A/N: The first 5 chapters of this story take place May 25, 2012, just after Mercedes Jones' graduation. Sam and Mercedes are excited about the upcoming summer and making plans to spend it together. Sam's parents, along with Mercedes' parents decide to have a frank discussion with their kids about the direction of their relationship, and the plans they are making.

This story will be told mostly told from Mercedes' and Sam's points of view using both first person narration and dialogue. The first two and last two chapters will include portions told from the perspective of the parents. Flashbacks like chapter 3 will occur often, and refer to Summer 2011. They will all we be written as narration, from an omniscient point of view (unless stated specifically).

I really would love to thank my beta reader, Ree. She really helped me write sentences that English-speaking readers could comprehend. Thank you, so much...You Rock!

Disclaimer: I do not now, nor do I ever claim ownership of Glee, its characters, or the way those characters are mistreated on television. I would never admit to being responsible for the hot mess my favorite show has become.

Mercedes POV:

Okay, so my parents have been gone since before 6 o'clock this morning. They woke me up, mentioned they had some friends from out of town flying in, and said they would be back after catching up over an early trip to IHOP. Then they suggested I call Sam and invite him over for breakfast, telling me they should be back by 9 am. I, Mercedes Jones, am not normally an early-rise, hop out of bed and get moving on Saturday morning type of diva; especially when I just graduated from high school two days ago, and would have sold my weave to sleep in. But any time spent in an empty house with Sam Evans is time worth waking up for. So I dragged my ass out of bed, called my boo, and went to work getting cute. By the time Sam arrived it was around 6:45. I had already taken the breakfast casserole from the oven, and was popping slices of bread into the toaster. I kissed his sweet face, and watched him go wash up so we could eat.

Over breakfast, Sam and I discussed our summer plans. Everyone we love knows how drama filled our relationship has been. We're the kind of couple that takes forever to get their act together, and just when things get comfortable... something happens to mess us up again. Last year Sam and I fought all summer long to spend time together. He was working 40-plus hours a week delivering pizzas to help his family, and was pretty much responsible for raising his younger siblings whenever he wasn't working. I helped out most days at my father's dental practice, and babysat for the Evans twins whenever Sam wasn't available. If you factor in the knowledge that our relationship was a secret, his family was living well below the poverty line, and we had very little privacy at all... it's a wonder we ever became a couple! Even worse was the fact that by August, Sam's family had moved to Lexington, Kentucky. When our relationship ended, we broke up over over the internet! This past year, we struggled to get back together just in time for me to leave the state! If it wasn't so frustrating, the situation would probably be funny.

It's pretty shitty that I have to leave September 4, the day before my 18thbirthday, to meet my new boss and sign the lease on my new apartment in LA. While it really sucks that Sam and I are gonna have to battle distance again soon, we're both pretty determined to make the most of the time we have left. Sam and I both plan to get as much couple time in as humanly possible over the next three months, with a few exceptions here and there. For instance, he's planning a visit to Lexington for a week to spend some time with his family. If we're lucky, it'll be the same week my family goes to Las Vegas on vacation. Sam is also pretty sure he will need to pick up a summer job so his parents don't have to send him money to live on here in Lima. But we both want to spend every other waking hour with each other to make up for the three months we'll have to spend apart before Thanksgiving.

Sam loves outdoorsy stuff, so he's actually planning on taking me hiking, camping, fishing, and swimming; he's even talking about helping my mama with her garden! As a rule, divas don't generally spend too much time doing things that will fuck up a manicure or a weave, but I trust Sam to keep me safe from any wild animals and help me avoid major injury… And I can always get micro-braids, or wear my natural hair afro-style this summer if it means I can join the fun. He also wants us to go see his family once or twice together, because I really do love them like my own. I miss them almost as much as he does.

Anyway, he's not off the hook, either.. I already told him he would be coming with me to the Jones/Harris Family Reunion this July. This year it was going to be held in Orlando, Florida, and will last for 4 days. I know Sam's gonna get a kick out of the basketball tournaments, touch football games, and relay races; but I'm also pretty sure he's gonna get sick of hearing "Who's the White Boy?" My family isn't racist, but there's no way any one of my relatives will want to try and think of another way to describe him; and lets face it, he is white…I'm also planning to do a fair amount of shopping this summer, like totally reinventing my look, so I expect him to accompany me on my mall trips whenever Kurt isn't available. I also hope we can spend some time working on our projects; maybe it's a little too much like school, but I love his artwork and the original music he composes. I'm taking a lyric writing seminar this fall and have to have some new material completed before it starts. The way I see it, if we work on our projects together, we might be able to sneak in a little smoochy time.

Sam and I both also want to revisit our old haunts from last year; the lake, the park, and the picnic site we found not far from his old motel where we could see every star in the sky. We both want to hang out with our Glee friends, too; partying as much as possible without all the secrecy this time. We also decided to try and get him a few gigs working weddings and bat-mitzvahs like he did 2 years ago. I would do the booking, organizing, and advertising; who knows? He might make enough to avoid delivering pizzas or cleaning pools all summer.

While I cleaned up the kitchen, Sam went to pick out a movie for us to not watch, and when I entered the den he had Obsessed playing. Ever since I told him I was gonna beat down the next Cheery-Ho who hit on him in my face like Beyonce did Ali Larter, the boy couldn't get enough of the fight scene in the movie. I side-eyed him but sat down with my legs sprawled across his on the couch. By the time Ali and Idris stood together in the elevator making small talk, the movie was pretty much watching us. I was straddling him with my hands tangled in his hair, he had his hands on my ass (such a booty man), and we were about to get into a pretty serious bout of tongue wrestling. Right when Sammy shifted to kissing my neck, we heard the doorbell ring. Wondering who would be making visits at 8:30 am on a Saturday morning, I got off of his lap and headed to the door while he stayed put and started reapplying chap-stick.

I opened the door and there stood my parents, and Sam's parents…smiling like someone was tickling them.

"Hershey Mercy!" Sam's dad Dwight yelled loud enough to wake up the whole neighborhood. He calls me that because he says that when Sam sees me, his eyes get all big and bright. According to Dwight,it reminds him of when Sam was a little boy searching for Hershey's kisses in his mama's purse. Now that I think about it, his nickname for me is a perfect way to describe Dwight; that man loves to flatter me while embarrassing Sam at the same time.

"Hey, Mr. Evans, what are you DOING here?" I exclaimed, giving him a kiss and laughing out loud when he picked me up and twirled me around.

"My name is Dwight, Hershey" he got right in my face and said "and you better remember it or else."

"Dad?"I heard a shocked Sam yell from the den, "what are you doing here, squeezing Mercy…Mom?"He ran over to give her a big hug. "Ya'll went to get my parents?" he asked my mom and dad over his mom's shoulder.

"Well, son if you and your daddy would let us out of the doorway, we would all come in and tell you what we're doing here,"Mrs. Evans laughed. "Look at the two of you!" She says as walked in, and looked Sam up and down "I can't say you ain't eating well, you look like you gained back every ounce you lost in Lexington."She turned to me "And Miss Mercy, I've been missing your smile for a year!"

"Thank you Mrs. Mary," I said, completely shocked. "I missed you too… so much!" I gave her a big hug and she kissed me on the forehead. We rocked back and forth for about a minute before separating. "And the reason Sam looks so well fed is because all our Glee friends fight over who can invite him over for dinner," I joked, going over to him and linking my fingers with his "and Sammy here is too polite to tell anyone 'no,' so some days he eats twice!"

My parents have been standing by the staircase watching this the whole time and my daddy finally spoke up, saying "Plus, Mercy has been baking him muffins and cupcakes every week since he joined that swim team…"

My daddy knows how much I like baking for Sam.

"...and to answer your question, Sam; yes, we picked them up from the airport this morning."

My mama looked at Sam and I holding hands, then peered over at Dwight. She turned her head to make eye contact with Mrs. Mary, who nodded her head, and my mama nodded back. After this suspicious nonverbal exchange, Mama placed her hand on my daddy's shoulder and stated, "We all wanted to have a chat with the two of you," she said "about your relationship and your plans for this summer."

Then my daddy looked at us and said "Please come with us into the dining room."

My mother grabbed Sam's hand as we walked into the dining room, and she and my dad led Sam to the head of the table and gestured for him to sit there. Sam's mom grabbed my right hand and led me to the foot of the table so that we faced each other from opposite ends. Mama then sat on one side of Sam while Daddy sat on his other side. Sam's parents sat on either side of me.

What the actual hell is this? An intervention?

Mrs. Mary gestured at Dwight to get on with it and asked "You ready to start, honey?"

I mean, it must be some kind of intervention, because the adults obviously decided beforehand what order they were gonna lecture us in…

"I guess we should just jump right on in to what we came here to talk about, and we all decided that I should go first." he started "Bent, Dani, Mary and I got to be real good friends last summer while you all were getting close, and we all got into the habit of talking just about every day."

Sam and I know his already.

"What ya'll didn't know is that we kept close even after we Evanses moved to Kentucky…"

What?

"…First thing we want ya'll two to know is how happy we are to see you two back together. Last summer SamCedes.."

Oh shit, who in the hell told them our nickname?

"..didn't get much time together but you sure made the most of it, from what we could tell. Sam, you were smiling' like a loony bird even in your sleep; getting off work all tired and smelly but beggin' me to extend curfew so you could go over and see Mercy or take her on a moonlit picnic. And that was just on the days she wasn't already at the motel when you got off…"

My baby is so cute…

"…Hershey, you were pickin up the twins from church camp almost every afternoon, takin' them to the park and the lake, feedin' 'em lunch and fixin' dinner for them. I know you love the twins, but don't think we didn't notice how happy you were to get your hands on Sammy when he got off work…"

…That Dwight is hella smart; he saw right through my ass last year! Oh well, it was all for a good cause… I mean, he was my secret boyfriend! We had to operate under the cover of darkness (and I really need to stop thinking like a comic book super villain)…

"…I'm not gonna lie, ya'll scared us gettin so close, so fast," Dwight continued "Both of ya'll have parents who married their high school sweethearts. We recognize that 'forever face' on you two…" he gestured between us with his fingers, "…and we just want you to know how we feel about you bein' so tight at such a young age…"

…Look at Sammy, getting all bowed up, ready to jump in and defend us…I guess he's feeling like it's us against the world..

"…Don't interrupt, son, we know ya'll were just having fun but we're here to tell you that this summer ain't gonna be like last year at all…"Dwight tells him.

…OH, HELL-TO-THE-NAW! What the actual fuck does that mean? They aren't gonna let us spend this time together? I can see Sam is scared, too…Are they gonna make Sam go to Kentucky? We have PLANS! I'm LEAVING soon! Don't they remember how hard it was the last time we were forced apart?

"…and; son, Hershey, I know I can speak for all the parents when I say it hurt us to the bone to see the two of you separated this past year, because neither one of you were happy at all without the other..."

You can say that again, Dwight.

"…that's why, Sam, when you wanted to come back to Lima; we went ahead and let you come. I mean, I don't know just who you thought you were foolin with that 'comin back to Lima for Glee club' nonsense…First of all, you spent most of last year tellin us how sick you were of Rachel and Finn…"

…That's my baby…

"…You told us you took an open-eyed nap every time they sung a duet together, and that you had to remind yourself to clap for 'em whenever they finished singing…"

…Damn, it's funny as hell when Sam says that shit..

"…You said Mr. Shuester must have been halfway to deaf, for lettin' Finn sing lead over Artie or Puck, and that Rachel could manage to screech like an owl on the final notes of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star…."

…see what I mean, funny as hell!…

"…You even made up a song called 'Why You Gotta Cry Every Time You Sing' and stood in the mirror practicing your Finn-face every time you sang it," Dwight started chuckling. "Ain't no way on heaven or earth you would put yourself through the torture of sittin' in the cab of a truck for four hours with Finchel…"

…now I know who told them our nickname…

"…unless you had something to look forward to once you got where you were goin. You hauled your keister all the way up the highway and left your family's home for Mercedes Jones and Mercedes Jones alone…"

…Now Sam is scared to death, because he knows I told my parents he came back for New Directions. I can see the wheels turning in his head, looking at my daddy and getting ready for some major league cock-blocking to start; but I'm not worried… I mean, he got back to town in December and we didn't even date until May…

"…and from what you two told me, ya'll had to spend most of this year apart, too; you only got it together in time for Prom…"

Now Dwight looks kind of sad.

…and Hershey's leaving for California in September. So really, the most time you two have to be a real couple is three months," Dwight finishes. "Actually, less than three months if Sam comes back to Kentucky to spend some time with us…"

Oh Hell!

Benton POV:

I'm in my dining room, sitting across from my wife, while Sam sits to my right and Danica's left. When Dwight starts talking about how this summer and last summer were gonna be different, I see Sam and Mercy shooting each other worried looks from across the table. I chuckle to myself because I can see the fear in their eyes as they try to figure out where Dwight's speech is going. Mercy has her hands on the table, picking at her nail polish, she's biting her lip, and I can see the hell-to-the-no look she gets in her eyes when she feels an argument coming on. Sam's ears are turning red, and when his dad starts talking about Sam's reasons for coming back to Lima, he shoots me guilty looks. I can tell he's sure I ain't gonna let him near Mercy alone again until she's 20. It's kind of fun messing with them; I'm sure these two have been making big summer plans and now they think we parents brought them together today to try to mess those plans up, but on everything, they got it all wrong… SamCedes, you don't know it yet, but we old folks are about to make your day!

~Flashback~

Dr. Benton Jones, DDS has a huge secret… he's tried his best to hide it from the world, but everyone who had ever met him knows that Mercedes Jones has had her dad wrapped around her short, brown fingers since the day she was born. Benton, like most fathers, loves his grown sons in the same way he loves Dwight Evans, or any of his frat brothers. Towards them, he feels kinship and camaraderie: a type of cave-man bro-love built on shared experiences and common interests. The all-consuming, protective love Dr. Jones has for his Baby-Girl, though, is a different animal altogether. Benton has always had an indescribable need to make Mercedes happy; quite simply, he would do anything for her. For instance, when Mercy was 7 years old, she demanded that her father take the training wheels off her Christmas bike. That day, Bent spent the most of the afternoon running himself ragged while holding onto the back of her bike so she wouldn't fall off. Another example would be the time, ten years later, when Mercedes cried because she lost the role of Maria in a school production of West Side Story. Bent took the next day entirely off work, and spent it with his daughter in their pajamas-watching musicals and singing all of the songs together. Benton always knows what will cheer his little girl up and he takes the job very seriously.

Bent is proud of his kids … He and Danica raised Mercedes and her brothers Marcus and Matthew to the best of their abilities, trying to teach them right from wrong while providing a loving and happy home. Danica and Bent didn't want to raise spoiled kids, but wanted them to grow up grateful for everything they had, so the elder Jones' tried hard to strike a delicate balance: they made sure to reward the kids for good behavior, while also instilling discipline. As a result, the Jones children were active in church, made good grades, and respected their parents; they were kind, generous and loving. Bent and Danica were proud, but they had no clue how good a job they had done on their daughter though, until last year when they watched Mercy's relationship with Sam unfold.

Last May, Benton had listened as Mercy explained to the elder Jones couple about their "Prom on a Budget," and how she and Rachel were making their own corsages because the boy taking them couldn't afford to buy any. He had watched as Mercedes took the trouble to find a perfect pale pink rosebud the color of Rachel's dress, and tied it with a ribbon the same color as her own dress to make a boutonniere for Sam. Benton had taken pictures of the two teens smiling and posing, then listened in shock as his daughter explained that they were walking to Breadstix. Bent knew his daughter hated getting sweaty, he wondered why she would agree to something so out of character as walking half a mile in a dress and heels to meet the other half of their group date. When Sam walked her to the door after prom, Benton watched from the open window of his study and chuckled at his daughter's antics; his little girl had one hand on her hip, and was pointing a finger of her other hand in Sam's face. Bent gasped for breath, laughing when he realized Mercy had just DEMANDED that the tall teen call her if he needed help with school or babysitting his younger siblings. After Mercedes went in the house Benton kept watching, and saw the laughing blond boy lean against the side of the house and wipe tears of mirth from his eyes, obviously tickled pink at Mercy and her diva-esque ways.

Benton had also observed as Mercedes took it upon herself to make life in the Evans motel room happier. She brought baked goods over every Saturday morning so she could take Stevie and Stacie on a "muffin-hike" through the park. The teenager and the twins would munch on goodies and talk while letting the crumbs fall to the ground for the birds and squirrels to eat. She also picked the twins up every Sunday afternoon and brought them to the Jones home so they could each pick and watch one movie from her extensive Disney collection. Mercedes loved the kids, wanting to help them get out of the motel. She also was aware that the weekly mini-marathons allowed Dwight and Mary time to rest up for a long week of job-hunting. Eventually, Sam became a regular on these field trips, as well, and Benton had watched as Mercedes added Indiana Jones: TOD and Return of the Sith to the movie rotation. She even organized "Lady Days," where she, Danica, Kurt, Santana, Tina, Quinn and Brittney got rid of the male Evanses and brought every beauty supply known to man over to the motel so they could pamper Mary and Stacie.

There was no denying how generous that daughter of his was, so all four parents were determined that she get her reward this summer.

~End Flashback~

…when Dwight starts talking about the kids' relationship and how we all saw it unfold, I had to ask myself what my hopes are for these two. I met my wife in high school and we've been together ever since, so I know you can love your first love forever. I ain't even gonna lie, though, and say I hope that the kids fall in line and do the same thing we did. Don't get it twisted, I love Sam, and want him for my son-in-law one day; but these two have a chance to be kids for the first time in a long while and I want them to jump on it. Baby Girl has a lot of talent, and now is the best time for her to develop it and use it. I'm worried that if Sam and Mercy get it in their fool heads to get married next year or something, they'll be on the baby-and-family train with a quickness, and I wanna see Mercy get her Grammy! I want them to go to college, have fun, go to parties, make non-couple friends, and learn how to be grown WITHOUT all that responsibility.

Danica and I were apart for almost 4 years while I was in the Army, stationed in Georgia, while she was still in high school. I remember missing her every day, dreaming of her every night, getting letters from her every week, and seeing her on every leave. That was the hardest damn thing I ever had to live through, but I remember when I was discharged; the only thing I could think of was picking up my lady and driving as fast as I could to the courthouse because I knew she was it for me for the rest of my life…. That kind of certainty held me down during those times when arguments got bad and life got hard, because I knew how bad life was without her.

Sam's folks, Danica, and I all agree that we see the "future" face creeping on the kids, and I'm hoping a lot of that has to do with them being so grown-up last year. I mean, who wouldn't start to think and feel like an adult when you basically act like an old married couple already? I think that a summer of acting like kids and having fun might be just the thing to make them see how big a mistake growing up so fast can be…Uh-Oh Dwight just got through scaring the kids up, now it's my turn to give them the good news!