A/N: welcome back everybody! Thank you for the reviews and all the feedback. A couple of you pointed out I often switch between first and third person. It's one of my biggest writing flaws and don't even realize I do it have the time. I promise I will work on it!! Without further ado, enjoy and let me know what you think.

ooo

Shelby awoke to a consistent pounding on her bedroom door. She knew she didn't need to get up and get it, soon enough her mother would barge in and tell her to start getting ready so they could go shopping.

"Okay. Okay. I'm up. I'll be down in twenty minutes." Shelby huffed in annoyance.

"You better be!" Her mother called through the door. "Both of the girls are already up and ready to go. Like always, we're waiting on you."

Shelby rolled her eyes at her mother's dramatics and got up and headed towards the bathroom to get ready. Wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting.

Shelby emerged downstairs a half hour later and smiled at the scene in front of her.

Rachel and Quinn were huddled over an old photo album with her dad. Quinn seemed more interested in the pictures but Rachel was hanging onto every word her dad spoke, almost as if she was afraid she'd miss any little detail. Her mom and Cara were making cups of coffee for the road.

Shelby walked over to Rachel and kissed her forehead. "Good morning baby, I missed you last night."

Shelby smiled as Rachel's face flushed red.

"Mooom." Rachel whined, darting her eyes over to Quinn.

Shelby shrugged her shoulders. "What? I did. Now are you going to give me a hug or what?"

Shelby smiled even bigger when her daughter stood and wrapped her tiny arms around Shelby. Shelby squeezed her tight and whispered in Rachel's ear. "Are you okay?"

She felt Rachel nod against her and patted her bottom a few times before letting her go.

"Alright ladies we better get in the car before my mom pops a blood vessel."

"Shelby Lynn!" Her mom yelled!

Shelby just laughed and made her way out towards the car, optimistic about how the day would unfold.

ooo

They had only been at the mall for about two hours and they already had to make a trip out to the car to drop some bags off. Rachel was in awe at how much her aunt, grandma and Shelby had all insisted on buying her. Every time Rachel tried to stop them from buying her something she had merely looked at, they would shush her and tell her that they had gone years without buying her anything and they were allowed to splurge.

Quinn had been awfully quiet, but Rachel chalked it up to her being tired and around people she didn't know.

It was getting close to lunch time, and they all agreed to stop at the food court for a quick bite.

"I'm going to use the bathroom before we eat." Rachel announced.

"Okay baby, I'll get you something. We'll be in this area."

"Okay!" Rachel called over her shoulder.

She was just approaching the bathroom door when two rough hands shoved her hard against the wall and held her head firmly against it so she couldn't move.

"I'm always watching you, bitch. See you at school Monday, slut."

Rachel felt a hard blow from what she was assuming the person's knee against her back and fell to the ground. She tried to turn her head to get a look at the persons face but was swiftly kicked in the face. When she opened her eyes again. He was gone.

ooo

Shelby looked towards the bathroom. Rachel had been gone almost five minutes and still wasn't back. She tried to push her worry aside, she didn't want to be one of those helicopter parents.

"Hey. I'll go check on Rach. I have to go to the bathroom anyways." Cara said placing a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, mama bear." She said. And Shelby smiled, her sister had always been able to read her like a book.

Shelby smiled at her sister. "Thanks Car."

Shelby watched as Cara went off in the same direction. She turned to Quinn to ask her what she wanted to eat, but stopped when she saw Quinn's eyes widen and her face pale.

Shelby turned around and felt her heart drop at the scene before her.

Cara was carrying Rachel bridal style. And Rachel had blood on her face.

Shelby's body went into autopilot as she ran to her sister, meeting them halfway. "Baby, what happened?" Shelby asked trying to keep her voice calm. She looked to Cara for an answer.

"I don't know Shelbs, she was in the hallway outside the bathroom I just picked her up, I don't know." Cara rambled.

"Mama." Rachel cried from Cara's arms, reaching for Shelby.

Shelby was thankful her daughter was small as she gently picked her daughter up out of her sisters arms, holding her against her chest.

"Cara. Get mom and Quinn and go get the car."

Shelby sat down at a nearby table in the food court and picked up some napkins, holding them gently against Rachel's bleeding nose and grimaced as she saw it was already bruising.

"Baby what happened?" Shelby asked her gently.

Rachel cried and clung to Shelby's shirt, shaking her head no, frantically darting her eyes around the room. Shelby leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Do we need to wait to get into the car?"

Rachel slowly nodded her head. And Shelby quickly stood back up, grabbing a handful of napkins as she did and made her way towards the car.

Her mom was pulling up to the entrance as they walked out, and Shelby opened the door and expertly slid into the back seat with Rachel, being careful to not bump her into anything.

"Rachel what happened? Did somebody do this to you?" Shelby asked once they started moving.

Rachel frantically shook her head no. "I tripped and fell walking to the bathroom."

Shelby studied her daughter, not believing her. Before she could open her mouth, Quinn spoke up.

"She's lying Shelby."

"Quinn! You promised!" Rachel shrieked.

"I'm not going to let him keep doing this to you Rachel! Tell her! Or I will!" Quinn yelled back.

Rachel sat up frantically. "You don't understand! He's going to kill me!"

Shelby's head was spinning from all the yelling. "Mom pull over."

She waited until the car came to a stop and looked at Quinn. "What isn't Rachel telling me?"

Shelby watched as Quinn darted her eyes towards Rachel. "The first day of school, someone threw a slushy in Rachel's face. It happens pretty often, a lot of the jocks do it to the los- to the glee kids." Quinn said, darting her eyes away from Shelby. "Rachel told me when she couldn't see, a guy whispered in her ear and said if she told anyone, she was dead. Then after glee she found that note that you saw, on her windshield." Quinn finished.

Shelby looked down at Rachel and saw the girl was silently crying.

"Mom. Drive us to the hospital, I think Rachel's nose is broken." Helene nodded and shot Shelby a look through the rear-view mirror. This was serious.

Shelby looked back down at Rachel. "Is all of this true." Rachel nodded against her leg.

"Okay. I need to call officer Cohen. This is serious Rachel. You should have told me sooner. Whoever this is has been seriously watching us, to the point they knew we were coming to Columbus today and followed us." Shelby said.

It wasn't until she said it out loud that she realized how truly terrifying this all was.

Somebody was watching them. And they wanted to hurt Rachel.

ooo

Shelby sighed out in frustration. They had been in the hospital for close to two hours now. Rachel's nose was confirmed to be broken, but thankfully wouldn't need any surgery. Now they were taking her back for an X-ray on her back, another place she was apparently hit.

Officer Cohen arrived, driving all the way from Lima, and took down statements from Quinn and Shelby. Once he was down he pulled Shelby aside.

"Until I can get ahold of the security cameras at the mall, or the school for that matter, I don't think you should be staying in your home." He said solemnly. "Is there anyone you can stay with for a little while?"

Shelby sighed and looked over to where her mom and sister were sitting. "Yes. My parents and sister live in Columbus. We'll honestly probably just stay here, but we have to take Quinn back first and go back home to pack and get my dad." She rambled, while making a mental checklist of everything they needed to do.

Officer Cohen nodded. "Alright. When you're getting ready to leave give me a call. I'll have a couple guys in unmarked cars follow just to make sure you aren't being followed by anyone else."

Shelby grimaced at the thought and quickly swept the waiting area with her eyes, looking for an unknown face.

Officer Cohen noticed Shelby's sudden unease and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Trust me, whoever did this to Rachel isn't here. I've worked with rapist for years, you can relax a little bit."

Shelby nodded and started making her way back towards her mom and sister, "Thank you. I need to go talk to my mom. I'll call you when we're heading back this way."

Shelby sighed for the millionth time that day. Was she ever going to catch a fucking break?

ooo

Rachel sighed as she fiddled with the taping around her nose. It was itchy and annoying, and was making her packing process even slower.

Rachel was pissed off she had to be packing anyways. She absolutely did not want to leave, and she didn't want to leave Quinn, fearing for her safety. But Quinn has assured her she would be fine and that was was going to do some digging around to see if she could figure out who threw the slushy. Rachel had begged her not to and asked Quinn to promise she wouldn't. Quinn just pulled her in for a longer than normal hug, and promised to call the next day.

Rachel was also pissed off because she was scared. She was terrified. And she was hurting. All she wanted was her mom to wrap her up and tell her everything would be okay.

But Shelby had hardly spoken to her since leaving the hospital, only asking her if she needed her pain meds, and then practically ordering Rachel to start packing so they could leave as soon as possible.

Rachel finished packing, and walked out the room towards her moms room, hoping for a little comfort.

She stood in her moms doorway waiting for her to notice her. "Mom?"

"What's up Rach?" Shelby asked, not even bothering to look up from the sweater she was putting in her suitcase. "I don't have a lot of time. Officer Cohen wants us to be out of here within the next hour and I still have to call my boss and find a sub." Shelby said, sounding increasingly more annoyed by the end of her sentence.

Rachel could feel the tears prick her eyes and tried to force them down. "Oh. Nevermind, I'll just take my stuff downstairs for grandpa to load up."

"Good idea." Shelby said. Again, not even bothering to look at Rachel.

Rachel waited until her back was to the door to let a tear slide down her cheek.

ooo

Cara shifted in the back seat of her parents SUV. Some of the police officers thought it would be a good idea to leave both her car and Shelby's car behind. So the five of them piled into her parents SUV and started the hour and a half trek towards Columbus.

Cara stole a glance at her niece who was sitting next to her and felt her heart break at the sight. Her face was bruised and she looked absolutely pitiful. She was scared for her niece. But she knew she needed to be brave.

Cara glanced up front to make sure no one was paying attention before she reached over and unbuckled her nieces seat belt. Rachel looked over and shot her a questioning look, to which Cara opened her arms. Rachel greedily scooted over and leaned into her aunts embrace, just like Cara knew she would.

When they had first got into the car, Rachel had tried sitting in the middle seat with Shelby and immediately latched onto her, which caused Shelby to shrug her off and tell her to go sit in the backseat. Helene had smacked Shelby's leg and I elbowed her in the ribs before choosing to climb in the back with Rachel. We all knew what Shelby was doing. But we couldn't talk to her until Rachel wasn't around.

Cars rubbed Rachel's back and smiled as she clung onto her shirt, much like she does with her mother.

Shelby turned back and had her mouth open like she was about to say something but immediately shut it when she saw Rachel laying on Cara. Cara saw something flash quickly in Shelby's eyes before she promptly turned back around.

She rolled her eyes. Shelby could be so dramatic.

ooo

They arrived to the house about an hour ago and Rachel was unpacking in one of her grandparents extra bedrooms.

Rachel looked around the room uneasily. Helene had suggested Rachel and her mom share a room, but Shelby had quickly turned the idea down saying she would stay with her sister.

Rachel was hurt and had looked at her mom with pleading eyes, she wanted to ask her what was wrong but her grandfather had told her to come upstairs and unpack.

Once Rachel finished unpacking she climbed into the bed and curled into a ball, crying softly as she thought about how what had started out as an amazing day, turned absolutely horrible.

Rachel quickly wiped at her eyes when she heard the bedroom door open, wincing in pain as she accidentally hit her nose.

"Careful, kiddo. Don't want to bang it up more than it already is." Her Aunt Cara said, taking a seat on the bed. "I thought we could watch a movie in here, just me and you?" She said, holding up the movie Annie.

Rachel smiled and nodded scooting over on the bed while Cara put the movie on. Once they were both comfortable, her Aunt opened her arms for her which Rachel gratefully accepted.

She wanted her mom, but this would have to do for now.

ooo

"Shelby Lynn. What is the matter with you? That girl needs you right now and you're putting up all your defenses."

Shelby winced at her dads tone. He rarely ever raised his voice at her, or expressed disappointment. And right now, he was doing both.

"You haven't shown that girl an ounce of affection since we got to the hospital. What are you thinking?" Her mother asked.

Shelby could feel the tears starting to burn her eyes, but blinked them away. "I called one of her dads when we were at the hospital. Just so they knew what was going on." Shelby said, trying to keep her voice from breaking. "He made a snarky comment to me about how I clearly don't know what I'm doing."

"Shelby." Her dad started, but she quickly cut him off.

"He's right." She laughed humorlessly. "I have no fucking clue what I'm doing. For god's sake, I didn't even know Rachel was being bullied with slushies, let alone that her fucking attacker was threatening her life and stalking us! I would ask how things were, she would say fine, and I would believe her! Things weren't fine, she was fucking cutting herself. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing!" Shelby said defeatedly.

Stuart walked over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Shelby no parent knows what they're doing. It's a learning process. That doesn't mean every time you mess up you shut them out."

Shelby shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Rachel's dads want to see her when we get back to Lima. And I'm sure Rachel will want to go back with them."

Helene walked over to Shelby and lifted her chin up, forcing Shelby to look at her mother. "Shelby. Rachel is not going to want to go back with her fathers who all but abandoned her. That girl adores you. Now, quit throwing yourself a pity party, go upstairs, and comfort your daughter."

Shelby looked at both of her parents and nodded. They were right, they usually always were.

ooo

Rachel was just about to fall asleep when the bedroom door slowly opened.

"Is she sleeping?" She heard her mom ask. She felt Cara shift and shake her head no.

Rachel felt Cara move and felt suddenly cold at the loss of contact with her Aunt, but she was quickly wrapped up again. This time in her mom's arms.

Rachel watched as Cara quietly left the room and looked up at her mom expectantly.

"Rachel. I am so sorry. I just." Her mom stopped and suddenly burst into loud sobs. Rachel looked at her bewildered. She had rarely ever seen her mom cry, let alone sob.

"Mama?" She asked timidly

"I'm so sorry. I just feel like I keep fucking up." Shelby said between sobs. "I didn't know people were throwing drinks at you, that you were being tormented, that you were cutting yourself. I just feel like I'm failing you Rachel." Shelby said, wiping her eyes as she had calmed down some. "I love you so much. I don't want to fail you."

Rachel tensed when her mom mentioned the slushies but quickly released it when she saw how bad her mom was hurting. She threw herself into her mom's arms, being cautious of her nose, and grabbed fistfuls of her shirt. "You aren't failing me mom. You're there for me. That's all I need."

Rachel watched as Shelby took in her words and slowly nodded. "Rachel I need you to do something for me." Rachel nodded, urging her mom to continue. "You have to start being more open with me, baby. You can't keep leaving me in the dark."

Rachel looked away, feeling ashamed for disappointing her mom.

"I understand why you didn't tell me about the letter and the slushy, you were scared. But babe, if you would have just told me from the start, we probably wouldn't be in the situation we're in now. I wouldn't have let anything happen to you. I will always protect you. It's my job" Shelby said sternly.

Rachel chose to nod, not trusting her voice.

"But Rachel, I did speak with Quinn, and she told me this slushy thing has been going on for quite some time now."

Rachel's head snapped up. She was going to murder Quinn. "I mean, yea. But it happens to all the glee kids. It's not a big deal, mom."

She watched as Shelby seemed to take in her response. "Fine. We can talk about that another time." She said as she scooted down in the bed, bringing Rachel down with her. "I'm sorry, Rach. Sometimes I forget that you're a teenager and you aren't always going to tell me everything when I ask. I should have known something was going on and I'm sorry. This mom thing is still new to me."

Rachel snuggled deeper into Shelby, sticking her hand under her shirt so she could feel Shelby's skin while she clutched her shirt, something she only did when she was exhausted. "It's okay." She said. "It may be new to you, but you're still a great mom." She said before slowly closing her eyes. She felt Shelby gently kiss her broken nose before she finally fell into a deep sleep.

ooo

It was Monday, and Quinn glumly walked down the halls of McKinley.

She missed Rachel and she hated that she wouldn't be coming back to school this semester, or glee for at least a week seeing as she had to stay in Columbus.

But as glum as she was, she knew she had business to take care of. And the first order of business was finding out who slushied Rachel on the first day.

She saw Santana and Brittany walking towards her and quickly approached them.

"Woah Q, where's the fire?"

Quinn rolled her eyes at Santana. "Haha." She said sarcastically. "Look, did either of you happen to see who slushied Rachel on the first day?"

Santana raised an eyebrow at her. "No. I didn't. And even if I did, why would it matter?"

Quinn went to speak but was cut off by the warning bell. "Look, it's a long story, one that I probably shouldn't share, but I need help. So meet me in the locker room at lunch." She said, waiting for a confirmation from Santana before heading off to class.

ooo

The morning drug slowly for Quinn. But lunch finally approached and she all but sprinted to the locker room.

Once in the locker room she did a quick check to make sure that there was no one else in there. She was rounding the last row of lockers when something hard hit the back of her head. And everything went black.