The weekend rolls on - enjoy and please let me know what you think!

"You idiots weren't supposed to reveal yourselves until this afternoon!" Santana continued, clearly annoyed but also sounding as though she were not surprised by this turn of events.

Sam glanced briefly at both Mercedes and the other guys before turning back to Santana. "Mercedes saw my car last night and called me on it," he explained. "I figured she told you all?"

Santana shook her head. "Way to throw Mrs. Trouty under the bus, man."

Mercedes looked back and forth between Sam and Santana, thoroughly confused as to what the hell was happening, before finally addressing Sam. "Of course I didn't tell her or anyone else. First of all, the last I saw of her last night, she was drunk and making out with Brittany, so, no. Not a good time for a conversation. Particularly one that, as you might recall from our texts, I was afraid would end in your death?"

Sam looked chagrinned, as did the rest of the guys, while the women all had confused looks of varying degrees on their faces.

"Oh my God," Santana finally said, stomping down the steps to the lower deck. "Surprise, ladies! The guys are here too! This was always going to be a whole glee family party, they just made themselves known too early." She glared at Sam. "Or didn't think about the fact that one of the ladies might recognize a car that also technically belongs to her?"

"No," Sam said, shaking his head. "I didn't think about that."

"Useless. Absolutely useless accomplices. I will keep this in mind if I ever need to hide a body one day," Santana huffed.

"Okay, wait, back up," Tina said. "How in the world did the guys convince you to let them crash this weekend?"

"Pfft," Santana said. "They didn't. I invited them."

"But I thought you really wanted this to be a girl bonding thing?" Quinn asked, sounding as confused as they all still looked.

"Okay, here's the deal," Santana said. "Yes, I wanted us to have a chance to hang out, just the girls. But I also wanted us to be able to all have some fun, all of us together. Because the wedding's going to have my work people and Britt's dance people and my parents' friends and like, random third cousins and shit. I wanted to celebrate our wedding with just the people who really know us." She shrugged. "So I found this place, with both houses and here we are." She gave Sam and Mike coolly appraising glances. "I have to say, I am impressed that none of the husbands spilled the beans."

Mercedes and Tina did not look quite as pleased about this.

"It was supposed to be more of an elaborate surprise when you guys got back from the spa this afternoon," Mike explained. "But when Sam got Mercedes' text last night – yeah. We all figured you all knew and that we didn't need to stay inside until after you left this morning." He directed apologetic glances at both his wife and Santana. "I'm sorry about that."

"Ugh. It's whatever at this point – what's done is done," Santana said, waving a dismissive hand. "Listen, we need to leave in about fifteen minutes, so say your goodbyes. The boys can do whatever the hell they were planning to do today and we'll be back this afternoon. And everything better be ready to go for tonight when we get here!"

And she turned and marched back to the other house.

The nine people left standing on the deck just kind of looked at each other for a few moments before Blaine broke the silence.

"So, um, I'm going to go down to the dock to make sure Kurt and Finn get updated right away when they come off the lake," Blaine said, before hurrying away.

"I'm gonna go get my shoes on and make sure Sugar's awake. Berry too, I guess," Lauren said before she turned and went back up the stairs to the girls' house.

Quinn waited until Lauren had disappeared into the house before turning to Puck, laying a hand on his arm. "Listen, can we talk for just a minute?"

Puck looked wary but nodded. "Yeah, we can go inside?"

"Oh, good," Artie chimed in. "You can let me in the house – it's kind of awkward trying to do it by myself. I'll go to my room," he quickly added, "I'm not going to listen in."

This left the two married couples on the deck. Tina looked at Mercedes.

"Well, what do you think?" Tina asked. "Do we give them hell about this?"

Mercedes grinned. "Or do we recognize that while we don't really like having been lied to, we recognize that it was a lie perpetuated to actually spend more time with us? A good intentions lie, so to speak?"

Both men looked encouraged by this statement.

"And also that you generally don't say no to Santana Lopez when she tells you to do something?" Tina added.

"There is definitely that to factor in," Mercedes agreed, reaching for Sam's hand as Tina did the same to Mike and the other couple started walking away.

"I'm gonna wait for Quinn," Mercedes said to Tina, who nodded as she headed up the stairs and Mike went down to the dock to chat with Blaine.

Mercedes turned back to Sam, who was still holding her hand. "Forgiven?" he asked tentatively and she rolled her eyes.

"I guess so." She shook her head. "Why didn't you go ahead and tell me all of that last night?"

"Too much to text?" Sam offered, knowing it was a lame reason. "No, really, I figured I'd tell you this morning, but I just didn't get the chance before Santana saw us all. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Mercedes said, shrugging. "Really. Life's too short for me to spend all day being pissed about something like this. You guys wanted to surprise us. Or, well, I guess Santana wanted us surprised, but whatever. It's all good."

Sam smiled and pulled her into a hug. He hadn't really thought she'd be overly upset but now he could fully look forward to a fun day with the guys and a fun evening with his wife and their oldest friends.

Mercedes was still leaning into Sam's side when the back door opened and Quinn stepped out, stopping short as she saw Sam and Mercedes still standing there. "Oh – "

"Everything okay?" Mercedes said gently and Quinn nodded.

"Yeah – I'll –" she hesitated and Mercedes quickly gave Sam a kiss before coming over to loop Quinn's arm in hers, the two of them heading back to the girls' house after saying goodbye to Sam.

"Really, everything's okay?" Mercedes asked quietly as they walked up the stairs and Quinn nodded again.

"Yeah. I told him that I know and I'm happy for them. He said they're not necessarily keeping it lowkey just for my sake, but it was part of it, so I think he's glad I know." Quinn sighed. "We both know we'll always be linked to each other. But we also both know that we've always been better as friends, so at least we've got that."

Mercedes nodded, leaning over to give her friend a quick hug. "You're really one of the toughest ladies I know," she said. "I'm proud of you."

Quinn gave her a faint smile. "Proud of me too," she admitted. "And definitely ready for my massage and all the other pampering!"

Mercedes was definitely ready for that too. They'd all been booked for a full package at the nearby spa down the road from the hotel where some of Dirty Dancing had been filmed. Massages, facials, mani-pedis and lunch awaited the group of women.

They all piled into the Escalade, Tina automatically driving again for some reason. It was funny, Mercedes thought idly, how quickly they fell into patterns.

Like forgetting to tell Rachel things.

Santana had taken one look at Rachel, dressed uncharacteristically frumpy in a t-shirt and gym shorts, hair in a messy bun and sunglasses on, and cackled, "Guess no one told you that Finn is here, did they?"

To her credit, Rachel had initially responded rationally with "We're married, Santana. He's seen me first thing in the morning before" before Santana's words had caught up to her brain and she stared at her in confusion. "Wait, what?"

"Just get in the car," Mercedes had said with a sigh. "I'll explain."

Luckily, it was a short drive to the spa and there wasn't time for an argument before they arrived. With four treatments and eight women, they were split off in groups of two to cycle through the day and not overwhelm any one or two employees of the spa. They would finish with a late lunch on the outdoor dining patio overlooking this part of the lake.

Mercedes found herself paired off with Santana but they started with facials and then moved on to massages, so they were in different rooms to begin with. They met back up at the manicure tables and then moved to the pedicure chairs, chatting idly and waxing poetic about how relaxed they felt.

"I swear," Santana said lazily, "Anything ever happens to Brittany, I'm coming back to find Simone."

Mercedes snorted. "Off of one massage? Really?"

Santana made a face at her. "Oh, whatever. You know what I mean."

Their pedicures finished, the nail tech told them they could go ahead to the patio while their toes dried. Lunch wouldn't be served until all the ladies were ready to join them, but there was champagne waiting, so, carrying their shoes, they headed out to the patio to wait for everyone else.

"So," Santana said conversationally, as they got settled in their seats, "Is married sex really so bad and boring?"

Mercedes stared at her, dumbstruck for a minute. "I'm sorry, what?"

Santana grinned. "You heard me."

"Didn't we already have this conversation last night, basically?"

Santana shrugged. "You weren't very forthcoming. I may have been drunk, but I remember that."

"Lord," Mercedes snapped as she leaned forward towards Santana, irritated, "What do you want to hear from me, Santana? That sometimes the man can make me forget my own name? That you can make fun and call him Trouty Mouth all you want but I do not care, because what he does to me with that mouth is freakin' magic? Are those the kinds of things you want to know?" She sank back into her chair, arms crossed over her chest and already somewhat regretting her words, her face burning, although she did note with some satisfaction that Santana appeared to be struck speechless, at least momentarily.

"Well," Santana finally said. "Okay, then, Trouty gets it done. Noted. Why is it such a big deal for you to talk about it with your friends?"

Mercedes sighed. "I don't know. I guess, just – you know, Sam and I - we both fall pretty heavily on the old-fashioned, traditional side of things. Our sex life isn't bad or boring, it's just – it's ours. Mine and his. And I don't feel like there's anyone else that really needs to know too much about it, I guess."

Santana considered this for a moment before nodding. "I guess that makes sense." She tilted her head, studying Mercedes for a moment. "Something else I've been wondering about – in regards to the traditional thing - "

Mercedes shook her head resignedly. "No, we don't only do it missionary style, okay?"

Santana burst out laughing. "That is not at all where I was going with the question – but okay. Look at you, sharing information unprompted."

"Jesus," Mercedes groaned, face flushing again. "I just can't win with you."

"Nope," Santana said cheerfully. "Anyway, what I was actually wondering is whether the traditionalist thing is why you took his name?"

Mercedes blinked, a little surprised by this shift in conversation. "I guess so, yeah. Why?"

Santana shrugged. "I don't know. It's just, you were always the loudest of all of us about not needing a man or whatever and yet you're the only straight, married woman in this group who's changed your last name."

"Huh," Mercedes said. "I'd never really thought about it like that, but I guess you're right." Then she laughed. "Although I could see Tina doing a triple hyphen thing if Mike's last name wasn't already the same as her second name."

Santana snorted. "I personally think being Tina Cohen-Chang-Chang would be highly entertaining, but to each their own."

Mercedes laughed. "It really kind of would be, wouldn't it?" She looked down at her freshly manicured hands, realized she hadn't put her wedding and engagement rings back on yet and pulled them out of her pocket to do that, studying them for a minute before looking back at Santana. "Anyway, yeah. The name change. I know it's really, like, throw-backy or whatever, but there's a part of me that just really likes being Mrs. Evans, the Evanses, and knowing it's official or legal or whatever. Especially for when we have kids eventually." She shrugged. "I guess in some ways it's no different than getting married versus just living together."

Santana contemplated this. "Maybe so."

"Also, I still maintain I don't necessarily need a man," Mercedes went on to say. "I fully believe I could make it on my own. But I want the man I have. I don't know quite how to explain it, but I feel like there's a difference. It's a conscious choice to be with him, not something I have to do." She smiled at Santana. "You should understand that – you and Brittany have been making a conscious choice to be together for years. In so many ways, getting married isn't going to change that."

Santana nodded, looking contemplative. Mercedes watched her for a minute, suddenly feeling like maybe she could be a little more understanding. She could remember the feelings, the emotional upheavals in the months before her own wedding. Even having been together as long as she and Sam had, there were still those moments of wondering if they were doing the right thing, tying themselves to each other forever, wondering if marriage would change their relationship. In her own, uniquely Santana-ish way, maybe Santana was asking her for advice and reassurance about her own upcoming wedding.

"Marriage does change things a little," Mercedes said quietly, putting a hand over Santana's. "But mostly in a good way. I promise." She smiled. "I'll admit, our first fight after the wedding felt like the end of the world. I don't even remember what we fought about, but I remember thinking, oh my God, I am legally stuck with this moron forever."

Santana couldn't help laughing at that. "I mean, I'd say that every day if I were married to Trouty, but – "

"You hush up, I love that moron," Mercedes interrupted her, grinning. "Anyway, that eventually led to, okay, how are we going to work through this? Because we are stuck together, but we want to be stuck together, so we gotta work together. Some days are harder than others, but the good days? Man, they make the bad days so worth it."

Santana smiled softly. "At the end of the day, there's no one you'd rather come home to, right?"

Mercedes nodded. "Yeah." Movement on the far side of the patio caught her attention then and she looked over to see Rachel and Lauren headed their way. "Listen – the things I said at the beginning of this conversation – can you please not repeat them? I know you live to tease, but – that was all just really personal and - "

Santana nodded. "I tease, but I'm not cruel," she said quietly. "I know I must have really gotten you riled up for you to confess the things you did. And, you know, I appreciate the other stuff you said, about marriage in general."

They smiled at each other and then Santana turned her attention to the other two women approaching, Tina and Sugar and Brittany and Quinn not far behind them. "Alright ladies – let me see nail colors!"