Chapter 11

Once the show was over people started to leave the auditorium, there were children everywhere but none of them were Ava. "Ava?" Rachel decided to go look for the little girl while everyone waited by the stage, "in here mom" she heard a familiar voice from one of the dressing rooms, she entered to see her daughter zipping up her tote bag, she stood directly in front of her and hugged her tight, they stayed in silence for at least two minutes, "did you like my song?" the little girl piped up stepping back, "Ava I didn't like your song... I loved it" her daughters face could have lit up the whole theatre in the moment, she got her mothers approval, the thing she had wanted for years.

Rachel picked up her daughters bag and placed it on her shoulder with her other hand she held her daughters and they walked back towards the stage, "there you girls are" Leroy looked towards them, "I couldn't find my hair band papa" Ava explained, "well we better get going then" he added, everyone watched as the little girls face dropped "you're not going yet are you mom?" she looked towards the bruenette "err..." Rachel stalled, "Rach we're all going back to ours for a while, you're welcome to come with us" Finn said, before she could reply Ava started "you are coming aren't you?" how could she resist the face?

They took three different cabs to the house, Finn, Rachel, Ava, Blaine and Burt in one, then Carole, Leroy, Hiram and Caleb in one and Kurt, Quinn, Puck and Connie in the other, they arrived in that order and entered the house, "Ava do you want to go put your pyjamas on?" Finn questioned his yawning daughter, "yes but do I have to go to bed I'm not tired" she said unconvinsingly, "no you can stay down here" he added they watched as she skipped up the stairs, everyone went into the living room but Finn and Rachel, "I'm sorry about..." he knew what she was apologizing for, "why are you sorry?" he laughed, "I just..." maybe she should have thought about what she was going to say before she opened her mouth, Finn noticed her distress and pulled her into a hug, "It's ok" he mumbled, she smiled at the feeling of being held by him.

"Mommy can I sit with you?" Ava asked rubbing her eyes, she was obviously tired, "sure" Rachel held her arms out for her to come over, she was sitting next to Kurt on the couch, while everyone else where either on the floor, the other couch or chairs, she pulled the little girl in between her and Kurt so she was leaning against her, everyone watched in awe at the moment but this time instead of Finn being there it was Rachel. "Did you guys like my show?" Ava asked looking around the room, "we LOVED your show!" Quinn exclaimed blowing her a kiss, "I liked your song choice" Carole piped up, "mom helped me pick didn't you?" the girl looked towards her, "yeah but you did all the work" she smiled back, "you know Ava your mom used to sing that song at every oppurtunity from when she could talk up until she went to college!" Hiram said, "she did?" Ava giggled when everyone nodded, "yes I can specifically remember her saving our sectionals performance with that song" Puck winked towards Rachel who just sat blushing at all the compliments.

Ava slowly started dozing off with her head in her mothers lap, "sweetie if you're tired why don't you go to bed?" Finn knealed down in front of Rachel and Ava, "I...
not tired" she mumbled her voice heavy with sleep, "yes you are babe" he stroked her cheek, "no daddy I need to stay here with mommy" thats why she didnt want to go to bed? Finn practically argued with his daughter for the next five minutes until he gave up, Ava was over tired and couldn't help but cry "what's wrong?" Rachel cooed pulling her closer, "I.. don't... want you to go" she sobbed, everyones heart broke ever so slightly at how sad the little girl was, "hey don't cry" Rachels voice was gentle and soothing, "I have to go sweetie" she wanted to cry herself, Rachel noticed Quinn clicking her fingers in the corner of the room so she looked over and she seemed to be mouthing something which she didn't understand so she just nodded slightly.

"Hey Ava come here a minute" they watched as the little girl walked around the coffee table and sat on her god mothers lap, "do you know what we're going to do this week?" she looked into her watery eyes, she shook her head slightly, "well someday this week I'm going to take mommy on a girls day..." Rachel smiled, "then we're going to come pick you up from school..." "together?" "together" Quinn assured, "then you, me, Connie and Mom are all going to go for dinner... hows that sound?" the little girl smiled and looked towards her mother for confirmation she nodded before mouthing the words 'thank you' to the blonde.

Ava went around the room kissing them all goodnight leaving her parents till last "good night dad" she said wrapping her arms around his kneck and kissing his cheek, "night princess" he added, "mom will you come upstairs a minute" she said letting go of her dad, "yeah sure" Rachel stood from her seat and took the little girls hand before leaving the room. Finn smiled as he watched them leave "I can't believe it" Carole mumbled teary eyed, "she's changed so much" Hiram added, "shes changed since we saw her at Ava's party" Blaine said, "well I for one am glad she's back Ava needs her... I need her" Finn mumbled as he got up to go towards the kitchen.

Rachel had not took her daughter to bed in years so she was overjoyed when she got the oppurtunity, "I love you mom" she sat on the floor next to the little girls bed, "I love you too baby girl" she said leaning over to kiss her forehead, she sat for a minute and watched her eyes slowly droop as she fell into a deep sleep, she looked so peaceful.

"So Wednesday?" Quinn double checked as they stood by the front door, "yes Wednesday" she replied as they hugged, "I'll pick you up at around eleven" she smiled before waving good bye, "right I better get going to" the bruenette said, it was only her, Finn, Burt and Carole left "on Wednesday we'll drop Ava off, I think Quinn said around seven if thats ok with you..." she winced waiting for an answer "thats fine I can stay at work a bit longer then" he smiled watching her sigh in relief, "bye Finn" she leaned over and kissed his cheek before taking off down the path, he waved slightly before closing the door. 'awsome awsome night' he chanted in his head with a smirk.

Rachel heard the alarm clock go off, she'd been awake for about ten minutes already but the thought of leaving her nice warm bed didn't seem so appealing, that's until she remebered she was going out with Quinn today, she rolled back the quilt shuddering slightly as the cold air hit her, it was just before ten so she had an hour to get ready. She strolled down the hall and admired the pictures like she did every morning these were the updated ones, her favourite was probably the one of Ava about two years ago she was on a her trampoline in Finn's and looked so happy, she turned the corner into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and hair, she changed into skinny jeans a loose black jumper and some boots as it was cold outside, she applied natural looking make up and went towards the kitchen, she had quit drinking coffee a couple of weeks ago, she no longer needed it.

"Aww thats so adorable" they were currently sitting at a reastraunt eating lunch, Quinn was going through the clothes she'd just bought Connie as Rachel stared in awe,"yeah they should be for that price" she joked messing with the tags, Rachel looked over to the sleeping baby in the stroller next to them "she looks so much like you Quinn... shes so beautiful" she smiled, "thank you" she giggled, "you're such a good mom" Rachel added, Quinn could tell she was feeling bad about the thought "you are too" the blonde looked towards her but she still seemed off, "thank you" Rachel piped up after a moments silence Quinn looked up curious to see why, "wh-when I couldn't be there for Ava you were... Finn told me you played mommy dearest for the time and hes so thankful, I-I am too" "how do you keep doing that?" Quinn exclaimed all choked up, "what?" Rachel panicked "crying" she smiled wiping the tears from her eyes, the brunette just giggled relieved.

"Look I'm not going to be patronizing and lecture you but... what you said to me before really meant a lot and not just because of Ava, because once I had Beth I felt like the worst mother in the world, and to be perfectly honest I still do from time to time now, and it always goes back to Beth, so you saying that to me meant more than you'll ever know... and I know you feel the exact same sometimes but Rach you're really not" Quinn voice was so delicate and raspy, they stood outside the school waiting for Ava "I just don't think I can ever forgive myself" she muttered, "Rachel whatever happened in the past is gone. done. nothing we can do know, so forgive yourself and move on, you're a beautiful, amazing mother who loves her daughter more than anything" Quinn held Connie's carry chair on one arm and wrapped the other round Rachel's kneck.

"Mommy... Quinn... Connie" Ava sang running towards them, with papers in one hand and her lunch bag in the other, "hey babe hows school?" Rachel said knealing down to eye level "school was great one minute" she looked distracted and walked towards a group of girls, "whats that all about?" Rachel said straightening up, Quinn just shrugged her shoulders as they watched the little girl come back over but this time there was three other girls with her "see I told you I wasn't lying!" she said pointing to Rachel, "hi" Rachel said waving awkwardly to the curious little girls, "mom this is Johannah, Malory and Chloe, guys this is my mom" she smiled proudly, Rachel looked towards the girls, Johannah was tall and skinny she had long brown hair, Malory was a bit small and wasn't as skinny she had black short hair then there was Chloe who was of normal height and had blonde shoulder length hair, "hi" the three said in sync, Rachel actually found it quite funny that they didn't believe she was here,"Ava said you were on broadway, where you?" Malory piped up with a smile, "I was..." "oh my god really!" Rachel realised in the moment that they were a bunch of theatre geeks which she found quite adorable, they talked about broadway and a few other things for what seemed like forever even the girls moms had joined in, however Rachel was enjoying the feeling of being a normal mother.

"Did you like my friends?" Ava asked sitting opposite her mother, "I did, I thought they were really sweet, do they sing too?" she replied, "umm not really, Chloe does a lot of gymnastics, and Malory likes art, I'm not really sure what Johannah does... I know she likes drama class" she explained messing with the straw in her glass,
"where they the girls that were mean to you and said you didn't have a mom?" Ava looked slightly shocked that her mother knew, she had never told her so who did?
"who told you?" she asked becoming defensive, "no one sweeite, just your dad told me you where a bit upset at school a few weeks ago" she explained gently realising her daughter was not happy, "he shouldn't have told you" she said back coldly, Rachel felt awkward she had never been in this situation before.

"Ava why?" Quinn interfered to Rachel's relief, "... because I do have a mom!" she raised her voice in anger, this was obviously an issue for the little girl, one that she didn't like talking about. Rachel watched as Quinn tried to calm the little girl down, Ava had gone into full freak out mode and had tears streaming down her face,
she watched as the blonde wiped them away but they just kept reapearing, she was so upset.

"Ava come with me... " Rachel stood up from her chair and held her hand out to the girl, she looked towards Quinn and whispered "I'll be back in a minute"
the blonde smiled and nodded her head, Rachel needed to speak to her daughter, she needed to reasure her she wasn't going any where...

NOTICE-
thank you for reading, another two parter!
anyways i've had some awesome comments so thank you...
btw I know theres no flashback here but there will be a good one in the next chapter (the suspence!)
and to those who have cried i'm sorry! :)