Sam

Whatever Artie said to Amy on Monday night must have upset her, because she'd gone back upstairs and headed straight to her room to go to bed before Sam could talk to her. Sam had a distinct impression that it was about him, though, and he'd intended to clear the air the next morning.

The next morning, though, both Amy and Artie left the house before him, making it a little strange, being the last one left at a house that didn't belong to him. And he just thought he'd gotten up early. Joe Hart was picking him up, though, along with Roderick, and they were stopping off in the courtyard before school to work on the number they'd started on Monday afternoon.

Yesterday, when they'd gone to find Roderick, it turned out that was at the nurse's office so that she could check his blood sugar and ensure his insulin pump was doing its job. Apparently, the younger guy didn't want anyone knowing about that. But when Sam accidentally barged in through the wrong door — protocols had changed a little since he'd graduated — he and Joe ended up seeing the pump before Roderick could frantically lower his shirt. They then had to assure the poor guy that his secret was still safe, and Sam had to apologize to Penny, for putting her in an awkward situation at work.

Really, it was just good that he'd never pursued the Penny crush. Because now? He was pretty sure she thought he was a complete goofball who never took anything seriously.

And then there was Mercedes.

Sam, Joe, and Roderick weren't the only ones using the courtyard that morning. In another corner, Jane and Mason practiced their number under Mercedes' supervision. Sam remembered that the Cheerio dude was supposed to be partnered with Artie, but then Artie had all those appointments to go to.

They'd gotten about half an hour of practice time in before the bell rang, which meant that the dreadlocked Christian hippie and the painfully shy freshman with the voice of an angel had to go to the class. Across the courtyard, Mercedes said good-bye to her mentees, too. Sam's eyes met hers as they both found themselves the only ones without anyplace to go.

"Coffee and cronuts?" Sam suggested, approaching her as she grinned and nodded in return. Neither had been to the Lima Bean since being home. "Uh, cool. You'll have to drive though. Joe Hart drove me here today."

"And what were you going to do if you didn't find a ride?" Mercedes asked, with a laugh, as Sam gave his usual dopey grin in return. "No plan, right. I figured."

"Not for today," Sam corrected, falling into to step beside her as she led them to her car. "But in general, yeah, believe or not, I have plans. I'm going to lead my synchronized swimming team to their twenty-ninth national championship. And I'm also training a Paralympic athlete. Artie's going to get a medal in Rio in 2016."

"I know about those plans," said Mercedes. "I was there when you announced that to everyone at Artie's graduation party." She gave a nod to the black Mercedes-Benz GLA class SUV, that she'd parked a safe distance from other the cars in the high school parking lot.

"That's yours?" Sam's jaw dropped as Mercedes just laughed and nodded. "Wow, I guess that's what happens when you open for Ariana Grande." As he slid into the passenger seat, she just ducked her head humbly.

"Well, who knew she was going to be a big sensation, right?" Mercedes said. "I mean, she's a tiny, talented thing, she deserves it, no doubt. But sometimes this business feels like it all comes down to luck. You can work your butt off and still get overlooked."

"You won't be overlooked forever," Sam said, as Mercedes held his gaze for a moment too long, before turning her attention to starting the car and driving.

"So, beyond collegiate synchronized swimming," she said. "You got any other plans in that blonde head of yours?"

Sam tossed his long hair. "Actually, yes," he said. "The modeling agency I'm working for wants me to get a haircut. They aren't crazy about the shaggy look anymore, and I was thinking I'd get around to that sometime this week."

"So, you followed your modeling dreams, and you didn't even have to leave Ohio to do it," Mercedes said, with a smirk. "I'm impressed."

"Well, I did think about going to New York still, but I couldn't leave Artie," he explained. "Uh, speaking of Artie, that was nice of you, to cover for him with his mentee."

Mercedes chuckled. "Well, it ended up working out in ways we didn't expect. That guy, Mason? He's pretty into Jane. And they sound amazing together." She paused. "It sort of reminded me of us."

Sam was noticeably flustered now, as Mercedes parked in front of the Lima Bean. She got out before Sam could finish reacting to what she'd just said. Shaking his head and playing that back, he blew out his cheeks, glimpsed his scruffy facial hair in the review mirror, and then hurried to follow her inside. Reaching the door first, he yanked it open and held it for her as she went inside first.

They didn't immediately talk about what she'd said, because first, they had coffee to order. Mercedes, knowing Sam was perpetually broke, paid for their coffee and cronuts before he could stop her. Not what he'd intended to happen at all, but Mercedes waved him off when he tried to protest.

"How did Jane and Mason remind you of us?" Sam wanted to know, as they seat with their treats. "Because she's black and he's white?"

Mercedes frowned and looked slightly offended. "No," she said. "I wasn't thinking about race, Sam. More like just how unexpected they are, her with that classy, quiet school girl thing going on, him being a popular Cheerio guy."

"I guess we were a little... out of the box, too." Sam didn't know why Mercedes was rehashing their history now, but she suddenly looked uncomfortable and couldn't meet his eyes.

"Sam, I'm, um," Mercedes stammered, and she never did that. She finally met his eyes. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't still crazy attracted to you. You're an amazing guy. But, um, I'm in a relationship. It's kind of a new relationship. He's on my production team. He's been helping with my music, and it sort of turned into something else..."

"Mercedes, it sounds like you're trying to apologize to me," Sam said, smiling gently. "Don't. I'm happy for you." He offered her the cronut, and she smiled too, before taking a dainty bite.

"What about you?" she asked. "Plenty of fish in that new pond you're swimming in."

It was true, some of the girls on the swim team with him flirted and made advances. But, aside from finding a nice girl for Artie, Sam hadn't had any luck with them. Not that he minded. He really only had one girl in mind, if he was being honest now, but that was pretty much doomed from the start. He took a frustrated bite of a cronut, knowing that between this and the latte, he was going to have to be careful the rest of the day.

Mercedes was always a good source of advice, especially since she knew women and she knew Sam.

"Mercedes, do you think Artie would ever forgive me if I went out with Amy?" he blurted that out quickly.

"Amy?" Mercedes gave an unconvincing impression of being shocked. "How old is she though?"

"Twenty-three," Sam said. "But, I mean, I'll be nineteen. In, uh, May." He sighed, running his hands through his hair. "I know it's wrong of me, he's my best friend and my roommate, but when I'm around Amy, I just feel this... amazing connection with her."

"Yeah, but Sam..." Mercedes was shaking her head. "I mean, what if it doesn't work out, what if someone gets hurt and Artie's put in the middle of all that? Is it really worth putting you and Artie's friendship at risk?"

Sam hung his head. "You're right," he said. "I'm afraid someone's already gonna get hurt, though, if I tell her that I can't see her because of Artie. She really likes me. And I'm falling for her, too."

Mercedes couldn't tell Sam anything he hadn't already realized himself. He was going to have to make a choice and someone, either Amy or Artie, wasn't going to like it.

Amy had borrowed Artie's camcorder and filmed all the performances that day, so that Artie could watch them later that evening. She, Sam, and Artie gathered on the couch in the upstairs gameroom to watch. It was no accident that Artie had stuck himself right in the middle of the pair.

The glee club and the alumni had stayed long enough for all seven performances earlier that afternoon — two solos, four duets, and one trio. Amy again did more work than she'd been paid for, but of course, she said it didn't really feel like work.

"That's actually an improvement," Artie said, wincing, as he watched Sugar Motta butcher 'The Climb.' "Although Rachel sang it better with laryngitis."

Amy cackled at that comment, as did Sam.

"Savage," she said. "Okay, so, Sugar wanted to go first and we all wanted to get that out of the way. Tina tried. After her, it gets better."

Alistair and Spencer had teamed up, under the direction of Kurt and Blaine, and Amy said the wardrobe choice was entirely Blaine's idea. Somehow, they'd gotten the younger guys matching Warbler's blazers. They did a mash-up of 'Raise Your Glass' and 'Tubthumpin'' — probably just to combine lyrics like "so raise your glass / he drinks a whisky drink, he drinks a vodka drink..."

"You can tell that not a single part of this was left up to Kurt," Artie commented, and it was at that moment that Amy had panned the camera over to Kurt, to capture his enormous eye roll.

Unique had been mentored by Rachel, which was probably why she did something from Broadway instead of the more obvious choice, like a Whitney Houston power ballad. But 'Take Me or Leave Me' from 'Rent' was actually perfect for Unique. Artie was completely transfixed by the performance.

"That's one for Regionals, mm-hmm." Somehow, watching that song turned Artie into a soulful Black woman himself.

Jake and Ryder were next, led by Mike and Puck, who seemed to have missed that the mentor/mentee assignment was supposed to be just the kids. It was kind of necessary for the song, though, as they'd picked 'Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely' by the Backstreet Boys.

"The only problem is, which guys would dance with them in place of Mike and Puck? Maybe Joe. Not Spencer," said Sam. "He's worse than Finn."

"I might have accidentally made eye contact with Kitty if I'd been there to watch this," Artie joked, humorlessly.

Speaking of Kitty, she was next. Brittany, Quinn, and Santana had teamed up to put together a trio with Kitty, Marley, and Madison. They'd done a mash-up of 'Waterfalls' by TLC and 'Wide Open Spaces' by the Dixie Chicks. The lyrics mixed well with these, too: "She needs wide open spaces / But don't go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to."

"Regionals, yes, regionals," Artie said, as Amy gave an enthusiastic nod. The question would be how to fit all of these songs together. Especially if there was supposed to be a theme. Amy said she hadn't heard, but she was looking into it.

"Aren't you a sub?" Artie had teased. "Isn't this a thing you should probably know?"

Ignoring that, Amy just said, "Oooh, here we go, Sam. You did a great job preparing Joe and Roderick. This one's my favorite."

Joe and Roderick did 'Take Me to Church.' It was mostly Roderick, with Joe playing piano and coming in on the chorus. Artie hadn't expected such a powerful song from such a shy guy. "Uh, Regionals," he said. "This is either the opening song or the closing one."

"I agree," said Amy, smacking her lips. "But I'm just a sub, so it's not up to me."

"Savage," Sam added.

Last were Mason and Jane, who pulled up stools and did a mash-up of 'Head Over Feet/Will You Love Me Tomorrow,' that turned out to be a pretty flawless showcase of their talent, not to mention that chemistry.

"Regionals," they all said, in unison.

"You should have seen his sister's face," Sam added. "She wasn't happy about that."

"Well, I don't blame her," Artie said, smirking at Sam. "Did anyone ask her if she was okay with Jane? She plays a pretty big role in Mason's life, seems like she ought to get a say."

When Amy and Sam fell completely silent at that, Artie slipped off the couch. "I'm going to bed," he said. "Being poked and prodded all day made me kind of tired."

As Artie inched his way towards the stairs, Amy and Sam still said nothing, except to mutter 'goodnight' to him as he went. When he'd disappeared down the stairs, Amy looked at Sam.

"Would you talk to him?" she said. "He's mad at me because he kind of, uh, guessed that we've been getting close." And in that moment, she'd closed the space between them on the couch, so that they were once again, close.

When Sam just gave a hard swallow in response, Amy looked at her lap. "I also think," she said. "That something didn't go well at one of those appointments, but he's being all secretive. He said he's an adult now and doesn't have to tell me when I asked earlier."

Sam dutifully caught up with Artie as he was climbing into his chair at the bottom of the stairs. He looked up curiously, as Sam said, "Dude, I think we need to talk."

Artie sighed. "We do," he said. "Come on." And he led the other guy to his room. He parked his chair in front of the old leather loveseat, as Sam took a seat nervously. Artie didn't say a word, and it was clear, he intended for Sam to speak first.

"I guess you've noticed how much I like Amy."

"And nurse Penny and Mercedes," he added, not even missing a beat. "Quinn, too, for a minute, if I'm not mistaken."

Sam was shaking his head. "It's different, how I feel about Amy," he insisted. "Look, if you think Jane should have asked for Madison's permission before being interested in her brother, then fine. I will ask for yours. Can I please start a relationship with your sister? I'll sleep on your couch for the rest of the weekend, if it makes you more comfortable, I get that. And we don't intend to move that fast, but—"

"What are you gonna do if I say 'no?'" Artie asked, curiously. Sam couldn't read his expression, after he'd just blurted out everything he'd been thinking in the most disorderly manner.

"Respect that." It took a lot for Sam to say it, but it was the truth. Artie knew it, too, and he held his gaze for a long time before either of them said another word.

"Fine," he said, looking like it cost him a lot to say that. "But get a sleeping bag, because you're sleeping on my couch now."

Sam practically knocked the chair over when he threw his arms around Artie. Artie managed a laugh, shaking his head, and just told Sam to go get his things and get back downstairs. Amy was now taking a shower when he went up, so Sam just left her a text: "he said yes," it read. "we can date. also, he told me to sleep on his couch. call it a win?"

When he came back downstairs, it was Artie who was taking a shower. Knowing exactly how long this took, Sam wasn't concerned. He'd just shower in the morning anyway. He dressed down for bed in his shirt and boxers, slipped into the sleeping bag, and began flipping channels. After an eternity and a half, Artie finally emerged from the bathroom.

"Can I ask you something?" Sam said. "What were all those doctor visits about today? You had to go to three different doctors?"

Amy had said to find out about the doctors' visits, to see if he could uncover what Artie was upset about, so Sam would try.

Artie ticked them off on his fingers. "Urologist," he said. "Because I'm at risk for urinary tract infections and kidney problems. But they said I'm fine. Dermatologist, because I'm at risk for pressure sores and edema, which would possibly indicate blood clots." He gestured at his knees. "I have a little edema, but it's symmetrical, so it's fine. It's normal, for me. And then I have to see the orthopedic surgeon annually."

When Artie didn't conclude with 'and it's fine,' following that statement, Sam gathered that it wasn't. He leaned forward and pursed his lips.

"I might have messed up," Artie confessed. "I benched too much too soon, and without adding some kind of trunk support. It might be that, it might have happened over time anyway, I don't really know. I have to go Friday to get fitted for this back brace. If I don't, then it might get worse, and I might need surgery again."

"I wish I'd known more before I started working out with you," Sam said, guiltily.

"No, no," Artie quickly assured him. "You didn't do anything wrong, Sam. It's me who should know. I don't think I told you that I had rods put in my back and three of my lower vertebrae fused the summer before I met you."

"You failed to mention that, yeah," Sam said. "But I did know you had surgery. The day I met Amy and Quinn at Starbucks, they mentioned that they were waiting on Amy's little brother to have surgery. I never asked questions when I later met you. What was it for?"

"It was sort of a last resort to fix my scoliosis." He shrugged. "I didn't tell people at the time. It was over summer break, so I was able to recover before I had to go back to school. Please don't tell anyone. Especially Tina. Okay?"

Sam's eyes were wide. He wondered who had major surgery in secret and then didn't tell friends? Well, Artie Abrams, that was who. He hadn't ever known anyone who was so private and secretive.

"Of course," Sam said. "Your secret's safe with me."