Episode 1

'You can't tell anyone.'

Mercedes frowned as she took in Sam's serious expression, her hair flipping about her face and her gold hoop earrings jangling as she shook her head. Sam had known her for a while now, which meant that her answer should have been obvious.

'You told me it was a secret didn't you?'

Sam nodded, but the muscles in his jaw danced with tension.

'Well then, why would I tell anyone?'

Mercedes seemed genuinely perplexed, but Sam didn't want to take any chances. He examined her vitals closely before he allowed himself to accept that the dark-haired girl was telling the truth. Her heartbeat was steady, if a little elevated, her pupils were fixed and she was looking directly at him, not flitting her gaze away like she would if she were lying…

'Ok.'

Sam forced his muscles to relax once he was certain that Mercedes was telling the truth, feeling them all unclench slowly under his skin.

'Ok.' he said again, trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do now that Mercedes knew the truth about him. Would they be able to go on as normal? That was ridiculous, Sam realised, Mercedes knew he was a demi-God. How could anything go back to normal after that?

Sam still didn't quite understand how Mercedes had come to discover the truth about him. Of all the explanations she could have come up with, surely the truth would have seemed the least likely. He would have arrived at 'Superhero' before the reality, 'Vampire or Werewolf' maybe, but demi-god? Nuh-uh. Yet, that was the one she had hit on, and she'd come straight out and asked him too. 'Are you some kind of lower-level God?' she'd said, like it was a perfectly normal thing to ask someone. Sam had been rendered speechless for a good few minutes just from the shock of her accuracy. Impressive didn't even begin to cover it.

'So… will you tell me more?' Mercedes asked tentatively, 'About you? About what you can do?'

Sam sighed and slipped a hand through his hair, wondering how much, if anything, he should tell her. The truth, the whole truth and nothing but? Or a whole load of nothing? Damn it, this was so complicated. Sam could hear the voices of his foster parents echoing in his head, even as he contemplated his dilemma.

'Are you sure you want to go to school, Samteus? It might be dangerous, Samteus. You'll have to be extra careful, Samteus. Surely it'd be better to let us teach you at home, Samteus?

Sam had shaken off all their concerns and suggestions with the confidence and assurance only a teenage boy might posses and assured them that he would be perfectly fine surviving at a regular school amongst the mortals. And he had been. Until Mercedes - or rather - until Quinn.

Sam had only been dating Quinn officially for about a month before Mercedes had come along. Sweet, inquisitive Mercedes, who had been so desperate to look out for her best girl Quinn that she'd watched Sam like a hawk, trying to get a measure of his character to see if he was good enough to date her soul sister. Then she'd figured out his secret, something Quinn had failed to do even with all the time they spent together. Mercedes had just observed, and suddenly all his secrets seemed as easy for her to read as a pre-school book. Sometimes, Sam thought wearily as he let out a gusty sigh, parents actually do know best, even if they're human and their kid's a demi-god.

Mercedes had insisted that he accompany her to the park after school, which had perplexed Sam at first, until Quinn had raised an eyebrow at him and said, in her sweet husky voice.

'Mercedes is my best friend and she wants to scope you out. Humour her.'

Sam had known that when Quinn used that tone of voice it meant that there was no point in arguing, so he'd gone along with it. They had been walking through the crisp autumn leaves with their coats done up against the chill when Mercedes had dropped her knowledge on him and now she was looking expectantly at him, waiting to see if he'd tell her more.

When Sam didn't answer immediately Mercedes seemed to collapse in on herself in doubt, stammering over her words as she tried to assure him that she really didn't expect him to tell her if he didn't want to.

'I mean, it's your secret to tell, right?'

Mercedes' doe eyes widened as she seemed to realise that Sam was a lot more dangerous than she'd been accustomed to believe. She shrank back from him the tiniest amount, but Sam still sensed it, and it hurt more than he would have liked to admit.

He didn't exactly know why he did what he did next, but Sam was opening his mouth and talking before he'd even considered what he was saying.

'It's our secret now, Mercedes.'

'But you don't actually have to tell me anything that you don't want-'

'We're friends right?' Sam cut Mercedes off mid-sentence, which made her shoot him an automatic irritated glare before she wiped the look off her face and nodded, focusing her attention on the pavement underneath her feet as they passed under a canopy of trees. When Sam nudged her gently with his arm she looked up.

'Well,' The blond boy nodded along with her, 'for one, you have to stop doing that.'

A look of confusion crossed Mercedes' face as she hugged her arms tighter to her chest and shook her head at him questioningly.

'Doing what?'

'Second guessing your every move with me.'

A small smile danced across Mercedes' face as she considered Sam's words. He was right, of course, she had been doing that since as she'd realised just what he might be capable of.

'I know,' she allowed after a beat, 'it's just, I don't know how to talk to you knowing that you can probably kill me with, like, your pinky finger or something.'

Sam didn't even try to hide the smirk on his face as he looked down at the shorter girl.

'Mercedes, have I tried to kill you before?'

The smile on Mercedes' face grew as she shook her head no.

'Then why would I want to kill you now?' There was a definite note of amusement in Sam's voice as he angled his head down to her.

'Ok, fine.' Mercedes gave Sam a small shove and he stumbled sideways a few steps with a soft chuckle.

'So now that's cleared up.' Sam dropped an arm around Mercedes' shoulders, following the path that curved around the small lake in the centre of the park. 'What is it you wanted to know?'

Mercedes whole face lit up like a shop window at Christmas and Sam bit his lip to keep from grinning, it wasn't really appropriate to the situation, but it was all his body seemed to want to do.

'You'll really tell me?'

Telling her probably wouldn't be the most sensible thing to do, Sam knew that, his Fosters had been stressing the importance of keeping his… heritage… to himself since the very first moment he'd been placed with them. Still, seeing as Mercedes already knew what he was, Sam figured he might as well just tell her everything, anyway. It was actually a relief to have one of his peers know. Having to hide a huge part of who he was from all his friends was exhausting - exhausting and lonely.

But now Mercedes knew, and Sam was having a hard time looking on that as a misfortune, although he knew that's what his mortal foster parents would perceive it as. He hadn't told Mercedes on purpose, but he wasn't exactly going to ignore the blessing that had landed in his lap either.

Sam's sage green eyes met Mercedes' chocolate brown ones and he knew that the next moment would be one that there could be no turning back from. If he went through with it - if he told her - then they'd be in it together from this point onwards.

He was about to make Mercedes Jones his Chloe Sullivan.

'You really want to know?' he asked, his eyes searching her face as he watched the girl think seriously about his question. 'You sure?'

They had drawn up to the railing that edged the lake and Sam flopped against it, propping one of his elbows up on the smooth metal bar as he waited for Mercedes to make up her mind. She regarded him thoughtfully in silence, but when Mercedes eventually spoke she said something Sam hadn't been expecting.

'It must be lonely for you, huh?' her voice was soft and low as she moved to settle beside him on the railing.

'I used to think I was lonely, but you…' her voice trailed off as she blinked up at him through heavy lashes, 'you must have had it so much worse. I can't imagine what it must be like keeping such incredible abilities hidden away.'

Sam felt a tell-tale heat pricking behind his eyes, but bit back the tears that were threatening to fall. He was not going to cry, not now. Perhaps later, when he was alone and able to fully process the magnitude of this moment he would allow himself to shed the relieved tears he felt, but not now. Not now.

A warm, reassuring pressure settled on Sam's arm and when he looked down he saw Mercedes' small hand settled on the crook of his arm. The contented feeling that flood through Sam's system at Mercedes' gentle smile surprised him, yet he needed no further evidence that the girl standing beside him would hold that position even in the worst of times, he knew it to his very bones, although if anyone had asked him how he knew he'd be hard pressed to tell them. Mercedes was just that person, she would come through for him if he needed her to, just because she was his friend. The thought put a smile on Sam's face as they walked that he saw mirrored in Mercedes' face, although she did her best to hide it from him. He could still tell though, he could see it in the way her cheeks dimpled.

'If you feel comfortable telling me, Sam, then I would love to know.'

Sam blew out a deep breath and watched as the tendrils curled out into the cold, autumnal air and dissipated slowly, he pushed away from the railing and dusted his hands on his jeans. A stray strand of blond hair fell into his eyes and he flipped it out of the way before he turned back to his pretty companion with raised eyebrows. They looked at each other for a pregnant moment before Sam extended a large hand out towards her. After the briefest of hesitations, he felt Mercedes small, warm fingers curl around his.

'Then let's get comfortable.' Sam insisted as he tugged her good-naturedly in the direction of his house, 'Because this is kind of a long story.'