Rachel walked though the schoolyard of Carmel High towards the auditorium in which Vocal Adrenaline did their rehearsals. She was to meet Jesse there to discuss some things. Even though Jesse had transferred to McKinley High, he still preferred to meet at Carmel High. As Rachel entered through the side door she was greeted by a serious female voice.
"Can I help you? Are you lost?"
Rachel halted, trying to find where, and who, the voice came from. The auditorium was dark except for a few stage lights. She eventually spotted a figure moving toward her.
"I'm Rachel, Rachel Berry" Rachel said informatively, "I was looking for Jesse"
The woman was now standing in front of her. She was tall and brunette, with distinct facial features. Rachel took a step back feeling slightly intimidated.
"Ah, so you're the girl I have been hearing so much about, from New Directions?" the woman asked, "I'm Shelby Corcoran, coach of Vocal Adrenaline".
Rachel put her hand out to shake Shelby's, but Shelby didn't respond. After a moment Rachel put her hand back beside her.
"So, is Jesse here?" Rachel questioned whilst looking around.
Shelby turned around to scope out the auditorium before turning back to Rachel.
"I guess not" she said mockingly whilst Rachel glared at her, "I sent him to run a few errands for me, shouldn't be too long".
Shelby walked up on stage whilst Rachel took a seat in the front row of seats.
"So I hear you sing well?" Shelby called down from the stage.
Rachel diverted her attention from her skirt to the woman on stage.
"Yes, I sing rather well, thank you". Rachel replied, "I am the main soloist of New Directions, after all".
Shelby laughed whilst moving a microphone stand from the side of the stage to centre stage.
"Modest too, I see. Much like me at your age" a smile crept across her face, "not that I've changed much".
Rachel shifted uncomfortably in the chair. She was unsure as to what was going on. From what she had heard of the coach of Vocal Adrenaline, she didn't often make small talk.
"As you have noticed our auditorium is fairly well equipped, better than yours I am betting" Shelby told Rachel, "How would you like to come up here and sing on a real stage?"
Rachel's eyes widened as she looked up. She then realised that that was why Shelby was moving the microphone to centre stage. Not being able to resist showing off her talents, Rachel stood up and headed up the steps to the stage. She made her way to where Shelby was standing, next to the microphone.
"Wow, this is quite a setup" Rachel said amazed, "we have nothing even remotely similar to this".
Shelby walked behind the curtain at the side of the stage and pushed some buttons on the wall. The auditorium lit up. Rachel's mouth dropped as Shelby smiled.
"What are you planning on singing?" the woman asked, as if doubting any choice Rachel was going to make.
Rachel thought for a minute, and then a smile crept across her face. The tune to Defying Gravity started playing in her head, so she started singing that.
"Something has changed within me,
Something is not the same,
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game"
Shelby's mouth just dropped. She walked over to centre stage where Rachel was, astounded. She had heard Rachel was talented, but to hear her in person was an experience Shelby did not expect to feel like this. Shelby started singing alongside Rachel.
"It's time to trust my instincts,
Close my eyes and leap"
Rachel stopped momentarily to embrace the powerful sound that was coming from the Vocal Adrenaline coach. It was overwhelming, amazing. Rachel then continued singing.
"I think I'll try Defying Gravity,
And you can't pull me down!"
The two finished the song together then just looked at each other. Each mesmerised by the other's talent. At that moment Jesse walked in from the back of the Auditorium.
"Ms Corcoran, I see you have met Rachel" Jesse smiled, "Hey Rachel".
Both Rachel and Shelby quickly diverted their attention to Jesse, still unaware of the feeling they were experiencing. As Jesse walked down towards the stage Rachel moved quickly to the side of the stage and down the steps.
"Everything finished?" Shelby questioned Jesse.
Jesse and Rachel hugged briefly.
"Yes, Ms" Jesse replied, "Was that all?"
Shelby looked down at Rachel who was just standing there playing with her skirt. She didn't even hear Jesse.
"Uh, Miss?" Jesse repeated.
The woman's attention shifted back to Jesse.
"That's fine, you can go now" Shelby hesitated, before quickly walking off the stage to where she left her notes.
Jesse and Rachel exited the side of the auditorium, with Rachel giving a quick glance behind her. Shelby was gathering her notes and mumbling to herself.
"What am I doing?" Shelby questioned herself quietly, "I don't like people, what makes this self-assured little girl any different!"
Rachel and Jesse walked through the front door to Rachel's house to find Leroy and Hiram laughing together in the lounge room. She had forgotten about earlier that day with Coach Corcoran.
"Oh, hello sweetie, hey Jesse" Leroy smiled and handed Rachel a picture, "look what we found whilst cleaning out the garage".
Rachel took the photo and looked at it for a moment before hiding it from Jesse. It was a photo of her from when she was about 3 years old. Jesse did not bother going for the photo as he did not want to upset Rachel.
"We found a box with your name on it in the garage and thought you might like it" Hiram said picking up a small box with 'Rachel' written on the side. "We didn't look through it but the photo your dad had was sitting on top".
With that, Hiram handed Rachel the box. Rachel smiled and headed up the stairs to her room, with Jesse following closely behind. She sat down on her bed and sat the box beside her. Jesse sat on the other side of the box, not knowing what else to do.
"Would you like me to leave you to it?" Jesse question when Rachel sat staring at the box.
Rachel took a moment, and then looked up. Her eyes shifted quickly from the box, to Jesse, then back to the box.
"Y-yes please" Rachel stammered. "I will call you later."
With that Jesse got up, gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek, and left the room. Rachel heard him walk downstairs, and then heard her dads say goodbye to him as the front door closed. Looking back at the picture that Leroy had handed her downstairs, Rachel wondered if what was in the box had to do with her childhood; with her mother. Lately, the seemingly happy soloist of New Directions had been thinking quite a bit about how she could feel something missing from her life. It wasn't boys; she had Jesse. It wasn't attention; she got that from her astounding talent. It was someone to share it with; someone to talk to about girl things. She loved her dads dearly, but sometimes they just weren't enough. She longed for a mother.
"I wonder" Rachel muttered to herself, slowly opening the top of the box.
Situated on the top of the box was a photo album with a sonogram picture on the front. A hesitant Rachel slowly picked up the album. Shaking; she put it on the bed. She wasn't quite ready to open it. Under the album were some bits and pieces of jewellery, a stuffed bear, and a tape. The want to-be Broadway star examined the jewellery carefully. Some of it was children's jewellery, but one bracelet really stood out. It was an adult's bracelet, and she was sure she had seen it before; quite recently, but just couldn't quite remember where. Putting the bracelet aside she picked up the tape. It said Rachel on the case.
"This cannot be good" Rachel sighed.
Rachel put the tape, the photo album and the familiar looking bracelet on the table beside her bed and packed everything else back in to the box. She slid the box under her bed. It had been a day full of strange things so the exhausted star decided it was time for bed, without even saying goodnight to her dads.
The wide-eyed brunette walked through the doors of McKinley High. She headed to the Glee club's rehearsal room hoping to find Jesse there. As Rachel walked through the door she heard a voice from behind.
"You didn't call last night" the voice stated, "Something must have happened".
A startled Rachel turned around to find Jesse following her in to the room.
"Oh, um" Rachel stammered, "As a matter of fact, I found some interesting things in the box."
Rachel held out her arm to show Jesse the bracelet that she had on her wrist. Jesse took a step back. A look of confusion grew across Rachel's face.
"Where did you get that?" he quickly questioned.
There was a moment of silence whilst Rachel tried to figure out Jesse's reaction.
"From out of the box" Rachel shot back whilst putting her arm behind her back, "why?"
"No reason" Jesse hesitated.
Jesse knew he had also seen that bracelet before, but unlike his girlfriend, he knew exactly where he had seen it. Maybe it is a coincidence he tried to reassure himself.
"I don't believe you!" Rachel accused Jesse.
Jesse looked taken aback and realised that he needed to move the conversation along if he was to get out of this one.
"What else did you find in the box?" he enquired with a slight smile.
Rachel thought for a moment, then walked over to a chair and put her backpack on it. She pulled out the tape and handed it to Jesse. He opened the case and out fell a little note on to the floor. It read;
To my darling daughter. Love always, Mummy.
Both Rachel and Jesse just stared at it; neither one moving to pick it up. Jesse potentially held the link between Rachel and her biological mother in his hand. After several minutes, Rachel finally bent down and picked the note up and went to grab the tape off Jesse. He moved his hand out of her reach.
"Give it to me!" Rachel said harshly.
Jesse took a few steps back, still holding the tape out of reach.
"You are going to listen to it aren't you?" Jesse questioned.
Rachel stopped reaching for the tape. She thought about Jesse's question.
"I don't think so" she whispered. "I don't want to know".
A tear started to well in Rachel's right eye. She didn't know what to do.
"She wanted you to hear this" Jesse said looking at the tape in his hand.
Tears started slowly falling down Rachel's cheeks.
"What if she's singing on the tape?" Rachel hesitates, "What if she's terrible, or worse, what if she's better than me?"
Jesse walked towards Rachel and put his arms around her. They hugged whilst tears streamed down the confused soloist's face.
Jesse entered the auditorium of Carmel High to find the coach of Vocal Adrenaline in her office looking through papers. She heard the auditorium door close but didn't bother to look up to enquire. With her back to the door of her office, Shelby heard it open.
"Jesse, just the student I wanted to see" his former coach said glumly.
Jesse took a seat in the spare office chair as Shelby swivelled on her chair to face him.
"Funny, you're just the coach I was looking for" Jesse retaliated.
The two occupants of the office looked at each other for a moment. Jesse then looked to the coach's wrist to see a very distinct bracelet resting there. He smirked. Ms Corcoran shifted uncomfortably in her chair when she realised where Jesse's attention was situated.
"Listen, that Berry girl, I don't want her in this auditorium again" the coach started, "Do what you please with her, but I'm done with her."
Jesse's smirk grew more noticeable as he mumbled to himself.
"What was that?" Shelby questioned, irritated.
Jesse jumped a little in his seat and repeated what he mumbled without even thinking about it. The coach intimidated him sometimes.
"Not as done as you may think" he repeated, with a gasp afterwards.
Shelby looked taken aback. What is this boy implying! She thought to herself. Jesse quickly got up and was about to head for the door when he heard Shelby.
"Sit down!" the tall brunette woman expressed in a raised voice.
This was one of the moments that Jesse was both scared and intimidated by the woman standing in front of him. He quivered in his seat as his former coach stared down at him.
"Is there something you're not telling me, Mr St. James?" Shelby questioned impatiently with one eyebrow raised.
Jesse sank in his chair having no idea what to say. He knew he had to say something though.
"J-just that bracelet" he stammered, looking down at the bracelet on her wrist, "Rachel found one exactly the same in a box full of childhood memorabilia yesterday".
The woman took a step back and fell in to her chair; head in her hands.
"I know you've got your secrets miss, but" Jesse started.
Shelby looked up with tears welling in her eyes.
"Dont. You. Dare." She replied through gritted teeth.
Jesse knew how to pick his battles with this woman, and this was not a battle he would get out of unscathed. Looking at Shelby for a moment, Jesse got out of his chair, put his hand on her shoulder briefly then opened the door. He could see the pain she was obviously going through.
"Whatever this is, it's safe with me" he smiled as he exited her office.
Tears streamed down the shattered coach's cheeks as she took her bracelet off and held it close to her chest. She was a mess, and to let one of her students, former or not, see her this way, was definitely unheard of.
Rachel sat in her bedroom alone. She had the tape in one hand, the note in the other. Her cell phone was on her bedside table, it displayed 3 missed calls from Jesse and 2 text messages. Shaking, Rachel finally put the tape in her CD/tape player. She looked at it for a second before pushing the play button. There was silence for a moment before finally came some noise. At first there was some giggling, and then came the voice;
This one is for you, baby girl. Something to remember your mum by, and maybe one day you will accept the reasons I gave you up and left it at that. I love you.
Rachel knew this voice. She had heard it before. She had no memories of her mum, so she couldn't tell if that was really her voice. The tape continued with singing;
There was a time when men were kind, and their voices were soft, and their words inviting.
Rachel recognised the song straight away. I Dreamed a Dream, from Les Miserables, one of her all-time favourite show tunes. She continued listening to the song, quietly singing along with it. She recognised a slight change in the lyrics, the same as what she often did. The woman on the tape sang;
And still I dream she'll come to me.
Instead of 'and still I dream he'll come to me'. Rachel would notice this change anywhere. After the song had finished, there was some more brief silence before finally;
Never forget me, as I will always remember you.
And with that, the tape stopped. Rachel sat on her bed, stunned, shocked. Other than the tears falling down the star's cheeks, she was motionless. She was trying to work out where she had heard that voice before. She was positive that she had. It was hard to forget such an amazing, powerful voice. She touched the bracelet on her wrist and suddenly things came flooding back. A flashback of herself and the Vocal Adrenaline coach singing Defying Gravity only the day before came to mind. Her voice was so distinct, so perfect in pitch with a beautiful tone, that it was hard to mistake it.
"This is too much!" Rachel said to herself.
Leroy heard this as he was walking past Rachel's room and quietly knocked on her door.
"Darling, are you alright?" he questioned whilst opening the door a fraction.
He saw Rachel sitting on her bed with a note in one hand, holding the bracelet in the other, and tears streaming down her face. Leroy immediately recognised the bracelet.
"Oh no" he started.
Rachel shook her head. Leroy knew it was too late. His daughter had heard the tape.
"Your dad and I were going to show this to you when we thought you were ready" Leroy started explaining, "we didn't realise it was in this box. We're so sorry"
Rachel looked at him with watery eyes. She didn't know what to say.
"I understand you're upset. Don't worry, the woman on the tape, your mum, has not had contact with us for years, we don't know where she is." He tried reassuring her.
Rachel didn't understand. The woman on the tape was in the same town they live in. Rachel had had encounters with her. Do they not know she is in town? She thought to herself.
"H-her name" Rachel stuttered, "what's her name?"
Leroy hesitated. We should take this discussion downstairs where Hiram can join in. With that, Leroy guided Rachel downstairs with her still holding the note in one hand and her bracelet in the other.
"Hiram" Leroy started when he saw his long-time partner sitting on the couch, "I think it's time."
The first thing Hiram noticed was the bracelet, just like Leroy did.
"Oh no, she heard?" Hiram questioned.
Both Rachel and her dad nodded their heads in assurance. Leroy sat next to his partner on the couch as Rachel sat in the lounge chair opposite them.
"We were all so young, but your dad and I knew for sure that we wanted a little miracle, you, to bring up as our own." Leroy started to explain. "So we asked a close friend of ours at the time if she could be a surrogate for us, and after much thought, she agreed. We compensated her with money for the bills and such. The initial plan was that she would have nothing to do with you shortly after you were born. Then once you were finally ours, and didn't need your mum anymore, she left town to pursue her own dreams."
All this was too much for Rachel. All she wanted was for confirmation on who her mother was.
"Stop" she commanded, putting her hand up, "her name?"
Hiram and Leroy looked at each other hesitantly.
"S-Shelby" Hiram finally got out.
More tears streamed down Rachel's face.
"Shelby Corcoran" both Rachel and her dad said at the same time.
Both of Rachel's dads looked at each other confused, and then turned to Rachel who had her head in her hands.
"How did you know that?" Leroy questioned.
Rachel looked up and shook her head.
"She is here, in town. She is the coach of Vocal Adrenaline, New Direction's competition at regionals." Rachel started to explain. "Jesse's former coach"
Both of Rachel's dads sighed. It was worse than they thought. They shouldn't have underestimated their daughter. She was a smart kid.
Shelby was still in her office after her previous encounter with Jesse when she suddenly heard a knock on the door. She didn't hear the auditorium door open so she was slightly startled.
"What?" she questioned, annoyed, "If that's you Jesse, I'm busy!"
There was silence. Then suddenly a voice came from the other side of the door.
"M-Ms C-Corcoran, It's me, R-Rachel Berry"
Shelby dropped her pen and sat in silence. After a moment she got up and slowly opened the door to find Rachel, Leroy, and Hiram standing there. Shelby had a sheer look of terror on her face.
"Oh, it's you" Shelby said coldly, trying to put her tough act on.
Rachel could tell something was bothering the Vocal Adrenaline coach straight away. Leroy and Hiram recognised Shelby straight away; the hair, the posture, the distinct facial features and voice; all in which is evident in Rachel.
"You can drop the act, Shelbs" Leroy told Shelby, "she knows"
The tall brunette woman slumped back down in her office chair; tears welling up in her eyes.
"How did you two know I was in town?" She questioned Rachel's dads.
Before they had a chance to answer, Rachel cut in.
"I told them. I mean, after I heard this tape" she said pulling a tape out of her pocket and handing it to the woman in the chair. "I would recognise your voice anywhere after the other day"
Shelby smiled slightly, feeling flattered. She had left a distinct impression on this girl, before either of them knew anything. Rachel smiled slightly as Shelby took the tape.
"I remember this, you were only a few days old, and my time with you was becoming more limited by the day" Shelby started, staring at the tape, "I didn't want to leave you, but it was the right thing to do, we had all agreed"
Hiram and Leroy nodded at this statement, but the look of sorrow on their faces could not be mistaken. They knew that it caused Shelby a lot of pain to leave.
"I was young and naive back then, I convinced myself that I wouldn't even think about it anymore and I would pursue my dreams as a Broadway star. The truth is, I thought about you every day, wondering if a day went by where you thought of me too" Shelby finally looked up at Rachel, who had tears streaming down her face.
Rachel realised that she really wasn't much different to the woman sitting in front of her. Her initial thoughts of her were not without merit, but she had since learnt that there was so much more to her than met the eye. Rachel couldn't help but feel sorry for this woman. She didn't understand why though.
"You, this bracelet?" Rachel questioned looking down at her bracelet.
Shelby opened her desk draw and pulled out the same bracelet.
"I knew I saw you wearing it!" Rachel exclaimed.
Shelby nodded and put the bracelet on her wrist.
"Every day since the day I handed you over for good. I left one with your father's in the hopes of you one day finding it" She replied.