Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter of Follow Your Fire

So here we are. On to the next part of this story. And onto the next set of rollercoasters... You know, because there is always has to be some kinda rollercoaster.

For context, and it is said in the first part, but 9 weeks have passed since the end of Follow Your Fire.

The New Dynamic

Amelia knew that she was never going to get her new subject matter to sit still long enough for her to draw. But she was doing her best as she briefly looked up to see whether there were any more details that she could get as she tried to sketch her brothers having a water fight.

It had been a long nine weeks and things had happened since the fire that she was sure that even her mum wouldn't believe. Well, that was if it was ever going to be safe enough to bring her mum out of her coma. Every couple of weeks, the doctors would say that her mum was ready to wake up for them to start slowly bringing her off the drugs, for something to go wrong and they put her back into the coma. They were obviously doing fine without her but it would be nice for her mum to see the developments that had happened and for her to wake up. Doctor Lynch had told them that they had hoped that her mum would be out of the coma by now.

Amelia was sure that something had changed in the time that she was planning on looking up again. If anything, she knew that James knew how precious her sketchbook was to her. Hence why she didn't understand why him and Michael were trying to creep up on her like they were. Because James knew it wasn't going to end well if he did get the sketchbook wet.

"No. No. No!" Amelia said as she held her sketchbook close to her chest and tried to get off the sun lounger.

The first sprays of water hit her shoulder, meaning that her sketchbook wasn't going to get wet but she ran in as the assault continued on her back, with her being soaked by the time she reached the patio doors. She double-checked that her sketchbook was safe before she was going to head back outside to glare at James.

"Whoops." She heard James say.

"Is Amelia mad?" Michael asked.

"Probably. It wasn't a wise move."

With her sketchbook safely inside, she knew that she could get her brothers back. She did have every intention of joining them in their water fight, meaning that she had made up some water balloons and hidden them so that James and Michael didn't use them. She picked up the bucket and ran back outside, aiming more for James than Michael. Once she was out of balloons, she discarded the bucket, picking Michael up to attempt to get him back. That gave James the brilliant idea to pick her up, meaning that as she was concentrating on not dropping Michael (something she felt would only give Alison another reason to hate them for), James was having a bad time trying to get his balance, leading them to fall on the floor in a heap.

Michael was already laughing but Amelia's only started as she went to berate James for what he did and James wasn't far behind her. It was a nice memory for Amelia to have. All three of them, on the floor in a heap, laughing.

Although Amelia found her laughter dying as James turned his head and she noticed that his alopecia must have come back. She reached out to brush back the hair that had uncovered the spot, with James realising what she had seen.

"Why haven't you said anything?" She asked.

"Because I am dealing with it. I've been to the doctors and I am back in the corticosteroids. I am fine, Amelia."

"Is that why you stopped trying to grow the beard?"

"Maybe. It was starting to get a little patchy."

"The stubble looked good."

"I wanted a little more than stubble."

Amelia found herself collapsing slightly against his chest. Things were back to being how they were between them and Amelia could definitely tell the difference in James since they had been at their dad's. It was definitely one of the things that she wanted to share with their mum.

"Michael, mate, we need to get you ready for your mum to pick you up." Her dad said as he joined them out in the garden.

"Why?" Michael asked.

Her dad looked at them and he obviously just didn't care how they ended up like they did for the sigh that he let out.

"I've just had an update from the hospital."

"And?" James said.

"They think that they are ready to bring Rachel out of the coma. Properly this time. They are going to do it slower, bring her round over the next week or so rather than in a couple of days. Just they, obviously, want us there, talking to her and making sure that she isn't too confused when she does wake up properly."

"You know our next task," Amelia said to James.

"Oh, God," James said.

"What is the next task?" Her dad asked.

"We will need to make sure she takes things slowly. She will want to run before she can walk. Figuratively and physically." Amelia said.

"Yeah, and when has Mum ever taken things slowly?" James said.

"Well, we are going to have to find a way."

"Maybe we will finally find out how she ended up where she was." Her dad said. "Come on, Michael. Your mum is going to be here in 20 minutes. So we need to get you ready."

As much as Amelia knew that she wanted her mum to wake up, it did mean that this was cutting very short the week that they were meant to have with Michael, with the four-year-old dragging his heels as their dad tried to get him moving. Amelia pushed herself off the floor and picked up Michael to get him to move, asking whether she could help him pack.

There was something that James knew that he needed to do. Things had drastically changed and he knew that Amelia had only just forgiven him for what happened with him running back into the fire. The biggest thing that had changed was how he was with Eddie and there were a number of factors why.

But James knew that there was one thing he had to do before he could let everything go. And that included a letter he wrote about eight years ago.

"Alright, Jamie?" Eddie said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, just umm… Obviously, I know that Amelia told you."

"Robert?"

"And I get it. I didn't handle things well and I definitely shouldn't have said what I did say to you. But I… gave up on you. I gave up on ever finding you and my only thought was to stop Mum and Amelia from getting hurt. It was… actually something Mika said. Am I hurting them more by trying to stop them from getting hurt and this time around I was." James tapped the folded up paper on the worktop before he handed it to Eddie. "Here. It is for you. Eight years late but unless I sent it to every male Lawson in the yellow pages, signing it with the son of Fenshaw, you weren't going to get it any sooner."

Eddie was quite apprehensive to take it off him and James didn't exactly blame him. But it felt like the last piece of the puzzle. The last thing James had to do to let it all go. And to start letting his dad in. So he watched as Eddie read his words, words that he had read so many times before, causing him to hate a man that didn't even have a chance to be there. James knew that it would make sense to Eddie.

"I'm sorry I gave up on you," James said when Eddie looked up at him.

"I can understand why."

"But that wasn't fair on you."

"Jamie, no amount of wanting can change the past. I would have been there. I would have saved your mum if she had told me. I don't know how we would have made it work but I would have tried. But you can be stuck with me forever now, if that is what you want."

"Yeah," James said, nodding his head. "I want that. Dad."

It was just the emotion in his dad's face that got James. It was like everything had finally fallen into place and they were going to be fine. Everything that had happened had not been for nothing. This was the start of things for them and James was glad that it was something that he could tell his mum when she finally woke up properly.

Rachel felt like she had just woken up from a stream of the weirdest dreams that she had ever had. Some she felt like they had actually happened in her real-life but some felt like she had drunk too much alcohol or accidentally taken some drugs. She kept opening and closing her eyes, wondering when her vision was going to stop blurring, while trying to remember why the hell she would be in a hospital, with the bleeping of the machines and smell of antiseptic giving it away along with the oxygen mask attached to her face. She almost went back to sleep, wondering whether if she woke up again that everything would be how it should be. But her vision cleared and she was greeted with the sight of James asleep in the chair next to her.

She went to reach out to him, not knowing whether her voice would work, when someone stopped her.

"Don't," Amelia said, continuing when Rachel looked at her. "He hasn't been sleeping well since they said that they were going to try and wake you up. Although, you look more awake than you have done."

Rachel felt her brow crease before she tried to lift one of her arms off the bed to move the mask but her arms felt incredibly heavy that she wondered whether she could talk with the mask on.

"Don't worry. We will work on everything. Doctor Lynch did say that you might have trouble talking or whatever." Amelia continued as she placed her sketchbook into her lap properly. "I suppose I'd better catch you up."

Rachel nodded at her, hoping that it might spark some memories.

"How much do you remember? Do you remember Stuart telling everyone that you were once a prostitute?"

That sparked a memory that she hoped was one of her weird dreams, meaning that Rachel nodded at her.

"And do you remember the fire? That is the reason you are in hospital."

Rachel closed her eyes for a moment, trying to remember about that, but nothing was coming to her at the moment, leading Rachel to shake her head.

"Fine. There was a fire at the school, which you were injured in. We will talk more about that later. The canteen and the main hall were the places most damaged. Everywhere else was just smoke damage. Dad says that they have made good progress with the rebuilding and redecorating and he thinks that we should be back in there for the start of the school year. You are going to be nowhere near ready by that point so any thoughts you are having about joining us in September, you can forget about.

"We've been staying with Dad. And as the summer holidays have started… well we were meant to have more time with Michael." Amelia turned her sketchbook to Rachel. "That was last week. Water fight." She placed her book back on her lap. "James didn't like it at first but I was adamant that I was going to stay with Dad. I had to, Mum. If I didn't, I would have fallen. Mainly because things weren't great between me and James at the time.

"And I had to tell Dad about Robert. So he knows all I know." Amelia pulled her chair a little closer to Rachel. "Although, and I didn't tell you this, but I think that James and Dad have got on a lot better than they ever thought they were going to. I even think that they had a moment the other week over a beer."

The more Amelia spoke, the more that was coming back to Rachel. Not that she remembered about this fire yet but she did remember that she had been reunited with a man that she had only known as Lawson and that Amelia had taken to him very quickly and James was dragging his heels. So it was nice to hear that they were getting along now.

"And I do think he is close to calling Dad, Dad. Dad will be back soon. He was just getting us all a coffee. He will be happy to see that you are awake. He has been worried sick. But I do think that is everything that has happened in the last 11 weeks."

If anything, Rachel was just going along with what Amelia was saying but there was a part of her that wondered how long she had been in the hospital. But even she could feel her eyes widen at the fact that she had been in hospital for 11 weeks. That was impossible, wasn't it?

"Mum, you've been through some horrible injuries. Please, for us, allow yourself the time to recover from them. Dad has the school sorted and he has been looking after us. We are fine. You need to rest and heal. Please, for once in your life, can you think about yourself?"

Rachel felt herself nod but she wasn't completely sure that she could keep whatever she had agreed to.

James knew that Amelia was going to question, at some point, why he was wearing the cap. He wished that he wasn't so vain when his alopecia flared up but he was and if he could hide it, then he was going to. Even if he looked more ridiculous than he would do if he showed off his hair with the small patches missing.

He knew that it would stop falling out now. He was less stressed as his mum was now awake and on the road to recovery and the medication he was on should be working. He would just have to keep his hair a little longer than he would like just until the patches had grown back enough that he could get a decent haircut.

And maybe there wouldn't have been a need for the cap if they had met Chlo, Mika, Donte and Brett (as much to James' annoyance) in a private setting rather than in a park.

"How is your mum?" Mika asked.

"She's better. Remembers everything now which is a bit of a relief." Amelia said. "Although I think she is more focused on getting out of hospital than actually getting better. The doctors don't take her crap. Dad isn't going to be the same."

"Oh, God. That is the next thing we need to explain to him." James said.

"I think he has just got to understand that she won't take no for an answer."

"I did think the school would be closed for a little longer," Donte said.

"You hoped it was going to be closed for longer," Chlo said.

"Sorry, Da… Eddie had always wanted to get the school open for September. With him saying that it was what Mum would have wanted." James said.

"You almost called him Dad," Amelia said, gleefully.

"It is only because I have been around you and Michael too much in the last three months."

"Just call him what he is. And you can take that hat off in the process."

"You two aren't going to fall out again," Chlo said.

James knew that it had taken a while for Amelia to forgive him for what he did the day of the fire. Mainly because it took him a while to hear what she had actually said to him that day. Because he could only imagine the mess she would have been in if him and their mum had been in hospital, in a coma for 11 weeks. He would have hated to see what she would have been like if either of them had died.

"Not until he does the next idiotic thing," Amelia said.

"Look, I've apologised, haven't I?" James said.

"You ran into a building that was on fire."

"This is going down with the time I punched that window, isn't it?"

"And when you went up a tree and refused to come down."

"How many times do I have to argue that one?"

"Yeah, that was my fault," Mika said.

"I bet Lawson is glad that he gets to run the school for a bit. He looked pissed on Mason's first day." Brett said.

"Wouldn't you if you were reunited with a woman who you had a one night stand with, believing that she lied to you after finding out that she was a prostitute? And he didn't know about us yet." James said. "They had history. Without anyone realising it. Of course, things were going to be a little frosty. The night haunted them for different reasons."

"It does sort of seem like something that would happen in Eastenders or something like that," Chlo said.

"Well as long as Auntie Melissa keeps her nose out of things then it won't become like a soap." James turned to Amelia. "And I think I have always been right about Auntie Melissa. She has never had Mum's back."

"Usually I would try and come up with an argument for her," Amelia said.

"I don't know why you would never want to waste your breath." James turned to Chlo. "Because the moment you found out that Mika had been involved in a fire and had life-threatening injuries, you would be at her side straight away, wouldn't you Chlo?"

"Absolutely," Chlo said.

"She'll still come up with some excuse," Amelia said before she looked at her phone. "Like we do now as we need to go."

"Where you going?" Mika asked.

"We are meeting the only Grandparent that we are ever going to know. It will be nice."

"You think everything is nice," James said.

James made sure that he hugged Mika a little tighter as they said their goodbyes, knowing that this was the last time he was going to see her before she left for uni. He knew it was always coming by making a friend in the year above him but it was still sad. Because Mika did make a good friend.

He knew that Amelia knew that by the way that she nudged him as they walked off.

"Don't worry, you can sit with us at lunchtime," Amelia said.

"Why would I do that now? I have loads of friends."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the offer is there."

James shook his head as he nudged Amelia back before he finally took off the cap, knowing that he would have to sort his hair out before they got back to their dad's.

Eddie knew that everything would be okay. Why wouldn't it be? It was his mum meeting two children that he didn't know he had for 17 years. It was his mum who wanted this meeting to happen once Eddie had tried to explain why he had 17-year-old twins. Obviously leaving out that he had slept with a prostitute that didn't charge him.

But that didn't stop him from worrying about how it was going to go. And he knew that it was the first time that the twins saw him so worried (with him managing to keep his cool with everything that went on with Rachel for them).

"Dad, chill," Amelia said.

"Yeah, we're lovable," Jamie said.

"Me, yeah. You, maybe after you stop being a prick."

"Well, I am not going to be a prick now."

"Good," Eddie said. "Sorry. Just obviously I didn't tell my mum all the facts."

"Like we are just going to announce that our mum is an ex-prostitute," Jamie said with an eye roll.

"I-I-I know. Just I feel like I haven't introduced anyone to my mum since Alison."

"It will be fine, Dad," Amelia said.

Eddie didn't really have any more time to worry about it, with the front door opening and closing and his mum calling out.

"Edward."

"In the kitchen, Mum. I'll get the kettle on." Eddie said as he set about that task.

"Edward?" Jamie asked.

"Edward and Eddie. James and Jamie. There isn't a difference. I get why you prefer to be one thing and not the other. I just prefer the short version of my name."

"Are you going to introduce me, Edward?" His mum said.

Eddie placed the kettle down and flicked it on before he turned to his mum and smiled. "Mum, this is Amelia. And this is Jamie." He said as he gestured towards them.

He could always trust Amelia to pick up where he maybe should have been a better host. Watching Amelia was sometimes like watching Rachel and Eddie loved how much the twins were like their mum. It was especially nice when there were moments when they thought Rachel might not make it. Their twins would be her legacy and do her (and him) insanely proud.

"Please, I am your grandmother after all." His mum said to Amelia.

"So Grandma?" Amelia said.

"Of course, my dear. Edward, did you not tell him?"

"Unfortunately, Mum, they are their mother's children at times," Eddie said.

"How do you mean?"

"Meaning that… we don't always take what someone else says until the actual person says it," Jamie said.

Eddie did relax at that point and everything seemed to be going fine, with Amelia even getting out her sketchbook when he mentioned it. But there was one thing that seemed to put a damper on the afternoon. And that was when both Amelia and Jamie's phones went off at the same time.

"Mum hasn't got her phone, has she?" Jamie asked.

"Well, she hasn't got a new one yet. No." Eddie said.

"Then there is only one other person who would text us at the same time," Amelia said as she slightly turned to her brother.

They both picked up their phones but Eddie was sure that they already knew what the message was.

"Philip," Amelia said.

"Oh for fucks sake," Jamie said.

"What?" Eddie said.

"They are finally coming. Him and Auntie Melissa." Amelia said.

Eddie knew that the twins had an extremely low opinion of their auntie (something that he explained to his mum later) and he knew about Amelia's comment about all three of them only tolerating Melissa for Philip. With Rachel now awake, was it a good thing that Melissa was coming or not?