Chapter 14

Fear blanketed him, thick like smoke, paralyzing him to the spot, as he stared at her. Perched in the doorway wearing a short green dress, arms crossed, body tense, her eyes locked on him, vacant brown eyes that seemed to look right through him. Puck got to her first, pulling her into the room, hugging her about the shoulders, asking if she were okay. Mercedes fell into him, briefly letting her weight be carried, as he led her to sit on the bed. The sight of Puck holding her, whispering comfort, jarred Sam from his trance.

He knelt in front of her, trying to meet her eyes, but she looked everywhere but at him. He reached for her hand, to let her know he was there, but she flinched away before he could even touch her. Sam persisted unable to give her the space she seemed to want. He had to make sure she was okay. He grabbed her hand again, quickly this time, before she could resist. It was almost sounded like a hiss as she recoiled, snatching her hand out his and curling herself against Puck's side.

Something was very wrong. His first thought burned red in his mind – Finn. Finn Hudson had hurt her somehow, and she'd come to the one place she knew she'd be safe. With him.

"Puck there's a first aid kit in Beth's room. Can you get it?" Sam asked.

"I'll be right back Cede," said Puck patting her on the head before leaving the room.

"What happened to you? Your hand is swollen." Sam sat back on his knees just watching her on the edge of his bed, visibly trembling, staring off into the space that Puck had just left.

"It's nothing," she said, not bothering to look at him.

"Mercedes let me help you." He touched her knee to get her attention, his fingers just barely grazing her skin.

She moved away sharply, as if his touch had burned, pulling her dress down over her thighs, crossing her legs tightly at the ankles. "I don't need any help."

"You're hurt. There's blood." Frustrated his temper started to flare. Her short answers were driving him insane. Mercedes never said anything succinctly, she went on about everything.

"This is nothing," she said running her hand down her scratched, bloody arm, irritating the skin even worse. "I'm bleeding Sam but you can't see it." This time she looked at him, her brown eyes looking cold and a bit hazy.

A chill ran through Sam's body as Mercedes continued to stare, detached, without warmth or recognition. "Mercedes you're scaring me. You've got to tell me if somebody hurt you so I can..."

"So you can what Sam?" she snapped, cutting him off. "Protect me? Keep me safe?"

"I can't stand to see you like this," he said looking away feeling a bit strange about his admission. He was so used to holding back with her, but now he couldn't help but let it out. Someone had hurt his wife and that mattered to him.

"Open your eyes Sam. Like what you see? Are my bruises too faint? Are the cuts not deep enough?"

She was being sarcastic, cutting her eyes at him, her jaw set. She was trying to look tough and in control, but the fresh trail of tears on her streaked face held the truth.

"Mercedes, baby. You've got to stop upsetting yourself like this," said Sam ignoring her tense body language and putting his hands on her thighs anyway. She shivered when he touched her, but this time she didn't pull away.

"Calling me baby now?" she asked, staring down at his hands.

He shrugged. "It just sort of slipped out." Another byproduct of coming clean, his mouth was taking on a mind of its own.

"You use to call me baby all the time, soft and low in my ear when we were in bed. Made me feel wanted and cherished like I belonged to somebody in this world. But that was before," she hesitated, sniffling back tears. "Now it just sounds wrong, like fake, like how you sounded this afternoon when you were at our house."

Mercedes roughly pushed Sam's hands from her body, still rubbing the spot they had been even once they were removed. Hard, long strokes as if she were scrubbing a stain from a rug.

"Did that Finn kid hurt you?" he asked. Sam didn't want to give voice to the places his mind was taking him. Seeing her at his door, looking so whipped, he could only think the worst.

Cede laughed. "Oh no. Finn could never hurt me. There's no way he could. I'd never let him. There's only one person left who can hurt me now." Her eyes narrowed as they settled on him once more, her full lips pressed together tightly.

"What happened?" His voice cracked, uneasy under her intense gaze.

"You happened." Mercedes's lower lip trembled and she bit it, actually drawing blood. She was crying in earnest now, quiet sobs that shook her shoulders and wet her face. "I met you and I let you hurt me over and over."

Before he could stop himself he had leaned closer, rubbing his thumb across her bruised lower lip, pulling her forehead down to rest against his. The space between them diminished, and the air was warmed by their shared breaths.

"What did I do?" he asked whispering now. She'd let him get this close he couldn't risk spooking her, so he tried to use calming tones. "How did I hurt you?" He pulled her to her feet, still keeping her close, and she followed like a puppet on a string.

"Don't touch me," she said softly against his chest as he held her closer, his arms enclosing around her back.

He heard her sigh, then her muffled tears, but he didn't let her go, holding her closer, letting his hand stroke her dark hair. "It's okay little nurse. Let me take care of you," he said against her hair. "Tell me what's wrong. You can trust me."

"Liar!" she screamed as she shoved him hard, freeing herself from his arms. Sam stumbled backward, stunned by her outburst. Her face twisted and wet as she backed away from him, folding her arms tightly about her torso. "You're just like all the rest wanting to use me, taking from my body, then throwing me away."

"Mercedes you're not making sense. What others? Who are you talking about? Did somebody touch you tonight?" he asked slowly walking toward her, as if he were tracking a wild animal.

She looked almost frightened, surveying the room with her eyes, as she backed herself into the space between his bed and the nightstand. Realizing she had nowhere else to go, she seemed to panic, and let out a loud scream.

"Oh my god, Mercedes, please calm down. You're going to wake up Beth. Come here just let me hold you. I can make this better." He pulled her by the arm, trying to remove her from the tight spot, ignoring her tears.

"You stay away from me!" she yelled when she was back in the middle of the room and out of his grasp. Her eyes were wild with anger as she glared at him. "You don't get to touch me like that. Never again."

"What's going on in here?" asked Puck running into the room, dropping the first aid kit on the floor when he saw Mercedes melting down. He quickly pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head, speaking to her in hushed tones that Sam could not make out.

"She's freaking out Puck," said Sam at loss of what to do next.

He didn't understand what had gone wrong. She had let him hold her just a moment ago, then suddenly she snapped as if he had hit her. Then her incoherent ramblings about the others and him hurting her left him even more confused. His heart was pounding in his chest as he stood helplessly watching her fall apart.

"Why would I be freaking out?" Mercedes asked, calmer now that she was in Puck's arms. "What reason could I possibly have? Can you think of one Sam?"

"I don't know. Did you hear Puck and me talking? Did you hear what I said about Quinn? "

"Always back to Quinn. She's all that you care about right? Your precious love."

"You know Quinn and I are friends," he responded cautiously, purposely ignoring her snarky comment about his feelings for Quinn.

She stepped away from Puck, looking bolder, with her hands on her hips as she faced him. "Never let me forget it. Evidence of your friendship is everywhere, practically viral. So many Fabrevans fans."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sam asked, feeling the instinctive need to protect himself. It felt like there was an attack looming, but he wasn't sure why.

"You're going to play dumb? Good." She smirked. "It suits you. Watch this Puck," she said looking at his cousin over her shoulder. "It's going to be fun." She ran her fingers through the front of her hair, pushing it out of her face. "I'm talking about you cheating on me with Quinn," she said slowly enunciating every word.

Sam's mouth opened slightly, as he struggled to find a response. He hadn't expected her to say that. He couldn't believe that Kurt had ratted him out.

"That's was before. We're past that now, right?" he asked scrambling for a means to diffuse this bomb.

"Oh no husband," she said the word 'husband' hard like a profanity, like it was dipped in shards of glass. "We're not past a thing. I know what you did last night and I'm not letting you get away with it this time."

"Of course you know what I did last night. I told you about my trip."

"That trip upstate that was so nice, seeing Quinn was so nice, catching up on old times was so nice. Tell me Sam is nice a euphemism for really good sex? You cheater!"

She tried to reel it back, she really didn't want to lose control of her emotions in front of him, but his innocent act was pissing her off.

"Would you stop saying that? I'm not cheating on you. I thought we decided to work through things. Remember our talk today?" asked Sam leaning in closer, putting a low sexy timbre into his voice.

Mercedes knew his M.O. he was going to try to seduce her into believing his lies.

"Oh. Right. Today. When you tried to drag me into our bedroom and get me to see why Quinn should be welcomed back into our lives?"

All that afternoon had been one big con, she could feel it then, but a larger part of her wanted to believe that he was there because he wanted to be, that he finally was taking an interest in their life together. Now she knew he was just playing her, trying to get her head all clouded so she wouldn't find out he was sleeping with Quinn.

"I just think Beth needs her mother."

"Or maybe Beth's father just needs his ho."

"Hey! You stop that. Don't talk about her that way!" Sam was getting testy. She'd struck a nerve. He couldn't take the truth about his precious Quinn.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to offend you. Should I have called her a slut instead?" asked Mercedes with a small smile.

The whole conversation was making her sick, but she tried to hold on to the little victories where she could find them. Sam turning red while she trashed Quinn was worth a little bit of queasiness.

"Cede, I thought we agreed to go easy on Quinn, because she's Beth's mother," said Puck lightly touching her arm.

"You're right Puck. I need to be careful of what I say. I don't want to disparage Beth's mom," she said with faked contriteness.

Never would she have said any of this around Beth, but the baby wasn't in the room, and it was time Sam heard all the things she had so long held back. It didn't even matter that Sam didn't remember the history of it all, this wasn't for him, Mercedes needed this release. It had been building for a long time.

"Exactly," Sam interjected. "You need to respect her."

Mercedes huffed, cutting her eyes at him. "You think Quinn deserves my respect? After all the things she's done to ruin my life?" She balled her hands into fists, letting her nails scratch into her skin, a physical reminder to keep her cool. "You know what screw it, I'm a big girl I can't blame her because I married a lying bastard. What I do blame her for is all the things she did to hurt my family."

"Look I don't know much about what happened specifically when I slept with Quinn, but what I do understand that I went to her and probably pushed things. You can't put it all on her."

It was almost sad, the poor amnesiac defending a woman when he knew nothing of what she'd done. Sam really deserved to be educated.

"Without a doubt you were a drunk idiot looking for an easy fuck, but I know you're not a rapist. Quinn dropping her panties for a married man is completely on her."

Sam's eyes flashed with anger as he took a step closer. Mercedes crossed her arms over her chest, and smirked, ready for whatever mini tirade he would unleash.

"Cede!" Puck jumped between them, facing her. "Maybe we should go take a walk. Get some air." He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, trying to get her to keep quiet.

"You can take a walk Puck," said Mercedes pushing around him to stand in front of Sam again. "I know hearing the truth about the woman you're still thirsty for must be excruciating for you," she said watching Sam's reaction to her words. He definitely didn't like the thought of Puck and Quinn, his face did a little tick when she brought it up. "I'm sure you block out all her misdeeds from your mind."

"You've done some misdeeds of your own Cede. How can you stand there and judge Quinn?" asked Puck.

"I know I'm not perfect. I'm pretty sure all my crimes are public record by now."

"Good to know I'll be sure to request a copy of your rap sheet," Sam snarked.

"While you're investigating me, type your little girlfriend's name in Google too. See if she's still attractive after that," she shot back.

"Mercedes you don't want to do this. Let's just go." Puck pulled her toward the door by her arm.

"Puck, I love you," she said shaking away from him. "But I need you to back off. Sam and I need to clear the air."

"Not right now. Don't do this now," said Puck shaking his head at her.

"Puck let her talk. I think now is the perfect time."

"My husband has spoken." Mercedes turned to face him.

"Cede you're better than this," said Puck in the background. He took a seat in a chair, no longer physically trying to muzzle her, but his disapproval was written all over his face. "Don't do it to her."

"She lost the right to receive any compassion from me once she started to sleeping with my husband. Did you know she's been plotting this for months? She told Sam she was glad Beth was his baby that she had prayed for it. I guess you don't mean shit to her anymore Puck, not when Sam's jacked up DNA is available. All the while I'm crying by his bedside, scared he was never coming back to me, Quinn's across town praying for God to help her steal my husband."

"You're being so ridiculous right now," said Sam. "That's not what she meant."

"Enlighten me," she said rolling her eyes. "What does I'm glad she's your daughter mean in Quinn-speak? Because in English it means I want you back and now I've trapped you in my life."

"She didn't need to use Beth to keep me in her life. I would've been there regardless. I'll always care about Quinn," Sam admitted.

"That's so touching." She put her hand over her heart. "Your loyalty is one of the best parts of you. Quinn's a lucky woman. Too bad Beth's going to suffer because of it."

Sam frowned. "Why is Beth going to suffer?"

"Because her daddy is a damn fool, loyal though, but a complete idiot. No matter what Quinn's done, you're going to forgive her. Aren't you?" Her eyes filled with tears. She turned her back to him, wandering over to the dresser so he wouldn't see her wipe them away.

"I forgave you didn't I? So why wouldn't I do the same for Quinn?" asked Sam.

Mercedes snapped around to face him. How dare he lump them in the same pile. Mercedes was a lot of things, but Quinn was far worse. "Are you comparing me to her?"

"Actually no. There's no comparison really," he said matter-of-factly as he leaned against the foot of his bed.

"You know what Sam," she said walking toward him. "I know you're wondering why you married me and I may not look like much."

"I never-"

She held up her hand and continued as if he never spoke. "But I'm a good person. I've made mistakes, but I try to live my life with respect and dignity something I was never taught growing up so it's a struggle. I may be a lot of things and probably nowhere near good enough for you in your mind."

"I think you're-"

"I know I hurt you," she said cutting him off. "And that's something I will have to deal with for the rest of my days, but one thing I can say with my head help up high is that I never took down a defenseless baby. I would never hurt a child."

Puck buried his head in his hands. "Mercedes please stop this."

"Hurt a child? What's she talking about Puck?" asked Sam looking over at Puck.

"Don't talk to Puck. You talk to me," she said poking him with her finger to regain his attention. "You're standing there thinking you landed the prize in Quinn, the instant dream family, if only your bitch wife wasn't in the way. Am I right?"

"It's not that simple." He ran his hand over his face, as he tried to explain, but she didn't give him the chance to continue, cutting him off before he could fabricate more lies.

"I know you Sam. You're not that deep. You think Quinn's better than me. You can't wait to slide that ring on her finger, but before you switch brides let me give you a piece of advice."

"What advice would that be?" Sam asked, tilting his head to the side as he waited for her reply.

"Cede..." Puck pleaded, still planted in his seat.

"Don't trust Quinn. She's as careless with your baby's life as she is with your heart."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's not fit to raise a guppy."

"You're just making shit up to have something to say." Sam stood up to his full height. He seemed taller somehow, absent of her usual heels, she was tempted to rise up on the balls of her feet to get closer to his level. "You're threatened by Quinn and you want to make her look bad."

Mercedes stuck out her chin, throwing her shoulders back, her hands on her hips more for stability than to exude confidence. "I don't have to make her look bad, she already does. Sleeping her way through all the men in your family is a real classy move. Did you ever ask yourself why you weren't enough for her? Why she had to turn to Puck and-"

"Leave my name out of this Cede," said Puck grabbing her arm. "My relationship with Quinn is off limits."

"He's so protective. How does that make you feel Sam, to know Quinn has so many men in her corner? Doesn't leave much room for you. Do you honestly think you have a chance with her this time?"

"Yes," he responded staring her down. "I think Quinn and I share something deep and meaningful. Our connection is real."

It was a shot at her, direct hit, and it landed like a thud against her chest. They had talked about connections between them before and after the accident, it was their one constant that linked the past to now, and Sam was trying to chip away at that and make it seem insignificant.

"Ask Quinn why you never got back together. Then take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself what is it about you that makes you not quite measure up." Pain flickered in his eyes, and she couldn't hold back her smirk. She wanted to hurt him in any way she could. She knew all his weak spots, torturing him would be easy, as long as she ignored his pain. "Such a handsome face, yet no women want to be with you." His face fell and Mercedes instantly wished she had held back those words.

"You want me," he said quietly.

His voice was strained as if he were holding back his true emotions, controlling his reactions as he spoke. She felt trapped in the green of his eyes, unable to look away from the confused pain reflected there.

"I'm young and stupid. I'm hoping to improve with age." In that moment she wanted to believe those words, she wanted so much to be over him.

Sam looked hurt, his red rimmed eyes, lowering in pain. "You don't mean that. I know how you feel about us," he said softly, lowering his voice so only she could hear.

"What I feel doesn't matter anymore if you don't still feel it too. And you don't." She looked up at him, he'd closed the gap between them and was just inches away.

"How do you know?" He stroked her cheek wiping away the tears that fell. "Maybe I do."