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 66th cycle. Now cycle 67!

"We've Made a Life Here"
(Older) (Brittany, Santana) Quinn/Spencer (OC)
Trinity series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

The drive back home had seemed a lot shorter than it was, or than she'd thought it would feel. She was not sure what she would do when she came face to face with Spencer again, and she'd hoped that the drive would give her the answer, but then it was like she'd blinked once, and the next thing she knew she was pulling up to the house, and she hadn't figured anything out at all.

She knew what would happen if she told him she'd run into Claudia, told her the truth. And as she stepped through the door, she'd just about made up her mind to keep it to herself.

"Light shopping?" he'd said when he saw her, and she looked down, remembering how she'd left ahead of time, without getting some of what she'd been supposed to get.

"They didn't have it," she lied. "I'll go back next week," she went up to him. He was standing at the stove, stirring at a pot, and the scent came at her and made her mouth water. "Smells good."

"My mother's recipe," he declared proudly. "Been trying to remember it, but I think I finally got it."

"Looks that way," she smiled, kissing his cheek.

"Well, go on then, make yourself useful and set the table," he teased, and she laughed, getting the plates.

"Is Sophia joining us?"

"What do you think?"

"Right," she got a third plate. What are you doing? You can't lie to him, not about this. "I saw Claudia today," she said it before she could change her mind. He stopped stirring. He didn't drop the spoon but set it down before turning to her.

"Claudia from New York?"

"What other Claudia could there be?" she sighed, sitting down. "She was in town for work, she was at the mall and she saw me, I didn't have a choice."

"You told her everything?"

"Not everything. Not where we live, what are names are now…" Now he sat, too.

"We'll need to find a reason why we had to move."

"No, Spencer…" she started.

"We can say you got an offer for work out of state, couldn't turn it down."

"Spencer, we don't have to go."

"They'll find where we are, Quinn," he wouldn't let it go. "Then they'll finish what they started."

"Claudia will keep our secret."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because she's done it before. She's known about Trinity since before you and I met, and she hasn't breathed a word of it to anyone, not even her husband."

"You don't know that he doesn't know."

"I do, and you do, too. I trust her, and I would think you trust me enough to do the same," she fixed him with a stare, and he sighed.

"Of course, I trust you," he paused. "I just don't want them coming and finding you and…"

"Spencer, if I thought we were in danger, I'd be the first one reaching for the boxes. The last thing I want in this world is to lose you, do you hear me? I'm not going to jeopardize what we've got. But we're good here, and we'll still be good." He didn't speak, but he was thinking it through. "So what are we doing?"

"What we're doing… What we're going to do is we'll have dinner, if I haven't completely ruined this recipe," he stood. "And then Sophia's got a gig at the bar." She smiled, letting out a breath.

"Thank you," she told him. No matter what, she wanted him to know that this decision had not been made lightly and she was glad they had both agreed.

That night, as they sat in the bar, waiting for Sophia to come on to sing, Spencer had stepped out to get some air. He'd walked for two blocks until he could get to the public phone, putting in the money and dialling. He had to hope he could catch him there; this wasn't the proper day and time.

"Hello, hello, you've got Winger," came the greeting.

"It's me." He could practically see the tall man scrambling from a lean back a slouch forward against a counter.

"S… Tommy? What are you…"

"I don't have much time. Allie's run into the good doctor."

"That's not a Doctor Who thing, is it?"

"Winger," he brought the man back to attention.

"Sorry."

"I need you to keep an eye on her. Don't tell her you know she knows, just see if she'll talk."

"Sure, okay, I can do that," Winger breathed.

"I need to go."

"Wait, S… Tommy… While I've got you, no change here."

"Got it, thanks," he hung up, looking around with a sigh.

Every time he checked in with Winger, he hoped he would get the words he'd been waiting to hear, that the threat was truly and officially gone, and he and Quinn could maybe think about coming home. That would be complicated, and they might never get to live by their own names ever again, but at least they would be able to tell the people they had left behind, that Quinn had left behind, that they were alive. Then again, it might be that, no matter how long they waited, they would never get to go at all, that their friends would go to far away graves believing they had perished in that car crash. But he still kept optimistic that it wouldn't be that way.

He hadn't wanted for them to leave when he'd said it, but he would have done it, if it was necessary, if it meant keeping Quinn alive. And if they did get the chance to go back, it would be just as hard to leave this place, this little town where Tommy and Allie had made their lives, but they would do it.

Quinn didn't know he was in contact with Winger, and it was the one secret he intended to keep. He didn't want to get her hopes up, because in the end it was her more than him who had something to go back to. He would have been happy anywhere, so long as it was where she was.

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!