Hi All,

I want to dedicate Familiar Faces to a special person who is my best friend, my better half, the love of my life and lately my rock and anchor. Thank you for keeping me sane, for reminding me that I love to write and for putting up with me typing hard on the laptop late at night when you're trying to sleep. You are the best decision I've ever made.

Soppy dedication aside, this fiction was my first ever attempt at writing a prompt and is based on the following from Tumblr:

'Alright, do with this what you will. Sam and Mercedes meet one night in a nightclub and end up having a one night stand (she was trying to get over a bad break-up, he was just doing what he does). Sam, even though he's a total rich playboy (I'm talking billions of dollars), never forgets her. He never really looks for her, but he never forgets her. One day he sees her walking with a little girl who happens to look a lot like Stacey did at that age. From there it's all you :o) It can be a one shot or a MC, but I have a feeling it would be a long ass one-shot. LOL'

- amuzed1

So here goes!

Disclaimer: I'm proud to say that I am in NO WAY associated with the shitfest of a show that Glee has become, even if I have pinched many (okay loads) of the character names and messed with their and ages and personalities for the purpose of this fic.

He wasn't supposed to be here. He should never have been here. It simply wasn't his kind of place.

But due to an unexpected change in plans here was.

And it wasn't that Sam Evans didn't like kids, it's just that outside of his younger sister, he'd never really spent much time with them. So when his best friend Puck had tried to cancel their monthly 'bro time Saturday' ritual of camping out in in his purpose built games room with unlimited beers and pizza, because he'd forgotten that his ex-partner Sugar was out of town and he had his daughter for the weekend, Sam made a decision. He decided, as part of his ongoing drive to prove to his straight laced older brother Stevie that he could function perfectly well as a normal responsible adult, that he would still spend the entire day with his friend and his friend's child, just to see how things got on.

A kind on social experiment as it were.

Sam Evans and Noah Puckerman had been friends pretty much since they met years before at their exclusive and expensive boarding high school. Despite the fact that they'd initially moved in different social circles, Puck being one of only a few taken in each year on a scholarship basis, a mutual love of sport meant both had ended up on the football team where they immediately clicked and quickly become inseparable. It wasn't that Puck's family didn't have money like others at the school, because they did. It's just that they had worked hard for it, and the work ethic of his father meant that they weren't going to flaunt their wealth. Yes their son would go to the best school money could buy, but to them parenting, discipline and family were more important than flashing the cash. Puck had hated it, seeing what all the other boys around him had and wanting the same, but secretly Sam was actually jealous of his friend. Sure his dad flung cash at him at every opportunity, but he would have traded that in a heartbeat for some actual interaction with the man, to have a proper meaningful conversation or for his dad to show an interest in his academic or personal life. Instead he was given free rein to do what he liked and with the unlimited resources he definitely made sure that he did.

Sam was clever at school but never truly applied himself to the best of his abilities. He didn't need to. He was the younger son. His older brother Stevie had been the golden child, good looking, academically gifted and popular with the ladies. All in all it meant that Stevie Evans had left an impression and a reputation that lasted long after he left McKinley Prep. Sam had taken longer to grow into his looks and lived quite happily in his shadow along with their younger sister Stacey. She was one of those late surprises and there was a thirteen year age gap between her and Sam. What Mary had thought was the onset of menopause was actually an unexpected and unplanned pregnancy. Unfortunately for her, what the doctors had initially thought was anemia causing her to be so tired had actually turned out to be an aggressive form of leukemia. Pregnancy prevented her from starting the treatment that she needed immediately and by the time she was full term, Mary Evans had accepted that she wasn't going be around to see her only daughter grow into a young woman.

Money can buy most things, but it can't always buy what you truly want.

Life.

In response to the tragedy, Dwight did what he knew best and threw all his time and energy into the family business, rendering him inaccessible to his children whose faces only served to remind him of his pain, grief and loss. But his hard work paid off, as did his investment in technology, allowing the Evans empire to encompass not only a chain of hotels, but also a host of corporate properties in expensive areas, night clubs, and a series of boutiques that worked together with an online presence that sold exclusive clothing to the rich, famous and influential.

Dwight Evans, the man who had fought his way from being a bright young nobody from small town Tennessee, to becoming one of America's richest men less than thirty years later, finally died of a heart attack alone in his office late one night after the janitors had done their rounds. It was his assistant who had found him slumped and cold at his desk at 8am the next morning as she brought in his coffee.

Sam remembered it for being whipped out of school and straight into a media frenzy. That kind of attention at sixteen was hard to take.

Stevie remembered it because less than three months after graduating Harvard, he became CEO of the Evans Empire. He was already grown up but he had to grow up even more, the full weight of everything, thrust onto his twenty something year old shoulders. Sam was only sixteen at the time and Stacy barely three. Already mostly brought up by the staff, nothing much changed for her other than her official guardianship being transferred to her eldest brother. With so much going on around him it was no surprise that Sam would be the one out of the three of them to go slightly off the rails. Not completely, but enough to be compared to the Prince Harry of the family while Stevie was Prince William.

After cruising through college he also joined the company as was expected. And although he worked as hard as Stevie, he also played hard, frequently seen out and about in his clubs and other VIP events. Along with the money and high profile came the fast cars, the fast women and the fast reputation. And he loved every second of it. After spending his teens as the gangly geek, his new sexy high flying image was something he reveled in and it suited him down to the ground.

But the reality was a lifestyle like that could only be maintained for so long before the novelty wore off. Something inside him had changed, especially after seeing the long term domestic bliss of his own brother. Over the years, the media had rebranded Sam from playboy to eligible bachelor, and to be honest, he wasn't averse to settling down, he just wasn't sure he'd found the right one yet. Contrary to popular belief, he hadn't slept with as many women as his reputation had suggested, actually turning many of them down or just being rumored to be attached after a few long lens paparazzi shots had been taken with anything in a skirt. At one point the media had insisted for three months that he was seeing a girl that in reality he'd never actually spoken to for more than thirty seconds!

The truth was that Sam Evans remembered every single girl that he had been with, and while some had been definite alcohol fueled mistakes, others had been genuine attempts at a real relationship. There was only been one girl who remained an enigma. The Crying Girl he liked to call her. A one night stand who managed to get away before he could even ask her name. That was bad form, even for him, but every once in a while his thoughts would turn to the pretty stranger who'd cried in his arms while his friends partied. He never did get to find out what her problem was.

His thoughts were broken by the sound of giggling. Little Bethany Puckerman was sat in the middle of the ball pit with another slightly older girl, picking out all the yellow balls and throwing them as far as they could. The other girl was chatting to her and Beth seemed to be listening happily.

Sam was still in a state of disbelief that he was in a fast food joint. So far, nobody had recognized him, people rarely did these days when he was dressed down and he was sure that it the fact that nobody would expect him to be in such an establishment also contributed to his anonymity. Yet he was, and two bites into the most delicious burger to ever pass his lips he was already planning his next visit. The place reminded him of the glorious childhood that kids who weren't rich got to have. It even still had a ball pit to the side, which three year old Beth had clearly found infinitely more preferable than the food itself.

Puck nodded over to the two girls. "Looks like Beth's made a friend."

Sam glanced over, absently taking another bite of the heavenly burger and concentrating on not dripping any of the juice or sauce onto his designer shirt. This food was seriously good and yet it cost less than nothing!

His friend was still talking and this time something seemed to have really caught his attention. "Wow, I know this sounds totally weird but that other girl looks just like a darker version of- Hey Sam, look at the girl Beth's playing with. I know this sounds random but does she remind you of anyone?"

Sam looked at the brown skinned girl and saw nothing familiar. He shook his head. "Nope."

"Sam you have to ignore the dark skin and curly hair and look at the features. I swear she's the spitting image of Stacy when she was that age."

Sam scoffed. "Stacy? Yeah I don't think so!" But something did make him take a second look. It took a while but after using a large amount of imagination to pretend that her skin wasn't brown, he focused hard and suddenly he did see Stacy's features. Her face shape, nose and chin. And even though the eyes were a deep and dark they too had an oddly similar shape. When he was younger, people used to say that Stacy was the spitting image of him, but in a girl's form. "Wow!" He breathed. "If it wasn't for the fact we don't know anyone round here and there is absolutely not a drop of black in my family, I'd almost say we were somehow related!"

He watched as a pretty blond woman called out to her. "Come on Chey. We're going to be late! You've already had an extra five minutes."

The little girl pouted and Sam felt a thumping in his chest. That was Stacy's famous pout! And even though she was now in her late teens she still pulled it out when she wanted to get her way. He didn't recognize the woman that was calling her. Sure she was petite, blond and extremely pretty, but she definitely wasn't one of his conquests! He absolutely would have remembered a hottie like that!

His eyes drifted back down to the little girl who suddenly looked so familiar yet unknown to him.

"Wow she's really cute!" Sam looked at the little girl being lifted out of the ball pit, leaving Beth to play alone.

"Yes she is. But I saw her first so I get first dibs."

"First dibs?" Sam frowned for a moment before he realized he had been talking about the little girl while Puck had moved on to the mother. "Oh yeah, whatever." His eyes were firmly trained on the little girl who, on closer inspection, seemed to be no more than five or six, and who was now being led out. Once outside he continued to stare at them through the glass. The little girl appeared to recognize someone in the parking lot and broke into a run… straight into the open arms of a black woman. He frowned as he squinted to keep watching them, the sound of Puck's voice slipping into the background.

So the blond wasn't the mother, the black woman was! That made a degree of sense seeing as they bore no resemblance to each other. In that instant she turned her head slightly towards the glass and-

It was Crying Girl! It had to be!

Older, curvier but definitely her! It had been years but the recognition was instant and his heart began to pound. That was when the machinery in his brain began to whir and put things together. The child was clearly of mixed parentage. And he'd met Crying Girl just shy of seven years before…

Fuck!

In an instant he was on his feet, adrenaline and shock pumping through his veins.

Unfortunately, at that precise moment something caught the women's attention outside and she grabbed the little girl's hand as the three of them broke into a run and crossed the street.

"Hey!" Sam didn't even realize he was shouting as he sprinted over to the front door and flung it open, not caring what the other patrons thought of his actions. He ran outside, only to see their backs as they stepped onto a city bus which quickly pulled away from the sidewalk.

He couldn't shout after them. What the hell was he supposed to shout? He had no idea of her name or if she would even still remember him.

But it was definitely her.

Crying Girl.

And the child…

He didn't need a second look to know that child was definitely his…