It turned out that when fire ravaged through at least part of a school, there was quite a lot of paperwork involved. The next few days were filled with meeting and phone calls for both Rachel and Eddie as they tried their best to steer through the latest calamity. Eddie found himself talking the police, the fire service and multiple anxious parents, as well as a few curious students who wandered back onto school grounds while he was onsite. Rachel, meanwhile, firmly steered clear of the school itself. Instead, she spent hours in a meeting with the governors and the LEA at various locations, trying to sort funding to rebuild the canteen and expecting that any moment, she would be questioned about the article and told not to return to Waterloo Road.

But that never came. Instead, what did was Eddie, who showed up on her doorstep with a tentative smile and a bag of food. Or who took to phoning late at night if they hadn't seen each other and sending her texts in the middle of the day. Never letting enough time pass that she felt alone, always ensuring she knew he was in his thoughts. It was deliciously novel and comfortingly warming all at the same time.

And then, eventually, things quietened down. The reporters moved on to more interesting stories, the investigations into the fire moved past the point where there was any need for interviews or visits to the school itself. There were still a few details to be ironed out, of course- half the school was going to need to be cleaned and repainted thanks to the smoke, and Rachel had builders to direct and a selection of paint colours she needed to pick from. New equipment and furniture for the canteen would need to be ordered too, and there was a list of other repairs as long as Rachel's arm to be completed. But none of that could be dealt with anytime soon, and so instead, several days later she found herself curled next to Eddie on the sofa, his arm comfortingly heavy around her shoulders.

"You didn't resign yet." His statement came from nowhere. It took Rachel a second to process what he'd said before she shifted, looked up at him.

"Not yet. I didn't want anything to delay getting the go ahead for the builders to start the repairs."

He looked at her with a knowing expression. "And you don't want to go."

She hated when he did that. Abruptly, she sat up and pulled away from him, avoiding his gaze. "We've talked about this."

"No, you've talked." He grabbed her hand. "And I've disagreed."

"Eddie-,"

"I think it's contained, Rachel."

She blinked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I spoke to Dom, and to the rest of the class he showed the article to," he admitted, and something inside her clenched.

"Eddie!"

"There were a few others too," he continued, as if she hadn't said anything. "Tom brought his two, and Donte, and Steph came with Maxine and Janeece. But we sat them down and we spoke to them, and they listened."

She stared at him, not sure whether horror or hope was winning the battle to be her chief emotion. "What could you have possibly told them?"

"The truth." He shrugged. "As much of it as I knew, anyway."

Her voice was strangled and high. "What?"

"I told them that you had been younger than most of them, and that you hadn't had a Miss Mason or Mr Lawson or Mr Clarkson to step in for you." His voice was calm and even, as if they were chatting about the weather. "I told them that you'd been alone, like Maxine once was, and that instead of a Miss Haydock who helped you, you had someone who tricked you into trusting them, just like what happened with Janeece. And that person then turned around and hurt you, and forced you into something you wouldn't have otherwise done. Just like what almost happened to Chlo. And I told them that you'd beaten the odds and turned your life around, just like we tell all of them they're capable of, and that you didn't deserve to be judged now for something that happened back when you were a kid."

He looked at her, waited for a response. But she merely remained frozen, expression one of astonishment.

"They listened, Rachel," he told her. "I think having it pointed out to them how similar you and they are… Maxine and Chlo especially, they spoke up for you. I think Maxine recognises she would have been in a very similar situation if it hadn't been for Steph. And once they started, so did Bolton and Janeece, and then some of the others. And before any of us teachers had to say anything, they'd all reached the conclusion that they should keep quiet about the article. We didn't even suggest it, they thought of it on their own."

She opened her mouth, closed it again. Shook her head.

"You have made such a mark on them, Rachel. Whether directly or simply through influence. They recognise that, they appreciate it. As much as a teenager can."

His voice lightened with his attempt at a joke, but she didn't smile. "You're living in a fantasy world," she said softly. There was no bite to her voice, no reprimand. Simply resignation. "Those kids… they will never keep this quiet. The first time one of them ends up in trouble, or wants to impress someone, or gets a bad mark—,"

"You know what they're like, Rach. They'll be so wrapped up in their own lives this will barely register by the time school starts again."

"They're not that self-absorbed."

"Rachel." Eddie reached out and gripped her hands in his. "Have some faith. And some hope too, for that matter."

She sighed, looked away from him.

"They'll be gone in a year." Eddie squeezed his fingers gently. "One year, during which time they're going to be dating and breaking up and arguing with their parents and doing their exams and generally be very distracted. Just… just try. For me, for the baby. Have some faith. Believe in this."

"Faith…" she murmured, and sighed again. "Alright. We'll try it your way. But I reserve the right to say I told you so."

He huffed out a laugh. "Fair enough."

W.R.

Life was funny. A mere year before, Rachel had been aware of Waterloo Road only by reputation. She'd never dreamt that only a few months after that, she'd find herself rather abruptly taking over as headteacher. And she'd certainly never anticipated that not even a full twelve months later, she'd be sat with her baby kicking inside her, a good man pressed against her side as they poured over colour options for her office.

Once they'd decided, they were moving on to choosing for the baby's room.

She had no idea what the future held, not really. Held no real hope that the people who knew her secret would keep it, had no idea how she would face them when September came around and she had to act as their boss and their headteacher. But Eddie had asked, and so she was willing to try. Somehow. And deep inside her, buried so far she barely acknowledged it, was the tiny, flickering hope that maybe, just maybe, Eddie was right. Maybe her past could remain in the past. Maybe she could have this life that she'd grown so fond of, at Waterloo Road with Eddie and before too long, their baby.

She had some of it already. On the coffee table in front of where they sat, a book of baby names was bookmarked with the handwritten list they were working on, nestled against the pile of job applications they had shortlisted. Steam rose from two mugs, curling around the petal of the fresh flowers Eddie had brought home alongside the bread and milk that morning, and when the breeze blew through the window the scent of the lilies drifted through the room.

No, Rachel would never have thought this was where she would find herself, and she wanted it more than she would ever have realised. She'd enjoy it while it lasted, she decided, and with a small smile, she turned her head to press a kiss to Eddie's jaw, prompting a warm, if slightly surprised look from him.

It might not have been what she expected, but she wouldn't have changed it for the world.