please. I have to." He looked like he was about to cry. "I...I love him. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"
"I don't," Santana said shortly.
"You've never...been in love?" Kurt asked.
"No."
Kurt looked momentarily taken aback, but then his face stiffened with resolve. "Well, I have," he said. "I am. And I have to save him, I would do anything. I don't care if he's in cahoots with Sebastian. He never once hurt any of us and I trust that he knows what he's doing." Kurt swallowed hard, tears welling in his eyes. "He loves me, too."
Santana didn't talk for a long time. She was trying to decide whether or not she was moved by Kurt's speech. Sure, he was in love, just like Mike and Tina and all those other people on the ship that annoyed her so much—but she was kidding herself if she said that she never longed for what they had. Santana knew the way that Blaine looked at Kurt, and believed that the feeling really was mutual. "Did you think you could man the ship by yourself, all night?" Santana asked finally. "Wouldn't we notice that we'd started to move? I would, at least."
Kurt shrugged. "Maybe you would think it was a wave."
"Maybe I do think it's a wave," Santana said.
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked slowly.
"I mean that, maybe I never walked out here. I'll go back to my cabin, having not noticed you moving around in the dark, and when I wake up tomorrow morning we'll be on the move and I'll be forced to follow the Dalton."
Kurt's face slowly split into a wide grin. He jumped towards Santana and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Then he hurriedly backed away. "I'm sorry, that was inappropriate," he said. "Just...thank you."
Santana shrugged. "Whatever," she replied. "You know that we have no idea which way the Dalton went, right? How are you planning to find them?"
"Anything is better than staying here," Kurt said.
"Depends. I'd kinda like to stay in Port Lima for a while," she said in annoyance. Then she felt bad. It wasn't Kurt's fault that Blaine had been kidnapped. "I know he wouldn't do anything bad to you, at least," Santana said. "So...let's just try to get him back in one piece, okay?"
Kurt nodded vigorously. "Yes," he said. "Definitely."
Santana reached into the pocket of her coat. "Here's my compass," she said. "Just in case. If anyone asks, you took it from my cabin while I was sleeping."
"I have always been sneaky," Kurt said.
"Ha ha," Santana replied. "Goodnight, Kurt. Don't crash my ship into a reef."
"Goodnight, Santana," Kurt replied. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of her."
Santana turned around and went back into her cabin, this time undressing before she got into bed. It wasn't long before she felt the familiar rocking of the sea beneath her, and she smiled knowing that Kurt had gotten them underway. There was still the problem of Blaine and his unknown past, but they could work through it in the morning—right now, all that mattered was that they were getting somewhere.
The next morning, Santana awoke to the sound of someone pounding on her cabin door. "Come on, Santana, wake up!" Quinn yelled from outside. "It's pretty urgent. You'll know when you get out here, hurry up."
Santana groaned and pulled herself out of bed. She rubbed sleep out of her eyes and prepared herself to face the rest of the crew. By the sound of it, Kurt had succeeded in his mission, and nobody was particularly happy about it. Santana pulled open the door and found herself staring straight into Quinn's angry face. "Good morning," Santana snapped.
"Good morning to you too, sweetheart," Quinn said in a sugary voice. "Notice anything?"
Santana looked around. The wind had really been on their side last night. They'd made good time. "Well, look at that. We're sailing."
"Yes!" Quinn said, sounding furious again. "Yes we are. That brat Hummel cut us loose during the night. Puck already kicked him off the helm. Do you want us to turn around?"
Santana shrugged. "We have all the supplies we need. Might as well keep going."
"Yes, but we don't know where we're going," Quinn said in exasperation.
"We can figure that out today," Santana said.
"Why aren't you flipping out about this?" Quinn demanded. "You should be mad!"
"I am mad!" Santana said. "And Kurt will be punished accordingly. Just let me put my clothes on, okay?"
Quinn looked down at Santana's shirt clad torso and bare legs. "Oh," she said apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't notice."
"Well," Santana said with a smirk, "I don't blame you. Clearly, your feelings for Rachel are blinding you to all other sexy human forms."
"I-what-sexy human forms, really?" Quinn glared at Santana. "We're having a minor problem with our ship right now, this is not the time for your stupid teasing!"
"Alright," Santana said, backing into her cabin. "Just give me a minute." She closed the door and dressed quickly, trying to think of some punishment she could inflict on Kurt. She decided to have him clean the heads, and stepped outside to tell him so, but she was distracted by another source of commotion on the deck. "Oh no," she said as Rachel appeared out of the hull. "No no no."
"Santana!" Rachel cried, hurrying towards her. Her dress was askew and her hair was ruffled. She looked furious.
"Quinn!" Santana called out as Rachel came closer. "Get over here. We have a huge problem."
"What?" Quinn appeared by Santana's side, a scowl on her face. "I know, I already saw her. But this is Finn's fault, not mine."
Rachel stepped right up to Santana, too close for comfort. "You're the captain," she said firmly. "You need to get me out of here."
"Some respect would be nice," Santana said coldly. "And may I ask why you are demanding I get you off my ship, when I have no idea why you're here in the first place? You don't work for me."
"No, I don't," Rachel said, speaking in a tone of forced calm. "And I never intended to be on your ship at all last night. And if someone," she turned and glared at Finn, who was standing uncomfortably by the hole in the deck, "had told me that you were planning to leave today, I most certainly would not have been aboard. But now that you have left, I need you to turn around and take me back."
"I didn't know we were leaving," Finn protested, but Rachel silenced him with a glare.
"Sorry," Santana said. "But I can't turn around." She turned around and started to walk towards the rail. Rachel followed close behind her.
"What? Where are you going?" she asked in a shrill voice. "No—you have to take me back!"
Santana whirled around, annoyed. "You think I want you here? Quite frankly, I find the sound of your voice incredibly irritating. But we're trying to save a crewmember and deal with an enemy ship, so I'm sorry if I can't go carting you around the ocean right now."
"Santana, please!" Rachel said. "I can't stay here. I get seasick."
"Throw up overboard and keep it to yourself." Santana had to turn around again to hide her smile. She really wasn't pleased that Rachel was going to be joining them, but at least Rachel was even more inconvenienced than she was.
Santana reached the rail and leaned over it to look at their progress. They were almost an entire day's journey from Port Lima, and going back would mean sailing against the wind. "Please," Rachel begged. "Give me a row boat and I'll row myself back."
"And how will we get our boat back?" Santana asked, still gazing out across the water. "It's the only one we have."
"Get someone to row me home and then come back," Rachel suggested.
Santana rolled her eyes. "Rachel, this is the fastest ship in the Caribbean. We could be halfway to our destination by the time you get to Port Lima, how do you expect anyone to catch up to us in a rowboat?"
"Ugh!" Rachel stomped her foot on the deck in frustration. Santana looked at her with disdain. This was the girl who had stolen the hearts of at least two people on her crew? If this was the best they could find, they really needed to get out more.
"Look," Santana said. "It's not my fault that you got yourself into this situation. Bad things tend to happen when you're sleeping with a pirate."
Rachel's face turned even redder than before. "I wasn't sleeping with anyone!" she protested. "Finn and I went downstairs to talk, and then I fell asleep! It was completely innocent."
"Alright, whatever," Santana said.
"You don't believe me!"
"I honestly just don't care," Santana replied. "And actually, you're really bothering me. I have a first mate to rescue now, and if you don't mind, I'd prefer to be left alone!"
"Fine," Rachel replied coolly. She turned around and began to walk back towards the stairs, muttering, "We didn't even kiss. Sleep with him? What kind of girl does she think I am?" She glared harshly at Santana before stomping away. Santana heard her start to yell at Finn.
"Hey, dough face!" came Quinn's shout from behind her. "Stop talking to your girlfriend and make us some breakfast." Santana turned around to catch Quinn's eye, and Quinn winked. Finn hurried towards the galley, an angry Rachel close on his heels.
"Not bad, Fabray," Santana said. "Maybe you'll actually get the balls to take over this ship when I'm gone."
Quinn scoffed. "Like you'll ever die," she said. "You'll probably come back and captain this ship as a ghost."
"Yeah, I don't doubt it," Santana said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Brittany approaching. "Bye Quinn."
"What? I'm wasn't going anywhere," Quinn said.
"Yes you are," Santana replied. She gave Quinn a pointed look and Quinn rolled her eyes and walked away, just as Brittany came up to Santana's side. "Hey. How did you sleep?"
"I slept well," Brittany said. The two of them leaned with their backs against the railing, watching the crew milling about the deck.
"What's up?" Santana asked with a smile.
"Not much," Brittany replied. "I was just thinking last night."
"About what?"
"The key," Brittany said. "Maybe they really did give it to Blaine, and maybe when he ran away, he never gave it back."
"But Brittany, I thought you said that key was basically worthless," she replied. "I mean, they got it three years ago and as far as we know they haven't used it for anything. And neither has Blaine. If he had something that was going to help us..." Santana trailed off. Would Blaine have handed it over? She wasn't sure.
"Well, maybe they figured out what it opens but it was too late, and Blaine was already with you guys," Brittany suggested.
Santana shrugged. "It's possible," she said. Then she stood up straight as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "When they kidnapped our captain last time, Schuester said they searched him and that they seemed to be looking for something. But then they concluded that he didn't have what they were looking for, so they set him free. We all thought it was strange."
"You think..." Brittany began slowly, her face screwed up in concentration, "that they were looking for they key?"
"Probably," Santana said. "No, listen." She lowered her voice in excitement and began to talk very quickly. "They probably thought that Blaine gave it to Schue when he started working for him—after all, it's what they did, handing it over to their captain—so when they found out which ship Blaine was working for, they followed us until they found our captain and kidnapped him. Only Schue didn't have it—I mean, Blaine is a pirate now, we don't follow the same rules—and so they set their sights on Blaine. But then they left us alone for several months..."
"Because they were finding the thing that the key opens!" Brittany exclaimed.
Santana nodded. "I think so," she said. "I really think so."
"So what are we gonna do?"
"Well," Santana said, relieved to finally have some kind of plan, "instead of following the Dalton blindly across the sea—we don't even know which way they went, to be honest—we'll have to find the thing they're looking for. Once we know its location, we can go there and meet the Dalton and rescue Blaine. If he needs rescuing," she added, unable to completely shake the idea that Blaine was a traitor now that she knew he'd had Brittany's key.
"That's great!" Brittany said excitedly. But then she frowned. "There's only one problem, we don't even know what they're looking for. How will we find something when we don't know what it is?"
But Santana just smiled. "Don't worry," she said. "I think I know someone who can help."
