Mercedes' hands reach towards the button and zipper of Sam's jeans, teasingly slow.

She watched him carefully as her fingers found the fabric and the cool source of the button. He was breathing hard but staring down at her hands as if they he had never seen them before now.

She managed to unbutton it with ease and moved quickly down to his zipper. However, apparently Sam was growing impatient, as he immediately unzipped them himself and pushed his jeans off in quick succession. He threw it on the floor somewhere in the direction of his t-shirt.

There he lay, in just a plain pair of black boxers and white socks. Mercedes' heart raced as he looked into her eyes through his disheveled hair. The light from between the window blinds shone off his skin just right, giving him and the room a faint glow.

She crawled back up to him, back up to his lips, because her need to kiss him had grown so much in just a few simple seconds. She no longer wanted to taunt him.

She just wanted him.

He smiled knowingly and pulled her along, so that she was situated right in front of his face, straddling his body. Their lips met, over and over again. His hands found the bottom of her shirt and he lifted it over the top of her head with ease and tossed it aside. He pulled her back down and kissed the newly exposed skin of her chest.

"Sam..." She whispered, clutching his head softly.

"You are so...beautiful..." He whispered in between passionate kisses.

He looked up at her to see that she was watching him, her dark hair falling over the sides of her face. The soft light from the window also reflected in his blue eyes, and they seemed brighter against the dim light of the room.

"I'm sorry." He said with a sheepish grin. "I don't know what came over me. I just couldn't stand it anymore. Having you in bed with me-"

"Shh. Don't talk." Mercedes whispered, touching his face. He fell silent immediately.

His hands fell to her hips, to the top of her jeans, and a devilish look replaced the innocence of the blue in his eyes.

Understanding, and completely wanting it as well, Mercedes rolled off of him and allowed him to pull off her own jeans. He bent down low, right over her legs, grinning as the jeans grew lower. When they got to her feet, she kicked them off entirely. They flew off the bed and onto the floor, much to the surprise of Sam.

"Excited?" He asked.

"Maybe a little."

"I'm sure that's an understatement."

He sat there for a moment, revelling in the sight of her body. Of her skin. Her gorgeous curves.

Mercedes looked down at herself. She was two pieces of clothing away from being exposed in a way she was never exposed before.

And in that fleeting moment, she suddenly wished that they hadn't gotten this far.

Sam hadn't moved yet. He ran a single finger lightly up her right leg and then over to and down her left, sending tingles through her entire body.

Mercedes watched his fingers. She watched his face. She tried to read what his eyes were saying. She had never made herself this vulnerable. She looked away from where he sat, towards the windows.

Sam leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her thigh. He looked up at her as he did so, desperate to see her reaction, only to notice that she had turned her head and was trying to avoid his eyes.

He frowned.

"Hey," he said softly, sitting upright. "Cedes."

Mercedes blinked and turned her head slightly to him.

"Yes?" She asked, putting on a small smile. It would have worked, had she been with anyone else, she was sure. But the problem was that Sam saw right through it.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Why would something be wrong?"

He was silent for a few seconds. Then suddenly, he moved to lie down next to her, propping himself up on his elbow. He wrapped the other hand around her waist, wanting her as close to him as possible. He felt a rush of excitement as her warm skin touched his, but he kept himself under control.

"You can tell me, you know. If you want to stop. I'm not pressuring you. I hope know that. I would never, ever do that."

Mercedes shook her head on the pillow.

"I know you won't...it's not that."

"Then what is it? Please, Mercedes. Tell me."

She sighed.

How was she supposed to tell him though? How was she supposed to bring down those walls, where she kept her insecurities hidden from the entire world? She put on a smile and strut her stuff with pride whenever she could, because she truly believed she was beautiful. She didn't need any more assurance.

But that was different. This was different.

Here. In bed. With nothing protecting her but a bra and underwear, that pride she had was shaken to its very core. Here was Sam in all of his perfection, and here she was, feeling anything but. She swallowed a painful sob, determined not to make a fool of herself at a time like this.

"Mercedes." Sam said, his voice barely audible. It was hurting him to see her so conflicted.

She turned away from him quickly and sat up. She swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"Lunch would be over right about now." She said simply, though she hadn't taken one look at a clock. "They'll be back any second." She wasn't looking at him, but she could tell that he had frozen.

"Oh..." He said after a while of no movement. "Right." She heard him sigh and then felt the bed move as he stood up to gather his clothes. She made no move to get hers.

The silence seemed to burn through the air and it caught at her throat. She wanted to choke out a cry or an apology or something to let him know that it wasn't his fault. That she was not upset with him at all, but she couldn't find her voice.

Instead, Sam spoke into the silence.

"You know, this isn't the first time I've told you this. And it's not going to be the last, I can promise you that but...you are beautiful. I wouldn't lie to you."

He pulled his shirt on after his jeans and walked over to the TV. He popped the Avatar DVD out and busied himself with putting it back. All the while, he didn't say another word.

Mercedes put her own clothes on in silence as well and stood there for a few seconds, debating if she should say something or not.

But when he turned to her, it was with a smile, one of those smiles that were natural for Sam. Warm. Inviting. That kind of smile.

He tossed the DVD into his open suitcase and walked over to the bed. He pulled the sheets and began fixing the covers.

"Gotta hide the evidence if we want to keep this up any longer."

Mercedes shot him a shy smile and walked over to help. Hopefully he wasn't too upset with her, she thought. Hopefully he understood.

It might take her a while, but she promised herself that she was going to sort this out. She was already hiding her relationship with Sam from the world and she didn't want to have to hide from him, too. She didn't think she could handle any more secrets.

The guys appeared in the room about fifteen minutes after Mercedes left. Sam was lying in bed, flicking through the available channels, not really paying attention to what was on the screen.

He had a feeling he knew what was going on. He had a feeling and he was frustrated that he couldn't do anything more to help her out. He hated that look in her eyes when she gave him that "I'm-fine-don't-worry-about-it" kind of smile before she left. He didn't want to see her hurt.

It was the same reason he decided to ask her to dance at prom. His eyes had landed on her, out of every single person in the gym, sitting alone at her table. She had looked beautiful in that dress. More than beautiful, if that was even possible. It blew his mind how not even one idiot male in that entire room could see that. Were they all just that stupid?

Could they not see this amazing, wonderful, talented woman that could light up the room with a single smile? Were they blind?

So he took matters into his own hands, that night. He decided that he was not going to be that stupid, blind male. He was not going to let her get away. He promised himself that he was going to see her smile and that he was going to be the one to make her do it.

And he did.

He made her smile. He made her night and she made his.

And look at where they were now. Keeping secrets from their friends, sure, but together nonetheless. That had to count for something, right?

She was feeling self-conscious, he knew. The way she reacted sold her out. But couldn't she see how crazy he was about her? Didn't she understand that nothing was about to change the way he felt about her?

"Hey, dude. Where were you?"

Sam was shaken out of his thoughts as a rolled up paper ball was tossed at his head. He looked up to see that Puck was the culprit.

"Yeah, we were looking everywhere for you." Mike added.

"Mercedes was gone too." Artie piped up.

"So were Rachel and Kurt..." Finn mumbled.

Puck sank onto the bed opposite Sam, pushing a pillow under his head.

"Where did you all sneak off to?"

Sam shrugged, not really paying attention to the conversation. His mind was still somewhere down the hall with Mercedes.

"I needed some time to think. Took a walk around the city."

"Damn dude." Puck said, eyeing him. "You could've told me. I would've snuck out with you. The food they have in the restaurant downstairs wasn't as good as I thought it'd be." Mike nodded in agreement. Puck closed his eyes. "And they didn't even let me drink."

Sam didn't say anything. Apparently the dullness in his voice flew right over all of their heads. They didn't seem to notice that he honestly did have a lot on his mind. Not that he would have been able to tell them what was wrong, but still. Having them ask would have been comforting. They were all there for Finn when he needed advice, weren't they?

"Anyway," Artie said, pulling out a notebook and pencil from a pocket in his wheelchair. He placed it on his lap and looked at each one of them. "We're going to have to start brainstorming now. We're seriously behind in this song writing thing."

It seemed like an easy enough command, but after a long dry spell of absolutely no ideas, the guys were about ready to give up.

"I think we should get the girls and Kurt in here. More minds equal more ideas." Finn said, feeling proud of his comment.

"Whatever you say, chief." Puck saluted Finn, though his eyes were still closed.

Not long after, the girls and Kurt had situated themselves around the room, ready for what was most likely their last brainstorming session. This technically made this session the most important, but no matter.

It took them a long time to get focused, as chatter started about Mr. Schue wanting to leave the glee club and McKinley to do a Broadway musical with none other than April Rhodes.

Again, Sam wasn't really paying attention. He had to constantly force himself to look away from Mercedes. She was sitting across the room on the same bed they had shared just a few hours earlier and it was driving him crazy. He had to make sure his eyes didn't linger on her too long when she spoke, and Mercedes did the same.

However, after a while, they had both forgotten that they were supposed to be playing it cool. It just wasn't working out as well as either of them had hoped. Sam managed to put a smile on her face with quite an unnecessary, intense gaze in her direction. Mercedes looked down and bit her lip, trying to choke back a laugh, which caused Sam to turn his head away from her, grinning.

They played this little silent game of eye contact until Mr. Schue showed up, ready to help with several boxes of pizzas.

Today was the day. Today, everything will be laid down on the line and the New Directions would put their hard work into action.

Mercedes stood in front of the mirror in the girls' room, fixing her dress and her hair. She smiled at her reflection, loving how the black dress fell against her body. Feeling good and looking amazing in their costumes always gave them a little extra boost of confidence, so it was worth the smile.

We can do this. She thought to herself. We're gonna win this thing.

She took a deep breath. Positivity flowed through her.

Nothing was going to bring her down today. She would keep her head up high. She would smile and sing her heart out and dance like never before.

She would be confident and she would think of Sam.

Because right now, having him was enough to make her smile. And after yesterday, after feeling as if she let him down somehow, she was determined to let him know. He deserved to know how he made her feel.

After a final breath and a smack of her lip gloss stained lips, she turned on her heel and marched out of the room.

The final lyric dropped. The music stopped. The crowd jumped to their feet. The New Directions stood in their spots, chests heaving.

We did it. Sam thought, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He stood there for a few seconds, his eyes scanning the crowd. Everyone was out of their seats, smiling, cheering, and clapping. He spotted Mr. Schue in the audience, pride clearly radiating off of him as he waved his arms and cheered for them.

The group broke their positions, ecstatic that they had done as well as they did. Most of them hadn't expected to.

Arms were everywhere. He could see his fellow glee clubbers crashing into each other, squealing with delight in what they were sure was a definite win.

He could see them reaching out for him, ready to pull him into hugs and friendly embraces. They wanted to share this moment with him. He ignored them, though. His eyes were on the lookout for only one person in particular.

He didn't even have to think about it. Didn't want to think about it. He just ran to her. He ran to her and threw his arms around her and held her tight, closing his eyes as he did.

And to his joy, she hugged him right back. In front of everyone, the glee club, the audience, everyone. She didn't second guess it.

She just did it.

And at that moment, he swore that being able to hold her in his arms was an even greater gift than winning Nationals.

Forget all the secrets and all the worries.

He had his girl and she had him. That was all that mattered.

So, um, you guys. Over 100 reviews? Just THANK YOU SO MUCH. I love every single review you have given me and it means so much that you enjoy my writing. I need to start responding to you all personally, so you'll be hearing from me soon :)

ALSO, I was thinking, I'm not sure how far I can let Sam and Mercedes go with just a "T" rating, so was wondering if anyone would object to me changing the rating to "M"? I would really appreciate your opinions!