READ THE WARNINGS!

READ THE WARNINGS!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS!

The story is FINISHED! Please read all of these notes/warnings!

Hello Friends,

I am glad to tell you that I've FINISHED this story. More than five years a labor of love, and 2,277 pages in a word document. I don't think I've ever written that much in my life! I hope you are all well and I'd like to thank you for being patient with me. You've all offered kind words and forgiven my grammar and spelling mistakes. I appreciate that. I encourage you all to READ EVERYTHING CAREFULLY!

Now we move into the standard section. If you know this well, then please move on to the WARNINGS and NEED TO KNOW sections below!

~ THIS STORY IS NOT SEXUAL AGE PLAY! The girls are NOT little girls. They are NOT little girls. You can act young without being a little one. I worked with a twenty seven year old women who wold have three year old tantrums, on a regular daily basis, because they didn't get their way. They whine and complain and literally throw a tantrum. The girls in this story DO NOT go into a different mind set, they just act like younger girls and in this case, it's only when they need comfort. So let's go with the statement that sex or sexual games will not be used for comfort. I know this isn't making sense, but I don't know how to phrase it any other way.

~ NONE of the girls will have sex with Will or Shelby. The training they have, may result in them having orgasm, but they are NOT HAVING SEX with their Master or Mistress, BECAUSE they call them Mama and Daddy at times. Again, NO SEX between, the pets and the Master/Mistress. Any sex the pets have will be with each other or other members of the circle. Any sex Will and Shelby have, for this story, will be with each other only. For this story, Sex is defined as Consensual meeting of genitalia between two people.

~ THIS STORY IS A/U. Rachel is NOT Shelby's daughter. Again, Rachel is NOT Shelby's child. I WILL put this up in the warnings when the two of them start interacting more. She WILL eventually call her Mama, as the other girls do now, but it's a term of endearment/safety, NOT BECAUSE it's her true mother. Rachel is NOT Shelby's biological child.

~ The four girls did NOT go to school together. Quinn, Brittany, and Santana came to know each other and form a tight trio approximately a year ago. Rachel is slowly integrated into the trio as the story continues.

~ For this story, sexual orientation doesn't matter. Sex is just sex, the story is more about the lifestyle and the relations between the Masters/Mistresses and their pets, and not at all about who they're having sex with.

Need to Know:

~ This story started on a Thursday evening. It is currently Thursday night, moving into Friday morning and afternoon - eight weeks later and nearly one day later.

~ Flashbacks are in italics and they tell another side of this story! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!

~ Dreams are in underlined italics.

~ Rachel has chosen to make herself as young as she possible can. She currently has no idea between up and down, therefore, she doesn't know how to act to make everyone around her happy. She is just above baby status under "normal" circumstances, however, at parties, she's as young as Courtney and Mackenzie. It's what's safe for her.

~ The "original three" are fluctuating in safety at the moment, from now till the end of the story. Sometimes, little, sometimes big, sometimes in-between. They are still figuring things out themselves.

~ NONE of the girls are on Parent Time. They have however been shocked into a very uncomfortable place therefore, EVERYONE IS SLIPPING INTO AND OUT OF TODDLER HOOD!

~ Rachel has been conditioned for bell tones. All bell tones. Therapy sessions are working on changing her focus of bell tones. IT WILL NOT BE EASY! It may even seem torturous! Please hold on and know I won't break her.

WARNINGS: READ THIS CAREFULLY!

~ All the girls are flipping out. THERE WILL BE NO SEX BETWEEN THEM AND ANYONE ELSE UNTIL THEY ARE NO LONGER ACTING LIKE TODDLERS! Again, NO SEX between Faberittana and any other person.

~ I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO legal experience. I have made up what I think sounds good for this story. Please read this and all following chapters with a grain of salt and know this is a fictional story.

~ I have EXTREMELY LIMITED medical knowledge, so just go with this please. I have personal experience with nerve regeneration and those experiences, and while mine is not painful, the way it is described in this story, is an EXAGGERATED DESCRIPTION of what someone described to me once. They used the word pain, but not as much pain as Rachel is in in this story. I just ask you to go with it.

~ I STRONGLY recommend going back and reading the last chapter (or three or four), to tie it all together.

~ Again, if you have any questions at all, please PM me so I can explain anything you don't understand. I hope you all read and enjoy.

~ LASTLY and MOST IMPORTANTLY, this story is FINISHED. The world based on Gell that I created may come back and ask me to write some things, but this portion of the world I created, this portion is finished (mistakes and all). THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE.

Be well friends

Will walked through the small crowds of people to the other side of the house and finally found Anne, talking with one of the other Mistresses from the smaller circle. She looked very busy at the moment, so he went off to the side of the room and watched and waited. He leaned against the wall and waited for the ladies to finish, or to look like what they were talking about was less important. As he waited, he began scanning the room. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but it was something to pass the time. His mind began to wander back to Rachel and court, and how that would resolve itself. He thought about her therapy session earlier that day and how she was super attached to him as of late. He knew that wouldn't last forever. His original three girls were super attached to him, until they got used to Shelby and now they seemed to just want any parental figure. When they were more stressed out about things, they usually wanted him. He imagined it would be the same with Rachel. She started out extremely attached to Shelby, now Will was her desire of attachment, and over time, he imagined it would be an equal desire.

He thought about what Justin had said and tried to figure out what the next step would be. He truly loved his girls and thought they were beautiful and he would not have a problem training them if that's what they wanted. Part of his dilemma came when he realized he thought of them as his actual daughters. It was something said in public if it was warranted, but over the past eight weeks, it had changed from sometimes pets to full time daughters. He gave them baths and showers all the time and while they were all beautiful girls, he wasn't sexually attracted to them. They were just his beautiful girls. What he was convinced would no longer happen was training to be a pet at all. Rachel had been with them two months and she wasn't ready. The other three were now up to eight months. It took about five months for them to start being ready for training of any kind. Before Rachel had shown up, he and Shelby were starting to be able to give them "good girl" spankings, or training sessions to help them enjoy parts of sex, or get them excited and turned on. It had been at their request and while Will and Shelby weren't entirely on board, they honored their request and began to very slowly ease them into it. When Rachel showed up, that all stopped and that was okay, because that was what they all needed. Now he had to figure out how to go forward and be fair to everyone. It seemed a lot for Will to figure out. Did he want to stay in a lifestyle where sex was a heavily included part of the lifestyle, in most cases, or did he wanted to opt out completely. He never wanted his girls to feel pressured into training of any kind if they didn't want it and he thought continuing to be a Master might pressure them.

He was interrupted from his streaming thoughts by a friendly voice. "I see smoke coming out of your ears and the gears in your head are spinning a mile a minute," Mark said.

Will smiled and shook his head. "I didn't know I was thinking that hard," he said.

"You are. You are also staring. Why are you staring?"

"I'm waiting for Miss Anne so that I can be lead to the resting room, which is apparently where our wives and daughters are," he said.

"Oh yes. The very secret room, that they keep under lock and key. Okay. I'll wait with you, so you don't look so creepy while staring at the room. What were you thinking about?"

"About Rachel and this lifestyle and if I should continue it, or just go back to being professor Schuester," Will said on a bit of a sigh.

"Well that sigh, makes me think you would miss it, so break it down for yourself a bit. Where did your thoughts start?" Mark asked.

"With Rachel and how young she is," Will answered.

"I have two of those," Mark smiled. "Does the age bother you?" he asked.

"Not at all. What bothers me is the fear and anxiety, and not always knowing how to sooth her," Will said. "I could tell her one hundred times, in one hundred minutes, that I'm stepping out of the room and I'll be back and when I step out, she still gets almost hysterical. It's more intense with Shelby," he explained. "She handles all things as if she's holding a bomb that's about to explode. She's just scared of everything and believes almost nothing we tell her," Will said. "She acts to please us, and we think it's so we'll 'keep' her. We keep telling her that living with us is her choice and we will never turn her away. It's heart breaking."

"What about anything that could be implied as sexual activity?"

"She's not ready for that, she'll probably never be ready for that. She's not even ready for training, if she decides she even wants to, so it's not something I'm even thinking about right now," he said.

"I was talking more along the lines of general care," Mark said kindly. "For example, can you give her a bath, or help her get dressed, or take her to the bathroom, if she's reached that point yet. I know my girls took a month before they figured out it was safe for us to lead them to the bathroom. What you said about training is important, but we'll come back to that," Mark offered.

"So then to answer your questions. I am allowed to give her a bath or change her underwear or help her get dressed, but someone else usually needs to be in the room with her. Even with someone else in the room, she's pretty panicked. Usually she prefers to have Shelby care for her. Right now, it's changing to me. For how long that lasts, no one knows. I will say I was able to hold her the other night and that was nice. Just to sit and hold her and rock her. It was really lovely. It ripped my heart of out my chest and crushed it to dust, but it was lovely," Will said.

"Also a very accurate description of my two, and that is perfectly okay, where did your thoughts flow to next?"

"That I don't look at them sexually."

"Should you?" Mark asked kindly.

"In the very very beginning, maybe just before we met them, and it's a very strong maybe, I thought about training them and what that type of sex would be like and yes, I did think about them sexually. Then I met them in person and realized they just needed people to love them, the way a parent loves a child."

"So then why did you think about sex?"

"Because that is what our community does, a lot, and it's fun. I have sessions with everyone in our circle. Sex is just that, sex, it doesn't mean anything really."

"I hope you don't say that about Shelby," Mark teased.

"No, she's different. With her, it's not sex, it's love, and because we know we have sex with other people and everyone is always protected, there's no jealousy or anger or bitterness. She is my wife and we are committed to each other and having sex with her, is better than with anyone else," Will said.

"Okay, now before you continue, take a step back. Have you actually had physical genital to genital contact with anyone else in our group, or at Bruce's place, where it would be more sexual in nature than just a scene or play or training?" Mark asked.

Will thought for a moment and really tried hard to recall some incident where that had happened, and he couldn't remember a single one. "No," he said, looking a bit shocked and Mark smiled and patted his cheek gently.

"You and Shelby are not cheating on each other. It's not just sex. It's not sex at all. It's play and stimulation and control, and that is why no one gets jealous. Yes we all play with each other. Yes, we've all seen each other naked. Yes we've all kissed, passionately at times, but there is no genital to genital contact, therefore it's the feeling of sex, not the actual act. The scene and the play and the training, that's what makes it so intense."

"No, we kiss," Will said trying to reason it out for himself.

"Yes, we kiss, but like this," Mark said and he pressed his lips gently to Will's and then pulled away. "We don't make out. We don't shove tongues into one anothers' mouths. It's affectionate and sweet and makes us more family like, but we're not actually having sex with each other. It's just playing and scenes and training."

"How long did it take you to figure that out?" Will asked, out of curiosity and a bit of embarrassment. He never put it together for himself that it wasn't actually sex. It was just sexual play and there was a difference.

"I didn't, someone had to help me," Mark smiled and Will just laughed. He looked back and Anne was still talking to that woman, so Mark continued. "Now, where did your thoughts go after that?"

"If my girls decide they still want to train, do I want to be the one to do it and do I want to work down at Bruce's business any longer. I feel as though I'm being dishonest somehow, but I don't know to who and I don't know why I feel that way," he said.

"I felt that way," Mark admitted. "Alli and I got two baby girls, truly baby girls, who just needed to be safe and that put me off of training all together. We took a few months to figure things out. The difference with you and Shelby is you didn't really take that time. You worked it so that you had Rachel and still kept a schedule as best you could," he said. "You also had three girls before that, who seemed to want to train and for you the very little and baby thing has just happened. It's throwing you off your game for the moment."

"We had it all figured out though, we were sure of it. We got the other three comfortable enough to be around us, and once they relaxed, they asked to start training, very minimal, but we honored that and when they needed parent time, we just nixed the training. It worked out really well."

"Okay, so when did you get thrown off your routine?"

"Not until court," Will said and then changed is answer. "No, it was when Rachel showed up in the house. All my girls regressed, quickly," he said.

"Okay, so Rachel showed up, and threw things a little off kilter. Then court happened, but now court is over, so you start building those routines back up."

"I am totally ready for that work, but I can't go back to just training. They aren't ready and I don't want to force them," Will said.

"I agree with you, and I don't want you to do that either. Here's the thing though, you're not going back to where you left off, you are going back to the very beginning, before training was even a thought for them. You and Shelby go back to being mom and dad because right now, that's what you are and that is okay. Being that I have two of my own, I'm going to be brutally honest. At first, it really sucks. It's not just difficult or bad days here and there, or anything simple, it flat out sucks," he said and Will nodded. "I have two baby girls Will. You have anywhere between one and four, and I suspect that will be the case for a while. It's going to suck. The question you need to ask yourself is, do you want to change everything about your life just to make your girls happy, or do you want to alter things just enough so everyone is comfortable, including you and Shelby," Mark explained.

"Say more things like that please."

"Would you be happy to never do a scene again with anyone?"

"I don't know. I know when we go on vacation it's nice to have a break, but to never do it again, I don't know. It's a nice outlet."

"If that is how you truly feel then it's probably not something you should give up. It is completely understandable if you don't want to help train your girls, should they want that. That I understand, very well, and the rest of us will help you out in that area, if your girls decide they want to train at all. I suspect some of them will want to. They are still in flux. They are still figuring things out themselves, so we have to let them do it on their time. In the meantime, setting rules and guidelines for them, similar to training, gives them the structure they need to start figuring things out again. You job, and my job, right now, is to build a foundation for our girls so that they have something solid to stand on. They need to know what's safe. Whether or not they decide to train is up to them. In order to give them the most solid foundation though, we have to be honest with ourselves. Alli and I needed to continue to train and scene and play. It's what we love. We love it in addition to loving our girls. It gives us a good balance. It helps us keep them on top of rules. It makes it easier to punish them gently when they don't follow those rules," Mark said and Will smiled and nodded his agreement. "Look, you have friends, you have to let us help you, otherwise you're going to feel like you're drowning and no one wants that," Mark said.

Will took a deep breath let it out slowly. "Okay, so then right now, I need to go talk to Miss Anne, find my wife and girls, and plan date night," he said, almost making a face that was sad.

"A date with your gorgeous wife, and you make that face?" Mark teased him and Will laughed. "Come on, I'll go with you, and I will praise you because hearing you make the decisions you just made, that's the smartest thing I've heard you say all evening," Mark said.

In the resting room, Alex had hoped that Joey would drink his bottle and go to sleep, instead he was intrigued by the new baby girls and was happily chatting with Shelby and Allison, while Mackenzie slept and Rachel and Santana simply watched. He kept trying to engage them in conversation somehow, but they didn't seem all that interested, so he resigned himself to talk to Shelby and Allison. After nearly half an hour, Alex looked at the clock and smiled. "Joey, what if we go find Papa and head home, yeah?" he asked.

"But I yikes deese peoples," he whined softly.

"They are very nice people, I agree. They know Miss Anne and Mister Bruce, and now that we know them, I'm sure we'll run into them again," Alex said.

"We's gotta go?" he asked sadly.

"If you want to ride on your pony tonight before bed, then yes we need to go," Alex said.

Joey seemed to think about that and turned to Shelby and Allison to talk to them. "I has a red pony. Hims name George," he said.

"A red pony sounds nice. What's so special about George?" Allison asked kindly, thinking it would be fine to make conversation. If she knew the answer ahead of time, she would not have asked the question.

"George a big boy pony," Joey said blushing. "I sits, buh it has a stick. I rock an den I get happy," he said and then blushed heavily as he spoke. He loved his big boy rocking horse, and he knew other people would like it too, but he had a hard time talking about it without blushing.

Rachel heard all those words and started to put it together and she got very tense and decided to speak up. "No Mama, no pony!" she said sounding panicked about it.

"Joey can ride his pony if he wants to," Shelby assured her.

"I yikes it lil' sissy," he said.

"Hey!" Santana snapped.

"No!" Shelby said sternly taking hold of Santana's arm to get her full attention and Santana went to protest. "No, listen to me and then say it back to me. Joey shared his name, so we know it. You did not share your name, or your sister's name. He just knows what you told him," Shelby said. "Say it back. Tell Mama why Joey called her little sissy, and he isn't wrong," she said seriously.

"Don't wanna tell," Santana whined.

"I know, and that's okay. If you are not comfortable sharing your name I won't make you do it. You will be nice though. Joey is going off of what he knows, so you don't get mad at him for saying what he knows," Shelby said and then she focused in on Rachel. "And you my little Lamb, you do not tell someone else what they can or can't do in their own house. If Joey has a pony that he likes to ride, then he gets to do that, and you don't get to tell him otherwise. I need you both to apologize," Shelby told her and Rachel whimpered in response. "Go on, tell Joey you are sorry," Shelby said and Rachel took a deep breath.

"Sorries," she said and then went to say more, but her body went into spasm and Shelby simply helped her calm down.

"Good girl, it was a start," Shelby praised, pressing in all the right places to get Rachel's body to relax a little more and Joey smiled at her in a way of accepting her apology. "And you too princess," Shelby told Santana and Santana pouted.

"But," she started.

"No my love, you yelled at him for no reason. Apologize nicely," Shelby said.

"Sorry," she mumbled and Shelby rubbed her back and spoke kindly.

"You can do much better than that little girl," she scolded her.

"I sorry. I fought you was teasin'," she said honestly.

"Much better, thank you," Shelby said and she pulled Santana closer and gave her a kiss to her cheek. "I love you and I love that you protect your sisters and I will still enforce manners," she lectured.

"Fanks," he said and Alex took the cue from all the faces in the room, it was probably time to leave, especially if Joey wanted to ride on his pony before bed. These girls were completely stressed out and Alex knew they needed some time to themselves.

"Joey my love, come on, let's go find Papa and head home okay?" Alex pressed kindly and they all watched as Joey climbed into Alex's lap, kiss his cheek, and snuggl up close, glad to be held for a little while longer.

"Okays Daddy, we leave," he said and Alex gave him a kiss.

"Thank you for being so good, baby boy. I'm very proud of you," he told him and then stood up, slinging the diaper bag over his shoulder. "Can you say goodbye to everyone please?" he encouraged.

"Hugs n kisses too?" Joey asked.

"Ask first," Alex said and Joey walked over and looked at Shelby.

"Kisses?" he asked her.

Rachel and Santana shook their heads no, but Shelby knew she had to say yes. She had to set a good example for her girls. "That would be very nice little one, thank you," Shelby said and he gently kissed her cheek, before repeating the process with Allison and then he left the room holding Alex's hand.

Rachel watched and waited to be sure Alex and Joey were really gone, before she tugged lightly on Santana's hand. "Sanny?" she asked softly. "You reallies my big sissy?" she asked.

"If you want," Santana said nodding at her. "Three of us, but not cause you're so little, just cause we've been here longer," she said sitting down next to Shelby, much calmer now that the men had left them.

"How much?" Rachel asked and Santana looked to Shelby for assistance. She wasn't sure of the answer and with the way she felt, she didn't want to get any information wrong.

"About seven months or so, not too long," Shelby smiled and the girls nodded.

"Yes, you my big sis'ser," she smiled. "No sissy, sis'ser better," Rachel determined and Santana nodded her agreement and picked up the safety cup that was still full from earlier.

"More drink?" Santana offered and Rachel nodded and let Santana help her hold the safety cup and drink from it. She was absolutely exhausted.

Allison watched from behind and smiled. The bond had been formed and it didn't look like it was going to break anytime soon. They might squabble and yell at each other as all sisters did, but things looked okay for now. Another ten minutes passed and Shelby was now pinned in place by two of her girls, who were slowly drifting off to sleep.

"And just like that everything is calm and peaceful," Allison smiled once she noted the girls were sleeping.

"From your mouth to God's ears," Shelby grinned and she very carefully removed herself from below her girls, let them cuddle each other, covered them with a blanket, and put herself up on the couch, next to her friend.

"I see smoke coming out of your ears, you're thinking so hard," Allison said and she shifted carefully to pet Shelby's face. "It's okay to vent to me you know," she told her.

"I know, I'm just thinking about how we go through tonight and then tomorrow, especially if she has entered that weird healing phase where her body is going to completely crash," Shelby said.

"Tell me what you're thinking," she said.

"As soon as my husband is done the six of us will need to go home."

"That's a very good plan. It's a good start to the next step. I know from personal experience, that is only slightly similar to yours, that this is not easy. Finding a way to balance you and your marriage and your loves, takes thought and work and while I truly love my girls, the work part sucks. I also know, from personal experience, that you have help and you should not be afraid to ask for it," Allison told her.

"I have a feeling you also know what happens when others find out we haven't been asking for help," Shelby smiled.

"When Mark and I had our own little learning phase, as you and Will are having now, Kelly worked me over, so yes, I know," Allison smiled. "Look at me," she said kindly and when Shelby's full attention was on her hand, Allison began finger spelling the tools Kelly used on her.

"Kinky," Shelby grinned.

"It was quite effective, who worked with you?"

"Mistress Carson for me and Justin for Will. Now that it's over, Will and I are supposed to figure out date night. What neither of us are happy with is date night is supposed to be in two days," Shelby said.

"Well I'll tell you this. You are a faster learner than I am. It took me three sessions before I figured out they meant business," Allison said

"Ouch!" Shelby said. She was not in this community as long as Allison and Mark were, but she did know that when you didn't listen to the heads of the community it did get you spanked, especially for a repeated offense.

"Among other things, yes," Allison said. "We've got you. Let us help you. I know it's hard, and yet you have to try."

"We'll try," Shelby promised and moments later they heard the lock on the door turn. Anne was on the other side, opening it, so that Will and Mark could enter the room.

"Oooh, I get to see my husband too?" Allison smiled.

"You do, and we need to go pick up Corey and head home, unless you need to play, in which case, we need to leave her here and I need to go get Corey, because she is crashing fast," Mark said.

"I'm crashing too, let's just go home," Allison said and so Mark walked over picked up Mackenzie and held her against him, swaying side to side to keep her calm and relaxed.

"Mmphf," Mackenzie moaned as she tried to shift herself to get comfortable. When that didn't work she pushed back and looked at Mark.

"Shhh, it's just Daddy baby, we're going to get Corey and then go home to go to bed," he told her.

"Is Rae," she mumbled softly, giving Mark the sleepiest of looks as she tried to orient herself in the room.

"Rae is going home with her Mama and Daddy. Maybe you can see them tomorrow. Maybe they can come for a visit and you can spend more time with Rae and all her sisters," Mark suggested and Mackenzie seemed to like that, so she dropped her head down on his shoulder and went back to sleep.

"It's a very good idea," Allison said. "There are a lot of us. Use us. It's okay," Allison assured them and then with a kiss to everyone the Hughes family left the room.

"How was your session?" Shelby asked as Will took a seat next to her and they let Santana and Rachel continue to sleep, cuddled up together.

"Intense, but good. I feel better and also more confused," he admitted.

"We need date night, and we need it Saturday and I feel like if we don't listen, we'll be getting a training session and I'm not in the mood for one of those. We just got spanked. We don't need it again so soon," she reasoned as she curled up on the couch next to her husband, happy to cuddle him. They didn't get a lot of alone time lately, so they were going to take this moment together for as long as they could get it to last.

"I agree," Will sighed. "Let's start with right now though. How did you end up in here with two sleeping girls?"

"The sleeping part is very recent," Shelby smiled. "There have been two time outs and a lot of whimpering for you, so when you do wake her up be gentle about it please. I have a feeling she's going to start crying pretty quickly. She really, really missed you."

"Sanny or Rae?"

"Specifically Rae, but I know Sanny missed you too. She's in flux by the way. She's not sure where is safe. She wants to be older and protect Rae, but she's struggling with her own safety, so it's coming out very young. I don't like that she's in such a state of flux, and yet it makes her utterly adorable," Shelby said.

Will squeezed his wife a bit tighter to his body and kissed the top of her head. "What else did I miss?" Will asked.

"Time outs now have listening tests with them. We keep telling her it's wrong, but we don't tell her why, so now when time out happens, she sits either with us, or across from us, and we explain that offering your body to us, the way she does, the way she was taught, is very dangerous and therefore not allowed," Shelby said and Will nodded. "And then she needs to say it back to us," she added and Will smiled.

"What about that?" he asked pointing to the empty baby bottle near Rachel.

"That was completely her choice. Alli says we need to very gently guide her down the baby girl path so she can figure things out. She seems to want it, because she thinks that's why we'll keep her. We will keep her no matter what, she is our daughter, they all are, but I don't want to deny her anything or force her into anything she doesn't want, so we have to guide her and let her show us how much of this she wants. She could want it for a day or the rest of her life and I'm okay with whatever her decision is," Shelby said.

"Hey, it's me, I'm still the Daddy bear, remember? You don't have to sound so defensive with me. I agree with you," Will smiled.

"Good, then we make a united front to the girls because Sanny is worried things are happening against Rachel's desires, and the last thing I need is for Santana to think I'm doing something I'm not. That doesn't end well in our house," she said.

"I agree," Will said. "Anything else happen while I was busy?"

"We met a baby boy from the other circle," she said.

"Sue's circle?" he asked, his eyes going wide.

"No, definitely not Sue's circle," Shelby said. "We specifically met Alex and Joey and she was captivated by the whole thing. She saw a Daddy being exceedingly gentle with a little boy and she saw how much the little boy liked it. I'm not sure how she felt about that part."

"Of course he liked it. The little ones usually do love to be fussed over and catered to," Will said not quite following.

"No, I mean he really liked it and not only did Rae see how much he liked it, Alli and I saw it too," she said and Will gave her a confused look. "His Daddy changed him right over there. Rae saw a full on diaper change with a lot of stimulation, a raging erection, and an orgasm."

"Did it bother her?" he asked with concern, already knowing full well it bothered Santana to some degree.

"Not that she made me aware of. She just seemed intrigued by the care I think. The last time she saw a full on little one, getting their diaper changed, was at the expo and we know how that went," Shelby said.

"I do, but hopefully this helped balance that a little bit. We probably have a lot to discuss, but I am exhausted," he confessed.

"I am too," Shelby said.

"Come, let's go get our girls and go home," he said.

Rachel was lying on her back. Her legs seemed weightless somehow and Will was standing over her speaking gently. He had both her feet in one hand and her knees were being pushed back toward her shoulders. "I'm being very slow baby girl, you tell Daddy when it's too much," he said and she nodded at him, but let him touch her and do things to her. He wasn't doing anything wrong, he was simply pushing her legs back and she knew she was naked. "You are doing very good Rae, I'm very proud of you," he praised her and then she felt his hand on her cheek. "Close your eyes love, rest and let Daddy change your diaper," he said and her body jerked. They didn't use that word in her house and everyone knew it. Her eyes jerked open to look at him and he simply smiled. "It's just me, you're okay, I promise. I have to fix your underwear. We got the old ones off, now we're putting on cream and then the new underwear goes on," Will explained. "Once you're all clean and changed, then we'll move on," he said.

Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, then opened quickly when she heard the distinct sound of metal clicking. She looked up and saw her knees cuffed into straps that were hanging from the ceiling. "Want to be a baby do you?" a voice asked her and slowly Vincent's face swam into focus. "Don't look at me!" he said and smacked her face hard. She was fairly certain she tasted blood and then she felt someone grab her jaw and pull her head.

"Here, you like to suck so much, suck on this," Oliver said and he forced her mouth open and shoved his rock hard penis inside. He pistoned himself back and forth several times and then had his own orgasm and she gagged and coughed, making a mess of herself.

Will was awakened by the monitor and when he saw it was yellow, he nudged Shelby awake, just in case, and then went into Rachel's room. Rachel had wanted him a lot since they'd gotten home, but there was a chance that was gone. She had vomited in her sleep and he called for Shelby to come assist. Being that they could hear things from their room, based on that monitor, he didn't have to shout and risk waking up the rest of the house. "Shelby you are definitely needed for this," he said simply as he turned Rachel on her side, so she didn't choke. She was sweating, gagging, crying, and very much stuck in whatever nightmare she was having.

"You are not a baby girl, you are a little slut and you need to learn right now that I get to have you when I want you, how I want you, whatever way I want you," Vincent yelled and she heard him move some things around. She felt restrained, but now she was hanging from the ceiling and her body was aching all over. "This," he said shoving two fingers roughly into her sex, "is mine and I get it any time I want," he said and then he began to push his fingers in and out of her body as hard as he could. "Open up!" he yelled at her and she just clenched her jaw shut and squeezed her eyes as tight as she could.

Will watched her jaw clench tightly and he felt his heart sink. She was trapped in that nightmare and he had to be super careful in pulling her out of it. A male voice was most likely not going to help, but Shelby's voice would. "You have to, I can't," he said keeping her balanced on her side, as she vomited one more time.

"Oh no baby, you're okay, your Daddy is so proud of you. This is what good girls do," a new voice said and she felt all the roughness from Vincent still going on behind her, inside her, but then cracked one eye open to see Alex in front of her. "There you go. It's nice isn't it?" he said gently and began to pet her face softly. Rachel had no idea what she was feeling or seeing and she couldn't seem to piece it all together.

"You can't just throw us in jail and think nothing is going to happen to you," Oliver scolded her and she went back to squeezing her eyes shut.

"Come on little one, make pee pee for me," Alex cooed and then Rachel heard heavy footsteps leaving. They were gone for a moment, but when they came back there was a small bell with them.

"You do, what I say, when I say, you are mine! You will never win! You can't win! I have total control and now everyone knows it!" Vincent growled and he rang the little bell.

Rachel screamed herself awake and tried to move away from where ever she was as fast as she could. She managed to bolt out of bed, and into a corner and began crying, curled up into her presentation position, as the wet stain on her pajama pants began to grow and Will sighed heavily. Shelby had left the room for a quick moment to get a wet cloth to help clean Rachel's face and was just coming back into the room when Rachel bolted from the bed and was now cowering against the wall and crying. "Do we know why?" she asked.

"No, just vomit and now urine. She hasn't called for anyone specific, but I don't think it's me she will want right now," he said honestly.

"Okay, so then let's get her in a bath and strip the bed. Your choice," Shelby smiled.

"You are very funny. This is all you and you know it," he said.

"Are you crashing my love?" Shelby asked gently and all she saw was a very terrified little girl in front of her who would not focus or give her a response of any kind. "Okay love, come on," Shelby said and she got closer, picked Rachel up and Rachel started to scream and kick and struggle. "Shhh, shhh, shhh, you're okay, it's just Mama sweetheart. You're okay," Shelby said and she took Rachel into the master bathroom. She ran a warm shower and began to fill up the tub as well. Rachel on the other hand screamed and cried, working her body into a frenzy and threw up again, directly on Shelby. It seemed mostly like bile, so Shelby decided this was that weird crash thing, most of the healing pets did. No one understood exactly why this happened, but once they cleared this hurdle, things usually settled down pretty significantly. "You're okay Rae, Mama has you," Shelby said gently and she simply took care of her daughter. She stripped her out of her pajamas and special underwear and Rachel wet herself out of fright. The urine ran down her leg and began puddling into the clothes on the floor beneath her. "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, it's Mama, you're okay Rae, Mama is right here," Shelby said and something in that got Rachel to focus. She stared at Shelby for a moment and then dissolved into tears and threw up twice more. Shelby caught Rachel before she fell to the ground completely and gently held her. "It's okay baby girl, come on," Shelby said and she carefully got them both into the shower to rinse off.

When Will came to check on them, he saw both women naked in the shower, and Rachel was holding on to Shelby so tightly that even Shelby was making a face. "How can I help?"

"She's digging her nails into my back," Shelby said and she went quiet while Rachel screamed in fear.

"Just hold her upright then," Will said and he grabbed the shower nozzle and began to very carefully run it over Rachel's body. He had Shelby tilt Rachel's chin up and began at the crown of her head. He let the warm water pour down her body, soaking her thoroughly, using his free hand to move the water further down her body. The shower nozzle very slowly was moved down the back of her head, to her shoulders, upper back, around toward her chest, back around to move down her back, down to her hips and then Will looked at Shelby for confirmation.

"I have her, it's okay," Shelby said kindly and Will used his hand to gently cup the water and move it up toward her pubic bone. He was cupping her genitals as he tried to clean her and she let out a short tight scream. She seemed to be bracing herself for something more, and Shelby could feel all the tension in her body. Will quickly moved on to her legs and let the water wash away any stale urine that may still have been on her skin. Once she was rinsed head to toe, he brought the shower head up to the top of her head and let the water fall down on her again. Her entire body was warm and he was hoping the shower would lower her body temperature enough to at least let her sleep and rest a little.

"Are you going to sit in the tub with her?" Will asked.

"I don't know if it'll help at this point. Let's just get us wrapped up in towels and at the very least, take her temperature," Shelby said. Will nodded his agreement, turned off the water and pulled out Rachel's purple towel. He wrapped her in it and then took her into his arms and simply held her and swayed with her, while Shelby dried herself up. Will held Rachel close and rubbed her back in long slow strokes to help calm her and Shelby heard him beginning to sing softly.

"Butterfly kisses after bed time prayers, sticking little white flowers all up her hair, walk beside the pony daddy, it's my first ride, I know the cakes looks funny Daddy but I sure tried, Oh, with all that I've done wrong, I must have done something right, to deserve a hug every morning and butterfly kisses at night," he sang and he looked up to find Shelby crying softly in front of him.

"I'm sorry, it's all I could think of," he said. "I know it makes you cry," he told her.

"i'm not crying," she said wiping under her eyes.

"Lying is a spank-able offense you know," he said with a smile.

"I do know that," she said and then wrapped a second towel around her hair before getting the thermometer out of the medicine cabinet. "Here, you take care of this, I'm going to check on everyone else and make sure they are still sleeping," Shelby said. She stopped at her dresser, threw on some new pajamas and went down the hall to Santana's room, where everyone was sleeping, curled up together on the bed, in a small pile. She very gently covered them all in an extra blanket and headed back to the bedroom herself.

When she returned, she saw Will in the green rocking chair with Rachel on his lap and it looked like he was bargaining with her. She took a moment to really pay attention and realized he was explaining things to her. "Can you tell me what this is love? Do you remember?" he asked.

"Mom'ter," she said softly.

"That's right, it's a thermometer, very good. Do you know where we put this?" he asked gently and she simply dropped her jaw enough to put it in. "That's a good guess, but it goes in your ear," he said and she looked at him curiously.

"Ear?" she asked.

"Yes my love, I see Mama's back, should we practice on her?" he asked and Shelby smiled. She'd been a model before for all of her girls. Every one of the girls had been terrified when they found out they needed to have their temperature taken. Kate had shoved various things into the original trio over time and the moment they saw a thermometer, they were fairly certain where it was going. Will and Shelby did not do that though.

"Mama," Rachel parroted softly.

"Yes, there she is, let's call her over," Will said and Rachel watched as he held up his hand and made a beckoning motion. She tried to copy him, but her muscles were rebelling, so her hand didn't get very high. Shelby was just glad that Rachel was sitting calmly with Will. She was definitely at toddler status, but she was calm and communicating and as far as Shelby was concerned that was a good sign.

"I get to help?" Shelby asked softly, walking over to them and kneeling down in front of Will, knowing it would help.

"Yes, you do. We have to take your temperature to show Rachel it's okay," Will said.

"I will be very happy to be your model," Shelby smiled and she sat still for him and Rachel was encouraged to watch and ask questions as they went along. Within ten seconds it registered and Will showed it to Rachel.

"See? Now we check Rae, yes?" he asked and she nodded at him and then leaned her head onto his shoulder, letting her arm sneak around his back and her hand gripped his pajama top tightly. He was going to correct her body position but Shelby simply took the thermometer from him and smiled.

"It's very fast my little Lamb, I promise," Shelby said put the thermometer to Rachel's available ear. Seconds later, it was decided that Rachel had a fever of one hundred and two and was most definitely in the weird crash phrase of her healing. "Rae my love, do you want some tylenol to help you sleep and rest and feel better?" Shelby asked and Rachel simply opened her mouth. Shelby smiled and pet her face. "I have to go get it first baby, sit with Daddy, I'll be right back and I'll bring a drink. Do you want water or fruit punch?" Shelby asked her.

"Punz," Rachel slurred, her eyes, already closing as Will rocked her in the chair very slowly and gently.

"Coming up my love," Shelby said and she went downstairs and got a safety cup of fruit punch, and a shot of liquid tylenol. She returned moments later and found Will rocking a now sleeping Rachel in the chair. "Do we even attempt it, or do we just wait?" Shelby smiled.

"I'm thinking pajamas might be a good place to start, and underwear," he said. Shelby nodded her agreement and went to get Rachel's supplies. They very carefully maneuvered her into her pajamas and she woke up as soon as they were finished.

"Mama," she said, sounding very pitiful. She was simply a little girl, who felt horrible and wanted her Mama.

"I'm right here love, shall we have some tylenol and fruit punch?" she offered. Will stood up and carefully put Rachel in Shelby's arms. Rachel hung on tight and then Shelby sat down, getting the two of them comfortably situated in the chair.

"Mama," she whimpered.

"I'm right here love, you're okay," Shelby crooned gently and she began rocking her baby girl to get her to calm down. "Here my love, let's try some tylenol and some fruit punch so you feel better," Shelby said and Rachel opened her mouth and didn't attempt to move. Shelby carefully poured the medicine in and waited for Rachel to swallow it. Once that was done, she pulled over the safety cup and handed it to Rachel. "Fruit punch baby, only if you want it though, I promise," Shelby said and Rachel carefully lifted the cup to her mouth. She was able to grip the spout with her teeth, but that was about it, so Shelby helped her by supporting the cup from beneath and let Rachel drink as much as she wanted. After a few moments, Rachel was done and went back to resting against Shelby, finally falling asleep again and Shelby noted the time.

"So you have to tell me, are you happy right here and I'll get you both a blanket or do you want to move into our bed?" he asked.

"Four a.m.," she sighed. "I think we'll stay right here, a blanket sounds good. I also think someone needs to go be with the other three please," she said. "I put a heavy blanket on them, but just in case maybe you stay with them until morning," she said and he nodded.

He stood up, leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I will never know how I go so lucky, but you are by far the best decision I ever made. You are my wife, the Mama to our girls, and we make a very good family," he said.

"Mmmm, I agree. When you dream, dream about date night. We have to have one, sooner rather than later," Shelby said and Will gave her another kiss, this time, more tender and somehow more passionate, and directly on her lips, while Rachel slept peacefully against her Mama.

"Done," he smiled.

On Friday morning everyone filed into the deliberation room and the guard checked to see if anything besides water or coffee was needed. When all the jurors indicated they were fine, he left them alone. Dawn eventually stood and spoke kindly. "Fellow jurors we are going to make our last votes and then tell the judge we have reached a verdict," she announced and everyone nodded. "Before we get to that, let's have a last caller evidence we need to see again.," she said.

"I'd like to see the transcript from the blonde girl, Brittany I think," Oscar said. Dawn nodded and looked through the information before pulling out the correct transcript and passing it to Oscar. "I'm going to read this aloud for everyone to hear," he announced and he began reading the transcript for them. When he finished he took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm going to share a thought and then I'm going to make a statement," he announced and everyone nodded their understanding. "My thoughts are that, these men did everything to her that she said they did. They hurt her and terrified her, even if it was for only a few hours one day personally. My statement is that we need to put fact together and the fact is when it comes to Brittany, this is very much a he said she said section of the case," Oscar said and he seemed sad about it.

Abigail immediately raised her hand and began speaking when Dawn acknowledged her. "I agree with you," she told him. "Brittany's portion of the case is most definitely a he said she said where we have no physical evidence that we can see. When it comes to Rachel and Santana we have visual and audio proof that they physically hurt those girls. We also know that with those facts we can establish a timeline. We have the facts that we saw with our own eyes about Vincent's temper and how quickly he can change his mood. I believe that from those facts we can infer a factual basis when it comes to what Brittany said and what Vincent said," she explained.

"That would be correct," Dawn said and everyone nodded.

"Then I am ready to vote," Oscar said and Dawn waited for anyone else to voice a concern. When none came she spoke up.

"It appears that we are now ready to vote and before we do that I would like to make it known it has been an honor getting to know and serve along side you in this slightly insane, yet incredibly important case. Ours is a profession, just like any other and I am proud to stand up for it and happy to serve amongst similarly minded people."

"I second that statement," Ian smiled and everyone laughed but nodded their agreement.

"So, let's start with the first count, I will read the charge out loud and we will go around the room and vote," she said. "I want to remind everyone we are voting based on evidence and our discussions over the past few days about the facts of this case. As Abigail has reminded us, we can also infer facts based on things we've seen and the time line established. We are making reasonable inferences where necessary," she said. "Before we begin, does anyone want to air out grievances or frustrations so you are voting based on facts only?" she asked and no one raised their hand or voiced their opinion on such matters. "Very well. On the count of embezzlement from Mr. Robert Calvary and Ms. Rachel Berry," she said and the looked around the room. She made a small note and then continued on to the next count. One by one, she went through the list of charges and once all five were covered and recorded by Dawn, she took a deep breath and nodded. "That's everything, we have our verdict," she said.

They called for the guard and told him they were ready with their verdict and the guard nodded. He had them wait and then went to inform the judge that they'd reached a verdict. He returned several minutes later and told them, they would deliver their verdict for the case later that afternoon and they were all to hang around for lunch, which was to be brought in for them.

Will and Shelby had moved into the kitchen and were having their own quiet breakfast together while the girls all slept. Shelby was seated on Will's lap and the two were cuddled up together feeding each other bites of a bagel while keeping an eye on the monitor they had with them. They were quiet for ten minutes, simply enjoying each other and being husband and wife. "We should take photos to prove we're trying," Shelby said softly, pressing her lips gently to Will's temple while she spoke.

"How do you make everything so sexy?" he asked and she smiled at him. "I know, I know, it's a gift," he teased her. "Should we take a sexy photo, or just a documentation photo?" he asked.

"Just a sweet one. We will have date night tomorrow and we can play a lot then. I don't even think we should leave the house. I think we should walk out the front door, sneak around to the basement and play in our house, in our playroom, on our terms, while everyone else is up here with our girls," she said.

"I like when you so aggressively make decisions," he grinned. "It's very sexy," he smiled.

"Remind me of that tomorrow when I'm freaking out about leaving our girls and going to the basement, because I promise you, I will," she said and then pulled out her phone, turning it to selfie mode. They took a cute photo of the two of them sharing a bagel and then Shelby began to type. "We know we need date night, we know we will not like to leave our girls, and we want you to know we are trying to find time together when the girls are asleep," she said as she typed out the message and sent it off to Bruce and Anne.

"Only two?" Will asked feeding her another bite.

She nodded, swallowed the bite and returned the favor. "Really the only two who count I think," she told him, "but do not tell that to any of our friends," she added quickly and he nodded his agreement.

Will nuzzled his wife gently as she sent off the text and his phone buzzed in his pocket while the monitor started flashing in yellow and there were two flickers of red. "You go check on them, I'll answer this," he smiled and with a quick kiss, she was off. While she walked upstairs, he answered his phone and smiled at the readout. "Good morning Miss Hailey," he smiled.

"Good morning Mister Will. You sound very happy, did I interrupt something?" she asked with concern.

"If you had, I wouldn't have answered the phone. What's up?" he asked.

"Cheeky," she laughed. "So I got a call from judge Henderson. The decision has been made, the verdict will be read this afternoon and you have the option to be in the room to see it happen, or you can hear it via phone," she said. "It depends on how your girls are?"

"Rae is in that weird crashing phase, but I don't want to take this decision away from her. How long do we have to decide?" he asked.

"I need to know in an hour," she said.

"We can do that," Will said.

"How are your other girls?" she asked.

"Sleeping. We did not have the most peaceful night in this house, so everyone is off schedule. Shelby did text Mark and Allison to find out if this is normal. We've been reassured that while the schedule works, it takes time to get on it, so she and I are working on our patience," he explained.

"Date. Night." Hailey told him and Will smiled. That was her full on Mistress voice. She wasn't playing around or even making a suggestion, it was a direct order.

"That's tomorrow. Tonight is family dinner night. We're not ignoring rules, I promise. You and probably everyone else in our circle will get a phone call about tomorrow, I'm sure of it," he said.

"Did everyone regress again or is just Rachel crashing giving you the most difficulty?"

"As of about three o'clock this morning, Rachel was crashing and also still in regression. The other girls slept for a few hours at a time, but they are still working to figure out where they feel the safest. It keeps fluctuating, but we've gotten about as high as eight, Shelby figures."

"Do you need help today?"

"I just need my girls to know they are loved no matter what," he said.

"This is completely cliche, but deep down they know. It sucks right now, because they aren't showing you they trust that feeling, but they do know it," she said. "Okay, go talk to your wife and your girls and let me know your final decision in an hour please," she said.

"Done."

"Love you all," she smiled.

"Us too," he grinned and they disconnected. Then he looked at the monitor and saw it wasn't making any more notifications from the yellow or red light, so he went up to investigate. He didn't have to look very far, because at the top of the steps were Shelby and Rachel. Rachel was curled up in Shelby's lap and she looked so small to him. She was truly their little girl for however long she needed to be. Will climbed the steps and sat with his wife and little girl, who was clearly upset and not willing to let go of Shelby. "Hi," he said softly and Rachel gripped Shelby tighter.

"Hello yourself," Shelby smiled cuddling Rachel tight, to keep her feeling safe.

"Is everything okay?" he asked with concern.

"We are three quarters calm," she said winking at him and he smiled. Shelby was a master at getting across information about the girls right in front of them, and they were usually clueless about it. As soon as she finished talking Rachel shook in spasm and Shelby gently rubbed her back and worked to get her to calm down. "I'm right here love, and I'm not letting go, I promise," Shelby told her gently. "It was only a dream my little Lamb. You are in your house with your sisters and you are very safe," Shelby assured her and Will could see Rachel was shaking.

"No side," she pushed out in a shaky breath.

"No my love, you do not have to go outside. You get to stay with me for as long as you like, in our nice warm house, cuddled up together, where Mama and Daddy can help take care of you," Shelby said gently and Will gave a sad smile.

"Rae my love, can you look to me for a moment please?" he asked gently and she turned her head and looked at him with a tear stained face. "Hi beautiful," he said.

"My mama," she whimpered.

"That's right," Will smiled. "You're in your house with Mama, and your sisters and me," he told her and she let her tears fall slowly. "What happened love?" he asked with great concern.

Rachel heard the sincerity in his voice and she wanted to tell him, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words, so she simply stayed still, cuddled tight to Shelby and tried to find the right words. "Stay," she finally pushed out.

"You can stay with Mama, that is totally fine my love," Will told her kindly.

Shelby cuddled Rachel tight and then looked at Will after a few moments of silence. "Who was on the phone before?" she asked.

"That would have been Miss Hailey Carson," Will smiled and out of no where Rachel spoke.

"Mah-you," she said and Will nodded.

"That is correct, Matthew lives with her," Will said.

"Ky-ah," she pushed out carefully.

"Yes and Kyle lives with her too, you are very smart," Will praised her and she cuddled in tight to Shelby, her leg twitching a bit. "Rae, can Daddy massage your leg for you?" he asked and she simply nodded, letting him .

"Did Miss Hailey have anything important to tell us?" Shelby asked.

"She did. She said the jury reached a verdict, that will be delivered around one this afternoon and that Rae has a decision of her own to make," he said and he slowed down his speech. "Are you ready for your options Rae?" Will asked her and she nodded. "So we have option one, where Rae gets to stay home in her own house and we listen to the verdict of the trial by phone. Option two we actually go to court and hear the verdict in person," he said. "You don't have to make this decision quickly Rae, we have time. Do you want help making a decision?" he offered her and she simply sunk back into Shelby. Shelby was convinced that if Rachel could crawl inside the womb, she would.

"No, safe," she pushed out carefully.

"What's not safe my love?" Shelby asked her and Rachel could not bring herself to answer. She wasn't ready, she just knew she had to communicate something and right now she was able to say she didn't feel safe. "Do you feel unsafe here sweetheart?" Shelby asked her gently and she very carefully began petting Rachel's face checking for a fever and frowning slightly when she found heat coming off of Rachel's cheeks, neck and forehead.

When no direct answer came, Will decided to proceed carefully. He was hoping that giving her some guidance would calm her nerves. "Rae my love, why don't we tell you what we think and then you get to make whatever decision you want, okay?" he asked her gently and she simply nodded.

"Yes Daddy," Shelby encouraged and Rachel simply nodded yes.

Will let it slide. She was still in her weird crash recovery phase, so he was very willing to let things go. Shelby disagreed, but they moved on. "Okay love, here's what I think," Will said and she listened to him carefully with unshed tears filling her eyes. "I think that you are not feeling one hundred percent so you should stay home and cuddle with your family while we listen to the verdict on the phone," Will offered.

Shelby felt Rachel grip her tighter and so she kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back and encouraged her to breathe a bit more. "Mama agrees. I think the safest way for you and all of us to hear this verdict is to stay home, in our house, where it's nice and warm, and we can listen over the phone," Shelby said. "I also think that we listen in the kitchen, so that when we hear what's said we write it down on our big white board and then when the call is finished we take a photo. We will make sure to print it out and hang it up on the fridge, so that if you ever have any question about what happened, you have that to refer back to," Shelby said.

"That's why she's the Mama, she's very smart," Will smiled and Rachel simply nodded her agreement.

"Rae my love, should we go cuddle somewhere other than the steps?" Shelby asked her gently.

"Stay," she pushed out.

"For a few moments more, okay, but then we need to move somewhere more comfortable. The steps are not the best place to cuddle," Shelby told her. "How about we think about your decision while we sit here, hmm?" Shelby said gently. "How about we make a decision where we hear the verdict," she encouraged and while Will thought Shelby was pushing too fast, Rachel understood she needed to make a choice and stick with it.

They sat cuddled together in silence for an entire two minutes and in that time, Rachel decided to stay home to hear the verdict. "Mama," she said.

"Yes my love?"

"Home, wissen home," she said.

"Okay," Shelby agreed. "If that is your decision then we will stay home and we will all listen from the kitchen, and write things down on our big white board, and when it's done, we'll take a picture," Shelby assured her and Rachel burst into tears. She didn't feel well physically, emotionally she was a wreck, and now her body had just betrayed her and she wet herself. Rachel was crushed because there was no bell sound, it just happened. Shelby was sad for her little girl, who was just trying to find her way in the world and having a great deal of difficulty with it. Will was also sad for Rachel, but he was also impressed that Shelby knew exactly what type of cry this was, when she began to speak. "Shhh. Come on my love, let's go get you changed," Shelby told her.

By lunch time, Rachel was a mess. She'd thrown up three times before noon, her fever was still relatively strong though not high, and her bladder betrayed her twice more throughout the morning. Lunch was mostly a quiet affair with all six family members seated at the table. Will and Shelby positioned themselves so they had a young lady on either side of them, so that they could assist if needed. Quinn, Santana, and Brittany only needed help a few times. Rachel on the other hand needed assistance the entire time, because her muscles were so weak from illness and recovery that she couldn't feed herself more than a few bites, before the tremors set into her arms. By the time they were finished, Rachel's fever was still going strong and she was fighting sleep. "Rae, you can s'eep if you wanna," Brittany offered her and Rachel shook her head.

"Yeah, we can 'cord it," Santana offered.

"Record my love, and yes we can, if Rae wants to sleep," Shelby offered. Before any more could be suggested or offered, Rachel turned her head, vomited on the floor, wet herself in the process and burst into tears.

"Mama, why?" Quinn asked with concern. She wanted to rush in and help but she didn't know how.

"It's okay girls," Shelby assured her. She turned and lifted Rachel into her arms. "You're okay love, Mama's going to help you clean up right now," Shelby assured her and then she took her into the bathroom and Quinn followed close behind.

"Mama?" she asked and Shelby helped Rachel to sit on the toilet and put the small garbage can in front of her, in case she had to throw up again.

"Hi baby," Shelby smiled at Quinn. "What's up love?" she asked.

"Rae hurz," she said sadly.

"Yes baby, Rachel is hurting right now, but she'll be okay. Remember when the three of you had this?" she asked and Rachel looked at Shelby in surprise. She hadn't known her sisters had muscle tremors too.

"We no shaked," Quinn said softly.

"Not quite the same way, no, but you did have your healing phase," Shelby offered. "Sanny had it the strongest if I remember correctly," she said and then waited for Rachel's body to calm down. "Okay Rae, let's lay down. Mama will help you into new underwear while you lay down, because that is the least stressful on your body," Shelby said and Rachel nodded her agreement. With help from Quinn and Shelby, Rachel laid down on the floor and Quinn laid down next to her.

"Mama? We shaked?" Quinn asked.

"A little bit. Can Mama tell you both a story?" she asked and before they could answer, Brittany and Santana were at the door, wanting to come in.

"Rae? Can we comes too?" Santana asked.

Rachel was able to sign yes and the girls quickly came to lay down with her. "Kay's Mama, s'ory p'ease," Brittany smiled and she laid still with her sisters while Shelby changed Rachel's underwear.

"Does Mama have everyone's permission to tell a story to Rae?" she asked and they all nodded and she let it go. They were going to be non verbal for a while and she could see all their faces. "Okay, hang on. Babe, what time is it?" she called back softly to Will as she pulled new underwear out of the package for Rachel to have put on.

"Twelve forty," he said and she smiled.

"Okay, story time while we help Rachel get cleaned up and change, and then we call Miss Hailey and we listen," Shelby said kindly. "So several months ago Sanny, Bree, and Quinnie came to live here. It was only two months later when everyone got really sick. After living with Mister Bruce and Miss Anne and then moving in with us, everyone relaxed so much that their bodies finally let go of all the stress they were holding on to. Quinn's body gave her a very weak but long lasting asthma attack and she had a lot of cuddles with Daddy. Daddy helped her to breathe on her nebulizer."

"Took fah'eva," Quinn sighed.

"It did take some time, yes," Shelby agreed. "But eventually Quinnie's body relaxed enough and felt strong enough that she didn't have to sit on the nebulizer and she didn't have to use her inhaler and she was able to sleep all through the night without a nightmare," Shelby said.

"Mama, Rae sakes," Brittany offered her.

"She does. Rachel's body has muscle spasms," Shelby said kindly as she carefully began to put new underwear on Rachel and the poor girl was fighting sleep with every fiber of her being. Shelby continued to talk softly and steadily as she got Rachel into new underwear and then began putting pants back onto Rachel's body. "When it came to Bree, her body gave her a nightmare and her body betrayed her for a bit, and she also got a fever," Shelby said.

"I peed da bed, lots," Brittany said.

"That is true, you did, but you didn't do it on purpose. Your body was healing and that is what it did. You also had a fever that lasted a few days," Shelby said.

Santana was on Rachel's other side, between Rachel and Brittany and she decided she wanted to speak up. She wanted to tell her own portion of the story and she was sure that would be okay. "I had fever an' I s'eep, an s'eem," she said softly. "Yes Mama?" she asked.

"You did baby girl. You had a very high fever, and you slept a lot and you screamed a lot because you kept having some pretty bad nightmares," Shelby replied and she very carefully slipped on Rachel's new pants into place and then let her rest while she washed her hands. "You also screamed because we kept trying to put a cool cloth on your forehead and chest and you were too scared, mostly of Mama," Shelby smiled.

"Not now," Santana said.

"No, not now, and that's okay. It is perfectly okay to be scared of something, even if you know what it is. You girls didn't have an easy past, so sometimes memories will come back to haunt you and you will be frightened. Daddy and I will never hold that against you. It is okay to be scared and work through your feelings and even come to us for assistance in doing so," Shelby assured them.

"Daddy, we be sick now too?" Brittany asked Will, finally spotting him in the doorway.

"I don't think so love. I think it's just Rae," he said kindly.

"Gonna take fer'eva?" she asked.

"No my love. It might feel like it, but I don't think it will take too long, because we all love Rae and we will help her feel better as fast as we can," Will said. "Right now though, I think we need to very carefully move into the kitchen and get ready for Miss Hailey's phone call," he said.

Shelby nodded her agreement and very carefully and slowly they moved everyone into the kitchen and Will made sure the board was clear of most information. The only thing remaining were the five rules for Rachel's special underwear, boxed off in the corner. "Daddy, what do we do?" Quinn asked softly, sitting very properly in her own seat. She had to be the big sister and she had to help, she just needed to know how.

"We just listen and support Rae sweetheart. There is nothing we need to do other than listen to what is said and simply support Rae, in whatever way she needs best," Will told her.

"No cord?" Brittany asked sitting next to Shelby and leaning against her, looking pretty tired herself.

"We can record it sweetheart, let's call Miss Hailey first though," Will said.

"I dial," Quinn offered quickly, almost jumping out of her chair.

"Shhh, calm down love, you can dial," Will said. Quinn's excitement from her desperation to assist in some way was making Rachel jump in her very sleepy state when she heard Quinn speak so quickly and a slightly louder than normal. Will gave Quinn his phone and pet the side of her face. "Call Miss Hailey and then put her on speaker phone," he instructed and then he turned to the fridge and got out six juice boxes. He returned and gave each of the girls a juice box. By the time he got to Rachel, he simply put it in Shelby's hand and spoke softly. "She's sleeping," he said and Shelby nodded.

"She got really heavy about ten seconds ago," Shelby smiled. "Just set that box there and I'll have this one now for me," she said and Quinn waited until Hailey answered to put it on speaker.

"Hello?" Hailey asked. She was very cautious with her answer, because she honestly didn't know who was going to be on the other end of the phone when she answered.

"Hello Miss Hailey," Shelby said and Hailey could hear the difference in sound, understanding she was on speaker.

"Hello Schuesters," Hailey grinned. "Are you all ready?" she asked.

"Yes Ma'am," Brittany answered and Rachel twitched in her sleep. Brittany noticed and got closer to the phone and spoke softer. "Miss Hailey?" she asked and Hailey struggled for a moment, not sure who the voice belonged to.

"Yes my love?" she asked.

"Rae s'eepin'," she told her and then got a very worried look at her face.

"It's okay Bree, that is why we are writing everything down," Will assured her.

"Hers sick Miss," Brittany said.

"That is okay Bree, that's why you let her sleep and heal and you can writing things down for Rae to see when she wakes up," Hailey offered. "In fact, who would like to write things on the board for me?" she asked.

"ME!" all the girls cheered and Rachel jumped in her sleep, sending her back into spasm, waking her up, and she started to cry.

"Shhh, there will be no more yelling my girls," Shelby said seriously and she shifted Rachel in her lap. She put them chest to chest and pressed in all the right spots, calming Rachel as best she could and all the girls looked very on edge. "No one is in trouble ladies," Shelby assured them and she beckoned each of them toward her. "Kisses if you want them," she said and they all agreed. She gave each of them a kiss and spoke very kindly. "Listening to Miss Hailey and helping your sister is very good and I am very proud of all of you. Right now we need to stay calm though okay? No shouting please," she said and then gave each of them a kiss.

"Girls, why don't we do this. I'm going to tell you what the counts are and you can write them on the board, when the jury delivers the verdict you can write it down," Hailey suggested and the girls nodded and moved to the board to write.

"Yes Miss Hailey," Shelby pressed kindly and they mumbled a mimicked response and Shelby rolled her eyes.

"Okay Mama Bear, you take care of your teeny tiny cub please," Hailey smiled. She knew what she was trying to do and what the girls were definitely not ready to do. "It will come with time my love," she said kindly and Shelby smiled.

"Thank you Miss," she said.

"Okay loves, this is what we need to write. There are five counts for the jury to decide on and each of those counts carries years worth of punishment, so all we have to worry about now, is guilty or not guilty. Who is writing the first count?" she asked.

"I does Miss," Santana said, and before she could continue she looked to Will. "Daddy? Red or pur-pa?" she asked.

"You can write in any color you want Sanny, all of you can choose any color," Will assured them, specifically using her name for Hailey's benefit. The phone made it harder for her to know exactly who she was speaking to.

"Okay Sanny, the first count is embezzlement from Robert Calvary and Rachel Berry," she said and she heard all the squeaking on the board. "Very good," Hailey praised when the squeaking stopped. The next count is almost the same three times. On the board I want someone to write, assault and battery of," she said and she waited for it to be done.

"Very nice Quinnie," she heard Will praise.

"Good job Quinnie, now, you're going to write three names, one under the next," she said. First, you write Santana Lopez, beneath that Brittany Pierce, and beneath that Rachel Berry. Quinn finished her writing announced she was done and went over to Will and asked him to lift her up and hold her and she hung on tightly, wrapping herself around him.

"What's wrong love?" he asked her with great concern.

"Her has to stay," she whimpered.

"If she wants to my love, yes, that option is the same for all of you. Rae gets to stay here as long as she wants, as do the three of you, that hasn't changed," Will assured her.

"What if they not guilty," Quinn asked, tears filling her eyes and falling very slowly.

Will used his thumb to brush them away and just kept her wrapped in a hug. "Whatever happens my love, you and your sisters will be kept safe, I promise you," Will told her and he sat down with her, holding her in his lap, working to assure her and keep her calm, so that she didn't work herself into a frenzy.

"Thank you for writing out the last count Bree," Hailey said and Will smiled, looking up to see that all five counts were on the board. "Okay my loves, I am going into the courtroom. I am taking you off of speaker phone, and I'm going to set my phone next to be so you can all hear it. The next time you hear my voice it will be when the verdicts have all been read and the judge has banged the gavel three times," she said.

"Thank you Miss," Shelby spoke up, knowing that her girls were in no mood to say anything. They were all very worried about little details of writing things down and they were nervous about getting not guilty verdicts. Nothing was ever certain in a criminal case.

The family of six sat in the kitchen and waited for everything to begin. This was going to be long and painful as far as they were concerned and Will and Shelby were simply praying for all guilty verdicts. Everyone came to attention when the bailiff announced that everyone was to rise. Once the judge was entered and seated, they were told to be seated. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have we reached a verdict?" he asked and Dawn stood.

"Yes your Honor," she said.

"Very well. Defendants, please stand," he said and with a bit of reluctance Vincent and Oliver stood up. The judge took a beat and instructed the jury to answer his questions. "On the count of embezzlement from Robert Calvary and Rachel Berry, how do you find?"

"We find the defendants guilty," Dawn read and Brittany very carefully wrote guilty on the board next to the correct count.

"On the count of Property Damage for Bruce Miller, how do you find?"

"We find the defendants guilty."

"On the counts of assault and battery for Brittany Pierce."

"We find the defendants guilty." Santana smiled, hugged her sister and wrote guilty for her. She felt it was important.

"On the counts of assault and battery for Santana Lopez."

"We find the defendants guilty." Santana took great joy in writing guilty next to that count as well.

"On the counts of assault and battery for Rachel Berry."

"We find the defendants guilty." Brittany and Santana squealed happily and softly, holding hands tightly while Brittany wrote out guilty and then the two of them went back to Will and Shelby, who were both smiling while holding very tired little ones on their laps.

"Ladies and the gentlemen of the jury, the great state of Ohio thanks you for your service and you are now dismissed," the judge said and he banged his gavel once. Vince London and Oliver Crane, remain standing. You have been found guilty on all five counts of your trial. You will be escorted back to your cell, where you will remain until the sentence hearing in two weeks," Owen said and then he banged his gavel three times.

Hailey picked up her phone and stepped out into the hallway to talk to the Schuesters again. "Did you hear my loves?" she finally asked them.

"Dey goin' a jail," Brittany said.

"That is correct my love. The bad men are going away," Hailey said. "I will call you all in two weeks to let you know what the sentence actually handed out was, but I'm going to tell you that it will be no less than forty years. I love you all, go rest, and enjoy your weekend," Hailey said and with that she hung up, leaving Will and Shelby to their family.

"Mama?" Brittany asked.

"Yes my love?" Shelby smiled at her.

"What we do now?" she asked.

"How do you mean my love? Tell me more of what you're most concerned about," Shelby said.

"Rae s'eep'd," she pouted.

"She did, but we recorded everything, so she'll be able to hear it and we have it on our board and Miss Hailey is going to call us once they do the sentencing, so Rae will be assured that everything we tell her is true.

"But now, I mean, what we do now?" Brittany asked and Will heard the fear in her voice.

"Yeah Mama, what we do?" Quinn asked softly, her eyes fighting to stay awake.

"Rest my love, it's okay," Will assured her.

"I up," Rachel whimpered.

"Hi sweetheart, did you rest okay?" Shelby asked her.

"Guil-ee," she whimpered.

"Yes baby, all the charges are guilty. The bad men are going away for a very long time now," Shelby said and in that moment Rachel knew that nightmare of her life was over. In that realization her body completely let go of all the stress it was holding and she leaned off to the side and threw up on the floor. Brittany quickly turned around so she didn't have to see anything and Shelby sighed. She pulled Rachel's hair back and let her finish before stating that it was time for everyone to go upstairs for a nap. "All my loves, are having a rest right now," Shelby said and she carried Rachel upstairs while the other three girls walked behind with Will.

It took a great deal of effort but half an hour later, anyone who needed a shower had one, was in brand new pajamas, and being tucked into Will and Shelby's bed. "Mama," Rachel whimpered.

"Shhh, rest love, I'm not leaving. Daddy and I are staying, I promise, we just aren't laying down, but we aren't leaving you alone either. I need all my girls to lay down and listen to what Mama is about to say okay?" she asked gently and they nodded their agreement. "Very good," she praised, not even bothering to draw a verbal confirmation out of them. All four girls were lying in the bed now. Rachel was on the end so that in case she had to be helped quickly, she could be easily reached. To her right was Quinn, followed by Santana, and then Brittany. "Okay my sweet girls, this is what we're going to do now. Everyone is going to listen to Mama," she said. "So this is what we know, the nightmare portion of court and those very bad men is over with," she said.

"Yaaaay," Brittany said softly and Will smiled, and pet the side of her face and she let out a happy little moan and then closed her eyes, happy to have Will pay her a little extra attention.

"Yes, definitely yay," Shelby smiled. "So we work, as a family, and building you a solid foundation. That foundation is going to be built from gaining your trust and increasing your security. I have no illusions that will happen over night. It can take as long as you want it to," Shelby said.

"Mama is right," Will smiled. "Once we know that we have your complete trust and you are one hundred percent secure in your surroundings, then we will know that it's time to continue onward. There is no training of any kind until we build your foundation. You girls need a solid foundation and we want to help give that to you," Will said and they all nodded at him, Brittany, Quinn, and Rachel beginning to close their eyes again.

"Sanny my love, it is okay to rest," Shelby assured her.

"Waiting for more," she yawned.

"There is no more baby. We are going to work on your foundations for as long as it takes and then we will move on."

"To what?" Santana asked.

"To whatever you want to move on to," Shelby assured her. I promise you though, Daddy and I are not going anywhere," she said and Santana nodded and closed her eyes. They waited fifteen minutes before they curled up together in the green rocking chair and Will spoke softly.

"A foundation?" he asked.

"A foundation," Shelby repeated. "We need to gain their trust, they need to feel secure in themselves. Once we get that, then we can move forward to training or transitioning or whatever it is they want, but that trust and security is the main thing," she said.

"Selfishly, I hope they stay," he said.

"I want that too, but we're looking too far down the line," she said. "Right now a foundation."

"Agreed. Trust and Security," Will said.

"Maybe right now a nap for us too," Shelby smiled.

"Now that is one of the best things I've heard you say all day," he smiled and held her tight. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she smiled and with that the family drifted off to sleep, to begin the next phase of their lives together.