Prologue

On April 21, 1992, a beautiful baby girl was born. She was delivered by a single woman who was not ready to have a child but had herself go through with it anyway. As the baby girl was being delivered, the woman couldn't help but feel one thing- guilt- as she saw the two gay men standing next to her hospital bed, holding her hands comfortingly and telling her that she could do it. They were patiently waiting to see their little girl for the first time, unaware of the knowledge that the woman was keeping from him.

After her thirty-two week checkup, the sonogram showed that the baby had a malformation in the retina. The doctor told her that there was a high probability of her child contracting blindness at birth, but the woman disregarded it. After all, it was impossible to think that a child she was carrying could be anything less than perfect. She took prenatal vitamins, ate healthy foods, and didn't drink a sip of alcohol in those long nine months. So instead of telling Rick and Matthew, the men that she was carrying the baby for, that something might be wrong with the baby, she kept the information to herself. She was scared. She didn't want the couple to freak out and suddenly not want the baby, and she needed the money that they were paying her. She was only twenty-one, and she had college to pay off, rents to pay, and food to buy. This baby was providing her a life for herself, and she providing a miracle to a couple.

Many tortuous hours later, the baby finally came out, and the woman could not have been more relieved. The girl had pink cheeks and a tuft of brown hair. She looked healthy. The woman suddenly felt foolish for thinking that there would be something wrong with the baby.

The fathers crooned and smiled as they saw their daughter for the first time. Once she baby was whisked away to get checked up on, the woman sat nervously in the bed. What if something did go wrong? She would hate to see the look of shock on the couple's faces if they learned that their daughter was… malformed. The poor girl would already have a hard life with two gay, multi-race dads, and it would be horrible if she had another thing that stood her apart from everyone else.

The doctor came back in, and the woman looked at him hopefully. He, however, was not smiling.

"You two might want to sit down," he nodded to Rick and Matthew. "I am afraid I do not have the best news."

"What? Is our little girl okay?" Rick asked hurriedly.

"We will do whatever it takes to make her better," Matthew added. The two of them still hadn't decided on a name for the girl, so they were forced to use pronouns when speaking about their child.

"She will be okay," the doctor said. "But I do have bad news. Your daughter is legally blind."

The two men stared at each other in shock. "How?" Matthew sputtered. "She has been perfectly healthy with Shelby…"

"So you did not know? It has been recorded since the thirty-two week check-up," the doctor said. "I just looked over the files and it is clear that the baby is blind. You can see the malformation in the recent sonograms, which mean that her eyes are completely clouded. I have seen other children blind from birth, and I am afraid that your child is blind. I am assuming that the mother must know?" he looked at the woman.

"No… You didn't tell us about that," Rick said, looking at the woman on the hospital bed. He looked at her hopefully, praying to God that she was just as clueless about the situation as he and Matthew were.

"I am sorry," the young woman bit her lip. "I know it was wrong of me, but I couldn't tell you guys. I thought that it would all be okay, and she wouldn't be blind, since the doctors said that there was a chance that she would be alright. I didn't want to burden you guys… I feel terrible for keeping this from you."

"How dare you!" Matthew exploded. "We have paid you thirty-thousand dollars to give us a baby, and you lied to us about what was going on! You told us that she was perfectly healthy! I can't believe this."

"Please don't sue me," the woman whispered. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

Before the men could argue further, the little baby that they were all yelling about entered the room.

"Would you like to hold her?" a nurse asked, breaking the tension in the room.

The men nodded and held the baby close. Either way, that baby was theirs. The fact that she was blind from birth was heartbreaking, but it would not be the end of the world. She was destined to be their daughter, and they would accept her regardless of her disability. In fact, it only made them love her more. She was unique, much like them.

"We never want to speak to you again," Rick said quietly to the woman. "We are grateful that you gave us this child, but what you did is unspeakable. Please stay away from our daughter forever. She has a tough life ahead of her, and we want to make sure that we can give her the best life possible."

"I understand," the woman nodded. "I do hope you can forgive me one day though."

Matthew scoffed. "Don't expect anything more from us."

Later on that day, the dads decided on the name Rachel Berry. It was a regal name, one that would fit their surely-to-be successful girl. As they gazed at Rachel all day on April 21, they were mesmerized with her big brown, glassy eyes and fair complexion. Though she would never know it, she was beautiful. It pained her fathers to know that this girl would have much of her world taken away from her, like what she looked like, when her fathers wanted to give her the world. But this girl would be strong. She would be talented and happy, and she would live a wonderful life.

And that was the day that a star was born.

A/N: I would like to start off this author's note by saying thank you for choosing this story to read! Once this plot came into my head, I knew I had to do it. I already have a few chapters written, so I hope that you like it! Also, I am not a doctor, so I do not know much about blindness from birth, but I did look up facts and information before I wrote this story. I do not want an inaccurate story, so hopefully this information is correct.

By the way, the chapters coming are much longer! This is just a prologue :)