Thank you to everyone for reading and for the reviews. Just a quick thank you to faeftvanity for your lovely message, I'm always here if you need a chat too. Also to Mrs Carmichael, hope you're looking after yourself as well :)

Hope you all enjoy this update... x

Chapter 18: Perfect For Me

Rachel rolled her head back slightly as Eddie massaged her shoulders. He had picked up on her few complaints about them during the day, and had told her to sit back, relax and let him help. They were perched on the couch having enjoyed a takeaway, a bottle of wine and glasses in the midst of the takeaway cartons on the table. It was one of several nights Rachel and Eddie had spent together, just simply cherishing one another's company. This time would always be precious to them, because they knew how close they had gotten to losing one another; several times. Even though Rachel had experienced her worries about Melissa in recent days, she had no intention of letting Eddie go again. From their conversation earlier in the week, Rachel knew that he was looking at their relationship with a similar mindset. They were each other's forever.

"How have you managed to make my back feel better already?" she turned her head around to face Eddie slightly, "you've only been doing it for ten minutes."

"Apparently you're not the only one into black magic."

She grinned as a response. Rachel loved how Eddie kept making remarks about conversations they had enjoyed in the past. It just seemed to remind her how far they had come, and how long their relationship had been building up for. All in all, little snippets of memories from the time they had known one another, made being with Eddie now all the more special.

The sound of the front door opening alerted Rachel to the fact that she still hadn't told Philip that she was giving him the go ahead for his birthday party. His mood seemed to have been strengthening in recent days, yet Rachel had been constantly wondering if there were more to his thoughts when it came to Melissa's recent contact. She hoped that her allowing his get together on friday would accentuate the slight happiness that Philip was portraying. With this in mind, she made a move to stand, but Eddie's light grip on her wrist had Rachel stopping in her tracks.

"What?" she said as she huffed out a laugh, turning to see Eddie's puppy dog expression coming into full play.

"Just leave it for a bit," he commented, pulling on Rachel's arm slightly, "I need a bit more of your company after the torturous afternoon I've had."

Rachel laughed at how overly dramatic Eddie was being as she heard Philip's footsteps receding up the stairs. It seemed he always liked to have a little alone time when getting in from being out with friends, and Rachel was happy to go with that. She kind of decided that Philip deserved to have his own routine after having so much disruption with Melissa. Perhaps given it was the answer Philip was looking for, the conversation regarding his party could wait a little longer.

She turned so that she was fully facing Eddie now, before retaking her seat on the sofa and snuggling into his side. He willingly welcomed Rachel's embrace, wrapping one arm around her middle and intertwining their free hands.

"I was thinking," Eddie began as Rachel traced patterns across the back of his hand. He waited for her to lift her head up from his chest before continuing. In fact, Eddie had to catch his breath for a few moments after Rachel made eye contact with him. There was something about the way she looked at him that he couldn't quite describe. Rachel always left Eddie feeling enraptured by her presence.

A hand grazing across his jaw brought him back to the present. Eddie realised that he hadn't yet continued his sentence, and couldn't help but smile at the knowing expression on Rachel's face.

"On Friday night, why don't we go out and do something? Take the opportunity to have a bit of alone time."

Instantly, he saw the conflict spread across Rachel's features. Her expression was telling him that she would love to have an evening out with him, but was worried what the consequences of leaving for the entire night would be. Eddie knew that he would have a little bit of persuading to do.

"Honestly Eddie, I was planning on locking myself in my bedroom for the full evening. Even just to be in the house. I know we said about Bolton… but do you really think it's a good idea to leave god knows how many teenagers here unsupervised?"

Eddie couldn't help but emanate a slight chuckle at Rachel's plan of hiding in her bedroom. He was glad that as they locked eyes, she too saw the humorous side of it and began to laugh briefly.

"And do you really think Philip will want his auntie/head teacher at his party?"

Rachel sighed and gave him a look before responding, "possibly not."

"Look, if we talk to Bolton like we said, I really don't think things will get out of hand. As I said yesterday, he has far too much respect for you to let that happen. They all do."

"Do you really think so?"

Eddie moved his head forwards towards Rachel's so that their foreheads were now touching, "I know so."

Rachel smiled, and it was truly genuine. Eddie hoped that this meant he had succeeded in persuading her that everything would go to plan and that Friday would be the perfect time to spend with each other. For now, he was just happy to relieve a little of her stress.

"You'd better go and put Philip out of his misery. Tell him you're giving it the go-ahead," Eddie commented as he pulled his head back, still maintaining a close distance.

Rachel hummed in agreement, but didn't move anywhere just yet. Instead she caressed his cheek with her palm, making Eddie long to wrap her back up in his embrace. He shook himself mentally, she was only going to be upstairs for 10 minutes, if that. He genuinely couldn't go more than that amount of time without missing Rachel.

"Just let me do something first."

As Rachel spoke, Eddie was about to ask what, yet wasn't given the chance to. Both of her arms slid around his neck and her lips met with his for a brief but meaningful kiss. His lips were now otherwise occupied, and even if they weren't, his breath had been well and truly stolen away.

He pulled back after responding for a moment, "I take it that's a yes to going out on Friday."

Rachel stood up and walked towards the door, stopping as she reached it, "Mr Lawson, I would love to."

Eddie's mouth broke out into the largest of grins as Rachel walked away. With her, these feelings of excitement and adoration were constantly present. He guessed that they would forever be there. Perhaps these were the natural feelings when you find the one person in the world who is exactly right for you. Because that's exactly what Rachel was for him: perfect.