Just a one shot that has been stuck in my mind for a while; tell me what you think!
I love Reddie and was actual screaming when they kissed! Reddie all the way!
A/N I do not know how old Rachel is so in this story she is 39
D&D
Rachel gently rocket the baby car seat with her foot as she read over what felt like the millionth bit of paper. She groaned at the sight of more files in front of her and looked down; her 2 week old baby girl had fallen asleep, eventually! She put the file she had been looking at aside and stood up, stretching her legs as they had been crouched under a desk for the past 4 hours.
The past few months had been difficult. Hiding a pregnancy she was ashamed to show from the whole school, then Melissa leaving with Philip to go god-knows-where! And then delivering her baby girl into the world on her own! That had to be the hardest—but the most rewarding nevertheless. Being a 6 month pregnant head teacher was hard, but trying to act as normal was much, much harder. Hiding it from Melissa was the hardest; she was always in your face, in your business and really nosey! But thankfully, she was focused on Eddie, not Rachel! She didn't know when she would have told Melissa--if she hadn't run off! Eddie had called her over the summer holidays, more than a few times! She would always say that she was busy when he asked her to dinner or out to the pub. She had felt bad every time she made up a new excuse because every time she said no, she could hear it in his voice he felt crushed. Over the summer she hadn't gone out much, the sun made her feel light headed and she had no-one to go out with-- well that was a lie, there was Eddie, but Eddie only wanted to go out with the happy free Rachel, not the fat moody one that had taken her place in the final months of her pregnancy. Her baby's father, well, what could be said about him? He was a loner, a drunk, a one night stand that would live with her forever! She didn't regret it! After all this probably was her last chance to have a child. Though, she did regret not having any one there when it happened:
She had been sitting at home alone when it started to happen, she was looking at baby magazines trying to pick a colour for her baby girl's room, the doctor had just told her she was expecting a girl and she couldn't have been more excited, she had still to paint the nursery, but what's the rush, her baby wasn't due for another month! She got up to stretch her legs and felt an unfamiliar rush of pain in her stomach; it was different to the cramps she had been getting throughout the pregnancy and much more alarming! She was scared, as the pain continued, her breathing became more ragged and she started to cry, she could not lose this baby! After another half an hour she called the hospital, they sent an ambulance to collect her. When she arrived at the hospital she was hooked up to machines and told that they would have to deliver the baby surgically as there was a small tear in her womb. They said the baby would die if they didn't deliver it as soon as possible. When she woke up she was taken to a small room, where her premature baby girl lay hooked up to half a dozen machines. A week later she was allowed to bring her baby girl home. Over the week they were stuck in the hospital Rachel had chosen a name for her baby girl. Madison Riley Mason. The name meant strong and courageous. Everything she wished her little girl would grow up to be.
A knock on the door brought her out of her reminiscence of the birth of her baby girl. She looked up and saw Eddie standing in the doorway. He smiled, she returned the smile.
"I called you a few times in the holidays!" he exclaimed walking towards her desk, "you kept saying you were busy! Now I don't know about you but after the 4th time of being rejected I started to take offence--"
"Eddie wait…" she interrupted, "I have been busy… I just needed some time on my own!" Eddie walked behind her desk; he heard a small gurgling sound and looked down.
"Holy shit… is that what I think it is?" he asked kneeling down and watching the baby as it gripped at his fingers.
"If you're thinking a baby then yes!" she said sarcastically.
"You know what I meant Rachel! Oh god… she's the reason you didn't come out over the holiday's…" He shook his head, "why didn't you tell anyone? Why didn't you tell me? Did Melissa know—of course she knew she's your sister—"
"No! She didn't know, no-one knew except me and my doctor, Mel had her own problems with you, and you had your own problems with her!" she said, her voice breaking down near the end, a tear fell from her eye, she brushed it away. Eddie stood up and walked over to her, he wrapped his arms around her as her sobbing continued. After a few minutes of being wrapped in his embrace she brought her head up to face him. She was surprised to see that his eyes were not on her, but the small baby in the car seat below them.
"She is beautiful… she looks just like you!" had she heard that wrong or had Eddie just called her beautiful? "You shouldn't have to do this alone rach!" he looked into her eyes, she smiled, it was totally inappropriate to the conversation they were having but she loved it when he called her 'rach'!
"Let me help you, let me be there for you rach!" she gasped in astonishment but was even more shocked when he covered her lips with his. He gently sucked on her bottom lip as she gave in and kissed him back.
Kissing Eddie! It sounded weird but doing it just felt so right. Eddie pulled away and searched for regret in her eyes. He was about to say something when she put her finger over his lips.
"Thank you Eddie, I'd love it if you would be there for me, these last few months have got a bit lonely!" she laughed and sat on the edge of her desk.
"You can hold her if you want!" Rachel exclaimed as she noticed Eddie staring at Madison.
"Really?" she nodded and carefully picked Maddy up from the car seat. She laid her in eddies arms and made sure he had a good grip of her before letting go.
Steph watched from the doorway, not wanting to disturb Rachel and Eddie, she watched eddies back as him and Rachel continued to do whatever it was that they were doing.
"I have done this before! This isn't my first time holding a baby!" Eddie laughed as Rachel watched him like a hawk as he cradled Madison.
Steph knocked on the door and Eddie shot round revealing a tiny baby in his arms.
"I just came to pick up my class registers for this year!" Steph exclaimed matter-of-factly as she walked into the office. "My, my… you's two have been busy over the holidays!" she exclaimed giddily.
"Steph there are your registers! Bye, bye!" Rachel exclaimed, shooing her out of the door. Eddie laughed as Rachel turned round and gave him a death stare. "Great, now the whole school is going to think we had a kid together!" she exclaimed sorting through the papers on her desk, "I've got to deliver the rest of these paper registers to the staff because Bridget's still in the Bahamas with her husband! Care to join me!" she asked, picking up the stack of papers from her desk.
"Love to!" he smiled and followed her out of the office. "So what's her name?" he asked walking beside her.
"Em, her full name is Madison Riley Mason! I decided on Madison for her first name, it means strong, and I picked Riley for her middle name, Riley means courageous! And mason kinda comes with me being her mother and all!" she exclaimed smiling, obviously proud of the names she had chosen for her baby girl. Eddie smiled.
Eddie decided now was the time to bring up a touchy subject. "Madison's father?" Rachel sighed,
"Em…" she stuttered and rubbed her eyes, "This is really embarrassing but to tell you the truth I don't even know his name!" Eddie looked at her.
"You're kidding me?" he looked deadly series then burst out laughing.
"It was the night you and Melissa got engaged, I was pissed off so I went to a club, got drunk, met up with this guy… he left before I woke up with a note saying thanks for the night and he had to get to work! Never heard from him again!" she smiled, Eddie laughed again.
"Responsible, strict, head teacher Rachel would never do something like that!" he said with a joking tone.
"But pissed off drunk Rachel would!" she replied with a smug grin. "Anyway, I don't really care who he is because he has given me the best thing that has ever happened to me!" she exclaimed looking Madison lying peacefully in eddies arms. "Minus the morning sickness and the cramps!" Eddie laughed again, god she looked beautiful when she smiled.
They walked down the corridor to the English department and knocked on Mr. Clarkson's door. Tom smiled.
"These are you're new registers Mr. Clarkson!" Rachel exclaimed handing his the blue folder.
"Wow Eddie, she's beautiful!" tom exclaimed looking at the baby in his arms.
"Looks just like her mother, doesn't she?" he asked looking at Rachel.
Tom looked around eventually it clicked and he realized that the baby was Rachel's. "Congratulations!" he exclaimed hugging her.
"Thanks tom, well good luck for the new term!" she replied and walked out, Eddie followed her.
As soon as she got out the door she burst into fits of laughter. "What?" Eddie asked smiling.
"Did you see his face?" she exclaimed laughing. "I bet he's been talking to Steph! That's why he was giving us looks! I told you the whole school would think we had a kid together!" Eddie shook his head at her overactive imagination.
"Maybe he was just curious how you hid a pregnancy from us all! He wasn't necessarily wondering who her father was!" she shook her head, "And by the way…" he said turning back towards her, "How did you manage to?"
"Well, when I found out I was pregnant, I was 3 months gone, that was in February, so it got to June and I was nearly 7 months, I wore baggy tops, no-one was even suspecting anything, and when Melissa left, it just became so much easier hiding it! and when I went into labour I was over a month early, she shouldn't even be here right now, I still have 2 weeks to g till her due date!" Rachel stared at Madison, avoiding all eye-contact with Eddie.
"Why did you hide it?" he asked quietly as Madison had fallen asleep in his arms.
"I was ashamed, one minute I was a 39 year old single, work-a-holic, thinking that I'd been through ever thing life had to throw at me, and then the next, boom, I was a single pregnant head teacher with no clue what to do next!" she ran a hand through her long hair.
"Rach…" he whispered and they continued back to her office in silence.
x.x..x.x.x
"You wana come back to mine tonight?" Rachel asked trying to balance a car seat, a bag and loads of files in her arms at the same time.
"Sure let me take them for you!" Eddie took the files from Rachel and carried them to her car.
"Nice car!" Eddie exclaimed as the walked towards the silver Audi Q7.
"I needed to get rid of the sports car so i traded the TT in for the Q7!" she exclaimed lifting Madison's car seat to fit in the car.
"See you in 10 minutes then!" she exclaimed smiling after strapping Madison into the front seat.
"Yeah bye…" Eddie murmured as he watched the shiny silver car sped out of the car park.
x.x..x.x.x
She carefully laid Madison in the Moses basket while Eddie watched her from the doorway. He watched her carefully; she was so gentle and quiet! She turned and smiled, noticing he had been watching her she blushed.
They sat eating in silence, occasionally looking up to gaze at each other. They eventually started talking, grumbling on about work and the laziness of some of the teachers. By the end of dinner their friendly banter had turned into Rachel sitting on eddies lap, their tongues battling for dominance, while the food was well forgotten. He carried her through into her bedroom where Madison was sleeping; he laid her on the bed and kissed her forehead. "Night, night!" he whispered and pulled his head away.
"Stay please Eddie!" she whispered and pulled him back down again, he gave in and removed his jacket and lay next to her. She clasped his hand in hers and fell asleep on his chest. Once he was sure she had gone to sleep he whispered in her ear,
"It was always you rach, I hope you know that, I love you!"
Should I make this into a story? Or just leave it as a one shot?
Reviews are greatly appreciated!
Love D&D