Despite being exhausted, Rachel could not sleep. The events of her first day back at work were playing over and over in her mind. She did not want to go to bed on an argument, but they had agreed not to talk about work after 9pm, and it was now well past that. But surely this was an exception. She got out of bed, put on her dressing gown, and went to the kitchen, where she found Eddie sitting alone at the table with a cup of tea that had gone cold.

"I'm sorry I shouted at you," he said, quietly.

"I know," she replied, taking the seat opposite him. "I do understand why you did. I'm sorry I scared you."

"Do you think you can promise me you'll never put yourself at risk like that again?" he asked.

Eddie already knew the answer, and Rachel's hesitation confirmed it. The kids would always come first, and that was something he admired her for, and it was something he was going to have to live with. But a fire, and a gun, they were extreme even by Waterloo Road standards. Eddie knew he could not try to change her, he could only hope that nothing quite like this would ever happen again.

"OK," he nodded.

Rachel sat still, unsure what that meant. She knew that his anger was not really anger: it was fear. Still, she knew that her answer had not done anything to allay that fear. It was the honest one though. She could no longer lie to Eddie.

He reached his hand across the table, and she now understood that he accepted her answer, even if he did not exactly like it. Surprised, she reached out and took his hand in hers. When she did so, he could feel her shaking. He realised that she had been just as scared as he was. Rachel was not as invincible as he thought, nor as much as she thought either. Still holding her hand, he got up and walked around the table, knelt beside her, and wrapped his arms around her. Rachel leaned into him, finding all of her emotions welling up at once, needing his strength, his warmth, and his arms around her holding her together. Whilst she could not have brought herself to have put her own safety above Denzil's, she also realised that she was lucky to be ending this day at home crying. It could all have ended very differently.