Authors Note: Hey guys this is my first story so I hope you enjoy. This is going to be canon through season 2, and then AU after that. Sam never came back to McKinley though Mercedes did date Shane. Please give ALL the feedback!

Also I own nothing cause if i did Samcedes would have been together long ago.

It had been a grueling day at the studio but Mercedes Jones was finally happy with the final track on her debut album. Sure there was still months of production ahead, and she was sure the label would demand some large last minute change just like they always do, but for today she was done and that was a good feeling. Walking down Third Avenue on her way to the tiny lower east side apartment that she shared with Kurt, she couldn't help but smile. For once in her life everything seemed like it was falling in place. She was doing what she loved and the public was buzzing with anticipation for her first single, her best friend was about to marry his high school sweetheart now that marriage equality existed in all 50 states, and her linebacker boyfriend was about to be traded to the Giants so they could finally be in the same city again after a painful year of long distance.

Shane had been her rock during those days of sending out demo tapes, being laughed out of offices because she so called "didn't match the image the label was trying to portray". Industry lingo for being a little too fat and a little too black for anything mainstream. Sure he was absent a lot between practices, training, and games, but she didn't mind it as much. He always made time to lend her an ear and she found comfort in his friendship. Well more than friendship. They had been dating for six years now since right before their senior year of high school. He was a constant in her life, as guaranteed as the sun rising the next day and she needed that kind of security in her life. Their love might not be as passionate, or heart-pounding as others may have been, but perhaps that was all overrated. She had only experienced that breathtaking kind of love once in her life and when he walked out she never thought she would be whole again. Shane had put her back together and she would always appreciate him for that.

It was his fault that she had needed to be put back together at all. Making her fall in love with him only to take it all back the moment he had an out. She had forgiven him a long time ago. Accepting the fact that she hadn't been enough to hold on to something so perfect. It had been a fairy tale that she would always treasure, but this was the real world. Mercedes stopped abruptly in the middle of the block shutting her eyes tight trying to push him out of her mind. It was becoming a rare occurrence for her to think about him, but when she did the affect was always the same. Her heart would race as her breathing became shallow. She could almost taste their last kiss on her tongue. It had been different than all their previous ones, saltier from the tears that ran down her face as he said goodbye.

"Don't think about him. Don't think about him. That was six years ago. Get a hold of yourself girl." Mercedes repeated this in her mind over and over again almost as though it was a spell that could banish him from her thoughts once and for all. Frozen for a minute until her breathing returned to normal she opened her eyes and gasped at the sight before her. It was the same bus stop she passed by everyday on her way home but the poster had been changed. She closed her eyes again and shook her head convinced that she had finally pushed herself a little too far and had godammed lost her mind. But as she slowly opened them again, terrified with what she was confronted with the same poster. The same green eyes staring back at her. She walked closer to the bus stop and touched the glass casing to confirm once again that it wasn't all in her mind. There he was in full color. The same man she had been trying to push out of her mind. Sam Evans looking even better than the day she last saw him (though how that was possible she didn't know, a deal with the Devil it had to be). He was smiling that same goofy boyish grin he always wore, but his eyes held wisdom in them that hadn't always been there before. His hair was shorter (thank god!), and a little darker from all the disuse of lemon juice, but there was no mistaking any of it that was definitely her Sammy.

"Well I guess he hasn't been my Sammy in a long time, if he ever really was." Settling her thoughts she finally read the caption.

Friday, September 16th 3:00PM

Come on Down to Midtown Comics for a Signing with Marvel's very own Samuel Evans Current Author/ Artist for "The Amazing Spider-Man Generation X" while he unveils his new original series "Banshee"

Sam Evans was going to be in New York. Sam Evans would be in her city, next to her studio. Did he remember her? Did he think of her? Would he even want to see her after all this time? They had been friends once but could they be ever again?

"I need Kurt. And a drink." She said aloud as she raced the final two blocks home, her smile faded and replaced by panic.