DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE.

A/N: Hey guys, so this is my first fan fic ever. This idea has been on my mind for a while now and I really hope you guys like it! Please review and let me know what you think.

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Chapter 1 - Moving Forward

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Three months. That's how long it has been since Mercedes lost her mother.

"I miss you, mom. So much," Mercedes said with tears in her eyes before she kissed the picture of her mother and put it back on her nightstand.

That's what she's been doing every night since she came home from the hospital. She would take that picture and talk to her mom like she was still there with her. It was also the only time of the day she allowed herself to break down, to cry over losing the most important person in the world to her. Mercedes was the oldest child in the house with her sixteen years and she had to take care of her sisters while her dad was working so she felt like she had to be strong for them during the day.

Mercedes was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the knock on her bedroom door and she only noticed her little sister as she heard her talking.

"Mercy…I-I can't sleep," came Amaya's soft voice from the door.

Mercedes sat up a little and opened her arms, motioning for her little sister to come over to her bed. "Come here, Maya. You want to sleep with me tonight?" she asked her softly.

Amaya walked over to Mercedes and climbed on Mercedes' bed and cuddled up to her sister. "I miss mommy," she said sadly.

"I know, baby. I miss her too," she whispered, snuggling the little girl closer to her. Mercedes' heart broke for her little sister. She was only five and didn't understand why her mommy wasn't there anymore. Jamila, their 9-year old sister at least understood what had happened to their mom but Amaya was just too little to really understand.

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Mercedes could feel his eyes on her. This was the only class she and Sam Evans had together and he was sitting in the seat behind her and he would always stare at her. She never looked at him when she came into the classroom. Looking at him just hurt too much and Mercedes still blamed Sam for the accident. She knew she was wrong for doing so because he had no chance to control his car because of the freezing rain that day but she needed someone to blame for losing her mother. Her father told her that she had to forgive Sam to be able to move on but she didn't want to move on because that would mean she had accepted that her mom was gone but she wasn't ready for that.

Sam tried to apologize many times after the accident but she always ignored him. He and his family even came to visit her at the hospital after the accident but she didn't want to see him.

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"Mercy…Sam Evans and his family are here. He asked if he could come in and talk to you?" her father told her.

Mercedes shook her head. "No, dad, don't let them in. I can't look at him," she whispered.

Michael, Mercedes father looked at his oldest daughter with sad eyes. He knew how hard this was for her. "Mercedes, he-" was all he could get out before he was interrupted.

"No!" she shouted before she added in a softer voice. "Please, dad…I just can't. It's his fault that mom is gone and that I'm lying here in this hospital bed."

"I know this is hard for you, baby girl, but you know that's not true. The weather wasn't his fault," he told her sadly. He hated to see his baby like this.

Mercedes didn't want to hear this and looked away from her dad as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I want to be alone…," she told her father in a whisper.

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Mercedes ignored Sam's staring and tried to listen to what her teacher was saying about the presentation they had to do for this class.

"Every one of you will get a sheet of paper with a topic and some info about it. This is a partner assignment so you'll do it with the person that got the same topic as you did. As soon as everyone has their topic I will read them to you and the two students that have the topic just lift their hands so that I can write down your name," Mr. Miller told his students as he handed the topics out before he sat back down on his desk in the front.

"Drug Abuse," Mercedes murmured to herself as she read the topic she got.

As Mr. Miller asked who got this topic she lifted her right arm so that he could write her name down. Suddenly she could heard loud whispering around her and felt everyone's eyes on her. As she turned around to see who else got the topic, her eyes landed on the hand in the air before she looked down in its owner's eyes.

Sam Evans.

"Mr. Miller, is there any way I can change topics with someone?" Mercedes asked her teacher.

Mr. Miller looked up from his desk and shook his head. "I'm sorry Mercedes, but no. If I let you change it then I'd have to allow it everyone who wants to change theirs," he explained.

Mercedes let out a sigh at his answer. She couldn't believe that she had to do this together with Sam. Mercedes couldn't even look at him, how was she supposed to spend time with him to work on their presentation?

At the end of the class Mercedes put her things into her backpack and stood up. As she felt a hand on her shoulder she turned around to see that it was Sam.

"I'm sorry, Mercedes… I can talk to Mr. Miller again and explain why you don't want to do it with me. I'm sure he'll let you change topics with someone else," Sam told her softly. Their teacher was new so he didn't know about their connection.

"It's fine. We can do it over email," she told him and walked away.

Sam sighed as she walked away. He took his backpack and run after her. "Over email?" he asked Mercedes confused. "Don't you think it's better if we do it together after school?"

"Well I don't really have time after school. I have to take care of my little sister as you know…," Mercedes answered his question.

"I could come over to your house and we can work on our presentation and watch the girls at the same time," Sam told her before he could stop himself.

"No! We can do it over email," Mercedes said before she walked away from him again.

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Mercedes sat on the couch and smiled at her father as he came through the door. "Hey dad."

"Hello Mercedes," Michael greeted his daughter with a smile. "How was school today?" he asked as he put his stuff down besides the door.

"It was fine," she told her father, not sure if she should tell him about Sam. "I…I have to do a presentation…together with Sam Evans…," Mercedes said.

Her father slowly walked over to the couch and sat beside her. "Are you okay with this?" he asked her softly.

"Well I have to, right?" she replied with a sigh. "I told him that we can do it over email. There is no reason for us to be in the same room."

"Mercedes, you can't do a presentation over email. You two have to work on it together," Michael told her with raised eyebrows. "What did he say to your suggestion?"

Mercedes shrugged at her father's words. "Well I have to take care of the girls so I can't get together with him for this. Doing it over email will be just fine," Mercedes told her father. "He said he could come over here and we can work on it while we watch the girls but I told him no."

"Why? I think that's a good idea," Michael told his daughter. He sighed as he looked at Mercedes. "I know you still blame him for what happened but you're a smart girl and I know that you know that it wasn't really his fault."

"I don't want to talk about it, dad," she said as she stood up. "The girls are playing in Amaya's room, can you get them ready for bed? I have a lot of homework to do…," she asked as she walked over to the stairs to get to her room.

"Yeah, sure," Michael said as he watched Mercedes walk up the stairs. He knew she was still hurting and wished he could help her but he knew that she had to do it on her own.

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Mercedes went to her room and locked the door before she leaned against it. She could already feel the tears in her eyes as she walked up to her room and now she was full on crying.

She knew her father was right and if she was being honest with herself, she didn't blame Sam anymore. Mercedes realized that as she talked to him earlier that day. But even with that realization she wasn't sure if she could handle spending time with him because he still reminded her off what happened.

Mercedes walked over to her bed and took the picture of her mother from her nightstand before she laid down on her bed.

"I don't know what to do, mom," she whispered softly.

"Today was the first time that I talked to him since the accident. I…I realized that I don't blame him anymore. We have to work on a presentation together for school but I don't think I can handle spending time with him, mom. Every time I look at him I see you lying there, not moving…"Mercedes cried.

"Dad said I have to move on but I don't know how to move on from this. I can't live without you, momma. There is still so much that I have to learn about life and you were supposed to be here for that," Mercedes said angrily.

"Why did you leave me?" she asked the picture of her mother crying before she turned over and cried herself to sleep, like she did almost every night.

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A/N: So should I continue with this story?