Thank you for the reviews.

So onto part 2. And things can't get any worse, can they?

Things Are Bad

If Rachel was being totally honest with herself, she didn't really hear anything that Mrs Hanson had said to her, apart from that her students had been caught cheating on their coursework. If she was in a better frame of mind, then she would be telling Mrs Hanson that she knew how to do her job and that she was surprised that none of her staff came to her with this, probably glaring at Grantly the whole time.

Instead, she stared at the list of names and allowed the lecture to happen. She constantly flicked her eyes to her left and frowning when Eddie still wasn't there. She needed someone to take control and he wasn't there to do it. It was clear that she was distracted and when her phone finally buzzed, she picked it up with lightning speed, putting a stop to whatever Mrs Hanson was saying.

"Sorry, will you excuse me for a minute." Rachel said, already standing up and making her way to the door.

If Mrs Hanson didn't already think that she was unprofessional, Rachel knew that she did now. This was all coming on the wrong day and, at that moment in time, Rachel couldn't find the energy to care. Her whole career might be going down the drain anyway. Why try and maintain her professionalism when her world was crashing down around her?

She pushed her way out of the antechamber at the same time Sally and Eddie started on the stairs up to her office. She didn't need to see Eddie in his eternity to know that he was in pain and that Danny had done this to him.

"Rachel, for Christ sakes, tell him he needs to go to hospital," Sally shouted as they made their way up to her.

She took in his swollen eye and his short breaths and knew exactly what had happened. Danny had aimed for his face and his ribs. Two places that he liked to hurt.

"Is that your professional opinion?" She said as she turned to Sally as they stopped a couple of steps from the top.

"My professional opinion. My personal opinion. I don't care. He needs to go to hospital."

Eddie shook his head. "I'm not leaving your side."

"Eddie, if you need to go…" Rachel said.

"I am not leaving you."

"Eddie, please."

"I'm not leaving you." He sighed and winced. "I should have been here this morning."

"Well, Danny knew what he was doing."

"It doesn't…"

"It does matter. Even more so if you are seriously hurt." She placed her hands on his neck. "Eddie… I need you more than ever and… the last thing I need today is you keeling over."

"I'm not leaving you."

Sally huffed in frustration and Rachel could only agree. She didn't want him to leave her again. Temporarily or permanently.

"Look, I am in my uniform. I can wave my warrant card about and get you seen as quickly as possible. I would also like you to give a statement. If we are going to get Danny to leave you two alone for good then we need some evidence against him." Sally said.

Eddie almost looked like he was going to take that offer. He raised his hands up and rubbed them down her forearms before taking a hold of her left hand in his right and turning his head to place a kiss in the palm of her hand. Either he was going to take that offer or he was going to attempt to argue with her again after softening her up a bit.

"Sorry to disturb you," Bridget said from the antechamber door. "Mrs Hanson is just wondering how long you will be."

Rachel turned to her. "Umm… tell her just a minute."

"What is that about?" Eddie asked after Bridget left.

"My little secret is the least of our worries. The exam board has caught the kids cheating. Mrs Hanson is from the exam board and, of course, it was found in the English department and now… all the other subjects are in question."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Go to hospital."

"Not a chance. Not now. I am not leaving you alone."

Rachel wanted to argue more with him but she knew that he wasn't going to. She rested her forehead against his.

"I know. I really think you should go and get yourself checked over. So go and tell Tom to go and find Jasmine and Matt and get them to the staffroom. I'll be there in a moment with Mrs Hanson and Grantly. I want you to go to the school nurse. To at least have someone look over your eye and, knowing Danny, your ribs."

"Eddie, tell her," Sally said.

"Tell me what?" Rachel said.

"Nothing. I'll be with you as soon as I can."

Rachel dropped her hands from his neck and let him go. She watched him walk off, knowing that he was probably in more pain that he was trying to let on.

"I can't believe you are just going to let him go," Sally said.

"And if it was you and Jane was in my place, would you leave her?"

"I am a police officer. I am trained on how to take physical abuse. He is only a teacher."

"Seriously Sally? You wouldn't and if it was me being beaten up and Eddie standing here, I wouldn't want to leave him and Jane would be the same if it was her beaten up." Rachel paused. "What does Eddie have to tell me?"

"This morning was only the start. Today… today is going to be payback for you calling the police on him. Rachel… If I could I would try and arrest him but…"

"I know. Maybe I am safer here."

"Rachel…"

"You go and do what you can. Maybe think about Stuart as well. I'll be fine. I've got Eddie."

She didn't think that Sally was so convinced but her airwave made a noise and they both knew that Sally couldn't be there much longer. If anything, nor could Rachel. Not that she thought that her deputy being beaten up would make her look any more professional than she already had been.

"Sally told me." Rachel said when her and Eddie finally got a moment alone.

"Of course she did." He said as he dropped the ice pack from his eye.

The swelling around his eye hadn't really gone down but it had looked like it wasn't going to get any worse. It was an ugly purple colour and she hoped that his eye socket hadn't been damaged. It wouldn't have been the first time Danny had done that either.

"I don't want you worrying." He continued. "You have enough on your plate."

"Without knowing that my cousin has kept a grudge for the last 17 years? I should have expected it."

"Rachel."

"No Eddie. I know him better and… I should have known when he brought it up when I was reunited with him. This has all happened because…"

"Don't you dare say because of you. Because it isn't. Not entirely." He paused. "A while ago… Danny caught me in the car park. He said… his usual about you. He left before I could punch his lights out. I missed half the football because of it. Because I was obsessing over what he had said and a mate rang me up." He sighed and winced, definitely broken ribs. "He works for the council and I said about Danny and Stuart and he said that I wasn't the first to have my concerns about them. I didn't say anything more than necessary and he said that they were already thinking of launching an investigation into them. Rachel… everything that has happened today, regarding them, is down to me. They've gone bust. Lost all their contracts and they are taking it out on you."

"I would say Danny took it out on you."

"This… was for you. To show you that he meant business."

She was sure that he paled and she didn't want to ask the question that she wanted to.

"Eddie…"

"Let's… just say. Be grateful that he wanted to show you that he meant business."

And there it was. The confirmation that Danny had threatened his life. If anything, that hurt more than Danny beating him up. He had threatened to kill Eddie and it was him toying with her. Telling her that he still had all the power and he could take away one of the things that she loved.

"What are you going to do?" He asked.

"About?"

"Everyone knowing."

"Don't."

"Rachel, it is a valid question."

"Go to the top of Scotland where they might not have heard."

"Seriously. Rachel, we need to talk about it."

"What is there to talk about? No one will want me here."

"I want you here. Tom wants you here. He was more worried about you than my face. Davina even raised her concerns."

"Three people out of what… 650 people. And there is more than that. There are all the parents and the governors. Eddie… honestly, I would like to jump before I am pushed."

"What about us?"

"You don't want me now." She whispered.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Look what I've done to you."

He pushed himself off the cupboard and walked over to her desk. She knew what he was going to say before he had even said it. It just proved how well she knew him now.

"You've done nothing. My face and ribs… I did that."

"And if Danny wasn't involved?"

"If Danny wasn't, I don't think any of this would have happened. And we could play that game. We just have to make the best of this hand. Taking you and me out of the equation, I think it has shown that you deserve to run this school. Mainly because of your background. You know that this is where you are best placed. I know it. Stay. Fight it. Show everyone else that this is where you belong."

She found herself smiling at him. "I'm sure it will be something that will be discussed."

He smiled back at her and she knew that she had put a stop to his fears at the moment. What would happen, she did not know. But it saddened her to think that it might be the last time she would sit in that chair, behind that desk, in that office, with her deputy and almost boyfriend smiling down at her. She didn't want to leave Waterloo Road. But she knew if she had to, she would.

Rachel wanted to find Tom, mainly just to see how he was getting on. That was the only reason she had left her office. If she hadn't, she would have been on the phone to the LEA but, at that moment, Bridget was taking a message to a phone call that she would never make back.

She had heard the footsteps behind her and, other than thinking that it was another teacher who was heading towards the staffroom, she didn't think too much of it. By the time she realised that the footsteps were more like a man on a mission, it was too late as an arm wrapped around her waist and a hand went across her mouth. By the way that she was picked up off her feet, she knew that it wasn't going to end well. Although she was surprised that it was Stuart and not Danny who grabbed her after she managed to bite down on part of his hand.

"You bitch," Stuart shouted as he let her go.

It wasn't ideal that he was closer to the door and he sensed that before he slammed the door of the classroom and dragged one of the tables across the door. That made escape pretty much impossible.

"Stuart."

"He was so right about you. Everything that he said you would do, you did. You know, we both had bets on how long Eddie would last. I'll tell you what. I didn't fancy his chances. I thought two weeks after we arrived that he would break up with you and leave. Danny thought that he might be a little longer but even he had his doubts towards the end. And when he told me what he had said the last time he saw Eddie. I am surprised that he didn't run a mile."

"What did he say?"

"Eddie never told you."

Rachel found herself shaking her head.

"Well… you would have relived one of the nights he talked about, that was if you accepted my invitation of dinner. Because I would have made sure that I drove you there and therefore, I had to drive you home. You would have ended up at mine, where, then, Danny would have been waiting for us." He paused. "Now, just to settle the argument between us, who would you prefer to have been facing you?"

"You know, part of me hoped that you weren't part of his little… twisted game. That you might just be a decentish person that just got sucked into his world. But you aren't even that."

"Guilty." He paused. "That first day. You felt you recognised me, didn't you?"

"How?"

"I met Danny while he was on the run. Gave him a safe place. He was furious with you." He said as he started to walk towards her. "Told me about all the things that he would want to do to you. How he couldn't wait to hear you beg for him to stop. He wanted to make sure that you were properly used before he started to… maybe turn that pleasure into pain. He wanted to make you pay for everything you did.

"I told him to wait. I told him to be patient. We have spent the last 17 years trying to find you. Melissa was a massive help. All those boyfriends that found out, that was because of us. To make you more untrustworthy of men. And then… the training centre. The perfect opportunity. We couldn't give it up. And the fact that our bid was rejected was the icing on the cake. It meant that we could confront you. We could put you on edge. See I had been the one following you around. Danny couldn't do it. You would recognise him. That is why you recognise me."

Rachel only gulped as her back finally hit the wall. She held back a whimper as Stuart lifted his hand and ran a finger down her cheek. She didn't think that this is how it would all happen. That her last hours at Waterloo Road would be like this.

"You know, this isn't how I wanted things between us," Stuart said.

"That's the problem with Danny."

"Chaos is all he knows."

"Come on Stuart. You don't want this."

She almost thought that he was going to believe her until his hand came up underneath her chin and landed on her throat. He picked her up slightly and she grabbed his hand, trying to get her to get off her. Stuart leant forward to whisper in her ear.

"You don't know me."

She could feel her vision start to go before he released her. She dropped to the floor and took a couple of deep breaths. She knew that there was no way that she was going to get out, more so when Stuart started to throw textbooks around. He was preparing for something. She only became aware of what that was as he poured a liquid from a hip flask.

"Goodbye, Amanda Fenshaw."

It made her glad that she was lying on the floor when he struck the match and dropped it onto the desk.