Thank you for the reviews.

So from Amelia's dilemma to Rachel's... Because I don't quite think that things are going to go well here, do you?

He Is Here

Rachel didn't really understand what Eddie was handing to her until she took the bits of paper off of him and started to look through them.

"He is a builder. I can assume he will have put in a bid for the training centre." Eddie said.

She was going to say something and she was sure that they would have had a conversation about it had Bridget not come into her office, stating that the man that they wanted to talk about was here to see her.

She slid the papers in her drawer and she looked up at Eddie for him to give her a shake of his head. He couldn't be there with her. She wished that he could have been. Because it might have stopped the meeting that unfolded as Eddie was replaced with Stuart Hordley, with him showing his hand instantly as he placed the deed of change of name in front of her for herself, James and Amelia.

"Had Tess not warned you that I was coming, I might have been more… subtle. But as she did, I might as well get straight to the point."

Rachel looked up at him, knowing that she had to gain control of the situation. "Which is?"

"My request would have been rather simple. That is if my bid hadn't been rejected yesterday."

"Bid?"

"For your new training centre."

So Eddie was right. And probably his simple request would have been rather simple. He probably would have asked her to make sure that he won the bid, which she knew that she had no influence over. Something that she wouldn't disclose to him and then just say to him when he didn't get the bid. But now this was more and she knew what he was going to ask of her. Was it worth putting her reputation on the line for?

"I can't help you." She said.

"Tess says that you owe her."

"I don't."

"Did you enjoy selling her out then?"

"I didn't sell her out. I was ready to move on."

"Oh yes. I suppose your twins helped with that. How are they? I must say, if you looked like your daughter when you were 17, I could definitely see the appeal."

Rachel was glad that she was already sitting down when he said that. Because the last thing that she wanted for Amelia was for her to be desired in that way by men the age that Stuart was. Because she had been that way once. And she hated it.

"I don't plan to use your children against you." Stuart continued. "But I do wonder what they would think if they knew what their mother did at their age. Because they must be around 17, aren't they?"

"What do you want?" Rachel said.

The smile that Stuart gave her meant that he hoped that they were finally on the same wavelength. They weren't but Rachel wanted to make sure that he did want what she thought that he wanted.

"I want you to do everything you can to reinstate my bid." He said.

"I don't hold that type of influence."

"Oh, you do. They value your opinion. They value you. Why else would you be holding the position that you are now? They didn't have to rush you in, did they? Your deputy could be sitting there. But it is you that is sitting in that chair and it is you that runs this school. I do wonder what all your friends at the LEA would think of you once they find out about… your misspent youth."

Rachel wished that she wasn't but she was speechless at Stuart's words and behaviour. She didn't want to give in to him but she could only see how badly it could turn out. Because she had to remember, this wasn't Stuart's game that she was playing. She was playing Tess' and she knew that Tess knew how to play the game.

Rachel had decided that the only way that Stuart was going to leave was if Eddie said something. Of course, it was going to look like she asked Eddie to ask Stuart to leave as she pulled Eddie to one side but she couldn't deal with Stuart hanging around.

"Can't you just get rid of him?" Rachel hissed.

"I am trying to do it subtly so it doesn't seem like I am throwing him out of the school."

"Just throw him out. I don't want him here."

"He has really unnerved you, hasn't he? What has he said about the twins?"

"That he could see the appeal if I looked like Amelia when I was 17."

Eddie huffed and Rachel suspected that Stuart's comment had the same effect on him as it did on her. His jaw clenched in a way that Rachel had seen James' do so many times (more times that she would like to admit) and she knew that she had to say something to calm him down. Because the last thing she needed was for Eddie to get involved in her mess. He was, already, slightly involved due to the reason she owed Tess. But the longer he stayed out of it, the better. So she couldn't have him punching Stuart or something like that because he had become protective over Amelia.

"Eddie," She continued. "He said that Tess was good with faces and I suppose she was. But she saw you that night. How long will it take before she decides that she recognises yours? If they are going to drag me down, then I don't want you or the twins being dragged down as well."

"How are you going to do that?"

"By you not doing anything stupid."

"Rachel, he is coming over."

She gave Eddie a look to tell him that the conversation wasn't over and that they needed to seriously talk about this. Which is why she loved Eddie's response when Stuart talked about the mock interviews that Jasmine had mentioned and how he said that he could make them real. Because she couldn't help but agree with Eddie. The interviews would be a very bad idea.

"Rachel, you are going to have to tell them."

"I can't do that to them."

"And how are you going to hide how you are feeling?"

"That is why I am stressing to you now."

"Told you that she was stressing," James said.

Rachel stopped her pacing and turned to see James leaning against the door frame to her office, with his hands in his pockets, with Amelia rolling her eyes at him. It wasn't what she wanted. Because now she would have to explain what had been happening.

"What has he fucking done now?" James asked.

"Eddie hasn't done anything." Rachel said to try and diffuse that situation straight away. "I… mentioned about Tess. That she took my spot the night that I had with Eddie. Well, she is back and… she has called in her favour. The man that was here today. He knows Tess and." Rachel stopped. "He knows about me and you two and I don't mind if Tess wants to have out her revenge but she isn't taking you two down with me. She wants me to do everything that Stuart wants me to do and…"

"Mum, is he blackmailing you?"

"I suppose he is."

There was a part of Rachel that knew that Eddie was right and that the twins should have known from the moment that she saw Tess. That they would support her. So the shock on Amelia's face was better than the anger growing on James'.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," James shouted.

"James. Please."

"No. You can't tell me to calm down. Because if it wasn't for him and that stupid fucking night, you wouldn't be in this situation. I know that we would never have been born but everything that seems to happen leads back to that fucking night."

"James, that isn't fair."

"And Tess wouldn't be after you if she hadn't taken that beating for you because you chose him. Was he really worth it Mum?"

"Yes."

There was a glint in James' eye and she knew that he was off to do something stupid when he stormed off, pushing Amelia out of the way in the process.

"Shall I try and stop him from doing something stupid?" Amelia said.

"No, I'll go." Rachel said.

"Mum, you aren't going to be his favourite person at the moment."

"And I haven't seen him that angry for a while."

"And I'll deal with him. Talk some sense into him."

"Amelia…"

"It's fine, Mum."

Rachel found herself sighing as she let her daughter go and she found herself turning to Eddie, with him deep in thought. She knew that he must have been taking what James said to heart and he didn't deserve to do that.

"I'm so sorry." She said.

"He does have a point," Eddie said.

"No, he doesn't. I mean it. You were worth it. Because I wouldn't trade the twins for anything. Not for all the love and money in the world. If I could do it all over again, I would have still been a prostitute and I would still have had that night with you. No matter the misery it has caused me."

And she meant it. The worry and misery were worth it. She knew that it didn't feel that way at the moment but she knew that the dust would settle again and they could put this behind them and move on. Unless this was the thing that was going to break all of them.

"He is a very angry young man," Eddie said.

"James would argue that it isn't my fault, but it is."

"You said that last time. How is it your fault?"

Rachel found herself shaking her head. "One thing at a time."

"Why?"

"Because… I don't think that we are over it. Even if it did happen seven years ago."

"Robert?"

"I will tell you."

She wasn't convinced that she would. It was something that she wanted to tell him, just so that he understood James' resistance to him. But it did still hurt and it hurt Rachel a lot. Because it involved James when it didn't need to.

"I think we need to go and find them." She said.

"You need to include them, Rach. Just to stop Jamie from reacting like that again."

She nodded at him, knowing just how much sense he made by saying that.

"You know this isn't going to help."

James knew that. He wasn't stupid. But there was something that was helping about trashing Eddie's classroom until he realised that his mum would go ballistic at him. He just wanted all these bad things to stop happening to his mum. He wanted her to just be able to do her job and live out the rest of her life without her past coming back to ruin it all.

He looked at his handy work before he let out a growl and bashed the filing cabinet next to him with the side of his fist. He took a couple of breaths before he did it again.

"Well, that explains her weird mood," Amelia said.

He turned to his sister as she sat on Eddie's desk.

"Everything does come back to that fucking night." He said.

"Yes, it does. And every time you ask her about it, she tells us that she would never trade the night that she had with Dad for the world."

"Dad?!" He said as he spat the word. "You are actually going to call him Dad."

"Why not? That is what he is and nothing is going to change that. You need to calm down before you start causing Mum problems again. I know you want to protect her but you can't do that if you let your anger get the better of you."

James wished that he could glare at his sister for longer but she was making sense and he could feel his anger start to disappear as he looked around the room. No, this wasn't helping and he knew that his mum wouldn't be impressed when she saw. It was why he started to clean up because he knew that his mum would make him do it anyway.

"I suppose if I ask for help," James said as he looked up at Amelia as he picked up a couple of textbooks.

"You made the mess."

"Thought so."

"You are going to have to keep your cool if this Stuart person is going to be hanging around. Tess as well. They are trying to rile Mum and she is going to need us."

"I have worked that out."

"I get that you… It is someone else trying to take advantage of Mum. I get why you are angry. I am angry as well. But Jamie… you are 17 now. You have got to start growing up. When you were seven, you said that you were going to look after me and Mum. She needs looking after and she needs you to be sensible. You had more sense when you were seven."

"That was because I didn't know the way of the world when I was seven."

"You are a good man, Jamie. You are never going to be Robert. I know that. But the way you are acting now, you could be. And I know that isn't what you want to hear. But you are holding onto a lot of stuff that happened at that time and it is either going to make you that way or destroy you. You need to let it go. I love you because I know that you are kind and thoughtful and you try to be a gentleman because you know how not to treat a woman. So please… don't lose yourself to the anger."

James focused on organising the textbooks as he took in his sister's words. He knew that what she said was true. He was still holding onto everything that happened with Robert and with Eddie being confirmed as their dad, he knew that it had made it worse, with him constantly reminding himself how bad it went the last time he had a father figure (and how much he wanted his father to always be there). It was why he was glad that his mum never dated anyone after Robert and how he would play up in class with any male teacher that took a shine to his mum, to try and put them off.

He didn't want to see his mum heartbroken again and he didn't want that to happen again.

"What on earth?"

James had hoped that he would have had a little more time before his mum found out what he had done and he didn't know how to take the unimpressed look on Eddie's face as well. Now he hated his knee jerk reaction to what he had been told and there was no way that he could look up at Amelia. Because she would have a 'told you so' look and he hated when she was right.

"I am going to clean it up," James said.

"Too right you are. James…"

"I know." He said interrupting her. "I promise, Mum. I am not going to give you more trouble."

"Well you aren't showing that to me at the moment, are you?"

The disappointment in her voice made James swallow and look to the floor.

"Right, if you two can both act like adults," His mum said to him before she turned to Amelia, "Then we are going to include you in these decisions over what we are going to do. If Stuart wants to involve you two, then you deserve to know what is going on. If you can't act like adults, then you are going to be kept in the dark for the pure reason that I don't need any of you doing anything stupid. Okay?"

"Understood Mum," Amelia said.

"James?"

James sighed before he looked up at his mum. "Yes, Mum. On my best behaviour."

"Good. Now Eddie is going to come round tonight and we can talk about what has happened and how we all think we can deal with this. But this room needs to be exactly the way that it was. Got that James?"

"Yes, Mum."

"Don't worry Mum. I'll make sure it is." Amelia said.

James noted his mum mouthing a thank you to Amelia before she left with Eddie in tow. He had already started his tidy up again, starting with the paper that he threw everywhere.

"Sure I am still the favourite?" James said.

"Yeah. Just because you are a fucking idiot sometimes, doesn't stop you from being the favourite."

"You still aren't going to help me, are you?" He said, looking up at her.

"In your dreams, Jamie."

James shook his head before he went back to the task in hand and how he wished that he wasn't a fucking idiot sometimes. Because it would come back and bite him one day.