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

"We're going to the cinema after school on Thursday" Noah had told Rachel on Sunday evening when she'd called to thank him for visiting, "you should come, it'll be fun".

Thursday morning saw Rachel have the cast on her arm changed, the bulky white cast she'd worn for just over a week was replaced with a lighter cast, she'd even choosen the colour herself, blue, it had taken her a while to decide but she'd made the decision all on her own, "it's okay to be nervous" Shelby told Rachel as they drove towards the cinema, "but I promise, if you want to come home you just have to call me and I'll come right back to get you."

"Okay" Rachel whispered.

"I've told you that I'll be at the mall for a little while" Shelby was going to use her time without her daughter to buy presents for her birthday in just a few days time, "but that doesn't matter, I'll still come get you, and if for whatever reason you can't get hold of me then don't panic, Amy's number is stored in her phone, I've called her already and she's promised she'll come get you too."

"Okay"

"You'll have a great time sweetheart, I know you will."

"Hey" Noah was waiting for Rachel outside the building, "you okay?"

"Yeah" Rachel nodded, "thanks."

"Cool" he smiled, "everyone else is inside."

"Call me when you're ready to come home" Shelby told Rachel before kissing her cheek and pulling $20 out of her purse, "have a great time."

"We were planning to get a pizza or something after the movie" Noah told Rachel and Shelby, "I can bring her home afterwards, it's no problem."

Shelby nodded and handed Rachel more money, "Okay, I don't mind picking you up, just let me know either way so I can be back from the mall in time if Noah brings you back."

"Okay."

"See you later darling" she kissed Rachel's head, "I love you."

"I love you too" Rachel whispered.

Noah waited patiently for Shelby and Rachel to say their goodbyes before leading her inside, finding the rest of 'the guys' by the soda machine, "Rachel, this is Mike and Matt" he introduced her to the two other boys, and "Quinn, Brittany and Santana." He gestured to the three cheerios and Rachel felt her heart stop, Quinn and Santana had, once upon a time, been the worst of the bullies but Quinn simply nodded in her direction and Santana didn't even look up from filing her nails, Brittany however almost knocked Rachel backwards as she flung her arms around her and pulled Rachel into a bone crushing hug, "B" Noah tapped her on the shoulder, "I think Rachel might need to take a breath."

"Sorry" Brittany grinned as she let go and took a step back, "I was just so happy that you're okay, Principal Sylvester told us you had to go to hospital, it made me sad." She didn't give Rachel chance to respond, "hey" she gently took hold of the fingers on Rachel's injured hand, "no one's signed your cast."

"It's new" Rachel explained quietly, "I only got it put on this morning."

"It' a cool colour" Brittany smiled, "when I fell off the cheer pyramid I got a pink cast, 'Tana and Q bought me unicorn stickers and we drew a magic castle on my cast so the unicorns had somewhere to live. We should get you some duck stickers and then your cast can be the duck pond, that would be so awesome".

Rachel was surprised when she found herself having a great time, Santana more or less ignored her but everyone else seemed to welcome her to the group with open arms, Brittany especially. She did however find herself worried when it came to ordering pizza but it didn't matter, they agrred to split the cost of three large pizzas and several sides then share everything, it meant Rachel didn't have to worry if she didn't order as much as everyone else.

"Do you need a ride" Noah asked once they were ready to leave the pizza restaurant, "I'm giving Matt and B a lift, San and Matt live closer to Quinn so she's taking them home."

"Sure" Rachel nodded, "I just need to call my mom and let her know."

Rachel hesitated for a moment when she got home, she didn't know whether she was allowed to walk straight into the house or if she had to wait for Shelby to let her in, but Noah was waiting to make sure Shelby was home so she took a deep breath and pushed open the door, pausing for a moment to wave to Noah and Brittany before stepping into the house, "Hey baby, I'm in the kitchen" Shelby called as she heard the door close. "Hey" she smiled as Rachel walked into the kitchen, "did you have a good time?"

"Yeah" Rachel smiled, "I did thank you...I, I'm sorry I just walked in, I was going to knock but Noah was waiting, he wanted to make sure you were home, I..."

"Rachel" Shelby interrupted, "this is your home, you don't have to knock, in fact I got you this while I was out." She picked up a small pink gift box from the sideboard and handed it to Rachel.

"It, it's not my birthday" Rachel was confused.

"It's a good job it's not a birthday present then" Shelby smiled gesturing for Rachel to open the box. Rachel gasped as she lifted the lid off the box to find a single key attatched to a large 'R' shaped keyring, "I thought, in the future, there are going to be times when I might be out running errands or something when you come back from spending time with friends or whatever, so you'll be needing your own key, you're free to come in and out as you like here, you don't need my permission to walk into this house."

"Thank you Momma" Rachel ran her fingers over the keyring as tears filled her eyes, "thank you."

"It's okay baby." Shelby pulled Rachel into a hug, if she was this greatful for a house key, Shelby could only imagine what she'd be like on her birthday.

"Hey baby" Shelby shook Rachel's shoulders gently a few days later, "it's time to wake up sweetheart." Rachel groaned and tossed in the bed for a while before finally opening her eyes, "Happy Birthday" Shelby said with a smile, "sit up, I've got something for you." Rachel allowed Shelby to help her to sit up before she was passed a small plate, "Happy Birthday" Shelby repeated as she saw Rachel's face light up at the sight of a chocolate muffin holding a lit candle.

"You remembered" Rachel whispered

"Baby" Shelby wiped a stray tear from Rachel's cheek, "I was in labour for the best part of three days, I won't ever forget, not to mention I'm your Mom, of course I'm going to remember, the day my beautiful daughter was born now you need to blow the candle out, make a wish but don't tell anyone or it won't come true."

Rachel blew at the candle, her wish was a simple one, she wished that her Momma wouldn't ever leave her. "What now?" she asked.

Shelby sighed softly, "you can either eat the cake now or you can save it for later and I can make you pancakes for breakfast, we could go back to sleep for a while or go downstairs and see if there's anything out of place, your birthday your choice" Shelby smiled to herself, She and Amy had spent almost two hours wrapping presents and blowing up baloons, Rachel was in for a big surprise when she got downstairs.

"Will you share the cake with me?" Rachel finally asked after thinking about her options for a while.

"If that's what you want" Shelby smiled, sitting on the bed beside her daughter, "do you want to eat here or downstairs?"

"Don't I have to get up?"

Shelby shook her head, "it's your birthday, you can do whatever you like, there's something I'd like to do later as part of your present but we don't have to do it today if you'd rather stay home."

"I, I get a present?" Rachel coudn't believe what Shelby was saying.

"Baby, Amy came round this morning before you woke with presents from everyone, you've got lots of presents."

"Why?"

"Because it's your birthday" Shelby said wih a smile before answering the question Rachel really asked, "because they are your family and they love you and they want you to have a great birthday."

"I, I, my fathers, we didn't celebrate."

"Okay" Shelby held her tightly, the muffin now forgotten, "but that doesnt mean we can't celebrate, but we don't have to if you're not comfortable, we can put the presents in the closet until you're ready or I can unwrap them for you, whatever you want."

"Can I see them?"

"The presents?" Rachel nodded and Shelby stood from the bed, holding her hand out for her daughter, "of course." They walked downstairs hand in hand, pausing only when they reached the living room, "go on" she smiled, "you go in first, I'll be right behind you." Rachel's hands shook as she reached for the door handle, gasping as she stepped into the room, "Happy Birthday" Shelby grinned as Rachel turned to face her, "is it okay?" She saw tears pooling in Rachel's eyes, "it's too much, I'm sorry."

"No, no, it, it's... thank you" Rachel flung herself into Shelby's arms, "thank you."

"You're welcome beautiful, would you like to open some presents?"

Rachel nodded slowly, "yes, yes please."

Shelby couldn't help but grin as she sat amongst the balloons on the floor, "these are from me" she pointed to the first pile of presents, all wrapped neatly in pink paper. Rachel sat beside Shelby for a while before Shelby broke the ice by passing her a present, she knew it was pyjamas, she wanted to start with something small, "here, open them, they're all for you."

Rachel turned the gift over in her hands for a while examining it closley before unwrapping it slowly and carefully without ripping the paper, her face lit up as she ran her fingers over the soft cotton fabric, "they're so soft, I love them, thank you."

Shelby wrapped her arm around Rachel's shoulder and kissed her temple, "it's okay my darling, I'm so glad you like them." Tears rolled silently down Rachel's cheek as she opened cds, dvds, clothes, books and her ipod she couldn't believe how much Shelby had bought her and she'd cried for almost 20 minutes when she'd opened the ipod, it was the most expensive thing she'd ever been given. "Open this one next" Shelby handed Rachel a small pink envelope, "I, I guess this is the gift I'm least sure about."

Rachel carefully opened the envelope, "Momma" was al she could say as she read the writing on the stapled sheets, Shelby had paid for her to be a zookeeper in the elephant enclosure for a day, "Momma, I, thank you, thank you."

"I'm glad you like it" Shelby kssed Rachel again, "I noticed how much you seemed to like them when we went to the zoo with Amy, Max and Lil."

"Yeah" Rachel afted with her mother, "I don't know why, I just like them, I guess they're so huge but at the same time they seem so peaceful. I can't believe I'll actually get to touch one" her tears turned into sobs, "this is the best day of my life" she whispered.

"Oh baby" Shelby pulled Rachel to sit on her lap, rocking her slightly as the teen cried into her mother's chest, "it's okay, you're okay."

"I'm sorry" Rachel sobbed, "you've done so much and I'm ruining it all."

"You're not ruining it at all darling, it's okay. Today is your day, we can take things as slowly as you like. I think we should leave the rest of the gifts for a while and get something to eat, is that okay?"

Rachel looked at the pile of presents noticing there was only one present left from Shelby, she sniffled and wiped at her eyes before quietly asking, "could I open the last present from you?"

"Of course" she kissed Rachel's temple and wiped at her damp cheeks before reaching for the last gift, "here you go baby."

Rachel carefully peeled off the paper to reveal a large wooden box with the words 'my memories' painted on the top, "Momma" she sobbed as she ran the fingers of her good hand over the lid of the box, "it's so beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it sweetheart, I saw you'd kept your movie ticket and I thought you might want to keep some birthday cards and things, photos, whatever you want."

"Thank you" Rachel smiled, she'd had a great time at the movies and Brittany had promised her they'd hang out again before they went back to school.

"You're welcome" she kissed Rachel's head, "do you want to go out for breakfast?" She looked at the clock, "well, I suppose it'd be brunch now, we could go out for a couple of hours then come back and open some more gifts."

Rachel nodded, "that sounds good."

Shelby patted Rachl's thigh, "jump up then so we can both get dressed and go or it'll be lunch time before we get anywhere."

After they'd eaten Shelby told Rachel she was taking her somewhere to get the final part of her present, "it's nowhere bad and I'll be right with there with you" was all Shelby would tell her.

"Mom" Rachel frowned as they pulled up outside Lima's animal centre.

"I thought that now we're a family we really need a pet, I filled in all the paperwork and had the home checks a few months ago but I never got round to coming and picking something out so I thought maybe you could help?"

"Mom" was all Rachel could say.

"Is that okay with you? I don't want anything huge, so preferably a cat or a small dog but other than that I'll leave the decision up to you.".

They walked into the shelter and were soon greeted by a volunteer who pulled up Shelby's file and offered to show them around the animals, they saw several dogs and cats, they were all adorable but none really stood out to either Rachel or Shelby, anything that jumped up at or yapped at Shelby was immediately a no in the mother's head, as was the dog that nipped her fingers when she tried to stroke it, "I'm afraid that's all we have" the shelter voulenteer told them.

"Wha, what about that one" Rachel gestured to the final enclosure where she saw a small ball of tabby fur curled up in the far corner making a noise that sounded like a whimper.

The voulenteer shook her head, "that's Jasper, he was in a bad way when he came in, he's almost back to full health but he doesn't like people, he won't let anyone approach him."

"Could I try?" Rachel asked

The voulenteer shrugged, "I guess so, but don't expect anything from him." Shelby and the volunteer saw Jasper look in Rachel's direction as she entered the enclosure but he only whined and curled himself into a tighter ball. Rachel was undettered though and she crouched on the floor a little way away from him, holding her uninjured hand out palm up in his direction before fixing her gaze on the floor infront of her.

It took almost half an hour, Shelby could tell the volunteer was getting bored but she wasn't going to give up, and she was glad they hadn't when Jasper slowly uncurled himself and began to limp slowly towards Rachel, he sniffed cautiously at her palm for a minute before rubbing his head against it, Rachel looked up at Shelby with a huge smile on her face and Shelby felt her eyes fill with tears, her daughter was so beautiful, "we'll take him" Shelby told the volunteer.

"Are you sure? We've made him a special case, lowered the adoption fees but no one wanted him"

"We'll take him" Shelby repeated firmly.

The volunteer took Shelby and Rachel out to the reception area where somone offered to help them fill in the adoption forms whilst the volunteer got Jasper into a carry box. It was this worker who explained Jasper had been found in a hedge, only a few days old, with several injuries including a broken leg, the cast for which had only just been removed which explained the limp, something the vet had told the staff at the shelter would probably go as Jasper got used to walking on the leg again.

Fifteen minutes later and they left the shelter with Jasper in a cardboard carry box, "we need to stop at the petshop to get some things for him" Shelby said as she strapped the carrybox onto the back seat, "it can be his birthday too."

They arrived home to find a giftbag on the doorstep with a 'happy birthday' helium balloon tied to the handles, as Shelby lifted Jasper from the car Rachel picked up the giftbag before unlocking the door with her own key, "what have you got there?" Shelby asked as she followed Rachel into the hall and placed the carrybox on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

"I don't know" Rachel frowned, "it was on the doorstep."

Shelby smiled, "check the tag" she gestured to the gift.

"It's from Noah" Rachel smiled as she read the message scrawled on the gift tag, "he must have come over whilst we were out."

Shelby smiled, "why don't you open it while I get the bags from the car and then we can get Jasper settled."

Rachel slowly walked into the living room, kicking a few balloons out of her way as she walked before she sat on the sofa and opened the giftbag, her eyes filling with tears as she saw the gift Noah had chosen.

Shelby dropped the bags from the petshop on the floor beside the box that housed their new pet and walked into the living room making a mental note to move the balloons before they let Jasper out, she didn't want any of them to pop and scare him even more than he probably already was, "Rachel" her concerns about the cat were soon forgotten once she saw the tears rolling down Rachel's face, "baby what's wrong?" she asked as she sat beside her daughter and pulled her into a hug, "Oh sweetheart she smiled as Rachel passed her Noah's gift, a plain silver photo frame with a picture of them both as children, both hanging upside down from a set of monkey bars with huge smiles on their faces and both missing front teeth, they looked adorable.

"My daddies never took me to the park" Rachel explanied, "I only got to go when Mrs Puckerman would take me with Noah."

"I promise you we can go to the park whenever you want" Shelby told Rachel, "you just have to say the words."

Rachel nodded and wiped at her face, "can we let Jasper out now?"

"Yeah, I thought we could put his bed in here but leave his igloo in the hall where it's quieter." Rachel nodded, "I'll put his food in the kitchen and his litter tray in the laundry room, we can let him out near his igloo, give him time to get settled in before he has to face us."

"Okay."

"I'll cut the labels and stuff off his bed, can you shut all the doors upstairs? I want to try and keep him down here if we can, I'd rather not lose him under a bed just yet."

"He's like me isn't he" Rachel asked, "I mean he's scared but he'll be okay right?"

"Yeah" Shelby agreed, "we'll give him lots of love and lots of cuddles and he'll be fine, he'll need time to adjust to living here."

"Like I did."

Shelby nodded and kissed Rachel's head, "Yeah, but he'll be okay, just like you'll be okay."

Rachel smiled and nodded, "I, I think that I might be okay too."