Thank you for the reviews.

Now I'm not entirely sure that I knew where I wanted this one to go. Hence the direction that it does go in. And I did, somehow, manage to get the dates to work out...


Five: Reminder

What trinkets or items does each member of your OTP keep with them to remind them of their significant other? A gift? A photograph? Something else?


It started with a book. Rachel could still remember the day that she walked in to find her office trashed by vandals (later she suspected that Stuart Hordley or Tess was involved in it) for Eddie to join her and for him to hand her the present.

Look, I never really thanked you, not properly anyway, so, well, I got you this.

She could remember how well wrapped it was and how she had commented on it. She remembered turning it over and reading the title of it, a book that she had read in her youth but now could re-read it again.

Although she could say that there was a little bit of irony in the book that he had chosen as he was yet to find out about what she had done in her youth. She felt like Eddie hadn't read it to understand the irony of it.

But it was something that lived on her bookshelf at school, amongst the other books that were there because they needed to be there.

That was really the only thing that he gave her before they started dating. And she was sure that she never told him how much it meant to her. And she had never found something that she could give Eddie to express her gratitude for the book (although she was sure that he would put out an argument for her that reuniting him with Michael was than enough).

And once they started dating, it seemed like there were steady intervals where he would get her something, from a bracelet to a watch, with flowers coming every so often. And she tried to dote on him the same way, with her once buying him a new shirt just so that he could wear it out on a date that she had put her foot down and said that she was paying for (it was meant to be her treat after all).

But it was the book that was currently in her hands that brought back the most memories and she couldn't help but pull it close to her chest, wondering whether it picked up the smell of his aftershave while he was wrapping it. That smell that she loved so much. It was definitely her favourite smell, glad that she still had a bottle of it hidden in a drawer at home when he forgot to pick it up from hers when he collected his belongings.

Even nearly six weeks on, it still hurt. It still hurt the way that he was cruelly taken from her. Although, maybe she should have known that it wasn't going to end well with everything that happened before they got together. She should never have pushed him away in the way that she did and she should never have allowed him to start something with Melissa.

The tears were something that she found herself dealing with more and more over the last six weeks. The hurt of the breakup only getting worse, not better. Although, maybe staying somewhere which held the most memories of someone was probably not the best thing to do but it was too late for her to leave Waterloo Road now. It was too late for Eddie to leave when he did but the LEA seemed to accept it.

And so would she. One day. She would have to accept that Eddie left her life just as easily as she walked into his.

She wiped away the tears as she heard the footsteps and she replaced the book on the shelf, knowing that she could never take it home. The school and the book were a reminder of him. They deserve to stay together.

As she looked up, the last person she ever expected it to be was standing in the doorway to her office and she couldn't help but swallow as they both waited for someone to say something.

"It wasn't mine."


He knew that they were somewhere. They had to be somewhere. He had been so careful with them, always putting them back where they were safe.

Eddie huffed in frustration. Things weren't easy, that was clear. The fact that he was back home and with a woman that he despised more every day was a very bitter reminder of everything that he had lost and the stupid mistakes that he had made.

Oh, and it wasn't just the woman that he despised, it was also her bit on the side as well.

He definitely didn't blame Philip for going back to Rachel's. Because Melissa had more than blown things when the level of deception came out.

The short of a long story was that Melissa left where she was because of the bit on the side, not to come to Rachel's aid after the fire but Melissa had always been a good liar and made it out to be that she had only heard the news (Philip told Eddie that Melissa knew from the moment that Rachel reached the hospital and they found out her next of kin details). Apparently, she was looking for a good man. Apparently, she thought that Eddie was a good man (he would argue it) and that was why she was flirty and all that with him.

Turns out, the bit on the side (or was Eddie actually the bit on the side) followed Melissa to Rochdale and forced her hand, with her keeping both relationships going.

And then she found out she was pregnant.

And it was the reason she wanted her relationship with Eddie to go a thousand miles an hour.

And it was the reason why she agreed to marry him.

The only reason she didn't tell him that she was pregnant before she disappeared off was because Melissa had no idea who the father was. Mainly because she would 'go out with the girls' (e.g. keep the bit on the sides bed warm for a bit) before coming back home and jumping into bed with Eddie. Maybe if he had been more careful and practised what he preached to the kids, Eddie wouldn't have found himself in the situation that he was in. Because then, unless Melissa sabotaged the protection, there would have been no chance that the baby would have been his.

And maybe if the baby was born at the end of August at 32 weeks like Eddie expected, not 36 weeks, he wouldn't have questioned it as much as he did. He wouldn't have been trying to add up the dates to see when Melissa would have got pregnant and where they were in their relationship. But the more he dug, the more holes he found in her story.

It was why he wanted the pictures of him and Rachel. Because just seeing Rachel's face again, looking so happy, always helped to calm him down.

Because the more and more he thought about it. The more he thought that Melissa could have pregnant before he even met her. Before they even had that stupid drunken night. That she needed a good man because she knew that her bit on the side was never going to be a proper father for her baby and so was looking for one to try and convince that the baby was his.

And he was the idiot that rose to the bait of it.

He hadn't confronted Melissa with what he had worked out. He wasn't that mean after she had only given birth nine days before but he knew he had to say something soon. Otherwise, he could risk losing Rachel as well.

"What are you looking for?" Melissa said.

Eddie turned to her and he hoped that she was going to stay where she was by the door. Because he never wanted her in his bedroom again.

"Some photos."

"These photos?" She said as she held up exactly what he was looking for.

"What are you doing with those?"

"Maybe you need to understand something, Eddie. You are mine."

"No, I am not."

"Well, I am the one standing in front of you. I am the one with your baby."

"The baby isn't mine."

"Really?" She said before she held the photos in a way that meant that she could rip them in half. "How did you work that one out?"

"Because she was born at 36 weeks. When we sat down and talked, you told me that you were 25 weeks and showed me your sonogram. So for her to be born when she did, she would have had to have been at the end of 31 weeks, maybe just into 32 weeks, if the dates that you gave me were right. Let's just say that I might have had a look at the sonogram again and the date on it. So you were around 20 weeks in early May. Not early June like you would have me to believe."

"So?" Melissa said, not sounding a little bit worried.

"So you take it back further. Term started on 5th January. Rachel came back that day. You started as Head of Extended Services two weeks later. We met and had that… stupid night on 19th January. And if I remember correctly… you thought that you might have been getting your period the week that we meet. And…"

"Alright. Alright. Fine, what if you are right?"

"What if I am right?"

"Yeah, what happens?"

"I think you already know." He huffed. "How can you be so cruel?"

"Cruel?"

"To me. To Rachel. To Philip."

"Oh, poor, poor Rachel. I bet she has already gotten over you. Eddie, it was always going to end in tears. I just sped things up."

"So is this you admitting that I am not her father?"

"You still could be."

"Then I'll take my chances. I want a paternity test before you register her birth. And maybe you and lover boy can get out of my house before I get back." He said, pulling the photos out of Melissa's hands when he reached her.

"Get back? Where are you going?"

"Weren't you listening that day? I'm going to get Rachel back. Because I should have been with her from the start."

She called his name. And the bloody bit on the side tried to get involved as well, with Eddie rather forcibly pushing him out of the way and telling him to get himself, Melissa and the baby out of his house. Eddie thought that the other guy said that they had nowhere to go but that wasn't really his problem. His problem now was to make it so that he just didn't have to look at photos to remind himself of Rachel. He wanted to go back to waking up and falling asleep next to her. He wanted to take more stupid pictures with her and he wanted to see her smiling again.

And he knew that she was going to be there. Where else would she be other than at Waterloo Road (although he had a quick phone call with Philip just to make sure). It was eerily silent and Eddie just hoped that he could make Rachel see sense. To give him the chance to explain and to make her aware of why he was there and why he wanted to give it another go.

He saw her wiping away the tears and it broke his heart that he was probably the reason that she was crying. But he was here to make it all better, wasn't he? Or would Rachel only send him away again until he got the results of the paternity test?

And he knew that, as she turned to him, he was the person that had to say something first.

"It wasn't mine." He said.

"What?" Rachel said, either in disbelief of what he said or she didn't have a clue about what he was going on about.

"The baby. She isn't mine. Or there is a very low chance that she could be mine. Melissa lied. She was more like six months than five. Meaning that she was probably just pregnant when… we started our little thing. Hence why she was glad that I took things so fast. I think she was looking for a better man to be the baby's father than the actual father. He does seem like a right jerk."

"How?"

"I probably wouldn't have questioned it. Had Melissa not going into labour nine days ago and the baby was born at 36 weeks instead of 32. A healthy baby that we could take home straight away. I know. I was going to wait a bit. But Melissa forced my hand when she said that I was hers. I will never be hers. I always want to be yours."

"Eddie…"

"Rachel, you can't say that… I've had breakups before. As I am sure you have had as well. But none of them have hurt like this one has done. I've asked Melissa for a paternity test before she registers the birth but I am certain that I already know the outcome. You can't say that the last six or so weeks have been easy. Because I know they haven't for me."

"What if…"

"Then we will work through it. I don't… just want photos as a reminder of you. Mainly because I am now scared that Melissa is going to destroy all the ones that I have of you. I want more. I want to know that I can leave the house and come back to you. I want to only be yours. I want to add to the photos that I already have. Please, Rach, give me a chance. Give us another chance."

There was just a little twitch of her lips that made him believe that he had her and he knew that he would try his very hardest to make this all work.


As much as Eddie knew that his desk was littered with photographs, it was the ring on his finger that reminded him the most of Rachel. He spun it around with his thumb as he watched out the window, listening for the moment his class were ready to go through the answers to the questions that he had set.

It had been a funny couple of years. And he was right. The daughter that Melissa had (who was now his niece) wasn't his. No matter how Melissa tried to twist it, there was no denying what was there in black and white. Although Eddie did feel sorry for the girl. It wasn't her fault that both her parents were rubbish people. After the reveal and Rachel going mad at Melissa for all the lies, Melissa disappeared again, with her daughter in tow, and they hadn't heard from her since. He knew that it broke Rachel at times that they had no idea how Melissa or their niece was. But Eddie also felt like Melissa had made her bed and if she couldn't live with the consequences of it, then she did what she did best and left.

And he hadn't wasted any time with Rachel, proposing not long after Melissa disappeared, telling her that what he said he had meant and he just wanted to be with Rachel. He wasn't expecting her to marry him straight away as they could have a long engagement but he just wanted them to start the ball rolling. To get closer to the ultimate goal that they had before. He knew how much she wanted to be a mother and he wondered whether that was something that Melissa knew as well.

They originally didn't plan for a long engagement but Rachel had a few problems at Waterloo Road that needed her attention and Eddie knew that he couldn't stay unemployed for long. Although his unemployment status stayed for a little longer than he would have liked but it was clear that Rachel was never going to have the time off work when their own little one came along. Eddie didn't mind. After all, Rachel had carried her for the last eight months, he could look after her for that period and longer (although there were a couple of panicked phone calls to Alison as he knew that he didn't want to worry Rachel).

And as Rachel left Waterloo Road, Eddie thought that there might be a job where he could take his rightful place by her side.

It didn't work out that way but at least Eddie left the house every morning knowing that he was going to come home to Rachel and Alana every evening.

The ring just reminded him of how things could have been so different. That he could have been married to someone else and he could have been raising someone else's daughter as his own. He may have had Rachel's friendship but that was all they were going to be if he had married Melissa. Friends and in-laws.

As the class made some noise, he thought that they were ready for the answers, feeling more than ready to finish for the day. Yet the students weren't making noise because they had finished but because his wonderful wife was standing outside his classroom with their daughter in her arms. She knocked on the door, even though they both seen each other.

"Mrs Lawson, what can I do for you?" He said as she opened the door, keeping the formality just because it seemed the right thing to do (and he loved called her Mrs Lawson, more so after she confessed that she loved hearing it).

"See, told you that Daddy forgot." Rachel said to Alana.

"Forgot what?"

Rachel just scoffed, saying nothing. Meaning that he had to remember what she had told him that morning.

"Oh, yeah." He said.

"Do you need to grab someone to cover your class?" She said.

"Yeah. I'll be back in a second."

He was sure that he had heard Rachel laugh and tell Alana that her dad was a silly man as he raced down the corridor to find someone to cover the class. Mainly because this appointment was for them to see if they could add to what they already had. To see if he could add more photos to his desk as well as adding to their family. Just to remind him more that Rachel was more than the right choice for him.