Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters, nor do I own She Was by Jason Jones or James Cameron's Avatar. All rights go to their respective owners.


Chapter 1

"Don't look now, but I think that blond guy is checking you out." Quinn whispered as she and Mercedes stood in line for the vending machine.

Mercedes had been vacantly running her fingers through her hair and smoothing down the ruffled flare of her dress. They were at the National Show Choir championships, and emotions were running high. New Directions had made it to Nationals and had even cracked the top 10, but now, on the second day of competition, the cracks had started to show as the pressure to win a trophy their senior year kicked into overdrive.

Mercedes and Quinn had gone in search of a vending machine, arguing that they needed to get Quinn's blood sugar level up if they wanted her to be at her best for that day's performance, but really they'd just been desperate to get out of the dressing room. Everyone's nerves were on edge, and Rachel's high strung outbursts and 'helpful pointers' to her teammates had an already riled up Lauren ready to kill her, while Santana had been shooting the brunette murderous looks and muttering darkly to herself in Spanish all day.

The soul sisters had taken one look at each other and known that they needed to get out of there before their heads exploded from the tension. Quinn had decided that she really was thirsty, so they'd searched until they'd found a vending machine without too long a line and waited patiently for their turn.

Show choirs from all over the country had come together for the competition, and there were hundreds of them milling about the hotel. It seemed like every corner the girls had turned around hid a group of teens clustered together in elaborate costumes. One guy had even been dressed as a giant piñata - neither Quinn or Mercedes had been able to figure that one out.

'He's probably looking at you, Q.' Mercedes insisted bringing her focus back to Quinn's comment. She didn't turn around - with a best friend who looked like Quinn she was used to having guys look at them, it was just that they weren't usually seeing her.

'No!' Quinn corrected in a hushed whisper, 'He's definitely looking at you. He hasn't taken his eyes off you this whole time!'

Quinn's green eyes were bright with conviction, so Mercedes humoured her and turned to look in the direction her friend was looking in.

'And he's cute,' Quinn added, 'even if he is wearing a bolo tie.'

Mercedes rolled her eyes and shot the blonde girl a chastising look over her shoulder.

'There is nothing wrong with a bolo tie, Quinn.'

Quinn laughed softly and shook her head.

'I know you don't think so, Miss Secretly addicted to Country Music.'

Mercedes blushed at her friends gentle teasing and bit her lip.

'I like their accents.' She corrected, 'and it can be just as lyrical or melodic as any other genre.' Mercedes added half-heartedly, knowing that she and her best friend had had this conversation many times before and would no doubt have it again.

'I don't know why, but they kinda remind me of something, like someone I knew a long time ago but forgot….'

A faraway look creased Mercedes' brow before a nudge from behind urged her to move up in the queue and distracted her.

'Ok, so which one is he?' she asked Quinn as the two of them shuffled closer to the head of the line. Mercedes turned her head to look for the blond boy again, but didn't know which one Quinn meant, she could see a lot of teenagers, but Quinn was taller and had a better vantage point than she did.

'That one.'

Quinn pointed as discreetly as possible to a tall, blond boy in a fancy white and black cowboy shirt and a bolo tie. He was clutching a black Stetson in his hands and was passing the brim through his fingers absently as he looked intently in their direction.

Quinn was right, the guy was cute, and from the way that shirt fit him Mercedes was willing to bet that he had the body of a Greek god hidden away under there. Still... she wasn't sure what it was, but something about the boy seemed… familiar somehow. But she couldn't know him, Mercedes told herself with an imperceptible shake of her head. He looks like that, she theorised, andshe was pretty sure she wouldn't have forgotten a face like that… and yet...

Quinn moved to the head of the queue and the movement pulled Mercedes' attention away from the boy with the bolo tie. The girl's short blonde hair flipped forward as she bent to retrieve her drink before she straightened and threaded her arm through Mercedes', leading her away from the machines.

They didn't want to go back to the tension pit that was their dressing room just yet, but Mr. Schue was on a responsibility kick and they knew they'd need a good reason if they wanted to justify taking any more time than they already had.

'You should go talk to him.' Quinn prompted, giving Mercedes a little shove in the blonde's direction. 'He's probably nice, and it would mean we wouldn't have to go back to the rest of the glee club just yet.'

Mercedes shook her head against the suggestion, her dark curls bouncing about her shoulders as she tried to ignore Quinn's beseeching wide eyes.

'Mercy...' the girl purred, her husky voice low and entreating as she tried to change her stubborn friend's mind.

'No.'

Mercedes was not going to be swayed, no matter how far her best friend stuck out her bottom lip.

'Merce...' Quinn said again, her voice even more coaxing this time as she gently draped an arm around Mercedes' shoulders and half turned her back towards the boy in the bolo tie.

Mercedes could just about make him out in her periphery, and she couldn't help but glance back at him over her shoulder. His eyes were still on her and their gazes met with all the inevitability of a lock sliding into place. The corner of the his mouth lifted in a crooked grin and Mercedes found herself returning it, smiling sweetly back at him as her body reacting with a familiarity that it shouldn't yet possess. Within seconds the boy was standing in front of her, looking awkward as hell as he smiled down at her, his hands dancing around the brim of his cowboy hat.

'Hi,'

Mercedes blinked up at him and smiled back.

'Hi.'

'I'm Sam.' He offered, subtly wiping a sweaty palm on his dark jeans before he held it out to her. 'Sam I Am, and I do not like green eggs and ham.'

'Oh wow.' Quinn breathed, watching their interaction from where she had been apparently forgotten at Mercedes' side. 'Absolutely no game.'

She shook her head and then watched with a mix of horror and confusion as Mercedes let out a genuine giggle in response to Sam's dorky comment. Unbelievable, Quinn thought, her eyes glued to her best friend as if seeing her for the first time, who'd have thought?

'I'm Mercedes.' The raven-haired girl volunteered as she took hold of Sam's hand and shook it, her small fingers almost disappearing inside his large calloused palm .

'Nice to meet you, Mercedes.' Sam's thumb stroked the back of the girl's small hand instinctively as he held it in his own.

'You're in the competition?' he queried, as he let go of her hand, his brow wrinkling as he looked at her expectantly. Mercedes just nodded; Sam's deep, melodic voice and Southern drawl were distracting her. Something about the combination was making the hairs on her arms stand up, and it wasn't just attraction either, there was just something about this boy.

'Yeah, we're in the New Directions. From Ohio.' Quinn interjected and Mercedes shook her head at her own lack of manners.

'I'm sorry,' she apologized to both blondes, 'this is Quinn, we're both in the McKinley show choir, from Ohio.'

Sam smiled politely at Quinn and shook her hand, introducing himself as simply 'Sam' this time.

'So where are you from, Sam?' Mercedes asked with interest, cocking her head to one side and fixing her dark brown eyes on him.

'Jackson, Tennessee.' Sam's own green eyes seemed to sparkle as he looked at her. 'I'm in the Deeper Tones, from Franklin Prep.' He smiled again and gave a tiny shrug, 'I guess that makes you our competition.'

Mercedes raised her eyebrows and let out a soft chuckle.

'I guess we are.'

Quinn's cell went off and she excused herself from the conversation with a quick apology, retiring to a quiet corner to answer it and leaving Sam and Mercedes alone. They only had eyes for each other anyway, she noted with a knowing smile as she took the call.

'So... I should probably stop talking to you.' Sam reasoned, although the good-natured smile on his face stopped his words from sounding truly competitive.

'You probably should.' Mercedes agreed, unconsciously mirroring his expression and body language.

'Thing is,' Sam leaned closer to her and Mercedes got a whiff of his aftershave, something clean and warm smelling. It was oddly comforting. 'I don't really want to stop talking to you, Mercedes.'

Mercedes shook her head and chuckled softly, unaware that her laugh was washing over Sam like a babbling brook in the summer. He had no idea why he felt such a connection to this girl but he did. He'd felt it almost as soon as she'd walked into the room and he'd been unable to keep his eyes off her ever since. She was beautiful, although he knew that her curves and dark skin would have some of his teammates disagreeing with him, but Sam didn't care. He'd never let labels dictate his life before and he sure as hell wasn't about to start now.

Mercedes stepped closer to him and he leaned down to hear her as she spoke in a tone that equaled his own,

'Well, call me crazy, but I don't really want to stop talking to you either, Sam.'

He watched as she shook her head against her words as if she was internally trying to get her head around the revelation. He knew that feel. Mercedes muttered something to herself that sounded like, 'and the guys with the black Stetson's are always bad guys' which she probably hadn't intended for him to hear, but made him let out a surprised bark of laughter when he did.

'I'm sorry.' He apologized after she gave him the side-eye. 'It's just, did you just try to apply a movie rule to real life?'

Mercedes' eyes widened at him and he watched as she drew her full lips together into a thin line.

'Well, I don't know!' she shot back, frowning at his laughter, 'You're the first cowboy I've met, and you're wearing a black hat!'

Sam bit his lower lip to stop any further chuckles from escaping as he took in the conviction on her face. He palmed the top of his hat and held it out to her imploringly, working the puppy dog expression as best he could as he pointed out,

'I'm not wearing it.'

Mercedes rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly on the chest, laughter in her eyes and voice.

'Don't be a smartass.'

Sam's grin widened.

'So you've been checking out my ass?' he asked, trying to keep his face as straight as possible as he gently baited her, but the expression of shock and embarrassment that crossed her face thwarted him and he found himself launching into insuppressible peals of laughter.

'So you have been checking out my butt!' he accused shaking his head at her before he shoved his hands in his pockets and straightened.

'That's ok.' He admitted, with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. 'I checked yours out too.'

Mercedes figured that if her eyes got any bigger she'd qualify as an anime character, had he really just said what she thought he'd said? She couldn't believe that he'd really been checking out her butt, but when she studied his face for a second she realised that he wasn't playing a trick on her. His expression was so honest that it erased all doubt, although she still wasn't sure why he'd been looking at her when Quinn was right next to her. She wouldn't have blamed him, sometimes even she checked out Quinn, the girl was just that beautiful.

Mercedes opened her mouth to say something but a soft touch on her arm stopped her.

'Sorry to interrupt.' The blond girl said with a pointed smirk at Mercedes, 'but that was Tina, we have to get back to the dressing room.'

Mercedes nodded and smiled apologetically at Sam as Quinn took her hand and began to lead her away.

'Good luck in the competition, Sam.' She cried over her shoulder as she tripped off down the hall behind Quinn, 'It was nice meeting you.'

'You too!' Sam called back, 'I'll be rooting for you to come in second!'

Mercedes' head shot round to look at him as he stood smiling jovially at her retreating back. He fitted his cowboy hat on his head and crossed his arms over his chest as she whispered something to Quinn, disengaged her hand and came back to him.

'Second?' She asked him, coming toe to toe as she mirrored his pose and peered up at him, fire in her eyes.

'We'll be the ones lifting that Nationals trophy, Blondie.'

'Well I don't want the Deeper Tones to lose.' Sam explained a note of apology colouring the amusement in his voice. 'Although I'm sure you're wonderful. The best I can wish for you is second place... behind yours truly, of course.'

Sam made a little self-deprecating grab at his heart and smirked at her. Mercedes rolled her eyes but conceded that he had a point, she didn't exactly want The Deeper Tones to beat them either. It just wasn't something she was used to having people say. The people at show choirs usually all simpered at each other and told each other that they were 'fabulous' and then savaged each other's performances behind their backs. Sam was weirdly honest and she felt her shoulders relax some as the thought dawned on her, she outright snorted with shocked laughter a few seconds later when he put on his best John Wayne impression, slid a finger along the brim of his cowboy hat with a flourish and said,

'How about we have ourselves a wager, little lady?'

Mercedes' hands had flown to her face to cover her mouth after she'd snorted, as if somehow covering it now would drag the sound back in as if it never happened. She couldn't believe she'd done that in front of this cute, Southern boy who was flirting with her. The shame! She dropped her hands away from her face but bit her lip, hoping that doing so would prevent any further vocal mishaps. Instead of responding to Sam's proposition she just nodded, her eyes on everything but his face.

Sam knew Mercedes had found his impression funny, but then she'd clammed up tighter than a Barbershop quartet and he wasn't sure why. His eyes flickered downwards in confusion, but he ploughed on regardless, his eyes flicking up to her face when he was done so he could watch her reaction to his proposition.

'The Deeper Tones win…' Sam started, 'You give me your phone number.'

He had no idea what he was doing, he went to an all-boys school and his contact with women was pretty much limited to his mom and little sister, but Sam figured that it was what John Wayne would do. If, you know, John Wayne was a teenage boy living in the 21st century... at a show choir competition.

'And if New Directions win?' Mercedes asked, a small smile beginning to tug at the corners of her mouth.

'If New Directions win, I give you my number.' Sam quipped, feigning confidence, but the blush staining his cheeks and ears betrayed his nerves.

'Either way we'd both have enough other's number.' Mercedes pointed out, her brow furrowing.

'Exactly.' Sam winked at her. 'It's win-win.'

'Cedes!' Quinn called from down the hall, and Mercedes looked anxiously back at her friend who was waiting, hands on hips, a little way down the hall that led back to their dressing room.

'I've got to go.' Mercedes apologized when she turned back again, her eyelashes fluttering softly against her cheeks, '...But it's a deal.'

Sam's face lit up brighter than a firework display on the fourth of July when he realised his gamble had paid off, and he was certain that if it got any wider his face would split open... or his face would freeze like that for eternity, but he couldn't help it. He just really wanted to know this girl.

'Hug to seal the deal?' He asked, stretching his arms out by his sides as he tried to look as entreating and non-creeper-ish as possible.

Mercedes responded by raising an eyebrow in an expression that clearly said that she totally didn't believe 'deal-sealing hugs' were a thing.

Sam scrunched his nose up and lifted a shoulder.

'Would you believe that it's a Southern thing?'

'No.' Mercedes didn't bother to sugarcoat it, but slipped her arms around him anyway.

Sam's arms tightened around her as she settled around his waist. She felt good in his arms, Sam thought, enjoying the way her lush curves felt under his hands as he held her against him. They stayed like that for a brief moment before Quinn called out again and Mercedes pulled herself out of his embrace. She called out another hurried goodbye as she dashed off down the carpeted hallway to where Quinn was waiting with barely contained delight written all over her face.

'Mercedes and Sam, sittin' in a tree!' Quinn sang as Mercedes caught up to her, laughing as the dark-skinned girl shoved her playfully in response.

'H-U-G-G-I-N-G!'

'Stop that!' Mercedes demanded, which just seemed to make Quinn laugh more.

'Never.' Quinn promised affectionately as she wrapped an arm around her friend and guided her back to the dressing room. They could already hear the faint sounds of an argument floating towards them down the hall and the two girls exchanged a knowing look before straightening their shoulders in resignation.

'It was nice while it lasted.'

The rest of the Deeper Tones thought he was crazy when Sam stood up to cheer on the New Directions, but he didn't much care. Mercedes was flawless as she danced and sang with her teammates, but it was when she took centre stage and sang solo that Sam realized how truly amazing she was. His mouth fell open as she seemed to effortlessly hit notes he'd only heard on recordings. She was incredible - actually awe-inspiring - and Sam felt his cheeks reddening as he remembered his 'second place' comment. The Deeper Tones were good, but he doubted they had a voice among them that could match hers, he shook his head in wonder. She was something else... and he was going to have her number. Sam smiled smugly to himself as The New Directions bowed and left the stage, he was feeling like the luckiest guy in the room and no one was going to tell him otherwise. Even when his choir was called and he felt a familiar rush of butterflies in his stomach, Sam just stood up and shoved his hat on his head with aplomb. He was pretty certain he couldn't match Mercedes' performance vocally, but The Deeper Tones weren't out of the running yet, and he was sure as heck going to give it his best shot.

Mercedes tried to ignore Quinn's pointed look when The Deeper Tones took to the stage, but her eyes zeroed in on Sam almost immediately and she couldn't keep herself from cheering a little bit louder than she ordinarily would have done. To her surprised delight, the group launched into one of her favourite country songs and she found herself grinning throughout the whole performance, holding onto Quinn's hand as the two of them danced along to the song with their hands in the air. Sam's voice was clear and true, and had all the qualities that she seemed to favour in the country vocalists she listened to, but honestly, Mercedes had suspected that that would be the case as soon as he'd opened his mouth to introduce himself.

I'd love to sing with him one day, Mercedes thought as the Deeper Tones finished their performance and stepped off the stage, they'd sound phenomenal together on Human Nature by Michael Jackson she thought abstractly as she watched the Deeper Tones boys file offstage, and then frowned as she realised how weirdly specific the thought had been. Strange.

Behind her, Santana was saying something about 'hick music' but Mercedes ignored it. Santana was in a buoyant mood from their performance and over the years Mercedes had learned that the girl's pride in them had a way of showing itself through her derision of others. She knew that Santana was only complaining about the other acts because she didn't want to admit out loud that she thought that the New Directions had a chance of winning. Mercedes sighed, Santana was always so afraid to be disappointed that she wouldn't let herself believe in the merit of anything. Mercedes shook her head and paid Santana's muttered criticisms no heed, she'd loved the Deeper Tones performance, and the judges just might too.

Mercedes smoothed out the puffy skirt of her purple jewel toned competition dress for the millionth time and blew out a deep breath. She almost didn't want to know how they'd placed, even though Rachel's obnoxious rationalizing was starting to drive her crazy. Mercedes supposed that if knowing was the price of having Rachel shut up then she'd deal with it. Blaine came up beside her and took one hand in his as they walked to the stage for the results announcements. Quinn came up on her other side and took her other hand, literally having to prise it away from where it was already attempting to smooth down the skirt again. Mercedes squeezed both their hands as they made the long, eerily silent journey to the stage in a long train, Blaine holding onto Kurt, who was holding onto Rachel who was holding onto Finn, and on her other side Quinn was locking hands with Tina, who was holding onto Mike, who was holding onto Brittany, who was holding Santana's hand in a death grip. Zizes had declared that 'She didn't do that ish.' and Puck had opted to push Artie. They probably looked like pre-schoolers, Mercedes thought, and she had to admit she felt like a toddler on her first day of school she was so nervous. She supposed she should be happy that they'd managed to break into the Top 10, a feat that they hadn't managed the year before, but now they were that much closer to winning Nationals she was suddenly aware of how much she truly wanted it.

When all the remaining show choirs were assembled on the stage Mercedes stood uneasily with the rest of the New Directions. She held Blaine and Quinn's hands all the tighter as they waited for the announcement that would finally let them know if they were going home Champions, or if they'd managed to miss out on the top spot for yet another year, Mercedes felt like she was going to be sick.

The Deeper Tones were onstage too, as were another three groups from across the country that she had barely registered and they all waited in anxious silence as the head judge opened the envelope with painstaking slowness and pulled out the card inside. The blood pumped louder in Mercedes' ears as she watched him. She really, really wanted to win. It was her senior year, she'd been featured in a competition for the first time, and she wanted it all to be worth it. She wanted to prove to them all that she truly was good enough.

The judge began to read out the names of the runners up in descending order from 5th place to 1st and Mercedes prayed fervently that she wouldn't hear their name until the very end. Then tension in her grew as two other show choirs came 4th and 5th and Quinn's grip on her hand squeezed like a vice as they waited expectantly for the rest of the results. They were definitely in the top three, but where?

The Deeper Tones came third, and Mercedes felt a pang of sadness for Sam although, for some reason, he didn't look all that upset. He shot her a small thumbs up from across the stage when he caught her looking at him, and Mercedes sent a small, tense smile back as the judge milked a dramatic pause for all it was worth before he announced the second place show choir.

'And, in second place…

...

...

…. from Rhode Island, it's the Show Boats!'

It was like everything around Mercedes exploded as her friends jumped about screaming. They'd actually done it. They'd won! She was rooted to the spot in a state of shock as Quinn kissed her cheek and Mike picked her up in a swooping hug. It only began to sink in when Mr. Schuester took hold of the giant 1st place trophy and handed it to her, giving her a congratulatory pat on the shoulder as she struggled to keep hold the massive trophy and wipe her tears at the same time. She handed it off to Finn, who was probably the only person taller than the darn thing anyway, and formed a group hug with Rachel and Tina, who were just as weepy as she was.

'We did it you guys!' Rachel whispered as the three of them huddled together.

'After all the drama,' Tina nodded, tears streaming down her pretty face, 'We made it.'

The group expanded to let Artie, Finn and Kurt in as the original six members of the McKinley high glee club took a second to appreciate how far they'd come.

'Who knew we'd get here from Sit Down You're Rocking The Boat?' Artie declared, shaking his head at the memory of their first disastrous performance.

'Who knew we'd get here from Push It.' Finn added and the group burst into fits of giggles.

'You know I love you guys, right?' Kurt's soft voice cut in as he hugged them all tighter. There was a loud chorus of 'Aww!'s before the girls started to cry again.

Mercedes threw her blazer on over her normal clothes and slipped her cell phone into her pocket. She'd changed out of her competition dress not long after the results and photo sessions. Kurt had threatened them all with 'scathing stories in his memoirs' if anything happened to their outfits, so most of them had opted to change out of them. Now she was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans with the blazer thrown over a pink and grey leopard print shirt. She'd changed out of her competition heels into a pair of pink suede wedges that matched her outfit. She felt much more comfortable when she was out of the costume and dressed as herself, and far more able to get her emotions in order.

She slipped her key card into her pocket and slipped away from the group. Everyone was still on an emotional high from their win, and would be for several hours yet, possibly even several days. Puck was promising a victory party with booze that was 'Better than Berry's' and everyone was in good spirits, talking loudly over each other and sharing memories and shouted congratulations. Mercedes would join them soon and party just as hard as everyone else, but she needed to get her thoughts together first. She was still feeling the shock of their win, and everything afterwards had been so overwhelming that she'd needed a second to stop and look at it all, maybe then she'd really get her head around the fact that they were now The McKinley High New Directions: National Championship winners.

Mercedes walked through the lobby of the hotel and pushed open the hotel doors. She wasn't going to go far, just to sit on the stoop, but she needed the fresh air. The slight chill to it was already serving to remind her that she was real, that this was real. They really had done it.

Mercedes shoved her hands in her blazer pockets and took a deep breath, blowing it out in a long steady stream as she watched the lights of the cars in the distance twinkle against the city's darkness. It was still so much brighter here than it was back home in Lima though, here it never really got dark - there were too many people still awake at every hour of the day, Mercedes guessed. Going places, doing things… she sat down on the top step and watched the cars drive past her, wondering who was in them, where they were coming from, where they were going to

She wasn't sure how long she sat like that, but after a while her head did start to feel clearer. She considered calling her mother for a brief moment before deciding that that was a call that could save for for tomorrow. Her mom would get crazy excited and ask a million and one questions, desperate for every single detail, from the moment Mercedes had stepped off the plane to the time they placed the trophy in her hands. Mercedes appreciated the support, but she was too emotionally charged to have the patience for that tonight. She shoved her hands into her pockets and studied her knees, lost in her own thoughts. She didn't register the footsteps approaching behind her until a tall figure folded himself onto the stoop beside her.

Sam just wanted some air, The Deeper Tones guys were so excited to have placed third that they had been celebrating hard, as only Southern boys can, ever since… well, whenever it was in the afternoon that they'd gotten the results. The Deeper Tones had only been around for about two years, and were formed on something of a whim by a music teacher at Franklin Prep. Sam had talked them up to Mercedes, but the DT's were actually pretty new to the whole gig and frankly surprised that they'd managed to make it this far. Good old dumb luck, Sam thought as pushed open the hotel doors and stepped into the mild evening air. Luck or fate, one of the two.

He almost didn't see her, she was almost invisible dressed as she was in all black and hunched down on the stoop, but then headlights had flashed in the distance and illuminated her for a second, a solitary figure against the darkness. Sam knew it was Mercedes straightaway, identifying her easily with some instinct that he hadn't realized he possessed. He approached her slowly, not sure if she'd be receptive to company, after all, she was out here in the night while her teammates were no doubt celebrating up a storm inside. She seemed lost in her own world and Sam didn't want to interrupt her, so he took a chance and dropped onto the stoop next to her, somehow knowing that she wouldn't mind. They could be quiet together, he figured, there was no harm in that.

Mercedes turned as soon as she felt another presence next to her ready to give the poor soul who thought he could join her uninvited an earful. But when she turned her head and saw Sam, looking contentedly off into the distance beside her, she bit back her angry response and took him in instead. His blonde hair gleamed under the shifting lights of the city: red, then orange, then ghostly pale, like the fingers of moonlight that only managed to peek feebly through the clouds here, but would have been bathing them in light back in Lima.

'Hi.' She smiled softly at him, giving him a gentle nudge with her shoulder in greeting. He peeled his gaze away from whatever it was he'd been looking at in the distance and smiled back at her, the hair flipping into his green eyes as he turned his head. Mercedes hand was already lifting instinctively to move it out of his face before she realised what she was doing. That wasn't her place, she chastised herself gently and squashed the urge as she dropped her hand to her knees.

'Hey. Congratulations on your win.' Sam bumped her shoulder back and she laughed.

'Thanks. It's taking some time to sink in. I still can't quite believe it happened.'

Disbelief flickered in her eyes and Sam put an instinctive arm around her, squeezing her to him.

'Hey, I watched your performance, you were phenomenal, and you absolutely deserved to win.' Mercedes looked up at him, a smile playing on her lips.

'Well, thank you, Cowboy.'

He laughed at the nickname and pretended to doff an imaginary hat to her, feigning surprised when he discovered that his hat was no longer there.

'You know I'm not a real cowboy, right? And apparently' he said, gesturing to his bare head, 'I'm not wearing my hat, so you can trust me.'

Mercedes tipped her head back and let out a short laugh, her hair cascading over his arm and down her back like a waterfall.

'Yeah, I figured that out. Not a lot of cowboys in private school, I'll bet.'

His arm was still around her, and she enjoyed the feel of its heavy weight on her shoulders for a second.

'I enjoyed your performance too.' she told him, contentment making her voice sound lazy and calm, 'Jason Jones is one of my favourites.'

Sam's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline in surprise, 'Are you serious right now?'

Mercedes pushed away from him enough so she could give him the stink eye.

'Yes! I like country music, ok. You don't know me!'

'I know!' Sam laughed as he held his hands out to her in supplication. 'I was just surprised, that's all. I know I don't know you yet … but I'd like to.'

He didn't look at her as he said it, he knew that if he had he might have chickened out and that wasn't something he wanted to do where Mercedes was concerned. San wasn't sure if she was mad at him - she might have been - but he hadn't meant anything by it, it was just that her voice and the songs her choir had performed had made him think that she was more of an R&B/pop/classics kind of girl. The quiet began to stretch between them again so Sam started to sing to distract himself from it.

"She was

Sunlight in a bottle

One more good tomorrow I thought I had

She was

A brush against the starlight

That rush when something goes right just like that"

It was one of his own favourite Jason Jones songs, although he wasn't sure why it had popped into his head. Sam took a breath and opened his mouth to sing the next part and was stunned when Mercedes joined him, harmonizing lightly over the tune as they sang the hook together.

Like a songbird at dawn

Singing tender and strong

Tell it not to move on

That's the

Change your life kind of woman

There was a pause and they both smiled, raising their eyebrows expectantly at each other before they hit the next line at the exact same time.

She was

'Nìltsan tsa'u was lor.' Sam breathed when they were done, noting belatedly that he'd said it in Na'vi and she probably wouldn't…

'Oe mllte.'

Comprehension dawned on Sam's face as he turned to look at her. She spoke Na'vi. Sam figured it might freak her out if he straight out told her that she was the coolest girl he'd ever met, so he settled for putting his arm around her again and giving her a quick hug instead.

If Mercedes thought about what she was doing - snuggling on a stoop with a guy that she'd just met - she would probably tell herself she was being reckless and talk herself out of it. So she chose not to think about it. Instead she gave herself over to her instincts, they were pretty accurate these days now that she wasn't letting other people influence her, and right now Mercedes' instincts were telling her that she could absolutely, 100% trust this boy.

'So...' Mercedes said after a short companionable silence, 'I believe we made something of a wager.'

She'd tried to do a John Wayne impression but it hadn't sounded anywhere near as convincing as his had. She laughed and waved a hand to excuse it.

'I was much better at that in my head.' she explained. Mine is nowhere near as good as yours, it sounded more like Jimmy Stewart.' Sam beamed at her and made an 'I dunno…' face.

'It was a good effort.'

Mercedes shook her head and held her palms up to him in defeat.

'No, don't lie. It was awful, I can own that.'

Sam shrugged as if to say, 'what're you gonna do?' and fished his phone out of his pocket.

'Ok, well, you won the wager, so I guess I'll have to give you my number.' he tried to sound put upon, but it wasn't very believable. 'Gee, it's hard being an uber stud.' Sam sighed and hung his head in mock exasperation, watching out of the corner of his eye as Mercedes shook her head and slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

'Boy, stop.'

She pulled out her phone and unlocked it, holding it out to Sam before she jerked it back again at the last second when he reached for it.

'You're not a freshman are you?' she asked, panic edging her voice.

Sam let out a deep chuckle and raised an eyebrow.

'Do I look like a freshman, Mercy?' Sam asked, his voice low and husky as he fixed her with teasing eyes.

'I don't know.' Mercedes shook her head in exasperation, 'It's hard to tell these days, you might just have been eating your Wheaties!'

Sam laughed but held out for a second before he put her out of her misery.

'I'm a senior.'

'Oh, good!' she breathed, 'So am I.'

'Awesome.' He said genuinely, 'Where are you… I mean, do you have anything planned for after you graduate?'

Mercedes smiled as she thought about the acceptance letter that had arrived in the mail just two weeks previously.

'Yeah. College.' The words tasted foreign on her tongue. Foreign but completely and utterly wonderful, 'Carnegie Mellon.'

Sam stared at her slack-jawed for a good thirty seconds before he was able to speak again.

'This is unreal.' He said finally, 'I'm going to Carnegie Mellon. Studying Art.' He specified, blinking in complete bemusement as if trying to fan away his confusion with his eyelashes. When he'd gotten over his surprise he held up a hand for a high-five.

'Well, that officially makes you the only person I'll know in Pittsburgh. I'll 'five' to that.'

Mercedes didn't know what to say, so she returned his high-five with a satisfying smack before she handed him her phone without any further hesitation and watched as he typed in his number. When he was done he tentatively handed both phones to her and grinned when she quickly input her own details into his cell before handing it back to him. Their fingers brushed as he took the device from her and the sensation from the contact sent warm shivers down both their spines.

'Do you believe in fate?' Mercedes asked him on a whim, the words spilling out of her mouth as she swept her hair over one shoulder, checked her phone and then shoved it back into her pocket.

Sam leaned back on his hands and looked up into the night sky, wishing that the stars were as visible here as they were back in Tennessee, he always felt more able to answer the big questions when he could see them.

'I didn't.' he confessed quietly into the evening air, his eyes still trained on stars he knew were there, burning in the distance somewhere behind the rolling clouds that blanketed the sky . 'But I feel… something.'

'Like a pull.' Mercedes supplied in a low voice.

'That leads me in a direction that seems so familiar.' Sam agreed nodding.

'But at the same time, not.'

'Like you're meeting someone you've known forever.'

'Instead of less than a day.' Mercedes finished, wrapping her arms tightly around her knees as they regarded each other, trying to figure out if they were just being melodramatic teenagers or if something bigger really was at work here.

'Well, God has a hand.' Sam announced eventually, looking at the girl sat next to him through the fringe that had once again flopped into his eyes. Mercedes reached up and brushed the stray hair away as if she'd done it a million times before, Sam leaning down slightly so she could sweep the hair over his ear, the action more innate than calculated. It was the kind of thing elderly couples did, people who had been with each other for so long that they had moulded to each other and were perfectly in balance. But neither Sam nor Mercedes thought about that. In fact, the action didn't register at all. It was so natural that it didn't register as anything special until after it was completed and Mercedes removed her hand as if she wasn't quite sure how or why she'd done what she'd done.

'Yeah...' she murmured, her voice wavering as she pondered the strangeness of falling easily back into habits that she had never established, call it God, or fate or déjà vu… whatever it was, it was definitely there. Mercedes cleared her throat and steadied her voice, finding in it the conviction she had lacked the first time as she repeated herself.

'Yeah. I think you might be right.'

Sam and Mercedes sat and talked companionably for a few more minutes before a frantic Puck burst through the hotel doors and nearly tripped over them.

'Dude!' he spluttered angrily before he realized who he was talking to. 'Jeez, Booty Bounce. Do you know how worried we all got when we realized no one knew where you were?'

Puck's voice was accusing, but the fear in his eyes told Mercedes that he'd truly been concerned for her, so she reached up and gave him a hug to calm him down.

'I'm still mad.' He protested over her shoulder, his head bobbing up and down as he spoke.

'No you're not.' Mercedes insisted, adding a little sway to the hug as Puck grumbled and pulled away from her, all traces of irritation gone.

'It is not cool that you know how to do that.' The teen complained as his eyes landed on Sam, still sitting quietly next to Mercedes as he watched them with interest.

'Who is this?' Puck shoved a thumb in Sam's direction as he waited expectantly for Mercedes to answer.

'This,' Mercedes hand shot out to cover Puck's accusing gesture and dragged his hand down to his side, 'is Sam. He's in the Deeper Tones.'

Puck eyed Sam suspiciously, trying to decide if he should kick his ass for leading Mercedes away from the rest of the group or not.

Puck liked Mercedes, she'd been good to him during the short time they'd dated (even though he hadn't really deserved it) and she'd encouraged him to be a better person. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't have Lauren now if it hadn't have been for Mercedes laying the foundations. She was his friend, and Puck was fiercely protective of her.

'The singing cowboys, right?' Puck asked without cracking a smile, using one of his patented intimidation techniques to put a little scare into the blond kid who thought he could steal Mercedes away. He looked the kid up and down and figured that he could take him, if he had to, but Puck knew that Booty Bounce wouldn't like it if he did. He studied the boy's face intently, making sure he could pick him out of a line up if he had to.

'Dude, your mouth is huge!' he blurted in surprise when he got a good look at Sam's face. 'How many tennis balls can you fit in there?'

Sam raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Mercedes, who just rolled her eyes and shrugged as if to say, that's Puck!

'I don't know.' Sam conceded, 'I've never had any balls in my mouth. Have you?'

Sam heard Mercedes' barely contained snort of laughter and a smile twitched on his face in response, but he wouldn't let it break him from his staring contest with Puck. Sam went to an all-boys school, he knew when a dude was trying to intimidate him.

Finally Puck looked away, breaking off the glaring contest with a shrug.

'Fair point.' The mohawked teen allowed, turning away from Sam to look at Mercedes.

'We best get back to the others, Babe.' He told her, 'Everyone was kinda freaking out. We thought you'd been kidnapped.'

Mercedes laughed at Puck's words, not realizing that he wasn't exaggerating, and accepted his hand to help her up. Sam's eyes lingered on her butt as she stood and dusted off her jeans, and he bit his lower lip subconsciously, unaware that the other boy was watching him with mistrust.

When Puck lead Mercedes past Sam he waited until her back was turned before he pointed two fingers at his eyes and then jabbed them at Sam in a gesture that obviously meant 'I'm watching you'. Sam tried to care, but Mercedes had dropped a hand to his shoulder and squeezed it as she went past, uttering a soft, 'See ya, Cowboy.' as she went.

'Yeah,' Sam agreed, turning to watch her go, 'See you in Pittsburgh.'

Mercedes turned just before she pushed open the door to go back into the hotel and looked back at him. The soft light from inside the building lit her from behind and made her look like she was glowing. She looked like an angel.

A smile danced across Mercedes face as she nodded, and lifted her hand in farewell.

'Yeah… You will.'

Sam stayed out a bit longer as he mulled the day's events over in his mind. Memories of Puck's defensiveness over Mercedes made him wince, so he took out his phone and tapped out a quick message, hoping as he sent it that he wasn't being that guy.

Sorry if I got you in trouble with your boyfriend.

A reply came back almost immediately and it brought a smile to his face.

Aww, were you worrying about me? :P It's fine. He's not my boyfriend.

Sam rose to his feet and went to rejoin his own teammates, typing as he walked.

So… you don't have a boyfriend?

There was a pause as Sam called the elevator and waited anxiously for a response from Mercedes. Sam looked down at the screen when his phone buzzed in her reply with a kind of sick interest, he didn't really want to know if she was seeing someone… but he had to ask.

No… and you better not have a girlfriend or imma whup yo ass for flirting with me while you're with her.

Sam burst out laughing, completely startling the older couple he was sharing the elevator with and caused the woman, a grey haired lady in a beige pantsuit, to clutch her handbag tighter to her shoulder and stare disapprovingly over her shoulder at him, tutting under her breath until he got off the elevator.

I just burst out laughing in public. Sam texted back, The woman standing next to me looked like she wanted to throttle me!

Sam hit 'Send', and then realised that he hadn't answered her question and sent another one.

And no, I don't have a girlfriend. I'd deserve the ass whuppin' if I did.

Haha! I feel no shame! And interesting.

Good interesting?

Good interesting.

Sam studied the text again as he slid the key card into the lock and pushed open the door to his room. What exactly did 'good interesting' mean? His teammates were lounging about in the room, most of them sitting on a couple of the beds or on the floor. They had the TV on but Sam didn't think anyone was watching it, they were all arguing boisterously over the top of it and you couldn't hear a word from the small television set anyway. Sam dive-bombed onto an empty bed next to them and joined in the conversation, grateful that none of them knew to quiz him about Mercedes. He'd had an awesome time sitting out with her, and he didn't want anyone to say anything to ruin it. Right now it was just their memory, his and hers, and he liked it that way.

So what time do you guys leave tomorrow?

Sam texted with one ear still on his teammates conversation, he contributed to the discussion until his phone buzzed in his hand.

11am. Why?

Do you want to maybe grab a Kobe before you go?

His phone buzzed again a few seconds later.

Uh… isn't 11 a little early for steak?

Sam read and reread her text again before he had to admit that he had no idea what she was talking about.

Steak?

Kobe…

Sam's brow furrowed, he hadn't mentioned Kobe… He'd asked her out for coffee… Sam slapped his head as he read the message he'd sent over again.

Sorry, I meant *coffee*! The guys are talking about sports, I guess it seeped in.

Oh! Haha! Then sure, coffee sounds great.

Awesome, there's a coffee shop in the lobby. I could meet you there at like… 9?

Ok. See you tomorrow, Sam.

Sam grinned at her reply before he shut off his phone and fully immersed himself in the conversation. Brick was trying to argue that the Bulls were better than the Lakers and there was just no way Sam could let that slide.

Catcher flipped through the pages of the chronicle with fury building inside him at every turn of the page. She still married him. With the changed timeline they ended up going to the same college, dating for almost all of the four years and then getting married two years after they graduated.

It. Wasn't. Fair.

No, Catcher corrected himself, it wasn't that it wasn't fair, it was that he hadn't made the right changes. All he had to do was go back, put the events back to how they were and then just pick another point in his timeline to stop him from getting Mercedes - Catcher's Mercedes. Catcher reset Sam's chronicle and sat back in his chair, thinking. Stopping Sam from coming to Lima didn't keep them apart... but what if he made it so Sam never came back from Kentucky? That might work. She'd been heartbroken when he'd left, but then she'd met someone else. Catcher frowned, he didn't really like that, but he was certain that her relationship with whatsisface wasn't going to last anyway, and if he made a slight tweak… yes, he thought, mulling it over in his head. Yes, then She would be his again, all his, and no one else's.


She Was by Jason Jones

Nìltsan tsa'u was lor = Well, that was beautiful.

Oe mllte = I agree.