The Return

Disclaimer: I don't own glee or its characters

Special thanks to DarlingEmory, xMeMyselfandIx, and ritagarcia45 for reviewing.

A couple of days ago if someone had told Rachel she would be standing in the Lima airport she would've laughed. Now however she had to face the cruel reality of staying in Lima for an entire week. She had already found her bags, and was heading to the car rental desk. Her dads had offered to pick her up, but the idea of spending the week asking them for a ride whenever she needed to go somewhere was less than appealing. She walked up to the empty desk ringing the bell to get assistance. She found this the perfect time to text her fathers and Mary, letting them now she landed safely. She was so busy texting that she missed the back door was opening and someone was coming to help.

"Rachel Berry?" For a brief second as she looked up, she readied herself to sign an autograph. Something she had to do constantly whenever she went out and never really tired of. To her surprise her name wasn't being called for an autograph, but because this person actually knew her.

"Samuel is that you? How are you?" To say she was surprised to see Sam working in an airport was an understatement. She knew Lima didn't have many options in terms of careers, but still? The airport? Really?

"I'm good. Didn't expect to see you here, back for the class reunion? "Still shocked Rachel only managed to nod. So he continued a bit awkwardly," Need to rent a car?"

"Yes, I do actually." In terms of plans she wanted a car that just screamed how successful she was, one that only few people in Lima could afford. The problem, however was that she didn't expect to meet anyone she knew, until she was actually ready. If she chose one of the most expensive cars would Sam know what she was trying to do? Would he go back and tell others? As he sat down a binder for her to look through and choose a car, she absent mindedly flipped through tracing her mind for a solution. If she went too fancy, he would think she was showing off, but if she went too cheap he would assume she wasn't as wealthy as she presented herself to be. This one she said as she pointing down at a picture.

"Isn't that exactly like the Prius you had back in school?"

Forcing a smile she looked at him before saying, "Well if I'm going back to school might as well play the part." Sam excused himself for a moment bringing back paper work for her to sign. The whole ordeal was done in silence, and the silence continued as she paid. It wasn't until he was going through last minute details did the almost painful situation take a turn.

"Hey Rachel tonight the whole gang is meeting up at Mike's and Tina's. It would be cool if you came. We haven't had everyone back since you left." Rachel blinked in surprise. Maybe the whole awkward situation was only in her mind. Putting on her brightest smile she nodded." I would love to Sam. It was nice of you to invite me."

"No problem just let me write down the time and address." A few minutes later as Rachel drove away from the airport, she felt confident that being back in Lima wouldn't be so bad.

The house was empty when Rachel arrived. A quick look at the time made her realize her parents were still at work. The house after all this time looked the same. Every detail as she remembered. Even her old room looked the way she had left it. She decided to take a quick nap before she began to unpack. Two hours later she found herself making dinner for her dads. Hiram was the first on to arrive.

"Angel!" he said excitedly before pulling his only daughter into a hug. "It's so great to see you in this house again. We really missed you."

"I missed you too daddy." The rest of the time was spent catching up with each other while waiting for Leroy to arrive. After he arrived they had dinner before Rachel excused herself to get ready.

"I'm really happy that you're getting out and meeting your old friends." Leroy told her.

Of course Rachel had never told them how loose the word friends applied to the people in Glee club. Rachel knew she had to make an impression tonight. It would determine how the rest of the week went. She picked her best outfit and spent hours on her hair and makeup. On top of that she went through all the little things Kurt had told about the others in their occasional messages to each other. A quick Goodbye to her dads and she was out the door. Mike and Tina's house was a five minute drive away (when traveling in Lima almost every place tended to be just a few minutes away). Her stomach dropped when she noticed several cars already there. She looked at the clock again confirming that she was at least ten minutes early. Placing her head on the steering wheel she took a deep breath. Please don't let me be the last one to arrive she muttered. She wanted to be one of the first people to arrive. She figured she would feel less like an outsider if she was already there and chatting while the others walked in. Stepping out the car Rachel decided it was now or never. "You're Rachel Berry." she told herself, "they're the lucky ones who get to be in the presence of a star."

Standing straight she walked up to the door and rung the doorbell. She was greeted by an older looking Mike Chang than she was used to. In fact she realized everyone would look different than she remembered. Rachel he said with a smile before pulling her into a hug. It was obvious that Sam had told the others about her arrival. "Nice to see you again too Mike." she smiled back before following him into a large living room. There her fear was confirmed. She was indeed the last one to arrive. She couldn't help but notice the harsh silence as she stepped into the room. It became painfully clear that before she arrived they had been talking about her. It also became clear that her designer wear didn't fit in with the rest of the gang's casual clothing. Suddenly she felt like it was high school all over again. She was once again the loser hoping to be accepted. "Come on", she thought you prepared for this. "Show them how much you changed." She was just about to open her mouth when the first words were spoken.

"Jeez Berry if you're going to be making all this money at least get that beak removed." Santana's voice sounded exactly how she remembered. Cold, cruel, and powerful. Age had done nothing to the Latina beauty. She looked even prettier than Rachel remembered, and still just as harsh. Not even the responsibility of a kid mellowed her down.

"Nice to see you again Santana", Rachel said forcing a smile. "Nice to see all of you again." she said smiling her brightest smile. For a second, she thought they would ignore her, and everything she had just said. Fortunately Kurt and Blaine were up and hugging her.

"Well Rachel I can at least say that you have more style than you did ten years ago". A compliment from Kurt! Things could still end up well.

"Yes, but we all know you'll forever be the king of fashion." With a sigh Mercedes was up and hugging Rachel also.

"Don't get him started. Compliments will only make his head bigger." After everyone minus Santana got a chance to hug Rachel a more comfortable silence fell over the room. Rachel took this time to notice that almost everyone was paired off. Kurt and Blaine, Santana and Brittany, Mike and Tina, and Mercedes and Sam. She also took note of how Quinn and Finn had their hands intertwined (no surprise there). She and Artie were the odd ones out. It was then that she noticed Noah was missing. Then again she couldn't imagine Noah hanging around a group of people he never seemed to really like. Still she felt a bit sad that she wouldn't be seeing him tonight

"There's so much to catch up on, she said wanting to break the silence. I want to hear about everyone's lives." She would humor them. Let them talk about their less than mediocre lives before she unleashed her huge list of accomplishments on them.

"Hold Up. Can we cut the crap? Listen up here Berry. Just because you're back doesn't mean we're going to bow down to you. You can act like you've changed, but we all know that's crap. For all I care you left Lima a loser and you're returning to Lima a loser." Santana was always good at cutting her down.

Rachel was going to tell her she didn't give a damn what she thought. In fact she was going to stand up to Santana and show her she wasn't the same scared little girl she was back then. But for some inexplicable reason the words "Of course" slipped through her mouth.

She didn't know what she was doing. How had she let Santana win? The same Santana she had been waiting to show up ever since she bought the plane ticket to Lima.

"Hold on Santana, can you calm down. Rachel hasn't done anything to you. You're letting a ten year grudge get the best of you." The last person she expected to come to her defense was Finn. Something he hardly seemed to do in high school. Maybe things changed more than she thought.

"Come off of it Finn. We all know you've been wetting your pants the moment you heard Rachel was back."

"Hey can we stop fighting Blaine cut in. We finally have Rachel back and we're not going to ruin it by fighting". Santana and Finn muttered a little truce Sending a thank you nod to Blaine she turned to Santana. Kill them with kindness she thought. "How's your s-…", her cell phone cut her off with a ring that seemed too loud in the almost quiet room . Reaching for her purse she looked at the caller ID and saw it was Mary.

"Excuse but I have to take this." There were a few nods in her direction and a scoff (Santana) as she headed out the front door.

"Mary?"

"Rachel I have important news. They want to give you a multimillion dollar deal. This movie could change everything. You can be the next biggest thing in Hollywood. I already read the script, and I know it's perfect for you. Rachel didn't know what to do for a few moments. Her brain struggling to understand what she had just been told.

"What? Really? When? I mean is this even possible?"

"The director saw your last movie and just had to have you. This could really be the Oscar winner. You can't pass it up. He wants to set an interview with us in two days. I bought you a plane ticket back to L.A. first thing in the morning."

"You want me to leave tomorrow? What about the reunion?"

"Forget about the reunion Rachel. This is you career we're talking about. I'm going to hang up and email you your travel information. Congratulations Rachel you really deserved this." Whispering a quick Good Bye she hung up. She couldn't believe this. A multimillion dollar movie deal! Mary had said the script was Oscar worthy, and that was one award she had been working for lately. She was so lost in thought she didn't notice the figure behind her.

"Leaving so soon Berry?"

A/N: I think we all know who it is. I plan to update once a week, but I just moved to Hawaii so it may take a couple of extra days. Thanks again to the people who reviewed. I usually reply to my reviews, and will most likely do that from this point on. Thanks for reading.