In all of my time of researching all of the minor characters from Glee, so I could use them relentlessly in this story and not have to create any… I could not find a first name for Will's dad anywhere. (Many don't have last names, but he didn't have a first name. Smh. So, I had to give him one.)
The Revoke
Cooper rubbed his face and smiled at the dark tinted Filipino lady behind the desk at the records department as she handed him a crate of files. "Detective Cooper, I was able to find most of the files you requested, but some of them were misplaced and I really had to search for them… then, some of them were just obviously lost."
"Oh, no, pretty lady. I can't settle for lost," he announced, checking over the list hehad given her and noting which ones she marked as lost. "I'll need you to look again, please? Extra hard… I know that it's asking a lot, but this is very necessary." He flashed her a Disney prince-like smile and she sighed.
"For you, Detective Anderson, I will comb through this entire place inch by inch to try to find those records. But, you OWE me, Mister. My payment is dinner, on you, and a Dexter marathon, at your place."
"Certainly, Shoshandra. But, that's ONLY if you find the files." He winked at her, picked up the box and reaffirmed, "Depending on you, Foxy." As he left, she sighed again and fanned herself. It made no sense for somebody to look that good to be a detective.
Cooper hardly allowed himself any portion of rest as he worked on following up on all of these allegations against Will Schuester. If these were correct, Schuester was a damned domestic terrorist! He made his charts, made his notes, posted sticky pads, and basically let constructing his case(s) against the man eat up his life, but he fully believed it was worth it…
"What the hell am I smelling?" Mercedes asked. Sam looked around, then looked down and his eyes widened. "Sam?"
"Hey… Um…I think that maybe the dogs are sick. There's what looks like throw up on the floor, in here and they both look pretty down," Sam replied.
Lauren came up, with a broom and some grit to pour over the mess. "I just noticed it, before you came down and I have already called the vet. As soon as I get this cleaned up, I'll bring them in."
"We'll take them, Lauren," Sam said.
The assistant nodded and pushed the two holding carts towards him, "I was gonna put some newspapers down in their taxis and load them up." Sam nodded and got right on it while Mercedes fell deep in thought.
"Have they been sick?" She asked, suddenly realizing that she had not been paying much attention to her babies in the past few days, with all of the stuff that happened with Sam and Schuester and the arrest and such… But, she had suddenly remembered Terri Schuester asking her about the dogs. Had that been a threat or promise? Oh God, had that woman done something to her babies?"
"Uh… they've seemed a little off the past few days, but I figured they were just tired or something, and this morning they both just started with this. But, now that you mention it, they hadn't been eating as much," Lauren said.
"Has Terri Schuester been in here or anywhere near them? Or anyone had access to their bowls or their food?" Mercedes wondered.
"Not to my knowledge, Boss Lady," Lauren said, sweeping up the now coagulated pile into a dust pan.
Sam said, "She may have slipped them something when she was petting them the other day… or she could have had someone come through to give them something when the shop was busy." He lifted Kissy into her pink and gray taxi and commented, "But, we're bringing them to the vet – so they'll be fine." He moved to help Cluster into his taxi, but the dog began to get sick all over, again and Sam waited until he finished before sliding him into the cart. Lauren sprinkled her bag over the new puddle and gave Sam a sad look. He went to load them into the van and Mercedes hung back.
"Why are these people so evil? Why would they hurt perfectly harmless dogs?" Mercedes asked, suddenly severely sad.
"Because they're cowardly ass bitches, Miss Jones," Lauren told her and offered her an escort to the van while she waited for the liquid to solidify under the sawdust. She helped Mercedes into the vehicle and asked, "Have you taken your medication, Missy?" Mercedes reached into her bag and felt around for it. It wasn't there. She would have to take it when they got back. Her babies were sick!
She couldn't believe it. Sam stared at her, waiting for her reaction. It seemed like Kissy was going to be fine, according to the vet, but Cluster's vitals were really messed up and when the vet tried to give him treatment and he went into a seizure and when rescue was attempted… they ALMOST lost him. His condition was still questionable when they had to leave him with the vet for observation. Sam was upset enough for both of them. Cluster was actually his favorite – but he wouldn't have wanted anything to happen to any of their dogs. Stevie's dogs had been taken to a dog trainer who was supposed to be unlearning their behavior, but he did warn them that it might take quite a while.
Even though Mercedes couldn't really go around the dogs, Sam thought that they were really sweet guys, when they weren't trying to pounce on dark skinned people and he wanted them to get the help that they needed to be able to be friendly and affectionate to everyone, except for intruders. They were guard dogs, first. So, they would still be able to guard the home front, but he didn't want them to be hate-based guards. On the ride home, Sam looked over at Mercedes. Mercedes had Cluster since she was seventeen and Kissy since she was nineteen. Both of them were close friends of hers. Both were members of her family. "Are you alright, Babydoll?" He asked.
"I'll be fine," she told him.
"So will Clusterfrak, okay? He'll be okay. Stevie's little monsters will be okay. We'll be okay."
"I feel like I should have known that something was up when Terri Schuester was all up in my grill and I was literally afraid for my life and Cluster wasn't making her back the hell up. I should've smelled something, or kneeled down to check to see if he was eating something that I hadn't given him… or… something," Mercedes said. "And if something happens to my dog, that's the last straw, I'm gonna beat the living hell out of her entire face."
"Babe – she's pregnant," Sam said.
"I wouldn't hurt her baby by beating her upside the face!"
"The stress, though. Besides, that's not you, Mercy. Don't stoop to that level. Not to mention – Cluster's going to be fine."
"Oh my God! She also asked me about Emma!" Mercedes said. "We have to check on her!"
Sam and Mercedes approached Emma's hospital room and a nurse immediately cut them off and told them that at the request of Emma's family, only family members were allowed to see her. Mike saw them and came up to ask, "What's up, guys?"
"Mercy thinks that the Schuesters may have something bad planned for Emma. They sort of threatened her the other day, along with the dogs, and Mercy herself. Well, now – it seems like the dogs have been poisoned, without us noticing it and we're worried that maybe something's gonna happen to Emma, too," Sam spouted out.
Mike folded his arms and took a deep breath. "It's been a sad situation. She isn't getting any better. It seems like she's regressing, to be honest and with them forbidding none family members from seeing her, there's nothing I'd be able to do to get any of you in, but I could get myself in there and check on her. I'd just have to find a reason, which I'm sure I'm smart enough to… Then, I'd have to sneak a peek at her records to see if there's anything weird." He shrugged and said, "It's Emma, so – I don't mind risking a little trouble to make sure she's alright. You two can go to the waiting room, if you want?"
"I'm going outside, because I need to call Shannon," Mercedes said. When she got on the phone, she caught Beiste's voicemail and left a message, but before she finished, she was getting an incoming call. "Hello?"
"Hey, Mercy! I haven't heard from you in weeks," the woman said sadly.
"Shannon – we just tried to come check on Emma and we were told that only family could see her. When did this happen?"
The woman on the other line let out a deep breath and admitted, "The other day. Emma seemed like she was getting better, and so's I'm sitting there, holding her hand, when Terri and Will come into the room. Now, I try to be cool, though I know that there's all the crazy going on between you kids and the Schuesters, but in case you haven't noticed – my lil' Pumpkin and I usually stay out of it. But, Schuester takes one look at me and he asks, 'Who said that it's alright for people like you to be anywhere near my sister?' And at that point, I'm taken aback – for a couple of reasons. One is that he never claims that she's his sister. Up until then, I had never heard him use the word to describe her and he shouldn't have even known that I knew.
So, I look right at him and I say, 'Now, Will – I think that you know what Emma and I are to each other and any kind of brother would want me here for her, because you know that she would want me here.' And that's when Terri Schuester opens her little trap and tells me, 'Emma has no idea what she wants, so we're making a decision and you need to leave.' After a pretty heated argument and the nurses calling security, I was sent away and I haven't been able to see Emma, since. I'm talking to a lawyer to try to get something done about it, as the woman that she's shared finances, a home and other contracts with for the past decade, there should be some way that I'm allowed to see her. I'm not even trying to make any kind of heavy decisions or anything. I just want to be there if my woman wakes up, or be there if she passes on."
The sorrow in Shannon's voice hurt Mercedes' heart. They talked for a short while longer, until Sam told her that Mike was headed that way and she promised to call the woman back. Mike jogged up to them and said, "You have every reason to be worried about Emma. She's been stable for all of this time, then suddenly, in the past few days, things started declining. If it gets any worse, she may have to be put on life support and guess who will have the legal right to decide what happens to her?"
"Not her undocumented brother, I know!" Mercedes said. "I mean, it's a SECRET familial relationship, isn't it? Nobody knows because it could hurt his reputation!"
"Technically, no one knows because it could have hurt his father's reputation, but old man Schuester's not really a politician these days, is he? Will is the politician. Daddy Schuester is the CEO of some huge corporations, now and Will is probably is political leverage for his shady business shit," Mike said. "Whatever the case, I guess Will no longer cares about people knowing about Emma, as long as whatever it is that he's trying to do benefits, in the end."
"I think he's running scared. That means that we're close!" Sam announced, excitedly.
"What about Emma?" Mercedes asked.
Sam asked Mike, "Is there any way that you can get your dad to look over her information and try to do something for her?"
"She isn't my dad's patient. He doesn't really have the right or reason to do something like that."
"Can't you just ask him, Mike? I mean – maybe other doctors won't appreciate it, but if he checks it out because he got a tip and a woman is saved because of it, he can't really get in trouble, can he? And what about if you or he decides not to do anything and Emma ends up getting killed by Schuester, in the meantime? Can you live with that on your conscious?" Sam asked. "After Puck died, you told me that you and your dad looked over his information and your dad saw how messed up the stuff was. Just, let him know that it's some of the same kind of danger, but this woman actually may still have a chance!"
Mike nodded his head, "You're right, Sam. I'll talk to him."
Mercedes was unsure if she even wanted to try to do anything today. She woke up to the feel of Sam's strong arms around her soft body and damn it if there was any other place that she would rather be. She snuggled closely to him and felt that familiar poke that made her heart skip a beat. She heard him moan against her skin and she pressed closer to him. "Sam?" She whispered, in case he was asleep. He didn't make a sound, so she presumed that he was, until he let go of her and started moving around. "Sam?" She said a little louder, but he didn't respond. When Mercedes heard the familiar sound of a condom being opened, she smiled and said, "It seems like an inconvenience to have to dig for that and put one on."
"I'm not inconvenienced much, because I know that once I put one on, I get to have you," he whispered in her ear as he pushed himself inside. She gladly acquiesced to his longing. He needed her. She loved him. Things were very unsettled, at the moment and she really never knew what to do or say to make anything any better, for him. So, she sort of had just taken to doing whatever he wanted. "I love you, Mercy. I love you so much," he would frequently tell her as they made love and for those moments, nothing else in the world mattered, at all. But, afterwards, their problems are still alive and well and their danger and fear was still very real. Not even an innocent dog was safe.
Sam rolled out of bed and looked at Mercedes, snuggled up in the sheets, slightly glistening from her perspiration and settling back into a sleepy mode. "You gonna stay in bed today, Babydoll?" He asked, stroking her arm. It was her third day and he was worried, but he didn't want to push her. She shut her eyes and nodded her head. Sam stroked her face and kissed her, "I wish I could stay with you, but I got a weird text from Matt, so I have to meet up with him this morning. When I get back, I'll check on you before I start working in the shop." She simply nodded again and turned over on her side to go to sleep. "Mercy… I love you," he said. She shuddered. Every time he was going to leave and he told her he loved her, he made it sound so final and that only put weight on her fears of something awful happening to him, out there.
"I love you too, Sam. Come home with your shield, or on it," she told him. Sam smirked at her Spartan reference and gave her another kiss on the side of her head. She placed her hand in his hair and brushed his short tousled spikes with her fingertips. She heard his phone sound and he answered it as he got up and began to get ready to leave. When he left, he let Kissy into the room. Kissy had been depressed Cluster had been away, but the vet assured Mercedes that he looked better and would be home, soon.
Mercedes held her medication in her palm for longer than she even knew, blankly facing nothing in particular in front of her. She felt so lethargic. Everything that she did began to feel like it was a tiring task… even lifting those little pills to her mouth. Eventually, she simply went back to sleep, leaving them on the table, next to the bed. What she didn't realize was that this had been the third day that she had done this thing. Whenever she did get up, she turned on one of her Puck CD's and listened to him singing, Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones, on repeat. With Cluster leaving her, her mind went to Puck and she ended up listening to a number of these CDs in her free time.
She was laying in bed with Kissy on her lap, petting her and listening to Puck sing One Thing by Finger Eleven and play his guitar when she heard a knock on the door. "Yes?" She called and he stepped inside of the room.
"Mercy… the elevator wasn't locked," she heard Dwight say. "You know it isn't safe to leave it like that. Do you know where Sam is?"
"Somewhere with Matt," she said, apathetically. She heard him coming closer and felt the bed move slightly as he sat on the foot of it. She reached over and turned her music down.
"How have you been holding up?" He wondered.
"Um… Fine?" She replied, not meaning to sound so unsure. "Fine. It's rough, because I raised Clusterfrak from the time he was a puppy. I sat in with him at all of his guard dog training classes. I kept him healthy, eating the best of things, and gave him the best toys and treats. I made sure he had regular vet visits, refresher courses in guarding, regular grooming and maintenance, wonderful hygiene to almost lose him like that. What kind of person could do that?"
"Terri Schuester didn't marry Will because they're so different, that's for sure. Those two were meant to be together," he said.
"Yeah, well, I hope that she falls along with him," Mercedes said. "By the way, do we know anything more about how these things are coming along?"
"I don't, but I'm sure that Sammy and Matthew are working it out. Listen, I wanted to thank you and your friends for all of the help and support you've shown us. I know that neither myself nor Mary even deserved for you to be so kind to us after how we handled you when Sammy first brought you around, but you didn't hold that against either of us. I even think that if Mary had made it, you'd have her in your home recuperating. So, first off – just thank you, for being a loving woman. Thank you for loving my son. He needs you. He needs someone like you to help him stay this optimistic and hopeful young man that you helped him to become, after he was released from prison." Mercedes started crying into Kissy's fur. "I don't mean to make you cry, Hunny. I just want you to know that you're just as important to Stacie and I as anyone else in our family. We love you, Doll." Dwight squeezed Mercedes' foot, gently.
She nodded, "You are my family, Dwight. I accepted all of you into my heart the moment that I accepted Sam into it, faults and all. And of course, I would've taken Mary in. Sam loved her more than anybody in the world. He was mad at her and I think maybe even still is, but he loved his mama with the biggest part of himself."
"Well, he did at one point in time. But, I think it's safe to say that the biggest part of himselfhas been shifted to love another," he smiled at Mercedes and told her, "I was thinking to thank you that maybe we can all have a fun night, and I know how much you love karaoke, so I wanted all of you and your friends to join Stacie and me at Coach's."
Mercedes frowned, then forced a smile. "That's sweet, Dwight, but I don't know if I can handle that, right now. Shannon's having struggles with the Schuesters over Emma and Dr. Chang has warranted a guard and an investigation to be launched at the hospital. I know that Coach's is still open, but I haven't been able to be there since my friend Puck died, and now with Emma's life on the line and Cluster being as sick as he's been, I kind of don't want to do anything that's going to make me feel all happy and hopeful until we get all of this mess taken care of. I feel like if I do that, I'll get all excited, then when the next disaster strikes, when we face the next loss, when we go through the next wave of terror… I'll have a longer way to fall down. I'd prefer to stay down here and let the next tragedy just fall on me."
"That don't sound like the woman that Sammy's constantly bragging about. That don't sound like the little lady that I met and got to know pretty good in Kentucky and I don't recognize the gal laying in this bed, sulking with her doggie," Dwight said.
"It's me, Dwight. This is who I am, underneath all of the strong fronts and illogical leaps of faith. How am I supposed to continuously run a marathon if I can't even get a splash of water? Why do these people get to do stuff like this? They've killed our friends, members of our family, and been so wicked as to prey on pets! We are getting stomped down. Why would I want to keep getting up to get kicked right back down?"
"To make those chomps sweat. If they want to beat you down, don't make it any easier on them, Hun. Make them work at it. Make them bleed for it," Dwight suggested. She sighed, because she still felt defeated. "How about after they're dealt with? It'll be the karaoke celebration of the year," Dwight said, sounding hopeful.
"Dwight, after they're dealt with, I will sign up for karaoke, honky-tonk night, amateur stripper showcase…" Dwight began laughing and she joined in for a brief moment, even though – hell, she had been damned serious. "I just don't feel like doing anything and I won't be able to focus on enjoying anything until this is over and done…"
"Babydoll?" She heard Sam call out, sounding worried. He rushed into the bedroom and started at the sight of his father on the bed, but then he let out a relieved sigh. "Mercy – you never locked the elevator after I left! What if someone would have come up here and did something to you?"
"Sorry…" She started, but he cut her off.
"Is that Puck singing?" Sam asked, trying not to sound as bothered as he was by that. Why the hell would he actually be worried about Puck? He was dead… but then again, that probably made him even more of a threat… a threat that could never officially be settled. He still didn't know exactly how she felt about losing Puck the way that she had, but he knew that Quinn had given her several possessions from their late friend and it seemed like Mercedes was revisiting some of those sentimental things. He walked over to the CD player to cut it off. He had a long morning with Matt and he couldn't handle these thoughts of Puck, right now.
"I was just…" Mercedes started, but Sam cut her off again, with a gasp.
Then, he asked, "Mercedes… are these pills on the stand some pills that you were supposed to take? Please tell me that you have been taking your medication and not just leaving it here on the table!"
She furrowed her eyebrows and asked, through her teeth, "Isn't Dwight still here?"
Dwight told them, "I'll be on my way. Just know this, Mercy – I meant everything that I said. And Sammy, I just got finished gloating about how in love y'all are. Don't give her reasons to doubt me by overreacting or something." Dwight gave Mercedes' foot another squeeze and got up to leave the room.
When they were alone, Mercedes was about to beg Sam not to fuss at her or start an argument, but he fell onto her shoulder and fought off the desire to cry, "Why haven't you been taking your pills, Mercedes? There's so much going on right now and I don't want you to be depressed through it. I don't want you to have another breakdown."
"I'm not going to have one," she tried to promise, but her voice cracked from hearing the pain in his voice. "All of this has just gone too far. I'm not as strong as I must've thought that I was when I took this on." Sam sat up and stroked her face.
"Took this on? You… you mean being with me?" He asked, sounding even more hurt than before.
"I mean putting up a fight with people who obviously fight better and dirtier. They're grittier and more ferocious. An eagle is strong, but does it stand a chance against a pack of wolves?" Mercedes bit her lip and said, "I'll never regret what we have, Sam… unless I lose you. I'll regret it all, if I lose you. Because if I lose you, nothing was ever worth all of this!" Sam tackled her lips with his and she cried into his mouth. "I just want all of this to go away," she whispered softly.
"It's about to," he told her and rubbed his nose against the side of her face. "Matt and I talked to Detective Cooper Anderson today. Matt's gathered up all of his father's research, accompanied with my testimony, the testimonies of others who knew of some of his plans firsthand, we're close, Baby. We're so close. I need you to hang in there, for me. I know that you can do it. I know it's tough, but I swear that after this is over, I'll never let you go through anything so tough again. You'll never have to hurt like this, again." He grabbed a couple of the little scatter of pills off of the nightstand and reached for her glass of water that may or may not have been sitting there for the past few days. He felt bad. He felt that he should have paid more attention to her.
Of course, he wanted her to have her space, but sometimes maybe he wasn't protective enough. He simply didn't want to be like Quinn had been. In speaking of which, "I spoke to Quinn today," he said as he handed her the pills. Immediately, he noticed her face brighten at the sound of her former best-friend's name. She took the pills and drank the water he gave her without questioning him. He answered, "She and her sister are willing to testify against Russell Fabray – even up through her admitting that he shared with her conspiracy to commit murder."
"What else happened today?" Mercedes asked quietly.
"It's been quite a day," Sam said.
Matt heard several alerts coming from his phone and computers. Something had clearly happened. He rushed to the computer and opened the first message that he saw from Andrea. She was out for the day, but promised to come in later on. However, in this message, she was promising to meet him at the police station and she attached a link. Matt opened it and saw breaking news that Preston Schuester had been arrested for… and there was a list! He leaned over his work center and began to pull up the story on different sites, then reached for his phone. You and I are needed at the police station, ASAP. I sincerely hope that you have some personal testimony on Preston Schuester. He texted to Sam while he reached for the laptop that he took with him everywhere.
He had taken to wearing his vest ALL THE TIME, except for when he was in the shower (not that he showered as often as a person probably should), but things were getting SO close. Detective Cooper Anderson had been on Matt's radar for years. The young detective had gotten involved in a scandal a few years earlier when he dared to investigate the connection between one of his colleagues and a white supremacist outfit that was starting up. From what Matt read about it, he had come up with a lot of pertinent information and even attached Schuester's name to the claims, but lawsuits and settlements were involved, he faced disciplinary action and ultimately could not do anything about anything. Yet, Matt had faith in the man's honor and in his attention to detail and desire to do his job properly. He had been Matt's choice for whenever he found something that they would be able to use against the Schuester syndicate, since that time.
Now, Matt pulled on his hoodie and packed away his weapons. He prepared his bag and hit the road. If anyone was watching him, they were probably apt to open fire in the middle of the morning, without a mask, without a good goddamned and while he should probably be paranoid and/or afraid, he was basking in this feeling. For once, he felt like he actually had an upperhand in this fight. For once, he felt like he had some level of power that intimidated and alarmed those bastards and he was going to go in for the kill. No more smart, clever moves. No more chess. It was time for Battleship.
It took Sam longer to get to the station than it had taken Matt, but when they saw the purple van approaching, Andrea began to smile and nodded her head, "I know that they never actually did anything personally to me, but is it weird that I really feel this great sense of victory for the two of you and everyone else that they have hurt or harmed or robbed or raped?"
"Any decent person would be happy about it. Less not celebrate just yet, though. It's not gonna be complete until we get those guilty verdicts and slash or they start killing themselves or each other off… But you should be extra proud, because I promise, I never could have gotten this far without you in my corner."
"You're my best friend, Matt. You've always been my best friend. Maybe I couldn't give you the kind of comfort that my girl Phai has seemed to or the kind of closure that this dude walking up has, but I always knew that I was going to ride out this entire fight with you, even if we got arrested or killed in the process, which we haven't. Knock on wood," she said and knocked on a plaque outside of the station as Sam reached them. "What's good Lemon Drop?" Andrea asked.
"Why are we here? Where are we in the mission?" He asked back. Both Andrea and Matt held out their phones towards him and he looked back and forth between them before simply taking Matt's out of his hand to read. "He's… Is he inside?" He asked, looking up, excited.
"He is inside and he is PISSED!" Andrea said, laughing. I sped my ass over as soon as I got the text earlier, and I was one of the first folks here. I have snapshots. Then, I walked in there, big and bad and snapped some more photos before that Officer Goolsby snatched me up and threw me out. He almost made me drop my damned camera!"
"Do we know if he's affiliated with them?" Matt asked Andrea.
Sam said, "I don't think so. I think he's just an asshole. He was an equal opportunity asshole when he was a corrections officer."
"Badges make a man think he's superhuman, though," Matt said. "I want more info on him," he told Andrea, who quickly added that to her to do list. Matt shook his head at Sam and announced, "I just don't know enough about this man and he could be a ghost skin. This town is creeping and crawling with ghost skins."
Andrea confessed, "Well, whether or not he is, I know it's safe to presume that he will not be letting me back inside. You two should get a move on, so you can cut through the press crowd."
Officer Goolsby was one of the policemen trying to keep the area clear in front of the doorway. When he saw Sam and Matt. He rolled his eyes, but allowed them to come into the station.
Sam sat in the room with Holly for a while before Cooper finally came in and smiled at him. He and Blaine both had stunning good looks, Sam thought. They both looked like they could be models or actors or something. The detective shook his hand and said, "I am glad to be meeting with you today on different circumstances than last time. I am Detective Cooper Anderson and this is my partner, Detective Bryan Ryan. I understand that you have information that you are willing to share and even testify in court regarding Will Schuester's involvement in political corruption, white supremacy terroristic ties and even conspiracy to commit murder."
Sam took a deep breath and glanced at his lawyer, who he saw eying Anderson pretty hard, but she didn't seem to think he shouldn't speak, so he nodded and clearly answered, "Yes, I have personal testimony that can confirm all of those things and the names of others who may be willing to speak, as well."
Cooper smiled and took a seat while Detective Ryan simply stood in the shadows, against the wall. "We can get to others, soon enough. For right now, I would like to know what type of information that you personally have. I need to know details, and as I record this conversation, I am not going to try to bait you or lead you into any answers. It has to be clearly established that I did not force any of the testimony out of you or lead you to conclusions that help my case." Sam nodded in understanding. "Alright. Good then, I want you to tell me everything. While I may not use it all, I do want your version of the entire nature of your relationship with and knowledge of Will Schuester. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Sam said.
"Please, start from the beginning," Cooper said.
The first time that I ever heard the name Schuester, my family was living in Tennessee – where we're from. My mom had these two best friends – Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Saunders and I was best friends with both of their sons: Rick and Hank. When the three of us were eleven, Mr. Nelson tried to kill Mrs. Nelson and got arrested. So, she and Rick went to live with the Saunders. It was supposed to be until she could get back on her feet, but about a year later when Mr. Saunders got this really great transfer of his job to come to Ohio, the Saunders took the Nelsons with them. Mr. Saunders was going to be doing some kind of pretty big deal PR work for the Schuesters and at the time, my mom and I both thought that we weren't ever gonna see our best friends again.
My mom accused someone of a rape and a kind of huge scandal revolved around that for a while, so my dad started trying to get a job transfer out here so that we could be near our friends again – I mean they were closer than family and Dad thought that a change of scenery couldn't hurt, with all of the mess behind the rape allegations and stuff. He and my mom had been having some problems and he thought it had a lot to do with her friends being gone, while she was going through her big situation. The company that Dad worked for eventually allowed the transfer to happen and when he got the transfer approved, a few months later, we were in Ohio, as well. It was definitely different for us, but we enjoyed it, because we had old family friends to enjoy it with. I got to continue growing up and hanging out with my best friends and Mom got to hold on to hers, as well.
I began to get familiar with Will Schuester, through word of mouth. My buddy Hank really looked up to the guy and he would tell me all of these stories about how the Schuesters were champions for the white man. Rick's dad had made it to Ohio and he and his mom ended up living with him. Rick had a lot of messed up stuff going on in that house, and Hank would constantly explain to us why all of the problems that white men in America was the fault of all of the minorities, in particular, black men. He had these really interesting ways of spinning it. He was very good at repeating these things that he was learning from his dad, who became a very good friend and confident of Will Schuester. At the time, Schuester wouldn't talk to me about such things. It was years before I would actually hear these kinds of philosophies and teachings come directly from him.
We were doing pretty good, in life – until my dad lost his job a very short time after we got here. We'd used up all our resources to get here and it put a lot of stress on he and Mom. It put a lot of stress on the family, and Rick started in on how this was the… to quote him only… "the niggers' fault," in his opinion, just like with his family's problems. Then, at home, even though my folks tried to keep me out of their business, I could overhear dad talking and he seemed to feel like it was because of blacks taking jobs and stuff that he was out of work too. With me feeling the way that I did already about them, because my mom said that black guy raped her, and with Rick's verbal attacks and Hank's philosophies, I quickly started getting engulfed in these white power ideals and in the belief that we needed to take our country back and put them all back in their place, beneath us.
Sam cringed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had not talked about these things in a while. He had not thought about how it all got started and about the passion that he had at that time, for a period. Thinking about it, remembering it, and speaking about it made him feel sick. Admitting these things made him feel guilty and exhausted. He felt so foolish and he was greeted again by the terrible things that he allowed to come about from all of this. He was tortured by the fact that he had a beautiful woman at home that he loved so much, who might have been a victim to the same hatred and he shivered. "Are you alright, Mr. Evans?" Cooper asked.
"It just hurts to think about the influence that I let these people have over me and the impact that it had on my life… and impact that I am still having to deal with, right now," Sam said.
"Well, hopefully – with your help, we can prevent his influence from impacting others in that way," Cooper said.
I got familiar with him when I was fourteen. There was some kind of education fair or something and the Schuester family was one of the big contributors of the thing. Hank signed up for volunteering for some extra credit or something in his National Junior Honor Society, so Rick and I went along and we were all gonna hang out and fun stuff when it was over. Hank introduced us to Will and his wife, when he was about to leave the place. Rick and I were acting like a couple of teenie bopper girls or something, commenting on how much his teachings meant to us through Hank and whatnot. He quickly silenced us and told us that those kinds of things were not supposed to be openly discussed, because our country was in such bad shape that people might side with the, you know, N words and that he could face scrutiny and even maybe some type of punishment if people heard such things said about him. That was the first time that I actually heard him say anything about the ideology that Hank had been passing on for the past couple of years.
Shortly after that, he was asking Hank about us – how close we were and stuff like that and Hank pretty much told him the history of our friendship and our families. Then, Shuester contacted my dad and told him that he had met me and that I was a bright kid and showed a lot of promise for life. He told him of how impressed with me that he was and how he would love me to enter into one of his many learning and development programs for young people. We couldn't afford it, so Schuester gave me one of his family's generous grants (basically allowing me to become a part of his group for free) and he even gave my dad a job at one of their places. And it was pretty much the best job that my dad ever had and I was eternally grateful to the man for being so willing to help us out. He told me that I was worth it, because I was the future of white America and this country needed young boys like me to become the men that too many white men weren't man enough to become.
The learning program was really cool and gave me a chance to hone my artistic talents and helped to tutor me and stuff in school and I loved Will Schuester like he was an idol god. Rick, Hank and I were crazy about him. But, I got even more exposure to him by the time I got to high school. I'd failed the first grade and I failed sixth grade, because of problems with my dyslexia. But, by the time that Will Schuester got a hold of me and had me in these programs where I kind of had to do better in school and stuff, I was passing – even though it was hard work. I thought I owed it to my country and the white race to do and be better than the inferior ones, so I tried harder and worked harder. I hated when one of them was better than me. He shook his head again, thinking about Shane and about Matt and Matt's family.
My freshman year in high school, I was sixteen. I met Jesse St. James the summer before, through Rick and Hank, at one of Schuester's events for his favorite youths. Schuester insisted that I meet Jesse and told me that I could learn a lot from him. He practically made it law that Jesse take me under his wing. Well, as everyone knows, Jesse was Schuester's poster boy, his pupil, his golden child. I think he loved Jesse more than his own family did. He was like a son to the guy. When Jesse took me under his wing, I became privy to everything that Will Schuester had going on at the moment. Much of it was through Jesse's sharing, but I do have many, many personal details and stories that implicate Will Schuester in various acts of hate crimes – the most detailed account that I have is that of the conspiracy to commit the murders of the Rutherford family.
Cooper seemed to hold his breath for a moment while Sam admitted this last part, then he asked, "Are you certain that you can implicate Will Schuester's involvement in that crime?"
"I'm positive," Sam said. "As you well know, I was involved and I have served prison time for my involvement, but I know details of how it was planned. I have personal witness testimony of Will Schuester's fear and hatred of Mr. Rutherford and I am willing to tell it all. And, Rick Nelson may be willing to speak, if he could get off of death row."
"We've attempted to speak with Mr. Nelson, and he is not willing to turn on Schuester," Cooper replied. "But, we do have someone else with personal eyewitness testimony that implicates Will Schuester and others in a plot against your life and Matt Rutherford's," he admitted.
"Really?" Sam asked.
Cooped smiled slightly and said, "Quinn Fabray. She is willing to testify that her father tried to gain information from her in order to use it to frame you for the murder of Matt Rutherford. Will Schuester's name is tied into it."
"Quinn is testifying?" Sam asked.
"Yes. She arrived earlier to give me her statement. We are going to have her family in the witness protection program." Cooper waved over his partner and said quietly, "Let them move in on picking up Will Schuester, now." Detective Ryan nodded his head and made a move for it. "We have a problem," Cooper admitted to Sam, "These people are particularly good with tearing down and picking apart witnesses. Usually, they have scapegoats and flunkies actually willing to take the fall for them for a chance at white power glory…"
"Yeah, but they aren't going to be willing to do that for Will Schuester," Sam said, very certainly.
"I'm sure that he already has something in place," Cooper said. "I have seen him do it before, though we've never had someone willing to turn on these people like you are brave enough to do, so that will help and I honest to God think that this is it. We're finally going to be able to nail him."
"Yeah, but he's really gonna get nailed. The entire time that I've been in here talking to you, Matt's been out there, broadcasting the last bit of information that his dad dug up on Will Schuester. It's his dirtiest secret, so far," Sam said and chuckled.
"What is that?" Cooper asked. Sam smirked.
Matt listened and read as the many comments came through and virtually reveled in the hate that he was getting. But, as he sat in the waiting room of the police station and watched as the police brought in one irritated Will Schuester, he took the headphones off and tucked them away. He shut his laptop and put it into his bag as he headed for the man, slowly. Matt pulled his phone out of his pocket as he watched Will fuming, though refusing to say anything to the police. He was smart. He knew the law and he was not going to act a fool… yet. Matt approached him and said, "Schue! I released those records. You know, the ones that you killed my family over." Will's eyes widened in shock and horror and it brought the greatest joy to Matt on the inside as he held his phone up to him, recording the reaction. "Smile for the camera, Nigger," Matt said.
Now, Will became irate and began trying to struggle with the police as he yelled, "Go to hell, you nigger! Nobody will ever believe your lies! You go to hell!"
"Unfortunately for you, there are historical libraries and information open to the public, when they know what they're looking for and that they're looking for it. My father saved everyone the work. Checkmate, Motherfucker." He backed away and smirked, still filming Will's reaction on his phone. Just by the way that he was behaving like a crazed animal, Matt knew. We got him. We got this bitch. Sam came rushing out of the interrogation room to see the guy acting like a madman.
Cooper Anderson was something else. He took this time to begin escorting Preston Schuester out of holding, accompanied by his lawyer. "Dad!" Will called, "Dad!" The man would not even be bothered to turn his head towards him.
Will began to cry as they took him towards a cell and Preston informed him, "Mr. Schuester will not be communicating with you. Do not attempt to contact him or our law offices. You have been dropped as a client and disinherited verbally, soon to be officially."
"Dad, don't do this! Dad!" Will called out.
The man turned abruptly and fussed, "You've dragged MY family name through the mud. As of this moment, you are cut off! You and your mother who I was ignorant enough to knock up!" He snarled, then turned and left.
Cooper patted Sam on the back and said, "Don't worry, we have a lot on Preston Schuester. None of them are safe, especially not Will."
The police escorted Will Schuester away and Matt came to meet up with Sam. Matt had a joyous look on his face and laughter in his voice as he said, "I got that entire scene recorded. Sending it to Andrea, right now. In a few moments, it'll be on the website. That fool fell apart, Sam!" Matt laughed happily and gave Sam a playful punch in the arm. "I am going to go answer some mail and make sure the blast fliers are distributed throughout the city." He was practically bouncing as he walked away. Sam raised an eyebrow at his retreating back, but froze when he saw Quinn being led out of an interrogation room.
She had her hair cut even shorter and she looked like she had picked up a little bit of weight. It looked good on her. He caught her eye and gave her a small smile, but she purposefully avoided his eye contact and brushed her hair behind her ear as she was led out of the building. There was no way to tell where they might be bringing her and now, Mercedes and the others would probably not be able to contact her, if she was going into witness protection… and Mercedes had told him that Quinn did not want to speak to her while she was getting better. He wondered if she intended to talk to Mercedes, ever again. He figured that he would have to be the one to tell her that Quinn was going into witness protection and most likely going to disappear forever, if not - for a while, maybe a long while.
"I don't get it. Why is this even any kind of scandal?" Brittany asked as she, Santana, Tina, Lauren and Becky hung over the bar in POM watching the TV from the Evans home that had been put in.
Tina explained, "Because he is one of the highest up leaders in a white supremacist movement… and he isn't fully white."
Santana just smirked and shook her head at the news report that in the same story of how Will Schuester had been arrested for alleged involvement in white supremacy organizations, in fact has traceable African-American DNA in his bloodline. Santana commented, "The sad thing is that I know that somewhere down the line everyone probably has a pinch or two of something else of anything else… but he's got a sizeable pinch. His pinch is more like a little slice."
"So… he's like a little black, but he hates black people?" Brittany asked, seriously trying to understand what was happening in this story.
"His great-great grandmother on his mother's side was fully black. His great grandfather, his grandmother and his mom all married the whitest person that they could find to try to flush it out and to be honest – they did a pretty good job. Some people, especially when they come from those fancy old families and shit used to try to pass to make life easier for themselves and their kids. I'm willing to be that his asshole father had no idea that he was marrying a fourth generation passer and by the time he found out, whoopsie fuckin' daisy – he's been raising him and fathering him to be a super white soldier. Gotta keep such shit under wraps!" Santana said.
"But, isn't that only a bad thing to the bad people? Why is it on the news? They should be talking about how mean he and those really white white guys have been to all of you," Brittany said, frustrated and confused.
Tina explained, "It's news because it's scandalous that someone with his genetics would actively participate in such shameful and simultaneously shameless displays of self-hatred and persecution. But, according to Matt, the ones that have been passing for white are generally worse racists than whites who hate others. Think about it. They hate that part of themselves enough to hide it."
"Is it kinda like being in the closet?" Brittany asked.
Tina commented, "Only if you're in the closet and terrorizing gays, at the same time. But, for these guys, everything was in hierarchy. There are levels and positions, ranks and titles. They have just found out that one of their top guys is actually 'the enemy.' To me or you being whatever he is – 1/8th black or whatever is black. He identifies as white and he is mostly white, but to them, if you have but a DROP of black blood, you're not pure. You're tainted."
Lauren said, "I once heard somebody justify that by saying a little leaven spreads through the whole lump of dough."
Tina shook her head, "Yeah, they will try to back their issues up with the Bible. This business with Will Schuester's true identity is shaking their entire foundation," she practically giggled.
Brittany shook her head and gathered up her purse, "I have to get going. Shannon's been allowed to go back to the hospital with Emma and now that she's got new doctors and stuff, she's seems to be improving. I have a lot of work to do around the bed 'n breakfast that I've been ignoring while Emma's been out. If she wakes up and comes around, I don't want to get in trouble."
Santana reached for Brittany and kissed her and nuzzled her with her nose, "Whenever we close up the shop, I'll stop by and see if you need any help."
"Cool or hot beans… whichever beans you like best," Brittany said and kissed Santana back before leaving.
Lauren said, "The best thing about all of this, aside from the fact that the Schuesters are getting raked across the coals is that with Will's recent scandal, his former so-called friends don't want to have anything to do with him. They're trying to distance themselves from him. He has no more friends."
"I feel bad for that damned baby," Becky commented and shook her head. "Well, ladies, it's about time to reopen the shop. Get ready to get to work." She clapped her hands twice and they turned the television off and prepared to open POM back up for the day.
Tina grabbed her purse, as well and told them, "I'll see most of you ladies tomorrow. Guess I'll see you tonight at Emma's Tana. Lauren, tell Stacie to call me if she needs anything and Mercy to just call me when she gets back and tell me all about how great Cluster's doing."
"For sho,'" Lauren said then blinked and shook her head, "Artie is rubbing off on me."
Tina hardly had a chance to get out of the door before Mercedes, Sam and Stacie came into the shop with a chipper couple of dogs and wide smiles. She smiled too and rushed over to give Cluster a hug. "I was just thinking about you!" She cheered and playfully began to smack him on the backside. "How is the baby?" She looked up and asked her friends.
"Good as new!" Mercedes excitedly reported.
Tina stood, squeezed her friend into a tight embrace and said, "God, Cedes, you must be so relieved! I can't even imagine what these days must've been like wondering about him." She let go and added, "Now, let's just pray that Emma is so lucky. So far, they say her vitals have improved, but they're worried about permanent brain damage and she's still not responding to anyone." She shrugged sadly and looked over at Sam. "How's your bro?"
"Dad and Stace went to see him and tell him about Will," Sam said and glanced at Stacie.
"He's not so good, right now – but then again, he's in a mental hospital and still grieving over seeing our mom you know… die," Stacie answered.
Tina nodded and said, "Well, we'll continue to pray that there's hope for him too." She hugged Stacie and kissed her on the cheek, "I've gotta get back to the Magic Mirror. Stacie – call me if you need anything." Tina said, as she made her exit and pointed at the girl.
While she left, Mercedes and Stacie headed for the apartment, with Cluster and Kissy happily running around and Mercedes commented, "I'm so glad that they're better, but I will be so relieved when we can just take them for regular walks again!" They got onto the elevator and Sam quickly began to get to back to work on bringing the delivery stock from downstairs into the stockroom.
Tina locked up the shop and after she finished with all of her closing procedures, she made her way towards the exit. Her security was on the lookout and she wished him a good night and called Mike, as she typically did on her way to the car. From the time, they would be able to spend two hours, maybe even a tad bit more time together before he had to go in for his overnight shift. "Hello, you've reached Mike's phone," a male voice answered and she froze and dropped her keys before she had a chance to put them into her car door. Tina rushed to pick them up from the ground when he said, "And I need to talk to you, as soon as possible. Meet me at the house."
"What house?" She asked, scared, but trying to sound strong.
"Your mother's house," he answered.
"If you hurt Mike, Paul Karofsky…" She began to warn him, but he cut her off.
"I don't have much else to lose, Tina. You on the other hand, I need to see before I forget my manners and this young man has to suffer for it," he said, coolly.
Tina finally got into her car and told her father, "I'll see you in fifteen minutes."
"And if it seems like anyone else is in the loop on this, Girl…" He said, then she heard Mike let out a loud cry and she began to try to call out, but heard a click. Tina covered her mouth and started her car. But, her momma didn't raise no fool. She texted Matt. Paul has Mike at my mom's old house. I'm headed there, but I have no idea what to expect. She began to drive and heard her phone buzzing a couple of minutes later, and at the stoplight, she read Matt's reply:
Keep both of your asses alive… I'll figure the rest out.