DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE NOR ANYTHING ELSE!

ENJOY :)


"What do you mean she left?"

"Exactly what I said, Sam. She's gone. Packed up all of things with the help of her sister and moved out a week ago."

Sam moved through the crowds of people, groaning as he listened the man on the phone and giving the people dirty looks as they ran into each other. He hated this holiday season and now he was really mad at the fact that his own wife had moved out without telling him, "Do you know where she went?"

"No and honestly bro, I wouldn't tell you if I did."

"What the hell? Why not? You're my blood."

"True enough, but you've been acting stupid lately and maybe she do need to separate herself from you." His brother stated as he moved around his toddlers crawling on the floor, "You need to get...hello? Sam...this son of a bi-scuit." He caught himself when he saw his sons looking up at him, grunting as he tossed the phone on the couch.

Sam typed in the number and placed the phone back to his ear as his held his other hand up for a cab, the call going straight to voicemail. He didn't know what was going on, which wasn't a surprise as a recent but he wasn't expecting her to move out. He needed to get to the bottom of this and straight home was not where he was about to go.


Mercedes took the candle jars and placed them on the shelf, greeting the customers as they walked in. She had worked at this retail store for the past four years and she loved it, especially during the holdup season. However, she wasn't feeling this year for reasons. It had been so busy for the past couple of days, so that meant she had to work longer hours. Christmas was her favorite holiday, always have been but this year, she couldn't wait for it to pass. Turning to side when she heard crying, she saw a little baby in the stroller, causing her to let out a sad smile. She was at a point in her life where she wanted kids and wanted to be doing all the activities around with them at Christmas. Decorating the tree together, going to meet Santa, doing The Polar Express train ride, ice skating, binge watching movies and so much more. Unfortunately, that wasn't her reality. She turned around when she felt somebody standing behind her, figuring it was a customer trying to get to where she was, she let out a quiet gasp when she saw who it was.

"You really, really thought I wouldn't find out?"

"I was hoping you didn't notice." She said as she tried to leave, already knowing what he was referring to. She felt him grab her arm, but not in a hurtful way, "Let go of me, Sam."

"No." Sam stared down at her, "Why are you doing this, Mercedes? Huh? What's the reason?"

Mercedes snatched her arm away and glared at him, speaking low so they wouldn't cause a scene, "You really think I'm just going to sit around and let you cheat on me? Nah, I'm not no fool. You should've known that eight years ago when we got together."

"Cheat?" He asked incredulously as he looked at confusedly, "I'm not cheating nor have I ever cheated on you."

"Yeah right, Sam." She responded in disbelief, "The long nights away, traveling more for your job...please. We may have lived together but we haven't been together in a very long time."

Sam frowned deeply when she walked away from him, stalking behind her, which caused them to get a few looks, "Our rift is not on me, at least not all of it."

"I'm not saying it is." She tried her best to calm down, her hands crossing over her chest as the words left her mouth, feeling disgusted and wrong as they did, "We just need to go our separate ways."

"Are you talking about separation?"

"Yeah and possibly a divorce."

"Have you lost your damn mind? Seriously, have you bumped your head?"

"We both know things haven't been good. There's no need to sugarcoat anything."

"So...your resolution to this is to move out without trying to work this out?" He questioned angrily, not giving her a chance to answer before he started up again, "You can't just up and leave Mercedes, that's not right. But I guess when the going gets tough, that's what you do."

"I don't want..."

"What about us? Our future? And our kids? You didn't think about that, did you."

At the mention of kids, her heart swelled tightly, feeling herself getting heated as emotions started to come over her. She fought the urge for what she had to say to come tumbling out because it would upset her further...and it would definitely upset him. Thing was, he made it impossible to shut up due to the incoming hurtful words sprouting from his mouth.

"You didn't think about that, but I'll tell you one thing, Mercedes Jones-Evans, you'll never make it as a mother of you keep doing that. Parenthood is not easy and leaving isn't an option."

Mercedes blinked twice as she stared at him. Really? Did that really just come out of his mouth? She was pissed and disappointed but most importantly, sad. She looked at him, speaking barely above a whisper, waving off security when she saw him coming, "You don't ever have to worried about that because I can't have any." She told him, watching as the facial expression on his face change as her eyes started to water as his words struck something in her. She cleared her throat before she began to walking away, not uttering another word.

Sam was at a lost as he watched her go to the back and closed the door behind her. It baffled him for a moment because everything was starting to make sense. These past couple of months, the two have been drifting apart, especially when the conversation of children came into play. Sam had to admit, no matter how much he loved her, the way she shut him out, only made him want to do the same. But hearing what she said, that broke his heart. Was she just saying it out of anger? No, she wouldn't do that. He knew that she had went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago, but he didn't know what for nor did she reveal the reason.


After coming from her lunch with her sister, Mercedes had debated on whether or not she would go back to work. She didn't tell her sister what happened because she would've been on ten and on the news by six. She needed to get out of this funk that she was in but it was hard. Having it confirmed that she couldn't have children broke her deeply. She had what was called Primary Ovarian Insufficiency, also known as Premature Ovarian Failure. It means that the ovaries had stopped working and didn't produce the right amount of hormone estrogen or in her case, release eggs in the way they should've. It was heart wrenching and something that she hadn't accepted, and didn't know if she would.

Wiping the single tear that fallen before going behind the register, plastering on a smile, "Did you find everything okay?"

"I did." The woman said as she sat her items on the counter with a smile, looking at the girl, "Are you alright?"

"Yes..." She drifted off when she spotted the familiar brunette coming in the store again. She removed her eyes and continued to focus on what she was doing, hoping and praying he wasn't back to make a scene.

Truth be told, Sam never left from earlier. He walked around the mall, thinking about everything. His life...their life and how they had gotten to this point. He didn't know why Mercedes accused him of cheating. Yeah, he did work a lot more because he didn't like how things were at home. So, never mind. He did see why she assumed that and he hated that she did. But despite it all, he hated how she couldn't feel that she could come to him about the most recent news. She couldn't have children. He was numb because all he ever wanted was a family with her. To top it all, what he said to her was completely wrong and he felt so bad. He never knew how to control his anger and it came with an unfiltered mouth that always got him in trouble. He needed to apologize because he couldn't hurt the one person who meant the world to him. As he walked back into her job, he locked eyes with her for a spilt second and decided to go to where she was, sliding pass all the people that was in line, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did." He said as he watched her bag up the items for the customer, the woman sideyeing harshly as he stood in the way of the credit card machine, "I didn't know and even if I did, it was still wrong of me to say what I did."

Mercedes just finished bagging up the candles carefully, giving the woman the total as she waited for Sam to move.

"Please talk to me."

"Get a clue and see that she doesn't want too." The woman commented, causing a trickle effect with the people behind her.

"Yeah."

"Stop harassing her."

Sam rolled his eyes at the woman and the chorus of people, "Didn't ask for y'all to weigh in. Mind your damn business."

Mercedes raised her eyes to finally look at him, not wanting to see him anymore, "Apology accepted, now please stop disrespecting my customers and leave."

Sam stared down at her and knew that she was only saying that for him to leave and not because she truly meant it. His eyes went to corner, seeing security finally making his way over once again today, "I'll leave you alone..for now."

Mercedes watched as he left, letting out breath she didn't know she was holding before returning to her job. She was hoping that this would be over soon because she couldn't take it anymore.


A/N. 2019 :)