Thank you for the reviews.

I do think that this was going to be a bit different from how it turned out but that is the beauty of only giving myself a couple of lines as a plan. Anything can happen from there (honestly so chapters are planned with only a couple of lines and some chapters are planned with a whole page just for the plan).

And this is a week after the last chapter.

A Question of Professionalism

There was a big problem at the moment. Because whenever Rachel found that she was building herself back up, that she was ready to jump back into her relationship with Eddie properly, she found that someone, more than likely Max, was there to knock her right back down. Might not have helped by the letter arriving about the court dates and she knew that she would have to get the time off to go. Eddie would probably have to go on the same dates as well and she knew that it would end up with her leaving Max in charge, while secretly asking Tom just to make sure he doesn't make some major changes while she was away for the three days that she was needed in court.

"What is that about?" Max asked as he walked into her office.

She refused to call it their office. To her, he was meant to be an advisor and he was only meant to be there temporarily, as he was also surveying a few other schools in the area. But other than the odd half a day, he always seemed to be at Waterloo Road.

"Court dates. To give my evidence against Danny."

"Your cousin?"

"Yes, my cousin." She couldn't stop herself from turning to the windowpane that had been replaced over the Christmas break. "It is three days next week. The Tuesday to Thursday."

"I am sure we can spare you."

"Eddie has probably got one as well."

"We will cover it. Unless that isn't what you are worried about."

"Of course not."

"Then what are you worried about?"

Other than having to retell how my cousin was going to shoot me as well as bring up all the memories that I've been trying to forget about for the last 18 years, you. She thought.

"He has pleaded not guilty. Don't know how but he has. Maybe I am just not looking forward to being reminded that I was almost shot."

"Maybe you should take the whole week off."

Rachel turned back to him. She knew how much he would like that. A whole week to do whatever he liked with her school.

"I'll be fine."

"I am sure we can cope."

"But I would also like to be able to keep myself busy."

"Rachel, I am just trying to help."

"I'll be fine Max."

"Just don't want another lapse of judgement."

"What lapse of judgement?"

"The Kellys. The only decent one is Marley. Their mum is a drunk and Earl is on trial for accessory to attempted murder. The whole family is looking at a one-way ticket to prison."

"He might be on trial for accessory, but when it mattered he acted in the right way. He saved my life."

"So everything else that he did was… forgiven?"

"Plus Rose is changing." She said, changing the subject.

"Because a job in the canteen is going to turn her around."

Rachel sighed. "Let's just say that we came to a mutual understanding."

"What understanding?"

That we both know what it is like to have our lives ruled by a bottle.

"That she is only one phone call away from losing her kids and I would make that call myself if she didn't improve herself."

He eyed her suspiciously, but she knew that even if he did go running to Rose, she would give him the same answer that she just did. Because they had that much of an understanding and Rose didn't want to let Marley down again.

"You do know that you are spoken very highly at the LEA. I just don't see what they do."

Rachel didn't know whether she was glad when he left her to it. It seemed like a weird questioning and there was no way that she could or would leave the school to him for a week.

Max was annoyingly smug as he sat at the back of Eddie's class. He was trying to show the man that he was getting to him but with every minute that he spent, watching Eddie teach, the more he just wanted to punch the smug look off his face.

The bell couldn't come sooner and Eddie allowed his students to run out more disorganised than he would have liked. The sooner they were gone, the sooner Max could tell him why he had dropped into his class about halfway through.

"Why Maths?" Max asked.

"Always got numbers. You? What did you teach?"

"History. There is always so much sense in facts."

"Facts by the winners. Mainly because the losers were dead." Eddie paused. "What do you want Max?"

"Well… is this what we are coming to? Watering down the curriculum to the lowest denominator?"

"This is the lowest set. If you wanted to be impressed, you should have been in Harry's class. He takes the top set. Being head of department and everything. I don't mind the lower sets. I like the challenge."

"Was Mason a challenge?"

"Sorry?"

Max turned away from him. "Was Rachel a challenge?"

"I don't understand what you mean.

"Word had it that you thought that you would be acting head before they brought Rachel in. I bet that was a bit of a bitter pill."

"For the first week or so. Then… we came to an understanding."

"Rachel seems to come to a lot of understandings. Do you know what her understanding with Rose is?"

"Yes." The truth and the lie.

"Why are you so loyal to her?"

"Because I am her boyfriend. I know who she is and she is a brilliant headteacher. Why wouldn't I be loyal to her?"

Eddie watched Max place his hands in his pockets before he turned back to look at him. It was obvious that he was trying to come up with the right words, to probably rile him further.

"Just wondering." He paused. "Have you got your court days through?"

"Wednesday and Thursday next week."

"So Rachel is out longer. No problem, I am sure we can sort it."

Eddie did wonder how Max knew before him but he did suppose that Rachel would have to clear it through him, especially if both of them were going to be gone on the same days. Eddie hated that he was the higher power that Rachel had to bow to. First Danny and now Max and Ralph. He hoped that, soon, Rachel would be able to do things how she saw fit when they convinced the LEA that Max wasn't needed.

"I'll leave you to it."

Eddie didn't stop him from leaving. He didn't want to waste his free period on him when he could be with Rachel, which is exactly where he went after leaving it a few moments.

Kim was good at keeping secrets. She had to be as Head of Pastoral Care, unless she felt like it was bad for their health or schooling. But talking to Tom, asking a few questions of her own, she felt like she couldn't keep the secret from one of her oldest friends. So a change of conversation was welcomed, even if it was a conversation that she wasn't expecting.

"Sally is Max's sister," Tom said, waving his mug at the woman in question.

"Sorry?"

"Tom, please," Sally said.

"He has never mentioned you before," Kim said.

"He wouldn't. Him and Dad… didn't like the person I had become."

"Which was?"

"How well do you know Max?"

"I've been teaching with him for a little under a year."

"And you are the new Head of Pastoral Care. You wouldn't want to know." Sally paused. "Can I assume that he took the charm offensive with you?"

"Maybe, why?"

"I wouldn't blame him, would you Tom?" Sally said before winking at Tom.

Tom laughed behind his mug and Kim was really confused about what was going on.

"What did Max do?" Kim asked.

"You wouldn't want to know. I wouldn't want to ruin his perfect image now. He'll just blame me again."

"Just tell her," Tom said.

Sally sighed. "I'm in a civil partnership with Rachel's cousin, Jane. Have been with Jane since 1990 when we met. It was a couple of months before my 22nd birthday when I told my family that I was going to move out, to live with my girlfriend and her cousin. Actually, I had only been going out with Jane for just under a year at the time. Amy already knew that I was gay. She took it rather well. Mum took a few days to get her head around it and then she was fine. Was actually willing to meet Jane as well. Dad and Max… they didn't take it well.

"Jane had every homophobic slur thrown at her when her family found out that she was gay, apart from Rachel, of course. I was told that I was disowned or that they would… make me normal. Couldn't get out of there fast enough. Helped when Max packed my bags for me. Met up with Mum and Amy a few times before Dad put a stop to it." Sally paused. "But as I told Max on his first day, I've made my own family. I have Jane and Rachel and James. I don't need them."

"God that must have been awful," Kim said.

"It was hard to begin with and… Rachel wasn't… in a great frame of mind. I think that was another reason. Jane is four years older than me. I think that they might have thought that she had… made me what I was."

"I do understand. My mum wasn't overly impressed when my brother came out as gay."

"Just… I had heard what happened to Jane and… I didn't want to lose them. Then I realised, along with the job, that I couldn't let anyone get in the way." Sally folded her arms and leant against the counter. "I love Jane and nothing was going to stop me from doing that. I wasn't going to give up her for them."

"He might have changed. Max that is." Kim offered, knowing full well that he hadn't. Actually, a few incidents made more sense now. Not that she was going to let anyone know that, yet.

"He must have pulled the wool over your eyes. Max, change. There is more likelihood of me and Jane breaking up than him changing and believe me, there have been some times where other couples would have thrown in the towel. Not us though. We always make it work somehow."

Kim made a mental note to think about talking to Sally again. There was obviously a lot that she knew, of Max when he was younger and how they were brought up to Rachel and Eddie and what she thought about them.

It was too early to tell but Kim thought that finally, this would be the school where they could do what they needed to do. It wouldn't be Waterloo Road otherwise.