Chapter 21

Rachel eyed her mother suspiciously as she entered the hospital room with Ella and Lily.

"Hi guys," Quinn said from the side of the bed. Abby was out cold. Quinn had read her a book and she had fallen asleep within minutes.

"What's…up?" Rachel asked slowly. Ella and Lily both looked down at the ground.

"It seems your daughters decided to have a little food fight in your kitchen this morning," Shelby said. She gently pushed Ella and Lily towards Rachel before walking over to Abby's bedside and giving her a kiss on the forehead. She nearly jumped in the air when Abby's eyes shot open.

"Nana!" The girl cheered. Shelby put a hand on her chest.

"Abby you scared me, I thought you were asleep," Shelby said trying to get her breathing back to normal.

"No, momma's book was boring so I wanted her to stop," Abby replied. Quinn playfully gasped at the little girl who giggled in response.

Rachel looked Ella in the eye. She was always able to get that girl to crack. Lily's acting skills were too strong to get her to budge.

"A food fight? Care to explain Eloise?" Ella bit her lip and looked to Lily. Lily looked at Rachel with a look that would make any mother melt.

"She started it," Ella finally said quietly. Lily rolled her eyes and looked down to the ground.

"We don't really care who started it, just tell us what you did to our kitchen," Quinn said. Ella turned around slowly and caught her moms eyes before turning back to Rachel.

"We were trying to make pancakes and it just got a little out of hand," Ella said. Shelby scoffed.

"A little? Your floor and counters were covered in sticky chocolate chip pancake batter," Shelby said. Lily glanced at Ella and gave her a look saying 'We're busted'.

"You made chocolate chip pancakes without me? No fair," Abby said huffing and crossing her arms across her chest.

"We'll make you a big batch of chocolate chip pancakes when you get home," Quinn reassured. "Ella your whole grounding just got a lot worse. And Lily you too." Ella groaned and moved to sit in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs next to Rachel. Lily climbed into Rachel's lap and the family sat in quiet for a few moments before the chatterbox opened her mouth.

"But we cleaned it all up!" Lily said breaking the silence. "With nana's help." Rachel smiled at her mother.

"Thank you mom," she said. Shelby smiled in acknowledgement.

"Well I'm hungry," Quinn said realizing she hadn't eaten anything for breakfast and it was nearly past the time they would normally eat lunch.

"Me too," Ella said.

"Oh you aren't full on batter?" Quinn teased. Ella glared at her mother before Quinn raised an eyebrow. "No attitude, you just put yourself on 3 weeks of grounding."

"You suck," Ella muttered to Lily as they stood to go get some food from the hospital cafeteria. Lily punched her sister in the arm with probably more force than Ella imagined a 9 year old could possess. Ella groaned and pushed Lily back with more force and almost knocked her into Quinn.

"Hey," Quinn gently demanded. The girls ceased their bickering for a few moments as they entered the cafeteria to pick up some lunch for everyone.

...

"Why is Ella grounded?" Shelby asked as she sat with Rachel and Ella in the hospital room. Rachel glanced over to Abby who was humming to herself and coloring in a coloring book.

"A-l-c-o-h-o-l," Rachel spelled quietly, hoping Abby wouldn't hear.

"What does that spell mommy?" Abby asked, eyes still in her coloring book. "Al….al."

"Nothing Abby," Rachel said quickly. She looked to her mother and saw raised eyebrows. "I know," Rachel said. "I'm a little in shock. Quinn was furious. I just can't believe she would do something like that."

"Its unfortunately a lot more common nowadays," Shelby said. Rachel sighed and shook her head.

"She claims she hated it. All I know is that she won't be going to any cheer parties anytime soon." As if on cue Ella, Lily and Quinn returned with trays and take-out containers of food and the family began eating their breakfast-brunch-lunch.

...

By Monday, Abby was home safe and healthy. She was taking a day off of school per Quinn's demand just to ensure she was rested before she went back. But Rachel was adamant about her going to Wizard of Oz rehearsal that evening, even if she just sat the whole time she didn't want her missing out on music rehearsal.

"I'm so excited! My first rehearsal!" Abby said as Rachel pulled into the drama school parking lot.

"It's going to be boring, we aren't going to do anything exciting," Lily muttered. Rachel put the car in park and turned her head to look at Lily. She didn't say anything but she gave Lily a stern look. Lily softened her face and jumped out of the car. The three walked into the drama school and Lily quickly went over to her friend Devin. They began rehearsal and Lily continued to sulk. She was passing notes with Devin the whole time, not going unnoticed by Rachel. She could only imagine Lily was saying something about how she didn't get Dorothy—yet again. Rachel was sincerely enjoying watching Abby at rehearsal. The girl had already made a friend and was working very hard. At the 10 minute break in between three hour rehearsal, Rachel called Lily over to the piano.

"Yes?" she asked. Rachel set her pencil down and stared into the carbon copy of herself for a moment.

"What were you talking about with Devin?" Lily looked away almost in guilt. Passing notes wasn't exactly forbidden but it was a rule to be paying attention at all times.

"Mary Poppins. We were talking about how much fun it would be if he was Michael and I was Jane." Rachel sighed. This again. The girl was persistant, she'd give her that.

"Lily we talked about how momma and I decided you were going to take a break."

"But Devin gets to audition," Lily countered.

"Devin's parents make their own decisions and momma and I make our own." Lily huffed and spun on her heal in protest, storming back to her seat. "LILLIAN." The few remaining kids in the room stared at Rachel's booming voice. Lily paused and bit her lip, slowing turning around. Rachel crooked her finger at the girl motioning her to come back to her. Lily walked tentatively at her mother. Rachel grabbed Lily's wrist and pulled her into the private office adjacent to the music room. She shut the door and kneeled down to Lily's level.

"Listen to me," Rachel said. Lily's eyes filled with tears. "Lily stop with the tears. You are not a baby. You're an incredibly mature, wonderful young girl. I allowed to you be upset about not getting your part and you were allowed to pout last night when we said no to Marry Poppins. Right?" Lily nodded. "You need to move on." Lily stared at her mom and a single tear trickled down her face. Rachel was being harsh but she knew that of all her daughters, this one could handle it the best.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't want to make you mad."

"It's okay," Rachel said calming down. She wiped Lily's stray tear with her thumb. "I just hate seeing you upset. But honey you need to move on and get over it. Things are going to come and go and I will not watch you sulk about this for any longer, capiche?"

"Capiche," Lily sighed. Rachel grabbed her hand and the two walked back into the music room where rehearsal began again.

...

"I'm bored."

"I'm sorry," Quinn said.

"No you aren't, you like watching me suffer without a phone and iPod and computer," Ella said. She spun around in her moms spare office chair as Quinn finished up work. She kicked her foot against Quinn's desk so she would continue spinning.

"I'm just about done. You're going to make yourself sick if you keep spinning." Quinn said. She grabbed her purse and threw a few items into it. "Ready to go?"

"I was born ready," Ella said standing up. Quinn glanced at her for a moment and took in her appearance. Cheer was definitely having an impact on her. She was wearing more make-up. She was spending an unusually long time on her hair to have it either perfectly curly or perfectly straight. She looked thinner too.

"What did you have for lunch?" Quinn asked they made their way to the car.

"Why do you ask?" Quinn raised an eyebrow but didn't look at Ella.

"Because I'm your mother and I'm allowed to ask." Quinn said. "And because you didn't take the lunch I packed for you today."

"Oh," Ella said quickly. "Yeah I got salad at school."

Ella didn't say much for the duration of the ride home but Quinn couldn't help but think that something wasn't exactly right with the girl.

"Can I please play temple run," Ella finally asked as they neared the house. "Fine," Quinn obliged. "Even though we're going to be home in about 4 minutes," Quinn said digging her phone out of her purse and handing it to Ella.

"You have a voicemail."

"Play it," Quinn said as they pulled the parking garage. Ella pressed play and the voicemail filled the car.

"Hi Quinn, its Shannon, Devin's mom." Quinn groaned. "I was wondering if you needed me to take Lily into the city next week for those Mary Poppins auditions. I know you and Rachel both have work and well, I don't, so I was just wondering if you needed help—"

"Turn it off, delete it," Quinn interrupted as she parked the car.

"Why?"

"Don't mention anything about that to your sister please," Quinn said getting out of the car. Ella swiftly followed. The two rode up to their apartment and walked in the front door. They heard the sounds of three girls singing "Follow the Yellow Brick Road".

"Oh my god make it stop," Ella whined as she took off her coat.

"Get used to it. We should just turn into the Von trapp family at this rate," Quinn muttered. Ella snickered and they walked into the kitchen.

"Hi," Lily called from the table where she was doing homework. Quinn smiled at her and went to wrap her arms around Rachel who had turned around at the entrance into the room.

"I missed you today," she said kissing her neck. Rachel turned and cupped Quinn's face, kissing her on the lips gently.

"Quit making out," Ella said breaking them apart and walking through the kitchen to get a glass of water. Rachel winked and Quinn walked over to dinner table.

"Hi sweetie," Quinn said kissing Lily on top of the head. Lily looked up and smiled at her mom before looking back down at her homework. Quinn glanced down at the work Lily was doing.

"Are you sure you're in 3rd grade? I'm pretty sure I didn't do homework like this until like…high school."

"Ella set the table please," Rachel called to the girl as she tried walking away. Ella rolled her eyes away from her mom and turned around, plastering a fake smile and walking past her mother.

"Yes master," she smiled. Rachel swatted her jokingly with the wooden spoon causing Ella to yelp before collecting the dishes from the cabinets. Rachel chuckled to herself before beginning to serve the vegetable stir fry.

"Ella do you want chicken or shrimp?" Rachel asked adding the requested meats to the other elses plates.

"Uhh can I just have veggies?" she asked looking up at her mom. Rachel nodded not looking back.

"No, you will have chicken," Quinn said from the table.

"I'm really not that hungry," Ella said trying to reason.

"Chicken," Quinn said to Rachel. Rachel glanced over at Quinn with a suspicious look but Quinn nodded confidently.

...

Abby sat snuggled into Quinn and Rachel, snoring lightly. Quinn was reading on her kindle and Rachel was reviewing some emails in bed on her laptop.

"I got a voicemail from Shannon today," Quinn said. Rachel couldn't help but laugh.

"I told her today that Lily wasn't doing it," Rachel replied. "That woman is crazy." Quinn breathed the sigh of relief. She didn't think Rachel would go against the agreement they had made but honestly, a small part of her thought she would.

"Thank you for not being a psychotic stage mom," Quinn said leaning over the 7 year old and kissing Rachel on the lips.

"Oh, I try," Rachel said smiling, giving Quinn a quick peck back.

"Lily seemed to be taking our decision well," Quinn said leaning back into the pillow.

"About that," Rachel began. Quinn quickly sat back up. "She had somewhat of an attitude about it today."

"Again?" Quinn asked. Rachel nodded. Quinn pursed her lips. "Should I take her back to Claire? Maybe it would help her to vent her frustration to someone that isn't you or me or her aunts or uncles."

"Why were you so insistant El eat chicken tonight?" Rachel asked a few minutes later.

"She's looking thinner. I think she's working out too much and not eating enough to make up for the burned calories."

"That girl eats like a horse Quinn," Rachel said. Quinn shrugged.

"Not lately."

...

"How do you feel about Abby doing Wizard of Oz with you?" Claire asked. Lily was meticulously coloring some fish on a piece of paper. She was so focused it almost freaked Claire out. The girl had been pretty quiet for the most part of the hour but had answered Claire's occasional questions. Rachel came in with Quinn this morning to meet Claire and talk briefly with her before Lily did. Rachel and Quinn had expressed their concerns about her ability to move on from events when they didn't go in her favor.

"It's fine," Lily said. Claire kept her eyes on the girl. Lily looked up from her coloring when Claire didn't say anything back. "I don't know why she did it though. She is always complaining that my shows made her stop gymnastics and that she thinks they are boring. Well she thinks most of them are boring." Claire nodded.

"Maybe she wanted to find something in common with you," Claire suggested.

"Doubt it," Lily muttered.

"Sorry?"

"Oh, um," Lily began. "Nothing." Claire could sense the girl closing up.

"Let's do something else besides coloring. Would that be okay?" Lily nodded and Claire moved the markers and coloring paper to the side of the table. She took her yellow pad of paper and ripped off a piece for Lily and handed her a pen.

"What are we going to do?" Lily asked.

"I want you to make a list of goals for me," Claire said.

"Like, what we want to do?" Claire nodded.

"Precisely. List 10 or so things that you want to do in the next….5 years," Claire said. "I'll do it too." Lily nodded and looked down at the paper.

"Who is going to see it?" Lily asked as she picked up the pen.

"I can, or your moms can, or nobody can," Claire said. Lily looked at her carefully. She put her arm on the table above the piece of paper so Claire couldn't see what she was writing from where she was seeing it.

"I don't want anybody to see it."

I'm not very happy with this chapter and it was re-written 3 times. I'm sorry if you found it boring. I don't want to rush anything or improperly introduce a new idea. I also don't want to waste your time and bore you. Please don't lose faith in me, I'm working on it. I hope to keep my readers interested for as long as I can. With that said, please review with your comments/ideas. I'd love to hear from you.