I don't own anything.
A/N: Alright it's time for another update but first off let me thank my Reviewers from last week; Panicked Karma, Jill1228, EmpressClaudia, emzjuk, WickedSong, FreeInTheImagination, onetreefan, Iamshe24, CRAZYhead36, QTFics, shanti-noel03 and QUEENADDEK. I hope everyone enjoys this week's update and please remember to Review.
Baby S
Chapter Six
After Mercedes finished telling Micah off, she headed upstairs to her bedroom intent on resting for the rest of the night. Stressing over Micah and his problem with her and Sam's relationship was taking it's toll on her. She remembered telling Sam all about her older brother and how she hoped once they met they'd get along, hell she wanted them to become buddies. Now though, she was sure that reality would never happen. As she settled back down on her bed her cell phone rang. Groaning, she reached out for it and answered. "Diva speaking." she said thinking it was Kurt wanting to dish on his date with Blaine.
"Mercedes babe you won't believe what happened?" Sam's excited voice came in through the line.
"Sam what are you talking about?" she said in slight confusion as she looked over at the clock just to make sure she hadn't fallen asleep and it was Saturday morning. Once she was sure it was still Friday night she continued. "You do know that you only left this house about an hour ago so-."
"Baby just listen, this is great news." he said brightly, Mercedes had to smile at his tone, he sounded like he was literally bouncing off the walls. "My dad got a job and guess what it gonna give him a Forty-thousand dollar advance so we finally get to move out this godforsaken motel and into an apartment or home whichever one." Mercedes smiled at that and sat up a bit.
"Oh my goodness Sam I'm so happy for you."
"Thank you my Vitra, I'm happy too.
"So what is your dad gonna be doing. How did this happen?"
"Well, all my dad said was that a friend of his told him about the opportunity and of course he jumped on it. As for what he's going to be doing well he'll do what he does best, the guy whose gonna hire him wants him to head up the computer security system for his firm." Sam gushed, Mercedes laughed and shook her head as she thought about the Evans turnaround. She was extremely happy for them and knew they deserved this break. "Now when you see Stevie and Stacie again act surprise I told them they could tell you but I really couldn't wait." Mercedes smiled and just shook her head at that.
"Don't worry I'll be surprised just for them and maybe I can come over and help you guys pack and stuff like that."
"Oh I don't know about that, you're quite a distraction." Sam stated. "All that beauty just knocks me off my game and I'd forget what is was that I was suppose to be doing."
"Always the charmer."
"Of course, baby." Sam said with a chuckle. "Now did you talk to your brother?" Mercedes groaned and laid back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She heard Sam laughing through the line. "I know you don't really want to talk about it but I think we probably should."
"Oh come on Sam do we really have too?"
"Yeah, I wanna know what to expect the next time I'm around him. I know he said some things that were out of line tonight." Mercedes just nodded her head, Sam had absolutely no idea the type of things her brother had said and she really wasn't planning on telling him all the awful details.
"He's gonna back off." she stated softly as she looked up at the ceiling. "I told him off and he promised that he would stop messing with me, you and our relationship."
"That's good cause I really getting tired of him-no offense."
"None taken, I just don't understand it Sam. He's never acted like this before and it's not an interracial thing cause he's dated women that weren't black before so I really don't understand it at all." she said with a sigh. "But I'm happy he's willing to give you a chance," she paused and picked at some imaginary lint on her clothing. "He said he'd try to get to know you better." Sam made a noise over the line before sighing.
"That sounds fine." he muttered, Mercedes sighed then and shook her head as she thought about her brother. Deciding to get off that subject, she said, "I'm really happy for your father, please tell him I said congrats." she said before trying to stifle a yawn.
"I will." Sam said as he heard her yawn over the line. "I better let you go beautiful, sweet dreams." Mercedes could barely keep her eyes open, yawning again covered her mouth for a second and said back.
"Good night Sam."
"Night My Vitra."
The next day Mercedes was in her room humming to herself and going over some lyrics for her songs when a knock sounded at the door. "Come in." she called without turning around to see who it was. She heard the door open but focused on writing the last line for the second verse of her song.
"What you doing, Cedes?" she turned around and saw her brother standing in the doorway sheepishly watching her. It was almost like he was afraid to enter her room. Dropping her pen on her desk, she turned around and gave him a look before shaking her head.
"What do you want, Micah?" Her brother sighed and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck while rocking back and forth on his heels.
"Again I just want to apologize for last night and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me to the studio." Mercedes' jaw dropped open in shock as she looked at her brother forgetting that she was suppose to still be mad at him. "I haven't taken anyone there. . .I thought you'd be the perfect person to show first. Heck, maybe we can play around and make a track or something."
"You're serious." Mercedes asked trying to keep her excitement down to a minimum. Micah just raised an eyebrow and nodded his head as he looked at her.
"I'm dead serious, sis. Unless you're doing something with Sam today." Mercedes mentally went over her last conversation with Sam. They hadn't planned anything for today so she was free, pushing her chair back from her desk. She stood and gave her brother a small smile.
"No we don't have anything planned so what type of equipment you got in this studio." Micah grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
"The latest and greatest equipment," he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Oh and maybe I could call the band."
"Band?"
"Yeah, I figured you'd need a band to play with. I like that style of music better and I think singing with a live band on tracks will make your voice sound better. Of course there will be some beats but mostly you'll be singing with a band backing you up on the road and in the studio." he watched as Mercedes' eyes lit up at the thought of touring and recording. "So what do you say, you wanna make a day of it."
"Sure." Mercedes said with a small smile glad that she and her brother were talking like they used to do instead of fighting. Micah stepped out into the hallway and grinned widely.
"Well come on and bring your song notebook, I know you got something great in there." Mercedes just nodded and looked around her room for a moment before looking back at Micah.
"I'll be downstairs in a few minutes."
"Alright I'll be waiting for you." he said as he disappeared and closed the door to her room. Mercedes went to her closet and grabbed her large 'airplane' purse, she walked over to her desk and pulled out her song notebook and tossed it in the bag. She grabbed her phone and headed out of her room.
As they drove downtown, Micah reached out and switched off the radio. Mercedes looked over at him in confusion as he cleared his throat. "I just want to tell you again that I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I stayed awake all night thinking things over and I'm just so ashamed of myself. I had no right to do that to you or Sam."
"I accept your apology but you should probably tell Sam that too." Mercedes said as she looked over at her brother. "I really wanted you two to be friends but now thanks to your antics, I don't think that will ever happen but I do want you two be cool with one another."
"If you give me his number I'll call and tell him myself or I'll just wait till he comes to the house since I know he'll be back here sometime this week." he said with a shake of his head. Mercedes looked over at him as her brother fixed her with a glance. "Are you guys at least being careful?" Her mouth dropped open at his boldness, shaking her head she covered her face with her hand and groaned out. "I'm not having this conversation with you, Micah." Her brother just laughed and shook his head at his sister's reaction.
"I'm just messing you Cedes but when you two do start doing the do be careful. You don't want to end up pregnant." Mercedes missed the look of disgust on his face as he said the word pregnant, nodding her head she looked out the window.
"Yeah you're right I don't want to get pregnant before I'm married." she said as she looked over at Micah, who nodded his head slowly.
"Yeah Cedes, that's what I meant. You wanna have a child a in a loving home-you don't want your child growing up with any social stigmas." Mercedes just nodded her head as she looked out the window and took in the city as they drove closer towards Cleveland.
"So is your label always gonna be here."
"Lord no," Micah exclaimed with a shake of his head. "I plan to move us out once you officially come on the label. I'm thinking L.A. would be a nice place, what do you think?" he asked as he looked over at her.
"I guess it would be nice but it's pretty far."
"It won't be far cause by that time you're be a big enough star that you can fly anyway you want. You wanna visit Mom and Dad you can and you can be home by six. That's what gonna happen Mercedes so you better get ready for it." Mercedes laughed at the playful look her brother gave her and nodded her head.
"I'm a diva, Micah. I was born ready for all that." Micah gave her a wink and stepped on the gas.
"Good I'm glad to hear it." By the time they arrived at the studio, there were several other people standing around outside. Mercedes looked over at her brother.
"Who are they?"
"That's your band. . .met them all at college and told them about this and they're on board." he said as he pulled the car over and turned it off, turning towards her, he gave her a small smile. Mercedes looked at the group of people. There were five guys and four girls standing around outside the studio waiting for her and Micah. "Let's start your official first day as a star at LJ records."
"Sure let's do it." Mercedes said with a bright smile as she and her brother climbed out of the car and headed towards the studio.
When Sam saw Mercedes later on that week, he had to admit she looked as if she were walking on clouds. They had both picked up Stacie and Stevie from summer camp and took them to the park. Mercedes leaned into Sam's side and released a contented sigh. "What has you in such a good mood?" he asked with a smile on his face.
"I recorded my first song this week." she whispered as she turned and looked at him, Sam's mouth dropped in shock for a moment before he smiled brightly at her. He was happy for her, he knew that singing and performing that was a dream of hers and he was glad that her brother was helping her achieve that dream. "I know it's not as great as your news," she murmured with a small smile. "By the way when do you want me to come over?" she asked with a smile as she thought about how Stevie and Stacie had told her over the phone about moving. Each one had their own special request for her when she asked them if she could come by to help.
"Um well we're looking at houses right now."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah my dad found a cheap one," he paused for a second and then shook his head. "It's a good one though with four bedrooms it was a pretty good find."
"That's means you get your own room huh?"
"Yep, but Dad already told me when you come over the door has to be opened at all times." Sam said with a blush. "I'm still trying to figure out how I even lived that conversation down." he said shaking his head. Mercedes covered her face with her hand and laughed as Sam seemed to reliving the horrors of his recent father-son conversation.
"At least now we know I won't be that much of a distraction."
"Yeah cause my Dad's gonna be looking in on us like prison guard." he muttered with a shake of his head as he sighed. "But back to our original topic, I'll let you know okay."
"Okay but don't forget I promised Stacie that I'd help her and her mother decorate her room and I promised Stevie I'd help him with his toys." Mercedes said with a small smile as Sam wrapped his arm around her and brushed a kiss against her temple.
"So how was your first recording session my lovely diva." Mercedes sent Sam a look at the title but he merely smiled and winked, "Oh come on I want some details."
"Well, my brother took me there the day after the dinner. He introduced me to my band-."
"You've got a band now!" Sam asked with a bright smile. "Damn, your brother isn't playing around with this is he."
"Nope, he even told me that we might do a few retakes on the song I recorded but he feels like the song already ready for release but he promised to wait because of Glee." she said as she looked over at him. Sam unconsciously pulled her closer to him and sighed.
"So what about school?"
"Don't worry I'll still be there, Micah told me that I shouldn't worry about that although he's trying to get me to quit Glee club." she said as she remembered the conversation they had on their way back from the studio.
"What! Why?"
"He thinks it's a waste of time since I haven't been given a solo yet at the competitions. That's why he's so obsessed with getting me to quit. He said I should be focused on getting my singles recorded and working on my album after school, but I quickly put him in his place. I told him point blank that there was no way I was going to quit Glee club."
"How'd he take that?"
"He was mad but then said that he wasn't the boss of me and that I could do what I wanted." she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Oh and he's gonna apologize to you the next time he sees you." Sam's eyebrow rose high at that, mimicking his favorite Star Trek character Mr. Spock.
"Excuse me, what did you just say? Your brother wants to apologize to me."
"Yeah, I wouldn't give him your number though, I wasn't sure you'd like that so he's gonna wait till he sees you again."
"As long as he's stopped acting like he did, I'm cool." Sam said with a shake of his head as he thought about Micah Jones. So did you receive that text from Rachel?"
"The Glee welcome back bash?" Mercedes asked with a bright smile as she thought about Ms. Rachel Berry. "Yeah, I got mine."
"So are you gonna go and if so do you want to go as my secret date?" he said wiggling his eyebrows at her, Mercedes gave him a small smile and nodded her head.
"Yes I'm going, I'm not gonna miss Berry's party," she looked out towards Stacie and Stevie and saw them scrambling up the monkey-bars. "And yes I'll be your secret date." Mercedes said as she pulled out her cell phone and looked at the time. "We better get going, you got work in an hour." Sam groaned and nodded his head.
"Don't even remind me, today I have to work the kitchen and do deliveries." he whined with a shake of his head as he stood up and grabbed hold of Mercedes' hand gently pulling her up off the bench they had been resting on.
"Stacie. . .Stevie time to go." Mercedes called from Sam's side, they both watched his brother and sister moaned out their displeasure as they scrambled down the monkey-bars and raced over to them. Stacie immediately wanted to be picked up by Sam while Stevie hung close to Mercedes.
"Do we really have to go?" he asked as he tugged on Mercedes' free hand, she looked down at him and nodded her head.
"Yes we do but, don't you wanna have your Disney-Potter marathon?" she asked looking from Stevie over to Stacie. Both kids looked at one another and then back at Mercedes before shouting out their happiness over this latest development.
Micah was downstairs later on that night when she came home, as she closed the front door he made his way to the hallway and crossed his arms over his chest while looking at her. "Late night with Sam?"
"I was babysitting?"
"Till almost one in the morning?" he asked as she brushed by him and headed into the living room. He followed behind her and watched as she settled down on the sofa. "I missed you tonight I thought we could go over some of your songs. . .you know figure out the arrangements and stuff like that." Mercedes looked over at her brother and shrugged her shoulders.
"We can do that tomorrow I guess." Micah briefly clenched his jaw but Mercedes didn't pick up on it.
"I guess that'll be okay but you know when you're an artist you can put things off like this-I had some really good ideas," he said as he shook his head while putting on a face of major disappointment. "I just hope I remember them after a good night's sleep." Mercedes rolled her eyes at her brother and shook her head.
"Stop being so dramatic, you're just hyped because of the recording session earlier this week." Micah smiled at that and nodded his head.
"I admit it, I really am but I can't believe you aren't. I mean I thought this was what you wanted to do, Cedes. I thought once I introduced you to that studio, you wouldn't want to leave it. Don't tell me your dreams changed cause if singing is really just a hobby for you now, let me know." he said as he fixed her with a look.
"No, Micah. Singing is still my dream. . .and I do wish I could be in that studio 24/7 but I know I have other things to take care of." She said as thought about sending time with Sam and helping him watch over Stevie and Stacie who were just to precious for words. Micah stood up at that and sighed while looking down at Mercedes.
"Look Cedes, I'm not trying to pressure you. I'm just trying to see where your head is. You've got so much talent and the music industry needs your type of talent. I'd hate to see you waste a perfectly good opportunity for development cause you're out doing things with Sam. I thought you told me that he wasn't going to keep you from your dream."
"He isn't Micah," Mercedes said as she fixed her brother with a look. "And it's not like I'm not singing or anything. Glee club has-."
"Shoved you in the background," he snapped out as he raised a hand. "Don't even mention that club to me."
"But it has helped me-."
"Do what exactly develop your background vocals?" he asked with a shake of his head right before releasing a bitter laugh. "You're better than all that Mercedes. Anyone with a set of unbiased ears can tell you have talent. I really do wonder what that teacher's problem is but it doesn't matter cause you're about to blow up." He made a noise and moved his hands out to show her what he meant. "We could have your album finished by Christmas if-."
"If I quit school?"
"No, I wasn't gonna say that. What I was gonna say was if you put time and effort into it. I read your songs Mercedes they're great. Every last one shows a different side of your range and the control you have over your voice."
"You think so."
"I know so, you're talented sis." he said as he collapsed back on the sofa beside her. "Now I hate to mention this to you but Azimio is gonna come by tomorrow to apologize for all the shit he did to you and your friends."
"Micah!"
"What he needs to go ahead and say it, what's the point of sitting on an apology," when Mercedes gave him a look he shrugged. "I asked for the boy's number but you didn't want to give it to me."
"Sam's coming over tomorrow, he has the nightshift so he was gonna come over and hang with me."
"I thought once Azimio came over and apologize we all would go to the studio. I wanted to show him around let him see a studio for the first time." Mercedes glared at her brother and shook her head as Micah simply looked at her. "What!"
"Micah, what makes you think I'll go anywhere with Azimio. I mean I can accept his apology but I'm not gonna hang with him." Micah looked over at her for a moment before sighing and looking at the muted television.
"I might as well tell you this now," he began slowly. "Azimio is on the label too," he glanced over at her and saw her look of complete disbelief. "He's great a rapping, really good. The boy has talent and-."
"I can't believe you-."
"What you rather me put Sam on the label?" he asked heatedly as he glared at her.
"How in the hell did Sam get in this conversation?" Mercedes asked as she looked at her brother. "I didn't bring him up and he isn't looking to be on your label, what I'm talking about is the fact that you keep pushing Azimio deeper and deeper into my life and you don't give a damn about how I feel."
"I don't give a damn about how you feel?" Micah repeated. "Of course I care, I'm not making you do any songs with him or anything like that although the collaboration would be great. All I'm saying is he's coming to the studio with us." Mercedes fixed him with a glare but shook her head and stood up from the sofa.
"Fine he can come with us as long as Sam can too." Micah's mouth dropped open at that and he shook his head.
"I think for now we need to keep the studio strictly for those that are going be apart of LJ records, Mercedes."
"I won't feel comfortable with Azimio, Micah. So Sam's coming or I'm not going." Her brother stared at her for a moment before slowly nodding his head. Sighing, he stood up and smiled down at his sister.
"I guess that'll be fine, Cedes. Besides it'll give me a chance to apologize for acting a fool during that dinner."
"Yeah, you'll get a chance to apologize. You know you should probably go first and show Azimio how it's done." she said with a smirk, Micah gave her a quick laugh and then stopped smiling.
"That's not funny, Cedes."
"Oh yes it is," she said with a playful roll of her eyes, Micah just shook his head and sighed already knowing that his sister had basically given him the plans for tomorrow. "Shake on it, I want apologizes first and then a trip to the studio with my man." Rolling his eyes, Micah laid his hand in hers and shrugged.
"Fine whatever you want, Cedes."