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 43rd cycle. Now cycle 44!

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** UPDATED WITH CYCLE 44 CHEAT SHEET ** Check it out to find out about shift days!

This is a shift day [see above]. There will be another upload this afternoon: Steps 16-36, Time Is On Your Side, chapter 15.

"Long Time Coming"
Shelby & Beth, Emmett & Joanie, Shelby/Emmett
Shelby & Beth series (following 'Thresholds')

They could hear her coming up the stairs as they stood in the attic still. Joanie would have been running up those stairs if she could, but carrying Beth all she could manage was a hurried but cautious pace. But then there she was, at the door, with the biggest smile on her face.

"I want to see," she begged.

"Give her here," her father nodded to Beth, and Joanie handed her over so she could approach Shelby, who happily presented her with what she had asked to see, her great grandmother's ring on her new mother's hand. She was at a loss for words, looking up to Shelby, anxious on her feet.

"Must have killed you not to say anything," she teased.

"Dug my toes in my sandals the whole way," Joanie revealed. "I think there's holes now…" Shelby chuckled. The girl beamed, practically launched to hug her, so much so that Shelby staggered before she could steady and get a hold of her.

"I'll get you new sandals," she told her, bending to kiss the top of her head. She looked over to Emmett, standing there with Beth in his arms, and she could well have been his from the day she was born, the way she responded to him.

"Can we eat out tonight?" Joanie asked, pulling back.

"We ate out last night," Emmett pointed out.

"I know," she looked to him, back to Shelby. "But this time it's special."

"She's got a point," Shelby nodded.

"She has a lot of points, a lot of times," Emmett agreed, making his daughter laugh. "We'll wrap things up here and then we'll go."

After they'd left the house – they had begun the process of buying it – they had stopped off at their respective houses to change. Finally they had driven off to the restaurant. The dinner had ended up becoming a talk of wall colors, paint versus wallpaper, and a number of other issues of decoration for this new house of theirs. They were informed in great detail of the plans Joanie had for her room, as well as her suggestions for Beth's room.

They were staying at Emmett's that night. It had been a long day, and they wanted Joanie to be able to sleep in her own bed. When they got there, Joanie took up the task of getting Beth changed herself. Shelby found them in Joanie's room, in pyjamas the both of them, where Joanie sat cross legged, holding up the small blonde on wobbly feet, smiling at the way she would laugh.

"You're not going to bed already, are you?" Shelby wondered.

"Oh, no, I've got like a hundred pages left in my book," she nodded to it, sitting on her nightstand.

"Right," Shelby laughed. Joanie pulled Beth up to sit her in her lap while Shelby sat across from her. "Big day," she commented after a moment.

"The best," Joanie promised. "Too bad she won't remember it," she looked down to Beth.

"Well, good thing she's got a big sister to tell her all about it someday," she smiled, even more so in seeing Joanie react to this. She had always seen Beth as a little sister, only now it would be official. It didn't change the way she felt about her, but now there would be more to it. Thinking of that fact was bound to make her wonder about something else, and she looked up to Shelby.

"So when you and Dad get married, then Beth and I are going to be sisters. And you and I…" she grew shy at the thought of saying the words, and Shelby gave her a small nod of encouragement. "Feels like I'll turn tomato red if I actually say it."

"Is it that bad?" Shelby smirked.

"Mom…" she said it, laughing, and it wasn't her who got emotional for it.

"There, see?" Shelby beamed, reaching to tuck Joanie's hair behind her ears. "Nothing to worry about."

"I wanted to say it for a while," she admitted.

"You know you don't have to wait until after the wedding if you don't want to."

"What if it's bad luck? You know, like a jinx."

"Whatever you choose, I'll be happy either way," Shelby assured her. "How about we get her to bed?" she looked to Beth, who had fallen asleep in Joanie's arms. "Then you can get to your book. I wouldn't want to be responsible for keeping you up too late," she smiled at the barely contained smirk on the girl's face… her daughter's face…

With Beth in bed and Joanie as good as gone to the world until she could finish her book, she'd gone to find Emmett. She found him staring at a couple of DVD covers. She cleared her throat. "Trying to decide what would be best for this particular night."

"Better have some action, I'm so tired I'll probably fall asleep," she admitted.

"Right," he put one case back and presented her with the other. "How's that?"

"Perfect," she declared. He put the movie on, they sat, but after barely five minutes they weren't really paying attention to it anymore.

The day had good reason to have worn them out, but it was done in absolutely the best way. She looked to the ring on her finger, the beautiful family ring saved from having landed on his ex-wife's finger to land on her own, and she remembered the words that had preceded her accepting to wear it… Right now she was exactly where she wanted to be. She didn't think she could be happier if she tried. And on top of their upcoming wedding, there was the house, the one that was all but theirs already… It was all happening now.

Sometimes she knew she'd wonder about the future, their future, the four of them… They would get married, move into the house… Then eventually the thought would come up, to have a child together. Emmett knew that wasn't possible for her anymore, had known for a while. It didn't have to mean the end of possibilities, but it did take away something big… For now they couldn't worry on that though. For now that mattered was that they were becoming a family, more so than they already were.

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!