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 54th cycle. Now cycle 55!

Favorites cycle - It's that time again, where I gather a list of my fifteen favorite characters, relationships, friendships, etc of the moment! It's constantly evolving, and if I did it over today, as the list was selected weeks ago, it would already be different. But oh well, there'll be later opportunities ;) So then, here we go!
At number 10 - Sylvesters series

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Technicolor Wishes & Hi-Def Dreams, chapter 4.

"Secreted Away"
Brittany & Sue
Sylvesters series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

When Brittany was little, her mother and her would go on vacation, and it was her favorite time of the year. As she had grown, and their vacations had to coincide with her mother taking the Cheerios to National championships, it was still her favorite time, although it came with a catch. Already they were carrying on their secret, going on like they were not mother and daughter as far as the world knew. So while they were on these double-duty vacations, for the better part of the day, Brittany would remain in their hotel room, while her mother was out attending her duties as coach. Usually they would still manage to go out and do things, but it always had to keep in mind that they no one from the school or the squad could know they were together. As much as she wished she could follow, see her mother's squad in action, she knew the rules and she followed them. Once she looked past that, she did like the sneaking around… it made it all feel more special. After she'd become a Cheerio, they couldn't share a room anymore, which made things more complicated, but they found ways.

The time had come for the New Directions to head out to New York for their first shot at the Nationals title. They had surpassed Regionals this year, and they wanted that trophy.

Brittany was still settling into her room with the rest of the girls, when she heard her phone chirp. It was a text message, telling her to go to a specific room. She knew who it was from, and still she was confused, because it couldn't be, but she snuck out of the room, following the directions left in the message. She had knocked once, and the door had opened.

"Get in," her mother told her, and Brittany hurried in before the door shut again.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were back home…"

"Well, I… I wanted to come and see my daughter perform," she slowly revealed, which made Brittany smile. "You can't tell anyone I'm here…"

"No, I know," Brittany promised, and after a beat she moved up to hug her mother. "I'm just really glad you're here…" Sue closed her eyes, holding her close.

"So am I."

"It'll be just like before, when I was younger, except now you're the one who has to stay hidden," she realized, and Sue looked to her, only smiling.

She couldn't tell her, not yet, couldn't tell her how much she was thinking about putting an end to all these charades of theirs, letting the world know that this girl was her own flesh and blood… She couldn't tell her, not until she was sure it would happen, or else something might come and get in the way, and she didn't want to raise her hopes for nothing.

"You should get back before they wonder where you've gone and put out a search party."

She'd sent Brittany back to her room and her friends, leaving her alone to her room. Even if Brittany hadn't brought it up, her mind would have gone to those days every year, too, those days when her daughter would be stuck waiting in hotel rooms, for hours on end, for her to return and spend time with her. No wonder she could be so imaginative, if that mind of hers was all she had to rely on through those days hidden away. She never complained, and Sue could be nothing but thankful, knowing that for all the wrongs she had done, this was the person she had created, and raised, someone so kind and joyful…

After nightfall, when all of them were meant to be asleep, she had sent another message to Brittany, telling her to meet up in the lobby. They had left the hotel together, heading up to Times Square. Seeing the wonder in her daughter's eyes was about the best thing she could ever say she had experienced, and her face relaxed into a smile. They took pictures, looked around, stopped in to eat… It felt like their old vacations, in more ways than one.

"Do you remember the last time we were here?" Sue asked as they sat in their booth, and Brittany nodded. "You were nine years old…" she recalled. "We sat right here, in this booth, and you had a sundae."

"I kind of remember," Brittany nodded.

"The next day you wanted to come back for another, but we couldn't, because the Cheerios were going up for Nationals that day. And you snuck out. You almost made it out but the doorman stopped you and brought you back to our room."

"Okay, now I remember," she bowed her head.

"Yeah, you had that same look when I came back to the room, because you knew he was going to tell me about it. But you know, I was just glad you were okay," Sue told her, and she smiled.

"You're going to come and watch us now."

"I am," Sue confirmed.

"What if we lose? Are you going to…"

"Whatever happens, I'm never going to stop being proud of you, or of being your mother, okay?" she looked her in the eye, and Brittany nodded. "Finish up now, we should head back to the hotel.

When the time had come for the New Directions to take the stage, somewhere in the sea of faces, Sue sat and she watched. She had left all of Coach self back home. Today she was here in one capacity alone, and that was 'mother.' And as a mother, she saw her little girl, all grown up, on that stage… and she was amazing. Sue cheered her on, and even if her voice disappeared into the sea of voices, she could be confident in the fact her daughter knew she was out there and that one of those voices was hers.

New Directions had finished 12th. They were all disappointed, and Sue would have unleashed rage on those judges if it had been up to her, but that was not what she was there for. To Brittany she would say just what she'd felt: regardless of the result, she had been in awe of her, all the way, and there would be plenty more victories to come, and already 12th was better than nothing at all.

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!