I'm really sorry about the wait for this chapter. Writers block is a bitch, isn't it? I hope you like this one :) I'm really excited to write the next chapter now and hope to get it up for you within the next few days :) Let me know what you think of this one.

Shelby sat with her daughter while she cried. She felt so helpless and, despite knowing that none of this was her fault, blamed herself for how Rachel was being treated at school. Her mind was filled with things that she felt she could have done to make the situation better. What if she hadn't given Rachel up? What if she'd asked Hiram and Leroy if she could see her earlier? What if she'd lived closer to Lima so that she would know what was happening? What if she'd done what her parents had said and become a teacher instead of a performer?

Realistically she knew that none of this would help Rachel now. She was only making herself feel worse which would make her less able to care for her daughter. She had to stay strong, for her. There was no way she could go back to how she used to be, it would only make things worse. Plus she couldn't do that to Hiram and Leroy. If they knew what she had been through they'd feel terrible and she didn't want that.

After a while, Rachel stopped crying and started to move away from Shelby.

"Are you okay now?" She asked.

"I think so. I'm sorry."

"Sweetie, please stop apologising. You've done nothing wrong and no matter what you tell yourself none of this is your fault."

"Yes it is, I'm annoying and everyone hates me. That's my fault." Rachel said.

"I don't hate you." Shelby replied, trying to make her daughter see that this wasn't her fault.

"Not yet." They young girl mumbled.

"Rachel, you've given me no reason to hate you. You're a sweet, confident girl with big dreams and there is nothing wrong with that. I bet there are loads of people that think that. Kurt and your dads for example. Besides, they are probably all just jealous."

"Why would anyone be jealous of me?"

"You're talented, you're beautiful, you're smart, you're passionate about what you do. I would bet anything that there's a lot more than that, I'm only making a judgement on the couple of days that I've known you." She said in an attempt to make her daughter feel better about herself and forget about the insecurities that years of bullying have left her with, at least for a little while. Rachel blushed at the compliments, but still shook her head. It was clear to Shelby that she didn't believe them.

"I'm not as good as you though." Rachel whispered, trying to hold back the tears that had decided to make an unwelcome reappearance.

"Of course you are." Rachel shook her head and Shelby could see just how deep these confidence issues went underneath the front she put on to hide them. Deciding that it would be best to change the subject, Shelby asked Rachel what she wanted to do for the weekend.

"I have homework to do but I'd like to do something with you after that." Rachel said. "If you want to." She added, as if scared that she was pushing her mother to do something that she didn't want to do when, in fact, she was overjoyed by this suggestion."

"That sounds like a good idea." Shelby smiled. "How about you teach me how to cook something and we can make a special meal for your dads?" Rachel nodded her head.

"And Kurt?" She asked.

"I think we should talk to your dads about this first, don't you? Then maybe we can invite him over for lunch tomorrow?"

"Okay." The younger girl agreed. She wasn't sure how her dads would react to her wanting to tell him, she could only hope that they were supportive and understood that she needed a friend that she could talk to about this. They had never met Kurt, unless she counted the times that they were briefly in the same room when congratulating the New Directions after their competitions, so knew that they would be a bit unsure about telling him their secret. For now she was just happy that Shelby had agreed to it so easily.

Rachel excused herself after helping Shelby wash the dishes and headed to her bedroom to work on her homework. It seemed even more tedious and pointless than normal when she thought back to the Broadway star downstairs, who was currently arguing with her dad, Hiram, over which was the greatest Barbra Streisand song. Hiram was saying it was The Way We Were, whereas Shelby argued that it was Funny Girl. 'Like mother, like daughter' the older man thought to himself. This made Rachel smile. It was almost as if they were a normal family, if you forget about the famous mother and the fact that there were two dads. 'With a family like this, this was probably as normal as it got' she reasoned.

Half an hour had past and Rachel had given up on her Spanish work and started on the presentation she was working on for English. She had to talk about someone who she admired and it could be anyone that she wanted. Originally she had chosen Barbra but, after meeting Shelby, she had changed her mind and was starting the whole project from scratch. This would have set her back majorly behind the rest of the class, however, she reasoned, she didn't need to do as much in-depth research when she could ask her mum anything she needed to know and even find out things that no one else knew. Yes, she though, Kurt is definitely going to be jealous. She even considered putting off telling him until after the presentation but her impatience started to get the better of her and she knew she couldn't wait another week to tell someone.

Downstairs, the conversation between Hiram and Shelby turned to their daughter.

"So has she said anything to you about school?" Hiram asked, taking a sip of coffee.

"We talked about slushies last night. She told me how the Principal wouldn't do anything about it even though, from the sounds of it, more than one person has been in to complain about it."

"That's appalling! Although I can't say I'm surprised. We met him once as parents evening and he didn't seem to have a clue about anything."

"How on earth did he get the job then?" Shelby wondered.

"No idea." He replied.

"She also said something to me over breakfast this morning. Has she ever bought any friends home?"

Hiram thought about this.

"I can't say she has, well not since elementary school, or maybe middle school. We met one guy, Finn, when he picked her up for a date. We didn't really like him. I don't think she was with him for very long though. Why do you ask?"

"She said that she didn't really have any friends, other than this one boy, Kurt." Shelby said, sadly.

Hearing this broke Hiram's heart slightly. He knew that his daughter was struggling at school but he had hoped that she would at least have some support, especially from the kids in the New Directions. They knew better than anyone what she was going through and, from the sounds of it, most of them were having the same experiences.

"Actually, that brings me on to something Rachel and I wanted to ask you." Hiram nodded for her to continue. "Rachel has been thinking about telling Kurt about me, but didn't want to do it without our permission."

"Are you okay with it?" Hiram asked.

"Yeah."

"Then I say that she can. It's really your secret as much as hers so as long as you are on board then I see no reason why she can't."

"We thought maybe we could invite him over to have lunch with us tomorrow."

"That sounds great. I think it will be good for Rachel to have someone to talk to about this, outside of the three of us. It's got to be hard on her and keeping it a secret is bound to take its toll." He said. Shelby agreed, knowing what he was talking about only too well.

At that moment, Leroy came downstairs after finishing his shower. Hiram told him what they had been discussing and he agreed with the other two adults, but only after expressing his concern about Kurt telling other people and the media finding out. Shelby assured him that Rachel knew the risks and trusted him and all three adults had trust in the young girl's judgement.

Shelby excused herself and went upstairs to tell Rachel. Her bedroom door was open so Shelby walked straight in and sat on Rachel's bed.

"Mum?" The teenager asked, not taking her eyes off the page in front of her. "Did you always know you wanted to be a performer?"

"Ever since I was a young girl." She said. "I did go through a stage when I wanted to be a teacher though, but I was never that serious about it. Why do you ask?"

"I needed to know or my English project."

"You're doing your project on me?" She asked.

"Yeah, it has to be about someone who I admire." Shelby blushed, that was probably the best compliment that she could receive, as both performer and a mother. Even receiving her Tony award was nothing compared to this in her eyes.

Rachel seemed to have no idea of the effect she'd just had on her mother and was still scribbling something down in her notepad.

"Rachel, your dads and I have had a chat and we've agreed that, as long as you're sure it's what you want, you can tell Kurt."

"Really?" She screamed. She was so excited that she could share this news with someone, and really hoped that it would bring the pair of them closer.

"Yeah." Shelby smiled. "Why don't you text him now and see if he wants to come over for lunch tomorrow."

"Ok." Rachel said, taking out her phone and sending him a quick text message. As expected, she didn't have to wait very long for a reply and frowned when she saw that he was busy, having planned to go to the cinema with Blaine. "He can't make it."

"How about tonight?"

Another text was sent and she received a very enthusiastic reply saying he was free and confirming that he would be there at 6pm. Rachel looked at her watch, seeing that the time was half past 10. That gave her plenty of time to finish her homework and then her and Shelby could cook something for dinner. It sounded perfect.

Rachel confirmed the plans with Shelby and carried on writing the speech that she would give for her English presentation, while Shelby went downstairs to tell the two men about the change of plans. The three of them set about tidying the house ready for their guest. It all seemed so normal for all of them. Shelby had learnt to appreciate times like this where she could act like a normal person without being recognised in the street or followed by the paparazzi. She loved her fans and was always happy to stop and talk but also enjoyed being able to act like a normal person. She was just happy to be able to be a mum after all these years.