Shelby Corcoran had made a life for her in the six years since she had been forced to let go of the one thing she truly loved, her daughter. She had carried the small baby in her stomach for nine and a half months, singing and talking to the small bump inside of her. She fell in love with the soft kicks and moving of the baby inside her, and when she found out she was having a little girl at nineteen weeks, her heart melted.

Almost twenty year old Shelby left her small home in Ohio to make it on Broadway, she had adored the stage since she was a toddler. Her parents, although had supported Shelby's acting, singing and dancing lessons while she was a child, had told her that taking her talent and making something of it, wouldn't work out. They had more then enough money to help her out, get her an apartment, pay for schooling, but they refused to let their money go to going to a school for a pipe dream. They wanted her to be something practical, like a doctor like her father.

Shelby set out to New York with twenty dollars in her bank account and a bag of change in her purse. She lived with a family friend for a couple months while auditioning for plays and musicals when an large ad in the New York Times caught her eye. A gay couple was looking for someone to carry a baby for them, a surrogate to give them a child. She immediately contacted the men and the two men were overjoyed with how fast someone signed up to help them. They tried, three times before one egg was able to be fertilized and a baby started to grow inside Shelby.

Rachel was born at 12:34 am on a late night in December, very close to Christmas, the best present anyone could ask for, but unlike most babies, she didn't come out screaming and crying, not a single sound escaped her lips and doctors rushed around, ignoring all of Shelby's cries and questions.

At 12:45 am, the small bundle Shelby never got to lay eyes on passed. The poor babies lungs struggled and the doctors told her that there was fluid in her lungs. Shelby had seen the Berry men once after the small babies death, they walked down the hallway as fast as they could with a pile of blankets in their arms. Shelby never saw them after that, they fell off the face of the earth with her baby's lifeless body.

Shelby worked hard with the money she was given to make it in NYC. She had an upscale apartment looking over the city and in the last six years, had been in several movies, Broadway shows and had done tones of interviews around the world. She used her money wisely and made a great fortune for herself- and her angel. She had worried for years what became of the Berry men and after spending a day on her TV while on break, she learned via the news that the two Berry's had been arrested for forgury, and at the time, Shelby never blinked an eye.

Shelby walked around Times Square with her hands in her pocket. Her fingers rubbed against the worn piece of print in her pocket, a ultrasound picture she was able to snag from the Berry men in November before Rachel was born. Tomorrow would have been her daughters sixth birthday, she would be in school, learning and growing, but her daughter was yanked from her life in a split second.

She didn't do much for her birthday, one small cupcake and a card added to the box of other cards and things. Shelby had two pictures of her daughter, the ultrasound picture and another a doctor had taken when Rachel was seconds old. The ultrasound picture stayed in her pocket of her jacket while the other one sat taped to the top of the black box in her closet.

While walking, deep in her own thoughts, Shelby didn't watch where she was going and was bumped into by a small force, knocking against her knees with a grunt. Shelby stumbled back slightly, but didn't fall, but was instantly alarmed when she heard a soft cry come from below her.

In the dark night, she could barely make out the small figure of a tiny child on the ground and Shelby gasped, leaning down to help the sniffling child off the ground. The child looked no older than four, her tiny features were young and innocent. Her lips were blue and she was only dressed in a dirty looking white dress and a coat, it was -23 degrees outside and the child didn't even have proper winter clothing on. What kind of parent does this? Shelby asked herself as the little girl looked around panicky.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" She asked the small child, leaning down to look at her and she unconsciously rubbed her hands down her arms, the coat was so thin and the girl was freezing.

The girl didn't reply, but a street light turned on above them and Shelby got a better look at the girl. She was dirty, and her long brown hair was greasy and was in need of a couple of washes. Her nose was running and there was tears running down her red cheeks from the cold. Shelby's breath caught in her throat when her eyes met the big brown ones on the little girl, she was almost looking at a mirror.

The little girl froze, looking up at Shelby with wide eyes. The little girl frowned at the familiarity this woman had, but she didn't understand, she had no family, not since her daddies went to jail, the tall, creeping looking guys said that her daddies were bad people.

"Where are you parents?" Shelby asked, looking around the almost empty square and searched for someone who could be the owner of the small girl, but there was no one around, no one blinked an eye at the young woman with the child.

"Got no parents, my daddys gone to jail and I got no mommy, daddies said I wasn't good enough to have a mommy." The small voice whispered and it immediately frightened the small woman.

"Im sorry, sweetie, but everyone deserves parents, do you have a foster family?" Shelby wanted to get the girl into her apartment and out of the cold, but she just needed to know a couple things before she went crazy. Looking at this little girl made her think she was looking at old photo albums at her parents home in Ohio.

"They sleeping, I don't like their house, they are looking for my mommy, but they said its really hard, because shes hard to find." The child mumbled out, shifting from foot to foot in the cold.

"Are you going to tell on me?" She pouted. Shelby shook her head and held her hand out, feeling crazy for not wanting to bring her into her home right away.

"Whats your name, honey?" Shelby asked, realizing she didnt even know the poor kids name. She explained to the girl that she was not going to take her to the police or bring her back to her foster parents house. Shelbys thought were everywhere, what if this was her baby? She looked so much alike, but Shelby saw that in every child that she saw that had brown hair.

"Rachel, Rachel Barbra." The small voice said with confidence and suddenly, the air was lost from Shelbys chest, that name, that name haunted her every night. She dreamed of the child she wanted to name Rachel. After her babies death, those two words made her heart hurt and her brain malfunction.

"Oh.. What, what a beautiful name." Shelby tried to force a smile out as she caught her breath.