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: #3 - Sunshine Girls
This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Those Are Wooden Wings, chapter 10.
"We Are of the Sun"
(Older) Rachel & Quinn, 5yo Nora (AU!Beth) - Finn/Quinn, Puck/Rachel
Sunshine Girls series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)
Quinn had called that morning, asking that she come by the apartment, today if possible. When Rachel asked her why, she'd given one word: Nora.
"Not taking the change too well?" Rachel guessed knowingly.
"She took the cauliflower sneak attack better," Quinn told her, and she could hear the cringe in Rachel's laugh.
"Right, be there in an hour."
They had known that telling the five-year-old about how, soon, she wouldn't be able to follow when her father and stepmother went to New York anymore, wouldn't go over so well. They'd all done just fine with this system of theirs, sharing Nora when they were split between New York & Ohio, for as long as they'd had to, only now she was growing. She would be starting school, and they knew they couldn't just send her to two schools, and there was no need for tutors. So she'd have to stay in Lima… which wasn't pleasing her one bit.
Rachel arrived at the apartment and she followed to find the tiny blonde sat in the pantry – her hiding spot. She would push the things on the ground just enough so she could fit, and she'd shut the door, spying through slats.
Finn was off at work by now, leaving the two to attend to their daughter's 'issues.' This was fine, perfect actually. They had a solution, and he couldn't be there – no boys allowed. They came up to the pantry door, paused.
"Nora, honey? Can we talk?" Quinn asked politely. There was ruffling from inside, but no reply. "We're both here," she encouraged, looking to Rachel, who took her cue, crouching so she could be seen through the slats.
"Hi there, can we talk?" she smiled. "I really hope we can, because then you give me those big, big hugs…" she recalled. There was silence, seconds going by before the door creaked open and a blonde head of hair appeared, blue eyes peering up.
"Hi," Nora smiled, holding her arms out. Rachel reached in and pulled her out, bringing her close.
"Oh, there's that hug," Rachel smiled.
"Why can't I go with you and dad anymore?" she asked, the pout tugging at both mothers' hearts.
"You're getting to be a big girl, you know? You'll be going to school," Quinn reminded.
"There's no school in New York?" Nora asked.
"There are," Rachel promised. "But you can't go to school here and there at the same time."
"Why not?" Nora asked.
"Well, that's just how it is," Quinn told her, though she could tell already this wouldn't be enough for her. "It won't be so bad."
"That's right, and your dad and I will come down to see you whenever we can. And when we can't, we'll talk on the computer, you know, like how you talk to her when you're with us, only it'll be the other way around."
"Don't go…" Nora begged, holding on to Rachel tightly, and Quinn could see the girl's pleas were not falling on deaf ears. Rachel didn't want to leave her either, and if it were up to her, she wouldn't have to. Nora had always been as much hers as she was Quinn's, Puck's, or Finn's.
"Not gone yet, Pea," Rachel assured her. "When we do have to go, we'll do our best to make it easier for you, okay?" She looked to Quinn for assistance.
"Hey, Nor? You know, we got something to show you, something special. But it's secret, so you can't tell anyone…" A pair of curious eyes turned to her.
"What about Dad? And Dad?" she asked.
"Can't tell them either," Rachel shook her head mysteriously, and Nora went wide-eyed. Finn and Puck already knew, of course, but for the sake of this moment, they had agreed to play dumb.
"What is it?" Nora asked, now completely invested. Quinn smirked.
"We'll show you," she told her daughter as they headed toward her room. When they got there, Rachel sat the girl down on her bed, while Quinn reached in the closet and pulled a box from the back of the top shelf.
"Where did that come from?" Nora blinked at the object she had never known to be in her own bedroom. Quinn brought it to rest on the ground, sitting on Nora's other side.
"Probably wondering what the secret is, right?" Rachel asked, and Nora nodded.
"Well… Mom and I," Quinn indicated Rachel, before whispering the next part, "We're superheroes." Nora gasped, looking from one to the other.
"You are?" she asked.
"They called us the All-Mighty Sunshine Girls," Rachel confirmed, and Nora smiled. When Quinn opened the box and pulled out a large black book, Nora couldn't know this moment had been years in the making, since before her birth even.
All she saw was the gold tracing on the cover. She saw the sun drawn there and looked back to her mothers as though to say she knew this stood for Sunshine Girls, and they confirmed. She saw the three names written, but she only had eyes for one of them, for what she knew it to spell.
"N… o… r… a…" she prodded each letter. "Is it mine?" she asked.
"It's all of ours," Quinn nodded, and she was rewarded with her daughter's smile.
When she opened it, she was stunned at what she found. She'd seen pictures of her parents as kids before, so when she saw them, she knew… "That's you!" she pointed to the first picture.
"Yes, it is, see?" Rachel reached in the box, pulling out Quinn's – or Rays' – old tiara and placing it on Nora's head.
They continued to look through the pages and, as they did, they told Nora about the Sunshine Girls, Beams and Rays, and what they did. They showed her their maps, their pictures, everything.
They showed her the bond that existed between them, despite the break, which they had glossed over. They showed how connected they were then, continued to be now, and would continue to be in the future… No matter what, no matter if they were apart, like she would be after school started, when Rachel and Puck would have to return to New York and leave Nora in Lima.
They knew it wouldn't be an immediate fix, but it would still help. It gave her something to hold on to. This would be hard on all of them, not just her, but they would cope, and they needed to know that she would as well, or leaving her would be impossible. Now though she had the Sunshine Girls, and they would help to brighten things up, as only they could and always had done, from the start.
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!