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 68th cycle. Now cycle 69!

"Step Sixty-Nine, Never Abandon"
Kurt & Brittany, Harry (OC), Brittany/Santana
Paper Heart series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

December had just sort of snuck up on them, but January was coming even faster, and for Brittany that meant something very special: she was going back to school.

There would be plenty for her to miss when she went back, but all the same there was plenty for her to want to go. She'd had to remind herself that it was a good thing she was going back, that she needed to graduate high school and keep moving forward for Harry's sake. He wasn't going to forget her just because she was in school, and he would be well taken care of while she wasn't by his side. She was going to be doing so much better than before she left, too. With Mr. Schuester tutoring her, she had found she was understanding some things so much better than she used to, and maybe she wouldn't be top of her class, but she was going to impress them, and that was going to be just as fun to see.

She needed to go back, that much was clear. It still didn't feel like she had a normal life again, with her being home schooled. It was never going to be a real normal life again, not now that she had Harry, but to her, in this case, normal meant going back to school, to Glee Club. She wasn't a Cheerio anymore, and she'd thought maybe she would want to be one again when she went back, but the closer they got to it, the more she knew she didn't actually want it anymore. She was fine being just Brittany without the ponytail.

With just a couple of weeks to spare until her big return, she'd been forced to come to a certain realization about herself. She was familiar enough with her body to know that between the pregnancy and the post-birth months, she was going to need to put in some practice. She'd been working off the baby weight, and that had not been too much of a problem, but as far as dancing went, she still needed to get back into it.

So before and after Mr. Schuester came for her lessons, she would take Harry with her and go into the basement. She'd put him in his seat, where she could see him and he could see her, and the music would fill the room. She would practice old routines she could still remember no matter how much time passed, anything she could think of. Sometimes she would just put on a song and see where it took her.

The best part was catching the sound of Harry laughing. She would turn to him sometimes, put on a show just for him, and his smile would be enough to keep her going. Other times she would pick him up and, very carefully, she would dance with him in her arms.

"You like dancing, too, don't you?" she smirked, kissing the top of his head. His hair was growing, forming tender little brown curls the color of his father's hair.

He would grip to her so tight with his tiny baby hands, she almost had to wonder if he knew what was about to happen, with her going back to school and him not coming with her. He may have been only a baby, but he could probably understand, couldn't he? It was in moments like this that she wished she didn't have to go back.

"I'm going to be at school, I know, and I wish I could take you with me, but I can't… I checked. But I'll come back after. I'll be so happy to see you, and you'll be happy to see me, right? One day, you'll go to school, too. I didn't like it for a long time, because I wasn't very good. But I studied and studied, you know, with the other prince," she smirked, hoping he remembered the joke. "I'm going to go back there, and I'm going to get my diploma. You don't know what that is, but it means that I finished and I did good. Then I'll be able to go to other schools, and get smarter, and I'll get another diploma, and I'll be able to get a good job, so I can get money and get you the things you need. I don't know if you'll like going to school when it's your turn, but I hope you do. Maybe one day you'll be in Glee Club, too," she gave him a grin. "Would you like that? To sing and dance like Mommy and Daddy and Mama? Yeah?" she turned about. His grip loosened, and she chose to believe he was accepting her 'terms.'

She had to remember that, as hard as it would be to be away from him, it was worth it, for all the reasons she'd just given him. She couldn't let her mind wander back to him, where it wanted to be. She had learned a lot from Mr. Schuester but it wasn't going to be enough, and he couldn't just keep teaching her at home. She would be rewarded for her patience. She would get to come home to a little face that loved her so. How many people had that?

She was going to hate the first day, she knew. Even if she'd anticipated it, even if she'd prepared and counted down the days, all of that… She would want it and want it and then when it would finally come she would wish it was still coming, that it hadn't arrived yet. But then the second day would come, and the third, the fourth… Eventually it would just be the way their lives were. Just like they'd gotten used to living through the pregnancy, and then living through Harry coming into their daily routine, they would get used to this, too.

"Oh, you like this one, don't you?" she gasped and turned to Harry back in his seat when Single Ladies came through the speakers. "That was the first time Mommy and Daddy danced together, before you even existed," she told him. "Want me to show you how?"

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!