This is a shift day [see above]. There was another upload this morning: Keep On Smiling (series-related).

"The Ties That Bind"

12. Twelve

It wasn't decided by anyone in particular, but all at once they knew it was time to go. Everyone had said their goodbyes and nice to meet yous and then the five had gone, leaving four behind. It would take a moment for Shelby and her group to say something. Then there was Beth who wasn't having this particular problem, not really grasping what was happening.

"What happens now?" Joanie finally asked.

"What do you mean?" Shelby asked.

"Well, with her birth parents and that."

"Nothing's happening, not really, not yet… I'm not sure," Shelby explained. Joanie looked to her father, hesitating to ask this.

"So they're not going to take her away, right?"

"Oh, sweetie, no, of course not. Did you think they would?" she approached, touching her cheek.

"I wasn't sure…" Joanie shrugged it off innocently.

"Well now you have your answer," Shelby told her and Joanie smiled.

"Rachel, she really looks like you," she then declared.

"Yes," Shelby nodded with a smile.

"She didn't really say much," Joanie remarked. Shelby swallowed back a sigh.

"No, she didn't," Shelby agreed, leaving out the parts where that didn't register as normal to her, and where she had been certain there was something she needed to say and yet ended up keeping silent. Shelby had given her ample chance to give it a go, a friendly nudge in the right direction, and yet she didn't take any of them.

"Does she sing like you?" Joanie asked.

"I asked that, too," Emmett revealed, smirking.

"Yes, you did, and yes, she does," Shelby confirmed. "I almost wanted to ask Sam if he'd like to get Beth and Nell together to play from time to time but then considering all sides of it, that could end up getting awkward real quick."

"The girls weren't part of the rest, and they did look like they got along," Emmett pointed out. Shelby looked to him and he shrugged.

"Fine, well, I'll consider it," she conceded.

"Are they going to come back? The others?" Joanie asked.

"I don't know yet, but if they do I'll let you know, how does that sound?"

"Sounds good," Joanie smiled.

X

Rachel had only gotten more quiet when they left Shelby's house, if that was even possible. She took the passenger seat, set her gaze on the side she could see through her window and that was that. Sam looked at her, concerned. The others, they only had a vague idea of why Rachel had wanted to go today, and they didn't really go beyond 'because she's her mother' though. Only in Sam's case he knew all too well. He worried, seeing her like this, although tried not to let it show; Puck and Quinn couldn't know. For all he knew then, they already did, but he had to assume they didn't.

He'd watched her, practically the whole time, and he had seen her so many times trying to work herself toward that point, but she never would. When they'd started leaving, when her back was turned to Shelby and the others, he could still see her silently chastising herself. He kind of wished they'd come in two cars right then, but they didn't, so he just had to hold on until after having dropped off Puck and Quinn. It was taking him everything not to wave the truth in everyone's faces.

Looking in the back he had a feeling he wasn't the only one who would have appreciated separate cars, for private conversation's sake. It wasn't that they were silent, it wasn't what they said… it was what they didn't say, which still existed in their eyes, if you looked. And as those eyes were his ex-girlfriend's, then he had a way of knowing.

"That Emmett looks like a good guy," Quinn commented, tracing her finger lightly in her palm, trying to retain the feel of Beth's hand in hers. She looked to Puck, just barely catching the flicker in her eyes. He would have seen it too, right? The way Emmett was around Beth, it felt very fatherly, which was entirely possible, him being Shelby's boyfriend and all, but then that was only half. The other half was Beth, and she looked like she saw him as fatherly, too. Did that upset Puck? She'd had to make her peace with her seeing Shelby as her mother a long time ago, even if she didn't get to see it until today.

There'd been no adoptive father figure in the equation back then though. It wasn't like any of them expected Shelby to stay single, but it was another thing entirely to come face to face with an accomplished fact rather than an eventual possibility.

"Yeah, he does," Puck finally replied. "And Joanie, that was her name, right? She's really good with her, too."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's good," Puck promised. "You saw the nursery?" he asked.

"I-I did," she nodded. "It was… perfect," she smiled. She would tell him about what she'd discussed with Shelby, of course she would, but this was neither the time nor the place. As it was, they were distracted by Nell, once again sat in between and now fussing herself out of a nap.

"Hey, blondie, it's okay," Puck told her, reaching for a fallen stuffed giraffe and presenting it back to her. "This a friend of yours?" he asked, putting it back in her arms. She happily gave it a squeeze; which got a smile out of Quinn as well.

"Hey…" Sam tried to get Rachel's attention in the front seat as they were nearing their neighborhoods. She didn't react, so he put his hand to hers, which got her startled. "Sorry…"

"No, it's okay," she told him, pushing her hair behind her ears.

"You want to come over for dinner? Everyone's out for the evening anyway." He hadn't flat out said 'do you want to talk?' but it was implied. She looked to him, and her nod said 'yes, thank you.'

"Yeah, speaking of which…" Quinn looked to Puck, hesitating. "Feel like Breadstix? My treat."

"I got this one," he shook his head, almost smiling. "Sam, can you drop us off?"

"Sure, you got it," Sam turned the car around. When they got to the mall, Puck and Quinn said goodbye to Nell, then to Sam and Rachel, before disappearing through the doors together. The car now held just the three of them, and Nell was sleeping again. Sam looked to Rachel, who had not taken a turn for the better at all. "We'll make that dinner and a movie, okay?"

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)