Author's Note: Oh sweet lord do I have a lot to tell you all! First off, I saw the lovely Idina Menzel in concert on the seventeenth of july at wolf-trap in Washington DC and let me say this-that woman is pure, fucking perfection. She wore possibly the most gorgeous blue gown I'd ever seen in my lifetime, and her vocal range was just insane. I definitely would do it over in a heartbeat if I could. Secondly, thank you all very much for being so patient. I've managed to get my laptop fixed(thank gosh) so the update you're waiting anxiously for has finally arrived. And lastly, to Marlisa-Kristine, I just wanted to say a big thank you to the interview you sent me about Idina! I loved it times a thousand. I was laughing through a good majority of it, especially when she was talking about Lea because all I could think of was 'Rent,' and the fact that in another interview Idina had been talking about the possibility of being Lea's lesbian lover. Hah. So again, thank you all and I sincerely hope you enjoy this next chapter. Song credit goes to Saftey suit, for their song 'Stay.' This is not by any means, the last chapter-it's far from it really, I just wanted to fit the song in there somewhere because it's been stuck in my head for weeks now. Hahaha.
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Shelby had left Carmel High that afternoon with one thought on her mind, one person-Rachel, so it was purely conicidental when Leroy Barry calls to tell her that Rachel wants, no needs her mother and everything spirals from there. Shelby cannot remember whether she's made complete stops, or if she ran through a red light or two, because she's purely focused on reaching her daughter, on making sure she's alright but she can tell by the looks of things when Leroy leads her into the living room where Rachel has taken up residence on the couch that things are definitely far from okay. There is a blond girl who has fallen asleep on the chair across from where her daughter was sleeping on the couch, which automatically drew confusion out of her as Shelby found herself turning towards Leroy and Hiram who stood behind the couch with their arms crossed over their chest and stoic expressions on their faces.
"That's Quinn, the girl that brought Rachel home. She managed to calm Rachel down after she had a panic attack at Glee practice." Hiram spoke, voice low and shaky. Shelby nodded her head before moving in front of her daughter and crouching down to her eye-level, shaking her lightly. Rachel stirred a moment before her eyes slowly but surely began to open up and she jumped slightly at the close proximity between her and her mother who had a sympathetic smile on her face.
Rachel sighed softly and sat up, pulling her legs to her chest as she watched her mother take a seat beside her. Her eyes instantly drifted towards the blond who had brought her home and a small, faint smile grazed Rachel's face. She wasn't entirely sure why, or even how but she was feeling something slightly akin to a friendship forming between the two and she couldn't deny that she liked it. Quinn had protected her today, taken her away from the madness, she made her forget for awhile. Quinn was the first person to actually treat her like a person instead of a china doll who was warranted to break at any second and to tell the truth, Rachel needed that. She didn't want people walking on egg shells around her, constantly unsure if they should or should not talk to her for fear of what may happen. Sure, she understood their concern and worry, but did that mean Rachel liked it? Not one bit.
As she continued to study the sleeping blond across from her, she found a question forming inside of her brain. If she didn't want people treating her like she would break, why did Rachel ask for her mother then? Rachel couldn't help but feel a slight tug at her heart, unsure of whether it was appreciation or adoration for the fact that Quinn had kept her promise and stayed with her, and the fact that she on top of everything else that had happened, got her mother here. Rachel swallowed the lump forming in her throat and slowly turned her attention back to her mother, staring at her with a blank expression on her face. Her mother sat beside her, waiting patiently as if her daughter would suddenly just start speaking, giving her an explination as to why she was needed, but Rachel remained silent until she slowly shifted towards her mother and dropped her head on her shoulder, the first ounce of contact that she had insinuated.
"Rachel, sweetie-are you alright?" Rachel licked her lips, glancing up at her mother once more before nodding her head lowly and dropping her head back onto the older woman's shoulder. Shelby cautiously wrapped her arms around her daughter's waist and kissed her temple, feeling a slight accomplishment when Rachel didn't flinch.
But her accomplishment turned to pure shock when she heard soft, barely audible, hoarse words fall from her daughter's lips.
"No," She croaked. "But I'm getting there. Will you stay for awhile?"
Tears brimmed at the corners of Shelby's eyes and she found herself nodding, speechless, before she tightened her hold just ever so slightly on her daughter and letting the tears trickle down her cheeks. She no longer cared about being tough, no longer cared about the hard, 'I don't give a shit about you or what you think of me,' facade` she held, no longer cared that she had an audience staring at her in pure surprise, the only thing she felt at that moment was pure happiness and elation. She'd never thought she'd be able to miss her daughter's voice so much, surely not to the point she was in pure hysterics, but she did. Rachel smiled weakly into her mother's hair, inhaling the sweet scent she held and let her eyes close again.
This was the first time Rachel had managed to feel something other then fear and anxiety, what she felt now was just what she'd been longing for since the attack happened. Saftey. She wasn't entirely sure how long it would last, or if it was just a one-time thing before the demons returned to haunt her, but she could honestly say that for right now, she felt safe. She glanced over at her father's who stood side by side behind the couch, eyes hopeful and gave them both a small smile before mouthing a small 'thank you,' to them to which their eyes then teared up which caused a small laugh to elicit Rachel's throat, a sound that not only shocked her, scared her. She was almost sure she'd forgotten how to speak, let alone laugh-until today, until Quinn, until her mother, until her father's, until the four people that currently meant so much to her were all in the same room and the only thing she felt was safe.
And I'll be here in the morning if you say stay, if you say stay to me.