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 43rd cycle. Now cycle 44!

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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 44 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days!

This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: Steps 16-36, Time Is On Your Side, chapter 17.

"Pieces of Family"
AU!Rachel & Dad
Berry-St series (following Woke the Dragon (for this universe), following Almost There (overall in series))

She was just glad to have worked the tears out of her system before Dad came home. She had time to clean her face, make herself look normal again… She didn't need him asking questions; she was already anticipating this to be an evening she would dread. She could almost say she had forgotten what it was like to be there with them when they were apart. She couldn't really forget, not completely, but she liked to imagine that it had never happened and she had always had two fathers in love. That was all it would be though: her imagination.

After making herself presentable again, she had decided to do something she hadn't done in ages, not really, even though she could. She would make dinner for Dad and for herself, so when he got home he could be happy. It was possible this action would raise a couple of red flags for him, but it just felt like something she had to do. She could be who she needed to be out there in the world, but after her trip in that other world she dreaded the thought that she'd ever brought that version of herself into her home and to her fathers. Even worse, she hated to think that it could ever have led to their separation. It wasn't until now, until she was standing there in that kitchen, chopping vegetables, that she could start accepting what they'd been telling her all along one way or another. What had happened to her, to those others, it got her to see things from another perspective, and it could bring change for the better where she needed it the most, with the people who mattered the most.

When Dad arrived, smelling the food no doubt, he came right for the kitchen. He stopped at the door and Rachel turned to face him. There it was, the look, the barely-there look of sadness… She could always see it, even if she tended to try and ignore it before… She wouldn't ignore it anymore. "Since when do you cook?" he asked, surprised.

"It happens," she shrugged, turning back to the stove… Maybe she wasn't as ready as she thought she was. She could be calculating, yes, but when it came to her family she worked on impulse, for better or for worse. Right now that impulse told her to just get Dad and Pop together, lock them in a room together, something, just so they'd work things out and they could be a family again… Maybe hanging with 'the lovebirds' had rubbed off on her, because she knew rushing in wasn't going to get her squat… She kind of hated them for it. She kind of loved them for it. "It's almost ready."

"Guess I better go ahead and wash up then," he gave her a smile… Just a couple hours ago, she was in another world. Now she was home, like nothing had ever happened. It was a good thing she was always the 'roll with the punches' kind of girl.

Sitting with him to dinner, the only thing she could do was eat, and watch him… She didn't know what to say. She hadn't seen him in weeks, not this one. What had he been doing? Was he okay? She was sure her counterpart must have been a real treat compared to her…

"Hey, are you alright?" She looked up, finding him looking back at her.

"Yeah, sure," she straightened up in her chair, knowing too late that she'd just signalled her discomfort.

"Is this about you spending the weekend in Akron next week? Because you know it's alright," he promised and her eyes went to him for an instant. "I would never keep you from him, you know that." Next week… Pop's birthday, right. The one little thing she kept forgetting was the time, months apart between one world and the next. But this was a ready-made excuse, so who was she to ignore it.

"You're right, I'm sorry," she nodded, paused.

"It's okay," he insisted. "Let's just enjoy this meal you made us," he gave her a smile. She gave him one back, though it required her to hang on to the emotions blocking her throat. She had missed him. They could say he was the same guy all they wanted, but experiences shaped a person, shaped him just as much as it did her… They belonged together, they fit, the way the other version of him never could, she saw that now.

After dinner, still on the excuse of the upcoming weekend away, she had gotten her fill of spending time with him by scheduling movie night, the way they used to. At first she had hesitated, remembering those movie nights usually had her sandwiched in between the pair of them, keeping her snug and warm, whereas now it was just them, but he didn't mind. As they sat, she couldn't help but look at him, wanting to ask questions but choosing against it.

Later that night, lying in her bed, she thought about Pop. She wanted to see him now, but if she was already supposed to be there the week after… One week. That had been the agreement between her and Jesse and Quinn. They had one week to show her that their words weren't just that. She didn't want to tip her hand too fast, preferred having them still think she was as upset as she was when she had first woken up. She was still working through so many things, she didn't want them thinking she was going soft.

So for now she would wait about going to see Pop. She didn't want to, but she would; he mattered enough, and when things or people mattered to her, she handled them with caution.

It was after two in the morning and still she couldn't sleep. She didn't know what it was… Being back here, back with her separated fathers, being back but not quite done with all this madness… remembering that flash of something she'd seen, right as she was coming back…

She turned the light back on at her bedside, frustrated from her lack of sleep, trying to will her bed into being as comfortable as she remembered and letting her…

She didn't know what prompted her to do it, but she stood now, reaching under her mattress. She did always like the story of the princess and the pea, but this was no pea. She pulled out a notebook, hard-covered. It was new, at least in the sense that she'd never seen it before. Inside though, the pages were full. It was her own handwriting, or the other Rachel's anyway.

In case anything happens, I wanted to leave this here for you.

Looking at the date in the corner, going from what she knew, this would have been written shortly after the two Quinns had been swapped, some time after the other two pairs. It figured that might spark some fear in the other Rachel's mind. Page after page that she flipped just read like a diary of everything that had been happening, what she knew of both worlds… In a lot of ways it sounded just like her, but she knew they were two different people.

She didn't know what to do with it. The logical thing would have been to hand it over to Jesse and Quinn, but what good would it do, really? At the same time, to some degree she didn't think the pages should be shared with anyone, like they were private.

This wasn't going to be resolved tonight. She put the notebook away, got back to bed, and now with the thing no longer digging in her back, she felt herself drifting to sleep. She didn't know what would happen from that point on, but she would take things slow. Everyone needed something, herself included.

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!