Something - Quinn Fabray

Chapter 21

"Shelby!" Josh Corcoran knocked on Shelby's front door again. It was Wednesday morning, and he and Paige had driven in from Akron for the meeting with the Berrys and their lawyer.

The door suddenly burst open. "Sorry," Shelby said. "I was upstairs. Ryan was on his iPod." The two of them were getting settled with each other. The previous day had gone pretty smoothly, Ryan had spent the morning at the garage, while Shelby stayed home and worked on the grades for her English student. It was hard to believe that the school session had just ended a week ago.

"Took you long enough," Josh joked.

"Good morning to you too," Shelby grumbled. "Hi Paige."

"Morning."

"I have coffee in the kitchen," Shelby said as she let them in. "Let's go."

A few minutes later the three adults were sitting at the counter in the kitchen drinking coffee. "What time's the appointment?" Josh asked.

"It's at ten," Shelby told him. "Down at Ross's law office."

"I've been looking over the papers, there shouldn't be any problem," Paige said. "The Berrys are giving up custody willingly, and you're accepting. You're Ryan's biological mom, and you're pretty well off, so the judge probably won't have any problems signing off of the papers even if you're going to be a single mom. So this should be relatively quick and painless." She took a sip of her coffee. "Besides, this is just the signing of documents, we're still going to file. We can probably get a judge by next week, sooner if the Berrys' lawyer can pull some strings."

Josh nodded. "Okay, where's your kid going to be during all this? Maybe we can spend some time together."

"Ask him yourself," Shelby nodded in the direction of the kitchen door, which had just opened.

"Good morning Uncle Josh, Aunt Paige," Ryan greeted. "Hi mom." He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water, then sat down at the counter next to his mom.

"Hey Ryan, you got any plans today? I thought we could go out while the two ladies do their thing," Josh suggested.

Ryan's gaze flickered to his mom. "I was just going to hang out at the garage, I guess," he said. He knew his mom and his aunt were going to meet with his dads to get his custody transfer filed. "We could go somewhere else if you wanted to, though."

"Actually, that works just fine," Josh smiled at his nephew. "I haven't gotten my car fixed, maybe you could get it done?"

"Sure!" Ryan replied. It would take his mind off things, and as a bonus he'd get to spend some time with his new uncle.

"You're supposed to be bonding, not trying to get free labor done on your car," Shelby scolded her brother. "Whatever. Try to get it done by noon, we're having lunch together, okay?"

"Yes, mom," Ryan and Josh droned at the same time.

Paige smirked, while Shelby just rolled her eyes. "Great, now there's two of them."

One hour later, Shelby and Paige drove over to Max Ross's law office to meet Leroy and Hiram. "You okay?" Paige asked, sensing that Shelby was a bit tense.

"I'm good," was the answer. "I just want this over with." She pulled up in front of their destination, and the two women stepped out of the car and into the office. Leroy and Hiram were already there.

"Hello, Shelby," Hiram said, offering her a small smile. "You remember Max Ross?"

Yes, Shelby did remember the balding man from sixteen years ago, when he'd drawn up the contract that had kept her away from her son, and had later handled the adoption files. Now he was completely bald. "Mr. Ross." She shook hands with him. "This is my lawyer, Paige Matheson." They had decided they didn't need to reveal their relationship.