Title: Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
Author: Lao Tse
Fandom: Glee
Disclaimer: Don't own Glee or its characters, they belong to FOX and Ryan Murphy. Any songs, lyrics, don't belong to me if I don't state otherwise.
Rating: PG-13/T, this might change
Spoilers: All episodes aired to be on the safe side.
Summary: We are now in the future; there will be other stories to fill the gap between this and I Give You the Morning. Sam had made decision that it's time for what he has known ever since he got together with Rachel. He has spent a lot of time planning what he is about to do. All he hopes is that Rachel is on the same page as he is. Nothing gained, nothing lost, is the saying but he is taking this chance because Sam knows that there is a lot to gain here.
Feedback: I would love to know what you think of this, and then I would like to know what you want to read next, there will be a poll in my profile when this is finished with three different scenarios that I'm going to write.
And a big thank you to Kelston for betaing this for me.
Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
[2/3]
Sam's plane had landed in Cleveland, after he had gotten off the plane; he stood and waited for his bags. As he took both of his bags, he started to look around to see if he could spot his parents they had said that they would pick him up at the airport.
An hour and many tries to reach his parent Sam was walking towards the doors. He had to try to find a bus that was going to Lima. He didn't feel like taking a cab that would take three hours, and more important he didn't think it was the best idea to take a cab ride that was that long, and expensive, he didn't after all have the cash for that.
It seemed to be his luck this day, there weren't any buses that were headed towards Lima, in the next few hours. He fished up his phone from his pocket, the first thing he did was to send a quick text to Rachel telling her that he had landed safely in Cleveland, and of course a small, love you.
He ran his hand over his face, as he tried to figure out what he was going to do. There was really just one thing that he could do. Sam took up his phone once again and walked over to one of the rows that had plastic chairs and he sat down and started to scroll among his contacts, he let out a sigh as he shook his head. Sam pressed the call button, and waited for the person on the other side of the call to answer, the signals passed and no one answered.
"What the hell," he muttered to himself, and he started to scroll down again, he hoped that he would have some better luck this time, Sam pressed the call button, and he waited for someone to answer but and there it was, the called had been declined. He felt like he had no idea on what he was going to do now.
"Sam!" As he heard his name, he turned around and he saw his mother and his father standing almost at the other end of the room. As he looked at them he shook his head, but he started to walk towards them
When he had reached them, his mother pulled him in to a hug, and she held him close.
"You knew when I was going to land," Sam said as he took a step back, "a call telling me that you would be late would have been nice."
"About that," his mother said and looked at Sam; she had kind of a goofy grin on her lips.
"No," Sam sighed as he saw the look on her face., "You have one phone each how could you both forget your phones?"
"I was about to answer your call," Mr. Evans said and looked at Sam, "But it appeares that I didn't have enough battery left."
"Can we just forget about this?" Sam said and took both of his bags from the floor then he started to walk towards the exit. "I kind of want to get home."
"Sure." Mrs. Evans said and smiled at him, the three of them making their way to the car.
/
Three members of the Evans family walked together inside the house, Sam went up the stairs to his old room, and it looked the same as it had before he had left to attend college in New York with Rachel. The old Avatar and Star Wars posters were still on the walls, he smiled as he saw it.
Sam took his phone, he then lay down on his bed, and scrolled his contacts, he stopped when he had reach Rachel. He debated with himself if he should call her or if a text would do for now. He looked at the time to see what time it was then he did some quick math after which he pressed call.
He heard a couple of signals pass and he knew that Rachel almost always let the whole ringtone play, when he called.
"Hello, to you too," Sam said as Rachel answered the phone, he could hear that she was slightly out of breath; he guessed that they just had gotten a break.
"I think that you really should come during the weekend." Sam said and he started to play with a loose tread on the bed sheet. "I have just spent three hours in a car with my parents and they asked about you a lot."
Sam sat on the bed while he listened to what she was saying, he was smiling, and he could hear that she loved what she had been doing so far. That was all that he could ask for.
"I think that I need to let you go now," Sam said as he heard his name being called, "even if I don't want to."
Sam closed his eyes and listened to Rachel, "I love you." he smiled when he heard her almost gasp, "Don't sound so shocked, I do love you."
After Sam had ended his call with Rachel, he had a big smile on his lips as he walked down stairs to eat dinner with his parents. He had a couple of things that he needed to fix before Rachel got to Lima. He was almost sure that she would actually be able to make it to Lima and that was the best thing right now.
As Sam sat down at the table with his parents, he was humming the same song that he had been singing and humming most of the time that he was alone, or not in the near proximity of Rachel.
"Sam," his father said and looked at him, "I know that you love Rachel and all but can you please keep it somewhat away from the dinner table?"
"I don't know what you are talking about." Sam said and grabbed his glass of water.
"We all can hear you humming and singing Can You Feel the Love Tonight? And we all know what that song means to you." Mr. Evans said and looked at his son.
"So that song has a meaning in my relationship with Rachel, don't you and mum have a song that means a lot to you?" Sam asked and looked from his father to his mother; both of them looked away and didn't really look at each other.
"And I guess that is my answer to the question," Sam said and smiled at them.
"So Rachel is coming this weekend right?" Mrs. Evans said and smiled at her son, Sam looked up at her with a small smile.
"She will do her best but she has this play that she is a part of they are rehearsing a lot right now," Sam said and his mood fell a little when he thought about Rachel not being here, "I haven't seen that much of her."
"I'm sure that she will come," his mother said patting him on the hand, "she knows that it's Beth first recital this weekend and she doesn't want to miss that."
/
Sam had been in Lima for a couple of days and most of the time had been spent with his parents. A couple of hours he hung out with some of his friends from High School that were still living in the small town. He had made plans to meet up with Puck and Finn, the only ones that he really had been friends with during his years at McKinley that were still in Lima.
Sam sat alone at a table at Breadstix, he had no idea why they were going to eat there. Puck had said something about it being a tradition and that it was the only decent place to eat in this town. Sam shook his head he knew that there were a couple of other places that was at least as good if not better.
"Evans," Sam looked up when he saw Puck walking in, Sam shook his head, he had hoped that Puck would have grown out of that Mohawk that he had been sporting for most of High School, but that wasn't the case.
"Puckerman," Sam said as Puck sat down at the table, he had been really close to call him Noah, just to mess with him, "Finn is coming right?"
"Hudson should be coming." Puck said and waved down a waitress to placed an order, "You want anything?
"Just a Diet Coke," Sam said and smiled up at the waitress, Puck looked at him as he ordered, "What?"
"Diet Coke, really?" Puck asked looking at him, "You have been with Berry for too long."
"Five years isn't that long," Sam, said shaking his head, "and I thought that you liked Rachel."
"I love my Jewish American Princess, don't say anything else." Puck said and he shot Sam a glare, "But five years it's like you are married."
Sam looked away, and he thought he saw a spot on the wall that was very interesting to study.
"You are married!" Puck almost yelled when he saw the way that Sam was acting.
"No," Sam hissed looking at Puck like he had grown at least two more heads, "we are not married."
"But you are getting married," Puck said and his jaw dropped as he pointed to Sam, "you dog."
"What?" Sam asked, he couldn't follow what it was that Puck was trying to say.
"You are here to tell your parents and Berry's when she gets here that you are getting married and that she is preggers."
Just as Puck had said the last part Finn came walking in and sat down at the table.
"Rachel's pregnant?" Finn asked and looked at them, Puck nodded his head and Sam was shaking his head.
"Read my lips," Sam said and looked at the two former football players. Puck was about to laugh when he heard Sam, "don't," Puck closed his mouth and pressed his lips together as he tried to keep the laughter down, "No."
"But why was Puck saying that she was," Finn asked and the waitress was back at their table both Sam and Finn placed their food order and Puck added something to his order.
"Because he's a moron." Sam said and took a drink of his diet coke.
"Dude," Puck said and glared at him, "I'm not a moron."
"Then why would you think that Rachel was pregnant?" Sam asked looking at the other two men at the table, "I haven't said anything that was going in that direction."
Puck raised an eyebrow, and looked at Sam and then to Finn, and he pointed to the blonde one, ""He has been with Berry to long, he is talking like her."
"Guys," Sam said and sighed, "My relationship with Rachel isn't what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Point proven, you need to get leave Berry," Puck said and looked at Sam, "you aren't that dude with the huge mouth anymore."
"Can we please leave my mouth alone," Sam said and smiled at them, "but just so you know, Rachel happens to love my mouth."
Puck was looking at Sam with a somewhat suggestive look in his eyes, and Sam sighed when he saw the boy with the Mohawk, he acted like a boy right now.
"Why does everything you say have to be so sexual?" Sam asked and looked at Puck, then he turned to Finn, "You agree with me right?"
"Just ignore him," Finn said as he took a bite of his food, "that is what I do."
"Don't talk with food in your mouth," Sam said and looked at Finn, with somewhat disgust in his eyes.
Finn turned to Puck and nodding his head, before the tallest of the three young men turned to the blonde on, "Puck is right, Rachel has too much of influence on you."
"Can you leave Rachel out of this please?" Sam asked looking at them, "She is not here so can we talk about anything else."
"Sure," Puck said and Finn agreed, the three of them didn't say anything.
"Okay," Puck said and looked at Sam, "why are you here?"
"Rachel is busy with a play and I missed my parents," Sam said looking at his friends.
"There is more to it than that." Puck said and looked at Sam, Finn nodded his head as he agreed with Puck, "So you better spill what it is that you are here for?"
"I might have a dinner with Leroy and Hiram tonight." Sam said and looked at the other two at the table.
"And?" Puck pushed while looking at Sam, "We all know that it's more than a dinner with the fathers in law."
"I'm thinking of making them my real parents in law." Sam said he wasn't sure that it had registered what he had said from the looks on their faces. He was pretty sure that Finn hadn't understood what he had said, and he could tell that the wheels were turning in Puck's head.
"I knew it," Puck exclaimed and pointed at Sam when he had put all the pieces together, "and I was right."
"Can someone please tell me what is going on right now?" Finn asked and looked at the other two that was sitting around the table with him.
"Evans, is going to propose," Puck said and looked at Sam, "and he is making sure that Berry's dads are okay with it."
"Dude," Finn said looking at Sam, "they like love you."
"They are kind of nice," Sam said with a smile when he thought about Rachel's two fathers, "and I hope that they will understand."
"Like Hudson said," Puck said and pointed at Finn, "they love you so why wouldn't they say yes."
"I'm not asking them to marry me, you know that right?" Sam said and looked at his two friends this conversation was getting out of place. It was kind of not comfortable talking about this.
"But you know you kind of are." Puck said and looked at Sam, "Rachel is Jewish and most Jewish parents are kind of obsessed with their children's partner. Just look at my Ma."
"Your mum, not the best example," Finn said and laughed, "She will be disappointed that Rachel is marrying Sam."
Puck snapped his head towards Finn and then to Sam, "Dude, you can't marry Rachel."
Sam let his head fall against the table, he was happy about the fact that he had pushed his plate to the side, his head laid on the table and he let out a sigh, before he lifted his head from the table "Puckerman, I am marrying the girl I love if she agrees to it, and you can't say who I can or can't marry."
Puck still couldn't understand what was happening, he said something but Sam couldn't understand what he was saying and from the look of it Finn had the same problem.
"Look, I'm leaving you," Sam said and got up from the table, and he put some money on the table, "this is my share; you take care of the rest."
/
Sam let out a breath as he stood at the steps on the front porch of the Berry home. He had made it clear to both of the men that it was just he that was coming over. That Rachel was still in New York but he would be very happy if they would agree to have dinner with him.
He raised a his hand that he had formed in to a fist and he knocked on the door. Sam had no idea on why he was nervous about this, as he had told both Puck and Finn earlier that day he had been together with Rachel for five years and counting. They had told Sam that Rachel both fathers loved him, so there was nothing to be scared of but it was, this was not just dinner with the in-laws; it was so much more, it was about his future.
"Sam," Leroy greeted him as the taller man opened the door and Sam smiled back at the man.
"Leroy," Sam said and he was let inside, "I hope everything is good with you?"
"You know, I can't complain," Leroy said with a laugh. Sam laughed a little, he felt a bit of the nerves that he was feeling leaving his body. The Berry house was a place where he felt welcome all the time, and had felt welcome ever since the first time he had been there with Rachel, "and how are you doing?"
Sam ran his hand through his hair, he moved some of the hair away from his face, "you know," he said and looked at the older man with a smaller smile this time, and Leroy nodded his head.
"You miss Rachel," he said and put a hand over Sam's shoulder, "she will be here this weekend right?"
"I hope so," Sam said and he started to walk to the living room, where he guessed that he would find Hiram.
"Sam Evans," Hiram said as Sam had made his presences known in the living room, where Hiram had been working on a Sudoku, and he looked up at Sam.
"Hiram Berry," Sam said and he sat down on the couch, "I know that you won't cook tonight but maybe you could tell me what he is making?" Sam pointed to the kitchen where he could hear Leroy moving around.
"If I knew what he was up to I would tell you," Hiram said, "but it's nice to see you."
"I'll say the same," Sam said and smiled at the shorter of Rachel's two fathers, "I kind of miss having the two of you around," Hiram looked at Sam and Sam laughed, "and I miss my own parents too."
"You just say that so that we will tell them that if they ask." Hiram said and he went back to the Sudoku. Sam grabbed the remote and started to zap among the channels on the TV, and he stop at the SyFy channel.
"It's okay that I have the TV on right?" Sam asked after a couple of minutes and he got an hm in response from Hiram.
/
Sam smiled a little when he saw what it was for dinner, most of the time that he and Rachel had dinner together it was a vegan friendly dinner but Sam didn't care about that but it was always nice to get some protein in the form of meat.
"This looks pretty good." Sam said when he saw the dish that Leroy had made, it was some kind of chicken, Sam had no idea what else it was, but chicken was always nice.
"Just pretty good?" Leroy teased him when he sat down at the table, Sam shook his head.
"You know what I mean," Sam said as he looked at them.
"I'm just teasing you," Leroy said and put some of the food on his plate, "but it must be nice to have some meat."
"The vegan thing isn't that bad," Sam said and took a bite of his food.
"Rachel isn't here, you can tell us what you really feel about the vegan food." Leroy said smiling at him, "She isn't the best chef in the world and most of the vegan stuff doesn't taste that much from the beginning."
"Hey," Sam said and looked at his girlfriend's father, "she has gotten better with the cooking thing," he got a couple of looks from both Leroy and Hiram, "but I do most of the cooking."
The three of them continued the dinner and when it was time for desert they had moved to the living room. Sam was sitting on the couch, Leroy and Hiram sat in the chairs.
"So you wanted to talk to us about something?" Leroy asked putting down the plate he had been holding, Sam swallowed what he had been eating.
"I did want to talk to you about something," Sam said and licked his lips. He put the plate down on the table, "but I don't know how to bring it up without making it really awkward."
"Why didn't you wait until Rachel was here, then the two of you could have talked to us?" Leroy asked as he looked at Sam.
"The thing is." Sam said as he played with his fingers and looked down on the floor. "Rachel doesn't know that I am here talking to you about what I wanted to talk to you about."
Both Leroy and Hiram were looking at Sam encouraging him to move on with what he was trying to tell them.
"You both know that Rachel and I have been together for five years now." Sam said, he wet his lips as he looked at Leroy first then to Hiram, "I think that it's time for us to take the next step in our relationship."
Sam moved on the couch as he tried to find a position that he felt was comfortable. This was a situation that wasn't the most comfortable for him to start with, he closed his eyes, and collected the thoughts before he let out a small breath, he then continued on with what he was saying.
"And I just wanted the two of you to give me your blessing before I ask her to take the next step with me." Sam said and looked at the two men that were sitting to the left and right of him.
"Are you implying what I think that you are implying?" Leroy asked as he looked at Sam. The young man looked up at the older man, their eyes connecting.
"It depend on what you think that I am implying," Sam said and smiled at him, "and I think that the answer to that would be yes."
"So Rachel doesn't know what you are planning on doing?" Leroy asked as he was looking at young blonde man.
"As far as I know," Sam said looking at him, "she doesn't have an idea what I am doing or planning."
"You have my blessing," Hiram said and looked at Sam, "I think that it is very nice of you to ask us for your blessing."
"Thank you," Sam said and smiled at him.
"I just have one question," Hiram said and stood up to walk to his husband, "if we would have said no, what would you have done?"
"I don't know," Sam said as honestly as he could. "I would like to say that I would have respected your decision, but I am not sure that I in the end would have listened to it." The two men looked at Sam and he let out a small breath. "Rachel means the world to me, and I can't see my own future without her in it, so in the end I would have done what I wanted."
"Are you sure that Rachel hasn't written you this speech," Leroy said with a laugh and Sam had a surprised look over his face. "This sounds like something that she would have wanted you to say to us."
"I just used my own words and the feelings that I have in my heart," Sam said looking at them. "I just want a future where I can be sure that I will be happy."
"You do know that there is no such thing." Leroy said and looked at Sam, "You can't be sure of a future where you will happy all the time."
"That might be true but I know that my life would be so much better if I knew that Rachel was there with me." Sam said and looked at them. He could see there was still something in their eyes that said they still had some doubts about what Sam was going to do. "We are young but I know, I know, that I want Rachel in my life for the rest of my life, and I want to be on her arm as she wins her first Tony, or whatever award that she will win."
Sam looked at them and gave them a small smile. "I want to be there for her, through all the good things and all the bad things. When someone says that she isn't right for a part, I want to be there to console her, or when she gets that part that she has been dreaming of I want to be the one that she comes home to and tells that she has gotten it."
The two Berry men looked at each other and nodded their heads in agreement. Even if Hiram already had said that he had given Sam his blessing, or more like them his blessing, Sam knew that Leroy was agreeing with his husband and that meant a lot to him.
"I just want to say that I really like you right now, both of you." Sam said as he got up from his seat. He put his right hand forward as he was about to shake both of their hands. Hiram instead pulled the blonde man in to a hug, and when he was released from the hug, the blonde turned to Leroy and the same thing happened again.
"Thank you so much for all of your kind words and for listening to what I had to say." Sam said and he gave them a small smile, his eyes were sparkling as he looked at them. "I hope that you understand how much this means to me."
The two men nodded their heads, giving Sam reassuring smiles.
/
It was Friday morning and Sam had talked to Rachel and she had told him that she was going to be able to make a quick visit to Lima as long as the two of them left at Sunday afternoon at the latest and he had agreed to it.
Sam had borrowed his parent's car, and driven the three hours that it took to get to Cleveland, where Rachel's plane would land. It would mean that his girlfriend would be able to see her younger sister's first recital. Sam still had a hard time grasping what had happened in High School with that.
As he was sitting in the car he heard the song that he had been humming ever since he had made the decision ask Rachel one of the most important questions that someone could ask a person.
Sam was singing along to the song, and he didn't care about that people looked strange at him whenever he stopped at a red light, "And can you feel the love tonight;" Sam was smiling as he was singing. This had been one of the first songs that he had wanted to sing with Rachel but they never did and he didn't understand why, "it is where we are."
He continued on to sing the song as he stepped out of the car, now people were looking at him, "It's enough for this wide-eyed wander," he was nodding his head in tune with the melody of the song, as it was playing in his head, "That we got this far."
Sam was looking around at the gate where he knew that Rachel would be coming out from. That was when he saw a familiar brown haired head, the hair was slightly curled, it looked like she hadn't done much to it just a fast brush and let it self-dry. Sam smiled when he saw her, and he was positive that she hadn't seen him yet.
Sam started to walk towards her, his smile was still in place and it couldn't leave his lips. It had been three days since he last had seen her but, in his mind it could have been three years.
As soon as Rachel had seen Sam walking towards her, her smile grew bigger and her legs started to move faster in the direction that Sam was.
As soon as they had reached each other, Sam put his arms around her waist and he spun her around. Rachel was holding her arms around his neck, as Sam put her down on the ground again. He still held her close and he breathed in the smell of her hair, it was one of the many things that he had missed.
"I have missed you so much." He whispered in her ear, he was pulling back a little while Rachel was smiling at him.
"And I missed you too." Rachel said and rested her head against his chest as the two of them stood in the airport holding each other.
Sam leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head. The two of them walked over to grab Rachel's bag before heading back to the car. As they were waiting for the bag to come, Sam turned Rachel around so that he was facing her he leaned down and placed a small peck on her lips.
Rachel took a hold of Sam's jacket that he was wearing and pulled him down, "Was that a kiss?" she asked as her lips were close to his. He shook his head and the captured her lips in a kiss, he could feel how Rachel smiled in to the kiss
