Finely Aged
Majesty pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, having almost wrecked her car countless times on the way there. She and Wagner had not left Tennessee since they returned for Mercedes' birthday grave visit, along with Whitney. Now, the three of them were going to be at the hospital and as far as she knew, Whitney had also contacted their elder brothers and Sammie, too. She hated to even think that way, but she was surprised that her dad had lasted this long after her mom's death.
She had always been one of his two children that Sam felt completely comfortable with telling his entire feelings to. The other had been Marvel. It wasn't so much that Sam wasn't honest with his other children; he simply did not like to bother others with his issues. He preferred to keep them to himself. She could remember when she and him went beyond that type of dealing.
Rushing right into his office, she hadn't even bothered to knock, "Daddio, I've got the final design for the tear-away dress that I need made for my party…" Sam forced a smile, but the redness in his green eye stopped her in her tracks. She hadn't seen him for a few days – but that sometimes could happen when he was in the middle of something. He had stubble growing out amongst his generally well-kept beard and he was incredibly pale. "Dad, what's wrong? Are you sick?" She asked and went over to his desk to feel his face.
"I'm not sick. How about you show me that design?" He said and reached for the sketch pad in her hands. He opened it and looked at the drawing… it was a wonderful piece of work and he would expect no less from his daughter, but then – he looked at the self portrait and even though he knew it was supposed to be Majesty, she looked so much like her mother (aside from their almost opposite complexions), he started crying, silently.
"Dad… what's wrong?" She asked.
He shook his head and told her, "I haven't been home all week. I miss you guys. I miss your mom."
"What do you mean you haven't been home all week? I figured that I've just not seen you – you actually haven't been there?" She asked and sat on top of his desk.
"Mercy and I had a fight and she asked me not to come back," Sam admitted, and new tears fell, though he wasn't whimpering or sobbing. "I know that she's just angry, but we've never had a fight like this before. She's never made me leave and I don't know how to take that."
"What did you fight about?" Majesty asked.
"I'd prefer not to say. We're not big on letting you kids in on our relationship drama," he said and wiped his face. "I said some things that I shouldn't have and really hurt her feelings. She was confronting me about something that angered me and I went too far and lashed out at her."
Actually, it began with Whitney's outburst. When they talked things out and Whitney had gone on her way, Mercedes came back to Sam and questioned him about it. She was offended and angry that he had come behind her talk with Whitney and instead of reassuring her, he'd frightened her and made her feel bad. Sam already knew that from having just had the argument with Whitney, and he pretty much told her that. Then, the argument became that Sam always treated Whitney and Majesty differently than he did his sons. That much was obvious, as well. Boys are different from girls and to treat them the same would be unfair. Boys were tougher and not as emotional… Then she called him sexist!
That was ridiculous to him! He had always seen her as an equal, they made decisions together and he even lifted her up higher than what he thought of himself as an individual, so to be called something so terrible hurt his feelings and pissed him off at the same time. But, then he made the worse comment that he had probably ever made about her. "Maybe I wouldn't be sexist if the woman that I spend all of my time with didn't use sex as her barter." Mercedes entire face blazed up – eyes budged, nostrils flared, mouth spread wide open, "Did you just call me a HOE?" At that question, he immediately felt bad.
He had just said that, but, "I'm just saying that anytime you want me to do something or you want me to agree with you, you bribe me with kisses and if that fails, sex."
"I have never…"
"When you released your first album, remember how it was about wanting to sing and inspire people and by the third, you were a sex symbol and milked that every step of the way?" She slapped him. He reached out for her, "Mercy, I'm sorry… I didn't mean that."
"Yes, you did, and you've obviously had that inside of you for years. Now, it's out." She couldn't keep tears from falling. "I enjoy having sex with my soul mate, and never once had it ever crossed my mind to use it as a weapon or to use my body as bargaining chips. And as far as my albums go… I felt more confident and sexier by the time I became a sex symbol and yes, I did cater to that new part of myself, because at the time, that's exactly who I was. I've always remained true to who I am, with every album and with all of my career decisions." She threw her hands out to cover the space around her body and said, "But this is just another instance of your hypocrisy. I seem to remember not only you stripping to make ends meet in high school, but you playing a guitar in a sleazy cage girl club when we first lived together. But because I didn't mind putting on sexy outfits in videos and on tour and making a few risky songs, I'm on the chopping block?"
She began to leave the room as she told him, "I think that you need to leave and I really don't care if you come back, right now."
"You don't mean that," He said.
"Between the two of us, Sam… I think I have the better record for meaning what I say."
How the hell could he have let any of that come out of his mouth? Mercedes was gorgeous and her sexiness wasn't cheap or slutty… it was sexy. He did think that she used it against him more than she would like to admit, but never in a manipulative or malicious way and for him to attack her like that was not him and not right. He had been sending her apology presents the entire week, leaving her emails, voicemails and writing her letters to try to beg her to forgive him for being insensitive and hurtful.
He'd felt badly enough that his precious lil' diva was upset with him then he allowed his upset over that prompt him to take out his dissatisfaction in himself on the one person who never said a malicious thing to him. That was what he hated the most about this – that he had hurt her, when he promised never to. Now, he wouldn't tell his other little lady the whole truth. Hell, if she became mad at him, too… "You know how Mom is," Majesty told him, "The more you bother her about this, the more stubborn she'll be. I hope you've given her the space that she needs."
"She doesn't need space, right now. We've come too far for that. She needs to know that no matter what I said or did that I can't live a day without her and I won't rest until she tells me that she knows that."
"Dad, I can't imagine that you could ever say or do anything that would make her doubt that for one second," Majesty told him. "You wanna go to the arcade? I'll give you a run for your money. I've been practicing on the vintage ones in your game room. I'm challenging you to Street Fighter." She slammed her book down on the desk and nudged him, "Let's get to it, Daddio." They went into Sam's personal game room, full of vintage arcade games, from Sam's childhood and some from his teenage years to play against each other.
After a while, Mercedes' voice sang into the room, "Hope I'm not interrupting!"
Sam abandoned the game and Majesty watched her father rush over to his wife and collect her into a tight hug, repeating a mantra of "I'm so sorry. I love you." He buried his face in her hair and sniffled. Mercedes watched Majesty, watching them and wondered if she knew what had happened.
"Sam…" Mercedes began.
Majesty announced, loudly, "Well look at that! Game over, I'll see you two at home!" She rushed out of the room and shut the door behind her. She could hear them begin to try to both apologize. Mercedes was crying too, then they were kissing, and Majesty could hear that it was quickly about to be more to it… Her theory was confirmed when she heard her mother moaning as the door was locked. Yeah… it was time to get out of dodge.
But after that, she found that if she asked Sam about something, he didn't mind talking to her and he usually was pretty straight up with her, even about her own personal stuff. He became much cooler than she originally even thought. They became cooler with each other than ever.
Majesty got out of the car and hurriedly marched to the hospital. Like her mother, she had never really been a small framed person, but where her mother got more in shape and healthier over time (while maintaining a still larger frame, of course), Majesty got bigger and not as healthy as she would have liked, over time. She barely ever hastened anywhere, but she was hot-stepping up the handicap ramp and nearly jogged in through the automatic doors. "Majesty!" She heard and turned to see Wagner, waving her over. She went to meet with him. He looked fine, so she thought maybe Dad's fine. When she reached him, he held the door open for her and she saw Whitney, hovering over her father and either crying, praying or both. "He hasn't woken yet, but he's been talking," Wagner said.
Majesty nodded her head and asked, "How long does he have?"
Whitney's head snapped up and she glared at her sister, "We don't know! The doctor is going to try to help him. He might live."
"You texted me that it's congestive heart failure. Dad's old and we don't even know what stage he's in…" Majesty tried to explain, but seeing that Whitney was only becoming more upset, she changed her point to, "It'll be good for Dad to be able to be with Mom again."
Whitney stood up and said, "I guess that it's easy for you to let go of him. You've had him for so long, it makes sense. I just started to get things back right with Daddy, and I want him here for as long as the good Lord sees fit."
"I do too, Whitney. But, you can't get mad at me that Dad and I got along. You had a chance to have a relationship with him… You chose to keep yourself alienated. Do you know how hard it was to be considered one of Dad's closest friends, but to have to quite regularly hear him whine about how close you two were when you were little and how much you hated him…"
"I have never hated Daddy!" Whitney snapped.
"Wagner comes to see you all the time. None of them come to see me…" They heard Sam mumble. "Might as well go to Tennessee…"
Mercedes' fiftieth birthday was to be a grand celebration. Sam paid for all of their friends to fly out to meet them, and they would spend the weekend on his yacht. Rachel overdosed at forty-five and ended her lengthy battle with cocaine, and Mercedes' fiftieth birthday would be the first time that the gang was getting together again since their friend's funeral.
Quinn was widowed, when her husband was shot by an angry woman who blamed him for her husband's murderer being freed. It took Quinn a while to get back into the swing of thing, but she had great relationships with the two of her children from her marriage. Though she and Beth were not very close after she began having other children, they became closer again after Quinn got married a second time, this time to Puck. By that time, Puck had become a real deal motivational speaker and led inspirational conventions.
Mike owned his own dance company, but also did projects with highly acclaimed dance schools in his free time. Tina had retired from crew work on Broadway, in favor of spending more time with Mike and having children (a little bit later than her friends began, but in perfect time for her to be able to say that she had a successful and fulfilling career and chose to give it up to be a mother and housewife whole she supported her husband in his still flourishing career… and she did not regret any of it.
Blaine and Kurt always made time to come to ANY Jones-Evans event and needed the refreshing break after being bombarded with newfound madness when Blaine returned to the stage for a regular Las Vegas gig a couple of years before. It was the first time that Blaine Anderson had performed on a stage since he was thirty five. The twelve year break was spent teaching different performance arts classes at NYADA, after having been a stage performer for fifteen years. Kurt still enjoyed Broadway and show tunes, but was proud to be the husband of a star, and loved his own career in fashion and interior design.
Artie made many independent movies, and only really had one blockbuster that Sam's name was attached to as Executive Producer, though Sam pretty much allotted Artie all of the artistic freedom, but most people didn't really pick up on the genius of Artie, so he was an underrated director who taught courses for the film studies. He settled in Ohio and after getting back in touch with Brittany at the Class of 2012 Reunion, got into the first serious relationship that he'd had in years and went on to work as the Production Supervisor of Brittany S. Pierce's Best Show Ever, Britt's most current reality series, and Brottnay had moved on to hosting one of those Late Night shows, as well.
Santana transferred to one of the branches of her advertising firm in California shortly after the reunion, with a higher position and better pay, which made it possible for her to reconnect with Mercedes, Sam and Puck, but it also helped her to get to know Unique… even though they had a tiff here and there, at first. But, when the two began spending more time together, they connected on several different levels. Santana had been with guys before, and since her break up with Brittany with several women, but she was a bit confused when she first began her relationship with Unique. Unique had to teach her a lot about gender identity, because there simply were things about transgender people and those who have already gone through the change that even gays and lesbians did not know.
Joe and his wife made plans to come out in advance, so that they wouldn't be in the midst of any missions or ministry events that would require their time. Joe had married a woman who graduated from Crawford Country Day, the sister school of Dalton. She had gone to college to get a degree in sociology, then joined the Peace Corps and met Joe while they were both in the same place working under separate missions, but with similar goals.
Sugar had been married a number of times and pretty much made a hobby out of it. She never became famous for doing anything, but she remained rich and always built upon her financial status with her husbands. At the time, she was unwed and did not have a date, but decided that she wouldn't need one just as long as Sam was sure to hire some young, physically fit and attractive males to work on the yacht for the weekend. If he couldn't she offered to bring along her own, but Sam promised to take care of her.
Mercedes had not been extremely close with David Karofsky and Sebastian Smythe, but had connected with the couple and become fond of them during an effort that she and Sam helped organize for Christian love extending to gay equality, and since then – she and the fellows had been on buddy terms, so Sam invited them along, as well. Dave had a yacht of his own, so this wouldn't be so much magical for him as it would be a good chance to celebrate a friend who he was fortunate to have befriended, even if they weren't the closest.
Sam had to admit that he had not really kept in touch with Rory and Mercedes and the boy were never really that close. When they were around each other, it was in the old days when Rory was being dangled around by Sugar. They sent him an invite, but he declined and wished Mercedes a happy birthday and everyone else a great weekend.
And have a great weekend, they did. Mercedes was spoiled with lavish, expensive gifts, along with sweet and sentimental ones. At fifty, Sam had a significant amount of gray in his hair and he'd been sporting the facial hair since his mid thirties, but he now wore his beard a little more full than he had in the past and it was silvering, too. Plus, he now wore glasses and wasn't as thin as he once was, but still muscular and hot. He remained Mercy's favorite gift, yet and she couldn't thank him enough for organizing all of this. But, she did thank him, over and over, and over…
She was worried that their friends might hear them, but Sam assured her that from where their room was, no one was able to hear a thing and proceeded to give her one of the greatest birthdays that she had ever had. Fantastically amazing sex, the company of some of her closest friends – who had been there before and after her rise, and would be around if ever she were to fall, and her husband. She stared at him with loving eyes as he cracked up their company with his impressions. Yes, that man was still doing impressions, but he had gotten even better with time and had expanded his catalog.
"Mercy and I are going to be moving to Tennessee, soon," he told his friends. "We decided to tell you all, even before we tell the kids."
"Tennessee?" Kurt repeated.
Mercedes said, "I told you that's where Sam and I would eventually settle,"
"Yes, but why would you be settling at fifty? Mercedes… Divas never grow old. You have years of achievements ahead of you," Kurt said.
Mercedes shrugged and said, "I'm not growing any younger either, and I would like to see some of that new blood come in and give me a tribute at awards ceremonies. There's nothing wrong with just relaxing and enjoying the rest of life. All of our children are grown," she said. "They have their own lives and I remember how hard it was for Sam and I to see our parents when we were building our lives, so I understand. But, it just feels like the right time for us to just be still for a little while."
Puck shook his head and said, "You're giving up making movies and printing comic books?"
"No. I'll still be working all of the time, just from Tennessee and if I have any major movie projects to work on, I'll jet back and forth, or we'll spend a little time in Cali until I get done," he said with a shrug.
Tina clapped her hands together once and said, "Well, I think it's great that you two have decided this together. You'll have more time to spend just enjoying each other, which will be even more fulfilling now that you're older. Because, I know you LOVE the kids, but you've had them since shortly after you two were married. This is a great thing for you!"
Mercedes smiled and nodded, then bit her lip and said, "I'm just wondering how they're going to respond to it."
Sam opened his eyes and laughed lightly as he said, "They responded just like you said they would, Mercy." Whitney gasped and shook her hands. Majesty was already rushing to get the doctor. "Marvel was happy for us. DC was happy to be able to run the business while I was away. Whitney came along. Majesty wanted to be happy and said she was happy, but she really wasn't." He laughed.
Wagner whispered, "What's he referring to?"
"Wagner was just upset. That really ate his lunch, huh?" Sam asked. Mercedes was rubbing his face and she kissed him on the forehead. "Where had you been for those days, Mercy? Why didn't you come home?" He wondered. "I missed you. I'm glad you're here. Don't do that again. If you go anywhere, again; you'd better take me with you."
"If I leave again, you are coming with me," his wife promised.
Sam smile gratefully, then suddenly became aware of his surroundings as he held his little lady's hand. "Oh, I guess that I haven't been well, or something. Must've been what happened while Mercy was off and away."
Majesty returned with the doctor and went to try to hold her father's hand, but Whitney stopped her and gestured to the other side. Majesty looked at the hand and saw his thumb moving. He always did like to stroke her mother's hand while he held it.