Hi lovely people!

Sorry for the wait….I got home for the holidays from school and began working like a slave and totally became preoccupied. Thanks to those who reviewed and who like what I did with the last chapter. Yall are awesome.

So here we go. Here's the next one and I'll try to steadily update.

I don't own Glee cause if I did I would make Artie graduate early, leave that hell hole called Lima, Ohio, and have him go with Puck and be slaves to one Mercedes Jones.

Warnings: mentions of abuse and language

ENJOYXP

This overwhelming feeling of peace fills her, making her feel as though she's flying on a pillow of clouds. If she could bottle this feeling up and carry it around her wherever she went, that would be the best thing to ever happen to her in a long time. Whenever she would feel sad or stressed, she would open her handy bottle up and this feeling would wash over her. She doesn't really know where she is at the moment, but she doesn't feel like waking up. The back and forth sound of shuffling feet fills her ears. A sterilized smell of cleanness fills her senses and the constant beep beep sound of a machine begins to clue her in to her surroundings. She opens her eyes and the feeling of peace quickly leave her body with the startling realization that she is in a hospital. She quickly scans the room and shock feels her body at what she sees.

"Richard she's awake," says the woman who was sitting at her bedside. She was short with an hour glass figure. Her graying hair that framed her face was the only thing that distinguished the difference between her and the woman still laying in shock in the hospital bed.

"Baby girl, how are you feeling?" Mercedes notices her father next. He was a tall billowing man with gentle eyes and a blinding smile. Richard Jones was a man with a presence and a kind spirit. He might be a big man but in all actuality, he was just a big teddy bear.

"I'll go see if I can find the nurse and let everyone else know that she's awake." Mercedes' eyes finally fall onto Noah and her breath catches. One of his eyes was swollen and he had a split lip. He was still wearing his undershirt and his chest was littered with bruises. He was holding his side as if he was hurt and everything finally crashes back into her in waves. She remembers what happened at the bakery and she feels so remorseful that Noah and everyone had to be pulled into her mess of a relationship. She needs to see if the others are okay and she needs to speak to Noah. She felt crushed that he had to be thrown in the crossfire. She didn't mean for any of this to happen. Their eyes lock and she hopes that he can see the sorrow in her eyes that she felt for bringing him into this situation. He must have seen something because a small smile crosses his face as he leaves the room. Her mother begins raking her fingers through her hair, bringing her back to the present.

"That is one hell of a man sweetheart. He got in contact with us and told us what happened and stayed with you the entire time. Even though he wasn't supposed to stay in the room, he refused to leave. Who is he?"

"Evelyn, let the girl breathe for a second." Her dad comes around the bed and grasps her hand.

"Your right. Mercedes, tell us what happened? The only thing we were told was that you were emitted to the hospital and that we needed to come quick," her mother asks worriedly.

Mercedes' eyes begin to water and she begins to break down. They used to be close, her and her parents. She would call every day and go home for birthdays and holidays. She could remember a time where she could come to them without judgment. But phone calls dwindled and visits ceased to exist once she started dating Shane. She put him before her parents and Mercedes was at a loss of words on where to begin to fix their shattered relationship.

"What happened?" her voice cracks as she tries to figure out how to explain. "I was at the bakery and Shane hit me. That's why Noah was here and probably why he contacted you. That's what happened mom," Mercedes says trough her tears. "I blindingly put my faith in a man over faith in myself and what my gut was telling me that first time that I met him. Something in me didn't feel right and I wish I listened to your advice. Instead I thought I knew what was best for me and my future and I decided to focus solely on Shane and my career and pushed the two most important people in my life away. For what?" she asks distraught. "For a person who dictated my every waking moment. I felt like I was in a box every day. How did I get to be this person? I feel like I let you two down somehow." She puts her head in her hands, ashamed at herself. That's what she was always afraid of. That her parents would be angry with her for cutting them out of her life. They always had her back and she went and did something like that without even giving them any clue as to why.

"SHANE DID WHAT! OH HELL NAW WHERE IN THE HELL IS THAT SON OF A BITCH?" Her father rages. He begins to make his way out of the hospital room until her mother grabbed him by the arm.

"Richard calm down."

"I will not calm down Evelyn. That bastard hit our daughter and now that little boy will find out how in the hell I deal with people who try to mess with my family," he tries to leave again but Mercedes knows he's not going anywhere. Her mother might be small, but she had strength in those small hands that always comforted her in times of need.

"I understand that you're mad. Believe me, I want to beat that little boys' ass myself. But before we deal with him we both need to be there for our daughter right now when she needs us most." Evelyn's voice left no room for argument and Richard let out a slow breath as they made their way back to their daughter's bedside.

"Oh hunny, one thing you never have to worry about is us being disappointed in you," Evelyn says as tears begin to run down her face. "Are we upset? Of course we are, but not with you. We are upset at the situation. We are upset that Shane put you in a situation that isolated you from us, and put you in a place where you were afraid to come to us or to anyone about what was taking place."

"She's right baby girl. We don't ever want you to think that we are angry with you or that this is somehow your fault. I hope that you can forgive us," He says as his eyes start to water.

"For what?" Mercedes asks baffled. Forgive them? Why would she even need to forgive them for anything? They did absolutely nothing wrong. If something needed to be forgiven, it should be for her idiotic decision of pushing them away. It should also be for her idiotic decision to stay with the man who was making her life a living hell. Seeing her dad getting emotional caused her heart to break. She's only ever seen him like this once before when her older brother died in a car accident. Her being the cause of the look of pain on his face this time broke something inside of her.

"For not fighting hard enough. After Marcus died we thought that it was our fault. Maybe if we would have given him more freedom, than he wouldn't have snuck out of the house and gotten into that car accident," His voice strains. "So we tried to give you more room to breathe and make your own decisions. So when you slowly stopped calling and visiting, we thought that was something that you might have wanted and we didn't push. That was the worst mistake we have ever made."

"He's right," Her mother whispers as she begins to stroke the side of her face. "We thought that we may have been smothering you two so we let you do things your way. If that meant being with Shane and focusing on the bakery then so be it. As long as you were happy, then we were content. We have come to realize that we never smothered our children and we did right by the two of you. It just scares me how close we came to losing you two," her mother begins to cry earnestly. Richard makes his way around the bed and begins to rub soothing circles into his wife's shoulders.

"There's nothing to be forgiven for. Don't worry about anyone else Mercedes. You worry about getting better. You've always put others before yourself and that is a quality that we have always admired. But we need you to focus on yourself. We've both made mistakes and all we need to do right now is try to mend the burned bridges and try to heal from this experience, because we miss our MeDe."

"I miss you guys too." She winces as a dull throbbing begins in her head.

"Is your head hurting sweetheart? That man should be here soon with the nurse." Just then a nurse makes her way into the room with Noah right behind her.

"How are we feeling?" The nurse asks as she checks her charts and machines.

"My head is hurting a little bit."

"That's to be expected when a person has a fall like the one you did. You hit your head pretty hard on the ground and now you have a mild concussion. We are going to keep you overnight to monitor your conditions and you should be ready to be released tomorrow morning," the nurse says as she presses a little button by her hand. "That should help with the pain. Get some rest." The nurse makes her way out of the room and Mercedes' eyes lock with Noah's again. Evelyn looks knowingly between the two.

"Mercedes we're going to go and see the others and let them know what's going on. We will be back a little bit later." She drops a kiss onto her forehead and goes up to Noah.

"I want to thank you for defending our daughter. You don't know how much that means to us," she says as she rubs his arm.

"It was nothing ma'am. Anybody would do the same thing if they were put in my position."

"Nonsense," Richard claps a hand onto Noah's back, missing the small wince. "Anyone who takes care of our baby girl is forever in our debt. Our place is open for dinner anytime."

"Thanks Mr. Jones."

"Let's leave these two alone Richard," They make their way out of the room, leaving Mercedes alone with Noah.

"Your parents are great people," Noah comments a he stands at the foot of her bed. She feels like there's a valley separating them right now, and it makes her feel wrong in so many ways.

"Yeah they are," she says quietly. Silence envelops them, and Mercedes is at a loss of words on where to begin. "Noah could you come sit down for a second?" He hesitates for a second and then comes around the bed to sit by her bedside.

"Noah I am so sorry," Mercedes says as her eyes begin to water again for the millionth time. Hopefully sometime soon she'll be able to go five minutes without wanting to burst into tears.

"Sorry, what for?" he asks confused.

"For pulling you into my mess. Wait let me finish," she says as she sees him about to interrupt. "I never meant for you to get hurt and I feel so bad," she reaches out to caress the side of his face without even realizing it. His eyes slowly close and he releases a slow breath. He pushes back from the chair and begins to pace back and forth, his frustration apparent in the forceful steps he takes.

"I wish I could go knock that motherfucker's ass out again," he growls. "I know guys like him. They're fucking little boys playing at being men and thinking they can control women like their pawns. Making you feel like your inadequate and shit and that you're not good enough, which is a bunch of bullshit. They make you into a shell of your former self, afraid to even reach out to anyone for help or afraid to leave their sorry asses. I've seen it happen before and it makes me fucking mad as hell that this son of a bitch did that to you." Throughout his rant, Mercedes' confusion rises.

"What do you mean you've seen it happen before?"

Noah's pacing slows down and he deflates with exhaustion. He slowly makes his way back to the chair and sits down. "Growing up it was only the three of us. My dead beat dad walked out on us and I had to look after my little sister while Ma went out and worked to pay the bills. Sometimes she would date, but the relationships would never last long so it was fine with us, as long as she was happy and they treated her right. But she began dating this one guy and it all went downhill from there," he lets out a tired breath and Mercedes reaches out her hand to grasp his, listening intently and dreading what he was going to say next.

"He started out ok enough. Sometimes Allen would be overly demanding and I thought that that was normal because he wasn't used to being around kids and wanted us to respect him or some shit. Then the yelling started and Ma started to act different. She didn't talk as much, or joke as much. She started taking extra shifts and leaving us home with the bastard because he didn't have a job. At the time I resented her for leaving her kids at home with the asshole that was making her life miserable, but now I kind of understand. She was just looking for a way to escape the mess that became our home life. So at home he would take his frustrations out on us," he tenses at the memories and Mercedes squeezes his hand in support.

"He never hit my sister, I made sure of that. Anytime it started to look like he would, I would do something stupid like break something, anything in order for him to bring his attention back onto me. I was okay with that. As long as he never hit her. One day Allen was out getting drunk with some of his buddies and I decided to lie out on the couch because my body hurt like a bitch and I didn't feel like making the walk upstairs to my room. I guess I fell asleep or something but I heard someone starting to cry really hard and opened my eyes to see Ma staring at me. I forgot that I had my shirt off and that I was covered in bruises. She didn't even know that Allen was knocking her son around and that was the final straw. We packed our stuff that night and went to my Bubbie Ruth's and didn't hear anything else from Allen. I took me a while to build back my relationship with my Ma, but I did."

Throughout Noah's retelling of his past, Mercedes couldn't help but feel sorry for the little boy that had to grow up too fast. No child should have to go through something like that. A look of determination crossed his face as he grips her hand in both of his.

"I told you that so that you can understand something. You don't need to be sorry for anything that that bastard did to you, because none of it was your fault. I don't want you to feel bad or let anyone make you feel bad for your decision to stay. Sometimes fear makes us do things we normally think that we wouldn't do. Don't apologize to me or to anyone else, do you understand me?"

"Yes," she whispers.

"The only thing that you need to work on is moving past this and gaining back that fire in your eyes. I sometimes see glimpses of the woman you used to be and I would love to meet her," he smiles genuinely. A yawn escapes and she suddenly feels tired.

"Get some rest. I'll try to keep the others from the room while you sleep," he gets up to leave and she grabs his hand, suddenly stopping him.

"Don't leave," she pleads. Mercedes doesn't know what came over her; all she knows is that she wants to be near this man right now more than anything. He sits back down and begins to rub soothing circles into the back of her hand.

"Ok I'll stay. Close your eyes," he says quietly and she does. The day's events catches up to her and she falls into the most peaceful sleep she has had in a while.

Please Review:p Reviews keep me alive!