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 36th cycle. Now cycle 37!

BACKGROUND INFO (please read): So I should explain, with regards to this series (yes, it's going to be a series). Being that I'm a full time university student (not for much longer though, I'm free in about a week, wee!) before a semester starts I plan all the stories that will span that semester ahead of time, meaning that all these stories right now and all the way to early January, I've had them planned since August. So back in August, a friend floated me the idea that led to this series, which would feature a character created in Damian's image. Now at the time the Glee Project wasn't over yet, and there was no guarantee whether he'd win or lose, whether he'd be on Glee or not (but he did, and he is... yay! ;)) And by the time this idea came around I could only slot it for, well, now. So then he won, and that was that. I sort of had an idea of where I was going with this (which is probably 99% the same as what it is remains as far as in the long haul), but then more information came out, on what his character would be, and then I went 'oh crap.' I was worried that while obviously the two characters, mine and his actual Glee one, have different backstories, some points still made them similar and that it'd be an issue, but with a minor adjustment or two (which won't occur in this installment, but later) then it's all good... [If you'll remember the name poll I had going a couple months back, this is what it was for... I'm so glad 'Rory' didn't win... That would have made it even more awkward ;)] So, enough blathering, on to the story!

"Shattered"
Coach Beiste & Ewan Healy
Series installment #1

(PS: 'tis my birthday tomorrow :) Best present I could ask for, go forth, read stuff! (maybe review stuff? ;))

They'd been close once, her sister and her. Kathleen was two years her junior, and as different as they were to anyone who'd see them, they were sisters and the rest didn't matter. That was until twenty years ago, when her then-eighteen-year-old sister met a guy and ran off to marry him back in his native Ireland. The love story of Kathleen Beiste and Glenn Healy may have been sweeping and romantic but it had also made it harder for them to keep in touch. She knew about four years later they'd had a son, Ewan, but already by that time Shannon was lucky if she got the cursory birthday and Christmas calls. At least when they did talk, it could go on for a couple of hours. But they hadn't seen each other in… ten? Eleven years?

Every year she kept telling herself she'd get around to taking that trip to Ireland to see her, if they weren't going to come over, but every year it wouldn't happen, blame lack of money, or the weather… Deep down she wasn't sure if it wasn't just that she was scared of what she'd find, if too much time had passed for them to be sisters again.

She'd never get the chance to find out.

It would feel good to start her second year at McKinley. She wasn't the new girl anymore, had built a good home for herself with these people… Then she got a call, three weeks before the start of the school year. She'd just gotten home from the gym, Breadstix dinner in hand, and the phone rang, preceding her even getting acclimated to her surroundings, and she couldn't remember where the phone was. She should have seen this disorientation as a sign of what would come in the next minute. But she did reach the phone, having put the dinner and her gym bag down, and she answered.

The voice on the other end, the Irish voice, brought everything into focus much too fast. The woman began by asking if she was in fact Shannon Beiste, and she knew without her going on that this would be bad news. Even then she was just trying to bargain back from complete chaos, clinging to the possibility that it couldn't be as bad as her mind had decided it was… Yes, she was Shannon Beiste. Sister of Kathleen Healy, born Kathleen Evelyn Beiste? Yes, that very one.

She knew she'd heard the rest, but it still felt like it hadn't been her, like she wasn't there. But once she'd confirmed she was the person they were looking for, there was no stopping the woman from laying the news on her, and no matter how gently she tried to put it, from an ocean away, it didn't soften the blow by much. Her sister was dead. Glenn was dead. Her sister… Katie… Katie with the curls, Katie with the smile, Katie with her boy…

The only way her brain was able to produce words to be spoken was to ask if her nephew was alright. Ewan was alright, physically. He hadn't been in the car with them. He was in shock, naturally, but they were looking after him. Here she learned the accident had taken place three days ago, and again her mind preceded the words which would be told to her: it had been established that Kathleen and Glenn had named her as Ewan's guardian, should anything happen to both of them, and if she didn't claim the boy, he would have to be placed…

She remembered the boy, even if she'd only ever seen him once. He was five years old at the time. He reminded her so much of Kathleen when they were kids, so happy all the time, curious, hard to hold down… She couldn't understand half of what he said, but what she got just gave her the idea he was a sweet child, with a bright mind, every bit her sister's child, even if he would grow to look a lot like his father, except for those eyes…

The woman on the phone hadn't even finished explaining what would happen to Ewan if she didn't 'claim' him, as she said, that Shannon said very simply… She'd take care of him.

After she'd hung up, finally, she could hear every last sound that existed in her apartment, that was how quiet it was; putting the phone down was the loudest she'd ever heard it. She couldn't chase her sister's smile from her mind, and now she knew what it was like, being haunted… She was frozen now, stunned, but she knew it would only be a matter of time before she broke down. Before that could happen, she thought she should call someone, needed some company… She could call Rich, oh but it would be too much to put on to him. So she'd called Will. He'd come over instantly, arrived not ten minutes after she'd called him, with Emma in tow. They were there with her when it finally truly hit her… her sister was gone. And all she could do was cry.

She would finally take that trip to Ireland… for the funeral, and then to help Ewan get ready to come with her. Will and Emma had offered to try and prepare a room for him while she was gone, and she'd graciously accepted. She didn't know that she would have been able to concentrate on that, with the little time she had before departure… and she wouldn't have wanted him to have to leave his home to come to a new one that had no space for him.

The next day she was stepping off a plane and being greeted by a woman who'd lived next door to Glenn and Kathleen. Ewan had been staying with the woman and her husband until Shannon's arrival. The woman would talk and talk as she drove, but it never really registered. Meeting Ewan – that would basically be it, a meeting – was making the coach's heart beat unsteadily. She wasn't expecting him to be alright, of course, but the thing that did concern her was having to take the boy, not even sixteen yet, out of the only place he'd known, at such a time. She had thought about maybe staying here with him for a few weeks, but it wouldn't have helped, not really.

And then they were at the house. She met the woman's husband, and then she was directed upstairs. She could vaguely hear the sound of television, so she followed it to a room, and there he was, sitting back on a bed, staring at the television set up on a dresser. He was looking at it, but he wasn't really looking at it.

"Ewan?" she spoke carefully. He looked over, and a new sob tried to jump for her throat. That was Kathleen's son alright. Grown so much since the last time she'd seen him in the flesh but still with that young face, which she'd only seen in pictures. He must have seen pictures of her as well, because when he saw her he carefully got up, took a couple of steps.

"Aunt Shannon," he nodded, voice flat.

"I… May I…" she hesitated, reaching to him. He didn't refuse, so she put her arms around him, held him. It took a moment, but then she felt his arms close around her, accepting she was what he had been waiting for since the night of the accident… He'd been waiting for family.

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!