Devin Jaste: I'll definitely get to all of that. It usually takes a while (at least several months) for everything to be settled as far as an inheritance goes. And as far as Rachel's feelings about losing Shelby…it'll definitely be addressed more.

Chapter 11 – Just the Three of Us

"Which is yours?"

Rachel looked to her left, where a redheaded woman was standing. She looked like she was in her early to mid-forties and Rachel instantly guessed she was a real estate agent or lawyer by her appearance.

"The blonde on the far right," Rachel replied.

"Oh," the woman said, looking Rachel up and down.

Rachel instantly felt like the woman was judging her. It was obvious by her question that she assumed Rachel had a child in the class and she knew the other woman was most likely trying to figure out how old she would have been at the time of Beth's birth. Rachel felt herself instantly going on the defensive under this woman's gaze.

The woman crossed her arms. "How old is she?"

"Four," Rachel replied.

"So is my daughter, Samantha." The woman pointed out a little girl with red hair. "You two are new here, right? I don't believe I've seen either of you around before."

"This is her first class," Rachel replied.

"I thought so," the woman said, eying her. "I generally remember faces."

Rachel wondered how much time was left before the class was over. She didn't want to be rude and just walk away, but this woman was rubbing her the wrong way. Just as she thought about feigning a phone call to be able to excuse herself, the woman looked at her watch and cleared her throat.

"Well, I hope to see you again next week, but I must be going," the woman said and then walked to the other side of the room.

"I bet," Rachel mumbled.

"Ignore her."

Rachel jumped at the sound of the voice and looked over her shoulder to find another woman standing just behind her. This one was much younger—Rachel would guess she was only a few years older than her—and sort of reminded her a bit of Brittany. She was tall, blonde, and had some of the bluest eyes Rachel had ever seen.

"That's Sheila," the woman continued. "She likes to get to know the new parents so she doesn't have to waste any time judging them." The woman gave her a knowing smile. "I'm Zoe."

"I'm Rachel," she introduced herself.

"Your daughter's pretty good for her first time here," Zoe commented.

"Sister," Rachel corrected.

Zoe nodded. "I think she has a natural talent for it."

"I'm not surprised," Rachel said, smiling as she looked at Beth. "She's been raised around music and dance her whole life."

Rachel watched as the dance teacher gathered the students up. Class was clearly ending and Rachel was a little relieved because Sheila kept looking at her from the other side of the room. There were two other women flanking her, and Rachel knew she was the topic of conversation.

"Are they always like this?" Rachel asked.

Zoe followed Rachel's gaze and rolled her eyes. "Every time; apparently even forty year old women can still be stuck in high school. They try to know everything about everyone. My advice? Ignore them. It will drive them crazy if they have nothing to gossip about."

Rachel laughed. "That shouldn't be a problem."

She was used to dealing with people like them. She did go McKinley High, after all, and NYADA really wasn't much different. She had spent her whole life having people talk about her—growing up in a small town with two fathers didn't exactly make her invisible—so this was nothing new to her.

"Class should be over in about five minutes," Zoe informed her. "Mrs. Lewis usually gives them this time at the end of class to talk to each other."

Rachel nodded. Some of her dance teachers used to do the same thing; it was always her least favorite part because none of the other students would ever talk to her. When she looked at Beth, the little girl was standing off to the side much like Rachel used to do.

"Did you see what I did?" a little girl came up and asked Zoe.

"I did!" Zoe enthusiastically replied before whispering something into the girl's ear.

"That's my daughter, Emma," Zoe said as the little girl walked over to Beth.

"She looks just like you," Rachel commented.

"She may look like me, but she sure has her father's personality," Zoe replied.

As Rachel watched Beth and Emma, she realized she really didn't know what else to say. When she met new people before, she would generally start talking about NYADA and her dreams of being on Broadway, but since getting Beth, things had changed a bit for her. She still wanted those same things, but she guessed her priorities were slightly different now. Luckily she was saved by her phone buzzing in her hand, and she looked down to see that Kurt was calling.

"Hello," she said upon answering it.

"Hey, I forgot to tell you earlier that I'm going to be home a little late," Kurt said. "My boss wants to talk to me about something and I didn't want you worried that I got mugged on the subway or something."

Rachel laughed lightly, remembering the time she really did think that. "Well, thank you for letting me know, and I will see you when you get home."

"You better still be up because I want to know all the details about Beth's class," Kurt remarked.

"Oh," Rachel glanced at Sheila and her friends, "I definitely will. Bye, Kurt."

As she ended the call, Beth walked over to her with Emma trailing behind. Beth was actually smiling, which made Rachel think she did the right thing by signing her up for the class.

"Did you have fun?" Rachel asked; Beth didn't say anything, but she nodded. "Would you like to get some ice cream and go watch the ducks?"

"Yeah," Beth said, reaching out for Rachel's hand.

Rachel looked up at Zoe and gave her a smile. "It was very nice to meet you."

"I guess we'll be seeing you two again next week," Zoe said, smiling back.

"It appears so," Rachel said, smiling down at Beth.

Rachel heard the sound of Kurt's keys jingling in the hall as she walked into the living room with her tea. When Kurt walked in he looked harried; his hair was slightly mussed and his tie was hanging loosely around his neck. Without saying a word, he walked over to the couch and plopped down next to her, putting his feet on the coffee table.

"Long day?" Rachel guessed.

"Birthday party," Kurt replied. "I had to listen to twenty-two six year olds running around, screaming for three hours. I will never understand parents who just sit there and watch their kid knock over a table."

"Are you serious?" Rachel asked.

Kurt nodded. "She didn't even apologize to Jimmy, who it fell on by the way, and then she tried to tell us that it wouldn't have happened if the table wasn't in such a strange location. I had to stop myself from telling her that it wouldn't have happened if she hadn't taught her son to be spoiled brat." Kurt rolled his eyes. "On the up side, I got a raise and my boss wanted to talk to me about temporarily taking over Laura's position while she's on maternity leave. He says it will be a trail run to see how I do managing others."

"That's wonderful!" Rachel said, smiling as she sipped her tea.

"Enough about my day," Kurt pulled his tie off and threw it onto the table, "I want to hear all about dance class."

"She didn't do a lot of actual dancing; she stood back a lot and watched in the beginning," Rachel replied. "She did start participating more toward the end and she definitely seems to have a natural talent for it. Another student's mother even commented on it. Beth seemed as if she enjoyed it and already said she would like to go back next week."

"Well, that's good, right?" Kurt asked. "Why do you look disappointed by it?"

Rachel shook her head. "I'm not; I'm very happy that she wants to go back."

Kurt's eyebrows rose. "But?"

"But there are these mothers," Rachel continued. "One of them walked up to me and started asking questions. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but I could tell she was judging me. It wasn't what she said, but how she said it. She thought I was Beth's mother and clearly did not approve of me."

"So there's a bunch of snobs there?" Kurt asked.

"Yes, although there was one there that was nice," Rachel replied. "She was young, too, so she probably gets the same thing from them. At the end she got her daughter to talk to Beth while they had some free time, which I thought was nice of her."

Kurt smirked. "I think I'll ask for next Friday off. If they disapprove of you, they are really going to disapprove of me."

"I have a feeling they disapprove of everyone," Rachel remarked. "I've dealt with close-minded people like them my whole life. There were parents like them in my dance classes when I was a child. They would never let their kids speak to me; at first I didn't understand why, so my fathers had to explain to me that some people don't like families that they think are different. It was in dance class that I first experienced that prejudice, and I went back to class determined to show them that my family was just as good as theirs."

"What did you do?" Kurt asked.

"I made a presentation on poster board and took it to class," Rachel said, laughing at herself. "I'm sure I would have made a PowerPoint presentation if I had discovered its existence at that time. Needless to say, it did not go over very well. One of the boys in class ripped it in half and I cried the rest of the class and the whole car ride home."

It was one of Rachel's earliest memories and she could still remember it very well. Before that time, she never saw her family as being different than any other and she didn't understand how anyone else could feel that her family was wrong or somehow less good than theirs. She idolized her fathers and couldn't fathom anyone thinking they should be parents. It was her first encounter with bigoted people and it left her shaken. She was an optimistic four year old and it was the first time she realized not everyone was nice and, as Leroy told her at the time, some people would automatically not like her because of who she was and how she grew up. Before that time, her fathers had managed to shield her from the hate.

"Well, I'm definitely coming with you next Friday and if they're bitchy to me, I'll be bitchy right back," Kurt replied. "You know, when Beth isn't around."

"Yes, we wouldn't want her picking up on any less than desirable behaviors," Rachel said.

Kurt looked toward Beth's bedroom. "She hadn't had any nightmares tonight, has she?"

"No." Rachel shook her head. "I thought I heard her say something in her sleep, but when I went in to check on her, she seemed fine."

Rachel knew it would probably happen sometime over the course of the night, but she was trying to stay optimistic that the nightmares would eventually pass. They were doing everything Beth's therapies had suggested, but nothing appeared to be helping with them. She hated seeing Beth so scared after waking up from them; it made Rachel feel helpless because there wasn't a lot she could do about it. She couldn't seem to do anything to prevent them, so all she could do was be there for Beth and assure her that everything was okay.

"Maybe she'll make it through the night without waking up," Kurt said with a sigh.

"We can hope," Rachel replied.

"Hey, I was thinking we should do something tomorrow," Kurt said, turning his head to look at her. "It's Saturday and we're both off work, and I thought we could show Beth around the city a bit. We've talked about it several times, but we've never actually gone."

"That would be perfect," Rachel replied since she had been thinking along the same lines.

She had been wanting to show Beth some of the sights for quite some time, but one of them was usually working, and she wanted the three of them to go together. Beth would probably be growing up in the city and Rachel wanted to be the one to show it to her.

"Glad we're in agreement," Kurt replied.

"Aren't we usually?" Rachel asked.

"Usually." Kurt smiled at her. "Now, I'm going to go get my beauty sleep, so I can function properly tomorrow."

Rachel laughed. "Me too; I was only still up because I knew you would wake me up to hear about Beth's class."

"You know me too well," Kurt said with a smirk.

Rachel carefully watched Beth as she stood a few feet away. Kurt had surprised the little girl with her very own camera, and she had been learning to take pictures with. Rachel was a little concerned she was going to drop it, which was one of the reasons she was watching her so closely. The other was because they were in Times Square and she wasn't going to risk Beth getting lost—or worse—just because she averted her gaze for two seconds. She didn't like letting go of Beth's hand while they were there, but if she didn't, it would make it a bit hard for her to take pictures.

"She looks happy," Kurt said.

"She does," Rachel agreed. "But I still can't believe you bought a four year old an expensive digital camera. It's nicer than mine!"

Kurt laughed. "You're just annoyed you didn't think of it first."

Rachel huffed. "Yes, I am."

She glanced at Kurt and wanted to laugh. Before they came to Times Square, they took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. After spending several hours there, Beth wanted to go to Central Park, where they spend a considerable amount of time before eventually making their way to their current location. Along the way, Beth saw a vendor with one of the Statue of Liberty foam crowns, but instead of wearing it herself, she wanted Kurt to put it on. Kurt had been wearing it for several hours and Rachel was fairly certain he had forgotten he had it atop his head.

"I think we're going to have to take Beth to a Broadway show soon," Rachel said, watching Beth take in everything around her. "It would be a shame not to introduce her to the world of musical theater at a young age."

"We watched The Wizard of Oz the other day while—"

Rachel gasped. "Without me?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "As if you haven't seen it a hundred times."

"That's not the point," Rachel said, huffing.

"As I was going to say before I was interrupted by your dramatics," Kurt gave her a pointed look and she rolled her eyes at him, "we watched The Wizard of Oz the other day and she really liked it, so maybe she would enjoy Wicked."

"I don't know." Rachel frowned, trying to figure out if it was age appropriate. "Those flying monkeys in the show are a little scary and the last thing I would want to do is make her nightmares even worse."

"They're not that bad," Kurt replied. "Just because you had nightmares about them doesn't mean she will."

"I'm simply saying there are other shows that are aimed a little more toward children," Rachel replied.

Kurt sighed. "Fine."

"Did you get some good pictures?" Rachel asked when Beth walked toward them.

"Yeah," Beth replied, holding up the camera for Rachel to look at.

"These are really good," Rachel said as she flipped through the pictures, and she meant it. "I really like the one of Kurt in his crown."

She held the camera to show him and he narrowed his eyes but didn't take off the foam crown. Rachel laughed lightly as she handed the camera back to Beth and asked, "Are you ready to go or do you want to stay a bit more?"

"We can go," Beth said as she reached up and took Rachel's hand.

"I think we should get something to eat," Kurt said. "It is after six."

Rachel nodded. "Do you want to eat out or get some takeout and go home?"

"It's up to you," Kurt said, shrugging.

"Beth?" Rachel asked, but she just shrugged as well. "Okay, I guess we'll pick something up to take home."

"It had been a long day with a lot of walking she was eager to get home and relax. The day had been fun—she loved to go out and spend the day with Kurt and Beth—but it was also exhausting, and she would love nothing more than to prop her feet up and unwind by watching a movie.

"Can we get Chinese?" Kurt asked.

"I would rather Italian or maybe something from that little sandwich shop," Rachel replied.

They paused and then both looked down at Beth; she looked up, glancing back and for between them. "I like Chinese."

"I win," Kurt said, smirking.

"Are you two always going to outvote me?" Rachel asked, playfully nudging Beth. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"Well, she's not," Kurt remarked with his smirk still firmly on his face.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "That's only because you bribe her with things like digital cameras."

Kurt hummed. "Yes, but I still win."

Beth laughed and squeezed Rachel's hand. Rachel gave hers a squeeze back as she smiled down at her. Today had definitely been a good day for them. She was fairly certain Beth had smiled more over the course of the day than she had ever seen before. Rachel had been thinking about their next outing and she already knew she wanted to take Beth to the zoo. It was something they thought about doing that day, but it was ultimately decided that they should have an entire day just devoted to it. As much as Beth loved watching the ducks, Rachel figured the zoo would be the perfect thing for her.

"Have you spoken to Quinn lately?"

Rachel looked at Kurt, wondering why he was suddenly bringing her up. "No, not since we had lunch. Why?"

Kurt shrugged. "I was just curious; I saw a girl with pink hair back there and it reminded me of a certain ill-fated phase."

Rachel had actually been wondering why Quinn had not contacted her lately. The last time she spoke to her was when they had lunch together, but that was nearly two weeks ago. She was a little surprised by it, but Rachel assumed she must be busy with work. Or possibly that Quinn wasn't really ready to see Beth like she thought.

In the times that Quinn had been around, she never really interacted with the little girl. Rachel noticed it quite quickly, but she never brought it up. She always just figured Quinn was trying to ease herself into Beth's life—or maybe ease Beth into her life—which Rachel could understand. It must be hard suddenly coming face to face with the daughter you gave up. Rachel felt similar when she first met Shelby; as much as she thought of that moment, when it actually happened, she was left not knowing what to say. Even though Quinn didn't a say a lot to Beth, though, Rachel did notice the blonde watching the girl. It was also something she had always noticed about Quinn during high school; she would often see Quinn sitting back and observing people. Rachel always had the feeling it was how Quinn learned about people, though in high school it was probably so she could learn their weaknesses and use it against them.

"She's probably busy with work," Rachel finally said after a few moments.

Now that Kurt had brought it up, Rachel thought about calling her later, but she quickly nixed that idea. This was Quinn Fabray after all, and if she wasn't getting in touch, there was probably a reason for it. Calling her would probably only result in a less than desirable interaction with the other woman.

By the time they walked into the apartment, Beth was fast asleep in Kurt's arms. She fell asleep some time on the ride home, so Kurt carried her from the subway to their apartment. He wasn't the most muscular guy in the world, and when they walked into the apartment, Rachel could see the perspiration on his forehead from his struggle to carry her.

"Thank god," Kurt said, sagging against the door.

"I thought you didn't believe in god," Rachel replied.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "It's just an expression."

"Do you think we should let her nap for a little while longer?" Rachel asked as she put the bags of takeout food onto the table.

"I don't think we could wake her if we tried," Kurt said, shifting her more to his left arm.

"Okay, put her to bed and we'll let her sleep for thirty more minutes," Rachel instructed.

She knew it was a bad time to let her take a nap—her bedtime was just in a few hours—but she was clearly exhausted, which Rachel could sympathize with. Kurt seemed hesitant but nodded, and Rachel pulled out the cartons of Chinese food as he took Beth to her room. She grabbed three plates, setting one aside for Beth once she woke up, and set the other two on the table. She was just dumping the content of the cartons on the plates when Kurt walked back into the room.

"She's out like a light," Kurt announced. "She didn't even stir when I put her in her bed."

"Well, it has been a long day," Rachel said, walking over, and grabbing forks for them since neither had quite mastered the use of chopsticks.

"Thank you," Kurt said as he grabbed his plate. "Movie?"

"Please," Rachel replied, picking up her plate, and following Kurt into the living room.

Rachel sat down on the couch, throwing her shoes under the coffee table, and curling her legs underneath her. Kurt grabbed the remote control, turning on the television, and then handing it to Rachel.

"You pick," Kurt said.

Rachel didn't really care, so she chose the first movie that caught her eye—Never Been Kissed, one of her favorite 90's movies—and then took a bit of her food. As much as Rachel used to love going out and walking around the city, she almost preferred doing this. With work and Beth, she was usually too tired to do much else. Taking care of a four year old was a lot of work; she never once regretted becoming Beth's guardian, but she did sometimes miss having the freedom that she once had and the lack of responsibilities.

She had been putting off getting a second job because she knew school would be starting before she knew it and she wanted to enjoy what free time she had now. It was going to be a struggle to juggle everything once her classes started back, but she was trying to think positively about it. Since Broadway was her dream, giving up NYADA was not an option, and there was no way she would give up Beth, so she had no other option but to make everything work.

"Is there something wrong with your food?" Kurt asked.

Rachel looked at him. "What?"

"You've been staring at it for five minutes," Kurt stated.

"Oh," Rachel said, shaking her head. "No, the food is fine. I was just thinking."

"About what?" Kurt prodded.

Rachel sighed. "Everything."

"You're going to have to elaborate a little more, sweetie," Kurt replied.

"I suppose I get a bit overwhelmed sometimes when I think of classes resuming," Rachel admitted. "I know I shouldn't complain—a lot of people have lives that are much harder than mine—but I just keep wondering if I'm going to be able to do it all. Being in school was difficult enough sometimes, but now I have Beth and work." She sighed again. "I'm afraid I'm going to mess everything up."

"You're Rachel Berry," Kurt stated. "If anyone can do it, you can." He paused, smirking. "Plus, you have some fabulous help."

Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "For which I am forever grateful.

"You better be," Kurt said, nudging his shoulder into hers. "And I know what you mean; you've taken on a lot of responsibility. Anyone would feel overwhelmed in your situation. I worry, too."

"You do?" Rachel asked.

"Of course," Kurt replied. "I would be more concerned if we weren't worried."

"Yeah," Rachel agreed.

Rachel was just thankful Beth would be starting kindergarten in the fall. She was a bit on the young side for it, but she learned that Shelby had her tested just before the accident, and she had been shown to be ready for it. Among other things, she was reading at a much high level than other children her age and appeared to have a natural talent for numbers. So, even though she would be a year younger than a lot of the children, she would be starting with them. It was apparent that Beth had gotten Quinn's intelligence.

Her going to kindergarten was definitely going to make it easier on Kurt and Rachel. Beth would be in school at the same time they were, so they wouldn't have to hire someone to watch her during the day. Kurt would then work evenings while Rachel was home with Beth, and she had already talked to her manager about working Tuesday and Thursday mornings, which she had off, and weekends.

Rachel saw movement out of the corner of her eyes and looked over to find Beth standing in the entryway to her bedroom. She was rubbing her eyes, and Rachel wondered for a moment if she'd had a nightmare, but the little girl generally called out when she had them and Rachel hadn't heard her make a sound.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked, setting her plate on the table as she stood up.

Beth nodded and walked over to them; Kurt scooted over and she climbed on the couch, sitting in the space between them.

"Are you hungry?" Rachel asked.

Beth nodded again as she rested her head on Kurt's arm. She was clearly still half asleep and Rachel had to smile at the sight. Kurt looked up at her, returning her smile, as Beth closed her eyes. Rachel didn't know if she would be able to stay awake long enough to eat, but she went into the kitchen nevertheless. When she returned with the plate, she gently shook Beth, but the little girl didn't stir, so Rachel set the plate on the table with a light laugh.

"Someone's tired," Rachel said, sitting back down.

"Just a little," Kurt said as he smiled fondly at Beth.

When Rachel grabbed her plate and leaned back on the couch, Beth shifted between them, turning so her head was in Rachel's lap. It didn't make it easy to eat, but Rachel didn't try to move Beth. Instead, she picked up one of the blankets from the back of the couch and threw it over her. Rachel knew she was going to regret it when Beth woke up early from going to sleep well before her normal bedtime, but she just didn't have the heart to wake her when she looked so peaceful.