A/N: This a boring filler chapter in my opinion. However, it had to be written.
A/N 2: Dear guest reviewer, have you ever been raped? Do you know anyone who has? Obviously you don't or you wouldn't have said the ignorant and insensitive things that you said in your review. I HAVE BEEN RAPED! This is my reality every fucking day! If you found the story to be so "predictable, unrealistic, inconsistent and frustrating" then why the hell did you keep reading?! If you don't like the story, here's what I suggest you do - STOP FUCKING READING IT! I am not writing it for you. I'm writing for myself! With that being said, goodbye!
To everyone else reading and supporting this story, thank you :)
Edited December 2014
Chapter 9
While Rachel and Shelby slept, Leroy and Hiram had just gotten off the red-eye, returning from yet another trip. Finding themselves in an empty house.
"What if she ran away?" Hiram asked worriedly.
"She didn't run away Hiram, get a hold of yourself." Leroy snapped. He began looking around Rachel's room and noticed things were missing, like the Burberry set of luggage they got her last Christmas.
"Where could she have gone?" Hiram asked.
"That boy she's been going with, Finn?" Leroy suggested.
"No, no the last time we were home she told me they had been broken up for a while." Hiram said.
"I don't know. We'll call her in the morning, alright? It's late, let's just go to bed." Leroy said. He flicks the lights in Rachel's room off and pulls Hiram towards their own bedroom.
It was around nine in the morning when Rachel's phone started going off. She reached over to the bedside table and searched around until she felt her phone under her fingertips. She cracked open an eye and accepted the call and brought it to her ear, "Hello?" She said, voice still heavy with sleep. She cleared her throat and scratched her head.
"RACHEL BARBRA BERRY, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Leroy yelled into his end of the receiver.
Rachel shot up. 'Shit!' She thought. They hadn't called to tell her when they would be coming home, and she hadn't thought to leave a note. "Dad, I-I'm at Shelby's." She said. She knew there was no point in lying to her fathers. She wasn't a good liar anyway.
"Shelby's?! What are you doing with that woman?!" Leroy snapped. His blood was boiling. He was going to go over there and drag Rachel out, by her hair if he had to.
"She's my Mom. And a lot has changed since you've been gone Dad..." Rachel said. That was the absolute truth and nothing but. She listened quietly while her parents argued, before hearing shuffling and her other Father's voice on the phone.
"Sweetie pack your things, thank Shelby for letting you stay with her, we're coming to get you." Hiram said.
"I..." Rachel choked. Just what in the hell was she going to say to that. She loved her Fathers, but they were hardly ever home. Let's face it. They were men and she wasn't comfortable around men right now. Honestly she didn't feel comfortable around anyone right now. Anyone who wasn't her Mother or Quinn. And weren't they just going to leave again anyways? Even if it was her Dads who had raised her, her whole life. She swallowed thickly, "Ok..." She said with a sigh. Before her Father could say anything else, she hung up and threw the covers off. She had to come up with a plan so she would be able to stay with her Mother. She turned over to see her Mother still asleep. "Mom?" She said, shaking the woman's shoulder.
Shelby startled awake. "What's the matter baby?" She asked. She propped herself up against the headboard and wrapped her arms around Rachel.
"My Dads just called. They're home and they're coming to get me. I don't want to go with them. I want to stay with you." Rachel said. She snuggled closer to her Mother and let the tears fall.
Shelby knew this day would come, she just didn't think it would be so soon. With everything that had happened, she knew she wasn't going to just let Rachel be taken away from her. "I want you to stay with me too." She admitted. The Berry men had been smart when they had drawn up that contract. They knew that a bond forming between the two of them would be inevitable. All she had seen was dollar signs, but after nine months what she really wanted was to be with Rachel. This time she would fight for her. Contract be damned. She had already broken it anyway. "When they get here, I want to talk to them and I want you to stay up here." She said.
Rachel nodded. "I love my Dads, but they're hardly home and I don't know what I'd do if I had to go back to that house with them. I'm scared. Mom, please don't let them take me!" She begged.
"I won't baby, not without a fight." Shelby said, kissing Rachel's head.
"Will you tell them what happened to me?" Rachel asked in a whisper. She knew the second her Fathers heard that, they would be dragging her to the nearest hospital and bombarding her with questions.
"I know you don't want them to know, but this might be the only way." Shelby said. She started thinking about what she would say to the Berry's when the doorbell chimed.
Rachel froze. She knew who was waiting downstairs separated by the protective steel of the door. She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked into her Mother's eyes.
"It's ok. Stay here." Shelby said, kissing her cheek. She got up, ran her fingers through her hair and pulled on a sweatshirt before leaving the room. She took a deep breath before opening the door. "Hiram, Leroy come in." She said stepping out of the way to let the men in.
"Where's our daughter? Is she ready? Rachel!" Leroy demanded.
"She's upstairs and no she isn't." Shelby said crossing her arms. "Please have a seat." She said gesturing to the large L-shaped couch in the living room. Once everyone was settled she started speaking again. "I want to be in her life, she wants me in her life. I'm open to partial custody. I love her. I have loved her since the day I found out I was pregnant and heard her heart beating. She's just as much mine as she is yours. I'm the one who carried her and gave birth to her!" She said as her opening argument. She didn't see a point and jumping in guns blazing.
"Have you forgotten about the contract YOU signed, stating that you were to have no contact with her until she was eighteen?" Leroy sneered.
"The contract also said it would be void if she found me. I didn't contact her, I just set out a trail for her to find me. SHE came to ME. The contract is broken. There's no amount of money that will keep me away from her ever again. Fuck the contract! She's my daughter too!" Shelby said.
"You went through all the trouble of forcing Rachel to find you, only to walk away and break her heart all over again, why is this time any different?" Hiram asked. His question was out of curiosity not of malice.
"I freaked out when she came to me. She was so perfect I didn't want to mess her up. She told me how you bring her water when she's upset and I realized I wouldn't know to do that and I didn't think there was room in her life for me too." Shelby said.
"What's so different this time around?" Hiram asked.
"It's been a long ten days Hiram. She needs me and I need her." Shelby said. She felt like Hiram was the more level-headed half of the two. Maybe she could convince him to see that this is the right thing to do.
"Enough!" Leroy shouted, standing. "We are taking her!" He said.
"Hold on a minute, Rachel told me that the two of you are hardly home and she's left alone for months at a time. Is she supposed to raise herself?!" Shelby said matching Leroy's tone.
"She's sixteen years old, she can take care of herself!" Leroy snapped.
"She was raped!" Shelby bit back. She hadn't planned on telling them that way. She just got caught up in the heat of the moment. She pushed forward and explained to them what she knew the day Rachel showed up soaking wet on her doorstep ten days ago.
"That's disgusting! You're disgusting!" Leroy shouted. "You would make that up, just so we'd leave her with you?! Our daughter would never allow herself to get raped."
Shelby's mouth fell open at Leroy's outburst. What the hell was wrong with him? How could he say something like that? She didn't know what to say. She felt like she was in one of those true life stories on Lifetime and this is the scene where the parents start blaming the child for what happened. "Excuse me?" She asked in an edgy tone. Her mouth had gone completely dry. He could say all he wanted about her, but she was not going to allow him to say anything about Rachel.
Leroy opened his mouth, most likely to say something else insulting and ridiculous. Thankfully Hiram cut him off before he could.
"She's telling the truth Leroy." Hiram said quietly. He had watched Shelby's face and body language. There were no tells that she was lying.
"What! Rachel Barbra get down here. NOW!" Leroy said. All his anger was deflating and he lowered himself back onto the couch. Someone hurt his baby and where the hell had he been?
Rachel had sat at the top of the stairs. She heard everything. Every downward step she took felt heavy as if she had concrete bricks on her feet. When she reached the last step she glanced at her Fathers and her Mother before curling up on the same cushion as Shelby. "It's true Dad. You're right, it is disgusting! I am disgusting! I'm so fucking sorry I allowed myself to get raped!" She cried, burying her face into her Mother's neck.
Shelby rubbed her back and whispered soothing words low enough that only she could hear.
Leroy reached out and touched Rachel's knee only to have her flinch and scoot further into the couch. "Who?" He asked quietly.
"No, no I don't want to talk about it! I don't want to go with you. I can't! I just want to stay with my Mom. Please!" Rachel begged.
"Leroy, look at her. Look at them. If we force her to leave we might lose her forever. You and I both know when we leave again she will find her way back here against our wishes. She shouldn't be left alone dealing with this anyways. Like Shelby said earlier, fuck the contract. No piece of paper is going to keep them apart. As much as we love Rachel, we aren't equipped for this. She needs something we can't give her. She needs her Mother." Hiram said.
Leroy listened to his husband and processed what he had just said. He knew he was right. He nodded and sighed. "Ok Rach, we won't force you to go with us." He said. "You can stay with your Mother."
Rachel's head popped up and she cracked a smile. "Really?"
"Yes, Rachela. We love you. Your Mother made quite the argument. For the past few years we haven't been there for you as much as we should have. I am sorry." Hiram said.
"I love you too Daddy and you too Dad." Rachel said.
Hiram stood and tugged Leroy up with him. "We'll be going now. If you need anything for her, we put money into an account in her name every month." Hiram said to Shelby.
"I don't think I'll need it but thank you." Shelby said. She stood and shook both of the men's hands before following them to the door. Happy tears were streaming down her face.
"If she changes her mind and decides to press charges, you'll let us know?" Leroy asked.
"Yes, of course. She still isn't talking about it but I still have hope that she will." Shelby said solemnly. She watched the men leave before closing the door and turning to face her daughter. "What do you say we get out of the house today?" She asked.
