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 43rd cycle. Now cycle 44!

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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 44 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: Steps 16-36, Time Is On Your Side, chapter 14.

"Back in Action"
(Older) Quinn, Santana/Brittany
Trinity (following Births & Rebirths)

They were going back to school. That was what it almost felt like, as they walked through the airport with their gear. It had been some time now since they had parted with their true identities and slipped into those of Breaker, Optic, and Sneak, as Trinity. But now here they were, their first job since after the wedding, the honeymoon, developments with Spencer, Rachel finding out about them, and of course the endeavor for Santana and Brittany to conceive their baby. So far that remained a work in progress, one that was already demanding change to their lives, both of them and Quinn as well.

When the opportunity for this new job had come along, Quinn had the choice before her. She could keep it to herself, let it go by, as much as it could be hard to know this potential client would be left without a resolution to their problem. She could do that, or she could just go ahead and present it to the others, see how they decided to handle things. In the end, that was what she had decided. They were all adults in this situation, and she had to include them in it. It was clear to see it left them both with conflicting thoughts, and maybe they were gun shy after all this time. They would be going in as wives now, and it wasn't as though they didn't worry for one another before, but this added a new layer to everything.

Finally Santana had presented an option. She would go and fly out there and do recon, see what they were dealing with, and if they could all sign off on the information she brought back, then they would do it. They could see Brittany was still concerned over that, no matter how she worked to keep silent about it. Still, Santana had gone, and when she'd returned with a report that pointed in the direction of this being a very straightforward kind of job, they had come to a consensus: they were taking the job.

Santana wouldn't be going anywhere near the building. Trying to convince them she had nothing to protect yet by staying out of there had only gotten her a look from Brittany that could and always would get her to yield. They had to try this whole van thing to see how it went anyway. With a job so low on the danger scale, the opportunity was perfect.

They would set up in the hotel, still a number of days before they planned to hit the location. They were all back in the rhythm of things before long, focused on the tasks at hand, ignoring the rest for now. The rest… well, it was all just as it continued to be for them lately. On the one hand there were Santana and Brittany and the baby plans, while on the other there was Quinn, her and him…

With each week that passed it became harder to ignore the fact that Spencer was becoming a very important part of her life. Not that she wanted to, but then it wasn't so cut and dry with their situation. He didn't know who she was, not this part of her identity, and that was how she needed it… If he ever got in danger because of her, if he got hurt… She kept him separate from Trinity, more than as much as she could. It meant lying to him on more than one occasion, like now… He thought she was away visiting family back in Lima. She hated having to deceive him, but she felt it was necessary.

When she was with him she could feel normal. She didn't regret her secret life one bit, but there was something to be said about having this part of her who she was that was just simple. Spencer was good to her and good for her. He was honestly just a really good guy and when he was around she couldn't stop smiling. After being envious for her two best friends for so long for having each other, now she had someone, too. The more she got to know him, it just revealed more ways in which he could brighten up her day. Just being away from him right now was making her wish she was back home, and she had to get that under control as soon as possible, before 'the big day' came for Trinity. All it did was make her wonder on as to how Santana and Brittany did it, but then they did have each other in all this…

Santana watched as Brittany was going over the plans with Quinn, figuring out their route to get to the item she had to retrieve. It wasn't all about Brittany worrying about her, knowing before long – if all went well – she would be carrying their baby, because… what happened if they succeeded?

What happened if they succeeded and then nothing happened to her and the baby was born and then something happened to Brittany? The thought of looking into that child's eyes and explaining about this mother they would have lost and not known… They were finally getting to live this dream of theirs that had only been that for so many years. As much as they'd wanted to believe in it, they couldn't help but question whether it would really happen or not. And this child that didn't even exist yet… She just wanted to tell him or her how much it was wanted and hoped for.

She had breathed in when she'd felt a hand at her arm. She hadn't even noticed they were done, and now Brittany stood in front of her, with a small smile. "Focus," she dragged out the word, and Santana smirked, breathing out.

"Yeah, good idea," she nodded. Brittany looked over her shoulder to see Quinn was still busy with the plans before nodding for Santana to follow her in the other room.

"We can still go home, you know." Santana looked to her, to the face of the one loved more than anything in her life, and she did consider it, packing everything away and calling it a day.

"Does it… scare you?" she ended up asking.

"Does what scare me?"

"Being here, now…" she shook her head, then chuckled to herself. "It's ridiculous, I just…"

"It's not," Brittany grasped her hands. "Scares me, too," she admitted. "I keep looking at my hand," she did so, and Santana saw that, more specifically, she kept looking at her wedding ring. "I don't want to have to take it off…"

"I'll keep it safe," Santana was the one to comfort her now. "And when you get out of there, I'll put it right back on your finger," she smiled, got one back. "Think we can get through those jitters?"

"I can if you can," Brittany decided.

"Oh I haven't met a challenge that could beat me," Santana vowed, and now she knew. "So we're staying."

Over the next few days, determined to get through this first job back and find their groove again, the three of them had put worries aside and accustomed themselves to being on a job. They could all tell the other ones were having issues as well, and of all things it did kind of help. By the night of the job they had it together so that it wouldn't be Quinn Fabray, Santana Lopez, and Brittany S. Pierce going into that building, but Breaker, Optic, and Sneak.

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!