The girl with the red hair wearing a hi-tech looking headset stuck her head around the door and announced, "5 minutes 'til you're on! Good luck guys!" Then as quickly as she had appeared she was gone.

A hush descended over the room as everyone's nerves went from full to overdrive.

Sam looked across the room to where Mercedes was sitting. Tina was clutching her hand tightly and looking an unhealthy shade of pale while her friend whispered reassuring words and Mike rubbed her back.

Sam thought that she looked more beautiful than ever in her little black dress. It took all his energy not to just sit staring open mouthed at her. The way she took care of her friend was amazing. She was amazing.

Since they'd got up that morning they'd had no time alone whatsoever. Other than shy shared smiles and the occasional brushed fingertips or light touches on the back or shoulder as they maneuvered past each other in the small room, there'd been no real interaction at all. Much as he wanted some alone time with her, he knew that they had to get through this performance first.

Rachel was the first to finally leap up, wiping her hands nervously on the front of her dress before taking a long deep breath, rolling back her shoulders, straightening her spine, holding her head high and heading for the door.

"This is it guys!" she said, in a voice that sounded way more confident than her appearance gave the impression of.

The others silently followed her in single file as they headed towards the curtain.

Sam filed in behind Mercedes. It wouldn't look unusual as he was next to her in the starting lineup for the group number. He tried hard not to follow the swish of her dress and the movement of her hips swayed and moved while she walked. The last thing he needed was Puck calling him out on it again at a time like this.

At they reached the stage they split into two groups, one at either side of the stage depending on where they would be making their entrance. Without turning his head as he passed her he grabbed her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. He felt her fingers mirror his and her thumb brush the back of his hand before releasing him. The whole thing had probably taken less than two seconds and they hadn't made eye contact during that time but the simple touch spoke volumes and Sam hoped his blush would pass without observation by any of the others.

What the hell was going on?

Finn and Rachel had finished their duet but instead of applause there was deathly silence for what felt like forever. The whole group were in their starting positions, backs turned to the audience, waiting for the music to start. But nothing happened. It was like everyone had suddenly left the auditorium without telling them. He desperately wanted to turn his head, first to shoot a reassuring smile to Mercedes next to him, then to see what was happening behind them. Stay professional and keep still!

Easier said than done!

After what felt like an age he finally heard a solitary round of applause which was suddenly joined by the rest of the audience. He finally released the breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Then music began and the crowd went mad. All nerves from the group rapidly disappeared as adrenaline coursed through their veins. Instantly they got into the song and pranced up and down the stage, wishing that they'd spent more time on tighter choreography. Aside from Brittany and Mike they had to admit that their routine was pretty lame when compared to some of the performances had gone before them.

'Light, light, light it up
Light it up tonight!'

The end was a massive head rush. As the music ended and they took their final positions together in the middle of the stage with their heads bowed, a massive cheer went up. The group started to hug each other. Sam knew that he only wanted to hug one person. To hell with the fact that she'd ended up as far away from him as physically possible. She was the only one that she wanted to share this moment with. Without even realizing it he had passed through the group and swept her into his arms, his face buried into the side of her neck.

"We did it Cedes!" he whispered in her ear while wondering how long he could keep the hug going before the others started to get suspicious. She was squeezing him back equally as tight. All sound and vision disappeared for that moment. They were no longer on stage in front of a thousand people. They were alone, locked in a world of their own where nobody could touch them or hurt them.

Reluctantly he released her from the embrace as he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to hug Mike instead. Much as he liked Mike and thought he was a cool guy, he hated him for interrupting the moment although he realized it was actually a good thing as it preserved their secret.

The group walked forward together as soon as they heard that the list of the final 10 had been put out on display. As they huddled around the small notice board he didn't care that he was standing next to Mercedes. Everybody else was too anxious to notice and there was no one else he wanted to be with at a moment like this.

Mr Schue seemed to take forever reading the list. The news wasn't good.

"We aren't in the top ten!"

Sam could feel the disappointment hit the group like an atom bomb. There were tears streaming down Mercedes face. He felt helpless and he wanted to reach out and touch her. Not yet. Not here…

But things didn't get any better. Sam had always thought he was pretty strong but when Santana had started going all 'Lima Heights Adjacent' on Rachel back in the hotel room it had taken not just him but also Mike and Quinn to hold her back. Damn that girl was strong when she got mad! He suspected there was also some of the rage which had been previously aimed against Quinn included in the outburst so Rachel's timing was doubly unlucky. Although he didn't know much Spanish the tone made it pretty obvious the kind of thing that was going down. And Cosas Malas seemed pretty self-explanatory. He actually had some respect for Rachel for standing and taking it, even if it was from a safe distance. But it was getting really hard trying to hold her back while his hair was falling into his eyes so he was glad when Mr Schue finally took Rachel out of the room and Brittany took it upon herself to calm Santana down.

The boys were equally unimpressed with Finn but luckily for once it didn't come to blows. Yes they were supportive of him getting things back together with Rachel but his timing sucked big time and forgiveness wouldn't come quickly considering that ultimately he had managed to upset all of their girlfriends in one swoop. Of all the things that Finn Hudson was, clever was not the highest on the list.

To ease the tension Mr Schue had reluctantly allowed them a couple of hours out in New York as long as they stayed together and kept to the 7pm curfew for dinner due to their morning flight home the next day. He stayed back at the hotel with Rachel and Finn. Kurt decided he was emotionally exhausted and opted to watch a movie with Artie who was starting to come down with a cold.

Within moments of leaving the hotel, the rest had separated off into smaller groups. Puck took Lauren, undoubtedly to make out against a wall somewhere. Britanny, Santana and Quinn went to buy accessories for Quinn's new shorter hair as part of their peace making exercise and Sam and Mercedes went with Mike and Tina.

Before long the two of them started to feel like spare parts to the other couple.

"Dude!" Sam whispered into his friends ears, "I need to make a call to my family. I know Cedes would like to say hi to the kids so I'll take her off your hands for a bit so that you guys can have some quality time…" He winked at his friend who smiled back at him gratefully.

If only he knew. Sam couldn't help but grin. Mike thinks I'm the one doing him a favor but he couldn't be more wrong!

"Hey Mercedes. I'm just going over there to call the motel. Do you want to come with and say hi to Stacey? She's been asking after you." Same excuse two days in a row but it's not like Kurt was going to find out about it.

"Sure." She smiled shyly but Mike and Tina had already shot off away from them. There was no need to pretend anymore. As soon as the other couple were out of sight he grabbed her hand and bent in for a soft kiss on her lips. Why the hell was he feeling so shy all of a sudden? Yesterday should have been the day for shyness, not today.

Mercedes put her arm behind his neck and returned the kiss. "I've been waiting to do that all day," she murmured.

"Me too. I hope it was worth the wait."

"Totally."

They walked hand in hand. Not knowing or caring where they were going, just happy to be alone together at last after a day of so much energy and tension.

Mercedes' voice was quiet but emotional. "I really thought our performance was good enough to get us through. I'm still so mad at Rachel for that kiss." He could feel her frustration and saw her eyes well up. Glee club meant a lot to her and so did the competition. He knew there was nothing he could say to comfort her at this point because it was still so raw so he just held her close, feeling himself getting drunk on her scent.

"Are you mad at me for kissing you yesterday?"

She playfully slapped his arm. "Hell no!"

"I'm glad. I'd never want to make you mad"

She smiled up at him. "Why? Are you worried I might go all Lima Heights Adjacent on you?"

He threw back his head and laughed. "Possibly. I have a confession to make."

Mercedes' eyebrow arched. "Oh yeah?"

He grinned. "Yeah! Did you know I really wanted to kiss you on prom night?"

"No waaay!"

"Yes way! When we were walking to your front door. But I was scared you would diva out on me and kick my ass as far away as Azeroth so I styled it out with your hand instead!"

She joined in with his laugh and drew her arm around his waist as he wrapped his around her shoulders. "I probably would have been more freaked out than anything else. My dad was right behind the front door so he would have been the one to do the ass kicking!" her grin broadened, "I have a confession too!"

"Okay..."

"I still have the flower you gave me that night."

He was shocked but happy.

"I pressed it the next morning and I keep it in the back of my diary so that I can see it every day!"

They found a small children's play area and decided to sit on the swings. There were a couple of children playing on the roundabout and slide with their parents. The children waved and they waved back.

"They're so accepting. Little children I mean." Mercedes had a contented faraway look in her eyes.

"I know. Sometimes I wish I had Stacey's outlook on life. Everything's so much simpler. It's adults that overcomplicate things."

"But who would have thought it! Mercedes Jones and Sam Evans. I always thought that if you didn't end up back with Quinn you would at least be with one of those gorgeous skinny Cheerios who are constantly throwing themselves at you."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I'm that shallow?"

"No. Not anymore. I guess I didn't really know you at the beginning. But I'm not stupid. I know how other people see things and see me. I know some there are some guys who are into me but most would look at me and think what's he doing with her!"

"Then they're wrong. They should be thinking 'how did he get so lucky to end up with her'!"

She laughed. "If only. But we're such opposites. People are sure to wonder about it."

He reached out for her hand and fixed his green eyes on her intently. "I'm not so sure we are opposites. Aside from the obvious of you being black and me being white which I couldn't care less about, we have so much in common. Though you try to hide it you're also a movie geek. You can hold your own against the boys in any computer game I've seen you play. We're both musical and we both fight for what we believe in. Plus you know how to read me. Sometimes you just don't know how well things go together until you try them."

She grinned. "Like peanut butter and jelly?"

His grin was bigger. "Yeah... but I was thinking more like fish fingers and custard!"

She frowned and he looked at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted two heads.

"If it's good enough for a Timelord then it's more than good enough for me."

She was still shaking her head and laughing with no idea of what he was going on about. What the hell was a Timelord was and why would it like such a disgusting sounding combination?

"Bigger on the inside?" He deepened into a robot voice "Ex-ter-min-ate!" She shrugged, not recognizing any of the impressions he was throwing at her.

"I see I'm going to have to educate you in the world of the wonderful Doctor and his TARDIS. What a terrible excuse to have to spend more time with you when we get back!" He looked at his watch and hopped off the swing. "Speaking of getting back we should head back to the hotel before we get caught out via search party!" He offered his hand and she took it to get up before he put his arm protectively around her shoulders while they walked slowly back to the hotel.

"Sam Evans, have I ever told you that you're totally nuts?"

He shot her one of his lopsided grins. "The best thing about you is that deep down you love it!"

"So which one am I? Fish fingers or custard?"

Sam laughed. "No idea. I hadn't thought the statement through that far yet! I am a dork after all!"

"I guess it really doesn't matter."

"That's exactly my point. Some might think it's a weird combo but it makes the Doctor happy. Some might think we're a weird combo but we're happy. Whatever happens with us, nothing anyone else says or thinks matters. The only thing that matters is that you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I may have a mouth that runs away with itself and I may talk rubbish, but you make me make sense."

He stopped walking at that point to look into her eyes. And at that point he knew.

Sam Evans was falling hard…