Thank you for the reviews.

Now, what is Eddie gift to Rachel? (And I'll put a picture of it up on Twitter over the weekend).

Do We Have To Go Home?

"Oh, Eddie. It's beautiful."

Eddie was sure his face lit up as Rachel said that, glad that his gut instinct was right. All he had to do now was get her wearing it but he knew that there was something that Rachel wanted to say before he would be allowed to do that.

"You…" She started.

"You say that I didn't have to and I'll take it back."

"But you didn't."

"So I am not allowed to shower my girlfriend with gifts?"

"Oh come on, Eddie."

"I bought it for you, Rachel. Because I saw it and thought it would suit you and that you would like it. I know you aren't used to a proper relationship but that is what people do in one. Now, will you just accept it and can I put it on you?"

He knew that he had got through to her, just by the way that she briefly looked up at him before she looked back down at the necklace. He knew that they would get to a point when Rachel would be able to accept something off him (and he knew exactly where the twins got their unwillingness to accept anything off them outside of Christmas and their birthday). It did help that he did love to shower ex-girlfriends with gifts and affection in that way. He hadn't yet with Rachel, mainly because he was certain that they would constantly be having the conversation that they had just had.

She handed the box back to him and Eddie smiled before he picked the silver chain out of the box, the stone hitting the light in a different way, making the colour of it more pronounced. And he was glad for the silver chain, making the necklace stand out on Rachel's tanned skin. He was sure once the tan had dulled down, the orange stone would become the main centrepiece but he was more than happy with his choice as he fasted the clip and allowed it to fall against her neck, with him not able to resist the temptation to press a kiss to her neck.

"You do know that you have given me the only gift you ever needed to give me." Rachel said as he retook his seat on the patio.

"Maybe. But I want to give you more than just the twins. You said that you wanted to do proper relationship stuff. So allow me to do that. Allow me to buy you jewellery and flowers and things like that because I want to and I know that you would like it. The twins should have really been a middle point, not the start."

"Then maybe we were always meant to do things in a weird fashion."

"I can take in a weird fashion."

"Do… Do you think that we would be here? If we didn't have that night?"

"Who knows? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we would be in Italy instead."

Eddie watched Rachel as her brow creased before the scoff fell from her lips. He just smiled as he knew that he was being stupid and Rachel had finally caught up to what he meant.

"I mean together, you dozy idiot." She said.

"I know. I mean, who knows what fate had in store for us."

"Eddie, there is no such thing as fate."

"Oh, I definitely believe that there is. We were meant to meet Rachel. It was just a case of how that was going to happen. I bet you, this is only one way. There are probably multiple different universes, all living out the different ways that we could have met."

That was met with an eye-roll from Rachel and Eddie half expected that to be her reaction to what he had just said but he did believe what he said. Because he was more than certain that they were meant to meet and they were meant to be together. Maybe he just never thought that it could be so hard to be where he always thought he should be.

If there was something that Rachel enjoyed most (even if she knew that it would seem a little creepy) was how she was always the first to wake up and she could just lie there, in Eddie's arms, watching or feeling, depending on how they were laying, his chest rise and fall. She usually hated snoring but there was just something about Eddie's that made her happily listen to them.

Maybe Eddie was right. Maybe they were just meant to be together.

It did mean that she knew the telltale signs that he was starting to wake up, from the way his breathing changed to how he would let go of her slightly before holding onto her tighter than he had done before.

That morning was no different, although he moved to be to his side, with his arm lazily lying on her waist before he shifted a bit to be closer to her.

"Morning." He said, his eyes flicking open for a moment, probably to make sure that she was awake.

"Morning." She said, softly.

"I suppose there is another day of activities."

"Last day of it though. I think the next couple of days will be slowly packing and spending more time just… chilling out."

"Can you chill out, Mason?"

She pushed on his shoulder. "Can you stress out, Lawson?"

He finally opened his eyes. "No, because you do it all for me."

"You are a ridiculous man."

"Am I now?"

As it was a situation where she was teasing him, it might have been more appropriate for her to push Eddie onto his back in an attempt to start something, but she grabbed onto his t-shirt, pulling him towards her as she moved onto her back. It wasn't like Eddie needed much persuading in that aspect, making sure that he was as comfortable above her as she was underneath his weight.

With his t-shirt still balled up in her hands, she pulled him closer so she could kiss him, with them both knowing that it was going to end up as more.

"Do we have to go home?" She whispered against his lips as they briefly parted.

She could feel his smile. Of course, things would be simpler if they never left Greece. Because there was this giant mess at home that Rachel had not thought about (other than sending Philip a daily text to make sure he was alright).

"Like you could give up Waterloo Road. And Philip. We would have to fly him out if we never went home."

"And maybe now I get what you mean. I don't want this to end. I don't want to go back to any problems that Melissa might create."

"Then we will just have to work on damage control. I meant what I said, Rachel. You aren't dealing with Melissa by yourself anymore. We are better together."

Rachel couldn't stop herself from restarting what she wanted to happen, knowing that Eddie had it spot on. They were better together.

"You okay, darling?" Rachel said as she rubbed a hand across James' shoulders as she noticed the look on his face as they waited in line to get drinks and something to eat for everyone.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." James said.

"You don't sound it."

She stood so that she could see his face. As much as James thought he had become a good liar, it was clear that the little boy who used to confess to her if he had done something wrong was still there. So if she gave it time, enough time to think over whether he should say something, then the majority of the time he would say something.

"What if I haven't done enough?" He said.

"How?"

"What if I don't get into Manchester Uni? We both know that I could have done better in my GCSEs. And don't you dare tell me that you were okay with my D in Maths. The worst of it is that I hear you all the time, telling Amelia that if she puts the work in then she can go to Bath Uni. And Bath Uni isn't even a Russell Group university. Me, on the other hand, might have got conditional offers from all my unis but what if I've made the wrong choices? Two Russell Group Universities based on distance from my parents and my sister."

Rache wanted to laugh. Not at James and his worries but just the way that his thoughts all came out. It was something that she was sure that he had got from her. Loads of unintelligent thoughts coming together in some strange way.

"James…"

"I couldn't remember a thing for my history exam. There was a topic that Mr Sandler said to revise and remember because he was certain it was going to come up. I couldn't remember a single thing about it and I just… bullshitted my way through the question. I had two bloody questions to pick from and I only had to answer one and I couldn't remember a thing. And I've been telling myself that it will be okay but I don't think it is going to be. A great start to my exam season."

"But English…"

"English went fine. So did Sociology. I just… there was just something about that History exam and… I need AAB minimum to get into Manchester uni. AAA to get into Bristol. Birmingham was also AAB. Liverpool was at least ABB. I don't want to have to but what if I have to go through Clearing. Manchester Met is only asking for BCC as a minimum."

Rachel waited for a moment, just to make sure that James had finished talking.

"James, why haven't you said anything?"

"Because I thought it was going to be okay. But the more I think about it, the more I think I… messed up. Results are in three weeks time. Amelia is going to open up hers to the grades that she needs to go to bloody stupid Bath and I am going to be standing there… wondering what the hell I am going to do."

"Okay, we will play out the worst-case scenario first. You open up your results to an A in English, a B in Sociology and a D in History."

"More like a freaking U." James muttered.

"Then is Clearing the end of the world. You might find that Manchester Uni haven't been able to fill all their spaces so will… accept you on a lower offer. And is Manchester Met really a bad option? James, when you start going for jobs, sometimes it isn't about the degree or what you studied or where you studied. Which is awful, I know. And I'm not going to say lie about it but no one has ever asked to see my graduation certificate. For my bachelor or masters."

"Still?"

"Still. It is going to be a wonderful surprise when you open up that envelope to see that you have done better than you thought you did and you will be heading to Manchester Uni anyway."

"I'm glad you are more optimistic."

"James, it will be fine. And if not, then there is another plan. You forget, I did four years of uni with both you and your sister to look after and I did it all on my own in my early 20s. Where there is a will, there is a way. Trust me on that. I could have given up but I didn't. I mean, part of it was that I told your dad that I wanted to be a teacher when he said that was why he was studying Maths at university."

"So the subtle way of trying to find him?"

"I could have bumped into him at any teacher training course thing."

"Or maybe… the universe was waiting for the right moment."

Rachel couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. "You've been spending too much time around your father. Don't tell me you also believe in fate."

"Why wouldn't I, with you and Dad as my examples?"

She found herself nudging him, wondering when she started to see so much of Eddie in James. She knew before she had noticed the protectiveness that both of them possessed but it was in the grin that James gave her that she could almost believe that she was looking up at the man that she just happened to meet on his 21st birthday. And maybe it was something that she was grateful that she could see.

And James asked her what she was staring at as he moved her along in the line and she couldn't help but just tell him what she had just thought, which made him laugh.

"Maybe that is what put a few people off me. I definitely didn't have as many offers once the news broke of who my father was."

Rachel did question it and wondered what was so wrong with Eddie that would make people go off James, which he just laughed off, with her not really getting an answer to her question.

As much as Rachel knew that they all didn't want to come home, there was a sense that they were all happy to be home. And as they left their suitcases in the car, with the idea that they could sort them out later, with it feeling rather cold now that they were back on British soil (with Eddie saying that the car was saying that it was 16 degrees), there was a sense that they all couldn't wait to be in the house that they called home.

And if Rachel didn't know that Philip had her key or that there was a high chance of him being at theirs when they got back anyway, she was sure that she would have been more surprised to see him standing in the kitchen (with it being a mess).

"Tah-dah," Philip said, gesturing the table. "I… I thought you might be hungry. Although, maybe I should have asked if you were going to get something when you got back to the airport."

Rachel found herself looking between Philip and the table of food a couple of times before the widest grin broke out on her face.

"We are starving. We were going to have something on the plane but someone misplaced his wallet." She said as Eddie joined them. "And then James didn't have enough change and Amelia had packed hers into her suitcase and mine was out of reach because they had moved my hand luggage down the plane to make room in the overhead compartments. Honestly, it was such a mess so this is very much appreciated."

Philip smiled and Rachel called down James and Amelia, who had gone to get changed into warmer comfier clothes. And as much as Rachel didn't really want to rub in the last two weeks in Philip's face, it was Philip who asked them loads of questions, from what they did every day to whether they tried any authentic greek food or alcohol, with James and Amelia admitting to trying Ouzo with Amelia liking it and James not.

"How has your summer been so far then?" Rachel asked.

"Been alright," Philip said. "Met up with Bolton and Paul a couple of times. I think it has just hit them how important their GCSEs are. I think they are a little worried about their results." He hesitated for a moment. "And umm… I've umm, fallen out with Mum. Been staying here for the past week or so."

"Over?" Rachel breathed. "Philip, please don't say that you've fallen out with your mum over me."

"She couldn't see the point of me staying at Waterloo Road to do my A levels. She couldn't understand what I wanted to go to university for. It then got onto you and you putting these weird ideas in my head. Auntie Rachel, don't go to her anytime soon. Leave it a couple of days. Please. Mainly because she is still annoyed at the whole holiday thing."

Rachel already knew that Eddie was going to look at her when Philip said that, with her knowing that she would be doing as her nephew asked as well as attempting to come up with a good enough reason to go around to her house. Maybe she should finally do what she had been meaning to do for a while and finish getting all her stuff out of there and back to Eddie's (or was it just theirs now). She also had a couple of Amelia's artworks yet to find.

But she knew that it was something to discuss with Eddie and to work out how they were going to do it together. So she told Philip that she would leave it a couple of days and reiterated that he was more than welcome with them, for Eddie to make a joke about the state of the kitchen which led Rachel to hit his arm.

Yet, it just felt oddly right for Philip to be sitting there with them and part of Rachel wondered whether she should say something to Eddie about cutting to the chase and just moving Philip in before Melissa did any more damage.