Thank you for the reviews.

This is another of my favourites...

Set during 2004... And an AU to the series.

Day Twelve
Christmas Getaway Disaster

Rachel and Eddie decide (separately) that a Christmas getaway is the answer but they meet when they both miss their flight/the flight is cancelled, leading to them wasting some time by getting to know each other.

Word count: 3,256

Rachel couldn't do another bad Christmas with Melissa. She felt bad as she was leaving her nephew but there was only so much of Melissa that she could put up with and when Melissa had moved in with her after her last relationship broke down, Rachel had definitely had enough of her sister.

Which is why the idea of some winter sun appealed so much. She only really ever got away during the summer break, mainly because Melissa would turn up and tell her that she had booked a holiday for them to go on. This was the first holiday since she'd become a deputy head that she had actually booked herself (because, and this was in Melissa's words, she became obsessed with work and forgot to actually have fun).

Rachel had spent the Saturday with Philip, just so that she did spend some quality time with him, but she was so grateful for the morning flight, knowing that she should be on the plane before Melissa had woken up and by the time that Melissa had read her note that she was on holiday, Rachel would be in Lanzarote.

She had to constantly remind herself that this was something that she wanted and that she shouldn't feel guilty for wanting some time away from her sister, but she also knew that Christmas was the only time that they really got together. Well, that was before her sister pushed her way into her house and told her that they were staying there until Melissa found them somewhere else. Which had been four months ago.

With that thought, Rachel pushed herself through security and into duty-free, with the plan of finding a bookshop to get herself a new book before finding a good place to get a cup of coffee. As she already had a book in mind, that part didn't take too long and Rachel found herself nursing a coffee and trying to remind herself that this was for her.

Once she had finished her coffee, she went to double-check her flight and see whether the gate was open. It was how her face dropped as she found herself looking up at the board, finding out that her flight had been delayed. It was the last thing that she wanted and she could tell that it was the same for the person who stood next to her as he swore.

Rachel found herself turning to him, understanding his frustration as it seemed like half the flights had been delayed. She wasn't really one for admiring people that she had just met and she didn't know why this man drew her in so much but she looked at his scruffy jumper and jeans combo and just was intruded by him.

"Where are you heading to?" She asked.

"Tenerife. You?" He said.

"Lanzarote."

"Doesn't seem like it at the moment. Travelling alone?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Is that wise?"

"Is what wise?"

"You are a woman travelling alone, is that wise?"

"Then maybe a gentleman should wait with me while I wait for my flight to be rescheduled."

Rachel had no idea why she was being so forward but there was a part of her that liked that he agreed with her, saying that they should probably choose somewhere close to the board so that they could see when their flights would be back on.

For Eddie, Christmas was a very family-oriented affair. Which was a problem for him. Because his family were the last people that he wanted to be around.

Part of it was that he could barely recognize his life now. Because the year before, he was there with his pregnant wife, announcing that they were expecting twin boys. Now he was in the middle of a messy divorce with Alison refusing to let him see Michael in the aftermath of Stephen's death.

He probably should see what his family was doing as them trying to support him but things felt like they were crushing him, suffocating him. He needed to be somewhere where no one was going to ask him how he was every five minutes. He needed to be somewhere where nobody knew what had happened and it didn't matter that they didn't know. He was conscious that he was still married to Alison but he was sure that a harmless fling was going to hurt. What Alison didn't know, she couldn't bring up.

He knew that things were going to be tight, but that was how he wanted it. He didn't want any time to think about his decision or for his mum to call him and beg him to come home. He needed to get on that plane and to worry about the fallout from his decision once he was in Tenerife.

So when he looked up at the screen to double-check what gate he was meant to be going to find out that his flight had been delayed, he was not happy, meaning that he had a few words to say about it.

"Where are you heading to?" The woman next to him asked.

"Tenerife. You?"

"Lanzarote."

"Doesn't seem like it at the moment. Travelling alone?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Is that wise?" He said, unsure why he suddenly cared about this woman who had started randomly talking to him.

"Is what wise?"

"You are a woman travelling alone, is that wise?"

"Then maybe a gentleman should wait with me while I wait for my flight to be rescheduled."

"Maybe I should. But we should stay close to the boards. Just to see when they are going to be back on."

He knew that he had thought about having a fling but he now wished that the woman next to him was going to Tenerife as well. Mainly because she was attractive and looked around his age. It might stop him from doing something completely out of character. He could humour her for a while. Maybe he should turn off his phone so that they weren't disturbed.

"I'm Rachel by the way." She said as they sat down with a coffee.

"Eddie."

Rachel found herself smiling at him. "What do you do for a living?"

"Teacher."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Same."

"Really? What is your subject?"

"It was Geography."

"Was?"

"I'm now a headteacher. In my first head teaching role actually. You?"

"Maths."

"Maths?"

"What is wrong with Maths?"

"Just… dated a Maths teacher once. He was as dull as ditchwater."

"Maybe I can take this opportunity to change your mind about Maths teachers."

"Maybe. Or maybe it was just him that was really dull."

Rachel had no idea what she was doing. She could put it down to the fact that this whole situation was out of character for her but she still didn't quite understand why she started talking to the guy or why she was having the thought that she would have loved it if he was going to Lanzarote. She had never clicked with someone like she was clicking with Eddie.

"Wait, how old are you? For you to already be a headteacher." He said.

"I'm 34." She said, use to the question that he had asked her having been asked that for the last four months.

"34?"

"Why? How old are you?"

"35. And I'm only just considering going for a deputy head role."

"Go for it."

"I think it is a little harder than just going for it."

"They let me be a headteacher. Ten years ago, I was an NQT. If you want something, you should just go for it."

"In ten years? Christ, you are ambitious."

"Well… I haven't had anyone holding me back. Most of my relationships haven't lasted six months."

"Well I am going through a divorce, so I am not all for relationships at this moment."

"Is that why you want some alone time?"

"It feels like my family is suffocating me. Even though I am sure that they are only trying to show their support for what I am going through." Eddie paused. "Is that what you are doing? Having some alone time?"

"I have… a certain tolerance for my sister. Let's just say that ran out ages ago." Rachel sighed. "She moved herself in with me four months ago. I couldn't face having the Christmas holidays with her. Two weeks of her moaning at me because of this, that or the other. Probably more because I am working through Christmas. Again. I feel a bit guilty because I am leaving behind my nephew but I just can't deal with Melissa any longer."

"I suppose I won't see my nieces and nephews."

"Plural?"

"Yeah. Five nieces and four nephews. I do have two brothers and a sister. Who have always been more successful with relationships than me. I think they were all really happy when I met Alison."

"I think Melissa would like me to meet someone. Although I find it hard to date outside of the profession. Most people think that it is just from nine o'clock to three and we do nothing during the school holidays."

"I get you there. I think it took Alison a while to understand that I couldn't just drop everything during the half terms to go away for a week or two. There is a lot of planning involved in having to take a break."

"Which is why I am glad that Melissa sort of understands that. She always books a holiday during the summer holidays."

"Alison learnt that it would be best to book a holiday then as well."

Rachel found herself sighing. "I'm sorry. About your marriage breaking down."

"You don't need to be. It was my fault."

"Really?"

"I wasn't unfaithful or anything like that." He stopped. "She is trying for unreasonable behaviour. Everyone says that I should fight against it but… I'm tired of it. I just want to get it over and done with now and just move on."

"You can tell me to keep my nose out of it."

"Fine."

"But there seems to be more to it than that."

"There is. But if we are going to get into that, I need to be over there, not here."

Rachel looked to where he was pointing to, which was the bar that was opposite in the area that they were in. She didn't need to push him any further. Not if he needed a drink to tell her.

"Fair enough. I'll keep my nose out. I don't want you thrown off the plane and miss your flight because you are drunk." She said.

"It's just been a shit couple of months."

"I'm not going to say that I can imagine."

"And they don't make it bloody easy to get a divorce. Alison can barely look at me and you have this solicitor telling us that we need one of five reasons to get a divorce. Luckily, we had been married for a year."

"Melissa must have had the same thing when she divorced Philip's dad."

"It is shit. Don't get married."

"I haven't found anyone yet that wants to go that far with me."

"Then, from a male point of view, keep it that way. Keep your ambition and stay away from anyone that is going to get in the way of that."

Rachel had no idea why she was still smiling at Eddie and his sadistic views but she went back to the way that they had just clicked. She felt like he was having a rougher time of things than her but she was still glad that she had spent the time with him.

"All flights have now been rescheduled. Please check the boards for more details. Thank you for your patience and we hope you have a pleasant flight."

"Shall we see how much longer we have?" Eddie said.

Rachel nodded at him before she collected her things and they went to check out the boards.

Eddie knew that he had to say something. He couldn't leave things with Rachel with him ranting at her. Maybe he should have told her about Michael and Stephen but he couldn't face someone telling him that they were sorry. What did they have to be sorry about? It was him that put Stephen to bed that night and it was him who found Stephen that morning. He was to blame.

"I'm sorry. For ranting." He said as they walked together to their respective gates.

"It isn't a problem. It seemed like it was something you needed to get off your chest."

"Maybe I'm just sick of people thinking that they know what is best for me. Me and Alison have gone past the point of no return."

"And I think that is fine. There is no point fighting for something that has gone beyond repair. Maybe you will get along better when it is all over with."

"I doubt it."

"Just as long as there are no children involved. Or you can at least be amicable when it comes to them."

Eddie managed to stop himself from huffing because that was where they were the least amicable. He had no qualms with Alison being the main career and for him to pay his way, but it was this lack of access that he didn't like and he felt like if he didn't fight for it now, he would never get access to his son.

"We try." He said, trying not to let Rachel down.

"So you have a child?"

"Yeah… Michael. He was born earlier this year. Hence why everything just feels so difficult. Luckily, at seven months, he doesn't really understand what is going on."

"Maybe. But you don't want him to turn around one day and wonder where you are."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, take it from someone whose dad left before they were born to return four years later, get their mum pregnant again to disappear for good. I would at least have liked to have known the other side of my life. I already know that, looks-wise, I got more from him. Because everyone used to say that Melissa looked so much like Mum."

Eddie had no idea why that hit him more than what everyone else had said about what he should do with regards to Michael. He was starting to think that he was fighting a losing battle but maybe what Rachel had just said would give him the energy to battle harder. Because he didn't want Michael to think that there was a part of him missing.

"I will have to see where Alison is when we start proceedings again after Christmas." He said.

"Sorry. Now I've depressed you."

"It's fine Rachel. Because I know and have always known my parents. Maybe a wake-up call from someone who hasn't is what I need."

Eddie didn't know why he was upset when they reached her gate. Part of him felt like he was saying goodbye to a friend that he had known for years, not a woman he had met a couple of hours ago. He found himself clearing his throat as she turned to him.

"I suppose this is you." He said.

"I suppose it is."

"I could always see you again on a teaching training day thing. God, it might make them less boring."

"Yeah, we might."

He leant in, to place a kiss on her cheek, with her turning to do the same thing. He wondered whether she felt the same. Like it was saying goodbye to a friend rather than a stranger. He watched her go, wondering whether he had let his shot of happiness go as well.

He found himself sighing, knowing that he couldn't ignore his phone any longer as he got it out of his pocket and answered the call.

"Hi, Mum."

"Edward, where the hell are you?"

"I'm sorry Mum. I just couldn't do Christmas this year."

Rachel had no idea why she couldn't get Eddie off her mind all the time that she was away.

She'd had a phone call from her sister within an hour of her arriving in Lanzarote. If anything, Melissa had told her that she liked this version of Rachel but she hoped that this wasn't going to be a regular occurrence. It seemed like Melissa wasn't too capable of looking after herself, with multiple phone calls across the two weeks, asking Rachel about things that she was sure could have waited until she got home.

But Eddie had not once left her mind. She had thought a lot about the maths teacher and his ex-wife and his son and she couldn't work out why. It was someone that she had known for a couple of hours. Why was it bugging her so much?

She looked up at the board to work out where her luggage was going to be when she realized a flight from Tenerife was landing in ten minutes. A smile rose on her face and she hoped that Eddie had spent two weeks there as she had done in Lanzarote.

She went to get her luggage before she waited by the screen to see if she could see where Eddie might be picking his luggage up from. When it came up, she crossed her fingers and went to wait by there, hoping that the man she had been thinking about for two weeks after talking to him for a couple of hours was going to be there.

Eddie had no idea why Rachel had played on his mind for the last two weeks.

Once he had explained to his mum his reasons for spending Christmas and the New Year away from the family, he felt like she understood more where his head was. He expected that she had told everyone else what he had told her, which made him want to get home even less.

But his face lit up as he realised that a flight from Lanzarote had landed before his and he hoped to get his luggage as quickly as he could, in the hope to catch Rachel.

He could feel his face light up as he saw her waiting where he was meant to pick his luggage up from, looking more attractive than he remembered her being. Maybe it was because he'd had time to think. Maybe he wanted a friend and felt like she could be it. Until his divorce came through.

He was glad that she was smiling at him when she noticed him and he accepted the hug that she gave him. Mainly because it still felt like he was greeting an old friend. Not a woman that he had spoken to for a couple of hours before he went on holiday.

"I don't fancy going home yet." Rachel said.

"Nor do I."

"Coffee?"

Eddie found himself nodding before he motioned that he should pick up his luggage. With a different frame of mind, he knew that he would find out more about Rachel and maybe remember to get her full name and her phone number. Just so he could be in her company more than just twice.