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 77th cycle. Now cycle 78!

"See & Decide"
Nora (AU!Beth), (Emily (OC; Nellie V.), Grace (OC), Francesca (OC)
Sunshine Girls 2 series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

When she'd gotten Francesca's text, asking that she met her at the coffee shop near hear house, Nora had a relatively solid idea of what was about to happen. She dreaded ever having to do this, but she didn't see how they could be headed anywhere else.

Even then, as she walked through the door and saw her there, her girlfriend, at the table in the corner, she felt a pang of grief that made her want to turn and run, just so they didn't have to have that conversation. That was our table. Every time we come here, that's where we sit. We look at each other as we talk, and sometimes she'll take my hand, twine her fingers with mine… Sometimes we'll bring our chairs closer, sometimes she kisses me, I kiss her, and it doesn't matter where we are. First time we slept together it started back here, sitting our table, we looked at each other and we knew, and then we went back to her house… Is she sitting there because she wants us to stay together? If she's going to break up with me, couldn't she sit anywhere else?

Taking a breath, Nora walked up to the table and sat across from Francesca, who was nursing a tall cup of tea already.

"How's your throat?" asked. Francesca shrugged.

"Better, but not there yet," she frowned. Nora knew the thing that annoyed Fran the most wasn't so much the being sick part as it was the not being able to sing one. "Are you getting anything?"

"I'm not thirsty, I'm alright," she promised. It was a lie. Her mouth was dry as sand paper.

They said nothing for a minute, another… Neither knew where to start, even Francesca, who'd asked her to come meet her. Starting the conversation more than likely meant ending something else, and once they got started, there'd be no turning back, would there?

"Fran…" Nora breathed at last, and her girlfriend looked up at her. She found it hard to look her in the eye, when not long ago she could have gotten lost in those eyes, never drawn to look away at all. Every time she looked at her now though, she saw all those little happy moments and the big ones, too, except they'd been marred. Each happy moment was now followed by that twisting doubt like she'd been lying to herself and to Fran and playing at caring for her. That wasn't true. It had been real, otherwise it wouldn't hurt this much now.

"I thought I'd regret it, when it got to this. I knew it would happen, but I went for it anyway," Francesca spoke, fingers cradling the cup in front of her. "I thought I'd feel like the biggest idiot in the world because I took up with a girl who was clearly in love with someone else already. I'm not sure if that makes me a sadist or not…"

"Fran, you have to know, I didn't plan for this to happen. When we got together, that was it, I wasn't going after…"

"I know you didn't cheat, not consciously. I know she kissed you, but it's not… I guess what I'm trying to say is now that we're here… I don't have any regrets… not that way." There was a beat of silence. "Right now, letting you go might be the best way I have to show it to you. Because if we stayed together, you'd say you were alright, but you couldn't be, not when she was out there thinking about you. You're lucky to have something like that, you are. I only wish it could have been with me." She'd been trying not to cry, Nora could see it now, and it only got her started.

"Do you know… how happy I've been with you?" she sniffled, and Francesca looked back at her, bowing her head.

"I should go. If we sit around here too long it'll only make it worse," she sighed. She couldn't tell Nora how, sitting across from her as she was, all she wanted to do was say she'd changed her mind, to take up all she had and fight for her, to ask her to pick her over Grace. She knew a losing battle when she saw one. Drawing it out longer than it should be would only hurt them all. It was better to make a clean break.

"No, stay, I'll go," Nora replied. "You've got your tea, you're almost home… And I could really use some fresh air right now," she admitted.

"Right," Francesca slowly sat back.

"I'll… I'll see you at school," Nora got to her feet, turning away while she still had it in her. But she stopped. It was stupid, but she had to turn and ask the question. "You and me… Do you think we'll still be friends?" she asked, trying not to sound so desperate. Francesca had been thinking about it, too.

"Eventually, I don't see why not," she replied. "Maybe not right away though," she admitted.

"Okay…" Nora breathed. "I can work with that," she said, while her brain was thinking more along the lines of 'I have no choice.'

Nora left the coffee shop, the first gust of wind filling her lungs like a shock of cold to wake her. It had been one thing to know this was coming, but it was another entirely to have gone through it. She'd left the coffee shop herself for all the reasons she'd given Francesca, but deep down she knew it was because she didn't want to be the girl sitting there, sobbing in the corner while everyone looked at her.

When she got home, she was quickly accosted by her little sister. Hailey didn't notice the way her face looked; she just wanted to play. So Nora went and followed her into the dining room, where she had her new jigsaw puzzle already opened and cascaded on to the table top. She sat with her, trying to focus on helping her assemble it, but after a while she realized she'd been turning the same corner piece in her hand for something like five minutes. She excused herself from her sister, promising she'd be back, and she hurried up to her room.

There was a knock at her door a minutes later, and she knew from the sound of it that it wouldn't be her sister. Instead, it was her mother, and when she walked in and saw her daughter's face, Quinn came and sat with her, wrapped her arms around her. Nora welcomed the embrace. She didn't have to say a thing; she could cry all she wanted.

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!