It had been a stupid idea. A stupid, stupid, stupid idea. If Eddie could rely on anyone to come up with a stupid and dangerous idea, it was Rachel Mason. And if he could rely on anyone to not listen to him when he told them it was a bad idea, it would be Rachel Mason too.

The stupid and dangerous idea was why he was currently sat in the waiting room of the A department. Rachel had, once again, put herself in danger to protect a student and hadn't listened to him. And once again, he had told her it was a stupid idea, but she hadn't listened and told him that she would be fine. What a load of rubbish that was.

...

It had started at lunchtime. The news had broken out that Bianca Vale had been removed from the school premises by her Father, Gary Vale. Rachel was furious and anxious all at the same time. The thought of any student disappearing off school premises during the school day was bad enough. What made it worse was that Gary wasn't meant to see his children unless under supervision, Bianca and her brother could only be removed from school by their Mother. Rachel hadn't really questioned Mrs Vale on why. If she was honest, she didn't really want to know. Most Mother's had their child's best interests at heart when keeping their Father away from them.

It was Grantly who had let Bianca go when her Father had walked into the classroom. Any other teacher (except maybe Ruby) would have been suspicious and flagged it up, like Jo Lipsett had when Gary had walked into her classroom to try and take Michael, Bianca's brother out to take him to a 'dentist appointment'. As usual though, Grantly was more interested in reading his newspaper or gambling to give a damn about any of the kids in his classroom. Eddie still wasn't sure why he was a teacher, or how he had lasted this long in the profession.

It was Rachel who had leapt into action the second she had heard Bianca had gone. Before Eddie could even stop her, she was making her way over to her car to follow them in an attempt to persuade Gary to bring his daughter back to school.

No matter how many times Eddie had told her it was a bad idea and to let the Police handle it, she hadn't listened.

When she had called him to say where she, Bianca and Gary were so the Police could come, he had told her to get back in her car and drive away. Of course, once again, she didn't listen to him. Instead, she'd done the worst thing she could have done and had gone back into the caravan to try and save Bianca and reason with Gary.

Eddie followed the Police to the location, knowing Rachel would probably be in danger. He didn't claim to know Bianca, her Brother, or Mr Vale for that matter. But it was clear that their Mother wouldn't let him see his children for a reason, and he wasn't sticking around to find out why and he was adamant that Rachel wouldn't either. Even if he had to drag her away, he would make sure she wasn't on the receiving end of whatever Gary would do if she interfered.

Unfortunately, he'd got there too late.

He'd watched on in horror as Rachel had run out of the caravan, dragging a frightened and confused Bianca with her. Just seconds later, the caravan exploded and was engulfed with flames. Rachel's scream had chilled him to the bone, he'd watched as she fell to the ground, trying to shield Bianca from the debris flying around them. He'd ignored the protests from the Police, telling him to stay where he was. He'd pushed past the two officers that had tried to get hold of him with an impressive amount of strength, running over to Rachel, who was still lying on the ground, unconscious next to a distraught Bianca, who was coughing violently after the exposure to the carbon monoxide.

Without thinking, Eddie had lifted Rachel into his arms, rushing her over to the awaiting stretcher in the ambulance. The Paramedics had stabilised her breathing, but she was still unconscious. That was when the decision was made to take her to the hospital, to get her and the baby checked.

Over the last few hours, Eddie had paced the waiting room anxiously. There had been no news. The shock had worn off and the anger he felt towards Rachel and her actions was slowly creeping in. He was furious with her for doing this. Why hadn't she just listened to him and stayed put? Why hadn't she just come back to the school and let the Police do their job?

This wasn't the first time she'd put herself in danger to try and save someone. Nearly two years ago, she had tried to save Stuart Hordley from the burning school building. She had tried to save the man who had spent months blackmailing and harassing her. He didn't deserve to be saved by her. The firemen could have handled it and got him out. But of course she had refused. Because of Stuart, and because of her selflessness, Rachel got hurt too and it had taken her months to recover from the ordeal. Why did she have to be the hero every time?

"Eddie, sit down will you? You're making me dizzy!" Kim huffed

Eddie glared at her, slamming himself down in the seat next to her.

"I know you're worried. But she's in the best place, they'll sort everything out" she reassured

"I just can't believe she did that, Kim. Why couldn't she just leave it?"

Kim couldn't deny it, she was angry with Rachel too. She could see it from both Rachel's perspective and Eddie's too. Rachel cared about every single student at Waterloo Road, but that came with a cost. Sometimes she cared too much, and that stopped her from being able to think rationally. She jumped into situations without even considering the consequences.

"This is Rachel we're talking about, Eddie. She cares too much"

Eddie nodded quietly.

"Mr Lawson?"

Eddie shot up from his chair when he saw the Doctor who had been treating Rachel stood in front of him. Her expression was blank, empty of any indication or clue as to whether Rachel and the baby were ok. He stared at her expectantly, the question he had unable to leave his lips out of fear of the answer.

"Rachel is awake. She and the baby are fine. We've been monitoring them for a while and they're both doing well. I'm happy for her to go home" the Doctor announced

Eddie breathed the biggest sigh of relief. Whilst his frustration towards Rachel dissipated somewhat at the news that she and the baby were ok, he knew they needed to sit down and talk about what had happened. What she'd done, putting herself in harm's way like that was not ok. He needed her to know that.

"She's ready to go if you want to go and see her?" the Doctor added

Eddie nodded, following her down the corridor with Kim in tow.