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 77th cycle. Now cycle 78!

"In White"
((Older) Brittany/Santana,) Quinn, Sophia (OC; Nellie V)
Trinity series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

For however long she might have imagined this day, this was not how she'd thought it would go, in so many ways. But they had their plans now, and she'd just have to work around and find how to make it work. She was getting married in a few months, under her made up name, once her baby was born.

So that was how she ended up in the bridal store, roundly pregnant, with Sophia in tow. She hadn't specifically told Sophia the reason why she needed her, not until they were already there. The girl was several years younger, yes, but as figures went, she had a very similar one to what Quinn had… at least before her pregnancy had started to show. Sophia had been highly hesitant at the thought of trying on the dresses, but Quinn begged her, as a friend, and eventually she'd caved. The awkward look on the girl's face almost made it worth it that Quinn couldn't try these on herself.

At this point, having this day to look forward to where she could watch Sophia try on the dresses she didn't want to have to put on was as good of a distraction as she could ask for.

She didn't want Spencer to go on and start thinking that she wasn't happy that they were getting married, because she was, she really was. And she didn't want him thinking she wasn't excited for their becoming parents… Every time she felt the baby move, it made her heart thrill in a way that she couldn't get enough of. It wasn't the what that bothered her, it was the how.

It wasn't Quinn getting married to Spencer, it was Allie getting married to Tommy, and it was Allie and Tommy's child growing inside her belly.

Once upon a time, she'd been a little girl like many others, a girl who played pretend bride, who imagined what her wedding day would be like. She had at one time married a teddy bear, a neighbor boy, and, in what had been excused on account of adorableness, her cousin. Then she'd grown up some, gotten to high school, and she'd gotten pregnant for the first time.

She remembered one fleeting moment where she'd thought she might marry Puck. He was the father after all, and he'd given her that whole speech about how he would take care of her and the baby, and she'd thought maybe that was where she was meant to go. But then she'd changed her mind, and the whole lie with Finn had happened. She had imagined so many different scenarios, of being wife and mother, even before graduating high school… Looking back now, she couldn't believe how silly she'd been, how foolish…

Then she'd left McKinley, and she'd become who she'd been for so long, a lone thief, isolated in her own choices, her own life… At that point in her life, she was as far from that little teddy-bear-wedding girl as she could get. At that point she thought she'd never get married at all.

When she'd met Spencer, there'd still been that thing getting in the way, the fact that she had this secret job, this thing she never wanted to have to get him involved in. By that logic, for however much she felt love for the man, she had to listen to that love and let him go. He deserved so much more than to get pulled into her mess. She hadn't known how, somehow, he already was in 'her mess,' or in his own. She'd learned the truth, and it had changed everything. Soon after that, the decision had been made, out of need, for her to fake her death and leave… and he'd chosen to leave everything behind to come with her.

Their life in this town had seen the resurgence of a long ago abandoned dream… a normal life… Fall in love, get married, have a family… She'd gone from thinking she'd be alone for the rest of her life, to having friends as good as sisters, to facing the possibility of being alone again, to have Spencer… Tommy… to having new friends like Sophia, and now, soon… a son. His name would be Daniel. But not Lowry, not Fabray…

That might have been the thing that caused her the most anguish, not just that these moments would not be lived under their own names, but that they'd have to be lived away from all those they'd had to leave behind. Her mother wouldn't know she was about to have a grandson. She would have loved you so much. Santana and Brittany would have been there, for the wedding, for the birth… Santana would have been all over this wedding, making sure it was as great and unexpected as her own wedding to Brittany had been. It might not have been a blizzard blackout on New Year's Eve, but she would have made it something equally as memorable. And Brittany… She would have been right by her side all though these last stages of her pregnancy, making sure she had everything she needed. Quinn could imagine her arguing with Spencer that he wasn't doing something right, or that she knew better…

"Allie?" Sophia's voice brought her out of her reverie. "Are you smiling because you like it? Please?" Quinn hadn't even been paying attention to this latest dress, but she could see Sophia had had about enough. It was a shame though, and Quinn had to resist telling her how lovely it looked on her.

"Not quite right," she had to say, thinking of it on her terms. Sophia gave a grave sigh. "But I think we've done enough for today. Get changed back and I'll take you to lunch?"

"Deal," Sophia zipped back to the dressing room, already reaching to undo the dress while the salesgirl chased after her.

Quinn smirked, let out a breath, put a hand to her belly. The wedding wouldn't be everything she'd imagined, but then neither was her life. It would be different, but it would be exactly what she needed it to be: she loved Spencer, under any name, and she would vow to spend the rest of her life with him.

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!