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Chapter 22: Constant Comfort
Whenever Rachel found herself gazing absently out of her office window, she also tended to find herself deep in thought. Which was where she happened to be when Monday morning rolled around once more - watching students filter into the building doing nothing to distract her swirling thoughts.
Rachel sensed Eddie make an entrance, knowing that he would be able to decipher her current state of mind with just one look. It was why he instinctively discarded their coffees by placing them on the table, seeing that Rachel required the comfort he could emanate.
She melted into Eddie's embrace almost instantly as he enveloped his arms around her from behind, limbs relaxing as she briefly allowed her head to roll back onto his shoulder.
Eddie heard Rachel sigh in contentment as he planted a kiss on her temple, turning in his arms as they shared a smile. It was something Rachel knew wouldn't have been gracing her lips had Eddie not been present. Always making her feel gratified no matter the circumstances.
With just one expression, Eddie gathered he'd portrayed his concern - knowing from the way Rachel chewed on her lip slightly, pondering over how she was going to communicate her somewhat tangled thought process.
"I just… you know, find myself wishing Philip would open up to me a little more with regards to his mum. Obviously… we've only known each other, what? Approaching two weeks. But I don't want him to feel as though he can't talk about these things, about how he's feeling."
From the way Rachel's brow furrowed, words tumbling out of her, Eddie could tell it was something which had been playing on her mind for some time.
"I don't think you realise how much you've helped him this past week. Rachel, you could never make Philip feel isolated, or as though he can't talk about Melissa. You've done nothing but show that lad you'll stick by his side."
"I'm sure I find myself saying this a lot but I… how do you always know what to say?"
"Because I know you," he paused a moment, tilting his head, "besides, how long did it take you to start opening up to me properly? I think you'll find you and Phil are a lot more alike than you think. It'll come in time."
Rachel trailed a finger down Eddie's face, ending up cupping his cheek as she smiled softly, "I hope I'm doing the right thing here Eddie, you know, having Philip live with us, away from his mum."
"You are doing the right thing. Phil needs some space away from his mum, at least until we get the verdict of the court case on the 27th. How are Melissa's aa meetings going?"
"Well - by all accounts. I know it's awful of me to doubt her Eddie but I… Melissa can say one thing and mean another. I just hope she's being truthful when it comes to this."
He hummed in agreement, not wanting to mull over the ramifications if Melissa was in fact concealing the facts when it came to the aa meetings, "it'll be alright. Just you see, it'll all work out in the end."
Rachel allowed her head to drop forward, always taking comfort from the skin on skin contact as their foreheads pressed together, "as long as you're by my side, I have reason to believe that."
Eddie couldn't resist it, tilting his chin upwards to mould their lips together, pulling apart only minutely as he began to speak, "and that's where I'll always be."
It was Rachel who couldn't resist it now, kissing Eddie as fiercely as she dared in a school environment. They always seemed to get lost in one another, so lost that they happened to not hear the knock on the door, nor the sound of it swinging open as Steph entered.
"Ahem. Just because you two are, well, out in the open and official now… it doesn't mean my clever little brain wants to have an image of you two going at it."
The two had sprung apart upon hearing the 'ahem,' Rachel's stomach sinking, cheeks pinkening even as she and Eddie shared a look of amusement. There was another mark of how far Rachel had come - had this been just over a week ago she would have undoubtedly wound herself up into a spiral of panic.
It was Eddie though, who recovered first, clearing his throat as he began to take in the somewhat enlightened expression upon Steph's face, "ever heard of a thing called knocking?"
"Well, that's the thing you see, I did. Methinks the pair of you were a little… shall we say, distracted?"
Rachel bit her lip to hide her smirk, glancing at Eddie as the redness of his cheeks seemed to intensify. Apparently they had been even more engulfed in one another than first thought.
"Let's… get on with the plans for tomorrow's drug awareness day, shall we Steph?"
"Yes, let's," she took a seat, not once faltering from the amused demeanour, her own distraction giving Rachel a chance to share a now exasperated look with her deputy, "I think the pair of you will be rather impressed."
"Oh," this piqued Rachel's interest as she sat forwards, brow furrowing, "really?"
"Well, you know me, always on the ball. I've actually erm… taken the initiative to involve our very own Ralph Mellor."
Eddie glanced warily at Rachel as she almost choked on her coffee, not wanting to believe what had just come out of the French teacher's mouth, yet knowing for certain she hadn't misheard.
"Is there… a problem?"
Of course Steph had picked up on the shift in atmosphere, an acquired sixth sense springing to life. Rachel forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat, not missing the way Eddie deliberately allowed his leg to fall against hers under the table. It was only marginal, but Rachel managed to take some comfort from that gesture, the warmth of his skin seeping through clothing giving her the strength she so very required.
"No. No, no problem."
"He seemed rather eager to make an appearance, did Ralph. Clearly he's wanting to show off his detective skills," Steph was gesturing wildly with her hands, grinning as if she were the sole genius of the universe. Yet Rachel's mind was elsewhere - an entire day of their chair of governors sniffing around. Their chair of governors who just happened to so obviously have it in for her. Oh, what could possibly go wrong?
"I bet," Rachel just about gathered Eddie muttering, tone full of animosity as Steph looked relatively taken aback by the venom in the deputy head's words.
The conversation continued in a much similar fashion, to the point where Rachel had entirely zoned out, mind spiralling out of control as her irrational side came into play, conjuring up an abundance of scenarios that she had no desire to ponder over.
Only her thoughts screeched to a halt as two familiar shaped hands came to rest on her shoulders, head whipping round to question Eddie's actions, until Rachel noticed that Steph was in fact no longer present. It seemed her musings had begun to control her somewhat.
"This is the last thing we need," Rachel let out a well needed sigh as her head dropped back onto Eddie's torso, "Ralph Mellor…."
"Sticking his nose in," Eddie completed the thought process as she trailed off, pleased to elicit a soft chuckle from her.
"Exactly that," she nodded, "he already associates me and this school with violence and goodness knows what else, how are we going to be perceived by the end of the day tomorrow?"
"It's hard to think like this but…. nothing you say or do is going to change that bloke's mind."
"I think you're right."
Eddie ducked his head to Rachel's neck, planting a kiss on the side of it, "I always am."
His quip had the desired effect as she swivelled round on instinct, grinning as she thwacked his arm playfully. Eddie couldn't help but laugh along with her, Rachel's happiness was infectious and he couldn't be more glad to still see that from her, even with the presence of Ralph Mellor looming.
….
It was that exact conversation and contentment Rachel found herself reflecting upon the very next day. Almost everything that could have possibly gone wrong, had. Seemingly, it was just a question of waiting for the next disaster.
Rachel's mind was forced to think about all the times Stuart had come knocking on her door as she awaited Ralph's appearance with the results. She couldn't help but liken the situations, not when her thoughts were spiralling out of control, heart jumping every time the phone rang or a noise was heard.
Eddie had sensed this too, doing everything in his power to shift Rachel's musings from their pivotal focus, yet equally knowing that that was airing on impossible until Ralph did or didn't put their minds at rest.
Though, Eddie was sure he was just as nervous and on edge as Rachel, especially when they simultaneously jumped as a knock at the door was followed by an entrance.
Ralph's comment was far more of a hindrance than a help; another instance of him proving that he was out to get Rachel and Waterloo Road, "thought I'd bring it in myself, just so there's no confusion."
Eddie's frown was a perfect representation of how Rachel felt in that moment as she took the envelope, deciding that the expression was weirdly the only thing keeping her sane as their chair of governor's took another step into the office.
"Thanks very much," she responded with an eyebrow raise, all too aware that she sounded far more confident than the way her mind was going.
Eddie himself was somewhat pleasantly surprised as Rachel announced there were six positive results, yet that was soon dampened as he stole a look at Ralph, gathering that the man was taking an opposing approach to his findings.
And his following words only seemed to intensify that attitude, "it's flaming outrageous! What were you expecting?"
Sharing an exasperated look with Rachel, Eddie could no longer hold his tongue, "it's still single figures. We know the next steps to take, getting them enrolled onto the drug awareness sessions should do the trick."
"I am nothing but speechless," Ralph bit back, "even our head boy's on that list."
That, Rachel was struggling to believe, not something she had been anticipating from Marley Kelly.
Apparently, Eddie was having the exact same thought process, "Blimey. How accurate are these tests of yours?"
"Infallible."
Rachel found she wanted nothing more than to wipe the smug look from Ralph's face, or perhaps watch Eddie do it for her. Taking a deep breath, she made an attempt at composing herself, not wanting to give Ralph another stick to beat them with.
"Well, at least we've caught him out, hm? So we can give him a very severe warning."
"That lad wants more than a severe warning! The head boy is supposed to be a role model. What? Shall we get the rest of the school to follow by example? What we need to be doing, is sending a message to the community that we do not tolerate drug use in schools."
Eddie felt his eyes narrowing on instinct, "do I detect a hint of threat?"
"Let's exclude the head boy, only one pupil, but a strong message."
"Oh for goodness sake, this hardly amounts to exclusion. We need to help Marley, not isolate him. Eddie's mention of the drug awareness classes is far more, infallible."
If anything, Rachel loved the slight smirk gracing Eddie's lips as she repeated the word used by Ralph with a bout of emphasis.
"What do you have to do to get excluded from this school?"
What caused Rachel's stomach to churn was the pure thought that she and Eddie were clearly fighting a losing battle with Ralph Mellor. This wasn't the end of their conversation, or his interrogation, if anything, it was only the beginning.