A/N: I didn't watch the glee last night and I heard it was a steaming pile of dog shit. I'll stay in my Samcedes AU bubble and leave that train wreck to someone else lol.

After spending the next few hours becoming very familiar with her new home, Mercedes slept better than she had in days. Sam woke up in the early morning and told her that he had some business to take care of and Mercedes tried her best to not question him intently. She only asked Sam when he would be back and he said he would be home in the evening. When Sam left, Mercedes had breakfast, showered and decided to call her mom.

Renee answered sounding slight disoriented, "You know you're the only person I'll wake up this early to talk to"

"Good morning to you to"

"How did everything go last night?"

"We worked it out, um…is dad there?"

"No he went into work early, why?"

"I wanted to talk to him, I never thanked him for everything he did for me. Is he in his downtown office?"

"I believe so, didn't you try his cell? He always has it on"

"I was too nervous, and I'd rather do everything in person, I'll go down to his office later"

Mercedes gasped and quickly followed with, "Guess what!"

"What?"

"Sam got us an apartment, well it's more of a penthouse"

Renee laughed lightly, "I already knew, how do you like it?"

"I love it! How did you know already?"

"Baby who do you think he came to for help? The view is amazing isn't it?"

Mercedes blushed thinking about the night prior. She and Sam became acutely intimately familiar with the balcony and the view was a plus. Mercedes cleared her throat and fanned herself, "The view is remarkable, this whole place is remarkable, but it's so bare"

"Are my shopping senses tingling?"

"I hope so, you know I don't like to shop alone"

Renee suddenly sounded alert, "When an where?"

"How about…two at Macy's furniture department, and bring Mary too, I could use all the help"

"Ok, two at Macy's, we'll see you there"

Mercedes told her mom she loved her and hung up. Walking into the bedroom she realized she didn't have any of her clothes in their apartment yet, so she put her dress back on and caught a cab to Santana's. Mercedes had her spare key so she didn't bother knocking. However when she opened the door she wish she had.

Santana's dress was hanging off the ceiling fan blade and the black and white articles of clothing Mercedes recognized from the party were scattered around the living room. Should she come back later? While Mercedes pondered over the different scenarios that wouldn't end awkwardly, a tall, slender, blonde walked out of Santana's room bare ass naked. The blonde gave Mercedes a confused look but didn't say anything.

Mercedes turned her head and placed her hand over her eyes, "Um hi, I'm Mercedes, I was Santana's roommate, is she awake?"

"So you're Mercedes!" The blonde giggled, walked over to Mercedes, and gave her a hug. Mercedes had no idea what to do so she gave the naked girl a quick pat on the back.

"San told me all about you last night, I'm Brittany"

"Nice to meet you Brittany, aren't you cold?" Mercedes asked still looking away.

"Meh, not really"

I'm just going to get my clothes and I'll leave you two to whatever it was you were doing"

Mercedes walked past Brittany and walked into Santana's bedroom to pick out her outfit. Santana was still in bed with a sheet covering her naked body. When Mercedes entered, Santana opened one eye and said with a groggy voice, "Geno went completely ape shit last night, so I'm guessing you went home with Sam"

Mercedes closed the door, slipped out of her dress, and began to rummage through her clothes, "Yeah, Sam and Geno got into it and I thought it would be best if I left with him instead of Geno"

"Congrats on the sex"

"Santana!"

"Don't deny it, you're glowing, actually you've had this glow about you for a few days now…"

Mercedes slipped her chiffon shirtdress over her head and put on her boots, "I'm leaving now, and I'll be back later to get the rest of my things since I have a new place to live now…that Sam bought us!"

"It's about time you two worked things out"

"You have to come see it soon, and bring your friend, clothed of course"

Santana smirked, "But she looks so much better without them on, don't you think?"

Brittany opened the door carrying a big bowl of cereal with two spoons. She smiled at Mercedes and said, "Are you joining us? I could get another spoon"

"No! No I was just leaving, bye ladies!"

Santana and Brittany both said bye as Mercedes left out of the door. On the way to her father's office, Mercedes couldn't relieve herself from all the nerves she was feeling. She had never been in such a serious fight with her father before and she hoped she and her father could resolve their fight today. When Mercedes arrived at her father's office, she greeted the receptionist and asked to see her father. The receptionist gave the ok and Mercedes knocked one on the door and entered, "Hi"

Gerrard looked up from the file he was reading and smiled at her, "This is a nice surprise"

Gerrard dropped the file onto his desk and held out his arms. Mercedes ran into her father's arms and they hugged each other tightly.

"I missed you"

"I missed you too"

They embraced each other for a few moments before Gerrard asked, "Did you and Sam work everything out?"

"Yeah, we had a much needed talk last night"

Gerrard led Mercedes to sit in his chair and he sat on top of the desk next to her.

"What did you two talk about?"

"His job"

"What about it"

"That he can't just quit doing whatever he's doing, but when the time comes he will"

"I see…"

"Is there anything you or Dwight can do to make that happen now?"

"Merce, it's very complicated"

Mercedes looked down and played with her dress sleeves. Gerrard sighed and said, "We always look out for him; make sure he's not in over his head, or about to get into something stupid"

"Why was Sam brought into that stuff but I wasn't?"

"You're a female", Gerrard replied simply.

"What kind of sexist sh-" Mercedes had to stop herself because she remembered who she was talking to, "That's extremely sexist"

"Unfortunately that's the game. Women in our career are generally a rare thing to see and when people do see it they don't take her seriously"

"I guess"

"I don't want you involved with this anyway"

"But if I were your son, I would probably be wherever Sam is right?"

"Maybe, maybe not. You would have had that choice to involve yourself or not. Sam knew about my and his father's career after he graduated high school, but he didn't want to be apart of it. After Dwight's shooting, he was practically thrown into it and had to step up in Dwight's name"

"Why didn't he stop when Dwight fully recovered?"

"I don't know, that would be a question for him, not me"

There was a knock on the door and the receptionist came in to let Gerrard know his one-thirty had arrived.

"I'll be with mom and Mary today. Were going shopping for my and Sam's new place, I bet you knew about the apartment too"

"Yeah I did, amazing view"

"Uh-huh" Mercedes needed to train herself to not get hot and bothered whenever someone mentioned the view, but thanks to her boyfriend that might not ever happen.

Mercedes gave her father and hug and left the building. She was hailing for a cab when she accidently backed into someone.

"Oh! I'm sorry-Noah!"

Noah looked just as uncomfortable as Mercedes felt.

"Mercedes, didn't think I'd run into you so soon"

Mercedes tried to make light of the situation, "Well I kind of ran into you"

Noah smiled a little out of courtesy and looked around.

"So, how have you been?" Mercedes asked.

"I've been better. You?"

"Same"

"Puck!"

Mercedes turned her head to see an Asian girl striding to them. She looked so familiar but Mercedes couldn't quite put her foot on it.

The girl went to Noah and handed him a giant pretzel, "One giant pretzel, no cheese"

Noah smiled at her and the girl looked at Mercedes, "You look familiar"

"I was about to say the same thing to you" Mercedes replied.

"What's your name?"

"Mercedes, yours?"

"Tina. Mercedes….I know it! We were in glee club together!"

Mercedes thought back to her high school days. The glee club had many students involved, "Were you the goth girl?"

Tina laughed and said yes.

"You were goth?" Puck asked her surprised.

"It was a phase alright! Anyway, how are you doing? It's been so long"

"I'm good, just around you know"

Mercedes noticed the uneasy look on Noah's face.

"Actually I was on my way to an appointment, so I'll see you guys around"

"Wait, take my number, we should catch up sometime"

Mercedes and Tina exchanged numbers and Mercedes was finally able to hail a cab. On the way to Macy's, she contemplated deleting Tina's number. Any ties to Noah was definitely something her father and Sam would not want, but Tina was so eager to exchange numbers and get back in touch, and it wasn't like connecting once in a while with Tina would mean she had to connect with Noah also…

After Mercedes left, Noah sighed relieved. That girl brought back some PTSD memories, and if he didn't see any member of the Jones and Evans family for the rest of his life it would still be too soon. He was still mourning the death of his parents, and having Tina around certainly made it all easier to deal with. Breaking the news to Jake was horrible. Noah told his devastated brother that their mom had been the victim of a hit and run, and that they were granted twenty grand from the insurance company. Noah told Jake that there would be a private closed casket ceremony and Jake said he would cut his trip short and head back to the city as soon as possible.

The last thing Noah needed right now was to get reacquainted with the daughter of the guy who killed his mom. As he and Tina walked through the city he slyly took her phone from her opened zippered purse and asked her to check the subway schedule to see what time theirs was due. While she was checking, Noah deleted Mercedes' number from her phone. When Tina came back he slipped the phone back into her purse and acted normally.

Shopping with her mom and Mary was certainly refreshing for Mercedes. They picked out some beautiful furniture and pieces and put the items on hold. They were passing the through the baby department when Mary stopped to pick up a blue onesie.

"This is adorable"

Renee picked up a pink onesie and said, "This one is better, don't you think Cedes?"

"I guess they're both cute"

Mary and Renee exchanged knowing smiles and Mercedes asked, "What?"

Mary said, "Oh nothing…"

"What?"

Renee said, "You should start thinking about this kind of stuff"

"Why would I need to do that?"

"Because you're pregnant", Renee said as if she were telling her daughter about the weather.

Mercedes eyes grew wide, "I think I would know if I was pregnant"

"And your mother knows you better than you know yourself. You're pregnant"

Mary picked up another blue onesie and said, "Take a test if you don't believe us"

Mercedes bought a pregnancy test from every brand the drug store carried. The tests felt like huge weights as she carried them in the plastic bag up to the apartment, and her thoughts ran wild with the possibility of being pregnant. It was just about seven thirty when Mercedes arrived home and she went straight to the bathroom. Ten minutes and ten pregnancy tests later, Mercedes was in deep thought about her life and the new life she would be bringing into the world. She and Sam had just gotten to a decent place but now that she was carrying his child, Sam's job bothered her fifty times over. What if something happened to him that would cause him to not be able to be a father to their child, like leave her widowed. She changed into one of Sam's pajama shirts and waited in bed for Sam to arrive home.

The sound of the lock turning took Mercedes out of her thoughts and she got out of bed to greet Sam. She welcomed him with an immense kiss and relaxed in his arms, with her head to his chest, thankful that she was able to sill hold onto him.

She felt Sam's chuckle and he said, "Someone missed me"

She sighed and left his arms, "We both missed you"

Sam looked around behind her, "We?"

This was it, Mercedes thought.

"Yep. Welcome home daddy"

A/N: Plot twist! Not really lol, a couple people called it but she has been pregnant for a couple of weeks now. What do you think Sam's reaction will be? And will Mercedes' troubled thoughts about Sam come true?