Alrighty, it's about time you all had an update... And I've got the time since they stuffed up my flights, so I'm stranded in Singapore. Was supposed to be heading to Spain, via London. Now they don't know how long I'm going to be stuck in Singapore for. We only managed to get two flights to London, therefore my friends went to London to get flights to Spain, and wait for me. Now I'm all alone in a foreign country...

Anyway, if you haven't all forgotten, I'd love reviews. I have the most loyal readers, since I only update once every few months! I feel so bad... And this chapter didn't come easily. Two nights of work, and it just wasn't coming. But here we go...

Oh, and anyone else really annoyed at the ' is brought to you by...' ads lately? You can't click on one chapter without them popping up!

*****

"So you going to tell me what Mum said to you?" Jake's question was completely out of the blue as Rachel sat with him in the lounge later that night. The late news could be seen on the television, but it didn't seem as if that was of any interest at this current moment in time.

"What?" replied Rachel, trying to display a 'don't know what you are talking about' face, only for it to fail miserably, and for Jake to see right through it.

"You two were actually civil at dinner tonight," added Jake, backing up his previous comment.

"Well, I don't remember us ever tackling and wrestling each other," said Rachel, deflecting as much as possible before finally getting to the real point. "We talked."

"Yeah, I got that much," said Jake, his tone bored. "Are you going to tell me or what?"

"She just thanked me for helping out the last few weeks."

"Okay... What else?" Jake pushed her to continue.

"How do you know..." Rachel looked at his face, and knew she had to continue. "She said that she knows you have to live your own life and she gets it." The final sentence came out so quickly that Jake had to laugh. Rachel was like that when she was nervous, and he could tell she was by the way she was twisting her hands in her lap.

"What did she say about you though?" Rachel suddenly seemed absorbed in the news at hearing Jake's last sentence, but he wasn't letting her go that easily. "Rachel?"

"She just..." Rachel wasn't sure how to put the words together. "She just basically said she'd accept me if it's what you wanted. If it'd make you happy." Sighing, Rachel never once broke her eyes from the television, yet if asked, she wouldn't be able to say what was happening. She wasn't actually taking any of it in.

"I didn't tell her to say any of that," Jake immediately said. "Promise."

"Grace told me that already," Rachel replied quietly, turning finally to look at him. Silence engulfed them briefly, before Jake spoke again.

"And what did you think of that?" Again, another pause before Rachel answered.

"I don't know."

"Rach, what happened between us before, I'm sorry. I really am," Jake said as his eyes searched for hers, as she turned to look away, afraid she'd break if she was looking directly at him. "Rachel, will you look at me please?" Slowly, Rachel turned her face to look at him, her eyes showing the early signs of tears.

"What do you expect me to say?" asked Rachel, finally gathering herself up enough to come up with some form of response. "What do you expect me to say to that? You were the one that left me because of your Mum."

"Rachel, I..."

"No Jake. I know how much your Mum means to you. Alex too. And I know you've always had to be the one there for them," Rachel paused again, taking a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is that I understand."

"And what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry," said Jake. "Can you at least accept that? Please?"

"Now you're just apologising because you think it's what I want," replied Rachel. "I don't expect you to do that."

"You know, you are one of the most complicated girls I've ever met," laughed Jake. "But I think you're worth the effort." With that, surprisingly Rachel, he leaned in and kissed her. After a moment, he drew back, mainly to take in Rachel's expression.

"That, that was... Umm..." Rachel stuttered over her words, her mind muddled.

"Umm?" Jake asked with a smile. "Well?"

"I can't put myself out there, only to get hurt again Jake," Rachel eventually spoke up. "I just can't do it."

"And I don't plan on hurting you Rach," was Jake's reply. "Look Rach, last time was all new for me. Sure, I'd been interested in girls, but none of them had been much more. With you, things were progressing, I was cautious of that and Mum's comments just sent all that spinning." Rachel was now just watching him, half wanting to hear more, the other half preparing herself for another fall.

"I don't need..."

"Rachel stop. Let me finish," Jake's tone was firm. "I want you. Like, for real. No more interferences, no more hesitations. A proper relationship."

For Rachel, this was everything she had wanted. Ever since their break-up, all Rachel had wanted was a second go. The days where she had curled up after work and over-indulged in chocolate, attempting to seek some form of solace in the addictive sweet. The days where she had buried herself in work, and refused to let anyone in. Those barriers were all just a way of trying to block out the deep pain that their break-up had caused.

And now she had a chance to fix that.

But then, what if he were to change his mind again? Could she deal with that?

Or was love really worth all that pain, to gamble every ounce of happiness she had finally managed to muster up again?

These thoughts were swirling around Rachel's head. She had no idea how long she sat there, processing them, until Jake snapped her out of her trance.

"Are you going to say something or not? You're making me a little nervous," Jake admitted, and asked, with a small laugh.

"If we're going to do this, properly, I can't go through that hurt again. I barely got through that last time, and I don't honestly know if I'm strong enough to face that again," she eventually replied, tone honest.

"Well, for starters, you're strong enough for anything." Rachel raised her eyebrows, and Jake took that as his cue to continue. "But I don't plan on making, or letting, you go through that again. I want you in my life."

"That sounds a bit like a proposal," Rachel replied, a little freaked out by the thought. Jake noticed this too, and laughed.

"I'm not proposing. At least not yet. I'm not saying I'm not open to the thought of marriage, just for now, I want things to be, normal, if that's at all possible."

"Is normal even possible with us?" Rachel said, attempting a smile.

"That's a good point. Probably not," Jake replied. "But you know what I mean."

"I do know what you meant."

"And?" Jake's tone was questioning. She'd put off the question how many times in the last few minutes, now he was beginning to think she didn't want to give them another go.

"And I want to." While the answer was clipped and brief, it was enough to give Jake something to work with. But it was also enough to make him want to know more.

"Want to?"

"Yes, I want to give this another go," Rachel told him. "But only if we take it slow. No rushing into ot like we did last time. I think that might have been part of the problem."

"Done. Deal. Anything!" Jake replied quickly.

"This is going to work isn't it?" Rachel asked again. Yet judging by Jake's enthusiastic reply, she was pretty sure he didn't need to answer that.

"You bet it is."

Next day... 10am, Rafter House

"Hello? Anyone home?" Rachel called out after she had entered the house. Holding the door as it clicked into the lock, Rachel turned back around and walked in quietly. The house was extremely quiet. Rachel assumed that everyone was either at work, or like Ted, enjoying the retired life.

"Hey Rachel." Rachel nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard her sister-in-law's voice to the door on the right.

"Oh Sammy. You scared the hell out me!" laughed Rachel. "Why aren't you at work?"

"Oh, I've got the day off. Are you okay? You seem a little jumpy."

"Yeah, you just scared me! Is Mum here?" asked Rachel next. Sammy nodded.

"Yeah. She's asleep though."

"I won't wake her then," replied Rachel. Sammy looked at Rachel closely, then smiled.

"What are you so cheery about?"

"I'm not," Rachel quickly put in. "I mean, nothing's wrong or anything."

"Yeah, I got that," Sammy replied, her face still plastered with a confused smile. "Something happened between you and Jake, didn't it?"

"What makes you say that?" asked Rachel, attempting the innocent look, yet failing miserably.

"Aww... It did! That's great Rach!" smiled Sammy, reaching forward to wrap Rachel in a hug. With her head on Sammy's shoulder, Rachel just laughed.

"Don't tell anyone yet. We're taking it 'slow'," emphasized Rachel. "Okay?"

"Yeah, of course. But I'm thinking they'd already be suspecting anyway. I think even Carbo has at some point." Even Rachel had to laugh at this. Carbo was the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Point taken," replied Rachel.

"Come on. Let's get some tea and go outside. I want to know EVERYTHING," added Sammy, taking Rachel and heading into the kitchen.

****

Okay, there we go. I'm still not sure where this story will go... But I do only predict a few more chapters at max. Maybe for a final chapter I can do a 'future' chapter, you know, how they are in a years' time or something...

Although I absolutely HATED this chapter and I know it's been so long, if you could still review for me, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

Emma x x