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 39th cycle. Now cycle 40!

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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 40 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days, starting in cycle 40!

This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: Tender Love & Care, chapter 3.

"Mother Sun"
Rachel & Quinn, Judy Fabray
Extra to the Sunshine Girls, alternate end to "Solar Flare"

Rachel had been quiet as she and Judy carried the dessert plates into the kitchen, leaving Quinn to talk with Finn. As much as this was about letting them discuss these important things, about them, and the baby, now being alone with Quinn's mother had its issues. Judy didn't know what Finn was doing there that night. She didn't know that Finn wasn't the father of Quinn's baby, that it was Puck… Did she even know who Puck was?

"It's a bit late for a visit…" Rachel looked up, startled, and found Judy staring back at her.

"What? O-oh, uh… Finn… yes," she shrugged. "Probably he just wanted to check in on Quinn, make sure she's alright."

"Oh… well, good, good, that's… good…" Judy nodded as they put the dishes in with the others to soak. They were quiet at first, starting to clean. "Rachel, can I ask you something?" she continued cleaning the plate, trying not to sound any different.

"Sure, Mrs. Fabray."

"Has Quinn told you anything?"

"T… told?" Rachel kept her head down. "I'm not sure I understand what you…"

"I don't know, maybe I'm thinking too much but after everything that's been going on, with Quinn, with… Russell… all I want to do is be there for her, to look out for her, make sure nothing happens to her."

"Yeah, me too…" Rachel smiled carefully.

"And I'm really thankful for that," Judy bowed her head, rather than putting wet hands on her. "Which is why I was hoping you might know… has Quinn told you about anything going on? Something's wrong, I can see it, but I don't want to pry and risk pushing her away."

Rachel was glad her hair was down, to hang like a curtain between her and Quinn's mother. She had no idea how to respond. Either way she was trapped. If she told Judy what was going on, Quinn would feel betrayed, rightly so. If she said nothing, just confirmed that there was something going on without explaining, then it was pretty much the same result. And if she said nothing at all, gave the 'all clear,' then she wasn't helping either of them.

So the lesser of… three evils… that was going to have to be it… But which one was that? Certainly not the telling her part… and telling without telling, all that would do would be to force Quinn's hand, make her talk before she was ready… So that left not saying anything in any way… That would mean lying to Mrs. Fabray, which she didn't like, but it was the closest she'd get to an acceptable solution, having been cornered out of the blue.

"She hasn't… said anything to me," she kept scrubbing.

"Are you sure?" Judy asked, and Rachel rinsed the plate. "It could have been anything, something small…"

"I'm sorry, I can't think of anything," she hoped she sounded sincere… she hated every second of it. Of all the people to have to lie to, Judy was one of those she could least stand to deceive. She wanted to leave it there, but because of her discomfort at lying to Judy, part of her just wanted to find a middle ground, so she carried on. "But I'm sure if something were wrong… she'd come to you."

"Yes, I suppose you're right…" Judy replied, and Rachel almost breathed out in relief.

"So if she hasn't said anything, then…"

"Maybe…"

"It could be… discomfort from pregnancy…" Rachel bowed her head again, grabbing another plate to clean and hiding behind her hair. She was getting too far in, she had to pull back, change the subject… She could ask her something else, something she'd wanted to know anyway, because she cared for the woman like she was family. "How are you doing? With all this?"

"Better than I thought I would, I have to say," Judy nodded. "You don't get about wishing for your daughter to get pregnant at sixteen, but then you don't wish for your husband to have an affair with a little tr…" she cut off her word halfway, renewing her effort in scrubbing a plate. Rachel bit back her lip, doing the same.

"No, probably not."

"But I've learned to take things into perspective and… adjust," she nodded. "Now I just want to make sure she's okay, both her and the baby… my granddaughter," she breathed out after speaking the word. It would be her second grandchild, after Alice's son, but no doubt the hiccup came from the association to Quinn.

"She'll be lucky to have you," Rachel smiled.

"We've turned a new leaf in this, Quinn and I, with Russell gone. This baby is part of it… a renewal."

"I like that," Rachel nodded.

"But with a touch of the old," she threw a smile to Rachel, who beamed happily. "So if you heard anything…" the return of the previous topic was so swift that Rachel felt the plate she was cleaning slip out of her hands, and she gasped, barely managing to catch it.

"I wouldn't leave her there without help," she vowed, peering out from behind her curtain of hair for the first time.

She had not associated the tone in Judy's voice with the face she met, like she was trying to coax something out of Rachel, something she knew was there even if she didn't know what it was. Judy was no fool. She knew Rachel would know what was going on with Quinn. And now she would have seen how evasive she was being… so she had now been bumped up from option C to option B.

They'd held the other's gaze for a moment, the knowledge silently exchanged that there had something that wasn't being said, not at all out of spite. And then the next words out of Judy Fabray were "Thank you" and Rachel wished so much that she could tell her what was and…

"Don't worry, please," Rachel shook her head. "Everything will work out." At least she could give her that… some peace of mind. It seemed to work. They finished out the cleaning of the dishes in silence.

Rachel tried to imagine how Judy would take the news, if and when Quinn actually got around to telling her… if she decided to tell her… If things got better with Finn, would she keep it to herself longer, or… Her relationship with her mother had been getting better, just as Judy had said. She could tell her, but maybe she was afraid, like all their progress would be washed away by this revelation.

No matter what though, her words to Judy would stand. Quinn was her friend, something more and more like a best friend every day. So she would be there to look out for her, regardless of the outcome. After Finn left that night she could be congratulating Quinn or she could be comforting her. But the part that wouldn't change was that she'd be there.

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!