DISCLAIMER: I don't own Glee or any of it's characters I'm just borrowing them to entertain you.

A/N: WE'RE BACK! This is another Ladij & Zeejack collaboration. We had to balance out our SamCedes world after our last story (A New Start if you haven't read it check it out) as much as we are feeling MikeCedes we are still true blue SamCedians so we hope you enjoy this story about our OTP. This is an AU story and this chapter has some DOMESTIC VIOLENCE mentioned so if this is s TRIGGER for you please read with caution. We so hope you enjoy this story and if you do please let us know.

Much Love

No Need to Run

Mercedes Jones lived a kind of life that made her happy. No she was not rich by any means but she was content. She had a job that she loved very much. She was a fourth grade teacher at Lima Elementary School and she loved her kids. She was loved by the kids and adored by the parents because she took really good care of all the children and she went the extra mile to make them do their best. She was in a relationship with her college boyfriend Anthony Rashad and things were good with them. He worked at PR firm in Lima and he was on the fast-track to becoming a big time executive at the firm. They always talked about their future together and he always told her that once he was financially secure they would get married, buy a house, and have a house full of kids. That was the dream Mercedes always wanted for herself. She loved Anthony and wanted to marry him and be the mother of his children. Things seemed to be going great so why did she find herself in her car crying with her bags packed in her trunk and driving towards New York?

~Flashback~

2 years ago

"Anthony you home?" Mercedes said walking in her apartment she shared with her boyfriend after a long day of parent-teacher conferences.

"I'm in the bedroom" he said.

Mercedes grabbed the mail that was on the table and made her way to the bedroom "hey baby" she said giving him a sweet kiss "how was your day?"

"It was good" he said "I might be up for a promotion soon."

"That's great babe you deserve it" she said with a genuine smile "you've been working there for two years now and nobody works as hard as you."

"I know not even the boss works as hard as I do and I really want this."

"Well I got faith in you baby and I know this promotion will be yours."

"Thank you babe" he said "and when I get it we can start making our dreams a reality."

"That will be so amazing" she said smiling at how happy her man looked "so do you want anything special for dinner?"

"I'm going to take you out" he said "do something special for my lady."

"Oh babe that sounds great but I'm tired and I really don't feel like getting dressed again and I have papers to grade. I'd rather stay in tonight and after I finish the papers maybe we could snuggle up and watch a movie?"

"That's all we ever do is watch movies I want to go out and celebrate my promotion."

"But you didn't get it yet" she said.

"So now you don't think I'll get the promotion" he snapped.

"I didn't say that."

"Where's the faith you were just talking about huh?" he said grabbing his keys "you can stay here if you want but I'm going out."

"Anthony I'm sorry" she begged "I do have faith in you baby and I'll go out with you if it means that much to you."

"NO" he spat "I don't want someone around me who does not believe in me."

"But I do believe in you-"

"It's obvious that you don't" he interrupted "and I don't want to be around you right now."

He grabbed his jacket and stormed out the house slamming the door making a few of the pictures fall off the wall. Mercedes was stunned at how he acted. This was not how she envisioned her evening going-not at all. She went and took a long hot bath to relax and calm herself down. She was hurt and angry at how Anthony talked to her and stormed out of the house like that. She was not going to let him keep her from doing what she had to do and what she wanted to do. After her bath she slipped on her favorite pair of pajamas and slippers and made her some chicken and rice with a glass of white wine. She enjoyed her meal and started grading her papers by the time she finished she was ready to watch her movie. She was determined to do what she had planned on doing if Anthony was there or not. She got a small bowl of popcorn and sat down to watch her favorite movie A Walk to Remember. By the middle of the movie Anthony came home and it was obvious he was clearly drunk. She ignored him at first and continued to watch the movie until he came over and plopped down next to her.

"You watching this stupid movie again" he said slurring his words "turn it off and come to bed with me."

"No" she said not even looking in his direction "I like this movie and I would like to finish it if you don't mind."

"But I'm ready to go to bed now" he said slightly raising his voice.

"Well go on then nobody's stopping you" she said matching his tone.

"You're coming to bed with me" he said grabbing the remote control and turning off the TV.

"I am not" she spat and she got up and turned the TV back on and sat back down to continue watching the movie.

"Mercedes I said you're coming to bed and that is final" he grabbed her by her arms and pulled her to the bedroom.

"ANTHONY LET ME GO!" she screamed "you're hurting me."

Her screams fell upon deaf ears because he continued to pull her until they reached the room. He threw her onto the bed;

"Now we are going to bed now!" he barked.

Mercedes was scared she had never seen him act like this before. She knew he was drunk and she didn't want to fight with him because she was not sure what he was capable of when he was like this so she climbed into bed and was just going to go to sleep. Anthony had other plans in mind when he climbed on top of her and started kissing her neck and cheek.

"Anthony stop" she said "you said you wanted to go to bed now just go to sleep."

"I never said I wanted to sleep" he said in a low drunken growl "I said I wanted to go to bed and now that we're in the bed I want to get down and dirty with you" pulling on her shirt and squeezing her breast.

"Anthony you're drunk and I don't like you like this now please just go to sleep" she pleaded.

"WE'RE NOT GOING TO SLEEP!" he yelled "I want to show you how good I am at everything I do so next time you won't ever doubt me."

"I don't doubt you Anthony I know how good you are and I know you're going to get that promotion."

Mercedes was trying to say anything she could to get him off of her. She never wanted to hurt his feelings but she was tired and really wanted to stay at home. If she knew this was going to be the end result she would have just went out to dinner…wait a minute this is not my fault she thought I have every right not to want to go somewhere and celebrate a promotion that has not even happened yet. I don't deserve to be treated like this. So she started to fight back and push Anthony off of her. With him in his inebriated state pushing him was not that hard to do. She knocked him on to the floor and headed for the door but he jumped up and grabbed her again.

"Oh so you wanna play rough" he said with an evil grin on his face "well I can play rough too."

WHAM

He slapped her right across the jaw with enough force to knock her down to the floor. But he was not through yet he picked her up and smacked her again.

"Anthony stop please" she said crying "please."

"No you wanted to play rough so now we are going to play rough."

When he went to grab her again she kicked him in the groin and ran out of the room and grabbed her purse and keys which were by the front door and she ran out of the house got in her car and sped away. She could not believe what was happening to her Anthony never did anything like this before and she would have never thought he would ever put his hands on her. She was sobbing at this point because she was scared and really didn't have anywhere to go. Of course she could have gone to her parents but she did not want them to see her like this. They loved Anthony and she knew how much this would hurt them too if they found out. She decided to just go check in a hotel for the night so she could be alone and Anthony could sober up. The next morning she looked at her phone and saw several messages from Anthony saying "he was sorry" and how "he didn't mean to do it" and "please forgive me and come home." Mercedes knew that he wasn't in the right state of mind but he had no right to lay his hands on her. She had to go back home because she had to get some clothes so she could go to work. So she checked out and made her way back to the apartment hoping he had left before she got there but no such luck as she came in he was sitting on the couch. She walked in and went straight to the bedroom and locked the door. She showered and got dressed and put her makeup on and that was the first time she actually looked at the bruise that was on her face. The tears started to flow at that point;

"I can't go to work like this" she said "I'll scare the children. The last they need to see is Miss Jones looking all beat up."

She grabbed her concealer and foundation and went to work on covering up her bruises. When she was finally satisfied that nobody would be able to see it she finished getting ready and headed out to go to work. Anthony was now in the kitchen making breakfast when she walked out of the room. She headed straight for the door to leave;

"Wait Mercedes" he said "I made breakfast."

"I'm not hungry" she said putting on her coat.

"At least have some coffee" he pleaded.

"I'll get coffee at school thank you" she grabbed her bag and walked out the door.

Once she made it to school she immediately felt better. She loved being around children they always made her smile. She felt so alive and happy there. Her best friend Blaine Anderson also worked there as the music teacher. He did not feel the same way she felt about working around a bunch of children but he needed the money so he had to "suffer" as he said. Mercedes walked into the teacher's lounge and Blaine was there waiting for her with his and her coffee waiting on her.

"Miss Jones I am so glad you finally made it this morning" he said smiling at her "I thought I was going to have to come drag you here myself."

"Now Blaine you know I was going to be here" she said "I was just moving a bit slow this morning."

"You and Anthony must've had a late night last night" he said wagging his eyebrow.

She tensed up at the mere mention of his name but she couldn't let Blaine know what was going on so she just laughed "something like that."

"Well Cedes I'm just glad you made it" he said "because I can't make in this hell hole without you."

"Blaine it's not that bad" she said smiling.

"Yes it is and the minute I can get out of here I am hopping on the first thing smoking to New York."

"And what are you going to do in New York?"

"Anything is better than this" he said "I got a degree in business I should be working in a big office in Manhattan climbing the corporate ladder instead of teaching tone deaf children On Top of Old Smokey."

Mercedes couldn't help but laugh at how her friend was so different from her but she loved him anyway.

"So we meet here for lunch right?" he asked.

"Yes of course" she said "and today no complaining about the kids."

"You say that every day and you know I'm going to do it so let's not waste our breath" he said getting up heading out the door.

"Whatever Blaine" she said rolling her eyes "just remember-"

"Children are gifts from God and we are blessed to be able to help them grow into wonderful and happy adults" he repeated her words verbatim.

"As long as you remember" she said waving goodbye to him and heading to her class.

Her day went well as always. She loved her job and her kids so there was no such thing as a bad day for her. At lunch she went to meet Blaine when she saw him sitting at the table with a big bouquet of purple orchids in front of him.

"Ooh somebody's got an admirer" she said smiling.

"Not even" he said "these are for you. Anthony either really enjoyed last night or he has some majoring making up to do."

Mercedes sighed she did not want to explain what was going on between her and Anthony "I guess he did enjoy last night" she said softly.

"Well Cedes you are a lucky woman and I can't wait to be there to watch you get married."

"Yeah" she said even softer "I just remembered I have some errands to run during lunch so I'm going to go but I'll be back."

"Ok you need me to go with you?"

"No it's fine I'll be right back" she got up to leave.

"Don't forget your flowers" Blaine called after her.

"Oh yeah wouldn't want to forget those" she said flatly.

She grabbed the flowers and walked out to her car. She felt the tears forming in her eyes but she didn't want to cry at school so she drove down the street to an empty parking lot and let out all her tears. How did her life become such a mess? She cried for about ten minutes and realized she needed to be heading back to the school so she cleaned herself up and got herself together and headed back. Not before stopping off at a dumpster and throwing the flowers in it and drove back to the school. The rest of the day went by very well and her kids brightened her day with their innocence and carefree spirits. By the end of the day she said goodbye to Blaine and headed home even though it was the last place she wanted to be. She knew Anthony would not be home yet and that gave her some time to figure out how to handle this situation. She knew what he did was wrong and he had no right to put his hands on her but it was his first time doing anything like that and he was drunk. She did love him and really wanted that dream life that they always talked about but this could not happen ever again. When she reached her apartment she was shocked to see his car still there. When she walked in he was in the kitchen making dinner and had the table set beautifully and flowers were all over the place. Mercedes was shocked to see all he went through for her.

"Hey baby" he said coming out of the kitchen.

"Hey" she said softly "something smells good."

He softly kissed her on the cheek "you sure do" he smiled.

"I meant the food" she said.

"I was just whipping up some lasagna and garlic bread for you. I was hoping that maybe we could talk over dinner."

"That's fine" she said "because we do need to talk."

"Well everything is ready so we could sit."

"I would like to shower first and change."

"Oh yeah no problem" he said grinning "go shower and I'll have everything ready when you come out."

"Ok" she said and she turned to go to the bedroom. She showered and changed into some sweats and a t shirt and pulled her hair up in a messy bun. When she made her way back to the dining area he had done exactly what he said he would do and had everything ready. They didn't say anything for the most part they just sat and ate their food. Finally Anthony broke their silence;

"How do you like the food?"

"It's good thank you" she answered.

"You're welcome" he said smiling "so are we going to talk about-" he couldn't even say it.

"About you hitting me" she said sternly.

"Yes that" he said dropping his head "baby I am so sorry about that I was so wrong and I promise never to do that to you again. I love you baby and I swear that will never ever happen again."

"You hurt me" she said now crying.

"I know baby I'm sorry" he said getting up and walking over to her and kneeling down in front of her "I was such a jerk and I will never put my hands on you again."

"You hurt me" she said again "not just by hitting me but you hurt my heart."

He was stunned silent by her words and the tears started to flow from his eyes. He really did love her and seeing her cry due to something he did broke his heart.

"I am so sorry baby" he said crying "I will do whatever I have to do to make this up to you. I love you so much and I don't know what I would do without you."

"If you ever put your hands on me again you will find out" she said sternly "now I love you Anthony very much but I will not tolerate this kind of behavior anymore."

"I promise baby it will not happen again. Does this mean you forgive me?" he looked with pleading eyes.

"I will this time" she said.

Before she could say anything else Anthony was up and kissing her deeply.

"I love you baby" he said in between kisses "I love you so much and I'm so sorry."

"I love you too."

~End of Flashback~

"I am such a fool" she said to herself "I should have listened to my head the first time he did this and just left then, but no I was in love and I stayed. For two years I stayed and it was the same thing over and over again. He hit me, he apologizes, and I forgive him. A never ending pattern and I fell for his lies and puppy dog eyes every time."

She had driven for hours until she saw New York City coming into view and a sense of calm flowed over her because she had a feeling that being there in that city was going to bring great things in her life. She knew that she hadn't called Blaine to let him know she was coming but he always told her that if she was ever in town that he had a place for her and she was going to take him up on that. She drove to the address that he had given her and when she pulled up to the brownstone she was delighted at how well her friend had done for himself. He was finally in a job he loved and he was very successful at it. She parked and walked to the door with her bags in tow. She rang the doorbell and waited. She
saw Blaine coming down the stairs wiping his eyes. Of course he would be sleep, Mercedes it is three o'clock in the morning. He opened the door and the biggest smile crept on his face;

"Mercedes Jones is it really you?"

"Hey Blaine" she said smiling "yeah it's really me."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well you said if I was ever in town I had a place for me and I was hoping I could take you up on that offer."

He looked down and saw how many bags she had and he noticed some of the scars on her neck but he was not about to say anything "of course you can stay here as long as you need to."

"Thank you Blaine I appreciate you so much" she said "I just needed a change of scenery."

"And there is no better place for that than here so come on in and let me show you to your room my lady."

"Well thank you kind sir" she said grabbing her bags as Blaine grabbed the other and they went inside to start this new journey.

A/N: So that was Mercedes story what do you think? Up next Sam and his story.

BTW PLEASE REVIEW!