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 78th cycle. Now cycle 79!

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

Three days after Nora's breakup with Francesca, Grace had gotten up the courage to go and speak with her. They hadn't stopped and talked to one another about 'that day in the basement' since… well, since that day in the basement. They knew they'd need to eventually, but they'd been putting it off, considering the 'Francesca factor.' Now seemed as good a time as any to finally talk. The longer they put it off, it would only get more difficult.

After Glee Club that day, she'd asked Nora to stay back, which she did. There was that brief moment when the blonde looked up, seeing her now ex-girlfriend exiting with the rest of them. Grace felt immediately like she'd chosen the wrong moment to do this, but it was too late to reconsider.

"How are you?" Grace asked Nora once the room had emptied. Nora shrugged, but Grace could see her rounding her shoulders, closing in. "I'm sorry about…" she awkwardly pointed to the door.

"Don't, it's not your fault," Nora promised. Some might have said that it was, but Nora could never see herself blaming Grace for anything at all. She wasn't going to say she had it coming. She sort of felt she did, but she also knew if she said this Grace would immediately go for comfort; she didn't deserve it.

"Nora?" Grace spoke after the silence had started getting too heavy. "Why didn't you just tell me?" It was the kind of question she'd been meaning to ask for so long, the kind she never would have dared to, for fear of revealing herself. That ship had sailed by now.

"I didn't want to freak you out, I guess," Nora breathed out, pushing her hair from her face.

"What, like I wouldn't want to be your friend anymore?" Grace frowned with the edge of a smile that let Nora know that was the dumbest thing she'd ever heard. Nora smiled back.

"I wasn't going to risk it," she replied, and Grace looked down, a flush creeping at her cheeks. "You remember… when we did the talent show, your mom made our costumes?" Grace blinked.

"I… yeah," she nodded. Nora tipped her head. "Oh…"

"Felt like my head exploded for a second," she went on, remembering. It made her smile. She'd never thought she would ever get to say these things out loud, least of all to her, but now here they were and it felt like the words had been waiting all along. It was a brand new day. "I already knew who I was, but I'd never felt it before, not like that…"

It could have been easy for them to just take that leap, here and now. Nora had wanted it for so long, it couldn't come a minute too soon, and Grace had been going through a lot of it on her end, too, she could tell. But it couldn't be, not yet. The break up with Francesca was still fresh for Nora, and despite everything else, those longstanding feelings… she wasn't ready. She needed that healing period, and she was confident that Grace would get that. It didn't have to keep her from being honest though; she'd been keeping things in for far too long.

"I'm sorry you had to keep that to yourself," Grace spoke, and Nora shook her head. "Nora, you can't just keep pretending like it's nothing. I only had months like this and it hurt, I mean…" her gaze fell to her lap. Nora felt the need to reach for her hand, as a friend or otherwise, and she did.

"You shouldn't have had to go through that on your own."

"I wasn't, I had Emily."

"No, I know that, I just meant… You kept it in, to protect me and Francesca. If it hadn't been for that…"

"We don't need to stay stuck in the past, do we?" Grace asked, giving a nod as she squeezed Nora's hand.

"We really don't," Nora agreed, and they sat back up. There was silence for a moment, and Grace felt the need to do some sharing of her own, since Nora had done it.

"The thing was, I heard… from someone…" she realized too late that she was about to bring up Francesca, and she wasn't sure if she should. "I knew you might have feelings for me and… It was the day Charlie hit me in the head with his ball," she pointed to the spot on her face which Nora had so carefully inspected.

"Right," Nora laughed.

"You looked at me, and… suddenly it all made sense… and it was terrifying."

"Sounds about right," Nora nodded.

"So… what do we do now?" Grace tempted, and Nora let out a breath.

"That's the question right there."

"I don't want you to think I'm trying to speed things up too fast."

"I never would," Nora promised. "But yeah, I definitely need some time to be on my own before anything…" she turned her gaze toward her. Even without knowing just when they might be ready to consider dating, the fact remained that they knew this was where they were headed, that it was what they wanted and would get was enough to grant them the patience they would need.

"How are we supposed to do this exactly?" Grace wondered aloud.

"What, do you need me to signal you when it's time?" Nora smirked.

"No, well I… I don't know…" Grace laughed.

"We just need to let things happen," Nora told her, serious now. "When we're there, we'll know. Until then, we go on with our lives, as friends."

"I can do that," Grace agreed.

There was a beat, as neither said anything, where they looked at each other, and there was a moment of hesitation, like they might have been one impulse away from leaning in toward one another, and they collectively stood back.

"This won't be easy, will it?" Grace breathed out as they stood. Nora did the same.

"No, it really won't."

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!