A/N: For those of ya'll reading RR - I am working on one more chapter. From AR's POV, but I made a mistake. I watched an episode of Season 5 Glee (the one where Blaine/Sam go to NY). The side-eye that I had on my face had to be legendary! smdh..ugh! I felt like tptb have reduced Sam to a village idiot punch line, and Samcedes to even worse. Anyways - as I was working on ideas for RR, I couldn't stop thinking of that episode. My Samcedes heart couldn't take it, so I started writing a reason for the change in Sam's cray cray behavior. A few more chapters are coming, and as always - Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I only own the story. Not the characters.

Mike and Mercedes could see that they had successfully wore out the new (and not so new) New Directions with their coaching.

All and all, the M&M Boot Camp was a success.

They both had came back to Lima-again-to offer some assistants at Tina and Artie's pleading. Tina and Mike were now just friends, after trying one last time (briefly) over the last Christmas break. And Mercedes couldn't resist her soul brotha Artie when he Skyped her asking for help.

"We got the talent - ya know that already Mama. Just not the focus - that's why I'm begging like James for ya to swing through! Bless us with your soothing sound, them killer curves, and wise patience. Please?" he crooned.

Three days later she found herself heading home with Puck and teaming up with Mike to try to help the gang out.

Once he confirmed with Mercedes that they should call it a day, Mike said excitedly, "That's it for today everyone. Good work - we'll see ya'll tomorrow!"

The ND's scattered out of the room before their coaches had a chance to changed their minds.

After going over ideas with everyone for their weekly songs to complete the week's assignment, Mercedes was tired.

She only managed to get a few hours of sleep the night before and was ready to call it a day.

Also having her ex sneak not-so-discreet looks her way was starting to get to her.

Come to think of it - just about every decision that Sam Evans made so far this year was really making her ass itch..

"Yeah, it's WAY past time for me to leave today." she thought.

Mike had been great in 'mentoring' Sam so that Mercedes wouldn't have to, but he had left with Puck.

Puck wanted to check out the new line of 'CherrioHos' and Mike thought it was best if he went along to keep things from getting out of hand.

Mercedes just wished he'd stayed long enough to help her sneak out. It was bad enough that she could feel Sam's eyes burning a hole into her back, but now she was starting to feel guilty again about -

"Sigh. What's done is done. There's no going back to change anything. Just leave already." she said to herself.

Sam couldn't believe it.

Mercedes was still not going to talk to him? To say that he was pissed was an understatement.

From the corner of his eye he noticed that she was still packing up her things with her back to him. He finally had had enough of the silence and decided that he wasn't leaving this room until she at least acknowledged his presence.

"Have a great night Mercedes!" He shouted.

When she finally turned around to look at him - he wasn't prepared for the way that his heart seemed to skip a beat from looking into those brown doe eyes of hers.

Mercedes almost dropped her belongings from the sound of his booming voice. She didn't want to just out right ignore him, so she quickly grabbed her things and headed for the door while responding, "You too Sam. Great job today."

He couldn't believe this! She was almost sprinting to leave the room. Sam couldn't take the bitterness from his tone when he said, "Thanks. Your new boyfriend has some good moves - I'll give him that."

That stopped Mercedes from reaching for the door handle real quick. She didn't care for his tone or the implication at all. "Mike is not my boyfriend."

"Maybe someone should tell him that.."

By now her patience was starting to wear thin and she was done with feeling uncomfortable. If he wanted confrontation - he damn sure was heading in the right direction!

Mercedes dropped her stuff down near the door, faced Sam, and asked the question that had been on her mind since arriving back to Lima.

"What happened to you Sam?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. First that hot mess also known as Bram, and now your plan on becoming the biggest male model in New York? Seriously - what is that about?"

"It's my dream and I going to do everything I can to make it happen. My romantic life is no longer your business either."

His cool demeanor towards her was something new too, but she had a feeling that mentioning that as well wouldn't get her anywhere. So she just sighed and tried a calmer approach.

"Sam, I know you. Or at least I thought I did. This male modeling bit was what you fed your 'customers' at Stallionz. Unless what you told me was a lie? You use to tell me about your dreams. All the time. So don't expect me to fall in line with everyone else and buy this modeling business."

"Well, things have changed." Sam replied softly. Though once he looked down at her concerned gaze - he felt angry all over again.

"People change Mercedes. You should know that better than most. So why can't I?"

"And what is THAT suppose to mean?"

"You changed!"

"Me?!"

"Yes YOU! Before you left - I spent weeks showing you how much I love you. Then we FINALLY got back together, and then in just a few days of you being in wonderful LA - on our first and LAST Skype date - YOU broke up with me! Saying how things are 'so much harder than you thought they'd be' and you didn't want us to become one of those couples that just 'go through the motions' and end up hating each other later for 'missed opportunities'. How you didn't 'want to hold me back'."

"I only thought-" she started to say, but he quickly cut her off.

"No Mercedes! Let me finish. You asked me what happened darlin', so let me tell you."

Sam ran his hands roughly through his hair and took a deep breathe while looking Mercedes straight in the eye.

"We had distance between us before, but we got passed it and we were stronger for it. Or so I thought. You didn't even give me a chance to talk during that Skype. You just said your peace and hung up on me. Wouldn't return any of my calls - BLOCKED ME on Facebook - really Cedes?! So instead of spending my time being torn up and strumming sad songs on my guitar - I tried to move on. Brittany was still trying to get over Santana, so I thought, why not? When that ended, I wasn't hurt in the least. Why? Because nothing could ever hurt me as much as what you did would. Yeah, I did talk to you about my dreams. We always were able to talk to each other Cedes. Even while you were dating Shane.. So to go from speaking to you everyday to suddenly not at all? That hurt. Now you keep coming back to Lima on visits to help the Glee Club out and we STILL don't talk? With Mike practically attached at your hip? I get to see how 'friendly' you two have become. How he looks at you. For the record - I gotta say - I do NOT like it. The dreams that I use to talk to you about? They are still there. I just don't see them happening the why I thought that they would. I can't. Not anymore."