Mid-August 2012

Sam and Mercedes hadn't left the house much over the past two months. There was the occasional trip to the store; doctor's appointments, dinners at Mercedes' parents house, and one weekend trip to Kentucky to visit his own family but beyond that, friends were either coming to him and Mercedes, or the two of them at home with Lukas. Tension was starting to thicken between them because of it. Mercedes would fuss at Sam about dishes piling up and he would make passive aggressive remarks under his breath about Mercedes monopolizing the television throughout the day. Both of them could feel the angst bubbling to a boiling point but relief came in the form of Puck's invitation for the two of them to join him and Abby for a day at the local aquatic center.

Mercedes insisted Sam go, and that she would watch Lukas. Normally he would have argued, not wanting her to have to spend the entire day alone with the baby, but because of how stifled they'd felt lately, he didn't protest her insistence. Puck came by with Abby around noon and Sam left with a backpack for his trunks, sunscreen and towel.

"Love you," Sam said, pecking Mercedes on the lips.

She returned the peck and a, "Love you too," then faintly smiled when Sam kissed the top of Lukas' head to tell him goodbye. Minus the slight balding spot from where his head normally lay, Lukas' caramel-colored hair was growing and curling slightly on the ends though most of it was fine and straight. His cheeks remained plump and rosy and while his body grew slightly longer, he still favored keeping himself huddle in the fetal position when he was held.

When Sam, Puck and Abby left, Mercedes gently stroked the top of Lukas' sleeping head while softly speaking to him. "What am I gonna do, Son? Hm? Daddy and I are ready to bite each other's heads off."

She looked down to admire his slumbering face and smiled at the fact that he currently didn't have a care in the world. "I hate fighting with your daddy but…half the time we gripe at each other and tick each other off."

She thought about how one afternoon, Sam planted himself in front of the T.V. with his PS3 controller practically glued to his hands while Mercedes was attempting to clean up the house during Lukas' nap. She wanted help but getting Sam away from his video games was like pulling teeth. And then there was a time where Sam tried his hand at cooking but burned the macaroni and cheese to the point where they couldn't salvage the pot it had been in; Mercedes griped about it all that evening, to the point where Sam opted for sleeping on the nursery floor.

She let out a worried sigh and carried Lukas upstairs to put him down for his nap. After turning on his music and monitor she quietly left the room and went to the bedroom to get her cell phone and make a call. Her initial thought was to call Tina and seek her advice but she wondered if there was a way for her to get some sound advice from her mom without telling her mom outright that she was hoping for more intimacy between she and Sam. With a deep breath, she hit the 'call' button as soon as she'd found her mom's cell number in her list of contacts. Mrs. Jones picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, Baby—how are things? How's my grandbaby?"

Mercedes sighed while sinking onto the mattress, "Hi Mom."

"Uh-oh…I can hear it in your voice—what's wrong?"

"Lukas is fine—he's taking a nap right now. It's Sam and me. It seems like we're almost always at each other's throats and…I don't know what to do. I don't like us being like this way but I don't know how to fix I, and every time we try to talk about it, we're either too tired to really talk it out, or someone comes over and the conversation's cut short, or Lukas starts to cry and we focus on him, so it doesn't really get resolved."

"What do you try to say when you guys talk about it?"

"I try to address our fights and he makes suggestions to fix things but it's always things for him to do which makes me look like the bad guy. I hate that and I tell him that, and then we just end up arguing all over again."

"Well, Baby you guys have gone this long without any big fights since Christmastime—maybe you two were just overdue for some more tension."

Mercedes' brows furrowed at what her mom was saying. "We were overdue?"

"Yeah. I mean it's not healthy to have a relationship that's all good all the time. Your father and I fight from time to time but we work it out in our own ways."

"Like what?" Mercedes asked.

Mrs. Jones hesitated for a second and then said, "Well, sometimes we talk it out—usually we talk it out."

"Uh-huh and when that doesn't work?"

"…Well…we've gone on walks together, or gone on vacation together…"

A walk maybe have been doable for her and Sam, except that they already do that almost daily with Lukas, and going on a walk without Lukas wasn't an option they'd afforded themselves. As for a vacation, Mercedes had been short-sighted in seeing how that would differ from the way things were right at home; they'd be in a different place, but it would still be the three of them. Unless…

The way her mom's sentence had trailed off led Mercedes' thoughts down a path she didn't want to think of when it came to her parents, however she couldn't deny that what her mom implied wasn't a terribly idea to venture. "I think I know what I'm gonna do."

She could practically see the brows raise on her mom's forehead, "Is that right?"

"Yeah. But I gotta go."

"You're not about to jet off to Vegas with Sam and my grandbaby, are you?"

Mercedes rolled her eyes, "Mom, really? No Sam and I aren't eloping. I'm gonna see if our friends, Finn and Quinn will watch Lukas for the night. That way he won't be far but Sam and I will have a chance to just…be alone and try to sort this out."

She didn't want to divulge the details of her thoughts to her mom; that would lead to a much longer conversation than she desired to have right now, and chances are, by the end of the conversation, her mom would have her nerves shot.

"Mm," her mom hummed, "That sounds like a good idea. If your fiends can't watch him though, send him on over to his Grandma T."

With a smile, Mercedes told her, "Okay. Thanks Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Baby. I hope you and Sam sort things out."

Taking a quiet deep breath and nodding, she replied, "Me too. I'll talk to you later."

After the call ended, she started on a new call.

"Hello?" she heard the familiar, friendly feminine voice come through the receiving end of her cell.

"Hey Quinn, it's Mercedes."

"Hi Mercedes! How are you?"

Mercedes bit her lip, "Fine but…I was hoping you and Finn could do a favor for Sam and I…"

"Can get meee," taunted Abby with an excited grin in Sam's direction.

Sam smiled back at her and hunched—his fingers wiggling, trigging her to take off running across s the grass. He let her get a bit of distance before closing in on her and scooping her in his arms, covering her face in growls and kisses. She squealed and giggled in his arms while trying to pushy his stubbly face away from hers.

Sam chuckled, "Come on, Abbster—time to go."

"Awww noooo!" she whined, dropping her jovial features to a deep frown.

Sam cringed at her abrupt sadness and tried reasoning with her. "We gotta go get food though. We've been here all day, Abbster. Aren't you hungry?"

"No," she lied through pouted lips, causing Sam to chuckle.

"Well I am and I bet your daddy is too. We'll come back sometime, okay?"

Still pouting, Abby replied, "Kaay."

He smiled and kissed her cheek once more before hoisting her to sit on his shoulders, "Let's get our stuff and find your daddy. I'm starting to think he got his butt stuck on the toilet or something."

It was nearly nightfall by the time Sam had come back home. He'd spent the entire day at the aquatic center with Puck and Abby, and then the three of them met up with Lauren during her break at the hospital and got dinner; Sam made sure to order something to-go for Mercedes, unsure if she'd already eaten or not. By the time Puck brought him back home, he'd been ready to shower and park it in front of the T.V. for the rest of the night, assuming Mercedes would relinquish it to him.

He sighed while opening the door, not having the energy to go another round of arguing with her, but to his surprise, the television was off. His brows rose while he scanned the living room, "Stormy?" he said, practically to himself. Still toting her take-out, he tried the kitchen but it too was noiseless and desolate. Sam stuck the bag of food in the fridge and strode out of the room.

Concern over the eerie quiet had Sam call out, "Stormy?"

"I'm upstairs," she called back.

He felt a fraction of relief, trekking up the stairs but when he passed the nursery and noticed it was empty, he continued on to the bedroom.

"Stormy, where's Lu—kas…"

His words sputtered and his eyes widened; Lukas was certainly nowhere in their room.

(This part will reflect both their PoV, but mostly Mercedes'. Enjoy!)

Mercedes was sitting in the middle of their bed, dressed in the piece of lingerie she'd purchased for this very moment—or at least, the moment she was hoping might happen that evening. Her upper body donned a deep red baby doll top that allowed Sam to see through the material everywhere except for the area across the middle of her chest. For panties, she wore matching red satin boy shorts that stopped directly below the bottom of her rear. Her hair was laying in perfect, wavy falls on either side of her barely made-up face.

Sam was gawking at this point, and his still staring made her cast a nervous smile at him.

"Hi," she finally said without taking her eyes off of him.

"H-…hi," he stammered back and then accidentally dropped his backpack. She watched him swallow hard and smiled, amused by his blatant reaction to her ensemble.

"Lukas is spending the night with Uncle Finn and Auntie Quinn tonight."

She waved him forward and he approached the bed warily—as if she were an apparition that would vanish if he got too close. But when she sat down on the bed, not only could he smell the alluringly sweet honeysuckle aroma breathing from her skin, but he felt the shift on the mattress when she moved to crawl over to him and stand on her knees behind him. When her warm, soft hands came down on his bare shoulders, Sam shivered but quickly accepted the massage she'd begun to give his shoulders.

"How was the aquatic center?" she asked.

"It was fun," he answered warily; though he didn't want to be suspicious—she was giving a mean massage while his mind kept picturing her in the lingerie—he couldn't help wondering what had brought on her actions and wardrobe, or lack thereof. "Hooow was your day?"

She bent her head and kissed his shoulder, and then proceeded to slide his unbuttoned plaid shirt off. "It was good."

Sam let her take the shirt off but his brows fell low over his eyes. He was about to ask what brought on her mood but she spoke up before he had the chance.

"Listen, Cap…Sam, I wanted to apologize for how I've been acting lately. I know things have been a little tense between us and I just want you to know that I love you, and I'm really grateful for everything you do for Lukas, and for me."

He twisted his torso to look in her pair of brown hues, taking in her genuine apology while trying to keep his eyes from wandering down at her lingerie again. He needed as clear a head as possible to give his response. "I'm sorry too, Mercedes. I know this is all new to both of us and…well, we can get overwhelmed sometimes. I know I've felt that way a lot, and…I don't mean to take it out on you when I do."

Mercedes nodded once as her lips broke out in a soft smile. Her hands moved from his shoulders to either side of his face. "I didn't want tonight to just be about us apologizing to each other though. I'm glad we did, but…I think you and me have been doing a lot of talking, for a while…"

Sam lowered her hands from his face with his own hands and craned his neck up to kiss her lips tenderly. "I think you're right," he replied with equal softness. His gaze went to her pillow soft, lightly glossed lips for only a second before he looked up in her eyes again. "Are you sure about this?"

Her lips tucked inside her mouth while she nodded. "I'm ready, if that's what you mean."

Sam turned his half-naked body to face her, and this time he let his eyes wander over her dark red lingerie and bit on his lip, then licked it. "You look sexy by the way. Red really is your color."

She blushed, scooting back on the bed on her knees. No one had ever called her sexy before—besides Kurt and Tina, but they didn't count. "Thanks."

He followed her further onto the bed until they were both standing on their knees in the center. Sam leaned towards his side of the bed, reaching for the knob on the nightstand drawer; when he stood upright on his knees again, he'd tossed a small, square packet on his pillow, then snaked an arm around her middle and nestled his face in the crook of her neck, starting a trail of kisses there. While he kissed and occasionally sucked at her soft, smooth brown skin, he muttered, "You smell amazing."

She knew he had a thing for her honeysuckle body wash but she'd acquired the body cream for it too and smoothed a generous amount over her body, not long before Sam had come home. Her eyes rolled shut while her hands came up to rest over the backs of his shoulders. His sun-kissed skin was still very warm from being outside; the thin fabric of his plaid shirt had done very little to protect him from the heat. She felt more of the heat soak right through her baby doll top, the instant Sam pressed his body closer to her while his fingers slid down her curvy contours.

For a moment, she started to over-think things—was she supposed to be doing something right now too? Should she kiss his neck too? Or maybe slip her fingers through his hair. What was a good turn-on for him? Maybe she should take some of Tina's advice and see if he'd let her massage his length with her hand. But would the unsteadiness of her fingers give away her nervousness? Would he feel offended and wrongfully think she thought he needed assistance?

The answer to all her doubts was snuffed and must have had something to do with her lingerie because the next thing she knew, something stiff brushed against the front of her panties, causing her to gasp.

Sam's lips left her neck. "Are you okay?" he whispered.

She nodded and flushed, feeling a bit stupid and hurriedly replied, "I'm fine. Sorry."

He raised his head and looked right in her eyes, "I'll be careful, but if I hurt you at all, tell me, okay?" As she nodded back he pressed another kiss to her lips and then added, "I don't wanna hurt you if I can help it."

"I understand," she said back, returning his kiss. This time, their lips stayed on one another. Kissing was something she was familiar with; this was something she felt absolutely certain of being able to fairly contribute to. But the feeling of Sam's erect shaft against her groin again made her inadvertently deepen the kiss. Sam kept up with her easily however and pulled her closer to him.

Her knees started to feel about as sturdy as noodles; it seemed like all the blood had retreated from them to her lower lips—an area that was starting to feel just as firm as the catalyst for it. She groaned against his lips while gliding her tongue across his lip to be granted admission.

As Sam complied, parting their lips a bit, he leaned his body forward to get Mercedes to lie back. She adjusted her legs so that they were bent on either side of him. At the vaguely familiar feeling of her tongue dancing warmly inside his mouth, Sam moan and pressed his lips against hers. One arm supported his weight—his fingers spread apart, pressed into the mattress, while his other arm moved from around her. Before abandoning his contact with her body however, his fingers lifted her top just enough for him to slide the material up.

"No. Please," she quietly insisted. She'd done enough reading to know that if her top came off, she'd be losing the built-in bra which put her at risk of Sam getting milk squirted in his face. And all she could think of, was how that would be the ultimate mood killer so she wanted her top left on. Much to her relief, Sam hadn't been bothered by her defiance and instead tugged teasingly at the elastic waist of her panties.

"Can I?" he mumbled against her lips.

"Mmhm," she muttered back, circling her arms around his neck for a moment. She had a moment of relief from Sam's hardening shaft as he arched his butt up and started to peel her panties away from her hips. Mercedes' hand caught his however and shifted a bit on the bed to help him. A couple of seconds later, the underwear was off and Sam cast them to the floor.

A week prior, when she thought she and Sam might have resolved things, she'd gone with Tina to get waxed for the first time. Thinking on it now, she was grateful she and Sam hadn't gotten this intimate until now—the stinging bothered her for days. But now she'd felt fine; she'd received the "OK" from her doctor, weeks ago and now she was working to push her nervousness away as she watched Sam's green gaze drift from her face, down the middle of her chest and past her belly button. She bit her lip but when he looked back up at her, he was smirking. She smirked too—more out of nervousness than anything, but she'd felt relieved when he lowered his face towards hers, and then began kissing and sucking at a spot above her busty chest.

Her arms came back around his back and when she started to inch her fingers up the nape of his neck for his hair, her hand clutched his hair suddenly, coupled with the air she gasped.

Sam's long, dry fingers started to play inside her; first the index, and then his middle finger joined in teasing her clit. Mercedes managed to let her gasp of air go in the form of a moan, but her fingers were locked in a fist around Sam's blond crop.

"You like that?" he asked—his voice growing husky against her skin.

Her eyes rolled shut once the initial shock had gone and nothing but pure pleasure coursed through her mind and body. "Yes," she moaned back.

While Sam's face started to migrate to her cleavage, his now wet fingers began to slowly stroke her beyond her lower lips. Unable to help herself, Mercedes arched her hips, causing his fingers to slip deeper into her for a second. Her mind was slipping away from reason or doubt; his swelling methods were erasing her fears—breaking them off like a slab of ice and sending it to float far, far away. And though she was having trouble thinking straight at the moment, the hand that wasn't gripping Sam's hair was making jagged slips down his side to try and get rid of his boxers.

"Oh God!" she uttered harshly with a hitched breath.

The next thing she knew, Sam's fingers had left her; she opened her eyes to find him sopping up the excess from his fingers. He quickly smirked down at her, pulling both fingers slowly out of his mouth and then yanking his boxers off. After shimmying them down to his ankles, he kicked them off to join her panties on the floor, and then brought himself closer to her again. This time there were no barriers between them; just skin on skin—warmth on warmth. She started to clench her thighs around him but he shifted, indicating for her to stop while his hand reached up past her head and drew back with the little gold wrapped condom.

With her hands on either side of her naked form, she gently clenched at the comforter beneath her—the nervousness creeping back up again. She'd caught a glimpse of Sam's liberated and erect member and while she'd been impressed—not knowing who else's she could compare it to—she was also anticipating what was to come after he got the condom on.

Seconds later, he was tossing the wrapper and tiny square cardboard over his shoulder and lowering himself back to Mercedes. His lisp trailed up and down her jaw while he muttered, "remember…tell me to stop if it's too much, okay?"

She shivered at the seductive tone his voice had taken, but nodded as the tip of his shaft found the part in her lips and slowly entered her.

Sam groaned; Mercedes gasped, then a whimper escaped her lips that quickly turned into a moan. Sure, the pain was there but it was a pain that she didn't mind because what came with it felt too good to complain about. Her fingers gripped the blanket even tighter as Sam began to grind against her at a slow pace.

Mercedes whipped her head to the side and eagerly searched for his lips with her own. Once she found them, she kissed him messily and he reciprocated while picking up a marginally faster cadence of thrusts.

"Oh S-Sam…" she strained—her heart thumping hard in her chest.

A thought flashed in her mind; Sam dancing to the cheesy nursery rhyme tunes of Lukas' swing, except he was doing a lot more than the hokey pokey. He'd done a lot of ass shaking, hip rocking and body rolling. Right now, it felt like he was putting those same body rolls to use; whether he was or wasn't, she'd enjoyed the rippling motion his torso and hips were teaming up on at the moment. With a restless pair of hands, she moved both over his ass while he thrust; each time she felt the muscles in his rear pulse strongly with each thrust. Her hands stayed there while a tight, pulling sensation started in her lower abs.

"Mercedes I'm gonna…" he started to say in a weak but gruff voice. She already knew what he hadn't finished stating because she was feeling it too. And while he'd groaned through his climax, Mercedes' gaping mouth let out an ecstatic whimper—her own juices soaking her groin, the instant Sam pulled himself out of her.

He dropped his forehead on her chest, sweating and exhausted, and then let his head loll to one side over her breasts.

"Wow," he panted.

"I'll say." She breathed a short chuckle, unsure of what she was feeling, other than pure ecstasy. Sam had been careful, thoughtful and gentle with her, while also making things pleasurable for them both.

Mercedes turned her head as Sam shifted off of her. He'd quickly moved off her and muttered, "Hang on," excusing himself to the bathroom; her brows furrowed but she understood what he was doing when he returned without a used condom on his dick. Almost immediately, her lips curved into a smile when he slipped back into bed, sidling right up to her backside with his arms coming around her.

"Can we go again? That was incredible," she whispered to him, weaving their fingers together.

Sam bent his head slightly—his forehead gently pressed to the back of her head—and pressed a love-filled kiss to her back and the nape of her neck. "Thanks," he murmured appreciatively while stealing her earlier replies. Her interest in more made him smile crookedly. "You were pretty amazing yourself."

One soft, humorless chuckle left her lips, "I didn't do anything though."

She felt Sam shift slightly behind her and when she turned her head to see, he was looking down at her in the night light, ready to ask, "Excuse me, but did you miss me having to make that trip to the bathroom? Cause that little trip wasn't to check my hair in the mirror."

His forwardness made her flush and smile bashfully. When she settled her gaze forward again, Sam relaxed into her backside again and resumed giving her the softest kisses along her smooth back. "Give me minute and then we can go again."

He managed to slip his fingers free from Mercedes, just so that he could stroke his fingertips along the length of her bare arm. It started to feel soothing to Mercedes, but a moment later he began surprising her by slowly kissing her down the length of her arm, and then bringing her hand up to his lips so he could kiss each of her knuckles. Eventually his digits took to caressing her unclothed thigh and calf, letting his fingers really explore and appreciate her body more than they already did.

"I love you, Sam," she whispered unexpectedly.

Sam's fingers slowed and stopped their caressing of her skin and for a split second, Mercedes wondered what was going through his mind. But his hand moved up to her shoulder and gently pulled, indicating for her to turn over. She complied, lying on her back and looking up at Sam, who was still lying on his side.

For the first time since he'd returned from the bathroom, she was looking at his face. His features were settled but a blend of emotions were found in his eyes—passion, exhaust, contentment, and most importantly, love. She kept her gaze fixed on his green orbs while his lips clearly and finally murmured, "And I love you, Mercedes."

Rather than merely hearing the words fall on her ears, or seeing them glide effortlessly from his lips, she felt them pierce her heart—like he was injecting her heart directly with his love, causing it to swell without any dangerous ramifications. She couldn't explain what made their love declaration differ so much from previous time—perhaps their recent love-making, or perhaps them finally hurtling over their ongoing tension, or both. Maybe neither but it didn't matter what the cause was to her. She'd felt the happiest with Sam that she'd ever felt—second only to Lukas' arrival in the world.

Blushing and smiling—with a slight mist in her eyes, Mercedes reached up, slipping a hand over one side of his face, and then raised her head from the pillows to meet his lips with her own.

Maybe it was a young, naïve, cliché thought, or maybe it wasn't, but in that moment she felt absolutely certain that he was it for her. No matter what the future held for them, Samuel Blake Evans would be her only love.

Please leave reviews! I'm very interested to know what you all thought of this particular chapter. And can I just say: WOW! As I was working on this, Miracle Baby got its 600th review! Each one of you who've been reading and reviewing this story (or have just been reading along) are incredible. Thank you so much! I really didn't think any of my stories would exceed the amount of feedback that Flash Forward got, but I've humbly been proven wrong through this fic and REAL Love. I really can't say thank you enough! More is coming! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!