Author's Note: Not sure how many of you are still here, but if you are then welcome to chapter 5! I am so sorry I have been away for so long. My mental health has sucked these past couple months thanks to a number of things happening in my personal life and I just lost motivation for my writing. I am doing better now though and I'm ready to come back and continue this. Thank you for all the support you have showed thus far.

Returning to the living room after washing up the breakfast things, Eddie paused in the doorway and sighed, folding his arms across his chest. Rachel was curled up on the sofa with her laptop, the cup of tea he made for her earlier still cooling next to her, and he knew that she was working again. He'd been expecting it honestly, professional Rachel to rear her head again the closer they got to the new term, but he'd not been expecting her to come out in such full force so soon. It seemed like all she'd been doing when she had a spare minute over the last couple days was preparing things. All manner of timetables for the students and staff, some little trips, letters to be sent home to parents. Trying to get her to take even the smallest break had been hard to achieve.

In a way, he was glad she was working because it meant she was starting to feel more like herself again.

Her nausea was no longer as severe as it had once been, and she was able to function a bit easier these days.

On the other hand, though, he was worried that she was going to do too much and burn herself out.

"You might want to brood a little quieter. I can hear you from all the way over here."

She said those words to him without looking up from her computer, her fingers continuing to move over the keys, and it made him chuckle as he shook his head at her. He took that as his cue to walk over and so he did so, raking a hand through his hair, and when he sat down beside her on the sofa he was glad when she looked his way with a smile. A quick glance at the screen told him that she was working on exam timetables, a mix of mock and real, for the Year Tens and the Year Elevens. Given she'd only made a start on them the other day, she'd gotten through quite a lot of them. "You know, I could help with some of these," He said while putting an arm around her, letting his thumb gently caress her shoulder. "It is part of my job description, you know."

"Mmm, so you keep reminding me." She smirked, reaching for her cup of tea so she could take a sip.

"I just don't want you doing too much, that's all. School starts back in less than three days and you're going to have more than enough to do without worrying about all this admin stuff on top," He pointed out. "Rach, I'm not just saying this as your boyfriend-" He paused at the look she gave him. "Okay, mainly I am, but I'm also saying it as your deputy. You need to let me help. You'll only wear yourself out if you carry on like this."

Rolling her eyes goodnaturedly, she set her mug back down on the table and gave his chest a pat. "What on earth was I thinking, falling so in love with such a worrywart? You are honestly insufferable, you know that?"

He smirked and leaned in to steal a kiss, bringing his hand to settle on her stomach through the jumper she had on which made her look down. "I have three of you to worry about now, so I'm only going to get worse before this pregnancy is over," He reminded her, causing her to groan in response. "So, will you let me help?"

"Since I'm not going to get any peace until I agree, I don't see I have much of a choice in the matter really," She replied before handing her laptop over to him and reaching for her cup of tea once again. Taking a sip of it, she sank into him before tilting her head back on his shoulder and looking at him again. "I think I'll go for a shower while I have the chance, actually. I haven't had one for a couple of days now, so. Would you mind?"

He shook his head. "Run yourself a bath if you want. Not like we have anything planned for today anyway."

"Yeah, that's true," She agreed with a nod. "All right then. I shouldn't be too long, I don't think."

He accepted the kiss she gave him before taking his arm from around her so she could get up from the sofa, his gaze following her as she made her way out of the room before heading upstairs to the bathroom. He set about continuing the timetable she'd been working on when he heard her close the door, smiling to himself as he did so. He was glad she was taking care of herself for once and it hadn't taken too long to convince her to do so. It was always ten times harder than it probably should be to get her to stop focusing on work for ten minutes and just relax. Circumstances were different these days though. She was pregnant. She was eating for three and sustaining two little lives and so she needed to take things slower and seriously take care of herself. This was Rachel though and she forgot to do those things easily, especially when she was in this mindset.

She had him though, thankfully, and he would see to it that she did so.

He would make sure of it.

Once she was done with the hairdryer, she set it down on her vanity table and got up from the chair with a smile of pure happiness. She had no idea why she hadn't noticed it before. She actually thought for a moment that she was imagining it when she felt it while in the bath, but a second little pass of a hand across her belly proved it. She was starting to show. It was more of a slight curve than a bump right now. It looked more like she was bloated than anything else, but she knew it couldn't be that because she still didn't have too much of an appetite. No, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that it was her babies trying to make their presence known.

She moved to stand in front of the full length mirror and turned to the side, reaching for the hem of her shirt with a shaking hand and bringing it up over her stomach. It was still there, the curve. Bringing her free hand up, she traced it tenderly with her fingers and felt her breath hitch in the back of her throat. She could hardly wait until she had a bump. Until she was able to feel her children moving around in there and kicking. She would no doubt take those words back when they were keeping her up until two in the morning, but at this moment in time it was something she was looking forward to immensely. She loved them both beyond words.

It was a couple minutes later when she realised she had been upstairs a little longer than planned and decided to head back down, not wanting her boyfriend to feel she had abandoned him or something. Pulling her shirt back down again, she padded out of the bedroom and down the landing before going downstairs and heading into the living room. She frowned at seeing he was no longer on the sofa where she left him, but the sound of clattering in the kitchen told her where he had gone, so she turned around and started making her way there. Entering the room, she stopped when she saw the two plates of food set out on the kitchen island and smiled.

"You were up there longer than I expected you to be," Eddie commented when he turned and set a glass of lemonade down next to her plate, gesturing with his head for her to sit which she did. "Must have needed it."

"Yeah, it was nice to have an hour," She admitted before picking up a stick of celery from her plate and taking a bite, watching him sit down across from her at the kitchen island as she ate it. "You didn't have to do this."

"I only warmed up the leftover quiche from last night and chopped up some veg." He chuckled.

She hummed. "Yeah, I know, but you didn't have to and I appreciate it."

"I'm glad," He smiled, reaching across the island to take her hand in his for a second. "You feeling better?"

"I feel more alive if that's what you're asking me," She laughed as she ate the rest of the stick of celery, letting her hand come to rest on her stomach through her shirt moments later. "I, uh...I have something to tell you."

He tried and failed to determine by the look on her face if he wanted to know or not. "Should I be worried?"

"No, no, it's nothing bad," She assured him, watching his shoulders slump with relief before she got up from the stool and made her way around to where he was sitting. Taking hold of the hem of her shirt once again, she lifted it and the quiet sound he made in the back of his throat told her that he was well aware of what she was showing him. He had tears in the corners of his eyes when she looked at him again and she couldn't help but chuckle tearfully when he reached out to touch a hand to her stomach. "I didn't think it would happen so quick. I noticed it in the bath, but I just thought I was imagining things until I looked properly and realised."

"Rach..." He breathed. "You're amazing."

Letting her shirt fall back into place when he took his hand from her stomach, she tutted at him as she made her way back around to her side of the island and sat down to start eating again. "It's not me, it's these pair."

"The only reason the two of them are doing as well as they are is because of you." He reminded her.

"I can't take all the credit," She looked him in the eye as she ate a forkful of quiche. "You're the one who's been bringing me food and making sure I'm eating properly. It'll be a wonder if I can see my own feet soon."

Smiling, he reached across the table to stroke her cheek. "I love you so much."

"I should hope so given the situation you've put us in," She jested, unable to keep from laughing at the face he made at her as a result. "No, I love you too. Honestly, there's no one else I would rather do all this with."

"Me neither," He admitted. "Me neither..."

He felt a pair of arms slip with ease around his neck when he was sat at the kitchen table, homework journals to be marked out in front of him, and he smirked as he set the pen in his hand down. Leaning back in the chair, he felt Rachel kiss him softly on the neck before her hands curled into his shirt and she laid her chin on his shoulder. "You nearly done?" Her voice was quiet in his ear and he reached up, taking a hand in his own.

"Have I been neglecting you?" He raised an eyebrow, smoothing his thumb across her knuckles.

"Mmm, now that you mention it..." She turned her head and grazed her nose against his neck, causing him to chuckle under his breath before he turned his head to kiss her slowly. "I thought we could watch something."

He glanced at the pile of journals in front of him on the table again and thought for a moment. He only had a couple more to mark which he doubted would take him too long. If he set aside a little time tomorrow to get through them, he would have them done in time for when they returned to work on Monday. "Sounds good to me. I can clear this away for the night, get the rest done tomorrow or something. What should we watch?"

"Not sure," She shook her head. "I can look what we have if you want to get the popcorn sorted."

"I can do that."

"With lots of butter?"

He frowned. "Rach, you hate butter on popcorn."

"Yeah, but these two seem to want it," She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, these cravings are driving me insane."

"At least the chocolate on pickles phase is over," He pulled a face. "What even was that?"

"You know, actually, that one wasn't as bad as it sounded," She laughed. "But yeah, glad it's done with."

He shook his head, smirking. "You go and pick us out something to watch. I'll be through in a sec, okay?"

"M'kay." She replied, kissing him once more before leaving him alone once again.

Returning the journal he had been marking to the pile, he put his pen back in his pencil pouch and pushed it aside before leaving the table and heading over to the cupboard. It took him a minute or two to locate the box of microwavable popcorn, but he soon found it and put it in the microwave before starting to melt the butter. Her cravings really were strange. She hated buttered popcorn, she never let him buy it when they went to the cinema, but their babies clearly wanted it and they knew exactly how to get it out of their mum. If right now was anything to go by, they were really going to have their work cut out for them when they were both here.

Once the popcorn was ready, he took the bowl from the kitchen counter and left the kitchen, turning the light out behind him, before heading down the hall to the living room. Rachel was curled up on the sofa when he entered, blanket in hand, and Titanic was on the television. Of course. For as long as he'd known her, it had been her favourite film. He had no doubt that she would be asleep before they got anywhere near the sinking, what with her still being the worst for falling asleep not even half way through anything they watched, but it didn't matter to him. He just wanted to spend time with her, especially with them going back to work soon.

He made his way over to the sofa and sat down next to her, giving her the bowl and taking the blanket from her so he could open it up and put it over them both. He opened his arms to her then and waited for her to move into them, his nose burying itself into her hair when she laid her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her. Instinctively, his hands found her stomach and he cradled it gently, causing her to smile as she looked him in the eye for a second. "You know we are never going to have a minute's peace again once these two are here, right?" She asked him, cuddling closer to him. "We must be absolutely insane, doing this."

"Tell me about it," He agreed, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "It'll be fun though."

"It will. No doubt about that." She hummed.

He kissed the side of her head gently. "Let's get this watched before you fall asleep on me, eh?"

"Shut up." She grumbled halfheartedly, smacking his chest before he tightened his arms around her and she took hold of the remote, pressing play on the film and nestling deeper into his embrace. She wasn't kidding when she said she felt they were insane because they were. Running a school and having a twin pregnancy all at the same time? It was going to be chaos, that was for sure, but he was also right in saying that it was going to be so much fun having their own little family. She couldn't imagine anything better honestly. Raising two beautiful babies with the man of her dreams by her side? That was just perfection personified in her opinion.

Absolute perfection.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chapter. It means the world to me that you enjoy the content that I put out and I just love writing for these two so much. They will be returning to work in the next chapter so I am looking forward to navigating that with them. Thanks again for all the support and I will see you all soon.