Shelby was driving home from her lawyers office, her music was playing loud and she was singing along to it. Whilst she was singing Celine Dion-Alone something caught her eye and stopped abruptly, when she stopped at the stop sign she took a good look at the park and just as she suspected her daughter was sat on the bench with her friend.

Shelby smirked to herself and came up with a plan to surprise her child. Rachel didn't know what was going to hit her.

She found somewhere to park her car and climbed out. She decided to walk the long way around the park so Rachel and Santana wouldn't see her approaching them.

It wasn't like Shelby to do something like this, normally she would make her presence known to the subject of her anger but she was feeling mischievous.

As Shelby made her way around the small park and towards her little girl and her friend she heard the pair talking and decided to listen in for a short while.

"So, Midge, Do you think your dads will come back any time soon?" Santana asked her short friend.

"Honestly, I don't think they're coming back at all and I think Shelby is going to get stuck with me, I'm not entirely sure if Shelby would file for custody of me though, is there any point in that? I leave in 2 years" Rachel was serious and Santana could see the slight hurt in the girls eyes.

"You don't know that they're not coming back though Rach, for all you know they could be on their way home right now, and as for Shelby she's not getting stuck with you and if she decides that she doesn't want custody of you or doesn't want you to live with her anymore you can come live with me, my parents wouldn't mind" Santana pulled Rachel in to her for a tight hug as she spoke and Rachel couldn't help but smile at what the Latina had just told her.

Shelby sighed as she listened, she knew Rachel had some insecurities and she was willing to help her get through them but she didn't realise how deep those insecurities went until just then. She had to make her presence known before she got accused of eavesdropping.

"Fancy seeing you pair here, isn't there some kind of class you should be attending right now?" Shelby said to the girls as she smirked at them and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

Oh, Shit, Rachel thought to herself when she heard her mothers voice coming from behind her. Santana glanced up at the older brunette and smiled in hopes that she could soften the woman's heart a little.

"Now how about you climb in to my car and I take you back to school, Oh and Rachel we will discuss this further when you get home after Glee, and Santana your mother is Maribel Lopez correct?"

Santanas face dropped and her eyes grew 3x their normal size, how the hell did she know her mom?

"I thought so, her phone number is still the same right, I'll give her a ring and let her know about your little adventure after I drop you off at school" Shelby was still smirking and neither girl had seen her quite so devious before, it was unsettling.

Shelby dropped both girls off at the school and told the receptionist that they had skipped class before returning to her car and making her way back home so she could call Mrs Lopez and let her know about their daughters truancy.

At the school Rachel was glaring at Santana "Do you realise how much trouble I'm going to be in when I get home?"

Santana glared back at Rachel, "I'm also going to be in trouble, your mom is ringing my mom, wasn't she meant to be at work today?"

Rachel frowned and looked at her friend, that was a valid point, why wasn't her mom at work? She will have to find out later on when she got home.

After Glee Rachel walked out of the choir room and towards the exit when she heard Santana shouting her name "Rachel…Rachel wait up midget"

Rachel turned around and waited for her friend to catch up with her, she noticed that Kurt and Quinn were standing in the door way of the choir room watching their friends interact and rolled her eyes at them.

"Yes Santana?" Rachel said with a slight annoyance

"I was just wondering if you wanted a lift home, I noticed that Shelby dropped you off this morning and I didn't know if she was picking you up" Santana's voice was nervous sounding and that confused Rachel as well as the 2 Glee clubbers that were spying on them.

"Errm, I dont know if she's picking me up either to be honest, she never said if she was" Rachel then continued to walk out the school with Santana close behind her.

"Doesn't look like Shelby is coming to pick me up so a lift home would be great Santana" Rachel smiled at her friend and followed her to her car.

Just as Rachel was about get in the car with her friend she heard a car horn and someone shouting. "Rachel Berry, get in my car now" Shelby took her sun glasses off and raised her eyebrow at the girl.

Rachel looked at her mother and rolled her eyes, she then turned towards her friend and shrugged "I guess i'll see you tomorrow Santana, text me later and let me know what your mom said" she smirked at her friend and walked over to her mothers car.

"Very funny Rachel, let me know what your mother says too midge" Santana shouted towards her tiny friend.

Shelby couldn't help but smile at her daughter when she got in the car with the biggest grin on her face. "What are you so happy about?" Shelby asked her little girl when she started driving towards the house.

"Just happy, is that a crime?" Rachel's voice was laced with attitude as she spoke.

"No, its not a crime Rach, I was just curious what was making my daughter smile like that, also drop the attitude, you're already in trouble for skipping class, don't make me punish you for your attitude as well" Shelby's tone of voice was serious and harsh, her eyebrow was also raised so Rachel knew not to continue with her attitude.

Rachel looked at her mothers raised eyebrow as Shelby drove and wondered how such a simple thing could have such an affect on her.

Once they arrived home Shelby told Rachel to go up to her room, shower and get ready for bed, she told Rachel she would be up to speak to her soon.

Shelby walked in to Rachels room and saw the girl curled up in a ball on the bed, she walked over and sat next to the tiny girl.

"Honey, I need you to sit up and look at me" Shelby patted Rachel on the leg and spoke in a soft, motherly voice.

Rachel quickly sat up and looked at her mother, she didn't want to get in more trouble than she was already in.

"Rachel, skipping class is not okay and I don't want to find out that you have skipped anymore of your classes, do you understand me?" Shelby's voice was no longer motherly, it was now serious and very Coach Corcoran, kids listened to her better when she used that voice.

"Yes Ma'am" Rachel mumbled with her head hanging down.

Shelby grabbed Rachels chin and made her look in to her eyes "Your education is important and I will not have you fail any of your classes, how do you expect to get to New York and go to college if you fail in high school"

The question was rhetorical but Rachel decided to answer it anyway "I have a 4.0 GPA, my attendance is 100% because I even go to school when I'm ill and it was one class, I've never skipped a class before today"

The older brunette couldn't help but be a little bit proud of her daughter for having such a good attendance record and GPA but she hid her pride well, "Thats not really the point Rachel, if you start skipping classes your GPA and attendance record will start to slip, then you have less chance at getting in to the college you want, it may have only been one class today but in the future it will be more and more classes and thats when everything falls apart, do you get what I'm trying to say Rachel"

Rachel nodded her head and looked in to her mothers eyes, she could see how serious she was.

"Good, I'm glad we understand each other" Shelby went to get up so she could go downstairs and start their dinner, before she could stand up she felt Rachel pull on her arm so she couldn't move. Shelby frowned slightly at her daughter "Whats up Rach?" she could tell something was bothering her child.

"Mama, Can I talk to you about something? something that is very personal and little embarrassing?" Rachel mumbled and let go of Shelbys arm as she spoke.

Shelby looked at her daughter and could see that she was holding something in, something important to the young girl. "Baby, you can talk to me about anything and you don't need to be embarrassed, i'll never judge you Rach"

The short brunette sighed and gathered her thoughts for a few minutes before she spoke to her mother.

"You see the thing is, ever since me and Santana became friends I've been having these weird feelings towards her and I've never experienced those feelings with anyone other than Finn. I don't really know how to control them and I don't really know what they mean. Am I gay mama?"

Shelby watched her daughter as she rambled on a mile a minute, when the question left her daughters mouth she was shocked, she knew this moment would come because she had seen the way the girls looked at each other but she thought she would have more time to prepare.

She didn't know what to say, should she be honest with the girl? or should she tell her that she didn't know if she was gay or not?

After thinking about it for a few minutes and given the way Rachel was now looking at her for an answer she decided that honesty was the best policy.

"Listen to me Rachel…" Shelby moved both herself and Rachel so they were facing each other and sitting comfortably on the bed. "I am going to be completely honest with you, I think that if you're having feelings for Santana that you've had for your ex boyfriend then you're probably not gay, its more than likely that you're bisexual and there is nothing wrong with that honey. It's who you are and you should be proud of it, I'm proud of you for even speaking to me about this, it took me years to talk to my parents about something like this" Shelby hadn't realised what she'd said until she saw Rachel's eyes widen and her mouth drop open.

"Mama, are you bisexual?" Rachel asked her mother with a hint of amusement in her voice but complete shock on her face.

"Yes, Rachel, I'm bisexual, and I really didn't want you to find out this way" Shelby ran a hand over her face in frustration and annoyance with herself.

"It's okay Mama, I don't care if you wanna date men and women, I'm clearly in the same boat anyway. Maybe this is a good thing, now I know you can help me when I wanna ask a girl out on a date" Rachel was becoming a little excited at the thought of being able to get dating tips from her mother.

"You mean when you ask SANTANA out on a date, honey I would have helped you with that anyway, even if I was straight" Shelby smirked at her daughter as she blushed at the mention of asking Santana out.

"Now honey, I think its time for dinner, do you wanna come and help me make something?" Shelby said changing the subject because she didn't want Rachel to get even more embarrassed and then crawl in to her shell.

"Sure, I'll come downstairs in a minute okay?" Rachel told her mom and Shelby nodded knowing that Rachel would need some time to herself to really process what they had just spoke about.

As soon as Shelby left the bedroom Rachel grabbed her phone from her bag and sent a quick message to her new friend and possible love interest.

"Hey San, How'd it go with your mom? Rx"

"Hey Midge, fine I guess, she grounded me for a week though :( San x"

"Aww thats a shame, my mom didn't even do that, she just lectured me on the consequences of skipping class ;) Rx"

"Well, good for you midge, I'm happy for you *rolls eyes* San x"

"Hahah! Listen I gotta go help mom make dinner, I'll talk to you later, Rx"

"Okay Tiny, See you later, have fun making dinner with your mommy ;) San x"

Rachel knew Santana was making fun of her for helping her mother make dinner but she still smiled at the message and wondered if Santana felt the same way she did.

She put her phone on charge next to her bed and went downstairs to help her mom.

After dinner Shelby and Rachel sat in the living room watching a movie on the tv, Shelby could see that Rachel was deep in thought and wasn't really concentrating on the movie.

"Are you okay Rach? you've been a little quiet since dinner" Shelby ran her hand through Rachels dark locks as she spoke.

Rachel looked up at her mom and stared her in the eye "I was just wondering why you weren't at work today, it doesn't seem like you to take a random day off"

Shelby sighed and sat up straighter, this made Rachel move and sit in front of her mom. Rachel looked at the older woman's face and noticed how she looked a little panicked and couldn't keep eye contact with her. "Mama?"

"No, Rach it isn't like me to take a random day off work, and it wasn't a random day off, I had to go somewhere and talk to someone about something" Shelby didn't elaborate beyond that but she could see that her explanation wasn't going to satisfy Rachel.

She knew this had something to do with her, she could tell by the way her mom wouldn't look at her right now and the explanation her mom gave didn't really explain anything either. "So where did you go? who did you talk to? and I can already tell that the something you spoke about was me"

Shelby knew she had to tell Rachel the truth, as much as she wanted to keep it a secret from her daughter for a little longer she knew that look of determination in her little girls eyes wasn't going anywhere.

"I went to my lawyers office and spoke to my lawyer, and yes it was about you" Shelby was now looking the girl in the eye and was trying to gage her reaction.

Confusion, that was Rachels reaction, why would her mom need to go see a lawyer about her?. After a few seconds confusion turned to fear, was her mom looking for a way to get rid of her already? Shelby noticed the change in the girls eyes and quickly jumped in to an explanation.

"I went to see my lawyer because I need to find your dads…" Shelby seen the young girls eyes turn sad as she mentioned her dads.

"I'm annoying you so much already that you cant even wait for my dads to come back on their own, you need to find them so you can get rid of me sooner" Rachel went to run off upstairs but Shelby grabbed her arm before she could move and kept the girl on the sofa so she could finish her explanation.

"No thats not why i'm looking for them Rachel, i'm looking for them because we both need answers, you especially, and although I may not need your dads here to get custody of you I was hoping to find them so we could both get an explanation and keep this whole thing out of court by having your dads sign the papers and make me your legal guardian" Shelby was close to tears and was trying her hardest to keep her emotions at bay.

"You want custody of me?" Rachel wiped a tear off her cheek and looked at Shelby, she noticed how her mom was trying her hardest not to cry.

"Yes, Rachel I want custody of you"

Rachel launched herself in to Shelbys arms and held on to the woman tight, she had never felt so wanted before. She pulled back and looked in to her mothers eyes, a tear fell down Shelbys cheek and Rachel wiped it away with her thumb. Shelby smiled at how sweet her daughter was and pulled her back in to a tight hug.

"I love you so much baby girl" Shelby told her daughter as they hugged.

Rachel buried her face in her mothers neck and breathed in the scent of her "I love you too mama".

More tears flowed down the older woman face when she heard her daughter tell her she loved her, it made Shelby truly happy and she could stay in this position with her little girl forever.

A/N- So I hope none of you mind that I made Shelby bisexual as well, I was going to make her a lesbian but I didn't wanna limit her relationship choices in further chapters.

In the next chapter I'm thinking of bringing back Rachels dads, it is going to skip ahead a few weeks as well, just to pre warn you, I think skipping ahead will make Shelby and Rachels relationship deeper and they will have more mother/daughter issues to deal with.

Who do you think I should set Shelby up with btw? should I make a new character or should it be someone from the show? your input is always appreciated :)

Thanks, N x