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 41st cycle. Now cycle 42!

INTRODUCING "CHEAT SHEET" - If you want to know ahead of time when a certain series will be updated next, just reassemble the link below and check out the list, save it, print it, bookmark it, whatever you need!
Go to: gleekathon [dot] tumblr [dot] com [slash] cheatsheet

** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 42 CHEAT SHEET **

Countdown cycle #4 - Yes, it's that time again, where I select 16 favorite things (characters, ships, friendships...) from Glee and give them each a ficlet, and a chapter fic for #1. The previous countdown cycles, if you want to check them out, were c10 [days 190-210], c25 [days 505-525], and c29 [days 589-609]. Like the last countdowns, the #1 story is split in 3 blocks, the chapters posted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays over these three weeks, with #16 to #2 from Thursdays to Mondays.
Coming in at #8...

"Mom's Day"
Young Brittany & Sue
Sylvesters series #35 (following 'the Family Box')

Brittany was just seven years old, but that mean she couldn't notice things, especially about her mother. She would get home from work and she would be… tired, or at least that was what she'd say when Brittany would ask why she didn't want to do things. She wasn't sure what she did at this job of hers, but lately it must have been getting worse or something. But it would be alright: she had a plan. She had trouble with remembering dates most times, so one day her grandfather had given her a calendar, and together they had marked in important dates… Her birthday, her mother's, his birthday, her aunt's – the four big ones – and then holidays… She kept the calendar at her bedside, and every night before she went to sleep, she crossed off one more day, better to keep track. When she would turn a page and find one of the marked days, she would grow anxious… and now one was coming, one of the big ones: her mother's.

She was going to do something special for her, to make her feel good on her birthday. One day at school, as everyone was heading out for recess, she'd stopped on her way up the aisle and had a thought, dashing back to her desk and fishing out a notebook and a pencil before following the others outside. In the yard she sat on the ground near the fence, opened the notebook to a blank page and started tracing out the letters to write 'mom's birthday.' She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do… Cake, they'd need cake, they both loved the red one, but where was she supposed to get that? Still, she wrote it down. Red cake.

For a moment, she wasn't sure what else to write. If this was her birthday, she'd want… well… One of her friends had a pony at their last birthday, and now she really wanted one at her next birthday, too, even if she didn't think her mother would ever let her have one. She'd want the pony, and friends, and… balloons, lots of balloons… Her mother didn't like balloons though, like they made her jump. She did like… sparkles, or something, shooting in the air. And she liked her aunt, Jean. 'Sparkles' and 'Jean' were joined to the list. What about… friends? Brittany had never met friends of her mother's, but she must have had them, maybe at her work? Between that, and the cake, and… could her aunt come to their house? She'd never seen her outside the place she lived… 'Friends' was added to the list.

When the bell rang, she got up and started back toward school, and the further she went, the more the idea was cemented in her mind. Her mother always told her not to go off without anyone knowing, but the way she saw it, she was going towards people she knew, so it was okay. After school, she would walk home with two other girls from her class and their big sister, and then she was supposed to stay there until her mother got home.

She needed to go there first. She knew the way to get to where she was going, but only starting from home. With her school bag still hanging from her back, the small blonde put her keys back in her pocket and started down the street. She was careful, stopping at corners, waiting for the green light, following other people if possible. At one time she was afraid she had gotten lost, but then she turned and… there it was. She breathed out, then ran up the way and slowed to a walk as she walked through the door.

People knew her here, from her visits. They waved at her, smiled at her, perhaps thinking her mother was around somewhere. For now though, there was one person she wanted to see. She found her aunt's room, slipping by unnoticed until she just had her hand on the doorknob and then… "Brittany?" She gasped, looking back, but then she calmed when she saw who it was. Felicia worked here, and she was always the nicest with her.

"Hi," she greeted her. The woman came up to her.

"Are you here all by yourself?" she frowned. Brittany froze. What if she told her mother? It would ruin the surprise…

"I… I…" she tried to think of an excuse, something…

"Sweetie, where's your mom? Doesn't she work at this time?" Yes, yes she did, but… She looked back to the door, then to Felicia. She took a deep breath, and then just started speaking, whatever came out would come out.

"My mom's birthday is four squares away on my calendar that my gramps gave me and I want to make her day special because she's really tired and it makes her grumpy. She likes the red cake, like me, and sparkles, not balloons. And she likes my… Jean… so I want her to come so we can have a birthday party and make her happy," she finally stopped, out of breath.

"Okay, okay, hang on," the woman laughed. "So you came here…"

"… to invite her," she looked back to the door.

"Well you know she can't go on her own," Felicia told her.

"Oh…" Brittany blinked, disappointed. She looked up when she felt a hand touch the side of her face. Felicia smiled at her.

"Listen, I can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do to get her there for you, okay?" The girl's face lit back up, making the woman laugh. "So what's this about a red cake?"

"That's the one we like, it's really red and it makes everything red…"

"I think I know what you mean," Felicia nodded. "Think I might be able to help with that, too."

"That's awesome!" Brittany beamed. "What about sparkles?"

"Sparkles?" Felicia asked, and Brittany mimed. "Do you mean confetti?" The girl shrugged. "I'll see what I can do. Do you still want to see Jean?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Brittany nodded, and Felicia led her in.

After leaving Jean's home, Brittany felt much more confident about the whole undertaking. As to her second destination, she had to walk home and then start again. It didn't bother her one bit, like a girl on a mission. Once she was back at the house she took a moment, remembered where she had to go, and she was on her way.

She arrived at McKinley High, stopped and stared at the building for a moment. She probably wouldn't get to come here, she knew already. It would be years before she was even old enough, but she was vaguely aware of her mother's issue with letting her go to the school where she worked. It was a shame, she would have loved to go to school and have her mother there. Probably some kids wouldn't want that, but she did… It would be nice to see her mother more.

She walked into the school, finding the halls empty. People were probably done by now, except for certain things, in this case cheerleading. She had been here a couple of times, but really it was the sound of music which directed her toward the gym. She wanted to go find her mother's friends to invite them, but her curiosity had gotten the best of her. She got there, stopped at the door and looked in. They were in the middle of a routine, they were… fantastic. She smiled, watching, imagining herself with them one day… her mother had said she could be, and she believed it.

Then the routine had ended, and she saw her mother move up to address them and… she yelled. It startled Brittany, more so as she watched her mother continue to yell, pacing the floor. She watched the row of cheerleaders, flinching in fear… She'd never seen her like this.

Brittany ran off, unseen by her mother. She very nearly body checked a man in a suit with a funny accent, meeting his eye just briefly before continuing her dash out the door. She didn't stop running until she'd made it back home, got inside and locked the door. She stood there, catching her breath for a while, partly out of exertion, part out of fear… She'd never seen this side of her mother, and she didn't care for it at all. She wished she'd never gone, or better that she could forget… That wasn't her mother, it couldn't be… her mother was sweet, and she might get these times where she wasn't in the mood to talk because she was 'tired,' but even then she could tolerate it… Today, her mother had something she'd never dreamed she could ever do: she'd scared her. Whatever her young mind could grasp, it could still understand that something wasn't right.

She wouldn't tell her mother what she'd seen. She didn't try going back either. Their party could be fine with her and her mother and Jean and the red cake and sparkles. Four days later, Felicia would come through for her. When Sue had opened the door to find her sister and the nurse, it had become her best day in a while, best birthday, no contest. She'd helped with cutting the cake, while Brittany was running rampant with the confetti. The girl saw her mother's smile and for that day she could forget the terrible thing she'd seen. This was her mother's day, and all the things she loved were here… She didn't look so tired anymore.

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!