Opportunity Knocks
AnniKay

Sam/Mercedes
Disclaimer: I own Nothing…Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennen along with Fox and others own this fandom and all the characters there in…Anything you recognize obviously belongs to them
AN: I know that Sam didn't write any of the songs mentioned in the story as his. Nor did Mercedes write the ones mentioned as hers. Those and any and all songs belong to their respective songwriters, performers, and labels.
THANKS to everyone who has taken the time to review. Your encouragement helps more than you know. Take a moment and let me know what you enjoyed most about the story.

Summary: This is a one shot Future Fic. The year is 2024, Mercedes Jones is a R&B Mega Star worth millions. Most would assume she has everything she could ever want…but she knows that there is something missing.
Sam Evans is considered the comic book/graphic novel's world's newest genius. He is many of Nashville's biggest stars' hidden secret weapon. However, he will tell you that his dreams are still filled with her. That she was his only regret.
But sometimes Opportunity Knocks Twice.

Los Angeles, CA March 3, 2024

Mercedes Jones was almost perfectly happy. She was at the top of the music industry, and often credited for single handedly resurrecting R&B as a genre. Despite never losing all the weight the critics has blasted her for during her debut, she was considered a worldwide sex symbol. She had won her first Grammy at twenty four and had won a total of sixteen more in the ensuing years. She had more People's Choice Awards than any of her contemporaries. She had won a Tony for her portrayal of Maria in a Broadway revival of West Side Story. A part that had special meaning because she once again auditioned against Rachel Berry, who found out in the real world, things were much different from in McKinley High. Artie had sent her a wonderful bouquet for her opening night. The note attached told her that if he'd had more of a backbone in high school that role would have been hers then as well. Mercedes had most recently won an Oscar for her work on the latest Bond soundtrack. She had received a noteless but beautiful bouquet of purple orchids that she knew in her heart had come from Sam after that win. She had even had the honor of having a cameo as a singer in the movie as well. She had made some very good friends in her life, some of them dating all the way back to her days at McKinley.

All together she was quite content. However, in the quiet hours she acknowledged that there was something missing from her life. And she didn't mean the Emmy she was missing from having her EGOT…no she was missing something far more important. In the dark, and quiet of her hotel room on the very last night of her latest international tour Mercedes realized that she wanted to have a baby.

Now for most women in her position this wouldn't exactly be a problem. Even though she was considered a 'sexy' by a preponderance of people, and she was noted for being both kind and intelligent, Mercedes could not seem to make any relationship last for longer than six months. She had tried several times. She had tried several different 'types'. But in the end they always claimed that she is incapable of loving them back. They berate her for making them fall in love with her, knowing that she can't or won't open herself up to them in return. One of them had even gone so far as to put that shit out there in the press. Thankfully her record sales hadn't taken too much of a hit. It did help that most of her fans felt that the songs she sang all warned that she was harboring a deep inner turmoil and possibly heartbreak.

Mercedes had tried counseling; however the therapist had eventually released her. Her doctor made it clear to Mercedes that she had no problem continuing to take Mercedes' money while trying to help her heal. But she also admonished that her client would be better served by being more selective about whom she dated, and only dating men past the fifth date if she could truly see herself having a future with them. That led to her rebirth as a serial dater. Mercedes was fortunate to be able to combat the bad publicity her ex's interview had wrought. Oprah called and offered Mercedes a chance to give her own view of the situation and relationship. Mercedes had spent an entire weekend with Oprah. They had discussed many things, including Mercedes past, her beginning troubles in the business and her decision to take the high road and keep on striving the reach the higher ground, her eventual success, and even where she hoped to be in the future. In the end, Oprah had aired a very intense interview that served to ultimately squash the entire situation. Even more important than what people saw, was what went on that wasn't filmed. The women had gone over and over not only the current state of affairs, but also many of the things Mercedes had discussed with her therapist. The talks were extremely productive, and after having shared tears, meals and teas with one of her idols, Mercedes went on her way armed with both excellent advice and new goals clearly set.

Her record sales had bounced back and even grown after that interview. Apparently parents loved her for telling their daughters that it only made sense to wait and share themselves only with men who were actually in the running to be their forever love. According to the statistics her manager kept shoving in her face, teen STDS, and pregnancy were both experiencing drops since then. Yet again proving that telling kids not to do it doesn't work, but it would seem that telling them that 'feelings make it better' and that they don't have to completely abstain, they just needed to restrain themselves and only sleep with those who are worthy of them spoke to a lot of teenagers. If it were true than Mercedes was proud to have made an honest difference in their lives, but she took everything her manager said with a grain of salt. The man could sell rain to a flood victim, it was the reason he was a good manager…but a lot of the time, honesty was just a nice concept to him. She watched him like a hawk. And her father and Puck had explained to the man exactly what would happen to him if he chose to steal from her or double cross her in any way. And none of what they'd said they would do to him included calling law enforcement, unless it was to report him missing.

Whatever they had said had done the trick her manager was considered the loyalist and most efficient one in the business. Mercedes had become one of the biggest selling artists since the advent of the digital medium. She was still out sold by the legends and icons…but she felt that was only right. For a moment, Mercedes allowed herself to remember one of her first interviews after her first album had been certified gold. The reporter had asked her how it felt to be among the greats. She had given him a side eye and said in complete honesty, "See this is the problem with a lot of people new to the game, they get one hit and think they are now 'among the greats'. Do you know how many times Aretha Franklin has been certified gold? What about Gladys Knight? Dionne Warwick? Janet Jackson? Whitney Houston? Mariah Carey? Heck man I haven't even caught up with Tracy Chapman yet. I'm still trying to make sure that I don't join the annals of the 'One Hit Wonders'. I'm 'bout tired, and I know the fans are tired of people who are brand new beefin' with legends or trying to call themselves legends before time tells the tale. Call me in ten years, if I'm still what's hot in the streets, then you can ask me that question." That response had gained her flowers from each of the amazing women she had mentioned, well Bobbi Kristina on her mother's behalf. Unfortunately in the ensuing years, she had served as a soloist at Aretha Franklin's funeral. That was a hard damn day for Mercedes, but she could take comfort in having met her idol before her passing, and in the fact that Mrs. Franklin had put it in her will that if a biopic was made in the lifetime of Mercedes Jones, Ms. Jones was to play Aretha at the appropriate point in her life.

Mercedes shook off that thought, before it brought tears to her eyes. She decided to focus instead on how she would be able to get her baby. She didn't have a man in her life, but she didn't want to wait until she would automatically be considered high risk either. With a sigh, she pulled out her stationary and her lucky pen. She decided to make a list. First she listed what she would need to do to have a child. That was easy, she would have to go off her birth control and see her ObGyn. She pulled out her ultrabook, found his website and made the first available appointment. Then she added that to her calendar. She was sure that most people in her position couldn't even access their own calendars, but Mercedes had always been the type of person that even if she out sourced something, she still wanted to know how to do it. That was just good sense…and good business. With that settled, she moved to the hard part of the process. She knew she didn't want some strange dude's swimmers. She didn't even like shaking hands with somebody she didn't know, she did it because it was part of her job, but there was a reason her PA's bought wet wipes and hand sanitizer in bulk. She wasn't Ms. Pillsbury bad or even high school Rachel Berry level bad, but even if they were cleaned or whatever, the thought of stranger spunk still squicked her out…a lot. That meant that she would need to figure out which of her male friends she would ask. It took her an hour of weighing them all against each other to realize that she was handling this the wrong way. She figured out that the first thing she needed was to decide what traits she really wanted in the man whose DNA her child would share.

First of all she knew it had to be someone with the ability to sing. Someone she actually respected as a person. Nurture could only do so much part of being a good person started with that person's nature. She hoped for someone with other talents as well. Someone all around creative. Someone with determination in spades. Someone who had their intelligence in the areas she lacked. Mercedes was great with history and literature and even ethics and technology…but she was beyond a doubt hampered when it came to numbers unless they had dollar signs in front of them. She excelled at business math, but things like algebra and geometry stumped her. She didn't mind genetic foibles as long as they weren't the 'horrible, debilitating or fatal, lifelong illness, kind of genetic foibles. She thought for another long moment. As wrong as most people would say it was to even think, she kind of wanted a biracial child. She wasn't exactly 'color struck' or anything, she just loved the way they seemed to blend the best parts of both sides of their genetics. Plus she really loved the color of hazel that their eyes often were. Especially when you combined a true shade of green with brown. Suddenly Mercedes knew who she wanted to ask. She even admitted to herself that it had always been him. She'd only tried to imagine one of the others because she knew that this could prove life changing. Damn, a diva was going to have to pull up her big girl panties and figure out how she was going to manage this one.

Time passed. Mercedes had returned to the US. The appointment had happened. Her doctor was fully behind her and had even offered to prescribe Bravelle when she was ready to start actively trying. However, somehow Mercedes had still not managed to reach out to the person at the top of her list for prospective fathers.

New York, NY June 2, 2024

Sam Evans was damn near as happy as a tick on a hound dog. He had found his niche while living in the Hummel household his senior year. He'd been whiling away some time drawing, basically moping about being an idiot and trying to focus on at least one thing he was actually good at. Burt had taken one look at his stack of drawings, after politely asking permission of course, cause Burt was awesome like that; and told the teen that he was focusing on the wrong thing. Burt reminded Sam that his own success had come not because he was book smart, but because he was great with his hands. The older man had told Sam that he might find happiness on his own path, but he didn't seem to be destined to find it on the road most people followed. He'd asked Sam if he could show some of his pictures to a guy he knew, one of Kurt's birth mother's dearest friends.

Said best friend had ended up being Jim Lee. A man that Sam had loved since he was a child. A man who was considered to be one of the greatest comic book artists of all times. A man who would go on to become a mentor to Sam. He helped Sam get into a great art school. Sam just had to find the money to pay for it. He agonized for weeks, before he created an Instagram account; he'd deleted his in a fit of pique the year before; and looked up one of his old friends from Tennessee. Grant's father worked at Warner Nashville, so Sam used that connection to sell a song he had written during the time he'd spent in Kentucky after leaving McKinley the first time. It paid for his first year of school at Rhode Island School of Design. Every summer he would sell another piece or two of his pain, and every year he would find his expenses for the year covered.

After college he went on to intern at DC comics and slid into a job there after his internship ended. In the years since he has had a hand in the rebirth of some of his favorite series. Especially after the higher ups realized that Sam; while pants at actually, physically writing a storyline; was a truly gifted story creator. He now had his own staff that literally just turned his words into storyboards. He also had the most popular new comic series in the last ten years. He was professionally more successful than he'd ever dared to dream. He still sent Burt Hummel a gift every father's day in addition to his own dad. He had some great friends, some of them dating all the way back to his days at McKinley.

And yet, there was still something missing from his life. It wasn't something that he had to contemplate. It was a constant nagging feeling in his chest, somewhere in the vicinity of his heart. He knew exactly what…who it was. Despite his disastrous debacle of a relationship with Brittany his senior year, his heart was still yearning for Mercedes. He kept apprised of her life through their shared friends, but life hadn't really seen fit to let them cross paths again. When her douchebag of an ex had given that horrible interview, trying to put her on blast, Sam had made sure that the douche was passed over for the next three comic movies, DC or Marvel. When she had won her Oscar for her song in one of the Bond's films, Sam had sent her a bouquet of her secret favorite flowers. She always told people that she loved roses, and tulips, because those weren't as dearly priced…but once during their 'summer of lovin' she had confessed to Sam that she dreamed of the day that someone would send her purple orchids. So Sam had sent them to her to congratulate her. It could have served to bring them back into close contact again, except Sam had chickened out at the last moment and not included a card. He could only hope and pray that she knew who they were from.

Sam had tried dating in college. It never worked out. Most of the dates he went on were with girls his friends set him up with. Girls who were almost always 'textbook or society pretty' but so lacking in substance that he ended up finding them almost repulsive. He'd tried that thrice upon a time, and each and every time it cost him a lot more than he had to pay. Quinn cost him his ability to readily trust. Santana cost him his dignity at a time when that was pretty much all he had left. Poor Brittany, it was completely not her fault…it was his, but that relationship had cost him Mercedes' respect. He wasn't a saint. He was a man and men had more in the way of needs than most women. So once a month Sam would go on what he called a hunt. He would visit the clubs and find him a woman to take care of his needs. If she were short and curvy, well that was just fine with him. That they were almost all short and curvy was something he didn't often allow himself to wonder at the meaning of.

Lately he'd been thinking of Mercedes even more. It had been four months since he'd had any desire to go on a hunt. Four months since he realized that pretending those short, curvy girls were actually her just wasn't enough anymore and had probably never been enough. Instead he'd found himself taking a trip back to Lima, just for a visit…to reminisce a little, and he had seen her mother in the grocery store. They had had a great conversation and exchanged contact information. Dr. Jones wanted to include Sam on her Christmas card list. He'd even managed to find the testicular fortitude to tell her the let Mercedes know he said hello. Ever since that day at the Shop n Save in Lima, Ohio the name Mercedes Jones was even more firmly tattooed on his heart.

Over the last few weeks Sam had been getting more and more restless. So much so that he had managed to write fourteen songs in fourteen days. His friends Luke, Jason, Brantley and Jake were all swearing that they were going to thank him in their cover notes this time, whether he liked it or not. After all these years you'd think they would understand that his main job could be greatly impacted if the whole world knew that in his spare time he pulled out his old six string and wrote sappy country 'my love is gone' songs. Very few comic book geeks were even willing to give country a chance and most of them were as snobbish as they said the rest of the world was against them. If they knew he was the songwriter of some of the biggest country songs of the last decade, he would have to create a pseudonym before he'd have a chance of his next series being as big he knew it would be.

He shook off that thought before he started to mentally ramble out the story line. Instead he tied on his running shoes, and grabbed his phone, ipod and wallet and started stretching to get ready for his run. Running was a great way for Sam to clear his mind and organize his thoughts. Besides even if he'd been living in New York for years, there was still something that made him geek out about running through Central Park. He was half way through his run when he felt his phone begin to vibrate. He made his way off the pavement, and stretched to keep his muscles loose as he answered it. He was almost surprised to hear Artie's voice. "Man, tell me I'm your best damn friend in the whole world?" He crowed.

"Dude, kinda gave that one to Blaine a while back." Sam taunted back.

"Then get it back because that shit is mine from this moment forward." Artie laughed.

"Do I get to know why I'm changing best friends after over a decade?"

Artie voice took on the confident sound of a man who knew he had won. "Sure, I'm your new damn best friend because I just got off the phone with the insanely voluptuous, insanely talented, and if she hadn't been in love with your ass for the last dozen or so years would already be my damn wifey, Miss Mercedes Jones. She needed your number. She wants to reconnect with you. She called Puck first; he had your email but not your number. He had my number but not yours, but he knew I had ail of everybody's contact information, so he hooked her up with me, so that I could, in turn, hook her up with you. Especially since your ass has been pining for her as long as she has been for you." He groused. "Still don't know what that soulmate shit was with Brittany. That was the dumbest shit you ever did, what the hell made you think dumbing yourself down like that was the way to be with Britts. I dated Britts for a hot minute; I helped her to rise to her potential; I didn't revert to Sesame Street with her."

Sam sighed. "You've been wanting to say that for a while, haven't you?"

"For freaking ever dude." Artie chuckled. "By the way I'm sending out an email, so we'll all have everybody numbers. The phone tree shit is getting triff."

Whatever else he had to say was rendered unimportant to Sam, his call waiting was triggered and the number on the display started with 424. "Gotta go Art-Man…424, that's probably Mercedes now." Was all the good-bye Artie received and Sam was gone. Sam cleared his throat and tried for suave nonchalance as he clicked over. "Hello."

"Sam, good to hear your voice I hope that you don't mind me calling?" Mercedes voice conveyed her nervousness and apprehension.

"Well Mercedes Jones, as I live and breathe. I could never mind hearing your voice. In fact I pay good money to hear your voice on a damn near daily basis." He laughed, even as he mentally castigated himself so how stupid that sounded to him.

Mercedes musical laugh was a balm on nerves that Sam never even realized were irritated until they were soothed. "Boy, you still ain't quite right, even after all these years."

"And I take complete pride in that fact." Sam said confidently. "Took me a while, but I'm finally good just being me."

"I'm glad that you are happy." She whispered, her sincerity ringing clear.

"Are you? I mean are you happy Mercedes?" He asked quietly. He kind of figured that if she were, she wouldn't be calling him like this, but he really wanted her to be happy.

Mercedes sighed. She should have known that even after ten years Sam would still be as kind as compassionate as he often was…when he wasn't chasing Cheerio ass that is. "I am well, Sam. I reached my dreams. Everyday still seems like a dream most of the time. Sam I got to meet Aretha Franklin…I got to MEET ARETHA FRANKLIN!"

"I know that Darlin' and your song at her funeral was so beautiful. I cried like a damn baby." He admitted. "My moma and daddy did too." He tried to cover.

"Alright, we've gotta change the subject…I still cry when I think of her not being here anymore."

"Oh, Mercy, you have such a soft heart." Sam teased.

"Whatever, I'm hard." She challenged.

"Yup, just like a Fabergé egg." He retorted. "Beautiful, priceless, lots of sharp edges, and eggshell hard."

Mercedes chuckled but was unable to retort. Despite her best intentions, that unintended compliment made her heart skip a beat. For a moment she couldn't help but revel in the joy of just knowing that she was talking to Sam again. It had been far too long. "Congratulations on the success of your Batman reboot, Superman too." She finally settled for changing the subject to something much more innocuous.

Sam just moved on with her. "And you…congratulations on finally playing Maria. You were awesome and totally deserved that Tony. Oh, and all of the seventeen Grammys, the Oscar…all you need now it that ever elusive Emmy. I ain't even gonna start on the People's Choice and Kids' Choice, and MTV… that list just goes on and on. I will just say congratulations. You deserved each and every one of them."

"Well thank you for getting the ball rolling." Mercedes said softly. "I've said it before and I will say it again, I wouldn't be where I am if you hadn't believed in me."

"Yeah, thank you for mentioning me in your first Grammy thank you speech." He whispered. "It meant a lot."

"It was just the truth."

Sam started back for his apartment at a slow jog. "So Miss Mercedes Jones, what do I owe the honor of your call today?"

Mercedes sighed so deeply the breath must have originated from the very bottom of her toes. Finally in a rush she blurted out. "Sam, for the most part I've always respected you and now I have decided I want to have a baby, and I want you to be the father."

"Uh…" Sam gulped. "I've dreamed of this moment a million times, and I really never thought that that would be what you said." He babbled. "Oh, I mean, I meant that…"

"Sam, it's okay…you don't have to answer me now." Mercedes said soothingly. "Think it through. I know it's a big thing to ask. I didn't even ask if you were married, or involved with someone. It's just that when I was making out the list of all the things I wanted my baby to have things that he or she wouldn't be able to get from my genetics, or things that I wanted them to have that would strengthen what they would get from me…most of the traits were traits you have in abundance…so you're at the very top of my list of potential fathers."

"I'm flattered...I mean…it's just all so sudden," he stammered. "Wait, you made a list…never mind, I'm talking to Mercedes Ariella Jones…of course you made a list. Nice to see that some things remain the same."

"Oh shut it you…when one needs to organize their thoughts making lists can be very helpful." She said while three thousand miles away Sam mocked her, knowing her go to response whenever anyone teased her about her need to make list about everything.

"So…who else is on this list?" Sam asked teasingly.

He heard papers shuffle a little. "Well, Artie is actually next. Followed by Blaine…then Kurt…or Kurt then Blaine. With Puck/Jake after them. I kinda lumped them together…I mean I know that they are only half-brothers. But they both possess a good number of the traits on my list."

"Well if that's the case, I'm surprised Stevie isn't on your list." Sam said playfully.

Mercedes giggled. "No…just no. See in my head, Stevie is still like eight." She remarked. Of course then she had to find out how Stevie and Stacey were doing. Finding out that they were sophomores in college made her feel old. So she turned the discussion back to the men on her list of prospective fathers. After Puck/Jake, then I have a few of my friends from here. Finn is there, but he is more of an 'it would be awesome if I had a boy if he were tall. I would absolutely love to see if Blake would do it; technically he might actually be between you and Artie…but friend or not Miranda would probably kill me."

"Yeah, well, if you mean Blake Shelton, I imagine she would…you're talkin' 'bout sleepin' with her husband." Sam chided.

Mercedes laugh came over the phone as loud and boisterous as ever. "Sam, now you know, I wouldn't sleep with a married man…he'd just need a few minutes in a room at my doctor's office…and boom…I'm a mommy."

Sam shook his head despite knowing that she couldn't see him. "And is that how you plan on me being involved in this?" he asked quietly.

"Well, yeah. I mean I had assumed that if you said yes, I could fly you out and you could give a sample. Once the testing was done, you'd give enough for the IVF, and you'd be back to your life in two weeks tops." She said suddenly quiet. "I mean, I don't think Artie would have given me your number if you were married, no he'd have called you and maybe passed along my e-mail so you could see what I wanted without it impacting your relationship with your wife…but he wouldn't have given me the number."

Sam knew that Artie would still have given her the number. Because Artie knew that for even the smallest chance to be back with Mercedes, there wasn't a woman on this planet Sam wouldn't drop like a hot potato…unless they had kids. That might make a difference…yeah…he would stay with his wife and children…but they'd have to go the Disneyland or something on vacation for two weeks so that he could do this for Mercedes. "Darlin' if I agree to knock you up we'll be doing it the old fashioned way. Me and you, recreating those summer nights just without bothering with condoms or pills."

Mercedes shivered, she felt more desire in hearing Sam's heated words, and low, honeyed, thickly accented drawl than she had with any of her the seven lovers she'd been with since those summer nights Sam was talking about. "That might be fairly difficult…you live in New York, I live in LA." She final settled on talking about the logistics. She was, admittedly, too scared to even mention the emotions.

"DC has an office in Burbank." Sam said simply.

"But…but…But!" Mercedes sputtered.

"And if we do this I'll not just be a sperm donor…I'll be a Daddy to our little girl."

"Little Girl?" Mercedes heard herself ask.

"I always thought we'd have a little girl first. She'd have your beautiful eyes, and she'd be all girly and diva-y like you and Stacey. Hopefully she'll be taller than you because if she turns out to have your curves, I'm sending her to a convent 'til she's thirty…and not a progressive one either."

"Sounds like you've given this a lot of thought." Mercedes said. She would have been unable to stop the large smile that covered her face even if she had known it was there.

"Maybe…once or twice…a day…for the last ten or twelve years." He found himself admitting.

"Oh." She whispered.

This time Sam fell back on logistics. "Now, if Entertainment Tonight and the Insider were right, you finished up a yearlong international tour in March. Meaning the next March will be the earliest you even think about going on tour again. Only problem is that the earliest I can get out to LA would be the end of the summer, and that's if the mucky-mucks are willing to let me and my team transfer."

"Sam…I haven't…"

He cut her off. "Now, Mercy, look. I've done some stupid shit in this life, but there is nothing I regret more than letting you get away from me. If I had handled it better when you told me that you wanted me to enjoy my senior without trying to keep a long distance relationship on life support..." He said his voice quiet and intense. "I knew how selfless and, yes, how insecure you were. I should have realized that what you needed was for me to stand up for us. But honey, I've gotta say that I needed you to do the same. I kept scaling walls and you'd just throw up new roadblocks. I had fought for us, Darlin'. Seemed like I was always the one fighting for us to be together, and half the damn time I was fighting against you."

"I, I didn't think that was what I was doing. It just seemed like Quinn, Santana; like Brittany…she was what everyone would expect you to end up with." She whispered. "She was who you ended up with the second I left." She muttered under her breath.

"Everyone doesn't get to decide who the hell I loved. Who I still love. But I can't love you if you won't let me." He told her gently, ignoring the snide comment. He wanted to point out that it took her less time to hook up with Mr. Cocoa Babies, than it had for him to get together with Brittany, but Sam knew Mercedes well enough to know that that rebuttal would lead to a click and a dial tone. "My Daddy has always said that 'opportunity rarely knocks twice.' This call is a second chance to me…a second chance for us to make this work. I saw your Oprah interview, Mercy. You can't give anyone your heart, because the one beating in your chest isn't yours to give…just like the one in mine belongs to you. Always has, always will."

"But…"

"Mercedes, I'll put the ball in your court. If you want a baby by me…it won't be through In Vitro…it will be us. The two of us together, the way it probably should have been all these damn lonely years. The baby will have a mommy and a daddy…I've gotta add, who love each other. And eventually a brother or sister too, maybe more than that." Sam said intensely. "You let me know what you decide. I've been content without you, but I'm thinking that I might finally reach happy if we were together. I'm sorry, Darlin' but this time, I'm gonna need you to jump a roadblock for me."

This story will be posted in its entirety over the course of the next two weeks. Should you review a lot, we may be able to get that down to seven days.

Think about the gratification...LOL

TTFN
Anni