Thank you for the reviews.

Don't worry. If you follow me on Twitter, you will know that you will definitely be hearing more from Jane. A lot more from her. Honestly, I am using Twitter so much now as I am not posting daily on here. Best place in general to get updates of where I am and stuff (username is the same as my pen name on here.)

Now everything in the Lawson/Mason household always seems to be going well... But sometimes it only takes someone to say the wrong thing to start and argument and I don't mean between Eddie and Rachel...

And the return of someone who would definitely not known what had happened between Eddie and Rachel...

In short, we are back to that main story for a bit. Set after Kerian and Becoming Mrs R Lawson (obvs).


The Argument

As soon as they had seen the CV, Rachel wondered whether Davina had the chance to also return to Waterloo Road. She could only smile as she watched Davina taking in the memorial on the wall for Tom. Maybe she thought that she might have been reunited with him as Rachel was reunited with Eddie.

"Don't worry. It isn't the same without him."

Rachel was certain that she must have been smiling the same smile as Davina.

"I wouldn't expect it to."

"I often wonder about what he would say about everything that has happened."

"How do you mean?"

Rachel paused for a moment as she realised that Davina had missed out on a lot. She would have only known about her relationship with Eddie through rumours. She would definitely not have known about Melissa returning five months pregnant or about Rachel and Adam. They had a lot to catch up on.

She didn't know whether she was glad of the distraction Tommy gave.

"Mum." He said as he ran down the stairs and stood in front of her.

"Shouldn't you be in lessons? And what have we told you about running in the corridors."

"I've done something really stupid."

"What?" She said with a sigh.

"Sophie… She dragged me into one of the classrooms during break and asked me why I hadn't broken up with Mia when we had discussed it all weekend because she didn't want the same thing to happen to me as what happened with her and Josh because Mia is pressuring me into having sex and I told her that I was going to do it and I was waiting for the right moment because Mia wasn't in the greatest of moods and I worry that Mia is like Dad, that was when Sophie said that she would break up with her for me and I told her that it is the last thing that was going to happened and we argued and she told me that she had kissed Dex over the summer and I was upset that neither of them had told me, not that it happened because Dex is a great guy and I would be happy for them but she said something about me being super overprotective and I told her that I could stop it if she wanted me to and then I said some other stupid things and then she stormed off and Kerian text me to say that she wasn't in the common room because they have a free so I have checked everwhere else she could be but she isn't there and what if she has gone?"

Rachel allowed Tommy's mind to catch up with his mouth. The realisation of what he had told her was clear in his eyes.

"Let's take that from the beginning shall we?" She said.

"Mum, when I said that Mia is pressuring me into having sex, I…"

"Tommy, either she is or she isn't. Which is it?"

He hesitated for a moment. "I've managed to put her off until my birthday."

"Okay. We will talk about it later."

"Do we have to?"

"Yes. Although you can pick which one of us you would feel more comfortable talking to but you need to talk about it."

"Okay."

"What the hell did you say to Sophie?"

"A... bunch of stupid things that I never meant. I don't even know why I said what I said. I... I don't think what I said."

Rachel sighed. "Right. I am now going to be two different people now so let's get the nice one over and done with first. Sophie couldn't have gotten too far. Text Kerian and tell him to keep calling her. I want to know the moment he knows where she is."

"So that is the Mum bit done."

"What class are you meant to be in?"

"English… with Miss Moore."

"Really? You run out of Hannah's class when she thinks that Eddie doesn't like her anymore because he is sulking about her leaving."

"Sorry."

"I want you to go and apologise to her and then grab your stuff and get yourself to the cooler. There I want you to write an apology to Hannah and maybe think about what you are going to say to Sophie as well. You can leave at lunchtime."

"Yes, Miss."

"Go on, go. And stop worrying. We will sort it."

"Mum, she is staring," Tommy whispered as he nodded his head towards Davina.

Rachel turned to her before looking back at her son.

"She is Davina. Shackleton."

"Oh, the special needs TA."

"The one."

"Cool. I'll umm… get going."

"As you should."

"And I'll stop worrying."

"And we will talk later."

Rachel sighed before she turned back to Davina.

"He looks like you," Davina said.

"We get that a lot. Although we think that him and Sophie have been secretly dying his hair. So it is a similar shade to mine." Rachel paused. "Shall we go up before anything else happens?"

"Same old Waterloo Road."

"Not entirely but there are some days."

Davina smiled at her but Rachel knew that they had so much to explain.


"They've finally done it."

Eddie looked up from what he was writing to see Rachel and Davina. Rachel walked over to him and took her seat while he gestured to Davina to take the seat opposite them.

"Who has done what?" He said as he turned to Rachel.

"Our children have finally fallen out."

"Over what?"

"Tommy not breaking up with Mia and Sophie kissing Dex."

"Sophie kissed Dex? When?"

"In the summer. I mean, she has picked worse people."

"Don't remind me. But I thought that they were just friends."

"And then Mia… it is just like we discussed the other night."

"Really?"

"He… He has admitted that she is pressuring him into having sex." She paused. "I've told him that he needs to talk to one of us about it. And this has all come out because Sophie isn't in school anymore because they argued."

"Maybe she has just gone home."

"Hopefully. I have Kerian trying to get a hold of her and to tell me when he knows where she is."

"Now that we have confused the hell out of Davina, shall we do this interview so we can bring her up to speed with everything that happened after she left?"

He still loved the way that Rachel would smile at him.

"Yeah, I suppose we should."


"I'll get Georgina to get us some drinks. A lot has happened in the last 17 years." Eddie said.

He opened the door to see Kerian walking into the office area and he called for Rachel. She was quickly out.

"Where is she?" Rachel said.

"Battery Park."

"Not far. Good."

"Just… she sounded a wee bit drunk."

"What the hell did Tommy say to her?"

"Rach, why don't you take the car and pick her up? Your lessons are already covered. Plus you know how to deal with her while I will deal with Tommy. The walk home could do us both a bit of good." He said as he got the keys out of his pocket and held them up for her to take.

He was glad when she took them.

"That is if she doesn't go all Fenshaw on me."

"I am sure she won't."

She gave him a small smile before she left. He sighed as he turned back to his office to see Davina by the door.

"Don't have kids."

"I haven't. Teaching them is enough for me. I'm glad that you two did get together."

"Oh." He said with realisation. "You don't know. You think that Sophie and Tommy are our children."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I just forgot when you left. The short story is, Sophie isn't Rachel's daughter like Tommy isn't my son."

"Right."

"Georgina, could I have a coffee and Davina will have?"

"Coffee, white, no sugar."

He wondered why Georgina didn't move straight away or why Kerian was still loitering. He sighed.

"Davina Shackleton."

"The TA?" Kerian said at the same time Georgina said. "The flirt?"

"You obviously got talking to Mika at the last reunion," Eddie said as he turned to Georgina.

"I did say that I wanted to speak to everyone."

"My very own Steph Haydock. Gossip central." He said as he turned back to Davina. "I think it is time to catch you up properly."


Sophie was drunk when she found her and after managing to get her home without her throwing up in the car, Rachel found herself with the task of looking after the 17-year-old.

"You're disappointed in me," Sophie said as Rachel got her into bed.

"Not really. I just want to know what Tommy said for you to drink half a bottle of vodka."

"I do blame myself as to why you and Dad have waited so long for your chance."

"And we have told you many times that the blame lies with me, your dad and your mum. You don't even come into the equation."

"I know. Just… We keep saying that Tommy is nothing like Adam and I know I never really met Adam but… I think I saw part of Adam in him today and… it wasn't nice."

"I could only imagine."

"Mia has changed him."

"How long have you known that Mia has been pressuring him in to have sex?"

Sophie looked a little shocked at the question.

"He accidentally told me when he knew that you weren't in school. I just want to know so I know how best to talk to him about it." Rachel explained.

"Since Mia's birthday party. I was only invited because Tommy literally begged her and she has a 'thing' for Kerian. She is such a bitch. Anyway, there was a part of the night where Tommy and Mia had disappeared and I thought really nothing of it until he found us and said he wanted to leave. It took a while for him to calm down and eventually he told me and Kerian. We both tried to tell him that it was okay because if he didn't want to do it, then he had every right to say no and she had to respect that. He then told us that it was the only thing that she had been going on about since the beginning of the school year and had worn him down so much that he agreed to have sex with her on her 16th birthday party. But he couldn't go through with it. He has been in a bad mood ever since over it all."

"Are you sure that you saw Adam in him today, or me being super defensive over something stupid that I shouldn't have been defensive about?"

"What do you mean?"

"Many times I was asked why didn't I just leave Adam. To me, it wasn't that easy. Tommy and I, we form attachments and sometimes they aren't the best attachments. Tommy thinks that he has formed this attachment with Mia and he doesn't want to lose that. It has just been me and him for so long. We rely on each other. Just because we have let you and Eddie in, does mean that we are also going to allow others in. Tommy wants to see the good in people."

"But even he knows that Mia is like Adam."

"And it took me six years and Adam almost killing me for me to be free of him. It isn't easy to leave a relationship like that." Rachel sighed. "Now what is this about you and Dex?"

"That was a one-time thing."

"Sure?"

"Yeah. Dex knows that. We talked about it when Kerian came onto the scene. He has a girlfriend now. Catherine. It was a one time summer first kiss."

"We are all not angry that it happened. Dex is a great kid."

"Just?"

"Just I think Tommy was a little upset that you didn't tell him."

"He isn't my cousin/step-brother/best friend at the moment."

"I think today has shown you both what is important. You two have something special. It should definitely not be lost to someone like Mia."

"You're right there."

"Go on, try and get some sleep. You'll feel better for it."

Rachel made sure that Sophie lied on her side before she closed her curtains and closed the door gently behind her. One child down, potentially one to go.


Rachel knew that she wouldn't see Tommy straight away. She heard him run up the stairs before Eddie had a chance to call out to say that they were home. She sighed as he entered the kitchen.

"How's Sophie?"

"Asleep, sobering up. No idea where she brought the bottle of vodka from though. Drank half of it before I found her."

"Luckily she is young enough."

"Tommy?"

"In deep regret. Trying not to feel sorry for himself while blaming himself. He said that he wanted you to talk to him about the whole Mia thing."

"Great."

"If I had to do it with Sophie, you should have to do it with Tommy."

"When did you do it with Sophie?"

"A month or so ago. Her and Kerian were talking about it and she felt like she should ask someone about it. Apparently she went to Kim first who said that she should probably talk to one of us as well."

"Good old Kim. I just don't know whether to allow the dust to settle first or not."

"I think he wants to make it up to Sophie first."

"At least he has his priorities right."

"What else have you found out?"

"That Mia is like Adam. Apparently, having sex is the only thing she has been going on about since the beginning of the school year and kept mentioning it to Tommy until he agreed but he couldn't go through with it."

"He sort of mentioned that it wasn't that he didn't want to do it, it just didn't feel right."

"Did you catch Davina up?"

"Yeah. She was shocked to say the least. I forgot how much she actually missed. She thought that Sophie and Tommy were our children, like children we'd had together."

"We didn't get that luxury."

"I told her that Melissa was sort of still in the picture and that Adam was definitely not. I would have invited her round for dinner but she had to get back and we have this to sort out."

"Another quiet day at Waterloo Road."

Eddie laughed. "I can't believe they fell out. I thought that they would never fall out."

"It's not funny."

"Honestly, at this rate, I am just going to have to laugh at it."

"If only they weren't so protective of each other."

"I get what Sophie tried to do and I get why Tommy lashed out at her. Reminds me of two other idiots that always used to fall out over silly things."

"I don't know what you mean Lawson."

"You know exactly what I mean."

She gave him a smile before rocking into him, nudging him slightly.


"Sophie? Mum wants to know if you want any dinner." Tommy said as he crept into her room.

"Probably should do."

"I'm sorry Sophie. I… I know that I shouldn't have said all of those things and… I've never truly blamed you. I blame Auntie Melissa mostly. Today has been horrible and I hate that me saying those things made you feel the way that you do. I never meant to hurt you but I know I did."

Sophie sat up and patted her mattress. He walked over and sat next to her.

"I'm sorry that I never told you about me and Dex. Even more so because even Kerian found out before you. It wasn't that I didn't want to tell you. Just you have been a completely different person since we got back from Kim's. I… I feel like I have lost my best friend and I don't like who has replaced him. Tommy, you have to do something about it. Because this person you are right now isn't you. Today just showed that it can be equally as bad between us as good."

"I didn't like myself. I went looking for you when Kerian asked where you were because you weren't in the common room. It is why I blurted everything to Mum."

"I told her what you told me at Mia's birthday party."

"Your talk with Eddie is definitely going to go better than my talk with Mum."

"Please talk to her properly about it."

"I will. And I will find a way to break up with Mia. I know you are just worried about me and trying to look out for me."

"And don't tone down the over-protectiveness. I… do secretly love it."

"So we good?"

"Yeah. We're good."

"Are you two coming down?!" Eddie shouted up the stairs.

"Coming." They said at the same time.

Tommy turned and smiled at Sophie, glad that his stupidity hadn't completely destroyed their relationship. He just knew who he had to focus on now and who was important to him. Sophie was always going to be important. Just he had to find someone that saw that importance and understood it. Maybe then they would reach the same level of importance without them clashing.