A chill ran up her spine as she walked into the old building. She glided down the familiar hallways on her same route. She stopped in front of the room that meant the most to her. A beat passed before she opened the door. The sunlight still glimmered through the windows as they had before. The chairs were still set up in their usual arrangement. The first place trophy from Nationals of 2012 sat in its place, a reigning sign of what a club, a team, a family could do. The single person in the room turned around from the center stool. He smiled as he always did, warm and full of joy, the way a teacher should. "Rachel! You came," he chuckled.
"Of course," Rachel smiled in turn.
"Early even," Mr. Schuester nodded.
"Finn will be here soon. He went to drop our daughter off at my dads' house. I would have waited and come with him, but I couldn't resist being here."
"Your daughter? Has it really been that long since you all graduated?"
"It's been fifteen years, Mr. Schue," Rachel pointed out.
"Want to take your seat?," Will gestured with an open arm to Rachel's old spot. Rachel walked gracefully over to the plastic chair and sat down. Memories flooded into her. She felt as though she was still in high school for a moment. She smiled to herself and pushed a strand of her long brown hair behind her ear. Her bangs shifted as she tilted her head to the side, her haircut the same as it was the last time she had been in William McKinley High School. She shook her head then clicked her heels together. "There's no place like home," she whispered.