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 73rd cycle. Now cycle 74!

"Step Seventy-Three, Return Strong"
Brittany, Kurt, Santana, Burt, Harry (OC), Will & New Directions
Paper Heart series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

She'd been up for a few hours already by the time both she and Kurt drove off to McKinley together. She'd woken up to feed Harry, and by then it was no point trying to go back to sleep, so instead she'd kept sitting there with him in her arms. He'd gone back to sleep pretty quick after he'd been fed, and she could sit for hours looking at him, which she did. In between those hours she had gotten dressed, had breakfast, made sure about twenty times that she had everything she needed in her bag. The same as all the times before, she would have seen that she did have it packed correctly, and then she would turn back to the sleeping Harry, who was still snug in her arms the entire time.

Finally Kurt had woken up, and Burt, too. They were only slightly surprised to find her ready to go. Then they got ready themselves, and the day truly began.

Saying goodbye to Harry for the day was always going to be hard, and she wasn't surprised that she cried. He must have sensed her distress, because then he'd started crying, too, and it took time and a few of his favorite songs, but he calmed down, and so did Brittany. Even after they'd left him, Brittany was glad they had the ride to school for her to pull herself together.

She was happy to go back, that was the first thing she had to remember. She'd wanted to go back, to gain back some of her old life while all the same getting to keep her new life at the same time. She wanted to see her friends, to eat with them at the cafeteria, to see them in the halls… She really wanted to go to Glee Club again and, surprising none more than her, she was actually nervous to go to class, but the good kind of nervous. She wanted to see how much she had improved in her private lessons with Mr. Schuester. Maybe she'd go and find out that she wasn't doing as well as she thought she was, but she doubted that. She was doing well, she could feel it.

The hardest part had been getting through the door, letting people see her and realize she was back. She knew there would be talk. Back in the day, before all this, if she knew there'd been a girl in their class who was pregnant, she would have talked behind her back, the same way the others did with her the year before. She knew what that felt like now, and she wouldn't do it again, but the rest of the school wouldn't have learned that lesson the way she did. When she'd see them, she would think about what Burt had told her. He'd said to forget them, that the only thing she needed to remember was her son, and how she felt for being his mother. So long as she had that, had him, then no one could touch her. Now she saw… he had been absolutely right.

Sitting down to her first class that day, she felt the nerves grab hold of her, and her feet were trembling under her desk so much that, when the teacher came in, she startled and banged her knee. This had once been the class that gave her the biggest headache. If she wanted to know how well her lessons with Mr. Schuester had gone, she could think of no better or faster way to find out. Before she knew it, there were questions on the board, and they all had to come up with answers they would then review together.

She wouldn't say that she had gotten them all right, or that the answers had come in a flash, but all things considered, she had done very well for herself, something her teacher had freely admitted. He looked so impressed, as though he'd never have expected that from her, and now if her feet were trembling, it was not out of a nervous response but out of relief and joy.

The next time she'd seen Mr. Schuester, which would be right before Glee Club, she quickly hugged him and thanked him before telling him about her day and how none of her classes had felt like she was drowning. In some of them, she was actually showing prowess. The teacher looked to be nearly as pleased as she was, and she almost thought he would cry.

"Brittany, that is great news, and I want you to hold on to that feeling, because…" he led her into the room, where the rest of the Glee Club was already waiting for them. When the teacher and the returning blonde walked in, they cheered and clapped, and Brittany looked almost shy standing there.

They had all seen plenty of each other in the time she was away from them, but that didn't stop them asking after Harry, or her first day back, until Santana was thankfully led to suggest they should get started. Brittany wanted nothing more than to sit in one of those chairs like she'd done the year before, and listen to Mr. Schue, and then work on some new assignment or choreography. That was what they stood and did before long and, thanks to her practicing in the last few weeks, Brittany wasn't rusty or falling behind. She was so happy to be back that she had enough energy for an entire choir.

And just like that, her first day was done. They left McKinley, got in Kurt's car, and they went to pick up Harry. He was sleeping when they arrived, and he slept right through the car ride home, where Brittany sat in the back, just so she could watch him.

When he would stir and yawn and open his eyes again, he would be in her arms, in the nursery, just as they'd been that morning. He was looking at her, he knew her, and he batted his arm out, stretching his fingers until she would grasp them.

"It's alright, see?" she kissed the little fingers. "Mommy's back."

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!