A/N – Hi everyone. I know it's been a while. I'm sorry about that. The last part of the year was pretty rough for me, especially as we got into the holiday season. I just couldn't bring myself to write anything. I am doing better though and am feeling good. I hope to be able to keep it up and continue on with both stories. Please stick with me.

Thank you all so much for the reviews and messages asking about the story and how I'm doing. I truly appreciate it. And thank you for the thoughts about the stories. I love getting to see what everyone is thinking and how they feel about what's going on. You guys are the best.

Disclaimer – I don't own Glee.

Shelby was exhausted by the time she and Rachel entered their apartment and flopped down on the couch together. If her phone was any indication, her day was far from over. She had been receiving constant texts and phones calls since they left the St. James residence, but Shelby had been ignoring all of them to focus on Rachel. The little girl in question seemed a bit dazed and finally shrugged her jacket off and snuggled close to Shelby.

"Mom?" Rachel asked.

"Yes, my love?" Shelby wrapped her arm around Rachel and kissed her head.

"Why were you and Ms. Martha yelling at each other? Is it because we ran away from the school?" Rachel was looking at Shelby with large, earnest eyes. "It's all my fault, isn't it? Those men with the cameras kept talking to me and I didn't know what was going on and I got scared. I think Jesse was scared too."

"Hey now," Shelby said soothingly as she turned so she could face Rachel so they could talk. "None of this is your fault. Those men should never have been at the school. And Ms. Martha and I had a disagreement, but I'm sure it'll get worked out. Don't worry about anything."

"What if I can't see Jesse again?" Rachel asked. "He was mad at me too, I think."

"You and Jesse will see each other again," Shelby said. "You both have school tomorrow. And I don't think he's mad at you; he's just confused like you are."

"Do I have to go to school tomorrow?" Rachel asked. "Can't I just stay here with you?"

Shelby wanted nothing more than for her and Rachel to be able to hide away, but she knew that the news and cameras would just hound them more if they did that. Shelby had to show that she was in complete control of the situation and hiding the very next day would just make people want to find them even more.

"Yeah, you gotta go to school tomorrow," Shelby confirmed. "I will take you and pick you up."

"Let's go see Gram and ride the horses instead," Rachel suggested. "Please."

"Maybe we can do that this weekend," Shelby said. "But until then, you've got to go to school every day."

Rachel sighed and leaned back against the couch and turned her pout towards Shelby so the woman could see.

"Sorry, kiddo," Shelby said.

Rachel's pout soon disappeared and a yawn replaced it. Shelby glanced at the clock and saw it was only 5:52. She couldn't believe it was so early. She would have believed it if it had read midnight.

"Rach, I want to talk to you about something real quick," Shelby told her. She waited until she had the girl's full attention before she went on. "Leroy is probably coming over here tonight."

"What? Why? Is he taking me away?" Rachel asked, starting to panic. "I didn't mean to run away! Please don't let him take me back! You have to tell him we have a contract." Tears welled in the girl's eyes and soon made their way down her cheeks.

"Whoa, calm down," Shelby soothed. She picked Rachel up and put her on her lap and squeezed the girl to her. She didn't mean to upset her, but Shelby knew she had to prepare Rachel and it would have been worse if Leroy just showed up. Rachel clung on with arms wrapped tightly around Shelby's neck. "He's not going to take you away. Please don't cry, sweetheart. He just wants to talk about all of this. He has to make sure you're okay."

"I'm okay," Rachel cried. "I promise I'm okay."

"Hopefully it'll just be a quick visit and then he will go," Shelby said. "Please don't cry, Rach."

Rachel let go of Shelby's neck and sat back. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Shelby said. She reached out and wiped Rachel's tears from her cheeks. "I'm sorry today turned out like it did and I'm going to do my best to fix it all. But in the meantime we've got to carry on like normal."

"Will all of those people with the cameras be at school again?" Rachel asked.

"Probably," Shelby answered honestly. "At least for a few days. But they won't be able to get close to you like they did today. I'm going to work that out and make sure you and Jesse and the other kids are protected."

"And you'll take me to school and pick me up, right?" Rachel questioned.

"Yes, I will," Shelby told her. "I will be there every day."

Rachel nodded and leaned down and rested her head against Shelby's chest. The pair sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Shelby decided to move the evening along. If they sat there much longer she was worried they would both fall asleep.

"Alright love, I want you to go and take a quick bath or shower and then get your pajamas on," Shelby said.

"But we haven't even had dinner yet," Rachel pointed out.

"I know," Shelby said. "I'll make us something while you're having a bath. After that we need to get your homework done and maybe we can put on a movie before bed."

"Okay!" Rachel said excitedly. Her whole demeanor changed at the mention of watching a movie. She jumped up and hurried off to the bathroom.

Shelby waited until she heard the water running and then checked her phone. She had multiple missed calls, voice mails, emails, and texts. Everyone from her parents and her team to Leroy and Rachel's principal had tried to get ahold of her. She wanted to talk to her parents, but she knew she needed to call Leroy first.

"Hello," Leroy said after the second ring.

"Hi Leroy," Shelby greeted. "I'm sorry I didn't call you back sooner."

"That's okay," Leroy assured her. "But I need to speak with you and Rachel tonight. I'm afraid it can't wait. Can I come over to your house?"

"I understand," Shelby said. "And of course. Come on over whenever you want."

"I'll be there in a little while," Leroy told her. "I'm just grabbing a quick bite to eat."

"That's fine," Shelby said. "I'll see you later."

Shelby hung up the phone and went into the kitchen to try and figure out something to have for dinner. She opened the full refrigerator and stared into like she had done as a kid and would declare they had nothing to eat. After a few moments she gave up and decided that it was the perfect night to order a pizza.

She made a quick phone call and then flopped down on the couch once again. She needed to take care of some more calls before Rachel got out of the bath and before Leroy arrived. She was about to call her publicist, but a knock at the door interrupted her. She stared at for a second and couldn't believe the pizza had gotten there that fast. It hadn't even been five minutes since she called.

"It must be Leroy," she murmured to herself as she got up from the couch. She was surprised no one had called up to let her know someone was coming to door. She didn't think Leroy would be there until later, but this would work. They could get it out of the way and have the rest of their night.

It wasn't Leroy on the other side of the door, however, and Shelby gaped in shock as her mother stepped into the lavish apartment.

"Mom?" Shelby finally asked as the older woman set a carryon size suitcase down by the door.

"Are you and Rachel alright?" Sally asked. "Your father and I have been trying to get in touch with you all afternoon."

"Yeah," was all Shelby got out because her mother continued on.

"We saw the news and saw poor Rachel get surrounded by those awful people. I can't believe what they're saying. I tried to call you right away, but I never got an answer. Hours of phone calls and texts went unanswered, Shelby Louise," Sally said. "I finally just decided to drive down here and make sure you two were okay."

"We-"

"You know I hate it when you don't call me back," Sally said. She punctuated her point with a swat to Shelby's bottom as she stepped past the younger woman and headed towards the living room.

"I was going to call you back," Shelby mumbled with a pout as she followed her mom, absently rubbing her backside as she went. She chastised herself for not sending a quick text to her parents earlier. She knew they never got over the panic of not being able to get in touch with her brother the night they lost him.

"Where's Rachel?" Sally asked, pulling Shelby from her thoughts.

"She's taking a shower," Shelby answered. "We just got home a bit ago."

Sally turned around and took in Shelby's exhausted and worried expression and softened. She and Eugene had been so worried and she had fumed the whole drive down because Shelby wasn't answering her phone, but now that she was there she could see the toll the day was taking on her girl.

"Come here," Sally said.

She opened her arms wide and that was all the invitation Shelby needed. The younger woman's face crumpled and the tears she'd held at bay most of the day were free to fall now that she was safely in her mother's arms.

The pair sat down on the couch and Shelby let her mother hold her while she told her of the day's events. Sally had no idea that Rachel and Jesse had gone missing and that the police had been looking for them. Shelby also told her about the argument with Martha and how Jesse and Rachel had stepped into it too, even though they didn't know what was going on.

"She's worried Jesse won't talk to her anymore or want to be her friend," Shelby said.

"He'll come around," Sally said. "And so will Martha. She was scared and lashed out."

"But what if she doesn't?" Shelby asked, sounding very much like Rachel. "It's been so nice having her and Desmond as friends. Most of my other friends are so busy or out of town."

"It'll all work out, I know it," Sally assured her. She knew that Shelby only had a couple of true friends. She had always been extremely private and that had doubled down when she became famous. "Remember when you and Colleen were fighting your senior year of high school? You swore you'd never speak to her again, but everything worked out in the end."

"Yeah," Shelby sighed. "I guess we'll see how everything goes tomorrow."

"Trust me," Sally said.

"Okay," Shelby said with a watery smile.

The two women sat in silence for a few more minutes only to have the rumbling of Shelby's stomach interrupt the moment.

"When is the last time you ate today?" Sally asked with mock sternness while Shelby gave her a sheepish look.

"Breakfast, I think," Shelby answered honestly.

"Shelby!" Sally scolded. "Let me make you and Rachel some dinner."

"I ordered a pizza just before you got here," Shelby said. "It should be here any time now."

"Okay," Sally nodded. "Why don't you go and take a quick shower too and I'll wait for the pizza. You'll probably feel better."

A hot shower sounded great, but Shelby shook her head. "I can't. Leroy will be here soon. He's Rachel's social worker and he wants to talk about what happened today."

"He's not going to take her away, is he?" Sally asked. She sat up straighter and cast a concerned glance towards the back of the apartment like she was looking for Rachel.

"No," Shelby said. "I promised her she wouldn't have to leave. I'm sure it's just to make sure she's safe."

The house phone rang cutting off any follow up question Sally was going to ask. Shelby got up to answer it and was told by the doorman that Leroy and the pizza were on their way up to her apartment.

"He's here," Shelby said to her mother. She went over to the front door to wait and she heard as the water from the shower cut off. Rachel would be out here soon and they could get this whole meeting over with. This was also the first time Shelby was registering the bag her mother had brought with her. "Mom, why do you have a suitcase?"

"I brought enough to stay a few days," Sally answered. "I thought you could use the support this week."

"You didn't have to do that, but thank you," Shelby said sincerely.

A knock at the door stole Shelby's attention and she opened it to find Leroy carrying a large pizza box on the other side.

"Special delivery," Leroy said.

"Come on in," Shelby greeted as she stepped aside to let him in. "Did you bring that pizza with you?"

"I met the delivery kid in the lobby and paid him so he wouldn't have to come all the way up here," Leroy told her.

"You didn't have to do that," Shelby said. "Let me get you some cash."

"Don't worry about it," Leroy shrugged. "My treat."

"Thank you," Shelby said. She took the pizza and then gestured towards her mother. "That's my mom, Sally Corcoran. Mom, this is Leroy Carter. He's Rachel's social worker."

"Your mom? I would have guessed your sister," Leroy said.

"Oh don't be silly," Sally shushed him and Shelby rolled her eyes as she set the pizza down in the kitchen. Her mother loved hearing that. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," Leroy said. "You two look so much alike."

"We've got good genes," Sally said.

"Yes, you do," Leroy agreed. He looked around for a second and then to Shelby who was returning from the kitchen. "Where's Rachel?"

"She's just getting out of the shower," Shelby said. "I'm sure she'll be out here in a few minutes."

"Okay," Leroy nodded. He was about to ask if he could speak with Shelby privately when a squeal from across the room grabbed their attention.

"Gram!" Rachel exclaimed with delight at the sight of Sally. She hurried towards the woman and leapt up into her arms. Her hair was still soaking wet and clearly hadn't been brushed. The pink and green nightgown she was wearing was a touch too big but she didn't care, it was her favorite.

Sally caught the girl easily and gave her a big hug. "Hi, sweetheart."

"I didn't know you were coming over," Rachel said.

"I came as a surprise," Sally replied.

Sally set Rachel down and the girl turned and greeted Leroy. The man was struck for just a second by how similar Rachel looked to both Shelby and Sally.

Leroy was taken aback because she didn't seem as happy to see him as she normally did. He was used to getting a warm reception from Rachel because he had been the one constant in her young life. But, he supposed, it was a natural progression. She clearly loved it here with Shelby and from the display he just saw, Rachel was a part of the family.

"Hey, Rachel," Leroy said. He squatted down to get more on her level. "How's everything going?"

"Fine," Rachel answered.

"I can see that," Leroy said. "Maybe we can talk just you and me in a little bit." Rachel nodded. "I'm going to talk to Shelby first, is that okay?"

Rachel nodded again and looked over at Shelby.

"Rach, I ordered a pizza so why don't you and Gram go and have some," Shelby said.

"Can Gram help me brush my hair out first?" Rachel asked.

"I'd love to," Sally said.

Leroy couldn't help but smile. He had never known Rachel to willingly brush her hair. It always used to be a tangled mess.

Sally took Rachel by the hand and they walked back to her bedroom.

When they were gone, Shelby took a deep breath and waited to hear what Leroy had to say.

"I'm sorry for the way I called and yelled at you earlier," Leroy said.

Shelby blinked and wasn't quite sure if she heard him correctly. She was not expecting that.

"I just panicked," Leroy explained. "But I should have handled it in a more professional manner."

"I panicked too," Shelby said. "I could barely breathe when I got the call that she was missing."

"Shelby, I'm not here to berate you or to even question your parenting, but I have to make sure that Rachel is safe and that she wasn't harmed by what happened today," Leroy said. "And I need to find out what steps are going to be taken to make sure something like this doesn't happen again."

Fear shot through Shelby for a moment. "I can't promise you that she will never be hounded by a photographer again. Especially in the very near future. But that's one of the downfalls of my profession. She can't be taken away for that, right?"

"No one is taking Rachel away from you," Leroy assured her. "I'm not here to do that. But the news people have it all wrong and maybe if they know the truth – that she's not really some child you hid away – maybe they will back off a bit. That's our hope."

"That's our hope too," Shelby said. "My team is putting together a statement to correct what is being said. I will show it to you before we release it to the public."

"Thanks," Leroy said. "I know my office has been trying to come up with something we can piggyback onto it. Something about the benefits of foster care and adoption."

"We are going to highlight that too," Shelby said. "And I will probably agree to a couple of interviews to set the record straight. And hopefully people will lose interest since it's not something crazy. Or we can hope that some of big story comes along and makes everyone forget about this one."

"All of that sounds great," Leroy agreed. "I've also been in contact with the school and they said they talked with your team and are working to set up a perimeter to block photographers from getting close like they did today."

Shelby nodded. "We talked about that in our initial meeting before everything broke out. I was planning on releasing a statement soon because some girls heard Rachel call me mom and they immediately got on their phones and I knew it would be all over the internet soon. I guess I thought I would have time to put out a statement before everyone jumped to conclusions."

"She calls you mom?" Leroy asked with a small smile.

"Yeah, she does," Shelby boasted.

"You're doing a good job, Shelby," Leroy said earnestly.

"Thank you."

The ringing of the house phone distracted Shelby and she excused herself so she could answer it. The only calls she usually ever got on it was when the doorman was alerting her to someone wanting to come up to the apartment.

"Hello," Shelby said into the phone. "Thanks for the heads up. Yep, bye. Abby, my manager, is on her way up," Shelby explained to Leroy. "Hopefully she has a statement ready. She's probably been trying to reach me for a while."

"Okay," Leroy replied.

Sally and Rachel came back to the living room with the girl sporting a loose braid and a pair of socks her Gram had surely made her put on.

"Can we have some pizza now?" Rachel asked Shelby.

"Sure. While Gram and I get it ready why don't you sit and have a quick talk with Leroy," Shelby suggested.

Rachel sighed and looked up at Leroy and then back at Shelby and nodded. She really was hungry and she could smell the pizza, but she knew she had to talk to Leroy too.

"Alright. Come on, Mom," Shelby said as she ushered her mother into the kitchen.

"What do you think he's going to say?" Sally asked. She was hovering at the entrance to the kitchen trying to overhear what was being said in the living room.

"He just wants to make sure she's okay," Shelby told her. Her back was turned as she got plates out of the cabinet.

"But what do you think Rachel will say?" Sally questioned. She was edging her way out of the kitchen and towards the living room.

"Mom!" Shelby scolded when she saw what her mother was doing.

"What?" Sally said, startled.

"I have had to talk to Rachel a couple times about eavesdropping; do I need to have that same conversation with you?" Shelby put her hands on her hips and gave the woman the same glare she had been given many times as a child.

"I'm just curious," Sally protested with a huff before giving up and going to help Shelby set up plates and drinks.

In the living room Rachel and Leroy sat down on the couch so they could talk. Leroy positioned himself so he was facing her and Rachel did the same as she wrapped herself in a blanket.

"Today was a crazy day, huh?" Leroy started.

"You're not going to make me leave, are you?" Rachel questioned, getting right to the point.

"No, I'm not going to make you leave," Leroy assured her. "I just want to talk for a couple minutes."

Rachel visibly relaxed and nodded and even offered him a smile.

"How are you doing after what happened today?" Leroy asked.

"I'm fine now that I'm home with my mom," Rachel said. "I'm sorry we ran off, but we were scared. There were so many people and all the lights were going off from the cameras and Jesse knew how to get home so he grabbed my hand and we got away."

"We were all pretty scared when we couldn't find you," Leroy told her. "But we're even happier than you and Jesse are safe now."

"I hope the men with the cameras aren't there tomorrow, but Mom said they probably will be," Rachel admitted.

"Yeah, but it'll be better tomorrow," Leroy assured her. "People are interested in Shelby and once everything dies down it'll blow over."

"Should I tell people that she can be really boring and makes me do my homework and puts me in timeout sometimes?" Rachel asked. "If people knew that she was just like other moms maybe they wouldn't care."

Leroy couldn't help but chuckle at Rachel's claim that Shelby was boring. Most of the world would probably disagree with her.

"That might help, but for now why don't we let Shelby do the talking," Leroy said.

"Okay," Rachel agreed.

"Alright Rachel, that's all I wanted to talk about," Leroy said. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay after everything that happened today."

"I am," Rachel promised. "I'm not scared anymore because I know my mom will fix it."

"That's right, she will," Leroy said. He could not have asked for a better situation for Rachel. He knew she had truly found the family for her.

Rachel and Leroy made their way into the kitchen and found that Abby had arrived while they were talking. Shelby was reading over the statement her team wanted to put out.

"All done?" Sally asked with a smile towards Rachel.

"Yep," Rachel said.

"Good. Now sit down and have some dinner," Sally instructed. "Leroy would you like a plate?"

"No thank you," Leroy answered. "I ate before I came over."

"Abby?"

"No, but thank you," the manager answered. "I've got to get this out as soon as Shelby okays it."

"Let's go into the other room and give Leroy a chance to look it over. He said his department wants to do a statement as well," Shelby explained to Abby.

"That's a good idea," Abby said. "Maybe we can coordinate them."

The trio left the room as Rachel dug into her pizza. Now that she knew for sure she wasn't going anywhere, she didn't care about the rest of what was going on.

Shelby came back about ten minutes later so she could eat dinner as well. Abby and Leroy had left together and she was going to go with him and get with the public relations department and help them work on a statement as well. All three hoped that it would be out within the hour. After they ate, Shelby went and took a hot shower and washed off the day while Sally helped Rachel with her homework. They were already finished and watching a movie when Shelby joined them in sweats and wet hair dangling past her shoulders.

They were watching Annie, but the singing and dancing wasn't enough to keep Rachel awake. When Shelby looked down to remind her it was getting close to her bedtime she found the girl curled up and already fast asleep. It was probably better that she'd already fallen asleep because there wouldn't be an argument about bedtime and the extra rest would be good for Rachel. Shelby stopped the movie and carefully picked Rachel up and hoped the girl wouldn't wake. Rachel opened her eyes briefly before settling her head on Shelby's shoulder and relaxing.

A knock at the door stopped Shelby's progression to Rachel's bedroom. It was another surprise because, again, she hadn't received a call alerting her to a visitor. Shelby adjusted Rachel in her arms and made her way to the door and opened it. She stared coolly at the person on the other side of the door.

"Hi Shelby," Martha said after a moment when Shelby didn't say anything. "I'm sorry to come over this late unannounced."

Shelby still didn't say anything and waited for Martha to go on, which the woman did obligingly.

"Um, listen, can we talk?"

A/N – That's all for this chapter. Please let me know what you think. Your reviews are awesome and mean a lot to me. And again, I'm sorry about the delay. I promise that I am going to try and do better. Just stick with me. Thanks!