Thank you for all the reviews.

So let's wrap up this story. I think you all understand where we are now.

I mentioned on Twitter that this was going to be a long chapter. Mainly because I had so much that I needed to say to wrap up the story and, personally, I think it works best as one long chapter rather than two chapters.

And you know what, maybe I have one more little surprise up my sleeve...

Plus I had a name to get in. It wouldn't be one of my stories if I didn't mention a certain girl's name, would it?


Leaving It Up To You

To see you again, to be your friend, to hold you in my mind
Leaving it up, leaving it up, leaving it up, leaving it up to you

Monday 23rd July 2012

Eddie felt nervous.

More nervous than he felt on his wedding day to Alison or when Michael and Stephen were born or Evie for that matter. Or when he had asked her out for the drinks that they never got.

It was only a phone call but it was more than that.

This was a call that might mean that Rachel Mason would permanently come back into his life and he felt like he couldn't help but feel nervous about it.

What if Adam had turned up and wanted to give it another go? What if she had met someone else? What if she didn't feel the same way about him like she did two years ago? What if something had happened? What if he called and someone else picked up?

He knew that all rational thought had left him and he knew that the only thing to do was to pick up the phone and call her. He could work through all the what-ifs once he had spoken to her.

He swiped his phone off the coffee table and found Rachel's number before he pressed the phone to his ear. He could feel his stomach dropping with every ringtone and he didn't really know how to feel when it went to voicemail.

"Hello, this is Rachel Mason. I'm not available right now, but please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

Eddie couldn't help but smile, glad that a few of his questions had already been answered.

"Hi Rachel," Eddie started after he heard the beep for him to leave his message. "It's been two years. Mad isn't it? How the time has flown but also hasn't. And maybe it is best that I've got your voicemail instead of actually talking to you. Because I know you, Rach. I think better now than I ever have done. Which is why I have done my part and now I am leaving it up to you. Because I know I shouldn't push you because look what it caused last time. So whether you listen to this and instantly delete it or you wait a few days or you call me back straight away, just know that I will still be waiting for you."

He didn't quite know how to end the message so hung up there and waited. Because he was sure that she would call him back. He just had to wait for her.


Rachel felt her smile drop as the door to her office closed. She hated interviewing and she knew why she was doing it on the first day of the school holidays. To get it over and done with.

"It was your phone," Kim said. "DC."

Rachel turned to Kim. "Is it really the 23rd?"

"It is. Is that important?"

"It's Eddie. The two years are up."

"You didn't have to make him wait," Kim said, handing Rachel her phone and sitting back down.

"Kim, I couldn't do that to him."

"Why not?"

"I've told you why. It wouldn't have been fair to him and he needed to sort out where he stood with Melissa and Evie. I couldn't get in the way of that."

"But you needed more than me, Philip and Tom. Especially with everything that happened with Adam."

"Kim, we are not having this discussion again."

"You're right. We aren't. Because you are going to call him back and be where he should have always been."

"When did you start being a part of the Eddie Lawson fan club?"

"When I realised how good he was for you and Waterloo Road. I can think of a number of things that would have been different if he had been there."

"Do you still think we made the right decision to leave last year?"

"Rachel, we had done all we could. That school wasn't the same school by the time you had finished with it. You can trust me on that."

Rachel knew that Kim was right but it made it easier to move the conversation on when the door to her office opened with Philip standing there and a rather upset one-year-old.

"He was fine… until we said about having a snack and it just went downhill," Philip said.

Rachel shook her head as Philip walked over to her, handing her Tommy in the process, with him instantly curling up against her chest. She knew that it would only strengthen Kim's argument that she should call Eddie back. Not that she wasn't going to call him back.

"I think we need to listen to the message Uncle Eddie has left me." Rachel said to Tommy.

"I think you should stop calling him Uncle Eddie," Kim said. "Rachel, you know what role he is going to take. No matter how complicated it is."

She felt her head shaking again as she picked up her phone and got it to play her voicemail, putting it on speakerphone so everyone could listen.

"New messages." The robotic woman said before the voice turned into Eddie's. "Hi, Rachel. It's been two years. Mad isn't it? How the time has flown but also hasn't. And maybe it is best that I've got your voicemail instead of actually talking to you. Because I know you, Rach. I think better now than I ever have done. Which is why I have done my part and now I am leaving it up to you. Because I know I shouldn't push you because look what it caused last time. So whether you listen to this and instantly delete it or you wait a few days or you call me back straight away, just know that I will still be waiting for you."

There was a part of Rachel that just relished in hearing his voice again and she knew that once she got a quiet moment later, she would ring him back and ask when it was convenient to meet him. She pressed a kiss to the top of Tommy's head before she rested her cheek there, wondering how he was going to take all this.

"Well?" Philip said.

"We have these interviews to do. That is for later. When I have a quiet moment to myself." Rachel paused. "We have so much to catch up on."

"You know, you could mix business and pleasure," Kim said.

"You shouldn't put that idea in my head."

"Rachel, it is the perfect solution. You haven't wanted to interview any of these people and I am fairly certain that you aren't going to trust any of them like you already trust Eddie. You only trusted Leon because he had been here for three years and you inherited him. And you needed to trust him because you were only here part-time."

"And that isn't fair to the other three people we are interviewing today."

"But like I said, you have already made up your mind that none of them are good enough."

Rachel was going to argue but she knew that Kim was right. She just knew that it would make the next three interviews that they had lined up hard. Because she knew what she wanted to do now.

"With that, our next interviewee will be here in five minutes." Rachel said.

"So I need to take him," Philip said. "Hey buddy, how about we go and calm the others down. Maybe Lucy will read you guys a story."

Rachel was glad that she could hand Tommy over without too many problems. She knew why he was clingy but she hoped that this was a way that he could slowly get over his separation anxiety. Which would be great as she was hoping to start back full time in September.

"Are you sure you and Lucy don't mind doing this?" Rachel asked.

"I think the only bad thing is how broody Lucy is now. I will definitely have to remind her that there are a few things we would both like to do before we have kids."

"I think you two would be great."

"Yeah… but I'll leave you with the thought that if we have kids, that will make you a great-aunt."

Rachel could feel her eyes go wide at that thought and she turned to Kim as the door closed.

"I am only 42. I can't become a great-aunt."

"Maybe say it more like a great... aunt, rather than a great-aunt."

"Still not helping." Rachel said as she looked down at the paper in front of her. "Jane Allen is next. We could have an all-woman senior management team."

Rachel knew that Kim was pulling a face that meant that she didn't completely agree with her last statement. Because they knew who would be offered the job. It was just whether he would accept it.


Saturday 28th July 2012

Rachel couldn't help but smile as she heard the commotion in the house as she stood outside. It took some juggling about before she could be comfortable enough to press the doorbell, which seemed to increase the panic inside the house.

"Michael! Can you get that?" Eddie shouted. "For Christ sakes, Evie. This is not the time to be playing hide and seek."

Rachel was sure that she was smiling widely when Michael answered the door. It was strange to see how much Micheal had grown (as Rachel assumed that it was about three years since she last saw him) but she could see so much of Eddie in him as he smiled at her.

"Rachel! No wonder Dad is stressed."

"Is he now?"

"Evie is hiding from him because she doesn't want to get dressed."

"Right?"

"Dad says that she is at the stage where she says no to everything." Michael paused. "Sorry, Mum would tell me off. I guess you are coming in."

"Could you give me a hand?"

She could tell that Michael had seen Tommy in her arms but she gestured towards Isobel, who was sitting rather patiently on the step leading up to the house (where Rachel had told her to wait while she pressed the doorbell). She could see Michael's confusion as he stared at Isobel for a bit before it clicked and he looked back at her.

"She will only need help into the house." Rachel continued. "She likes to walk if you just hold her hand. Just in case she does fall."

And that is what Michael did as he picked Isobel up and brought her into the house before placing her down and holding her hand. It was clear that he had spent quite a bit of time with Evie, just by how careful he was being.

"Dad, it's Rachel," Michael shouted up the stairs.

"I know. Just take her into the living room. I'll be down in a minute."

"I'll get the kettle on." Rachel said.

"No. No. I'll be down in a minute." Eddie said as he came into view at the top of the stairs.

"Eddie, I can put on the kettle."

"Dad, have you tried the toy box?" Michael said.

"Why would she be there? How the hell would she have gotten in there?"

Michael shrugged at him and Rachel watched as Eddie huffed before he went back in search for Evie. She was sure that he hadn't noticed that she had two little ones with her. And she knew that conversation that they were going to have once he had noticed.

Michael did take her to the kitchen, where she filled up the kettle with Tommy still in her arms, while Michael was doing a brilliant job of keeping Isobel entertained (although she was the more confident one of her pair).

"How is school?" Rachel asked.

"It's okay," Michael said, giving the answer that she felt like every eight-year-old would give. "Bit behind with Maths. Dad is trying to help me."

"Never understood Maths myself."

"I am the best reader in my class though. That is probably because I read to Evie so Dad can get stuff done. I mean, I can read to Evie and… your two to give you some space."

"I am sure Tommy and Isobel would love to hear you read." Rachel said with a smile. "Enjoy being a big brother then."

"Yeah." Michael paused for a moment. "Does this mean that you are back? Does this mean that I get to be a big brother to Tommy and Isobel as well?"

The question stumped Rachel and she had to give it to Michael that he was rather enthusiastic about being the big brother. The fact that she could just see them all together just made her believe that this was the right thing to do. That the two years apart had been good for them. Because now they could start again. Maybe not from the beginning but learn a way to slot into each other's lives.

"Daddy!" Evie screeched as her and Eddie finally joined them, with the nearly three-year-old upside down in her father's arms.

"Well, you are being a little tyke," Eddie said.

"Not fair."

"And it isn't fair that we have guests and you were hiding."

Rachel could only smile at Eddie as he took his time to register how many children there were under the age of three. The confusion was clear but she knew that she could have a bit of fun. Maybe it would have been better if her twins were the same gender but she felt like it worked all the same.

"Is the maths teacher struggling to count?" She said.

"You should have told me," Eddie said.

"I think we need to talk."

"No, Rachel, you should have told me sooner."

"Then that is the first thing we will talk about."

Rachel felt like it would have been harder for her to leave Tommy but he seemed to be rather settled with Isobel and Evie as Michael said that he would entertain them. Eddie assured her that Michael would call them if anything was wrong and left them to it in the playroom while they returned to the kitchen (the kettle forgotten about) and caught up on the last two years.

"You should have told me," Eddie repeated.

"No, I couldn't have."

"Rachel, twins…"

"I couldn't do that to you. Believe me, Eddie, there was one time, at three am, when both of them couldn't settle and Philip was in the middle of exams and I didn't want to bother Kim that I almost called you to help me. And as my thumb hovered over the button, I thought that I couldn't do it to you. I couldn't let you run back to me when my twins were the same age as… Stephen was when you lost him. Either you would have left me because things would have been too difficult for you…"

"You can't say that."

"... Or you would have stayed and suffered because you felt like you needed to be there for me. Even if the memories became too much for you to bear."

"You can't say that." He repeated. "I would have been there for you. So would have Alison. Because we know how hard those first few months are."

"And I definitely couldn't have done it to both of you."

"We would have supported you."

"Eddie, I feel guilty at the moment that I do have both of them. I felt guilty when Michael realised that Isobel was there as well as Tommy."

"You have nothing to feel guilty about."

Rachel stopped as she realised the argument that they were falling into.

"I would have felt more guilty if you had been there, suffering." She said, softer than they had been speaking.

"You can't say that I would have suffered."

"And you can't say that you wouldn't have suffered."

"I… I wanted to be there."

"I know you did. And I wanted you there. But I doubt that you would have had the relationship that you do with Evie if I didn't let you go at that point to make sure that Melissa gave you what you deserved."

"What? Melissa meeting someone new and handing Evie over to me because the new boyfriend didn't want a one-year-old attached. I think she said something along the lines of 'if you want to be her father so badly, then be it'. She… just dumped Evie on me without telling me anything. I… almost called you in the panic of the moment."

"What am I going to do with that sister of mine?" Rachel said with a roll of her eyes, unsure whether she expected it from her sister or not.

"You've got to bloody find her first." Eddie took a breath. "Just… before that all happened she told me that I was never going to see Evie again so I prepared myself for a fight that didn't happen. But I didn't know what nursery she went to or anything like that. It was a stressful time for both of us."

"Another reason why I couldn't dump my problems on you."

"Do you not think we could have worked through it together?"

"Probably." Rachel sighed. "I feel bad enough that Philip dropped out of university because of it. But I've had him and Kim and Tom to help me out. I took Philip's support from you."

"No, you didn't. He is your family. He deserves to support you."

"And he is Evie's family as well."

"We are just going round in circles."

Rachel smiled at him. "It seems like that is just how we do things. Either that or we just do things in completely the wrong order."

"I don't think that Melissa will be becoming between us again."

"I would love to say that same about Adam."

She knew that Eddie was going to question her on it but she felt like Michael's interruption might help her to explain things.

"Rachel?" Michael said.

She couldn't help but sigh as she saw that Tommy hadn't gone into complete meltdown yet but was heading that way.

"Oh Tommy," She said. "Come here then."

Tommy's hand slipped out of Michael's as he almost ran over to her, with Rachel picking him up the moment he reached her. She pressed a kiss into his hair and thanked Michael, with the older boy running back to the other two.

"I never told you what Adam's reaction was, did I?" She said as she turned back to Eddie.

"Well, I was there when he asked you if you were sure. Although you mentioned that you wanted his reaction to be the same as mine and Philip's. So I am guessing it didn't improve once the shock wore off."

"Adam… would have wanted to wait a couple of years before I made that announcement. He did turn up at Prom and repeated what he had said when I told him that I was having them with or without him." Rachel paused for a moment but she was sure that Eddie had caught on. "He umm… wanted me to get a termination and then for us to try properly in a couple of years time, naturally and then with IVF if that didn't work out. It was just asking too much and I continued to tell him no. I was glad that Tom was there when Adam lost his temper with me and threw him out.

"Just… It was earlier this year that he came back into my life and said that we should have a second shot of things. Philip had Isobel while I had Tommy and I obviously wasn't giving Adam the attention that he desired because he was upsetting Tommy that he pulled Tommy out of my arms and put him on the floor. I immediately picked him back up but the damage was already done. We think Tommy has separation anxiety over it. He was getting better, with being more comfortable around Kim, Philip and Lucy. I suppose this is just a new environment for him."

"I knew that I should have punched him when I had the chance," Eddie said.

"He wanted me, not his children. It… was a bitter pill to swallow. Thinking that even in a couple of years, he would still have not been all for the idea of having children."

"He didn't deserve you, Rachel."

"Honestly, it made me rethink all our arguments that we had and I do think that I would have left Waterloo Road because of him."

"Are you still there?"

"No. Both me and Kim made the decision not to return after our maternity leave. Kim took the job at Kingsway before I did. They had been struggling to find a good Head of Pastoral Care after the last one retired. It then worked out that the head was leaving."

"Perfect."

"The twins were born in the February of 2011 and by the September, I had started at a new school. Part-time, of course."

"I never had you down as a part-timer."

"Had to be. I wanted to be a mum first and foremost. Back full-time this September."

"No rest for the wicked."

"Definitely."

Rachel knew that this would have been the perfect opportunity to offer him the job that was his. But the moment went as the door did and Eddie moved to go towards the door.

"It's open Alison," Eddie shouted before he rejoined her. "School holidays. I'm daddy daycare. Well, Michael is staying with me during the week so Alison doesn't have to run around and get him places."

"Just think, you almost didn't have this."

"No. I wouldn't have done without you."

"I thought I recognised that voice," Alison said as she walked into the kitchen. "You know he has been counting down the days."

Rachel smiled at her. "I am sure he did."

"And he is adorable. How old?"

"17 months. I have one that is shy as anything and one that knows no fear."

"With Michael. So is Evie." Eddie quickly explained before Alison could ask the question.

"So what did you go with? Name wise?" Alison asked.

"Well, we have Tommy James here. And Isobel Amelia is with Michael." Rachel said.

"You went with middle names. We had enough arguments in just choosing Micheal and Stephen."

"Mum, retrospectively, admitted that she always wished that she had given us middle names. I didn't want to feel that way as well. It was why I went with Rachel. Because I felt like I needed to keep a name that Mum gave me."

"So why was Melissa adamant that Evie wasn't going to have a middle name?" Eddie said.

"Melissa wasn't part of that conversation. Why? What name did you want?"

"Wanted and got." He said with a smile. "Evie is Evie Keira."

Evie was the first to rejoin them, running over to Alison to greet her. Rachel could hear Michael telling Isobel to be careful. It seemed weird that they had already seemed to have slotted back into each other's lives so easily. Which is why Rachel just came out with it. Because she knew that he had to be there now.

"Kingsway." Rachel said.

"What about it?" Eddie said.

"Well… where are you working at the moment?"

"Nowhere," Alison answered for him. "He became a supply teacher because 'it fitted in with childcare better'."

She could tell that Eddie didn't like that Alison worded it that way but Rachel didn't care. He didn't have to leave a job. He was free for what she wanted.

"Then come to Kingsway." Rachel said.

"Are you offering me a job?" Eddie said.

"Not just any job. The deputy headship. Kim… is right. I trust you and if I have to be dragged away from the school because of Tommy or Isobel, then I can leave it in your hands. But not only that. You were good for me. Adam basically told me that I have control issues and maybe I do. But you have never criticized me for that. In fact, you told me the day before I was meant to get married that you had a list of reasons why I should be at Waterloo Road that day.

"I mean, if we are going to do this, be back together, then we need to do it properly. Because things weren't the same after you left and… I don't care if you and Kim go back to being at each other's throats and arguing constantly. You know you aren't a supply teacher, Eddie. Plus there is the added bonus of onsite childcare."

"You've opened a creche."

"It was either that or my office."

It probably wasn't as long as it felt as Rachel waited for him to accept her offer. She could tell that Alison was slightly annoyed that Eddie didn't instantly accept the offer. Rachel knew that he would. Because why wouldn't he.

"So we are back together?" Eddie said.

"Of course we are. Unless the twins are a deal-breaker."

"The twins were never going to be a deal-breaker. I was always prepared to be their father."

"I know you were."

Rachel knew that they had a lot more to talk about and she was sure that Alison would have taken Evie, Tommy and Isobel just to give them the space that they needed to talk properly. But Rachel knew that, at some point, all three of them would need a nap and that would be when they could talk and finally work out how they were going to make this all work. Because there was one thing for sure, Rachel wasn't going to let Eddie go again.


Thursday 6th September 2012

"Oh come here." Rachel said as she rose onto her tiptoes to try and brush the glitter out of Eddie's hair.

"It's still there?" He said.

"It is definitely like sand. Why did you encourage them?"

"I didn't."

"You laughed when Isobel threw some at you and that led to Evie tipping the whole pot over your head. You encouraged it."

"How were they this morning?" He said to change the conversation.

"Isobel and Evie were fine, as I thought. Tommy needed a bit more persuading but I told him that you would be there to pick him up."

"I have got the last period free. Might go down early."

"Maybe. I just don't want him thinking that we will be back that early every day."

"He will settle into it."

"I know." Rachel said as Kim joined them.

"Ready for the challenge Eddie?" Kim asked.

"What challenge? No problem is too much for us three." Eddie said.

"I bet you have just jinxed the day." Rachel said.

"And everything will be fine. Trust me." He said.

"Maybe I trust you a little too much."

"Any problems send them to Eddie then?" Kim asked.

"Of course."

"Bring it," Eddie said. "No… it is good to be back in a permanent position."

"Then I think it is time to get these kids into the hall for assembly." Rachel said.

Kim and Eddie nodded in agreement before they went off to try and gather up the students, with Rachel sure that Kim was telling Eddie off for his comments and that he was tempting fate.

If anything, Rachel was waiting to wake up from whatever dream she was dreaming. She was expecting that the last two years were just a dream and that she would wake up to find herself lying next to Adam. Mainly just because she couldn't believe that she had her little two and Eddie back in her life, with Evie and Michael as well. Because she was sure that this was all part of a wild dream.

The best part of it all was Rachel reminding herself that this was her reality. And she couldn't wait to see what life had in store for them.


Eddie knew that Rachel would tell him off if she saw the way that he was holding Isobel, with her scooped into his armpit, looking back at where they had come from, and he knew that she would find out once they entered her office but the little minx was picking up some of her sister's (actually cousin's but they didn't mention that) bad habits and it had led to Eddie just picking up the 19-month-old went she tried to run passed him. Isobel had stopped squirming, which he was grateful for. He wouldn't quite know how to explain to Rachel how he managed to drop their daughter on her head (again, they didn't mention how Isobel and Tommy weren't Eddie's).

"For Christ sakes Eddie." Rachel said as he walked into her office.

"Daddy said that Izzy was being a minx," Evie said.

Tommy was quite comfortable in Eddie's arms (and was either getting over his separation anxiety or it was just including Eddie now as well), meaning that he could bend down the same way that he picked Isobel up and place her back on her feet. He couldn't help but smile as Isobel crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"No Daddy," Isobel said.

"Then, darling, you should have come when I asked you to," Eddie said.

"No."

He looked up at Rachel, giving her a look to say 'look what I've had to deal with'. She shook her head at him as she finished getting her things together. Eddie knew that Rachel was going to try and keep as much of her work at school, to begin with, but he had a small little bet with Kim for the moment that Rachel would start taking work home with her because 'she didn't have time to do it earlier'.

"So who is going to carry you to the car? Mummy or Daddy?" Rachel said.

"Me," Isobel said.

"No, we said that you can't because of the stairs. So Mummy or Daddy?"

Eddie could tell that Isobel was thinking it over. He did love how independent Isobel was but he was sure that part of it might be Rachel's stubbornness being inherited (something that Eddie constantly told Rachel that he loved about her).

"Mummy," Isobel said.

"Rach, can I hold your hand?" Evie said.

"Of course, you can." Rachel said as she picked up Isobel. "So who is reading the story tonight?"

All three of them screeched 'Daddy' which brought the same smile to Eddie's face as was on Rachel's. This is what they had always wanted and they might have Evie calling Rachel by her name and the twins calling Eddie their dad, but it didn't matter. They were finally a family with Michael joining them at times.

Eddie just needed to decide whether he was going to leave it up to Rachel as to when they would finally make everything official. Because he knew that they had made the twins Lawsons properly and he hoped that meant that she wasn't averse to being a Lawson as well.

It was something that he felt like he might bring up with her later when the kids were in bed and they finally had five minutes to themselves.

Because this is how it should have always been.

It should've been him by her side.

And he wasn't planning on leaving it ever again.