Thank you so much to everyone reading and reviewing! I'm so glad you're all enjoying it x

Steph Haydock was having a very bad day. It had started with the headache from hell, pounding behind her eyes and making the room spin. Then she'd had an argument with Maxine, got caught up in traffic which meant she had to forego her usual morning coffee in the staffroom and realised only when her year eight students were sat in front of her that she'd left all their books at home.

She was thoroughly fed up, so when Matt took teasing her too far at lunch time, instead of her usual witty retort, she'd instead stormed out of the staff room and headed towards her classroom, intending to brood at her desk instead of facing her co-workers. Her route just happened to take her down the maths corridor, and she almost didn't look inside any of the rooms. Almost. But when movement caught her eye, she turned her head automatically. And came to a dead stop.

Of all the things she'd been expecting to see today, Rachel and Eddie embracing hadn't been one of them.

Steph blinked, jaw on the ground, and had to resist the urge to rub her eyes in disbelief. Rachel had her hands resting on Eddie's chest, his arms around her as he spoke quietly and as Steph watched, she nodded to whatever it was, hands sliding up to rest on his shoulders before she stretched up to kiss him.

A strangled, gargley noise left Steph. She hastily retraced her steps, almost crashing into Matt coming out the staffroom. "What's wrong with you?"

She pointed behind her, breathless and bright eyed. "Rachel and Eddie!"

He groaned, and pushed past her. "Not this again. They're not together, you've got to drop this!"

"Oh yes, I'm sure Rachel was kissing him as part of her role as headteacher. Nothing more."

"Exactly," he agreed absently. Then came to a sudden halt. "Wait, what?"

She grinned.

W.R.

As gossip was wont to do at Waterloo Road, the story sped like wildfire. Matt told Jasmine who told Davina who told Tom, unfortunately within the hearing of Chlo, who of course told Janeece and Maxine. By the end of the day, the entirety of the staff and vast majority of the student body had heard some version of the tale. But of course, it had been… twisted, as it had been passed along and those who heard it later on in the day ended up with a vastly different rendition than was accurate.

Eddie himself took until almost fourth period the following day to discover what had happened. In his defence, he'd had year sevens for two hours that morning and then the year thirteens who were only weeks away from their exams, so it wasn't until his year ten class were particularly unsettled that he noted anything was wrong. "Maybe you should go get Miss Mason to deal with us, sir!" One boy jeered from the back when he questioned them, and the class exploded into laughter. Eddie paused, puzzled.

"What's going on? What does Miss Mason have to do with anything?"

Cue another round of snickering. "What, don't you want to see her, sir?"

"Funnily enough, Billy, I'm perfectly capable of sending you to the cooler myself. Which is what is going to happen if you don't pipe down."

"That's bad form, that is, sir. Dropping a girl after you've banged her."

The class exploded. Eddie just stared at him, so stunned and baffled that he forgot to be outraged. "Excuse me?"

One of the girls near the front took pity on him. "It's all over school, sir. That you and Miss Mason got caught in an empty classroom yesterday."

Eddie spluttered, his stomach dropping into his shoes.

"Yeah, Maxine Barlowe saw you!"

"No, I heard it was some year eight…"

"No, it was Mr Clark!"

Eddie had to get on top of this. "Doesn't the fact none of your stories match up tell you that they might not be entirely accurate?"

"But they're a little accurate?" Billy again, a sly note in his voice.

"ENOUGH!" Now that Eddie's brain had caught up with what was happening, anger and fear had taken hold. If just one of the kids went home and told a parent, and that parent went to the LEA… the classrooms weren't covered by CCTV, things could get very nasty. Someone had obviously seen something this morning, and embellished the story. It was the sort of rumour that damaged careers, and with everything Rachel was already facing… he took a deep breath, looked out at the wide-eyed students facing him. "I assure you, Miss Mason and I certainly weren't caught doing anything this morning. There isn't a teacher in school who would risk doing that."

He looked at their faces, saw the glances they exchanged, and sighed. "Alright, forget Pythagoras. We're going to talk about rumours and professionalism instead."

Across school, Rachel was oblivious to what was going on outside her office. A mountain of paperwork had ceded into an emergency phone conference with the LEA over the building work, which went on for so long she missed lunch and almost immediately she had to deal with social services for over an hour, which could be difficult enough on the best of days. She was vaguely aware of the final bell ringing, of the sudden increase in noise from outside but the woman on the other end of the phone showed no signs of quietening anytime soon. So when Eddie poked his head into her office, she was thoroughly relieved, and waved him in when he tried to retreat. "Samantha, I'm so sorry but my deputy has just come in, I'm needed. Could we continue this another time? Excellent… yes of course, goodbye."

She hastily hung up, and immediately rested her forehead in her hands. "Good God." Her voice was muffled, her head raising to look at Eddie apprehensively. "You didn't actually need me for something, did you?"

"Not anything you have to stand up for."

"That's probably a good thing, because I've been sat here for so long I'm not sure I can stand up." She stretched in her seat, wincing as her back pulled. Then she caught sight of his expression. "What?"

Eddie grimaced. "There's a bit of a… situation."

He didn't really want to have to tell her this. He could deal with a sudden demand to be rigidly professional at work, but there was also a large possibility she was going to panic, he knew, and pull away from him, and quite frankly that was an argument he would prefer to avoid having again. Rachel was eyeing him worriedly, the way he hovered in the middle of the room, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Eddie?"

He grimaced, and lowered himself into a seat. "I need you not to panic."

He could practically see every muscle in her freeze up. "Because that'll keep me calm," she said dryly. "What is it?"

He swallowed dryly. This wasn't going to be fun, and he braced himself for a storm.

Only to find himself, five minutes later, staring at her incredulously. She raised her head, caught his eye, and burst into her second round of giggles. His jaw dropped even further. "Have you hit your head?"

She waved a hand at him. "You have to admit it's a little funny."

"Funny? You think it's funny?" He gaped at her.

"A little. Why are you so worried?"

It was like an alternate universe, he thought, a little dazed. "Why aren't you?"

"Because it's ridiculous." She looked amused, tilting her head at him. "Eddie, anyone with half a brain would know it isn't true."

"That's what I'm worried about," he grumbled. "The severe lack of people with half a brain around here."

She laughed again, rested her chin on her hand. "Apart from anything, Eddie, there are cameras."

"Not in the classrooms."

"But in the corridors. And I should think it would be obvious if we'd been getting happy in a classroom together. Who saw us anyway?"

He shrugged. "Every kid heard a different version of the story."

She hummed, standing to round the desk and sit next to him. "A few days, and there'll be something juicer for them to talk about. We'll just have to weather it until then."

She was so calm, he could only his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you're not more upset about this."

"In the grand scheme of things at the moment, this? Not even on my radar."

Oh. Eddie's stomach clenched- he hadn't quite forgotten, exactly, but he'd allowed himself to get caught up, the other issues they were facing falling to the wayside. Now it all came rushing back. He reached for her hand, running a thumb over her knuckles. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she assured him instantly. "Six months ago you would have been right. This would have been my worst nightmare. Now? Now there are worse things I can think of."

He lifted her hand, pressed a kiss to the back of it and quietly enjoying the way her cheeks flushed pink at the gesture. "Hordley has already lost. He has no reason to tell everyone now-"

"You think that will stop him?"

Eddie fell silent. He didn't quite know what to say to that.

W.R.

"I'll get the shopping if you grab the paperwork?"

Rachel nodded in response to Eddie's suggestion, grabbing the box off of the backseat along with her own belongings and balancing it as she let herself into the house while he was still grabbing bags out of the boot. It hadn't taken much convincing for Eddie to persuade her to bring the paperwork home instead of remaining at school, which had somehow ceded into cooking dinner together as well. One stop at the supermarket for extra ingredients and a bottle of wine, and here they were.

The hallway light was still turned off, but the space was illuminated by a soft glow from the kitchen that had Rachel frowning. She never turned the light on in the mornings, it was still light enough to see and even if she had, she was fastidious about turning them off again when she left the room. Which begged the question, how was it on now?

She dumped the box on the floor and cursed the way her boots clacked against the wood of the floor as she walked forwards. The light was spilling from the gap where the door was ajar, and a single push was enough to swing it open and reveal the kitchen as a whole. The seemingly empty kitchen, dressed in odd shadows thrown by the low-lying island lights, and the whole thing made Rachel want to laugh because what had she been expecting? She just hadn't noticed the lights before she'd left that morning, that was all.

"Amanda."

She gasped, jerking backwards as her eyes snapped to the back of the room. It was mostly in darkness, the light not reaching that far thanks to the placement of the cabinets, and she hadn't been able to see the man sat by the windows. At least, not until he now stood, emerging from the shadows with an expressionless look on his face.

"How did you get in here?" It was the first question that sprang to mind, her heart racing and ice pooling in her veins. It made the man's lips quirk in amusement.

"As if a locked door could deter me."

She swallowed dryly. "What do you want?"

"You called me," he reminded her, moving forwards oh so slowly and Rachel almost stepped backwards but caught herself, forced her feet to remain where they were.

"I shouldn't have." Her voice calm, surprising even herself. "I was just angry, and a little panicked."

"Understandably." He was stood in front of her now, close enough to touch. His gaze bore into her, and just as always she felt as if he could see straight into her very soul. "May I?

It took a moment, for her to process the question, realise that his hand was hovering next to the patterned scarf tied around her neck. Not an accessory she would have usually worn, but a necessary one that morning- she was planning on a rollneck for tomorrow. Rachel was sure her harsh swallow had been noted, but nothing was said as she gave a jerky nod of permission, and immediately felt fingers unknotting the scarf.

The air was uncomfortably cool against her throat as the material was drawn away, a shiver trailing down her spine in response. As she watched, the eyes studying her darkened, emotion twisting within them, air hissing between clenched teeth.

She didn't have time to do anything but inhale sharply when she heard the clatter of footsteps from behind her, coming to an abrupt halt in the doorway of the kitchen. "Rachel?"

"It's okay," she murmured without looking round. "He's… the one I was telling you about."

She was absolutely not about to call him the fixer to his face. Eddie shifted, and she didn't have to see him to know he was tense, and unhappy. She didn't move a muscle as the back of a finger was brushed against the right of her windpipe, where she knew a thumb had left a bruise a few shades darker than the others surrounding it.

"I knew the man was a fool. I underestimated just how much." His voice was low, almost unaffected if it hadn't been for the dark, dangerous note in the undertones. "He will not touch you again."

Her heart just about stopped. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly that." His hand fell away and he stepped backwards, hands clasping behind his back. It was as if the movement was the permission Eddie needed, for now he came into the room properly, stepping so close to Rachel that she could feel the heat emanating from his body and his hand landed on her back, hidden from view but a supportive comfort nonetheless. She didn't need it, exactly, but was grateful for it all the same.

"I don't want to be responsible for his death." It was torn from her before she'd even realised it, a dark fear hanging in the air, leaving behind agonising silence. She didn't dare move, barely breathed.

"And yet he was more than willing to be responsible for yours."

There was no anger in his voice, more curiosity, but that didn't mean anything. Rachel swallowed hard again, ignored the faint pain that accompanied the action. "I'm not him. And I can't live with-" She cut herself off, felt Eddie press his hand more firmly against her as she closed her eyes, rubbed a hand over her face.

When the voice she'd been expecting came, it was mild and quiet. "He tried to kill you."

She didn't appreciate the reminder. "He was just angry. He wouldn't have… I'm not sure he would have actually killed me."

"Only because Tom interrupted." Eddie's grumble was the first time he'd spoken, and Rachel realised there was no fear or shock in his voice. He was keeping quiet for her, she realised, so that she could have this conversation and the knowledge had warmth curling in her chest.

"You sound like a battered woman."

And the warmth was swept away by a cascade of ice. Rachel jerked, mouth falling open and she was about to argue, to defend herself but couldn't think of how to defend against that.

"I will refrain from killing him, if that is what you wish." He was moving forward again, coming to stand in front of her with his gaze fixed unwaveringly on hers. "But perhaps you should remember that there are worse things than death, Amanda."

She flinched. She couldn't help it. And it was enough for Eddie to drop the pretence, for his hands to land on her shoulders and she could only imagine the glare he was giving. "That's enough."

"Is it?" The fixer never even looked at him. "You asked for my help, Amanda, and I will willingly give it. How I do so must weigh on my conscience, not yours. You cannot take responsibility for the actions of others."

"I can if it's my fault!"

"Amanda." His voice was almost gentle. "Stuart Hordley is not a good man. Do you think that you are the first he has brought harm to? The knowledge and actions of Tessa may have given him an unusual advantage, but he is no stranger to playing the game. You are merely the latest and most severe in a long line."

Rachel visibly blanched. Somehow, in the midst of all this, that possibility hadn't actually occurred to her. Eddie's hands tightened against her shoulders as she swallowed harshly, closed her eyes for a moment. "That doesn't mean he deserves to die."

"No. But neither do you deserve to suffer."

She buried her face in her hands. She didn't want to deal with this, wanted to be anywhere but here at this moment and for the first time in a long time, she longed to be a child again, able to run and hide behind her mother's legs. Eddie seemed to understand, trying his best to comfort her but as much as she was grateful, it ultimately changed nothing.

"Amanda… Rachel." Her chin was lifted, her eyes forced to meet the pair gazing back at her. "What is it you truly want?"

"I want him gone!" The words tumbled from her lips, honest and guilt-tinged. Nausea rose up within her, but they were truthful and there was little point in being anything else around the man in front of her.

"Then he shall be."

"But-"

"Look at this." A hand slid into the inside jacket pocket, withdrew a wallet from which a single photo was slid. "Look at them."

Rachel took it without a word, eyes already filling. Because she recognised the woman in the centre of the photo, her startling blue eyes unchanged from when she'd seen her last. Laughing, with her arm around a girl who could only be her daughter, the daughter Rachel instinctively knew was the baby she'd fled to give birth to. And perhaps even more astonishingly, another girl, barely more than a toddler, held in the arms of a boy who would be starting secondary school soon, if he hadn't already. A picture-perfect family, all happy and beaming.

"They exist because of you." The fixer's voice was quiet. "My children live because of what you did. My wife is healthy and happy, my eldest daughter just starting her adult life. Every single one of them is here because you risked yourself to help them… to help us. Do you regret that?"

She shook her head instantly. "No. Never."

"Then allow me to do this, and shoulder the responsibility myself." His hand landed on hers, gentle in a way that she wouldn't believe if she wasn't experiencing it. "You asked for help, how I have chosen to give it is my choice, not yours. Guilt is one emotion you should not feel."

Rachel swallowed thickly, voice barely a whisper. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Do you really wish to know?"

She inhaled sharply, cringing inwardly and barely felt Eddie shift behind her, drawing her closer. "Rachel, I'm sure he wouldn't do anything that would make you unhappy." Above her head, unseen by her he shot the man a glance, receiving an amused quirk of the eyebrow in return.

"My only intent is to protect you, Amanda, as you protected my family."

Before she could talk herself out of it, she gave a harsh nod, and found a small, pleased look directed at her. "Excellent. And now, I shall leave you to your evening. Until next time, Amanda, Mr Lawson."

They remained in place as he walked around them and out of the kitchen, listened to the sound of his footsteps in the hallway, before the front door opened and closed again. And only then did Eddie frown. "How did he know my name?"