DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE NOR ITS CHARACTERS BUT THIS STORY I DO!
ENJOY :)
"Are we back to lovers and friends?" Gill teased as he watched the two walk into the gym together, holding hands to be exact,
"Friends with benefits? Girlfriend and boyfriend? Don't tell me you got engaged."
Sam and Mercedes both rolled their eyes at the man as they let go of each other and went to their respective spots, ignoring him and consistent teasing.
Gill smirked as they both gave him the silent treatment, shrugging his shoulders before sitting the gloves on the table, "That's okay, you can ignore me. As long as you're not doing it to each other."
Mercedes glanced over at Sam, just to see him looking back at her and giving her a smile, prompting her to do the same. Before they left the hotel, Mercedes had gotten a chance to talk to him about her wild and out of touch of reality three days. To say he was shock was an understatement, but what really puzzled him was the fact that she was willing to have a baby with him after she, them both actually, swore themselves of never having children. On top of that, his distaste entered when she talked about Angelo. After hearing that segment, he knew for sure that she was in full on delirium when that happened.
"Yo Mercedes, they're talking about you on TV."
Mercedes came out of her thoughts when she heard the man, making her way towards the front, she came to a halt when she noticed the familiar face on the screen.
"Turn it up." Sam told the man as he adjusted the volume, the familiar woman gracing the screen as she interviewed with the man.
"Your thoughts on Mercedes Jones being physically attacked last year."
"It was a bitch ass move, especially for someone being a so called man." She said with a shake of her head, "That just goes to show you the shit that we women go through."
By this time, Henry had made his way out of his office and down stairs after getting off the phone with Mitch, who just called and gave him a heads up of the woman and her interview.
"Despite that, you're here today for a reason and a message to her, right?"
"Yes. I want to challenge Mercedes to a rematch." She responded before turning her attention and staring dead into the camera, "This December. Main event in Vegas. I'll have my people call her people."
Mercedes' arms were folded as she stared harshly at the screen, the background noise of everyone else fading as she focused solely on the person.
"Even though I won the fight by a knockout, I want to give her a chance to redeem herself. She's a better fighter than what she did that night."
"It's been quite some time since she's quit the ring, do you think she has it in her?"
"Of course…at least I hope she does."
Sam looked over at her, seeing that her features didn't change one bit. He glanced over at Gill, who had a concern expression on his face before his eyes went back to the TV.
Henry went over and shut the TV off, the silence in the room breaking when someone spoke.
"That was the friendliest call out I've ever heard." One of the newest members spoke as someone turned the channel.
"That was everything but friendly." Mercedes, Gill and Henry commented at the same time, which caught everyone off guard, Sam especially.
Hearing both the downstairs and upstairs phones go off, Henry sighed as he glanced over at his daughter, "Don't make a decision right now."
Sam watched the man turned and head up the stairs, confusion spread across his features, "I'm surprised he didn't outright say no."
"He did, you just wasn't really paying attention." Gill mentioned as he moved away from the machine and headed towards the back.
Sam was so confused at them all. He looked back at Mercedes, whose attention was still focused on the blank screen of the TV. He knew he was out of touch and wasn't around when her last fight happened, but one thing he did know for sure, it was bad enough for her not the return. He wondered why because if she was able to be in the mindset to do underground, why couldn't she revert back to boxing?, "Mercedes?"
"Yeah?"
"Come here."
Mercedes sighed as she uncrossed her arms, turning around and finding the man staring at her in concern, which for some reason made her really upset because she knew what was coming.
"I know you and you're not going to back down. Why do you really want to do it? Ego? Pride? You don't have to prove a point."
"I do actually. My very last fight, I was at my worse. I took time off, hell, years now and my career ended in a way that I didn't want it to. I'm stronger than I was back then, and I know I can be ten times that before the fight."
"My opinion if you want it."
"I do." She whispered as she stared up at him, watching him closely before admitting something, "But I'm scared it may not be what I want to hear."
"If it was that bad, it's not worth going back out there for. No matter how much you want to prove yourself, you have to think about what's truly best for you."
Mercedes adverted her eyes from him, shaking her head as she stepped back, "I'll see you later."
"Hey." Sam said as he grabbed ahold of her arm, forcing her to look at him, his eyes soft as they searched her confused and hurt ones, "We just had a discussion about not closing up on each other."
"I'm not, I just need some time to think. That's all." She told him quietly as she tried to give him a reassuring look but failed completely as he dropped his hand, watching as he gave her a nod before walking away.
To take her mind off of the call out, Henry had put Mercedes in charge of planning the gym's anniversary event, along side of Rose.
Rose has convinced Sam to come out with them to look for some items for the event. Her ultimate reason was to just check in on him and see how he was holding up, while Mercedes was on the other side of the store trying to find the right candle holders.
For some reason, Sam just felt like opening up to the older woman and letting her know everything that went on in the past couple of weeks, "This reminds me of when my mom drugged me in stores when I was younger." He mentioned as they walked, hearing her chuckle, prompted him to ask her something, "Rose?"
"Yes sweetheart." The woman answered the man, who was staring at her as he toyed with the box in his hands.
"Do I have the right to be upset?"
"Yes, you do." She answered honestly before she turned to look at him fully and pointedly, "But you also had the right to control your emotions and talk things out rationally."
"I know." He responded softly as he looked at the box and put it back, "I was acting on impulse and my feelings at the moment. I just…I don't know."
"You have to let go, baby. Your mom is a very good judge of character and very capable of living her life." She responded as she watched him closely, knowing the reason he reacted the way he did, "I know you feel you need to protect her due to what happened in the past but your mom is stronger than you realize."
Sam just nodded as he took a deep breath, "I just don't want anyone to mistreat her again, you know?"
"I do." Rose sent him a smile as she let go of the basket and walked over to give him a hug, prompting him to hug her back, "And there's nothing wrong with that, honey. Nothing at all. We just have to get you to a place where you can verbalize that more before you attack."
Sam nodded his head against her before she pulled back, his eyes going over to a certain woman, who was talking to one of the workers, "She wants to take the bait."
"Figures." Rose commented as she watched the young woman point to the flowers and holder, "For once, I hope she doesn't follow her heart. It was bad, Sam. Real bad and I just can't bear to go through that again."
Sam glanced over at Rose, seeing the same expression that Henry had on his face. He knew that he had to do everything in his power to prevent her from doing this. If it caused this much hurt with recollection of the memories, it wasn't worth it.
Henry was busy making dinner tonight since he had sent his wife on the task. Hearing the doorbell ring, he sat the knife down before walking down the hallway, heading to the front door. He pulled the curtain out the way to check to see who it wasu, seeing the familiar woman outside. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, sending her a smile, "Hey Em, didn't know you were in town, come in."
"Sorry to just pop up."
"No, it's fine. Come on, I was just getting dinner started." He escorted the woman through the house and back to his previous spot in the kitchen, "How's Sabrina? Mercedes told me what happened."
"She's doing much better. Still a little sore but she's managing, and staying with my sister while I'm here."
"That's good. I'm praying for a speedy recovery." He sent the woman a smile, getting one back that didn't meet his eyes, "If you're looking for Sam, he's out with my wife and Mercedes."
"He's not my biggest fan right now and I don't blame him." The mother commented sadly as she took a deep breath, answering before Henry could questioned, "I eloped." She watched as he slowed down his actions and turned to look at her, "I did the unthinkable and fell in love my boss. We have been seeing each other for two years actually, and I didn't tell Sam for a reason. I thought I was protecting him but I did more harm than I realized."
Henry didn't want to interrupt her, so he just stayed quiet, watching as the many of emotions come across her face before she directed her next question to him.
"Where did I go wrong, Hen?"
Henry stared at Emily as he leaned against the kitchen cabinets, arms crossed as she shook her head, "By unintentionally putting your son in the position of being the man of the house."
"Makes a lot of sense."
"I don't know what happened and you don't have to tell me, but you and I both know Sam is very protective over who he loves and he damn sure isn't going to trust an outsider."
Emily nodded her head, her next words more of a revelation than a question, "So he sees Daniel as a threat?"
"Yes but most importantly, he doesn't want to see his mother in the way he did when he was a kid."
"I should've told him."
"Not disagreeing there." He commented as he glanced over at the woman before stirring the pot, literally and figuratively, "You said two years, Em? That's a long time."
"I know and Sabrina just thinks it's one because that's when I told her about it." She shook her head at all of her lies, running her hands over her face, "I don't know why but at the time, I thought it was the best thing to do."
Henry looked at the woman sincerely, seeing the emotional toll this was taking on her, "You have somewhere to stay?"
"I came down on a whim. I'm not on good terms with my son so I can't stay with him, and I don't plan on leaving until I fix things. I'm just going to book a room."
"Don't spend money. Stay here. The guest room is already ready and Rose would love having you here."
"I couldn't intrude."
"You're not. You're family." He gave her a smile, earning a small in return as she gave him a nod and stood up but he shook his head, "I'll get your bags for you."
"Thanks Hen." She told the man as she sat back down, running her through her hair as he phone dinged on the counter. She saw that it was a text from her husband, checking in on her and she picked it up to respond. She had hoped that the time she was here, she could reconnect with her son and give him some explanations that he served.
A/N. Do you think Mercedes will go back out there despite everyone being against it? How you feeling about Emily's decision? Do you think the doc is a good man? Is Sam wrong? So many questions and so many twists you won't see coming :)