Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If I did, the whole show would be told through Mercedes' point of view.

Special thanks to my twinnie, keeponsmilingg! Chani, I'd probably just give up without you! Thanks for your patience and life-giving reviews!

Please forgive any errors. Just starting out in this fic world. Well, without further rambling, I present you, my second fic.

Sam Evans had only been back at McKinley for two weeks, and Mercedes Jones was convinced, he was trying to kill her. Yes, she'd resolved not to go running back to him the second he let her know he was still interested, but, if she was being honest, his advances were wearing her down more than she let on.

Sam had always been a man of his word, so he'd said he'd fight for her, and fight, he had. There was rarely a moment in the day when he wasn't around in some kind of way, doing something adorably sweet and making Mercedes remember all the reasons she'd missed this dorky boy so terribly all the while he was gone.

To make matters worse, Shane's football schedule kept him rather busy all the time, giving Sam ample opportunity to audition for his desired role in Mercedes' life.

The beginning of Sam's third week back found Mercedes sitting in her car, forehead pressed against the steering wheel, trying to drum up her, 'I'm not affected by you and your annoying perfection, Sam Evans' poker face. As soon as she left this car and walked into the school, she knew, he'd be there. Mercedes groaned at the thought.

He was always there- offering to carry her books as she made her way to her locker in the mornings, pulling out her chair for her in the Math class they shared and in the cafeteria at lunch, singing her songs in glee club, bringing her her favorite coffee drinks and treats from the Lima Bean, sending cute messages to her phone telling her she looked beautiful and that he missed her, and anything else he could possibly do throughout the day, to show her that he was there, he cared about her, and he wasn't going anywhere.

And, always with that heart-melting crooked smile on his face, like he'd be more than happy to do it forever, if she'd let him.

In the safe haven her car provided, with no one around to see or hear her, no one to put up a front for, Mercedes could admit she wanted to let him do that and much more, even if she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

She sighed, suppressing that line of thought for what felt like the millionth time in these last two weeks. Each time was more difficult than the last.

She still had her doubts, however, and she couldn't let them go no matter how hard her heart was pushing her. Sam had been her perfect boy once before, and she'd lost him. She knew it hadn't been his fault, but who could say it wouldn't happen again? His current situation was far from stable and Mercedes couldn't bear the thought of handing her heart over to him all over again and having him walk out on it. She'd barely made it through the first time.

Shane had been right on time to pick up all the pieces, and maybe he'd never have a hold on her heart the way that Sam did, but he was good to her. He had plans for their future and he wouldn't leave her. Even if all she saw was Sam every time she closed her eyes, she couldn't just drop Shane. He'd been there. He'd supported her. She was so grateful to him. She owed him some loyalty…didn't she?

Mercedes sighed and finally lifted her head off of the steering wheel to stare at her reflection in the mirror. The clusterfuck of feelings and emotions that was her life these days was draining. She wished she could just fall asleep and wake up with her shit sorted sometime in the future. She inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled before nodding slightly at her reflection in the mirror.

'Time to go deal with the day, Ms. Jones,' she told herself as she unlocked the door and finally stepped out into the parking lot.

It was a quick walk from her car to the main hallway of McKinley where her locker was located. She spotted Sam waiting before he saw her. He was wearing his signature Chuck Taylors, a pair of snug fitting dark jeans, and a black t-shirt with the Batman insignia printed on it that stretched across his chest, biceps, and abs in a way that had Mercedes thinking of all the times during their all too brief romance when she'd been allowed to run her hands all over them.

She struggled, but finally managed to force herself to snap out of those thoughts as she slowly continued toward her locker. Sam was leaning back against the locker next to hers and she almost considered making a run for it in the other direction, but it was like he knew or he could feel her presence, because his head snapped up from the phone he'd been perusing and he flashed the widest grin she'd ever seen as soon as his gaze landed on her face.

He waved at her and straightened up, waiting for her to cross the rest of the distance over to him. He looked like a little kid whose best friend had just arrived on the playground or something. She couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. She also couldn't help the way her heart constricted as his smile grew and he reached out his hand to squeeze hers when she'd gotten close enough to him.

'Hey, 'Cede,' he said, his green eyes sparkling as he regarded her. He still hadn't let her hand go. Her heart skipped a beat at the easy way her nickname rolled off his tongue. She flushed as memories of their summer together flooded her thoughts.

'Hi, Sam,' Mercedes forced herself to say, void of any of the emotion she was feeling. She flashed him a curt smile then abruptly turned to her locker, pulling her hand away from his in the process, and using it to dial the combination for her locker. 'Did you need something?' she asked him in a flippant tone, and she felt ridiculous and rude for it even as the question spilled out of her mouth.

'Nope. I have everything I need right here,' he drawled lazily, as he leaned his shoulder against the lockers and reached out his hand, dragging a single finger down her arm before retracting his hand.

He hadn't even made contact with her skin but it still tingled along the path his finger had followed, and she failed to control a quiver. Her hand faltered in picking up a textbook she needed for class. It fell back to the bottom of her locker with a dull thud, and she turned to find him smiling amusedly. She'd walked right into that one, but she glared at him anyway.

'You look amazing today,' he continued undeterred, stepping a little bit closer to her. He was unapologetically crowding her personal space when he added, 'But, then, you always do.' He had the gall to bite his lip as he raked his eyes over her face and her outfit openly. Mercedes swore she could see every thought, pure and impure, that crossed his mind as she looked into his eyes. He was definitely trying to kill her.

She couldn't even come up with a response as she gaped at him. He was looking at her like he always did, like she was a tall glass of cool water and he'd been stranded in the desert for days. And he was standing so close to her, it was hard to think straight.

Thankfully, her cell phone ringing in her bag brought her out of her stupor. She took a giant step away from Sam and dug her phone out. Shane's picture flashed across her screen and she immediately felt guilty for the thoughts she'd been entertaining in her head about the boy who was not her boyfriend.

'Hi, Shane,' she said, going for airy. Even to herself, it sounded forced but Shane didn't seem to notice as he inquired about her schedule for the day briefly before launching excitedly into a story about one of his football buddies.

Mercedes pretended not to notice the moment Sam's eyes stopped sparkling and hurt flashed in them instead. His straightened and lifted himself off the lockers. He hung his head for a second, and she hated seeing that crack in his armor, but then he looked back up, and his signature crooked smile was there again, albeit traced with a bit of sadness. He reached out and squeezed her arm and Mercedes looked on a bit helplessly as she watched him walk away.

She forced herself to look away from him, not to go after him down the hallway, and focus on her conversation with Shane. She'd just have to ignore her silly heart and the sinking feeling she'd felt when she'd watched the smile leave Sam's eyes. She'd have to ignore her throat constricting and the tears stinging her eyes. Shane was her boyfriend, not Sam.

Author's Notes:

I hoped you liked it! There'll be more real soon!

This is a mult-chapter fic, and will most-likely be updated very quickly since I've already written quite a bit of it.

Please leave me a review, if you'd be so kind. I really want to know what you're thinking.

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed, or added me to any alerts for my first fic, Room at the End of the World. I was pretty overwhelmed by the response.