Hello! i'm back with another update! ok so alot of you guys weighed in on who the mystery person was. and a lot of you got it.

i want to thank everyone who continues to read and review and put me and this story in their alerts. thank you so very much. to my new readers and reviewers. welcome. thank you for reading.

i want to thank my darling beta rose - love you much girl

please excuse any mistakes you may find

disclaimer - i own nothing but i do own donavan and a few random places and people.

ok im done rambling

on to chapter 8

"M…M…M…Maura…I…um… I don't know what you think you saw but nothing was going on in here." Mercedes said while pushing Sam off her.

Walking further into the bedroom and shutting the door, Maura narrowed her eyes at her older sister and said "Oh really? So I didn't see you two just kiss? He didn't just declare his love for you? Please Mercedes, I'm old but not that old. Look, I need to know this now. Are you together? Or have you ever been together?" Mercedes couldn't look at her sister so Sam nodded yes as an answer. "Mercedes you know me, I've never been one to judge, you are a grown ass woman and you make your own decisions and I've always respected you, now with this… This situation is tricky. I'm not going to come in here and bash because it seems to me that you are in love with him and love is a beautiful thing, albeit scary, but beautiful nonetheless. Bug, I love you and I want you to be happy and if Sam makes you happy then who is anyone to stand in your way? Like I said I want you to be very careful with this, especially with Donavan and…other people who might not have the same view as me. I may not know anything about this kind of situation but I know true love when I see it, and baby girl it's there. You have my full support Mercedes. No matter what happens, I'll be here for you." Mercedes stared at her younger sister and walked over and gave her a hug. It was something that Mercedes needed to hear. Maura was always someone that was in Mercedes corner, no matter what. When Mercedes announced her Marriage to Shane, her family all but disowned her but Maura stood by her side.

"Thank you Maura… You have no idea what this means to me." Mercedes whispered in her ear as the tears pooled at the bottom of her eyes.

"No need to thank me girl, just be happy it was me and not Donavan or mama or daddy." Turning to Sam, Maura said "Alright young man, I mean Sam, please take care of my dear sister, I love her very much and if I find out you broke her heart again I'm going to cut your balls off and shove them so far up your ass, they're going to come out your mouth." Maura laughed as Sam looked at her with wide eyes. Walking over to him she wrapped her arms around him.

"Welcome to the family Sam."

"Thank you…Um…I don't know what to call you…"

"Please call me Maura." Maura said while pulling away and smiling at the handsome young man, well at least Mercedes knew how to pick them.

"I gotta give you credit bug, Sam looks good, if I wasn't married and had half a mind I'd be sprung too." Maura looked at Sam up and down and gave her sister a thumbs up. Mercedes just shook her head and laughed at Sam's bewildered look.

Walking to the door, Maura turned and gave Mercedes a serious look "I wasn't lying when I said please be careful with people. Sometimes people who are right in your inner circle might turn on you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mercedes said with a puzzled look on her face

"It means be very careful who you trust bug. Now finish up and come downstairs so people won't begin to get suspicious." Maura said while walking of the bedroom.

"Well…that was unexpected…" Sam said after a long minute.

"Yeah, I didn't think she would actually be on our side…goes to show you what kind of person she is."

"So where were we?"

"Sam… Not now ok? Everyone is downstairs… Listen… I'll call you. Alright?"

Defeated, Sam took a deep breath and said "Alright…but this isn't over. Not by a long shot." Giving her one more sweet kiss on the lips that he so desperately missed, he walked out the door, leaving Mercedes in a daze.

After the disaster that was dinner Shavon, Carl, and their three kids all made it back to the hotel that was paid by Mercedes. Once they settled in Shavon stepped outside into the balcony to place a phone call.

"Hey, I saw that you called me. I'm sorry I was at- I'm sorry? You want what? But I already gave you- I don't know if I'm going to- alright listen I'll see what I can do but no promises. Yes I know. Ok bye."

"Who was that?" Larry asked his wife.

"No one…" She said and walked back inside. She almost tripped on one of the suitcases, nearly snapping her ankle.

"What the hell? Will one of you please move this suitcase?" Shavon said to her kids but all they did was ignore her. Cassandra was on the phone with her thug boyfriend that she refused to stop seeing, Larry Jr. was probably on that instaphoto thing he was always talking about and Ebony was knocked out. Shavon remembered a time where her kids adored her, where she would come home and her kids would run to her and hug her with all their might, but now whenever she got home from her dead end job at the temp agency, the house was a mess and in complete disorder. Dishes would be piled up to the ceiling, clothes were thrown all over the place, it was total chaos and Larry was never home to help because he was too busy fucking half of Brooklyn to care about his family. She was tired of this, she was tired of her kids, her stupid husband and her life. She knew what she was doing to Mercedes was wrong but she didn't care. In the end she would get what she wanted.

A while passed and everyone was asleep but Shavon, she had decided to stay up and watch some late night TV when she heard a soft knock at the door, looking over at clock she noticed that it was close to 11:30 in the evening. Wondering who it could be, she got up from her bed and walked to the door, she opened it and came face to face with Maura.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be curled up with your doctor hubby?" Shavon said with sarcasm and jealousy that wasn't lost on her youngest sister.

"Can I please come in?"

"For what?"

"We need to talk and I'm not leaving until we do. So you can either let me in or you can slam the door in my face and I'll just keep knocking until someone wakes up and opens for me. Take your pick sis." Maura said with her right eyebrow raised. Taking a long look at Maura, Shavon begrudgingly moved to the side and let her in. Maura walked straight to the balcony and sat down on one of the chairs, waiting for Shavon. Maura didn't know what to expect when she got up from her bed and walked down the hall to Shavon's room. Ever since Maura caught Shavon in Mercedes' office that night, she had been trying to figure out what it was that Mercedes was hiding that made Shavon so damn happy. When Shavon had brought up the whole secret boyfriend thing, Maura couldn't help but be a bit interested in knowing if her sister was in fact seeing someone. She was about to say something when she noticed that Mercedes' eyes immediately flashed to the young man next to her and he gave her a pained look. For a minute, Maura wondered what that look meant when it suddenly clicked. Mercedes and the young man were seeing each other. Maura deduced that Shavon must have found out somehow and was now going to expose Mercedes. Well, Maura wasn't having that.

After what seemed like hours, Shavon finally appeared in the balcony. Brown met Brown as they stared each other down. Having had enough, Maura decided to cut to the chase.

"Shavon… before I begin, let me tell you something, you're smart but you aren't that damn smart. Do you really think you are going to get away with what you are doing? Destroying your sister's life? Her career? How the fuck do you sleep at night knowing that you are about to bring down your own flesh and blood because you were chicken shit to do anything? Don't do this Shavon, it isn't worth it. You will not only destroy her life but you will destroy yours. How do think mama and daddy will react? Do you really think they will support you in this evil little twisted plan?"

Shavon rolled her eyes at her sister and said "As far as I'm concerned, Mercedes dug her grave when she let that boy stick his dick inside her. Nothing you say will change my mind. I'm doing this. Mercedes has taken everything from me-"

"What has she taken from you Shavon? What have you had that would make you want to do this?" Maura asked with an incredulous look on her face. She stared at Shavon as if she had grown two heads.

"Shane for one thing! Shane was supposed to be mine!"

"Shavon, is your brain leaking? Do you hear yourself right now? You're doing this because of Shane? Girl let me give you a bit of a reality check. Shane didn't want you. Shane never wanted you. If he did, don't you think he would have gone after you instead of Mercedes? If you are doing this because of Shane and what could have been then you are by far the stupidest person ever. You make me sick Shavon. I am embarrassed to call you my sister." Maura shook her head as she stood up and walked back into the Hotel room. She felt absolutely disgusted that Shavon would go to such lengths to destroy her sister over a man her sister wasn't even married to anymore. Maura took one look at her eldest sister and said

"You aren't going to get away with this Shavon, I won't let you. I will be telling Mercedes and this little plan of yours is going to blow up in your face, and I want you to know dear sister that when it does I don't ever want you to call me for help. Good night Shavon." With that she opened the hotel door and slammed it shut, waking up everyone in the hotel room.

Donavan lay in his old bedroom, staring at the ceiling deep in thought. Dinner had been an utter disaster for everyone, especially his mom. He couldn't get the idea that his mom was seeing someone and she didn't tell him. Obviously whoever she was in a relationship with meant a lot to her because of the way she reacted. They had always been close; no matter the subject matter they always told each other everything so he just couldn't understand why she would keep something from him especially since it seemed like their breakup really hurt her. He needed answers and he needed to get them from the source. He got up from his bed and walked out of his bedroom and down the hall to his mother's bedroom, the door was slightly ajar and he saw her lying on her bed staring at her phone with a pained look on her face. He knocked on her door and entered before she could answer.

"Hey mom…" He said while making his way to her bed

"Hey sweetie" Mercedes replied back as she wiped away the tears she hoped her son didn't see.

"Mom… I need to talk to about something that's nagging me."

"What is it?"

"Mom why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone? Obviously whoever this guy is, he was special to you."

"What was there to tell Donavan? I met him and I thought we would have worked out but we didn't." Mercedes couldn't look at her son and lie directly to his face.

"Well…do I know him? Does he live in town?"

Mercedes bit her lip and looked away. 'This is your chance! Tell him Mercedes! Tell him now! Get it out before this gets worse!' Mercedes mind screamed at her to drop the bullshit and tell her son but she chickened out. 'Punk ass' her conscious screamed at her.

Taking a deep breath she told him "No. he doesn't. I met him in California and I thought we could make it work but…unfortunate circumstances got in the way… and we just couldn't make it work. It isn't anything to concern yourself with honey." Mercedes lied right through her teeth.

Donavan turned his head sideways and narrowed his eyes at his mother. Donavan had a strange feeling that there was more to the story but he didn't want to press her.

"Mom…I don't like that you are keeping things from me, I don't mind that you date but at least give me a heads up. I love you mom and I hate to see you this way. Whoever this guy is, he obviously don't know what he's lost. Maybe you should go out on a date to take your mind off this guy."

"I don't know…"

"Come on mom, it wouldn't be so bad and at least you don't have to mope around the house looking like someone killed your dog." He gave his mother a sympathetic smile and Mercedes felt herself become warm all over with motherly love.

"I want you to be happy mom so please promise me that you'll at least try."

Taking a deep breath she said "Alright, I'll try but can't promise you anything."

"All I'm asking is that your try."

"I will."

"I love you mom."

"I love you too."

The next morning

After the whirlwind that was thanksgiving dinner, Mercedes got up and prepared breakfast for her parents and son and her sisters who had arrived with their respective families. Mercedes avoided Shavon as much as she could, only asking her the necessary question. Everywhere Mercedes moved she could feel Shavon's small beady eyes following her; it got to the point where Mercedes was ready to ask her if she had a dick on her forehead. After finishing off their breakfast, the entire family moved to Mercedes' great room to just relax as a family. The atmosphere felt different, less tense than the night before and it was giant relief for her. Mercedes was having such a great time that she didn't realize she had to be at the cleaners that closed in less than 15 minutes. Getting up in a haste, she yelled to her family that she would be right back, racing out the door and to her car. By the time she got there, she had less than 5 minutes to get her thing.

"Hey! Please tell me you are still open? Hello? Does anyone work here?" Mercedes yelled in the empty dry cleaners. She wondered if they were in fact closed when a man stepped from the back and Mercedes jaw nearly hit the ground. The man was downright gorgeous. Standing at what Mercedes assumed was 6'2; he had the deepest brown eyes she had ever seen, high cheekbones and the smoothest milk chocolate skin that she just wanted to run her tongue against. This mysterious man smiled at her and she noticed he had the deepest dimples she had ever seen. This man was sex on a stick, and Mercedes knew if she didn't stop, she couldn't be held responsible for things that she could do with her vagina. It had a mind of its own.

"What can I do for you beautiful?" Even his voice was sexy, smooth and deep.

"I…I….I….I….I am um… picking up my dry-cleaning" Mercedes stammered as she tried to keep the drool in her mouth.

"Do you have your ticket beautiful?" He said while eyeing her up and down and biting the corner or his lip.

"Huh? What? Oh! My ticket! Yes! Yes I do. Sorry…" Mercedes said while searching in her purse for the ticket.

"So what's your name beautiful? Or did your parents name you beautiful?" He said while walking to the back trying to find her items.

"That was corny," she laughed and said, "and it's Mercedes." He walked back to the front with her items in hands. "I'm Christian." He said while biting his lip again. A long minute passed before Mercedes realized she had a whole family waiting for her back at the mansion.

"Well I better get going. It was nice to meet you Christian." Mercedes turned to walk out the door when she felt his hand reach out to grab her wrist.

"Wait…is there any way I can see you again?"

"Sure. Whenever I have something else that needs to be dry cleaned I'll come right over."

He smiled and said, "I mean, outside from here. I want to take you out. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just like maybe coffee or something. Here let me give you my number. Call me whenever." He wrote down his number on a piece of paper and handed it to her. Mercedes looked down at the number and debated about what she was doing. She couldn't just jump into a relationship when she was in love with someone else but coffee wouldn't hurt. 'It's just coffee Mercedes. It isn't like the man asked you to marry him,' she thought to herself.

"Alright. I'll give you a call and we can set something up." His face lit up with joy as he nodded and bid her a good day. Walking out of the dry cleaner and to her car, Mercedes smiled to herself thinking about Christian. He seemed like a really nice guy and it didn't hurt that he was so gorgeous but what about Sam? What would he say if he found out she was on a date with someone else when they were trying to work things out? She wanted to believe that Sam wouldn't flip out if he did find out but she knew that lie was as good of a lie as the Big Foot legend. Mercedes couldn't dwell on the negative, when the moment does present itself, she would handle it but at that moment, she needed to let it go.

soooo yay or nay? did you guys like it? did you hate it? what do you think of christian? what do you think sam will do when he finds out mercedes is going on a date? and just so we are clear, christian isnt a teenager lol.

let me know what you guys think and dont forget to review.

Much love,

Tay :-)