12. Daddy's Girl

Kelsey did her usual performance of dropping Mercedes off and kidding her great uncle good night and her aunt, as well. Sam could hardly wait to tell Mercedes, "Whitney and I have been bonding while you were out. We were talking about your pregnancies, even Andrew's…" Whitney closed the door and followed them into the living room, having no idea that Mercedes' arm was around her shoulders. "Whit, you have anything else you wanna talk about?"

Mercedes told Sam, "If you two are bonding, I hate to interrupt. It's been a while. I'm going to go lay down and read. Have fun," she said and kissed Whitney's cheek.

Sam shrugged and said, "You heard the woman. Let's keep talkin,'" Sam went to sit on the couch and Whitney could tell from how he was positioning himself, that he was reaching for Mercedes. "No good night hug?" He asked, and teased her for a moment. When she was off to read, Whitney sat on the couch with her father. He watched his wife leave the room, then gave his daughter his undivided attention.

"Daddy, you keep reminiscing about all of the good times you and Mama had… do you ever think about the bad times?" She asked.

"I don't dwell on them."

"No, of course not… But, I grew up thinking that people didn't really argue and have disagreements in love… or that all relationships were perfect. I got into relationships and thought that I was doing something terribly wrong and Mama explained that couples fuss and argue and it's healthy and helps to compromise and to come to agreements. I thought that the two of you never made each other sad or mad. It was a complete shock to learn at nineteen that this wasn't true. How did you two even do that? How could you keep up the act that everything was always wonderful?"

"That's easy! Wasn't an act. Everything was always wonderful. Mercy and I disagreeing or even getting mad at or upset with each other never took away from how much we loved each other or how happy we were together. We simply made a few decisions together, when we were first married."

Sam was no longer able to spend much time working. Mercedes was fully pregnant, sporting that wonderfully shaped baby bump and in the process of possibly being considered for the role of the star in an up in the air movie production. Sam brought all of his projects to a close and pulled out of anything that might conflict with Marvel's birth. "This is simply too important for me to waste my time on anything besides bringing Marvel into this world and making sure both of you have everything you need physically and emotionally."

Mercedes and Sam stood in the Thor decorated room, which was simply OVER-done, as far as she was concerned, but Sam was just so excited and nervous about their upcoming son. "I hope that he likes his room. I hope that the life sized figure doesn't scare him, or the painting on the wall, for that matter… I think he'll enjoy the lighting patterns on the ceiling, though." He commented while looking up to admire the work he had done, there.

"He'll have time to figure it out, Sam. When he first gets to the nursery, he won't even be able to decipher what any of this stuff is," Mercedes said. "Just relax. Everything will be fine and he'll love the room, because he'll be loved and cared for and this room is going to be a part of that loving that he feels and receives from you."

"I hope that he's healthy. I mean, that he never has to struggle with any kind of serious illness or deformity. I'll love him no matter what. I just want him to be as safe and happy as possible."

"Hey! Don't even talk like that! Marvel is fine. I'm healthy and all of the tests and visits are always perfect. We've done everything right, as it relates to this pregnancy. Why would it even cross your mind that something might be wrong with him?"

"He could be born perfectly healthy, then have something happen. He could develop autism. He could get into an accident…"

"I do not want to hear that kind of talk, and from you, Sam – I am truly shocked. You're never a negative person." He lowered his head, a bit ashamed that he was being so insecure. Mercedes snuggled closely to him and cupped his face, "Marvel Evans is going to be a wonderful, healthy, happy baby and grow up to be as handsome, loving and dependable as you – because he'll have your genes and he'll have your upbringing. I only hope that I can pass on something special to him, too."

"Know what? I feel really bad that I started the chain of negativity. You're right. I'm supposed to be the positive one."

"Well, you don't have to be the positive ONE, but I think that positivity is definitely in order. I mean, we've been living out our dreams the past few years. We're both climbing higher and higher in our careers. Our marriage has been on the frontlines in gossip magazines and tabloid columns, yet we still manage to make it out unscathed and be madly in love. We have this bundle of joy on the way and his room is more fly than any kid's I have ever seen…" Sam chuckled at that and she pinched his cheeks, "You do an amazing job, all across the board. You always have. I don't want to hear any more negative talk about this."

"How about no more negative talk, period?" He asked. She turned her head slightly to the side as she looked at him. That was impossible. "I mean, only if it's reasonable. You know, like if you get sick and I'm worried that you'll miss one of my events, that's fine. But, if you get sick and I panic that you have SARS…" She laughed. "Mercedes, SARS is no laughing matter!"

"No, it isn't. Okay. That's a good one. Let me put an extension on it – no arguing in front of the kids."

"Oh.. are there two in there?" He joked and poked her in the belly.

"You think Marvel is gonna be a lone ranger? I mean, we do it all of the time and I plan on having a girl, before my uterus retires." Sam smiled brightly at his wife. If he could add another to her load, right now, he would. But, she kept talking, "I don't want them to have to hear about our adult problems. I think that might make them less likely to want to come to us with their own."

"I think that might have the opposite effect. What if they think that we're so perfect that if they admit they have problems, it'll disappoint us?"

"Hopefully it won't have that effect. I just know that I used to hear my mom and dad argue about my passion for singing and whether or not they should help me with that and what kind of a career it could be… it made ME insecure. We can have talks in front of them – where they can see us sorting out solutions and compromising… but actual arguments – like the ones that come up when you're caught on camera catering to thirsty fans.."

"Don't start. Marvel will hear you," he warned, with a finger held up. Mercedes stuck her tongue out at his teasing and he dove on it to capture the thing with his mouth. Sam moved his wife towards the wall and kissed her more vigorously.

"Sam, not in the damned nursery!" She hissed.

"But, this is the only room in this house we haven't," he pleaded, kissing her neck.

"There is a reason for that, Sam."

"Cause it was always under construction?" He said, attacking her neck with kisses and pointing his hand at her womb. "I mean, it's not like he'll know the difference." Mercedes shoved him away and playfully took off running towards the bedroom, laughing. Sam gave chase, momentarily, but had to stop and laugh himself at the image of her, waddle-skipping away from him. He got to the bedroom, red in the face with laughter and showed her how she looked, which made her break into a fit of laughs, as well.

"Shut up! I'm carrying a whole child inside of me. Of course it's gonna make my run look funny! I'll bet you aren't humored at how it looks if I back this up." She said and smacked herself across the backside.

"He smiled and approached, "Probably not so much humored, but I'm sure that's entertaining. Stick your tongue out again. I dare you."

She smiled softly and said, "One more thing, I forgot to mention before you assaulted my lips a moment ago… No morbid talk. I can't stand it when my mom starts talking about what I'm gonna have to be able to know how to do for when she's not around anymore. Like, really, Mom – just teach me the stuff and tell me I have to know it for the future. Why paint a mental image for me of life without you in it?"

"Helps you to realize the seriousness of learning it," he said.

"I don't want to have conversations about you possibly dying, Sam. I want it to come as a complete shock and I want to be in a position to be prepared, but still not know exactly how to deal with it," she told him.

"That's crazy, Cedes. You have to deal with it, so why not be prepared?"

"How about this – have the conversation once, put it on paper, then never again?" She said. Sam tilted his head sympathetically. She sniffled, "I don't know if it's that my hormones are still messed up, or the fact that we've been around each other for several consecutive days, for a change, but just the thought of trying to adjust to some kind of life without you… It's too messed up to think about and I don't want us talking about stuff like that."

"No morbid talk!" He promised, zipped his lips and threw away the key.

"Hey now, hey now… don't be sealing those lips. I was trying to get my kisses out of those."

"Oh, they stay open for that."

"Yeah?"

"Hell yeah…" He settled upon her and kissed her again.

Sam simply shook his head and shrugged, "We made a decision that we wouldn't speak morbidly about things or have negative conversations or argue in front of you. I'm sure that we had some negative talks, but we are human after all. We wanted to be sure though that we didn't argue in front of you. Because, we did argue. We argued about the time that we were apart and the time that we could spend together. We argued about things that rubbed us the wrong way that were printed in different gossip magazines and on websites – like every time there were speculations about women that I was supposedly having affairs with. She thought that I sometimes didn't care enough about people spreading such lies and I thought she cared too much about stuff that wasn't true and worth the energy to fight. But, the problems that came along with fame often were that everyone who's in your business knows very little about your business."

Whitney nodded in agreement as she checked her phone to see that Majesty had called. Sam sat in silence as he watched his older daughter call her younger sister back. "Majesty, how are you tonight, my dear? I'm actually sitting around with Daddy – talking about he and Mama's good old days, so I can't talk long, but we oughtta get together soon and have a Daddy-Daughter Day. Mm hmm. Okay, I love you too, my sweet. Good night."

"Actually, Whit – I think that I'm going to get washed up for the night. Maybe we can continue talking tomorrow," Sam said, staring off into the distance.

"Did I do something wrong, Daddy?" Whitney asked, worried that her newfound connection with her father had been stopped at its start.

"Not at all. I'm an old man and used to routine. It's about time for washing up and getting ready for bed." She got up to help him up and watched him go into the bedroom. He would get washed up, but he wouldn't go immediately to bed. Even as an old man, he never did. He came back into the room afterwards and settled on his lucky chair and reminisced. Most of the older people that Whitney knew often thought back on their lives and thought of their family and loved ones. Her father was no different in that regard. The still talking to Mercedes aspect was a bit different, but to her – it made sense, no matter how much it hurt.

Heck, if Mama and Daddy were having talks about not having morbid talks, and making agreements not to argue in front of the children or speak about negative things… It made a darned good bit of sense that Sam was in this type of peaked denial. But, it seemed to her that he was constantly thinking of better times. He wasn't really making any new memories with Mercedes. He was simply pondering and speaking of ones already created. It was, to her as though his life was flashing right before his eyes… and that thought bothered her. What if these were his last days and he was thinking of all of these things as a farewell preparation? Whitney sighed and ventured to the wine cellar. She knew that her parents always kept wine in it, for the simple fact that's what it was for. She could use a glass.

When Sam settled in his lucky chair, Whitney remained on the couch, just watching him stare straight ahead. He was retreating into his own world. She couldn't follow him inside and if he was going to talk to her about whatever was now going through his mind, he would do so, willingly.

They certainly didn't think that they were too good for anyone at McKinley High, but when Mercedes' ten year class reunion came around, she was a Grammy winning wife and mother of a gratuitously loved toddler, currently working on more hits at her home studio in between the actual production of a movie musical, as the star. She had been considered for several roles, but passed over a few times, in the past. At that point, she was excited to venture into acting and Sam had spent time helping her hone her skills, when he could. To make a long story short, she missed her ten year reunion.

The next year, when it was time for Sam's reunion, he could not come to any type of stopping point in his current TRIFECTA project to attend it. Mercy had wanted to try to make it and had her schedule set for the visit to Lima, but when Sam couldn't go – she instead planned a romantic time for him when he was finished with his work for the night (which was late). Some time, shortly after Sam's missed ten year reunion, Mercedes was impregnated with DC, as planned, and one year later with Whitney, as planned. Majesty came two years after, unplanned but highly welcomed. Five years after her, Wagner was born.

Two years later, Mercedes didn't know if she even WANTED to go to the class reunion. "I mean, all of the people who meant anything to us in high school are still in our lives."

"Not Finn and Rachel," Sam commented as he helped the boys to pack their clothes for the trip. Mercedes frowned, sadly. Finn and Rachel had broken up after graduation, but after he had been in the military for a time, he had gotten lonely and much more in need of human affection and that sense of belonging to someone… so they ended up back together, even though they couldn't see each other as much as they would have wanted to. Rachel liked the drama of it.

Four years after Mercedes gave Andrew to Kurt and Blaine, Rachel held Winter Rose for them… and it was then that she decided that she did not really want to be a mother. It was a beautiful process and she loved being able to give the gift of child to two loved friends (one of them her own beloved's brother. But, the baby had held up her career, changed her body, affected her hormones in such a way that it was difficult for her to act/sing/dance, as she was used to doing regularly, and her nose was the widest it had ever been in the history of being Rachel Berry. After Win was born, Rachel determined that should she ever wish to have a bundle of joy of her own, she could always adopt.

Finn took the news extremely hard, but couldn't see himself breaking up with Rachel. In fact, when he left the military, he followed her, as was initially planned. She had finally become a successful onstage actress and winning awards for her work. She was still that overachiever and wanted to be Barbara Streisand and dominate Broadway… when Finn died. It took everyone by surprise. He had been back and forth to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran. Even though those tours and his military career drastically changed him, he had survived, only to go to New York and be hit by a car while trying to rush to one of Rachel's shows.

Rachel unraveled. She developed a drug problem and though she was still acting and singing, the difference was evident and she was too ashamed to face any of them anymore, even Kurt.

Sam closed the boys' bags and asked, "Did you get my girls packed up yet?"

"Our bags are by the door, waiting for a strong gentleman to pack them into the SUV," she answered. "I'm sorry that I was going to suggest not going," she said, a little shyly. "I know how much Finn meant to you – being that he's the reason you ever even joined Glee in the first place and it turned out to be the best thing to happen to you in high school."

"You do realize that's mainly because of the fact that I found you there," Sam said and rubbed his nose against the side of her face, "But, Finn and Rachel did retrieve me from Kentucky and brought me back to you. Finn was one of my closest friends and Rachel promised that she would come, if only just to see the tribute that I've put together for him. I've only seen her once since he died, and that was because I caught her show with Kurt and Puck when Puck and I went to New York last year."

"You don't have to explain it to me. I understand. I wanna see her too." Mercedes answered and called out, "Evans Clan! Time to hit the road!" Marvel was already outside, listening to his IPOD and bobbing his head. He was 14, at the time and not that concerned with the family stuff, for the moment. DC and Whitney, 10 and 9, were generally arguing about something and tonight it was who was going to sit in the back.

Sam quickly informed them, "The girls are right behind Mom and I, with the baby, and the boys are in the back." DC laughed in Whitney's face and Sam warned, "Don't tease your sister. What's your job as big brother?"

"To look after her," DC said, annoyed.

"Right. That includes not picking on her, nor on Majesty," Sam told him. 7 year old Majesty was the first one in her seat and helped her father strap her 2 yr old brother, Wagner into his baby seat. The girl had her hair in two huge afro puffs – because she had a great deal of hair and her fro was actually more curly and loose than Mercedes' had been as a child. Whitney's hair was in a high, single puff at the top of her head, but both girls had purple bows. Mercedes got into the passenger's seat of the vehicle as Sam made sure that all of the numerous bags were packed up.

"Mama, are Manny and Nanny coming, too?" Whitney asked, excitedly.

"Manny and Nanny are gonna catch a plane and meet us there," she told them. "When Daddy gets back in the car, you wanna lead the safe travel prayer?"

"Oh, yes! Of course, Mama!" Whitney cheered, excitedly.

Sam got into the car and threw Mercedes an unimpressed look, "You packed like all of your make up and accessories and several different hairstyles and far more clothes than you need."

"I am a diva, Sam. There's not even any such thing as more clothes than I need," she told him with a wink. "Before you drive off, Whitney's gonna pray for safe travel for us." Whitney recited one of the prayers her mother had taught her and when she was done smiled proudly as her mother smiled at her and Sam squeezed her hand and told her how lovely her words were.

She missed those times. She wanted to talk more to Sam, but instead, she simply went over to him and touched his shoulder. He responded by reaching up to her and holding it, even though he didn't move. His mind was still processing old things. For her, that was fine. This moment still was wonderful.