Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. I truly appreciate it.
I guess I need to repeat...this is a SAMCEDES & FABREVANS story...more accurately this is a MERCEDES/SAM/QUINN story. All sides have equal weight. There's no way you can predict the ending of this story right now at chapter 5. There's so much ahead...and if you're a samcedes fan...now would not be the time to stop reading. That's all I'm saying...
Our angsty journey continues and as always everyone needs to hold tight
Chapter 5
"You gave us quite a scare sweetheart," said Sue as she leaned over and stroked Sam's cheek from her seat on the edge of his bed.
"Son, what was all this foolishness about getting out of bed?" asked Dwight from his chair.
Both Sue and Dwight had rushed over to the hospital when Mercedes called them and told them about Sam's attempt to get out of bed. She had hoped that having his parents around would help to keep him calm, as crazy as that seemed, considering his parents were not the calming types.
"Ask her," said Sam pointing at Mercedes as she walked further into the room. "She's the one that started it."
"Mercedes what's he talking about?" asked Dwight.
Mercedes sighed. "Sam threw a fit when I accidentally said he was in a coma for nine months."
She hovered by the wall where the television was mounted, not wanting to set Sam off again by getting too close. A safe distance seemed the best choice. She could see everyone in the room from her spot, but was still far enough removed from Sam.
"I asked her to explain that statement and she wouldn't. I won't tolerate people coddling me dad."
Sam had pushed the sleeves up on his blue pajamas. He was sitting upright again, looking very alert. That nap must have rejuvenated him. If it weren't for his extremely thin appearance, he would've looked just like his old self.
"And you shouldn't. The doctors be damned. What she said was true. You were in a coma for nine months," stated Dwight matter of factly.
"So this was because of the crash?" asked Sam looking back and forth at his parents.
"You had extensive internal injuries and head trauma," said Mercedes from her spot in the corner.
"I didn't know I was so bad." Sam shook his head in disbelief, staring down at his lap. "I remember being huddled under a blanket waiting to be rescued. Everything was fine besides the fact I reinjured my leg."
"It's all healed up now son," said Dwight patting Sam's arm reassuringly.
"Wait, what about Will?" asked Sam suddenly. "He was in a bad state."
"I'm fine Sam," said Will as he entered the room, and walked over to stand next to the chair Dwight was sitting in. Mercedes had called Will too. She need all the reinforcements she could get to keep Sam calm and in bed.
"Will, you're okay." A look of relief flashed over Sam's face. It struck Mercedes as odd that Sam seemed so concerned about his brother. Had he heard Will's guilt ridden words during his visit? "You look great actually."
"Thank you," said Will with a confused smile.
"How's Emma?" asked Sam.
"She's good," replied Will still looking a bit perplexed.
"Tell me the truth and you have to promise not to hold back, but is Carlos still alive?"
Will blinked once before responding, clearly shocked by Sam's question. "Yeah, probably working on his tan," said Will. "He worked for your father until he retired to Miami about six months ago."
"I'm so relieved. How are Stevie and Stacey?"
Will quickly glanced at Mercedes, raising his eyebrows. "Both are fine."
"Good to hear. Was I the only one hurt this badly?"
"You got the brunt of it," answered Will quickly, fidgeting with his collar, looking like suddenly his shirt felt too tight.
"What happened? How did things get so bad? I could've sworn I was feeling okay."
"Well uh…" Will faltered seeming not sure how to proceed. Mercedes wanted to speak up for him, to shield him from this moment. It was the one thing that Will feared most, having to tell Sam about the accident.
"We can discuss details later, son," said Dwight stepping in, saving Will from the unpleasant explanation. "One step at a time."
"What about Quinn?" Sam had avoided looking at her the entire time, but he deliberately looked at Mercedes when he asked that question. Peering at her expectantly, as if she could offer some clues.
"What about her?" asked Dwight sharply, the distaste evident in his voice.
"I just talked to her on the phone earlier and she seemed fine, a little strange but I figured that was just me not being able to speak properly and being on speaker. Is she really okay? Or was that something else that was being withheld from me?" he asked shooting a pointed look at Mercedes. Mercedes squirmed uncomfortably under his gaze.
"Quinn should be the last person you're concerned about. How could you even ask about her right now?" asked Sue appalled, gesturing toward Mercedes with her hand.
"She was right there with me, waiting to get rescued. If something went wrong with me I need to make sure nothing happened to her too. Maybe she was injured worse than we thought."
"What do you mean Quinn was with you?" asked Dwight looking at Sam strangely.
"At the crash site. We were together. I know you don't like her dad, but she's my friend and …"
"What crash site?" asked Dwight cutting him off.
"Uh, the limo crash. What we've been talking about this whole time."
"You weren't in a limo crash. You were in a car accident," said Dwight.
"What in the hell are you talking about?" asked Sam confusion all over his face. "Of course I was in a limo crash. You were there Will, and Emma too with Stevie and Stacey, we were coming back from Quinn's concert and the limo flipped." Sam looked over at Will, his eyes clouding with concern. "You and Emma were thrown and we couldn't wake Emma up."
"That's right Sam. It was scary there for a bit, I thought I might lose Emma," Will said quietly.
"I'm so sorry Will."
"Thank you. She's all better now." Will paused cocking his head to the side. "Sam, what year is it?"
"2011. I mean I think it still is. Let me do the math," he said physically counting on his fingers. "Nine months on February, yeah it's still 2011. Was that some sort of a test?" Sam asked smiling.
"In a sense," Will replied with barely a hint of a smile. "So you don't remember being in a car accident?"
Mercedes swayed unsteadily on her feet, holding onto the wall to keep her balance. She let herself slowly sink down to the floor, squatting in the corner, her fist balled in her mouth to keep from screaming. The whole conversation was happening in another dimension, it was playing out in front of her, but her mind kept screaming it was fiction. It just couldn't be true. He couldn't have forgotten it all, forgotten her.
"Why do you keep talking about a car accident? The limo flipped over on the way back from Quinn's concert. We were stuck on the side of the road in the cold. It was a pretty unforgettable experience."
"Sam, I don't know how to tell you this." Will began slowly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he pulled together his words.
"Maybe we shouldn't Will," interrupted Sue.
Sue had been uncharacteristically silent, sitting back against the footboard of the bed, watching it all play out. From time to time, Mercedes caught Sue giving her sideways glances, monitoring her reactions. Mercedes guessed everyone in the room was waiting for her to collapse, to fall apart in a puddle of tears. That wasn't going to happen. The urge to cry had left her body, in fact she wasn't feeling much of anything.
"He has the right to know," stated Will.
"But the doctors…" warned Sue.
"To hell with the doctors," interjected Dwight. "I agree with Will. I won't keep my son in the dark."
"What are you guys talking about?" asked Sam looking from one person to the next trying to make sense of their little debate.
"Sam that limo crash happened in 2011," said Will.
Sam gave Will an odd look. "I know. I just told you that." Sam's patience was starting to wear thin. Mercedes could hear the annoyance creeping into his voice.
"It's 2014," Will explained. The air went still, as everyone held their collective breaths, watching Sam's reaction.
Sam's eyes widened in shock. "What?"
"You were in a car accident nine months ago, and that's why you were in a coma," said Dwight bluntly, revealing what everyone was so hesitant to say.
"I don't understand. How can it be 2014?" Sam shook his head vigorously, as if he were physically trying to make things in his head fall into place. "I clearly remember the limo crash."
"I know, but it seems like you've forgotten everything else," said Dwight. "Everything that has happened since."
"You expect me to believe this?" asked Sam frowning. He shoved his hands through his hair in frustration. "I have just forgotten years of my life?"
"Three years to be exact," Will stated.
"This is a joke. You're making it up." He searched his mother's face for some sign.
"We're not sweetie. It's true," said Sue. Mercedes could tell Sue was crying, the tears were choking her voice, making her words sound thick and slurred.
Mercedes watched through the metal slats in the footboard as Sam recoiled from everyone in the room. He was confined to his bed, leashed by his network of catheters and tubes, but he tried his best to back away, even if he could only move a few inches. He crossed his arms over his chest, curved his legs up into his body, turning his back to them all, to stare at the wall.
"I don't believe you. I couldn't have lost years. Not years," he said shaking his head, his back still turned to them.
"Sam…" said Sue reaching out to comfort him. Sam flinched away from her, not wanting to be touched.
"Where's my little nurse?" he asked, his rough voice breaking with emotion. "I need her."
All eyes shifted to Mercedes crouched in the corner by the foot of the bed. She slowly stood up, holding onto her churning stomach, and walked over to the side of the bed, easing past Dwight's knees to stand in front of Sam. He reached behind him, opening his hand, beckoning her to grab it. Mercedes tentatively placed her small hand in his, closing her fingers around his palm.
He rolled over, looking up at her, trapping her with his green eyes. "Tell me what year it is."
"It's 2014, Sam. February 2014." He squeezed her hand tightly as she said the words, as if he were trying to transfer some of his pain to her. Mercedes wished she could take it all away. It was her fault this was happening. He now had not only lost months, but years because of her actions.
Sam shook his head in disbelief, tearing up as reality set in. Mercedes stepped in front of him, blocking his face from the view of his family.
"I think we need to give him a moment," said Mercedes addressing the room.
"I'm not leaving him like this, after all we just told him," declared Sue from the end of the bed. She hadn't tried to touch Sam again but her concern registered all over her face.
"Let's just do what she says," urged Will heading toward the door, Dwight close behind.
Sue sighed heavily as she rose to her feet, giving Mercedes one last look before glancing at her son. With another sad sigh and a toss of her hair, she turned to leave with the others.
Mercedes let go of Sam's hand and started to follow everyone out of the room.
"Wait," Sam called out hoarsely. Mercedes looked back. He had his head in his hands, covering his face. "Can you stay?"
Mercedes nodded and took a seat in the chair next to his bed. They sat silently for a few minutes, Mercedes on the edge of the chair, hands in her lap. Sam slouched in his bed, hands over his face.
"I've lost years," he finally said glancing over at her with red rimmed eyes.
"You haven't lost them. They're just mixed up in your head somewhere."
Mercedes tried to think of a joke, a little quip, to lighten the mood, but her mind was blank. Wasn't much humor to be found in their situation. Sam was adrift, swimming in confusion, searching for lost memories. And Mercedes was just plain wrecked, abandoned and alone, forgotten on some deserted shore in his mind.
"They feel gone, like they're never coming back." He leaned his head back into his pillow, closing his eyes. He looked so young in that instant, like a scared little boy wandering lost in the dark.
"You felt gone while you were in a coma, and you came back." Sam opened his eyes, attempting to smile.
She had worried he would wake up and not feel the same about her, that somewhere in the abyss of his coma, the love he felt would disappear. Mercedes had hoped against it, trying to believe in the promise of second chances, but deep down she knew she had lost the right to be with him the night of the accident, when she let him think she didn't want him anymore. She clung to her anger, ignoring his pained pleading, his declarations of love. She had killed his hopes that night, so it seemed only fitting that that he killed her from his memory, erasing every trace of her and all the pain she had caused.
Once again she was nothing and Mercedes stepped back into that role with surprising ease. It had always been waiting for her anyway, this place for the discarded. Sam would have eventually come to his senses and moved on to a more worthy mate. She was kicking herself for even thinking it would end up any other way, for letting herself believe that their love was something special, something solid, something that would last. Nothing good ever lasted, not for her.
Mercedes could see the tears in his eyes, the slight quiver of his lower lip, he was barely holding it together. He looked like she felt. Like a sudden earthquake had hit, knocking everything off balance. Nothing seemed right. Everything was leveled, leaving them destroyed, staring at the wreckage.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked. If nothing else, she still was his nurse.
Sam shook his head, unable to answer. Mercedes got up from her chair and moved toward the bed, tentatively at first, as if she were approaching a scared animal. He looked up at her, almost seeming startled to find her standing so close. Mercedes' heart twisted as she watched him fight back the tears that were trying to fall.
"It's going to be okay," she said wrapping her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. "I swear it is going to be okay."
At first he remained stiff in her arms, allowing her to hold him, but not touching her back. Then she felt Sam shift closer, his arms spanning around her waist, pulling her in tighter, burying his face into her neck. She felt the warmth of his tears as they dampened her skin. She rested her head on his shoulder as she continued to hold him, finally letting her own tears fall.
Next chapter: Sam's POV