I don't know just how it happened, I let down my guard. Swore I'd never fall in love again but I fell hard. Guess I should have seen it coming, caught me by surprise. I wasn't looking where I was going, I fell into your eyes.

"Will you just calm down!" She wasn't used to seeing her boyfriend like this, he was the calm one, he was her good influence, so when he was stressed, so was she.

"I can't calm down, Carla! I have two parties due in half an hour, a restaurant full of people and half of my staff have gone AWOL!"

"Well 'ave you tried asking Leanne?" He glared at her and she put her hands up in defence, "Alright, blimey Tilsley, I'll help if it will stop you having a face like a slapped backside all night!"

Nick scoffed and she was almost hurt, "Oh come off it, Carla! You, a waitress?"

"Eh, I'll have you know I used to be a waitress when I were 15." She laughed at his unbelieving face, 'ad to earn money for all that underage drinking some 'ow, Nicholas."

Nick shook his head and gave the first smile he'd cracked in hours before sighing, "I can't ask you to do that, Carla. You've been working all day."

Carla rolled her eyes, "Are we or are we not partners?"

"Well yeah-"

She nodded, "And do we or do we not help each other out in times of need?"

"Of course but-"

"Well then, shut up and let me 'elp, ya pillock." Her grin was infectious, it made his entire body bleed with love. The way her eyes lit up, as though helping him was all that mattered in the world, she acted like she was doing him a favour but he could see how she needed this, how she needed to be useful.

Sometimes, she broke his heart.

"Okay, okay, only if you're sure!"

She jumped down off the stall with a smirk, "Eh, you can take it off me tab" He slapped her bum and she squealed in response and just like that Nick knew his awful night was going to be a very, very good one.

He couldn't believe it, how she'd worked so hard. For hours, all night, she had served, collected glasses, poured wine and she'd actually smiled. She'd joked with their friends, playfully rolling her eyes at their jibes. She'd been polite to strangers, suggesting dishes and wines and telling them how wonderful the desserts were. Nick was sure he hadn't even heard her complain, despite how high the heels on her boots were and the fact she'd been at her own business since half eight that morning and it was now gone midnight. She was selfless and he'd never even realised. So many people had taken her for granted, no one else would get the chance.

"Urgh, me feet are killing me!"

Nick laughed, topping up their glasses and relishing in the emptiness of the Bistro, "I'm never gonna hear the end of this, am I?" Her lips caressed the wine glass in a way he was sure he would never get bored of and her smirk made him swallow back quickly, "Mm, how will you ever make it up to me?"

His laugh was gentle, loving and words he wasn't even thinking about tumbled from his lips like rain from storm clouds, "Well, I could make you my wife, I suppose."

Carla almost chocked on the wine she had been indulging on, he made sure she drank much less than she would have liked these days but because he cared and he said she was precious and so, she did as he asked, "Excuse me?"

Nick was still across the bar from her but closer than before, his eyes on her, watching, taking her in, "I said, Carla Connor, maybe I could let you make an honest man of me." He sounded braver than he felt.

She was laughing as though she didn't think he was actually serious, "You are joking, right? Nick we don't even live together!"

His face was almost a pout, childish, needy, "Oh we do! Come on, when was the last time you slept in your own bed?"

"It was-" She realised she couldn't remember no matter how hard she wanted to be right.

"Exactly. Oh, come on, Carla. We've both made enough of a mess in the past to know we should take happiness while we can. I mean, you married Peter Barlow for crying out loud, you deserve your lucky break."

"Oh your ego is getting far too big, Mr Tilsley." She tried to glare at him, but she just couldn't and as he looked at her and she didn't speak anymore, he just didn't stop,

"I know it's mad, Carla. But I look around and there's Michelle and Steve, Beth and Kirk, Caz and Kate, even our David and Kylie are fighting through it. Everyone's so happy, and I want a slice of that.

She couldn't take her eyes off him, she couldn't shake off the way his want for her made her feel, "And getting married would make you happy?"

"To you, it would yeah." Simple, he made it seem.

Maybe it was. Maybe it could be.

Agreeing to marry Paul was a way to freedom. A way out of dingy flats on dirty estates and a chance at a good life. It was a way to keep his brother and his smiles and his floppy hair just within reach, so she could still feel her stomach flutter in ways her husband could never quite make happen.

Agreeing to marry Tony had been because she needed to be wanted. And she did love him, in some ways. She loved their chemistry and the way he was everything Liam wasn't and nothing like she wanted him to be.

Agreeing to marry Frank had been a mistake, nothing more, nothing less. She'd never loved him and these days, she didn't even hate him. Hating him took too much of her energy and she needed to use that to keep fighting whatever was thrown at her next.

Asking Peter to marry her had been because she was hopelessly in love with him. She could barely see his flaws though he was riddled with them and he had taught her that blind love did exist. That pure, mad love was real, and it hurts like hell. Their marriage was to paper over cracks, she knew now and she had known then, it just hurt too much to admit.

Marrying Nick, well she couldn't see a reason to say no. Because for the first time, this engagement, this proposal, this question, it felt right. It felt like it was for love and happiness and a future.

"Okay."

"Huh?"

"I said, okay, Nicky T. I will marry ya." His laugh echoed around the empty restaurant and no one she had ever said yes to had looked like this and that's when she realised, none of them had loved her like he did.

Nick made his way around the bar, quickly, desperate to kiss her, to pick her up and spin her round and just love her but her hands on his chest stopped him, "I have one condition though."

He felt serious, now. He felt like she was going to ask him to declare his undying love or make him promise he'd never hurt her, not like the others.

"Anything." He meant it.

She grinned, and he was putty in her hands,

"I'm not paying for my tab."