A Little Unexpected Chapter 10, a glee fanfic

A/N: Hi again! I wanted to get the next chapter up before Dalton was updated :)

The song in this chapter is "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne.

THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS!

I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or anything else Dalton related, which all belongs to CP Coulter. I also do not own anything having to do with Glee.

Chapter 10

With the internet access still out, there wasn't much to do. While most of the other students spent the early spring evening outside, Thursday night found Derek and Logan studying and brainstorming. Sometime around 2 the next morning, the two Stuarts passed out.

Logan woke up sprawled across his homework. Straightening up, he stretched the out the knots in his back and neck. I really need to stop falling asleep on things that aren't beds.

The room was dark. Not even a hint of light came through the window. Fumbling through the objects on Derek's desk, Logan's hand closed around his phone. He hit a button and checked the time. The display read "4:32am." It's way to freakin' early to be awake. Grumbling he got up and stumbled in his half awake state to the couch. It was really uncomfortable, but it was better than sleeping in a chair.

Logan curled up on the cushions, drifting back to sleep, when his eyes flew open. He bolted upright. It was 4:32am… on Friday… that meant less than 8 hours to find Julian… and they still had to solve 2 clues, which they hadn't even figured out how they were going to solve in the first place…

Logan's pulse and breathing quickened. He knew he had been having too many of these freak outs over the past week, but he couldn't help it. As soon as thoughts of the diminishing time frame left to find the actor entered the prefect's mind, all his other thoughts from the past few days came back as well. The flood gates had opened.

His mind was reeling with "What if's" as he sat on the couch. As he thought of the possibilities of what might happen if he were too late, something new, but not unfamiliar, crept up on Logan. Under the blanket of panic, an all too familiar rage became to bubble up in response to the choice actions he wanted to take against a certain Hanover.

He was slowly losing control.

But he couldn't. He wouldn't let himself. Not after the demolished Common Room from a month ago or his twice destroyed bedroom of the past week. He needed to think of something quickly before the anger became too much for him to bear.

He could always wake up Derek… No. He wasn't a child. He could fix this himself.

The thought came to him out of nowhere. It was an obvious choice to help the situation. Why didn't I think of that sooner?

As quietly as he could under his impending destructive anger, Logan tip-toed out of Derek's room and down the hall. Stuart was quiet. All the boarders were either asleep or silently studying in their rooms due to curfew.

Making his way down the stairs, Logan entered the Common Room and shut the door behind him. Seeing the room completely empty, as he had expected, he made his way to the baby grand piano in the corner of the room.

Logan sat at the piano, running his fingers lightly over the ivory and ebony keys. Singing always seemed to make everything better. Whether it was to let out his frustrations or keep from entering overwhelming levels of rage, letting his feelings out in song was the best way he knew to deal with times when he couldn't put anything into words; and this was definitely one of those times.

He knew he wanted to, needed to sing, right now… he just didn't know what. After a few moments, the perfect song came to mind. His fingers hesitantly glided over the piano keys, giving off a sad melody. Then Logan started to softly sing, barely able to even hear himself.

You're not alone
Together we stand
I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand
When it gets cold
And it feels like the end
There's no place to go
You know I won't give in
No I won't give in

He had had his doubts over the past few days, that he'd never be able to figure all these clues out and find Julian in time. Each time he had almost given in. Thankfully, Derek had been there to pull him through. But Logan knew that no matter how many more times he felt like he wasn't good enough or strong enough to move forward, he would never let himself give in. Never.

Keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through
Just stay strong
'Cause you know I'm here for you, I'm here for you
There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

He willed his plea to travel the unknown distance between Dalton and wherever Julian was being held. Just keep holding on Jules. Stay strong. I'm coming for you.

So far away
I wish you were here
Before it's too late, this could all disappear
Before the doors close
And it comes to an end
With you by my side I will fight and defend
I'll fight and defend
Yeah, yeah

Even though Logan had no clue where Julian was, he felt the actor's presents beside him as tears started to brim in his eyes. In his mind, there was no question about it. He'd fight until the very end to get Julian away from that psycho, not matter what it took.

His voice and playing grew stronger, his emotion overtaking his better judgment to not wake the sleeping Stuarts. That's the reason he had picked the common room over the keyboard in his room; a better chance of not being overheard.

Hear me when I say, when I say I believe
Nothing's gonna change, nothing's gonna change destiny
Whatever's meant to be will work out perfectly
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

The tears started spilling from Logan's eyes. He didn't sing the next stanza, opting to play through it instead. Reaching the chorus, he resumed singing, voice filling with more feeling and conviction than he thought was possible.

Logan realized he wasn't just singing this song to Julian. He was singing it to himself, too. He was telling himself to keep holding on; he needed to hold on through all the negative thoughts.

And he knew he could do it, if only for Julian's sake, because he knew he wasn't strong enough to do it alone.

Keep holding on
Keep holding on

Logan didn't realize his playing and singing were getting louder as the song continued. It wasn't loud enough to wake up the other boys, but it was loud enough to just barely carry to the second floor dorms.

There's nothing you could say
Nothing you could do
There's no other way when it comes to the truth
So keep holding on
'Cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through

The Common Room door opened slowly as the last few piano notes dissipated in the air. Logan bent over the keys, allowing his tears to flow down his cheeks freely. He felt a familiar hand on his shoulder. Scooting over on the piano bench without looking up, Logan allowed Derek to sit on the edge. The athlete gave the singer a one armed hug and allowed Logan to cry into his shoulder, not saying a word. Logan would talk to him when he was ready. Derek wasn't going to rush him.

Logan woke up a few hours later on Derek's bed. Looking around the room, he saw light coming from under the now closed shade. He turned to see the alarm clock on Derek's night stand. It was just after 6. Normally the blond didn't get up until sometimes around 7 so he closed his eyes and tried to catch a few more minutes of sleep before the alarm went off.

Just as his mind started to cloud and drift, a loud rumbling noise woke him put. Logan's eyes shot open at the unexpected disturbance. He heard the noise again. Raising himself on an elbow, he looked for the source of the irritating sound. As another rumble resonated through the room, Logan's eyes came to rest on Derek. The athlete was sprawled out on the couch, lying on his back with one arm over his head, the other dangling over the side. From his wide open mouth came another rumble. He was snoring.

Groaning, Logan flipped onto his stomach and covered his head with a pillow. The effort was futile. Even under the layers of fabric and down, he could still hear the snoring.

I give up. Way more irritated than he should be this early in the morning, Logan swung his legs off the bed and stood up. He made his way across the room, not bothering to remain silent. He deserves to be woken up at the freaking crack of dawn. Muttering a few choice words, Logan slipped out of Derek's room, slamming the door, and made down the hall to his own to get ready for the day.

Logan leaned over the papers spread across the table. He was sitting in the almost empty library, scanning over the clues in front of him. He had completely forgotten that his free period was first thing this morning. Normally he would have slept in or caught up on homework curled up in an armchair in the Stuart common room. Unfortunately, he hadn't remembered until he was already in South, heading to what he thought was his first class.

He had decided to camp out in the library for the hour instead of heading back up to the dorm and then having to trek all the way back. So he was sitting alone at a large table in the back corner of the Dalton library with the five notebook pages spread out in front of him.

This was it. Everything he needed, or at least as much information as he was going to get, was lying in front of him. He read over the clue answers in order.

Ohio, Five, the third still needed to be solved, Green, and the unsolved fifth.

Yep. This is working out brilliantly. There was no way he was going to get anything out of these clues unless he had them all solved.

Logan checked his phone for the umpteenth time in the past 5 minutes. Ever second that passed trying to solve these clues was another second closer to being too late. Out of sheer frustration, the prefect rested his elbows on the table and buried his head in his hands. He took a few calming breaths, trying to get his thoughts under control. You can do this. You can. You just need to think of the right person to ask. Ok. The last two clues have to do with his career. Who on campus would know about that?

As if to answer his question, he heard a voice say, "Um… if you don't mind me asking… are those the clues I've heard about?"

Logan hadn't been paying enough attention to recognize the voice. Looking up, he was surprised at whom he saw. "Merril?"

"Uh… hi." The Hanover gave a smile and a little wave. "I'm sorry if I'm being too forward, but I couldn't help but notice how upset you looked… so I thought I'd come over to see what was wrong." Logan could see real concern in her eyes.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he responded. "I'm fine, just a little aggravated. Let me guess, you found out about the clues from either David and Wes or the twins."

"Both, actually."

Does everyone in this damn school know about the clues?

Seeing the questioning look underlying the slight anger beginning to cloud the Stuart's face, Merril decided she should probably explain. "On Wednesday, during lunch, Spencer and I went over to say hi to Justin. Justin and Charlie were sitting together, as usual. When we got to their table, David and Wes were bounding over to the table and, well, you probably know what happened. Those two are some of the biggest gossips in this school. Then a minute later, the twins came over and said something like 'the Cheshire's sent the Knave on a quest!' to Charlie." She rolled her eyes, laughing a bit. "Don't worry. I haven't told anyone, myself. I figured it wasn't something you actually wanted going around." She shrugged.

"Thanks for that…" The two fell into an awkward silence.

"So… do you need any help? If the clues have anything to do with Julian's work, I might be of some help… because I may have seen most of his movies and kind of watch Something Damaged religiously…"

Logan was a second away from telling Merril 'thanks but no thanks' when he remembered what the two unsolved clues were. "Actually… I think you can help." Frantically, he picked up the third and fifth clues. "Ok. One of them is 'The movie in which Julian played a character whose name started with the same letter as his onscreen love interest'."

Merril slid into the seat across from Logan. From the way her eyes seemed to unfocus, he could tell she was really thinking about this. "Ooo. I think I have it! There was this movie from about a year ago or so called The Street. Julian played a guy named Holden and the lead actress played a woman named Holly. That was really quite a good movie," she added as almost an afterthought.

Logan restrained the urge to jump in his seat. He was in public after all. "Ok. The other is "The last name of Julian's third cousin on Something Damaged'."

"I'm guessing that actually means Grant's third cousin?" Merril chuckled. "I think Julian had a little too much fun writing these clues out, don't you think?"

Logan's heart hurt hearing that. But she didn't know Julian hadn't really written the clues, so he had to play along. "Oh… um… yeah."

"Let me think." She rested an elbow on the table, cradling her cheek in her hand. The same unfocused look returned to her eyes. "I… I don't think they've ever said who Grant's third cousin is."

Wonderful. Adam would obviously give me an unsolvable clue.

Suddenly, Merril's head snapped up. "Hold on a second… let me think about this. So if a second cousin is your cousin' cousin, then a third cousin, by the same logic, would be a second cousin's cousin… in other words, your cousin's cousin's cousin."

"Sure."

"Alright… I'm going to have to think this out loud if you don't mind…"

"Whatever helps."

Merril started to mutter under her breath, speaking more to herself than the prefect. "Ok. The only cousin Grant is ever mentioned having is Trevor… Cousins of Trevor, cousins of Trevor… Oh. Mable!... Yep, just Mable. Alright… Wait… Both her parents are only children… I remember them making a point about that in that episode Adam Gregory guest starred in as Gran't long-lost brother… Shoot… But that can't be… Hold it. They were talking about her dad and STEP-mother in the episode. And her birth mother has that sister who had an illegitimate son with what's-his-face back in season one… He had his mother's last name…" Merril sat in concentration for a few moments. "Bedford!"

Logan jumped at the sudden proclamation. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." She gave him a small and a nod.

"Well… thanks for the help. Those were the last two clues I had to solve."

"I'm glad I could help." She stood, pushing in her chair, and picked up her bag from the floor.

There was a question that had been nagging Logan's subconscious since Monday. Why has no one commented on Adam's disappearance? "Hold on a second."

Merril turned back around. "Yes?"

How do I phrase this?... "Umm… How's Adam? I know Julian's been asking Derek about him lately. I guess he hasn't seen him in a while."

"I heard Adam was sick. I overheard Justin and Charlie talking about some bug that's going around. Half of Windsor's got it now. Apparently Adam went home he was so sick. Poor thing… You know, it's probably what Julian has, too. He's been sick for over a month now hasn't he?" Logan nodded. "Well, tell Julian to get well soon when you see him. Let's hope neither of us catches it."

"Yeah. That would suck."

"Oh. And could you ask Julian where he got the pen he used to write those notes? That shade of red is really pretty."

Logan's heart raced. He had totally forgotten the notes were written in blood. He had pushed that thought out of his mind long ago in order to be able to even look at the notes. But the writing was so fine, it was hard to tell exactly what it was written in unless you really looked at it… which Merril had obviously not done. If only she knew…

"Of course." Logan gave her a forced smile.

"Thanks. See you later." Merril waved.

"Yep. Bye." Logan returned the wave as he watched Merril turn the corner around the book shelf.

Holy crap… wait… that was the last clue… All the clues are solved! He checked his phone, seeing that he still had another fifteen minutes until his free period was over. He placed the clues in order once more and read the answers.

Ohio, Five, Street, Green, and Bedford.

What the hell is that suppose to mean? He sat there staring at the clues for a good five minutes, still unable to make any sense out of them. Just when he was about to do something irrational and stupid, like knock all the books off a nearby shelf in pure rage, Logan noticed something he hadn't seen before. On the first note they had found, there was a tiny number five in the upper right hand corner, barely big enough to read. He frantically picked up the second clue and looked at the upper right hand corner. Sure enough, there was a tiny number there. A one. He picked up the remaining notes, finding a different number in each of the top corners. Maybe… He had an idea.

Using the numbers in the top corner instead of the order in which he had found the clues, Logan laid out the papers. He reread the answers.

5, Green, Street, Bedford, and Ohio

WAIT… 5 Green Street, Bedford, Ohio… it's an address. It's a freaking address! Logan couldn't help but throw his hands into the air. He'd done it. He knew where Julian was… or at least he knew where Adam wanted him to think Julian was. That was a chance Logan was willing to take.

He checked his phone. It was nearly nine O'clock. He'd driven past Bedford a few times on his way to Cleveland. He knew it took a good two hours to get to Bedford from Westerville… and that was with no traffic. But it was Friday. That meant lots of people heading out for weekend trips, especially since the weather was starting to get nice again.

Three hours. That's all the time he had left to get to Julian before Adam took him to who knows where. Probably even less than that… Knowing Adam, he'd move Julian as soon as he was ready, whether he stuck to his pre-conceived schedule or not. The sooner he got the Bedford, the better.

Derek. Logan still needed to tell him somehow. But the athlete was at a school permitted crew practice to get ready for their big meet next week. There was no way Derek would be able to get out of that… and the team wasn't due back in class until ten O'clock. I can't wait for him to get out of practice. I have to go now.

It was then that he knew what he needed to do. Screw the fact that he was going to get detention and probably lose his position as prefect for good from leaving campus during school hours. Logan had already come to terms with this during one of his many late night musings since the kidnapping. But now he had also decided on something else; he'd need to go without Derek. He'd probably regret the decision later, but he knew this was the only way.

I'll text Derek when I'm almost there and tell him to call the police. That way, I should be out of there with Julian before the cops show up. Adam won't have had time to get away. Yes. That works.

He slung his bag over his shoulder and made his way to the student parking lot. He jumped into his car, buckling his seat belt as he drove towards the entrance, and drove towards Bedford, Ohio. He thanked Michele for making him get the built-in GPS.

I'm coming Jules. I'm coming.

A/N: So I hope you liked the chapter. I hope that Merril's characterization will be ok since we haven't actually met her in canon yet...