Chapter 2: Dinner At Breadstix

It had been ten days since Shelby said she would call Rachel. She had tried multiple times, truthfully, she had. Her hand had hovered over that home phone for hours at a time, and when she was at work, her cell was never out of her sight, her mind arguing with itself until she finally just gave up on the idea. She gave up .Time.

Rachel was starting to lose hope that her mother even cared, and was feeling sort of distant from everybody. She threw herself into her music, focusing mainly on Barbra Streisand songs. Normally, her favorite movie would have cheered her up, but she had a feeling that "Funny Girl" wasn't going to do her much good. Not this time.

It was about six o'clock when Shelby finally realized how childish she was being about the whole situation. It had to be worse for Rachel, and she realized she needed to just be the adult and call her daughter. She picked up the house phone, and dialed the number as fast as she could without screwing it up, knowing that if she didn't do it quickly, she would just back out again.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

"Hello?"

Her daughter's beautiful, teenage voice rang through the reciever, bringing tears to Shelby's eyes, which ticked her off. She was stronger than this, why was she acting so weak over this situation? She knew the answer to the question, she just didn't want to answer it.

"Hi, Rachel." Shelby's voice seemed raspy. She pulled her mouth away from the speaker, cleared her throat, and put the phone back up to her ear.

"Oh...hi." Rachel didn't have much to say. After all, SHELBY had called HER.

"So...about that dinner..." Shelby continued. "Are you free tomorrow night?"

Rachel didn't hesitate. "Yeah, I'm free." she scolded herself for answering so quickly, without any hesitation whatsoever. Shelby probably thought she was desperate.

"Breadstix?" Shelby offered. "My treat.

"Alright..." Rachel smiled, but then realized that Shelby couldn't see her expression through the phone.

"Great. We have a lot of catching up to do..."

"Yeah, I guess we do."

There was a small break before Shelby decided to wrap the very slow conversation up. "I'll pick you up at five?"

Rachel hesitated this time, before replying. "You think you could just...meet me there?" she asked, biting her lip. "My dads will be home tomorrow around four, and...I haven't told them that I've contacted you yet..."

Shelby's face fell slightly, but she tried not to show her slight disappointment in her voice. She didn't really blame Rachel for not wanting to tell her dads yet. "Yeah, that'll be fine. See you then."

"Bye, Ms. Corcoran."

But neither one hung up. Rachel coughed.

"Do you, um...would you rather me call you Shelby?"

"You can call me whatever you're comfortable with calling me, Rachel." Shelby said kindly. "Wether that be Shelby, or Mom, or ..." she winced, feeling that she probably shouldn't have thrown the offer of "mom" out there. She didn't want Rachel to feel to pressured, or overwhelmed...

"Ok." Rachel said simply. "Bye, Mom."

This time Rachel did hang up, and Shelby did too, but slowly. It filled her heart with so much joy that Rachel had called her "mom". Though it might have only been because she felt the need to, it sounded like she was sincere when she had said it. Pride swelled up in the heart of Shelby Kimberly Corcoran-the woman who had had a "heart of stone" since the day she gave up her daughter. That was the last time she had allowed herself to cry until now, because giving up her daughter was her biggest regret in life. It was also her main weakness.

She just couldn't figure out what to wear. Normally, a sweater and her normal pleated skirt would've sufficed, but what if Shelby decided to wear something dressier? With all of her options sprawled out on the bed in front of her, and Madonna blaring in the background, she groaned out loud, finally putting two and two together and realizing that now that she had taken everything she owned out of her closet, she was going to have to put it all back. And whenever Rachel Berry put everything back in it's place, she had this need to just reorganize it all, which normally took hours.

Eventually, she just decided on a simply dark red long sleeved shirt, black skirt, black ballet flats, and a red and black plaid head band. She straightened her hair, even though it wasn't necessary, out of something to do to kill time. She still hadn't asked one of her dads for a ride, and it was going on 4:30. She was supposed to meet Shelby at five. Deciding that there was nothing else she could possibly do, (unless that involved re-positioning her headband for the millionth time), she stood in front of her mirror and put on her gold star necklace, fastening it carefully.

She left her room, finding her dad (Hiram) at the piano, playing a small scale, cuing for Rachel to warm up with him. Rachel faked a smile, though on the inside she was so nervous she could hardly walk right.

"Me me me me me me me..." Rachel sang up the scale.

"You you you you you you you..." Hiram chimed after her, giving her a grin. "What can I do for you, sweetheart?" he asked kindly.

"Do you think you could give me a ride to Breadstix?" she asked. "I'm meeting with some friends there tonight..."

It wasn't a lie-she hated lying to her fathers. Shelby could be considered her friend, right? Maybe "friend" wasn't quite...suitable, but...

"Sure, Rach. Just let me grab the keys." he stood up and kissed Rachel on her forehead.

"Thanks, Daddy." Ever since she could remember, Hiram was "daddy" and LeRoy was "Dad". That way, whenever she called for "dad", both of them wouldn't turn around to answer her.

The ride to the restaraunt was uneventful, and Rachel spent it staring out the window. It was an okay night outside, weather wise. The breeze was nice, and the rain had stopped, finally. When they pulled in to the parking lot of Breadstix, it was 4:55. She was considering standing at the door for five minutes, so it didn't seem like she didn't have anything better to do besides sit there anxiously and wait for her mommy to show up. Even if it was true. She got out of the car and thanked her father.

"I'll call you," Rachel promised. "Or I'll get a ride from someone..."

She didn't know if Shelby wanted to drop her off or not. It would probably depend on how the evening went.

The five minutes went by slowly. Too slowly for Rachel's liking. At 4:59, Shelby drove her Range Rover in to the parking lot of the restaraunt, spying Rachel standing outside.

"Hey," Shelby smiled, holding the door open for Rachel so she could step inside the building. "You weren't waiting for me for a long time, were you?"

"Nope." Rachel gave her a small smile back, and nodding a thank you. It felt good to be talking to her birthmother. Something just felt...right about it all. Even though she was fairly jittery, (which was a rarity. She could perform on a stage, but she couldn't have a dinner with her mother without her heart pounding rapidly in her chest), she somehow felt comfortable with the whole situation. She admired Shelby's work immensely, and one part of her felt like she was sitting in front of a legend. The second part of her was just happy to finally be meeting her mom, even if they weren't saying a whole lot to each other.

But throughout the night they started opening up to one another. Rachel told Shelby about her dreams, her goals, and Shelby listened with open ears, grinning at how animated Rachel got when they really struck up a conversation.

"...and my dream school is NYADA." Rachel concluded. "Sorry, if I was talking too much...people say I do that...like, constantly."

Shelby had to laugh. "It's alright. I like listening to you talk. Besides, we have a lot of catching up to do, don't we?"

"I suppose we do... 16 years of catching up to do..."

"Where to begin?" Shelby wondered aloud, taking another bite of her ceasar salad.

"Well...My name is Rachel Barbra Berry." Rachel stated. Shelby kept her smile.

"My name is Shelby Kimberly Corcoran." Shelby said. "...and sometimes "Mom"." she added as an afterthought.

Rachel thought about this for a minute. "Kimberly. I like it."

"I'm glad you do." There was a small pause in between, which Shelby filled with, "So, what do you and your Glee friends like to do? You know, besides sing?"

When Rachel didn't answer right away, Shelby thought about asking a different question, but Rachel decided to answer, cutting Shelby's new question off.

"Um...a lot of the Glee kids don't exactly like me." she answered truthfully.

Shelby's protective side instantly took over. "What reason do they have for that?" she asked, trying to be calm about it. But who could NOT love her baby?!

"They think i'm selfish, and dramatic, and annoying, and they're mad because I get all of the solos, and-" she stopped herself because she was starting to get that upset feeling she got whenever she got slushied, or rejected for being in Glee Club. It was a feeling she was used to, no doubt. But that didn't mean she liked it.

"Oh, come on, Rachel. Why would people think that about you?" Shelby asked kindly. She hadn't been this kind to anyone in...a very long time. She was starting to take a liking to being nice to other people, which worried her, a bit.

"...maybe because it's all true," Rachel muttered, shrugging. "I don't know why." she said aloud. "But, anyways...I'm more of a leader than a follower anyways. Though, I do follow all of Barbra Streisand's fan pages, if that counts."

Shelby smiled, glad that the mood had lightened a little bit. "You're not alone there, honey." she said, finishing her salad and taking a drink of water. There was a question that had been a burning fire inside of her ever since she first sat down with Rachel. No, that couldn't be right. It had been burning inside of her ever since she saw Rachel sing at sectionals. She would fit in so much better at Carmel High. It was a place where some of that talent she had could be put to use, instead of just wasted, as it so often was. She would be able to sing solos and not feel guilty, and she wouldn't have to wash red dye number 3 out of her hair every day after lunch. She would make friends with people who were more like her-people who understood her better. Rachel belonged at Carmel, where Shelby could teach her everything that she would need to know to become the star that she knew she was. But Shelby didn't want to ask. She couldn't ask-not tonight. Not when they were just getting to know each other. It would be too straight forward. Still, the flame-filled question was starting to burn in the back of Shelby's throat.

But instead of embracing it, she shoved the question away for now. She would ask when she thought it would seem right, and now just simply wasn't the time for big decisions like that. She glanced down at her watch, and sighed. It was going on eight, and it was a school night. She didn't know how much Rachel was truly like her mother, but Shelby took at least 25 minutes in the shower, an hour to do her nightly face wash and skin care mask, and she still had a load of laundry to do, otherwise she'd be wearing jeans to school the next day, which was both unacceptable in her eyes, and in the school administrators'.

"Well, honey, I wish would could make this dinner last longer, but we should probably be going our seperate ways for the night." Shelby admitted. Rachel tried to hide the look of disappointment on her face, but Shelby still caught a glimpse of sadness in her daughter's eyes. Shelby couldn't help but wonder if her poker face was working about as well as Rachel's was. She looked down at her hands, so as to hide her upset nature a little bit better.

"Oh. Alright then...mom?"

Shelby's heart melted everytime Rachel said "mom". Especially with that tone of voice.

"Yes, Rachel?"

"Do...would you mind...dropping me off at home? I told daddy I was with some friends tonight and that someone would give me a ride home..."

Shelby smiled. "Of course i'll take you home, Rachel. And you don't have to be nervous and stutterry everytime you ask me to do something for you," she pointed out as she put her jacket on.

Rachel looked up. "Sorry," her face seemed flushed. "I didn't realize I was stuttering...or stumbling, or...whatever..."

Shelby couldn't help but giggle. "You're doing it again. I'm you mom, baby, I'm not going to hurt you."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Rachel said, shaking her head and putting her jacket on.

"What are you worried about?" her mother asked.

'That you won't like me...' Rachel thought to herself. Aloud, she replied nothing, pretending that she didn't hear Shelby's question, and hoping that Shelby bought into it. Luckily, she didn't ask again.

They paid and left, getting into Shelby's Range Rover. Shelby turned on the car, then paused, turning towards Rachel.

"I don't know where you live..." Shelby admitted.

"Oh, just pull out of here to the right, then keep going straight until you come to the stop sign. Then go left, then left again, then right, and then you're there." she prayed that her instructions were clear enough.

Shelby tried to process all of that in her brain, making sure she knew what she was doing, before pulling out of the parking lot. Rachel watched out of the window for a little while, just staring off in to space. Eager to hear Rachel sing again, and wanting to end the strange silence between them, Shelby turned on the radio, in the hopes that a good song would come on.

Luckily for her, the Wicked CD she had in earlier was still there. "For Good" started playing through the speakers, and Shelby caught a sly grin appearing on Rachel's face. Rachel sang along quietly, practically at a hum.

"...like a comet pulled from orbit, as it passes the a stream that meets a bolder, halfway through the wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But, because I knew you, I have been changed for good..."

Shelby decided that now would be a better time than ever to show her daughter that she wasn't always the bad guy. That right now, she wasn't the vocal coach from their competetion at Regionals. She was just...her mother. Her mother that loved showtunes and Broadway almost as much as she did.

"It well may be," Shelby sang. Rachel spun her head in shock, and smiled, watching her mother sing. Shelby casted Rachel a sideways glance, and smiled back. She was singing with a full voice, a hint to Rachel that she didn't have to hold back-not in this car, and not around her mom. "...that we will never meet again, in this lifetime. So let me say before we part...so much of me, is made from what i've learned from you. You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart, and now whatever way our stories end...I know you have rewritten mine, by being my friend. Like a ship blown from it's mooring, by a wind off the sea. Like a seed dropped by a skybird, in a distant wood, who can say if I've been changed for the better? But, because I knew you, I have been changed for good."

"...and just to clear the air," Rachel carried on. "I ask forgiveness, for the things I've done, you blame me for."

Shelby had pulled in to Rachel's driveway, yet they continued to sing, desperately wanting to finish the song.

"But then I guess we know there's blame to share, and none of it seems to matter any more..."

"Oh, like a ship blown from it's mooring, by a wind off the sea. Like a sead dropped by a bird in the wood,"

"Who can say if I've been changed for the better?"

"I do believe I have been changed for the better, and, because I knew you..."

"Because I knew you,"

"Beause I knew you. I have been changed...for good."

As the song ended, Shelby noticed the tears forming in Rachel's eyes. She wanted to hug her, but...would Rachel find that too weird? Shelby didn't want to make her daughter feel uncomfortable...because then she probably wouldn't want to go anywhere with her ever again. But Shelby didn't have to make a move to hug Rachel, or even contemplate it for a second more, because Rachel had already flung herself at her mother, hugging her tightly, and taking an instant liking to her warm, and loving nature.

Not really knowing what to do, Shelby stroked Rachel's long brown hair. "I love you, Rachel."

For a minute, Rachel didn't know how to respond. Her first instinct was to say that she loved her mother too, but did she, already? She was comfortable around her. She was friends with her. She liked her. But did she already love her?

When Rachel didn't answer, Shelby shook her head. "You don't have to say that you love me too. Odds are you don't. I just want you to know that no matter what, I've always loved you. I never stopped thinking about you, and I've been waiting for this moment since the moment I knew I was pregnant with you. I never gave up on you, Rachel."

Rachel had to let go now, before Shelby saw her crying. She got out of the car and waved as Shelby started to pull out of the before she could really leave, Rachel stopped her, running up to the driver's side window. Shelby rolled it down, and before she could even ask, Rachel kissed her mother's cheek.

"I love you, mom." she said, not even taking a second glance as she waltzed in to the house. Shelby froze, taking in what had just happened. As the porch light flickered off five minutes later, Shelby came to the conclusion that Rachel had actually meant it. That she really did love her mom-which made Shelby's evening.

Rachel made her way in to the house, passing by her dads in the kitchen.

"Which one of your friends drives a Range Rover?!" Hiram asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Um, Kurt does." she thought quickly. "His dad was working on it in the shop and wanted to make sure it was working right, so he told Kurt to take it tonight." It seemed believeable, didn't it? Apparently to Hiram and LeRoy, it did.

"Oh, all right then..." LeRoy said, watching his daughter, (who had a jubilant expression on her face), get a glass of water to take to her room.

"Good night!" Rachel said, kissing each of them on the cheek before walking to her bedroom.

"...night..." Hiram's response was rather delayed, as he tried to process what he thought had just happened.

As soon as they were positive that Rachel's bedroom door was shut, LeRoy turned his head towards Hiram. "Do you think that was Shelby's car?"

"No one else was in the car with them..." Hiram pointed out. "And it looked like Shelby in the front seat."

"...Well how would we know, anyways? We haven't seen her in fifteen years..."

"I doubt she's changed very much since then, though. and in any case, it wasn't Kurt that was driving." Hiram continued.

LeRoy gave a shrug. "We trusted Shelby with Rachel for nine months before she was born, and we have no reason not to trust her now." he said. "As long as Rachel's happy, and safe, I don't think it'll be too much of a problem."

"Maybe not," Hiram said. "But what will the Glee Club think when they see Rachel being nice and carrying on conversation with the coach of their competition for Regionals?"