Enjoy! See you next week!

Quinn Fabray : A Lost Friend

"I will be fine, I'm just going to my shop to make sure everything is set for the grand opening tonight." Mercedes said to Sam who had kept to his promise to make her feel safe. She hadn't left his place in a week and did all her business from the guest house, which he refused to let her sleep in at night.

Sam shot her a look before nodding. "I was going into town anyway, don't flatter yourself little witch, I wasn't following you." He replied, getting into his car and rolling his eyes.

She scuffed, shaking her head. "And here I thought vampires were better liars." She quipped before getting into her own, watching him drive off. She waited a few moments before doing the same but she wasn't going into town, she was going to visit the Schuesters and see if they would be willing to change the bill of sale to Sam.

She knew he would wonder why she wasn't there but she needed to get this done. No matter how safe she felt in Sam's place she could not live her life there, not with her brother knowing where she was and after what happened with Jane… She couldn't have another person die because of her, especially not the vampire.

She hated how quickly the tides changed between the two of them but they'd been sharing kisses here and there since she agreed to stay. It was never warranted when it would happen he would just kiss her before leaving or she would have a rough night and he'd be there with open arms and soft lips. Admittedly she would love for more to happen but her mind was jumping from one conclusion to the next and every since that note arrived she felt him everywhere.

Sara and Stevie kept her busy when Sam would leave and just like he promised they made homemade pizzas together but she could see they way Stevie would glance at her. Murderer. She wanted to tell him that it wasn't what they reported and it wasn't what her parents allowed the press to print about her, it was all an accident. How was she ever going to convince them if she couldn't even convince the police at the time?

"You had no ill-will against the young child?"

"No, I love her. I wouldn't hurt her!"

"There's reports stating otherwise… like this one saying you pushed her down and caused her arm to be broken, or this one saying you gave her a black eye."

"N-no, I never did any of those things! It wasn't me! IT WAS HIM!"

She let out a sharp breath, not realizing she had stopped driving until the car behind her honked. "You gotta get out of here… you stay." She muttered to herself as she began to drive again.

The drive to the Shuesters wasn't too far from Sam's but it was very secluded and she didn't particularly like how much it made her feel like she was in some horror movie. The only upside was that they lived in a gated residence and changed the code regularly, there was no way in hell anyone who didn't know them would get inside without their permission.

She turned to the road that led to their gate, noticing a large SUV leaving and wondering who it was until a strong chill rushed over her body. She looked out of her window seeing the faintest outline of a familiar face, she immediately slammed on her brakes and felt her breathing grow shallow.

See you soon, sis.

"No, no, no, no…" She said to herself, unknowingly getting out of her car and mindlessly wandering away from it. Everything was starting to unlock itself from their hiding places and began flooding her, making her lose what little grip she had left on reality.

"I don't think this is a good idea…"

"It's okay Cedie! Me and Nathan always go out here!"

…

"You can't be serious! We don't want her here either… my mother didn't leave her to us so why do we have to keep her?"

"She's still your child, Mrs. Jones."

"I don't want her here." David muttered.

…

"Wake up, Mercedes… I want to play a game with you."

"Huh? What are you doing in here?"

"You have to be quiet or they'll hear!"

"No, I don't… I don't want to play anything with you…"

SLAP!

…

"Little whore, coming here lying on my son that way."

"David, I will handle it."

…

"Mercedes?"

"I didn't… I don't…" She muttered, rocking back and forth.

"Shit… I'm going to get help okay? Just… shit." Stevie said, pulling out his phone and quickly texting his brother.

"No, no help. No one ever helps and lives." She said and Stevie just sat down beside her and sighed.

"We're going to help and you're going to be okay, I won't leave you and neither will Sam." He promised, slowly reaching out to grab her hand. "You have to get off the ground okay?"

She shook her head. "I can't let anything happen to you all, I need to leave… he's here and he's not leaving without me." She sobbed.

"Mercedes, did you see him? Was he here?"

She nodded. "He was leaving the Shuesters."

Stevie looked at her hard before shaking his head. "Mercedes… that couldn't have been your brother." He said softly and she shot him a confused look.

"It was… it was him. He was driving the black suv."

Stevie grabbed her hands, helping her stand before slowly walking her back to where her car was. "Mercedes, that was Anthony Rashad. He's Sara's son… Sam knew you would come here." Stevie explained and she looked at him with tears falling down her face.

"No… no! I know what my brother looks like and that was him!" She said, shoving him away.

Stevie sighed before waving someone over. "Look." He said, slowly turning her around. "Is this who you saw?"

Mercedes blinked, taking a step back and realizing she had only pictured him. "I… I didn't know Sara had a son."

Anthony flashed a beautiful smile at her. "It's because of my line of work, it's better that she doesn't." He said and Mercedes nodded slowly.

"I didn't see Nathan…" She breathed out, she would've liked to say that it helped ease her panic but it didn't.

"Mercedes!" Sam said, walking over to her and giving her a hard look before shaking his head. "You careless witch!"

Stevie and Anthony looked at each other amused. Sam rarely reacted to anything, hell getting him to show any emotion outside of disdain was harder than pulling teeth.

"Don't yell at me, you grumpy vampire!" She spat and Stevie smirked before nodding Anthony off.

"Think you can get her car back to Sam's?" He asked and Anthony nodded.

"I'm assuming she left her keys in there, I'll get my partner to take it back."

"Cool, thanks for helping." Stevie replied, patting him on the shoulder.

"Mom likes her so you know what that means."

Stevie nodded. "She's our to protect, look if you see anyone that's not local let us know."

They looked back at Sam and Mercedes as he was trying to get her into his truck but she refused to move.

"For someone that was damn near a break down, she really makes it look like light work." Anthony said let out a chuckle when Sam picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

"It's crazy… she gets around him and you can almost feel the calm. He thinks he doesn't have the best effects on people but he's wrong. I'll see you later." Stevie said before getting into his car.

"What were you thinking?" Sam scolded and Mercedes furrowed her brows.

"I just… Sam I can not stay here with him knowing I'm here. It's safer for everyone that I leave."

He shook his head. "You need to start talking about what he's done and you need to do it now. I've waited as long as I can but this… this is too much!"

"I can't… I can't talk about him that easily! He's- "

"Mercedes that doesn't work! You have to talk about him because I don't want you to leave and I can't help you if you don't let me. So damnit let me!" Sam interrupted, surprising them both.

Mercedes looked at him, completely caught off guard by his admission. "You don't want me to go?"

Sam frowned. "Answer my question."

She couldn't help smirking. "You're awfully controlling all of the sudden."

Sam rolled his eyes, leaning over and buckling her seatbelt. "I won't make you tell me now but after your opening, I expect everything."

Mercedes just sighed and looked out the window. "You're asking for too much, vampire." She muttered softly

"You never told me why you can't go back home." Quinn said and Mercedes took a deep breath. It was all so crazy how they met and she couldn't understand it but she knew that Quinn was safe.

"I had a lot of bad things that happened all at once… so I can't go back."

Quinn looked at her for a moment before nodding. "But I'm sure they miss you… right?"

Mercedes shook her head. "My family is better off without me." She replied sadly.

"Well I'm your family now! We will always be here for each other." Quinn said, making her smile.

"Yeah… yeah! Let's go get some ice cream!"

…

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" Quinn asked and Mercedes blushed.

"No… have you?" She asked, stretching out on the palette they made in their now shared apartment.

"Yeah… he was really sweet. His name was Joe Hart and he was kind of a hippie. He was the best boyfriend I'd ever had but my parents didn't approve because he wasn't from money so they forced us to break up… I always hated them for what they did after that…"

Mercedes looked at her sadly. "What did they do?"

Quinn took a scoop of ice cream and ate before sighing. "My family has these crazy standards and when they found out that we, me and Joe went further than they thought… My father bought his family off. Gave them enough money to move and be comfortable for the rest of their lives."

Mercedes gasped. "That's awful! His family accepted it?"

She nodded. "Joe's brother was really sick and they needed the money for medical bills and I didn't blame them because it meant life or death for them but the worst part was my father threatening Joe. He did it in front of me so that I would know… even if it was me that reached out to him, my father would take everything he gave away and have his parents put in prison." Quinn replied, getting choked up.

Mercedes looked away. "I know that feeling…" She muttered but Quinn heard her.

"What do you mean?"

"I know how it feels to be threatened to have everything taken away from you even if you didn't do anything wrong."

"So your father was like that too then?" Quinn asked.

"No, he didn't pay too much attention to me… he wasn't a fan of having me around but my brother definitely threatened me… a lot."

"I… you never mentioned a brother." Quinn said and Mercedes felt herself stiffen.

"I didn't?"

"Uh-uh, why did he threaten you?

"I… I don't want to talk about him, sorry." She replied and Quinn could tell it was a sensitive topic so she chose to drop it

"Where do you think we're gonna be in like five years?"

Mercedes sighed. "College graduates? You at Yale and me at NYU?"

Quinn nodded excitedly. "Oh yes! We'll take train rides to see each other and have brunches! You'll find some really handsome stock broker and I'll marry a professor!"

"Mhm and you'll have like six kids and I'll have two and they'll grow up like siblings!" Mercedes said and Quinn smiled.

"Best of friends!"

"You ready? There's a bit of a crowd out there, seems everyone is excited to see how you changed this around." Sam asked, noticing Mercedes nervously pacing.

She stopped and looked up at him. "I'm ready… just… there's someone watching the place right?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, though I'm not entirely sure why you can't just hex the place but I guess you're not as powerful as you pretend." He quipped and shot him a look that made him chuckle.

"You are very frustrating and I clearly have been sired to have allowed you to do whatever it is… this is because it's not helping…" She replied, smoothing down her dress and walking towards the door with him in tow.

"That didn't make a lick of sense." He muttered.

Mercedes took a deep breath before rolling her shoulders and opening the doors, seeing almost half the town out there waiting. She smiled, feeling a sense of ease knowing that she'd at least be surrounded by other people for a few hours.

"Hi everyone! So I just wanted to say thank you to you all for coming and I hope you like what I did to the Shuester's place. Welcome to Elise's Place!" She said, stepping aside and letting everyone inside immediately receiving several ooh's and ahh's.

Practically the whole town was there after an hour and Mercedes was so happy to see how well everyone was receiving the new bookstore. She even had several purchases already and Blaine finally agreed to go on stage and sing. She looked around seeing everyone scattered in different places mingling and shopping and felt a sense of calm rush over her.

"Look Nana, I did it." She said to herself softly before hearing the door chime and started to walk over but was stopped by Tina.

"Oh my goodness, Merce! This place is so amazing! It's like a wonderland for books! You did so good girl!"

She smiled. "Yeah? Did you get to see upstairs?" She asked, earning a nod from her friend.

"Yes! I will say, you might want to let Santana know that it's not meant for actually making out in."

Mercedes' eyes went wide. "Oh God… she's not up there doing that is she?"

Tina laughed. "Mike broke it up but this is really amazing! I hate that you weren't able to invite any family." She said and Mercedes felt a chill run down her spine.

"Oh well… I have you guys here so that's more than enough." Tina noticed the shift in Mercedes and she'd been wanting to ask but didn't know how.

"Are…are your par-" Tina started before seeing Mercedes looking at the woman standing near the children's books. Tina looked at her before looking back at Mercedes. "Do you know her?"

Mercedes opened then closed her mouth before letting out a breath. "I… I don't know… yes? Maybe…" She replied, starting to move towards the woman before stopping.

Tina gently grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Are you okay?"

She looked at Tina before looking back at the woman. "I… I don't know, excuse me." She answered as she walked over until she was directly in front of the woman.

Mercedes looked her over, feeling herself shaking. "Qu-Quinn?" She said softly and when she looked at her Mercedes knew it was her.

She looked at her, tilting her head. "Do I know you?"

"Yeah… It's me, Mercedes. Remember? We met a long time ago and you lived with me." Mercedes responded confused by Quinn's question.

Quinn shook her head. "I can't say that… when was this?"

Mercedes looked at her, feeling hurt. "We were teenagers… I must be mistaken, sorry." She said.

Quinn looked at her, narrowing her eyes before a sad smile crossed her face. "We were gonna have brunches…"

Mercedes let out a soft laugh, feeling her eyes filling with tears. "Y-yeah and we would have kids and they would grow up together." She replied before Quinn pulled her into a tight hug.

"Oh how I've missed you!" Quinn said, crying softly.

"I've missed you too, how have you been? What are you doing here?" Mercedes asked.

"Oh… it's a long story, I just ended up here and heard about the opening.. How are you? You look amazing." Quinn asked.

"I'm okay… so happy to see you."

"Who is that she's talking to?" Sam asked, peering at Mercedes and the blonde woman.

Stevie shrugged. "Anthony was supposed to keep me up on anyone that seemed out of place, I've never seen her before but from the looks of things she knows her."

Sam shook his head looking around the shop scanning everyone's face and recognizing them all. "No, she doesn't fit. Why would someone she knows randomly be here now?" He asked, getting an uneasy feeling.

"Does her brother know her?" Stevie bounced back and Sam looked at the door.

"Don't let anyone leave." Sam replied, quickly making his way outside and looking around.

It was dark out and the entire area was filled with cars, he slowly walked around the bookshop, looking in the shadowy areas before seeing that no one was there. He began to walk back when he saw the blonde woman giving Mercedes a hug before leaving.

He waited until she was out of earshot. "Who was that?" He asked, startling Mercedes.

"Jesus, vampire! She's an old friend… why are you out here?"

Sam looked at her hard before sighing. "You don't find it weird that someone you know from your past is here?"

Mercedes looked at him before shaking her head. "There's no way Nathan would know about her… she was already gone before he found me again." She replied, softly.

Sam moved closer to her and shot her a look. "You need to tell me everything now before it's too late."

Mercedes looked back into her shop before sighing. "Okay, as soon as everyone leaves, I promise to tell you everything." She said and he nodded, guiding her back inside.

"Stupid bitch, I found her."

"Where is she?"

"California, she's with some white girl… I need you to figure out who she is and I need you to find out how she's able to live so freely." Nathan said into his phone.

"Send me a picture of the girl and I will see what I can do…"

Nathan quickly took a picture of the blonde headed girl and sent it over.

"Anything you can find out about her will be good, can't have Mercedes out here feeling safe. She will never be safe!" Nathan said before hanging up.

"You will regret ever thinking you could run from me."

Nathan's a bitch but there is worse... much worse! See you next week!