It was the following weekend and Shelby and Rachel had simply been making it through the week. They ha bonded the previous weekend but even Shelby knew that a lot more time was needed.

They had fallen into a routine. The mornings were challenging but they managed, often without any fallouts. The routine was; Shelby woke Rach up and the girl showered. They ate breakfast together before heading to Sarah's. Shelby would then make her way to Akron while Rachel would go to Lima with Derek. After glee, Rachel would go home with Derek and wait for Shelby. Once Shelby arrive, they would go back to Mansfield. It was tiring but they made it work.

Once they arrived home, Shelby would make dinner and Rachel relaxed. She often ensured that she finished her homework at Ally's to get some free time. Shelby had reduced her hours with VA and given more responsibility to her assistant to ensure that when she returned home, she could spend the rest of her time with Rachel.

Shelby woke up and yawned. She stretched and looked at her clock. It was almost 11 o'clock! She cursed to herself and swung her legs out of bed. She was a mother now, she couldn't just stay in bed all day. Shelby needed to find out where Rachel was. She headed to the living room first and noticed Rachel wasn't there. She then walked into the kitchen but everything was as it was last night. Running up the stairs, she checked the studios but again her daughter was not insight. She was worrying now and nervously put her hand through her hair. Where the hell was her daughter? She noticed the main bathroom door was open so she wasn't in there but on closer inspection she realised that the girl hadn't even had a shower which was very unlike her. Shelby gently knocked on the bedroom door and opened it when she hadn't received an answer. She smiled when she saw her daughter cocooned into the covers. She laughed. Why hadn't she just checked the bedroom in the first place?

Shelby clambered into bed with her daughter realising that a quick cuddle wouldn't hurt. She soon noticed Rachel started to wake up.

"Morning sweetie" Shelby said and Rachel mumbled something incoherent before turning towards her mother and snuggling closer to her. Shelby smiled and laughed.

"How long have you been here?" Rachel asked 5 minutes later when she had come to.

"Just 10 minutes or so" Shelby admitted "I was surprised to see that you were still sleeping"

"I'm just so tired" Rachel said and Shelby nodded as she played with her daughter's hair.

"Are these early mornings too much for you?" Shelby asked. "Do you want to move to another school? To Carmel?"

"No I don't want to move" Rachel insisted and Shelby nodded.

"It's just a suggestion. I think you should think about it thought" Shelby said as she continued to play with the girl's hair.

"I'm fine. I just couldn't sleep earlier in the week because I was worried what my dads' had done" She explained and Shelby nodded.

"How do you feel now?" Shelby asked. Throughout the week they had had many conversations about the men but this was the first time Shelby had become aware that it was affecting her daughter's sleep.

"Okay, I have realised that I can't do anything until they are found" Rachel explained and Shelby nodded.

"I'll chase them up on Monday but if you have any issues with your sleep again, I want you to come to me. No matter what time it is, I want you to feel you can come to my room" Shelby explained and Rachel nodded. She loved how her mom was always trying to help her. If she was nervous or upset about something, Shelby wanted to know and would do what she could to help.

"Has anyone at school said anything about your fathers?" Shelby asked "Have you told them?"

Rachel shook her head. Who would she tell anyway? She hadn't even told them that she was living with Shelby now. Shelby noticed the silence and uneasy look on Rachel's face so decided to change the subject.

"How's glee going?" Shelby asked.

"I don't know if I can speak about it" Rachel admitted nervously.

"Of course you can. I get that you probably don't want to share set lists with me but you can still speak to me and I will always help you vocally and with dance routines and technique" Shelby explained and Rachel smiled.

Rachel then went on to tell Shelby how challenging it had been setting up the new club and that they had struggled to find people to join the team. She explained about the dance assembly they had done prior to Shelby getting custody of her. Shelby was in shock that they had been allowed to dance like that but didn't feel it was her place to say especially now it had been done. Rachel then moved onto speaking about a boy she had managed to convince to join glee club. Shelby raised an eyebrow as she was told her daughter had entered the shower room to hear him sing. But deep-down Shelby was just so relieved that Rachel was accepting her and speaking to her.

Soon they headed down the stairs and Shelby started on breakfast. She made breakfast while Rachel continued to speak to her. Shelby was so relieved that the girl was starting to settle down here and seemed to be more like herself.

Once they had eaten they both got ready before watching some TV and relaxing.

"Rach you know how you said that you think the cheerleaders are only joining glee to be spies?" Shelby asked and Rachel nodded. Her mother could actually remember what she had told her. That made Rachel smile.

"Do they treat you badly?" Shelby asked and Rachel bit her lip.

"We aren't like VA, we aren't thought of highly" Rachel said shrugging.

"What do they do?" Shelby asked.

"Just the norm, name calling, picking on me, slushies" Rachel stated.

"Slushies?" Shelby asked clearly confused.

"Throw slushies at me" Rachel clarified.

"No way, you are kidding me. I am going straight to the school. That is completely unacceptable" Shelby was off on a rant now.

"You listen to me baby, mommy is going to fix this" She said pulling Rachel into her arms. She was shaking with rage. How dare someone do this to her baby girl.

"What do you want to do this afternoon?" Shelby mumbled into her daughter's hair and Rachel shrugged.

"I just want you" She admitted and Shelby smiled. There was nothing better that she wanted to hear. Her baby just wanted her. She could offer the girl everything she needed.

"I think we should try and get some fresh air and then we can snuggle up and watch a film?" Shelby suggested and Rachel nodded. That sounded like a good idea and she would still get her mom to herself.

They ended up going to Malabar Farm and went for a lovely walk. Rachel had never been there before so they did the wagon trail and looked around the farm. Shelby loved seeing Rachel so happy and took a lot of enjoyment out of taking pictures of the girl smiling.

They then returned home and put Funny Girl on. Shelby could tell that the girl was in a cuddly mood and she was more than happy to snuggle with her. Shelby put her arms around her daughter and they drifted into a relaxed silence as they watched the film.

Once it was finished, Shelby got a takeout as it was late and she couldn't be bothered cooking.

"Can you go and get your dirty washing for me?" Shelby whispered into her daughter's ear. Rachel nodded and did as she was asked without needing to be asked twice. She then helped Shelby divide them into whites and colours. Shelby noticed that some of Rachel's clothes looked really old, some even had holes in them.

"Do you think we need to go shopping for more clothes?" Shelby asked softly and Rachel shrugged but blushed.

"My dad's didn't really like going shopping with me. They'd give me money if I asked but I found shopping hard" Rachel admitted and Shelby nodded.

"Well why don't you come to Akron with me tomorrow and we can go shopping before my rehearsal. Then during rehearsal you can either hang out in my office or watch the rehearsal" Shelby explained and Rachel nodded. She wanted to see her mother in action.

Once the washing was sorted, they watched some reality TV and ate their Chinese before heading up to bed. Both were still shattered even though they hadn't been up for that long.