Thank you for the reviews.

So Max and Ralph are planning something (not that I think that was a surprise to anyone). Now I am hoping that the cuteness of the chapter helps to make up part of this chapter...

The Max Problem

The Max problem was a big one and one that Rachel had been thinking over and trying not to get stressed about over the last few days. Max told her about the meeting, telling her that it was half 10 and she was glad that she already knew about it and knew the real time, although it was still hard just to nod at him and look like she was accepting what he was saying.

Choosing the sofa over the hard chair at the table was just a matter of comfort. Although, she was sure that, at one point, she fell asleep for a little while as her head rested on her hand, with her elbow resting on the back of the sofa, with her paperwork in her lap. She thought that she had woken herself up when her pen almost fell out of her hand. She was certain that Max had noticed but didn't say anything because, her saving grace as always, Eddie came into her office.

"You alright there?" Eddie asked.

"Those chairs were hurting my back." She said.

"And she was asleep," Max muttered.

Because I am pregnant and spend half the night either throwing up or going to the loo. She thought.

"Free?" Eddie asked her.

"Could probably do with a walk."

"Come on then Mason, let's make sure everything is in order."

Rachel took his hands and refused to let one of them go as she allowed Eddie to pull her from the office. It wasn't until they were out in the corridor that she said something.

"Can we go to the canteen?"

"Depends how sane your request is." He said as they started to head in that direction.

"Pretty sane. Honey on toast."

"Not apple and marmite sandwiches today."

"It is what they wanted."

"It was just odd to find you make them at three in the morning."

"It was rather odd."

"I think it would have been okay, if you hadn't put the slices of apple in there."

"They could just get weirder. And you are the one that will have to fulfil my requests."

"I look forward to it." He paused. "Did you fall asleep?"

"For a bit. My eyes closed by themselves."

"Maybe, as Kim knows, she'll let you close your eyes for a few moments in her office. Rachel, if you were sleeping at night, you know that you would be able to get through the day. But you are getting a couple of hours here and there. I'm… not trying to preach at you. But you need to look after yourself. I'm not saying tell Max, but maybe, it is best to lean on the people that know."

She started to form an argument in her head, but she blamed that on the mood swings and took a breath before she said anything, trying not to snap at him.

"I'll have a word with Kim." She paused. "But now that you've mentioned apples, can we get some apple juice on the way home?"

"As long as you don't put it in tea."

"Don't give my cravings any ideas."

If Philip hadn't been very vocal about how he was definitely going to tell certain members of his year (notable Bolton), Rachel would have been more concerned about how Bolton and Marley found themselves in the cooler for fighting. But while both of them were staying tight-lipped for Max, there was just a hint of a smile on Bolton's lips as he turned away to look out of the window. She hated to think of what they had planned but with Max only getting angrier, she knew that she had to take over the situation.

As cool and calmly as she could, she walked over to the desk that Bolton was sitting at, putting a stop to the rant that Max was going on. She moved the chair in the desk in front of him to lean against the desk.

"That little deal we made." She said.

"What about it?" Bolton said with a shrug.

"Do you know why I made it with you?"

He shook his head but she felt like he had some idea. It was the reason why she hadn't gone in, shouting and screaming, even if she didn't know that there was something bigger at play. Because people had shouted and screamed at Bolton before and it hadn't changed him.

"Because I saw the potential in you even if you were set on wasting it. Because I knew that if I put a little faith in you rather than constantly beating you down, you might put a little faith in yourself. You aren't losing that faith in yourself are you?"

"No Miss."

"Good." She turned to Marley. "You as well. You are both capable of more than this. Now go on, go. I'll be speaking to your mums and you will be back here, tonight, for after school detention."

She quickly looked to see Max with his back to them before she turned back to Bolton to give him a smile. He gave her one back before he collected his things. Marley shot her a smile as well and she knew that she would have to mention something to Rose and Candice, if they didn't already know what was happening.

"I can't believe that you just let them go," Max said.

"Because it was a blip. They won't let me down again." She said as she turned to him.

"How can you be so sure about that?"

"A little faith, Max. It goes a long way."

"And that makes them all good little boys."

"That depends. I know Bolton. He hates letting down his mum. Screaming and shouting at him hasn't worked in the past for him and it isn't going to work now. But to try and make him feel like he has disappointed me, that is a guilt that does eat away at you."

Max snorted. "Let's just hope that you and Eddie never have any children. Your kids will be the most unruly."

"No, they won't. Because, if we do have children, we will bring them up to be respectful and to learn from their mistakes."

"You know, this isn't the first incident like this. You seem to… Maybe I'll give you this, the students seem to listen to you."

"It is the respect thing. I give them a little and they give me a little back."

She didn't like the way that Max walked up to her. She forced herself not to place an arm over her stomach. She had no idea of what he was capable of and part of her hoped that he was only words.

"You know, Rachel, I can never work you out. You are obviously a competent woman. The LEA have always spoken highly of you and I can see why they wanted to rush you in to save this place. But you see too long term. These promises that you gave when you pitched for the new training centre, they haven't come about, have they? Let's not even get started on that the training centre has never been built."

"And what would you do in the short term?"

"These kids need authority."

"Really?"

"You never accept low-level disruption. It has to be stamped out."

"I suppose you have a one size fits all approach to that."

"Worked for me."

"Has it?"

Rachel did wonder why she said what she did. It wasn't the wisest decision in the world and she allowed Max to back her up. If he still had the same temper that Sally had warned her about, then she didn't want him to do anything that might mean that she would lose her baby. Although, her back hitting the wall gave her too many memories of when Stuart did the same thing.

"I don't know what Sally has been saying about me but I am not the same person I was when I was a child."

"Really?" She said, trying not to let her voice waver.

"Yes." He paused. "You might think my beloved sister is something different but I know her for what she is. Like you. You are a wannabe leader with no leadership skills. This school has only improved slightly by pure luck. Nothing that you have promised has come to fruition and soon the LEA will see that. Although, if you leave here, I doubt that anyone else will give you a job. Who would want an ex-hooker running their school? You are only still here because of your boyfriend. You have allies here. You won't anywhere else. Your whole teaching career will go into a box. Maybe it will be time to start back up again. It seems like it is the only thing that you were good at."

She wanted to say something else but she just allowed him to tower her for a bit before he turned on his heel and left. She was quite glad that the wall was behind her as she slid down it. The tears fell down her cheeks, which she blamed the hormones for, when Davina found her, glad that it was Davina and not a pupil.

The gentle knock on the door took her back. Rachel slowly opened her eyes, feeling that the water was a lot cooler than she remembered it being. She picked her head up before she placed it back, leaning on the bath before pushing her head under the water for a moment or two.

"Rachel?" Eddie said through the door.

She wiped the water away from her face.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"Eddie, you can come in."

The door slowly opened and he popped his head around the door.

"Are you okay? You've been in here a while."

"Yeah. Fell asleep. The warm water was actually helping."

"Davina's just text me."

"I know."

"What?"

"I told her to keep it from you until the end of the school day. I'm grateful that she has kept it a little longer."

"So why didn't you want to tell me that she found you crying in the cooler? She said something about hormones."

"Because that was what I told her so she didn't run straight to you. Eddie, Friday is the day. I need you by my side, not being suspended because you punched Max."

"Why would I punch Max?"

"Because he threatened me and then backed me up against a wall and all I had was flashbacks to when Stuart did that to me just before he set the classroom on fire. I didn't want to tell you and then you do something stupid but I was always going to tell you."

Eddie sighed before he came into the room properly and sat on the edge of the bath.

"Maybe you have a point." He said.

"You are worrying enough as it is about me. I didn't want to add to that worry for the moment."

"What happened?"

"Marley and Bolton were in the cooler for fighting. Max was trying his usual tactic of shouting at them until they gave an answer. It was just a smile from Bolton that I knew what was going on and I basically told him that I was disappointed in them both. I let them go with an after school detention. Max questioned it and I told him that a bit of faith and respect went a long way. He didn't agree. I ended up backing up when he made me because I didn't know what he was going to do and it all came out when he left and Davina found me."

"Just two more days. I can't wait to see the smug look leave his face."

"You would like to punch it off, wouldn't you?"

"Of course."

"I should get out."

"Don't let me stop you."

"No, the aches and the fact that I don't feel sick is stopping me."

"Do you want to try and eat anything?"

"Do we have more of those pitas?"

"I think there are a couple left."

"Might try one of those."

Eddie leant forward and placed a kiss in her hair. She closed her eyes briefly, remembering how much she loved him doing that.

"I'm going to go down and carry on my marking. I think one of my jumpers is on the floor."

She almost let him go but stopped him before he left the bathroom.

"Eddie. We will be good parents, won't we?"

"Something else Max said?"

She nodded.

"We will make the same mistakes every other parent makes. We won't be perfect but yeah, I like to think that we will be good."

"And… I am more than my past?"

"Of course you are. Because you are Rachel Mason, soon to be Lawson, and you could take over the world if you wanted to. With me by your side, of course."

"Of course." She whispered.

"Come on, get out the bath, get comfortable and we can talk more while I try to understand how a student can do all the right working and get the wrong answer while another student does all the wrong working and get the right answer."

"Problem with Maths."

"I'll see you downstairs."

Rachel heard his footsteps go down the stairs before she attempted to lift herself out of the bath. It wasn't until she got to the bedroom that she saw that Eddie had made sure that she had clean pyjamas, with one of his jumpers sitting underneath them. There were no words to describe how much she loved her soppy sod. Maybe other than she couldn't wait to be Mrs Rachel Lawson, nor to meet their little one. A thought that set her off again.