New beautiful Thursday morning and here's the new update! I really hope you guys like how I organized everything for this update. Yes, things are going to be interesting but I really hope you guys understand why everything is heading to where it is heading.

Thanks for the reviews, the favs and the follows. I really had a blast reading the reviews from last chapter...

Disclaimer: Glee and/or its characters are not mine. Everything belongs to Ryan Murphy, his colleagues and Fox. I just love borrowing them for entertainment purposes.

Please forgive all the mistakes...

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Happy reading...

Chapter 13

Mercedes did not know what to do, there in the backyard of his parents' house, Sam asked her the question that was going to change her life forever. In that moment, she knew how much she was going to sacrifice but then she thought of all the amazing things she was going to get. Sam and Mercedes had not been together for long but she knew in her heart Sam was the one.

"Yes." She said choking up.

Sam put the ring on her finger, rose and kissed her intensely. "Let's spread the news."

After telling his parents, Sam and Mercedes informed their friends and the official whirlwind to the unknown began.

XXXXX

The next day an excited Stacy walked into Mercedes' room waking a still tired Mercedes.

"Good morning! Good Morning! Again, congratulations on your engagement to my brother." Stacy shrieked opening the curtains causing her to groan because of the sudden glare. "You are Sammy are getting married. It's so romantic."

"Thank you, Stacy" Mercedes said a bit more relax, she as just a kid after all and she did not know the importance of beauty sleep.

"Isn't it wonderful? We are going to be sisters. Finally, I will have someone to talk to about girl stuff." Stacy said.

"I can't wait." Mercedes replied sincerely. Growing up with her uncle, in a house full of boys was difficult for her because she had to go through all her teen changes on her own and honestly, she did not want Stacy to go through the same sorrows. "Stacy, since I have no plans for the day… do you want to go shopping?"

"Oh yes! I would love to." She squeaked.

"Then, it's a date. We are going to have our first girls' day today!" Mercedes fist bumped Stacy.

At that very moment, Sam walked inside the room handsomely dressed in some black trousers and dressing shirt. "Good morning, my love! I hope Stacy is not giving a headache at such early hour."

"Oh no! She said accepting his kiss on her cheek. "We were planning or first shopping day."

"Awesome." Sam said. "About that, there's something I need you to do while at the mall."

"What is it?"

"Well, tonight we are attending our first event as an engaged couple." He said quite enthusiastic.

"Event?" Mercedes asked

"Yeah…. I have a business dinner to attend with my dad. He's taking mom with him and I want to flaunt my beautiful fiancée." He said sporting his signature lopsided grin.

"So, I want you to take this credit card and buy the most beautiful dress and don't worry about how much it will cost."

"But-"

"Don't argue! It's my treat." He said casually. "I have to go to the office but don't hesitate on calling me if you need anything. I'll see you later. I love you." Sam said giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"I love you, too." Mercedes replied.

"I love you too, Stacy." He said kissing his sister's forehead. "Don't be a pain to Mercedes today."

"Never! Have a good day!"

"You too, girls." He said and left the room.

"Oh my god! I need a dress, shoes and accessories. I need a lot of things." She said getting of the bed.

"Well, we gotta hurry up! We have a long day ahead of us!" Stacy remarked.

The business dinner was a very interesting experience for Mercedes, maybe because it was full of many stuck up people who reminded her of the Sam she first met. The guests looked at her weirdly maybe because she was just an average college girl from Ohio, with neither riches nor fortune or maybe because she was not some idiotic bimbo, like the ones Sam used to date. Mercedes felt out of her element but she kept her smile and her poise every single moment because she was going to have to get used to this world.

XXXXX

While in Tennessee, things were taking unknown turns for Sam and Mercedes, in New Haven the story was becoming a bit terrifying for Rachel Berry. Though Santana wanted to make Rachel physically pay for what she did to her friends, Brittany and Artie set up a better more lasting punishment for her, public shame.

Santana and Brittany's bomb exploded exactly at noon, the day the spring semester started. Artie, Brittany's computer leprechaun, managed to set an email to be sent by the Yale's main email system to every student on campus and her parents. The email contained the audio from Rachel's conversation with Quinn and some very objectionable pictures of the 'sophisticated' and 'well behaved' Berry that Artie found while he hacked her computer through her Yale email account. Unashamed of being the ones exposing Rachel, Santana and Brittany signed the email as the creators.

"Santana Lopez, stop right there!" Rachel demanded.

Santana rolled her eyes and turned around to face her. "What do you want, Hobbit?"

"I want to kill you!" Rachel shouted.

"For what? For showing our fellow classmates who you really are?"

"How did you get that? The audio, the pictures!"

"I don't share my secrets, Dwarf."

"You bitch!"

"I know… That's the reason everybody loves me, because I am a straight up bitch!"

"I'm going to kill you." Rachel repeated as she tried to attack her.

"Oh, please Berry! Go hide inside a hole and stop making a fool of yourself. Everybody knows who you are now, stop defending your pretended honor." Santana said. "Oh, I forgot to tell you… you should call your parents. I forwarded the email to them as well." Santana added as she playfully winked at her.

"You did what?"

"That's what happens when people mess with the people I love and care about. Auntie Snixx, comes out to play and she doesn't care about the damages."

Rachel started to cry because her charade as the pristine daughter was going to end that day.

"One last piece of piece of advice, don't try something against my friends, Brittany or I because next time I have to face you I am going to get very physical and let me just say I am going to have a ball skinning you alive with my famous razor blades. Have a nice life, Midget!" The Latina added, leaving Rachel in some sort of catatonic stage.

XXXXX

Months went by and Sam and Mercedes were experiencing a lot of bumps along their road but they still loved each other very much. However, as summertime approached them, Sam spent the majority of his days at the office, while Mercedes spent her days at the house. She managed to register in online courses to keep her degree agenda on schedule but in good conscience, she was just using the classes as an excuse to keep herself distracted from missing Sam.

From business dinners, to balls and galas, keeping track with Sam's life was becoming a burden to Mercedes and constant misunderstandings and even fights were more present during their time together. Their love was strong but their relationship was weakening.

"Hey!" A very tired Sam said as he walked into the office he arranged for Mercedes to study.

"Hi, how was your day?" Mercedes said while putting her American Politics' book aside.

"It was long and boring. At least dad is finally taking over."

"Good to hear about your dad stepping back into the game." She looked at her fiancé timidly because she has wondered for some time about their future and she needed to get some answers. "Sam, what are you plans after you dad goes back to work completely? Are you going back to Yale?"

Sam took some time to collect his thoughts. "Actually, I don't know. Despite the fact, that my days at the company are long; I sort of like what I do there."

"But… What is going to happen with your goals? Did you forget about them? What happened to the boy who wanted to be a comic book illustrator? Is he somewhere in there?" Mercedes asked troubled.

"Where are you heading with this interrogatory? Are you going to throw in my face that while you're here working on getting your degree, I am wasting my time because I had to drop out of college to help my family?" He snapped. Yes, they had misunderstandings before but this was the first time, since they got back together, that he has spoken to her so harshly.

Mercedes sighed frustratingly. "Sam, that's not what I meant."

"Then, what exactly?"

"Sam, I just don't want you to get involved in something that is going to take away the essence of who you are. You are not the same."

"I'm sorry, Mercedes! I don't have time for this. I'm exhausted." He barked and left the office.

Mercedes stared at her engagement ring, let out a heavy sight and said, "I miss you, Sam!"

XXXXX

The tensions between Sam and Mercedes increased with each passing day but for the outside world, they were a perfect couple. At the business events they attended together, they plastered their best smiles and faked their 'perfect happiness' throughout them. But at the end of each one of them she was overwhelmed by the frustration of feeling like an outsider.

One day and after getting tired of seeing them going through their situations, Sam's mother decided it was time to have a one-on-one with Mercedes.

"Mercedes, may I have a word?"

"Sure."

"What's going on?"

"Nothing. Everything is good." Mercedes lied.

"Don't lie to me, young girl."

"Mary, what do you want me to say? You want me to say that my relationship with Sam is going down the drain because we are growing apart and that I don't know what to do to save our relationship?" Mercedes said with a broken voice.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because as a mother, it is my duty to help you and to help Sam." She explained. "Mercedes, being part of this family is not easy, being Sam's fiancée is a hard thing to manage. I am his mother and I know how difficult he can be sometimes."

"But… I'm trying. I'm trying as hard as I can. I just can't seem to get the hang of things."

"You have to be a bit drastic, Mercedes. You have to sacrifice who you are for who you must be."

"Are you trying to tell me that I have to forget about who I am and my goals?"

"Something like that. I am not defending my family, Mercedes. But, a long time ago I was in your position and I had to take a decision. I know you are my son's true happiness but the way things are going, both of you are going to hurt each other severely. Mercedes, you have to make up your mind and you have to do it soon."

XXXXX

Days passed after the conversation and Mary's words echoed in Mercedes mind constantly until one day she realized that she made a mistake following Sam to Tennessee. Yes, she loved him and she wanted to be with him but their worlds were too different to merge.

"You wanted to talk to me, Mercedes?" Sam asked.

"Yes, please come on in." She said.

"Why so sad? What's going on?"

Mercedes avoided Sam's intense gaze because she knew that one good look at his face and she was going to retract from her decision. She stood up, walked towards a shelf and grabbed a recent photo of Sam and his dad.

"I can see how proud you father is of you." She said.

"Yes."

"Sam, this has all been extraordinary, a real life fairytale, even with the bumps. I love you, I really do but I can't do this anymore." She said placing the picture back on the shelf.

"What? What are you saying?" Sam asked choked up.

"I'm saying… I can't stay."

"What's the matter, Mercedes?"

"Sam, when I first met you, I was so focused into what I wanted to do with my life that never in my life I thought that the Sam I met was going to be the same guy I was going to fall in love with. That's the reason I was so scared to let you in when everything between us started to happen." She said with tears in her eyes. "Sam, you got me out of that, which is the greatest thing anyone's ever done for me. But… I'm still me, Mercedes Jones and all the things that I want to do are still a part of me. When I first said yes to marry you, I thought I could make myself forget about that but, I just can't" She said finally looking into his watery eyes and wiping the tears that fell from hers.

Sam could not believe what he was hearing. It was the second time she was breaking things off with him and it hurt deeply. "What about us?"

"Sam, you belong here, not me. More importantly, your father needs you here until everything is sorted out. In addition, you need to stay here for your mother, Stevie and Stacy. They all need you."

"I need you." He whispered.

"If it is in our paths, we will have our time."

"Our time is now, Mercedes."

"No. No, it's not. Life just gave us a chance to meet each other to realize that there is someone out there for us. I will always love you but I can't do this anymore."

"So, is that it? We might or we might not see each other again?"

"Only time will tell. Our future is already written, we just have to wait to see how everything goes."

"I can't make you stay, can I?"

She shook her head.

They both hugged and cried until they both got tired and he decided he was not going to push her into doing something that was going to hurt them in the end. Mercedes returned the ring and by the next morning, she was gone, taking with her the most important part of him: his heart.

A/N: Boohoo! I am a suckie for some drama but I wanted to keep things ad real as I could. Fools rush in, yes, but it does not mean that everything goes exactly the way it is planned.

What is going to happen to the once happy couple? Are they going to make it? Is their love going to fade with the passing of time?

Stay tuned, because there's only one update left for this story...

XOXO