Title: Getting Back To You

Chapter Rating: K

Summary: After the events of 10/11/11, how can Chryed come back from the ashes of their relationship?

Disclaimer: I don't own Christian and Syed, unfortunately. If I did, they would never have split up in the first place.

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. I've had a bit of an emotional rollercoaster in RL, so haven't been able to make myself even think about updating. Feeling a bit more calm about RL now though, so should be back to updating pretty regularly on weekdays.

Jane's been calling me all day. I've been trying to ignore her but something's telling me that it's urgent. Maybe she's heard from mum, or maybe one of the kids isn't well. So in the end, I ring her back.

"Christian, I've been calling you for days!" her voice is shrill, panicked even, so I'm immediately concerned.

"I've been busy," I feign nonchalance though, I've found it easier this way since I left.

"You need to come back, Christian!"

I sigh down the phone at her suggestion. "I'm not coming back, Jane, we've been through this a hundred times! There's nothing there for me anymore."

"You still love Syed though, Christian."

I flinch, as I always do when I hear his name these days. It's just too painful, and I consider hanging up. "Its not enough anymore, Jane. You know it isn't."

"You need to swallow your pride and fight for the man you love, Christian, or you'll lose him forever."

"You think I didn't try, Jane? You think I want to live apart from him like this?"

"Well soon enough you'll have no choice."

I sit up from my place on the sofa, suddenly interested in what she has to say. I always knew that, sooner or later, my heart would betray me. "What are you going on about?"

"He's moving to Karachi, Christian. Syed's moving to Pakistan with Amira and his baby, unless you come back here and fight for him!"

I almost drop the phone in shock...

c~s

Earlier that day...

I've been helping Tam and Afia out at the restaurant recently, and mum, as usual, has been barking orders at all and sundry. Although I have to admit that I've missed working with her. My client list has dropped dramatically since HE left, yet another bone I'll have to pick with him when he comes swanning back in here, and so there just hasn't been the work going in the salon. That, coupled with poor Tanya's illness, pretty much ensured the closure of the salon for the foreseeable. And since my business proposal was turned down, working in the restaurant is basically the only option to keep a roof above my daughter's head.

I sigh inwardly as Amira comes floating into the restaurant, and pretend to listen to her woes about how she can't afford a pair of shoes she really wants. I have more important things to worry about than her latest fashion crisis.

"Syed? Are you even listening to me?" I can hear the impatience thick in her voice and instantly my walls slam up, protecting myself from the outside world. On the outside, I'm fine, completely back to my old self. But on the inside, it's still tearing me apart to be away from the man I love. At night, I mostly hold my daughter in my arms and wish that I was being held the same way.

"Sorry?" I don't even bother to act as though I was listening. I see Amira rolling her eyes at me.

"I said there's a really lovely pair of shoes that I've got my eye on..." the implication of her statement hangs thick in the air.

"Well I've only just got enough to cover this month's rent, Amira. There are more important things than your shoe collection, Amira." I tell it as it is. In a way, I'm relieved that I don't have to treat her like a princess any more. I regret all of the hurt I caused her, but the one thing I don't regret about our marriage is Yasmin. She's the only good thing to come from all of this.

"Syed," I can hear the moan in her voice, and have to stop myself from rolling my eyes at her. "When am I going to be able to afford something for myself? All our money goes on bills and on Yasmin! I haven't had anything new in weeks!"

"It might help if you actually had a job, Amira!" I say incredulously. I don't like to snap at her, but I've reached breaking point. I was in the kitchen and one of OUR songs was playing, and that has pretty much pushed me over the edge. "I'm bringing in just enough to keep us going, I can't afford to buy you luxuries as well!"

"Well maybe if we were in Karachi already we wouldn't have this problem! If we went out there my grandparents would support us, we could provide better for Yasmin out there." She's used this same statement to try to convince me to move to Karachi for the past couple of weeks, since Yusef brought it up at Christmas. I've always been reluctant to move, but I dot know how much longer I'm supposed to wait for him. I haven't had a single piece of news about him since the day Jane told me it was over. How long was I supposed to wait for a man who clearly didn't want to fight for me anymore? Why should I fight for him when he clearly didn't feel the same about me? I kept asking myself these questions, but my heart already knew the answer. I was still so irrevocably in love with him that it was clouding all other avenues other than the one in which I stay in Walford and he comes back and makes it OK again.

But maybe a fresh start away from all the memories was exactly what I needed. Everywhere I went in the flat or in the Square held a memory for me, and it was impossible to get my heart to even consider moving on when there were echoes of him everywhere I looked. I knew I would never be completely happy here without him, and I didn't want Yasmin growing up in a world where her father was miserable all the time.

I knead my fingers into my forehead in an attempt to rid myself of some of the tension. "Yeah, maybe you're right," I sigh, ignoring the part of me that was screaming at me to stop saying this. "Maybe a chane of scenery would be good for me. For all of us.."

Amira positively screams at the idea that I finally may have given in...