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 - I'm sorry for how long it's taken me to update, what I thought was just a cold turned out to be a nasty chest infection I've only just managed to shake. I've already started on the next chapter so it shouldn't be too long before I update again.
"I called your guidance counsellor" Shelby told Rachel on Friday morning, "Miss...Hill, Hillsby is it?"
"Miss, Miss Pillsbury" Rachel whispered, correcting her fathers only ever got her a beating.
"Oh yeah" Shelby smiled, "that's it, she's going to see us after school gets out, I said we'd be there a little after three, if you don't mind I'd like to tell her a little about why you're living here, you only have to tell her as much as you're comfortable with, but I'd like to think there's someone you can go to when I'm not around, however, I am going to make it absolutely clear that I want you to be able to call me whenever you feel you need to. I don't want you to think I'm just saying that either, if you feel like you need me then call me, I don't mind if you're just between classes and you want me to tell you I love you, I don't mind if it's the last class of the day and you're tired and want to leave an hour early."
"Okay" Rachel nodded, "thanks". She really did appreciate all the effort Shelby was going to but there was no way Rachel would call Shelby in the middle of the day, the woman had already been put out enough.
"Is there anything in particular you want to do today? I don't want to sound like a boring Mom but do you have any homework? I didn't see any school books in the bag you bought with you."
"I, my school books are in my locker, I did my homework at school, I took a maths book home once and my dad threw it on the fire and then spanked me when the school sent a letter home saying I hadn't returned it. I had to do extra chores to pay them back for replacing it. I'm up to date in all my classes though, you can call my teachers to check or ask Miss Pillsbury to pull up my grades for you to see."
"Darling" Shelby placed her hand between Rachel's shoulder blade, "take a deep breath, I wasn't getting at you I just wanted to make sure you didn't have any work to do. If you say you're up to date then I believe you."
Rachel frowned, "you, you believe me?"
"Of course" Shelby decided not to make a big deal out of it, "so what do you want to do today?"
"I, I don't mind"
Shelby smiled, "well I did have a couple of ideas. I thought we could maybe go down in the basement and go through my sheet music, find something we could sing together"
Rachel's face lit up, "really?"
Shelby nodded and kissed her forehead, she couldn't stop touching Rachel, it was like she constantly needed to reassure herself that this was real, this was her life now, "really. Then I thought we could go out for a walk, get some fresh air, see if we could find somewhere nice for lunch and then I know a couple of good bookstores I thought we could visit, start building you your collection."
"Momma" Rachel almost whimpered.
"What's wrong baby?" Shelby pulled her close, "if you'd rather do something else you just have to say, I really wont mind."
"It, no one's ever planned a day for me like that, not one that I'd enjoy."
"Sweetheart" Shelby kissed Rachel again, "this is going to be the first of many I promise."
It was a little before midday when Shelby and Rachel finally came up from the basement, it had been the most fun Rachel had had in years, she loved to sing but her fathers always complained about the noise and there was no way they'd have paid for piano lessons, that was something Rachel had taught herself. They'd sung several songs together, most Shelby had suggested but after a while Rachel had become more comfortable and made some suggestions of her own.
"Where do you want to go for lunch?" Shelby asked as she handed Rachel her coat.
"I don't mind."
"Well what would you like to eat? Hot or cold?"
"I'm not really that hungry."
Shelby smiled, Rachel always said she wasn't hungry but Shelby still made sure she ate something, "I know a great little sandwich shop but the portions are huge we could share a sandwich and some fries if you'd like?"
"Okay" Rachel nodded, "that sounds good."
Shelby picked up her bag, "okay, but seeing as I decided where we were going, you can decide what we eat when we get there."
Before Rachel knew it, she and Shelby were walking through the school parking lot, she'd played it safe at lunch, opting for a chicken salad sandwich, Shelby had been right, the portions were huge, even half a sandwich and a few fries was more than Rachel could manage. Once she'd eaten as much as she could they left the sandwich shop and they trawled through several bookshops and bought far more books than Rachel was comfortable with letting Shelby buy, but now they were here, at the school and Rachel was terrified.
"Hey Rachel" Emma greeted the student as she walked into the office, "take a seat, you must be Miss Corcoran" she held out her hand for Shelby to shake, "it's a pleasure to meet you."
Shelby shook Emma's hand before taking the seat beside Rachel, "please, it's Shelby"
Emma nodded, "so how can I help you?"
"As you probably know, Rachel now lives with me, there were some 'issues' with her fathers. I trust anything said here is in the strictest of confidence?" Emma nodded and Shelby glanced at Rachel, "are you sure you're okay with this?" Rachel nodded and Shelby continued explaining to Emma, "I was the surrogate Rachel's fathers used, they left her on my doorstep last Friday with nothing but a few outfits and a note saying they'd gone to Florida and they'd signed papers putting Rachel into my custody." She paused again to check Rachel was okay and saw the girl had her head bowed, her hair covering her face so she reached out to squeeze her hand gently, "we've started talking things through, and Rachel has an appointment with a therapist on Thursday but I think she's still trying to adjust. Her fathers" Shelby took a deep breath, "her fathers weren't the most caring of men and we're working on showing you that how they treated you isn't how parents are meant to treat their children aren't we?"
Rachel nodded and whispered "yeah".
"I guess I just need to be sure she's going to have some sort of support system here."
Emma nodded, "of course, of course. We could set up some one to one meetings if you'd like?" She asked Rachel, "maybe once a week, do you think that would help?"
"I, I don't know" Rachel whispered
"Lets give it a try" Emma reached for her diary, "I've got a lot of meetings scheduled on Monday, but I could meet with you second period on Tuesday?"
Rachel nodded, "okay."
"I'm a little bit worried about Rachel being overwhelmed, she erm, well we've spent a lot of time cuddling and crying together. Is there any way she could leave class if things get too much for her?"
Emma nodded, "I'll write her a pass, if you think you need a break then you can either come and have a chat with me or go lie in the nurses office if you'd prefer peace and quiet. You aren't limited to only coming to see me when you have an appointment okay? You can come and see me whenever you feel you need to. If I'm with another student, knock on the door so I know you're here and then take a seat outside and I'll see you as soon as I can."
Rachel nodded, "Thank you"
"She has some anti anxiety meds" Shelby told Emma as she took the bottle of pills from her bag, she needs to take one if she has a panic attack but I'd like someone to try talking to her to try and calm her down before she takes a pill, we've managed without them so far but I'd like her to have some here just in case."
Emma nodded, "of course, of course, I'd always try to calm her down first."
Shelby nodded, "I'd like to be called if she takes a pill, I'd also like Rachel to be able to call me if she feels like she needs to."
"Of course" Emma agreed, "I'll let the office staff know and then if you want to call your Mom you can either go to the main office and ask to use the phone or you can come in here if you'd like a little more privacy" she gestured to the phone on her desk, "that's not a problem at all."
Shelby turned to Rachel, "I don't want you to feel like we're just saying you can do these things Rachel, we mean it, if you need to take a break or you want to call me then please, please don't feel like you can't."
Rachel nodded again, "okay."
Emma bit her lip for a moment before she spoke, "I don't know if you think this might help, but we could bring Rachel back to school gradually, just a couple of days a week at first and work up to a full week when you feel ready?" She could tell Rachel was nervous about returning to school and thought giving her time to readjust might help.
"What do you think darling?" Shelby asked Rachel.
Rachel sighed, she was terrified about going back to school but she'd already been too much of a burden to Shelby, the woman didn't need her around all the time, she'd probably be glad of the break. "I, I think I'll be okay."
Shelby wasn't so sure, "how about we see how it goes on Monday and then take it from there" she suggested, "you've been taking a lot of naps this past week, I don't want you to push yourself too far too fast."
Emma agreed with Shelby, "that sounds good, maybe you could come sit in on our meeting on Tuesday morning" she looked to Rachel, "if that's okay with you?"
"Yeah" Rachel nodded, "that's fine
"I'd like to give you this too" Shelby reached into her bag and pulled out a small piece of paper, "it's the name and contact number for the social worker who's helping us with the custody stuff, Rachel didn't feel like she could tell anyone about how her fathers were treating her and whilst I will never ever hurt her intentionally, I'd like you to take this, just in case you ever have any worries about Rachel's well being."
Emma took the card from Shelby, "thank you, I'll put it in Rachel's file but I'm sure I won't ever have need for it".
"Thank you" Shelby smiled, "now I know it's a bit late in the year, but Rachel and I were wondering if she'd still be able to join any after school clubs?"
"I'm sure she would" Emma turned her attention to Rachel, "did you have any particular clubs in mind?"
Rachel shook her head, she should probably find something to do every day after school, Shelby wouldn't want her hanging around the house all the time.
"You said you like singing and dancing" Shelby prompted before turning to Emma, "do you have a glee club?"
Almost as if on cue Will tapped gently on the glass of Emma's office door, "sorry to interrupt" he smiled as he poked his head around the door, "I just wanted to let you know I'm done, I'm going to grab a coffee and wait for you in the staffroom" he told Emma before smiling at Rachel, "Hey Rach"
"Hi" Rachel mumbled back quietly.
Emma smiled at her fiancé, "you must have been listening in" she joked, "we were just talking about the glee club, "Shelby this is Will Schuester our glee coach, Will this is Shelby Corcoran, Rachel's mother."
"Pleased to meet you" Will held out his hand, "I've heard a lot about you at show choir meets."
Shelby laughed, "none of it good I expect."
"All those national championships speak for themselves. What you did obviously worked."
Shelby laughed again, "I guess so, I've given it up now though, I want to spend my spare time with my own teenager."
"Rachel's been thinking about joining some after school clubs, Shelby thought she might like Glee" Emma explained.
Will nodded, "we're a friendly bunch" he smiled "we've got a practice on Wednesday if you'd like to join us" he could sense Rachel was nervous, "you don't have to join in if you don't want to, you can just sit in and see if you think it's for you."
"How about it Rach?" Shelby asked, she knew Rachel wasn't comfortable around people she didn't know, "If Mr Schuester doesn't mind I could join you too, share my expertise."
Will nodded, "yeah, that'd be great, I think the kids are getting sick of my song choices, some fresh ideas might be just what we need."
"How about it darling?" Shelby pulled Rachel close, "shall we join the glee club?"
"There's no pressure" Will said softly making Emma smile with pride, "and you'll be welcomed with open arms even if you just sit and watch, we're not really doing any practice anyway, we just won our sectionals competition and we're not going to start rehearsing for regionals until after the holidays so you've picked a perfect time to join." He saw Rachel still looked unsure, "talk it over with your Mom, there's no need to make a decision right now" he said with a smile, "I'll leave you ladies in peace" he winked at Emma and shook Shelby's hand again before saying goodbye to Rachel and leaving the room.
"Are you excited about tomorrow?" Shelby asked, rolling over and wrapping her arms around Rachel as they laid in bed that night.
"A little."
"I can tell" Shelby smiled, "you've been fidgeting for almost an hour."
"I'm sorry" Rachel whispered, "I'll go sleep in my own bed."
"No you wont" Shelby said, her grip on Rachel tightening slightly, "it's kind of cute, I always imagined you'd be one of those kids who couldn't sleep at Christmas because they were too excited. Then again I imagined your fathers dressing up as Santa, ringing sleighbells and spoiling you rotten." Rachel sighed, "I love you" Shelby told her, "having ants in your pants wont change that, and I know for sure Amy wont tell Lily that she's going to the zoo until they're in the car otherwise she'd be exactly the same, now come on" she rolled onto her back pulling Rachel to lie on top of her, "close your eyes and try and sleep, I don't want you to be too tired in the morning.
Rachel tried to hide her excitement the next morning, she didn't want to annoy Shelby but she didn't want to wait, she hadn't been to the zoo since she was in kindergarten, she wanted to be there now, she wanted to see everything but at the same time she didn't want Shelby to think she was spoilt or demanding.
"How about we go to the butterfly house?" Shelby suggested as they studied a map of the zoo, "I know Lily will probably want to go again when she gets here, but she gets a bit impatient after a while, we could just sit and watch them for a while."
Rachel smiled, "yeah, that sounds good." They walked inside the whitewashed building and Rachel's mouth dropped open as she stepped through the mesh curtain that hung in the doorway to stop the butterflies escaping, "wow".
"It's beautiful right?" Rachel only nodded as she slipped her hand into her mothers and together they slowly walked along the path, pausing now and again to look at the butterflies as they lounged amongst the plants.
"Momma" Rachel gasped quietly a few minutes later as they sat on a bench together, watching the butterflies darting around, "Momma look". Shelby turned to find a white butterfly sat on Rachel's thigh and, without Rachel noticing, she took a picture on her phone of Rachel smiling. She'd never get sick of seeing that smile, "That was amazing" Rachel grinned as the butterfly finally flew off, "it landed right on my leg Mom."
"I know" Shelby smiled, "I saw."
They were sat in the cafe after lunch when Amy rang Shelby to find out where they were, "Rae" Lily grinned from where she was sat, wrapped warmly her buggy.
"Hey" Shelby hugged Amy before ruffling Max's hair, "how you feeling tough guy?"
"I'm fine" Max pushed Shelby's hand from his head, "stop fussing Auntie Lelby, you're worse than Mom."
"Sorry" Shelby laughed before pulling him into a hug and covering him in kisses.
"Mooooom" Max whined, "make her stop."
"Sorry kid" Amy laughed, "she's my big sister, I can't make her do anything." She saw Rachel standing cautiously behind Shelby, "you must be Rachel."
"No Momma, My Rae" Lily corrected from her buggy.
"Sorry" Amy smiled, "you must be Lily's Rae. I'm Amy, you know Lil and that's Max" she gestured to the boy still trying to get Shelby to let him go."
"I, it's a pleasure to meet you" Rachel said shyly before holding out a stiff arm for Amy to shake..
Amy looked at Rachel's hand for a split second before holding open her arms, "I'd rather welcome you to the family with a hug." By now Shelby had stopped smothering Max and was holding his hand, waiting to see how Rachel would react and the woman couldn't help but smile as Rachel slowly stepped into Amy's arms, "it's great to finally meet you" Amy whispered as she hugged Rachel tightly.
"Momma" Lily's voice broke up the embrace between Aunt and Niece, "Momma, I want to see the 'raffes."
"I know you do baby, and we will see them, I promise."
"What noise do 'raffes make Momma."
Amy unstrapped Lily from her buggy, "how about you go ask Auntie Lelby."
"Okay" Lilly grinned as she jumped from the buggy and ran over to Shelby, "An'Lelly , An'Lelly, what noise do 'raffes make? Momma said you'd tell me."
"She did did she?" Shelby glared at her sister, "how about we go see the girrafes and you can hear what noise they make for yourself."
"Can we see the lions?" Max asked Amy after they'd spent a while by the giraffe enclosure.
"We can" Amy told him, "but I think Rachel should choose where we go next, this is her day out." She turned to look to Rachel, "what do you want to see?" she asked.
"I don't mind" Rachel said softly, "we can go see the lions."
"The lions will still be there later" Amy said as she passed Rachel the map she had on top of the buggy, "you choose something."
Rachel studied the map for a moment, "I'd like to see the elephants" she finally deided.
"Okay" Amy guessed Rachel wanted to spend some time alone with Shelby so she called Lily over, "come jump in" she said as she held open the straps on the buggy, "we don't want you getting worn out before we've seen anything do we."
"No Momma, I no be tired" Lily grinned, kissing Amy as she was strapped in.
"Max" Amy called next, passing the boy the map of the zoo, "think you can show us where the elephants are Kiddo?"
"Yep" he nodded, "come on Momma, Auntie Lelby, Rachel, follow me."
"Hey" Shelby wrapped her arm around Rachel as they began to walk a little behind Amy, Lily and Max, "you okay?"
Rachel nodded, "yes thank you."
"If it gets too much for you you just have to say, Amy wount mind taking the kids off somewhere for a while."
"I'm okay" Rachel reassured her mother, "they're not really what I expected, I guess I thought they'd be a little louder."
"They're good kids" Shelby told her, "but if you do need a break then promise you'll say something, no one will be offended."
They'd been at the zoo for several hours when Shelby noticed Rachel starting to lag behind, "are you getting tired?" she asked quietly, Rachel nodded, "want to go home?"
Rachel shook her head, "I don't want to spoil the ..."
"you're not spoiling anything darling, just because we go doesn't mean Amy and her kids have to go home too. You're back at school tomorrow, you don't want to be too tired to get up."
Rachel nodded, "okay."
"Amy" Shelby called her sister over, "we're going to get off, Rachel's getting tired."
Amy smiled, "she's not the only one" she nodded her head towards the buggy where Lily's eyes were almost closed.
"I no tired Momma." Lily frowned.
"Let's go to the gift shop" Amy suggested, "then we can head home."
"I don't want to go home" Max whined
"We're going home Max or Lily will start to get grumpy and then we won't have fun. We can come back another day, maybe when it's a bit warmer yeah."
Max sighed, "Okay Mom."
"Good boy" Amy ruffled his hair, "let's go see what we can get at the gift shop."
Amy insisted on spoiling Rachel in the gift shop, she wouldn't let Shelby buy anything for her daughter, and although it took a lot of persuading for Rachel to choose something, she eventually left clutching a large stuffed elephant, a book about butterflies and an elephant mug where the trunk of the elephant formed the handle of the mug. Shelby had noticed Rachel's fascination with elephants and slipped away from the rest of her family, picking up several items for Rachel's birthday and Christmas, she managed to slip her gift bag under Lily's buggy without Rachel noticing, she'd get it back of Amy another time, maybe when Rachel was at school, she'd never had to find hiding places for presents before and the fact that now she had a reason to hide gifts excited her, Rachel didn't know about the storage under the seat in the armchair, and small gifts could be hidden in the piano bench. Shelby knew she'd have to make a list so she didn't forget where anything was hidden.
The evening passed far too quickly for Rachel's liking, and before she knew it she was laid in bed watching Shelby set the alarm, "I'm going to get up at seven to shower" she told Rachel, "do you want to get up with me or would you rather I woke you up when I got out so you can have an extra 15/20 minutes sleep?"
"I, I had to leave my fathers house at 7.30" Rahel confessed, "you live even further away."
Shelby frowned, "what time do you have to be at school?"
"8.30"
"Okay" Shelby nodded, "it's about 20 minutes to McKinley from here so we can leave at eight, is that okay?"
"You, you're going to take me to school?"
"Yeah" Shelby nodded, "I can drop you off around the corner if you're embarassed by me"
"No" Rachel shook her head, "no, it's not that, I just assumed I'd still have to walk."
"God no" Shelby answered straight away, "I'm not letting you walk miles in the freezing cold, beside that it'll probably still be dark. I'll drop you off and I'll be there to bring you home too and if I can't pick you up one day for whatever reason I'll get Amy or my Mom to be there. I know it's hard for you to get used to but all you're going to get from me and my family is love."
"Thank you"
Shelby placed the alarm clock back on the table and flicked off the light, "there's no need to thank me baby, now close your eyes and get some rest. I love you."
Rachel allowed herself to be pulled into her mother's warm embrace, "I love you too."
"Have a good day darling" Shelby leant over and kissed Rachel's temple as she pulled up outside the school the next morning, "I'll see you later."
"You'll be here?" Rachel asked for the third time sine she'd woken.
"Unless you call me and ask me to come get you I'll be here at 3.30 waiting for you to come out I promise."
"Okay" Rachel nodded, "See you later."
"I love you"
Rachel smiled, "I love you too" she whispered shyly as she left the car, pausing to wave to her mother before walking into the building.
The doors had barely had time to close behind Rachel when she felt the cold sting of coloured ice hitting her face, "we missed you last week manhands. Had to find another target" some random hockey players laughed before hi-fiving each other and throwing the empty cups over their shoulders at Rachel as they walked off down the corridor.. Rachel felt her breakfast shift in her stomach, she was wearing brand new clothes, her life was officially over, Shelby was going to kill her.