Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 31st cycle. Now cycle 32!
Hear that little bird twitter! Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!
"Some Things Remain"
Sam, the Evans family
It felt too true to say that this was the most exciting and uniting event to land in their life as a family in… a good while. But this was how things were at the moment, and so when he came 'home' to reveal he was going to prom, everyone suddenly looked invigorated.
It was hard not to get carried away with everything, but he knew they still had to be reasonable, which could be a problem, and he knew exactly where. He knew how much it was killing his parents to have him and his siblings go through all this, and this would lead to attempts to compensate, to bring them even a moment's joy, regardless of the fact they didn't have the means for it.
So before even telling his parents about the prom he ended up taking his brother and sister with him to go get his tux. He modelled each of the ones he chose as potential picks, which wasn't saying much with the selection at hand for the Rachel/Mercedes budget money, but he made it seem like much more to them. They showed themselves to have a lot of opinions to give on the matter. Stacey loved one, but Stevie would prefer another… When he found one that got both of them cheering he observed his reflection… This could do.
As they returned to the motel, the suit in hand, it couldn't really be a secret anymore. He told his parents about going to prom. They asked about his date, but he decided to leave out the part about having two of them, instead claiming without much second thought that her name was Mercedes Jones. They tried to ask more questions, but he 'shyly' played it off, taking them back around to the actual subject of prom.
He showed the suit and his mother – on sight – claimed it was too large, but said she could easily fix it. His father volunteered his good pair of shoes, knowing they fit. He also offered to cut his hair which, having a working memory that included the 'shear' madness of a haircut his father had given him the day before his tenth birthday, he cautiously declined. Still waiting on the suit, his father then quizzed him on his dance abilities, where hands did and didn't go… He could hear his sister giggling and though part of him was crumbling in embarrassment, another part was just glad for the bit of normalcy.
Finally though the suit was ready, and Sam went to put it on. Under the circumstances, with what she had at hand, it had turned out pretty good. He came out to show it to them, which could only lead to his mother breaking down and crying. "Mom, please…" he begged, hating to see her cry.
"I'm sorry, it's fine," she promised, shaking her head and wiping at her eyes. Stacey went up to her, holding on to her hand for comfort. "You just look so much like your father," she looked to her husband, and both he and Sam smiled identical smiles.
"Well for your sake I'm just glad you didn't inherit my dancing feet, too," Mr. Evans joked.
"No, those went to Stevie," Mrs. Evans carried that along.
"Hey!" he complained from his post on the bed, and his mother gave him a smirk.
"Where are you meeting this Mercedes? She's in Glee Club, right?" his father asked.
"She is," Sam confirmed with a nod. "Uh, at Breadstix, at the mall. We're meeting a couple others from Glee Club there, before we head to the gym."
"Well we'd love to meet her some time, that is, if you two hit it off…" Mrs. Evans explained, with that kind of mom curiosity that put fear in the hearts of teenagers.
"Did you go to prom together?" Stacey asked, still at her mother's side.
"Oh, no, she went with Davy Crockett," Mr. Evans spoke first, getting a look from his wife.
"It was Dave Croker," she corrected. "You're the one who went with Janice Dobbs."
"But I didn't leave with her, did I?" he smirked, and she softened. "And you didn't leave with Dave."
"Goes to show, it's not who you arrive with, it's who you leave with… Sometimes…" she looked to her daughter at her side.
"Whatever happened to old Dave?" Mr. Evans asked his wife.
"Last I heard he was living happily in San Antonio with the one he left prom with, Tom Wallace," she spoke evenly.
"Tom Wallace? Why is this the first I hear about it?" he asked, surprised.
"Didn't come up," she shrugged, trying not to look too amused by the stunned look on his face. Sam and the others had spent the time of this conversation looking from one parent to the other. Sam just smiled… For a few minutes, even after the story of Dave and Tom was done, they had left behind any and all worry… They were just a family, seeing their eldest son off to his prom… He couldn't have asked for more. Soon he was ready to go.
"Don't stay out too late, alright?"
"Yes, Mom," he promised as she fixed his collar, checked his hair.
"Be good to her."
"Mom…" She paused, smiling at him.
"Just… have a good time." He smiled back.
"I will, Mom."
THE END
A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!