A/N: Lawd these two...
Mercedes had wallowed in her pain for another hour before she sat up and decided to do something about this situation. Dialing the one number she knew could help her. She heaved a relieving sigh when he answered on one ring.
"Took you long enough to call me Buttercup."
"Sorry Popa Evans, it's been…well it's been a bad couple of weeks."
Dwight heaved a sigh. "So I have heard."
"Can you tell me where he is?" She asked, closing her eyes.
"I would but I promised him I wouldn't say anything. He is really upset."
"I know, things got…things got hard but I really need to talk to him, it's kind of an emerging situation…"
The line was quiet for a moment or two. "Emerging how? What's going on?"
She placed her hand on her stomach looking down. "Sam really should be the first one to know but that ship has already sailed…I just need to talk to him. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."
"Uh huh…" He said slowly. "Buttercup? Is the really important detail something along the lines of life being created?"
She sighed, sniffing at the thought of actually carrying Sam's child. Dwight heard the small cry and cleared his throat.
"You remember our cabin, the one you and Sammy used to spend your summers?"
"Yeah I remember." She said, wiping her eyes.
"I think you should go up there and take a trip down memory lane."
Mercedes hesitated for a moment feeling a bit confused and then nodded. "Oh? OH! Oh okay yes, you know I think going by there might do me some good…thank you Popa Evans."
"Any time Buttercup. And don't worry I don't know a thing."
She sniffed. "Thank you again, I am gonna head to the car now, can you send me the address so I can put it in the GPS?"
"Of course Buttercup,I'll send it now. Be careful and call me later." He said, smiling brightly. He was going to have fun teasing Mary and the Jones's about this tidbit of information.
"I will." Mercedes hung up and grabbed her purse and keys heading out the door and into her car. Once Dwight sent the text, she added it and sighed. One way or another she and Sam were going to have a long overdue talk.
Sam grabbed another log and placed it down before grabbing the axe, sighing. He'd taken everything hard and needed to clear his mind, he had hoped that he and Mercedes would be spending his break together but here he was alone chopping wood he didn't even need.
The first few days he allowed himself to be angry, he basically destroyed his portfolio that had several paintings of Mercedes because it was too hard to look at them before deciding he needed to get away. He'd driven to his family's cabin wanting to escape the constant reminder that they would never be together but was hit with countless memories of them there.
He brought the axe up quickly before slamming it down hard, splitting the log into two, he let out a hard breath before grabbing another log and repeating his actions. He didn't have another outlet for his hurt that didn't involve calling Mercedes so he chopped wood until it stopped hurting.
Which is why he spent hours in the same spot because it never stopped hurting. He wanted to call her but figured it was for the best if they just stopped talking completely. He know she had been calling him and that she left a few voicemails but he couldn't bring himself to listen to them. He was sure they were divorce related and decided to just let Quinn call him if it was something serious but she never called so he assumed it wasn't anything that could be figured out alone.
Sam heard his phone ringing knowing based on the tone it was her and shook his head. He didn't have the strength to talk to her so he put the axe down before deciding to take a jog. He'd been out there for a week and half and managed to pack on some muscle, between jogging and chopping wood all day he wasn't sure how he still felt so restless. But he did know, it was because his heart wouldn't let him rest.
Mercedes chewed her bottom lip anxiously as Sam sent her to voicemail. She barely had a signal and hoped when she got one he would answer. Getting out of her car she looked around the empty dirt road and moved to the back wheel. It was flat, and she didn't have a spare.
Kicking the flat she grabbed her purse and slammed the door angrily. She would just have to remember where she was by sight. Looking around, she closed her eyes. The GPS, before it lost its signal, said it was about three minutes away and it was either a left or right at the first fork in the road…maybe.
Looking at her phone, the signal had left again, tucking it into her purse she started walking. It was going to get dark soon. As she made her way down the path she turned left but realized that there were literally three paths. She chewed her lip nervously holding her stomach as she decided to take the path where there was more light, which was the middle path.
Walking towards where she hoped was the cabin, she wrapped her arms around herself. "It's okay lil bean…we will get to the cabin and tell daddy about this."
Mercedes grabbed her phone, lifting it in the air trying to get a better signal. Seeing it she hit call again, hoping Sam would answer, but when it went straight to voicemail again, she tripped over a branch that had seemed to grab hold of her leg. Moving to land on her side to protect her stomach.
She tried to get up but screamed out in pain as she pulled her ankle to her. Grabbing her phone she screamed out in frustration as her signal fell. "Help!" she looked around. "Is anyone here?!"
Sam hit ignore as Mercedes called him again, though he felt bad for ignoring her, but right now he couldn't talk to her, it just wasn't a good time.
When his phone rang again he was about to hit ignore again but seeing it was his dad, he answered.
"Hey dad."
"Son, how are you? Is everything okay?"
Sam sighed. "I am fine just getting my jog in, is everything okay? Why are you calling me?"
Dwight ran his hands through his hair. "Fine I am just going to come out and ask. What happened when Mercedes showed up?"
Sam looked at his phone confused before placing it back to his ear. "What are you talking about? Mercedes isn't here and there is no way she would know I was unless someone told her."
"I don't know who told her, but I do know she was on her way to you, she left about four hours ago. I figured I would give you guys time to work things out. She called me a bit ago but when I answered the phone cut off. I called her back but she didn't answer, that's why I am calling you."
"Dad, I have no idea what the hell you are talking about right now. But Mercedes isn't here." Sam said, running his hands through his hair.
Dwight sighed. "I have a bad feeling, son, you need to find her."
Sam's heart began to race, as angry as he was at her, he didn't want her hurt, he couldn't stand the thought of her being hurt. "Dad, I gotta go. I will call you back."
"Sam, you have to find her! She- you just have too okay? If I don't hear from you in an hour I am going to call the police."
"Okay, I'm going to head back and see if she's there… Maybe she arrived after I went on my jog. I'll call you back." He replied before hanging up.
Sam dialed Mercedes number, but frowned when it went right to voicemail. Putting his phone away, Sam decided to take the road back to the cabin. It was faster. As he ran back his heart literally stopped in its tracks as he saw her car sitting on the side of the road. Running up to it, he noticed the flat and the locked doors.
"I told you to get a new spare." He cringed, kicking the tire. Turning up the road, he ran towards where he thought she would go. When he noticed the fork in the road he turned towards the way to the cabin, but stopped. Knowing Mercedes, if she didn't remember where to go she would go down the path with the most light, it was something he told her when they were younger.
Making his way down the middle path he glanced around. "Mercedes?!" He yelled out. When he didn't get an answer, he yelled again. "Merce!"
Running further down the path he heard a whimper. "Mercedes?"
Mercedes had given up yelling for help and laid back on the ground, her leg was throbbing and her phone still had no signal. She had told herself she would lay back for a little longer, gather her strength, and then try to move.
Hearing someone call her name, she thought she imagined it. But when she heard it again her heart sped up in hope. "Sam? Sam, I'm here!"
Sam heard her call his name and turned towards it, feeling relieved when he saw her on the ground. He ran to her, "Mercedes! Baby what the hell is wrong with you! Why would you walk away from your car in the middle of nowhere! Anything could have happened to you." He said cupping her face in his hands.
"I was just… I thought I knew where I was and I just… I I I tripped…" She looked at her leg.
Sam shook his head. "How can you be so reckless! He said pulling her to him and hugging her relieved that she was okay.
"I'm sorry."
Sam sighed before standing with her still in his arms. "Are you hurt?" He asked, walking them back to the cabin."
She nodded. "My ankle." she replied softly.
"I'll look at it once we get back to the cabin." He said, shaking his head. "I told you for months to get a new spare tire, Mercedes. What if I hadn't answered my phone or ran this way?"
She frowned. "But you didn't answer the phone…"
"Dad called. I promised I would answer when he called…" He replied looking at her intensely. "You called him to find me?"
"You weren't answering and I needed to talk to you." She said, staring ahead as he continued to carry her like she weighed nothing.
"You could've just told Quinn whatever it was, I don't want to talk about the divorce and I don't feel like I should have to answer your calls just because you needed to talk to me. I never got that luxury." He snapped, walking up the steps of the cabin.
"It's not about the divorce you ass!" She snapped back.
Sam walked them into the living room half tempted to toss on the sofa but she was hurt and he wasn't that cruel. He gently sat her down, grabbing the ottoman to sit on and propped her leg up on his thigh.
"How bad does it hurt?" He asked, removing her shoe.
When he sat her down, she wiped the leaves and dirt off of her. "It's just throbbing and a bit of pain when I move it." She said honestly as she looked at her foot. "I tripped over a branch or something."
Sam removed her sock seeing a bruise on her ankle. "How did you land? It might be sprained." He said lightly touching around the bruise.
She swallowed, shaking her head. "I don't know…I wasn't really worried about my ankle, I just didn't want to land on my stomach." She said, rubbing her slightly bruised shoulder.
"You hurt your shoulder too?" He asked, leaning up, pulling the sleeve of her shirt up seeing another bruise. He shook his head before realizing what she said. "It would've hurt less if you landed naturally, you wouldn't be this bruised up."
"I know I just…I couldn't risk it." She said softly not realizing her hand moved protectively over her stomach.
Sam watched her hand move to her stomach then looked up at her. "Why not?" He asked, looking back down at her stomach.
She looked at him feeling tears stream down her face. "This isn't…I didn't want to tell you this way."
"Tell me what, Mercedes?" He asked, looking at her worriedly.
"Sam…" She swallowed hard, taking his hands in hers. "Sam I know you are angry with me, I know you probably hate me right now, but you deserve to know that…" She chewed her bottom lip looking down to their hands. "To know that you are going to be a dad." She said softly.
Sam stared at her, processing what she just said before shaking his head. "How long have you known?" He asked, breathing heavily.
"I found out a couple days after our fight. I tried to call you but you refused to answer me." She said not meeting his gaze.
Sam nodded. "So you want to figure out custody then? I'm sure Quinn can add in a schedule we both agree on… I just… umm want to be involved… I'd like to be in the room as well. I won't overcrowd you or anything and you have the house so…" He said before standing and gently placing her leg down.
He couldn't breathe, everything he wanted was happening but the one thing he wished he could have he knew he never would. "I just need a minute." He said before walking outside letting out a ragged breath.
He wouldn't let her get a word in and it quite annoyed her, then he walked away and that just pissed her off. She knew she put this on him with no warning and she also knew that after everything that happened he was probably thinking he was saying the right thing, but she just wanted to shake him because that wasn't what she wanted. None of this was the way she wanted it. Sam made a gesture to show that he loved her, he bought her a house, maybe it was time for her to show him that she was not going anywhere. Standing wobbly, she used the wall to hop to the door and opened it. "Samuel Dwight Evans!" She said hoping that would get his attention.
Sam turned and looked at her. "I don't want to fight. I just needed a minute to process." He said, running his hand through his hair.
She hobbled her way out the door and held onto the railing. "Fine process it, but if you are then you need to process the truth. And the truth is I don't want to fight, I don't want a custody agreement, I don't want to divide up our time with our child! I want you. I want us, I want this." She was going to move closer to him but stopped because of her ankle.
"I was scared. I didn't want things to change between us, because I was afraid of what that meant. You're my best friend Sam, you have been my whole life, and you know how I feel about change, how stubborn I am." She closed her eyes for a moment before looking at him. "I was wrong to insist on a divorce, I was wrong to walk away from you. I love you, I am in love with you."
Sam looked at her before letting out a humorless laugh. "I guess I'm supposed to just take that grand speech and fall into your arms now? You're pregnant, with my kid and now you realize you love me? It took you being pregnant to say this to me and I can't help but wonder if you weren't would you have said all this and before you try to say anything… just know it didn't take me knowing this to love you. I let it be known after we got married and you pushed but I kept trying but then I couldn't keep trying because you didn't want it. I accept that we have a child on the way and I accept that you want us but I don't accept you using this as a way to get it." He said knowing it would've been easy just to tell her he wanted the same things but it didn't work like that, things just don't get resolved after a moment of realization.
She nodded, taking a breath and slowly moving down the stairs. "I know it seems that way, but if you want the truth." She hopped towards him slowly. "I knew, before we got married, I think I knew from the moment I realized what love was." She winced at pain but moved in front of him. "It didn't take this child to make me realize I loved you Sam. It took this child to make me stop being scared and to finally embrace the fact that you are it for me Sam Evans. And I know it won't be easy to prove it to you, but love isn't easy. It's hard work when you break someone's trust. But you are worth the work Sam. You always were."
Sam took in everything she said, nodding. "You should get off your ankle. I'll call Quinn in the morning and get you a tire for your car." He replied
She nodded, chewing on her bottom lip holding in her tears. "I won't stop Sam. I will fight to get you back. I will fight to get your trust back." She said tears falling as she quickly wiped them away.
Sam looked away. "Maybe you should."
I'm not sorry either cause like Joss Stone once said "You had me, you lost. You're wasted. You cost me. I don't want you here, messin' with my mind" and that's on period. lol nah they're gonna get their shit together... eventually.