Author's Note: Hey guys! I started writing this as an original story around five years ago. My writing style has changed a lot but I dug it up and found some old ideas I liked, so I tried to revive it as a Finchel fanfiction. Lol c: This is similar to my Tryan High School Musical fanfiction called Stolen Light that you can check out under username FallingWithGrace, but it's very different at the same time.
Things you should notice: this is completely AU. I'm going to use some of the characters characteristics on Glee but as you will see everything is different. I hope you enjoy regardless!
Summary: What happens if nobody believes you except the one person who shouldn't? When a girl is raped, conflict arises and she falls for the enemy. Humankind disappoints us repeatedly but love is like the stars and saves us everytime. Finchel AU
Warning: language, rape, sexual abuse, self-harm, bullying, etc.
Rating: M
PROLOGUE
catch a falling star and put it in your pocket
never let it fade away
When Rachel is five, Shelby loses her at an airport. Shelby is checking in her suitcases and is having heated debate with the airline employee about the weight of her baggage when she turns around and Rachel is gone.
"Rachel?" Shelby calls. Her heartbeat races up immediately and she pulls her hand through her hair. "Rachel? Where are you?" Images of kidnapped children posters flood her mind and she tries desperately to block them out. Her voice climbs in desperation as she whirls around, eyes searching for her daughter. "Rachel, where are you?"
The employee behind the desk—Dan, Shelby's mind manages to register as her eyes rest briefly on his nametag—looks at her worriedly. "Ma'am, is everything alright?"
No, how can everything be alright? Shelby wants to scream at him, but her voice falters and she looks at him helplessly. "I don't know where my daughter is." The statement is terrifying—an admission to her failure at motherhood, her irresponsibility as a caretaker.
Dan's voice is infuriatingly calm as he adjusts his tie. He makes an uncomfortable noise in his throat. "What does she look like ma'am?" he asks, crinkling up his nose so that his mustache looks like a dancing accordion across his upper lip. "What is her name?"
"Her name is Rachel and she's five," Shelby struggles to keep her voice steady, knowing very well that she's bordering on hysteria. "She has dark brown hair and brown eyes. She's wearing…" she trails off, her mind running leaps ahead of her as she attempts to remember what she had dressed Rachel in that morning. "She's wearing pink overalls and white Velcro light-up shoes. And…" her voice breaks and trails off, "I don't know where she is."
Images of Rachel's face flash through her head. Rachel, shiny brown hair tied in two tousled pigtails with green scrunchies. Rachel laughing, Rachel crying, Rachel looking out of the window of her car and asking her why the cars were moving so fast. Rachel grinning with a mouthful of Lucky Charms. Rachel singing along to Shelby's mixed tapes and squealing with happiness. All the pictures come to a screeching halt as she realizes this is what happens when your child disappears.
You finally appreciate her.
"Rachel?" Shelby calls again, her head spinning. She feels a touch on her shoulder and whirls around wildly, expecting to see Rachel with a gap in her bottom teeth, covered in Nutter Butter crumbs, and asking for ice cream or a juicebox. But it is only Dan who now has contacted the airport security. One gruff, stern-looking man—Robert, his tag says—looks at her and hooks his fingers in the belt loop of his black pants. "Ma'am, what does your daughter look like?"
Shelby feels somebody—not her—answering the questions. She sees herself take out a faded picture of Rachel from her purse, her fingers trembling uncontrollably as Robert studies the smiling, bright girl in the photograph. Her mind continues to race with pixilated images of her daughter as the words float above her. How old is she? What is she wearing? When did you last see her? Have you talked to her about strangers before?
At the last question Shelby freezes up. Has she talked to Rachel about strangers? She is pretty sure she has but maybe it was something she'd been planning to get around to. She imagines Rachel walking off, her hand clutched in a stranger's—a stranger who promises ice cream and American Girl dolls. She imagines Rachel laughing and following the stranger into a car and then…Shelby shuts her eyes, unable—no, afraid—to think any further.
She whispers silent apologies to her daughter in her head. I'm sorry I didn't watch you. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I didn't notice you were missing. I'm sorry I didn't take you to Disneyland even though you asked me so many times. I'm sorry I missed your talent show at school. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I loved you enough…
Shelby jerks out of her reverie as Robert taps her on the shoulder again. "Ma'am, I'm going to need you to stay here so I know where to find you if I find Rachel."
Shelby nods numbly, "if" the only word truly registering. If they find Rachel? If? If they don't find her, where is she? Is she dead?
She waits until Robert leaves and then immediately darts off in spite of the security guard's orders. "Rachel?" she calls, running through crowds of mothers and Asian tourists that flank the entrances of the aiport. "Rachel?" She presses her face to the ground to check for the light-up Powerpuff girl shoes under the wheels of the suitcases; she searches frantically in the women's restrooms.
Rachel is nowhere to be found and Shelby suppresses an incredible urge to scream.
"Rachel…" her voice trails off hopelessly.
Half an hour later, Shelby crumples to the floor, holding her head in her hands as she blinks back the tears that threaten to overwhelm her. Her daughter is gone. Her daughter is gone. Families rush by and stare: mothers clutched their kids furiously to their sides as if Shelby's bad luck is contagious.
Cutting into her thoughts, a voice comes over the intercom of the airport. "Shelby Corcoran, please come to the Lost and Found. Shelby Corcoran."
Shelby's head perks up when she heard this: have they found Rachel? Her heart beats fast in her chest; she scrambles up from the ground and runs to the Lost and Found section—sprinting so quickly that she slams into a passerby. Not bothering to apologize to the sputtering civilian on the dirty, tiled floor of the airport she continues, her heart lifting tremendously when she sees the familiar small face and bright smile on the little girl standing in front of the Lost and Found booth, drinking soda from a plastic McDonald's cup. All that she can think of is how fitting the name "Lost and Found" is. Rachel had been lost and Rachel has been found. Now Rachel is being returned to her rightful owner—Shelby, her mother. Shelby tried to push out the idea that lurks in the back of her mind: what if Rachel hadn't been found and returned?
With a sigh of relief Shelby runs up to her daughter and hugs her close to her chest like she'll never let go. She stands up after about a minute, her hand still squeezed tightly around her daughter's when she suddenly notices the lanky, long-haired teenage boy standing there. He smells like French fries and greasy hamburger meat and Shelby takes in his McDonald's hat placed almost jauntily on his head. She realizes that this is her daughter's… and her savior.
"Thank you," Shelby murmurs breathlessly to the stranger. "What can I do to repay you?" Her grip on Rachel's hand tightens. Rachel protests and jerks away with a whine.
Shelby grabs her back immediately, scooping her daughter into a pile and pressing her close against her own chest.
"Next time just watch her a little fucking better," the teen spits at Shelby and simply walks away, leaving one raised middle finger at Shelby behind his back.
Shelby is as speechless as the man behind the Lost and Found booth. Rachel looks up at Shelby and says proudly, "Joel gave me French fries and Coke. I told him I was lost and then he found you."
Shelby bursts into tears and presses Rachel's head close to her chest. Rachel mutters again in disapproval and looks up hopefully, her chocolate eyes bright. "Can we get ice cream now?"
Shelby nods numbly. "Yeah, let's go get ice cream," she says, her voice a shuddery gasp. "Anything you want, sweetheart."
They go get ice cream.
This is the first time Shelby ever loses Rachel and she swears to herself it will never happen again.
But it does.
It happens many more times after that. Shelby lets down her guard because she figured incidents like this will never happen again—she lets her guard down because no one was hurt and everything turned out fine.
Shelby often wonders what would have happened if Rachel hadn't found a trustworthy person to get help. What if she had asked for help from a dangerous criminal, perhaps, who would kidnap her and torture her and ultimately kill her? What if she had asked for help from a child molester? What happens if the next time Rachel gets lost she trusts the wrong person?
The person that Rachel had trusted—the dark, shaggy-haired teenager—isn't the type of person Shelby would have trusted. But as Rachel grows and develops, becoming even more and more bright, Shelby understands that her daughter's trust is based in the type of people her mother would never approach. As Rachel grows older she befriends all different types of kids with whom Shelby would never have associated.
But then again, the people who appear trustworthy—the people who appear good—sometimes are the ones who aren't. The people who appear untrustworthy—the people who appear bad—sometimes are the ones that we must depend on.
Eleven years later, Rachel makes the mistake of trusting the wrong person.
And that makes Shelby realize that she should have never left her daughter alone after that incident at the airport. She should have never let her guard down. She should have assumed the worst because ultimately humankind disappoints everybody. Ultimately man is out to hurt.
Because the world is a cruel place. And you can't trust people if you want to make it.
Author's Note: Review for more! I will reply to all reviews (if they can be replied to with more than a "thank you" lol). This is just a lot of foreshadowing in a prologue... the next chapter should be longer!
(And yes, Shelby is Rachel's real mom in this AU fic).
-sf
