Thank you for the reviews.

And Happy New Year!

I will admit now, I am just trying to get these chapters finish. I think the end has a lot of filler chapters as most of the drama has ended. And that is where I am struggling slightly. It will just mean some less wordy chapters than you might be used to.

Now on with this...

Chapter Eighteen
Friday 18th December

There would never be complete and utter peace at Waterloo Road.

It wouldn't feel like it was the same school if there was peace.

Something always had to be happening or going wrong.

But there were times when things wouldn't go wrong and things wouldn't happen.

The end of term was never a guaranteed time when that could happen but Rachel could feel that things would be okay this time around. The assembly had gone without a hitch and all through the corridors, she could hear nothing but excitement and laughter as the forms had their little parties.

It filled her with excitement. Something that she felt like she hadn't felt in months.

There were moments, especially around their little girl, but it felt like it was forever ago that Rachel's chest wanted to burst with it.

She wasn't just going through the motions anymore.

The school could go back to being her vision and her vision alone.

Well, maybe not alone. With Eddie and Kim's input.

But she felt like she could put the last four months behind her.

She knew that there would be another update with the governors and the LEA over the merger and Max but she knew, now, that was going to wait until the new year. But she had already been assured that she wouldn't be seeing Max again. And that was what she tried to focus on rather than thinking about how he had come up with this long plan to undermine her. The pages of the folder that Kim had given her had been bad enough. Even if Kim's little comments did help slightly. She kind of hoped that Kim was right. That Max would have seen the real Waterloo Road if he had succeeded. Rachel wasn't even sure if she had seen the real Waterloo Road. But she could imagine that it would have been Max's hell. And she was sure that Max's way of fighting fire with fire wouldn't have worked.

She shook her head to remove the thought.

That wasn't the reality.

The reality was that these were still the corridors of her school. That Max didn't win. That there were no riots about her being pushed out of the school. She still had her job and so did Eddie.

Maybe the problem was that she felt like she had been fighting for so long that it didn't feel right to relax and let her guard down. She had been the same once she had the opportunity to get out of the situation she had found herself in at 19. It was an inability to see that things had changed until she could really believe it. Maybe things would feel better after the Christmas break.

Rachel continued her rounds of the school, finishing up in Eddie's classroom. It was one of the best things about dating him. That he didn't have a form because of all the extra admin work that he needed to do. And on days, like the end of term, they could spend quite a bit of their day together. As long as nothing happened.

"I think we could definitely do with these two weeks off." Rachel said.

"With my family?"

"Of course. I wouldn't want to spend the Christmas period with anyone else now. Do you know when Cathy is back?"

"Tomorrow. About lunchtime. We could go over there in the evening, couldn't we?"

"I thought you didn't miss her."

She knew that he knew that she knew how much he had missed Cathy. And she knew how much Cathy had missed Eddie when they went for a couple of days to Leicester. Because they did say that they didn't need their own personal tour guide if she had other things going on for Cathy to spend most of the time that they were there with them. Not that Rachel minded. But she felt like she needed Eddie to see that Cathy had settled in well. And not still holding onto family when they came to visit her.

"Maybe I've missed her a little bit," Eddie said.

"So Michael and our little one can't go any further than an hour away."

"Half. Half an hour away. That way they don't have to stay in halls and save themselves a bit of student debt."

"I've said this before but I really didn't have you down as a family man when I first met you."

"Yeah, well I had wildly different opinions of you when I first met you."

"I can imagine that it wasn't kind."

"I don't think that either of us made the best first impression that day."

"It's a good thing opinions can change."

"I suppose it is."

Rachel could have easily teased him for longer. But she couldn't when they were talking about something so sincere, like his family. She knew how much she had gained because of Eddie's family. And if she was being honest, she never wanted to lose it. They had all taught her so much about family that she was unsure whether she would feel the same as she did with them around anyone else. She had properly been brought under their wing and looked after.

"Maybe we should double check with Zoe that it is okay to go round. As much as I am sure that she has already planned that there would be a couple of drop ins… well…" Rachel trailed off.

"We will make sure it is okay."

Rachel did feel a little stupid when she said it. Zoe probably had a list of people that she was expecting to turn up unannounced. With Eddie definitely being on it. Maybe she expected them all to turn up at some point at the weekend. Even if Christmas was only a week away.

Again, it was something that said more about her and her relationship with Melissa than Eddie's family. Because she was never made to feel like she could turn up at Melissa's unannounced. Maybe there was always more planning in her seeing Melissa. Because Melissa was never just around the corner like Eddie's family was.

"I suppose, this weekend, I should finally ask Melissa what she is doing for Christmas. Whether she is going to spend it with us or not." Rachel said.

"Maybe warn her that not everyone might have forgiven her."

"I think she might know it. When she walks in and has a number of death glares pointing in her direction."

"I think it is probably best just to warn her. Even if Mum has invited her."

As much as Rachel knew that things weren't or couldn't be as bad as last Christmas, she could see why Eddie thought that it would be good to warn Melissa. Because there were quite a few people who still hadn't forgiven last year.

But Melissa had changed. And maybe it wasn't something that Rachel should hold onto but she hoped that it would show. And that there would never be a repeat of last year ever again.

Eddie knew that the end of term was always celebrated down the pub. And that end of term was no different.

And there was always an expectation that the first drink would be bought by the head. Which sort of happened. Rachel ordered. Eddie had paid. And they'd had a small falling out over it. But Eddie was sticking by his argument. Rachel wasn't drinking alcohol. It didn't quite seem fair that she was buying it all when her drink was the cheapest one there.

He knew that Rachel would pick her words carefully when it came to her thanking the staff for support over the last four months. With Kim being there, he knew that Rachel wouldn't want to rub it in her face that things hadn't been going as Max had tried to portray. It was short and sweet enough but gave the message that Rachel wanted.

Before they had even entered the pub, Eddie had tried to work out how long they might be there for. He knew that the staff wouldn't mind their bosses being there for a little while to close out the term but there would be a point where they had both overstayed. It was a weird balance that Eddie was still trying to work out. Although, he felt like two drinks was probably the barrier that he had placed on himself.

So he would say that when they reached that second drink, he was ready to go. And he had only left the table to go and use the bathroom before they left.

But when he came back, he was surprised to see Rachel at the bar. Even more so when she handed him his third pint, saying that she didn't mind driving. Given that Eddie was already two pints down, he knew that he wasn't driving. It was the problem with being a teacher. Because he felt like he had to do as he preached. Not that he advocated drink driving. Especially with his pregnant fiancée next to him.

Obviously, because he thought that they were going home, he was ready for home. But he suspected that this was because he had paid for the first round of drinks instead of her. She was, sometimes, that horribly stubborn. Again, a trait that he wished that their daughter wouldn't have. Or a severely watered down version. He couldn't be losing every argument at home, could he? He did more than enough of his fair share at work.

When she spoke about buying another round, Eddie knew that he had to say something to her. Not that he minded what she did with her money. After all, they hadn't really combined their money yet. And probably wasn't going to. Not completely. Maybe just have a joint account for joint purchases, like the weekly shop and household bills.

But he was ready for home. And he felt like some members of staff were maybe trying to get as much out of Rachel as they could.

"Don't worry. Steph isn't getting her triple of vodka." Rachel said.

"I know it is your money. And if this is a way of telling me that you can and will pay for these things, then fine, I've got the message."

"Eddie, they have supported me throughout. If I'm being honest, I don't know how else to repay them. I am sure a couple of them could think of ways but this is how I am going to do it. Don't worry, I'm not buying any more for us. We are going after you help me get these drinks over there. I just needed to show my appreciation in some way."

Eddie knew that Rachel was great with words. But sometimes, even words failed her. Usually when it came to him and expressing how much she loved him. And when it did, she resorted to gestures to try and portray what she couldn't say. And that was all she was doing here. So Eddie couldn't really stop himself from stopping her.

And it was exactly what Rachel said.

They dropped the drinks off at the table and said their goodbyes, with the usual suspects upset that they weren't going to get another drink out of Rachel. There were shouts wishing them a Merry Christmas which they said back before they finally stepped out into the cold night.

Eddie handed Rachel the keys before they reached the car and they both sat there for a few moments, waiting for the car to warm up enough to clear the windows.

"I wasn't…" Eddie started.

"I know. I know, Eddie. You know that sometimes I don't know how to show appreciation."

"I know."

"Was it so bad for me to show them some?"

"Absolutely not. I'm sorry."

"No, I should have mentioned that it was something that I was going to do."

"But maybe I didn't say it in completely the right way."

"Fine pair we are." Rachel said with a laugh.

"Well, I would rather argue about the small things. As long as we always work it out."

She nodded as she reached over and grabbed his hand. "I would always want to work it out with you."

Eddie didn't need anything more than that. And he moved how their hands were so that he could squeeze her hand. Because he knew that he was definitely better at gestures to describe his feelings rather than words.

It had definitely been one of their more challenging terms at Waterloo Road. But Eddie knew that they had survived it. And he felt like they were stronger because of it.