Friday afternoon, McKinley High
Sam and Mercedes said goodbye to Quinn and, holding hands, began walking towards the school as Quinn headed the opposite direction to her car. They'd only gone a few steps before Mercedes's text message tone chimed and she pulled her phone out of her pocket, a snort of laughter escaping her as she read what was on the screen.
QUINN: You BETTER call me later this afternoon!
"What?" Sam asked and she just held the phone out so he could read the message also. "Ahh," he nodded. "Girl talk."
"I figured she might want a few more details," Mercedes shrugged, sending a quick response before putting her phone away.
"So since we're not trying to keep this secret till Sunday, which, by the way, seriously, thank you for changing your mind on that, because it was really going to suck to have to spend two days acting like you're not my wife now, so what's the plan? Are we sending out a mass text or something?"
Mercedes shook her head. "No, I think we should just keep telling people as we see them. I figure you'll appreciate the opportunity to keep throwing the words 'my wife' out in conversation all the time," she teased.
"What?" Sam said innocently as they reached the school building and he pulled the door open for her. "I like saying those words."
She smiled and kissed his cheek before walking through the door. "I like hearing them." He smiled and followed her into the school building.
They were walking down the hall to the teachers' lounge when suddenly their path was blocked by a tiny young woman with dark hair who planted herself in front of them.
"Mr. Evans. I'm glad to see you're back at school today. Sectionals are only five weeks away and it's vitally important that we have our director at all our rehearsals."
Mercedes blinked a few times. If it weren't for the vaguely Russian or Eastern European accent the girl spoke with, she would have been convinced she'd just traveled back in time to be confronted by Rachel Berry once again.
Sam just smiled, clearly used to this girl. "Mercedes," he said to her, "this is Karina, one of New Directions' lead vocalists this year."
Karina smiled. "A huge honor for a sophomore like me – wait – Mercedes-" and here she really looked at the older woman for the first time "-Jones? THE Mercedes Jones?"
Mercedes laughed and nodded. "I've not heard of any others, so yes, I guess so. Nice to meet you."
"Oh my gosh, you are like one of the most famous alumni this school has produced! Why are you here?" she looked back at Sam. "Is she coming to help us rehearse?"
Sam looked at Mercedes, who shrugged. "We haven't talked about that, but she could, if she'd like."
Mercedes smiled. "Not today, but I'm going to be in Lima for a while, so maybe next week?"
"Oh, that would be amazing- I have so many ideas I'd love to discuss with you-"Karina's excited chattering was cut off by a voice from behind them.
"Karina, let's give our guest some space to breathe, okay? And I think you're supposed to be in class?"
"Mr. Schue!" Mercedes said happily as she turned around to hug her former teacher, while Karina nodded and headed off down the hall.
"It's good to see you, Mercedes. And I keep telling all of you, you can call me Will now."
"I know," Mercedes said, "And I keep hearing Sam say it and I know it's okay, it just feels so weird!" She glanced behind her at Karina's rapidly retreating figure. "Whew. That girl is…intense."
Sam laughed as they walked into the teacher's lounge. "You can say it, Mercedes, she's Rachel all over again, except maybe more intense. Her family came here from Czech Republic five years ago, so she's even more determined to be a success and make it in America."
"She will, too. She's good," Will said, "I'll give her that. She was extremely put out that you were out yesterday though," he said to Sam.
"Yeah, about that," Sam started to say and Will waved him off.
"It's fine, Sam," he said. "Why do we have PTO if we can't use it?" He pulled his lunch bag out of the fridge and then stepped out of the way so Sam could get his own lunch container, which held food for both him and Mercedes. The three of them sat down at a table and Will continued talking. "I'm more curious about what I heard Mercedes say – you're going to be in Lima for a while?"
"Um, yeah," Mercedes replied. "So, I'm in the process of moving back and making Lima my home base when I'm not on tour or at meetings that have to be at the label in New York."
"I see. Any particular reason for that?" Will asked, glancing at Sam, clearly taking note of the food being shared between them and starting to put the situation together.
"Well – you know how I wanted to talk to Mercedes this weekend about maybe officially being a couple again?" Will nodded and Sam continued," Well, she showed up to this thing early and it turns out she wanted us to be more official than I could have hoped for."
Mercedes couldn't stand it anymore at that point. "I got here on Wednesday and we got married!" she blurted out.
Will's eyes went wide. "Really?" They both nodded and Will smiled, pressing his hand to his heart. "Aw, congratulations, you guys. This is awesome." He leaned over to poke Sam's shoulder. "And you were worried she wouldn't even be interested in just dating you."
"Yeah, yeah," Sam said, taking the teasing good-naturedly. "I always had hope, though," he said and Mercedes smiled at him across the table.
Will shook his head, chuckling. "I swear though, sometimes I think I was running a matchmaking club, not a show choir. How many marriages is this?"
"Three?" Mercedes said. "No, four if you count Rachel and Jesse, which I guess we have to, since he was in New Directions for like a minute. And Tina and Artie are probably going to get married some day. Maybe."
"Seems like everyone else is branching out though. Although I guess you never know what might happen this weekend with all of you back in town."
"I don't know," Mercedes said thoughtfully. "I can't really see any other matches among the others, but stranger things have happened."
"Well, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone that's going to be here," Will said. "Love matches or not, it's always a good time when you all get together."
"Now that is the truth!"
