Rose stormed into the crèche. She watched as Marley fed Prince some yoghurt on a spoon. After the conversation she had just had with his Head Teacher, she was furious with him. He'd had no right to throw her under the bus like that.

"Have you been telling Mason that I'm a drunk?" she asked through gritted teeth

Marley frowned at her

"No. Why would I do that?"

"Well, someone has! She's been accusing me of all sorts!" she exclaimed

"Well it wasn't me" Marley sighed, continuing to feed Prince

"Then find out who it was and set them straight! They've made me look like a right pillock!" she spat angrily

Marley nodded quietly

"It's fine, I'll take care of it" he reassured

"Yeah, you better"

Rose reached over to take the yoghurt and spoon out of Marley's hand. He resisted.

"I've got it, Mum" he insisted

Rose continued to try and take it from him.

"Mum, I said I've got it!" he hissed

"Hey, he's my kid! You think I can't manage?" she spat

Marley snapped, he'd had enough of keeping quiet.

"No, actually, no! I don't think you can! You want to know the reason you're so angry, Mum? It's because you are just a washed up, old drunk! Everybody knows it! So, why don't you get off home with your comfort blanket and leave me to cover for you? Because that's what I've been used to since I was ten! So why change now, eh?"

Rose headed for the door, angry tears forming in her eyes. She didn't want to listen to this.

But, no matter how hard she tried, she was listening. Did her kids really think that about her? Was she just a drunk? A useless Mum?

Marley wasn't wrong, she knew that. He did cover for her a lot. He picked Prince up from the crèche; he cooked dinner and helped his siblings with their homework. He made sure they had everything they needed. And what did she do, other than drown herself in alcohol?

Nothing. She did nothing.

Maybe Miss Mason was right. She needed to sort herself out. She needed to be a Mum to her kids.

...

As Rachel made herself a cup of tea, there was a knock at the door. She frowned, opening it carefully. She was surprised when she found a teary eyed Rose Kelly staring back at her. After their heated conversation earlier, Rachel hadn't been expecting to see her again for a while.

"If I'm such an 'alky', who's going to give me a job?" Rose questioned

"I am... In the school canteen" Rachel stated confidently

Rose raised an eyebrow

"Come on, I'll introduce you to Candice" Rachel decided, stepping out of the office

Rose followed her nervously

When they approached the school kitchen, Candice smiled politely at Rachel. Rachel returned the smile.

"Candice, this is Rose Kelly" Rachel explained

Candice eyed the younger woman with the fiery red hair wearily. Like everyone at Waterloo Road, she knew a lot about the Kelly's. She wasn't really sure why Rachel had brought her into the school canteen.

"Rose is going to be working with you" Rachel announced

Candice stared at Rachel in disbelief, immediately shaking her head. Rachel opened her mouth to reason with her, but was interrupted.

"Uh-uh. No way!" Candice protested

"Candice, please? Rose needs this!" Rachel begged

"Yeah, and I need it like a hole in the head!" Candice huffed

Rachel sighed

"Look, it's a trial, just a trial. If she messes up, she's out, yeah?"

"What is this? A drop in centre, eh? That woman and hers sweat trouble! I can smell it!" Candice snarled, glaring at Rose

"Oh, and yours were always little angels, were they?" Rachel retorted, raising an eyebrow

Candice scoffed, shaking her head

"Look, it's a different pay-scale for supervisors. I'm sure you could do with the extra help" Rachel reasoned

Candice sighed, locking eyes with Rachel. If they were going to do this, they were going to do it her way, on her terms. It was her kitchen after all.

"Right, sixty quid extra a week. And I do the hiring and firing from now on. She messes up and she's out" Candice proposed

Rachel nodded

"Come on then, Rose" Rachel smiled, nudging her forwards

Rose sighed

"Suppose I've got no choice, have I?" she grumbled, dragging her feet

Candice glared at her

"Neither of us do, love"

Rachel sighed as the bell rang out for break time. She stepped out of the kitchen, leaving Rose and Candice to sort themselves out. Their partnership was going to be either a complete success, or an absolute disaster.

...

Eddie and Steve stepped out onto the playground after grabbing a coffee. Eddie had been telling Steve how surprised he was that the kids had reacted so positively to the Falconry Demonstration.

"I run a Falconry Class at weekends if any of them want to take it any further" Steve explained as they walked along

"Oh yeah, that's great!" Eddie nodded enthusiastically

"We'll see how it goes the rest of the day. I'll give that Earl Kelly another try if you like? Mind you, you'll owe me more than just a pint!"

Eddie was relieved at that.

"Oh yes, several. I just don't like to think of anyone as a lost cause" Eddie sighed

Eddie suddenly realised that Steve had stopped dead in his tracks, staring ahead. Eddie followed his gaze to his van. The back doors and the cage that kept the Falcons in had been opened. A large group of students were crowding around it.

"Oh no" Eddie groaned, dashing over with Steve

All the Falcons were in the van, except one. And Eddie knew exactly which one had been taken, as did Steve.

"Sienna's gone!" Steve panicked

Eddie sighed heavily. He couldn't believe this.

He turned to the kids, who were whispering excitedly to one another.

"Well, did anyone see anything?" he asked

"No" they all said in unison

Eddie turned back to Steve

"Did you lock the van?" he checked

"Yeah" Steve nodded, pointing at the broken padlock on the ground

"I can't believe this" Eddie groaned

He turned back to the kids

"Are you sure no one saw anything?" he asked again

All the kids nodded.

...

Rachel stepped out of the canteen. Now it was break time, she was anxious to find Eddie and to find out how the Falconry Demonstration was going. Considering she hadn't heard anything from him yet, she could only assume and hope it was going well.

As she stepped out onto the playground, she groaned. Steph was handing out pieces of bright pink paper to the kids, whilst holding pink, heart-shaped, balloons. Evidently, she was up to no good.

She shot down the steps and over to Steph, demanding an explanation with a simple glare. Steph smirked, turning her gaze back to the kids.

"Come one, come all! Single parents required tonight! Free glasses of champagne... and free love if they're lucky!" she bellowed, handing out flyers to the kids

Rachel sighed heavily. Steph had pitched this 'Speed Dating' event to her last week. Rachel thought it was a ridiculous idea and had immediately said no. The fact that Steph had gone behind her back and organised it anyway made her furious.

"What are you doing? I said no to this, Steph!" she exclaimed, pointing at the flyers in the French Teacher's hand

Steph rolled her eyes

"It's for the community" she shrugged with a false smile

"Yes. Not for the kids, thank you!" Rachel huffed, taking a flyer off one of the students

Steph rolled her eyes again

"Steph, this is setting completely the wrong tone for this school!" Rachel argued

"And letting a bird killer study here isn't, is it?" Steph shot back

Rachel scoffed

"Oh come on, Rachel, lighten up! The only time the parents get within 20 feet of this place is when their kids are on the skids! It's about time they had a bit of fun!" Steph reasoned

Rachel sighed in frustration. She hadn't even noticed that Eddie was beside her, until he was pulling on the sleeve of her coat urgently to get her attention.

"Sorry, Rachel, I need to talk to you" he explained

"Can you just give me a second?" she snapped, silencing him

"No, please! We've got a problem" he insisted

Rachel sighed, nodding in defeat. She glared at Steph as Eddie led her away.

"One of the Hawks has gone missing" Eddie explained as they walked over to Steve's van

Rachel frowned. Missing?

"They've got trackers on. If one of the kids tried to release her, we should be able to get her back" Steve reassured

"Well, they can't have got far" Rachel pointed out, looking around

Suddenly, Tom was on the scene. He rolled his eyes at Rachel's evident lack of concern.

"Well, it's not how far they've got that you want to worry about, is it?" he spoke

Steve frowned at Tom, searching for an explanation.

"What? Didn't they tell you, mate?" Tom questioned, looking from Rachel, to Eddie, and back to Steve, who was growing increasingly confused

"You've been out teaching a bird killer" Tom told him

Rachel and Eddie sighed painfully. Rachel wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

"Earl Kelly has been murdering birds and leaving them on my doorstep" he continued

Steve looked to Eddie, completely baffled by this new information.

"You had him out with my birds and you didn't think to tell me?" he exclaimed

Eddie sighed

"We're not sure about this, Steve. Someone is killing birds and leaving them on Tom's doorstep, yes. But we don't have any proof it's Earl Kelly"

"You lied to me!" Steve huffed

"No!" Eddie protested

Rachel sighed; she needed to stop this before it escalated any further.

"Have we even looked for Earl Kelly yet? Because all we've got at the moment is a missing bird"

Eddie scoffed

"What?" Rachel snapped, glaring at Eddie with a frown

He shook his head, rolling his eyes. She didn't understand, he'd been on her side a minute ago!

"I told Mr Clarkson I saw Earl lurking by the van" Michaela piped up

Rachel stared at Michaela, unsure if she'd told Tom the truth, or had lied just to cause trouble. It wouldn't be the first time Michaela had done something like this.

"Sienna is my prize Hawk! She'd better be ok, or else I'll report you and you'll all be up on charges!" Steve threatened

Rachel groaned. This was being blown out of proportion.

"Hang on, no Police, no hysterics, not yet!" she insisted

"Too late" Steve hissed, shaking his head in disbelief

"You should have excluded him when you had the chance, Rachel" Tom commented, a hint of smugness in his tone

"It's not that simple, Tom" Eddie shot back

Rachel decided to ignore Tom's comment. Everyone was jumping to conclusions without having all the facts.

"Look, why don't we just wait until we find either the bird, or Earl? There's no need to panic" she suggested

"It's probably on my doorstep by now" Tom grumbled

Steve scoffed in disbelief

"Right, I'm going to find her" he decided

"I'll come with you" Eddie offered, moving to jump into the van with Steve

"Hang on, Eddie!" she huffed, raising he voice a little to make him take notice

"Rachel, I'm going with him!" he snapped angrily

Rachel stared at him, taken aback by his harsh tone.

"You drive, I'll get the tracker" Steve instructed

Eddie nodded, turning away from Rachel and getting into the van.

Tom and Rachel exchanged a glance at each other. He was angry and itching to say 'I told you so', but she didn't care.

Throughout all the commotion, no one had noticed that Michaela was typing out a text message to all her friends. "Earl Kelly has killed a Hawk!".

Rachel watched as Eddie drove away. She wasn't entirely sure whose side he was on anymore, but it certainly didn't feel like he was on hers.