Thank you for the reviews.

Do. You. Know. How. Hard. It. Has. Been. Keeping. This. From. You. If. You. Follow. Me. On. Twitter.

All I have wanted to do is scream about this chapter and the next two. And soon I will.

Enjoy.

Realisation

It was during one of Max's rants that Rachel found herself actually being able to sort her head out. The rant in question was about her relationship with Eddie, when Rachel was fairly certain that he was in a relationship with Kim. To call her and Eddie unprofessional made her wonder what she could do to make her relationship seem more professional.

It wasn't long before she realised that she was asking herself the wrong question and what she should be asking herself was how she could let Max know that she was deadly serious about Eddie and their relationship while also doing something to annoy him which proved that she wasn't going to let it get in the way of her professional persona, but maybe in the most personal way.

Her mind cast back to a conversation that her and Eddie had a few weeks back.

I'll leave it all up to you. I'll even let you propose to me. If you want to get married.

She was still making her mind up as to whether she thought that he was joking but part of her filled with this sense that it would be the perfect thing to do. She had always pictured someone proposing to her but with Eddie, it did seem like she could picture it both ways. Jane would give him her blessing in a heartbeat if he was going to do it.

There was no other man that Rachel wanted to spend the rest of her life with and with every day that passed (and every rant), she knew that to stop herself from pushing Eddie away in some stupid move, she had to take the ultimate leap with him.

"Rachel," Max said.

She shook her head and looked up at him.

"Sorry. You were saying." She said.

Rachel slightly smiled at his annoyed look. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when they tell him that they are engaged.

"Philip, can I have a word?" Rachel said as she managed to catch her nephew in the corridor.

She could tell that he was trying to work out whether she was talking to him as his headteacher or his auntie. She gave him a smile that hoped that he knew that it was talking to him as his auntie.

"Sure." He said with a small shrug.

"Are you free at the weekend?"

"Yeah."

"Good, because I need your help with something."

"With what?"

She hesitated for a moment, not really wanting to reveal her plan just yet.

"Something special, okay? All will become clear. Saturday about 11?"

"Yeah sure," Philip said with a nod of his head.

"I'll pick you up."

"Rachel..."

"All will become clear."

Rachel left him with that thought. Mainly because she needed to think about the sort of thing that she wanted to get Eddie.

"Are you going to spend the weekend at mine again?" Eddie asked.

Rachel would have usually answered that question with 'of course' but the hesitation of what she had planned made it unsuitable for her to spend the weekend at Eddie's. She just didn't know how to word it.

"Not the whole weekend. I'll come over Saturday night." She said, hoping that it didn't sound suspicious.

"Okay. I'll think of something special to cook."

"Why? What's the occasion?"

"Everything you have had to put up with for the last month or so. I mean, you didn't need Max bearing over you and demanding a few things while the whole trial was going on." He paused. "And those couple of days were hell for you. Even if Danny was found guilty and was given a lengthy sentence. Maybe I just want to do something nice for my girlfriend."

"You do nice things for me all the time."

He stopped her, turning her towards him. He leant against the wall of the corridor while she leant against the window. Enough professional distance between them if Max was to come along.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

I'm planning to propose to you.

"Maybe we should revisit another thought that was passed around before the fire." She ended up saying.

"The moving in thought?"

"Why not? We split our time between here, yours and Jane's. And it isn't like I have loads of stuff either. Ended up selling my flat in York furnished because it wasn't worth the hassle of getting the rest of what I didn't need from York and into storage in Rochdale. I could pack up on Friday and… officially moved in on Saturday."

"Have you already started packing then?"

"No. Just… maybe something to think about."

"Sure you could live with me all the time?"

"I think it would be the other way round, Lawson."

He pushed himself off the wall and closed the distance between them. If he didn't make things seem a thousand times better, then she was sure that she would have allowed him to get within touching distance before she pushed him back. But her new attitude towards their relationship meant that her hands reached his neck as he placed the kiss on her lips. One of her hands made it up to his cheek as they parted.

"I love you." She said.

"I think you are planning something Mason."

"Really?"

"I think so."

"Well, if I am, it is for me to know and for you to find out."

"I like the sound of that."

They both sighed as Max cleared his throat. It was the smile that Eddie gave her as he pushed away from her. She had never been so sure of a decision in her life.

"It's going to be weird," Jane said as she helped Rachel pack.

"I've moved out before. At least, I won't cook you an inedible meal this time."

"Christ, that was awful. And we know Eddie can cook." She paused. "Are you planning something?"

Rachel knew that she could share what she was planning with Jane but there was a part of her that wanted to keep it a secret, with her cousin still expecting Eddie to ask for her permission. She didn't like keeping things from Jane but it seemed best if less people knew, the easier it would be to keep it from Eddie. The only reason she was getting Philip involved was because she needed a man's opinion.

"Why does everyone think I am planning something?"

"Because you are. I can hear you thinking."

"I… I don't know whether to try and book another holiday. For me and Eddie. Somewhere where we can let go and relax for a bit. I don't know when to do it or where we should try and go. A week at Easter or wait until the summer holidays…"

"Wow, stop. Because you are overthinking it. Maybe just pick a destination and see what is available. Although, you will need something with a bit of culture. You have never been one to just sit by the pool and read a book all holiday."

"You know… ever since you went, I would like to go to Perth."

"Then I would recommend two weeks in the summer holidays. It might be a little cooler but it will probably be the same as a summer here. Definitely worth going two or three weeks, just for the flight."

"Something to think about."

Jane nudged her arm. "Look at you. All grown up."

"Jane, I am 38."

"Yeah but for once, you are in a stable job, with a guy that I can, honestly, say will look after you. Just a shame that it has taken you this long."

Rachel hummed in response, not knowing what to say.

"I… am proud of you Rachel. Especially with everything with Danny. My little cousin isn't the five-year-old that I still have in my head."

"Or maybe I have finally gone back to that five-year-old. Other than Max, I don't really have a care in the world."

"I'll tell Sally to get the takeaway menus out and find that bottle of wine that we hid. I think we have something to celebrate."

Rachel allowed Jane to leave the room before she sighed and sat down on the bed. Usually, her thoughts would be racing but it was nice, for once, that she could look around the room that she had been calling her bedroom of over a year and smile at everything that happened within the four walls. From her waking up with the worst hangover in the world to Eddie holding her against the wall in between the door to the ensuite and her dressing table while she tried not to moan loudly. The room had seen a bit of life. It wasn't like it was an ending though. If anything, it confirmed to Rachel that this was only the beginning and she couldn't wait to put her plan into action.

Rachel was going to get out of her car, even if it meant that she had to exchange pleasantries with Melissa, when Philip came out of the house, slamming the front door close. Melissa did open the door after him but it seemed like once she had seen Rachel, she closed the door again. Rachel knew her nephew well and she would have normally told him off when he slammed the door of her car heavier than she expected.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, fine."

She would have asked him again but the look on his face made her think that she wasn't going to get anything out of him. She pulled away and started the drive into Manchester.

"What is this all about Rach?" Philip said after a few minutes. "Not that I don't like spending time with you. Just… this seems a little out of the blue."

"I need a man's opinion."

"On what?"

"A ring."

"Why?"

She turned to him briefly before turning back to the road.

"Because I'm going to propose to Eddie."

Rachel expected people to be shocked when she said that she was looking for an engagement ring for her boyfriend. Mainly because there was no way that she was going to be proposing on the traditional day of 29th February. She was doing it out of 'season'. Although, maybe it was being around Jane and Sally, she thought that the idea that there was only one day, every four years that a woman could propose to her man was a stupid one.

Most places didn't have anything that jumped out at her as particularly Eddie-like. All the rings seemed rather plain and boring. Eddie wasn't plain and boring and deserved something better than that.

It was one of the last places they were going to look in when they were met with this overly enthusiastic woman who came up to them and asked if they needed any help. She didn't bat an eyelid when Rachel mentioned that she was looking for an engagement ring for her boyfriend. There were a number of examples that this woman brought out and helped narrow the search down until Rachel was looking at four rings that she knew were definitely all Eddie-like.

"Phil, what do you think?"

Rachel knew that he wasn't a jewellery man and it was something that he had confessed to her, but she didn't think he was doing a too bad job at keeping her away from ones that were ridiculously expensive and awfully cheap. Plus, he did have a good eye. Obviously for when it was his turn to do this type of thing.

"I think it is between these two." He said, pointing to the two that Rachel had put at the top of her list.

She nodded at the woman and then just came to the hardest part. Which one?

Her vision flicked between the two and there was part of her that knew that she loved one more than the other, it was just gauging whether Eddie would like it as well. She could tell that the woman had sensed her difficulties.

"You must have one that you prefer."

"That one." Rachel said as she pointed at it.

"So what is the question?"

"Would he like it?"

"You must know your other half. Although, this ring does come in a few options. It can be all silver or this part here could be gold. Let me get the catalogue."

Rachel picked up the ring as the woman ran off.

"What you thinking, Rach?"

"I'm thinking… with the gold bit. Do you not think?"

"Yeah, I do."

It was a surprise when the woman came back with a ring like she had just described. Rachel always thought that the films and tv shows overdid it when they came to people finding engagement rings and saying 'this is the one'. But the ring in the woman's hand was the one. She had found the ring for Eddie. Now all she had to do was plan out how she wanted it to happen.