In the wake of Eddie's conversation with Melissa, the staff he'd forgotten were sat there all remained in silence for a long minute. "Well," Steph said eventually. "Today was a shitshow."

A round of snorts and snickers went around. Matt scrubbed a hand through his hair. "I don't think anyone saw that coming."

Mika, Chlo and Donte sat quietly, too afraid they'd stop talking if they remembered the three were there, but all listening intently. "What's going to happen now?" Jasmine questioned. "Do you think Eddie's right? Can Rachel's job be saved?"

"Do we want it to be?"

"Faye!" Matt frowned at the science teacher. "You don't mean that."

She shrugged. "Do we really want an ex-prostitute in charge?"

Jasmine scowled at her. "Why not? She's a good headteacher, and everyone knows how much she adores the kids. Her past was twenty years ago."

"It still happened."

"So we can judge you by what you did when you were a kid?"

"It might be a moot point," Steph interrupted them before they could get into it. "Rachel's not wrong about the reaction this is going to get. She may not have a choice about leaving."

"Then let's help her!" Mika flushed as all eyes fell on her at her outburst, but she raised her chin up defiantly. "You heard what Mr Lawson said, he's going to fight for her job. Let's fight with him."

"You're not even a student anymore," Steph pointed out, a bit rudely.

"But we are," Chlo said quickly. "And it won't be just us either. Miss Mason's Bolton's favourite teacher, and she's done a lot for other people too.."

Donte nodded in agreement. "And you lot are staff, it'd mean even more coming from you."

The adults all exchanged a look, Jasmine determined, Matt uncertain. Steph swore under her breath. "I can't believe we're doing this."

When someone finally answered the buzzer and let Eddie into the children's area, Rachel had lost a child. He assumed the social worker had finally turned up, and she was quietly talking to Tanvi while Daisy's head was against her shoulder, the girl fast asleep. She smiled at him as he approached. "Hi."

"Hi. I was coming to drag you home finally. What are my chances?"

Her gaze softened. "Pretty good, actually. Daisy's mother is on her way, and Tanvi has permission to stay at a friend's house. I said we'd drop her off on the way home."

The girl gave him a tentative smile, which he returned as he sat on a seat opposite them. "Everyone else is off home. Apart from Tom's lot, they're waiting for him."

"Chlo and Donte were holding hands earlier."

He grinned. "I have no idea what happened, but I suspect Tom will have three teenagers to parent this summer instead of two."

"Good for them," she murmured, glad that at least something good had come out of the day. Judging by Eddie's glance, he knew exactly what she was thinking.

It was still a few hours before Eddie could actually drag Rachel away, with her wanting to make sure each and every child was safely cared for by their guardians. He only watched on with pride as she explained the events of the day and consoled parents and carers who happened to turn up late for their own reasons. He was grateful that the news of the fire seemed to have outweighed her past being outed by Stuart, and that she hadn't faced any opposition from students or parents who she'd come into contact with. As soon as the last one had been collected, she practically fell against him, Tanvi fast asleep and unseeing, Rachel's entire body sagging as the exhaustion finally run out. He figured she'd been running on empty for the last two hours at least, no matter how many snacks Eddie purchased from the vending machine.

"Almost there," Eddie whispered against her hair, and she pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.

"Let's get Tanvi home. And go home ourselves."

For once, Rachel threw professionalism to the wind and despite the presence of a student, wrapped an arm around Eddie's waist as they walked out to a waiting taxi, necessary as they'd jumped in an ambulance and forgotten their car at the school. Not that either of them gave that much thought, they simply wanted to get to bed and sleep the day away. Tomorrow held new challenges for them both, and Eddie was sure that it was tomorrow that Rachel would really start to worry about what had happened before the fire. For now, they dropped Tanvi off before he made sure to get Rachel home safely, letting out a laugh as she sighed as soon as she stepped foot in the door. Pongo was immediately at their feet, and Eddie let him out and watched over him whilst feeding Rachel's cat. The poor thing still hadn't warmed to him, but Rachel headed straight for the living room so he took on the task. His own dog had no such qualms and ran straight past him to get to Rachel as soon as being allowed inside, so Eddie made them both a hot drink before following Rachel's footsteps to the living room. In there, he found her curled up and smiled to himself as he set the mugs down. Until he heard her sobs and his mood changed drastically. He figured she'd simply been giving Pongo a fuss, but she'd been crying into his fur and the Dalmatian was simply allowing her to do so. "Rach?" He approached slowly, receiving a look from the dog that almost looked protective. He found himself in a stare off with his brown eyes whilst waiting for an answer, before moving the dog and apologising as he slipped in between them to get to Rachel. He held her for a moment and stroked his hands through her hair, giving her time to speak to him if she needed to.

His patience was rewarded when her sobs subsided, and she tentatively lifted her head to look at him with red-rimmed eyes. "What's going to happen?"

"What do you mean?" He figured this was all of her emotions from the day finally catching up to her. From Stuart's revolution to watching his body being dragged from the fire, they'd both been so focused on the kids and making sure each other was safe that they had a lot they still needed to deal with.

"To me, to my job. To us."

"I don't know sweetheart. I can't answer that, I suppose we'll hear more when they've had some meetings." He had no intentions of telling her his plans just yet, didn't want to worry her further or cause her more stress by revealing that he'd already been texting staff to see who was on board. He hadn't received replies from some, but that was expected. Grantly never had been Rachel's number one supporter, so he didn't expect him to be the first one signing up for her to keep her job. He caught sight of her worried face and took her face in his hands, planting a soft kiss to her lips as reassurances. "As for us, nothing changes. God Rach, knowing you were in that building? I was scared to death. I wanted you safe, I wanted you all safe. No matter the outcome, if you can never teach again and we both have to get jobs at a cafe, I won't care-"

"You don't mean-"

"I mean every word." He stopped her interruptions with a shake of his head. "I don't care about money, or a nice car, or the best designer pushchair. As long as you, Michael and the babies are safe, I'm going to be the happiest man on the planet for the rest of my life."

She closed her eyes and leant her forehead against his, her very bones aching in tiredness. "I wish I could see things as simply as you."

"It is simple. You and me- it doesn't matter what happens, we'll deal with it. Simple as."

She smiled at him, eyes still red-rimmed, her arm sliding around to anchor herself against him. "I love you."

He would never tire of hearing her say that to him. "I love you too." He shifted to pull her against him, tucking her into his side and resting his cheek on her head.

"You know, I really thought we'd done it," she murmured. "Made it to the end of term, managed to navigate this. We were so close."

Eddie was so tempted to tell her what he was planning, to try and spark some hope within her. But if it failed… if he failed, it would then be so much worse. He bit his tongue, swallowed back the words. "Don't give up, Rach. You might not lose your job."

She scoffed, raising her head to look at him. "Come on, get real. Between my past, a massive plagiarism scandal and the school exploding? It wouldn't surprise me if they've already done the paperwork."

He tightened his grip around her, wondering out true that was. For all the issues keeping her on would cause, would getting rid of her after less than a year cause more? Especially when the kids adored her so? His jaw was clenched, fingers drawing absent circles against her arm as he realised he had no way of gauging anything until he spoke to the governors and the LEA. There were simply too many variables to consider.

"We need to eat something," he ventured finally, aware that she was well on her way to falling asleep on his shoulder.

She pulled a face. "Food is the last thing I want."

"I'm sure the babies might disagree."

She hated when he talked sense. "I think there are leftovers in the fridge still," she sighed. "I'll make a salad on the side."

He pulled her to her feet, not because she needed the help but because it made her grin, lightening up the disheartened expression on her face for a moment. Pongo followed them eagerly, hoping for scraps and Eddie loved how domestic this was as he pulled the plate from the fridge. As much as he couldn't wait for the babies to be ready to enter the world, he was glad they'd had this time with just the two of them, even if it was only for a little while.

He only hoped it didn't all come crashing down too soon.