DISCLAIMER: I don't own glee, any of the characters or songs appearing in this story.

Usual bla-bla: I'm not a native speaker, so please inform me about any mistakes of mine.

Plus, review. Hope you like this chapter better than the last, I think that, at least, it is not as bad.

Of Mothers And Mums

- Chapter 6 -

Unwanted Visitor

"Hello? Who –"The woman was cut off when Beth ended the call all of a sudden, glancing down at the screen of her cell phone. 0:01. That was the duration of the call, such a tiny thing, and nevertheless it made her heart beat in her chest as if she had just cut the finish line after running a marathon. Not that she'd know what that felt like, but she imagined it to be like this. Only with more sweat involved, and a feeling of exhaustion, but contentment, too.

And now she was imagining all these stupid little details just to distract herself from what she had just done, and the consequences that came with it.

She swallowed and leaned back in her desk chair, yet she didn't relax for the fraction of a second. She just sat there, staring at the cell phone that lay on the desk in front of her as if it was some kind of time bomb that needed to be under constant supervision and might explode if she dared to take her eyes from it.

The woman didn't call back. Not in the first minute, and not in the ten minutes that followed while Beth remained sitting in her chair, not moving a millimeter, the only sound in the room the echoes of her heavy breathing.

Still, the phone did not ring.

Beth wasn't sure how she felt about it. She was relieved, really she was. She had absolutely no idea how she would have reacted if Quinn had called her back. Nevertheless, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Or more than just a little.

But she couldn't have known it was me. Beth's inner voice reasoned. She could just guess … Then again, who else would call her and hang up after merely a second …

She took a deep breath and buried her face in her hands. She shouldn't have done it. Now, in hindsight, it seemed like the stupidest thing she could have done, but before … it had all seemed so logical.

Rachel would arrive tonight, and she would stop by their apartment to have dinner with Shelby and her, just like she had announced days ago on the phone. The moment Shelby had learned about Rachel's visit, her face had lit up, and she'd been in an upbeat mood ever since. It wasn't any different from the days before Rachel's previous visits, but this time watching Shelby get all excited about the visit of her daughter felt like a blow in the gut.

All the times before, they were both looking forward to it: Shelby because Rachel was her daughter; and Beth because Rachel was, supposedly, her half-sister. But she wasn't, she had never been and now that Beth knew, it was all different. This time, she watched Shelby prepare for the visit of her only real daughter, the only girl in the world that carried her genes, and that was all she could do. Watch. As if there was an invisible wall between her and her Mum, and Shelby was performing some kind of play behind it which Beth didn't quite understand because she was not informed about the background story.

She wanted to, however. She wanted to be in on all of the little details that made her Mum act as if she had found the guide to unconditional, blissful happiness. It was this urge to know that made her feeling of restlessness and uneasiness grow over the days, and it was this urge that had finally made her dial the number of her own biological mother.

But she couldn't go through with it. The moment she'd heard the woman's voice, her thumb had pressed the "end call"-button of its own accord. Still, she couldn't help but savor the two confused words Quinn Fabray had said. And the sound of her voice – warm, with a hint of huskiness. It sounded nice. She sounded nice.

"Beth? Will you please set the table?" Shelby called from the kitchen where she'd been busily at work for the last two hours, preparing the perfect vegan dinner. Beth sighed and let herself slide off her chair, carefully making her way to the combined living and dining room. She took all the tableware she needed from the glass-fronted cabinet and made herself busy laying the table for Rachel, Shelby and her.

She had just finished when the bell rang and Shelby hurried from the kitchen to open the door. Beth followed a little behind, forcing herself to put on a poker face as she watched Shelby hugging Rachel and it became blatantly obvious how much the two of them looked alike. She even hugged Rachel back after the brunette diva had made her way past their Mum to wrap her arms around her little "sister", too, although she really didn't feel like it.

They sat down on the table and Shelby served her vegan mac and (non-dairy) cheese, and they all began to spoon up their pasta, which was, admittedly, delicious. The atmosphere, however, was strange, even though Rachel and Shelby soon fell into their usual chit-chat about Broadway pieces, especially the one's Rachel had recently been a part in, Rachel's colleagues and directors, many of which Shelby knew, too, and the Broadway legends one of them had met at some point.

Maybe it was only Beth who perceived the atmosphere as strange. Maybe Rachel and Shelby were as comfortable as they had always been around each other. Maybe she was the only one who felt different about Rachel's visit, because she was the only one whose relationships to the two women had irrevocably changed.

"So, why are you back in Lima this time, Rachel?" Shelby asked at some point.

"Oh, Will – I mean, Mr. Shue – invited me. Every once in a while, he invites one of the former glee club members who actually are successful in the performing arts to speak to the New Directions and show them that it is possible to achieve their dreams. So, while I don't always agree with his questionable teaching methods, I agreed to meet this particular request so I could come back and visit you at a time like this. I understand that quite a lot is changing, and since I have quite some experience with your situation, Beth, I came to help." Rachel finished her little speech, smiling compassionately.

You shouldn't have come. Beth's inner voice screamed, but she forced herself to stay silent about this thought and gave Rachel a fake smile instead.

"That's very considerate of you." Shelby answered when it became evident that Beth wouldn't speak. "Especially since you had nobody to help you through when … well …"

"When you told me we should be thankful for each other from afar?" Rachel ended the sentence for Shelby and Beth's Mum nodded, cheeks flashing bright red.

"That's what I meant."

Although she had already known that Shelby hadn't built a relationship with Rachel right away, actually hearing the two of them talk about it – something that must have been very hurtful for Rachel back in time and obviously still could flood Shelby with a strong feeling of guilt – made it much more real for Beth. She couldn't help the smug thought that back then, Shelby had chosen her over Rachel, even though Beth knew she'd feel awful for that later.

"I don't know if you can really help me." Beth finally joined the conversation. "I mean, what you went through is partly similar, but a big part of it is a whole lot different." She reasoned, not wanting to bluntly tell Rachel, who clearly had the best intentions, that she did not want her help.

"I – I do get that, but I could try." Rachel answered, noticeably startled by Beth's negative reaction to her offer. "Sometimes it's just good to have someone to talk to who understands, and I do understand."

"Maybe she's right, Beth. You could use someone to talk to other than me." Shelby added, and it took everything in Beth to not give her Mum a death glare right then. Of course you would support your daughter.

"Okay, Beth, please just think about it. If you want to talk to me, we can go have some drinks together tomorrow after glee club and, well, just talk." Rachel offered.

"Yeah, I … I'll think about it." Beth answered indecisively and prayed that this would be the last word about the topic for this evening.

The end for now.

The feedback for the last chapter was, well, almost non-existing. I guess this means you didn't like the last chap and it wasn't just me who thought it was pretty bad.
So please let me know whether you still think this story is worth continuing.

On a different note: If you want to see this story continued, I could need some help from people living in the US. I've been trying to find information on the internet on when there are school vacations, but it's all been very confusing. So I'd be glad if some of you could tell me when there are vacations, so I can make Beth visit her parents at a time when it actually makes sense.

Of course you can also review on anything else ... like how you'd like it if I skipped back to Puck in the next chapter - if I write one.