Saviour - What if the men Shelby gave her baby to hadn't been the loving parents she thought they would be

Rating - T

Characters - Shelby & Rachel

A/N -This started from an idea that wouldn't leave me alone. There'll either be one or two more parts depending on how I split up what's left.

Shelby shivered slightly and pulled the blanket tighter around her body, there'd been a brief powercut that morning and she'd stupidly forgotten to reset the timer on the heating before she left for work so she'd returned home after a long day to a freezing cold house. She reached for the wine glass that sat on the coffee table before relaxing into the soft cushions on the sofa and tucking her feet underneath herself, listening to the rain as it pounded on the windows and the wind as it howled across the front porch, she always found something strangely calming in storms.

She was emptying the dishwasher a while later when there was a knock at the front door, so soft she almost missed it. Shelby placed the plate in her hand on the side and rushed to open the door, the weather was horrible and she didn't want whoever was at the door stood there for any longer than necessary. She froze in shock when she saw the young girl on her porch, she knew instantly that that girl was her daughter, the girl she'd only seen for a couple of moments almost fifteen years ago, the girl was her daughter and she didn't even know her name.

The girl said nothing but held out a large brown envelope to Shelby making the older woman come to her senses, "come in, come in, you must be freezing" she took the envelope and ushered the girl into the house as her mothering instincts took over and she noticed the girl had on a just a skirt and a thin jumper even though snow had been forecast for later that night, "I'm sorry" Shelby apologised, "I don't know your name."

"Rachel" the shaking girl whispered, "my name's Rachel. My fathers dropped me off here and asked me to give you that" she spoke softly as she gestured towards the envelope, her teeth chattering and her hands shaking as she spoke.

"Rachel" Shelby whispered to herself before shaking her head, "here, take this" Shelby passed Rachel the blanket she'd used earlier, glad that the heating had kicked in and the house had warmed up, she didn't want the first time she met her daughter to end with the girl getting ill. Rachel took the blanket and draped it loosely over her shoulders as Shelby pulled the papers from the envelope, Rachel hadn't looked, her fathers had told her not to.

Shelby's eyes scanned the top sheet of paper, she couldn't believe what she was reading, 'had enough...brat...Florida...keep her...giving up parental rights...signed paperwork'. They were dumping the daughter they'd once wanted so much on her doorstep because they were bored of her, they'd not even left her with any belongings, just a small black bag that wouldn't hold much at all.

"Rachel" Shelby spoke softly, the name almost foreign on her tongue, "do you know who I am?" Rachel nodded but didn't say anything, "I'm the surrogate your fathers hired, I'm your birth Mom." Rachel nodded again, as soon as Shelby had opened the door Rachel had known, she'd seen herself in twenty years time, "do you know why your fathers dropped you off here?"

"They said they were going to Florida" she said quietly, her head bowed.

Shelby smiled sadly, her own eyes filling with tears, "I'm so sorry sweetheart, but you're welcome to stay with me, I'd like you to stay with me."

"I don't even know your name" Rachel whispered, "do I have to call you Mom?"

Shelby shook her head, "my name's Shelby, Shelby Corcoran, and I'd like it if you could call me Mom one day but I understand if you're not ready for that, so for now you can call me Shelby if you'd rather. I'm waffling" Shelby smiled, "let's get you upstairs, I'll show you to the guest... to your room and you can have a warm shower, you look freezing."

Rachel nodded, she was terribly cold but she hadn't wanted to inconvenience Shelby, she didn't want to come across as needy or demanding, she didn't want another parent to abandon her. "Here we are" Shelby smiled as she opened the door to a large, airy bedroom, "this will be your room. It's a little plain at the moment but we can go and get some things to make it a little more homely tomorrow." Rachel wasn't hearing what Shelby was saying, she was too busy taking things in, the walls were painted a warm cream colour apart from the wall behind the bed which was a rich coffee brown. The sheets on the bed were brown and teal and the duvet looked so warm and inviting all Rachel wanted to do was curl up and sleep for a week. There was a large window to the left of the bed and the wall to the foot of the bed housed a sliding door which Rachel assumed was the closet "and your bathroom is right across the hall..."

Rachel suddenly tuned into what Shelby was saying "my, my bathroom?"

Shelby nodded, "well it's the main bathroom really but I have an ensuite in my room so I never really use it, if I have guests over they tend to use the washroom downstairs." She saw Rachel looked a little overwhelmed and decided to give her some space, "I'll go run you a bath and get some clean towels". She looked at Rachel's bag, "do you have something warm to change into?"

Rachel's eyes darted nervously around the room, she didn't want to admit to her mom that she didn't really have anything, that she'd never really had anything, "I, my, it's."

"Don't worry" Shelby interrupted with a smile, "I'll find you some pyjamas or something. I'll get you some soap and shampoo and things too, why don't you hang out here for a minute, I'll be right back."

Rachel nodded as Shelby left the room, she stood rooted to the spot for a moment before walking over to the bed and stroking the sheets carefully so as not to wrinkle them, they were the softest thing she'd felt in longer than she could remember. She walked over to the window next, she couldn't see much because of the rain but from what she made out the room had a view over a large garden. "I've put you some towels and some pyjamas on the radiator in the bathroom" Rachel jumped as Shelby spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" she walked over to the girl and placed a comforting hand on her arm, pulling it back when Rachel flinched, "I'll make a start on dinner while you're warming up, is there anything you want? Anything you don't like, any allergies?"

"I, I'm vegan" the lie rolled easily off her tongue, "but you don't have to go to any trouble, I'm not really hungry."

It was the most Rachel had spoken since she arrived, "I don't mind" Shelby smiled softly, "I don't have much vegan food in the house but I have veggies, pasta, rice. I could make us a stir fry, would you prefer rice or cous cous?"

Rachel shrugged, "I don't really mind." She'd been told never to make herself an inconvenience, no one should ever have to go to any trouble because of her.

"Okay" Shelby smiled, "I'll rustle something up. The bath should be nearly ready but don't rush, take as long as you need and come down when you're ready." Shelby paused in the doorway for a minute before turning to face Rachel and smiling softly, "if you need anything just yell okay."

Shelby smiled as Rachel came into the room almost half an hour later, the young girl almost drowning in her mother's pyjamas, Rachel wasn't just petite, she was borderline skeletal and Shelby knew she had to do something about that, "sit down" Shelby said with a smile, "this won't be long, it's nothing special I'm afraid, just some rice and veggies, we'll have to go grocery shopping and pick up some things for you."

Rachel didn't lift her gaze from the table she was sat at, "you don't have to go to any trouble for me."

"It's no trouble" Shelby smiled as she turned off the hob and stepped over to the refrigerator, "would you like water or apple juice?" she asked as she gazed into the empty space, she really did need to go shopping!

"Water's fine" Rachel replied quietly, "is there anything I can help with."

"You could get us some cutlery, it's in the top drawer over there" she gestured to the drawers by the fridge as she poured water into two large glasses, "knives and forks are fine unless you want a spoon."

They ate in silence and almost too soon for Shelby the clock on the wall read 10.30 and she couldn't hold back a yawn. She was almost too scared to sleep, terrified that she'd wake up tomorrow to find that this was all some bizarre dream. Another half an hour and she could barely keep her eyes open, "I'm going to head up to bed" she said reluctantly, "you're welcome to stay up and watch tv if you like."

Rachel shook her head, "could I go to bed too?"

"Sure" Shelby smiled, reaching for the remote and turning off the tv, "you don't have to ask to go to bed. Why don't you go up and get ready, I've put you a toothbrush and toothpaste in your bathroom, I'll just lock up down here and turn everything off then I'll come in and say goodnight."

Rachel still felt like she was dreaming as she stood in the bathroom. Hot water had been a luxury in her father's house, a privilege she'd had to earn but now, now she had her own bathroom, with a bath and a shower, a toilet and a sink. She shook her head as she realised how long she'd been standing there and she quickly began to brush her teeth and splash some water onto her face. Shelby wanted to say goodnight to her and Rachel didn't want to keep the woman waiting.

She was sat on the edge of her bed when Shelby came into the room, "everything okay?" Shelby asked. Rachel nodded and Shelby smiled, "are you going to get into bed or do you sleep sitting up?"

"Sorry" Rachel bowed her head and climbed under the sheets.

"It's okay" Shelby straightened the sheets once Rachel was settled, "do you have everything you need?"

"Yes thank you."

"Okay. I'll see you in the morning then. My room's right down the hall if you need anything."

"Thank you" Rachel said softly, "good night."

Shelby smiled before flicking off the light and leaving the room, "good night darling."

Rachel woke with a jump at 3am, it was the same dream as usual, and like always the sheets around her were soaked through and she knew she'd blown it, Shelby wouldn't want her now. She slid from the bed and curled herself into a ball on the floor in the corner of the room, her fathers were right, she didn't deserve to sleep in a bed.

Shelby woke at 3.07 to gentle sobbing from down the hall, it took her sleepy brain a moment to work out what the noise was but as the clock changed to 3.08 she flew from her bed and raced to her daughter. She was confused when she saw the bed empty and flicked on the light only to find a wet patch on the sheets and her daughter hiding in the corner, "Rachel" she spoke softly as she crouched down to her level, "are you okay darling".

Shelby reached out a hand to tuck Rachel's hair back from her face and Rachel flinched, "I'm sorry" she sobbed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"It's okay sweetheart, accidents happen." She rubbed her hand up and down Rachel's cold arm, "did you have a bad dream?" Rachel nodded, "do you want to talk about it?" Rachel shook her head and Shelby sighed, "Okay. Why don't you go get cleaned up and I'll sort this out, I'll get you something clean to change into." Rachel nodded and silently left the room with her head bowed.

Shelby walked back into the room after leaving some clean pyjamas outside the bathroom. She stripped the bed and sighed, she didn't have another set of clean sheets for the guest room, she usually had time to launder this set between guest visits. "I don't have any clean sheets for this bed" Shelby explained as Rachel walked back into the room, "mine would be too big."

"It's okay" Rachel whispered, "I'll sleep on the floor."

Shelby frowned, "don't be silly, you'll get a bad back, and you'd probably freeze, you can share with me for tonight and we'll pick up some more bedding tomorrow."

"What, what if..."

"Does it happen more than once?" Shelby guessed what Rachel was so worried about.

Rachel nodded, "sometimes."

Shelby smiled sadly, "I'll lay a towel down, and I've got plenty of spare sheets for my bed" she put her arm around Rachel's shoulder and resisted the urge to kiss her forehead, "come on, we've got a long day of shopping ahead of us tomorrow, we should get some sleep." She climbed into the bed and held open the sheets for Rachel, "come on" she smiled when the girl hesitated, "I don't bite and I promise not to hog the covers" she joked as Rachel finally gave in and climbed into the bed beside her mother, "Night Rach" Shelby wanted nothing more than to hold Rachel in her arms as she drifted off to sleep but she didn't want to overwhelm the girl, "sleep well", she flicked off the light and settled herself under the covers.

"Thanks" Rachel smiled into the darkness, "good night."

Rachel woke the next morning to find herself playing little spoon to Shelby's big spoon, she cursed herself for seeking the woman out in her sleep but it seemed like they'd both met in the middle of the bed and now Rachel was laid with her back against Shelby's chest, her head was under Shelby's chin and Shelby's arms were wrapped around Rachel's middle. Rachel sighed, it was a long time since anyone had held her and the thought brought tears to her eyes. She blinked them back and then noticed the clock on the wall, it was almost 10am, it was the latest she'd ever slept and it was the longest she'd slept without having a nightmare and she was still dry. She held her breath when she felt Shelby shift behind her, "Mmm, morning" Shelby mumbled sleepily without letting go of Rachel, "did you sleep okay?"

"Yes thank you".

Shelby still didn't let go of her hold on Rachel, "We should get up" she still didn't move, "but I'm too comfortable." It was then she realised how tightly she was holding Rachel, "Oh, I'm sorry" she moved her hands, "I didn't mean to smother you. I guess I was a little scared I'd wake up to find I'd dreamt about having you here" she rolled onto her back and stretched.

"It's okay" Rachel whispered as she too rolled onto her back, "I, I didn't mind."

Shelby reached for Rachel's hand under the covers and squeezed it gently before slipping their fingers together, "I missed you you know, every day I missed you, I know it's not under the best circumstances but I'm so glad you're here, I'm so glad I've got the chance to have you in my life." She wiped at her eyes, "but anyway, we should get up and get ready or we'll never get anything done. We've got a lot of things to get today, we'll have breakfast at the mall." She paused for a minute, "do you need something to wear? It'll be cold out, do you have something warm to wear? A coat? Some jeans?" Rachel shook her head and Shelby briefly wondered what sort of men she'd let bring up her baby but she tried not to let her anger at the two men show. She stood from the bed and opened the door to her large walk in wardrobe, "come on" she gestured for Rachel to follow her, "I'm sure we'll find you something to wear in here."

All Shelby's trousers were far too big for Rachel, the girl obviously hadn't inherited the 'Corcoran curves', so she ended up wearing black leggings over thick woolly tights and a knitted jumper dress, "Okay" Shelby grabbed her keys and bag once she'd found Rachel a coat and some boots, "let's go. What do you want to get first? Some clothes or things for your room?"

"I, I don't have any money" Rachel admitted, her fathers didn't give her an allowance and she only got new clothes when she really, really needed them and even then everything came from a second hand store. The most expensive thing she owned were her shoes and they'd been just ten dollars.

"So" Shelby shrugged before looking over at Rachel, "you, oh God no" she realised what Rachel was thinking, "you won't be buying a thing, I'm your mother Rachel, I've not seen you for almost fifteen years. I'm going to spoil you rotten." Rachel burst into tears at that moment and Shelby was quick to drop her bag and pull Rachel into her arms, "Oh Darling" she sighed, "it's okay, you're okay" she stood in the hallway holding Rachel until Rachel had nothing left, "Rachel" Shelby whispered softly, "I, I don't know what went on with your fathers, I think we should talk about that but I won't force you into telling me anything you don't want to tell me." She took a deep breath, "I don't know what went on, I don't, I don't know anything about how you were brought up but baby I do know that all I want to do is love you and take care of you. I don't mind if you wake me up at 3am because you've had a bad dream and you want me to hold you, I don't mind you asking me for twenty dollars so you can go to the movies with your friends. Whatever you need I'll provide for you, whatever you want, I'll be honest I'll probably give you too" she chuckled slightly, "I see you and I, I can't believe that you're here, I just want to hold you and kiss you, I want you to be happy here, I want you to be comfortable with me, I want you to be comfortable enough to call this your home. Consider this your new start Rachel, whatever went on before is over. A new chapter starts today." Rachel nodded against Shelby's chest, "do you still want to go out?" Shelby asked, "we can stay at home if you'd rather?"

"I don't mind, whatever you'd like to do is fine."

Shelby shook her head, "No it's not, What I want to do doesn't matter, today we do what you want to do."

Rachel looked up at the woman who still had her in a warm embrace, the woman who had shown her more love in the past ten minutes than her two fathers combined in the past ten years. "Could we go out?"

Shelby dropped a kiss to Rachel's hair, "sure thing, let's go get some breakfast first, I know a great little place on the way to the mall."

A little while later Shelby pulled up outside a small cafe and lead Rachel to a table by the window, "here" she passed Rachel a menu, "order whatever you want darling." She saw Rachel smile slightly, "what?" she smiled back.

"You called me darling" Rachel whispered, "and earlier you called me sweetheart".

"Is that okay?" Shelby asked, "they just seem to slip out when I'm talking to you, I can try and stop though if, if you don't like them."

"No" Rachel smiled, "it's okay."

"Good" Shelby grinned, "now lets order some food I'm starving."

"Could I..." Rachel shook her head and began to push her food around her plate, "it doesn't matter."

"Are you sure?" Shelby raised an eyebrow before taking a drink of her coffee.

"Yeah" Rachel began pushing beans around her plate, "it doesn't matter."

"Go on" Shelby smiled, "humour me, what were you going to say?"

"Could I maybe try some of your sausage?" She didn't know what possessed her to ask, Shelby was going to kill her, she'd been kind enough to buy her food and Rachel wasn't being grateful for what she'd been given, and she'd asked to eat some of Shelby's food too, she really was in for it now.

Shelby frowned, she could have sworn Rachel was vegan which she thought explained the girls choosing beans on toast whilst Shelby had a full breakfast, "didn't you say you were a vegan?"

Rachel nodded, "I'm sorry, my fathers, they..." her eyes filled with tears.

"Hey, it's okay" she cut off a small piece of meat and held her fork out to Rachel, "what do you think?" she asked once she'd had time to eat it.

Rachel thought for a moment, "it, it's nice."

Shelby smiled, "here" she slid the sausage she'd not started eating onto Rachel's plate along with a piece of bacon, "try some bacon too."

"Okay" Shelby smiled as they entered the mall almost an hour after they'd left the house, "we need to get you kitted out for winter, where do you want to go first?"

Rachel shrugged, "I don't know, I erm, I've never bought clothes new before."

Shelby smiled sadly and lead Rachel towards the nearest shop, "we'll start here, we can go up one side and down the other and we can go in every shop if we need to. A warm coat and some sturdy boots are the most important things, but if you see anything you like pick it up, I don't care how much it costs as long as its reasonable." She saw the frown on Rachel's face, "try and keep pants under $100 and shirts under $50. Each that is. I want you to get at the very least three of four outfits. And of course pyjamas and underwear. Whatever you need darling." Rachel's eyes darted to the clearance section, "buy things you like, not things that are the cheapest."

Rachel nodded and took a moment to look around the shop. It was huge, she had no idea where to even begin looking, she couldn't look Shelby in the eye, "could you help me pick some things out?" She asked quietly. She was in a store she's heard her peers talk about frequently, a store she could only ever dream of looking into. Any of the other girls at her school would be in heaven knowing they had an almost unlimited amount of money to spend on new clothes but Rachel was lost.

"Of course" Shelby answered Rachel's question with a smile, "do you prefer pants or skirts? I'd like you to get at least a couple of pairs of pants for when the snow comes but we can get you skirts and thick tights for every day if you prefer?"

Rachel shrugged softly, "I could never afford pants" she admitted and Shelby had to blink back tears.

"Okay, well how about we walk around the shop and pick up everything that you see and like, then we can go into the fitting rooms, you can try things on and we'll go from there. Once we know what sort of things you like and what suits you it'll make it easier on the other stores."

It was almost five hours later when Rachel and Shelby finally left the mall laden down with bags. Shelby was pleased that Rachel had picked out several outfits as well as a thick padded coat, a hat, scarf and gloves and a couple of pairs of shoes suitable for the winter. She'd also forced Rachel into picking out some new bed linen and accessories for her bedroom and Shelby planned on ordering her daughter a laptop and a cell phone from the internet that evening.

Rachel on the other hand was worried, Shelby had easily spent over a thousand dollars just on clothes, she couldn't even begin to work out how many hours of chores she'd have to do to work that off. She was also concerned about the new bed linen she'd had to choose. Her fathers got angry if she had an accident sleeping on an old blanket, how would Shelby react if it happened in her brand new bedding.

"Hey, take a deep breath, are you okay?" Rachel didn't realise she'd started to hyperventilate until she felt Shelby's hand on her back, "take some deep breaths, you're okay." Shelby comforted Rachel until her breathing returned to normal, "are you okay?"

Rachel shook her head, "its too much" she gestured to the bags, "we need to take it all back, I can't pay you back I'm sorry."

Shelby sighed, "I told you before Rach, I don't expect you to pay me back. This is what mothers do sweetheart, I don't expect you to pay me for anything whilst you're in my house. Maybe if you stay around after high school and live with me when you have a job we can talk about you maybe giving me something towards the bills but that's a long way off. I am your mother, it's my job to give you food and clothes and a safe place to live and that's what I'm going to do." She smiled sadly at Rachel, "come on, let's get home, we can talk about this there."