A/N – Thank you all so much for all of the reviews and for everyone who is reading. You guys are the best. And thanks so much for all of your input. The fact that so many of you are involved and give me your opinions and ideas really means a lot to me. Happy Fourth, everyone!

Disclaimer – I still don't own Glee.

Rachel's leg bounced nervously in the car as Jesse drove them back to Shelby's house. She was wringing her hands together and cursing the red light in front of them. She couldn't believe she had done that on her first date since she moved in with her mother, especially with her whole family there. They'd all been so excited for her and she'd screwed it up.

"Don't worry, Rachel," Jesse said as he glanced over at her. "It was an accident. Shelby will understand."

"I don't know," Rachel said. She was extremely anxious about coming face-to-face with Shelby especially after what happened the last time she had broken her mother's rules. But she wouldn't do that this time, right? Not with everyone there, right? Rachel wrung her hands even harder when the light changed to green and the car moved forward again.

"Didn't you tell her what had happened on the phone?" Jesse said.

"I didn't get a chance," Rachel answered. She told me to get home and that we would talk about it when I got there. She sounded pretty mad."

"We'll just explain it again when we get there," Jesse assured her. Jesse had to admit that he was a little worried as well, but not like Rachel seemed to be. He cast her another glance before turning into the neighborhood.

"They should be home in a few minutes," Shelby said to group that was still up and waiting for Rachel to get home. "She said something about it being a bit of a drive."

"Where did he take her?" Paul asked accusingly.

"I don't know, Dad," Shelby answered.

"I don't like that boy."

"You don't know him," Shelby answered. She felt like she was sixteen all over again and her dad was upset about one of her boyfriends. "You all don't need to be here; I can handle this."

"We just want to make sure she gets home safely," Maggie said.

They all turned towards the door when they heard a car pull up outside. In a couple minutes there was the sound of a key in the door and it slowly opened to reveal Jesse and Rachel on the other side. The young couple stepped inside out of the cold air and Shelby got up to meet them with her hands on her hips.

Rachel took a couple of tentative steps forward while Jesse shut the door behind them. She had been worried that everyone would still be up and there they all were staring back at her. Her grandfather and Uncle Sam looked angry. Nana and Maggie stood further back, but even they looked to be upset and Rachel ducked her head so she wouldn't have to meet their eyes. None of them had ever been angry with her before and she wasn't sure how to really handle it. She'd expected it from her mother, but it would be easier to explain to one person and not a room full.

Jesse stepped forward when Rachel didn't say anything and started to explain. "Shelby, it was an accident. We fell asleep."

Shelby opened her mouth to say something, but Paul beat her to it.

"You fell asleep? Where in the hell were you?"

"Grandpa, it's not like that," Rachel said meekly.

"We went to the Benton Community Theatre," Jesse answered. "Jamie left me the keys," he said to Shelby who knew the woman Jesse was talking about. "We were playing with the props and costumes and lied down next to each other to talk. Honestly, Shelby."

"Likely," Paul huffed.

"Paul," Maggie said quietly.

"Jesse, you'd better go," Shelby said. Rachel's eyes snapped to her mother and she wished she could read what the woman was thinking. Shelby hadn't really said anything and so Rachel didn't know if she believed them or not.

Jesse nodded and then looked sympathetically at Rachel. "Bye, Rach. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Jesse," Rachel half whispered because she knew she was now being left alone with the circling wolves.

As Shelby led Jesse to the door, Rachel took another few steps into the room but wouldn't look at anyone. She wished she had a room she could escape to right now, but her room was occupied. It was something she hadn't really thought about until now. Not only was her mother mad at her, but she was going to have to spend the night with her as well.

"Rachel, you were given a curfew for a reason," Rebecca scolded her.

"I know. It was an accident," she said softly as she looked up at the woman.

"How do you accidentally fall asleep together?" Paul asked.

"I would have thought you'd have been more responsible than that," Sam said.

"I am. We are," Rachel said as tears formed in her eyes.

"You didn't display that tonight," Paul said.

"Rachel, you knew what time you needed to be home," Rebecca said. "You should have planned better."

Shelby stepped back up next to Rachel and watched as the tears in her daughter's eyes spilled over onto her cheeks. Rachel was looking around the room, her eyes darting from one person to the next as they talked to her.

"I planned to be home on time," Rachel argued. "That's why this is called an accident." She hadn't meant it to sound as harsh or as sarcastic as it did, but Rachel's defenses are high.

"Rachel," Shelby scolded, but the girl didn't hear it because Paul yelled louder.

"You watch your tone, young lady," he said and Rachel shrank back. Do not take up an attitude to try and justify your lack of responsibility."

"I'm sorry, Grandpa," Rachel sobbed out, her tears now well beyond the scope of the scolding she was receiving.

Shelby put a hand on Rachel's back and tried to soothe her because she recognized that the girl was overwhelmed by the rest of the family. Rachel was a person who wasn't used to having grandparents or aunts and uncles around and while she'd learned to listen to Shelby, being chastised by the family she was still getting to know was becoming too much for her. Shelby was mad that her family would do this in the first place. It was not their place to try and discipline her kid unless Rachel was specifically in their care. Since they didn't see Rachel that often, it was easy for them to think of her as a normal teenager; one who would take this type of admonishment in stride and move on. But Shelby could see just how scared Rachel really was.

"Ok, that's enough," Shelby said to her father. "You do not get to do this. Rachel, go upstairs to my room and get ready for bed."

"Mom, I'm sorry," Rachel said to her. "Please let me explain."

Shelby turned her head and gave Rachel a look that said she didn't want to be argued with right now. Rachel only cried harder as she turned and made her way up the stairs.

"What are you doing?" Shelby asked her family when she'd heard Rachel enter her bedroom and close the door.

"Trying to make her understand that she has to listen to you," Paul said. "I thought she had learned that by now."

"She does listen to me," Shelby said.

"Not tonight she didn't," Paul said.

"Yeah, and I was going to talk to her about that," Shelby said. "You guys should not have jumped in like that."

"She missed her curfew," Paul said. At this point the others were content to stand back and let them argue.

"Oh who cares," Shelby said. "Sam and I missed curfew more times than I could possibly count. Jack and Michael will miss curfew one day. She's fifteen. Of course she missed curfew."

"So you're just going to let her get away with that?" Paul asked.

"No," Shelby said. "I'm going to talk to her. I was going to talk to her when she first came in. But I'm not going to scare her when I do it."

"I didn't scare her!" Paul defended himself.

"Yes you did," Shelby said. "You all did. Just tonight we talked about how she has a hard time calling you guys her family. She still has nightmares about me walking out on her. In the back of her mind, part of her still thinks I'm going to hand her back over every time I so much as say a cross word to her. Did you not see how she was crying? Did I ever cry like that when I came home for one of your scoldings? And trust me, most of the times I was late weren't an accident."

"I scared her?" Paul asked, softening.

"Shelby, that wasn't out intention," Rebecca said.

"I know that," Shelby said. "But it would have been really nice if you all would have just let me handle it and gone to bed like I asked. Tomorrow morning she's going to have a hard time looking at any of you."

"Let me explain it to her now," Paul said. "Go get her and bring her back down here so we can talk to her."

"No," Shelby said. "Because I've got to go up there and first calm her down and then still give her a talking to about being late. You can talk to her tomorrow." A cry from upstairs pulled all of their attention away and they all looked up. Shelby sighed because now Beth was awake too.

Rachel had changed into some shorts and a t-shirt and was coming out of the bathroom when she saw that Beth was sitting up in the crib and rubbing at her eyes and crying.

"Shhh," Rachel whispered to her as she went to the crib and picked the baby up. "Don't cry, Beth. Please." Rachel paced with her and Beth's crying tapered off as she rested her head against Rachel's shoulder.

"What's wrong? Are you hungry? I thought you were sleeping through the night now," Rachel said as her pacing continued. "I'd go and make you a bottle, but I don't know if I should go down there. Everyone is mad at me." Rachel's voice quivered as her tears formed again. Beth lifted her head from Rachel's shoulder and looked at her sister curiously. Rachel finally stopped her pacing and sat in the oversized chair in the corner and put Beth on her lap.

"And now I think Mom is mad at Grandpa," Rachel continued. "It was all an accident and I've made everyone mad. Why do I keep messing it all up?" Beth was looking intently at Rachel until the bedroom door opened and she turned and saw her mother coming in the room holding a bottle. Beth started to cry again and reached for Shelby who came over and took her from Rachel's arms and immediately cradled the baby and gave her the bottle.

"I didn't wake her up," Rachel said. "She started crying when I was in the bathroom."

"It's ok," Shelby said. "I know you wouldn't wake her up."

Rachel sat back in the chair and rested her feet on the ottoman and rubbed at her forehead with her hand. "I'm sorry, Mom. It was an accident. Jesse and I were just talking and then the next thing I knew I heard my phone ringing. I know everyone is mad at me and you looked mad at them and I screwed it all up again. I think I'm a lost cause."

Shelby sat down on the ottoman and put a hand on Rachel's leg and waited for the girl to look at her. Rachel finally turned her watery eyes on her mother.

"Rachel Barbara, you are not a lost cause," Shelby said.

"But your family is so angry," Rachel said.

"Your family," Shelby emphasized, "was mad, that's true. But that's the way it works when you break the rules, kiddo."

"I knew you would be mad," Rachel said. "I was hoping they'd all be asleep or something when I got home."

"I was too," Shelby said. "Here's the thing, Rach. Worry can quickly turn to anger in a case like this. And they all love you so much that it was natural for them to then want to lay down the law when you get home an hour and a half after you're told to be home. That's our family for you; always in everyone else's business. But I agree with you, I wanted to talk to you by myself when you came home. But they wouldn't go to bed until they knew that you were all right."

"They stayed up to make sure I was safe so they could yell at me?" Rachel asked.

"Basically," Shelby said.

"It's easier to yell than be worried," Rachel said. "Daddy used to yell at Dad when he would come home late. I could hear them. One time Dad was late getting home from a trip for work and Daddy was upset because he had wanted to be on the road hours before but he had to stay with me. Isn't that funny?" Rachel asked with no hint of humor in her voice.

Beth had made quick work of her bottle and Shelby now had her up on her shoulder burping her. She noticed that Rachel was no longer looking at her and was instead looking over her shoulder at the wall behind her.

"Imagine their joy when they figured out they could both just leave," Rachel continued. "They didn't have to yell anymore."

Shelby got up with the now yawning Beth and said another silent thank you to the fact that Beth had always been relatively easy to get back to sleep after her bottle. This was no exception and the baby's eyes were already fluttering closed when Shelby put her in the crib and gave her the pacifier. She then went back and sat on the ottoman again so she could talk to Rachel.

"Honey," Shelby said softly but Rachel didn't respond. "Rachel."

"What?" Rachel said as she jumped because she'd been startled. She had been lost in her thoughts and wasn't even really sure if Shelby had heard her talking or not. She wiped at the last of her tears as she focused again on her mother.

"Grandpa and the rest of them aren't mad at you anymore," Shelby told her.

"Ok," Rachel said and Shelby sighed knowing that Rachel didn't believe it.

"But I want to talk to you about it."

"It was an accident, Mom," Rachel said.

"I know that, honey. I believe you," Shelby said.

"Really?"

"Yes. But you have got to be more careful, young lady," Shelby said. "I know you're responsible enough to be trusted so don't make me change my mind about that."

"I won't. I won't ever be late again," Rachel said. She shook her head emphatically and then went back to rubbing her forehead.

"I'm going to hold you to that," Shelby said though she didn't believe it. Rachel would most certainly break her curfew again; it was like a teenage law of nature, but Shelby didn't want to plant that idea in her mind.

"But you are not getting off completely free in this case," Shelby continued and Rachel slumped her shoulders. "You're going to hang around here tomorrow and help me clean up when everyone leaves."

"But I was going to go to Quinn's tomorrow," Rachel said.

"Oh you were?" Shelby asked feigning shock.

Rachel nodded and gave her mom a pout.

"Then you better clean pretty quickly tomorrow," Shelby said.

"Mom," Rachel whined and then yawned.

Shelby only smiled, but it faltered when she noticed Rachel rubbing her head again. "Are you alright?"

"I just have a headache," Rachel said. "It came on suddenly when we were driving home but it was getting worse. I was going to get some aspirin but then went to get Beth when I heard her crying."

"I'll get you some," Shelby said. "You get into bed."

Shelby went into the bathroom and reached into her medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Tylenol. She almost popped the cap but thought better of it and put it back. She pulled out the PM version of the same medicine and shook out a couple of pills into her hand. She was going to help Rachel get some sleep tonight.

Shelby returned to the room and gave the medicine and a glass of water to Rachel who was sitting up in bed. Rachel settled down into the bed after she'd swallowed the pills and watched as Shelby returned the bathroom to get ready for bed.

When Shelby finally made her way over to the other side of the bed and climbed in Rachel was lying on her side facing her, but she wasn't asleep like Shelby thought she was.

"Jesse said he'd done a few musicals at the Benton Theatre," Rachel said. "I bet that was a lot of fun."

"Did you enjoy yourself tonight, Rachel?" Shelby asked. It had finally occurred to her that Rachel hadn't had anyone to talk to about the whole thing yet.

"Very much," Rachel said enthusiastically as she sat up in bed. "They have so many good costumes there. We acted out a bunch of stuff."

"It sounds really nice." Shelby listened to Rachel rattle off the details and as she did she helped Rachel shift positions so that the girl was leaning against her.

Rachel talked until she fell asleep and Shelby moved her until she was lying down on her side against her pillows and tucked the blankets around her.

"Mom," Rachel muttered and Shelby reached over and put her hand on Rachel's hip to let the girl know she was still close by. Rachel didn't say anything else and instead slipped back into her slumber. Shelby's hand stayed in place until she too fell asleep and her hand slipped from its spot.

Rachel slept soundly all night and for once Shelby was awake before she was. She was able to get up and ready for her day as well as getting Beth up without disturbing Rachel. Shelby smiled to herself as she left the room and made her way downstairs because that Tylenol PM was really doing the trick. Anything that got Rachel to sleep past six in the morning was worth it.

Shelby passed off Beth to Rebecca when she went into the kitchen to pour herself some coffee. Everyone else was already up and Jack and Michael were eating some cereal.

"Where's Rachel?" Jack asked around a mouthful of Lucky Charms.

"She's still asleep," Shelby answered.

"But Mom said she'd probably get up early," Jack said. "We were going to show her some good movies so she would know what they are."

"You shouldn't let her watch those bad movies, Aunt Shelby," Michael said.

Shelby laughed as she poured her coffee and sat down next to her nephew and ruffled his hair.

"She watches the ones she likes, buddy," Shelby told him. "You'll find that not everyone likes Star Wars or Transformers."

"She likes girl movies, doesn't she?" Jack asked with a disgusted look on his face and everyone laughed.

"I'm afraid so," Shelby answered.

"Ew," Michael said. "But you're a girl and you like good movies."

"She's just an aunt; that's why," Jack explained.

Michael nodded his head as if that explained it all and went back to his cereal.

"Why is she sleeping so late?" Rebecca asked.

"She's just tired," Shelby said. "I'm sure she'll be up in a little while."

Rachel had gotten up but she'd yet to leave Shelby's room. She was still resting under the blankets and reading her book. She could hear that everyone was awake downstairs, but she didn't feel like getting up to join them. It would just be easier to stay where she was and not have to face the rest of the family. Rachel knew they wanted to leave early and it would be better if they just left and that way she wouldn't have to go down and see them while they were still angry.

Shelby returned to the room a half an hour later to check on Rachel smiled to herself as she saw the girl hastily trying to lie back down and pretend to be asleep.

"What are you doing?" Shelby asked.

"Sleeping."

"What else are you doing?"

"Reading," Rachel answered.

"Why are you still in here?" Shelby asked as she went to Rachel's side and moved the blankets back. "Everyone else is up."

"I thought they were leaving soon," Rachel said. "Nana said yesterday they wanted to get an early start."

"They are leaving soon, but they want to see you before they go," Shelby told her.

"Oh, well I just felt like lounging around for a little while and getting caught up on my book. Will you tell them I said goodbye," Rachel said.

"Why don't you just get up and tell them yourself?"

"I'm not ready for the day and haven't showered or anything yet and I don't want to hold them up," Rachel said. She opened her book back up and started to read once more.

"You're hiding from them," Shelby said.

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are. They are not still mad at you," Shelby said. "I told you that last night."

"How do you know?" Rachel asked.

"Do you think that I'm still mad at you?"

"No," Rachel answered.

"Then why would they be?"

"Because you're used to me and already know that I cause a lot of trouble," Rachel said. "But they all just found out."

"You do not cause a lot of trouble," Shelby said. "And all they found out last night is that you're just like every other teenager that's ever missed her curfew."

"I won't do it again, Mom, I promise."

"I know, Rachel," Shelby said.

"And I saw how mad they were and don't they think it would just be easier to walk away before they get involved?"

Shelby put her hands on the sides of Rachel's face and then leaned down and kissed her forehead. "They love you, honey. They want to be involved. And if you don't believe me, just wait. Nana is not going to leave without seeing you and she's eventually going to barge her way in here."

Rachel mumbled something that Shelby didn't catch as the woman was leaving the room. Shelby just gave her a smile before shutting the door and leaving Rachel alone again. Rachel went back to trying to read her book but she found herself having to read lines over and over again because she couldn't concentrate. She was afraid to go downstairs and see the family, but she also knew that her mother was right; Nana was going to come up there eventually and Rachel thought that would be terribly embarrassing. She resigned herself to getting up and threw the blankets aside so she could get out of bed.

Shelby was standing in the entryway to the kitchen leaning against the wall with her cup of coffee as she listened to Sam telling a story of a funny thing that had happened to him at work. Sam was perched on a counter while the other three sat at the table. Shelby heard a movement behind her and then felt Rachel leaning into and resting her head on her back. Shelby didn't move but instead tried to look over her shoulder at the girl.

"Rachel, is that you?" Paul asked and Shelby could feel Rachel stiffen. "Come in here."

Rachel leaned around Shelby and put her head on her mom's arm and looked into the room but not at anyone. Shelby put her arm behind her and moved Rachel so that she was standing next to her and not hiding behind her. Shelby left her arm around Rachel's shoulder and squeezed her tightly. Rachel reached over and took Shelby's coffee from her and took a sip. The mug gave her something to focus on instead of the other people.

"Rachel, about last night," Paul started, "I shouldn't have jumped down your throat and yelled at you like that. I was just worried about you."

The only acknowledgment Rachel gave was to nod.

"We just didn't expect that you would break any rules," Paul continued, "and I know that I shouldn't have butted in on what should have been a private matter between you and your mom. I'm sorry if I scared you."

"No, that's ok," Rachel finally spoke up. "I just don't want you guys to be mad at me anymore."

"We're not mad at you," Rebecca assured her.

"And I completely understand if you guys won't be able to come to the Sectionals performance now," Rachel said.

Shelby blinked back the tears that formed in her eyes as the realization of how Rachel viewed these matters hit them. In their eyes, they'd given a simple scolding and in Rachel's eyes she'd once again pushed away her family because of her behavior and she fully expected them to pull away because of it. She'd been bad so now they didn't have to care as much.

"Honey, of course we'll be there," Rebecca said as she got up from the table and moved over to Rachel. "We wouldn't miss it. Nothing you do is going to change that."

"Yeah Rach," Maggie jumped in. "We're bringing the boys too. If anyone can get them interested in music, it's you."

"We'll be there, Rachel, we promise," Paul said.

"If you do come, make sure you get there early and get a seat down front," Rachel advised. "Especially for Jack and Michael so they don't have to look over anyone's head to see the stage."

"There's no ifs, Rachel. We'll be there," Sam said.

"Ok," Rachel said and this time she smiled at them.

Rebecca pulled her away from Shelby and pulled her into a hug and started to cry. Shelby reached around and took her now empty coffee mug back so that Rachel could hug her grandmother back.

"Please don't cry, Nana," Rachel said as she started to get choked up. "I'm sorry."

"No, we're sorry," Rebecca said. "Don't ever question how much we love you."

Rachel was passed from person to person as they all got up to hug her. Paul was last and picked her up off the floor and held her. Rachel smiled at him when he put her back down and then left the room to go back upstairs and shower.

Two hours later the family had left and Shelby had Rachel cleaning all the rooms again.

"You do know that's only been four days since we did this and all of these rooms are still clean, right?" Rachel asked.

"You do know that if you want to go hang out with Quinn today you'll do a really good job the first time so that you do don't have to do it again, right?" Shelby asked.

Rachel huffed her annoyance at Shelby's sweet smile and threw a stuffed animal at her mother's retreating form.

Rachel put away the last of her cleaning supplies a few hours later and made her way down to the living room to find her mom. Shelby was sitting on the couch and Beth was sitting on the floor playing with her toys.

"Beth, if you make a mess in here you can clean it up," Rachel said and then flopped down on Shelby's lap causing the woman to let out an 'oof!' Beth didn't even bother to say something back and ignored her sister.

"All done, sweetie?" Shelby asked her tone overly sweet and sarcastic.

"Yes, Mother," Rachel matched her.

"Good girl." Shelby wrapped her arms around Rachel's waist and Rachel put an arm around Shelby's shoulder.

"What are you and Quinn going to do today?"

Rachel shrugged and said, "Nothing."

"Sounds like fun," Shelby teased. "Do you need a right over there?"

"No, Quinn is coming to pick me up," Rachel answered.

"When?"

The chiming of the doorbell answered her question and she gave Rachel a look. "Pretty confident you were all done, weren't you?"

"Come in," Rachel hollered to the front door. "I am all done." She smiled sweetly at her mother as Quinn stepped into the room.

"Hi, Quinn," Shelby said when the girl came into the room.

"Hey," Quinn greeted. "What's going on?" She made herself at home by lying down on the couch next to them and used a free spot on Shelby's leg as a pillow and draped her legs over the arm rest on the other side. Shelby ran her hand over Quinn's hair and smiled down at her.

"Nothing," Rachel said. "Except that my mom thinks I'm Cinderella."

"I'm sorry," Shelby said. "I thought Cinderella sounded better than grounded."

"Does that make Beth and me wicked step-sisters?" Quinn asked showing no concern for her friend's plight. She was not going to take sides in whatever was happening here.

At the mention of her name, Beth looked up from her toys and crawled over to the couch and raised her arms up to Quinn. Quinn complied and reached over and picked the little girl up and sat her on her stomach.

"Beth, you traitor," Rachel said. "Is no one on my side?"

"Your sister is a drama queen," Quinn said to Beth which caused Shelby to laugh and Rachel to cross her arms.

"I am not!" Rachel insisted. "I just have a…flair."

"Yes, for the dramatic," Quinn said. "But I have something I want to give you. And you'll even be able to use your flair for it."

"What is it?" Rachel asked.

"I, umm, want to give you my part in the duet for Sectionals," Quinn said. She looked from Rachel's to Shelby's shocked and questioning faces and then looked away. "I just don't think I'm the right person for it and I know you would do really well and I want us to win. You have to take it, Rachel."

A/N – Thanks for reading guys. Please leave me a review.