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"Yes, I completely understand." Mercedes switched the phone from her right hand to her left so she could take notes. "Uh huh. …" She laughed at what the person on the other end said, replying, "Well I will certainly do my best. … Of course." She nodded as she jotted something down on her notepad, looking up when she heard a knock on her open door. Her breath caught when she saw who was standing there and she completely missed the last half of what the person on the line said. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that? … Oh, sure. … Yes, I'll check those numbers and get back to you." She kept her eyes on the ones trained on her, quickly looking away when the staring contest got to be too much. "Uh huh, sounds good. … Thanks so much. … You too. … Bye." She ended the conversation and looked back at her visitor. To say that it was the last person she expected to see would be an understatement.

"Sam." She swallowed and forced out a smile. "What are you doing here?"

She watched as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. Her office, whose size had never been a problem before, suddenly felt too small.

"I had to drop some papers off and figured I'd stop by to say hi."

"Oh. Hi."

"Hi."

The two fell into an awkward silence that seemed to drag on forever.

"Sam, I –"

"Mercedes, look –"

They both started speaking at the same time, sharing a small smile and gesturing for the other to continue.

Mercedes spoke first.

"Sam, thanks for stopping by, really, but…" her voice trailed off.

He sighed. "Mercedes… look… I…" He ran his hand through his hair. "I need you to understand that I… this isn't how I wanted things to go."

She shrugged.

"And yet here we are," she said, unable to stop the sadness that crept into her voice.

He nodded slowly. "Here we are."

They looked at each other, the silence no longer awkward, but full of regret. Sam was the first to break it.

"Well, I um… I better go."

"Yeah." She cleared her throat. "It was good to see you."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but evidently thought better of it because he turned and walked out of her office, closing the door gently behind him.

When Mercedes heard the soft click she closed her eyes and slowly exhaled.

One month ago

"Wait, wait, wait," Mercedes wiped her eyes, struggling to catch her breath. "Rewind it, rewind it!"

Sam grabbed the remote, hit the rewind button, and pressed play. He got up and started speaking in time with the movie.

"Do you do like that ass-out hug? Where you like, you hug each other like this and your ass sticks out cause you're trying not to get too close," he poked out his butt to mirror the movement on the screen, "or do you just go right in and kiss them on the lips or don't kiss them at all? It's very difficult trying to read the situation. And all the while you're just really wondering," he shrugged, "are we gonna get hopped up enough to make some bad decisions? Perhaps play a little game called 'just the tip'? Just for a second, just to see how it feels…"

Mercedes doubled over again. "How many times have you seen this?"

"Eh, not sure. Definitely in the double digits though," he said, sitting back on the couch and pulling her shaking body into his arms. "How many times have you seen it? Anything less than ten viewings is a crime against the academy."

"You're so right," Mercedes replied with sincerity. She placed a quick kiss on his lips and sighed. "This is nice. I'm glad we got to do this. With work and whatnot, I feel like I haven't seen you in so long." She patted his leg and got up from the couch, making her way to his fridge. "I'm grabbing another beer, want anything?" Not hearing a response, she grabbed two and picked up the bottle opener from the counter. "Sam?"

She walked back into the living room and saw that the TV was off.

Sam raised his eyes to her and, even though they had been together for only two months, one look told her something was wrong. She placed the bottles on the coffee table and returned to her spot on the couch beside him. She reached up and stroked the hair at the nape of his neck. "Hey, what's wrong?"

He swallowed and kept his olive eyes trained on the dark screen in front of them before looking back at her.

"I can't see you anymore."

She dropped her hand and drew back from him.

"What?," she exhaled.

"I can't –"

Mercedes didn't wait for him to finish. She put on her shoes, stood up from the couch, got her jacket and purse from the kitchen island, and walked out the front door.

Mercedes angrily wiped away the tear that ran down her cheek. Since that afternoon, the only contact she had had with Sam had been at a meeting with Quinn and Noah about their upcoming event. Ever the professionals, nothing in their interactions hinted at the fact that they had spent time together or that their union ended abruptly.

Get it together, she thought to herself, turning her attention to her computer and the notes in front of her. You're fine. He's fine. Get it together.

Sam kept his hand on Mercedes' door after closing it, silently cursing. After his conversation with Artie he tried to make a relationship with her work, but the guilt was killing him. He couldn't stand lying to her. Asking how her day went when he already knew the answer. Knowing what she was doing before she told him. Even if he hadn't gotten involved with the intention of keeping tabs on her, Mercedes was now a client. Unknowingly, yes, but a client nonetheless. To continue seeing her while monitoring her would be a betrayal of her trust and go against every ethical standard he adhered to. Right?

He sighed and walked down the hallway toward the stairs that led to the exit. He took them slowly and reached about halfway down before stopping in his tracks.

"Fuck it," he muttered.

Mercedes was typing up notes from her call when her office door suddenly opened. Startled, she looked up from the screen.

"Sam, what are –"

She barely got her sentence out before he was at her side, pulling her out of her chair and into his arms.

"I'm sorry," Sam said as his lips came crashing down on hers. "I'm so sorry."

Mercedes stayed motionless for about a second before melting into his arms. They clung to each other until a moan, she wasn't sure whose, brought her back to her senses. Turning her head and placing her hands on his chest, she broke the kiss and took a step back.

Chests heaving, Mercedes and Sam stared at each other, the silence between them providing a soundtrack to their hurt, confusion, and longing. Just as Sam opened his mouth to speak, a stutter at the door alerted them to the fact that it was open. They looked over to see a shocked Quinn reaching over to close it. Eyes wide, she looked at Mercedes and mouthed apologetically, "I'll come back later."

Mercedes walked over to the door and finished shutting it gently. Keeping her back to Sam and her hand on the wood, she took several deep breaths and willed her heart to stop racing.

"What do you want, Sam?"

When Mercedes finally turned to look back at him, Sam knew he had about one minute before he lost her for good.

"Mercedes, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you said that. Sorry for what exactly?"

The juxtaposition of her calm tone, her glistening eyes, and the anger radiating from her caught him off guard. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

She pounced on his silence. "Oh, do you need some help?" She crossed her arms across her chest. "How about for ending things the way you did? Or, I don't know, maybe for just walking in here like everything is fine and dandy? Like nothing happened? Like you didn't rip –." She stopped.

He swallowed and took a step in her direction, but she held up her hands.

"Don't." After a short pause she dropped her hands to her side and asked again softly, "What do you want, Sam?"

"You."

She stared at him, her expression unreadable.

"Look…," he started. He made another move in her direction, but the look on her face stopped him. "I messed up. I know. I just… I can't get into it, but I was wrong. I shouldn't have ended things. Not like that. Not at all."

She swallowed. "Then why did you?"

His heart raced and he thought back to his conversation with Artie.

"I…" He stopped and took a breath. "With us working together on this gala, I didn't think it would be right to date. Conflict of interest and all of that."

She shot him an incredulous look. "You thought. So, what?" She pointed to herself. "I don't get a say in the matter?"

This wasn't going well.

"I'm an idiot."

She let out a humorless laugh. "Ya think?"

"A very sorry idiot."

She rolled her eyes.

"And I will make it up to you."

"Doubtful."

"Try me." He started walking towards her.

Her eyes narrowed. "Why should I?"

"Because I will make it my mission to make sure you don't regret it."

She watched his approach, but this time didn't stop him. "What if I told you I already did?"

He kept moving until he stood in front of her. "I'd tell you that you shouldn't."

She looked up at him. "Why shouldn't I?" She slowly shook her head. "We were together two months. That's nothing in the grand scheme of things and yet you still managed to hurt me." She let out a shaky breath. "You can't do that again." Her brown eyes searched his. "If we do this, we do this. Don't half ass it, Evans."

He nodded.

"No backing out just because you think it's the right thing. Talk to me. Give me some type of warning."

He brushed her hair out of her face.

"I won't be giving you a warning," he said, "because I won't be backing out again."

She stepped away from his touch.

"This right here?" She gestured between them. "I don't do this. But you..." She let out a shaky breath. "I'm trusting you. Don't fuck up, okay?"

He nodded, his heart constricting. "Okay."

"Okay." She nodded slowly. "Okay," she repeated more to herself than to him. She walked over to her desk and sat back in her chair, turning her attention to her computer. "Goodbye, Sam."

He let out the breath he was holding. "Goodbye, Mercedes. I'll call you later, okay?"

She nodded and he looked at her for a few more seconds before walking over to crouch beside her. He waited until she looked at him, his heart stopping at the tears that had made their way down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Mercedes." He twisted her chair so she faced him completely. "I wish I could make you understand how sorry I am and why I did what I did, but I can't." He held her face gently and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "All I can do is promise to never intentionally hurt you again." He placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I won't let anyone hurt you, okay?" He placed a kiss on her forehead before standing. They looked at each other for another second before Sam turned and walked out of her office.

Sam made his way back over to the stairs and pulled his phone out of his pocket, quickly scrolling through his recent calls. He hit send and waited until the person on the other end picked up.

"Artie, any developments?"

"Hi, not yet. Truth be told, we're getting worried. All of our leads are turning up cold. Or dead."

He walking out of the building and headed towards his car.

"Have you talked to anyone at the firm?"

"Yeah, we've gone through all of the employees, both past and present."

"Mind if I take a stab at it?"

"Are you asking me if you can officially speak to people to see if they know anything about an open case? Because if so, the answer is no." Artie paused. "Understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I hear ya." The bit about "officially" was the officer's way of saying go for it, but that he was on his own. Sam got into his car. "And about the second thing we discussed?"

Artie sighed. "I'm sending over some names now. Complete discretion right?"

"Wouldn't do it any other way."

The two said their goodbyes and Sam hung up the phone. He then dialed his office and asked Lauren to pull up all the information she could about employees at the firm. After he was done with her, he spoke with Mike and Puck and set up an emergency meeting for when he got back. He needed this case to be done as soon as possible and that would require all hands on deck.