It was Friday night and Simon had got to Carla's flat at around seven pm. This was his second visit round Carla's, the first time he had been there was just the week before. Simon was rather excited to see inside her new home and he wasn't disappointed when he got there. It was a lot fancier than the old bookies flat where she used to live with Peter, She'd given him the tour and told him he was more than welcome to come over at anytime. He especially loved the balcony that she'd recently bought furniture for and they'd spent a good fifteen minutes peering down at the cobbles and seeing who they could spot from up high. It was that night they watched The Hunger Games Catching Fire, which was the second movie in the series, and it blew them both away just like the first one had done. The next day Simon was already on Carla's case about watching the third and most recent movie, Carla couldn't wait to watch it too of course and she'd even downloaded a copy of the first book to her iPad in the hope that she could read it whenever she had some spare time on her hands.

Simon knocked on her door, wearing his backpack on one shoulder. Carla opened it and said

"Come in" she was looking through a Chinese takeaway menu as Simon entered her flat.

"I'm thinking of getting some Chinese, do you fancy out?" she asked him, Simon loved Chinese food and he was starving hungry but he didn't want to seem too greedy so he politely said

"I'll just ave what your having" Carla looked at him

"Well I think I'm getting the salt and pepper squid, do you wanna share that?" she said smirking and knowing that Simon would recoil at the thought

"Squid?" He said, Carla chuckled as she went and sat down, Simon took his backpack off and joined her on the sofa

"Yeah it's delicious, you should try some?" she suggested knowing full that Simon would not be keen on this idea at all

"No thanks" He said still disgusted by the idea of eating squid, Carla handed him the menu

"Choose something and make it quick because I'm starving" She said, Simon had a good look at the menu and decided the best thing to do was go for his old favourite

"Can I have some chicken chow mien please" he said, Carla nodded

"Is that all?" she asked, Simon thought for a moment making Carla grin, She was used to him not deciding on anything right away. "Tell you what I'll just order some spring rolls and stuff, then you can just help your self okay?"

"Thanks Carla" Simon said happily. She picked up her phone off the table and began dialling the Chinese takeaway number.

"Y'know I don't know why I don't just keep their number saved in here to be honest" she said waiting for them to answer, Carla was a frequent customer to this particular restaurant. Simon watched her as she made their order but it was his own phone that soon distracted him. It started buzzing in his pocket, he pulled it out, looked at the screen and as picture of his Dad popped up. He glanced at Carla who was still browsing the menu of the takeaway and talking on the phone, before he answered

"Hi Dad" he said down the phone, he looked at Carla to see if she had noticed who he was talking to, She had noticed, the minute he had said the word Dad she felt a shiver run down her spine but she didn't let Simon know that as she continued to order their food, She spoke quietly as she ordered, as if Peter might here her from the other end of Simon's phone. "I'm good Dad, Glad it's Friday though, How about you?" Simon said into his phone as Carla hung up on hers. She kept quiet although there was a tiny part of her that wanted take the phone of Simon and have her own little conversation with Peter. "I'm just about to watch a movie" Simon said pointing down to his backpack that was on the floor, Carla reached over to it and gave it to Simon, He opened it and took out the DVD they were going to watch.

"The Hunger Games" Simon said, as Peter had obviously asked him which movie, Carla took the DVD off of Simon and went to put it into her telly. Simon wondered if he should tell his Dad he was at Carla's but he thought against it in the end. He still hadn't told his Dad about how much time he'd been spending with Carla recently, he wasn't exactly sure why? Maybe it was because his Dad always seemed so cheerful whilst they were skyping, they would talk about all sorts and it was always a really pleasant experience until that moment just before they would hang up and Peter would always ask Simon the same question.

"You seen Carla recently?" He asked it right there and then practically on cue. Simon could tell his Dad missed her like crazy and although she'd never admit it he knew that she missed him too. He looked over at her

"Yeah I saw her earlier" he said as Carla came and sat back on the sofa and watched Simon he couldn't help but grin at her as his Dad asked him how she was. "She's good" He said, Carla has spotted his grin and wondered what was so funny.

"What?" Carla mouthed, as Simon still looked amused he just shook his head and continued to talk to his Dad.

"Okay, I'll speak to you later then Dad" Simon said before saying bye and then hanging up. Carla pointed the remote at the television and asked

"What was so funny then?"

"Just something me Dad said that's all" Simon said putting his phone down on her coffee table.

"How is he?" Carla asked no longer hesitating when she asked that question because she knew Simon wouldn't judge her taking an interest

"Me Dad? He's good" Simon said he hesitated for a minute and then decided to let her in on a little secret "He asked about you, that's what I was smiling about" he said watching her, She looked back at him trying to act casual about Peter asking after her but these days it seemed Simon could read her like a book and it was obvious to him that she was intrigued. "He always mentions you to be honest" he said

"Does he now?" She asked slightly thrilled that it wasn't just her who was showing an interest "What does he say exactly?"

"He always asks if I've seen you and asks how you're doing" Simon said, he saw a little smile creep up onto Carla's face

"And what do you tell him?" she asked, Simon grinned

"Wouldn't you like to know" he teased, Carla laughed and decided it was probably better not to know what Simon had been telling Peter about her after all, She'd been thinking about Peter a lot recently and she had been trying to tell herself it was because Simon's birthday was coming up but deep down she knew it was because she was missing him... A lot.

"Does he tell you not to tell me that he's asked about me?" Carla asked because that's what she had been doing all this time, Simon shook his head

"Nope" he said

"And does he know that we've been hanging out?"

"Nope" Simon said again, Carla paused

"Well next time you speak to him you can tell him I asked about him ... If you want" She said making it out like she was doing Simon a favour. He smiled at her and nodded

"Okay, He's gonna call me later, he had to go because he was at the swimming pool" Simon said

"The swimming pool?" Carla raised an eyebrow and Simon nodded at her

"Yeah, It was like one day he just decided he was gonna be more healthy and he's actually stuck to it ever since." Simon said, Carla half frowned and half laughed at him

"Seriously?"

"Yeah he goes swimming a lot and there's a gym at the pool he goes to as well. " Simon said. Carla was a little surprised as the only physical activities Peter used to enjoy were the ones in the bedroom and playing football with Simon. He did a spot of jogging every so often whilst they were over in L.A but nothing too heavy.

"Wow. Well I'm glad he's keeping fit and healthy" She said intrigued to see what months of clean living and exercise would look like on Peter Barlow. Simon smirked at her as she sat silently like she always did whenever they spoke about his Dad, it was like she'd go off into her own little daydream just for a moment. He gave her a little nudge

"Carla… Shall we put the movie on then?"

They were about fifteen minutes into the film when Carla's buzzer went off and their Chinese food had been delivered. Carla paused the movie as she went to pay for it.

"I can't believe you eat squid" Simon said joining Carla in the kitchen as she pulled the foil takeaway boxes out of the bag.

"I know it sounds disgusting Si but it's so tasty" she said pulling the lid off of her food. Simon leant over to take a look at her food, He got ready to turn his nose up at it but it actually looked quite tempting.

"It looks like proper food" He said looking at the little pieces of battered squid, Carla laughed at him

"Well what did you think it would look like? Were you imagining a little squid squashed into this box?" Simon nodded and laughed "Try some, you know you want to" Carla teased putting a small amount onto the plate she'd set for him. He thought for a moment

"What does it taste like?" He asked not believing he was even considering trying it, Carla shrugged

"I don't know, it tastes like squid" she laughed "Some people might find the batter a little spicy and by some people I mean your Dad but It's not too bad" She said remembering Peter's distaste for anything too spicy. Simon picked up a fork and poked it into a piece of the squid, he took a deep breath

"Here goes" he said and he put the piece of squid into his mouth quickly, Carla watched him as he chewed the food with his eyes closed. He swallowed it down and opened his eyes

"Well..." Carla said, he shrugged

"I dunno if I like it or not" he said although he had to admit it wasn't entirely unpleasant

"I gotta say you handled that much better then your Dad, he downed about four glasses of water after just one taste" Carla said, Simon chuckled as she gave him his chow mien

"I'm surprised he even tried it" Simon said emptying the container of steaming noodles onto his plate

"Oh I can be very persuasive when I want to be, I got you trying it didn't I?" Carla said getting out some glasses from her cupboard for their drinks.

They made their way back to her sofa with their plates piled high and Simon pressed play so they could continue watching the film. It ended rather abruptly and Carla sighed heavily as she switched it off.

"So that's that until November then" she said, Simon frowned

"I can't wait that long" he moaned

"You're reading the books aren't you? We'll find out what happens next if we read them before the next movie" Carla said collecting their plates and cutlery. As she took it all into the kitchen she said

"I'll tell you what though, the name Peeta has been going right through me for the past three movies" Simon hadn't even made the connection between his Dad's name and the name of one of the main characters. "You'd think I'd ave got used to it after the first one though" Carla said coming back to the sofa after loading up her dishwasher. Simon smiled at her fondly

"I'm glad we've watched this together" he said, Carla smiled back at him

"Me too, eh imagine all that trouble she's caused just because she wanted to save her little sister" She said, Simon sighed

"I wish I had a little sister, You know someone to look after and protect like that" he said, Carla stopped smiling and suddenly memories of her miscarriage suddenly began to surface. Her eyes began to well up so she swallowed hard to try and stop herself from bursting into tears right in front of Simon.

"Well maybe you will ave one, one day" She said hoarsely Simon shook his head at her

"No" he said sadly Carla waited because it looked like he was going to continue, He swallowed

"Did you know me Mum lost a baby?" he asked sorrowfully, Carla nodded at him because she knew all too well that her and Leanne had more in common that just being one of Peter's ex wives.

"Yeah I knew" Carla said softly

"She told me a few weeks ago. She said she doesn't think she can have babies anymore" Simon said, He had asked Leanne casually if she might have a baby one day and She had decided that maybe it was the time to tell Simon about her miscarriage. Carla didn't know what to say, she just watched Simon as he continued to talk, trying her absolute hardest not to breakdown in front of him.

"She doesn't think Kal would want anymore children anyway and me Dad's so far away even if he did have another baby I'd never see it" Simon continued, He sounded like he had thought about this quite a lot, Carla felt a tear dribble down her cheek, she tried to wipe it away quickly but Simon spotted it

"What's wrong?" He asked concerned

"I'm sorry Si" she said as another tear fell down her face, now the first few had made it out Carla knew she wouldn't be able to hold the rest in.

"Carla" Simon said worried that he had upset her again like the time when he had mentioned her Mum. He watched her as She sniffed

"I wish I could have given you your little sister" she wiped her cheek as more tears escaped from her eyelids. "I" she tried to speak but she stopped because it was too hard to fight the tears and talk at the same time.

Simon knew something was wrong, at first he wondered what it was that had made Carla so upset. One minute she was fine, talking with him about wanting a sister and the next she was crying. He remembered how he'd sat with his Mum and how she had cried when she told him. He took a look at Carla as she sat there before him also crying. He thought for a moment as he began putting everything together and then he gulped before asking

"Did you lose a baby Carla?" he knew that Carla was in hospital for a bit last year, just before his Dad was arrested but no one had actually told him why. He'd guessed right and It all made sense to him now. Carla nodded at him. She didn't want to have this conversation with him, She still felt like he was too young for all this heartache. She then felt an arm go around her neck and another go around her waist as Simon hugged her tight

"I'm sorry" he said wishing he'd never said anything about having a sibling. He sniffed and Carla pulled away from him so she could get a proper look at him

"Eh don't get upset" she said as he wiped a tear from his cheek "You didn't know did ya?" she said tearfully, Simon shook his head

"No. I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you upset again"

"Its not your fault Si, I thought someone would have told you" Carla said, Simon frowned

"No one ever tells me anything" he said hating how much stuff he'd found out recently "Its like no one trusts me" he said, Carla shook her head at him

"That's not true at all Simon"

"So how come no one told me about My Mum loosing her baby?" He asked

"You just were a kid back then, You were too young to understand it all"

"No one told me about you either and it were only last year" he said, Carla rubbed him on the shoulder softly

"That's because you should've been out there enjoying what's left of your childhood not worrying about horrible things like that" She said, Simon sighed

"Well I was worried, I were worried about you lots and no one told me what was wrong" he said as another tear fell down his cheek "Everything makes a bit more sense now" he said sighing. Carla nodded at him tearfully

"I'm sorry Simon" She said rubbing his arm again "I'm sorry that no one told you, You know you've grown up so much over the past year so maybe it was for the best that you didn't know these things until now." he just sat there for a moment before saying

"Maybe" he thought for a moment thinking about how much more grown up he felt then he did last year. He wondered how he would have handled hearing that kind of news back then and he admitted to himself it was probably better that he didn't know that Carla was pregnant.

"Tell you what though, you would have been a fantastic big brother" She said softly, Simon nodded in agreement because he had always thought he would have been. There was something else he wanted to know, but he wasn't sure about asking it. He took a deep breath and swallowed

"Did you know"

"Know what?"

"If it was a boy or a girl" He asked Carla, She nodded and wiped a tear from her eye

"A little girl" She practically whispered it, She looked at Simon and bit her lip "Do you wanna see her?" She asked him. Simon nodded at her softly, she had wondered that it might upset him but seeing as he was already upset she thought why not. So she got up and went over to a little grey box that she had on a shelf by her television. She opened it and took something out. She brought it over to Simon and handed it to him. She had given him the photo of her first scan. He held it gingerly not wanting to touch the actual photo and ruin it. He looked at it trying to imagine how sad it must have been for Carla and His Dad to lose something so small and so precious

"I know you can't actually see much but it's all I've got" Carla sniffed more as the tears started streaming down her face as she watched Simon. He couldn't quite make out the shape of a baby, but he knew what he was looking at was actually a part of him and a part of Carla. He wished so much that she had been born safe and sound so he could look after her and be a great big brother. As Carla wiped her face he realised that she was even stronger that he had thought. She had been through so much and he was sure there was stuff he didn't know yet about Carla, and yet she was still standing. There was so many times in his life that he just wanted her to go away but he had recently realised he definitely needed someone like her in his life.

"Carla" Simon began, his eyes were still teary but he fought back the tears

"Yes"

"Promise me we'll still hang out together once we've finished The Hunger Games" he said,

"Of course we will Si, I bet there's plenty of books turned into movie franchises we can watch together" Carla said nodding

"And promise me that we'll tell each other stuff" he said, She looked at him almost smiling

"Stuff?" she said

"Just stuff, stuff that's happening to us and How we're feeling" Simon said still holding the scan picture, Carla nodded at him but he felt unsure that she knew what he meant

"You can trust me. I won't tell anyone your secrets, I promise... because you and me ... We're family" He said, Carla felt the tears well up once more as he said the word family. She pulled him in close for another hug and he clung onto her tight.

"I promise" she said feeling her voice crack, She was so overwhelmed that the boy who used to say he hated her all the time was now holding her so tightly that it felt like he'd never let go. Eventually he did though and when they caught eye contact he smiled at her sheepishly

"You're a right little sweetheart aren't ya" Carla said smiling at him, he shrugged still smiling

"Don't tell anyone, I've got my rep to watch" Simon joked wiping his nose. Carla looked at the clock on her wall as it struck half past nine.

"I reckon we should get you home eh" She said, Simon nodded and picked up his backpack off of her floor.

"Yeah me Mum's always on at me to have an early night before football" he said. Carla picked up her jacket and her bag so she could walk with him.

"So what you doing over the weekend then?" Carla asked as the walked down the cobbles

"I'm not sure yet what about you?" Simon shrugged

"Michelle's managed to talk me into helping out at one of her parties tomorrow night" Carla said, She was not looking forward to it at all but as it was her who had talked Michelle into doing this particular party in the first place, she felt like she had to help her out.

"What kind of party is it?" Simon asked knowing that Michelle had planned all sorts of parties recently and some of them had really cool themes.

"A nineties party"

"A what party?" Simon asked confused

"You know like the decade." Carla explained

"Oh I get it... Wow that really were ages ago" Simon laughed, Carla laughed with him although it really didn't seem that long ago to her.

"Yeah well the girl who's birthday it is was born in that decade so that's the theme" Carla said

"It's my birthday next week, Simon said grinning, Carla nodded at him

"How could I forget eh" She said nudging him as they crossed the road "When's your Dad coming down?"

"He's coming on the Sunday he said" They both stopped outside his Mum's flat

"Me Mum said we might be going out for it next Saturday... Would you come?" Simon asked hopefully,

"Well that depends" Carla said, She raised her eyebrows at Simon

"On what?"

"Well I know what you're like Simon Barlow and I distinctly remember you saying that you wanted to go camping for your birthday, Now I love you but there is no way you're getting me in the middle of some field in a tent" Carla said Simon smirked at her. The thought of Carla out camping made his smirk even wider

"No it's nothing like that, Maybe just Cinema or something to eat" he said, Carla pondered for a moment just to tease Simon but eventually she said

"Well in that case, I'll be there" she held up her fist in front of Simon, he grinned and bumped his fist against hers, this little gesture was becoming a little thing they always did.

"I'll text you and let you know what we're doing okay?" Simon said pulling his keys out of his pocket Carla nodded at him

"Make sure you do" She said as Simon opened the door to his flat.

"Bye Carla" he smiled and Carla said goodbye to him too and made her way back to her place.

Thanks to all the reviewers so far and don't worry because a certain someone will be making an appearance in the next chapter :)