Thank you for the reviews.

Oh dear... we seem to be on the penultimate chapter... And I think we need to see how these results go...

The Big Day

It would have been mean of Amelia to suggest that James was the reason why they slowed down the closer they got to the school. She was just as nervous as he was and she didn't really blame both of them as they stopped just shy of the school gates.

"I think I'm going to throw up," James said.

"Look everything is going to be fine," Amelia said.

"Here the fucking optimist again."

She found herself laughing. "And as I've told you before. There is nothing wrong with a little optimism."

"I think I need all the optimism in the world."

"I promise you, James. You've done enough."

"And you've been spending too much time around Mum. I don't think you have called me James this much since we were young."

"Yeah, well… you seem more comfortable with it."

"I am but… I should never have become uncomfortable with it."

Amelia wrapped her hands around one of his arms to pull on it to get James moving. "Come on. You are just stalling now. The sooner we know, the better."

"I don't agree with you." He said, with Amelia now having her arm looped around his arm instead as they walked down towards the school.

"I think you and Mum would put things off forever if you could."

"Damn right I would. Especially this."

"And I did say that we could look on UCAS before we left."

"To see that I didn't meet my conditional offer? You are now joking me."

Amelia just shook her head as she let go of him as they entered the school, with Amelia very quickly finding where their parents were. And it seemed like her mum had taken a breath of relief, even if they still actually had to open the envelope yet.

With it being in alphabetical order, they both knew that they had to go to the same place, finding where the Ms were being handed out before they met with their parents.

"I don't actually think I can do this," James said.

"Whatever happens, we are proud of you both. Okay?" Her dad said.

Amelia knew that it hadn't really calmed her nerves, so it wouldn't have calmed James but as they peeled back the opening of the envelope, they reached in to grab the paper before they looked at each other.

"Count of three?" James said.

Amelia nodded before they counted to three together, pulling out the paper at the same time and opening it up to see their results. If anything, Amelia was just a little shocked to see her results.

"Well?" Her mum stuttered out.

"A in French. A* in Art and Maths." Amelia said, rather breathlessly as she was still in shock.

Amelia was sure that a smile grew on her face as her mum brought her into a one-arm hug, moving the paper so that she could see the result as well before a kiss landed itself on her cheek.

The moment was slightly gone as Amelia looked up at James to see his unreadable expression, knowing now that her heart was in her mouth because she was scared that her good result would now overshadow her brother's potentially bad result.

"I got a B in History," James said as he looked up at them. "I'm sorry but how the fuck did I get a B in History? They've got that wrong."

"See, I told you it would be all okay." Her mum said as she left Amelia's side to look at James' results.

Amelia managed to drown out their conversation as her dad came up to her side, taking a similar stance to how her mum just was but a kiss landed in her hair instead.

"I am so happy for you." Her dad said.

"I did it, Dad. I got an A* in Maths." She said, feeling herself getting rather emotional at that.

"Told you that you could do it."

"Maybe having my own personal Maths tutor helped."

"What are Dads for?"

Amelia pulled herself a little closer to him before her attention was drawn back to James and her mum.

"For Christ sakes, James. You did it. You did enough to get into Manchester Uni." Her mum said loudly.

It was like James hadn't realised that yet and he looked at his results again before a smile grew on his face. It was like their mum already knew what was going to happen, with James eloping her in a hug, picking her up slightly to spin her around in glee.

"I got in." He breathed.

"Well, you got AAB. That was all you said that you needed minimum." Her mum said.

To Amelia, it definitely felt like a weight off her chest. She had done more than enough to get into the University of Bath. And she could tell that James felt the same with his results.

Maybe the worrying had been for nothing. Yet Amelia knew that now the next chapter of their lives had been confirmed and in a month's time, they would be heading off to start that new chapter. And she knew that it would be the shortest and longest month of her life.

Eddie could just feel the groan build as he noticed who was at the table that he was sort of walking towards after using the bathroom. They had been out of a meal in celebration of the twins' results and had only dropped into the pub on the way home to carry it on, with them planning to stick Philip in a corner so that he didn't get thrown out for being underaged.

So the last thing that he needed was for his friends to be in the same pub and there was no escaping them as they started to bash against the table when they saw him.

"Lawson! Lawson! Lawson!" They shouted until he reached them.

"Haven't seen you around in a while," Steve said.

"Been busy. A school doesn't run itself." Eddie said.

"I thought you were just a deputy," Jack said.

"Yeah well…"

"Either your boss is working you too hard or you have a new woman," Dave said.

The thing with what Dave just said was that it was probably a mix of both things. With Rachel working him harder than he was used to as well as the fact that she was his 'new woman'.

"No," Steve said. "You don't have a new woman, do you? Is that why you haven't been up for the footie?"

"There is more to it than just Rachel," Eddie said before he realised that he probably shouldn't have used Rachel's name.

"Ooh, Rachel. Mate, you have checked, haven't you?"

Eddie rolled his eyes, mainly because the joke hadn't been funny in years (not that Eddie ever found it funny). If anything, there was a part of him that wanted to keep Rachel away from them. Although there was a chance that Rachel would remember them and them not remember her.

"You know that joke has never been funny," Eddie said.

"Still. You don't want to make the same mistake twice." Dave said.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

There was double meaning to that which Eddie was sure it went over their heads. Of course, it was going to. They didn't know that Rachel was Fenshaw and he would keep them from finding out if he could.

"Is she here then? Rachel?" Jack said.

The answer of 'no' would have been a good one and for him to leave it at that. He now felt like he could use Rachel as an excuse as to why they didn't meet up anymore. If anything, Eddie had wanted to drift from them for a while (maybe since that night and them constantly taking the piss).

But Eddie wasn't given that luxury as Jamie joined them, handing Eddie his beer. Although his friends were probably thick enough to not join the dots together.

"Here you go, Dad. We were wondering where you got to." Jamie said.

"Dad?!" Jack said. "Mate, are you missing Michael so much that you're playing dad to someone else's kids?"

Eddie was certain that Jamie would have said something if he didn't place his hand on Jamie's arm and slightly shook his head. Maybe it didn't help that his friends never understood what that night meant to him to understand how and why some 18-year-old would be calling him dad.

"Well, we all know why the divorce was messier than it should have been," Eddie said, maybe to try and get back at them.

"Hence why we ask you every time you enter a new relationship whether you've checked," Steve said.

"And I'm not missing Michael." Eddie turned to Jamie. "We've got him this weekend, haven't we, Jamie? And a whole weekend of activities planned."

Dave snorted. "Yeah right. Alison said that she was never going to speak to you again the last time you were outside her house, begging to see Michael."

"Well… things change."

"Not that. I don't quite think, like you, that she got over the prostitute."

"What prostitute?" Jamie said, overdramatically.

Eddie couldn't stop himself from chuckling at his friend's confused faces. Actually, he wanted to send them all a look of 'do you worst'. It was clear that they hadn't or weren't going to work it out themselves and Eddie was more than happy to keep them guessing.

"Ask him about his 21st," Jack said. "Because someone was so sure that he didn't want me to call him one that he, somehow, ended up with one. I think the worst part of it was, she didn't charge him. Now either she was a shit prostitute or he just wasn't up to par."

There was just enough of a change in Jamie's demeanour that meant that as Jack was talking, Jamie was becoming more defensive over Rachel. It was probably the reason why Jamie crossed his arms and huffed.

"Or maybe you are looking at things in the wrong way." Rachel said, slipping between Eddie and Jamie to be nestled into Eddie's side. "Maybe the prostitute was sick and tired of people that weren't up to par and only after one thing."

"Yeah, I'm going," Jamie said.

Eddie found himself smiling down at Rachel before he turned back to his friends. It was clear that none of them did recognise her. Which was probably a good thing. He didn't want them knowing if he could help it.

"Well, introduce us," Steve said.

It was a moment afterwards when Jack's face started to drop and Eddie could see that everything was starting to fall into place for him. From who Rachel was to the fact that he might not have been playing Dad to Jamie.

"Shit!" Jack exclaimed. "Fuck."

"What?" Dave said.

"It's fucking her. It's the fucking prostitute. He's fucking found her."

It was more satisfying than Eddie expected to see both Dave and Steve catch up to where Jack was and he was sure it was the reason behind him bringing Rachel into his side a little more.

"You are kidding me," Steve said.

"So, how about I set the record straight, boys?" Rachel said. "It was never going to charge Eddie for that night. More so after he gave me the one… well, I suppose, the two things that I cannot live without. He gave me a new start. A chance to better myself. A reason to better myself. As for not being up to par? I don't think I have had… such a giving sexual partner in my whole life. Someone who wants to give more than he takes. And I don't quite think that has anything to do with me or my past or anything to do with that. But, I can promise you this, if I had left with any of you three, you would have got a lot less than he did and you definitely would have had an unexpected bill, meaning that I would have been left with a lot less than Eddie left me with. You got that? There was a reason why I chose Eddie that night and it is one of my decisions that I have never regretted."

And Eddie knew that. It was probably the only thing that they had managed to agree on since they had been reunited. He obviously didn't know whether she was being truthful in the fact that she would have charged his friends (although she would have definitely got away with just tending to their needs) but part of him was glad that she had said something and allowed her to tell them what that night meant to her. He didn't quite think that it would stop all the teasing or that they would understand but at least Rachel had the chance to tell that night from her perspective.

"S-s-so Jamie? Calling you Dad?" Jack stuttered.

"Come on, boys. I don't think I have to spell it out for you, do I?" Eddie said.

"But… she said two things," Steve said.

"Yeah, I seem to have a knack of finding women who have a family history of twins." He turned to Rachel. "Talking about the twins, we are meant to be celebrating with them."

Eddie had definitely given her enough of a hint to get her moving and he couldn't help but laugh with Rachel as they walked to their table.

"I'm sorry but why are you friends with them?" Rachel said.

"It feels more like that I haven't been able to shake them off yet."

"Not that I can tell you who to be friends with."

"Yeah, well… maybe I have more of an excuse to be at home rather than out with friends. Maybe we can slowly get out of touch. Go from friends to acquaintances."

"Not if they are actually friends."

Eddie could stop himself from turning to her. "I think they are more like uni roommates that I thought were friends. Maybe I should have started to try and get rid of them when they kept using the best night of my life against me. When they would say that they wanted me to get with a girl to only destroy that relationship. Are they really any better than Melissa?"

"At least you have the privilege of not being related to them."

It was clear that Jamie had told Amelia and Philip what had happened and maybe Eddie was so glad that the twins were so for their relationship when Amelia asked whether Rachel told them what for, for Rachel to give a gracious reply.

But Eddie knew that he would always think over Rachel's words more than his friends would and, if he wasn't already, he was glad that she chose him that night. Maybe just because of the future he was sure that they were going to have together.