Chapter 38 - Sugar Therapy

Sam had just stopped talking, turning his back to her, without another word. Mercedes had sat there for a while, perched on the edge of the bed, watching the soft rise and fall of his torso as he breathed. She could tell he wasn't sleeping, his body was too stiff, but for some reason he just shut down. So she left, quickly exiting the room without even a good night.

Asking for his ring had taken her by surprise. Mercedes hadn't expected him to even be interested in anything that linked them as a couple, yet he had been, asking her questions about their relationship, wanting to see his ring. She wondered what he would do with it, now that it was around his neck instead of hers. Would he ultimately chuck it somewhere? Bury it far from his view where he didn't have to acknowledge that part of his life again? Or would he actually keep it on, and try to find a way to understand his life with her. Sam had said that was what he was doing, trying to find his connection to her, so he could understand. Mercedes was too cynical to actually be encouraged by that statement, she knew that trying didn't mean much when he was very focused on his connection to another woman.

It was confusing attempting to decipher his mind these days. She usually read him so easily, his mind worked so similarly to her own, and she knew him, almost on instinct, but since waking up from his coma things had been different. He had been evasive, closed off, defensive, as if he were consciously trying to block her from reading him, from seeing inside him. That hurt almost worse than being forgotten. Not only had he erased her from his mind, now his mind was trying to keep her at bay from even getting closer to him. She didn't stand a chance with him if he kept this up.

Rocky road ice cream - that was the answer. The Evans kitchen was enormous and well stocked, there had to be some rocky road in their freezer, or an adequate substitute. The kitchen was dark with all the staff off for the evening. She searched the wall for the light switch, finding it after a few pats in the dark. The kitchen suddenly was illuminated with just enough light for Mercedes to find her way to the freezer without breaking a limb. She stopped and pulled a spoon out of the drawer on her way, bowl unnecessary, as she planned on eating the whole container, no matter the size.

The freezer was stand alone, separate from the refrigerator, impressively sized, very modern, a wide door on top and three large drawers on the bottom. A quick search behind the door, revealed mainly vegetables, first drawer meats, second drawer sweet nirvana, at least five different gallons of ice cream, none rocky road, but oh yes there was chocolate chip cookie dough unopened. Mercedes smiled as she took out the ice cream, closing the drawer behind her with her foot. She ripped off the plastic covering and was ready to dig in when she heard a noise, a slam coming from the back area of the kitchen where the elevator was located, as well as the hallway to the staff rooms. Mercedes thought nothing more of the sound, and returned to her ice cream, when she was again interrupted by a loud noise. This time it sounded like yelling. Curiosity getting the better of her she pushed through the door that led to the staff rooms, ice cream in hand.

A folding table was set up, chairs scattered around it, some empty others filled with bodies diligently studying their hands. A poker game, five card stud by the looks of it, was in full swing. Kurt was playing host, passing out drinks.

"Okay so Sam Adams all around, Coors Light for you Figgins."

"Thank you Master Kurt," said Figgins as he took the beer from Kurt's hand, immediately popping the top with an opener he had on his key ring hanging from his pocket.

"I love when you call me that," said Kurt. "Makes me sound all distinguished."

"Can you call me Master too?" asked Finn. "Every time I come here you always just call me Finn."

Finn was there cards in hand, long legs propped up on the empty seat beside him, a backwards Lima U baseball cap on his head.

"Probably because Figgins knows there's nothing distinguished about you. You don't have that master vibe," said Kurt as he handed Finn his beer.

"Not true. At the house I'm the master of the beer bong."

"Case rested," said Kurt grinning as he passed out the drinks to the others. "And lastly a Pelligrino for Marcel."

"Merci."

"You're such a cliché Marcel," said Kurt rolling his eyes in amusement.

Marcel poured his drink into a tall glass, a lime already waiting in the bottom. "I am on duty tonight."

"I told you I arranged it all," said Kurt patting Marcel on the back. "Feel free to live it up."

Marcel shook his head, straightening out the top of his green scrubs. "You may think you arranged it, but I don't trust it. Mrs. Evans is very crafty, she will know –"

Mercedes dropped her spoon, alerting the room to her presence, "She will know what Marcel? Please finish your thought," said Mercedes hand on her hip, other hand wrapped around her ice cream, not bothering to pick up the spoon.

"Mercedes!" exclaimed Kurt rushing to her side. "What are you doing here?"

"Ice cream," she said holding up her gallon container. "I should be asking you that question. I thought you had to work."

Kurt shrugged. "Got off early?"

Something was going on, Mercedes could tell Kurt was hiding something. "And Finn, I sent you home."

"Kurt was my ride so…" Finn's words trailed off as he threw a handful of peanuts into his mouth.

"So you just came back to the staff wing and waited for him?"

"Right…they had cards," Finn mumbled, mouth full of nuts.

"Might I get you a bowl for that Mrs. Evans?" asked Figgins rising to his feet.

"Figgins, relax, I got this," said Kurt taking Mercedes by the arm and leading her back down the hall.

"What the hell is going on Kurt? I thought you said everyone had the night off."

"They do. That's why we're playing poker."

"Oh. So just a friendly game?"

"Yep. Are we getting a bowl or are you planning to clog your arteries in one sitting?" asked Kurt when they reached the kitchen.

"Clogged arteries all the way. I wish I had some chocolate syrup," said Mercedes as she sat on one of the stools at the end of the center island.

"Cede, what's up? You only bring out the big guns like chocolate syrup when you're depressed. Did something happen with Sam?" Kurt handed her a spoon from the drawer, as well as grabbing one for himself.

"You mean besides him being a jackass to Finn?"

"He saw Finn?" asked Kurt as he took a seat on the stool beside her.

"Yep came through the kitchen, guns blazing, completely rude. Thank god Sam can't walk yet or things would've been so much worse."

"Well you know Sam, he's passionate."

"Is that what you call it? I was thinking of a completely different word for him." Mercedes piled a big scoop of ice cream on her spoon, far too big for one bite, but she made it fit.

"I wonder why he was so rude?"

"He was acting like a jealous husband, which makes no sense. He doesn't give a damn that he's married to me."

"Maybe he does."

"No he doesn't. Remember that little tirade in the hospital? He's not happy about me at all."

If Sam had been fully mobile when he found out they were married, Mercedes was sure that Sam would have picked her up and thrown her physically out of the room. He was that angry with her. She hadn't seen him that shaken by her since back when she was working as his assistant and sabotaging his deals to get his attention.

"I explained that already, just dramatics. When I spoke to him earlier, I got the sense that he cared a great deal about you."

"I think your senses need tuning."

"I know my cousin," said Kurt with a mouth full of ice cream.

"I used to think I knew him too, not so sure anymore."

"Take it from the top, what happened?"

"After you ditched me, Finn and I made nachos and talked."

"Glad to see you survived that. I know Finn gets on your nerves."

"Finn's not so bad," Mercedes reluctantly admitted.

"Really?"

"It was kind of nice talking to him." She couldn't quite believe it herself but she actually had fun with Finn tonight. He made her laugh, something she had needed more than she realized.

"Nice is good."

"Then Sam rolled in all green and grumpy."

"So what did you do with Mr. Grumpy when Finn left?"

"I took him back upstairs to his room and left him there while I got dressed for bed." Kurt looked down at her ensemble, pink sweatpants, and a cream faded t-shirt. "No I wasn't wearing this. Something more..."

"Skimpy I hope."

"Yeah, I don't know why I even bothered though, not like Sam cared."

She hadn't been actively trying to seduce him, but Mercedes figured it couldn't hurt to try to catch his attention. It definitely had worked, he was staring at her legs the whole night.

"Just go on…what happened when you came back to his room all skimped out?"

"We argued about Finn and about my not doing my job sooner." Thinking about it pissed her off all over again. How dare he try to treat her like she was his employee?

"So he was jealous and he was missing you."

"I didn't say that!"

"I'm just decoding the Evans-speak for you. Continue."

"Then I shaved him."

"Like you did it in the hospital."

"Yes I had to straddle him."

Maybe she didn't have to straddle him, she could have done an okay job standing behind him, but a little contact didn't seem like a bad thing. She'd hoped that having her so close would jog something in his mind.

"So you got him excited."

"Kurt!" She hated he was being so blunt about it all. He was making her seem like a seductress and that wasn't her intention. Not really.

"Don't mind me, just continue," said Kurt as he dipped his spoon into the ice cream.

"Then we talked a little about how we got together, he was freaking out about my age, saying stuff like he was doing a minor and that he couldn't believe he was married to someone younger than you."

Kurt leaned into her affectionately. "I can't believe it either. Married, college graduate, got a job already, the staff fear you, always trying to show me up."

"Speaking of staff, I was a little surprised to see Marcel. He doesn't even live here."

Marcel lived over an hour away. On his days off he never stuck around Lima. It was hard to believe he decided to stay at the house tonight just to play poker.

"Who can resist high stakes poker? Get back to you and Sam. He was whining about sleeping with jailbait, and…"

"I don't know…one thing led to another and I sort of got in his lap again."

"Drop the innocent routine, you didn't just accidentally fall into his crotch. What was your plan?"

"I was taking Finn's advice actually, trying to get him to remember."

A real plan might have been a good idea. She must have been out of her mind to take any sort of advice from Finn. Only a guy would think a lap dance was the way to cure amnesia.

"Any success?"

Mercedes sighed. "Not a bit, but…" She hesitated unsure she wanted to share this with Kurt. It was bordering on humiliating.

"But..."

"He kissed me." A completely unexpected, felt it to her toes, made her head spin, totally amazing kiss.

"I knew it!" said Kurt raising his spoon in the air in triumph. "Sam is in such denial."

"Don't get too excited. He pushed me off of him and told me that he didn't feel anything and he wanted Quinn."

"Eh don't pay attention to that."

"Kurt, how can I ignore that? He told me flat out." And he meant it. Mercedes could tell. He didn't even care that she was so hurt by his words. He just smacked her in the face with his honesty.

"And you believed him? 100 percent?"

"Well no…"

"See there. Denial."

"He's physically attracted to me, but that doesn't mean very much. I want him to care again."

Sex was easy with Sam. Not much effort and she probably could get him into bed. Mercedes knew he wanted her, but sexual attraction was basic, almost instinctual. It was easy to get a man to give into his physical urges, but to get to a man's heart, that was a whole different matter. If there was a surefire way to make that happen, Mercedes didn't know it. Getting Sam Evans to fall for her had been a mystery the first time around, and no less so now. She had no clue what it would take to get him to feel anything more than lust for her.

"What about the ring? Did he see it?" asked Kurt.

"How do you know about the ring?" asked Mercedes narrowing her eyes. Her gut was sending her alarms again, something was definitely up.

"Well I don't know about the ring, that's why I'm asking." Kurt wouldn't look at her, his eyes darting about the room as if unable to find anything steady to focus on. "I just figure married man, ring."

"Sam doesn't have his ring, you know that."

"I must have forgot," said Kurt still avoiding her eyes.

"I don't think you did. You were with me the last time I saw his ring actually. In our bedroom you said the chain needed to be replaced."

It was during Quinn's trial. Kurt had been over, hanging out with her and Beth, and he commented on the ring. Mercedes remembered that day vividly because Kurt had tried to use the ring to hypnotize Beth to sleep, swinging it in front of her face, trying to get the baby to focus on it.

"It was too thin for his band, you were going to lose it if you didn't watch it."

"You took the ring with you that day."

"I actually got you a new chain."

"Kurt what's going on?"

"I don't get what you mean."

"You drag me out of the house and we end up here, and unexpectedly everyone on staff is off, Dwight and Beiste fly off to Broadway, Finn is giving me advice, and you…"

"Mercedes let's look for that chocolate syrup," said Kurt jumping up and heading toward the pantry.

"Spill it Kurtwood!" said Mercedes grabbing the back of Kurt's black shirt, dragging him back to his stool, before he could get away.

"Whoa! Using my real name, uncalled for Mercedes."

"What did you do Kurt?" asked Mercedes not letting go of his shirt. Kurt was fidgeting trying to get away from her.

Kurt held up his hands in surrender, standing up in front of Mercedes when she finally let him go. "You got me. I did it all. I got Sue to create an emergency at her company so she couldn't stay with Beth and Sam, I inspired Uncle Dwight to take Beiste out on the town, I made sure all the staff were given the night off."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because you and Sam were acting like children. You needed some time together. And I knew neither one of you would take the high road and just talk to each other, so I had to make it happen. I got you out of the house, I guilted Sam into manning up and facing you, and then I left you here with no options to leave."

"I don't believe this." She could feel her face starting to flush with anger. "You had no right to go behind my back and manipulate me like this."

Mercedes had been perfectly content in her little bubble, at home, away from Sam and his harsh words and even harsher rejections. Kurt had ruined all of that for her with his little plan.

"How can you possibly be mad at me? Things went so well for you tonight."

"Did you not hear what I said? He was rude to Finn, he pushed me away..."

"But not before he kissed you," Kurt reminded her.

"Sam was in a coma for months he'd kiss Marcel at this point."

"Don't say that too loud, you'll get the man all hot and bothered."

"Kurt I just can't believe you'd do this to me."

"Oh shut up. You know I'd do something like this. It's what I do. I'm an Evans remember? Tell me what happened with the ring. I slipped it in your pocket just hoping you would put it on."

Mercedes tried to fight off a smile, unable to keep up her anger at Kurt. He was just so hard to stay mad at. "I did put it on and he noticed it. Asked for his ring back."

"That's major Mercedes."

"I don't know. He took it and put it around his neck and then pretty much stopped talking to me." Mercedes was pretty certain the whole ring thing had freaked Sam out. Why else did he just shut down? He had been the one doing most of the talking up to that point.

"He probably just needed space to think. The good thing is that he has his ring now."

"Why is that good?"

"You're always with him. The ring is like a symbol of you," said Kurt a smile breaking on his face.

Kurt was such a hopeless romantic, if only the real world played out like it did in his mind. "Where are you getting this stuff from? You don't know he's thinking that."

"It's in the Evans translation. Trust me."

"I should strangle you for this," said Mercedes smiling while she playfully went for his throat. Kurt ducked out of her way, grinning as he continued to avoid her hands.

"I prefer hugs instead." They wrapped their arms around each other squeezing tightly. "I love you Cuz."

"I love you too," said Mercedes as she let Kurt go. "Thank you for making me come talk to him. I needed to see him." Despite how horrible and humiliating the conversation was at times, many of those things needed to be said. She was glad Sam knew more about his past with her.

"I know."

"He's going to see Quinn," Mercedes said slowly, her stomach churning up some of that chocolate chip cookie dough.

"He told me."

"It's a good thing. They have a lot to work out."

She actually believed that, despite the very loud contradictions her stomach was making at the moment. She wanted Sam to go see Quinn, to talk about Beth, maybe about more of what he missed. If Sam felt so connected to Quinn at this point, then he needed to be around her. Maybe it would lead to a breakthrough that could help him get his memory back, or more realistically maybe it could help him start adjusting to his life as it was now.

"That they do," agreed Kurt with a nod of his head, his brown hair falling into his face. "And so do we."

"What do we need to work out?"

"We've got to plan his party."

"His party? You mean for his birthday?"

Mercedes hadn't thought much about Sam's birthday lately, which was ironic since while he was in a coma all she did was wish and pray that he'd actually make it to see this birthday. Yet now he was up and back amongst the living, and she hadn't given it a second thought. So many other things seemed bigger at the moment.

"Yeah, Puck and Mike are planning something for his actual birthday night, but I was thinking we should throw him a Welcome Home/Birthday party and invite all his friends and family. Everyone would love to see him."

"That's a nice idea, but maybe you should be the one to do it. I doubt he wants to attend a party given by me."

"The ring, the ring," Kurt whispered imitating the voice from the horror movie with the same name.

"What?" Mercedes giggled.

"The ring is how you know he'd like to attend a party given by you. He's trying Mercedes, don't shut him out now," said Kurt sounding suddenly a bit more serious.

"You really think so?"

"Absolutely. I'm going to drop Finn off at the Gamma house, then come back here and we can sit up all night and plan the party."

"It's pretty late Kurt."

"As if you sleep, and little diva should be up any minute now." Kurt pulled out his phone and showed the time to Mercedes.

"Oh right, almost time for 'In the Kitchen with Dave' on the shopping channel. I swear she has an internal alarm set for when that show airs."

"Let's just be happy that it keeps her so amused. She could be up all night crying instead of laughing at shopping TV."

Mercedes laughed. "So true."

"Okay save some of that ice cream for me. I'll be back."

Maybe Kurt was right and the ring was a good sign, Sam could have never mentioned it at all. Mercedes smiled as she put the ice cream back in the freezer, not feeling much like she needed sugar therapy anymore. Sam could finally be getting used to the idea that he has a wife, and then maybe in time he could finally be ready to get to know her, to spend time with her, to work at getting their life back.