And now we're in high summer. Let's see how they got engaged. Enjoy!

July 4, 2020

"This should be a good spot to see everything," Mercedes said, pointing at a patch of sand. Sam nodded in agreement, unfolding the blanket he was carrying and handing one end to her so they could stake out their place for the Fourth of July fireworks display. All around them, members of her family were doing the same with their own towels and blankets, camp chairs and beach loungers. Big band patriotic music came faintly from somewhere and the whole festive spirit was infectious. Mercedes' niece and little cousins ran around with red, white and blue glowsticks and little American flags and she couldn't help noticing the slightly wistful look on Sam's face as he watched them.

"Wishing you were still young enough to run around and play like that?" she teased him as they settled onto their blanket and worked to get comfortable, ending up with Mercedes sitting in between Sam's legs, her back to his chest.

He laughed, shaking his head. "Sometimes," he admitted. "But, no, really, it was reminding me of when Stevie and Stacey were that little." He leaned forward a little, kissing the tip of her ear. "But then it also makes me think about how our kids could be here for this one day."

Mercedes nodded, his words giving her that same warm glow inside that she always felt when he talked about them in the future sense, like it was just a given that it was going to happen. And maybe he was right, maybe it was a given, but…

She shook her head at herself. It was a beautiful summer night and there was plenty of time to worry another day.

The first firework went off then and she settled back into Sam's arms, ready to enjoy the show. The explosions and bursts of color went off for a good twenty minutes or longer before winding up in what was clearly the grand finale. The older family members and those with young children started gathering up their things, but Sam and Mercedes stayed put, watching the activity around them, exchanging quiet good nights with others as they headed to their cabins or rooms for the evening.

When nearly everyone was gone, Mercedes sighed, moving herself down the length of the blanket, stretching out, her head propped in Sam's lap after he moved his legs into a criss-crossed position.

"It's been a beautiful day," she said and Sam nodded.

"And a gorgeous night," he added.

"Yeah…" Mercedes sighed and moved again, rolling onto her stomach and propping herself up by her elbows, chin in her hands.

Sam couldn't help but chuckle as she looked up at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing. You're just cute."

She grinned at that. "Funny, I was just thinking the same about you."

Sam laughed, stretching out on his side next to her. "Guess that's part of that good team thing."

"Mm-hmm."

They lay there in a companionable, comfortable silence for a few moments, Mercedes gazing out at the lake, Sam's eyes on her. She'd never have been able to guess how anxious he was in that moment, trying to figure out how to bring up the topic he wanted to broach. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait terribly long before Mercedes gave him the perfect opening.

"Sometimes I wish we could stay like this forever," she said quietly. "Just you and me, peace and quiet, no responsibilities."

"Me too," he agreed. "Although I bet you would get bored before too long, with no responsibility. I actually probably would too, believe it or not."

Mercedes laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"You and me forever though – I wouldn't get bored of that," he said softly, glad to see the smile on her face as he spoke. "Maybe we should really consider that."

"Yeah?" she said, her tone light and playful, the seriousness in his voice not quite reaching her ears yet.

Sam nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving her face. "Yeah," he replied. "Spending the rest of my life with you sounds really good to me. What do you think?"

Her eyes widened just slightly as she realized what he was saying and how he was saying it and she moved to sit up, keeping her gaze on him. "I think we've only been back together for like a month and while it's been wonderful, there's a lot to consider and – and –" here she faltered, not entirely sure why she was protesting. Or even totally sure of what she was protesting.

Sam nodded as he sat up too, reaching for her hands. "Yeah, I know. But I also know how much I love you. And I know that I've been happier in this last month than I've been in years, maybe even since we were last together in New York."

"Me too," Mercedes admitted. "I just – I still just don't know about the whole long-distance thing. I know there's like, a million ways to keep in touch, but nothing compares to being in the same place."

Sam nodded again. "Yeah. I've been thinking about that too."

Mercedes eyed him worriedly. "As wonderful as this summer has been so far – it's a bubble. It's not real life. I'll have to go back to New York eventually – record again and then tour again, fly out to LA sometimes. I can't stay in Lima, much as I might want to sometimes."

"I know," he said slowly, not entirely sure how she was going to react to what he said next. "That's why I, um, why I've been looking into teaching positions in New York. And finding out what I need to do to get certified there."

Mercedes' jaw dropped. "You've been doing what?"

He shrugged. "Trying to find a job where my girlfriend lives."

"Are you serious? But what about McKinley and New Directions and – and the life you have here?" Mercedes was truly dumbfounded by his announcement. In all the various possibilities of where they could go from here, she'd never considered this, never even let herself hope that Sam would think about leaving Lima.

Sam shook his head. "The way the school is now, I'm not the best person for the job anymore. It's an elite arts school, New Directions is a world-class choir. And it's awesome to be a part of it, but – it's also so far out of my league. And honestly? It's just not fun anymore. These kids are so hard core. It's a room full of Rachels. I want to coach kids who're like we were – willing to work hard because they just love singing and dancing. And I want to help the kids who have parents like ours – parents who cared but weren't a thousand percent overinvested in their kids' lives. I want to help the kids like you, who have big dreams but their parents don't totally support those dreams. Or the kids with parents like mine, who love their kid but have a shit ton of stuff going on and can't always be there. "

Mercedes nodded as he spoke; even in the dim light, she could see the passion and earnestness on his face. "You know that's a big part of why I love you, the way you care for others," she said when he finished speaking, letting go of one of his hands, so she could reach up to caress his cheek.

He shrugged as he caught her hand, kissing her palm as she kept talking.

"But what about New York itself? I thought you hated it there. You couldn't get out of there fast enough when we left."

He gave her a look that plainly said 'think about it.' "Come on, babe. Haven't you figured out that the biggest thing was that I didn't want to be in New York without you, if we weren't a couple anymore? Knowing that you weren't coming back to me when the tour was over?"

"Oh," she said quietly, looking down at her lap. The notion had honestly not ever occurred to her and yet, it made perfect sense. "Sam, I'm so sorry for not realizing that – for thinking my feelings were more important than yours – "

"Hey," Sam said gently, interrupting her. "It's okay. We hashed that out a long time ago – there's nothing to be sorry for." He was still holding both her hands in his and now he intertwined their fingers, giving her a reassuring squeeze. She nodded, squeezing back.

"And like I said," Sam continued, "I've been doing a little research. You don't have a permanent place there, right?"

Mercedes shook her head. "No. The label puts me in a hotel for short-term things and one of their apartments for long-term, like where we lived."

"Right, that's what I thought. So – I'm thinking – we find a place of our own, but like, maybe out in Queens? Or the Bronx? I've looked a ton of stuff up – if you get out in the outer parts of those boroughs, it's almost like a suburb, so it's not full-on city, but it's still only a thirty, maybe forty-five-minute train ride into Midtown, so I thought that might work? Close enough to not be awful for you to get into the City proper but gives me a little green space too?"

She just stared at him for a minute. "You really have planned all this out, haven't you?" she said, a little disbelieving.

Sam nodded. "I wanted you to know I'm serious. We've wasted too many years apart already – I just – I –"

He stopped talking, not entirely sure of the words he wanted to say but they were still holding hands so she just squeezed them again, kind of understanding what he was saying anyway.

"Okay," she said finally. "So you're going to find a job in New York and we're going to get a place there together."

"Yeah?" he said cautiously and she nodded.

"Yeah. I mean, you're right – we've wasted a lot of time and – I don't know. I think I'm ready to stop trying to control things so much and just – roll with life."

"Okay," Sam said. "So that brings us back to the beginning of this conversation and you and me and the rest of our lives."

She shook her head. "Okay," she said slowly. "What about that?"

"Well – I'd like very much to spend the rest of my life with you and I'm hoping you feel the same way about me," Sam replied, dropping her hands for a minute so he could dig around in his pocket and pull out the ring box he'd been carrying around all day.

They'd both been sitting flat on the ground but now he moved to being on one knee as he reached for her left hand and she covered her mouth with the other hand as she realized what he was doing. "Oh my God," she whispered.

"Mercedes," he said softly, and she could hear all the emotion in his voice, just in the sound of her name and suddenly her eyes were filled with tears. A thousand different speeches ran through his head in about a split second and he ultimately decided on simple and straight to the point. "Will you marry me?"

Mercedes' head was spinning. (She'd kind of been expecting a typical Sam-speech, to give her time to process this.) "I – Sam. Are you serious?" She knew the answer to that, of course, it was obvious. After the conversation they'd just had, the box he was holding out to her with an engagement ring in it. Of course he was serious. "Of course you're serious," she said, not even giving him a chance to respond to her question. "You – I – oh my GOD –"

He squinted at her in the dim light. "Of course I'm serious," he said, echoing her words. "And I haven't heard the word yes or no yet so I'm also kind of seriously dying here."

"Oh!" she blurted out. "Oh, God, I'm sorry – yes! Yes, I will marry you," she managed to say, laughing and crying at the same time and she was pretty sure she was spouting pure gibberish at him as she kept talking. (She was. It was along the lines of "This is crazy. But I love you. But this is crazy! And –")

It didn't matter though, because even as she took the jewelry box from him and pulled the ring out and handed it back to him as she held out her left hand to him, so he could put it on her ring finger, Sam was laughing and crying too and throwing absolute babble right back at her "I know! I know! It's crazy! But I love you too. I love you so much! And you said yes, and the ring's on your finger, you can't take it back now."

Mercedes laughed even harder at that. "Oh, I can't, huh?"

"Nope. No take backs."

She held her hand out in front of her – even in the darkness, she could see the sparkle of the diamond and she smiled at him. "It's perfect. I love it. I love you. I love my ring and you can't have it back." Then she frowned, thinking. "Wait, is it my ring? Or is it your ring? I guess it's your ring that you have gifted to me?"

Sam blinked, trying to keep up with her train of thought. "I think so?"

She waved her be-ringed hand dismissively. "Doesn't matter. The more important question is – when the hell did you buy this?"

He ducked his head, sitting back down as she eyed him. "Honestly? I've been thinking about it since that first night at the carnival. And I decided to buy it the day you invited me up here. And then I bought it the next day, after you left."

She shook her head at him. "You sneaky boy," she said, voice full of affection and admiration. "I can't believe you…"

Sam laughed, reaching out to pull her into his lap. "I love you," he whispered as he lowered his head to kiss her.

She melted into the kiss, into him, wrapping her arms tightly around him. They were both breathing hard when they finally broke apart, Sam resting his forehead against hers.

"Oh my God," Mercedes said, with a sudden burst of giggles. "We're getting married? Married!"

Sam laughed. "I'm pretty sure that's what you just said yes to, yeah."

"I feel like – like I should feel insane. Like, it's only been like, six weeks, this time around and I feel like everyone will say it's way too fast, too soon, and I just don't even care, because I feel – just the most centered and at peace than I've felt in a long, long time." Mercedes had leaned back a little, to try to see Sam's face as the words just tumbled out of her, and he was quiet, just watching her. "It's like – like my brain – "

"Has finally caught up to what your heart knew all along?" Sam suggested when she faltered, clearly at a loss for words, and she nodded vigorously.

"Yes! That, exactly." She laid her head against his chest, snuggling into the crook of his neck.

"Me too," he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

They sat there for a long while, whispering and giggling, kissing and cuddling.

"What time is it?" Mercedes suddenly asked.

Sam glanced at his watch. "Little past 10:30."

"Can we go see if my parents are still up and tell them? Otherwise there's a good chance one of my cousins will see the ring first at breakfast tomorrow and I feel like they should know before anyone else does."

"Sure," Sam shrugged, then grinned. "Do you need to let Santana know too? In case any of your family lets it slip?"

Mercedes shook her head. "Not necessarily. I'll give my family credit – they're generally pretty good about not talking about me publicly or blasting my business on social on anything. We'll just need to let her know before we share it publicly. Which we would anyway because we all know how fast the New Directions gossip train runs."

Sam shook his head as he stood up and then held out his hand to Mercedes to help her up. "Says the conductor of the train."

"Whatever," she tsk-ed at him. "It's called keeping up with your friends' lives and showing an interest."

"Mm-hmm," he said noncommittally, picking up the blanket and folding it haphazardly.

Mercedes shook her head, watching him in the dim light. Her fiancé now. What a weird thought.

"Ready?" he questioned, stuffing the blanket under one arm and bringing his other arm around her shoulders. "Which way is their cabin?"

Mercedes had been reconsidering while they stood there and now she shook her head. "You know what? Let's wait and tell them in the morning. I'll make sure no one else sees the ring first. Keep my hand in my pocket or something."

"Okay," Sam said, tossing a sideways glance at her as they turned to walk back to the B&B. She caught the look but stayed quiet until they were in their little room on the third floor.

"It's not that I don't want to tell them," she said, as soon as they'd closed the door behind them. "Or that I think they won't be happy or anything. I just – I want this to just be for us for a little bit. Not to keep it secret or anything. I –" she paused, looking and sounding frustrated. "I don't know how to explain what I mean."

Sam sat down on the edge of the bed and beckoned her towards him. "It's okay – take your time."

She nodded, sitting down beside him, one leg curled up underneath her as she turned towards him. "Okay. So, we just made a major life decision, right?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah…"

"And so I just kind of feel like – like I want to give it a little time to breathe. We just agreed to spend the rest of our lives with each other – like, that feels kind of – I still don't know the word I want – "

"Sacred?" he said quietly and she smiled gratefully.

"Yes! That's perfect, that's it exactly. It's huge and sacred and special and I feel like for tonight at least, it should just be for the two of us. Because it is just about the two of us."

Sam nodded as he looked at her. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen her look more beautiful – her eyes were shining and the smile seemed permanently glued to her face. He glanced down at her hand, at his ring on her finger (or was it *her* ring now?) and his own grin got bigger.

"I'll admit," he said, "I could do with a little time to wrap my head around the fact that you said yes."

She laughed a little at that. "Were you really afraid I'd say no?"

He thought for a moment. "Eighty-twenty, maybe? Or ninety-ten? I mean, I thought we were both thinking the same way – especially after you asked me to come up here and meet your grandma and brave all these cousins. But I was still pretty nervous. But then once we talked about me moving to New York, I was pretty sure we were good."

Mercedes laughed again, leaning over and wrapping her arms around his middle, resting her head on his shoulder. "Yeah. We're good."

"Better than good," he replied. "We're engaged!"

She couldn't help laughing again as he brought his arms around her, pulling her tight against his side.

"Mrs. Sam Evans," she mused, almost to herself and he grinned.

"Will you change your name?" he asked, looking at her curiously, and she shrugged.

"Yeah, probably. At least, you know, personally, legally. I'll keep using Jones professionally, that just makes sense. Why? Don't you want me to?"

Now it was Sam's turn to shrug. "I mean, yeah, I guess. I hadn't really thought about it yet. But it's your name, so really, it's up to you, right?"

"That is a very smart answer," Mercedes said with a giggle.

"Pretty, but not dumb," he reminded her.

"Pretty amazing," she said softly, pulling his head down to hers so she could kiss him.

"So are you," Sam replied as their lips met. "So are you."