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 52nd cycle. Now cycle 53!

THIRD ANNIVERSARY CYCLE: It's late October again, and within this cycle I will be completing my third year of daily gleekathon stories and commencing a fourth! As in previous years, this means special things happening. I've selected my favorite stories from throughout the year, and I'll be treating them to something special. In previous years this included Prequel, Sequel, and POV Swap, and then Additional Scenes and Alternate Endings. This year I'm adding two new treatments: Genre Swap (I think that's pretty straightforward) and Element Change (I change one thing in the story, see how it affects the rest). Note that in both these cases and some of the others, there may excerpts directly transferred from the story it references. Also, since this year saw the addition of 'shift days', and since I suck at picking, I have selected 42 stories, to be treated two per day! So here we go!

This story is a Genre Swap to Unaccompanied Minors, a Berry-St series story, originally posted on December 12 2011.

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: On Best Behavior.

"Trains On A Track"
AU!Rachel, AU!Jesse, AU!Quinn, Santana, AU!Jesse/AU!Quinn
Rachel, Jesse, Quinn, AU!Brittany, Rachel/Jesse
Berry-St series extra
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Genre swap: Action

They would only get one shot at this. Already that they had to perform this switch was demanding that they put themselves and the entire mission in jeopardy, but then they had no other options, not once the two of them had started to fall ill. Before long, people would start asking questions, and they couldn't have that. It was already a miracle they had gotten this far without anyone catching on, and they were too deep in to pull out altogether.

They had been chosen, all of them, for a very specific reason: they came in identical pairs.

Not one of them was related, and they didn't know anyone's real names, only the ones they had adopted and shared with each other. Each set had infiltrated one association, nothing too visual, the kind of people whose names you wouldn't remember three seconds after hearing them. They had been doing their job well enough for a time, gathering information, and then would come the next part of their assignment: they had to switch places. Not all of them would go, not all at once, but some would go, little by little. They had done this, two times. On the first, Berry and had gone, later joined by Fabray. It had required some adjustments. As much as they were under the strict guideline not to draw too much attention to themselves, some things couldn't be helped. Some of them had started seeing each other, which had meant keeping up those appearances on one end, and masking the truth on the other.

And then, while everyone had been working on either side, both of those under the codename Berry had gotten ill. Neither would dare to go and get treated, not now. Identical or not, they were still two different people, and if they were going to get treated, it would have to be on their own sides, the ones that they had infiltrated in the first place, or else something wouldn't have tracked, and they would get discovered, which would lead to a full review and then… then they'd all be in trouble. There was only one solution: They had to swap them back.

Communication was kept to a minimum, but they had a way of signalling one another. Once both sides had sent that signal, there was no other choice, they had to go through with it.

"We can't hide her forever," Lopez had told the two of them huddled around Berry. She had been planted in the first association on her own, not one who would jump from one side to the other. She had come in handy when the time had come for them to swap places with their counterparts. She knew what they needed to know. She had been closest to Berry, and seeing the girl in distress like this. "And I'm pretty sure someone is on to us."

"What do you mean?" Fabray asked.

"Just think about it. The way I see it, the other Berry was poisoned, and when they changed places it continued, so now this one got sick as well. Either that or the other way around. Why else would they both get sick like this?" The thought of it stayed with them… it made much too much sense.

"We'll pass on the message, right?" looked to Berry, laid out and barely conscious.

"Why… me?" she struggled to ask.

"I can think of a reason or two," Lopez grumbled to herself, getting a few looks from the others.

"Are we sure this is going to work?" Fabray turned to . "She can't even walk on her own, and from what I get, neither can the other one. We'll only have seconds, and that's if it all…"

"We'll get there," maintained. "We don't have a choice. If they catch us, then we're all dead, and everything we've done…" he shook his head, looking her in the eye. They had become attached while they'd been undercover in the second association, before the jump. They'd barely been together by the time he was sent off to this side with Berry. They had been apart for weeks before she and her counterpart had been swapped as well, which had reunited them, though they'd been left to pretend like they were nothing to one another here.

X

On the other side, in the second association, that was taking to the illness which had struck down their Berry much more personal than his counterpart. They'd had something, the two of them, back in the day, but then it had all gone south. They hadn't been on board about being sent through, the two of them together, but they made the best they could from the situation. And after some time there, they had started rebuilding the path between them. Now he would have to put her in the hands of others, hoping they could cure her, and he would be stuck with her double, no guarantee of ever seeing his girl again.

"We can still find another way," he smiled down to her, stroking her cheek. She was only getting worse, and he wasn't sure she could even still hear him.

"We've exhausted all other options, and you know it," Pierce chimed in, their liaison in the second association. "I'm sorry, but there's no other way. Once they're cured, we can try and swap them again…"

"No, if they're going back, then we're going to finish this, once and for all," declared, and Fabray agreed. Pierce frowned, but then she nodded.

"Fine, but first things first, she needs to go. And we need to get moving."

X

The hand-off would go down at night, as shipments from both associations were set to take off and cross paths. This was the one time they could go without the risk of someone spotting them. Questions were already being asked as to the whereabouts of both Berry girls, who had been forced to remain hidden, to prevent being examined just yet. The opportunity was rare, and they'd have to take it. On each side, the groups of four would sneak on to a departing truck. Lopez would keep a look out for their moment on one truck, while Pierce was on point for the other. On both sides they had been forced to sedate the one they were about to swap, to make things easier on all of them.

"I see them, they're approaching, which means we're about to… stop," Lopez informed them just as their truck slowed to a stop. "They've stopped as well," she hurried to get the way opened for them, as Fabray and carried Berry out and they ran off to meet with the second association's trio. All of them standing together it was eerie; they did look remarkably similar.

"She should wake up in no more than an hour," the second Fabray told the first as the two set down the girl they carried and went to pick up the other. With no more time than this, the reconstituted trios returned to their trucks, sneaking back in so to wait their return to their respective camps. As they climbed in, the second looked back, observing the others as they carried his Berry away. It didn't feel right, letting her go, and he part of him would have suggested that he and his counterpart switched as well, but it wouldn't have been logical or practical, for any of them but him and her. Still he wanted to.

As they'd return to their bases of operation, each group could finally call on their respective doctors to look on the ill girls. For the others though, it was clear that this was not going to be the end of the matter. Their mission wasn't done, and now it would be harder than ever.

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!