Disclaimer: I own neither Glee nor the film with the title suspiciously similar to this one. The idea came while listening to Temper Trap's Sweet Disposition while playing around with the format for the fic. This story is the sequel to my other one 'Never Saw It Coming'. It continues the story of Samcedes though a certain amount of the summer break.

(Just by way of explanation, I've counted the days from the beginning of their relationship not the summer break. Therefore, day 1 was the Thursday, day before Nationals when they had their first kiss in New York. Monday after school at the Lima Bean was day 5. I have switched this fic around so that it's now in chronological order so this is the new first chapter. It begins with Day 7 of their relationship.)

This was originally written in August 2011.

Day 7: Wednesday

It was the final day of school, and the day of Mercedes' first date with Sam. As hard as she'd tried, he'd refused to even give her any hints of what was planned.

Being the last day of the semester, school was only a half day. Most of the Glee club were going to Breadstix together with some of the support musicians. She had somehow managed to beg off and everyone else had (wrongly) assumed that Sam would be working. Her parents had assumed that she would be joining the others at Breadstix and she'd somehow forgotten to put them straight on that too. What it meant, was that it left her with a whole afternoon and evening (although not too late) to spend with Sam. And Sam alone.

She was so excited throughout the morning that she was barely able to concentrate on her classes. Rachel had been gushing about something into her ear at some point during recess but she had no idea what it was even about. She'd just smiled and nodded in the right places, all the while thinking about what Sam might have planned for her.

She knew it had to be something simple. It's not as if he had any money to splash out on her. But she didn't care if it was an afternoon of babysitting those gorgeous siblings of his. Anything would be great, just to be able to spend some time together.

Mercedes had left school in a rush, making her excuses and not giving the others the chance to try to talk her into joining them for their meal. As with the previous two days, she had driven out of school, around the block a few times, then double backed to pick up Sam on one of the side streets nearby. He was carrying his guitar and a larger than usual backpack which appeared to be pretty heavy. Their first kiss when he first climbed into the car was starting to become her favorite part of the day. Too bad school was ending. It was a great routine to get into.

Today's kiss was extra special and she was reluctant to break it off. Her new found kissing skills had been honed into a highly pleasurable experience which she was always keep in replicating as often as possible.

"OK so I've waited long enough! What have you got planned for us?"

Sam simply grinned, "You'll see when we get there." Then he started to look serious, "It's not much but I hope you like it."

She placed her hand on his arm. "As long as it's with you, I know I'll love it. Now shut up with your worrying and tell me where to drive!"

He looked at her with an expression of wonder at how amazing she was then told her to head to the library.

"The library?"

He nodded. "My plan is to sit in there and read you romantic Shakespeare sonnets all afternoon."

She chuckled. "No - I can't see you reading me Shakespeare! A couple of Marvel comics perhaps..."

It was his turn to playfully shove her arm, being careful not to interrupt her driving. "Just shut up and drive woman!"

As they pulled into the parking lot of the library, she still had no clue as to what was going on and Sam was still being as unhelpful as ever. She parked up and waited for instructions.

The library was a beautiful building. It was an old colonial style building which had once belonged to a very prominent member of the community. Having plenty of money and no living family he had bequeathed it to the town to be used as a library in his name after his death, to benefit the children he could never have. For more than a hundred years it had served that very purpose.

Sam took her by the hand and led her towards the entrance.

"Sam, we can't go in there with your guitar and all this stuff!"

"Who says anything about going inside?"

Just before they got to the main entrance, they turned off onto a small path that she'd never noticed before. It ran along the side of the library and continued behind it.

"Sam! Are we supposed to be here?" She was starting to get nervous. There was nobody else around and she felt like they were trespassing.

"It's fine," he assured her, leading her down the path as it narrowed even further before widening out at a large iron archway. They stepped through the ivy covered arch into one of the most beautiful little green spaces she had ever seen.

"Wow! A secret garden! I thought these places only exist in books and movies!" She was barely breathing in awe of the view in front of her. There were bushes of neatly trimmed roses, jasmine and other flowers she couldn't name and it filled the air with a beautiful perfume. It was like a miniature paradise. There were a couple of benches around the edge but Sam pulled her towards a large shady tree in the far corner. The space was empty of people except an old man who was tending to one of the rose bushes. The man turned to see who had come in, recognized Sam and nodded in acknowledgement to him. Sam waved back at him as they made their way to their chosen spot.

"Who was that?"

"He's one of the neighbors. They help look after the garden. It's something they've done for generations. He'll be finished soon."

"How did you find this place?"

"By accident. I was taking Stacy and Stevie to the library one time when Stacy ran off down the path and ended up here. It's actually public property, belonging to the library. But not a lot of people know about it. And they try to keep it that way. I like to come here and think in the quiet and the beauty. Or sometimes I just sit under the tree and read comics for hours just to escape. Anything to get out of being cooped up in that motel room. I met George (he nodded towards the old man) a few weeks ago. He, his son and his grandson all help look after the place."

"Well I think it's amazing. I can't believe I've been coming to this library for so many years but had no clue that all this was here! It's amazing!"

Sam had laid his guitar down, opened his backpack and was laying a blanket for them. She sat quietly on it as brought a series of edible goodies from the bag.

"Please don't laugh at me but I thought maybe for our first date we could do the whole English cream tea thing." He opened a tupperware container and showed her the contents. "I worked very hard for you in my home ec class this morning. My baking skills are no way on a par with yours, but according to the recipe, these are English scones, to be served with jam (not jelly) and butter. I also have cakes and fruit." More and more little packets kept coming out of the bag and collecting on the blankets. "The only thing I couldn't do was the hot tea, so I got us a couple of bottles of proper Southern Sweet Tea for you."

Mercedes was totally in awe of his creativity. And baking ability! She leaned over and kissed him softly. "These look amazing. And this..." she gestured to the garden and the picnic, "is way beyond perfect. I love that you came up with this idea."

Sam smiled a massive smile and put on an English accent. "Anything for you my lady! A beautiful woman deserves to be in a beautiful place and treated to the finest things!"

"Tell me one more time why you have to go away?" Sam was looking at Mercedes with huge puppy dog eyes which she was finding hard to resist. She giggled.

"I've already told you a million times."

"But surely there's some way that you can get out of it!"

She sighed. "Sam, it's only for ten days. We go to Florida every summer to go and visit Aunt Monica. My mom and her sister always used to be close but they're so busy with their careers it's really hard to spend time together. We always go and spend time with them. Plus I get to see my cousins. They're growing up to be really cute. Tasha is going to high school next year and her brother is starting to learn to play guitar. Then there's also the wedding of the century that I'm going to be bridesmaid for. My cousin Randelle will be devastated if I'm not there for her special day. She chose the date specially."

"I just wish you didn't have to go. I'll miss you so much."

"I'll miss you too. I wish I could bring you all there with me. I'm going to feel so guilty over there having fun and hanging out on the beach while you're all here struggling." She snuggled closer into the crook of his arm as they watched the sun starting to set.

She cut her eyes at Sam who was still pouting. "Sam it's weeks away yet! But I'll be back before you know it. And I make it up to you. I promise."

His eyebrow raised, "And how do you propose to do that?"

"I'll make an extra-large batch of cookies when I get back." She laughed, knowing that wasn't the kind of answer he was hoping for.

He smiled absentmindedly as he stared at her.

"What are you thinking about?"

"You of course! Of how amazing you are and how lucky I am to have you."

She nuzzled up against his nose. "The feeling's mutual. Never in a million years would I have imagined the two of us together. I couldn't imagine me with anyone, let alone with the hottest guy in the school!"

It was Sam's turn to grin shyly. "I think you mean the dorkiest guy in the school! But if you're offering complements I'll definitely take it!" He looked straight into her eyes, suddenly serious. "I still can't believe nobody snapped you up before me."

She shrugged, but he forced her to look at him as he continued. "Mercedes Jones, you are something really special, and from now on, I'm going to make it my life's mission to try and make you believe it too. I know this is the first time you've been out with someone and I promise I won't rush you. We've got loads of time ahead of us to get to know each other, have silly dates and grow together. I've learned from the stupid mistakes I made with Quinn. You are 1000% more than she ever was and you make me want to be a better person. Being with you makes me happy. And making you happy makes me happy too."

Mercedes squirmed a little. She still wasn't too good with complements but Sam seemed like he was really trying to get his point across, so she stayed focused on him. "You're beyond special to me Cedes. And I guess I still can't believe I have you all to myself!"

She laughed and touched his lips gently with her finger. He kissed the tip of her finger and asked, "So what are you thinking?"

She grinned, realizing that if she said something soppy she was liable to start crying and there'd been enough of the waterworks for now. She traced her finger along the outline of his lips. "I was just thinking about how beautiful your lips are when you speak."

He pulled the lips into an equally huge grin. "Ah yes, the old Trouty Mouth! All the better for kissing you with!"

"Oh yeah?" she teased. "Well in that case, I have just three words to say to you Samuel Evans!"

His eyebrow shot up. "And what may they be?"

"Make... it... so..."

And he did.

The sun had all but gone, and stars were rapidly appearing in the crystal clear sky. Mercedes reached over for the yellow hoodie that she'd brought with her and slipped into it as the day cooled into evening.

He reluctantly let go of her and reached over for his guitar. "We have now reached the point in the evening, Miss Jones, where I get to serenade you."

She giggled, "What are you going to sing?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Everytime I look at you, I'm so overwhelmed by how beautiful you are that all song words just fall out of my head."

She giggled louder. But he was serious. "I had planned to sing you something, but it's totally gone out of my head."

"Maybe you should do a Brittany and find inspiration from something around you."

He made a point of pretending to search intently around them before strumming a few chords and saying, "Okay, Mercedes I would like to sing a song to you. It's been inspired by the wonderful afternoon we've had today and it's called 'My Scone!'"

Mercedes fell apart laughing and so did he.

He watched as she fingered the yellow rose that he had sneakily picked for her, and thought about how it matched the top that she was now wearing.

"OK, I have something. It's inspired by the way you are right now, and the beautiful night:

Look at the stars, see how they shine for you
And everything you do
Yeah they were all yellow.
I came along, I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called yellow.
So then I took my turn,
oh all the things I've done
And it was all yellow.

His eyes never left hers, the whole time he was singing.

Your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know, you know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across, I jumped across for you
Oh all the things you do
Coz you were all yellow.
I drew a line, I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all yellow

Your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know, for you I'd bleed myself dry
For you I'd bleed myself dry.

It's true, look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine...

(Song: Yellow by Coldplay)

Mercedes could have sworn that his eyes were glinting. Hers were barely dry herself. She had no doubt that he had meant every single word. And nothing she could have said would have done the moment justice so she leaned over and kissed him her thanks.

Her phone buzzed with a text and she sighed when she read it. It was her mom asking if she was on her way back yet. If it had been her choice, this most perfect, romantic first date would never end...