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 57th cycle. Now cycle 58!

This is a shift day. There are two updates today.

"Make It Twelve"
16yo Mike/Tina, Quinn, New Directions, Cheerios
Chang Squared series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

They weren't exactly working as a unit yet… actually they really weren't… but there were twelve of them, and that made Mr. Schuester very happy. They had enough members to compete now, that was a step they had needed to take. This wasn't going to bother her though, not today, and for two reasons. The first was that it was Sunday, which meant no school, Cheerios practice, or Glee Club rehearsal. But the second was because it was her birthday, and they weren't going to mess with that.

Part of that day wasn't 'hers,' she knew. Whether she wanted them or not, inviting – all – the Cheerios was just about required. She had invited them, and enough people at least to try and make them fade into the scenery.

Before any of them would arrive though, at least, she had Mike to cheer her up. When she opened the door, she could see the movies in his hand, and she smiled. "That's for tonight when they're gone," he shook his head, and she laughed.

"Fine. But can we skip this party?"

"The one that's for you and is happening right here at your house?" he asked.

"Yeah, come on, we'll hide in the basement, they won't even know we're here," she nodded encouragingly.

"Hey, you got me through my sixteenth, I'll get you through yours," he insisted, and she let out a breath.

"I'm not getting out of this, am I?" she asked, and he shook his head.

Soon her house was invaded with a large number of their classmates, including her fellow Cheerios. Many of them still walked around like they didn't care for her as their captain, siding with Quinn, but then she'd had those who had instead sided with her, and even better she had ones who had come around, realizing she wasn't in fact a bad influence for the squad and she could be a good captain if they just gave her a chance. Brittany tended to keep quiet on all of it. She was Tina's friend, and that wasn't going to change, but Santana and Quinn would have rather she stay on their side of the matter, and so she kept quiet.

"Happy Birthday!" she had still smiled and come to hug her.

"Thanks," Tina had smiled back before spotting Quinn and Santana behind her. "Hey…"

"Happy Birthday, Tina," Quinn told her, though her eyes were elsewhere.

"Thank you, Quinn." She had been courteous, so she moved off with Santana, and Brittany followed after them, waving back to Tina and Mike as she went.

"What's going on with her?" Tina frowned.

"Who, Brittany?" Mike asked.

"No, Quinn."

She had been acting odd for a few days, from around the time Finn, and Puck, and Matt had come into the choir room as their tenth, eleventh, and twelfth members. They guessed it was because she hadn't planned on having her boyfriend get involved in this as well.

Sometime during the party, Tina had chased off Santana and Puck before they could go into her bedroom. "Hey, whatever you're thinking of doing, go do it somewhere else! That goes for everyone!" she had called out, reaching to shut her bedroom door and thinking she needed a lock or something. But then as she'd been about to shut the door, she'd caught movement inside and she opened the door. "I said not h… Quinn?" she was surprised to see her. "What are you doing here? Is Finn…" she crouched to look under her bed.

"Relax, he's not here, and even if he was, that wouldn't be happening," Quinn told her, moving to sit back where she'd been, at her desk chair.

"Then what are you doing here?" Tina asked again.

"I needed to get some air, alright?" she indicated the open window. "It's crowded in there, and loud, and I just," she shrugged. Tina stared at her and frowned.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? You look a little pale."

"Yeah, that's because I was sick a minute ago," she pointed to Tina's bathroom, and the girl frowned. "I cleaned up, everything's fine."

"Are you okay?" Tina asked, forgetting for a moment that she kind of hated the girl's guts lately.

"Why should you care? Not like I'd tell you…" she'd scoffed.

"What are you pregnant or something?" Tina had just joked, annoyed again all of a sudden, but at the flinch of panic on the blonde's face, no matter how hard she'd tried to hide it, Tina knew it hadn't been a joke for her. "Wait, are you?" Quinn hesitated, then she stood, staring her down.

"I know it's probably the perfect ammo to take me down right now, but I'm… I'm begging you, okay? Don't tell anyone… Please," she almost sounded desperate.

"You got it," Tina told her, then after a moment of silence, "I'll leave you to your air," she indicated the window. "I'll bring you some saltines, and I'm pretty sure we've got ginger ale downstairs."

"You don't have to," Quinn shook her head.

"I know I don't, but I'm still going to do it," she looked to the other girl, and she was almost sure she saw gratitude on her face.

She had retrieved the saltines and the ginger ale and brought them to Quinn before leaving her. Eventually she had spotted her back among the partygoers. Neither of them mentioned what had happened in Tina's room, didn't even acknowledge the other's presence, for the rest of the party. Tina had meant to at least see if she was okay when the guests had started to leave, but then she was already gone before she'd managed to say a thing.

Tina had cleaned up the mess along with Mike, making them good and tired and ready for their traditional birthday movie night. As they sat together to the first movie, he put his arm around her.

"Hey… Happy Birthday," he gave her a smile, and she returned it.

"Happy Anniversary," she told him right back, and he kissed the top of her head. It had been two years now since the arcade, before they'd started dating, but still, as far as they were concerned, their official start. Their birthdays were always crazy, but they always ended in peace, just the two of them, and that made it special enough.

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!