"The Theater, The Theatre"

10. Berry & Perry

New York City, in the year 2033

Half a year had gone, and still Rachel would be awakened in the middle of the night by the light creak of her bedroom door opening, allowing a sliver of light to enter from the hall before disappearing again. Then, within seconds, the empty side of the bed she'd shared with her husband for twelve years would sink to take on the weight of the ten-year-old girl who'd just introduced herself into the room. Without a word, Rachel would help her get settled by her side, under the blankets, and they would fall asleep together, thinking of him.

Half a year had gone since the day Benjamin Perry had walked out of his car to cross the street, only to be struck down by another driver, who had taken his eyes off the road. Half a year since his daughter, still sitting in their car, had stopped digging through her school bag at the sound of the impact and seen him laid out in the street. Half a year since the day where, due to a misunderstanding over the phone, Rachel Berry spent forty minutes believing both her husband and her daughter had been involved in this accident. She only learned Sophie had been untouched when she arrived at the hospital and found her sitting shell-shocked on a chair next to which one of the nurses was keeping her company.

It had been all over the news for a while, and in the midst of her own grief, Rachel had been left to do all she could to shield little Sophie from being traumatized any further. She had kept her from seeing the articles, the headlines, Benji's smiling face… Happier times…

But the nightmares came, and there was no stopping them. All she could do was to be there, to let the warmth of her body and the protection of her arm ward off what monsters swirled through the girl's head. It would work, and Rachel was thankful for that. It was only as time went on, days, and weeks, and months, and events were made to pass for the first time without him, that it became harder to rely only on that hold. Sophie's birthday, and her first day back at school… His birthday, and the holidays…

One particular December night, when Sophie had come up and crawled into bed with her, Rachel had waited, and waited, but she could tell her daughter was still wide awake, so she'd reached for the lamp on the nightstand and turned it on, looking down and finding those brown eyes staring back at her. Benji's eyes… "You need to sleep," Rachel told her daughter, gently stroking her cheek and nudging her hair away. Sophie's eyes turned down, and she pulled herself nearer to her mother's body, hiding under the blanket. "Hey, now, where'd you go?" Rachel pulled the blanket back, and Sophie sat up the way she did when she was about to roll away and off the bed, so she stopped her and brought her back. "Soph…"

"He's not coming back…" she spoke flatly, and Rachel sat up, too.

"You know he can't," she took her daughter's hands.

"But they could bring him back! They could make it so it didn't happen!" Sophie's voice went up.

"Who could?"

"The Doctor, and the Teacher, with their box, they can go back in time…" she explained, then frowning, "But they're not real either, are they?" Now picturing her daughter spending all these last six months relying on the possibility that the alien from her old bedtime stories could swoop in and save her dad, Rachel wished so much that she could give her a yes, but she knew better than that; she'd hoped for it, too, though she wouldn't admit it.

"Sophie, there are some things in the world that can't be fixed. It's one of the hardest things anyone will have to learn, but it's the truth. I'd give anything to bring him back to you, you know that. I miss him… every day." Every morning when she came down the stairs, she stopped at his picture on the wall, and wished him a good morning, same as she wished him a good night when she went up at the end of the day. She never forgot, not one day.

Sophie had come back into her arms, and Rachel had held her. The realization that Benji was really gone was going to take the girl a while to adjust to. She'd never lost anyone before.

"Alright, come here, lie down with me," Rachel scooted back to her place, leading her daughter to follow. Once again, she had her wrapped in her arms, and with a breath, she'd looked down at her. "I'm going to tell you a story. Would you like that?" Sophie hesitated.

"A Doctor and Teacher story?" she asked, and Rachel nodded. More hesitation, then… "Okay. Which one?" She knew them all by heart now, but she'd listen all the same as though it had been the first.

"Oh, this isn't one I've told you before," Rachel revealed, and the curiosity couldn't hide from the girl's face, which made her mother smile. When she'd be smaller and her mother would suddenly come along with a new story, Sophie would frown and ask why she hadn't told this one before, so Rachel would tell her that she was saving them for special occasions. Right now she could have told her a story that might have touched on what Sophie was going through, but that wasn't what she wanted or needed. She needed her old friends, the Teacher and the Doctor, to fill her mind with adventures, same as they'd always done. "Alright, let's see then," she made to remember, although by now it was more about inventing than remembering.

"Were they in the blue box?" Sophie asked.

"Actually, yes, they were," Rachel nodded, and Sophie settled in.

By the time she'd finish the story, where the Doctor and the Teacher had naturally triumphed, she could see Sophie was starting to doze off, so she hummed and half sang to her, until she'd closed her eyes and gone to sleep. Rachel reached to the lamp, careful not to move the sleeping girl, and she settled in to get some sleep, too. Who's going to tell me a story tonight?

TO BE CONTINUED (TODAY)