Hey ya'll! How is everything? I hope you are looking forward to some more Glee awesomeness, because here we go! In this chapter, Sam and Mercedes receive their invitation to the reunion. How have their lives been going? Will they go to the reunion? Find out in this chapter! Now don't get me wrong; I totally dig the pairing between Sam and Penny, but I also am an ardent Samcedes fan, and for this story, that is the dominant pairing for Sam. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please read, enjoy, and most importantly, review.

Again, I do not own Glee. All I own are Martin and Jocelyn Evans.

Chapter 8:

On Higher Ground

Sam Evans couldn't have been happier as he strode up the walkway to his marvelous cliff-top house in Bel Air, L.A that Saturday night. He smiled, his blue-green eyes agleam and his blonde hair turning silver in the moonlight. He'd had a long, but very enjoyable day today.

It had been the premiere day of the newly released live-action Justice League movie, starring Sam himself as the Flash. Sam chuckled to himself as he remembered how truly proud he was of his performance as the literally lightning-fast superhero. His smile widened as he remembered how much he'd enjoyed working with his old friends, Artie and Puck, who had co-directed the movie together alongside the main director of Warner Bros. He sighed in content of how enthusiastically the audience had cheered when the movie had stopped playing. He already knew that the movie would become a very popular household possession. He was still smiling when he reached the door to his house.

Sam politely knocked on the door thrice. "Enter," said a familiar voice that Sam knew very well indeed. Smiling, Sam opened the door and walked into the house. His already large smile grew immense upon sight of his beloved wife, Mercedes, standing at the top of the staircase that was located not too far in front of the front door leading into the foyer, a considerable feat considering how naturally large his smiles already were due to the size of his mouth. He chuckled when he thought of this and remembered how his iconic large lips had earned him the nickname "Trouty Mouth" from Santana back in glee club.

Upon closing the door, Sam stood idly where he was with his arms outstretched as he awaited for the enthusiastic welcome home he knew he was about to receive once again from his children, Martin and Jocelyn.

Before long, he heard the kids' overjoyed voices shout, "Daddy!" and they both came barreling down the hallway leading to the kitchen. As Martin and Jocelyn enthusiastically gave him a double hug, Sam masterfully pretended to be sent sliding backwards by the impact. The performance caused his children to let out their happy laughing that he always enjoyed hearing from them. As his children laughed, he looked down adoringly at them.

Martin, Sam's nine year old son, was an African American boy who closely resembled Mercedes apart from the fact that he was much more slender. Jocelyn, the couple's seven year old daughter, was practically a female spitting image of her father, from her fair skin, to her blue-green eyes, all the way up to her golden blonde hair.

Sam chuckled as Martin and Jocelyn continued hugging him before they finally let go. Martin, eager to hear about how well his father's day had gone at the premiere, shouted out, "Tell us about the premiere dad! How was it?"

"It was awesome son! You're going to love it when you watch it on DVD!"

"Hip, hip, hooray!" Jocelyn squealed in joy.

"You got that right Jocelyn," Mercedes said as she made her way down the stairs.

When Mercedes made it to the bottom of the stairs, Sam smiled at his wife, for she looked as wonderful as ever with her coffee-colored skin, ebony hair, and brownish black eyes.

Mercedes gave her husband a charismatic smile before turning her head back to her son and daughter.

"Alright kids, your father's home, so now it's time for bed. But don't you worry. I'm sure daddy will still have plenty to talk to you about tomorrow regarding his newest movie!"

"Yay!" Martin and Jocelyn howled in delight before they turned away and stampeded up the stairs, both of them shouting vehemently, yet playfully, about who would make it to his or her respective bed room first.

Immediately after the two children reached the top of the stairs, Mercedes yelled, "Hello! Haven't you forgotten something!" before putting her hand up to her ear.

"Good night mom! Good night dad!" the two children screamed before they both reached their bedrooms at the same time and enthusiastically slammed the doors closed behind them.

Sam chuckled as he watched the scene, and Mercedes grinned sidelong at him. Seconds later, both parents let out a sigh of relief. Now that Martin and Jocelyn were going to bed, they now had plenty of quality time to discuss what had happened for them regarding their work today before going to bed themselves. Sam was especially looking forward to tonight's session, for he now had a considerable amount of time between this day and the next time he was aware of in which he would be called to audition for a new movie, and he was eager to get his break started in style with his wife.

Mercedes and Sam walked over to the kitchen and sat down at the table. As the married couple sat down together at the table, Mercedes grinned at Sam and asked, "So, how was the movie?"

Sam grinned, and replied, "Like I said, it was incredible. It made all that hard work I put my back into for the last few months all the more worthwhile. I just loved talking with all the fans that came up to me at the premiere, not to mention being allowed to watch the movie privately with the rest of the cast and crew. How was your day?"

Mercedes smiled, and responded, "Unless you count having to deal with the kids shouting constantly, "That's daddy!" after seeing you on the news today and being so loud that I could barely hear myself think all day as excitement, it was not nearly as exciting as yours was. Still, I'm definitely enjoying the break I'm currently having from song writing that I've now earned after my cross country tour last month."

Sam smiled when he heard this, for the way he saw it, with every successive new song and performance, his wife continued to outdo the previous one before it. In fact, his current favorites at the top of his list of favorite songs sung and written by his wife were her intriguing love song, Black Lightning, her debut song, Hell to the No, and her recent powerhouse ballad, Crow in a Sea of Swans. Considering how much effort she'd put in writing and performing all those wonderful songs and more lately, he believed that she'd more than earned the right for a long break. "And so have I," he thought to himself.

With a sigh, Mercedes placed her right hand on Sam's left and said, "Well, now that the kids should soon be in bed, do you think you're willing to celebrate the beginning of your long break with a romantic dance dear?"

Sam smiled, and replied, "Do you even need to ask?"

Mercedes laughed, and the couple rose up from their chairs and prepared to head over to the family room to dance.

Right as the couple was about to enter the family room, Mercedes suddenly remembered an important household task she'd forgotten to do over the course of the day taking care of the kids. "Hey Sam," Mercedes said, and Sam turned his head to look at her. "Could you go get the mail first before we have our dance tonight? I forgot to go out and get it earlier."

Sam chuckled, and chimed in, "Understandable; our kids certainly are a handful after all. Sure, I'll go get the mail. Can you wait for me in the family room and get the music ready?"

"Your wish is my command Mr. Evans," Mercedes said as she headed off the rest of the way she needed to go to get to the family room.

Sam chuckled, for he always found it funny for some odd reason when his wife said that particular phrase. Still chuckling, Sam headed back to the main foyer, opened the front door, and stepped out onto the front porch to check the mail box at the end of the walkway.

Within seconds, Sam had retrieved the mail and come straight back into the house. As he looked through the small pile of mail he now held in his hands, Sam sighed as he noticed that the mail consisted mostly of bills. Aside from a thank you note from Artie and Puck for working with them in the production of the movie, there were no casual letters. Sam sighed, for now that he thought about it, he missed the old days from back in high school when he had all his many friends from the glee club to hang out with every day. In fact, despite how he knew for a fact that he'd definitely gotten over his crush on her from that year, he especially missed Brittany. He wondered how she was doing in her current job as assistant director at the Ford manufacturing plant in New York City. He cursed himself bitterly in his mind as he thought of this, for even despite how Mercedes understood and accepted how he'd been in a romantic relationship with Brittany during his senior year since she had not been there for him all the time for a convenient lasting relationship, he still felt guilty about not staying single for Mercedes before his eventually marrying her. At the thought of his marriage, he groaned as he remembered the fake wedding he'd had with Brittany during the Christmas season that very same year the two of them had become boyfriend and girlfriend and they'd thought that the world would end in the dreaded, but quite unfulfilled, 2012 Mayan Apocalypse.

"God help me," Sam whispered to himself angrily. "I'm over that now! Why can't I stop thinking about her? Mercedes knows all about what we had and has accepted what happened between us, so why do I still feel so guilty about it?" Suddenly, before he even realized what he was doing, Sam growled loudly in his frustration.

"Is everything alright?" Mercedes asked from down in the family room.

Sam cursed mentally and said, "Everything's fine! I was just wishing that we'd received more mail from our friends today." After saying this, Sam looked at the small pile of mail in his hand, and sighed again before making his way over to the family room.

When Mercedes saw Sam gazing unhappily at the pile of mail in his hands, she asked "Are you sure everything's ok?" with her voice clearly showing her concern. Sam looked up from the mail, looked into Mercedes's eyes, and briefly considered telling her that everything was fine and comforting her with this lie. However, he then thought, "Forget it, if I can't trust my wife with this kind of thing, then I can't trust anyone," and sighed as he prepared himself.

After a deep breath, Sam said, "No. Today's mail was mostly bills, but that's not the problem. The only mail we got today apart from bills was a thank you note from Artie and Puck about working with them in the making of the Justice League movie, and I started thinking about all our other friends from the New Directions, and in particular, well . . . you know who."

At the sound of this, Mercedes understood immediately what was going on, for she'd seen her husband in this state over Brittany enough times in the past. In an attempt to comfort him, she said, "Sam, I already told you that it's ok. I understand that you were feeling alone due to my already graduating and how we had to cut off our relationship until our lives allowed it to be more conveniently capable of existing. I don't mind that you didn't stay single for me, and I'm pretty sure that I told you about how I didn't really stay single for you either in the time between my graduation and our marriage if that's any comfort to you."

Sam sighed, and responded, "I know that Mercedes. Still, from what I understand, you knew that your brief relationships with all those other guys you briefly dated her in L.A. weren't necessarily going to last forever. I didn't know that about my relationship with Brittany. After what happened at Sectionals that year, I was already unhappy enough. But also, I didn't realize how much I truly missed having you as my girlfriend until after you left to return to L.A. afterward. By the time I found myself developing a crush on Brittany, I thought that we might not have been truly meant to be. I thought that I could move on with someone else and maybe find my true soul mate in someone else, and Brittany was also feeling lonely at the time because of what had happened regarding her relationship with Santana. But when I became a movie star and met up with you here in L.A. I realized that I was wrong, and that was why I agreed for us to get back together as a romantic pair again, and also partially why I decided to marry you.

"I know that my actions were understandable and that I didn't know any better about how our standing would turn out in the future, but I thought that I truly loved Brittany to the point that I even had a fake wedding with her when I thought that the world was about to end. Even though you understand and accept it, I still feel as if I was practically taking advantage of Brittany, and I can't help but feel bad about it."

Sam raised his head and looked Mercedes in the eyes. Mercedes looked quite surprised as she gaped at Sam.

Eventually, Mercedes managed to say, "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

Sam sighed, and responded, "I wanted to, but we were already at the height of our careers, and we were already going so much stronger in our relationship, and when Martin and Jocelyn were born, I felt as if everything was going perfectly for us, and I didn't want to risk giving us any reason for things to start going badly between us."

Mercedes shook her head from side to side, and then said, "Sam, ok I understand now why you were unwilling to tell me about this earlier on, but you need to tell me these things. I'm your wife. If there's anyone that is more appropriate in helping you get over troublesome personal situations like this and comforting you, it's me. Believe me, the last few years we've spent together as a married couple have been the best ever, but our relationship can't truly be happy if we don't trust each other and maintain strong honesty between each other. We need to stick together through these situations."

Mercedes grasped Sam's hands into her own and continued, "I forgive you for not telling me about this before now, but please do not withhold information like this from me again. I don't want you to have to experience situations like this on your own. I've seen the looks on your face from all the other times you've found yourself thinking about what happened between you and Brittany, and I could tell that whatever the situation was, it was killing you, and that was killing me. I want to be able to help you with these kinds of problems, and I can't do that if I'm not fully aware of what's going on. You understand?"

Sam nodded, and said, "You're right. I'm sorry. It won't happen again . . . I hope."

Mercedes sighed in relief and content. "Good," she then said before she started leading Sam back towards the kitchen. "Come on," she said, "We can dance tonight later, after we've had some tea. I know that always helps to cheer you up."

Sam smiled at the mention of having tea. He knew Mercedes was right. Having tea always helped to cheer him up, especially if it was chamomile. "Very well then, you're the boss," Sam said with a smile. Mercedes smiled back, and politely led her husband the rest of the way into the kitchen.

After Sam sat down at the table, Mercedes gazed at the small heap of envelopes that her husband was still holding, and asked, "Hey Sam, is it ok if I take a look at the mail?"

Sam smiled, and extended his hand with the mail towards his wife. "Go ahead," he said.

Smiling, Mercedes gently removed the mail from her husband's hand and started looking through it as she headed towards the pantry to get the supplies for the tea. As she did so, she certainly had to agree that their certainly wasn't very much in the mail today other than bills. As Sam had said, the only pieces of mail from today that weren't bills were the thank you note from Artie and Puck as well as a . . . Mercedes looked at the small red envelope she now saw in her hand with a frown. Sam hadn't mentioned this particular envelope.

"Sam?" Mercedes asked. Sam looked up from the table and towards his wife, curious as to what she was about to ask. Mercedes turned to look at Sam and held the mystery envelope up in front of her face so that her husband could see it clearly. "Did you see this letter?" Mercedes asked.

Sam's eyebrows furrowed as he gazed at the letter his wife had just asked about. Truth be told, he hadn't even noticed that envelope. "It must have been at the bottom of the pile," he thought to himself as he got up from his chair and walked over to join his wife. As he grasped the envelope and gently tugged it from his wife's grasp, Sam responded, "No, it appears I didn't. Who is it from?

"Someone from Lima," Mercedes responded.

Immediately after Mercedes said this, Sam noticed this fact himself by looking at the return address. His eyes widened when he noticed the name of the person who had sent the letter on the return address.

"This isn't just from someone in Lima," Sam said with a hint of surprise and excitement. He turned his head to Mercedes, his face agleam with excitement, and continued, "It's from Finn!"

"What? Seriously!?" Mercedes asked incredulously.

"Unless you know anyone else named Finn Hudson, then yes!"

"Well what are you waiting for? Open it!"

Sam, eager to see what Finn had sent this letter to them for, tore open the envelope without hesitation and whipped out the letter inside. His eyes widened at the sight of what was written in the letter. Or more accurately, typed in the letter.

Sam looked at his wife with the excited look still on his face, and he said, "Guess what! Finn's just invited us to come to Lima for a New Directions reunion!"

"A what?!"

"You heard me! A New Directions reunion!"

In a flash, Mercedes looked over her husband's shoulder and read the invitation. Sure enough, their old friend, Finn Hudson, had indeed invited the two of them to come to Lima to hang out with him for a New Directions reunion.

"Wow!" Mercedes shouted as she thought about what was happening.

"I know right?" Sam asked excitedly before he then said, "That's it, we are definitely going to take part in this!"

Mercedes was about to chime in agreement when she abruptly thought of Martin and Jocelyn. As far as she knew, Finn was unaware of them, and she wasn't even sure if they had truly been invited to come with their parents. With this on her mind, she said, "Well I definitely think we should come, but what about the kids? They still have school at this time."

Sam replied almost instantly, "That's not gonna be a problem! They can stay in New York with my siblings!"

As soon as Mercedes heard this, she decided that it would be a perfect idea. After all, Sam's younger siblings, Stevie and Stacy, also married, lived together with their families in a luxurious apartment in New York City that she and Sam had helped provide for them with their own money. Martin and Jocelyn would definitely enjoy staying with their aunt and uncle; they'd certainly enjoyed their visits to Bel Air in the past.

Then Mercedes remembered what she'd talked about with her husband mere minutes earlier, and she asked, "What about Brittany? Are you sure you're ready to be in the same area as her?"

Sam's smile faded slightly when his wife reminded him about his situation regarding Brittany. Then he remembered how much fun it would be for him and Mercedes to hang out with Finn, Rachel, Kurt, Artie, Mike, Quinn, and all their other friends from the glee club, and his smile returned. "Screw that! Now's as good a time as any to get over that situation, and what better way to do that, then with you and all our other friends together to help out and hang out with?"

Mercedes smiled, happy to see how her husband was willing to face down his guilt and uncertainty over Brittany for the good of hanging out in Lima with Finn and all their other friends from the glee club. Still smiling, she said, "Well in that case, why don't we celebrate with a dance, and then start getting everything ready tomorrow?"

Sam smiled, and said, "Sounds like a plan!" before turning his head back to the pantry. Still smiling, he continued, "But first, there's tea."

And just like that, Sam and Mercedes have accepted! I hope you like! Coming up next: Artie receives his own invitation to the reunion. What will he have to say about the idea? And just how has his life been going in regard to his work and, cough, cough, sexual activity? Find out on the next update! Please read and review!