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!

"Girls' Day Out"
Shelby & Beth, Emmett & Joanie, Shelby/Emmett
Sequel to 'Couple of Teenagers'

After the big revelation in the diner a week earlier, Shelby had been pondering on whether she should have a talk with Joanie. She knew she'd already known about them while they were sneaking around, and that she was apparently very happy about the whole thing. But Shelby couldn't help herself, had to make sure that everything was alright. As it was, she did need to take Beth to the mall for a few things, so the idea came to just take Joanie along with them and make it a girls' day. She called over, barely had time to mention it to her before she could hear Joanie call out to her father that she was going 'somewhere with Shelby' and that he couldn't come, and two minutes later there she was. Shelby hadn't even had time to get Beth ready to go. So Joanie took Panda and his favorite chew toy and went to play catch outside. When Shelby exited the house with Beth, Joanie was lying on the grass, waving the chew toy as the dog hopped back and forth over her, which had her laughing.

"Careful or he'll bite," Shelby laughed.

"He won't. Panda loves me, don't you Panda? Yes you do," she scratched at his ear, speaking sweetly. The dog was very happy indeed. "See?"

"Come on, we should go," Shelby nodded to the car.

"I'll just leave him with my dad," Joanie got up, leading the dog toward her house and letting him in through the side door before joining the others at the car. They headed to the mall, where Joanie took up Beth, and off they went. They went through a handful of stores, sometimes for Beth, others for Joanie, and Shelby as well. Joanie had asked for them to go to the toy store, because she wanted to show Shelby something she was thinking of getting for Beth for Christmas, to know if it was a good idea. Shelby was touched to find the girl had been saving up to do this, and she confirmed her gift would be great and Beth would love it. Eventually it got to be lunch time, and they headed off to a restaurant. As they sat, Shelby watched how Joanie just played happily with Beth, and how her daughter just couldn't stop smiling.

"Hey, Joanie?" Shelby drew her attention.

"Yeah?" she looked back, though she let Beth still hold on to her hand.

"Wanted to talk to you about something, about your father and I…"

"You're not breaking up, are you?" Joanie froze.

"Wh… No, of course not," Shelby shook her head, and the girl relaxed. "No, we're not breaking up. But I just wanted to make sure you're really okay with everything, with us being together…"

"Are you kidding? It's the best thing I could have hoped for," Joanie beamed, and Shelby laughed. "I'm serious," she went on.

"I know you are, I believe you," Shelby assured her.

"What's going to happen now?"

"What do you mean?" Shelby asked.

"Well, we live next door to each other. What happens when you guys decide to move in together? It'd be weird for either of us to live next door to our old house. We might try and go back by accident and scare the new owners." This made Shelby laugh.

"I think it's still a little early for that," she pointed out.

"I guess…" Joanie nodded, then, "We could build an extension, turn the two houses in a big mansion!" she gestured with both hands, grinning.

"A mansion," Shelby nodded, smirking.

"Yep," Joanie nodded back. "With a pool."

"Pool, got it."

"And swings, got to have swings, for me and Beth," Joanie went on, "Oh, and we could expand the tree house, too! And a house for Panda…"

"Should I be writing this down?" Shelby teased.

"I'll send you the list," Joanie shot right back.

"I'll wait for it."

"I mean it though, you know?" Joanie was more serious now. "Not just because you make my dad happy," she went on, which made Shelby smiled, "If you hadn't been here, then who would I have to talk to? I mean, when it's not something I'd tell my dad. I wouldn't tell my 'mother' anything, because there's no point," she shrugged. "Either she doesn't listen or she blabs. You know she hasn't even called since she moved?"

"Yeah, your father told me," Shelby looked across to her. "Are you okay?"

"I don't care," Joanie shrugged. "Don't miss her."

"Are you sure?"

"She hasn't felt like my mother in years. And I don't need her to. I thought I did, but I don't." She wasn't saying it, but Shelby could see in the girl's eyes the end of that statement was "I'd rather have it be you." Shelby let out a breath, feeling so much sympathy for the girl she did see as something of a daughter already, even if she didn't say it either. Still when they left the restaurant, Shelby would make it her mission to allow Joanie to feel joy again, to treat her to a proper girls' day.

As it was bound to, this began with a trip to get their nails done. Shelby had Beth on her knees the whole time, while Joanie tried to convince her to get her nails done too, to which Shelby insisted she was too young, though it did make her chuckle. When they moved from fingers to toes, Joanie took over holding Beth in her lap.

After the nail salon, Shelby left it up to Joanie to choose their next destination. She mentioned she wanted to look for new books to read on her down time, on the bus… So off they went to the bookstore. Here it seemed the shy girl she'd first met, from up in that tree house, began to re-emerge, the girl who preferred the company of adults to that of kids her age. She knew from having seen her dash back up that ladder to get a book back that she kept many of them there… it was her haven. And now watching her browse through the aisles, she got the same look on her face as Shelby got with music.

"Find anything?" she came to stand at the girl's shoulder, startling her.

"I've already got all of these," she dragged her finger across a row, a series. "I thought there was a new one, I just wanted to check it out, but…" Shelby held up her finger – say no more – and held her hand to Joanie, Beth balanced in her other arm. Joanie smiled, taking her hand. Finding a sales clerk, she asked about the book. Two minutes later, the man returned, book in hand. Joanie saw it and her eyes practically glazed over. "It's massive…" she breathed, and Shelby smirked, taking the book from the clerk.

"Thank you."

"No, but I…" Joanie started, but Shelby just handed it to her.

"Call it an early Christmas present."

"Thanks…" she looked down to the book, touching the cover like it was made of gold.

"Is that the only one?" Shelby asked her. Joanie blinked, thrilling into frenzy. "Go," Shelby nodded toward the stacks, near laughing.

"Gone!" Joanie dashed off.

They ended their day with a trip to the DVD store, getting a couple movies for them to watch at home. Beth could be quiet when she had to, but bringing her into a movie theater might not have been the best idea. So they'd just watch something from home, still keeping to the 'girls' day' format; no Emmett allowed. Once she'd had her talk with Joanie, it felt like things were finally falling into place.

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!