Thank you for the reviews... I will try my best in this crazy time to keep you all sane...

So this is an angle that I have come up with... don't know whether it works. You can tell me if you can see this happening. Maybe you can see this as an extra scene(ish).


Series 3 Episode 19

"You almost didn't take the money, did you?" Eddie said after Steph left them.

Rachel sighed. "Just… felt too close to home." She rolled her eyes. "Never shown a little thigh before."

"Thought that might be the comment you would focus on."

She gave Eddie a smile. He was just trying to make the best of a rather sordid situation. The whole thing was wrong. She should know. Reminded her way too much of what she had done in the past. And maybe what didn't help Steph's case any more was the fact that she wasn't sober. Her heart might have been in the right place but it didn't matter. She had gone about it in all the wrong ways.

"Just another problem to deal with."

"We will sort it."

"Would be nice not to have any problems."

"It would be boring that way."

"Boring would be nice now."

"Don't let Steph get you down."

She took a sip of her drink as she thought about what she was going to say to him. She felt like she had to say something about everything that had happened over the last few weeks, especially after everything that he did for her regarding Stuart.

"I don't think I thanked you properly. For everything that you have done."

"Because there is no need to thank me. What I did for you is like you what did for me and Micheal. Maybe it took me longer than it should have done to realise that."

"What? Are we even then?"

"Even or just good friends that like to interfere in the other one's life?"

Rachel sensed the reluctance in his voice to use the word friends. She was certain that he obviously could feel what was happening between them. Not that she was totally against the idea. She would even go against her rule to never date a colleague again after the last relationship she was in with a colleague ended badly. There were so many things she could say about Eddie and they would all lead back to the same point.

Eddie knew her like no one else did.

He always seemed to know what she was thinking or feeling and with everything that happened, she had realised it more and more. From the little glances to the 'you're just a natural worrier' comment.

But she felt like it was the same the other way around. She felt like she could read Eddie very well.

"Maybe the second one." She said.

He glanced up at her before looking back down at the table. Maybe he was waiting for her to say something about their relationship. Maybe he was reluctant because he knew how she could be. Maybe she had to make the first move. Maybe she had to work out what that could be.


"Why don't we go out after the last day of term? For a drink or a meal? I don't mind." Rachel said as they settled with their morning coffee.

"We could do."

"So we could talk."

"About everything?"

"If you want."

She could only smile as his brow creased. She could tell that he didn't really know how to take her offer.

"I mean, what is a drink between friends. Unless… there is a chance of something more." She said.

"Yeah… I mean, only if you want to."

"Why would I say it if I didn't want it?"

"True. So… it's a date?"

"Yeah. It is." She said with the biggest smile on her face.


Eddie knew that he wasn't concentrating. His last class seemed to be a blur and he was sure he hadn't marked a single book in the 15 minutes since the start of his free period. Maybe it was because something was on his mind. Rachel was on his mind.

He knew that he was waiting for her to be ready. He knew what was building between them. He knew it was the reason why he punched Stuart. He knew it was the reason that he wanted to do whatever he could to protect her. He knew he felt something more for her than just platonic feelings. He knew that he didn't want to attach a certain word to his feelings just yet but he was certain that, that word could be used.

Things felt so complicated between them but it seemed like they weren't at the same time. It was a weird feeling that Eddie had and it was exciting to find someone again after Alison. Rachel was the reason that he wanted to stay at Waterloo Road. Her past didn't matter now. Her past just made it possible to see the woman that she was. The passion and determination that she had could be explained by her past. And it just made so much sense.

He had been physically attracted to her since her first day, even though he did act like an arse. The fact that she did hold some of the same values as him and she was doing all she could to give the students the best chance, was something that only made her more attractive.

Him being angry about her past was a blip and he was glad that he could move his anger off of her and to Stuart. She didn't deserve his anger. She had already been through too much already.

His phone going off brought him out of his thoughts and he smiled to see it was from Rachel, wondering whether he was free to talk over the plans for the last week of term.

His marking could wait. She couldn't.