Thank you for the reviews.

A month late but I am now here with it... Like dear lord, in some ways, I feel like 2022 wasn't my writing year and in others, I think that it might not have been as bad as I thought... Maybe if my idea for logging certain things this year goes well, then I will have something to judge off in future years.

Now, unless I become super inspired, I don't think we will be revisiting this timeline again. I haven't got any ideas of how I could extend this for another year. I think I can leave it here...

Anyway, enjoy this last chapter. And pray to God that this doesn't happen again...

Chapter Twenty Five
Friday 25th December

Rachel was definitely a morning person.

Eddie was less so.

It had taken them a while to get into the routine that they had done. For Eddie to spend most of the holidays trying to get her out of the routine.

But that morning, it was Eddie who had awoken first and Rachel felt like she'd had the best wake-up ever as he kissed her awake. And she didn't care what the time was, as long as she could stay wrapped up with her husband, she would be happy.

"Merry Christmas, Rachel." He muttered when she let him know that she was awake.

"Merry Christmas, Eddie." She said a smile automatically rising on her face.

"I don't know how much longer we will have."

"What do you mean?"

Eddie didn't get a chance to answer her question as there was a knock at the door.

"Uncle Eddie, Auntie Rachel. We aren't going to hold them off for much longer." Lydia said through the door.

"We are just coming, Lydia," Eddie said, throwing back the covers.

Rachel managed to reach for her watch and checked the time as Eddie started moving around the room.

"Eddie, it's half six," Rachel said.

"Yeah."

"On Christmas?"

He nodded at her before he continued to do what he was doing. And Rachel found herself just watching in disbelief. Because she thought that they would have a lovely relaxing Christmas morning wrapped up together. It was clear that was not going to happen.

"Come on, Rach. The rest of them won't be as kind."

The one redeeming feature of Eddie and his family that morning was that Rachel adored them all. But she was sure that she was in the same mindset as Melissa when they walked down the stairs together.

"You married the nutters," Melissa whispered to her. "I don't understand why I have to be involved in all this."

"Unfortunately, I think you are family as well," Rachel whispered back.

Luckily they were both too tired for Rachel to realise how she had worded it and for Melissa to take any offence.

When Zoe handed her a mug of coffee, Rachel was sure that she could have cried. It was such a simple thing but it was definitely needed. It was all things that Rachel felt like they could have waited a couple of hours but she could see the joy in everyone's face, including Philip's, and she couldn't bring herself to be mad at the rather early start.

Because for the first time ever, Rachel knew that she was having a proper family Christmas.

And she had never been so happy.

If Rachel wasn't already left-handed, she was sure that she would have exclusively used her left hand to pick up her wine glass. Just so she would hear her new ring tap against the side of it. Giving her a constant reminder that it was there.

Every time she heard it clink, the smile on her face rose a little more. And she was sure that someone would call her out for it at some point soon. They didn't. Rachel assumed that they already knew why the smile on her face never faltered. Or that it was Christmas and everyone was meant to be happy.

But the adults' table was full of chatter, like they hadn't spent the last 24 hours together, and Rachel could hear the kids all laughing. It would be a couple of years yet until their daughter's laughs joined them but Rachel couldn't really wait for the day that would happen.

Rachel took the moment to look over at Eddie, mainly just to admire him from afar while he wasn't looking. She liked doing it, knowing that she could stand outside of his classroom for at least ten minutes before he would notice her watching him. She didn't expect to see him already looking over at her, with her catching him doing what she wanted to do.

They didn't mind that they weren't sitting near each other.

They had the rest of their lives to sit next to or opposite each other.

But he smiled at her when she caught him. He seemed to be idly playing with the rings that she had given him. She did wonder whether he would just go to his wedding ring as they were both quite wide, the wedding ring being wider than the engagement ring. Although, she felt like he would want to keep wearing both. Maybe as a reminder of the rather unusual way it all happened.

She reminded herself of the chat that they needed to have. About how they were going to make their marriage work and how it was going to be different from how their current relationship had been.

Maybe it was hard for them to differentiate between their professional and personal relationships because it had all happened so fast. That they hadn't really had the chance to be able to find their feet in their personal relationship and now they were married with their daughter due in four months.

They definitely needed that chat.

Rachel was bought out of the moment by Cathy who seemed ready to ask her a million questions about her newest cousin. All of which Rachel was more than happy to try and answer. Even more so when she could still feel Eddie's eyes on her.

"I think this might be our Christmas thing," Eddie said.

The one thing that Eddie felt grateful for was that it didn't seem like the smile on Rachel's face had faltered once. He knew that he was still going to get it in the neck about the rather early start that they'd had but he felt like he could deal with it when it happened. He was too happy for whatever telling off he might get.

"What? So every Christmas we have to hide from your family in the conservatory?" Rachel said as she joined him on the sofa.

"For a little bit. It might be a little longer next year. We will have an eight-month-old, at the youngest. We might want a quick nap."

"A whole world of change for the next 12 months." She sighed. "Do you think it will slow down?"

Eddie shook his head. "Not now. Not when we have our daughter."

"The plan for the next 12 months…"

"Do we have to have a plan?"

"Yes. Because I think we need to address a few things. Personally and as part of our relationship."

Eddie knew that he was probably giving her a blank look but he didn't really understand what she meant. A lot of things were going to change. And he was already doing all he could to make sure that he could be a support to Rachel rather than a hindrance.

"Like what?" He said.

"I think we need to be the partnership we keep talking about."

"How are we not?"

"This has happened all so fast."

"Well, we know the reasons why some things happened quicker than others. And I don't mind that we haven't had the long engagement that we spoke about."

"I just don't think we can, yet, separate our professional and personal relationship."

Eddie did feel a veil of worry sink over him. He knew that it was hard for them to separate their work and home life. The only thing that they didn't bring home were the arguments. And that was only because they had bought one home that Eddie worried would have ended them before they really began.

"What…"

"Eddie, stop thinking," Rachel said. "We've got four months before we have to find our new normal with our daughter in tow. But right now, I think we need to work on talking to each other and coming up with a joint decision. I do understand things from your perspective. And I do understand that I've gone against the only joint decision we had made. But this is our life together. And we are going to start living it together. We are going to have to start agreeing on the big decisions or compromising to make sure that both our wants are covered. It isn't going to be your decision or mine. It is going to be our decision. If that makes any sense. It isn't our professional relationship that needs to change. It's our personal one. I'm… not the boss at home."

The quip of 'of course you are' almost left Eddie's mouth but he understood that it wasn't what Rachel was getting at. He knew that he shouldn't have been surprised if Zoe had said something to Rachel. He knew that she didn't agree with the way that he was dealing with things in that respect. Probably because he wasn't dealing with anything and leaving it all to Rachel. Maybe it was a subconscious thing. Like the time he thought that Rachel was going to kick him out. That she couldn't blame him if it hadn't been his decision.

"I know you are scared, Eddie." Rachel continued. "But you should know me well enough now that I wouldn't just let us fall apart without a fight. I've already said to you that the reason behind us getting married is so I can hold onto you."

"I thought it was because you were going to be jealous about our daughter becoming a Lawson before you."

"I think we both need to stop talking to Zoe."

"Well, I think she just tells us what the other can't."

Rachel nodded. "But some things I do say in confidence."

"Like being jealous of our own daughter?"

"It wasn't…" She trailed off and huffed before she placed a hand on her stomach. "She automatically joins one of the best families in the world. Why wouldn't I be slightly jealous?"

Eddie couldn't help but chuckle. Because it was rather cute how much Rachel did love his family. And he was grateful that she was now a part of it.

Rachel did eventually join him in the laughter but he felt like there was a lot more to be said. And she was going to say it.

"We… I think we shouldn't say anything about us being married. At work. Other than to the LEA. Not yet at least. I just think that we should work out how to be a married couple and how our relationship should be for us. I think we've reached a stage where we can slow down now. But what do you think?"

He suddenly realised what Rachel was on about when his first reaction was to instantly agree with what she was saying. Without really thinking about or processing what she was saying. Which may have come from him knowing that they had a lot of conflict at work, which they didn't need at home. Which did seem stupid. Because the conflict at home would never be the same. Or wouldn't act out the same way. Just Eddie had become scared of conflict in his, and their, personal life.

Which he felt like Rachel would understand.

He'd already had one relationship fall away to bitterness and spite. And he was scared to lose it all again. To find himself having to build himself up again. After all, that was what his family was terrified about when they found out that they were going to try to have a baby. And Eddie wasn't sure what depths he would reach if it did happen between him and Rachel.

He knew that he should be more secure in their relationship but his relationship with Alison had also felt rather secure.

He would never have enough of Rachel but he wasn't sure whether Rachel would ever have enough of him.

"I think you are right. I think things do need to slow down now." Eddie said. "Rachel… I… don't we have enough conflict between us at work without there being the same at home?"

He hadn't meant to voice that concern but it was both weird and comforting how Rachel took the words and processed them before she spoke.

"No, I don't think so. Work is different. Work is us making important decisions that affect 600 students. At home, it will just be things that affect us and Philip. And our daughter when she arrives. And other than moving or changing schools, I don't think home is going to have the same massive decisions that we make at work. So I don't think we are going to argue it out in the same way as we do at work. We will always be able to have a discussion." She paused as she shuffled a little closer to him. "I do understand Eddie. That even now, it doesn't seem like this could be permanent. With us. That is why I want to make sure that it will always work between us. There will be days when we are fed up with each other but isn't that part of it all? To get annoyed at little things like they matter?"

He couldn't understand why the smile started to rise on his face but he was glad that it did. There was nothing to say that things with Rachel would end up the same way as they did with Alison but, at the same time, there was nothing to guarantee that they would be different. Except, Eddie knew. Deep down he knew that things with Rachel would be wildly different than they were with Alison. That she wouldn't rip open the same scars that Alison had made. She might make new ones and he wasn't sure whether they would hurt more or less but he felt confident to know that Rachel would also be able to heal them.

"I'd never want to hurt you, Eddie." Rachel continued. "But we can never promise that we won't hurt each other. We can just do everything we can to make sure that we never cause any irreparable damage."

Even with saying it, Eddie knew that there were no promises behind her words. As much as Eddie did like to promise her things, she never promised him anything. Maybe because she knew better that there were no guarantees in life. And therefore, there was nothing that could be promised. Or that she would want to promise.

"I do think, or hope, that there will be more stress at home than at work next year," Eddie said. "So it does make sense. To focus more on our home life. To be us. Because I do worry that, sometimes, we can't divide our work and home life. That we don't really escape each other."

"This is the type of thing that we need to talk about. Because it seems like we are good at making decisions behind the other's back. We should be able to have boundaries and… just have a healthy relationship."

"I hope we are already in a healthy relationship."

Rachel smiled. "I think that is where I need to put in some work. To not instantly shut you off. To take the comfort that I know that you will willingly give."

"Well, we don't know how bad I will be yet."

"No, we don't."

"But I do understand. I get where you are coming from. And I agree we do need to work on our personal life."

She nodded. "And I suppose there is one other thing we need to agree on. Are we going to have a honeymoon or should we delay that until we can enjoy it properly?"

"Who says we can't have multiple honeymoons?"

Rachel laughed. "And how would we make that work?"

"Something in the February half-term and then, maybe, when everyone else knows and our daughter is a little older, we can find somewhere. Prolong this part for as long as we can."

"We seem to have a problem prolonging these things."

"It's not me that has the problem. Someone else seems to be a little impatient."

"Ooh, you would hate it if she was as impatient as I am."

"Maybe you have been right all this time. Maybe I don't want a mini-Mason."

"I don't think that will stop her from having her father wrapped around her little finger."

Eddie thought about arguing that point but scoffed instead, knowing how true it was. All of his nieces had him wrapped up in the same way. It was only fair that their daughter would put him under the same spell. Not that he wasn't wrapped around Michael's little finger as well. But there were other reasons as to why that was.

Rachel's laughter only seemed to increase the longer he stayed quiet. So he decided to try and silence her with a kiss. He didn't think that he was being that successful until she leant more into it. It was the moment that he realised that he could do this for the rest of his life. That this was his privilege and his alone.

Nothing could be or would be solved with a single conversation. It wasn't that sort of problem. It wasn't one that had a quick solution. But Eddie knew he would welcome the conversations and the solutions they would come up with.

The next 12 months would be an adventure.

And he was glad Rachel was by his side for it.