Thank you for the reviews.

It's Tuesday... that means me posting this before work because if I don't it will be like 10 o'clock at night or me trying to do it in my lunch break... Obviously doing it in my lunch break isn't a problem, I can do it on my phone. It is just easier to do it from my laptop.

Now let's place your bets...

Chapter Sixteen
Additional Problems

"How is it all shaping up?" Steph said as she closed the door behind her.

"I think this is going to be the most interesting year yet. Everyone, save from Rachel and Eddie, have placed a bet. So the winners are going to have quite the winnings." Tom said. "Apparently you have a side bet going on?"

"That is for me to know and you to find out."

"So it is about when I will propose to Davina?"

"Well don't take all the fun out of it. So who have we got?"

"Rachel and Eddie have been popular as well as Jasmine and Rob. Grantly for some reason has gone with Eddie and Melissa. He is definitely on his own there. A few have gone for Cathy and Pete."

"Mixed bag then?"

"This year is going to be interesting."

"Grantly's right. You have insider information." Steph said after a moment's silence.

"I was with Eddie as we pretty much ran through the hospital to find Rachel. I was struggling to keep up with him. I think we all know that Rachel isn't someone who lets her private life mess with her professional one and the only time we have seen her open up is when she was talking about her past. I… Eddie's actions, I believe, could only be explained by saying that he believes that they could be something more. I just don't know whether Rachel is ready for that yet."

"Maybe…"

"Steph. Rachel has been through a lot without you trying to play matchmaker as well."

"Just a thought."

One step at a time Mason. One step at a time.

Rachel knew that she was still struggling with everything and even though it was a quiet day at Waterloo Road, she knew that the peace could be broken easily. She used her walk around the school as a way to calm down, trying not to head down towards the maths department. As much as she was grateful for all of Eddie's support, it wasn't fair on him or his classes when she pulled him out just to calm herself down. She wondered what was the moment she decided that she was going to put all her trust in Eddie but she realised that it happened way before the fire. It happened the moment she trusted him enough to tell him that she was pregnant.

"Rachel."

She turned to Tom as he jogged a few paces to catch up with her.

"Tom, what can I do for you?"

"I think we made a little mistake last night. I think it is only fair to tell you."

"What mistake?"

She could tell that he was hesitant about telling her.

"I only said that I was going to say something to Melissa. I'm sorry but I couldn't stand the way that she spoke about you yesterday."

"You and Eddie alike."

"Steph mentioned that you were pregnant and it was mentioned that Eddie was the father."

"Right?"

"She didn't believe us. Kept saying that you would have told her if you were pregnant."

"Quite amazed that I wasn't quizzed this morning then."

"Just thought you should know."

"Have you got a minute?" She asked quickly.

Tom only nodded at her and she started to make her way towards the Head of Pastoral Care office. With what she wanted or felt like she had to say to him, she felt like a student that was about to confess something. It felt fitting to be in Tom's office rather than hers.

"As you can probably tell, me and my sister don't really have the best of relationships." She said as they made themselves comfortable on the sofa.

"Maybe I didn't realise how bad it was."

Opening up to Tom was harder than it was to Eddie. She knew it was because she was still trying to trust Tom and no matter how much she knew that he was a good man, it was still hard and Eddie just seemed to have this way about him that seemed to make her say what was on her mind or what she wanted to say to him.

"I learnt years ago that Melissa's happiness came first. I learnt not to rock the boat and just do what I could to help out. I got a paper round when I was 13 and I always kept a pound back, every week, for myself while the rest went in a pot to be spent on food. I've always wanted a better life and I saved so that I could finally get away from home. I remember when Mum found it. There was over a hundred pounds in this ice cream tub and all she kept going on about was how that money could have been used to buy Melissa this and that. Never about what it could have got me. It could have gotten me out of there after my exams and wouldn't have got me involved with…" She trailed off.

"Rachel, you have had quite the ride," Toms said after he realised that she wasn't going to say anything else.

"And it doesn't seem like it is stopping any time soon."

"But you aren't on our own anymore."

She smiled at him. "No, I am not. Eddie mentioned that you had lost two children."

"One was an abortion that she tried to make out was a miscarriage and the other one was a miscarriage."

Rachel knew she was on a roll. There was just one thing that she had yet to tell Eddie that she didn't quite know how to tell him and she felt like, at that moment, she could tell Tom.

"That wasn't my first either. I found out that I was pregnant a couple of weeks before the raids. The police weren't exactly gentle with us. I knew that it was always going to end that way but I did allow myself to hope that they might have been my way out."

"It still hurts now," Tom said. "Which is why I don't expect you to be okay. Because I know that there is nothing okay about losing a baby."

"Thank you for listening, Tom."

"It's no problem. Thank you for opening up to me."

She gave him a smile, realising that her thoughts had stopped spiralling and that she had calmed down. One thing was certain. Tom had fully entered her circle of trust and she hoped that there would be points when she could rely on him as she had done with Eddie.

Still feeling in a good enough mood after her talk with Tom, Rachel found herself smiling as Eddie walked towards her, not looking overly impressed.

"You looked like I felt earlier. What's wrong?" She asked as he reached her.

"Steph. That woman knows no boundaries."

"Ah, Eddie…"

"I have just had Melissa corner me, asking all these questions about last term and whether you were pregnant. It wasn't Steph's place to tell her if you hadn't."

"Eddie, it's okay."

"Rachel, it isn't."

"Tom told me what happened. He said that all he wanted to do was say something to Melissa about backing off from me and Steph mentioned it. Honestly, Eddie, it's okay."

Eddie huffed. "Doesn't sound like she believed me or Steph."

"Well, this is Melissa we are talking about. I don't think she will even believe me until I show her the sonogram and… Unless she finds it, I am never going to show her. It is something special to me. She will never understand that."

"Then I won't show her my copy."

"Forgot you had a copy."

"I have actually put it with Micheal and Stephen's."

She smiled at him, feeling a comfort that he did see her baby as his own. He could have easily discarded the pictures once he found out the baby wasn't alive. But it made her heart swell that he would keep something that was precious to her. Something she would surely tell him once she let him in properly.

"Are you on a free?" She asked.

"Free all afternoon."

"Good. We have some additional problems."

"In the shape of?"

Rachel nodded her head down the hall, gesturing that they maybe should finish this conversation in her office. They fell into step as they made their way there.

"Where do you want to start? I have Ralph Mellor breathing down my neck after he found out that the new Head of Extended Services is my sister. He is waiting for the whole 'let's open Waterloo Road to the community' thing to fail. I've had the Kelly's social worker asking for updates about how we think that their education is going and whether they are settling. And then to top it all off, the LEA had been on the phone that morning telling me that Waterloo Road has to employ a Healthy Schools Coordinator and they have set up suitable candidates for us to interview next Thursday. They are going to send through the CVs before the end of the day."

"Ralph we can deal with. In all honesty, I don't think that there is much you can do that will please him."

"Reassuring to know."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"I know." She said as she nudged his arm with her shoulder. "But you are probably right. Nothing I do will be right to Ralph."

"What did you say about the Kellys?"

"That we believed that they were settled and that we felt like we were doing all we could for them." Rachel said as they reached her office. She dropped into her chair. "I may have also helped Rose out a bit. Took a lot of pleading on my part but, starting Monday, she will be in the canteen, with the promise that she will try and stay off the booze."

"And you got Candice to agree to that after their performance on Melissa's first day. You really are into black magic."

"Just good persuasive skills." She turned her attention to her emails. "And the CVs are here. I suppose that is our afternoon sorted."

"So last year I was a salesman, this year I seem to be in more interviews that I have ever had in my life."

"I don't enjoy it any more than you do. But what the LEA wants, the LEA gets. We seem to always be teetering on the edge of being closed down, so anything to keep them happy."

"We will sort it."

She smiled at him. "Together."

"Together." He repeated.