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 49th cycle. Now cycle 50!

CYCLE 50 SPECIAL FAVORITES CHART - So I've done 'favorites' cycles before, and this is another one, but since it's cycle 50, I wanted to do something special for it. So instead of the usual top 16 with a 6-chapter Boston Britt installment for Brittany (who has always been and remains number one ;)), this is how it will be: It's shift days through the cycle. Shift B will be a 21-chapter/day Boston Britt. In shift A, after the first day's 'extra' dedicated to New Directions, there will be four Top 5 lists, working their way down (all the number 5 spots, all the number 4 spots, number 3, 2, and finishing with all the number one spots)

The Top 5's are as follows (all are my 'top 5 favorite...'):
* Top 5 Series (my series)
* Top 5 Friendships
* Top 5 Characters
* Top 5 Relationships

TODAY: Top 5 Series: #5 -

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Those Are Wooden Wings, chapter 2.

"Follow Me To the Cabaret"
AU!Jesse/Quinn, AU!Sue, AU!Will, AU!New Directions
series (following Power Couple)
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Her spies had grown insufficient. To her, that was how it was starting to feel. She was going to need to do something more herself if this Glee Club was going to be taken down, and she just might know how.

If Quinn thought she hadn't noticed what was going on between her and that Jesse kid, then she had it wrong. This could be a problem, or it could be her way in. From what she'd heard of him, pulling him out of the equation just might be how she would get the pyramid to topple. If it meant having to deal with Sandy Ryerson and his… charming qualities… then so be it. That was only one part of the plan. What she had in mind for him would only work if the others did their part…

Quinn didn't want to do it. Never mind the fact she didn't see the point to it, it felt like all it would do would be to cause more trouble… and that was if she even believed that they could do it. Coach Sylvester had not actually recruited her for this. No, instead she had called on Santana and Brittany. Their task was simple, the way she'd say it, but the execution of it, well…

The two of them were to convince a few of their football friends to join the Glee Club with them. The coach had not been specific, just said 'two, three would be better.' Right away the girls had thought about their friends Mike and Matt. From what they knew of them, it wasn't an impossibility to think they might get on board with this. Quinn was still unaware of the whole business at this point, but then Brittany had let it slip. When Quinn had deemed this silly, Santana had gotten this sort of gleam in her eyes that inspired nothing of confidence in Quinn.

And then two days later, standing with Finn in the choir room, she had looked up at the sound of Mr. Schuester's voice, and… At first she was so surprised she was frozen. Apparently they had convinced Mike and Matt. The boys looked a little uncertain, but they were there. Only behind them, she had sighted the mohawk poking through and there he was… Puck. She'd have to resist going after Santana for this one, and she knew this was her play just by looking at her.

Noah Puckerman had nearly been a temptation to her. She had her values, she had her limits, and this had always gotten a thrill out of the guy, she could see. Had the circumstances been different she might have given in to temptation, with him… But she hadn't fallen that far. She'd come close, weeks ago, but she'd held strong. It didn't mean she didn't remember.

For Jesse, the letterman jacket invasion had not been a simple matter. His competition within Glee Club was simple. There was Artie, and Kurt, and they were one thing, but he didn't worry. But then there was Finn, and now these three guys, and… and he wasn't sure just what he felt he was competing for anymore, solos and success, or… her… As if he had any sort of claim.

She was still Finn's girlfriend, and Finn was still his friend, more so every day, much to his dismay, because his feelings grew just as fast, if not faster. It wasn't like she ignored him, in fact she would speak to him more and more, sometimes now outside of Glee Club or class. She made him feel like he was part of something new.

But now in came the jocks, big, strong, popular… nothing like him… and for all the progress he'd made, all of a sudden it was like being made to remember the 'natural order of things.' He wasn't like them, and he had no shot at a girl like Quinn Fabray, especially with all those guys there, not counting that one was already her boyfriend.

One day this had made him so down on himself that he hadn't gone in to Glee Club. He would stand in the hall, at his locker, distracted… easy to startle when there was a clatter at his back. He turned to find Coach Sylvester crouching to pick up a stack of papers. She caught him looking and gave him a glare before tacking one of the sheets to the bulletin board and moving on. His eyes were inevitably drawn to the sheet and he saw it was advertising upcoming auditions for a production of Cabaret.

Maybe that would be just what he needed, some time away from all this school spirit, and a musical, even better. He'd be away from the jocks, the Cheerios, the temptation… Maybe it'd be best for everyone.

Only when word got out that Jesse had apparently gone and jumped ship, not everyone took it so well. Mr. Schuester said nothing, but his disappointment was evident. Finn couldn't understand why he would walk away like this, after everything they had already done, and the fact they had reached twelve members, which they had learned was a very important number to the world of Glee Club.

No matter what, those he could actually deal with. What was harder was how Quinn took it.

It wasn't even that she was angry at first; that might have made it easier. No, instead she had been so calm about it, and it was in seeing this that Jesse had done something he had not planned to do: he tried to make a play for her. It might not have looked that way, but he realized he was doing it. She was talking about how she had actually started to enjoy being in Glee Club, something he had to swear to keep to himself, and then he'd asked her to leave it, leave and audition for Cabaret with him.

She'd been taken aback, and he had pushed on, maybe too fast or too much. Either way she had turned him down, and Jesse had to watch her go, fearing what would come of this, if Finn would hear what had happened and think he'd…

After that, as much as he tried he couldn't find joy in his work on Cabaret. Sure, he had to deal with Ryerson again, and that was bound to trouble any guy, but that wasn't it. He just couldn't get his heart in it anymore.

Once again he was finding himself at a crossroads. Right about now they would all be gathered in the choir room or the auditorium, practicing… He decided to at least go see what was happening. He was led to the auditorium, and… even as he was nearing, he could strain and hear a voice in the distance, a voice he would recognize, and as he'd snuck in to the back, he saw he was right.

Quinn was on stage, singing a solo he would later learn had originally been Tina's, until she'd given it away. He was so busy watching her it hadn't dawned on him that she'd seen him. When his eyes locked on hers and she continued to sing, at him, he felt chills.

"Good night, good night. Sleep well and when you dream, dream of me. Tonight…"

Jesse knew what it was that he'd get himself into if he took this further, but he couldn't help himself… He was falling so fast for her there was no stopping.

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!