Thank you for the reviews.
Now, this chapter is another AU/What if chapter and, now, it will sort of be featured in a future chapter of this. Aren't you guys lucky?
And just like before. We are all Jane. And we are all part of her little club.
Also... you'll probably guess but this is set after Christmas 2016...
Family Reunion
"Come on Rachel. Please come. It might just make it a little more bearable."
She looked up at her cousin, rather confused as to why she was being invited to this family reunion.
"For you?"
"We can be the black sheep of the family together."
"What have you done?"
"I… kind of married Sally," Jane said. "Would have been the perfect time for you to have come back."
"I forgot how small-minded our family was."
"They… do ask Melissa whether she has found you. Must have caused a massive argument last time."
"How do you mean?"
"Between her and Eddie."
Rachel sighed. "I bet it did."
"I know that it was him. The guy that you were talking about that Christmas." Jane paused. "I should never have listened to Melissa when she said that she was fine to look after you after the fire."
"And I shouldn't have just pushed him away." She sighed again. "Less talk about Eddie. Adam… Adam doesn't know about him."
"Why? Because Eddie broke your heart so much that you still can't talk about him even now."
Rachel knew her silence made up for any lie that she could have given her cousin.
"Oh, God Rachel. You aren't helping with my hatred of Melissa."
"Which is why we can't go." She said before Tommy ran into the kitchen.
She picked her son up and held him close as Adam walked into the room. She knew what he wanted to say to her but hoped that he wasn't going to say it. He was the reason Tommy stuck to her like glue.
"Can't go to what?" Adam said.
"Family reunion. Mum's side of the family has never been… the most accepting."
"But what you did was ages ago. It would be nice to see your sister again before we move to Scotland."
Jane met her eye and Rachel knew that she would have to explain that to her another time.
"We will think about it then." Rachel said, knowing it was the last thing she wanted to do.
"You go in. I'll sort him out." Adam said.
Rachel was reluctant to leave Tommy with Adam, but made her way towards the hall, trying to build the same strength up as she had done on her first day back after the fire. There was always a chance that it could go that well.
Not that she would be standing on a stage, trying not to shake as the hall erupted in the chant of 'One Miss Mason'.
Jane met her by the entrance and Rachel was glad that she could walk in with someone, like she had that day. The black sheep of the family entering together.
"I tried to get the word out that you were Rachel now but I think most of them will call you Amanda."
Before Rachel could even reply, there were multiple people coming up and hugging her. Bearing in mind, the last time she saw all her cousins, she was nine. Rachel was glad that it seemed like the past had been put behind them. Well except for one.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Rachel turned to her sister. They may have spoken recently but that didn't mean that things were great between them. If anything, it was probably worse as they hadn't spoken about anything that they should have done and Melissa never asked about the way she looked.
"Jane invited me."
"Right."
"We can be civil, can't we?"
"Just because I saw you at Christmas doesn't mean that we are fine."
"Have we ever been fine? We have pretended to be fine."
Rachel's attention was taken by the girl that ran up to Melissa. She knew that it had to be their daughter and she tried to see any of Eddie in her but could only see her sister.
"Mummy, can I have a drink?"
"Why don't you ask your father?"
"Because he is hiding outside."
"I wonder why."
Rachel looked up at her sister. "Right, blame everything on me."
"Well, it isn't like you don't blame things on me."
Rachel was glad when Tommy ran up to her and held his arm up for her to pick him up. Her only source of comfort. She knew what Adam would say when he finally joined them.
"Put him down Rachel. He can stand by himself."
"He is fine."
"Rachel…"
"I said he is fine."
She was wishing that they never came. She knew that she should have argued with Adam more about it. It wasn't like they hadn't been doing a lot of that lately. She just worried how far she could push Adam now.
But it was one sentence that came out of her niece's mouth that made her want to stay.
"Mummy, is this Auntie Rachel?"
"Of course he would keep telling you about her," Melissa said.
"And Philip."
"Sophie…"
"Didn't you say that you wanted a drink?" Rachel said to Sophie, interrupting Melissa. "Tommy, do you want a drink?" He nodded at her. "Come on, let's go and get a drink."
If Adam called after her, she didn't register it. There were only three people that she was there for now; Jane, Sophie and Eddie.
"If you are looking for something stronger, you are out of luck. Only alcohol-free drinks because of your Uncle Jack."
Rachel found herself smiling before she turned to Eddie.
"I wouldn't have known that."
"I guessed. Jane told me the first time I was here."
She became aware of how tightly Tommy was holding onto her t-shirt.
"Don't worry, he is a friend." She whispered to her son.
He buried his head into her neck and she tried to laugh it off.
"He isn't usually this shy." Rachel said.
"I doubt it if he is anything like his mother."
"Come on. Why don't you introduce yourself? Like you have been doing because your teacher was so impressed with you."
There was a moment of silence before Eddie took over.
"I'm Eddie."
Tommy looked up at her and she gave him a smile.
"Tommy Edward Fleet."
Rachel bit her lip as Eddie's expression changed.
"Would you believe me if I said I didn't pick Edward?" Rachel said.
"No."
"Would you believe that you mean so much to me and our break up still hurts so much that I haven't told my husband of six years anything about you?"
Eddie smiled. "Yes. It is why I have told Sophie all about you. She shouldn't have missed out on you."
"Can I call the first meeting of the 'We hate Melissa' Club?" Jane said as she joined them. "You could have said things weren't amazing between you two."
"You said something about your hatred for Melissa and I said it was the reason we couldn't come. I thought that was clear enough."
"But then Adam said something about seeing her at Christmas."
"She pushed her way into my house and acted like nothing had happened."
"I'm sorry? When was this?" Eddie asked.
"The 28th."
"When she said Sophie was mine for a couple of hours so I took her to see Philip."
"Philip?" Tommy said. "Daddy doesn't like Philip and Philip doesn't like Daddy."
"Tommy." Rachel said, with a slight warning tone.
"Why does Philip not like your dad?" Eddie asked.
She shot Eddie a look, one that she had shot him many times before, therefore he only smiled at her.
"Because Daddy hurt him and Mummy."
"Don't you dare Lawson." Rachel said before Eddie even opened his mouth.
"It's a bit late for that now Mason."
"I don't need you steamrolling in again."
"And you think that you can deal with this yourself."
"Because look how well last time went."
It surprised her when he started to laugh.
"You forgave me for that and I still know you well enough Rachel. You're terrified and so is Tommy."
She held onto Tommy a little tighter.
"Rachel, I watched you walk out of the school holding Denzil Kelly's hand while he held a gun in his other hand. You are more scared now than you were then. Let me help."
"I… I can't…"
"Look, if Tommy was one of your students, you would have done everything in your power to stop him from going back to that home. I think you need to go all Miss Mason on yourself."
"Miss Mason? Who is she?"
By the way his face dropped, she knew he understood a little more.
"What can we do to help?" He asked.
"At this moment in time, a time machine might be nice."
Rachel hated how Adam stormed over. It put Tommy on edge as well, who started to cling to her again after finally relaxing in Eddie and Jane's presence.
"A word?" Adam said.
"Sure."
"Outside. And put him down for christ sakes. He is five, not a baby."
Rachel swallowed before she tried to hand him over to Jane. It was only as Eddie tried to help that he started to cling on to him. She wondered whether Tommy knew that she felt totally at ease with Eddie. It probably wouldn't help with what Adam wanted to talk about.
"Is Mummy going to be okay?" Tommy asked after a while.
"I should hope so."
"Just Daddy did hurt her. She had this thing on her arm and she couldn't pick me up."
"What are you doing with him?" Melissa said as she walked up to Eddie.
"Adam wanted to talk to Rachel and he wouldn't let go of her until I tried to help out and now he is stuck to me."
"Of course he would."
"Why didn't you tell me that you went around there?"
"Sorry?"
"On the 28th. Why didn't you tell me you went to see Rachel?"
"Didn't think I had to."
"Did she have a cast?"
"Yeah."
"What excuse did she give for the cast?"
"I never asked."
"What?"
"I never asked." She repeated.
Eddie groaned and shook his head at her. "You are officially the worst sister ever."
"What do you mean?"
"Tommy has been telling me that his daddy hurt his mummy. And Philip as well. I can't believe that you never asked."
"She seemed happy with Adam."
"Seemed?"
"Maybe he… he did most of the talking." Melissa paused. "What have I done?"
"Dear God."
"I told him a few things about you. I thought he knew."
"Rachel hasn't been able to tell him about me. For God's sake." He managed to hand Tommy over to Melissa. "You look after your nephew. I'll just go and save Rachel from your stupidity."
It took him a while to get outside and then he almost missed them as he looked for them. Down an alleyway, not too far from the hall, he heard Rachel's voice which made him turn towards them. He didn't like how close Adam was to her.
"What aren't you telling me, Rachel?" Adam shouted.
"Do you want me to say it?"
"Yes."
"I lied. Just before you proposed, I lied to you. I remember what it was like to be in a relationship. Because a year before, I had given up the best relationship that I had ever been in. With someone who truly loved me. All of me. From my looks to my control-freak tendencies."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And he was the first man that I had properly fallen in love with and…"
"And what?"
"I can't do this Adam."
"Do you still love him?"
Eddie started to take a few steps towards them, if anything to stop Adam from doing anything rash.
"It is a pretty simple question, Rachel. Do you still love him? Yes or no?"
"Yes."
It was horrible to watch as Adam launched his arm out and pinned Rachel to the wall by her neck. Eddie could tell it had even taken her by surprise. He stopped walking as Adam turned to him.
"I can't see the attraction myself," Adam said.
"Let her go," Eddie said.
"Or what? She is my wife."
"Who is absolutely terrified of you. And your son as well."
"He doesn't matter."
"Adam, we can talk about this. Just let her go."
Rachel slid down the wall as he let her go and took a couple of big gulps of breath.
"How do you do it? You slept with her sister, got her pregnant and for some reason she still loves you." Adam said as he walked up to Eddie.
"How well do you know Rachel?"
"Very well."
"So why did she leave Waterloo Road? I'm just guessing that she isn't there anymore."
"Because she…"
"Because of him. I gave Waterloo Road up because it was causing too many arguments between us." Rachel said. "Because in the end you would have asked me to choose like Melissa asked Eddie to choose and… it was easier to let you win then."
"I don't think that you do know her as well as you think," Eddie said.
"Is that so?" Adam said.
"What the hell is going on?" Jane said as she ran down the alleyway. "Christ, Rach, are you alright?"
Eddie knew the smile that Rachel gave Jane all too well. He knew that Jane turned to Adam to reason with him but Eddie didn't think that he was particularly going to listen to that.
"Jane, unfortunately, there is only one way to deal with this," Eddie said before he punched Adam across the face.
Adam failed to get his footing and crashed onto the floor. Eddie gave his hand a quick shake before he reached out for Rachel. She took his hands and he gently pulled her up. Hoping it was enough to put him off coming back in, Eddie led her back towards the hall and her family.
"You shouldn't have done that." Rachel said as she held the ice on Eddie's hand.
"His skull was obviously a little thicker than Stuart's."
"What did I say about steamrolling in?"
"Rachel, he had you up against the wall by your neck. He wasn't going to listen to reason."
"Still."
"Right, I've spoken to Sally," Jane said as she joined them. "Basically they are going to keep an eye out for him. I would probably get yourself a lawyer Rach. Just to be on the safe side. Plus I don't think you want to be married to a man like that."
"Certainly not." Rachel said.
"And everyone wonders why I don't deal with men."
"There are some alright ones out there."
Eddie met Rachel's eye, knowing that he was just that. He was an alright guy. He was never going to be a good guy after dating Melissa.
"Dear God you two, get a room."
"So what now?" Eddie asked.
"Maybe… we should properly have that chat we should have done seven odd years ago. And let's hope Melissa can be an adult about it."
"I can't believe she never asked."
"Eddie, one of the things you have to understand about me and Melissa is, we never talk about the things that we are meant to talk about. We still have the whole… prostitute thing to talk about. We met up again and just try to get along the best we can. We've never had the greatest of relationships."
"You aren't going back home tonight. Not by yourself."
"Where else am I going to go?"
"You can come and stay with us," Melissa said as she joined the conversation. "Eddie can stop being an idiot and come home and the spare room has a double bed. At the worst, Tommy will have to share with Sophie."
"I…" Rachel started.
"Of course you can Rachel. You're my sister. I should try and look out for you."
"And we know a good lawyer," Eddie added.
"Very good actually."
"Plus, I can keep an eye on you that way as well," Jane said.
Rachel looked around at them all, feeling not as alone as she had felt over the last few weeks. The fact that the sale of her house had fallen through didn't matter because they weren't moving to Scotland. Well her and Tommy certainly weren't. It wasn't until she heard Tommy giggling, while on Sophie's back as she was making aeroplane noises that she allowed herself to think that this was the start of something good for them.
Here is the thing... Do you sort of want to see more of Jane? Because I may have started writing a AU series 3/4 in my head after I wrote this and it keeps coming back at times... Just putting the question out there...
