Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or What Alice Forgot or any of its characters.

Thank you, everyone for reading. Sorry it took longer than usual for me to get this next chapter out. As always, I love reading your reviews and hearing your insights!

RS/Samcedes ladies: WHAT A WEEK! Rollercoaster of emotions. Hopefully Ms. Pretty was at the photoshoot today! Love you girls! Xoxoxoxooxo.

Mercedes was looking through her car window at a nice two story grey-blue house with a white picket fence that was across the street. There were beautiful flowers growing along the fence and at the perimeter of the house.

She was filled with anxiety as she sat in the car debating with herself about whether she should go ring the doorbell or not.

"Just go, damn it." She said and glanced at herself in the mirror. Her fully made up eyes looked back at her and she cursed herself for being so indecisive. She took a deep breath and opened the door and got out. She looked down at herself while she straightened her purple silk shirt out over her jeans and began walking across the street towards the house. The click of her heels was the only sound besides the birds in the trees.

She walked up to the door and before she could talk herself out of it, she rang the doorbell.

The door opened and she was face to face with Tina.

"Why are you doing this, Tina?"

Tina looked back at her in a rage.

"Why am I doing this? Are you fucking kidding me? You were my closest friend and you kissed my husband! Who knows what you would have done if I hadn't interrupted!" Tina was shouting at her.

"I did not do anything but try to push him off of me. He assaulted me, Tina!"

"There is no way Rod would ever do that. You have a lot of nerve leveling those accusations just to save face."

"Tina, you cannot be this blind! Open your fucking eyes, he did it to me and he will do it to someone else. You would rather live in this drunk fantasy world of yours than face the damn truth!"

She did not have any time to field the blow that came. Tina had slapped her fully across the face. Mercedes held her cheek and looked back at her former friend in shock.

"You have destroyed my life here in Nashville. I have dirt on you and Principal Marcus. I know things about your marriage that I could leak to the press. I swear to you that I am going to get my revenge at some point in the future. I'm going to ruin you like you have ruined me," Tina spat out at her.

Mercedes woke up with a start. She opened her eyes and didn't remember where she was at first. She had broken out in a sweat and her body was completely rigid. She focused and she heard Sam's voice speaking quietly. She sat up from her reclining position on the couch in the hospital room.

"She's awake!" Sam said happily.

Mercedes looked over at him and tried to keep the knot in her stomach feeling out of her smile. Sam's smile faltered as he watched her.

"Cedes, are you okay?" he asked with concern.

She nodded, "Yes, I'm fine. I just need to use the restroom." He was still watching her, not believing what she was saying. "I'm fine, Sam." She stood up and walked over to the bathroom.

Once she was inside and had the door locked, she leaned with both hands against the sink and looked at her reflection. Was that a real memory? She thought to herself. It had to be. It was too detailed. What was Tina talking about with Marcus? And what dirt on her marriage? She reached to turn on the faucet and splashed water over her face.

Her insides still felt like they were tied up in knots. Mercedes had never felt hatred directed towards her like Tina had displayed. She splashed her face a couple more times before she heard a soft knock.

"Cedes? Let me in," Sam said through the locked door.

Mercedes grabbed the hand towel and blotted her face and hands dry then reached to open the door.

"Sam, you shouldn't be walking around yet," she said as he made his way into the bathroom slowly. He put his arm around her and she led him to the toilet and closed the lid so he could sit down. She lowered him down slowly. She could see it hurt him to move around too much.

"What did you dream?" He said as soon as he was sitting.

She looked quickly at him.

"I know you. Now tell me what it was."

Mercedes sat on the edge of the tub and looked down. There had never been secrets between them before, so to know that he wasn't aware of something so obviously traumatizing that had happened to her, it made her feel sick inside. She took a deep breath.

"Sam, Quinn told me the reason why Tina and I stopped being friends," Mercedes began. She looked from the floor to him. At the mention of Tina's name, Sam's eyes became dark. He didn't say anything and watched her, waiting for her to continue.

Mercedes started to speak quickly, trying to get the words out as fast as they could fall off of her tongue.

"She said Tina and Rod were over at our house and we were all drinking. I went to the wine cellar to get another bottle and Rod followed me down there," she paused because Sam's face had turned completely red and he was gritting his teeth, his eyes staring at her.

"Go on," He said in a low angry voice.

She reached out and put a hand on his leg and closer her eyes and said the rest.

"I guess he pushed me against the wall and started to kiss me. I fought back, but he forced himself onto me. Then Tina walked in and saw it happening. But she blamed me and not Rod."

When she was finished, she opened her eyes and looked at Sam. His jaw was set tight and his face was a darker shade of red than it had been before. He was looking at the far wall with a murderous expression. When he felt her looking at him, he turned to her.

"I'm going to kill him."

"Sam, they've moved away and –"

"He's not getting away with this. I never trusted that asshole." He was breathing hard and Mercedes was afraid he was going to send his blood pressure soaring.

She didn't know what to say, so she just scooted closer to him and rubbed his back.

"Mercedes," he said to her gently after a couple of minutes, "I didn't protect you from that prick." He turned his body towards her and he put his arm out to bring her against him. She got up from the tub and went into his arm leaning her head into his chest gently.

"If I ever see him again, I'm going to fucking kill him," he said into the top of her head.

"Sam, let's not talk about this anymore. It's in our past," she said and pulled away so she could look at him. He was still angry, but his expression was mixed with concern.

"What did you dream about?" He asked her softly.

"It was pretty – "she was interrupted by hear Laila's voice singing in the room and quick knocking at the bathroom door.

"Mommy? Daddy? Are you okay?" her little voice came through.

"Hi sweetie," Sam said, "We're fine. We'll be out in a minute."

He turned back to look at Mercedes.

"Let's talk about it when we get home, okay?" She said standing up and giving him a kiss.

Sam took a hold of her hand as she tried to walk to the door.

"Cedes, tell me the dream," he said in a serious tone.

Mercedes looked down and then back at him.

"It felt more like a memory than a dream. I was at Tina's house and went to her door, we argued and she slapped me. She said she was going to ruin me like I ruined her," Mercedes finished with a shudder remembering Tina's anger.

"I never liked her. Those two had better not ever set foot in Nashville or ever let me find them, I will kill Rod and tear Tina a new one. She's a manipulative drunk and I always felt things would have been different between us if you had never met her." The darkness that clouded his face startled Mercedes. She bent down in front of him.

"I can't believe I never saw it, Sam, but she's gone. Rod is gone. We don't have to spend time thinking about them." She leaned forward and kissed his nose. "Fuck them."

"I'm still going to kill Rod. But yeah, fuck 'em." He held out his arm to put around her shoulders so she could help him to stand up.

"Don't forget about my sponge bath tonight," He said with his relaxed swagger coming back into his voice.

"I haven't," she responded in a low and suggestive voice.

He smiled his side smile, "Forget the press conference," he said and grabbed her to him.

Mercedes laughed in surprise, "Be careful with yourself! Where were the kids earlier?" She asked him as she rested her hand on his chest.

"My mom took them to the cafeteria for some snacks."

"Nice. I wonder if they have any extra!" Mercedes went to open the door and Sam was leaning on her for support.

When they opened the door, they saw Laila was on Sam's bed and she had wrapped some clean bandages around her head and was pretending to faint while trying to get someone to play with her. Trey was sitting on a chair playing a game on a handheld gaming unit. Sam's parents were talking on the couch.

Laila woke up from her faint and saw her parents coming out of the restroom.

"Mommy, did you have to help daddy pee?" she asked loudly.

Mercedes practically caused Sam to fall over by stopping so suddenly.

"No!" she said with a flush; her cheeks reddening. Sam was watching her with enjoyment. He was trying not to crack up and pretended to have a coughing fit. But that caused his ribs to hurt, so he grimaced and let go of Mercedes, holding his side.

Trey immediately put his game down and hopped up from his chair and ran to his dad's other side.

"Dad, I can help too," he said and he gingerly put his hand around Sam's back to help bring him to the bed with Mercedes.

"Thanks buddy," Sam said and smiled down at his son.

Laila stood up on the high bed and hopped off, causing Mercedes' heart to skip a beat. She landed like a gymnast as Sam lowered himself onto the bed with Mercedes' and Trey's help.

They spent the next hour chatting in the room. Mary had brought some of her makeup and a change of clothes for both Sam and Mercedes. While she was putting on some light makeup, Mary brought Mercedes up to speed on the Evans family. Mary was still a grade school teacher. She had skipped around to different grades until she found her favorite: 3rd. Dwight had quit his desk job and opened his own hardware store that he loved. Stevie was living in Los Angeles and ran a successful production company with a friend, Artie, who he had met at a studio they used to both work at.

Sam and his father were talking quietly about the accident and Trey and Laila were beginning to get anxious.

Laila came over to Mercedes and threw herself dramatically over her lap.

"Mommy, are we ever going to leave?"

Mercedes looked at the clock and it read 12:30.

"Soon, honey. We are just waiting for the doctor to come in and then we are good to go."

The doctor came in five minutes later to make sure Sam was good and that Mercedes knew all the steps to prevent an infection from forming on any of Sam's injuries. Then he gave them the go ahead to leave. The nurse came in a few minutes later with all of the paperwork, a bag of supplies for caring for Sam's wounds at home and a wheelchair.

"Oh, no thank you. I don't need the chair," Sam said to the petite nurse.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Evans, the doctor requested you use this until you got downstairs."

"Really?" Sam looked genuinely shocked. "Okay, well, let's get me wheeled out."

He had changed into the loose running pants and a tee shirt his mom had brought from home with Mercedes' help.

The nurse wheeled the chair over to the side of the bed and he got out and lowered himself down into it. His phone beeped that he had a text message and he asked Mercedes to check it for him. She picked up the phone from the side table and read it.

"It's a message from Steve. He says he's downstairs and he will see us in the conference room the hospital set up."

"Great, let's do this! Laila, want to hop on my lap?" Her squeal answered his question as she carefully climbed on, making sure to be gentle. Sam's parents held hands, Mercedes put her arm around Trey and they all made their way downstairs. One of the nurses on the first floor pointed them in the direction of where they had set up the reporters.

"Sam, we'll wait out here, okay?" Mary said to her son and smiled at the rest of them. Then she and Dwight turned to go sit at a bay of chairs in the lobby.

The family was standing just outside the closed doors of a large conference room the hospital had graciously set up for the press conference. Sam had Laila hop off of his lap so he could get up and he opened the door a crack and saw the reporters were listening to Steve, who was acting as Sam's publicist, telling them this was just going to be a short conference and the Evans family would not be taking any questions. Mercedes could hear a groan spreading across the room and Sam chuckled next to her.

Mercedes was glad Sam was so calm and cool because she was suddenly a nervous wreck. She thought it would be no problem, but as they were making their way downstairs, her anxiety began to take hold. Sam looked at her.

"Hey, it's going to be easy, okay? I'm just going to say something quickly and we're out of there," he said and leaned his forehead on to hers.

"I love you, Sam," she said to him.

"I love you too."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Laila move quickly over to Trey and they were both looking at each other with excitement in their eyes. Trey said, "I know!" quietly to his sister trying to get her to calm down, but he was just as happy. They didn't realize both of their parents were watching them, and they linked pinkies together tightly and pulled them apart while both saying, "Wish Tree" at the same time.

Sam looked confused but happy at their sweetness. Mercedes knew exactly what they were talking about and her heart swelled. She would take Sam later to see the tree.

Just then, Steve came bounding out of the room, almost running into Sam and Mercedes.

"Oh! Wow, hi guys. What are y'all doing standing right outside like that? Okay, so they know no questions and it's gonna be short. Sam, man," he paused while taking Sam into a big hug and Mercedes was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "You're like a son to me. I'm so damn relieved you are okay. That fucking Gwen! Oh – hey, sorry kids. Don't listen to Uncle Steve," he was looking at their wide eyes nervously, "Okay, um, well, you guys go on in. Cedes, how do you still look so gorgeous after being up all night with this man?" He brought Mercedes in for a hug.

"Alright, you ready, Cedes?" Sam looked at her and held out his hand. She took it and the kids went to stand in front of them. Steve opened the door and the kids walked in first, with Sam and Mercedes right behind them. Immediately flash bulbs started going off and Sam gave a big easy smile to the reporters. Laila was waving and blowing kisses to them and Trey was looking at them shyly. Mercedes put on a smile, but her nerves were at an all-time high. She had both of her hands around Sam's right one. He looked down at her and winked.

They got to the table the hospital had set up and Sam sat down with Laila on his lap, Mercedes next to them and Trey on her other side.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming on such short notice. We just want to tell all of the fans and wonderful people who have prayed for our family and came here to the hospital to leave flowers and beautiful mementos: thank you from the bottom of our hearts. As you can see, I am just fine. Just a few minor scrapes and a broken arm," he continued with a smile, "Thank you to the doctors and nurses here at Nashville General, who have been so warm and professional. We are all heading home and we love you all. Thank you again." And Sam scooted back in the chair so Laila could get off of his lap first.

As she did, she said with flourish to the room, "Yes, thank you for the Mentos! We love everyone!" The room burst out into laughter. Mercedes was laughing along with the reporters, Trey had his face in his hands in mortification and Sam was just beaming at his daughter with love.

The four of them started to make their way to the door when a female reporter's voice yelled after them, "Do you have anything to say about the reports coming out that your wife had an affair with a Marcus Avery?"

Sam whirled around on the reporters.

"Who the hell said that?" He said with anger coursing through his voice. Mercedes started to usher the kids out of the room before they heard any more of the confrontation.

"Mom, what did that woman say about Principal Marcus?" Trey was asking.

At the same time, she heard Sam laying into the reporter about asking that type of disrespectful question about his wife to them and especially in front of their children. Her heart was pounding as she got out of the room with the kids and the door clicked closed behind them.

"Mom?" Trey was asking.

"Honey, I don't know. I think she was just trying to get your father angry for some reason," but she wasn't 100% present. Her mind was going a mile a minute. Had Marcus called the press? Why would they ask that right now? Then her dream/memory came back to her in a flash. Tina said she was going to try to ruin her. Is this how she was going to do it?

Just then, Sam pushed through the doors. He was livid.

"I should have known that woman would try to stir up some bs. I've had nothing but problems with Kristin turning my words around trying to get an exclusive. She's a local hack reporter trying to get her big break and she's the reason we hardly talk to the press together. If I had known she was there, I never would have had us do this."

"Do you think it was –" Mercedes began.

"Cedes, let's just get home and we'll talk about it there. Sound good?"

"Dad, why was she trying to get you mad?" Trey asked.

"You know what, buddy? Sometimes reporters just like to get a reaction. But we try not to give it to them, just like a kid at school who makes fun of other kids. Don't give them the time of day and they will get bored and move on." Sam said to his son.

"Daddy? Can I kick her in the shins?" Laila asked sweetly.

Mercedes and Sam laughed, but had to stop right away so she didn't actually do that to someone.

"Honey, we don't kick people in the shins. We just ignore them." Mercedes said trying to keep a straight face.

Laila screwed up her face like that was the worst solution she had ever heard. Mercedes thought so too, but she had to teach her kids about the non-violent way to handle situations.

Sam's parents came up to them and they all got ready to go back home. Sam only told them the conference went well and they headed to the car. The drive back was nice, everyone was just happy Sam was coming home and he was okay. Mercedes was trying to push images of Tina out of her mind.

When they got home, Trey and Laila hopped out of the car and asked if they could meet them in the house in a little while.

"Why, guys? What are you up to?" Sam asked. Mercedes took his hand and told him quietly to let them go. "Alright, but be back in 15 minutes, okay?" He said to them. The kids broke out in giddy laughter, yelled bye to their grandparents and ran around the house to the back.

"What are they doing?" Sam asked.

"I'll tell you in the house," Mercedes said.

"Okay…" Sam said slowly, but with a smile. He turned to his parents who had just gotten out of the car.

"Mom and Dad, thank you so much for everything." Sam said to them.

"Oh Sam," Mary Evans started before tearing up, "We're just so relieved you are okay." She took her son into a hug. Then she moved over to Mercedes and hugged her. She whispered in her ear, "A mother could not be happier than seeing her son back with the love of his life." Then she pulled away and squeezed Mercedes' shoulders and turned to walk back to the car.

Dwight and Sam had said their goodbyes and were already talking Vandy basketball. Dwight came over to Mercedes and gave her a bear hug and said bye with a wink. Mercedes and Sam waved to his parents as they drove the rounded driveway to go back down to the bottom of the hill.

Sam turned to Mercedes.

"So what's going on with our kids?"

"Sam, it's the most beautiful, sad and sweet thing all rolled into one. I was out walking and I saw this little tree down the property where it flattens out. The kids had tied ribbons to the branches and under a rock was a letter where Trey wrote that it was his and Laila's wish tree. That they would go there to wish for us to get back together and be in love again and for you to move back into the house. Then every time they made a wish, they would tie a ribbon to the tree. Sam, there were over a hundred."

Sam was listening to her and tears had sprung to his eyes.

"I – that is the sweetest and most heartbreaking thing I have ever heard," Sam stammered.

"I know," Mercedes said in a hushed voice.

"I wonder what they are doing with it now."

"I don't know, but they heard us say we love each other. We'll tell them we're back together officially when they come back?"

"Absolutely," Sam said.

"Should we go inside?" Mercedes asked.

"Should we fool around until they come back?" Sam asked back.

"Yes," Mercedes answered and he threw his arm around her and they made their way to the front door.