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 70th cycle. Now cycle 71!

"Someday We'll See"
(Older) Mike/Tina, 10yo Lily Chang
Chang Squared series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Lily Chang would count herself fairly mature for her age, which at the moment was ten years old. But when she and her family had flown to New York City to visit their friend she called Aunt Rachel, she had not been above acting like the child she was. She'd lived in Los Angeles her entire life, which should have prepared her for this, she felt. She was wrong, so wrong. She would spend so much time with her head turned up, making sure she didn't miss a thing, that both her parents had to keep hold of one of her hands so they would keep moving.

Finally they made it to the theater, and Lily was made to look down again so she could see her Aunt Rachel in all her glory on a large poster put on display outside.

"Take my picture!" she begged, and her father obliged, as she and her mother stood in front of the poster.

She did like hearing stories about the past, about when her parents were in school, how they'd gotten to where they were, and for that reason she was very familiar with how and why Rachel Berry had become her mother and father's friend.

Back when they had been in high school, her parents had decided to join Glee Club together. They had been instrumental to its success for the years they were part of it. Her Aunt Rachel had been instrumental, too, but that hadn't been without some struggles.

She hadn't been popular, not by a long shot, and as much as she tried to rise above that, to not let it bother her, it had, in some ways. It hadn't helped that Lily's parents had swooped in and become star players faster than she'd been. It could have made their friendship impossible, but then her parents had come to her aunt's aid many times, proven themselves to be good friends to her. From another one of her aunts she had heard rumors of how, for a brief period of time, her aunt had pursued her father, something they'd needed to explain to young Lily.

It had nearly wrecked a lot of things, but in the end they had pulled through, and endured, and up to this day they kept in touch. The fact that they lived on opposite ends of the country made it complicated for them to see each other, but they did manage it. Her parents had been to New York to see her before, but this was the first time Lily had been able to go with them. And she was ecstatic.

They'd been led into the theater, and again Lily's eyes couldn't catch her surroundings fast enough for her. There were pictures on the walls, and further along there were rooms left and right, their open doors letting her catch glimpses of people having their makeup done, or their hair, or getting into costume. They would be going on stage before too long, and Lily sort of envied them.

Finally, they came up to a door where she could read her aunt's name, and Lily was almost holding her breath. They were about to enter a special place.

Tina knocked, and two seconds later, Lily heard someone tell them to come in. The door opened, and there she was, in full costume, looking through some pages filled with both printed words and handwritten ones. When she saw the three of them there though, the pages were dropped and she stood, looking as thrilled to find them there as Lily had been to discover the poster outside the theater.

"I was starting to think you weren't going to make it!" she stood, and when Lily ran into her arms, she held her tight. "You're going to be taller than your dad if you keep this up!" Rachel couldn't get over it. The last time she'd seen Lily in person she was about to turn nine.

"You look beautiful!" Lily had quickly told her, reaching to touch the sleeve of her dress.

"Well thank you, it means a lot coming from you," Rachel assured her.

"I know all the songs, I listened to them on the plane," she declared proudly.

"Good, then you sing along, alright?" Rachel tapped her shoulders.

"Okay," Lily nodded. She turned to look to her parents, who had not yet had the chance to greet their friend, but they didn't look like they minded, so she turned back to her aunt and asked what she'd wanted to ask her for a long time. "Is it true you liked my dad?"

They hadn't seen the question coming, and they received it by bursting out laughing. Lily looked from one face to the other, baffled as to what they found so funny in that.

"Well, all I can say is that your father is a very good man, and he was a very good guy when I got to know him in high school. I'm pretty sure the better part of the female student body and some of the male one, too, would have jumped at the chance."

"I can't argue with that," Tina shrugged.

"But he was my friend first, and a better for not letting that one moment in our lives get in the way of everything else. The same goes for your mother."

If she had more questions to ask her aunt, they would have to wait. Soon it was time for them to go and find their seats in the audience, while Rachel took her place on stage.

Lily had been star struck from the second the curtain went up and the music started, loud but familiar. As she'd promised, she sang along to all the songs, and at the end she had cheered so loud her voice had nearly given out, while her hands felt like they had a pulse from all the clapping. She was disappointed that they had to leave before she could ask if they'd let her stand on the stage, but her father promised that they would come back another day over their visit, and then she could stand up there as long as she wanted. Lily wondered, if she held him to that, whether he'd let her stay forever.

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!