Mercedes smiled sleepily as she snuggled deeper under her comforter. She could hear water running in the bathroom and the sound of it soothed her. Having sex with Sam wasn't a part of her original plan but after a conversation with Kurt on her way back from the restaurant she realized that fighting her attraction to Sam and questioning everything wasn't worth all the stress is caused.

"Kurt? It's me Mercedes."

"Duh...I have caller id. What's up?"

"I have a problem and I need your help."

"What else is new?"

Mercedes rolled her eyes and said, "are you going to help me or not?"

"What it is this time...oh wait, let me guess, Sam?"

Mercedes refused to answer and Kurt took her silence as confirmation.

"So what did Sam do this time?"

"He invited Quinn to dinner tonight."

"Woah...ok, I wasn't expecting that. Are they back together?"

"No, he says that their relationship isn't romantic but it's complicated."

"Complicated? What the hell does that mean?"

"Obviously I don't know because if I did I wouldn't need your help!" Mercedes snapped.

"Calm down, girl. Any type of relationship with an ex, especially one that you were going to marry, is bound to be complicated to some degree so maybe it really isn't anything to worry about."

"Maybe..." Mercedes said uncertainly.

"Do you think he's lying?"

"No, but I do think he's holding something back, I just don't know what it is...maybe I'm not supposed to know."

"Well, technically speaking unless he's stringing both you and Quinn along then whatever happens between them is his business."

"I guess..."

"Look, I'm not saying let the man play you but unless you honestly think that he is hung up on Quinn and is going to be doing both of you at the same time then maybe you should give him the benefit of the doubt."

"I guess..."

Kurt gave a loud sigh, "Mercedes, I love you but sometimes you have to stop over-analyzing everything and just feel. You could miss out on something great because you are desperately trying to make sure everything lines up perfectly. Sometimes life is messy and it doesn't always work out the way we want it to, but that's the beauty of it."

"I guess..."

"If you say that one more time..."Kurt started angrily, "Do you want him or not?"

"Ye..I don't know...I don't want to be hurt." She finished pathetically.

"That's not what I asked you. Do. You. Want. Him?"

"YES!"

"Good, then put on your big girl panties and go after him. Ask him the questions that you need answered for your peace of mind and if he can't deliver then kick his ass to the curb."

"And if he gives me the answers that I want?"

"Then bang him like a screen door in a hurricane."

"Kurt!"

"What? You know you want to and you've wanted to since the beginning. The only thing holding you back is this incessant game that the two of you seem determined to play with each other. You two can go round and round until the cows come home or you can deal with your situation head on."

"Easier said than done."

"Maybe, but you can either get it done or you can continue doing this. What's it going to be?"

"I'll talk to him and let the chips fall where they may."

"Good girl. Are we still on for tomorrow?"

"Actually...no. Sam is coming over tonight and we're supposed to talk so if he gives me the answers I want then hopefully I will be a little too preoccupied or too worn out to be good company."

"So wait, if he was already coming to talk then what in the hell did you call me for?"

"Because I was halfway ready to call and tell him not to come over. I'm still freaked out about having this conversation but now thanks to you I feel a lot more confident about it. So thank you."

Kurt made a loud 'hmmph' noise before saying, "well...whatever, you're welcome."

Mercedes laughed at Kurt's sullen attitude because she knew he was just mad that his brilliant plan wasn't so brilliant after all.

"I love you Kurt," Mercedes trilled in a sing-songy voice.

"Whatever Mercedes. Don't call me anymore."

Mercedes laughed loudly before making a kissing noise and promising that she would call him the first minute she was available to give him the deets.

"Take care of yourself Mercy," Kurt said seriously, "I want you to get your guy, but I want to you to be happy as well and sometimes those two things aren't mutually exclusive."

"But you said earlier..."

"I know what I said and I stand by it. You do need to take a chance but you also need to protect yourself. Don't let a nice body, a cute pair of eyes, and some great sex mess up your common sense or you sense of self-preservation. You're smarter about relationships then you give yourself credit for so you just have to use that sense when it comes to dealing with Sam Evans. I don't want you hurt."

"Okay...so what are saying?" Kurt was giving her whiplash.

"Go for it with Sam and live a little. If it's just about the sex then enjoy it for what it is, but if it's more than that take your time to figure out what that really is. Sam could be a good roll in the hay or he could be the love of your life or somewhere in between...be open enough to find out what he is exactly. Above all be smart, and don't leave your heart unprotected. It's good to fall but don't fall so fast and carelessly that you can't prevent your heart from being broken."

"Wow..."Mercedes choked out. "I didn't realize you had given these much thought, where was this speech with my last boyfriend?"

"Shane?" She could practically hear Kurt rolling his eyes, "you had about as much chance of falling in love with his boring ass as I do of falling in love with this fountain drink that is currently warping my wood table. I never worried about you losing your heart to a man until you met Sam Evans. I saw the way you looked at him the day I caught him in your living room and I've never seen you look at anyone like that ever. So yeah, I've given it a lot of thought. "

Mercedes didn't say anything else as she listened to Kurt's quiet breathing on the phone. What could she say? She blinked back the tears that threatened to well in her eyes.

"Thank you Kurt."

"No problem babe. You deserve the best and Sam Evans had better be that or he is going have me to deal with!"

Mercedes gave a watery giggle.

"I'm serious, and you make sure to tell him too. I will kick his ass if he hurts you."

At that Mercedes burst into loud laughter that quickly turned into snorts.

"Mercedes? Mercedes! Mercedes!" Kurt kept yelling over and over again. "Stop laughing, this shit is serious."

"Oh God..." She breathed out as her laughter finally died down. "You're cute Kurt."

"Mmmm-hmmmm..."

Mercedes bit back another giggle, "I love you but I'm finally at home now and Sam should be here soon so I have to straighten up a bit."

"Alright then, call me and let me know everything...I mean, every position, every surface you did it on-"

"Bye Kurt!"

"Bye babe, love ya!" Kurt yelled out quickly before Mercedes pushed end on her phone. Once inside all of Kurt's advice became nothing more than white noise in Mercedes' head and she went right back to worrying about how the night would end. If only she knew it would end the way she would have paid a little bit more attention to Kurt's advice...

As Mercedes thought of her earlier freak-outs she couldn't help but laugh again at how silly it all seemed now. Kurt was right, getting right to the heart of the problem was smarter than just beating around the bush for weeks. She still had a niggling worry about what Kurt said about protecting her heart but she was pushed it aside for now. The water in the bathroom had finally cut off and Sam was on his way back in the room.

A huge smiled spread on Mercedes face as soon as the door opened but it quickly died on her lips the second she saw the expression on Sam's face. He looked like he saw a ghost and he wanted to be sick at the same time. It frankly scared her and the stilted way he walked towards her side of the bed wasn't helping any. Mercedes didn't want to freak out but Sam's behavior was not normal and it was a complete 180 from how he was before he went into the bathroom.

When he said heavily down on the edge of the bed beside her hip she sat up and pulled the sheets up to cover her still naked body.

"Sam, are you okay?"

"Please don't be mad at me." Sam said quietly.

A ball of dread instantly started to form in the pit of Mercedes' stomach at his words.

"Why...why would I be mad at you? Is this about Quinn?"

"Wha-Quinn?" Sam gave her a confused look, "No, this has nothing to do with her. This is about us...this is about my stupid mistake."

Mercedes tried her best to ignore all of the worst case scenarios that were popping into her head as she took a deep breath and said, "What mistake?"

"We didn't use a condom." He said simply.

Of all the things that Mercedes expected him to say that wasn't it. At that moment anything Quinn related would have been a welcome replacement.

"Uhhhhhh..." Mercedes didn't know what to say. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"Oh!" Sam looked startled at her request but quickly got out of her way. She grabbed the robe that she had thankfully left strewn across the bed earlier that morning and quickly threw it on before rushing past Sam into the bathroom.

Once inside she quickly handled her business and as she did so she buried her face in her hands. Yes, the sex was good but she was usually so much smarter than this. She had always used a condom when having sex so the way her body felt afterward when not using one was a new experience. One she should have picked on a lot sooner. Mercedes felt like such an idiot at that moment.

After flushing the toilet she went to the sink and washed her hands before cupping them and splashing her face with water. She ignored the bubble of panic in her chest and tried to think of the positives. She knew that she was clean and she was fairly certain that he was as well...at least she hoped. Sam seemed like the type of man that took care of himself so she forced the worry that he was carrying around some super mutated version of the Clap out of her head.

So that only left pregnancy. Mercedes glanced down to the counter of her bathroom sink and her eyes instantly brightened. She picked up her pack of pills and breathed a sigh of relief. She was diligent about her pills she took them every day at the same time like clockwork and she never missed one. All the worry began to seep out of Mercedes but the feeling was cut short when she opened up the pack and noticed that it was empty.

Once again Mercedes stopped breathing as she studied the empty package. Her mind frantically started working as she tried to think about when she was done with the pack. It had been such a hectic, stressful week at work that she had been all over the place emotionally and mentally. Finally after what seemed like forever it finally clicked in her mind that the last time she took the pill was the morning of a meeting with a potential client at 8 am. A meeting that took place on Monday. Mercedes fought back panic and she replayed Monday in her mind. She remembered that she kept reminding herself throughout the day that she had to go to the pharmacy and pick up her new pack of pills but somewhere along the line she forgot. On Tuesday when she was supposed to take it the next morning she remembered she never picked them up but this time she was smart enough to leave herself an alert on her phone but because of meetings that ran late the pharmacy was closed. The next day she picked the pills up during her lunch break but because she had to rush back she didn't take them so they have been sitting in her purse ever since.

Four days without a pill.

She never missed her pill, she never missed picking a new pack up on time but of course, the one time she had unprotected sex she did all those things. There was a part of her that wanted to cry, she wanted to scream and yell and throw things and blame Sam but she couldn't. The complete fuck-up of the pill taking was her fault and the missing condom was on both of them. He may have forgotten it but she was an equal participant as well. Getting so caught up in the moment that you don't realize that your guy is going bare-back is no excuse.

"Mercedes, are you okay?"

She started at the sound of his voice, she wasn't ready to face Sam but she refused to hide in her bathroom all night.

"I'm coming." She said softly.

After drying her still semi-wet face and pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail Mercedes knew what she was going to do. It may not be the best idea and it may bite her in the ass later but she was determined to do it.

Once she got back inside her bedroom she found Sam sitting on her bed with his head buried in his hands. She went up to him and ran her hands through the hair at the nape of his neck.

"I'm so sorry," he said, the sound slightly muffled by his hands. "I never make this mistake. Never! I don't know what I was thinking."

"Shhh, it's okay. I wasn't thinking either."

Sam looked at her and the worry in his eyes seemed to lessen a little bit.

"So you're not mad?" He asked hopefully.

"At you? No. It takes two to tango and we were both there. We just got caught up." She shrugged helplessly.

"I swear to you I'm clean, but I'll get tested if you need me to."

"No, it's fine I believe you. And for the record I'm clean too."

Sam smiled slightly at her but then it faltered slightly.

"We got the whole STD thing out of the way but what about pregnancy? I-"

"It's fine." Mercedes said quickly, "I'm on the pill so we're covered on that too."

Sam gave out a whoosh of air as he breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Wow...that's...thank God."

"Yeah." Mercedes agreed quietly.

"I'm not saying that in a bad way...it's just babies aren't something that I want, you know?"

"Yeah," Mercedes said again even though hearing him say that bothered her more than she wanted to admit.

"It's just that some people would make good parents and I'm not one of them. Kids are just...me and kids don't mesh. At all. That's why the condom thing is so weird, I never forget for that specific reason."

"Well, there is a first and hopefully last time for everything right?" She lamely joked.

"Whew!" Sam laid back on her bed, "that was close, I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest!" He laughed loudly. "I feel like a thousand pound weight has been lifted off of my chest, what about you?"

"Yeah, I feel the same way." Mercedes gave him a slight nod as she tried to fight back tears. She felt horrible for lying but given his reaction she felt as if she had done the right thing. There was no reason for the both of them to be carrying around the burden of a possible baby.

Sam obviously noticed that Mercedes wasn't as happy as she should have been because he sat up and asked worriedly, "Hey, are you okay? Are you sure everything is fine?"

Mercedes knew this was her last chance to come clean with the least amount of fireworks but she couldn't do it. At the end of the day missed pills or no missed pills it may not lead to a pregnancy so there was no need in getting Sam all upset about it.

"No, it's fine. It's just been a long day and it's taken a lot out of me. I'm just tired."

"Oh, okay. Well do you want me to leave? I don't want to impose."

There was a part of Mercedes that did want him to leave so that she could cry and worry by herself but then again despite it all she needed him.

"Please stay?" She asked quietly.

Sam gave her a soft smile before leaning forward and placing a small kiss on her lips.

"I'll make sure the front door is locked and all the lights are off, okay?"

She gave him a slight nod and as soon as he was out the door she took off her robe and threw on a pair of boy shorts and a tight tank top. By the time Sam made it back in the room she had the covers completely pulled back and all the extra throw pillows tossed on the ground.

The both climbed into bed and met each other in the middle. Sam gazed at her lips before closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against hers.

"Just sleeping?"

She laughed quietly, "just sleeping."

He poked out his bottom lip playfully for just a second before giving Mercedes a lingering kiss. He reached over and clicked off the light switch by the head of the bed before lying down beside her on the bed. The lay facing each other for several minutes before Sam leaned over and kissed her again.

"Everything is going to be okay, right?"

"Right." Mercedes said quietly, her heart breaking for the lie she was telling.

Mercedes could make out the smile that Sam gave her before he leaned forward and kissed her one last time. He whispered good night to her and she quickly whispered one back. She waited until she heard his breathing even out before she turned over and allowed the tears to come.

If she was pregnant what the hell was she going to do? It was clear that Sam didn't want kids and the last thing she ever wanted was to bring a child into the world with a man that didn't want it. She knew she may be jumping the gun a little bit but the nagging feeling just wouldn't go away. If she was pregnant then her whole life would change. All of her carefully laid out plans would have to be scrapped for new ones. Her selfish existence would be no more because she would have to live and do everything for another person. The world as she knew it would be completely different.

Mercedes couldn't help but give a sardonic laugh under her breath at the irony of it all. After weeks of judging and calling Sam out for his half-truths and 'complicated' relationships she came along and took the cake in one fell swoop. He may have given her the runaround on the several occasions about his past but she flat out lied to his face about their possible future. There was no excuse for it but even still Mercedes couldn't make herself turn over and tell him the truth. She may be wrong...she prayed she was wrong but if she wasn't it would be her burden to carry. He made his feelings about children perfectly clear and she would never trap him into a situation that he was whole-heartedly against.

So, for now she would enjoy him. She would savor ever minute she had with him because she knew that if she was pregnant their days were numbered. In that moment Mercedes realized what a selfish person that she could be. That she could and would keep a huge life-changing secret to herself just to keep Sam in her arms for a little bit longer. Deep down she knew she should do the right thing, she knew that she should tell him about the missed pills and the very real possibility that he may become a father. She should tell him but she wouldn't, not now at least.

Mercedes pulled Sam's arm around her and she wiped tears from her eyes as he snuggled in behind her. His hand settled on her stomach and for a moment she let herself imagine that she was pregnant and that he knew about it and was happy. Tears ran unchecked down Mercedes' cheeks as she lived in her little fantasy for a few minutes longer. She treasured every second of it because she knew it would never be a reality. As she lay there she heard Kurt's words echoing in her head once again:

Above all be smart, and don't leave your heart unprotected. It's good to fall but don't fall so fast and carelessly that you can't prevent your heart from being broken."

Mercedes appreciated the advice, she really did. Too bad it was too little, too late.