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 37th cycle. Now cycle 38!

PRE-CHRISTMAS NON-CHRISTMAS: It's already my third holiday season of Gleekathon, woo! So happy about that :D Anyhoo, just to explain what I'm doing for it this year: How it goes is I always have a set of stories with Christmas-y titles but non-Christmas-y plots, so to give an air of the season but not too much ;) First year was '12 Days of Christmas', last year was 'Reindeer'. This year's theme is "Christmas Movies" :) It'll run from December 8th to 19th, after which I have a slightly bigger undertaking to take us to Christmas Eve (stay tuned and find out, ha! ;)). So here we go!

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"Home Alone"
Beiste & Ewan (OC)
Series installment #2 (following 'Shattered')
(as explained previously, it lists 'Rory' because
I'd made Ewan in Damian's image before his TGP win)

It didn't feel like home anymore. They were the same walls, it was the same furniture… Same broken ramp, same dust on the shelves, but something had happened to it… Like the light had gone away from it along with his parents. He hadn't been there since the night his parents died, but now there he was, with his aunt Shannon who had just come in from America. He knew after the funeral and everything he was going to be flying there with her, to stay with her, which only made it even clearer of a point – this wasn't his home anymore. It was his old life, and that was done.

It wasn't even the sights that made it painful to be there, not as much as the rest. The sounds, or lack thereof, created this divide between what was and what once had been. But the worst were the smells… The place still smelled like them. His father had been an artist, and the house always had that lingering scent of paint. Then there was that flowery scent that would come from his mother. Walking through the hall to reach his bedroom, he'd just stopped, overwhelmed by all of it.

"Ewan, you alright?" he felt his aunt's hand on his shoulder and he looked back at her.

"They're really gone, aren't they…" his eyes had gone red with grief, and now so had hers. She hugged him, felt him hold tight. If he was anything like Kathleen, and with every hour she spent with him she knew this to be the case, he was going to keep holding on… until he'd stopped crying.

"Do you need my help in there?" she indicated his room.

"If it's alright, I think I'd like to do it on my own," he still had his eyes down, not showing the after-effects of the tears.

"Yeah, you got it," she gave him a nod and watched him go up to his room. Even that place, even his place, wasn't what it used to be. "But I'm right here if you need me, okay?"

"Thanks, Aunt Shannon," he nodded back at her before going in. She sighed, feeling the heaviness hanging over him. She couldn't imagine what he was going through, and all she could hope for was to give him the best life she could from now on. She owed it to him, to her sister and Glenn.

She passed a door, left ajar, and looking in she realized this was their room. She took a breath, trying to give herself some courage now. Coming into that house, her first task was to help Ewan pack up what he wanted to bring with him to Lima. But she also wanted to pack up anything he might want at some point but not realize. The house was getting seen to once they'd leave, so it was now or never.

Entering that room, she saw what she would see more or less throughout the house: a life interrupted. Glenn and Kathleen had left the house like it was any other day, not figuring they'd never return. In the room, Shannon found folded laundry which still hadn't been put away, downstairs she'd find dishes soaking in the sink… For Ewan it had been the smells being too much for him, for her it was this… She sat on the edge of the bed, breathing deep. She looked at the bedside table and her eyes fell on two picture frames. She picked them up, and just… stared… This was her sister, right there. The first picture was her family, her husband and son. By looking at Ewan, she saw the picture was about four to five years old. The ten-year-old sat nestled in his parents' arms, all three of them smiling, sitting on a beach. The other picture also featured a beach, nowhere near Ireland, and a ten-year-old with those blue eyes. On this picture, a twelve-year-old Shannon Beiste stood smiling as her ten-year-old sister hung from her back, also smiling. Her sister had held family as the most important thing in her life, even when it meant sacrificing one for the other. Shannon would do the same, looking out for her boy.

She couldn't stay sitting there, had to just soldier on. She'd have to stop feeling like a thief. The two pictures would be her first items to pack for Ewan. She packed a few more things from Glenn and Kathleen's room, moved down into the family room. After having to stop a few more times, smacked with the emotion of her task, she was done, so she moved back to check in on Ewan.

It wouldn't take long to figure out he hadn't done a thing since they'd parted. He sat on his bed, back to the wall, holding his knees close and staring at the wall… not unlike the way he'd stare at the television at his neighbor's without really looking at it. "Ewan…" she called gently.

"I waited… for hours," he began, still looking into nothing. "Came home from school that day and no one was home… Nothing strange about that. I started playing… video games… lost track of time. But I was hungry, so I called for my mother… I thought she was home by then. It happens sometimes, not realizing that they'd come home. But there was no answer. I looked around, but they weren't there… Made myself something to eat, then I played again, to make time go by… Tried calling them, no one answered… Then it was eight o'clock… Nine o'clock… Ten… Eleven…" Each hour he named seemed to carry his rising level of desperation. "Then I opened my eyes and there was daylight, and there was Mrs. Ronan and her son, he's… police." Mrs. Ronan, the neighbor who had looked after Ewan until his aunt's arrival, who had come to pick her up at the airport… "She'd been crying… My parents weren't there… She didn't have to tell me, I knew…" He looked about to break down again, so she moved to sit at his side.

"You say the word, and we can stay here a few more days," she promised.

"I can't be here anymore," he spoke evenly. "Coming here today, I thought it would be hard… but not like this, not this much… So I'm saying goodbye, to this place," he nodded slowly, then looked at her. "I think I'd like that help now…" She gave a sad smile.

"You got it."

They packed the rest of his things, his clothes… When they were done, Shannon looked to her nephew. He was looking around like he was well aware he had no intention of returning to this house, and he was finally realizing it was going to hurt. This had been his home his whole life, and one moment on a road had gone and ruined it forever. He looked at her and his eyes spoke a clear message: 'get me out of here.' She placed her arm around his shoulders, guided him out.

This day had been hard, but the next would be harder, with the funeral. Ewan was on auto-pilot, and Shannon was on protect mode. If anything or anyone came and risked overwhelming him, she would step in to alleviate it. Maybe it was her way of coping. The sight of the two closed caskets, knowing one of them held her sister, could have torn her apart, but focusing on Ewan was how she'd get through it.

The day was a whirlwind, and somehow it had gone by in a flash. They were leaving for Lima the next morning. That night she'd put in a call to Will, who told her the room was ready, and as she hung up she looked up and there was Ewan standing in the door. He had that same posture he'd had since her arrival, the one that said he was completely lost. "Trouble sleeping?" she moved to get up, but he shook his head, coming to sit with her.

"What's it like? Lima…"

"It's…" she tried to think of what to tell him, considering she was about to describe his new home. "It's probably very different from what you're used to. Oh but there will be people there, and they'll surprise you. Some in a good way, some in a… not so good way. But you know I'll be there with you."

"I know," he nodded.

"And some of these 'in a good way' people, they've been preparing a room for you at my place, I… I hope you'll like it, but if you want to change… anything at all, you let me know and we can make it happen," she promised.

"Right," he went on nodding. "That's nice of them."

"They're good people," Shannon smiled. "They're anxious to meet you, that's… when you're ready."

"Sure, that'd be good." He sat in silence for a while. "Well good night," he gave in response as he got up and went to his room here at the Ronans'. Shannon watched him go. The next morning they were flying to Lima, and then their life as a unit would begin. She couldn't deny she was scared, nervous, but that was just because they were starting out. They would find their way, she believed that. The one thing she was concerned about was Ewan.

They left the next morning, Mrs. Ronan driving them to the airport. As they drove away, Shannon could see how very aware Ewan was about the fact they weren't just leaving the Ronans' house but also his own, which sat next to it. Once he couldn't see it anymore he did appear to relax. They got to the airport, Mrs. Ronan hugged him within an inch of his oxygen supply and then they were boarding the flight, flying away. And then they were in Lima. The boxes were getting shipped, probably wouldn't be there yet, but he did have a couple suitcases. They got in a taxi and they were on their way to her… their home.

Much like the drive to the airport in Ireland, here he took in everything he saw, although now it wasn't last impressions but first impressions. This was going to be his world from now on. She couldn't tell what he thought of it, or if he thought anything to begin with. Since they'd gotten on the plane he hadn't said a word, he just… followed. She did worry, but at the same time it was a difficult day for him so she tried not to worry too much.

They arrived at the house, and it had changed for her too, in a way. It wasn't the home she'd left anymore. Nothing had really changed, not for the most part, except the room… Will and Emma had done a fantastic job, and Shannon made a mental note to thank them, somehow. She knew it still wasn't up to her to like it, that it was up to Ewan, but he still hadn't said a word, so she didn't know if he liked it or hated it. He just put his bags down, looked at her. She thought they'd been doing so well, but now that they were here it was like he'd shut down again, more so.

"Are you… hungry?" she tried, and he nodded. "Anything in particular?" He shook his head. "Do you want… I can order in, or we can go out…" He shook his head, which she took to mean he wanted to stay in. "How do you feel about Italian?" she asked, and he nodded. "There's this place, Breadstix… We eat there all the time, I… I'll pick something, okay?" He nodded. "Right, okay," she left the room, breathing out. This would definitely need some work, but they would get through it, she knew they would.

When dinner came, Ewan came to join her. They ate in silence, as she expected, and she thought for sure she'd never hear that sweet voice of his ever again at this rate. But then when they were done and he got up he came back up to her as she stood and he looked into her eyes. "Thank you," was all he managed to say, but it was all he needed to say, at least for now. It was all in there, all that he couldn't express but felt. Her sister and Glenn may have been gone, but they were alive and well in the soul of Ewan Healy.

THE END

COUNTDOWN TO 801: 12 DAYS

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!