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 52nd cycle. Now cycle 53!

THIRD ANNIVERSARY CYCLE: It's late October again, and within this cycle I will be completing my third year of daily gleekathon stories and commencing a fourth! As in previous years, this means special things happening. I've selected my favorite stories from throughout the year, and I'll be treating them to something special. In previous years this included Prequel, Sequel, and POV Swap, and then Additional Scenes and Alternate Endings. This year I'm adding two new treatments: Genre Swap (I think that's pretty straightforward) and Element Change (I change one thing in the story, see how it affects the rest). Note that in both these cases and some of the others, there may excerpts directly transferred from the story it references. Also, since this year saw the addition of 'shift days', and since I suck at picking, I have selected 42 stories, to be treated two per day! So here we go!

This story is a Genre Swap to Shiny Happy Girl, a Sunshine Girls series story, originally posted on March 12 2012.

This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: Leave None Behind.

"My Mother Is A Star"
(Older) Quinn/Finn, Rachel/Puck, Nora (AU!Beth) age 6
Sunshine Girls series extra
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

Genre: Documentary (well, didn't quite turn out as planned, but still... ;))

At six years old, it wouldn't be easy for Nora to hold secrets, especially from any one of her four parents. So they had all coordinated this surprise, the three of them who could, Quinn, Finn, and Puck. Rachel couldn't know; it was a surprise.

She was nominated for an award, as a newcomer, and the people involved had made a request on to Puck, asking if they might interview their daughter for a package that would be played during the ceremony. He had told them he would get back to them, so he could ask her, although he knew she would likely say yes. They had a time and place to go, if all went well. So he'd had the thought, calling up Quinn and Finn back in Lima. Nora was in New York with him and Rachel for the month already.

They had worked it all out, and the day they were to go in for the recording, he had gone with his little girl for some father-daughter fun, so he told both Nora and Rachel.

"Where are we going?" Nora would ask as a they walked toward a coffee shop. He looked through the window and smirked before opening the door for her.

"See for yourself," he told her and she must have looked because the next thing he heard was...

"Mommy!" she squealed as she dashed into Quinn's open arms. The young mother hugged her daughter close, after being apart for the past two weeks.

"Hey cutie," she beamed, kissing her head. Nora looked up, and there she now saw...

"Dad!" she was just as jumpy, and Finn touched her cheek.

"Surprised?" he asked, and she nodded. "Well, there's a reason," he went on as they all sat. They had explained the whole thing, the video project, the surprise. She was instantly interested and now she wanted to get ready, physically and mentally, which didn't surprise them even a little. While Puck took Finn to meet his band, Quinn took Nora to look for what she would like to wear. It was only once they were alone that the small blonde had beckoned her mother closer, to whisper.

"Don't worry, I won't tell about the Sunshine Girls," she shook her head, and Quinn smirked.

"Didn't think you would," she promised.

"So I can talk about everything else?"

"Depends what you mean by everything."

"Lying is bad, right?"

"I... Well, it depends," Quinn had to think this through, so not to give the six-year-old the wrong idea. "Like with the Sunshine Girls thing, you said you wouldn't talk about it. If it's something like that, and you don't want to talk about it or shouldn't talk about it, then you don't, and that's okay." Nora gave her a smile, and Quinn crouched by her. "But you know if there's ever anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, or Mom, or either Dads, your grandparents..."

"I know," Nora nodded.

They had found her outfit, done up her hair, and they were ready to go. The whole way to the studio, even after they had reunited with Puck and Finn, Nora would sit there quietly, consummate as they would expect, a combination of both her mothers in that respect. Now that they thought about it, they weren't sure what would happen once they put her in front of a camera.

X

She had sat there, making sure her dress was right, her hair wasn't in her face, and then a woman had come up to her and introduced herself as Denise. "So you're Nora," she had started, and Nora nodded. "And you're six years old, is that right?"

"Yes," she had nodded, looking to the camera. "Is it on now?" she asked, and the woman laughed.

"Not yet, but it will be in a minute," she explained. "Are you nervous?" Nora shook her head. "Good. I promise, you have nothing to be nervous about, we're just going to have a talk you and I, you'll see. And if you're not sure about something, your parents are going to stay right there, you can tell me to stop, deal?" Nora smiled.

"Got it," she agreed, and Denise signalled the cameraman. Nora looked as well, pulling her back straight, like she'd always be told to do. "Let's start with something simple, why don't you tell me a little bit about your family," Denise asked, and Nora just… laughed. "Did I say something funny?" Denise smiled.

"My family isn't simple," Nora shook her head.

"It's not? How come?"

"Well there's my first Mom and Dad. We live in Ohio."

"What are they like?" Denise asked, and the smile that came to Nora's face then had both Quinn and Finn feeling their throats tighten.

"Dad, he works in a garage. He fixes cars, and sometimes he lets me help," she beamed with pride. "But I like it best when he sings."

"I'm sure you do," Denise nodded.

"I sing with him, too, and it makes him happy. Then Mom, she goes to school, and she works, too. She always says that I come first," she promised, like it was very important to point out. "She sings, too… she sings me lullabies," she went on smiling, looking to her parents for a moment. "Sorry," she sat back up. "Then there's my second Mom and Dad. Sometimes we live in Ohio, too, but other times, we live here, in New York," she explained.

"Do you like one best?" Denise asked.

"No, both," Nora spoke confidently.

"You call them both Mom and Dad?" Denise went on, and Nora nodded. "Why?"

"That's what they are," she shrugged, and she could hear her mother chuckle.

"Alright, so tell me about your Dad?" Again Nora had to look over, catching Puck's eye. She didn't have to say he was her hero; he already knew, took the role with complete dedication.

"He's really nice, and he makes me laugh all the time, especially when I'm sad. He plays guitar, and he sings. He does shows, but I can't go, because I'm too small. But he shows me videos, we watch together," she explained.

"Now your Mom, she would be your stepmother, right?"

"She's my Mom," Nora assured Denise, nodding ever so slightly. "She's always my Mom."

"She's been part of your life since you were a baby?"

"Since before that," Nora revealed. "My Moms are best friends," she went on, and Quinn could see the thought process going through her daughter's mind as she made sure not to mention the Sunshine Girls, as promised. "They're all the same to me."

"So tell me about your Mom, Rachel," she specified, and Nora's smile returned. Though she wasn't there obviously, she knew that, this being a message for her, by looking to the camera, she was in effect looking at her.

"She comes to get me at school, and we walk home, and she always asks how my day was."

"Have you seen her on stage before?" Denise asked, and Nora gave a big nod. "Here in New York?" Another nod. "How old were you, the first time?"

"Four," she replied. "I remember, it was loud at the end, because everyone was clapping."

"How would you describe your mother when she's on stage?" Denise asked, and Nora only had to think for a second.

"Beautiful," she answered.

"How so?"

"I don't know, but she looks different. I think it's because she loves it up there," she spoke confidently.

"It sounds like music is a big part of your family, it keeps coming up." Nora nodded. "What about you, do you like to sing?" She nodded again. "Do you think you'd like to be on stage like your mother someday?"

"Maybe. I don't know. She says I can do whatever I want."

"I'm sure you can," Denise laughed. "You're a natural, I can tell you that. Thank you for talking to me."

"Is it done?" Nora asked, and Denise nodded. "Can I say hi to my Mom?"

"Go ahead," she indicated, and Nora looked back to the camera.

"Hi, Mom! I love you!" she gave her biggest smile, waving her hands.

X

Nora had no idea she would actually get to go, until her parents had told her, and she could hardly contain herself. Already holding the secret of what they'd done was hard, but now this added to it. She tried to remind herself that this was meant to be a surprise, and it wouldn't be a surprise anymore if she told. They had finally made it. She sat at the table with her stepmother and father, all wrapped up in how everything looked, all the people, which thankfully kept her distracted from what she knew was coming.

The category had finally come, and she was glad to know her mother would be first, so that the surprise would be even bigger. When her little face had appeared on the screen, it had given her a shock, but not nearly as much as Rachel, as one hand flew to cover her mouth, the other reaching for Nora's as she looked to the girl sitting next to her. She looked back to the screen, hearing as the girl spoke of her, affirmed her as her mother no matter what, and called her beautiful when she was on stage, the whole thing ending with her greeting, her kiss and wave.

As the rest of the nominees' videos were going by, Rachel couldn't help but reach down and press a kiss to the top of her daughter's head. "When did you do this?" she asked, trying not to cry, then shaking her head, deciding it didn't matter, not as much as, "I love you so much." Nora beamed with pride.

And then they were calling her name, and Nora gasped, tugging her hand. "It's you! It's you!" she told her, and Rachel looked up, confirming this to be the case. She looked to Puck, who came to get her to stand. She kissed him, breathing deep, and then she knew what she wanted to do.

"Want to come along?" she looked to Nora. Her eyes went wide. "Let's go," Rachel offered her hand, and Nora took it, following her mother. Rachel never let go of her hand as they came to stand up there, and she was still completely stunned, barely remembering herself thanks to having Nora at her side. "I… I had no idea, that's pretty sneaky of her," she laughed, getting a few in return. "This has always been my dream, always. But I tell you what, I don't think it ever feels as special as it does when I know this one's in the audience," she looked down to Nora, now properly crying. "Both her and her dad, I just…" she looked back into the audience, to where she could see Puck, and he was smiling right back at her. "If I only know that I keep making you proud, then I'll consider this a dream come true."

As they had gone off stage, Nora would look into the audience for her father, to see if she'd done alright, and she could only saw so many people, looking to her, waving to her, so she just waved back, which got a laugh out of them. Alone again with her mother, Rachel had picked her up, holding her close. "You did good, you," she kissed her cheek. Nora pulled back to look at her.

"No more surprises, okay? I can't take them!" she breathed out, and Rachel laughed.

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!