Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or Samcedes would alive and kickin'!
PART IIIOn Sunday afternoon, Mercedes went to talk to Kurt. When she knocked on the Hummel's front door, Carol answered.
"Mercedes! How are you?" she asked, "How is your senior year going so far?"
"It's going really well. I'm doing great in my classes, and I feel like Glee is looking really good. I was—"
"Is that my Mercy I hear?" Burt Hummel yelled from the kitchen.
Mercedes smiled and hollered back, "Yep, it's me!" Carol motioned her to come in and they walked towards the kitchen.
Burt set down the newspaper he was reading and stood to greet her with a big hug.
"How are ya, kid?" he asked, "I never see you anymore!"
"I'm great," she nodded and smiled.
"Has your dad been putting those Buckeye season tickets to good use?" Burt asked, folding the paper in front of him.
"Oh, you know him. He's down in Columbus every Saturday my mom will let him out of the house."
"I heard you're going to be a Wildcat next year! Good for you, Mercy," Burt gushed, "Northwestern is a great school. Fantastic football!"
She laughed, "Yeah, well daddy would have died if I didn't end up at one of his alma maters. He loved Chicago when he was in dental school at Northwestern and I know I'll love it, too."
Burt looked between Mercedes and his wife, smiling bright, "Well you tell your old man that I'm going to take him up on a ticket to a ballgame one of these days. That is, if I decide I can trust Finn and Kurt with the tire shop for a few hours." Mercedes smirked at the thought of that.
Carol sat down at the kitchen table and took a sip from a mug before saying, "Finn just told us that you were picked to sing the national anthem at the homecoming pep rally on Sunday. That's wonderful, darlin!'"
Mercedes beamed, "Yeah, it's an honor that Principal Figgins picked me. You guys know that Clayton is McKinley's biggest rival so all kinds of alumni and pretty much the whole town will be there."
"Are you nervous? That's a big deal." Carol asked her.
"Not my Mercy," Burt smiled knowingly.
"Mr. H, you know me too well," Mercedes laughed, leaning against their big stainless steel refrigerator.
"We'll be there to cheer you on. You deserve that chance to shine. Ya know, I'm surprised that it was Finn that told us and not Kurt," Burt thought out loud.
Mercedes sighed just slightly and defended, "He's been busy lately. With his boy. I'm just glad he's so happy."
Burt and Carol nodded simultaneously and he said, "Well remember that you are always welcome around here."
"I will," Mercedes smiled.
"Now you should probably get up to Kurt's room," Burt told her, "He has been stressed all afternoon. Some kind of shoe crisis. He mentioned a Marc Jacobs. I have no idea who that is, so you better hurry."
"Mercedes to the rescue," she giggled and started towards the stairs.
When she got to Kurt's door, it was slightly ajar, she pushed it open slowly, "Kurt?"
He was sitting at the computer on his desk. Indeed the Marc Jacobs shoe site was open in front of him.
"Hello, Mercedes," he said coldly, keeping his attention on the computer.
"You're still mad at me, huh?" Mercedes asked him, dropping her purse and jacket on a leather chair then climbing up to sit on his bed. "What are you shopping for?" she said and crossed her legs beneath her. Kurt didn't respond, just kept clicking around the website. "So we aren't even talking now?"
His eyes still glued to the screen, he said, "Well I don't talk to strangers. Or people who keep secrets from me."
She sighed and sat back on the bed, "Kurt, I came here to tell you the truth."
He jumped up immediately and plopped down next to her, now smiling. "I was right! I knew there was something going on!"
"You were right," she affirmed him, "So here's the thing…" Mercedes looked him straight in the eyes. "Marcus and I aren't really dating."
"I knew it!" Kurt gloated, "Wait, so what's the deal?"
Mercedes took a deep breath and told him, "The truth is that Marcus is gay."
His face shifted to confusion, "He's gay?" She nodded and let him continue, "So that makes you… his beard?"
"Well we don't like to think of it like that but—"
Kurt cut her off, "'Don't like to think of it like that'? Mercedes, he's gay and your helping him cover it up by letting people think you are dating." His tone was dripping with resentment.
"Kurt, I didn't think you'd be so upset about this. It's a really complicated situation. Marcus is under a lot of pressure at home and if they found out he was gay they—"
"Just stop, Mercedes," Kurt said loudly, "You've been lying to everyone. You've been lying to me! And there's no way you can rationalize it." He got up from the bed and started pacing around the room.
She was at a loss for words. She tried to back track, explain it again, explain it better, but Kurt wouldn't let her. He was so angry.
"Kurt, please, just listen," Mercedes reasoned. She heard her phone beep loudly in her purse on the other side of the room, announcing a text message. She disregarded it.
"I don't want to hear it! I can't believe this… Of all people, Mercedes! You were the one who convinced me to be myself. You said that lying to the world is not good for anyone. And now you're helping someone live a lie."
Mercedes eyes filled with tears. "Kurt…" she whispered.
"I think you should go."
She grabbed her jacket and bag and walked out of the room and downstairs, praying she could sneak out without seeing any Hummels or Hudsons. As she passed through the front door, the tears broke free of her eyes and streamed down her face. She reached into her purse to find her keys and phone discovering a text from Sam.
"Just randomly heard 'Try A Little Tenderness' on the radio. Missing you & our curtain nest."
She sobbed when it hit her that she didn't even get to tell Kurt about Sam.
"Hey, Mercedes!" someone yelled from down the driveway.
Mercedes threw the phone in her purse and quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks, probably hiding nothing. As Blaine approached her, she faked a smile but he looked at her questioningly.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
"I'm fine. Kurt and I just had a little disagreement." Blaine made a supportively sad face and she told him, "He's pretty upset with me."
"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked, rubbing her shoulder.
"I told Kurt that Marcus and I aren't really a couple and he is not happy with me for lying to him, but it's complicated," she said, leaning her weight into the door of the car.
"Because you still love Sam?" Blaine asked her.
Mercedes couldn't help but gasp a little. "How do you know about that?" she asked him quietly.
An embarrassed look across his face, Blaine looked her in the eyes and said, "I saw it when we ran into you guys in the Lima Bean right after Nationals. I just kind of pick up on these things…"
Mercedes blinked at him.
"I never said anything to Kurt. I figured you would tell him when it was time for him to know… and I didn't want to spread rumors based on my weird intuition. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything about it."
"No, no," she told him finally, "It's okay. I'm actually kind of impressed by you for figuring it out."
"Wait, Kurt was mad?" he asked.
"It's kind of a long story, Blaine," Mercedes began, chuckling a little. She gave him the most succinct summary of the Marcus/Mercedes/Sam situation that she possibly could. Blaine was just so easy to talk to and at this point she was frazzled enough to not care about hiding facts. The honest story fell from her lips then she added, "But I didn't get very far with telling Kurt. I told him Marcus isn't my boyfriend and that he's gay and he freaked. Sam didn't even come up."
"Wow," Blaine leaned against Mercedes' car next to her, "That is a pickle."
"Yeah!" she laughed.
"Don't be too upset about this Kurt incident. He'll come around. Especially when he really knows the truth."
"I hope so," Mercedes whispered and looked up at the Hummels' house.
"He loves you so much and you have been such an important part of his journey of finding himself. This will all be straightened out soon enough."
Mercedes smiled at Blaine and he pulled her into a warm hug.
"I should get going," she whispered as he held her tight.
"Okay," he helped her get the car door open, "You're an amazing friend, Mercedes. I promise everything will turn out okay."
She nodded and waved. Blaine walked quickly towards the Hummel's front door and Mercedes headed home.
Two hours later, Mercedes was finishing up some dishes after a very quiet dinner with her parents. She and Sam had a standing Sunday night Skype date and she wanted to be sure to get to her room in time.
As she dried the last pan, her mother walked into the kitchen and stopped next to her, propping her hand on her hip and sending Mercedes a long harsh look. Mercedes wasn't sure what she had done wrong, but this didn't look good.
"Yes, mama?" she said, unable to stand the suspense any longer.
"I didn't want to say this in front of your father," her mother began, "But you need to tell me what the hell is going on with you, child."
Confused, Mercedes shrugged her shoulders, to which her mother responded with a scoffing noise.
"At church this morning, Tonya Johnson told me that she was at some barbeque yesterday and that you were there with a date. A large Black boy."
Mercedes rolled her eyes slightly and told her mother. "That was Marcus."
"Don't you dare give me that look! Are you dating Marcus now? I thought you two were just friends," her mother asked her angrily, "And I seem to remember a blonde boy sleeping in our backyard all damn summer. I saw the way that boy looked at you, Mercedes. Any fool could see that Sam Evans gave you his whole heart and he expected you to take care of it."
"I am!" Mercedes exclaimed then she sighed, "I'm dating Sam, not Marcus. I shouldn't be talking about it, but Marcus is gay and we're leading his family to believe we're dating so that they stop trying to fix him up with girls."
"Well that just seems silly," her mother shook her head, "Does Sam know about this?"
"Yes, of course, mama. It's complicated," she repeated for the third time that day, "Marcus has a cousin who came out and he was disowned and kicked out. We are all afraid of what will happen if Marcus comes out."
"He was kicked out?"
Mercedes nodded and explained, "Vince is sleeping on people's couches right now. He has been pretty much cut off from everyone. I don't understand how someone could do that to their child and still call themselves a Christian."
Mercedes' mother's expression shifted but she shook her head again. "Baby girl, I don't know how you get yourself into these situations sometimes. Maybe you're too good of a friend. Maybe you shouldn't be getting involved in another family's business."
Mercedes leaned back against the kitchen counter and watched her mother process it all. After a minute, her mother asked, "Sam's okay with this because he knows what it's like to be homeless, isn't he?"
Her daughter nodded again and softly said, "I think that's a big part of it. He knows how terrible it is to lose your home and of course he wouldn't want one of his best friends to have to go through that."
Mercedes' mother grasped her daughter's face and held it in her hands, gently brushing her bangs to the side. "I'll keep your secret. Just be careful: hiding the truth from people can bring out ugly assumptions in them."
Mercedes hugged her mother and held her for a long time. Eventually she looked up realizing it was almost seven. She had to meet Sam online.
When got to her computer and she opened the Skype window, Mercedes immediately heard the sound of hysterical crying.
Sam was sitting on his bed with his laptop but his attention was elsewhere, focused on the source of the sobbing. He glanced down for a moment to see that Mercedes was online and said, "Look Stace, here's Mercy! Say hi to her."
Stacey crawled up next to Sam, her face pink and wet with tears, "Mercy?"
"Hi, honey," Mercedes said softly, "What's wrong?"
The howling began again when she tried to explain. Sam leaned in and kissed the top of his sister's head soothingly.
Finally able to speak Stacey said, "My mom said we can't go back to see my Lima friends for a while because she and daddy just started their jobs."
"Ohh," Mercedes nodded to let the little girl know she was listening.
"But I want to," Stacey went on, "Because I miss you and Quinn and my other friends from school." She leaned into Sam's shoulder and he looked at Mercedes on the computer screen with a small smile on his face.
"Well you can always call me and I'm sure Quinn, too," Mercedes told her, "Would it make you feel any better if I said I am working on special care package to mail to Nashville, just for you?"
A big smile grew across Stacey's little face, reminding Mercedes of Sam. "Yes! It would!" the girl answered.
Mercedes laughed a little and said, "Okay, good. And someday we'll make Sammy bring you and Stevie up for a visit. Okay?"
Stacey hiccupped and turned to her brother, "Really, Sammy?" He opened his eyes up wide and matched her brilliant grin, nodding at her.
Stacey looked back at Mercedes and the older girl told her, "Honey, why don't you go curl up on the couch and watch Little Mermaid like we use to do? But you have to sing along extra loud since I can't be there, okay?"
"Okay!" Stacey sang, "Bye, Mercy!"
"Bye, Stace."
Mercedes watched the girl dance away, and heard her yell loudly as she went, "Hey Stevie, guess what Mercy just said…"
"Sorry about that," Sam told Mercedes as he straightened himself on the bed. "She's been having a hard time with another new school and trying to make new friends again."
"Oh it's no problem. I do miss her," she answered honestly.
Sam smirked and said, "She told me yesterday that I can't be your best friend because she's your best friend, but that I can be your 'beau.'"
"She did not say 'beau!'" Mercedes shook her head.
"She said 'beau,'" he insisted.
"Where did that even come from? She is the cutest."
"Hey, I thought I was the cutest…" Sam pouted.
"It's a tie," Mercedes smiled but she couldn't make it reach her eyes. She looked at Sam quietly for a minute then closed her eyes. After this long, hectic weekend, she needed him.
"What's wrong, pretty girl?" Sam asked, reading her like he always did, "Is everything okay?"
Mercedes shook her head and whispered, "It's just been a hard day."
"I want to make it better," he told her.
"You already have," she said.
"Did something happen with Kurt?"
Mercedes nodded and felt the tears flood back into her eyes.
"What, baby? Tell me," Sam cooed.
Mercedes took a deep breath and then began to recount for him the day's events. He watched her with his hand cradling his chin, listening intently to what had happened with Kurt then Blaine then her mother.
As soon as she finished, he sat up straight and asked her, "Want me to come hold you?"
"More than anything," she grinned but the tears still slid down her cheeks.
"Okay, I'm coming," Sam moved his computer and started to stand up and Mercedes giggled in response.
"Sammy, I'm okay. You don't have to drive seven hours to see me."
He looked serious, "Well I don't have to but I want to."
"No, no. You can't, Sam. You have school and practice tomorrow. Besides I have lots of other boys lined up come snuggle me. I'll just call one of them," she picked up her phone and pretended to dial.
He sat back and squinted at her, "Was that supposed to be funny, Ms. Jones?"
She laughed, nodding, "But, I can't pull it off. How the hell do I have people fooled about Marcus? I only have eyes for Sam."
He smiled brightly, "How do you think Marcus is doing? I talked to him today for a few minutes about our fantasy football league and he seemed good."
"I think he's glad to be okay with his family, but sometimes he's sick of lying," Mercedes sighed, "But who isn't?"
" We also talked about you, pretty girl."
"Oh yeah?" Mercedes questioned, "What about me?"
"Oh just how awesome you're going to be at the pep rally next weekend. I want to be there so bad, Mercy."
"I know…" she responded, feeling the same way, "I'm sure Jacob will record it. I'll get you a video." Then she asked him, "Did Marcus tell you he's going to visit Indiana University next month? The offensive line coach is bringing him out to meet the team."
"Yeah," Sam nodded and reached to his left. He grabbed his guitar and started playing some chords absentmindedly, "He mentioned it. Can I play you the latest version of that song I'm working on?"
"Why do you always do that, Sam?" Mercedes had to ask him, "When college comes up, you change the subject."
"It's not that," he paused to put the guitar down, "I'm not doing that."
"Have you heard from the recruiters from Eastern Kentucky or Memphis U lately?"
"No, not really," he told her.
"Well something will work out Sam," she said warmly, "You're a great quarterback and one of these schools will see that and give you a scholarship."
Sam looked down at his hands as he responded, "I'm really not that good, Mercedes. I'm a third-string quarterback at a small private school."
"Well that's just because of all the moving, you haven't had a chance to really get into your groove," she said assuredly.
His green eyes shined gratefully but he shook his head as he told her, "It's okay. You don't have to feed my ego. I'm trying to be realistic about my future and I don't think football is going be a real option. Yes, I need a scholarship to go to college but maybe that's not where God wants me to go."
"Sam," she whispered, her emotions so close to the surface after this day.
"Let's face it: I'm not exactly a scholar athlete," he tried to joke.
"But it's what you love..."
"Well it's not all I love. Don't worry, baby. I'll figure it out. I don't want you to worry about this. You've got enough on your plate right now."
That's easier said than done, Mercedes thought. But she would let it go now. She didn't have the energy to argue. After studying his face for a moment longer she asked, "Are you sure you're okay, Sam?"
Grinning, he promised, "Yes," but then his expression turned mischievous and he added, "Actually, you know what? No. I'm not okay. Suddenly, I feel horrible."
Knowing he was up to something, Mercedes giggled preemptively and playfully said, "Oh no, honey! What can I do to make it better?"
"The only known cure is a musical collaboration between a little mouse named Fievel and a beautiful girl named Mercedes."
She rolled her eyes and grinned at Sam. He was lucky he was so cute.
_Author's Note: Sorry about all the angst… It'll get better SOON!