A/N:

Thank you all so much for the support. I've decided that I will give this fic a few more chapters, so it will be longer than I originally thought. There may be a few more twists ...

The collateral damage of love

Seven days. One Week.

That's how long it had been since that day. The day that neither Eddie or Rachel had prepared for. And so, on this day, fate was working in a way like never before.

. . .

'I can't do it anymore'. Eddie sat with his head in his hands, distressed and in the worst way that Dr Williams had seen him.

'What can't you do?', Dr Williams quizzed. He'd already set himself up for a hard day and knew that after the choir that something must have happened.

'I can't lie', Eddie muttered. He brought his head out of his hands and rested his eyes to focus on the window.

This was about to get deep.

'Who are you lying to?'.

'Myself, Mel .. Rachel'. In these sessions, there had been reoccurring guilt from both Eddie and Rachel. Dr Williams, for the first time in his life, did not know how to fix this. He'd been trying for what felt like years to fix the pair of them.

'I'm lying to Melissa about my feelings for Rachel. I still love her. It infuriates me', anger slipped out with his words. This woman, she was killing him. She was running him into the ground without even realising.

Dr Williams had already assessed that Eddie wasn't the same, and from that, he knew that something was on the horizon. An announcement of some sort.

'So the choir, did you see her?'. The question had Eddie taken back a little, was he going to just dive straight in there?

'It's a long story but cut short, yeah just at .. Waterloo road'.

Confused, Dr Williams asked, 'You went there?'.

'I had to go there'. Eddie hadn't really felt like diving into the whole situation that he'd witnessed that day and saved the doctor from the countless drama. Instead, he confided in him and revealed his true thoughts on seeing her.
'It was overwhelming'.

Dr Williams had to know, and in all honesty, he had to know for Rachel's state. Was she okay? Considering she had cancelled their appointment, she probably wasn't.

'How did she react? How was she? Did you tell her- .. sorry, too many questions'

Eddie could hardly think. His mind was consumed by the many questions he'd been asking himself.

He gave himself a minute.

'She was sad, really sad, its worrying. I've never seen her like that', sadness overcame him, again. It were as if he were living a nightmare, repeatedly.

'I grabbed her as she tried to walk away. I was so desperate and I-'.

Eddie was interrupted by Dr Williams to understand more. 'Why was she trying to walk away?'

'Adam, he found us in the office. She'd been shouting that she had nobody, and he'd walked in. I don't know how much he'd heard. I don't even know if he knew who I was'.

Almost in disbelief at Eddie's actions, Dr Williams pressed on, 'You grabbed her then ..'.

'Yeah. I should have bloody kissed her whilst I had the chance'. Eddie sighed remembering the way he felt when they were inches away from each other. He was brought out of his trance by a rather upsetting, and unfortunately, true comment.

'But she's married'.

Married. Rachel was somebody's wife.

'But she's not happy, evidently. I don't condone cheating but you don't know how sad she was', desperation soared from his words.

'And kissing would have solved that?', Dr Williams asked. He didn't mean for it to sound how it did, but kissing her probably wouldn't have been the smartest thing to do.

Eddie shook his head in frustration and replied, 'Who's side are you on?'

Sides. Dr Williams' profession didn't allow him to take sides. So, sternly he reminded Eddie of that. 'I am not here to take sides, Eddie. I'm here help when nobody else can'.

. . .

Opening the door, Doctor Williams finished chatting to Eddie about their next appointment, and low and behold, there she was, waiting.

Panic.

'Rachel?', both men said in sync. Her eyes closed and palpitations thrashed against her skin. She knew both voices, and one was too well known.

Three, two, one.

He couldn't believe it.
She couldn't believe it

What was he doing here?
What was she doing here?

Eddie turned to look at Doctor Williams, confused and asked, 'How do you know that's Rachel?'.

Rachel shot her eyes up to meet both glares. She knew exactly what was happening, she wasn't stupid. 'We've both been seeing you, haven't we?', she asked.

Silence.

'Yes'.

She threw her hands into the air and blurted, 'I'm sorry I can't do this'.

He had to do something. They all couldn't go on like this.

Calling out to her, the Doctor pleaded, 'Rachel, stop. This is obviously a shock to you both, and it's a shock to me also'.

Her hand rested on the handle of the door, she took a moment before composing herself. She could hear Eddie, anger rising in his tone.

'All this time ..', Eddie started before quickly being stopped.

'So, this is what I propose we do ..', Dr Williams began before stopping, checking they were both still listening. Happy that nobody had left, and that they weren't screaming at him.

'We will go into my office, all three of us, and we will talk. If at any moment, anybody feels they want to leave, then so be it'.

There was neither an answer nor an argument.

'Please, you're killing each other'.

Killing. Such a harsh use of a word.

It was at that minute, they both looked to see one another. Sadness washed over their features.

Enough was enough.