A/N:

Thank you all so much for reading, I very much appreciate it. Mrs Carmichael, hannah5240 and fayeftvanity, I really am so thankful for your reviews.

It really will get good in the next chapter, it just needed one last push ...

The collateral damage of love

I love you.

She sat, her mind preoccupied from the few days that had gone by. The heavens had opened all day, and frankly, it reflected her mood. Eddie has crossed her mind multiple times already today, and that night was a blur.

Confusion.

He hadn't contacted her since, and she was confused. Was she not good enough? As she was aware, they had crossed that line, and that was enough to prove that they weren't done.

'The year elevens assembly, I was think- ... Rachel?', Kim stopped in her tracks, taking her eyes away from the sheet of paper in front of her, and instead focused on the head teacher deep in thought. Bringing herself from her thoughts, Rachel found Kim glaring at her, arms folded and worry etched across her face. Rachel couldn't lie to her, they'd been friends for a while now and Kim could in fact read her nearly as well as Eddie could.

'Hm, sorry Kim, what were you saying?', Rachel sighed.

'Rachel, if you love him then you need to tell him. A- and if that means leaving Adam then .. you need to do it', exclaimed Kim as she stepped further into Rachel's office. Rachel could tell that Kim was on one, and ready to give her opinion and counselling.

Rachel rolled her eyes in frustration and moaned, 'Kim, I-'.

'You what? You can't leave him? Rachel, Eddie loves you and you love him back. You're making yourself miserable', Kim snapped

. . .

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock ..

Eddie, sitting impatiently was starting to feel anger burning inside him. It was 4:30pm and she still wasn't at their session.

. . .

Her heart raced as she took in the familiar scene surrounding her. Her she was, again. Another session. Eddie must have already been in there because his car had been visible to her as she drove into the carpark. This was something that she really didn't want to do .. not after that night anyway. Knocking lightly on the door and waiting for instruction, she could hear Dr Williams inviting her in.

This would be interesting.

She clocked him as soon as she entered, her heart felt heavy. Warm hearted, loyal and a great lover. She took a seat next to him and awkwardly took her glance downwards and avoided all eye contact.

This would be awkward.

Dr Williams cleared his throat and slapped his hands against his thighs before he spoke, 'Okay, so who wants to go first?'.

Nobody answered. Eddie shifted his eyes to Rachel, desperately hoping that she would take this one. He did not understand how they would crack this session. But as usual, she fell silent. Dr Williams had rather hoped that he would get somewhere today with these two, however that was now starting to look rather optimistic.

He tried a different approach thinking something was not okay, and he had been missing something; maybe something important. 'Okay then, should I know anything?', he quizzed looking flatly at both Eddie and Rachel.

Eddie took this que and shared the news that Dr Williams had been desperately waiting for. Shuffling in his chair and accidentally knocking Rachel's arm-accident or not it got her attention-he glared at her with an almighty intensity.

This would be intense.

'I've finished with Mel. I've moved out', he blurted. As the words left his mouth, he felt a relief wash over him. Every inch of worry had been drained; he still had the battle of communication with his daughter, but this was a new step.

'Okay, and are you, I mean, are you okay?'.

'I'm fine. I think we should ask Rachel', Eddie replied as he took his eyes to her once more. She scoffed and took a long glare before bringing her attention back to the doctor.

'Rachel?', Dr Williams pressed her further for an answer.

Rachel took a moment, and then another. She was stalling her response and everybody knew that. She could feel Eddie's eyes burning onto her, again. She wished he wouldn't do that.

'Yeah, er, I mean if you're happier then-'. It was a rubbish answer, and she was deflecting. Again, this was something that she was brilliant at doing. She felt the doctor take a great interest in wanting to question her further. There was no getting out of this one. 'How do you feel, Rachel?'.

'Great', she responded. Did she just say that she felt great? She wanted the ground to swallow her up, there and then. Dr Williams looked between the pair, and he felt confused once more.

'Great? Sorry, I feel like I'm missing something. Has something happened between the two of you?'.

'Me and Rachel, we ..', Eddie began as he was about to drop the bombshell. This would send Dr Williams even further over the edge. They shouldn't have done it. He waited a moment before continuing, 'Kissed'.

The doctor froze, and without thinking, he rubbed at his temples. This was not okay. He took their silence as them waiting for him to digest the news.

'And more', Eddie added. They were being honest, right? He would not lie.

'Oh there it is', said Rachel sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. She hated this. She hated people talking about her personal life, especially something so personal.

'Rachel, you would have said nothing!', Eddie argued as his body jumped from the seat, and he was now towering over her small frame. The doctor could sense that this would escalate and by god, he did not need that again.

Jumping in, he calmed the situation and tried to make sense of the situation. 'Okay okay, right, so ..when did this happen?', he questioned.

Eddie and Rachel took a quick glance at each other before sharply turning away. 'A few days ago', whispered Rachel. She felt sad and ashamed by her actions. She felt a tear fall again and kicked herself for allowing her emotions to get the better of her. Following Eddie's actions, she stood from her chair and in anger, she raised her voice, 'You know what? I'm ashamed Eddie. I've cheated on my husband, and for what?! For you to take advantage and then just leave me-'.

He cut her short, and mirrored her angry tone, 'Hang on a minute Rachel, I never once took advantage of you! And I messaged you, when I left that evening I messaged, and you didn't reply, again!'. Rachel had absolutely no recollection of any text message, but would investigate further on leaving the room. Had he really sent it?

Taking the final stand, Dr Williams stood between the pair of them in the middle of the room. He calmed himself before quietly-in hoping they would lower their tone-talking to them and preying they would listen before hurting each other further. 'Right. Please, let's control this before we say things we don't mean. This is getting complicated. I just- .. I want you to both know that this will not help. The blame, the cheating and so forth. Just please, don't deny it any longer'.

Sadness overcame the both of them, and so on seeing this, the doctor asked them one last question.

'So, with that, I have a question to ask .. do you love each other?'.