Alright two chapters today. I hope you all are enjoying this 4th of July and remaining safe. This chapter is in Sam's POV as the last was in Mercedes POV. I do want to thank you all for reading and reviewing, I greatly appreciate it. I do not own glee blah blah blah

Sam was super excited as they all reached the fairgrounds. He held on to Mercedes hand the entire time as they watched the kids get on ride after ride. Santana, who at first didn't want to come along, ended up riding the rides with the kids every time they went, leaving Sam with Mercedes. She held his hand as well but every so often she would look around and hide their hands. He wanted to know what was on her mind but they were interrupted when they noticed Mike and Tina heading there way.

"Oh wow…I really didn't see this coming." Tina said looking at Mercedes as she snatched her hand away from Sam and smiled at the couple.

"Mercedes, what a coincidence." Mike said smiling nervously. "So you two…are a thing now?" he asked looking from Sam to Mercedes.

"Yeah I guess you can say that." Sam replied looking over at Mercedes wondering what was wrong with her.

"So…when did this happen?" Tina asked forcing a smile on her face.

"Uh…look we'd love to chat and all but we actually have to go." Mercedes responded. "Mike, I'm happy you and Tina worked things out."

"Yeah…maybe we can double date some time."

"No…um…anyway…we gotta go. It was nice seeing you two again." Mercedes responded quickly and grabbed Sam's hand walking away from the pair.

"Mercedes…what's going on? Why are you acting….strange?"

"I'm not acting strange." She replied not looking at him. He wanted to pull her aside and question her some more but the kids returned with Santana causing him to let it go for now. He made a mental note to probe her some more. He knew it wasn't because of the kids because Jayden told him that she told him that they were a couple.

"Hey, can we go ride the monster? It's right over there." Aaron pointed to a ride he'd rode many times with Sam before.

"Please mom!" Jayden begged. "Auntie Snixx can take us, right?" he looked over at Santana and watched as a smile spread across her lips.

"Mercedes, I got this. You and Sam can go enjoy the boring wheel of death." Santana said poking Mercedes before walking away.

"Make sure you stay close…" Mercedes shouted then stopped when she noticed Sam was staring at her. "I'm babying him again, aren't I?" she asked smiling.

"It's okay…baby steps, right?" Sam took her hand in his and smiled. "So, you want to tell me what's going on?" he asked and watched as she prepared to say it was nothing. "And don't tell me it's nothing. I can feel that you're being different." She looked over at him and nervously chewed the side of her lips before responding.

"It's just…this is different." She replied. "I haven't been this happy in a long time and it just takes a minute to get used to it."

"Well we can take baby steps with that too."

"Thanks for understanding."

"Hey, as long as I get to be with you…you can call the shots."

"Are you sure about that?"

"I am…because if I weren't here with you I would most definitely be on my way to the monster and not the boring wheel of death." He replied mocking the way Santana said it causing Mercedes to laugh.

"We can go on that ride afterwards." She smiled as linked her hand in his. "I just want some more alone time with you."

"See…when you put it like that…who am I to say no?" Sam asked as he wrapped his arm behind her and guided her towards the ferris wheel.

The rest of the night, Sam saw that Mercedes had relaxed a bit. They rode on the rollercoaster and bumper cars and took pictures with the kids. Even Santana admitted to having fun just after they left fairgrounds and headed back to Mercedes' house. They all went inside leaving Sam and Mercedes in the living room alone. Sam sat in front of her and grabbed her feet and began to rub on them as she leaned back and enjoyed with her eyes closed.

"Sam…"

"Sup?" he asked looking at her as she continued to enjoy his foot massage.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being such a great guy…you really set the bar high." She replied.

"Set the bar high? What do you mean?" he asked unsure what she meant by that. As far as he was concerned he was setting a bar. He was trying to be the only one for her.

"I mean, you turned out to be really cool. I really like you." She replied sitting up and pulling him to her by his chin, pressing her lips on his. He smiled and stared into her almond shaped eyes wanting to take her right there on the sofa but knowing it would not be a good time to do so.

"I like you too, Mercedes. I'm sure it's obvious just how much I like you and that I want to build something real with you."

"Yeah?" She asked as if she wasn't sure. "Well the feeling is mutual, Sam." She smiled and kissed him once more before standing up. "Be right back, I need to talk to Santana really quick." She walked over to the steps and looked back at him once more. "Don't go anywhere."

"I'll never leave." He responded watching a smile spread wider across her face.

"You promise?" she asked.

"Scouts honor." He replied holding up three fingers and watching her skip up the stairs. Sam knew things were moving a bit fast for the two of them but he was happy to know he wasn't the only one falling.

He got up and walked around the living room smiling and looking at all the trophies she had for herself and Jayden. He'd been over many times already and he had never really taken the time to look at all the pictures she had spread across the living. He made his way over to where her laptop was and noticed the draft she had been working on was sitting on the table. Even though every part of him told him not to read it, he sat and pulled the laptop closer and started to read it anyway. With a proud smile on his face he continued to read and laugh a couple times at some of the stories she had written. He even laughed as he read about his bad dates that he had as well. There weren't any names but having heard the stories already he knew who the stories were based on it made him laugh even more until he saw something familiar.

The smile that was once on his face disappeared as he read about their date. He never once thought that she would include their argument in her draft. He also didn't know that she had an issue with him being white. Reading what she wrote about him hurt him so much that he didn't even finish reading it as he slammed the laptop shut and stood up. He walked up the stairs and into the room where Jayden and Aaron was and told him to grab his things.

"We're leaving." Sam said. Jayden was the first to look his way and walked over to him noticing that Sam looked a bit upset.

"Is everything okay, Mr. Evans?"

"Yeah…everything's cool just gotta head home. I forgot there's something I have to do with Jake." He replied not looking at Jayden as Aaron remained in the same spot, not moving. "Aaron, did you not hear me say that we are leaving?"

"I heard you…I just don't understand why? Why do I have to go just because you forgot you had to do something with Uncle Jake?" Aaron asked refusing to budge. At that moment Sam realized what Mercedes was saying. If Mercedes told Jayden it was time to leave he would have been up and out the door but here Sam stood having to explain himself to his own child.

"Aaron, we're leaving now! Grab your things and let's go." He said sternly.

"I don't want to go though dad!" Aaron replied still remaining seated. Jayden looked between the two and finally decided to say something.

"Aaron, just go! We'll catch up tomorrow." Jayden said noticing that Sam was not in the mood to play with Aaron.

"This is so unfair. You ruin everything!" Aaron groaned and grabbed his backpack jamming his jacket inside of it and brushing past Sam. Sam looked over at Jayden and just nodded before rushing down the steps to deal with Aaron in the car. He backed out of the driveway swiftly as he noticed Mercedes talking to Jayden in his bedroom window. He needed some time alone to think and gather his feelings. Everything she wrote made him completely understand that she wasn't as serious about him as he was with her. When she said the feeling was mutual what exactly did she think those feelings were. He was not just testing out black women. He only wanted to be with her but she was just testing out how white men were and that hurt him more than he thought it should have.