DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE NOR ANYTHING ELSE.

ENJOY :)

"Come on shortie." Mercedes said as she walked down the stairs, her daughter following behind her giggling. Its been just a few days since the move and they were getting the hang of everything. School didn't start back for two more weeks but Sam had to start working with the team as soon as they got here. She hit the bottom step and turned around to lean down and picked her squealing daughter up and head towards the kitchen.

"Dada.." Arianna called out happily when she saw Sam sitting at the kitchen counter on his phone.

"Hey Ari.." He smiled as he got up and picked her out of her mother's arms.

"I thought you had a late practice today." Mercedes said as she kissed him before moving towards the refrigerator.

"Coach canceled it because his son had orientation for school tonight." Sam answered, smiling at his daughter, who was playing with the whistle around his neck.

Mercedes nodded as she pulled out some meat from the freezer, turning towards Sam, "Steak or chicken?"

"Definitely steak."

"I figured." She smirked at him before setting the meat in the sink. She bent down to grab the sack of potatoes from the floor, "I talked to Josh today."

"You did? When is he coming?" Sam asked curiously as he sat back down in the chair. Josh didn't come straight to Cali when they moved. After the wedding, he went to Tennessee to spend some time with his family.

Mercedes reached for the knife and opened up the bag, grabbing a potato out, she started to peel it, "His flight gets in at eight tomorrow morning so I thought it would be good if me and Ari went to pick him up."

"I'm excited for him to come out here." Sam said as kissed his daughter's cheek, looking back up at Mercedes, "Believe it or not, he doesn't even know what the place looks like. I didn't tell him because that boy can't hold water."

"Believe me, I know.." Mercedes said as she turned on the cold water, quirking a brow at her husband, "Remember the whole Cincinnati trip?"

Sam shrugged unapologetically, "I said I was sorry but if I told you, you would've stop me."

"Damn right I would've. No sense in beating on a dead horse." Mercedes shrugged at him, not wanting to have this conversation about that man.

Sam sense her mood starting to change and he didn't want to make her upset so he decided to change the subject, "I was on Twitter last night and I came across the fact that I have been nominated for the best male athlete for the Teen Choice Awards."

"Aw, congratulations babe." Mercedes sent him a smile as she cut the water off, leaning against the counter.

"Yeah, it's crazy that I was nominated after everything.."

"Baby, people still love you no matter what decision you made. You're a great person Sam, your heart is so big and you actually care about people so I'm not surprised at all at this." She smiled as she leaned over and kissed him softly.

"I needed that, thank you." He said quietly as he looked at her with a smile, "So you wouldn't mind being my plus one?"

"You know I would love too but I have dinner with the dean that night.." She said with a pout, moving around the counter to stand in front of him, "But I do know who you can take.."

Sam raised an eyebrow, "And who is that?"

"Your little mini me." Mercedes said with a smirk as she looked down at the little girl in his lap, who was looking between her parents curiously.

Sam looked down and a smile took over his features, "Cookie Monster?"

"Yeah..I think it would be cool for you two to have a little daddy and daughter night out." Mercedes smiled at him, knowing that he was going to like this next part, "And I'll even let pick out her outfit."

"Done." Sam said quickly as he looked at his daughter, "Ari, do you want to hang out with your old man?" He watched as she squealed and jumped in his lap, taking her small arms and wrapping them around his neck.

Mercedes chuckled at her, shaking her head, "I'll take that as a yes."

Sam held her back as he rocked her back and forth with a laugh, "I think she's more excited because you said I could dress her."

Mercedes snorted and rolled her eyes, "Whatever Sam. God knows if it was up to you, my baby would be in a t-shirt, jeans and converses everyday."

"I'm not even going to lie and say that's not true." Sam let out a laugh as he looked at her.

"I can't with your shenanigans Samuel." Mercedes smiled at him, shaking her head as she seasoned the meat, "Just don't have my baby up their looking like a boy."

Sam rolled his eyes at her, "Geez, have some trust in me woman."

"Oh I have trust in you in many of things but dressing our daughter is not one of them." She laughed when he glared at her, batting her eyelashes, "I still love you though."

"I love you too." Sam smirked widely as he stood up from the chair, "Come on Ari, lets go get a head start on your outfit while mommy cooks dinner."

Mercedes shook her head with a giggle as she went back preparing their dinner. If it was one thing her husband was, it was determined and she loved that about him.

Josh grabbed his bag from the baggage claim, pulling his phone from his pocket to call Mercedes. He was so happy to finally be here. He had spent some much needed time with his family and received lots of advice and encouragement on many of things from them that he had needed.

Mercedes groaned as she shielded her baby from the paps as she entered the airport. She thought for sure they would leave them alone once Sam resigned from the NFL but she was wrong. And why the hell were they even following her anyways? Taking a calming breath, she looked down at her daughter and saw a frown on her face much like hers, "I know baby girl, they make me mad too." She felt her phone vibrating in her back pocket, looking around, she found Josh at the baggage claim and she figured he was calling her so she sat Ari down, bending down to her, she looked at her daughter with a smile, taking her hand to point into the direction he was, "There's Uncle Josh."

Ari looked at her mommy before turning to see who she was pointing to, her hazel eyes lit up when she saw him. She took off in a wobbly run to her uncle, smiling brightly as she let out a happy squeal.

Josh turned around when he heard squealing and he laughed when he saw the little girl coming to him. He hung up the phone and put it back into his pocket, bending down, he open up his arms with a smile when she ran to him, picking her up, he hugged her tightly, "Hey lady bug."

Mercedes stood up and began to walk over to them. She loved the relationship Josh and Ari had. They have been super close every since she was born and she was happy about that. She loved the fact that Ari had so many positive people around her who wanted to be in her life. She smiled as stood in front of them, "Hey Josh."

"Mercedes." He smiled as he leaned over and hugged her, "I've missed you guys."

"We missed you too." Mercedes said as she reached into her purse and handed him the keys, "Here are the keys to the car, I really have to go the restroom."

Josh took the keys from her and nodded. He balanced Arianna on his side before he grabbed his bag with his other hand. He looked outside and made sure the paps were gone, seeing that they had move on to someone else, he quickly exited the building and headed to the car. Popping the truck, he put his bag in then closed it before heading to the backseat to put Ari in her car seat.

Mercedes opened the stall and let out a sigh of relief as she walked to the counter to wash her hands. She grabbed a paper towel and headed out the restroom. She was grateful that the paps moved on to someone else, making it easy for her to get to her car. She got into the drivers seat and buckled up, looking at him with a smile, "You ready?"

"Mhm." He nodded excitedly, buckling up as well.

Mercedes nodded as she looked at the mirror to check on Ari. She smiled when she saw her sitting back, looking out the window. She turned on the engine and pulled off.

They spent the next thirty minutes just catching up and talking about Josh's visit with his family. They stopped and picked up some breakfast and headed straight for the house. When they got there, Josh was in shock at how beautiful it was. Mercedes gave him a tour, chuckling at how wide his eyes were when he took in everything. She looked down at her sleeping daughter in her arms and decided to lay her on the couch in the living room.

"This place is incredible." Josh said as he looked around the kitchen, "I can't believe he didn't tell me."

"Well he said that you couldn't keep a secret to save your life and I whole heartedly agree with that." Mercedes laughed at the expression that was on his face, making her way to the table.

Josh mumbled underneath his breath as he went and sat down in the chair at the kitchen table, taking his plate out from the bag, "Have you started work yet?"

"Kinda sorta." She answered as she lifted the lid off of her fruit cup, "School starts in two more weeks but I have been to the school and have met with many different people. I even got my office set up."

Josh nodded as he chewed on his bacon, looking at her curiously, "So what exactly is it you're going to be doing? Is it like the same thing you have been doing?"

"No it's not. I'm the director of the music program, meaning, I oversee the whole music department. The classes, the choir, etc. I make sure that everything is going the way it suppose to and I have to approve everything from concerts on campus to money from out of state. It's different but I think I'm really going to enjoy it."

"That's sound cool." He smiled as he sat up in his chair, shaking his bottle of orange juice, "You're like a legit boss lady."

"No to sound conceited or anything but I feel like one." She chuckled as she bit down on her honeydew, chewing slowly, "How about you? Did you figure out what school you're going to go to?"

"Yeah..about that." He started but stopped short when he heard the front door open and close. Turning around in his seat, he saw Sam coming in, "Hey man."

"What's up brother." Sam said with a smile as he hugged his best friend, "Missed you dude."

"I missed you too." Josh patted his back with a smile.

"God, get a room already." Mercedes said a with a snort, looking on at the two friends.

Sam let go of his friend, looking over at his wife with a smirk, "Jealous much?"

"Of you two lovebirds?" She questioned with her eyebrows raised, a matching smirk on her face, "Not at all."

Josh laughed at the banner between them, shaking his head in amusement.

Sam went over and dropped a kiss to her lips, stealing a strawberry from her cup, "How was your flight?"

"Long and relaxing to be honest." He answered as folded his arms across his chest.

"That's good." Sam said as he walked over to the couch, pressing a kiss to his sleeping daughter's forehead.

Mercedes swallowed the last of her fruit and sipped some of her water, "I was just asking Josh about which school he was going to go to here."

"Oh yeah, did you ever figure that out?" Sam asked curiously as he walked back towards them, taking a seat beside Mercedes.

Josh rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath, "Yeah..I decided that I'm not going to go."

Mercedes eyes bugged out as she hushed whispered, "What? Why?"

"What made you change your mind?" Sam asked, honestly confused because his friend was talking about going back non-stop a few weeks ago.

"I'm just not feeling it anymore. I was excited but then I wasn't. I'm still going to paint though and I found this great artist who's interested in buying my paintings for his gallery. I still want to open up my own art gallery but right now I'm going to put that on hold and plus, you two are starting new jobs and I know you don't want to let a stranger take care of Ari so I'll do it."

Mercedes looked at Sam before turning back to him, "Josh, we couldn't ask you to do that."

"You're not asking, I'm telling you that I'm going to do it and before you say it, I know USC has a daycare center for the faculty but come on, wouldn't you rather her be with someone she knows?"

"You have a point J but we don't want you to have to put your dreams on a back burner."

"I'm not putting them on the back burner because I have to, I'm doing it because I want to." He stressed as he looked at both of them, sighing, "Look, I already talk to my family about it and they're behind me one hundred percent. You guys are my family too and I hope that you can support me as well."

Mercedes sat back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest, "It's not that we don't support you Josh, we do. We just don't want you to regret this decision in the future."

"You have so much potential Josh, so much..and honestly, it makes me feel really bad because I feel like I stripped you from doing anything when I ask for you to become my bodyguard." Sam admitted sadly as he looked at him. When Sam first got drafted, his manger, Brandon, had told him that it was necessary for him to have a bodyguard. So Sam asked Josh would he do it. See the thing was, Josh had opted to wait a year before he went to college and he did. But after awhile, he dropped out because it was getting too expensive, even with the help of his family. He thought hard about going to a community college but he decided against it. So he spent the next three years working and saving money. By the time he got enough to go back, it was at the same time that Sam had asked him to be his bodyguard.

"You didn't strip me from anything Sam okay? And I'm not going to regret my decision Mercedes, okay?" He said as he raised his voice a little. He was getting their point and everything that they were saying but why couldn't they understand that this was something that he wanted to do. He sat his fork down and stood up from his seat, needing to go take a breather, "I'm going to go unpack my stuff."

"Okay.." Mercedes whispered as she watched him walk away, turning to Sam, "I feel like a mom who just chastised her child." She watched as he gave a small smile and she reached over and grabbed his hand, "As much as I would love to see him go to school, he knows what he wants to do and we as his family should support any decision that he makes."

"I know but I can't help to feel like this is my fault. If I hadn't ask him for this favor, he could've been famous as hell for his paintings right now. I just feel like a bad friend."

"But you're not baby. You're a wonderful friend and have always been there for him that's why he decided that he wanted to be there for you." Mercedes leaned over and kissed his lips gently.

Sam sighed against her lips, looking into her eyes, "I know."

"Good. I'm going to go talk to him." She squeezed his hand as she stood up, making her way out the room.

A/N. I start college in exactly six days, I'm nervous & excited! With that being said, updates for all of my stories will be slow for the next couple of months but I promise that none of them will go unfinished! Leave me a review & let me know what you guys think of this update, :)