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 38th cycle. Now cycle 39!

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"Not Home Just Yet"
Rachel, Santana, AU!Jesse/Quinn
Berry-St #23 (following 'Unaccompanied Minors')

It took her a moment to remember what had just happened. At first she couldn't even think, all her brain was processing was a sudden burst of… wakefulness and confusion. She finally understood she was at school, soon after she had seen the faces swimming overhead… Quinn, Jesse… Santana? What was happening, where was she, what…

Home.

The word registered and it was like stability hit her all at once. She was out of breath, but she knew where she was. It was going to take more time for her accept it. They helped her sit up, and then slowly it came back to her, being at Brittany's house, with her and Jesse and Quinn… the other ones anyway… And she remembered the crippling exhaustion that had hit her, until she'd fallen asleep, and now here she was… Was it real? It had to be, but…

She slowly got to her feet, her eyes never leaving the three of them as she backed up. She had to know, she had to really understand that this wasn't a trick. She'd dreamed something like this before, more than once. She'd dreamed of waking up in bed one day and realizing she was home. In those scenarios she never knew if it was real, if it had actually happened or if it had been some kind of dream. But standing there, staring at those three, she knew it was not a dream. Looking at Santana, she could tell this was the one she'd always known, not the alternate. Even if there wasn't exactly a difference where she was concerned, there was still something all her own.

But then looking at Jesse and Quinn, it was even easier to see they were the other ones, the ones who were from the other world… where she wasn't anymore… right?

"Is this… really happening?" she had to ask.

"Yeah, they've switched alright," Santana commented. "Welcome home," she went on, with an edge of sarcasm. "That's good news, right?" she turned to Jesse and Quinn. The two of them looked at each other, a sort of panic in their eyes. Jesse took Quinn's hand, shook his head reassuringly. She was afraid that this could happen again, and that only one of them would go, that the other would be left behind and they'd be separated again. Seeing them together, how much he visibly cared for her, how much she could take so much comfort from him, how much they felt for each other, it drove it home for Rachel… It was real, she was home… but he wasn't, her Jesse wasn't home… and it hurt like hell.

"So that… that other one, she's… gone back?" she asked them, almost averting her eyes.

"Yeah, not that she wanted to," Jesse revealed. Rachel closed her eyes. If it had been a nightmare for her to land in this world where her fathers were separated, she could barely imagine what it must be like for her to experience the opposite, to see her fathers together again and then be pulled back in a place where they were separated again. She'd never met this other girl, but she felt sympathy for her for the first time.

"I should have tried to do something for them," she shook her head.

"Too late for that now," Quinn told her and she looked up. "But you… you can go to them now," she gave her a smile, and Rachel blinked… she was right… Rachel smiled. But then she thought about those two, this Jesse and Quinn… As much as she didn't want to think about them together, she did have to think about the fact that they were still stuck over here, and that they couldn't feel the relief of going back home and knowing that this was really their place.

"We'll get you back, too, I swear," she nodded.

"How? It's not like we did anything, it just happened," Quinn shrugged.

"Doesn't matter," Rachel shook her head, then nodded again. "I swear," she repeated, and Quinn smiled – she trusted her. Now Rachel really felt like she could go home.

"Come on, I'll drive you," Santana's offer was a surprise, but she accepted it. She left with her, left Jesse and Quinn on their own.

Quinn moved to pull the tables back into place, as they'd moved them when they'd brought Rachel in. Jesse watched her work; she was working through emotions, he could see it even from behind her, in her posture. He moved up to her, wrapped his arms around her. She relaxed against him with a sigh. "Are you okay?" he asked. She remained quiet at first.

"I don't know who I am anymore…"

"What do you mean?" he kept hold.

"We spend so much time trying to be these other people, and for what? We're still here, and what if we never go back? When do we stop hoping, settle in? And even if we do get to go back… We're supposed to just get back to our lives like nothing happened?"

"We'll be okay," he promised. "I'm not leaving you, I'll be right there, you know?"

"I know, but…"

"Hey, just let them try and separate us," he spoke, defiant, and he knew she was smiling.

The ride to the Berry house had been fairly quiet so far. It was only when Rachel realized that Santana knew the way without any kind of prompt that some questions emerged, like what she'd even been doing there with them. Had they recruited her the way she and the others had recruited Brittany?

"Don't take this the wrong way," Santana broke the silence, startling her, "But I think I'm going to miss the other you now that you're back." Rachel's mouth slacked at this, unsure what to say, and of all things she said…

"Thanks?" Santana's shrug of welcome gave Rachel a smirk even if she shook her head. "How'd you get pulled into this?"

"Your better half recruited me, wanted me to help make sure she didn't have to go back home… Guess that didn't work…" she trailed off, and Rachel felt that sympathy pang again. "She really didn't want to go back." After a beat, she turned to Rachel. "You keep this to yourself, got it?"

"Got it," Rachel nodded. "Thanks." This time it was sincere, and she knew Santana was happy to hear it, whether she'd own up to it or not.

"There you go, no place like home, Dorothy," Santana spoke as she pulled up to the curb. Rachel looked out the window… Even from the outside she knew… this was her home, her real home. She felt the emotions well up inside her. She got out of the car, moved up to the door and let herself in. She'd already seen the cars were gone, which meant her fathers weren't home yet, but that was alright… she'd need this time to herself to rediscover her home.

The pictures, the objects, everything, it was all there… Smells, oh the smells… She'd forgotten some of it, she felt, but now it just came back to her, like it had never left. She ran up to her room, walked in, and she beamed… She didn't have all those Glee Club trophies that the other Rachel had anymore, but really she didn't mind. She looked at the one she did have, and she was prouder of that one trophy than the whole lot. The rest of the room was in a much better condition than she might have expected.

"Hello?" a voice came from below then, and she almost leapt. She looked in the mirror, straightened her hair, inspected her clothes… Yes, she was fine. She hadn't cried, couldn't… The other Rachel had seen them that morning, so then so had she. She moved out of her room, up to the stairs.

There they were, at the bottom, taking off their coats, talking… her fathers, together, in love… It was the best thing she'd seen in weeks. She bit back on her lip, reminding herself to keep it together.

"There you are," Dad spotted her. "It's your turn to pick the menu for dinner, better hurry," he nodded back to Pop to indicate Pop was apparently really hungry.

"I'd argue, but… Yeah, let's hurry this up," Pop nodded. Rachel forced her feet to take it slow rather than rushing down the stairs, still she granted herself a greeting in the form of a hug, to each of them. She'd spend the whole evening covering for staring at them…

When that was over and she was back lying in her bed though, that was when she allowed herself to think about… him… Jesse… They were finally getting somewhere together, and now he was in another world. Meanwhile she was here, with a guy who looked like him but wasn't him and who was dating someone else… She supposed she could understand how it had felt for this Jesse and Quinn, being separated, and then reunited, and for this Quinn to see her with her own Jesse, before the Quinns had been swapped and before the Rachels had been swapped back. But she'd just choose to believe this was a good sign, that she'd come back: it meant they could all go home.

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!