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 67th cycle. Now cycle 68!

"Step Sixty-Eight, Do What You Can"
Kurt, Brittany/Santana, New Directions, Jude (OC)
Paper Heart series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

The day came for McKinley High's New Directions to head into Sectionals, and at the Hummel house, all hands were on deck from bright and early. Burt was getting ready, making sure his camera was ready, double checking, triple checking… Brittany had to get herself dressed, get Harry dressed, get them both fed, and have Harry's things ready for the ride and for the day itself. Kurt prepared himself, his costume pressed and packed into the car for the ride to school, which would take him to the bus, which would take him to Sectionals.

"Alright, everyone in the car, five minutes, let's go, let's go!" Burt called, and within four minutes they were off.

Brittany wished she could ride with Kurt and the Glee Club. They probably would have let her if she'd asked, but she had Harry, and his handling of car rides was anyone's guess. He would either sit through it without making a peep, or he'd sleep, or he'd scream his head off. She didn't want to risk putting the others through that. Besides, she wasn't part of Glee Club, not at the moment. It wouldn't be long until she was back in school, only a few more weeks, and she could hardly stand the wait. The hardest part would be not having Harry there with her all the time.

Instead she rode with Burt and her son all the way to Sectionals after having dropped off Kurt. Almost to prove her point, Harry had not kept quiet for most of the ride. Brittany had exhausted her entire set of lullabies, and even grandpa Burt's usually miraculous voice had no effect.

"Maybe he wanted to ride the bus, too," Burt joked, and Brittany kept trying to cheer up the little one.

They were glad to reach the auditorium, and as soon as she got hold of him and walked around with him for a minute, Harry held on to his mother and settled down. She could only hope he would stay that way. Her hope was that the music would work its own powers on him. He was still just a few weeks old, but even before he was born they could tell he loved music in a way that was more than special. If it could keep him soothed, then they just might make it through Sectionals in one piece.

The New Directions had arrived, too, and as they went to change and get ready, Kurt's thoughts were in about three hundred different places, so much so that he almost went on with his buttons all in one hole out of alignment. He unbuttoned his shirt and redid it up, the last button being barely fastened when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He'd kept it just in case of any Harry emergencies, which the others understood. It would have been placed with the rest of his belongings already if not for that. But it was still with him, and because of that he saw that he had a new message.

The contact icon was a picture of the Beatles, and he smirked; he hadn't been able to himself.

"I'll be right back," he told the others.

"Where are you going, we're next!" he could hear Rachel calling after him, and this at least forced him to speed up. He made it back into the hall leading out to the auditorium proper, and there spotted the tall blond.

"I wasn't sure you'd come."

"Well you invited me, didn't you?" Jude pointed out.

"I did do that, yes," he nodded.

"I like the costume," the boy complimented. "Can't wait to see the dress either." All he'd seen it as so far was fabric.

"Never put anything together faster in my life," Kurt chuckled. He wasn't sure why he was so energized all of a sudden, if it was because they were about to go on, or if… "I should go, there's a short brunette who will murder me if I'm not ready to head on stage when they call our name."

"I better find my seat then," Jude headed off, and Kurt watched him go, smiling to himself before remembering the 'threat' hanging over his head.

He had made it in time to escape the fury of Berry, just barely, and on they'd gone. They performed their set, and it all went so fast that he barely had time to think about all the people who would be in that audience. Here would be his father, Brittany, and their son. There would be his friend Blaine and his own club. And somewhere would be the boy from the fabric store.

With their performance done, there was a weight lifted, and they'd gone backstage again, to wait out the results. Kurt wasn't even thinking about any of it. At this point, unless they were in for the shock of their life, the top prize was going to go to either the New Directions or the Warblers.

"Where are they, I don't see them," Santana was trying to peek out in the audience.

"There," Kurt had come up and helped to point out Brittany and Harry.

"I got him that outfit," she smirked, spotting Harry. "He's not hard to shop for, he looks good in anything. Not sure if he got that from you or Britt." They looked to each other and they nodded. Both. "What are you looking for now?" she asked then, seeing that he was looking out again. "Or should I say who?"

"I'm trying to see the judges," Kurt lied.

"You're going to have to stare real hard, Hummel. They're not there anymore, they're judging," Santana pressed the last word.

"Oh… right."

"Spill," she demanded.

"There's nothing to spill. Why do you always have to pry?"

"It's a gift, that and, well…" she gestured to herself.

"Fine, but just this once, could you not?"

"Fine," she repeated. "Have it your way. I'll get it out of you eventually."

"I bet you will."

They had won, both of them. It had been a tie between McKinley and Dalton, and they would all be headed to Regionals. When they found Brittany and the others again, she almost looked happier about the fact that she would get to go to Regionals than they did. Next time she would be back, she would be there, and she would help get them to Nationals.

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!