Saviour - What if the men Shelby gave her baby to hadn't been the loving parents she thought they would be

Rating - T

Characters - Shelby & Rachel

A/N - This part is a little short, I guess it's kind of a filler chapter, stuff I just wanted to get out of the way without going into too much detail before the next chapter. The next chapter is about 75% written and I'm aiming to have it up within a week.

Lyrics in italics from Eva Cassidy Songbird

Shelby woke at 6.30 to the dreaded bleeping of her alarm. She quickly turned it off before sinking back into the pillows and making a mental list of things she needed to do, starting with making an appointment with the principals at both Carmel and McKinley and calling her solicitor. She sighed again, she wouldn't get anything done by lying in bed and she needed to shower and get ready before she woke Rachel. Shelby yawned and stretched into the mattress, blinking a couple of times before standing from her bed and frowning as she noticed Rachel curled up, fast asleep, in the corner, "Oh baby" Shelby gently touched Rachel's arm, the girl was freezing! Shelby easily lifted Rachel from the floor and laid her in the spot she'd just laid in herself, placing Edward the bear in her arms before kissing Rachel's forehead as she pulled the covers over her.

"Momma" Rachel whimpered as she began to toss and turn in the bed, "please Momma, please, I'm sorry. Momma please, please don't go, don't leave me Momma."

"Shh" tears were running down Shelby's cheeks as she ran her hand gently over Rachel's forehead, "I'm here darling, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere." She moved away only briefly to lay on the opposite side of the bed before wrapping her arm around her daughter to try and settle her. The girl was no longer crying out but she still let out the odd whimper as she tossed and turned. "For you" Shelby began to sing, "there'll be no more crying, for you, the sun will be shining and I feel that when I'm with you, it's all right, I know it's right. To you, I'll give the world, to you, I'll never be cold 'cause I feel that when I'm with you, It's all right, I know it's right. And the songbirds are singing like they know the score, and I love you, I love you, I love you, like never before. And I wish you all the love in the world, but most of all, I wish it from myself. And the songbirds keep singing like they know the score. And I love you, I love you, I love you, Like never before, like never before." By the time she'd finished the song Rachel had calmed down. Shelby kissed Rachel's forehead again. "we'll get there baby, it might take a while but we'll get there."

Shelby showered, dressed and made a couple of phone calls before waking Rachel a little before 8am, "Morning" she smiled as Rachel's eyes fluttered open, "I'm afraid it's time to get up, we've got a busy day, I need you to get up and get showered and dressed please baby. I'm going to go make a start on breakfast."

"I'm in your bed" Rachel mumbled sleepily.

"Yes you are" Shelby nodded, "I found you on my floor when I woke up. You were freezing."

"I, I had a bad dream" Rachel admitted, "I wanted you but you were sleeping, I didn't want to wake you."

"Oh darling" Shelby sat on the edge of the bed and brushed Rachel's hair back from her head, "if it happens again then please, please wake me up. I don't want you ever sleeping on the floor in this house, there's no need okay."

Rachel nodded, "okay".

"Okay" Shelby repeated, "we've got a lot of appointments to keep today, starting with seeing your principal at 9.30" she glanced at her watch, "so we need to leave in about an hour, you can shower in my ensuite if you want to, my hairdryer is downstairs if you want to borrow it, I didn't want it to wake you."

Whilst Rachel was showering Shelby made both her and Rachel sandwiches, they had a lot of appointments and Shelby didn't know if they'd have time to stop for lunch, sandwiches, she thought to her self could be eaten in the car between appointments, she threw some fruit in the bag with the sandwiches, she didn't want Rachel going hungry. "Hey beautiful" she smiled as Rachel walked into the room, her hair damp around her shoulders, "sit down, I'm making eggs, they're almost ready" she said, pushing bread into the toaster before turning back to the scrambled eggs she had on the stove.

"I, I need to dry my hair."

"It's okay" Shelby placed a glass of juice in front of Rachel, "I'll help you with it when we've eaten if you like, do you want butter on your toast?"

Rachel nodded, "yes please".

"Okay" Shelby buttered two slices of toast before putting some scrambled eggs on top and placing the plate in front of Rachel, "there you go". She sat opposite Rachel with her own plate and watched as the girl slowly took a bite of the eggs. "Do you like it?" Shelby asked once Rachel had swallowed her mouthful.

"Yes thank you".

"Good" Shelby smiled, "we've got a busy day today, we're going to McKinley first to talk to your principal, and then we have to go to Carmel to speak to my principal and I'm going to ask the nurse at Carmel if she can recommend a paediatrician for you. We're meeting my solicitor this afternoon too, and" Shelby took a deep breath, "I'd like you to talk to the police about what your fathers did too. I know it's not easy but I'll be there darling, I, what they did to you baby wasn't right, you shouldn't let them get away with it."

Rachel nodded, "o...okay."

"It's going to be a long day darling, if it gets too much for you then please tell me, I don't mind us sitting in the car for while, I don't mind being late for an appointment if you need to take a break."

It wasn't long before they were in the car and on their way to McKinley, as promised, Shelby had dried Rachel's hair for her before they left, the simple action of having her hair brushed by her mother had Rachel in tears, Shelby had been so gentle Rachel didn't know what to do, she was so used to being manhandled, pushed and shoved that she was overwhelmed by the love her mother gave her.

"Remember" Shelby said as she pulled into the parking lot, "if it gets too much then just say the words, we can always step outside for five minutes."

Rachel was surprised at how fierce Shelby could be, she'd been warned that Coach Corcoran was a lot stricter than Momma Shelby and she was right, no one messed with Shelby, she'd got a week off for both herself and Rachel and Carmel's school nurse had called Shelby whilst they were on their way to see her solicitor, she'd called a friend of hers who was a paediatrician and he'd agreed to see Rachel at the end of his surgery hours, "when was the last time you saw a doctor sweetheart?" Shelby asked Rachel, "and can you remember their name? The doctor you're going to see later wants to try and find your records."

"Erm, I was about 8, maybe 9, his name was Doctor Greenburg, at the surgery near the elementary school."

"Okay" Shelby relayed the information before hanging up the phone, "can, is" Shelby took a deep breath, "I have to ask Rachel, why has it been so long?"

"Dr Greenburg retired" Rachel whispered, "my fathers never found me another doctor."

"Well" Shelby sighed sadly, "you're already on my insurance so if you ever think you need to see a doctor then you just need to let me know and I'll make the appointment for you, you don't even need to tell me why you want to see the doctor if you don't want to. Even if you just have a headache I'd like you to tell me."

"Okay" Rachel whispered, "thank you."

"It's okay" Shelby smiled, "I don't want you to think you have to deal with it yourself if you feel ill, I'm your mom, it's my job to make you better if I can, and if I can't, well that's what I pay my insurance for."

"Thank you" Rachel repeated.

The meeting with Shelby's solicitor went well, he said he couldn't see any problems with Shelby getting custody of Rachel, he pointed out that at fifteen years of age the judge would more than likely allow Rachel to choose where she wanted to live as long as it was safe. He gave Shelby the number of a social worker he'd worked with before, who he said would need to check Shelby's home was suitable and she was able to provide for Rachel. He also pointed out that if Rachel did tell the police what her fathers had done it would almost certainly guarantee that the two Berry Men would never get custody of Rachel or any other child. Shelby sighed, the police station was her next stop.

Rachel cried for half an hour after they left the police station, and Shelby could do nothing but sit in the back of the car, holding Rachel and reassuring her that everything was okay. Shelby was exhausted herself and not at all surprised when Rachel fell asleep. Shelby kissed her forehead and pulled the seatbelt around her tightly, they had one last appointment and that wasn't for another hour, Rachel could sleep until then.

"Rachel" Shelby whispered softly, "Rachel darling."

Rachel yawned and rubbed at her eyes, "Where, what?" she frowned, still sleepy from her nap.

"You fell asleep in the back of the car, we're at the doctors office, your appointment is in ten minutes sweetheart."

The doctors appointment went exactly how Shelby predicted, Rachel was underweight and needed several booster shots but other than that she was in relatively good health. The doctor made another appointment for four weeks time so he could check Rachel was putting on weight and give her her last few shots. He also suggested making an appointment with a dietician which Shelby thought they could do without for the time being, Rachel wasn't reluctant to eat and she was sure, given time, that she could get her weight up without seeing a dietician. As promised Shelby asked for Rachel to be referred to a therapist and mentioned Rachel's panic attacks, for which he prescribed a mild anti anxiety medication, before Shelby thanked the doctor for staying late to see Rachel and guiding her daughter back to the car, all she needed now was for a judge to sign the papers granting her full custody of Rachel and then they could slowly start move on with their lives.