I'll keep you safe

Chapter 154

One week later...

Eddie woke up to the 6AM alarm on his phone screeching at him. He groaned, reaching over to the bedside table to turn it off. When there was silence again, he sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The thought of lying back down and having another hour of sleep was incredibly tempting, but he knew that he couldn't. Even though he was exhausted, today was the last day of term. At the end of the day, it would be the start of the Christmas holidays. Reminding himself of that gave him the motivation to get up and go into the ensuite to get ready.

Rachel had been discharged from the hospital four days ago. In total, she had spent five days on the ward, under the care of Doctors and Nurses. Those five days had been agonisingly long, Rachel and Eddie had hated every single minute they had spent apart.

It had been worth it though. To both hers and Eddie's relief, she was now eating and drinking properly and was slowly and steadily putting back on the weight she had lost. The dizzy spells and waves of nausea had almost completely disappeared, thanks to the anti-sickness and iron tablets the Doctor had prescribed. The colour had returned to her cheeks, and her energy was slowly returning. Eddie thought she had more of a spring in her step. She was starting to smile and laugh again. It warmed his heart to see that she was getting back to her normal self.

Rachel had also booked her first session with the counsellor, Louise, for next week, two days before Christmas Eve. Eddie was both surprised and relieved that she had decided to go through with it. It seemed that talking to Louise over the phone had taken a weight off her shoulders and she was now actually feeling positive about having counselling sessions. Eddie was proud of her, he knew it wouldn't be easy, but Rachel was the strongest person he had ever met. She would get through this.

From the minute he had picked her up from the hospital to bring her home, she had been talking about coming back to work. He wasn't surprised, not one bit. In fact, he had been expecting her to start the conversation the second they'd got into the car, not when they'd been at home for an hour and she had just gotten into bed after having a shower!

Of course he had told her she wasn't coming back until after the Christmas Holidays now. Even if she was feeling better, she needed to rest. The Doctor had been insistent on this, and Eddie was too.

Thankfully, Rachel hadn't put up too much of a fight when he had said no. Maybe that was because they had compromised and had agreed that (if she was well enough) she could come to work to oversee the last day of term and to attend Bolton's Boxing Match in the afternoon with the rest of the school. Judging by the fact that she hadn't been lying next to him when he'd woken up this morning (like she had been the last few days), he assumed she was feeling ok.

It was going to be a busy morning. The school was closing at lunchtime so that everyone could make their way to Boxing Match, which was due to start at 2pm.

As Acting Head, Eddie had a lot to get done, so, in a way, he was glad he had Rachel by his side, even if he was going to make her sit down and do the bare minimum. The most he would allow her to do would be to sign off some paperwork.

Denzil and Rose Kelly were coming in for a meeting today to discuss settling him back in after the Christmas break. He had been released from prison a few days after Bolton and Paul had made their statements and was now settling back in with his family. That was another reason he was glad Rachel was coming in today. He was sure Denzil would be relieved to be out of the Young Offenders Institute, but Eddie could also imagine that coming back almost midway through the school year, after everything that had happened wasn't going to be easy. He would have a lot to catch up on and would need help settling in and making friends. Denzil needed a teacher like Rachel who could reassure him that everything was going to be ok. He needed someone he could go to when he had a problem. Eddie knew he could be that person, but he felt Rachel was better at the comfort side of things than he was. As a Head Teacher and individual, Rachel had a calming nature about her and was able to put anyone at ease. She was more approachable and the students did seem to warm to her better than him when it came to them being upset or worried about something.