Friday evening, Lima Central High School
"I have to admit," Kurt said as they exited the stadium into the parking lot, the two couples each holding hands, "this did end up being a lot of fun."
"Sam, you're not wrong, though, those boys are wild," Blaine said, shaking his head.
Sam grinned. "Told ya. They're still my little buddies though," he said, his voice and expression betraying his clear fondness for the Schuester children.
It really had been a very enjoyable evening. Having a ratio of six adults to the four children helped a lot. Mercedes had been impressed about how all the kids had hung in well, making it nearly to the end of the fourth quarter before five-year-old Joshua had a meltdown and the Schuester family took their leave. But until then, they'd enjoyed a lovely evening of chatting and reminiscing and actually watching a little football. Seven-year-old Danny was just getting old enough to really be interested and Sam and Blaine took particular delight in answering his questions. After the game ended, they'd headed down to the field to see Coach Beiste, who was of course delighted to see his 'punkins' and even more delighted to hear of Mercedes and Sam's nuptials.
Sam glanced at his watch. "It's still fairly early – you guys wanna go get a drink or anything?"
Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other before Kurt shook his head. "I think we'll pass. It's a rare childfree night for us, we have to take advantage of those when we can get them."
"Yeah," Blaine chimed in with a grin, "we're thinking we'll go full on high school nostalgia, go find somewhere to park and make out for a while."
Mercedes laughed. "You two do like the backseat of a car," she teased and both men just rolled their eyes, used to this joke that had been repeated continually since the Schuesters' non-wedding years ago.
"Maybe we should give that idea a try," Sam said, nudging Mercedes with his elbow. "Hot, right?"
She shot him an 'are you serious?' look. "Sam. Why are we going to squash ourselves into the backseat of the car when we have a perfectly nice, comfortable bed at home?"
Sam raised his eyebrows. "Message received." He turned to their friends. "Kurt, Blaine, it's been fun, but I think my wife is saying we have to go home now."
"Sam, that is not at all what I – mfmph –" the rest of her sentence was muffled as Sam suddenly covered her mouth with his, wrapping his arms around her and turning her towards the direction of his car as he did so.
"Okay, yeah, let's go home," she said with a giggle after they broke apart. "Bye, guys, we'll see you at the picnic tomorrow!" she said over her shoulder as she slid her arm around Sam's waist and they started walking away, his arm around her shoulders. Kurt and Blaine watched in amusement as they stopped every few feet to kiss again.
"They will never make it home at that rate," Blaine said with a laugh.
"Ahh, newlyweds," Kurt said, laughing too. "So fresh, so innocent."
"So unaware that it actually keeps getting better," Blaine said, pulling Kurt to him with a smile and kissing him.
"Very true," Kurt mumbled against his lips. "Now about that backseat thing…"
Saturday mid-day, Lima City Park
Mercedes shook her head. "I'm not sure which of the three of them is the bigger kid," she said to Kurt. They were at a table in the shelter at the city park where the reunion picnic was being held, watching Blaine and Sam with Tracy on the toddler playground. Her eyes met Kurt's and they said in unison, with a laugh, "Probably Sam."
"He is really good with kids," Kurt said and Mercedes nodded.
"Oh, I know. I helped him babysit Stevie and Stacey a few times that first summer we dated. Do you know they're seniors in high school this year? It's crazy. Anyway, he did so much for them." She looked thoughtful as she reflected. "Honestly, it's probably one of the things that attracted me to him in the first place, how much he cared about his family and taking care of them. And of course he was great with the Schuester crew last night – he loves those kids, much as he drags them."
"He'll make a great dad," Kurt said and Mercedes gave him a look that plainly said 'don't even'.
"We have literally been married for two and half days, Kurt," she said firmly. "We are so not there yet."
Kurt pouted. "But Tracy needs a glee-cousin from you."
Mercedes laughed. "Yes. We should have a baby so your child can have a 'cousin'. That sounds like excellent logic."
"I thought so," Kurt said with a shrug.
"Personally, I think we'd be smarter to wait until Tracy's old enough to baby-sit our kid," Mercedes said, half-seriously. Kurt rolled his eyes at this statement. She glanced out at the playground again and had to admit that it melted her heart a little to watch Sam twirling his goddaughter around. "Look, Sam and I will probably have kids one day, in a few years. But we need a chance to be us, as a couple, for a little while first. And we need to be really sure we're ready for it – raising biracial children isn't easy."
"No one is EVER ready to be a parent, not fully. And nothing about raising children is easy," Kurt pointed out. "Two gay men raising a little girl? That's not easy. Brittany – widowed with an infant? I can't even imagine. Even Mr. Schue and Ms. Pillsbury – that's as white and heterosexual of a unit as you can get and it's obviously not easy for them either."
"No, you're right. Everyone's got something," Mercedes looked over at the playground again – Tracy was now in a swing and Sam and Blaine were taking turns pushing her as they chatted. Kurt followed her gaze and smiled, then turned back to look at Mercedes.
"I really don't mean to diminish the challenges you two might face," he said sincerely, before grinning and adding, "Although if you ever have a daughter, I will pay money to be able to witness the first time Sam tries to fix her hair."
Mercedes let a snort of laughter escape before covering her mouth with her hand. "Kurt!"
He shrugged innocently and she sighed. "I know, you're right. Bless his heart, I know he'll try so hard and it still just won't look right." She shook her head. "But he'll learn. I'm not so worried about stuff like that. More like, how he'll handle it when they come home devastated about experiencing racism. Or how he'll feel when he's out in public with them and people assume they're adopted. Or worse, kidnapped." She looked across the playground at him again. "Or hell, he is so white and genetics are so weird – it's always possible we could have kids so light-skinned that people won't believe I'm their mother. It's just a lot to consider."
Kurt nodded, taking in her words. "I know. It's a lot," he agreed, glancing at his husband and daughter out on the playground again and smiling. "It's so totally worth it though," he added.
"For now, I'll take your word for it," Mercedes said with a grin. "And back to the glee-cousin topic - what about JJ? And Quinn's baby that she won't tell us what his name's going to be yet? And Liam, when Brittany's ready to re-join the world? Those are Tracy's glee-cousins too."
"Not the same," Kurt said with a dismissive wave. "They're not your kids AND my husband's best friend's kids."
Mercedes shook her head. "Have you even thought about the fact that my hypothetical future children are going to be living here, not in New York?"
"I was actually going to ask you about that. What are your living arrangements going to be?"
"She is completely abandoning us and moving back to Lima," Quinn said as she sat down next to Mercedes on the bench and gave her a side-armed hug. "Hi, Kurt," she added, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. He smiled brightly, returning the hello.
"Hi!" Mercedes said, hugging her back. "Hey, Ty," she added, greeting Quinn's husband, who came over and gave her a quick hug, before moving to the other side of the table and sitting next to Kurt, shaking his hand in greeting as he sat down.
Mercedes actually liked Ty a lot – he was just a good dude. Calm and even keeled and originally from Asheville, North Carolina, he had that faint touch of Southern charm that Sam occasionally had too and he was a good laid-back balance to Quinn's bouts of intensity. Quinn was the only glee club alumnus to marry fully 'outside' of the club so far (if you didn't count Rachel marrying Jesse as being outside the club) and although Ty of course didn't know all the inside jokes and crazy stories, he always seemed to just go along with what was happening at their reunion events and get-togethers, quietly amused by their antics.
"I know I already told you this yesterday, but I still can't believe you have left New York this close to my due date. I cannot do this without you," Quinn said.
"And I told you yesterday, that you are to text me the minute you show any signs of being in labor and I will be on the next plane back to New York. And if it gets to within two days of your due date, I will go ahead and come anyway. I will be there, I promise," Mercedes said firmly, side-armed hugging her again. Quinn had asked her months ago to again be in the delivery room when she gave birth; she wouldn't back out on that.
Quinn smiled. "I know. I'm just going to miss you being only an hour away."
"I know, me too."
"So you are moving back to Lima then?" Kurt asked, directing the conversation back to the original question.
Mercedes nodded. "Sam's whole life is here and he really didn't like living in the City. He's going to graduate next spring, he'll finally be a fully certified teacher and he's keeping the New Directions legacy alive – I can't ask him to give all that up. Not when I have a career that can be portable. I'll still be out on the road some of the year and I'll still have to come back to New York every now and then, but yeah, I'm – we're – going to primarily be based here. We haven't really talked beyond more than just very broad strokes, but we're thinking get some land, build a house with a studio – hell, maybe even enough bedrooms that you guys can come stay once in a while." She smiled. "It will be weird though, not living in New York after all this time."
"Not living in New York?" came a voice from the end of the table. "Why are you not living in New York?"
They all turned to look, Quinn, Mercedes and Kurt all saying at once, "Rachel!"
"Hi! Oh it's so good to see you all – hugs, hugs!" Rachel commanded and they all stood up to receive their Rachel hug.
"Look at you!" she said to Quinn. "I can't believe you're here! You don't have much longer to go, do you?"
"About a month," Quinn replied and Rachel nodded.
"It's so exciting! But you'll be glad to hear that giving birth for the second time is easier, crazy as that sounds," she said, shaking her head.
Quinn smiled. "It's been so long for me, I'm not sure if that will be true."
"You'll be fine,' Rachel said, patting her arm. "And it's also different when you know that the baby is going home with you!"
Mercedes looked around. "Where is your baby? I am dying to meet this kid. I've been waiting for years, remember?"
Rachel looked confused for a moment and then her face cleared. "Oh, my gosh, yes! When Mr. Schue asked us senior year what we were looking forward to and you said meeting my kids! Anyway, Jesse's got her-" she looked behind her and waved at someone carrying an infant carrier "– oh, here he comes!"
"Hi everyone," Jesse said as he reached the table and set the carrier on the table and they all leaned forward to coo at little three-month-old Jessica Jane St James, better known as JJ.
"Hello, my precious girl," Rachel said, undoing the straps on the carrier. "Come here and meet your aunties Quinn and Mercedes."
Mercedes held out her arms for the baby and Rachel carefully handed her over.
"Hi JJ," she cooed at her. "I'm your auntie Mercedes. I'm so excited to meet you, I've been waiting a long time. And one day, when your mama and daddy make you completely crazy, you can call me and I will talk you down from the ledge, because I've been there many times before with them, yes I have." Rachel rolled her eyes as Mercedes flashed her a grin before continuing to talk nonsense to the baby, who stared up at her with wide eyes.
Kurt turned towards the playground again. "Blaine! Sam!" he called. "Come here, Rachel and Quinn are here!"
"Sam?" Rachel said, looking confused. "Why is he here, he was a year behind us?"
"So was Blaine and he's here," Kurt said, glancing at Mercedes and stage-whispering, "Can I tell her? Can I, please?"
Beside her, Quinn was giggling.
"Tell me what?" Rachel asked, clearly confused. "And of course Blaine's here, he's married to you. Sam's not married to anyone, from our class or otherwise."
"Oh, but he is," Quinn said in a sing-song voice and Kurt shot her a glare.
"Quinn! I wanted to tell her!"
"You can tell her the rest!"
"Tell me what? What in the world are you all talking about? Sam married someone from our class? Who? When?" Rachel said, still confused and clearly growing exasperated with this pack of fools she called friends.
"Sam and Mercedes, sitting in a tree," Kurt sang and Rachel's head snapped around to look at Mercedes, who decided she was going to try to ignore her so-called friends.
"Oh my God," Mercedes muttered to JJ. "These people are all crazy." The baby blinked at her and yawned. Across the table, Ty was just watching this all unfold with unconcealed amusement while Jesse looked like he might not be entirely certain who Sam even was.
Quinn took up the refrain. "K-i-s-s-i-n-g!"
Then Kurt and Quinn together – "First comes love, then comes marriage –"
"I hate both of you," Mercedes said to Kurt and Quinn, talking over them as they sang the last line about the baby carriage.
"Sam and Mercedes got married!" Kurt announced in conclusion and Rachel's mouth fell open.
"And she's abandoning us and New York and moving back to Lima!" Quinn added and Rachel's eyes went hugely wide.
"I do, I hate you both," Mercedes declared. Then she paused for a moment to consider the scene. "On the other hand, you have just succeeded in rendering Rachel Barbra Berry St. James completely speechless, so I take it back. I don't hate you. I am very impressed with you."
"Thank you," Kurt said cheerfully.
Quinn smiled, leaning over Mercedes's shoulder to look at the baby. "Welcome to the world, JJ," she said. "This is your family – I'm sorry, but you're stuck with us." She nudged Mercedes with her elbow. "That goes for you too," she added with a laugh.
"Bless it," Mercedes said in resignation. "I guess that's true," she said to the baby. "Isn't it, JJ?"
Rachel was still struggling to regain her powers of speech as Sam and Blaine joined the group, Blaine carrying Tracy on his hip.
"Oh, that's Sam," Jesse muttered to himself at the far end of the table. "That's right."
"Papa," Tracy said, holding her arms out to Kurt, and Blaine passed her over to him, before sitting down beside Kurt, while Sam slid onto the bench beside Mercedes, immediately leaning over her shoulder to make funny faces at JJ.
"Hi sweetheart, you having fun with Daddy and Uncle Sam?" She nodded. "Uncle Sam's the best big kid to play with, isn't he?" Tracy nodded again, chewing on her finger for a minute before pulling it from her mouth and pointing across the table at Mercedes and JJ.
"Baby," she said.
"Yes, that's JJ. That's Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jesse's baby, remember?"
Tracy just laughed at him and Kurt shook his head, "No, you have no idea, do you, because you're two," he said with a laugh and blowing a raspberry on her cheek.
"Heh, Uncle Jesse," Sam said, laughing. Then he frowned. "But wait, aren't you her mom, Rachel? Not her aunt?"
The sound of her name seemed to be the thing that finally snapped Rachel out of her speechless state and she shook her head. "No, Tracy's not mine biologically. The egg was an anonymous donor from – where was it? Washington state?"
"Oregon," Blaine said.
"That's right," she said, "somewhere out west."
"Yes," Kurt added. "Rachel was just our vessel, if you will. Well, not just, but -"
Rachel shook her head, waving her hands impatiently at all of them as she remembered what had struck her into silence in the first place. "Anyway, that is old news. You two got married?" she said, directing her question at Sam and Mercedes.
"Oh! Yeah we did," Sam said happily, planting a kiss on Mercedes's cheek – he was still hanging over her shoulder trying to entertain the baby.
"Yes," Mercedes said, "and yes, I'm moving back here. Here, does anyone else want a turn holding the baby? I don't want to hog her and my arms are getting tired anyway."
"Here, let me," Quinn said, reaching out for JJ. "I need the practice."
"Well, I do not," Mercedes declared. "Not right now, anyway - it'll be awhile before we get to the last line of that song, okay?"
Everyone nodded as beside her, Sam looked both mildly concerned and a little confused. "Did I miss something?" he asked quietly and she shook her head.
"No, these fools -" here she waved her hand around to indicate Quinn and Kurt "-were just singing that old schoolyard chant – you know, first comes love, then comes marriage-"
"Then comes Mercedes with the baby carriage," Sam finished the line, although spoken, not sung, and put his arm around her shoulders. "I gotcha. Yeah, not yet on that, you guys," he said to the group at large and then more quietly, just to her, "Although when we walked up and I saw you holding JJ, I did kinda think for a minute about maybe seeing you holding our babies one day and I think I really do want that…"
Mercedes smiled at him. "Yeah," she said softly, "me too. One day…just not right now, okay?"
"Okay," Sam said, grinning and giving her a kiss.
"Well, I knew it." Rachel's triumphant declaration pulled them out of their private moment and back to the group.
"Knew what?" Mercedes countered. "That we got married?"
"Well, no, I didn't know that, that was a surprise. I meant you two in general, I knew it! I told you years ago, you two were meant to be."
"Well – yes – you did say that," Mercedes conceded.
"In fact," Rachel said, "I might be the reason you ever got together in the first place! If I hadn't suggested the prom-on-a-budget idea, you two might never have gotten together!"
Mercedes glanced at Sam, who shrugged, and then looked back at Rachel. "But Rachel – you just said we were meant to be. If that's true, wouldn't we have eventually found our way together without your help?"
Rachel waved a dismissive hand. "Sometimes fate needs a little nudge in the right direction, that's all."
Mercedes made the mistake of catching Quinn's eye after this statement and they both broke out in giggles, which Rachel resolutely ignored and changed the subject.
"Leave it to Rachel to decide she's in charge of directing fate," Quinn whispered to Mercedes, who responded with more giggles.
"Anyway – is this all of us? I feel like we're missing someone who should be here – Mike! Where's Mike?" Rachel asked.
"He said he was skipping the picnic – he was going to drive down from Chicago this morning. He didn't want to have to cancel any of his Friday clients," Kurt said. "He'll be there tonight."
They all fell quiet for a moment, thinking about the other three classmates who were missing and wouldn't be joining them.
The silence was broken by Tracy squirming out of Kurt's arms and making a run for the playground, saying something as she went that sounded something like "Papa, wanna swing more." Kurt sprang to his feet to run after her as the rest of the watched in amusement.
"I should go help him," Blaine said. "But she did specifically say Papa, so…"
Sam grinned. "So you're totally off the hook." He got up, saying, "I'll give him a hand, I know this is my only chance to see her this weekend." He kissed Mercedes's cheek again and trotted off to the playground, leaving Mercedes and Blaine at the end of the table. At the other end, Rachel, Quinn, Jesse and Ty had fallen into a conversation about pregnancy and babies.
Mercedes looked across the table at Blaine. "So – are we now like BFFs-in-law or something?"
Blaine laughed. "Yeah, something like that. I really am so thrilled for you guys. I really don't think I've seen Sam this happy since you guys were dating back when I lived with you in New York."
Mercedes smiled at that and Blaine continued speaking, "You look pretty happy too."
"I am," Mercedes said and then laughed. "And if I have to give credit to Rachel for it, well, so be it!"
