I am so, so, so, so sorry this chapter took so long. I know how lame it sounds, but unfortunately midterms took over my life for a couple of weeks :(

Chapter 3

The next morning Shelby awoke groggily to the smell of coffee wafting into her bedroom.

"Oh, there is a god." She mumbled, following the scent into the kitchen, where she found her mother sitting at the table.

"You're awake." Christina noted.

"You're still here." Shelby mimicked, grabbing a cup of coffee.

Christina uncharacteristically let the comment slide and waited for her daughter to join her at the table.

"Why so Zen?" Shelby asked, sitting down.

"Shelby, I know." Her mother responded, deciding to just come out with the truth.

"Know what?" She asked, grabbing the newspaper.

"Shelby, sweetie, I know that you have a daughter." She said gently.

If Christina hadn't been sure of her suspicions before, she definitely was now, as Shelby knocked her cup of coffee over and jumped up from her seat.

"Shit!" She hissed. "Shit, shit, shit." She muttered, grabbing a dishrag from the counter and wiping up the coffee.

She threw the rag into the sink and stayed in front of the counter, clutching the surface as if it were the only thing keeping her standing.

"Shelby, I'm right aren't I? It was right before you left for New York." She continued, as Shelby's face gave away nothing. "You could have told us you were pregnant, we would have helped you. I don't understand why you felt the need to hide this from your father and I."

Shelby turned slowly to face her mother and Christina was taken aback by the hardened look on her daughter's face.

"If I wanted you to know I would have told you!" Shelby yelled, running a shaky hand through her hair. "How did you find out? Were you up all night going through my things? Did someone tell you?"

"It wasn't very hard to figure out Shelby, you've got her picture on your wall."

"You were never supposed to know." Shelby responded, her voice shaking.

"How could you not tell us? Your father and I have a granddaughter we've never even met, we don't even know her name. Of all the selfish things—"

"Selfish? You have no idea exactly how unselfish I've been all these years! You don't know anything!" Shelby cut her off.

"How am I supposed to know anything when you've been putting on this act for so long?"

"Oh please Ma, you've known something was wrong. How could you not? I have been broken for sixteen years." Shelby rasped, quickly brushing a stray tear from her eye.

"How could I know that Shelby? How? Your life is a complete mystery to me. And I was willing to accept that for so long, but not anymore. I am your mother and I deserve to know what is going on with you. And I sure as hell deserve to know when you have a baby!" She yelled.

Christina cringed even as the words were coming out of her mouth. She had promised herself that she wouldn't get angry. While she knew very few details about her daughter's personal life, she knew her daughter very well. The minute she got angry Shelby's defenses would spring up and she would refuse to allow herself to show any weaknesses at all.

"Fine, you want to know about my life? Let me enlighten you." Shelby said coldly. "I was a surrogate mother for a gay couple sixteen years ago. They took the baby and made me sign a contract saying that I would not contact her until she was eighteen." She explained.

"Shelby, I…" Christina began.

"I'm not quite done yet. I went to New York, you remember? You and Dad love to talk about how that didn't work out. Well, you're right, New York sucked. I let director after director pass me over for girls with a more 'conventional look.' My heart wasn't in it anyways. But don't worry, while I was there I met Charlie. And let's just say that Charlie treated me like shit. He used me for sex and I was so god damn starved for a little acceptance that I let him. You can just imagine how that turned out." Shelby snarled.

"Stop!" Christina cried, her heart breaking for her daughter.

"See? There are reasons I keep these things from you."

"Don't you understand that even if I felt you were making the wrong decisions I would have helped you? If you had come home from New York and told me about this horrible man I would have supported you?"

"Telling you about any of this wouldn't have changed things. It just would have hurt you. And contrary to popular belief I don't want to hurt you." Shelby explained, her voice softening.

"I appreciate that Shelby, but I'm your mother and I'm here to help you with anything. Even if that anything might hurt me."

Christina felt as though she'd aged ten years in the past ten minutes. The emotions had swelled from disbelief to sadness to anger and everything in between. Shelby had always been her more dramatic child and she couldn't help but feel that she should have expected this. Maybe she should have waited for Shelby to come to her on her own. Or perhaps she shouldn't have sprung this on her daughter the minute she woke up. She finally thought that maybe she should never have meddled in the first place. It seemed as though her daughter was in a darker place now than she had been when Christina first arrived.

Christina closed her eyes and paused a few moments before opening them and continuing to speak. "Maybe what would be best for both of us right now would be for me to go home. Barging into your home like this was obviously a poor choice and I apologize."

Shelby could only nod at her mother.

"I just want you to promise me that you will talk to someone. You need to stop punishing yourself and get back out into the world." Christina said, pulling her reluctant daughter into a hug. "I'm so sorry." She whispered into her daughter's thick brown hair.

"I'm sorry too." Shelby said quietly, defeated. "Rachel. Your granddaughter's name is Rachel." She whispered as they parted.

Christina froze for a moment, the reality of the situation hitting her once again and then continued to the guest room where she picked up her bag and slowly walked out the door, even though her heart yearned to return to her daughter.

Shelby watched her mother walk out the door and then made her way to the sink where she began aimlessly cleaning stray dishes. She tried to push everything that had just happened to the back of her mind, but the thoughts kept creeping back to the forefront. Her mother knew about Rachel. Sixteen years of silence on the subject had been erased by one morning of yelling in her kitchen. She felt horrible about yelling at her mother, really she did, but if she hadn't yelled she would have broken down and sobbed. And Shelby Corcoran did not break down in front of anyone, not even her mother.

She considered what her mother had said before leaving, that she should talk to someone. Did she mean a shrink? Because Shelby did not see herself lying on some couch spilling her guts to anyone. Well, she had over shared a bit with Will Schuester on his couch, but she was definitely not paying him and he was definitely not a shrink. It was times like these that Shelby wished she had a friend she could call up. She hadn't had a real friend in years. Women were intimidated by her and well, men wanted to sleep with her. Besides, Shelby hadn't had time for friends with her dedication to Vocal Adrenaline. But it would have been nice to have someone to talk to, someone who could help her overanalyze everything that had happened. She snorted a bit at the thought and trudged upstairs to start a bath. She figured she might as well try to relax, even though consciously she knew that nothing would stop constant stream of worries that were entering her brain.

Thank you all so much taking the time to read and review, it means the world to me. I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations, I wrote a couple of different versions, but this seemed the most realistic. P.S. For those of you wondering, Rachel will be making an appearance, I just don't want to rush it, let's be real, Shelby is not in a good place to see her right now...

LilaMae1- Thank you so much for reading! I'll definitely be updating more often now.

kaitlyn, DarkestAngel11, AshMichele, keri, alex, DZR- Thank you! Your reviews mean so much to me, hopefully this doesn't disappoint.

kiki- I promise Rachel will be there soon!

Jessica- You're right, opening up about everything should be very healing for Shelby...she just doesn't realize it yet!

Jasper'sFavorite- Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad that you enjoyed their dynamic...hopefully I didn't screw it up. Every time I started this chapter they were just itching for a fight haha.

MarlisaKristine- Thanks for reviewing! Well, you were right about the hint of angst...lol.

Drama Queen SunnieBunn- "gold stars are kinda my thing." haha thank you!

Geoera- I'm always happy to find another Idina fan! There should be more of us out there!

banjojd- Thank you! I saw her in the summer too and now I'm going back in November, I think we kinda had the same idea :) She's too good not to go again!

Starbuck128- Awkward just about covers it... haha. And yeah, she didn't start out angry, but she got there pretty quick in this chapter. I think Shelby gets a lot of her qualities from Christina, including covering up her hurt with anger.