The Requiem

Sam cared that it hurt his family that he was leaving early; but it became obvious, after only a few minutes with his family that Mercedes was not going to be able to handle the rest of their time here. She was not going to be able to focus. She was not going to be able to rest, until she got home to her family to deal with the stuff. So, after about an hour, he apologized and explained that he was going to take her back to Ohio. All they knew was that she had a death in the family. Sam didn't want to expound and Mercedes was not saying much of anything.

Those four hours took so long to pass, on the road. It was nothing like the kiss filled, handholding journey taken a couple of weeks before. This time, there was sporadic sad singing, coming from Mercedes' mouth. He knew that was one of her ways of trying to cope with things. There were sporadic moments of her turning on the radio and then deciding that she did not want to hear anything that was playing. After about two hours, that came to a stop when some oldies station played "Crying" by Roy Orbison and she flipped out and started attacking the radio to turn it off. Sam reached over and did it for her. "That's the song that I sung before I tried to drown myself… when Puck rescued me!" She sobbed.

That was when Sam pulled her to lay her head on his lap and she stayed there, for the rest of the ride, allowing him to stroke her hair and wipe her tears when she cried. The moment they got back into town, she had him to head straight to Emma's place. It was only about 6:30 pm, but Sam saw everyone's vehicles outside of the place and told her that they were still there. Mercedes barely let the vehicle stop before she was getting out and marching towards the house. Sam got the dogs out and they went to follow her. He waited for a moment, leaned against the van and covered his face. Everything seemed entirely surreal. He felt like when he walked into that house, there was no more avoiding this. Puck was dead.

Sam soon allowed himself to step inside, unsure of what type of reception he might receive, at such a time as this. When he came in, Mercedes was already hugging Tina and trying to give her some encouraging words. He was impressed, though not surprised that Mercy pushed her own sorrow aside to try to see to Tina's well-being. Tina turned to see Sam and he was immediately heartbroken at how sad and red her eyes were. "Sam," she said and exploded into another round of tears. Sam moved in to hug her and she cried on him for a moment and whispered, "They did this. I know they did." He nodded his head. That had been his thought processing, too… but he had not had much time to focus on it, for trying to see Mercedes through her grief over Puck.

"Where's Quinn?" Mercedes asked.

Tina frowned and replied, "She's with Puck's family, for Beth. Listen… Mrs. Puckerman don't want any of us at Puck's funeral. She says that none of us know enough about Jewish customs and that we've done enough already in Puck's life. The least that we can do is to allow him a proper Jewish farewell."

Mercedes' lip quivered for a moment and she sighed, then said, "I'll call her. Surely she didn't mean that. I mean, surely at least I'll be allowed to come."

Tina cleared her throat and looked apologetic as she mentioned, "Actually, she specifically said especially not you." Now, Mercedes couldn't hold it any longer. She bit her lip and choked on the sobs that she was trying to keep herself from pouring out. Sam quickly collected her into an embrace. "She's still grieving. Give her a little time," Tina advised Mercedes.

Matt's phone alerted him of a text, with a simple beep. He looked at the words: He's back. He tucked the phone into his pocket and shut his laptop. Matt looked over at Aphasia and she stopped playing the game on her phone to look at him, "What?" She wondered.

"Sam Evans has been spotted in Lima," he said. "I'll leave it to you to arrange our meeting."

"Don't you think that there will be funeral stuff and such for him to tend to?" Aphasia asked.

"Evans was not a friend of Noah Puckerman and he didn't even know the Cohen-Chang woman," Matt said. "My source says that Jones and her friends have been banned from Puckerman's arrangements, at any rate."

"That's really inconsiderate, Matt."

"I'm inconsiderate to him, without remorse. Thank you, in advance," he said and waved over the waitress. Aphasia bit her tongue and reminded herself that she was no longer the kind of person to haul off and punch a sucker in the face. Her hands tingled and she wiggled her fingers. "You want to hit me, don't you?" He asked, somewhat amused.

"It would be unhealthy and counterproductive," she said with a forced, but brilliant smile. He laughed and glanced at the check, before pulling out his wallet. He knew that Aphasia was already working on the text.

Hey! Heard that you're back, so please call me at your earliest convenience! Sam frowned and the text and set his phone on the nightstand. Mercedes and Tina were cuddling on the bed and he and Mike were sort of just sitting around… on standby, or something. Mike looked like he'd lost a lot of sleep but Sam was antsy. How did Aphasia "hear" that he was back? Someone obviously was watching this house to try to spot him. He didn't know who Aphasia was connected to. She claimed to want to help him with the Matt situation, but only a couple of weeks later, Matt did something just terrible!

Sam tried with so much of his energy to listen to the advice that Joe had given him, to simply try to think of Matt's feelings and be willing to forgive the things that he was doing, but now, someone had died because of it. So very much, Sam wished that he could blame Puck's alcohol poisoning on Will and associates, but it's impossible to force someone to drink themselves to death. Puck had to make a choice to do this, and he'd made that choice because Matt had pushed him with some stupid photograph!

Tina suggested, "Do you guys think that you could go pick up some things for us?" That might be a good thing, for everyone. Mercedes probably needed a little space from Sam and he still couldn't tell exactly how she was feeling towards him. He was unsure if she blamed him or if losing Puck maybe made her think that she would never be happy with the man she chose, or… what?

Going on a run with Mike was a good way to get more insight on everything as well as not have to see Mercedes in such terrible shape. "Jewish people don't really waste much time dealing with the bodies. Mrs. Puckerman didn't even want to have a full autopsy. She just wanted to hurry up and get the burial handled and mourn," Mike said.

"Full autopsy?" Sam repeated.

Mike shook his head and said, "My dad and I talked about it. Puck hasn't drank in years, with the exception of his mess up last month, and when he drank then – he didn't get alcohol poisoning. He was stinking drunk, and even though his tolerance level became much lower after he stopped drinking, years ago; if the amount that he drank when he fell off of the wagon had not killed him…" Mike shook his head and started afresh, "I was confused as to how Puck would have gotten access to either A. alcohol that strong or B. how he would have had the time unattended to drink enough liquor for it to affect him that way. With the suspicious details surrounding Kim's suicide, I'm starting to really feel like Puck's death isn't what they think it is."

Sam stared at Mike. Mike sighed and said, "You think that I'm overreaching."

"No. I think that you've made excellent points. So, Mrs. Puckerman didn't have an autopsy, then?" He asked.

"She did, but she insisted that they do it in time for her to be able to bury Puck after two days," Mike said. "My dad is going to try to see if he can speak to someone and get some details, but the family doctor told Mrs. Puckerman that there were pain meds and sedatives in his system. Tina and I have been together now for almost five years. I haven't been able to see the drunk Puck that they talk about, but never ONCE has any of them ever mentioned pills or drug usage. From what I know, Puck didn't even smoke grass. They wouldn't be medicating him at the rehab clinic. He was there to beat alcohol, not crack or heroine. But, he waits until he's in the place where he's probably had the healthiest program to break before ever even getting out and to do it in such a way that it kills him? All of a sudden, he tries other drugs? He either was trying to kill himself, or had no idea what he was drinking, which I'm still trying to figure out how something that dangerous got into that place. It's too shady, Sam."

"Given the right conditions, people can cross the line. I can realistically see Puck trying drugs, but if he didn't do it when Mercy tried to kill herself, last; or when they broke up the first time, I'm inclined to believe that he wouldn't now that he has Beth to think about. What about this photo that I've heard about, from Matt Rutherford?" Sam asked.

"Matt said that he didn't do it," Mike said, simply. "I believe him. It isn't that he wouldn't do something like that, but if he did – he wouldn't lie about it. He said that he had no reason to want to torture Noah Puckerman and that Puck's death in no way helps his goals." Mike threw something into the basket. Sam had almost forgotten that they were actually there to pick some things up.

Mercedes admitted, "I feel so bad. It's Sam's birthday and I'm spending it crying over another guy, and you already know that he has a complex about Puck. I feel so bad for putting him through this. I don't know what I feel worse about… the fact that I know that Puck did this because of me, the fact that I'm hurting Sam for being so upset over Puck, or the fact that I didn't come to see about you, but when I heard about Puck, I packed up, right away."

"Don't feel bad about any of that. It's not your fault that Puck died. You have every right to mourn a friend that you've lost and I specifically told you not to come running to me." Tina sighed and said, "You know what's helpful to me? Endless bouts of sexual pleasure help things along, even though it doesn't erase anything. You get to forget it for a time. I know that you and Sam are on that level, now."

Mercedes laughed and asked, "Oh, do you?"

Tina laughed and sat up, "Oh, Mercy! Don't hold out on me. We need a moment of lighthearted stuff. If we sit here and dwell on all the bad stuff that's around us we'll drown in a pool of misery. You wait here. I am going to get us drinks. We are happy drunks and I think that both of us could use it."

Mercedes was laughing hysterically with Tina when Mike and Sam returned, pleasantly surprised to hear that lovely noise. The guys came in with the bags and Sam could hear Puck's voice singing on the CD player. "Take it Cedes!" Tina cheered, singing into her brush. Mercedes was bouncing on the bed, singing into an unplugged curling iron, "Well your hair never falls in quite the same way and your clothes never wear as well the next day. You never seem to run out of things to say!"

They both went back in on, "This IS the story of a girl. Who cried a river and drowned the whole world. And while she looks so sad in photographs! I absolutely love her when she smiles!"

Mike clapped his hands, "Bravo! Bravo!" He said and turned the music off. "You two look like completely different women than the ones who sent us to the store."

Tina said, "Mercedes reminded me of the time that I got in trouble at the institution for fighting and Puck stole the keys from one of the orderlies and Puck, Artie, Quinn and Mercy snuck into my solitary room and we locked the door and when the orderly heard us laughing and making noise, he came to try to get to us…" She was cracking up laughing.

"And then he realized that his keys were missing, so he was SO mad that he was cussing, because he'd get in trouble if he had to call someone to unlock the door. So we told him that if he stripped to his underwear and performed 'We Are Family' that we'd open the door."

Tina finished up with, "But, he refused, so Quinn pulled down her pants and mooned him! Then, Puck, feeling like he had to show her up presses ham to the glass of the window by standing on Artie's chair! Then, and then, and then… the chair went rolling and Puck fell. Pants around his knees!" Tina was crying laughing. "He was the trouble maker and the closest that we could get to a class clown in that place! I didn't like him, but God, he could be so funny, at times."

"Especially when he and Artie were together! That was my team!" Mercedes said, guffawing. Sam sat down on the bed and Mercedes took his hand, "But you and me are my team, now, okay?"

"Okay," he said, smiling.

Suddenly, she gasped and asked Tina, "Do you remember that time when Finn, Quinn, Puck and I caught you and Artie in the stockroom at POM making out?"

"That never happened," Tina said.

Mercedes kept laughing and said, "And Puck had those 'I ships Tina and Artie FTW t-shirts made!" Tina gave Mike an apologetic/guilty look and shook her head. A couple of the guys still had those t-shirts, but she had not been able to convince them to throw them away. They had a wheelchair with ying-yang wheels on it – which always bothered Tina, because that symbol represented her in no way and she considered it Puck being racist and ignorant, though he insisted it was because no symbol really represented her and that the shirts were just for a laugh.

"That happened when we were like 18," Tina defended.

Mike laughed a little and shrugged his shoulders. "Like I'm really concerned about things in your past," he reminded her. Hell, if some of the stuff that he'd known and some of the stuff that he was gradually finding out, because of living with all of her friends for a month.

Mercedes confessed, "I thought that you and Artie were a good match and was sad that you didn't want to date him because he was my ex from high school. But, that's good, because now you have Perfect Mike, who has been wonderful and more since day 1. And I have Sam, who's the best."

They heard a knock on the door and looked up to see Kurt and Blaine coming in, carrying a cake. Blaine immediately began singing, "There is no future. There is no past."

Kurt set in with, "Thank God this moment's not the last…"

Then Tina and Kurt sang, "There's only us. There's only this. Forget regret. Or life is yours to miss." And Mercy and Blaine joined in on, "No other road. No other way. No day, but today…"

That was when Tina and Mercedes began singing, "I can't control my destiny. I trust my soul, my only goal." While Blaine and Kurt sang, "Will I lose my dignity? Will someone care? Will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare?" Tina and Mercy went into the words, "It's just to be without you… The hand gropes, the ear hears, the pulse beats, life goes on, but I'm gone…" While the gentlemen were singing, "There's only now. There's only here. Give in to love. Or live in fear. No other path. No other way. No day but today."

By this time, the ladies began singing a repetition of, "I'd die without you," while the guys sang, "No day but today," and they kept this up for some more reps and all ended with, "No day but today!" Sam had heard this song on Mercedes' "Showtunes" Pandora station before, but he wasn't sure where it was from. It did, however seem a perfect homage to both his birthday and the memory of Puck. Mercedes was crying by the time they finished the song. Tina rubbed her leg as Blaine said, "Happy Birthday, Sam."

Sam tilted his head and saw that the fancy, flashy thing had "Happy Birthday Samboo!" on it. "Is that for me?" He asked, coyly as he tried not to get choked up. He hadn't expected anything, because of what everyone had going on. The fact that they still squeezed something in, especially a pretty expensive looking cake and a beautifully arranged song did get to him.

"Yes!" Kurt said, "We tried to get it to say Sambo, like wordplay on Rambo." Sam immediately started laughing at the problem with that statement. "Imagine our surprise when the baker chewed us out about the word!"

"So, we went with Samboo, playing off of bamboo. You've been really strong for Mercy and for everyone and you've been like a warrior. I know that the cake looks kinda, well, very gay, but Kurt ordered it," Blaine said. Kurt's lip dropped as he threw daggers from his eyes at his boyfriend.

"I love it," Sam said gratefully. "Thanks, guys. Want some cake, Babydoll?" He asked Mercedes. She shivered at the Southern accent speaking to her and nodded. "Mercy gets first piece!" Sam said.

Blaine offered, "I'll go get the plates and utensils."

Tina sobbed and said, "I'm so glad that in the midst of all the death that we can celebrate life; because no matter how hard it's going to be for us, it has to continue without the ones who didn't make it."

Mercedes cried and added, "And the ones who did should not have to be ignored or downgraded because of the ones who are gone." She squeezed Sam's hand and lie on his shoulder.

It took Mrs. Puckerman a few days to settle down, but she called Mercedes and told her that she could take her to the gravesite, but she insisted that the Nazi boy not come anywhere near her. Mercedes was not going to argue the fact that Sam had changed or say anything that might affect the woman's decision. It had been hard enough to have to try to deal for the past few days with not being able to properly see Puck off, and having him constantly on her mind.

Mercedes placed a stone on the grave and started crying, "I'm so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Puckerman. You know that I loved Puck with everything that I had. Our time had just run out. I don't know how it ever got so bad – he'd been doing so well!"

"I knew that he would drink himself to death. When he stopped drinking, for good – I was impressed; but some part of me knew that it would eventually come to this. I was blindsided by the drugs, though… no offense."

"None taken," Mercedes said. She wanted to ask about the drugs, but Mrs. Puckerman was bad off enough and probably just needed to be left alone about all of this.

"Mercedes, I hope that you realize that from this moment on, there is no connection between us. I intend for you not to bother my family or reach out to us. I want to leave you and the rest of your little group in the past. If Quinn Fabray was not Beth's mother, there would be no reason for her to be in my life, either. Joe Hart is the ONLY positive person that you ever brought into my son's world and now that Noah is dead, your poison no longer welcome in my world." Mercedes sobbed and Mrs. Puckerman told her, "That time, I don't care whether or not I offended you. Now, you've had your moment to visit. I hope this was enough for you to just say goodbye and move on with your life."

The two women walked back to Quinn's car and Mrs. Puckerman left both of them without saying another word. "She blames me," Mercedes said gently.

"She's always blamed everyone else for what's wrong with her son. Don't pay her any mind, Mercy. Puck was screwed up when I met him, when we were kids. He was screwed up when you first met him in the institution. He got worse, he got better, he relapsed and neither of us had the power to keep that from happening. If she was so great to him, she would have been his emergency contact person." Quinn gave Mercedes a tight hug and suggested, "He left some tapes for you, while he was inside. The center gave all of his stuff to me, as his emergency contact. I still have the key to his apartment and Mrs. Puckerman hasn't been able to obtain her copy, yet. Is there anything that you know of that you want of his, before she gets in there?"

"I want the guitar that he tried to teach me to play. I want the photo album that he made of us – that he would describe every photo in to me in detail, to try to help me imagine it…" She started crying as she said, "I want that sweatshirt that he would wear when we would sit in front of his fireplace and sing to each other, and the CDs that he kept making me, even when I refused them." Mercedes was collapsing onto Quinn's neck. "I want to hug him and tell him that I was just upset with him, that I would never cut him off, not for good and that I would always be his friend and love him as the best friend that I could be, and that he didn't have to throw his life away! Not for me! NOT OVER ME!" Mercedes shuddered, uncontrollably.

"I have you covered up until the hugging him part," Quinn told her, gently. Then, she said, "But, you can hug me, anytime that you feel bad about him. This wasn't your fault, Mercedes. Puck undid all of the work that he'd put in to be a better man. Don't you do the same thing. Not for him."

Now, Mercedes straightened up and said, "I won't. I am going to continue living and even if it kills me, I'm going to smile… at least for Sam."

Sam and Aphasia sat in front of each other… she looked significantly different than the last time that he had seen her. She dropped a lot of the weight that she had picked up since school and looked more like her teenage self, except for older, of course and more mature, definitely. "It's like somebody knew the stuff that we had been discussing. We discussed getting together with Matt. We discussed Tina's sister and how Tina felt about her. We discussed Puck…and now, all of them have been targeted. Matt says that he didn't send that photo to Puck."

"Which he didn't," Aphasia quickly said.

"But someone wanted us to think that he did. Someone wanted to ruin the chances of us connecting, by linking him to Puck's death. People are dying, Aphasia. Do you really want to be a part of that?" He asked.

"People are not only dying, but on a daily basis are being cheated out of basic human rights and some of them being put into the system by the antics of evil men; some being raped and abused…" She shook her head and told him, "It shouldn't even be a question." They sat in silence for a moment, then she asked, "You think that you guys have a turncoat?"

"I can't imagine any of them siding with the threat. Well, I'm uncertain about one of them, but this person was nowhere around when we were having some of these conversations, unless she was spying."

"Or unless she had recorders or cameras in place," Aphasia said. "I know that I'm very supportive of taping folks without their knowledge in order to view weaknesses and use it to try to bring them down. Maybe whoever she is had some kind of recorder or something."

Sam covered his mouth and thought about the conversation that he had with Tina. If he remembered correctly, it didn't actually implicate him, specifically… but the facts against her could really put her away! "I have to go," he said. "I'll meet you and Matt in the place that you said at the time that you said."

"Okay, and you'll take my advice?" She asked.

"Definitely," he told her and rushed away, calling Tina as he did.