I do not own Blindspot or its characters.
"I appreciate your letting me stay with you," Sarah told Reade again as she followed him into his cabin. "I know I should have called ahead, but I really wanted to surprise Kurt, and the Orion has never been fully booked before when I've come."
"If you ask me, Rich had something to do with that," Reade told her. "I'd be surprised if all the guests are paying customers. I think he orchestrated that and then brought along a couple friends to force Jane to give up her cabin and move in with your brother."
Sarah frowned as she took a seat. "What's the deal with the two of them anyway? Kurt's never mentioned her to me, and I have to say, I'm not very impressed with what I've seen so far. Not just the fight when they returned, but . . ." She hesitated. "Is Jane the type of woman to use other men to make her current boyfriend jealous?"
"Jane?" Reade scoffed at the very idea. "Not a chance. That's not her style. If she has a problem with you, she'll tell you up front. She doesn't play games."
"Okay, but . . ." Sarah filled Reade in on what she'd seen at the dinner table, how Jane had flirted incessantly with Markos while Kurt glowered, barely sparing a glance at her brother even though she was seated next to him. "Do you think she's just not as interested in Kurt as everyone thinks, or . . .?"
To say that Reade was stunned by this information was a huge understatement. If he didn't know Sarah so well, he would be questioning her perception of events. "In the six months, she's been here, I've never seen Jane look twice at a man other than your brother," he told her. "She's . . . not the type of person to let many people close, but the circle of friends she does have, she's really tight with. She's also incredibly loyal and stubborn as hell. I was there the day she met your brother, and the moment they shook hands, it was just . . . instant electricity. I've never seen anything like it, and trust me, she's smart enough to know how rare it is as well. I can't see her throwing away the potential for something extraordinary like that on some guy she's only just met."
Sarah bit her lip, somewhat reassured by Reade's words, but still not convinced. "Look. If you have concerns about their relationship, I think you should talk to Kurt about it. Right now . . ." He perched on the edge of the bed and leaned forward, taking her hands in his, ". . . right now I'd like to talk about what went wrong in our relationship."
"What's to talk about?" Sarah shrugged. "One day we were happy, and the next you were telling me you didn't love me and breaking up with me. Seems pretty straightforward to me. Besides, that was two years ago. What difference does it make now?"
"I, um . . ." Reade hesitated and then decided to lay all his cards on the table. If life had taught him one thing, it was that it didn't often offer second chances. He might never have this opportunity again. "I want a relationship with you, Sarah. The truth is, I never stopped loving you, I just—" He broke off as she began shaking her head.
"No!" Sarah said fiercely. "You don't get to tell me this now, Edgar Reade. I begged you to talk to me at the time, to tell me what was going on, and you refused. You—"
"I was trying to protect you!" Reade shot back. "Sarah . . ." He ran a frustrated hand through his hair as he shot to his feet and began to pace. 'You know I didn't . . . grow up with much, so when I was offered a scholarship to medical school, it seemed like an answer to prayer. I was so grateful for the chance I didn't look into it like I should have. It turns out it wasn't a legitimate scholarship, but was paid for by a mysterious group who expected me to provide free medical care as needed for its members. By the time they approached me, I had already been working on the Orion for several months. I had already . . ." his voice dropped, ". . . met you."
He paused to let that sink in. "As you can imagine, they weren't too happy when I declined their job offer. They threatened you . . . threatened Sawyer. I broke up with you to protect both of you. If anything had happened to either one of you because of me, I never would have been able to live with myself. Eventually, they agreed to allow me to repay them and find themselves another doctor, but by then, you were gone."
"And did you?" Sarah asked. "Repay them?"
"I started to," Reade told her. "But a few months after I began making payments, I saw the man who had been collecting the money on the news one night when we were in port. He was a member of an international arms-smuggling ring that the FBI had just taken down. According to the news report, they busted the entire operation, but I went to the meeting site a few more times to be sure. Nobody ever showed."
He waited for a response, but Sarah seemed to be struggling to process all that he had just told her. It was a lot to take in, he knew. "I, um . . . I wanted to tell you this a lot sooner, but you had moved and weren't taking my calls any longer, and I didn't know how to find you. I thought about asking Kurt, but . . ."
"Yeah, that probably wouldn't have gone over too well," Sarah agreed with a rueful smile. Her brother would have beat the hell out of him if he had confessed this. Not just for breaking her heart . . . but for putting her and Sawyer in danger in the first place. Even unknowingly.
"I am . . ." Reade shook his head. "I'm so incredibly sorry about all of this, Sarah. I know I don't have any right to ask you to take a chance on me again, but I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I'd like for us to at least be friends."
"You're . . . you're going to have to give me some time here, Ed," Sarah said softly, looking away from his pleading eyes. God, it was just so hard to be mad at him now that she knew he'd been suffering too, but she was still angry that he hadn't trusted her with the truth, hadn't allowed her to have a say in their future.
Reade nodded slowly. "I can . . . there's a cot in my office. I can sleep there tonight if you'd prefer."
"I think that would be for the best," Sarah told him, looking away as his shoulders slumped, forcing herself to stand her ground. It would be all too easy to fall back into bed with him, but that wouldn't be fair to him—to either one of them—until she figured out where to go from here.
She tossed and turned most of the night as she wrestled with that question and arrived at her brother's door bleary-eyed and miserable, a stark contrast to Jane's cheery demeanor and put-together appearance as she opened the door.
"Hi," Jane greeted awkwardly as she stepped back to let Sarah inside. She'd been so hoping Kurt would return before his sister arrived. "Umm . . . Kurt went out a little while ago to get us some breakfast. He should be back any time. Why don't we take a seat out on the balcony? Is there anything I can get you while we wait?"
What she would really like was some alone time with her brother, Sarah thought as she shook her head. She hadn't had more than five uninterrupted minutes with him yesterday. Then again, perhaps this time alone with Jane would be . . . fortuitous. "So," she began as she settled into the seat nearest the railing, "what's up with you and my brother? Because according to everyone I talked to yesterday, the two of you are practically destined for one another, but you seemed rather . . . out of sorts when you returned yesterday."
"You can say it," Jane said with a laugh. "I was being a complete bitch."
"You were not," Kurt corrected loyally as he approached, and both women's heads swiveled to face him. They hadn't even heard him enter. "You were just acting like it." He set the tray of food he was carrying on the table and leaned down to give Jane a quick kiss before settling into the seat next to her.
Sarah's eyes narrowed as she glanced between them, noting how Kurt dragged his chair as close as possible to Jane before sitting down and how she automatically leaned into him, her expression that of a woman genuinely in love. And judging by the look on her brother's face, he felt the exact same way. "Wait. So that fight yesterday . . . your behavior at dinner last night . . ."
"Was totally faked," Kurt assured her. "Well, maybe not all of it." He smiled at Jane as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I was genuinely jealous that my new girlfriend was flirting with another man. But Rich's reaction made it all worth it." He chuckled at his sister's stunned expression. "Well, how would you react if your boss hatched an underhanded scheme to get you together with someone?"
"Exactly the same way," Sarah admitted with a Machiavellian grin. "But man, you guys really sold it." She shook her head a little as she looked at Jane. "Maybe you should give up cruise directing and take up acting. I really thought . . ."
She'd sold harder parts. "Thanks. I think," Jane said with a laugh. "But I'm pretty happy right where I am."
"Hey." Kurt pretended to be wounded. "Only pretty happy?" He knew for a fact that she'd been much more blissful than that when he'd left their bed this morning.
"Completely, totally, and utterly overjoyed to be where I am," she assured him, speaking of much more than just her career. She would happily flip burgers for the rest of her life if it meant going home to him every night.
Sarah smiled as the same expression was reflected on her brother's face, putting to rest any lingering fears she had about the two of them. It was clear that she was going to be welcoming Jane to the family before long—no doubt sooner rather than later, knowing her brother. "So. I assume there's more to this counter scheme of yours. What are you guys going to do next?"
"Actually," Kurt grinned as he and Jane leaned forward, exchanging glances, "we were hoping you could help us with that. Here's what we want to do . . ."