A/N: I know I was suppose to explain to y'all how Mercedes ended up at Sam's house in the last update but somehow I didn't get around to it acually I totally forgot so while typing this post around midnight last night it dawned on me so in this post I let TJ tell y'all. Enjoy reading and thanks for the reviews.

Mercedes POV
"Now the light has gone away, Savior listen while I pray asking thee to watch and keep, and to send me quiet to sleep. Jesus Savior wash away all that has been wrong today, help, every day to be good and gentle and more like thee. And Jesus let daddy stop hitting mommy and yelling at me. Amen."

I replayed his prayer over in my head a few times. "And Jesus let daddy stop hitting mommy and yelling at me. Amen."

"You said something?" Tank looked over at me.

"No." I turned my back to him and just let my tears fall. My baby saw him hit me.

TJ's POV
I guess mommy didn't think I knew about daddy hitting her but this was my first time seeing it was when she left the last time I was awakened out of my sleep by the both of them yelling.

"Who the fuck is texting your phone?!"

"A friend from high school I just ran into them at the store so we exchanged numbers nothing harmless with doing that."

"Harmless? Daddy yelled as he picked up mommy's phone. "Hi Mercedes it was nice seeing you after all of these years. I still got love for you, girl. STE. Who the hell is STE?"

"You say he just a friend." He continued going through her phone.

Mommy said something smart and daddy drew his right hand back and smacked mom as she tumbled down the stairs. My mouth drop I started crying I walked out and daddy was hitting mom in the face.

"Don't you ever tell me that shit again? Fuck you!" He yelled. I didn't want to see mommy hit no more so I ran back to my room and got in bed and started crying. I heard the sound of a car door and I stood on my bed and saw mommy pulling off.

"Mommy!"

"Why in the hell are you yelling?!"

"I want mommy!"

"Who the fuck is you yelling at?!"

"I want mommy!" I yelled crying at him.

"Shut up! Stop asking for your mother. Is her ass here?! NO! Say you want mommy one more time and I'm taking you to your grandmother's I swear!"

"I want mommy." I mumbled.

"Your ass wants to be smart. Let's go." He yanked me by arm and started throwing anything into my duffel bag. He picked me up and downstairs we went to his truck he put me in my booster seat and didn't even secure me. I had to do it he sped off taking me to grandma house. I cried the whole way there and at every red light he'd give me the meanest look ever. I wish I would have gone with mommy a few minutes later we were pulling up to grandma house. He turned off the car and turned to face me. "I had it up to here with your whinny ass bullshit. Stop crying! When I take you in here you better not say anything. Understand." I just nodded my head and kept repeating over in my head "I miss mommy."

I woke up out my dream crying. I left my room and ran down the hall and to mommy and daddy's room I opened the door and mommy was asleep. I went over to her and patted her arm.

"TJ, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"I thought you were gone. Can you sleep with me in my room? Please mommy."

"Okay."

Went back to my room mommy got in my bed and then I got in she pulled the covers over us and I feel safe now and I drifted off to sleep in mommy's arms.

Sam's POV
It's been 3 weeks and everything has been going pretty good for me my brother finally changed all of my locks and Mercedes is good. She posted something to her dummy IG and it warmed my heart. It was a photo of a couple and the caption on the photo said, "whoever I'm with or whatever I'm doing, I'd rather be doing it with you." The photo was a couple divided by a wall yet they were still holding hands at the end were sad face and broken heart emoji.

"If only you knew Mercedes. If you only knew I'm right there with you baby. I'm right there."

My doorbell rang and I headed downstairs to see who it was. I looked out the window and it was Kurt.

"Kurt. What do I owe this special visit?" I said closing the door behind him as he welcomed himself in.

"Any update from Mercedes?"

"No but she's fine."

"How do you know this? Has she called you? She hasn't called me and I checked with Rachel to see if she called her but nothing there?"

"She's fine. Trust me on this."

"Sam…"

"Follow me." I took him to my study and I moved the mouse because the screen had went to sleep I put in my password and up popped there appeared the website. I looked over at Kurt and he was shocked.

"Oh my gosh! Sam! Why didn't you tell me this? Here I am fretting my mind over this for these 3 weeks and here you are keeping tabs on her. How could you?" Kurt hit me I was blocking his hits on me.

"Holy hell! Stop. Stop." I laughed. "So, what is all of this?"

"This is Mercedes info. Everything she's been doing for three weeks."

"Everything?" He asked moving the mouse around selecting different features.

"Yes this is everything."

"When did you do this?"

"I got this done 3 weeks ago after you all left."

"What is this some kind of app on her phone? Does she know that it's on there?"

"No, she doesn't. It's a ghost app she doesn't know it is running it doesn't show up on her phone but I see all. Like right now. She's at the grocery store."

"GPS?!"

"Yup."

"What made you think of this?"

"I just had a feeling deep down inside that she was going to go back and I didn't want her to go back and I couldn't go back with her so it dawned on me why not see if there is a way for me to keep up with her all of the time and Jacob set it all up."

"Who is Jacob?"

"Jacob is the techie who installed this. It's also on the phone I got her too. I asked him to put it on there just in case."

"I don't know who Jacob is but I want to kiss him. You know before she showed up at your house 3 weeks ago she wouldn't accept my friend request to her IG. She rarely posts. Just pictures of her."

"Oh, that's her dummy account."

"What account?"

"The dummy the fake account she has two accounts their both private but I have access to both."

"Show me."

"This is her dummy account and this is her main one." I told him as he started scrolling through the pictures of her main account and stopped when it got to TJ.

"Who is that little boy? That's not a photo of her brother when he was a kid although he looks like him but he has Mercedes lips and nose and eyes." He studied the picture a little bit more until it hit him. "She has a son?!"

"She does."

"Oh my gosh! He's the cutest little thing."

"He is."

"What's his name?"

"His name is TJ and he just had his 5th birthday."

"Aww…and there goes Tank in a picture. Wish she would she had cropped him out he messes up the beauty of this picture."

"Can I get a copy of this?"

I printed Kurt a copy of the picture and handed it to him.

"Got any scissors?"

"Sure right there."

"Great." He picked up the scissors and cut Tank out of the picture and happily sighed. "This is better. Don't you agree?"

"Yeah, I agree."

"So you've been sitting here for 3 weeks watching her every move."

"Yeah, it keeps me sane."

"Well knowing that you're with her although she doesn't know will keep me sane as well."

Tank's POV
It's been 3 weeks and my mother has overstayed her welcome. I'm ready for her ass to go back home so I can get Mercedes in check with my mother here she thinks she can say what she wants. I've been letting her slide but tonight it stops.

"Mom, everything is fine. Mercedes is home and we're good. How about you go back home and sleep in your own bed."

"You know that sounds good. I do miss my bed." She laughed she nodded her head. "Yeah, I think I will everything is okay here. I'm going to go pack my stuff and I'll be out of your house so you can enjoy some time with Mercedes. I know you haven't had any in 3 weeks."

"Yeah I've been itching to get me some." I smiled as she walked away and I thought of the moment when Mercedes get home from the park with TJ. I can't wait.

Mercedes POV
"You had fun at the park?"

"Yup! I had a blast!"

"That's good." I pulled up in the driveway and Miss Joyce car was gone. "Grandma car isn't here Hmmm… I wonder if she went home or just to the store?" I thought out loud.

"Hopefully she went to the store." TJ said as he unbuckled himself and waited for me to open his door. He jumped out and I secured the car and we headed inside.

"Hey! How was the park?"

"It was a blast!" TJ yelled raising both of his arms in the air.

"Where's your mother?"

"Oh, she wanted to go home. Everything was fine here she said besides she missed her bed."

"Oh. So, you're cooking dinner?"

"No, mom cooked before she left. I'm just warming it up."

"Cool. Um I'm going to go get freshened up and TJ well he's off to his room and we'll be down for dinner.

"Okay."

Dinner went really well but something feels off about this whole thing. Tank is a little too happy. He's doting on TJ and he hasn't hit me since his mother's been here. Something is up and I got a feeling that everything he wanted to do he's going to do when TJ is asleep. TJ is all squared away with his nightly routine done. I'm in bed just sitting there looking at the TV. Tank came in and I didn't even pay him any mind. I turn off my light and turned my back to him.

"Are you crying again?" I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"No, I'm not but is there a problem with me crying."

"No, it just pisses me off when you do."

"Well if you kept your hands to yourself then maybe I would not cry."

"I haven't bothered you in 3 weeks. You should be happy about that."

"Happy?" I questioned.

"Yeah, happy my mother saved your ass while she was here for 3 weeks. You are lucky."

"Whatever. I wouldn't call myself lucky."

"What was that?"

"You heard me. I'm not repeating myself." I adjusted my pillows and closed my eyes when it happened. He hit me pulled me over until I was on my back and he got on top of me.

"You said what? See that's the smart ass shit I dealt with and I couldn't wait until you popped off at the mouth." He forcily removed my shorts and his and forced himself in side of me.

"Tank stop! Get off of me! Ow! You're hurting me." He pinned me down to the bed as he continued to sexually assault me. "Stop!" I heard the jiggling of the door and saw that it was locked.

"Daddy stop! Stop hurting mommy! Stop!" I heard TJ's cries and I zoned out when I came to Tank was sleep. Slowly I sat up in bed and massaged my wrists they were hurting really bad because he held me down. I looked over at Tank and he was knocked out sleep with his mouth open. I opened the door and I saw TJ asleep in the corner. Mercedes, girl you got to get up out of here you can't keep your son in this situation but I don't want Sam to know about TJ. Stay or go. Stay or go. Go. Stay. Go. I contemplated in my head but as I placed TJ on his bed I thought back to last night and his prayer repeated in my mind.

"And Jesus let daddy stop hitting mommy and yelling at me. Amen."

"Go." I packed him a bag and I went back into the master bedroom and grabbed me a laundry hamper and tossed some clothes in there. I went back to TJ's room and put his bag on top and carried it out to the car. I went back and got him and laid him across the backseat. I locked the house and I was going back to Sam.

Sam's POV
I woke up in my chair and moved the mouse. I logged in again because the website had timed out. I checked her GPS because that's the first thing I check in the morning and she's up and out.

"Where are you going Ms. Jones?" I asked the screen as the GPS was updating me with her every move. It didn't dawn on me until I realized where she was going.

"She's coming here."

I jumped up from my seat ran to my room and took a quick shower, brushed my teeth put on some fresh clothes because I've been rocking these for about a week and waited by the door.

TJ's POV
I woke up and I didn't know where I was at until I looked up and saw mommy. I sat up and stretched.

"Mommy, where are we?"

"We're at McDonald's getting breakfast." She said as I looked over there were clothes and my duffel bag I have when I spend the night with grandma. I think mommy is going to clear her head and I'm along for the journey a smile came to my face. I looked down at myself and I'm still in my PJs and so is mommy.

"TJ get in your booster seat." I did what she asked and she ordered our food and paid at the next window and we're off to where I don't know but it was long ride because I fell asleep again.

Mercedes POV
I pulled up to Sam's house and I undid my seat belt I turned around and undid TJ's I got out and opened the back door and picked him up.

"Sleepy."

"I know TJ. You can sleep once we get inside."

"I don't wanna go home."

"We're not home." I balanced him on my hip as I went to ring the doorbell Sam opened the door and pulled me into a hug.

"It's okay baby. I'm here. I'm right here. I never left you." He whispered in my ear. "I never left you." We went into the living room and we sat on the couch.

"What happened?"

"He raped me." He closed his eyes and covers his face his hands and looks back at me pointing to TJ.

"W-Was he there or was he out the house?"

"He was banging on the door he locked it so TJ wouldn't come in."

"WHY?" Sam yelled TJ woke up and started crying. "Hey, I'm sorry. Sorry for yelling." Sam said in a calm voice. "I'm sorry TJ. I didn't mean to yell. You probably hear that all the time." He wiped TJ tears. "I promise I won't yell again. Okay. I give you my promise on this." Sam crossed over his heart.

"Okay…" TJ laid back on me and Sam gave him a small smile. "Mommy."

"Yeah."

"I'm hungry."

"Um… I can whip up something for y'all if you want."

"Actually I stopped by McDonald's and I picked us up something."

"Okay. I'll go to the car to get it."

"No, I'll go."

"Okay. I'll watch you." He said as I sat TJ on the couch and Sam did the universal gesture letting kids know that the person want to pick them up. TJ let Sam pick him up and they followed me to the door. I got to the car and Sam was whispering something to TJ and kissed him on the cheek. Damn he melted my heart with that.

Sam's POV
"See…mommy is right there getting y'all stuff. Okay." He nodded his head and watched his mother like a hawk never blinking. I rubbed his head kissed him on the cheek. He laid his head on my shoulder. Man this kid melted my heart 3 weeks ago when I first saw him but he's got me now. Once Mercedes got close I helped her bring the hamper in. I closed the door.

"Let's go to the kitchen. Little man is hungry."

"I bet." I sat him on the stool and Mercedes got out their food and slide me a tray over to me.

"Cedes, you didn't." I said as she was wiping TJs hands.

"Sam."

"Thanks."

"It's nothing." I looked over at TJ and he was going to town. He stopped and looked at me.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Sam."

"Oh, I'm TJ."

"What does TJ stand for?"

"Thaddeus Joshua."

"Thaddeus Joshua. I like the name."

"Thank you. I do too." I looked up over at Mercedes and smiled she met my gaze. We ate our breakfast and I cleaned up after us and Mercedes and TJ retired to the living room and he was asking her questions about how she knew me it was the cutest thing.

TJ's POV
I want to know how mommy know this man so I'm about to get her to answer my questions.

"How you know him mommy?"

"We went to school together."

"Kinnegarten?"

"No."

"Pre-K?"

"No, baby."

"We met in high school." Mr. Sam said joining the conversation sitting in the chair across from mommy and I.

"High School?" I repeated scrunching up my face. "Weren't you old by then mommy?"

"I wasn't old. I was young."

"And fine too. Still fine." Mr. Sam winked at mommy and she smiled. I don't know this guy very well yet but if he can make my mommy smile like she just did he's okay in my coloring book.