Author's Note: I hope this is okay. Dead, dog tired, eyes are glassing over but I hope you enjoy the story so far and thank you to those who chose to stick it out with me. Not a nice chapter-be warned. Please forgive my mistakes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.
My Eyes Were Trained On You
Chapter 10
Sam had been crunching numbers all afternoon. He attempted differing scenarios which could earn Mr. Abrams the most growth potential over time. While he was attempting to consider the differences between the US and Overseas Markets, his cell phone vibrated while sitting on his desk, once, then it stopped.
He continued working but his cell phone began vibrating again, once, twice but then it stopped. Sam picked up his phone, unlocked it and looked at his call log "Two missed calls", it read, "Caller- Ryder." Sam looked at his phone inquisitively "Ryder? I thought he was sick, maybe he needs something." Sam thought as he dialed Ryder's number and placed the phone to his ear.
The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and rang, again. Sam was about to hang up the phone when Sam finally heard "Sam?" The voice was low but it was layered with immediacy and fear. "Ryder? Whats' wrong?" Sam asked. "Where are you?" The words flew out of his mouth as if they had been shot by a gun. "I'm at work-where are you? I heard that you were sick buddy, you okay?" There was a long silence. "Are you alone right now?" Ryder asked. "Yeah" Sam answered. "Was everyone there today?' Ryder questioned. "Yeah" Sam answered wondering when they got into this game of twenty questions. "Even the boss?" Ryder asked. "Ryder what is this all about?"
Sam noticed how stranger Ryder was sounding "Ryder?" "Don't say my name out loud!" Ryder shouted. "Look Sam I need you to meet me-I need to talk to you-tonight, alright? You know meet me at that little spot of 14th street, remember, at 7pm. Please-tell no one and come alone." Then Ryder hung up the phone. "Hey wait..." All Sam heard was dead air, he put down his phone. Sam checked the time and it was already 6:31pm. He got up from his chair and headed to Mercedes office.
When he got there he saw Figgins Sitting in there with her and they were looking over some paperwork. "I have a synopsis-an article at home that could pertain to this brief..." She stopped speaking when she eventually saw Sam standing in her doorway. "Oh hey" she said with a smile. Sam could have sworn on the other hand that Figgins had just shot him a microburst look of displeasure.
"Hi, sorry to disturb you two, Mercedes I know we were supposed to ride uptown together but I have to make a stop first-I forgot. Can we do it another day?" He asked. "Would you like me to come with you?" She asked Sam. He wanted so much to be with her but Ryder's cryptic words of tell no one and come alone, made that not such a good idea. "No, it's okay." Sam said with a small sigh. "Oh, alright then; goodnight." She said. "Don't worry Sam; I'll make sure she gets home safely." Figgins directed his comment to Sam but then he now addressed Mercedes "Now you will be able to show me the article we were just discussing." "Alright" was her pithy reply that Sam heard as he left her office.
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Sam pulled on his leather gloves as he crunched through the residual snow to make it to meet Ryder. It was a horribly bitter cold night tonight, so the warmth of the bar was indeed welcome. Sam spotted Ryder sitting in one of the back corner booths, which had been the farthest spot from the front door. Sam walked to the back and took a seat "Did you tell anyone that you were meeting me?" Ryder quickly asked. "No, I'm sure you don't want anyone to know that instead of being sick you are playing hooky and sitting in a bar." Sam said with a chuckle.
The waitress came once to the table. "Hey guys haven't seen you in a while-where you guys been?" She said as she placed a bowl of nuts on the table. "We were away on a business trip for a little while." Sam replied. "Oh, what can I get for you?" She asked as she took up her pen and pad. Ryder spoke up, "We will have two beers, hot wings and a larger pitcher of ice water; Oh, and a lot of napkins, that's all." "Alrighty; Oh- and look, if that cute friend of yours comes in-when I'm on shift- tell him there's a free beer in it for him." She smiled. "Sure thing" Sam said while looking at her name tag "Santana" She winked and then she left the table.
Ryder reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Since when did you start smoking" Sam questioned. "I think I may just start" Ryder answered. "What?" Sam said. "Look Sam there is something I have to tell you it will seem too fantastical but you have got to believe me." Sam watched as Ryder was speaking to him that his hands were shaking while he kept manipulating the lighter in his hand. "So, why don't you just tell me?" Sam spoke but Ryder was looking in the opposite direction when he answered "Wait a minute."
Santana was returning to the table "Two beers, hot wings, a large pitcher of ice water, and lots of napkins-need anything else?" She added. "Got a pen I can borrow?" Ryder asked. She looked at him strangely but she gave him her pen anyway. "Thanks" he said and she left the table again.
Ryder immediately took a napkin and wrote on it "Figgins dangerous" and shoved it across the table until it landed in front of Sam. "What?" Sam said. "SSSSSSHHHHHH" Ryder shut him down as he took the lighter and discretely set the napkin on fire and then dropped it into the ice water. Sam was astonished by what Ryder had just done. Ryder took another napkin and wrote "Me...rape" Sam's brows furrowed "He raped you?" Sam said shock and bewilderment on his face. Ryder vigorously shook his head "NO!" when he spoke it with a forceful whisper and then set that napkin on fire and dropped it into the ice water. Ryder furiously started scribbling again on a napkin "Rape...17yr old...virgin." It read and he shoved it across the table at Sam, as soon as Sam read it Ryder snatched it back and also set it on fire and repeated his same precaution as earlier.
Sam started shaking his head "It's true" Ryder grumbled as he spoke through clenched jaws. "I just got back from New Jersey, he set me up-he's got pictures." Ryder admitted. "He is sick, Sam, sick; what I saw him do." Ryder covered his head in disgust. "Did you call the police? " Sam asked. "I wanted to but she refused-it would have only implicated me anyway; Figgins saw to that." Ryder said.
"Sam we have to find a way to stop him- he is really freaky and..." Ryder swallowed hard and then explained what had happened to him, what he had heard, and what he had seen along with what it had also implied. After listening to Ryder, Sam jumped up from the booth and went to take off but Ryder grabbed Sam's hand; Sam's eyes grew wide "But he is alone with Mercedes!" "Be smart if he finds out that I told you-he could be even more dangerous." Ryder chastised.
"I have to help her" Sam said. "Check on her but, do not, give anything away-we need help, reinforcements and a plan. I am coming into work tomorrow like nothing happened -you do the same. We cannot tip our hand." Sam pulled away and ran to the train station heading uptown.
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When Sam made it to Mercedes address he called her on the phone, it was almost 9:45pm. The phone rang, and rang but there was no answer just her voicemail. Sam buzzed her door and waited but there was no answer, although, he could see a light on in the window on the third floor. "It was his first time coming to her house and it was for the most distressing reason." He thought. It was then that a man who had just been coming back from walking his dog started to enter the building. "Excuse me- do you know Mercedes Jones?" Sam asked. "CeCe, why do you ask?" "I am a friend of hers from work and se has a big presentation due tomorrow and I needed to bring her this flash drive." Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out one. "I can give it to her." The man reached out his hand. "No, I really need to get it into her hands or the boss will kill us both-please-it will only take a moment." Sam put on his southern charm.
The man opened the door to the building and walked Sam to her doorway. Sam knocked and called out her name. He knocked again-no answer. "Cece isn't home" The guy spoke again but Sam heard water running "Listen do you hear that? Go get the super to let us in something is wrong." Sam said. The man hurried to get the Super while Sam continued banging on the door and calling her name.
The Super came with the keys and he opened the door Sam was inside in an instant the water in the bathroom sink had been running and he saw her, she was spread out across her bed, her hair was a tousled mass, a thin sheet was covering her, and her room was ice cold. All the windows in the apartment had been opened the curtains were blowing in the cold December wind. Sam grabbed a blanket from the sofa and covered her up. "Mercy, Mercy" he called as he stroked her face with his hand.
The Super turned off the running water "Did she try to kill herself? I can't have another suicide in this building, word gets out, it's bad for business." "No!" Sam shouted "She did not try to kill herself." "Mercy" he whispered in her ear and she stirred. He called her again. She started mumbling his name "Sam, Sam, Sam is that you?" Her eyes fluttered repeatedly as if it were too heavy to open so she needed to try multiple times.
"What are you doing here?" She spoke so listlessly. "I missed you, I needed to see you" he whispered in her ear while his heart hardened and tears glistened in his eyes. He remembered what Ryder told him and he knew what all of this meant. "I feel funny" She said "Oh no did I black out again." She questioned and slowly began to cry.
Sam looked at the Super and the man who had been walking the dog, who was still standing in the doorway of her apartment. "Can we be alone please-thank you for your help." Sam said. The two men looked at each other and then the Super spoke to Mercedes. "Miss, are you alright? Are you okay with being alone with this man?" "Yes" she answered while nodding. The two men left and closed the door behind them. Sam got up from kneeling by the bed and grabbed some tissues and used them, in his hands, to close the windows-he did so very gingerly.
Mercedes attempted to sit up in bed and realized that she was naked under the sheet & blanket Sam had just placed on her. "I am so sorry you had to see this." She shook her head in disappointment and shame. "I told you that mental illness runs in my family." Sam listened to her talk on and on trying to rectify what had happened to her as he found her kitchen and began making her a cup of tea. Once he had made it he brought it to her and sat down next to her on her bed. "Mercy" Sam said. "I want to tell you something." She finally raised her eyes to look into his-she had been avoiding his gaze until now.
"I love you" Sam said. "What?" She replied in disbelief. "I love you-I know you may have a lot of theories about what happened here tonight, and I may have my own as well but no matter which scenario turns out to be true, I want you to know that it would not change a thing-it will not change the fact that I am in love with you."
"Sam I don't want you feeling sorry for me!" She spoke using a frustrated tone. "I didn't say that I felt sorry for you, I said that I loved you. I will always, always love you." Sam reached out his hand and began to stroke her hair again and again. "Are you in any pain?" He asked her. "My head hurts and I think that I am going to be sick." She struggled to get up off the bed wrapped in the blanket and went to the bathroom and shut the door. As she was retching behind the door, Sam's anger burned with a fury of 15 million suns. His whole body shook and his head hurt from pounding. He thought back, as to the fact that, while he was making her tea- she cried, cried out of fear of a mental illness, how she thought things were better; she hadn't done things like this since she had been in school. She had hoped it was just the stress of college but now, here it was again, she started blaming, being given the opportunity to lead the team, that must have been what brought it on again. She started doubting her capabilities; she doubted herself, fearful, and self-loathing.
Sam wanted to scream as he dropped his face into his hands while he did the math in his head. "All this time he had been victimizing her and allowed her to believe that it was her family's mental illnesses, that those issues were what she should have been concerned about. That bastard!" Sam rocked back and forth. "He needed her to get help, he needed for her not to feel foolish, for her not to feel embarrassed in front of him, and he still somehow needed to get her to trust him and believe him." "She had known Figgins for years -Would she believe him?"
"He was going to kill him-that was it; Sam was going to kill him." His thoughts of torturing Figgins, slowly, had been warming his heart so much he hadn't even realized that Mercedes had entered in the room until she rested her hand on his shoulder.
Sam held on to her hand and stood up and hugged her. "Mercy, this isn't going to be easy but we need to talk." "Talk?" She pondered. "I am asking you to move in with me." "Sam?" She spoke as if she couldn't have possible heard him right. "The city is not safe and I was so worried, just now, I want you to live with me." He said. "Sam what has gotten into you? You love me and you want me to move in with you?" She asked. "Are you sure you are not the one who blacked out?" she chuckled. "Don't answer yet because I have something to tell you and I need you to just hear me- okay?" "Alright" she answered.
He walked her to the sofa and set her down and he sat on the ottoman in front of her. He leaned his head over into her lap to strengthen himself for this terrible conversation, and then he sat up. "You know how you said tonight was a reoccurring thing but it hadn't happened since school? I think there is a reason for that. Mercedes, I think that you may have been raped tonight and that Figgins is the one who did it."
The room may as well had become encapsulated in ice, nothing and no one moved, time stood still, the only presence was the cold sensation that just darted up Mercedes spine. "What? Why would you say that?!" Her mind was racing and filled with unbelief. "I want us to go to the hospital and for you to get looked at." "Sam, are you crazy?" "Mercedes, did Figgins come here with you tonight?" Sam asked. "Yes, but he only stayed long enough to talk about work and to have one drink." Sam stared at her. She jumped up and began to walk away but she realized again that she was naked. "When did she take off all of her clothes?" She pondered. Sam waited silently as she paced back and forth and waited for the possibility to dawn on her.
She placed her hand on her head and shook it vigourously "No! No! He has known me for years-he would never! What kind of thing is that to say!" She screamed. "I get blackouts sometimes, that's all, blackouts. " She said not wanting to believe anything different. "Just come with me to the hospital and take the test, if I'm wrong-I'm wrong but I don't think that I am." He said. "I told you I had issues, I told you- I was afraid, I blackout, I have blackouts."
"Did you have them before he became your professor?" Sam shouted. It was like a slap in the face but she needed it, she needed to see he wasn't who she had thought he was. Mercedes lost her footing and stumbled back a little as she thought about what Sam had just asked her. She tried to remember. "It must have been before right?" She looked at Sam for clarity. "No, no it was after but..." She felt her legs wobble beneath her.
"He did it to another girl." Sam said bluntly. Mercedes head snapped toward his direction. Sam was gritting his teeth as he spoke unable to control his anger in his tone. "He has a way of doing things-Ryder witnessed it, he told me. Figgins drugs them, and... and... he likes the cold. All your windows were opened when I got here-Did you open them all?" He asked. Sam began crying and pleading with her "I need to take you to the hospital for a rape kit to be done and for your to talk to the police." Mercedes dropped to the floor stunned.
"That bastard violated you repeatedly for years and then let you suffer by thinking you were losing your mind! I could kill him for what he has done to you!" Sam shouted. "Don't let him get away with it get the evidence so that we can put him away."
Mercedes crumbled like a pile of dirty laundry on the floor and sobbed. Sam raced over to her and held her tightly. "You cannot stay here alone anymore. I want you to live with me-I love you and I will keep you safe from him. "
After a while Sam waited while Mercedes put one some clothes and packed a bag, then they went to the hospital.
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Sam waited in the hospital emergency room as Mercedes got checked out by the doctor. Sam watched as two police officers entered the ER from the street and, was, directed to the exam rooms in the back where she had been. It was 1:35am when she finally came out to him. She looked sullen and distraught. He took her to his home but they did not speak the entire way to his apartment.
Once Sam brought her inside he took the small bag of her things which he had been holding and sat it down in the corner of the room. "You can take a shower now. I'll change the sheets on my bed and you can have it. I'll sleep on the couch." He spoke while handing her a pair of his clean pajamas.
Mercedes went into his bathroom and took off the sweat suit the hospital provided for her when they took her clothes and kept them as evidence. She turned on the hot water on all the way, within minutes; the bathroom was filled with steam. Mercedes stepped into the burning water and used the bar of Ivory Soap that Sam had in the soap dish. She used the soap all over her body and she scrubbed and scrubbed until her skin was nearly raw and blistering from the heat. The she screamed the most blood curdling scream Sam had ever heard before she began to wail and cry.
Sam rushed into the bathroom and ran right into a wave of heat that took his breath away it was so thick. He leaped forward and turned the water off. He grabbed a towel and tried to wrap it around Mercedes body but she screamed "NO, NO, NO, NO;" she hit and kicked, and continued to scream again "NO, NO, NO, NO" and sobbed.
Sam was at a loss-he wanted to respect her wishes, he wanted her to realize that her "NO" still had power, weight, and that she had the right to say it and own it. But he also didn't want her to hurt herself anymore, he didn't want her to blame herself any more, he wanted so desperately to comfort her but she wouldn't let him. Sam backed off and waited, he watched her as she slumped down into the bathtub and he sat on the bathroom floor-they stayed there until morning.
Sam had been sleeping when she tapped him on the shoulder. He awoke instantly. Sam saw Mercedes standing over him wearing a business suit ant the stilettos she loved so much. "It's time for you to get ready for work or we will miss our train" She said. Sam leapt to his feet "Mercy, are we going to work today?" "Sam, he kept me his ignorant plaything (her body shuttered) for years- -I didn't know how he used me-he used my ignorance against me. Now I'm going to use his ignorance against him." She said forcefully.
Author's Note: Please Review.