Hello,

Thank you so much for your lovely reviews, I can't tell you how much I love to read them! This chapter is set the day after the last chapter.

Enjoy,

Becca x

Day Care, Detours and Declarations

11th October 2011

From the moment that Rachel set foot in the school that morning, she failed to fight her mounting anxiety as she awaited Eddie's arrival; it did not help that he was late. After their conversation in his spare room the night before, they had barely spoken for the rest of the evening. When her and Eddie had returned downstairs to the party, Adam would not stop asking her questions about why she had taken so long with Eddie. Even after she had given him the excuse that they'd got caught up in a work-related conversation, he would not let it go and it only intensified his hostility towards Eddie; if only he knew the truth. As if that did not make matters awkward enough, Melissa became progressively more irritating with each glass of prosecco. Rachel could not have been there for more than two hours before she finally managed to make her excuses and leave with Adam, who was still in a mood.

Rachel had been in the playground that morning talking with some pupils when Eddie's car pulled up into the car park. When she noticed him taking Charlie from the car with a face like thunder she immediately walked over. "Is everything alright?"

He huffed grumpily. "No, it isn't. Melissa's got a hangover from the party last night, so I've had to bring Charlie in with me. I'll just have to put him in the creche during my classes. Can you believe it, a two-year olds Birthday and she uses it as an excuse for a booze up with her mates?"

"You know you'll have to get him registered and everything with the creche?" Rachel reminded him.

"God, I didn't even think." He groaned stressfully as he looked at his watch. "I've got a class in five minutes."

"Look, why don't you give him to me. I've not got anything on until after break and then you can register him properly." She offered.

"Thank you so much for this," He told her as he passed Charlie over to her. He hesitated over his next words for a moment before adding. "I think we need to have a proper talk later on."

She smiled at Charlie who cheerily started to babble on in her arms before she then nodded to Eddie. "Yes, I think we do. Go on, get to your class."

"Be a good boy for Aunty Rachel." Eddie told his son.

"Aunty Rachel!" Charlie attempted to repeat with a giggle.

They both laughed at the toddler before Rachel then went to pick up Charlie's bag. When Eddie saw her doing this, he instantly stopped her. "I'll get that, you shouldn't be lifting anything heavy." He told her before insisting that he carried the bag up to her office.

"Now then, what are we going to do with you, hmm?" Rachel smiled at Charlie as she brought him into her office. There was a mountain of paperwork awaiting her, but she did not mind. Before meeting her nephew, she had always thought that it would be difficult to see Eddie and Melissa's child, however this was not the case at all. Charlie was now her family, just as Phillip was. Melissa and her nephews were the only family that she had, well they were, up until finding out about her pregnancy. Looking after her nephew that morning caused her to think about her own child. As she watched Charlie playing on the couch in her office with some toys that Eddie had brought him, the reality of her pregnancy started to hit her and she could not help but worry about how she was going to juggle raising a child as well as running a school, however, Kim's words rung in her head. "You just find a way through it." Sitting at her desk, she now held a hand to her stomach; whilst she was not noticeably pregnant, at least not to the outside world, she herself, noticed that her body was just starting to change as her clothes had become tighter around her stomach. For now, she was managing by wearing the looser tops in her wardrobe, however, this was a constant reminder that she would have to tell Adam of her news soon. Yet, she knew that when she did, she would also have to break the news that she did not know if he was the father, which meant opening a whole other can of worms.

When Eddie came into the office at breaktime, he found Rachel sat on the couch with Charlie on her knee as she was reading him a book. Eddie smiled at this; Charlie seemed much more comfortable with Rachel than he did with Melissa; he already knew that Rachel was going to be an incredible mother. "How has he been?"

"As good as gold." She replied as she looked up from the book. "I got Janeece to get me a book from the creche, he's been getting really into it."

"We always read a book before he goes to sleep, he loves it." He told her as he sat down next to her and greeted his son. "I bet Aunty Rachel didn't do the funny voices."

"Oy! She did actually," Rachel's smile now formed a laugh.

"I've got competition." Eddie joked before adding. "Thank you for this Rachel, I know you've got a lot on."

"It's been lovely to spend some time with him. He's been a good distraction." She admitted.

"Can we have that talk at lunchtime Rachel?" He asked her.

"Yes, of course." She agreed as she stood up from the couch. "I better make a start on this paperwork."

"I'll go and get him registered at the creche before my next class." Eddie told her as he picked up Charlie. "Thanks again Rachel, I'll see you at lunch."

Soon after the lunchtime bell, Eddie arrived at Rachel's office with Charlie as she was just finishing up a phone call. "Yes, I'll make sure to keep you updated...Thank you...Yes, I will. Bye now."

"Everything okay?" Eddie asked.

"I've just told the LEA, about the baby. They didn't seem too pleased; I'm not surprised I've barley been back five minutes and now I'm telling them that I'll have to take maternity leave." Rachel yawned as she tiredly rubbed her forehead. "I've told them that I'll not be away for too long after the baby's born, I just hope I have the energy for it."

"When's the baby due?" He asked as he put Charlie down, who was beginning to get fussy.

"April. Hopefully, I'll only be off for a few weeks and then I'll be able to see the rest of the year out." She paused as she noticed that Eddie and Charlie both had their coats on. "Where are you two off to?"

"Not just us." He told her as he grabbed her coat off the stand and passed it to her. "I thought we could take Charlie on a walk, tire him out a bit so he'll finally have a nap. It will also give us chance to have that talk."

"I don't know if you've noticed Eddie, but I do have a school to run." She pointed out.

"Yeah and it's lunchtime, come on we'll only be twenty minutes. Anyway, you're going to have to get used to having a small child around."

Reluctantly, Rachel agreed to go on a walk with Eddie and her nephew. As they walked out of the school gates, with Eddie pushing Charlie in his pram as Rachel walked alongside him, she began to stress. "Did you see the looks we were getting then? I dread to think what sort of gossip this is going to kick off."

"Stop worrying. We're just getting some fresh air."

"It's October and it's freezing." She complained before adding. "Come on then, I know this walk came with an agenda."

"I think we have a lot to discuss, don't you?" He raised his eyebrows. "So, you've already started making maternity plans with the LEA. Does this mean that you've told Adam?"

"Not yet."

Eddie stopped in his tracks for a moment. "You've told the LEA before you've told him? Rachel, I hate to point out the obvious but he's going to find out soon."

"Liar, you love to point out the obvious!" She chipped in before confessing. "I don't know how to tell him. Eddie, you don't know how much he wants a child. As soon as we got married, it's all he talked about. What am I supposed to say? Great news, I'm pregnant, however I'm not sure if you're the father because I cheated on you with my ex that I told you not to worry about."

"Maybe not quite like that...Rachel, I know it's not going to be easy, but you've got to find some way of telling him. He needs to know!"

"I know he does; I'm just dreading it. This is going to break his heart. God, I'm such an awful person, all I've done over the last few months is lie to him." Her voice cracked as she said this as she tried to stop herself from crying; her hormones did not help the situation.

"Come on, let's sit down here." Eddie took her hand and lead her to a bench that they were just about to pass. He parked the pram next to them; luckily, Charlie was already beginning to nod off. "Rachel you're not an awful person. We don't always act rationally when feelings come into it; that doesn't make you a bad person. It just makes you human." He squeezed her hand. "So, please stop being so hard on yourself. Look, I'm not trying to interfere Rachel..."

"That's a first." She jested as she wiped her tears away.

"...But even before we slept together, it didn't seem like you were happy with Adam."

It was a fair point; she had not been truly happy with Adam for some time; long before her reunion with Eddie. "We have had happy moments. It's difficult, sometimes I wonder if we're still together out of love or just routine, you know, familiarity. I did... I do love him, it's just so different to..." She stopped herself. "I will tell him, soon. Okay?"

Eddie nodded, taking it as a hint to not push her anymore about telling Adam. "You never told me about the scan, is everything okay with the baby?"

"Yes, it had a strong heartbeat and those screening tests that they did came back clear."

"Good, I'm glad." He smiled. "And how are you feeling about it all? I know you said before all this that having a child wasn't on the agenda."

"It wasn't, I guess I just accepted a long time ago that it probably wasn't going to happen, and I'd made peace with that. I think that's why I was so down on the idea when Adam would bring it up." Without realising, she held her stomach. "But now, it just feels right. I know the circumstances are awful I mean I've only just started running the school again, my marriage is a disaster, I'm not getting any younger and I don't know who the bloody father is. And yet, somehow all that doesn't seem to matter. Eddie, that moment that I saw my child on the screen, and I heard their heart beating, it was magical."

As she spoke with such love about her child, Eddie attempted to stop his eyes from welling up. "You're going to be an incredible mother Rachel."

"I hope so." She smiled at him as she noticed the tears in his eyes. "Thank you Eddie. I've dropped such a bombshell on you, and you've been so lovely about it. I know this must be a shock for you, you've already got your hands full as it is." She said as she looked to Charlie who was fast asleep in his pram.

"You know, when Charlie was born, it was incredible to have a second chance at being a Dad. It was so hard after Stephen's death and then Alison got married again, and suddenly moved Michael halfway across the world. After that, I felt so lucky to be given the chance to be a father to Charlie, but..." His voice cracked before he could continue, "I just so wished that it had been with you Rachel. I can't tell you how much I thought about you when he was born. And now, it just feels like we could have that chance." He stroked her hand as he said this and looked into her eyes which now began to well up once more. "Whether the baby is mine or not Rachel, I still want to be there."

She searched into his eyes. "Why? Why would you still want to do it all even if it's not your child?"

"Oh Rachel, for an intelligent woman you really can struggle to take a hint at times." He struggled not to let his emotions take over the words he needed to get out now whilst he had the chance. "Because I love you. How can you not see that? All I want is to be with you Rachel. I don't care about being professional or what anyone else thinks, I just want to be with you."

His words genuinely touched her heart, so much that she could not respond for a moment; she had really needed to hear that. "Eddie..." She could not help but let the rational part of her brain take over. "It's not that simple though is it? You've got Charlie to think of, I'm married..."

"I've already been speaking with a lawyer; I'm going to fight for custody and come on Rachel, how long are you going to keep trying to fix things with Adam? It's clearly not working."

"I know." She finally admitted, it was a relief to say out loud. "My marriage has been over for a while, I guess I've just been putting off facing up to it." She swallowed her emotion as she saw his hopeful face. "But Eddie we can't just..."

"Don't," he cut her off. "I've never stopped loving you Rachel, and that's what makes it so hard, us working together every day, pretending like there's nothing between us when there so clearly is. It's driving me mad! Please can we just stop fighting it, I just want to be with you."

Eddie's words touched Rachel's heart, she had never felt love like his and never wanted to feel love other than his again, yet it did not stop the doubts in her mind. As she gazed into his eyes now which were desperately looking back at her, trying to find a sign that she shared his feelings, he took the chance and carefully leaned towards her. He did so slowly so that she could pull away if she wished, but she instead moved closer and assisted him in connecting their lips. Somehow, their kiss felt like more of a reunion than when they had kissed for the first time in over two years. As a result of their public surroundings, their exchange did not last for long, yet it did not matter, Eddie had the confirmation that she felt the same way.

Only when she pulled away did Eddie notice the tears in her eyes, she let out a defeated breath. "I really wish that things were different, simpler."

"They can be Rachel..."

"I think you're dreaming Eddie." She admitted sadly. "How would we cope, with you fighting a custody battle whilst I'm going through a divorce? I just don't think that I could deal with the stress of that on top of running the school, not whilst I'm pregnant Eddie, it's too much."

"I know it won't be easy but…" Eddie started

Her phone then started to ring. "Janeece, is everything okay? Sorry, I completely forgot. Tell her I'll be five minutes...Yes...Bye" She sighed stressfully. "I can't believe I forgot; I've got one of the parents waiting to see me. And you've got a lesson starting soon, we need to get back. Eddie...I'm sorry."

"Why does something always have to get in the way..." Eddie highlighted as he sighed hopelessly.

"Eddie when it comes to us, there's always something that gets in the way isn't there?" She spoke sadly before rising from the bench.