"Hey blondie!"

Sure, there were a lot of blonde people in the hallway, but Sam was used to the nickname so he automatically turned when it was called out. He didn't have time to register the vaguely familiar voice, or that it was laced with rage, or even the large, black fist coming towards his face, until it was too late. He found himself lying on the floor, blood seeping out his nose, running between his fingers, getting all over the letterman jacket he just got.

"What the hell?" Sam yelled, jumping up to face Shane, his blood boiling. He shoved the huge bulldozeresque jock, leaving two bloody handprints on his jacket. "What was that for?"

"Don't play dumb, blondie," the jock said with a sneer. "I heard you was mackin on my girl." He shoved back, and Sam went sprawling into the lockers behind him. Well, his size certainly wasn't misleading as far as his strength went.

"We just sang together," Sam sneered back, wiping his nose with the back of his hand, that came back bright red. Shane couldn't possibly know about the kiss, the only people there were the band geeks, and they were loyal… weren't they? "That's what we do in Glee, we sing, dumbass."

"Well I never heard of no singing that involved tongues in someone else's mouth," Shane shot back, fisting his hand in the collar of Sam's jacket.

"You got it all wrong dude." At least Sam could say that with complete honesty. There were no tongues involved, just a simple touch of lips—god how he missed those lips—and that was it. Hell yeah, he'd wanted more, but that was going to have to be Mercedes' decision. Sam had been hurt too badly by cheaters before; he wasn't going to be that guy. "But I should let you know, I'm not going to stop fighting for her unless she tells me to." By now a substantial crowd was gathering in the hallways, it wouldn't be much longer before a teacher came to break it up.

"Well I guess I'm just gonna have to take you outta the picture then." Shane flung Sam across the hallway, slamming him into the lockers on the other side. With an enraged yell, Sam went at him with his head down, catching the football player's substantial gut with his shoulder and ramming him into the lockers. He felt a pounding blow to his kidney once, twice, then he was tossed to the ground, his hip jarring painfully. The giant was already on top of him, his leg raised up to crush him. As it came down, Sam quickly rolled to the side, and Shane's foot rolled off of him, throwing Shane onto his knee with a sickening crunch. He cried out in pain, clutching his knee to his chest.

"Oh, hell to the no!"

God, how Sam loved that voice. The strength and passion that was always present in it, the 'take no prisoners' attitude. "Somebody best tell me what the hell is goin on here," Mercedes said, glaring down at the fallen boys with both hands on her hips.

"Your boyfriend jumped me," Sam said. The blood from his nose was running thick and hot down the back of his throat, and he spit some out onto the floor.

"Shane, you better have a damn good explanation for making my friend bleed." Sam loved her that much more for not even doubting his words. She knew he would never lie to her.

"He kissed you," Shane hissed out between clenched teeth. Sam wanted to laugh out loud at how pathetic that sounded, except for the fact that it was true.

"First of all, that's a lame ass excuse if I ever heard one. Secondly, no he didn't. I kissed him. He was the perfect gentleman who told me we couldn't do that anymore unless I broke up with you."

Just then the sea of students parted, leaving one Sue Sylvester in its wake.

"Aretha, why are your boys getting blood all over my shiny floor?"

"Sorry Ms. Sylvester."

"You better be. Love triangles give me ulcers. Get your boyfriend out of here, I'll deal with the other one." Shit, Sam was not looking forward to dealing with Sylvester right now.

"Yes ma'am. Sam, let's go." The blonde was confused. Sue said boyfriend and she… Mercedes was choosing Sam… She was finally choosing him!

Shane, who was already starting to get up to go with Mercedes, dropped to the floor with a startled, "What?"

"You lost any chance you had with me by going after my friends," Mercedes explained, glaring down at him and shaking her finger. "We're done. Sam?"

"Yeah, coming!" He wasn't trying to look smug, but he couldn't help the huge smile from spreading across his face. He hobbled along beside Mercedes as she led him towards the large girl's bathroom where they usually perform slushee recovery.

"You look like hell." Once they were away from the main hallway, Mercedes stopped and turned to face him. "I hope getting the shit kicked out of you was worth it."

"I got you out of it, so yeah, it was."

She tried to hide her smile, but the corners of her mouth tipped up just so, and her eyes sparkled. "You're a fool."

"If I wasn't afraid that you would just punch me in the nose again for getting my blood on you, I would kiss you right now."

"You know me too well." Mercedes smiled up at him, then tugged on his collar, bringing him down to her level so she could kiss him on the forehead, the only part of him currently unscathed. "Now, let's go get you cleaned up, and we'll see if there's more where that came from." The diva turned and walked away, and Sam followed her unquestioningly.

Totally worth it.

oOo

A/N: In my head, Shane's knee injury was so bad he couldn't play football anymore, so Beiste put Sam back on the team, and Finn got another shot with the recruiters. Happy endings all around :) Except for Shane, but nobody likes him.