Thank you for your continued interest and support. I appreciate it.

I do not own Glee or the characters, neither do I own Chasing Christmas.

Mercedes and the girls all finished dressing from the trunk, and for a brief moment, she looked around, and they all looked amazing.

She glanced down at the clothes Kitty had given her...clothes being a loose term, for the mini halter fringe dress, headband, belly button–length strand of pearls, and thigh-high stockings with lace trim along the tops.

Suffice to say it...she didn't recognize herself.

And the more she thought about it, she realized, the six of them were dressed as close as could be, to prostitutes from the Roaring Twenties.

They'd just gotten out of an Uber at some exclusive, fancy nightclub in the Financial District, ready to partake in Murder Mystery Night, when Kitty uttered,

"I just hope I'm the murderer, not the murderee. I don't look good in blood."

"I wouldn't mind being the bad guy," Holly said and smiled. "Kitty plans the best girls' nights out."

"Of course I do," Kitty said, as a shit-eating grin morphed on her face.

Inside, they all headed to the bar.

And a few minutes later, Pam eyed the line of shots in front of all of them and grimaced.

"Tomorrow morning's going to hurt," she said.

Shortly afterwards, they were each given role cards with their story lines and information.

And Mercedes realized she was the victim...but according to the rules, she couldn't tell anyone.

She was supposed to mingle until half past nine and then 'vanish'.

But really, she would be allowed into a back room...a greenroom...where she'd be able to eat and drink, and watch the next half hour on the monitors, as the guests tried to solve her murder.

Kitty immediately dragged them all into the bathroom, then proceeded to lock the door.

Next, she climbed up on the sink...an impressive feat, given, she was wearing five-inch pumps...and blocked the surveillance camera with paper towels.

"Okay," she said and pulled out the player card she'd been given. "I'm just a patron. You guys?"

Wendy, Pam, Holly, and Karen, all said they were just patrons too. So they turned to Mercedes.

"We're not supposed to tell," she said.

"I get that," Kitty said. "But no way am I letting any of you out of my sight tonight for any reason. So I need to know your roles, so I can make sure you stay safe."

"And not arrested," Pam said.

Mercedes sighed.

"I'm the victim," she said.

"Shit!" Kitty said. "Okay, we can work with this. Switch roles with me."

"Why?" Mercedes asked.

"Because no one's killing you on my watch."

Mercedes suddenly felt herself oddly moved by this.

"That's so sweet."

"The hell with sweet," Kitty said. "Sam would fire my ass, and I love my job."

'Okay, then,' Mercedes thought, as she handed over her note card.

After Kitty had swapped their note cards, she said,

"Remember, we stick together."

And with that, they all went out to the bar and had a few more drinks.

By the end of the second one, Wendy was wearing a silly smile.

"I love you guys," she said, slinging her arms around them...one by one. "Thanks for loving me, even though I always smell like wet dog and carry pet treats in my pockets."

"She's a cheap date," Holly whispered to Mercedes.

"Hey," Wendy said. "True that."

"I usually smell like wood," Karen said, holding up her glass.

"Sometimes I smell like the bay and pelicans," Pam said.

"Well, I smell amazing," Kitty said, waving at the bartender. She was about to buy them all another round before turning to Wendy.

"And ride or die, right? To the moon and back," she added.

"Ride or die, to the moon and back!" Karen, Wendy, Holly, and Pam repeated, completely out of sync, but with such genuine sincerity, that Mercedes felt a catch in her throat.

"It's so sweet that you guys have each other like this," she said.

"And you too," Wendy reminded her.

"Yeah?" Mercedes asked, feeling a little sappy. And maybe a little bit drunk, as she finished her second drink. "You'd really include me, after only knowing me for two and a half weeks?"

"That depends on if you're going to make a big deal out of it or not."

The catch in Mercedes' throat tightened and now her eyes burned too.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, waving a hand in front of her face. "I didn't realize how lonely I was, until right this very minute, being so far away from home."

"Aww." Karen slipped an arm around her. "We won't let you be lonely tonight."

"True," Wendy said. "We're a pretty good tribe to belong to. We always tell each other if there's something stuck in our teeth, and we all carry chocolate in our purses for everyone's various PMS days. Plus, we all have our roles. Pam is the voice of reason. I'm the mom. Karen can fix anything. Holly is our resident healer. And Kitty is the protection."

"What am I?" Mercedes asked.

"You tell us," Kitty said.

Their gazes met and Mercedes felt the challenge.

"I'm a good storyteller," she said, and shifted her gaze.

That's as far as she was willing to go right now, although, as she looked into their friendly gazes...well, everyone's but Kitty's, because she was suddenly avoiding hers...she felt a stab of guilt.

"That's it?" Kitty asked meaningfully.

"Yep," Mercedes replied.

"Hmm," Kitty said. "I'm not sure Sam needs a...storyteller."

Wendy opened her purse and handed Kitty a piece of chocolate.

She sighed, took it and ate it.

And after a few seconds, she looked at Mercedes again.

"Sorry," she said. "Old habits...protecting those I care about."

"Sam wouldn't want you trying to protect him," Pam said.

"No, he wouldn't," Kitty agreed. "And he sure as hell wouldn't want me to say, he's having trouble with work. But I'm going to say it anyway, because he is."

"Wait..." Mercedes was trying to process, but felt impeded by the shots. "...what do you mean, he's having trouble?"

"He hasn't been able to concentrate or focus," Kitty said.

"Since?"

Kitty just looked at her.

'Right. Since I came into the picture,' Mercedes thought, then said,

"It's only been a little over two weeks."

Kitty nodded.

"Yes. Time that he didn't have to spare."

Mercedes set her drink down.

Was that true?

And if so, why hadn't Sam told her himself?

He'd made it seem like everything was fine.

"You know what we need?" Wendy said into the awkward silence. "Another drink!"

Ten minutes later, Mercedes could admit that Wendy had been right.

She was feeling no pain. In fact, she couldn't even feel her toes.

"Hmm..." she said and looked down. And to her surprise, her toes were definitely still there.

"What's up?" Karen asked.

"I thought I lost my toes there for a second."

Karen grinned.

"You're a cheap date too." She looked at Wendy. "We should call Sam."

"Oh let me!" Pam said, bouncing up and down and clapping her hands. "I owe him a favor. I can hand him Mercedes and we'll be even!"

"Hey," Mercedes said, pretty sure she should object, to anyone handing her over to someone.

Even if a part of her...a big part...quivered in anticipation, of being given to Sam for the rest of the night.

"Are you denying you'd want to go home and ride him like a wild bronco?" Karen asked her.

Everyone stared at Mercedes, leaving her in a predicament.

"If I say yes," she said, with the care of the heavily inebriated, "Then, you'll all know we're sleeping together. If I say no, then you'll want to know why I'm not sleeping with him, and then I'll have to admit that I am sleeping with him."

"You do know you're talking out loud, right?" Kitty asked.

But the others were all high-fiving themselves and also exchanging money.

"I won," Karen said, counting her winnings. "But only because Kitty didn't bet."

Mercedes looked at Kitty.

"She didn't want to bet on something that might hurt her BFF," Pam said. "That's why we're here tonight. To make sure you're okay for Sam, and that you're not holding him back. And if so...well, I don't know what. Maybe off with your head!" she said dramatically.

When no one else laughed, Pam closed her eyes, and smacked her own forehead.

"Right. Don't tell Mercedes that Sam asked us to be her friends, or that Kitty wanted us to test her for him..."

Mercedes blinked and then stared at the others, hating that the alcohol was scrambling her thought process, and making her as slow as a turtle.

"Wait...so this wasn't girls' night...it was...an audition?"

Pam winced.

"Listen, we..." she started.

"No!" Mercedes stood and grabbed her purse, then the edge of the bar, so she didn't tip over. "What the flip?"

A warm hand helped steady her.

"Whoa, darlin', careful."

It was Tasha from the coffee shop, tall as a mountain and dressed in head-to-toe flapper girl. And looking fab while she was at it.

She took in the now tensed group and her smile faded.

"Hey. What's wrong?" she asked.

"Mercedes..." Wendy said, regret heavy in her voice. "We just wanted to make sure..."

"...that I'm Sam-worthy. I get it," Mercedes said.

And oddly enough, she did.

But it didn't take away from her embarrassment and hurt, that she'd been fooled.

"You let me think you wanted me here." She shook her head, feeling stupid...and drunk. A bad combo. "And I gushed about it," she said. "I went on and on, and you let me."

Feeling her throat go tight, she knew she needed to get out of there.

"I've got to go," she said.

And right at that moment, the fire alarm came on.

And then the overhead sprinklers.

And then the lights went out.

Chaos reigned.

People screamed and called out, and there was more than a little bit of shoving.

Mercedes was pushed into a wall and she shrank back against it, not wanting to get trampled.

Then suddenly, there was a beam of light and a hand grabbed hers and tugged, hard.

She tried to dig in her heels and pull back, but a voice she recognized said,

"Come on."

It was Kitty.

Someone else came up at her back.

"Just me," Wendy said cheerfully.

"And me," Karen said, not cheerfully, sounding like she'd just run a marathon.

"Pam..." Kitty called out sharply. "Holly! Tasha!"

"All right here," Tasha replied.

They were all soaked to the bone and shivering, as Kitty led them through the back, passed a kitchen, and out a side door into the night.

"Damn!" Karen said and crouched down, wrapping her arms around her bent legs. She dropped her head to her knees. "Damn, damn, damn..."

"She's claustrophobic," Wendy murmured to Mercedes, who then, dropped to her knees in front of Karen.

"Chocolate," she said and snapped her fingers, before holding out her palm to Wendy.

Wendy complied and dropped a piece of chocolate...also wet...into her hand and she passed it to Karen.

Karen chomped down the chocolate and nodded.

"Thanks," she said and her breathing slowed. "How in the world did you know that would help?"

"Chocolate fixes everything," Mercedes said.

Everyone laughed except Kitty, who gave Mercedes a long speculative look.

Mercedes tried to give it back, but she was more than a little tipsy, so she ended up cross-eyed, which had her losing her balance and falling to her ass on the sidewalk.

Karen giggled and hugged her.

"Perfect remedy for a panic attack. A friend acting drunk to cheer me up."

"Who's acting?" Mercedes asked.

She managed to get to her feet and wobbled. Then, she gripped the wall.

"You guys are the only actors here," she said.

Wendy winced.

"Mercedes..."

"No." She pointed at them collectively. Or at least she hoped she did. It was hard to tell, since her vision was wonky. "I'm leaving now."

"Sorry, ma'am, but you're not."

This came from one of the two police officers, who'd shown up out of nowhere.

"No one's leaving until we find out who set off the emergency fire system. It might've been a joke, but the building's got a lot of damage, which makes this a felony."

"We didn't do anything wrong," Tasha said, putting herself between the girls and the cops. "We're patrons here and we were lucky to get out without injury. We're going to walk away."

"Not yet," one of the cops said, a hand on his baton, eyes on Tasha.

"Oh hell no!" Kitty said and stood arm-to-arm with Tasha.

"Let it go, Kitty," she told her. "Just drop it."

But Kitty didn't listen, she jabbed a finger in the cop's chest and asked,

"Are you racial-profiling my friend?"

At that, the cop yanked his cuffs out and commanded,

"Okay, face the wall. All of you!"

"Bite me," Kitty said.

Which was how they all ended up in the back of two squad cars, on their way to the police station.

Later, they all sat in lockup, long enough for Tasha, Wendy, and Holly to make friends with everyone else in the cell.

Pam and Karen were more muted, but still friendly.

And of course...Kitty didn't make friends.

Mercedes told herself to relax and take in the entire experience for research, but she couldn't. Because tonight hadn't been their idea. They'd invited her, only because Sam had asked.

She felt her face heat just thinking about it.

"Stop!" Kitty said. "You're thinking so hard your hair is smoking."

"No. And I'm not talking to you," Mercedes said.

"Fine. I'll talk. Watching you handle yourself tonight, I realized I've misjudged you. You're tough and smart, and you care. That combination is rare and I admire it. I'd apologize for being a bitch, but I can't promise it won't happen again, so I'll just say, that I think you're good for Sam."

Mercedes shook her head.

That was the thing.

She wasn't good for Sam. She kept him from his work, for one. And two, they had a big geographical problem.

"You're wrong there," she said softly. "I'll hold him back."

Kitty had the good grace to wince.

"You did not say that to her," Tasha said.

Kitty sighed.

"Did you miss the part where I apologized?"

"It doesn't matter," Mercedes said. "Look, I know you're a good friend to Sam. And I want you to take care of him."

"Why?" Kitty asked. "Where will you be?"

"New York."

Tasha gasped.

"You're...leaving him? You can't leave him."

"I'm going home."

"But he got dumped last time too..."

Tasha broke off when Kitty elbowed her in the gut.

And the guard outside the door pointed at Kitty, but she gave him an innocent look.

Then, he looked at Tasha, who in turn smiled and winked at him.

Seeing that she was okay, the officer shook his head and seemed to relax.

Kitty started to say something to Mercedes, but another officer came down the hall and after consulting a list, he called their names.

They'd been bailed out.

"That was fast," Pam said.

"Not fast enough," Kitty grumbled. "I hit my panic button the minute we had trouble at the club."

"Panic button?" Mercedes asked.

"Artie is serious as a heart attack when it comes to her safety," Karen said. "She carries a panic button in case of trouble and when she hits it, he shows up, no matter what...or where."

"That sounds either really paranoid or really romantic," Mercedes said.

Holly laughed quietly.

"A little bit of both," she muttered.

The girls walked through the precinct and out into the night.

It was cold and raining, but they were still soaked through from the sprinklers, so it didn't matter.

"I'm taking an Uber," Mercedes said. "Alone."

"Oh, honey, please don't be like that," Wendy said.

"We really didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Pam said. "Please stay with us."

"I'll be fine on my own."

In a rare display of emotion, Kitty reached for Mercedes' hand.

"I can't let you go off without us."

"Your favor is fulfilled," Mercedes said. "You're off the hook."

"You're wrong. I told Sam I'd take care of you tonight. All night."

"Well, I absolve you of any responsibility of me," she said and yanked free.

Then, she turned and bumped into a brick wall...which turned out to be Sam's chest.

On either side of him were Fergus, Noah, and Artie, all looking grimly amused.

Kitty made a point of checking her watch.

But Artie reached for her and tugged her into him.

"We had a little problem at the site, but it's taken care of," he said.

"And so are the charges," Noah said. "You're all welcome."

"Hmph," Kitty said. "We were actually innocent this time."

Noah grinned.

"Whatever you say."

Mercedes backed away from Sam, because she didn't trust her body not to melt into his, even now, when she was really mad.

And also, apparently, still drunk, because she tripped over her own feet.

She would've gone down, hard too, and hit her ass for the second time that night, if he hadn't caught her.

"Got you," he said lightly and looked over her head at Kitty. "How much did you give her to drink?"

"Hey," Mercedes said, stabbing him in the chest with her finger. "I'm in charge of myself."

"Yeah?" he asked, bending down a little to look into her eyes. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

She blinked at him.

There were so many fingers that she couldn't count them all.

"That's not fair," she complained. "You're using like five hands. I can't count that fast."

Sam gave Kitty a look, but she tossed up her hands and said defensively,

"Hey, who knew that she couldn't hold her liquor? She only had three drinks."

"How big were they?" he asked.

Mercedes tried to roll her eyes and got dizzy.

"Dammit!" she said and dropped her forehead to Sam's chest.

He pulled her in and kissed the top of her head.

"Come on, I'll get you home."

"Okay, but only because I can't feel my feet. And don't talk to me. I'm very mad at you, you know."

"You can tell me all about it on the ride home."

"I mean it," she said, knowing he was just humoring her. "And for the record, I'm not that pathetic, that I need you to force your friends to pretend to be my friends."

She felt him look down at her, but whether that was in guilt or surprise, she didn't know. And, she silently told herself, she didn't care.

Sam opened the truck door for Mercedes and helped her in.

Then, he buckled her up, before going around to get in himself.

Once inside, he aimed the heater vents at her and started the vehicle.

And as out of it as she was, Mercedes registered when the engine started, and the next thing she knew, she was feeling warm and toasty.

Inside the truck was dark, but she knew it was just her and Sam. She felt safe and secure, two things that had been in short supply for the past hour...not to mention her entire life...and she closed her eyes on a happy sigh.

'Just for a minute,' she promised herself.

And that was the last thing she remembered.

Stay safe!