The next morning, it took Rachel a painfully long moment to realise where she was and why there was an arm around her. It had been a long while since she'd woken up next to someone else, and despite the fact that this wasn't the first time she'd done so with Eddie, it was still new enough that with the haze of sleep over her mind, a jolt ran through her before the events of the evening before came rushing back.

Thanks to that, she was now wide awake, despite the early hour. She rolled onto her back, the movement not even causing Eddie to stir. They'd had precious few occasions to wake up like this previously- Eddie at least had had parents who cared he where he was at night, and she'd had a younger sister she needed to be home to care for. Although she had vivid memories of the summer after her year eleven exams, where a group of them had all gone camping to celebrate the end of school. They had been in separate tents, both sharing with multiple other people but one evening had snuck down to the beach together and ended up falling asleep there, curled up with each other. Rachel had woken up the next morning to Eddie holding her in his arms and smiling at her, promising that as soon as they were in university and away from their families, they'd wake up like that every morning.

Now, he slumbered peacefully, and she'd lightly traced his jaw with the back of her finger before she'd even realised she'd lifted her arm. She was still in awe and slight disbelief that they were here, that he was here. She had never, in a million years dreamt that this could ever happen. And there was an ache in her chest, because they should have had this all along, could have had it if not for a jealous fourteen-year-old and an abusive father who had finally gone too far.

The ache grew, and she lifted her head to glance at the clock, smiled wickedly when she saw the time. More than enough, she thought, lifting herself to hover over Eddie and lowering her lips to his throat. She trailed her way down, and over his collarbone, back up to capture his mouth just as his eyes flew open, muscles tensing as sleep fled. She smirked as she drew back. "Good morning."

His voice was roughened thanks to sleep and just a little strained thanks to her. "Good morning indeed." She grinned at him, and he arched up to kiss her again. "Time?" he mumbled against her lips, hoping she wouldn't give him bad news.

"We'll have to be quick."

Without warning, he pulled her towards him and sat up, so that she ended up in his lap with her legs wrapped around him. He kissed her fiercely, pulled back to shoot her a grin. "I'll never turn down a challenge."

It was only a couple of hours later that Rachel was walking through school, struggling to keep a satisfied smile from playing across her lips. There was something exquisite and thrilling about being with someone when emotions were involved as well, a sort of added layer to everything that she remembered from her teen years with Eddie and had assumed was down to first loves and teenaged romance. She was delighted to find the assumption wrong, even if it meant she was struggling to hide her expression as she entered the staff room to pin some notices on the board, calling out an absent greeting to the few staff sitting in there.

When her phone rang, she answered without looking, balancing it on her shoulder as she pushed a pin in. "Hello?"

"Hi Rach…"

Just the sound of her sister's voice had a wave of pain running through her. "What do you want?"

"You're still upset." Melissa didn't sound surprised, just resigned and irritation flicked through her.

"Of course I'm still upset! Did you think I wouldn't be?"

Melissa was silent for a moment. "I suppose not. I just… hoped."

Rachel ground her teeth together, took a deep breath. "Melissa, I love you, but I can't just get over this. It's just not possible, I need time. Now I'm busy, so unless there was something else…?"

"No. I'll… bye Rach."

Rachel hung up without a ward, held her phone in her hand as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. And suddenly, became very aware that the room behind her had fallen silent. Frantically, she replayed the conversation, confirmed she hadn't said anything incriminating. The narrow escape had her legs feeling like jelly and her fingers shaking, and so without looking around she strode out, straight to her office and closed to door firmly behind her.

Only she didn't get time to rest for long, and she found herself soon aching for the seemingly simple distraction of an argument with Melissa when she was presented with immigration and a battle to keep Sameen in her school. Eddie found her in the car park and she welcomed his warm smile as he walked towards her. His eyes were asking her if everything okay, words not needed between them as she shrugged. She longed to fall into his arms, to collapse against him and transport herself back to only this morning when she was counting her lucky stars and thanking all she felt the need to that she was able to wake up next to him. "I need you to call a staff meeting, all the heads of department." She listed off, going through the mental checklist of what she needed to do in order to help Sameen. She'd never dealt with anything like this before, but had a feeling she'd be an expert come the end of the day.

"Okay. What's it about?" He didn't even falter, simply wanted to know the required details in order to rally the troops. If Rachel needed his help, he'd give it to her no matter what.

"Waterloo Road vs Her Majesties Government."

And just like that, her explanation was accepted. It must be serious, Eddie could already see her face begin to fall and loose the spark that she had woken up with only this morning. "Right, well. Another fun day at Waterloo Road." He agreed, with hopes that proving his support would lift her spirits for even a second. As they walked back into the school building, he nudged his side against hers gently. "If you're lucky, I might buy you a drink later."

She knew what he was doing, knew he was trying to relive her from some of the stress she could already feel building behind her eyes. It was more appreciated than she would ever be able to put into words. So she simply smiled at him as she went to climb the stairs, turning to face him before they went their separate ways. "If you're lucky Mr Lawson, I might just buy you one right back."

Eddie walked into her office later, watched her with her eyes fixed on the phone as she waited for a call. She truly cared, this instance proved just how much she deserved to be at the head of this school.

"Where are you going?" She asked as she finally tore her eyes away from the phone after hearing him enter. She knew it was him by the sound of his footsteps, which she supposed would be a weird thing to repeat to anyone else. But even his presence made her slightly calmer, and she appreciated the support he had already given her regarding Sameen. She'd caught his coat and cocked her head in question, not knowing any offsite meetings were planned for that day.

Eddie looked sheepish, like a rabbit caught in headlights even though he never had any intentions of hiding his plans from Rachel. "I've been thinking..."

"That's never good." She quipped quickly, smirking at him as he rounded the desk to stand in front of her. It would be so easy to just lean in and... no. She couldn't have those thoughts, not here.

Eddie noticed her eyes darken as he got closer to her, and couldn't help himself from looking between her lips and her eyes. Only that was a dangerous path, and he really did have a plan before getting completely lost and thrown off track through being around her. "Ha ha, you're funny. Hear me out first."

"Again, I'm scared."

He rolled his eyes then, aware that the clock was ticking for both of them and he'd have to leave soon if he could put his plan into place. He at least wanted her to know what he was doing, before she found out through someone else. "Rachel, I'm being serious."

"Okay, okay. I'm listening." She held her hands up in surrender, still trying to work out if this was all part of some grand scheme of his to keep her distracted whilst she waited for another phone call.

"I'm going to go and see Stuart-"

At that, she knew he wasn't stalling. He was deadly serious. "Eddie!"

"You said you were listening!"

"Okay, I'm sorry..."

"Look, you're busy here." He took a stand of her hair and started twirling it around his finger softly, aware that it was an intimate act that they probably wouldn't get carried away with. At least, he hoped not. "You deal with this, let me deal with Hordley. Nothing dramatic, I'm just going to ruffle his feathers." He promised, knowing that she was worried already. He could tell from her face that she didn't want him to go, but he needed to try something at least. She needed her head to entirely be about the school, wanted her to achieve her dreams and prove everyone wrong that she needed to without the extra pressure of being blackmailed by a businessman. He could see she was about to argue, but was saved by the phone ringing. He quickly pressed a kiss to her forehead and swiftly walked back out of the office before she had a chance to call after him or stop him from going along with his plan, and he headed towards his car with a determined spring to his step.