A/N – Thank you guys for all of the lovely reviews and notes I've been getting. I can't believe there are over 700 reviews. You guys are amazing. And I can't believe this is the 25th chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer – Yeah… still no.

"Are you sure she's going to be all right?" Quinn asked her mother again for what felt like that hundredth time that morning. The news of her grandmother's fall had taken Quinn by surprise. The woman was so active and healthy that Quinn didn't think something like this was possible, but a tumble down the three steps of her front porch had proven too much for the older lady.

"Yes, honey, she's going to be fine," Judy answered. "They're going to do surgery tomorrow and then she'll spend a couple more days in the hospital and then move to rehab. I talked to the doctor and he said it's all very routine." Judy was worried herself, but she was trying to keep up a brave exterior for Quinn. Judy knew Quinn was really worried when the girl had not put up any opposition to staying with Shelby and Rachel. Judy expected Quinn to tell her how she would be fine by herself. "Are you all packed?"

"Yeah, I think I have everything," Quinn answered from her spot sitting cross-legged on her mother's bed. She'd been watching Judy try to pack for about forty-five minutes now. "And if I forgot anything, I can always swing by here and pick it up. It's you who needs to make sure you have everything."

"I think I do," Judy said, finally closing up the last of her bags and taking one more glance around the room.

Judy moved her bags from the bed to the floor so she could sit down next to her daughter. She was taking advantage of the moment to just sit and relax. She had spent all of the previous evening and some of the night preparing to leave Quinn with Shelby, as well as staying up to date with what was going on with her mother. It wasn't as simple as dropping Quinn off and leaving town. Judy had to prepare emergency documents for Shelby to give the woman permission to act as Quinn's guardian in case there was some instance where Quinn needed medical care or Shelby needed to sign the girls out of school early, for instance. There were a million scenarios that were running through Judy's mind and she pushed them all aside so she could talk with Quinn.

"Quinnie, I want you to behave yourself while you're staying at Shelby's," Judy started and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Mom, I know how to behave," Quinn said.

Judy fixed her with a stare and continued on. "Don't argue with her about any of her rules and don't get into any trouble at school and don't get Rachel into any trouble."

"Rachel doesn't need my help to get into any trouble," Quinn said. "She does that all on her own."

"That's beside the point, Quinn. She's younger than you are," Judy said recalling her and Shelby's conversation from the previous night.

"I know she is, Mom," Quinn said. She was about to crack a joke promising not to take Rachel out and get her drunk, but that joke would hit a little too close to home even if Judy wouldn't know why. She instead said, "It's so nice of you to worry so much over your new, short, brunette friend." Quinn faked a pout though the glint in her eye betrayed her teasing. "Your daughter will also do her best not to be swayed by the influences of the short girl you find so endearing."

Judy's face softened and she reached a hand out and touched Quinn's cheek and then pulled her close for a hug. "I'm so proud of you for becoming her friend and helping her out."

Quinn relaxed into her mother's embrace and let herself be held. "Thank you. And I want you to know that this is the happiest I've been in a long time. And maybe the safest I've ever felt. With just you and me here. I'm proud of you too, Mom."

Judy smiled and rubbed Quinn's back affectionately. Their lives were drastically different than what they were even just six months ago. Looking back now she doesn't know how she stayed with Russell for so long. What was she thinking? Judy leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of Quinn's head and said, "Thank you, Quinnie."

The two sat in comfortable silence; Quinn still pulled close, for another couple of minutes before Judy glanced at the clock and realized she needed to get going.

"Now I don't want to hear any reports of you acting up from Shelby when I call or when I get home," Judy said as she let go of Quinn and got up off the bed and started gathering up her bags.

Quinn rolled her eyes once more, but offered a dutiful, "yes, Mom," for Judy.

In a house a few miles from there, Rachel sat at the kitchen table in her father's house, eating breakfast.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come yesterday, Daddy," Rachel said. "Shelby had already made plans that I didn't know about."

"That's ok, Rachel," Scott Berry said. He had actually been surprised that Rachel had wanted to come over at all. They had been texting back and forth for a couple of weeks, but it was nothing substantial. He usually only offered up generic questions about how her days were or how school was going. It wasn't that he didn't want to know more about her, but after all these years, he felt that he'd forgotten how. And, God help him, he felt relief at being able to come home to an empty house. Try as he might, he couldn't quite bring himself to hate himself for it either.

"And everything is going ok with Shelby?" he asked her.

"Everything's great!" Rachel said, putting on her full wattage smile. She didn't tell him of the troubles she had adjusting or the fact that she was still having trouble opening up to Shelby about certain things. Not that he would know what those things were; she had never told him either.

"Have you been talking with your father?" Scott asked.

"A little bit," Rachel answered. "We text every so often. He's out of town right now." Rachel wasn't sure what else she should say. Neither man ever asked about the other, so she was wondering why he would bring it up now. She knew they were working on separating assets and that they were attempting to leave her out of it. She was mostly grateful for that, but part of her still wanted to know what was going on.

"I'm trying to get Shelby to teach me how to drive," Rachel said, changing the subject. "I think I'm going to get my learner's permit soon."

"That's great, Rach," Scott said. He and Henry had playfully bickered once when Rachel was about four over who would get to teach her to drive. They had made a deal; Scott would get to teach her if he agreed that Henry would be allowed to scare any potential boyfriends. What had happened to them?

"I promise not to drive like I did when I was learning to ride a bike," Rachel joked, trying to draw him in to one of their favorite stories they used to tell.

"I should hope not," Scott answered easily, giving off a genuine smile. "I'll never forget seeing you fly over your handlebars and standing up with blood pouring down your face from the cut on your forehead. It was the first time the doctors had ever seen a six-year-old so concerned with leaving a scar. You tried to coach them through the two stitches you got."

Rachel's smile finally reached her eyes as she joined in, "Well once you were able to get me to stop crying, I wanted to make sure the job was done properly. Even if it did leave a scar."

"I think that little scar is kind on endearing," Scott said.

"Yeah, I guess," Rachel agreed.

They fell back into a not-so-easy silence, both unsure of what was expected now. Rachel took a long sip of her juice and looked over at her father only to find him staring out the window. She wasn't sure what she had expected from this visit, but she was certain she couldn't have hoped for anything better than this. And that made her incredibly sad.

Shelby was just laying Beth down in the small playpen in the living room when the doorbell rang. Beth didn't stir and Shelby smiled down at her before getting up to answer the door.

"Come in, please," Shelby stood to the side and held the door open so Quinn and Judy could enter.

"Thank you," Judy said. "I can't stay long because I need to get going."

"I told you that you didn't have to drive over here with me," Quinn said.

"I certainly was not going to just send you over here without coming too," Judy said.

"Certainly not," Quinn mocked.

"Shelby, feel free to do whatever you want with her," Judy said. "I expect her to stay out of trouble," Judy emphasized the last part as she looked at Quinn who was smiling sweetly at her, "but feel free to punish her however you want to should the need arise."

"I'll keep that in mind," Shelby said. "Although I doubt it will come up."

"Thank you, Shelby," Quinn said. "Where's Rachel?" she asked, changing the subject.

"She went to see one of her dads this morning for a visit," Shelby answered, somewhat tensely. She wasn't certain about these visits just yet, but she was not going to tell Rachel no. This was the first one and she would gage how it went once Rachel got home.

"Oh," Quinn said, unsure of how else she should respond. Judy caught Shelby's eye and gave her a sympathetic look.

"But she should be back soon," Shelby said, hoping to lighten the sudden somber mood. "In fact, she'll probably call soon and need a ride home. Maybe you can run over there and get her if she calls while Beth is still asleep."

"Sure," Quinn nodded.

"Ok, I better go," Judy interjected. "I need to get on the road before it gets too late." She pulled Quinn in for a hug and said, "I'll call you and let you know how Grandma is doing."

"Drive safe, Mom," Quinn said. "Tell her I said hello."

"Thank you again, Shelby," Judy said.

"Don't mention it."

Judy stepped out the front door and was headed to her car but took the time to call out, "I mean it, Quinn. Behave." Quinn rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. How many times did her mother feel the need to tell her?

"Come on, I'll show you up to the guest room," Shelby said shutting the door behind them.

An hour and a half later, Rachel finally made her way to the porch at Shelby's house. She took note of Quinn's car in the driveway before opening the door and going inside. She stepped to the living room and watched from the edge of the room as Shelby and Quinn sat together on the couch talking to Beth. The baby was comfortable in Quinn's arms this time and a small smile reached Rachel's features before she turned away and headed for the stairs.

"Rachel, you're back," Shelby said when she heard the creak of the steps. She and Quinn turned t o look at the girl.

"Yeah, I just came in. Hi, Quinn."

"Hi. We were waiting for you to call. I was going to go and pick you up," Quinn said.

"That's ok. I walked," Rachel answered. "I'm going to go upstairs and change." She turned and continued up the stairs and into her room. The knock she knew was coming happened a minute later and she called for her mother to come in. Rachel draped her jacket across the back of her desk chair before looking up at her mother's concerned face.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

"Nothing," Rachel shrugged. "We had breakfast, talked some, and then I came home."

"Why did you walk? I told you to give me a call," Shelby said, reaching up and brushing a strand of Rachel's hair away from her face.

"It gave me a chance to clear my head," Rachel answered.

"It doesn't seem like it worked that well," Shelby said. "It seems like you still have a lot on your mind."

"Daddy and I just don't know how to talk anymore. And I know that's not a new thing, but I still don't really understand it," Rachel said. He used to tell me all these silly jokes that he pretended were the funniest jokes in the world and he would laugh and I used to tell him that he wasn't funny. Why couldn't I have just played along and laughed at his jokes? What did I do that made them want to have nothing to do with me?"

"Rachel…" Shelby said. She tried to step towards Rachel but the girl took a couple of steps back.

"There must have been something," Rachel continued on. "Because for a little while there we were all happy. But they started fighting a lot. I remember that they would argue over everything from who had to take me to ballet to who was making dinner and everything in between. But even with all of the fighting, one of them was there to tuck me in or watch my recitals. But then when I was twelve they both were gone that first time and it's like they never looked back. And for the life of me I can't ever seem to remember what it was that I did just before that to make them both leave." Rachel fought the tears that were forming in her eyes.

Shelby looked on in such despair for her child. Rachel had never gone into this much detail about her dads and her life with them and it made Shelby ache for her. How could they have done this to her? She hated that the girl blamed herself. Shelby stepped closer to Rachel again, wanting to wrap her in a hug, but Rachel moved away again.

"Rachel," Shelby said, staying where she was this time. "None of this is your fault. You didn't do anything that would cause them to do that."

"Because if I could just remember what it was then I could be sure not to do it while I'm here and that way you won't leave too." The tears spilled over this time and Rachel shook her head. "Why can't I remember?"

Shelby felt as if she could feel her heart breaking while she watched Rachel battle with herself over her memory. She was certain that the girl hadn't done anything wrong or gotten into any trouble like Rachel was alluding to. And even if she had, none of this was her fault. She wished she knew how to make Rachel understand that.

"Rachel, I'm never going to leave you, ok? It doesn't matter if you can't remember because there's probably nothing to remember. It doesn't matter what you did… or didn't do. You are not to blame. It was your father's selfishness that led to this. They are to blame, not you." Shelby wasn't sure if she was getting through to her or not. What she did know, however, was that her daughter was not going to go and spend any time with either of the Berry men again until she had a chance to talk to them first.

"Are you listening to me? Rachel?" Shelby took a tentative step closer to Rachel and then moved to stand in front of her when the girl didn't move this time.

"Yeah, I heard you," Rachel said, looking up and meeting Shelby's eyes for the first time.

Shelby wiped a tear from Rachel's cheek and asked, "What did I say?"

"That it wasn't my fault," Rachel parroted. "Thanks, Mom." She stood up on her toes and gave Shelby a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to take a shower." With that she moved away from Shelby and entered her bathroom and shut the door.

Shelby stood rooted to her spot for a few minutes as she let her own tears fall for her child. How could those men have done this to that little girl? Shelby didn't move until she heard the water running from the shower. She grabbed Rachel's coat from the chair so she could hang it in the closet downstairs and then left the room.

When Rachel emerged a little over an hour later there was no sign of the defeated girl who came home earlier that morning. She was her normal self when she walked into the kitchen wondering about lunch and taking Beth from Quinn's arms before she sat down. Beth smiled at her older sister and took a moment to rest her head on Rachel's shoulder, a brief hug, and then she was sitting back up and babbling to Rachel.

"You wish Mom would hurry up with lunch too?" Rachel said to Beth before turning a sly smile on Shelby.

Shelby returned the smile and willed the sadness to stay out of her eyes. She couldn't tell if Rachel was back to feeling ok or if it was all an act, but either way she wasn't sure she liked it. Rachel pretending her problems weren't there was not going to help any of them in the long run. But she had no idea how to get her to talk about it for more than a few minutes at a time. But for now Rachel was back to being happy and Shelby would go with it.

"I thought perhaps we'd go out and get some lunch," Shelby said. "To Breadstix maybe?"

"Oh, Shelby, that reminds me," Quinn said standing up and going over to the woman. "My mom gave me some money to give to you to help pay for whatever you need while I'm here." She took a few folded up bills out of her pocket and tried to hand them over to Shelby.

"No," Shelby said, holding up her hands so she couldn't take the money. "Your mother did not need to give me money for you to stay here. No," she said again when Quinn held the bills closer.

"But my mom said," Quinn started but was cut off by Shelby again.

"No. You keep it and give it back to your mother when she gets home," Shelby said.

Rachel and Beth looked on with interest at the mini-showdown taking place over the money. Beth was in her lap and Rachel was pulled close to the table and Beth had her hands resting on the tabletop, banging it occasionally. Rachel wasn't quite sure why Quinn thought she could win this argument with Shelby.

"I'm just going to leave it there with you," Quinn said, setting the bills on the counter next to Shelby.

She started to walk back to her seat at the table but Shelby caught her arm and gently pulled her back over to her. Quinn tried to get a word in, but Shelby simply turned the girl away from her and slipped the folded bills into the back pocket of Quinn's jeans. She let go of Quinn's arm and sent the girl back to her place at the table with a firm swat to that same pocket. "I said no."

"She said no," Rachel said smirking when Quinn sat back down. The blonde girl reached her arms out and rested them on the table in front of Rachel and Beth. Beth, in a show of solidarity, reached out and placed a tiny hand on top of Quinn's.

The lunch at Breadstix long over and evening creeping down around them, Rachel and Quinn decided to find a movie on TV up in the music room.

"Rachel, one second," Shelby said to her and Rachel stopped at the stairs. Quinn understood and kept going. She was going to take advantage of this and find a movie before Rachel could get there.

"Yes?"

"Are you ok? You know, earlier? I didn't get a chance to talk to you after you got out of the shower," Shelby said.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Mom," Rachel said, putting on a bright smile. "I was just feeling sorry for myself earlier. I won't do it again."

"That's not what I meant, Rachel," Shelby said. "I want you to talk about how you feel about your dads. In fact, I think it'd be a good idea if you could talk about it."

"Don't worry about it, Mom. I'm fine. Really," Rachel lied. "I was just having one of those mornings."

Shelby didn't believe Rachel when she said she was fine, but she wasn't going to push it right now. It clearly wasn't the time since Rachel was so adamant about how she was feeling in this moment.

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," Shelby said. "Go on up and try and talk Quinn out of whatever movie she's already picked out."

"Thanks, Mom," Rachel said before turning and heading up the stairs.

Shelby watched her go and then headed back into the living room to retrieve Beth from her swing. She wanted to give her a bath before the baby went to sleep. Shelby also started making a mental list of things she would like to start to research about Rachel. She wanted to talk to a therapist about ways in which she could help Rachel. She was beginning to really start to grasp the depth of hurting and psychological issues Rachel may be experiencing from the long stays alone without her fathers.

"What is this?" Rachel asked when she sat down on the couch next to Quinn. She was trying to place the movie from the beach scene, but she couldn't remember it.

"Jaws!" Quinn said. "This is a great movie."

"Are you serious?" Rachel said.

"Yeah, it just started. Have you ever seen it?"

"No."

"It's not as bad as you're thinking it will be," Quinn said. "It's only a little bit scary. Just watch."

Two hours later Rachel sat with her hands covering her eyes as Quint, the salty boat captain, lost his grip on Brody and slid into the giant shark's mouth.

"What are you guys watching?" Shelby said, choosing that moment to come into the room. "Jaws!" she said when she saw the scene on the TV. "I love this movie. I'm sorry I missed most of it." Quinn indicated her head towards Rachel and Shelby smiled at the blonde girl before taking a seat on the other side of her daughter and wrapping and arm around her.

Rachel could hear the cries of the man and she looked out just in time to see the shark carrying his dead bod away.

"Only a little bit scary?" Rachel said incredulously as she looked at Quinn. "That was gross."

"Just keep watching," Quinn said. "The shark will get it here in a minute or two."

The trio watched until Brody was indeed able to blow up the giant great white and even Rachel couldn't help but smile along with him. That's what you get, shark!

"Come on, you two, time to start getting ready for bed," Shelby said once the credits started rolling. Shelby noticed as Quinn glanced at her time on the cable box. It was only 9:37, so she explained for Quinn. "Bedtime is at ten. We usually don't have any TV or anything after 9:30, but since it was so close to being the end of the movie, it was no big deal."

"Ok," Quinn agreed easily. She wasn't necessarily all that tired, but she could hear her mother in the back of her mind saying 'Shelby's house, Shelby's rules.' She knew her own mother tried to get her in bed by 10:30 anyway.

Quinn was trying to find a comfortable position on the bed as she rolled over and glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was 1:02 and Quinn was having trouble staying asleep. It was a condition that did not speak to the quality of the bed, which was very comfortable, but rather to the newness of her time in the house. Quinn wasn't familiar with her surroundings nor any of the nighttime noises always associated with darkness. She tried in vain to close her eyes, knowing it was still early enough that she could get a decent amount of sleep if she could just get to sleep and stay there.

But a new noise caught her attention. It wasn't like any of the others she had heard before. It was faint and sounded almost like someone was talking. She got out of bed and popped her head out into the hallway, expecting to hear Beth crying. But the noises weren't coming from Shelby's room. Quinn crept down the hall towards Rachel's room and could hear the distinctive whimper the closer she got. She opened the bedroom door to peek in and saw that Rachel was tossing and turning and it sounded like she was trying to talk, but Quinn couldn't understand anything she was saying.

"Rachel," Quinn whispered. The name had no effect on the girl and as she seemed to settle on her side, knocking her stuffed Toto dog off the bed in the process. He had been sitting up near Rachel's pillow, watching over her like a tiny guard dog.

"Rachel," Quinn tried again, but Rachel still didn't wake. Quinn bent down and picked up the stuffed dog and placed it near Rachel's outstretched hand. The girl clasped her hand around the dog and pulled it close, a move that seemed to comfort her and the talking stopped. Rachel seemed to settle and relax and Quinn noticed that her breathing seemed to even out and so she didn't try and wake her again.

Quinn slipped out of the room as quietly as she came in and shut the door behind her. She crept back down the hallway and into the guest room and climbed back into bed. Maybe Jaws hadn't been such a good idea after all.

It was close to three when Shelby was finally able to quiet Beth who had woken up hungry just forty-five minutes before. Shelby thought she had her sleeping through the night, but there were still some nights when Beth woke up demanding a bottle. With Beth settled, Shelby went to check on Rachel, a ritual she had perform every time she got up with Beth since Rachel moved in.

Shelby went to the guest bedroom first and opened the door a couple inches and looked in on Quinn who was sound asleep. Shelby smiled sleepily, but did not enter the room. She then made her way to Rachel's room where she didn't stop at the door and instead went in. She noticed that Rachel's blankets weren't tucked around her shoulders like they normally were and that she was holding onto her Toto dog. It wasn't how Rachel usually slept, but Shelby was trying not to read too much into it. She instead pulled the blankets up and tucked them snugly around the girl and didn't bother moving the stuffed dog. Shelby leaned down and placed a light kiss on Rachel's temple before standing up and simply watching the girl sleep for a few minutes. As Shelby slipped out of the room, she made firm on her decision to help Rachel come to terms with her past.

A/N – Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought.

Jaws is, of course, the classic Spielberg movie. It's amazing. Watch it. I don't own it and wouldn't change a thing if I did.