Thank you for the reviews.

Like everything seems to, this started out as one thing and was sort of meant to be the last chapter of the first half of series 5 block and victim number 4... Expect I realised how much I wanted to put into this chapter and basically if I had kept it to one chapter, it would have been like 5,000 words long... Not that I think you lot would complain about that but in my original plan, it was going to be two chapters... I just didn't think that I had enough to write about.

Chapter Thirty Nine
Have We Done Enough?

"I thought you had gone home." Rachel said as she walked up to Philip.

"I was just going to go to the library for a bit. Do a bit of revision without the distractions of home."

"Do you want a lift back?"

"I… I don't know how long I am going to be. I'll just meet you at home."

"If you're sure."

"Positive."

Philip tried to smile at her and waited a few moments to make sure she was gone before he walked into the hall and slipped behind the stage.

"What took you so long man?" Bolton said.

"Mason caught me."

"Right, you John Fosters lot need to step up a bit more."

"We are doing our best," Amy argued. "We've never caused this level of mayhem before."

"I can give you a few tips," Michaela said.

"And we are all making sure that Mason isn't left alone with Tyler," Bolton said.

"Well other than in her office. What was that all about?" Sam asked.

"Philip."

"We… Look Lawson doesn't know. Tyler… He came around the house… and may have threatened Mason."

"Why doesn't Lawson know?"

"Because Mason won't tell him and has told me for her to deal with it in her own way."

"Too bad we are doing this then," Danielle said.

"But are we doing enough? Have we done enough? I overheard Mason and Lawson talking. There is a meeting next week to discuss the merger. What if Tyler still manages to pin all the blame on Mason?"

"Maybe we need to step this up a bit," Bolton said. "I mean, as the students, we should get a say. I don't want Tyler. I want Mason."

"What ya thinking then Bolton?" Paul said.

"I think we need to see how that meeting goes first."

"Will you stop stressing?" Eddie said as Rachel sat hunched over her laptop. "Do I need to hide that again?"

"He is going to pin every failure on me, isn't he?"

"I wouldn't say that there have been a huge amount of failures. He seems to be the only one stopping the growth of the school."

"But he will blame our relationship in one way or another."

"But the governors know we work well together and know of our relationship. If the school has gone downhill in any way, it is down to Max. And I know that you can't go in there and just start blaming everything on Max. Plus, you called a truce. Hopefully, he will keep to it."

"I know."

"So let's leave the laptop in the kitchen and why don't we go to the living room and I'll try and take some of the stress of the day? You've been complaining that your feet and ankles hurt. Let me try and take some of that pain away, as I am partly responsible as to why you are in pain."

He was glad when she turned and looked at him.

"Only partly."

"You wanted this too, Mason."

She smiled at him for a moment. "I think that is what I am going to miss most once we get married."

"What?"

"You calling me Mason and me calling you Lawson."

"You could always keep Mason if you wanted."

She shook her head. "No, I want to take your name."

"Come on." He said.

Eddie allowed her a little bit of time to get comfortable as she lied down on the sofa before he placed himself down and rested her feet on his lap. He started to press his fingers into the soles of her feet and smiled at the groan she let out. He looked up at her with her head resting against the armrest with her eyes closed.

"I can wait for this week to be over with." She said.

"Me neither."

"Two weeks off sounds good right about now."

"Plus we have the scan next week." He paused. "Do you want to find out?"

"Find out what?"

"The sex of the baby."

She opened her eyes. "Do you?"

"They accidentally told us with Micheal and Stephen. I don't mind. It is just whether you want the surprise of it."

"No… I think I might like the surprise of it."

"Although, what is your gut telling you? You thought Keria was a girl."

She sighed as she thought over his question. He moved onto her other foot as she replied.

"A boy. It… just feels different from the last pregnancy."

"Do we want to start coming up with some names?"

"We probably should." She sat up slightly. "Give me your hand."

He reached out and she placed her hand on her stomach. It was slight but the movement was there.

"Moving about already?"

"I don't think I will like it when they can actually kick me."

"Just think of poor Alison."

"I am glad it is not twins." She lied back down. "And why have you stopped Lawson? You were finding all the right points there."

He laughed before he turned the conversation back to names.

"Stop worrying and get in there and show them that it isn't us that is stopping the development of the school but Max."

Rachel knew, at the very least, she could walk into that meeting with a smile on her face. It was something that Eddie was always good at doing.

"I will see you afterwards." She said before giving him a quick kiss and leaving her office.

She was fairly certain that Max had told her that the meeting was at 10, therefore she was very surprised to see that the meeting with the governors seemed to be in full swing. And she thought that they had put this behind them weeks ago when they tried to call a truce on their arguing. More for her benefit. She had drawn a line in the sand. It was obvious Max hadn't.

"I've also included a report on Rachel's continuing campaign to obstruct and undermine my decisions. There is also a part on how unprofessional her relationship is with Eddie Lawson."

"Really? I'd like to see that report." She said as she shut the door behind her.

"Glad you could join us," Max said.

She reminded herself to breathe as she joined them at the table. The thing that annoyed her most about all this was that she did have a reason to be worried, even if everyone else tried to play down her worries.

"Max has just been expressing his concerns about the running of the school." The chair of governors said.

"That's fine. He has every right to. I would just prefer it if he expressed them to me directly."

She found it slightly fitting when he didn't say anything. Can't even tell her to her face. That was how low he was prepared to go.

"When this merger was announced, I did have my doubts as I am assured everyone did. But I knew we could make it work eventually. The little snags along the way were all seen as these two different school cultures coming together. This is a mixed ability school after all. And we have a duty to make the curriculum relevant to all pupils."

"Right, so we end up with a bunch of mediocre students."

"Mediocre?"

"Yeah, I mean, these grade projections say that."

"And I've told you once before, this school is and will always be built on more than just league tables and exams."

"Shame that will be what they will need when they go out into the world. Don't you care about that?"

"Of course I do. But there is also more to life than just exam results. You could have all A's at GSCE but have no confidence in an interview to get a job. That was part of my plan when I started here at Waterloo Road. To give every kid that walks through those gates a chance in life… because just a little faith in someone can go a long way. What they decide to do with that faith is their decision. I have prided myself on never giving up on a student. What do you pride yourself on Max?"

"Just sometimes you can't save people from themselves. Do I have to remind you of the Bianka Vale incident? You put your own life at risk… for the sake of one pupil."

"Oh Max, I didn't realise you cared."

Just by the look he gave her, she knew that he didn't. He was just sucking up to the governors.

"He does have a point there." The chair said.

"I have apologised for that. Something had to be done at that moment." She paused. "But let's not make this all about me. I mean, there was the whole Amy and Bolton situation that you let go widely out of control."

"Which you took a back seat on."

"I… I kinda had to. Not only because you made me but… personal reasons as well."

"What personal reasons?"

She knew that he thought that she was lying but she wasn't going to give the answer to his question. The governors seemed to catch on as she remained silent but she knew that Max was just looking for another stick to beat her with. It was pretty obvious to her. Maybe he was just that oblivious to anything that wasn't about himself.

She rubbed her stomach as the baby started to move around, telling their mother that she was worrying too much.

"I think we have heard enough today. I think you two need to go away and think about how to make the school work, together."

Rachel met Max's eye and knew that it was going to be the last thing that was going to happen.

Eddie stormed down the corridor as he looked for Rachel. He didn't want to believe that she would resign without telling him first but the letter in her top drawer looked that way and he needed to find her to ask what was going on. He didn't like Philip's worried look as he met him in the corridor.

"Philip, have you seen Rachel?"

Philip was never one to hide his emotions and he was having a manic Rachel moment.

"Philip?"

"I need to tell you something."

"Okay?"

"Rachel didn't want me to tell you because she said that she was dealing with it in her own way."

"Sounds like Rachel."

"Max came around the house on the Friday that you were away on that course and he threaten Rachel because she spoke alone to the LEA woman, which I suspect that she was telling her about the pregnancy, and he had her up against the wall and nothing bad has happened and we have been on the case to make sure that she isn't alone with him, I even got Joyce to always be in the office area unless she knew that Max wasn't going to be there."

"Okay?"

"Eddie, Max is trying to push Rachel out of the school."

"I know that."

"He has asked her to resign. Today."

"He does know that is the last thing that is going to happen."

"When… I heard them talking, I'm not so convinced that Rachel is going to keep up this fight. Because of the baby."

"Wait. What did you mean 'we have been on the case'?"

"Oh, I might have told Bolton, Paul, Michaela, Danielle and Aleesha something."

"What was that?"

"Don't… be angry. Max… Max said that if I gave him some information then he wouldn't sack you and Rachel and expel me."

"What information?"

"What you talk about at home, about school."

"Philip!"

"I started by giving him actual things that you said and then… then I started making up blatant lies."

"Now a few of the things that he has said makes sense."

"I was all ready to tell him that I wasn't going to do it any more than then… Rachel got pregnant and I knew you needed this. It is why a few of us have been playing up in front of Max, leaving Rachel to do her job." Philip paused. "What do we do now Eddie?"

"Spread the word that she has resigned."

"You sure?"

"I think that will create quite the stir in the student body. Let's put it to the test. The loyalty we have to Rachel. This school is built on more than exams. Let's show Max that."