A/N: So I decided not to keep you waiting for this one, as it will be a few days before the next chapter ...

A big thank you to everyone reading and a special thank you to Mrs Carmichael, hannah5240, RachelMasonFan39, LittleH12, FaeMelody, Lynny and fayeftvanity for the reviews!
Please enjoy.

Burning under your control

Chapter eleven.

Controlling someone is having the ability to influence and dominate a vulnerable human being.

Overwhelmed.

Clutching at the wheel, her hands trembled, and she felt a wave of uneasiness. Maybe, just maybe she'd be okay today. It wasn't really an option, but she had to return to school. The thought of her absence causing any discussion in the staff room alarmed her. She was not one to be the centre of attention and in the circumstances, she'd rather fall behind the scenes.

Looking, she could see eight o'clock exactly and she breathed a sigh of relief to know that she had a few minutes before the school swarmed with pupils and staff. She needed the silence to recuperate her thoughts and understand what it was she needed to do. There was a constant reminder of Eddie's words from the night before. He was protecting her, and she felt guilt for pushing him away.

'Hiding?', Eddie questioned as he popped around the corner of her office door startling her. She lifted her hand to her chest and became angry at his ability frighten her like that.

'God Eddie, don't do that', she exclaimed furiously trying to control her heart rate. He could see her genuine panic and realised that it hadn't quite been as light-hearted and funny as he hoped.

'Sorry', he apologised edging further into the room. His hands slumped in his coat pockets and his hair slightly sticking up in the odd place here and there.

'Where's the paperwork that was on my desk? The consent forms for the year -', she began shuffling around a few items before realising that they definitely were not on her desk.

'I've done them', he interrupted quietly awaiting her to notice. She however, carried on with her quest.

'Eight trip to- ..', she halted, realising that he had finished them.

'You've done them?', she wanted to double check, just in case she had heard wrong. It was unheard of that Eddie Lawson had done paperwork and so this was very unusual.

'I thought I'd save you a job', he explained. His smile was warm and genuine, and he hoped that she'd recognise his hard work. Unbeknown to him, she had been rather impressed that he'd stepped up and taken on the role with such responsibility.

'Oh', she spoke quietly. She flashed him a nervous smile and looked down rather embarrassed by her flushed cheeks before she replied with a simple, 'Thank you'.

He appreciated her thanks, and he could have sworn that he had seen her cheeks become a blushed pink, but he knew better than to tease her.

'Look, I can do the brief this morning if you want? I'm sure the staff will have questions', he asked politely not wanting to undermine her. Naturally, being the stubborn yet strong Rachel Mason that he knew, she declined his offer.

'It's okay, I can do it.'

Their walk to the staff room fell into a comfortable silence, and neither one felt awkward. She was glad to have his support, and he was glad of her presence again. On reaching their destination, he opened the door for her and gave a small smile to reassure her it would be okay.

'Good morning everyone, just a few things to run over today', Rachel began, as she walked into the room. The staff stopped their conversations pretty quickly, and she found at least twenty eyes on her.

'Nice break, Rachel? Flu was it?', smirked Steph as she lifted her coffee to her lips before grabbing another biscuit. Her smile had been obvious behind her mug. Rachel glared at her and lowered her tone.

'Steph, I'll have you know that I have in fact been bed bound for the last few days, and unless you have your doctors notes from the last few times that you've been off then I suggest you stop worrying about me and start worrying about yourself', the staff room echoed with sniggers and Steph looked a tad mortified before shuffling back in her seat defeated by the headteachers remark.

'Now, I'm sure you're all aware that we have the year 6 induction day coming up, so I'd like us to prepare for that, and also I'd like to arrange some activities in the hall so we'll have to shuffle some lessons about. Tom, can I leave you to organise the activities, maybe get Davina in on it? The experience would be good', Rachel continued pressing on with the brief in hope to get it over with as quick as possible. On looking over at Eddie for reassurance, she heard the likes of Grantley mumbling to Steph.

'Free period for me I hope', he muttered, whilst Steph gave a light laugh cautious not to annoy Rachel further.

'I'm sure Mr Clarkson will find a suitable role for you, Grantley, don't you worry', Rachel announced as she gave him a sarcastic smile. Eddie rolled his eyes at the attempt of Grantley trying to wangle his way out of this one.

There was the underlying subject that hadn't been approached yet, and staff were eager to find out more. Rachel understood that they deserved to know, however she wasn't ready. Noticing that she was struggling, Eddie took it upon himself to address the issue.

'Now, I'm sure that you've well that you've seen the papers', he told them as they whispered amongst one another.

'So it's true then?', Tom quizzed, standing from the kitchen continuing to make his coffee whilst waiting for a reply. Eddie watched as Rachel took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself before answering.

'Yes, for those of you who still don't know, Mr Hordley who was building our new centre, he's ... tragically passed away', she croaked. The memories came crashing back, and she became nauseous.

'Drink driving I presume', Grantley chipped in before continuing to look back at his paper.

'Look, I think we all need to leave the accusations behind and try to move on', Eddie retorted, quickly turning his back on them and following Rachel out of the room.

She had scurried down the hall making her office her only destination frantically hoping she wouldn't get stopped. Her movement had been too much too quickly, and she almost fell to the floor.

'Are you okay?', Eddie asked with concern. He'd seen how she nearly fell off balance and controlled herself from falling.

'Eddie, I'm fine, please', she begged. Deep down she had known that she wasn't ready, but this was her job after all and she had a responsibility. She would not let Stuart control her from beyond the grave, and she would damn sure push herself to be okay, quickly.

'Rachel, you shouldn't be here, look at you, you can hardly stand. Come on, get back into your office', he demanded. Grabbing her arm and forcing her to look at him, she could see that he was angry. She felt slightly off balance again and began to lose hearing before her body clammed up. On sensing she would pass out at any moment, he put his arm around her waist before keeping her up and giving her a second with his support.

'Eddie-', Rachel protested. She didn't want him to see her like this again, but he gave her no choice.

'Rachel, no. If you're going to be here, then I don't want you doing anymore damage to yourself.'

A few minutes later and they'd arrived at her office. Eddie still supporting her, even though she had reassured him she would be perfectly fine walking on her own. Bridget looked on confused at the headteacher's inability to walk on her own.

'Bridget, can you give us ten minutes?', Eddie asked politely. He knew that it would cause her further confusion and by the look on her face, she was unsure what to do.

'Honestly, it's okay', he assured. With a small smile from Rachel, she took that as her cue to remove herself from the situation.

On hearing the door close, Eddie walked her into her office, and quickly shut the door behind them. He studied her as she took her time to find comfort on the sofa.

'Rachel, please stop doing this to yourself', he said as he kneeled down in front of her closing the gap between them. She turned her head away from him in hope that he'd stop worrying about her.

'Hey, come on. I don't want you hurting yourself', he spoke gently, his thumb running across her jawline. Shutting her eyes, she felt his touch warming on her skin, and she let out a deep sign. As she opened her eyes, a strong feeling of love and affection crept up on her. She wasn't sure what was happening, but she felt her lips gravitate towards his. His heart raced, and he didn't know whether to copy her actions or pull away afraid that she'd regret it and pull away from him again. However, he let his body take over, and he found his fingertips running through her hair as their lips caught. It had been gentle, and a spark omitted them. In a sudden second, she pulled her lips away, and he panicked. On seeing him become anxious, she felt compelled to reassure him it was what she wanted, and so like before, their lips met again. Passion embraced them, and they couldn't be controlled. That was however, before the door to her office swung open and a familiar figure stood before them sending Rachel into a panic.