This chapter is really just for the purpose of transitioning so be warned, it's a bit short and uneventful. Things are gonna pick up a bit after this. Also I'm uploading from my phone so, hopefully nothing weird happens. :)

MERCEDES' POV

It was her lunch break and she was sitting at her desk, eating leftover pasta salad while she and Alicia talked on Skype.

"How's my baby doing?" Mercedes said. Avery had been down with a respiratory infection for a few days and Alicia had been staying home from work with her.

"Still sleeping most of the time, but better," Alicia said.

"You look better," Mercedes commented, forking some of the pasta salad into her mouth. When she and Alicia had spoken on Skype a couple of days ago, Alicia looked like she hadn't slept in months. "I know seeing her on that breathing machine at the hospital was hell for you. I was worried about both of you."

"Ugh, it was, Mercedes. I had all the worst outcomes floating in my head," she said, running her hands over her face.

"I know. But she's gonna be okay. It might be hard to convince Alicia the mother of that but Alicia the nurse knows for a fact that she's gonna be okay. Right?"

Alicia smiled.

"Right." She nodded. "Anyway, how's Luke?"

"He's good. And no I have not spoken to Sam," Mercedes said. Alicia had developed this habit of asking about Luke before immediately afterwards asking about Sam. Mercedes was on to her.

"I can't believe y'all are gonna live in the same city and just not talk to each other."

"It's not like we're not talking because we hate each other or something, we're just busy I guess." That was partly true. Mercedes didn't have all the free time in the world on her hands but mostly she just didn't even know how to approach speaking to him again. What would it lead to? She didn't know what kind of relationship they could have if they weren't in a relationship and they couldn't be in a relationship because they were both seeing other people, right? Plus he hadn't contacted her either so, she'd taken that as a sign. It had been two weeks, after all.

"You're both stubborn. Just call him, Mercedes."

"For what?"

"To hang out! You weren't just dating back then, you know? You were friends, too. I dunno. It just seems weird with all the history you guys have that you're just gonna never see each other or speak again."

"History might be the reason we shouldn't ever see each other or speak again," Mercedes mumbled.

"Does that mean what I think it means?"

As if on cue, a knock came to Mercedes' door, saving her from any further questioning from her best friend.

"Alicia, I gotta go. Kiss Avery for me, bye," she said quickly before ending the call. "Come in," she called to the door.

"I'm only gonna ask you one more time to come out with me tonight and then I'm just gonna drag you," Stephanie said, standing with her hands on her curvy hips in front of Mercedes' desk.

"I don't have time, Stephanie."

"You have to make time, Mercedes. You spend every second of your life either here, at home, or with Luke and it's not healthy. You need to go out with other people. Namely me. Come on, it'll be harmless."

"Harmless, huh?"

"I promise," Stephanie said, crossing her heart.

Mercedes sighed, thinking it might not be so bad to get out of the house. She didn't have any plans of her own or with Luke.

"Fine," she said. "But no night clubs."

"Of course no night clubs. We're not teenagers, Mercedes."

"Alright, get out."

SAM'S POV

Sam filed into the bar behind his co-worker. It had been precisely two weeks since he went anywhere else besides work and his apartment and he guessed the stir crazy was starting to show in his irritability around the office. So he'd been all but forced to go out with his least favorite new peer and "try to have a good fucking time," as his boss had put it. That was going to be hard when the guy he was being forced to hang out with kind of acted like a freshmen fraternity kid except maybe worse. When they entered the bar, he obnoxiously scanned the room, running his fingers through his copper hair like a character from Grease and making equally obnoxious noises as he found the crowds of women scattered around to be satisfying to his taste. And then he annoyingly spun around on his lanky legs to face Sam and said,

"Gotta tinkle."

Honestly, Sam wanted to die. He thought momentarily that maybe he should take this opportunity, grab a cab and hightail it home. He'd have time, he was sure. Lines for the bathroom at bars could be ridiculously long. He was considering just how bad it would look on his part at work on Monday when his eyes fell on her, standing at the end of the bar next to a woman with bronze skin and dark hair. The first thing he saw was her smile and he didn't even need to look anywhere else, he knew it was her. What he didn't realize was that he had been unconsciously moving towards her from the moment he laid eyes on her. He didn't realize he was standing just behind her until she said his name.

""Mercedes," he said when he'd woken up and she didn't blink for a moment.

"Sam—you're here. You're at this bar," she said.

"I am."

"The same bar I'm at right now."

"Yup."

"Did you follow me?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing."

"Oh please, you and I both know that you were the only one with stalker tendencies in this relationship."

"Relationship?" Stephanie chimed in and then her mouth fell open. "That's right! You're that Sam," she said enthusiastically.

"Shut up, Stephanie," Mercedes said.

"That depends," Sam said, not looking at Stephanie but instead looking at Mercedes, a sly grin on his lips. "What did Mercedes say about that Sam?"

"Absolutely nothing," Mercedes said before her co-worker could speak. "Stephanie, this is Sam. Sam, this is Stephanie. I think you two have met"

"Not formally. Nice to meet you," Stephanie said. "Are you here alone? You could join us."

"Actually my associate just ran to the men's room. But I'm sure he'd love to join you two."

"Associate? Are you here for business or pleasure? Please say pleasure," Stephanie said, batting her eyelashes.

"She's had one too many mojitos, excuse us," Mercedes said, yanking her friend away. He was watching the two of them go back and forth when Malcolm returned.

"Alright, let's drink," he said, slapping Sam on the shoulder and then heading for the bar. Sam glanced back at Mercedes and Stephanie who were still going at it and then he followed after his co-worker.

"Before we get too hammered," Malcolm began as he threw back one of three shots of tequila he'd just ordered and Sam sipped on his Sprite—he suddenly felt like he wasn't in the mood to get drunk tonight. "I want you to know," Malcolm continued, "that nothing I say while I'm intoxicated is 100% true. Like if I mention anything about HR planning a welcome party for you at the office, that's definitely bogus, okay?"

Sam smirked.

"Fine," he said. "You gonna be alright getting home tonight, man?"

"Ah, that's not for either of us to worry about right now," Malcolm replied, drinking his second shot.

"Well I was just gonna say if you were concerned about that then we could link up with those two over there at that table, share a cab with them. You know, just to be safe," Sam said, nodding to Mercedes and Stephanie. Malcolm followed Sam's gaze to the two women and then he did something with his tongue that strangely resembled what dogs do when they're thirsty and Sam was beginning to regret this immediately.

"On second thought," Malcom said, "I am feeling a little buzzed already," he said, throwing back his final shot before slamming the glass on the table and sucking air in between his teeth and then standing from his chair as he said, "Oh, it is a good night to be single as fuck."

"Jesus Christ," Sam mumbled as he followed behind Malcolm towards their table. When they reached it, the two women looked up and Mercedes seemed to forget to blink again for a moment.

"Mercedes, Stephanie, this is Malcolm," Sam said. "Is that offer to join you still on the table?" he was asking both of them but he was looking at Mercedes. She smiled after a moment.

"Sure," she said. They took their seats across from the women and soon everyone was exchanging credentials. When Stephanie wasn't ignoring Malcolm's constant attempts to flirt with her, she was either mumbling something to Mercedes or telling Sam about her favorite places in New York. Mercedes didn't talk much which worried him more than he thought it should. He couldn't shake the feeling that something might be bothering her, and he had tried. But he couldn't. She was looking down at her phone when there was a lull at the table and he chose that moment to ask her,

"You wanna go for a walk?"

Her head popped up and the table was silent, all of them seemingly waiting for her answer. She bit the corner of her bottom lip in thought and Sam mentally kicked himself for thinking, even for a moment, that it had been a gesture of anything besides contemplation.

"Okay," she said and then Sam released the breath he had been holding as they both stood and he ignored the silent whoops from Malcolm.

She made it outside before he did, her arms wrapped around herself as she walked slowly ahead of him.

"Kinda chilly out here," he said ad he fell in step beside her.

"Is this the part where you offer me your jacket and I say no?"

"You've always loved saying no, haven't you?"

"No," she said and he chuckled.

"Well, sorry to break it to you but I wasn't just offering," he said taking his suit jacket off and draping it on her shoulders. She didn't say anything, and 0he thought he saw her smile but he wasn't sure. "You seemed quiet in there," he said.

"Long day," she breathed, glancing up at him and then looking straight ahead again.

"What a coincidence that we showed up to the same bar tonight. I was starting to think another six years might actually go by."

"It's only been two weeks."

"I know," he said.

"Things are crazy at the office right now. I'm sure it's crazy at yours, too," she said and he almost sensed a bit of melancholy in her voice.

"Definitely. Still, I'd always be glad to hear from you," he said sincerely, leaning his head down a little to look at her.

She looked at him for a moment before letting her gaze fall to her feet.

"Things didn't exactly end that great the last time we saw each other. Kind of awkward," she said.

"I should have told you I was seeing someone," he said

"I should have told you, too. Would have made it all a lot less weird," she replied. And he thought maybe he should tell her that he and Nicole had called it quits but decided soon after that he would wait, hoping another opportune moment would come up sometime that night because right now all he wanted was to make her smile.

"I don't remember it being that weird. The only really weird part about that day was our tour guide."

"He was kind of funny, wasn't he?"

"He kept calling me Simon," Sam said, and she giggled, making him feel a bit lighter.

"You should've corrected him like I said."

"You New York people are hotheaded, I didn't wanna start trouble," he replied.

"Now I'm a New York person?" she looked up at him.

"Barely. But you are hotheaded," he said as he came to a stop and faced her.

She laughed as she stopped in front of him and he wondered if that sound would ever cease to make him smile. He still wanted to bottle it up and keep it every time he heard it. But he was quiet then as he remembered that it wasn't his to keep anymore. Neither was she.

"Are you happy?" he said and she seemed thrown off by the question. She smiled.

"Yes," she replied. He didn't know why he'd asked or what he had been expecting her to say, but he believed her. And that changed things whether he liked it or not. He decided then that he wouldn't tell her about Nicole. Because it didn't matter. "Are you happy?" she suddenly asked.

He shrugged.

"Most of the time."

"Well that's all anyone could ask for, right?" she said. He shrugged again, stuffing his hands in his pocket.

"Look, Mercedes, I don't want things to be awkward between us. I know the last time we saw each other six years ago, we were together and we both thought it was gonna stay that way. It didn't. But above all, back then you were my best friend. And If I'm being 100% honest with you and with myself, the only reason I was able to let go of my best friend back then was because I had to. But now it's been six years. We're in this city together again. And I've got this hyperawareness of the distance that's still between us. And I don't like it. I'm not saying we should drop everything and get back together. We're different people now and I know it's not that simple. But I can't live in this city and never hear from you or see you. I guess I'm just asking if we could maybe just be friends."

She looked at him and then down at her feet and then up at him again.

"Just friends?"

"It's enough for me," he said.

"Just friends," she breathed.

"It'll be harmless."

"There goes that word again," she said. He smiled.

"Deal?"

She sighed, taking his jacket off of her shoulders and handing it him before replying,

"Deal."