Honestly... someday I am going to stop doing things like this to myself...

Anyway, welcome to the Christmas Prompts.

Beginning of October (seems like ages ago now), I had finished putting these together and started upon the task of completing them, putting them on Twitter for anyone else who wanted to do it as well. Safe to say, I had hoped that I would have completed them by now (finished chapter 16 yesterday so I am comfortably ahead of myself).

These all kinda link into each other in a weird way. Like elements intertwine and most of the chapters follow the same storyline. Like most of my stories, it will become more apparent the more we get into this... thing. And I think I have finally decided that most of the series is happening in the background. So the events of Series 3 happens but minus the fire. Meaning that would change things for series 4 but I think you get the idea. It is probably a bit irrelevant but that is what is happening in my head.

So this is set in 2007, during series 3. Just incase you couldn't tell.

Day One
Hot Chocolate

To Rachel, there is no better way to start the festive season than with her perfected hot chocolate recipe until Eddie takes her perfectly crafted drink before she can take a sip.

Word count: 1,211

There was only one way that Rachel would start the festive season. Most people looked forward to the advent calendars and starting to decorate their houses (or classrooms). But Rachel didn't look forward to that. She always looked forward to her carefully crafted hot chocolate that she had perfected over her time at university.

It was a simple enough recipe to make her orange spiced hot chocolate, but there had been a lot of trial and error along the way to make it what it was today.

With the first of December being a Saturday, Rachel made sure that she got all of the ingredients over the weekend for her to be able to make it over the weekend and while she was at school for the week. She started off her morning like she always did with a cup of coffee and waited for the second period before she made her to the staffroom to use the microwave. She had already prepared the milk at home, already infusing it with the orange zest and the spices that she would add. All she needed to do was warm it up before adding the chocolate to it.

The staff room was empty (how she thought and hoped it was going to be) and she placed the container with the infused milk into the microwave and put it on in 30-second bursts to make sure she didn't overheat it, as she had only brought enough for her to have one mug. Once it was warm enough to start melting the chocolate, she placed the chocolate in the bottom of the mug before she tipped the milk over and stirred it before putting it back in the microwave for one last blast.

The staffroom was now filled with the aromas that screamed Christmas to her. There was a part of her that thought that her mission to do it without anyone knowing was going to be a success. That wasn't until Davina walked into the staffroom.

"That smells amazing," Davina said.

"My orange spiced hot chocolate."

"Trying to do it on the sly."

"Last time I did it, I ended up having to make it for the whole staffroom. Not that I minded… it just felt like it diluted the specialness of it for me. Whenever the signs of autumn hit and it is just the downhill to Christmas, it is what I look forward to most."

The microwave went off and Rachel knew that she was too excited about it. She gave the mug a final stir before she dropped the spoon into the sink. It was going to be way too hot to drink straight away and she knew that it was the perfect way to motivate herself to do the paperwork that she had put off on Friday.

"I better get this to my office before all the kids are in the corridors." Rachel said.

"Enjoy."

"I most certainly will."

Rachel was glad when she got back to the antechamber at the same time that the bell rang for break. With the drink safely on her desk, her next plan was to make a start on her paperwork when Eddie walked into her office.

"Who has done what now?" She said as she took in the look on his face.

"Caught Bolton and Paul trying to sneak out of the boys' loos. When I go in there, they are flooded. That wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't also now flooding the nearby girls' loos."

"Great?!"

"And the boys' loos have started to flood out into the corridor. I have told the caretaker."

"Naturally. Just not a headache that we need on a Monday. Are the boys in the cooler?"

"Naturally."

"I think we need to go and see the mess that they have made before we go and speak to them. Let them sweat for a bit."

Rachel placed her fingertips on her mug, just to test the temperature, noting that it was still too hot for her to carry it around. Worse comes to the worse, she would just have to reheat it when she did get a chance to drink it.

Round two of Rachel trying to drink her hot chocolate meant that she was once again in the staffroom, using the microwave to heat up the drink. She gave a small smile to Eddie as he walked over to her and made himself a drink.

"What have you got in there?" Eddie said as he gestured towards the microwave.

"My orange spiced hot chocolate. Made it earlier but it was too hot to drink and then there was everything with Bolton, Paul and the toilets. Have they said what they put down the loos?"

"I don't think they will. The caretaker is on it. He just doesn't know whether he will be able to sort it out before the end of the school day."

"All the classes that are nearby have been moved. It is just going to stink down there for the rest of the week."

"Maybe the boys can help with the cleanup."

"Might make them think twice. I'll talk to Candice."

"And I'll talk to Paul's guardian."

"Are you on a free? Just I think we should start planning for the end of term and finish the ROCBEC planning."

"Yeah, I am free now."

Rachel grabbed her drink from the microwave before they made their way to her office where they settled at the table where they were going to discuss a few things. She quickly grabbed her notebook from her desk. For a moment, she thought that she was going to get her chance to drink her favourite winter drink as she reached for it after Eddie reached for his drink. It hadn't occurred to her that they had the same mug. Which is why she only realised something was wrong when she held it under her nose as she was still listening to Eddie.

"Wait did you make hot chocolate?" She asked.

"Yeah." He said after he took a sip of his mug. "Oh."

"You have my hot chocolate!"

"I can see why you have it. It is really nice." He said as he went in for another sip.

Rachel placed down her mug in her hand and huffed back into her seat. "I've been looking forward to that since the beginning of last week." She huffed again as Eddie almost gave it to her. "No, go on, you might as well have it now."

"I'll have to make it up to you." He said a little sheepish.

"How?"

"Well, you have your special hot chocolate. Everyone goes mad for my mince pies. Perfect warm and perfect for our little catch-up meeting on a Friday."

"You might just be forgiven then, Lawson."

She shook her head before she took a sip of the God awful shop-bought hot chocolate that Eddie had made and knew that she would probably have to make more infused milk before the end of the week. Because she wasn't going to get away with just making it for herself this time around. Especially now that Eddie had tasted it as well.