Hey guys, as promised, here is the next chapter of Holiday Magic. We are about halfway done with the fic. Yay!

Thanks to those who has reviewed, favorited and followed this story.

Thanks to Lana for being my second eyes.

Please excuse mistakes you might see and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Glee and its characters are not mine

Mercedes anxiously waited for Sam to come home that night. They hadn't talked ever since he told her that he was going to be having dinner with Rachel and it bugged her that things were suddenly strained between them. She shouldn't be jealous, but she was and it was crazy that she was feeling this way. They were friends and that was all they could ever be, yet she couldn't stop herself from wanting him. It was the oddest thing seeing as she had never felt this way for another person before. Not even when she was dating. These feelings she was having for Sam were much deeply rooted and if she was being honest, it even had a possessive touch to it. It was a scary yet exhilarating feeling and as crazy as it might sound, she really wanted to delve deeper into them.

You need to stop this, Mercedes. He is an engaged man. It's not right for you to be pining over him.

But Rachel is not good for him. She didn't even report him missing!

A battle waged on in her mind. She didn't know what she should do. The right way would lead to heart ache and the wrong one would lead Rachel to a similar fate. She couldn't decide and for once she wished that she was a selfish person who took whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted it. When Sam came through the door her musings abruptly ended and once again, her concentration when solely to him. She noticed that he had a smile on his face and that didn't sit well with her. It looked a lot like he had enjoyed the date. Even so, she decided that it was best to question him and to not let her feelings show.

"Hi, Sam. How was dinner with Rachel?" She asked as nonchalantly as possible once he had settled on the couch next to her.

"Dinner was good. I'm going to meet her again for Christmas." Sam told Mercedes smiling.

Her stomach dropped, but she didn't let her smile falter. "Oh that's great!"

"Yeah, it is…" Sam replied. He didn't know why, but the way Mercedes was practically cheering him on, bothered him. He didn't expect her to be ecstatic about this. He didn't want her to be. A part of him was even hoping that she would feel a little jealous, but of course she didn't. She was silent after that and he didn't know what to say to continue the conversation, so he kept silent.

Mercedes breathed, trying not to freak out over this. She didn't have the right to be. By all accounts, Rachel was Sam's fiancée which gave him the right to see her at Christmas. It was a tough pill to swallow, but no matter how painful it was, she knew that she didn't have a choice in the matter. Not knowing what else to say, she stood up and started walking towards the bedroom. She laid down in bed and wrapped herself in the comforter, hoping that the soft fabric would take away the pain in her heart. Most importantly, she wanted something to erase her growing feelings for the blond.

Sam was troubled by Mercedes' demeanor. After their brief conversation, she hadn't said another word. She went into the room and when he came in five minutes later, he had every intention to talk to her, but with her fast asleep, he hadn't been given the chance, so he too went to bed.

Mercedes knew when Sam had entered the room, but she did move and pretended to be asleep.

The next morning, she woke up on her side of the bed. Far away from his warm touch.

Oooo

"What is wrong with you? You've been silent and sullen since this morning?" Kurt asked, getting aggravated by the silent treatment that he was getting. Something was wrong with Mercedes, he just wished that she would open up and tell him what was troubling her.

"Nothing." Mercedes grumbled. In no mood to eat her lunch, she moved her salad around her plate, periodically stabbing the cucumbers and tomatoes as she pouted away.

"It's not nothing if you can't even eat your food." Kurt retorted before reaching over to take the fork away from her. "Now talk. I didn't come to lunch with you only to see you mope around."

Mercedes hated that Kurt knew her so well. She couldn't lie to him and even if she could, he would never let her get away with it.

"It's Sam. He's going on another date with Rachel and I know that I'm not supposed to feel anything about it, but I can't help myself!" She exclaimed before she once again deflated and the tone of her voice grew somber, "I like him…"

Kurt had his suspicions that this was about Sam. Ever since he came back and told them all about his sister and fiancée, he had seen how withdrawn and sad Mercedes had been. She tried to hide it, but she always was a terrible liar and he caught on right away. Even knowing this, he didn't say anything. It wasn't his place to pry and he wanted his best friend to come to him when she was ready. Well, it looked like the time was now.

"Oh sweetie… I'm sorry to hear that. I know that it's hard for you, but we all knew that anything was a possibility. You're lucky that he's just engaged and not married with five kids." Kurt said hoping to calm her down.

"I know…" Mercedes sighed, staring down at her salad as if it held the meaning of life.

Why did things like this always happen to her? She had the worse luck with men and just when she had lost all hope on ever finding that one guy for her, she met Sam. She thought that he must be it for her, he was handsome, considerate and she could feel intense chemistry between them. But then she was hit by the bombshell that he was engaged. She wanted to think that it wasn't serious, especially after hearing how Quinn hated Rachel and how his fiancée had neglected to tell anyone about his disappearance, but her bubble of happiness burst when Sam told her that he was going to meet Rachel for dinner last night. Things must have gone really well because he was going to meet her again on Christmas.

"It just hurts, that's all." She sighed again before lifting her head to look at Kurt sadly, "You don't think that I'm pathetic, do you? I mean, I shouldn't be having feelings for Sam, especially knowing that he's engaged, but I can't help myself…"

"I know it does and I'm sorry that you're hurting. I wish I could take it all away." Out of habit, Kurt took Mercedes' hands and began to massage them, "I don't think that you are pathetic at all. I see how he looks at you. Amnesia or not, that boy is not blind. He likes you."

Mercedes wanted to feel happy about the revelation, but what good would it do? He was still engaged and she refused to pine over a man who belonged to another woman. With that thought in mind, she squared her shoulders and let out her last sigh.

"I'm fine now. I was stupid for whining about this. He is engaged and not free to be with me. I just needed a push to get that through my head, so thanks, Kurt."

Kurt looked at his best friend with skepticism. She was doing it again, trying to shelve her feelings and not deal with it. It was written all over her face.

"You know that running is not going to solve anything, right?" He queried with a raised brow. "Your feelings won't magically fade away just because you refuse to deal with them."

"I'm not running away. He's engaged. I'm not going to chase after an engaged man. That would be wrong…" Mercedes retorted as she tried to get Kurt to drop the subject.

"Yeah, but you realize that you are sleeping with him right?"

She instantly froze, her breath catching in her throat. Kurt was right. She was being a hypocrite. She couldn't pursue him, yet she was technically sleeping with him. This had to stop and she had to stop it immediately.

"You're right, it won't happen again. Starting from tonight, I'm going to make sure that Sam is no longer sleeping in my room." She stated with conviction.

Kurt didn't understand why she was trying to fight her feelings so much. Couldn't she see that Sam liked her too? If she would only tell him about them, she would save them all the heartache of having to watch her suffer. Unfortunately, he knew how his best friend operated, when conflict arose, she was normally the first one to run and this time was no different.

"Don't you think that you are going overboard with this? I mean, you could just tell him the truth and see how he feels about you."

Mercedes raised her hand before Kurt could go further. She wasn't going to listen to him because this was wrong. Sam was engaged and she had no right to mess with his head. "I've made up my mind, Kurt. He's sleeping in the living room from now on and there is nothing you can do to change my mind."

"But Mercy-" Kurt tried again.

Mercedes stood up and threw a twenty dollar bill on the table, "Alright, since you can't and won't listen to what I'm saying, I'm leaving. I'll see you at home, Kurt."

"Mercy…"

She walked out of the diner before she could hear anymore of Kurt's words.

That night for dinner, Sam made Grilled Salmon with Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes. He was feeling nervous. Something was not sitting right within him and he knew that it had a lot to do with Mercedes. When she came home, his suspicions were confirmed. The bright smile that had once lit up her face was missing. She looked at him seriously, her brows knitted together and her lips pursed tightly. He watched as she placed her keys on the coffee table before calling him over.

"Sam, can you join me in here for a minute? We need to talk." was all she said and those words made his stomach drop.

He didn't move very fast, wanting to prolong the inevitable. Whatever she had to say had to be bad and he wasn't ready to listen to it. All too soon, he was joining her on the sofa, a frown forming on his forehead as he waited for her to speak.

"I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I don't think that you should be sleeping in my room anymore." Mercedes said calmly. She tried to take all emotions out of her tone, but on the inside she was heartbroken. This was harder than she thought it would be. "It's not right, Sam. You are engaged to Rachel and sleeping on the same bed as me. How does that make you look or better yet, how would Rachel feel about this? She is already uncomfortable with our living arrangement and from what I can tell, she dislikes me. I don't want to give her another reason to hate me or worse, you…"

Sam was taken aback by all this. He knew that something was up with Mercedes, but never did he suspect that it had anything to do with them sleeping on the same bed. He liked their arrangement and didn't want it to stop, but she was also right, he wasn't being fair to Rachel. The thought of hurting Rachel's feelings didn't bother him as much as it should. He was more worried about Mercedes. She had been his guardian angel. She had cared for him when he had no one and he never wanted to hurt her.

"You're right." He reluctantly agreed with her. "It's not right and I never want to see you get hurt because of me, so I'll move out. I've overstayed my welcome anyway…"

Every fiber of Mercedes' being was rejecting the idea of Sam moving out. She didn't want him to go because she had gotten used to being around him. But she knew that his departure was imminent. So with a heavy heart she said, "I'm sorry to do this to you, Sam, but this is for the best."

Sam nodded before getting up.

"Before I leave, would it be okay if we had dinner together?" He asked, smiling even though he was dying on the inside.

"Yeah." Mercedes smiled back, feeling the same way that Sam did.

They spent dinner in silence and afterwards Sam left to go to Quinn's apartment.

Mercedes cried herself to sleep that night.

Sam didn't sleep a wink.

Christmas Eve came quickly and Mercedes was back in Lima celebrating Christmas with her family. She hadn't been in a festive mood ever since Sam left. As hard as she tried not to, her mind kept going back to him, wondering what he was doing and if he was thinking about her. When she thought about him being with Rachel, the tears would start flowing and she would mentally slap herself for being an idiot. Kurt and Blaine had been asking her about Sam and his sudden departure, in which Mercedes would reply by quickly changing the subject. She was miserable and her mother wasn't making things better when she decided to invite Jordan Williams to dinner.

Mercedes had always found Jordan creepy. He was two years her senior and ever since she was a freshman in high school, he had been trying to get his hands on her. Her mother thought that he was an upstanding guy, not knowing how he used to corner her, trying to force his hands up her skirt. The only one who knew of Jordan's true nature was Kurt and because Mercedes begged him not to, he never said a word about Jordan's creepy nature.

"I'm so glad you could join us for dinner, Jordan." Mia said smiling at the man who she hoped would be her daughter's future husband.

She always liked Jordan. He was a nice kid who came from an affluent family. A marriage between Jordan and Mercedes would mean great things for her family and she was hell bound to have that happen.

"No problem, Miss Jones. My family would be here tonight, but they already made other plans. They send their sincere apologies."

Mercedes visibly cringed when Jordan winked at her. At that very moment, she wished that she hadn't come home. This dinner was going to be a nightmare, she could already tell.

Sam was not having much of a good time at dinner either. He had been moody and as much as he tried not to show it, he was failing miserably. Quinn noticed it and had tried talking to him, but all he would tell her was that he was not in the mood to talk and she would drop the subject.

They were having dinner silently—something that had been a regular occurrence ever since he came to stay with Quinn—until he heard the clanging of Quinn's cutleries hitting the table.

He looked at her with scrunched brows, wondering what her deal was.

"I've had enough." She said calmly but with bite. "You have been moping around and as much as I love you and want to give you space, it's pissing me the hell off. I know that this has a lot to do with Mercedes. Why don't you put us both out of our miseries and tell her how you feel about her? Moping around on Christmas Eve is not something you should ever do. Now grow a pair and tell her how you feel about her."

Sam was shocked by her outburst. Quinn had been the picture of cool and collected, never once did she lose her temper, especially not with him. Seeing her lose her cool was like seeing a rainbow for the very first time. It was amusing.

"Well, aren't you going to say something?" Quinn asked tapping her nails on the table.

"Wow…" was all that escaped his mouth.

"Wow? Really, Sam?"

"I'm sorry. Your outburst surprised me. I never thought that you were capable of being bossy. I guess I'm wrong." He explained with a laugh.

"Not funny, big brother." Quinn retorted rolling her eyes. "Now, are you going to call her or not?"

"I can't…" He sighed, "Mercedes left the city. She's spending Christmas with her family back in Ohio."

"So what? They invented cell phones for a reason, Sam. Use it and call her, before you force me to throw you out of my apartment."

"Wow, Quinn, you would really throw out your big brother on Christmas Eve? How heartless of you…"

"I can be colder than the Ice Queen if I wanted to be. Don't test me, Sam."

Sam sighed, he wanted to do as Quinn suggested, but he didn't know what to say to Mercedes or even if she wanted to talk to him.

"What do I say to her?" He questioned worriedly.

Quinn could sense her brother's worries and her anger melted. "Tell her the truth." She told him in a softer tone this time. "Tell her you miss her and the rest will come naturally."

"I don't know, Quinn. She was so cold towards me. It was like she didn't even want me to be around her anymore… I don't even know what I did wrong."

If Sam hadn't lost his memories, she swore she would have wrung his neck, but knowing that he was not fully himself made her pull on the breaks. He needed support, not judgment and as pissed off as she might be, she had promised that she was going to take care of him. "She likes you, Sam, and in her defense, you did tell her that you were going to be spending Christmas with Rachel. Put yourself in her shoes for a minute, how would you feel if she told you that she was going to be spending Christmas with some other guy? Would you be hurt too?"

Quinn did make a valid point. It made sense why she was acting the way she did. She was trying to protect her heart, because he sure wasn't doing it for her.

"I am such an idiot…" Sam cursed and wanted to kick himself for being stupid. "May I be excused? I need to call Mercedes."

Quinn let out a laugh and nudged her brother's arm with her shoulder, "What are you, 10? You don't need to be excused, you're an adult…" She laughed harder, "But just to humor you, I'm officially excusing you from the table. Now, go call Mercedes and set things right with her."

"Thanks, Quinn, you're the best sister I could ever ask for." He beamed before getting up to go to his room where he could have some privacy.

His palms were sweaty as he stared at her number for the next five minutes. He contemplated what he was going to tell her and the only thing that came to the forefront of his mind was telling her the truth. When his courage was finally built, he pressed her number and waited for her to answer.

"Hello?"

Mercedes' voice sounded like music to his ears.

"Hi Mercedes." He said.

"Sam?" She gasped, abruptly moving away from the living room where Jordan and her mom were busy chatting.

"Yes, it's Sam."

Mercedes locked herself in her bedroom and sat down on her bed, the smile on her face could not be contained. She missed him badly and after the torturous dinner with her mom and Jordan, his voice acted like a balm to her nerves. "What are you doing and most importantly why are you calling me on Christmas Eve?"

This was his moment to tell her. He couldn't delay any longer. He had to tell her the truth and so he did.

"I miss you, Mercedes." He told her sincerely.

Instead of an answer, all he got was silence.

Yes, I know, I'm mean for leaving it like that, but for those who have ready my stories, you know that I love cliffhangers. Lol.

Well, what do you think about this chapter? Sam moved out, but then he man up and tells Mercedes that he likes her. Whatever happened to Rachel? You'll find out about her on the next chapter. I can promise you that you are going to like this next one.

Leave me a review and tell me what you think.

The next chapter will be posted in two days.

Until next time,

xoxo

lovessamcedes