Mercedes is so tired by the time she gets home that night. They've been working on recording the bridge to one of her new songs all. damn. day., trying to figure out what wasn't working, and late in the afternoon, they FINALLY got it, but now she's a little later getting home than she thought she might be, which she feels a little bad about since this is Sam's short day at work AND one of the nights that Blaine has a show, which means they have the place to themselves for a while. She just wants to put on her pajamas and curl up on the couch with Sam and whatever random old sitcom he's found for them to watch now that they finally finished That 70's Show. He likes for them to bounce around the decades, so she's expecting something from the actual 70's, but the 80's or 90's are also a good possibility. It doesn't really matter what show it is, really, the couch and Sam are the important parts.

She's so tired that when she opens the front door, it actually takes her a moment to register all the candles, burning brightly throughout the foyer.

"Sam?" she calls as she shrugs off her jacket and hangs it up, then steps towards the living room, where the pocket doors are already open and the room is empty. The candles are confined to the entry area, so it's nowhere near as many as the last time Sam did this, when their relationship was new and fragile and tentative. They've been together going on five years now – she's actually wracking her brain, trying to remember if this is an anniversary that she's forgotten. Sam's big on anniversaries – their prom dates, their first kiss, their first date as an actual couple, the day they moved into the brownstone (even if they weren't actually a couple until a week or so later), their first date in New York – he's sentimental about that stuff, and she loves it, even if her brain doesn't work the same way with dates.

She makes a mental note to point out to Sam – whenever she finds him – that at least she immediately assumed it was him that had lit all the candles this time and not their roommate. She can't help but giggle a little bit as she remembers that night all those years ago, when she'd opened the front door to way more candles than this and her first thought was Blaine was the culprit. Sam had teased her for it later, after his declaration and after the kissing, after she'd finally been able to take off her coat and set down her bag and they'd sat down for more talking and more kissing, he'd said indignantly, "Oh! And one other thing – Blaine? Really? You walk into a romantic scene like this and you immediately thought it was BLAINE?" "I thought you were about to break up with me!" she'd protested and he'd shaken his head vehemently. "Never. I'm never breaking up with you. Or letting you break up with me." And he'd proven it just a month later when her insecurities about their lack of a sex life had reared up again and she was about to go on tour for the first time and she'd tried to break up with him and he refused to let her do it. Somehow, he'd gotten her to agree to figure out how to make things work when she was on the road and now, here they were, almost five years later, making it work.

"Sam?" she says again, as she turns back around and notices, for the first time, the red string on the floor and then realizes there's a piece of paper taped to the stair railing.

"Follow the red string," it reads, in Sam's distinctive scrawl, and she shakes her head indulgently. What is this fool up to now?

The string heads towards the stairs, so she follows it and on the third step there's another note that says "Ten Reasons Why I Love Mercedes Jones."

Mercedes bites back her smile as she gets to the first note – "There's nothing better than hearing her sing. Her voice is like butter."

Two more steps brings her to "I don't know anyone who's a more amazing friend than she is" followed by "Her smile could light up the whole world – it's brighter than the lights of NYC."

That smile spreads across her face as she reaches note number four, which proclaims, "She's a great kisser – when she kisses me, I forget everything but her."

The next step follows up with "And her hugs? They're freakin life affirming." Mercedes can't help hugging herself just a little at this as she keeps going up the steps.

She proves the next sign true when she laughs out loud at "She thinks I'm funny – and every time I make her laugh, it's like a power boost to my heart" and then the next one makes her giggle even more when she reads "But the way she makes me laugh is even better. My girl is the queen of a one-liner!"

She's reached the top of the stairs by now and taped to the newel post at the top is a note that brings a hot blush to her cheeks, saying "She is sexy as all hell" but then the sign on Blaine's door – the first on the hall – brings a bit of a lump to her throat when she reads "She works harder than anyone I know."

The sign on the wall in between their bedroom doors says "She's the best person in the world to go to sleep with and wake up next to" and she feels like her cheeks are going to split in two, the smile on her face is so big by this point and then she sees the sign on their bedroom door, that says "And I hope I get to do that forever, because she's the woman I wanna spend the rest of my life with" and she kind of stops breathing for a second and her heart starts pounding and there's suddenly a whole damn FLOCK of butterflies in her stomach and she realizes her hand is kind of shaking as she reaches for the doorknob and slowly pushes the door open to find Sam, down on one knee in front of their bed, ring box in his hand, nervous grin on his face and, oh my gosh, just so much love in his eyes that Mercedes feels her knees going week as tears spring into her eyes and she manages to whisper "Sam Evans…"

At that Sam grins a little more confidently at her and shoots back "Mercedes Jones…" and then he pauses, takes a deep breath and says, "Wanna see about changing that to Mercedes Evans?"

His face is looking kind of blurry to her at this point and for a brief, irrational second, Mercedes is afraid she's having a stroke and then she feels the tears spilling over and realizes it's just that she's full on crying now as one hand goes to cover her mouth and Sam takes another deep breath and when he starts to speak again, she realizes his voice is thick with tears too as he finally says, "Mercedes Jones, will you marry me?"

She's nodding and crying and she finally manages to squeak out a "Yes, yes, Sam, of course I'll marry you!" and the smile on his face at her words is the most amazing thing she's ever seen in her life.

She grabs his hands, pulling him up to his feet, frowning in concern when he groans and grimaces as she does so. "Are you okay?" she asks.

Sam nods. "I'm fine. Just a little stiff."

Mercedes narrows her eyes at him. "How long have you been kneeling?"

Sam looks sheepish. "Since I heard you come in the front door," he admits.

Mercedes can't help it, she bursts into giggles at this. "The way those stairs and the floorboards in the hall creak? You couldn't have waited till I got upstairs?"

He shakes his head vigorously. "I needed to be ready! I've been planning this so long, I wanted it to be perfect for you."

She just gazes at him for a long moment. "It was so perfect," she says softly, before closing the gap between then and kissing him fiercely, one hand sliding up his shoulder to cradle the back of his head as he kisses her back just as fiercely. It's only as his hands are going to caress her back that he realizes he still has the ring box in his hand and he breaks off the kiss and takes a step back before holding the box out to her again.

"I don't think you even looked at it yet," he teases and she laughs.

"I don't think I did either," Mercedes admits as she takes the box from him and opens it to find the perfect engagement ring for her. "Oh, Sam," she breathes as she looks back up at him, "It's beautiful. I love it." She hands the box back to him and holds her left hand out to him so he can slide it on her ring finger. It fits perfectly and she holds her hand out at arm's length so she can admire the sparkle.

"I love it," she says again before looking up at Sam again. "And I love you," she whispers.

Sam's smile has taken over his whole face as he looks at her. "I love you," he replies. "But I guess you figured that out already tonight."

Mercedes laughs. "Just a little bit." She looks at him curiously, something he'd said earlier coming back to her. "How long have you been planning this?"

"Couple months?" Sam says, in a tone that suggests he's not quite sure. "I mean, for serious and for real. Generally speaking? For like five years."

Mercedes shakes her head at that. "Sam – "

"No, I'm for real."

"No, I know you are!" Mercedes says hastily. "I just – I dunno, I guess we've just always talked so much about 'when we get married' or being married one day – I never really thought about you planning an actual proposal like this."

Sam grins. "Have you forgotten who my best friend is? If it was up to Blaine, we'd have been having a parade in Times Square or something."

"Oh, God," Mercedes groans. "Thank you for keeping this just for us."

"I knew that's how you'd want it," Sam says quietly.

Mercedes smiles, her heart melting all over again at the thought of how well this man knows her, how much he loves her. "And that's why I said yes."

Sam grins at that. "I love you. For so many more reasons than the ones I listed. But mostly just because – you're you. YOU are the reason, Mercedes Jones."

She feels the tears filling her eyes again. "Sam Evans –"

They've sat down on the edge of the bed by now and he leans over and kisses her before pulling his phone out of his pocket. "This is going on Instagram tonight though, so say cheese," he says, holding the phone out in front of them in selfie mode.

"Sam!" she squeals, swatting at his arm. "We have to at least call our parents before you put this on social. Jesus, People Magazine will pick it up right away and if my mama finds out about this from Star Tracks and not me, I will never hear the end of it. And your mom won't be happy either!"

"Okay, okay," Sam acquiesces. "We'll take the picture, then we'll call our parents and then I can post it. Deal?"

"Deal," Mercedes agrees as he holds the phone up again and she puts her left hand on his chest so the ring is clearly visible. At the last second, she swoops up and kisses his cheek as he snaps the pic and the grin on his face is so big it's almost ridiculous. And of course when he posts the picture to Instagram after calling both sets of parents (and fessing up that he had already talked to her parents earlier in the week, asking for their blessing, not their permission), he captions it 'She said YES!' and even though she laughs and shakes her head at him, she steals the picture and posts it to her own Insta with the caption 'I said yes!'

And then, finally, she gets to put her pajamas on and curl up on the couch next to him, her Sam, her fiancé, the man who's going to be her husband. She's going to get to do this for the rest of her life. And she can't imagine anything better than that.