Thank you for the support.

So I think a small wrapping up of the events of the week seems appropriate here. But this was only a small bit of drama. There is more to come.

Chapter Four
Friday 4th December

Things between her and Kim weren't the best but Rachel assumed that they could be worse. Their main point of conflict being over Max.

There were times that they could talk amicably and Rachel could say a little more about what was on her mind about Max and she was sure that Kim could see her side of things and go about sorting it in whatever way she thought was best without causing any more upset. And there were times that Rachel was biting her tongue so she didn't offend.

Rachel didn't know what Max was like as a boyfriend. She didn't want to know. She felt like he would be like a guy that she had been with years ago. Nice to the people that he wanted to be nice to and not so to everyone else. Extremely charming and a bit 'butter won't melt' in one moment and then the next back to being harsh and manipulative.

Manipulative was probably the right word for Max.

But Rachel knew that Kim wanted to talk about everything that had happened during the week and Rachel agreed, with her unsure about how much she could push her dislike for Max.

"So Steph is staying," Kim said.

Rachel nodded. "I'm… not trying to have a go here, Kim. But he doesn't have the authority to make those sorts of decisions. That is me and me alone." She paused. "And maybe it is a little unfair of me but Steph will always have a job at Waterloo Road all the time I am headteacher. As I've told her, I will always take Maxine's death with me and I will always feel the guilt that I do over her death. I had ignored calls to remove Earl from the school but… as always, I did believe that I knew best and this would be, maybe, another told-you-so moment."

"From what I've read of things, it does seem like it was a difficult situation to judge and the other Kellys have benefitted from their time here."

"Yes, because they don't have Earl around to mess things up for all of them."

"I think Rose did her equal share of messing up as well, don't you think?"

"Maybe. Slightly."

"So they all weren't being given the support that they needed. Which is something that Waterloo Road has given them." Kim sighed. "Maybe it was just a little too late for Earl. But it wasn't for the others."

"But it is going to be something that I am always going to carry with me."

"I am sure it is. Just Max…"

"What about Max?"

"He would have preferred it if you didn't have the discussion that you did in front of Steph. I did say that I told you where he was."

"Then he should have held off from firing her so that we could have discussed it in private. Not do these sorts of things when I am not around to do anything about it. Kim, you've got to see that he did completely go behind my back with this and… picked on both Steph and Bolton, with the former unfortunately getting the brunt of whatever… stupid mission Max was on."

"I did tell him that I didn't think that he handled things well. And that Steph had been at Waterloo Road for a while and given support when she needed it. Although, Jack probably wasn't the most supportive."

"Why do you think I slid her out of Pastoral Care and Tom into the role?"

"No, that was a good choice."

"Even though Steph's instincts are, mostly, quite right."

"The job takes more than just instincts."

"You're telling me."

Kim's brow creased. "You've been in Pastoral Care."

Rachel nodded. "First senior management role I had. I wanted to put some good out into the world. I thought that might be the best place for me. Until I realised that I needed to be at the top for anything to really change."

"Sorry. You just give off a… well, maybe I just thought that you would have been gunning for the top job all along."

"No. No. I only started gunning for the top job when I was ignored."

"I do think that you listen. I just think that you do things in ways that others wouldn't think to do it in. And it works."

"Most of the time. I'll hold my hands up and say for every five students I've helped, one I haven't. I just never got it that wrong before." Rachel paused for a moment. "Kim, the… the thing I didn't appreciate was that it was all done while I wasn't here and it seemed like such a knee-jerk reaction. That it seemed like Max was going to march Steph off the premises without the formal procedures put in place, leaving a hole in our Modern Foreign Languages department that I don't know how he thought he was going to fill. And you know Steph. I half expect Grantly to come through my door to say that I have a union matter on my hands because of the way that Steph was treated that day."

"I think you'll be fine," Kim said. "It's all died down now. Just can you clear the air with Max about it? I really don't think the tension between you two is good at the moment. Especially when things had been working so well."

Rachel tried not to tense her jaw too tightly. She was sure that it was obvious who was behind the tension and as much as Kim did see it at times, the times when she didn't were the most frustrating. Because Rachel had held her hands up many times, saying that she had blown a couple of things out of proportion. And she had apologised when that had happened.

Max never did. Max just kept trying to derail things and it was what frustrated Rachel the most. Especially when Kim couldn't see it. She knew that love made people blind. She was prone to it at times. In fact, she was sure it was the reason why she pushed people away. Because every time she became a little blind, it scared her. She liked to have complete clarity. And maybe that was why things were working better with Eddie. Because she knew that he wasn't afraid to call her out when he thought that something she had done was wrong.

"I'll have a word." Rachel said, knowing that she wouldn't if she could get away with it.

Although, it did seem to calm Kim down as the conversation turned to less professional talk. Rachel obliged the talk but she couldn't shift the feeling that the meeting before the end of term would be the defining moment of their friendship. And Rachel was terrified that she was going to lose a good teacher, head of pastoral care and friend all at the same time. All because of Max.

Rachel adored Sue and Rob.

Absolutely adored them.

She was quite glad that they would, eventually, be her in-laws because she fought with the idea of whether she wanted them to be her parents or if they were the type of parents that she wanted her and Eddie to be to their little girl.

Maybe the thing she adored most was how open they were as a family and how welcomed her and Philip had felt.

Rachel would admit that after the week she'd had, they weren't really the first people that she wanted to see. Eddie was still a little annoyed at her for keeping him in the dark for as long as she did and she had spoken to Max just before they left for the weekend, which never failed to rile her up. So there were tensions that she was sure that Sue and Rob would easily pick up on.

But Rachel couldn't help but smile as Sue pushed her out of the kitchen, asking to have a look at the recent scan photos to see her latest granddaughter. And Rachel obliged.

"I'm glad it's a girl," Sue whispered as she looked at the sonogram.

"So am I. When we spoke about it before we went in, he said about us being teachers and names and stuff like that. I didn't believe it for one moment. And I know. But it gives him some comfort, does it? That it isn't another boy. And I would do anything to keep him comfortable."

"What's happened?"

Rachel sighed. "Work. The… Executive head tried to fire one of my staff members and Eddie is a little annoyed that I didn't discuss it with him until much later because I wanted to know all the facts."

"You know he will get over it."

"I know. It's just… I do get his side. Yes, we are a partnership and we do work better when we work together but…" She paused. "Max is still getting in my head and… this time of year as well. If I could, I would crawl into bed and not leave it until… Christmas."

"Rachel, sweetie, you said things were getting better."

"They were."

"It seems like you are having the same old problems."

"Because I am trying to work with Max but he isn't working with me. And I don't think he will. I just… can't work out what he wants. It makes no sense. I. I think he wants Waterloo Road. It's the only reason why he would try to… undermine me like he does. I just can't work out why. It doesn't make any sense why he would want Waterloo Road. Because Waterloo Road would never be the school that he would want it to be."

"You've got that meeting, haven't you?"

"I just wish I knew what he was going to say at it. Because I am sure that he has all of his priorities wrong and he is going to be listing… all of my shortfallings whereas I am looking at the students and how the merger has affected them and… that is what this should all be about. About the kids. About the students. But it is never going to work all the time Max and I don't get on."

"I'm sure…"

"Eddie's already too involved and I'm scared that Max is going to say the wrong thing and." Rachel sighed. "If Eddie punches him, I'm going to be without a deputy and my greatest support in my senior management team. I would only be more vulnerable. I can't get Eddie any more involved than he already is because I need him by my side at work. Not suspended because, and I do enjoy it, he got overprotective."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Keep going as I am. I suppose." Rachel said. "The meeting is next Wednesday. 12 days. Seven working days. I can deal with that."

"Rachel, at this time of year, I don't want you just dealing with things."

"I don't think I really have the choice at the moment, Sue." She shrugged before sitting up a little straighter. "Things always work themselves out. This is one of those times as well. Come the spring and when this little one arrives, we will all look back on this time and wonder why we were so worried at the time."

Sue seemed to be taking in what she was saying but Rachel wasn't convinced that she believed it as much. Not that Rachel really believed it. She just knew that, sometimes, putting up a front to Sue was better than causing any unnecessary worry. There was enough of that surrounding her pregnancy without adding her work life to the mix. Even if Sue was a good soundboard. Any unnecessary worries could be directed at Rob to see if it was worth involving Sue. Although, Rachel found him to be an equally good soundboard as well.

And Rachel knew that the conversation was over with as Eddie's voice got closer to the living room. If they were going to talk about anything that Rachel had just spoken about, then it would be in some sort of privacy later. Mainly because if they were going to have a small disagreement over the way that she had handled things, it was definitely not going to be in front of Eddie's parents.

But Rachel knew that things were already good between them. It wasn't hard for them to forgive each other after they'd had time to think about these things. She knew that Eddie wouldn't have changed his mind and say that she handled things in the right way but he would just accept that there was nothing that they could do about it now and that it would probably happen again in the future. That it was nothing to fall out over. Or it wasn't worth falling out over.

Everything would be okay.

Rachel just wondered what okay would look like.