Sam and Rachel are sitting down to lunch at Breadstix, enjoying their Saturday. Finn, Quinn, and Mercedes will be joining them shortly. Finn is finishing a shift at the tire shop. Quinn and Mercedes are getting their hair done and should only be a few more minutes before they drive over for a nice lunch to let Sam know that they all are supporting him no matter what happens.
"So I guess, the others are running a little behind." Rachel says checking her phone for the time.
Sam just smiles and shrugs his shoulders. "It's cool, I get it. I mean I understand if they don't want to be friends with me anymore."
Rachel gives him her angry stare and he knows he's about to get lectured. "Sam Evans, you listen and you listen well. No one is going to stop being your friend. They love you, and I'm sorry about how Finn found out, and how Quinn and Mercedes found out, but they all care about you, Sam. They just want you to be happy and for you to stop this self-hatred thing you've got going for yourself, because you deserve happiness."
Sam bites his lip trying to suppress what he's feeling. He doesn't know if it's self-hatred, sadness, guilt, fear, anger, or a confection of all of those emotions. "You know, if I'm being one hundred percent honest with myself," he pauses as he looks into Rachel's eyes, "I don't know if I've ever really been happy. I mean I put on this goofy grin and persona that lets the world believe I'm happy, but maybe I do it to fool myself." He says with a sigh.
"Why do you say that? I mean, you've never let anything really get you down. Even when you were homeless you held your head high and weren't ashamed of anything, so I just don't get it." Rachel takes his hand across the table and maintains eye contact with Sam. She can see the inner turmoil he's dealing with and it almost makes her want to cry.
Sam looks away for just a second, trying to think of a way to change the topic, but he can't. He groans quietly before he speaks. "I…I guess it's because I don't know who my dad is."
Rachel's face contorts with confusion. "Wait, what? I've met your dad, so why would you say you don't know who he is?"
"Because he's not my actual dad, yeah he's the man who raised me, but he's not the guy that helped my mom make me." He says as the waitress refills there water.
"Would you two like to order, or are there more joining you?"
Rachel turns to the waitress. "Our friends will be here shortly, one just got off work across town and the other two are running a little late. So can we just get an order of fried mushrooms please?"
"Sure thing, sweetie." The waitress says before hurrying away,
Rachel forces herself to keep calm and composed as she returns her focus on Sam. "I'm sorry, I never knew that your dad was your stepdad."
"He's not." Sam says quickly. "He's my dad, just not my dad, dad." He can see that Rachel gets what he's telling her so he continues on. "My mom and dad have never hidden it from me. They just said that the guy that fathered me was really young, engaged, and thinks that my mom had an abortion. Mom said she'll tell me who he is one day when she thinks I'm ready, but I wish I knew him."
"Sam I'm so sorry that happened to you." She thinks about how she never knew her own mother until recently. "Look, from my experience it's the weirdest feeling meeting your biological parent, who you haven't ever known before. It's like you're so scared and so excited that your head is about to explode, but then you meet them, and in some strange way it brings this empty sense of satisfaction. At least that's how it was for me." She says with a halfhearted smile.
….
"Finn," Burt yells from his office just as his stepson is about to leave for his weekend lunch. Finn heads back to see what Burt wants.
"What's up, Burt?" He asks wanting to join his friends.
Burt ushers Finn inside and closes the door. "Take a seat; we need to talk about something before you go meet up with Sam and the others." Finn can hear the tone in Burt's voice change and he knows that something bad has happened.
Finn looks up at his stepfather feeling nothing but worry. "Burt, what's going on? Is mom ok?"
Burt sits next to Finn. "Your mom is fine, but Finn…" Burt can barely find the words the he's about to say. "Something bad has happened though."
Finn's heart is pounding in his hears at this point and he begins to shake with fear. "B…Burt…are …you alright?"
"Finn," Burt says calming himself, "its Sam's family, they….there was a …" Burt grabs Finn and hugs him, thankful for still having one son. "It was a fire, Finn. They all died."
Finn's heart sinks into the pit of his stomach as his mind thinks of how devastating this is going to be for Sam. "D...Does…Does Sam know yet?" Finn says as he feels his face becoming damp from the tears he didn't know were there until they were.
"I want you to go get him and bring him home and then your mother, you, and I will sit down with him as a family and tell him. But when you go, you can't tell him. Now I know it'll be hard, but you have to keep quiet and just bring your brother home." Hearing Burt use the word brother was the only thing that gave Finn hope, because it meant that not only did Finn think of Sam as his brother, but Burt thinks of him as a son.
"Burt, I can't promise you that I won't tell him. But, I will bring him home." Finn knows that Sam wouldn't want to be told by a whole group; after all he's a guy. "Sam's my brother now, and if he asks me what's wrong…I won't lie to him."
Burt nods knowing Finn is right. "Just don't sugar coat it, but don't be blunt if it is you that tells him." Burt finishes telling Finn how Sam's family died and that both of Sam's parents were both an only child. Both sets of his grandparents are dead, so Sam is truly without his biological family.
…
When Finn arrives at the restaurant, he's already told Rachel everything. She in turn filled in Quinn and Mercedes when Sam step away to use the bathroom. Finn eats with his friends, but he can't take his eyes off of Sam. He wants to just get it over with and rip off the proverbial bandage, but he can't.
When the time comes and the waitress brings the check Finn slaps down a hundred dollar bill and tells Sam that they have to cut the day short.
"How come?" Sam asks feeling confused as to why he and Finn would need to cut out of their time with friends so early.
Finn chokes back his desire to tell the truth. "Burt just needs our help. I think mom needs some furniture moved or something."
Sam nods. "OK, well I rode with Rachel, do you mind taking me back home?"
"Yeah, definitely, come on. Let's get out of here." Finn's voice cracks just a bit. Sam catches it, but he remains quiet as he follows Finn to his truck.
…
Blaine is sitting at the Lima Bean with his date, Sebastian Smythe. This is their third date so far, and all three have happened in a span of a week. Though Kurt had always been team anything but Sebastian, Blaine couldn't help but be attracted to the seductively dangerousness that Sebastian exuded. He sips his coffee, locking his eyes with the boy sitting across from him. Neither blinks, nor speaks, they just sit and stare. Sebastian is the first to make a move.
He moves to the seat next to Blaine and places his hand on his date's thigh, slowly moving it upwards as he leans over and kisses the side of Blaine's neck. "Wanna get out of here? I know a place where we can be alone." Sebastian's cool voice sends shivers down Blaine's spine as all he can do is nod.
The pair goes out to Sebastian's car and drive off to an old, abandoned-looking warehouse, located deep within Lima Heights. Blaine can't help but think this is a dangerous place to be, but the thrill of potentially getting caught causes a euphoric surge of adrenaline to course through his veins like lightning. He moans when Sebastian holds him from behind, kissing his neck tenderly.
"MMmm you taste so good," Sebastian coos into Blaine's ear.
Blaine chuckles and spins himself around to face the man holding him. "You are such a bad boy, Sebastian." He smiles and kisses Sebastian on the lips quickly.
A smirk crosses Sebastian's lips. "So why don't you punish me then?" He asks coyly.
…
Fin and Sam aren't but about ten minutes from their house when Sam makes Finn pull over. Finn parks in the driveway of a random house as Sam begin to ask him what's going on. "Come on Finn, something's wrong. I can feel it."
Finn hangs his head. He knew this was coming, but he wished he didn't have to be the one to tell Sam this kind of news. "Sam, there was an accident." He watches as Sam becomes still as statue. "Your house in Kentucky caught fire because of a gas leak or something, the cops are only assuming right now."
Sam's eyes are saucer-like as he stammers out his first few words. "Mo….mom an…and Dad…Stacy and Stevie…they're…they're OK aren't they?" Finn can here the desperation in his friend's voice and his face betrays him before he can speak. "NO! NOOOOOO!" Sam screams, tears draining down his face, as Finn pulls him in, holding him as a big brother would.
Finn shushes Sam, wanting nothing but to take away the pain he can only imagine his brother is feeling. "I'm so sorry, Sam. I'm so sorry." Finn says softly as he remembers how he felt when he lost his brother, knowing Sam's pain is much greater than that. He can't even begin to imagine what losing his entire family in one fell swoop would be like.
….
Blaine and Sebastian are making out big time. If a child were to see this they would assume the boys were trying to devour each other's faces. Blaine's hands trail up from Sebastian's waste to the middle of his button-down. He grasps between the two center buttons just as he pulls tightly, ripping open the Warbler captain's shirt. Sebastian moans and reaches for Blaine's belt pulling it off in one swift motion. Blaine is soon standing shirtless with Sebastian about to help him out of his pants, but their fun is interrupted by the incessant ringing of Blaine's phone.
"Sorry," Blaine says seeing that Rachel has called him twelve times in the past five minutes, "I think this is an emergency." He hits the green button and accepts the call. Rachel's voice is panicked and going so fast he can't understand her at all. "RACHEL! Slow it down, I can't understand you." She calms down and tells him everything that has just happened. "Yeah, I understand. I'm headed over to Sam's right now!" He hangs up and turns to Sebastian with tear-filled eyes. "I have to go; my best friend's family was killed. I need to go be with him." He says in a way that makes it sound as if he were begging Sebastian to take him to Sam.
"I'm sure he's fine with all the people that are probably swarming him right now. One more person isn't going to help him any. Come one, let's finish what we started." Sebastian pulls Blaine in and kisses his lips hard, trying to press the restart button on the passion the two were experiencing just moments ago.
Blaine pushes him away. "NO! You take me to Sam right now, or I will never go out with you again!" Blaine says demandingly.
Sebastian complies and the two dress quickly before speeding off for Sam's house. Blaine pulls out his phone and begins to text Sam.
BLAINE: SAM, I AM SO SORRY! I'M ON MY WAY RIGHT NOW!
I'M HERE FOR WHATEVER YOU NEED FROM ME.
….
AUTHOR'S NOTE: HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED READING THIS CHAPTER AS MUCH AS I DID WRITING IT. CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU ALL TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. AS USUAL PLEASE REVIEW, GOOD OR BAD I WANT TO KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS. THANKS FOR READING!