Mercedes Jones pretended to be asleep as Kurt Hummel walked softly through the sleeping girls to where she lay. He kept walking until he reached Rachel Berry. Of course he did. He gently woke Rachel and whispered something to her. She got up and the two of them left the room.

Mercedes listened to the door close and slowly counted to 100. Sure that they were gone, she went into the bathroom and started the shower. She was out for a walk, taking pictures of NYC when she spotted them, coffee and bagels in hand, leaning against a storefront, giggling like little kids. Or treacherous, backstabbing cheaters. Whichever.

Tiffany's! How many time had she watched that damn movie with him? Or course they didn't notice her a block away, they wouldn't have noticed if they tripped over her. Well, most likely they would have noticed that. She sat on a bench with a good line of sight and took a picture, or two or three.

Who should appear in the viewfinder than Sam Evans, her wannabe boyfriend? He wanted to be her boyfriend and she didn't want one. She had spent the last two years watching Glee Club relationships come together and breakup. None had involved her, unless you count Puck, but she felt a relationship should last longer than it takes to do a load of laundry in order to be counted so she didn't count Puck. She wanted a friend more than a boyfriend. Sam sat down next to her.

"What 'cha doing?"

She waved the camera at him. "How's about you?"

"Actually, I was hoping a good looking big city girl would take my picture."

"You'll have to settle for me." she took a picture. Sam did have an awfully nice looking face, if you liked wholesome faces. Mercedes couldn't figure out what Santana's problem with him was. She also couldn't figure out why Sam put up with Santana's bullshit for so long, he could probably get laid without all that aggravation.

"I'll take an upgrade from good-looking to beautiful anytime." Mercedes frowned at him, she never knew if he was joking or not when he said things like that. He laughed and she took two more pictures of him. Sam looked down the street and saw Rachel and Kurt leaning against a building.

"What are they doing?"

"Eating breakfast. At Tiffany's."

He looked at her with a blank stare. "You lost me, bro."

"It's a movie they love."

"Why aren't you there? Aren't you guys like the three Musketeers of something?" When Mercedes shrugged and Sam continued. "Have you ever seen that movie?"

"Lots of times."

"Do you like it?"

"It's okay."

"How many times did they watch the Maltese Falcon with you?"

"Once. Not enough singing."

"There's no singing in the Maltese Falcon."

"Well there you go, bro."

Sam noticed Kurt and Rachel walking away. He wondered if Mercedes intended to spend the day chasing them all over Manhattan. "Can I take a picture of you?" he asked holding out his hand.

"Me?" she sounded surprised.

"Yeah, why not you?" She handed him the camera. "Why are you always hiding behind this? You're like that guy in Rent, what's-his-name." He snapped a few pictures of her.

"Mark. And thank you for the analysis, Doctor."

"You're welcome. What else did you take? Can I look?"

"Knock yourself out." she looked up and saw that Kurt and Rachel were gone.

Looking at the pictures Sam could see she hadn't been stalking them. There was only a couple of pictures of them at the jewelry store. Then pictures of people and buildings between here and the hotel. Before that pictures of a pillow fight back at the hotel. There was one of Quinn, in a blizzard of feathers, laughing. He stared at it for several seconds. He'd dated her for months and had never seen that expression on her face.

"You gotta be quick to catch Q with her guard down." Mercedes said when she noticed which picture he'd stopped at.

There were several candid pictures of Quinn. "I thought you didn't like Quinn."

"Through a viewfinder is the only way I can look at her. She IS beautiful. It's like photographing a piece of sculpture. A cold, hard slab of marble."

"What did Quinn do to you? I get the Kurt thing but not the Quinn thing." Sam's family was having financial problems and Mercedes figured it was easier for him to amuse his younger brother and sister at her house than at a laundromat. He started bringing them over twice a week while he did laundry there.

Sam even knew a song about laundry. Once when she asked him if he was coming over on Thursday and he started singing "laundry day, see you there." Well, she'd had two boys sing to her. One sang "The Lady is a Tramp" and the other sang about doing laundry and a freeze ray. She hoped college would be better than high school was working out.

Sam and Mercedes talked a lot on what they called "laundry day", about everything but the "Quinn thing". Mercedes told him about throwing a rock throw Kurt's windshield. That raised his opinion of Kurt several notches in Sam's mind because that's a big thing to let slide. Sam told her about Zack, his best friend back home in Memphis.

Zack was why he understood the "Kurt thing". Sam and Zack fought more in the last month before he moved to Lima than they had the whole 5 years they'd known each other. Sam's mother said anger is an easier emotion to express than grief, which he didn't understand at the time. It was the look on her face that day Kurt announced he was going to Dalton that made him understand his mother's point. Everybody was surprised but she was more than surprised. He didn't know what that expression meant but he'd seen it once before, from Zack. When Kurt came back Rachel had obviously replaced Mercedes as "best friend" and she had to look at that every day. At least Zack didn't have to look at Sam.

"I'm in a bad mood already, we can discuss Quinn some other time. I promise."

"Okay. That's topic number 1 next laundry day." Sam said as he continued flipping though the pictures. Brittany, Santana and Quinn smiling at the camera, only not really. You could see their smiles didn't reach their eyes. Lauren laughing at something Puck said.

The guys leaving the hotel to serenade Finn and Rachel. Rachel, still dressed up from her date with Finn, looking out the hotel window, only part of her face lit by the streetlight from outside. Kurt, sitting on the bed leaning over to talk to Rachel who was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Mike and Tina in front of the Broadway subway stop. Artie out of his chair, sitting with Tina on a wall with their feet in a fountain while Tina splashed the water and they both laughed. Even though they were in a public place doing a perfectly innocent thing the picture looked intimate.

"That's going on their wedding invitation." Mercedes said.

"Really? Where's Mike going to be at this wedding?"

Mercedes shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he'll jump up at the "does anybody object" part. It would be embarrassing for Tina and Artie but I always wondered if that ever happens in real life."

More pictures. Puck and Lauren sitting at the hotel bar. Rachel and Finn talking in the hotel lobby with Quinn scowling in the background. The whole club posed in front of the "Welcome to JFK" sign at the airport. The kids getting off the plane, running past Artie who was waiting for his chair to be unloaded. Brittany and Santana holding hands in front of the glass windows at the Columbus airport.

Mr. Schuester took the airport group picture, the only one Mercedes was in. Just like that guy from Rent, Sam thought, invisible.

"Mercy, I really like this one." it was a picture taken the night before they left. A series of five pictures but number four was the best. Sam was braiding Stacy's, his younger sister, hair in the motel room they all lived in. Sam was holding up the braid and looking pleased. Stacy was looking at the camera, smiling. The only light in the picture came from the TV. In the back you could barely see his sleeping brother's blonde hair. "Can you email me this one?"

"Sure. Why are you here, by the way?"

"I missed you at breakfast." In addition to the fact that he enjoyed her company he wanted to have lunch with Mercedes because she sensible about money. Since the onset of his financial problems he had just started realizing how McKinley kids dropped money like it was nothing. Mercedes wasn't poor, far from it, but her dad didn't feel obligated to pay for everything Mercedes wanted to buy. Her dad was big on teaching her the difference between wants and needs. And a new guitar for Mercedes definitely fell in the wants category so she had to save up for it.

"Awwww, that' so sweet! Why didn't you just call?"

"That would require you have one of these." He handed her the cell phone she left behind at the hotel and stood up. "Let's go back."

"Why? They'll pick something for Finn and Rachel to sing and the rest of us will just sway in the background. I've had plenty of practice doing that. Know what? I noticed a music store a couple of blocks back. Let go look. Maybe it's open by now." She scanned her cell phone. She read a few of the texts, answered even fewer, and turned the phone off before tossing it in her purse.

They were browsing the music store when Mr. Schuester called Sam looking for Mercedes and announcing a 11am rehearsal. "Tell him I'm sick. Sick of him – don't add that last part."

"Okay, thank you Mr. Schuester." Sam hung up. "He said he hopes you're feeling better later."

"Or at least well enough so that they can field at least 12 people."

"I thought you liked Mr. Schuester and Glee Club."

She picked up a CD. "I used to until Jessee St. Jerk called me lazy and Schue just sat there. You don't have to be Nostradamus to know Rachel is going to be singing lead. I'm obviously not what he considers front-row material. It's always Rachel and Finn. Finn can't even sing, but I guess Schue likes the way he looks with Rachel. I could kill Kurt right now but I'd rather see him there than Finn."

"Why do you think Mr. Schuester doesn't like you?"

"I guess it's nothing personal. He likes pretty and skinny. I'm not that girl." she continued looking through the music.

"He's wrong about Finn and he's wrong about you. You're beautiful and sound different from everybody else. Nobody pays any attention to you. You know how many people think you're named after a car? Mercedes, mercies, that's you, the nicest girl I know. Perfect girlfriend material."

"Thanks, but from what I can see you have a pretty specific taste in girls. Was you girlfriend back home a cheerleader?"

"Dance squad." he admitted.

"Uh hum. Didn't have to be psychic to see that either."

"Well, I'm switching to whatever type you are."

New Directions arrived back at the hotel from rehearsal, tired and hungry, when Kurt noticed a familiar voice singing in the bar.

"Be up in a minute." he said jumping out of the elevator.

"Me too!" Rachel got out just before the doors closed. "What's up?"

"Listen." He said leading the way to the lounge. Mercedes was playing a baby grand, singing slowing and softly. Sam was singing alternating verses.

"worry, why do I let myself worry
wondering, what in the world did I do?

crazy, for thinking that my love could hold you
I'm crazy for crying, I'm crazy for trying
I'm crazy for loving you"

Rachel coughed loudly. Mercedes looked up but finished the song. The man sitting at the bar put $20 in their tip jar, a brandy snifter in this case, before leaving. It looked like they had a profitable afternoon.

"I see you recovered." Rachel said dryly. She was pissed off but Mercedes didn't care.

"Feeling much better" she said sweetly. "We're taking requests." She looked at Kurt for a minute. "No, wait! I've got one."

Kurt couldn't believe that Mercedes and Sam had blown off rehearsals to hang around doing god knows what all day, that was so unlike her. Another question suddenly entered his mind, what was Mercedes like these days? They were supposed to be friends, best friends, but between Dalton, Blaine and Rachel he hadn't spent more than 10 minutes alone with her in months. He looked at her as she played. He noticed the way Sam was looking at her, like she was a bowl of chocolate mousse. He noticed Rachel was surprised enough by Mercedes' behavior to shut up for a change.

It's sad to think we're not gonna make it
And it's gotten to the point
Where we just can't fake it
For some ungodly reason
We just won't let it be

I guess neither one of us wants to be the first to say good-bye

I keep wondering
What I'm gonna do without you
And I guess you must be wondering the same thing too
So we go on together
Living a lie

Because neither one of us
Wants to be the first to say good-bye

Every time I find the nerve to say I'm leaving
Memories
Those old memories get in my way
Lord knows it's only me
That I'm deceiving
When it comes to saying good-bye
That a simple word that I just cannot say

There can be no way
This can have a happy ending
So we just go on
Hurting and pretending
Convincing ourselves to give it just one more try

Because I guess neither one of us
Wants to be the first to say it

Neither one of us wants to be the first to say

Farewell my love
Goodbye

When she looked up Kurt was sitting on the piano bench next to her. He gently touched her arm. "Talk to me."

"About what?"

"About what you just sang."

"How was breakfast?"

"Fine." he answered automatically, confused by the sudden shift in topic.

"Anything unusual happen? Go anywhere special?"

He thought for a few minutes before answering. "You know about Tiffany's?"

"Yeah, I do. And I know why. She's your best friend. I'm not. Not anymore. You seem happy so I'm happy for you. This morning was kinda like when you went to Dalton. I just wish you would have said goodbye to me first instead of just announcing to whole class you were leaving. I know you had a lot going on then, though I didn't know what at the time. I guess Rachel knew about it. Anyway, back then is when I started thinking maybe this was over. This morning, well, that's just the 'let's stop pretending' part." she stood up. "So, anyway..goodbye, Kurt."

Kurt watched her walk through the hotel lobby. Rachel followed her out.

"A couple of weeks ago," Sam said, sitting down next to Kurt at the piano, "she was all excited that you were coming over to watch Dr. Horrible. What did you think of it?"

"Huh?" what was he talking about?

"I said," he repeated slowly, "you were supposed to go to her house and watch Dr. Horrible. She was looking forward to it. She never mentioned it again. What happened?"

"I had to postpone it."

"Oh. Did you ever make it over there?"

"No. It's just between Blaine and Rachel..." Damn, that sounded pathetic. "She said she understood."

"Well, what else could she say?" Sam said standing up. "Tell Mr. Schuster we'll be up in a few minutes."

Kurt replayed the scene in his mind. They were standing at her locker. She was happy. "Just like old times." she kept saying. "Just the two of us. I know you like to spend weekends with Blaine, Dalton's so far away and all, but I figured after practice on a Tuesday, and Dr. Horrible's only an hour. We'll have time to talk like we used to."

Rachel walked up. "Don't forget, Kurt. We have to leave right after practice to get there in time."

"Get where?" Mercedes asked, looking suspicious.

"It's a one day one showing about Patti LuPone at the art gallery. I think I can get another ticket if you want to go."

"Tonight?" she asked. Rachel smiled and nodded. "I have plans for tonight." Mercedes said, looking at Kurt. Don't we have plans for tonight, her look said.

Please, please, please say it's okay if I go, his look said. It's one night only and we can watch Dr. Horrible anytime. Please.

"Just go." she said, turning to look for something in her locker. "We'll watch it some other time."

"You sure, Cedes?"

"You really want to go with her. Go. Have fun." He could barely hear her because whatever she was looking for was in the very back of her locker. Rachel took his arm and practically dragged him away, they were going to be late for practice. Had Mercedes skipped practice that day? Kurt couldn't remember if she was there or not.

She asked him the next day if he had enjoyed the showing. He told her all about it, even showed her the program book. He totally forgot about Dr. Horrible, or to ask if she had done anything instead, until Sam mentioned it just now.

Laundry Day aka Freeze Ray is from Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog

Crazy is Willie Nelson

Neither One of Us is Gladys Knight