A/N – Here is the next chapter. I'm sorry for the delay. Thank you all so much for all of your reviews and messages. You guys are great. Thank you so much. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Since we've last talked, I saw Idina Menzel and Brian Stokes Mitchell in concert. Not together. They were both amazing. I saw Jeff Goldblum live once too, years ago.

Disclaimer – I don't own Glee.

Rachel sighed as she looked at the late hour on her clock and then back at the homework in front of her. She was at least glad that she had already showered and put on pajamas so that she was ready for bed, but she was scolding herself for being this tired on a Saturday night in the first place. The last thing she wanted to be doing was homework, but she was determined to get ahead. She was almost completely done with everything she had to do for the upcoming week including a research paper she'd finished the night before. Her fathers were leaving the following afternoon to catch their flight to Ft. Lauderdale where they would board the ship for their cruise. Rachel didn't want to have to worry about any school work while they were out of town and she had the house to herself. She didn't mention the fact that she was working ahead to her fathers because she wanted to give them the impression that she did her homework every night while they were away.

Hiram and LeRoy weren't quite as oblivious as Rachel thought and knew what she was doing. But far be it for them to stop her from working on school work if that's what she wanted to do. They knew she was looking forward to having the time alone and the place to herself. While they were worried that she was still on the young side, they were willing to give her a chance. Depending on how she dealt with it would determine how they handled this situation in the future. Plus, it was only a couple days and then Shelby would be there. And they had neighbors and other family members on standby and ready to help her with anything she may need. If it were any more than two days they wouldn't be allowing it. The Berry men knew their daughter possessed a great many strengths, but maturity wasn't always one of them.

"You've been working pretty hard on that all day," Hiram said from Rachel's doorway.

"Can you believe my teachers give this much homework on the weekends?" Rachel asked in disbelief.

"It's crazy," Hiram answered and then smiled when she turned back around. It made him laugh to know she thought she was fooling them. "It's getting pretty late. Why don't you call it a night for the homework? You've got tomorrow too."

"I'm almost done," Rachel assured him while she wrote. She only had two more problems to complete. "Are you guys all packed?"

"Just about," Hiram said. He went into the room and leaned against her desk. "You know Daddy's going to go back over all of the bags before we leave to make sure we have everything."

"Hopefully neither of you packed those hideous and embarrassing swim trunks you have," Rachel said.

Hiram gasped. "We love those trunks!"

"They're awful," Rachel told him.

"Well now I have to go and make sure they're packed," Hiram said.

"No. Dad, wait!" Rachel said as she rushed from the room to catch up with him.

"LeRoy, get our good trunks!" Hiram yelled.

Rachel ran into the room and right into Hiram who blocked her path and held her back.

"Hurry, LeRoy, I'm not sure how much longer I can hold her," Hiram said.

"Don't worry; they're already packed," LeRoy said.

"Daddy," Rachel whined.

"What do you care, sweetheart? You won't be there," LeRoy pointed out to her.

"I get secondhand embarrassment from just knowing you two actually wear those things," Rachel said.

"We could get some speedos and take those instead," Hiram offered.

"Ew! Gross!" Rachel shuddered and the men laughed.

"Since you're here, you can help us fold and put away laundry," LeRoy said and mercifully changed the subject for his daughter who looked like she was still trying to get the image from her mind.

"Oh. Ummm, I need to-" Rachel started to back away towards the door.

"No you don't," Hiram said as he pointed her towards the bed which was filled with clean laundry.

Rachel sighed and tried to figure out how she'd been tricked into helping with housework. She didn't care that they were all mostly her clothes. She moved some clothes to the side and climbed up on the bed and got comfortable. It was the way she had helped with this chore since she was little. When she was younger and smaller, LeRoy and Hiram used to put her in the basket with the dirty clothes and carry her down to the washer and dryer in the basement. She had always loved that trip and would giggle and help throw the clothes in the washer one piece at a time. It may have been slow for the men, but their daughter had loved the game. Now, as a teenager, it could sometimes be like pulling teeth to get her to do laundry.

Rachel picked up a sock and started to look for its mate. As she sorted through the clothes, she yawned and rubbed at her eyes. She didn't notice her fathers standing together watching her wistfully. Where had the time gone?

After a few moments, Rachel was given instructions to stay put and finish folding while the fathers went downstairs to get some last minute things in order for their trip. Rachel rolled her eyes when they left her alone with all the work. Figures.

Rachel was almost done putting all her clothes away in her room when her phone chimed and she saw she had a text from Shelby. Since it was just after midnight, she had texted first to see if Rachel was still up before calling. Rachel quickly called her number.

"Hi, Mom!" the girl greeted happily.

"Hi, honey," Shelby smiled. "Sorry to be so late. It took forever to get home from the show." She and Brian had gone out afterwards and he was actually in the shower at the moment. Not that Shelby was going to tell Rachel that.

"That's ok," Rachel said. "I'm just putting away some laundry."

"Are you all ready for the next few days?" Shelby asked.

"I've got everything planned out," Rachel said. "I know what I want to have for dinner each night and I've already been to the store to get everything. I'm having Kurt over for dinner on Monday night and we're going to watch a couple movies."

"Not too late though," Shelby interrupted. "You both have school the following morning."

Rachel rolled her eyes. It's not like she and Kurt didn't know that. "I know."

"Sorry, continue," Shelby said with a smirk.

Rachel rattled off a few more things she was looking forward to about having the house to herself and Shelby listened intently. Rachel's excitement was contagious and by the time they hung up for the evening, Shelby was feeling better about their decision to let her stay alone.

"You look happy," Brian said when he emerged from the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Rachel's so excited," Shelby told him. "She's never had the chance to stay home alone for a couple days before. And at fifteen the thought of a whole house to yourself is pretty awesome."

"Yeah it is," Brian agreed. "You can do anything you want. Like this. And like this."

He was now kissing her neck and his hands had wandered underneath her shirt and he broke contact with his lips only long enough to pull the shirt over her head. Shelby moaned and grinned as he moved her towards the bed.

"You can do this," Brian said as he undid her jeans and slid them down. "You can do it in the bed or in the kitchen or on the piano."

Shelby smiled at that memory and let her eyes close when she laid down and he pulled the jeans from her legs and threw them off to the side. He dropped his towel next and they landed next to the jeans. He got on the bed and straddled her and ran his hands over her breasts.

"Being alone is awesome," he whispered as he leaned down to kiss her while reaching around her back to undo her bra.

Shelby's eyes shot up and she sat up so fast he nearly fell. She was on her feet in an instant and stared at him incredulously.

"Rachel can't stay home alone! What if she… Like we are… She can't. She's too young. And I know she likes that tall boy. He's a quarterback, Brian," Shelby rambled. "No. I've changed my mind. She can't stay home alone. They have a kitchen and a piano and what if she… or he talks her into… I don't even know if she knows about condoms. She probably does, but kids are so stupid sometimes. No. She is not ready. I am not ready! I'm going there now. I have to pack a bag."

Brian just stared at her from his perch on the bed. He was kicking himself for that last comment and he reluctantly got up and threw on some sweats and a t-shirt. He walked over to her closet and watched as she pulled one of her suitcases out.

"Honey, calm down," Brian said. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and she leaned back into his chest. "I'm sure that Rachel is not going to do that."

"How do you know?" Shelby asked.

"I don't," Brian said honestly. "But you don't have to rush off right now. Her dads are still there. Why don't you call and talk to them?"

"Yeah," Shelby agreed with a sigh. "I'm supposed to be cooler than this, you know. I always promised myself that I'd be that cool mom whose kids would feel comfortable talking to. But then I freak out at the mere mention of it."

"You are a cool mom," Brian assured her. "And how do you know that Rachel wouldn't feel comfortable talking to you about sex? Has it come up?"

"No," Shelby conceded. "I will talk to her about it while I'm there later this week. She's just… She's my baby. I just got her and I want her to be the kid she is and she wants to be this grown person who doesn't need anyone."

"She's fifteen, baby. That comes with the territory," Brian said. "Don't you remember thinking you were grown up and in control of your life at that age? I remember telling my parents that I appreciated their suggestions for my curfew but that I would be home whenever I wanted because I was a man now."

Shelby laughed and craned her neck to look up at him. "How did that go over?"

"They grounded me," Brian said.

"Poor baby," Shelby cooed as she turned in his arms and rested her cheek against his chest. "One time, Elizabeth and I told Marie that she couldn't tell us what to do anymore. My parents weren't always paying attention and so we would sneak my father's cigarettes and Marie caught us smoking one time. If that wasn't bad enough, she started to lecture and I said I didn't have to listen because my parents didn't care what I did and Elizabeth jumped in and said that we were too old to be lectured like that and that she couldn't really even tell us what to do anymore."

Brian had met Marie several times and heard many stories about her and he let out a laugh that reverberated in his chest and made Shelby smile.

"And how did that go over?" Brian asked.

"I couldn't sit comfortably for three days," Shelby admitted. "She even called my mother and told her which surprised me because she never did that. My mom said I was grounded, but I spent it at Marie's house thank goodness." There was a pause and Brian kissed the top of her head and waited for her to continue. "I may have gotten one hell of a spanking, but at least Marie was never mean."

"Yeah," Brian agreed quietly. He'd only met Shelby's parents a couple times, but he'd be happy if neither of them or Rachel ever had to go near the Corcorans again. "I guarantee you that Rachel is about as grown up as we thought we were at that age."

"I know," Shelby said. "I just worry about the stupid things she might do to prove is. I'm going to call LeRoy and Hiram and talk to them."

"Ok," Brian said.

Shelby stood on her toes and gave him a chaste peck before finding a pair of shorts and a tank top to throw on and disappearing from the room. Brian picked up the towel and clothes that had been tossed aside before and then grabbed the remote and climbed into bed.

He was almost asleep when Shelby returned to the room half an hour later. Her talk with Hiram and LeRoy had made her feel better and she was relieved to know that Rachel had been given that talk many times. They'd even mentioned it again earlier that night with her. Hiram suggested that Rachel might appreciate a woman's perspective and Shelby promised to bring it up with her while she was there.

Shelby entered her bedroom and smiled at her Brian and flipped the TV off.

"Everything ok?" he mumbled.

"Yeah," Shelby said. She took him by surprise with a deep kiss and then pulled away before he was ready. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Oh," Brain said and watched with disappointment as she walked towards her bathroom.

Shelby got to the door and stopped only for a second and looked over her shoulder. "Wanna come?"

Brian didn't hesitate at all and quickly got up from the bed and followed after her. The water was just starting when he closed the bathroom door.

Sunday afternoon found all three Berrys in the living room of the house. LeRoy and Hiram's bags were downstairs and ready to be put in the car and Rachel was flitting about in excitement and annoyance that it was taking them so long to get out of the house. She wanted them to just go already and they seemed to be making it their personal mission to take as long as possible.

"Don't forget that we want you call your mother at least once a day. And a night before you go to bed," LeRoy said.

"I know," Rachel sighed out dramatically. "I talk to her everyday anyway."

"And Mr. Hummel said he was available for anything you needed," LeRoy went on. "And your grandparents can be here in less than two hours."

"Daddy, I know," Rachel said. "You've told me this a thousand times already. I'm going to be fine. And you guys are going to have a wonderful vacation like always."

"We will call you when we land in Florida before the ship sails," LeRoy said.

"Ok," Rachel nodded. Like always.

"Be careful when you're making dinner," Hiram said. "Don't burn the house down."

"Dad," Rachel whined. "I won't."

"There are to be absolutely no boys here except for Kurt," LeRoy said. "I mean it. None."

"There won't be," Rachel insisted.

"Keep all of the doors locked and the alarm set when you're home," Hiram brought up the next thing on their list.

"I will," Rachel said.

"Don't open the door for anyone you don't know," Hiram added.

"Dads, please," Rachel whined again. "I know what I'm doing. I'm going to be fine and you're going to have fun and we'll all be fine. And if you don't go soon, you're going to miss your flight."

"Ok, ok," LeRoy said. "We're going."

Hiram hugged her tightly and Rachel was then passed to LeRoy who pulled her to him.

"Be a good girl," LeRoy said.

"I will," Rachel said.

"And don't hesitate to call anyone if you need anything," Hiram said. "There are multiple people around ready to help if you need it."

"I know," Rachel told them. "I'll be fine."

"Ok. Come on, LeRoy," Hiram said.

There were a couple more rounds of hugs, but the men finally left. Rachel waited on the porch as they loaded the car and blew them kisses as it was backing out of the driveway. She even watched until they turned on another street and disappeared from view.

Rachel took a deep breath and slowly turned to face the house as a smile spread across her face. This was it. She had done it. She had the house to herself for two whole days. She stepped inside and locked the front door behind her. She looked out into the living room and then towards the stairs. The whole house lay before her and the possibilities were endless. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to do first. It was a thrilling feeling. This must be what feeling like an adult felt like all the time. If being a grownup was this cool all the time – and Rachel suspected it was – she absolutely couldn't wait.

Four hours later, Rachel was putting the finishing touches on what she knew would be an absolutely perfect dinner. She's prepared homemade pizza and salads and all she needed now was her company. As if on cue, the doorbell rang and Rachel made a quick stop by the mirror to make sure she was presentable and then opened the door.

"Hey," Finn greeted with his lopsided smile.

"Hey," Rachel repeated back to him. "Please, come in."

Ok, so the no boys promise to her dads had been a lie, but she wasn't going to do anything. She had let it casually slip to Finn earlier in the week that she would have the house to herself and when he said that was cool, she invited him over for dinner. She had wanted to make something a little fancier, but she knew that Finn would like pizza.

"This is really good," Finn said with a mouthful of food. He was on his third piece of pizza and his salad sat untouched off to the side. "I didn't know you could cook like this."

"It's pretty simple," Rachel said with a shrug. "I've been cooking with my dads for as long as I can remember."

"It's awesome that they left you the house like this for a couple days," Finn said. "My mom hasn't really wanted to leave me alone after what happened with Quinn. Or what almost happened with Quinn. Even though it didn't happen with Quinn. But she knows that it could have and so I think she worries it could happen again."

Rachel nodded along to his rambling.

"Not that it will with you!" Finn said quickly as if he just realized what he was saying and had to fix it. "I won't- I don't want to- I mean, I want to obviously, what guy doesn't? But not with you. I mean I would you if you wanted. But later sometime. Not tonight, of course. With you. This pizza is really good."

Rachel opened her mouth to try and formulate a response as Finn took another huge bite.

"I get it," Rachel finally opted for. "You're just not ready. Neither am I."

"After what happened with Quinn and the baby… It just makes me more aware of what could happen and I'd never want to put you in that position," Finn said sincerely. "You're too good to be stuck in Lima."

"Thank you," Rachel said. "I'm not getting stuck here. And you shouldn't either."

"I don't know," Finn said and he looked far away for a second. "I don't know what I want to do. I'm not any good at football and I can't sing like you. I like the idea of a big city, but I don't know that I'd want to live there. I'd like to travel though. My mom went to England for a semester when she was in college and she has some great stories from being there. I want to have memories like that. I want to be able to look back one day and have these really special memories and moments that really count for something, you know?"

"I know," Rachel said with unexpected emotion at his suddenly deep and rare moment.

"Glee club will be one of those memories, I think," Finn went on. "You saved us at Sectionals and I know we're going to win Nationals before we graduate."

"We will," Rachel said. "That's one of my main goals for high school."

"And one day I'll be able to look back and say that I shared the stage and sang with Rachel Berry," Finn said. "You're going to be a big Broadway star and have lots of those awards you want. I don't know what they're called."

"Tonys," Rachel said.

"Yeah, Tonys. I'll tell my kids and show them videos," Finn said. "I bet they won't believe it."

"Sure they will," Rachel said. "We'll still be friends then. Right? Your kids will know me."

"Yeah!" Finn said enthusiastically. "I'll want them to know how special you are."

"And I will tell them how special you are," Rachel said. "You are the male lead of the glee club after all, and we're going to win Nationals."

"That'll be magical, huh?" Finn asked. He put his pizza down and looked across the table at her and his breath caught when she nodded and shyly pushed some hair behind her ear.

"It will be," Rachel said. "It already is."

After their talk returned to football and Mr. Schue's vests and dinner was finished, the kids moved to the couch and put a movie on. They made out for a little while and ended up snuggling together and at some point had dozed off. Rachel's phone had chimed a couple of times, but it lay forgotten on the counter in kitchen.

Shelby looked down at her phone and narrowed her eyes at it. Rachel wasn't answering her texts and she didn't pick up when she called. She was going to wait until she got home to call the house and see if she could get in touch with her.

The ringing of the Berry's house phone on the side table next to the couch startled Rachel awake and she leapt up from the couch and her spot cuddled with Finn like one of her parents had actually walked in and caught her. It took her a second to realize what was going on, but she finally got her bearings straight and reached for the phone just as Finn was waking up.

"Hello," Rachel answered.

"Hi, sweetheart," Shelby greeted.

"Mom!" Rachel exclaimed with wide, panicked eyes. She looked at Finn and put a finger to his lips to make sure he stayed quiet. "What are you doing calling so early? Don't you have the show?"

"It's quarter to eleven," Shelby said. "I'm at home."

"Oh," Rachel said and she turned and looked at the clock on the cable box.

"I texted a couple times and called your phone, but you never picked up," Shelby said.

"I was watching a movie and fell asleep," Rachel told her. So not a lie.

Rachel pointed to the cable box and Finn looked over and saw the time. He looked at the numbers and then up at Rachel and mouthed 'Crap!'

"Oh ok," Shelby said. "Well why don't you turn it off and head upstairs and get into bed so you can go back to sleep?"

"I'm going to. I'm tired," she said with an almost fake yawn.

"Good girl," Shelby smiled. "I don't want you oversleeping in the morning. And no skipping school, young lady."

"I won't," Rachel said and rolled her eyes.

"I want you to call me when you get home tomorrow," Shelby said.

"I know. I will," Rachel said. How many times did they have to go through this? Rachel noticed Finn standing awkwardly by the door like he didn't know whether to leave or wait. "Mom, can I call you back after I'm in bed? I need to brush my teeth and everything."

"Of course," Shelby said. "I'll talk to you in a few minutes."

"Ok. Bye." She hung up the phone and said, "I'm sorry about that."

"No, it's ok. It's good she woke us up. I was supposed to be home at ten. My mom is going to be pissed," Finn said.

"I'm sorry; we should have been paying better attention," Rachel said.

"It's ok," Finn said. "But I gotta go now."

"I know," Rachel said. "Thank you for hanging out with me tonight."

"Thanks for inviting me," Finn said. "I had a really good time. It was fun."

"I agree," Rachel smiled.

"Bye, Rachel."

"Goodbye, Finn."

Monday came much too quickly for Rachel's liking, but the school day passed uneventfully and Rachel was glad for that. She was glad to have already completed all of her work when she got home because she was just able to sit around and relax. She had another dinner to put together that evening and she could have some more fun with it rather than just pizza because she knew Kurt would like it. He actually arrived early and helped her cook.

They spent the evening listening to music and chatting with Shelby on the phone. She promised Kurt that she would get him to New York to see her show before she left it and he was on cloud nine the rest of the night.

Shelby went on stage that night feeling much better about the fact that Rachel was home alone. She had her friend close by and she was pleased that Kurt was the boy her daughter was deciding to hang out with. She couldn't wait to see her, but Shelby was glad Rachel was getting to enjoy her time.

Kurt went home around eight and Rachel curled up on her fathers' bed with her laptop and worked on song ideas for glee. She had so many ideas that she kept an updated spreadsheet with song ideas and who should sing them. Choreography came later. She sent the list to Mr. Schuester once a week, but so far he hadn't used any of her ideas. But Rachel Berry was nothing if not determined and so she still worked hard on it.

After talking with her mother that night, Rachel didn't bother to switch to her own bed in her room. She stayed tucked into her fathers' bed and slept soundly all night.

By the time Tuesday afternoon rolled around, Rachel had discovered she was an old pro at staying home alone. She had no problem making her own meals and she didn't miss any school. She considered this a practice run at real life and so far, she was doing amazingly well. She was quite proud of herself and was glad she was going to be able to prove to her parents just how grown up she actually was. She wasn't like other teenagers and she didn't act childishly anymore and she knew they would see that too.

She wasn't admitting out loud that she missed her parents, but she knew it to be true. She always missed her dads when they took this trip even though she got to spend the time with her grandparents. She was more used to missing Shelby, so it was a little easier to take. But she was not used to an empty house without her fathers and it was a bit lonely. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle though. She would have to one day when she moved away.

When dinnertime rolled around, Rachel stared at the food in the refrigerator and decided she didn't want any of it. But it was what she had and what she'd picked out so she pulled out some vegetable and decided to get to work making spaghetti. When she turned the water on in the sink, she heard a sound she wasn't used to. The kitchen was usually full of noise and chatter or singing so the dripping sound she heard now had always gone unnoticed.

Rachel crouched down and opened the cabinet under the sink and saw the small leak in one of the pipes. It wasn't leaking that much and there was a bowl half filled with water under it. It was clear her fathers knew about it, but it didn't seem as if it did it every time or the bowl would be overflowing. Rachel reached out and touched the wet spot on the pipe and assumed that it just needed to be tightened to stop the leak. Maybe she could do that for her dads. She bet Mr. Hummel knew how to fix it. She could call him to come over…

Rachel felt the pipe again and leaned farther into the cabinet under the sink to look at it. If all it needed to be was tightened, she could do that. She didn't need to call Mr. Hummel; all she needed was a wrench. She should be learning how to do this type of thing anyway because she wouldn't always be able to call someone to come and fix every little thing when she lived on her own. She was trying to prove how grown up she was and Rachel decided that she would take care of this problem on her own. She could already see herself showing off the fix to her dads when they got home.

Rachel headed to the basement to find her dad's tools and get a wrench. At least she assumed a wrench would do it. She hoped he had one.

"Why do they keep everything so high up?" Rachel muttered to herself when she got into the basement and looked at the toolbox sitting on a shelf that was out of her reach.

She knew the answer to the question though and brushed it aside as she reached for the shelves to climb up to the toolbox. It had been placed on the high shelf when she was three and her dads caught her playing in it. She was using a screwdriver as a microphone. From that day forward it had been placed high on the shelf and out of her reach. Her fathers' tall frames had never been a help to her when she wanted something. They had always simply put it out of her reach. Even though she was older now and wouldn't mess with it that high spot became the toolbox's home and that's what she was climbing towards.

Rachel wasn't even going to bother and try and get the whole thing down from there. It was too heavy and she only needed one thing. She stood on a shelf and opened the box and was happy to find a wrench on top. That was perfect.

"Come on," Rachel said to the wrench. "We're going to fix that pipe."

Rachel climbed down a bit and then turned and jumped like she had down a hundred times before. She felt a sting on her right hand before she landed on her feet and immediately cradled it to her.

"Ow!" Rachel cried as tears formed in her eyes.

She looked down at her hand and slowly opened her fist and gasped when she saw the blood. She had a deep cut on her palm and it was bleeding profusely.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Rachel said and quickly clenched her fist again.

She dropped the wrench to the ground and then turned and looked up at where she had jumped from. She couldn't figure out what had happened because she had jumped from there so many times before.

Rachel saw it almost immediately though and gasped again. A large, old nail was sticking out through the side of one of the boards and it looked like the shelf was coming loose there. She couldn't figure out how it was coming loose in the first place. Rachel grabbed the shelf with her left hand and stepped up one so she could get a better look. The nail was clearly the culprit because it had some blood on it.

Rachel hopped down again and opened up her hand to look at it once more. The cut looked pretty deep and she shook her head to try and keep some of the pain at bay. This was not good.

When she got upstairs Rachel reluctantly ran her hand under the water in the sink to try and clean some of the blood off. She then grabbed a dish towel and wrapped it as tightly as she could around her hand. And that's when the pacing started. What was she going to do? She could call Mr. Hummel and Kurt. That's what she should do. But they would call her parents and they would know that she couldn't take care of herself and they'd never want to leave her alone again. No, she had to take care of this on her own.

The biggest problem was that she knew the cut was bad and in the back of her mind she knew she was going to have to get it looked at. She briefly considered just cleaning it out and bandaging it, but she wasn't that dumb. It had to be treated.

Rachel sighed and reached for her phone to call her mother. There was no way she would be seen at the hospital without one of her parents. Stopped before calling though. Her mother was still in New York. She couldn't do anything tonight. She wouldn't be there until tomorrow afternoon sometime. Her dads will still on the cruise and she could leave them a message. She'd have to call her grandparents. Tears pricked at her eyes again because she knew they were all going to say that she shouldn't have been left alone in the first place. She was not a kid!

If she could just get her hand looked at and cleaned up tonight, she could probably hide it the rest of the week. Her parents wouldn't have to know and she could still come out of it looking like she'd done everything right. Now she just needed to figure out how to make that happen.

She had it! It was perfect and Rachel clapped herself on the back a couple times as she scrolled through the contacts on her phone. She'd probably be home tonight before her mother called.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Quinn?"

"Rachel?"

"Yes. I need your help," Rachel said.

"What?"

"I need your help," Rachel repeated.

"I'm pretty busy tonight and-"

"Quinn, please. This is important," Rachel cut off her excuse.

Quinn let out a long sigh and against her better judgment asked, "What do you need?"

"I cut my hand and I need to go to the hospital," Rachel said.

"Are you ok?" Quinn asked.

"I will be," Rachel answered.

"What do you need me for? Get one of your parents to take you."

"They're not here," Rachel said.

"Oh yeah," Quinn commented. Rachel had been boasting for the last two days about having her house to herself.

"If I have to call them they're going to think that I can't handle being alone and I'll never get to stay by myself again," Rachel said.

Quinn rolled her eyes. That was stupid. Leave it to Rachel to have the perfect parents and then complain about them wanting to be around.

"What does any of this have to do with me?" Quinn asked.

"I need an adult to take me to the hospital," Rachel said. "If I can get my hand looked at and patched up tonight, I can hide it for the rest of the week and my parents won't find out."

"How are you going to hide it?" Quinn asked skeptically.

"I'll figure it out," Rachel said. "Please, Quinn."

"I don't know how I'm supposed to help," Quinn said. "I'm not an adult; I can't take you to the hospital."

"But you can look like an adult," Rachel said. "You're already pregnant and so all you have to do is dress more grown up. You can be my older sister."

"Rachel, this is stupid," Quinn said. "Call you parents or a neighbor or Kurt or something."

"Quinn, come on, please," Rachel pleaded. "It'll work, I know it will. All you have to do is show up and sign the papers. Think of it as an acting exercise."

"Rachel…" Quinn sighed.

"Please. I bet it'll only take a couple of hours and I'll buy you dinner or something. Whatever you want," Rachel said.

Quinn shut her eyes and then looked around at the Puckerman's basement and sighed again. If nothing else, it would be nice to get out.

"Fine," Quinn said.

"Thank you!" Rachel said excitedly. "Remember to dress like an adult and come and get me. And hurry because my hand really hurts."

"Ok," Quinn said. "I'll be there soon."

"Ok, bye!"

Quinn hung up and got up from her bed and headed towards her makeshift closet. "She's nuts."

It was half an hour before Quinn got to the Rachel's house and the younger girl was really starting to get anxious. Her hand hurt and she really wanted to get it taken care of. And she needed to be home before her mom called that night.

"Thank you, Quinn," Rachel said as soon as she got in the car.

"Whatever," Quinn replied. "Don't get blood all over my car."

"I won't, I promise," Rachel told her. Her hand was still wrapped in the dish cloth and she held it close to her chest.

The ride to the hospital was in silence and when they got there, Rachel turned to Quinn before they could get out of the car.

"Remember, you're my older sister. You're nineteen and our parents are out of town," Rachel instructed.

"I got it," Quinn said. "I still think this is crazy, but I've got it."

"It'll work. Come on."

The plan was working brilliantly and no one questioned them when they were signing in. Rachel's vitals were taken and her hand was looked at and she was sent back to the waiting room to sit with Quinn.

Quinn opted to wait when Rachel was called back by a nurse and she opened a magazine and settled in. Rachel followed the woman back to a room and sat on the exam room table and held her hand out for the nurse to look at.

"That looks like it's going to need some stitches," the nurse, Wanda, said.

Rachel nodded her head and sighed. She has suspected as much, but she had hoped it might not be true.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Wanda asked.

"I scraped it on a nail that was sticking out from a shelf," Rachel answered. "I didn't notice it until after I'd cut my hand."

"It got you good," Wanda nodded.

A doctor was walking by the room and glanced in and only got two more steps before he stopped and went back. He looked in again and watched as Wanda inspected the girl's hand. He didn't want to go in, but waited until Wanda came out so he could talk to her.

"What's wrong with that girl?" the doctor asked.

"She cut her hand on a nail," Wanda answered. "It's going to require stitches and probably a tetanus shot."

"Where are her parents?" the doctor asked.

"Her older sister brought her in," Wanda answered. "She's in the waiting room."

"Her older sister?"

"That's what she said," Wanda shrugged. "That's who signed her in."

"Will you point her out to me?" the doctor asked.

"Sure," Wanda said. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she was happy to comply. They walked to the door leading to the waiting room and Wanda pointed Quinn out. "That's her sister right there. The one reading the magazine."

The doctor pursed his lips and turned back to Wanda. "Thanks. Can you get her hand prepped to be cleaned and for the stitches and then get Dr. Foster and ask her to do them?"

"Of course," Wanda said. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, but let me get all the details and I will fill you in," the doctor told her.

"You got it," Wanda said.

The two went their separate ways and the doctor picked up the nearest phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Honey," he greeted when his wife picked up the phone. "I need you to find some numbers for me."

Rachel was trying to be as patient as possible, but she was worried that this was all taking too long. She had to be home before her mother called or she'd be in trouble. She was relieved when Wanda finally did return and started the slow process of cleaning the cut out.

The doctor opened the door to the waiting room and strode in purposefully and confidently. He walked right over to Quinn and cleared his throat.

Quinn looked up at the tall doctor standing over her and gulped. Oh crap!

"Hi, Dr. Lopez."

"Hi, Quinn. Come with me. I think we need to have a talk."

Quinn put her magazine down and followed Santana's father from the room. She knew this was a stupid idea and she planned to kill Rachel Berry as soon as she could get her hands on her.

Shelby was just getting in a car when her phone rang. The number wasn't familiar to her and she almost ignored it, but something told her to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Shelby Corcoran?"

Shelby groaned internally. "Who is this?"

"This is Dr. John Lopez. Santana Lopez's father."

"Oh yes. Hello," Shelby said in a more pleasant tone since she actually knew the man. "What can I do for you?"

"I need to talk to you about your daughter Rachel. We have her here at Lima Memorial Hospital."

"What?" Shelby's heart rate quickened. "Is she ok?"

"She's fine," Dr. Lopez told her. "It seems as if she cut her hand and is going to need stitches."

"Oh my god," Shelby said. "How serious is that? How did she do it? Do you need to do anything else?"

"It's not serious at all," Dr. Lopez assured her. "The cut is being cleaned as we speak and our best plastic surgeon is on the job for the stitches. That's not all I need to talk to you about though."

"Oh? What's going on?"

"We have a bit of problem concerning how your daughter came to the hospital."

Quinn sat in tiny consultation room and listened as her best friend's father told Rachel's mother what was going on. If there was anything good for Quinn in this whole situation it was that at least she knew that neither of her parents were going to come and get her. She'd endure the lecture and then go home to the Puckerman's basement. Who knows what Rachel's parents were going to do to her; not that Quinn actually cared. This was all Rachel's fault in the first place.

The door to the room suddenly opened and Quinn looked up and saw Maribel Lopez walk in and give her a hard glance. Quinn felt scolded just from that look and she dropped her eyes down to the table. Shit.

Rachel was really starting to grow antsy. Stiches had been put in her hand ages ago and it had been wrapped and she assumed she was going home sometime soon. But it had been well over an hour since that had happened. She'd been told to stay in the room and every time she asked if she could leave soon she was told she had to be signed out by the doctor and the woman that did her stitches hadn't been back since. She'd hoped that maybe Quinn would have come back to see her or find out what was going on, but she hadn't seen any sign of her. She really hoped she hadn't been left there alone.

Another glance at her phone told her that she only had another hour before her mother was supposed to call. She was already supposed to be home right now. The last thing she wanted was to be in trouble because her parents found out she wasn't home when she was supposed to be.

Rachel heard voices outside the room and she looked at the door in the hopes that it was someone coming to tell her she could go home. Her hopeful look quickly changed to one of shock and trepidation when she saw who was standing in the doorway.

"Mom?!"

A/N – That is all for this one. I really hope you guys liked this chapter. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think. I really do appreciate all of your feedback.

And I just wanted to make a note about the section with Finn. I wanted to write something that would honor Cory a little bit. His death was terrible. It's no secret that I don't care for Finn the character, but I thought that Cory was a gifted actor and he was undeniably a part of the original cast that made the show so great and fun when it started. I liked Finn in the beginning when he was just tall and goofy and awkward. It was after they turned Rachel into Mrs. Finn all the time and he could do absolutely no wrong that I stopped liking the character. In my opinion, Rachel and Finn never worked together as a couple. They were a silly high school romance that never should have developed into a serious couple. I want to be clear that this story will not pair Rachel with Finn. I don't know if it's really come across to you guys, but I don't care so much about the romantic pairings. At least not the ones presented on the show. But this is how I knew to honor Cory because I quite liked him as an actor and as a part of the original Glee family. RIP, Cory.