It had been a week since the first time Shelby sat down to write Rachel's letter and she still had nothing. Her wastebasket was full of crumpled pieces of paper full of words that had sounded too cliché and even depressing. She was stuck. The idea of a letter had sounded brilliant when Will first suggested it, but sitting at her desk searching for the right words Shelby was reminded why she had stuck with music all these years.

Shelby sighed, throwing down her pencil and running a hand through her hair. The whole writing thing? Useless. She pushed back her chair to stand when her eyes rested on her bejeweled cell phone. She realized that throughout this whole ordeal with Rachel she had never tried to contact Levi and Michael. Her daughter's fathers. Now that everything was out in the open, she knew the responsible thing would have been to call them immediately. She shook her head at her foolishness and logged onto the internet, where she quickly found their home number. She dialed it with shaking fingers and her heart pounded nervously.

"Berry residence, Michael speaking." A warm, rich baritone answered.

Shelby heaved a sigh of relief, when she was pregnant she had always been more comfortable with Michael.

"Michael? It's Shelby—"

"I would have recognized your voice anywhere." His voice boomed. "How are you dealing with all of this sweetie?" He asked.

"Me? Oh, I didn't call for that. I just, I realized I should have called earlier. I am so sorry about everything Michael." She stuttered, thrown off guard by his caring demeanor.

"Shelby, we—or better, I knew this was going to happen eventually. Don't worry about Rachel, we have her therapist on standby and we're seeing to it that this is a smooth transition."

"Smooth transition? What has Rachel told you?" She questioned.

"Well, she's been spending at least two dinners a week with you. I almost hate you for stealing her away." He joked.

"Oh Michael, I don't know how to say this. I don't know where Rachel has been spending those dinners, but she hasn't been with me. In fact, I haven't seen her for months."

"What do you mean? What happened?" He asked, worry evident in his voice.

Shelby felt more awkward than she had in her entire life. And let's just say Michael and Levi had not been very shy throughout her pregnancy. But this was worse. How do you tell someone that you broke his child's heart?

"Things did not go as well as Rachel may have told you." Shelby began. "If anything, our reunion was awkward and forced. I thought when the time came I would be ready to know her…" Shelby trailed off.

"But instead you decided you'd rather have nothing to do with her? How could you do that Shelby? She's just a teenager, she doesn't need that kind of rejection, from her own mother no less." He said, his voice taking on an edge.

"Well I thought you would appreciate that, considering you weren't even going to allow me to meet her until she was eighteen. Eighteen Michael, can you imagine that? You never even let me hold her." She spat, unable to contain herself.

"Levi." He corrected. "Levi never let you hold her. I fought for you to be in her life Shelby. Levi felt that if you were around it would never feel like she was completely ours." He said softly.

Shelby nearly dropped the phone when she heard Michael's words. She had childishly vilified Michael and Levi for so many years and was now taken aback by his admission. It wasn't completely surprising though. While she was pregnant Shelby had picked up on the subtle hints of the Berry's relationship. Michael had decided that he would become a stay at home dad and quit his job as an interior decorator the moment Shelby called to tell them the pregnancy had taken. On the other hand Levi was a high-powered attorney and seemed to have the final say in all of their decisions because he was the one paying for everything.

"I appreciate that Michael." She said softly. "I didn't mean to snap at you, that's not why I called."

"Why did you call Shelby?" He asked.

"I'm sort of...friends with one of Rachel's teachers, Will Schuester, and he mentioned that Rachel seems like she's having a hard time with everything. He said that she quit New Directions." She trailed off.

"It seems as though Rachel has been putting on a brave face for Levi and myself. I'm ashamed to say that we thought she was still attending practices every day after school." He said sighing.

"This is my fault Michael. I know that I handled things wrong, believe me I do. I dreamed about meeting her for so many years and I ruined everything. Maybe I wasn't ready, I don't know, but there's no excuse."

"Shelby, don't blame yourself. You were so young." He said, visions of a vivacious, idealistic, young Shelby running through his head. "I can't help but think we took advantage of you all those years ago. We were so blind in our quest to have a child, we never stopped to think of how it would affect you."

"I knew what I was doing Michael."

"But you didn't really. How could you? God, if someone came to Rachel with an idea like that I would knock them out."

"That's why I didn't tell my parents." Shelby said, allowing herself a small chuckle. "I don't regret anything, I just wish maybe that I had done things a little differently."

"We've all made mistakes Shelby, but maybe now is the time to fix them. Its not too late." He said. "I'm going to sit down with Rachel and really talk to her. Perhaps she'll be willing to try again."

"That would be lovely. Thank you Michael. I understand how hard this must be on both you and Levi."

"It's not a problem Shelby. I can't help but think this is all happening years too late." He admitted. "You know what, I think I hear Rachel now. I'm going to have to excuse myself, I find that there are quite a few things I need to discuss with her."

"Of course."

"I'll call you soon." He promised, hanging up the phone as his daughter entered the room.

Shelby set her phone down slowly. She could not believe how well the call had gone. She had expected yelling and tears, not understanding and compassion. As painful as it was to admit, Shelby found it reassuring that her daughter was being raised by someone like Michael. In the few minutes she had spoken with him he had been able to give her hope, something she hadn't had for a long time.

Thanks for reading (: Sorry for the delay...again. I hate it when real life gets in the way!