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 86th cycle. Now cycle 87!

IT'S THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY CYCLE OF GLEEKATHON! - Five years! Five years! *insert flailing* Okay, not quite, but by the end of this cycle, it will have been five years of daily stories (sometimes twice a day! ... and for seven very frightening days a couple years back, three times a day!). It will also be the end of this crazy ride. I started thinking about ending gleekathon months ago, and I wanted to finish my ongoing series before that happened. It made it so I could finish out this fifth year, and it couldn't be any better that this cycle is actually ending on October 22nd 2014, which was the day it began, in 2009... Now here we go!

This story is a 'Prequel or SEQUEL' for Shine & Embrace, a Sunshine Girls 2 series story originally posted on July 27th 2014.

"Welcome To"
Nora (AU!Beth)/Grace (OC), Emily (OC)/Kelly (OC)
Sunshine Girls 2 series

They'd been working on the nursery when Emily's water broke. More precisely, Nora and Grace had been working on the nursery while Emily sat and watched them. And if they were being completely accurate, Nora and Grace were working on the nursery, while repeating for the umpteenth time that Emily needed to stay where she was, so not to strain herself. She would have been all for helping them, but they insisted she stayed seated. She was due any day now, and it was only for the fact that she and Kelly had moved in to their apartment barely a week ago that the room wasn't ready.

It had not been the easiest thing, to move in, not only midway through December, but also in one of the snowiest winters Lima had ever seen, but they wanted to be settled in before the day came when they were parents. Nora and Grace had taken on the task of the nursery as a bit of a gift to the newlyweds. Emily had her ring on a chain around her neck, but they could see her every once in a while just picking it up in her palm and smiling. Kelly hadn't been able to afford a fancy one, of course, but she didn't want a fancy one. The one she had was perfect as far as she was concerned, because it had come from him. They had decided they wanted to be married before the baby was born, and before – as Emily herself put it – she ballooned out, so they'd had the ceremony five months ago. Already Emily had plenty to show, and they knew why.

Nora and Grace still remembered the day she'd come to meet them, at Nora's father's house – as usual – and presented them with a stunned look and a sonogram photo. They could see very clearly the masses identified as 'A' and 'B.' Emily and Kelly were expecting twins, and Nora had trouble not recalling her ramblings as she panicked and wondered how many babies she could be having. Well, one thing… Although, it could be two things. It could be three things… Oh, it could be nine things… No… No, no, that wouldn't be… Damn it, why did I have to think about it, now it's definitely going to be… nine…

They still didn't know the sexes, and they didn't want to know. Emily had no intention of boxing her babies into pink or blue explosions. So now here they were, all those months later, painting a forest scene that encircled the small room. There were two identical boxes waiting on the floor, each showing the picture of the crib they had chosen. Those would be assembled last, along with the other furniture; the other boxes were stacked next to the cribs. The only standing furniture now was the chair on which Emily sat, lightly drumming her fingers on her belly.

And then her water had broken. Alternately panicking and telling each other not to panic, Nora and Grace had gone about getting Emily up and ready to head off to the hospital. It was four days to Christmas, and the roads were packed with snow, ice, and multitudes of cars bound for the mall for some last minute shopping. Nora drove, while Grace sat in the back with Emily, holding her hand and trying to keep her calm. They'd already called Kelly, and he would be meeting them at the hospital.

"We better not get stuck in traffic, Nora, I'm warning you," Emily spoke through gritted teeth. "I'm not popping out two babies in the middle of blizzard road-aaaah!"

"And I'm not going to drive like a reckless lunatic and end up crashing the car!" Nora threw back.

"We'll get there, don't worry," Grace nodded reassuringly to Emily, while giving Nora a pointed look: do something.

So she'd gotten out of the car, flagging down the first cop car she'd spotted. When she'd told the officer the situation, he'd told her to get back in her car and follow his. "There, see? There are other ways," Nora told Emily, proudly pulling them up after the patrol car.

"I… I've always wanted to do that," Emily burst out laughing, which was cut short by more pain.

They made it to the hospital in record time, thanks to their escort, and Emily was brought up to delivery, where Kelly was already waiting. Nora and Grace were forced to wait outside, so they sat, and they waited.

The last several months had been a whirlwind, but Nora knew she and Emily would not have gotten through those months the way they did if Grace had decided to move back to Scotland. Her staying here in Ohio had been like a sign that things would turn out alright in the end, no matter how crazy they got. They certainly had done that, but in the best way they could have. Emily's pregnancy had been a sizable curveball in all of their lives, in one capacity or another, but not one of them stood here today with any sort of regret. And as for the three girls, the closest friends any of them had ever had, they had been brought closer than ever before, though they still made way for Kelly, letting the shy boy into their unit, just as they would do with the children about to be born on this winter day.

And just as the sun was setting, Nora and Grace had been allowed into the room, where they were introduced to Caitlyn Alice Schaeffer Holt, and Wallace Michael Schaeffer Holt. The new parents looked absolutely exhausted, and Kelly had a look on his face not unlike the one they'd spied on him when he'd been told he was about to become a father. He had his newborn daughter in his arms, and she'd gone and rung him like a bell. Emily had her son, later to be nicknamed Wally, and she didn't look to be in any hurry to hand him off, even if it would be to either one of her best friends.

"Emily Holt," Nora gave her a smile shining with happy tears. "You made things," she nodded, thinking again of the day of the three pregnancy tests.

"I did, didn't I, well… we did," she looked to Kelly and baby Cate. "Precious things."

"I think they have his ears," Grace looked from one baby to the other.

"Like I said," Emily nodded. "Precious."

It would be a few hours before they could do it, but eventually Nora and Grace had the babies in their arms, while Emily slept. Nora had Cate, and Grace had Wally, and they walked about the length of the room, in opposite directions and meeting halfway every time.

"I think I had an uncle called Wallace," Grace remarked as they met and walked on. "My granddad's brother, or cousin maybe… Died before I was born, but…"

"Maybe steer clear of the dead people talk right now," Nora offered in a whisper as she walked little Cate along in a soft shuffle.

"Nora?" Grace spoke after a few passes in silence. "I've been asking myself, these past months, I…" She hesitated, not wanting her question to be misconstrued. "Well, the thing is, one day, I… I will want to have… well…"

"Things?" Nora guessed, stopping and turning back to her. Grace smirked, bowing her head. "With… with me?" It all seemed so far away of a topic, but now with Emily and the twins, how could they not consider it in some shape or form?

"Who else would I ever want?" Grace stepped up toward her. "You do want… someday…"

"Completely," Nora confirmed, beaming.

"Good," Grace smiled again.

"It won't be easy, with us…" Nora reminded her, but Grace had known all this, and she wasn't backing down. When Caitlyn fussed in her arms, Nora looked down at her, rocking her carefully. "What do you think, Caty? Cousins?" The girl yawned. "Girl thing agrees," Nora declared, then, "We should stop the 'thing' thing, they'll get confused."

"Yeah," Grace laughed, looking to the sleeping Wally.

"Yeah," Emily piped in, and they saw she'd awakened, so they approached the bed, on either side.

"So how about instead, we tell these guys a story. I think I know just the one."

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!