Hi! This was a head canon I had that I needed to write out, and I decided to make it a multi-chapter fic. Feedback is glorious, and I hope you enjoy!

She was wearing his ring.

She was actually wearing his ring. And she broke into his locker to get it. He could not resist the epic fist pump building in his bones, and he was off the ground in seconds, an enormous grin spread across his face. He started off a little shaky, but this year was looking fantastic. He had the Titans and the Cheerio, perfect ingredients to being important. People at this school would look up to him, root for him; he'd have friends. A boat load of them.

Sure, he'd have to sacrifice a couple things, or keep them behind closed doors, like comic book talk and fictional languages, but everything else was perfect, including his girlfriend. He walked to the parking lot after retrieving his backpack with a smile still on his face at the thought of moving on after high school with Quinn and living the American dream: a house in the suburbs, a bunch of blond kids running around, and still being the most admired couple in the community. He'd spend his life on top.

Sam's thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a middle-aged man in a long coat leaning on his truck. He slowed down, but didn't stop walking until he reached the area.

"I don't have any money on me," Sam said, smiling apologetically. The man's coat was pretty beat up, and he couldn't help but assume he was just a beggar.

"I know." The man stood up straight and grinned, revealing surprisingly straight, white teeth.

"Okay…well if you don't mind, I gotta get home," he said, trying to ignore the scary feeling the man gave him.

"I'm sure you can spare a couple minutes of your time." It wasn't a question. The feeling in Sam's stomach grew, like a watermelon ripening and pushing against his inner walls uncomfortably.

"Look, I don't know what you want, but…"

"It's about what you want, Sam Evans." That shut him up. The man continued. "You know how you want your future to play out, right?"

He knew his name? Sam was confused, a bit frightened, but above all, curious.

"Well yeah," he said, shrugging.

"But we can never really control our futures, can we?" the man asked. Sam rolled his eyes and shrugged. He was waiting for the point.

"I mean, no, obviously. But I have a general plan." The man nodded at Sam's answer and he grinned again, his eyes twinkling.

"What if I told you I could show you your future?" Sam didn't answer. He just raised an inquisitive eyebrow. The man went on.

"For fifteen minutes, I can show you your life thirteen years from now. Do you want that?" the man asked, stepping closer.

Sam took a step back.

"Why thirteen?"

"Is that a yes?" Sam was quiet for a moment. He'd definitely seen enough movies and read enough comics and seen enough episodes of the Twilight Zone to know that these things could happen. He then considered the possibility of this man being insane. What did he have to lose? If he says yes, and the man is crazy, he loses nothing. If he says yes and the man is telling the truth, he could see how his life turns out with Quinn. But if he says no, he'll spend all month thinking about it.

"Yes," Sam replied, finally. The man immediately held out his fingers.

"Touch your fingertips to mine."

Once Sam followed the man's directions, his surroundings went black.

Sam opened his eyes only to shut them again quickly. He took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light and opened them again. The windows were covered with sheer white curtains, not nearly enough to mask the blinding sunlight shining through them. He blinked repeatedly and moved his attention to the alarm clock on the bed stand, which read 6:00 AM.

Fifteen minutes.

He suddenly realized that he was holding onto something. He looked down to find his arm wrapped around a woman. Her skin was chocolaty, but she smelled like vanilla and cinnamon. Like some sort of awesome dessert pastry. Her hair was dark, and disheveled from sleep. He noticed the wedding ring on her hand, and he noticed she wasn't Quinn.

He'd been holding onto her tightly and was pressed flush against her, as if he'd spent all night in that exact position. She shifted and his eyes widened at the realization that just weeks prior, he'd shifted chairs in Glee club to get a better view of this girl's leopard clad backside during a mind-blowing rendition of River Deep, Mountain High. He was married to Mercedes Jones and it was confusing the hell out of him.

Suddenly, like a cannon ball to knock him out of his inner monologue, the door burst open to reveal a pint-sized caramel skinned, wild-haired brunette boy clad in Superman pajamas bounding toward him. The boy jumped up and landed on the bed, continuing to jump up and down while sporting a toothy (or toothless) grin.

"YOU'RE AWAKE!" the boy screamed. Sam winced and nodded. He stared at the boy and saw that he was looking into eyes that mirrored his own in appearance.

"WELL COME ON!" Sam finally removed his arm from around Mercedes and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Come on where?" he asked the boy.

"DADDY! It's Christmas! Santa came!" the boy said, waving his arms around to emphasize the importance of the event. "Why isn't mommy awake yet? MOMMY!"

Mercedes stirred a bit before opening her eyes and looking at the alarm clock. 6:06 AM. She laid there for a second before sitting up, mirroring Sam's position and looking at her son.

"It's too early," she said, yawning.

"No it's not! I woke up an hour ago and I've been waiting! It's time to get up! Santa got you something too!" he said, winking at an oblivious Sam. He'd gone to the jeweler's with his dad a month ago to find the perfect gift for Mercedes. He knew Santa was real, but he also knew Santa didn't bring gifts to old people. He wasn't going to tell his mother though.

"Really? Santa brought me a gift?" she said, smiling. The boy nodded enthusiastically.

"So come on!" he said, as he began to jump up and down again.

"Okay, okay! Just give me and Daddy two minutes," she said, holding her arms out. The boy let out a heavy sigh, but got off the bed anyway.

"TWO MINUTES," he said before leaving.

Mercedes ran her fingers through her hair.

"I forgot to wrap my hair," she said holding it up. Then she looked at him with a smirk on her face. "I blame you."

It was a lot for Sam to take in, and he still didn't really trust himself to say much, so he shrugged and let out a nervous laugh.

"Anyway. Good morning," she said, smiling. It was contagious, and he found himself returning it genuinely.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, catching him off guard. He tentatively kissed back anyway, liking the feeling more with each passing second. When she began to pull away, he put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her back in and deepening the kiss. The feeling and taste of her lips against his was enough to make his eyes cross, and technically she was his wife, so why the hell not.

"Sorry, you're not my type." At the sound of a voice that didn't belong to Mercedes, Sam opened his eyes and realized he was back in the McKinley parking lot, standing across from the creepy man in the long jacket with his lips puckered. He quickly turned red and recoiled, dipping his head. It didn't occur to him to look back at the clock, considering how busy he'd been at the moment.

"Uh, sorry," he mumbled, still looking at his shoes. When he heard no response, he looked up and saw the man was gone.

Sam didn't move though. He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned against the truck in deep thought. How in the hell would he end up married to Mercedes Jones? He'd never even spoken to her. He'd smiled at her a few times, but she was just a nice girl in glee club.

This seriously screwed him up. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about what he saw, the big bedroom, the woman in his arms, the adorable little boy that called him Daddy…

Another thing he knew from his extensive knowledge of sci-fi was that he couldn't screw with his destiny. People try to do it all the time, and it just gets messy. So he'd have to try and go on as if he hadn't seen his future. Before he saw, he had every intention of being with Quinn. How did that work? And he liked Quinn, hell he intended to love her someday. She was perfect.

But now Mercedes would keep entering his thoughts. Twenty minutes ago, he's been jumping up and down about his Cheerio girlfriend wearing his promise ring, and now all he could think about was another girl. He was already emotional cheating! He couldn't break up with Quinn, though. He couldn't mess with fate, just like when Alisha couldn't break up with Curtis for Future!Simon in Misfits.

He couldn't help worrying about what would inevitably end his relationship with Quinn Fabray, though. He hoped it wouldn't be too bad.

Things were going smoothly with Quinn. She was just as pretty as ever, and even though she wasn't a Cheerio anymore, people still bowed down to her, and he still considered them to be on top. Just because things were going well didn't mean he still didn't feel guilty about imagining Quinn's lips were someone else's whenever they made out. He felt guilty, but he didn't stop. He couldn't.

Sam shut his locker and noticed Mercedes further down the hall digging books out of her own. She was struggling to reach something, and he was by her side in a flash, grabbing the book she'd been stretching for.

"There you go," he said, smiling. She looked confused, but her expression quickly changed to a grateful smile.

"Thanks Sam." He nodded and silently fought away thoughts of her in lingerie. Since he'd seen it, there was really no going back.

"Did you need to talk about something?" she asked after a few moments of silence between them.

"Uh, no. You just looked like you needed help," he said, shrugging. She nodded.

"Well thanks again."

"We should hang out some time," he said finally, biting his lip. She looked over her shoulder to establish that he was indeed speaking to her.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but why?"

"I don't know. We're in glee club together and I barely know you? You seem cool, and you laughed at my James Earl Jones impression that one time, so you know quality entertainment…" That got her to laugh.

"I guess…I was going to get a coffee after school, and you're welcome to join. Bring Quinn," she said, smiling.

"Awesome," he said, smiling big.

He knew he wasn't supposed to tamper with or accelerate the future, but he wanted to know more about this girl. Why did he marry her? There couldn't have been any rules against becoming her friend. And so what if he had no intention of inviting Quinn?