Thank you for the reviews.

*Sigh of relief* Now that is out of the way I can shout about it. Honestly, I wanted twitter's opinion on the ring that I choose (which I will put up on twitter either today or tomorrow) because I didn't know whether it was completely Eddie-like but I went with my heart.

Now for this chapter. Get ready to smile.

The Ring

"So?" Jane said.

"So what?" Eddie said, completely confused.

Sally had this small inclination that Jane might be barking up the wrong tree but she knew what her partner's first thought was when they saw the receipt. Eddie was going to propose and he hadn't asked for Jane's permission. It was Sally's thought as well but the more she thought about the receipt in the three or so hours that they knew of its existence, she wondered whether they might be talking to the wrong person.

"Don't play dumb with me Eddie?"

"Honestly, Jane, I have no idea what you are on about."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

Sally snatched the receipt out of Jane's hand and looked at it again properly. She had brought one ring for Jane, the ring that they brought each other for their civil partnership. She knew that Rachel had a similar finger size to Jane, it was the reason that she dragged her ring shopping. That and Rachel knew her cousin quite well, so the ring chosen was simple but not too simple. It was quite surprising when they did hand over similar rings, with Sally's being a little more flashy. She suspected it was because Jane had dragged Rachel ring shopping as well.

But the size of the ring on the receipt wouldn't have matched Rachel's. She knew that and she knew that she had to do something before her partner said something stupid, spoiling whatever Rachel had planned.

"When were you going to ask?" Jane said.

"Ask what?"

Sally grabbed Jane's arm and pulled her out of the living room, before she could say another word, into the study at the end of the corridor, hopefully out of earshot of Eddie.

"Jane, look at the size of the ring." She said as she handed her back the receipt.

"Yeah, what about it?" Jane said as she glanced at it.

"Look at it properly."

Jane creased her brow and took a few moments to look at the size of the ring.

"That… is massive, isn't it? That wouldn't fit Rachel."

"I don't think Eddie bought it."

"If he did, then he doesn't know Rachel's size."

"I think Rachel has bought it for Eddie."

"But that doesn't make sense. It isn't near his birthday and it seems a little early for valentines."

"I think it does. Remember that conversation. She told us that Eddie had said that he would leave everything up to her. So she needed to get her head sorted. What if she has done? What if he meant everything? What if she is going to propose to him?"

Sally knew Jane so well that she knew a hurt look was going to grace her face. It was obvious that Rachel hadn't discussed this with her and she was taking more personally than she should do.

"Then why has she kept it quiet from me? I proposed to you. She was involved in everything. From the moment we knew that they were going to introduce civil partnerships to the day when I was going to do it."

Sally cupped her face. "I don't know why she hasn't told you. But let her have this. It is obviously something she feels like she needs to do alone. Just because we were happy to include her in every part of our relationship, doesn't mean that she is. You know that this is her first proper relationship that she has felt 100% comfortable with. Let's give her this."

Jane thought about it for a moment before she placed her hands on Sally's waist and pulled her closer to her.

"What would I do without you, Sally Allen?"

"I don't know, Jane Allen, but we now have to think about what the hell we are going to say to him out there."

"Can't we just stay here and make noises to make him uncomfortable?"

Sally laughed. "No, we have to say something. Without making him suspicious."

"Do you not think he is suspicious now?"

"Maybe let the cop do the talking."

"Maybe I will."

Sally couldn't stop herself from giggling as Jane kissed her. It always sent the same shockwaves through her. They had been together for nearly two decades and Sally still felt the same way about her partner as she did that first night she met her. The night that a young 20-year-old, who had no idea of what she was doing in a gay nightclub in Soho, meet the 24-year-old that changed her life and the way that she saw herself.

"Maybe I should have been a detective," Sally said.

"Hmm… DC rather than PC. I'll just be happy when they see your worth and jump you straight to Inspector because of all the bad treatment you have had over your career."

"I do think it is just Ralph holding me back now."

"James has access to the same systems that you do. Why don't you start a dossier on him if he is as bad as you say he is?"

"That isn't a bad idea." She placed a short kiss on Jane's lips. "Now let's go and sort out this mess."

She heard Jane's groan as she grabbed her hand and pulled her away to speak to Eddie.

Rachel knew her text to Alison hadn't been the best worded when the woman in question opened the door and stared at her for a few moments before she started looking for someone else, presumably Eddie.

"He's not here. I'm on my own." Rachel said.

"Right?"

"I just want a quick word with Michael."

"Right?"

"Just something that Philip said to me that made me realise that maybe I should ask him." She paused. "Philip's my nephew."

"Rachel, what's going on?"

"Jane, my cousin, would have wanted him to ask her for permission, as one of the most important people in my life. I know Michael is one of the most important people in Eddie's life. So I need to ask him whether he is okay with it." She sighed. "I… I'm going to ask Eddie to marry me."

Alison became the third person to know what she was planning (after telling Tom on Monday so she could bounce some ideas off someone) and the smile that broke out on the other woman's face showed that her idea was a good one. She let Rachel into the house before calling up the stairs for Michael. Alison asked if she wanted a drink but Rachel refused, saying that she didn't expect to be long.

She didn't expect the man that was in the kitchen.

"This is Brad," Alison explained. "This is Rachel, Eddie's other half."

"Nice to meet you. Michael talks about you a lot." Brad said, holding out his hand.

Rachel shook his hand. "Likewise."

"Michael wouldn't know Eddie if it wasn't for Rachel," Alison said as she grabbed two mugs out of a cupboard.

"I just got you two talking again."

"She is a little modest. At that point, we hadn't spoken for nearly three years. Then I get a phone call out of the blue. Admittingly, I didn't handle it well but, under the circumstances, it has turned out okay. Especially now that we are in a routine."

Rachel was saved from the conversation by said boy running into the kitchen and straight into her legs.

"Rachel!"

"Michael. How are you? Good day at school?"

He shrugged at her, like he usually would do when she asked that question.

"Is Daddy not here?"

"No, it's just me. I've got to ask you something, if that's okay."

The boy nodded his head and Alison told him to take her to the living room. She held out her hand for him to take and allowed him to take her to the room. She had spent longer than she expected coming up with what she was going to say to the young boy. She wanted to make sure that he knew what she was asking.

"Michael, you know that me and your daddy have been together for a little while."

"Yeah."

"And you are all okay with that."

"Yeah. I like it when you are around."

"And I like it when you are with us." She paused. "What would you say, if I said I was going to ask your daddy to marry me?"

Michael seemed to think over her question and she wondered whether she hadn't explained enough to the nearly five-year-old.

"You'll be my second mummy?" He asked.

"I suppose so. If you want me to be."

A smile broke out across his face. She didn't quite know how to take it until he started nodding.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"You are okay with that?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

"Can I go and tell Mummy?"

"Of course, just not a word to your daddy, okay?"

He placed his finger to his lips before he jumped off the sofa and ran into the kitchen. She could hear his excitement and she knew that she would have to apologise to Alison before she left. Michael wasn't going to go to bed for a while. She appeared at the door to see Michael in Alison's arms.

"I'm going to be like Sam. Only he has two daddies." Michael said.

Alison gave her a short nod to say that it was like that. Brad, on the other hand, had his brow creased.

"Sorry? Are you proposing to Eddie?" He asked Rachel.

"Yes."

"But the 29th February isn't for a while yet."

"I'm doing it outside of tradition."

"Look Eddie's done tradition once," Alison said. "Maybe doing it untraditionally will work this time. Although, they do seem like a match made in heaven."

"I wouldn't go that far." Rachel said as she checked her watch against the clock on the wall. "I had better get home. Eddie will be wondering where I am."

"Finally moved in?"

"At the weekend. He thought that I was thinking about something, which was true, but I said about moving in with him instead. Jane has been just as bad. I don't think she will be too happy when she finds out that I've done all this without her."

"Why have you done it without her then?"

"Because… she doesn't have… I suppose, a filter. Honestly, her own engagement to Sally was almost spoilt a number of times by herself. She is a bit of a meddler, like me. She would end up saying the wrong thing in front of him."

"Are you going to say goodbye to Rachel then?" Alison said to Michael before she put him down.

He ran straight into her arms and placed a kiss on her cheek. She did the same before reminding him that he was allowed to say anything to his dad. He ran back upstairs and Rachel apologised for hyping him up.

"Don't worry," Alison said. "He has been asking when you would be his second mummy for a while. Before that, it was all about what happened… with the fire. So when are you going to do it?"

"Friday. So, technically, Michael won't have to keep it a secret because, by the time we pick him up on Saturday, it should be done."

"I am so happy for you Rachel." She gently hit Brad's arm. "Will you stop it?"

"I'll let myself out." Rachel said.

She just about heard what Brad said, which she assumed was then berated by Alison.

Rachel knew that Tom wasn't probably the best choice in the world but he was one of the five people that knew that she was going to propose to Eddie and she needed another opinion on the ring. She knew that it was the ring for Eddie, it was probably more that she was starting to doubt that it was a good idea.

"I… just need your opinion."

"I'm not really a jewellery person," Tom said.

"I know and nor is Philip. Maybe a part of it is that I am starting to wonder whether it is a good idea or not."

"Rachel, it is a brilliant idea." He paused. "Do you mind?"

She turned to see that Matt had just walked into the staffroom. If it had been earlier in the week, Rachel probably would have said no but with it being the day that she was going to do it anyway, they were all going to find out on Monday morning. Although, Matt wasn't known for his subtlety.

"Matt, you're a jewellery person," Tom said.

"I am. What is the big occasion?" Matt said as he walked over.

Tom handed him the ring and Rachel could tell that Matt was confused as he looked at it. He was obviously expecting something a little more dainty as it was Tom handing it over but it obviously clicked as he looked up at her.

"Wait, are you proposing to Eddie?" Matt said.

"He said that he would leave it up to me and I know that it is traditional to do it on 29th February but I am not waiting for another three years. I want to marry him. You can ask Sally. I have been… so comfortable with a guy before. Or wanted to take this leap with them. I just… I love him so much." Rachel said.

"And there is no time like the present to ask him," Steph said as she joined them.

Rachel grabbed the ring off Matt and put it in her pocket before turning to see Eddie standing there with Kim and Sally. There was a smile on his face that she knew that he was trying to hide.

"How much of that did you hear?" She asked.

"Enough. Jane's questioning makes a whole lot of sense now."

"I was going to do it tonight."

"You don't have to do it now."

"Well, the surprise has been ruined." She sighed before she walked up to him. She held her hands out to him to pull him more into the centre of the room. "Eddie. I don't know what I would have done without you by my side for the last year. Everything… hasn't been great and I did tell you that it would be hell on Earth. But you have been there, helping build me up again and again and there is nothing I could do to repay you for that.

"That first night, you asked me whether I was looking for my Sally, my other half and my equal. Well, I was. Maybe I just didn't expect it to be you at first. But you know me inside and out. I only have to give you a look and I know that we are on the same page. I don't want anyone else by my side. As my deputy and as my… my husband." She took a moment to wonder whether she should get down on one knee before she let go of his hands and got the ring out of her pocket as she went down. "So, Eddie Lawson, will you marry me?" She said as she opened the ring box.

She couldn't help but smile up at him as he smiled down at her.

"Of course I will."

Everyone that was in the staffroom started to fill it with applause. He pulled her up and she landed against his chest, his lips landing on hers. It was strange that she knew that she had never been this happy before and even before she could properly comprehend what was going on, the ring was on his finger and they were laughing. The thumbs up from Sally took her back and she was sure that nothing else mattered. She was going to be with Eddie for the rest of her life and, to her, that sounded like a privilege.