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 42nd cycle. Now cycle 43!

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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 43 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days!

This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: Familiar Strangers, chapter 5.

"Who Do You Think You Are"
Brittany & Quinn

For the longest time she'd believed it was a dream… an imaginary friend, something. Had she seen her, or heard her, or heard about her, she wasn't sure, but she knew for sure the others didn't know, because her own memory of her was something of a hazy mess. She didn't remember or understand the true origin. She didn't remember the Cheerios party, didn't remember she'd been solidly drunk, at least enough not to know the difference between reality and fantasy and everything in between.

She also didn't remember that Lucy had not been created from her mind, that it had been an equally tipsy Quinn who'd told her all about her while they sat on the porch swing outside Jenny's house.

Then one day there had been a few of them in the locker room, changing, talking, and the name had passed her lips for some reason or another. All of a sudden Quinn's head had snapped up, her face had shifted, and then Brittany had been summoned to follow her out into the hall. When she'd apparently taken too long to follow, she'd felt a hand grasp to her arm and tug her along.

"Ow, hey! Quinn! What…" she complained weakly as she did her best to follow without tripping. "Now my arm hurts," she rubbed at it when she was released.

"How did you… Where did you…" Quinn seemed unable to pick the words to ask her question.

"What?" Quinn looked around briefly before pulling her further to the side.

"Lucy," she spoke in hushed tones, so Brittany matched her.

"You know about her, too?" she was surprised.

"What?" now it was Quinn's turn to be confused.

"I dreamed about her once," Brittany nodded.

"Dreamed," Quinn repeated and the tall girl went on nodding.

"A while ago, I think… I didn't really tell anyone about her though, I think she doesn't want me to."

"No, she doesn't…" Quinn mumbled under her breath.

"What'd you say?" Brittany asked, but Quinn shook her head.

"What about Santana, did you tell her about her?" Brittany nodded and Quinn sighed. "What'd you tell her exactly, as much as you can remember." Brittany considered this.

"I don't know, I don't really remember much about her, but… Hang on, you were in my dream," she blinked, realizing as she looked to Quinn, who now stared back, frozen.

"I was?" she asked and got another ardent nod.

"So you do know about her," Brittany decided. Quinn didn't reply. "I was sure I'd imagined her, but maybe she's real."

"No… no, no, I don't think she is, Quinn persisted, smiling carefully.

"You don't?"

"No, well, I mean… do you know what she looks like, have you ever seen her?"

"Well, no… because it was a dream."

"Exactly. That's all it was, just a dream," Quinn gave a short smile and a nod. She'd left Brittany there to consider whether she was right. It wasn't like she had evidence of one thing or the other, so maybe Quinn was right and Lucy didn't exist.

It would be months before the long forgotten and forever blurry Lucy would resurface, only now she had a face, and that face looked something like Quinn's. She'd stood there, staring at that poster for something like an hour, wondering why it was affecting her so, and then everything had snapped into place and she'd gasped, backpedalling. She squinted, pulled back, leaned in, used her hands as frames to isolate parts of the face, and when she pulled her hands away, she remained stunned… But now she understood a number of things: Lucy was real. Lucy was Quinn. Quinn had lied to her.

She'd gone seeking her out, unsure really what she intended to say when she'd find her. But then she couldn't find her, not for a while. Finally though she'd spotted her. Just as she was coming out of the girls' bathroom, closing up her blue jacket – the better to surprise Santana with her t-shirt – she saw Quinn, parting ways with Lauren. The blonde had a sort of confused smile on her face, so Brittany saw this as a good time to make her approach.

"Quinn, hey," she smiled.

"Hey," Quinn returned.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why did you lie?" she plainly asked, and Quinn hesitated.

"Lie about what?" she asked.

"Lucy… It was you, wasn't it?" Quinn's mouth opened and closed for a moment, unable to respond. "I saw the posters, and I remembered, the party, and the drinks… and then the other drinks… and then…"

"Okay, I get the point," Quinn stopped her, then breathed. "Yes," she admitted. "It was me."

"Why didn't you say so before? Last time, when we talked about her… or, you."

"I don't know… I just didn't want people knowing," she explained.

"Oh," Brittany blinked. "This wasn't my fault, was it?" she glanced to one of the posters hanging down the hall. Quinn shook her head.

"No, it wasn't, I swear."

"Okay," Brittany breathed. "I almost didn't recognize you."

"I know," Quinn agreed.

"I still think you were cute," she shrugged, and Quinn smirked.

"Thanks," she spoke honestly and, in that line of honesty, she went on. "Fact is, I think if I'd ever decided to tell anyone it probably would have been you."

"Yeah?" Brittany smiled, touched.

"Yeah," Quinn confirmed. "Everyone else would have jumped to conclusions, but I don't think you would have," she declared and realized this almost all at once. This got another smile out of Brittany.

"So no more hiding now?"

"No more hiding," Quinn promised.

"If you ever want to talk…"

"I will," Quinn nodded, thankful. "I should go get ready." Brittany agreed, and was about to leave, but then she paused and came back to hug her friend. Quinn was surprised, but then welcomed the gesture. They pulled back, sharing a smile before they could head their separate ways. Brittany went out to seek Santana to show her shirt, secure in the knowledge that, for once, her imaginary friend had turned out to be real, and been a real friend.

THE END