Within twenty four hours Mercedes was starting to feel the benefit of having written her letter.

Now that she'd apologized to Sam (in her own way - resolving that the letter would be re-read, re written and sent as soon as she felt up to it), she knew that she now needed to make things good with her friends. Because they were here friends. That damn cat was right yet again. Even though she'd turned her back on them and refused to heed their warnings they'd still looked out for her, and when things had hit the fan, they still had her back.

Now she just needed a way to show that she wanted to make it up to them and thank them. Ordinarily she would sing them a song, but she was no longer in the New Directions. But what else could she for them?

What did they all like?

That was easy.

Food!

And in particular, her food!

She leaped up from her bed and flew down the stairs.

"Mom? Mom? Can I have a barbeque this Saturday for the Glee club?" She'd as yet failed to tell her parents the minor detail of her now no longer being a member of the aforementioned club...

Her mom looked up from the food that she was preparing in the kitchen and smiled at her daughter, recognizing a light in her eyes that hadn't been there for a while and having no desire to extinguish it.

"Sure honey. It's no problem with me. But check with your dad first before you start inviting people. You know how protective he gets over that grill!"

Mercedes threw her arms around her mom in a spontaneous embrace and Alicia grinned before beating her off with a spoon. "Stop trying to put your fingers in the bowl!"

"I'm just so excited!"

"Don't be. You haven't had a definite yes yet!"

Mercedes smiled, knowing that she was totally able to get the required yes from her dad with very little effort at all.

"The last time we had a barbeque here you had a long face the whole time. How will this be any different?"

"There'll be no blue cheese dressing at this one!" Mercedes smiled cryptically as she made her way from her mom towards her dad's office.

Mercedes lifted up her eyes from her Spanish homework to see her father's face peeking round her door and her face immediately lit up. "Did you find it?"

She was met with a nod.

Michael Jones quickly crossed the room and sat on the bed next to his daughter. Alicia was right, there was a light in her smile that had been missing since the day they'd left for Florida. The day that they'd had watched her heart being broken by circumstances beyond her control. And now she looked up at him with and expression of almost childish excitement as he crossed the room, a quiet squeal of delight passing her lips.

As he sat, he handed over the small rectangular instrument with a smile. "You know it took me ages to find this. I haven't touched it for years!"

Mercedes turned the harmonica over and over in her hands, remembering the hours she used to spend with her dad learning how to play. It had never interested JJ, but for some reason she'd been fascinated when she heard her dad playing and singing the blues in the yard when he wanted to relax when she was small, and she'd always wanted to be able to recreate that sound. Luckily he was happy to teach her, knowing that the diaphragm breathing would also be good for her singing. But like all little girls, the phase had passed and she hadn't touched one for years.

"And where is your own, may I ask?"

She giggled shyly as she shrugged. "I haven't seen it for years. I knew you'd find yours faster."

He should have been angry but somehow his little girl always managed to find a way to get what she wanted from him with very little resistance. And quite frankly it was nice to hear her giggle again. There'd been too little of that in the Jones household recently.

"So why the sudden need for the instrument?"

"I wanted to sing something special for my friends when they come on Saturday. They've been really good to me at a time when I didn't deserve it and I wanted to say thanks."

Michael was tempted to ask more but decided to leave that to Alicia. Instead he went for the safer option. "Okay, so what are you planning to sing?"

When she told him he broke out into a smile and pulled her into an embrace. "That's a great choice. They'll love it. And I have a surprise for you!"

"What is it?"

He took the harmonica back and started to play the introduction to her chosen song.

"Oh my god you already know it! Will you teach me?"

"Sure. But you have to finish your homework first."

"Okay dad. Sure."

He left the instrument on the bed and crossed back to the door where he paused, unable to fight the temptation. "I notice Shane wasn't at church today."

Mercedes stayed silent so he continued. "I heard he was involved in some sort of fight at school during the week. I'm not sure that it's such a good idea for you to be spending too much time with him." Michael Jones wasn't stupid. His office looked out towards the front door. He knew what was going on. At least he thought he did. He watched his daughter sigh, losing the smile that had reappeared after such a long absence and he regretted bringing up the subject.

"You don't need to worry dad. He and I don't see eye to eye on the important issues in life. He won't be spending another second in my company if he knows what's good for him!"

The edge in her voice caused him to instantly believe her. Whatever had gone down, her mind was made up. And as he really hadn't warmed to the guy he wasn't sorry. For some reason there was always something that he couldn't quite put his finger on with Shane. Sam had been a perfect gentleman, making the effort to try and get to know him and his wife as well as their daughter, but Shane had never seen them as important and it hadn't sat well with him at all.

He could sense by the change in Mercedes' body language that she no longer wanted to speak on the subject. And knowing his daughter, he did have suspicions as to whether the fighting had anything to do with her but he knew better than to broach the subject right now.

It was something he could happily leave to Alicia and let her fill him in on it later. It wouldn't surprise him if his daughter had actually inflicted some of his injures if he'd upset her in anyway. He knew that it was possible for her to get that mad and JJ was living proof of it! Halfway through the door he turned and smiled at her and she smiled back. "Good to see you smiling again Mercy."

"I love you too daddy!"

"Quinn! Wait up! Can I talk to you for a second?"

The blond spun and turned to her, slightly hesitant. "Sure Cedes. What's up?"

"Er – are you doing anything later? I was hoping maybe we could go and grab a coffee after school today?"

Quinn looked at her, surprised. This was the first time that Mercedes had actively sought her out since she'd said her piece on the first day of school. She shrugged, "Sure." Then she thought about it more and smiled, "Lima Bean?"

Mercedes smile in return was a mixture of happiness and relief. "Where else?"

They grinned and parted ways.

"Hey Cedes!" Quinn had barely turned the corner out of sight before Mercedes heard Puck's voice from behind. She spun around to see him heading towards her, his arm around Lauren's shoulder and hers around his waist. In any other couple it would look like the guy was protecting the girl, but with those two, nothing was ever as it seemed.

"Hey Puck, you didn't reply to my text!"

"I know. Before I gave my answer I wanted to check with you in person that there will definitely both ribs and wings with the Jones' secret seasoning on Saturday."

Mercedes grinned. "There'll be plenty. But I also promise to make sure there'll be an extra bowl of them, reserved exclusively for you and Lauren!"

He shot a grin to his girlfriend that said, 'I told you so,' before fist bumping Mercedes. "Count us in!"

She reached up to him and pulled him in to a hug. "Just think of it as an extra thank you for you guys taking such good care of Shane for me."

"Well in that case-" Lauren elbowed Puck to the side to get her share of the hug. "Squeezing skinny girls just isn't the same is it!"

"Hell to the no!" Cried both Mercedes and Puck at the same time and all three fell apart laughing.

She spent the rest of the day taking food request from her friends. Finn stayed true to form and requested cookies, Blaine pestered her for bruschetta as Kurt had spent the weekend raving about what she'd fed him, Artie gently reminded her to make sure there would be Kosher items, Rachel gently reminded her to include plenty of vegetarian items and even Tina had put in a request, for couscous salad of all things. (Because although Tina tended to be quiet, she was always full of surprises.)

And now she was sat in Lima Bean, sipping her caramel macchiato, an extra hot skinny latte sprinkled with chocolate powder on top in front of the seat opposite her.

Before she had the chance to feel nervous, she saw the blond head heading towards her. She waved towards the seat and the drink. Quinn slipped gracefully into the seat with a sigh.

"How was Glee?"

"Mr Schue is going on and on about Sectionals but we can't seem to decide what we want to do. We really miss you there you know. I'm sure you could come back if you really wanted to."

"I'm not sure Mr Schue would want me."

"Of course he wants you. He misses you like mad. He practically says so every class."

Mercedes nodded slowly and took a sip of her drink.

Quinn eyed her carefully and took a long gulp from her own. It was amazing how she never seemed to burn her tongue on the scalding hot liquid.

They sat in silence for a while before Quinn finally broke it.

"Why am I here Mercedes?"

She exhaled slowly. "Because I owe you an apology. I owe everyone an apology but I wanted to do yours on the one to one. I know things haven't been great between us since you moved out after Beth's birth, but you came to me with an olive branch and I just shoved it aside and I'm sorry. I was angry that after practically ignoring me for a year you were trying to get up into my business. I didn't actually listen to your words. I just saw your anger but I chose not to see where it came from."

"I don't blame you. I have treated you badly over the last year and I guess I had no right to say things the way I did. I just didn't want to see somebody else hurting you the way I hurt you. Plus I was angry for Sam." She looked as though she was going to say something else but changed her mind. "I've been trying to make things right with you, Beth, Shelby and even Puck. I know it's too late to change the things that have happened but it's never too late to try and become a better person."

"And I need to be taking a leaf out of your book right now." They sat silently for a moment and Mercedes took another sip of her drink. "How did we get like this?"

Quinn shrugged. "I don't know. We've both had a rough year. I've been missing my daughter and I know that you've been missing Kurt and feeling lonely. You can't hide that from me. I do know you. How about we shove it all under the carpet and start again?"

"I'd love that."

Quinn grinned and grabbed her hand across the table. "Friends?"

"Friends!"

"I thought this conversation was going to be so much harder!"

"So did I!"

"And now we're friends again…"

"Okay I know you're going to want to talk about Sam... To be honest I was surprised by what you said that day. I expected to be mad that we'd been together but you weren't."

"I won't lie. Sam was the best thing that ever happened to me besides Beth. But I let my selfishness and insecurity ruin things and I hurt him in the process. I'll always regret doing that. Being with him was great but however cute we may have looked on the outside, we were never a perfect fit. We tried to make it fit but we're just too different. It wasn't instant chemistry with us. He had to woo me. He needed me as much as I needed him. When things went wrong with his family and his home, he worked out what were the really important things in his life and made them his focus. You must have been really special to him because it was during that time that he found you. When I think of it now, I see a lot of you in him. That's the reason I said I knew why I understand how he could have fallen for you. Your minds work the same way. You would find his impressions funny where I found them annoying. And your heart is huge. I'm amazed that I didn't notice it happen, but it was so obvious when we went away for Nationals that he had feelings for you. Sam's pretty transparent like that."

Mercedes chuckled. "Yeah he is!"

"So why did you say what you did? If Sam sees that clip it'll break his heart. And nobody in their right mind moves straight from a guy like Sam to an oaf like Shane!"

"I have no defense. I wasn't in my right mind. I was lying to myself as much as I was to everyone else. I thought that being with somebody was better than being with nobody!"

Quinn clutched her hand tighter. "Oh Cedes! Been there, done that, lesson learned the hard way! This year I'm going to stay single and focus on me!"

"Amen to that!" Mercedes held up her cup. "Here's to single life and friendship!"

As they clinked cups their eyes both turned at the same time towards the cake counter…

The week passed quickly and before she knew it Saturday afternoon had arrived. For the first time since Sam's departure Mercedes had dragged herself away from watching Doctor Who and spent the whole morning cooking, refusing any help from her mom. There were chicken wings, thighs and drumsticks, ribs and fish that needed seasoning as well as, burgers, hot dogs, corn and vegetable skewers to prepare before the sides of salads including the couscous, cornbread and biscuits! There were also several batches of different flavored cookies with a small selection of each wrapped in cellophane pouches for her guests to take away with them. Then there were also the fruit pies still in the oven and the home-made ice cream in the maker that she really hoped would be set in time for when they came to eat it.

Artie was the first to arrive and she wheeled him out to the yard where he sat rolled happily over to the grill to chat with her dad. Next came Puck and Lauren. As Lauren had never been to her home before she got the guided tour and Puck got the narrowed eyes from her mom for staying upstairs so long alone with Lauren and coming down looking flustered.

Next came Quinn who insisted on helping out in the kitchen when there really wasn't much to be done. Most of the work had been prep for the grill and marinating but there was still some setting out to do as well as the job of keeping Finn away from the cookies once he had arrived!

Once the grilling had finished and Michael Jones was satisfied that the kids wouldn't cause a fire they left for a date so that the kids could have some time on their own, with the strong assurance that they would return at 10 so there was to be no partying or loud noise.

At this point nobody was up for partying. Eleven people had consumed enough food to feed fifty and there was still piles left. The problem being everyone was now too full to move.

The sun was setting and they were all sat, lounging around in chairs around the grill. Puck had brought his guitar and was strumming on it quietly.

"This feels like old days!" Finn commented contentedly.

The others nodded their agreement.

Mercedes looked round at her friends before running into the house to fetch the harmonica. When she returned she perched onto the same lounge seat that Quinn was on and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Everyone, I have something I need to say to you all." Ten pairs of eyes instantly turned their focus onto her and she felt more nervous that she had before performing at nationals. "Firstly I want to thank you all for coming today. I realize that recently my behavior hasn't been the best. I've acted like a complete bitch and I haven't appreciated how special each and every one of you is to me." She bit her lip nervously as they waited silently for her to continue. "I've been through a lot since the summer and instead of accepting your help and your kindness I pushed you all away. And for that I am sorry. I was too blinded by my own pain to see what I was doing to others. But you guys never left me. Even in my darkest hour when I'd allowed myself to be convinced to abandon you, you still rallied round and helped me in my hour of need. I'll never forget that. You are my friends. You are my musical family. And even though this is our senior year and we don't know where we'll all be and what life might be holding for us this time next year, I just wanted to say how much I love you all and I've missed you and you will always be special in my heart."

Quinn put her arm around her shoulder as she felt her voice wobble.

"I know I'm no longer in Glee club but I still want to sing you a song. It's an old song but it sums up how I feel about to you all. I know we all have our problems and our disagreements but deep down we all love each other and that will never change."

She took a deep breath and held the harmonica to her lips as she played the familiar introduction.

And I, Never thought I'd feel this way

And as far as I'm concerned I'm glad I got the chance to say
That I do believe, I love you
And if I should ever go away
Well, then close your eyes and try To feel the way we do today
And then if you can remember

Keep smiling, keep shining Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for

As she played the harmonica for the interlude, Artie rolled over and took the next line:

Well, you came in loving me And now there's so much more I see
And so by the way I thank you

Next in was Kurt:

Oh and then for the times when we're apart
Well, then close your eyes and know The words are coming from my heart
And then if you can remember

Not to be outdone, Puck joined them:

Keep smiling and keep shining Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for In good times and bad times I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for

While rubbing Mercedes' back Quinn took the next chorus:

Keep smiling, keep shining Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more That's what friends are for

By now everybody knew the words and joined in, swaying to the music:

Keep smiling, keep shining Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
'Cause I tell you, that's what friends are for
Whoa, good times and the bad times I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for

Then Mercedes raised the harmonica to her lips one last time to end the song, her eyes streaked with tears.

The song ended and the whole group embraced.

Aaaaw... Mushy mushy friend stuff...

Song used was 'That's What Friends Are For' by Dionne Warwick + friends inc Stevie Wonder on harmonica.