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 36th cycle. Now cycle 37!

"Sunrays"
Rachel, Quinn, Q/F, R/P
Sunshine Girls #37 (technically follows 'Solar Flare')

[A/N: Tis my birthday today, if I could make a wish... Read stuff! [Review stuff? ;)] Tell a friend? :)]

It had started to dawn on her that she might have to step in and give something like a nudge. Puck was being clueless about the whole thing, no surprise to her, and Rachel was bound to take too long if she kept this bit of one step forward three steps back followed by a run kind of dance with him. Call it hormones, call it things actually working out for her in that moment, she didn't care. The way she saw it she had a friend who had been so good to her in the past couple of months and this could be something that would help her back, make her happy too.

The question was how to do it. Whatever she came up with had to be so perfectly singular and purposeful that it would veer right back into being an innocent coincidence. It was either going to work or it would fail miserably, but Quinn Fabray knew her way around a victory. So she was patient, as patient as she could be under the circumstances. If she had to sit by one more day while they did nothing… Okay, maybe it was the hormones a little bit.

And then one day, a miracle dropped on her, carried on the wings of one Will Schuester. It was the start of another week in Glee Club and with it came new assignment time. They may have won Sectionals, but they weren't resting on their laurels. It was to be a standard duet kind of situation, and then he whipped out the name hat and said the magic words: he needed one volunteer to come and assign the pairings. Her hand cut through the air so fast that Artie, sitting to her right, flinched and almost fell over with his chair. Will invited her up and as she moved up she worked out her plan.

Her eyes were casual as far as the others could see, but they were roaming, looking at the cards as she stirred her hand through them. She could see the letters of all their names in her mind, the better to scope out the ones she needed. As much as she would have liked to pair herself off with Finn, she knew it might have raised suspicion, so she sacrificed him off to Mercedes. For her part she ended up being paired with Tina. Before that, she'd picked off Matt and Brittany. On the first pick for the fourth pair, her eyes spotted the curve of what could be a P or an R and immediately tucked the card back in, fluidly catching off another, and then another, making a pair of Santana and Artie. Again working out the appearance of casualty, she went in for the kill on pair five, picking out one card, then the next… Pair five, Rachel and Puck… and then Kurt and Mike, pair six. Will thanked her, and she went back to sit, innocent.

At the end of rehearsal, everyone got up to leave, the pairs meeting off to discuss their assignments. Quinn told Tina she'd call her when she got home, then turned to find Finn just as he slipped his arm around her shoulders and she smiled up at him. "Shame we didn't get paired up," she told him.

"It's okay," he told her. "At least this way I get to watch you up there, and you get to watch me."

"I'll do that," she nodded before her eyes caught sight of Rachel across the room, on her own. "Hey, I have to go take care of something, I'll meet you at the car?" she asked, and he nodded, moving off.

Things were still a work in progress with them, since he'd found out the truth, since she'd told him, about her and Puck and the baby… His trust in her had been shaken, and she had to accept that. The fact he was even willing to try and surmount that obstacle with her was even more than she could hope for. Then as a couple of weeks had gone by she could feel like he was coming back to her, letting her in again, trusting her. She made it her personal vow to give him every reason to be proud of her and to show that she meant what she said when she told him she loved him and not Puck. Now the more things were improving, the more joy she felt… the less fear… that was her good place, and everyone could see it.

And if she was going to have her happiness, then so would she…

"Rachel?" she went up to her, looking back. "Where's Puck?"

"I don't know, he left with Matt and Mike…"

"Well did you talk about your duet?" she asked, guiding her out of the choir room.

"Not yet. I tried to talk to him but he had to go," she explained. Quinn scanned the halls, saw him off by Mike's locker. She spun back to look at Rachel.

"There he is, go on," she nodded at him with her head.

"I'll just call him tonight or something."

"Since when are you so cavalier about a Glee Club assignment," Quinn baited her.

"Aren't you always telling me to pay attention to others in there?" Rachel returned. "I'm just leaving him some space."

"I think you have enough space in there to fit Coach Sylvester glitter cannon reserves. Come on, you know you want to…" she gave her a smile.

"I…" Rachel started, then paused quite suddenly, staring at her friend. Her jaw grew increasingly slack while Quinn's smile went brighter and more mischievous by the minute. "What did you do?"

"Enabling," she came to stand behind her, so they were both able to see Puck down the hall. "Let me tell you a thing I learned about Noah Puckerman in my time knowing him. What he's doing right now, over there, he's got someone in his sights, and I think we both know who that is."

"I'm concerned for you," Rachel snarked back at her.

"I'm touched. Now you've got a week, don't you waste it. Go." Rachel gave a bit of a head bob as though to say 'alright, alright, I'm going,' but as she was walking off Quinn knew she'd seen her smile to herself. She wasn't exactly un-proud either. This week should be fun…

She played the casual observer as the days went by. She'd worked out her duet with Tina in a flash, they would be ready, no problem. When she was at school, she'd watch them, if and how they interacted, and she knew they'd meet to work on their song after school. She barely saw her all week.

What she did see was the progress of her suggestion to Rachel not to waste away her week with him. She wasn't sure exactly what was happening with them, but what she did know was that as the week went along, the times in which she saw those two not standing within talking distance was on a steep decline. By the last day, when they'd be performing their duets, they weren't leaving each other's side. As everyone was waiting for their turn, Quinn leaned over to whisper to Rachel in the front row. "So, how did the week go?" she smiled.

"Alright, Rachel, Puck, you're up," Will called just as Rachel turned back to Quinn, her face betraying nothing as she got up.

"I don't know, you tell me."

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!