Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, nor am I the creator of any of its characters. I am simply a huge fan suffering from Glee withdraw, and I needed something to do to forget about how terrible I did on my final exam today.

Sam, Puck, Mike, and Artie followed a forlorn Finn back to the hotel, no one saying a word. They had all awkwardly watched as Rachel Berry failed to kiss Finn not once, but twice, while they serenaded the two on a perfect, romantic New York date.

"Well I thought it was pretty damn romantic," Puck uttered, clearly thinking what everyone else was too.

Finn ignored the comment and continued walking with his head somber and low.

"Not helping, Dude," Sam whispered.

"What? All I'm saying is something's up with her. She's been trying to get back with you forever, and Jews never accept failure."

"Maybe she's in love with Jesse St. Statutory now," suggested Mike.

Finn stopped dead in his tracks, causing everyone to halt. "No." It was barely a whisper. "If she was with him, she wouldn't have met me on the bridge. She wouldn't have smiled at me like that all day. I just don't understand."

"I think it's just glee girls. I mean Brittany won't get back together with me, but she's convinced that making out with me at least once a day will magically make my legs work again."

The boys turned the corner and found the hotel. Mercedes and Tina were sitting outside, laughing. Sam automatically cracked a smile. Ever since he and Mercedes had spent the night dancing away at prom, the mere sight of her cheered him up. Her diva-like behavior and confidence often amused him, but she was always in good spirits and was never much for getting involved in drama. Gossip about the drama, yes, but create it herself? Not Mercedes Jones. The glee club had plenty of that, and it was nice that she managed to avoid it for the most part.

Not long after prom, she had invited Sam and his family to a picnic her church was having, knowing that he was having a difficult time paying for lunch and eating a well-rounded dinner. He went with his little brother and sister, feeling awkward around all of the people he didn't know, but Mercedes had socialized with him the whole time, introducing him to a huge amount of people, none of whom he remembered, but all of them told him how handsome he was and had insisted that he was her boyfriend. Eventually, his awkwardness wore off, and he and his siblings had come home full that night, with leftovers that some of the church ladies insisted he take home with him.

"That was really nice of your friend," his mother had commented. He had tried not to think about it too much. After all, the glee group as a whole had helped him out at some time or another. But Mercedes Jones was the only one who made him smile, truly smile and joke around, in the process.

After that, when Sam was going to turn in some part-time job applications, she offered to baby-sit his siblings when Quinn couldn't make it. She took them to the park and out for ice-cream, and when he had met up with them at the Dairy Queen, frustrated and annoyed with wasting his time applying places that weren't going to hire him, she had smiled at him encouragingly and shared her banana split. The two spent the rest of the afternoon strolling and talking about the trip to New York while his brother and sister ran ahead. When they returned from the hotel on that evening, his sister announced to the family that Sam and Mercedes were boyfriend and girlfriend. Blushing, Sam had quickly tried to brush away the comment, but the kids wouldn't leave it alone. They liked Mercedes a lot, apparently more than Quinn who had never taken them out for ice-cream or a walk.

"Where are you guys coming from?" Mercedes asked the pathetic looking group. Tina went over to Mike and fell into step with him, linking arms.

"Long story," said Sam, smirking. "Getting some fresh air?"

"It's a little crowded in the room," she smiled back. "Wanted to see some city lights."

"I've seen enough for tonight," Finn muttered, avoiding eye contact with everyone. "Night, guys."

They all headed for the doors, but Mercedes stayed put. Sam slowed his step and backed up towards her.

"Sam, you guys coming?" Mike shouted back to him.

"Nah, I'm good. See you guys bright and early."

They disappeared through the doors, and Sam took a seat on the bench next to Mercedes. He looked over at her expectantly, but the girl suddenly seemed very withdrawn. She met eyes with him quickly, and they both averted them away from each other. Then, chuckles. Whenever they hung out by themselves, conversation and jokes flowed. But whenever any of the Glee club members were around, being around each other always felt weird, like they couldn't talk freely or else people would wonder if something was up.

"Why'd you stay behind?" she asked shyly.

"I'm not about to let one of my teammates sit out here all by herself. This is New York. Full of crazies."

"I love it here. You can't see stuff like this in Ohio. But I don't think I'd want to live here."

"Yeah, me too. It was fun running around and exploring and stuff, but I think I'm more of a relaxed atmosphere kind of guy."

She smiled but said nothing. He blushed with embarrassment. They had no excuse now. The rest of the Glee group was upstairs getting ready for bed, perfectly out of earshot. Was this all they had to talk about? Or were they not talking about the thing they should've been?

Wait a minute. He had to stop himself. Was it really possible that he had a crush on her? One that made him all nervous and embarrassed over nothing. With Quinn, he had been real smooth, strumming sweet melodies on his guitar, bold enough to lean in for a kiss from the Queen B of the school. He did feel embarrassed when she called him out on his bad jokes, but that was a different kind of embarrassed. That had been forever ago though, when he was more interested in making a name for himself at McKinley and fitting in. He had fallen in love with Quinn, and sometimes, it still bothered him to have to be around her, but now that he knew who she really was, he didn't think he could ever love her again. He should've known really. She had had a baby with Puck, cheated on Finn, and then cheated on him with Finn. She was really pretty, and a good girlfriend to him, but so much of her true self had been hidden away from him. That he understood now.

"Are you ok?" Mercedes' voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Um, yeah. Do you want to take a walk?"

"Well that depends."

"On what?"

"On those muscles. They're not just for show, right? I don't want to get shanked in an alley somewhere before winning Nationals."

"No worries," he laughed, flinging his arm around her shoulders and steering her the way he had just come from. He kept it there for awhile, his arm hot and aware that he was hugging onto her like a protective boyfriend. He felt how tense she was so he removed it swiftly but not obviously. He didn't want her to think that he didn't want to touch her or something. Did he want to touch her?

They walked for awhile in an awkward silence, his hands in his jean pockets, her hands in the pockets of her bright colored, printed hoodie.

Ok, he was definitely crushing, but it made no sense. She wasn't his type. She didn't dress the way he liked, and although his dating experience was incredibly limited, he never expected to crush on a girl like Mercedes. That's what everyone would say if he told them how he felt. They would never take him seriously.

"Ok, Sam, spill it. What's going on?" Mercedes stopped.

"Huh?"

"You ask me out on a walk, and you're not talking."

"I thought I was escorting you," he joked. "You know, kind of like those silent bodyguards, ready to take a bullet for pop stars."

"I like your thinking," she smiled, but it faded just as quickly as it came. She turned to face him, looking up at him cautious but confident in some way. "Almost as much as I like you."

He was crushing. He was so much that he couldn't say anything. Nothing. Not one sound. All he could do was stare like an idiot down at the girl who was nothing like the girls he typical went for. Had he even wondered if she, too, felt the same way?

She pulled back inside that vulnerability that she had just shown him for an instant. "I'm sorry, but I had to tell you. I know I'm probably not your type. I'm certainly no Quinn or Santana, but I couldn't hold it in anymore."

He opened his mouth to speak but still had no clue what to say. He hadn't expected a confrontation so soon, not before he had fully worked out his feelings. Everyone obviously went hormone crazy on Class trips. One overnight fieldtrip away from school, and suddenly, everyone was sneaking away from the hotel and confessing their feelings and moving in for kisses along New York streets.

"So I understand if you don't like me back," she continued. "And now, begin awkwardness."

She started walking back in the direction they came without him. He was still processing the situation, aware that she had brought up both Quinn, who had cheated on him although she had accepted his stupid proposal just months before, and Santana, who had only toyed with him and used him. Were those types of girls really his type?

"Why would you think I didn't like you back?" he forced himself to say before it was too late.

She turned back to him, her eyes studying the ground. "Because, I'm…" She flung her arms up as if to say this is me, nothing special.

"Because you're awesome?" He grinned. "Because what?"

"Just forget it. Must be all this New York pollution soaking into my brain."

"Can I be honest with you, Mercedes?"

"Sure."

He approached her slowly, and again, there was a sense of vulnerability in her eyes. "I don't really know how I feel. I mean, there's so much pressure on us for Nationals, and here I am having fun in New York when my family's back home living in a hotel. I don't know if now's a good time to get distracted."

"I understand," she frowned.

"I just know that the girl I like deserves a boyfriend who isn't distracted and in a bad situation. I couldn't treat you the way you deserve. I can't even take you out for a coffee."

"Then I'd pay," she replied. "We could share a scone, hold hands across the table, and that would be it."

He exhaled. "How long could we do that before you'd want more? Before you'd be embarrassed that your boyfriend couldn't take you to the movies?"

"What kind of girl do you think I am?" she placed her hands on her hips. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. It was such an inappropriate time to smile, but she did that to him.

Mercedes was nice, but she was also a no nonsense kind of girl. Even now, with her hands on her hips, he felt like he would only let her down by not being able to be the perfect boyfriend. But he wanted to be and that was what made it so hard.

"I don't know. All I know is that I'm crushing on the girl I went to prom with. And we all know I didn't dance a single song with Rachel."

He had the urge to grab her hand for some reason or put his arm around her again, show her in some way that it was true, but it all seemed like a cowardly advance of some sort. Tell the girl you're kind of into her, but that you're not sure if you can date her. Then try to cuddle with her.

"Ok, let's make this easy." She was clearly running out of patience. Ugh, he was so annoyed with himself. He was talking in circles and confusing her. Hell, he was confusing himself.

"I like you. You think you like me, but you don't want a girlfriend right now."

"Right."

"Then you know what that means, right?"

"What?"

"It means you don't like me." She reached up and patted him on the shoulder. I was a teammate pat, a 'good job, even though you lost us the big game' pat.

Ok, that was it. He needed to take control of this situation. This had started out all wrong. She had the wrong idea about everything, and all he had were excuses. He liked Mercedes. There, he said it. He told himself officially. He didn't care how she looked next to him. He didn't care how popular she was, or if she wore too many colors and animal prints to school. He didn't care if she could out-sing mostly everyone in glee club, even Rachel at times. He just knew that he wouldn't have wanted that memory of prom with any other girl than Ms. Mercedes Jones. It always began with a moment like that, right? Seeing someone in a different light for the first time, a spark going off somewhere inside, one's body reacting and asking 'how can I get closer to this person?'.

He took her hand from his shoulder, letting their clasped hands fall in between them. She looked down at their hands, then up at him, then back down at them again. He gripped it a little tighter.

"I do like you," he said firmly. "But I'm, I'm not happy. I've got a lot going on, and if we go back, bragging about how we're together, then sooner or later, there's going to be drama with everyone because there's always drama, and it'll add more stress."

"We don't have to go bragging about anything. Let them speculate like some tabloid. After I went over to the dark side with Puck last year, I want my relationships to be about us, not what others think."

"So you did have a fling with Puck." He rolled his eyes. "Is it possible for me to date someone he hasn't?"

"Puck has whoremanced every girl in Glee except for Tina and Brittany. Actually, I'm pretty sure he's whoremanced them too," she laughed.

"Whoremanced?"

They both laughed at that, and he stroked her hand with his thumb. "So, what, you want us to be secret?"

"Not secret, just not actively advertising. It's no one's business but ours."

"Says one of McKinley's biggest gossips," he remarked.

"That's about other people, never about me."

"So the minute we get back to the hotel, you're not going to run and tell Kurt or Rachel."

"There's really nothing to tell. You haven't even asked me out. This is all hypothetical."

Sam held up their clasped hands, blushing. "I'm pretty sure this was me asking you out."

She rolled her eyes flirtatiously. They heard someone coming quickly around the corner, and Sam realized that they had been alone for a long time, on a street they weren't familiar with. Mercedes looked scared, and when two forms emerged from around the corner, Sam pulled her close and hugged her, protecting her.

It turned out to be just two punkers, deep in conversation and rattling the metal on their clothes, who had little care for two high school kids from Ohio hugging each other.

Sam and Mercedes laughed at their immaturity in the situation, getting scared over literally nothing, and then they realized just how close they were. She was warm up against him, and he hugged her closer. It was now or never. If handholding wasn't enough, there was only one other way without fumbling over the words to tell her his intentions.

He kissed her on her cheek, then on her forehead. She closed her eyes against his lips.

"Sam," she whispered. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

He grinned and leaned down, kissing her on the lips.

They pulled away from each other, sheepishly grinning, and looking anywhere but at each other.

"I take that as a yes," she said breathlessly after awhile.

It was late and way past their curfew. If they were going to write songs for Nationals, they needed to get some sort of sleep, but Sam had a feeling that neither one of them would be able to do so. He took her hand again and they walked in silence, the noise of traffic and the busy night life of New York growing closer the nearer they got to the hotel. The boys, if they were still up, which they no doubt would be, would ask him what had taken him so long to come back. The girls would probably ask Mercedes the same thing, but she was right. It was none of their business. It was one less thing he would have to care about, and maybe, just maybe, he could hold on to some sort of happiness. He didn't know what was ahead of them, nor did he care. All he knew was that her smile, her laugh, the way she could be so many things all at once, confident and assertive yet shy and humble made him feel like he could deal with things easier. She was like him in many ways, and he would make it a point to get to know her even better. Right now, he just liked her, and that was good enough. But who knew? Who knew the possibilities?

Sam let go of her hand and put his arm around her, syncing their footsteps. "So, when we get back to Lima, how about that coffee?"

Author's note: I literally wrote this in a day so if it seems weird and doesn't make sense, and you feel like it rambles on, sorry. Also must apologize for the title, but I couldn't think of anything more suitable. I like to think this is how it went down when they started going out and I'm looking forward to next season. I'm a huge Finchel supporter, but ever since that finale, I can think nothing but Samcedes :P Enjoy and please review. If you didn't like it or my writing, please feel free to respectfully explain why and leave a few tips.