Disclaimer: I do not own glee or any of its characters.

Chapter One

Five-year-old Rachel was sitting on the floor pressed against the glass of the large window in their living room. Across the street from her house three girls played enthusiastically together in the yellow yard. The summer sun which had boiled Rachel's brown skin earlier that day, had resigned to rest behind the gray clouds as the day came to a close, but the three children were radiating their own light.

All three danced with grace, but Rachel only had eyes for the blonde girl with the high tight pony tail and frizzy ringlets gently reaching for her face. As she spun in a circle, Rachel tried to catch a better look at her face. It was obscured by movement and laughter, but Rachel had recognized her from the moment she had wandered into the living room. Before this she had been playing with stuffed animals in her room, and although it had been one of her favorite games it had ended with the usual strong sense of loneliness leaving her wanting Shelby's lap. She was sidetracked when a flicker of movement caught her attention and she saw the blonde but wasn't quite sure it was the blonde and needed to look more closely.

The newscast was coming to a commercial break, so Shelby glanced down at Rachel. "Are you okay Rachel?"

"Yes," Rachel said softly, nose still pressed to the window.

"Yes?!" Shelby laughed. "Then why are you sitting on the floor baby?"

Rachel turned. "Mommy I know that girl," Rachel said scouting across the floor on her knees. "She was in the play!"

Rachel sat on the armrest of the couch and Shelby maneuvered her gently into her lap. She hugged her tightly and rested her chin on her shoulder. "Wicked?"

"Yes Wicked," Rachel said impatiently. "She was one of the dancers!"

On cue the blond girl kicked her leg up to her face and raised her arms, as if she was a cheerleader at the top of the pyramid.

Shelby had taken Rachel to watch her first play at the community theater the previous week. She had hoped that Rachel would like it but had been a little surprised yet delighted by how much she had. It must have been in her genes. Shelby still remembered her Musical Theater days, dreaming of making it big on Broadway but that was before Chris, the weed and the needles, the late nights, the Rachel. Rachel her biggest accomplishment. Chris had left her when he found out she was pregnant. Rachel was the dream she had never dreamed in high school or college but she gave her more pride than her ambitions of Broadway ever would have, even if she had achieved them, that she was certain of.

Rachel had watched Wicked avidly while her mom pointed out characters and made comments on their acting. When the flying monkeys danced in sorrowful silence, Rachel was drawn to the expressions of one particular blonde girl, who danced like she was sliding her body through heavy water and pouted like her best friend had just died. She was so graceful...so elegant. She sent shivers down Rachel's spine.

She had begged her mom to buy her a tape of the performance. Shelby who rarely could buy her daughter anything decided to splurge for this special occasion. Rachel watched the tape again and again waiting tensely for the flying monkeys part. Shelby had just thought she watched it so much because she had nothing else to watch and felt guilty again.

"She was one of the flying monkeys!" Rachel repeated excitedly, slurring the words.

"Well why don't you go ask them if you can play with them?" Shelby said encouragingly.

Rachel looked over her shoulder at the girls for a moment, excitement and desire tangling with dread. She looked back at Shelby shyly. "No."

"You don't want to play with them."

"No. I do! I just...what if they don't want to play with me?"

Shelby looked out at the girls across the street. She could see why a child would be intimidated by them. Rachel didn't have many friends. Actually she didn't have any friends, she had barely ever played with other children and Shelby didn't have the money to send her to preschool. She couldn't blame her for being shy, but she would be starting kindergarten next fall and needed to learn how to interact with other children.

"Mommy," Rachel had an idea. "Their new to the neighborhood, remember how when we were new the people in the house next to us brought us some cookies? Maybe you could do that now and bring me with you."

Shelby smiled. Her daughter was smart. She stroked Rachel's hair sadly. "We don't have any cookies baby."

Rachel turned to look at her. "Can we make some?"

"We don't have any batter," Shelby tried to be playful by widening her eyes until they bugged out and Rachel giggled at the funny face.

"I'll tell you what though," Shelby said, relieved that she was able to make her lack of cooking supplies into a joke, "We can still welcome them to the neighborhood. We'll march over there and say 'hi welcome to the neighborhood'" Shelby used a deep manly voice for the last phrase and Rachel laughed again. "And then after we introduce ourselves as Shelby and her absolutely beautiful daughter Rachel," she gave Rachel's stomach a gentle poke and Rachel grinned "there's no way that they won't want to play with you, and if they don't than that's there loss, and we'll find you some other friends another day."

Rachel felt a wave of adoration for her mother. As Shelby took her hand, she felt that nervous dread coming, but drew warmth from Shelby's strong yet gentle hand.

Shelby noticed the look on Rachel's face. "Come on Rachel, brave face on, smile, meeting new people is fun!"

Shelby took long purposeful strides. Rachel allowed herself to be carried by them as they crossed the street. The girls didn't turn to look at them until they were on the grass of the lawn. Rachel braced herself with a smile.

"Hello girls," Shelby said. The girls stopped dancing staring at them suspiciously. The girl with black hair looked annoyed, but the blonde with bangs who stood next to the girl from Wicked, wore a more gentle look of curiosity. The blonde from Wicked (who Rachel could see for sure now was actually from Wicked) wore a frown that made Rachel wish she had just stayed inside watching the news with her mother.

"We just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood, we noticed you were new, I'm Shelby and this is my daughter Rachel."

The girls eyes flicked scornfully to Rachel. Rachel now noticed that she had subconsciously stood slightly behind Shelby's leg. She pressed into Shelby's leg for comfort and Shelby gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Good manners seemed to win out ('of course the dancer from Wicked would have good manners' Rachel thought) and thankfully the dancing monkey stepped forward.

"I'm Quinn," she said extending a hand for Shelby to shake, "nice to meet you."

Rachel's hand was sweaty when she took Quinn's. "I'm R-Rachel." She said accidentally being redundant.

Quinn smirked. "I know." But then her face broke into a friendly grin. "Your pretty," she said, "do you want to dance with us?"

A smile spread across Rachel's face slowly. "Y-yeah."

"She can't dance with us!" The black haired girl protested. "She's not our friend."

"Yes she is San," Quinn said. "Rachel this is Brittney and Santana."

Brittney smiled and waved at her and Santana shot Brittney a dirty look. Rachel looked down and noticed that Brittney and Santana were holding hands. She suddenly wished she were holding Quinn's hand but some instinct told the five-year-old that she would have to wait until she knew her longer to do this.

Now that Quinn was done shaking hands, she had both placed on her hips. She looked up at Shelby. "You can ring the doorbell if you want," Quinn said. "My mom's in their and will want to meet you."

"Alright," Shelby smiled at the bossiness in Quinn's polite voice. "Rachel are you okay out here for a little while?"

Rachel grinned and nodded.

Shelby went to the front door, inwardly repeating the words of encouragement she had told Rachel earlier 'smile, brave face on'. The split second of surprise on Mrs. Fabray's face was covered quickly by delight and she was welcomed enthusiastically into the home. Mrs. Fabray loved to keep up social appearances, and she needed to actually know the neighbors to be able to throw house parties. Shelby was relieved for the warm mug of tea. She had a sore throat and was out of tea. She was out of everything. She looked out the window and smiled as she watched Rachel try to imitate a leg kick but slip and fall on her back. Quinn helped her up a moment later, although the black haired girl, Santana was laughing. Rachel perfected the leg kick after three more tries, but more importantly she was smiling and laughing, and seemed to be accepted by at least two of the girls. Maybe Shelby wasn't out of everything.

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