The next few days go by slowly. Kurt, Blaine, Burt and Carole all take turns sitting with Belle. Even though she doesn't know they're there, Kurt and Blaine don't want her to be alone.
As they sit with her, they talk to her.
Kurt and Blaine are so thankful for a family that will help them out, as they both have to work and try to keep Kayla's spirits up.
One particularly busy day, Rachel agrees to sit with Belle.
Rachel has a connection with Belle that she doesn't have with Kayla. She's never told Belle about this though, because she wants to honor Kurt and Blaine's wishes.
She drops off Barbra at school, and then heads over to the hospital, stopping at Starbucks for coffee on the way.
Finally, she reaches Belle's room, coffee and book in hand, ready for a long day.
She sits down by Belle's bed, holding her hand and kissing her forehead. Tears come to her eyes as she sees this beautiful girl laying there with barely any life left in her.
Drying her eyes, she pulls out her book, another unauthorized biography on Barbra Streisand, and settles in for the long day, or until Blaine arrives later that day.
Throughout the day she steps out of the room only a couple times out of necessity.
Shelby calls once, asking about next week's rehearsal schedule.
Rachel and Shelby have an interesting relationship. They've acknowledged that Shelby is Rachel's birth mother, but nothing more. Rachel thinks Shelby doesn't have room in her life for her. This doesn't make Rachel sad; she already has two fathers that love her very dearly.
Another call was form Finn, who said that football practice was going to run a little late, so he couldn't pick up Barbra from school.
She needs to find someone to get Barbra, so she calls Blaine. He quickly agrees to pick her up and bring her to the hospital when he comes later that day.
After returning all of these calls she steps back into Belle's room, her personal hell.
The sun has risen higher into the sky, causing light to fall across Belle's eyes.
Rachel quickly closes the blinds as if it would cause Belle to wake from her sleep.
She returns to her chair and resumes reading, but she can't concentrate.
She decides to give up on reading for now, and talks to Belle instead.
"You've grown so much." Rachel says with a smile. "That night when I heard you were in an accident, I thought I was going to die."
Rachel pauses, getting up looking for tissues.
She sits back down, tissues in hand, and continues talking to Belle. This is how she lets her emotions out. She doesn't feel comfortable talking to Finn about this heartache. She feels he wouldn't understand.
"I don't know how much longer I can deal with this," she says as she pushes a strand of Belle's hair behind her ear. "I can't keep losing sleep and being depressed. You have to get better. You have to." She says, sobbing into her tissues.
Between sobs, she chokes out the following words:
"Baby, I can't live without you. I need you. You're my star. Even though I told myself when I had you that-"
Rachel slaps her hand over her mouth realizing what she just said. She sobs harder, knowing she just broke a promise that she's kept for seven years. Never acknowledge their true bond out loud.
She tries to stop the rush of memories coming back to her, but she can't hold them back.
She remembers the day Kurt and Blaine asked her to be their surrogate. They were so excited at the possibility that one of them could be their baby's biological father.
She saw their happy faces and wanted to say yes immediately. She needed to talk to Finn about this first though. She told them this, Kurt saying that he was confident that Finn would agree to this proposition.
It turns out Kurt was right. Finn agreed almost immediately. Even though they had just had Barbra two years earlier, he thought it would be a good thing to do for his brother and brother-in-law.
She ran to tell Kurt and Blaine as soon as she got the go ahead from Finn. They were overjoyed. Blaine even cried.
They had already decided that Kurt would be the baby's biological father. Rachel supported their decision even though they didn't tell her why they decided on this, and she didn't ask.
The rest is history. After two awkward visits to the doctor with Kurt and Blaine, she became pregnant.
It became a running joke that she was pregnant with her brother's baby. I mean, it was humorous wasn't it?
What she didn't tell anyone during the pregnancy, was that she was afraid of how she would do after having to give away this baby that she had inside of her. She struggled with this for months, never telling anyone.
Kurt and Blaine wanted to be surprised by the sex of the baby, but Rachel just had to know. It was hard for her to keep the secret after she found out, but somehow she did. Maybe she was able to keep it because it gave her something special for her and just the baby to share.
After the birth of Belle, she didn't even hold her. This was hard for Rachel, but her and her doctor felt this would be better for Rachel so she wouldn't become more attached to Belle than she already was. She made it without breaking down, up until this moment.
You would be surprised how much pain can come out of burying your feelings deep down for seven years. Rachel cries for the daughter she'll never have and for giving away the child that understands her the most.
This causes Rachel to cry harder. Of course her and Finn's daughter wouldn't understand her, but this baby she had to give away was like herself at age seven. She knows this makes her sound like an awful parent, but she loved Barbra. She really did, but they don't connect the way her and Belle do.
She sits holding Belle's hand, trying to get her emotions under control. Rachel knows that nothing good has ever come out of letting her true feelings show.
With sad eyes, she sits thinking of all the things that she and Belle will never be.
It's no secret to anyone that Belle is her favorite niece, she even wrote a song about it. They all know, besides Kayla and Barbra, why this is, but they don't want to stir up buried emotions by mentioning it.
Rachel things she hears something there in the hospital room. She pauses, only to hear a rustling sound coming from the end of the bed. She looks, realizing its Belle's foot moving.
She quickly stands, moving closer to Belle.
"Baby, can you hear me?" Rachel asks, gently shaking Belle's arm in desperation.
To Rachel's surprise, Belle coughs and moves her head.
"Nurse!" Rachel shouts, "Nurse!"
Belle's eyes flutter open as Rachel stands over her, looking down at her with wide, hopeful eyes.
Belle moves her mouth as if she's trying to say something. Rachel leans closer, trying to hear her. What comes out of Belle's mouth makes Rachel gasp.
"Y-you're my mommy?"