Come 3:15pm, Rachel was still sleeping soundly and Shelby wanted to give her some time to wake up and possibly pick out a toy or two before the detectives came so she had something to look forward to. Shelby had already ordered a bunch of toys while Rachel was asleep; toys, books, a toddler bed although she didn't think Rachel would be ready for that yet and Shelby wasn't either, a rocking chair, lots of stuffed animals, fairy lights to decorate her room—Shelby wasn't sure but she was assuming they'd be painting the guest room across the hall pink because Rachel seemed to love it.

Shelby walked over to the couch with a sippy cup of juice some cut up fruit and a little cup with the baby puffs Rachel seems to love so much. It would be a nice little snack to have before dinner. She sat down carefully and once again, saw Rachel sprawled out—one arm above her pig tails coming loose on either side, one arm wrapped around her Raffy, and the blanket that Shelby had put over her halfway off her body.

Shelby pulled Rachel into her lap and rubbed her little belly again, "Rachel baby, open those pretty little eyes for me. Open your eyes for mommy little one."

Rachel twisted around and snuggled her head further into Shelby who just laughed, well that's not what I was trying to accomplish. She sat Rachel up in lap cradling her like a baby and peppered kisses to her face, "Rach, come on baby—open those pretty brown eyes for mommy. Don't you want to pick out some toys with me?"

Rachel slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see her mommy and smiled. "Hi baby girl, did you have a nice nap?"

Rachel looked around and realized they were now home which made her feel a lot calmer than when they were at the doctors office—even though her mommy held her the entire time like she promised, she didn't like it at all. She patted her mommy's chest and sat up a bit more with a big yawn squeezing her little fingers together between their bodies snuggling in as close as possible knowing her mommy would catch her.

Shelby smiled, she had a little love bug on her hands—Rachel absolutely loved to snuggle. She didn't know if it was because she was always this way, or if it was because she didn't get snuggles with Hiram but Shelby wasn't going to allow herself to get worked up about him right now.

"Mommy made you a snack bug, do you want to eat it while we look at some toys?"

Rachel looked up at her mother as if she had three heads, "Me no bug, me Wachie."

"You're my little love bug," Shelby smiled and pressed a kiss to Rachel's temple. She then flipped Rachel around in her lap so she could reach her snack which was in one of the greatest inventions 'no spill' cups for food. Rachel reached her little hand in and squealed in excitement pulling out a cut up piece of strawberry.

Shelby already had FAO Schwarz pulled up on her iPad and the toddler section appeared moments later—"Alright baby girl, let's see what toys we can find you. How about you just point when you see something you like, sound good?"

Rachel had a mouthful of what looked like green grape when Shelby peered her head down so when she saw the nod, she started to scroll through the toys. Rachel just started clapping along—she didn't know what to do as she's never been able to pick out a toy before. Rachel saw a doll that looked extremely similar to herself with brown eyes and brown hair although it was soft, not a true doll—just a little plush doll that was absolutely adorable.

Rachel squirmed around in her mothers lap pointing towards it, "You like this little doll?"

"Dowee?"

"Yeah, that's called a doll baby. We can get it if you like it," the second the words were out of her mouth Rachel's excitement level was through the roof. You'd think it was Christmas (even though they were Jewish), but to Rachel, that's exactly what it was like because she's never gotten anything.

Shelby made sure to add a little doll stroller, blanket, and crib so Rachel could pretend with her doll. She realized she was going a bit crazy especially because her birthday was next month but Shelby didn't care—this was the first time she was able to buy her daughter anything.

"Alright, what else baby?"

Rachel turned around to look at her mommy, confusion written all over her face. "Dowee?" Her little lip quivered and tears welled in her eyes. Shelby didn't understand at first so she quickly moved the snack out of her daughters hands then turned her around so they were chest to chest, "Of course you can get your dolly, mommy was asking what other toys we should get too…" she tried to phrase it another way.

The tears subsided and Rachel snuggled herself back into Shelby's side while they looked at the iPad that way instead forgoing the snack—she picked out some puzzles, books, and a stuffed animal all of which would be delivered after the detectives left. Shelby was glad she avoided a full meltdown. Note to self, Rachel doesn't understand everything you're saying.

"Okay baby, your toys will be here in a little while but in a few minutes we have to talk to some people who are going to try and help us. Mommy is going to be here the whole time, and we are going to stay right here—we aren't leaving the house." She was hoping the fact that they weren't leaving would help ease Rachel's nerves.

"Do you think you can be brave with mommy and help me talk to these two ladies about how you found me? You were super brave, but mommy was scared so she might need you to hold her hand, can you do that?" Reverse psychology on a two year old, Shelby if this doesn't work you're the worst mother.

"Me ave oo mommy, an ol oo. Pomise," Rachel smiled and wrapped her, unfortunately, sticky fingers around Shelby's neck letting the mother feel just how sticky they really were. Shelby cringed on the inside—she knew they had yet to wipe Rachel's fingers yet because she had a meltdown when they were looking for toys and most of it most likely ended up on her sweater which was a deep purple but it was evident now they were still very sticky.

"Thank you so much baby girl. How about we get these sticky fingers cleaned up before we get the couch sticky too." Shelby stood up with Rachel in her arms and got her cleaned up just as the doorbell rang. She knew it had to be the detectives because Max would never let anyone up unless they were her security, her best friends, or he called first.

Both mother and daughter froze for a minute before Shelby scooped Rachel back up and the baby snuggled into her just like at the doctors office—trying to make herself invisible. Shelby looked through the peephole and saw two women standing there one holding up a badge and she took a calming breath before opening the door.

Both Olivia and Amanda smiled at the woman in front of them and the little baby who clung onto her mother as if her life depended on it. Shelby was bouncing up and down a bit while patting her bottom as Rachel had herself folded up so tightly she couldn't really rub her back, whispering sweet words into her ear.

"Hi Miss Corcoran, I'm Lieutenant Benson and this is Detective Amanda Rollins—thank you for making time for us today."

Shelby took a step back to let them in, "Please call me Shelby, and of course. I hope you were able to listen to the recording I sent over earlier so we don't need to go through everything again as we've had quite the day already. As you can see, we're a little shy," Shelby signaled Rachel who was still trying to climb up her mother even further even though there was no where to go.

"We have," Olivia frowned at Rachel, she felt so badly about all of this. Everyone at the 1-6 knew who Shelby Corcoran is, I mean all of New York knew who she was but due to Munch and all of his conspiracy theories mixed with his love of Broadway, they all knew of her and had seen her shows. Elliot because of his wife Kathy but even so, they were all cheering her on when she won her Tony.

Shelby took a minute to lift Rachel and get her resettled and her hand immediately went down Shelby's shirt, "You're okay baby, remember what mommy said? You're safe, we're at home, and these nice ladies just want to talk to mommy right?" Rachel nodded while continuing to suck her pacifier keeping her face hidden.

Shelby looked back up at her guests and apologized, "I'm sorry, can I get you something to drink? I'm not being the best hostess am I?" she laughed nervously.

"Don't worry about us, we're here for you. Both of you," Amanda assured Shelby and Olivia nodded in agreement.

"Like I said, we've listened to the recording—we've also watched the security tapes around the theatre to try and track down a time and follow," Olivia was trying to gauge if Rachel knew his name or not and Shelby picked up on it.

"I'm not sure if she knows his name or not—she tenses if I say d-a-d-d-y," Shelby spelt out, "but I've never said his name out loud and I don't want to try it now if you don't mind."

Olivia nodded. "We've tried to track down his car and location—right now we have established a timeline at least for this little one," she signaled Rachel. "I know this isn't what you want to hear, as no parent would want to hear this about their child but I'm sure you're already expecting it—she was outside for 34 minutes before one of the security guards was able to bring her inside which doesn't leave much time for him to getaway. It seems as if this was premeditated due to the paperwork that was signed and dated so he clearly had a location in mind that he was going and we're doing everything we can to track him down. I have my best detectives on this—none of whom want to see this man getaway with what he did."

Shelby could see Amanda nodding along in agreement through the tears welling in her eyes. 34 minutes doesn't seem like a long time in hindsight, but for a 2 year old, in New York City, in the dark, alone, 34 seconds would be too long to be alone—her baby was alone for 34 minutes and it was breaking Shelby's heart. Stay strong Shelby, don't cry—stay strong for Rachel, she doesn't need to see your tears. She won't understand why you're crying, don't let these tears fall.

Shelby repeated the mantra until she could focus again. "I agree—at first I thought, good he's gone. I have my perfect baby back and that's all that matters but then I realized what happened for me to get her back and…"

Amanda and Olivia could both see the momma bear rage building in Shelby. "We understand," Olivia said, not giving Shelby the chance to get herself worked up. She was about to continue when a little muffled voice was heard.

"Mommy?"

Shelby looked down into her daughters chocolate brown eyes and smiled, "What is it baby?"

"Me firsty," she whispered.

Shelby whispered back as she leaned forward grabbing the sippy cup, "Okay love bug, here's your juice." While 'taking a break', Shelby took the time to grab the blanket that was on the couch and wrap it around her daughters body and cradle her so she wouldn't be facing the detectives, but could see the TV and drink her juice without getting a tummy ache. Shelby turned on Sofia again and put the volume on low while they continued to talk.

"I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind the—"

Amanda cut her off, "Please don't apologize, you're a mother first—plus she doesn't need to hear this."

Olivia continued, "Like I was saying, my team is on this—I want you to keep both of our cards and if you two need anything, anytime, please call us. I know you have your security details, however, it would make me feel better knowing you have our numbers too. Also, feel free to give them our numbers as well. Once we have any leads I'll let you know. You did amazingly well today with getting the information you did, I can't imagine that was easy for either of you—and I commend you on that. It's evident she wouldn't speak with us even if we tried so I'm glad you found a way to open her up. If she says anything else, please let us know."

"I will, and thank you for all you're doing. I wish there was more I could do—unfortunately I don't have anymore information to give you. I know the theatre is cooperating, oh that reminds me," Shelby fumbled around until she found her phone.

"My publicist has written a statement and I didn't want anything to be released until we were able to see the pediatrician and speak with you today. I'm not sure if this sounds, I'm not sure if acceptable is the word, but in the eyes of the law or proceeding further with a case if there will be one down the line—I'm not going to release it until I speak with my family tonight so it will be out tomorrow morning but is there something you think should be added or removed? Sorry I'm rambling."

Olivia and Amanda exchanged a small smile before Amanda reached for the phone and Olivia reached for her glasses—together they read through the statement. Everything seemed to be in place, there wouldn't be anything that would 'hinder' the case plus, it didn't matter what Shelby released—it's her daughter seeing as Hiram terminated his rights.

The only thing Olivia thought of was upping Shelby's detail to full time instead of just the 'holiday season' which Shelby agreed to. Along with a photo of she and Rachel together which they would be able to take easily—it didn't have to be professional. The cozier the better, wrapped up in a blanket at home together snuggling would be perfect. So that's what they would do once the detectives left and Rachel's little personality came back out.

Rachel liked when the ladies left, that was her favorite part—she even waved bye-bye and gave a smile which the women found to be super cute. Shelby went to apologize but it was once again stopped. Damn, they are much better than the idiots I met last night even if Rachel didn't necessarily like them, they didn't make her cry either.

After they left, the mother and daughter snuggled up in the blanket together after Shelby fixed her hair—luckily she had put on some makeup earlier so she looked alive and everyone said she had 'natural beauty' whatever the hell that meant because lord knows most times during the months of November and December she felt and looked like garbage.

Rachel got excited to take pictures with her mommy—although she didn't understand why, once the iPhone flipped around and she was able to see both herself and her mommy she got excited and smiled like it was her job. They had a bunch of adorable photos—some of them smiling at the camera, some of Rachel looking up at Shelby with pure admiration, some of Shelby looking down at Rachel with her heart fuller than ever, some of Shelby kissing Rachel making her laugh. By the end of their mini home 'photoshoot' it was time for dinner and Max called up with very exciting news.

Rachel's toys were here—Joe and Mike brought them up as they had been there all day to make sure everything went smoothly and would be leaving once the toys were delivered. They were going to do the same thing tomorrow then they would be continuing most likely for the next week, while seeing probably some if not all of the Corcoran bunch. Oh joy. They were a loud bunch.

Rachel stayed in her mothers arms as Joe and Mike did their best to set up most of the toys that needed it, while Rachel cuddled her new 'dowee' which was one of the first things they got out. They had just finished putting together the mini table and chairs and undoing the tea set when Shelby told the boys to go home for the night. Dinner was ready and she made sure to send them home with some then Shelby and Rachel enjoyed dinner at her new table which made Rachel super happy.

That night, after another shared bath time Rachel was snuggled in Shelby's arms as the mother read her one of the new princess books she purchased as she drank her bottle of warm milk. Shelby could see her eyes fluttering and decided to close the book and cradle Rachel in her arms and sing to her, taking the bottle in her own hand while Rachel's settled in her favorite spot now that she had her hands free. Listening to her mommy sing was the best thing ever.

She was in new pjs, had new toys, a warm bubba, was in her mommy's arms, and could hear her mommy's heartbeat while holding her booby as she fell asleep. After 20 minutes of watching her baby girl sleep peacefully, Shelby extracted herself carefully from the bed making sure to put pillows on either side of the baby just in case to make one of the most difficult phone calls.

Shelby had set up the baby monitor that had a video screen on it so she could physically see Rachel if she began to stir in case she needed to go tend to her daughter then walked across to what would be Rachel's bedroom where she had already put some of the clothes she'd ordered and came today along with some of the toys.

Katherine Corcoran was looking out the window lost in her thoughts as her husband did the dishes when the phone rang. Her children called all the time, well…all her children except for Shelby who called all the time except for the end of November and all of December where she shut herself off from the world. So when Katherine looked at the caller ID and saw Shelby's name she gasped.

Thomas and Katherine were high school sweethearts—they have five beautiful children and eight grandchildren not including Rachel. So when his wife gasped, he knew something must be wrong. He quickly dried his hands and led Katherine into the den as she breathlessly answered the phone, "Shelby honey, are you okay?"

She and Thomas exchanged a worried look—Shelby never called from November 18th until January 1st and right now it was November 25th.

When Shelby heard her mother's voice she couldn't contain her tears anymore, "Momma," and with that, the dams broke.

Katherine put the phone on speaker. "Shelly bean, I'm here too," Thomas said, "What's going on sweetie."

"R-rac-hel," Shelby hiccupped.

The parents exchanged another look, do we know a Rachel? No? "Honey, who's Rachel?"

"My baby," she whispered.

Katherine could swear her heart skipped a beat while Thomas looked completely shocked—they both knew Shelby didn't know the name of her baby. "Shelly, how do you…" Thomas was trying to figure out how to ask this question while not being insensitive.

Before he could even ask what he wanted to Shelby regained her voice, "She's mine, she's here, she's perfect, god she's beautiful." Shelby knew her parents wouldn't believe her—it's not everyday you get your child back especially considering she wasn't supposed to be able to search for her daughter until she was 18.

Thomas and Katherine were trying to figure out if their daughter was having some type of mental breakdown or something—she didn't seem drunk at all so that was ruled out, but they have seen her extremely depressed. Suddenly their cell phones beeped and Thomas held the landline while Katherine opened the message from Shelby to both of them, in the picture was what seemed to be a baby in what they knew was Shelby's bed sleeping soundly with a pacifier in her mouth, her brown hair splayed around her, holding a pink giraffe.

Katherine gasped, "Honey…"

Shelby could hear it already, "I know momma, I know. She's skin and bones because those son of bitches didn't feed my baby. Don't you think one of the first things they did was test our DNA? This is my baby, MY baby, my sweet precious, beautiful, perfect baby. She is the most adorable little one. And," Shelby choked up again.

"They didn't take care of her, I thought they wanted her. Hiram left her outside the theatre with a letter safety pinned to her onesie—no coat, no hat, no mittens, all alone. Anything could have happened to my baby, MY baby! I guess on Leroy's deathbed they found out he was the biological father and after that, Hiram lost his shit—he stopped caring. The letter, my god the letter was awful. He didn't ever refer to Rachel as a person, he kept writing 'it'."

Shelby swore she heard her father growl over her mothers tears, but she was too busy crying herself while explaining her past few days. "He terminated his parental rights, said we'd never find him whatever the hell that means. The detectives are working on it but right now, my heart is so full having my baby back. I just, I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier it's just I've been—Rachel and I didn't get home from the theatre until 12:45 on Thanksgiving and then we woke up at 10:15am this morning, then between the meeting with her pediatrician, the detectives, multiple naps, and getting a statement ready to be released to the public—"

Shelby took a breath and wiped some of her tears but it was no use as they continued to stream down her face, "Rachel's just so scared, of everything. If it's just us, she's fine but anyone else, Rachel is terrified; her little body shakes and tears stream down her face—she climbs up my body like a koala bear as if I'm going to disappear and it breaks my heart. I just wanted all my ducks in a row before I let myself breakdown and I knew once I heard your voices I'd breakdown and I'm so sorry I'm so sorry."

Katherine couldn't speak through her tears so Thomas spoke up, "Shelly bean, you have nothing to apologize for." He saw his wife nodding along wiping her tears. "Mom and I are so proud of you. I know you must be so happy to have Rachel back in your life, please try and remember you aren't at fault for what happened before she came to live with you okay?"

All they heard on the other end was sniffling and they knew their daughter was already beating herself up over everything. That's always how Shelby operated—with everything. Before any of them could speak again there was a bunch of noise in the background, Shelby quickly dried her tears and ran into the master bedroom even though she still had her cellphone with her—she saw Rachel on the monitor moving and didn't want her to be scared if she woke up.

As she ran into the bedroom she slowed down as she approached the bed, taking off one of the pillow barricades she put up in place and putting her phone and the monitor on the nightstand completely forgetting that her parents were on the line and snuggled next to her baby.

She ran her fingers gently through Rachel's hair, "Shh, shh, shh, mommy's here. You're okay baby girl."

Rachel rolled right into Shelby practically throwing herself on top of her mother and started to cry—this had happened the night before as well when Rachel's pacifier came out of her mouth; to Shelby, it seemed as though her daughter was a true baby, missing pacifier means the baby cries—find pacifier, baby stops crying. Tonight she did the same thing, she found the pacifier and maneuvered it into Rachel's mouth which was harder to do as she was now buried in Shelby's chest.

"Come on love bug, mommy's got your pacifier right here for you…" After a few tries, Shelby got the pacifier into her mouth and Rachel's tears subsided after sneaking a hand up her mothers shirt. This little one knows what she wants even while asleep.

Katherine and Thomas were listening on the line as the baby's tears stopped completely when Shelby started to sing and they couldn't be more proud of their daughter. Thomas would never admit it out loud but he's always had an extra soft spot in his heart for his Shelly bean—she always had a dream and set out to do just that. She was the one who essentially saved his life but even before that, she's always been the greatest little and big sister.

Even with all the stardom in the world, she's kept her head on straight—never let it get to her, never forgot where she came from. She paid off her parent's house for them 'just because', helped all her siblings out with money, always sends them a little extra if they ask for money, donates to multiple charities, and attempts in New York to be 'just another person' even though she gets recognized everywhere.

"Mommy loves you so much—have sweet dreams my love," Shelby kissed the top of her head and was about to let her eyes close when she looked over at the clock and saw not only the baby monitor but her cellphone.

Oh shit. My parents! Not to mention the fact it was only 8:05pm and way too early for Shelby to go to sleep for the night. Once again, Shelby carefully extracted herself from Rachel, took the monitor and her cellphone into Rachel's room and sat down once more.

"I'm so sorry, Rachel woke up and I didn't want her to be scared and alone in my bed—she's always had me right there and—"

"Shelly bean calm down," Thomas interrupted. "It's okay. We understand completely; we did raise five children you know?" Shelby heard both her parents laugh a little.

"You're amazing with her honey," Katherine said, and Shelby could tell she had been crying either again, or the tears never stopped.

"Thanks momma. She's, gosh she's just so perfect. Anyways I forget where I was with telling you guys everything but tomorrow Amy is releasing my statement along with a picture of the two of us so obviously I wanted you to know—I actually wanted to call you earlier but I didn't want to breakdown in front of Rachel because she wouldn't understand and I needed to speak to the detectives to make sure it wouldn't hinder anything just incase they find the piece of scum who," the parents heard Shelby's breath hitch in her throat.

"We know honey, we know. And we understand. How about this, and before you get defensive," Shelby already felt defensive hearing her dad say that but let him speak anyways. "We know you have an extremely valid reason for not calling the family in November and December, none of us are faulting or blaming—that being said, I'm guessing you want to tell your siblings before they find out online their niece that they thought was adopted is now living with you correct?"

He didn't really know how to phrase it other than 'adopted' even though Shelby was a surrogate, she wasn't going to correct him.

Shelby's defenses broke because what her dad was saying made sense. "I want all of them to know, but I don't know if I can explain this four more times," Shelby said, tears already streaming down her face.

"That's why I have already thought of a plan. I know everyone is going to want to meet Rachel, however right now that's going to be too much for her I'm guessing."

Shelby nodded even though they couldn't see her. Thomas always was the level headed one while Katherine always liked to jump right into things and throw huge parties for literally everything. However, after hearing everything how about we introduce Rachel to the family slowly but let everyone know about her tonight. We can do one of those multiple call things…what is it? A fun way call?"

Shelby laughed at her fathers misuse of the tech terminology, "It's merging a call daddy—or sometimes it's a three-way call depending on how many people you're inviting."

Thomas was happy to hear his daughter laugh. Shelby spoke up again, "Addie and Jake are probably putting kids to bed right now, so we will have to at least do this twice…I'm not sure I can do it."

"That's why we're on the phone Shelly bean. How about mom and I explain everything and you can interject if we get things wrong or if they ask you questions—but we will let them know if you don't want to answer, you don't have to. And, more importantly, we will stress the fact they aren't allowed to just show up."

Shelby once again nodded to the empty room that she was going to turn into what she envisioned as Rachel's 'nursery/toddler room' because she was still so little. "That sounds okay. Also, if I don't answer again, it's because Rachel woke up but she should be good for the night fingers crossed."

"Sounds good honey. Now we're going to hang up because you called the landline and then we're going to call you, then add Jeremy and Lexie first okay?"

"Okay, talk in a minute."

Shelby took that minute, more like five because her parents really needed to figure out how to use their phones better to calm herself. Lexie was now off at college and luckily, didn't like to go out and party—she was like Shelby in that sense, she knew what she wanted and chased her dream. Jeremy was much older so for him answering the phone at this time of night was no problem. Once everyone was on the line, their parent's informed them Shelby was there too and all she heard was two gasps followed by, "Are you okay and Oh my god, what the hell is going on?"

Katherine and Thomas took turns explaining 'what the hell was going on' as Lexie so nicely put it—Thomas more so than Katherine as she started to cry again. Shelby was crying again just hearing it, and because Shelby was crying, Jeremy was angry—not at Shelby but at the douchebag Hiram. He wanted to ring his neck after a good beat down nobody messes with my sister.

Being the oldest, he took his job very seriously. Shelby was a surprise to the family—being much younger than the other three. Lexie on the other hand was an oopsies, but they love her to death. It was great to have someone close enough in age to Shelby so she didn't grow up in the house alone once everyone left to essentially start their lives while Shelby was still at home.

Lexie was too in shock to say much. Being 19, most of her nieces and nephews were closer in age to her which made sense considering how much older her siblings were. Her siblings started their families at young ages just like their parents did. The youngest nephew being 7, but now Lexie is excited to have a little niece that's three—her very own little princess that she can spoil.

The phone call ended by them both agreeing not to bombard Shelby either with texts/calls or at her door—but they did ask for a picture which she happily sent to them after the warning from their parents that she looked to be around the age of one not three—that sent Jeremy spiraling again in anger. What type of 'parents' don't feed their children?

Lexie just looked at the picture and studied her little features, she truly looked like a little Shelby—in every sense of the word besides those brown eyes which showed so much emotion. She couldn't wait to meet her.

After hanging up, Katherine and Thomas checked in with Shelby who said she was okay and they made the next set of phone calls. Jake and Addie had similar reactions, although Addie being Addie wanted to know why the hell she didn't know sooner to which Jake jumped down her throat and repeated everything their parents had just told them and once they heard Shelby's sobs, immediately stopped fighting.

Jake and Addie always fought like that—being so close in age, they were always getting in trouble with each other. Jeremy tried to stay out of it and play peace maker but most of the time he let his parents deal with it because there was only so much he could do. Once Shelby was born, Addie was over the moon having a little sister—she finally got her 'birthday wish' apparently she had wished for a sister for many birthdays and it finally came true.

Addie and Shelby have always been super close, so her reaction made sense to not only their parents but to Shelby. However, Shelby didn't feel badly for calling her parents first—for a lot of things growing up, Shelby did go to Addie, but with something as big as this, she went to her parents. That's how it was when she first told them about being a surrogate in the first place, and how it was now that she had Rachel back. That being said, once Shelby sent Addie and Jake a picture of Rachel, 'all was forgiven' in Addie's mind as she was staring down at her little niece with a smile even though tears streamed down her face.

This is how my babies looked as babies…not at three. My poor little Shell-bell. Maybe I should just go see her anyways…she needs me, and Rachel could get to know me.

Addie had been silent for too long and Katherine spoke up, her voice could send shivers down all of her kids spines knowing the eyebrow was raised when she spoke, "Addison Marie Corcoran you are not going to New York do you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am," Addie replied, bowing her head even though her mother couldn't see her. Dammit how does she always know.

"A mother always knows," Katherine said, shaking her head. Okay now that's just creepy, now she's a mind reader too Addie thought to herself.

Shelby stifled a laugh, leave it to Addie to be the one to get 'punished' over the phone. They all said their goodbyes after another promise to not bombard Shelby, letting them know the statement would be out tomorrow and the siblings hung up the phone leaving Shelby on with just her parents.

"You okay Shelly bean?" Thomas asked.

"I'm okay daddy, just—it's not that I don't want the world to know about my little angel, I just, is it selfish of me to want to keep her to myself a little longer?"

The parents laughed; even when you aren't famous like their daughter is, new parents always want to keep their 'newborns' to themselves. And essentially to Shelby, Rachel is her newborn. "No honey, it isn't selfish at all. Why don't you get off the phone and go snuggle with your precious bundle of joy right now. Tomorrow the world may know, but according to what you told us, you have plenty of toys there to keep you busy through the weekend and David gave you all the time off you want. You can think about what you want to do going forward—but in the meantime, stay in. Nobody said you have to go out—and I'm pretty sure little miss Rachel will love anytime she gets to spend with her mommy whether you're snuggling in bed, or playing with her new toys."

"Thanks daddy. I love you both so much, I don't know what I'd do without you."

"We love you too sweetie. Give Rachel a kiss from us."

Shelby hung up the phone and did just that: snuggled her baby girl. She thought getting into bed after brushing her teeth and changing into her nightly t-shirt and panties meant getting to stare a bit at the perfect little angel laying in her bed, but Rachel had other plans. It was almost as if she could sense her mothers presence and flung herself on top of Shelby who welcomed her baby with open arms.

Tomorrow the world may know I have a precious little baby girl, but I promise I will always keep you safe. I love you my perfect little angel. Sweet dreams love bug.

A little hand snuck it's way up Shelby's top and once Rachel was settled, the two Corcoran's slept peacefully through the night.