It had to come to an end at some point, didn't it?

Honestly, I put off writing this chapter three times before I decided that it was probably just best to get it over and done with. It is going to be so weird to put this story as complete. So many extra little things that I have added to the Wrong Reason, Wrong Man storyline. But in this story, I have brought you from the birth of Tommy and Sophie to them having their own families. In Wrong Reason, Wrong Man, I brought both Eddie and Rachel back to Waterloo Road and it seems fitting that the last thing that I do is let them say goodbye to the school that they hold so dearly in their hearts.

I would like to thank everyone for their support and for all the reviews over Wrong Reason, Wrong Man and this story. Honestly, it has been an honour to give you this little insight into the world that I began to create in my head. I am glad that you have fallen in love with Tommy and Sophie as much as I have and I know, probably like most of you, I will revisit this story at some point in the future to remind myself of this world.

If anything, this is a proper goodbye from me for this story.

A Proper Goodbye

2009

Eddie knew that she wasn't going to be there. No matter how much he hoped, he knew that she wasn't going to be there. He knew that he couldn't cause her any more harm, so he contacted the LEA to tell them that he was moving on from Waterloo Road and asked them to send him relevant jobs. Nothing had come through at the moment but he wondered whether they were waiting for Rachel to confirm.

No, no matter how much he wanted to see Rachel again, she wasn't going to be at the school when he turned up. He parked up in his usual spot and looked over to his right, already missing the silver Mazda that used to be parked up beside him.

He pushed open the door of the car, trying to forget about everything that he had stupidly thrown away. It was his fault. He should have known Rachel better and he should have known better than to start a relationship with her sister of all people.

He went around the front, on autopilot, before he realised that he wouldn't be able to get in that way.

Like the summer before, Waterloo Road and its head were rebuilding themselves. Just Eddie wouldn't be there to see what happened this time around. He wouldn't be there to comfort her when things didn't go to plan nor would he be able to smile with her when things went right.

No, she would share all that with Kim and her new deputy and he wouldn't know any different.

The rubble had been cleared and, in the two weeks since it happened, the builders had been swift to make it all structurally sound. It was starting to look like the school he knew and loved.

Maybe it was best that he didn't see Rachel again. He didn't quite know how he would react if he did see her. Other than maybe try to get her to give their awkward situation a go.

He walked to the next entrance and made his way up the stairs, to the staffroom first. The school was deadly silent, apart from the works going on at the front. It didn't stop the thoughts, especially when he entered the staffroom. The memories played out in front of him, from Rachel's first day, to the words that they had exchanged on the day that he thought he was leaving to go to the Caribbean to marry Melissa, to the cups of coffee that they shared while talking to Tom or Kim over a problem. He walked over to the kitchen and retrieved his mugs before he quickly left, hoping that the memories would leave him as well.

But they didn't as he walked to his classroom. Down the corridor where they had the conversation about Rachel freaking out about the staff knowing about them, remembering the way that she fixed the collar of his shirt.

His classroom was no better as he managed to find a box to pack up his things. Her coming in and giving him Alison's number to the way she would always peer into his classroom as she made her way back to her office after her walk around the school to where she stood where she tried to explain why she had become a prostitute.

Eddie didn't dare go into her office. The amount of memories that would flood out there would be too much for him to handle. Even in the small bit of corridor between his classroom and her office held some memories. Like the way she followed him out and he told her that he missed his son, and that morning before she met Stuart Hordley and he was ranting about how annoying Alison was being and the way he called her his first responsibility on that awful day two weeks ago.

He knew that Waterloo Road had its ghost. He was certain that Izzie was probably there somewhere, smiling down on all the drama students. Adam Deardon and Maxine Barlow were there as well, doing their little bit to help broken friendships. There were probably more but those were the only ones that he could think of at that moment.

He just didn't think that the ghost of his relationship with Rachel would join them. Everything that they could have had taken just as easily as those lives.

2010

It had been 384 days since she broke up with Eddie. Or that was what Rachel had calculated using the last page that she had placed the photos in the Crime and Punishment book and then added 14 days. Over a year without Eddie and she would never have imagined that she would have been married, just not to him. Her biggest regret still was the day that she pushed him away. Her life would have been so different.

But she felt like she was happy where she was now.

She took in the photos one last time before she closed the book shut. Once she couldn't have the photos staring at her at home, she knew that she had to do something with them to stop her from throwing them away. It was the reason he put them in her hands. Because Melissa would have made him throw them away at some point. So they had joined the second most precious thing that he had brought her, the Crime and Punishment book.

It had started by accident. She just opened the book, placed the photos in and slammed it shut. When she had time to think about it more, she had used the page numbers and an awful reminder of how long she had been without Eddie. Mainly when she needed an ally against Max. Eddie would have protected her against Max. But he wasn't there to do it.

By the time Adam came along, it had become a habit that she did every single morning after she had made her coffee. Even on their wedding day, she made her coffee, grabbed the book off her shelf, moved the photos so that they were facing the page that they were meant to be, before replacing the book.

So it felt strange, two weeks later, that it was the last thing she did.

The book joined her other things as she cleared out her office. An office that was filled to the brim with memories for her, mainly containing Eddie. How she survived the year when she only had to look at a chair and her mind would be full of memories of her and Eddie and the conversations that they had. For her own sanity, she didn't allow herself to look over at the sofas. Although just thinking about the sofas brought the memory back.

There was a knock on the door and she knew it wasn't Adam. The confusion must have been clear in her face when Kim was standing there.

"You didn't think that you were going to go quietly, did you?" Kim said.

"Trying to leave out of the backdoor again."

"Steph is right. It isn't your style. Come on, we've got something for you."

Rachel fell in step with Kim as they made their way to the staffroom, talking about her honeymoon and that the idea of going off and just not coming back for a year was an idea that didn't work out in practice. Rachel explained how they were going to be in Rochdale for the week before heading back aboard with the idea of not coming back for a year seeming more likely.

She didn't expect all the teachers to be in the staffroom when she got there.

"Honestly, you didn't have to do this." Rachel said.

"And I've already told you once that you are one of the best heads that this place has ever seen," Steph said. "I think a certain someone would be rather upset if we didn't give you the send-off you deserved."

A certain someone being a certain Eddie Lawson. Rachel thought.

"Plus, we have something for you," Kim said, ushering her to the seat next to Tom. "We could call it a wedding stroke leaving gift but I think it will appeal to you more than Adam."

Rachel could only smile as Chris revealed what he was hiding behind his back. She knew what it was before she had got her hands on it and she couldn't wait to pour over the pages. She opened up the cover of the scrapbook to see that all the staff had signed it before she started to skim over the pages.

"Once the student body found out, they demanded to know whether something had been arranged for you," Tom explained. "I don't really know whether you know the impact that you made to the school."

"I was inundated with emails." Kim continued. "I just thought that it would be best to put their words into something that you could enjoy. And then others found news articles from when you started and the fire and everything else. That there is a document of your time at Waterloo Road."

"And I am going to cherish it forever." Rachel said as she closed it up. "I am going to miss the place and all you lot."

"We can stay in touch," Tom said.

"And I am sure that if you aren't too busy at whatever school you are going to save next, you can always join us in the local," Steph said.

Rachel smiled at them, hoping that it would be the plan but wondering whether the reality would be completely different.

2035

"Do you need a moment?" Rachel asked.

Eddie turned and smiled at her. "Feels weird, doesn't it?"

"At least we get to do it properly this time."

"A proper goodbye."

"Although I think that there are so many more memories this time around."

"Better memories. I don't feel like I am mourning all the what-ifs."

"I get what you mean. I think I thought more about the times we spent together in my office than the moments I spent with Adam."

"And we've done all we can this time around."

"We have. We definitely don't have any unfinished business. We've done it again. We've saved Waterloo Road."

"Still sad."

"We owe a lot to Waterloo Road."

"We do. But Sophie might be glad of it. I can remember how troublesome having twins is."

"She would want us to stop interfering at some point."

"She wouldn't tell us to our face."

"No, she wouldn't."

They smiled at each other. It was weird but Eddie was glad that this time, they were leaving together. That they were retiring and had the rest of their lives to do whatever they wanted to do together. Which probably consisted of looking after their ever-growing family.

"I'll give you a moment. I've got a few goodbyes to say as well." Rachel said.

"I'll meet you by the car."

She nodded at him before leaving him to his thoughts.

Rachel knew that Waterloo Road held a lot of ghosts, too many for her to say goodbye to them all. But there were certain ones. Like she couldn't leave without saying goodbye to Denzil and Tom and one other individual that she knew made a difference even if she was certain that he didn't realise it.

She turned as she was joined by one of their younger members of staff.

"Not the best teacher Waterloo Road ever had." Rachel said.

"Really?"

"I don't know what sort of teacher he was like before he got ill. But no matter how much he complained about this place, he stayed. I think he once said he turned up for a week's cover and ended up just staying. Always had something bad to say about this place and stayed. For me, loyalty goes a long way. I don't think I could ever deny that Grantly Budgen wasn't loyal to Waterloo Road. 30 odd years in one place. I suppose you can do it when you find the place where you belong."

"Do you think you would have liked to stay that long?"

Rachel thought over her question. It was something that she had asked herself a few times after she was reunited with Eddie.

"I think so. I left Waterloo Road the first time for the wrong reasons and the wrong man."

"And now you are leaving again for the right reasons and right man?"

"No, the right reasons with the right man. With Adam, it felt like I had to give him something back. That our marriage couldn't start with us being at war over the school that he didn't know how much it meant to me. With Eddie, now, it just feels right. It's felt that way for the last few years and we both know that we can leave the school, knowing, this time, that we have done everything we can. Plus, our world has changed. Both Sophie and Tommy are grown up and have their own families. Maybe I am looking forward to my grandmother duties more than I should do."

"I think you've earned it. With everything, you have done for the school. Time to relax."

"Not going to relax. Eddie might do more of that but I've got to keep myself busy somehow. Maybe time to start those books that Sophie has been buying me for my birthday for the last few years."

"I am sure you would be welcomed back at any time."

Rachel turned to her and smiled. "I am sure we would." She sighed. "Just a few more goodbyes and then I know I am done."

"Did you not get to do this last time?"

"Not really. Was ambushed by the staff who wanted to give me a leaving present." She paused. "Just understand this. Like the school that was in Rochdale, these corridors hold a lot of ghosts. Whether they are of people who have died or of what could have been, this place holds a lot of memories for a lot of people. The main thing is to keep those memories going and to keep adding to them. Waterloo Road is a special school, for that reason."

Rachel didn't really think that the young woman got what she was talking about but there was a part of her that turned back to the memorial for Grantly and could almost hear him moaning about another new head.

"Do you think he was scared?" Eddie said as Rachel joined him.

"Sorry?"

"Do you think Tom was scared as he fell from up there?" He said with a nod of his head.

"Probably." She said as she looked up. "I've never been in that situation like that before. I seem to quite like fire."

"Helping a bloody student. One that almost killed Josh. Tom bloody Clarkson."

"You wouldn't want to have changed him. That was who he was. Although I heard that he didn't want Kyle back and it wasn't until he was on that roof that he did kind of accept that he might have changed."

"Still. Would have been nice to return here to see his face."

"I have thought many times what he would have thought."

"I think he would have laughed."

"I think he would have been in shock."

"I think that you would have told us what had happened a lot sooner, knowing that you had two people who you could trust looking out for you," Eddie said as he turned to her.

He watched her as she nodded and then turned to him, with a sad smile.

"It doesn't matter now, does it? It happened the way that it did and we got this chance." She said.

"We did."

"And now we can enjoy our retirement."

"I didn't think that you were capable of retiring. I thought that you would be one of those teachers that taught until they died."

"Yeah well… I do look after myself better now than after you left. But maybe now is the time to properly look after myself and we can now go on holiday outside of term time."

"Mrs Lawson, I love your thinking." He said as he placed an arm around her shoulders as they started walking to the car.

"Maybe some winter sun."

"Maybe I can finally get to the Caribbean."

"With me this time."

"Of course."

"Maybe we should double check when the twins are due. Plan our first break before they come."

"Knowing them, they will probably be born as we are boarding the plane."

Rachel laughed. "Maybe some winter sun next year then."

"We could always go after Easter."

"I've never been skiing."

"I have. Don't fancy breaking a leg again."

"Okay, maybe not skiing but going somewhere covered in snow seems like a dream."

"You were talking about winter sun a moment ago."

"Why not? Keep things varied."

"You know, Mrs Lawson, I don't care where we go, just as long as I am with you."

"Me too, Mr Lawson."

It should have been a sad occasion but Eddie knew that they both could leave Waterloo Road behind this time and not have any regrets about doing so. Because they had each other and that was all they needed to make things work. Leaving for the right reasons with the right person made all the difference in the world. It allowed them to say a proper goodbye to Waterloo Road.