The final chapter at last!

Sam was woken by a kiss from his mom.

"Hey mom," he muttered sleepily.

"Hey Sam, it's time to get up for school."

He looked at her with sleepy eyes. She looked as if she'd been crying and he pulled her into a hug. "Where's dad?" He could faintly smell coffee. His mom didn't drink it so he knew his dad had been around at some point.

She looked over to the bed where the two smaller children were still sleeping. The expression on her face said this conversation was not about to happen right now. Pretending not to have heard the question she went over to wake them. Sam pulled himself up, folded his bed and headed for the bathroom, knowing that now wasn't the time to push the subject, but resolved to catch his mom alone and find out what exactly had been going on while he was away in New York.

He moved on to happier thoughts. Sam had never looked forward to school as much as he did today. Today he would get to see Mercedes. He wondered if she liked the little gift he'd slipped into her bag while she wasn't looking at the airport. He knew it wasn't much but it meant loads. And the memories associated with it were priceless. That sunny afternoon in New York. His words. Her reaction. Being together. He thought of the identical keychain that he had. One day it'll be attached to a set of house keys rather than the keycard to this motel room!

I gotta feeling – he thought to himself as he stepped into the hot water streaming out of the shower – that today's gonna be a good day…

He saw her almost immediately, standing by her locker looking thoughtful. She was wearing those zebra print pants. Not his favorite pattern but she still rocked them. She could rock anything. To hell with it all he thought as he headed towards her with a smile. But before he could reach her and break their secret by throwing caution to the wind and going for a kiss, Tina came bounding up and pulled her into a massive excited hug. They'd pulled apart by the time he reached them.

He grinned at them. "Hey guys," he said, in what he hoped sounded like a casual breezy manner.

"Hey Sam!" Tina smiled brightly up at him. Mercedes said nothing. She appeared to have stopped breathing. Probably something to do with the way that he'd brushed his thumb along the base of her spine just as he'd drawn level with her. If she was feeling the kind of tingles he was feeling then yeah, it was pretty hard to speak.

But he didn't break his stride. "I've got practice now. See y'all in Glee later." The grin was wider and he kept walking on. You are so cruel! As he turned the corner he broke out into a laugh. It amazed him that such a small touch had the power to make Mercedes go all crazy! But he loved it too. Glad that it was his touch that had that effect and nobody else's. If anyone else tried he would have to take them out!

Just for those brief moments he'd forgotten about his broken family life and the problems that were there. Those brief moments he had used to inhale the fragrance of Mercedes' scent. That was going to have to be enough to keep him going through the day and somehow it did. She was nowhere to be seen at lunchtime and at Glee she was back at the back sitting with Kurt on one side of her and Brittany on the other.

The great thing about having the long bangs was that he could look at Mercedes from under it. At least that's what he hoped. But he took a seat near the front near Finn. Nobody else particularly wanted to be around him yet apart from Rachel.

Sam couldn't believe that they were at the final Glee club of the semester. By the end of the week, school would be over for the summer. He was going to have to think of some creative ways to spend time with the girl of his dreams.

Mr Schue came in with a trophy in his hand and a big smile on his face.

"You guys wanna see what 12th place looks like?"

A massive cheer went up in the room.

And the day got better. He and Mercedes hadn't spoken a single word to each other during Glee club but as he walked away from the school a familiar car pulled alongside him.

Without a word he opened the door and climbed in. He'd barely closed the door behind him before he was pulled into a long searing kiss. After a few moments she drew back, looking embarrassed at what she'd done and settled back, touching her hair and making sure it was still in place.

Her eyes went down to her hands. Suddenly shy. "Thanks for the keychain," her voice was barely a breathless whisper, "I'll always treasure it."

Sam was feeling pretty breathless from the kiss himself. All he could manage was a stupid grin. But he was woken from his stupor by a solid whack on the arm.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"You know what that was for! Touching a girl up in the hallways where everybody could see!"

He laughed. "I couldn't help it. I just wanted to make sure you still liked me."

"I nearly choked on my gum!"

She shot him a smile that proved she wasn't really mad at him then restarted the engine.

"So – where to? Are you working tonight?"

His grin grew again. "I'm not back at work until tomorrow. And the kids have after school club today so I guess I'm all yours for the next couple of hours!"

She seemed to relish the thought. "Wanna grab a coffee?"

"Sure. Why not."

Mercedes couldn't help but notice Sam getting quieter as they approached the Lima bean. It reminded her of the last time they came here together when he had confessed to having body issues. Something was on his mind and she was damned if she knew what it was.

After pulling into a parking space she switched off the engine but didn't undo her seatbelt. She took a deep breath.

"You do realize that you can tell me anything. Right?"

He looked sheepish. "I know... I guess I'm just still adjusting. There's so many things going on at the moment I don't know where to start."

He fidgeted nervously with his fingers. He wanted to tell her that he was worried that there was something seriously up with his parents. But what could he say? He didn't even know what it was that was going on with them himself yet!

He knew she was simply going to stay silent until he started talking so he decided to go with the other thing that was bugging him. "It just feels wrong that we go out for coffee and you have to pay. I'm an old fashioned kind of guy and to me that's not how things should work. I guess it hurts my pride."

Mercedes undid her seatbelt and slowly turned in the seat to face him. He could see the diva starting to surface in her and he started to feel a little nervous.

"Samuel Evans, we are going to have this conversation one time, and one time only." Why couldn't he help feeling that this was going to be a one-sided conversation? He watched her as she took a deep breath, bit her bottom lip and thought carefully about her words as they began to flow out. "I like you Sam. A lot. And I like you for you. I like spending time with you. I like simply being around you. That can be in any place at any time. At the moment you're working yourself to the bone to provide for your family. I accept that and I have no intention of taking any of that money away from you. If that means me spending out on coffee or meals, or treats then so be it. So far, all my allowance is spent simply on clothing. It'll be good to put it to some other use. I know that you're not going to be in that motel forever. I know that one day soon your family will get back on its feet. So, just like with prom, consider this a loan. And I fully intend to call it in. When your money's your own again, I will expect you to take me to the movies, out for meals, coffee and other wonderful things. And yes at dinner I will order the steak and the lobster! But until then, you have to let me do this. Please don't let our first fight be over money."

Sam didn't know what to day. It was as if an elephant had decided to sit on his lungs. He couldn't breathe. He wanted to cry because of feelings.

This was the most amazing girl on the planet! She was beautiful and had a heart of gold. How could he have been so stupid to not see it for so long? It was difficult to form words and even harder to meet her intense stare.

He reached out and touched her cheek, caressing it gently while staring into her big chocolate eyes. Then he leaned over and kissed her very softly on the lips. "You are my lor unil," he muttered under his breath.

Then he grinned at her. Before she could ask for a translation of what was just said he interrupted. "Movies, dinner… Mercedes Jones, are you asking me out?"

"Well, er… no, I… uh…" She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Oh my god she's blushing! I can actually see it. Sam watched with delight as Mercedes fluffed her words and avoided his eyes. There was a very slight but definite glow to her cheeks, her breathing had rapidly sped up and he could see her pulse beating out on her neck, just above her breastbone. If he moved in closer he knew that he would probably feel the heat radiating from her. He decided to put her out of her misery.

He took her hands in his and marveled at their softness. "Because if you were, you'd be saving me the trouble of doing it myself." He said softly, with a smile.

She was biting her bottom lip again. Was she mirroring his mannerisms now?

"So does that make this our first date?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

He grinned. "Hell to the no! This is just coffee!" Her face fell until he continued, "I already have something special planned for our first date."

Her eyes grew large. He could see the questions forming behind them but he wasn't going to go there just yet. What he was going to do was get out of this damn car because it was getting harder and harder to just sit there without wanting to grab her and cause some mischief.

Again, as per the unspoken agreement they didn't hold hands as they walked through the parking lot, or through the entrance of the Lima Bean. Both were lost in their own thoughts until they were suddenly and rudely interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Oh! Look who's here!"

They froze like rabbits caught in headlights. Kurt and Blaine were sitting at a table right near the entrance and Kurt was dazzling them with a massive smile. Blaine had to turn in his seat to see who Kurt was referring to and he faced them with a smile equally as broad. "Hey! What are you guys doing here?"

Sam couldn't risk looking over to Mercedes. The brief glimpse he'd already caught told him that her facial expression read: guilty as sin! Mercedes Jones was not a liar.

He knew this was the time to just play it cool. "Just er… getting a coffee!" Why lie?

"We ran into each other in the parking lot." Man, she sounded as guilty as she looked and that grin wasn't fooling anyone!

Luckily the guys didn't appear to notice and Blaine continued, "We're on our way to get some sheet music. Tomorrow is my audition for the summer show at 6 Flags." He raised his hands to show that his fingers were crossed.

"Whereas I am spending my summer composing Pip Pip Hooray!" He could see Blaine smiling and gently shaking his head at Kurt's words. Sam felt that there must have been a huge question mark hanging over his head because Kurt continued, "It's the Broadway musical about Pippa Middleton."

Who the hell was that? He vaguely remembered Kurt mentioning the name during his acceptance speech at prom but had never gotten around to ask him about it, not really wanting to broach the subject.

"I - I don't really know who that is," was his eventual lame response, "but it sounds totally awesome!" He hoped he didn't sound too clueless. Or worse still, sarcastic. Because he wasn't being. He genuinely had no clue and was busy making a mental note to ask Mercedes when they got back to the relative shelter and protection of her car.

She just laughed and slapped him on the arm. A little too hard actually. Surely touching was making it obvious?

Mercedes seemed to read his mind and hastily ended the conversation. "Uh – we'll see you in class!" she said as she practically dragged him away from the tortuous conversation.

"Bye guys!" They had already resumed whatever conversation they were having before they'd entered the coffee shop.

Ok… So that WASN'T awkward…

As soon as they were out of sight he looked back to make sure that the boys weren't still watching.

"Do you think they know?" Mercedes' eyes were wide with a combination of shock and nervousness.

"Nobody knows." He was too nervous to smile but he hoped his voice was reassuring as he silently took her hand while they queued for their coffee.

Kurt felt guilty. Blaine was still talking but his voice seemed to be fading into the background.

Mercedes Jones was no liar. Just ran into each other in the parking lot…

There could only be one reason for her to be so cagey and he fully intended to get it out of her.

Mercedes Jones and Sam Evans.

Kurt Hummel had to admit...

He never saw it coming…

End of part 1! I hope you enjoyed it!

So what does Kurt think he's worked out? What has Sam planned for Samcedes first date? And what the hell is wrong with his family? Look out for the sequel 40 Days Of Summer which continues immediately from where this leaves off!