Author's Note: Based on The Jackson 5's "With A Child's Heart" and lovely thoughts of a Samcedes reunion at Magic Mountain.

Puck glanced around The Lima Bean mischievously and then scooted forward toward the edge of his seat. "So what do we do now?"

The eight other seniors just blinked at him in response. Rachel cleared her throat and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Well Noah, I believe we've fulfilled the requirement for Senior Skip Day already by missing three periods of class to enjoy a refreshing beverage or two. We should probably be getting back before…"

Puck's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "Wait. You're telling me that this is it? This was the grand plan? What the hell, guys! We get one day when we're practically expected to be juvenile delinquents and you want to have a few café lattes and go back to McKinley?"

Kurt straightened the already-perfectly-placed sailor cap on his head. "NYADA expects Rachel and me to be model students. We're already risking our acceptance by being here."

Sam shrugged, studiously avoiding looking at Mercedes from his seat directly across from her by focusing his attention on the strawberry smoothie in his hands. "Coach Roz will put my balls in a blender if I'm not at practice today. We're getting ready to compete soon."

Mercedes couldn't stop the tender, sympathetic smile that spread across her lips. Santana glanced at her and rolled her eyes. "Let's go to Magic Mountain."

Everyone turned to her. Finn frowned. "Isn't that place for kids?"

Brittany shook her head vehemently. "Santana and I go all the time!"

Finn began to comment on that but was interrupted by Santana. "It'll be fun! Yeah, there's kid rides but they have at least ten roller coasters." She tilted her head so it could rest on her girlfriend's shoulder, making eye contact with both Sam and Mercedes before adding, "And there's even a Tilt-A-Whirl."

Mercedes choked on her sip of caramel macchiato. Mike patted her back lightly until she could speak. "Anywhere else we could go?"

Sam nodded. "Really. Anywhere else."

Puck pounded a fist on the table and downed the rest of his root beer. "I think it's a great idea, Lopez. Let's do it."

With a child's heart

Go face the worries of the day

With a child's heart

Turn each problem into play

"Go straight to the carousel, you two. I mean it! Straight to it! And when you're done, call me and stay right there!" Sam kept his eyes trained on his siblings even as they disappeared into the carnival crowd.

Looking up from checking the time on her phone and seeing Sam crane his neck to maintain visual, Mercedes gave his shirt sleeve a gentle tug. "Calm down. They'll be right over there. Let them have some fun without us looming over them."

He reluctantly lowered his gaze to her face and then ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry, Mercy. I want them to enjoy themselves but…"

"It's okay." She got on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. "You don't have to be Papa Sammy today. Today you're just their big brother and the four of us get to have some fun."

With one last glance in the direction of the carousel, Sam took her hand and started walking leisurely in the opposite direction. "So what do you wanna do?"

Mercedes looked around them, beaming at the sight of a little girl excitedly pulling her father along. "I actually have never been to anything like this before. My parents never really had time to take me to fairs or carnivals or amusement parks or…"

"I get it; I get it. You had a very sad childhood."

She reached over with her free hand and gave his bicep a pinch. "My childhood was a very happy one, thank you very much, Sam Evans!"

"So you want me to choose?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

"Don't mind at all." Sam kissed the top of her head. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind just walking like this all day, holding hands with the most beautiful girl at the carnival, letting everyone know you're mine."

Her cheeks grew warm; Mercedes tilted her face upwards to place a kiss lightly on his jawline. "Thank you."

He shrugged, carefully sidestepping some cotton candy that had been dropped on the ground. "Once school starts again, I'm shouting it in the hallways."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really. And why wouldn't I? Not everyone gets to be with the love of their life. We're part of the lucky few."

Mercedes' heart skipped a beat and for a moment she forgot how to breathe. When she spoke, her voice was more airy than even she had ever heard it. "Who says I'm the love of your life?"

Sam glanced down at her and then stopped walking. He turned her to face him. "I do. Because

you are. Mercedes Jones, you're it for me."

No need to worry no need to fear

Just being alive makes it all so very clear

With a child's heart

Sometimes she purposefully tried not to take her boyfriend of two months too seriously. After all, Sam Evans wasn't one to do anything halfway, least of all falling in love. She had heard the stories about him and Quinn. He'd thought that he was in love before. Mercedes lifted one of her purple-Converse-clad feet to kick at a rock by her feet. It scared her how in love she was. It scared her how sure she was about her love for him.

"Mercedes?"

She raised her gaze to meet his penetrating emerald one. "Sam?"

"I love you. And I know you. Right now you're really trying not to believe me. But I love you, okay? There's no doubt in my mind."

"I…" Get a grip, girl, she told herself. Tell him the truth. Let yourself tell him the truth. She took a step forward and forced herself to stare into his eyes. "I love you too."

The kiss Sam planted on her absolutely and definitively took her breath away. Their hands separated and found themselves on the other's body. Mercedes hooked her index fingers in his jean's belt loops and pulled him against her, while Sam allowed his hands to settle on either side of her face, caressing her cheeks and keeping her close.

"Hey you two, keep it PG, will ya? You're in front of a kid ride, you know."

They snapped back from each other; a disgruntled harrumph escaped from Mercedes as she and Sam turned their eyes toward the middle-aged man leaning against a ride's controls and smirking at them.

Sam tilted his head to the side and read the ride's name out loud. "Tilt-A-Whirl?" He looked down at Mercedes with an eyebrow raised.

She grinned. "Oh why not? Let's do it."

Love is as welcome

As a sunny, sunny day

No grown-up thoughts

To lead our hearts astray

"Dude, did you see what was on that map? Batman: The Ride!"

Santana groaned as the Sam, Finn, Mike, and Puck did some kind of intricate fist-bump, glancing toward Mercedes who sat on a bench beside Rachel and Kurt but not paying attention to anything the other two were saying. Instead, the girl's attention was focused completely on the phone conversation she was having. She looked back at Sam and then went into action, grasping a handful of his shirt and jerking him close. He stumbled in front of her for a moment before steadying himself and leveling her with a glare. "Santana, what the…? You gotta quit doing that!"

"Shut it, Trouty; I'm trying to do you a favor. See that girl over there?"

His gaze softened when he looked in the direction she was pointing and saw Mercedes. Sam sighed, rubbing the back of his neck exasperatedly. "What're you getting at?"

She held up her map of Magic Mountain and jabbed the Tilt-A-Whirl picture with her finger. "This is what I'm getting at. Take her on this ride."

"Santana…" He lowered his voice to a whisper. "It's okay. We're okay. You don't have to try to get us together anymore. She made her decision, and I'm going to respect that decision."

"Look Evans, a girl doesn't sing a Whitney classic to a guy when she doesn't feel anything for that guy. Especially not the song she sang to you. Besides," she added, lowering her eyes. "Wheezy's been a good friend to me this year…I saw the look on her face when you walked out of the choir room and I watched her cry over you. I want her to be happy." Santana smirked and raised her gaze once more. "Even if all she wants is you."

"Gee thanks." Sam just stood watching Mercedes for a moment before pulling the map out of Santana's grasp and swatting her arm with it. "Fine. If I crash and burn, I'm blaming you."

"I'm okay with that."

He slowly approached Mercedes, nodding at Rachel and Kurt before standing directly in front of her. She gripped her cellphone tighter in her hand but continued talking. "I wish you were here too…He took you where?...There's that laugh I missed. Glad Artie could coax it out of you again...Yeah? Well good. You deserve a great day, girl. Um, Quinn…?" Her eyes hadn't left Sam's face since she had seen him walking toward her. "Yeah, I've gotta go. I'll come over later today. Absolutely. Love you too, Quinn. Bye." She closed her phone and slid it into her jacket pocket, very aware that Rachel and Kurt had stopped talking and were now staring between her and Sam with extreme interest.

Sam ran a hand quickly through his hair and then shoved his hands into his pockets. "Can we walk?"

Her head tilted to the right. "Yeah." She allowed him to pull her to her feet. "Yeah, Sam, we can walk."

Take life easy, so easy nice and easy

Like a child so gay and so carefree

The whole world smiles with you

"Quinn still out with Artie?"

Mercedes glanced up at Sam with a start. The sound of his voice was unexpected for some reason; they had been walking in silence for a couple minutes. Finally, she nodded. "Yeah, he took her to some kind of wheelchair skate park for the day. She sounds so much better…I've been really worried about her spirit." She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes for a brief moment.

Sam's arm went around her shoulders without hesitation, hugging her close to his side. "Hey, none of that. Quinn's gonna be just fine."

"I know that now. But I keep thinking about when we got the news of the accident…when we thought we'd lost her."

His heart stopped for a bit as she searched his face with an intense gaze and he felt his ears become red under her sudden scrutiny. "…What?"

Letting go of herself, Mercedes reached up and grasped the hand of the arm he had around her. "I never want to lose you, Sam. Ever. Even while I was praying for Quinn, praying that she would somehow be okay…I kept thinking what if something like that happened to my mom or my dad or my brother or you and just the thought…"

He turned her face back toward him with two fingers under her chin. "If you don't want to lose me and you'll always love me, why aren't we together, Mercy? Why can't we just be together again?" She let out a distressed sigh, and he gave his head a firm shake. "You shouldn't be beating yourself up over our kiss. Yeah, we shouldn't have done it, and, yeah, I should have more sympathy for Tinsley since I was in his shoes twice last year. But you're keeping yourself from love, my love, because of it, Mercedes darlin', and that's not right. You deserve to be happy."

Their conversation paused as they made their way up to the Tilt-A-Whirl; Sam saw Mercedes take in a shuddering breath as she took in the ride's sign, knowing that she was thinking back to that magical summer. Her voice was so soft that he had to lean toward her to hear her words. "You deserve to be happy too, Sammy."

A hopeful smile quirked his lips upwards. "I'm only gonna be happy with you, honey. You're it for me, remember?"

"I never forgot." She turned to face him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "You're it for me too."

Sam chuckled as she buried her face in his chest. "So what do you say to giving us another shot?"

Mercedes leaned back in his arms so they could make eye contact and reached up a hand to rest on the nape of his neck. "Let's do it."

Neither of them noticed their seven friends standing ten feet away from them, sharing knowing looks and smiles and all thinking the same thing.

Finally.

As you go your merry way

Oh with a child's heart

Nothing's gonna get me down