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 55th cycle. Now cycle 56!

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams, chapter 9.

"Mothers Know"
(Older) Rachel, Sophie (OC), Tanya & Chloe Clarke (OCs)
Red series
(no listing yet; sequel to Hold a Hand Out (& Did I Ever Tell You, & A Moment That Shaped You)

Days had gone by since she had judged at Nationals, and Rachel was home, rehearsing. The new production she would be a part of would begin within weeks, so she had long been ready, by most people's standards. By her standards, there was still a lot to be done. She had been performing to an audience of none, unless her reflection counted… until she finished, and then the applause told her she'd had an audience after all.

"I smell a Tony," Sophie teased as she stood at the door to her office/studio room, and Rachel gave a mock bow. "You got a call, I took a message," she came up and held out a slip of paper stuck to her finger. "A Tanya Clarke?" she shrugged, and Rachel took the paper.

"That'll be Chloe's mother."

"Diner Dreamer Chloe?" Sophie asked. After she'd come home from the competition that first day, Rachel had told her daughter all about it, and it had actually been Sophie who had first suggested she try and get this girl in her workshop. Even now as she gave the post-it over, she had this smirk on her face like 'look what I did.'

"Not so smug, Soph," Rachel 'scolded' her with a smile, making the reprimand slightly useless. She looked just like her father with that face…

"I'll get started on dinner," she started off for the kitchen.

"Thank you," Rachel called after her while she reached for the phone, dialling the number on the note. There was one ring and then another before…

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Clarke?"

"Yes?"

"This is Rachel Berry, I'm returning your call?"

"Yes, Miss Berry, thank you for getting back to me so quick."

"It's not a problem," Rachel assured her. "I'm guessing Chloe has given you the envelope I asked to pass on to you?"

"She did, and she begged that I at least speak with you." There was a pause. "Miss Berry, I don't know how much she's told you…"

"She told me that she ran away to New York a little while back and returned after a few weeks."

"Yes, she did," Tanya confirmed. "She never told us where she went, we spent those weeks worried that we'd never see her again. She never contacted us, not once, and when she showed up back on our doorstep, it was like… Do you have children, Miss Berry?"

"I do," she volunteered. "A daughter as well, older than Chloe, but I understand where you're coming from, the thought of my Sophie ever running away like this…"

"So you understand how hard it's been to let her go again, for this competition of hers."

"I do," Rachel replied.

"And now with this offer of yours, I'm afraid she really would never come back."

"I don't want to sway your decision one way or the other, she's your daughter, but I would like to speak on her behalf. She has a gift, Mrs. Clarke, and I know she's made mistakes in the past, but I think you'll have seen as well as I have that she's gained some focus in the time since her return."

"She has," the mother admitted. "And it has been… a complete turnaround. I want nothing more than to make her happy, to let her go and… live her dreams, everything she's wanted. But following that dream has led to her making some really bad decisions before. She's still a child, my child, and I don't want to let her down, but it feels like I will, no matter what I do."

Rachel could only feel for the family's situation, and she really wanted to help one of them while she kept the others feeling secure…

"What if I was to let her stay here, at my house? It's only me and my daughter, we would be happy to welcome her. I'll be able to keep an eye on her, and let you know how she's doing, and she'll be looked after until the end of the workshop, and then she'll be on her way back home to you."

"That is very generous of you, Miss Berry, I wouldn't want to impose, I..."

"It's no problem at all," Rachel assured her. "I'd feel better about even bringing her here this way, to be honest. I'd have as much trouble sending my Sophie on her own."

"I'll need to speak with my husband, can I call you back?"

"Take your time," Rachel promised her, and they hung up.

Rachel went in search of her daughter, finding her where she'd said she'd be, in the kitchen preparing dinner for both of them. Looking at her there, Rachel just saw her as a child, when she would help her father in the kitchen. He'd always been the better cook of the two of them, and he'd shown Sophie so much in the time they'd had together. If he could only see her now…

"Hey," she had looked up and seen her mother.

"Smells good already," Rachel told her, and Sophie nodded to herself.

"So did you talk to Chloe's mom?" she asked as she continued to work.

"I did, and I know I should have run it by you first, but what would you say if Chloe spent the summer with us?" Sophie looked back.

"Here?" she indicated the house.

"She's too young to stay on her own, and it would put her parents at ease, not to mention it would put me at ease, too. What do you think?"

"What do you mean, it's fine," Sophie told her. "It'll be like having a little sister for the summer," she smirked. "I can show her all my tricks," she gave a 'sneaky' look, and Rachel laughed.

"What tricks?"

"Exactly," she gave a look like she'd never been discovered.

"Just make sure I can get her back to her mother in one piece at the end of the summer."

"Got it."

Mrs. Clarke had called back after dinner, where she had accepted Rachel's offer. She and her husband would take Chloe up to her after her school year was done, which wouldn't be long now. This gave both Rachel and Sophie time to prepare in anticipation of their guest's arrival.

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!