I can hardly believe that this story has become 40 chapters strong! I hope and pray that this conclusion grants justice to the rest of the story and that many if not all of you will return for the sequel: Do You See What Eye See?
Quick notes – I thank each and every reader and reviewer of As Far As Eye Can See, because you've all made this a wonderful journey for me and that has helped me with making sure the characters each took the journey that I intended for them. To all of the special, wonderful people who kept my inbox filled with love and companionship – you know who you are and I love you all. I know that I say it kind of frequently, but I do. I love all of you!
Now, let's see where this road that Babydoll, Sam and the Gang has led to…
The Restoration
Tina's make up and dress was already fixed. She attempted to help Mercedes with hers, but her friend insisted that she had everything under control. "Why does Kurt Hummel take being gay to a whole new level? All of the time?" Santana asked as she rushed into the dressing room, with her Disney princess dress on and her hair hanging down. Tina quickly gathered up the materials to fix the woman's hair for the ceremony. Kurt would KILL them if anything was out of place. "Let me help you get this hair squared away," Tina said.
"This is all insane and I promise you kids – when Britt and I tie the knot – you will not know that you aren't at a party, except for that whole exchanging vows and rings part," Santana fussed.
Brittany, dressed beautifully as Cinderella asked, "What knot are we tying?"
Mercedes chimed in (all of them ignoring poor Brittany's very honest question) with, "Kurt says that this is a Princess Paradise. He's always wanted to have a Princess wedding… so… get Princessy."
After all of the racial hatred and abuse that the group had faced for months, several months of court cases, trials, and testimonies, everyone simply wanted to have a reason to come together and celebrate. Mercedes had not felt like doing much celebration at all, but for Kurt and Blaine's wedding, they knew that she would finally be both prepared and excited to join in the joy. Kurt planned his wedding revolving around Disney princesses, but he made sure that the princesses were randomly selected.
Disney never had a Korean Princess, or a Latina Princess for Tina and Santana, respectively, and he wasn't going to try to ask them to be Mulan and Pocahontas, just to get a somewhat similar appearance. SO, he had them all select names.
Brittany was Cinderella, Santana was Belle, Lauren was Aurora, Rachel was Ariel, Stacie was Snow White, Tina was Jasmine, and Mercedes was Tiana… all randomly. The princes matched their lovers, except that Brittany and Santana were the princesses whose princes were being dressed up by Blaine and Kurt. Blaine would be Prince Adam and Kurt would be Prince Charming. One thing that Kurt did not do, however, was have a slew of gowns and suits in various colors. "It's a Princess Paradise, not a Rainbow Warehouse, he'd said as he had the gowns and dresses ordered in white and gold. They still looked like the Disney Princess,' but in white and gold.
"I would have been happier with a Disney Villain Theme," Tina said. Kurt had decided against even using Mulan and Pocahontas… simply because they had been based off of real people, instead of fairy tale characters – and Tina had given him such a hard time about how poorly Disney portrayed the stories that he gave up on them when they were making the names to go into the raffle.
But, they had not expected and had not been told about Rapunzel, until she showed up… "Is this where the Princesses prepare for the party?" She asked softly from the doorway. Tina gasped. Mercedes turned and held out her arms, with joy and excitement.
Santana jumped up from the chair, ruining Tina's attempt at doing her hair and squealed, "Quinnie Q!" She ran to hug their M.I.A. friend and as much commotion and ruckus fired up and died down. Quinn stared upon Tina, who had found her way to Mercedes and rested a hand on Mercy's shoulder. Mercy's arms were still extended for the hug she expected. The other ladies allowed Quinn to break through them and she cautiously approached.
"Mercedes… Tina…" Quinn's lip shivered and both of the women tackled her into a hug and the three of them held each other and cried for several beautiful minutes.
They started to talk and apologize and encourage each other, up until Carol Hudson-Hummel, Kurt's stepmother came in and reminded them all, "Kurt is flaring out into full Bridezilla mode. He thinks that all of the Princesses should be meeting in his private chambers, now," she said, with a eight month old princess on her hip.
Rachel rushed over to collect her and propped her up. "Quinn, would you like to meet Babs Hudson?" Quinn gasped and reached out for Rachel and Finn's daughter. The girl looked so much like a miniature Finn, though it was obvious that her mother and/or Kurt dressed her for this event. Barbra easily went to Quinn and began to mess with the flowers in her hair. "Please do not pull those, Babsy. It took hours to accomplish this hairstyle," Rachel said and poked her daughter in the cheek.
"Rachel, you knew?" Tina asked.
"Well, of course I did. Kurt is my brother-in-law and I helped him with every details of the preparations," she said with a nod and a smile, and her currently bright red hair dipped forward a moment.
"Princesses!" They all heard Kurt roar.
Quinn winced and handed Barbra back to Carol, when she reached for her and said, "I'll tell him that you'll all be there in the next ten minutes!" The woman rushed back to her anxious stepson and the ladies hurried to put the finishing touches on everything, while they talked.
"How did Kurt find you?" Tina asked.
"Networks. Cooper Anderson was involved in my father's court case and he passed on some contact information for them and let me know when the wedding would be. Things have toned down, now. I mean, my father's trial is over and he's locked up, so I'm not afraid anymore." She said and clasped her hands together. "I have a really amazing job in business solutions and recently was given a transfer, back into town." She smiled and shook her head, "I missed my sisters, so much!" Mercedes and Tina went in to hug her again.
Stacie, who was not as familiar with Quinn, but happened to know for a fact that she had nearly gotten her brother killed commented, "Princesses, this is Kurt's day, so we'd better make sure that we get our focus on it."
"Right!" Mercedes said and held her arms in front of her, "I don't know what I did with my corsage." Quinn quickly found it and picked it up, to put on her. When she did, she noticed a very small, elegant and shiny ring on her left hand. She put the corsage on, then took Mercedes' hand into hers to study the article of jewelry.
"This is lovely," she said, with a smile.
Mercedes blushed and said, "Thank you. I told him that I didn't care what it looked like, since I can't see it, anyway. But, you should know that he still took forever to pick it out and have it custom to "fit my personality," anyway.
"He's a good man. He always was. I'm happy for you," Quinn said.
"Well, getting married is a long ways away, but he wanted to make sure that people knew that I was officially spoken for," Mercedes laughed.
It was the night before the trial began. Mercedes had been worried about everything and Sam wanted to make her feel better. She didn't feel like having sex, and to be honest, he really didn't either. "I just want you to let me hold you," he told her and pulled her into the bedroom. Stacie was going to be entering her senior year soon and was already gone to bed. Mercedes arranged a homeschooling program for Stevie, even though he was in the hospital. "I can read you some poems and imaginary short stories that I wrote about you from my journal," Sam offered.
"Aww, that sounds sweet," She said.
Sam got settled on the bed and pulled her into his lap, with his journal in his hand. He opened it and said, "I wrote this when I first started calling you Babydoll." She smiled and made sure to listen to this. "Mercy and I were at the flea market today. She was so adorable, with this bright yellow babydoll dress on and a pair of tights. She had her hair in one of those Lord of the Rings elf styles, with the top part in a ponytail and the bottom hanging down. I don't know if there's a name for that style. But, I thought about the elves. The elves in Lord of the Rings are the most beautiful of the creatures, so it totally fits her. She's just the prettiest thing in the world. Oddly enough, while we were in the flea market, we passed by this stand with all of these dolls and I saw this little doll that looked just like her. I mean, it had her facial structure and was a little bit lighter in shades of brown – but it looked enough like her that it seemed like it was custom made for her. "Hey, babydoll," I said, unable to get my sentence out right and she went, "Hmm?" It was adorable. I said "babydoll," and my sweet little baby answered to it. It was really cute. I didn't end up telling her about the doll. It was so expensive and I didn't want her buying it, like she probably would have. Knowing her, she probably would have bought it just to have it to remember the day that I started calling her Babydoll. I'll remember for us. I'm even gonna write it down. Plus, I have every intention of going back when she's not with me, to get it for her. She's more of a stuffed animals kind of lady, but I think she'll accept it with open arms when she knows how special it is to me for her to have it."
Mercedes smiled softly and she asked, "Did you ever get it?"
"Mm hmm," Sam told her. I pulled it out of storage tonight."
"Why?" She wondered, with a laugh.
"Because, I wanted to finally give it to you," he told her. Sam shuffled a bit and let Mercedes hold his journal as he reached over to get the doll. He placed it in her arms and she smiled towards him. "You going to take a picture?"
"Yes, of course, I am," he told her and snapped a few of her and her new doll. Mercedes smiled and set her doll down beside her. Sam put his arm back around her and pulled the doll close to them, again. "You didn't even play with her," he pouted. She laughed and started to examine the doll as Sam continued to read.
"I went shopping today. I knew that I wanted to get this special something for my Babydoll, and I couldn't rest until I got it right. I looked at sets and singles. I looked all across the store. I needed something that called out her name. It might seem like it's too early, but in the past four months, Mercy and I have been through more together than most couples are going to go through in years… I'm willing to g0o through anything with her. I'm willing to go through anything for her. I want to be able to replace the little doll that I bought for her one day with a real baby. I want to be able to wake up next to her and be able to say, "Good Morning Mrs. Evans." Mercedes heard him reading as she was feeling the doll and she'd found a pouch attached to it. When she dug inside, she found a small jewelry box.
"What's this, Sam? Did it come with the babydoll?" She asked.
"No. That's what I went shopping for," he told her. "This entry that I'm reading…" She furrowed her brows in confusion and poked her lips out. Sam smiled at her adorable face and finished reading while she opened the box and discovered a little ring, as Sam read, "I wanted something dainty enough for her little hand, but not so small that other people wouldn't notice it. I wanted something that sparkled like her smile, but not so much as to try to outshine her face." He saw her lip quivering as she took the ring out of the box and felt it, in her hand, seeing it as he read about it. "I knew that she would love anything that I chose, but I wanted her to know that I chose it with her in mind – my woman, my heart, my love…" Sam shut his journal and collected her hands, "Mercedes, I bought this with the mind and the will to ask you to become my wife. Will you marry me?" Mercedes' hands and lips were both shivering as she nodded her head, frantically.
She knew that Sam loved her and they had casually discussed marriage and had pretty much admitted that they knew that each other was going to be it for them. They spoke of kids and marriage and a future together… in that way where they let each other know that they couldn't imagine it happening with them and anyone else. But, now, he was actually ASKING her – with a ring and all! And he had gone out of his way to be romantic with it! "Why are you so amazing?" She asked.
He scoffed and asked back, "Why are you?" She laughed, then started crying as she felt him putting the ring onto her finger.
"I forgot how romantic you are. So much has been going on…" She said and shook her head. "I love you, Mr. Amazing." She cupped his face and kissed him.
"I love you, future Mrs. Amazing," he replied and kissed her again, as she laughed.
Mercedes smiled to herself and asked, "Are we all set to go, ladies?"
"It appears so," Tina said and they began to head for Kurt in his changing room. "Where is our niece?" Tina asked Quinn.
"Oh, she's out there, sitting with Joe and Shane," Quinn answered, "She's doing very well."
Kurt was pacing. "This is all wrong. This is all wrong. It's tacky and immature and just wrong and we've planned it and approved it and moved forward!" Kurt rambled.
"Kurt!" Mercedes called out. She was led to him and she held his hands, "This is going to go the way that you always dreamed. I can't imagine this not being perfect."
"We have made sure that everything is totally perfect. Rachel even dyed her hair mermaid princess red."
"And it has not pleased my wonderful husband and thoroughly confused my small daughter," Rachel announced. Santana looked at her beautiful Cinderella, making silly faces at little Babs and she smiled to herself. They could have something like this, one day. But… not exactly like this. This shit was a bit much, she thought as she looked around Kurt's lavishly decorated dressing room and tried to even imagine what the rest of the building must look like. Stacie was not part of the actual bridal party, even though she was dressed like a princess, too. She was helping out with things such as straightening out cascading trains, for them to be able to march, making sure they had their flowers and what have you. Carole brought Babs to her grandfathers so that she could help the girl with these little details that Kurt was spazzing out over.
"Tina, please don't let Kurt be like this for my wedding," Mercedes whispered to her friend as Stacie handed them their bouquets and took from them anything they had in their hands that they did not need.
"This is a give and take, Girl. Mike and I might have to elope if Kurt's going to be this way for ours." They giggled and Quinn watched them fondly. Then, she looked up at the decorations… this place really looked like a palace ballroom. Blaine was absolutely stunning at the altar, with his white and gold Adam suit and his award winning smile. Tina stared at Cooper, right next to him and asked, "Who is Cooper supposed to be?"
"He's Flynn Rider," Quinn answered and looked away, shyly. Mercedes was smiling, oblivious as Tina's lip dropped and she smiled at Quinn with questioning eyes. "Okay… I wasn't going to bring it up, until after the wedding, but – yeah. We got kind of close during preparing for my father's trial and he was sort of my doorway to my old life while I was in witness protection. He's a very good person, smart, successful… deliciously handsome."
"Deliciously handsome," Tina repeated, then asked, "But, what about Joe?" She poked out her lip, sadly.
Quinn smiled softly and said, "Joe has been the best friend that I could had through a lot. But, we never would have worked out. He's just too sweet and innocent. Cooper's very sweet too, innocent? Not so much!" She said and she and Tina began to laugh together. They heard Kurt make a bunch of 'Tut tut tut tut' sounds and silenced themselves.
About half a minute later, Mercedes gasped and asked, "You're seeing Blaine's brother, Quinn?" The three of them laughed, only to be tutted again. The instrumental Disney medley was beginning and the bridal party was set to enter.
First, Lauren entered, dropping flowers along the sides of the aisle, as she did, smiling at the princes lined up across the front of the ballroom. One very dashing Prince Philip in a wheelchair came to meet her and she smiled, took both of his hands and they bowed to each other before he escorted her to the party line up. Then, Tina as Jasmine, met Mike as Aladdin. Rachel as Ariel met Finn as Eric. Quinn as Rapunzel met Cooper as Flynn and he placed her in her position and returned to his spot, next to the groom. Kurt allotted for the couples to p[air up, even though Mercedes was his maid of honor.
She entered, with a microphone in hand, singing Elton's John's Can You Feel the Love Tonight. When she reached hallway up the walkway, Sam came to collect her and the entire wedding party began to resume the song while Brittany and Santana came down the aisle, arm in arm, each holding crowns on pillows, with Prince Charming Kurt following them. They separated at the altar, took the crowns from the pillows, quickly passed the pillows along to Carole and Burt, seated right at the front, and placed the crowns on their friends' heads. Cinderella took Charming's hand and Belle took Adam's and they placed their hands into each other's. Then, the two ladies walked to their spots in the line-up and Blaine and Kurt approached the altar together, two princes.
After the wedding, all of the wedding party was seated at a seemingly endless royal table and the guests were seated in tables, on the outer walls of the ballroom. Mercedes stroked Sam's hand beneath the table and told him, "I am so happy right now. I can't imagine ever being happier."
"You kidding? You better be happier when we do this… though I have to say… we are not doing this like this. This thing is exceptionally fancy. It's so Disney like, I expected a villain to interrupt it in the middle of the floor in a huge ball of smoke…" She began to laugh. She had never actually seen it happen, but she watched movies with a narrator describing the actions, so she knew that it could happen in one of those films.
"I'm sure that when we do it, I will be the happiest woman in the world," Mercedes told him and gave him a kiss on the lips. The last time that she had been as happy as she was to be "seeing" the first of her best friends get married, was the day that Will Schuester was sentenced, in January…
After the last day of Will Schuester's trial, as she sat next to Sam, holding his hand, Sam watched the man that helped convince him to ruin his life at a young age smugly and comfortably chat with his lawyers before being escorted out, safely. The way that the trial had been going, Sam was bothered that Schuester may possibly get off. A lot of the evidence was circumstantial. A lot of the testimony was hearsay. The most compelling parts of the trial were the testimonies of Rick Nelson (who did not seem at all sad or ashamed of the things he did, even though they were cruel and hateful), because it tied Will directly to many heinous crimes, Matt's testimony about his family, because he was emotionally unraveled, and possibly Sam's testimony, because it was hard for anyone to look at his face and not feel rage at someone who would want to use him as a weapon.
Cooper presented much evidence. Schuester had fantastic lawyers, but they weren't as good as the lawyers that his family had and in order to try to separate themselves from the mess that was on Will, they had nothing to do with him. Matt sat on the other side of Sam, with Andrea and Aphasia on the other side of him. Tina and Mike sat on the other side of Mercedes. The trial had been long and emotional. Now, it was over and left up to a jury to decide the man's fate. The St. James and the Saunders expressed how they thought that something was odd between their sons, Jesse and Hank, respectively and Will Schuester, but they guessed that it was harmless and/or a phase. They pretended that they had no idea their sons were being made into soldiers for some type of white power movement and blamed Will personally for their deaths.
After that trial day, Matt had his party leaving the courtroom in a limousine, when a woman called out to Sam and came rushing over. Matt's security guards grabbed her and stopped her from moving forward. "Sam Evans! I want to talk to you about your story!" She called out. Mercedes tightened her grip on Sam's hand, but he kissed her on the side of the face and walked to meet the woman, from behind Matt's guards. "I am with a publicist company. We were most interested in your story after we saw how you testified in this trial, as opposed to how you testified in your own, years ago. We simply would love to know more about the story of how things changed for you… and we know that the world would too. Plus, the world should know, shouldn't they? Wouldn't you like to tell people who Sam Evans really is, after all of this?" She handed him a business card and said, "My name is Missy. If you think that you'd like to be represented – give me a call."
Sam stared at the business card, then got into the limo with his group. Aphasia gave him a smile and said, "Somebody's gonna be famous! Get it, Sam." Mercedes grabbed his hand and rested her head on his shoulder. Sam didn't want to add any additional stress to his life. He wanted to wait until he could exhale (after Schuester's verdict), before he decided anything at all.
Andrea commented, "She was cute. Wonder what team she plays on."
Matt threw her and Aphasia incredulous looks and told them, "Both of you probably think that what you're doing is lightening the mood in this vehicle. You're both wrong. You two should just be quiet." Sam bit his lip. He knew, as everyone else did that Matt was even more stressed out about this trial than he was. Matt had been short and snappy with everyone, lately, and they generally let it slide. They knew how much this meant to him and they presumed that his current mood was connected to the way that he fell apart on the witness stand. Matt didn't like to show his emotions like that, and now the entire country had seen it. They understood that would be uncomfortable. Aphasia sighed and touched strummed the back of her hand up and down his arm for the rest of the ride.
Emma had come out of her coma, after three months, but she could not remember much of the most recent things that happened, before her attack. She could remember the group, Shannon, Will… but she couldn't remember all of the things that had been happening to her friends. She couldn't remember the situation with the bug, or Noah's death or the harassment, the cross burning… In a way, she's lucky, Mercedes thought as she brushed Emma's hair as they rested at the bed and breakfast, her first day home. The woman was going to need a vast amount of physical therapy to ever walk again, and her understanding seemed to have diminished with her brain damage. She was sort of like a little girl, at times.
Sam entered through the front door, now having a key of his own to the place and brought them food. Mercedes called out, "Sam?"
"It's me, Babydoll," he confirmed. "Emma, you ready for your fruit platter?"
"Yes," Emma answered, with a smile.
"Babydoll, you ready for your tots?" He asked.
"When am I not?" She wondered. "Have my tea?"
"Of course!" He said and joined them on the couch. Emma was slumped down, so he put the food on the table and helped her to sit up. "Alright, Emms," he said and set up the tray that they used to help her keep her food steady. He placed the fruit platter on it and placed the plastic ware in her hand. She waited for him to set the dip and her drink into the little cup holes on her tray, then she began to eat, slowly, and carefully trying to wield the plastic fork. Mercedes had found her order, on her own and began eating, as well. Sam left the ladies there to go outside and feed the dogs. They had all of them, now, even though Stevie was still in the hospital. (The doctors said that it might take years before Stevie was ready to be amongst people again.) Feeding the dogs was exactly what he had been doing when he received Matt's text: Congratulations.
Sam thought that he might fall out on the ground. He heard Mercedes scream out loud and he rushed into the house, only to realize that it had been one of those happily excited screams. "Sammy!" She cried out, but he had already seen what her excitement was about. He saw on the television, Will Schuester, being carried away, with the caption beneath the screen reading: Guilty on all counts. They decided not to attend the reading of the verdict. Sam was worried that he might try to kill Will if he was released, and preferred to find out in the comfort of his own home, or at Emma's, where he and Mercy had been spending time since she came home. "Sammyyyyy!" Mercedes repeated, louder.
"I'm here, Babydoll. I'm here. I.. I know!" He said, happily. Sam threw his arms around Mercedes from behind, squeezed her tightly and rocked her from side to side. He lay a wet smack on the side of her cheek and nuzzled at it with his nose. He pulled out his phone as the calls and texts began to flow in. Many of them were On my way to Emma's, now! Stacie had been at school, and he wondered if she had heard, yet. So, he began to text her, flustered at all of the contacts that were interrupting his text. Emma was frozen, with wide eyes, staring at Mercedes, as she hopped up and down in her seat on the couch. Sam rubbed Emma's shoulder and smiled at her, which helped her return to eating her lunch, even though she still looked confused.
Sam was outside, walking back and forth, answering some calls and making others when Tina's car swung into the driveway. She opened the door, threw both fists into the air and screamed, "WOOOOOOO!" Sam smiled brightly at her and ran to pick her up, out of the car and squeeze her, spinning her around. "I feel like firing shots in the air and setting off fireworks and such. I want to have a damned parade!" Tina cheered.
Sam opened his mouth to respond, but saw Stacie's name on the phone and answered it, "Hello?" He sang.
"Are you kidding me? My entire Economics class is going BERSERK right now! They've ripped up paper and threw it in the air like confetti!" She said and laughed. "So, the teacher says that he'll be in prison for the rest of his life, right?"
"Yeah… but the thing about it is that the reason that he's gonna be locked up for the rest of his life didn't even have anything to do with us. It was because of some evidence that surfaced that linked him to the murder of Rusty Pillsbury years ago and his father cut a deal for a shorter sentence by turning him over."
"Wait… so his father gets a shorter sentence? That sucks."
"He gets 25 years. The dude is old and he's an ass. He won't make it 25 years," Sam said.
"Good. I hate to sound bitter, but they can all not make it," Stacie said. "I'm gonna leave school early. I'm gonna meet up with Daddy and we'll come to Emma's…"
Kurt looked at Blaine as Cooper stood up and he guffawed, "How many speeches are on the program? I thought that it would be our dads, Finn and Cedes."
"Finn and Cedes are both members of your party, though. Cooper is my best man. He's my brother…"
"Yoo hoo!" Cooper sang out, causing Quinn and other guests to laugh. Beth was seated on her lap as Cooper made his speech for the married couple and the things that they and all of their friends had been through. He closed out with, "And now, here's to all of the celebrations they all will be able to have in the future!" Quinn clapped Beth's hands for her as Cooper took his seat and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
She smiled at Joe, who was seated at a table, smiling brightly about Cooper's speech and applauding. She looked at Cooper, who was chewing his food thoughtfully, before he whispered to her, "I don't know that I like the flavor of this," then he dumped it onto her plate and snickered. Quinn rolled her eyes and looked over at Tina. Tina was feeding Mike something off of her plate and her gave her the thumbs up and nodded as he chewed. She heard laughing and looked over to see Sam, talking very closely to Mercedes' face, making her laugh. She smiled at him and he noticed her, froze, said something to Cedes, then nodded politely at Quinn. She still owed him an apology. Her therapy had been helpful.
The last time that she saw all of them, they looked like completely different people. Joe helped her to have faith and relax. Cooper helped her to try new things and not to be afraid. Now, she had to relax and have faith that this time around, she could be a new friend to them and not be afraid of what the future might bring, even if it was out of her control. She missed Cedes and Tina, so much and now that she was back, and they both seemed to want her back, she was going to make sure that she honestly, this time, never hurt them again.
Quinn kept Beth away from all of the trial. She had never known her grandfather and Quinn did not want to try to have to explain ANY of this to her until she was old enough to understand it. It was bad enough that there might come a time when the girl asked her to try to explain what happened to her father. Quinn often tortured herself with what-ifs. If she hadn't entered into that agreement with her father, might Puck have lived? She had to push those types of things out of her mind. She had no way of changing the past – but the future. The future, she could change! And she intended to. She intended to go forth and have a full life, but she knew in her heart that she could never attempt to have one without first making amends with her old friends. He day that she heard the foreman say, "Guilty," she realized – Today is the day. She vowed to go back to Lima and return to her loved ones. If they didn't love her anymore, she would at least know that she tried and she would leave them be.
"Is it cheesecake time yet, or what?" Kurt asked, after Cooper finished his speech.
Blaine laughed and kissed him on the nose, "You are so cute when you're feening for cheesecake!"
"I've spent the past six months denying myself cheesecake in order to prepare for today's cheesecake orgy in my mouth, so – no offense, but I've been looking forward to this more than anything else," Kurt complained.
Blaine smirked, hit Kurt's knee with his own knee and said, "Liar."
"So, maybe I was looking forward to being Mr. Kurt Hummel-Anderson more… but all of that will change if there is not cheesecake in front of me, soon!" Kurt teased, playfully tousling with Blaine's collar. "Mr. Anderson!" Kurt said and gave Blaine a sad, pouty face.
"Ok, Mr. Anderson," Blaine said. Kurt clapped his hands joyously, then fixed Blaine's collar back. Blaine held out his hands, exhibiting himself and Kurt nodded his approval. Then, Blaine stood up, lifted both hands and said in a loud voice, "Bring in the cake!"
Kurt yelled out, "My prince has spoken," and slapped the table, which caused everyone to laugh. A crew of "servants" came marching in, carrying all of these platters with domed silver tops into the ballroom. The last of them carried in, on a litter, the wedding cake… which was a beautifully built fancy "cake" that looked like a castle, but was made of cupcakes, with two loving princes dancing together on the top. Beneath all of the silver covers were cheesecakes of all assortments. Kurt bragged, "I didn't save up a wedding fund for 10 years to NOT have the most fabulous wedding ever in Lima, Ohio."
Blaine removed the custom made cake topper, picked up the cupcake at the top and Kurt grabbed one as well. All the while, the photographer and many friends snapped photos. Blaine said, "I know how you are about your skin, so I won't shove this in your face," with a loving smirk at Kurt who nodded. You better not, his look seemed to say. But, then Blaine, dipped his finger in the top of his cupcake and held it out towards Kurt's lips.
"Blaine," Kurt said, blushing and leaned forward to quickly suck the icing from his husband's finger while others cheered like a studio audience. Kurt glared playfully at Blaine, held out the cupcake and SPLAT! "Yep – I hit you square in the face with the cupcake!" Kurt said, with a playful giggle.
"Why you!" Blaine joked and pulled Kurt to him to rub cupcake on his face.
"No! No!" Kurt said.
"I… think that they forgot that we're here," Mike said to Tina. She smiled, shrugged, then stood up and began to clap her hands.
"Alright, alright… cheesecake!" Kurt cheered, wiping the cupcake mess from Blaine's mouth and nose with a lacy handkerchief. "I need a slice of each flavor, stat!" He began to snap his fingers at the servants as he took his seat. Blaine laughed and shook his head, sitting down next to him, again.
Dwight took the microphone and announced, "I just want to welcome everyone to this thank you party from the Evans family. We've wanted to throw this for y'all for a while, but we were told to wait until after we were all through with all of that horrible mess with those jokers that won't be named tonight! Where's the next future Mrs. Evans?" He asked and held a hand out towards Mercedes. Tina and Kurt happily helped her over to and up the stage. He took her hand and showed her off in her lovely, floor length sparkly red dress and matching headband and said, "You look lovely, Doll. You're a wonderful woman, as I've told you. We all love you, I love you, personally, and Sammy loves you with the biggest part of his heart. You were the first one to give Sammy another chance. You were the person that he credits as to how he's managed to survive…" Dwight got choked up and heard several "awws," as well as cheers of encouragement for him to continue.
Mercedes could hardly take it. "Dwight!" She pleaded, wanting him to stop, now.
But, Dwight found his voice and continued, "The way that I see that you are with him makes my heart just melt, Gal. You're so perfect to him and for him. You love him, so much and it just makes me so happy, because I know my son deserves it, even though he didn't know that he did until you helped him to learn that. I'm always going to be grateful to you. This celebration is mostly in your honor, but Stacie and I also wanted to thank all of your friends for learning to accept and love Sam, too. It could've been so easy for them to tell you that they told you so and tried to hang him out to dry, but they stuck with him and with you and hell, they even stuck with us – even Matthew!" He said and pointed at Matt, which made Matt uncomfortably fold his arms and sigh, because now, people turned to look at him. Dwight concluded with, "So, to get this party kicked off, I want you to sing us a little song and Shannon's gonna let us wear out the karaoke machine all night long!" Everyone cheered.
Mercedes accepted the microphone and a big hug from Dwight, then said, in a soft voice, "How this man can say all of those things to me, then expect me to just sing is a mystery."
"Just sing to Sam!" Kurt screamed out from wherever he was in the bar. She laughed, along with a few others.
Mercedes thought for a moment, then laughed and went over to the karaoke station, knowing exactly where it was, after so many years. She took to the stage again and said, "I'll sing to Sam, sure enough. But, really, I want to get the party started with a little dedication to everybody in the room right now, because we all have a reason to be happy to celebrate and I want to celebrate all of you." The music began and she bobbed her head happily and began to sing, "We've come a long, long way together. Through the hard times and the good. I have to celebrate you baby. I have to praise you like I should!"
When she was done with that fun song, she laughed and said, "Okay, you all. I know you don't want me on this mic all night…"
"YES WE DO!" Blaine screamed.
She puit her hand on her hip and said, "Well, I don't want me on this mic all night, but I do have one more to sing and I'll, of course, end up back on this stage again, at some point (probably taking requests)…"
"Ain't No Way!" Blaine yelled.
"Try a Little Tenderness!" Artie yelled and others began to call out stuff, until one voice silenced everybody's and grabbed her attention.
"Babydoll!" She paused and waited for Sam's next words. "I love you!" He said, with a huge grin, causing everybody to coo at them and applaud.
The music for her next song began to play and she smiled and began to sing, "Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am home again. Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I'm whole again… " Lauren let out a loud catcall and wrapped her arms around Artie, from behind. "Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I am young again. Whenever I'm alone with you, you make me feel like I'm fun again…" Sam had not realized that he had been moving towards the stage as she sang Lovesong by Adele, but by the time she reached the line, "However far away, I will always love you," he was standing right in front of the stage, gazing up at her with love and passion in his eyes.
He remained there the entire song, and reached up to touch the hem of her garment when she was done, "Mercy…" he said and she smiled and leaned down to let him help her off of the stage. "I will always love you, too," he said and pulled her in closely to him to kiss her and hold her.
"I missed this, so much," she said. "Just being able to enjoy our life together."
He looked down at her and told her, "Well, get used to it, because we'll be doing this for the rest of our life – enjoying it together."
Their friends began taking the stage at different times, singing songs of their choice while others sang along, danced along, or drank in happiness. Mercedes rested in Sam's arms and pointed out, "This is the first time that we've ever done this," she said.
"What?" He asked, wondering if the liquor was getting to her.
"Not karaoke, but… this is the very first time that we've gotten together, as one big family – your people and mine and just enjoyed each other's company and had a good time together," she slurred, dancing against him while Blaine and Santana sang, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now. "It's not the same without Puck and Quinn here, but it's a nice change from the past several months."
"I'm sorry that Puck's gone, but, Quinn'll be back, at some point," he said.
"You think she will?" She asked.
"Of course, she will. The things that she did for you and tried to do – she could never just stay out of you life forever."
"But, I don't want her in my life, like that," Mercedes said.
Sam laughed and said, "Don't worry. She won't be. I'd never allow it." He nuzzled against her and said, "You look so good in that dress…"
"Thank you, Mr. Amazing," she said. "I will be out of this dress later on and I wonder what I'll look like then?"
"Like a late night snack for a very hungry Mr. Amazing," he told her and pulled her to a kiss.
Aphasia and Matt had been drinking – something that Sam didn't think that either of them did very much and he had to admit, Matt probably could use more of, because he was so loosened up that she got him on the stage with her. They performed Where My Party People At by Nelly and Fergie. The rest of the crew was totally feeling it, or totally drunk. Dwight and Shannon watched the young ones with amusement. Stacie was hanging out with Tina and Santana, dancing and rocking with them, though she had not even tried to sneak a drink, she was having the time of her life.
Mercedes thought it was funny that Aphasia personalized the song by rapping, "Well it's Phasia, I'm the duchess, coming straight from L.I.M.A…" The two of them were gold! Sam was rocking out to it, himself. Then, they performed an Erykah Badu/Common song, Love of My Life… and they kissed, which made people cheer, but Aphasi backed away from him quickly and got off of the stage. Matt followed her and they talked for a moment, before he found Sam and told him that he was going to see Aphasia to her hotel safely, because she was drunk.
"You are too. Are you calling a driver?" Sam asked, concerned.
"I have a driver available," he reminded Sam and slapped him on the back. "Tell your dad, thanks for the party."
"Coming to Kurt's wedding next month?" Sam asked… not sure if Matt would care to see him casually at any other time.
"Yeah. I'm going with Phai, Sebastian and Andrea. I guess I'll see all of you, then," he said.
"You know, you could see us before that. You can see us, anytime. We've ALL gone through a lot… together," Sam said.
"Yeah, I know. That's why I don't want to see any of you," Matt said, trying to retain his former snarky-ness, but not quite achieving, because of a smile in his eyes. Sam noticed that he looked a lot different, now… or maybe Sam was drunk.
"Well, y'all have fun and be good in Santa Fe!" Sam said and threw his arms around Matt for a tight hug.
Matt turned up his nose and said, "Sam. Evans. Stop it." He placed his hands on Sam and escorted him to Mercedes, "I found this drunk man who wants to hug people and I'm relatively sure that he belongs to you," he told her. Mercedes wrapped her arm around Sam and laughed into his chest. He held her tight as Matt turned to leave for the night.
"See you at the wedding! I love you, Matt!" Sam called out. Matt shook his head and kept going, fighting off a smile that only Dwight noticed, as he left.
When Kurt and Blaine stepped out into the middle of the ballroom for the first dance, there were cameras flashing and teary eyes all over the area. Sam was looking around, almost still expecting a villain to appear in a ball of smoke, or at the very least, an enemy to come in and start firing or something. He still had a stigma about things like that. He still had nightmares. He still woke up in a sweat, at times. He still saw victims' faces and cringed when he looked in the mirror, unclothed… but he knew that things would get better. He had been hopeful of that for quite some time, and when he looked next to him at his precious fiancée, he believed it with all of his heart. Sam collected Mercedes to himself and kissed her on the temple. "Would you judge me if I told you that I've always wanted to get lucky with a Disney princess?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, with a smile.
"Okay, then… I never have… until now," he told her. Mercedes kissed him on the bottom lip and shook her head at him.
When the reception was over and Blaine and Kurt drove off in the just married vehicle, Tina put one of her arms into Quinn's and one into Mercedes' and announced, "It has been too long, and we have much to share."
Quinn smiled and said, "Actually, could you collect Beth from Cooper for me. I wanted to talk to Sam, for a moment." Sam froze and stared at her. He looked at Mercedes and saw her wrap her arm around Tina as they went to get Beth for their friend. He looked at Quinn and she said, "Hello, Mr. Evans."
"Hello," he said, keeping his distance and staring at her with a slightly sideways turned face.
"I'm Lucy Quinn, an old friend of your fiancée's," she said and wrung her hands. He just watched her, turning to face her completely, now. "I believe you met the woman that I used to be. She was cruel to you. She judged you. She hated you. She blamed you for things that were outside of your control and she betrayed you. You… you were a good friend to her, but she was never one to you. On her behalf, I'm hoping that you could befriend the woman that she's become. I love Mercy. I love Tina. I hope that I'll be in their weddings and at all family gatherings, again. I know that it's a hard thing to forgive what I did to Mercedes, but – I am sorry for it. I'm sorry for what I did to you and I'm sorry that I never apologized before. I owed you an apology, all along. You… you saved them, just like you promised to and maybe if I hadn't gotten into it – you could've saved them without us losing people that we loved and without Emma getting hurt."
"Quinn… I don't even know why you think that this is a question. Of course, I forgive you. That's pretty much what this entire group dynamic is based upon – forgiveness, acceptance and loyalty… I hope that this time around, you've learned some," Sam said. She nodded, with a small smile.
"I've been praying about this. I've prayed about being welcomed back by my friends, and by you. I kept thinking about that night that you prayed for us and my heart told me… I should have treasured a friendship with him. I guess, now I have all the time in the world, seeing as how you'll be in my sister's life for the rest of her life."
"Yep!" Sam said and wrapped his arms around Quinn. She let out a deep breath and returned the hug. Then, they walked to meet the other ladies.
Tina touched Sam's arm, concerned and asked, "Everything alright?"
Sam smiled and nodded his head. "Everything's great. So… I guess that Mike and I are having dude's night and the three of you are doing some kind of sister-friend sleepover, or something?"
"Excellent idea, Sam. I am glad that you thought of it," Tina said, pushing him towards Mike, with a chuckle. Beth wanted to go spend the night at her Uncle Shane's house, so that worked out for Quinn. She knew that the girl would be sleep before she even had the chance to enjoy herself, anyway, so that meant she could collect her later in the day, tomorrow.
Sam waved down Dwight and asked, "Where's Stace?"
Dwight called out, "She's sleeping over at Emma's tonight, with Brittany and Santana!"
"I'm going to Mike and Tina's to have an anime marathon with the Mikester!" Sam called back. "Guard the ladies!" Dwight stopped in place and folded his arms at the audacity of Sam to feel the need to give him that instruction. Quinn watched as Tina and Mercedes gave their fiancés kisses goodnight, then they separated vehicles to go where they would go.
Tina spent quite some time detaching Quinn's hair from the insane wig that she'd worn for Rapunzel and fussed, "Kurt better enjoy those photos. He will never see me do some stuff like this again." Quinn told them about her therapy and gave them proper apologies that they were now both prepared to accept. Mercedes told her about the trial, the dogs, and the Evanses. Tina told her about opening up to Mike, the proposal, the fight, and how they were working on it… she even told her about Paul. The three of them got a lot of tears out of the way and after showers and dressing down made their way to Quinn and Mercy's old place, the all night café for lattes.
When they awoke in the morning, having shared the same bed, they found Sam asleep on the couch, with Cluster and Kissy both on top of him. Stevie's dogs were generally downstairs, with Dwight. The ladies agreed to meet later on with the dogs and Beth and Mercedes wanted Stacie to get familiar with Quinn, too. It felt good to be making plans and doing things together again.
When they first began visiting Stevie, he would not say much and only respond when Stacie talked to him. As time went by, he began to respond more, still only to Stacie. But, now, he was at a point where he was mostly responsive, if it was a good day. If it was not, even Stacie was lucky to get a peep out of him. He sat, staring out of the window as Stacie told him how the school year had been going and wondering how his homeschooling was working out, in here. "It's easy when I'm in my room," he said.
Sam told him, "I'm gonna need you to be well by the time I have my wedding. I want you in it." Stevie didn't respond or turn to look at Sam, or Mercedes – who Dwight and Sam forced to come with them, because Stevie would have to get used to her being a part of the family, eventually – better now, while he's surrounded by people to help him. There was a loud black girl, fussing with someone in the room that they were seated in. Stevie winced at the sound of her voice and Sam noticed and looked at the girl. One of the orderlies was trying to keep her from coming over to them. "Are you having trouble with that girl, Stevie?" Sam asked.
Stevie simply rolled his eyes, but wouldn't answer. He responded to Sam less than everyone. Sam tried a new approach, "There's going to be a book and a movie about me!" He cheered. Now, Stevie finally turned from the window, with a hint of excitement in his eyes. Stevie loved movies. "Yeah, this publicist found me after the trial and I ended up calling her and she's booking me and Mercy and some of the others on these different shows and stuff. They did one of those major news networks inside scoop on us, and I'm working on a book that they say they'll be turning into a movie. You're a big movie guy. Who do you think should play me?" Sam asked.
"Ryan Reynolds," Stevie said. "I think that he would do you far more justice than the desecration that was his portrayal of Deadpool."
"Hmm… I don't know him, but I'll keep him in mind," Sam said.
"You know him! We watched that movie, Sammy. It was the Wolverine movie!" Stacie said.
"I… don't remember that movie being very memorable. That's besides the point. Hopefully, you'll be out while some of it is going down, so that you can see it being made. I know you love movies. Maybe we can make it onto the set, or something."
"I don't know. I kinda like it here. There aren't any huge demands on me. People don't expect me to be anything, one way or another. The other kids are nice," Stevie said. And, as if on cue, that girl broke past the orderly, ran over and sat down next to Stevie. He sighed and glanced at her, with an amused look, even though he seemed to be trying to portray annoyance. "I'm with my family," he said, sternly.
"So?" She asked and laughed at how red he turned. "You know that I'll be snatched up in a few seconds, anyway."
"Sedated," he said.
"Yeah, sedated!" She said, then looked at the others and asked Sam, "Can I have your autograph?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "Cornflake told me that you brought down a big group of hateful honkeys!" She cheered.
"Cheerio!" Stevie snapped.
"No, no, no, no… you owe me one, Cornflake. You used the n word last Tuesday. I wrote it in my notes, right next to where your brother's going to sign my pad." She shoved a notepad and a pen to Sam and said, "We watched you on the news. Why are you so much hotter than Cornflake?" That did it! Stevie snatched her notepad and her pen and threw it across the room, which made her squeal. She fumed and glared at him. "God, for somebody that hates me, you sure always get jealous when I pay somebody else some attention!" She fussed and shoved his head.
"Cheerio!" The orderly called, finally reaching her with a needle.
"No, no… My notepad. Cornflake, make sure you get my pad, Man!" She said as the orderly gave her the shot, through her struggle. Sam was watching a series of emotions pass through Stevie's eyes as the girl was taken away , then he got up and retrieved the notepad he had thrown. He sat down and looked out of the window again.
Dwight asked, "Is that one of your friends?"
"I hate her," Stevie said, turning redder, as he did. Sam glanced at Mercedes and saw that she was practically clawing the table.
"Babydoll?" He called and collected her hands. She took a deep breath and now, the whole table looked at her.
"Sorry. It's just the sounds in here… remind me of my not so great childhood," she said, embarrassed to admit it.
Stevie looked down at the table and said, "It's not so bad in here. I like it."
"You like that girl, Cheerio?" Stacie picked. Stevie threw a glare at her and rolled his eyes.
"I hate her," he repeated. His family could tell that wasn't true, but they left him alone about it. Stevie didn't want to say much more after that. Mostly, he listened to his family talk to him about things to come and current stuff, while he wrote in Cheerio's notepad. Sam smiled to himself at his brother, until Stevie glanced up and caught him. Then, he shut the notepad and put it away. They all walked outside, when the family was getting ready to leave. Stevie had the freedom to go a certain distance and he stopped when he got there, like it was a forcefield.
"We're gonna come see you again, Stevie – real soon. We're able to do that now that nobody's out to get us," Stacie said. At first, they were worried, because of what had happened with Puck and Kim. Though those incidents occurred at different places, Sam made everyone extremely paranoid about the possibility. She wrapped her arms tightly around her twin and they both fought the urge to cry. He really did feel more comfortable with other people with issues, teams of people to keep up with his medicine for him, and not having to look at them every day and think about the fact that he wouldn't also be looking at his mom… but he missed his family.
Sam reached out to hug him, next and he squeezed Sam, but let him go easier than he had released Stacie. Dwight gave him a very tight and strong hug that sort of crushed him some, but he dared not complain – not when he felt like he had waited his entire life to have his dad love him like he did now that he couldn't see him every day. They were about to head away, when Stevie grabbed Mercedes and wrapped his arms around her, too. She wore a surprised face, but tightly hugged him, back. He let go of her quickly, then made a dash for the door, to go back inside.
Mercedes hugged herself and Sam slid an arm around her back. Stacie joined her arm to Dwight's and let herself cry, now that Stevie couldn't see her. "Did… Did Stevie just hug me?" Mercedes asked Sam, quietly.
"Yes, he did," he told her and squeezed her tighter. "See? Things are only going to get better now, Babydoll. We might not have 'happily ever after,' but I know that we'll at least end up with a 'pretty damned good." Sam smiled at her smiling face, reached down with his left hand to intertwine it with hers, admiring the engagement ring that she proudly wore, and rubbed her arm, with his other hand as they made their way towards the van, ready to head home for the day.