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 50th cycle. Now cycle 51!

"As A Friend"
Sam & Nell, Rachel, Sam/Rachel - Tina
Sam & Nell/Samchel series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

A/N: This week is dedicated to dear chazzaf for her birthday.
She asked for a 'Rachel week' and that is what she shall get!
Today Rachel and... Tina [as a friendship]

After the funeral, Sam had floated the idea of sticking around a week or two. Nell's grandparents looked like they might open to getting to know her in ways they hadn't when she was born. A lot of it probably had to do with Summer's death, but the reason didn't matter so much as the possibilities it opened did. Rachel supported him in this wholeheartedly.

Returning home alone though, being apart from both of them for the first time for so long, it came to affect her, something others noticed. She was distracted. In Glee Club, it didn't take long for them to notice how silent she had gotten, not fighting anyone on anything, on things she normally would have. When she wasn't silent, she was almost – and as disturbed as it made them – motherly.

The consensus was that something had to be done. It wasn't by some vote or decision that it should be her who did anything, but one afternoon, as Rachel was in the process of testing to make sure their choir room chairs were spaced properly so they wouldn't trip, Tina came up to her.

"Rachel?" she spoke, and the girl looked up. "Can we talk?"

"Sure…" Rachel hesitated, sensing something was going on. She sat in one of the chairs and tapped for Tina to sit in the next one, and so she did. "What's up?"

"You do know how you've been the last few days, right?" Tina was straight to the point, and Rachel blinked.

"What do you mean?" she had no idea or, if she did, she didn't want to let on.

"Ever since you came back, you've been acting… different, not like you…" Maybe she did know, if her change of expression was any indication.

"Is it that noticeable?"

"It's you, Rachel, what do you think?" she sighed, looking down to her hands in her lap.

"I just… This is new, you know? They're over there, and I miss them so much…" she breathed.

"Well they'll be back in a few days, a week tops, right?" Tina tried to sound optimistic for her. Her face now suggested Tina might have hit the twisted little nerve that had sent her into a frenzy in the first place. They'd known her to cover for emotions at times, while at other times she'd been almost too open. This time she had fallen somewhere in between almost.

"Except what if they don't?" she spoke aloud, even if she was only really speaking to herself.

"Did he say that?" Tina asked, surprised.

"Not exactly, just…"

She'd stopped herself really going further when she'd hit that point, knowing it would require her going into the whole story with Summer, and even if he had never told her to keep it to herself, in her mind it was a clear boundary, hers to keep.

But since her return, on her own, she had been thinking about what it could mean in the long run, for all of them. She had always known, ever since he'd told her about the whole situation, that this divide with the Harringtons weighed on him. He had taken on raising his daughter all on his own, his family, even if part of it had meant moving all the way to Lima. But in his heart he wanted Nell to get to know both sides of where she'd come from.

Summer's death had robbed him and Nell of that. But then there'd been the funeral, and there he had seen that the grieving parents had started to change, and that where she had lost her mother, Nell could possibly regain grandparents. That was why he had stayed, she knew, she got it.

Except then she did know how important it was to him. So what if he decided to stay? He had family there, he'd grown up there, it wouldn't be entirely unreasonable… She could want that for them, knowing it would give them something they needed… But she couldn't ignore that sort of nagging little feeling, that voice that said 'what about me?' They had become something, the three of them, and the thought of losing them, losing that… It terrified her… and it threw her into coping mode, apparently.

"Rachel?" Tina's voice brought her back, and she looked over.

"Sorry," she blinked, breaking through her daze, by passing the explanation she had started to give. "I guess I'm just overreacting a bit from missing them. But now you've told me, so I'll pay attention again, you'll see, I promise," she nodded, then paused when Tina rested her hand over hers.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Rachel gave a smile.

And over the next few days she did return to her old self, as much as she could. She had come back, maybe not at full force, but she was probably at 95% efficiency now. That last 5% was waiting on a call.

It was six days after Tina's talk with her that Rachel got what she'd been waiting on. Sam called and informed her that Nell and him were on a flight the next morning and they'd be home soon. Rachel had needed everything not to burst right into tears right then and there.

She'd been picked up to go to the airport by Mrs. Evans. Almost as soon as she'd hung up with Sam the previous day, Rachel had received her call, Sam's mother had offered her to come, knowing she'd want to be there anyway. In Sam and Nell's absence, the mother had been more of a presence than she'd ever been, giving them a chance to bond more than they already had.

And then finally they were standing at the gate, and passengers exited, and among them came Sam, with a sleeping Nell against him. Rachel's eyes teared up before she could realize they were. Mrs Evans hugged her son, careful not to crush her granddaughter. Rachel waited, feeling her heart beat anxiously.

When Sam parted from his mother and looked to her, she moved up to hold on to him like her arms couldn't bear the thought of being apart from him any longer. He was just as eager, and in an instant they were locked together. His lips pressed to her forehead before they found her lips.

"Hi…" she smiled, looking into his eyes, unable to unlock from her smile, especially seeing his. She looked down, touching Nell's back, her hair… "How'd she do on the flight?" she asked, wishing she could see the blonde's smile, though she wouldn't dare wake her.

"Yeah, I had your lullabies, so she sailed right through…" he explained and she beamed.

"Everything was alright back there?"

"It was," he told her. "But I'll tell you later. Right now I'm just happy to be home, with you."

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!