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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"Are you sure we can't just stay in the car?" Rachel asked as her grandparents pulled into the driveway at her mother's house.
"I'm sure," Emily got out of the car and watched as her husband grabbed Rachel's bags out of the trunk. Finally opening the door to the back seat Emily pointed to the house. "Out Rachel. Your mother won't be home for another couple of hours and we are not going to wait for her camped out in the driveway."
Sighing heavily, Rachel followed her grandparents to the front door and was surprised when her grandmother pulled out a house key and let them all in. "Go put your things away in your room, get changed if you want, and then you are to come back down here." Emily directed.
"Can't I just stay in my room?" Rachel asked hopefully.
"Nope." Emily bit the inside of her cheek at Rachel's expression. "You will be hanging out with us until your mother gets home."
"Why?" Rachel whined.
"Because I said so." Emily's eyebrow raised and Rachel quickly moved to do as she was told. Nothing good ever came of her mother's raised eyebrow and she imagined nothing good ever came from her grandmother's raised eyebrow either.
"That was mean, Emily." Theo came up behind his wife and hugged her from behind.
"She's too much like Shelby not to be a flight risk," Emily answered simply as Theo's laughter filled the room.
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Rachel had been pouting since her arrival home. Her grandparents had only let her out of their sight when she needed to use the restroom and even then she had the strangest feeling she was being timed.
They had eaten dinner and were now watching something about ancient Egypt on the TV. Her grandfather enjoyed the history of Egypt and Rachel knew no matter what might be on the screen she wouldn't be able to focus anyway. Looking at the clock Rachel sighed. Her mother was due home at any time and Rachel was ready to bolt for self-preservation if needed.
Hearing the door from the garage open, Rachel sat up in her chair and looked towards the kitchen. As much as she wanted to run she could seem to pull her eyes away from that area of the house. Hearing her mother's heels clacking on the kitchen floor until Shelby kicked them off hadn't helped either.
All eyes were are the arch that led from the kitchen into the living room. Shelby entered silently and took in the scene in front of her. Her daughter looked like a deer caught in headlights, her doe eyes opened wide in fear. Her mother had an obvious smirk on her face that let Shelby know payback was a bitch and her father merely smiled at her knowingly.
"I'm home," Shelby finally announced to the room.
"Well then, I think you're father and I will head to bed," Emily started to stand and was quickly pushed back onto the couch by a flying Rachel.
"No, Bubbe, you can't leave me alone with her. There won't be witnesses if you leave." Rachel's eyes pleaded with her grandmother.
"I am not going to kill you tonight, Rachel. I am far too tired for that." Shelby spoke again and rolled her eyes as her father laughed when Rachel looked at Shelby in disbelief.
"Are you going to kill me tomorrow, Mama?"
"I haven't decided yet," Shelby deadpanned.
Theo stood and pulled Rachel off of her grandmother, "Since you aren't going to be killed tonight, Rachel, I think your grandmother and I will go to bed."
"No!" Rachel threw herself at her grandfather. "I mean, she's an actress. She's as good if not better than me. Can we really trust that show face?"
Emily's laughter filled the room as Shelby put her fingers on the bridge of her nose. Still laughing Emily moved around the couch and pulled her daughter into a hug, giving her a kiss to the temple, "Good luck, Shelby. I think you're going to need it. We'll see you in the morning."
"Good night, Mom," Shelby replied as her father finally got away from Rachel and kissed his daughter before following his wife up the stairs.
Backing up Rachel put her hands up trying to placate Shelby who was now approaching her, "Now Mama, let's not do anything rash. After all, it would be awful to kill me after spending so many years apart."
"I told you that I'm not going to do anything tonight, Rachel," Shelby finally reached her daughter and pulled her into a hug.
"I love you, Rachel, but you really crossed the line this weekend." Sitting down on the couch Shelby pulled Rachel close to her. "I am not going to ask you what you were thinking but I have a pretty good idea. However, you need to call your dads. After all it is their credit card that you used."
"They found out, huh?" Rachel asked quietly.
"It seems the credit card company called Hiram to ask about the charges. He then called me asking if you were heading to a competition in Columbus."
"Oh," Rachel sighed. "I'm surprised he bothered calling you. It wouldn't have surprised me if he'd just have let it go and paid the bill."
"Rachel your dads love you. I know they haven't been easily available but there are better ways to get their attention." Shelby kissed the top of Rachel's head and brushed back the loose hair from Rachel's face.
"Maybe," Rachel shrugged. "Now what?"
"Now you call your dads and then you and I will catch up a bit before I tuck you in for the night."
"Do I have to call them?" Rachel asked.
"You do." Shelby reached behind her and handed Rachel the house phone. "Call Hiram, Rachel. He's expecting your call."
Dialing the familiar number Rachel didn't have to wait long for Hiram to answer. "Rachel, thank God you're alright. What on Earth were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that I wanted to have some fun with my friends and take my mind off the fact that my fathers are a few thousand miles away and have been lying to me," Rachel volleyed back.
"Rachel," Hiram tried.
"No Daddy, it's true. You and Dad haven't told me the whole truth about Dad being sick. I figure if you can lie to me about this then there must have been a lot of other things you lied to me about too."
"Just a minute, young lady." Hiram Berry's voice became firm. "Just because your father and I are trying to protect you from the worst of his illness does not give you carte blanche to lie to your mother and take off for a Lady Gaga concert in Columbus."
"Why not? It's not like you even care what I'm doing anymore." Rachel's voice rose. "Every time I try to talk with you you're too busy for me. Guess what, Daddy, I'm too busy for you now!" Ending the call Rachel gulped when she saw the look in her mother's eyes.
"Go to your room and get ready for bed. We will talk in a few minutes."
"Mama…"
"Now."
The raised eyebrow made Rachel scoot from the couch and head up the stairs as quickly and quietly as possible. Her mother may not have made plans to kill her tonight but she was betting that she would die in the morning.
Sighing heavily, Shelby hit redial and waited. "No Hiram, it's Shelby. Yes, I agree that what Rachel did wasn't helpful and didn't solve anything. I know that you're upset and angry. I am too, but yelling at her now is not going to solve anything." Shelby listened as Hiram spoke to her and then shook her head. "Hiram, I told you that leaving Rachel in the dark was only going to lead to more upset for her. I am going to tuck her in now and I will have her call you tomorrow. Don't worry, she will know that I don't find her behavior tonight acceptable, but you and LeRoy are going to have to talk to her if you want to make this better. Give LeRoy my hellos. Goodbye."
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Shelby put the phone back on the charger and slowly headed up the stairs. Deciding to change into more comfortable clothes she did the majority of her nightly routine before heading to her daughter's bedroom dressed now in a comfortable tank top and pair of shorts.
Knocking as she entered Rachel's room she found Rachel lying on her bed clutching her rabbit closely ignoring the noise coming from her laptop. Shaking her head Shelby answered the Skype and looked into the face of Hiram and LeRoy Berry.
"Where's Rachel?" Hiram asked.
"She'll be here in a moment," Shelby answered. Moving to the bed Shelby rubbed Rachel's back. "Come on Rachel, your fathers are on Skype and want to talk."
"So?" Feeling a hard swat to her bottom Rachel slowly sat up and looked at her mother. "I guess I have to talk with them?"
"I guess you do," Shelby affirmed.
Shelby watched as Rachel dragged herself to her desk. "Sit down, Rachel."
Sitting in her desk chair Rachel finally looked at the laptop. The faces of her fathers stared back at her and Rachel had to hold the tears when she saw how much weight her dad had lost. A stocking cap covered his head and his normal skin tone was lighter than usual. "Hello Daddies."
"We are going to finish our conversation, Rachel," Hiram stated giving his daughter a stern look.
Rachel rolled her eyes at the screen.
"Do not roll your eyes at us, young lady," LeRoy spoke calmly and firmly. "We know that you are upset with us but that does not excuse this behavior. Anything could have happened to you and your friends, Rachel. Anything."
"Nothing happened and we enjoyed the concert," Rachel stated pointedly ignoring her mother's reaction from where she sat observing and listening on the bed.
Hiram tutted into the camera. "Alright Rachel this is what is going to happen. You are going to give your mother the credit card. We will let you know when you can have it back."
"Fine." Standing up Rachel grabbed her purse and removed the card in front of the camera before getting up again and handing it to Shelby. "Anything else?"
"Yes," LeRoy interjected. "You have lost your phone for the week. Give it to your mother."
"What? But I need it for safety," Rachel protested.
"We'll work it out, Rachel." Shelby moved to the desk. "Do what your fathers told you to do."
"Fine." Rachel took the phone from her purse and stopped herself from slamming it into her mother's palm.
"Your father and I have also agreed that you are grounded for two weeks, Rachel," Hiram spoke again.
"You can't!" Rachel protested. "You aren't even here to enforce it. I shouldn't be grounded."
"Would you rather be grounded for a month, Rachel?" Shelby asked. "Under my rules?"
"No Mama," Rachel toned down her attitude as much as she could. "I'm sorry I yelled."
"Thank you," Hiram spoke again.
"Now what?" Rachel asked.
"Now we want you to ask any question you have about my illness and treatment." LeRoy offered. "We don't want you to feel the need to call the nurses to get a progress report."
"Why did you lie to me?" Rachel asked.
"We wanted to protect you, princess," Hiram spoke again. "We still aren't sure how this experimental treatment is going to affect your dad each day and on his bad days we wanted to spare you from seeing that."
"I understand that," Rachel admitted. "But you could have told me that Dad doesn't remember sometimes. Instead you ignored me and cut me off, that hurt."
"We're sorry, princess. That was never our intention. We just wanted to protect you," LeRoy spoke this time.
"Will you just tell me next time that Dad can't talk because he's having a bad day? I'll understand."
"We will," LeRoy promised. "And Shelby," he waited for her to look at the screen. "We wanted to apologize for avoiding you as well. We just thought it would be easier if you didn't know everything too because we didn't want to ask you to hide things from Rachel."
"I understand but no more secrets, boys," Shelby teased. "I have to live with Rachel currently and my hand may not last if she keeps testing me because she's upset with you."
Chuckling at Rachel's blush her dads nodded. "We promise, Shelby." Hiram spoke for both of them. "Rachel do you have any other questions?"
"A few."
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Rachel logged off her laptop and turned to face her mother. "At least they answered all of my questions."
"They did," Shelby patted the bed next to her and waited for Rachel to sit down. "Are you feeling better about things now?"
"A little bit I guess."
"Good. Just remember that you can ask me or your dads anything."
"I will, Mama." Leaning her head on Shelby's shoulder Rachel yawned. "Did V.A. win?"
"Of course," Shelby chuckled. "I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Right now, it's late and you need to go to bed."
"Are you going to kill me tomorrow?" Rachel asked quietly.
"I told you that I hadn't decided yet," Shelby teased. Kissing her daughter on her temple Shelby helped Rachel stand and then pulled back the bed covers. "In you get, little girl." Handing Rachel her rabbit Shelby sat down on the bed and brushed Rachel's hair from her face. "I am not going to kill you, Rachel. We will be having a very long discussion however."
"And my punishment? From you I mean," Rachel clarified.
"We'll talk about that tomorrow as well."
"Okay," Rachel yawned again. "Will you stay and sing to me?" she asked quietly.
Nodding, Shelby allowed Rachel to scoot over before climbing into the bed with her. Running her hands through Rachel's hair Shelby began to hum before starting a gentle lullaby. Rachel feel asleep quickly and Shelby scooted down further into the bed managing to get comfortable next to her daughter before falling asleep herself."
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Thanks for all the PMs, and alerts for this story.