A/N: Hello! I haven't written anything for this fandom for a while now but that is because I have been working on this fanfiction for months (with a heck of a lot of support and advice from a friend) behind the scenes. I am so passionate about this story and so passionate about the girl - and her relationship with Rachel - at its heart and I'm so glad to finally get to share that with you. I really hope that you fall in love with Courtney as much as my friend and I have. Thank you for coming to check this out and happy reading!

"But if you learn to work the system, to work with it...yeah? You'd be surprised about what you can get away with. Hey, look, they let me run a school. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Maybe."

"That's good enough for now."

She smiled and patted Bolton on the arm when he turned away from her and watched him walk out of the office, sighing when Eddie shut the door behind him once he was out in the corridor. She was still concerned about him. His behaviour wasn't going to change overnight – she was good, but she was no miracle worker – and something told her there were going to be a fair few setbacks she would have to deal with, but she made him a promise. She was going to have him turned around before the year was out, he would be working to a high standard and well on his way, or she would feel like she failed him.

She needed to start off small though.

All she wanted from him right now was an improved attendance.

The rest would come in its own time.

"Okay, so Langley just came to tell me he's off to revise and you just got Smilie to consider coming to school tomorrow…" Eddie pulled her from her thoughts when he spoke and she smirked, crossing her arms as she turned on her heel and headed back into her office. His hands were on her waist seconds later and her breath caught, her heart racing slightly as he pulled her back against him. She let herself sink into his embrace once that initial shyness had worn off – she was still growing accustomed to this new dynamic of theirs – and when he brushed his lips softly against her shoulder she smiled to herself.

"Still annoyed with me for pulling them out of their mocks?" She asked as his arms circled her.

Walking her further into the room, he rolled his eyes. "First of all, I don't remember saying I was ever annoyed with you about that in the first place. I was sceptical it would work when you propositioned it – I mean, look who we were talking about – but you were right. It was exactly what those kids needed."

"Mmm…" She hummed before turning around to look at him, her hands running slowly down his arms through the sleeves of his blazer. "Can I get that in writing? You say it so little; I want to get it framed."

He chuckled at that. "I missed you today."

"I missed you too. Anything much happen while I was gone?"

"No. I mean not…uh…nothing really report-worthy."

"I can't believe I am having to ask this on our first day of term, but what did you do, Eddie?" She asked.

"I had a free period this morning, so I decided to go see how the mock exams were going. None of the staff were paying attention to what was going on. I pulled them up on it at break-time and they came back at me with 'exams are easier these days' and 'oh, there's not as much pressure as there was back when I sat mine' so I made them a wager," He looked at her for a second, the raise of her brow telling him to continue. "I agreed to give a bottle of whisky to every teacher that got a grade B or above on a GCSE-style essay question. It was a pretty good turn-out, I'm sure you're extremely surprised to hear."

"Sad thing is, I'm not surprised in the slightest," She said. "That where you just came from?"

He nodded. "I told them I'll be giving them their results tonight, so I have some marking to do. Great."

"You'd better go get started then, hadn't you? Not long until people start arriving." She reminded him.

He took an arm from around her to look at the time on his watch, catching her eye again as he put his arm back around her and pulled her further into him. "Oh, I think I have a couple minutes I can spare."

He kissed her softly then, testing the waters, and when he pulled away again to see a smile on her face he took that as his cue to carry on. He took his arm from around her again and brought his hand up to the side of her neck, using his thumb under her chin to ease her head back before he kissed her again. She made a gentle sound in the back of her throat as her hands pushed their way inside his blazer and settled on his waist, though only for a second before moving around to his back. Stepping further into him so their chests were touching, she kissed him a little harder when he brought his hand to her hair.

It wasn't long before she felt his tongue against her bottom lip, a silent request to take things further, and she realised they needed to slow things down. She was all right – more than all right – with going there with him when they were at hers, alone together, but not in the workplace. Not yet at least, while this was still so new. Taking a hand from his back, she laid it on his chest and gave him one more kiss before carefully easing him back from her. "Sorry…" She shook her head when the kiss came to an end, her breathing as heavy as his as she stared at his chest for several moments. "It's not that I don't wa…"

"Rach," His tone made her look him in the eye again. "I know. You need to stop worrying so much."

"I don't think I know how." She admitted self-deprecatingly.

Smiling, he tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear before leaning down to kiss her on the cheek. "We need to see if we can fix that when we have time. Right now, though, I should probably get going."

"Probably," She nodded, teasing him for stating the obvious. "I'll catch up with you later, yeah?"

"Yeah." He gave her a squeeze before releasing her from his hold and turning to leave the room again.

Sighing to herself once she was alone, she pushed a hand through her hair before walking around her desk and sitting down. She was knackered after today, but she had to smile when she thought about how well this year was going for her already. Well, bar the state her office had been in on her arrival at work this morning. She had a new relationship, a new plan set in place for Bolton, a new outlook on the school year as a whole, and everything just seemed to be shaping up quite well which made her happy.

She now had a plethora of e-mails to give her attention to before she had to go down for the parents' evening, something she wasn't quite as happy about, but she intended to start as she meant to go on.

This year was going to be the year, she could feel it.

And she couldn't wait to get started.

It surprised her how little time it took to respond to all the e-mails she received while she was gone. It took less than half-an-hour and she still had some time to kill, so she thought it would be a good idea to head down and see how the setting up for parents' evening was going. Closing the lid to her laptop, she stood from her chair and set about making her way out of her office, but she hadn't even made it to the doorway when the door to Bridget's office opened. She frowned with confusion, having not been expecting anybody, before walking out of the room to see two complete strangers standing before her.

One was a young girl – thirteen, she would say, fourteen at a push – who seemed to her like she would burst into tears if she dared say 'boo' to her and the other an elder woman, no doubt her mother, who looked less than impressed. She already had a bad feeling about this, she couldn't lie, but she wanted to avoid any confrontation if possible and so she put on a smile. "Good afternoon," She greeted them, the girl refusing to look up from the spot on the floor she was staring at and her mother giving her a sound of acknowledgement in response. "I'm Rachel Mason. Headmistress. How…uh…how can I help?"

"We came earlier. She said you were unavailable and we should come back." The elder woman told her.

"She…?" She asked.

"Whatever her name is that sits there." The elder woman gestured to Bridget's desk.

She nodded. "You mean my secretary. Bridget."

"Yeah, sure. Her." The elder woman gave her an unbothered shrug.

She had to bite her tongue for a second, displeased with the blatant disrespect but also not wanting to cause a scene, and then she glanced briefly at the girl standing next to her. Her eyes were still fixed on the same spot on the carpet and she hadn't moved an inch, but she'd started to snap the elastic band around her wrist against her skin. She didn't flinch. In fact, she showed no emotion at all and that was unsettling for her. She was battling something, it was plain to see, and the last thing she wanted to do was make all of this any harder than it needed to be for her. Luckily, she had a little time still to spare.

"Why don't the two of you come through? We can talk properly in here," She gestured to her office and turned to lead the way, waiting for the girl and her mother to step through ahead of her before closing the door. She invited them both to take a seat on the sofa and they did, the girl once again refusing to look at her or her mother by focussing her attention on a loose thread on her jumper. "So, you say you came earlier today? I apologise for not being here, I was on a trip with some students and we only got back a little while ago. What was it that you wanted to speak with me about? Was it a complaint? Or…?"

"I need you to take her." Was the elder woman's reply.

For a second, all she did was look at her blankly. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"I want you to find her a place at this school. Is that any clearer for you?" The elder woman asked.

"Mum."

The young girl finally speaking took her a little by surprise, but the second her mother looked her way she closed up again and went back to playing with that annoying little thread. "I'm afraid it's not really as simple as that, Mrs…" She trailed off, waiting for the elder woman to give her something to go with.

"Burton. Aileen Burton. I'm not married either, rid myself of that deadweight years ago."

"I stand corrected, but as I was saying before, it isn't as simple as all that."

"And why not?" Aileen all but demanded.

"Because we need to be sure that this school is the right fit for her, for one," She explained. "Is there a particular reason why you want her to move? It's only the second term. I don't mean to pry, it's only…"

Aileen rolled her eyes. "Believe me, I wouldn't be going through all this drama if I didn't have to. If you want to blame someone for you being put in this position, you can blame her. I tried for months to get her into a decent school. She started there in September and by November she ended up being thrown out because she can't keep that mouth of hers shut. No one wanted to have to deal with her and, if I'm being completely honest here, I don't blame them. Only reason I do is because I have no other choice."

"Miss Burton, is it possible there could be something more to it?" She asked.

"You trying to tell me I don't know my own kid?" Aileen frowned.

"No," She shook her head. "I'm saying there may be some underlying issues to explain the behaviour."

Aileen glanced at her daughter. "Yeah. The underlying issue was her dad. He turned her into this."

"Can…"

"Are you going to let her come here or has this just been a waste of my time?" Aileen all but snapped.

Realizing she and Aileen had been doing a hell of a lot of talking about her daughter rather than to her daughter, she clasped her hands together in her lap for a second and thought about what to do next. "Miss Burton, if it's all right with you then I'd like to get my deputy to come up here so he can talk you through the process of admission." She told her, reaching into her blazer pocket for her mobile phone.

R: Need you up here asap – urgent!

It took her seconds to send the text to Eddie before returning her phone to her pocket and clearing her throat. "When he arrives, I'm going to ask him to take you through to the other office because I'd like a couple minutes alone with your daughter if you don't mind. Nothing to worry about, I can assure you, I just want to see how she feels about all this and I find some kids find it easier to be open and honest about these things when there's not a parental figure in the room. I promise not to keep her too long."

Aileen looked at her daughter again. "You okay with that, Court?"

Courtney. So that was her name.

In response to her mum, Courtney merely shrugged and muttered an agreement.

It was only a few minutes later, thank goodness, there was a knock on the door and Eddie entered the room. He was as surprised as she had been, she could tell, but he did a much better job of hiding that. "Eddie, this is Miss Burton and her daughter, Courtney. Miss Burton wants some information about the admission process and with Bridget already being gone, I didn't think you'd mind explaining it to her."

Whether it was because he saw the way she was looking at him or he'd looked at Courtney and reached the same conclusion she had, she couldn't be sure, but his response relieved her. "Course I can. Miss Burton, if you'd like to come with me then I can go through it with you." He gestured with his head to the outer office, holding the door open, and Aileen got up with little prompting before making her way past him. After giving her a look to make sure she was okay, he left the room too and closed the door.

She had to admit, once she and Courtney were alone together all of the tension in the room seemed to subside greatly. She was still and silent for a second, thinking how best to proceed, but then she slid a little closer to her on the sofa and that was enough for her to lift her head and actually look at her for the first time. "Your mum and I have been doing a lot of talking about you since you got here, but we haven't been doing a lot of talking to you which we should have been doing from the start and I really do apologise about that. I think the most important thing to establish is how you feel about all of this."

"You mean moving schools?" Courtney raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I know the idea can be a little daunting." She replied.

"Not when this is your sixth time," Courtney shook her head, looking down at her hands for a moment before catching her eye again. "Moving from school to school is practically second-nature to me now."

She sighed. "Your mum said you have a hard time with managing your behaviour?"

"I guess you could say that," Courtney admitted with a shake of her head. "I mean, I don't get up in the morning and just decide I'm gonna get myself kicked out of school that day. I'm not one of those kids. I don't know, I think there's something wrong with me because I can't control it even when I really try."

"Has anybody ever offered you any support with that in your previous schools?" She asked her.

"No, I don't think they ever mentioned anything like that. I'm never there long enough though, so."

"Well, here at Waterloo Road we have teachers that are trained to offer all kinds of support in areas like that. I think you'd benefit quite a lot from that, actually, if you put the work in to help yourself as well."

Courtney looked at her for a second. "I thought you said getting into this place wasn't that easy?"

She chuckled. "No, but I run this school which means I can pull some strings and have things sped up."

"But why would you do that?" Courtney frowned, confused.

"Because I think you have far more potential than you realise and the only thing standing in the way of you achieving that are these behavioural issues," She explained. "I need you to give me the rest of this week. I can't get you into a uniform and through those gates, ready to learn, first thing in the morning even though I would very much like to. If you come in on Monday morning though and come see me, I promise to have things ready for then. I don't want you sitting at home all day any longer than needed. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can get the ball rolling and get on with things. Sound good?"

"Yeah…sounds good." Courtney replied.

"All right then, sweetheart," She smiled. "Come on. I told your mum I wouldn't keep you long."

She stood from the sofa then and Courtney followed suit, pushing her hands into her coat pockets and following her across the room to the door. It didn't go unnoticed by her, the way her whole demeanour changed as soon as she opened the door and she saw her mum. She disappeared inside herself again, her body tense as she stepped past her in the doorway to go and stand with her. Something was going on there, there was no doubt. "What was decided then? You best not have said anything you shouldn't have done." There was an evident warning tone to Aileen's voice when she glanced her daughter's way.

"I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to get Courtney into school before the end of the week, not with all that goes into it," She explained which luckily took her attention off her daughter and placed it back on her. "We need to put some things in place for her support-wise and have a word with the relevant staff before we can get started, but I told her that if she comes into school on Monday then we should be in a much better position to get her settled in and get things moving. Does that sound okay to you, or…?"

"As long as I don't have to deal with her for a couple of hours, I'll agree to anything." Aileen chuckled.

She was trying to disguise it as a joke, she and Eddie could tell, but it wasn't working in the slightest.

Her eyes were giving her away.

She meant every word of what she was saying, not caring that Courtney was standing right next to her.

"Right…" She nodded.

"Come on. I've had enough today now, I want to get home." Aileen nudged her daughter before turning around and making her way through the office to the door, Courtney following her with her eyes for a second before she turned to follow her. Before stepping out into the corridor though, she stopped and held the door. She thought for a moment before looking over at her and Eddie with the slightest smile.

"Thanks." Was all she said.

They gave her a nod in reply before she left the office and followed her mum down the corridor, Rachel reaching up to push a hand through her hair once she and Eddie were left alone together in the office. "I want that girl in school," She said bluntly, moving towards Bridget's desk and leaning back against it so she could look at him properly. "I have a bad feeling. Something's going on, I knew from the second I saw her, and I want her here until we get to the bottom of that. Being at home with her mother is the last thing that girl needs. It's not just me who noticed it either, is it? You noticed it as well?" She asked.

"The smell of booze? Kind of hard not to." He scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"She told me she was never offered behavioural support at the previous school she attended," She told him. "I bet if I looked back further than that too, the records from all the other schools she's attended will show the exact same thing. How can she be expected to last somewhere when she's set up to fail? I need to speak to Tom at some point this week and see if we can get a behaviour plan put in place for her for when she starts. I don't particularly trust what her mum says, I get the feeling she wants to try and make her look as bad as she can, but Courtney did tell me she has a hard time with her emotions."

He nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan. I guess you want to be the one to look into her records?"

"I know that's normally Briget's territory, but something's telling me it should be me." She replied.

"Well, if you need me to do some calling around then I can." He assured her.

"You have enough on your plate already, don't worry." She shook her head, giving him a smile.

He frowned as he walked towards her before coming to stand at her side and leaning back against the desk with her. "Last I checked, supporting you with things like this was part of my job description. You know as well as I do too, I'm not just coming at this from a colleague standpoint anymore," He put an arm around her, burying his lips in her hair when she leaned her head against his shoulder with a sigh. "I have a handful of free periods this week, so if you need me to make some calls then I have the time."

"As long as you're not going out of your way to do that, I'd appreciate it," She told him, tilting her head back against his shoulder to look at him as he tightened his hold of her. "What a start to the term, eh?"

"Tell me about it." He laughed, shaking his head.

"Never mind the staff, that bottle of whisky is starting to sound pretty good to me." She admitted.

He ran his hand up and down her arm. "How about we go for a drink once we finish up here? I haven't got any marking to do tonight and I have a feeling we'll both be in the mood for one after this is over."

"Honestly, that sounds perfect." She said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Good," He smiled, leaning in to steal a kiss. "Come on. Won't be long until they start arriving now."

Knowing he was right, she sighed and let him take his arm from around her before he took her hand in his. The next couple of days were going to be anything but easy, she thought to herself as they left the office together and made their way down the corridor, but with him by her side she would get through.

He was invaluable to her, he really was, and she had no idea what she would do without him.

Not a single idea.

"Thanks."

Eddie accepted the drinks from the bartender and turned to make his way back over to the sofa Rachel was sitting on, chuckling under his breath as he watched her play with her hair. She had only had two drinks, but he could tell she was feeling a little merry now and that no doubt had something to do with her being so worn out. He was going to take her home once they were finished with these. Luckily, her car was still at school since he'd driven them to the pub, so at least she wouldn't be doing any driving.

He let her take her drink from him when he reached the sofa again and she thanked him, sipping at it as he sat back down. His arm went around her on instinct and she settled into his side once more, her head lolling against his shoulder as he brushed his thumb against her arm. It was a bit farther out than he would normally go, this pub, but it eliminated the risk of any of their colleagues catching them and it meant they could relax. It wasn't that either of them were embarrassed to be seen together like this, but it was all so new still and they wanted to wait a little while before they went public with everything.

She moved in his arms once they had sat there in silence together for some time, tilting her head back on his shoulder so she could look at him through tired eyes, and he smiled as he brought his hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "You're beautiful." He told her as his hand ran warmly down her cheek.

"Mmm…only saying that because you're drunk." She replied.

"Oh, I'm the drunk one, am I?" He teased with a raise of an eyebrow.

"Yep," She nodded, taking another sip of wine. "Like you were the night you made a move on me."

He rolled his eyes. "For the hundredth time, Rach, that was the other way around."

"I don't think so."

"I know so."

"Does that really sound like something I would do?" She gave him a serious look.

"Sober Rachel? Not a chance," He shook his head. "Fun Rachel on the other hand? Oh yeah."

She feigned offence. "Excuse me, rude. I am always fun, I'll have you know."

"Oh, okay, so when y…"

Before he even managed to reach the end of his sentence, her mouth was on his and she was kissing him like she couldn't care less who was watching them. His hand came to rest on the back of her head, his fingers sinking into her hair as he sighed into her mouth, and he met her kiss-for-kiss for several long moments before she pulled away again and sucked on her bottom lip. "Was that fun?" She panted.

"Very." Was the only reply he could manage, still waiting for his brain to fully catch up.

"Oh…" She said under her breath while settling back into his side.

He frowned. "What?"

"Maybe…maybe it was me who made the first move when you came over that night after all."

"In all fairness, I don't really blame you."

"Nice way to ruin the moment." She gave his chest a slap, tutting, and smiled to herself as she cuddled up to him and he chuckled against her temple. It still thrilled her when she thought back to Christmas Day. She'd spent the day on her own, like she did every year since she had very little contact with her family, and she'd been expecting the evening to be much the same until he turned up at her door with a bottle of wine. He'd known she was spending Christmas alone and, for some reason, he'd felt a little guilty since he'd been able to spend the day with Michael, so he thought to come and check up on her.

When she invited him in, she did so under the impression that they would simply have a drink – maybe two – and he would tell her about his day with Michael. She never could have imagined she would end the night with him in her bed, his arms wrapped around her and his lips at her neck, both of them still reeling from their passionate exchange. In the back of her mind as she fell asleep in his arms, she was sure they would wake up in the morning and things would be back to normal. Both of them would see it was a bit of fun, a result of the alcohol they consumed, but that hadn't been the case in the slightest.

Her feelings were still the same for him when she woke and, given the way he kissed his way down her neck while greeting her 'good morning' when he woke, she was left in little doubt that his were also. It was a long morning after that. Cuddled up in bed together, they had a long talk about what they both wanted and what it all meant for them, and in the end they realised they were on the exact same page. The rest of the holidays went by in a blissful blur after that – he barely even went home until the final week of the break came and he needed to get some things ready for school – and she simply adored it.

It was back to reality now though. It had been easy enough today, given she'd been at the prison with the boys and hadn't seen him much, but she had a feeling things were about to get harder. They were going to be together every day, but it wasn't as though they could walk around hand-in-hand or throw themselves at each other whenever they liked. No, both of them were going to have to act like nothing had changed between them and that was the last thing they wanted to do. This was going to be trying.

His arm tightening around her pulled her from her thoughts and she settled deeper into his embrace, finishing the last of her wine, before leaning forward to set her glass down on the table and looking at him again. "Home time." He said exactly what she was thinking, no doubt seeing the exhaustion in her eyes, and she hummed in agreement before he gave her a kiss on the forehead and took his arm from around her. She reached for her coat and somehow managed to work her arms into the sleeves, Eddie giving her his hand then so he could help her up since he already sensed she'd be feeling lightheaded.

She did feel a little unsteady on her feet as he led her through the pub and out into the carpark, so she was glad she had him to lean on as he led her towards the car. He opened the passenger side door for her once he'd unlocked the car, waiting for her to ease herself into the seat before he closed the door behind her and walked around to his own side. "Guess I'll be your chauffeur again in the morning, will I?" He smirked as he started the engine and pulled out of the parking space, making her chuckle softly.

"I'd have to get up at four to make it in on time if not and that is not happening, so I'm afraid you are," She told him, placing a hand on his knee through his jeans. "I know you don't mind though, not really."

He hummed. "Lucky for you."

"I have a feeling I'm going to regret this in the morning with everything I have to do." She groaned.

"Rach, you have time," He reminded her, glancing at her for a moment before turning his eyes back to the road ahead. "I know you want to get this sorted out, I do too, but we have a week before Courtney comes back and that is more than enough time to get things put in place. It doesn't have to be done in a day, no matter what you believe. Remember, this situation is not the only thing you have to deal with either. You have a school to run. You have other kids to sort out. You don't want to burn yourself out."

She sighed. "No…"

"If it comes down to it – and I highly doubt it will – then you and I can stay late after work sometime in the week to crack on and make sure we have it all ready in time," He said. "But we need to focus on the essential things. Getting her into classes, coming up with a behaviour plan and making the staff who are going to be dealing with her aware of her needs. Anything other than that can be sorted out later. I know you have an idea in mind of how you want this to go – I know you – but you also need to prepare for the fact that that might not happen. We might need to tweak a couple of things along the way still."

"Yeah, you're right," She replied gently. "I just really don't want to mess her around any more than she already has been. I want her to be able to settle in and get on with things with no more interruptions."

"And we will do all we can to make sure she has that. I know you will at any rate." He smiled.

She turned her head his way and gave him a soft smile of her own, settling back in her seat and letting him take hold of the hand on his knee while he turned onto her street. He was pulling up outside her house before long, putting the handbrake on, and she unbuckled her seatbelt before pushing a hand through her hair with a tired hum. "I wanted to thank you again for tonight," She let her thumb brush against his knuckles. "I needed it after today and then this evening on top. My brain was just mashed."

He laughed at that. "No wonder. Go on. Go get some sleep."

Before opening the door she leaned in to brush her lips against his own, lingering for a second as she pulled away from him before giving his hand a squeeze. "Night, Eddie." She said, opening the car door.

"Night, Rach." He replied before she stepped out of the car and made her way around to the pavement, the two of them sharing a smile as she glanced at him before walking up the path that led to her door. He watched her go into her coat pocket for her keys and waited for her to unlock the door, refusing to leave until she was safely inside the house, but once she was over the threshold he pulled away from the kerb. He had to admit, he was starting to feel tired himself now. It had been a long day with all the mocks and then parents' evening, so he was looking forward to making it home and climbing into bed.

He was going to need some sleep if he wanted to be on the ball in the morning.

They both were.

It was going to be a lot of work, there was no denying that even though he'd been reassuring her they would get it all done in time. They needed to gather as much information as possible surrounding her previous education history, along with her behaviour, and that was going to take some time. It would be taxing and he had no doubt that it was going to be difficult in some places, but they would manage it.

It was one thing he was sure of because if he knew Rachel, and he did, she would stop at nothing.

She saw something in this girl.

She saw something in her and there was no chance of her letting her slip through the net now.

No, she was going to get this girl into school and help her succeed even if it was the last thing she did and he was going to be there to help her achieve that. It was his duty and one he took very seriously.

Very seriously, indeed.

A/N: Thank you so much for taking the time to read! As you can see, this fic combines both canon and AU. It will follow the main plot of the latter half of season three of the show, but Rachel and Eddie are already together because it is the only way I could think of to write it in. I am so excited to develop their relationship alongside the rest of this fic and I hope you love it. I would appreciate you leaving a review to let me know what you thought if you have the time. Thank you for the support and I will see you soon!