I do not own Glee or any of the characters created by Ryan Murphy. If I did we would see way more of Shelby. This story will contain spanking of a teenager. If that's not your thing stop reading now and go read something else.
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Rachel lay in bed and stared at her ceiling. It was only Tuesday and she was already going crazy. Her mother's idea of being grounded and her fathers' idea were totally different animals.
With Shelby, Rachel had been given and early bedtime and was only allowed to use her cell phone to talk or text her dads. She had managed to sneak it a couple of times to keep up with Kurt, but knew if she'd been caught Shelby wouldn't have been happy. In addition to those horrors there was no TV at all, including movies, and forget using her laptop, iPad, or iPod.
Turning onto her side Rachel looked at her clock. 9:03 p.m. She had been put to bed at eight-thirty tonight instead of the usual nine due to her attitude. Rachel hadn't felt she'd had an attitude, but her mother disagreed. Apparently stomping your foot and telling your mom to leave you alone was a major no-no.
Giving up on sleep Rachel finally slid from her bed. Opening her bedroom door she noticed a light coming from her mom's office. Deciding that she wanted to check her emails, Rachel headed to the dining room. That's where mother had placed Rachel's laptop along with the rest of her electronics and it only took the girl a moment to reach it and turn on her laptop.
Sitting down, Rachel had her laptop on and her emails up quickly. Answering one from her dads, Rachel then moved on to her Facebook page, and YouTube account. She was so immersed in her online activity that she didn't notice her mother entering the room until the overhead light was turned on.
"Is there some life or death situation happening on your computer, Rachel?"
Rachel jumped at the lights and then again at the sound of her mother's voice. "Mama?"
"Well, is there something life or death happening on that computer?" Shelby demanded.
"No."
"No, ma'am," Shelby countered.
"No, ma'am," Rachel amended.
Moving across the room easily, Shelby turned off Rachel's laptop and then gathered it along with the other electronics on the table. Taking them to the china cupboard in the corner of the room, Shelby placed them on top of the piece of furniture. The woman then turned and stared at her daughter. "With me, young lady."
Following her mother slowly Rachel stopped at the foot of the stairs not following her mother up them. "No."
"Excuse me?" Shelby crossed her arms and stared down at her daughter.
"I couldn't sleep because of the ungodly hour you sent me to bed," Rachel began. "It's not my fault that I'm not ready to go to sleep at eight-thirty."
"So you decided to disobey me even further by getting on your laptop?"
"I decided to do something other than be bored!" Rachel protested. "You were in your office so I decided to check my email and update some of my web pages."
Shelby slowly made her way down the stairs causing Rachel to back up. "And yet, you did that knowing you weren't to be using any of your electronics since you are grounded."
"It's not fair," Rachel protested stomping her foot for emphasis. "My dads would have let me off by now and they never make me go to bed early or take my electronics when I'm grounded."
"I am not your fathers, Rachel."
"Believe me I am aware of that!" Rachel huffed and crossed her arms. "You're just being a big meanie and I'm tired of it. I don't want to be grounded anymore, I hate it!" Rachel shouted.
Seeing the look on her mother's face too late, Rachel tried to run but stopped at the glare and tone her mother used. "Don't you ever raise your voice to me like that again, Rachel Barbra. I am the mother, you are the child, and you will not disrespect me in that manner."
Grabbing her daughter by the arm, Shelby marched the girl to the nearest corner. "Stay here until I tell you otherwise, Rachel. We both need to calm down."
Saying nothing, Rachel shifted when her mother walked away. Sniffing slightly, Rachel wondered how everything had exploded so much in such a short amount of time. She'd never yelled at her dads, then again, they had never really punished her. In fact, they did everything they could to make sure she was always happy and had everything she ever wanted. They never really punished her other than an occasional lecture and all it usually took was a heartfelt sorry and showing them her best puppy dog eyes for all to be forgiven.
Rachel sniffed again and was surprised find her face wet when she wiped at her nose. Frustrated and confused she wiped the tears from her eyes. She didn't know why she was crying but she did know that she had made her mother so angry she had placed her in a time out like a little girl. Wondering what would happen next Rachel hoped her mother didn't regret allowing her to stay.
Feeling a gentle squeeze to her shoulder Rachel turned around and fell into her mother's arms. Neither said anything while Shelby led the teen to the couch. Sitting down, Shelby pulled Rachel to her and held the girl close.
"I think we need talk, sweetie," Shelby began. "I need to know what's going on in that head of yours."
"Are you mad at me?" Rachel blurted.
"No, Rachel. I am disappointed that you chose to disobey me and yell at me. I am not happy about those decisions either, but I need to know why you did it in the first place."
Rachel shrugged, "I don't know."
"That's not good enough, Rachel. I need an answer."
"I guess," Rachel took a deep breath. "I guess I need to make sure that you aren't going to leave me again no matter what I do."
Rachel was surprised by her answer and apparently so was her mother if Shelby's expression was any indication. "Oh, baby." Shelby's arms were around her daughter in seconds.
"I am so sorry," Shelby began. "I promise, Rachel, you are wanted and I will never leave you again. I was an idiot for walking away before and if I could do it over again, I'd tell Will Shuester to stuff it and …."
"What do you mean?" Rachel interjected.
"Will talked to me after I came back into your life. He made all of my insecurities about being good enough for you come raging back to life. All of my doubts. I never should have listened to him, baby. I am so sorry I let my own doubts cloud what my heart was telling me. I promise you that I will never do that to us again."
"You mean you wanted to be in my life?"
Shelby nodded. "I was talking to him about how much I couldn't wait to get to know you…" Shelby trailed off.
"And he felt the need to get involved didn't he?" Rachel demanded.
Shelby nodded, "Like I said he pushed all of my buttons bringing all the doubt I'd had back to the surface in a big way. I can never apologize enough for hurting you in the manner I did, Rachel."
"You wouldn't have to if he'd kept his mouth shut," Rachel huffed. "Always thinks he knows what's best but is really just looking out for him. I bet he played it like it might not be good for me, right?"
Shelby nodded slowly.
"Yeah, just afraid he'd lose his female lead to you." Rachel wrapped her arms around her mother. "I don't think he would have," Rachel finally said quietly. "But he wasn't about to let me come to decisions on my own, especially after he knew you'd helped me with the Lady Gaga dress."
Shelby kissed the top of her daughter's head. "I have always loved you, Rachel." The woman's voice was soft. "I promise you that I will never leave you again. You were with me yesterday at the lawyers, after all, when I signed the papers reinstating my parental rights."
"I know," Rachel tried to curl into her mother more than she was and wished she was small enough to crawl onto the woman's lap. "And I still can't believe it's really happening. A part of me just feels like…"
"I could still change my mind?"
Rachel nodded and buried her face in her mother's neck. The tears were back and Shelby rubbed her daughter's back as she held her. "It's not going to happen, Rachel. I am not leaving you again, you are stuck with me, forever," she whispered.
Finally feeling her daughter calming Shelby grabbed a box of tissues from the table next to her and pushed the girl back. Cleaning off Rachel's face she kissed the teen's forehead and smiled. "Better?"
"A bit." Rachel gave a shy smile.
"Good, because we still need to talk about you disobeying me and that wonderful temper tantrum you threw a while ago."
"Would it help to say I'm sorry?" Rachel's chocolate eyes looked into her mother's hazel.
"Do you mean it?" Shelby countered.
"Yes," Rachel looked at her hand and began to play with the ring Shelby was wearing as she grasped her mother's hand. "I really don't like being grounded."
"I think that's been established," Shelby's voice was even. "That still doesn't give you the right to yell at me, or outright disobey me."
"I know." Rachel kept her attention on her mother's ring.
"You know there are consequences for your actions, right?"
"I figured," Rachel shrugged and linked her hand with her mother's.
"You will not get your electronics back until next Monday," Shelby began only to stop when Rachel sighed heavily. "Rachel?"
"Nothing, go on, Mama." The girl wasn't happy but knew better than to argue right now.
Shelby raised an eyebrow at Rachel's directive but decided to continue anyway. "Since it seems that you having difficulties with too much free time I think cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom will help with that."
"Cleaning the kitchen?" Rachel risked a look at her mother and immediately focused again on their still joined hands at the look she saw. "What exactly do you mean by that, Mama?"
"I mean you are going to scrub the floors, clean the countertops, clean out the drawers and the cupboards. And if you still have too much time on your hands, I'm sure that I can find more for you to do."
"Do I have to use a toothbrush too?" Rachel asked cockily.
"Do you want to?" Shelby's voice was even.
"No, ma'am."
"Then I suggest you not push it, Rachel."
Rachel nodded in understanding. "Now what?" she finally asked.
"Now you head back to your room and I'll be up to tuck you in shortly." Giving Rachel another kiss to the temple Shelby smiled at her daughter. "Go on."
Rachel slowly extracted herself from her mother's grasp and dragged herself up the stairs to await her.
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Thanks once more for the support for my first GLEE fic. To all those who have added this story to their lists: thanks a bunch.