Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or What Alice Forgot or any of its characters.

Mercedes heard Quinn's distant and frightened voice calling her name repeatedly, but she couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. She just wanted to lie where she was and relax. An image of a large and beautiful garden came to her mind and there was a pretty Asian lady sitting next to her laughing with the sun behind her head, she heard kids yelling in the background.

"Mercedes, please open your eyes, Mercedes!" Quinn was saying and she felt her gripping her hand tightly.

Where was she? Why was she on the hard ground? She just needed a little more rest. She let her mind drift and a fragment of a memory came to her of Sam talking to her about Trey's birthday party. Who was Trey?

"Mercedes! Open your eyes NOW!" Quinn was yelling at her.

"I don't want to Quinn. I'm fine. Please, just let me sleep."

"She knows who I am, okay, this is good, right?" Mercedes could hear her talking to someone. She opened her eyes and saw a large crowd around her, was she lying on the sidewalk? Mercedes immediately tried to get up.

"No! Mercedes, stay lying down. I think you have a concussion." Quinn said as she gently pushed down on her shoulders.

She looked over at Quinn, she looked so much older. She had wrinkles around her eyes that she swore she never had before. And her hair was in a short pixie cut instead of just below her shoulders like she always had it.

"Quinn! When did you cut your hair?"

She looked back at Mercedes with a confused expression when they heard the ambulance siren coming down the street.

"Just don't move or talk until the paramedics get here, okay?"

Her head hurt, so she decided against arguing with her best friend and kept quiet. Instead she looked around. She saw the awning of a coffee shop. It looked very cute. Oh no! My baby!

"Oh, Quinn, you don't think this has hurt the baby at all, do you? We need to call Sam." Mercedes started to tear up. She thought of Sam and how he was always telling her to not wear such high heels while pregnant. He would scold her teasingly about trying to make herself taller before pulling her to him and rubbing her belly while talking to their tiny baby about how short its mother was.

"Honey, I think you should wait until the paramedics get here," Quinn said with the slight sound of panic in her voice. The ambulance sounded like it was really close. She couldn't believe she was laid up here in the middle of a side walk. Her hands went to her stomach and said a silent prayer for her little sweet baby in there. She was early in her pregnancy, only 3 months, but Sam was convinced they were having a boy and had already bought a tiny football for him. Her hands started to feel her stomach with more focus; it felt tighter than it ever had before. She felt along her sides, there was still some meat there, but it just felt different.

The ambulance pulled up right along the curb and people started to disperse, but they didn't go far. Quinn stood up and ran up to the paramedics and began to talk in anxious whispers. She's so dramatic sometimes, thought Mercedes as they all came over to her.

"Hi. I'm Nick. What is your name?"

"Mercedes."

"Do you think you can sit up for me, Mercedes?"

Mercedes went to sit up with the help of paramedic Nick and Quinn. She felt a little dizzy, but otherwise okay.

"How do you feel?"

"I feel fine, just a little dizzy. I am pregnant though, so I think I should go in just to make sure everything is okay."

She saw Quinn flinch out of the corner of her eye and looked over at her quickly. She was looking at the paramedic trying to convey something to him without speaking. When she saw Mercedes looking at her, she looked back at her with worried eyes.

"Quinn?" Mercedes quietly asked her friend.

"Mercedes, I think we should have them take you to the hospital and we can talk to a doctor there, okay?"

"You are starting to scare me, Quinn. Why are you acting so strange? Will you please call Sam?"

"I will. Nick, I think we ought to take her in, it seems like she's not remembering things properly."

Nick nodded his head and asked Mercedes one last question before he turned to go and get the gurney,

"Mercedes, how old are you?"

"Twenty-four," she answered.

Quinn's hand flew to her mouth and covered it as she was shaking her head back and forth.

"Mercedes, you are thirty-four years old. Next week is your thirty-fifth birthday party, we were coming down here to work out the last minute details."

Mercedes' heart started to beat fast and her hands were instantly clammy. What was going on? Did she have brain damage?

"Quinn, what are you talking about? We work together at Cadenza Magazine for that asshole, Ryan. Sam and I are married and I'm three months pregnant. Sam just signed that contract with MCA…."

Quinn was shaking her head.

"That happened ten years ago, sweetie. Please, let's just get to the hospital. I will call Sam and follow the ambulance in your car, okay?" She said as she gave Mercedes her purse.

Nick and his partner were back to put Mercedes onto the gurney. She let them put her on and strap her to it in a shocked silence. She listened as Quinn told them that the two of them had been walking when Mercedes said she felt dizzy and just fainted and hit her head on the outdoor coffeehouse table before falling to the ground. She had been out cold for a few minutes before she came to again.

"Mercedes, I will see you at the hospital," Quinn said as she squeezed her hand and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before turning to go.

When she was loaded into the back of the ambulance, Nick stayed in the back with her.

"Mercedes, what is your full name?"

"Mercedes Evans," she answered. That was easy. He did a double take at her before continuing.

"Do you remember what you had for breakfast this morning?"

She thought hard, she always had oatmeal.

"Oatmeal." She didn't want to say too much, so she would keep her answers short.

"Okay, that's good. Do you know what year it is?"

Mercedes didn't want to answer because she knew, if Quinn was right, that it was not 2012, but 2022.

"2022," she finally said.

"Okay, great. Now I'm going to shine this light in your eyes to check your pupil dilation."

Nick shined the small light into both eyes and seemed satisfied with what he saw.

"It looks good, I think if anything you have a small concussion, but let's wait to see what they say at Nashville General. Just lay back and try to relax, okay?"

Easy for him to say, she thought to herself. She tried to take deep breaths as he took her blood pressure and listened to her racing heart. Thirty-four? There was no way she had lost a decade of her life. She just needed to see Sam. She knew he would make her feel safe and no matter what had happened to her memory, if she could just be in his arms, her fear would dissipate.

She knew once Quinn got a hold of him, he would race to the hospital and would probably be there before this ambulance. Thinking of him made her feel a little less anxious. She just kept telling herself she would see him in less than 20 minutes.

They pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital and it was a flurry of medical staff all around her as she was brought out of the ambulance and rolled into the hospital. Mercedes looked around and everyone was looking at her and whispering as they rolled by. She gave them a look to let them know she saw them whispering and didn't appreciate it. Had they never had someone in here before that had fainted and lost consciousness?

Her hands went to her belly again as if protecting their baby. But there is no baby in there. That baby is now a ten year old kid. Mercedes' panic returned as she thought of not knowing her own child.

They got to her room and she asked one of the nurses helping her if she could check to see if her husband was there in the ER.

"He's about 6'1, blonde hair – "

"I know what your husband looks like, Mrs. Evans," the nurse cut in.

"How, how would you know what Sam looks like?"

The nurse was a little startled, but recovered quickly.

"Mrs. Evans, he is a very famous country singer."

Mercedes looked back at the nurse and for a minute, all of her fear gave way to complete happiness for Sam. He was famous? He had done it! A smile broke across her face.

"Famous?"

"Yes, ma'am." The nurse responded as she went about getting Mercedes hooked up to different machines to monitor her vitals.

"Are you sure he's not here yet?"

"After I'm finished here, I can go look again." She quickly did her checklist of things and told her the doctor would be in soon and she would check the lobby for her husband.

Mercedes looked around and down at her purse. My phone! I can call him. She managed to stretch and reach her purse. She opened it and dug around until she found and extremely thin silver phone.

She pushed the button on the top and the screen came to life. There was a picture of two adorable children, one older boy and a young girl. These are my children, she thought as the tears started to pool in her eyes. She put her fingers on the boy's face and the picture disappeared to show her phone menu. She touched the contacts button and scrolled down until she saw "Sam Cell" and dialed.

It rang three times before he picked it up.

"Mercedes, what is going on? Why are you and Quinn calling me?" Sam said in a tone of voice Mercedes had never heard him use with her before.

She couldn't find her voice for a moment.

"Sam, you are not on your way to the hospital?"

"What? No, are the kids okay?" His curt voice turned to concern when he asked about their children that she didn't know.

"I fell and had a pretty hard hit on my head apparently. Sam, could you please just come down here?"

There was silence on his side of the line.

"Mercedes, are you okay? You haven't wanted me near you for months and now you want me to come down there?"

"What are you talking about Sam? We are married, we have these two children, what do you mean I haven't wanted you near me? I love you, Sam. I really need you here right now." She was on the verge of hysterics; she just needed Sam next to her.

"Mercedes, we are separated," Sam answered to a stunned and distraught Mercedes.