I would just like to thank everyone who came back with me to give this thing a chance. I know that so many times, sequels fall so short of the original and I am hoping that this is not the case in our situation here.

There are a lot of new characters, but I don't intend for the old dynamic of the gang to be ruined, though the Samcedes dynamic is under a bit of distress. Sorry about how bleak thing may look. I guess my ongoing current depression is affecting my work, though I did intend to have this drama played out before I got depressed…

The Reservations

It was going to be a long day. Mercedes was not that fond of going to all of the various events that Missy dragged him to. She wanted to be there for him and to be by his side, but too frequently did people steal him away and sort of leave her standing there, in an unfamiliar place without a guide. It had been alright for her, for a time. She would find a post and simply wait on him to return to her, entertaining miscellaneous questions, while she waited.

But then, there had been a couple of times where she had to go to the bathroom, and she didn't know where he was to escort her, so she ended up having to try to find someone willing to take her there. That was embarrassing, at times, but it wasn't the first time. There had been moments when Sam had to ask a woman to bring her into the women's room at certain places, and to help her find the stall and the sinks. However, Mercedes gave up on those trips when she needed to find a bathroom escort and did so, only to find that she had begun her cycle, as well.

That was embarrassing. She had actually managed to get the attention of Kitty Tobin, the actress who played Quinn in The R Word. The woman was very helpful and extremely nice, to not only escort her to the bathroom, but to the stall and the sink and when Mercedes went to wash her hands, Kitty said, "Erm… Miss Babydoll… You have blood on your hand." Mercedes froze. She thought that she might be on her cycle. She was near the time and she did have panty liners on, because she was certain to always have them on when her time was approaching; but she didn't know this woman in such a way that this would be a comfortable exchange.

"Thank you for telling me. If you'll wait on me for just a second longer, I'll go back into the stall and rectify a few things."

"Of course, I'll wait," Kitty told her and asked, "Do you need me to help you with anything in there, or…?"

"Oh, no!" Mercedes laughed awkwardly and said, "I know where everything is and I have my supplies. I may need you to examine my clothes when I come out to make sure there's nothing amiss."

"I certainly will, Ma'am!" Kitty said. Mercedes went back into the stall and Kitty wrung her hands and bit her lip. God, this was embarrassing. She couldn't even begin to imagine how Babydoll was probably feeling. It never occurred to her before that blind women had cycles. Of course, she knew that they did, that they must, but she didn't realize until that moment how that might be a real struggle for them. She began to hum to herself and check her reflection in the mirror. "Um… so, what about that Missy Gunderson, eh? She is such a ball buster. I feel so sorry for Sam, most of the time. His publicist is a shark, but at least she cares about her clients."

"Oh, Missy is an okay person," Mercedes called out; as she used her wipes to try to make sure she cleaned everything up. "She's simply young and ambitious and Sam's actually her first big client. She discovered him. She went after him and she made him what he is. She's got a lot invested in his career and his image."

"L.O.L. at her discovering him – like Columbus discovered America," Kitty said, with a chuckle. Mercedes simply bit her lip and didn't respond as she made sure that she correctly covered herself. "And as far as his career – I thought that he wanted to make comics or cartoons or something."

"Well, he's an artist, but he's also a writer. She's going to help him be able to write books. He's been working on a few of them and with the type of publicity that she has gotten him, he could be a huge success in that," Mercedes said and came out of the stall, "I forgot to ask, can you check the stall to see if I left any traces of anything?" Kitty checked and wiped off a couple of spots of blood before tossing the tissue and flushing, then helped Mercedes back to the sink where they both washed their hands. "Thank you, so much. I know that this must be embarrassing for you…"

"No. Well, yes, a little – but I realize that it's even worse for you. Why don't you have a personal assistant for things like this? I know that you can afford one."

"I have a personal assistant, but…" she tilted her head. It would've been far less stressful if she had Stacie with her. "She's a college student."

"A cousin or something? Look – I'm just saying that if you'll be on the road with Sam for all of the projects that Slave driver Missy has set up for him, it would behoove the two of you to have an official, always available personal assistant to do these things for you. You can have your cousin do the at home stuff, then have a special assistant while you're on the road." Mercedes nodded. That was a pretty good idea. As she and Kitty reentered the party, arm in arm, she heard that voice that she adored call out to her.

"Babydoll! I was wondering where you'd run off to!" He cheered. He had laughter and relief in his voice. She could tell that he was worried.

"I stole one of the cast members for usage of personal assistant services," she confessed and rubbed Kitty's arm, gratefully. Kitty kissed her on the cheek and made her way back into the crowd. "I don't think I can take this traveling, anymore," Mercedes said. She hadn't been on the road much, since then.

When she heard Sam's ringtone, Mercedes smiled and answered her phone. She was on sitter duty at Emma's watching the dogs and babies… and Emma. "If it isn't Mr. Amazing!" She said.

"Then No One by Alicia Keys better not have played," he said, with a chuckle. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Helping Emma babysit," she answered. "Shannon is supposed to stop by to drop some things off for us. Tina's with Mike at the community center, getting things ready for National Fire Prevention Week. It's gonna be EPIC this year. Cheerio was able to get her cheerleading squad involved. My church, of course is participating. Mike is gonna get some kind of award for his continuous volunteer firefighter services."

"Sounds awesome, and when is it?"

"Next week, so you'll be back in time."

"Yeah, definitely," Sam said. "So, how are the kiddos?"

"Quiet, right now," she said. "I have them in the playpen, since Emma and I are the only adults here. I expect that Babs will grow restless, soon, but Cowboy is a trooper. He hardly ever makes a fuss. Stacie and I are taking Cheerio to get him a Halloween costume this weekend."

"Anything in particular that she wanna dress him up as?" Sam wondered.

"Well… Since he has the cowboy theme nursery and his nickname is Cowboy…" Mercedes started, then felt Emma shifting on the couch, "Emma – you going somewhere?"

"Just gonna wait out on the front patio for Shannon," Emma answered.

"Alright. Would you let the dogs out, also? They haven't been outside for a while," Mercedes said.

"Yes. They appear to be following me out, anyway," she said.

"I wonder how long it's gonna take us to give Cowboy a lil' cousin," Sam said.

Mercedes laughed and said, "Again with that, Sam? We aren't even married, yet," she said.

"I hate that you keep reminding me about that, like there's anything that I can do to change it," he pouted.

"Well, there are just so many other things that we need to take care of first. I mean, you have all these interviews and meetings lined up for the next couple of months. After the release of the movie in December, when you take your break from the spotlight, you'll have to have those long, strenuous procedures that we've discussed with the doctors. It would be so irresponsible of us to start trying to have children, right now."

"Will it also be irresponsible for us to get married right now, because that's sort of what the conversation was about, before you changed it… again," Sam complained.

"Yes, I think that it would be. Sam, it's not like I don't want to marry you, there's just so much going on in your life right now and I don't want to distract you from building your career. I have my dream career. I love what I do. You are still launching yours, and I'm going to support you through it all."

"Just not as my wife," he said, irritated. "I mean, am I the only one who thinks that it's bad enough that you're hardly ever on the road with me and when we are together, we've stopped having sex, but damn – I seriously cannot fathom why it is so hard for you to just go ahead and marry me, if you love me as much as you say you do."

"As much as I say I do? I think that our history together is enough to validate my love!" She said, with a shaky voice. He sighed and she bit her lip and took a deep breath, "Why are we arguing, again?" She asked.

"Because I fucking miss you and I don't have you here to hold… so, I'm being a little bit testy and picking fights. I'm sorry. I love you. I just want you to be my wife. I don't want to be like Kurt and Blaine and wait ten years, or like Tina and Mike and wait five. I wouldn't have waited this long, to be honest. I've wanted to marry you for what feels like forever. In another year or two, I have no idea what it'll feel like, especially since we have stopped having sex," Sam explained.

Mercedes sighed. Hell – the sex thing wasn't her fault. This was an issue. They had plenty of them, but the sex thing was one of the greatest ones, for the moment. It started with them being on an interview together and an audience member asked a question related to sex. "Its public knowledge that both of you are devout Christians, what type of advice would you give to young Christians on how to abstain until marriage?"

What Sam should have said was: I'm the wrong person to ask, because I have an active sex life.

What Sam did say was: Abstaining can be very difficult and sometimes feel impossible, but as Christians, we're called upon by God to do certain things. It isn't easy, but if He commanded it, it's not impossible, either."

Since then, they had decided to settle down on having sex. He didn't want to be a hypocrite and to be honest; she had always had a nagging conscious about their sex life, anyway. But, now that they were in the public eye, so much of what they did was under a microscope. Sam had rededicated his life to Christ (in truth, this time, according to him), and they had not been together sexually in about three months. Add that to the fact that she no longer traveled with him (which made their abstinence easier, if you asked her), and then count in that Missy spent so much time trying to make him look a certain way… sometimes, it was overwhelming to think about and she wondered where exactly she and Sam stood.

He loved her, obviously, practically begging her to become his wife, as soon as possible… But after his rise to fame, her self-esteem decreased in silence. She remembered Shane, and how he had left her behind. She remembered Artie and how he had left her behind. She remembered Puck, and any time that she did, she would feel deep sorrow. Sam was more important to her than ALL OF THEM, combined. She knew that many of his fans thought that he could do better, and no matter how much she loved him and trusted him, some part of her whispered, so many nights that someday, probably someday soon… he would think the same. That thought bothered her so much, that she was afraid to keep him so close during all of this.

Something told her that it might be counterproductive, but she just thought that when he decided that she was not the woman for this new, famous, loved Sam Evans… she didn't want to be a happily married mother. She didn't want to have him stay around, just because of a child, or leave her after she had dedicated her entire life and future to him. It was an unreasonable fear! But, she simply could not shake it, and Missy never made it any better. She frequently spoke about all of the young ladies who would probably try to marry Sam, if she wasn't around and comment on all of the celebrities who allegedly had a celebrity crush on him. Mercedes shuddered, as she ran these things through her mind. "Babydoll… what are you thinking?"

"Thinking about how I don't wanna lose you," she said, softly.

"You might as well through that thought out the window. You aren't ever losing me, Mercy. I love you too much to ever let you go. I don't want to wait to get married, but I sure can't force you, so I'll have to wait, if I want you – which I do. And even though we've stopped having sex, I once went for about seven years without any, so I know that I can and I'm willing to wait for you. I just… Sometimes it feels like you're putting this distance between us and I don't understand why. It hurts me." She heard Rachel's small toddler, Babs begin to whine and she got up from the couch to see to her. "That Babsie?"

"Yep, she's finally decided that she's had enough of being out of the spotlight," Mercedes chuckled, sadly – still mulling over how sad Sam sounded, himself. She couldn't stand doing that to him, but she couldn't seem to help it, either. And, Emma's permanent brain damage didn't stop her from being a great listener, but she was not particularly good at feedback, anymore.

She knew that she could talk to her friends about her issues, but Tina had so much to do with her wedding planning and overall being a kickass partner to Mike. Kurt was still a newlywed. Rachel was still getting used to try to settle into a life with Finn not being in the military. Quinn was… Quinn. She worried about ever speaking about any possible problems with Quinn, for obvious reasons. "I guess that I'll have to see if Babs and Cowboy need to eat and stuff… I wish that I was able to multitask and keep talking to you, but Rach and Cheri entrusted their kids to me."

"I understand. You go ahead. Give my nephew a huge kiss for me and tickle the heck out of Babsie, on my behalf," he said.

"I shall endeavor to make you proud, with my performance, Mr. Amazing!" She cheered as she collected the girl from the playpen. "But first, I must make sure that there is neither pee nor poo on either of them," she said, feeling Babs touch her all over her face. Babs sometimes did that to her, because she did it to Babs, to know her face and well, the kid figured that this must be something to do with this woman.

"Okay, Baby. I love you… and I miss you, so much," he said.

"I love you and I miss you to, Sam," she said, softly. She felt like he didn't just mean this particular trip. He missed the feel of her body. He missed the confidence that she once had in what they had. He missed the assurance that she fully truly and honestly believed in his love for her.

"I would never leave you," he said. Of course, even though they had not discussed it, he figured out what was wrong with her.

"I would never leave you," she said. Babs began to practically scream, sick and tired of not being paid proper attention. "Oh my God! Barbra, cut it out!" Mercedes said, then she and Sam wrapped up their talk and she hung up and saw to the children.

Sam sighed and hung up his phone, as well. He was with the new assistant that Missy had gotten him. He demanded that he have one (mostly to keep up with all the stuff that Missy tried to tell him. She drove him CRAZY!) But, he also wanted an assistant, because he would ask Mercy to complete the rest of his meetings with him. Things were becoming a bit tense in the public eye, due to her absence. Even though it made perfectly good sense for a blind woman to not travel behind him everywhere, people were beginning to question the condition of their relationship and he knew that if they were spotted together, that the tenseness between them would be captured if they didn't act soon and fix whatever the hell it was that was going on between them. She still loved him and he knew that she was still his biggest fan, supporter, cheerleader and believer… But he needed her beside him to reassure him that there was not some wedge between them.

"Mr. Evans," Marley Rose, the bright young assistant began.

"Sam," he corrected her.

"Sam," she corrected herself with a smile, "Miss Gunderson gave me your itinerary and told me that as soon as you got off of the phone with your fiancée to go over it with you."

"You can just set it down. I know how to read. Now, when you're with Babydoll, you'll have to read out stuff," he said, with a broad smile and opened his current journal.

"In the short period of time that I've been with you, I've heard so much about her. I can't wait to meet her. She seems like such an amazing person." Marley said and sat down at the table, across from him.

"Oh, she is!" Sam said. "She's like an angel. She's beautiful and kind. She's got these adorable habits and she's totally smart. She'll talk about the Bible like it's nothing and everything, at the same time. She's read like – pretty much every classic that there is. She knows, and I kid you not, like EVERY song that you can imagine. It's almost like one of those autistic people, how well she knows songs. She knows all the words, the song title, the artist and many of them, she can tell you what year they came out. You'll love her, Marley. The two of you are gonna hit it off so well," he said, smiling the entire time. She smiled brightly back at him and twiddled with her fingers. He saw it and raised an eyebrow, "You want to read me that itinerary, don't you?" He asked.

"Miss Gunderson said that if I don't read it to you and you don't get around to reading it yourself that she would hold me personally responsible," she said and nervously bit her lip.

"Well, even if you read it, I may lose my attention span, but you're free to go ahead," he told her.

"Thank you, I appreciate that," she said and began to carry out her assignment. Meanwhile, Sam worked on a sketch of Mercedes. When he was on the road, he didn't often feel like writing, but he did a lot of sketching and most of them were of his love. Some of them were of random things that popped in his head, or silly dreams that he had that he made into mini comic strips – like that one of his parole officer, Sue Sylvester in a duel with Sue Snell… he had no idea what prompted that dream. He hadn't watched Carrie since before he was locked up. And even when he had, he had only watched it a couple of times. Now, The Shining! That was a movie that he could watch over and over… He heard Marley clear her throat and he looked up. "You didn't hear a single word of that, did you?"

"I'm sorry. But, you did your part and I promise that I can and will read it myself, later. You can head to your own room, and everything. If she send you back here, for any reason, please, just call me. A lot of the stuff that she insists needs to be told to me in person, I can promise you, you can tell me over the phone."

"Yes, Mr… Sam," she said. "I will go to my own room and I'll see you in the morning," she said.

"Goodnight, Marley," he said and gave her a crooked smile. Marley took a deep breath and nodded. It was hard not to see him as a handsome man, because he was. It was difficult not to have a crush on him, because he was so very sweet and considerate… but he belonged to someone and from what she had been told, not only did his woman deserve him, but they were madly in love. She shyly left the room and made her way to her room, with Missy watching from down the hallway. Missy checked her watch, then retired into her own room.

Rachel buckled the kids into their baby seats in her SUV and secured the dogs into their totes in the back. "It feels like all of us should have family vehicles, these days," she said as she helped Mercedes to step into the passenger's seat.

"Not me," Mercedes said, sadly. God, this thing with the way that she felt about/was treating Sam was bringing her down.

"Well, you haven't started yet, but you will soon. Let's see…" Rachel walked over to her side and got into the driver's seat, "If things go according to plan, or the rough draft of the plan, I guess – you and Sam will be married by the end of next year, and probably begin having children in the months to follow," Rachel said.

"If we last that long," Mercedes said.

"And why on Earth would you not last that long? You two made it through all of the events in Hatemonger: The Sam Evans Story," Rachel said.

"Well, more or less. It didn't happen exactly like that," Mercedes said.

"Regardless. From what Kurt has told me, it was bad enough. If the two of you made it through that, you could make it through anything," Rachel assured her.

"Things were different then. Sam was different. He didn't realize his worth. He didn't know that he could be accepted and loved to the extent that he is now. He had no friends but me and the friends that I introduced him to and things were shaky with his family. I'm not suggesting that Sam is going to leave me, but I don't want to rule it out, either. I feel like I have to see if he can really handle having all of this fame and admiration before I go running down the aisle to become Mrs. Sam Evans."

Rachel widened her eyes and said, "I had no idea that you were worried about these things. It's understandable, with your past and Sam will simply have to understand that this is how you feel and that you can't change it. But, Mercedes – let me warn you of something… It isn't a good idea to judge a man on what you're worried that he might or might not do when all the things that he has done contradict it." She began driving and said, "Sam seems like he loves you and I would love to promise you that you have nothing to worry about, but at the same time, nothing is really for certain, is it?"

"I certainly love him more than anything and I never want to hurt him or lose him," Mercedes said.

"Then, let me tell you what you have to do… trust him. If you love him that much, don't let your worry get in the way. Treat it like you do your relationship with God," Rachel suggested. "You once told me that for you, marriage was like Jesus and church, or something like that… Let him be your Jesus and you be his church. Because, I don't think it matters how successful or famous he's become or will become, he'll have the very same Samuel Evans demons that he has had, for a while and no matter how gorgeous, thin or pale some of the women out there may be… Sam knows that there is only one sanctuary where he is free from his demons. Don't tear it down, Mercedes."

Mercedes listened to Rachel's word and leaned over to give her a tight hug. It was SO GOOD to have her back in town. She always made things better. "You're right. Sam is the man that I chose and I shouldn't let my fears mess this up. He deserves better than that. He deserves my all, whether I'm afraid, or not."

"And you deserve to love and be loved without scaring yourself away from it," Rachel added. "Is Stefan coming with you, or…"

"Yes. You can just drop us off at the shop," Mercedes said. Only a few more days, and she would be reunited with Sam, and she didn't care how hard it would be, she would fight off all these wretched fears and let herself love him the way that she always had, so she wouldn't have to feel so bad about the distance that she was creating… and she had to close that distance, as well. She pulled out her phone to call him back. "Hey… you were right, earlier, when you said that I was putting distance between us. I have been and that's not fair to you. So, I promise that I'll be more mindful of it, so that I can stop doing it. What I'm putting you through is killing me."

"Aww, Babydoll… it's killing me too. Listen – I was gonna save it as a surprise, but you got an assistant… so that you can come on the road with me again. I need you with me. Missy found a wonderful personal assistant and she's got open availability. It's only a few more months; then I'll have a rest period to start on my procedures and to work on my books. I know that you've been kinda freaked out since that whole bathroom thing with Kitty, but… I really need you," he said, trying hard not to beg too much.

"Okay. "Then, I'll be with you. If you need me there with you, where else would I need to be? But what is Stacie going to do while I'm gone?" She asked.

"She'll get a vacation and help Daddy and Cheerio out with the baby. It'll be great for her. She'll have more time to focus on college, and I don't have to leave again for another two weeks, after I get back at the end of this week, so she'll have time to prepare." They spoke for a time longer, he gave her a rundown of Marley and how she would be of service. By the time that they hung up, Mercedes was sitting at the bar inside of the shop with Stefan in her arms, trying to mentally prepare herself not to think about the negatives… not to sabotage herself.