Eddie regretted his decision not to argue with Rachel almost as soon as they were inside the school. "You don't have to do this, you know."

Rachel was pale, her breathing just out of sync enough that Eddie knew she was forcing herself to try and breathe slowly. "I'm fine."

She strode away, and Eddie could do nothing but follow her silently, grateful at least that she hadn't attempted to do this alone. Not when her nails were digging into palms and she was so tightly wound he could almost see her vibrating.

Rachel shook as she stared at the area where Stuart had trapped her, her breath hitching and teeth clenched together so tightly that it must have been hurting her. She looked ill, Eddie thought, and itched to reach out for her. "Amy?"

To his shock, she reached backwards and fumbled for his hand. "I'm okay."

"Tell the truth."

"I'm okay," she repeated, but privately Eddie wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. They stood there in silence for what seemed like hours, hands interlinked, until Rachel was no longer fighting to breath normally and her grasp was no longer so tight it risked cutting off circulation. Until without warning Rachel turned, and gave Eddie a wobbly smile. "I'm okay."

He squeezed her hand gently. "Let's go home. We can come back tomorrow."

She loved that he knew she needed that, and nodded her agreement.

In the end, it's as simple as can be. They're Rachel and Eddie. The universe had brought them together again against all odds, and he refused to throw it away. He can't begin to understand the demons that haunted her, and oddly enough he'd accepted that. And maybe one day she'd accept that acceptance and stop apologising to him, he thought wryly.

Rays from the sun overhead licked at his skin, warming it in that comfortable way that meant he had no intention of moving. Rachel was nestled against him, bare legs entwined with his as they simply existed in silence. It was rare that even he had the opportunity to see her so at peace, relaxed enough to lean her head against his shoulder and allow the tension to escape her body. Eddie doesn't take this for granted, that she trusts him enough to press close to him, to entwine their fingers as they watch the world go by. Or that an hour ago, she hesitantly asked him to apply sun cream to her and sat there tense but able to breathe, never slipping away from reality.

"We should do this again next year." Eddie has spoken before he means to, but oddly the peace isn't disrupted. Rachel hums in amusement, never moving.

"What, come to the coast?"

"Not exactly. We should go away, somewhere warm and sunny. "

Now, she tilts her head up to look at him, intrigued. "A holiday?"

"Why not? We always talked about it."

Her brilliant smile is answer enough. Eddie can't stop himself from dipping his head down to kiss her- she tastes like sun cream and salt, and she's warm beneath his lips and Eddie thinks that this might be the happiest he's ever been.

Of course, that jinxes it. Rachel is laughing and playfully pushing him away when he carries on kissing her, scolding him for acting like one of the kids at school and he's laughing too, trying to steal kisses anyway until there's a prickling on the back of his neck, and he looks up despite himself.

The figure stood frozen watching them isn't unexpected- who it is was. Beth has an unreadable expression on her face and for a moment Eddie's brain stutters to a halt, before he fixes her with a cool glare and turns back to Rachel. She's still smiling, head tilted back towards the sun and he's grateful she hasn't noticed his sister. It wouldn't have been pretty.

"You know what's needed?" Rachel's voice captures his attention- the grin on her face ensures she keeps it. "Ice cream."

He could never deny her. "Excellent idea." He's pulling her to her feet before she can notice that the woman watching them has been joined by several others, and Eddie isn't sure whether he's glad or aggrieved that none of them seem intent on approaching them. "Let me guess," he says, wrapping an arm around her. "Pistachio?"

"Don't knock it, Mr Vanilla."

"Actually, I might go with coconut if they have it." He thinks of the coconut scented sun-cream he tasted on her lips, and knows the ice cream won't compare.

Lost in her orbit, he almost forgets they unwittingly have an audience. Until he's smiling down at her, arguing the finer points of ice cream flavours and movement from the corner of his eye has him looking up, something in him clenching when he sees his father striding towards them. "I'll catch you up, love."

Rachel looks understandably confused. "What?"

"I'll explain later, I promise, Amy. Just go. I'll be right there."

He doesn't know if it's something in his tone, or his expression, or simply her overstimulated sense of wariness but for perhaps the first time ever, she simply does as he asks, nodding once before she steps back and disappears into the crowd.

"I have nothing to say to you." Eddie is talking when his father is barely within hearing distance, and the way the man rolls his eyes only stokes his anger.

"For God's sake, Eddie..."

"This wasn't me. None of this is down to me, you don't get to act like I'm the one in the wrong here."

"You are!"

Behind his father, there's more purposeful movement through the crowd and he's somehow resigned when he sees the rest of his family. Beth has that same, unreadable look on her face but his mother is wringing her hands, face pinched while Cath looks mostly worried, hovering behind them. A nice family day out, Eddie thinks bitterly, and feels something like grief rising up in him.

"I'll say this once," he says, raising his voice slightly once they're within hearing distance. "This ends now. Rachel is… everything. She is everything. She always has been. When you were all too busy with each other and your own lives to pay any attention to mine, she was the one who there. She is the person who makes me smile even when I didn't think I wanted to. She's the first person I want to see in the morning and the last one at night. You judge her without knowing her, you always have, but she is brave, and kind, and selfless and I'm going to spend the rest of my life with her. Even if it costs me all of you."

He looked each one in the eye. His parents both looked stunned, Beth looked murderous. And Cath was… proud? He blinked in surprise, and she shot him a wink. Well. Perhaps he wouldn't lose both his sisters then.

Without another word, he turned on his heel and walked away. Towards Rachel, towards ice cream and sunshine and everything else she brought to his life.

He was somehow unsurprised when he found her just around the corner. She was leant against the wall, her eyes wet and she looked at him in a way that told him she'd heard every word he'd just said. He probably had been a bit loud, he thought, distracted by the way she was stretching up to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth.

He took her hand and squeezed it softly. "Let's go get ice cream."