Rachel's POV:

The door opened slowly as the young girl hid behind the well-dressed woman standing in front of her. "Good morning Mrs. Johnson," the social worker stated as she looked into the elderly woman's face.

"Hello dear, is this little Rachel?" the older woman asked as she tried to peek around the social worker.

"Yes ma'am," the woman shuffled the thirteen year old girl around her, "Say hello Rachel."

"Hello," the girl whispered.

"Hello, would you like to come inside?" Figuring that she really had no choice in the matter, Rachel walked into the house and followed Mrs. Johnson in the "grand tour". "Here is your room dear." The room was nice with dark wooded furniture and a white blanket draped across the bed.

"Thank you, it's very nice," the girl mumbled.

"Come on, Rachel, let's go get your stuff," the social worker led Rachel out of the room and out to the car as she reminded her that she had school the next day. "They have an excellent glee club, you like to sing don't you?"

"Yes ma'am," the young girl stated. The social worker quickly left and it was just Rachel and Mrs. Johnson.

"Would you like to help me make dinner dear?" the elderly woman asked, wanting to ensure that Rachel felt like a part of the family.

"Actually, if it's all the same to you, I would like to get unpacked and settled in before dinner," the girl replied meekly hoping that it would be ok.

"That's fine dear, I'll call you when it's ready."

Rachel made a quick work of separating everything and finding a place for it. Finally she pulled out her little jewelry box that she had managed to keep out of the way of the many other orphans who had tried to steal it. Opening the box, Rachel slid out the small picture she had stared at for many hours since the day her dads had died. It was a picture of the backside on a woman as she looked out the large window that used to be in her house. The woman was holding her stomach. But it wasn't just any woman, she was Rachel's mom. The only living family member who may want her even the slightest bit. Kissing it softly, Rachel placed the only thing she had left from her old life under her pillow.

Dinner was a quiet affair until Rachel got up the courage to ask the question that had been nagging at her the whole time. "Are you married?"

Mrs. Johnson chuckled. "Yes his name is Frank. He is a doctor and wasn't supposed to work tonight but he was called in, so you'll meet him tomorrow."

"Ok." Rachel helped clean up the dishes and after saying goodnight went up to bed. When she curled up under the covers she took out her mother's picture. "Please come find me mommy. I need you. Please." Only letting a few tears stream down her cheeks, Rachel drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Shelby's POV:

Good morning

Wake up to a brand new day

This morning

SMACK!

Shelby Corcoran smacked her alarm and stretched before turning over her shoulder to look at her lover sleeping next to her. His gorgeously toned, dark-skinned back contrasted beautifully with their white sheets and she took a second to marvel at how in the world she could have ever done anything in her life to deserve the amazing man sleeping beside her. Gently brushing her lips over his shoulder blade, she climbed over him and lay in front of him waiting for him to wake. After a few seconds of waiting, she leaned forward and kissed his chest… nothing. She then attempted the clichéd kiss to the lips…. Nothing. She sighed and sunk back into the mattress. Suddenly Shelby was being pushed into the mattress as her boyfriend of nearly five years hovered above her, smiling wickedly before leaning down and placing a long, loving, and wet kiss to her neck, making her body shiver with pleasure.

"Must you be naked when you wake me up when we have somewhere to go and no time to waste?" he groaned into her skin.

"I don't think having sex or making love or whatever you want to call it is a waste of time."

"I don't think so either but we don't have enough time to do it properly."

"Who said anything about propriety? We haven't ever been proper about our love-making before. Remember the janitor's closet? And if I do recall, Benjamin Montgomery, that was your idea." She quirked an eyebrow at him and he chuckled.

"One time! I pull you into a closet one time and you won't let me forget about it!"

"Nope," she pulled his face down to her and kissed him fully, letting her tongue enter his mouth and explore the familiar and yet still amazing territory. "Come shower with me?" she asked against his lips.

"Could I ever turn you down?" she scrunched her nose and shook her head before flipping him over. Forty-five minutes later she was drying her hair and he was getting dressed, both rushing due to their unexpected activities in the shower. Walking out of the house they locked the door, kissed each other goodbye, and got into their separate cars. Even though they both worked at Carmel they had decided early on that this 'take your own car to work' thing was a good idea. First of all, Shelby would occasionally be at school until eight with Vocal Adrenaline and also it would be good for them not to be together all of the time, they already worked and lived together.

Shelby walked into the school ready to meet her new students. She was the show choir director (which met in eighth period), separate voice and dance lesson teacher (second, third, fourth, and fifth periods), an English two AP teacher (sixth period) and had two off periods (first [which was shared with Benny] and seventh).

In all honesty, Shelby was pumped. She loved to teach and she loved helping her students achieve their dreams. She smiled inwardly thinking of one of her favorite students who had just started her freshman year at NYU. She had called Shelby last night and they had spent nearly three hours on the phone, just talking. Suddenly the bell rang and Shelby cursed inwardly as she ran to retrieve her roster for homeroom (which only met on the first day of school). When she finally returned to her class nearly everyone was there. Right before the tardy bell rang a petite girl ran into the room and sat in the very back. There was something about the girl that made Shelby do a double take. She looked so familiar but where had she seen her? When the bell rang she began her usual "Welcome back to school" lecture.

"Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful summer! This year is going to be great at Carmel. Let's start with the announcements. For all of you drama kids, the theatre department will be putting on the dramatic play "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" by Raspanti. And for all of you Broadway dreamers, Vocal Adrenaline is having auditions in the auditorium tomorrow and Thursday from 3 until 6. Bring clothes to work out in and be ready to work. It's a lot of it but it is so much fun in the long run. Now shall we take attendance? Please say here when I say your name."

"Balazi, Melanie?"

"Here!"

"Bammon, Dalton?"

"Here!"

"Baron, Chad?"

"Here!"

"B-" Shelby stopped as she read the name. No! it couldn't be! It just couldn't! But could it? "Berry… Rachel?"

"Here!" came a strong voice and Shelby looked up to find it coming from the petite girl who had walked into the class right before the bell. The resemblance of this girl to her own reflection that she had seen this morning hit her like a ton of bricks. Quickly she continued calling the roll, as she tried not to stare at the young girl. After taking role she sent a text to Ben

Hey Baby, can you come to my office for first? Please?

Shelby

Benjamin smiled as he saw that he had a text from Shelby but that smile faded as he read the message. She never used the words baby and please in the same sentence, hell she never used the word please at all, unless she was upset.

When Shelby's phone buzzed she refused to look at it until the students were gone knowing that he had asked if she was ok, and if she read that she would break down and Shelby Corcoran does not cry!

A/N: So I hope you liked this.

Ok so I read this article about sleeping patterns and how they reveal things about you and I saw that it says if couples sleep back to back then that means that they are both independent, comfortable with each other, and trust each other with their relationship. It then proceeded to say and I quote "if a couple sleeps with their bottoms touching it shows a deep sexual bond." (Which I thought was a bit strange.) And then it said that if they slept with their feet touching that it showed a deep emotional bond. This (all three) is how I imagine Shelby and Benny's relationship and so that is how I imagined them sleeping. Which is why, if anyone was wondering, though I doubt anyone was, why they were sleeping back to back instead of cuddling like most fanfiction couples (including my own).

and before anyone asks

1.) yes Shelby's boyfriend is supposed to be Taye-like

2.) I did take liberty and change Shelby's character to make her a bit less cold though she is still fiercely independent (though at the end she did show a need for Benny but I mean under the circumstances it's reasonable. Benny is the only person she trusts to talk to like that and understands that she must talk to someone if she wants to survive, which will be explained later.)

3.) yes Shelby's boyfriend's name Benny is a reference to RENT

Lizzy

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