A/N: HELLO. I SHOULD BE ASLEEP. But I'm not. Sorry this took a wee while to upload. I got distracted by "Blind Winter" and my trip to London and the fact my brother is a total idiot. But here it is anyway. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter! :)

Sarah x

Serena watched as Mo and Eleanor started getting along like a house on fire; she should have guessed that was going to happen, really. She wasn't even sure why she was allowing this to happen. After all, she still did not trust Edward as far as she could kick him. He was childish and irresponsible, and far from a good influence on Eleanor who, to be completely honest, was impressionable at best. Hence why she wanted a shot in Daddy's car.

She felt like throttling him for introducing her to a sport that involved getting in a car and ruthlessly racing around a track in all weathers, mercilessly knocking away anyone who drove in the desired path. There had been many times Serena had watched Edward crash, many times believing that it would have seriously hurt or even kill him. As it went, the worst injury he ever sustained was a few broken ribs.

To stop Eleanor would only cause a row, and Serena seemed to spend half her time avoiding such things, so she allowed it even though her instincts screamed that she shouldn't. Though she knew size and gender had little to do with it, in Serena's mind her lean, skinny daughter looked completely out of place in that car, surrounded by men ten years older than her and far better built.

"She'll be fine," Jac said quietly so Eleanor couldn't hear. "Edward wouldn't let her if he didn't believe that, would he?"

"Yeah, actually, he would," Serena replied unflinchingly. "He is that stupid."

Jac let out a silent laugh at her caustic honesty. "I'm sure he is," she agreed wholeheartedly, glancing around to make sure Edward was concentrating on the road and not to their conversation. "But Eleanor isn't. She'll know when she's pushing her luck and when to hang back."

"And what makes you so sure?" Serena demanded.

"Self-preservation," Jac shrugged.

"I just hope you're right," sighed Serena. She opened a packet of Party Rings and realised she was stress-eating again. It was a rather annoying and unfortunate habit of hers, one she had put on display to Keller Ward last year when she started eating Chantelle's doughnuts and blaming it all on Malick.

Michael had fallen asleep with his head resting on Serena's at about seven, and Jac and Jonny were sleeping too while Edward drove, Mo and Eleanor messed around quietly and Serena sat beating herself up.

Edward eventually broke the silence. "When we get to Cowdenbeath, Jac, Jonny, Mo, Ellie, Michael...you all book into a hotel," he advised. "The bus is too small for all of us to sleep in."

"And why are you holding me hostage in this little prison?!" Serena demanded in a hushed shout so as not to wake up Michael, Jac or Jonny. "That isn't fair. If anything, Michael should stay here and Ellie and I should get a room in a hotel!"

"I'll get a room with Mo," Eleanor piped up. Serena's head snapped around and she glowered at her daughter for making it more difficult to get out of it.

"Yeah, we'll have a good time, won't we?" Mo chipped in; she shrank back slightly when Serena glared at her for her input. As much as Serena liked Mo Effanga, she did know that the woman had a tendency to be a little irresponsible, which meant she and Ellie were two peas in a pod.

"Well, Michael, then."

Edward laughed. "I'm not sharing with him. He'll have half the women in Fife in here tomorrow!" He glanced in the mirror at her. "And anyway, I need a hand to fix the car up. The anti-roll bar still needs to be tightened up and I want you to have a look at the brakes."

"Me?" Serena demanded, sceptical to say the least of his intentions. Surely she was not the only person on this bus who knew how to fix brakes. Surely Michael or Jonny must have had some idea of how a car was to be maintained and repaired for the abuse subjected to it by the moron that was her ex-husband. "Why me?"

"Because you know what you're on about," he retorted quickly. "Better you than Jac or Mo or Ellie. No offence," he added.

"None taken!" Mo called back. "I've not even got a bloody clue what an anti-roll bar is anyway!"

Edward chuckled. "And anyway, Serena. You were always better at brake pipes than me. I always make them too long," he explained. Serena raised her eyebrow at him in the knowledge he could see her if he looked in the mirrors. Was that meant to be his idea of a compliment? "And I'm always too rough with them. How do you get them perfect first time?"

"Years of practice," she grumbled.

"And I need your opinion on the nearside track rod end. I don't know if I'll get away with it or not," he added. Serena rolled her eyes. He had never been able to work out when there was far too much play on the wheels. Who had done that for him in her absence? Milly-Molly-Mandy had not been much of a mechanic. She had been far more likely to be found painting her perfect nails.

"Anything else wrong with the bloody thing?!" she exclaimed impatiently, covering her mouth as Michael stirred next to her. To her relief he did not wake. He did, however, turn and bury his face in her neck with his arms around her like he was using her as a child would use a teddy bear. She heard Mo snort from behind her, and Eleanor was trying to hide her smirk.

She sighed to herself; she didn't have the heart to move Michael.

A few hours later, they were parked with all the other buses from outwith Tayside and Fife, and Eleanor was kissing her mother's cheek before sauntering off with Mo, Jac, Jonny and Michael to find a hotel. To be fair, there would not be a problem. If there was any nonsense from Ellie, a grumpy, hormonal Jac would be enough to reel her in. She looked at Edward. "Just you and me, then," she sneered distastefully. "Come on, then. Better start looking at this stupid, Godforsaken car."

"You've got to be kidding. You won't see a thing," he reminded her that it was after ten at night and therefore impossible to see anything worth seeing. He did have a point, and she wasn't sure she would have remembered what she was looking at anyway. She was starting to waver over her own ability here. "And I'm bushed. Alright for you lot, sitting there while I drove up from England."

"So I could have stayed in a hotel tonight!" she demanded hotly, standing up. "What are you playing at?"

Edward took a step towards her. "Can't we just be civil?" he asked her. She stepped back from him when she felt the old desire tingle through her at his proximity.

"Fine," she huffed. "I'll sleep on the floor," she added firmly when she remembered that the sofas in this thing pulled out to be a double bed. She realised now that she'd been had; she just wasn't sure why he had done it. "I'll get up at six and start working on that wreck of a car of yours."

"Don't be like that," he groaned hopelessly at her while she turned away.

"Like what?!" she retorted, yanking her pyjamas from her bag with unnecessary force. "Just because I don't want to share a bed with the man I kicked out over fifteen years ago?" she challenged him. He looked a little hurt but she knew he would not object to that point when he knew she was speaking sense.

And yet there was some small, insane part of her actually wanted to share his bed, just to be close to him for one night so she could remember what it felt like. To know whether she could feel close to him again would either be a very good or very bad thing, depending on what she discovered.

She turned around and saw the hurt look on his face, but she didn't really care if she had wounded him. All she had done was point out that they were separated for a reason. After all, he had wounded her many times before, and what was good for him to give was surely good for him to take. She wandered away to the bathroom to get changed.

Serena was at her wit's end already. How was she going to survive this weekend? Not to mention the car...she hadn't worked on that thing in over fifteen years, and she wasn't sure she remembered what to do. And she had to tell Edward – as much as she disliked him, she didn't want her incompetency to kill him on the track. And more to the point, Eleanor had to drive that car too. She couldn't have that on her conscience.

She finished brushing her teeth and taking her make up off, pulling on her slippers. She stepped out and dumped her clothes on the table so she could help Edward set the bed up. She was accepting now that she had to sleep in that bed. Regardless of anything else, there wasn't room on the floor and she wasn't walking alone around here when she didn't remember how it was laid out.

"I can't help you with the car, Edward," she said quietly, though she was sure he heard her, because he froze for only a moment. She hated admitting a lapse of confidence, particularly to Edward.

He finished laying the duvet and pillows on the bed and stepped around until he was only inches away from her; she instinctively took a step back when she felt his closeness. She couldn't spend the night like this, could she? "You'll be fine," he reassured her. "You never forget these things."

"I can bet you that I'll not even remember how to change the bloody oil," she grumbled.

He huffed a slight sigh before he showed her a small, sly smile, placing his hands encouragingly on her shoulders. "Name the components of a standard manual gearbox," he ordered her.

She looked straight into his face, suddenly confused by his behaviour. Nonetheless, she began, "Oil guide plate, mainshaft assembly, gear case, reverse shaft bolt, reverse idle gear, breather pipe and bracket, bell housing, access plug, countershaft assembly, selector interlock, selective spacer, final drive assembly, speedometer drive," she listed. There was one more thing but she was struggling. "Oh, for God's sake! What have I left out?!" she demanded, impatient with her own memory.

"OK. Close your eyes," he told her. "Picture the inside of the gearbox." She obeyed, visualising the shafts and gears and teeth.

"Gearshift rod!" she finished as she opened her eyes, pleased that, even after all these years and with a little help from Edward, she still remembered the construction of a gearbox.

"Yeah, you'll be perfectly fine," he grinned. "I trust you with my life," he added as he slapped her arm lightly and went to brush his teeth. She sat on the side of the bed. Why was she feeling so...odd? She almost felt nervous. She had known Edward for years and years – she practically knew him inside out – and yet she was struggling to remain composed with the prospect of a night alone with him. She just knew this was a bad idea. It had to be – Edward had come up with it.

She heard him come back into the main space and felt him wriggling into bed. Serena closed her eyes for a moment and steeled herself for an awkward night of discomfort. She switched off the lamp and got under the duvet only because she was starting to feel the cold of an autumn night in inland Fife. Lying on the very edge she had to balance herself so as not to fall out.

"Goodnight, Serena," he said to her. She felt him moving as he tried to get comfortable; she had almost forgotten how irritating he could be.

Out of nothing more than common courtesy, she replied with her voice hoarse, "Goodnight, Edward."

Hope this is alright!
Please feel free to leave me a review and tell me what you think!
Sarah x