A few weeks passed whilst Rachel tried her hardest to help Poppy come to terms with what had happened to her. Rachel felt like Poppy hadn't told her everything, but she didn't want to push her any further.

It was the day of Poppy's birthday and Rachel woke the household early. "Happy Birthday Poppy!" Rachel called as Poppy came into the kitchen. Olivia promptly followed Poppy in and Rachel gave Poppy her present from her and Olivia. "Open it then Poppy!" said Olivia. Poppy carefully undone the wrapping paper to find a box. Inside the box was a shiny, silver necklace with the letter 'P' on the chain. "Thank you!" exclaimed Poppy as she reached to give Rachel and Olivia a big hug.

"You're very welcome Poppy," Rachel replied. "Now go and get ready for school! Both of you or we're going to be late!" Both girls hurried out of the kitchen as Rachel called, "don't forget that Emily, Denzil and Mollie are coming over after school!"

Rachel was busy doing a few quick last-minute jobs before school when there was a knock at the door. Rachel opened the door as Eddie walked straight in and through to the kitchen. "There's the cake, balloons and decorations so Poppy has the best party ever!" Rachel followed him to the kitchen, laughing and closing the kitchen door behind her.

"You're so sweet Eddie" she whispered before giving him a kiss. "There was no need to go to so much trouble!"

"There was. And it meant that I could see you…" he replied as he wrapped his arms around Rachel. "Oh, this is for Poppy." Eddie reached for a present wrapped in blue football paper. "Excuse the paper. It's the only piece I had left after Michael's birthday."

"Oh Eddie. You really didn't need to."

"Trust me, I did."

"Give it to her later," Rachel said as she walked out of the kitchen. She raised her voice a little louder, "we're going to be late if the girls don't hurry up!"

"Yeah," Eddie continued. "2 minutes or they're walking!"

Almost immediately both girls were downstairs and ready to leave, clearly avoiding that very long walk to school.

"Nice of you to finally join us girls," Rachel said.

"Happy Birthday Poppy," Eddie added.

"Thanks," replied Poppy.

"Let's get going then!"

Today didn't drag on like the usual school days did. Poppy and her friends spent most of the day laughing and joking, much to their teachers' annoyance. "Will you four please shut up and get on with those questions!" Mr Budgen shouted.

"But it's Poppy's birthday sir," Denzil replied.

"I don't care if it's the Queen's birthday; you're still going to do those questions. Get on with it!" he replied as he sank back into his chair and continued to read his horse racing paper.

Rachel and Eddie had returned to Rachel's house to prepare for Poppy's party. "She'll have such a shock Eddie!"

"Why?"

"Well, from what I've gathered, she's never had a birthday party before and she thinks that she's only got a couple of friends coming over after school!"

"She'll love it! Have Katie and Mark arrived yet?"

"Yep. They arrived this morning."

"See? She'll have them, you, me, Olivia, her friends, as well as Chris and Sophie. She really will love it!"

"I'm sure she will. Katie and Mark are taking her out tomorrow. Come on, we need to get back to school before they finish."

The school bell rang as Rachel and Eddie returned. "Good timing!" they said simultaneously. They both were heading up to Rachel's office when Sian Diamond stopped Rachel.

"Sorry for this Rachel, but I heard Olivia telling Madi and Lauren about a party she's going to after school…"

"It's okay. It's Poppy's birthday party."

"Oh, right. I thought she'd be going somewhere different. Just thought I'd let you know."

"Thanks for that. It's Poppy's birthday today and I'm giving her a little party. Did Madi want to come? She can if she wants."

"I'll text her now. She probably will."

"Okay, if she does, I'll take her with me to mine. No doubt Olivia will convince me to let her stay over again!"

"Alright then. I best be getting off. I'm supposed to be meeting up with Jez this evening."

"I hope it goes okay for you two then."

"So do I. Enjoy the party!"

Rachel continued to walk up to her office as Eddie asked, "how do you expect to fit all of these kids in your car? You've invited half the school!"

"You know I asked you to bring your car this morning instead of car share?"

"Oh! I see now! Thanks for telling me!"

"You're welcome!"

Moments after arriving at her office, Poppy arrived with Denzil, Emily and Mollie. They were closely followed by Olivia with Madi and Lauren. "Mum?" Olivia asked. "Madi got Mrs Diamond's text. Can Lauren come too?"

"I guess so."

"Great!"

"Wow! You lot can be a noisy bunch! Come on, let's get going. Poppy & friends, you're in my car. The rest of you are with Mr Lawson."

"Mum, we're going home, not on a school trip!" laughed Olivia as they followed Rachel's instructions.

Soon enough, they were all safely at Rachel's house and the kids were sent upstairs so Rachel and Eddie could continue with the last minute party preparations. "We make a good team!"

"I know we do Eddie. Why do you think that I've kept you as my deputy?!"

"Maybe… we could be a team that's together… forever."

Rachel sighed as Eddie gave her a hug. "You know exactly what I want."

"So why don't we just have what we want!"

"Because things aren't that simple Eddie. I've got Olivia to think about and you've got Michael. I wish we could be together forever but we can't just yet. Not right now."

"But surely we could sort something Rachel?"

"That's enough of this conversation. I'm not having this discussion now. Anyway, we've got a party to start!"

Rachel called everyone downstairs and into the hall way. Poppy proudly wore her new necklace with her pastel pink party dress. "You look lovely!" admired Rachel.

"Thanks," Poppy smiled. "What do you think of my nails? Madi has done them for me and Lauren done my make up."

"They're great! Thanks girls."

"I feel a bit over dressed for having friends over for tea though!" Rachel and Eddie glanced at each other and opened the living room door. A gasp of awe came from the group behind her as they slowly filed in. Pink and white helium balloons were standing in the corners, whilst others were pinned to the wall. 'Happy Birthday' banners were carefully placed around the room and there was a lovely mixture of pink and white glowing from the strings of fairy lights across the ceiling. Looking across to the open plan dining room, there was a colourful array of freshly prepared food on pink plates and a white table cloth. Pink 'Happy Birthday' table confetti was sprinkled around the table. No one knew where to go. They didn't want to disturb any of the beautiful decorations. A lot of work had clearly been put into this. "Happy Birthday Poppy," Rachel smiled when she saw Poppy's face filled with amazement.

"Thank you. Thank you so much!"

Very soon, the doorbell rang and Rachel sent Poppy to answer it. "Happy Birthday!"

"Oh. My. Gosh. Katie! Mark! What are you doing here?" Poppy exclaimed as she gave them both a hug and invited them in.

"We're here for the party!"

Almost as soon as Poppy had closed the door, she had to answer it again. "Chris! Sophie! I'm so glad that you're here! I've not seen you in ages!"

Poppy spent a while catching up with everybody. It felt like such a long time since she'd last spoken to them. Rachel settled everyone down on the sofa's in the living room for a surprise for Poppy. "I've got a surprise for you all and, Poppy, you're probably going to hate us all for this. But, Poppy May, this, is your year!" Rachel pressed play on the DVD player and images and short videos appeared on screen from everywhere Poppy had been and everything Poppy had done since last Christmas. There were photos of her with Katie and Mark, a video of her blowing bubbles for Sophie last May, photos from the holiday she went on with Rachel and Olivia. There was the full video of her performance that dreadful night at Waterloo Road, as well as various pictures of things she'd done and ones of her and her friends, including one of her on her first day at Waterloo Road. Lastly, there were video messages from everybody wishing her a happy birthday and a tiny story about something Poppy had done in the past year. Some of the messages were also from Chris and Rachel's close friends who were staff at the school. Everyone laughed and smiled through the video, which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

The night was beginning to get late as Chris and Sophie headed home. Rose came to collect Denzil, who was the only child who wasn't staying at Rachel's! Katie and Mark were about to leave as Katie took Rachel aside and whispered "Poppy's social worker wanted her to have this," and she passed a photo across to her. "It's her cousins. They're in long term foster care with a very loving family. They do still chat about Poppy and we'd like to organise a group outing with them when Poppy starts to come and stay with us for weekends again. Please can you give this to her and let her know that?"

"Yes, of course I will. See you tomorrow. Poppy will be ready at 11am."

Rachel stood in the doorway of the living room, watching Poppy with her friends. They were all playing Spin The Bottle. She looked over at Olivia, and then at Poppy. She considered Poppy family now. What was she going to do when Poppy leaves her? Rachel's thoughts were interrupted by Eddie. "I'm going now Rachel."

"No. Stay. Please?"

"For how long?"

Rachel paused. "Forever."