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How is Eddie feeling about all this then? He finally has his wife back, doesn't he?

Comfort

Jane had told him to be with Rachel but he didn't think that it was what she wanted. He had felt the way that she had teased up when they found her and how she kept her distance from him at the police station. Even giving Danny a kiss on his cheek made him wonder what had gone on for her to shy away from him. He hadn't asked Michael but all he had said was that something happened with Adam.

It was why he took a great amount of comfort to see her with Jacob in her arms and Kiera lying next to them, all asleep. It was where she needed to be. With her children. Whatever had happened to her hadn't put her off being with them. It was something that he could live with for the moment.

He thought about going in, just to get a change of clothes, before heading to the free spare room to sleep. If she was going to shy away from him when they were awake, he didn't think that she would appreciate it if she woke up to find him there.

After a bit of debate, he decided that he didn't want to wake any of them. He started to slowly close the door when he heard Rachel's voice.

"Come here you soppy sod."

He smiled at it, even though he could hear that Rachel wasn't convinced that she did want him there. He still walked over to the bag of clothes that he had and pulled his shirt off and pulled on a t-shirt before quickly changing out of his jeans. There was really only one place he could join them, that was to gently settle down with Kiera's back to his chest.

"How is Michael?" She whispered.

"He could be better. Jane is going to watch him. Make sure he is going to be okay. Alison is going to pick him up in the morning and take him to the hospital. That is going to be a great conversation."

"How much does she know?"

"That Danny was here. That Michael was out looking for you. I don't really understand it all myself. The last… five weeks have been a weird blur."

"Five weeks?"

"I think it's about that."

He watched her as she placed a kiss in Jacob's hair.

"I've missed you all so much." She said.

"We've missed you too. All of us."

"I bet the paperwork is driving you up the wall."

"The only reason I wanted you back." He joked.

"What am I going to do with you, Mr Mason?"

Eddie knew that a smile grace his lips but it didn't last long as his brow creased at the use of 'Mr Mason'. He could tell that it didn't have the desired effect on her as well.

"You haven't called me that in a while."

"Maybe… maybe because I am trying to stop the guilt."

"Guilt of what?" He paused to let her say if she was going to. "Rachel, anything that has happened isn't your fault."

"It feels like it." She said, her eyes filling with tears.

"Rachel, I'm listening."

"I." She started before she raised her right hand to wipe away the tears. "I broke…"

"Adam?" He said, saving her from saying it.

She nodded and it made everything make more sense, like the way that she had tensed and kept her distance. Maybe it wasn't because she thought that it was going to happen again, but the pure fact that she felt like she had betrayed him. Not that he could see it like that. It was the one way that they were certain that they would never betray each other. They would both never have an affair.

"Maybe I should have punched him again."

"Eddie… I…"

"Rachel." He said, stopping her. "Like Kiera said to me, you are an idiot if you think that I am thinking that. I don't. I don't think that you would have wanted it or done it willingly. I think… he took advantage of you again or you did it for self-preservation. Because that is what you used to do with Danny."

"Danny didn't do anything."

"You know what? I think I was starting to enjoy his company by the end."

He was glad when she choked out a laugh.

"Really?"

"He isn't a bad bloke after Jane tries to strangle him and I give him a punch around the face."

"Jane strangled him?"

"Apparently she has fantasized about it since she was reunited with you. Might not have helped that he broke into the house while the kids were the only ones here. Went into full protective mode." He paused. "And Melissa is in the area. Adam brought her here. Haven't worked out why yet."

Kiera stirred, putting an end to their conversation for the moment as she got comfortable again.

"I don't know why we stopped. She is the one that can't hear us." He said.

"She would be able to hear us from this distance."

"I'll have to show you. That she is completely and utterly my daughter."

"I'll look forward to it."

"Rachel."

"Just… the last five weeks. All I have wanted is this and." She stopped.

"Hey, we will work through this, like we always do. Just. Tell me what you want. Tell me what you want me to do or sort out, and I will do it or sort it."

"I want my husband to be able to comfort me without me wanting to push him away." She said, tearfully.

"Then that will be the first thing that we will work on. You can always count on me."

"And you are always going to be next to me."

"Never willingly going to leave your side."

"One day I will be more trouble than I am worth."

"Never."

He noted the way that she looked down at his hand where he had placed it around Kiera and laid it flat on the mattress. He could tell that she was probably looking at the engagement and wedding ring that she had given him so many years ago.

"What did the engagement ring mean again?" She asked.

"Faith is written in Ogham and the Trinity Knots represent eternity."

"And to think, I bought it because I love the design of it."

"I like to think that it was fate."

"Of course you would, you soppy sod."

If anything, Rachel had no idea what day of the week it was. So she expected that once she woke up, she would still be with her children and husband. She panicked slightly as Eddie was there, thinking that he was going to do something stupid after what she had told him last night, when she noticed the notebook leaning against a glass on the bedside table, with a note in his handwriting.

Covered the kids but I still need to go in.
I love you and I will see you later.

She smiled to herself, knowing that she would have to sort her head out. Not because it wasn't fair on Eddie that she wanted to push him away, but because she was finally home. She wanted the nightmare to be completely over with.

With both Kiera and Jacob still asleep, she wondered whether she could get another half an hour or so before she realised that she had to get back to normal.

She managed to untangle herself from Jacob and gave both her children a kiss before she slipped out of the room. She got down the stairs and went to turn to the kitchen when the front door caught her eye. She knew that they were both out of her life now but it didn't stop her from making sure that the front door was locked and the windows in the living room were secure before she headed to the kitchen to check the backdoor.

Her task was stopped by the vase, filled with carnations, and another note in Eddie's handwriting. Her heart swelled at the gesture, knowing how much he liked to spoil her and how he used to do it to prove that he loved her. She picked up the note to read it, smiling down at it.

I hope you remember what they mean.

She wanted her phone, just so she could text him to say thank you. She noted what the time was and thought that it was best to leave it for a bit before she used the landline to call the school. She knew that she had to let him know that she was grateful for them. Otherwise, she could see him going into full appreciation mode and would end up inundating her with gifts.

The stairs at Jane and Sally's didn't creak like they did at theirs, meaning that she didn't notice Kiera was there until she thought that she should wake them.

Kiera tapped her right index and middle finger against her left twice before having her right hand on top of her left, tapping twice, while mouthing 'Dad at work?'.

Rachel nodded at her before she raised her hands, palm up, and moved them in a circle before pushing her left fist towards Kiera and moving a finger around her left ear, mouthing 'where are your hearing aids?'.

Kiera pointed up, mouthing 'Upstairs'. Rachel could tell that she was thinking about what she was going to say next. 'You like signing' Kiera mouthed as she pointed at Rachel before she tapped her chest twice and moved her hands in circles in front of her.

Rachel laughed. 'I do' she mouthed as she finger-spelt it out.

She thought about asking her daughter what she had done to make Eddie think that she was his daughter when her daughter beat her to it, asking about the flowers by pinching her thumb and finger together and tapping her right cheek before doing the same on her left, moving her fingers underneath her nose.

Rachel held her hand palm up before flipping over, then pushing her fist out towards Kiera and tapping her left index and middle fingers on her right twice. "From your father." She said, out loud.

Kiera placed her thumb on her chin and moved it to the right, mouthing 'lovely'.

Rachel handed her the note and she was glad that Kiera was closer when her daughter looked up at her.

"Love and admiration." Rachel said.

"I don't know the sign for admiration."

"I don't think there is one."

"I was just trying to help. I heard you and dad last night."

"Did you?"

"He was a mess," Kiera said as she finger-spelt most of the sentence before waving her hands in front of her.

"I could imagine." Rachel said as she signed it out as well.

Rachel had got the fact that all the sign language was more for her benefit than Kiera's. Which is the reason why she thought that Kiera signed her next question without speaking or mouthing it. Because Rachel didn't think that Kiera actually wanted to ask it.

But she watched as her daughter as she moved her hand in front of her chest before moving her hands forward with her thumbs up. Asking how she was.

She thought back to her conversation with Michael before they were moved out of the bedsit. She knew that Keria knew more. What she knew exactly, Rachel didn't know yet, but that was a conversation for later. For when Jacob wouldn't walk in on them as they talked.

Which is why she held up both her hands, with her index fingers pointing at each other before she dropped her left hand down slightly, saying that she was broken.

"We will get you back," Kiera said.

"I know." She said as she pulled her daughter into a hug and placed a kiss in her hair. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too."

They pulled back as Jacob joined them rubbing a hand down his face before joining them.

"Aren't we going to school?" He asked, which Rachel laughed at.

"No, your dad has sorted it. So you get to spend the day at home with me."

"So we can cheer you up?"

Rachel hesitated. "I suppose so." She paused as she looked over at Kiera. "I think we need to see what Auntie Jane and Auntie Sally have in their cupboards and see what we can have for breakfast. Don't you?"

"I like your thinking, Mum," Keira said before the set about their task.