Alright, here we are. Nathan (Ada's ex/babyfather) is on the Jones' doorstep. The scene is set!

Apologizing for typos because I know they're there lmao.


"Did you just say Nathan?" Diane smiled as she rushed to the door. "Well, look at that. Come here, boy, give me a hug." She extended her arms and hugged him tightly.

"Mama D. So nice to see you again." Nathan smiled back.

"I swear, I thought it was going to be a whole millennium before I saw you again. Come in, come in!" She moved to the side to let him in."You can go and get freshened up. We're having dinner in a few."

"But Mom," Ada spoke up, "I thought you barely made enough for everyone else tonight. Do we really want to add another entire stomach to that?"

"We might have to spread out a little thin but we can manage I'm sure."

"Are you sure though? We'd have to spread it really thin. You know Nathan just doesn't know when to stop." Ada laughed a little too hard.

"Good news is I don't even need to eat. Stopped and got something on the way. I am 100% satiated." Nathan said cooly.

Ada fought the urge to roll her eyes.

At the table, Sam sat beside Mercedes. "This is some serious daytime "Young and the Restless" soap opera shit, right?" He chuckled.

"You can't be joking about this right now." Mercedes frowned and turned her head to look at Sam. "You're not seriously making light of my sister's estranged ex-fiance and father of her secret child showing up at our door unannounced. You're not doing that are you?"

Sam briefly opened his mouth before closing it. "No. No I'm not."

Mercedes smiled contently "Didn't think so."

"I'll go pull up a chair for you." Diane left the doorway, leaving the couple to themselves.

Ada was visibly seething. "What in the hell are you doing here?" She mumbled lowly.

"Ada I—"

Mercedes rushed over to them and stopped Nathan mid-sentence. "Nathan, this isn't a good time. Are you sure you can't just come back?"

"No, Mercedes. I can't. Nice to see you again, by the way. I've missed you too."

"Yeah, ditto." She said quickly. She looked at Ada, "Come on."

Ada followed her sister to a guest room down the hall. Mercedes closed the door softly and faced it. She trained her eyes on the floor. "Are you okay?"

"Why is he here?" Ada's voice shook with anger.

"I know just as much as you do. Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay. My blood is boiling. Who does he think he is? Showing up here like this without so much as a call or text to ANYONE? I'm more than not okay. I'm outraged. I'm irate. I-I'm splenetic!"

Mercedes bit back a chuckle, "Ok, Mrs. Thesaurus." She turned around and stepped toward her sister. "Look," She took out her phone. "I'm giving you thirty seconds. You have thirty seconds to tantrum and throw things and get out whatever frustrations you can get out in that thirty seconds. After that, we shut this shit down, go back out there, sit down at that table, and push through. Got it?"

Ada nodded, breathing heavily with the anticipation of the freak out.

"Alright. Thirty seconds." Mercedes went back over to the door. She paused before looking back with her head, "Just… don't do anything that will draw too much attention or hurt yourself or the kid." She said knowingly. "Thirty seconds…" She set the timer on her phone. "Go."

Mercedes braced herself for whatever was about to happen in the next half-minute, but the silence in the room was palpable. Before long, Ada spoke up. "I'm done.." She said flatly.

Mercedes frowned as she turned around, "No you had 30 seconds, you only used 10 of them."

"No, I can't do this. Not right now." She said as if it were obvious. "We both know that if I start now, I won't be able to stop in thirty seconds, ok? So, just let me breathe and I'll be done."

"Ada." Mercedes walked over to her. "Are you sure? Are you sure you're sure?"

Ada nodded as she huffed. "Yeah. I'll be fine. I'll make it through."

Mercedes looked deeply into her sister's eyes. She took her hands in hers and gave them a firm squeeze. Ada looked and squeezed back. "I've got your six, okay? Whatever you need."

"Thanks. For everything." Ada tried to convey her message to her sister.

Mercedes nodded. "Noe, let's go to what is about to be possibly the most awkward Jones Family Dinner in the history of Jones Family Dinners." She chuckled.

Ada smiled, "And you know that's saying something."

The sisters went back to the dining room and sat beside their boyfriends (or their estranged ex-fiance slash secret baby daddy). Shortly thereafter, Mercedes' grandmother Edith arrived and the dinner commenced. Edith's arrival lightened the mood some, but the tension in the room was tangible. The sound of clinking cutlery and dishes filled the air, broken only by small talk about Lima's recent events and compliments to the chef.

Just when Mercedes and Ada thought they had made it to the home stretch of the dinner and the torture would soon be over, Diane decided to speak up. "What's going on here?"

All of the kids feigned confusion with vague mumbles denying that something was going on.

"Oh, no. Don't act all dumbfounded. This room is so thick with tension it feels like I'm in a tropical rainforest." Diane waited for someone to say something, but all her family looked at her with the same glass-eyed expression. She took a sip of her drink and nodded. "I know what and who this is about."

The kids went back to mumbling and asking who it was about.

"You two." She waved her finger at Ada and Nathan. "Something happened and you don't want him here. The rest of you are just as eager to avoid him as she is. You've been shooting him dirty looks since he showed up here."

There was a simultaneous burst of "Psshh, please." and "what? No way?"

Diane interrupted, "What happened between y'all, hmm? We know I can do this all night."

Ada cursed Nathan for showing up. She knew her mom was right. She is a lawyer, after all. Scaring people into telling her what she wants to hear is kind of her thing.

Nathan started talking, "Mama D, I—"

"Nathan and I broke up." Ada blurted. "He didn't want me to be gone for our last semesters of school and I dumped him because I told him that I couldn't do the long-distance thing if he wasn't going to commit to it."

"Yeah, that's it." Nathan nodded.

Diane frowned, "So, what's brought you here?"

"Question of the night." Sam mumbled before Mercedes kicked him under the table.

"Well, we talked, and—"

"And I told her that I was committed." Nathan blurted in the same way Ada did. "I told her that I didn't care what the circumstances were. It didn't matter to me where we were, how often we could see each other," He paused and looked at Ada. "Who else may have been in the picture. I said that I was ready for it and that I was wholeheartedly invested in making it work."

"And I told him he should join us for dinner!" Ada enthused.

"Hmm." Diane pursed her lips— she was thinking. "That explains you two. Why does everyone else seem to hate you? And why did you not tell me he was coming to dinner tonight?" She asked the couple.

Ada answered both questions, "We never actually agreed on a date for him to come. He just decided to surprise me!" She smiled too wide. "He just loves surprises." She looked at Nathan passive aggressively. "And I told everyone about the break up except for you and Dad and neglected to tell them that we sort of made up. So they didn't know," She tried to look at Mercedes for help. "That he was back on my good side."

Mercedes nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, no, we didn't know they made up until now. So when he showed up we were shooting him daggers." She chuckled awkwardly. "But we're all good now."

"Wow. Quite a story there. But I'm glad that you two were able to work it out. Let's celebrate. I've got a bottle of this amazing 1985 Spanish red, you've just got to try it. I got it on our trip to Napa last year. 1985. Nate, you're going to love this. I was waiting to try it until we were together again. Looks like tonight is the night." Diane laughed as she rose from her spot at the table.

"Actually," Ada stuttered.

"We're not drinking. We've taken a vow of abstinence… from alcohol." Nathan covered for her.

Diane smiled confusedly, "What? A sobriety vow? From my fellow wine connoisseur?" She pretended to be offended. "At least have a sip." She paused. "1985. Rioja Alta. " She almost pleaded.

Nathan chuckled. "Sorry. I'm committed in more ways than one." He looked at Ada, "Many more."

"You can just give our glasses to Sam and Mercedes. Celebrate their relationship." Ada offered.

Diane smiled, "How sweet." She turned to Sam and Mercedes and her smile faded into a raised brow, "Y'all know y'all aren't getting any of my 1985, right?"

"Yeah, I was gonna skip out on that, given that my dad's a low-life alcoholic and all." Sam laughed.

Mercedes sensed something behind that laugh but decided to ignore it for the time being. "Yeah we were both going to pass on that. Why don't you save it for their graduation this spring?"

"Great idea. I'll just go open up a younger bottle for me and Mom. How's that sound, Ma?" Diane looked to her mother.

Edith shook her head. "I don't want anything worth more than $50. Did you spend more than $50 on your 1985?" She mocked her daughter.

Diane tilted her head, "I did, yes."

"Then I. Don't. Want it." Edith said defiantly. "Spending hundreds of dollars on some wine. Makes no damn sense if you ask me. Get me something under $50."

Diane rolled her eyes and laughed. "Got it, Ma. Cheapest thing I've got, coming right up."

Dinner ended once Edith and Diane had their wine and upon their volunteering, Mercedes and Jay began cleaning the table.

Mercedes waited until everyone else was out of earshot of the dining room to get down to business. "So, what do we do?"

"We don't do anything." Jay shrugged as he collected the plates to take to the kitchen. "They wanna sit at the table at lie to Mom and everyone else? They sat there, ate their food, and made the decision to fabricate this grand story that conveniently left out their unborn child? What do we do?" He asked as if it was absurd. "We don't do anything." He sat the plates down and dusted his hands, "It's no longer any of my concern. I'm washing my hands of it."

Mercedes huffed as she went behind her brother collecting the silverware. "She's our sister. We have to do something—"

"We don't have to do anything, Mercedes. We have no obligation to help her lie to our parents or anyone else. Before tonight, when she was trying to keep a secret by not saying anything or vaguely avoiding the situation, we absolutely should've been the primary ones looking out for her and helping her. But once she decided to throw our entire plan under a bus—"

"We were allowed to throw her under that same bus?" Mercedes interrupted.

"Nobody's throwing her under anything." Jay tsked as he loaded up the dishwasher.

"But we're leaving her to fend for herself. We're throwing her to the wolves. We can't do that. Sister or not, she's someone who needs help."

Jay finished loading the dishwasher and turned it on. Mercedes stood at the island waiting for him to say something. He stood across from her. "You help her if you want, Merce. But I don't owe her anything after what she just pulled in there. I'm only "my sister's keeper" to a certain point, and this is past that."

"So you're just not going to do anything. Even if she tells us she needs our help. If she begs for it?" Mercedes crossed her arms. "Jay, we cannot just leave her to fend for herself. Even if she did some weird shit. You know how she gets."

"I know exactly how she gets. But Mercedes, I can't conform to every single thing she needs me to do. Every single lie she needs me to tell." Jay started out the kitchen and stopped beside Mercedes, whispering beside her shoulder. "Pregnant or not. Baby or no baby. I'm not willing to continuously concoct these lies to tell our parents. That's not how I roll. And I know that you and Ada are just starting to get back to your whole sister act thing, but it shouldn't be how you roll either. I'm done defending her until she's ready to come clean."

With that, Jay left the kitchen and Mercedes grunted and put her face in her hands. She started rubbing her temples in an attempt to relax and figure out what to do. Of course she had to help her sister. But it wasn't because of the state of their relationship or the fact that there was a baby involved. She was the only person who was truly and completely on Ada's side. She had to help her right? What would happen if she didn't?

A voice interrupted her thoughts, "Merce."

Mercedes stopped rubbing her temples but kept her face in her hands and looked at the person. It was Nathan, but she didn't know what to say or do. So she did nothing, hoping it would prompt him to say something that would make it all make sense.

"How about those Yankees?" He chuckled.

Nope. Mercedes rolled her eyes, "Come with me." She led Nathan to the room she and Ada were in earlier. When they were both in the room, she closed the door and stood against it, "I want to give you another chance to not say something stupid. So far, you're not doing so great."

"I uh… I'm glad you and Sam are together. Finally, right?"

"O for 2, Nathan. Watch yourself."

After a pause, Nathan spoke softly, "I'm not here to expose any secrets."

"You better not be." Mercedes sassed. "Why in the hell did you even come here in the first place? And, on top of coming here, you didn't even think to call?"

"Mercedes, if I had called, do you really think Ada would have let me come?"

"Then maybe that should've been a hint that you shouldn't have come!" Mercedes hissed.

"Do you know how many hints I've gotten that I shouldn't come? Her leaving the ring I gave her, taking all of her clothes and leaving like a thief in the night, not returning any of my calls, texts, or anything like that? All of those were hints that I shouldn't come here."

Mercedes crossed her arms. "So, why are you here?"

"Yo, what the fuck are you doing here?" Jay appeared in the doorway almost instantly with a bass in his voice.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "God, not you too."

"Hell yeah me too. You show up at this house; our house. Unexpected. Uninvited. And demand to speak to my sister and lie to my mom and grandmother? The hell is wrong with you?" Jay furrowed his brows angrily.

"While you adding all that extra bass in your voice I think you ought to remember your sister is carrying my child." Nathan's voice got deeper and he stepped closer to Jay.

"Okay, both of y'all, just wait a minute." Mercedes stepped in before the two men got violent. "Jay, he didn't demand to speak to anybody. But Nate," Mercedes turned to him, "You had no right to just show up here. Ada doesn't want to see you. You want to see your child, you ask for ultrasound pictures. You don't just show up on our doorstep at dinnertime."

Nathan went over to the chair in the corner and sat down. "Do you know how long it's been since she's been gone? 2 and a half months. Not only does that make 2 and a half months that I haven't been around my unborn child, it's also time that I haven't seen the love of my life; which she still is, by the way." He took a breath. " I'm not here to tell your parents about what's going on. I'm not here to force her back to New York with me. I'm not here to ruffle any feathers or anything like that. I'm here to spend the time that I can with my child and the woman I love. And, if you don't like that, I'm sorry. But Ada's not talking to me and it's her way of pushing me away. I'm not letting her do it."

Mercedes never moved from her spot. She stood, looking at Nathan."You're right." She said reluctantly. "Look," She walked over and sat beside Nathan on the couch. "She told me, us," She motioned to her brother with her head. "Everything that happened between you two, and I'll admit, she was wrong. But that doesn't mean that you can just show up here like that. I love you like a brother, Nate. You know that. But this doesn't make any sense. You could've called me. I would've answered and you know that. I would've told you to come one literally any other day than today, but I would've loved to have talked to Ada and convinced her to want to reconcile with you so that she didn't have to play nice or make up any lies. Just let me talk to her and see if we can't figure anything out."

Nathan fell back against the chair and sighed. "She's not going to want to 'reconcile' with me."

"You don't know that." Mercedes said. "She misses you. Sometimes, we sit up at night and we both talk about our relationships. Mine with Sam. Hers with you. She doesn't consider you guys to be broken up for good. She talks about the way she wishes things could be. If I talk to her enough, maybe I can convince her to talk about what her wishes are with you." She rubbed Nate's shoulder. "I'll be back." Mercedes got up and went to find her sister. Before she reached the door, she motioned between the two guys, "Can y'all not try to kill one another while I'm gone? Thanks."

Mercedes went looking for her sister, but found her talking to her mom about the latest episode of some new soap opera they had been getting into. She decided to wait in her room and talk to Ada later.

At the top of the stairs, Sam bumped into his girlfriend, knocking her over. Mercedes almost fell back on one of the stairs, but he caught her in his arms. "Woah. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She stood back up on her feet. "Thanks. That could've been a disaster." She chuckled.

"More of a disaster than that dinner we just sat at?" Sam raised his brow.

Mercedes laughed aloud at that. "That was a horrible dinner, wasn't it?" She shook her head and started walking towards her room.

"Epic fail." Sam laughed with her.

They sat on Mercedes' bed with Sam sitting up against the headboard with his legs stretched out and Mercedes sitting criss-crossed beside him.

"So," Sam said slowly as he took Mercedes' hands and played with them. " I've got something to tell you. I've been doing a lot of thinking."

"Oh, no." Mercedes joked.

Sam didn't smile back. "This isn't really funny, Merce."

Mercedes frowned. "What's wrong?" She waited for an answer but to no avail. "Please tell me no one is dying or moving or pregnant or—"

"No, no. It's no crazy horrible bomb or anything." Sam shook his head. "Far from it, actually. It's kind of a good thing depending on how you look at it."

"Well, tell me how you're looking at it, babe. Because you look nervous to tell me." Mercedes rubbed the back of Sam's hands with her thumbs, "Go ahead, it's okay."

Sam took a deep breath. "I'm thinking about quitting the football team."

Mercedes stopped rubbing his hands, "You what now?"

"I just think it will be better, you know? I mean, if I quit the team, it'll allow more time in my schedule to find a good job and help my mom out." Sam tried to sound optimistic.

But it didn't go for Mercedes, "Are you saying that because that's what you want? Or are you saying that because it's what you think you should do?"

"I don't know. I mean, of course it's what I should do. But I should feel happy to do it, right?" He looked down at their hands, "To help my mom out?"

Mercedes frowned, "Not if you have to give up the thing you've loved most since you were a kid. Sam, look at me." She lifted his chin up so that their eyes met. "How far are you guys from playoffs? Like, one game? All the training you've been doing? You're just gonna let all that hard work go out the window?"

"My mom needs help, Mercedes. She raised me to be a responsible and dependable man. Is this not what that is? Forgetting about the things you want when the going gets tough because you know it's up to you to step up?"

Mercedes turned so that she could lean into him and squeeze his shoulder. The couple sat silent for a moment. She couldn't blame him. He was right and they both knew it, but she just didn't feel right about him quitting. "I'm hearing what you're saying Sam. And I understand you and where you're coming from. But I don't see how this is going to help you in any other way than bringing in money. Football is your dream. Always has been. And it's your release. It's like me with singing. You need it to feel sane—"

"No, you're my dream, Mercedes." Sam said abruptly. "You're what I need to feel sane. You're the thing I wake up for every morning. It's you." Sam moved to sit across from Mercedes on the bed. "It's all you. I don't need football as long as I have you." He cupped her face in his hands. "Mercy." He pleaded with that one word.

Mercedes reached up and removed Sam's hands from her face, holding them tightly. She didn't agree with that, but she knew this wasn't about her. "I'm so sorry, Sam. This isn't fair to you." She stared at him, warm brown eyes fixated on piercing green ones. "None of this is fair." She resisted the urge to cry. "I want you to do what you think is best. I don't want you to give up football. I know how much you love it and want it. But whatever you do, I'm going to support you. I've got your back. Whatever happens."

Sam kissed her hands. "Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to know I have you in my corner, babe." He kissed her.

Mercedes put her arms around Sam's neck and hugged him. "Just promise me you'll give it a little more thought before you make any big decisions, okay?"

"Of course, yeah. It'll be a couple of weeks out, anyways. I gave Coach a heads up just in case she can find someone should we need them if we make it to playoffs."

"Well, of course you're going to make it to playoffs. My star QB is going to make sure of that." She smiled softly as she straddled his lap. She placed her hands behind his head and drew him in. "You've got my support, Baby. I know how good you are and how much you love football, but you should be able to support your family if you need to." She kissed his lips softly.

He kissed her back, moving his hands from her thighs to her waist. "I love you." He said.

"I love you." She smiled brightly. "Sam, this is an amazing thing you're willing to do. Seriously."

He smiled and kissed her again. "Not as amazing as what Nathan and Ada just pulled off at that dinner table." He chuckled.

Mercedes laughed aloud at that, "Oh, my god. That was so insane!" she rolled over to lay down beside Sam.

"I mean, I knew NYU was a good school, but jeez. Oscar-worthy performance." Sam slid down so that he could lay facing Mercedes.

Mercedes snuggled up next to him and sighed. "They completely lied to my mom, though. And now we've got to figure out how to move forward. Well, I do anyways. Jay says he's done with it, but I can't just leave her stranded like that."

Sam kissed his girlfriend on the forehead. "I'm going to stay out of this one, Merce. Sorry."

"Oh, don't tell me you're siding with my brother." Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"I'm not siding with anyone. I just think that there's more than a few good points from both sides. I mean, she is your sister and you should help her. And she obviously is going to be needing some more help."

"Exactly!" Mercedes said, satisfied.

"But, at the same time," Sam winced. "She clearly never ran any of that by you and she asked you to help her lie on the spot. She doesn't exactly deserve your help at all."

"Are you serious?" Mercedes sat up. "She's my sister, Sam. If I can't help her now—"

"I'm staying out of it. It's not my baby, so I'm not obligated to do anything. You aren't either, but if you want to, then that's great. I think you should."

She looked down at him, frowning, "So you think I'm right?"

Sam's mouth warped and shifted as he searched for the right words to say, "I thi—"

"You said you think I should help her. So you're not siding with Jay, you're siding with me. Right?"

Sam tucked his lips in and huffed. "Have I told you how beautiful you look lately? Drop dead gorgeous." He smiled slyly and put his hand on her thigh.

"Stop trying to change the subject." Mercedes smiled back a little as she picked up his hand and put it back in its previous position on his stomach.

"No, you stop trying to change the subject and get down here so I can get my mac on." He tried pulling her to him with her shirt.

It would've worked if Mercedes hadn't burst into laughter, "Oh, my god. Don't ever say that again."

"What?" Sam grinned. "I can get my mac on. I likes to get my mac on." He rolled his neck and raised his brows..

Mercedes shook her head. "You can't say that, Sam. I forbid you."

"But you say it all the time. Why can't I?"

"Ok, but… I'm not a total nerd." She teased him.

"Oh, no way." Sam shot up at that. "You are the biggest nerd I know."

Mercedes frowned through her smile. "Boy, where in the hell did you get that information from?"

He spaced out for a second, "I'm not totally sure if I'm being honest. But you're not exactly the Queen of the Anti-Nerds yourself."

"Maybe not, but I don't have an entire corner of my room dedicated to my favorite comic book characters." She smirked. "Which means I can say it. You talking about 'getting your mac on' is like my grandma talking about how 'snatched' she looked for her class reunion. It's strange and a serious conversation has to be had to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Oh, come on." Sam chuckled.

"And it really turns me off, by the way." She went to her previous spot, straddling him.

"Oh, well, we don't want that, now do we?" Sam laid his hands on her waist.

"We sure don't" She pushed him back gently so that he was laying down and kissed him on the lips.

Sam leaned up slightly to whisper into his girlfriend's ear, "The last thing I'd ever want to do is turn you off."

Mercedes felt chills rolling down her spine with his breath on her neck. She brought his face to hers with her hands and the couple started making out.

As things started heating up, Sam went to take off Mercedes' shirt. At this she shook her head and voiced her disapproval. "No."

"Why not?" Sam kept trying to get her clothes off.

"Well, for starters, my entire family is in this house."

"They're all probably downstairs. They won't hear us." He kissed her again.

"Okay, but also," Mercedes sat up and pressed Sam down onto the bed by his wrists so he couldn't reach her, "We talked about this. I told you we should wait. You said you could wait. 'Self control' and all?" She got off of him and went to sit at her vanity.

"I know I said I could wait but jeez. Mercedes you don't know what you do to me." Sam groaned before sitting up at the foot of the bed.

"And you don't know what you do to me. You're the one who's not shy about their rock hard abs. I don't have those."

"Maybe not," Sam said. "But you do have curves for days. All the guys watch you when you're walking in the hallway or the cafeteria or literally anywhere you go. And I'm not Puck and I haven't thrown any dudes in the dumpster yet, but I'm not afraid to start with any guy who looks at you the wrong way."

"Boy, shut up." Mercedes chuckled. "You ain't throwing nobody nowhere."

Sam kept going, "Remember Bryan Maks from my math class? He'll probably be the first one. He's always looked at you too weird for my liking."

"Well, we're officially together, so that shouldn't be a problem." She sat beside him, "Everyone knows now that I am yours," She kissed him. "And you are mine." She kissed him again.

"Okay, if we don't get to the whole sex thing sometime soon, I'm going to put out a public service announcement saying that you can't kiss me." Sam said quickly.

Mercedes rolled her eyes and smiled widely. "Again with this, Sam?"

"Mercedes. I don't think you understand. We've been together for what, 2 months now? That's at least 2 months I've gone without sex, not counting the time that I wasn't with anyone and therefore, wasn't sleeping with anyone."

"Oh, no. That must be so hard for you." Mercedes criss-crossed her legs, propped her elbows on her knees, and propped her chin up on her hands, "Tell me more."

"I'm serious, Mercedes."

"No, I completely believe you. Tell me how your fragile pubescent hormonal boyhood has had to suffer over the past 60 or so days. It sounds just awful." She feigned pity for him.

"Haha, very funny." Sam snarled. "You're a girl. You have it easy. You wouldn't understand. Do you even want to do it with me? Be honest."

"Okay." Mercedes cocked her head to the side and put her hands out in front of her, "First of all, I'm going to forget that you even said that second part so that we don't have to unpack how incredibly sexist it was. Second of all," She paused. "We. Already. Talked. About. This."

"I know."

"And I already explained my reasoning behind it."

"I know."

"And you agreed for the very same reasons that we should wait! Or, as you said, 'hold down the seuxal appetite fort'."

"I know. I just…" Sam huffed. "Are we going to do it before we start growing grey hair?" He only half-joked.

Mercedes laughed, "Of course we are, Sam. We just agreed on this a few hours ago. How are you trying to renege do quick?"

"It's not that I'm not down for the wait. It's just that we're talking months of pent up sexual frustration here, Merce. Are you sure you want to do it?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Mercedes laughed.

"Are you? I know what I said about waiting but—"

"Okay, Sam. Face me." Mercedes motioned for him to do so.

Sam turned his head to look at her, giving her an expectant look.

She slapped his knee and laughed, "Turn and sit to face me, fool." Mercedes laughed. "Come on." When he finally did as asked, she took his hands in hers and looked at them as she talked. "I know what I said about our heads being clear and all that, and I stand by that."

"But if we wait for things to be perfect, nothing's ever going to happen."

"I'm not waiting for anything to be perfect." Mercedes looked up at him then back at their hands. "I just don't want us to be distracted by every. Single. Thing. That's going on around us, which we are right now. But maybe that's not the only reason that I'm hesitating." She looked up at him again.

"Okay. What may the other reason be?"

Mercedes pursed her lips and blew through them, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted to say. "It's just that this is us, Sam. This is you. And this is me. It's us."

Sam frowned. "Wait, is this about the whole 'rock hard abs' thing? Because if it is, Mercedes you have nothing to worry about. You're the most beautiful girl in the world. You're the sexiest, too. You're—"

"No, Sam. It's not that." Mercedes shook her head. "I mean, thank you," She smiled and blushed. "But this isn't about what we look like. It's about what we have. Y'know? Us?" She looked at him expectantly, but could tell she wasn't getting through to him. "Okay. How long have we known each other? 13 years? How long have we been best friends? 12 and a half?" They both grinned. "That's 12-13 years of experiences and memories. 12-13 years that have by and large made us who we are. Not just individually, but as a pair."

"I hear all of that, but I'm not sure what it has to do with us."

"Sam, this is a big step. And once we take this step, there's no turning back. I mean, we've already taken certain steps because we've like, kissed and stuff. But even those steps you can come back from. This isn't one of those. And you know how I feel about sex," She said knowingly.

Sam finished for her, "An exchange of energy. I know. You've only mentioned it to me 20,000 times in the last 200 days."

Mercedes giggled. She and Santana start watching self-care videos for women and that one in particular caught her eye. It's the main reason she never slept with Shane. She didn't feel comfortable after that video. "Exactly."

"But, you don't think we've exchanged energies before?" Sam thought of the times they'd hugged or made up after a fight or shared a milkshake. Now that he thought about it, he realized he didn't really know what "exchanging energies" meant.

"Of course, we have. But not in a way that required us to take our clothes off." Mercedes said as if it were obvious. "And not in a way that's so intimate and…" She searched for the right word, "vulnerable."

"But I thought you've always said one of the things you love most about me is how vulnerable I allow myself to be—"

"Yes, Sam. I said that." Mercedes smiled even though she was a tad bit frustrated at him for having an answer or a 'but' to everything. "And I still mean it. But that doesn't change the fact that this is a big thing for us. For any couple, really, but extra big for us. And when we take that step— which, I absolutely want to take, by the way. I mean, I don't think about it too much anymore, but if anyone were to ask me right now about my idea of a perfect date I know it would just be us doing that." She laughed and cursed herself for rambling. "When we take that step," She got back on track, "I want it to be special and beautiful. And everything that we hope for it to be."

"So what's the hold up then?" Sam asked. "Look, Merce, everything you're saying is great. And I'm hearing and receiving it and all that jazz, but I'm not hearing or receiving anything that we can change before we do it. Of course there are things we're nervous about. But sometimes, the only way to get rid of those nerves is to just… do the thing you're nervous about."

"I know that, baby, I do. But that's not all for me." Mercedes stopped talking, expecting (half-expecting, half-hoping) Sam would interrupt her again. He didn't. "I guess to round it all out, my thing is this: Our experiences and memories won't be the same once we do this. And I guess that I don't want to lose this version of us just because our hormones are telling us to. I guess I just want to stay like this for as long as we can. The innocent version of us that's untainted by weird romantic stuff. I also guess that with everything that's going on, we're both too distracted to savor that while we still have it."

Sam looked at her with a slight smirk, "Are we done with the guessing now?"

Mercedes nodded. "Yeah, I guess." She winced and grinned, "Sorry. Didn't mean to do that."

Sam laughed at her nervousness. "Look, I'm not gonna lie to you. That's a LOT of stuff you've got in those guesses. But none of that has to matter. Sure, there's a version of us, similar to this one, that's filled with all the great memories and experiences, that exists. But didn't we decide to try out this relationship thing because we wanted more than that? We didn't want all the innocence, right? We wanted the weird romantic stuff. We wanted new memories and experiences with each other. And," Sam drew out the word, "it's not like this "point of no return" means we lose who we used to be forever. We still have the memories and things. We just made a decision along the way to make new ones. Better ones, if you ask me. Ones that don't involve us hiding our feelings for one another. Annnnd," He drew the word out again.

"Okay, I'm loving this whole soap box moment but I'm going to need you to stop saying that like that."

"Annd," He repeated as he smiled at her. "I don't know about you, but I can assure you that I'm not distracted."

"Sam, you're the king of being distracted."

"No, I'm not. Not when it comes to you." Sam said confidently. "When something's about you, it has my undivided attention. Now, I'll admit, with everything with my dad going on, I've been slightly preoccupied in general. But Merce, every time we're together, you somehow seem to make it fall away. And my entire world becomes about you."

"Well, that's sweet, babe, but it sounds unhealthy. I'm your distractions from all your problems? That doesn't sit right."

"You're not my distraction, Mercedes." Sam let go of her hands and gently grabbed her shoulders. "You're my comfort. You're my relief. Whenever I'm with you, my problems don't magically melt away because I have you to occupy myself with. But they seem less crazy and, well, problematic because I find my relief in you. And when I'm with you, I'm able to just be without having to worry about everything that's going on. So I'm not distracted. Especially not with you. And I'm ready to take this step and be vulnerable and make these new memories. I'm ready. And I want this."

Mercedes cheesed. Sam's words could always make her heart swell. The lump in her throat would always appear anytime he said something sweet. She took his hands off her shoulders and held them again. "You're my comfort and relief too." She said softly. "And you ease my pain and ditto to every single thing you just said." She nodded.

"You can go ahead and cry now." Sam smiled, "I know you want to."

And just like that, the floodgates opened. "I was trying not to." Mercedes sighed with a slight chuckle, already wiping fallen tears from her cheeks. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Come here." Sam extended his arms and Mercedes practically lunged into them. The couple hugged one another tightly. Kind of like we're exchanging energies Sam thought.

Mercedes sniffed as she pulled back from him and stood up, "Look, I'm not making any promises or setting any dates. I'm still not quite ready yet." She stared into his beautiful green eyes. "But I will be. Soon."

Sam smiled widely, "Really?"

Mercedes smiled at his smile and nodded. "Yeah."

Sam pulled her onto the bed with him, laying her legs across his lap. He kissed her, "You say the word whenever you're ready."

Mercedes wrapped her arms around his neck for support, "You've got it."

The couple stared at one another for a moment before Sam said it. "Are you ready now?"

Mercedes laughed aloud, "Of course not, boy. 'Soon' does not mean 2 minutes after."

"I'm just making sure. You can never be too thorough with the questions you ask people these days." Sam cheesed like a child before laying down on the bed and laying one on Mercedes. Then another one, then another. They looked each other in the eyes. Another exchange? Sam thought. "I love you."

"I love you." Mercedes said sweetly.

Sam sighed. "How about now?"

"Oh, my God, get away from me!" Mercedes laughed harder and louder before rolling away from Sam and pushing him off the bed.


WOAH! So… crazy right? No one in this story can catch a break, y'all. I'm sorry LOL. Do you guys think Nathan and Ada are going to be able to make up and be a big happy family? Or do you think her worries and fears that made her leave New York are going to leave the two worse off than they were when she left?

You'll find out next chapter! Also in the next chapter, pumpkin picking ends up going left real quick; we're finally going to find out more about this Sam and Santana situation honey! It wasn't really mentioned this time around, but it's coming! Let me know what y'all are thinking, how you feel, what you want to see, all of that. See you guys soon!