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 50th cycle. Now cycle 51!

"Beiste-Healy Night"
Beiste & Ewan (OC; Damian McGinty)
Beiste & Ewan series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

The television had died out midway through the previous week, but finally today they had gone to the store the two of them and they had picked out a new one and taken it home themselves, set it up… Now that it was up, Shannon had suggested they give it a proper test run and have a movie night, just the two of them as a family. Ewan had been more than willing. They had ordered in from Breadstix to have dinner first.

"How's everything at school?" she asked as they sat down to eat. He looked up.

"I don't know, it's normal…" he shrugged, like he figured she'd know, but then he knew she liked keeping up with him, to know he was alright, so he dug deeper. "I have a test on Thursday, I really need to study; it's one of the hardest. And… I have a group project for home economics."

"Do you like your group?" she asked.

"One out of three," he frowned. "Just Tina. The other two not so much."

"Maybe you'll make friends," she encouraged with a smile.

"I doubt it," he looked to his plate.

"What about Glee Club?" she asked, and Ewan sat back up. He really liked Glee Club, he had decided, now that he'd been in it for a few weeks.

"It's good," he told her. "We found out who we'll be competing against at Sectionals, so everyone's starting to get a bit… needy," he sought the right word, but he didn't look completely satisfied. "Everyone wants the solo…"

"Are you going after it?" his aunt asked.

"I don't know… I would have liked to do a duet, with Sugar, but… well…" he hesitated to complete this thought, and his aunt knew why.

"Right…" she nodded, made proud in seeing how much he was trying to stay respectful to her. "How's it going between you two?" she asked, and just by the way his face relaxed into a smile, as much as he would let himself reveal, she knew the answer.

Their first date had been a revelation. He wasn't completely sure of her feelings for him until the Breadstix kiss which had blown the doors maybe not wide open but at least part of the way. But the first date had been like a second blast, clearing the way where the first blow had just cleared part of the way.

Sugar Motta was her own explosion, one of bold energy, but now he knew more. When he had gone to pick her up he had expected to find her as bouncy as he had left her earlier. Instead she looked almost… shy. There was something in her eyes now that he recognized from spending time with her before, something that just said that she was happy to have him in her life, that for how much this was all new to him, it was new to her, too. She'd never had someone care for her as he did without some sort of monetary incentive, and even then…

After they had gone back to school though, it was back to Sugar-Rush Motta. That was how she presented herself to everyone else but him. It could have been upsetting to him, but it really wasn't. Whatever was making her resort to this double persona, it was her choice, and he didn't see the harm; he liked her either way. If he had to choose, then he would pick her, any day, no mask, no pretense.

They had been together a few weeks now though, and every day that passed, part of him still expected the rug to be pulled out from under him, to lose her. But she didn't look to be pulling away from him. They were growing closer.

"She… She makes me smile," was his response, and as cheesy as it might have sounded to him, it was the honest truth, and his aunt could understand how that quality in a person would be something he treasured.

"I can see that," she told him, and he bowed his head.

Shannon was experiencing her own share of happiness, and her fears of losing Rich were as present as Ewan's fears to lose Sugar, possibly more. She had waited so long for a man like Rich that she had started to believe that no such man existed, not like him and certainly not for her. But Rich was very real and, after Ewan, he was the best thing to happen to her, certainly the best one not to involve tragedy at its heart. He still got nervous around her sometimes, she heard it in his voice, and it continued to warm her heart, to the point where she expected to catch fire at any second. He was a good man, a good companion in life, and a good father, to his son Mitch, and even to Ewan. He had no responsibility toward the boy but the one he chose to take. Ewan was not his son by blood or marriage, but he was Shannon's family, and the two of them were growing closer, and he could fulfill some need in the life of the boy who had lost so much in such a short time, and he didn't shy away from it in the least.

"And how is it at work?" this led her to ask, as it was the job Rich had given Ewan, at his shoe store.

"It's good," he nodded. "We got new models this week, so we had to rearrange everything. It took some getting used to, but it's getting easier now."

"I don't doubt it," she burst with pride, which made him grin. "You're a good salesman, that's what Rich tells me."

"Most of the others never want to deal with the kids, but I don't see what the big deal is… And my accent makes them laugh," he revealed. "Sometimes I'll use it to get them to cooperate."

"Whatever works, right," she smiled, and he nodded. "That's good then."

"I just hope it'll be enough for… this summer," he thought of his plans, his whole reason for getting the job, beyond having some pocket money. He was going to go back to Ireland for a visit, and the job would help.

"Even if you don't get enough, I'd be…"

"No," he shook his head politely. "I don't want you to help me pay. I mean, thank you… But I want to pay my own way, without anyone else's money but my own, the money I earned."

"You sound just like your mother…" she smiled, trying to keep from crying. Hearing the words had made Ewan well up as well. Neither broke down, but they recognized the other was close to the edge. "I wish… I wish she could see you now, your father, too… They'd be just as proud of you as I am," she smiled on, and he did, too.

"Thanks, Aunt Shannon."

"Now we should eat before it gets cold, and then we've got some movies to watch," she sniffled and they picked up their forks.

"I still think we should have checked out the other one again…" he commented.

"We could have been in there for hours and it never would have ended," she shook her head and he chuckled. He wasn't the only one who sounded just like his mother…

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!