Thank you for the reviews (am still seeing them, although this is frankly getting embarrassing FF).

So, yes, Max has been introduced sooner. Is part of a grand plan. Also, Max was always going to be a family member of Sally's. I think, the first time I thought about it, he was going to be her cousin (like a parallel of Jane and Rachel). But I don't think that Danny was a character at that point and it kinda makes Max (slightly) worse to be her brother.

So the last chapter was more about Sally. This chapter gives you a little more about Rachel and Jane's family.

The New Dynamic

Eddie knew that he had been spending more time around Jane and Sally's. Not that it was a problem because they seemed to enjoy the fact that the cooking seemed to be spread between the three of them now. Although, over the last two weeks, it seemed like he had been doing most of the cooking. He waited until him and Jane were alone before he said anything. It was the only reason he had held back and helped tidy the kitchen.

"Jane, do you think she is okay?" He said. "Just she seems to be taking all this Max business in her stride and I don't know whether I am still waiting for her to fall apart or not."

She looked up at him with a look that meant that she thought that he was being ridiculous.

"It is the Fenshaw. I know she doesn't like the surname but it is. Plastering on a smile, making sure that, on the outside, everything is fine. It is what Uncle Dave did when they were swimming in debt. You know her story. From a young age, she has just made sure that everyone around her was okay without a second thought for herself. Not that Uncle Dave was like that. That is where Melissa comes in. He was a selfish git and so is she."

"And her mum?"

"Auntie Sarah? I am sure that if she was the person she was before she met Uncle Dave, half of what happened wouldn't have happened. Uncle Dave just got too involved with the family. I think Uncle Keith thought that he might be a good addition to the family business. Just he became more interested in taking it rather than selling it."

"It is weird that you still call them Uncle and Auntie even though you hate them."

"Just never stopped." She sighed. "We were brought up to have a strong sense of family. We didn't live far from each other and Grandma's door was always open and we could go there, meet up with a few cousins and go and cause some mischief. Our cousins were just like… other siblings that you didn't go home with. I used to be super close with James and Harriet. Haven't seen them since… obviously."

"From the limited conversation that I have had with Melissa, it seems like she might still be in touch with a few cousins."

"Yeah. Nah, I'm alright. Because that will mean having to be nice to Melissa." She laughed. "I don't think you said what you did to hear more about our stupid family."

"No."

"Then what is wrong Eddie?"

"What do I do? When she is in Fenshaw mode?"

"Look out for her. Be there when the cracks start to show. Eddie, you can read her, better than I can. She won't tell you that she is struggling but you will know when she is. She won't want to talk but… you know how she is."

"I just… don't want to let her down."

"Eddie, I thought we spoke about this."

"I know."

She walked over to him and took the cloth out of his hand, making him look at her properly. He didn't think that she looked bored or annoyed that they were having this conversation again. If anything, she looked ready to give all the same arguments that she had given him in the summer. He suspected that she had done this before with Rachel.

"Eddie, you can't keep blaming yourself. What has happened, has happened. If we could change the past, then Rachel and I would change a hell of a lot. But we wouldn't be the people that we are today without what happened to us. As horrific as it all was. You've just got to accept it. The council's investigation was going to happen anyway. Sally has only found that out. They were probably going to go bust anyway. What if you didn't say anything to your friend and they still went after you and Rachel?

"We knew it was going to happen. It was always going to happen. Danny told you himself. He was always going to try and kill her, which just shows how messed up his mind was. I think you sticking by her angered him more. Because he felt like he would be the only person who could accept what she did because he was the person that put her there. I think that was what he was hoping for. But you have stuck by her. Eddie, you've seen her at her worst. Now you get the honour of seeing her at her best."

Eddie took a moment to think over her words, knowing how right she was.

"The main thing is you won't let her down." Jane continued. "Just keep Melissa away from her."

He gave her a smile. "That I can do."

Rachel couldn't help but be extremely suspicious of Max. His advisory role seemed a little more hands-on than she had expected. Although she didn't think it helped that Sally had finally told them what her dad and brother had said to her when they threw her out. Actually, Rachel was quite glad that they did throw her out. The other option seemed as bad as what Danny did to her. Which meant that Max had been painted with the same brush that she painted Danny with. And she suspected that Eddie felt the same way.

"Are we just waiting for Tom then?" Rachel said as Eddie got comfortable in his seat.

"I've asked him not to come," Max said.

"Why? It is a senior management meeting. Can I assume that you haven't asked Melissa along as well?"

"I will be having a one on one with her to discuss a few things."

"And Tom?" Eddie asked.

"I can see why you put him in the role."

"Max." Rachel said.

She watched with a slight horror as he pulled a plastic wallet out of his bag. He threw it down on the table and Rachel felt like the only way that she was going to know what was going on would be to pick it up and read it.

"Tom is an excellent teacher," Max said. "He proves that time after time and, while I don't like my teachers getting too familiar with the pupils, it seems to help play to his strengths. He cares. Which does make him a good candidate for Head of Pastoral Care. But that shows that he isn't. I think that the familiarity is taken too far sometimes and he failed to report his suspicions about Wilson and Janeece until they were off school property."

"Hope my file is this comprehensive," Rachel muttered.

"Sorry?"

"Wow, this file is comprehensive." She said a little louder.

"Tom Clarkson might not have what it takes to be Head of Pastoral Care but I know where he will be a strong asset. Head of English."

"Grantly is Head of English," Eddie said.

"I know. Strange after he hid from you that your students were caught cheating by the exam board. The governors haven't forgotten about the exam irregularities."

"Just come out with it Max." Rachel said.

"A whole staff restructuring."

"We break up for Christmas on Friday," Eddie said. "There is no point in changing anything now."

"I disagree. Stamp anything out before the exams."

"I suppose you have someone in mind for Head of Pastoral Care."

"Of course. She was delighted when I told her."

"Who?"

"Kim Campbell."

Rachel looked over at Eddie and she knew that was a name that they had heard before. Maybe just to double-check with Tom over who she was and her role within the school.

"When you say whole staff restructuring." Rachel said.

"Thought that might be what you would ask next."

"You are meant to advise."

"Why don't you just say it, Rachel?"

"Eddie is and will always be my deputy."

"As I would expect you to say. I… don't like inter staff romances at the best of times. It is unprofessional in my eyes between senior management. But as everyone seems to assure me that your relationship doesn't… affect your professional judgement, yet, and I am sure I can't persuade you that this is a bad thing, I will let it slide for the moment."

Rachel roughly translated that as 'I don't like your relationship and I am going to document every mistake as a lapse of professional judgement because of your relationship'. She couldn't wait to see the file that he was making for her. That is bearing in mind the thickness of the file that he had got for Tom in two weeks, she expected her's to be a couple of lever arches.

As both her hands were on the table, there was only one way that Eddie could show her a bit of comfort as his hand went to her knee. She dragged one of her hands through her hair before allowing it to drop into her lap. She gave it a few moments before her hand made it to his, where she gave it a squeeze.

"So how is this restructuring going to happen? Are we holding interviews?" She asked.

"That part has already been done. I've assessed every teacher over the last two weeks. Here are my recommendations." Max said as he handed over a piece of paper.

Rachel had to give it to Max, he knew how to do his paperwork. It outlined every subject with who was the current head of department and who Max felt should be the head of department. There were a few on the list that she silently agreed with, something that she would disclose with Eddie later but never tell Max.

"Leave this with me then…" Rachel started.

"I can't. A memo has already gone out to the relevant staff members. The wheels are in motion. After Christmas, you won't recognise the place."

Rachel realised how she must have sounded like on her first day as she had said something similar. She made a mental note to apologise to Eddie for sounding so pretentious. Although she was sure that he would laugh it off and say that she had transformed the place. She couldn't really see what Max could add to the school. Maybe she just had to let him win this one. So that he would let her win one in the future.

"There isn't much we can do if it has already been rolled out. Although, if this is by your recommendation, I think it is only fair that you are the one to tell them the reasons why. We can call it an executive decision."

Max didn't seem too fazed by that, something that Rachel didn't like. She suspected that it was just another thing for him to add to his file about her. She could just imagine him writing willing to delegate down as one of her weaknesses. There was one point when she would just do everything herself. It was opening up to Eddie that proved to her that she didn't always have to do everything by herself. Although she knew that she had to get her head sorted over the Christmas period. Because she had to let Eddie back in again properly, or she could find herself letting Max and Ralph win.