Chapter Fourteen: Biogetical Mommy and Daddy
Shelby had been correct in thinking that she would not get any sleep that night. Between comforting Quinn and taking care of Rachel, Shelby had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep, and even that had been here and there. She'd had to give Rachel another suppository at 10:30, and had then set her alarm for 4:30 to give her another. The first one Rachel had slept through, the second one she had not, but instead had awakened in the middle of the process. That upset her because she still didn't want to use the medicine. However, by then, Rachel had decided that she was a little bit hungry so Shelby had gone downstairs to heat up some of the soup she had made the night before and to make a piece of toast.
Rachel had only been able to eat a little bit, but it was better than nothing. By then the medicine was making her extremely sleepy, and she asked Shelby to hold her while she fell asleep.
Before Shelby had known what was going on, it had been 6:30. It was later than she normally slept, but she didn't have to get ready for school and didn't have to get Rachel up which was sometimes the most difficult part of her morning.
Shelby woke up Quinn who would have to shower because she had never made it to the shower the night before. Shelby then went in to wake up Beth despite it being a bit early to wake the little girl up.
Gently rubbing Beth's back to wake her up, she whispered in her ear, "Sweet pea, you want to get up and come help me make breakfast?"
Within seconds the little girl was up, heading down the stairs with Shelby.
"Eggs, Mommy?" Beth asked from the fridge. The little girl ate more eggs than anyone Shelby had meet. She went through at least twenty-one eggs a week. Shelby went and bought two cartons of eighteen count eggs twice a month. On the other hand, Rachel detested even the smell of them. Shelby had not tried to get Rachel to eat an egg since she was three. She had thought it was a good idea to try once more to see if her little diva would eat eggs despite having made herself gag and nearly vomit from eggs when she was about a year old.
She did vomit when she was three. All over Shelby, in the middle of a diner called Short's.
Now Shelby tried to get Beth's eggs cooked before Rachel came downstairs so the smell wouldn't be so strong.
"Yes, sweetie. Bacon as well. You know Quinnie is here." Shelby said. Beth nodded seriously. Beth also liked bacon, but it was nothing compared to Quinn. That girl could eat enough bacon to sink a boat, or so that was what Beth had heard Aunt Judy say once.
Everyone thought that since Beth was little that she didn't hear things that people said. It was how she had known that Rachel had gotten a spanking and that her Mommy and Aunt Leah thought that Rachel never learned a lesson the first time around.
But it was also how she knew that Quinnie's big sister was back and that that also had something to do with her. It worried Beth. She was nearly six, and she wasn't dumb…she knew that she looked a lot like Quinnie and Aunt Judy.
She also knew that she was 'adapted'. Her mommy had told her for as long as she could remember that she was different from Rachel because Mommy couldn't have any more babies and she really wanted another baby to love and a sister for Rachel so when her 'biogetical' mother had her, her real Mommy 'adapted' her for herself and Rachel.
But, for some reason, Beth knew that Quinn's sister coming back was not a coincidence. It was something to do with her. She didn't know for sure, but she was almost positive.
"What are you thinking about, sweet pea?" Shelby asked. Beth had been staring off into space for the last several moments.
Beth looked over at her mommy and smiled.
"Nothing, I am really hungry, Mommy, are the eggs almost done?"
Shelby decided to ignore it for the moment, but she could see through a false smile on Beth just like she could see through one on Rachel. Something was bothering her youngest and she would not let it go for long.
-OneStepAtATime-
Judy picked up Quinn and Beth and dropped them off at school, so an hour later, after cleaning up breakfast dishes and Shelby was sure that she was finally going to get the nap that she desperately needed before she had to give medicine to Rachel once more at 11:30. She was hoping that after that time that Rachel would be able to keep everything down and would no longer need the hated alternative medicine.
Rachel was in Shelby's bed, so Shelby simply laid down beside her daughter and closed her eyes when the doorbell rang through the house.
"You have got to be kidding me." Shelby whispered to herself as she slowly stood up only to have the doorbell ring again.
"Damnit." She hissed. She was going to be so angry if whoever it was woke up Rachel.
She was thankful that she was at least dressed decent despite her hair being in a messy pony tail. She had on a t-shirt and yoga pants that she didn't mind answering the door in.
The doorbell rang again.
Shelby stomped to the door and yanked it open, "What the hell! My kid is asleep and sick!"
Then Shelby realized who was at her door.
Frannie Fabray.
It did not do much to quell the anger that Shelby already felt.
"What are you doing here, Frannie?" Shelby asked her, putting her hands on her hips.
Frannie looked at her and stared.
"My kid is here. I want to see her. Mom said that I had to ask you first. That she wouldn't bring her to the house until after I left unless I talked to you."
Shelby stared at the young woman in front of her. Frannie Fabray was nearly twenty-three years old to Shelby's near thirty-five. Shelby no longer saw the child who had given her a baby when she was twenty-nine, but instead saw a confused young woman with mixed priorities.
"You should have called me first. My daughter is sick, and your incessant ringing of the doorbell could have awakened her. Yet, here you are, standing on my porch because you think you have a right to see my daughter! Let's get something straight, Frannie, Beth is not yours. She is mine, and you cannot see her. She was three months old when you tried to steal her from her bed in the middle of the night while you were drunk, but luckily for you she was so young, else I would have had your ass arrested! Lucky for you that your parents cared enough to talk to me about it…"
"I could have had her then!" Frannie yelled.
Shelby looked at her.
"No, you couldn't have. The three months that you had to change your mind were up. They had been up for over a week. And you didn't want Beth, you just didn't want anyone else to have her either. You want to know why, Francine? Because you are selfish!"
"Why don't you leave us alone?" the question came from neither Frannie nor Shelby, but from Rachel who actually had awakened when the doorbell rang for the third time. Shelby turned and glared at Frannie. Rachel wasn't only sick, she looked sick. Her face was pale, and she was sweating. Her walk was unsteady as she clung to the wall near the front door.
"You have nothing in this, little girl!" Frannie yelled.
"How do you figure that? You are trying to see my sister when my mom already told you no and you hurt my best friend's feelings. My best friend who is YOUR sister. Because you really are selfish. Now why don't you leave me and my mom alone? You wouldn't want to catch what I have, and I would really like my mom to come lay with me. So leave!" Rachel yelled at the woman in front of her. Shelby grabbed Rachel, not because she was upset with the words her daughter had shouted, but because she could see that Rachel was unbalanced.
"Is this how Beth acts? Talking back to her elders? Just like her so called sister? Wilde wouldn't dare act this way with me. They have the same exact parents but obviously act very different."
Rachel stared at Frannie after she uttered the sentence and was fixing to tell the woman off again but Shelby hushed her with a silent pat to her lower back.
"Frannie. Get off my porch. You are not allowed to see Beth. She doesn't know you are her biological mother. She knows me and her sister, she knows her aunts and uncles and grandparents, and cousins. And yes, your parents and sister are her aunt, uncle, and cousin. It could have included you if you were not so very selfish. This is the life that she knows and you will not ruin that. Now leave."
Frannie didn't get a chance to say anything else to either Rachel or Shelby because Shelby slammed the door in her face. Shelby simply wasn't in the mood to talk to the stubborn woman, and she was not going to change her mind anyways. She was not going to let Frannie see Beth. Not when the woman was so inconsistent and only thought of herself.
"Mama, please come lay with me." Rachel said, leaning into her mother. Shelby held Rachel there for several moments before she helped her up the stairs and into her bed.
Rachel was nearly asleep when she turned scooted backwards into Shelby's side and then turned over so that she could lay her head on Shelby's shoulder.
"Mama, why did she give up Beth? Why didn't she want her?"
Shelby was silent for several moments before she looked down at her daughter.
"I will tell you a few things, but you must not tell Beth. One day I will talk to Beth, when she is much older. If I didn't think that you could keep this to yourself, I wouldn't tell you. If you want to talk to someone about it, you can talk to me or Aunt Leah. Don't mention it to Quinn because it isn't fair to her and she doesn't know the whole story. She already feels betrayed by her sister. Understand?" Shelby asked her gently.
"Yes ma'am, I understand."
Shelby nodded and then turned so that she could hold her daughter and tell her a little bit about Frannie Fabray and Beth before she was Beth.
Shelby felt the need to hold both of her daughters close at that moment, but since she only had Rachel, she would settle on holding her eldest.
"I met Frannie when she was five months along when I went to the doctor for a checkup. Frannie was upset because she had just been told that she couldn't have an abortion."
"What?" Rachel said, looking up at her mother, instant tears in her eyes.
"Frannie was really upset because she didn't want Aunt Judy and Uncle Russ knowing that she was pregnant. So, I told her about the fact that I was unable to have more children, that I had one daughter, you, but that I had always wanted to make you a big sister. I told her that if she was ever interested in adoption, that I would love to be considered. She told me right then that I could have the baby. I gave her my number, and never expected to hear from her again. But a month went by, and she and Aunt Judy showed up at the house one Saturday when you were with Kurt and Uncle Burt. That was when I realized that Frannie was your classmate, Quinn's, older sister. They told me that they really did want me to adopt the baby.
When Beth came along, I was happy and you were ecstatic. Right before I brought Beth home, Frannie told me that she never wanted her family to see Beth. But I knew, I knew that that was something I could not promise. A little over three months later was when Frannie broke into the house and tried to take Beth when she was drunk."
Rachel remembered that. She had been terrified. Shelby had put her and Beth in the towel closet in the master bathroom while she made sure that it was safe. Rachel didn't know what went on outside of that closet, but she had only been nine, and both she and Beth had cried together in that closet. Shelby had held them both all night after that.
"Then two months later, Frannie left. I knew that if she ever came back that she would be angry that I left Beth see her family, but they are more our family now than hers. Frannie will always be Judy and Russell's daughter, but she has estranged herself from her family. Frannie didn't want to be reminded of something she saw as a mistake."
"Why didn't she want Bethie? Bethie is a brat sometimes, but she is still my sister, and I will hurt Frannie if she comes near her!" Rachel said, getting over excited and emotional about the entire thing.
"Calm down, baby. Beth is wanted. Very much. We love her. A lot of people love Beth. That is all that matters."
Rachel nodded.
"Why is Frannie so angry at Aunt Judy?"
Shelby thought for a moment. She knew the truth because Judy had told her the truth right after Beth's first birthday.
"I don't think that is my story to tell, love. But, Frannie doesn't always like to take the blame for her actions. It is easier for her to blame others for her problems that it is to take responsibility for them."
"Mama, please don't ever let me leave." Rachel cried, hiding her face in her mother's side.
Shelby smiled. She loved hearing that sentence come out of her daughter's mouth.
"Don't worry, love, I am never letting you go anywhere. I couldn't live without you or Beth."
"Even if I did something stupid like got pregnant when I was sixteen?" Rachel slurred sleepily.
"Especially then. It is when you make your biggest mistakes that you will need me the most. I will always be right beside you. After I spank your backside. You aren't thinking of se…"
"No, Mama…I just wanted to make sure that you won't ever make me leave or let me leave." Rachel said, her eyes getting heavier by the moment, until they finally shut. Shelby leaned over her and kissed the top of her head,
"For you, baby, I would search the world, today, tomorrow, or a hundred years from now."
And, it was true. Shelby Corcoran knew that she was nothing without her daughters. They were her everything. To live without them would be to not live at all.
-OneStepAtATime-
Beth Corcoran had a plan. She was supposed to ride the bus home, something that she never did because usually there was someone there to pick her up at After Play. Today though, Mommy had told her that she had to get on the bus right after school and come home. Her Mommy had written her teacher a note and called the school so that everyone would know that Beth was supposed to get on the bus.
Beth looked around at the people in line for the bus and made sure that none of the teachers were looking. Then she started walking.
She was going to Aunt Judy's house. She knew that she had to do this. She just hoped that she didn't get into too much trouble. After all, her Mommy hadn't said that she couldn't walk to Aunt Judy and Uncle Russ's.
Except, Beth was an intelligent little girl and she knew, deep down, that when her Mommy found out, she was probably going to get in a wee bit of trouble.
It took her fifteen minutes to walk to the Fabray's home. Thankfully, they lived really close to her school.
Beth hoisted her backpack up on her shoulders and timidly walked up the steps and rang the doorbell.
She waited for a few seconds and was just about to ring the bell again when the door swung open.
There stood a woman that Beth had only seen in pictures.
"Can I help you?" Frannie Fabray asked, staring at the little girl in front of her. Who was this kid?
"I want you to leave. You are making everyone sad." Beth told the woman. Beth's face was etched in anger. She wanted this woman to leave everyone alone. It wasn't fair that she came back and hurt everyone's feelings.
"Excuse me, kid?" Frannie said, placing her hands on her hips. Then suddenly it clicked.
"Your Beth."
"Yea, and you are my biogetical mother, so what! You need to leave. No one wants you here!" Beth screamed at her.
"Beth Corcoran, what are you doing here?" A voice from behind Frannie came. Beth swallowed and looked up at her Aunt Judy, who was holding a little girl on her hip.
"Who is that?" Beth asked, suddenly not happy with how things were turning out.
"This is Wilde. Does your mommy know that you are here, Elizabeth?"
"Why is Wilde here?" Beth ignored the second question.
"Elizabeth Corcoran, I asked you a question, young lady."
Beth sighed and looked down at her feet.
"No ma'am. I was supposed to ride the bus home." She whispered. Her Aunt Judy could be scary when you didn't listen to her.
"Go to the kitchen and stand in the corner, Beth. Right now. I am going to call your mommy."
"Aw, Aunt Judy…"
"Now."
Beth grudgingly walked to the kitchen where her corner was. It had been ages since she had been sent to her corner. Quinnie and Rachie's corners were in different rooms, just like they were at the Corcoran house. Mommy and Aunt Judy said it was for when all three of the girls got in trouble at the same time.
Judy picked up the phone and dialed Shelby. She knew that the bus had probably already run through there and Shelby was probably having a heart attack.
"Judy? Can I help you? I am trying to get a hold of the school…they lost my child!" Shelby yelled into the phone. She had indeed watched the bus go by without dropping her five year old off.
"I know where she is at, Shelby."
"How could they lose…wait, you know where she is at?"
"Yes, our little Miss Corcoran seemed to think that it was okay to walk here after school. Currently she is standing in her corner while I talk to you."
"Why? What reason did she have that she thought it was okay for her to walk to your house after school? I told her to get on the bus!" Now Shelby was just angry.
"She wanted to tell Frannie to leave." Judy said quietly.
"What? How does she even know about that?"
"I think our Beth is a lot quicker to catch on than we thought. I can ask Frannie to go pick up Quinn, and I can bring Beth home. I know that you probably still haven't gotten a lot of sleep, so why don't I stop and pick something up for supper?"
On the other line, Shelby was quiet for a few seconds.
"Okay. Tell Beth that she is in major trouble when she gets home. I want her to sweat it out a little. She is five years old, anything could have happened to her while she was walking home!"
"Okay, Shelby. I will be there in a little bit. Precious cargo included."
"Thank you so much, Judy. You could lecture her a little on the way home if you want as well. I cannot believe that she would do something like this…"
Judy laughed.
"With Quinn, Rachel, and Kurt as her role models…Shelby…"
This time it was Shelby's turn to laugh.
"Okay, you have me there. I will see you in a bit. Bye."
"Bye." Judy said, and then hung up the phone.
She walked into the kitchen and saw Beth still facing the corner.
But this time, Beth had a visitor.
Wilde was standing with her nose facing the wall beside Beth, quietly talking to the slightly older girl.
"Well, I guess I at least got to see her." Frannie said from the doorway to the kitchen. She was watching the two children and felt…nothing. Her lack of feelings confused her.
"Frannie, will you go pick up Quinn from Glee? I have to take Beth back to Shelby."
"As long as I don't have to take Wilde. I want to talk to Quinn. If she is stuck in the car with me, it might be my only chance."
Judy nodded.
"That is fine, but I need her booster seat."
"Yea. I'll put it in your car." Frannie said, snatching both sets of keys off of the key hooks and walking outside.
"Is my Mommy really bad?" came a small voice from the corner.
Beth was starting to tear up.
"Yes. Your mommy is very mad right now."
"I had to come. I had too, Aunt Judy."
"You wanted too, there is a difference."
"I know that she is my biogetical mother."
"We will talk about it with your mommy okay, Bethie?" Judy said, walking over to the girl and turning her around.
Beth relaxed a bit. Maybe it wasn't so bad if Aunt Judy was calling her Bethie.
Soon, Judy and the two little girls were on their way to Beth's house.
The closer they got, the more afraid Beth became. She just knew that she was going to get a spanking.
-OneStepAtATime-
"Mama, was sa matter?" Rachel mumbled. She was lying on the couch and had heard her mother on the phone.
"Your sister thought it would be a good idea to go and tell Frannie Fabray to leave everyone alone. She walked to Aunt Judy's after school."
Rachel's eyes grew.
"I walked down the street when I was six and you…"
"Yes, I am well aware of what I did." Shelby told her. She was planning on doing to same to Beth.
"If you can eat a little bit of supper and keep it down, I don't think we will have to use anymore of the suppositories." Shelby told Rachel as she sat on the edge of the couch so that she could take her daughter's temperature.
"Thank goodness." Rachel sighed. She did not want to have to go through that again. It was uncomfortable at best, despite how gentle her mother was during the process.
"But, you have to keep down some supper and then the other medicine that you are on."
"Okay." Rachel said just as the doorbell rang.
Shelby got up and went to answer the door. Judy stood there with bags of food in her hands and two little girls, one who was hiding behind Judy so that she didn't have to face her mother.
Shelby put her hands on her hips and stared at her youngest.
"Elizabeth Francine Corcoran, come here."
Beth took a deep breath and looked around Judy to face her mother. This was so not going to be good.
"I am not going to tell you again."
"No. You are going to spank me."
Shelby's eyes narrowed at her youngest child.
"Yes I am. How many swats you get will depend on you now."
"What do you mean? I only get five, cause I am five." It was simple in the little girl's mind.
"Usually you don't risk your life by walking over to Aunt Judy and Uncle Russ's. You are getting more than five swats."
This caused Beth to cry. She had never gotten over five swats. Even when she had taken the scissors to Rachel's hair when Rachel had been sleeping…she hadn't cut much hair, but Mommy had said that didn't matter, and she had gotten five swats.
Reluctantly, the little girl edged over to her mother, who picked her up and walked upstairs.
"Judy, Rachel is in the living room. There is soup on the stove. I will be down shortly."
Judy nodded. She knew that Shelby wanted to get Beth's punishment out of the way, and she didn't blame her. What Beth had done had been wrong, and, as much as Judy didn't want to admit it, no one knew for sure that Frannie wouldn't just up and leave and try to take Beth with her.
"Come on, Wilde. Let's go meet Rachel."
Wilde was a silent child. The most she had ever heard the little girl talk had been when Beth was in the corner earlier. Maybe the little girls realized that they were sisters deep down.
"Hey, Rachie, how are you feeling?" Judy asked, placing her hand on Rachel's forehead. She could tell that the girl still had a fever.
"I feel okay. Mom's been doping be up with medicine even when I am asleep, so I think I am numb."
Judy laughed. Shelby had told her that morning the methods she was using, and that Rachel wasn't happy about it.
"It's a mom's prerogative, sweetie. She doesn't like it when you don't feel good."
"Yea, I know."
Rachel flinched with she heard a cry from upstairs. Beth was always really loud when she was getting a spanking.
"Sounds like someone is not happy." Rachel mumbled.
"Rach, she walked to my house without…"
"Oh, I know, Aunt Judy. I think she deserves it. I mean, Mom did the same to me when I walked down the street without her when I was six…and then there was that time that Quinnie and I thought that we were big enough to get ice cream by ourselves when we were ten and you and mom found us. I mean, I know that she deserves it, but I still hate that she had to get a spanking."
"That is what makes you a good sister, Rachel. Would you like to properly meet Wilde." Judy said, taking the little girl into her lap.
"Rachel, this is Wilde. Wilde, this is Rachel."
"Hey, Wilde." Rachel said. She wanted to detest this little girl in front of her because of all the bad memories she had brought with her, but even Rachel at fourteen, knew that nothing was this little girl's fault just as nothing was Beth's.
"Hi." Wilde said, and then hid her face. Rachel smiled.
Twenty minutes later, everyone was at the table. Wilde and Beth, who had been soundly chastised and was having trouble sitting still, were sitting on one side of the table while Rachel was on the other, leaning into her mother. Judy was at the end, and was fixing the two girls plates, a piece of baked chicken, coleslaw, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a biscuit. Shelby was trying to urge Rachel to eat her soup and drink some of the tea that was in front of her.
Rachel wasn't really feeling like eating, and leaned into her mother's side. She looked over at the other side of the table and watched Beth and Wilde.
Both little girls, almost as if they had practiced it, were fixing their plates the way they liked them and at the exact same time.
Both girls missed their potatoes and coleslaw together, then tore their chicken into little pieces, sprinkling it over their mess of coleslaw and potatoes and gravy, and then began running their biscuits through the entire thing.
"I think that I am going to be sick." Rachel said, jumping up from the table and heading to the downstairs bathroom.
Judy and Shelby looked at the little girls and stared.
Sometimes genetics really were a thing of wonder.
"I am going to check on Rachel." Shelby whispered and then stood up. It surprised her, something so menial could have such a big impact on her. Two little girls who had not been raised together ate their food the exact same way. It wasn't something Frannie did, but she silently wondered if it was something the girls' biological father did. She didn't think that Frannie had meant to tell her earlier that day, but she had let it slip that the girls both had the same father.
The doorbell rang and Shelby sighed.
"You have got to be kidding me." Shelby hissed. She could hear Rachel in the bathroom, but she didn't sound sick, but was probably standing in there just in case for a few moments.
Shelby went to answer the door and was shocked to find Will Shuester.
"Will?" Shelby said. They talked at work, and sometimes he asked her questions about Glee, but that was the extent of their relationship. Unless he was curious about Rachel, who had missed a lot of school lately due to being sick.
"Shelby, I am so sorry to barge in on you like this, I know that Rachel is sick, and I hate that I just showed up out of the blue…" Shelby could tell that Will was upset.
"Will? What is wrong?"
"I knew that you were the only one I could come too because you are part of this."
"Will, you aren't making any sense."
"I mean, I didn't even realize…not until this afternoon…"
"Will!"
Will looked at Shelby and stared at her.
"Frannie Fabray…She is Beth's biological mother, right? You told me once, and I didn't put two and two together…but Frannie had another kid, another one after Beth was born…that kid…she is mine…" Will said, not even realizing just how much his statement had just affected the people in Shelby's house.
"Will…" Shelby stopped herself.
Because she silently wondered if Will knew that not only was Wilde his, if this were true, then he was also Beth's biological father as well.
AN: Well, there is chapter fourteen..how many of you are surprised with the ending? More of that story will come out in the next chapter probably. Thanks for all the reviews, and I will update as soon as I can.:)