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 70th cycle. Now cycle 71!
"It All Comes Down To"
Beiste & Ewan (OC; Damian McGinty), Sugar, New Directions
Beiste & Ewan series
(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)
It was astounding to think that he had been part of the McKinley High New Directions long enough to be up to his third competition, but now here he was, on a plane headed to Nationals. His first school year at McKinley would soon be over, and then it would be summer. His life had gone and found its rhythm without his realizing it. He wasn't the new kid anymore, although his accent was always good for reminding some people, and once they remembered there was little hope of their not pointing it out to him in some fashion or another.
But Ewan didn't let it bother him, which in return made it that anyone who did try to bother him would start to lose interest, once they saw they had nothing over him.
It was hard to be bothered anyway, as his life had been getting better and better with time. He wouldn't say that he didn't have his moments where remembering the loss of his parents and his relocation from Ireland to Lima made quick work of deflating his spirits, but those didn't come nearly as often anymore, nor did they last so long.
But then he had his aunt, and his uncle by marriage, Rich, along with what might technically have been his cousin by marriage, but then Mitch was more of a brother than a cousin to Ewan. The four of them were now living together, and he had honestly never seen his aunt so happy. That might have had something to do with the fact that, when he'd started to know her, she was recovering from the loss of her sister as well, but he knew that even before that moment, Shannon Beiste was not nearly as happy as she was now that she had all three of 'her boys' in her life.
He had his aunt, and Rich, and Mitch, and the Glee Club, especially Tina and Mike… and he had Sugar. He would proudly say that having her in his life, as a girlfriend but also as a friend, had been one of the greater parts of his adjustment to life in Lima. She made him happy in ways no one else had, maybe ever. Now she was sleeping in the seat next to his, mumbling what he eventually recognized as one of their songs for National. Her hands and feet were even making a very loose version of the choreography that went along with it.
There was something he wanted to tell her, and to his aunt and the others as well, but he wanted to wait until the perfect moment to surprise them. Ideally this moment would be 'after we win,' but he couldn't assume before it happened. At the worst, if they did lose, the news would be a little comfort, but he wasn't aiming for comfort. They were going to win, he was positive.
His aunt and Rich and Mitch were flying in on a different plane, so he wouldn't see them until later. He would still be settling into the room he shared with the rest of the New Directions boys when a knock at the door would bring his flight neighbor to the room.
"I thought you might want to know, we saw your Coach Beiste in the lobby," she told him.
"Thanks," he smiled, following her out. "Will you have dinner with us tonight?" he asked. She frowned.
"You're not going to the Glee Club dinner?" He'd forgotten. He'd just assumed he'd be having dinner with his aunt.
"Right, no, of course."
It wouldn't be his last distraction over the whole Nationals outing. He realized he was so anxious to tell them the news that it would completely throw him off whatever he was meant to be thinking of. He had to get that out of his system before they went on stage or he might distract himself right into losing the trophy for the entire Glee Club. It was time for a change of plans.
The morning came that would lead into their final performances of the year, and before all the others could start getting up, he'd snuck out of the boys' room. Sending a text to Sugar, he went and waited outside the girls' room. Five minutes later, she emerged, looking confused and barely awake.
"What's going on?" she asked in a whisper, absently reaching to fix her hair.
"Come with me," he said, holding out his hand. She'd tugged her robe closer around herself, but finally she gave her hand over. He led her down toward the room where the rest of his family was staying. After he'd knocked at the door, it took a minute but Mitch finally appeared, letting them in. The television was on, the sound low, and he saw that, although Rich was still asleep, his aunt was up as well.
"Hey, what are you two doing here?" Shannon stood, coming up to Ewan and Sugar. "Is everything alright? No one's sick, are they?"
"I have no idea," Sugar declared with a frown.
"I wanted to talk to the four of you, before we have to go on today," Ewan revealed.
"It couldn't wait until breakfast?" They turned and saw Rich was now up, too. Ewan took a breath and smiled.
"I… I have it. The money I need, to go to Ireland. I've gotten what I need, actually I've got more than enough," he told them. "After school is over, I can go."
No one had spoken. He didn't know what he'd expected, but at least a little reaction would have been nice. But then he noticed something: they were all smiling, like they were holding on to something. "What's going on?" he asked, looking around.
"Well, the thing is, we have discussed this," his aunt started.
"At the hospital, when you had your pool accident," Sugar provided.
"Yes, and we had a thought. We all know how much this means to you, and we were thinking that, if you'd like, the two of us might go with you," Shannon pointed to herself and her nephew's girlfriend.
"So you won't be all alone," Sugar smiled.
"We would have gone, too, but there are the expenses, and we think it might be something the three of you need to do, without us," Rich went on, nodding to himself and his son.
"What do you think?" Sugar asked, waiting to see if she should be excited or understanding. Ewan was the one left speechless this time. Here he'd come to surprise them, and they had surprised him right back. With the question put to him, all he could do was smile, and he had a feeling they would win Nationals that day.
"I think we're going to Ireland."
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!
