Song: This Little Light of Mine
Chapter 6
This Little Light of Mine..
Sam woke up startled and confused, he could hear screams but wasn't sure if he left the tv on or not. He got up and walked down stairs and saw that it was off but the screaming though faint still continued. He closed his eyes and knew immediately what he was hearing and put on his shoes before walking outside and towards the cabin were Mercedes was, the closer he got the louder the screams became but he knew he literally had no way to get. He cussed his self for giving over the spare key before seeing how well she would react to being in a new environment but when he heard crashing he knew he needed to get inside so he kicked the door a few times before it finally gave and popped open.
Running upstairs following the cries until he found her in the bed, she having a nightmare and he remembered reading that getting close to someone who was having a violent nightmare could be harmful to both parties so started off by saying her name but nothing changed. He moved closer to her and said her name again a little louder, he could see the tears falling down her face and the pained expression riddled on her face. Even looking the way she was, he still found her undeniably beautiful, he took a deep breath before grabbing her gently and cradling her against his body softly shaking her to wake her out of the dream. She stopped screaming but the tears were still flowing, he shook her a little more moving the hair out of her face.
"Mercedes, I need you to wake up." Sam said calmly before feeling her stiffen and her eyes open slowly. She looked up at him and tried to get out of his arms but if she did she would fall straight on the floor and hurt herself.
"I'm going to put you down okay? I had to get you to stop screaming and thrashing about before you hurt yourself." He said before gently placing her back on the bed and taking a step back as she adjusted to her surrounding.
"I thought… I'm sorry for worrying you like this. I haven't had a nightmare in a while..." She replied after a few moments of silence pulling her knees up to her chest and trying to calm her breathing.
"Don't apologize but I had to kick the door in to get to you so I'll be sleeping downstairs until morning." He said watching her closely and seeing she had some bruising along her leg as well a bite marks, he could feel his face grow hot and knew he looked angry by her concerned expression she followed his eyes and quickly covered her legs.
"I'll try not to scream again." He ran his hand through his hair letting a deep breath.
"Lay down… please." He replied removing his jacket and tossing it on the chair. She shot him a concerned look but laid down anyway. He walked over to the other side of the bed and grabbed the other pillows placing them behind her then he walked over to where she was laying and gently pulled the cover up and tucked her in moving the hair from her face again before stepping back.
"I'll just be down stairs okay?"
"Okay..." she said looking at him and noticing a scar on his chest. She hadn't noticed that he was shirtless until now and she couldn't stop her hand from lightly tracing the scar before he grabbed her hand gently and closing his eyes before putting her hand under the covers. He gave her a small smile and picked up the lamp she knocked over turning it on and walking towards the door.
"Open or closed?"
"Closed."
He nodded and walked out closing the door behind him, she could hear him walking down the stairs and heard him shuffling around before it grew silent again. She snuggled up to the pillows and closed her eyes hoping her nightmare wouldn't return before she knew it she was out like a light.
...
She slept longer than expected because when she woke up half the day had gone by and the sun was starting to set, she quickly shot up and ran into the bathroom to shower and do her hair, she didn't even realize what she was doing until she was running down the stairs fully dressed with her hair in a tight bun and mumbling under breath about how this was going to end badly. She reached the kitchen and froze when she saw Sam standing there peacefully humming while he cooked, he must have heard her breathing heavily because he turned his head and shot her a half smile.
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up." He said turning fully around and tilting his head to the side looking her up and down with a confused expression.
"I feel under dressed." He joked walking over to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water then handing it to her.
"I, ah. I don't usually sleep that late… I haven't slept that late or soundly in a while actually." She replied taking the water with a smile. Whatever he was cooking smelled amazing and that's when she noticed she was starving and her stomach grumbled.
"I checked on you while you were sleeping before going on my run and after I did a little work, it's good to sleep in sometimes and it tends to be peaceful out here so I understand." He said smiling which grew when he heard her stomach growl, she looked extremely embarrassed but he chose to ignore it.
"Thank you again for last night." She said with a weak smile to which he just nodded.
"Here come try this..." He said holding a fork out for her to taste, she hesitated for a moment before allowing him to feed her the food. She let a groan when she tasted the creamy pasta and nodded with a thumbs up.
"It's really good!" She said after chewing.
"Good, I'm happy you like, go sit down I'll fix you a plate." He said but could tell she wasn't ready for them to share a meal together and nodded.
"How about this, I'll fix your plate and I'll eat outside on the patio?" He countered and noticed her shoulders relaxing slightly.
"No, it's not that.. Shane umm didn't like me eating with him so I was just a little taken aback by you wanting to because if we're honest I'm a complete stranger to you and I'm in your cabin and now I'm starting to see how crazy all this is..." She said letting out a deep breath fighting her urge to cry, she could hear mother now.
"You are a married woman having dinner with another man, that's not very ladylike."
"Hey, it's okay… I can sit at the counter and you at the table if it'll help but you need to eat." He said taking her from her own thoughts.
"Okay… I wouldn't mind sitting outside." She replied smoothing her hair down but stopped when she saw him looking at her hair. He moved towards her with his hands raised and a lopsided smile before reaching over her and pulling the pin holding her hair up out. She looked at him as he did it could feel warmth coming from his presence, it was different almost familiar. She looked into his eyes and felt a sense of calm rush over her and when he gave her a reassuring smile she knew she was safe.
He slowly lowered one his hands into her hair and gently worked her hair from the position it was in until it all fell down her back. She hadn't had someone run their hands through her hair in years and she involuntarily tilted her head back closing her eyes moaning slightly when he removed his hand.
"Come one let's eat, let me wash my hands if you don't mind grabbing something to drink and I'll meet you out there." She nodded and went to grab some of the juice she purchased then headed out to the back patio.
She didn't get a chance to explore fully yesterday but she feel in love the second she stepped through the french doors leading outside. The patio was beautiful with plush outdoor furnishing, a built in fire pit, there was a small entertainment area that hand a tv docked up and a sound system embedded into the wall. The table was medium sized with bench seats and in the center of the table was a cut out that ran from each end housing candles and small rocks. She saw matches at the end and figured it would be okay to light the candles since it was slowly getting darker after she lit them she heard him coming out with the food in his hands and started to walk over to grab a plat from his hand but he shook his head.
"Thanks for lighting those, I couldn't remember if there were matches here and I don't like turning on the outdoor lights much." He said placing one plate down in front of where she was standing and then sat down across from her with the other. She sat when he did and admired the meal he prepared, creamy pesto with sauteed chicken, green salad and garlic toast, it all looked so delicious.
"Thank you for cooking." She said saying a little prayer before she began eating. They ate in silence before she had the urge to ask him something.
"What gave me away?" She asked shocking herself for even asking that.
"What do you mean?"
"You said at the Gala you had a feeling, what gave me away?"
"You winced when I touched your side and I know for a fact I barely grazed your skin also you dropping your purse was a huge give away about not wanting to be along with for long but if I'm being honest your butler confirmed it for me." He said looking at her nervously he wasn't sure if she would take that news well and hoped she didn't get angry.
"Roderick? What did he tell you?"
"He told me enough…" Sam said looking away and feeling his self getting angry from the memory of his and Roderick's conversation regarding her husband.
"That's why you came to my shop… why you gave Tina the note isn't it?" She asked biting her lip.
"I was going to come regardless but he just lit a fire under my ass. He told me I couldn't come to your home otherwise I would have brought you here myself sooner but I figured Tina could get close enough to you without it looking suspicious." He said with a low chuckle.
"Really? Why?"
"Why not? No woman deserves to be treated that way, especially one as beautiful as you." He said letting that last part slip out. He closed his eyes feeling his self blushing and when he opened them he was met by sad brown eyes looking back.
"You're too kind but beauty in my case is only skin deep." She said looking away wiping a tear before putting on a smile and looking back at him.
"I don't believe that, I don't believe it's only skin deep." He said firmly.
"Well believe it because outside of my father no one has ever said that." She said sighing. Sam looked at her sadly and just wanted to stand her in front of a mirror and force her to see what he was seeing.
"Would you like some dessert?" Sam asked standing up feeling his self growing angry at this conversation.
"Umm… sure? I can clean all this up just give me a mome-" She stopped when he held his hand up and shook his head then grabbed their plates and walked back inside before returning with ice cream and wine. He handed her a cup and a bowl with a small smile.
Instead of sitting at the table he lead them over the where the tv was and sat down on the sofa she decided to sit on the adjacent love seat and could feel a shift in him, thoughts of all the things Shane used to say to her started flooding in her mind. He was trying to complement you and you basically shot him down. Shane told you no one would ever view you the way you think you should be seen because it's no who you really are, you're not special… the only thing special about you is what's in between your legs.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked breaking her from the trance that she was in and noticing how close she moved to him.
"I..umm. I don't know… you seemed upset." She said jerking back and feeling extremely embarrassed.
"What the hell did he do to you…?" Sam asked furrowing he brows.
She stood and stepped back shaking her head before running back inside and upstairs closing the door behind her. She wasn't ready to talk about that and it literally had been one day and everything around her was going warp speed. She felt herself panicking and forcibly shut her eyes trying to force the images of what Shane did to over the years from surfacing, she worked so hard to keep everything at bay but him asking that question… She forced herself to sing to calm herself down as she sat in the corner wrapping her arms around her legs as she pulled them close to her chest and rocked back and forth taking deep breaths.
This Little Light Of Mine,
I'm gonna let it shine,
This Little Light Of Mine,
I'm gonna let it shine,
This Little Light Of Mine,
Yes, I'm gonna let it shine,
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
Sam could hear her singing softly and felt horrible for even asking her such a loaded question. He knocked on the door and waited for her to respond but after a few moments she didn't and she stopped singing as well. He knocked again heard her move but the door never opened and she never said a word.
"Mercedes… I'm sorry for asking that. I can leave I just need to know that you're okay before I do." He said into the door waiting to hear anything and sighed when he heard he singing again. He knew he couldn't leave her like this so he sat down and listened to her sing.
The light that shines is the light of love,
Lights the darkness from above,
It shines on you and it shines on me,
And it shows what the light of love can do.
I'm gonna shine my light both far and near,
I'm gonna shine mine light bright and clear,
Where there's a dark corner in this land
I'm gonna let my little light shine.
Mercedes held her eyes shut willing the memories away but slowly some were leaking through telling herself. "It's gonna be okay, It's gonna be okay, It's gonna be okay…" She said to herself as the tears continued to fall as she tried to remember the next verse. She couldn't remember and started to get angry.
"Why can't I remember?" She said to herself aloud.
"Mercedes… sing with me okay? I know the words just sing along." Sam said through door before he started singing and she listened until remembered.
On Monday he gave me the gift of love,
Tuesday peace came from above,
Wednesday he told me to have more faith,
And on Thursday he brought me the gift of grace.
And then on Friday he told me "Watch and pray",
And then on Saturday what to say,
On Sunday he gave me the power divine
To let my little light shine.
"That's good, you're doing good." He said encouraging her to keep singing.
This Little Light Of Mine,
I'm gonna let it shine,
This Little Light Of Mine,
I'm gonna let it shine,
This Little Light Of Mine,
Yes, I'm gonna let it shine,
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
A/N: So this is going feel like Sam and Mercedes are progressing to fast but I promise it's not going to be that easy to break down the walls. Also Sam telling her she's beautiful isn't him coming on to her and it will be explained in the next chapter why he said it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time XOXO