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Susan's injuries weren't as damaging as first anticipated. She had endured broken ribs, a fractured wrist and as well as this, an abundance of bruises. Rachel hoped that now, her mum would feel willing to open up about the whole situation, including who did this to her; although Rachel did already have an inkling.

"Philip and Isabelle will be back at my house now, he texted to say the family liaison officer dropped them home, what with the circumstances. So in terms of where to go next, Eddie's offered his place. Will that be alright with you mum?"

Rachel posed this all important question as soon as the trio were settled back in her car. She had already guessed that Susan was feeling comfortable around Eddie now, but equally, she didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"Isabelle?" her mum simply responded, with a brief smile on her face.

"Oh of course, sorry. That's Melissa's baby's name, I mentioned it earlier," Rachel said, unsure of her next comment, although certain it had to be said sooner or later, "Eddie… he's the dad."

As expected, Susan's gaze flicked dramatically towards Eddie, as if searching for some form of answer. This action had Rachel wondering if her mum had presumed her and Eddie as being together.

"We… we weren't together though. Hadn't been for a while," Eddie elaborated, causing Susan's gaze to soften slightly.

The way Eddie stumbled on his words slightly, only emphasised Rachel's earlier thought. Eddie had noticed it too: her mother had obviously picked up something.

Realising that Susan hadn't yet given an answer to the prominent question, Rachel repeated herself, "so is it alright? You know, to go to Eddie's?"

"Oh yes, that'll be fine. Sorry dear."

Turning to the steering wheel after accepting her mother's apology with a smile, Rachel and Eddie shared a look. Their expressions said it all; both parties were just glad to have each other throughout all of this.

An unusually comfortable silence elapsed as Rachel began to drive. With Eddie, things were never awkward. With her mother in the car though, Rachel had expected the whole dynamic to change. It seemed it was right for all three adults to have a few moments to themselves. After all, a whole spiral of events had occurred in the past day.

Rachel had a clear view of Susan in her mirrors, so very much anticipated her speech. What she didn't predict however, was the question itself.

"Do you think I could meet them, Philip and Isabelle I mean?"

Although the comment was directed at Rachel, she concluded that it wasn't her place to decide at all. Even though she was Isabelle's aunt, Eddie was her father - so surely, he should have the final say. As for Philip, he's almost an adult, hence there was no way that Rachel was prepared to answer for him.

Using her peripheral vision, Rachel could feel Eddie's eyes almost burning a hole in the side of her head. She found herself wondering what he was thinking, how he was feeling about this whole situation. Rachel wished they had more time with one another, to truly discuss how they were feeling about this scenario. She wasn't selfish though, far from it; the needs of Philip, Isabelle and Susan had to come first. In Rachel's mind, her own were currently irrelevant.

"I don't mind Rach, she's her grandmother."

Of course Eddie would know exactly what she was thinking in that moment, Rachel should have seen that coming. But her mind was focusing on something else altogether: the way he leant forwards to whisper in her ear, causing her to shiver slightly as a result of his breath. Or more significantly, the way Eddie's hand rested on her knee in reassurance. His touch seemed to melt away the material of her jeans completely. These thoughts were the only thing swimming around in Rachel's mind, causing her knowledge of everything else to become cloudy.

This wasn't about her, she had to focus on her mum and Isabelle.

Flashing Eddie a grateful smile, and attempting to ignore the way his hand effortlessly slipped off her knee, Rachel turned her attention to Susan.

"You can meet Isabelle for definite. I'll have to speak to Philip though, I'm not sure how he'll be feeling about the whole situation. He's still very much recovering from the events of yesterday."

"Yes that's… understandable," Susan replied, an odd mixture of disappointment and understanding in her gaze.

….

As they arrived at Eddie's, Rachel once again had to push her personal feelings to the back of her agenda. Being back here evoked so many memories and happy times; so much so that she found it extremely difficult not to slip into her own reverie.

Making her mother as comfortable as possible given her injuries, Rachel took a seat adjacent to her. Initially, she had considered sitting in the chair opposite. Mainly because the sofa almost forced her mind to focus on the many intimate moments she and Eddie had shared. It seemed the thoughts had raked through his brain also; when their eyes locked, the rest of the world seemed irrelevant. But that was incredibly far from the truth, and they both knew it.

"Can I get you both a drink?" Eddie broke the silence, along with the intense stare.

"I'd love a tea please," Susan said, "milk and one sugar."

Eddie turned to Rachel next, taking a slight hint of comfort in the fact that if she was having a drink, he would know exactly how she wanted it.

"Just some water please Eddie, thank you."

"Coming right up."

With his last statement, Eddie was gone. Leaving Rachel wondering where on earth this exchange with her mother could end up.

"Did Graeme do this to you?" Rachel suggested, once again refusing to call that man Dad.

"I… yes, yes he did."

Rachel sighed. The prospect seemed a whole lot worse now she knew it was true.

"It's only the second time he's been violent with me, the whole time we've been together," Susan continued.

The two family members shared a knowing look. Graeme had been physical towards Rachel on far more counts than that, and both women knew it.

"What triggered it?" Rachel asked, she gathered that there had to be a rather significant reason behind his outbursts.

"Do you remember your 15th birthday?"

The younger woman nodded solemnly. Rachel remembered it, but it was something she had constantly tried to shake from her memory. After she dropped a glass by accident, Graeme had given her a particularly violent beating. To the extent that her aunt Grace had accompanied her to the hospital, with a false story of tripping down the stairs.

"It happened the day after, when you, Melissa and Chris were staying at Grace's. It… it was the one time I called him out for his behaviour. I said I would leave him if he assaulted you again."

Upon seeing tears glistening in her mother's eyes, Rachel shifted closer to Susan. As she took her hand, Rachel appreciated how difficult it must be for Susan to relive this. Rachel could certainly understand that.

"He hit me, several times and hard. But he was careful, did it in places where you, Mel and Chris wouldn't see. I… nearly left him. Couldn't bring myself to do it though, for once in my life, I tried to put my children first, I really did."

"Look mum, the past is in the past now. I'm not going to hold that against you anymore. To get through this, we need to move on from it."

Rachel's words came from the heart, which made them all the more difficult to say. They were worth it though, especially seeing the glimpse of a sincere smile forming on her mother's lips.

"And as for this morning…" Susan resumed, "the reasons behind the abuse were similar. I hated how he was putting you down, calling you…"

"It's alright, it's likely I've heard it a thousand times before."

"He was… calling you a whore, along with several other things. And I was sick of it, couldn't bring myself to listen to him any longer. I just snapped Rachel, started screaming at him, saying how he couldn't go on like this…"

A shaky sob emanated from Susan, and Rachel saw no need to sit back and let her continue.

"It's okay mum," she whispered, stroking the elder woman's hair as a form of reassurance, "you don't need to explain the rest. All you need to know, is that I'm here for you now. We will get through this together, rather than apart."

Against her chest, she sensed her mother nod, and she took that as a cue to continue.

"You're welcome to stay with me for as long as you need. You have to recover from these injuries for a start."

"Th… thank you sweetheart. I know I might not have shown it in the past, but I do love you. You know that don't you?"

Rachel nodded as she and Susan made eye contact. Now it was her eyes full to the brim with tears. Even though she might have ignored the emotions inside of her, it was something she had needed to hear from her mum for a long time now.

"I love you too mum."

Only as the pair ended conversation, to focus on comforting one another, did Rachel realise the absence of Eddie. Not for long though, she glanced up at the door, and there he was. A soft smile was evident on his lips as he watched them, and Rachel found herself wondering how long he had been stood there.

His consideration was something that she had always been aware of, but now even more so. Returning the smile, Rachel allowed her thoughts to turn to Eddie for just a few moments. Perhaps for once, she even let herself consider just picking up where they left off. She knew it wouldn't be that easy, but the thought was there. And the sparks of hope flitting around in her body were more than enough for now.