I know that it has been awhile since I have updated this, but ta da this is the final chapter of Can't Run From Love. (Don't worry though I will write an epilogue for it) I am sorry it has taken me so long, but like I promise I will finish this story. Also I am sorry if there are any mistakes in this story because it is unbetaed.

Also to answer the guest who left me a message about one of my other stories, I removed it because it was so dark. If you would like me to put it up again, just message me off of guest please.

I do not own Glee and thank goodness for that.

Trigger Warning: mentions of sexual molestation

Chapter 7: The Truth and the Trust

When Monday came around, Sam got a call from his boss with another load. He however quit his job right then, but he did have to get his truck back to the company. He didn't want to leave his daughter and Mercedes especially with his trust issues. It was Brittany that had come up with a solution after Sam and Mercedes had gotten into a fight about it. Brittany had suggested that Sam and Mercedes both go and that Artie, Santana and her would watch Ella while they were away. Sam was still a little reluctant, but Mercedes trusted these people that she was living with so he did too.

The first couple of hours of the trip were very tense. Both of them didn't talk much because they were still reeling from their fight. Once Sam broke out one of his impressions though, the tension in the car broke and they started talking about anything and everything, but mainly Ella. The trip managed to be a success and once they made it back, Sam was on the manhunt for a new job. He ended up getting a job at Puckerman Bros. They were two brother mechanics that ran a business together. Both of them were pretty chill and Sam fell in with them pretty quickly.

Mercedes held true to her promise to Sam. She gave him time. She also started to work on herself, seeing a therapist once a week. She hadn't told him the reasons behind her trust issues, but she was opening up more and more with him. They really fell into a routine especially with Ella. It took some time but the daughter got used to Sam and she would light up when either he or Mercedes was in the room.

It was three weeks into Sam staying with Mercedes that their dynamic started to change once more.

Mercedes had woken up screaming from a nightmare. Her sessions with her therapist had brought up some tough things from her past and that had caused her to start having her nightmares again. She hadn't had those for years.

Sam had come running into Mercedes room with a bat, ready to beat someone if they were hurting his girl. When he saw that it was just Mercedes in the room, he dropped the bat and went to her side. He laid down next to her and brought her into his arms, gently rubbing her back in a calming motion. "It's okay Mercedes. It was just a bad dream."

"It felt like I was back there all over again." She cried.

"You're not there Mercedes. You're here with me. With Sam." He grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest where his heart was. "I'm not going to hurt you Mercedes. You're okay. You are safe." He kept telling her soothing things which eventually calmed her down and she fell asleep in his arms. He hated to leave her so he stayed with her, tucking them both in until he eventually fell back to sleep.

When the mother woke up in the morning, she was still curled into Sam with her head on his chest. She felt slightly embarrassed for waking him up in the middle of the night, but she was glad he stayed with her. She slept peacefully in his arms. She tried to untangle herself from him slowly, but her movement caused him to wake up.

"Hey." He said.

"Hi." She smiled at him. "Thank you for being here last night. You really helped calm me down."

"You're welcome." He gave her a slight nod of his head. "I know you might not want to talk about it yet with me, but I'm here when you are ready to talk."

"Thank you." She leaned in and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "It really means a lot to me Sam." She got up and grabbed her clothes. "I should be getting ready." She said before retreating from the room.

That next night Sam was ready for what may come. Hearing Mercedes scream hurt him inside, but he knew that she had to work through this. When she screamed again, he ran into her room to help soothe her once more. That became a habit for a week until Sam just decided for them to sleep together in bed. Mercedes didn't question it because she liked having him there and when he was there, her nightmares became less and less frequent.

Since then, they started to act more like a couple each and every day. When Mercedes had kissed him goodbye accidentally before work, a whole other can of worms was opened. They started to kiss more and more, but it never went past kissing. Either one of them would pull back before it got too far.

A month and a week after that, both Mercedes and Sam were trying to cover their ears from the sounds of Santana, Brittany and Artie going at it. Even though they were in the other apartment, the sound carried all the way to them which caused both of them to not be able to sleep.

"You know…" The blonde sighed. "We should probably move out and get a place of our own."

The mother agreed. "Yes we should." She nodded her head.

That was all it took for them to start apartment hunting. It took them a month to find the best place for them and Ella, but they managed it. It was a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment with a big kitchen and living room. It also had a balcony that looked over a forest. The apartment was in a nice part of town and the place had a recreation department that held a pool and tennis courts which was fun for Sam and Mercedes.

Both the parents were involved in decorating Ella's room, they sometimes conflicted, but Mercedes let Sam have a say more. Sam knew that Mercedes was compensating for him missing the first four months with Ella and Mercedes pregnancy though. He didn't like it, but he would take it for now.

Ella was doing so well. She had learned to sit up on her own and she was a little bigger that her parents just couldn't believe how big she was. She had also started to sleep all through the night which was a weight off of both Sam and Mercedes backs.

When Mercedes had gone to her therapy session that week, she was so happy. She couldn't contain her enthusiasm when she spoke to her therapist. When she was done, her therapist brought out some real truths.

"So… basically you, Ella and Sam are acting like a family. You and Sam are acting like a couple without full intimacy and honesty."

"Um…" Mercedes didn't know what to say to that. "Yeah I guess."

"When are you going to tell Sam about what happened to you?" Her therapist asked.

"I don't know." She bit her lip.

"You should tell him Mercedes. From what I can tell, he won't judge you. He will try his best to understand what happened to you too. You have opened up to me about it which is the first step, but I think it's time for you to open up to him about it. Sam has proven to you that he would never hurt you. He has proven to you that he is here to stay. I want you to also establish you're dynamic with him. Are you boyfriend and girlfriend? Just dating? Roommates who occasionally kiss? Once you are fully honest with him, then I want you both to come in for a therapy session. Until that happens, I don't want to see you until then." The therapist said, bringing their meeting to a close.

"Okay." The mother nodded her head before she left. "Okay."

Her therapist was right. She did need to be honest with Sam. She had promised to tell him when she was ready and she thought that she was finally ready to do it especially with her therapist giving her the push that she needed. She arranged that night for her friends to watch Ella and cooked Sam's favorite meal.

Sam could tell right away that something was up when he got home. No Ella and his favorite meal on the table? That was just unheard of. They both ate quietly, not wanting to break the silence until they were both ready.

Once they had finished, Sam grabbed the dishes and did them quickly. Once he was done, he found that Mercedes had gone outside on the balcony. He followed her out there and sat down next to her. "So…" He started. "What was all that?"

"What I can't just surprise you with your favorite meal and no daughter to watch?" Mercedes asked.

"Well I'm not complaining." He chuckled. "I think that I know something is up though."

"You're right." She nodded her head. "I think that I'm finally ready to tell you what happened to me. You deserve to hear it."

"Oh…" Sam gulped. "Go on."

It took a little while for her to work up the courage to speak, but she eventually did. "My dad left before I was even born. My mother died in child birth. I was shipped off to be raised by my aunt and uncle. My aunt disliked me from the start. She never wanted kids, but she ended up getting stuck with me thanks to her careless sister. My uncle was a bad character. He abused my aunt. And once I got to a certain age, he abused me too and did much worse things..." Mercedes broke off, choking up a little as tears fell down her eyes. "He molested me repeatedly for four years. The day that I turned sixteen, I got my driver's license. I had studied so hard and was so nervous, but I managed to pass. That day, I ran away in my car with very few measly possessions and not a whole lot of money to my name, but I never looked back. It helped that I looked older. People had mistaken me for eighteen and not sixteen and I also had a nice fake ID. That had helped me to get jobs wherever I went. Because my aunt didn't really care about me, she never reported me missing which also helped me out."

Tears came to Sam's eyes and he placed a gentle hand on Mercedes arm, urging her to continue.

"See I never really had a good representation of a male in my life. From my dad leaving me to what happened… You came around and you flipped my whole world upside down. You are everything I didn't know that I needed. I thought I would be happy on the road and free forever, but you make me happy Sam. You and Ella."

"I am so sorry about what happened to you Mercedes. I hope that man rots in hell for what he did to you and if I ever come across him… I'll put him six feet under." He wiped away her tears as more fell down his own cheeks. "I would never do that to you at all. You breezed into my life and you stole my heart right away. You make me happy too Mercedes."

She looked up into his eyes and saw the honesty in them. As he kept wiping away her tears, she brought her own hands up to wipe away his. "I love you Sam."

"I love you too Mercedes." He leaned forward and they shared a deep sensual kiss.

Mercedes broke away when she needed air and then started laughing, wiping the last few of her tears away.

"What's so funny?" Sam asked with a frown on his face.

She didn't mean to laugh and at the blonde's question, she stopped. "I'm sorry. It's just that my therapist wanted me to define my relationship with you and here we are with our declarations of love. I just thought it was ironic."

He chuckled a little, shaking his head. "Well I think I like your therapist. So… what are we?" He asked with a raised brow.

"We're together." She shrugged.

"Like boyfriend and girlfriend together?"

With a nod of her head, she confirmed his question. "Like boyfriend and girlfriend together."

"I like the sound of that." The blonde smiled.

"Me too." She smiled back at him. "So now that we have gotten that taken care of, my therapist wants you and I to do a session with her."

"I'm willing to do that with you."

"Great. We can set up a time when we are both free with no Ella." She sighed. "Speaking of our daughter, she looked at the time on her watch. "We should probably go pick her up from Artie, Santana and Britt's."

"Yeah, you're right." He stood up and held out a hand to help her up. They both left their apartment quickly in a rush to see their daughter again. Some family time was exactly what they needed after that emotional talk.

It took them a week to sit down with Mercedes therapist.

The therapist had greeted them both and then they sat down opposite of her. Once settled, she started off right away. "So since you are both here, I'm guessing that you have established your dynamic and Sam knows about Mercedes past that caused her to be distrustful of men. Am I right?"

"Yes, you are." They both nodded.

"Good. That's good news." The therapist smiled. "Now… after hearing Mercedes story Sam, do you resent her for the four months you didn't get to spend with your daughter? Do you resent her for leaving?"

"No." Sam shook his head. "I never resented her. I was hurt and upset by what she did, but I didn't resent her. That hurt has faded now that I've spent time with both Mercedes and my daughter. I don't think it will every fully go away, but I have moved passed it. I understand now why she left and I don't blame her for it. It's what I would have done in her situation." He said honestly.

"Do you trust her now not to leave you or leave with Ella?"

"Yes, I trust her not to leave. She's proven to me in the months we've been together that I can." He reached across to give his girlfriend's hand a squeeze.

"Mercedes…" The therapist started. "Do you feel like when the going gets tough that you can handle it without wanting to run away? And it will get tough, relationships are. And when you feel this way, will you turn instead to Sam?"

She took a deep breath before responding. "The urge to run is still there, but one glance at Ella or Sam and it disappears. I know that it will get tough, but I do intend to lean on my boyfriend when that happens. He has proven to me that I can."

"That is such good news. You both have really worked on your trust issues with each other. Communication might still be a bit of problem. It is with a lot of people sometimes so I hope that you can both work on communicating more. And with that said, I think this session is done. If you would like to continue with my services, I would be more than happy, but right now I feel like you are ready to tackle things head on together."

"Thank you Dr. Cooper." Mercedes got up and shook the therapist's hand.

Sam copied Mercedes and shook the woman's hand after his girlfriend. "Yes, thank you. Goodbye." He said before he held hands with Mercedes as they left.

They weren't perfect. Their relationship wasn't perfect, but it was a beautiful start.