"Mercedes, can I ask you for a huge favor? Really huge?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Can I come over?" Sam could visualize that panicked look he'd being seeing if they were talking face to face, instead of on the phone so he rushed on. "I need to borrow your kitchen. To make a pie for my mom."

"You want to make a pie?" Now she sounded confused.

"It's her birthday and I can't really cook here."

"You cook?"

"A couple of things. Anyway, this is a top secret Evans family recipe. If you want I'll make two and you can have one, your family can have one."

"Sure. What kind of pie?"

"Sweet potato. The world's best sweet potato pie." he bragged.

"Oh no you didn't!" she was laughing now, a deep belly laugh. "My grandma, God bless her soul, gave me the worlds best sweet potato pie recipe. Sorry to be the one to break it to you."

"Are you challenging me to a duel?"

"Sweet potato pie at noon thirty. It's on!"

When they first moved into the motel, Stevie and Stacey thought it was an adventure. A vacation. it didn't take long for the grind of five people sharing two beds to take it's toll. His parents slept in one bed, the kids in the other. At first Sam spent his nights being pummelled by arms and legs and, once the tension between his parents finally sunk in, the occasional wet bed.

Luckily the hotel staff was nice and appreciated not having to clean the Evans' room every day because his mom kept things neat and clean. They even tipped Sam's dad off to an unused mattress in a room being renovated and 'accidentally' left a complete set of bedding in their room. As a result, these days Sam slept on the mattress on the floor. And the wet bed he woke up in had nothing to do with Stevie or Stacey.

Sam grabbed the blankets and dashed into the bathroom. He had never, never, had a dream like the one he just awoke from. He fantasized a lot about Quinn, especially since he quickly realized fantasy was all he was getting from her. Quinn wanted to be prom queen and she thought Sam was her best shot. Sam wanted to be popular and Quinn seemed like his ticket. They quickly settled into something that looked like a happy couple. Until Finn.

His next girlfriend, Santana, had quickly relieved him of his virginity. They were having sex in her car 10 minutes into their first 'date'.

"I love you." he said, watching her carefully reapply her lipstick.

"Sure you do." she replied sarcastically.

He was confused, didn't she want to hear that from the guy she just had sex with?

"Let me explain it to you." She pulled her glossy hair into a ponytail. "I've got a thing for clueless blondes. You remind me of somebody. Somebody special. Somebody currently unavailable." She reached out and brushed his hair out of his eyes. Then she ran her fingers over his lips and smiled serenely. "I have so much to teach you."

He never dreamed about Santana because there was no need to, Santana did stuff he didn't have the imagination to dream up. There was nothing, nothing, they hadn't done. He never asked, she never said who he reminded her of but that was one lucky guy!

He wasn't sure Mercedes wanted to be anybody's girlfriend, if he was willing to risk their friendship forcing something she didn't even want. He wasn't even sure if Mercedes was his type. In fact, he didn't know what his type was, what her type was. So why the hell was she dancing naked in his dreams?

Mercedes was sitting on her front steps with the girl from the coffee house, both holding guitars, when Sam walked up at 12:15.

"Sam, you remember Alice? Alice from McKinley's band?"

Alice. He'd never heard her name before. Of course band kids have names, why hadn't he ever thought of that? "Hey, Alice, nice to see you again."

"Pleasure." She seemed slightly irritated.

"I didn't know you played." he said to Mercedes.

"She doesn't." Alice said. "You probably saved her life, showing up before I decided to kill her. Sorry, babe" Alice stood up and addressed Mercedes "I can make money easier than this. Tim's right, I've got no patience. You promise not to play and I'll promise not to sing."

"Singing," she snickered. "Is that what you call it?"

"Maybe Sam can take a crack at teaching you. He's a decent player."

"That's high praise from the likes of Miss Alice. Carlos Santana barely meets her standards. Come on in and we'll get this pie party started."

Maybe it was being in her own home, her safe place, but Mercedes was more relaxed than he'd seen her in days. She trash-talked his pie crust making skills. He scoffed at boiling the sweet potatoes first – roasting the sweet potatoes was the big Evans family secret. She feigned shock at putting marshmallows on top of a pie. After two hours of BS they were finally ready for a taste test.

"Close your eyes!" Sam demanded.

"Close my eyes? Why?" she laughed.

"Because they look different, mine's all delectable and your's all store-brought. Blind taste test."

"Heck, like I don't know what my own grandma's pie tastes like! Okay!" She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Okay. Here's pie A." she felt the fork against her lips. Damn, that was good pie and it wasn't hers. She was stealing his secret, that's for sure.

"It's okay." she said begrudgingly. "Now the other one." Damn! But at least her pie crust was definitely better. "Can I try A again?"

"Sure!" She heard the fork click against the plate, probably sawing through that tough crust he made. She was formulating her argument that the crust was make or break for a decent pie when she felt a pair of soft warm lips against hers. And she thought his pie was delicious!

Mercedes has a reputation for being easily distracted but there's a reason for that, there's always two voices arguing in her head. Like right now for instance. One voice is yelling "Watch out, it's a trap!" The other voice is yelling "About damn time!" Mercedes choose to listen to the second voice and kiss back. She gently tasted his lips with her tongue.

"I'm sorry." Sam said huskily, sounding like he'd just run a mile. "I saw you standing there and I thought – Short and dark and cute and curvy the girl from West Lima goes walking and as she passes I smile, but she doesn't see." He was looking at her like she was a wild animal that would run away any minute now.

"You saw that?" She was smiling, not getting defensive or suspicious like Sam had half expected. He relaxed. "My mom said she sent you down but I didn't see you. How much did you hear?"

"All of it. I thought that Seventeen song was so sad but it's really a 'it gets better' song isn't it? The world isn't what it seems at 17?"

"You looked it up?" Sam noticed how her eyes sparkled when she smiled.

"You care about it so I looked it up. Same with The Boy from Ipenema. Only I changed it around, all the things I like about you." No need to mention how he agonized all the way over whether to go with 'cute and curvy' or 'stacked and sexy'. The blue tank top she was wearing made one argument but he choose to play it safe. "I hope the Brazil song wasn't really about a boyfriend from Brazil."

"No, that was Alice showing off her guitar playing."

"So there's no boyfriend, Brazilian or otherwise?"

"No, but I"m thinking I should get one."

This was looking promising so he kissed her again, this time slipping in a little tongue and backing her against the kitchen counter. "So what happened? Last week you'd be freaking out by now." He tucked one of her black curls behind her ear.

"It was at the coffee house. I was there with Alice and some guy complimented us and of course I acted like he was a serial killer out looking for his next victim. Alice asked me how I expect to find happiness if I swing at it with a baseball bat every time it comes near. She called me a coward and said a coward dies a thousand deaths and a brave man only once. That's Shakespeare or some shit."

"You should hang out with Alice more often." He moved in for another kiss.

Next thing she knew, Mercedes was sitting on the kitchen counter, legs wrapped around Sam's waist, tongue down Sam's throat. He slipped his hand under her shirt and lightly ran his fingers along her spine. Up and down, making no attempt to unhook her bra or slip into her jeans. Not yet. One voice was screaming "Danger! Danger! Danger!" The other voice was screaming "Just shut the fuck up!" to the first voice. She pulled Sam closer. Now the first voice was going ballistic. "Didn't you learn anything from Quinn's example?" The second voice was describing a little girl, her skin the color of a perfectly baked pie crust. She had beautiful green eyes and the cutest light brown afro-puffs. Well, there also had to be an older brother to beat up kids who called her Minnie Mouse but right now Sam was in the park pushing the little girl in a swing. She was tall and strong like her dad so maybe she'd do her own beatdowns. The first voice was asking if Mercedes has lost her mind. The second voice was also asking her a question.

"Where is everybody?" No, it was Sam nibbling on her ear.

"Columbus." she whispered back. "All night. All alone in this house, just you and..." Then two sounds registered. One sound was a buzzer. The other was a knock on the back door followed by a key turning in the lock.

"Of course it's okay." She heard Kurt say. "They gave me a key! I'm family. Besides, the oven timer just went off. Somebody left something cooking." He was so familiar with this kitchen that he could grab a potholder and cross over to the oven without looking around. He opened the oven door and looked in.

"Something's cooking all right!" Blaine said, noticing the couple blinking at him in shock.

"What the heck are you doing standing around in the dark?" Kurt pulled the pies from the oven. "You could give somebody a heart attack. Why didn't you say something when I knocked?"

"I was about to yell We're coming! when ..." Sam started to respond.

Blaine found that hysterically funny "I'm sure you were." he guffawed.

"How mature!" Sam and Kurt said at the same time. Sam took a step back and offered Mercedes a hand getting off the counter. Well, at least they were both fully dressed. And thank God for that "Kiss the Cook" apron he was wearing or the whole thing would have been even more embarrassing.

"I invited Kurt and Blaine over to judge the pies." Mercedes mumbled. "Sorry, I got distracted."

"I see." Kurt said archly.

"I gotta get home!" Sam suddenly noticed the time. "I need to get this pie home before my mom comes home from work. Can I have a ride, Mercedes?"

"Sure. Kurt, make yourself at home. Be back in a few minutes. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Why are we stopping here?" Sam asked as Mercedes pulled into the parking lot of Breadstix. "I'm kinda in a rush."

"Only take a minute." Mercedes said, jumping out of the car. And true to her word she was back in two minutes, carrying a white envelope. "Here!" she tossed the envelope in his lap and started the car.

"What is it?"

"Look!"

Dinner for two at Breadstix. "I can't accept this. I'm supposed to buy you dinner!"

"It's not for you. It's for you mom's birthday."

"Well I definitely can't accept that!"

"Of course you can. You can pay me back."

He leered at her. "I like the way you think!"

"Not with sex. We're going to do that because we want to, not because you have to." She winked at him.

He clutched his heart. "I'm in love!"

"Yeah, well, you're also on the hook for three guitar lessons. According to Alice that's hard work."

"I'd teach you for free," he said, suddenly serious. "You know that, right?"

"You need a job, I want guitar lessons. Win/win. I want to do this Sam. Please let me." She smiled at him and then turned back to the road. "Please?"

"Damn I'm lucky to have met you. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Next. I need to borrow Stevie and Stacey."

"What do you mean, borrow them?"

"Well my folks are out for the weekend, that's the other reason Kurt came over, he's spending the night. Your mom and dad, they look like they could use a little 'alone time'."

"Hey, that's my mother you're talking about!"

"And do I have to explain how she became your mother? A woman has needs."

"Do they now?" he asked, softly brushing her arm with his fingertips. His touch was so light, she would have never guessed it based on how he mangled that pie crust. She focused on the road.

"Yes, they do. And it's hard to meet those needs with little kids in the room. Today in the kitchen, God knows what might have happened if Kurt hadn't walked in when he did. I didn't know whether to kiss him or kick him."

"I know what i wanted to do to him."

"Exactly. That's why Stevie and Stacey will be there when you spend the night at my house tonight. Between Kurt and the two of them nothing's happening in the Jones house. Not yet."

"Not yet." His green eyes twinkled. "But one day..."

Maybe not tonight but her smile held promise. It was a definite maybe.

The End