Thank you for the reviews.

Nope, this isn't the chapter that I thought I would post on Christmas Eve but I also didn't stay up until the wee hours of the morning trying to get the chapter of the day finished...

Anyway, here is this chapter.

And maybe I will see about a chapter for tomorrow. See how I get on today (although, I don't know how well that will be as I have a couple of things that I needed to do today...).

Chapter Thirteen
Sunday 13th December

Philip didn't really know how the weekend went.

He felt like it had gone well.

That things with his Mum were better than they had ever been.

And it was nice for it to happen.

Philip couldn't remember a time when they had all gotten on so well. Especially around Christmas time.

And it had been a part of things. With him seeing that it was hitting his mum and Rachel in the same old ways.

Just his mum wasn't reaching for the bottle anymore to deal with it.

It had, realistically, been a whirlwind of a trip, with them already on their way back to Manchester despite only really being in London for about 24 hours. He knew it was going to be. And it felt long enough to do what they had done in.

The anniversary was hard.

He knew the pain that it had caused in the past.

So it only needed to be a short trip.

Philip changed the song on his phone to one he preferred before he wondered what else he could do to pass the time. He'd got bored of the game he was playing and there wasn't much else that he could do on his phone without using up all of his credit. He hadn't brought a book (mainly because he wasn't a reader) and there wasn't anything else that would keep his attention for as long as he needed it to. He had been surprised that Eddie had brought a book, with him saying something about he could be a mathematician and like reading.

Philip glanced over to his aunt and (in all but name) uncle and took some comfort in the way that Rachel was curled up next to Eddie as she slept, with her head resting on his shoulder while she was hugging his arm. He didn't think that Rachel had slept well the night before when he saw her at breakfast that morning. So it was no wonder she had fallen asleep on the train. And Eddie seemed to be doing an okay job of reading his book one-handed, turning to Rachel occasionally to check that she was okay.

He adored them both so much.

He probably would never say that out loud, mainly because he would never be able to find the words, but he hoped that they knew it.

Because he was very unsure where he would be now if it wasn't for them.

And he believed his mum when she said that she hadn't realised that their dad (his grandfather, he supposed) was still in the area. And he did feel like his mum had finally realised how much their dad had hurt Rachel.

He had wondered whether Eddie was going to say something about it when they went to get the food but he seemed to be very keen to stay off the subject of it. It was the same with Tyler. Eddie got rather defensive. If anything, Philip did hope that Eddie was protecting Rachel from Tyler. Just because he didn't want to think of the way Tyler was with Rachel. Mainly because Philip had seen the way he was with Bolton, which was bad enough.

Philip watched Eddie as he took another look at Rachel before he managed to dog-ear the page that he was on and put his book to one side. And somehow, Philip knew that Eddie wanted to talk about things, with him taking his headphones out so that they could talk.

"We need to watch her. Today and tomorrow and… up until Wednesday." Eddie said. "I think this is going to hit her hard."

"What are you going to do about tomorrow?"

"I'm going to give her the space that she feels like she needs while being close enough for her to take the comfort I am willing to give."

"What about Tyler?"

"I'll sort Max. I can't be having any trouble. I can't give… Rachel any more problems."

"We can keep him busy."

"No, you can't. I know someone in one of the other schools and he owes me a favour. I might call it in."

"Maybe that would be best. Keep him out of the school." Philip paused for a few moments. "You know she is going to be bad."

"Yes. I do fear that."

"I-I-I'm not saying it because I think you don't know it."

"I know, mate."

"I just think that she is going to be worse than I've ever seen her before."

"I think that is understandable."

Philip nodded for a moment.

"Mate, we've got her." Eddie continued. "And I know it is hard to see her like it, but there is only so much we can do. We just have to do what we can to make the day as easy for her as possible."

Philip was the one to leave things there. And it seemed like it was the best time to when, a few minutes later, Rachel woke up, with Eddie helping her to orient herself.

And he was more than happy to hear that the train was just coming into Stockport.

One more station left before the car ride home.

Then he could have some time alone to properly assess the weekend. And whether it had been a success or not.

Rachel was sure that Eddie must have known that something was up with her. Although, she was sure that the only reason he didn't complain was because she had been rather affectionate towards him. But she knew that he would ask at some point. Probably when he knew that Philip wouldn't disturb them. And, in fact, Rachel did want to talk to him about it.

"Melissa is doing well." Rachel said as the icebreaker to bring them into what she wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, it does seem that way. Do you think she will go abroad?"

"If she does, it will have to be somewhere where they speak good English. She isn't one for languages. I've never worked out whether that has something to do with them being hard to master or her own ignorance."

"I could argue one of them."

Rachel let out a short laugh before she knew she had to turn the conversation. "We spoke while you were out getting the food with Philip. About Dad."

Eddie moved so that he was in the doorway of the ensuite, with him looking rather concerned as she sat on the edge of the bed. She could see the stress and worry lines on his face. And she wasn't sure whether what she was about to say was going to worry and stress him out more.

"What about him?" Eddie said.

"There was this rumour. When we were kids."

"Right?"

"That Richard Fenshaw… might not have been my father."

The look on Eddie's face changed a little but she knew that he knew what she was implying. And the gravity of that thought hit him slowly as he abandoned what he had been doing to walk over and sit next to her. She knew that he couldn't really understand it. And as much as she didn't either (with her loving Michael as much as she did), she knew of others who would be cruel to a child just because they weren't their own.

"You don't know for sure?" Eddie said.

Rachel shook her head. "I started to hear it just before Mum died. I didn't really understand what they meant until I was older and, by that time, there was no way that I was going to ask Dad about it. I was terrified of him enough without adding anything like that to the mix. I mean… maybe I could have taken it from when he told me that… he wished I had never been born but… it does… if it is true, it does make so much sense. As to why he treated me and Melissa so differently."

"Maybe but…"

"Eddie, he isn't me. Is he?"

"I don't mean it like that. Of course, he isn't you. Because you would always put Michael before yourself."

"Then what was your but?"

"But that is just cruel. Just because you might not have been his daughter, he treated you wildly differently from the one that he knew definitely was."

"The thing is… Melissa is Mum's double. I've seen pictures of Mum when she was younger and she does look like how Melissa looks now." Rachel swallowed. "And now you've seen Dad…"

"No. I suppose you don't look like him. But Hannah doesn't look like Auntie Paula. Or anything like Uncle Trevor did. They all say that she looks like one of Uncle Trevor's sisters. So as long as you looked like someone on one of their sides, you are still blood-related."

"I don't know any of my other family."

"I know. I know."

"It just… The rumour was that Mum and Dad split and then got back together and got married in six weeks. I never worked out when they split. I just know that they got married late February and would have, then, got back together mid-January. I don't know when they broke up to know if I could have been… Dad's. I've tried to work it out so many times."

She could see that he was doing the same calculation that she had done many times to work out when they could have split. But there was still so much that she didn't know to be able to come up with a firm answer. And she was sure that it would be that way for the rest of her life.

"Would it help? If he wasn't your father?" Eddie said.

Rachel shrugged. "Nothing can take away the memories that I have. I've already lost the Fenshaw name. Knowing either way isn't going to do much to my life, is it? All the damage has already been done."

"Does Melissa believe the rumour then?"

"I think so. Her eyes have now been opened to how differently we were both treated. I think I used it when I was younger to give a reason to it as well. It's only when I realised that it wasn't really an excuse that I stopped trying to justify it."

She already knew what Eddie wanted to say without him having to say it. And she preferred that he didn't. Because there were some days where she became so angry with herself and everything that she put herself through but refused to allow any other child to go through. She would save them but never once thought to save herself.

"I'm not saying this to…" She started saying.

"I know," Eddie said, interrupting her.

"And it is why I adore your parents. In fact, I can't wait for them to be my in-laws. Properly."

"I know." He said, leaning in to kiss her forehead. "I know, Rachel."

"Can I apologise for tomorrow now?"

"There is nothing for you to apologise for. I am going to be here for you. I am always going to be here for you."

"I just might not accept what you want to offer me."

"And I know the reasons why."

It was the moment that Rachel realised that she had never given Eddie an answer regarding telling Kim if the question was asked about why she was acting the way she would be. She knew that she hated people knowing and she knew that she had told Eddie that and she knew that he understood why she would feel like that.

And Kim probably would too.

And she would be the best person to try and keep Max away from her.

"If Kim asks tomorrow, you can tell her." Rachel said.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I need someone to try and keep Max away from me and I think she might be the best person for the job. Because I don't think that you will be as… gentle with it as I have made you be. I do love it. That you are as protective over me as you are. But…"

"I know. I can't get suspended. No matter how much I want to shove my fist through his face."

"Wednesday is D-day. We will find out what the decision is then."

To put it bluntly, Rachel knew that she was in for a shit week. Monday with the anniversary and then Wednesday for the meeting. By Friday, she would either be emotionally exhausted or spiralling. In either case, she hoped that Eddie would be there, by her side, helping her through it all.

It wasn't fair on him.

But Rachel was sure that she wasn't going to get rid of him now. Even if she tried.