Thank you for the reviews.

On to Series 4 Episode 2... As you can tell, we are starting to go into slightly more into AU mode here. Question, are we ready to hate Melissa just a little bit more than you already do?

(Side note. Did write chapter 30 yesterday... Not really the chapter that I wanted to write after chapter 28/29... let's just say that this is a 45 chapter story... Lots of drama to come... Lots)

Chapter Fifteen
Head of Extended Services

Rachel didn't really want to pull Eddie out of his lesson but she didn't know who else to turn to. She watched him as he set the students a task to do before he joined her outside his classroom.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I really don't think we have made the right decision."

"Melissa?"

"We know she has had a couple of walkouts but I fear there is going to be more and…" She sighed. "Remind me again why we didn't choose Steph or Grantly. Because I have already had Steph at my door, questioning me."

"Because we questioned their motivations for doing it."

"But Steph doesn't see it like that does she? For her… It is like blatant favouritism. It is just something else for her to complain about. Grantly is going to mention it every time I see him and goodness knows what Ralph Mellor is going to say when he finds out."

"I definitely preferred confident worried Rachel to this manic worried Rachel."

"What?"

"Look, let it run until lunchtime and then we will see where she is at. I will dig out a couple of my popular worksheets if she is still struggling to help her out. It is her first day of teaching and I don't know about you, I was a bag of nerves on my first day."

"I was how I am now."

"I know you don't really want her around, but cut her a little slack. This is new to both her, us and Waterloo Road. Nothing starts off perfect. There are always teething problems."

"You're right. And that's why I come to you because you are usually right."

"I wouldn't say that out loud again." He joked.

Rachel smiled. Why did he always make her feel calmer about everything?

"Rachel's been getting a bit freaked, hasn't she?"

As much as Eddie wanted to agree with Melissa, it wasn't really the time or place. He had been set on trying to help her out, but having just dealt with Candice and Rose after they started fighting, he was a little more reluctant. Not that it was going to blow up in Melissa's face if it all went to pot.

"Are you aware what Rachel's been through this last year?" He asked.

"Yeah, I do know she's had a pretty rough ride."

"And then some."

Eddie knew that it wasn't really his place to tell Melissa what Rachel hadn't told her. He got a sense that Rachel had only told her the bare minimum and he could understand why.

"A lot of people are waiting for her to fall flat on her face." He continued. "The last thing she needs right now is another failure."

"Eddie, don't worry. I'm not going to let her fail. I know you think that I am inexperienced but I can be pretty determined you know. It runs in the family. And I know I've got a hell of a learning curve on my hands but I can do it."

"Look go to lunch and then come to my classroom once you have had something to eat. I might have a few things that might be helpful."

"Thank you."

"Just… We do understand that it is your first-day teaching. I just don't want another panicked and worried Rachel at my door, okay?"

"You are a really good friend to her," Melissa said before she left him.

Friend? That wasn't what he wanted to be but that was what he was for the moment. Rachel wasn't ready and he knew that there was no point in rushing her. He knew that she had meant everything that she had said to him last term and he still had hope because of the kiss. Deep down, Eddie knew that Rachel felt something for him. She had just had her confidence knocked, and it was something that he was starting to miss.

Eddie was getting a little annoyed at Melissa. She was currently holding onto his shoulder while he was trying to convince her that she had already had too much to drink. He had only really gone out because Rachel said that she didn't feel up to it and he felt like someone should be there to look after her. Not that he really knew his own reasoning behind it. He almost pushed Melissa off of him as Rachel entered.

"Rachel, over here." He shouted as he sat Melissa down.

"Sorry, the paperwork didn't take me as long as I thought. What's everyone drinking?" Rachel said as she joined them.

He could tell that she didn't really want to be there but he was glad that she did come. The smile that she directed at him showed him that she was only there for his sake. He hoped that it meant that he could focus his attention more on the sister that he wanted rather than the one that seemed to want him more at the moment.

"I've just got a round. Merlot?"

"Please Eddie."

He was glad that when he returned, Rachel had taken the seat next to Melissa and the only available seat was between Rachel and Steph.

"You two have quite different personalities. Rather chalk and cheese." Steph said.

"Sisters usually are," Melissa said.

"I mean, what was Rachel like when she was younger? Was she… a bit of a control freak back then as well?"

Eddie glared at Steph. It wasn't really her place to ask and with the few things that Rachel had said about Melissa, he didn't really expect anything nice to come out of her mouth.

"Control freak is the right word for it. She was like a second mum. Always trying to tell me what I should and shouldn't do. Just because you were five years older than me doesn't mean that you had any right to tell me what to do."

"If Mum…" Rachel started.

"If Mum was an actual Mum to us, then you would never have acted that way. Rachel, you've been using that excuse for the last eight years to explain everything that you did."

Eddie was glad that Steph looked a little guilty for asking. He tried to not make it to obvious but he reached for Rachel's hand underneath the table and gave it a squeeze. She gave his hand a squeeze back and gave him a look that he knew meant that she would explain once they had got out of there. Although she also looked like she wished that the ground would just open up and swallow her whole. He knew that another question that he would have to ask would be how much Melissa knew about what happened to her in the last few months.

Tom watched Rachel as she watched Melissa walk off.

"Ready?" She whispered as she turned to Eddie. "I think I should get you home."

"What about Melissa?"

"I think I was put in my place earlier. She can make her own way back."

"We can always make sure she gets back. We can do home via yours." Tom said.

"Thanks, Tom." Rachel said as they both stood up, said their goodbyes and left.

Tom sighed. "I'm going to say something to Melissa."

"What do you know then Thomas?" Grantly said.

"Am I the only one with eyes here? Rachel and Eddie?"

"What about Rachel and Eddie?" Melissa said when she arrived back at the table. "Have they gone?"

"Yeah." Tom paused for a moment. "That's why we are talking about them. Every year we make bets on who is going to be the next to get together in the staffroom. I am putting forward Rachel and Eddie this year."

The snort from Melissa should have surprised Tom more but it didn't.

"Oh, you're being serious. Rachel and Eddie? Never going to happen. He isn't her type."

"I mean she was pregnant," Steph said. "With Eddie's baby."

Tom thought back to the conversation that he had with Eddie in the hospital about him knowing that Stuart was the father of the baby. Either Steph hadn't worked out that it wasn't Eddie's or maybe she had worked out that telling Melissa that it was Stuart's would open another world of problems for Rachel. He wasn't really going to ask her just in case she hadn't worked it out. Eddie seemed to trust him by confirming the truth and it wasn't for him to break that trust. Especially now he had Rachel's as well.

"So they must have had at least one night together… you know for that to happen." Steph continued.

"Or the way that Lawson carried her out of the school when it was on fire," Grantly added.

"Or the way that he was leaning over her afterwards. What do you know Tom?"

"I never really asked," Tom said, hoping that they weren't going to catch on that he was lying. "But even as a friend, I don't think that Eddie would have sat by her bedside quite like he did. You remember the way he was when he was trying to get us all to go to that meeting."

"Okay, that might be Eddie. But that isn't Rachel. Plus she wasn't pregnant. She would have told me." Melissa said as she finished her drink.

"No, she was definitely pregnant," Steph said.

"She must have been a little way along. You could start to see her small bump," Davina added.

"Eddie said that they had been for their first scan. I think it might have been just before they told us." Tom said.

"My sister was not pregnant. She would have definitely told me if she was. Does anyone else want another drink?"

There were mainly mumbles that they were fine but Tom could tell that even Steph and Grantly were taken aback by Melissa's attitude.

"I don't think you will hear this from me again. But poor Rachel." Steph said.

"I want to put another two names in," Davina said. "Jasmine and Rob."

Tom was quite glad for the little distraction that his girlfriend had given them as they looked over at the English and PE teacher. He could admit that she might be right there but as Grantly said, he did have insider information when it came to Rachel and Eddie.

"How about we sleep on the decision?" Tom said as Melissa rejoined them. "I think we have a couple of options. Let's meet in the Pastoral Care office tomorrow morning before school to place the bets."

"What's the wager?" Melissa asked.

"Last year it was a fiver," Steph said. "Depends how confident some people are."

"I'm fine to up the stakes. Say a tenner this year." Tom said.

"Oh and Melissa, Mums the word. Don't tell the bosses."

Rachel sighed as she pulled up the handbrake as she stopped outside of Eddie's house.

"You didn't have to come." He said.

"And leave you alone with my sister. That isn't fair on you."

"You also didn't have to drive me home."

"Honestly Eddie, it is the least that I could do after everything you have done for me."

"You don't have to explain."

She allowed herself to smile. "Don't I?"

"I get that it is one part of your long story."

"I mentioned before that Mum had a string of boyfriends after Dad left. It was all in aid of finding Melissa a dad. I was blamed for Dad leaving, never really understanding why that was the case." She paused for a moment. "You remember the Sally Froggatt situation and how angry I was at her mum and that you thought I was being a bit harsh?"

"Yeah."

"I was harsh because it was exactly what I wanted to say to my mum. I was Sally. This boyfriend, Steve, kept taking Mum away on these holidays. It went from weekends away to two weeks at a time. I was nine the first time it happened. Luckily, Melissa was at least school age by that point. A nine and four-year-old walking to and from school on their own. I learnt to grow up pretty quick."

"That wasn't fair on you."

"When Mum decided that she actually wanted to be a mum to us, that was when he turned and… I remember trying to drag him off her. An 11-year-old was never going to be able to stop him but I felt like I had to do something. I was blamed for Steve's actions and I learnt pretty quickly that Melissa's happiness was the most important thing in the world."

"You never should have been blamed for that."

"Eddie, the confidence I had before had been built up over many years of finally finding my own self-worth. It is why I prefer my sister in small doses. By the time the self-doubt starts to creep in, she has gone."

"And when you said you never felt loved by your parents." He sighed. "I can't promise that you will never feel that way again, but I want to promise that once you let me in, I will give you all the love that you should have been given."

"What have I done to deserve you, Eddie Lawson?"

It was another moment that she knew, if she let herself, she could have let him in and they could start the relationship that her heart seemed to be urging her for. But he left her with a smile and her wondering when she was going to take the leap with him.