A/N: So I finally worked through my writers block and pushed out this LOOOOOONG over due update. Have no fear, Summer Lovin' is next ;-)
Mercedes sat at the table shaking her head for what felt like the millionth time, as everyone else nodded their head in the affirmative. She sat at the table with Santana, Kurt, and Tina at one of the few restaurants in town that was integrated by choice.
"Ay dios mio! Just move in with the boy, get married, and have his babies already!" Santana exclaimed, clearly exasperated and little buzzed as she sipped her 2nd bloody mary.
"Santana, don't be so crass!" Kurt admonished, "Mercedes is an independent career driven woman, and she shouldn't have to conform to the dutiful housewife archetype."
"Hey, there is nothing wrong with being a housewife." Tina shot back, but not entirely offended as she too drank from her mimosa.
"Of course there isn't Tina." Mercedes leaned over to grab her friend's hand, giving Kurt the side eye which he shrugged off.
"My God, I asked you all here because I thought you would understand my concerns as a minority." Mercedes punctuated, and watched as a sense of realization dawned over their faces. "Not to be a housewife, or a poster women for feminism, but as a pregnant colored woman who is a relationship with a white man when we can't even legally sit next to one another on a bus! I thought if anyone was going to understand it would be all of you." she sniffled, angry tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
A collective gasp erupted from the table, "Wait, you're pregnant?!" Santana and Tina asked almost in unison, as the three friends exchanged glances before turning their attention to comfort Mercedes.
"Oh honey you're right, we are so sorry. We all know what it's like to be the outcast and we should be more sensitive." Kurt sighed, rubbing his friend's back.
"You know what, if you don't want to move in with Sam, don't do it. But do it for your own reasons, not because of society." Santana said taking her hand.
"A part of me really wants to move in with him, to get our family started the proper way. But the other part of me is terrified! People are lynched for stuff like this in the south, whole families are murdered for race mixing. I read about it in the papers all the time in Canada, they don't talk about it here in the states but it happens!" Mercedes rambled, going into a full blown panic.
"Mercedes, sweetie you need to take a deep breath, and try to calm down, okay?" Tina said sternly, placing one hand on her shoulder and the other on her belly.
"Chica you listen to me, you do what makes you and that guppy lipped blonde bombshell happy. And if anyone tries to fuck with you or the family I will have a boat full of Puerto Ricans here taking eyes first and asking questions later." She said holding onto her hand.
"Don't you mean 'kicking ass'?" Tina asked confused.
"No." Santana replied shaking her head, her gaze steely and serious, sending a chill down Tina's spine.
"Satan is right, sans the cruel analogy. We will be here for you, just like the boys were there for Sam when he came back home. We love you, all of us. We're your family, and we won't let you fall." Kurt reassured her with a gentle smile, and as she looked around through her tears at the friends surrounding her, she saw the same reassuring smile on all of their faces.
"Well then," Mercedes sighed as she drew in a shaky breath "I guess I'm moving in with Sam." She laughed lightly, wiping at her eyes. They all shared an easy laugh, and finally continued on with their brunch, when Mercedes excused herself to go make a phone call.
She was in the narrow hallway near the restrooms, looking through her purse for spare change to use the payphone when she felt a presence behind her. She turned and saw a large man standing behind her, and moved slightly to the side, assuming he needed the lavatories. But he continued to loom around, unmoving until she spoke up.
"You need something?" she asked with attitude, but wearily.
"You don't remember me, do you?" the mystery man asked, as Mercedes continued to look at him but it was obvious that he was not at all familiar.
"I'm Shane, Shane Tinsley. I went to school with your brother Robbie." He said with a smile stepping a little closer to her, which made Mercedes back up.
"Oh yeah, sure daddy-oh. How's it going?" she asked politely, but not at all caring.
"Swell, swell; thanks. I heard you were back from up north, had to get away from the white lands huh?" Shane joked with loud, annoying laughed, as Mercedes chuckled uneasily.
"Hey you got a few dimes on you so I can use the horn?" she asked, using it as both a way to use the phone and get rid of her unwanted visitor.
"Yeah, for you of course. You know I always had a bit of a thing for you back in the day." He laughed as he dug into his pockets, extracting a handful of change and passing it to her, letting his big rough hands linger against hers longer than was comfortable.
"Thanks." Mercedes murmured, choosing to ignore his previous statements. She hurriedly put the coins in and turned away from Shane for privacy, hoping he would take the hint and leave but no such luck.
"Hello, operator? Sam Evans residence please… Hey baby it's me. Yeah I'm just finishing up with the girls and Kurt, - yes." Mercedes paused as she giggled at Sam's foolishness on the other end of the line. "Yes flutter bum, just come pick me up please, I have some very good news for you." She smiled happily, but gave Shane the side eye as he snorted; ease dropping rudely next to her. "I'm at the bistro. Okay see you soon. Love you too. Bye." She hung up and turned to find Shane looking at her strangely.
"Hey thanks again for the change, I'll tell Robbie you said hi." Mercedes said with saccharine sweetness, as she tried to slide past his large frame.
"So the rumors are true then? Damn, you really are laying up with a white dude." He lamented, shaking his head in disappointment.
"Excuse you! That is none of your business. Or anyone else's for that matter." Mercedes hissed, pushing past him and storming back to her table.
"Hey Queen, you okay?" Kurt asked as he blew a breath of smoke, noticing his friend's upset demeanor.
"Yeah I'm fine. Just ran into some spaz friend of Robbie's, who seems to have a say in my relationship." She huffed, trying to calm herself down.
"Who? Not the grizzly bear over there staring at you?" Santana asked, stubbing out her own cigar.
"Yeah him. But you know what? Fuck him. Fuck him and anyone else who has a negative thought or word against me or my family." Mercedes spoke loud enough for Shane to hear with a smile, as she rubbed her hands over her belly.
"There you go Cedes!" Tina exclaimed with an excited laugh, raising her drink, as the rest of the table erupted into a happy laugh at Mercedes' declaration.
"Words to live by if you ask me. People will always have opinions about how others should live their lives, but we're not living for them, we're living for us." Kurt declared, taking another drag from his cigarette.
"Right on. I can't change even if I tried, not that I want to. I love Brittany, Kurt loves Blaine, you love Sam, and Tina loves every damn body! We live for our own happiness, and our own love." Santana chimed in, earning more laughs from the table.
"I don't love everybody! I don't love….bigots or war, or..." She paused to think some more while everyone else giggled at her struggle. "Or! Or Rachel Berry!" she practically yelled as the idea jumped into her head.
"Oh please, no one likes Rachel Berry. The people who do claim to like her only say it cause she gives it up." Santana scoffed.
"Santana! That is purely scandalous! Rachel maybe a raving, racist, narcissistic, bitch, but she is engaged to Finn." Tina tried to reason through a gasp.
Mercedes and Kurt exchanged knowing looks, while trying to cover up their own giggles.
"Hey, I see you two hens over there. What are you clucking about?" Santana demanded more than asked.
"Well,…" Kurt started, looking at Mercedes again, as he sat up a bit in his seat. "Queen and I may or may not have some dirt that may or may not include the aforementioned harlot in question and our boss's husband." Kurt said primly, crossing his legs and placing his hands on his knees while looking away innocently.
"What the holy hell are you talking about?" Tina demanded, leaning in to pick up as much gossip as they were throwing down.
"Hahahaha, calm down Tina. What Kurt is trying to say, but also trying not to say, is that we think Rachel is sleeping with Teri's husband. Teri is one of our bosses by the by." Mercedes clarified, somewhat basking in the look of shock and awe on Tina's face and the smug smile on Santana's.
"Yo sabía que! I knew it!" Santana exclaimed, pointing her fingers in each of their faces. "I knew that puta was sleeping around!"
"Who is sleeping around?" Sam asked walking up to the table, looking like a blonde James Dean, pulling Mercedes gently from her seat to wrap her in a loving embrace.
"No one baby, we're just gossiping." Mercedes sighed against his lips, wrapping her arms around his neck to bring him in for a kiss.
"But seriously y'all, who's sleeping around?" Sam asked as he settled into Mercedes' seat with her planted firmly in his lap.
"Rachel is, behind poor Finn's back." Tina clarified.
"No shit! With who?" Sam gasped, looking around the table, now fully intrigued.
"With Will Shuester." Kurt said, sipping his coffee.
"Terri's husband?! No fucking shit!" Sam exclaimed, looking at Mercedes for confirmation.
"Yep, it's true. I saw them disappear together at the office Christmas party a while back for a looong time, and then they reappeared looking mighty disheveled and satisfied. Well, Will looked satisfied, Rachel looked sick." Kurt laughed.
"Damn, ain't that a bite. You think Hudson knows?" Sam asked, leaning into the group.
"Okay cool it guys, you have my man gossiping now." Mercedes chuckled, turning to run her fingers through his hair.
"So you said you had some good news for me?" Sam whispered in her ear, wrapping his long arms around her tighter.
"Oh yeah! Okay dolls, we have to go, so I can share that news with Sam." Mercedes jumped up from Sam's lap, winking at her friends as she collected her purse and let Sam help her into her jacket, before going to each of her friends to hug them goodbye.
"Okay is this good news a surprise or are you gonna tell?" Sam asked as he and Mercedes walked hand and hand out of the bistro and to his car that was parked on the street.
"It's not a surprise, but I would rather wait until we are indoors. You know," she leaned in to whisper to him. "In private." She watched with smug satisfaction as Sam's eyes darkened with lust and hurriedly got her into the car and drove to Mercedes' shared apartment.
Sam could not stop smiling as he lay with Mercedes in his arms, both of them naked and tangled up in the bed sheets.
"Say it again. Please? Last time I promise." He begged, stroking his fingers through her jet black strands.
Mercedes giggled from her place resting against his bare chest. "Sam I want us to move in together." She laughed louder as Sam flipped them over, with him on top of her once again.
"God, I love the way that sounds." He murmured through the kisses he was placing up and down her neck.
"I'm happy you're, but we still need to find a place." She said, pulling his face away from her neck to look into his eye.
"No worries dollface. I found us a place, in a neighborhood full of free thinking, civil rights radicals who don't mind a mixed race couple. It's perfect baby, and it's ours. If you want it." He said, brushing the lone tear away that escaped while he spoke of their home.
"Sam Evans, you got us a house. Of course I want it." She rasped her voice heavy with emotion as she brought him down for another kiss, before flipping them back over and straddling his broad hips. "Now," she paused to pin his arms above his head. "Let me thank you properly."
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