Thank you for the reviews.

It is frankly disturbing how we are already on the 7th one of these... Can time slow down please?

Enjoy and I'll see you on Saturday for the next one.

SEVEN - A singing choir or band performing classic Christmas tunes

Rachel knew why she was sitting where she was. It seemed only fair that she was dragged into this as it had primarily been her idea.

The Christmas concert was meant to show off their wonderful music department.

But maybe she should have had a say in who was going to judge who should be a part of the event.

Because it was clear that Matt and Steph hadn't really gone through those that had put their names forward as critically as they should have done.

The first couple of acts were good. They were nothing amazing but it had been what Rachel had expected. Average singing in tune. Which was enough for some school performance.

But the rest… Rachel wished that she hadn't said that she wanted it to go on for between an hour to an hour and a half. Because it seemed like Matt was determined to fill the hour and a half.

She was embarrassed as the governors sat next to her. She hoped that this would show that Waterloo Road has talent worth nurturing. That the idea of vocational courses would open up the arts to those students who were passionate about it.

How she was going to get that funding was simply beyond her now.

Eddie must have known what she had been thinking as he nudged her arm with his elbow to get her attention. He always knew when she was worrying. She could see the understanding in his eyes. She could see that he was thinking the same as she was.

Which wouldn't have probably felt so weird had they known each other for years and this was a firm relationship where it was probably true that they knew what each other was thinking. Like they knew each other as well as they knew themselves.

But it wasn't that.

This was still all new.

They had only known each other for a month or so.

They were still in the 'getting to know each other' stage.

They were barely colleagues, let alone anything more.

But Rachel knew that she had something special with Eddie from their first day together. And she knew at some point it would show itself to be the brilliant partnership that she thought it was going to be.

They weren't going to get along all the time. Things would be boring if that was the case (and Rachel hated 'yes' men more than those who would question her every move).

But she didn't know how special it was going to be.

Even the hint of it in that moment wouldn't have prepared her for what was to come.

How dangerously close they would become.

How their professional and private lives would bleed into one another.

And all the potential they had to explode at the stupidest of things.

But in that moment they had understanding.

And maybe at the very least, that was what they would always have.