It's been more than thriteen years since Shelby last held her daughter in her arms. And it's been three days since Shelby first heard her daughter sing, effectively tilting her world off its axis.

Since the shock wore off, Shelby replayed Rachel's performance over and over again in her head, falling in love with her daughter a little bit more every time. Rachel was brilliant, Shelby thought. She was absolutely incredible. Rachel was her up on that stage.

She's you through and through, she heard Hiram's voice in her head. After Hiram stopped her from leaving at Sectionals he promised he would call her to schedule a time to meet and discuss everything. Shelby agreed, recognizing that a high school show choir competition wasn't the right time or place to discuss their daughter that she hasn't seen since birth. Their daughter? Was she even allowed to think of Rachel as hers?

She also needed the time to gather her thoughts. Shelby didn't understand what was happening. How did she go from just doing her job to running into her daughter, the men she gave her to, and the past that she ever rarely let herself think about? She was just there to do work. Scoping out the competition was one of her favorite parts about her job. She got a thrill out of realizing that nobody could beat her and the team that she built and turned into national champions. She loved plotting all the ways she can win with her endless supply of innovative ideas. This year she was already thinking about ways to get her students to perform an entire routine on their hands. It would destroy the competition. But now, the competition was her daughter. Her baby girl that she had given up when she was only 23 years old.

Fourteen years ago:

Shelby graduated a semester early from New York University. She was eager to start her career and put everything that she had learned to practice. However, life had other plans. Her dad got diagnosed with cancer the day after she graduated and the following week, Shelby hit pause on her journey to get on Broadway and moved back to her hometown of Lima, Ohio. It was more important to her to help out and be closer to her family.

One day as she was sitting in the hospital waiting for her dad to finish his latest round of chemotherapy, an ad in the paper she was reading caught her eye. A gay couple in town wanted to have a child and they were looking for a surrogate. The amount of money being offered was staggering. It was enough to help pay for her dad's cancer treatment and enough to also help her survive in New York City for at least two years. Shelby looked at the ad for hours that day.

She knew that her parents were already struggling to pay the medical bills. Although they never struggled to provide for Shelby and her sister Kim growing up, she also knew that they didn't have the expendable flow of income to finance cancer treatment without concern. They had spent a lot of money recently putting Shelby through school and refused to touch the savings they had for when Kim started college that fall. Shelby knew she needed to help. She was already working three jobs and it wasn't making a dent, so she called the number on the ad.

Shelby liked Hiram and Leroy Berry the moment she met them. Hiram was a up-and-coming lawyer working for the prominent law firm in town. He was practicing family law. Leroy was an already accomplished music professor at the State College right outside of Lima. Shelby took a liking to the way they interacted with each other and with her. They took the time to get to know Shelby, to answer all of her questions, to make her feel comfortable, and to make sure that this is what she really wanted. They never pressured her or acted like she was just a means to an end. They treated her with kindness and respect. They were loving and caring and silly and also appreciated music and art as much as she did. Shelby knew that they would be excellent fathers.

After Shelby got pregnant, Hiram and Leroy paid her the amount advertised in advance. A show of faith to demonstrate that they trusted her. Shelby didn't tell anyone what she was doing. Her family had enough on their plate, so she told them she got cast in the lead role of an Off-Broadway play that she auditioned for right before she graduated. It was true, she had gotten the part but had to turn it down to come back home to her family. Her dad had been accepted into a promising new clinical trial in Cleveland at the end of that summer. They were going to turn it down to pursue other, more affordable treatment options until Shelby told them about her new gig in New York and how much it paid. They were skeptical at first but Shelby insisted that that's how much leading roles, even those Off-Broadway, paid.

She hated lying to her parents, but she wanted her dad to get the best medical care possible. She needed him to be okay. So, when her parents packed up to start the clinical trial in Cleveland, dropping her sister Kim off at college along the way, Shelby, also packed up to move back to "New York," which actually meant moving into the Berry household across the city.

Shelby wasn't going to lie. Being pregnant had not been easy. From the morning sickness to the insatiable cravings and the loneliness she felt having to go through pregnancy without her family and friends, it was at times frustrating and difficult. But at the same time, Shelby loved every single minute of it. From learning the baby's sex, to hearing her heartbeat and feeling her kick for the first time, Shelby was absolutely enchanted by the baby girl growing in her stomach. The closer she got to her due date in December, the more and more Shelby began to remind herself that this baby wasn't for her, it was for Hiram and Leroy, who had been doing everything they can to make her feel as comfortable as possible. They were attentive and supportive but also gave her the space to experience pregnancy on her own terms.

One night in late October when Shelby couldn't sleep, she walked down to the kitchen in search of the strawberry ice cream that she had been craving almost daily since she got pregnant. Hiram was sitting in the kitchen deep in a mess of papers spread across the kitchen island.

"Shelby, hi! Are you okay?" Hiram asked, looking up from his stacks of paper as she walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah I'm alright, I just couldn't sleep and I think me and the little one are craving something sweet again," Shelby explained as she placed her hand protectively over her stomach.

"Let me guess.. Strawberry ice cream?" Hiram chuckled. "Sit down, and let me get it for you. I was going to grab another glass of water anyway."

"You know us so well," Shelby smiled and sat acrosss from where Hiram was just working. She picked up a piece of paper and looked it over. "What's this? What's the case that you're working on?"

"Oh, um, those are papers for a custody agreement," Hiram said, placing the bowl of ice cream in front of Shelby and walked around the island to sit back down across from her. "I'm having trouble with this case because both parents want full-custody and nobody's willing to budge. They're both thinking about what they want and not what's best for the child. It's unfortunate."

"Oh," Shelby whispered, suddenly losing her appetite.

"You okay?" Hiram asked nervously. He had an idea of what Shelby was feeling. Him and Leroy could tell that she was getting attached to their baby and had been discussing what to do about it. They didn't want anyone to get hurt.

Shelby put her spoon down and looked into Hiram's concerned eyes. She knew they needed to have this conversation. She wanted to be honest. They were trusting her.

A few moments of silence passed and Shelby shifted anxiously in her seat. "I'm worried that I'm getting too attached," she confessed. "I swear, Hiram I'm trying really hard to compartmentalize and I tell myself every day, all day long that this baby is not mine and that she's all yours, but it's hard. I mean she's growing inside of me and she's a part of me and God, she even kicks every time I listen to Barbra. I'm terrified. I'm starting to want her. And I hate myself for wanting her when I know that she's yours, but I can't help it. I don't know how I'm going to walk away. And the worst part is that I know I can't be her mom either. I'm only 23! I have plans. I have dreams. I have New York and Broadway — "

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Hiram interrupted before the young woman got herself too worked up. "I understand, and it's okay," He pushed his papers aside and reached out for her hand across the island and gave it a comforting squeeze. "We'll figure it out, okay? We can come up with a plan, some sort of agreement so that we're all protected somehow. It'll all be okay, Shelby. Do you trust us?"

And in that moment, Shelby did trust them. She knew what she had signed up for. She knew that the baby was always meant for them. She knew that they would be able to more than adequately provide for their child. More importantly, she knew that they would love her and protect her as much as she would. She also knew that she couldn't be a mom yet. As much as she loved the thought of raising her baby girl and watching her grow up, Shelby knew that she still had so many things that she wanted to accomplish. She had dreams that she needed to pursue. She wasn't ready for the responsibility and she knew that she needed to give herself and her baby their best chance.

"Yes," Shelby said honestly, her heart feeling heavy. "Of course I trust you."

A few days later, Hiram and Leroy sat her down across from them on the kitchen island where she had been sitting nights before. A contract had been drawn up. It stated that Shelby could not seek out her daughter until she was 18 years old, unless her daughter contacted her first. It assured Hiram and Leroy that they would have the security to raise their daughter without fear of Shelby fighting them for custody. It acted as a deterrent to prevent Shelby from changing her mind. And it protected the baby from any nasty custody battles in the future. She was making a legally binding commitment to give up her daughter, at least for the next 18 years.

Shelby had been reading over the contract for the past ten minutes. After her third time through it, Shelby finally looked up, meeting Hiram and Leroy's intense gaze. "So, what do you think Shelbs?" Leroy asked cautiously. "Will you sign it?"

Shelby stared at the two men sitting in front of her and actually felt her heart break. How can she deny them? When they first met Shelby they told her that they had been trying to adopt a baby for years but kept getting denied by different agencies that were wary about sending a child home with two dads. They finally decided to take matters into their own hands and Shelby was the only one who had taken their ad seriously. Instead, they were getting hate calls for weeks from ignorant people telling them that they didn't deserve to be parents because of who and how they chose to love. That wasn't right. Shelby could see that they had so much love to give and how desperately they wanted to build a family.

"Yes, I'll sign it," Shelby said, finally breaking the silence. "But under one condition—"

"—Okay, Shelby… I understand you may have some concerns but the point of the contract is—" Hiram began to argue. Leroy quickly placed his hand on his husband's arm. "Let's let Shelby tell us what her conditions are first and then we can discuss," he interjected. "Go ahead, Shelbs."

Shelby got up, walked over to the cupboard, and pulled out a glass cup with a gold star on it. She filled it up with water, took a long sip, and sat back down. "Will you do me a favor?" she said, setting the glass cup down in front of her and placing a hand on her stomach. "Whenever she's feeling sad or upset, will you bring her a glass of water in this cup? It's what my dad used to do for me growing up and it always comforted me. Also, gold stars are kinda my thing," Shelby smirked.

Hiram and Leroy broke out into huge smiles, walked over, and engulfed a very-pregnant Shelby in a group hug. "Of course we will," Hiram promised, squeezing the young woman, trying to make her physically feel his gratitude.

Shelby also asked the soon-to-be-dads if they can give the baby a few other things from her: a blanket she had been making for a few weeks, her entire Barbra Streisand movie and music collection, and a tape of her singing "I Dreamed a Dream." Shelby had hoped that even if she couldn't cuddle with her daughter or take her to her first musical that she'd still be able to inadvertently comfort her from far away.

They also all agreed that they would cease contact. Despite the genuine friendship that they had developed, it would be easier on everyone involved if there was no communication. Shelby, however, was completely surprised when the couple told her that they would be willing to send her photos and a letter once a year to update her on the child as she grew up. It would never compare to actually being in her daughter's life, but knowing about her life and seeing her, even through photos, was more than Shelby expected.

So, on October 31st Shelby signed the contract, never being able to celebrate Halloween quite the same way again. And on December 18th at 6:07 a.m., Rachel Barbra Berry was born. When they first placed the baby in Shelby's arm, her heart instantly exploded and she knew right then and there that she would never love or cherish anyone or anything more again in her entire life. Hiram and Leroy had graciously let Shelby spend the day with the newborn and gave her the privacy to say her goodbyes. It was the shortest day of her life. Shelby spent it cuddling her daughter close to her and memorizing every detail of her baby's face. Rachel and her deep brown eyes was the most beautiful thing that Shelby had ever seen.

The next morning, she woke up to flowers and three envelopes placed at her bedside table: a heartfelt letter of gratitude from Hiram and Leroy, a copy of the contract, and a one-way plane ticket to New York City. Looking around at the empty hospital room, Shelby felt the walls that she had been carefully building for months begin to break. She pulled her blanket to her face, breathed in Rachel's baby scent, and quietly began to sob.

A week later, Shelby steeled herself, and met her family in Cleveland for the holidays. She got the best Christmas present she could've ever asked for: the treatment was working and her dad was well on his way to being cancer-free and in remission. After the New Year, Shelby moved back to New York, ready to begin her life once again.

A/N: Thanks for all the great responses so far! This chapter and next is a lot of background/world-building. I've always thought that there should've been more to Shelby's story.