A/N

Hello, gentle readers. This is the first Faberry I started that actually felt right after a few chapters! Let me know what you think. I am an Ohio native, which works for the original setting of Glee and the setting I wanted to have. Here, we meet Rachel in the middle of a career path change, and Quinn very happy as a drama teacher. It's at my alma mater, no less, to help it feel familiar to me and to you!

Thanks. :)

Rachel watched as her daddy paced the waiting room of Lima Memorial, hands in his pockets, eyes to the floor.

"I really shouldn't have let him do all that cooking," he said. "I knew it would be too much for him."

"Daddy, relax." Rachel stood from the vinyl hospital couch and put a hand on her father's shoulder. He looked at her, worry creasing the lines around his deep brown eyes.

"Dad will be okay," she continued, and coaxed her frantic daddy onto the couch. "It was an accident. He's all right."

She tentatively rubbed his back as he put his head in his hands and groaned.

Michael Berry, drama queen.

No wonder Rachel was so high-strung sometimes.

It was Isaac she was worried about, though. Michael's frantic panicking was nothing compared to his husband's actual health problems. It had been six months since Isaac's heart attack, and they were taking no chances. So, when Isaac had cooked the entire Thanksgiving dinner, said he was dizzy when they sat down, and then slipped on some water and hit his head on the floor…well, Rachel decided they had better go to the hospital.

And there they were. Two hours after checking in, they were still waiting. Apparently a lot of people were sick or injured on Thanksgiving Day. To pass the time, Michael had already listed aloud all the problems that could have resulted from Isaac's head bump. Concussion. Stroke. Brain damage. Another heart attack. Amnesia. Memory loss.

Rachel had done her best to console him, but it was almost no good. So, she had been scouring the celebrity magazines (and found some unflattering pictures of herself) while playing Words With Friends against Puck. She was winning, of course.

It was strange to be back in Lima after being gone for so long. College in New York, then a couple years touring with the revival cast of Les Miz, thenand settling down to star as Velma in Chicago – the role which landed her a nomination for a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical at the ripe age of 24. She didn't make that one, but she did have a Grammy. The cast had recorded an album to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Chicago's 1996 revival, winning them a Grammy – and, then, they retired the musical until a future generation wanted to pick it back up.

Now, at 28, she was taking some time off to rest her voice, and perhaps explore different options. Josh Radnor had turned fully to directing movies when How I Met Your Mother wrapped – an Ohio native himself, he had approached Rachel to star in a new movie he was shooting around the Columbus area. She was interested, of course, but a life in Ohio after almost ten years in NYC seemed…well, boring.

Except for the hospital trips.

"Do you think he'll forget about us?" Michael Berry turned to his daughter, wide-eyed, and she sighed.

"I'm going to get us a pop or something, daddy. Try to relax. Okay?" He nodded and went back to staring down the hall.

Rachel got up and headed back to the receptionist's desk, her heels clacking loudly against the tile. There was a small vending area there, and she began digging through her purse for money as she stood in front of the Coke machine.

A quarter…three pennies…a twenty…another twenty…shit. She had to admit, it had been a while since Broadway Star Rachel Berry had needed small bills for anything, let alone a can of Sprite for her daddy.

She stepped aside as another woman came up to the machines, continuing to riffle through her purse for something smaller.

No luck.

She groaned. But her daddy needed something else to focus on or he would drive her crazy. And she was definitely in need of a caffeine fix. So, tentatively, she reached out and tapped the other woman on the shoulder…

"Excuse me… ma'am?"

The woman, a blonde slightly taller than Rachel, turned to face her. And as much acting as she had done in the past decade, she couldn't hide the shock that played across her face.

"Quinn?"