Something - Quinn Fabray

Chapter 22

On Friday morning, Ryan woke up at 6:13. The custody transfer was going to become official this afternoon, along with his name change. He got up and dressed quickly. To his surprise, his mom was already up as well, drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen. "Hi mom."

"Good morning," Shelby smiled at him.

"You're up early."

"Big day. Are you going to the garage this morning? The family's coming after lunch," Shelby told him. All of the Corcorans wanted to be with Shelby and Ryan today. "We're all going out for dinner afterwards."

Ryan shook his head. "No, I'm not going today. I already told Mr. Hummel."

Shelby studied her son, who was leaning on the counter. "Are you okay?"

Ryan picked up an apple that sat in a bowl on the counter. He pulled himself up on a stool. "Yes, I'm okay, I suppose." He played around with the apple a bit, not meeting Shelby's eyes. "A bit worried about seeing them again, maybe. My dads, I mean, not your family."

"My family's your family too," Shelby reminded him. "And you don't need to worry too much, I'll be right there the whole time, okay? You don't even have to talk to your dads if you don't want to."

"I'm not sure if I want to or not."

"Well, don't worry about it too much, you'll be fine. We'll both be fine. I'll be there the whole time."

Ryan gave her a small smile. "Okay." He took a bite out of the apple. "You know, I just realized, since you're going to be my legal guardian, you can come with me to get my learner's permit," Ryan's smile widened. "Will you take me?"

Shelby blinked. "Maybe." Take her kid to get a learner's permit? She was just getting custody of him, and she already had to worry about him driving? Perfect.

"Why maybe?" Ryan whined slightly. "I actually already know how to drive, I work in a garage after all. I just need a permit so I can get a license when I turn sixteen." He smiled slyly. "And you can get me a car in December."

Shelby laughed at him, happy that he was feeling better. She could do without the mood swings though, she'd noticed that his moods seemed volatile lately, he could be happy one second and then brooding the next; upset and then suddenly playful the next moment. She supposed she should put it down to puberty. And in fairness, it was a pretty difficult time, with everything that was going on. "Yeah, I'll get right on that," she said a bit sarcastically. She stood up. "Since we're both already up, what do you want for breakfast?"

Ryan smiled happily. "Can you make pancakes?"

Shelby nodded. "No problem. You can help, get the stuff out of the fridge."

A few minutes later, Shelby was flipping the pancakes on the stove while Ryan watched. "It seems easy," he observed.

"Want to try?" Shelby offered.

Ryan quickly shook his head. "No thanks, I tried cooking exactly once, it's not going to happen again. Let's just say the kitchen ceiling hasn't been the same since."

Later that afternoon

Shelby and Ryan were sitting on the couch in the living room, watching a rerun of How I Met Your Mother. They had spent most of the morning watching one musical after another, and then they'd had a light lunch. Ryan had spent some of the time texting back and forth with Quinn. Soon they heard a knock on the door. Shelby got up to answer it.

"Hi honey," Tom Corcoran greeted his daughter with a kiss on the cheek and a one-armed hug.

"Hi dad." Shelby returned the hug, and gave one to her mom as well. "Hi mom."