I got a bit carried away with this one so I hope you're sitting comfortably! And I'm glad there are still people who are enjoying reading this!


"My bagel had a face on it!" was the first thing Rachel said after racing over to Shelby, "and my cucumber and my carrot was bear faces."

"That's right" Shelby took Rachel's bag from her, "did you like it?"

Rachel nodded, "will you really do it every day?"

"If you want me to." If Shelby was honest, she got as much fun out of thinking of fun and exciting ways to present Rachel's lunch as Rachel got from seeing it each lunch time. She had plenty of ideas in mind for the future, and plenty of ideas for things other than sandwiches that she could send the girl to school with.

As she had the previous day, Shelby asked Rachel how her day had been as they walked home. Again Rachel had been surprised, she thought Shelby had only asked before because it was her first day at the school but she'd asked again. Maybe she wanted to know if she'd been bad Rachel reasoned with herself, but she soon forgot that thought as she told Shelby all about the things she'd learned and the games they'd played in gym class.

"Come upstairs with me" Shelby said softly after Rachel had taken off her shoes and jacket, "there's something I'd like you to see". It was something she'd ordered not long after Rachel had moved in, but it had taken a while to be delivered and she'd spent most of the afternoon setting it up.

Rachel gasped and silently pointed to the corner of the room, the corner where she seemed to spend a lot of her time now housed a fabric teepee in a pale grey fabric, a large beanbag cushion and a soft, fluffy blanket were waiting inside the tent and there were fairy lights draped around the wooden poles. Rachel couldn't understand why Shelby would do this.

Once again, Shelby knelt on the floor, giving Rachel the height advantage as she explained, "You've spent a lot of time in that corner since you got here, and that's not a problem, if you feel safe there then that's okay, but I want you to be comfortable. The switch for the lights is right by the door to the tent, and if you want to close it up and hide inside then the fabric closes with velcro. I want you to feel safe here Rachel, but I don't want you to get uncomfortable sitting on the floor."

Rachel couldn't hold back her tears, and, before she even realised what she was doing, she found herself almost throwing herself at Shelby, the woman only too happy to wrap Rachel in her arms, rubbing circles on her back as she reassured her, telling her over and over that she was okay, that she was safe here.

Once Rachel had calmed down, Shelby used the cuff of her sleeve to wipe Rachel's face, "feel better?" she asked, smiling when she got a nod in response, "do you want to try it out?" Rachel nodded again and with a little encouragement from Shelby, crawled inside the teepee, making herself comfortable on the beanbag and pulling the blanket around herself, "what do you think?"

"It's the best thing I've ever had" the fact Rachel responded verbally shocked Shelby, usually if she was upset or overwhelmed, she reverted back to being mute again, but this time her words almost broke Shelby's heart, "will you take it away when I'm bad?"

"You're not bad Rachel, sometimes you do bad things but that doesn't make you bad, and no, I will never take this away from you. This is your safe space, if you're angry and you need to calm down, if you're anxious and you need a place to relax, if you just need to take a break and hide away from everything for a little while, this will be here for you, unless you ask me to move it, this will stay in that corner for you."

"Thank you."

"It's okay" Shelby smiled, "but there's one more thing, can you see under your bed from there?" Rachel shifted slightly and turned her head towards her bed, gasping as she saw Shelby had put a memory foam mattress topper, two inches thick, and another pillow and duvet under there, "there's a nightlight that you can use as a torch on the floor by your bed too" Shelby told her, "I'd still like you to try sleeping in the bed, but if you wake up and want to sleep under it, I want you to be comfortable, and with the weather starting to get colder, I want you to stay warm no matter where you are."

Rachel was stunned, she couldn't believe anyone would do something like this for her. Everyone else had got mad at her for sleeping under the bed, but Shelby didn't seem to mind. One family had even put a bunch of heavy boxes under her bed to stop her sleeping there, but not Shelby she'd made her a nice cosy space where she'd be comfortable. "You're not mad that I sleep under there?"

Shelby shook her head, "I'd like it if you stayed in bed, but if you feel more comfortable sleeping underneath it then, for now, that's fine, as long as you try to sleep in the bed first, and maybe in the future, we can work up to you sleeping in the bed all night." She could see Rachel didn't look convinced, "the most important thing to me is that you're happy and comfortable Rachel, and if sleeping under the bed makes you happy, I will do my best to make it comfortable for you."

"Can I try it?"

"Sure" Shelby nodded, "then you can tell me if it's okay or if you need more blankets or another pillow or anything." Rachel pulled back the duvet and crawled under the bed, laying down on her stomach as Shelby pulled the covers back over her. "This is your nightlight" she turned on the cone shaped light on the floor, and you can lift it like this" she lifted the light from the base, "and it turns into a torch."

"That's really cool, and this is really snuggly" Rachel nuzzled into the pillow, "thank you for doing it for me!"

"That's okay, I'm glad you like it, but like I said, you still need to try and sleep in the bed at night okay?"

"Okay" Rachel nodded, "I promise I'll try!"

As the week went on, both Rachel and Shelby began to relax, Rachel spent recess and lunchtimes with Brittany, Quinn and Santana, and, with each day that passed, she spoke more to her other classmates too, slowly coming out of her shell as she began to allow herself to believe that things might actually be different this time.

"My head hurts" Rachel sighed as she kicked off her shoes after school on Friday, "right here" she gestured to her temple. It wasn't the first time she'd complained of a headache since getting her glasses but Shelby knew that that was something that could happen as Rachel adjusted to wearing them.

"Okay" Shelby said softly, "you might need to take your glasses off for a little while."

Rachel frowned, "but I don't want to, I want to see everything."

"I know you do, but your eyes need time to get used to them, wearing your glasses is a big change, your brain is seeing new things and your muscles need to learn new things, and you've been concentrating really hard at school so you might feel better if you take them off for a little while and then put them back on again." She saw Rachel didn't look convinced so she suggested, "how about we go lay on the couch for a little bit, you can close your eyes and tell me all about your day, and then, after you've rested for a little while you can put your glasses back on and see how you feel."

"You'll stay with me?"

"Of course" Shelby nodded, "in fact, why don't we get your book? I can read to you and you can rest."

"Yeah" Rachel nodded, "can I go get it?"

"Yeah" Shelby smiled at how quickly Rachel had gone from not wanting to take her glasses off to wanting to lay down and be read to, she could only imagine how tired the girl was after her first week at her new school. "You go grab it, change into something more comfortable if you want to, I'll be on the couch when you come down."

Rachel brought her book and her blankie down a few minutes later, her jeans swapped out for some pink jogging bottoms and as she sat on the couch, Shelby handed her a cushion, "here" she smiled, "make yourself comfortable. She tried to hide her surprise when, after a moments thought, Rachel propped the pillow against her thigh and laid down. "Is this okay?" she asked nervously.

Shelby smiled and nodded, "it's absolutely fine. Can I put your glasses on the coffee table?" Rachel nodded and slipped off her glasses and handed them to Shelby. She hadn't said as much but Shelby knew Rachel was tired, so, after putting Rachel's glasses safely on the coffee table, she reached for the blanket on the back of the couch and carefully draped it over the girl, she wasn't expecting her to fall asleep, but if she did, a little nap before dinner wouldn't hurt. "Do you want to talk about your day or do you just want me to read?" she asked as she sat back on the couch and ran her hand over Rachel's hair.

"We did times tables this morning, and spellings" Rachel sighed quietly as she felt Shelby gently scratch at her scalp.

"Yeah, how did you do on your spellings?" They'd been practicing the short list of words all week and Shelby knew Rachel had been worried about the 'test' even though both Shelby, and Rachel's teacher had told her that she just had to do her best.

"I got three wrong."

Shelby could hear the disappointment in Rachel's voice, "only three wrong? That's great, it means you got seven of them right!"

"Quinn got them all right".

"Yeah but you're not Quinn, you're Rachel, not everybody is good at the same thing. Quinn is good at spelling, but I bet she doesn't know how to play the piano like you. Nobody expects you to be good at everything and getting seven right on your very first week at a new school is brilliant!" Shelby could tell Rachel wasn't convinced but she decided to move on, "do you want to tell me how you got your sticker?"

Rachel had been beaming with pride when she'd come out with her first good behaviour sticker, it was still stuck to the backing paper and Rachel hadn't wanted to peel it off so they'd put it on the fridge when they got home, Shelby promising Rachel that she could stick every good behavior sticker she got on the fridge. There was a slip of paper in Rachel's bag that noted how she'd earned the sticker but Shelby wanted Rachel to think about how she'd been 'good'.

"I got a smiley face every single day" although she couldn't see her face, Shelby could hear the smile in Rachel's voice.

"Yeah? Can you remember what you did?"

Of course she could, Rachel was so used to being yelled at and punished that she clung to every single bit of praise that she could. "I got one for working nicely with Brittany on math problems, I helped carry some little boxes to a different classroom, I tried really hard with reading even though it was a harder book than I had at my last school, my table was the quickest to tidy up after art and today for listening really good in music class."

Shelby smiled and ran her hand through Rachel's hair, Rachel had every right to be proud of herself, she'd been through so much, she'd had such awful experiences at her previous schools, she'd been let down and failed time and time again, but she'd still thrown herself into her new school with everything she had, "that's brilliant Rachel, I'm so proud of you. And you should be proud of yourself, I'm so happy that you're having a better time at this school, I know you might not believe me, but you're a really clever girl Rachel, and if you keep trying like you did this week then it won't take you long at all to catch up."

They spoke about Rachel's day for a little while longer before she yawned loudly and Shelby reached for the book, beginning to read to Rachel, "I'm getting sleepy" Rachel yawned again, she didn't know what it was about this house, about being with Shelby, but she'd never wanted to sleep as much as she had since she'd lived here.

"That's okay, you can have a nap before dinner. I don't mind."

"But I'm not a baby" Rachel frowned.

"I know, but it's not just babies who take naps. The reason I keep that blanket on the back of the couch is so I can be cozy and warm if I want to nap."

"You nap too?"

"I do, not all the time, but sometimes I get a little sleepy and I take a quick nap. It doesn't mean I'm a baby, it just means that my body needs to rest for a while and there's nothing wrong with that."

Rachel was confused, a lot of the group homes she'd lived in had been big on independence and doing things for yourself, but now Shelby was reading to her and telling her it was okay to take a nap if she needed to, and Rachel was sure she was too big to he taking naps, but then again, if Shelby said she still took naps, maybe it was okay? "I can really take a nap?"

"You can really take a nap" Shelby nodded, "I'll wake you when I need to go make a start on dinner, I don't want you to sleep for too long or you won't be tired at bedtime, but a little nap won't hurt if you need one."

"And you'll read to me?"

"Absolutely. Are you comfy? Okay…"

Shelby wasn't sure how Rachel's first week at school would go, so she'd made sure to keep the weekend free so the girl could relax if she needed to. That didn't mean she didn't have anything planned though, as Rachel found out on Saturday morning, Shelby had planned a fun, but relaxing day for her. She started off by making pancakes for breakfast, something that seemed so simple to Shelby but had Rachel's face lighting up in delight. Rachel had been confused when Shelby had told her that she didn't have to get changed after breakfast, and, with a frown on her face, she followed Shelby up to the bathroom. They both cleaned their teeth as Shelby ran a small amount of warn water into the bathtub, before Shelby explained that they were going to have a 'spa day'. Rachel had never had a 'spa day' before so she listened intently as Shelby explained what she had planned, she couldn't believe it. A spa day sounded amazing! It definitely sounded like something that only 'good' kids got to do, and she couldn't believe that Shelby was going to let her do something so fun!

"Who's that?" Rachel frowned as there was a knock at the door a while later.

"I don't know" Shelby stood from the couch, "I'll go see."

"But your face is all messy!"

"Well maybe I'll scare away whoever's interrupting our spa day" she winked before leaving the room to answer the door. "Sarah" she smiled when she saw the social worker stood on her doorstep, "is everything okay?".

Sarah smiled and nodded, "everything's fine" she had to bite back an amused smirk as she took in the green paste on Shelby's face and the fact the woman was still in her pyjamas as Shelby led her through to the living room, "am I interrupting something?"

"Rachel's had a busy week" Sarah saw the girl sprawled out on the couch, the same green paste on her face, the nails on her left foot painted with hot pink nail varnish, "so we're having a spa day to relax!"

"We made this" Rachel pointed to the mush on her face, "it's avocado and honey mixed together. And Shelby says I can't wear nail polish to school but nobody will know if it's on my toes. And, before we came downstairs, we rolled up the bottom of our pyjama pants to our knees, and then we put a round thing…"

"A bath bomb" Shelby told her with a smile.

"A bath bomb" Rachel nodded, "we put it in the tub with some water and then sat on the side of the tub and put our feet in and it was all pink and fizzy and bubbly!" her excitement dropped somewhat, a frown crossing her face as she asked Sarah, "are you here to take me away?"

"Absolutely not" Sarah said quickly, "and if I'd have known you were having a spa day I wouldn't have disturbed you, I was visiting another family not far from here and I thought I'd pop in and see how your first week went at your new school."

"Oh" Rachel nodded as Shelby gestured for Sarah to sit down, Shelby perching on the edge of the coffee table, putting Rachel's right foot on her thigh to paint her nails. "I think I've got three friends now. And my teacher helps me a lot, and she doesn't get mad if I don't know how to do it. And sometimes, when we do reading and spellings, another teacher comes in to help me, just me, and nobody gets mad if I can't do it. Oh, and I got a smiley face every day for being good so I got a sticker too yesterday, Shelby put it on the fridge!"

"That's brilliant Rachel! It sounds really good, do you like it better than your last school?"

Rachel nodded again, "and Shelby helps me when I get home, and when it was my first day she made us milkshakes when we got home!"

"Aren't you lucky? Milkshakes sound great."

"They are, and Shelby made ones that don't make me sick. She doesn't make me eat the stuff that makes me throw up."

"That's really good, nobody should make you eat food that will make you ill." Sarah was surprised by the change in Rachel, already the angry, anxious girl seemed calmer and more confident in herself, and whilst she wasn't naive enough to think that Rachel wouldn't have bad days, that she wouldn't slip back to her 'old' self, that her worried and fears wouldn't resurface. She knew Rachel's past and the effect that had had on her wouldn't suddenly disappear just because she was in a new home, but she knew that whatever came up, Shelby would deal with it, she'd give Rachel love and support and make sure she had everything she needed to be the best person she could be.

"I have to go see a different doctor to make sure that it's what the doctor said, but Shelby said we can get different types of food that won't make me sick."

"That's great, I bet you'll have lots of fun trying out all the options." She glanced at her watch, "I'd better leave you two to your spa day, I've got to go and see another family, but I'll come round again in the next couple of weeks to see how you're both getting on."

"Okay" Rachel waved from where she sat on the couch, "see you later."

"See you later" Sarah smiled, shaking her head when Shelby went to stand from the coffee table, "don't, I can see myself out, you two enjoy the rest of your day."