A/N: Yea, it has been a while since I have posted. Life happens...I have moved to a new state, taken a new job... lots of great stuff. I will try to update this and Found as often as possible.

Rachel knew that her mother was joking about Regionals. Yes, she was in trouble. She was in trouble with her mother and Aunt Weezy. She had embarrassed herself in front of her friends... It did not really matter anyways. Not when her mother was going to give her back to her fathers. Throw her back to her fathers just like they had thrown her away to her mother.

Her mother had to be joking. There was no way that she couldn't not let her go to Regionals. She knew how important this was to everything. It was important to Rachel, her team, the school... Her mother wouldn't dare. Shelby Corcoran was famous for NOT letting students miss a competition, for anything. This was ridiculously insane!

"Ugh," Rachel sighed and pushed her pillow into her face. She had no idea what was going on downstairs. None at all. And it was not fair. At all.
She stood up from the bed and wiped her face. She was a lot calmer now, though she knew that she was the one right in this. Her mother was wrong. Her aunt was wrong. Yes, she had snuck Noelle into the house. Yes, she and Quinn had snuck off to New York. Yes, she had stolen money. Had gotten a fake ID. Had tried to run away from her aunt and said things she shouldn't have.

Rachel sighed again. Her mother just didn't understand anything. Did it really even matter? Her mother was getting tired of her anyways and then she'd go back to living alone in her fathers house. She'd be in charge again and would be able to eat out every night if she wanted to. No big deal.

She went over to the door and slowly opened it. She was ready to go home. She also wanted to see Noah though. He was the only person she knew for certain actually cared about her. She needed to see him.

"Going somewhere?"

Rachel jumped and looked down on the floor by her aunt's room.

Her mother. She was sitting on the floor by the door, her legs in front of her with her ankles crossed.

"I am going down stairs. Not that it matters to you." Rachel snapped.

Shelby raised her left eyebrow up. She wanted nothing more than to take her child across her knee and show her who was in charge. But that would solve nothing and now was not the time. There was something else going on with Rachel and she needed to figure out what that was.

Shelby decided to ignore Rachel's attitude at the moment and simply looked at her until the girl looked away.

"You may go downstairs and talk to Noah. We, along with Santana, are leaving shortly." Shelby said.
Rachel rolled her eyes and started down the steps. Shelby was faster though, and was up and had a hold of Rachel's arm before she had even made it to the stairs. It happened so fast that it made Rachel's head spin.

"Little girl, I do not know what is going on in that head of yours, but you need to figure it out and fast. I am here when you want to tell me what is going on in that pretty little head of yours."

Rachel rolled her eyes again and jerked her arm away from her mother before heading down the stairs again.

Shelby watched her walk away and sighed. She truly wished that she did know what was going on with Rachel. She knew that she had not been in the child's life long, but she knew something was bothering her. She would figure it out. Even if it killed them both.

Later that night, Rachel and Shelby were in the car on the way home. Maribel and Quinn had arrived home earlier, so Shelby had taken Santana home. From the smile on Quinn's face, she could tell she'd had a good visit with her sister despite all of the trouble that had brewed, Shelby had not minded the drive, plus having Rachel trapped in the car with her kept the girl out of trouble and allowed Shelby to talk to her whether she wanted to talk or not.

Crack.

Shelby barely kept herself from sighing at the sound of cracking gum in her child's mouth. She hated cracking gum.

Crack. Crack.

"Want to tell me what is going on?" Shelby asked, tightening her hands around the steering wheel a bit tighter.

Crack.

"Nope."

Crack.

"How about you tell me anyways?

Crack.

"Nothing is going on." Rachel hissed, staring out the window.

Crack.

"Princess, you need to talk to me. I cannot help you if you do not tell me what is going on."

Crack.

Shelby's hands tightened on the steering wheel even more.

Crack.

"Rachel. Give me the gum. Now." Shelby quickly said, grabbing a tissue from between them and sticking it under Rachel's mouth, waiting on her to spit it out. She was seconds away from banning Rachel from ever putting another piece of gum in her mouth.

Rachel rolled her eyes, but spit the gum into her mother's waiting hand and watched her throw it in her purse until she got home and could throw it in the
trash.

Flick.

Shelby's eyes widened and her hands tightened again. She cut her eyes to the right.

Flick.

That child was flicking the console with her thumb and middle finger.

Flick.

"Rachel. Stop."

Rachel glared at her mother and watched her hands tighten on the steering wheel. Rachel, without thinking, reached up and flicked her mother's arm.

Shelby jumped at the sudden sharp pain and tightened her hands once more on the steering wheel.

Rachel smirked and reached up and flicked her mother again.

"Rachel Barbara, that is ENOUGH." Shelby said when she felt the next flick.

Rachel smirked even more and just turned and looked out the window, but not before noticing that her mother's hands were practically white from gripping
the steering wheel so hard.

She waited for a few minutes. She knew Shelby would be loosening her grip.

FLICK.

"Mother fucker!" Shelby hissed, pulling the car over to the side of the road quickly.

Rachel's eyes grew when she realized that she had just flicked her mother hard. A bit too hard. Her eyes grew even larger when she felt the sting of a smack on her leg and then watched as Shelby grabbed her right hand and smacked it as well.

"That is ENOUGH, Rachel! I have had it! You are already grounded for the rest of your teenage years. Do you really want to keep pushing me? I am so close to spanking you in this car." Shelby demanded.

"You wouldn't do that in the stupid car." Rachel hissed. Shelby's grip tightened on the steering wheel and she pulled away from the side of the road. She could see Rachel smirking from the side. Rachel was looking out the window, but reached over and flicked her mother again.

Oh little girl, Shelby thought, you are going to be in for a rude awakening in about two minutes.

Shelby knew exactly where she was going. Rachel was going to stop doubting her.

She drove a few blocks when she found exactly what she was looking for and made a left turn.

Rachel looked up. "Why are we at a church, Mother?" she snapped.

Shelby parked the car behind the church and turned the engine off, taking the keys out. She wasn't dumb. Given the chance, Rachel would lock her out of the car. Shelby knew she would because Rachel was just like her and it had taken Weezy years to remember to take the keys with her when she was getting onto Shelby.

"Why are we here?"

"I told you I was close to spanking you in the car. We are going to have a come to Jesus meeting right here." Shelby climbed out of the car and went around and opened the passenger side door.

"Out."

Rachel burst into tears, crossed her arms, and turned to stare out of the driver's side window. Her mother was being an ass. This wasn't fair. Nothing was ever fair for Rachel.

Shelby reached in and pulled Rachel out of the car, closing the door behind them. She then maneuvered the two of them to the back door, into the car, and pulled Rachel over her lap before shutting the door behind them both.

"Rachel, I do not know what has gotten into you." Shelby said, more to herself than anything.

She reached into her purse, which she kept behind the her seat, and pulled out her brush. It was a Tahitian hardwood brush that she loved. She kept it in her purse for windy days or when her hair wouldn't do anything she wanted it to and she needed to put it back in a ponytail.

She used her hand to swat Rachel several times, warming Rachel up. After several swats, Shelby took the brush and began swatting Rachel's backside. Rachel had been still at first, but now she was wiggling.

She reached her hand back, trying to protect herself from the onslaught of hard swats. Shelby immediately grabbed Rachel's hand and pinned it to her back. She didn't want Rachel to get hurt and she had to finish this. Long gone were the days she could give Rachel one swat for every year of her life. Those days were long long gone.

Several moments later, Rachel finally gave in to the spanking, sobbing over her her mother's knees. Shelby put the brush down and rubbed Rachel's back and gently rubbed the her red backside.

"Rachel, things are going to change. You are going to start behaving, sooner rather than later. Whatever is bothering you, you need to tell me so that we can figure it out together."

Rachel didn't say a word.

!*!*!**!*!*!*!*!*

Several days passed and Rachel had barely said two words to her mother. She ate what Shelby fixed her and went to bed when she was told.
But she lay awake at night thinking about everything that was going on. Did her mama want her? Did she? Or was she going to make her go back to live
with her fathers? The two men who wanted even less to do with her?

Shelby had told her that she was grounded until further notice. She wasn't allowed to do anything. Mama had taken her electronics, movies, and books. Well, the books she actually liked reading. Shelby had left some westerns and a science book. And a set of encyclopedias. From the 1960s.

Rachel had to sit at the table and do her homework. She had lost her phone except when she was at school, and even then it only had the texting and calling functions working and Shelby was monitoring that rather closely.

Did her mother want her? She was going to an awful lot of trouble to punish her if she didn't want her.

Rachel swiped a tear away from her eye and rolled over. She really missed spending the night with Noah. They didn't have to have sex. She didn't want that at all. She just wanted to lay with him. She slept better when she did. Years of getting enough sleep only when Noah was there was hard to overcome.

She sighed. She hated this.

Downstairs Shelby sleepily stirred the soup that she was cooking. She hadn't been sleeping well. Between thinking about her students' upcoming competition and Rachel, she hadn't slept well in days.

Rachel had barely said two words to her in days. Shelby wasn't quite sure what her child was doing in her room all the time since there wasn't a single electronic in her room. Or a book that was not for school. Shelby was not playing with Rachel about her behavior. She realized she had not been present in Rachel's life for fifteen years, but she was now and now was what mattered.

She deemed the soup done and ladled it out into two bowls, placed them on two plates with bread for Rachel and crackers for herself and a spoon, then sat them on the table.

"Rachel, supper." Shelby yelled up the stairs. She heard a loud sigh and stomping feet. Rachel hadn't wanted to eat with her the last few days but Shelby didn't care and had continued to make her. Supper was family time and she did not want Rachel eating in her room anyways. Her room stayed messy enough without the added contributions of days old food.

Rachel stomped down the stairs to her spot and threw herself down in her seat, shaking the table and nearly spilling both bowls of soup.

Shelby said nothing, but glared at Rachel. At least Rachel had the decency to blush and look slightly ashamed of herself.

Rachel sighed. She was ready for her mother to just get rid of her already.