Thank you for the reviews.

And yes that is the end of Max and the end of all my victims. Let's start wrapping this story up with more talk about babies and weddings and all nice stuff like that...

Chapter Forty One
Have We Done All We Can?

"You're thinking again."

Rachel smiled before she looked up at Eddie.

"Well, I have quite a bit of time to do that now. Two weeks into the new term and there has been very little trouble. Everyone, bar the younger years, seem to be totally focused on their upcoming exams. I allowed you to persuade me to give you and Chris more of my work and the only meeting I have this week is with Jennifer to discuss everything that has happened and what the plan is for next year."

"I can give you some of your work back."

"Don't you dare. You need to get used to doing the work."

"You still think that you should leave."

She hesitated for a moment. "I am just wondering how much more I can do for the school. I've never stayed at a school for this long before. I usually spend two years max at one school. I do what I can and then I move on. I… wonder whether I have gotten comfortable here. Whether with everything that has happened, I need the school more than it needs me. I mean, what is the plan after we have got this merger to work? What else can we do to advance the school? Have we done all we can? Is it time for someone else to come in, with new ideas?"

"You've been thinking about this for a while."

"I… I don't want to leave. But do I want to end up doing something stupid like Jack because I have been here for too long?"

"But you are totally different from Jack." He paused. "This is a conversation we need to have at home. Where we properly discuss this and come up with the best course of action."

She watched him for a moment, knowing that she knew what he was thinking. It was something that she had also thought about multiple times. She knew that Eddie wouldn't want to be at Waterloo Road without her and she found herself not wanting to be at another school without him. It was easier for them both to leave now that Chris was deputy as well. The LEA would only have to replace her as headteacher and the school could interview for a new maths teacher.

"I'm making you doubt as well." She said.

"Waterloo Road wouldn't be the same without you."

"I know."

"And I don't think I would still want to be here without you being here."

"I know. Which is why you are right and we need to properly discuss it together and then discuss our decision with Kim and Chris before we even think about telling the LEA anything."

"You seem to have already made your mind up."

"When I thought it was my time to go, when Max was trying to push me out, part of what made me make up my mind about leaving was that I could take a year out, spend just over a year with our baby before starting at the next school the following September. I could… try and enjoy the first year of their lives without having to think about this place."

"True. But is that really you? Could you actually take a year out of work? You don't like taking a day off. Or are you just hoping that is the way that you are going to feel when they are born?"

"I'm not entirely sure what I want anymore."

"And that is why we need to discuss it. Stop you from doing anything rash."

"I know. And we will. Tonight. Maybe I've just got to organise my thoughts about it all first."

"How has he been?" Eddie said, changing the subject altogether.

"So we are going with he because of my gut feeling?"

"I trust your feelings."

"He is definitely going to be a footballer or something like that with the way he is kicking me. Right little mover."

"Really?"

"I think it is because I have been sitting down most of the day. Was going to wait for lunchtime to be over and then I am going to go for a walk around the school. Make sure everything is as it should be."

The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.

"I suppose I will see you standing outside my room, watching me teach."

"I suppose so. And Kim is free all afternoon. I am going to go and speak with her."

"Still not going to tell Max?"

"No. Adamant that he isn't going to know or have anything to do with the baby. Although I don't blame her. I didn't want Stuart to know about Keria."

"Then we will be there for her instead."

"Might be nice actually. There will only be a couple of months between them. They could grow up together."

"At this rate, I think that they will."

"Go on, you have a lesson to get to."

"Don't remind me. Year 13 and recapping differentiation and integration."

"Oh, fun afternoon." She said sarcastically.

"You are telling me."

She laughed as he left, knowing that in the next five minutes, she could start her walk around the school, which would help with everything that she had to think about.

"I could always come to you," Kim said as she handed Rachel her drink.

"I needed the walk. This one is being a bit troublesome with his movements."

"His movements? Did you find out then?"

"No. We discussed it and we decided that we wanted the surprise of it. Just… my gut feeling with Keria was that she was going to be a girl. This time around, I think it is going to be a boy. Although we are coming up with names for both and some that could fit both." Rachel paused as she looked at Kim. "Kim?"

"You are lucky to have Eddie."

"I know. But it doesn't mean that you have to do it by yourself. I was just saying to Eddie that they could grow up together as there is only going to be a couple of months between them. You can rely on us, Kim. We want to help you."

"It just isn't how I ever imagined it happening."

"It was the debate that I had with myself over Keria. But you've made the hardest decision and you are going to see the pregnancy through. We are here for you to fall back on."

"I've… got my first scan at the end of the week."

"Right."

"Would you go with me? I just… I don't want to do this alone Rachel."

"And you don't have to. Of course, I will go with you."

"And then I think I should start telling people."

"Tom is always a great one to keep a secret if you want him to."

"Good old Tom."

"I am sure that there will be a lot of people willing to help you out, Kim. You already have Eddie and my support. I am sure Tom will feel exactly the same way once he finds out and you've always been close to Steph. Grantly is the only one that I can think of that won't offer his support."

"Well, that is Grantly all over."

"It isn't going to be easy, but we are all here for you. The family that Max seemed to despise."

"I do keep thinking over the plans he had for this place. I… I do think I was blinded slightly."

"We all do it."

"But you were right. We do know what is best for these kids. And that was always what we should have been focusing on."

"Next year will definitely be for the kids. This term will be working that out for Eddie and Chris to put into action. Do you think Tom will accept being acting Head of Pastoral Care? He was doing a great job before the whole Kellys thing. Maybe he might be up for it if he knew it was temporary."

"No harm in asking him. Although he is Head of English now."

"I would say Ruby because she cares but she took on Adam's role of Healthy Schools Coordinator."

"Really?"

"She does care about the kids, even if she has a funny way of showing it."

"Helen?"

Rachel started to laugh as Kim did.

"She actually handed in her resignation this morning. I… have this feeling she was only here because of Max and he was the only thing keeping her in the job."

"She was never right for this place."

"I would say Steph but she wasn't really the best the first time around."

"Maybe if I gave her a little more support, tried to keep her on task. I know that Jack wasn't the most supportive and probably wasn't the most clued up in the way of Pastoral Care. She could shadow me for a bit. I think my shoes were always going to be hard to fill."

"And Steph's heart is usually in the right place. And if she does get into trouble, then she can talk to Chris instead of Eddie." Rachel could tell that Kim's smile wasn't what it could have been. "What are you thinking?"

"Whether maybe I should enjoy motherhood a bit. Just it has put a few things into perspective for me."

"I know what you mean."

Kim looked a little confused. "I thought that once Max was gone, your place in this school would be more permanent."

"Me and Eddie are discussing it tonight. I don't want to but usually, once I have made my mind up on something then it is hard to change it." She sighed. "The last day of term. I had sort of decided, before we knew about the protest, that it was probably best to move on. This is the longest I have stayed somewhere. Maybe it is time for the next challenge. What more can I add to the school?"

"I am sure there is still so much more you could do."

"Or do I let someone else come in? Tell them what I have done and then leave them to bring in their new ideas and start to add their own little thing to the school. I've added to it in my own way. Plus there is the point of this pregnancy being the start of another chapter in my life. Do I want to enjoy it or think that after Christmas I could be back here?"

"I could be back by Easter. Although, I think you already know what you want to do."

"Or maybe I have just got used to talking things out with people."

"Maybe."

"I've made a decision." Rachel said.

"I thought we were going to discuss it."

"I know but I just want to say what I feel and then we can go off that."

"Okay. What is your decision?"

"To stay for the moment and see how I feel when I go back after Christmas. At that point, I am only going to be part-time with thinking of being full time after Easter. Me, wanting to leave might just be because I have never seen a pregnancy through. I don't know what it all means and you know I am better at pushing things away than bringing them to me. Maybe, subconsciously, I am pushing away the school because it is what I think I should do because I think I should focus more on him rather than a school. I have given everything to Waterloo Road, my life nearly twice.

"I have a lot more to think about other than myself. I have you and Philip and the baby and I worry. I worry that sometimes I use my work to push out my life because it is just easier that way. I know how to run a school and events are dealt with as they happen. Life… sometimes isn't like that and I know that better than anyone. I know I need to sort out my priorities and that is why… that is why I am trying to push away Waterloo Road."

Eddie smiled at her.

"Pretty standard Rachel then?"

"Would you want me any other way?"

"No. But I also get what you meant earlier, with the whole have we done all we can thing. I agree. I don't really think that there is anything more we can add to the school. You were brought in by the LEA to turn the school around and Waterloo Road is definitely not the same place as when I started there. Chris has some brilliant ideas and he would make a brilliant deputy to the next head."

"Just not with me?"

"I think he is a brilliant deputy under you. But he is going to play a bigger role in the next phase of Waterloo Road than we are."

"So we might do this? We might leave next July?"

"I think you are right and we need to see how we feel."

"I've… already mentioned something to Kim because she said about enjoying motherhood and I've also said I would go with her on Friday to her first scan."

"She could always come back here for dinner again."

"Might offer that to her."

"Everything is going to be okay Rachel."

"I know. And I know you said about a long engagement but I think we need to start planning something. Might help us take our minds off leaving and I think Kim could do with another distraction as well."

"You just want something else to do while you're on maternity leave."

"I do get that I will have my hands full when he is born, but yes, I don't want to be sitting at home, wondering what is happening at school."

He nodded. "Fine. We will pick a venue and have to pick a date."

"Or." She said as she took a step closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Maybe I don't want my boys being Lawsons while I am not. Maybe I want to be Mrs Lawson."

"Mrs Rachel Lawson."

"Sounds wonderful doesn't it?"

"I see your point."

Rachel pulled him as close as she could before she kissed him. This was the man that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and she constantly reminded herself that nothing would go wrong with him by her side. The kiss was interrupted by their little one kicking.

"Should he really be kicking that hard at this early stage?" Eddie said.

"No idea. Might ring the midwife tomorrow to ask. He has been like it all day."

She could only smile as Eddie crouched down and rested a hand on her stomach.

"Look, mate, I know that this is all exciting but you need to stop hurting your mother. You'll find out one day why she is so special."

She smiled down at him. He did have a heart of gold. She just couldn't wait for the next chapter in her life to start, with her as Mrs Lawson and their baby.