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 59th cycle. Now cycle 60!

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

"Wider Circle"
16yo Mike/Tina, Quinn, Rachel, New Directions
Chang Squared series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

A/N: This story and all stories for two weeks (days 1240-1253) are dedicated to
a very dear and awesome friend on the occasion of her birthday ;) Here's to you, Anne!

Tina had come in to school with Mike that day, and even going through the halls, there was this feeling like something had or was about to happen. Even Mike could feel it.

"Rachel, hey," Tina went and approached the girl when she saw her.

"So you heard?" she asked, nodding.

"Heard what?" Mike had joined them. Rachel looked around before nodding her head off to the side so they would follow her into a corner where they could talk in private.

"I think only the people in Glee Club know right now, and it would be best if it was kept that way." Tina's ears twitched, but she played clueless.

"Heard about what?" she asked.

"Promise first," Rachel shook her head, pointing to them both.

"I swear," Mike assured her.

"Me, too," Tina added.

"It's Quinn. Some of the others are saying she's pregnant," Rachel had whispered the last word.

"What? Seriously?" Mike was shocked, while Tina felt panic rise.

"What makes you say that, because if it's just a rumor, then I don't see…"

"I didn't want to believe it at first either, but think about it. She's been looking off for weeks, some of us have seen her crying, others have seen her dash into the bathroom to throw up, and it's just…"

"Who else knows?" Tina asked.

"Just Glee Club."

"What about Finn?" she clarified her question, and Rachel blinked.

"Oh…"

Tina had gone to try and find Quinn. If she didn't know yet about the 'rumor,' then she had to tell her. Whether she knew or not, they'd need to run damage control. In the week since Tina's interference campaign had led them into the bathroom, she had continued to act as Quinn's silent assistant, distracting anyone she needed to distract and coming to her fellow Cheerio's aid when she was needed. Quinn would at times continue to resist her, too used to looking at her like someone to attack, but Tina was starting to see another side of her, and there was no doubt in her mind that Quinn was thankful to have her there.

"Tina!" She jumped at the sound of her name and had barely turned before Quinn had her by the shoulder and was pulling her into a room. "I thought I could trust you, guess that was these damn hormones."

"Okay, wait, hold on, is this about the Glee Club finding out, because that was not me!" she pulled away from her.

"No one else knew, so who could it have been?" Quinn stared her down.

"No one told them, they figured it out. Look, in case you haven't noticed, you've been walking around here like a mopey sickly mess for a while, someone was bound to put two and two together! I gave you my word, and I held it, so instead of going at someone who's trying to help you, how about we just put our heads together and try to find a way out of this instead?" she had not meant to yell, but it proved to be just what Quinn needed.

"You really didn't tell anyone?" she asked, sounding like the shy one for once.

"I swear," Tina breathed. "Look, it's still contained."

"It won't be for long," Quinn had started crying, and Tina was almost sure she'd push her away if she tried to hug her, but instead the blonde had more than gladly let her hold her. "Probably sounds empty, but it's going to be okay," she breathed.

Somewhere in the time Quinn had worked through the tears she'd needed to let out, she had revealed Finn had indeed found out about her being pregnant from somewhere in Glee Club. She had been able to explain her not telling him before by saying it was 'bad luck for the baby' to reveal it too early, but that wasn't what was troubling her. Tina hadn't expected her to say what was really on her mind; she hadn't expected the answer either, but somewhere in Quinn's ramblings she had been able to make out something: Finn wasn't the father, it was Puck. She didn't think Quinn had meant to say it either, judging from the look of quiet shock that came up on her face. Tina had promised to keep that in secret as well, which had only made Quinn start crying all over again, melting in apologies. Tina wouldn't say she had been freaked out by it, but… well, maybe a little.

"Look, you need to get it together, because we are going to go out there and you are going to have to be Quinn Fabray, and Quinn Fabray can handle walking down a damn hallway. You are going to go in there, and face the Glee Club, and say 'yeah, so what?' I know we haven't gotten along much at all…"

"My fault," Quinn shook her head.

"… but you are stronger than this. You need to let out that side of you that you've been using to… piss me off these last few months," Tina told her, and she pulled a laugh out of the crying girl. "Okay?"

"Yeah," Quinn breathed, wiping at her tears. "How do I look?"

"Well…" Tina winced, reaching to help her.

They had returned into that hallway, and Quinn had played the part of herself. It was a flawless performance. Tina watched her go before feeling someone tap her shoulder. She turned, and there was Mike.

"You knew, didn't you?" he asked. She looked up at him, and she nodded. He said nothing, only hugged her, and she hugged him back.

They knew it would only be a matter of time before other people started finding out, and when they did, there would be no holding this piece of information under wraps. They had one last grace period before that happened, and for Quinn's sake, she hoped the Glee Club would respect that. As unbelievable as it still sounded, Quinn was her friend now, and if there were people she would protect, it was her family, and her friends.

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!