Yay Samcedes Christmas Week! This is my submission for I'll Be Home For Christmas! Please forgive any and all spelling and grammar mistakes and I hope you enjoy!

10:59pm - Christmas Day

She was speeding. No not speeding, breaking every traffic law known to man, but she didn't care. She had to make it on time, she promised him, she just had to!

1 Week Earlier

"So when will you be back?" Sam asked Mercedes as they packed her suitcase together.

"My flight leaves at 6pm on Christmas Eve." Mercedes replies with a reassuring smile.

"So, you'll be home to spend all of Christmas Day with me?" Sam asks trying to mask his anxiousness.

"Yes Sam I'll be home for Christmas, I promise." This wasn't their first Christmas together as a couple but I was their first in a place of their own. After Sam decided to give up modeling he went back to Lima to figure out what his next move would be. That move came in the form of a fellowship opportunity to get his teaching certificate for free in Illinois. All he had to do was move to Chicago for 3 years and teach in a local school to pay back the cost of his certificate.

Mercedes and Sam got back together about a year into his fellowship. She decided since she could record from anywhere she would move to Chicago to be with him. Now 2 years later Sam has found a permanent teaching position and he and Mercedes, who were living in separate apartments close to each other, decided to move in together. Sam was so excited to put up the tree and decorate the whole apartment, he had a chronological list of what they were going to do and when on Christmas Day.

Now all of his plans were possibly in danger and all because Mercedes' sister-in-law went into labor 2 weeks early. It's not that he wasn't happy her brother was about to become a dad, but come on, did Mercedes really have to be with them? Couldn't she wait until the New Year to see the baby? He knew he was being selfish, so he kept his mouth shut and kept his protests to himself. Well mostly, if pouting could talk Mercedes ears would be bleeding. She understood that he was upset but she had to go and be with brother. She and her brother made a promise to be there for the birth of each other's children so she had to go, no matter how pitiful Sam's puppy dog face looked.

"You can always come with me you know; I'm sure they can make room for one more in the waiting room." Mercedes offers for what feels like the millionth time. She knows he'll say no but she has to try.

"No, I don't want to crowd the family moment, I'll just hold down things here and make sure everything's ready for when you get back. Plus I'm pretty sure your dad is still mad about the whole 'us living together unmarried' thing, so I don't want to take the chance." That gets her to laugh and slightly stop feeling guilty about the whole situation.

"Sam I know you're upset about me leaving so close to Christmas but thank you for being such a good sport about all of this." Mercedes said taking Sam's hand and sitting on his lap.

"I'm sorry I've been such a grumpy-pants, I just don't want you to go. This is our first Christmas together in our own place. Even though it's weird not to be with our families I was hoping to spend as much time together before New Year's as possible." Sam was referring to the fact that Mercedes was booked to sing in Times' Square on New Year's Eve and from there she was booked through the first 3 months of the New Year. They made plans and dates to spend time together so they wouldn't be apart the whole time but it would be a large chunk of not being in the same city. They used to be worse at long distance but Sam would like to think they're better now.

"I know the next few months are going to be hard; it's the first time we're going to be apart since I moved here but I need to promote my new album…"

"You can totally do that from Chicago, Skype is awesome you know; you can do tele-concerts from the living room and interviews right from the computer…" Sam trails off in a semi-joking manner.

"You want me to promote my 3rd album from the comfort of home? Wow you'll so thoughtful baby I don't know why I didn't think of that before!" The sarcasm wasn't lost on Sam. "I get it; in the past long distance didn't work too well for us but, keeping me locked up and always within a 1 hour radius isn't going to solve anything. We're stronger now; we've been together, uninterrupted, longer. We know that my job will include extensive travel for me; so this will, hopefully, be the first of many tours for me…" The sad look on Sam's face made Mercedes want to stop but she had to get him to understand where she was coming from. She lifted his chin so he would look into her eyes. "I want you to know that I wouldn't go if I wasn't absolutely positive that we survive any and every trail our relationship goes through. I think the question we need to ask ourselves is how will we know that we can survive if we never try?" He looked un-convinced but he knew that if he tried to keep her he would only bring resentment. He had to let her go and be the star she was always meant to be and he had to have faith that she would come back to him and they would remain strong in their love.

"I love you, you know that right?" He said bringing his lips to hers.

"Of course, I love you too and I promise I will be home for Christmas." She replied against his lips.

11:30pm – Christmas Day

Mercedes wasn't the type of person to make promises she wasn't 100% sure she could keep, so she didn't hesitate to make that promise to Sam just one week ago. She made sure to book her flight early; she had the ticket on stand-by for months for when she needed it. This should've been a piece of cake; her sister-in-law gave birth to a healthy baby girl and after a 2 day stint in the hospital, mom and baby were resting comfortably at home. That gave Mercedes just enough time to hang out with her family, coo over the baby, dodge question about when she's going to get married and have babies, have and early Christmas gift exchange/dinner, pack up and get back home to her honey.

That was the plan, and it was a great plan, until the snow storm; the one that start about 20 minutes after she got the hospital and kept raging intermediately throughout her entire stay. The same storm that was grounding all flights throughout the eastern seaboard; why did her brother have to stay in Lima, why couldn't he move somewhere without snow? She had spent no less than 6 hours in the airport on standby praying that a plane, any plane, would leave this airport and get her as close to home as possible.

It was her mother that finally convinced her to go home and get some rest. She called Sam practically in tears to tell him she wouldn't make it before Christmas but promised that she would be home before Christmas was over. By 4 o'clock the next day she was tired of waiting and decided she would rent a car and make the 6 hour drive back to Chicago. She knew once she got home she would only have 2 Christmas hours to spend with him, but that was ok, as long as she got to see Sam then it would be worth it.

What she didn't know was that it would take an hour to get a rental car and another hour just to get to the interstate. Once she was on the highway it was smooth sailing; except for the fact that she wouldn't get home until the next day but, smooth sailing none the less. Sam thought she was crazy for driving and made that view known every time he called her, which was every hour on the hour, just to make sure she was okay and to once again try to convince her to pull over and get a hotel until morning. She refused him every time; she made a promise and she was going to keep it.

1 Week Earlier

"Mercy I'm so glad you came. How was your flight?" Her mom asked as soon as she saw her in the airport. Mercedes insisted that she could just rent a car and drive herself to the hospital but her mother was having none of it. She waved off her daughter protest and demanded she be the one to pick her up and escort her 'big Hollywood star' around the city.

"It was good mom; how's everything at the hospital am I too late did I miss anything?"

"Except a grown man crying like a baby every time his wife squeezes his hand…? No you didn't miss anything, nothing at all." Her mother answers with a laugh as she leads Mercedes to baggage claim.

"How long has she been in labor?"

"Well what time is it…?" Her mother looks at her watch. "1 o'clock…so about 10 hours…" her mother shrugs like she's still calculating in her mind.

"1 o'clock…? I have 12 on my watch…" Mercedes asks confused. She got any things from her mom; her cheekbones, her smile, her laugh and her need to wear a watch everywhere. Her mother was a nurse so she wore it to work every day and that grew to her wearing it every day whether she had to work or not. She had a theory that a good watch was the best accessory to any wardrobe. "Stupid time zones I'm going to have to change this thing to Lima time because I cannot look at the wrong time my whole stay." She finishes as she begins to set her watch to the correct time.

"Don't forget to set it back before you go home." Her mother stresses as he grabs her suitcase off the carousel.

"I won't mom!" Mercedes said exasperated with a roll of her eyes. Who did her mother think she was?

12:01am – The Day After Christmas

She didn't make it; disappointment wasn't even an accurate word to describe how she felt. She should've left earlier; she shouldn't have stayed so long, hell she should've just stayed home with Sam and seen the baby after Christmas. Not only was she too late to spend Christmas with Sam, she was too late by a mere 2 minutes. All she had to do was drive a little faster and she could've at least given Sam a Christmas kiss; but no…all she had to look forward to was the disappointed face of her boyfriend.

"I am so sorry I'm late, I know you wanted to spend the whole day together but we still have a week until New Year's Eve and I promise you…" Sam could Mercedes ramblings off with a kiss before he grabbed her luggage and led her out of the doorway of their apartment.

"Baby clam down, I'm not mad…" He tries to assure her but she is lost in her own world.

"…of course you're mad! I ruined everything. Part of me wants to blame on my brother's kid but she's innocent in all of this; it's not her fault she came 2 weeks early. Well actually I guess it kind of is…" Mercedes trails off contemplating her last statement. Sam grabs her by the shoulders and shakes her until she's paying attention to him.

"Mercedes…! I am not mad in fact you made it just in time."

"What are you talking about 'just in time' Sam I missed our first Christmas in the new place together. I should've rented the car when they cancelled all the flights on Christmas Eve…" Why wouldn't she just listen to him; if she kept cutting him off he would never be able to finish what he wanted to tell her.

"Baby, we live in Chicago and you just came from Lima…" Sam said trying to get her to follow him…she didn't.

"I know that…" She didn't want to seem condescending but, him stating the obvious wasn't going to help the situation at all. Sam was growing flustered with her nothing getting him so he decided to try another tactic.

"Cede do you know what time it is?" Mercedes looks at him like he's crazy. Why should she care what time it was? No matter what the time was it wasn't the day she needed it to be.

"No, my phone died an hour and a half ago and looking at the clock while I was driving was making me feel worse so I covered car clock. I'm not sure why this matters…"

"How about your watch what time does that have?" Sometimes Sam would ask random questions that she wouldn't understand but by the end of his questioning she would realize it was all for a reason she couldn't see when he first started talking. She figured if that was what was happening right now then she would just follow through in the hopes of finding understanding on the other side. She looked down at her watch and noticed that it had the exact time she thought it was.

"According to my watch the time is now 12:03, the day after Christmas. Why does this matter?" Mercedes was trying to calm down but her frustration was starting to get the better of her.

"No, it's not." He said as he started to look around the living room for something.

"Not what…? Sam what are you talking about…?" She trailed off as she looked at the phone he shoved into her face. What she saw made her eyes start to water. She had traveled from Lima to Chicago, from Ohio to Illinois and from Eastern to Central time. That means that she gained an hour. That means that it wasn't 12:03am the day after Christmas but instead 11:03pm Christmas Day or evening rather. "I made it…" She tearfully replies in light of the new revelation.

"Yes, yes you did, even though it's not the whole day and hour is better than nothing. Merry Christmas baby..." Sam said as he leaned down to kiss her, deeper this time.

"Merry Christmas Sam…" She couldn't believe that she had actually made it; a little late but hey better late than never.

"So since we only have a little less than an hour that gives us enough time to open presents, look in our stockings and get in at least 2 Christmas quickies before bed. We can do the rest of the stuff on the list tomorrow." That just made Mercedes laugh through the tears she was trying to wipe away.

"I love you Sam." She said with a shake of her head. She looked down at her watch resetting it to the right time as Sam ran over to the tree to get the gifts for them to open. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of him and his eagerness. "Stupid time zones…"

Hope you enjoyed it and Merry Christmas!