Thank you for the reviews.

And yes, you are going to see a lot more of Tess. Because why introduce quite an interesting character not to use her (interesting in a way that she could have helped give a lot of background to Rachel's character).

Now is someone going to get to the bottom of Rachel weird mood? (And we are after Christmas now...)

Constant Worry

With Tess' threat still hanging over her, the last thing that Rachel needed was to walk into her office on the first day back to find it being trashed. She put it down to the kids looking for money or something like that, just to stop her mind from shooting off a number of different scenarios until she came across her personal file sitting on top of all the paper on her desk.

She was already thinking the worst when she picked it up and it felt a lot lighter than it should have done, meaning that her next move was to open it up, finding that the contents was missing. The problem came when she knew that she would have to go and look for James and Amelia's files as well. Because she knew that Tess knew that she had riled when she mentioned the twins and the last thing that Rachel needed was for them to get involved in her mess as well. Even if the night that caused this mess was the night that they were conceived.

She would have headed straight to the Head of Pastoral Care office if she hadn't seen the handwritten note, saying 'You know what to do'. Of course, she knew what she had to do and it seemed like this was either to unnerve her more or to just to make sure that they had the upper hand in this.

Rachel tried to quickly hide the note in her pocket as she heard Eddie's footsteps but she didn't think that she was quick enough for him not to see what she had just done. Which is why she was glad that he had a good enough distraction in his hand.

"Who's that for?" She asked as she gestured towards the present.

Eddie closed the door of his car, making sure that he had everything before he made his way towards the school. He found himself smiling at Amelia as she met him by the doors and he held one of the open for her before they fell in step together.

"Did you have a good Christmas?" She asked.

"Yeah, Saw Michael a bit." He hesitated for a moment. "I'm sorry that I didn't make the time to see you and Jamie as well."

"I think that it isn't as important at the moment, with us. Jamie is still getting used to the idea."

"How was your Christmas?"

"It was nice. Other than Mum being in a weird mood the whole time. Which worsened when Auntie Melissa 'popped' round."

"Why do you say it like that?" Eddie said as he let out a short laugh.

"Because she ended up staying for three days. Not that we are completely against it because it means that we get to see Philip, because we don't see him enough. I am pretty certain that he is the only reason all three of us tolerate Auntie Melissa."

"Right."

"Could you have a word with Mum?" Amelia asked as they started up the stairs towards Rachel's office. "We have missed our window of opportunity to ask her but she might still open up to you."

"Are you sure? Amelia, this is all still new to us. I am sure she is more likely to open up to you than she is to me."

"Please? Just the last time she acted this way… we found out."

"I'm not going to make any promises."

"Da… Eddie, all we need to know is that she is okay."

Eddie knew better than anyone that the corridors had ears and it was clear that even though Amelia had accepted that he was her dad, it wasn't something that she wanted to be common knowledge at the moment. He found himself nodding at Amelia and giving her a smile when she told him to have a good day. He had noticed that Rachel seemed a little shaken on the day of the ROCBEC meeting but she had just said that it was nerves. Could it have been something more?

He went into the antechamber and Rachel's office, fully hoping to get an answer out of her when he noticed her shoving something into her pocket and the mess that her office was in. Which would have been his next question had Rachel not asked hers.

"Who's that for?" She asked as she gestured towards the present.

"For you." He said as he looked at it before offering it to her.

"Why?"

"As a thank you. For what you did with Michael. Because that is what I should have said instead of being angry at you. Although I feel slightly bad now because I didn't get the twins anything."

He noted her smile as she took the present off him and he wondered what part of what he had said that had made her react that way.

"I wouldn't worry about them." Rachel said. "You will end up getting a lecture about how they earn their own money and if they want something, then they will buy it themselves. Or that might just be because Melissa has got them some God awful presents over the years and they wish that she wouldn't bother."

"Or maybe they watched their mother having to work so hard for everything that she has that they think that is the way of the world."

Eddie could tell that Rachel didn't really know how to reply to his last statement, which is why she turned her attention to the present and unwrapped it.

"Crime and Punishment." Rachel said as she read the title.

"I don't know much about books but the store owner said it was a classic. I only looked up what it is actually about after I wrapped it."

"It is a great story."

"And you've read it."

"At university. Like 15 odd years ago. At least this time I won't have to analyze it as to how Dostoevsky displays madness in Raskolnikov's mental collapse."

"And we all wonder why half the kids hate reading," Eddie said. "So what has happened here?"

"No idea." She said as she looked around at the mess again. "I only got here ten minutes before you did."

"What did you hide?"

"Nothing."

"Rachel, Amelia has mentioned that you've been in a weird mood." He said, trying a different tactic. "It doesn't have anything to do with the weird mood you were in when the play was on."

"No."

"Rachel."

Eddie felt like he had asked enough times that she had decided that she was going to give in as she sighed and leant against her desk. He managed to shut the door to her office and slid across the window to give them as much privacy as possible.

"It always comes back to bite me. I actually thought that it might not be so bad this time. With you. That my past would finally bring some good." She said.

"Was that before or after you knew I knew?"

"After. Eddie… the night that we had. You told me that I should have told you to piss off if I was waiting for someone. Well, I was meant to be working that night. The bosses… I was stupid enough to believe that they didn't know what I was doing. They did and they wanted to teach me a lesson. In the only way they knew. Which was to be as brutal as possible. I obviously didn't meet who I was meant to meet that night. If I did, I wouldn't have the twins and I would have been beaten within an inch of my life before." She stopped. "Tess took my place and she might not have gotten the beating that I was meant to get, but she did get some of the punishment before one of our bosses realised what was going on. I owe her for that night and she is now calling in the favour."

"Did you?"

"Did I?"

"The beating?"

Rachel nodded her head. "All of it. I… don't know how she knows but she knows about the twins and I know that this is someone trying to unnerve me and they can go after me all they like. They can destroy me if they wish. But if they do anything to hurt the twins… I just couldn't stand if they got them involved in this."

Eddie found himself closing his eyes as he ran his hands down his face. "How the hell am I going to tell Amelia that you are okay?" He opened his eyes to look at her. "For Christ sakes, no wonder you have been in a weird mood."

"They can't know."

"And how are you going to keep it from them when they already know something is wrong? Rachel, they are 17 and I think you give them the respect of a 17-year-old to make their own decisions. I am sure that they would want to support you through this."

"I hate how right that is." She muttered as she turned away from him.

"You are going to need us. So if I tell Amelia to talk to you about it, will you at least mention that your past is coming back haunt you?"

"Maybe."

"And, in the meantime, what can I do to help?"

She turned back to him. "If you get a spare moment, could… you see if you can find out who Stuart Hordley is? Apparently, he might be knocking on my door and I am to do everything he tells me to do."

Eddie nodded at her. "Have you called the police? And is there any point checking petty cash?"

"Probably should and I need to go to the Pastoral Care office. I need to see if it is only my file missing."

"I think Tom is teaching all morning if you don't want him asking why you are there."

"I still think we are doing the right thing there. Giving Steph something else and putting Tom in charge of Pastoral Care."

"And you have a school trip to finish preparing for."

"I have a bloody office to clean."

"Everything will be okay Rachel. Because we are going to do this together."

Eddie felt like Rachel wanted to believe his words, she just wasn't allowing herself to. Although he didn't blame her for not completely trusting him on it. She knew Tess, he didn't. He had no idea what this Tess was capable of.

Rachel knew that everything that was happening on the prison trip was theatre and that they were going to get one of the actors to maybe say something about her being a woman in a male prison but she hated the way that Bolton, Paul and Co reacted to what was said. Or maybe she was just reliving the couple of months that she spent in prison while she was being framed for trying to recruit other girls into the fold.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked.

"Yeah. Yeah." Rachel said.

"What did you do then?"

"Sorry?"

Peter laughed and Rachel was glad that they were alone for this conversation, just giving the boys enough time to sweat it out that they might all be spending a night in the cells.

"From one ex-inmate to another." He said.

"How do you know?"

"I think everyone who has spent a bit of time inside has an aura about them. They know that this isn't an easy life."

"It was only a couple of months."

"Couldn't be anything too bad for you to be a teacher."

"I believe that what I actually did isn't actually illegal. Things might have been different if I had been framed for something relating to it."

"That could be a couple of things. I was in for drugs."

"Prostitution. Almost put away properly for causing or inciting."

"Oh wow."

"I'm trying to stop these boys down the same path I did. Bolton… I just don't know how to get through to him and." She stopped. "I wouldn't wish prison on my worst enemy and it just annoys me that some people actually think it is so simple."

"I think that he might be the only one of them that is still for the prison life. Maybe his time in the cells will change that."

"Maybe. Although, I think it might be time to tell the others about what has gone on today."

"And don't worry. It is safe with me."

"Thank you."

Rachel smiled at Peter before she got her phone out of her pocket when she felt it vibrate and looked at the message that James sent, asking when she was going to be home and whether she wanted him to sort something out for dinner.

She knew that from time to time, she would think about how things could have been different and how she wished that things hadn't worked out the way that they did. But then one of her brilliant twins would interrupt her thoughts and she would be reminded that without that part of her life, she wouldn't have the two people that brought her the most happiness. She just wished that Tess never found her and never wanted to call in her favour.