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 15th cycle. Now cycle 16!

"Pancakes & Eggs"
Quinn & Mercedes & the Joneses

Saturday mornings at her house, Mercedes could just wake up to the smell of a wonderful breakfast, cooked by her mother. Only on that morning, it was very clear the delicious smells were not the work of her mother. Confused and curious she had gotten up to find out what was happening. As she approached the kitchen she could hear voices, not uncommon as she was usually the last one up. Only now there were three voices, the third being that of their new live-in guest, Quinn. She was telling her mother that she 'insisted.' The thing she was insisting on, Mercedes would discover, was for Mrs Jones to let her finish taking care of breakfast for them.

"Morning, honey," her father greeted her, sitting as he did every morning with his coffee and his paper.

"Morning," she replied to him, then to her mother as she retreated by Quinn's insistence, "Morning."

"Morning," she returned, with an amused bit of a smile on her face. "You're just in time, look at all this," she indicated the food as prepared.

"How long have you been up?" Mercedes asked Quinn, awestruck.

"Not that long," she insisted. "I just… I wanted to do this, as a thank you for letting me stay here like this. I know it's not much, but I had to do something."

"You are welcome here as long as you need to be, really, this is more than enough," Mrs. Jones promised. "I offered to help, but this morning I'm being served, so I'm not allowed to help," she smirked as she turned to explain to her daughter. "Just take it easy, alright?" she addressed 'the guest cook' once more.

"I will," Quinn promised, just as the oven bell rang. The three Joneses looked up in surprise.

Soon the four of them sat around the kitchen table, eating. Quinn had been with them for about half of a week now, but she'd been made to feel welcome from the start. Her being pregnant had been bound to come up in conversation, but Mr & Mrs Jones had been considerate, through and through. Quinn had been fearing some judging looks but got none. Mrs Jones was always helpful, and Mr Jones would constantly be offering to assist with something or another.

The breakfast was quickly consumed, deemed a complete success. Quinn had finally agreed to receive some assistance when Mercedes offered – if not insisted – to help with the cleaning of the dishes. Mrs Jones went off to take care of errands and Mr Jones had to head to pick up things as well. This left the girls alone at the sink. Quinn would clean, and Mercedes remained on drying and putting away the dishes where they belonged.

At first they spoke of Glee Club, school… But Mercedes had been thinking something for a while, and she couldn't keep silent.

"Was this really just 'thank you,' or… you don't have to be worried about them, you know? They said you could stay, they mean it." Quinn breathed out, smiled.

"Yeah, I know," she nodded. "And I am thankful for it."

THE END

[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]