Enjoy! There's some cute banter between Samcededs

The Acclamation

Mercedes groaned when she heard the sound of his truck. It was the same sound she'd been hearing for the past year and it still annoyed her, she placed her pillow over her head trying to drown out the sound of his obnoxious music blasting. She should've known the first Sunday when he burst into the place that this was going to be a problem.

She could hear his boots stomping on the steps and readied herself for his obnoxious knock. She sat up and knew what he was doing, he was waiting to see if he could hear her rustling around. Seems Sam Evans found immense joy waking her up every Sunday morning only for him to ignore her while he worked diligently outside.

A lot had happened in the course of a year for her, she managed to integrate herself into the small town and made a few friends in the process but one thing that hadn't changed was her complete and utter disdain for Sam Evans. Especially since he tried to block her from buying the local bookshop, citing that he had every intention of renovating it.

She quickly shot out of bed and quietly ran to the door and right as his hand made contact with the door she swung it open and he fell through right on top of her.

"Jesus! Let me knock first!" He spat. Mercedes would've gloated in pride for making the asshole fall flat on his ass but he was crushing her.

She tried to push him off but the damn man was a boulder. "Get off me!" She grunted out but he didn't move, he only adjusted so both hands were on either side of her head.

"You know I could find a way to evict you for that." He said, looking her over and smirking, before standing up and walking towards the back door to the garden. "Be happy my sister refuses to let me break the contract."

Mercedes muttered about wanting to kick his ass before sitting up and glaring at the back of his head for what felt like hours. She figured any hope of her sleeping in went out the window and decided to make her some breakfast before heading to the bookshop. She surprised herself when she bought the place because it meant she couldn't just pack up and leave like she always had which scared her but also excited her.

She hadn't had a nightmare since she moved to Stowe and she wasn't complaining. She also stopped looking over her shoulder but that had a lot to do with her new friends, try as she might they kept her busy and out at all hours of the night. She had never really had any good friends before, well all except one… Quinn. She was another runaway, they met in LA when she was eighteen and managed to have somewhat of a normal life together but it changed when her parents found her.

Mercedes stared blankly out the window thinking about how terrified Quinn had been when her father showed up on their doorstep.

"Lucy Quinn Fabray! I won't ask and I'm not leaving without you." Her father said.

Quinn shook her head and slowly started backing away from the large man. "I won't go back." She quivered.

"You will and if that means me dragging you by your hair then so help me God, I will do just that." He said.

Grab. Drag. Screaming. Tire screeching.

Mercedes shuddered remembering how cold his voice was, how calm and scary his words were. He never raised his voice and never acknowledged Mercedes, it was like she was invisible and that made her feel both relieved and sad.

She blinked away the tears threatening to fall and let out a sigh, she thought about Quinn often but refused to look her up. She knew her family was connected and knew going down that rabbit hole would mean opening old wounds she let heal even if it was surface.

"Don't you have a bookstore to renovate?"

Mercedes jumped at the sound of his voice before growing annoyed. "You do realize that the agreement is for you to be in the garden and that's it, right?"

Sam walked over to where she was standing, reaching over her and grabbing one of her mugs then lightly nudging her away from her coffee maker.

"That's the agreement you have with my sister, I never agreed to those terms. I'll be doing an inspection on Wednesday, this is your only heads up." He replied pouring him a glass of coffee before opening her fridge and grabbing her milk to add to his coffee.

Mercedes sighed, walking over and taking the mug from him. "You may own the house but you don't own the contents inside of it. I won't be here Wednesday so have at it but I will know if you go through my shit." She said adding some sugar, sitting down at the table and taking a long sip of her coffee.

He looked at her before rolling his eyes and grabbing another mug, repeating his actions and choosing to lean against the wall. "You should really watch out for rabbits, there's a ton of half eaten produce out there and the flowers are trampled by something… have you noticed anything?"

Mercedes nodded her head. "I saw a deer but that's about it."

He pushed himself off the wall and placed his half empty mug on the counter. "Was it big or small?"

"Bambi size?" She guessed enjoying the annoyed look on his face because she'd taken a picture of the deer she saw but she wasn't going to tell him.

Sam narrowed his eyes on her. "Don't pour my coffee out." He said before walking back outside to tend to the garden. Mercedes muttered, getting up from her seat and doing exactly that before locking the back door as she headed to her bedroom to shower and get ready for her day.

Mercedes looked over the plans the contractor she hired made for her and groaned. "This place is going to bleed me dry." She said and her contractor Noah snorted.

"Should've let Evans take it over." He teased and she shot him a knowing look.

"That infernal man doesn't deserve this place. He would probably turn into a parking lot." She replied, shaking her head. "How much longer will it take?"

Noah rested on his elbows. "A month but I can't do it before fixing this." He answered.

"And you're sure this is the last big thing?"

He nodded and they both took a moment to admire all the hard work that had already been put into the place. When Mercedes stumbled upon it after getting settled into her place, it haunted her for weeks. She couldn't understand how a town as beautiful as that would ever let this place go to waste.

So she did a little digging and found out it was up for sale by a private owner. What she didn't know at the time was that Sam Evans was very interested in buying the old bookstore but was hitting a wall with connecting with the owners.

She found herself smirking at that thought because it only took her one meeting with them before they agreed to sell to her. She still felt a warm sensation when she thought about how angry Sam had gotten when he found out she had basically gotten the place for a steal.

She had underbid him by more than a lot and that seemed to piss him off greatly because he was offering triple the asking price. She wasn't sure what exactly swayed the older couple to choose her but a piece of her hoped it was because she offered them something more than money.

"Okay, go ahead and do what you need to do but if you go over I will deduct from what I owe you." She said and he smirked.

"You are a bossy one. Deal, I'll have it done in three weeks but you have to go out with me." He countered and she rolled her eyes.

"Never happening besides I'm sure your wife would not like you getting involved with someone you're working with."

Noah chuckled. "One day you're gonna give in." He snarked and she laughed, walking away from him.

"Lock up when you leave." She said over her shoulder before heading over to meet Tina, Santana and Marley for lunch.

She smiled when she saw her friends sitting at their normal table laughing about God knows what. Tina was an easy person to befriend, she was bubbly and funny. She also had a bit of a dark side that made Mercedes wonder if she had some secret past like her.

I don't have a secret past. She said to herself, quickly shaking off the memories she kept locked away.

"Hey chica! How's the renovation going?" Santana asked, moving her jacket so she could sit down.

Mercedes sighed. "It'll be another month before it's completed and I hope he keeps his word because I have several books waiting to be delivered." She answered.

Santana nodded, taking another sip of her drink. "Has he got into your pants yet?"

Marley snorted, almost spitting her drink out. "Please tell me you resisted that man!"

"Trust, he's been asking me out since we started working together but I've made it a point to mention his wife." Mercedes replied, ordering herself a drink.

"I highly doubt that deterred him." Tina said, shaking her head before smirking. "Today is Sunday, did he show up?"

Mercedes groaned. "Of course he did, he hasn't missed a single Sunday since I moved in… stupid jerk."

Marley and Santana shared an amused look. "You know there's an event happening this weekend… for local business owners."

Tina grinned. "Oh yeah! Stowe's business brunch and ball! Mike and I already have our colors picked out."

"Yeah, me and Britt are wearing red." Santana said.

She was an accidental friend, Mercedes kept running into her whenever she would go out for things and found herself enjoying their random conversations. She got to meet Santana's wife Britney on one of those outings and was still on the fence about the particular woman.

Marley came out of nowhere and was most like her, she kept to herself and never pried. Mercedes appreciated that about her because between Tina and Santana she needed the calm Marley provided when she was present.

"What's this brunch and ball thing?" Mercedes asked.

"Well, the town's local business owners all come out dressed to the nines and have brunch to you know mix and mingle. Then that same night there's the Colors Ball, the theme this year is forest colors. Every business owner chooses a color and wears it, it's silly but fun." Tina explained.

"Is it required?" Mercedes questioned, hoping like hell it wasn't.

Marley nodded. "Mhm, especially you. Since you bought the old Schuester Bookshop."

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "I still don't know why they picked me…"

"I do but you might not like the answer." Santana teased, winking at her.

"Oh yeah old man Will likes a thick ass." Tina said giggling. "That's also why Sam keeps torturing you."

Mercedes huffed. "Doubtful, that man is incapable of having ulterior motives. Anyways I don't want to spend all afternoon talking about him."

Tina grinned. "Well, Mike and I are thinking about adopting." The whole group erupted in cheers, it wasn't a secret that Tina and her husband had tried for a while before finally landing on this decision.

Mercedes was made aware of this after six months of knowing Tina, when she came over one night upset. She revealed that her doctor told her there was no possible way she could carry a child successfully and since getting a surrogate was far too expensive they decided on adoption.

Mercedes wanted to offer to pay for a surrogate but that would draw too much attention to her and she didn't like people knowing just how much her grandmother left her. She wasn't even sure her family knew…

"Are you sure this is correct?" Mercedes asked.

The executor nodded. "She was very clear on three things, that we give this to you in person, that you sign these documents and that you have an exact amount every year for six years."

"How… how were you able to find me?" She questioned and the woman smiled.

"You were never lost, not to me at least… It has been my honor to keep this promise for Elise but my time is done and I think we both know what that means."

Mercedes nodded with a sad smile. She had always wondered why and how she was able to find people willing to help her. Now she knew why… her grandmother must have known she would run away.

"So I'm on my own now?" She asked and the woman gave her a half smile.

"I think that's up to you. You are a very rich young woman and how you choose to proceed is up to you but with this new money means old trouble."

Mercedes sighed. She knew that the woman was talking about her family. "Thank you… I don't even know your name."

"Shelby."

"Well, thank you Shelby." Mercedes said and just as quickly as Shelby entered her life she was gone, leaving Mercedes alone with a check worth several million and no idea how to deposit it.

That was the first time her family came after her and the first time she had to go into hiding.

"Merce?"

Mercedes blinked. "Huh?" She asked, looking at all their concerned faces.

Marley grabbed her hand. "You okay? You kinda left us for a minute."

She smiled. "Oh yeah… just thinking about the budget, sorry. What did I miss?"

"T wanted to know if you could convince Sam into opening up the winery for us." Santana answered with a sly grin.

"And what makes you think I could or would do that?" She replied, taking a sip of her now watered down drink.

Tina rolled her eyes. "Because he likes you and will do it because you will owe him a favor."

Mercedes snorted. "A favor? Hell to the no! He already walks around acting like he's doing me a favor." She said, shaking her head and all the girls narrowed their eyes on her.

Santana smirked. "You know… a few months ago I stopped by your house and he was there."

"Okay…?"

"It wasn't a Sunday, it was a Friday night…" Santana said and the other girls leaned in smiling. "There weren't a lot of lights on either but there were… sounds."

Mercedes looked at them before laughing loudly. "Sounds? Like what? Moaning perhaps?" She asked, laughing harder at their expressions. "Did it ever occur that it was him moaning in pain and me helping him?'

Santana shot the girls a look before shaking her head. "Nah, I know sex sounds when I hear them."

Mercedes shook her head giggling. "Well, you kinda have to have sex to even know what that sounds like but I assure you, it wasn't that." She said looking at her watch. "I gotta run but you guys should come over later so we can celebrate Tina and Mike properly!"

"Always on the run when we mention that man." Marley teased and Mercedes chuckled.

"On the run from him for sure! Call me later!" She said smiling before it fell when she turned away from them.

Santana was right she had heard moans but it wasn't because of Sam… and they weren't from pleasure.

Months ago

"I just don't understand why you're here this late…" Mercedes said, looking at Sam who had a toolbox in his hand.

"I forgot to fix that fixture during my inspection and if I don't do it now, it might fall on you." He replied before moving her out of his way.

She sighed, shaking her head. "Just lock the door when you leave." She said over her shoulder before going back to her room. When she entered her room she froze a loud clunk. "Sam… you okay?"

When she didn't hear anything she quickly walked down the hallway to see him holding his arm that was dripping with blood. She looked at his arm before shaking her head.

"I…" She tried to take a deep breath but her lungs refused to work.

"Mercedes, I'm fine."

She looked at him and could tell he was saying something but it was muffled. She kept looking at the blood and seeing the flashes that made her let out a soft whimper, she closed her eyes forcing the flashes to stop but it was getting hard to do.

"Mercedes? Are you… shit are you okay?"

"I didn't mean… I'm sorry." She mumbled/

Sam looked at her confused. "You didn't do anything to me…" He said reaching out to her but she flinched and shot back hitting her head against the wall.

"Mercedes!" He shouted, grabbing her as she moaned out in pain. "Shit, you hurt yourself." He said, gently picking her up and walking her into the kitchen.

He sat her in a chair before quickly washing his arm and tying it off. Mercedes still looked dazed, he grabbed a piece of ice from the freezer and placed it on the back of her neck.

Mercedes sighed when felt the coolness on her neck. Sam kneeled down so that he was at eye level with her. "What happened just now?" He asked.

She looked at him feeling tears threatening to fall. "I don't… I don't know." She lied.

Sam nodded as he stood up before picking her up again and carrying her to her room. He laid her down on her bed, sighing. "Well, Stacey would kill me if I left you like this so… I guess I'm crashing for the night."

"You don't need to do that." She said weakly, it was tiring fighting demons.

He just shrugged. "Tough, I'll be gone before you make your coffee in the morning," He replied then left without giving her a chance to reply.

Present

That was the nicest Sam had been to her, which is saying a lot because that man was not nice for no reason. She learned that over time and though he could've used that moment to torture her, he hadn't even so much as brought it up to her.

She was thankful for that, she was also thankful no one pushed past what she had already told them. She wanted to be more transparent, she really did but didn't know how to be.

As she walked back to the bookshop, she looked around at the small town that had grown on her. The diner across the way was run by the Hummels, she ate there on Mondays because they were slow and the owner's son Kurt always stopped by to check on his father. She and him had formed somewhat of a friendship, considering he spent a good chunk of his time in New York for his job, so they were limited to the twenty minutes he spared when he did come.

Across from the diner there was a bakery, the owner was kind, pretty much everyone outside of Sam Evans was kind here but he was kind. His name was Dave Karofsky and he ran it with his partner Sebastian, she wandered in there by accident and fell in love with their triple strawberry cupcakes. She learned that they didn't live far from her, so every so often she'd be surprised by breakfast treats waiting for her on her front steps.

Attached to the bakery was a music shop and a dance studio, Tina's husband Mike ran the dance studio with Santana's wife Britney and the Anderson family, more specifically Blaine Anderson ran the music shop. She'd only been to the dance studio a handful of times with Tina but she frequented the music shop quite a bit. She used to love singing with her grandmother, that's something they did everyday.

Her grandmother would wake up and sing a note to which Mercedes was to match it, that's how she learned to read music. She had perfect pitch according to what her grandmother would say. She smiled thinking about all the days they spent singing songs and dancing around, life was perfect then…

"I see you're wandering again." She heard stopping and looking around before seeing Sam sitting on the bench outside of his office.

She'd walked past her bookshop apparently, that tended to happen a lot when she got stuck in her own head.

"Seems I am." She replied, looking at him. "Surprised to see you're even outside, don't bats prefer darkness?"

The corner of his lips curled upwards before they fell back into the hard line they were always in. "Funny, I assumed witches only rode brooms."

Mercedes hid her smirk. "It amazes me that people haven't burned you at the stake… one day." She said wishfully.

He chuckled before standing and invading her space. "I think witches are burned at the stake, so you'd be right there with me." He replied before walking back inside of his office, making a point of locking the door behind him.

She rolled her eyes and walked back to the bookshop, she walked inside seeing Noah and his crew working diligently while music blasted around them. She had never even considered buying a store of her own and now she had the best kind. The Shuesters gave her all the books they'd had before closing the shop and she'd gone through a good chunk of them realizing a lot of the books were first editions, some even were signed.

What they lacked was updated books, so she had ordered a ton of books that would bring in younger shoppers and hopefully with the add-on of a coffee shop it could be a hangout spot. She'd already asked Dave and Sebastian about selling some of their baked goods here and they agreed. She'd been buttering Blaine up to come and perform a few times a month but he was so damn shy. She couldn't fault him, she hated attention too but he was more concerned about embarrassing himself in front of Kurt.

She'd noticed their subtle flirtation but never asked about it until Blaine brought it up to her while they were playing around with his piano. She smiled remembering how nervous he'd been when he blurted out that he had a crush on Kurt. She always had a way about her. According to her grandmother, she had an inviting spirit.

She frowned wondering why her spirit wasn't inviting enough for… she refused to let that thought linger. She wouldn't think about them, she wouldn't fall down that rabbit hole again. She begged for understanding but the answer remained the same, she was a plague to them.

The secret, well one of them that haunted her was that her family was wealthy, dangerously wealthy and she was a black spot on the perfect image they created for themselves. This reason alone is why she grew up with her grandmother, her mother had grown tired of the duties of motherhood and decided Mercedes was the one that needed to go. Her older brother Nathan was the perfect son and her little sister Carla was a cute little girl. Mercedes was just there, never receiving any real attention or praise and according to her parents constituents she wasn't favorable in polling.

So her parents 'disappeared' her, family pictures were retaken and any of the ones that had her in them were taken down. She still remembers that day, when her grandmother arrived at nine am to pick her up. She had been so excited and been talking about it all week, too young to and too distracted to notice that there were movers slowly erasing any existence of her.

Elise hadn't smiled the entire time she was there, Mercedes remembered the hard lines on her forehead and the firm frown on her face when she'd arrived. She also remembered her parents handing her a thick envelope and a few loud words being shared between the three of them before her hand was grabbed by her grandmother.

She waved goodbye to her parents who only gave her a sharp nod before her life changed completely… for the first time. Her life changed drastically three times, the first being when she was six and never seeing her family after that… she shook her head again, erasing that day again if only for a moment.

The next chapter will be posted today and it's about Sam! until next time xoxo