The Wedding Singer,

Written by WickedSong.

Mercedes knocked on the door of the Hudson home the night of the glee reunion party. She stood on the porch for only two seconds before Rachel opened the door with an expression that read she was happy to see her.

"Mercedes, welcome," the woman greeted her with a wide smile, reminiscent of the one she gave all her friends during that one hectic party during Junior year. It was creepy then and still remained creepy to this day. But it was Rachel. Realisation dawned on her face. "Where's Shane? I thought he'd be with you."

"His team partied a little too hard when they won their game," replied Mercedes, with a small smile. "He got held up in New York anyway, what with press conferences and all that stuff." She shrugged. It didn't bother her as much as it probably should have. Mercedes stepped into the house. "Who else is here?"

"Tina, Mike, Santana, Brittany, Kurt, Blaine, Artie and Quinn just came a couple of minutes ago...Almost the whole gang. Matt's sick so he can't make it."

Mercedes frowned a little. "That's a shame." She then looked down. "Sam still not here then?" she asked nervously. When did she get nervous over Sam Evans?

Oh stop kidding yourself, she told herself, you are always nervous when it comes to Sam.

"He's staying with Puck and Lauren while he's here so he's coming with them," Rachel answered, then smiled to her friend assuringly. "Come on, everyone's in the living room."

It wasn't a formal party by any means but Rachel had been stern about the way she expected her home to still be by the end of the night and that she didn't want everyone getting completely drunk. She wasn't going to limit their alcohol intake with drink tickets this time but she was going to be keeping an eye on everyone. Mercedes had to laugh as Artie explained this to her.

He was now a Geometry teacher at McKinley but he had delved into film making and was still delving into it. Teaching was just his back up plan. He was also newly single, having just broken up with his long term college girlfriend Helen in the recent weeks. He had been heartbroken but also accepting, knowing that there wasn't a clear future for them.

Mercedes assured Artie he would find the girl for him one day and just at that moment the door was knocked at again.

Rachel excitedly ushered them into the living room, while arguing with Puck over her rules for this 'party'.

"Come on, a big glee reunion blow out," he insisted. "I think we're all entitled to let off some steam."

"Yes but we're not teenagers anymore, Noah," Rachel replied, shaking her head. "My house, my rules."

"Finn is such a lucky guy," Puck said sarcastically, earning him a quick slap around the head by Rachel but also causing the rest of the group to laugh slightly. Rachel did look pretty amused, regardless.

"Where is Finn anyway?" Sam asked, and when he noticed Mercedes he smiled at her and she did the same too. He came to stand beside her and Artie.

Rachel smiled brightly. "He's coaching his glee club in New York. Nationals is in a month, you know? He can't go in unprepared."

"Yeah because that worked so well for us," said Mike from his seat on the couch, beside Tina, who he had an arm around. "We wrote our songs the night before, can't get more unprepared than that."

Santana shrugged at that. "I still think that they caused us that loss." The Latina narrowed her eyes in Rachel's direction but didn't actually look that pissed off.

"Finn and I showed passion at the spur of the moment. I believe the judges didn't penalise us for that alone. Like Mike said we wrote our songs too close to competition time," retorted Rachel fiercely but she quickly laughed it off, as did Santana, and the rest of the group.

"Well at least we managed to take the trophy the year after," replied Santana. "Thanks to this girl over here."

Mercedes found everyone looking at her and her face split into a smile. "Damn straight!" she replied and then it was her turn to laugh. "But it was all of us."

"Not all of us," Lauren said. "Sam and I weren't there."

"I was there, just not with you guys," Sam corrected and he could see the faintest of smiles across everyone's lips.

"Yeah, we remember," Santana told him. "You got into Showcase, didn't you?"

Sam just simply nodded.

There was silence in the group until Rachel bounced up from her seat and quickly ran into a room adjacent to the living room.

"Where is she going?"

But before anyone could answer Quinn's question, Rachel returned, holding a DVD. "I talked to Mr. Schue a couple of years ago about if this performance was recorded. Turns out it was by the board that runs the competition for showchoirs."

"What year is this?"

"2011, I think," she answered Tina's question before turning the television on and placing the disc into the DVD player. "He says he can get us all our other performances if we asked. I just really wanted this one for some reason."

"Have anything to do with Finn? And that kiss?" Kurt commented, knowing he was right.

Rachel almost blushed but she quickly answered, "It was just because it was our first time at Nationals. Our first time on that stage. It was a momentous moment. Two years in the making."

Rachel turned it on and after they had been announced Rachel and Finn made their way out of the wings, singing to each other with clear intent and passion. They circled each other, looking carefully. Mercedes and Sam gave each other a knowing look. Clearly they were remembering the same thing.

"Will we ever say the words we're feelin', reach down underneath and tear down all the walls, will we ever have our happy ending, or will we forever only be pretending?"

Sam watched Mercedes as she stood nervously at the wings, waiting to go on stage. They didn't have to get into order until Rachel and Finn launched into the second chorus so he took this chance to talk to her.

"We're gonna be awesome, you don't have to be nervous," he assured her.

"Is that why you're sweating heavily?" she asked in a teasing tone. "I think we're all a bit nervous. Yeah, they can sing this well and they're doing well but it was written the night before." She looked down. "We've just been so far. It'd suck to lose now – or not even place."

Sam took her hand quickly, an action which surprised her. She looked to their entwined hands then to his face. "Look no matter what happens, we'll enjoy it. Promise me you'll enjoy it."

She conceded, taking a tighter grip of his hand. "I promise."
"Thank you," he replied. Mr. Schue called for everyone to organise themselves and since they were coming on from opposite sides of the stage the pair broke apart quickly.

They just smiled at each other, nothing else needing to be said as Sam made his way round to the opposite side of the stage.

The entire group, mentally cursed the pair known as Finchel as they watched 'the kiss that missed' for the first time since it had happened eight years ago. Santana mumbled something in Spanish, while Rachel looked unsure whether or not she should have put the thing on.

But the anger that had been there all those years ago wasn't prevalent anymore however and everyone watched silently as they went into their group number, singing and dancing around the stage as if they hadn't noticed the silence that had fell once Rachel and Finn had stopped singing. It was only when they came off stage and an enraged Mr. Schue had taken the pair to the side that Jesse St. James had told the rest of them what had happened.

Needless to say they had been angry too.

But now, it was eight years ago. It was a long, long time to still be angry over something like that. And as Santana had said at least they had won the year after, even if everyone couldn't be there to share the win with them.

The song noticed and both Mercedes and Sam made special care not to look at each as the camera found them hugging each other, Sam bypassing Quinn and immediately hugging her, not caring if the entire world was watching.

Mercedes still remembered what he had said to her quickly and quietly.

"Told you we''d be awesome."

She had just laughed and nodded.

Luckily no one else in the room, except Quinn paid any special attention to this moment and even looked at the pair pointedly. Sam could also notice Puck and Lauren looking at each other and then him, the same with Santana, Mike and Brittany, who all looked equally as interested.

"It's always nice to relieve the good old days, huh?" Rachel asked, as she removed the DVD from the player. "Oh wait a minute," she said as she inspected it. "Mercedes, isn't the wedding on the 21st?"

Mercedes felt her heartbeat pick up a little. "Yeah, why?"

Rachel turned the disc around to face her, and smiled a little. "Nationals was the 21st that year, that's all."

Sam perked his ears up at this. He knew what that meant. That day wasn't just Nationals for him and Mercedes, it was the day he had finally plucked up the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend, after deciding that if Finn could lay it all on the line so could he.

He had also remembered his own words from the hotel room while they had been discussing how to help Finn woo Rachel.

"If I was in love with a girl and wasn't homeless, I'd totally go for it."

He had decided that Mercedes wouldn't care, she hadn't cared and he had went for it.

And now Rachel was telling him that, coincidentally, Mercedes and Shane were getting married on what would be their eight year anniversary. OK, so maybe they wouldn't have still been together – but you might have, he thought – but it still hurt him – a lot.

Judging by Mercedes' shocked look however, he guessed that she had no idea that her wedding fell on this door.

Why would she care?

It was just a stupid coincidence, that was all.

Sam looked to Quinn who mouthed 'it's time' before she went to talk to Artie.

Looking at Mercedes, she seemed to have the same thought. "We're just going to go talk about wedding stuff. We'll be back in a minute."

"What sort of wedding stuff?" asked Santana, seemingly acting innocent but Sam could see the intent under her words.

"What songs I should sing and all that stuff. It's not a big deal," he replied quickly before Mercedes had the chance to. He assumed, by her look of surprise at Santana asking the question, that she had no idea that she didn't know. Maybe she still thought that no one knew. "Is there anywhere we can talk privately?" he asked Rachel, who pointed up the stairs.

"Second door on your right should be alright."
Santana looked as if she was about to say something, and if Mercedes knew her well enough, it was going to be the word 'wanky', as she was so often fond of that phrase but Quinn seemed to catch this before her.

"So, San, Brittany's told us you signed someone a couple of weeks ago. Do tell?"

Mercedes gave Quinn a small smile, as did Sam and the two made their way up the stairs as Santana regaled the rest of the New Directions with the stories about the talent she had spotted.

"How long has Santana known about us?" asked Mercedes, as soon as she walked into the room, folding her arms. Sam closed the door. "Is she the only one who knows? Oh God, they all know, don't they?" She looked as if she was panicking.

"Calm down. The only ones who know are Quinn, Santana, Brittany, Mike, Puck and Lauren."

Mercedes looked at him sarcastically. "They're the only ones who know? I knew about Quinn but everyone else? How did they find out?"

"That hug," Sam told her. "Quinn noticed it, Santana noticed it, Mike noticed it."

"What about Brittany, Puck and Lauren then?" questioned Mercedes, wondering how they could have managed to make their relationship the worst kept secret on the planet, especially when she thought they had kept it hidden for so long and no one had ever mentioned it to her, except for a couple of weeks ago when Quinn had obviously told her she knew.

"Puck figured out something was up at prom," smiled Sam. "He told Lauren and Brittany, well, she just knew."

Mercedes shook her head. "That's girl's so damn observant, isn't she?" She gave a small laugh. "I think we need to talk." She looked around and found that this room must obviously have been the spare guest room. She took a seat on the bed in the room. Sam sat beside her.

"Yeah, I know," he conceded. "I guess it's weird that there's still all these unresolved feelings around, for three weeks' worth of a relationship."

"We were more than that, weren't we?" she wondered aloud. "Did you not say-"

"Seven weeks," he interrupted as he recalled that discussion in The Lima Bean. He looked down and felt the urge to hold one of her hands, which were clasped in her lap. He fought this temptation though. They were trying to get away from the past. "Is that why you told me about how you felt replaced by Blaine when he and Kurt started going out, a couple of weeks ago when I called you?"

"I guess. That day just flooded back to me so clearly once I heard your voice. I had to tell you," she answered quietly. She shook her head. "I'm going to go first here. I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" he questioned.

"Sorry for never actually getting over you," she told him, matter-of-factly. "I'm sorry for pretending as if you meant nothing to me. You know, I've never actually told Shane about you. In his mind, he was my first real boyfriend. He even thinks he's my first kiss." She shook her head. "But every time I think about telling him I get this knot in my stomach. You and I being together was so special to me and I just feel as if it's something that either we told everybody about together or kept a secret."

Sam looked shocked by this outburst but he nodded his head along with her when she spoke, encouraging her to say the words she felt.

"I'm not gonna pretend that finding out you had a new boyfriend didn't suck because it did," he commented quietly and when she looked at him, trying to figure out what he was going to say next. He could see some genuine hurt in her eyes and he wished he hadn't spoken but he was this far, he had to continue. As he did so he moved further away from her, as if putting up invisible walls between the two of them. "Quinn told me but it never actually sunk in until I came back to Lima. I saw you with him. And it hurt so much. To see you happy when I had been turning down girls because it had never felt right."

He shook his head and Mercedes also breathed deeply. "Maybe we shouldn't have started talking about this," she suggested.

"No, no, it's better to have it all out right now. That way there's no secrets," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "You should also know why I never really got in touch. I missed you. I missed you all. I didn't want to hear about all this awesome stuff going on at McKinley while I was all the way in Tennessee so I made myself busy with whatever I could. I went to school, found work, worked long shifts, looked after Stacy and Stevie, anything to stop myself from calling someone in Lima and finding everything out."

"So you isolated yourself by your own choice then? You didn't care?" Mercedes asked coldly, feeling a little angry at him for this.

He looked at her, equally as frustrated. "No! I just cared too much, about everyone!" He wanted to add, 'especially you' but decided against it.

"Where does this leave us, Sam? You're singing at my wedding, on the same day that-"

"That I asked you out, eight years ago," he chimed in. "It's just a coincidence." He put his hands up. "Not everything's perfect, is it? Maybe we'll always have some degree of feelings for each other because of how we ended, how we never had a chance. But you love Shane, he's the person you chose," he admitted.

She quietly admitted, "I didn't always want to choose him." When Sam gave her a look, she confided in him. "You know, at senior prom, he asked me to dance." She smiled but it looked forced as she remembered. "And I had sworn that I was over you but the moment he asked me all I could remember was Rachel singing Jar of Hearts in the background while you told me I looked beautiful and asked me to dance."

"Oh," was the small sound that escaped Sam's lips.

"But you're right, I've chosen Shane," she replied, shaking her head. Sam sat beside her, dumbfounded. "I just thought that you deserved to know that."

"Well thank you," he replied. "I appreciate that."

"Friends?" she asked, sounding a little unsure as she held out her hand for him to shake.

"What do you mean friends?" he asked with a hint of a smile. "I thought it was this 'if you need anything' situation we had going." He laughed.

And again, he saw that genuine laughter from her, the same he had witnessed that day in the park. But he put it out his head.

They were friends now.

He was singing at his friend's wedding now.

And he would take having her in his life as a friend rather than not having her in his life at all.

They just weren't meant to be.

And that was how she wanted it so there was no room to doubt this decision in his mind.

"Come on, we'd better rejoin the party," Sam suggested, as they both stood. He hadn't realised how he had been on the edge of tears until Mercedes wiped her own eyes, and he did the same with his own.

"Yeah, let's go," she said, once she regained her composure.

She was sure now. She had chosen Shane.

Do you all hate me now? You all hate me now? You all want to hate me but you can't because you know I have other things up my sleeve. You want to not read the rest of this story but I have made it tantalising for you, haven't I? OK, so I probably haven't and you all probably genuinely despise me with what I've done but please stick with me, ok. I'm not exactly sure how much this has to go but it's not a great deal but there could still be some twists and turns.

Plus, this is my longest chapter of the story so far! AHH! And probably one of my favourites to write. That flashback just plays in my mind everytime I listen to Pretending. I imagine Samcedes holding hands backstage and in my head canon, Sam co-wrote Pretending with Finn and it was about Mercedes. Yeah, you can't change my mind.

OK, so we'll see what happens next when I update next. Hope you all enjoy,

WickedSong x