Packer82 - There will be a love interest for Rachel, it's not Finn, but I'm not saying any more than that because it's something that's going to 'start' quite soon!
Spawn - Amy has mentioned Shelby having a girlfriend in the past before, it was only brief but it was there. And no matter who Shelby sees, Rachel will always be her priority, she wouldn't let anyone into her life that Rachel isn't comfortable around.
nzlouise - I'm not sure why you had to comment twice to tell me how unhappy you were with the fact Shelby looked at another woman, once would have been fine. Shelby doesn't particularly 'want' a relationship, but she's an adult, if she finds someone then she finds someone, it's not as if I have her obsessing over dating websites or anything. As for Shelby seeing another woman being 'forced and cliche', I don't know how you can say that about a storyline that, right now, literally only exists in my head. So maybe save your judgement until something actually happens?
vicky324 - Shelby dating Quinn's mom literally never crossed my mind, as far as I'm concerned, in this fic, Quinn's parents are together so you've got nothing to worry about!
The vacation's over, but there's still time for a little more Rachel/Lily fluff before she and Shelby go home!
Nobody was surprised when Lily asked if she could sit next to Rachel again on the flight home. Rachel said she wouldn't mind sitting with her cousin, so, to the girl's delight, Amy and Jim said it was okay.
"Do you want to sit with me?" Shelby asked Max, "so Mommy can sit with Daddy?"
Max nodded excitedly, "I'll sit with you" he grinned, "but if Mommy sits with Daddy they'll kiss a lot" he raised an eyebrow.
Shelby chuckled, "I know, but at least if you're sitting with me you won't have to see them kissing" Amy and Jim had always been affectionate, had never shied away from showing their love for one another and, if she was honest, Shelby was glad her sister had found someone who loved her as much as Jimmy obviously did, that they both seemed as happy now as they did when they first started dating.
"Are you scared Rachie?" Lily asked once they were settled in their seats, the girl sounding unusually timid.
"A little bit" Rachel nodded, "but we'll be okay. Are you scared?" Lily nodded and looked up at her cousin, bottom lip trembling as her eyes filled with tears. "Hey, you don't need to cry" she said softly as she reached out to wipe Lily's tears away, "do you want me to switch seats with Mommy?" she asked.
Lily shook her head, "I wanna sit with you" she whispered.
"Okay" Rachel leaned forward, opening first Lily's carry on bag and then her own, "here" she said softly, "you have Raffy, and I've got my bear" she saw Lily clutch the giraffe tightly, "you want to know something?" Rachel asked, getting a nod in response as she took hold of Lily's hand. "This might be a little bit scary, but that's okay, and nothing bad will happen to us, and do you know how I know that?"
Lily shook her head, "how?"
"I know that your Mommy and Daddy, and my Mommy, love us so much that they'd never bring us anywhere that wasn't safe. And we were okay on the plane before weren't we?" Lily nodded, "so we'll be okay this time too".
Rachel wiped at Lily's tears as Amy blinked back tears of her own, she and Jimmy were sat in front of Rachel and Lily and she'd heard every word her niece had said to her daughter, Shelby too feeling a little emotional at the sight of Rachel comforting Lily.
Lily clutched tightly to Rachel's hand as the plane took off, Rachel continuing to talk to her cousin, wiping away her tears and asking her questions, talking about things they'd done on vacation to try and take her mind off what was going on, but as soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, she undid Lily's seatbelt, allowing the girl to scramble over the armrest into her lap, "it's okay" Rachel reassured her, "we're okay, we'll get a drink and some food in a little while and then you can watch a movie or we can read or colour together, whatever you want."
Amy too stood when the seatbelt sign was turned off, the extra leg room meaning she was able to slip past Rachel's legs to sit in Lily's empty seat. "Hey Lil" she gently stroked the girl's knee, "why all the tears Sweetheart?"
"I scared" Lily whimpered, "but Rachie say it's okay."
"Rachel's right" Amy smiled, reaching over to gently squeeze Rachel's hand, "there's nothing to be scared of, like she said, me and Daddy and Auntie Lelly love you, Max and Rachel too much to let you get hurt."
"Rachie get me Raffy."
"That was nice of her, she knows you like to cuddle him." she looked to Rachel, "do you want me to take her?"
"Only if you want to" Rachel didn't want to stop her Aunt comforting her daughter if she wanted to, "but I'm okay with her."
"Lil" Amy gently squeezed her leg, "come give me a cuddle." Lily nodded and climbed back over the armrest into Amy's arms, "I love you so, so much" Amy told her after wiping at her tears, "and I know this is scary and that's okay, it's scary because it's new for you, but it's just going to be like the plane when we came here okay? A little bit boring sometimes but not bad."
"Okay Mommy" Lily nodded.
"You've got Raffy" Amy gently tapped the giraffe against Lily's nose, "and your colouring books and your stories are in your bag and there are movies you can watch too. And me and Daddy are right there" she pointed to their seats, "so if you need to switch and sit with one of us then you can okay."
Lily nodded again, "I wanna sit with Rachie Mommy."
"Okay, but we're there if you change your mind."
Shelby meanwhile had reached across the aisle, gently squeezing Rachel's hand, "are you okay?" she asked.
Rachel nodded and squeezed Shelby's hand in response, "I'm okay."
"You're really good with Lily" she smiled, "but if it's too much, if you want to swap with us, you just have to say, nobody will mind."
"I will" Rachel nodded, "but I'm okay Mom".
Amy echoed what Shelby had said, telling her nobody would mind if she wanted to switch seats with them, before quietly telling Rachel, "she's tired, that's why she's getting so upset, she just needs to sleep." Amy kissed her niece and daughter again and moved back to her own seat. She'd put Lily in her own seat but as soon as Amy moved Lilly crawled back onto Rachel's lap, "do you want me to find a movie for you to watch?"
Lily shook her head, "you read to me?" she asked, "please?"
"Sure" Rachel smiled, why don't you grab your bag and put it here" she gestured to Lily's empty seat, "so we can read all your books."
"Okay" Lily slipped off Rachel's knee to grab her bag and Rachel turned to Shelby.
"Is it too much trouble for you to get my blanket?" she asked. Shelby had been the only one to take advantage of the two pieces of carry on luggage they were allowed to take on the plane, the small backpack by her feet contained everything she'd need for the flight and the small suitcase in the overhead locker had nothing but Rachel's blanket in it, she knew Rachel would want it on vacation but she wasn't willing to risk losing it if the airline misplaced their luggage.
"Of course not" Shelby smiled, standing from her seat and getting down the case, taking out Rachel's blanket and passing it to her before putting the empty case back in the locker. "Okay?"
Rachel nodded, "yes thank you" she smiled as Shelby kissed her hair before sitting back down, Rachel turning her attention back to Lily, opening her arms for her cousin to get comfortable in her lap, "whenever I get sad, Auntie Lelly wraps me up in this blanket and it makes me feel better" Rachel explained as she covered them both with the blanket, "so now we can both be safe and comfortable".
Lily nodded, "I got one too, but at my house" she smiled. The family blanket had always been put aside for Rachel, but Erin had made similar blankets for all her grandbabies.
"Then you'll know just how magic it is" Rachel smiled, "which book would you like to read first?" They read together until their food came, and Lily reluctantly sat back in her own seat to eat. "Do you want to watch a movie?" Rachel asked once they'd finished eating.
Lily nodded, "but I wanna watch it with you" she pouted.
"How about you pick something to watch" Rachel gestured to the small TV in front of her cousin, "and I'll watch the same thing?"
"Yeah" Lily seemed happy with that idea, "Okay."
Just like Amy said, Lily was tired and she fell asleep quickly once the movie started, curling up on her seat, her head on the airline pillow, wedged against the arm rest between herself and Rachel, feet tucked up underneath herself. Rachel smiled and ran her fingers through Lily's hair before tucking her blanket around the sleeping girl, "sweet dreams" she whispered.
Shelby saw Lily had fallen asleep, and a quick glance at Max told her his attention was firmly on the superhero movie he was watching, so she paused her own movie and reached across the aisle to gently brush her fingers down Rachel's arm to get her attention, "are you okay?" she asked when Rachel turned to face her.
"I'm okay" Rachel smiled, "Lily's fallen asleep."
"She adores you" Shelby smiled before asking Rachel, "what do you want to do tonight? It'll probably be late by the time we get back, do you want to stay at Amy and Jim's or would you rather we went home?"
Rachel thought for a minute, "we can stay at Aunt Amy's" she nodded, not wanting her Mom to feel like she had to drive home late at night, "and in the morning, we could pick Jasper up from Brittany's and all go home together."
"Okay" Shelby smiled, "that sounds good to me."
They'd booked an evening flight home to spend as much time as they could in vacation, and, desperate to enjoy her last day at the villa, Lily had skipped taking a nap so it was no surprise that she didn't wake until the plane jolted slightly as they touched down in Columbus, "Rachie" she mumbled.
"It's okay" Rachel ran her hand over Lily's hair, "the plane just landed, it's okay."
Lily dozed for as long as she could before Rachel gently woke her. She frowned slightly and yawned as they stood to get off the plane, "Rachie" she held up her arms, "carry p'ease?"
Rachel nodded, "Okay, put this on" she helped Lily put her arms through the straps of her backpack before lifting the toddler to sit on her hip, Lily yawning again and letting her head fall onto her cousin's shoulder.
"Are you okay with her?" Jimmy asked as he saw Rachel carrying his daughter off the plane.
"Yeah" Rachel nodded, "I'm fine with her."
"Okay, well at least let me take your bags" he'd already had Amy's carry on, as well as his own over his shoulder, and, knowing he wouldn't take no for an answer, Rachel let him take both her backpack and Lily's, the toddler quick to settle again in Rachel's arms.
Shelby kissed Rachel's temple as they waited in line to get off the plane, "I love you so much" she smiled softly, sometimes she couldn't believe the scared, anxious teenager she'd met just a few months ago was the same girl who was confident enough to take care of her cousin without asking for permission.
"I love you too Mom" Rachel smiled, nuzzling into Shelby's embrace.
"I don't know if we're going to be able to get rid of this one tonight" she chuckled, gently stroking Lily's back, "you might have to put up with some wriggles."
"She's very cuddly" Rachel kissed Lily's head as the girl nuzzled into her.
"It's a Corcoran thing, she gets it from her Mom" Shelby smiled, noticing Amy was tucked right into Jim's side.
Amy just shrugged, "I'm not going to deny that. Rachel gets it from you too."
Rachel managed to carry Lily through the airport, sitting with Amy as Shelby and Jim got their luggage, and only handing Lily over once Jimmy had collected the car he'd hired for the drive home, allowing her Aunt to strap her safely into her car seat.
Unlike on the drive to the airport, Rachel was quick to fall asleep on the drive home, curling herself into Shelby's side, letting her head rest on her Mom's shoulder as she slowly drifted off to sleep. "Rachel Baby" Shelby gently ran her fingers down Rachel's cheek to wake her as Jimmy pulled onto his road, "it's time to wake up Darling."
"Momma?" Rachel yawned, turning and snuggling closer to Shelby.
"I'm here" she chuckled, "but you need to wake up Darling, you just need to get inside and get changed, then you can go back to sleep Baby."
They decided to leave their luggage in the car as they headed into the house, Rachel and Shelby both agreeing that they didn't mind sharing the bed in the guest room with both Lily and Max. "Rachel" Amy called to her niece as she saw the tired girl heading for the bathroom, "here" she tossed something towards her, Rachel catching it easily, smiling as she saw it was a set of her Aunt's pyjamas. Amy had 'loaned' her some pyjamas when she'd been ill, not expecting to get them back, and she'd been happy to see that the pyjamas Rachel wore on holiday were the ones she'd given her. If wearing her clothes made Rachel happy, Amy knew she'd give the girl everything she owned.
"Really?" Rachel smiled.
"Really" Amy nodded, "they don't fit me now anyway."
"Thank you" Rachel crossed the hall to wrap her Aunt in a hug.
"Any time Pretty Girl" Amy returned the hug and kissed Rachel's hair, "go get changed" she smiled when she heard her yawn, "I'll see you in the morning."
Rachel nodded but spent another moment in her Aunt's arms, "I had a great time on vacation" she mumbled sleepily.
"Me too" Amy kissed Rachel's hair again, "I'm glad you and your Mom came with us, and as much as I would love to stand here and hold you all night, I think you might need to get into bed before you fall asleep on your feet. We'll have breakfast together before you and your Mom go home in the morning" she promised.
"Okay" Rachel finally stepped away, "goodnight, I love you."
"I love you too Pretty Girl" Amy smiled, "sweet dreams."
Lily was fast asleep in the middle of the bed when Rachel made her way into the room, Max tucked into Shelby's side as she read to him, Max's eyes heavy with sleep as he tried to stay awake until the end of the story. "Rachel" he grinned up at her when he saw her, "I sleep here with you and Auntie Lelly and Lily!"
"I know" Rachel smiled before yawning slightly, "are you enjoying the story? "
He nodded tiredly, "Auntie Lelly" he looked up to his Aunt, "read it to Rachel too?"
"Okay" Shelby smiled, waiting for Rachel to make herself comfortable before going back to the story, reading until Max was asleep, a quick glance at Rachel telling Shelby that she wasn't far behind. "Okay?" she asked softly, reaching across Lily to brush Rachel's hair from her face.
"Okay" Rachel nodded.
"We'll be back in our own bed tomorrow" Shelby smiled, "just you and me."
"I don't mind Lily and Max being here" Rachel yawned again before asking, "are we doing anything tomorrow?"
Shelby shook her head, "we'll need to get some groceries but we can just get enough to last us a couple of days, and we need to get Jasper of course, but then I thought we could just have a quiet day at home, we can do whatever you want."
"Thank you" Rachel hadn't been lying, she had loved getting to spend so much time with her Aunt, Uncle and Cousins, but she was looking forward to not going anywhere or anything for a little while, to maybe just sitting quietly with Jasper and her Mom.
Shelby carefully leaned over to kiss Rachel's temple, not wanting to wake her niece or nephew, "you never need to thank me Baby. Not for loving you."