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!

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

Grace would never tell Nora and Emily about the second bruise, the one on her arm, and as it started to heal, same as her face did, all she could think about was to make sure there wouldn't be a third. With the days that followed, it became more and more certain that there wouldn't be. She kept this quiet, too, maybe out of some need to make sure it didn't fall through. It took one week in whole before she had the confirmation, and even then, she didn't get to tell anyone until it was already happening.

It had just so happened that Nora looked out her window and spotted both Grace and, for some reason, Mr. Schuester, carrying out bags and boxes from the Mackenna house and into what she recognized as Mr. Schuester's car. She texted Emily even as she made her way out of the house and across the street.

"Grace?" she called out. Mr. Schuester had gone back into the house, leaving Grace to pull Nora around the car and out of sight from the house. "What's happening?"

"Well, Mr. Schuester talked to my mother, and he made a deal with her, to let me stay with him and his family for the rest of the school year."

"Woah," Nora blinked. "That's great, that's… She's okay with it?"

"It was the… least obtrusive solution," Grace explained, leaving how Will had pointed out to her mother exactly what he'd told her back in the choir room, down to what Grace had mentioned about her brother.

The hope here, though Grace doubted very much that it would pan out, was that some time apart might help to reconcile certain matters between them. Mrs. Mackenna much preferred the idea that she should be put in the care of people like Will and Emma than for her to go and live with her friends. Grace wondered how she would have felt if she'd run away. Either way, it didn't matter anymore. She was leaving – when she'd finally agreed, less than an hour ago, it had been clear Grace might want to get her things and go immediately.

"What about you? Are you going to be okay?"

"Mr. Schue and a set of gingers? I don't see why not." Nora laughed. It felt good to hear Grace joking around again.

"That's good," Nora reached for her hands, but Grace quietly warned against it.

"Not out here," she nodded back to the house. They should have been out of sight, but she wasn't taking chances.

"Right," Nora remembered, crossing her arms in front of herself for lack of knowing what to do with them. "So I guess I can't help you pack either."

"Wouldn't recommend it, no. I should get back, but when it's all done I'll text you."

Nora had gone back across the street, only two minutes before Emily arrived. Nora took her back inside her house and explained what Emily had told her.

"It's going to be weird not having the two of you across the street from each other," Emily frowned.

"You're telling me…" Nora looked out the window. "Small price to pay."

When Grace finally texted her a couple of hours later, it was with a request. Grace wanted Nora and Nora alone to meet her at her father and stepmother's house. Emily had already gone back home, so she said she'd be there shortly. She arrived to find Grace sitting on the partition between the sidewalk and the garage, on the shorter end.

"Hey…" she spoke, seeing her girlfriend looked lost in thought. Grace blinked and looked at her before standing to come and meet her. "So why did you want to meet me here?" she asked.

"Can we go inside first?" Grace asked.

"Sure," Nora led the way, getting the door open and stepping through to let her follow. "Are you all settled in over at…" Grace was climbing up to the second floor, forcing Nora to hurry after her. "Grace, what are you…" she started to ask, trailing after her again, headed into her room. "Is everything really o…"

She was silenced by a kiss, and by the way Grace was going at it, Nora had the feeling she was not interested in the least bit of talking. Grace led, and Nora followed, feeling more and more weak-kneed as the kiss grew more and more heated. Then she was being backed on to the bed, and it became harder to think about anything but the way Grace was kissing her. Her lips had travelled down to her neck, and Nora closed her eyes, breathing deep.

When she felt fingers graze at her side, she realized Grace was reaching under her shirt, and in the next moment, she was tugging at it and Nora was lifting herself up enough so that it could be taken away. Grace had recaptured her mouth, tongues clashing until Nora gasped, feeling a hand at her breast. Grace had grinned wickedly, and Nora had never seen her like this, not that she was complaining. She was being kissed again, Grace's lips migrating further down than they had ever done, past her neck and against the swell peeking from her bra. Nora's head was just starting to spin in the best way when she realized Grace was now blindly trying to undo her pants.

She couldn't believe what she was about to do, especially with how unforgivingly aroused she was in that moment, but she reached down to stall her girlfriend's hands.

"G-Grace… wait…" She wasn't listening, so Nora tipped her hand under her chin and made her look up. Grace only tried to kiss her again. "Are you sure about this?" Unless she had kept it from her, as far as she knew, Grace was still a virgin, with boys and with girls. And it wasn't as though they hadn't been doing their share of exploration, but there was something about this that didn't track.

"You have no idea," Grace panted.

"Grace?" Nora didn't buy it; there was something else. Grace sat there for a few seconds more, straddling her, one hand planted on the bed for leverage, the other still somewhere near the pants she'd tried to undo. Then she bowed her head and moved off and sat next to her on the bed. It took a moment for her to distinguish the sound of crying from that of her catching her breath, but when she did, Nora crawled over and put her arms around Grace. It was a few minutes before she managed to say anything.

"He waited to tell me once we'd left already," she explained. "Part of the deal for me getting to stay with the Schuesters. I'm not allowed to have you over there. It's not enough that in the end she as good as kicked me out, but she still gets to dictate what I can and can't do…"

"So you decided the best answer to that was to jump me?" Nora tried to look her in the eye. It got a chuckle out of her.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Yeah, well…" she breathed out, still flushed. Remembering her current state of undress, she went fishing for her shirt and slipped it back on. "You and I both know that when you are ready, for your own reasons, it's going to happen, and it's going to be insane awesome," her hand raised in a half-flourish, which got her a look from Grace.

"Insane awesome?" she smiled.

"I stand by my claim," Nora nodded. "But it has to come from you." Grace leaned over to kiss her, almost chastely compared to two minutes before. "She might be able to keep us apart at the Schuesters', but there are plenty of other places for us to hang out. It doesn't even compare."

Nora took Grace back to the Schuesters' house after that. As per Mrs. Mackenna's rule, she didn't follow her inside. Instead, she went back home, and got into the shower before she could be called down for dinner.

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!