Anne Walsh - Thanks for the suggestion, I can't remember if it's already been mentioned or not yet, but I'm going with the cannon storyline that Shelby can't have any more children, it's something that will be brought up in future chapters.

Mackenzie - Quinn isn't Rachel's love interest I'm afraid, but I know a lot of people love Faberry so, starting from the chapter after this, I'm going to work on building their friendship a little more.

Kirst - I haven't thought about Rachel joining a weekend dance class, but I have plans for her to join more clubs and things when school starts up again.

India-Guest - You'll have to wait and see, I'm not giving anything away on that one.

Like Shelby, Amy and Jimmy needed to buy groceries, so they all headed out for breakfast, Jimmy helping Shelby load their luggage into her car so she and Rachel could to home after they'd eaten, the man arranging to meet his family at the restaurant once he'd returned the rental car.

It was no surprise to anyone that Lily wanted to sit next to Rachel, asked to order the same food as her cousin, it was almost like she thought the vacation being over meant she'd never see her cousin again.

"Hey Lil" Amy said softly when she saw the tears in her daughter's eyes as they said goodbye, "Rachel and Auntie Lelly are only going home, we can see them soon" she swiped at her cheeks to catch her tears.

Lily's bottom lip wobbled as she looked up at Rachel, "I see you soon?"

Rachel nodded and lifted Lily into her arms, smiling as the toddler nuzzled into her, "I promise I'll see you soon, if it's okay with Mommy and Auntie Lelly, I'll take you and Max to the park one day."

Lily perked up at that and she looked to Amy, "can she Mommy? Can Rachie take me and Maxy to the park?"

"Sure" Amy nodded, "I'll talk to Auntie Lelly about it later and sort something out."

"Okay" Lily gave Rachel a last hug before reaching out to Shelby to say goodbye to her Aunt too.

Shelby reached for Rachel's hand as they walked through the parking lot, squeezing it gently before telling her, "text or call Brittany when we get in the car, see if we can pick Jasper up in about an hour, we'll go to the store and get a few things and then we'll go get him before we go home."

She knew Rachel was eager to see their kitten again, there was no doubt that he was definitely 'Rachel's' cat. Like Rachel, Jasper had been timid and shy when they got him, but, just as Rachel had, he'd adapted to his new life, coming out of his shell and charming both Shelby and Rachel with his personality. If there was ever a time that Shelby couldn't find the cat, she just had to look for her daughter and Jasper wouldn't be far away, he'd even takien to sleeping on Rachel's bed on the nights when she chose to sleep in her own room. With that in mind, she didn't spend long in the store, just picking up enough things to see them through the next couple of days, "Brittany says we can go over whenever" Rachel told Shelby after getting a message from her friend as they waited in line to pay, "she's getting his things together but she won't put him in his carrier until we get there."

"Okay" Shelby smiled, "I bet you're looking forward to seeing him again."

"Yeah" Rachel nodded, "I am." Her Mom had given her so much, but Rachel loved Jasper more than anything. When they'd picked him out at the shelter they'd been told his back story, how he'd been hurt and didn't trust anyone, but he'd trusted Rachel, and, as silly as it sounded, Rachel was sure that he knew they had similar stories, that she'd been hurt too and that, maybe, she needed him as much he needed her.

Brittany opened the door before Rachel had chance to ring the bell, wrapping Rachel in a tight hug, "hey!" she grinned, "have you had a good vacation? Did you go to the beach? You've got a great tan!" She didn't give Rachel time to answer before pulling Shelby into a bone crushing hug, "hey Miss C! Did you have a good time on vacation?"

Shelby chuckled, she'd told Rachel's friends several times that, out of school, they could call her Shelby, but they all said it felt weird, so they used her full name at school and at home, she was just 'Miss C'. "We had a brilliant time" she smiled, "thanks for asking, have you had any trouble with Jasper?"

"Not at all" Brittany led them both through to the kitchen, "I didn't know how Lord Tubbington would be with him, he can be a bit territorial, there's a grey cat that comes into our back yard sometimes and he always hisses at it if he sees it, but I think he and Jasper are best friends now!"

"Hello" Jasper ran over as soon as Rachel and Shelby stepped into the kitchen, rubbing at Rachel's ankles and purring happily, "I've missed you too" she smiled as she lifted him into her arms. "Thank you for watching him."

"It's fine, he was no trouble, he was a good influence for Lord Tubbington. I'll watch him any time you need me to."

Shelby thanked Brittany before putting the bag she was holding on the counter, "I got something for your parents" Rachel said shyly as she held Jasper, "to say thank you for letting him stay, I got a gift for you too but it's still in my case."

"That's okay, you didn't have to get us anything, I'll give that to my parents when they get back, they're both out right now, my sister's at soccer practice and my brother's at karate. I'll go grab Jasper's carrier for you, all his things are there" Brittany pointed to the bag containing, amongst other things, Jasper's food and bed.

They spoke to Brittany for a while longer before Rachel reluctantly put Jasper in his carrier and said goodbye to her friend, knowing it wouldn't be long until she saw her again.

"Here we are" Shelby smiled as she pulled onto their driveway, "home sweet home" she turned to Rachel, "you take Jasper in and get his things sorted, I'll bring our cases in, I'd like to make a start on the laundry so put your clothes in the hamper, but you can leave unpacking everything else til later if you want to."

"Okay Momma."

Shelby smiled and reached over to gently squeeze Rachel's hand, "thank you. And if all your clothes won't fit in the hamper, just leave them on the floor next to it." She knew Rachel still worried sometimes about not doing things 'right' so Shelby always did her best to try and reassure her.

"I will" Rachel smiled, feeling Shelby squeeze her hand again before they got out of the car.

Rachel was filling Jasper's water bowl when she heard Shelby call through from the hall to tell her, "I'll leave your case in your room for you." And she set the bowl down, scratching Jasper's head before going upstairs to unpack. She wasn't too surprised when she saw the cat follow her into the room, and, when Jasper jumped onto her bed and began miowing at her, she sat down on the edge of the bed, stroking his back as he settled down in her lap, "I need to unpack" she told him, smiling as she felt him nuzzle against her, "but I suppose five minutes won't hurt."

She laid down on her bed, fingertips trailing through Jasper's soft fur as she began to get lost in her thoughts, she'd been on vacation, with her family. Her uncle had taught her how to swim and promised her, as they said goodbye, that he'd take her to the pool soon so she could keep improving, her cousins had loved spending time with her and, even when she'd felt anxious and clingy, all her Mom and Aunt had done was love her. And then she'd come home. Home. She never thought she'd be happy to say she was 'home' but her home was no longer a dark basement, it was a house, a place filled with love and warmth, it was a place where she was comfortable and could let her walls down, she could be as vulnerable as she needed to be and she knew she'd be safe.

Shelby sorted through her own things, grabbing the things she wanted to wash first and dropping them in the laundry basket before crossing the landing to Rachel's room, knocking gently on the door before pushing it open, "have you…" she saw a look of fear cross Rachel's face as she stepped into the room, "what's wrong baby?"

"I'm sorry" Rachel scrambled to her feet, she'd been so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realise how long she'd been laying down, "I haven't done what you asked, I'm sorry I…"

"It's okay" Shelby took hold of Rachel's hand as the girl raced for her case, pulling her into a hug and waiting for her to relax a little before speaking again, "the world won't end if I have to wait another ten minutes before I put the laundry on. In fact, I was quite tempted to just lay down and do nothing too."

"You, you were?"

"Yeah" Shelby tucked Rachel's hair behind her ear, "as nice as it is to get away for a while, it's always nice to come home again too."

"I never thought I'd have somewhere I was happy to come home to" Rachel admitted. "And I thought I felt like that because it's what I'm used to, like you said, on vacation I was out of my comfort zone but this, here, it's, it's my safe place."

"Oh Rachel" Shelby hugged her again, "You've got no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that. I hope you'll always see this house as your safe place, but it's definitely not you, I'm happy to be home and Aunt Amy told me this morning that she felt like she slept better last night because she was in her own bed. A change is good but getting back to something familiar is always nice too, now" she kissed Rachel's temple, "grab me some clothes, I'm doing darks first, then you can go pick out a movie if you want?"

"Mom" Rachel said quietly as she sorted through her laundry, Shelby helping her make three separate piles of darks, whites and coloured clothing on the floor to save having to sort it later.

"Yeah?" Shelby tossed a pair of denim shorts onto the pile of dark clothes.

"I erm, I've been thinking about what you said when we were walking along the beach" she began to fiddle nervously with the sock she was holding, repeatedly running it through her fingers, "and I think you might be right."

Shelby reached out to cup Rachel's cheek in her hand, "I'm sorry Baby" she said softly, "you're going to remind me what I said."

"You said that if I wanted to go back to more frequent therapy appointments then I could" Rachel whispered, unable to look Shelby in the eye.

"Okay" Rachel was shocked by her Mom's response, "I'll call the office when we go downstairs and see when they can get you in."

Rachel finally lifted her gaze, her eyes locking with Shelby's, "you, you really don't mind?"

"Not at all" Shelby smiled softly, "I want you to be the best version of you that you can be, and I'll do whatever it takes to help you get there, and I'm glad like you felt like you could tell me that you feel like you need more frequent appointments, and I'll sort it for you Baby, I promise."

"Thank you" Rachel smiled, finally putting the sock she was holding onto the right pile.

"If you feel up to it, we'll go to the mall tomorrow" Shelby told Rachel as they walked down stairs together, "see about getting you some more underwear, but if you just want to have a couple of days at home before we do anything, that's fine too."

Rachel picked out a movie as Shelby set the laundry going and called Rachel's therapist's office before joining the girl on the couch, sitting at the opposite side to her daughter and lifting Rachel's feet into her lap, beginning to rub at them as she told her, "Alice can see you on Monday at 11. We can go out for lunch afterwards if you want to, but there's no need to decide now, you can see how you feel after your appointment." They fell into a comfortable silence as she watched the movie, Rachel sighing happily as she relaxed, Shelby still rubbing her feet. She was incredibly grateful that her Mom had taken her on vacation, but at the same time, she felt like she'd been 'on' none stop for the past two weeks and she appreciated the time to switch off and do nothing for a while, knowing that her Mom wouldn't expect anything from her, she didn't have to do anything, didn't have to be anything she could just sit quietly with her Mom and let her mind switch off for a while.

"I've been thinking" Shelby said quietly as the film neared its end, "I know you've got plans with your friends, but I thought that, maybe towards the end of the summer, we could find time to go away for a few days, just me and you."

Rachel frowned, "but we've just been on vacation."

"I know we have, and if you don't want to go anywhere that's fine, but I thought we could have a little mini vacation, maybe just 3 or 4 days, just the two of us."

"I'd like that" Rachel smiled softly at the thought of getting to spend some time away with her Mom, "where would we go?"

"That depends what sort of vacation you want" Shelby said as she began to rub at Rachel's feet again.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you want a nice relaxing beach vacation where we just relax and do nothing for a few days, we could maybe fly down to Florida or something, or we could go to Washington or New York, or, I think Uncle Jimmy might still have his studio apartment in Chicago, I don't know Baby, we can go wherever you want."

Rachel smiled, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been on vacation and now she was set to have two in the same summer. She didn't have time to reply before she found herself unable to hold back a loud yawn, quickly apologising before asking, "can we maybe look at some places later?"

"Sure" Shelby pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and covered Rachel with it, "but for now I think it's naptime."

Rachel nodded, "Lily wasn't as wriggly as I was expecting last night, but she still woke me a couple of times."

"That's okay, I have to admit that I was surprised to see you still in with us when I woke up. I thought you might have gone to sleep in Lily or Max's bed" Shelby smoothed out the blanket over Rachel's legs.

"I don't think Lily would have been very happy if she'd woken and I wasn't there".

"No" Shelby chuckled, "you're probably right." She frowned as she saw Rachel stand from the couch, "are you okay?"

Rachel nodded as she sat back down, this time right beside her Mom, curling into Shelby and letting her head fall onto her shoulder, "I am now."

"Okay" Shelby ran her fingers through Rachel's hair and kissed her temple before pulling the blanket back over them, "I'll make us something to eat when you wake" it was almost lunch time but Shelby was still full from breakfast and she knew Rachel didn't have a big appetite, if Shelby wasn't hungry then she knew Rachel wouldn't be either.

"Okay Momma" Rachel yawned as Jasper jumped up onto her lap and made himself comfortable. "I love you."

"I love you too" Shelby smiled, "so much more than you'll ever know."