Over two weeks since she'd left Eddie, Rachel was sat in that little café she'd come to favour when she received a relatively polite email asking her to come for a meeting with the builders to discuss the ongoing renovations. She'd been putting it off, but apparently, the governors had lost patience. Understandably, she thought, mouth suddenly dry. It should have been long enough, she hoped, two weeks was more than enough time for Eddie to have given up on her returning home anytime soon, he shouldn't be waiting for her.

The question, she supposed, as she typed out an acknowledgement and sent it, was would she be handing her resignation in at that same meeting?

Three days later, she was home and unpacked and still hadn't made a decision. She'd typed the letter out, deleted it, typed it out again but had yet to sign her name under it. She didn't want to leave the school, leave the kids. She had plans, the job she'd been hired to do was only half finished and the idea of walking away didn't sit well with her.

But the alternative was working with Eddie every day. And the thought of that filled her with dread, guilt and grief equal counterparts as they swirled in her chest and had nausea rising in her throat. He would be so very angry with her, working together would be nigh on impossible. Perhaps it would be better to leave now, allow a new management to be put in place before the new term started. But that felt so much like running away, and she'd done that before. It hadn't ended well.

Rachel covered her face with her hands, collapsing onto her sofa. How was she supposed to decide? It was an impossible decision, she lost either way.

The clock chimed softly, reminding her that she had a meeting to get to and without her permission, her eyes drifted over to the stark white letter sat on the table, waiting for her to decide what to do with it. To sign it, or not.

She had no idea what to do.

She felt like all of her awareness was centred on that letter. She'd slipped it into her bag, hoping something would occur to her on the drive to the school that would help her decide but when she arrived, not the last, she was pleased to note, she still hadn't decided. There was more than one person standing around as she climbed from the car, and one broke off to approach her.

"Rhea." She smiled at the woman who came to greet her, hard hat in hand.

"Rachel. Waterloo Road everything you were expecting?"

She was smirking, laughter dancing in her eyes and Rachel had to grit her teeth, plaster her smile on and hope it didn't look too insincere as she made a glib comment back, thinking of the letter in her bag. Handing that over would certainly stop the smirk.

Five minutes later she had her own hard hat in hand, and was doing her best to calm down the head of the governors who was apparently in the police, and rather irritated that someone had died on school property. An odd reaction, Rachel thought, but what did she know?

"Sorry I'm late. They've put temporary traffic lights in again, it's causing chaos."

Rachel stopped breathing. Someone had their hands around her lungs, squeezing tightly, her heart stopping entirely and beating too fast all at the same time. How had she not known? How could she not have realised? Of course they'd invited him. The senior management team of the school, small as it may be, would all need to be involved.

Eddie was metres away from her for the first time in weeks, and it made her want to scream. Her back had been to him when he walked up, and she couldn't bring herself to turn around, to face him. She heard Rhea greet him, heard the murmur of conversation but she remained rooted to the spot, and suddenly her bag was burning against her leg, the letter inside starkly visible on top. She stared at it, torn for a moment. She could pull it out, hand it to Rhea, walk away. That would be the end of it, she could leave, she wouldn't have to even look at him if she timed it correctly. She reached out, fingertips brushing the edges of the envelope-

"Rachel? Are you ready?" Rhea was looking at her expectantly, appearing at her side.

"Of course." Her hand slipped out of her bag, empty, and even as it did so she could feel the heat of Eddie's gaze on her back, knew without a doubt that his eyes would be boring into her if she turned.

She swallowed harshly, put her hat on and fell into step with the group as they entered the school, ignoring the whispering voice in her head that called her a coward.

It was when they entered, pausing to trickle through the door one by one that she became acutely aware of him once again. Standing right behind her, so close that she fancied she could feel the heat from his body and her breath hitched in her throat, heart aching.

"So you are alive. I was beginning to wonder." Eddie's voice was quiet, enough that no one else would have heard his words but it was harsh, low and biting and spiteful in a way that had Rachel physically flinching, her eyes closing as if trying to block it out.

"Eddie…" His name is barely audible, she breaths it out in syllables coloured with grief and guilt. But it's no matter. Because he's already pushing past her and she catches barely a glimpse of the cold rage in his expression, but it's enough for her to feel as if she'd been plunged into ice. Absently, in the back of her mind, she wonders if she'll ever be warm again.

Rachel barely hears the builders as they talk of structural integrity and smoke damage. She's too busy trying to breathe. She'd had no idea that being in the school would have such an effect on her, that just stepping inside would have her lungs feeling as if they were filling with smoke once more. She shuddered, wished she'd had the foresight to bring a bottle of water with her.

"What do you think, Rachel? Same colour scheme as before?"

Rachel was already flinching away from the hand that had landed on her back, adrenaline spiking through her before she could help it. She couldn't remember the name of the governor who was now looking at her oddly- she knew it, she knew that she did. She just… couldn't recall it. She inhaled a shaky breath, managed to smile. "You startled me. I was miles away."

"Anywhere nice?" Came the joke and she laughed weakly, wishing she'd thought of an excuse not to come today. She murmured an absent reply, turned to face the builder as he spoke of plasterboard and paint fumes and so never noticed the way Eddie's brow had furrowed, his gaze fixed on her.

Rachel was so busy concentrating on breathing steadily as the group carried on walking, that she didn't realise where they were going until they were already there, stepping out into the sunshine and shadows. "The majority of the damage was focused out here," someone was saying, but she barely heard them. She was frozen in place, staring in horror at the place that had haunted her nightmares for weeks. All of a sudden, she was there again. On the last day of term, helpless as Stuart pinned her against the wall. Unable to move, unable to stop him. She could feel his hands on her body, his breath on her neck.

"Rachel!"

The hissed whisper barely penetrated her consciousness. Stuart had her wrists pinned, and she couldn't move, her heart pounding in her ears as she sucked air into her lungs, over and over again but she still couldn't fill them properly, still couldn't release that band that seemed secured around her chest.

"Rachel! You need to calm down. Breathe slowly."

Eddie. Eddie was there, in front of her, voice harsh but worry settling into deep lines on his face. He had hold of her elbows, she realised, grounding her and without her permission her hands settled onto his forearms, holding tightly. To her shame, her voice came out in a gasping whimper. "Can't."

The lines only deepened. "Yes, you can." He glanced over his shoulder, and vaguely she remembered that they weren't alone, but thankfully, no one was paying them any attention. "You can, Amy. Breathe with me, you can do it." He slid his hand up to grab hers, to bring it to his chest and she didn't even realise when her fingers curled into the material of his shirt, desperately trying to do as he asked even as her lungs screamed at her. He was murmuring to her, nonsense affirmations that didn't help in themselves but the sound of his voice did, painfully familiar and comforting and it was that that she concentrated on, forcing herself to breathe slowly and listen to the quiet cadence of his voice.

"Good job, Rach," he murmured, his thumb smoothing over the back of her hand and it was that, more than anything, that caused reality to come crashing in. Her eyes flickered to the rest of the group, but somehow, miraculously, they were distracted by the remnants of soot and smoke snaking up the brick of the wall, talking amongst themselves and not one of them seemed to realise the headteacher was having a nervous breakdown mere metres away. Even if they had looked over, Eddie had positioned himself in such a way that she was shielded from sight by his body, and to the casual observer it would have merely looked as if they were having an intense conversation, their heads close together.

Her heart twinged. She was shaking, and there was no way he couldn't be aware of it, not standing as they were. "I need to get out of here." She was past the point where she could try to hide from him, past caring what he knew. She simply needed to leave.

Eddie hesitated for only a moment, before nodding. "I'll deal with it. Go to your office."

She didn't pause to think, didn't allow herself to consider the implications of just leaving. She simply fled, pointedly ignoring the memories of the last time she'd hurried along this route. Her office was being redecorated, she remembered, damaged by the smoke and she couldn't face going there anyway, not when the walls were closing in on her. So outside it was, collapsing onto one of the small walls and digging her nails into her palms so hard she knew she would have marks.

She had no idea how much time had passed, too intent on breathing and trying to stop her heart from beating outside her chest. But eventually, the tightness in her chest had eased and she could breathe again, just as footsteps approached and Rhea was stood in front of her, looking concerned. "Is your nephew alright?"

Rachel blinked. "Sorry?"

"Eddie said you had a call about your nephew being taken ill. Is he okay?"

"Right." Rachel gave her a weak smile. "Yes. Thank you. He's okay. He... my sister's with him."

"Glad to hear it. Are you ready to re-join us?"

Rachel rose and fell into step with her, and they caught up with the group just in time for Rachel to see Eddie coming down the stairs from her office. Their eyes met for a brief moment, just enough for his to narrow before she hurriedly looked away, pretending she didn't know that he'd gone upstairs in search of her.