An abrupt knock on the door stole her away from her train of thought. She looked up startled, as only two people ever really knocked on her door at this time. That was the post man, and... She couldn't even say his name through fear of breaking down into another pool of unappreciated tears. She disregarded the letter and cautiously stepped towards the door, her heart sinking to the pit of her stomach with every step she took. Her eyes flashed with different emotions; worry, fear, loneliness. Just as she approached the door, her hand almost touching the handle she heard a familiar voice. The voice she'd wanted to hear so badly but expected it never to come. And now it was here, she wished it wasn't.

"Rachel? Are you in? Rach?"

The use of her shortened name caused a few of the tears to stray down her cheek and dampen her drying top. Her hand shook, half of her eager to open the door and see him again even if this could be the last time, and the other half wanted to cower away and hide, pretending nothing ever happened. But she knew the latter wasn't an option and opened the door, screwing up her face as the light hit her already sleep-deprived eyes.

"Come in..."

Her words were barely more of a whisper as she slid her arm out of the way to allow his entrance before closing the door again quickly, throwing the hallway into a stubborn darkness, trapping her back into the cocoon. Eddie reached out to turn on a light-switch but hesitated, dropping his arm back to his side in an uncomfortable manner, as if he shouldn't be there. Rachel resisted looking into his eyes. She didn't want to see the cold, empty space that was once full of warmth for her. She shied away from his physical contact and stared down at the floor, afraid to show any emotions in case they were not reciprocated. He cleared his throat and the silence broke like a fragile vase. Rachel's head lifted slowly to look at him, the usual burning fire in her eyes of happiness and devotion extinguished, leaving nothing but cold, black coals of her once twinkling eyes.

"I worried when you didn't come back after assembly and you weren't in your office..."

Typical Eddie. After everything she'd done he still worried about her. But she couldn't hurt him anymore, it wasn't fair on him to have to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and glue them back together one by one, day by day. She sighed gently and looked back down, closing her eyes tightly so preserve her dignity, to stop him seeing her cry.

"I'm sorry, I can't do this. I can't stay there now. How can I expect them to respect me after this? I kept something from them for months, hoping that they wouldn't find out. It was stupid."

He went to take her hand but she shied away again, as if it was going to inflict pain upon her. As though his very touch would break the delicacy in which she stood, break the weakness she was trying to hide, as if the fragments of her already broken life were going to smash into tiny glass splinters.

"You think they don't respect you? Think of the pupils Rach, Bolton for one, you were the only one who could get through to him. He wouldn't want you to leave."

Rachel blinked away her tears as they fell silently down her cheeks and hit the floor, leaving a small stain on the cream carpet.

"I can't. The parents won't want some prostitute teaching they're kids."

"Rachel, you've been nothing but good for that school. They don't think of you like that, you're their headmistress. You're the one who kept this school open all this time. I know we didn't see eye to eye when you first arrived but now... I was just jealous; I thought I should have had your job. But no one's better at it than you."

She flinched slightly at his words, rigid to his usually sunny composure, emotionless. She didn't know how to feel, she couldn't understand why he was still trying to reattach her to her former glory, a glory that never truly belonged to her. A glory that was Rachel Mason's, not hers. She wanted to scream at him and tell him everything that was speeding through her mind, how she didn't belong at the school, how she was nowhere near the best, but not a sound passed her lips. She stayed firmly in her stance, head bowed towards the floor, completely paralysed except the gentle rising and falling of her chest in response to her breathing. Eddie reached out towards her slowly, keeping a slight distance, and whispered.

"The school needs you... I need you."

I need you. Three words. Three syllables. Three times her heart flipped over. Three seconds for her eyes to meet his. One more chance.