Hey, my apologies for not updating like I usually do. I've been a bit down and tired. I've also been in a battle with two reviewers on one of my Merlin re-writes, over using someone else's work and as one of them said, 'claiming the talent'. My supporter Tina, has been a true fan. She has countered whatever they have thrown her way and mine...all the while completely supporting me. Thank you Tina, so much. I mean, I don't need to 'claim talent' for anything, I have written stories all on my own and if I wasn't so busy, I would've had tons more out. I'm sure those are not the only two who think like that, but there are literally hundreds of fanfic writers doing the same thing. When I re-write these stories, I try not to change the essence of the story. And I believe the content I add, whether small or big, strengthens the story and until the archive says different, I will continue to do so. They spoke of me giving away people's work for free, but what about all those online sites who put these books out there for people for free. Are they giving away people's work for free too...or am I the only one?
Thank you for your continued support. I appreciate it. If I didn't have it, I would have deleted my entire account.
Standard disclaimer.
Just three more chapters left.
Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it...I wash my mouth out with chocolate.
The next day, Sam and Mark spent time in the gym, then, they both went to Sam's home, to pick up the Jimmy.
Once inside the garage, Mark took a look around and realization dawned on him.
"You're leaving."
"Always was," Sam replied and held out the Jimmy's keys.
But Mark didn't take them, he just stared.
"Look man, I never planned on staying here. I was always gonna go back to my old life...and job..."
When Mark remained silent, he said,
"The lease on this place is paid up until summer. You can use it if you want. And I want you to take the tools."
"I'll keep them for you. You'll be back," Mark finally said.
And Sam looked at him, his face shrouded with guilt.
Mark shook his head.
"Christ!" he said, seemingly disgusted. "Tell me you're not just going to vanish on her and not come back at all. You're not that big a dick, right?"
"You want to test drive this thing or what?" Sam asked.
"So you are that big a dick."
"Look, she made me promise not to say good-bye."
"And you believed her? Shit, and I thought I was stupid with women."
"You are."
Sam tossed the keys at him, leaving him no choice but to catch them.
Both guys took the Jimmy out on a test drive and Mark drove like a guy who knew the roads intimately, handling the tight hairpin turns like a pro.
As they drove along, he took them along a narrow, two-lane, curvy highway that went almost straight up. And on either side were steep, unforgiving, peaks, so lush...thanks to a wet spring...that they resembled a South American rain-forest.
When the road ended, Mark cranked the Jimmy into four-wheel drive and kept going, making his own trail.
"You know where you're headed, City Boy?" Sam asked, and Mark sent him a long look.
"Oh, so you think you can find your way around these mountains?"
"I could find my way around on Mars," Sam assured him. "Though, if you get us killed out here, I'll follow you to the depths of hell and kill you again."
"I've told you, not everyone's going to die on you. I'm sure as hell not."
"See that you don't."
Mark drove on, until eventually, they came to a plateau.
The three-hundred-and-sixty degree vista was staggering. And to their immediate west, the Pacific shimmered brilliantly.
"Beaut Point," Mark said.
The plateau was about the size of a football field, giving a very decent view of the ocean, smashing into a valley of rocks hundreds of feet below.
"Good spot," Sam said.
"I've chased a lot of stupid teens off this ledge. They usually come four-wheeling up here in daddy's truck to get laid, then the geniuses get lost, and I end up having to save their miserable asses."
"Tough job."
"Beats scooping gang-bangers off the streets of Chicago, any day of the week," Mark agreed. "And I imagine, it's also a hell of a lot more fun than Afghanistan or Iraq this time of year."
Sam looked over at him.
"Don't forget South America...my favorite."
Mark smiled.
"Nothing compares to Chicago in high summer in full tactical gear, man."
"Pussy."
"Sure. If being a pussy means staying in Paradise, over leaving for a stupid adrenaline rush, in some godforsaken Third World country."
Sam shook his head and stared out at 'Paradise'. It was truly breathtaking out there.
"Ever climb?" Mark asked.
"Only when I have to."
Mark gestured with his chin out to a sharp outcropping, at least three miles across the way.
"That's Widow's Peak. I climbed it last weekend. It's a get-your-head-on-straight kind of spot."
"Was your head crooked?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, actually. But today, I figured that was you."
"My head's on perfectly straight, thanks."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Sam replied evenly.
"Hmm," Mark said and Sam looked at him.
"Okay, let's save some time here. Why don't you just tell me whatever it is that you're fishing for?"
"All right," Mark said. "Someone stole some samples out of the Health Services Clinic, from right under Mercy's nose."
Sam's gut tightened.
"Today? Was she hurt?"
"Yesterday. And no," Mark replied, watching him carefully.
"What was taken?"
"Pain meds. Only, she doesn't know when it happened. She says it could've been at a couple of different points during the day."
Sam went still, remembering last night, remembering the look on Mercedes' face, when she'd seen the empty bottle fall out of his jeans pocket.
She'd known then, and she hadn't said a word.
Had she thought he'd taken the pills?
He tried to think of a reason, that she wouldn't have mentioned the missing meds, which didn't involve her thinking it was him.
But with a grim, sinking feeling in his gut, he realized he couldn't.
"Is she taking shit for it?" Sam asked.
"You could say that. As of right now, the HSC is shut down, and if it gets out why, it's going to stay that way."
"She doesn't deserve the blame."
"Yeah, but she accepted the blame."
"How do you know all of this?" Sam asked.
"I'm on the hospital board. Look..." Mark said, noting Sam's dark expression, "...at this point, only the board members know. They want her to turn in a list of who was at the HSC, during the hours that the meds went missing. She's objecting, because, it's supposed to be anonymous. That puts her job in the ER at risk, as well as her work at the HSC."
Sam let out a breath and closed his eyes.
"Oh, shit!"
"What?" Mark asked.
"I was there yesterday afternoon." He opened his eyes and looked at Mark. "I was at the HSC."
"Did you do it?" Mark asked mildly. "Did you lift the drugs?"
"Hell, no!"
"Good. I knew that. I didn't figure you for being stupid," Mark said, watching, as Sam pulled out his phone and hit a number. "And we don't get reception out here. No one does. Listen, this gets a little worse. Shelby, her boss, rode her hard about this, and..."
"And?"
"...Mercy walked off her job. She quit."
Suddenly, Sam held his hands out.
"Keys."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm driving back." He needed to see Mercedes and now.
"Why are you driving back?" Mark wanted to know.
"Because we're in a hurry, and you drive like a girl."
Halfway back to town, Sam finally got phone reception and hit Mercedes' number.
While it rang in his ear, Mark tsked.
"You can't drive and talk on the phone...you need blue tooth, or you're going to get a ticket," he said.
Sam ignored him, listening for Mercedes to pick up, but she didn't.
"She's probably at home and doesn't realize her phone's dead."
Aaand...he didn't have the number for her landline.
"Nope, she's not at home," Mark said, gingerly shaking his head.
And Sam stared at him.
"Oh, did you want to know where she is?" When Sam just narrowed his eyes, Mark smiled. "Yeah, you want to know. She's at the diner. I was there earlier, and I heard Santana take a call from her...something about a chocoholic meeting."
They came into town and bypassed the road to Mark's house.
"Hey," he said.
"Hang on, coming in hot," Sam said and pulled up to the diner with a screech of tires.
Mark let go of the dash and looked at him.
And Sam shrugged.
"What? Did you expect me to drive like a girl?" he asked.
"You mean drive like a lunatic...listen, don't fuck this up, man."
"I'm not going to fuck anything up."
"Uh huh."
Sam shook his head and went into the diner, which had been decorated for spring.
There were brightly colored papier-maché flowers, animals hanging from the ceiling tiles, and streamers around the windows. It didn't much match the 50's décor, but it was definitely eye-popping.
The diner was full with the dinner crowd, and the noise level high.
It took Sam a few seconds, but he recognized just about everyone there, which to him meant, he'd been here in this town, far too long.
He could see Sue hustling, with a large tray towards a table. And Ray in a far corner, with two guys from NA.
Blue-haired Lucille was there too, with a group of other blue-haired, nosy old bats, chatting and knocking back drinks, he was sure, were of the alcoholic variety.
He carefully shifted passed the small group of people waiting to be seated, because, he could see Mercedes at the counter.
Quinn was beside her, and Santana was on the other side of the counter.
Sam came up behind Mercedes, who was staring down at a cake which read, Happy Birthday Andrew, just as Santana lit the candles.
All around them, were the normal sounds of a diner...dishes clanking, voices raised in conversation and laughter...each table or group, involved in their own world.
But this particular little world, consisting of the three women, was exclusive, and not a one of them was paying attention to their surroundings.
Mercedes, the woman who claimed to have given up chocolate, licked her lips and said to Santana,
"We should skip the candles. You have a full house right now, so you'll be too busy for this."
"Now way Chica. We agreed, when bad shit happens, we meet. And we eat." She lit the last candle and handed each of them a fork. "Besides, I've already called the bakery for another cake. I told them, Andrew's cake met a tragic demise."
"They believed you?" Quinn asked.
"They're smarter than that," Santana replied, looking at Mercedes. "But they understood the emergency and is making the other cake. The important thing is, that we get our girl through this situation."
Mercedes sighed and dropped her forehead to the table.
"So, did you really tell Shelby to go stuff herself?" Santana asked.
"Yes," Mercedes answered. Her voice was muffled, and Quinn tsked sympathetically, stroking her hair and back.
"But that's not why I'm out of a job," Mercedes said. "It's because I yelled it, and everyone heard. Biff said, sometimes he wished Shelby would stuff it, too, but we have to learn to not compound our errors. He was working up to firing me. He had no choice, really. And that's when I sort of lost it. I told him to stuff it, too, and left."
"Wow!" Quinn said. "When you decide to go bad, you go all the way."
Mercedes let out a combination laugh-sob.
"What are your plans now?" Santana asked her. "Beg for your job back?"
Mercedes snorted.
"I'm thinking, I'll end up working for some quiet little doctor's office somewhere and try to go back to behaving like myself."
She scooped up some cake and stuffed it into her mouth.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"That's tough," Sam said, finally letting his presence be known.
Mercedes jerked upright and whirled on her stool to face him.
She had chocolate on her lips, but she pointed her fork at him, like she was a queen on her throne.
"You need to stop doing that."
"You'd wither up and die of boredom, in a quiet little doctor's office," he said.
She stared up at him, her eyes shining brilliantly and suddenly, everyone was looking at them. Except Santana, who was looking at Mark, who had taken a seat at the counter, to watch the circus.
Sam narrowed his eyes at everyone.
But no one took the hint to give him and Mercedes some privacy.
It used to be, one gaze from him, would terrorize people. But it hadn't worked for him in Lucky Harbor, not once.
Giving up, he gestured to the candles, as the little flames seemed to gather in strength.
"You should blow those out," he said.
Santana blew out the candles and Quinn feigned interest in a menu. But their ears were cocked.
Resigned at having an audience, Sam looked at Mercedes.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.
"Tell you what...or rather...which?" she asked.
"Let's start with the missing drugs."
"Well, I know that you didn't take them," Mercedes said, as she eyed the cake. And then to Santana, "You used trick candles?"
"Yeah," Santana replied. "They were from Lenny's birthday party. Plus, they're all I had."
"Excuse me," Lucille said, hopping off her stool and scooting close. "But I couldn't help but overhear. Missing drugs?"
"This isn't an open-to-the-public conversation, Lucille," Mercedes said.
"But who would take drugs from the HSC?" the older woman asked. "A teenager? A drug dealer? One of your crazy siblings?"
Mercedes pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You're just as crazy as Tammy and Jace, and you know it."
Lucille blinked.
"Are you sassing me?"
"Yes," Mercedes said. "Apparently, it's my new thing. Push me, and I'll even yell at you. Also a new thing. Now stay out of my business, I'm trying to have a private conversation here."
She grimaced.
"Please," she added politely.
Lucille blinked, then smiled.
"Well, there it is. Been waiting a long time to see that."
"I always say please."
"Not that. Your backbone. You have one, and it looks great on you, my dear."
Mercedes just stared at her, then at Sam, who apparently, was still stunned, at what she'd said before.
Well, I know that you didn't take them.
Somehow, in spite of his best efforts to hold back, Mercedes knew him...she knew who he was, inside and out, and accepted him...as is.
And she'd believed in him, no questions asked.
Of course, this didn't help her now, he knew that. Because, someone had taken the meds under her watch.
And it could have been anyone, which meant, only she knew the truth, and Sam knew, just by looking at her, she knew exactly who it was, she just didn't want to say.
Even now, she was trying to save someone.
And it slayed him.
She slayed him.
"If you knew, I wasn't the one who took the pills," Sam said, "Then why didn't you turn over the list of people, who'd been inside the building?"
For some reason, this pissed Mercedes off.
He watched, as anger ignited in her eyes.
Standing up, she stabbed him in the chest with her finger, hard enough to make him wince.
"Do you think you're the only one I care about, Sam Evans?" she demanded.
"Uh..."
"No," she assured him. "You are not."
She was as mad as he'd ever seen her, in sky blue scrubs, with a long-sleeved T-shirt beneath...his shirt, if he wasn't mistaken. There was a mysterious lump of things in her pockets and someone had drawn a red heart, on one of her white tennis shoes.
She still had chocolate on one corner of her mouth, her hair was completely out of control, and she was ready to take down anyone who got in her path.
And she'd never looked more beautiful.
"Mercedes..." He knew how much her job meant to her. How much the HSC meant. And how much Lucky Harbor meant.
He was leaving, but she wasn't. Her life was here, and in that moment, he made his decision, knowing he could live with it.
"I took advantage of you," he said, making sure to speak loud enough, for all the eavesdroppers to hear. "Complete advantage."
Two stools over, Mark groaned and said,
"Man, don't. Don't do it."
Mercedes was still angry, but she hadn't taken her eyes off Sam.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Attempting to tell you what happened," he said carefully.
"Now you all just hold it right there," Mrs. Garland said. She was suddenly right there, pointing at Sam with her cane, almost sticking it up his nose. "Yeah, you little punk-ass," she said. "I'm talking to you."
'Little punk ass?' Sam thought. He was a foot and a half taller than her and outweighed her by at least eighty pounds.
He stared down at her in shock and everyone in the place, sucked in a breath and did the same...stare at her.
Except Mark. He grinned wide.
"Little punk ass," he repeated slowly, rolling the words off his tongue in delight. "I like it."
Sam gave him a look, that didn't appear to bother him at all.
It'd been a hell of a long time, since anyone had gotten in his face, even longer, since he'd been called a little punk ass, and by the looks of her, Mrs. Garland wasn't done with him yet.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded.
"I'm trying to have a conversation," Sam said. "A private one."
Lucille leaned in.
"There's no such thing in Lucky Harbor," she said helpfully.
Clearly tired of the interruptions, Mrs. Garland slammed her cane onto the floor, three times in a row, until all eyes were back on her.
But she was glaring at Sam.
"You have no right to confess to a crime you didn't commit."
Apparently, as well as being curmudgeonly and grumpy and mean as a snake, Mrs. Garland was also sharp as a tack.
"Stay out of it," Sam said.
"You're trying to be the big hero," Mrs. Garland told him. "You think she's protecting someone, and you don't want her hurt."
Mercedes turned to him.
"Is that what you're doing?" she asked.
Sam opened his mouth, but Mrs. Garland rose up to her full four feet eight inches and said,
"It was me. I took the meds." She eyeballed the entire crowd. "Not a teenager. Not a drug dealer. Not any of the crazy Jones'. And not this..." She gestured towards Sam, and her mouth tightened unfavorably.
"...Man. He might be guilty of plenty, not the least of which, is messing with your reputation, Mercedes Jones...not that you seem to mind...but he didn't take the pills. That was me."
"No!" A young woman stood up from a table across the room. And Sam recognized her as Dana, the clerk at the grocery store. "I was at the HSC yesterday," she said. "For birth control pills. I took the Oxycontin."
"That's a lie!" Ray shouted, from the far end of the counter. "We all know I have a problem. I took the pills."
Mercedes' mouth fell open.
Nothing ever really surprised Sam, but even he could admit to being shocked.
The entire town was rallying around Mercedes, in the only way they knew how. And he'd never seen anything like it.
Santana banged a wooden spoon on the counter to get everyone's attention.
"Hey, I was there, too. I took the pills." Her eyes locked onto Mark's, whose jaw bunched and ticked.
Mercedes' eyes snapped to Santana.
"You were not there..."
"Oh no you all don't!" Mrs. G yelled. "Listen you...you egocentric, self-absorbed, narcissistic group of insane people. Don't make me smack all of you!"
And with that, she pulled a small box from her pocket.
It was a sample of Oxycontin.
"See?" she said triumphantly. "I have them. I have them all. I took them, because, I thought they were Probiotics for my constipation. They're the same color box. My insurance is crap, and even if it wasn't, I hate to wait in line at the pharmacy. I've spent the past decade waiting in stupid lines. A line to see the doctor. A line to wait for meds. Hell, I even had to wait in line to go to the bathroom a minute ago. I'm over it, and I'm over all of you."
"You don't need Probiotics," Lucille said. "All you need are prunes and a blender."
"You got Mercy fired? Santana asked Mrs. Garland.
"No, Mercedes' big mouth got her fired," Mrs. Garland said.
"I didn't get fired," Mercedes stated. "I quit."
Lucille tried to lean in again.
"Excuse me, dear," she said to Mercedes. "But..."
"Not now, Lucille. Please."
"Yes, but it's important."
"What's more important than this?"
"The candles."
Whilst everyone was busy listening and joining in the 'private' conversation, the candles had come back to life again, blazing this time.
The cake had been scooted back against the pile of menus, and several had fallen...too close. So the menus went up in flames, just as Sam leaped towards them, grabbing Mercedes' glass of water, to dump it on the small fire.
Seconds later, the flames flickered and went out, except the middle one, which was the largest candle.
Which turned out, to not just be a trick candle, but some sort of bottle rocket, because, it suddenly shot straight up and into the ceiling.
The fire alarm sounded then.
Next, there was the whoosh of a huge pressure hose letting loose, and the overhead sprinklers came on.
And rained down on the entire diner and everyone in it.
Thank you Trinity, thank you Emestee1
And special thanks to Monni2215
Stay safe everyone!