a/n: with thanks for all the reviews.
Rachel is silent on the drive home from Nannys. Shelby, still in a buoyant mood after having been introduced as Rachel's mother, tries to stimulate conversation, but after receiving cursory one word answers, gives up and Rachel is left to her own thoughts.
She pulls up in front of the Berry home, noticing the lights on in the downstairs, Leroy and Hiram must be back already.
"Well shall I see you on Wednesday for film night?" Shelby asks, leaning across the centre console to give Rachel a peck on the cheek. She's taken aback, when Rachel suddenly flings her arms around her neck and hugs her fiercely.
"Yes, Wednesday" Rachel says, somewhere into the vicinity of Shelby's neck.
"Ok" Shelby says, as Rachel loosens her grip.
"I'll text you "Rachel replies, as she hops out of the car, with a resigned demeanour. She's also spotted the lights on in the downstairs, and has a good idea of what's about to come.
Entering the house she sees the door to the kitchen open, and Leroy and Hiram sat at the table.
"Pumpkin" Leroy calls, "Can you come here a minute, Dad and I want to talk to you." His voice is gentle, but firm.
Rachel sighs and strolls into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table.
"We know all this has been a shock to you" Hiram begins. "And we have given you your space this week, but things cannot go on like this, with you avoiding us. We're your fathers"
"No you're not" Rachel bursts "some guy I've never met in Chicago is!"
"Rachie, we-"
"But I want you to be my dads" Rachel starts to cry. "More than anything I want you to be my dads, but if I think of you as my dads, then it means I can't think of Shelby as my mom, and I don't want to do that."
"Sweetie" Leroy pulls Rachel in to his lap. "We don't want you to stop thinking as Shelby as your mom"
"But I don't want you to be my granddads either, that's too weird" Rachel sobs.
"Well" Hiram says "why can't we be your dads, and Shelby be your mom?"
Rachel pauses "but wouldn't that be a bit strange?"
Leroy smiles "and since when has this family worried about things being normal?"
"I guess" Rachel sniffed. "I just, I guess I used to like not knowing which one of you was my biological dad, and now, neither of you are"
"And again," Leroy replies, "since when have we cared about biology in this family? I couldn't love you or Shelby any more than I do, even if you did inherit Hiram's stubourness and lack of height"
"Daddy!" Rachel admonishes.
"On a more serious note" Hiram began, "what happened yesterday cannot happen again."
"Dad, I told you Finn and I, we-"
"It's not about you and Finn" Hiram interrupted before he was reminded of that image again. "It's about your punishment and trying to play me and Daddy off against Shelby. If Daddy and I make a decision on something, then Shelby needs to respect and abide by our decision, as do you. Similarly if Shelby gives you a punishment, Daddy and I will stand by it too."
"What if Shelby gives me permission to do something that you don't agree with?" Rachel asks, thinking of the illicit midweek concert.
"Well, we are hoping that now the truth is out, Shelby will start considering her actions through the eyes of a responsible parent, not a cool big sister. That said, if Shelby says yes, then we will abide by that. But we will be checking Rachel. We mean it, no playing us all off against."
"No Dad, and Daddy" Rachel says, as Hiram steps over, and envelops all 3 of them in a hug. "Can I go now?"
"Sure pumpkin" Leroy smiles, as Rachel leaves and heads up to her room.
"How long do you reckon it will last before she starts trying to play is off against each other?" Hiram asks, sipping his tea.
"I give it about a month" Leroy replies.
Three weeks later and Shelby finds herself in the bathroom of Breadstix, cursing as Leroy's phone goes to voicemail. She's tried Hiram's phone, the house phone, Leroy's phone and no one is answering.
Cursing, she hits speed dial 4 and waits to be put through to Rachel.
Brian Collins is a substitute teacher at Carmel, and he has a thing for Shelby. He'd been pestering and pestering her for a date for months, upping the ante or so in the last month. Shelby, for her part was not interested, he isn't her type, and at the moment, with all the changes on the home front, she really can't deal with him.
She'd successfully avoided going out on an actual date with him, but the Facebook messages, the texts, the long painful conversations over the coffee pot in the staffroom were just too much. She was at her wits end, when Leroy, suggested that she just simply go out on one actual date with him to shut him up, and then call it a day.
So Shelby had agreed, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Thing was, she had made it through starters, and the main meal, but she really did not think she could make it through desert.
Shelby could have cried with relief when she heard Rachel answer the phone.
"Thank god for that. Rach, look –" Shelby paused, she could hear traffic in the background "wait, where are you?"
"In the car, I'm driving home from Finns"
"And you're on the phone? Hang up and pull over right now!"
"Shelby, calm down, it's on the hands free thing. What are you calling me for anyway, aren't you supposed to be on a date?"
"Yes, and it's going swimmingly" Shelby deadpanned " I need you to call me back in 5 minutes with a Family Emergency, ok?"
"Ok, though you know what they say about Karma"
"Rachel"
"Are you at breadstix?"
"Yes, why?"
"I can do better than a phone call, I'm just round the corner from there, in fact I'm pulling into the parking lot now, give me a couple of minutes, I need to arrange some props."
"Props? Rachel what are yo-" Shelby was left hanging as the line went dead.
Oh crap.
She had no idea what Rachel had up her sleeve, but she also didn't have that much time to find out. Part of the reason she was in the bathroom in the first place was because she really did have to go to the toilet. She rushed in to one of the stalls, hoping she could beat Rachel to whatever she had planned.
In the meanwhile, Rachel had parked up at Breadstix. Pulling her hair down from its ponytail, she parted it down the middle with her fingers, and quickly wrapped 2 elastic bands around the sections to make low slung pigtails.
She reached over into the bag seat for her Emergency slushy kit. She hadn't been slushied in nearly a year, but she still kept a change of clothes in case. She pulled out a penguin sweater and put it on over her dress.
A final glance down at her feet, showed that the flat ballet pumps she used for driving perfectly completed the ensemble.
She made her way into the restaurant, no need to stop and ask the server, she recognised Brian from his daily spamming of Shelby's Facebook. She marched up to the table and coughed to get his attention.
"Excuse me, have you seen my mommy?" Rachel asked, in what she hoped was her best innocently young voice.
Brian looked up into the doe-eyes before him. "Your Mommy?" he spluttered.
"Yes my mommy Shelby, I need her to come home with me."
"Shelby, S-S-Shelby's your mom?"
"Uh-huh. Are you going to be my new daddy?"
Brian simply stared at her dumbfounded.
"Mommy's always looking to find me a new Daddy. I've never had a Daddy before." Rachel pauses to squeeze out a tear. "Mommy's not sure who my Daddy is, she's narrowed it down to 3 men, but we don't know anymore than that."
Shelby comes out of the bathroom and spots Rachel stood at the table. She can't make out what Rachel is saying, but she recognises a show-face when she sees one, and was that a penguin sweater?
As she gets to the table she can hear Rachel saying something about a family emergency, before turning toward Shelby and saying "Hey Mommy, I was just telling Mr Collins that I you need to come home now."
Shelby freezes. Mommy. If only Rachel knew what hearing that word did to her, even if it was only said in jest, as part of some elaborate scheme.
While Shelby is frozen, Brian on the other hand is moving. He's up, pulling on his coat and throwing some bills down on the table.
"Look, Shelby- this has been fun, but I don't think it's going to go anywhere, and we should probably not waste anymore of each other's time."
"Brain, wait, I-"
"Bye Mr Collins, I'm sorry you won't be my Daddy" Rachel calls to his re-treating back.
Shelby plops down into her seat and rests her head in her hands, while Rachel takes Brian's empty seat.
"What did you say to him?" Shelby asks.
"I may have implied you were promiscuous in your youth"
Shelby sighed. She'd have to deal with the fall out in the teachers' lounge on Monday.
"Do you want to order desert seeing as we're here?" Rachel asks, fingering through the bills that were left on the table "It looks as if Brian is paying for it."
Shelby nods and flags down a waiter.
It's not the first time you've scared away a potential suitor you know" Shelby recalls as she eats her cheesecake.
"Have I?" Rachel questions, digging into her sorbet.
"I don't suppose you remember, you were only tiny. Daddy and Dad had tickets to a Broadway show for their 20th anniversary. So they came to New York and brought you with them.
Flashback.
Leonie Jackowitz poured the apple juice into a sippy cup and wondered how her life had come to this. She was in college, in New York of all places. The city was her oyster, she was young and free and should be spending her Friday night out partying. Instead, she was stuck in her apartment helping her roommate babysit.
If Leonie's parents had turned up in New York with her three year old sister and asked her to sacrifice a Friday night to entertaining the kid, Leonie would have told them to get lost. Shelby, on the other hand had jumped at the chance. Were Shelby not Leonie's best friend, Leonie would have thought the woman was crazy, but then Shelby really did love her kid sister, she had photos and drawings that the kid had done in her room. Leonie thought it was a bit weird, but then, Leonie herself was an only child and their other roommate Margo didn't speak to her brother, so what the hell did they know about sibling relationships?
Anyway, Shelby's parents had dropped the pre-schooler off about an hour ago, with strict instructions for the three of them not to get drunk, get high or have any wild parties in Rachel's presence. Shelby had nodded, Margo had put out her cigarette, and Leonie had braced herself for an alcohol free evening. She did have to admit though, the kid was cute. She came toddling in wearing these pink overall things, with a white t-shirt and tiny little pink trainers. Her hair was up in two cute high pigtails that swished when she moved.
Little Rachel wasn't shy. She'd kept up a constant stream of chatter from the moment she'd arrived. She'd managed to charm Leonie and Margo, and got all of them to sit on the floor and play tea party with her, and let her face paint them. Leonie could see why Shelby liked the kid so much.
Half way through the evening the doorbell rang, and Shelby tore herself away from Rachel to answer it. She found Tom Hughes loitering in the corridor.
Tom Hughes was in the same seminar group as Leonie, Margo and Shelby, and it had become obvious to all of them that Shelby had a little crush on him. "I 'm just returning that book I borrowed" Tom said.
"Thanks" Shelby replied "Would you like to come in?" she asked, When Tom didn't appear to be making a move anytime soon.
"Sure"
Shelby leads him into the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil.
Leonie glanced up from her crayoning and noticed Shelby and Tom talking. She elbowed Margo "Hey Margo, look" she staged whispered. "Aw," Margot cooed " I wish those two would just get it together."
Suddenly Leonie had an idea. "Hey Rachel , do you like jokes?" she asked the child.
"Yes, jokes are funny" Rachel replied.
"Do you want to play one on Shelby?"
"And that's what I said" Tom finished his anecdote.
Shelby laughed. She liked Tom, really liked him. He was the first guy since Brett that she could see herself having a relationship with.
"You know, I hear that the little cinema on 69th street has a -" Shelby was interrupted by a tug on her jeans. She looked down to find Rachel stood at her leg.
"Hey Sweetie"
"Mommy, can I have a glass of water?"
The colour drained from Shelby's face. If she hadn't already been leaning against a cabinet, she would have stumbled.
"What did you say?" Shelby asked. Her mind was racing. How could Rachel know? Who told her?
Glancing over her shoulder at the pair in the lounge, Rachel turned back to Shelby and said loudly "I said Mommy can I have a glass of water please?"
Suddenly it all clicked into place, as she heard giggles from the living room.
Reaching down, Shelby picked Rachel up and set her on her hip, the child resting her head on Shelby's shoulder.
"So I should go" Tom was emptying his coffee into the sink and making a grab for his jacket. "Some of the guys have um, something, that I need to , erm, yeah" he all but ran from the apartment.
Shelby, still carrying Rachel glared at the girls in the lounge "that was not funny" she told them through gritted teeth. Stalking through to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her, she set Rachel down on the bed.
Little Rachel looked up at her sister, who was crying softly. "Are you sad Shebby?" a little voice asked.
"A little bit – do you think I could have a hug?"
Rachel nodded proudly, stretching out her arms. Her hugs were special, magical, Shelby said so. If Shelby was sad, or ill, or cross, all Rachel had to do was hug Shelby and she felt all better.
Shelby lay across the bed, with Rachel stretched out on top of her, and hugged close to her chest, one hand wrapped in her hair, comforted by the sound of each other's heartbeats, as they had been once before, not so long ago.
End Flashback.
a/n: please review if you have time, it really does encourage me to continue.