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 67th cycle. Now cycle 68!

"Boxes & Boxes"
Sam & Nell/Samchel
Sam & Nell, Samchel series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Nell had tried to stay awake for the entire ride, but before long Sam could see her curled up on in her seat, squeezing tight her favorite stuffed bear. He imagined she would be having dreams of that magical city they were driving to, and the prize at the end… being reunited with her mother.

They hadn't taken the train this time. Instead, Sam had rented a truck, packed it with their reasonable amount of boxes and other belongings, and together with his daughter he had started on his way from Lima to New York, to the apartment which would officially be his home with his wife to be and their daughter. There were no more days to count down, no more sleeps to go through. Tonight, when they went to sleep, it would be over there, finally at home.

Neither he nor Rachel could believe the year had gone by so fast, but then here they were. He had finished at McKinley, diploma and everything, she'd completed her first year at NYADA… The rest of their lives was beginning.

The drive was long, and made longer by how much he just wanted to get there, but for how long it had felt, when he passed the New York city limits, suddenly the last few hours felt like a distant memory. He woke up Nell, and she sat up, squealing as she looked through the window. They had visited as many times as they could over the past year, to the point that the closer they got, the streets felt more and more familiar, like going home, which was exactly what they were doing. Even Nell was starting to recognize them, and as they turned on to the street, she was squealing all over again.

"We're here! We're here!"

"Yeah we are," Sam laughed.

"I see Mommy!" she wasn't going to stay in that seat much longer. As she'd said, there was Rachel, waiting outside. He wondered how long she'd been sitting there, if she'd had some kind of psychic realization that they were arriving.

"You have to stay sitting, okay?" he instructed his daughter, who forced herself to sit properly, even though her tiny legs were batting at a mile a minute.

"Honk!" she requested, so he obliged, pressing the horn twice. Rachel looked about as excited as the tiny blonde, standing on the sidewalk. As he pulled up, Sam rolled down the window.

"Delivery for Rachel Berry?" he smirked, unlocking the doors so she could open the back door and get Nell down. As soon as the belt was undone, the girl all but sprang in her arms, gripping so tight they might have become fused together.

"Oh, I missed you, too," Rachel pressed little kisses all over the rosy cheek and Nell giggled. "Did you have a good trip?"

"She slept most of the way," Sam told her as he stepped out of the driver's seat. Not one of them could stop smiling. They'd made it, they'd really made it.

They'd had assistance when it came to keeping an eye on Nell while they unloaded the boxes in the form of Allison, the clerk from the bridal shop. She was more than happy to meet the girl she'd heard so much about, and Nell quickly took to her, too. So while Rachel helped Sam with the truck, they could see Nell and Allison sitting at the table where Nell was given paper and crayons to make a masterpiece or two.

"If there'd been any more of these, I don't think I could have made it…" Rachel breathed out when the last of the load had been brought up and she could finally fall back in victory on the couch. Nell had taken this as the perfect time to come bouncing over with one of her drawings.

"Look!" she climbed up to sit next to her and held out the page. Finding as always that her wish to have the girl near could supersede all kinds of exhaustion, Rachel sat up, pulling her closer.

"Is that for me?" she asked, and Nell nodded, pointing to the sheet.

"That's the house, and me with Allison, and you and Daddy."

"What are we all sitting on?" Rachel asked, smirking. "Are those the boxes?"

"Yes," Nell confirmed. "Can we have pizza?"

"Your dad already went to get some," Rachel revealed.

They had eaten, all four of them, talking of this and that, which had eventually worked its purpose, putting Nell to sleep. Sam had carried her off to her bed, which was the one thing he had reassembled as soon as he could. Allison didn't stay too long, as the other two weren't that far off from needing to get to bed, too. It wasn't like they'd all moved in there at once, the place didn't look empty, and there hadn't been as many things to bring in as there would have been, but still, they were spent.

"It's not going to be weird, is it?" Sam asked Rachel as they got into bed.

"What, you two living here, are you kidding?" she smiled at him.

"I mean I know we've all been waiting on it, but now we're here, and this has been your place for a year…"

"Happy to be invaded," she turned to him, silencing him with a kiss.

"Good," he smiled, kissing her again.

"Of course you know tomorrow we have to get through with the boxes and all that, otherwise it's just going to stress me out."

"Yes, I know," he was the one silencing her now.

"Ow," she laughed. "Everything hurts," she frowned. "I should shower, to help me sleep, but…" she held out her arm and let it drop again, as though to say 'too hard.'

"Want me to help you over there?" Sam asked her, and the look on her face was something he had missed more than anything.

"Alright, but I might need you to stick around," she played innocent.

"I've got all the time in the world, you know. This happens to be my home, too."

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!