(A/N): Hey guys! So, this fic is the only one I've really had the time for, just because the geography of everything is so much easier for me, though it took a while for me to realise that the tram service wasn't in Rochdale back then haha. Oh, for those who don't know, when I say 'Town', I mean Manchester. I wasn't going to put it in, but I remembered in season 3, when Mika and Brett went to get a pregnancy test, they said they'd 'nip into town' and they went to the Trafford Centre, so I thought I'd go with it. Sorry, bit of a random babble.

Also, for those of you who really wanted to meet Jack, you will in this chapter! Woo hoo, right? Anyways, thank you for all the reviews, even the guest ones that were nothing more than 'update please', for they are all very much appreciated. I don't own Waterloo Road, and never will do, I am afraid. I hope you like this chapter. Oh, yes, any and all mistakes are mine and mine alone.

What The Heart Wants

Chapter 6

Later that night, long after Philip had both arrived and gone back home after having tea and spending some quality time with his aunt and cousin outside of the school surroundings, Alia sat in a curled up position on the couch, staring almost blankly out of the window into the front driveway. Rachel walked into the room wearing her pyjamas, blinking a little before sitting down gently beside her daughter.

"Ali, what's wrong?" She asked the teenager softly, careful not to raise her tone. Alia had never really responded well to orders or yelling. Alia never took her eyes from the window, hazel orbs staring intently at the scenery.

"Nothing, Rach, really. I thought I saw something outside, but I think it was just the wind." Alia responded slowly, eyes still transfixed outside on something that Rachel couldn't see. "At least, I hope it's just the wind."

Rachel placed a hand on Alia's arm, jolting the teenager a little out of her own world. "Sweetheart, there's nothing out there. It's gone midnight. Come on, it's time for bed." Rachel stood and pulled Alia up too as the fifteen year old finally tore her eyes away from the front yard and nodded, albeit reluctantly.

"Okay, sorry." Alia climbed the stairs, Rachel following her, stopping when she reached the door for her room. "Night, mum."

"Night, Alia."

The alarm clock woke Alia the following morning, and she hit it to turn it off, moaning quietly about the lack of sleep she'd gotten as she rolled completely out of the bed, falling straight to the floor with a harsh thud. Picking herself gingerly up from the floor, she grabbed her uniform and a towel and rushed for the shower, hoping it would wake her up more.

Rachel woke to the sound of a thud from Alia's room. As she tried her best to clear her sleep fogged mind, she heard the sound of the shower starting up, and knew that she wouldn't actually have to wake Alia up that morning. Rachel rolled over in her bed, reluctant to get up. She had a paperwork full day, and she had to put up with Melissa and Eddie on top of that. How she wished she hadn't rejected Eddie that first night of term, then maybe things would be different. Oh, she was still angry that he got with her sister so soon after calling her special, but she was more upset that he didn't think her special enough to wait for.

A knock on the bedroom door made Rachel look up as Alia poked her head in, wet haired and fully dressed. "You don't look too good." She commented blandly. "Maybe you should have a sick day, you know, to get yourself together."

"I can't." Rachel made herself get out of bed, ignoring Alia's smirk. "The kids need me there."

"Alright. If you say so. We've got half an hour before we have to leave." Alia closed the door behind her, leaving Rachel alone once more, but the older woman still heard the yell from down the hallway. "You're welcome!"

Rachel couldn't help but smile as she found clothes to wear that day. She knew Alia had manipulated her into getting dressed and going to school, but she didn't mind, for it meant that Alia wanted to go to school too, and that meant more to Rachel than being manipulated by her fifteen year old.

Rachel knew deep down that her daughter's seemingly good behaviour was too good to last very long. Surprisingly, it was Philip to first tell Rachel about his cousin's behaviour. At break time, there was a tentative knock on Rachel's door, before Philip stuck his head in. Rachel was alone, thankfully, and Philip slipped in, closing the door softly behind him.

"Philip, what's wrong?" Rachel asked, concerned with his odd behaviour. A chill ran down her spine at the thought of what else the boy could confess about his mother or anyone else, considering the massive secret he was already carrying in regards to Melissa's marital status.

"It wasn't her fault, Rach." Philip told her earnestly, only to look a little sheepish when he realised his aunt didn't know what he was talking about. Rachel quickly escorted him to the sofa and sat him down gently.

"Philip, you're going to have to explain to me. What wasn't whose fault?"

"Well," Philip shifted nervously. "It was Ali. Well, not really Ali but…"

"Start from the beginning."

"Well, I have French with Ali, y'know, and we were all pretty quiet when Miss Haydock asked Ali a question, but Ali's already pretty fluent in French, right? I mean, it's in her file and that, yeah?"

"Right, carry on Phil." Rachel prompted, a feeling of dread settling in the pit of her stomach as her brain immediately conjured a dozen different scenarios that could cause a terrible reaction from either Alia or Steph, and land the teenager in a heap of trouble.

"Uh, anyway, Miss asked her a question that even a year 7 kid could answer, about a colour, totally condescending, and Ali got really offended by it, so she responded a little… rudely, I guess."

"Phil, what did she say?"

"Well, I'm not that good, even though Ali taught me a bit two years ago, but I caught something along the lines of, 'it's pink, you idiot, and I'm not an infant, so who are you to…' She kinda sped up then and I lost track of it, but it sounded insulting, and then Miss sent her straight to the cooler for the rest of the lesson without even responding or telling us what she'd said." Philip finished hurriedly.

Rachel sighed, putting her head in her hands. She knew that Alia's aunt, who was a linguist that lived on the same base as James had, had taught Alia to be fluent in both French and Spanish, but whilst most would stop at what was polite, Alia's aunt had taught her everything, including how to swear and put people back in their place, with a generally insulting air to it. She had expected that Alia's language skills would get her into trouble one day, what she hadn't expected was that it would be through mouthing off to a teacher. She placed a hand on Philip's shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Thanks Phil. I knew she'd get in trouble one day for it."

Philip stood and nodded. "Who taught her all that, Aunt Rach?"

"Her aunt, Gabrielle Falan, did, against both my and her father's better judgements." Rachel sighed again. "Go on off to your break, and I'll sort this out, alright?"

"Alright, just don't be too harsh on her, Rach, please." Philip left hurriedly, and Rachel barely had time to put a thought together before there was another knock on the door and Steph flounced in, looking furious.

"You'll never believe what that new girl has done!" She exclaimed with a dramatic hand gesture that had Rachel lifting an eyebrow in response. "She's only gone and mouthed off in front of the entire class! I had no choice but to send the little madam to the cooler!"

"Oh? What did she say?" Rachel asked calmly as she walked out of the office towards the cooler, Steph on her heels, pretending that she knew nothing of the encounter.

"She was generally rude throughout the lesson, but I put it down to nerves and left it. Then I asked her a simple question to try and help her, and she starts mouthing off that she's not an idiot or an infant, and why am I trying to belittle her when she can speak better than me and that my lessons are a load of crap!" Steph told Rachel hurriedly as they approached the cooler.

Glancing in, Rachel saw that Alia was sitting alone at the back of the room, despite there being no teacher there to supervise, feet up on the table and earphones in, appearing to be doodling in a notebook, though Rachel knew that it was really Alia's composition notebook, meaning she was either writing lyrics or composing bars. If she had to guess, Rachel would probably choose the former as being more likely.

Rachel stormed into the room and over to the back of the classroom, rapping sharply on the desk to get Alia to look up, the girl reluctantly taking out her earphones at the sight of Rachel and the French teacher stood in front of her, closing her notebook and putting it away in her school bag. "Yes?" Alia asked politely, almost mockingly, trying to ignore the disappointment that was all too clear in her mother's hazel eyes.

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but Steph cut her off. "Why did you stay in here? There's no teacher to supervise. You could've walked out at any time." Steph commented with a confused frown.

Alia frowned in return. "I was told to wait here until the lesson finished and you brought the head to see me." She said slowly, confused as to why Steph was confused.

Rachel cleared her throat, a little amused but not willing to show it. Once glance at Alia told her that the teenager already knew she wasn't all that angry with her. "So, I heard you mouthed off to Miss Haydock in class, Alia. Why?"

"She treated me like I was stupid, which I'm not." Alia pointed out.

"Hang on, missy, I was trying to help you!" Steph broke in.

"How? By making me look stupid?"

"What are you talking about? I just didn't want it to seem as though you knew no French whatsoever!"

"I'm fluent in French!" Alia bit back the swear words that were far too tempting for her at that moment. "Miss Haydock, I'm sorry for what I said, but you really should've read my file first, or at least the basics. French is going to be an easy GCSE for me, I confess. I just really don't like being treated as though I'm thick when I'm not."

"Alright, Alia, please go and enjoy what's left of your break, and there better not be a repeat of this behaviour."

"I'll try my best, r-Miss." Alia agreed, hightailing out of the room as soon as she could. Rachel turned to Steph.

"I think you both got your wires crossed a little, Steph, which is why I'm not punishing her further. Any more infractions and she'll be in detention, I assure you, but for now, I think you should give each other a chance."

Alia sighed in relief when it was dinner time, and she could wander at her own pace to the canteen. After break, and the disappointed look Rachel had given her, Alia had been determined not to let her temper get the better of her again, no matter how hard it was to try and keep her cool. She'd done fairly well in English, though she'd then had to try and avoid everything in music as much as possible, especially when the teacher, Mr Wilding, kept trying to get her to either sing or play an instrument, both of which Alia vehemently protested against. She didn't want anyone at the school finding out who she was, at least, not yet. It had taken some tricky evasions, but she'd managed to get out of it all, and sat back, listening rather than participating.

Grabbing a chicken sandwich and a Coke, before paying Candice with a small smile and slipping out of the canteen and onto the school playground, finding a lone tree to sit under and eat. School was harder than she'd thought it would be, and on top of that, she had yet to find the marriage documents proving that her aunt was a bigamist. She quickly checked her phone, but there were no new messages. Alia then pulled out a few sheets of paper she'd copied information down from the school computers onto, making sure she masked her internet footprints as she went. She knew exactly where to go, and the best time to go as well; she just needed a couple more days to iron out a few more details.

Sighing, she settled back against the tree trunk, gazing up at the slightly cloudy sky. Whilst Rochdale wasn't the best place she could be spending all her time in, there was no place she'd rather be.

Rachel smiled in genuine amusement as Eddie spilt a little mayonnaise onto his tie from his sandwich. She handed him a tissue silently and watched as he mopped it up. He grinned sheepishly back. "Where was I?" He asked.

"Michael." Rachel supplied.

"Ah yeah, well, next week and the week after, he's staying with me, while Alison goes on holiday with her boyfriend."

"Well, that's good isn't it? At least you see him now." Rachel said positively, making Eddie smile at the optimism in her voice, something that he'd noticed had been severely lacking since she'd come back to the school after the fire.

"Yeah, it is. Thank you again, Rachel."

"Oh, no thanks necessary. You already bought me a present for that." Rachel gestured to her bookshelves, where her copy of Crime and Punishment rested. Eddie grinned.

"Believe me, it's a thank you that needs repeating. It is thanks to you that I see my little boy now, even if the way everything was sorted out was a bit…"

"Weird?" Rachel supplied, sending them both into a fit of laughter as they remembered that day, and how it took Rachel to talk Alison round into talking properly to Eddie, and the wary respect the two women had for one another.

"Yeah. Anyway, how's your day been?" Eddie asked as he finished his sandwich and crumpled up the wrapper. Rachel sighed, finding the urge to talk about her daughter too great, even if she didn't really want to tell Eddie the entire truth just yet, especially with her and Melissa's mother supposedly arriving the next day. She'd rather that Fiona knew nothing whatsoever about Alia.

"Well, Steph's already had a good moan." Rachel began hesitantly, unsure how far to take it, really, unsure of Eddie, and how much she could trust him. She wanted to, dearly, but she was complicated, and it took a lot for her to bestow her trust, yet one small act could break it.

"Oh? What about?"

"Ah, Alia Falan." Rachel opened her mouth to continue, but Eddie beat her to it.

"Ah yeah, the new kid. She's got a right gob on her, that one." Rachel felt herself frowning, wanting to correct Eddie and yell at him for daring to say something bad about her child, just managing to stop herself in time, allowing Eddie to carry on. "I noticed all she does is doodle or watch stuff out the window."

"So she doesn't do the work?" Rachel asked.

"Well…" Eddie flushed red. "That's not… Yeah, she does the work, but that's what makes it so frustrating! She just doesn't try, and yet everything's perfect!"

"So, the problem…?" Rachel prompted, feeling confused as to where Eddie was leading her to.

"The problem is that she doesn't care, Rach. Some of the kids try so hard, and yet she's just… not interested. I dunno, it just winds me up."

"Ah, well, you and Steph both. Neither of you read the file, it seems." Rachel smiled softly, the same expression she usually wore whilst talking about Alia, though Eddie didn't know that. "Eddie, Alia finds maths very easy, and she loves it even if she won't show it. She's also fluent in French, which Steph didn't bother to ascertain before trying to give Alia a year 7 level question. Maybe you should give her a chance." Rachel finished, flushing red in turn as she realised the rant she'd descended into, though it caused Eddie to smile in return, happy that something had clicked in his favourite person that had shown her passion for the kids and the school, even on such slight a subject.

"Alright, I can give her another chance, I guess." Eddie agreed, and they both descended into more trivial matters for the rest of lunchtime.

After school, Alia was one of the first pupils to rush out of the school gates, though whilst most of the kids were going home, she slipped round the corner and shoved her school blazer and tie into her school bag, pulling out a leather jacket she adorned instead before making her way to the nearest bus stop, rooting through her bag to find her System One Travelcard that she used for both the bus and the train whenever she had to make quick journeys.

A bus pulled up two minutes later and she quickly climbed on, standing due to little room left thanks to the school day rush, and rode the bus into the town centre, where she found the train station and caught a train into Town, where she'd agreed to meet Jack.

Walking out of Piccadilly train station and through Piccadilly Gardens, it didn't take long for her to find the little café that sold some of the best ice cream, in Alia's opinion, and she quickly sat down at a tiny corner table, school bag between her feet and phone in her hand as she sent off a quick text whilst she waited.

To: Rach

Hey, it's me. I'll probably be home later than you, meeting Jack in Town. He probably won't be coming for tea, don't worry. It'll be just me. Hope you had a good day, Ali x

Alia put her phone away as someone approached her table. It was a boy about fifteen, with long black shaggy hair that fell into his piercing sapphire eyes, wearing a pair of black jeans with a white t-shirt and black trainers. He grinned lazily at her as he slumped into the opposite seat at the table.

"Hey, Ali. Long time, no see." He greeted warmly. Alia smiled widely at him.

"Hey Jack. I hope you don't mind meeting me."

"Nah, anything for you, Li, you know that." Jack waved it off before his easy expression faded, replaced by worry as he leant forwards in his seat. "Alia, what's wrong? What do you have planned?" He rolled his eyes as Alia tried her best at an innocent expression. "Don't even try it with me; I know you too well for that. What is it?"

Alia sighed. "You remember my cousin, Philip?"

"Awkward kid? Didn't really fit in?" Jack checked.

"Yeah, that's him, though he's really sweet where family's concerned." Alia defended. "Anyway, his mother, my Aunt Mel, has a new boyfriend, and it's a little too serious for either my or Phil's liking."

"Okay. What do we need to do?"

"Steal her marriage records." Alia admitted in a low voice, careful not to be overheard. "Jack, I can't do this alone, and you're the only person I can trust with this. You know that."

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment. "You've planned it all out? Meticulously?"

"Every detail and contingency plan." Alia confirmed.

"When were you planning on doing this?"

"Next Thursday."

"Alibis?"

"Both of us were at home with Rach."

Jack pursed his lips a little in thought before nodding decisively. "Alright, I'm in. You'd do the same for me, and we've always been a team. Can I stay at yours Wednesday and Thursday night?"

"I'll check with Rachel, but I'm sure it'll be fine." Alia stood, hesitating for a moment before leaning down and pressing a chaste kiss to Jack's lips. "I'll see you this weekend, your place?"

"Looking forward to it, sunshine." Jack confirmed with a smirk. "Get home safe."

"Yep you too. See you, Jack."

"See you, love."

TBC?