(A/N): I actually have a new fic! I know, crazy right? Okay, so I was wondering what would happen if the staff had cottoned on to Rachel and Eddie at the beginning of series 4, just after Rachel turned Eddie down outside the pub, and taken matters into their own hands, namely locking them in a room together. So, I've written it. Well, I've written about half of it so far, I think. Melissa is not a member of staff in this fic, which is one less issue for Reddie to deal with. Obviously, I am a sucker for a Reddie fic, so there will most likely be a happily ever after like usual. Rated T for themes that have all been mentioned in the show, and I think maybe a little language, but I really can't remember now. I do not own Waterloo Road or any of the characters or storylines, etc etc. All mistakes are my own. As always, read, enjoy and let me know what you think.

Trapped Together

Chapter 1

"Eddie?" Rachel stepped into the maths cupboard, where she'd been told by Tom and Davina that the deputy head had been having a small crisis and they thought she was best to handle that. Not that he'd want her there, she mused sadly as she entered the cupboard, which was more like a small room, cautiously. Eddie had been giving her the cold shoulder for a week now, since the start of term and her desperate attempt at pushing him away outside the pub. It had worked, a little too well, with the deputy hardly able to bring himself to stay in the same room as her when there were other people there, let alone speak to her. She hated what she'd done, what she'd let happen through her fears, but she couldn't go back and change things. The past was the past, and sparing Eddie Lawson's feelings wasn't all that high up on her list if she had the ability to change the past. It didn't mean she didn't care for him, didn't like him in a romantic way, she was self aware enough to admit that. But he could do better, and sooner rather than later he would meet someone young and uncomplicated, someone without enough baggage to sink a ship or a propensity for running from their feelings as fast and far as they could. If her sister was there, Rachel would place a bet on Eddie getting with her, choosing the fun, upbeat sister over the worrier, the fearful one. Thankfully though, her sister was not there, had never met Eddie, and selfishly, Rachel never planned on letting the two meet. Last she'd heard, her sister and her nephew were both down near London somewhere anyway. "Eddie?" She called again, her voice soft with worry. Frowning at the lack of an answer, she turned to leave the room, only to blink in shock as none other than Eddie himself was pushed into the storeroom by a blur that seemed suspiciously like Steph. Before either could react, the door was slammed shut, the unmistakable sound of the lock being turned enough to have both senior teachers make a dash for the door, only to find it was indeed locked.

Rachel hit her palm off the solid wooden door as Eddie muttered a few choice words at whoever was responsible for locking them in there, which seemed to be a conspiracy involving at least three of the staff members. Rachel sighed. They were probably all in on it. It wasn't like they'd done a good job at hiding their newfound issues, after all. Eddie walking round like a bear with a sore head because of her was nothing new, but she knew her jumpy, downcast reaction to it had probably been what had made the staff put two and two together. What number they'd made from that sum was yet to be seen though. Whatever conclusion they'd come to had clearly made the staff plot to confine them both in the tiny room together, to work out whatever differences they had. Like it was that easy.

Rachel glanced round the tiny storeroom wearily, her eyes alighting on an envelope propped on top of some year 9 maths textbooks. Addressed to her and Eddie. She reached out and took hold of the envelope, sliding a finger under the flap to break the seal and fishing out a single sheet of paper within. The handwriting looked suspiciously like Steph's, as did the writing style when she read the letter urgently.

Rachel and Eddie (though probably Rachel first),

Yes, you've both been locked in the maths store cupboard. No, we won't tell you who's done it. You'll both be let out at half past three once most of the kids have left, to avoid any gossip as far as those eagle eyed teenagers go at least. But really, you both need to talk to each other.

It's been clear since the beginning that you two were either going to kill each other or rip the other's clothes off in a fit of passion. Yes, yes, we know you're both far too professional to do any of that in school time but you can't deny it's there. So why must you both insist on making yourselves miserable by denying happiness? Daft sods.

Rachel: you're scared, that's understandable. You've come back slightly different, more reserved, quieter. Where the hell is the teacher that could take on kids over a head taller than her without a care in the world? You need to face the reality that Eddie might not hurt you the way you're convinced he will. You could be happy together. At the very least, figure out if he's a good kisser or not.

Eddie: what's with the attitude, eh? Tone it down a bit, mister. You're not dealing with the same woman who'd dish it straight back last year. Surely you've noticed that your moods are only making her withdraw from you more and more? Try and understand her side, then maybe you'll have your chance at making the woman happy, and maybe you'll find a little happiness yourself whilst you're at it.

So, both of you now know, and yes, we manipulated you Rachel, into thinking Eddie needed you, and Eddie, yes, we stole your textbooks to get you in the room too. So for god's sake, talk to each other. A bit of kissing and making up wouldn't hurt either.

From people who are waiting for the payday on you two getting your acts together.

You're welcome.

Rachel felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment as she read the letter, still convinced the cheeky, slightly disrespectful tone meant the note was primarily from the French teacher. Great, even the other teachers had noticed her reserved, jumpy behaviour, just what she needed. They weren't even that far from the truth, though there were obviously other things they couldn't possibly guess at behind her behaviour. She glanced up, cheeks reddening further as she finally noticed Eddie watching her with an indecipherable expression. "Uh, this basically says we're locked in here until half past three so we can talk." She folded the piece of paper and returned it to the envelope, ignoring what else the letter had mentioned. If she had her way, Eddie would not be reading the letter either. It was bad enough that she'd read it; she didn't need Eddie reading the amateur analysis of her behaviour as well.

"Talk about what?" Eddie grouched. Rachel couldn't help the slight sinking feeling in her chest as she noticed he couldn't even bring himself to look at her properly, interspersing moments of glancing at her with staring at random things in the storeroom nowhere near her. Had she truly ruined things between them so much? She feared she had, even as she tried desperately to convince herself that it was for the best, that he'd move on to someone much better than she was, have the happiness she knew he deserved.

She cleared her throat uneasily, finding it just as difficult to look at him as it was for him to look at her. This was going well so far wasn't it? "Everything, nothing, I don't know. The letter just said we needed to talk, that the staff had noticed we were different." She felt her cheeks heat up a bit at her words, even the mention of what had happened the night of the first day back enough to make her flush in a mixture of self-deprecation and guilt. Not to mention the embarrassment of everyone knowing things about her personal life again. When would the gossip mill surrounding her give it a rest? She glanced at her watch. One o'clock. They had two and a half hours left. Great, just great.

…

Over the next half hour, neither had spoken, though they'd moved round the tiny room until Rachel sat on the floor, her back against the door, Eddie opposite her with his back against some of the shelving in the cupboard. Their legs were out in front of them, the overlap to each other's knees a testament to just how small the room was. Eddie still wasn't really looking at her, the most she'd gotten was him staring at her knees, just visible between her straight skirt and knee high boots with a moderate heel, for about two minutes, though she couldn't rule out him actually staring at his feet instead. She'd tried looking him in the face, attempting to catch his eye on occasion as well, but all to no avail. It really, truly did seem that she'd completely ruined the one relationship she'd had that involved someone she trusted, beyond any type of repair. Her face visibly fell with the realisation, curling in on herself instinctively as the pain settled into her heart. She was utterly alone now, no one to talk to, to turn to, and she had no one to blame but herself. But then, didn't this just prove her right when she believed no one would stick around through her mess of a personal life? Even Eddie had seen sense, hence his behaviour towards her now. It hurt, it hurt like hell, but she didn't blame him. She was complicated at the best of times, she knew, and that was before the fire had destroyed most of her self-confidence and self-esteem. She didn't expect anyone to be able to deal with that, except herself, and that was only because she had no choice in the matter.

"Rachel?"

She blinked in surprise at the sound of his voice, a tone that didn't seem quite as cold as usual, her eyes shooting up from her lap to dart to his face fleetingly. "Yes, Eddie?" She asked quietly, defeat colouring her words unintentionally. Somewhere inside, she desperately wanted to hear her shortened name tumble from his lips like it had so many times the year before, and on their first day back. He hadn't called her Rach since that disastrous first day back in the school year and, despite not wanting to, she missed it. She missed him, her heart of gold deputy head.

"I… what did that letter say?" She didn't miss the slight softening of his voice before he changed whatever he was originally going to say, his question coming out much cooler in tone and not helping one bit, not that he was to know that. She also really didn't want to hand over the letter to him, didn't want to let him see just how much insight there was in that sheet of paper, on both of them. It was bad enough that it'd been written in the first place, let alone that she'd read it. He didn't need to read it too.

"That we need to talk." She reiterated tiredly, not bothering to grab the letter that she'd left on a shelf about shoulder height beside her.

"You were reading it too long for that to be all it said." His tone was accusatorial and Rachel winced automatically in response, curling up slightly more in self-defence, despite her rational brain knowing that physically, Eddie would never ever hurt her. Still, it was an automatic defence mechanism from times long past, when such tones wouldn't stop at words alone.

"I'm pretty sure Steph wrote it, so there were a few less than professional insinuations to read as well, okay?" Rachel shook her head even as her cheeks turned a dusky pink. Why was he so hung up on what the letter said? She wasn't lying to him; the letter did state more than once that they had to talk. She blinked in surprise as she finally realised she'd brought her knees up towards her chest, arms round her legs protectively. Thankfully, her skirt was a rather tight, stretchy material, so moved with her legs as she'd brought them up and she wouldn't have accidentally shown Eddie her underwear. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax and bring her legs back to lie against the cold floor beside Eddie's legs.

"Why don't you want me to read it?" Eddie tried again, his voice only slightly less harsh with the woman sat opposite him. Without warning, he reached forward, resting on his knees as he attempted to reach past her for the letter. Instinctively, Rachel also moved to try and keep the letter from him, reaching out a hand to slam on top of the paper to stop him from picking it up. Eddie's hand landed on top of hers, just a second too slow, but the action made them both pause in their tracks, eyes locked on where their skin touched.

Rachel felt her breath hitch as his hand rested atop hers, the touch sending a jolt of awareness, of electricity through her. Turning wide eyes to her deputy, she found him also staring at their hands, with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. "Eddie?" She cleared her throat, for her call of his name had sounded far too much like an invitation for her liking, well, the liking of the part of her that was still scared stiff of her feelings. The other part of her, the part that had accepted that she was falling hard for her deputy, was probably the reason her voice had sounded so soft, so inviting.

Eddie's eyes shot to hers, looking her in the face for the first time since they'd been locked in the cupboard together, his pupils wide and dilated. He shifted slightly, one hand almost reaching to rest on the side of her neck in a move reminiscent of that night at the pub, only for him to pause, his hand barely a centimetre from her jaw. He visibly swallowed before letting his hand drop back to his side, tearing his eyes away from hers as well to look back at the letter. Rachel's hand had slackened on the paper, not by a lot, but just enough for him to slide the letter out from under her palm and move back with the prize to his original seat against the shelving opposite the door.

"No, Eddie, don't-" Rachel cut herself off, knowing it was too late when he'd opened it. There was no way to stop him from reading it, no way to hide what the staff had deduced about them from him. Her brain scrambled to find a way to do some damage control, to convince him the staff had it wrong, at least where she was concerned anyway. She watched his face carefully, but he was giving nothing away as his eyes moved across the page, the only indication he was actually reading it.

Finally, he glanced up, waving the letter slightly in her direction, and Rachel felt her heart sink at the incredulity written over his features. "You would have hidden this from me the entire time we were stuck in here, wouldn't you?" He apparently didn't require an answer, though it was probably obvious in her expression somehow. "God, Rachel, didn't you think I deserved to know what the staff were thinking about us?" His tone was angry, but the headmistress couldn't find it in herself to shout back, to defend her actions. He was right to be angry with her, she wasn't going to fight him on that. Eddie seemed to realise it too, for he glanced back at the letter for a second before visibly deflating. "You should've told me."

TBC