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 79th cycle. Now cycle 80!

"Stand & Smile"
Grace (OC)/Nora (AU!Beth), Emily (OC; Nellie V.), Ethan (OC)
Sunshine Girls 2 series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

In the past half week, Grace Mackenna had found in herself a creative streak like she'd never experienced. Yes, she'd been in Glee Club for some time now, was a dancer, had participated in her share of talent shows… But this was something else. This was Nora Fabray, and she wanted to find just the right way to ask her out.

She could have asked for Emily's help in this and her friend would have been more than happy, not to mention very, very helpful. But asking Emily meant running the risk of this getting back to Nora, and that was the last thing she wanted. This was going to be a surprise. At the same time, Grace liked that this would be entirely from her, to Nora. Ethan would help her, yes, but only so far as she needed his assistance to achieve her ideas, as they'd come to decide.

That it took days before she could put things in motion was a mark of how hard it had been for her to figure out what she wanted to do, but then in the end it had worked in her favor. She knew what she had to do.

What might have helped the most was her 'geographic benefits.' It was Saturday, and when she saw the family's car drive out from the house across the street, she leapt for her phone and texted Nora. It was a casual message, to see what she was doing. If her response was that she was home, or anywhere else but in the car that had just driven off, it would mean a delay on her plans, but then Nora replied and Grace let out a sigh of relief. She and her family, all of them, were headed the mall on a few errands and would be back in a couple of hours. That was just what she needed.

"Ethan, it's time. Meet me at the address I gave you," she called her trusty assistant.

When the car rolled back into its space later that day, young Hailey was tailing her father, begging to have her new shoes, which he had in one of the bags he pulled from the trunk. Quinn carried her youngest daughter, asleep in her arms, and she called for Hailey to follow inside. Nora had gotten her own purchases from the trunk, and as she scaled the steps up to the second floor and her room, she took out her phone and texted Grace, who'd asked earlier that she send her a message once she was home.

When she walked into her room, she found the window was open, and she blinked, certain that it had been shut when they'd left. She walked forward cautiously to go and close it, but then she saw something that chased away all notions that there might have been a burglar.

"Grace?" she moved to turn and head back down to get to her.

"Wait! Stay there," Grace called up to her.

"Why?" Nora asked. Grace shrugged innocently.

"This is my stage," she raised her arms to indicate the backyard. "You're not part of the show," she pointed to her up in the window. "You're my audience, one and only… Until the noise draws out your parents, probably," she thought aloud, frowning before looking back to Nora. "Better get to it then."

"Get to what?" Nora laughed, confused.

"Well, at the risk of getting ahead of myself, and I truly hope I am not, but if I am, please just put me out of my misery." She took a deep breath. "See, here's the thing, at first I was going to wait and let you do it, but then I changed my mind. I wanted to do this right, to let you know I was ready if you were. I thought about using a note," she reached in the bag she had slung over her shoulder, presented the piece of paper, then stuck it back in the bag. "I thought about doing a song," she nodded, "but really, I would have had to write it myself for it to be right, and I am no good at that. Then I was going to leave a box," she fished out a small box from her bag. "I was reconsidering the notes… I abandoned it again," the box returned to her bag, then pulling out a stack of envelopes. "Scavenger hunt, too involved," the envelopes went back, grabbed a handful of colorful streamers. "Oh… you don't even want to know," she put them back. "I was going to dance… but what's the point of dancing alone at a time like this?" she breathed, took a step. "These weren't even the crazy ideas. And now, I've come to the important part, and it turns out, the best way is really the easiest way, because you know what, Nora, I can see your mother in the window, and before she comes out here, and I turn into a tomato and run away, I need to know… I need to know if you'll go out with me," she finished this with a tentatively hopeful smile.

"What happened to my shy Scottish girl?" Nora had been holding down a smile from the moment Grace had started her elaborate speech.

"I think she's passed out by now, too terrified that one," Grace shook her head, eyes flicking down do see whether Quinn was still there. She was, and now Finn was by her side. Could they hear any of this?

"Well when she wakes up, tell her she's got a date," Nora called down to her, and Grace laughed.

"First thing I'll tell her, won't even ask her if she's alright," she promised. "On that note," she raised her hand in a half wave, and then she was gone, dashing around the side of the house again. She wasn't thinking so much about the next time she'd have to face Nora's parents, only that she was feeling so happy in that moment that she wanted to bask in that feeling for a while.

"Hey!" She jumped, turning around and expecting to find Nora's mother or father, but instead there was Nora, who must have double-stepped her way down in order to catch up. "Forget something?"

"Did I?"

"Well, day and time would be nice, I don't know…" Nora shrugged. Grace was dumbfounded. In all her haste, it had completely slipped her mind.

"Yes, that would help," she agreed. "Friday? I… Who picks who up?" she asked quietly.

"Hey, you asked me out, I'm not picking you up," Nora teased.

"I did do that, didn't I?" Grace smiled.

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!