"Okay, Puck, let's hear the sleepover story." Sam sat down on the locker room bench next to Puck who was casually tying his shoes.

"What about it?" he said smiling back. "Just me and four beautiful women, whiling the night away. Just a typical night in the life."

"Jesus! Just tell me what happened. I can always go ask Artie."

"Artie can't tell you the part you're interested in. He was asleep by then. It was just me and big mama having a little heart to heart."

"Okay, start there. Why are you calling her big mama?"

"Ever see Chicago? It's a musical with Catherine Zeta-Jones? God, there's a woman! Renee what's her name wasn't bad but Ms. Zeta-Jones? God! That movie was full of half-naked babes in jail." he drifted off thinking about Catherine Zeta-Jones.

"Damn it, Puck, get to the point!"

"Right. We're at Blaine's house, boozing it up. Good shit at Blaine's if you ever get invited over. So the girls wanted to watch Chicago. And they're drunk enough to act it out. There's this one song "He had it coming", where these girls sing about how and why they killed their husbands. Creepy really but the girls loved it. They all started doing their stripper dances."

"Mercedes has a stripper dance?"

"Yeah, and it's not half bad. In any other company it'd be damn good but Britt and Santana set the bar pretty high. Oh, you should see Britt's." He drifted off again.

"Puck!"

"Yeah. So Queen Latifah, you know her? Big girl sexy! So she's singing "When You're Good to Mama" and Mercedes and Tina jump up on the sofa and start singing along. And the best part of the song "When you're stroking Mama, mama's stroking you!" And they're acting it out, Oh My God, it was magnificent! And me with no camera! So we started calling them big and little mama." Puck put his uniform in his locker. "Perfectly innocent."

"And that's it?" Sam closed his locker and followed Puck out of the locker room. "I thought you said you talked about secret girlfriends."

"Oh, that!" he said breezily. Puck intended to make Sam suffer now. Mercedes' resolve wasn't nearly as strong as Sam seemed to think it was but he seemed totally unaware of how much he'd hurt her.

Flashback to Blaine's

It was late, 3 in the morning, when Puck got up to go to the bathroom. He walked right past her, sitting on the steps, and wouldn't have noticed her on the way back if she hadn't called his name.

"Puck!"

"Jesus! I didn't see you there. This place is creepy enough as it is, no wonder Blaine didn't want to be here alone."

"Sit down for a minute. I want to talk to you."

"Sure" he slid next to her.

"Hey Puck, have you ever...Have you ever had a secret girlfriend?"

"Sure, lots of times."

"Why, why were they secret?"

"Usually because they were somebody else's girlfriend. Somebody respectable. I was just for sex."

"And the girl, why did she?"

"Sex. Plain and simple."

"Suppose she wasn't somebody else's girlfriend, did that ever happen?"

"Yes." He said softly. This was something he was ashamed of, and he wasn't ashamed of much.

"Where you just using each other for sex?"

"Yes."

"And what if the girl, or maybe you, changed her mind, if she wanted more than just sex?"

"That's a problem. Maybe you don't really like her, as in hanging around talking to her, that much. Maybe sex was the only thing you liked about her."

"Or maybe she's too unattractive to be seen with?"

"No, it's never that. Take Lauren for example. She's not everybody's idea of a sexy woman but I loved to go places with her. She was mine and I was proud of it. I'd take you anywhere. Some guys are just asses. Trust me, I know. I used to be the king of the assholes." He put his arm around her. "Maybe this guy you're talking about, maybe you two got into a bad pattern. Try to start over and find out if he really liked you for you or if he was just in it for the sex. If it's just sex cut him loose. You deserve the love part too." He kissed her softly on the lips. She surprised him by kissing back. "Or maybe" he said playfully "it's time for you to upgrade!"

He was starting to miss his King of the Assholes crown. The old Puck would have followed up on that kiss, found an unused bedroom upstairs. Mercedes was exactly where the old Puck liked his girls, buzzed enough to say yes, not so drunk they just lie there. This new Puck escorted Mercedes back to her sleeping bag.

End flashback

Puck slipped into an empty classroom and sat on top of a desk. "So why the big secret? Why didn't you want to be seen with her?"

"It was her idea, originally. And I was broke, as you may recall. We couldn't afford to go anywhere anyway. So we just kept it to ourselves."

"And then?"

"Then I moved."

"Why didn't she come to your going away party?"

"I don't know!"

"You never asked her?"

"She stopped answering her phone."

"Hmmm."

"Who are you, Sigmund Freud?"

"I can shut up if you want."

"Just finish this story."

"You've been back for a couple of weeks and you still don't know why she skipped your going away party? Ask her!"

"She won't talk to me!"

"Maybe if you tried talking instead of pawing, just maybe you'd find out." Puck picked up his books and walked out.

He immediately bumped into Rory, Sugar and Mercedes. "We've been looking for you!" Sugar said in her voice that could etch glass. "Daddy and I had a great idea!"

Sam walked out out of the classroom and found himself face to face with Mercedes. They just stared at each other, they hadn't been this close in days. Puck observed them carefully. He had his eye on Shelby but if Sam and Mercedes didn't work out he didn't want her to have to look too far to find him. Sugar was focused on whatever she had to say so she quickly dismissed Sam.

"Do you mind? This is private!" and Mercedes allowed herself to be pulled away.

Mercedes threw her backpack in the back seat of her car. Sugar could be irritating but she certainly was full of good ideas. Today's idea was a winner, sure to make up the full plate of ignoring she was getting from Mr. Schuester. She hummed to herself as she backed out of the parking space. In her rear view mirror she saw Sam, unlocking his bike from the bike rack. She noticed the cold drizzle that was falling. Should she offer him a ride? No, bad idea all around. He's young, he won't catch pneumonia. It would serve him right if he did, going around breaking young girl's hearts. Okay, Billy Jean was playing on the radio. Yet somehow her car was pulling up next to the bike rack.

"You want a ride? It's raining and all." she called.

"Ummm." he seemed confused.

"Or not. That's not a trick question."

"Okay. Sure. Thanks." He locked his bike on the rack and put his backpack in the back seat. "Thank you."

"Sure. Where do you live, exactly?"

"With Kurt and Finn. H squared." he laughed nervously. "Thanks again."

"It's nothing." she concentrated on the road. The drive from school to Kurt's is less than 10 minutes so Sam was surprised when she parked in front of a strange house. Had she moved? Was he supposed to walk the rest of the way?

"Why..." he started. Then he looked over and saw her gripping the steering wheel, staring straight ahead, tears streaming down her cheeks. He reached over to touch her shoulder.

"Please don't. Please." she said from very far away.

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again

However far away
I will always love you
However long I stay
I will always love you
Whatever words I say
I will always love you
I will always love you

As the song playing on the radio faded away she started to relax. "Sorry." she said weakly. "That song always kills me. Adele. Almost every time she opens her mouth it kills me. Sorry." She wiped her eyes on her coat sleeve, took a deep breath and started the car again.

"Mercedes, I like you. I like you a lot."

"But?"

"But I don't..."

"You don't have to say it" she interrupted. "We both know you don't love me."

"I'm sorry."

"That last day, after we had sex and I said I love you, you didn't say anything. I thought you were just surprised, that you needed more time. I thought we had plenty of time. But that was all the time there was, wasn't it?"

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Sometime it can't be helped. If it were at all possible things would be different with you and me. But this is the only way it can be, isn't it? I guess this is how Shane felt."

"Shane?"

"You're why we broke up. Unfinished business he called it. Looks finished now." She pulled into Kurt's driveway. "We're here. I need to get home. Bye."

"I'm really sorry."

"Okay. I have to go. Bye"

He got out of the car and stood there in the pouring rain, watching her tail lights disappear around the corner.

Finn Hudson looked at his dinner companions. Rachel and Blaine were trying to cheer Kurt up about that stupid college he's stressing over. Sam's hair was dripping wet and he was staring at his plate like his dog just died. Burt and Carol were out of town so Finn was thinking of sleeping arrangements, his main priority right now. Blaine was spending the night, and so was Rachel. Unfortunately Kurt's bedroom is right next to Finn's. All kinds of awkward. One of them would have to use the basement guest room, currently occupied by Sam. So where was Sam going to sleep and how much convincing would he need?

"So Sam." Finn said. Sam looked up in a daze.

"You okay, Sam?" Rachel asked. "You really should dry off. You'll catch a cold."

"Yeah, I'll go do that." he said standing up. "I'll be back to help with the dishes." He went to his basement bedroom and changed his clothes. After doing the dishes he sat on the living room sofa to watch TV. When he woke up it was 11:30 and the house was dark. He tried to go down to his bedroom but there was a note on the basement door, "We didn't want to wake you. I'm using your room. Finn." Damn, talk about rude. He grabbed the blanket someone had so helpfully thrown over him and tried to go back to sleep.

Midnight and Sam found himself standing outside of Mercedes' house. Her bedroom light was on and she was sitting in the window seat, heading a book that was propped on her knees. She sat there reading for half an hour, then she turned off the light and went to bed. Sam stood looking at the darkened window for 10 minutes when his phone buzzed.

"Why are you staring at my house at 1am?"

"I thought you were asleep."

"Obs not."

"I went out for a walk and ended up here."

"You went for a walk in the middle of the night in the rain?"

"It stopped raining."

"So you intend to stand there all night?"

"Are you inviting me in?"

Silence for a half minute. "You ought to see a doctor about those delusions. There's a pill for that."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't joke like that."

"Damn right you shouldn't." but she didn't sound angry.

"So I was just thinking..."

"Sounds dangerous."

"I was thinking that this is all Santana's fault."

"Santana? What does she have to do with this?"

"Santana never cared how I felt about her, how I felt about anything to tell you the truth. She just told me what to do and how to do it. She had a one-track mind, like a boy really. She knew exactly what she wanted."

"And you thought I was like that?"

"Well, you're not like Quinn. She had so many rules and stuff. Yeah, I thought you were more like Santana."

"You thought I was so desperate I didn't care who I slept with?" Now she sounded angry.

"No, I'm not saying that!"

"Then what are you saying?"

"I don't know what I'm saying! It's all coming out wrong." He took a deep breath. "You're not Santana. You're not Quinn. I'd like to find out who Mercedes is."

His statement was met with silence. "Are you still there?"

"Yes." she said softly. "I just don't understand what you're saying."

"I want to ask you out on a date. A real date. I can't afford Breadsticks but I can afford a movie or dinner at the diner. I'd like to take you out somewhere and hold your hand and talk about stuff."

"Can we go to the Lima Bean?"

"I can afford more than that!"

"Can we go to the Lima Bean and be a couple who like being together and we don't care who knows it? And not act like it's a shameful secret?"

"If you're not ashamed to be seen with an idiot like me I'd be honored to escort you to the Lima Bean."

LoveSong - Adele