Disclaimer: If I had owned Glee, its characters or the used songs I wouldn't be still living in the Netherlands and Glee wouldn't have ended.
Summary: After a horrible tragedy Rachel and her family are forced into Witness Protection for their safety. Will they be able to be kept safe or will they be found before the perpetrators have been stopped.
The idea for this story comes from a story named 'Of Poker Faces and Dreaming Dreams'. I've tried to contact the writer to adopt the story since it hasn't been updated in six years with no luck. I was already planning to go a whole different direction with it so here it is with my own twist.
Starting this one doesn't mean I have given up on 'Changing Directions'. More to come on that story soon.
English still isn't my native language. For that and to kick my ass every once in a while to get it into gear and update I have jenmer61977 as my amazing beta.
This story is AU where they all joined Glee freshman year. Everything happened as it did except for Shelby walking away and being single. She's been in Rachel's life since the girl was born and is married to a woman. Rachel also was never bullied by Puck, Santana, Karofsky or Quinn. Instead they have been best friends. Quinn joined the pack when they started high school. Kurt and Mercedes however are as bitchy as they have always been.
Leaning against her locker Rachel Berry looks around the hallway of McKinley high school on the first day of school after the summer. She smiles at the memory of her summer break. She inherited a ranch from her grandparents that is currently being run by a manager until she decides what to do with it. She, her fathers, Noah and this year Santana that came with them for the first time, spent the first half of the summer there. The second half was spent with her mom and her wife at their farm outside of town. And last but not least, her final week of vacation was spent in Hawaii with Santana and her family.
Nobody knows the coach of Carmel's high school in Akron Ohio, McKinley's rival in everything, show choir Shelby Corcoran is her mom having been in her life since the day she was born as well as not knowing who her other mom is.
Her daddy Hiram Moskowitz is originally from a small town under the smoke of Fort Worth, Texas while her biological dad Leroy Berry as well as her mom Shelby Corcoran are born and raised in good ole' Lima, Ohio.
Jewish communities in small towns are never that big meaning the Jewish community in Lima contains about fifteen to twenty families which means that everybody knows each other and are generally pretty close. They knew each other's families growing up but with a two year age difference between Leroy and Shelby it wasn't until college that they really noticed each other. When Shelby arrived in New York to start studying musical theatre at NYU Steinhardt it was inevitable she would run into Leroy who was studying Pre Law at NYU Stern. Being the only two McKinley graduates from the Jewish community from Lima in New York they started hanging out and soon started a relationship, to the delight of their parents.
When Shelby got pregnant her junior year she changed her studies from musical theatre to music education knowing she couldn't stand being away from her baby stuck in long day rehearsals and late performances. Their parents demanded they got married for the sake of the baby and it was then that Leroy came out as bisexual with a light preference to men and although he did love Shelby, he wasn't in love with her. She wasn't really in love with him either and had seen his eyes linger so she always had the inkling he was at least bi so she wasn't too upset by the revelation.
They decided to keep the baby and raise it together and with the help of her father they found a three bedroom apartment in Astoria that they could afford. Her father discovered that there was a big market for a real estate agent like him and by the time Rachel was born Shelby's family had moved to New York to start a real estate office and to help out with the baby while Shelby and Leroy were at school or work. It is now one of the biggest real estate offices in New York with a branch in New York and Florida to where they retired a few years ago.
Once Leroy started Columbia Law school he met Hiram and the two fell head over heels for each other. Just as quickly Hiram and his parents fell for Little Rachel too. While her daddy knew from an early age he was gay, her dad figured out he was bisexual when he was a junior in college. Her mom only discovered she was bisexual as well when they all moved back to Lima a few years after Rachel was born. A few years later, as soon as it was legalized in 2004 in the state of Massachusetts, they married in a double wedding with Shelby who had met and fell in love with Sue shortly after moving back to Lima. When they all graduated and moved back Hiram and Leroy wanted to start their own law firm based in Columbus while Shelby found a job as a music teacher at Carmel in Akron where she took over the position as choir director a few years later.
With the four of them moving back to Ohio Hiram's parents, being big time horse breeders in Texas, wanted their granddaughter being raised around horses as well so they bought a small farm just outside of Lima. Since Hiram had no desire to live on a farm it was decided that Shelby, who loved horses, would come to live there and hire a station hand and trainer to care for the animals while Hiram and Leroy would live in town. Starting their own firm gave Hiram and Leroy the opportunity to alternate working from home and since they had people close by to watch Rachel if needed they agreed that Rachel would come live with them in town but could go to Shelby whenever she wanted or needed to.
As mentioned before the Jewish community in Lima is pretty close so whenever Shelby and Leroy were in town over breaks and an occasional weekend they would go to temple and meet up with their friends, some of them also already had kids. When they moved back to Lima they easily fell back into those close friendships with Deborah Bernstein and Eli Puckerman who got married when she was expecting Noah, Paul Karofsky who's fiancé died right after giving birth to their son David and Ezra and Judith Cohen who adopted their daughter Tina because Judith was unable to have children of her own. Outside of that small inner circle nobody in Lima even suspect that Shelby was in the picture. They all think Shelby and Leroy had a fall out in one way or another and she just up and left.
Whenever they were together from the moment they all could walk wherever Rachel and Tina went, Noah and Dave could be found nearby mostly because since entering kindergarten both girls were picked on and bullied for being different. Rachel was picked on for her dads' being gay and Tina for being Asian with parents that were not. The group was soon increased with Brittany who was picked on because the masses thought she was dumb and stupid. Santana came into the group when she moved into town when they were seven and was picked on for being Latina.
Upon entering high school something shifted in the tight group of six. Dave was starting having insecurities about his sexuality making him lash out and Tina having insecurities about everything developed a fake stutter, both pushing the other four away. Noah, Brittany and Santana however stayed loyal to Rachel. Even with joining the cheerios and football team and thereby the popular crowd in the social hierarchy. They also met Quinn, who moved to the Lima school district the summer before freshmen year, taking her into their group like she'd always been one of them.
Although Rachel could have tried out for the cheerios with her mama as their coach, with all her outside school activities she chose not to. Instead she chose to audition for the glee club and convinced the others to audition too, which bring us back to today.
"What are you smiling about Mrs. Bossy Pants," she's rudely taken out of her musings by the snarl of Mercedes.
With Shelby as her mother and Leroy as her father is to be expected that Rachel is an exceptional singer and extremely smart girl who probably knows more about music than anybody in this school including their glee director Mr. Shuester. Fighting him on everything he does in the club makes the others in the club hate her because she thinks she's better then all of them. The three she grew up with who know she's better but Rachel just wants the group to be as good as it possibly can and win Nationals.
"Well good morning to you too Mercedes," she greets the girl politely. "I hope your summer was as good as mine. If you'll excuse me, I have to get to class." With that she leaves the girl standing at her locker.
"What was that about?" Puck motions towards the black diva when Rachel reaches him and Santana.
"The usual," the small singer shrugs. "She can't stand me because I know more about music than she does and I'm a better singer, which she won't ever admit. Come on," she loops het arm through Santana's. "Let's get to class."
"She wouldn't be like this if she knew who your mama is," the Latina suggests.
Rachel shakes her head. "If she can't respect or like me for who I am at school then she doesn't deserve to know anything about my personal life. If they knew they would only suck up to me out of fear of repercussions." She aims that comment at Mercedes, Kurt and Mr. Shuester.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Santana agrees with her and with that the subject is closed as they enter their homeroom.
The rest of the day is pretty uneventful until it is time for glee. They're all chatting in the choir room waiting for Mr. Shue who's late as usual.
"Rae, what is your mom doing here?" Santana whispers at Rachel who is sat with her back turned to the door. Rachel turns to see that her mom red eyed with tears streaming down her face is indeed standing there.
At that moment Mr. Shue finally decides to grace them with his presence clapping his hands. "Alright kids. Welcome ba-," he stops mid-sentence seeing movement at the other door. "Ms. Corcoran, what are you doing at McKinley? Can I help you with something?"
"Actually," Shelby swallows away a sob. "I need to talk to Rachel."
"Why?" Mr. Shue, knowing exactly who she is looks confused from Shelby to Rachel, completely missing the resemblance. "So you can poach her for your choir?" He accuses her.
Sensing something is very wrong otherwise her mom wouldn't be here in the state she's in, Rachel stands to walk with her mother and gives her director a glare. "Nobody is poaching anybody Mr. Shue. Not that it would be a problem since everyone is replaceable, right Kurt?"
Shelby lays her arm around Rachel's shoulders guiding her to her wife's office.
Entering the office she notices her mama is in the same state her mom is in. "What's wrong?" Their tear stained faces and demeanor are making her very nervous.
"Your dads' house was set on fire this morning," Rachel gasps at Shelby's words knowing her dads' were at home today 'celebrating' the first day of school like they did every year on the first day of school after summer break.
"What about dad and daddy?" She chokes her eyes filling with tears already knowing the answer.
Sue, now fully crying herself shakes her head. "I'm sorry honey. They didn't make it out in time."
"Is that true?" Rachel looks at her mom. Not able to verbally answer her daughters question Shelby nods.
"No," she screams turning on her heel and runs out the door, through the hall and out of the school, tears already streaming down her face.
Attracted by the scream the whole glee club comes flying out of the choir room just in time to see Rachel running out of the school.
"What did you do?" Mr. Shuester screams accusingly at Shelby.
Without even looking at him she looks at Noah and Santana. "Noah, San can we talk to you?"
"Why would you want to talk to them? Rachel said no to your little poaching trip and now you want them?" He looks murderous at Shelby.
"Like Rachel already told you, nobody is poaching anybody," she repeats her daughter's words at him, looking him up and down with disdain. "If you had known as much as I or Sue know about our students, Cheerios and choir members you would have known that I'm her mother you dipshit. We just had to tell Rachel that something very bad happened that made her run away and we need to find her, fast." Turning to her daughter's two best friends she looks at them pleadingly. "Do you have any ideas where she might have gone?"
Noah and Santana look at each other and then at Shelby. "There are several places. How about you try her house while we check the rest?"
Shelby shakes her head. "She can't go to her house."
The two look at her confused but she waves them off. "I'll explain later. Right now we have to find her."
The two nod and run out the door to find their friend. Without saying a word they automatically walk to Noah's truck. "Okay, Rachel just got some very bad news and clearly is upset. Where would she go?" He's wondering.
"Well, if it is really that bad she'd probably want to be with her dads," Santana answers his hypothetical question.
"But mama C just said-" He doesn't get the chance to finish his sentence as Santana cuts him off.
"I know what she said, but it is the only logical place." She interrupts him. "She loves her parents to death, all four of them. So if she got some very bad and upsetting news the first thing she would run to is either her dads or her moms. Both her moms are here so let's just try it okay?" He has to admit that she is probably right so he starts his truck and starts the drive towards Rachel's house.
Here you go guys. The start of a whole new story. You know the drill, reviews are the fuel to my imagination.