Thank you for the reviews.

And still hold off killing me... just for the moment. Don't worry, I hate myself for this as well.

(Although this is set two weeks after the last chapter)

Something Else

Philip didn't like the look on his mother's face. She had been in this weird mood since Rachel proposed to Eddie and he hoped that she wasn't about to do something to ruin it. He, for one, had never seen his auntie happier and he was glad that she had found someone to make her happy. She deserved it after everything that had happened.

He just didn't think that his mum saw it that way.

"Mum, you aren't going to do something stupid, are you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Mum, please. For me. Don't ruin this for her."

"Philip, love, I honestly don't know what you are on about."

"Do I have to mention all the relationships that you have destroyed for her? I really like Eddie for her. I know that she is happy with him. For me, please, don't do something to ruin it for her."

It was probably better that his mum didn't say anything to him. He didn't know how much more of her lies he could actually take. Maybe he did need to take Jane up on her offer. Because if his mum did do anything to get in between Rachel and Eddie, he would never be able to forgive her.

"What can I do for you?" Eddie said with a sigh as Melissa walked into the room.

"I've been trying to work it out. Why would Rachel propose to you?"

"Because I told her that I would leave it up to her."

"I had you down as a romantic."

"I am. Rachel would call me a soppy sod."

"Were you scared that she might refuse you then?"

Eddie tried not to let her know that it was a thought that he'd had many times and why he gave her control. Just because he wanted to marry Rachel, didn't mean that she wanted to marry him. Her proposing to him meant that she was ready to take that step as well as him knowing that it was something that she wanted. Because, at some point, she would remember why the fire happened that day. He tried to stop the guilt rising in him but it still did on occasions.

"Oh God, you were." She said as she continued. "What happened to all the macho crap about you knowing exactly who she is?"

"I do know who she is. That is why I gave her control."

"You know she won't make you happy."

"Is that Danny's plan now?" He said as he started to stuff the exercise books in his bag.

"What the hell has Danny got to do with this?"

"He tried, constantly, to get me to break up with Rachel by telling me that I wouldn't be able to make her happy. Now you are here telling me that Rachel won't make me happy. Seems like the same tactics to me."

"And I thought Rachel was the paranoid one."

"What do you want Melissa?"

"A chance."

"Sorry?"

"A chance to show you that you are with the wrong sister. That you are going to marry the wrong sister. Eddie, I mean, there is no contest."

"No there isn't. Because Rachel is the one that I love and I am not stupid enough to fall for the crap that falls out of your mouth like the others. I mean, she is your sister for Christ sakes. I get that things can't have been easy for you both but this… spite." He paused. "It isn't attractive. So no matter how much you want me to be with you, I never could be. Because the grudge you hold against your sister is so unappealing."

"And there he is. Mr Nice Guy is lost."

"I have never thought of myself as a nice guy."

"And yet… you are Jane approved. I am still trying to work that out."

"Like Jane said, because I actually care about Rachel. Which is why I am going to stop this conversation here."

She was quick. Eddie had to give her that. She was already across the room and had closed the door resting against it.

"Melissa."

"Eddie, it will end in misery. You know it. You know how insecure she can be. What if you just look at another woman that wrong way? She'll think that you are having an affair. You know she gets paranoid. You'll be in the doghouse and you won't even know it and there will come a day where she will just throw you out for no reason and you will have no idea what you have done wrong. You know that is what happened with Mark."

"It didn't."

"Because Rachel and Jane will tell you what you want to hear."

"Look, I don't want to hear the spite you have for Rachel. I want you to move away from the door so I can go home with the woman I love."

"I can't let you do that."

Before he could really react, Melissa moved from the door, grabbing onto his shirt while pressing her lips against his. As he tried to move back, she didn't let up and his legs bashed into the desk, causing him to fall on top of it with Melissa landing on top of him. It didn't help when his hands automatically went to her waist to balance her. He didn't want to hurt her, mainly because he didn't want her to parade anything around that might confirm what happened, but he had to get her off him before Rachel saw them like that. She stopped kissing him to try and straddle his lap and he took advantage of her position to sit up and regain his balance before he forced her into a standing position and then lightly, pushed her off him.

He made his way straight to the door, forgetting about his bag. He prayed that Rachel was still in her office but this horrible feeling rose in him as he noticed her empty office and then seeing her walking up the driveway to Sally's car.

Melissa was waiting in the corridor when he returned.

"See Eddie. Just a little paranoid."

He ran into his room and grabbed his bag before he went down the stairs, wondering how the hell he could make this any better.

Rachel wondered where Eddie had got to as she looked up at the clock. She had decided that she would get as much work as she could get done before he turned up, with the plan to leave it all at school so that they could talk about the wedding more. But looking up at the clock, seeing that it had gone half four, she suspected that either he was talking to someone in the staffroom or he had the same idea as her and was trying to get some work done at school so he didn't have to get it done at home.

She smiled at that.

Home.

It wasn't like she hadn't moved in with other boyfriends in the past but it was usually about that moment when she was going to move in or had just moved in that things used to take a turn for the worst. She hoped with Eddie, it wouldn't happen. Mainly for the reason that she had never loved anyone quite like she loved Eddie.

Being happy with where she was, she packed up her things and left her office to find her fiancé. It was easiest to start with his classroom, mainly because it was right next to her office. She heard banging from his room as she opened the door to go down the corridor and was concerned, although she never expected what she saw as she peered through the window.

There was a part of her, the part that ran away from the scene, that couldn't believe that it was happening. She grabbed her phone and, before she even had the time to really think about it, was calling Sally. This was not happening now. It couldn't be happening.

But that was what she had just seen. Eddie kissing Melissa. Probably moving on to a manner of different things as he laid on his desk.

She knew that she probably wasn't thinking rationally. There was probably an explanation but, to her, that was the worst thing that anyone could do to her. The tears were streaming down her face by the time Sally answered her phone and she got out of the school.

"Are you nearby?" Rachel said after Sally said hi.

"Why? Rachel, what has happened?"

"I need to come home."

"What has happened?"

"I'll tell you when you get here."

"I am actually just going to pass the school. Give me two minutes."

She made her way to the gates, just so she could get out of there as quickly as she possibly could. Sally pulled up and she jumped in.

"Rachel."

"Just go please."

Sally pulled off without another word but Rachel knew that the silence wasn't going to be for long.

"Rachel, what's happened?"

"Why does it always happen?" She said, letting the tears fall.

"Rachel, please."

"Why did I believe it in the end?"

"You aren't making any sense."

"Why did I believe Eddie loved me?"

"Because he does."

"Then why have I just caught him kissing Melissa."

"I don't believe that. He wouldn't. Rachel, you know Melissa. This is probably all her. You…"

"I need to be somewhere where I can think."

"There is probably a reasonable explanation for this."

"Yeah." Rachel said before she sniffed. "I've been a fool again."

She knew that Sally wanted to argue with her more but was probably going to leave it to Jane to make her see sense. Not that they could make any more sense of it than she already had done. Eddie was kissing Melissa. What more was there to make sense of?

If Eddie didn't know that Sally picked Rachel up, he may have been able to convince himself that Rachel had gone back to theirs. But there was only one place she was going to be going to and he prayed that Jane would give him a chance to explain.

He pulled up outside and left his car as soon as he turned off the engine. He knocked on the door, not daring to use the key that Rachel had given him for the odd moment that they needed to go there. He actually expected worse from Jane. He expected another push or a slap and for her to tell him that he was the worst person in the world and she wished that Rachel had never met him. But she stood there, not even trying to hide that she had been crying, probably with Rachel, with a face like thunder.

"You have a minute to tell me why I shouldn't tell you where to go."

"She came onto me. Jane, Melissa came into my room and started talking about how I was going to marry the wrong sister. I told her that I wasn't and that the spite wasn't attractive. I am not even attracted to her Jane. She asked why Rachel proposed to me and guessed that… that it was because I couldn't bear to be rejected by Rachel. She wanted me to give her a chance to show I was with the wrong sister.

"I told her there and then. Rachel was the one that I love and I wasn't stupid enough to fall for her crap. I was going to leave when she blocked my way. I couldn't hurt her Jane. God knows how she would have twisted it if I had grabbed her and pulled her away. Either she would have said something about us doing… or I would be labelled as a woman beater. She then went on about how our relationship would end in misery and what she thought went on with Mark. I asked her to move and she just came onto me. Pushed me back and my legs hit the desk and… I lost my balance, she fell on top of me." He sighed. "Jane, I know… I know I've messed up. I know you all probably hate me but I didn't want it to happen. The last thing I would think about doing to Rachel is cheating on her. And definitely not thinking about doing it with her sister of all people."

Eddie wanted to comfort Jane as more tears made their way down her cheeks. He knew that the last time she had been like this was when Rachel was in her coma after the fire. Her fist hit against the door, causing Sally to hover in the doorway to the living room.

"I am going to… What the hell am I going to do with my youngest cousin?"

"Jane… what do I do?"

"Fucking stay away from Melissa." She sighed. "Sorry, that was uncalled for." She wiped her cheeks. "Look, Rachel is angry and in disbelief at the moment. Let me talk to her. Tell her what you told me. I would just give her a bit of space. She is… going to need a couple of days."

"What about work?"

"If she needs to talk to you on a professional basis, she will do that. Just expect it to be… full of poison. Eddie, you are just going to have to hope that she sees this as Melissa being the spoilt brat that she is."

"I told Melissa that I thought it sounded like what Danny tried to do."

"I wouldn't put it past the bastard." She paused again. "Sorry. I'm… just angry."

"I don't blame you. I feel like a bloody idiot. I should have gotten out of there when she entered my room rather than let her entertain any thought."

"She is something else."

"Just… tell her that I'll give her space and time. But there is nothing more I want to do in the world than to marry her."

"I will try to."

"And there is one more thing." He said before he ran back to his car and opened up the passenger door to get the pot. He returned to the door and handed it over. "I've been holding onto that one. Growing it in secret. Mainly because of what it means."

"Which is?"

"Worth beyond beauty. Thought it summed up my feelings towards Rachel pretty well."

Knowing that there was nothing else that he could say, he left, not knowing how the hell he was going to fix this.

Jane wished she knew what was going on in her cousin's head. The thing was, she didn't know how to fight Eddie's case. Rachel had heard what he had said at the door from the stairs and Jane had to let her make her own mind up as to whether she believed him or not.

She was taking this as bad as Rachel was and she was prepared to tell Eddie where to go when she knew that he deserved a little more respect than that. It was the only reason that she allowed him to explain and why she took the amaryllis off him. Because he deserved the respect and the level of trust that she had put in him. She just needed to show Rachel that Eddie was still the man that she proposed to.

"Rachel, how long are you going to stay angry at Eddie?"

It surprised her that Rachel didn't jump at her question, but she didn't respond, continuing to stare at the amaryllis while playing with one of the leaves.

If anything, Jane took that as hope that Rachel had already forgiven Eddie, she just wasn't going to let anyone know that yet. Maybe even herself as well.

Now you have permission to kill me.