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

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Let's Take Chicago.

"Those Are Wooden Wings"
Brittany, Brittany/Santana
Boston Britt series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

1. And We Fly

In her dreams, it could never go wrong. She was right where she needed to be, and she kept going higher, higher… The waking world wasn't as easy, she knew. She still missed home, her family, her friends… some days she even missed her Cheerios uniform. And when it wasn't that she missed something or someone, it would be about little things that were causing her problems, a difficult class, difficult test, remembering what was riding on her succeeding here… Then there would be the bodily discomforts, long days making her ache, blisters, bruises, sprains… But in the end all was well. She was at a great school, she was learning so much… and she had Santana. Some days it was scary to think how much she had sacrificed for her, and Brittany knew how much she just didn't want to disappoint her and make it all have been in vain.

"Hey… have to wake up…" she heard," she realized she was awake now, and…

"Santana?" she mumbled.

"You fell asleep here again," the girl informed her, just as she opened her eyes and saw her face swimming overhead, smiling. She didn't remember a pillow having been there under her head when she'd been sitting on the couch the night before, but now there was one, along with a blanket over her. She rubbed at her eyes, yawning and resettling.

"But your couch is comfy," she lamented. "It's like a cloud that smells like… cheese puffs," she declared.

"That would be these," Santana waved the bag which had been on the coffee table. Brittany tried to grab for it, but Santana pulled it away. "Breakfast first, but more importantly do you remember what today is?" Brittany dug her head in the pillow, wanting to sleep.

"Tuesday," her voice came muffled.

"And Tuesday is…" she led on. It took a few moments more before the blonde head turned up again.

"Oh…" Santana nodded, offering her hand. Brittany took it, letting herself be yanked up. "Am I late?"

"No, but you might want to hurry." Brittany all but dove into her shoes, straightening the clothes she had slept in. "Coffee and toast on the table," Santana added, and Brittany paused, smiling to her. "Go!" Santana pointed with a smile in return.

Carrying the speedy breakfast, she had rushed on her way back to school, back to the dorms. It was finished by the time she had reached the school, and she burst into her room to find her roommates, Tessa and Aimee, already dressed, just about ready to go.

"Morning," Tessa breathed, as though to say 'it's about time.' She was developing a habit of falling asleep at Santana's and having to run on to school, and if the school hadn't noticed, her roommates sure had. They never complained though, would never rat her out.

"Sorry…" she still gave a shy nod. She grabbed fresh clothes, sped through a change, brushed her hair into a quick ponytail, took her bag, and the trio headed out together.

It was coming to be the end of the session, and with that came the most stress Brittany had ever experienced since she had arrived in Boston. She'd have tests, both for her academic classes, and for her dance classes, and her success on both of those would decide her fate for the next year, not to mention her standing with Sherry Weston and the offer she had made her, and Santana and all she'd done just to be there with her, for her…

Maybe for that she had been staying there more often. She was so nervous, but somehow being there, with her, it wasn't as bad. She didn't have to say anything, she knew, and she let her… Not that she would ever have turned her away. Things between them had been good… really good. They had never really discussed anything of what it was that they were doing, what it meant. Part of them knew they weren't ready, to a point, that already being here in this situation, Brittany pulled from all she knew by an opportunity, Santana choosing to leave everything behind so she could be there to support her… It was a lot to adjust to. Adding more change, especially now, could be too much.

But Santana was here, and it had taken Aimee asking her about them, about their friendship, their relationship, for Brittany to start thinking about it all from another angle, and start to wonder if maybe she hadn't realized how much it could all mean, to both of them. It took a good friend to back you up when you needed it the way she'd needed it, but what Santana had done was so much more than that.

She had left her home, her family, and Brittany had finally seen just what it had meant, what it had done to her and her family. She had run away, basically. She had left a note but she had not told her parents. Her little sister Catalina had known, had encouraged it. But Santana knew her parents wouldn't be nearly so enthusiastic. Brittany had seen how having to call home the first time was hard for her. Since that time, going from having been sheltered by Artie's aunt and uncle to doing all she had to in order to get the apartment she now had, while she was showing all the signs of having settled down without difficulty, this wasn't the case.

Her parents were very upset, rightly so, Santana would say. Her father had come up to Boston, tried to get her to come home, but she wouldn't do it. When Mr. Lopez had gone away, it was as good as giving up. Brittany had stayed at Santana's for a whole week after that, to comfort her. It had already taken so long for either of her parents to come up there, after having tried on the phone so many times. She wouldn't have gone, no matter what, some of the details still blurry to Brittany. But what she did know was Santana hadn't spoken to her parents in a month; she called her sister every night.

Soon it would be summer, soon she could go… home, her first home. Boston had kind of become that, too. She'd been here long enough that she'd adjusted to this new rhythm of life, while Lima seemed so far away now and not so familiar. But she couldn't wait to see her family, to hold them, to see her old friends from Glee Club. Only one thing made her hesitate. Going to Lima would mean leaving Santana a while; she wouldn't go, Brittany knew she wasn't ready… Now Brittany had more to think about, but first… hell week.

These next few days were going to be hard, she knew. If she didn't have her roommates and Santana she wasn't sure she would make it. She had grown, had become stronger in these past months, but when it came to something like this, she was still that girl from Lima everyone called stupid behind her back, if they didn't do it to her face. But they were there, and every day they reminded her of how far she'd come, and how much further she could and would go… She just had to make it through the week.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)