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 34th cycle. Now cycle 35!

YEAR TWO ANNIVERSARY CYCLE! - TODAY it HAS been two years since I've started this Gleekathon, and like last year I'm dedicating the cycle to commemorating my 21 favorite one shots or chapter stories from year two (up to the point where I did the planning ;)) A number of those I was very attached to, but left sad to see may have fallen through the cracks, so it seems fair they should get a second shot ;)

Last year there were three categories, but this year I've added two new ones: Prequel, Sequel, POV Swap, and now Alternate Ending, and Additional Scenes. In no particular order... Today's story is a Sequel to #400 "House of the Rising Sun" a Sunshine Girls Series story originally posted on November 25th 2010.

"Sunburned"
Rachel & Quinn, Judy
Sunshine Girls #35/Extra

[A/N: It's the official-official two-year anniversary! See below!]

She had taken care of the food first. She'd thrown away what she had to, stored what she could in the refrigerator. Then she'd gathered the dishes, washed them, put them away… The last time she'd been here, she'd been too small to reach the cupboards, and yet she remembered exactly where everything went. She finished clearing the table, the kitchen was fine too… She could leave now… Quinn had told her she could go home, that she was alright… so why couldn't Rachel make herself go?

Up those stairs, her friend – yes, her friend – was going through something big, both her and her mother. In just a few minutes she had revealed her father's secret affair, her mother had kicked him out, he'd left, and then her mother had revealed she knew about her being pregnant. And now they were up there, on their own. Quinn would be comforting Judy, Judy would be comforting Quinn… They'd do their best, and that was great, but Rachel still felt she had to help. It was because of her that this had started, with her telling Quinn about what she'd found out, and she knew it had to be done, that it was right, but she still couldn't just walk away. The secret was one thing. Quinn and her, they'd been drawing closer together again, trying to figure out what they would become after they had rediscovered the Sunshine Girls, and then this evening happened. She was her friend, against all odds, and part of that meant knowing to read in the silences.

For a moment she looked around the kitchen, wondering what to do. There was no bandage to put over this… So she made tea. She vaguely remembered Mrs. Fabray's tea pot and the cups… When they were little, she and Quinn used to worship it, but they couldn't play with it… Judging by what had happened to Sunny the glass turtle, Rachel decided this was a wise move on Mrs. Fabray's part. She was probably okay to cross that line now though. She set the tray, three cups, filled the pot and set it with everything else. She could hear the clinking – she was still shaking, feeling like she was playing where she wasn't supposed to… so much for that. But eventually she made it up the stairs and got to the door… Now she had to open it…

"… don't know, it's…" the door suddenly opened and both she and Quinn startled, face to face with the tray between them. "You're here…" Quinn blinked, surprised, while Rachel worked to regain her tight grip on the tea tray.

"I made tea…" she didn't know what else to say.

"Thanks," Quinn replied, smiling.

"How's she doing?" Rachel went on, keeping her voice down.

"Quinn?" Judy called from inside the room.

"Rachel made tea," Quinn announced, motioning for her to come inside. Rachel gave a quick nod as though to say 'are you sure?' and Quinn ushered her in. Judy sat up in her bed, and Rachel imagined Quinn had been sitting at her side until the sound of cups had drawn her attention.

"That's very sweet of you, dear," Judy tried to sound normal, though Rachel could see she'd been crying.

"It's no problem," she promised, bringing the tray and setting it down. Part of her still felt as though she was intruding, but as Quinn regained her spot by her mother's side, she indicated for Rachel to sit with them. She resisted asking if she was sure – the habit was hard to kick, but she'd get there. Cups were passed, and Rachel sat at the edge of the bed, facing the two blondes… They fell quiet for a while.

"I should… I should call your sister," Judy realized, looking to Quinn.

"It can wait until tomorrow," she promised.

"Right, of course," Judy took a drink of her tea. She took in a breath, looking at the cup, and then of all things… she laughed. "You two loved these cups when you were little girls…" she traced the edge.

"I remember," Quinn smiled.

"I was shaking the whole way up the stairs… Didn't want to drop them," Rachel smirked.

"I've really missed having you around this house, Rachel," Judy bowed her head, and Rachel blinked, honestly and deeply touched. Now having them to focus on, it did seem to help lift Judy's spirits, and Rachel almost had to bite back a smirk, as she thought about how the two of them had managed to get back on the clock and cheer someone up once again. "Quinn's told me you've been helping her lately, with… with the pregnancy," she went on, still struggling to say it, even though they had come to see she had known about it for some time now. Rachel nodded. She tried to think of something to say, but as true as it would be – she didn't want her to be alone, or it was the least she could do – all of it would have made it seem like she was suggesting Judy had been slacking on the matter. "Thank you," Judy had finally said, so Rachel just went on nodding.

After that, silence had regained them, though it wasn't sad, or uncomfortable, it was just letting things settle after all the disruption. Quinn would tend to her mother, quiet but caring, until finally Judy was tired and said she'd go to sleep. Rachel had brought the tray back to the kitchen, carefully cleaning all the pieces and returning them to their place. She supposed she should go home now, once she checked in on Quinn. She went back upstairs, finding the blonde in her room, pulling out PJs from a drawer. "Hey…" Rachel spoke carefully, so not to startle her. "Is she sleeping?"

"Yeah," she confirmed, and with one word from her, Rachel knew she wasn't okay. She'd been all about taking care of her mother, but now…

"You should eat something," Rachel realized. Quinn looked back at her. "Dinner got kind of interrupted, and well there's you and then there's…" Rachel indicated her belly, meaning the baby.

"Oh… right…" she paused. "I think there's brownies… I don't know that that's…"

"Under the circumstances, I think you've earned them," Rachel nodded, and Quinn gave a small smile – she had retreated, since she'd left her with her mother before. Her smiles were harder to come by. They went down into the kitchen, and Rachel found the brownies, adding glasses of milk. She wasn't going to say anything, but then she bit into one of the brownies and she blinked. "Oh they're just like I remembered…" she couldn't help exclaiming.

"Some things don't change," Quinn nodded, and Rachel looked back at her, seeing the sadness in her eyes held the rest of those words… Some things don't change, but others do… too much.

"I'm really sorry, Quinn."

"He made this happen, not me… He brought it on himself…" she spoke evenly.

"I know," Rachel could have tried making her feel better, but that would be denying the truth of Russell's actions. But then Quinn broke down, and Rachel blinked, putting her brownie down, wiping her hands on a napkin before moving forward, no hesitation as she wrapped her arms around her friend, let her let it out. She closed her eyes, pulling together any strength she could feed on to the blonde. When it came down to it, this was the end of her family as he'd known it. Rachel tried not to think about what it would be like, if this had been her fathers splitting up, the way the Fabrays had, she would be just as affected, because that would have ripped her apart, and right then she had to be strong for Quinn. She couldn't say a word; she would hold her, and she would stay with her, as long as she needed.

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!

And that's a second year complete... (A third year commencing... ;)) I'm still not able to put it in my head that it's been two whole years since this started, that it's still going strong. This is my sanity, in this craziness of university, at least for a little bit every day ;) Of course now I'm in my final semester, about to graduate, and I can't wait because that means I'll be able to do things I haven't been able to do (you know, besides transcription, organization, general clerical overload ;)) Good times, good times for year three!

As for year two, it's definitely been hectic in a whole other way than year one. Courses got more complicated, which led to this whole madness with stories having to be written straight on the computer, piles of 'to transcribe' stories stacking up... yet another thing I need to deal with once school is over... It allowed me to keep going uninterrupted, so I guess it's all good ;) Can't wait to be all caught up though...

This year I definitely took a few more risks... more chapter stories, most challenging of all the massive Valentine's story... crossovers (Doctor Who! Castle! The Big Bang Theory!)... new series (Trinity, Paper Heart, Sam & Nell, Rent..) and the old series too...

Had to do a lot of planning ahead, due to being in university, which would mean most of the time that I had to plan stories weeks ahead of time (for instance at the moment I have stories planned through to the first days of January), which did allow for some forethought as far as series planning, but it sucked in the event that something happened on the show and I'd really want to do a ficlet for it, but schedule made it impossible for months...

And then there's all you lovely people! Awesome helpers, you know who you are and you kick all kinds of ass on a daily basis for dealing with my madness, wuv you! :D All of you who take the time and leave reviews, you have no idea how instrumental you are to my keeping going every day. You are dipped in awesomesauce, and I'm hugging you all right now, right now! And I've said it before, I'll say it again, I am always open to plot suggestions, requests, whatever, if it's something I can do, then I'll do it, so long as you're willing to wait for whenever I can schedule it ;)

So two years done... today is the 'official' anniversary and thus the beginning of year three! Just imagine, if I make it to next October, I'll have cracked 1000 days! Ah! Miles to go before I sleep ;)

Cheers and gleek on... gleekathon on ;)
mooners