My sweet and loving babies! I wanted to post this last night, because yesterday was the story's one month anniversary, but today's not too late. So happy one month, my faithful friends!
Special thanks to Alliecattie3, who during our highly fulfilling (at least to me) correspondence brought to my attention a certain song that I was able to incorporate into this chapter. And thank you to ngawai who frequently sends God's blessings my way through her words (I love the Lord)and she ALWAYS tells me thank you for each and every chapter, not realizing how much of a privilege it is for me to write for you folks.
And I thank everybody for the sometimes seemingly embellished reviews and the correspondence of everyone that I have communications with. I enjoy writing back and forth with some of you more than I even do writing the story. Truly you readers and reviewers make this thing worth everything that I try to put into it.
Love you and appreciate you!
The Return
Mary watched the woman named Mercedes, moving around in her living room, singing and sort of dancing as her enamored son watched from the couch, playing the guitar that had been his when he was younger, and her nearly equally as enamored daughter watched from the floor, with a huge grin. Mercedes was singing by request, and when Sammy didn't know the song, she simply sang acapella. For the moment, Mercedes was singing Amazed, by Lonestar. It hardly sounded like a country song when she sang it, but Sam was just eating it up and Stacie was not much of a country fan, anyway – so this version worked wonders for her.
A couple of weeks ago, after they had left the house and Dwight and Mary were preparing to go to sleep for the night, she'd asked him, "Do you really think of that girl as family?"
Dwight had simply answered, "Sammy seems to, and I think that we've lost him enough for this lifetime. As far as I'm concerned, she won't last long enough for it to ever even come to that. He's taking this whole living in reverse thing and running with it and she's just a symbol for his change. He'll be really serious and in love for a little while, then either she'll get tired of the issues or he'll realize that it's unhealthy, or whatever is gonna be the end of them; but trust me – Sammy is never going to marry that girl and even if he really wants to, she's not going to do that to herself… sign on for the crap that they'll get for the rest of her life. Doesn't hurt to make him feel good about himself in the meantime."
Mary was still a little irked by it. She was supposed to be the glue that held her family together. She was the only one that Sam really talked to while he was in prison and the only one who wrote back and forth to him. She was the one that kept in touch with him when he got a phone and she had been the one that he confided in about this woman that she was now trying not to glare at in her home. But Mercedes Jones was starting to make changes in her home, for the better – but changes that Mary Evans had been trying to make and failed at.
She knew that she didn't like the sound of things when Sammy first said, "I've been living in this neat little room, bigger than a prison cell, but with a more comfortable bed and a much better smell. Mercedes, the owner of the place lets me sleep here for free and she's allowed me to have some work until someone will take me on elsewhere, but I haven't even been looking to be honest. I'm actually pretty happy here, with her… at her business."
The way that he said her name and the way that he spoke and his voice unintentionally changed when he spoke of her bothered Mary and each time she asked him about her, she could hear the smile in his voice. That might not have been so bad if he wasn't so determined not to come home. All of his reasons sounded like damned excuses and she could only guess that he was making them in order to stay with this woman, this black woman, who for whatever reason he was SO FOND of... for what? Taking him in and giving him a job? Like he would not have been taken care of at home!
Now, this person had come into her home, sat on her husband's lap and sparked something inside of him – Dwight hadn't been the one to reach for Mary in YEARS and usually seemed to just be following urges when he did accept her advances. But, after having that big bodied black girl on his lap for a moment, he became Mr. Frisky with his wife! Mary couldn't feel the grimace on her face as she stared at Mercedes.
Then, there was Stacie, who rarely ever connected with her, though – bless the girl's heart, she tried to do things and have talks with her mother… they simply were just so different that it often seemed forced and awkward, unless they were eating. But, since "Mercy's speech" at the breakfast table on day 1, Stacie had made extra effort to try to have a "more natural and loving relationship" with her mother. While Mary appreciated that Stacie wanted that, the fact that it was this woman's words, instead of good old fashioned love further irritated her. Then, there was the way that Stacie acted like Mercedes was some fantastic human being. She was a psychologically unsound, blind, fat, black girl who made up for her insecurities by trying to make everyone else happy and comfortable.
Sam's affections for her were misplaced. She would have done what she did for Sam for anyone, because she had some kind of addictive habit of doing so. A bit of fishing for information during their cooking lessons told Mary that much. But, her son was ready to give up everything in his life to be with this girl, based upon some act of charity that he could have easily gotten if he had just let his parents pay to bring him back to them. Sam had actually fussed at her for "interfering" with his relationship. He explained that Mercedes had some problems with depression and that he didn't want her triggering anything bad for her. It took everything Mary had not to tell him to send that nutcase back home, on a train, and to stay with his real family! Plus… There was someone else. Just the mention of that Puck person sent Sam into an uncomfortable jealousy and when Mary asked her about it, she tried to brush it off as something in her past. Baby, I cheated on my husband after years of marriage, I know a cover up when I see it!
Stevie passed through the living room on his way out for his Friday night plans and he looked t his mother and said, "Yeah, you pretty much look how I feel about it." At that, Stacie and Sam looked at her and she turned red as she attempted to force a smile on, real quick. Stevie could be a real little jerk sometimes. He knew that she wanted to be a good hostess for Sammy and the girl!
Stacie got up from the floor and grabbed her mother's hands, "Dance with me, lovely!" She said.
Mercedes caught her breath and suggested, "Why don't you sing something, Sam?" She took a seat next to him and smiled. "I think that I'm a little more receptive than I was the last time you sung to me."
"You know, there is a song that always makes me think of you," he told her and got on one knee in front of her as he began to play the song. She opened her mouth to comment, but he placed a finger over her lips, and told her, "Just let me sing to you."
She heard Stacie say, "This is so sweet."
Sam resumed playing the song and began to sing at the appropriate time, watching her the entire time, as she sat silently, with her hands in her lap, smiling at the words. "If I could, I would dare. Feed your dreams and starve your fears. If I could light the world, we could sit and watch it burn. We could fall asleep inside the glow." Mercedes' hands begun shaking. Sam knew that she knew the song, because it had come on the country station he frequently listened to when at work and he turned it up, when it did – to the displeasure of all of the ladies in the shop except for Mercedes. But, she had not heard him sing it and this was the first time he sang to her since that birthday fiasco.
"So tell me what I gotta do to win you over? You'll never have to wonder if you need another. You'll never have to wonder if I understand and every time you reach for me, you'll find a hand out…" Mercedes softly cried and gently laughed as he finished the rest of the Blake Shelton song, and just could not help but to join in with him for the last part, which was a repeat of the opening to the song.
He leaned in and kissed her chastely on the lips, and she sank onto his shoulder and whispered, "Thank you. That was beautiful. I love you." He rubbed his nose against the side of her face and Mary stared at them while Stacie clapped her hands together and wiped at her eyes. "Y'all are so effing cute! I think y'all are the cutest couple ever." Mary tried not to scoff, as she made her way into the kitchen to check on lunch. That woman was going to be taking Sam back "home" shortly, for a "quick visit" and Mary wasn't sure if she would let him come back, or not!
Santana was lying in the bed when Brittany came in, carrying a tray with food on it. The woman had barely left the bed since Tina had brought her there. When Lauren was released from the hospital, she came along, as well and roomed up with Santana, sleeping in a bed in the same room. The two women had no desire to be anywhere near a car for the moment, and though Lauren would've loved to be outside enjoying the spring weather, she was not able to move around much. "I know that you said that you aren't hungry, but Emma made me bring the tray in, anyway. She pays me, so I have to do it." She set it by the bedside and sat on the edge of the bed. "There are no scary people here," Brittany said and kissed her on the cheek. Then, she said, "Well, that Joe girl is a little bit creepy, but she's been in the room with Quinn and Beth all night. There's supposed to be a prayer circle, tonight."
"I don't pray," Santana said.
"Me neither, but I think that Joe is going to do that part. All we do is hold hands in a circle, like camp," Brittany said. "I have to go. I have to give Lauren some food, too." She played with Santana's hair, then got up and left the room.
Santana glanced at the tray of food, then got up and brought it over to Lauren. "Just in case you're already hungry."
"I can definitely eat," she said and graciously accepted it. "Are you coming to the prayer circle?"
"I guess. Britt seems excited about it," Santana commented. "I feel so out of place everywhere, right now. I keep remembering how easy it was for that guy to snatch me up and put me in Tina's trunk. It's like he was laughing at me. 'Look what I can do to you.' And all that I could do was to take it. I'm more embarrassed than I am afraid." But, she was seriously afraid, too.
Emma looked down at a text that came through her phone as everyone sat at her huge table, eating and she tapped Beiste and showed it to her. The two of them excused themselves and got up. Beth was sitting between Quinn and Brittany, across from Mike and Tina, next to Blaine and Kurt, when the little girl gasped and squealed, "MERCY!" Everyone looked up to see the child rushing into Mercedes' arms as she and Sam came into the dining room. Mercedes' adult friends followed suit.
"Mercedes, what are you doing here?" Tina asked, happily.
"I missed you and I wanted to be a part of the prayer circle," she said.
Sam added, "She was a little homesick and had been trying so hard to deal with my family – I thought that it would be a nice treat to bring her back home for a night or so and let her see everybody." He was looking around the room, sizing everyone up. They looked like they had been through hell in the past couple of weeks, particularly Santana. She was very pale, like she had not been outside in days and she looked thinner, tired and ill.
"Guppie Lips, if I knew that I would be seeing you tonight, I would have written a speech," she said, chewing on something as he moved in to hug her. Lauren and Quinn were still sitting at the table, but Lauren was waving her hands, excitedly, so that Sam could come to her. He imagined that it was hard to move in that neck brace.
"Evans, put those lips on my lips and I might forgive you for not calling me once the entire time that you've been gone!" She told him. Sam acquiesced, giving her a friendly lip smack with an exaggerated MUAH! "What's up with you? You're all glowing," Lauren observed.
"What's up with you? Who was that old lady that hit you?" Sam asked, avoiding the fact that he and Mercedes had used up every single condom that he had left last night and this morning and afterwards, spent the afternoon virtually ignoring his family in lieu of granting each other attention; then, they held hands for virtually the entire trip home, giving each other kisses sporadically at red lights...
Lauren laughed and said, "You are never gonna believe me – it was one drunk old lady Schuester…" She was laughing and describing it, but Sam knew that any glow that he might have had before had drained from his face while she talked about how cute the silly old lady was, and how it might have been funny if she hadn't been half conscious and in so much pain, at the time. "But, that meant me getting a ridiculously fat check, in addition to her insurance paying for my vehicle and my medical bills."
"Will Schuester's mother," Sam finally said.
"The same. They keep calling her an old lady, but she's not THAT old. She was just drunk," Lauren said, "and their argument is that it's her age or eyesight or something. I heard that this isn't even the first time that she's had an accident or a near accident, in her car."
Sam sat next to her, gave Quinn a head nod and asked Lauren, quietly, "What about the guy that grabbed Santana? Did she say anything about him?"
"Only that she didn't get a good look at him, but it definitely wasn't the guy who threatened her because this guy was older… Did you come back to be a detective?" Lauren asked, suspiciously. She had been worried about him the entire time that he was gone, particularly worried about how he might handle things when he got back. She didn't want to see him get caught up in any trouble.
"A little bit," Sam answered his friend. "I'm worried about y'all. What was the situation with the cross burning thing?"
"I don't know much about that. I was still in the hospital and Emma is not really saying much about it, but you can tell when it comes up that it really freaked her out," Lauren said. Sam looked over at Emma, leaning against the wall, watching him. She was on his hit list, for sure; but he had been inconsiderate to not call Lauren, just because he had been spending time with his family. He'd texted her a few times to check on her or send her a lovey-dovey photo of him and Cedes. He owed her some more friendly time. Sam talked to Lauren for a little while longer, while Mercedes talked to all of her friends, except for Quinn; then he moved to sit next to Quinn. Quinn had not gotten up to greet Mercedes, and she really didn't look like she could even handle him sitting next to her. So, he presumed that she was taking things hard, clearly harder than Lauren, who seemed to not only not be worried, but to be happy as a bottle of bubbles, on her pain meds.
"Don't even start with me, Mr. Evans," Quinn said, the moment Sam even parted his lips.
"What is that supposed to mean?" He wondered.
"It means that I found your condoms in the wastebasket after you left town," she said. He blushed, but shrugged his shoulders. "That means that you'd better not be jerking her around, because not just Mercedes, but all of us are going through it because of the fact that she took you in. So, you better mean it."
"I do," he told her. "Is there something else?"
"You'll tell her," Quinn said, shaking her head. Miss Fabray was in full Mother Hen mode and nobody was about to lay a finger on her little chickies.
"She doesn't want to know. She doesn't want to know anything that you guys aren't willing to tell her… it makes her feel even more left out to try to force her way in," Sam said. "And you've already told me that you're going through because of me, so I think I should at least know."
"Tina thinks her dad might be involved," Quinn said, very quietly and added, even quieter, "And I know that mine is."
"How do you know that?" Sam asked, not knowing how to take this information.
"Because, he contacted me to ask me all kinds of questions about you," she said. "I answered them for a little bit, because I thought he was maybe doing a background check or something – like he found out you were at the shop and was trying to help me with some information that he thought I may need to use. Then he started to ask about stuff that I didn't even know about and I didn't think it too suspicious, at first. My dad's a judge, so he sometimes knows things that regular people don't, and even though we don't really talk, he sometimes warns me about people, just to feel like he's being a dad, I guess. But, when he started to ask me about Jesse St. James, then Tina and if Tina knew him, at all…" She shook her head. "I told him that no one in my life even knew Jesse St. James personally. That you went to school with the guy, but never mentioned him and that Santana went to school with him, but never talked to him. But, from his questions, Sam… it sounded like he might be piecing this together and if he is, we are in for the sh*t storm of our lives."
"Who is your father?" Sam asked, deciding that he knew how to feel – worried.
"Judge Russell Fabray," she said.
Sam thought for a moment. Why did that sound familiar? Then, he remembered – his father had asked if Quinn was related to Russell Fabray. "Do you know if your father knows my father?" Sam asked her.
"I never talk to my father. We have literally had about four conversations since I was fifteen," Quinn said. "And before you ask, I can't call him and ask him. That would be too suspicious and I never will call him, ever."
"When you first called Mercedes, my father asked if you were related to Russell Fabray," Sam said.
"That's not too hard to believe. My dad's always been like a celebrity here. That's why he's never gotten in trouble for… anything." Quinn said. Mercedes ended up next to her, soon. "Cedes!" She cheered and got up to hug her. "I wanted to come love on you, but the crowd was so big, I thought it best to just wait until you waded out of it." Sam watched Quinn hug Mercedes tightly and instantly felt bad for her. It was obvious how much she missed her and how much she needed her. Was it selfish of him that he just wanted to take Mercedes away forever and never have to return to hug and kiss and pray with her friends, or anything else for that matter?
If there were parents of her closest friends involved, he might have to do just that – whether they were estranged, or not. Besides, Quinn said this man was a big time judge. Who knew what kind of power came along with his position? If he had to guess, he would presume a lot, especially if this guy was a friend of Schuester's. So, who was Tina's dad? Did he have something that he did that was important? Sam took the time that Mercedes and Quinn were catching up, knowing that he didn't want to hear the inevitable mention of Puck, to greet Tina. "And how are you?" He asked.
Tina's demeanor tightened up and she answered, "Surviving."
"Since you are the chief of honesty around these parts and since Mercedes does not want to know, I sincerely hope that you'll fill me in on your take on all of the stuff," he said.
"My take on all of the stuff is that you never told me when you came to me for help that you were a rape enabler," she said. "You never told me that you were a supporter of the things that you accused St. James of doing to others."
"That was years ago. I also was a lot of other terrible things," he said.
"I volunteer at a crisis counseling center three times a week. My mother was regularly sexually abused by my father. My friend was regularly sexually abused by her father," she gestured a hand at Quinn. Sam was shocked for a second, but Tina hadn't given him much time to respond or react. "Does the name 'Aphasia' ring a bell? She came to me to ask me about you," Tina said. "She's one of the women that I've tried to help and she's been a difficult one to assist. But, a short while back – say a week or so before Jesse St. James died; she was especially upset, and stopped coming to meetings. If I didn't knowthat you did it, I would have suspected her, because she hated him. Then, she resurfaced, after you disappeared. She told me the full story of her situation, and asked me if I thought that you killed Jesse St. James. I told her that you and I are not friends, but that you were with me at the time that he was killed. I could tell from her face that she didn't believe me."
Sam took a deep breath and said, "No one knows."
"Quinn's dad might and if he does, that means hell for everyone. He wanted Quinn to marry Jesse. He introduced them and wanted them together. All the Nazis want their sons to marry girls like Quinn, but Russell was determined that she would marry only "the best." Quinn wasn't interested. She was with Finn and she had too many friends that she knew that these people would not approve of. Besides, she's not close to her dad, and stopped even trying to be civil with him after Beth was born, because she never wanted her daughter anywhere near him."
"Is the whole lot of them a bunch of abusive rapists?" Sam asked under his breath.
"Yeah. When you think about those types of ideologies… they revolve around control, terror and power. Their entire life philosophy is a system of perpetually victimizing someone. Beiste's ex husband was one of them, too. He used to beat her bloody, until Emma helped her get out of there." Sam just shook his head in sorrow. "He was arrested for one thing and ended up being found out for like a strand of other things. Know why? Because Judge Fabray had his number. Fabray had so much dirt on this guy it was like he flipped a switch and the floor opened beneath Cooter's feet."
Sam choked out, "Cooter?"
Tina nodded and said, "Yeah, that was Beiste's husband's name… though I'm sure he had a real name – that's the only name I've ever known him by."
"Cooter Menkins?" Sam asked, paling more and more each moment.
"Oh, did you know him when you were a Nazi?" Tina asked, giving Sam an incredulous look. He really had some sh*tty acquaintences! His entire line up a friends really and truly was reversed…
"I killed him," Sam said and reached for a chair as Tina watched him, curiously. She backed away from him as he held his head, which was now throbbing with all of the information he had just stuffed into it. Tina had gone to get Beiste and the woman found Sam and said his name. Sam looked up at her and asked her, "Did you know? Have you known?" She reached out for his hand and helped him up to lead him out.
"Now what the hell kind of drama is happening?" Kurt asked Tina as Sam and Beiste left.
"Sam is the dude that killed Cooter," she said, trying not to sound too excited. "When Matt speaks about him killing someone on the inside, that's who it was."
"Beiste's ex Cooter?" Mercedes asked.
"Yeah," Tina said. Mercedes allowed Kissy to take her out of the room and went to find Sam.
She did not remember hearing that when she researched Sam, when he first came to her… but then again, would the news have used the name "Cooter"? They probably would've called the guy whatever his birth certificate said. She had to make sure that Sam was alright. That subject would probably trigger something terrible within him. He had only just shared with her everything that this man did to him inside and cried ferociously against her chest when she didn't judge him for it, or for keeping it from her.
"To answer your question, I knew when I first saw on the news that you were getting out. I knew when it happened. He and I had separated. Well, it was more like I got the hell out of dodge and we never got a divorce before Emma got Will to give him a thumbs down and let him rot." Beiste explained as she poured Sam a drink.
"No," he said. "So, when you saw me in your bar that night, you already knew."
"I knew and I wanted you to know that you were welcome to come to me, with anything," she said. "But, that's not something that I would come to you about. You never opened up and having lived in the shadow of his terror, I knew not to try to open someone else who had to do that up." She asked, "Can I hold your hand, Pumpkin?"
"No," Sam said. "Where's Mercedes?" He asked. He suddenly did not want to be here, around any of these people or any of this mess. This now felt much deeper than what he thought it was. He thought that Will and company were targeting Mercedes and that's why her friends were having these issues… but now, he was finding out that exes and fathers and really unnerving unlikely sharers of terrible experiences. He just began crying.
"I'll get her for you…" Beiste said and got up, but when she reached the door, Emma was already letting Mercedes in. "Oh, he was just asking for you," Beiste said, softly.
Sam couldn't bring himself to look up at her as she hovered over him, but he did wrap his arms around her and rest his head on her belly. "Did you have any idea?"
"You never said name, when you were telling me." Mercedes said, "And when I did the background check on you, they never mentioned him by the name that I knew him by." She reached down to cup his face and suggested, "We came here so that I could participate in the prayer circle. Why don't we go ahead and join the others, so that it can start?" Truly, Sam just wanted to leave, but when Mercedes said, "Wouldn't your friend Figgy have suggested that prayer would be good, right now?" He was subdued.
When they went into the living room, Emma asked everyone to get into a circle and hold hands. Brittany cheered in a whisper, "Yay! Just like camp!" Santana snickered and took her hand. On the other side of her, Lauren took her hand and Santana smiled at her. Likewise, Sam reached for Lauren's other hand, while he already had Mercy's hand and Mercy reached for Quinn's and Beth forced her little hand into the handhold between her mom and her best friend. Then, there was Tina, Mike, Kurt, Blaine, Beiste, Emma, Shane, his partner, Artie, and Becky, who reached around and enclosed the circle by grabbing Brittany's free hand.
Joe was in the center of the circle and announced, "Okay, this is the first time that I've done this with this entire group. I've prayed one on one with many of you in the past and will do so, if anyone needs any additional prayer tonight. What I generally do in these circle prayers, in case you haven't seen it or been present for one, is I go around the circle and you can tell me to skip you, or to just pray for you, in general, or you can tell me a specific prayer that you would like to be given for yourself. I will pray whatever it is that you request, and if you do not wish for prayer, I will move on." Joe started with Becky, moved to Brittany, when he got to Santana, he halfway expected her to pass.
She surprised him when she said, "Pray for me to get over this fear that I have of like everything, right now." Her face fell to the floor, ashamed as she whispered, "I can't function like this. I'm used to being fearless and I don't like that I had to put my foot in my mouth."
Joe wiped away tears that she hadn't even realized were falling, pressed his forehead to hers, and silently prayed for what she requested and some additional prayers for her strength, and the "Beautiful wit and ironic charm she once had to return." Lauren wanted to heal up and be better than ever, then Joe paused in front of Sam.
"Can I do it?" Sam asked.
Joe smiled at him and told him, "Of course. God hears the prayers of all of His children."
Sam nodded, squeezed Lauren and Mercedes' hands and bowed his head:
"Dear Lord… Things have gotten to be so bad that it's really hard for me to see the good in any of it. Then, of course you show me mercy…" They wondered if that was with a big or a little 'M' "And I just know that everything will be better than I can even imagine. Figgins once told me that Jeremiah said you have plans for us – for good and not for evil. Joseph once had to tell his brothers that what they meant for evil, God meant for good. Lord, you know that my entire life has been this huge mass of evil, but I want to trust that all of this will bring forth some good… I am SO sorry for the choices that I made that are now affecting the lives of these people around me, because I not only care about them. I love them. I don't want anything bad to ever happen to anyone in this room and if something happens because of me and things that I've done, I'll feel so much darkness…"
Sam didn't let the breakouts of sobs and sniffles all around the circle deter him. "God, we all need You to enter into this really messed up situation and make a miracle for us. We need something to happen that can somehow help these people to not have to endure the hate. I know what it feels like to be locked up in the dark and not know when someone is coming to get you – not knowing if you'll be left to die or if they'll decide to kill you slow or just hard and rough. I know how afraid that can make someone, so I ask that You protect Santana from her feelings of having to deal with that." Mercedes tilted her head, slightly. She was confused, but Sam kept going.
"Thank you for Becky, who the world thinks has every right to be afraid and try to take things easy – but she shows up to work, everyday and still manages to make the people around her smile and comfortable. They may worry about her, but I'm not. She's a firecracker and I'm glad that she's around to help Quinn with everything. God, let Quinn know that You can empower her to do whatever it is that she sets her heart on. Help her to see that all of the hurt and fear and loss in her past that she may think that medicine and friends helped her to survive – You were the best friend that she could have had. I thank you that she's had people like Mercy and Tina – opposite sides of a pole to help to balance her out when she thought she was losing it. God, I ask that you take it even further and reveal to her heart the balance that turning her mind away from the bad stuff and focusing it on all that she's been through and still came out as a beautiful, smart, capable, and loving friend, mother, and manager, can bring." Quinn began crying hard, ugly tears and Beth turned to hug her tightly.
"Bless her daughter, who has to try to come up in a world full of hateful and hurtful people. We thank You that Beth has the people in her mother's life to show her what love really is, that we can gather like this and be there for each other when things are hard. And for Tina, Lord - I truly thank You. This woman has been such a rock for so many people in this circle and I don't know whether or not she knows it, but even her harshness against me in the beginning was helpful. She helps people to remain mindful of themselves and to avoid their bad parts, not so much because she's judgmental, but because she has a strong sense of justice and a firm belief in what is right. Even though the world may not agree, she works based upon her heart, and she always speaks her mind. Things are hard for her right now, so I hope that Mike and all these others will be able to be as great a pillar of strength for her, now that she needs it as she has been for others."
Sam glanced next to him and prayed, "And Lord God, thank You endlessly for Mercedes being in my life. She's just everything that I have ever needed and had no idea that I was missing. The way that You've ingrained her in my life and the way that she fits perfectly into all of my cracks and broken pieces like a soothing salve will never fail to amaze me. Thank You for the famile gathered here today and let us continue to love and support each other, as we patiently wait for You to work out whatever it is You're doing with all of us. In Jesus' name. Amen." He glanced at Joe and whispered, "Thank You." Joe nodded, but the circle had been broken. Tina rushed over and hugged Sam, tightly, as did Quinn and Mercy. It became a big group hug and Joe continued to pray for others, but they would just kind of call out different requests as they heard him wrap up the last. There were tears all around for about an hour, then there was laughter and smiles.
Quinn announced, as everyone was sitting around, cuddling and having conversation, "Mercedes, if you want to know everything that's been going on, and you promise not to let it make you stick around here when you and Sam are supposed to go back to Kentucky, we'll tell you." Tina looked excitedly expectant at Mercedes, hoping for the chance to share with her best friend.
Emma suggested, "We can do it like a session!" Beiste was watching Sam, to see how he was taking these suggestions. He simply sat, calmly and quietly, holding his lady's hand with one hand and stroking her back, with the other. Mercedes let them know that her curiosity had been deeply stirred by the prayers and prayer requests and let them know that it didn't have to be a session, but if they really wanted to tell her, she did want to know. So, Tina and Kurt sat on opposite sides of her, Tina squeezed her way right in between Sam and Mercy and threw him an over the shoulder apology, so that she could tell Mercedes everything, from start to finish, with Kurt's assistance and different add-ins from all around the room.
Santana decided to retire from the room and go back to the room she had been sleeping in for the past week or so. Sam took that time to gather up Beiste and Emma and request a private audience with the two of them. When they went into Emma's office, Sam hugged Beiste and apologized for the way he responded. "You've been a victim of him too, and I don't know – I just freaked out when I realized that you'd known him like that and hadn't mentioned it. But, you had a point – I hadn't mentioned it either and that isn't something that anyone really likes to talk about. Yet, after sharing with my dad and with Mercedes, I'm starting to feel like I can talk about anything." He turned to face Emma and asked her, point blank, "I want to know what the connection is between you and Will Schuester?"