Set when Rachel finds out about fin and Santana. Instead of going to puck she goes to Shelby. Shelby didn't adopt Beth.
"mommy", Rachel said as I opened the door. It was by sheer chance that I managed to catch her as her knees gave out on my doorstep as she broke into sobs.
"ok honey, come with me, it'll be ok" I said as I used all my strength to pick her up and carry her into my living room. I sat on the chair with Rachel on my knee.
For almost ten minutes we just sat there, her sobbing into my chest as I made comforting noises ad stroked her hair. To anyone looking in this would seem like a normal mother and daughter but the truth was I hadn't seen or heard from Rachel since I turned down her suggestion to teach at McKinley. I had meant to call, I really had. It's just as time went by it got harder and harder and I convinced myself that she would be fine, that she didn't need me, that this was best for both of us. But now, as my baby girl sits on my lap holding onto me like she's afraid I'll disappear if she lets go, I can see that she's still just a confused little girl who needs a mom. And I'm going to make it happen this time.
I hugged her tighter to my chest and after a while the sobbing turned into hiccoughs and sniffles. After she had calmed down and all that was left of the sobbing was a slow trickle of tears I decided that I needed to find out why my teenage daughter had appeared on my doorstep (for the first time ever) in the state she had. 'Time to be brave Shelby', I thought to myself.
"What's all this about Rach?" I asked gently while pulling her impossibly closer and moving a strand of her beautiful hair out of her face.
"He lied to me", she squeaked in the most heartbreaking voice. She seemed to hold her breath considering what to say next but she couldn't seem to find the words.
"Who did honey?" I asked already with a good idea who.
"Finn" she said followed by a quivering intake of breath. My suspicions confirmed. I however did not expect what happened next.
"Finn told me he didn't sleep with Santana but he did and he lied to me I guess he thought it was ok that he slept with her because I told him I slept with Jesse..." she said in one breath but she was cut off from continuing by my sudden need to speak.
"WHAT?" I shouted making Rachel flinch back and shift uncomfortably in my lap.
"... we didn't, well we almost did, I mean Jesse tried to get me to but..." again she was cut off by my sudden outburst, obviously more prepared for it this time as she didn't jump but simply tensed a little.
"THAT LITTLE BRAT IM GOING TO KILL HIM HOW DARE HE TRY TO DO THAT TO MY BABY GIRL HE BETTER BE GLAD HES MOVED TO..."I fumed to myself as Rachel sat there trying to get a word in.
"but b bu but Sh Shelb Shelby Sh MOM" That got my attention and in a heartbeat my brain forgot how to work and all I could do was stare into the eyes of my little girl and wait for her to speak. "We didn't do anything, Jesse stopped when I told him I wasn't ready yet." she said much calmer as if to placate me.
I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding and let a small smile tug at the corner of my lips. This being a mom thing was an emotional rollercoaster because I went from so angry I was ready to kill to stunned (at Rachel calling me mom) then to pride at the fact she knew when to say no and didn't let some stupid boy make her do something she wasn't ready for.
I pulled her to my chest again knowing this had to get worse before it got better.
"So what did Finn say when you told him about you and Jesse?" I asked.
Rachel sat up a bit and looked at her hands as she began to speak again, every now and then glancing up to my face then the ceiling then back to her hands but never looking me in the eye.
"He told me he couldn't do it with Santana. And I believed him and he lied. He had a chance to tell me when I told him that I didn't sleep with Jesse but he kept lying to me. And why did it have to be Santana The Slut. I mean yes she's prettier than me and skinnier and all that but why her?" She asked as the tears gently started to flow down her cheeks and fall from her chin.
The tears didn't seem to bother her but I couldn't see my little girl broken like that, without doing something semi-productive, so I reached for a tissue from the box on the table and began to gently wipe her cheeks and jaw line, removing the salty trails from her beautiful features as more fell to replace them. My little girl had her first broken heart and I didn't have a clue how to even begin fixing it.
