DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE NOR ANYTHING ELSE MENTION.

Meredith Davis- Maia Moss-Fife

Virginia Dupree- Michelle DeFraites

Happy-Leona Lewis

Someone once told me that you have to choose

What you win or lose

You can't have everything

Don't you take chances

Might feel the pain

Don't you love in vain

Cause love won't set you free

I can't stand by the side

And watch this life pass me by

So unhappy

But safe as could be

So what if it hurts me?

So what if I break down?

So what if this world just throws me off the edge

My feet run out of ground

I gotta find my place

I wanna hear my sound

Don't care about all the pain in front of me

Cause i'm just trying to be happy, yeah

Just wanna be happy, yeah

Holding on tightly

Just can't let it go

Just trying to play my role

Slowly disappear, ohh

But all these days, they feel like they're the same

Just different faces, different names

Get me out of here

I can't stand by your side, ohh no

And watch this life pass me by, pass me by

So what if it hurts me?

So what if I break down?

So what if this world just throws me off the edge

My feet run out of ground

I gotta find my place

I wanna hear my sound

Don't care about all the pain in front of me

Cause i'm just trying to be happy, ohh, happy, ohh

So any turns that I can't see,

like I'm a stranger on this road

But don't say victim

Don't say anything

So what if it hurts me?

So what if I break down?

So what if this world just throws me off the edge

My feet run out of ground

I gotta find my place

I wanna hear my sound

Don't care about all the pain in front of me

I just wanna be happy

Ohh, yeah, happy, ohh, happy

I just wanna be, ohh

I just wanna be happy

Ohh, happy

Mercedes hummed out as the last line as her hands stopped playing the keys, sighing, she stood up slowly and turned around, looking at the woman in front of her.

"Your voice is beautiful."

"Thank you."

The woman fixed her glasses as she picked her notepad up, "Is that how you feel?"

"Well, I did..at one point in my life, I didn't know who I was or what I wanted to be. I always questioned myself and my worth." Mercedes explained as she tucked her hair behind her ears before placing her hands on her stomach, "I know it started years after my mom died. My whole relationship with my father changed for the worse. I always wondered if I would get the happiness I deserve."

Today marked Mercedes fourth session with Dr. Meredith Davis. Every since the incident two months ago, she has been seeing her twice a month and it has been helping her tremendously. She had to admit that the first visit she was nervous but Dr. Davis eased them into. The first month, they got to know one another before she just dived into her life. One thing she loved about her was the fact that they didn't have to meet in her office. They could have their sessions wherever Mercedes was comfortable at. Since her doctor cleared her for work a few weeks ago, today they were having their session in her office during her lunch break.

"You know I don't want to get into anything about your parents at this particular moment, and I have a reason for that." The therapist said as she sat up in the chair, "How have you been since the shooting?"

"I am being honest with you when I say it doesn't bother me. I'm glad he's dead, and yes, I feel bad for Bailee and Bethany but he tried to kill me. My daughter could've not only lost her mother, but her sibling as well. So, because I feel that way, does that make me a bad person?"

"In my professional and personal opinion, it doesn't make you a bad person at all. It's normal for any person to feel this way after going through a traumatic event." Dr. Davis said as she stared at the young woman in front of her, "Take me back to how you felt two years ago."

"I was scared, so scared. If Sam hadn't came back and our dog wasn't able to break out of our backyard, there's no telling what he would've done." Mercedes played with her hands as she sat down, sighing, "I felt so stupid for not seeing the signs."

"You weren't stupid, you just always see the good in people. You couldn't have known he was going to turn out the way he did." Dr. Davis wrote down some notes in her pad before speaking again, "Have you forgiven him?"

"You know, that's funny you should ask that because it seems like every person that has hurt me or at least tried to hurt me, I always forgive them. Like with him, Santana, and the people who always have something negative to say about Sam and I's relationship." Mercedes rubbed her belly as she stared at her, "But like with the person in the situation that just happened, and with Michael, I can't see myself ever forgiving them."

Dr. Davis nodded her head but didn't say anything for a moment, closing the cap down on her pen, "Have you spoken to Quinn?"

"Not since that day she left to hospital. I didn't know she made it home until her mom ended up texting me."

"How does that make you feel?"

"At first I was sad, and angry. I just didn't understand why my best friend was shutting me out. But now.." Mercedes shrugged as she looked down at her stomach, "I just let it go because I don't care anymore. I can't and won't be stressed because it isn't good for me or my little girl."

"Honest truth, how do you feel right now?"

"I feel better for getting this off of my chest. Seeing you has been really helping me in more ways than one and I'm thankful."

Dr. Davis smiled as she leaned forward and patted her hand, "I'm going to leave you with this quote. The key to being happy is knowing you have the power to choose what to accept and what to let go." She placed her things in the bag and stood up, standing in front of her, "I'll see you next week at four."

Mercedes nodded as she stood up as well, "Thank you, Dr. Davis."

"No problem, sweetheart." She gave her shoulder a squeeze before turning on her heels and heading out of her office.

Mercedes took her shoes off before sitting down, lifting her legs on the couch just as she heard a knock on her door, "Come in."

Virginia opened the door and gave an apologetic look, "Um, so sorry for interrupting Mrs. Evans."

"It's fine, what's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that your husband called and he had me rescheduled your whole schedule for today and tomorrow." Virginia played with her hands nervously, "He told me to not tell you but you're my boss, so.."

Mercedes sent her new assistant a smile as she shook her head, "It's fine, Virginia. I'll give him this one, but please ignore any request he orders in the future."

Virginia let out a short laugh as she nodded her head, "Yes ma'am, but since he did ask so nicely and was concerned because you can't be stress with the baby.."

"It's okay to say he kindly forced you, Virginia." Mercedes said knowingly, seeing the young woman nod her in agreement before she continued to speak.

"I did request for all your meetings to be through via Skype for the remainder of your pregnancy and they all agreed."

"Thank you. Seriously, you have been such a tremendous help to me since you've been hired. I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity. It's been awhile since I've been happy doing something I love to do." Mercedes had hired Virginia back in February. When the job was first posted, her application and resumé was the first one in. She had graduated college a year ago and has been unemployed since then. She was hard out of luck on life until she saw this opportunity. It was the best thing that has happened to her in long and she was thankful.

Mercedes smiled at her before her eyes went to the door, sending a glare at the man, "Why are you giving my assistant a hard time?"

"I'm not." Sam said as he came into her office, sitting the bag on her desk, "Do you feel like I was giving you a hard time Ms. Dupree?"

"Umm.." She chuckled nervously at the couple before stepping back, ignoring the question before looking at her boss, "I'll give you two some alone time."

Sam grabbed a container from the bag and handed it to her, "Hope you're not vegetarian or anything. Burger and fries for lunch as a peace offering in case I got you in trouble."

Virginia let out a snort as she took the food, "Thank you, Mr. Evans."

Mercedes watched as she closed the door behind her, seeing her husband grab the bag and turn her way, she frowned.

"Don't look at me like that. You know how I am about you, especially when you're pregnant." He said as he came over to where she was sitting, handing her the bag, "I also brought you a peace offering. One that I know you're going to accept because you've been craving it."

"Cuban Mojo Pork with guacamole on top and coconut rice, squeezed with lime juice over it?" Mercedes sent him a smile as she opened the container, letting all of the flavors fill up her nostrils, "Thank you, love but I'm still not forgetting what you did."

"I know, but I'm only looking out for you and her." Sam pressed a kiss to her lips before sitting down, poking her stomach gently, "How are you feeling?"

"Good." Mercedes replied as she picked up her fork and looked at her husband with a smile, "My session with Dr. Davis went well."

"That's great, baby. I actually have mines tomorrow after work." Sam responded softly as he placed his hand on her stomach, smiling when he felt her move, "She's active just like Ari was."

"Oh yeah." Mercedes swallowed the food in her mouth, nodding her head up and down, "Especially when she hears your voice."

Sam couldn't help but smile at that as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her covered stomach, wrapping his arms around her as he laid his head down on her roundness.

Mercedes smiled at him as she continued to eat her food in the peaceful silence. She was so thankful for her overprotective husband. She loved this man to death.

Meredith placed her glasses on as she looked at her notes before looking back up at the man. Honestly, it had taken them awhile to get to this point but she didn't mind. He was a different kind of client with so much going on, she knew that it was best to wait until he felt comfortable enough to open up, just like her other patients, "Sam, I just want to applaud you for not giving up on me. A person of your standards and mind set would easily not come back after one session."

Sam sighed as he leaned back on the couch, "I'm not like everyone else. I want to be better for my family."

"And that's wonderful, but you also have to want to be better for yourself for this therapy to work." She spoke honestly as she glanced down at her notes she took from the last session, seeing exactly where she left off and wanted to pick back up at, "Today I want us to discuss Mercedes. I know you've told me the story about how you two met, but it was only brief. I want you to dig deep and tell me about your wife."

"Like I said before, Mercedes and I met in middle school. I've always had a crush on her, but always put my feelings on the back burner because my best friend at the time had a crush on her."

"Santana right?"

"Yeah." Sam shook his head as he let out a sigh, "Anyways, I asked her out our senior year. It took me so long, but I'm glad I finally did. As years went by, we had a lot of ups and downs, which we can get into another time. Asking Mercedes to be my girlfriend was one of the best moments of my life. Her agreeing to marry me topped it all." He let a smile take over his lips before he raised his eyes to look at her, "She's beautiful, caring, loving, and just an all around amazing person."

Meredith smiled as she listened to him speak nothing but good things about her, "Is there anything you don't like about your wife?"

"I don't like how she let the weakest individuals get to her."

"Meaning the people who have done her wrong, and the people who have sad nasty things about her, am I right?" She knew that this was a sore topic, and a very deep root to his anger problems, but they needed to talk about it.

"Yeah." He balled up his fists, just thinking about it made him pissed, "I hate seeing her upset, it just does something to me."

"Going off on her father, almost killing the boy in college, the coach, and recently your ex-friend, yeah it does something to you alright. It brings out the worse in you." Meredith said blatantly as she watched him closely, "I get it Sam. I would be furious and want to resort in nothing but violence if anyone intentionally hurt the ones I love. You love your wife so hard, and fiercely, that you just see red when someone comes at her incorrect. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you are in the wrong, I'm just saying that we need to figure out a way to control your anger. There are always going to be people in the world who can't mind their own business."

"And I know that. All this that were going through now, I know it is only going to get worse for our daughters. I know that they are going to have it hard and it pisses me off just to think about it. I can't bear to see them go through shit just because the color of their skin."

"Majority of all minority and mix-race parents feel that way. It's not easy, trust me. I am a black woman who was adopted and raised by two loving white parents. I get it. It was not only hard for me growing up, but also my parents. The looks we got going out, nothing but pure hatred and disgust, but we ignored it and people like that because they were irrelevant and their opinion didn't matter. I can honestly say that I think your girls will brush mean words off. For one, getting to know the parents they have, they are going to be nothing but strong." She crossed her legs and looked at the young man before her, "Let me ask you something, how did you feel when you got the news about Mercedes being shot?"

"It felt like my whole world just stopped." He admitted honestly as he felt his eyes starting to water up just thinking about the horrible day, "I was numb, in a panic, an emotional wreck because there was a chance that I could've lost my wife and our baby, and I was filled with rage, wanting to kill whoever did it to her. Not going to lie, if I would've found him, I would've killed him without a second thought."

"And you know what? I believe you would've too. Like I mention earlier, your temper and the way you handle things is the main focus of what we need to work on, Sam. You said you wanted to get better for you family, and I said you also have to want to get better for yourself. We need to get to a place where you think before you react. I'm going to say this, we have enough kids growing without their fathers and some of the bad decisions that a parent makes, will have an effect on their child." She preached as she twirled the pen between her fingers, "Please don't think I'm asking you to change yourself, I'm just asking to alter yourself a bit. It's a good thing to be protective over your family, but one has to know the limits. Get what I'm saying?"

Sam listened to everything she was saying and he nodded his head. Everything that they've talked about and her advice made a lot of sense. A big thing he needed to do was think before he react because it could effect his family, "I understand."

"Great. I'm going to ask you one more question, then we can close this topic for now. Did you ever blame Josh for not protecting your wife?"

"People believed I did, but I didn't. Me not talking to him at the hospital wasn't intentional. I wasn't talking to anyone because I was so worried about my girls." Sam admitted honestly as he stared at her, "Josh did protect my wife. He did everything in his power and I'm forever grateful for him."

Dr. Davis nodded before she wrote something down in her table, not speaking for a moment before closing it up, "What's your ultimate goal you've trying to reach while you're in therapy?"

"I want to be a better person. I want to be more open about things I don't like to talk about. I'm already happy with my life and who's all in it, but I just want that happiness to stay."

Meredith smiled as she listened to what he said, "I think we're good for today. I'll see you next week."

"Thanks doc. See you next week." Sam said as he got up from the couch and headed out, taking a deep breath as he headed for the exit. He felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders by getting things out. He was thankful that his dad did schedule these appointments because they were really helping him.