Later that night
Sam sat at his kitchen table reading over some documents for Internationals. He never realized how much paperwork would be involved in getting a group of high school teenagers to Russia. He growled just after he heard his stomach do the same. He'd ordered pizza over an hour ago and it still hadn't arrived.
After his conversation with Dani today, Sam decided to tell Mercedes about everything over dinner. Well, not everything. While he was going to tell her about their history, he was going to leave out Dani's comments on Monday. He figured there was no need to bring them up since she had already told him she was going to play nice. A knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts.
"Finally," he said as he grabbed the money beside him and headed to the door. Opening it, he could barely contain his excitement at the thought of the slices of double pepperoni he was about to devour. "I was starting to think you got—" He sported a puzzled and surprised look seeing who was at the door. "Mrs. Jones. Hello."
"Hi, Sam." Michelle greeted him with a nod. "Can I come in?"
"Oh, sure, of course, yes." Sam spat his words out as he moved to the side, closing the door behind her. "I don't want to sound rude, but can I ask how you know where I live?"
"You do remember that you're friends with my son, correct? And that you're now dating my daughter?"
"Oh, yeah." Sam blushed, embarrassed. "Please, have a seat."
"It's alright. I won't be here that long," she said.
"Okay. Is everything okay with Marvin- uh, Mr. Jones? Aren't you supposed to be with him tonight?"
She shook her head. "Marvin is fine. I have to head to work early tomorrow, so Mason is going to be taking my place at the hospital tonight. I'm actually stopping by here on my way home." The Jones family were going to be taking shifts spending the night with Marvin so that he wasn't alone when he didn't have to be.
"Okay." Sam didn't know what to say or why she was here. "Can I get you something to drink or?"
"I won't be here that long either." Her eyes roamed his abode, her hands clasped in front of her as her large purse loomed over her shoulder. "I'm here about Mercedes. We need to talk."
"Oh, gotcha. She's sleeping. I'll go and get her." He began the short trek to his bedroom.
"No, Sam." Michelle walked up to him as he turned around. "We need to talk."
"We? As in us?" Sam gestured between the two of them.
"That is what 'we' means, is it not?"
"Yes, yes it is."
"Okay, then. Listen," Michelle walked back over toward the front door and beckoned for him to follow her, "I like you, Sam. I do. I think that you are not only a wonderful friend to my daughter, but also an invaluable part of her life. I appreciate you for that. And I understand that you and Mercedes have enjoyed the past few weeks you've had together. I also understand that I could probably never imagine how deep things run between you two, but I think it's best that you are honest with yourself now before things get out of hand."
He frowned. "Thanks for all of those sort of compliments, but I'm not sure what you mean."
Michelle sighed. "I'm running you through these things so that you can understand that what I say next doesn't come from a place of malice. Sam, you need to end things with my daughter—"
Sam shook his head immediately. "No. Absolutely not."
"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you."
"You think I'm going to break up with her now? I mean at all, but now with everything she's going through? That sounds pretty malicious to me. With all due respect, Mrs. Jones, you're out of your mind." He winced. That came out a lot harsher than he meant for it to.
"Excuse me?" Michelle stepped up to him.
"Okay," He stepped back, "I know you've got this whole intimidation thing going for you and I know that it may work insanely well in a courtroom or with other people and even with me right now, but you know what works better? My love for Mercedes and my commitment to her. I'm not going anywhere."
"Sam," Michelle sighed, "I didn't want to be the person to tell you this, but everyone else seems to be beating around the bush, so I'm just going to give it to you straight. Your relationship won't make it. She can't be your housewife who occasionally helps out at work forever. She has a life to get back to and if she's focused on or worried about you, it's just going to be a distraction."
"So, you think I'm a distraction?"
"I think you may be doing more harm than good in giving her all of these things that make her want to stay." Michelle asserted. "Mason told me you've been having her work with your glee kids and that she's having a wonderful time. While that's great that she has something to occupy her while she's on vacation, that's all it is. She can't afford for it to be more than that."
Sam laughed, not sure if it was out of pure shock, astonishment, or both. "Michelle, I can't control whether or not Mercedes enjoys something. And the glee kids aren't the only thing that she's enjoying here."
"I know," Michelle said. "She's also enjoying you. And between you and them, that's more added onto her plate than she needs, more distractions from her work."
"Okay, Michelle." Sam rubbed his chin as he stepped toward her. "I respect you and you are the mother of the woman that I love, so I'm not going to say this to you the way I would say it to anyone else," he whispered, trying not to wake Mercedes, "but my kids and I aren't distractions to her. We've actually been the one thing keeping her sane this week. I understand that you may have certain feelings about me, that's fine. But you are Mercedes' mother, not mine. And even in the case that you were my mother, you cannot and will not come to me and demand that I end things with Mercedes because of how you feel about it. One thing we can agree on, though, is that you could never imagine or understand how important we are to one another. So I'm sorry, but you should—"
He was cut off by a knock at the door. The pizza.
Something about the way she was eyeing him made him want to do the same to her, but Sam didn't bother staring off with Michelle. He didn't need to because he knew he had nothing to prove. He'd never gone head to head with her. It was a lot like going head to head with Mercedes, but with someone who had been doing it for a lot longer than her.
"Sounds like my cue to leave." Michelle looked toward the door then back at Sam. "Listen, all this talk of 'can not' and 'will not' is useless, Sam. I just did. Please, I don't want to have to do it again." She walked towards the door and handed the delivery boy way more money than the food was worth. "Keep the change," she said to him. She turned to look at Sam right behind her. "Try not to think of it so much as me asking you to break up with her, but to consider who she is and what she's got going on. Enjoy your pizza." She said as she turned on her heels and walked away.
Sam ran his hands through his hair, exasperated. He just couldn't catch a break. Now with his pizza and without his appetite, he decided to go check up on Mercedes. He opened the door softly and silently laughed at the sight in front of him.
Whenever they slept together, Mercedes was a pretty tame sleeper. But on her own, it was like she made sure to assume the weirdest sleep positions known to man. Today was no exception. She was sprawled diagonally, almost horizontally across the bed on her stomach with one of her feet just barely hanging off the side. It was a sight to see, such so that he had to get a picture first before joining her.
He gently climbed onto the bed, laying in the same direction as her and putting one of his arms around her waist. Staring at the back of her head, he wondered whether or not this was even comfortable for her. It had to have been though because her snores gave her away.
Waking up, she turned her head over to look at him before feeling her eyelids come back down. "Hi," She rasped.
"Hello." He chuckled. "Pizza's here. You hungry yet?"
"I'm fine." She yawned into her arm. "I'm still so tired. Those hospital couches are the worst."
"Sounds like someone's had their circad—"
"I may feel like I've been hit by a truck," she said, her eyes still closed, "but if you say the words 'circadian rhythm' again, I will jump off of this bed and roundhouse kick you."
He laughed audibly before going silent, just staring up at her.
She opened her eyes to stare back at him. Sharing this moment with him was nice, but something felt off. "Are you alright? You look like you have something on your mind."
"It's nothing," he said. "It's just that I love you so much. Like, so much."
She nodded. "I know."
"And I would never let anyone or anything come between us, ever."
"Same here."
"No, Mercedes, seriously." He found her hand and took it in his. "You mean the world to me. And I'm here for you always, no matter what anyone says. For the rest of our lives."
"Sam, I know this." She nodded harder this time, trying to show her understanding. "I'm wearing your ring, aren't I?"
He looked at the ring around her chest. "I'm sorry that it's not the ring you're supposed to have."
"Babe, you could tie a piece of thread around my finger and place a tiny ball of silly putty on top and I would wear it with all the love and pride in the world." Still on her side, she moved closer to him. She cupped his cheek with her hand and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. "This is forever."
"Forever." He repeated.
She smiled before bringing her lips down to his, kissing them and wrapping her arms around him to drift back to sleep.
He did the same, holding her close. He was better than this. He knew not to let Michelle get to him, but he couldn't help it. He had never wanted to lose Mercedes, but it wasn't until her mom approached him that he realized how truly afraid he was to lose her again. He couldn't live without her.
Saturday Afternoon
"Okay, everyone. Let's get this show on the road. I don't know about y'all, but I want us to have a productive rehearsal that doesn't take up your entire afternoon—" Mercedes stopped in her tracks as she scanned the room, noticing quite a few bodies were missing. "Why are we missing, like, 15 of you right now? Where is everyone?"
"I think Christina might have the stomach flu," Macy said. "She said wasn't feeling well yesterday."
Mercedes took a mental inventory of everyone who was missing. Christina, Derek, Joelle and Janelle, and more. They all had one thing in common. "Everybody start getting warmed up and get in places for the second number. I'll be back." She marched out of the gym like a woman on a mission, not stopping until she reached her target. Seeing through the window, she narrowed her eyes, seething. She opened the door, not bothering to knock. "Coach Baker," She said sternly.
"Mercedes, hi." She said, slightly unnerved that she entered without warning. "We're just finishing up here, give me a few more minutes."
"Mmm, how about a few more seconds?" She looked at her watch and back at Daniella before she could respond. "Time's up." She looked at the Cheerios. "Gym. Now."
Daniella scoffed as they all scurried out of her office. "Excuse me, Mercedes, but we were in the middle of something."
Mercedes closed the door behind them and marched up to the coach's desk. "Why did you do that?"
The coach didn't appear to understand. "Why did I do what?"
She crossed her arms. "You knew we had rehearsal today."
"I did." She nodded. "I keep them overtime sometimes. Sam knows. I always notify him beforehand."
"He didn't say anything to me," Mercedes said, seeing past the innocent front.
"With all due respect, why would he? He's the coach, is he not?"
"Daniella." Mercedes looked at her with a straight face. "You know Sam is not here today. You know that."
Out of nowhere, she gasped, hand moving to her chest. "Well, paint me green and call me a pickle! You're absolutely right. That would explain why all of my calls went to voicemail."
Unphased, Mercedes kept her stare. "We talked about this less than 24 hours ago. You specifically asked who would be taking his place today."
"I completely forgot." She leaned over her desk, smiling a little. "It's actually a little embarrassing if I'm being completely honest with you."
Mercedes gave no response.
Daniella took a step back. "You don't think I did this on purpose, do you? Darling, I didn't—"
"So, I'm just supposed to stand here, listen to your little Nashville twang and southern sayings, and believe you magically forgot?"
"I promise you, Mercedes, it was an honest mistake!" Dani sounded sincere, but not enough to fool the woman in front of her.
"You know what?" She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. I see right now what's happening here and I have a rehearsal to get to. You can forget about me asking Sam to reinstate you, by the way. " Mercedes rolled her eyes as she turned to walk out. Noticing her gift on the corner of Daniella's desk, she abruptly turned herself back around. "And give me my damn books back." She muttered as she snatched the book set from Daniella's desk and walked out.
So much for a truce.
That night, Sam and Mercedes had planned a movie night to unwind after the events of the past few days, just the two of them. Unfortunately for Sam, it became just him. Mercedes fell asleep in his lap before the movie even got good.
After it ended, he nudged her slightly. "Wake up, you."
Realizing what had happened, she groaned, "Nooo."
"Yes." He chuckled.
She sat up and looked at him. "When?"
"Like, halfway through the first act maybe? You didn't last that long."
She pouted. "I'm sorry."
"Don't sweat it." Sam kissed her forehead.
"No, I was supposed to stay up for you. You love this movie," She whined, annoyed with herself.
Upon hearing that she'd never seen a Star Wars film, Sam took it upon himself to offer her a proper introduction to the franchise, starting with tonight.
"There are plenty more movies in this franchise alone. You'll have many, many, many more chances to prove yourself."
"I'm not going to lie to you, I think my circadian rhythm might be off." She shot him a smile.
"What? You're telling me I was right about you?" He cheesed.
"Okay, no need to gloat," she said, rolling her eyes.
Laughing, he extended his arm around her. "Come here." As she snuggled into him, he pulled the blanket back over her. "You must've had a really long day. Those kids can tire you out pretty quick. Trust me, I know."
Mercedes shook her head. "It's not even them. This day has just been so out of control. I had the absolute craziest encounter with Daniella today. You would not believe what happened."
"What?" He frowned, looking down at her. Dani was supposed to be cooling it.
"I don't want to talk about it right now. I'll just get mad all over again. But then, after rehearsal, I went back to the hospital like I told you I would. The doctors said they were doing what they could to manage Dad's pain, but I almost couldn't bear to see him like that, Sam. He's in so much pain all the time."
Sam rubbed her shoulder in an attempt to console her. "Babe, what do you want them to do? They've already said they won't do any more procedures until his results come back."
"So he just gets to lie in a hospital bed in pain all day because they can't do anything else? That makes no sense." She shook her head. "They won't even let him come home and lay in his own bed."
"Well, it's only been a couple of days. They said he'd still be in pain for a few, right? Hopefully, his pain will subside and the results will be in sooner rather than later."
"Hopefully. If not, I'll have to rain some type of hellfire on those doctors and I don't want to have to do that." She smiled some, but she was absolutely serious.
Figuring she would go back to sleep soon, Sam started another movie. But seeing as how she was still awake after about 30 minutes and he couldn't stop thinking about what she said about Dani, he felt it was time to be honest. He paused the movie.
She looked up at him. "It was just getting good! Why'd you stop it?"
"Mercedes, I know this isn't the best time," he sat her up and turned to face her, "but we need to talk."
She mirrored his position, alarmed. "Talk about what?"
"This whole Dani situation. I didn't tell you the whole truth about—"
"No, stop, stop." Mercedes put her hands out in front of her. "Stop. I just told you that I didn't want to talk about that."
"Yeah, you did." He confirmed.
"Sam, I just told you that I had a long day and you want to have a conversation about Dani?"
"I do, yeah. We need to. And not just her either. I had a rather interesting encounter myself with—"
"No, listen to what I'm saying."
"I am listening."
"Then listen again." She raised her voice. "I was just venting to you about my sick father who potentially has cancer, and you want to interrupt our bonding time to talk about your," She scanned the room around her as she stammered, searching for the right words, "best-coworker-friend turned ex-coworker-friend who I think has a crush on you that apparently, you withheld something from me about? Sam, there are a million better times that you could've done this."
"I know that, Mercedes. I just said that this wasn't the best time." Sam tried to defend his actions.
"You think that acknowledging that it's not the best time makes it a better time? Because it doesn't," she said. "I'm telling you right now that it doesn't."
Sam didn't respond. He just shook his head while his mouth tried to form words that his brain couldn't bring him to say.
"You know, I'm…" Mercedes took a breath. "I'm not doing this with you right now. I was just trying to relax and unwind after a string of days that were the most weird and awful I've had in a while. And I thought that doing that with you would help, but it's not, so yeah." She slowly removed her blanket and left the couch.
"Mercedes, where are you going?" Sam asked as he followed her.
"I'm going to stay with my dad at the hospital tonight," she said, throwing some clothes into a bag. "If someone's going to stress me out, it should at the very least be him."
"Don't do that." Her packing didn't stop or slow down. He tried again. "Mercedes, stop for a second. Just…" He went over to where she was and held her wrists, stopping her. "Just stop," he said softly. "You were just telling me how much pain his pain was causing you. Don't go back without at least unloading some of that first."
She stiffened in his hold as she looked up at him. "Let me go," she said, her voice indignant.
"No."
"Sam, I'm not kidding."
"And I am?" He asked her. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to talk about her after you said you didn't want to. I shouldn't be adding to your stress, I should be helping to take it away. Talk to me, don't run off or lash out to avoid whatever it is you're feeling. We talked about this. Open and honest, remember?" By now, her stance had softened some. He used this as an opportunity to close in on her and caress her cheek.
She sighed as she rested her face in his hand. "I've been doing some research," she whispered. "Do you know how aggressive pancreatic cancer is?" Tears started to come to her eyes. "If that's what he has, he probably won't even have a year left." Her voice got caught in her throat. She cleared it. "He was fine until last week. Completely fine. And now I could be on the verge of losing him. I can't lose him." She tried to take a moment to collect herself, but it was no use.
He was surprised at this, but wasted no time in swooping her into his arms. "Okay, it's okay." He sat them down on the bed beside them. "It's okay."
"No, it's not," she cried. "What if his results are positive and he has less than a year with us?"
Sam blinked back his own tears. "I don't know, Merce. I really don't." He truly wasn't expecting this much of a breakdown from her, but he could tell that the past few days had taken a serious toll on her. "But I promise you, if anyone can get through something like this, it's Marvin. I know that for sure."
A week later
Sam opened the door for Mercedes and she smiled upon walking in.
"Hey, Dad." She went straight to her father's hospital bed and hugged him as best she could. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling a lot better for having seen you, Babygirl." He gave her hand a few quick squeezes. "Hey, Sam."
"Marvin." Sam nodded toward him, grinning. "Nice to see you feeling better."
"Oh yeah, feeling so much better. Just might substitute my daily walk around the floor for a triathlon at the lake. Who knows?" He laughed.
Sam and Mercedes both laughed then, with Mercedes also rolling her eyes. Her dad was definitely feeling more like himself if he was making terrible jokes like that.
Mercedes looked over at her mother. "Hey, Mom."
"Hello, Mercedes." Michelle looked at the man beside her. "Sam."
Sam didn't say anything, he just offered her a nod and an awkward half-smile, which Mercedes noticed.
She looked over at him suspiciously and then looked between him and her mother before turning her attention back to her father. Whatever they had going on, she wasn't dealing with it today.
Sometime later, one of the doctors knocked on the door, walking in. "Hey, folks. How are we doing in here?" It was Dr. Schultz from Marvin's first night in the hospital.
"We're ready for this good news I'm hoping you've got for me," Marvin said, smiling.
"I'm guessing you want to skip right to the chase then. Are we ready? Is this everyone?"
"Actually, my son is supposed to be here. Mercedes, have you talked to your brother?"
Mercedes nodded. "Yeah, he and his wife are running late, but they should be here in a few minutes," She said to Dr. Schultz.
Just as Mercedes said they would, Mason and Devon found their way to the room a few minutes later. Once they were there and settled, Dr. Schultz closed the door and went to the foot of Marvin's bed.
"Okay. I'm glad we could all be here. Let's go ahead and get to these results." Dr. Schultz set her tablet out in front of her.
On the outside, she was cool and calm but on the inside, Mercedes' heart was beating so loudly she could barely hear the doctor.
Sam took her hand and kissed it while keeping his eyes trained on the doctor. She glanced over at him, unsure of whether he did that for a reason or not. She was starting to think he knew her better than she did.
"So, Marvin, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is, based on your biopsy results, you do have pancreatic cancer."
Marvin nodded acceptingly. "Okay. So what else? What's the good news?"
"The good news is that I think your chances of beating this thing are pretty great."
"What?" Mercedes asked, not sure she heard the doctor correctly.
"Your cancer is only stage 2. We found your tumor incredibly early. We can take it out in surgery and hopefully, leave you cancer free."
"I'm sorry, can I just?" Mercedes raised her finger. "I know how doctors get about patients and families playing internet doctor, but I read that by the time pancreatic cancer becomes symptomatic, it's usually too late to effectively treat. Best case scenario, patients have a year or two left. But you're telling us you can take this thing out and cure him? I'm confused."
Dr. Schultz nodded. "Usually, that is the case. You're not wrong. The majority of pancreatic cancer patients only receive diagnoses when they have symptoms, which likely means things have already become progressed too far for good chances of survival. But your dad didn't come in with symptoms of pancreatic cancer, he came in with symptoms of gallstones and pancreatitis. We just so happened to find the tumor." She looked at Marvin. " As horrible as the situation is, it could've MUCH worse. Marvin, if you had gone another year, maybe even months or weeks without coming in, we probably wouldn't have been able to catch this so early. Your rogue gallstones saved your life."
The entire family had breathed sighs of relief over and over again. Mercedes and her mom were holding onto her dad's hands for dear life while Mason stood behind his mom with his hands squeezing both his parents' shoulders.
"So what happens now, Doc?" Marvin asked with a proud smile on his face.
"We don't see any signs that the cancer has spread and it's small enough for us to take out. We'll to cut this thing out of you and you'll go through a few months of chemotherapy afterward to make sure it hasn't spread or isn't trying to come back on us or anything. The chemo will also destroy any of the cancer we missed. Barring any complications, you'll be officially cancer-free by Christmas. Fair warning, the surgery will be hard on your body and possibly your mind and recovery will be lengthy, but you seem to have a lot of good people around you." Dr. Schultz looked around at his family. "That's great since support systems will be a crucial part of your treatment and recovery."
Mercedes looked at her dad then bowed her head. As happy as she was that he would be okay, she couldn't help but feel the worst sense of guilt at the realization that she'd be leaving in a week. Not even a week, 6 days. She made such a big deal out of wanting to be there for him and not wanting to lose him and now when he needed her most, she was leaving him. He needed his support system and she was going back across the country. Some daughter she was.
"Hey," Sam whispered to her. "This is great isn't it?"
Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked up at him. "Yeah." She smiled some.
"Like, if I were to rank great news, this would be higher than that time when I was in middle school and my parents surprised us with a trip to Six Flags over Georgia after I had just had a growth spurt and was officially tall enough to ride all the rides," he said.
Her smile widened. "Yeah, it's amazing."
"Okay. So why aren't you basking in it like the rest of us?"
Mercedes drew in a breath to give an answer that she'd have to improvise but was saved by her dad.
"Alright, I want you kids to go out and celebrate. Mercedes, Mason, go and get drinks or something. Have fun. Get crazy!"
Mason laughed. "Pop, we can't celebrate without you; this is your good news."
"I'd love to join you, but I'm a little busy right now." Marvin gestured to his hospital gown. "Go on without me. I'll be fine. There's a Family Feud marathon tonight and I'm feeling mighty lucky tonight. I might just win fast money." He grinned.
"You know what? He's right," Mercedes said. "Let's get dinner or something, the four of us. I'll pay."
Mason smirked. "And just when I thought this day couldn't get any better. Gotta go Pop! Mom, Doc." He patted his dad's shoulder, gave his mom a quick hug and nodded at Dr. Schultz. "Merce, we'll meet you downstairs. I'm hungry as a horse." He and an embarrassed Devon left the room.
Mercedes and Sam spoke to her parents and left the room shortly after. Just before they left the hospital, Mercedes excused herself to go to the bathroom. In the bathroom, she made a phone call, grinning when she heard the voice on the other end.
"Benz!"
"Hi, Evie. How's the best, most experienced manager in the industry doing?"
"She's doing just fine. She feels like you're about to ask her something, boosting her ego like that."
Even though she knew she couldn't see her, Mercedes lifted her free hand. "Caught me! I need you to send a message to the label for me."
"And what is that?"
She took a moment, willing herself to do what she knew she needed to.
"I'm going on an indefinite hiatus."
Hey, y'all! I realized not too long ago that somehow, I forgot to post last week's chapter. But here we are! The next chapter will be shorter, a conversation between Sam and Mercedes about the state of their relationship. Then, we'll have the slightest of time jumps.
In between the next chapter and the time jump chapter, this story will take a short break (shorter than Mercedes') because I have another story in the works that I'd like to get started! I still have quite a few plans for this story and I'm in it for the long haul, so I hope you all will stick with me!
