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 60th cycle. Now cycle 61!

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

"Built-In Little Sister"
(Older) Quinn/Spencer (OC), Sophia (OC: Nellie V.)
Trinity series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

She had always known Spencer to be patient, more so than seemed humanly possible sometimes, but she discovered a new level of understanding in him in the weeks that followed her deal with Sophia.

Whatever boredom, which Quinn now believed was closer to loneliness, pushed Sophia to tempt breaking into people's homes, she had started to channel it into spending time with her neighbors, 'Allie and Tommy.' She would drop in one night, then again a few days later, then a third that was closer to the second, and within a few weeks it seemed that, whenever she wasn't working, or doing a set at the bar or the coffee shop, she was over at Allie and Tommy's, often ending up asleep on their couch.

Quinn didn't mind it. After having lived with Brittany and Santana for the past few years, she'd missed the female companionship, if she was to be honest. Maybe it was this daredevilish side of Sophia's that she connected with, but the two of them were becoming fast friends.

She had lost everything and everyone, save for Spencer, when they had been forced to leave New York the way they did. Having Sophia made her feel like she had some of that back, even if it wasn't the same. Spencer would caution about getting too comfortable though, and she knew what he meant. With how close they were growing, it was easier to forget herself, and maybe she would forget she was meant to be Allie Archer and not Quinn Fabray of Lima and New York, who had died in a car crash with her boyfriend. She was very aware of this, whether she would say it or not.

As for Spencer, he took it all in stride. Quinn would sometimes arrive to find them preparing dinner. Present as she was, Sophia was a respectful guess, picking up after herself, helping with this and that. Spencer would sometimes joke with Quinn how it would have been impossible to argue against having her there if he did mind, which he didn't. He confided, one night when she hadn't come, how she reminded him of a neighbor girl from back in Scotland.

"Girlfriend of yours?" Quinn teased.

"Not even close," Spencer assured with a smile. "I'd call her Little Sister. That was what she was, to me, and I was her 'brother.'"

"When did you guys lose touch? Does she know that you… that we died?" she asked. He'd always said he hadn't left anyone behind when they'd faked their deaths, but someone like her…

"We didn't lose touch, she…" his face saddened, and Quinn let out a breath, understanding. "She was all I had left. When she died, that's when I came to America," he revealed. She gave his hand a squeeze, having no words that could fix the hurt.

They still had so much to discover about one another, she knew. Part of her wondered if they were so slow to talk about their own pasts because they weren't meant to be those people anymore. What was the point of filling one another's heads with facts that couldn't be valid anymore?

"As far as I'm concerned, Sophia can stay as long as she likes," he finally told her, and she leaned over to rest against his shoulder. He put his arms around her, letting out a breath.

Sometimes Quinn did think about whether she could ever tell Sophia the truth. Every day that she let the girl call her Allie, call Spencer Tommy, she was lying to her, but then that was the price they'd had to pay and she knew. The two of them had to stay dead to the world, to keep their loved ones safe. She knew they lived in a small town in the middle of nowhere, and that Sophia was just Sophia, but the tiniest piece of information could lead to more, so much, too much, and before they knew it they could bring down hell on this new life they'd created for themselves, and they could bring Sophia into the crosshairs. One day maybe they could tell her, years from now, but even if they did, would it fix anything for her to realize they been lying to her all this time?

One day Quinn walked home from work and was joined by her almost-roommate. Sophia was carrying a large pizza box with her. "That for us?" Quinn asked with a smirk.

"Movie night, remember?"

"I remember," Quinn promised. "Tommy's choice tonight," she added, and Sophia nodded. "Fair warning, he never knows what to pick, so it'll probably be…"

"Random?" Sophia guessed, and Quinn laughed. "I like random. It's funnier to see him try and explain his logic."

"He always finds a way. Then he's got that smile, like 'see, I had this under control the whole time.'" Now it was Sophia who was made to laugh. "One of these days we'll stump him." As they got closer to the house, while they were still on their own, she had to ask. "Have any flares of boredom lately?"

"I think you'd notice if I did," Sophia pointed out. If she'd been at all thrown or insulted by the question, she didn't show it. "I like being over there with you guys. Keeps things interesting, and I'm less likely to break my neck, or get arrested."

"Good to know," Quinn gave her a smile. "It is good to have you around for us, too. Tommy's really taken to you," she commented.

"Yeah?" Sophia smiled. "Is it weird I kind of look at him like… well, when I was little, I mean… I always wanted a big brother, and I never had that, not one way or the other. But Tommy, he's like… I don't know… Don't tell him I said that?" she asked, almost embarrassed, but Quinn just smiled.

"Secret's safe with 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!