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 45th cycle. Now cycle 46!

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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 45 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days! (cycle 46 cheat sheet will be up later)

This is a shift day [see above]. There was another upload this morning: You'll Find Wonder, chapter 26.
(OMG I forgot to post this one yesterday! O:-))

"Sneaking In With Bells On"
Sue & Brittany
Sylvesters series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Her mother had never flat out told her she couldn't drink, but with all she usually frowned upon, both as mother and coach, Brittany guessed maybe this was one of those things she could and should keep to herself. So she would, and on most nights she would take it as an opportunity to spend the evening at Santana's. This was not one of those times though, and so she had to take the alternative route: she would have to sneak in.

This was a risky enterprise even when she was sober. Being drunk now, it was anyone's guess, certainly not her own, whether or not people could hear her. They had dropped her off after Rachel's party, and she would still have the presence of mind to be dropped off a few houses down from her own. "Big secret, big, big secret…" she'd mumble to herself after they'd gone, shushing no one in particular.

She had stumbled along, redressed as best as she'd managed after she had lost most of the clothes at one time or another during the evening. She walked with her boots in her hands, not wanting to be heard. She had found her house, recognized it by the missing shutter from that time Santana had snuck out the window and knocked it off with her foot. She'd blamed it on Lord Tubbington when her mother had asked, but he'd understood.

Santana had made her promise she wouldn't try to shimmy up the side of the house and risk breaking her neck, so she had gone for the front door. "Key, where's… I don't have one," she realized, then laughed. "Oh well…" she sat down on the stoop, waited, set her boots next to her and looked the other way. "Hey, little frog," she picked up the stone figure like it was an animal, startled when something fell out of it and into her lap. She picked up the key in awe. "How'd you do that?" she asked, turning to stand on her knees and fit the key in the hole. She turned it and gasped when the door swung open. "Woah…" she pulled herself back on her feet and walked in, carrying frog and key. She closed the door.

The house was dark, but it was alright, she could get around it fine… unless she ended up in the pantry… again. She'd been through a half a box of cookies before she'd realized this wasn't her room.

This time around she had found the bottom of the staircase, grasped it and began climbing it, stubbing her bare toes twice and only crying out on the third, which had made her lose her footing and she yelped, gripping the ramp for dear life, which had made her body swerve and knock into the bars. Now she wasn't sure anymore if this was a staircase or a cliff…

"Brittany?" That was her mother, so unless she was on the cliff, too…

The lights came on much too quick and her eyes snapped shut, making her slide into a seated position. "Ow…" she wasn't sure if this had been prompted by the light in her eyes or the stairs in her back or both. She blinked and she could see her mother's shape cut through the moments when her eyes opened in such a way that she would look like she was appearing closer and closer every time. "Hi…"

"What are you doing?"

"I… I…" She had no idea what to tell her, her mind drawing a solid blank. "I need a minute."

"Please, take your time," her mother told her, and she breathed out, smiling.

"Oh, thanks…"

"Brittany!" she snapped; so she hadn't meant it. Drunk and confused, she had startled.

"Sorry, I'm lost…" she cringed, trying to stand up and barely managing it. "I'm not liking the spinning, can we turn that off?" she clawed at the air. Sue sighed and offered her hand, which her daughter gladly took. She led her back down the stairs and into the living room. She sat her on the couch, then noticed…

"Where are your shoes, please tell me you wore some."

"I had boots, I… I found a frog, it… Where did it go?" Brittany looked around. Sue frowned, pointing back. In her attempts to hike the stairs, Brittany had dropped the stone and it had tumbled and shattered, which had awakened Sue in the first place. "Oh, no, did I kill it?" she whimpered. From this information, Sue had gone back to the door and opened it to find, as expected, the forgotten boots.

She brought them in, only to find the blonde had fallen asleep curled halfway on and off the couch. She'd had to pull her head and upper body back on to the cushions.

"We'll talk in the morning… I'll be anxious to hear what you've done with your bra…" she muttered to herself.

Brittany had woken up finding her world was not done spinning. It had added hammers, too, pounding relentlessly at her head. She was feeling sick, needed to get to the bathroom and couldn't help but think the act of moving to get there would only serve to precipitate what she wanted to do, but she had to take her chances.

But then when she'd sat up, her feet had bumped into something on the way to the ground – a bucket. A moment later, Sue would be alerted to her daughter's awakening by the sound of retching in the living room. She frowned to herself and stood from her chair in the kitchen and moved back to where she'd left her daughter. She found her sitting up again, clammy and pale.

"Morning," Brittany had not gotten to say a thing before she'd bent back to the bucket.

She'd let her go and shower before they would talk. When she appeared, still hung over but more alert now, her hair hung wet around her face, which was lowered.

"Please, sit," Sue directed, and she listened. "So… big night?" she asked. Brittany hesitated. "This will be a lot easier if you speak up now."

"There was a party… at Rachel's house," Brittany quickly volunteered, then quieted again.

"Is that right…" Sue muttered, sighed. "How'd you get home?"

"Finn drove some of us, I think, I…" she tried to recall her blurred memories, holding up her hand to situate the height of her driver and nodding to herself. "Yes, Finn."

"He didn't drink?"

"No," Brittany promised. "Kurt, too." This did reassure Sue to some degree, still…

"When I was your age I didn't have… Well, my adolescence was very different from yours, let's leave it at that. And then you came along and I told myself I'd let you have everything I didn't have. Now though it's harder to do than I thought it would be," she admitted, looked up to her, "Especially seeing you the way I did last night." Brittany's face saddened.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again."

"We both know you will," Sue shook her head, and Brittany didn't contest it. "Just promise me you'll be responsible about it."

"I will. I swear."

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!