Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 56th cycle. Now cycle 57!

"A Summer Just Us Three"
Rachel/Sam & Nell (OC)
Sam & Nel/Samchel series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Rachel had finally found herself an apartment, thanks to her future roommate, which was Kurt. He would come up a few times to look into 'decoration matters,' but with Rachel staying the summer there with Sam and Nell, he would only move in at fall.

Arriving in the apartment though, it did finally feel like events were moving forward, for better or for worse. If they needed not to start getting mournful about the imminent separation though, all they had to do was look to Nell. She had entered the relatively empty space and with a squeal had started to run around the place. Sam had chased her for a good three minutes before he caught her up and brought her to Rachel, who was standing at the window looking out. She looked back when she felt Nell's hand brush at the side of her face, and she smiled.

"You know where we are, right?" she asked the two-year-old.

"New York!" she declared with pride, having been told about their trip for the last few weeks.

"Yes," Rachel laughed. "And I can't wait for you to see it," she grasped her hand. Her own experience with the city was much more minimal than she could have liked, but all the same they were here, the three of them, and everything was as she could have dreamed. Both she and Sam had been concerned about bringing Nell here, knowing how she didn't respond well to new environments sometimes, but then they had spent those last few weeks preparing her for it as best they could. They wouldn't be surprised if she started getting excited at seeing some familiar sights she had previously seen in pictures.

Sam could feel Rachel ever needier of having Nell near her, knowing within weeks they would be separated by several states' distance for days at a time, so he let her go as she needed. He was kind of doing the same, with Rachel. As much as they were both ready and willing to deal with this year of being apart, he would be lying if he said he wasn't dreading the thought of being away from the girl he loved. He had considered proposing to her. For certain he felt they could be there, but he didn't want it to be like this. He didn't want to ask her to marry him just because they were going to be separated by circumstances. He could consider bending the knee after they had been reunited, when he got into college in New York and he and Nell moved there with her. It would signify the beginning of everything…

Their first day had been not so much of a vacation, more like moving in, as they unpacked and placed the belongings Rachel had shipped in from Lima. Nell was placed out of harm's way with her bee, and so Rachel and Sam worked on the unpacking. By lunch time though, they were exhausted, and she was bored, not to mention hungry, so they had gone out to eat. Rachel walked with her girl's hand in hers, with nothing short of pride. She would point things out, and Nell would point along. It wasn't as though their neighborhood had been as documented as other places, but the usually apprehensive Nell didn't seem to notice. Sam watched the two of them, and as he would sometimes he would think about how lucky he had been to find someone like Rachel. Nell knew the situation, to some degree, about how she had not been in Rachel's belly, that she'd had another mother before named Summer, but that Rachel was very much her mother now and saw her as her daughter, with all the love she could have in her heart.

At the end of the day, Sam and Rachel had been tired out by the unpacking and then the journey through the city, and so had Nell. After coming from the shower, Sam had found Rachel holding Nell, who was fast fading into sleep, brushing gently at the hair on her forehead. Under her fringe they could still see the small scar from her fall, over a year before, when Sam had accidentally dropped her. When he would come and tell her good night, he would tend to place a kiss on it, in remembrance. He let them be, seeing the look on Rachel's face as she held the girl. As convinced as she still was that she needed to be here, that she wanted to be here, she couldn't forget that it meant leaving both him and Nell, and that was harder than just about anything she'd ever done. Whenever she'd doubt though, all he'd have to do would be to take her hand, and she would look to him, and his eyes would tell her that everything would be alright. The closer they'd get to the separation though, the longer it would take to convince her.

Soon the days had begun to pass and pile up, all of them taken in by the city, and the activities from day to day. It was easy, in a city like this… For a while they had felt like a proper family, living on their own, together in her apartment. They had even found themselves jobs for the summer, and Nell had made friends with the daughter and son of their neighbor. They could have completely forgotten about the reality of things.

But then summer was ending. Sam's mother was calling to remind him about this thing and that thing for school in the fall, and Rachel was looking to start at NYADA, while Kurt would be coming up from Lima to join her before very long. Now the whirlwind had come to a screeching halt, and there was the truth of it… the separation was coming. When it had hit her, Rachel had burst into tears.

"Mommy?" Nell had gotten on her feet when she'd seen this, coming up to her. "You okay?" she asked, and Rachel couldn't help but laugh, taking her up and hugging her.

"I'm okay," she promised. "Just something in my eye," she had lied, and Nell looked horrified. "Don't worry, I'll get it out," she had tapped the girl's nose, making her smile, which was sure to make her smile right back. It wasn't that easy, couldn't be, and sometimes Rachel envied the simple world Nell could still live in at her age, to have this problem resolved so easily.

Finally the day had come though, the one where Sam and Nell would return to Lima, and Rachel wouldn't. She didn't want Nell to feel the sadness come off her, and she would do her best to put forth the impression that this was a normal and not at all sad moment. She was only thankful that Kurt had arrived. He had made the whole thing a lot easier. He had remained with Nell, keeping her occupied, looking at the train she would soon board, while Rachel and Sam had their goodbyes.

As soon as they were alone, she had leaned against him and he had wrapped his arms around her. "Once your classes start it won't be so bad," he told her. "You won't think about us so much."

"Don't say that," she wept.

"I don't mean like that," he shook his head. "Just mean that it looks impossible right now, but that's just because it hasn't started, and we don't know what it'll be like. But then once you're actually in it, then it won't seem so bad, and you'll start enjoying yourself, and the days will go by faster… and it'll be time for us to visit in no time," he smiled. She breathed out, and he kissed her forehead.

"You're like a saint or something," she shook her head, his lips still pressed to her forehead, and she felt him smile. "Well you are, to me at least."

"Well thanks," he looked to her. She looked on the verge of crying again. "It's not goodbye, just see you later," he insisted.

"I know," she told him, though she still kissed him like it was.

She had taken Nell for a hug as well, taking the time when the girl couldn't see her face as a buffer to restore her composure, and then she'd pulled back and given her a smile.

"I'm going to come on the computer to read you a story tonight, okay?" she told her, and Nell nodded. "And you can tell me all about the train." She got another nod. "Alright, I'll see you later, lady," she told her.

"Bye, Mommy," Nell had waved at her once she'd been put back on her feet and taken her father's hand, and Rachel had worked every muscle in her face not to break down. She watched them go, and as the train had pulled away, she had turned to Kurt.

"Alright, let's go," he told her, offering his arm, and she wiped at her face before offering a smile and taking his arm. She had to remember her mother's words… It was one bad year, and in the end it would be worth it.

THE END

A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!