So, I got a few votes for me writing a Steerio story… It probably wouldn't be very long, but the jury is still out on whether or not I'm gonna do that. I need more feedback. There is some mention of Steerio in this chapter, and Cheerio is seen in it for a time, but I'ma need y'all to let me know if you think that their journey from what we saw in LOTBS ch 14 through, say… Cowboy's birth is something worth me putting my time into or should I just eventually get around to writing another drabble for them?
Also, I know that most of my readers read all of my stuff, but in case anyone doesn't read other stuff, I wanna apologize for the spaced out updates. Dealing with a lot of hard stuff right now and I just haven't been able to write as much (or as well) as I would like.
The Relation
Dwight sat inside of POM, at the bar with an infant on his knee, reading when the cashier, April was passing by on her way off of work, "Oh my Goodness!" She cooed, "And WHO is this cute little thing, here?" Dwight looked up and smiled at her as she leaned over to greet the baby.
"This is my grandson," Dwight answered, proudly.
April's eyes widened and she stood up straight, "Well, I didn't know that Sam and Cedes had a kid. I thought that they were waitin' for marriage." Her hand was on her hip as she handled the surprise of seeing the small biracial child on his grandfather.
"Oh, no… this is my younger son, Stevie's baby," Dwight answered, bouncing the boy on his knee. "His name's Stefan Robinson Evans. We call him Cowboy."
"Stevie? That's the one that's locked away… Well, how'd he…? I'm sorry. It isn't any of my business," she said. "Mind if I hold him?"
"Not at all," Dwight said, handing over the baby. "And to answer your curiosity, at the first institution that Stevie was in, they weren't properly monitored. Not only did he get into several fights there, which we didn't find out about until much later, but this was able to happen." Dwight gestured at the baby in the woman's arms. He loved his family, but Stevie had been in no position to become a father, and even though he loved Cowboy to pieces, he had not been ready to help raise his grandchild, with everything going on. "The security staff would see the kids sneaking off together and watch them on the cameras instead of alerting somebody to it. Holly was able to drain that place dry. They're paying for every single diaper that we put on Cowboy, amongst everything else his mom needs, right now, and Stevie's at another location. The place he was at has been shut down."
"So wait… Security was just waiting around for your kid and this girl to put on a kiddie porn show for them?" She asked. "This world never fails to be a crappy place."
"I think it's a beautiful world, it just has a lot of crappy people in it."
April bopped the baby on the nose with her finger and asked, "And where's the mama, now? She in another place or did she transfer with Papa?"
"No, she's in high school. I pick Cowboy up from daycare for her, because she has cheerleading. It's her senior year. I want her to be able to enjoy it, especially because Stevie didn't get a chance to enjoy his own." Dwight looked at April, smiling at the baby and making faces at him. She was… pretty. He'd noticed it before, of course, but maybe not up close. "She usually meets me here and catches a ride with Stacie. I guess that you're usually gone before then."
"Yeah, I'm running late today and I've most likely already missed my bus, so I'll have to wait, anyway. But I just had to stop and say hey to this little guy. I have always wanted one of these things," she said hoisting the baby up as a gesture.
"A baby?" He asked.
"Yeah. I was just always so much of a screw up that it never happened. Now, it's too late. I mean, everything still works and all, I just can't start trying to be a mom at my age. Maybe I can marry a guy that's already got kids. Better yet, maybe I can marry a guy that has a baby! I am not too proud to be a cougar stepmom," she said and laughed.
"If everything still works, then it's not too late. And it isn't like you're all that old. You should go for it. You'd be quite the MILF," Dwight told her.
April laughed and blushed, "I wouldn't expect a gentleman like you to say something like that, Mr. Evans."
"What? Isn't that what the kids call the cool moms?" He asked.
Now, she laughed out loud as she handed him back his grandson. "Actually, it stands for something…" She leaned in his ear to whisper it and he immediately turned red.
"I'm so sorry about that, April," he said.
She sucked her teeth and curved her mouth to the side, as she punched him in the shoulder, playfully, "Not sorrier than I am. Kinda liked the sound of being your ILF." He turned an even brighter red and she cleared her throat and gestured towards Cowboy, "So your other son… He has a, you know… I guess your grandkid is mixed? I'm sorry. I never know the correct words for those kinds of relationships. I don't have a problem with them or nothing; I just don't know what to call them."
"Interracial," Dwight told her, "And yes, Cowboy's mom is a black girl. She and Stevie aren't together, though. Well, of course, because he's locked up, but I meant that they aren't an actual couple. I think that he worries about it holding her back while she's out here and he's in there. I used to have a problem with it and I'll admit that even though I LOVE our Doll, I still have some reservations about this one. She's not as stable. She's polite to the family, but she can be a little off-putting and she still has some emotional issues. I would have preferred that she and Stevie not had made such a mistake, at this time."
"Oh, none of these little guys are mistakes, Mr. Evans. All of them were planned by God and knowing your other son, and your sweet lil' daughter, I'm willing to bet that your son Stevie and this Cowboy kid'll all be great. You definitely done something right, Mr. Evans, to make kids like Sam and Stacie. The other one's probably gonna be better, before too long. It took me a while to get my shit together…" She winced at her own language and shook her head.
"I didn't mean that Cowboy is a mistake. Of course, I know that he wasn't. I just feel like these kids were in no position to have a child." He shook his head, but when he looked at the boy, who looked pretty much just like Stevie did as a baby, except for a bit of tinted gold skin and curly brown hair (he even had bluish gray eyes) and he smiled and gathered him closer. "He's spoiled like crazy by me and both of his aunts…"
Cheerio entered the building as Dwight and April were talking and she smiled and accepted Cowboy, glad to see him. April smiled and said, "Hi – you must be…"
"I'm Cheri," Cheerio answered, a bit nervously. "And you are?"
April gestured to one of the photos on the wall and said, "I'm April. I cashier here. I was just admiring your kid. He's adorable. He looks nothing like you, though. You sure he's yours?" She joked. Cheerio stared at her and cradled her son to herself.
"Do we know this woman?" She wondered, quietly. Someday, she would escape from Ohio and move on to bigger, better things, free of paranoia. But, until then, her child's father turned on and killed a prominent white supremacist and every blond person she saw looked suspect to her, especially because when she had a listed phone number, she had gotten threatening calls.
"She's good, Cheerio," Dwight answered, wrapping his arm around the young lady.
She smiled and extended a hand to shake, "I'm Cheri Charming, obviously a friend of the Evans family. This is my little cowboy, Stefan. He looks so much like his daddy because I literally wanted to legit murder him the entire time I was pregnant." April let out an extremely loud laugh and shook her head. Cheerio smiled politely and took a seat on the bar.
"So… April, you have to ride the bus? Do you want a ride, somewhere?" Dwight offered.
"Oh, that'd be great. I'm staying at this halfway house, across town. I hope that you don't mind?" She asked.
"Not at all. I live on the other side of town. Cheri, you are waiting on Stacie, right?" He asked.
"Sure, Papa. I'm going to have a latte and start on my homework," she said, unpacking cheer bag with one hand and balancing her baby with the other. She watched Dwight and the woman named April leave and texted Stacie I think Papa Evans has found himself a honeypot! Some chick named April, cashiers here.
Don't be ridic. My daddy is not checking for that woman! Stacie replied, quickly.
Cheerio chuckled at her friend and replied: IDGAF what you say, Gurl. I know what I saw! Papa Evans was all about that chick. You don't like her? Do we need to scare her off.
Stacie texted once again … She's nice. I don't know. I guess that I still am not used to the thought of him moving on. I mean, I know that he deserves to and he should, but it still kinda hurts to think about. SIGH! Anyway, we're on our way back and I need to stop text/driving.
Stacie opened the door of the shop for Mercedes and she entered, with her dogs, and made a beeline for the bar to snatch up Cowboy. The shop was covered in all kinds of pink decorations and merchandise for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Mercedes was dressed in an adorable assorted pinks outfit. "Let me leave the dogs in the back and we'll head to the store," she told Cheerio, who smiled at her, frequently forgetting that unspoken gestures were lost on her.
"I'll put them away," Stacie said and reached for the leashes.
When Stacie went into the back room, Mercedes faced Cheerio's direction and asked, "How was school?"
"Good, Miss Jones," she answered.
"You know that you don't have to call me that. Mercedes is fine. You can call me Mercy. Thanks to your brother-in-law, mostly everyone calls me Babydoll, or you can just call me Doll, like Papa," Mercedes said with a bright smile.
"Can I call you MISS Babydoll?" Cheerio asked.
"If you insist, but heck – we're family," Mercedes told her.
"Hardly. I mean, it's not like what happened between Stevie and I was real or ever gonna go anywhere. I'm not ashamed to admit that it was a fleeting thing and we both were in a weird place. I did crazier things in my life. You all don't have to try to make me feel like I'm a member of the family, because you and I both know that wouldn't ever happen," her voice sounded extremely sad as she said this, but she quickly piped up and said, "SO! I actually think that Papa's got himself a little crush!"
"April?" Mercedes asked.
"Yes! What's she like, anyway, because I can't lie – we might not be family, but I can't just let anybody near Papa!" Cheerio said.
"She's a sweetheart. Sometimes, she can be a bit irresponsible, but she's very generous and I think they could do each other a lot of good. Is there any reason that you have not to approve?" Mercedes asked, curiously. There was something off about the young lady's tone.
"Well, not really. I mean… I'd be worried about Cornflake. It's hard enough for him to not be able to see Cowboy like he would want to… I don't know how he would handle the stress of his dad moving on, even if it was superficial. I mean, he's where he is because of his mom and she'll always be a trigger for him. Even Stacie seems to have an issue with Papa Evans being attracted to somebody and Cornflake's much more sensitive than she is."
"For somebody who claims that there's nothing between the two of you, you certainly do a lot of worrying about each other," Mercedes said with a smile. Cheerio didn't respond. She never did, if this subject came up. Yeah, she and Stevie were friends and they would always be – they sort of had to be, because they did have a child to consider. But, he'd made it pretty clear that he would not even so much as entertain trying to have a real relationship with her, and she would never bruise her dignity further by pining over him.
Balancing out friends and family was still difficult for Mercedes. So many new people were in her world now, and none of her friendships were superficial. Stacie kept her up to speed. The younger woman was a social mastermind – knowing how to harvest time and plant attention like it was one of her gardens. Mercedes became quite dependent upon Stacie as her assistant and had no idea how she would get used to a different assistant when on the road, but hey – it would be different surroundings and it would only be happening for a few months. It would end before Christmas and they wouldn't have to worry about all of that additional mess for a while, afterwards.
The most stressful part was still to come, though. Sam loved her. It was true and obvious. But, would he still want her after he was wiped clean, for good? His life changes and his status change had not stolen him away – but what about when he had a new physical image? The sighted put so much emphasis on what people looked like. Missy Gunderson already had great plans for the new and improved Sam Evans, who was not even arrived yet. Mercedes biggest fear was that this would be the last thing… She feared that once Sam looked as pleasing to everyone else as he was charming, attractive, and everything else… She would become a thing of the past. That was why she couldn't marry him. That was why she was holding back. He still hadn't risen to the level that the procedure would entail. She had to wait until he was complete and was still with her for a while after that. She didn't want to break his heart by making him wait, but she still didn't know if he realized how different things might be for him when the sighted could see him as she did – without blemish.
Stacie kissed her on the cheek and asked, "What are you thinking so hard about, Sis?"
"Your brother. I love him so much and I really miss him," she said.
"Why do you seem worried about something?" Stacie wondered.
"I… maybe a little worried about the upcoming changes," Mercedes admitted.
"Nothing to fear. If I don't have faith in anything else, I know for a fact that Sammy and you are always going to endure. No change will ever come between the two of y'all." She latched one arm into Mercedes' and one into Cheerio's. "Heck – my bros have both found their soul mates. Now, y'all need to help me find mine."
"Hmph. I have an idea of a potential," Cheerio mused and lipped to her Joe. Stacie leaned over and placed a small bite on Cheerio's cheek. The girl simply laughed.
"Well, let's hope that things work out for me the way that they have for y'all," Stacie said.
"Yeah – me and Cornflake are just friends who ended up having a baby together, just throwing that back out there. You keep forgetting," Cheerio said.
"You keep forgetting that I followed Stevie out of the womb and I know him better than anybody. I may not be able to decipher you that well, which I think I do a darned good job of it, to be honest – but I KNOW how my brother feels about you. You and Cowboy are his family and if he was out, trust me, he'd never leave your side." Cheerio shrugged her shoulders and continued pushing the basket that Cowboy's seat was resting on with her free hand.
It was a relief to not have to worry about Missy for the plane trip. She basically had no business with him for the next couple of weeks and if anything came up, he already planned to be unavailable. Sam was extremely happy to be home, again. He left his bag, his phone, note book, everything outside of the room and went inside to see her. She had on one of those baby doll nighties, and her hair was tied up in a bun. "Babydoll…" He sighed.
Mercedes had been lying on her belly, reading, when she heard her name and his voice, actually here, with her! She smiled and sat up, "Well, well… if it isn't Mr. Amazing!" She cheered as he rushed to jump into the bed with her and to kiss her. "I missed you!"
"And you know I missed your pretty face. I'm so glad that you'll start coming with me, again. Missy makes me want to scream, and you know that you're my only source of peace."
"The Lord," she said, nuzzling her nose against his.
"Uh, yeah… I'm pre-tty sure that He made you to do all that while He's taking on being God of the universe and stuff. In other news, you have a new nightie and it is doing something to me," he said. "Who took you shopping for this?" He wondered.
"Got it when I went Halloween shopping with your sister and sister-in-law," she said, happily. "You… don't like it?" She asked in a small voice.
"Um.. no, it's not that. It's just – remember how we talked about how seeing you in some stuff makes me want to rip it off of you and pound you through the bed? This is one of those things. Plus, with your hair up, your neck and chest and shoulders are exposed and… I have to go to the bathroom…" He rushed out of the room and she sighed.
When he reentered the room, he kissed her on her nose and snuggled against her. "Now, I need my cuddles, because I missed my Babydoll." She spun around to face him and cuddled closer to him. "I don't want us to ever be apart like that again," he said. "It's time for me to switch my phone number again. I was getting those calls." She froze in his arms.
"God, do they ever stop?" She whispered.
"I don't care if they ever stop. I mean, even though I was young, I made my choices. All I care about is that nobody hurts you. I couldn't take it." Kissed her on the neck and smelled her. "You mean everything in the world to me." He pulled her closer and kissed her more.
Aha! Normalcy! Sam thought as he helped Joe to carry in all of the merchandise from POM to set up for the Fire Safety Fair. He saw Cheerio with her cheerleader friends, all of them in their POM/Cheerios T-shirts and painted faces. She had a clipboard in her hand, directing them to certain employees from POM, for further assistance. Dwight had Cowboy with him, as he sat at a booth, next to Mercy. Lauren and Becky were setting up the booth and handing off materials to cheerios for different purposes.
Sam nodded his head and Tina, Kurt and Quinn, who were set up near one of the donation booths for the families of lost firefighters. There were also booths for helping the families who had lost everything in fires, for programs in the schools for fire safety awareness, for volunteer firefighters and for the fire department of Lima. Quinn forced a tight smile and nodded back at him, but Tina practically ran over to give him a hug and almost tackled him to the ground. He laughed and set his box down to return the hug. "Girl, you better not let Mike see this. Don't firemen carry axes?"
"He's a volunteer firefighter, doofus. Though I would be awfully impressed if he were able to be a doctor and a fireman at the same time," Tina said and kissed Sam on the cheek. "So, how's traveling. I feel like I haven't seen you in months."
"Yeah, the times that I rolled through town were just long enough to cuddle with my Babydoll and give me family hugs. Traveling is good. I got you some autographs, but they're at home," Sam said. She fist bumped him, trusting him for whomever he got autographs for her from. Sam knew her as well as her closest friends.
"The ladies miss you," Tina told him, "But, some of them are going to be here today, so hopefully you'll have a chance to say hello."
"Yeah – and maybe we can finally set up that book signing. Missy told me not to do it, but I'll just have to face her wrath about it," Sam said.
Tina sighed and her smiled faded. "Yeah – about that Missy chick… I don't know how to take her. I mean, she's helped you out a lot and as your friend, I am totally grateful about that. But, Quinn says that people's personalities and character have been brought into question and even though Mercy takes up for the woman, I have known my girl long enough to know that Missy makes her feel some kind of bad way."
"Missy has a problem understanding that people are not marketing tools," he admitted, "But she honestly takes care of me. Mercy has more of a problem with the overall picture. The fame, the traveling, the interviews, the reporters, the fans and all that stuff is kinda overwhelming for her. Gotta remember that she can't see any of it, so it's mostly a bunch of noise and being bumped around." He shook his head and said, "But, when we leave, she has a new assistant who is EXCELLENT at her job and she'll make sure that she doesn't have to deal with much of the stress that being out there usually causes."
"Stacie is not going to know what to do with her days," Tina said.
"Oh, no – she's gonna have a part time involvement here. She spoke to Shane and signed up for some kind of internship…" Sam paused and looked at a guy who was leaning over Mercedes' shoulder talking to her while she laughed. "Who's that?" He wondered.
"Oh! Oh, you haven't had the chance to meet him!" Tina said and folded her arms, biting her lip. "He surfaced not too long ago. We knew of him, but not much about him. But, that's actually Puck's little brother, Jacob."
"I didn't know that Puck had a brother," Sam said, his throat tightening. Of all of their friends who were depicted in poor light, Puck was probably the worse. He had been painted as abusive towards Mercedes, aggressive towards Sam, deceitful to his friends and as a murderer. Sam sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "I suppose that I should meet him, eventually. He hate me?" He asked.
"He hates most people, seems like… But not Mercy. He doesn't seem to hate her at all, if you know what I mean?" Tina said.
Sam sighed. He knew exactly what she meant and he saw it for himself. That kid almost had it as bad as his brother had. Sam walked up to the table, calmly. He smiled softly at the guy and extended a hand, "Hi. I'm Sam, Mercedes' fiancé."
"Yeah," the young man said, nodding his head in acknowledgment. "I know who you are."
Mercedes took a deep breath and said, "Sam, this is Jacob Puckerman, Noah's half-brother, and I have already let him know that even though Puck did the things that he did to us that he is perfectly welcome here and he and I are friends. He and I visit Noah's grave together, sometimes." She smiled towards Jacob and said, "And he helps around the shop when we need a little man muscle."
"It's my pleasure to help out," he said. "I'm going to catch up with Cheri and see if the cheerios need any help with anything." He squeezed Mercedes shoulder, pinched Cowboy's nose, glanced at Dwight, and glared at Sam before moving on.
"He seems nice," Sam said sarcastically.
"He's actually a lot like Puck," Mercedes said.
Sam asked, "Dad, think you could come have a little walk with me?"
"Don't leave me at the table by myself. At least leave my nephew with me," she said, reaching out for Cowboy. Dwight handed him over and went with Sam. She immediately began jiggling the baby boy around on her lap and singing to him.
"Doll's going to be a great mother. I wish like crazy that the two of you started first," Dwight said.
Sam sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "She doesn't even seem to want to marry me, so starting to have kids is a little out of the question right now," he said. "But, I'm more concerned about this Puckerman kid."
"Of course, I'm keeping an eye on everything when you're gone. The kid is just that – a kid. He's hotheaded, angry that he didn't have a father, upset that his mom is poor, and bitter that his brother is dead because of some things that were related to you. You better believe that I'm keeping an eye on him," Dwight said.
Sam sighed and told him, "I know that you're taking care of her. I just worry. But, she'll be by my side, from now on, so… at least I'll have some peace." Sam watched Jacob bothering Cheerio and she took a swing at him, but it seemed playful. "He's in good with Cheerio, too, I see?"
"They go to school together," Dwight said.
"What does Stace think of the kid?" He asked.
"You know Stacie – any friend of Mercedes' is a friend of hers, except for Quinn," Dwight said.
"She's still not giving her any breaks?" Sam wondered.
"You know – we really ought to have ourselves a nice long talk soon, but not right now. This is a great celebration and the gang and the cheerleaders have worked real hard on making it a success. We'll think about all the other stuff later." He slapped Sam on the shoulder and squeezed it. There was more that he needed to discuss with him. Now simply wasn't the time. "Why don't you go keep Doll company? Y'all have been apart long enough and I think it'll be good for the both of you to be together with the baby for a little bit." Sam nodded and folded his arms as he returned to the table.
He sat down and kissed her on the forehead. "Those better be the lips of one Sam Evans," Mercedes warned.
"Oh, Woman – you know that you know these lips when you feel them!" He teased, brushing his nose against her forehead.
"I don't know. I might need a taste, just to be positive," she said.
"I am not opposed to these experiments," he told her and leaned forward for a kiss. She smiled and pressed herself closer to him for his arms to wrap around her and the baby. "Guess you're convinced that it's me, now?" He asked.
"I suppose it's my Mr. Amazing," she said with a smile. Sam pulled his attention from her only for a moment to see Tina and Quinn arguing with someone, who he couldn't see from that angle. He was curious, but stayed where he was watching as the two women pointed away from the center and Shane, Joe and Stacie appeared to be heading that way too. But, whoever they were forcing away started to leave and Sam reflexively tightened his hold around Mercedes when he saw Terri Schuester and another vaguely familiar blond woman leaving with their donations bags.
Terri looked right at him when she left and while the other blond woman was being belligerent and uncooperative, Terri simply pulled her arm and led her away as she smirked in Sam's direction and waved her fingers at him. Tina angrily stormed over to where Sam and Mercedes were and let out a frustrated breath. "The nerve of that woman!"
"Who?" Mercedes asked, comforting a now irritated Cowboy by moving him to her shoulder.
"Terri Schuester!" Tina snapped. "She and her crazy sister just tried to barter their way into this event with donations, like we would let anybody who has had anything to do with any of them anywhere near us! She may have been able to escape the system, but she's got another thing coming if she thinks that she can just do whatever she wants around this camp. Let me see my nephew," Tina said and pretty much snatched Cowboy from Mercedes. Almost as soon as she had, she changed the subject, "I'm so glad that we got Cowboy here to appease all of our tempers." She nuzzled her nose to him. "I am going to have one as soon as I get married."
"So… Terri was here? Like, just now?" Mercedes asked. "Did she go anywhere near the dogs?"
"No. She didn't go anywhere near anything, because I didn't let her. She started spouting some stuff about how she's supposed to be the new cheerios coach or something since we destroyed her husband and she lost everything, like that's our fault or problem."
"Wait… She's going to be the new coach of the cheerleaders that my sister-in-law is captain of? There has got to be something that forbids her to do that, after everything that her family put our family through. Even if she wasn't convicted of anything , can't we slap something on her that keeps her away from us AND Cheri? I don't care what anyone says or thinks about her and Stevie, that girl is just as much a part of our family as anybody."
"I'll call Holly," Sam said, rubbing Mercedes' shoulder as she clasped both of her hands on the table. "They can't hurt us anymore." Sam pulled her close and glared out into the opening, at nothing in particular. Yeah, this was what normalcy felt like. He remembered, now.
