Hope you like this update! This chapter reflects a lot on the hardships of making the mother-daughter relationship work. It shows a lot of Shelby/Rachel's emotions about the whole situation (which, I will show more of in the next chapter) and a guest appearance from Hiram and LeRoy. Hope you like it! Review and let me know!

Oh, and just to be clear, when I said "if you have any questions, just ask in the reviews and I will answer them publicly in the next update," I meant questions about what you've already read. Nice try, you guys, but I'm not giving away any spoilers. xD ~~hayleynymphadora

Chapter 7: Mother, Daughter, Dads, the Whole Crew.

Rachel POV:

"Favorite color?"

"Easy," Shelby swallows down some of her tea. "Purple. What's yours?"

I laughs. "Purple. Unless Gold counts as a color?"

"Purple and Gold are tied then, for the both of us."

"A tie. Seems legit." I smile.

We're both sitting in the middle of her living room, legs crossed, drinking tea, with the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack playing in the background. In between us is a deck of cards, in the midst of a Poker game. Both of us are lounging in sweats, and a box of pizza is laying on the floor next to us. It's half veggie pizza and half pepperoni. Most of it is gone. I take a drink of my tea. This is a fun way to get to know each other. It makes me sad that it's Sunday already. Yesterday we spent most of our time talking about what happened Friday night, but I still haven't told her all that happened. How could I? What would the point even be? Who cares if some of the Vocal Adrenaline kids were giving me a hard time? I didn't expect them to fully accept me with open arms, and I'm sure she wasn't either. I've already gotten them into trouble once, for calling her to come and get me. If I get them into more trouble, they'll just tease me more.

"Favorite..."

"Don't you DARE say song." I flash a grin. "I wouldn't be able to chose."

"FIne." she grumbles, jokingly. "Favorite month?"

"December."

"Because of your birthday?"

"Yep. Oh, and also, I love Christmas."

Shelby laughs, "You just like getting what you want." she dead pans, standing up so she can get us more tea. "You must have gotten that from me."

I catch a glimpse of the clock on the wall and frown. It's going on eight o'clock, and I know that Shelby's going to have to take me home in about twenty minutes. She comes back with our tea and I accept it, burning my tongue on it. I swear I see a small smirk on her face when I do.

"Does me burning my tongue amuse you in some way?" I snap, though I didn't mean for that to sound as harsh as it did.

"No," she recovers. "It was just the disappointed look on your face when you realized how hot the tea was. You're so theatrical. Dramatic."

"Well, I've learned from the best."

"How? You haven't been around me long enough for me to teach you THAT much. Darling, you were born dramatic."

I shrug. "Maybe I just catch on fast."

"Hmm. Maybe."

There's a small silence between us, and all I hear is "Think of Me" playing in the background. "...Think of me waking, silent and resigned..."

"So, are you ever going to finish telling me what happened on Friday, or are you just going to make me guess?" Shelby says, letting out a breath afterwards. It's easy to tell that she's been holding in that question all weekend.

"Why do you just assume that I haven't told you everything?" I ask of her.

"I can just tell. Call it mother's intuition."

I sigh. "There's not much else to tell, Mom. The Vocal Adrenaline kids just aren't used to me yet, I suppose. It's going to take time-"

"What did they say to you?"

See? This is why I don't tell her anything. She's way too protective.

"It was nothing. I'm used to a lot worse."

"Rachel," her tone is a warning.

"Mom." I dead pan right back.

She gives me a stern look. "How can you expect me to help you if you never tell me what happened?"

"You're the one who asked me first. I didn't ask for your help." Ouch. That didn't come out right, and Shelby's instantly stung by it. She winces, though I think she was hoping I didn't notice.

"Ok," she purses her lips. "Fine. I won't bother you about it anymore." she says. "Do you have all of your things together? We should probably get you home," she adds, looking at the clock that now reads 8:30. I do need to go home, but I can't be sure if her instant noticing-the-time thing has something to do with my attitude, or with the fact that I have to get ready for school tomorrow. In any case, my dads have been wondering when i'll be home.

"Yeah. My stuff is together. I'll text daddy and tell him i'll be home soon."

Shelby nods, and goes off into her room for a minute. I feel awful.

Shelby POV:

I try not to dwell on it, but how can I not?

"I didn't ask for your help." her words keep ringing through my mind. She's right. She didn't ask. I tried to force it out of her, and look where that got me?

I kick myself mentally. 'Way to go, Shelby. You JUST got her back, don't ruin it! You're pushing things that you need to give more time. It's only been a few weeks...' I grab my cell off of the dresser and, when I do, I notice Rachel's jacket laying on the bed. I pick it up, and a piece of paper falls out of her pocket. Reading it would be prying, but I can't resist.

Rach, party tonight, my place. Be there at seven.-Jesse

My breath catches, and I'm trying to comprehend what I'm reading. What I'm gathering so far, is this: my baby girl lied to me.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Did I really expect her to tell me the truth? I mean, in all honesty, she can't be very comfortable with this whole "biological mother" idea yet. I'm not her legal guardian, I'm not her legal parent...hell, I'm not her "legal" anything. All I am is her vocal coach. Her teacher. Her "mother" in technical terms, but since when does that matter anymore? Apparently it never did. Just when I thought I had her trust. Just when I thought that a relationship between the two of us might actually work, she goes and pulls something like this? This can't stand.

But lying to me can't be any different than her lying to Will, could it? I mean, I really can't mean very much to her yet. I'm the woman she's never met until now. The one that she should've called "mommy" her whole life, but instead she spent her childhood calling two men "dads" because I'm nothing but a cash whore. My face flushes, but I can't tell if it's from anger, disappointment, embarrassment, sadness, or a mixture of all three. I hate myself.

I can't just call her out on it. Then she'd know that I read the damn note in the first place, and where will that get me? "Sorry Rach, you can't lie to me anymore, but I can go through all of your stuff"? What kind of an example would THAT be setting? I suppose I could just tell Hiram and LeRoy where Rachel was on Friday, but what will that get accomplished? Besides, I already told her that I wouldn't, and since when is breaking promises okay? My head is spinning, and since I don't really know where to go from here, I try to drop it for now. I try to focus on getting Rachel home safely. I exit my bedroom, and catch a guilty look on Rachels face. That's when I remember that the "I didn't ask for your help" matter hasn't even been resolved. I had forgotten all about it, in the midst of my new discovery. I toss Rachel her jacket and she puts it on, grudgingly. Her hand plunges into her pocket, and her face goes whiter than usual.

"There was a note in here, earlier..." she states.

Shit. It's still in my room. Shit shit shit-

"Did you read it?" she accuses immediately. God, she's good. Forget theatricality, she should be a detective. I pretend I didn't hear her as I slip a pair of heels on.

"Come on, Hiram and LeRoy are expecting you home at 9..."

"You DID read it!"

"And YOU lied to me. We can call it even now, huh? Now let's go." I gesture towards the door and she leaves my apartment, still fuming.

"Just because your my biological mother, you think that gives you the right to go through my stuff? You think you have the right to-"

I turn on the engine of the Range Rover and pull out of the driveway, the diva in the passenger seat still ranting on.

"In case your memory is faulty, Rachel, YOU called for ME to come and get you out of that mess on Friday. If you had truly wanted to avoid this fiasco, then you should have called Kurt to begin with."

"Maybe I should have." she spits.

"Then why didn't you?" I throw back, with a harsh calmness. She just stares at me for a minute, speechless, before continuing.

"I thought we could have a relationship. A friendship. I thought this would be a good time for us to get to know each other. A good time for you to step in and play the mother card, for once."

That stung.

"And you think lying to my face is a good way to start the mother-daughter relationship, huh? I'll keep that in mind next time, Rachel." I hope that hurt her as much as it hurt me to say it to her.

"You think there will be a next time?" quit, Rach. This is killing me. I'm never going to be able to sleep ever again. Maybe I should see a therapist.

"Why not? You were stupid enough to agree to go to Jesse's the first time. Who says you won't do it again?"

"I do." Rachel claims as I pull into her driveway. 241, Birch Hill Road, Lima, Ohio. The lights are on in the house. I groan and turn off the car.

"Look, Rachel, I didn't mean to go through your stuff, okay? It fell out of your jacket pocket and I picked it up and it was there for me to read. If you really didn't want me to find it, you should've hidden it better. Secondly, I don't appreciate being lied to. I thought we had a better sense of trust forming between the two of us, and I'm very disappointed that that trust is now broken. I was having a relatively good time with you this weekend until that happened. I wish you would have just told me the truth to begin with. Is there a particular reason why you didn't?"

"...I-I just didn't want you to hate me, like everybody else does. I thought you would never talk to me again if you found out that I was stupid enough to go to his house to begin with."

"-and you thought lying was the best way to solve that? You didn't think about how disappointed I would be when I found out?"

"Well I was kind of hoping you wouldn't find out."

Am I THAT clueless?

"In any case, Rach, I did."

"I'm sorry." I can see tears starting to form in her eyes. "I just-I really wanted things to work between us, but now i'm pretty sure you never want to have me over ever again. I already felt this huge attachment to you the first day we met. I love you as a vocal coach, and as a mom. I don't want to lose you over a stupid fight like this. I was being pathetic, and needy, and selfish, and I shouldn't have lied to you...please don't hate me."

My daughter thinks I hate her. 'Good job, Shelby. You should win mother of the year award.'

"Rachel, baby, I could never ever EVER hate you. Don't you know that? No matter how many times you screw up, or do something bad, or get into trouble-which, is NOT me giving you permission to constantly screw up or do something bad or get into trouble-I will ALWAYS love and appreciate you. You have to know that, Rachel Barbra."

"...I do now..."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"I do."

But there is a hesitation in her voice that proves that she's lying again. How in the world am I supposed to prove this to her?

Before I can figure it out, Hiram and LeRoy come outside to see what's taking Rachel so long to get out of the car. I sigh inwardly. Could this day get any better? Note my heavy sarcasm. I step out of the car, and Rachel is quick to follow me. "Hi Dad. Hi daddy."

"There's our baby girl," Hiram smiles, giving her a hug. "Did you have a good time at Shelby's?"

"Yeah," Rachel smiles. "She's pretty cool." She looks me in the eyes when she says this, her eyes sparkling with desire. This look tells me a couple things.

1. our relationship is probably okay again, and this little fight was just water under the bridge.

2. she wants a mother so badly, it hurts.

3. she seems to think i'm "pretty cool" which i'll take-for now.

"Well, I'm glad you had fun, Rach." LeRoy says. "Why don't you go and get a shower in now, so you can do whatever it is you need to do to get ready for school tomorrow?"

"Okay. I told Kurt i'd call him back-"

"Whatever you need to do." LeRoy repeats.

"Kay." Rachel says. Before she goes inside, she runs up to me and hugs me so tightly I almost can't breathe. "Bye, Shelby."

"Bye, Rach." I laugh. Why is she back to calling me Shelby? Is it because we're around her dads? Maybe she thinks it'll hurt them if she calls me "mom" or tells me she loves me. Rachel lets go and reaches the front door this time, before she turns around. "You're still picking me up for school tomorrow, right?"

"As long as you need a ride to school, i'll be here to pick you up."

"Go inside, Rachel," Hiram says. "Your dad and I will be in in a minute."

"Okay." the door shuts behind her.

For a moment, Hiram, LeRoy and I just exchange looks at each other. We haven't seen each other in fifteen years, and none of us really know what to say. Hiram breaks the silence.

"Did you guys have a good time?"

"Yep. We just relaxed for most of the weekend. Watched Chicago, ordered pizza, drank tea..."

Hiram nods. "Good. Good."

Another silence. I keep waiting for them to just spit out what they have to say, but apparently they want to keep me in suspense for a little while longer. Before anyone can say anything else, my phone goes off in my pocket. It's a text from Rachel.

Please don't.

That's all it says, but that's all it really has to say. She doesn't want me to tell them about the party. I don't really blame her.

"It's not bothering you, how close Rachel's getting to you, is it?" Hiram finally asks the question that I can feel has been dwelling in the air for quite some time. I'm almost taken aback at first. "Because I know you probably didn't expect her to want to be around you so much..."

"No, no. It's not a bother at all. I love Rachel. I've always loved Rachel. The fact that she wants to be around me more just brightens my mood." I try to assure them.

"Okay, if that's how you feel. We just didn't want you to be annoyed with her constant need for attention." LeRoy said.

Where is this coming from? How could I possibly be annoyed by that? Are they forgetting who she's related to? I've always been the center of attention in any room I walk into. It's just in the Corcoran gene.

And I don't care what Rachel's last name is. She's a Corcoran through and through.

"She's absolutely no annoyance to me whatsoever, LeRoy. I love Rachel with all of my heart, and I'm happy to finally be apart of her life. As long as you're okay with it?"

Hiram shrugs. "She found you. That's no violation of the contract."

I dry swallow, yet say nothing.

LeRoy nods. "Whatever makes our little girl happy. It's all about Rachel, right?"

"Right." I finally manage to choke the one word out. Rachel texts me again.

I'm begging you.

She's feeling so guilty about this party situation, that I might just forgive her for lying to me. Might. That's a key word there. I decide to use Rachel's text as a reason to get myself out of here.

"I should probably go." I announce. "I have a lot to do before tomorrow." a lie. And I wonder where Rachel gets it from. I am just awful.

"We understand. Maybe we could have you over for dinner sometime?" Hiram suggested.

"That'd be great." I nod. Another lie.

"Great. Well, see you later, Shel."

"Yep." I give a small wave, getting back into the Range Rover. It's not that I don't want to have dinner with Rachel and her family. It's just that, her family happens to be Hiram and LeRoy. I have nothing against the men, really. They're great to Rachel. They've given her everything she's ever wanted, (almost). They're kind, smart, musically talented men. But they got to raise my daughter, and I didn't.

'And whose fault was that, Shelby?' I ask myself as I drive away. 'Quit acting like they stole Rachel from you. You gave Rachel up. You weren't ready to be a mother, and frankly, they are still better suited parents than you will ever be. Quite being so immature about it. You gave Rachel up. She belongs to them.'

But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

Rachel POV:

She won't text me back. Dad and Daddy are still outside, Shelby's out there with them, talking to them, and she won't text me back. I pull away from the window, afraid that they'll see me spying, and throw a headband over my head, pulling my hair back. She wouldn't tell them, would she? Not after all we've been through this weekend. But maybe after the fight we just had... The look and hug she gave me before I came inside seemed pretty forgiving, but with Shelby Corcoran, you never know. After a while, I realize that i'm pacing. Shaking my head, I run upstairs to get my shower taken. Right before I get in the water, my phone FINALLY goes off. I flip it open. It's Shelby.

Don't worry, Rach. Your secret is safe with me.

I really shouldn't have lied to her.

So, tell me what you think! Any questions, just ask. Anything you'd like to see more of? Any opinions about Rachel or Shelby's decisions? Let me know! :D ~~hayleynymphadora oh, and P.S: I still don't own Glee. :/