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Mercedes fiddled with her thumbs nervously as Sam led her to the table where his family was waiting on them. She fixed her hair for the millionth time, and Sam leaned in, kissing her forehead. "Baby, it's going to be okay; you don't have to be nervous; I promise they won't bite. Besides, you already met my mom. She's the toughest one."
Mercedes nodded. "You sure the lavender looks okay?"
"Merce, you are perfect, I promise."
She exhaled as they stopped in front of a table. Four pairs of eyes turned towards them, and Sam smiled, hugging his mom and then his sister. "Hey, guys! Congratulations guys! I am so proud of you."
Stevie smiled, standing and extending his hand out to Mercedes. "Forget about graduation; I see you brought me a present; hi, I am Steven, Sam's handsome, amazing younger brother."
Sam removed Stevie's hand from hers. "Down boy, she is with me. Everyone, this is Mercedes. My girlfriend. Mercedes, you met my mom and Stevie; that is Stacey and my dad."
"Girlfriend? Aren't you still dating that high-strung Rachel girl?" Dwight asked.
Mary smiled. "Don't worry, Dwight, he traded up."
Dwight smiled. "So, you broke up with Rachel and decided on dating Mercedes?"
Sam pulled out Mercedes's chair, and she sat down as he sat next to her. "Rachel was never right for me, but until I met Mercedes, she made me realize that I deserved to be happy."
He said, taking Mercedes's hand. "She made me want to be happy."
Mercedes blushed at his words.
"So tell us about yourself, Mercedes; where do you live? What do you do? Your family?"
She hesitated before looking down at her hands. "I am a dancer and am currently working on starring in and producing my own show in Vegas." She looked at Sam. "I may have shown Sam that he deserved to be happy, but he showed me that I deserved to follow my dreams wherever they would lead me."
"She has an incredible voice." Sam praised.
"And your parents?" Dwight asked.
Mercedes froze for a moment; she hadn't even been more than vague about them with anyone. "They live in Baltimore."
"Oh, do you visit them often?"
She frowned. "I ran away when I was 16. But I send my mother money for my siblings every week."
Sam took her hand, but she couldn't look up at him. Mary reached over to her.
"Dwight didn't mean anything, sweetheart; we just wanted to get to know someone so important to our Sammy."
Mercedes looked up at them with tears in her eyes. "My family is… they were everything to me once. I had two loving parents, ones who would do anything for me. But then, Ummm, my baby brother got sick. They spent our life savings on his treatments, on saving him. I was only 10, but I went door to door asking for small jobs; the neighborhood knew our struggles, so they were more than willing to pay me to babysit and mow the grass; I sold cookies; I did a lot."
Sam wiped a fallen tear from her eye as she continued. "He went into remission, and for 6 months, we were that happy family again, but then he got sick again, and it progressed too fast. We couldn't save him. My parents fought, and my dad started leaving more and more; my mom was working, so I was taking care of my other siblings."
"I am so sorry, Mercedes." Sam said as the rest of the table was silent."
She looked at Sam. "For five years, I was their mom because my mom was too devastated to care for her children. At the time, my younger brothers were only 2. During that time, we found out that my dad was…we left us because he had found another woman and started a family with her. My mom was crushed, and so I had to step up. But soon, she would love again, get pregnant and get engaged to an awful man. He made me feel very uncomfortable and came onto me when my mom was at work. Treated my brothers and his new children amazing, but for me…then, one night, it went too far, and I left and never looked back. I moved to Vegas, found my best friends, and yes, I wish there was a different path for me to take, but in the end, I am proud of who I am; I have regret, but I can't go back and change it."
"Sam was right; you are a remarkable woman. What you endured so young in life wasn't for the faint of heart; besides, it's not what you do that matters; it's who you are." Dwight said.
Stacey looked at her siblings and parents. "I always knew we were lucky, but I guess I took it all for granted, not realizing that there are people out there who struggle, who hurt."
Mary reached out and grabbed Stacey's hand, squeezing it. "Like I told Mercedes, we were more alike than she ever knew. I ran away, too, and had to start a life for myself, and I never wanted my children to feel the way I felt. The way you felt. Mercedes, I know you've struggled, but you can call me anytime you need someone to talk to."
Mercedes looked at her. "You did? Oh yes, thank you."
As the waitress arrived, Stevie cleared his throat. "So now that we know more about you, how did you and Sam meet?"
"We met at Artie's bachelor party, Sam was the sweetest man I had ever met, and he made sure I knew that he respected me."
Stevie's eyes widened. "Wait, you said you were a dancer…are you a stripper?"
Mercedes sighed. "No. But I am an exotic dancer, or at least I was; I quit the day I met Sam."
"What's the difference?" he asked.
"Stevie!" Sam spoke up, but Mercedes just smiled.
"As an Exotic dancer, I dance to a song, clothed in something sexy but not too revealing, then leave. I don't get naked or close to naked, and I keep a distance between those I perform for and myself. I was lucky; I saw few women have to get down and dirty to survive; I never had to worry about debasing myself. I may have had it hard, but I survived. And it leads me to Sam."
The rest of dinner went off without a hitch; everyone seemed to accept Mercedes and spent the rest of the night telling her about Sam as a child, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Spending time with Sam and his family moved Mercedes in a way that made her want to reach out to her family, not just send them money; she was ready to start the rest of her life and start it with Sam.
Mercedes kicked off her shoes, pulling her hair out of its ponytail. "My feet are killing me; I think we need to rethink this whole dancing in heels thing."
Santana smiled. "Mercy, it's sexy, and it will work with the right padding or right heels. Let's go shoe shopping. I am sure we can find something; we still have money in our clothing budget."
Mercedes sighed. "Yeah, put that on the list of things to do. The show is in a week."
Santana smiled, shaking her head. "I still can't believe this; when you told me this is what you wanted to do, I didn't think it would happen, but you put this all together."
"It's our dream; we just didn't realize it until six months ago."
Feeling her phone vibrate, Mercedes smiled, looking at Santana. "I will be right back."
"Tell boyfriend I said he's cutting into our rehearsal time!" She yelled as Mercedes walked away. Answering her phone, she closed the door to her dressing room. "You are a sight for sore eyes, baby; how are you? How is the new job?"
"Hi, beautiful." Sam smiled. "It's good! When Mike said he had a job for me, I had no idea how much I would enjoy being a voice actor. How are things there in Vegas?"
Mercedes sat back in her dressing room. "Things are good. We are finishing up the final number." She ran her hands through her hair. "I miss you; these last two weeks have sucked."
"I know, baby, I wish I was there, but I only have two more weeks, and then I am all yours. Now tell me about everything I missed."
"Well, Planet Hollywood is scary; this stage isn't that big; it's about the size of a high school stage. And it fits just 500 people but still that is a lot, and we have to be perfect. Yes, we convinced them to give us a chance, and with the video of us girl's out on youtube, ticket sales are high; it looks like it will be at least halfway full, if not more. But I don't want to screw up. We have our set list, we have our outfits, we have it all."
"So why do you look so down?" He asked.
"You are the reason this all happened; you gave me the idea to try to put on our own show. I know we did mostly bachelor parties but being here, we don't have to dance for men, we dance for the fun of it, and we make a name for ourselves. But what if-"
"Stop, I don't want to hear what-ifs; Mercedes, you are not Vixen, a dancer for men; you are Mercedes Jones, beautiful, talented, and about to kill it on that stage next week. I may not be able to be there in person, but I promise I will be there with you."
"I know; if I could fly out to see you before the show, you know I would. Oh, before I forget, call your mother. She was trying to reach you, but I think you were on set."
"Yeah, I will call her; I wanted to call you first." He chewed his bottom lip. "So, show me what you are wearing?"
Mercedes laughed, moving her camera out so he could show her what she was wearing. "Just work out clothes, baby, nothing big."
"I wish I could strip you down to nothing and worship you like the Goddess you are, but I can't. I have to get back inside soon. But I will call you tonight; just make sure you are alone." He said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"You are a certified freak, Evans."
"You love it." He looked behind him, then back at the screen. "Gotta go, but I am so proud of you, and I love you."
"I love you too, Sam." She blew him a kiss and waved as she hung up. After dinner with his parents and siblings, she and Sam decided to focus on their future. She started to develop her plan, convincing Santana and Brittany to join her.
They immediately said yes, and the three of them went to work developing their plan. Sam moved in with her while she and the girl's worked on their plan. As great as living together was, she knew he had to find his way, had to find his dream.
So after three months of pre-marital bliss, Sam moved in with Mike and started auditioning for minor roles; two weeks ago, he got the call of his life; he was going to get to voice Captian America, something that he was over the moon about. His only hesitation was leaving Mercedes; they had thought she would go with him, but then a performer scheduled at Plant Hollywood had to cancel, and the girls were given a chance to shine.
Telling Sam to go and live his dreams wasn't hard at all. She knew she would miss seeing him every day, but she also knew that they would call and video chat and do anything they could to keep their relationship going. So they called every night, sometimes talked all day, or listened mostly to earpieces. And they knew that no matter what, in the end, they both would be together, some way or another.
Mercedes walked back onto the stage and cleared her throat to separate Brittany and Santana, who took to making out while waiting for her. "Okay, I am back. Let's run it again before the dancers get here."
Santana stood up and grabbed the mic. "Candyman, take 5."
