Thank you for the reviews.

Now it is clear that Max and Ralph are both up to something, but maybe someone else is up to something as well...

Set 2 weeks after the last chapter.

The Reason For The Return

The doorbell rang and they all looked at each other before Eddie said that he would go and get. Jane and Sally had invited them round for dinner and, as much as Rachel wanted to enjoy it, she was currently trying not to throw up the meal that they had just eaten. She made up some lie about Max and her not thinking that she would be able to stop herself as to the reason that she wasn't drinking.

It was when Eddie didn't return straight away that she slowly peeled herself off the sofa and made her way to the hallway. She was actually quite shocked to see Kim, Tom and Davina standing there.

"What is going on?" Rachel asked.

Her question prompted Jane and Sally to join them.

"I need to talk to you all," Kim said.

That didn't really answer the question and Tom offered her a shrug. Kim asked where they could talk and Sally offered the kitchen.

"You never told me that Tom's other half was so beautiful," Jane said to Sally.

"God Jane," Rachel whispered.

"You have met her," Sally said.

"When?" Jane said.

"At the fire. I introduced you." Eddie said.

"Oh yes, the day that I was worried that I was going to lose my cousin. Dear God, I wasn't thinking about anything else. Of course, I wasn't going to remember the beautiful woman next to one of the only males I would go straight for."

"Dear God." Rachel said.

"Look, let's leave them to talk and I'll tell you about how Davina almost slapped Melissa," Sally said.

"Well, she has completely gone up in my expectations," Jane said.

Rachel didn't say anything until everyone was ushered into the kitchen. She closed the door behind them and sighed.

"Sorry about that. She… Jane doesn't really… have a filter. Please try and take it as a compliment."

"I'll take anything," Tom said as Davina laughed.

"Not really a situation I have been in before." She said.

Eddie offered them a drink and he set about making them, trying to keep Rachel from the smell of the coffee (the next thing her stomach started to turn at). He asked her if she wanted a tea and she accepted, just so that it didn't seem too suspicious. Even if she did usually just drink coffee at work. They settled around the table, with Eddie also finding a few digestive biscuits, mainly to try and stop Rachel from feeling sick.

"Kim, what is going on?" Rachel asked.

"That is what I want to tell you about," Kim said. "Look, the LEA wouldn't have agreed to Max's plan to reinstate me at Waterloo Road unless they felt like something was up. He gave you a copy of the report that he gave the LEA on Tom's performance of Head of Pastoral Care."

"I said that I hoped my file was that comprehensive. I am expecting a couple of lever arches."

"He probably does. We know that Max isn't just the Executive Head of Waterloo Road."

"Then why is he at Waterloo Road all the time," Davina said.

"That is what we are going to explain." Kim looked at her phone. "Excuse me a second."

Tom gave Rachel another shrug before she turned to Eddie. Maybe her thought that they were trying to push her out of the school was right.

Kim walked back into the kitchen with a woman that felt slightly familiar to Rachel.

"This is Jennifer Headly from the LEA. She is in charge of the schools in the area. She also happens to be Max's wife."

That stopped everyone as they all looked at each other.

"But aren't you…" Tom started.

"I am," Kim said. "And I am not proud of it but it is an essential part of what is happening here. If you give me the chance to explain."

They all nodded and Kim started to tell them about how she left to go to Rwanda with Andrew but returned to the UK after six months because her and Andrew had a massive falling out, something that both Tom and Davina thought could have happened. She didn't think that she could just walk into the school and ask for her job back, especially when she had heard that Jack had left and took a job, primarily as a Head of Pastoral Care role, in a nearby school, where Max happened to be the headteacher.

"Just the head?" Rachel said.

"At that point. If anything, Sally was right. I didn't particularly like him but he charmed me. He said about how he thought that I was too hard on myself and he praised me even if something went wrong. There was one incident that I basically told him that I didn't deserve the praise. Then, all of a sudden, he announced that he was leaving to become an executive head and he would still be about but he had other schools to survey as well. It was one of the rare inspections that Max wasn't there that Jennifer turned up. I was already in a relationship with him by that point and didn't realise that he was married when Jennifer let it slip that she was his wife."

"We actually met up to discuss Max's… adulterous side but our conversation moved on to his professional conduct." Jennifer said. "It is the reason why the LEA lets Max get away with a lot of other things that most headteachers wouldn't. Like a whole restructuring of the school just before Christmas and the addition of a new Head of Pastoral Care when Tom was doing a perfectly acceptable job."

"Wait, what is going on then?" Eddie asked.

"Pretty much, the last year or so, Max has been under investigation," Kim said. "Regarding his conduct towards his staff and students. We are only bringing you on board because we believe that he has something more… sinister planned for Waterloo Road. Because his plans at the moment are to undermine you, Rachel, because we believe that him and Ralph are trying to push you out of the school. And we don't think he is going to stop there.

"Because then Eddie will be gone, no matter whether he wants to stay or not. Max will want to take over as headteacher and bring in his own lapdog as a deputy. Waterloo Road won't be the school that feels like a family. I was being genuine when I said that. It will become… like an army camp. All your hard work, Rachel, will go down the drain. Our kids wouldn't stand a chance."

Rachel turned to Eddie, giving him a look, telling him that she thought something like this was going to happen. It was unclear about how much Philip had heard but it was obviously enough for him to open the kitchen door the way that he did and look as shocked as he did.

"What can we do to help?" He said.

"Philip, you can't get involved." Rachel said.

"Maybe not me personally. But… what if I pass it around the student body? Tyler wants Mason out. Rach, they won't stand for this. They all look up to you too much."

"And this isn't your problem to solve."

"Agreed, but he is right," Kim said. "They do all look up to you."

"The only reason we are telling you this is because there is a LEA meeting next week, at the school. It is on Friday 3rd April at 10am, if Max has told you any different. We believe that Max is going to try and make you look as unprofessional as possible." Jennifer said.

"Probably getting out his lever arches."

Rachel sighed, knowing that she didn't need this extra stress. It was the only reason she felt like her and Eddie looked at each other at the same time. They were obviously thinking the same thing.

"Maybe they should know." She said.

"Only if you are ready."

She nodded before she asked Philip to get Jane and Sally. As the nausea rose in her, she took one of the biscuits and broke it up, so she didn't have to take a bite.

"You okay?" Eddie asked.

"Will be." Rachel turned back as Jane and Sally entered. "Jennifer, this is Jane, my cousin and Sally, her partner. And Max's sister. Sally, Jennifer is Max's wife."

"So my sister-in-law," Sally said.

"You are the one that they don't talk about," Jennifer said before catching herself. "Sorry, that sounded awful."

"But sounds like Dad and Max."

Eddie reached over and grabbed Rachel's hand.

"Max and Ralph are trying to push me out of my job." Rachel said as a quick recap.

"So glad you got me to do my dossier," Sally said to Jane.

"What?"

"I've been collecting information on Ralph. His failings as a detective inspector. Needed an opportunity to slam it on the Superintendent's desk. Maybe paid more attention to Operation Thunder than I should have done." Sally paused while everyone stared at her. "Oh, Operation Thunder was the investigation into Danny."

"Look, it isn't that I don't want to fight it. I just… don't need the stress of this at the moment."

"Why?" Kim asked.

Rachel turned to Eddie before sighing. "Because I'm pregnant."

There was a moment of silence as everyone took in the news before they all said their congratulations at the same time. Jane looked particularly happy about it.

"Wait, I will be Auntie Jane, won't I?"

Rachel laughed. "Jane, you can be whatever you want to be."

"Sal, we are going to be aunties."

"We were waiting until after the first scan to tell everyone," Eddie said. "Just so you didn't feel left out the loop."

"Well, I am definitely getting the student body involved now. Nothing is happening to my cousin." Philip said.

Rachel would have waited around to hear more of what they were going to say, but instead told them to carry on while she almost ran out of the room. She could hear Eddie saying that it would be her morning sickness and then arguing with Jane about who was going to make sure she was okay. If anything, she wanted to stop herself from thinking that it was a good thing that she had told everyone who was downstairs. It would just be more people that they could rely on to keep her safe while helping her with excuses.