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 82nd cycle. Now cycle 83!

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

Grace had woken up so peacefully the morning after Nora's birthday party that for a moment she felt like she might still be sleeping, until she felt something that made her twitch and she looked down to find a hand rested so high on her stomach it was in fact nestled just under and grazing at her breasts. The warmth that was around her wasn't just for the comforter that kept her naked body covered; it was Nora, lying behind her and breathing softly near her ear. Grace smiled… so this hadn't been a dream.

As carefully as she could, she had gone about turning herself around, so that she might be facing Nora without waking her. She'd only just managed it when Nora started to move, and Grace thought she might have woken her, but instead the sleeping blonde had only pulled nearer and settled again. Grace's face flushed, her body and Nora's settling and meeting again at every breath they took. She thought about the first time they had almost done this, and she'd never been so thankful for the kindness in Nora's heart. It wouldn't have meant the same thing at all if they'd just gone through with it before, not like now… That other night had been anger and grief and vengeance, but this night… it had been love, only love. It made her want to wake her up and show her again. But she let her sleep.

She'd needed to look into her face, to see her there and consider this situation, this possibility that she might choose to move back to Scotland and go to live with her father and older brother again. She needed to see her, because if she chose to go, it would be at the price of having this face to look on whenever she wanted to see it, to feel her touch, her kiss, to hear her voice in real time, her voice, her singing, her laughter… If she went, she might not get to see her for months, more than months… They'd try and make things work long distance for a while, sure, but deep down she knew, as determined as they might be that they'd still make it work, in all likelihood it wouldn't, and they would have to break up.

How cruel would it be that she should end up having to move across an ocean to live with the parent who had found it in him to accept her for who she was, because of a relationship she would almost inevitably lose by going through with this relocation? It was like some cosmic joke, and the thought of it made her feel like either laughing or throwing her hands up in defeat.

And she would have her own birthday soon anyway. She would be eighteen, and before she knew it she would be high school graduate, looking into college and the future. Plenty of people went to study abroad, so it wasn't like she couldn't just stay here, get a place of her own… Or a place with Nora. Her girlfriend was mumbling in her sleep, something Grace couldn't quite make out but sounded like her name, and she smiled, leaning down to kiss her shoulder.

The thing was, as much as she could make it be all about school, and logic, and Nora… there was the other side.

A few years back, when her father had needed to return to Scotland and the question had been there, for them to possibly move back there, her mother had made the choice to keep her and her brother there in Lima, while her father went back and her older brother chose to go with him. As upset as she'd been at first, she had no animosity toward them. Far from that, she missed them terribly. She had called her brother when those bad days had been happening. She had told him about their mother, what she'd done to her, but she'd sworn him to secrecy. He was very upset, as he was bound to be. He'd agreed to keep her secret, but on the condition that she had to talk to their father about it at some point. And when she'd held her promise, she had gotten this offer that was now weighing on her conscience.

The thought of having them back in her life was not unappealing, quite the contrary in fact. Because it wasn't just them, was it? She'd get her father and brother back, and her grandparents, her aunts, uncles, cousins… All those people they'd left behind when they'd moved to Ohio. When she'd had this falling out with her mother, she'd had no family to turn to, and it had made her feel like a stranger in her own home, her own town. She'd lived just about seven years in Ohio. She had lived eleven back in Scotland, and maybe she couldn't remember the early ones, but when she closed her eyes, even to this day, thinking of home could conjure up the image of that house across the street from Nora's like it could bring forth the image of the home back in Scotland. She wouldn't be going back to that exact house, that one had been sold when they'd moved to Lima, but it was still the old town, and she remembered it.

She would be happy wherever she went, that much was clear. But she'd be sad, too. The real question then might have been the place where her regrets would be lessened.

"Grace?" Nora mumbled, this time clearer, as she stirred and started to wake. Grace leaned in to press her lips to hers before she could open her eyes, and Nora breathed and kissed her back.

"Morning," she smiled as Nora's eyes finally opened. She didn't know that she'd ever seen Nora's blue eyes so bright and near, and the way her girlfriend looked at her, she had to be feeling that same sort of swooning feeling she was, to have her there, first thing in the morning. They looked at one another, and they smirked at the same time.

"So… we're not alone in the house anymore, are we?"

"No, we're not," Grace confirmed. "So we'll have to be extra quiet, right?" she suggested, moving forward so Nora might turn on to her back and she could look down upon her. She was moving in to kiss her when her breath caught and she felt the deft fingers that touched her and found her wanting.

"That's just what I was thinking," Nora chuckled just as Grace's lips found hers.

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!