Thank you for the reviews.

Now the last of the time jumps, about 8 weeks between the last chapter and this. So we are now at the beginning of November. And we are slightly on S04E01. Only slightly because this is where, if I hadn't already enough anyway, move away from the series. A few things will be the same but we are on for some change.

Day One

"It is way too soon," Jane said.

"It has been over four months since I woke up." Rachel said.

"And you heard the doctor when you asked that question. You aren't mentally ready to go back."

"Oh come on Jane. I bet he says that to everyone."

"Rachel, you were almost burnt alive.

"I know! But you know I am mentally stronger than most."

"So you didn't have a nightmare the other night about it?"

"That… I have flashbacks all the time."

"Not ones that make you scream out quite like you did." Jane turned to Eddie. "Eddie, tell her that she is going back too soon."

"I'm not getting involved." He said as he held up his hands.

"You have been. You've been the one to bring her things to do."

"Guilty." He sighed. "Look, you both scare me. And I don't want to get on the wrong side of either of you. But you must see that she is going to go back whether we both like it or not and I would rather allow her to go back to work and be able to negotiate what she is going to do rather than her just rebel against us both. Because you know what she can be like."

"I am in the room." Rachel said.

Eddie turned to her. "I know. Because you need to hear it as well. Rachel, we care about you. Just… sometimes I get this feeling like you act like you are in this on your own. More so recently. You aren't on your own."

"I know."

"So we will start getting you back to work, but I want to know the moment you start… panicking. If you don't, then… we are going to have to get you signed off again and I might not bring any paperwork this time around."

Rachel sighed as she thought over it. She actually hated the plan. She wanted to get back to normal. She wanted Jane, Sally and Eddie to stop treating her like she was made of glass or something like that, waiting for her to break again. It was the reason she had started to hold them all at arm's length, something that Jane was frustrated about. Eddie seemed to have a little more patience with her but she was sure that he was even starting to wish that she would let him in again, even if he knew about the scar and everything.

It was either spend another six weeks at home, trying to fill the time or to open up a bit more. She didn't like either option. But she wanted to get back to work.

"Okay." She said.

"And I'll pick you up in the morning."

"Okay."

"So I'll see you in the morning, Mason."

She took that as a good sign. He, at least, wasn't too annoyed at her.

"You better not be late Lawson."

"Me? Late? Never."

He gave her a kiss on her cheek before he left them. Jane was definitely not happy with the arrangement and Rachel was sure that she was about to hear about it. Not that it mattered. Because Jane wasn't going to get her to change her mind.

The front door closed before Jane said anything.

"For Christ sakes, Rachel, stop holding him at arm's length. Actually stop holding all of us at arm's length. But him especially. Because if I have to spend one more moment of him gushing over you to show you how much he cares about you, I might actually be sick."

Rachel sighed and gave her a smile, trying to show that she would think about it.

"I don't know whether to be thankful that you can actually pick a decent bloke or that I am glad I approved of him when I did."

She silently agreed with Jane. Which made everything more complicated.

Rachel didn't expect a quiet day. She just didn't expect the welcoming that Eddie had organised for her or the worst family in Britain being dumped at the doors of the school. She had told Eddie that the comments of the taxi driver had affected her and the fact that the Kellys had shown up wasn't the best of first days. Although she wasn't in panic mode just yet.

It was how they got to discussing the Kellys outside of the staffroom, during the third period with Tom.

"Do you think we should ask Sally about them as well?" Eddie said.

"Maybe. I'll send her a text."

"Sally is?" Tom said.

"Jane's partner. She is a police officer. Might help us get a better picture of why it looks like they left in a hurry."

"My money would be on Earl."

"Why do you say that Tom?" Eddie said.

"At break, he had Paul up against the lockers," Tom explained. "I stepped in and you know me, I don't mind a bit of confrontation. I'll give back what people throw at me. Earl got angry at me and the next thing I knew, I was against the lockers. I pushed him back. I was only trying to tell him that he didn't have to throw his weight around. He said not to mess with him and I said or what. He said that I didn't want to know before he raised his hand to my head and 'shot' me with his fingers. I sort of said that I was going to pretend that he didn't do it and that if he did it again to me or anyone else, he would be out. Honestly, I… didn't really know what to make of it."

"You said the right thing." Rachel said. "Definitely going to get onto Sally now. Although, where does a 16-year-old get a gun from?"

"Do you want me to answer that question?" Eddie said.

"Let's just say, I hope not."

"Hope not what?" Tom said.

"Danny." Rachel said.

"The builder?"

Rachel shook her head. "Whether he is a builder or not, I don't care. All I know is that if Earl Kelly is as dangerous as we don't want to believe he is, getting involved with Danny is the last thing that we need. Although that sounds like him all over."

"Rachel," Eddie said.

She turned to look out of the window to try and avoid the look that he was giving her. How could she not be worried about Danny? He had beaten up Eddie once before and he tried to burn her alive. He was going to try again at some point.

Tom seemed to have the perfect conversation changer.

"Have you met your new Head of Extended Services?" He said.

Rachel turned back and shook her head at the same time that Eddie said that he hadn't. Another thing to irritate her. She had wanted to do the interviews herself once she was well enough to come back and Eddie was organising it that way until Ralph made some stupid rule up about the governors taking over the interviews as she was still off sick. Why Eddie couldn't have still been involved, she didn't know, but they had a Head of Extended Services that neither of them had met or even knew whether they were up for the job.

"I know you said that Ralph took it off your hands Eddie, but I think he is lining this up for failure. Melissa isn't even a teacher or anything like that. Apparently, she has corporate experience but I don't really think that is what you wanted Rachel."

She closed her eyes briefly. "Please tell me that her surname isn't Ryan."

"What if it is?"

"Is she blonde, quite pretty? Have unusual levels of confidence? Doesn't really think before she speaks?"

"Yeah. That is her."

"Your sister?" Eddie said.

"Sounds like her. Jane is going to be over the moon." She paused. "Trust her to bulldoze her way back into my life."

"You have a sister?" Tom said.

"Not one that I would choose." Rachel said before her attention was taken by something else.

She took a moment to turn to look out of the window properly, making sure that her eyes weren't deceiving her. But there was no question about it. It was Danny.

"Get him off school property." She said.

She didn't have to look at Eddie to tell that the anger rose in him. He told Tom to come with him, maybe to stop both him and Danny from doing something stupid. She was sucked into her own thoughts for a moment before she shook her head. Noting that she was now alone in the empty corridor, there was only one place that she could go. She made her way back to her office, although she constantly kept looking out of the window to check that what was happening was happening.

Eddie didn't try to hide his anger. Mainly because the closer he got to Danny, the angrier he got and he was sure that by the time they reached he was almost shaking with rage. He could tell that Danny could sense that as he smiled at him. All Eddie had to do was get him off school property. Preferably without knocking him out.

"Looking for round two Eddie," Danny shouted.

"You are not welcomed. I want you off school property now."

"Oh, her highness is back then. Look, mate, I only want to see my cousin. I heard that she was involved in a nasty fire."

Eddie pushed him back as they finally met. "You didn't hear. You organised it."

"Have you got any proof? Because I thought that the fire was pinned on Stuart. Poor Stuart. What a way to go?"

Eddie would have asked how he knew that but he knew that it had been all over the papers. Poor Stuart indeed. Being his scapegoat. He hated that there wasn't much more that he could say. Because Danny was right. He had no proof other than he told him, which he was certain he would deny. A frustrating mix that only caused Eddie to get angrier, even if he wasn't certain that he could get any angrier.

"Oh no. Eddie." Danny continued. "You've still got it bad for her, haven't you? Oh… and I thought it was only me. I bet she still hasn't told you yet, has she? Or maybe you know that I was the reason that she lost her baby." Danny leant forward and the only reason Eddie didn't lean back or take a step back was because he was talking about the baby. "But maybe you don't know that I was the father of the baby," Danny whispered.

Eddie honestly didn't think that Danny could get any worse. But he just did. What he had just said was worst than the prostitution or the fact that he did try and burn her alive. The fact that this man, her own cousin, had put her into a position where she would end up carrying his child was beyond sickening. He didn't care that he was stunned by the information. Eddie was wondering why Rachel would want children altogether if that was her first experience at motherhood.

There was obviously more to the story but Eddie wasn't going to ask Danny, worried about how he would word what happened.

Eddie knew that it would be the only time that he would be happy to see Melissa or even someone being happy to see Danny. He wanted to turn up towards Rachel's office, to see whether she was watching the whole thing. This wasn't going to help her and he knew that he would have to warn Jane about what had happened.

"What are you doing here Mel?" Danny asked as he gave her a hug.

Maybe that put to bed his thought that Danny was using Melissa to unnerve Rachel. Unless they were both good actors. Actually, he hoped that they were just good actors.

"Someone had to try and keep Rachel out of trouble. I mean… Jane thinks that she has done a good job but she can't have done, can she? Although I think that Mr Overprotective here is trying to give Jane a run for her money." Melissa said. "So does this mean that you are in the area? Can I see more of my favourite cousin?"

"Sort of. Although we should catch up. Maybe bring Philip along. It has been a while since I've seen him."

"Okay, enough. I want you off school property." Eddie said, pushing Danny again.

"Alright big man." He said as he put his hands up. "I'm going." He turned to Melissa. "I can see what you mean about Mr Overprotective."

Eddie stood there for long enough to make sure that Danny had gone before he turned to Tom, telling him to let everyone know that he was not allowed on school property. He turned and glared at Melissa, not giving her the satisfaction of saying something to her. He took a couple of deep breaths as he made his way back to the school, trying to calm himself down before he reached Rachel.

It was weird how his anger had disappeared by the time that Eddie reached her office. Jane's words echoed around his mind about how he had no right to be angry with Rachel. It was true. He had no right because everything that happened to her always seemed to be out of her control.

By the way that she was standing at the window, he knew that she must have watched their conversation. The only reason he closed the door a little heavier than he would have liked to was because he wanted to make sure that she did hear him. He had no idea what frame of mind she was in. He didn't want to do something stupid and make her push him away. Because he felt like everything was still happening. Not that he could really blame her after everything that happened. It was his fault that everything happened when it did.

Instead, he tried to swallow his guilt before he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind before he placed a kiss on her temple. He waited for her to ask the question.

"What did he whisper to you?"

"He was talking about… the baby."

"I wanted to tell you." She whispered.

"I can see how that wasn't easy."

"He knew I was trying to get out."

"Rachel, you don't have to explain."

"I do." She said before she paused. "I… had started to make sure that they at least got what they wanted, just maybe not in the way that they wanted it. I was… sick of being used. It gave me a bit of control. He found out and I was… punished. Like I said when I told you, Danny did always have this… weird obsession with me. I had been punished before. It was usually a beating or put with a certain client that." She stopped. "But not like this.

"I expected him to be angry. But he wasn't. He lulled me into thinking that it might be okay. He wined and dined me. He was relaxed and it was one of the only times that I actually ate the meal in front of me. We then got back in his car and then I realised what he had done. Because he had drugged me and the next thing I knew… I was tied to a bed. The comment… about rough sex. That was it. I was... his little plaything for the week."

He was actually quite glad when she stopped talking. He got the idea.

"Your own cousin." He said.

"It was why I started drinking after I lost the baby. Because I just couldn't deal with it. I drank to forget and to make what I was doing easier. And then I got dependent."

"Not again. Never again if I can help it."

"You wish that you could take it all away from me again."

"Rachel, if I could I would. But I can't. So I will settle for being here for you."

Eddie was sure that she was going to say something else, but instead, she just tried to take his comfort. There was a battle going on inside of her and he wanted to help her with the burden. He just hoped that she would share with him.

"Steph's making me buy the first drink."

Eddie shook his head as he waited for her to finish collecting up her things.

"In all honesty, I would like to just drop you off at home. Earlier couldn't have been easy." He said.

"No. But… in all honesty, I thought that he might have told you when he kidnapped you and beat you up."

"He didn't. I think he was waiting for the time when it would have the maximum impact." He paused. "Melissa called him her favourite cousin."

Rachel gave a short laugh. "Too bad that she isn't his." She paused. "I mean… she would love to be his favourite cousin. Although, I wouldn't wish anything that he did to me on anyone else."

"I got what you meant."

"One drink. I need the alcohol." She said as she pulled her bag on her shoulder.

"One and only one."

"Yes sir."

They smiled at each other, even if they both knew that they didn't really have a lot to smile about. They did at least have each other. That was only if nothing stupid happened. Although that could be anything with Danny still about and Melissa on the scene. They just hoped that they could weather the storm. Because they hadn't broken just yet.