"This is going to be good..."

Mercedes tore her eyes away from Sam's date at Matt's snarky words. She glanced around the table and took in the varying emotions radiating from her fellow diners. Matt was looking around frantically for a waiter and if his excited expression was any indication he was going to be asking for popcorn the second somebody showed up to take his order. Crystal had her attention solely focused on Sam and she looked at little too interested as far as Mercedes was concerned. Quinn weirdly enough had all of her attention focused on Stevie who in turn looked like he didn't know whether to vomit or kill someone. While Sam, on the other hand, was looking directly at her with an unreadable expression on his face. Mercedes didn't know exactly what she should be feeling but she knew that this dinner was probably going to be the most interesting one she had been to in months.

"Don't be so shy you two! Have a seat so we can get this party started." Matt called out to Sam and Quinn cheerfully.

Sam gave Matt a smoldering look before turning back to Quinn and ushering her to her seat. Once they got settled Matt demanded that everyone got acquainted.

"We know each other." Stevie said harshly.

"Not everybody knows each other," Matt said innocently, "well, Crystal here doesn't know Sam or Quinn and Mercedes and Quinn haven't had the pleasure either."

Mercedes fought the urge to kick Matt under the table as she forced a small smile onto her face and gave Quinn a slight nod.

"It's nice to meet you."

Quinn barely glanced her way as she muttered the greeting back.

Crystal ignored them both in favor of reaching out her hand across the table to shake Sam's. She batted her false lashes up at him and held onto his hand a lot longer than was necessary. Sam gave her a small smile back as he tried to pry his hand out of hers.

"What was your name again? I didn't catch it." Crystal asked breathily.

Mercedes rolled her eyes and looked at Stevie to get his reaction at his date's obvious flirtation with his brother but he was glaring down at his cloth wrapped silverware on the table.

"I'm Sam Evans, your date's brother."

Crystal laughed unnaturally loud and waved a dismissive hand towards Stevie's direction.

"Oh! I see the resemblance now! You are both are so handsome I should have been able to tell instantly."

"Where's that damn waiter?" Mercedes asked angrily as Matt snorted into his water beside her.

Crystal shot her a dirty look and turned back to Sam to presumably flirt some more. Thankfully someone, somewhere heard Mercedes plea because a waiter suddenly appeared by their sides.

"Can I get your drink orders?"

"Yes, we're going to need a bottle of your best wine for me and my lady friend." Matt said matter-of-factly.

Mercedes glared at Matt, "I don't need you to order for me," she hissed at him before looking up at the waiter and saying, "bring him his bottle but I just want a glass of Moscato for myself, please."

The waiter jotted down their orders before turning towards the others and saying, "so we can I get for all the rest of you?"

"A Long Island Iced tea," Stevie spat out.

"Um, okay -"

"Make it strong," he shot a glance at Quinn, "extremely strong."

"Anyone else?"

"Well, I'd like a Cosmo...what about you Quinn-it is Quinn right?"

Quinn gave Crystal a bitter look before turning down the offer and asking for sparkling water instead.

The waiter turned to Sam and asked him for his drink order but before he could answer Mercedes couldn't help but interject,

"I think he would love some Jack Daniels if you have it."

Sam smirked at her and she gave him a challenging look back.

"Mercedes is right, I would love a shot of Jack Daniels. Let's just say the last time I had some it led to something very...interesting."

Mercedes cursed under her breath as she was forced to avert her eyes from Sam's because it had suddenly become very warm in the restaurant. She thought she could beat him at his little games but she should've known better by now. She could feel his gaze still on hers, as well as everyone else's at the table. Thankfully everyone's attention was directed back to the waiter as he checked one more time to make sure he had everyone's orders before heading to the bar to put them in. Once he left an uncomfortable silence fell over the table again until Matt decided to break it.

"Sooooooo, Quinn how have you been?"

"I've been good, how about you?"

"Excellent, making some good business deals...catching up with old friends. Doesn't it feel like old times again? You, me, Sam and Stevie, just like old days. The only thing missing is a wedding to look forward to."

Quinn's face blanched at Matt's words while Sam's turned bright red.

"That's enough Matt!"

"What?" Matt asked innocently, "I was just saying that it was nice to get the old gang back together after all this time. You and Quinn together...it's the way it should be."

Mercedes gritted her teeth and prayed that the waiter would hurry up with the damn wine.

"So wait, you two almost got married?" Crystal asked in disbelief, "are you together now?"

"No!" They both shouted in unison.

"Then why are you here together?"

Excellent question, Mercedes thought. Maybe Crystal wasn't a completely useless idiot after all.

"Quinn wanted to get caught up with Stevie so I invited her to dinner."

The explanation was simple enough but the way Sam said it and the way Stevie reacted spoke of a deeper reason that no one else was going to be privy too.

"Oh, well I guess that's nice." Crystal apparently had the attention span of a gnat because the second she assumed there was no drama to be had she lost all interest.

Matt on the other hand, wasn't so easily deterred.

"She wanted to see Stevie? Since when? I thought the two of you hated each other back in the day?"

"That was eight years ago, and Stevie was 16, he hated everybody." Sam said curtly.

"Well, what's Quinn's excuse?"

Quinn opened her mouth to answer but she was cut off by the waiter coming back with their drinks. After he got cocktails passed out and wine poured he took their orders. Everyone quickly spouted off what they wanted and once again an uncomfortable silence filled the air.

Mercedes sighed, she needed a change of scenery even if it were only for a minute because she could hardly breathe at the table.

"If you all will excuse me I have to go to the ladies room."

"I'll go with you!" Quinn and Crystal both said simultaneously. Mercedes groaned inwardly but she didn't know how to tell them that they were the last two people she wanted to be around without sounding extremely rude.

"Ok..." Mercedes plastered a fake smile on her face and she rose from her seat. When she was fully standing she glanced over to see Matt's eyes roaming yet again and she fought the urge to clock him over the head with her clutch.

"Matt! I'm up here." Matt had the decency to look somewhat sheepish as he helped pull her chair out of the way so that she could go to the bathroom. She sent a look to Crystal and Quinn because they were both still seated and asked in an exasperated voice, "are you two coming?" The both got up from their seats but they had no one to help them in the way that Matt helped her. Stevie was too busy sucking down his Long Island iced tea to pay attention to anyone and Sam had his eyes glued on her. The look he was giving her reminded her of the looks he gave her that day she wore that leather skirt to the office. It was suddenly very warm again and her need to get away from the table quadrupled. She tore her gaze from Sam and hurriedly turned away and headed in what she hoped was the general direction of the bathrooms.

After two wrong turns and an almost catastrophic run-in with a waiter with a tray full of plates Mercedes finally found the women's bathroom. Once inside she ran a paper towel under some cool water and held it up to the back of her neck.

"Damn you walk fast!"

Mercedes turned to see Crystal and Quinn coming into the bathroom with annoyed looks on their faces.

"Sorry," Mercedes muttered curtly, "I thought you two were right behind me."

"Well, we weren't." Crystal snapped back, "Do you know how hard it is to run in 6 inch heels?"

Mercedes rolled her eyes as she looked down at Crystal's hooker heels. Maybe they were so hard to walk in because they were better suited for other activities like, standing on a street corner or spinning around a pole.

Crystal continued to mutter under her breath about sprained ankles and blisters as she made her way into one of the empty stalls, leaving Mercedes and Quinn all alone at the sinks.

"So how long have you and Matt been dating?" Quinn asked quietly.

"Dating? Matt and I aren't dating!" Mercedes nearly shouted back at her.

Quinn's eyebrows raised in surprised at the vehemence in her tone, "Really? I thought I saw the two of you out to lunch last week? Was that not you?"

"Yes, but that wasn't a date...and neither is this."

"Hmmmm..."

"Hmm...what does that mean?" Mercedes asked, annoyed.

"It doesn't mean anything. I've known Matt for years and he's a pretty sweet guy so it's just nice to see that he's found someone."

"But he hasn't found someon-"

Mercedes forthcoming tirade was cut off by the slam of the bathroom stall as Crystal exited. She wanted to make it very clear to Quinn that absolutely nothing was going on with her and Matt but she didn't feel like getting into in front of Crystal. Besides Crystal had some questions of her own she wanted answered.

"Sam Evans is one hot piece of ass isn't he?" Crystal practically purred as she washed her hands.

Mercedes tried her hardest not to react. The last thing she wanted was for Stevie's trollop to think she cared about her lusting after Sam.

"I don't pay attention to him like that," Mercedes lied.

"Well, you shouldn't because Matt's a pretty piece of hot ass as well."

"What about Stevie?" Quinn asked angrily, "shouldn't you be focused on him, seeing as he's your date and all?"

"Hmmm, well aren't you a little touchy? Sounds like somebody is jealous to me." Crystal taunted.

Mercedes looked at Quinn in the bathroom mirror, she did look jealous. The second Crystal brought up Sam being a hot piece of ass Quinn's face began to get redder and redder. Maybe she still had feelings for him? The idea worried Mercedes because if Quinn wanted Sam back would he really turn her down?

"Jealous? Of course I'm not jealous, why would I be jealous over Stevie?"

Crystal's confused face scrunched up at Quinn's panicked words.

"Stevie? I wasn't talking about him I was talking about Sam. It's clear you've still got a thing for your ex-fiancé but I don't blame you I wouldn't mind being hung up on Sam Evans my damn self if you know what I mean."

Crystal guffawed at her tasteless joke and Mercedes gut clenched as she waited for Quinn's reply.

"Uh...yeah...I don't...that thing with me and Sam...I...I...it's complicated."

Quinn averted her eyes and refused to look at either one of them and Mercedes fought the urge to scream in frustration.

"I'm going back." She snapped. The whole purpose of her trip to the bathroom was to get a little break from the tension but she was tenser now then when she was at the table!

"Alright Flo-Jo, but could you walk at a normal speed this time so we can all keep up?" Crystal asked snarkily.

"Fine, let's go."

Mercedes stalked towards the door and jerked it open. Crystal pushed past her and walked out towards the dining area without a backwards glance. Mercedes ignored her and turned back to find Quinn still staring at herself in the mirror with distant look on her face.

"Quinn, are you coming?"

"Have you ever started something that you wished you could stop?" Quinn asked in a far away voice.

"What? Quinn, are you okay?"

"Have you ever wanted someone who didn't want you back?"

"Quinn...we need to get back to the table." Mercedes said worriedly, she was starting to get freaked out by Quinn's monotone voice and expression.

"I just want him to love me, is that too much to ask?" Quinn's eyes met Mercedes' in the mirror again and she saw the tear tracks on Quinn's cheeks.

What the hell had brought all of this on? Mercedes had noticed that Quinn had seemed a little fragile at the beginning of dinner but now she seemed to be on the urge of having a meltdown. Was this all about the jealously comments? Was she really that upset about whatever weird relationship she had going on with Sam?

The only thing Mercedes knew for certain was that she could give an unequivocal yes to Quinn's first question. She didn't know what the frail blonde was referring to when she asked the question but Mercedes knew the first thing that popped into her head when she heard it. She wished that she could stop her feelings for Sam from growing because they were at a rapid pace and it was scaring the hell out of her. Under normal circumstances falling so hard for a guy who she barely knew would be cause for concern but when you add to the fact that he's her boss and he has some weird relationship going on with his ex-fiancé it was enough to have Mercedes questioning her sanity. She didn't like drama and being with Sam Evans had drama and stress written all over it. Sure, it had amazing, hot, toe-curling sex written all over too but at the end of the day was it really worth it?

Mercedes was brought back to reality by the sound of water running at the sink as Quinn wet a paper towel and dabbed her face with it.

"Forgive my little outburst...just hormonal I guess." Quinn gave a weak laugh.

"Hormonal?"

Quinn eyes widened and she stammered out, "oh...you know...it's that time of the month...so...yeah..."

"Oh, ok then." Mercedes said uncomfortably, "how about we head back? Crystal has had too much of a head start but I seriously doubt she's found her way to the table. She's probably wandering around in the parking lot by now."

Quinn gave a short laugh and seemed relieved that the conversation was over. She followed Mercedes out into the dining area and sure enough they bumped into Crystal who was frustrated because she swore up and down that she had been walking for over 10 minutes and the table was nowhere to be found. Mercedes rolled her eyes and retraced her earlier steps and found their table within 30 seconds.

Well, at least she thought it was their table. It was hard to tell seeing as that there was no one sitting there any longer. The only proof that six people had previously been there were the six to-go containers neatly placed on everyone's placemats.

"What the hell is going on?" Crystal asked loudly, "where are our dates and why the hell are these to-go boxes here?"

"Excuse me?"

Mercedes, Quinn and Crystal all turned to see their very pissed off waiter holding a black check envelope.

"The rest of your party was escorted out of the restaurant for getting into a physical altercation, which one of you will be picking up the tab?" The waiter said without preamble.

"Wait...what?" Mercedes asked in disbelief, "I don't understand, there has to be some type of misunderstanding. The three man at this table got into a fight?"

"Yes," the waiter snapped, "a physical one, so we had no choice but to escort them out of the restaurant. The to-go containers," he spat out, glaring at Crystal, "are here because it made no sense to let 5-star cuisine be wasted because half of your party doesn't know how to act in public."

Mercedes didn't know whether to be angry or humiliated, half of the diners in the restaurants were doing their best to crane their necks to see the rest of the fallout from the men's earlier juvenile antics.

"Here." Mercedes dug around in her purse until she found her wallet and she pulled out the executive credit card that Sam had given her for work purchases. Since he and his brother owned the company and they were the reason she was in this mess she felt no guilt whatsoever for charging what was sure to be an astronomical bill on the business card.

After the waiter went off to handle the bill the women each grabbed two boxes each. Crystal and Quinn both looked at Mercedes expectedly as if they didn't know exactly what they should do.

"You guys go ahead and go, I'll take care of the rest."

Both women gave her a grateful look before hurriedly exiting the restaurant. Mercedes stood next to the empty table with the two boxes in her hand and prayed for the floor to open up and swallow her. Other diners were still throwing her judgmental looks and she knew they were all talking about her. Of all the ways for the night to go she had never expected this.

Finally the waiter showed back up and all but shoved the check envelope in her hands for her to sign. She juggled it on top of the two boxes and quickly signed the credit card slip before handing it back to him.

He offered her a curt good night before spinning on his heel and stalking off back towards the kitchen. Mercedes breathed a sigh of relief that it was all over and she quickly made her way to the exit.

Once outside she saw that Sam, Matt, and Stevie were all still outside on opposite ends of the parking lot watching each other warily. Crystal was next to Stevie and dabbing at the cut above his eye that was oozing blood. Quinn was with Sam and she was surveying what Mercedes assumed were cuts on his knuckles. It appeared that Sam and Stevie had their 'women' to take care of them so it was obvious to Mercedes that neither one of them needed her around. She spared a glance towards Matt and found that he looked just as clean and pristine as he did when he first showed up at the restaurant.

"How did you manage to make it out of this unscathed?"

Matt chuckled darkly, "I had no reason to get into a fight with either one of them...not right now, anyway."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, Ms. Jones, that one should pick his fights very carefully otherwise he will show his hand too early."

"Alright Confucius, even though you weren't a part of this particular fight could you at least tell me what it was about?"

"It was about Quinn...and you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, Quinn may have started the argument but you started the fight."

"I don't...what does that mean?"

"It means that Sam can dish it out but he can't take it."

"That doesn't make any sense, what does that have to do with me?"

Matt gave a rough sigh, "it means that Sam is more than willing to throw someone else's sins in their faces but when someone puts a mirror up to him so that he can see his own he can't take it."

Mercedes was beyond frustrated and listening to Matt talking in riddles was doing nothing but pissing her off. She shoved was she assumed was his box of his food into his hands and headed towards her car.

"Mercedes, wait!" Matt grabbed her arm and forced her to stop. "I know you don't like me very much but you should really listen to me because I'm only going to tell you this once. Stay away from Sam."

Mercedes rolled her eyes and jerked her arm from Matt's grasp, "he's my boss Matt, in order to stay away from him I would have to quit my job and I'm not about to do that. Besides what business of it is yours? Obviously I haven't been clear so let me rectify that. We are not a couple, and we will never be a couple so who I choose to spend my time with is none of your concern.

"I know that," Matt said quietly, "I'm just trying to hel—"

"Just trying to what?"

Matt looked down at his feet and rubbed the back of his neck a few times before looking back up and saying, "You know what, just forget it. You're a big girl and I'm sure you can take of yourself. Just don't be surprised by how this ends."

Mercedes had had about enough of people giving her ominous warnings about how 'it' would all end. She knew she could be a little naive about relationships but she wasn't a complete idiot.

After all the stress of the dinner and all the hours leading up to it Mercedes was extremely tired and all she wanted to do was going home, change into her pajamas, and crack open the box of what she hoped was her food and leave the rest of this hellish day behind her.

"Thank you for your concern Matt, but you're right I am a big girl and I can take care of myself. I'll be fine."

Matt tipped his head to her slightly and said, "We'll see..." He walked away and headed to his car with a slight wave but he never turned back.

Mercedes tried to shake off the feeling of dread that she felt at Matt's parting words but it wouldn't completely go away. First Kurt, and now Matt? Was the universe trying to tell her something? Well, if it was then it was going to have to wait until she was in a more open-minded mood because she wasn't trying to hear it tonight.

As she headed to her car she could feel subtle sparks shooting up the back of her neck and she knew Sam was behind her. She took a deep breath and turned around to face him but she was still startled to see that he was so close.

"What is it, Mike Tyson?"

Sam gave her a grim smile before telling her that they needed to talk.

"No, we actually really don't. I have big plans for tonight and you're not ruining those like you ruined dinner."

"Look, I'm sorry about that, I never meant for things to get that out of control but Stevie just..."

"Stevie, just what?" Mercedes asked impatiently.

"He just pushed the wrong buttons, okay?"

"So that's your big defense for fighting your brother in a 5-star restaurant? He pushed the wrong buttons? Are you 12?"

Mercedes shook her head in disbelief and turned back towards her car but for the second time that night she was pulled to a stop.

"What?"

"We need to talk...please."

"Talk about what, exactly? The fact that you've been ignoring me for a week? Or would you rather talk about how you can act like you don't want me one minute but then act jealous when someone else does in the next? Or maybe we could talk about how you thought it would be a great idea to bring your beautiful ex-fiancé out on a date with you. Tell me, Sam what do you want to talk about first?"

"Mercedes...I...all of this complicated."

Mercedes snorted under her breath, "Complicated? Now where have I heard that before?" Sam gave her a puzzled look but Mercedes refused to tell him about what Quinn said about their relationship being complicated.

"How's this for a deal, why don't you keep your complicated feelings that you can't talk about all to yourself and I'll do the same. And on Monday we can both just go on ignoring each other and nobody's feelings will get hurt, how about that?" Mercedes asked with false brightness.

"No, I don't want things to be like this between us. I fucked up with the whole ignoring thing and I admit that. I thought...I thought if I held you at arm's length and didn't talk to you then I wouldn't make things worse between us."

"What? WHAT?" Mercedes yelled at him incredulously, "that is a fucking horrible idea!"

"I know! I just...I don't know how to do relationships and after Quinn...I just didn't want to mess this up, okay?"

Even though Mercedes was still angry at Sam for making a unilateral decision about their potential relationship she still felt herself soften a bit at his confession.

"I don't want to mess this up either...whatever it is, but us not talking is the worst idea ever."

"Yeah..." Sam chuckled softly, "yeah, it really is."

"So we talk...?" Mercedes asked hesitantly, "and nothing else."

"Nothing else." Sam replied back firmly.

"Okay, well if you want to come over we can talk tonight...or wait...or whatever." Mercedes rambled nervously.

Sam smiled down at her gently, "I would love to, I just have to drop Quinn off first."

At the sound of Quinn's name Mercedes tensed slightly. She was still an issue but Mercedes was entirely sure in what way. She wanted to believe that Quinn Fabray was someone she would never have to worry about, but common sense and some womanly intuition she had wouldn't allow her to be that naive. For now, she would put her suspicions about Quinn on the backburner and try to take everything that Sam said at face value. If he said that he was over Quinn then she would accept that, because if she wasn't going to trust him then there was no reason to even try and start a relationship. Mercedes just prayed that she wouldn't come to regret the decision to put her trust in Sam Evans.

"Okay, that'll be fine. I'll see you after you drop her off."

Sam gave her a grateful smile. He leaned forward slightly and for a second Mercedes thought he was going to kiss her mouth but at the last second he lightly ran his lips over her cheek before settling them against her ear.

"I'll see you soon," he breathed lightly into her ear and Mercedes tried to ignore the butterflies that erupted in her stomach at the feel of his warm breath against her face.

She nodded jerkily. He pulled away and with one last long lingering look he turned on his heel and sauntered away. As Mercedes watched him walk away she saw that Stevie and Crystal were still in the parking lot. Crystal was chattering away on her phone but Stevie's eyes were trained on something across the parking lot. At first she thought he was looking at Sam but then she realized that he was looking at the person that Sam was walking towards. Stevie was usually so happy-go-lucky that it was almost hard to look at the bitter, twisted look on his face now. She knew he was probably mad about the fight he got into with Sam but this look of hatred was more deep-seated than just pissed off feelings and it wasn't directed at Sam—it was directed at Quinn.

As Mercedes got herself settled into the car she couldn't help but to keep seeing the horrible look on Stevie's face over and over again. What could have Quinn done to make him hate her? Given their history if anyone was going to hate Quinn it should be Sam, so why doesn't he?

Right now Mercedes had more questions than answers but she hoped before the night was over that situation would be reversed. She and Sam had to talk and as far as she was concerned their relationship wasn't going a step further until they got all of their cards on the table.

Unfortunately for Mercedes, in her haste to put it all out there she forgot the one piece of valuable information that she had gotten from Matt earlier that evening:

"It means, Ms. Jones, that one should pick his fights very carefully otherwise he will show his hand too early."

The one person she trusted the least gave her information that, if heeded, would have prevented the downward spiral that was created by the decisions that she made on this night.

The night she got pregnant.