Hi All,

I know I haven't updated Keeping Alive in ages and it's entirely my fault. I started my first job around July so it kind of consumed most of my my time... and then there is that horrible writer's block that hit me :(

However, I thought that in meantime I can share some of short one shots or mini stories that I've written a very very long time ago. They are ALL placed in the universe that I created for Another One and Keeping Alive, so those two pieces should be read first to avoid some confusion.

The first piece is for Shelby's fans, but there's also a bit of cute young Jesse in it. I hope you will like it!

(I cannot promise that I will update KA very soon, but I am doing my best to do so!)

Best,

S.

1. Shelby

(Rachel's about to visit Jesse for the first time in Carmel)

Rachel's POV

Rachel dragged her feet up her driveway. Her wet clothes were clinging to her body and the chilly early autumn weather didn't add to improving her mood in any way. She stood on her tip toes to reach the key which her dads usually placed near the door frame. Her key was flushed along with her music sheets and lunch. One could think that the kids in her school had better things to do than tormenting her. Guess who's wrong. Again.

It would be okay, she told herself. Nothing will destroy her this week – her dads agreed to Jesse's plead about having Rachel over the weekend. She would go to Akron on Friday, that was in three days, where Jesse promised to show her around his new high school and, that was the best part, take her with him to his rehearsal. His coach, Ms Corcoran, has already agreed for her to come, especially after Jesse had told her stories about Rachel's impressive talents. And Rachel has heard from Jesse stories about Ms Corcoran and the girl couldn't wait until she met the woman which impressed her best friend so much.

Rachel entered the empty house with relief; her dads were at work so she had at least few hours to clean herself and pretend that everything's fine. Or so she thought when suddenly she heard the low murmur of the engine and saw through the window in her living room two cars parking outside. One belonged to her dad, Leroy, while the second was unknown to her. Rachel panicked – she didn't want her dad to see her in that state. Besides, she was supposed to be at school until two hours from now. Rachel looked around hastily and did the first thing that came to her mind – she jumped into the kitchen and hid herself behind the wall. Her hiding spot was close enough for Rachel to hear the nervous greetings when two figures entered the house. She knew there were two of them, she managed to see hazy reflection of the living room in the glass door of the cupboard. She begged Barbra not to let her dad come into the kitchen or focus too much on the cupboard. If she could see them, her small figure would be reflected in the glass as well.

The other person was a woman. She couldn't see her face, obviously, but she was tall and slim, with long straight hair. Her dad gestured for the woman to sit down on the couch but he remained standing himself.

"Shelby, thank you for coming at such a short notice," Leroy started and Rachel frowned involuntarily.

Wasn't Shelby Ms Corcoran's name? Jesse referred to the woman by that name when talking about her with Rachel. What was she doing in her house? Maybe it was some other Shelby?

"Did something happen?" the woman, Shelby, asked. She sounded concerned. "Is it about Rachel? Is she sick?"

Rachel moved her head and leaned in, hearing her name. She was certain she's never met the woman. And why would she be sick?

"No," Leroy cleared his throat. He did that when he was nervous. "I mean, no, she's completely fine. But it is about Rachel. Apparently, one of your students, Jesse St. James, is Rachel's friend and he asked us about having our pumpkin to Akron over the weekend, which includes taking her to his glee club rehearsal. And imagine my surprise when your name appeared during the conversation."

Oh, so that assured that "Shelby" was that Shelby. One mystery solved. Now how did Jesse's coach know her and her dad? Rachel tried to see as much as she could and silently cursed the obscure image in the reflection. She noticed how Shelby stood up abruptly and started pacing around the living room. She seemed nervous when she asked quietly the next question, as if afraid that someone would hear her. Unnecessarily, as there was no one apart from her dad. And her, but the woman couldn't know about her, right?

"Are you telling me that Jesse's friend Rachel is our Rachel?" she seemed stunned. "Oh, god."

Our Rachel? Rachel repeated in her head, feeling more and more uncomfortable. What exactly was going on?

"Shelby as much as I appreciate you recognising the seriousness of this situation, I'd like to remind you that Rachel is not your daughter as far as the law is concerned."

Oh. My. God.

Rachel had to cover her mouth not to let a terrified sigh escape her lips. Daughter? Whose daughter? Shelby's? She was... Oh. My. God. She moved as close to the end of the wall as it was possible without revealing her presence and listened to the people in the living room while her heart danced furiously in her chest.

"I already told Jesse that he could bring Rachel with him," Shelby – her mom! – told her dad. "You want me to change my mind?"

No. Yes. Rachel couldn't produce any coherent thought.

"No," Leroy replied. "Refusing Jesse's request without any good reason would be irresponsible and somewhat suspicious, don't you think. Besides, they're both horribly stubborn and Jesse's very much proud of being in that team and Rachel was dying to see him sing with his teammates, so sooner or later you two would meet. No, we, me and Hiram, were thinking more about simply giving you heads up and subtly reminding you about our contract."

Rachel curiosity after mentioning the contract was satisfied after Shelby's next words:

"I remember. No contact until she's eighteen," he voice was dry but devoid of any tone of rebellion about that rule.

"That's right. Otherwise we will be forced to start legal proceedings against you, which is the last thing we wish to do. You've made our dreams come true, we're eternally grateful for our daughter."

Rachel saw Shelby nod her head in silent acknowledgement. She picked up her purse from the couch.

"I will not tell her anything," she promised. "But I can't deny that I won't be happy to meet her. I've been waiting for that opportunity for years."

Rachel swallowed, feeling the sense of careful happiness spread through her body. Her mother was missing her. She wanted to get to know her. Only that stupid contract she'd signed didn't allow her to pursue her. Rachel could feel the rising hope in her heart.

"I understand that you and Rachel have much in common," she heard Leroy's words before Shelby left their house. "If it happens that you two get along well, we'd consider telling her sooner. If not... Anyway, you are legally obliged to wait until her eighteen birthday. Either way, she's too young and vulnerable to know for another few years. I want you to keep your contacts as impersonal as possible."

"I'll do what I can, Leroy. It was good to see you. Say hello to Hiram from me."

Rachel realised it was her cue to disappear. She waited for her dad and Shelby walk to the door and when she was sure that they were properly occupied with a small talk, she tiptoed to the backdoor and slipped outside into the backyard.

What now? When the first wave of astonishment left her head, Rachel suddenly was flooded by uncertainty. Should she tell her dads that she knew? What then? Rachel couldn't help but think about the possible outcome of that. Hiram and Leroy could ban her from seeing Shelby, because she wasn't ready to meet her biological mother. Her dad told so herself.

It was a shock to her, Rachel couldn't agree more with that. She felt sudden terror – despite Shelby's assurances about wanting to meet Rachel for years. What if the woman is nothing like she has imagined her mother to be? Or what if Rachel wouldn't be good enough for her? Was Rachel really ready to face that?

No.

But Jesse adored the woman. He would talk about her for hours if Rachel let him. She couldn't risk Shelby being sent away because of her and Jesse losing his favourite teacher. It was also the reason why she couldn't tell Jesse, either. She couldn't tell anybody. Suddenly she wasn't so eager for the Friday to come.

On Friday afternoon, Rachel clambered out of her dad's car reluctantly. She looked around the huge parking lot of the Carmel High School and tucked a strand of her hair nervously behind her ear. She grabbed her backpack and threw it untidily over her shoulder. Her dad, Hiram, closed the car and placed his big hand on her shoulder, pushing her lightly to start walking. She didn't say anything and stepped forward.

She kept quiet about Shelby for the past two days. The only person she's discussed it with was her therapist, Dr O'Connell, whom Rachel saw for the scheduled visit the next day. Rachel considered talking to Jesse and calling their weekend plans off but the doctor advised her to wait until she's actually met the woman before jumping into conclusions. That suggestion seemed reasonable enough for Rachel so she decided to meet her mother.

That word still sounded weird to her.

"Is something wrong, pumpkin?" Hiram asked glancing at her.

Rachel shook her head, hoping that her smile seemed reassuring enough.

"Rach!"

There he was. Jesse was standing in front of the main door of his school. The building was almost empty as it was some time after the classes finished. He waved at her and smiled with excitement. Hiram smiled at Jesse but Rachel could see how forced the smile was. She instantly understood that she wasn't the only one nervous there, although her dad couldn't know the real reasons behind her uneasiness.

In meantime, they approached Jesse. He pried her backpack away from her shoulders and carried it himself, while pointing to some more interesting places around his school. Rachel tried to listen to him, but, in all honesty, she failed miserably. Finally, they entered the auditorium and for a moment she forgot all about her problematic issue.

The place was huge. And very, very professionally-looking. There was a large stage at the end of two lanes which ran through the audience area. At the back she noticed a row of spotlights waiting to be lighted up. Roughly in the middle of the audience chairs there was a small table behind which sat a woman.

Her mother, Rachel gulped, feeling her concerns flood back into her head.

"Rachel, pumpkin," her dad spoke up. "Go with Jesse, I'd like to have a quick word with Ms Corcoran. Adult talks and so on."

Rachel nodded but couldn't stop gaping at Shelby when she passed by her. She turned her head to see how her dad and mom disappear behind the door to the auditorium.

"Rach?" she heard Jesse ask with concern. "Are you okay?"

She was pretty. And looked awfully lot like Rachel; they shared the same ungrateful nose shape and sharp facial lines. And hair. How could anyone look at them and not ask about the clear resemblance?

"Rachel? What's wrong?" this time Jesse waved his hand in front of her eyes and she blinked several times. "Why are you staring at Shelby like you've seen a ghost?"

Because I have, Rachel thought.

"It's nothing," she smiled widely, making Jesse wince at the sudden change of mood. "So, it was your coach, right?"

He nodded.

"Is she nice?" she blurted out before she could stop herself. "As a coach, I mean."

Jesse grimaced.

"Generally, yes. Demanding and stern but never unnecessarily rude. She loves picking on the smallest errors and pointing them to us, though. She's more critical than me or you when it comes to performing, you know," Jesse smirked and Rachel grimaced. "Why are you asking, anyway?"

"No reason," she threw and looked around the auditorium again. "I already love this place."

Jesse grinned and grabbed her hand to lead her down the lane and on the stage. A group of teenagers showed up in the auditorium shortly after she put her foot on the desks. Rachel guessed they must've been Jesse's teammates.

"Everybody," Jesse called. "This is Rach."

They responded with a group murmured greeting. Rachel smiled slightly.

"This Rachel?" one of the girls, tall and dark haired, asked.

Jesse grinned proudly at her surprised expression. He's been telling them about her?

"Yep, the one and only. Rach, this is Kate, Andrea, Giselle, Chris and Dave," he counted the names and one by one while each person gave her a nod or a smile. "The rest should be here soon. Oh, Shelby's back."

Rachel's head snapped in the direction of Jesse's look. The woman was indeed back in the auditorium and was approaching the stage. Behind her, the rest of the team entered through the door.

"Jesse," Shelby called. "Take the rest and go change. Be back in five."

Jesse nodded and left without another word, his colleagues in tow. Rachel stiffened. Looking for some distraction, she grabbed her backpack that Jesse left at her feet. When she felt ready, she looked up to see her mom standing directly beside her. The woman smiled warmly.

"Hi, you must be Rachel," she offered her hand which Rachel took without hesitation.

She heard her daddy telling once that one could learn a lot from a person's handshake. She took her time to evaluate Shelby's hand in her own. It was warm and soft. That was a good sign, right?

"I'm Shelby Corcoran," her mom continued. "Jesse's been telling us awfully lot about you."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Ms Corcoran," Rachel replied politely.

"You can call me Shelby, if you want to," Shelby offered led her up the audience and showed to the chair by the table. "All the kids here do."

She sounded nice, too, Rachel thought. She had this soft ring to her voice which made Rachel relax instantly. She sat down, with her palms under her tights, waving her legs. Shelby took the seat beside her. She opened some file and grabbed a small remote. She pushed a button and suddenly the stage was brightened up by several spotlights.

Rachel couldn't stop the amazed sigh escape her lips again. She noticed Shelby smile at her reaction.

"Your dad told me you sing?" she inquired.

Rachel nodded her head.

"I will be on Broadway someday," she declared confidently. "I will be Fanny, Evita and Maria."

If Shelby was surprised by that announcement, she managed to hide it perfectly under the smile.

"You seem certain," she noticed.

Rachel threw her the first direct, almost daring, look when she nodded her head and said:

"I've never been more sure about anything in my life. Jesse tells me that if I believe in it, it will happen for sure."

"You two are more similar that I've thought," she murmured and Rachel let that statement slip without her comment. She's heard it enough over years.

Vocal Adrenaline started appearing on the stage one by one so Shelby turned her attention to her team, after apologising to Rachel.

"It's okay," the girl assured the woman. She pulled out her English textbook. "I have my homework."

She turned to her book, pretending to read, while the music began and Shelby's entire attention was devoted to the group below them. Rachel was somewhat relieved; she could observe the woman silently without interruption in her natural environment. Jesse was right – she was good but highly critical. From time to time, she would interrupt or break the performance to bring their attention to some small details or error. Rachel noticed how she tended to pick on Jesse the most but it had its simple explanation – he was the star, he was expected to do everything perfectly.

She wondered if Shelby would be equally critical to their mother-daughter relationship if such was ever to blossom. Would she observe Rachel and comment on her behaviour or acts and try to improve her? What if she would turn out to be below her expectations? Would she decide to throw her away from her life again?

She gripped her book and tried to concentrate on it instead of tormenting herself with black scenarios. Remembering Dr. O'Connell's words, she decided to wait for the day to end before making up her mind.

Besides, she was supposed to spend all weekend with Jesse – her homework had to be done while he was still busy otherwise she would fail the assignment. Jesse normally took up too much of her time during their ordinary meetings. While visiting him she was sure not to be left alone for longer than few seconds.

Involuntarily, Rachel's thoughts ran back to Shelby. She was just yelling at somebody next to Jesse.

She seemed nice to Rachel before the rehearsal has begun, Rachel thought. But what if she was only pretending or trying to be nicer that she really was because Rachel was her daughter? Rachel longed to ask her so many question; why did she do it? Why did she decide to become their dads' surrogate? Why did she want to meet her again?

Rachel, so deep in her thoughts, didn't notice when Shelby ordered the first break. Only after the music stopped, she noticed that it's been almost two hours since she's entered the auditorium. Rachel giggled seeing Jesse laying flat on the stage. He winked at her but otherwise he seemed too exhausted to concentrate on her.

"What are you rehearsing for, anyway?" Rachel asked when Shelby began noting down some comments. She had a sheet of paper with a large table and a list of names with some short note next to each.

"Invitationals," Shelby answered, clearly not bothered by the interruption. "It's not an official part of the show choir circuit but quite important when it comes to establishing the forthcoming prospects for Sectionals. I want Vocal Adrenaline to set the expectation bar as high as possible."

Rachel nodded her head. She's heard the terms from Jesse before; she could ask him about it later on.

"So I take the rehearsals take up a lot of time," Rachel guessed.

"Yes, I want my team to win the National Championship this year. Last time we came in the second place. I think with Jesse we have a real shot at the victory."

Shelby couldn't hide the gleam of pride from her eyes when she looked at Rachel's best friend and suddenly Rachel felt a pang of sadness. Will she ever look at her like that?

"I'm sure you will win," Rachel told her seriously. "Jesse's an amazing singer. He's hard-working and determined. I've never met someone like him, apart from myself."

Her mother nodded her head before looking at Rachel with a smile.

"Your dad told me that you are a smart girl. He was right."

Rachel shrugged.

"People tell me that I'm more mature than other girls my age. Not everybody likes it, or me in general, but I don't care. I used to care, though, when I was younger but Jesse made me realise that they are not worth the bother. I can't be held back by other's petty problems if I want to achieve my dreams."

"True," was all that Shelby told her before turning back to face the stage and barked to them through the microphone to get ready.

Jesse hopped to his feet and looked up to where Rachel sat and called:

"Rach, my mom's going to be here in ten minutes. I'll call you on my way home."

Rachel jumped in her seat. Of course, it was almost the time that Jesse's mom was to pick her up since the rehearsal was likely to last till late evening. She collected her things hurriedly.

"Jesse's mother is picking you up?" Shelby sounded actually surprised.

"Mhm. I'll be staying with them for the weekend."

"I've never met her," Shelby admitted for some reason.

"She's nice," Rachel told her. "A little bit too distracted, if you'd ask me, but she seems to like me. And it's kind of nice to talk to her when I can't bring something up with my dads. Like a mum, you know."

Rachel almost covered her mouth, suddenly pale on her face when Shelby winced. She blurted the words without thinking and after she's said them out loud she regretted that comment almost instantly. Rachel and her freaking babbling mouth. She nodded at the woman and began to run.

"Rachel?" Shelby's voice stopped her in mid-step. The girl turned to look at the woman again. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Rachel assured the woman with the best showface she could muster – one of Jesse's tricks. "It's just I'm babbling when I'm nervous and I don't want you to think I'm more crazy than I already am, because Jesse really likes you and I want you to like me too because I heard so much about how good teacher you are and..."

She was interrupted by Shelby's laugh. Rachel gulped, feeling even more stupid than before.

"It's okay, honey. I'm glad to hear that."

"I better be going," she said to Shelby, trying to sound normal and not freak out. Again. "I don't want Mrs St. James to wait. I'm sorry," she threw before making her hasty exit.

"Rachel? Honey, is that you?" Jesse's mum approached her small figure by the school.

Rachel nodded, blowing her nose into a Kleenex. She wiped the tears.

"You're crying?" the woman was alarmed. "What happened?"

"I hit my head," Rachel lied pretending to massage her hurting head. "Same old klutz, Rachel Berry."

Mrs St. James accepted the explanation without second thought. She showed Rachel to the car and started telling her something about her friend's daughter and her latest birthday party that she was forced to attend and how the crowds of people made the birthday girl nauseous. Rachel pretended to listen and nodded her head absent-mindedly knowing that Jesse's mum wouldn't be angry at her not really paying attention. As Rachel told Shelby earlier – the woman tended to be distracted.

The meeting with her mum left Rachel sure of one thing; she didn't want to cross Shelby out of her life yet. She wanted her in her life even if not as her mum. She would try to get to know her better and hopefully, someday, they would get there.