Mercedes curled up on her couch with her favourite mug clasped in her tiny hands as she sat across from Quinn. The blonde stared at her long time friend, shock and anger darkening her normally light features. "He… did…. what?" She said the words slowly, keeping her voice low as Beth played with Louis in the bedroom. "That son of a feather duster did what?!" She asked more forcefully, but still in hushed tones. Mercedes slowly nodded as she brought the tea to her lips and took a tentative sip of the steaming brew.

"Quinn, you've been a mom for too long." She smiled sadly and sighed as she put the mug down. "But yea, that son of a feather duster embarrassed me in front of all of my colleagues…and the CEO of the company." A slight shrug raised her shoulders, "I've been thinking about it for a week…and I think I'm going to quit the company and find another one where nobody knows me." She bit her lip, "But first I'm going to call Mr. Jacobson, apologize for everything that happened, and hope that this blemish doesn't follow me to my next company."

Quinn pursed her lips, "If anyone should be apologizing, it's that jackrabbit. I swear to goodness, if I could get my hands on him, I would wear my sharpest high heels, and I would kick him right in the ass-."

"Mommy?"

Quinn looked at her daughter, "-steroid, kick him right in the asteroid." She cleared her throat and looked at the child. "How can I help you darling?" The little girl smiled and held up poor Louis. The little dog had his toenails painted and his hair was adorned with colourful little rubber bands.

"I made him beautiful."

Quinn made a face before she looked at Mercedes, "I am so sorry." Mercedes looked at her dog in shock. "Beth Christina Fabray, you take those rubber bands out of that little boy's hair right now."

Beth pouted, "But mommy…."

Quinn gave her a daughter a look. Beth sighed and toted Louis back into the room to get him cleaned up. The blonde woman turned to look back at her friend, "This is why I haven't let her get anything more than a hamster." She shook her head and drank her own tea, "You remember what she did to Popeye right? She dipped the poor thing in food colouring. He was green for a week. I'm pretty sure he died from being traumatised, but of course I wouldn't tell her that." Mercedes laughed and shook her head.

"It's alright. I know she loves that dog. I just wish she wouldn't use my good nail polish to make him beautiful." She closed her eyes for a moment and groaned, "Why did I sleep with him?...I mean, it was good…." She looked at Quinn, "It was damn good, like my eyelashes curled it was so good. But now that I know what he had been planning the whole time…" She stopped talking and shivered, "I'm so pissed."

Quinn shrugged, "Well, at least you had a good time before it all went down. I swear, if I see him in the streets…"

Mercedes laughed, "What are you going to do? Call him a son of a feather duster?" Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Maybe I will, maybe I'll cover Beth's ears and use some words that start with an 'F' and ends with a mother truckin 'K'. Don't forget who I was back in high school Cedes…" She smirked, "I used to be the HBIC all day everyday and you were right there beside me every step of the way."

"Mommy, what's a HBIC?" Beth popped up behind her mother's chair.

Quinn jumped and looked at her daughter who was holding the dog in her arms, "Good Lord child, we need to put some kind of bell on you."Her daughter stared at her as she awaited the answer to her question. "Um, it stands for a Happy Blonde in …" Quinn stared at her daughter for a moment as her mind raced, "…Church." Mercedes bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.

Beth smiled happily, "Oh mommy can I be a HBIC too?" Both Mercedes and Quinn stared at the little girl.

"Alright that's our cue to go." Quinn stood up and put her mug down on the table. She turned towards Mercedes, "Let me know when you're back from visiting your family up in Ohio. I probably should go visit too, but I've been too busy with this one." She tickled Beth who in turn squealed in delight.

"I'll pop in and say hi to your mom for you." Mercedes offered as she stood up to let the two ladies go. "Oh, and I'll bring Louis over before I head to the airport."

"Thanks." Quinn leaned in and hugged the shorter woman, "I love you. Stay strong." Mercedes returned the hug before breaking the embrace and leaning down to hug her niece.

"Bye." The two blondes left, leaving Mercedes to her own thoughts for a moment. She wandered over to her phone and saw the nine missed calls that Sam had left her for the day. It had been a week since the situation and she had blocked his number the very same night. She rolled her eyes, promptly deleted his voicemails, and dialed the head office of her company. Mercedes plopped down on to the arm of the couch and chewed her lip nervously as she waited.

"Hello, Mr. Jacobson's office. How may I help you?" The secretary answered cheerfully.

She stopped biting her lip and cleared her throat, "Hi, I just wanted to speak to Mr. Jacobson if he's in."

"He's a bit busy at the moment. May I ask who is speaking?"

"Mercedes Jones."

"Alright Ms. Jones, what is the nature of this call?" Mercedes rolled her eyes. She didn't think it would be this difficult to at least leave a message for the man.

She sighed, "The call is private in nature and I'd rather discuss it with Mr. Jacobson if you don't mind."

"Well I'm afraid that I must determine whether or not this call is important enough to bring to his attention at this very moment and so far you're not giving me any reason to believe that what you have to discuss is of any urgency."

Mercedes narrowed her eyes, "May I ask what your name is?"

There was a pregnant pause, "Rachel Berry. Why do you ask?"

Mercedes cracked her neck to the side, "Oh, just so I know who to report to HR for harassment." She wanted to pop the girl in the face to be honest, but she was already in enough hot water. "Now either give me an extension to leave a message or find a way for me to speak to Mr. Jacobson." Another long pause.

"Please hold." Mercedes heard very nice melodic elevator music play on the line as she waited. It was a nice break from the receptionist.

After a few moments, a deep and gruff voice answered, "Hello Ms. Jones?"

"Mr. Jacobson? I just called to apologize for everything that happened last week." She said quickly.

"Ah…" The man laughed, "…I was meaning to speak to you about that actually…hold on." She could hear him shuffling and then the sound of a door closing. "My receptionist is intolerable and likes to eavesdrop from time to time." Mercedes laughed, "If my son wasn't dating her …..anyhow, do you have a moment? I'd like to discuss something with you."

Her eyes widened, "Sure sir, how can I help you?..."

For over an hour, Sam sat in his car in front of the small house as he waited. His cell phone remained in his lap and he couldn't help but continuously glance at it, hoping that Mercedes was finally willing to hear his side of things. He was feeling much better physically, but mentally he was a wreck. When he had set things up to humiliate her, he had been so angry about the laxative situation that he hadn't properly though it through. Sue and he had merely discussed possible payback methods, but he had told her to wait for his go ahead. His lack of communication that night seemed to be the signal that she apparently needed to proceed with the plan. He had reprimanded her that night to no avail; she merely clicked her tongue in annoyance and stormed off. It made him nervous about what she had in store for him, but the only thing he truly cared about was rectifying things with Mercedes. He watched as the little car pulled up into the driveway and immediately stepped out of his car to rush to the woman's side.

He cleared his throat, "Excuse me." The woman jumped and clutched her chest.

"Beth stay in the car." She commanded to her daughter before she slammed the door shut and stared at him. "What do you want, you….." She turned back to the window, "Beth plug your ears like you do when grandma's singing." The little girl obeyed her mother's commands and covered her ears, humming a little song under her breath. Quinn turned back to the other blonde. "What do you want you asshole? I have half a mind to kick you in your Santa sack if you catch my drift."

Sam sucked in a breath, "Ah, so Mercedes told you what happened then."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Mercedes is my best friend. Of course she told me what happened. What kind of stupid question is that?"

This was going to be rough, "I've been trying to explain what happened to her, but she won't return any of my calls and she hasn't worked all week."

"Yea I wonder why." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why are you here and how in the hell do you even know where I live?"

"I just know some people."

Quinn narrowed her eyes, "Uh huh, the same people who embarrassed my friend in public because you, mister idiot, started a stupid feud with her?!"

Sam sighed, "Look, I really like her and…"

"Uh huh I could tell, what was next pouring pigs blood on her from the rafters?! Gosh, if that's liking someone, then what do you do to people you love?" Her eyes grew wide in an almost comical manner, "Sacrifice them to Satan?"

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose, "Quinn, I like her. I like her a lot and the competition between us was honestly funny in a messed up way. I wanted to end her career, yea I admit it, but not like that and especially not after we slept together." He sighed, "I was angry and I put things in motion, but I didn't want them to actually go ahead with it."

Quinn stared at him, "Well it's too late. She's quitting the company and she's moving back to Ohio." She knew that this was a lie, but she really wanted the man to feel bad. Sam's eyes widened. Bingo, there it was.

"What? That's insane…she can't …what?...when?" He sputtered out and rubbed the back of his neck as his mind raced.

"Yep, she's renting out her place until she can sell it officially, but she's leaving tomorrow afternoon and there's no telling when she will be back." She turned towards the car, "Beth baby, let's go inside."

Sam stood there for a moment as he processed the information. "How do I fix this?"

Quinn shrugged, "You embarrassed her beyond belief…unless you come up with a time machine…there's not much you can honestly do." He sighed and shut his eyes, "You want my advice?" He opened his eyes slowly and nodded, "Stay away from her." With that, she turned on her heels and entered the house with her daughter.

Sam shook his head. He knew exactly what he needed to do, and time was running out fast.

Mercedes stepped out of her apartment, dragging her suitcase behind her. She had dropped off Louis an hour before and now her taxi was waiting downstairs for her so that she could catch her flight. She quickly stepped into the elevator and walked out into the lobby to have her suitcase suddenly grabbed from her. Her head spun around to find Sam sheepishly holding on to the bag. "You have got to be kidding me." Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "Let go of my bag Sam."

"Mercedes I messed up, I know it and I am so sorry." He held her bag more tightly, "I can't take back what I did and there's no amount of apologies that will make you forgive me. But I just want to ask you for just thirty minutes of your time."

Mercedes rolled her eyes, "I don't have thirty minutes, now excuse me." She grabbed the bag and walked towards the entrance.

"Please," He pleaded. "And then I'll never bother you again." She paused and sighed, her back facing him.

"No more calls, no more emails, no more messages, no more texts."

Sam looked down at his feet, "You have my word, that I will never bother you again." She turned to look at him to make sure that he was being genuine.

"Your time starts now Evans." He nodded and stepped out through the entrance. She followed behind him to his car, where he tossed her things in the back, opened the door for her, and sped off. "Where are we going?" She asked in a slight panic, now realising that he might be attempting a kidnapping of sorts.

"You'll see soon enough." He stared at the street ahead, his face turning slightly red.

She remained quiet for the rest of the ride until they pulled up to a nice apartment building. "Who lives here?" Her eyes scanned the area.

"I do." He said quickly before hopping out of the car and opening the door for her. She timidly stepped out and followed him to the building's front entrance. "I'm thinking of moving though, it's too close to… well you'll see." He herded her to the elevator and waited impatiently for it to come down.

"You have ten minutes left Evans and this better not be some perverted trick or something." She scowled.

He laughed and shook his head, "Eh not quite a trick, but it is pretty perverted." She looked at him as he stepped into the elevator and beckoned for her to join him.

"That's not reassuring." She said slowly as he pressed the button for the top floor.

"I know, but I have to be honest with you." He looked at her for a long time and she could see the regret in his eyes, but that still wasn't enough to erase the embarrassment she had endured all thanks to him. Once they got to the top, he took her hand and walked her towards the stairs to the roof. A part of her wanted to pull her hand away, but it felt so nice to have their hands intertwine. She followed behind him as they climbed the stairs and stepped behind him once they were outside once again.

"Three minutes." She said softly before he turned her around to face a large billboard, very visible from where they were standing as well as probably miles away. "Oh….my ….god." Her eyes grew wide from the shock and she covered her mouth with her free hand. "Sam…what did you do?" Her shock was replaced with fits of laughter as she stared at the large sign overlooking the free way. A huge picture of Sam wearing assless chaps, a dog collar, and nothing else was on print for everyone to see. He was lying on his side on a large rug, winking at whoever had taken the photo. The words, 'I have been a very bad boy, come punish me and buy a house' was written above his posed body. On the bottom of the billboard was written, 'HONK IF YOU'RE READY to buy a house.' Even from where they were standing, she could hear the honks in the distance.

He nodded as he took in her expression, "Yea, the plan kind of backfired." He shrugged, "I thought less people would want my services, but my phone has been blowing up all morning." She looked up at him in shock, "There are a lot of horny folks out there Mercedes….a lot."

She chuckled and stared at the toned body displayed for all to see, "Why would you do that?"

"Because I like you and I couldn't take away your embarrassment, but I could add my own to the equation." He turned her to look at him, "I never meant to actually hurt you, I made that plan when I was pissed off about the laxatives and I got sick so I didn't have time to…to stop everything." He rubbed his hands down her sides, "I know this doesn't really fix anything, but I'll do whatever it takes for you to not move back to Ohio."

Mercedes raised a brow, "I'm not moving back, I'm just visiting for a week." Sam smacked his forehead and groaned. "Why did you think I was moving?"

He rolled his eyes, "A little blonde birdie told me." Mercedes laughed, "Well whatever, I still would have done this." She sighed and looked into his cool green eyes.

"Alright…I think I can forgive you….but there's one more thing I want you to do for me and then we can move forward and pretend this never happened." She leaned up and placed a light kiss to his lips.

He deepened it before pulling back, "Anything…"

Mercedes grinned mischievously. "Anything?"

They stood at the door fidgeting slightly as they waited for the host to greet them. Sam kept twisting the large head on top of his own, "Oh god, I think I might be claustrophobic." He whined from inside the large dog head.

Mercedes rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see them with the large cat head on top of her own. "You didn't know this before renting the dog costume?"

Sam groaned, "It's not like I wear a large dog head every day Mercedes." She could hear him breathing heavily from beside her.

"Are you okay?"

Sam shrugged, "No, I really shouldn't have eaten those burritos before coming tonight." He coughed, "They're attacking with a smelly vengeance."

Mercedes gagged, "Ugh Sam!" She turned to look at the man beside her. Well she couldn't see the man exactly. The door finally opened to reveal a large skunk costume. "Hi, I'm Mercedes." She waved at the unknown individual.

"Oh! Mercedes, come on in." Came the familiar gruff voice. She stepped in behind the man and was followed by Sam who all but stumbled over the threshold. "I'm so glad you came."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world Mr. Jacobson." She nodded to show that she was happy to be there since he couldn't see her face.

The man shook his head, "Oh no, I'm Pepe here, no need for formalities." He laughed and Mercedes awkwardly laughed with him. "We're family here." Sam pulled the large dog head off of his body and wiped his brow with his covered hand. "Oh look at who we have here." Mr. Jacobson pat Sam on his shoulder. "I saw your billboard young man."

Sam blushed and bit the inside of his mouth, "Ah…you did?"

The skunk nodded, "Yes I did, I think you'd really enjoy the next party I have. I think it will be more your…speed. A lot more leather and chains." He laughed. Sam slowly turned his head to stare at Mercedes in absolute horror.

"So Pepe…what does one do here?" She asked through the mouth space. Sam put the dog head back on to hide his embarrassment. The skunk shrugged.

"Mingle, talk to people, whatever you want to really." He led them to the living room where hoards of different people dressed as animals danced and spoke. "I know you're more into the sex stuff, but we're a bit tamer here. However, if that's what you are looking for then let me know. I know another cat who would die to meet you." Sam put a protective arm around Mercedes, well as best he could through the costumes.

"This pussy's mine." He declared. Mercedes flushed under the head.

Mr. Jacobson laughed, "That's fine too, most people here are couples anyways." They watched as he looked around and then heard the doorbell, "Make yourselves at home, enjoy." He pushed them more into the room.

"Well you heard the man." She could hear Sam's laugh echoing inside his head.

Mercedes sighed as she looked around, "Why did I have to be a cat?" Everyone else's costume looked amazing.

"Because everyone loves cats…well I don't, I had one break in a few weeks ago and I'm still a bit traumatised to be honest." She looked at him and giggled. "You look beautiful, even if you're a cat." He leaned in to kiss her and then stopped, "Oh yea, never mind."

"Well thanks for the support."

"Anytime babe. Now let's have some fun." He stepped into the middle of the room and howled much to her embarrassment. Everyone stopped to stare at him for a moment, "Who let the dogs out?!" He yelled out. Mercedes stared at the man she was dating, hoping that she could send messages to him telepathically. She was surprised when a chorus of 'who, who, who, who' came from the party goers. Even the DJ changed the song to 'Who Let the Dogs Out' by the Baha Men. Mercedes laughed and joined the body rolling dog in the middle of the room. Had anyone told her a month ago that she would have had a boyfriend, she would have scoffed, and if they had told her that she'd be wearing a cat costume to a Furry party, she would have doubled over laughing. But here she was with both and strangely enough, she couldn't have been happier.

A/N: Alright everyone! I hope you enjoyed this quick little story. I had fun writing it and planning it with an amazing friend of mine (AW) and I would like to thank you for the kind comments and reviews. As always I love seeing what you think and reviews are always welcomed. Please excuse any spelling errors.