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 21.

"Tumble and Hold"
Sam & Nell (OC), Samchel

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Sam & Nell (Samchel)
(now also available for my other series as well!)

She'd left Sam's exhausted that night. They were supposed to be working on homework together, reviewing for a test coming up. But then Nell was sick, a mild cold that left her miserable and in need of attention. So they had given it, balancing her and their work as best they could. When she'd left, Nell had finally gone back to sleep. Rachel wasn't far behind, as soon as she had gotten home, all she could think about was her bed and how comfortable her bed would be.

She woke up and by the darkness of her room she guessed it was still the middle of the night, but then her phone was groaning and vibrating against her nightstand and she was pretty sure it had been doing it for a while now, so she blindly reached for it, having to tell herself to open even just one eye so she could see who would call her at this time. When she saw the picture – Sam mid-bear impression 'growling' at a laughing Nell, she just answered the call and put the phone to her ear, still half asleep and not connecting the dots yet. "Hello?" she mumbled.

"Rachel!" her name burst from his lips like he'd been waiting to hear her voice. Something was off.

"Sam? What's wrong?" she frowned, yawning. She was trying to stay awake, and then she could hear it, hear her… Nell, in the background, wailing her little lungs out. Sam was talking, but he was going so fast, frantic, that it was hard to make out a thing. That made her awake enough that she could sit up. Finally some words were standing out. Dropped. Hospital. Scared… Come.

She was up and out of bed before she knew it, telling him she was on her way. She started yanking for clothes, anything she could find, grabbing her car keys… Her hands were shaking, there was no way she could drive like that. She went into the hall and toward her fathers' bedroom and first reaching Dad. She gave his shoulder a quick shake. When he started to stir, she whispered. "Dad, wake up, I need you," she begged.

"What? What ti… Rachel? Honey, what's wrong?" he mumbled.

"I need you to drive me to the hospital," she told him, and that woke him.

"What's wrong, are you sick?"

"No, it's not me, it's Nell. Something's happened, I don't know…" her voice trembled as her hands had.

"What's happening?" Now Pop was waking.

"Sam's girl is in the hospital," Dad told him, and now he was waking, too. "Go get dressed," Dad instructed, and as she dashed out, they were already getting dressed, too.

No more than three minutes later, they were in the car and driving out to the hospital. As they drove, Rachel tried calling Sam back, but he wasn't answering, so he was probably with the doctors now… Her heart felt unbearable. She thought of Nell, sweet little Nell, being hurt, and she felt so utterly lost. She could only imagine how Sam was feeling right about now. He loved that girl more than life itself, and she knew he would blame himself for anything that had happened to her. She just needed to get to them as soon as possible.

They arrived at the hospital and her fathers let her go ahead while they parked. She ran through the ER doors, looking, looking… "Excuse me?" she went to the desk where a nurse was standing. "I'm looking for a patient, a little one-year-old girl," she tried to sound as steady as she could. "N… Penelope Evans?" The woman looked at her, then checked.

"They're seeing her now, but you can't…"

"Rachel…" she turned, and Sam was standing a short distance away, next to an open door. She looked back to the nurse, who frowned but nodded her over.

"Thank you," she spoke in complete gratitude before hurrying toward Sam. He gathered her up in his arms instantly. "What happened, is she okay?" She wanted to sound not terrified for him the most. She wanted to be strong, for him, for her… She was failing.

"I don't know, they still have her and they won't let me in yet," his face was red and he had and still was crying, she saw. "I-I dropped her…" he declared like he was in shock of himself. "I dropped her. I didn't mean to, she woke up again and I was trying to get her back to sleep and then…" his hands were before himself, like they would help him make sense of how he could have let this happen, and he couldn't do it. Rachel just gasped, a new layer of fear taking her.

"But she was awake, so… that has to be a good thing, right?"

"I don't know…" he was unable to say more for now. She had the presence of mind to get him to sit somewhere, feeling like his legs might give out on him from so much fear. He wasn't letting go of her hand and, frankly, she didn't want him to. "I'm sorry I had to wake you, I know how tired you were…" he spoke after a while.

"No, I'm glad you did," she insisted. "I would have wanted to be here." He closed his eyes, taken again, and she put her arm around his shoulders, resting her forehead to the side of his head.

"Rachel?" she heard Dad's voice a minute later, and there he was, Pop behind him. She looked to them, prompting Sam to look as well. He looked surprised to see them, and for their sake he stood.

"I didn't know you were…"

"I couldn't drive," Rachel quickly explained.

"How's Nell?" Pop asked.

"I still haven't heard," Sam told them, sniffling back tears.

"Why don't we go see if we can find out anything?" Dad tapped Pop's arm.

"Think they'll tell you?" Rachel asked.

"We talked them into letting us through here, what's another hurdle?" Dad shrugged, throwing a nod to Sam, who nodded back in thanks. But then they were just standing there alone again, him and Rachel, and they could only wait. With the promise of some news though, they could try and breathe normally again.

"I just remember how she was in my arms one second, and then she wasn't, and…" he shook his head, losing that battle already.

"It was an accident," she reminded him, but that wasn't going to efface his guilt.

"I'm supposed to protect her…" She grasped on to his hand with both of hers, leaning to his arm.

When Dad and Pop returned they brought good news, letting the pair of them start to breathe. Although they were keeping her overnight for observation, Nell looked to be alright, and they could see her, at least the pair of them. She was calm now, awake still, and when she saw them she tried to reach for them. Sam just looked oddly frozen, looking at her, and Rachel moved forward.

"Baby girl…" she hummed, taking one of her hands, careful. "You gave me a scare tonight," she was crying again, she saw as she was kissing Nell's little fingers. "And your dad, too," she looked to Sam.

"I can't…" he shook his head. "What if I…" He was fixating on the band-aid looking thing on his daughter's forehead.

"Sam, she's okay, come on," Rachel held out her hand to him. "She'll want to see her dad." He still looked scared out of his mind, but he approached, and seeing her staring back at him, the sob caught in his throat released, seeing she was just about smiling at the sight of him. She was okay, he knew, gently brushing the fringe of blonde hair from her forehead. He looked back to Rachel, who was smiling at him. He thought about having gone through this without her there, and he was just so thankful that she was. He had never loved her more than he did in that moment, knowing just by looking at her… Nell was as good as a daughter to her already. She belonged here with him at a time like this, belonged with them both.

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!