Thank you for all your reviews and PMs after the last chapter, I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the support. You're awesome! And I hope you're all safe and doing well right now!


"Mom" Rachel's voice was quiet but it stopped Shelby in her tracks.

"Yes baby?"

"Could I get this?" she asked nervously. They were shopping for mother's day cards and gifts for Erin, but something had caught Rachel's eye, she wasn't sure how Shelby would react to her request though, "for Aunt Amy?"

Shelby took the card Rachel was holding, smiling as she read the words, 'thank you for loving me like a Mom would' . "Of course" she pulled Rachel into a hug, "you know she's going to cry when she sees this don't you?" she saw Rachel's face fall, "they'll be happy tears though, she gets really emotional when she's pregnant. She'll love it Rachel, I promise."

"You're not mad?"

Shelby wrapped her arm around Rachel, "not at all" she promised, "you and Amy are two of my favourite people in the world, and seeing you together, knowing you love each other just as much as I love you both, it's one of the best feelings in the world Rach. It makes me happy to know just how close you and Amy are."

Rachel smiled and hugged Shelby tightly," I love you Mom."

"I love you too baby" Shelby smiled, "and Aunt Amy loves you too, don't ever doubt that."

Ever since her children had left home and started families of their own, Erin had all but banned them from visiting on mother's day, insisting they spent the day with their own families. Instead the Corcoran children had all started getting together to celebrate mothers day with Erin the day before, spending the Saturday with their Mom, and with each other, everyone bringing something to go towards lunch so Erin didn't have to worry about feeding her ever growing family.

Shelby didn't knock when they arrived at Paul and Erin's, simply walked straight into the house she'd grown up in like she'd never left and Rachel's heart skipped a beat as she realised that one day, she'd be able to do the same. She'd slowly beginning to get used to the fact that Shelby was nothing at all like her fathers, that she had a home now and not just a house that she felt trapped in. As much as the thought of leaving home, leaving Shelby terrified Rachel, at the same time she almost couldn't wait for the day she could come back from living her own life, take a break from whatever she was doing and just walk back into Shelby's house and feel instantly at home.

"Happy Mothers Day Nana" Rachel offered the card and bouquet of flowers she was holding as Erin came to greet them.

"Thank you" Erin wrapped Rachel in a tight hug before embracing Shelby the same way, "these are beautiful" she looked at the flowers, "thank you."

"Happy Mothers Day Mom" Shelby handed over a small, neatly wrapped gift with a kiss to her Mom's cheek, "but don't open it til…"

"Everyone's here?"

"How did you know?" Shelby laughed as her Mom finished her sentence for her.

"Luke told me the same when he gave me his gift, he's in the living room, Amy called to say she was leaving not long after I got your message and Matt said he was on his way about twenty minutes ago so he should be here soon too." She gestured to the living room, "go through, your Dad's in there, no doubt trying to get the kids into more trouble than they're capable of on their own. I'll put these in water and make some drinks."

Amy and Matt arrived at their parent's within minutes of each other, "perfect timing" Matt grinned as he took one of his daughters from the car and handed her to his sister, "call it practice" he winked as he took another of his triplets from the car as his wife got their boys out.

"I think I've had plenty of practice already thanks" Amy gestured to Lily and Max before turning her attention back to the baby on her hip, "but I'll never say no to cuddles with you will I kid?" she asked, tickling the baby's stomach.

"You don't know which one you've got so you?" Matt teased.

Amy shook her head, "not a clue" she said honestly.

Matt laughed, "it's Co…"

"It's Jessie" Charlotte, Matt's wife corrected him, "you're holding Phoebe and this is Cora" she rolled her eyes as she took the third baby from their car, their three boys already in the house, having raced inside with Lily and Max. "You can't tease your sister, who sees them maybe once a month, for not being able to tell them apart when you live with them and you still get them mixed up."

"It's not my fault they're identical" Matt pouted playfully as he headed inside, "oh shush" he rolled his eyes when he heard Amy laugh at Charlotte scolding him.

"That's why I dress them in different colours for you Matthew, Phoebe's in green, Cora's in purple and Jessie's in yellow!"

"It'll be easier when I can just shout them and have the right one answer, we need to work on training them."

"We need to work on training you" Charlotte rolled her eyes again before greeting Erin with a kiss to her cheek, handing over Cora.

"Is everything okay?" Erin asked, not sure if the argument her son and daughter in law seemed to be having was serious or not.

"He's just being a pain as usual" Charlotte smiled, "but don't worry" she told Erin, standing in her tiptoes to kiss Matt's cheek, "I'm not going to send him back, not this week anyway" she joked before heading into the living room.

"He got the triplets mixed up" Amy was only too happy to tell her Mom what her big brother had done.

"Snitch" he hissed, nudging her playfully.

"Oh Matt" Erin patted his shoulder, "I'm sure you'll get it right one day, hopefully before they go off to college."

Rachel had greeted her Grandfather, Uncle, Aunt and cousins when they'd arrived but then hadn't said another word, had just tucked herself into Shelby's side watching everyone. Luckily Lily and Max were oblivious to thather anxiety and almost instantly insisted that she went outside to play with them, Rachel nervously agreeing and, after a kiss on the head from Shelby and a brief hello from Amy and Matt, she allowed herself to be led out into the back yard with most of her cousins.

"I'm going to go sit on the porch" Shelby said a few minutes later, standing from the couch.

"They'll be fine Shel" Matt tried to reassure her as he bounced his daughter on his knee.

"I know" Shelby smiled at the sound of her niece's giggle, "but I don't want Rachel feeling like she has to be responsible for seven kids out there."

"I'll go" Luke stood and picked up his son, the toddler had been happily playing with some building blocks until his Daddy disturbed him but he gave the man a big smile anyway, "I'm sure this little dude would love to run about with them for a bit, and if I go, she won't think you're out there to watch her."

Shelby smiled and nodded, "thanks Luke" she smiled, sitting back on the couch as he headed outside. He placed his son on the grass and sat down on the porch steps as he watched the kids play, the older ones seemingly having their own game of tag whilst Rachel helped the younger ones on the swing, slide and small climbing frame his parents had in the back yard. He couldn't help but smile as he watched Rachel help his own, youngest, daughter, to the top of the slide, he'd only seen her a handful of times since they'd first met at Christmas but already he could see just how much she'd come out of her shell.

Luke saw it happen, after a few turns on the slide Rhys had lost interest in it, and in true toddler fashion was now just running wildly around the garden, sometimes joining in the game of tag, other times just happy to run. He tripped over, landing on the grass with a dull thud and almost instantly beginning to scream. Rachel had had her back to him, helping Lily climb the climbing frame but as soon as she heard his cry, she lifted Lily down and raced over to pick Rhys up, "I'm sorry" her voice shook as she saw Luke coming towards her, "I didn't see and I know I should have been watching him and I…" she was terrified that her uncle was going to be angry.

"It's okay Rachel" Luke took his son from her, bouncing him gently to settle him, "he's not even two yet, kids fall over, this one pretty much bounces back up most times" he wiped first his son's eyes and then his knees, "he's a bit grubby but he'll wash, there's no harm done. And nobody expected you to watch all of these kids Rachel, you're still a kid yourself, looking after this bunch single handedly would be hard on me and I'm an adult with kids of my own. It's why I came out here, so that you wouldn't have to watch all of them all the time."

Rachel nodded, "okay, thank you."

"It's okay, can I get a hug?" he asked, wanting to show Rachel he wasn't angry. Rachel nodded and Luke used his free arm to hug his oldest niece, both of them laughing when Rhys wrapped his arm around Rachel's neck and hugged her tightly too, "see" Luke smiled, "everyone's fine, but why don't we take a break? Get everyone inside and see if Nana's ready to open her presents?"

"Yeah" Rachel nodded, wanting to be close to her Mom for a while, "okay."

Amy had taken Rachel's spot on the couch next to Shelby but Rachel didn't mind and sat on the floor by Shelby's feet, letting her head rest against her Mom's knee. "Are you okay?" Shelby asked, rubbing her fingers through Rachel's hair.

Rachel nodded against Shelby's leg, "I'm okay Momma".

Once everyone was gathered in the living room, Erin began opening the gifts from her family, she frowned as she unwrapped an empty photo frame from each of her children, "this is from all of us" Amy handed over another, slightly larger gift, Erin's frown growing as she pulled the paper from that to reveal a photo album.

"I don't understand" Erin looked up at her family, "these are lovely but..."

"Open the album Mom" Matt told her."

"Oh" Erin's face lit up as she saw that there was a voucher inside of the photo album, that they'd arranged a photo shoot for the whole family with Jimmy's brother.

"We know you like having photos everywhere" Shelby told her Mom, "but there have been a lot of new additions to the family since you last got some photos of us all, Rachel, Rhys, the triplets, so we thought you might like to change that."

"Yeah, and if you want to wait until Amy isn't fat anymore then we can do that too" Matt added, laughing when Amy threw a cushion at him.

"Matthew" Erin scolded him.

"Ooh" Luke teased, "full name, you're in for it now bro."

Erin rolled her eyes, "I still live in hope that one day the two of you will grow up" she mumbled, shaking her head slightly, "but thank you, all of you, this is lovely, and I think waiting until Amy and Jim's baby can join in too would be a great idea, there's no point us having a family photo without all of the family being in it."

They ate lunch after Erin had opened her gifts and once they'd finished, Shelby went in search of her sister, finding her in the hall as she came back from the bathroom. "Rachel's out on the back porch" Shelby told her sister, "she'd like to talk to you if you've got a minute."

"Of course" Amy nodded, rubbing at her bump, feeling like she had a little indigestion after lunch, "is she okay?"

"She's absolutely fine Amy, I promise."

Amy frowned slightly, "you know what she wants to talk to me about?"

"Yeah" Shelby kissed her sister's forehead, "and I promise you, it's nothing to be worried about, now go see her and put your mind at rest."

"Okay" Amy slipped on her shoes and headed out to the back porch, smiling as she saw Rachel sat on the wooden swing looking out over the garden, "hey Pretty Girl, your Momma said you wanted to see me. Is everything okay?"

Rachel nodded, "I, I just wanted to give you these" she said as she reached down beside the swing to pick up the card and the large bunch of flowers Shelby had helped her pick out when they'd bought flowers for Erin.

Amy frowned as she sat beside Rachel, "Thank you" the flowers were beautiful, "but I, I don't understand" she said as Rachel handed over the card and flowers, "what…" she gestured to the card, "can I open this?" Rachel nodded and Amy placed the flowers carefully on the seat between them so she could slip her finger under the seal of the envelope. She felt her eyes filling with tears as soon as she read the front of the card, loosing the fight to hold them back when she read the message Rachel had written inside, 'Aunt Amy, I might not have known you for long but in that short time you've done so much for me and I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for being there, for loving me and supporting me without judgement. Thank you for helping me to realise what it means to really be a part of a family. Happy Mothers' Day. I love you, Rachel xxx P. S. Thank you for letting me borrow your clothes too, and not complaining when you don't get them back.'

"Oh Sweet Girl" Amy wiped at her eyes and moved the flowers to the floor so she could pull Rachel into her arms, "come here" she whispered, holding Rachel tightly and kissing her hair, "I love you too, so, so much, and I will always be here, whatever you need, whenever you need it, I'm here Rachel, I promise."

Rachel nuzzled into Amy, hugging her back just as tightly, "I know" she whispered, "I've never felt like anyone loved me before, and sometimes, right at the beginning, when I first came to live with Mom, I felt like she only loved me because she had to, but you, you didn't have to love me but you did, and that, it was overwhelming at times, that someone loved me just because, that they didn't have to love me but they did anyway, for a long time it was the strangest feeling but it, I think it helped me a lot."

Amy felt a fresh batch of tears fall and she held Rachel a little closer. "I'm glad it helped" she whispered, "but I hope you never, ever feel like that again Rachel because you are loved more than you will ever know, every single person in that house loves you Rach, and you have friends who care about you. You are loved, and I don't want you to ever doubt that Pretty Girl."

"I'll try not to" Rachel nodded.

"Good, and if you ever have any doubts, think of Lily and Max, those kids absolutely adore you Rachel, they can't fake that sort of love, Lily is an awful liar for a start, but Lily and Max, they love you just as much as Jim and I do, and I'm sure, when they get to meet you, this one will love you too." She gestured to her bump," and this one is going to be so, so lucky that they get to know you from the day they're born, you're perfect Rachel, and we are all so, so proud, so happy that you're here with us, that you're physically a part of our family now."

"I know" Rachel nodded, "and I, I'm getting used to that, that I'm not…that no one here is going to hurt me, that I'm safe."

"Good" Amy nodded, "because you are safe here, and we will all do whatever we can to keep you safe no matter what happens. And I know you worry, so I want you to know that this…" she gestured to her stomach, "it doesn't change anything between us, it doesn't mean I won't have time for you, that we won't be able to spend time together. If you need me Rach, if you need anything at all, hell, if you just want to steal another pair of my jeans, you call me. It doesn't matter how many biological children I have, I'll always make time for you, I hope you know that."


I know some of you may be a little disappointed that a 'Mothers' Day' chapter didn't have much Rachel/Shelby in it, but don't wory, the next chapter is just the two of them and a lot of fluff!