Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, these characters, or anything else affiliated in any sense.
Warning: This story is un-beta-ed so any and all mistakes are mine.
Author's note: Apparently people wanted the story to continue, so here it is, my lovelies. I know that having new chapters for each scene change might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's the only way that we're going to get chapters out within a decent time period.
-xo-
Shelby led Rachel through her house and in to the dining room. "Wait here-on the floorboards- and I'll get you a towel" she instructed, before placing her bag down and disappearing in to another room. For Shelby, it felt like a foreign affair to have her daughter in her home. She had hoped for this day to come, but then reality hit her and she told Rachel that they couldn't have the relationship that either of them was looking for.
In the coach's absence, Rachel glanced around the dining room and what she could see of the living room. It was a big apartment; strangely big for someone who presumably lived alone. The teenager noted that the house was just as immaculately presented as Shelby's clothes always were. It was neat, clean, and if she was honest, it looked like it had barely been lived in. The walls were bare of photos and the shelves were lined with trophies. Her thoughts were snapped back to the current situation when she heard Shelby's footsteps growing nearer.
"Here are a towel and a face washer," she explained, handing the items to the brunette, "Now give me your jumper and I'll see what I can do about it whilst you shower." She waited for Rachel to take her jumper off and hand it over before she led the girl through the house and to the bathroom door. "Use the shampoo and conditioner as you please, take your time, and good luck," Shelby smiled, waving her arm in a motion that indicated for Rachel to enter the bathroom.
Rachel closed the door to the bathroom, glancing around that room as well. The purple towels, bathmat, and bathrobe reflected Shelby's professional life perfectly. Losing the short internal battle, she decided that a little snooping around wasn't going to hurt – as long as she didn't move anything. This was for more of a personal reason than trying to find anything incriminating of the woman. Finding nothing but the usual (makeup, hair products, personal hygiene item), Rachel shrugged and got ready for her shower.
In the laundry, Shelby was picking the remaining eggshell off of Rachel's sweater, and spraying it in areas that would possibly be affected by the yolk. She could still see the small amount of humour in the whole situation, but she would keep that to herself from now on as neither Rachel nor her students needed provoking for any reason. Finally having the sweater as clean as she was going to get it, Shelby retreated to the dining room and placed it on the glass dinner table.
-xo-
Twenty minutes later, Rachel entered the dining room and watched as Shelby swung around on the chair, the paperwork in front of her forgotten for the time being. "I think I got it all" she smiled, standing awkwardly in the archway to the dining room, holding her towel and face washer in one hand, straightening down her clean sweater with the other. "I didn't know where you wanted these," she said, indicating to her towel.
"I'll take those" Shelby said, getting up from the chair and taking the mentioned items. "Feel better?" she smiled, raising an eyebrow as she walked past the girl and towards the laundry. She disposed of the wet items, and then rejoined her daughter. There was a long silence resonating through the room. Even the clock on the wall seemed to have stopped ticking. Finally, Shelby cleared her throat, "I should probably get you home."
"Probably" Rachel readily agreed, feeling all kinds of out of place. She was definitely going through the motions, and it was getting harder to identify which emotion she was supposed to be feeling. She watched Shelby pick up her handbag, and as she went to retrieve her own, a particular thought came to mind. "Shelby," she addressed quietly, "you asked him to be my friend, didn't you? I mean, with him transferring back to Vocal, then today's incident... and our talk last week... I just put two and two together."
Shelby was going to deny her daughter's accusation, but that really wasn't her style. She was the straight-forward type, and she had been hurting Rachel long enough to lie to her now. "Yes, I did ask him to befriend you. Getting closer was all his idea – he really did like you- but it was the only way that I could see to get close to you, "she explained, "I never meant for it to end up this way."
"What way?" she spat, "with me being hurt by both you and him? By both of you finding me only to leave me again at your earliest convenience?" Realizing that she was getting louder, she took a moment, a breath, and then continued, "You can't just do that to me. Do you know what that does to my emotional balance?" Thus far she had kept calm, tried to act as though her mother's abandonment hadn't affected her, but now, standing in her home, having some resemblance of the life that they could have had, she couldn't pretend anymore. Once her little outburst was over, she stood, looking at Shelby like a lost puppy.
Opening and closing her mouth a few times, Shelby didn't know what to say. It was rare that she was left speechless, and she liked it even less. Finally, with her gaze singled in on the brown eyes of the teenager, she said, "I never meant for any of this to happen, Rachel. I admit, it wasn't the best thought out plan, but it was all I had. I wanted to meet you, but I couldn't do that unless you came to me." Shelby was going to leave it at that. Her original decision didn't involve a relationship with her long lost daughter, and even now she wasn't sure if she should second-guess that.
"This was a bad idea," Rachel muttered, as she gathered her bag and her sweater from the back of the chair, "I shouldn't have come here. I'm grateful for the help, I am, but I shouldn't have come." With her bag and her jumper in her hands, she stopped and looked directly in to the eyes of her mother. "You hurt me, and that isn't fair. I'm sorry that this isn't all you wanted it to be, but I don't know if my emotions can handle this anymore," she explained calmly, before heading for the door.
"Rachel, wait," the coach sighed, "It isn't that I don't want to be with you. I've wanted to be with you since the moment you were born, but circumstances prevented that. When I came back to town, I wanted to find you because I wanted to be in your life... but as I got to know more about you, the less I wanted to interfere –you already have two parents who love you -so that's when I told you that we just needed to be grateful for each other." The look on Shelby's face was genuinely apologetic as she watched the brunette struggle with things.
Rachel could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, but she willed them so stay there and not to fall. She wouldn't appear weak in front of the woman that was always so strong. "Can you please just take me back to my dads... they'll be wondering where I am" Rachel said quietly. There was nothing more that she had to say to the woman.
Shelby nodded, "Of course." She was struggling with what exactly it was that she wanted from her daughter, but for now she could just adhere to her wishes. Perhaps it would have been better if she hadn't of offered the use of her bathroom. She followed Rachel down to the car – the ride silent. "Of course" she nodded, as Rachel thanked her for the ride home. That was all that was said before Shelby was left with her own thoughts.