Summary: Blaine's sudden (and very public) departure from Dalton does nothing to stop the far-reaching Sebreak(Seblaine break-up) rumors, especially since Sebastian has gone MIA.
Notes: During a song, someone commenting makes a pop-culture reference. I did not take time to explain in the chapter, but there is a full explanation in the end note if you need it.
The Next Morning…New York
"Damn it, Wes! Will you at least put some boxers on?"
"No! If one of those assholes wants to come crawling home drunk at 6AM and forget which door is theirs, then they get what they get. I was in the middle of a really good dream."
That comment stopped David in his tracks "Dude, did you really need to go there?"
"Listen dumb ass…" Wes said to the last person on earth he wanted to see as he opened door.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…I don't know why you prep school boys keep answering the door like that when you know it does nothing for me. Although, I could give Quinn something to think about if you want."
Wes felt a pair of shorts hit him in the back of the head. He quickly put them on and sent David a look of Thank You while letting Santana in "What are you doing here, Lopez?"
"If either of you would have answered the 50 calls or texts you got last night you would know. Blaine and Sebastian broke-up and Hummel is already making plans to weasel his way back into our Acapella Dreamboat's life."
Two hours later, the three of them left to get their days started and in Ohio, Beat woke up to find that Blaine hadn't come back last night.
Damn it!
It had been impossible to squash every Sebreak (Seblaine break-up) rumor and the absence of the two supposed exes didn't help matters. Even though he and the guys had told everyone that it was just a misunderstanding, none of them…or Sam…or Cooper…or Santana (who, with Mercedes, was trying to get ahold of Wes and David) knew exactly what happened. They all did agree that it was unfathomable that with all Blaine and Sebastian had been through together, they could break-up over one fight, but that belief was all they had to go on until they had actual answers.
He got up, put on some sweats and quickly spiked his hair, but when he opened the door to go get Blaine someone unexpected was standing there "Mr. Motta? I mean Robert…or is it Al today? What are you doing here in the dorms?"
"Hi Beat, and for the next few days you should call me Mr. Motta. It's more appropriate with everything going on and I'm here to get Blaine since he's giving his deposition this morning. Don't worry, I signed-in up front. You'll probably see a lot of lawyers around Dalton the next couple days, but most likely not back in this area. I claim Uncle's privilege on that one. So, is he in the bathroom?"
"No, he didn't come back last night. I was headed down to the practice rooms in case he fell asleep at one of the pianos. He's done it before."
"This has nothing to do with Sebastian, does it?"
"You know about that?"
"Cooper and Sam thought it best to keep me in the loop in case things got back to Sugar." Robert pulled out his phone and read a text he had just received "Beat, I'm going to walk down with you. I don't have a good feeling about this."
By the time they made it to the practice rooms, the Academy's gossip network was once again up and running rampant. This time it had more to do with students finding out the identity of Blaine's lawyer/uncle, causing speculation about Sebastian's quote/unquote disappearance to go into overdrive. Robert and Beat were able to ignore that, only to be met by something, or to be correct…someone, they couldn't ignore.
"Hey, did you know Blaine is still here?" Jeff asked. "Oh. Hi, Mr. Motta..."
"Where is he?" Robert asked, knowing that the addition of Jeff to this was a problem he'd have to deal with later.
"Mr. Motta, the second door on the left is Mr. Olsen's office. The green light means he's in and available."
"Thank you, Beat." Robert pulled out his phone yet again as he walked off leaving Beat to deal with Jeff.
"Dude…"
Before Jeff could say anything else, Beat pulled him into one of the empty room "Ok, just listen for a moment because we won't have time to go over this again." Beat knew Blaine, and probably a lot of other people, were going to be pissed with what he was about to do but he saw no other choice. "Sterling, you have to make a decision right now and you're going to have to live with that decision no matter what."
"Kind of like the Matrix red pill/blue pill thing?"
"Exactly like that. So, your choices are turn around and pretend this never happened or you can stay and help with Blaine. Either way, you're not going to be able to talk about this with anyone."
"Of course…"
"Before you say that, there's a lot you don't know. None of the guys do, not even Sebastian or Sam. You won't be able to talk about this with any of them. Jeff, that means Nick."
Jeff paused for a moment because he didn't want his curiosity to make this decision for him. Finding out Blaine and Beat were so close had surprised him. It had also hurt a little that Beat had been in contact with Blaine when he (and the rest of the Warblers) had been excluded. However, he always felt there was more to the story, the question was…did he want to know what that was?
"I'm staying."
He followed Beat back to the hall and then Mr. Olsen's office, but this time the light was red, so Beat sent Robert a text. When he opened the door, he didn't look happy.
"Are you sure about this?"
Beat shook his head and answered as he and Jeff walked in "No, not really. Jeff can you give us a minute?"
Jeff walked over and sat in a chair across the room that gave him visual access to everything. The office was the control center for the surrounding practice rooms, which were actually separate mini-recording studios. Beat and Mr. Motta were talking off to the side of Mr. Olsen, who was sitting behind a giant mixing board and Blaine was on a television screen in front of him. He was in one of the practice rooms, sitting on a stool with his acoustic guitar. He looked like hell. In fact, so bad that Jeff had to ask himself…
Were we wrong? Did Blaine and Sebastian break-up?
Before he could consider his own questions, Blaine began to sing.
You took my hand
You showed me how
You promised me you'd be around
Uh huh
That's right
I took your words
And I believed
In everything
You said to me
Yeah huh
That's right
If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
Cause they're all wrong
Three years ago? That's not Sebastian, he only came…Holy Shit! Is this about Kurt? Maybe I don't want to know.
I know better
Cause you said forever
And ever
Who knew
Remember when we were such fools
And so convinced and just too cool
Oh no
No no
I wish I could touch you again
I wish I could still call you friend
I'd give anything
It looks like Mr. Motta and Beat have it figured out…and they don't look happy about it.
When someone said count your blessings now
'fore they're long gone
I guess I just didn't know how
I was all wrong
They knew better
Still you said forever
And ever
Who knew
They knew better? Are we back to Sebastian? When people at McKinley told Blaine to stay away from him?
I'll keep you locked in my head
Until we meet again
Until we, until we meet again
And I won't forget you my friend
What happened
Forget you? That's not Sebastian. There's no way a person would forget Sebastian Smythe.
If someone said three years from now
You'd be long gone
I'd stand up and punch them out
Cause they're all wrong
Oh, wow…that was beautiful, even if Blaine's talking about punching someone. Wait, is this about the end of Fight Club? That might actually make some weird sort of sense.
And time makes
It harder
I wish I could remember
But I keep
Your memory
You visit me in my sleep
Jeff stopped running scenarios through his head. None of them would be right anyway, he told himself. He finally realized why Beat had made the red pill/blue reference. This song was about the red pill, whatever that was.
My darling
My darling
I miss you
My darling
Who knew
When the song finished, Mr. Olsen hit a few buttons on the mixing board and then gave a nod, which was obviously a sign that it was fine to open the door. When Beat opened it and left, two men Jeff recognized but didn't know came into the room.
"Thank you for getting here so quickly. Cooper told me you both had a long night" Robert said to them. "Cam, how hard is it going to be to get him out of here?"
"There's no way out that doesn't take us back into the main hall unless we crawl through a window. People are going to see he's upset."
"That's ok" Jeff didn't know why the hell he blurted that out, but now all eyes were on him. "Everyone thinks he and Sebastian broke-up. They expect Blaine to be upset."
"Uh, they didn't break-up" the yet-to-be-named second man said. "When I talked to Xavier this morning, he would have mentioned that."
Robert's phone went off yet again, this time it was Blaine's mother "Pammy, he's going to be ok. The guys are taking him back to your house and Cam will stay with him while I take care of a few things…Pam…Pam…Pam, stop. Give me one hour and I'll call you back…Pam…Pam! I know you're upset, but you know I love Blaine like he was my son…Yes, one hour…Ok, bye."
After the call ended, Robert took a fraction of a second to say a silent prayer to his late wife. Cory would have known what to do. She and Blaine had a special bond, much like the one Sugar has with him now. Sometimes he missed his wife so badly that he couldn't think of anything but the pain, but this couldn't be one of those times. Pam was in New York, Charles was in Detroit and Cooper didn't know the whole story. This was on him.
"Ok, this is what's happening. Cam go help Beat with Blaine and get him out of here. Jeff, this is Daniel. He's taking you back to your house and your dad is meeting you there. Your deposition isn't until Thursday, correct?"
"Yes, but…"
"Any other Warblers?"
"Just Trent. And Luka and Steph, but you probably know them as the Cello brothers. They're not Warblers, but…"
"They've worked with you. Thanks, and Jeff, don't say anything to anyone. Not even any of the guys if you see them."
Daniel motioned for Jeff to come with him. Once they were gone Robert went to leave as well, only to be stopped by Mr. Olsen "Excuse me, Mr. Motta? You are Blaine's uncle as well as his lawyer, correct?"
Robert was about to brush him off but something changed his mind "Yes, is there a problem?"
"No, the exact opposite, at least I hope." Mr. Olsen closed his door and turned on the red light "What do you know about the staff here at Dalton?"
"I don't understand."
"Mr. Motta, every staff member here goes through extensive background checks which were all updated after what happened with our former headmaster."
"And?"
"Working at Dalton is a dream for any educator. Not only do we have highly motivated students with minimal behavioral issues, we are paid five times the average teacher's salary. However, for this privilege we sign a very extensive confidentiality agreement."
"Is this your way of assuring me you won't talk about what just happened?"
Mr. Olsen walked to his desk and pulled a file out of the top drawer "No, that was my way of saying I won't talk about this."
Robert took the file, but was confused by the contents "This is a song. I'm assuming Blaine wrote it."
"Have you heard about the project we assigned Blaine to write a song in Italian?"
"Yes, but this is English."
"Go to the third page." Mr. Olsen waited until Robert gave him the expression he expected "When we gave Blaine the assignment, Miss Bello and I expected a basic lullaby. Something along the lines of Mary had a little Lamb since Blaine is in Year 1 Italian."
"Are you insinuating he had someone write this for him?"
"Quite the opposite. I'm 100% sure Blaine wrote that, but Mr. Motta, I'm not only talking about the Italian. The arrangement on that…let's just say it's above my pay grade. If we wanted Blaine to perform that song, the OSU Symphonic Orchestra would have to be brought in but I have doubts they would be able to handle the nuances of the piece."
"I can't read music, but I'm fluent in Italian and the translation is flawless. I thought he was struggling with this."
"As of last week, he was. Also, from a few things Blaine said to me before you arrived, I'm pretty sure he wrote Who Knew in less than 10 hours." Mr. Olsen went to the mixing board and brought back a down load from earlier "Mr. Motta, I've never seen anything like this. Blaine is in the midst of something quite remarkable and he most likely has no idea what's happening."
Ninety minutes later, Robert was sitting in the Anderson's kitchen trying to figure out his next move. This day had taken twists and turns he never expected, most of which he had been ill-equipped to navigate. His immediate concern was bringing in someone who could help with Blaine and the five other Dalton boys that were going to stay there for the next few days. He didn't know much about teen-age boys other than Blaine (thankfully his wife had been around for Cooper's teen-age years). The one thing he did know was that they liked to eat…a lot. He had no option, he told himself as he made a call to the one person he knew could handle the situation "Hello, Rosa? I know I gave you the week off to visit your sister in Columbus, but I have an emergency. No, it's not Sugar…it's Blaine."
Meanwhile at the Smythe house, Xavier was attempting to send out texts and watch his granddaughter at the same time. Fortunately, he had remembered something she enjoyed that was keeping her entertained.
Don't you want me baby?
Don't you want me, oh.
"Your Uncle Sebastian would never let me hear the end of it if he knew I was keeping you happy by playing Blaine's video" he told Izzy.
"Buh" she said as she waved her arms at the screen.
"Oh, no. Your mommy is having a bad enough time without your first word being Blaine."
"What about Blaine?" Sebastian asked as he came into his dad's office.
"I think your niece has a crush on him."
Sebastian picked the baby up from her bouncy seat "Sorry, Izzy-wizzy. You are not my boyfriend's type."
"So, Blaine is still your boyfriend?"
"What kind of stupid question is that?" Sebastian snapped at his father, only to immediately apologize for his tone.
"Sit down, Sebastian."
He didn't know what he expected, but when Sebastian heard what had happened at Dalton in his absence…well, it was a good thing Izzy was there. "Are they seriously calling it the Sebreak?"
"Yes, and there has been quite the concern for your safety since Blaine's Uncle Al showed up" Xavier joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I better call B and see how he wants to fix this. He'll probably want to sing something."
"Sorry, son. You can't talk with Blaine or anyone else for that matter. There's a problem with the depositions."
Xavier told Sebastian the technically I'm not lying version of what happened that morning…No one could find Blaine to stop the rumors. He was in a practice room and had stayed up all night writing. He was in no condition to give his deposition so Al got Blaine and (for some unknown reason) Beat moved to Thursday. The problem that developed was, due to the change Dalton's lawyers decided they wanted students separated by date of their deposition. To make a long story short, it would be late Thursday at the earliest before either Blaine or Sebastian could get back to Dalton and put a stop to the crazy.
"This is bullshit, Dad. Thad and Nick are still at Dalton. Let me call them and they can clear this up."
"Sebastian…"
"I…" It was then he remembered that he was still holding a now sleeping, Izzy. He carefully walked over and laid her down in her portable crib "Dad, this story can't be out there."
Xavier went to Sebastian moved him to couch on the opposite wall. When they sat down, he put his arm around his son's shoulders and pulled him close like he used to do when he was a little boy "I heard the people that truly know you and Blaine don't believe the rumor."
"It's not them I'm worried about" Sebastian mumbled as he dropped his head to his dad's shoulder.
"Please tell me you're not talking about Blaine's ex."
"I can't help it, Dad. Something happened at that wedding reception on Valentine's Day and I don't have a good feeling about it." That admission started a conversation that was probably long over-due. They covered several topics but when the conversation turned to his mother, Sebastian realized that he hadn't seen either her or his sister that day. "Where's mom and Sierra? Getting in some mother/daughter time before Sierra takes Izzy back to Paris?"
"They're actually at my office with one of my partners…Mr. May."
"But Mr. May is a divorce… Dad? Seriously? Is Sis ok? And why is she talking to a lawyer here and not one in France? Or Italy, where they were married?"
"You haven't called your sister Sis in a long time. She'll like that. And as far as what's happening with the very rapid demise of her marriage, that is for Sierra to tell you. I will say she is filing here to put an immediate freeze on certain assets."
"That Son of a…"
"Sebastian, no matter what, Antonio is Isabella's father."
"Fine, but I don't like the idea of the two of them in Paris alone, especially with Julien knowing where they are. You need to call Cooper."
"I've already called and Dmitri is going to Paris with Sierra to help her pack. You'll be happy to hear that your sister has taken the job as Director of Baby Dior and she and Izzy are moving to New York City."
Like she knew they were talking about her, Izzy woke up and began making all sorts of happy baby noises. Sebastian took her in his arms and began dancing around the room "Izzy-wizzy! You're not leaving me!" Their celebration was halted by a distinctive odor "Let's go change that diaper and we can talk about all of the fun things we can do together in New York. We can go to the park, and ballet, and museums, and the petting zoo, and I can teach you how to play soccer…"
Back at the Andersons things were beginning to settle down, except in the kitchen. Rosa was definitely in charge, but when she learned that she had six boys and assorted adults to feed, she called in The Troops. And when Rosa called…you come running.
"Daniel…Cam… can ya'll come on over? Now, looky here. I know I told you boys that I needed sweet butter and whole milk. I can't make proper grits without sweet butter and whole milk. You wouldn't want me to go and make improper grits, now would you?"
"No, Ma'am." The two body guards may have been Navy Seals, but neither was embarrassed to admit the tiny, 60 year-old woman scared them.
"Good. Cam go get this fixed. Daniel, Cooper said you need to go back to Blainey's handsome boyfriend's house and meet Dmitri. Don't worry bout me. Ralphie will be here soon with that Puck fellow. Cooper's sendin' up some food from that fancy new place of his."
"I don't think anyone has ever called Breadstix fancy, and for the record, your fettucine alfredo is much better" Blaine said as he came in and gave Rosa a kiss on the cheek. "If anyone is going back to the store, can we get some popcorn and candy? We prisoners are having a movie night tonight."
"Blaine Anderson, you and your friends are not eatin' that junk while I'm here. I'll come up with somethin'."
Before Blaine could respond, Puck came through the back door carrying a stack of pizzas "Where do you want these, Anderson?"
Rosa turned around and snapped her kitchen towel on Puck's ass "And what makes you think Blainey is goin' know what to do? You come on with me. Daniel, you help Ralphie get the rest before you go. And ya'll" she stopped and pointed at Blaine and Cam "Go on and talk. But Cameron Murphy, don't you go and tell Blainey you'll sneak him that crap food 'cause I will know."
"Yes, Ma'am." Once Rosa had headed off to give the others their marching orders, Cam asked Blaine "How are you doing? You really freaked out your uncle this morning."
"I know and now Jeff is involved, which I never wanted to happen. Really, I'm ok. If it makes you feel better, Doc's coming here in an hour."
"Good, that does make me feel better. Has Jeff asked a lot of questions?"
"He hasn't asked any that I know of, but I've been with Luka cramming for the AP Bio exam we're taking in the morning."
"How?"
"Dalton's sending a proctor."
"And someone was going to tell me this when?" Cam asked sarcastically before pulling out his phone to check a text he had received "Your mom's plane landed and she should be here soon. Uh-oh, General Rosa is back. I better go. Don't worry I'll try to get the contraband."
"You are a very brave man. Or stupid, I'll decide later."
"Did he say your mom would be here soon?" Puck asked as Cam left.
"Puck, your cougar-crush on my mom is beyond creepy."
"I am who I am, and your mom…"
"Stop! I may not be able to punch people anymore, but I will make an exception. Now do me a favor before you go and take a picture of Rosa with the bags of grits and send it to Sam. It will drive him crazy."
"That boy knows his grits" Rosa smiled as she picked up one of the bags.
"Why don't you just do it?"
"Because when we were trapped here, our phones were confiscated."
Puck showed Blaine the picture then sent it "Well, at least you'll be eating good."
Blaine walked around the work station and gave Rosa a side hug "I know I've complained a lot, but thank you for doing this. Uncle Robert told me he had given you the week off to visit your sister."
"Oh, don't worry, honey. I'm glad he called. I love my sister, but that grandson of hers dropped in and I could only take so much. I swear Chandler is the most annoying child that ever walked the planet. I was thankful for the excuse to leave."
Blaine and Puck looked at each other, playing a game of Did you hear what I just heard? The both of them had ever known of two Chandlers and one of them had been a character on a television show.
"Rosa, you've never said anything about Chandler." Blaine tried to be subtle. Sugar and her dad had been out of town when the Texting isn't cheating/Alpha Gay debacle happened, but Rosa had been there for him.
"There's not much to say, he's…" Finally, she figured out what Blaine was hinting at "Well, if I didn't know your ex was dumb as fuck before, I sure as hell do now."
Notes:
Who Knew: Alecia Moore, Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin 2006
I would NEVER use Wikipedia as a source (especially since I basically tell people not to do that for a living), but they had the best explanation of red pill/blue pill: The redpilland its opposite, the blue pill, are popular culture symbols representing the choice between embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality (red pill) and the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue pill).