Hello people, I have been convinced to turn this into a multichap story. Anyways, a quick explanation: Starting with this chapter, this fic is no longer a prequel for my other story. This one is now an alternate universe, with this chapter serving as the divergence point between the two. Now, on to the story, and more notes afterwards.
December 17th, 1994
8:46 PM
"Come on, come on, pick up," Shelby hissed into the phone, dialing Hiram and Leroy Berry's number for what felt like the millionth time in twenty minutes. She swore as she was met with a busy line once again, slamming the phone down on the hook as she paced back and forth across her small apartment in agitation. What do I do, what do I do…
She froze again as yet another contraction ripped through her, gritting her teeth against the pain as she leaned against the wall. She glanced at the clock on the wall, wiping her eyes furiously as the horrendous feeling that her insides were being ripped out abated. Nine minutes since the last one. She had been hoping that these were Braxton-Hicks contractions, but they'd been going on for an hour now. She picked up the phone again, dialing one more time only to be met once again with a busy line.
God damn it, why weren't they picking up?!
The young woman was close to panicking, everything frazzled by the physical pain of the baby preparing to exit her womb and the emotional pain that came from knowing that soon, soon, she was going to have to give her baby away.
Not to mention it was too early, the baby was due in January, he wasn't supposed to come yet, what if something was wrong? She couldn't lose this baby, and it wasn't even about the money. This child meant everything to her, even if she wasn't going to get to keep him. What if he ended up disabled or disfigured or something worse because he was premature?
A choked sob rose up in Shelby's chest, as she tried to think clearly enough to figure out what to do. She couldn't do this, she needed… She fought down another swell of panic, knowing that if it got to be too much she'd make her asthma flare up again, and that wouldn't be good for anybody involved, least of all the baby.
She picked up the phone again, reaching out to dial the memorized phone number. Then she paused, knowing who she needed right now. She bit her lip, hand shaking as she tried to decide what to do. Finally she pressed a series of buttons, trying to calm her breathing as she waited for someone, anyone, to pick up.
"Hello?"
Shelby almost cried out in relief as she finally heard a human voice. Not only that, the one she actually needed right now. "Mom?"
"Shelby?" Sarah Corcoran's voice filtered through the landline. "Hi baby, how are you doing? You haven't called in a few days."
"Mom…" Shelby's voice broke as another tear ran down her cheek.
The change in her usually clear voice alerted her mother that something was wrong. "Shelby? Are you okay over there?"
Shelby shook her head frantically, even though she knew the woman at the other end of the line wouldn't be able to see it. No, she wasn't okay, she wasn't anywhere near okay. "Mom, I –" Her entire body froze up again as another, more intense contraction arrived, drawing a moan of pain.
"Shelby, what's wrong?" Sarah's sudden alarm could be heard through the handset. "Talk to me!"
She received another choked sob in response as Shelby recovered. "Mom, I need you."
"Okay, okay, what's happening, are you hurt? Is there anyone there with you?"
"No."
"What's going on?"
"I – I can't tell you," Shelby cried brokenly. She couldn't, not when she was going to lose her baby, their grandchild, as soon as she had him.
Sarah sighed in frustration. She knew something was up with her daughter, she hadn't seen Shelby in months, only getting by with the occasional phone call. She was this close to going over to Columbus to check on her, but something always got in the way.
"Mom, it hurts so bad," Shelby whimpered, still shaking slightly. She collapsed onto the sofa, dragging the phone set with her as she curled up into a ball.
She heard the rustle of movement over the phone. "I want you to go to a hospital, okay?"
"O-okay," Shelby said shakily, knowing that she needed to go.
"Can you get there yourself or do you need an ambulance?"
Shelby took a deep breath, instinctively calming down as she listened to her mom's voice. "I – I can get there myself." She'd just hail a cab, there were loads downstairs.
"Okay. Here's what's going to happen. We're going to hang up, and you're going to get yourself over to the hospital. I'm going to go get your dad, and we will meet you there."
"Mom –"
"Don't argue," Sarah ordered, and Shelby could hear the worry in her voice. "Just do what I say."
"Okay," Shelby replied automatically.
"Good. I will be there in a couple of hours, okay? Just get to the hospital. I love you."
"I love you too."
..
"It looks like your baby is in a real hurry to get here," Shelby's attending physician, Dr. Langston, noted. "He's very active. But the tocolytics we administered should stop labor, or at least delay it."
After a quick cab ride with the cabbie looking at her over his shoulder every few minutes in fear that she was about to give birth in his cab, Shelby found herself at Columbus' Doctor's Hospital. Reception had quickly admitted her into the maternity ward. Things happened so quickly, but Shelby had managed to absorb the most important part: this was not a drill, she really was in labor, and her… the baby was coming very, very soon.
Shelby lay back in the hospital bed as the doctor looked over her charts, glancing towards the door every few minutes. Finally the door opened, but to her disappointment it wasn't who she wanted to see. "Where were you? I called you a million times," she said as her two employers came into the room.
Hiram winced. "Shelby, we're so sorry, Leroy was on an important business call and they just got ahold of us ten minutes ago." Shelby nodded, not meeting the men's eyes.
"Is there anything we can do?" Leroy asked, looking around uncertainly at the pristine hospital room.
Shelby shook her head, "No, I –" She was cut off again by a contraction, and the Berrys looked at each other in alarm, not knowing what to do.
"Don't worry, it's fine," Dr. Langston assured them.
"What's wrong? Why is she in labor?" Leroy asked. "I thought she was due in January."
"Yes, your baby appears to be heading for a premature delivery," the doctor answered. "We've already set Shelby on some medication to try to stop the labor. But just in case, we've also administered a round of glucocorticoids to speed up lung development. It's possible that the baby will be arriving sometime tomorrow, or if the medication is successful the pregnancy could proceed normally."
Shelby listened to the doctor inwardly panicking. She wasn't ready for this, it was too soon, she needed time to think. The doctor looked at her. "I'm going to give you another checkup now." She turned to the Berrys. "If you don't mind…"
"No, of course," Hiram said quickly, all but shoving his husband out of the room. "You go ahead and do… whatever it is." Leroy nodded fervently, closing the door behind them.
Shelby relaxed marginally, before tensing up again as the doctor began her checkup. "Try to relax," Dr. Langston said soothingly. "It's going to be okay. Premature babies arrive all the time. Your little one's going to be fine, and he's got parents who are already excited for him to be here."
That last part caused Shelby's eyes to fill with tears, instantly reminded that she wasn't going to get to keep the baby she'd fallen in love with, the one she'd literally spent every single moment with for the last eight months. She looked up as the doctor rubbed her arm comfortingly. "All done. I'll come back again to check on you. Do you want me to send the Berrys in?"
Shelby shook her head. "No."
"Is there anyone else I can call for you? Your mom, a friend?" Dr. Langston asked. Shelby shook her head again. Right now she just wanted to be alone.
In another world, a young woman's phone call would have been made five minutes too early. A businessman would have picked up, no further phone numbers were dialed, and everything important turned out differently.
11:28 PM
Sarah waited impatiently as her husband Tom parked the car in the park lot of Doctor's Hospital, before bundling up against the cold December weather for the trek to the main building. "You're sure you don't know what's going on?" Tom asked as they strode up to the receptionist.
"I told you, I don't know, she wouldn't tell me anything these past few months," Sarah said in frustration, before turning to the nurse at the desk. "Hi, our daughter was admitted here a few hours ago, Shelby Corcoran. Do you know where she is?"
"Just a moment," the nurse said, not looking up as she finished what she was doing before searching the admission files behind her. "Corcoran… Fifth floor, room 5201."
"Thank you," Sarah said, quickly turning towards the elevators with Tom hot on her heels. He pressed the button, and they waited in silence for the elevator to open.
"Sarah…"
"What?"
Tom motioned to the hospital directory posted on the wall next to the elevator doors. "Fifth floor is the maternity ward."
Sarah's stomach dropped as she read the sign. Oh god, Shelby, what happened?
The ride to the fifth floor was shared with two orderlies and an elderly patient in a wheelchair. Both Corcorans were silent as the waited for the right floor, agitation only growing the longer they waited. Once they got off the elevator they rushed to the designated room. Then they hesitated as they stood at the door, unsure of what they were going to find. Finally, Tom cleared his throat, before tapping on the door three times. They took a breath, then opened the door.
"Oh, Shelby," Sarah breathed, as the two parents took in the sight of their clearly heavily pregnant daughter. For a moment, time stopped and the three of them froze, Shelby in the bed, Sarah and Tom just inside the doorway.
"Mom, Daddy…"
The moment shattered, and Sarah was instantly at her daughter's bedside, Tom right behind her, both of them holding their daughter as she sobbed out tears of relief, fear, pain, and everything in between. "Shh, it's going to be okay," Sarah whispered soothingly, as she rocked Shelby back and forth. "You're going to be fine."
The small family sat there, unmindful of the time as Shelby started to calm down in her parents' embrace. Finally, she took a deep hiccupping breath, wiping her eyes as she looked away.
"Shelly…" Tom started. "What happened? Who…?"
Shelby sniffed. "I… I did something stupid."
Sarah held back the snarky inner voice that was saying something like, yeah, you did. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you. We would have helped you." She was incredibly hurt that her daughter hadn't told her about this life-changing event. She was going to be a grandmother. She pushed the thought aside for later. "Is it James'?" she asked, making the only logical assumption possible, not wanting to think that her daughter had gotten pregnant from a one-night stand, or worse.
"No, no. You – you don't understand," Shelby said unhappily. Soon, the whole story was spilling out. "I answered an ad in the newspaper, there was a couple looking for a surrogate, so they could have a child. So I answered it, and we made a deal." She looked pleadingly at her shocked parents. "What they were offering… it would have been enough to get me to New York."
"Shelby, this isn't a joke," Sarah said, getting upset. "This is a baby, your baby. You were just going to make a baby and give it up? It doesn't work that way, it can't."
"I know!" Shelby burst out. "I thought – I thought it would be easy, I didn't even want a baby, but…" She shook her head, looking away tearfully. "It doesn't matter, I signed a contract, he's going with them, and I won't be able to see him until he's eighteen."
A tear started to slip down her face again, and Tom wiped it away. "Hey, hey, calm down." He looked helplessly at his wife, who looked ready to burst into tears as well. "Where are they now? Maybe we can talk to them, get you out of that contract."
Shelby shook her head quickly. "I asked them to go home because I knew you were coming, otherwise I would have let them stay. The doctor gave me something to delay the labor until tomorrow. They're not going to let up, that's why they got me to sign in the first place." She hung her head. "I already asked."
Tom stood up. "Then we can get Donny to look at the contract," he said, referring to one of his friends who was a lawyer. "Do you have a copy?"
"I have one at home, but –"
"Good, I'll have him look at it first thing tomorrow morning."
"No!" Shelby said forcefully. "This is why I didn't want you to know, I can't let you help me! I got into this mess, I have to see it through. Your friend charges a fortune for legal advice, we can't afford it, and Josh is starting at OSU next year. And I can't…" Her voice shook. "I don't know if I can take care of him."
"Do you want to?" Sarah asked, ignoring the truth of Shelby's words. They were comfortable enough but not particularly well-off, if it came down to a custody battle they wouldn't be able to see it through. But this… this was important. This was family.
Shelby was quiet for a long time. "More than anything."
"Then we'll try," Tom said determinedly.
..
Two hours later Shelby tried to relax in the hospital bed, listening to the soft beeping of the monitors. One attached to her, one monitoring the baby in her stomach, who was still a bit restless and seemed to be wriggling around in her stomach. She looked over at her father, slumped in the armchair in the corner, then to her mother, who was sitting in the chair at the bedside, also asleep. Had she made a mistake in calling them? She shook her head tiredly, not knowing what to do.
"Can I?" Shelby looked up at her mother, who was looking at her longingly. Apparently she wasn't as asleep as Shelby had thought. Shelby nodded, used to the request by now, and her mother gently placed her hand on her stomach. Right on cue the baby moved, kicking lightly against Sarah's hand. Shelby saw her mom's eyes fill with tears, and was suddenly filled with guilt that she was effectively taking the woman's grandson away.
"When did you make your deal?" Sarah asked, breaking the silence after a few reverent seconds.
"December last year," Shelby answered quietly. "We tried the IVF five times before it worked in April."
"Five times?"
Shelby nodded. "There was something wrong with their… genetic material, the doctor said it was making it hard to succeed."
Sarah nodded, before tilting her head curiously. "April? But then you should be due in January."
"He's premature," Shelby said softly. "I'm only thirty-four weeks in."
"It's a boy?"
Shelby nodded again. "Yeah."
Sarah was quiet for a second. "Sweetie," she began. "Are you sure… are you sure this isn't James' baby? You two were awfully close when he came home last April."
Shelby shook her head immediately. That was insane. This wasn't James' baby. It couldn't be. "No… the last IVF session was a week before James came back. I would have been pregnant already." She glanced at her mother. "And who says we slept together when he was there?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Please." She looked at Shelby. "You're sure though? I mean, you were safe?"
Shelby blushed slightly, remembering that week eight months ago. "No… no… I mean, we did at first, but it broke, and I decided we didn't need it, because I was already supposed to be…" She trailed off.
"But what if you weren't pregnant? What if it failed again, and you and James…"
"No…" Shelby shook her head. That couldn't be right. She wouldn't have… No, of course it wasn't right. Because if it were, then that would mean she'd not only be giving up her baby, she'd be giving up James' baby too. And she couldn't do that. So it couldn't be possible.
Right?
A similar speculative conversation was had one day later in the other world. But by then it was too late.
6:34 AM
Shelby opened her eyes groggily, disoriented for a second before she adjusted. Something didn't feel right. She quickly put her left hand on her protruding stomach, reassuring herself that the baby was okay. She felt a tiny flutter against her hand as he kicked, drawing a small smile from her.
Suddenly a sharp pain ripped through her stomach and she let out a loud cry. The monitors suddenly spiked, beeping loudly as her heart rate and breathing increased.
"Oh my god," Sarah gasped as she woke up to Shelby clutching at her stomach. "Tom, Tom, get a doctor!" Her husband was immediately awake and racing out the door even as she spoke. "Shelby, what's wrong?"
"I don't know," Shelby gasped, eyes screwing shut at the pain. "It's different from the contractions, I don't –" She moaned as the pain spiked again.
Finally Dr. Langston rushed in with a nurse, Tom following close behind. "What happened?" the doctor asked, immediately coming up to Shelby.
"I don't know," Shelby answered painfully as the doctor checked her over, touching her stomach as she felt the baby. "I just woke up and something felt wrong, then it started to hurt." She tensed again as another tremor rocked through her.
Dr. Langston turned to the nurse. "Get a portable ultrasound in here."
"What's wrong?" Shelby ground out desperately, needing to know what was happening. Was there something wrong with the baby?
"I don't know yet," Dr. Langston replied tersely. "The baby's in some kind of fetal distress, his heart rate is fluctuating. I need to take a look to see if I can find out what's wrong." She looked up at Shelby. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she told Sarah and Tom.
"We'll just be outside, sweetie," Sarah said tremulously, but Shelby grabbed her hand, pleading with her silently to stay. She couldn't do this by herself, not anymore. Sarah looked at the doctor, who gave a small nod.
"One of you can stay."
Tom nodded quickly, pressing a kiss to his daughter's forehead. "You're gonna be fine." He touched his wife's arm gently before exiting the room, passing the nurse who was wheeling an ultrasound machine into the room. Dr. Langston did an examination as the machine was set up, before squirting some of the cold gel onto Shelby's stomach.
"Hold still, okay? I'll be as quick as possible," she told Shelby, who nodded and kept as still as possible, keeping her tight grip on her mom's hand as they waited for the doctor's verdict. She took a deep breath, so incredibly scared for her baby.
"I think it's a placental abruption," Dr. Langston finally said grimly. "We're going to have to do a Caesarian section, the baby seems to be struggling and his heartbeat is irregular."
Shelby's blood ran cold at the statement. Her baby was in danger. She barely felt Sarah running a thumb over hand comfortingly as she tried to take in the situation. She glanced up at her mom as the doctor turned away to request an operating room. "M-mom…"
"Shh, it's gonna be fine," Sarah said soothingly, trying to reassure her daughter as much as she possibly could. "You're both going to be great, okay?"
Dr. Langston came back a moment later, glancing at the fetal monitor worriedly. "I've got an OR, we need to do it now, your baby's having a hard time." She held out a clipboard with an authorization form on it. "I need you to sign off on the procedure."
Shelby nodded, Sarah squeezing Shelby's right hand as she signed the form with her left. "Good," Dr. Langston said. "Let's go."
..
7:01 AM
Events passed quickly, and the next thing Shelby knew, she was in the OR, doped up on regional anesthetics as the doctor worked to get her baby out. Thankfully her mom was still beside her, all dressed up in an operating gown as she held Shelby's hand. Shelby was still incredibly tense, but having her here made it better. "Try to relax," Sarah whispered.
"You try to relax, they're cutting a person out of my stomach down there," Shelby hissed.
"Okay, I got him," the doctor breathed, Shelby feeling a slight pressure on her stomach.
Suddenly the cry of a new life filled the room, and Shelby felt a sudden sense of relief. Her baby was okay. He was alive. He was here, finally, after all those months. She finally relaxed a little, the drugs getting to her as her head swam from exhaustion.
Sarah looked in awe at the baby the doctor pulled up. "He's got your lungs," she quipped to her daughter, tears filling her eyes. Shelby nodded hazily as the doctor went back to work, nurses rushed the tiny creature off to clean him up.
This was it. Her baby was gone, off to live his life with the Berrys. They'd take care of him, the way Shelby wouldn't be able to. They had everything going for them, they could give her child a safe home, stability, love, everything Shelby had grown up with. And as painful as it was to let him go, she knew she had to.
She knew she wouldn't get to hold him, Hiram and Leroy were probably already outside waiting. She brought her hand up to her eyes, brushing away the tears. I wish…
Through the bustling of the nurses wiping the baby down, checking his weight, Shelby saw him. He was so small, mottled red with a fine layer of dark hair on his head, bawling his lungs out. Her mom was right, he had her voice, she thought, smiling.
Then, right as she stared at the tiny baby, he turned his head, falling silent for a moment as he opened his eyes enough to meet hers.
Time froze as mother and son stared into each other's eyes. Shelby couldn't breathe as she gazed at her baby's chocolate brown eyes.
James' eyes.
She let out a choked sob, and time unfroze, the baby wailed again, and Shelby felt another dull pressure as Dr. Langston closed her up. She started breathing faster, and Sarah looked at her. "Shelby, you need to calm down, you'll see him soon enough –"
Shelby shook her head frantically. "No, I'm not going to get to see him, they're going to take him already," she said agitatedly. "Mom, mom, you were right…"
"About what?"
"About James, Mom!" Shelby's mind raced as she fought to stay awake. "That's Jamie's baby, I need to talk with the Berrys." She needed to talk to them now, if they left with her baby she'd never be able to find them. "Mom, please…"
"I'll find them for you," Sarah promised, smoothing her daughter's hair back. "I promise, okay? Just calm down, you're not done yet."
"I have to talk to them." It was the only thing she knew right now, she knew that someone had to go talk to Hiram and Leroy as soon as possible. Nothing else was important.
Sarah looked at her, conflicted, before nodding. "Okay." She squeezed her daughter's hand. "Okay."
..
7:10 AM
Tom paced back and forth across the waiting room in agitation, waiting for any news about his daughter… and his grandson. He couldn't believe he was about to be a grandfather. He sat down in one of the chairs, trying to sit still. He looked up sharply as the elevator doors opened, and two men stepped out, quickly heading to Room 5210 – Shelby's room.
"Excuse me," Tom called. "Are you Hiram and Leroy Berry?"
The two men regarded him curiously. "Yes. I don't think we've met before, though."
"I'm Tom Corcoran," he introduced himself. "I'm Shelby Corcoran's father." He watched as the two men glanced at each other.
"I assume you know of our… working relationship," one of the men said warily.
"That's right, Mr…"
"Hiram Berry," the man filled in, nodding at Tom. "This is my husband, Leroy." The other man nodded as well. "I'm actually surprised, I was under the impression that Shelby hadn't told you."
Tom met their gazes squarely. "She only told me and my wife last night, she called us in a panic, and to our surprise we came here and found her eight months along." He paused. "I was also informed of a certain contract between the two of you. And that she wanted out of it."
"That contract was drawn up for our protection, and that of the child," Leroy spoke up. "We decided, together with Shelby, that it would be less confusing for all of us if she distanced herself."
Hiram nodded. "We wanted a child, and she wants to go to New York. Having a child wouldn't help with that."
Tom opened his mouth to speak, before spotting Shelby's doctor coming down the hallway in an operating gown. His focus instantly snapped to her. "What's going on? Are they okay?"
Dr. Langston nodded, looking at the two Berrys. "Mr. and Mr. Berry, Shelby had a placental abruption about an hour ago. The baby went into fetal distress and we had to perform a C-section."
"What?" Leroy asked in surprise. "So – so the baby –"
"The baby's fine," the doctor assured them. "However, since he's premature the baby is being checked over, and he might have to spend some time in the NICU depending on his condition."
"What about my daughter?" Tom asked urgently. "Is she okay?"
"Yes, she's just fine, your wife is with her. She's being taken to recovery. She'll be on bed rest for a few days," the doctor answered. Tom nodded gratefully, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Can we see the child?" Hiram asked.
"Not yet, I'm sorry," Dr. Langston said. "I really should be getting back, I'll come back as soon as I have news." She left the three men in the waiting room.
Tom took a deep breath, before seeing Sarah walking towards them. "Sarah, the doctor was just here, he told us what happened. Where's Shelby?"
"She's back in her room, she's out for now," Sarah told him. "Who are these? Are they –"
"Yes, these are the Berrys," Tom nodded. "Hiram and Leroy."
Sarah gave Tom a significant look before nodding. "We need to talk."
In the other reality, a young woman remained trapped in a hospital room, and with nobody to help her to do what she needed, her plea went unheard. Two men, afraid to lose what they thought was theirs, hedged their bets and took the opportunity – and the child.
8:00 AM
"You can't be serious," Hiram said, gaping at the two Corcorans as Shelby's mother, Sarah, explained what she thought had happened eight months ago. Leroy sat silent beside him, also processing the information. His thoughts whirled as he considered what he'd just discovered.
"Look, we don't know for sure," Sarah hedged. "I just know what happened in April and what my daughter told me last night. But I also know that Shelby saw the baby when he was born, and she is convinced that… well."
"We need a paternity test," Leroy said, finally breaking his silence. Hiram touched his hand, sensing that his husband was getting upset. "I –"
"Mr. and Mrs. Corcoran, if it's all right with you, I think my husband and I need to talk about this," Hiram said firmly, glancing at Leroy. This was obviously a very delicate situation, and his husband had a bit of a temper.
"Of course," Sarah said, nodding as she and her own husband stood. "I'm sorry," she added sympathetically before she left the little room they had been occupying.
"Leroy," Hiram began.
"Hiram, we need that paternity test," Leroy cut in. "The whole point of this was that we could have our own kid. Our blood. Otherwise we would have just tried for adoption."
"You know that wouldn't have worked either," Hiram sighed tiredly. Yes, they had wanted their own child, but it was a last resort. This was Ohio and they were a gay couple. The courts would never award them custody of any child. No parent in the state would either, not when there were dozens of other more conventional couples looking to adopt.
"So you still want to push through?" Leroy prodded.
Hiram shrugged helplessly. "Yes, maybe. I don't know."
"I don't know if I can raise somebody else's child," his husband admitted. "And we both know she wants to keep him." Hiram nodded. They weren't under any illusions about it. No matter how she tried to hide it they knew Shelby was falling in love with the baby, that was why they'd drawn up the contract in the first place, to make sure she wouldn't back out. Leroy sighed. "So now what?"
Hiram was quiet, unsure of what to do. He looked at his husband, sensing something else going on. And he thought he might know. "Do you really want this?"
"What?"
"The baby. Assuming he was ours. Do you really want this?" Hiram was the one who had actually brought up the idea of a baby, and it had taken a while to convince Leroy. But once he was on board, Hiram had never suspected that he might not be completely comfortable.
Until now.
"Of course," Leroy answered quickly, a little too quickly. Hiram studied him.
"You're not sure, are you?"
"I know you want a baby," the other man said, grabbing his hand. "And I want you to be happy."
"But you, just you, not taking me into account. What do you want?" Hiram insisted. They had talked about this at length before they had even started looking for surrogates. But if Leroy wasn't sure…
"I… I'm not sure," Leroy admitted. "The two of us, we're good now. And I guess a baby would make us a real family. But what if it doesn't? What if we're not really parent material? I mean, yes, we took all those parenting classes, but a real baby…"
"We could do it," Hiram said uncertainly, his husband's lack of confidence affecting his own.
"I know we could, we could do it together," Leroy said. "We'd make it work. But if it wasn't ours… I don't know if I could love anyone's kid aside from yours. I know it sounds bad, but that's how I feel."
Hiram nodded slowly, appreciating his husband's honesty. "Are you angry with her?"
"I don't know," Leroy sighed. "Yes, a little, I suppose. I should be, hell, we've been paying for this all along."
"But it's like this made us think if we really are ready to be parents," Hiram surmised.
"Yeah."
Hiram knew he wanted a baby, but as the pregnancy had progressed and everything had gotten more real, he himself had been feeling a bit – a lot – of apprehension. Yes, children were great, and they wanted one of their own. But they had also seen frazzled parents out with their children, and reality started to sink in as they wondered how they would deal with the realities of actually raising a real, live person. But by then it had been too late, the IVF had already succeeded – or so they'd thought – and their kid was on the way.
Now, though… "Is it wrong that I see this as an exit sign?" he asked Leroy.
"I don't know."
Once again, almost the same conversation was had in another world, many years later. And once again, it came too late.
11:55 AM
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Shelby opened her eyes groggily, confused by the annoying beeping sound. She reached out to shut her alarm, only to feel a resistance, and she looked at her hand to see a tube stuck to it. She shifted a little and – oh god that hurt.
Wait. Wait.
Her hand flew to her stomach, panicking when she wasn't met with the familiar bulge until she remembered. Sudden pain, a flurry of activity, numbness, and then her baby. Her baby with James' eyes. She started panicking again as she remembered that she needed to talk to the Berrys. What if they had already left? What if they took her baby while she was stuck here?
She felt a soft pressure on her hand. "Shelby, calm down, I'm right here," her mother's familiar voice washed over her.
Her mom. "Mom, the Berrys, I need to talk to them –"
"I know, sweetie, I know." Sarah's hand continued to rub Shelby's, trying to get her to relax. "I've already talked to them, they said they'll come talk to you soon, okay?"
A huge wave of relief rolled over Shelby at the words. She needed to explain, they needed to know. "The baby?"
"He's in the NICU," Sarah answered, and Shelby felt another spike of worry. "But the doctors say he'll be fine."
"Actually, we're just keeping him there for observation." Dr. Langston's voice caused the two women to look up. "He's doing very well, we thought his lungs might be slightly underdeveloped, as is usually the case with preemies, but he appears to have a very strong respiratory system if his wailing is anything to judge by." Shelby's lips quirked up in a small smile. "I just need to check on the stitches."
Right. C-section. She glanced up at her mom. "What did the Berrys say? Did they say anything about –"
"They haven't said anything much yet," Sarah soothed. "Don't worry, they said they'd be by."
"Looks good here," Dr. Langston pronounced. "You're on bed rest for the next four days to recover, but unless there are further complications you can leave after that."
"Thank you, doctor," Shelby answered, and the doctor left the room.
"Do you need anything, sweetie?" Sarah asked her.
My baby, I need my baby. She shook her head though. "Where's Daddy?"
"He went home for Josh," her mother answered. "He stayed over at a friend's house. And your dad wanted to go see Donny about the contract. He stopped by your apartment to get it." Shelby nodded, just as someone knocked on the door. "Come in."
The door opened, and the two Berry men came inside. Shelby mustered up a weak smile, slightly relieved that the Berrys hadn't run off with the baby, and slightly nervous about the coming conversation. "Hi."
Hiram gave her a small smile. "Hey, Shelby, how are you doing?"
"I've been better, I guess." Shelby glanced at Leroy, who stayed silent. "I guess we need to talk."
The two nodded, and Sarah started to stand up. "I'll let you talk." Shelby watched her go, knowing she should do this herself.
"Your mom told us what happened in April," Hiram started. "And we've called Dr. Thomas, she says that theoretically, it is possible that the baby was in fact fathered by… your friend. Especially considering the difficulty we had with the IVF."
"I'm sorry," Shelby said quietly. "I didn't think… I didn't mean for this to happen."
Hiram just nodded. "So here's what we've talked about so far. We want to get a paternity test. If the child is ours, then we're going with the contract as planned, and we'll pay you in full." Shelby nodded quietly, having expected it.
Leroy continued. "But if he's not, we decided that you should keep him. But we won't be paying you. We've paid for everything until this point, and we'll call it even for your trouble the first five months. Is that acceptable?"
Shelby bit her lip before nodding again. She knew the baby was James'. She was sure of it. "Yes it is."
"Good. We've already put in a request with Dr. Thomas downstairs, she says she'll get back to us."
"Okay." Just then another knock sounded on the door, and her mother poked her head in. "Shelby, there's a Dr. Thomas here, she wants to speak to the three of you."
"Speak of the devil," Hiram said, smiling slightly as the doctor came in. "Hello, Doctor, I didn't think you'd be getting back to us so quickly."
"It's a slow day. Hello, Shelby," the woman smiled, before addressing the three of them. "I've got your paternity test results."
"So fast?" Leroy asked. "I thought these things took a while."
"The DNA test isn't complete yet, it will be available tomorrow morning. However, we just performed an ABO blood group typing, which is faster. It's inconclusive a lot of the time, but in some cases it's indisputable. For your case, it's sure," Dr. Thomas explained, handing Leroy a sheet of paper with the test results. "The baby's blood type is AB, same as Shelby's. That's only possible if the father's blood type is type A, B, or AB as well." She looked guardedly at the two men. "Both of you are type O, it's recessive. Any child you had with Shelby would turn out with either type A or B. Never AB."
"So you're saying this isn't our child," Hiram said, clarifying.
"It's not," Leroy said flatly, handing him the test results.
"I'm sorry," Dr. Thomas said. "It seems that the fifth IVF treatment was also unsuccessful."
Hiram nodded. "Thank you doctor."
"Thank you," Shelby said, in a daze. It was sure. Her baby was James'. She had a baby with James.
"I'll send up the DNA test results tomorrow," Dr. Thomas said with a parting nod, giving Shelby a small smile as she left. The room was instantly silent, the three of them processing the news.
"So now what?" Shelby ventured, still scared to believe what was happening, still frightened to break the moment. Because if this was true…
Hiram and Leroy exchanged a meaningful look. "It means," Hiram said, "that it looks like you're going to keep your baby."
..
12:30 PM
Sarah stood up when she saw the two Berry men leave the room. One of them, Hiram, glanced at her, giving her a halfhearted smile as she passed them on the way into her daughter's room. She immediately laid eyes on Shelby, who was wiping at her eyes. "Shelby, what happened?" She needed to know if she was going to be murdering those two men anytime soon.
"Mom… I'm keeping him," Shelby answered, looking like she still didn't believe what was happening.
Sarah let out a short laugh. "You are? What about –"
"They did a paternity test. I was right. You were right, about the baby being James'," Shelby said. Then she fell silent. "How am I supposed to tell him?"
"Shelby…"
"How am I supposed to take care of a baby?" she continued, starting to panic again. "I'm not ready, I wasn't supposed to keep him, how –"
"Hey, hey, you need to calm down and breathe. Come on, breathe, sweetie," Sarah urged. With all this stress and panicking Shelby was doing she was liable to trigger an asthma attack, and nobody wanted that. "Come on, like me." She started breathing deeply, and soon Shelby had calmed down. "Now, I know you're not ready, but you'll be fine. I'll be right here to help you figure it out, okay?"
"O-okay."
"You're going to be a great mom, I promise." Sarah chuckled. "I won't stand for anything less. You have a great role model after all." Shelby let out a weak laugh at that, before wincing. "You okay?"
"Yeah. It still hurts."
Sarah nodded sympathetically as they heard a knock on the door. Dr. Langston came in, smiling. "How's the new mom?"
"As well as can be expected, I guess," Shelby said ruefully. Sarah smiled, noting that Shelby seemed more like herself.
"Good, good," the doctor nodded. "Now, your baby's in the NICU, but he looks healthy, and he's a good size for his age. So we're getting ready to move him to the nursery. Would you like to see him?"
Shelby's eyes lit up. "Yes please." Sarah's smile widened at the excitement in her voice. Just minutes ago Shelby had been worried about keeping the baby, but now… Sarah could see the absolute love Shelby had for the little one, even now. Her grandson, Sarah thought, the fact finally settling in. She was a grandmother.
"Okay, then, I'll be back in a few minutes." The doctor left again.
..
Shelby fidgeted impatiently as she waited for the doctor to come back, ignoring the pain from her stitches for the moment. She was about to see her baby. She glared at her mother as she chuckled. "Don't laugh."
"You're very excited," the older woman smiled.
"Aren't you?" Shelby shot back, gratified when Sarah nodded. This was her baby now, not Hiram's or Leroy's. Her baby with James. She had fallen in love with the little boy over the course of eight months, and she was finally about to meet him.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the door opened again. Dr. Langston came in, pushing a small cart with a glass enclosure, and Shelby froze, entranced by the small blue-wrapped bundle that lay inside. She and her mother watched in silence as the doctor opened the case, carefully scooping up the baby and walking towards Shelby. "You know how to hold a baby?"
Shelby nodded silently as she held her arms out, her breath catching as Dr. Langston gently laid the bundle in her arms before stepping back. Shelby gazed down, mesmerized by the small pink face that peeked up at her from the blankets.
He was perfect.
And he was hers.
Suddenly all the doubts and fears she'd had flew out the window as her entire world shifted to center around this tiny little creature nestled in her arms. Everything in the past year was suddenly worth it, just to have him here with her now.
I love you so much.
"Oh…" Shelby was shaken out of her trance by her mother's soft breath. "Shelby, he's beautiful."
"Yes he is," Shelby breathed, as she let her gaze rove over his small chin, his cheeks, his small nose that she suspected would resemble hers. She marveled at the pink lips, the delicate eyelashes, the soft downy hair peeking out from under the tiny bonnet he was wearing. He was so perfect, and right then and there Shelby promised him and herself that she was going to do right by him.
The two women didn't know how long they spent gazing at the baby before he shifted, his eyes fluttering open to reveal that warm chocolate brown Shelby had glimpsed in the delivery room.
"Oh my," Sarah said, gently reaching out to stroke his cheek with a finger. "James is definitely your daddy, isn't he?"
Shelby's face broke out into a watery smile as she let out a soft laugh, trying not to jostle the infant. "Yes he is."
"Does he have a name yet?"
Shelby's eyes flicked up to her mother before being inexorably drawn back to the tiny human being. She considered the question. She'd looked over Hiram's and Leroy's baby name books, and had heard them discussing what to name the baby. She studied his adorable little face again, smiling at the unfocused brown eyes.
"Ryan. Ryan Walker Corcoran."
While I originally intended the previous chapter of this story to be a oneshot, several people have asked for a continuation of this story. As you can see, if you didn't read my note at the top, this is now an AU of my fic Something. My reasoning is because in my original story I already established that Shelby and James didn't have contact in between 1994 and 2010, so I will be continuing this fic as an exploration of what would have happened if other things had happened. For readers of my other fic, don't worry, I'm working on it too, I'll have something up soon.
James wasn't in this one, but he'll be here in the future. Apologies for any medical errors, my field is genetics with minimal knowledge of how babies are born, so creative license was used. Tell me what you think, and if you've got anything you want to see in future chapters, let me know. See you next time!
Edit: It's been pointed out that babies usually have blue eyes when they come out, and I do know that, haha. I just thought that, since I've established that trait as Ryan's most glaring resemblance to James, I'd use it here. And there are babies born with dark eyes, though admittedly not of Caucasian descent. So from a scientific standpoint, yeah, that bit might be erroneous. Again, creative license. Maybe we can just say they have a genetic or epigenetic mutation that upregulates the OCA2 gene through an iris tissue-specific promoter (theoretically it may be possible, though no instances have been reported), or something similar that causes increased melanin production. Not trying to show off, but I do enjoy my field of study :) If I receive more comments that this detail bugs people though, I'd be happy to change it :)
