Thank you for the reviews.

Now I think we need to know what Eddie thinks and I think we need to know how well Rachel and Eddie are talking Adam and Melissa (respectively) out of the dinner...

Bad Liar

Oh, hush, my dear, it's been a difficult year
And terrors don't prey on innocent victims

"Melissa, it isn't a good idea," Eddie said.

"What isn't a good idea?" Philip said.

"You do know that you will have to get over her at some point," Melissa said.

"Oh," Philip said, looking between them. "You know."

"We bumped into them in town on Saturday," Melissa explained. "Although, Adam seemed more for it than Rachel did. Talking about their engagement."

"Which is why having dinner with them isn't a good idea," Eddie said.

"I'll second that," Philip said.

"It is only you that is holding onto something. Rachel has clearly moved on and, Eddie, for Evie's sake, so should you."

Eddie wasn't so certain about Melissa's statement. He wasn't certain that Rachel had moved on by the look on her face when dinner was mentioned or how reluctant she was to show off her engagement ring. It was either that or she didn't want to marry Adam or both. Eddie would admit that he was leaning towards both, maybe more for his sake.

He was glad when Evie woke up from her nap and Melissa left the kitchen. Because it meant that he could have a decent conversation with someone who actually knew Rachel.

"I didn't know how to tell you," Philip said. "Like I haven't been able to tell Rachel about Evie."

"I understand."

"What are you going to do?"

"Hope that Rachel is having better luck than me or fake being ill. If only they weren't planning it for a Saturday." Eddie sighed. "I want to be happy for her. And if she is happy, then great."

"Are you sure?"

"Philip, I would love her to be happy with me. But I know that can't happen. She deserves happiness."

"I'll agree with you there."

"So if Adam can give her what she wants, then I am happy for her. Like she must have been happy for me when I… stupidly went out with your mum."

"You stupidly proposed to her as well."

"Don't remind me. Do you… think that getting married is what Rachel wants? Just the way Adam said that he wanted Rachel to be his wife. It just… didn't sound right to me."

"Is that what he said?" Philip said, scrunching up his face.

"Exactly. I would have said that I just popped the question if I said I just came out with it. I mean, I am not one to talk after my proposal to your mum."

"It has been fast for Rachel."

"Is that so she doesn't have time to think about it? She won't have time to worry?"

"Eddie… I can't read her like you can. But let me talk to her. See if I can get an answer out of her. She might be willing to talk to me about it if I act like the concerned nephew."

"Whatever way you want to play it, mate. I just… have this feeling that something isn't right."

"Concerned nephew it is then."

Eddie wished that he could have given Philip more of a smile but this whole thing was worrying him. Mainly because he was worrying that Rachel had been happy with Adam, until they had unexpectedly been reunited.

"Adam, please."

"Rachel, I don't understand what you have against us having dinner with Melissa and Eddie. Melissa seems so up for it."

"She would be."

"So your falling out can't be as big as you make it out to be."

"Adam, that is the first time I have spoken to her in a year. I didn't know anything about Evie."

"Yeah, does seem strange that Philip has never mentioned about her."

Rachel found herself sighing and she knew that she was running out of ways to tell Adam that dinner with Eddie and Melissa was the worst idea in the world. Mainly because Adam couldn't see it as anything else but a good idea. She felt like she might just have to tell Adam about her relationship with Eddie just to stop it from happening. Not that she wanted to do that. Because that felt like it was an equally bad idea as the dinner was. Because it did still hurt Rachel. It still hurt a lot.

"Please, can we talk about this later?" Rachel said as they stopped in the foyer of Waterloo Road.

"I really don't understand what more we can talk about it. We have agreed on next Saturday around ours because I am going to cook. Honestly, Rachel, what is your problem?"

Rachel was glad that it was a rhetorical question as Adam stormed off. It did make her wonder how she was going to argue it further and she wished that Melissa would have put up the same fight that she was doing. Because then she wouldn't be thinking about how she would have to explain to Adam how it was Eddie that she didn't want to see again.

"Rach?"

There were two people in the world that she loved hearing that from. The man who started calling her that and the young man that had picked it up from him. With that thought, she could only turn to her nephew and try and give him a smile.

"Philip, what can I do for you?"

"The dinner?"

She was waiting for the moment that Philip found out about their dinner. Actually, she was glad for it as she hoped that it meant that she could find out how well Eddie was getting on with Melissa, although with what Adam had said, she felt like he was having just as much luck as she was. She nodded towards the stairs to her office, hoping to move the conversation there. She didn't really want anyone sticking their oar in when they didn't need to.

"Having no luck?" Philip asked when they got into her office.

"Melissa being so for it isn't helping my argument." Rachel said.

"Oh, I heard Melissa," Kim said as she joined them in her office.

"I would like to say that I ran into her, but if I had seen her first, I would have pulled Adam in completely the other direction. It wasn't so bad when it was just her and Evie." Rachel explained.

"Then Eddie turned up?" Kim said.

Rachel nodded. "I am so close to having to say that it is Eddie that I don't want to have dinner with. It is worse now that I have found out that Adam said that he will cook. I might have been able to come up with some excuse if we were going out for dinner."

"Do you not think you would have had to tell him at some point?"

"Kim, if you haven't guessed, I am trying to act like me and Eddie never happened. It… hurts less that way."

"And how is that working for you now?" Philip said.

"I really don't need you getting involved, Philip."

"How did Adam ask you to marry him?"

"Eddie said something."

"No, I am just curious."

"How did Adam ask you to marry him?" Kim repeated before Rachel could say anything.

"He said that he wanted me to be his wife." Rachel said as she finally sat down in her chair as she couldn't deal with the dizziness and sickness that had started that morning (which she put down to the start of a migraine).

"So he didn't pop the question?" Philip said.

"No, he didn't."

Rachel missed the look between Kim and Philip as she closed her eyes and rubbed her hand over her forehead to try and stop the headache from growing. Although she felt like it had been growing since the weekend, finally hitting her now. As much as she didn't want to be reunited with him, her weekend had been filled with her thinking about him and their relationship and there was a part of her that waited for Eddie to come over to her and to start to help by massaging her neck and shoulders, releasing the tension from there.

But he wasn't going to.

Because he wasn't there.

"Rachel?"

She opened her eyes to see that Kim had sent Philip to his class and they were alone.

"Migraine." Rachel said.

"I'll tell Chris and we can give you at least a morning of peace and quiet."

"I'm not over him, Kim."

"I didn't think you were."

"And the most horrible thing I had to do was to show him the ring."

"Rachel, are you having doubts?" Kim asked softly.

"I need it to happen fast, so I don't have doubts."

"You didn't take things fast with Eddie."

"And look what happened."

Kim knew the mood that she was in. She knew that Rachel would come up with something to everything that she wanted to say to her. Which is why Kim left her with a 'let me know if you need anything'. If there was one thing that Rachel needed, she needed a time machine.