I'm not sure if any of you are reading this but if you are, I love you.

Please leave a comment/review and let me know what you think. I have a few more fic ideas regarding NARLA and if you guys are interested I'll definitely write them.


Pick up your phone
I need an answer
Come home and call off disaster
'Cause I fear tonight our Cotton Land might fall
Oh I'm cracking like the plaster on the wall

/

"Carla…babe?"

"I'm so sorry…" She mumbled down the phone, her left hand grabbing her dark hair at the root as she tried to stop the tears from falling down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry…"

"Babe, You have nothing to…where are you?" Nick's tone changed mid sentence as he heard the numbness in her voice.

"I love you so much" Carla whispered as she let go of her hair having brushed it over her shoulder and pressed her fingers to her lips.

"Carla? Tell me where you are," He quickly mouthed to Leanne to watch the Bistro "Babe…Are you okay? Just tell me where you are"

"The casino" She muttered with shame, the alcohol now fully catching up with her, her words began to slur as the reality of what she almost did to Nick hit her like a freight train "I'm so sorry, Nick, I'm so so sorry"

"Babe, it's okay, you're okay. Just stay there" He yanked the keys from his pocket and jumped into the driver's seat of his car. Reality hit him as soon as he started the car; she was at the casino. The last time she had fled to the casino it had been the start of her substantial downfall, she lost everything and then some before he had admitted his feelings for her. The thought of her being so unhappy as to drag herself to that place again made his soul ache.

The only thing in life he wanted was for Carla Connor, the woman who blew into his world like a hurricane, to have the kind of life, the kind of marriage she deserved. A life full of love and happiness, a marriage that stood the test of time, one that unlike her pervious trips down the aisle didn't end in heartache, rage and misery.

/

Carla furiously wiped the tears that fell from her eyes as she hung up the phone. She wrapped her arms around her legs as she sat on the floor of the bathroom stall, her head resting on her knees as she pleaded with herself to make the room stop spinning. It had been over an hour since she'd shoved Robert away and fled the scene, taking the lift back to the ground floor before stumbling her way into the bathrooms and vomiting half of the alcohol she'd consumed into the porcelain bowl.

She'd tried to call her best friend, she knew Michelle would've rescued her and Nick would've been none the wiser to the fiasco she'd gotten herself into, if only Michelle would've answered the phone…

Carla had stared at her fiancés contact details on her phone until her vision blurred before hitting the call button and profusely mumbling her apologies. Nick was coming to save her, again. She had become so accustomed to doing everything for herself, there were times she'd been so wasted she woke the next morning with no recollection of how she got home, what she did, who she spoke to.

Everything changed when she and Nick got together, for the first time she genuinely felt happy in her relationship and that in itself caused her so much anxiety that she felt the overwhelming need to ruin it but Nick never let her. He was forever convincing her that no matter what happened, he would love her for the rest of their lives.

The phone buzzed in her hands, he was waiting outside for her. Nick Tilsley, her knight in shining armour had come to the rescue, come to rescue his drunken damsel in distress.

Carla sat on the floor, reading the text over and over until she was once again in floods of tears, there was no way she was going outside, walking into his arms and letting him comfort her. She didn't deserve comfort; she didn't deserve his love, certainly not after what she almost did just over an hour ago.

/

Nick jumped out of his car after staring at his phone for the last five minutes waiting for her reply or at least some indication that she knew he was waiting. He made his way into the casino, stood at the doors to the room that held more decks of cards that a joke shop and tried to spot his fiancée, after having had a look around and failing to see her he made his way over to a young girl, she couldn't have been older than twenty-five.

"Excuse me," The redhead woman turned and smiled "You couldn't nip into the toilets and see if my fiancée's in there could you? I think she's had a bit too much to drink" He tried to laugh it off as if it was a one off occurrence, this young woman had no idea who he was or that his soon-to-be wife had requested this establishment many a time in the last year.

After a short conversation, he watched the redhead push open the door and disappear inside, coming out moments later with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, she's in here." The woman nodded towards the cubicles that he couldn't see "I think she'd rather see you than me though" She laughed

Nick quickly thanked the woman before taking her place at the door "Carla, babe it's me"

"Hey" He heard her broken voice from one of the cubicles and sighed.

"You gonna come out?"

"Yeah" He smiled and shook his head lightly as she stayed exactly where she was, typical.

"Babe, I'm not technically allowed in here, you know?" He joked trying to get even a tiny chuckle from her but it failed. "Come on, babe. Let's go home"

Carla wiped her eyes and managed to clamber up from the floor, bashing her elbow on the way. "I don't deserve you," She mouthed off before dusting off her dark jeans.

"We've had this conversation before" Nick smiled. He stepped on the spot and pushed his hands into his pockets as he heard the door unlatch and a dishevelled looking Carla stepped out into the open ground.

"I'm so sorry" She whispered as tears sprung to her eyes again, she watched him smile back at her, his face so full of love.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, I'm the one who should be apologising" She shook her head as he spoke "I shouldn't have pushed you to talk earlier, I know you need your space to deal with things and I should just let you, I just want to make sure you're okay and I don't know that if you don't tell me"

Nick held is hand towards her "Come here" Carla immediately walked towards her fiancée, throwing herself into his arms, she felt one of his arms snake around her waist and hold on tight as the other brushed over her shoulder, his fingers brushing her hair back from her face.

"I love you," He mumbled, his lips pressed against her forehead. "More than anything" He slowly let go of her body before grabbing her hand and leading her from the building.

/

"Nick, I need to tell you something" Carla pulled her hand back from his as they approached the car. She stood still and stared ahead, her gaze fixing to his as he moved to stand in front of her.

"Let's get you home first, it's been a rough few days, you need to…"

"No." She raised her hands slightly before running them through her hair "I need to say this now, before we go home. I don't want to fight at home"

"Babe, we're not going to fight…" He smiled and reached for her hands "Listen whatever it is…"

"I almost slept with Robert"

Carla blurted her admission out, cutting of his sentence before he could finish. Standing with him being so nice and calm and loving towards her made her heart ache as the weight of what she had almost done had its villainous grip around her conscience.

"You…what?" Nick stepped back, his arms crossed over his chest as he leant back against the car. "You…Carla I don't…"

"I didn't." She cut him off again, stepping forward to touch his arm, before quickly stepping back; she had no right to be near him right now. "I didn't do it. "

"How close?"

"What?" Carla looked at him with confusion and hurt, he was staring at the ground, she knew this was crushing him and the thought brought more tears to her eyes.

"Nick…"

"How close did you come to sleeping with him?" He question, the look he gave her broke her heart.

"I'm so sorry"

"Carla, I cant…why? Why would you…?" Nick was angry now, she could tell. She also knew he was trying not to get worked up in front of her, he always tried to keep his bad moods away from her.

"I didn't mean to" She pleaded, "I just wanted…"

"Wanted what?"

"I…" Carla couldn't think of the words, she had literally no reasons for almost ruining the best relationship of her life, she had no reason whatsoever for almost breaking the heart of the one man who loved her more than anything in the world.

"You what? You what, Carla?!" Nick began pacing and Carla cried, the tears she tried to keep at bay now made their way down her face "How could you…Do you have feelings for him?"

Carla's eyes widened in shock "No! No, Nick, please, it's not like that, I love you"

"Then why?"

"I just wanted to forget" She mouthed, her voice almost silent as the tears rolled down her cheeks. "I wanted to forget everything." She whispered as she stepped closer to him.

"I wanted to forget that Johnny is actually my dad, the fact that my entire life could've been different. If he knew and said something back then…he could've saved me from the childhood that I know deep down I'm still running from." She wiped her eyes "I promise you this has nothing to do with you, I love you. I've never loved anyone like I love you, Nick. I know you were just trying to help earlier, I know you just wanted me to let you in and I'm trying, I really am. There's just sometimes I…" Her voice cracked as she tried to explain her feelings, finding it hard to comprehend the situation they were now facing, was this the end of their relationship?

"I love you so much." Carla stepped closer, grateful that Nick hadn't pulled away; he had in fact squeezed her hands that little bit tighter. "I don't want you to have to constantly be dealing with me like I'm some catastrophe at the restaurant, I don't want to constantly be a burden to have to bare. You deserve so much better than me being angry about things I cant change, being a frustrated drunk who cant speak out about her feelings, who's only way of coping is to hit the self-destruct button and ruin the greatest thing she's ever had." Her hand reaches up and cups his cheek. "I came here today to forget, gambling helps me forget, you know that."

Nick nodded lightly and turned his face into her palm, pressing a kiss to her skin. "I know that, I just…"

"I thought you'd sent him. Like you asked Michelle to keep an eye on me?" She gave him a questioning glance and sighed as he turned his gaze to their linked fingers against her stomach. "Nick, I was drunk, as usual" She rolled her eyes at her own admission "I was drunk and he won a lot of money, he bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate and asked if I wanted to 'take this upstairs'" She felt better for admitting the truth.

"Did you?" Nick's voice broke. Carla's eyes filled once again as she heard the crack in his voice. "Did you want to take it upstairs?"

"No." She told the truth "No, I didn't want to. But I couldn't stop myself."

Nick sighed and tried to pull away "No, listen to me." Carla held on tight to his hand, her other fell from his face to the lapel of his blazer and grabbed the material. "I didn't want to, of course I didn't, Nick. I wanted to be at home with you, I wanted to not be drunk at the casino pissing money down the drain, I wanted to be anywhere other than in my own head and that's what he was offering, he was giving me that option; the option to forget for a while. To forget that Johnny is my dad, to forget that I missed your birthday because I'm such a self-obsessed cow, to forget that one day you're gonna realise that I'm not as special as you make me out to be and you're gonna leave me..."

"Carla…"

"I got in the lift and went up to the fifth floor with him, he tried to kiss me in the lift and I turned away. He stepped off the lift tried to get me to go with him and I freaked, I pushed him away and pushed all the buttons hoping the door would shut before he could convince me to change my mind."

"Then what?" Nick asked.

"I went to the toilets, threw up, cried for about an hour about how I've ruined the best thing I've ever had and then called you"

/

"Why don't I run you a bath and I'll bring you a coffee in?" Nick shrugged off his blazer, throwing it on the back of the couch before making his way over to the coffee machine.

"Nick…"

He turned and watched as Carla stood by the door, her handbag clutched in both her hands, gazing at him like a scared child.

"Carla, its fine" He stepped towards her and took her bag from her, placing it on the kitchen counter before helping her out of her leather jacket.

"No, its not, we need to talk about this." She grabbed his arm as she insisted they discuss what had just happened, talk about what she had just told him back in the car park of the casino.

"Listen to me" He started, his hands holding her by the shoulders at arms length. "I'm angry…"He started, Carla's eyes widened with worry "Listen, I'm angry but not at you. I'm angry at the situation…" He said, trying to calm her fear.

"I'm pissed that Johnny kept the fact that he is your father from you for forty years, I'm angry that he thinks that you should keep your mouth shut about it just because he did. I'm angry with Robert for thinking that he could cop off with you and that he tried to take advantage of you. You were drunk, you were in a vulnerable place emotionally and he should never have even asked you. I'm pissed that all of this happened and I wasn't there to help you. I should never have pushed you to talk when you clearly didn't want to, I never should have added to the pressure you are already under with everything else going on. For that I apologise."

"You are far too good for the world" Carla smiled "You should definitely not be apologising; you were concerned, as any man would be about his woman" She gave him a teary smiled and held his fingers in hers. "I should never have gone there today, I should never have done what I did and I promise you that this will never ever happen again, I never want to hurt you. I know I'm a train wreck and everything I touch breaks in one way or another but I'm determined not to break you." She pulled him close and pressed a hard kiss to his mouth before holding his face in her hands.

"I'm sorry for everything. This was not how I wanted to start the New Year with you."

"Let's just forget today ever happened and start again tomorrow?"

"Can we?" Carla tilted her head and smiled "I love you, Nick Tilsley, I always will" She kissed him worth more passion than she ever thought possible; pulling back she rested her forehead against his.

"I love you more, Carla Connor. Always."

/


Thanks for reading, please feel free to review/comment.

Lyrics: End of Time - The Band Perry

Twitter: ahoycinderella