Thank you for the reviews.

Now, I know it is the 11th.

Friday (9th), I was in London at a concert. I left work at half 12, got home at like 2, was out again at 3 and didn't get home until nearly 1 am. So it was a busy day and... to be honest, I couldn't be asked to try and upload it at that time.

Yesterday, I had our kid's karate Christmas party. I've been slightly stressing about it and... I am glad that it is over and done with for the year.

And the third little thing is that I've only just finished chapter 13... and I kinda didn't want to post this before I finished that.

And with that, this fic isn't really going to be an 'I'm going to post every day of advent' type fic as it has been in the past. Because it isn't all physically written for me to be able to do that. There is still going to be 25 chapters to this fic. I hope to get it all out to you in December (because god forbid it goes on longer than that). But I can't give you something that I haven't got. If that makes any sense.

As much as this is my main focus, I am trying to write other bits on the side to prepare for the new year. We are on a 'see how it goes' alert...

Back to this and as we get closer to the anniversary of Rachel's mum's death, there might be some difficult themes in the next couple of chapters. You know me by now. I would rather you guys be safe than read my fics. I don't think it is anything too heavy but I know, like I've made Rachel, sometimes this time of year isn't as happy as it is for everyone else. Especially if you have lost or could lose loved ones.

Chapter Nine
Wednesday 9th December

The day had started well enough.

Rachel hadn't been feeling completely right but that was nothing new since she found out that she was pregnant. It was something that when she said about them, everyone seemed to remember feeling that way whilst they were pregnant as well yet, as she had argued with Alice, no one ever really spoke about it.

It was draining. Bringing a new life into the world.

She was just glad that she did have such a supportive partner that did look after her.

So she had just carried on as normal, making sure that she knew what her to-do list was for the day, starting with the most important things and prioritising the rest.

And when Max started to annoy her, she took that as an opportunity to go and speak with Kim, asking about how she got on with Gina Davies and whether she had worked out the way that they were going to support her. And it did seem all quite positive. Which Rachel told Kim and asked that she kept her updated. To which Kim said that she would.

She had a word with Tom about a couple of things and managed to catch Eddie in between classes as well.

It felt like a good productive morning.

She didn't know at which point she would start to feel better but she was slowly wondering whether it was going to happen when the bell ran to signal the start of break.

As much as she knew that things were going to be busy, she made her way towards the canteen, hoping to get the ladies in the kitchen to make her something in hope that helped. And most of the kids behaved around her. It was only Max that seemed to see a never-ending line of badly behaved kids. But that could just be because of the different ways that they dealt with the kids.

And Rachel had seen the unsure faces of the kids in the corridor as she reached the canteen. Then she heard the commotion. Then she heard Max. And she had to sigh when she saw that he was talking (or lecturing) to Gina Davies.

Rachel wished that she was making it up.

She really, really, really wished that she was.

Now she knew Max's problem.

He didn't listen.

Or if he did, he only heard certain parts.

Because Kim had told her that Max knew as much as what was happening with Gina Davies as she knew and had asked that things involving her to be dealt with by Kim herself. Rachel agreed and would have done that. But this seemed like Max hadn't taken a blind bit of notice and was attempting to deal with an extremely delicate matter in his own way (not that Rachel knew the whole story and, by the little bit that Kim told her, she didn't think that she did want to know).

"Gina, go and find Miss Campbell." Rachel said as she walked straight over, trying to save the girl from any more embarrassment.

"I'm dealing with this," Max said.

"Well, I was under the impression…"

"Well, you thought wrong."

Rachel hated being interrupted.

By Max especially.

It annoyed her on a normal day when it was just them in her office (Max would argue that it was their office but Rachel still saw the whole thing as being temporary). It only enhanced the thought that he looked down on her and that he was trying to undermine her.

But the interrupting and talking over her was one thing in private.

This was now public.

He had interrupted her in front of her students.

He was trying to undermine her in front of her students.

And that was something that she wasn't going to take lying down.

Not this time.

And the way that Gina was looking at her, almost pleading with her to do something, she knew what she had to do. Only Rachel hoped that it wasn't going to make things worse for the poor girl. Because she wasn't even sure if she had done anything to attract Max's attention.

"Well, any further discussion can be done in private." Rachel said before she stepped closer to Max, dropping her voice. "Never humiliate a student ever again. I don't care what it is. And Kim is dealing with anything to do with this student. You know that."

That hadn't solved what had already been caused but Rachel knew that more damage couldn't be done.

And she hoped that she would start feeling better soon rather than later.

Rachel had a headache.

Actually, she had two.

She had one that had been building at her temples all morning, which had spread to her forehead, making her wince at times when it intensified at times. It slightly got better when she drank water but that was only a temporary fix. And she was sure that her fingers were becoming glued to her temples as she tried to massage it out.

The second was Max and his inability to see that he was in the wrong. The only good thing that had happened was that Rachel had heard parts of Kim having a go at Max over his handling of the situation. The parts that she loved the most were 'I told you I was only to deal with anything to do with Gina' and 'This is very sensitive stuff, Max. What the hell were you thinking?'. Other than that, the whole thing had been blown out of proportion meaning that it had jumped to the top of everyone's priority list.

Rachel had let Eddie know the night before that there was a situation with Gina and that things were meant to be dealt with in a sensitive matter. Only one look from him when he was brought into things was enough to say that he knew what was going on. And then a look of worry when her headache overwhelmed her for a moment.

She was sure that Max didn't actually care how she was feeling and that his suggestions that she could go home if she wasn't feeling well were starting to grate on her more than the headache. She knew that it was a way to get her out of the situation as he probably thought that she was the one to blow things out of proportion. For him to have the chance to fix his mistake.

Problem was that Rachel knew that he couldn't fix this. And that the best thing for him to do was to stay out of things and let Kim do what she did best. His constant interference was making everyone else interfere and this was the thing that she worried most about if things didn't go their way. Because it was clear that Max didn't have the basic empathy to take a step back and assess what had happened. The poor girl was going through a lot without Max singling her out.

"You do look a bit pale, Rachel," Kim said as she handed her a mug of tea. "Ginger. I thought it might help."

"Thank you." Rachel said as she took the mug, wrapping her hands around it and taking a tentative first sip as she didn't know how hot it would be, taking a larger sip afterwards as it was at a drinkable temperature.

"You could go home if you aren't feeling up to it."

"I would rather stay. Not because of you. I know you are more than capable of sorting this out yourself. But I like to think I am keeping Max out of your way."

"You should have to if you don't feel well."

"And you should have the full support of the top to go about and do your job in the way you see fit. I mean, have we even got to the reason why Max was talking to her?"

"Not particularly. Gina has no idea what she did wrong and Max… I do get how he can annoy you at times."

"Likewise with you and Eddie. And Eddie has annoyed me enough times at work. We've found the best thing to do is to make sure that there is that line. Of what is work and what is personal. Sometimes that is why we stay as late as we do. Because we are still trying to figure out the work problem so we don't take it home."

"All he had to do was leave Gina alone or send her to me if there was a problem."

Rachel didn't think that Kim wanted to hear that she could have probably guessed that this situation could have occurred. With Max's behaviour. She probably would have put a tenner on it but she was sure that she wouldn't get much back as the odds were low.

She had thought of a better way of saying that when the door opened to Kim's office and, unfortunately, Max stood in the doorway.

"Why isn't she in the cooler?" Max said.

"Because I can't work out what she has done wrong. If she has done anything wrong." Kim said.

"I…"

"Max, the reason you gave was not… a reason to single her out the way that you did. In the middle of the canteen. That poor girl is dealing with enough at home without someone at school making things difficult as well."

"You haven't said what she is dealing with at home."

"Confidentiality, Max." Rachel said. "It isn't up to Kim to fully disclose as long as the right paths are being taken. I trust Kim to do her job. Do you?"

Yes, she was turning things back on him. Yes, she was enjoying the way that he was squirming at the question. And no, she did not expect Kim to disclose what was happening. Mainly because she felt like Kim had it in hand.

"If it will stop you from pestering her, it's her mother," Kim said. "She has just gone into end-of-life care and they don't think that she is going to live for much longer. Gina isn't coping well with it and with her father absent, it is taking a while for the social to work out what is going to happen to her and her brother. Where they are going to live. Gina is stressing over it and… well, it has hit her mental health hard."

And no, Rachel didn't need to know that.

She was sure that she paled more and that was why neither of them questioned her when she excused herself.

She only just made the staff toilets and once she didn't think that she was going to throw up again, she walked over to the door that led out into the corridor to lock it. She didn't need anyone to try and find her or to comfort her or anything like that.

She needed her own space for her to think.

But she did find herself texting Eddie once she realised that she had her phone in her pocket, telling him that they were going home when school finished.

She knew that he would question it later.

She just couldn't answer it at the moment.

Kim had found him not too long after Rachel's text and told him what he assumed Rachel knew. Mainly because Kim had said that she should probably tell him as they knew. The 'they' was probably Rachel and Max. And it put some context to Rachel's text.

Eddie had wanted to find Rachel but when she wasn't in her usual places, he gave up. If she wanted him to comfort her, then he was sure that she would have found him. This was her way of telling him to stay out of things. That this was her way of dealing with the news and he should just let her be.

Which was harder than he thought but he managed to do it, with Rachel standing outside of his classroom door a couple of minutes before the last bell of the day.

And as much as he wanted to wrap her up in his arms, he didn't. He wanted to reach for her hand to squeeze it to let her know that he was there, but he didn't.

He didn't say or do anything even though it killed him inside because of the way that she looked.

"I know," Eddie said when they were almost home. "Kim told me because… well she said that as they knew, I should too. I assume that meant you and Max. Because of your message."

"It was the wrong thing to just… any other time of the year." Rachel said.

"What can I do, Rachel?"

"Cook." She said before she paused for a moment. "Then can we have an early night? I just… I want to feel safe. I know I feel that in your arms."

He didn't push her to say anything else. He didn't push her to talk. He didn't say anything about what he thought would be best for her to do.

He would take her lead on it. He would make her something that was quick and easy but nutritious. He had no idea if she had eaten all day so he needed to make sure that she did have one good meal in her.

And when she said that she was tired, he knew that was his cue that they were going to bed.

He wanted to do more. He felt like there was more that he could do. Especially when he felt the shoulder of his t-shirt start to damp and the way that Rachel was breathing.

He wanted to tell her that it didn't matter. He wanted to tell her that she could cry in his arms if that was what she wanted to do. He would just hold her if that was all she wanted him to do.

Instead, he made sure that he was as close to her as he possibly could be and just hoped that he was doing enough.

Because that is all he hoped that he could do.