Thank you Lane for betaing :)
Shelby nervously walked into the dental office carrying Beth. She knew how fussy Beth could be at the dentist and doctor's offices and this was her first time at this particular office. It had taken a while, but Beth had really warmed up to their dentist in New York and knew that it would take awhile for the same to happen here. Luckily, Beth was only coming in for a check-up.
Shelby signed them in and waited patiently in the waiting room with Beth on her knee. Luckily Beth had gotten less fussy and instead just looked around observing her surroundings. That was a good sign. "You going to be a good girl today?" Shelby asked as she gave Beth a kiss on the cheek.
"Corcoran, Beth," the receptionist called.
"That's us," Shelby sighed as she got up slinging Beth onto her hip as she followed into one of the rooms in the back. This was Shelby's first time at this particular dentist. Her job at McKinley made a trip to her old dentist in Carmel too much of an exertion. But everyone in Lima swore by this guy.
"Just have a seat and the doctor will be in shorty." The receptionist smiled as they made their way into their selected room and the receptionist closed the door behind them. Shelby took her seat in the available chair facing the patient one. She scanned the room. It was a pretty standard examining room. She noticed a wall full of plaques and certificates. Hmm, she thought. I guess this Dr. Howell lives up to the hype.
She was pondering that when the door opened with a very handsome late-thirty something looking gentlemen fully clothed in dentist wear. "Dr. Howell, I presume," she said, extending the hand that wasn't clutching Beth out to him.
The good looking dentist smiled, flashing off some pretty impressive pearly whites in the process. "Yes, and you must be Mrs. Corcoran," he said. Taking Shelby's hand. "And this must be Beth," he smiled, pinching the little girl's cheek. This, surprisingly didn't spark a whine from the girl. Shelby was shocked. Usually Beth would be in tears from even less than that.
"Yes, well, it's Ms. Corcoran. I'm not married," she assured. She got up from her chair and walked over to the patient seat where she sat Beth down and supported her from behind.
"You're not?" Carl inquired. "What a shame. You're divorced?"
Shelby assumed that Carl must have gotten the marital vibe from her seeing as she was a mother, but she shook her head. "Nope. Never been married. My little angel here was adopted. I raise her on my own."
"Ah," said Carl as he began his examination.
"Have you been married Dr. Howell?" Shelby inquired. "You know my marital history. Only makes sense that you tell me yours," she laughed.
"You can call me Carl," Carl laughed. "No one calls me Dr. Howell. To answer your question, I was married, but it didn't work out," he explained. "We wanted different things." Shelby nodded. "I wanted her and she wanted some other guy."
"That sounds horrible," Shelby said sympathetically. "Well, you're still young. You'll find the one. I'm sure of it."
Carl didn't really give much of an answer, but just continued his work.
"All done," he said some twenty minutes later. Shelby scooped Beth back into her arms. "She has three visible teeth already and about four coming in," he assessed. "I'm going to give you some special things for teething, as well as my number, and schedule a follow up appointment in a few months."
"Hold on a second," Shelby said, catching that middle point. "Your number?"
"Well yeah," Carl smirked. "That has nothing to do with Beth. I'd just love to take you out sometime."
Shelby pondered this. This Dr. Carl was definitely smooth. Whoever he was married to, how did she let him slink away? In truth, Shelby would love to go out with him, but there was Beth.
"Look Carl, you seem like a nice guy and I'd love to go out with you, but I kind of have responsibilities," she said, kissing Beth's forehead.
Carl looked down at the angel and smiled. "You can arrange a babysitter. Or perhaps we can take her where we go," he assured. He gave a playful pleading look.
Shelby pondered for a few moments before saying, "Give me your number and I'll think about it. I'll give you a call if I decide yes."
Carl smiled wide, showing off his pearly whites once more. "Great. I look forward to your call."
Shelby chuckled as Carl walked out of the room to write out all of the formalities.
It didn't take long for Carl to receive a call from Shelby. He was more than thrilled once he'd answered his phone and she was on the line. He acted pretty suave during their encounter, but the truth was, he hadn't dated since his marriage to Emma had fallen apart. Not seriously dated anyway. But there was something about Shelby that was different. Once he'd found that she wasn't married, he knew he just had to ask her out or he'd miss out in some way.
They had agreed to a private dinner at Breadstix. Shelby had gotten a sitter for Beth. Carl actually wouldn't have minded taking the girl along. She seemed delightful, but not including her was better. This way they could talk and just relax without having to worry about feeding her or if Shelby had to change her, or worse, her throwing a fit at the dinner table. Definitely best if they go it alone.
"So, how long have you been a dentist?" Shelby asked, on the car ride to the restaurant.
Carl paused for a second, counting up the years. "Fifteen years," he finally answered. "Since I was twenty five. Oh no, I'm telling my age," he laughed.
"Oh no, that's fine," Shelby assured. "I'm thirty-six myself, and I assumed you were probably late thirties."
"Really?" Carl asked, sounding shocked. "Most of the women I meet think I'm much younger. Thirty-five at the oldest."
"Well yes, time has been good to you," Shelby agreed. "But the fringe of gray you have going on on your sideburns gives a lot away."
Carl nodded as to say that was true. "So you said you were married before," Shelby began.
"It's not really wise to talk about exes on a first date," Carl laughed. He turned to her and then back to the road. "Okay, well. Her name was Emma. I met her on the job. To be honest, I was attracted to her the first time I saw her, but she was hung up on some other guy."
Shelby nodded. She recalled him mentioning when they first met that that was ultimately what had killed their relationship. "But yeah, just one day she came in for a bleaching, and I could tell that she was feeling down. For as long as I had known Emma, I'd never even seen her frown. I showed her my sterilizing tools to cheer her up." A laugh bursted out of Shelby.
"What," he turned to her. "She was interested in cleaning. Anyway, that led to me asking her out. But there was just always a third person in the relationship though. Even when I thought she was over him, he was always around. Well, I married her anyway, but once I realized that even then, she was still thinking about this other guy, I'd had it. I wasn't playing second best in my own marriage."
Shelby nodded. He made total sense. She could understand his decisions. "So, no kids?"
"Nope," said Carl. "Our marriage ended in an annulment." That comment sparked another laugh from Shelby. Carl even had to suppress a chuckle himself. That was pretty ridiculous once you really processed it.
"So what about you?" Carl asked as they took their seats in a booth in Breadstix. "We spent the entire car ride talking about me."
"Well, I don't know. What do you want to know?"
"Why have I never seen you in my office before? Pretty much everyone in Lima comes to me. The smart ones anyway," he laughed.
"Oh, well I'm new to Lima. Well, sort of," she began. "I lived here a long time ago, but left shortly after I agreed to be a surrogate."
"A surrogate," Carl asked with wonder.
"Well," Shelby laughed. "This is something you don't talk about on the first date. But I don't know, me and my-and Rachel are on good terms now. It's not something I need to hide."
Carl nodded, processing, "So you know the child?"
"Yes, I do. I sought her out a couple years ago and we slowly but surely formed a relationship."
"Where does Beth fit into this?" Carl asked as the waiter came to take their orders.
"Beth is the daughter of two of Rachel's friends. They were kids. They weren't ready for a baby, but I was. I felt as if I'd missed my chance with Rachel, and Beth was my second chance. But she's more than that. She's everything I could ask for in a daughter."
Carl nodded. "She seems delightful. So well behaved."
"She isn't always," Shelby laughed. "But I think she likes you."
Carl smiled at that prospect. "To answer your question, I moved after Rachel was born, to New York. Tried to make it big on Broadway. When that didn't work out, I came back and settled for a job at Carmel. Ran the glee club to a few National Championships. After I found Rachel and adopted Beth, I went back to New York. Tried again. Obviously it didn't work out and I was offered a job right here in Lima. At William McKinley. You're the closest dentist."
Carl nodded. He had learned so much about Shelby from that one little question. He stopped to take it all in as their food arrived.
"Well Shelby, it seems you have lived quite a life. I look forward to learning even more," he smiled as he began to dig into his food. Shelby smiled back, glad to see that nothing she had just said seemed to scare him off. "Was that William McKinley you said," he asked after a period of them just eating.
"Yep," said Shelby. "I'm coaching glee over there. Alongside Will Schuester."
"Will Schuester," Carl gasped. "I suppose you work alongside my ex-wife Emma Pillsbury too."
"Emma Pillsbury?" Shelby gasped herself. "Your Emma is that Emma?" She laughed. "This is a small world."
"Indeed," Carl agreed. "So how's she doing?"
"I'm not sure if you want to hear this," explained Shelby. "But her and Will are living together now. Looks like they're heading towards marriage."
Carl frowned. "I can't say it's surprising. It was always Will." He shook his head. "Okay, so no more breaking rules. No talking about exes, no deep dark secrets. At least not until our fourth date," he smiled.
Shelby smiled back at him. "Deal." And they finished their meal.
Carl and Shelby went on a few more dates until Shelby finally realized it was time for Carl to meet Beth. Even though he'd already seen her at the dentist office, Shelby had refrained from formally introducing the two until she knew her and Carl were serious enough. Once Carl realized he would be "meeting" Beth, he was very relieved. He knew what a big step that was and that that could only mean that their relationship was continuing to head in the right direction.
They had agreed to a simple dinner for the three of them at Shelby's house. Carl anxiously knocked on her apartment door with one hand, as the other hand held flowers. After a moment, he was greeted by Shelby. They shared a quick kiss and then Shelby grabbed for the flowers. "These are lovely. I love them."
"They're for Beth," Carl teased as he held them out of reach. He laughed and then handed them over to Shelby. "Just kidding."
Shelby went to put them into water as Carl took a look around. The apartment was definitely modest, but then again, Shelby did have a teachers' salary. It was a stark contrast from his eight room condo.
"I told you it was small," she frowned, making her way back over to him. "Yours is much bigger."
"That's true," Carl smiled. "But yours is cozy."
They smiled to each other for a moment until suddenly they could hear crying from down the hall. "Beth is up," Shelby frowned. "I was hoping she wouldn't wake up until after the food was done. Do you mind watching her until then?" She asked apologetically.
"Not at all," Carl assured. "If I remember our last encounter correctly, she likes me."
"Great," Shelby breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been hard to cook and watch over Beth and have a proper date. She went further into the house to a room in the back to get Beth.
Carl made himself comfortable on the couch. He smiled at the photos of Beth by the TV. Someone loved their daughter. He then paused on a picture at the end. At first he thought it was a young photo of Shelby but then he recognized the girl as Rachel Berry, a student at McKinley that he had treated once along with a few of her other glee club mates. So this must be the Rachel Shelby had conceived through a surrogacy. Their world just kept getting smaller and smaller.
"She was down for quite a while, so she shouldn't really be fussy," he heard Shelby and turned his head. She was making her way over to him with Beth at her hip.
"Okay," Carl nodded.
"This is her blankie," Shelby indicated a blanket Beth clutched as she handed her over to Carl. "She loves this thing. Whatever you do, don't try to take it away from her. She'll have a fit. The food should be ready soon and then I can take her from there."
Carl nodded his understanding and looked down at Beth with a smile. Beth smiled back at him and tried to grab for his nose. "Wow, she really does like you," Shelby said as she walked over to the kitchen to take a look at the food.
Carl sang to Beth and did a few impressions while Shelby cooked. Beth seemed to enjoy it all. Carl really had a knack with kids and had always wanted them. He just had never been given the chance to. He would love to have Beth as a stepdaughter if given the chance, which he suspected he would. He had already fallen for Shelby and knew she felt the same.
"Dinner's ready," he heard Shelby yell from the kitchen. He eased up from the coach and carried Beth over to the dining area.
"I'm glad that Beth likes you," Shelby said during dinner. "She usually doesn't do well with strangers, let alone laugh with them or even let them hold her. It's a good sign."
"I adore Beth too. I'm glad I got her seal of approval," he grinned. "But yeah, I've always been good with kids. I've always wanted kids of my own."
Shelby frowned. She hadn't yet told Carl about her sterilization and suspected that he didn't want any children seeing as he hadn't already had any. She ran a hand through Beth's hair. "I can't have kids of my own," she sighed. "That's part of the reason why I wanted to find Rachel and adopted Beth. I guess I was just trying to fill that void."
"It's okay," Carl assured. He put his hand over hers. "I would love to have Beth as a stepdaughter. I'd raise her as my own."
"Really?" Shelby asked. "I would hate for you to give up the chance to have your own child because of me. This relationship is still so new. You can get out while you can. Before we get too invested."
"Too late," Carl smiled. "For me at least. I love you, Shelby, and I already love Beth. I want us to be together."
Shelby gleamed at those words. She leaned over and placed a long deep kiss to Carl's lips. "I love you too," she exclaimed when they broke away. "Wow, we are moving fast."
"It's usually the only kind of move I do," Carl laughed.
"At this rate, we'd be married by next month," Shelby laughed.
Carl stopped laughing and looked as if he were considering it.
"No way we could get married next month," Shelby protested. "We've only been going out for a couple months. It could be a disaster."
"Calm down," Carl laughed. "I was kidding. I made the mistake of rushing into a marriage before. I've learned."
Shelby breathed a sigh of relief. She had never been married before and especially hadn't thought of it this soon into a relationship, even though she knew she loved Carl.
"I do want to get married some day though," he compromised. "We'll take it one day at a time."
Beth began to whine. They both turned to peer at her and she stopped. "Looks like someone wasn't getting enough attention," Carl said in baby speak. He lightly pinched her cheek as he had done at the dental office and Beth smiled.
"You know, for anyone else, if they were to touch her face like that, she'd be screaming," Shelby said, once again amazed at how good he was with her.
"I told you before," he laughed. "Kids love me."
"You're like the baby whisperer," Shelby concluded. "It'll be great having you around. She'll never cry at all. Why didn't I introduce you guys months ago?" she laughed.
"Having me around," Carl said, catching the middle part.
Shelby nodded. "Oh yeah. I foresee you over here more often."
"Sounds good," Carl smirked. He had never been so glad to be a dentist in his whole life, because if he hadn't been, Shelby Corcoran would have never walked into his office and into his life.