I'm ba-ack! Aaaand with a new chapter of The DLS-S Cruise! Are you guys in shock? Anyone fainting? Screaming in surprise?

Disclaimer: Own BTR...well...I don't like to brag, but they happen to be sitting here with me, editing my fics for me...Okay, if there's anyone out there who would take that seriously, I don't own Big Time Rush, I don't even know them, and they're definitely not here with me. But wouldn't that be awesome if they were?

Warnings: No smut in this chapter (I bet some of you just muttered "Oh thank goodness" ;D). But, there's the usual strong language, innuendos, and morbid topics.

LOVEROFPATROMEANDJATIE: Haha, thank you so much! I'm so happy you like it! And thank you for reviewing :)

Jatie 4 ever: Thank you so much! I'm so sorry it took this long, but hopefully the next chapter will be up quicker. :) And thanks for letting me know that those, umm...scenes were fine *blush*. ;) And I'm so happy you liked the Logan/Camille scene! Weellll...I don't want to give away any surprises...But you may or may not recognize The Replacement when/if they're finally revealed ;) Thank you again, and thank you for reviewing!

PopcornLover: Thank you very much! Awww, thank you! I hope you weren't uncomfortable with them. Well, I couldn't keep Logan a jerk forever...as for Kendall, he's a little bit easier to write as a brat, but that probably isn't going to last forever :) Thank you again, and thank you for reviewing!

Anonymous: Thank you so much! I'm sorry the chapter took so long! And I'm glad you liked the scenes ;) Thanks again, and thank you for reviewing!

misslittlemaslow: Wow, I got 2 different reviews from you on different things! First of all, thank you for your opinion, and I'm sorry if you were offended by the scenes. Just as a warning, there might be more of those scenes later on in the story. Second off, I'm so happy you're enjoying the story otherwise! So thank you, and thank you for reviewing! :)

jenifrelizabeth: Thank you very much! I'm glad the last chapter made up for Chapter 8's ending ;) Thank you again, and thank you for reviewing!

Hakari Crystal: A HUGE thank you so much for all of your reviews, and for reminding me that I needed to get the chapter up. I'm so, so sorry that it took so long for the chapter to be posted, and I'll explain why in a moment. But thank you, because you gave me a much-needed kick in the ass :)

And THANK YOU to everyone who has alerted, favorited, or reviewed this story!

And special thanks to PurpleRocks13 for giving me the idea for the twist in this chapter, even if she didn't realize it at the time! You'll see what I mean when you read it! And special thanks to Jatieluv for helping me out with a rather morbid problem.

I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long to get up! I actually wrote most of it in the space of 12 hours, last weekend, but thi.s is the last week of actual classes, and next week is finals, and the workload just increased dramatically, so I didn't get around to editing it until today. Plus, I actually had a bit of a block with this chapter, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it next. So, um, there's a slight twist in there, because that seems to be my style - when in doubt, add a twist.

Anyway, I've also been busy with my oneshot ("Hey Katie, Wanna Hear a Secret?") which was posted a few days ago, and with several stories that I'm working on with Jatieluv. We have a joint account - JatieFantasy - for those of you who are interested. But be warned, the stories are mature, mainly because we both have overactive imaginations ;)

Soooo...enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 10 – The Puppeteer

May 4th, Sunday, 3:32 AM

Katie's POV

What? No mocking text about giving into our desires or something? The Replacement was obviously slipping, considering that they had missed the newsflash about James and me having sex…how many times now?

James stared at the screen of his phone blankly. "What the fuck does this mean? 'Blood on the ice'? That sounds like a hockey rink after a really violent match. But there isn't a hockey rink on this God-forsaken ship!" He hurtled his phone across the room. It fell right into the suitcase that was still open, from when he had come in earlier to grab his swim trunks.

He wiggled down under the covers so that he was hiding under them. "Shit…shit, shit, shit. Fuuuck…"

"And you're adding to the God-forsaken-ness by using expletives obsessively?" I commented.

"Shut up."

"Don't feel like it."

"Katie," he warned me.

"Yes?"

"Forget it," he grumbled, his words muffled from under the blankets.

My phone vibrated. I couldn't tell if James's did too, but I figured it had, considering the new message I had just gotten from The Replacement: Well, well, well. James and Katie, congratulations on consummating your reborn relationship! If I do say so myself, you two were extremely hot together. Now that's entertainment! Keep it up you two, this is so much fun! Oh, by the way…Whatever happened to the birth control in the medicine cabinet? Katie, James, you two never used any. And considering the multiple runs, the Morning After Pill might not work so well now. Wow…I would hate to kill an expecting mother and father. But that doesn't mean I won't. Keep that in mind. –The Replacement.

Ah. The world had righted itself again. The Replacement was once more sending personal messages directed right at James and me and…

"Shit."

James pulled the covers back from his head. "What?"

I showed him the text. "We never used birth control."

His face went white. "Fuck, we didn't."

"I mean, I was on the pill, but I kind of stopped when all this – " I gestured around us, meaning The Replacement and the DLS-S Cruise " – happened."

He looked over at me. "Is it going to…I mean…could you be pregnant?"

I looked back over at him, eyes wide. "I don't – I don't know. I have no idea."

"When will you know for sure?"

"Ummm…like in 10 days or something?" I quickly counted the days in my head. "My period should be starting within the next few days, so I guess if I miss it…"

"We might be dead by then," James whispered. "What if I'm an expecting father and I won't ever find out?"

"What if I'm an expecting mother?" I murmured back. "What if – what if – what if I find out, and then BOOM! I'm dead?"

James reached over and pulled me to him. "That's not going to happen. I'm going to make sure we all get off this ship alive. Come on, since when have we ever not been able to get ourselves out of something?"

I sniffed and buried my face in his bare shoulder. "You guys couldn't keep from breaking up the band."

I felt him freeze. "Katie, that's something entirely different – "

I pushed away from him. "No it isn't! It – it impacted everyone! It ruined my life! I got my home, my friends, my family, the guy who I was in love with, taken away from me, all because of one stupid fight!"

"Katie – "

"No, James! Maybe your life got better, but mine didn't! You don't know how much it messed with everything! And you never tried to fix anything! You never even shot me a text, just to say 'hey, what's up?'." I tried to pull away from him completely, but he held me fast.

"I thought about it," he whispered, looking like he was admitting his worst secret. "I thought about it every day. But I – I never got up the courage. I knew you were pissed at me. And you never tried to contact me either. I thought maybe…maybe you didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore."

I froze. He was right. I had never tried to contact him. And yeah, after the band broke up, I was pretty pissed at everyone. And a part of me – a huge part – didn't want to have anything to do with him after that. But there was a smaller part, that got stronger as the months went on, that desperately wanted and needed him. And then the pictures appeared on the internet – he would always be with a beautiful model or actress who I could never compare to. When that had begun happening, I had figured that he was over me, that I probably hadn't meant that much to him anyway, I was just an easy lay.

I had dated a couple of other guys once I reached college – I hated the guys at my high school – but those relationships never lasted very long, and I never slept with any of them. I had never slept with anyone except James.

"I guess…I guess I kind of didn't," I said quietly. "I was really angry when the band broke up, and I was…I was so hurt, James. You broke up with me minutes after you guys finished yelling at each other. I didn't understand…I still don't."

James looked over at me. "It's – it's hard to explain."

I wrapped the sheets tightly around me. "Well, can you at least try?"

"I don't – I don't know…I lived for three years with this secret…I was forbidden to tell."

I looked at him pleadingly. "Please James? I want to know. I need to know. Hell, I deserve to know. Why did you break up with me? I thought it was just for some stupid reason…but it's not, is it? It's for something more…serious."

"Katie…"

"Is it? Or was it for something else? Please James, I need to know. What happened?"

He glanced away from me. "I don't – it has to do with – it's something completely – someone else was behind the band's breakup, Katie. Someone else was pulling the strings."

"You mean that you guys didn't break up because of a fight?"

"No, we did. It's just…Someone else wanted us broken up. And he was putting pressure on us. He developed a…a kind of hatred for Logan. We never found out why."

"Who was it?" I asked. "Who?"

James didn't answer my question. "He also…he also didn't like you. He said it was for the same reason he disliked Logan. I thought it was because of how smart you two are, but that didn't make sense, because Kendall is every bit as smart as you two are."

"James, who was it?" I asked, a bit more desperately.

He took a deep breath. "Arthur Griffin."

Kendall's POV

"What the fuck does this mean?" I roared, staring at the screen of my phone. "This is the most fucked-up text – "

My mom sat next to me on my bed, rubbing her eyes. "Normally I would tell you to go wash your mouth

out with soap and water, but…Under the circumstances…You're right, this is the most fucked-up text ever."

I read over the text again: Calling all passengers! I have a clue for you as to where the Captain's body is: Blood on the ice. –The Replacement.

"That is just messed up," I proclaimed. "What the hell does he mean by 'blood on the ice'? Are we talking about a hockey rink or something?"

There was a knock on the door. I got up, grabbed my good ol' trusty hockey stick from beside my bed, and went to the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Carlos and Stephanie!" Carlos called.

I moved the furniture that we had been using to blockade the door, unlocked the door, and opened it. Carlos and Stephanie scurried in.

"Hi," Stephanie greeted us once she was in the room. I closed and locked the door again, and went to move the dresser and chair back against the door. Carlos moved over to help me. Together, we pushed the dresser against the door, and Stephanie added the chair.

"So, what do you guys need?" I asked once we were all seated on the beds. "I mean, it's – " I glanced at my phone – "3:50 in the morning."

"The latest text from The Replacement," Stephanie answered at once. "We thought maybe you had some ideas about it."

"Because of the 'blood on the ice' part?" I confirmed, and she and Carlos both nodded.

I shook my head. "I have no idea what The Replacement's talking about with that."

Carlos sighed. "Stephanie and I kept coming up with a hockey rink, but that obviously doesn't make much sense."

"Maybe a butcher's freezer?" Mom suggested.

"Do they even have one on the ship?" Stephanie asked.

"What about just a regular freezer?" I spoke up.

Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "A regular freezer? Like one in a kitchen?"

"Yeah. I mean, what else could it be? Is there any other places that there could be ice on the ship?"

"True," she conceded. "But…wouldn't the cook have seen the body?"

"Depends on when The Replacement moved it," I told her. "I mean, we just got the text a half hour ago."

She nodded. "There is an alternative, but it's pretty sick."

I caught it at once. "You're thinking…like…packaged, like beef or something?"

She nodded again.

"God, I hope that's not the case. That would be – " I shuddered. "Beyond horrible. Beyond sick."

"I know. And I'm the horror movie buff!"

"So…should we go see if I'm right?"

Carlos nodded. "I don't think any of us are going to be going back to sleep."

So, the furniture once again got moved, and we crept out of the room. We headed downstairs to the galley.

"The door's probably locked," Stephanie said, frowning.

"Maybe," I agreed. "But there's only one way to find out for sure." I grasped the doorknob and turned. The door opened with a click. And that's when the eerie feeling of a setup began to set in.

Nevertheless, we ventured further into the room, and Mom reached for the switch, flipping the light on. The room was sparkling clean, somehow reminding me of how all the police department mortuaries look like on TV, all white and crisp and clean and surgical. It just added to the creepiness of the place, even though it just looked like an oversized kitchen.

"There's the freezer," Stephanie murmured, pointing in the general direction.

I forced my shoulders back. "I'll open it." I marched over there and yanked the door open…and leapt back when not one, but two bodies fell out, onto the floor.

James's POV

"Arthur Griffin." I felt, rather than heard, the words fall out of my mouth. It was the weirdest, strangest, scariest thing. I had been keeping the secret for so long, a secret that I didn't even completely understand, that to actually say it out loud was just surreal.

I watched as Katie's face went emotionless, hollow. "It was him? He's the one who wanted you guys to break up? He's the one who hated Logan and me?"

I nodded, biting my lip. "Yeah. And I never knew why. I once asked Logan why Griffin hated him so much, but he just said that it wasn't his secret to tell, which never made any sense. Do you know why - ?"

"Why Griffin hated me? No. I have no idea. He must've thought I had dug up some information on him

or something…but I didn't. I never did. I thought if I did…" she looked away.

"Katie?"

She refused to look at me.

I slid two fingers under her chin and turned her face back to me. "Katie, what is it?"

She blinked back tears. "I thought if I left him alone, he might leave you guys alone. I knew he could shut you guys down in a second, and I thought if I was nice and sweet, I wouldn't give him a reason to want you guys out. But I guess that didn't work."

"Oh Katie…" I breathed out, and pulled her to me again, holding her tightly and stroking her hair.

"And now it's my fault that you guys broke up," she sobbed into my chest. "It's my fault."

"No it's not! Katie, Griffin's the one who wanted us to fall apart. You did what you could to keep us together. And we're the idiots who got into the fight in the first place. And it was over something so stupid too."

"Then why did you break up with me?" she whimpered.

"Because Griffin told me that if I didn't then he was going to announce to the world that I was sleeping with you."

"W-what?"

"He knew. I don't know how he knew, but he did. He said he would have me arrested, because you were underage, and he said he would make you sound like the biggest slut alive. He pulled me into his office minutes before Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and I got into the fight. That was when he threatened me. And then we heard shouting, and Kendall was brandishing an envelope at Logan, and that's when we found out that he had applied to medical school without telling anyone…and he had gotten in, and was planning on leaving the band."

Katie's jaw dropped. "That's what happened?"

I nodded. "Yeah. He never told anyone. He wasn't even sure if he was going to go to med school , but just the fact that he hadn't told us…that he would be willing to give up Big Time Rush…it was enough. By the time we got back to 2J, we had said some pretty horrible, unforgiveable things. And that's when we broke up." I closed my eyes. The next part was the worst though…

"James! James!" I pushed into my bedroom, ignoring Katie. What I was about to do…I had no choice…But she wasn't going to know that.

"James!" Katie appeared in my doorway, and then dashed over to me as I pulled a duffel bag out of my closet. "James!" she cried. "You can't leave! Please! You can't! I need you! I love you!"

I slowly turned to face Katie. "I can and I will. Big Time Rush is over Katie. You heard us out there. It's over! We're not together anymore! We're moving on. We're all moving on! And that means I have to move on from you!"

She took a step back, shock and hurt flashing across her face. In that moment, I wanted to run over to her and take her in my arms and assure her that I didn't mean it, that Griffin had put me up to this.

But I didn't. It was something I was going to regret for the next three years.

"You don't – you don't want to be with me?" she asked softly.

Yes! Yes I do!

"You're too young for me," I snapped. "This is illegal anyway. I'm not going to risk being thrown in jail for sleeping with a minor. And you're leaving tomorrow with your mom. I'm staying out here in LA. I'm going solo. And I'm not going to have a 16 year old girl weighing me down."

She took another step back, completely speechless.

It was better, I told myself, preparing for my next verbal attack, if she left, hating me. That way, she would spend a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, feeling hurt and used, but in the end, she would loathe me, but she would move on, and would end up with someone who could be with her. Someone who deserved her. Someone who wasn't me.

"Did you think I was going to stay with you, Katie?" I mockingly asked, trying not to cringe or breakdown at my words. "Did you think I was going to commit? You know me – I'm a player! Did you think that you'd be the one to change me?"

Her lower lip was trembling and her eyes were huge. I knew she was on the verge of tears, but I had to say one last thing. I had to tell her the biggest lie I had ever told anyone.

"I don't – " I hesitated. I couldn't force the words through my lips. I just couldn't. I couldn't tell her that I didn't love her. I tried again. "I don't – " but the words were caught on my tongue, like they had been glued there.

Katie seemed to get the gist of it though. She stalked towards me and slapped me across the face. "Fuck you, James," she hissed. "Fuck you!"

I looked at her, trying to force coldness into my gaze. "Sorry, you already did."

She glared at me ferociously, and I knew she would hate me for a very long time. And then, the next thing I knew, she was walking out of my room and slamming the door shut behind her.

I briefly saw her the next morning, but we didn't say anything to each other. And then she, Mrs. Knight, and Kendall drove out to LAX and boarded a plane, and that was the last time I saw her…until 2 days ago.

"James? Are you okay?"

I was snapped out of the horrible memory by Katie, who was gazing at me worriedly.

I tightened my grip on her, and suddenly began sobbing. "I'm so sorry," I choked out, burying my face in her hair. "I'm so, so sorry."

She held me closer. "What for?"

"For everything I said to you when I broke up with you. I was horrible. I was cruel. I hated myself. I still do. The look on your face, everything about what happened, has haunted me. I've had nightmares about it. I'm so sorry."

"It's o – no, actually, it's not okay. But I – I have a better idea of what was going on. I understand better. I know you weren't just being a cunt. I know you were more or less given an ultimatum."

"Maybe I chose the wrong one," I murmured into her hair, still crying.

"Maybe…but if it had been me, I would have done the same thing. You kept yourself out of jail, and you saved my reputation."

"You were supposed to find someone better than me," I whimpered.

I heard her breathe sharply. "I was?"

"I wanted you to be happy. I thought it would be better if you hated me, rather than if you knew the truth. I just wanted you to move on, even though I never did."

"But – but all those girls – "

"They never meant anything to me, and I never meant anything to them. You were the one I was in love with, not them." I took a deep breath. "To get me on the DLS-S Cruise, The Replacement used you against me. He left pictures of you recently, on my bed the night I got the invitation. He threatened you. He knew I would give in."

She pulled back, looking at my face, eyes searching. She cupped my face in one hand, running her thumb over my stubble.

"I never meant what I said that day," I murmured. "I couldn't mean it. And I – I tried – but I couldn't say – I couldn't say – "

The next thing I knew, her lips were on mine. "You couldn't say that you didn't love me," she whispered against my mouth.

"Y-yeah…"

"I noticed it. It didn't completely register until later. I think I somehow always wondered if there were other reasons why you broke up with me, besides the ones you gave me."

"Is that why you didn't push me into the water when you saw me the first time on the pier?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, because there was always a part of me that hoped…and I still loved you. I still love you."

"I love you too," I breathed out.

She smiled and kissed me again. "You know," she said, pulling back, a mischievous gleam in her eyes, "we still have plenty of time before we need to show our faces at breakfast."

"Ye-ah…"

"So…" she rolled me over onto my back. "We have plenty of time. Show me just how much you want to be forgiven."

I grinned and pulled her down on top of me. "I can do that."

Stephanie's POV

I'm a horror movie buff. I can handle gore. I can handle bloody murders. I can handle stupid plotlines. But the sight of two bodies falling out of a freezer? That one was a little bit harder.

One of the bodies was definitely Captain Montgomery's. The other one…I didn't recognize the man, but Kendall obviously did.

"He's the cook," he proclaimed. "I saw him this evening. Oh God…this evening…"

Mrs. Knight and Carlos both put hands on his shoulders to steady him as he swayed slightly, face going pale.

He buried his face in his hands. "Oh my God…Oh my God…Oh my God…"

"Let's get him out of here," Mrs. Knight said, ushering her son out. "Breathe, Kendall, breathe."

Carlos closed the door behind him and pulled me into him, holding me from behind.

Kendall obeyed, his breathing slowly steadying.

I couldn't get the sight of the two bodies, frozen and blue, out of my mind. They just kept flashing in front of my eyes.

Carlos's grip tightened on me and his chin rested on my head.

"Come on," Mrs. Knight said quietly after several minutes. "Let's go back to bed."

"But what are we going to do about the bodies?" Carlos asked.

She shook her head. "There's really nothing we can do right now."

"We need to put them back in the freezer, at least, before they de-thaw," Carlos argued. "Who knows what'll happen then?"

Kendall nodded. "Come on, let's go put them back in."

Mrs. Knight looked slightly green, so I took her arm. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your room."

She nodded, and we walked back up to the room she shared with Kendall.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked her worriedly.

She nodded again. "Yeah. It was just a – a nasty shock."

I smiled sympathetically. "I know, tell me about it."

She paused. "You know, I haven't seen Katie and James since she stormed off and he decided to go for a swim. Do you know what happened to them?"

I shook my head. "I haven't seen them since. But I know James got to their room, Carlos and I walked with him, so…" My jaw dropped. There was exactly one thing I could think of that they could have been doing for so long…and it was not parent-appropriate.

Mrs. Knight smiled slightly. "I see you've come to the same conclusion as me."

"Oh…I'm – I'm sure that's not – I mean – they wouldn't – "

Mama Knight laughed. "Oh, I think they would."

"We are – we are talking about them – "

"Having sex? Fucking? Banging? Whatever you kids call it nowadays?"

Shocked, I nodded.

"Yeah, that's what we're talking about."

"But you're – you're acting like this is every day stuff!"

She shrugged. "Something went on between those two 3 years ago. I don't know what, but something happened. But the way I've got it figured, we could be dead in 2 weeks. Let's let them enjoy themselves while they can, because who knows if and when they'll get the chance again."

I smiled weakly. "I should go back to my room. 'Night, Mrs. Knight."

"Good night, Stephanie."

I left the room and headed back to Carlos's and my room. Wow. She was actually okay with her

daughter having sex with James Diamond? But in some ways, it kind of made sense. I mean, like she had said, we could all be dead within the next 2 weeks, so really, if James and Katie wanted to fuck like animals, then they should be allowed to.

Carlos joined me a few minutes later. "I'm taking a shower," he announced at once. "I don't know how toxic a frozen body is, but I'm not taking any chances."

I smirked. "Want me to join you?"

He grinned. "You read my mind."

"By the way, Mama Knight and I think that Katie and James are fucking each other into Moscow. Do you want to use body wash or soap?"

"W-w-w-what?"

"Body wash or soap, Carlos?"

He stared at me. "That's not – I mean…Body wash…WHAT?"

"Did the body wash wrong you or something?"

"Stephanie!"

"Yes?"

"You and Mama Knight think James and Katie are – are – are – ?"

"Yeah."

Carlos sank down onto the bed. "It makes sense. They didn't show up for lunch or dinner. And goodness knows, there's been so much sexual tension between them already…"

I sat down next to him. "Did they ever date when they were younger?"

He shook his head. "I don't – I don't know. I mean, I could say no, but I honestly don't know. There would be moments, in the last few months before the band broke up, that I thought I would see them exchange a look, or I'd wake up and James wouldn't be in his bed, and I'd hear something…suspicious…coming from Katie's room, but I always figured it was because I was still half-asleep, and he was probably just in the bathroom or something." He sighed. "If they did…Wow. That's just…I can't even pinpoint the right word for it. I mean, on the one hand, it's disgusting, because Katie's supposed to be like our little sister, but on the other hand, I'm happy for them, and I know it would've taken guts, especially since from what I would have heard, they were having sex, and that would have been illegal."

"I don't – I don't even know what to say," I admitted.

He smiled. "Don't say anything. We might not even be right. I mean, I think we're right about them

having sex today, considering they just disappeared, and we know that James got to his and Katie's room okay, but they might not have had a relationship 3 years ago."

"True."

He got up and stretched. "Come on, let's go take that shower."

I smiled, just as my phone vibrated. I pulled it out. The message was simple, but direct, and a picture was attached with it: Ask Kendall why he hates Logan. – The Replacement. I glanced down at the picture and nearly had a heart attack. It was a picture of Logan, in just a pair of boxers, passed out on a bed in a hotel suite, laying face down…and beside him, in a pink, lace teddy, was Jo.

So...Katie might be pregnant...the cook is now dead...Griffin was blackmailing James...and Stephanie just more or less found out about Logan and Jo. Wow, I think the story just went all film noir on me. Oh, and Jennifer Knight is okay with Katie and James sleeping with each other...yeah, I know that's not very normal for mothers (I ought to know...I had to play an ex-hooker in my drama class - I'm not proud about it...although she was fun to play - and my mom kind of freaked out), but in her (and my) defense, she knows they all might end up dead before long, so she wants her daughter to be happy, for a little while at least.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who saw my A/N at the end of my latest Jatie oneshot and was able to either send me the video of the guys cussing (okay, I'll admit it, it was kind of hot), or was able to fill me in on what it was about! Virtual cookies to you guys!

Who out there has bought the new BTR album?

So, let me know what you think of this chapter, and what your favorite song is on the CD :) Oh, and the review button wants to know too, because it's really lonely and gets really interested in other people's lives :) Yeah, it's weird that way...