Sorry for not posting more! Things have gotten in the way of writing. I already have the next chapter at least written down, just not typed. I will try to get it up fairly soon but no promises. I just transferred to a new University (so yay i'm living at home now!) and i'm still trying to get used to how this college runs things. It is very different from my previous college.

"Mom!" Rachel yelled early Monday morning as she had been woken up from a nice, deep sleep by her mom. Shelby laughed at her daughter's bedhead. She gently brushed the hair back from Rachel's face. She frowned when she felt a little bit of heat at Rachel's forehead but she couldn't decide if it was just from Rachel being warm from being in bed or if she was actually sick.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked hoping that she was just warm and not sick.

"Other than the fact that I just woke up, yeah. I feel okay." She gave her mom a look as if she was crazy for even asking that question.

"Well get up then." She said as she got up and pulled the blankets off of Rachel. "You have VA practice this morning instead of it being this afternoon." Shelby patted her leg before getting up and leaving the room.

Rachel sighed before getting out of bed. In all honesty, she didn't feel all that great at all. She didn't want to tell that to her mom though. It was a pride thing for her. She hated to admit that she was sick. Plus, her mom was the kind of person who would force her to the doctor's office and then keep her in bed for days when she is sick. She hated that with a passion. Yeah, the part where she got doted on was nice but not enough to admit to not feeling well.

She quickly got dressed in her VA gear before going downstairs for breakfast. She ate about half of it before giving it to the dogs. It was making her even more nauseous than she was before she ate. She put her dishes into the sink before she grabbed her bags and headed out to the car.

That morning's practice was a struggle for her to get through without alerting her mom that she didn't feel well. The only thing that was on her side that morning was that it was a day for choreography instead of vocals. Unfortunately for her, even without her having to sing, Jesse and Brittany did notice that she had been acting differently.

"Hey Rae, you okay?" Jesse asked as he and Brittany walked up to her after practice as she was gathering her things.

"Yeah, I am fine. Just kind of one of those mornings." She covered quickly.

Luckily for her, the two seemed to buy her excuse so she was able to leave and she made it to first period before having a cough attack.

"Rachel why don't you go get some water?" Sydney, her teacher, suggested about half an hour into class after Rachel broke out into another series of coughs.

"Okay." Rachel mumbled before heading out to get some water from the fountain in the hallway since she had already finished what was in her water bottle.

What she didn't know was that when she left the room Sydney called her mom. When she got back she was told to go to her mom's office. She quietly sighed. There was no way to hide this now. She knew her mother would have her sitting in a doctor's office soon enough. When she got there, after dropping her books off at her locker and grabbing her backpack, her mom was standing there with a thermometer. Shelby pointed to a chair by her desk.

"Sit down."

Rachel sighed in defeat as she sat down in it, making herself comfortable before looking up at her mother.

"Don't even try to fight it." Her mom said as she stuck the thermometer in her mouth. It wasn't even there for a few seconds before another cough attack occurred. Once it stopped, the thermometer was back in her mouth. This time Rachel was able to wait until it beeped. Her mom looked at it.

"One Hundred and two point three. You are going to the doctor." Rachel just stared at her sadly. Mentally preparing herself for the lecture of letting the team down from her being sick. She was surprised when that didn't happen.

"Your mood yesterday afternoon and this morning makes so much sense now. Honey, why can't you admit that you don't feel well?" Her mom asked from her perch on the edge of her desk.

"At McKinley if I missed glee I would get yelled at. It didn't matter if I was sick or not, I would still get yelled at for missing it. Then if I didn't miss it, I'd still get yelled at because my voice wasn't up to par. It was a huge double standard. It's hard to remind myself that it won't happen like that here."

"Oh, Boo, if you don't feel well I want you to tell me. Don't hide it okay? I would rather you miss rehearsal for glee and get better than you try to rehearse and make yourself sicker."

"Okay Momma." She agreed.

"Come on. Let's go to the office so I can sign the both of us out." They went to the office where Shelby signed them out and before leaving Rachel got a hug from Liz, the receptionist.

"Feel better Honey." She told the small girl.

"I will Aunt Liz." She replied as her and her mother headed out the door.

Soon enough Rachel found herself sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office. Sitting in the uncomfortable chair, she was leaning against her mom who had her arm wrapped around the girl's waist. They had been waiting for half an hour before a nurse called her name. They did the standard stuff like weigh her, take her blood pressure, and temperature.

"It looks like you've lost a bit of weight Rachel." The nurse said with a frown. Inwardly Rachel was happy to hear this.

"We have been dealing with high stress events lately. That might be the cause." Her mom told the nurse without going into detail about her dads. She was thankful for that. Just thinking about it made her want to cry. She missed them so much. It was still weird for her not to see them all the time.

It was about forty five minutes later that they finally left the doctor's office with Rachel having been diagnosed with the flu. Being forewarned that with this strain it was common that the people it affected often got worse before it got better. After a quick stop at the drugstore, to pick up medicine and other stuff to make Rachel feel better, they went home.

"Boo, go change into comfy clothes and climb into bed. I'll be up in a few with your medicine." Rachel went upstairs, followed by the dogs, and grabbed a pair of pajama shorts and a t-shirt before changing in the bathroom. She then climbed into bed and cuddled up with her favorite blanket. Melchior was curled up at her feet and Cobalt curled up beside her.

Shelby smiled at what she saw when she got there. It looked like huge random balls of fur were on the bed. She should have expected that the dogs would curl up in Rachel's bed with her. Those dogs would literally do anything for Rachel. Walking into the room she had a bag hidden behind her back. She had bought a gift for Rachel at the store and planned to give it to her now.

"Okay Boo, take these first." She handed over a few pills and a bottle of water. While Rachel took those, she quickly poured a dosage of cough medicine into a spoon. Rachel eyed it warily. "Rachel, you are taking it. It is either this way or the hard way."

Rachel's eyes widened and she opened her mouth. Gagging slightly, she swallowed the medicine. She knew that if she hadn't taken the medicine this way that her mom had an infant syringe for when she wouldn't take medicine. Her mom wasn't afraid to use it either. They have had fights in the past over medicine and it got to the point to where her mom would use the infant syringe to make things go quicker. Rachel hated and avoided medicine that much.

"Now, I thought this would make you feel better, or at least it would give you something to snuggle up with." Shelby said as she handed over the gift bag.

Rachel opened the bag and smiled softly as she pulled out a fairly large stuffed animal. Of course it was a horse. It was brown and was so soft to the touch. She immediately pulled it close to her stomach, encircled in her arms.

"Thanks mom."

"You're welcome Boo. Now it will need a name…but you have a while to think of one. For now, how about you curl up with him and take a nap."

The Next day-

"Momma!" Rachel called when she woke up.

Her mom ran into the room. "What's the matter?"

"I'm really dizzy. I think I'm gonna be sick." Luckily Shelby got the wastebasket into Rachel's hands just in time. She then pulled Rachel's hair back into a messy ponytail. After Rachel finished puking she cleaned out the wastebasket before going back to Rachel with Pepto-Bismol and a thermometer.

Rachel looked completely miserable as she was laying there completely exhausted. Sweat was just dripping off of her.

"Boo, I want to take your temperature." She got a barely there reply as she stuck the instrument in Rachel's mouth. She sighed as she looked at it once it beeped. It had risen since the last time she checked. Holding off on the Pepto, since she didn't think that Rachel would be able to keep it down at the moment, she took all of Rachel's blankets away except for a sheet for the moment and went into the bathroom to turn on the water for a cool bath. She quickly made her way back to Rachel.

"Come on Boo, we need to get you cooled off." She said as she carried Rachel to the bathroom. She quickly got Rachel into the bath. The cold water woke the girl up from her stupor slightly.

"Momma I don't like this." Rachel kept trying to get out of the bath of cool water, even in her exhausted state. It got to the point where she had to hold the girl in the cool water so she would stay in the tub.

"I know it's uncomfortable but you need to cool off Baby. It's really dangerous for your fever to get too high." She felt so bad for her daughter. She kept Rachel in the water until Rachel started to lightly shiver. "Okay you can get out now."

Rachel needed help to get out. Soon enough she had the girl dried off and back in bed with only a sheet. She had to take the blankets completely away because Rachel kept trying to cover herself with them. She couldn't let Rachel get that warm again.

"Momma I'm cold. I want a blanket." Rachel cried.

"I know you are Baby. You were way too hot. I'm sorry but no blankets." She really was sorry that she had to keep them away.

For the next few hours Shelby kept a close watch on Rachel's temperature. Eventually she felt that it was okay to leave Rachel be for a little bit and let her calm down and hopefully take a nap.

Later on when Shelby went to check on Rachel she found her sitting in the window seat wrapped in a blanket. Just staring outside.

"Baby." She called to get her attention. Rachel made no indication that she had heard her.

"Baby." She called slightly louder, causing the girl to jump and turn towards her in the seat.

"Sorry Baby," She said as she sat down next to her. "how are you feeling now?"

"In what way?" Rachel asked. Shelby groaned inwardly but didn't blame her for the question. Life had thrown this girl through a loop recently.

"Well both, but first as far as you being sick, how do you feel?"

Rachel shrugged a little bit before saying, "Like Crap."

"I know you must feel bad still but there is a better way of telling me. Describe how you feel so I can help you feel better."

"I can't get comfortable. I am too hot or too cold and my body hurts."

"Oh, Boo boo," Shelby cooed. "Let's get you back in bed and some medicine in you to make you feel better." Rachel just sighed and let her mother help her across the room to her bed. Shelby successfully got Rachel to take her pills but when it came time for the syrup, it was another story altogether. "Rachel open your mouth. You are going to take it." Rachel shook her head no and tried to get away from her. Luckily Shelby was prepared for this and caught the girl's arm before she could get away. She sighed as she pulled the struggling teen into her lap. She hated doing this but to keep control of the situation she had to have Rachel take the medicine. She grabbed the infant syringe, filled it with the medicine and stuck it into the corner of Rachel's mouth. She released the medicine into the girl's mouth. Rachel, who realized what was happening, tried harder to get out of her mom's arms. Shelby smacked her thigh.

"You will stop this right now. I know you hate the medicine but I will make sure you take it so you can get better. You will not jeopardize your health." She lectured. She saw Rachel go to open her mouth but she put her hand over it. "I know you didn't swallow the medicine." She waited until she saw Rachel swallow to let go of her mouth but didn't let go of her. She stood up and sat Rachel back on the bed and tucked her in. Brushing Rachel's tears away in the process.

"I want you to take a nap and we will talk about it later."

Rachel started crying harder. "You're mad at me!" She sobbed.

"Hey, hey, hey." Shelby rubbed her arm, "I'm not mad. You've always had issues with syrup medicine. I knew this would happen eventually Boo. It always does. I'm not happy that you fought me but I understand. Why are you scared of it baby?" She asked.

"When I was little and staying with mawmaw I was sick. She gave me some and I couldn't breathe not long after she did. Other than that I don't remember anything until being in the hospital and you and my daddies were there."

"Oh Boo," She sighed, "That was because we had found out that you were allergic to that medicine. You haven't had it since but now it makes so much sense as to why you panic when you get syrup." She cuddled her crying daughter. "It's okay. I'm not mad. Shh..shh.." She was rubbing Rachel's back in order to comfort her. "Boo, you need to calm down. You're going to make yourself sicker if you keep going like this." She pulled Rachel into her lap and cradled her like you would with a baby. She had the girl's head near her heart. It would calm her down. When Rachel was little, they had found out that hearing her mom's heartbeat would calm the girl down. Often she would fall asleep to the sound. Rachel tried to burrow herself further into her mom's arms but couldn't so Shelby held her tighter.

After a while of being cuddled Rachel straightened up in her mom's lap.

"Mom can I have some apple juice now?"

"Sure Babygirl." She reached over to Rachel's nightstand where she had placed some items when she came back with the syringe. She grabbed the small bottle of apple juice and opened it before handing it to the girl. Rachel drank a little bit before handing it back to her mom.

"Okay Babygirl. You had the talk early but it doesn't get you out of the nap." At this point she was really glad she had given Rachel the nighttime version of the syrup. If only for it to encourage Rachel into sleeping for a bit.

She picked up Rachel once again and put her back in bed. After tucking her in,tucking her new stuffed animal, the horse who was recently named Mark, into her arms and placing a kiss on her forehead Shelby left the room. She went downstairs into the kitchen to call her mother.

"Hello?" Kate answered.

"Hi mom." Shelby sighed.

"Shelby. How are you? How is my grandbaby?"

"I'm honestly tired. Rachel is sick with the flu so it isn't great around here."

"Oh! Poor Rachel! Do you need any help?"

"Yes actually. I still have Vocal Adrenaline practice to run and there is no way that Rachel can go but I will not leave her alone. Could you come and take care of her while I am gone?"

"Yes. Your father and I will be there in an hour. Should we bring some bags?"

"Probably. Just in case."

"Okay, we will be there soon. Bye Honey."

"Bye Mom."

While Rachel was napping she got a call from Brittany, "Ms. Corcoran, we will have visitors today."

"Do you know what time?"

"They'll be at school around three."

"Okay. I will let the group know. Make sure you don't let them know that you are in the club."

"I won't."

"Okay, send me a text to know when they are there."

"I will as soon as I see their car pull in." They ended the call with that Shelby quickly texted all of the members of Vocal Adrenaline that today was the day that they would have visitors from the New Directions and they better be prepared.

After quickly checking on Rachel, she started getting ready for VA practice. By the time she was done getting ready and had gone downstairs, her parents had arrived. She waited for them on the front porch.

"Hi Shelbs." David said as he gave his daughter a hug.

"Hi Dad."

"How is Rae?" He asked.

"She is asleep right now." She collapsed into a chair as they walked into the living room. She had a little bit of time before she had to head to Carmel. She had been talking with her parents for a little bit when Rachel walked in. Rachel went straight for her mother's lap. Shelby immediately wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"Hey Baby." She kissed Rachel's forehead and could feel the heat that was radiating off of her. Rachel just hummed in response. Shelby rocked softly on the couch. "Hey mom. Could you get a cool cloth for her forehead?" Kate nodded as she went into the kitchen. Before long she was back and handed the damp cloth to Shelby. She in turn put Rachel on the couch, leaning against the cushions, and put the cloth on her forehead. Rachel tried to cuddle back up with her mom. "Baby, I have to go run a VA practice. You're going to stay with Nana and Grampy ok?"

"But I want to be with you momma."

"I will be home in a few hours and can cuddle then, before you go to bed for the night." Rachel sat there for a minute before cluing in that her mom said she had an early bedtime.

"Wait! I have an early bedtime?"

"You do. Sorry Baby but nothing is going to change my mind about it. You need the extra sleep." Rachel looked to her grandparents for backup. "Boo, they're not going to help you. You will be going to bed early.

"But you had me go to bed early last night!" Rachel sat there pouting. She did not want to go to bed early. Her mom pulled her into a hug.

"I better get going." She placed a kiss in Rachel's hair. She got up, told Rachel to be good, and left for Carmel.

Rachel turned to her grandparents. "Nana, can I have a grilled cheese?" She asked with a sweet smile. Rachel could see her nana's resolve melt.

"Sure Rae. I'll fix you some soup to go with it for dinner." She headed into the kitchen to begin dinner for the family. Leaving Rachel with David.

"Rae," Her grandpa called over to her, "let's watch some tv." He turned the tv onto cartoons. Rachel looked at her grandpa with amusement.

"Really? Spongebob?"

"Hey, even you have to like this episode. Smittywerbingermanjenson! He was number one!"

Rachel rolled her eyes and laughed at her grandfather. "Okay. This episode is good."

Brittany POV

The tall blonde quickly sent Shelby a text when she saw Quinn's bug pull into Carmel's parking lot. She quickly put a fake smile on her face and went to meet her former friends.

"Britt!" Santana yelled as she hopped out of the car and hugged her.

"Hey San, hey Quinn. So, how are things at school?" She asked.

"It's not the same without you there. Plus it's really not the same without the hobbit there for us to terrorize. That was my favorite daily activity." Quinn shook her head sadly. Brittany rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Well you pick on everyone else at the school, so you still have plenty to do at McKinley." She told them.

"Well, since we were on the topic of the Hobbit, lets go see the team she abandoned us for." Santana suggested.

The trio made their way to the auditorium, crouching behind the seats as to not be seen. Santana and Quinn were happy to see Rachel missing from the group, assuming that she wasn't good enough to make it on her own mother's team, not knowing that the girl was just home sick, and that their former best friend was also on the team as well. After about twenty minutes of observing the practice, the girls left for home.

Rachel POV

There was a Spongebob marathon going on because they were still watching it when Shelby got home. She walked in on them quoting, "What, am I going to explode? No! First it'll go to your thighs, and then you'll blow up!" She was amused watching her father and daughter quoting Spongebob. She chose this moment to cut in.

"Really guys? Spongebob?" She asked. Rachel and David nodded with enthusiasm. They then looked at each other quickly and then turned back to her.

"ShelbyCorcoranChiorCoach… she was number one!" They yelled.

"Pipe down in there!" Kate yelled from the kitchen. Both Rachel and her grandpa started laughing hysterically. Rachel watched her mom head to the kitchen to talk to her nana. She could hear Shelby ask what the hell was going on in there. She heard her nana blame her grandpa.

"Rae, let's go and eat. I'm pretty sure your nana has your soup and grilled cheese ready." Her grandpa nudged her to get off the couch. Walking into the kitchen she smiled when she saw food. Not caring about sitting in a chair, she walked over to her mom who was sitting at the kitchen table, and sat in her lap. Naturally her mom placed a kiss on her forehead. She knew it was to check her temperature. She honestly still felt really cruddy. She leaned further into her mom. At this point she didn't really care what happened as long as she had her mom with her.

"Dad can you get the thermometer? I think Boo's temp has risen." He quickly got it and soon it was in Rachel's mouth. She waited until it beeped and then snuggled into her mom again. "It has risen again. Boo, I know you're hungry but I don't want you eating anything warm right now. Once you cool down you can have your soup and sandwich but for now let's start with crackers." Her mom handed her a sleeve of crackers. She munched on them miserably. After a few minutes and a few crackers later she jumped up quickly and ran to the trashcan as her stomach rebelled against her. After she got rid of the contents of her stomach she curled back into her mom's lap. She just wanted her mom.

"Momma I just want to go to bed." She whimpered quietly.

"Okay Boo. Let's get you upstairs and into bed then."

"Will you stay with me?" She asked. She just wanted to be with her mom. Sure, her grandparents are great but they don't bring the same comfort as her mom.

"Yes, I will stay with you." Her mom replied while leading her out of the kitchen. The pair slowly made their way up the stairs and down the hallway to Rachel's room. They both climbed into the bed and soon both were asleep, cuddled up to each other with Shelby holding Rachel protectively with her arms around her and Rachel's head tucked under her chin, near her heart.

line break

After a few days of rest Rachel recovered and was cleared to go back to school and Vocal Adrenaline. Walking into school she heard a loud scream right before being tackled to the floor by Brittany.

"Rae!" Brittany screamed in excitement, not caring that the girl she was screaming at was pinned underneath her. In her head, she was extremely glad that today was not a skirt day with the uniforms that the school required them to wear, instead today it was khaki pants. It would have been awkward if she had been wearing a skirt and was tackled the way she had been.

"Hey Britt. Can you get off of me now…this hurts." Brittany quickly got off of her.

"Are you gonna be at VA this afternoon? We can't really do much without one of the leads there."

"Yeah I'll be there. Mom already cleared me for it. By the way, what happened with the members of the New Directions who came to spy? And who exactly were the ones who came?"

"It was just Santana and Quinn. They totally believed that you and I are not in the club. They think you weren't good enough to get in despite your mom being the director. They just think that I didn't try out or wanted to be on the team. They also believed that the routine that they performed was the best VA has." Both girls rolled their eyes at that, knowing that the routine that was performed was in no way close to being the best Vocal Adrenaline has. The routine was just something they had created from bits and pieces of other routines, creating a mess of a dance that had no flow whatsoever.

"That's good. This will make them get cocky. They will think that the competition is already won for them when really they're winning it for us by not trying. They'll just sit on their butts thinking that they are the world's greatest gift."

After a few more minutes of talking the first bell rang for 1st period. The girls hugged and went on with the rest of their school day. Throughout the day Rachel was welcomed back by teachers and mainly the members of Vocal Adrenaline. It was still so surreal to her to not have insults thrown in her face. By the time glee came around she was practically bouncing out of her seat.

Her mom chose this moment to walk into the auditorium and started laughing at her. "You a little excited there Boo?"

"Just a bit…" She replied with a grin on her face.

Shaking her head, her mom clapped her hands in order to gain attention from the group. "Okay everyone! We are going to work on something that was asked of us to perform for the elementary school. We have been asked to perform numbers from Broadway musicals. So since Rachel already has "Quiet" then I figured the rest of you could also do with brushing up on your British accents. We are going to perform numbers from the musical "Matilda". You all are going to perform "Revolting Children". Then I figure our last number will be "Naughty" With Rachel, Brittany, Haley, and Diana each as Matilda. So today we will work on "Revolting Children" and the morning practices will be for the four of you to practice "Naughty". Let's get to work!"

Everyone jumped up from their seats to grab the sheet music. Some looked nervous as they glanced over the music while others looked excited at trying something new. Luckily Rachel was able to help with the others learning how to do the accent. By the end of rehearsal they had a good handle on the song. They were having a lot of fun with the dance that they had to go with it by the end of rehearsal.

"Okay guys. That was good for today. I'll see you all Wednesday for the group and in the morning at 6am for the four Matildas."

The group of teenagers chattered among themselves as they left the choir room. As the rest of the teens left, Rachel gathered her things.

"Boo, I have Max picking you up today so you can get to the barn. He should be here any minute. Go on outside and wait for him. Oh, you have clothes at the barn, no need to stop at the house. I will pick you up later." She said before kissing the girl on the head.

"Okay. Bye Momma," Rachel said as she left the room, making her way to the front entrance of the school. Luckily for her, she saw Max pull in as soon as she got outside. He pulled up to the curb and she hopped in.

"Hi Rae!"

"Hey Max. Long time no see." She replied.

"Yeah, I know. But soon we will see a lot more of each other since your mom wants you to get more time in at the barn before WEF. She won't be able to get you there due to meetings and other things for Vocal Adrenaline so she already told me that I'll be driving you more often, like I used to."

"Has mom said if you're going with us to WEF or not?" She asked as she watched the scenery pass by her window.

"She mentioned the possibility of me being needed but at the moment she isn't sure. She said there was a possibility of her needing to come back for a little bit for meetings. We'll just have to wait and see Rae."

It wasn't long until they were pulling up in front of the barn. Max pulled up next to the main entrance to let Rachel out of the car.

"See you soon Rae. Remember, your mom is going to be picking you up afterward." He told her as she slipped out of her seat.

"Okay! Bye Max." She waved before heading inside the barn to get changed before her lesson. She quickly headed into the tackroom and changed into a pair of breeches and a t-shirt before heading out to see Toby tacked up in the crossties.

"Hey buddy." Rachel said as she scratched the crest of his neck. He started nuzzling her, looking for a treat. Laughing, she pushed his head away and told him that she would give him a treat later. Grabbing her bridle, she quickly put it on him and led him out to the turf arena where Holly was waiting for her.

"You feeling better?" The blonde asked.

"Yeah. Mom finally let me go back to school today. It's nice to finally be allowed out of bed and to escape the house." She replied, smiling.

Holly smirked at that. "I bet. She has always been one to not let you out of bed when you've been sick. Then again, you've always been a little terror every time you get sick."

Rachel laughed a little bit at that. "Yeah, that part sucked. I did have a Spongebob marathon with my grandpa though. It was amusing for mom to come home from Vocal Adrenaline's rehearsal to us quoting the show." The look on Holly's face made her laugh. "It was most likely just like what you pictured in your head just now. Except add in mom's confusion and nana blaming everything on grandpa."

Holly just shook her head. "Let's get out there and get the two of you ready for WEF." She said before walking out of the barn to the arena with Rachel and Toby trailing behind. Arriving at the arena, Rachel was disappointed to see only two jumps set up for the lesson. She had been hoping to do courses in this lesson. While she knew that going over the basics were important, courses are just more fun to do.

An hour later Rachel thought her legs were going to fall off. The lesson ended up being a no stirrups lesson.

"You did well Diva. We just need to get in some more work with him before he is ready for Florida. Maybe we could find time to fit in a "C" rated show for you to take him to for practice before we head down south. Possibly one near Lima or Columbus. I'll talk to your mother to see what would be best." Rachel just nodded in reply. She knew there was no real reason to answer her trainer being as she knew Holly would just have her do it anyway.

"Okay, cool him out and I will see you soon for your next lesson." Holly called before walking away and into the barn.

Rachel leaned down and patted Toby on the neck as she let him walk around on a loose rein. "You were a good boy today." After getting him cool enough, she dismounted and handed the reins over to a groom who was waiting for her to be done. She quickly went and changed her clothes before heading outside to wait for her mom to pick her up.
After about twenty minutes of waiting she saw her mom's SUV. When it parked infront of her she threw her bag into the backseat, hopped into the passenger seat, buckled her seatbelt and settled in for the drive home.

"Hey momma." She greeted.

"Hey Boo. Let's get home. I know you had a no stirrup lesson so let's go home so you can relax and get those muscles taken care of." Her mom was grinning at her knowing that pretty soon she'd be covering her legs in Icy Hot after taking a hot bath.

"Okay." Rachel replied easily. She couldn't wait to get home. "Hey, Momma?"

"Yes Boo?" Her mom replied, glancing at her before turning back to the road infront of her.

"Could Brittany spend the night sometime soon?"

"I don't see why not. You won't be having as much sugar as you did at her house though." Her mom told her with a pointed look.

"That is fine. The migraine I had after wasn't worth it anyway." Her mom just laughed at that.

"I bet it wasn't. Now you remember why I don't let you have much sugar."

"Yeah," She sighed. "It still sucks though. When all of my friends get to eat a lot of sugar on a daily basis, I can't because my body turns it basically into crack for me. Why can't some part of my life be normal? I mean it's not like the sport I do is normal, I'm traveling all the time to jump thousand pound animals over colored sticks, sometimes I'm away for months at a time in order to do that, and then when I am not doing that, I'm singing for competitions or I'm in the theatre. What part of any of that is normal by any means?"

"Well Boo, normal is overrated. I think our family was cursed to be abnormal. Nothing about our family has ever been what most would consider normal, but for us it is our normal. It works for us and that is all that matters. Yeah, for other people looking in, it is a little strange for you to have an award winning choir coach as a mom and to have had two highly successful surgeons as fathers, plus with you being an award winning equestrian and performer, we were all doomed to be abnormal." Rachel nodded at her mother's speech. It made a lot of sense to her, what had never made sense to her was how others didn't see it that way.

"I guess." Rachel sighed. "It would just be nice to fit in a little more at times. At least at Carmel they don't treat me badly because of it."

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that at McKinley but just think, it made you a stronger person. Plus knowing you, you will throw all of that emotion into your performance. Like when we could possibly go up against them at the competition."

"As long as we beat them mercilessly I will be happy. I'd love to see the looks on their faces when they see Brittany and me in Vocal Adrenaline."

"You and me both." Her mom laughed. "Your old coach still says I stole you from them to other coaches. Too bad for him that those coaches know me well and are fully aware that I didn't."

- line break

When they got home, Rachel pushed back her bath and changed into a bathing suit before heading out to the backyard to the heated pool and hopped in.

"Only a few minutes in the pool Boo. You still need to eat dinner." Her mom called from the patio door.

"Okay!" She answered before swimming some laps to stretch out her muscles. After about ten minutes of being in the water, she got out and dried off before going in to eat. Sitting down at the table, stil wrapped in a towel, she ate dinner with her mother.

"How much homework do you have tonight?" Her mom asked.

"A bit. I don't think it would take much more than an hour to do."

"After you shower you better get on it." Her mom gave her one of those "I will know if you don't" looks.

"Momma! I will get it done. What is with the look?"

Her mom smirked. "Welcome to having a teacher as a mom, Honey. I will easily find out anything, regarding your school performance, out. I do talk to other teachers and I do have access to look at your grades if I choose."

Rachel ducked down in her seat a little bit. "Mom, you sound a little like Coach Sylvester at McKinley. It's a bit creepy.

"Hmm…haven't you said before that she hates the New Directions?" Rachel nodded at her mom's questions. "We may be able to use that to our advantage." Rachel looked at her questioningly. "She will most likely help, if I ask her, to funk the New Directions when the time comes."

Rachel nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she really hates the glee club and Mr. Shue so it is almost a guarantee that she'd help us."

Rachel quickly finished eating before heading upstairs to take a quick shower before starting her homework. A few minutes before bed her mom came in with the IcyHot for her legs.

"Momma can you get my back instead? It feels stiff. My legs feel a lot better after my swim."

"Sure Boo. Lay on your stomach."

She felt her mom gently rub the muscle cream into her back.

"Momma?"

"Hmm?" Shelby responded.

"Could you go on a trail ride with me tomorrow?"

"Sure baby. I'll call Holly to have someone tack up Tempest and one of your string before we get there."

Tempest, or "T", is her mom's horse. She is a 16.2hh Dark Bay Thoroughbred. She was the only personal horse of her mom's. But now she had the Berry men's personal horses, Pax and Easter. Pax is a Bay Morgan and Easter, or Eastern Rebel, is a flea bitten gray draft cross. They are mostly lesson horses now but Shelby sometimes will use them to ride when she comes out to the barn.

"Are you ever going to show again?" She asked. Her mom used to show occasionally in the lower levels but not all that much anymore.

"Maybe. I haven't really thought about it much. Perhaps when you take Toby to the "C" show in Lima soon. I could take T in the Special Hunters or some other division since I haven't ridden that much lately. I'd need to get new breeches beforehand. Care for a trip to Dover? We could take Brittany."

"Yes!" Rachel exclaimed in excitement. "Can we go this weekend?"

"Sure. We'll go Saturday morning. We need to pick up a new cross country vest for you anyway."

Rachel looked at her, confused.

"One of the boarders asked Holly to get you to take their horse to an event."

"Which horse?" She asked, somewhat dreading the answer.

"Kensington."

"Crap. Please tell me there isn't a water complex on the course."

"I couldn't tell you if it does or not. Probably with it being in Florida. You will probably end up taking him in the jumpers again as well."

Rachel was confused. She had no idea why she was taking him in an event. "I thought Kensington was just a jumper. Why am I taking him to an event?"

"His owner wanted to see if he would make a decent event horse." Her mom replied.

"Okay.." She said hesitantly. "Has she thought about the fact there is water on cross country courses? Hopefully I won't end up in the water like Emma and I did last year with both him and Sterling." Shelby just laughed at the thought.

"Even you have to admit that was pretty funny. You both looked like drowned rats. You were still soaked during your next class." Rachel just glared at her.

"It didn't help that tons of people were talking about it all day." She muttered. "Plus every time we took a step after that, our boots would make noise."

Shelby laughed more at the memory. Both girls were extremely displeased that day. She ended up taking them to get some dessert later to get their spirits up.

"Momma, how is WEF going to work this year? I know it is difficult for you to be able to be down there the whole time because of stuff at Carmel."

"Most likely I will have to come back up for a week of meetings but for the rest of the time I will be there with you. Luckily since Carmel is a private school they don't run the public school schedule. You won't miss that many days like you did when you went to McKinley. I have already asked Max to come with us and Brittany and Emma are competing too. Brittany will be there for two weeks, Emma will be down there the whole time you will. I already have your tutor and when I am gone you will stay with Mary, David, and Emma."

"Why can't it be a skype or Google Hangout meeting instead of you having to come home? Why am I not staying with Holly?" She asked.

"I will see what I can do about the meeting Honey but as far as who you are going to stay with I just figured that you would want to stay with Emma and her family. Do you not want to?"

"I was just wondering since you and my dads would generally have me stay with Holly."

"Holly will be really busy. She won't always have time to be around you when you're not riding. At least with Mary and David, you will have them around."

Rachel just nodded at this information. She had been sort of expecting to stay with Holly instead of Emma's family but this worked as well. At least she and Emma could work together on their school work since they are both in the same grade and working on similar things. So it really wouldn't be that different than when she would stay with Holly. Except for the schoolwork. Holly's way of having her do her work is by sitting all of her work down at a table on the showgrounds and leaving her to it. Not exactly the best homework environment. So in that way she was better off staying with Emma's family. Plus she would have Emma to hang out with around the showgrounds during their downtime. They would be able to go around and check out the vendors and see what new riding stuff is out. They could also do that as well when Brittany was with them. Plus trips to Disney and Universal were inevitable. They happened every year. A pretty big group of junior riders would head out to the parks on a day that they didn't have any classes at the show. Usually instead of going with a big group of the juniors from other barns, everyone from Pembrook Stables would go as a big group and if anyone got Champion that week, then Holly would get them a gift of some sort. It was even better for them when they'd convince the parents to get on a ride. Holly would usually help them with that. There was probably blackmail involved in that but nobody had ever been confirmed with that theory. Rachel didn't care. She just thought it was always hilarious to see the reactions that the parents had while on the rides.

Line Break

Saturday morning Shelby and the girls made the trip to Dover. Shelby was amazed by how the girls were talking a mile a minute about what they wanted to get while they were there. She could tell that Rachel was just excited as she usually is when she gets to go. Meanwhile, she could tell Brittany was ready to get some stuff for the horse she is going to start leasing soon. She was going to look at some saddles and get some other things for the horse as well as for herself. She knew the girl was planning on getting an off the rack Ogilvy and a normal saddle pad as well. Shelby herself though, was just happy about getting back into the show ring. She knew that in order to be ready, she needed to get new breeches and while she was at it, get some new boots. She knew that both Rachel and Brittany were planning on getting new tall boots also. Other things she was going to get included Christmas for the girls and Holly and their other barn employees. Then a few small things for Rachel's birthday. She was going to pick up small items on this trip like Zocks so that the girls wouldn't be too surprised if they were found. They'd just think she picked some up for herself.

Once arriving at the store, the girls quickly jumped out of the car, leaving her to rush after them to the entrance to the store. Walking in the store she told them to head towards the boots first so they could get that out of the way. Both girls were quickly sized for boots and then were told by the sales associate what boots she recommended. While they were looking she was sized and the associate recommended some for her as well. She picked out a pair of Ariat Monocos for herself before seeing what the girls picked for themselves. Rachel picked out a pair of Parlanti boots and Brittany picked a pair of Tredstep Da Vinci boots. With the boots in the care of the associate, they moved on to the next thing. Starting with a saddle for Brittany. After the girl saddle in multiple different saddles like Pessoa, Stubben, M. Toulouse, and Bates, she finally settled on a Marcel Toulouse saddle. That was also given to the sales associate to hold until they checked out. Since they were near the saddle pads, they picked out saddle pads as well. Brittany got her Ogilvy and a black Dover square pad. Rachel got a teal Dover square pad. Finally Shelby picked out a burgundy Dover square pad. She also managed to slip two of the sparkle Lettia pads into the cart for the girls. Pink for Brittany and blue for Rachel, she also picked one of the C4 pads as well for each of them.

After exhausting the saddle pad selection, they all headed over to get some breeches. Shelby picked up some Tailored Sportsmans for herself and then a pair for Rachel too. After trying on a few different brands, Brittany decided on the same breeches. By this point they thought that they had made a good dent in the things they needed so they decided to be done for the day. After paying and loading up the car, they headed home to have the rest of the weekend be relaxing before the hectic week ahead.