Hi everyone, thank you so much for the lovely reviews and support with this story.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, you all deserve it. Please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think x

Every so often, Eddie removed his stare from the road to check on the woman sat beside him. It was the way Rachel fixated her gaze on the floor that blew her cover. This alone told him that she had become embedded with additional worry as the drive went on. Subsequently, her state was reinforced by the silence that elapsed when they eventually pulled up outside her parent's house.

"Rach," he almost whispered, breaking Rachel's external trance, "are you ready?"

As soon as he spoke the words, Eddie cursed himself for the questioning. How could she ever be ready for something like this?

Shock overcame him along with Rachel's response. She simply turned to face him and braved a smile, "as ready as I'll ever be."

It was those words in particular that amazed Eddie. He had already been overwhelmed by Rachel's bravery and strength in the past, and now - even more so. In the space of 4 hours, she had received news of her sister's death, come face to face with Eddie once more and had been battered with the revelation of her distant relatives. After all that, this extraordinary person that was Rachel Mason, still managed to plaster a smile on her face; genuine or not. Like many instances before, it came to Eddie's attention that she was truly unbelievable.

A few moments later found the pair stood directly outside the front door. Eddie watched as Rachel studied the exterior carefully, then steeped herself in order to prepare for the inevitable.

Rachel's true vulnerability was only accentuated by her next query.

"Can you do it Eddie…knock?"

He expressed his response with a supportive hand before following Rachel's requests.

One minute passed, then two. It seemed that the silence between them had lingered until this point.

"Do you know Eddie they might not even live here anymore… I'll just have to think of…"

At that exact moment their attention was magnetised towards the door once more. Judging by the way Rachel's body automatically stiffened, this was her mother. Not only that, Eddie noted the stark similarities in appearance between mother and daughter. He found it rather strange, considering they were obviously miles apart with regards to personality. Eddie had worked that one out for himself after everything Rachel had shared with him.

"Who are you and what do you want? You'd better not be selling anything, I'm not having it…"

The second the woman opened her mouth, Eddie longed to whisk Rachel away from this apparent disaster. It was quite obvious she didn't even recognise her own daughter. Granted, it had been over twenty years, but Eddie could never imagine being clueless to the presence of his children.

Apparently Rachel was just as baffled, she stuttered several times before managing a single word.

"I'm … I'm…"

Of course.

She couldn't simply state 'I'm Rachel' since her mother hadn't known her as that. If at all, she'd remember her as Amanda. Someone who was a lifetime away from where Rachel was today.

Eddie noticed how the woman pulled a flabbergasted facial expression as if to say 'go on then enlighten me.' This only infuriated him further, he disliked this woman with a passion already. His feeling of anger melted away instantaneously to the look Rachel presented him with - it was a cry out for help.

"This is your daughter."

Eventually, Eddie managed to string a sentence together. At first though, his heart was breaking overwhelmingly due to Rachel's inability to mutter her former name. As an instinct, his hand had been placed on the small of her back in the hope of support. Which was why, when her mother's reaction unfolded, Eddie felt Rachel's body jerk ever so slightly.

"Amanda... Graeme!"

The woman turned on her heel slightly, presumably beckoning her husband. This was followed by a faint voice which had Rachel producing a pale white colour across her features.

It was a look Eddie knew only too well.

….

Flashback:

"He used to… my father he…"

"Rachel, you don't have to tell me this if you don't want to."

"No Eddie, I have to. I want to… it's been bottled up, all these years. I've been, you know, sort of waiting for the right person to share my deepest secrets with…" she paused for a moment, cupping Eddie's cheek with her right hand, "and now I know, that person is you."

In response, Eddie simply smiled softly to portray a sense of encouragement. Every fibre in his being was delighted that Rachel trusted him in his way. Equally though, Eddie couldn't comprehend just how harrowing this revelation must be for Rachel to conceal it all these years.

"He used to beat me up. On a regular basis. I managed to deal with it, until this one time… he threatened to kill me, had me at knife point against the wall actually. For a moment, I really believed he would do it. So that was it for me, the final straw if you like."

"Oh Rachel," he muttered on instinct, pulling her close instantly. He felt Rachel gulp slightly before continuing, presumably fighting back the tears.

"Melissa, he loved her deeply. Never laid a finger on the girl in my presence. When I left though… that changed, and she was in the firing line. It had been three years since I left when she called me, told me she had to get out of there. She was 18. My parents, they haven't seen Melissa or I since then. We cut off all contact with them."

….

With the appearance of her father, Eddie's grip on Rachel only tightened. He gathered how terrifying this must be for her. By all accounts, Rachel's last run in with Graeme hadn't been a pleasant one, and Eddie knew she would be fretting about the implications of that now.

"Well well well, if it isn't Amanda… and who's this, your bit on the side?"

The man sneered viciously, almost spitting in their direction. This almost had Eddie acting on impulse, he had to suppress his underlying anger for Rachel's sake entirely. In that moment, there was nothing Eddie wanted to do more than collide his own fist with Graeme's face.

It would most certainly be deserved.

….

Her parent's initial reactions had Rachel more than glad of Eddie's presence. She genuinely didn't know how she would've handled any of it alone. Now they were there, all Rachel wanted to do was break the devastating news and run. To her, it sounded harsh, but deep down she knew what her parents were capable of, her father in particular. They didn't justify the pretences she had built up nicely over the years.

"Can I come in, we need to talk."

Her mother, Susan, made a move to speak, but it seemed her father had different ideas.

Nothing had changed in that respect then.

"And why should we let you into our house? After all these years of no contact, hm?"

"Look it's important."

Graeme sneered, however his evil presence was swiftly suppressed with a look of concern from Susan.

"Just let her in Graeme. She says it's important."

….

Acting on his natural tendency, Eddie sat as close as possible to Rachel. He longed to protect her at all costs. Their previous situation had been discarded for now, Eddie's sole purpose in that moment was to shield Rachel from any evil projected her way.

Only when the pair began to scan their surroundings, did it register to Eddie that something wasn't quite right.

Several pictures of adult Melissa surrounded them - by the beach, in a restaurant, their back garden.

What was going on here?

The look etched into Rachel's features had Eddie's brain clicking into gear. It was evident that Melissa had kept contact with her parents, unbeknownst to Rachel.

"I… I don't understand… what are all these pictures?"

Rachel's confuses questioning almost read Eddie's mind to the word.

"What, you don't know?" Susan interrogated, a clear intonation of hatred in her words.

Rachel simply shook her head in disbelief. Eddie knew the woman didn't need Susan's confirmation; it was clear Rachel had already put two and two together.

This would utterly shatter her world.

"Oh Amanda, I can't quite believe she didn't tell you. Melissa, she contacted us a few years after she left, we've been close with her ever since."