Hello,

I hope you're ready for the second part of Rachel's long day and for the drama that comes with it!

Thank you for your lovely reviews, they mean the world! (Please keep them coming, I love to read them!) There is definitely trouble ahead as a few of you anticipated...

Enjoy,

Becca x

Is There Something You Want to Tell Me?

Melissa. As if Rachel did not have enough on her mind as she prepared to tell her husband that the child she was carrying may not be his and was set to end their marriage, of course she had Melissa to deal with before that. This was certainly going to be the rain before the storm, she just hoped that there was not a hurricane on the way after that, metaphorically speaking of course. At the very least, Melissa's ill-timed call helped to distract her from worrying about telling Adam that evening; however, she did not know if being distracted from her anxiety by further stress was necessarily a positive turn of events. It was not clear by her brief conversation with her sister what the agenda was for their upcoming lunch time catch up. Melissa asking her for advice was a strange one, they had only seen each other twice in person since their two-year hiatus, it was bizarre that it would be her that Melissa would turn to for guidance.

Suddenly, Rachel abruptly stumbled on a thought which left her with a heavy sense of dread. Phillip. He had been there the morning after her night with Eddie; he was the only other person that knew. After discovering her infidelity, Phillip had phoned her soon after and given her a further lecture, but she had only received the odd text from him since then. Soon after, Phillip began to embark on some travelling of his own and spent the summer as a bartender on a cruise ship, that was until a week ago when he finally returned home. Could he have told Melissa about her and Eddie? As far as she knew, they did not see one another but maybe that had changed. Having to deal with the backlash from telling Adam later on was going to be difficult enough, she feared how she was going to cope if she had to do it twice in one day.

After the morning that he had shared with Rachel, Eddie could not wipe the smile off his face during his classes. Before now, he had not been truly happy for some time; in the two years before his reunion with Rachel he had almost forgotten what happiness was and focused on simply existing, to a point where he became almost numb. Of course, his son brought joy to his life; in truth, Charlie was the only thing that kept him going over those two years. Losing Rachel had been difficult enough to live with, however, when Alison then moved Michael half way around the world, it left him empty. Charlie's arrival took place only weeks after Alison and her new husband had left for New Zealand with Michael. Being a father to Charlie made Eddie feel something again; he had a second chance and he was determined that he would do anything for his son. Unfortunately, his paternal loyalties came at a price; Melissa.

Eddie had a free period before lunch and decided to abandon his marking and see Rachel instead. It had only been a couple of hours since he had seen her last and yet she had consumed his mind completely; he was thankful that it was the last day before the half term as his mind was too filled with Racel Mason to be fully engaged in teaching that morning. The smile that had become a permanent fixture on his face in the last few hours, only intensified as he made his way to her office. "I brought you a herbal tea." He cheerily announced as he energetically entered the room, drink in hand. However, his smile soon dropped as he clocked the unmistakable stress which covered Rachel's face. "What's wrong?"

Breaking her tense expression for a moment, Rachel managed to stretch to a small smile as Eddie passed her the tea, before revealing, "You'll never guess who I've had a call from."

"Go on."

"Melissa." Rachel revealed. Eddie's smile was certainly nowhere to be seen now as he became consumed by total dread. "We're having coffee at lunch time."

"What?"

"She says she needs my advice on something." She told him as he now stressfully sat down on the sofa. "Eddie, I think she knows, about us."

"That's not possible Rachel, how would she know?"

"I didn't tell you because I didn't think it was going to be an issue...Phillip knows. That morning after you spent the night, he saw us kissing as you left. He went working away on that cruise ship and I just didn't think much of it, but now, what if he's told her?"

Eddie shook his head in response to this. "But Phillip despises Melissa, why would he tell her?"

Rachel shrugged. "I really don't know but I can't think of another reason why she'd want to see me so urgently."

"Rachel please be careful about what you say to her. You don't know what a nightmare she's been; I can't risk her taking my son. I promise I will sort things out, but I just need to be careful with how I go about it." He pleaded with her.

"I promise, I will." She assured him in response to his anxious tone. Now rising from her desk, she joined him on the sofa and began to reassuringly stroke his forearm. "Eddie is there more to this?

The warmth of her touch caused him to naturally smile before he then released the stressful sigh that had been building ever since Rachel had mentioned Melissa's name. "It's complicated."

Glancing at her watch, she realised that she would have to meet Melissa soon to avoid arriving back at school late. "Why don't we talk later on, yeah?"

"Yes, we will." He agreed and lightly kissed her forehead before she stood up to grab her bag and coat. "Good luck."

"Thanks, I'm going to need it." She said as she pulled a face at the thought of seeing her sister.

"Rachel..." He called just as she was about to open her office door. "I love you."

Turning her head to look at him once more before she left, her hand still rested on the door handle, she could not conceal her grin at his declaration. No matter how many times he said those words, it still felt as though it was her first time hearing them and it never failed to make her heart skip. "I love you too." They exchanged a brief doting gaze before Rachel then opened the door and left to see her sister.

Melissa was already sat at the table with two coffees when Rachel arrived and was accompanied by Charlie, who lay asleep in his pram next to her. "Rach!" She called as she spotted her. When Rachel arrived at the table, Melissa gave her a hug; making it difficult for her to fight the guilt that had started to build as soon as she had walked through the door of the café. "I got you a coffee."

"That's lovely of you Melissa but I'm off coffee at the minute." She explained as she sat down opposite her sister.

"Ooo, you're not pregnant, are you?" Melissa joked; however, this comment took Rachel by surprise and she did not have time to conceal her reaction before Melissa then gasped. "Oh my god, wait...are you?"

"Yeah...yes, I am. That's not quite how I expected to tell you." She awkwardly revealed before forcing a smile, mostly to stop the guilt seeping through to her expression.

"Rachel! Congratulations!" Melissa seemed genuinely pleased for her which only made Rachel feel worse. "How does Adam feel about it?"

"He's...he's over the moon."

"I'm so glad you've found someone Rach, I still can't believe you got married, and now a baby! You know I was so worried after me and Eddie got back together and with us having Charlie, I didn't like the thought of you being alone when we were so happy. But I'm just so pleased for you." Melissa said in a manner that Rachel found condescending. "I know it's ridiculous, but when I first heard that Eddie was going to be working with you again, I did feel a bit threatened but...It's just so good to know that you're happy with Adam."

There it was. For a moment, Rachel thought that perhaps Melissa genuinely cared about her for a change and that she maybe was not completely selfish. But of course, Melissa's motives were only ever limited to her own interests. Rachel remained momentarily silent in disbelief as she realised that her sister was only pleased about her pregnancy news because she assumed that it meant that Rachel was no threat to her where Eddie was concerned. It was quite ironic considering the truth of the situation. Melissa's response also led Rachel to presume that she must not know about her night with Eddie; meaning that it was surely not the reason that she had invited her to lunch.

"Thanks." Rachel responded; not realising how blunt her response sounded until the words had passed her lips. Never before had the paperwork sat in her office appeared so inviting, she could not wait to get back to work after only spending a few minutes with her sister and so rushed to change the subject. "So, what was it that you wanted to speak to me about?"

"It's not easy for me to talk about but...I'm worried about Eddie and I thought you might be able to help me." Melissa started as she took a sip of her coffee. "Has he been okay at work?"

"Fine, as far as I know, why?" Rachel attempted to sound casual when inside she was dreading where this line of questioning was headed.

"He's just so distant. I hate to admit it, but things haven't been good for a long time between us. I'm worried that I'm going to lose him Rach."

Keeping a passive facial expression was becoming arduous for Rachel; she really did not want to be the one to have this discussion with Melissa. "What do you want me...Sorry, why are you telling me this?"

"I was wondering if you'd have a word with him. You spend a lot more time with him than I do, so I was thinking you could, you know, try and find out what's on his mind."

Their conversation was becoming increasingly uncomfortable the more that Melissa spoke and Rachel wondered if Melissa could feel the tension between them. "I don't think that'd be a good idea Mel..." Rachel began.

"Please. If not for me, then for Charlie. I'm trying to keep my family together here Rach."

Somehow this seemed ironic to Rachel, seeing as though her sister was one of the most selfish and unmaternal people that she had ever met. Despite this, she could not help but feel sorry for her sister. "Would it not be better if you spoke to Eddie?" She offered as an attempt to remove herself from the situation, even though she was very much in the middle of it. "You know sometimes, it's not always in a child's best interest for their parents to stay together."

Melissa did not like that comment and immediately her facial expression stiffened as she became overly defensive. "What are you trying to say?" She accused. "Has Eddie said something to you?"

"No, of course he hasn't!" Rachel attempted to calm her sister's tone. "I'm just talking from experience; you know I see a lot of unhappy kids with parents that don't get along but stay together because they think it's for the best."

"Me and Eddie do get along. I love him Rachel!" Melissa insisted.

Rachel didn't know whether it was better to try and recover the mess she continued to make every time she opened her mouth or to simply stop talking; she decided on the former. "Melissa I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come across like that. I was just trying to help."

Melissa rolled her eyes. "Have you got baby brain?"

"Possibly." Rachel forced a smile once more; mostly to stop her face from presenting her true reaction to her sister's patronising tone. "I'll have a word with him."

"Thank you. I just want to get our relationship back on track, can you believe we've not had sex for nearly a month now?"

Rachel was just about to pick up her bag but froze when Melissa said this. Despite being relatively unaware of the details regarding Melissa and Eddie's setup, she had always assumed that they simply lived together and raised Charlie. Eddie had said himself that they were not in a relationship and so she assumed that Melissa was simply keeping up appearances. Never did she consider from that point that their relationship was sexual. Melissa's revelation had completely caught her off guard and she now began to wonder what other details Eddie had failed to tell her. "I'm sorry, I've really got to get back to work..."

During the drive back to the school, Rachel had so many questions on her mind. Eddie was someone who she trusted implicitly, from them being colleagues to friends to lovers; the trust she had in him had always been a constant. That's what made it so difficult now as she began to question how honest he had been about his and Melissa's home life. Ever since their reunion, Rachel had been in a constant battle with her feelings for Eddie; she had tried so hard to deny them in an effort to be sensible and rational; making their first term working together again exhausting. It was not only the effects of her pregnancy, keeping up a professional front with Eddie was draining; it felt unnatural to fight against her heart every working day. It had been such a relief to finally let her guard down to him that morning and to be honest with not only him but with herself too. Opening her heart to him once more was not an easy task, but she had been prepared to fight with the little energy she had left in her to secure a future with the man that she loved. And yet now, the love that had burned so fiercely from within her that morning, had become tainted by betrayal.

Upon returning to her office, Rachel found Eddie sat at the table in the middle of marking his year nine's homework, in truth, he had only brought his marking along so that it did not appear so obvious that he was awaiting her return. "Can you not do that in your classroom?" Rachel snapped as soon as she spotted him. The tone of her voice was undoubtedly cold, so much so that Eddie immediately diverted his focus from his marking to her; instinctively he knew that something had happened. The atmosphere in the room had completely altered from that morning when they had been utterly absorbed in their love for one another.

"What's wrong? What has she said?"

Despite it only being lunchtime, the day had already been eventful enough and there was still much more awaiting her. Rachel needed answers to the questions that had hounded her mind since Melissa's revelation but felt heavy with exhaustion. "Can you please just leave, I don't think I have the energy for this right now," she told him as she tiredly began to unbutton her coat.

Eddie stood up now, the tension between them was unbearable; especially when he did not know the reason for her sudden change in behaviour, apart from being fully aware that it was Melissa's doing. "Rachel I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on."

Challenging him, she looked him straight in the eye. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"You're really worrying me now, what has she said?" He came closer to her and attempted to cautiously rest his hand on her arm, but she shrugged it off; her gaze was persistent.

"Why didn't you tell me that you're sleeping with Melissa?" She asked him outright; despite feeling redundant of energy; she still needed answers.

His eyes widened, "No, Rachel it's not like that..." He started, but Rachel did not allow him the chance to continue.

"You see now I'm starting to wonder about what else you forgot to tell me." She leant against her desk now in exhaustion. "Eddie she was telling me about how she loves you and that she was worried about your relationship, which was news to me because you told me that you didn't have one!" At first, she had spoken rather calmly, however, her tone was anything but calm now. "She wanted me to have a word with you about it!"

"Please will you let me explain; it's not what you think." He begged before he continued. "Melissa and I are not in a relationship. Yes, sometimes, rarely, we have ended up in bed together, but it's only ever been sex Rachel; it's meaningless!"

"So, you just use her?" Rachel questioned.

This comment frustrated Eddie; evident by the manner in which he abruptly raised his eyebrows. "Whose side are you on Rachel?"

"I don't know any more Eddie. Yes, Melissa might be an awful person but she's still my sister and she thinks you're all a happy family! I thought that you both had some sort of mutual understanding...God, I've been so stupid. Why did I think this could ever work?"

"Please just calm down a bit Rachel, you need to be careful of the baby." He reacted to her tone; calming his own voice as he did so.

"Just get out," she could barely look at him now and proceeded to slump tiredly into the chair at her desk. Despite holding her head in her hands with her gaze fixated on her desk, she could sense that he had not moved an inch. "I need to be on my own Eddie, please just go." Her voice was a defeated murmur now, and yet still her words dropped painfully loud as they interrupted the agonizing silence in the room.