“I can't believe I didn't ask who the friend was that they sold him to… god… I was just so angry…”  Kurt admitted, elbow bent against the window edge of the car and head propped up on his hand as he went through what had just happened in his mind.

“You had every right to be.  Hell… I was right about to smack the both of them.”  Santana chipped in as she drove.

“Yeah… well… you went to the bathroom in their bed.”

She chuckled aside him.  “Yes I did, didn't I?  Good one too.  Solid consistency and everything.”

He gagged.  “God Santana!”

“But I didn't just do that.”

He blinked and looked over to her where she was driving with a large smirk plastered over her face. “What else did you do?”

“Check my purse.”

Kurt reached into the backseat and brought her large purse into his lap, opening it up and rifling through it.  “Are these… did you steal their mail?”

“Not all of it. Just the pay stubs.”

He looked at it for a moment, “Smythe Industries… Santana… have I told you lately that I love you?”

“If you break out into song over some stolen pay stubs I swear to whatever god or gods there are that I will smack you back into service.”

“So.. you think if we contact this company….?”

“Way ahead of you princess.  GPS is set for the home address of Sebastian Smythe Sr. - the owner of the company.  He lives in what looks like a manor according Google Earth just south of Chicago.”

The drive was torturous - mostly because Kurt was even less sure of what to expect this time around.  Would Blaine even be there?  What was he working on there?  Why did they want him specifically?  How could his parents do that?...

“Don't think too hard princess.” Santana said over to his after a long bout of quiet.

“I just… I'm trying to understand….”

She shook her head, “Don't.  You and I, we don't think like those people do.  Trying to figure them out is pointless.  Their way of doing things is too foreign to us.”

“I guess… but Blaine… he doesn't think like his parents…”

“Maybe because of you princess… maybe because we're not all meant to take after our parents either.  I'm not a gambling addict or a doctor after all.”

“You still visit Brittany?”

The name made Santana clam up for a moment and then she came out with a whispered reply, “Blaine told you?”

“Yeah.”

“She got out… went to go live with her family.  We talk on the phone now and then…”

“But you miss her.”

“Yeah.  I do.”

“Why don't you tell her that?”

Santana shook her head again, “Isn't this your mission?  Aren't we working on finding your lap dancer?”

Kurt sat up and reached over to set a hand on Santana's shoulder, “Why don't you…?”

“My grandma is openly hostile towards people like us Kurt…. if I was open about who I was… I'd have no one left.”

“You'd always have me… and you'd have Brittany too.”

“You don't know that.”

Kurt sighed and looked back out the window, “You're right.  I don't… I just… have to believe in something and true love seems as good as anything.”

“You think you love Blaine?”

“Well I don't know how else to explain what I do feel towards him.  It's definitely something stronger than I could ever describe with a lesser word.”

She snorted, “Romantic sap.”

He smiled to himself.  It was certainly true what she said, insomuch as Kurt couldn't imagine anyone else romantically aside from Blaine.  Not even when he wasn't sure what had happened to him after the warehouse.  Blaine was stuck in him, and he didn't know how to get him out - nor did he want to.

The drove up to the manor, both sucking in breaths as they looked it over.  The place was massive, and even had a gate with an electronic buzzer at the front.  Before pressing the button on the console though, they both peaked in.

“God Santana… I don't even know what to say…”

“Just… be honest?”

“But would it even make a difference?”

“You telling me you want to go?”

“No…”

“Then shut up and let's see if we can get in.”

Santana reached over from her seat to press the keypad when a voice came through the console prempting her button pushing.

“Kurt….?”

He didn't need any guesses to know that voice, and in an instant he was crawling across the car, over Santana, who grumbled in complaint, as he went to speak.

“Blaine?!  Is that you?”

“Yeah… why are you here Kurt?”

“For you!  You never called me so I called Cooper and then went to see your folks and -”

“They're free?”

“Yeah… yeah… because of you but -”

He was cut off by a sigh on the other end and then Blaine spoke up again, “Kurt you have to leave.”

“What?  No!  I just found you!”

“You have to go Kurt.  It was lucky enough that I saw who was driving up and no one else was looking, but they'll notice, and they won't like it.”

“But Blaine -”

“Go Kurt.  You can't be here.”

“But what about -”

“GO!”

Kurt kneaded his lower lip between his teeth for a moment and then whispered, “But I just found you…”

Another sigh came through, “I know… please Kurt.  You have to go.  Go and forget about me.  If you don't go, I'll let them know and they'll just call the cops.”

“But -”

“Oh for Christ's sake.”  Santana snapped, having enough of Kurt in her lap pleading with a voice on a console.  “Blaine, the boy has been through hell looking for you.”

“I'm sorry…. I'm sorry… but… he needs to go.  Santana right?  Brittany's friend?  Please.  Take him home.  He can't be here.”

She looked at Kurt as the tears welled up in his eyes and he mouthed the words ‘please' over and over towards the console and to Santana.  “Why Blaine?”

“I'm in service.  He can't see me.  He's better off without me anyhow.  Take him home.  Just… take him home please.”

The last please may as well been ‘dammit' for all the force behind it.  Santana sighed and pulled the clutch back to reverse the vehicle.

“Wait!  Santana!”

“You heard him Kurt.  We're not going to get in and he'll call the cops on us anyhow…”

“No… but…. Blaine….” he choked.

The console got smaller in his view as Santana backed out and turned back onto the main road, managing to shove Kurt back into his own seat somehow in the process.  He whined softly, wrapping his arms around his torso, and hiding his head in his knees as she drove back towards Ohio without a word.  Periodically he'd feel her reach over and rub his back, but that was it.  

They had found Blaine, but Blaine didn't want to be found apparently, and Kurt's mission had been all for nothing.

“Come on sweetie.  Once we get back I'll take you to the bar where you can drink your emotions down until they drown.”

It was a small offer on Santana's part, but one Kurt knew he'd take her up on.  If Blaine didn't want to be found as a Dent, there was nothing Kurt could do about it.  He just felt like the world was conspiring against him.  He had gotten so close that he had been able to hear Blaine's voice… and then… nothing.