I feel like you don’t give Noah enough character arch

I really wish we at least had some kind of closure. I’ve been holding out hope for Santana to finally tell everything that she had endured at the hands of Hiram, for her family to realize how badly she had suffered, and for her to get the help that she needs to heal from that trauma instead of it just always being about managing her anger. I was so intrigued when she had mentioned to Gretchen that what was in her records wasn’t the full story, that the things Hiram did to her were worse than she had ever admitted to. I just want to know her full story and see her recover and thrive! I also want to see what Noah does with his future, and if anything develops between Shelby and Gus!

Ahhh, what am I gonna do with my spare time now I've read all 70 chapters! Right, so I'm incredibly late to this story and its been five years since an update but screw ityoure getting a review whether you see it or not! This story is stunning. its heart wrenching, funny and wholesome in all kinds of ways. You and you're amazing betas have managed to portray some of my favourite characters in such a realistic way. I mean Shelby as the mother to Noah, Santana, Rachel and Quinn? YES PLEASE.

Genuinely fell in love with the family dynamic and members. Joey absolutely cracks me up, as well as santana and quinn. The way everyone reacts to their sarcasm and wit just kills me.

Another thing that you've done which I admire is that you've really shown that the family is not perfect and that they don't have all the answers and that healing from such trauma is no easy process at all. Youve shown that though Shelby really is a super mum, and her family are real troopers, that she can't singlehandedly make the perfect decisions for her children, take care of them and herself. Bravo!

there is so much to say about this story but I feel like my review could take several hours to read if I keep going on haha.

So, I remain bored with life because there's no new chapters for my favourite fanfiction BUT I remain in hope that there will be a day when I get notified of chapter 71 being published and I look forward to it.

(praying for it to be honest)

So well bloody done you!

And I look forward to re reading this story again and again until I know it off by heart because its just that bloody good.

Hope you are well and take all the time you need mate, loyal readers and fans of the story will be waiting patiently (most of the timex

Beautifully beautifully written. I don't read fanfiction very often, but I came across this particular story, and never have I been so intrigued by a fanfiction story, Thank you for putting your time and effort into such an amazing story. I appreciate it

PLEASE UPDATE!

Omg so I have been reading this story this last week and I LOVE IT. The emotion is so raw and honestly portrayed leaving me crushed by this cliff hanger. Hope to hear more from you soon

Not to keep harping on the same thing but in that flashback when Rachel joined Santana at the shelter, she was quiet and upset because she’d been “strapped down to a table” and had to go through an internal pelvic exam. They would not do that to a three year old. If the exam was even necessary, she’d have been sedated. Making it more traumatic doesn’t necessarily make the story better.

I honestly don’t understand why Rachel doesn’t wear diapers. She wets her pants like every other chapter or something. How embarrassing and messy for the family.

I don’t understand why the whole family seems constantly upset about Rachel being put in children’s hospital gowns. She’s a child. I work with kids and most 11-year-old girls would still be in a children’s gown. We already know that Rachel is small for her age so of course she will be in a children’s gown. No one in the family would be surprised by that. It’s just a weird detail that you spend a lot of time focusing on that doesn’t help with advancing the plot at all.

As I mentioned previously, it is not likely that Rachel would have been subjected to another internal exam prior to discharge without being sedated, especially if they would be using the speculum. You’re just putting Rachel through unnecessary and frankly unrealistic trauma just to, I don’t know, increase the drama and I guess make us feel bad for Rachel? If they absolutely had to do a speculum exam she would have been completely sedated and would not know what was happening to her or have any memories of it.

I really don’t think that Rachel and Quinn would be discharged from the hospital so quickly after losing a kidney and a spleen respectively, along with other injuries, simply because “their pasts make it difficult to be here.” Any doctor who would give in to a request like that is kinda sketchy, IMO, and Shelby is foolish for requesting that they be discharged before they’re ready.

Are you aware that a rape kit cannot be performed without consent? Even if a parent gives consent, a minor can refuse and cannot be forced to undergo the exam. Rachel would not have been made to go through a rape kit moments after arriving at the hospital following a serious car accident, especially without a parent present. Knowing that Shelby was on her way, they would have waited, and they probably would not have done the exam without sedation. Additionally, internal pelvic exams, including the use of both fingers and specula, should not be performed on prepubertal girls without sedation, as it is extremely painful to the unestrogenized hymen. But all of that is really a moot point anyway because a rape kit would not be the first priority for a patient who has a collapsed lung, a head injury, and was in and out of consciousness.

After seeing how the rest of the family talks to Santana, it’s easy to understand why she’s still struggling with what happened to her. One moment they’re telling her that she’s not the mother, that she needs to let herself be a kid, that she shouldn’t censor her feelings for the sake of others. The next minute they’re telling her that she can’t act this way because it’s not what Rachel needs, that she can’t react to what she’s feeling in the way she’s always reacted because it’s not good for Rachel and she needs to be here for Rachel. And then they all pressure her to talk about the one thing she doesn’t want to talk about, the one thing that they all know Santana is still struggling with. She hasn’t even gotten into all the details with her mother or her therapist, she hasn’t even worked through it in her own head but they’re forcing her to talk about it with Rachel. She shouldn’t have to relive her trauma for someone else’s benefit. I just don’t understand why, if it was so important for Rachel to understand how her experience was different from Santana’s, Shelby and Elyse didn’t explain it. I’m sure you don’t see it this way but from my perspective no one has Santana’s best interest at heart. I know that I, as the reader, don’t know everything that goes on in everyone’s heads all the time but from my observations there has never been a time where anyone considered if the benefit to Rachel was worth the pain, the guilt, and the anxiety that it would cause Santana to have that conversation with her sister. Not one person stopped to ask themselves, “What will it do to Santana if we force her to talk to Rachel about her experience?” They only care about Rachel getting the information she wants. No one stopped to think that by making Santana explain the difference between their experiences they were really reinforcing to Santana that her trauma was somehow less than Rachel’s.

The scene with the water fight between the cousins was cute, right up until it got ruined by Rachel having another fit. I think it would have been better as just a light, fun moment. We already know Rachel is traumatized, we don’t need yet another scene with something going wrong and setting her off. It doesn’t always have to be about her.

I think you’re aware that people don’t like Rachel as much as they like some of the other characters so you take known and loved pieces of those other characters and try to make them part of Rachel. Why else would you make Rachel name a kitten Snix? Snix has always been a Santana thing. It would have made more sense if Santana named a kitten Snix.

It’s really really really unlikely that Rachel and Quinn would have been randomly selected for the security check at the airport. It’s hard to really buy into parts of the story when so many things are exaggerated or are just not believable. Every single experience that Rachel and Quinn have doesn’t need to be terrible and triggering. The scene didn’t enhance the story at all, it distracted from it.

While I appreciate that you wanted to give Santana’s outing the attention it deserved, I feel that adding Finn blabbing about Quinn’s baby, and later Rachel wandering off and getting lost in the school both distracted from Santana’s story. It’s just a lot going on all at once and it doesn’t really add anything to the story. You don’t have to make every scene so complicated and you don’t need to constantly prove how difficult life is for Rachel and Quinn.