***Alright sorry I am updating late...my daughter is home from school sick so I am tending to her and writing as well as pretending to work lol. This chapter could have easily been cut in half. Let me know if you all prefer long chapters as opposed to quick short updates. Anyway, a lot happens here and of course things happen during dinner...if you've read any of my other fics...u'll know I love some dinner drama lol. Next chapter dinner with a surprise guest.

"Guess who's coming to dinner" leave your suggestions for the chapter title for the next dinner. And of course more secrets and drama at that dinner cuz i love it.

Mercedes was the first to wake up at the crack of dawn. She looked over to where Sam was snoring and almost busted her sides with laughter at the way he was angled on the lazy boy. He had one leg propped promptly on the wall and another holding him from falling on the ground. She jumped out of bed and made her way over to him and nudged him softly. She grabbed his arm and tried to carry him, not realizing how heavy a sleeping man could be.

"Hey wake up…let me get you over to the bed." She nudged him again. He woke up disoriented and looked around and then focused his eyes on hers before smiling.

"I've been waiting on you to say that since I first met you." He replied as he walked over to the bed and dropped down head first and snoring again. She laughed as she picked up his leg and placed it on the bed, trying to shake the thought of how big his feet were and how they might relate to what was hanging between his legs.

"Get it together, Mercedes!" she said to herself as she walked over to the lazy boy and began to fold his sheets. Once that was complete she walked over to the drawers and picked her outfit for the day and a towel and proceeded towards the bathroom. After her shower, she placed her hair in two braids and then stuck the crochet hat right back on her head and made her way downstairs.

She was shocked to see that nobody was up yet. She had always believed that country folk rose with the cluck of the chickens. She smiled at her ignorance and made her way to the kitchen. Although if this were any other family she wouldn't dare do what she was just about to do but she felt this would be a nice anniversary gift to Sam's parents. She pulled out the items she needed to make a big breakfast for the family and tried to be as quiet as possible as she moved around. Just then Ryder came in and scared her.

"Oh hey…I didn't think anyone was up yet. I didn't mean to frighten you." He said. She noticed he looked as if he had a lot on his mind and assumed he'd be able to enjoy the peace in quiet.

"Oh no it's fine…I guess I was thinking the same as you." She smiled as she cracked an egg and began to whisk it. "Are you okay?" she asked. He chewed the side of his lips as if debating on if she should be trusted then pulled a stool and sat down.

"You're a therapist, right?" he asked and continued before she could tell him if she was or not. "So if I ask you something it will remain confidential, right?"

"Well, you're not my patient or anything…" she replied looking at him quizzically before continuing. "…but if you need me to keep a secret, I can do that for you." She added with a smile. He took a deep breath and looked around as if making sure no one was around. Mercedes continued cooking as he pulled up the strength to talk.

"Okay, let's say hypothetically someone my age were to get married…"

"Are you thinking of proposing to Stacy?" Mercedes asked cutting him off. He sighed and shook his head in annoyance to her cutting him off.

"This is simply hypothetical! Okay?"

"Alright." She nodded turning around to pour some pancake mix on the griddle. "Go ahead, I won't interrupt."

"Do you think there's anything wrong with young people, over the age of 18 getting married?" he asked. Mercedes could tell that this was more than a hypothetical but she humored him and replied as honestly as she could.

"If you asked me this question a month ago, I would have said, that is way too young. There's so much life to live at that age, to explore and you don't want to rush into things." She paused and thought of Sam's parents and smiled. "But after meeting Joan and Dwight, hearing their love stories, it's hard to say. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what I think or what anyone thinks. What you feel is right is what matters." Ryder looked at her and sighed as if that wasn't the response he wanted to hear.

"Do you think Sam feels that way?" he asked shocking her. She wasn't too sure what Sam felt on that subject but from what she had learn so far, she would bet he didn't. Mercedes was about to answer when Stacy came down the steps and entered the kitchen. She looked at Ryder and then at Mercedes and then back at Ryder.

"Hey babe, what are you doing down here?" she asked kissing him and then looking over at Mercedes again as she began to flip the pancakes on the griddle.

"I was just on my way back up when I smelled Mercedes cooking." He lied. Mercedes smiled at the two of them and continued cooking.

"Yeah, I smelled the food upstairs."

"I thought I'd surprise you all with a big breakfast." She replied as she flipped another set of pancakes.

"Great idea, need any help?" she asked pulling on an apron and leaving Ryder behind. Mercedes looked down just then and noticed the ring on her finger and smiled.

"Sure…just wash your hands first." She stated. Stacy smiled and did just that as the two of them worked their way around the kitchen. Once breakfast was done everyone came flying down the stairs to eat. As they all sat and ate, Joan took the opportunity to point out that cooking like this would make Sam propose to her in no time. Mercedes blushed and looked away especially since Sam chose to sit right across from her and stare her down. She just kept talking to Ryder who seemed like a nice enough kid and Stacy was pretty funny as well.

Sam couldn't understand how he got in bed. He remembered having a vivid dream of making love to Mercedes and then waking up to the smell of pancakes. He prayed he didn't do anything stupid last night like have sex with her, but he'd remember it if he did. Or was that what the dream was? He kept trying to read her reaction that morning but she kept avoiding him and talking a lot to Stacy and Ryder. He watched her get up and head over to the kitchen and decided that this was a great opportunity to corner her and see what happened last night. She was washing her dish when he came from behind her and placed his dish in the sink and startled her.

"Oh hey Sam…how was breakfast?" she asked as she started to wash his dish as well. He leaned on the counter and looked at her wondering was that what she really wanted to know.

"It was good…really good but…"

"Yeah…I was hoping you all would like it." She added cutting him off as she turned the water off and wiped the plate down. She proceeded to walk out of the kitchen when he pulled her back to him.

"Mercedes, did something happen last night?" he asked. She looked at him as if he was crazy, arching her brows at him. "How did I get into the bed with you?" he asked and she suddenly burst into laughter.

"Oh I put you there this morning!" she replied after laughing. He felt a bit ashamed that he thought something had happened and she found it funny and was about to say something about when his phone rang.

From that moment on it was almost as if they were on two different globes. She spent the day with the girls and he spent the day with the guys. He was ready for dinner to start so that he could see her again. He hadn't felt this way about another woman since Quinn and he couldn't understand why he was feeling that way now and with her. Than he realized what it was. It was that kiss. She was the second woman to ever kiss him and he hadn't had the opportunity to bed her yet. Maybe if they'd had sex last night she'd be out of his mind finally, but she was his therapist, he knew that would never happen.

Things didn't get better during the anniversary dinner. Mercedes sat next to Sam this time and every couple sat together that night. Dwight and Joan read the vows they had shared on their wedding night thirty years ago, which had everyone emotional. That was when things took a turn for the worse. Mercedes noticed Dani and Stevie fidgeting in their seats and whispering to each other.

"What's with all the whispering, you two?" Joan asked smiling as she sipped her drink. The table fell silent and then Stevie reached over and held Dani's hand giving her a slight nod.

"I'm pregnant." Dani said softly. The sound of everyone's utensils dropping on their plates was ridiculous as everyone looked her way. "I took the test…and it said it was positive." She smiled and rubbed her belly then looked at Stevie.

"Wait…did you say…"Joan asked laughing as if someone made a joke. When no one else laughed she looked over at Stevie. "Stevie?" she asked. Stevie kept his gaze straight forward and didn't move until she said his name again.

"Yeah…we're…"

"Ryder and I got married!" Stacy shouted causing everyone to look her way suddenly. "We…we got married in Vegas a few weeks ago."

"Stacy, are you insane?" Sam pushed his chair back and stood looking her way. "You two are way too young to start a family." He paused and looked over at Stevie. "And you, why weren't you using protection? No offense, Dani!" he flashed his eyes her way then back at Stevie.

"Sam!" Mercedes stated pulling his arm to calm him down. He seemed more upset than his parents were at that moment, who were both just sitting stunned out their life.

"No, Mercedes, they need to hear this!" he snapped. "You both have no idea what love is and if you're even thinking about dropping out of college that I paid for…"

"You can have your money back if you think you're going to control how we live our life!" Stevie shouted standing up and glaring at Sam. The tension at the table was crazy and Mercedes just really wanted to run at that point. This was definitely not the time or place for everyone to dish out secrets. The fun happy environment that surrounded the family last night was surely gone after the twins decided to drop the bomb on anniversary night.

"Sam…sit down…you too Stevie." Dwight said calmly after a brief stare down from the two brothers. They both sat down slowly not breaking eye contact until their mother spoke.

"Look, what's done is done! I have always wanted a grandbaby and now I am getting one." She paused and looked over at Sam. "I always thought you'd be the one to give me both these surprises but I guess God had other plans for you." She looked over at Mercedes and smiled before turning her gaze to Dani and extending her arms. "Silly me for not realizing that you were pregnant…come here!" she smiled as Dani shyly walked into her arms and allowed Joan to hug her. "And you…"she looked over at Ryder and smiled. "Come on over here!" she smiled as he walked over to her as well. "Welcome to the family!"

"You two need to hug and make up!" Dwight stated sternly and glared Sam's way till he reluctantly hugged his brother.

"I'm sorry about what I said…I'm happy for the two of you." Sam stated looking over at Dani and then over at Stacy with Ryder. Mercedes sat back and watched everyone and then focused on Sam. Although she could see he was still not as happy about the news as his parents were, she could also see a bit of envy. Even as successful as he was with his growing company, he still didn't have an ounce of what his family all had.

Later that night after her bath, Mercedes waited on Sam to come in the room to sleep. He was still down there talking to Stevie and Stacy when she had made her way to the shower. She looked over at the alarm clock that was next to her and noticed it was almost eleven. She pulled out her phone and checked her messages, seeing most of the calls were from Finn and she had one text from Unique. She was just about to call Unique when Sam walked in so she threw her phone under her pillow and sat up facing him. She could tell he was shocked that she was still up.

"Oh hey, you're still up!" he said pulling his shirt off and dropping it on the floor. Aside from the fact that she wanted to tell him to pick it up she couldn't seem to get her eyes off of his chest. It was perfectly sculpted and she could tell he spent hours at the gym making sure it stayed that way.

"Yeah, I actually wanted to talk to you about…" she pulled her legs and placed one under her as she positioned herself to get comfortable. His eyes scanned her leg then moved slowly up to her face before he turned his attention to the T.V. "I thought maybe you'd want to talk about what happened downstairs." She watched him walk back to his lazy boy and unfolded the blankets before lying down.

"Actually, I just want to catch some late night T.V." he replied not looking her way. "You should get some sleep for church tomorrow." He added still not looking her way he continued to channel surf.

"Sam, I know that was a lot to deal with hearing about the pregnancy and the marriage and all that, but your parents took that information a bit better than you did, don't you think?" Sam continued channel surfing and rolled his eyes as she spoke. "Yeah they are young and maybe to us, a little bit crazy for taking such a huge step but it is their life to live."

"Mercedes, just drop it okay!"

"I just think this would be a good time to tell your mother the truth about us!" she stated. He glared her way as if she had just asked him to rob a bank with her at midnight. "She loves you, Sam! She's not going to hate you or feel as if you…"

"Nope! Not happening!" he cut her off shaking his head and allowed the remote to drop from his hands. "You heard her out there; she thought I would be the first to get married! That I would be the first to make her a grandmother! It was obviously a disappointment but she couldn't say that because everyone was there." Mercedes sighed and shook her head at him.

"You know what Sam," he finally looked her way as she spoke. "At first I thought maybe it was your mother who had a problem. I thought she was putting too much pressure on you. But, after watching you and her over the weekend…it's obvious that the problem is you!"

"Wow thanks!" he scoffed. She got off the bed and walked over to him and sat on the side of the lazy boy and placed her hand on his.

"Look, I get it! It's not easy finding love. Trust me I know! I'm the poster child for failed relationships!" she stated thinking of how many times her and Finn broke up in the three years they dated. Sam looked at her as she spoke assuming she was calming him down when in reality he was thinking about feeling her lips on his again. "But what you don't understand is that your mother doesn't want you to have exactly what she has. She just wants you to be happy and she feels love will make that happen. That doesn't mean you need fake it or force it. So what Stevie and Stacy found it before you! It's not a race. And it's okay to be happy for them." She smiled at him and stroked his hands with hers. Sam felt another urge coming and shifted his legs so that she wouldn't see him standing for attention.

"Mercedes, I really don't want to talk about this right now! If you don't mind I just want to watch these late night shows before I sleep." He replied pulling his hand from hers. She tucked her lips in and chuckled before getting up and walking back to her bed and turning her back to him once again.

The next day it was quite evident that Mercedes was upset with Sam. She spoke to everyone but Sam during church he tried to apologize for the way he was but she kept a smile on her face and pretended to focus on the sermon. Sam, usually the persistent one, decided to let it slide when he noticed his mother look their way. Last thing he needed was for her to see they were having trouble in paradise. Or maybe that will be a good idea to use when they return home to say that they broke up and it wasn't going to work out. He wasn't too sure as he looked over at her nodding and singing along at church as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Mercedes could feel Sam staring at her and as much as she wanted to shoot her eyes his way she was giving him the silent treatment. It was funny that she was doing that when she usually recommend against doing such a thing to her patients, but this was different. Sam was her pretend boyfriend at the moment so she was going to act like the typical pissed off girlfriend and ignore his stares and attempts to apologize. She also felt Joan staring her way and knew that she was going to say something to her. She was happy that when they got back home that they would be heading back to Ohio. She wasn't sure how long she could keep this charade going.

"I am surely going to miss waking up to you all being under this roof again." Joan said as she hugged each one of her kids after church. Once they arrived back at the house they ate lunch and then started packing the cars to head back home.

"You take care of that little bun in that oven, girl!" Mercedes said as she pulled Dani in for a hug. Stevie smiled and came in for a hug as well. "You make sure she takes her vitamins."

"Of course, remember I'm the sane one in this family." Stevie said smiling.

"I heard that!" Dwight said turning as he finished hugging Stacy. "Get over here slugger!" he pulled Stevie in hugging him. "This baby is going to drive you insane just like you did me!"

"I'm ready for it! I had good training." He smiled and then turned to Sam. "I can pull off being a great dad and getting my degree, ya know?"

"I know you can bro, I'm happy for you, really!" Sam stated hugging him and thinking about what Mercedes said the night before. He looked her way catching her smiling at him and then turning her gaze to hug Stacy. "Dani, when you're ready just give me a call."

"I will!" she smiled as they got in the car and pulled away. Sam walked over to Ryder and noticed his sister tensing. This would be their first interaction since she announced about their marriage.

"Take care of my sister, ya here!" he stated extending his hand out to Ryder. He looked over at Stacy and then back at Sam smiling before taking his hand and embracing him.

"I definitely will!" he replied. Stacy hugged Sam tight before getting into the car and waving good bye as they backed out of the driveway.

"Mercedes!" Joan called out. Mercedes looked over and placed a genuine smile on her face as she watched the woman walk her way. She stole a glance at Sam as he placed her bag in the trunk of his car and looked her way before talking to his father. "Is everything alright with you and Sammy? Looks like tension ever since dinner. I hope you both aren't arguing over the twins."

"Oh no…we're okay!" she lied. "I really enjoyed this weekend and look forward to seeing you all again some time." She added knowing that this was most likely the last she would ever see of them. Joan eyed her suspiciously then smiled as she hugged her.

"I really hope you mean that!" she said as they hugged. "Just remember what I said about love having no time and time showing no love, okay?"

"Steel trap!" she smiled as she pointed to her head. They both walked over to where Sam and Dwight were talking and exchanged embraces before hopping in the car and driving away. Mercedes really did enjoy herself but she was really happy to return back to her life back in Lima.

The drive back was quicker than the drive to his parents but this time the ride was awkward. He had the radio playing on one of the sappiest radio stations ever that seemed to play love songs back to back making things even more awkward. She knew more about Sam now then she did when they first took this ride. Why were things awkward? Oh yeah, she kissed him. She started liking him. They pretended to be a couple and now she was trying her hardest to remember he was only her patient. The radio wasn't make things better as it played song after song of love. The song that must have made them both think was when Save Ferris' Let Me In started playing. It was almost as if it knew they needed to hear it. As the song ended Sam reached over and turned it off. They sat in silence for a few minutes before he cleared his throat.

"Mercedes, I know you're still mad at me," he stated breaking the silence finally and looking her way. "…but I wanted to thank you for doing this for me, especially when you really didn't have to do it at all." He started. Mercedes looked his way and sighed almost feeling a bit happy that he broke the silence finally.

"It's fine…now we get to go back to our lives and you can tell your mom the truth or whatever truth you decide." She smiled as he turned down her block and then finally parked in her driveway. "Well I guess this is it, huh!" she said as they both walked over to her door. Sam leaned her luggage on her door and placed his hands in his pocket and rocked on his heels before looking back at her.

"Yeah…I guess…till I see you again tomorrow for my appointment, right?" he asked. She nodded as she placed the key in the door then turned to face him. "I'm trying to figure out how to say goodbye to the best pretend girlfriend I have ever had." He added causing her to blush and laugh as well. He gave her a lopsided grin and looked behind him again.

"Well I guess a hug wouldn't hurt." She finally replied before moving closer to him and wrapping her arm around him. He smiled and bent down to hug, inhaling her sweet aroma which was not helping him in the urge department. He inched his face slowly till they were inches away from kissing once again. He really wanted to feel her lips on his again.

Mercedes knew she was in the danger zone as they stared into each other's eyes and inched closer to each other. She wanted to kiss him again but knew that that would be a bad idea. The first kiss was a bad idea but she was able to place the blame on Joan. If she kissed him now, how were they going to move on from that point? Her phone vibrated in her pocket breaking her out of her trance as she moved away from him and answered her phone without looking at the caller ID. Sam shifted uncomfortably as he watched her step away and spoke on the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Babe, please don't hang up…" she heard Finn say before she rolled her eyes and hung up the phone. She walked into her house leaving the luggage behind so Sam took that as an invitation inside as he pulled her luggage in.

"I take it that was Finn?" Sam asked as she turned around suddenly as if she forgot he were there. She looked down at the phone as it rang again. "Maybe you should see what he wants." She rolled her eyes before slumping down on the sofa and answering it.

"What Finn?" she asked but kept her eye on Sam as he walked around her living room looking at her pictures on the wall. He noticed a couple awards and pictures of her and Finn looking very happy and engaged. Another photo showed her and a group of friends in what looked like a show choir competition. He smiled as that brought back memories for him as well. "There's nothing you can say that will make me take you back!" she stated causing Sam to turn her way. He didn't know they had broken up, he thought she was just upset with him.

"Mercedes, if you'd just shut up and listen to me!" he shouted. Mercedes paused and looked at her phone as if Finn had just lost his mind. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout! But I have been calling you nonstop all weekend, I even passed by your place and you weren't there. Where did you go?" he asked. She looked over at Sam and then sighed as she replied.

"None of your business!"

"I wanted to let you know that I was telling you the truth about the baby and to prove it to you I have spoken to Quinn. She has agreed to meet up and tell you what happened."

"Quinn?" she asked in shock. Sam turned around suddenly he felt his heart beat increase and he approached her and sat down. Mercedes saw his reaction and decided to take the bait. "Okay, we can meet tonight at Chez Paris around 8pm." She smiled.

"Really? Tonight? Okay I can make this happen!" he replied excitedly before hanging up. Mercedes knew she was playing with fire but she decided this would definitely work in her favor.

"Sam, are you busy tonight?" she asked him. He looked at her and then slowly a smile crept on the corner of his lips.