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 81st cycle. Now cycle 82!

"Open & Call"
Nora (AU!Beth)/Grace (OC), (Emily (OC; Nellie V.), Quinn/Finn
Sunshine Girls 2 series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)

The day after their impromptu sleepover, Nora and Emily had worked together to hide Grace's bruise so that she might go to school. It was something of a challenge, but eventually they had achieved something close enough to normal. Letting her hair cover the rest, they'd gone from Rachel and Puck's house off to McKinley together. They would be parted and reunited throughout the day, but overall it hadn't gone nearly as bad as they thought it might.

When the day was done though, Grace would be going back to her house, and as much as she tried not to look like it worried her, it was worrying Emily, and Nora most of all. She'd dropped her off there, insisting that if she needed to, she could just cross the street and come to her. Grace thanked her, and they went their separate ways, back to their respective homes.

Nora had gone to the window to look at the Mackenna house for what must have been the twelfth time already by the time Quinn and Finn came home, with Hailey and the baby in tow. Nora hadn't even caught on to the possibility that she might be in for 'a conversation,' until her mother asked to see her in the kitchen. Nora followed her, and there she found her stepfather waiting as well. She stopped.

"Where were you last night?" Quinn asked. Nora said nothing. "Because I called Tina this morning to ask if you'd forgotten anything, which you tend to do, and it turned out you weren't there, no, she wanted to know where Emily was, and well, you can see where this is going, can't you?" she fixed her with a look that made it clear she had better explain herself.

"You didn't call Grace's mom, did you?" Nora asked before she could stop herself.

"No, I called him," Quinn pointed to Finn. "He confirmed you were all at school this morning." Nora relaxed for a beat. "Should I be calling Grace's mother?"

"No," she quickly replied again, and she knew she'd overstepped. Her parents stared at her with concern.

"Nora, what's going on here?" her stepfather asked.

She didn't know what to do. On the one hand, having this knowledge in her, with no outlet, felt akin to a volcano beating against a cork, but on the other… Grace didn't want people knowing. But if Nora didn't say anything here, her parents would only keep prying, and who knew what that would do.

She took a few steps back and forward again, the debate still going in her head, until finally she let out a breath, stopped covering up her own concerns.

"We stayed at Mom and Dad's house," she finally revealed.

"What was this, a party or…" Quinn started to ask, but Nora shook her head and she stopped.

"She wasn't at school yesterday. Grace, I mean…" Finn nodded like he knew this, being one of her teachers. "She'd asked me to bring her homework, so I did that, but when I showed up she wouldn't answer the door, and when I called she didn't answer but I knew she was there, so I took the hide-a-key and…" She stopped, the first memory of Grace's face, the bruise, popping back in her head.

"Nora," her mother spoke, no longer upset about the lie but wondering on the truth.

"Night before last, she… she hit her. Grace's mother hit her. She had a bruise just…" she mimed at her face, showing the span of it.

The reaction hitting her parents came like a ton of bricks. Her mother's face softened, a strange sort of sorrow taking hold, while her stepfather looked like he was almost as angry as Nora was.

"Why didn't you just bring her here, we could have let her stay with us," Quinn pointed out.

"She didn't want people knowing, because of…" Now her guilt reared its ugly head again. "Night before last, Grace told her mother about us. That's when it happened."

Quinn and Finn looked to one another. Whatever silent conversation they were pulling off, Nora didn't know what they were thinking, but she had a feeling she wouldn't like it.

"Where's Grace now?" Quinn asked her.

"Back home," Nora replied.

"Is her mother back yet?" her mother went on, and Nora sighed, looking at the time.

"She should be, yes." When Finn started walking out of the kitchen and toward the door, Nora hurried after him. "Wait, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to talk to her."

"No, but I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone… Dad, please." Finn turned to face her.

"I know you mean well, but this is what it is, and if we know that Grace might be in trouble, we can't just ignore it. Just stay here, I'll be back in a bit."

She had nothing to say after that, and she watched him go. From the window she could see him cross the street, walk up to the Mackennas' door. He rang the bell, and then Grace's mother answered the door. They stood there for a few seconds, and then her father walked into the house and the door shut behind him. Nora moved to the couch and sat, defeated. When she sensed her mother in the room, she looked up.

"Mom, I promised…"

"I know you did."

"It's not like I'm trying to protect Mrs. Mackenna. I would have kept Grace away from that house with everything I had, but she wanted to go back. I hate… I hate that she has to be there, with her mother, feeling miserable. I just want her safe." Quinn came to sit with her, taking her hand.

"She will be," she promised her daughter. "Her family, unfortunately, is not this family…"

"It is, to me," Nora breathed out, and her mother gave her a smile.

"I know that, too." She didn't know that she'd ever been so thankful for the family she had been granted. She'd never had to be afraid of who she was, not with them.

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!