I feel like I'm on a bit of a roll with this fic at the moment, although, now I've said that I'm probably going to hit a wall with it!

Savageverse - Nope.

OneWriterGirl97 - Thank you, it means a lot to hear you say that!

Chloe2007 - You might have a long wait on your hands, Shelby definitely deserves a 'Momma' first!

Shelby met her dad for coffee the next weekend. He'd said that Will was more than welcome to join them but Will had politely turned down the offer, wanting to give Shelby some time alone with her dad.

"She said her first word last week" Shelby smiled as she sat on a small loveseat opposite her father in a coffee shop near her house, Rachel stood up on the seat beside her grandfather, one hand on his shoulder, the other on the back of the couch to steady herself as she watched everything going on around her, occasionally laughing and bouncing on the seat.

"Yeah?" Jerry smiled, "that's great, what was it?"

Shelby bit her lip, "I'm not sure if I want to tell you" Jerry raised an eyebrow, "okay, before I tell you, I want you to know, I'm well aware that she's my daughter, and I'm also well aware that this is probably some sort of karma for all the attitude I gave you when I was younger."

"Shelby…"

"It was no" Shelby rolled her eyes.

"Oh, that's perfect" Jerry laughed, "she really is taking after you."

"No, no, no" Rachel babbled quietly around the fingers she'd slipped into her mouth, she'd repeated it a few times over the past week, and, whilst Shelby wasn't sure the girl really knew what it meant, she was still amused every time she heard it.

"You're a clever girl aren't you?" Jerry smiled before gently moving Rachel's fingers from her mouth, "don't do that" he said softly.

Rachel babbled happily at Jerry before frowning and reaching her arms out to Shelby, "what's wrong kid?" she asked as Jerry passed Rachel over, "I'm not going anywhere, I thought we agreed, you'd terrorise Pop-pop for a bit and leave me alone?" she kissed Rachel's head as she settled down on her lap.

"Is she okay?" Jerry asked as he watched Rachel cuddle into Shelby.

"I think so" she nodded, "she has moments like this sometimes, she can be playing happily on her own one minute and then the next she's trying to climb up the couch and clinging to me like she hasn't seen me in months."

"Bless her" Jerry couldn't help but smile as he watched Shelby comfort Rachel. He might never have imagined his daughter having a child of her own at 19, but there was no doubt in his mind that Rachel was lucky to have Shelby, that Shelby was completely devoted to her daughter. Shelby had always been determined, headstrong, so he'd been in no doubt that she'd give her everything to raising her daughter, he only wished that she'd let him in at the start, that when Rachel had been ill, Shelby hadn't tried to deal with it on her own. He watched as Shelby kissed the little fingers that reached out towards her before dipping her head to rub noses with Rachel, it was obvious just how much Rachel adored Shelby, but it was also clear that Shelby loved Rachel just as much.

"Did you remember to bring a bottle? He's going to need feeding soon and I don't want him screaming the place down." Jerry didn't pay attention to the conversation of the two men walking past their table, but it was obvious that Shelby did, Jerry concerned by the way her head snapped up almost violently, a look of anger, confusion and surprise on her face as she caught sight of the two men. One carrying a newborn in a car seat, the other carrying a tray with their drinks on. "Shelby" her eyes met with the man carrying the infant, "what…" Jerry saw Shelby's hold on Rachel tightening, he didn't know what was going on, but he was prepared to step in if he felt like Rachel or Shelby were in danger. "Is that her?"

Rachel tucked herself into Shelby, not liking the stranger's attention. "Who else would it be?" Shelby asked as she gently rubbed Rachel's back, reassuring her that she was okay.

"Leroy" the second man turned after setting the tray down on a table, "what are you… Shelby?"

It was at that moment that the baby Leroy was carrying woke and began to whine quietly, "you should go and feed him, you don't want him screaming the place down" she said coldly, shifting in the seat so her back was towards the two men, signalling the conversation was over.

Jerry watched Shelby for a moment but didn't say anything, he watched her keep Rachel close, as if she didn't want the two men to see the baby, how she looked as if she was on the verge of tears, "Shel" he said softly.

Shelby looked up at her father, "can we go?" she asked, "I'll tell you everything, just not here, can we go?"

"Of course" he nodded, helping Shelby into her jacket, "are you…" he gestured to the empty sling around Shelby's chest.

She looked from Rachel to the two men, seeing them watching her, "take her outside" she said gently as she passed her over, "I won't be a minute."

"Shelby…" he didn't know if that was a good idea.

"I'll be fine" Shelby kissed Rachel's hair.

"If you're sure" Jerry got a nod in response, "well then we'll be outside" he said as he carried Rachel out of the cafe.

"I never got the chance to thank you." Shelby said as she approached Hiram and Leroy.

Hiram frowned, "to thank us?"

"For being cowards, for walking away and…"

"It wasn't easy for us" Leroy told her, "we…"

"It wasn't easy for you?" Shelby spat, "you? Do you think it was easy for me? For… For her?" Hiram went to speak but Shelby held up her hand to stop him, "you told me how desperate you were for a child, how you'd give her everything she needed, how you'd give her the moon on a stick if she asked for it. But she didn't ask for anything. All she needed you to do was love her and be there for her and you couldn't even do that."

"It wasn't what we'd planned for" Shelby wanted to slap Hiram.

"And you think I planned to raise a child at nineteen?" she raised an eyebrow, "a child that only existed because you were so desperate for her. Do you think I planned to stay in Lima? To give up everything I ever wanted for a child YOU asked for. Do you think I planned to spend day after day sitting in the hospital, watching as my daughter fought for her life? Do you think I planned to leave the hospital every night not knowing if she'd still be hanging on when I got back in the morning? Because I'll tell you now, none of that was what I wanted, but it's what I did. It's what I did because it's what MY daughter needed me to do. I got into the shower at the hospital not knowing if the child I'd just given birth to was even alive and then I got out of the shower to find you didn't want her, you didn't love her enough to stick around when things were tough."

"We spoke to the nurses" Hiram told her, "they said that the adoption process would be…"

Shelby was furious, "what? So she could grow up and find out that three parents walked away from her when she was fighting for her life? Or that she could…" Shelby's voice cracked at the thought, "if she hadn't made it, she could have died on her own, just because you thought sitting with her every day was too hard."

"Shelby, we…"

"No" she cut them off, she wasn't going to listen to their excuses. "I'll tell you this though, that little girl is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Your cowardice, your disregard for a child that was meant to be yours, it's the best thing that could have happened for me and for her. She's going to grow up with a family who love her no matter what, who'll be there when things are tough as well as when they're going well. She will absolutely not miss out by not having you in her life, but you, you're going to miss out on so much. She is the happiest little thing and you have missed out every single day since you walked away, you've missed her smile, her laugh. You'll never know how it feels to have her fingers wrap around yours, to see her gazing up at you like you know the answers to everything. You'll never feel her snuggle into you when she's sleepy and you'll never get to wake up to the sound of her giggles. She has been loved and cared for from the very second I first got to see her, she hasn't missed out on anything. But you…" Shelby shook her head, "I hope he brings you even just half the joy that my daughter brings me" Shelby gestured to the baby in Leroy's arms, "and for his sake, I hope he's always healthy."

"Shelby" Leroy called after her as she turned to walk away. She turned to face him, one eyebrow raised, "what's her name?"

She laughed and shook her head, "I don't think that's any of your business, do you?"

"Are you okay?" Jerry asked as Shelby joined him outside, he'd watched his daughter speaking to the two men and could almost feel the anger radiating off her.

"Yeah" Shelby sighed, taking Rachel from her father and settling her in the sling, smiling when she saw her yawn. Seeing the two men again had angered her, but feeling her daughter snuggle into her was all she needed to feel calmer. "I'll tell you everything" she promised, "just not here."

Rachel was asleep by the time they arrived back at Shelby's, so she just left her in the sling, not wanting to risk waking her if she moved her. "You don't have to tell me anything, not if you don't want to" Jerry said, Shelby had been silent on the walk home and he didn't want to push her.

"She wasn't meant to be mine" Shelby whispered, running her hand down Rachel's back as she sat on the couch, "I, I wasn't meant to be the one raising her."

Jerry reached out to take his daughter's hand as he sat beside her, "you were going to have her adopted?"

Shelby shook her head, "she was meant to be theirs, Hiram and Leroy, I, they were looking for a surrogate, they were going to pay me enough so that I wouldn't have to worry for a while once I was in New York. I got to know them, they seemed like nice men, I thought they'd bring her up well, that they'd be good parents so I, I agreed and I signed a contract to say that, unless she found me, I wouldn't have any contact with her until she turned 18."

"What happened?"

"She was born" Shelby laughed bitterly. "I started having contractions at 28 weeks. I was terrified, but they took me to the hospital and they were with me all the time, they took it in turns to spend the night, they were always there, I couldn't ask for anything more. But then the doctors told me they didn't think they'd be able to stop it, but they might be able to delay the labour long enough that they could give me drugs that would help give her a better chance." She closed her eyes and kissed Rachel's crown as she tried to hold back her tears.

"Shelby…" she shook her head, if she stopped now she might never tell him, and she knew that he needed to know.

"They gave me steroids to help develop her lungs and something to try and prevent bleeds on her brain, that made me really ill, but they did all they could to make sure I was comfortable, and then, when she was born it happened really quickly, I don't really remember much about it apart from how quick it was and that she didn't cry, I just saw this tiny little thing being rushed out of the room, I didn't even know if she was alive or not" she whispered, stroking Rachel's back as if to remind herself that her daughter was safe, that she'd survived. "Hiram went with her and Leroy stayed with me. I didn't really notice it at the time, but looking back now they were both acting a bit weird, but nothing that couldn't be explained by the fact their daughter had been born eleven weeks early." Shelby took a shaky breath, reminding herself that Rachel was okay, that this had happened but they'd got through it. "Leroy left when I was settled in my room, I told him he could, I said I was fine and that he should be with Hiram and the baby. I think I slept for a little while and then a nurse came in and suggested I tried taking a shower so I did. And when I came back, there was a note on my bed."

"From them?"

Shelby nodded, "they told me they couldn't deal with it, that a sick baby wasn't what they wanted and if I didn't want to keep her then a nurse would explain the adoption process to me, I couldn't give her up Dad" Shelby made eye contact with him for the first time, "she'd grown inside of me, I couldn't just walk away, if I left she'd have nobody and I couldn't, I couldn't do that to her, she didn't ask to be born early, she didn't ask to be fighting for her life in a NICU when she should have been safe inside of me. I couldn't… It was almost midnight when I first got to see her and they told me" Shelby bit her lip and wiped at her eyes, "they told me they were doing all they could, but I should try and prepare myself for her not making it through the night. She was so tiny Dad, so sick and the men who were meant to love her, I found out later they didn't even see her. They asked Hiram to wait outside so they could get her settled in the NICU and when they went to fetch him in he was gone. She was meant to be their baby Dad and they just walked away, and now they've replaced her like she was nothing."

"Oh Shelby" Jerry pulled his daughter into his arms, careful not to disturb Rachel as he held Shelby as closely as she could. "I wish you'd have called me" he told her, "I wish you'd have let us support you."

"I didn't want Mom making a fuss" she whispered, "everything was so stressful and exhausting, I didn't think I could cope with her being there too."

"No" Jerry kissed Shelby's hair, "I understand. But for the record, I'm glad they walked away, they don't deserve Rachel." He was struggling to stay calm, he knew he needed to keep himself together for Shelby's sake, but he wanted nothing more than to go back to that coffee shop and ask those two fools what the hell they were playing at, why they thought it was acceptable to leave a teenager alone to deal with the shock of becoming a parent to a sick baby, but he wouldn't. Shelby needed him so he'd be the father they weren't and he'd support his daughter.

Shelby sniffled quietly and relaxed into her father's arms, "I know she's not hitting her milestones as quickly as she should, I know she might be delayed, she might have problems as she grows up, but that doesn't matter Dad, she's still perfect, she's still my perfect little girl.".

"She is" Jerry agreed, "and that's why they don't deserve her, Rachel deserves to be raised by someone who accepts her for who she is, who supports her and pushes her to be the best she can be regardless of any struggles or limitations she might have in the future."

"I just want her to be happy Dad, I want to do the best I can for her."

"And you are Princess, anyone who looks at the two of you can see how happy she is with you, when she's scared or overwhelmed, she looks straight for you because she knows you'll be there, she knows you'll protect her and keep her safe."

"I know this might not be the life I dreamed of, but I wouldn't give her up, not for all the lead roles on Broadway."

Jerry smiled, "you're a good Mom Shelby, and you're right, it might not be what you dreamed of doing, but if you want to give it a shot, Broadway will still be there when she's older, Dan and I, we'll support you whatever you choose to do, and you've got Will too" he winked playfully.

"I know" Shelby smiled, "but I think teaching will be it for me, Rachel and I, we spent most of her first year together, just the two of us, I don't think I'd want to do anything that took me away from her all day every day, at least with teaching I'll be home to tuck her into bed every night."

"She's lucky to have you Princess."

Shelby shook her head as she ran her hand down Rachel's back, "I'm the lucky one."