Thank you for the reviews. And don't worry, there is a lot more coming from me regarding this story (lots of what-ifs as well) because this has gone from 45 to 54 chapters and will probably still grow over time... we will see how it goes... And I always want to give them to you before I have planned to... Like I think I have wanted to give this to you since like Wednesday so...

So I have tried something a little different here and I kinda hope it works and isn't too confusing. My Mum was a little obsessed with Memories by Maroon 5... hence the two lines at the beginning and why this chapter came about.

Set a couple of weeks before chapter 1 of WR, WM... Maybe helping to bring things full circleish... so you can read this and then start WR, WM... maybe... who knows... I certainly don't.

Memories

'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

"Mum, you were there for nearly three years. You must have more stories to tell."

Rachel couldn't help but laugh at her son. The enthusiasm he had over going to Waterloo Road made up for the fact that Adam couldn't stand the fact that he had a place there. She knew that there would be many arguments to come over her decision but she wouldn't have it any other way. She felt quite honoured that Tommy wanted to go there.

"I have many stories."

"Then why don't you tell me them?"

Because there are ones that hold things that I don't want you to know yet.

She sighed as she tried to think of a story that wouldn't mean that she would have to explain her past to him. He was still too young to know that and she felt like a story where she had put her life at risk probably wasn't best either.

"Did you have a deputy before Chris?" He asked.

There was another danger zone. Talking about Eddie was hard enough without telling her son that his father isn't the man that she wanted to be with originally. He could believe the other reasons that she wanted to leave Adam. Telling him that she had another option that she pushed away would only fuel the resentment that he was building towards Adam.

"I did."

"Tell me about them."

She hesitated again.

"Then tell me about your first day. Please, Mum."

Rachel looked up at the clock, knowing that Adam had only just arrived at work and they would have a good six or so hours to themselves. Plenty of time for her to tell Tommy about her first day. And her deputy.

"My first day?" She asked.

"I mean, it couldn't have been that bad, could it?"

"I'll let you be the judge of that. Tea?"

"Dad, I've been thinking," Sophie said as she sat on the table as Eddie tried to fill out a form.

"That's dangerous."

She pushed his shoulder gently. "And you call me cheeky."

"Where do you think you got it from?"

"Why did you chose Mum over Auntie Rachel?"

He stopped writing and placed down the pen before he leant back in his chair and looked at his daughter. He promised himself that Sophie was never going to blame herself for the fact that he wasn't with Rachel, even though she was the reason. She was just a product of his stupidness and Melissa's selfishness.

"I didn't choose your Mum."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed. "I was never going to tell you because I don't want you blaming yourself."

"Why would I blame myself?"

"Because Rachel chose you for me. She knew that I had missed my chance with Micheal and I am still an awful father to him but she gave me the chance to be a father to you."

"But breaking your heart in the process."

"And hers. She is still right. She was always right but you never told her that."

"Right about what?"

"I could say that I didn't want anything to do with you but I would never mean it." He sighed again. "Sophie, it is none of your concern about how me and Rachel missed our chance. We missed it and she is now married. Hopefully happily."

"You must have more stories to tell me about her. Like her first day? What was your first impressions of her?"

Eddie cleared his throat. "I don't think you want to know."

"Why?"

"Because I was a bit of a prat."

"Now you have to tell me."

He looked up at the clock and knew that they still had a couple of hours together before Melissa finished work and Sophie would have to be home before she got back. This would be the last time he was going to see her before he moved to Greenock. It was the reason he was currently banned from seeing Sophie.

"Okay, but this doesn't paint me in the best of lights."

"That's fine Dad. We all make mistakes."

Mistakes. I could tell you plenty about mistakes.

"I was brought into Waterloo Road by the LEA," Rachel explained. "It was only my third headteacher job but they knew about the initiatives that I had introduced in a school nearby and they asked me whether I wanted the job. I had sort of left that school. I was ready for my next challenge and I was only still at this school because I was telling my replacement about what I had done.

"I arrived at the school, halfway through the term to mayhem. The previous head had used money that should have been used for the students benefit to persuade… students that had more opportunities to come to the school. There was also just the general bad stuff. Kids fighting all the time, being disruptive, the staff as enthusiastic to be there as the kids.

"I arrived with Ria, who had been investigating where Jack had been using this money. She gave me a quick tour of the school before we entered, I suppose, my office." She swallowed. "And that was the first time I met him."

"Who?"

The name was on the tip of her tongue but as she looked at her son, she couldn't say it. No matter how much she wanted to utter that name again. It wasn't fair for him to hold that knowledge when it could do him so much harm.

"My deputy."

"Your deputy?"

"Hmm, and he was not happy…"

"They were sat there, giggling. I wondered why Rachel was there with Ria. I wondered whether she was someone else to snoop about to find out what Jack had done. And then the words came out of Ria mouth. 'Rachel's the new headteacher'."

"What was wrong with that?"

"At the time, everything. I had been told that I was acting head until the end of term by the governors. I was looking forward to putting my own stamp on the place. Maybe I was thinking that I could do a good job as headteacher."

"But then you would never have met Rachel."

"No, I wouldn't have. And this is where I start to become a prat. Rachel explained her plans to me but I didn't really take a blind bit of notice. I was just too angry that the LEA had made this decision. And there was the whole thing that she decided that she would change everything on her first day. Not that any of the staff looked happy at her plans, to begin with as well."

"I will admit, Tom had a reason to be rude to me. I did catch him on a bad day. Grantley and Steph didn't really. I told Grantly that I would have a third and final warning to add to the two that he had got on that day, which would have meant that he would have been suspended."

"Why do I think you might have said more than that?"

"Between me, you and Grantly, I told him basically there would be a third and final warning because I would make one up. Steph just blamed Jack for her lack of… direction, we'll say, as head of Pastoral Care. My deputy wasn't happy with that. Probably didn't help what I had said to him earlier that day."

"What did you say?"

"I just sounded surprised because she told me that the students could cope without Pythagorean identities for one day. In all honesty, I was a little impressed. I didn't have her down as a maths teacher. Not that I actually know what she did teach. Anyway, she had to add that she used to go out with a maths teacher and called him as dull as ditchwater."

Sophie couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"It isn't funny." He said, sounding a little hurt.

"Oh, it is. Although, she couldn't have found you dull."

"She certainly wasn't dull either." He paused for a moment. "It wasn't long after that she told me about the staff restructuring. All posts up for grabs from hers down to… the assistant groundsman I think she said. Grantly and Steph had it coming to them really. They were never really ones to keep their mouths shut when they should. Don't know why I was so annoyed about it. Told her that she was an associate head and gave her six months."

"Told him that it wasn't really up to me if I stayed or moved on but I was going to give everything to the school for as long as I was there. The next thing I knew, Grantly was standing in front of me apologising for his attitude. He asked me whether I was into black magic."

"Who?"

"My deputy." Eddie Lawson.

"Mum, just tell me his name."

"It's… It's probably safer if you don't know."

"Does Dad…"

"No. And that is why." She sighed. "Tom came running into the room at that point, telling me that Chlo had been arrested and whether he could go and pick her up. Told him that he should. We started with the presentations and that was when I met Mika for the first time."

"Poor Auntie Rachel."

"Well, I was quite glad at the time. She was the one thrown up on rather than me. Got a telling off for undermining her in front of the pupils. She looked a little embarrassed once I explained that Mika had lost her mum and that she was Chlo's sister. Chlo was missing at the time."

"Can I guess you had another argument before the day was out?"

"They weren't arguments. I was being an awkward sod because I thought I would be acting head and Rachel… I suppose she was just trying to show everyone that she was in charge and prepared to change the school whether they liked it or not."

"So could you?"

"Could I what?"

"Count on your deputy's support?"

"In the end. We were quite the team. Just… not everything went to plan and nothing ended up how… how maybe it should have been. But, I wouldn't change it for the world." Rachel said as she put her arm around Tommy.

She didn't have to look at him to know that his smile had dropped.

"We will do it."

"I know."

"Maybe when we do, we can find your deputy."

"Maybe."

"But until next summer."

Rachel placed a kiss in his hair. "Until next summer."

Little did she know that when Tommy started Waterloo Road in two weeks time, he would be handing her a letter with a signature at the bottom that she knew all too well, the signature of her deputy, and how that would change so many things for them.

For the moment though, she had the memories and they would do for now.