'Mercedes Jones'

That's what the sign tacked up outside the God Squad meeting had read when Mercedes stepped out of the classroom after school. She'd been laughing about something with Quinn when Joe had lightly touched her arm and pointed out the sign.

Sam.

His name was the first thought that came into her head as she stared at the cardboard sign. Her tenacious ex had excused himself from the God Squad meeting that day with a cryptic excuse about having to go 'do something with Rory.' Mercedes had frowned when she'd found out, wanting to know more, but knowing that when she'd asked for space from Sam that had meant that it worked both ways.

Except… except she hadn't really wanted space from Sam for a while now. Actually, she'd wanted the opposite of space with Sam, and her heart had dropped a little bit when Quinn had relayed Sam's message about missing the meeting. It had hurt that Sam had chosen to tell Quinn instead of her, but, as Mercedes reminded herself for the hundredth time that week, she wasn't his girlfriend anymore… even if she wanted to be.

Joe and Quinn both seemed to disappear in record time after they'd pointed out the first sign, and ever so subtly gestured further down the hall to where another one waited for her, propped up against a bank of lockers at an intersection. Mercedes had squinted at the sign, hoping that she could see what it said from where she was, but by the time she'd admitted that she didn't have Superman's superior eyesight she'd turned around to find that both Quinn and Joe were gone. Mercedes pulled down the board and carried it with her, examining it briefly before she folded her arms over it and hugged it against her body as she walked.

Mercedes made her way down the hall to read the other sign, her legs feeling like jelly as she approached the second board.

I wanted to ask you something…

Mercedes frowned slightly, but scanned the rest of the hallway for a flash of the tell-tale white board and broad purple marker that categorised the signs she was following. There! There was another a few feet away tacked above a water fountain. Mercedes approached it, a smile playing on her lips as she neared it.

But I'm shy :(

She smiled and peeled the board from the wall, sliding it in next to the first as she carried on her trail down the hall. The next one was pinned to Mr Martinez's door, and the Spanish teacher had waved and flashed his perfectly white teeth in a smile as she'd untacked it.

So let me start by saying that you look beautiful today :)

Mercedes smiled to herself as she clutched the board to her chest, giving in to the quest as she made her way ever closer to the man she was sure was behind it all.

And that smile you're wearing right now is gorgeous.

Mercedes' head swung around to see if anyone was watching her. She'd been wearing the biggest, goofiest grin ever since the butterflies in her stomach had told her that Sam was behind this. Her Sam, who she was praying still saw himself that way.

But you know…

and a little way further down the hall the next one read

We've got to stop meeting like this…

Mercedes let out a short laugh as she untacked that board too, shaking her head at the dorky humour.

No really…

Mercedes rounded a corner and saw what she presumed was the last sign pinned to the door of the choir room. She approached tentatively, suddenly afraid of what might await on the other side. What if it wasn't Sam? What if he was off asking some other girl to prom and this was all some other guy's elaborate scheme? Mercedes' hand shook as she reached for the last sign, but she changed her mind at the last moment and reached for the door handle instead. She took a deep breath before she pushed open the door…

… and found Sam sitting on a chair inside the classroom, his hands clasped in front of him as he waited tensely for her to arrive. He jumped up immediately with a wide grin on his face, rubbing his palms against the back of his jeans as he guided her wordlessly to a chair in front of a sleek white laptop.

'Um…' he began, grinning bashfully as he stood awkwardly in front of her. He gave a small cough to clear his throat before beginning again, his face earnest as he went on.

'Mercedes, I-I know you said that you wanted time, and I hope you don't get mad at me for doing this, but… but I wanted you to know that, for me, nothing has changed. I still love you Mercedes, and I'm still fighting for you, even if right now that means backing off to give you the space that you need.'

Sam scuffed a Converse clad foot along the floor as he continued, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

'We only have a little time left before we graduate, and I know that that's all kinds of scary… but one thing you never have to worry about is me, because I'm going to be there, Mercedes. The way I feel about you doesn't have an expiration date, and I think you're amazing and… uh, I think that I'm lucky to know you Mercy, and one day the world will be too.'

He finished speaking and cocked a half grin at her, his hand going up to run nervously through his hair.

'I had a speech all planned out, but I kinda forgot it when I saw you.' he admitted, a blush staining his cheeks. 'Anyway, I, um… well, I made you something.'

Sam reached over and opened the laptop, sitting down in the empty seat next to her to lean across and press play on the video he had cued up.

It was a cartoon, hand drawn and roughly animated, showing a little black and white version of Sam carefully writing out the signs that Mercedes had collected. Their real life versions now sat on one of the desks behind her where Sam had dropped them between upturned chairs after he'd seated her.

The Sam on screen was chatting to tiny cartoon versions of Joe, Quinn and Rory, his hands moving excitedly as he outlined his plan. Next a cartoon Rory, (with a shamrock on his shirt) helped the Sam to arrange the signs around the school. Rory disappeared soon afterwards, leaving the animated Sam alone in the classroom looking worried. His crudely drawn mouth forming a small, dark 'o'. Thought bubbles sprang from his head, and suddenly the whole screen was bathed in colour. Mercedes watched with tears forming in her eyes as a fully coloured Sam danced with her at prom, hung out with her at the lake and watched over sleeping versions of his siblings in the motel. A soft smile tugged at the corners of Mercedes's mouth as she watched her cartoon self share a first sweet kiss with Sam against her car outside the motel. After that the colourful flashback faded back into the black and white of the animation before, with Sam waiting patiently in the classroom where she'd actually found him. Mercedes shot Sam a look out the corner of her eye as cartoon Mercedes made a reappearance, wearing slightly different clothes to the ones she actually wearing, but still most definitely her.

The little Sam figure pulled a folded piece of red paper out of his pocket and unfolded it into a heart, the colour a bright contrast to the rest of the picture as he handed it to the on screen Mercedes. Sam must have spent forever working on it, Mercedes thought as the animation ended, but she still didn't really understand what it was all about. Hadn't the sign said something about a question?

Mercedes looked up to ask Sam what was going on, and found that he was holding a red heart in hands, the paper trembling with his nerves. With a hard swallow, Sam passed the paper to her and waited anxiously as she scanned it.

Will you go to prom with me?

Mercedes heart stopped as she stared down at the heart clutched in her hands. Of course, she would gladly go to prom with Sam, but she couldn't pretend that she wasn't also a little bit disappointed. She knew that she'd asked him to back off, but Mercedes' mind had also flashed back almost instantly to the last time Sam had handed her a red heart, and she'd hoped that this elaborate proposal was his way of asking her to be his girlfriend again. But it wasn't, and her heart sank as that realisation set in.

'What's wrong?'

Sam's voice sounded panicked as he took in her expression. Bittersweet was the best word he could think of to describe it, she looked happy, but at the same time… not.

'Oh god, you hate it don't you?' he fretted, looking around as if the room might offer him some solution as to what to do.

'You don't have to say anything.' he assured her, his words picking up speed as Mercedes continued to stare down at the paper clutched between her fingers.

How had he been so stupid? Sam reprimanded himself, he'd made this exact mistake before, came on too strong, pushed her before she was ready… What had he been thinking?

But he knew what he'd been thinking. He'd been thinking that Mercedes had seemed different, more receptive, lately. He'd been thinking that life was too short, and that she deserved at least one prom in her high school career where she would get to feel wanted and desirable from the start. Sam knew that he should have known better, but he'd been so damn sure that he was doing the right thing…

He bit his lip and sighed, preparing to fold down the lid on the laptop when Mercedes spoke.

'Yes.'

Sam froze, a hand still on the laptop as his brain raced to compute what she'd said.

'Yes?'

'Yes, I'll go to prom with you.'

Mercedes tore her eyes away from the heart in her hands to look him in the eye.

'I would love to go to prom with you, Sam.'

Her eyes were sincere, and Sam felt like his heart was swelling a bunch of sizes like the Grinch in that Dr Seuss book, yet he could tell that something was still bothering her by the way her eyelashes hit the curve of her cheeks and how she worried her lip with her teeth. Even though Sam hadn't been with Mercedes for a while (six months, three weeks, twelve days and about seven hours actually, but who was counting) he still knew her. So even though his heart was doing the mambo at her prom acceptance, he still scooted his chair closer to her and tilted her face up to look at him.

'Then what's wrong, Sweetheart?' He took a risk using his old pet name for her, but he instantly regretted it when her big eyes filled with sadness and blinked her gaze away from him. Sam saw her swallow, and then she seemed to make a decision within herself, raising her head up to look him directly in the eye.

'I thought you were going to ask me to be your girlfriend again.'

He gulped, his mouth turning suddenly dry as his heart stopped momentarily in his chest before starting up again double time. Had he heard her right? Sam didn't even want to hope, because if he was wrong, if he'd misheard her… then it was going to hurt like hell.

'Wha-what did you say?' he stuttered out, his green eyes intent on Mercedes' face as she answered.

'I thought… I hoped,' Mercedes amended in a voice that sounded far more confident than she felt, 'that you were going to ask me to be your girlfriend again.'

'Would you want that?' Sam asked, his tongue darting out to moisten his lips, his mouth felt like the frackin' Sahara and he licked his lips again as he waited anxiously for Mercedes next words.

Mercedes' sudden boldness seemed to flutter away from her like a breath on the wind as she faced Sam's question, and she cast a shy gaze downward as she nodded.

'I would want that.' she admitted, bringing her eyes up to his again, 'I would want that a lot.'

A slow grin spread across Sam's face as he studied his girlfriend's face as if seeing her for the first time. He felt like his already enlarged heart was about to burst with happiness, he didn't know it was possible to feel this good. Maybe he'd died and this was heaven?

Sam managed a slow nod, the grin stuck in place - probably forever - as his eyes flickered to Mercedes' plump, kissable mouth and back up again.

When he spoke his voice sounded about two octaves deeper than usual as he raised a hand again to cup Mercedes jaw.

'Well then… um, Mercedes Jones…' Sam stopped, momentarily distracted when her hand curled around his arm to hold it in place.

'Mercedes Jones, will you be my girlfriend?'

They were only a few inches away from each other now, but Sam held back from kissing her until she gave him an answer, his mouth hovering so close to hers that their lips brushed with each shaky breath they took.

Mercedes softly uttered a single word before she leaned in and closed the distance between them, her lips trembling slightly as they moved against Sam's in the familiar dance of heat and fire that they'd perfected over the summer. It felt so good to finally be reunited with his mouth, and those kisses, after so long - too long - apart.

'Yes.'