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 72nd cycle. Now cycle 73!

"Christmas Past"
(First of three four-part Christmas stories)

1. The Christmas Sunshine Fairies
Young Quinn & Rachel
Sunshine Girls 1 series extra

It would be well known to all, that the All-Mighty Sunshine Girls made their business in the joy of others. Surely, if their goal was joy, then Christmas above all was to be prime time for banishing unhappiness.

The first step to achieving this goal had been to make cookies, which Mrs. Fabray had been helping them to do. She'd had them set up at the kitchen table, with a bowl of the dough they'd watched her mix together, where they would take scoops of the sticky thing, roll it in their small hands, then give it a good press before pressing the cookie cutters down. They would gather the extra and return it to the bowl, then start all over again.

The cookies cautiously made by the pair of five-year-olds had been slipped into the oven, and now with nothing to do but wait, they considered the destination of those cookies. It would have been easy to split them in half, one half going to Rachel and her fathers, and the other half staying at the Fabray house for Quinn, her parents, and her older sister. But then they'd gotten to thinking.

Quinn remembered her neighbor, Mrs. Ryan, who had broken her ankle a few weeks ago, and she thought a cookie might make her happy. And then Rachel thought of giving one to her dance teacher. The more minutes went by, more cookies were finding themselves assigned to this person or that. Eventually they had gone to find Quinn's sister and made her write down all the names so they wouldn't forget any. When they were done, they asked how many names there were, and Quinn's sister told them there were thirty-one. The girls ran down the stairs to Mrs. Fabray and asked how many cookies they'd made. Judy looked in to the oven and counted quickly to inform them they'd made thirty-two.

"We can do it! We can give them a cookie!" Rachel exclaimed excitedly.

"But they get just one," Quinn frowned.

"But they'll be happy," Rachel countered. Quinn thought to herself, then smiled.

"The Sunshine Girls on a... on a mission," she declared, and the plan was set.

When the cookies had been taken out of the oven, with their sleeves pulled away, the girls had gotten to decorating the thirty-two cookies, which were then packed into plastic boxes, with a sheet between each level. Mrs. Fabray had dinner to see to, but then Quinn's sister, just barely old enough to go out on her own, had convinced their mother to let her take the girls out to do as they wanted. Now it was time for Rachel and Quinn to disappear into the guise of Beams and Rays, the All-Mighty Sunshine Girls.

"Wait!" Quinn had gasped. "What about her?" she pointed out the door. "They know she's my sister, they'll know it's me!"

"Right!" Rachel gasped. "We have to change her, too!"

"The vest, with the hood! Mom's huge sunglasses!" Quinn dashed off.

Quinn's sister had been fairly easy to convince, so that a few minutes later, the three girls, carrying the two containers of cookies, set out to work through their list. The first cookie had gone to Mrs. Ryan and, upon receiving her treat, the woman had smiled so brightly, and the girls knew they were doing right.

It would take a long time for all thirty-one cookies to find their home, and it would come to be that the smaller girls became tired, but then all it would take to give them a new wind was another smile, another satisfied customer, and they were good to go. Twenty-nine, thirty... Thirty-one. The last one was gone, and the Sunshine Girls were free to turn back for the Fabray house. They were tired, but even more than that, they were hungry, and the promise of food was fuel enough to get them the rest of the way.

The tired Sunshine Girls had consumed their dinner in a flash, and since Rachel had been granted permission to stay the night, they had gone right to bed.

They had slept, tutus and all, for a few hours before they had both woken up, to a darkened and quiet house. They looked at each other, and the idea they had was shared. They smiled, and they got out of bed, padding carefully down the stairs, to the kitchen counter where the plate sat, the lone cookie sitting there, shaped like a Christmas tree and smothered in frosting and sprinkles.

"We can make more tomorrow?" Rachel suggested, only now realizing some of these had been meant for them.

"Okay," Quinn shrugged, stretching as tall as her toes would go, reaching for the cookie and snapping it in half. "Here," she gave one piece to Rachel. There was something about eating their half a cookie in secret that made it very exciting.

"We can bring cookies to school!" Rachel thought aloud, chewing on her cookie half.

"You're going to turn into regular little bakers, aren't you?" The girls startled and looked up to find Judy Fabray, standing outside the kitchen. Quinn had attempted to hide what was left of her cookie by holding it to herself and keeping her hands over it to keep it hidden, while Rachel had stuck her part in her mouth, clamped her lips together and put her hands behind her back. "You, chew," Judy pointed to the little brunette before turning to her daughter. "You're going to get it all over yourself, show me your hands." Quinn slowly pulled her hands down. The frosted side made that the half a tree was stuck to her fingers. Judy went and got a wet cloth, and while Quinn ate the cookie, her mother cleaned out her hand.

"You're not mad?" Rachel sounded surprised.

"Well, it's almost Christmas," Judy reasoned. "And you have been good girls this year, especially today. We wouldn't want one little cookie."

"Half," Rachel piped in.

"Half cookie," Judy corrected, "Ruining things between you, and… Santa," she gave them a look, and they gasped, shaking their heads. "Right, so we'll keep this between us, if you promise not to do it again?"

"Promise," Quinn spoke for them both.

"Rachel, we're going to get our Christmas tree tomorrow, would you like to come with us?" They would have squealed if they could, but Judy had quickly stuck a finger to her lips, and they'd remembered everyone else was asleep, so they nodded. "Good, now off to bed."

TO BE CONTINUED (SATURDAY)