Mike pulled into a spot in the parking lot of the church, and killed the engine. He smiled turning to the beautiful woman sitting next to him. "I'm so glad you could come. Have I told you how gorgeous you look, today?" he asked grabbing her hand in his.

"Yes you have, but a girl can't hear it enough," Mercedes answered grinning from ear to ear. "You're looking quite dashing yourself," she complimented squeezing his hand. "But we have to go or we'll be late. I agreed to sing, but you know I have to catch my flight right after if I'm going to be back in time for my Valentine's Day show in LA."

Mike pouted. "Do you absolutely have to go? We can put on our own Valentine's Day show right here," he quipped suggestively leaning forward to place a kiss on her neck.

Mercedes let her eyes fall shut at the feeling of his kiss lingering on her skin. She hadn't seen him since he left right after New Year's and she was missing him something fierce. This was actually a treat because she hadn't planned on seeing him until spring break, but Ms. Pillsbury called and begged Mercedes to sing at the wedding ceremony. Mercedes had been skeptical and asked why her? Why not Rachel Berry? Emma actually confessed that she always thought Mercedes was the better singer, and it would be an honor to have her sing at the wedding. Mercedes couldn't decline at that, so Martin sprung for a round trip plane ticket so she could do the wedding and perform at the show. Thank goodness for the 3-hour time zone difference!

Mercedes placed her hand on his chest and Mike halted his devouring of her neck. "Mike, as much as I'd love to continue this—boy do I want to continue this—I have to get inside." Mike frowned but sat back obligingly. He glanced over at her and smirked. "And what are you smirking at?" she questioned.

He pulled down her visor mirror. "I think I may have gone a bit overboard," he admitted pointing to the purple bruise on her neck. She scowled as she pushed her hair out of the way to get a better look at the damage. "I'm sorry. This is what happens when I don't see you for a long time." At the sound of Mercedes's low growl, he took that as his cue to leave and hightailed it out of the car, with a peck to the cheek, and an "I'll see you inside."

Before Mercedes could scold him for the careless marking of his territory, he was already out of the vehicle. She quickly took out her compact in an attempt to cover up the mark on her neck. She finished off by pulling her hair down on both sides of her head to further hide the bruise. This will just have to do, she thought to herself. She got out of the car and straightened herself up looking at her reflection in the car, and smoothed down her fuchsia dress that seemed to hug her curves in all the right ways. She had to admit that she looked damn good. Eat your heart out, boys.

After peeling Kurt and Blaine apart, feeling slightly jealous wishing she could attack her own boyfriend in the same manner, she made her way inside the church and up to the front at the altar to stand behind Finn and Mr. Schue. She could feel eyes on her and knew that it wasn't just Mike's peering from the front row where he winked at her and patted the seat next to him signifying that he saved the seat just for her. But the staring was coming from behind Mike as well.

The blonde-haired, green-eyed boy sat with his girlfriend waiting for the wedding to start. Trying to ignore the rude comments Santana was whispering to Quinn about him in the seat behind him, he was becoming fed up. He turned around to finally shut up the snarky Latina when his eyes caught the heavenly body wrapped in pink. He choked on his words that were meant for Santana and had to peel his eyes away from Mercedes or he knew that he'd get caught staring.

"Wow," Brittany whispered to Sam. "Mercedes looks good for someone who's sick with Asian Bird Flu."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Brittany, for the 17th time, Wade/Unique is the one sick with Asian Bird Flu. Mercedes doesn't go to school with us anymore. After graduation, she moved to L.A..," He corrected her impatiently. Her ignorance regarding the two was becoming extremely annoying.

Brittany huffed sitting back in the pew. "Um, sorry Sam, but you're mistaken. I think I'd know who Cedes is seeing as I've known her longer than you have. We were even in Cheerios together."

What I wouldn't give to see her in a little Cheerios skirt right now, Sam thought to himself as he watched her sashay up to the altar, his eyes glued to the lovely swell of her backside. Wait! No! Get it together, Sam. How could you ogle your ex-girlfriend with your current girlfriend sitting right next to you? he chastised himself, tearing his eyes away from the brown-skinned beauty in front of him and gluing them to the hands in his lap until the wedding began.

After that disaster of a wedding everyone stood around outside of the church trying to decide what to do next. Santana was chosen to go back in and ask Mr. Schue what he wanted to do about the reception since Ms. Pillsbury's parents had already paid for everything. Mercedes took this time to greet all of her friends since she would be having to leave soon for the airport.

"Good-NESS, Ms. Jones, you are working that dress!" Artie praised rolling up behind her. "It should be a sin to have curves like that!"

"Boy, stop! You act like you've never seen me in a dress or skirt before," Mercedes said bending down to hug him.

"I never said that, especially since I distinctly recall a tight, down-right sinful, leopard-print skirt you wore during Whitney week when you and I sang 'My Love is Your Love'." Artie said fanning himself from the memory. "All I'm saying is that L.A. has been good to you, girl."

"I couldn't agree more." Mercedes stiffened at the voice of the person approaching them. "And you sounded like an angel up there, Mercedes," the boy said not knowing whether to shake her hand or hug her, so he just shoved his hands in his pocket.

"Uh, thanks Sam," Mercedes forced a smile in gratitude.

"Yeah, Mercedes. You were amazing! I would have never known you had Asian Bird Flu," Brittany complimented before being pulled away by Sam rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"Um, thanks?" a confused Mercedes called out after them. She was greeted by more of her friends and former classmates telling her how beautiful she looked and sang. She'd never had this kind of attention on her like this before and it was awfully flattering.

When Santana came out to let everyone know that reception was now a Valentine's Day celebration, the place cleared out almost immediately. Only a few stragglers were left, people whom Mercedes did not know, when she felt arms encircle her waist and plant soft kisses on her neck.

"Now you see, that's how I got the first hickey on my neck," she rebuked, but let her head fall back not being able to fight against his touch.

"All you gotta do is tell me to stop, and I'll stop," he whispered in her ear pressing up closer against her backside. He softly bit the sensitive spot on her neck and felt her squirm in his arms.

She giggled. "Okay, stop Mike, before someone catches us. This is still a church," she said swatting him away.

Mike spun her in his arms to face him, showing her his pouty face. "Boo! You're no fun."

She grabbed both his hands in hers, and reached up to peck him on his jutted-out bottom lip. "If I had time, I'd show you just how fun I can be," she teased.

Damn this! Mike thought. We have an empty car right over there. But before he could act on his thoughts and pull Mercedes away, Ryder came walking out of the church.

"Hey, where'd everybody go?" the sophomore boy asked looking around, as the couple quickly let go of each other's hands.

"Everyone took off towards the reception, well now the Valentine's Day Party," Mike answered. "What are you still doing here?"

"Well I had to use the restroom. I was supposed to be riding with Jacob, his brother and Marley, but it looks like they ditched me," the boy stated sadly slumping against the wall. "I put in all that work into helping him get the girl, and he repays me by leaving me behind," he says more to himself than to Mike and Mercedes.

"Well, I'm sure you could ride with Mike to the party," Mercedes suggested. Mike looked at her incredulously. "It's okay, Mike. I'll just call a cab to take me to the airport. I appreciate you volunteering to give me ride. You're a great friend." She reached up to hug him around the neck, not giving him a chance to dispute, and pecked him behind the ear where Ryder couldn't see.

"Uh, yeah. That's fine," Mike begrudgingly said, and tossed his keys to a more chipper Ryder. "Go warm my car up and I'll be there in just a minute."

"Thanks a lot dude!" Ryder exclaimed with a friendly slap to Mike's back and giving Mercedes's shoulders a squeeze, and running off toward the parking lot.

Mike turned toward Mercedes agitation written all over his face. "Before you say anything," Mercedes started, "I know you wanted to take me to the airport and see me off, but the kid looked like he was about to cry. I couldn't let him sit out here by himself looking all sad and pitiful. Besides," she continued stepping closer to him and pulling him the rest of the way to her by his tie, "we can continue this during spring break. It's only a month away. Please say you're not mad at me," she pleaded.

Mike sighed resigning his anger. "Of course I'm not mad, Cedes," he said snaking his arms around her. "I'm just disappointed. I wanted to spend more time with my super sexy girlfriend." At that he bent down and gave her what started out as a sweet kiss and quickly turned into one of passion and desperation and need to spend more time with each other. Knowing that if they continued, Mercedes was going to miss her flight, he reluctantly ended the kiss with one last peck. "I love you, Mercedes Jones," he said gazing into her big brown eyes, "and I'll miss you so much. I'll be counting down the seconds until I get to see you again."

Mercedes had to stop herself from tearing up. She could practically feel the love and adoration coming from Mike. "I'm missing you already, Mike&Ike. But if I don't call a cab now, I'll miss my flight. Go ahead and get going, my dear Valentine," she said before he engulfed her in one last embrace burying his nose in her neck as if to memorize her scent. He brushed his lips softly against hers once more before finally letting go, telling her good-bye and heading toward his car to a waiting Ryder.

She quickly called a cab who said they'd be there fairly quickly. Why did that embrace feel so familiar? she asked herself. Because that's how Sam used to hug you, she answered, breathing you in. Sam. They hadn't spoken since that day in the coffee shop when he gave her the heads up about Brittany. And now after seeing the two together, she honestly wasn't impressed. Especially since she could see and feel Sam undressing her with his eyes. What was up with that anyways? His girlfriend was right there. That thought made her feel a little smug. She practically had Sam committing adultery in the midst of his girlfriend because he was lusting so hard over her. She smirked at the thought. Her train of thought on Sam was soon derailed when she heard someone clear his throat from behind her.

"So a secret relationship, huh? I'm beginning to think it's becoming a habit with you, Mercedes."

"Whoa!" she startled. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see that you and Chang are a lot closer than we all thought," the boy smirked.

"No, it's not like—"

"Don't worry," he began leaning on a column next to Mercedes, "your secret is safe with me. What I want to know is why are you guys keeping it under wraps?"

Mercedes sighed. It was no use in denying it now. "Because I'm not ready for everyone to know just yet. For one, I don't want people all up in our business, and two I feel like this relationship between Mike and myself has potential to hurt people we care about. But I really care about Mike and I can't risk missing out on something great because of others, so when the time is right, we'll let everyone know."

"Good deal," was all he said.

"What about you? And the love of your life?" she asked him.

His mouth turned up into a lopsided grin. "Oh, I'm going to get her back. I may have let her get away before, but she's my heart. My person. I know it, she knows it." He turned to look at Mercedes. "And I meant to tell you, Cedes, you did a wonderful job singing that song. And you look absolutely stunning. I can see why Mike had to snatch you up while he could." Mercedes blushed at the compliment, especially coming from him. "I know we never had much of friendship when you were in glee club, but I honestly regret that because I see that you're a great friend and you'll stand by those who you truly care about."

Mercedes couldn't help but tear up at the boy's words. "How about this? Let's start a friendship now. You stand by me, and I'll stand by you. Deal?" He nodded at her. "Good, so is it okay if I give you a hug?"

He held his arms out to her. "Come here." She walked into his arms, sad that she missed out on really getting to know a great person those past few years, but happy that she can make up for it now. Their embrace was interrupted by the sound of her cab pulling up. They let each other go, smiling, and he opened the door for her to get in. As the cab driver began to pull off, she rolled down her window to bid farewell to her new old friend, "Bye Finn! And Good luck with Rachel!"

It was just the day after Valentine's Day, but it felt like so much longer than that. With her talk with Finn, to flying back to L.A., and to performing at the Lovers' Ball, one of the bigger parties in the city, it was now 2 o'clock in the afternoon and she was just waking up from a much needed deep sleep.

The first thing she did was get on Facebook. She wanted to see all the pictures from the reception/Valentine's Day party that her friends were sure to have posted. When she logged on, she immediately saw that she had a message, and it was from none other than Sam Evans. She opened it to see the words "Nostalgic, much?" and a video underneath. She clicked on the video to see herself singing from the party the night before. Someone must have recorded her performing and posted it online. She was wearing the red dress she had worn when she performed Disco Inferno, but that wasn't the song she was singing. Events from the night before clouded her mind.

She had just finished singing Beyonce's "Love On Top", Christina Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man", and her own single "Lovers on the DL" for the first time, and she was feeling absolutely fabulous. The crowd was digging her singing and they gave great feedback to her own song. She was on cloud 9, that is until a song request was made.

"Give it up for Mercedes Jones!" the DJ pumped up the crowd and they responded with cheers. "Girl can blow, can't she? Well she's open for song requests, so whatchall wanna hear?" After a moment of deciphering the crowd's choice, the DJ announced, "Alright Ms. Jones, they want to hear you sing us Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You,' a little slow jam for all the couples out there."

Mercedes stiffened and was almost tempted to turn it down, but she knew singing the song would really be beneficial in that it showed off her voice and range. On the other hand, there was so many emotions attached to the song…

"If I should stay,
I would only be in your way…"

What game was Sam playing? How did he even find that video? WHY did he even search that video?

She wrote back, "No nostalgia here. Was just doing my job."

He responded almost immediately. "And shedding those tears was a part of your job?"

The nerve of him! Mercedes could feel his smugness traveling across the internet. She typed furiously. "Actually, it is. Emitting emotion is very important for any performer. But I guess you wouldn't know anything about that, Sam, now would you?"

"Ouch! Didn't mean to hit a nerve. Just wanted to tell you that it was sung beautifully. And I have to ask…"

Mercedes waited about two minutes for him to finish his response before she became impatient. "Ask what Sam?"

"Just checking to make sure you're interested." Mercedes rolled her eyes, just wishing that he'd spit it out. "While you were singing, did you have anyone in particular in mind you were singing to?"

She honestly couldn't believe Sam was asking her this. "Tell me, why does it matter Sam?"

She waited with baited breath for what seemed like forever before he responded back. "Because, Mercedes, I was hoping you were singing to me. Telling me that you'll always love me, because I can truthfully say that I'll always love you."

Mercedes couldn't even respond. Didn't even know how to respond. She immediately logged off and closed her laptop as if the conversation just had was merely her imagination. But it wasn't. It was real.

What. The. Hell.

AN: Yeah I know it's been a while. My apologies =[ School was kicking my butt, and by the time I started writing this chapter, we found out Cory died. While Finn wasn't my favorite character on the show (by far), I liked Cory Monteith as a person, and it was a devastating blow to the Glee family. So this chapter has a bit of my Finn/Cory Tribute because I believe this is the last time Mercedes saw Finn on the show. As far as the whole Sam situation, I've been watching Glee season 3 and it's giving me so many Samcedes feels, so I need to get that out of my system. We'll see where this takes us. I have more gears turning in my mind and it will all come out in due time. Hope you guys like the update.

Oh and I've been fangirling for over a week now since Amber Riley won Dancing with the Stars! I'm so happy for her and she totally deserved it! Okay now I'm done. Don't forget to review... pretty please... with Sugar Mata on top! =]