Thanks to everyone who has reviewed the last chapter. Every review means the world to me so please take the time to let me know what you think of this one :)

Sorry again for the wait. I wish I had a good excuse but I've just been struggling with this chapter and I don't really know why. I've tried to make it as good as I can though. Enjoy!

Rachel looked over her shoulder to see Shelby crying, she just hoped that they were happy tears.

"Is it okay that I called you 'mum'?" She asked, unsure.

"Of course it is, baby." Shelby smiled. "You can't imagine how long I've wanted to hear you call me that."

"You're crying." Rachel stated, turning around to face her mother.

"I guess I'm just a little overwhelmed. I didn't think you'd accept me so soon." She admitted.

"I don't think I've thought of much else since I found out. I was so worried about you not liking me, especially today when I came home covered in that slushie."

"Oh, honey! Is that what you thought? I love you. Nothing that those idiots at your school do to you is ever going to change that, you know that, right?"

"I do now." The young girl smiled and hugged. "Thank you, mum."

The pair sat silently for a while, happy that they had finally found each other and felt they could be more comfortable and honest around each other. Shelby had feared that this could take years, that maybe her daughter would never get used to it. Thankful that this was not the case, she allowed a small smile to pass over her lips, one which didn't go unnoticed by Rachel, who smiled back at her.

Meanwhile, Hiram had arrived home from work and Leroy was filling him in on what had happened. The pair talked comfortably for a while, enjoying each others' company and waiting for their daughter and her mother to come downstairs. The whole family hadn't had a chance to talk together about what had been happening and they hoped that the two women would be back soon so they could assess the situation and find out how well Rachel was really adjusting to the news.

"Do you think one of us should go upstairs and check on them?" Hiram asked his partner.

"I'd give them a few more minutes." He replied.

As if on cue, the two men heard footsteps coming down the stairs not 30 seconds after they'd finished talking.

"Hey, sweetie." Hiram said when he saw his daughter enter the room. "Come and sit down." He patted the space on the sofa next to him.

Rachel made her way over to her dad, leaving Shelby standing, somewhat awkwardly, by the door.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Leroy joked and Shelby gave him a small smile, before walking over and sitting down on a spare chair.

Truthfully, she was feeling a little nervous. She knew Rachel's dads liked her and she adored them but she was worried that now Rachel knew who she was their relationship with their daughter would be strained because of her. She didn't want to be the cause of any trouble. But then again, she reasoned, her dads did invite her to come, so they must have been intending for this to happen. She looked over at her daughter and smiled, realising that this may all work out alright and she could finally have the relationship with Rachel that she'd been dreaming of for the past 18 years.

"How are you feeling, Rachel?" Leroy asked her.

She wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. On one hand she was still feeling crap after the day she'd had a school, but on the other hand she was happy that she'd found Shelby and the pair of them were getting to know each other better.

"Apart from the obvious, I'm okay. Me and Shelby have had a chat and I'm willing to give a relationship with her a try, if it's okay with you both."

"I don't see a problem with that." Hiram responded. "Leroy?"

"It's fine with me, darling."

"So how are we going to work this out?" Shelby wondered. "I mean, I can't be away from work too often and it's a lot to ask of you to keep travelling out to see me."

"Well we've already agreed that she can stay with you over spring break, which is in a few weeks."

"You said yes?" Rachel squeaked. "I can go to New York with Shelby?" Both her dads nodded, a smile passing their lips as they saw how excited their daughter was. She was like a small child on Christmas morning. "Thank you so much!"

"When do you have to go home?" Leroy asked.

"Tuesday morning at the latest."

"Okay, so we have until then to figure this out." He said, to himself as much as the others in the room. Turning to Rachel, he continued. "Rachel, love, you have to understand that if this gets out into the press, things will be very different. You won't be able to turn it off. We all have to be very careful not to let the wrong people know about this."

"I know, daddy. I don't want them to know. Plus it could affect my Broadway career. If people knew me as 'Shelby Corcoran's daughter' and not as Rachel Berry, I would never be my own person. As much as she's my idol I want to be able to make a name for myself as an individual. That way, my fame can't be seen as because of someone else. I'm going to work my way to the top like Shelby."

"You've really though this through, haven't you?" Shelby asked and Rachel blushed. Seeing this, she pushed to know more.

"I'd had fantasies about you being my mum." She mumbled, her cheeks turning even more red. "I mean, I'd noticed the similarities between us but never thought it could be true. It just made it seem more likely than Barbara Streisand being my mum." Rachel laughed.

"Are you disappointed?"

"Of course not. I think you might be even better than Barbara." This time it was Shelby's turn to blush.

The four of them sat for a while discussing everything from Broadway and Shelby's career to telling funny stories from Rachel's childhood, embarrassing the teenager.

"When she was younger she went through a phase of being obsessed with Snow White." Hiram was saying. "She had this tiny little doll and would dance around the kitchen, holding its hands and saying 'Noo Wah! Noo Wah!' because she couldn't say 'Snow White'."

Shelby laughed at this and turned to face Rachel, who didn't look impressed. She, on the other hand, was loving it. She enjoyed hearing stories about her daughter's childhood. Even though it pained her that she had missed these precious moments during her development, she was happy that Hiram and Leroy accepted her into their family and loved to tell her these tales. Plus, she knew they got a kick out of embarrassing Rachel as well.

"I'm sure you've got some of your own stories to tell, Shelby, instead of listening to these." Rachel said hopefully.

"But that wouldn't be half as fun" She laughed, though seeing the 'puppy dog' look that her daughter gave her changed her mind. "Oh, okay then"

Shelby knew that she would find that look from Rachel impossible to resist, at least for a while. However, she vowed never to let her daughter know the effect that it had on her because she had no doubt in her mind that if Rachel knew, she would use it to her advantage as much as possible.

"You're going to have to learn to become immune to that look" Leroy whispered to her, as if he was reading her thoughts. "If not your bank balance is really going to suffer. Trust me, we've learnt this the hard way." Shelby smiled at him and went on to tell Rachel about when she met the President and how she was scared of spitting on his face when she sang for him.

The next morning, Rachel decided to go for a run before everyone else woke up. She hadn't been able to go for a couple of days and wanted to take advantage of not having school to run a bit further. It also meant that she had more time to think about what had happened the past few days. It seemed that everything had been non-stop with school, glee and having Shelby around that she was grateful to have some time alone with her thoughts. She got out her iPod and put it on shuffle, smiling when Defying Gravity came on. Hearing her mum singing as the role of Elphaba really made her think about how huge this news was. It seemed strange that Shelby could act so normal and Rachel could almost forget that she was famous but realising now that her mum was singing one of the most well known Broadway songs gave Rachel a sense of pride.

She thought of how Shelby had offered to take her to New York. It would be a dream come true for her. Sure, she'd been to Nationals there last year but this would be for 2 weeks and she'd be with Shelby Corcoran. She just wished that she had someone that she could share all this with. She didn't really have any close friends, apart from Kurt but they weren't really that close. Plus, he'd probably flip out completely if he knew. He loved Shelby and would go crazy at the chance to meet her. However, it would be nice to be able to talk to him about it. He'd help her with what to wear for New York and would listen to and appreciate all her stories. She figured it wouldn't be such a bad thing telling him, as long as he kept his mouth shut. He'd been nice to her and always checked she was alright after the popular kids would publically humiliate her.

Would Shelby mind if she told him? Rachel wasn't sure. She figured she should probably talk to her about it first just in case.

What if she didn't want anyone knowing? What if she was ashamed to call Rachel her daughter? After what Shelby had said earlier she knew this wasn't this case but years of bullying and hidden insecurities about herself had led her to think this could all be too good to be true and Shelby would leave her because she wouldn't be good enough for her and her glamorous lifestyle.

After running for almost as long as her body could stand, Rachel decided to start heading back home. She wanted to make a start on her homework early so that she could spend the rest of the weekend with Shelby before she left.

Shelby woke up earlier than usual after a surprisingly good night's sleep. Due to the nature of her job, she was used to touring and staying in hotels so sleeping in another bed wasn't a problem for her. She took a quick shower, put on some comfortable clothes and headed downstairs to make herself some coffee.

As she was heading downstairs, she saw the front door open to reveal an exhausted, yet happy, Rachel. They greeted each other and her daughter excused herself so that she could go and shower before her dads woke up.

When she had finished she met with Shelby in the kitchen who was in the process of making breakfast.

"Looks delicious." Rachel commented.

"Thanks. I can make the best breakfasts but my cooking skills for lunch and dinner are, well, almost non-existent." She laughed.

"They can't be that bad."

"I would prove it to you if I wasn't so scared of giving you food poisoning."

"I can teach you a few things if you want, I cook for my dads all the time." The teenager suggested.

"So you mean you can cook more than toast?" Shelby teased.

"I certainly can! Toast is just my comfort food. It's easy to make and I used to practically live off of it as a kid, which is why I just had that the other day." Rachel said, and then remembered what she wanted to ask her mother. "Shelby?" she started.

"Yeah?"

"I know we said last night that I wouldn't tell anyone about this but would you mind me telling one person?"

"It's up to you, sweetie." She smiled. She was a bit apprehensive but decided to trust her daughter's judgement.

"Really? You don't mind?"

"Of course not, but I would advise you thinking about it properly before you do. Once you tell someone you can't undo it. Are you sure we can trust this person?"

"I think so. Although I'll warn you now, he's a huge Broadway fan!"

"So are you." Shelby teased, poking Rachel in her side and making her jump. Rachel squealed slightly in shock, causing her mother to laugh at her reaction.

"That was mean!" Rachel laughed.

"Think of it as payback."

"For what?"

"I don't know but I'm sure there's something." Rachel pouted and gave a fake look of hurt, before sticking her tongue out at her mother and flicking water from the tap at her.

The pair giggled and sat down at the breakfast table to eat. It seemed so normal already that an outsider would assume they'd known each other all their lives.

"So, who's this person you're thinking of telling?" Shelby asked, out of curiosity more than concern.

"His name is Kurt. He's a guy from glee club, the one I was texting the other night that you thought was my boyfriend." Rachel laughed. "He's been there for me when the other kids at school have been saying mean things and always makes sure I'm okay. Plus, he knows what I'm going through, he was bullied a lot for being gay. It's getting better now but not everyone is being accepting still."

"He sounds like a nice kid."

"Yeah he is, although he's been bugging me about why I took so long answering his texts the night you arrived."

"Rachel, don't feel you have to tell this Kurt kid because he keeps asking." Shelby said, worrying that her daughter was feeling pressured into this.

"I don't. He's my closest friend and I know he cares about me. Plus I know it would make his year to meet you." Rachel giggled and Shelby started to blush. "We both want to be on Broadway and he's applying to NYADA as well."

"You're applying to NYADA?" She asked. The teenager nodded. "Wow, Rachel! I'm so proud of you!"

"I haven't even got in yet, mum. But I know I'll be a finalist, we both will."

Shelby smiled at Rachel calling her 'mum' again. She doubted that she would ever get used to it.

"So he's your best friend?"

"Yeah, I guess." Rachel said. "Well, my only friend." She mumbled.

Upon hearing this, Shelby's heart broke a little. She grabbed her daughter's hand that was resting on the table and looked up at her to see tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, mum." She whispered.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, honey." She replied, pulling her crying daughter into a hug and rubbing her back gently in an attempt to comfort the young girl. She promised herself that she would do whatever it takes to get Rachel through this and help her to enjoy the last few months of her senior year.