Sam couldn't believe how quickly things transformed that night. One minute, he was by the punch table, taking Coach Sylvester's heckles in stride. Then the all lights cut out, and when they come back on, his girlfriend is darting out of the gym with crap in her hair. He ditched the drinks, shoved past the still bystanders and darted out of the gym after her.

"Sam, wait up!" he heard Kurt's familiar voice call from behind him. But waiting was exactly what Sam wasn't going to do. He couldn't even imagine what Mercedes must be feeling, but none of it was good; none of it anything that he'd want her to be feeling. Ever.

When he finally caught up to her, he didn't hesitate to console her, although now that he was closer to her, he could see what the crap in her hair was. Almost instantly his blood set to a boiling point. Who the fuck would do this? he asked himself. The only person he could think that had anything against Mercedes was Shane. As far as Sam could tell, the burly jock made it clear that he was still hurt and unhappy with the curvaceous diva. But never in Sam's wildest thoughts did he ever think Shane would hurt Mercedes like this.

"It was Rick," he heard Kurt say, after he'd managed to utter the question that was vastly tormenting his mind.

Rick? Rick 'The Stick' Nelson? None of it made sense, but it didn't matter. Kurt's verbal proof was enough for Sam.

He didn't realize it, but he was still huffing—however it was no longer due to running. His mind was swept up in rage like a bull, and Rick had a large red target slapped on his cocky ass. Sure, the hockey player was a few inches taller than Sam, but Sam had the upper hand in strength; the hockey captain was all bark and no bite. He knew he could take Rick with ease.

But Tina and Kurt had left and there was no way he was going to leave Mercedes alone—nevermind that she was clinging to him like life support. He loved her and would not leave her by herself at a time like this. Thankfully Mercedes couldn't see the vengeance and fury carved on his face at the moment; one look in his eyes and she'd know exactly what he was getting ready to do.

"Oh my God, Mercedes," he heard Quinn urgently rasp from the end of the hallway. Sam looked up to see her quickly approaching, with Finn pushing her chair along.

In a slightly selfish way, he was relieved they had shown up. It meant Mercedes wouldn't be alone when he returned to the gym to thank Rick. When Quinn and Finn reached him and Mercedes, Sam strained to ask, "Can you guys stay here with her? I need to go take care of something really quick."

"Where are you going?" Quinn asked warily. At the same time, Tina emerged from one of the nearby bathrooms with her hands full of paper towels.

"I'll be right back," he replied curtly. Sam then looked back down to Mercedes and whispered, "Tina, Finn and Quinn will help get this stuff off you but I promise I'll be back."

He felt Mercedes loosen her hold on him but her head was still lowered. Sam touched her chin, "Hey." Kindly, he raised her head and ran this thumb along her lips, and then under her eyes to clear the fresh tears. With his green eyes staring darkly at her, he pressed a tense kiss to her lips and then feigned a smile at her, "I love you Mercedes. Your friends love you and in a month, we're gonna be out of this hell hole."

His heart literally ached at the sight of her, though he did his best to hide it. Never in the two years that he knew her, had he ever seen Mercedes' spirit look so broken. Before he could let his flaring fury reappear on his face, he moved both his arms from around her and let Tina take his place.

Sam made quick strides down the hallway, but Finn caught his arm and quietly asked, "Where are you going?"

"To handle the guy who did this," he spat under his breath.

"You know who did it?"

"Rick 'The Dick' Nelson." Sam jerked his arm free of Finn's grasp before the taller male could ask 'how' he knew. There was no way this was going to be swept under a rug, and Sam was going to make sure of that as he thundered back to the gymnasium.


An awkward tension loomed thickly in the prom space. It didn't seem like everyone was quite as carefree anymore. Rachel had returned to the stage to sing The Cardigans' "Lovefool" while Figgins, Coach Sylvester, Coach Bieste and Coach Roz floated around the room, interviewing people who may have seen what happened. It was unclear how many actually saw something versus who merely heard the whispers during the aftermath.

Sam's path through the crowds was swift and clear, and in no time he spotted his target. Mike, Joe and Sugar saw him enter the gym and called out to him but he effortlessly ignored them all. He saw a few heads turn—eyes fall on him, but he didn't care who was watching. In fact, he half-hoped an audience would witness Rick get the beat-down of his life.

When he reached Rick, his back was turned while talking to a girl Sam vaguely assumed was his date. Without a moment's hesitation, the blond gripped Rick's shoulder, about faced the captain and threw all of his weight into a single hook across the face. Rick's head whipped to the side as he immediately stumbled to the ground, but Sam pounced on him to repeat the action.

"YOU BASTARD!" he shouted, crunching the other jock's nose with a sickening crack.

Immediately, more shrieks and gasps erupted in the gym as the attention averted from Rachel and the band, to the fight in the back.

"GET OFF ME!" Rick hollered, landing a punch in Sam's stomach.

It was enough to keep Sam's now bloodied knuckles at bay as he rolled onto his side, but his adrenaline allowed him to recover quickly and he dove back onto Rick, wrestling with the other senior. He'd thrown a few more punches and kneed Rick in the groin, but Rick lucked with another jab that was sure to give Sam another black eye.

"HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!" Coach Bieste roared while rapidly approaching. It wasn't her who had first intervened in the fight however.

Sam thrashed as he felt himself being pulled off of Rick. The burly arms of Shane Tinsley held him back from Rick.

"You think that's funny, don't you!" snarled Sam—his eyes burning holes into Rick's bloodied face. "THE HELL DID SHE EVER DO TO YOU! I KNOW IT WAS YOU!" he yelled, drawing a greater audience towards them.

"What the hell's wrong with you, Evans!" growled Coach Bieste as she hastily drew Rick to his feet and detained him from the blond.

"This asshole's the one that threw shit on my girlfriend!" Sam shouted back.

Rick blurted out defensively, "Yeah well Tinsley said we wouldn't get caught!"

The tense showdown fell silent for several beats. Even the music onstage fell to silence again. Almost immediately, Sam felt Shane's hold on him slacken. The blond swimmer jerked away to get a good look at Shane's face. "So you're behind this?"

Realization started to sink into Sam's mind; the puzzle was all coming together. Of course it made more sense that Shane was the mastermind—Sam could hardly credit Rick for thinking this entire thing up, even if the mention of Shane's involvement did temporarily blind sight him.

"I—…" Shane started but never finished. He closed his mouth and lowered his head shamefully.

Sam was white hot with anger. Not only was Shane of all people the one who had pulled him off Rick—and act Sam almost would have thanked him for one day—but he was now being kept from giving the football player his share of the beating—though Shane would probably flatten him in a second.

"Cool it, Evans!" snapped Coach Roz, who had joined Bieste in apprehending the brawling boys. She stepped in between Sam and Shane while drawing herself up tall, "Shane Tinsley, you and Sam Evans come to Principal Figgins' office right now."

"You too, Nelson," barked Bieste as she shoved the red-head by the scruff of his jacket.

All three boys were being escorted out of the gym by the two female coaches, but Sam's fury subsided just enough or him to make a quiet but tense plea to his swim coach. "Can I please go check on my girlfriend?"

"Sorry Evans," and she sounded like she meant it," but scrapping with that hockey boy got you in trouble too."

Sam ground his teeth with each reluctant step towards the principal's office. Still incensed with everything that had happened, he mentally repeated to himself his hopes that Kurt kept good on his word to get Mercedes home. Whatever consequences his actions afforded him would be worth it if Mercedes could be spared from anymore horrors that night.


Please leave reviews! There will only be a few more chapters added to this before I wrap it up & turn my attention back to Flash Forward and other fics that are in the works.