Chapter 2

A few hours later Shelby found herself sitting listlessly at the kitchen table while Christina puttered around cooking dinner. It appeared that her mother had no plans to leave anytime soon and Shelby was none too pleased with that fact. She had always been closer with her father and each minute she spent with her mother was making her more nervous.

"Shelby, are you going to mope around all night or are you going to help me?" Christina snapped, startling her daughter.

"Ma, I'm horrible in the kitchen. I promise I'm more of a help just sitting here than if I tried to do anything." Shelby grumbled, dropping her head onto the flat surface of the table.

"Well, I just don't know how that's possible. Your sister is an amazing cook."

"I know. Kim can do no wrong. I get it." Shelby responded, her voice muffled.

"That's not what I meant and you know that. You're far too dramatic. And speaking of dramatics, are you going to tell me what's been going on or do I have to pry it out of you?"

"I swear to you that there is nothing going on that you need to know."

"I'm not trying to be nosy Shelby! I'm trying to help! Why won't you ever let anyone help you?" Christina cried, throwing down the rag she was using to wipe up the counter.

"I don't know what you're talking about. If I needed your help I would let you know, but right now I'm perfectly fine on my own." Shelby said, exasperated.

"I don't believe you. Shelby, its obvious that you haven't been taking care of yourself. You've dropped at least fifteen pounds since the last time I saw you. You just don't look healthy. Is that it? Are you sick?"

"No, I'm not sick. And if I were sick I would definitely tell you." Shelby responded softly.

"Well, I'm glad, but that doesn't mean you're off the hook."

"What do you want from me?" Shelby moaned.

"I want you to tell me what's wrong." Her mother said, sighing.

"I'm not saying that anything is wrong, but if there was something going on, I would only hide it to protect you."

"Oh, well that's really reassuring Shelby. Now I know something's wrong."

"You're so frustrating!"

"Then the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You my dear, are going to be the death of me."

"Can't you go over to Kim's and worry about her?" Shelby whined.

"I don't need to worry about Kim." Her mother exclaimed. "Kim checks in with us regularly, she didn't quit her job, and she's got Stan to watch out for her and the kids."

"Is that what this is about? If I got married would you leave me alone?"

"First of all, you need to stop acting like a whiny teenager. Second, that's not what this is about at all. Do I wish you were married? Of course, if only so you could be happy."

"Maybe I'm acting like a teenager because my mom is hounding me for information about my life."

"I'm not hounding you, I'm just trying to help. Even your father is worried about you."

Shelby sighed, resigning to the fact that her mother didn't seem to be leaving any time soon.

"Ma, I'm exhausted, I'm going to go to bed. I'm assuming that you're staying the night?" She looked to her mother for confirmation. When Christina nodded she continued, "Right, the guest bedroom is down the hall, first door on the left."

"Don't think you can avoid talking to me Shelby. I'm not leaving until we get to the bottom of this."

"Yeah, okay." Shelby called over her shoulder as she trudged up the stairs. She got to her room and flopped down onto her bed. She wasn't sure how long she could keep up pretenses with her mother, the woman reminded her of a CIA agent. She shrugged off the feeling and grabbed her laptop, plugging in her headphones. She had taken to watching Rachel's myspace videos before bed because even though she had been the one to break off communication, she still wanted to feel closer to her daughter.

Shelby wasn't generally the most sentimental woman and she definitely wasn't a crier. It was something that she had always prided herself on, but as she watched Rachel sing she couldn't help but let a tear slip out. She knew it was stupid to sit there in her misery, torturing herself with the videos, but she couldn't help it. She still couldn't believe that the girl, young woman, in the videos was her daughter. That it was the little girl she had brought into the world so many years ago.

Meanwhile, Christina was standing outside of her own daughter's bedroom door, ready to knock, but frozen in place by the sound of her daughter crying. It was killing her to know that Shelby was hurting, but unable to tell her what was wrong. She slowly walked away from the door and looked around the house, feeling helpless. She finally decided that she could try and keep her mind off of things by organizing Shelby's office. She walked into the room, taken aback by the lack of personal touches. It could have been a picture right out of an IKEA magazine if not for the scattered messes. She leafed through the papers on the desk, putting them in their proper folders and drawers. She smiled lightly when she saw a drawer full of thank you notes from her Vocal Adrenaline kids. She gazed around the room, taking in the large number of trophies lining the walls, when she saw a framed newspaper clipping. There was a large picture of Shelby and one of her students celebrating a victory, but that was not what had caught her eye. In the lower corner there was a picture from a "new and upcoming glee club." She stood to get a closer look and blinked a few times, but the girl in the front row was nearly a clone of Shelby at that age.

Christina's mind started racing. Why had Shelby saved this clipping out of all the rest? Did the girl in the corner of the newspaper have something to do with it? She looked at the picture again. The girl could have been no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, but she couldn't be… Well, Shelby had become quite distant for almost a year just about the time the girl must have been born. It had been right before Shelby had left for New York, before she had become so cynical. If all this was true, if this girl was actually her granddaughter, she shuddered to think what Shelby must have gone through. Alone. She felt her heart breaking for her eldest daughter. She would have only been twenty years old, nearly a child herself. Christina stopped, she was getting ahead of herself, it could all just be a horrible coincidence. She placed the frame back on its shelf and ventured back towards her daughter's room. When Shelby did not respond to her knock she lightly pushed open the door to find her distraught daughter asleep, tear tracks on her cheeks. She noted a laptop on the bed and went to move it out of the way when she caught a glimpse of the screen. It was some sort of a video, which wouldn't have been interesting at all had it not been for the image of the girl from the newspaper clipping smiling back at her. She quickly closed the computer and set in on the armchair in the corner of the room, her gaze flicking back to her sleeping daughter. She had loved watching Shelby sleep as a child. It was the only time she let her guard down. Even now she looked much younger than her years, clutching her blanket just as she had done when she was small. Christina had to stop herself from running to her daughter's side and pulling her into her arms. She quietly made her way back to the guest room, preparing for bed, and shedding a few tears for both her daughter and her granddaughter.

Thank you all so much for reviewing! I'm humbled by your response to this story. I think I've responded to everybody below, but just as a blanket announcement, Will and Rachel will have bigger parts in this story eventually, but first I had to build the drama. Don't worry I haven't forgotten about them! And I'm so glad to have found more Idina fans through writing this! Can't even describe what an amazing performer she is!

aussiebabe290, keri, starbuck128, danielle503, KateGreysFan, Drama Queen Sunniebunn: Thank you so much for your reviews and kind words! I'll try to update a little more often for you guys… Hope you liked the chapter!

Vienna98: Thank you so much for your review, hopefully this chapter was worth the wait :]

MarlisaKristine: To be perfectly honest, I wasn't exactly sure where this was headed either, but I've got a little bit more of a plan in place now :] And no Rachel this chapter, but as the story unfolds we'll definitely see more of her.

Jasper'sFavorite: Thank you those are such great compliments, they really mean a lot to me. Rachel will definitely show up in this story soon!

banjojd: So glad that you liked Shelby's mom, hopefully meeting her will give us more insight into why Shelby is the way she is.

druz: You're too nice! I hope this will make your day :]

Cissy Black Malfoy: Glad I could make you laugh, it's one of the best compliments I could get :] p.s. Everyone should read your fic for some good Shelby/Rachel dynamics! Love it!

NastEliBuggr: Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Phases Of Obsession: Yeeahhh *high five* I love Idina! Haha

DZR: Glad I could inspire you to review, you've inspired me to write some more :]