Michelle sat in the office, watching as Carla urged Sally to go into the kitchen for her tea break and addressing her staff; her voice strong, determined, but with less of the 'Carla edge' that they had become accustomed to. As the factory boss headed out of the factory, she made quick eye contact with Michelle, giving her a small wave and a thin smile.
Michelle watched her friend's retreating figure. Carla's resilience never failing to surprise her; in fact, how she was still considered the 'ice queen' around the cobbles in spite of how easily she forgave those around her still remained a mystery. Even after everything she went through in her lifetime, Carla had an incredibly warm-hearted nature, hidden very well behind an icy exterior and a sarcastic mouth. Michelle's eyes drifted to the kitchen, to where Hayley offered Sally the milk for her tea, and how the staff slowly began to band together; obviously taking Carla's warning seriously.
Michelle couldn't help but narrow her eyes at the short, blonde woman. She shouldn't have been surprised at how Sally had reacted last fall, after all Sally Webster was known for her judgmental ways and her desire to get one over on those who wronged her. But she thought things were different between Sally and Carla following Sally's breast cancer diagnosis. Considering Carla had given Sally a fully paid leave, considering she kept her job open for her return, considering she had visited Sally, offered her support and reassurance - going above and beyond what any other 'boss' would have done -, when the tables had turned and Carla was at her lowest point, Sally instead had put Carla through the ringer. She accused her of lying about the rape and berated her publicly; she almost giddily went along with Frank in trying to destroy Carla's business and everything she had worked so hard for, not to mention allowing Frank to torture her in this very office following the verdict at the trial. And yet, when Frank Foster's mask well and truly slipped off, there was Carla: offering Sally her old job and encouraging her to not let Frank win, when anybody else in her position, Michelle included, would have waved her off to the nearest job centre without so much as a 'have a nice life'. Her friend had once again rose above the pain and the betrayal, putting up her walls and sealing them with a fresh coat of lippy.
She knew how good Carla was at putting up a front. Since the night Carla had been attacked in the bookies flat, Michelle had been unable to think of anything else. Her mind kept flashing back to the day in October when she and Ciaran had arrived back in Weatherfield. How they walked into Underworld, after Sean had given her cause for concern about the factory boss, to see her former sister-in-law sitting on her chair, her legs drawn up to her, a tumbler clutched in her hands, commenting on her and Ciaran's nice tans. They had tried to get it out of her, but in typical Carla fashion, she kept trying to brush it off...
"Carla, tell us what's happened." Ciaran stated, laying a hand on her shoulder and feeling her involuntarily flinch beneath him.
"Where to begin…" Carla breathed out, as Michelle made her way around the desk towards her.
"Try at the beginning." Ciaran pressed, letting out a sigh.
"Come on, take your time." Michelle said quietly as she sat on the desk in front of her.
Carla sighed and closed her eyes trying to control the tears that were threatening to fall, "I'm glad you guys are back," she said, her voice wavering with emotion. Michelle's stomach churned apprehensively, as she exchanged a glance with her fiancée,
"things have been a bit umm…" Carla continued
"Carla," Michelle whispered fearfully, "talk to me."
Ciaran leaned down closer to her, "we can't help you unless we know what's wrong." He whispered gently.
"Oh you can't help me love." Carla chuckled humourlessly, "there's no fixing what Frank's done to me." Ciaran suddenly stiffened as it began to dawn on him: the way she was jumping at his touch, the way she curled herself into a ball, the hunched shoulders…
"Frank?" Michelle asked suspiciously, "Frank Foster?"
"Yup, the very same." Carla responded, "you always did have a good memory for names didn't you-"
"What has he done to you?" Michelle interrupted, fear rising in her heart. At Carla's downtrodden expression, Michelle pressed again, more forcefully "Carla what has he done?"
Michelle's heart sank as her sister-in-law's eyes rose to meet hers; the olive orbs relaying emotions that no words could express. Her sister-in-law was broken…
Michelle's heart sank.
"no…"
Michelle shivered, and she moved from the office door to the desk to pour herself a coffee from the French press Hayley had brought in minutes earlier. As she stood moments later, taking a sip from the steaming mug, her eyes drifted to her framed photo of her, Ryan, Liam, Carla, and Paul that sat on her small desk. She felt tears sting her eyes as they cast over it. It was one of her favourite photos of them all; they all looked blissfully happy, and at that time, they were. Carla looked like she was part of the family, and it was something she so rarely felt; something they rarely made her feel like. As she sat back down, her fingers plucking the frame off her desk, Michelle was brought back again to that night in October, to the back of the cab on the way back to Carla's flat and the moment when the factory boss finally bared her tired and damaged soul to her best friend...
"You're doing it again 'Chelle," Her soft voice cut through the silence in the car as she turned her head to look into her best friend's eyes, allowing a soft smile to play upon her lips, "staring at me."
"I'm sorry Car, I can't help it." Michelle apologized, bringing Carla's hand to her lips and kissing her knuckles gently. "Why didn't you ring me?"
Carla leaned her head against the window, turning to look through the glass as she answered in barely a whisper, "I didn't want to be a burden."
"You would never be a burden to me babe!" Michelle stated, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, "You're my family. Other than my parents Carla, you, Ryan, Maria and little Liam are all I've got left." She whispered.
"Yeah and we all know who's fault that is right Michelle?" Carla whispered, a hint of anger playing upon her words.
"Eh?" Michelle pressed, and slightly recoiled when Carla turned to face her again, her green eyes flashing with unbridled hurt and anger.
"Oh come on 'Chelle, you said it yourself that I was as much to blame for Liam's death as Tony was." Her words dripped with anguish.
Michelle shook her head, wishing she could take back those words from two years prior, "Car-"
"No Michelle, you were right."
"No I wasn't!" Michelle screeched, as she unbuckled her belt and shifted closer to her sister-in-law. "Carla, you couldn't have known what Tony was planning to do; and yes you may have run away when he confessed but I understand why you did it; the man you loved admitted to you that he was a murderer, he even tried to kill you even though he promised you he would never hurt you."
"It don't matter Michelle," Carla choked out, looking out the window again, "if I had just forgiven Paul for cheating on me with them prostitutes, and not insisted on leaving him, he wouldn't have gotten drunk and behind the wheel of a car. He'd still be here with me," she sniffled softly, "in my arms. Tony wouldn't have happened, my affair with Liam would never have happened, and he would be settled down happily with Maria and little Liam. I've got both your brothers' blood on my hands 'Chelle. And they're stains I can never wash off."
"Carla, please love," Michelle pleaded as she put her arms around her shoulders and pulled her close to her, "please don't do this to yourself! None of this is your fault. Come on, where's the strong woman I once knew?"
"What the one 'made of iron?'" Carla snapped snidely, her eyes glaring into Michelle's. "The woman who never needed a 'safety net'?"
Michelle sighed deeply as guilt washed over her, her words to Carla following Paul's burial hitting her like a slap in the face. She wanted to slide back across the seat and give Carla her space, but she knew in her heart that her best friend needed to lash out at her. It was only fair; she'd lashed out at Carla plenty of times, justified in her mind or not. 'But Carla' Michelle thought sadly, 'Carla has never called me out for the horrible things I've done and said to her.'
Carla felt a rush of rage flowing through her as she stared at her sister-in-law. 'How dare she come back now and try to pick up the pieces,' she thought angrily, 'How dare she pretend that she always cared about me when for years she treated me like I were a pebble in her shoe.' She felt tears of frustration sting her eyes, 'she's always leaving me when I need her the most…', she rubbed her lips together apprehensively, 'everyone always leaves me…"
"When my Paul died," Carla started, swallowing the lump forming in her throat, "and we returned from his funeral, Liam did a runner…," she looked down to her hands, biting her lip nervously, "and then you left with Ryan. You all just left me here," she looked back to Michelle, her eyes brimming with tears, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders, "it were like I weren't suffering an' all, or maybe it was that my grief wasn't as important as your lot's was." Her eyes were fixed on her sister-in-law's, staring straight into her soul, her words cutting like a knife, "I had never felt more unloved and unwanted by your family then at that moment, and that is sayin' sommit 'Chelle." The tears cascaded down her face and Michelle felt her own begin to fall as well. Carla inhaled a ragged breath, "You all thought I was so tough, 'made of iron', 'tough-as-old-boots'…but I wasn't, I never was. Paul were my rock, and Liam were my foundation; and you, well you were my cement…you all kept me grounded." She whispered, a small smile forming on her lips, as she reached up to wipe away the tears falling down Michelle's cheek. "But you all left me" Carla swallowed the lump in her throat, "Don't you remember what you said to Steve on the phone...? 'I gotta look after myself and Ryan, I can't be bothered to look after Carla on top of it all. She can she look after herself. I don't need the burden right now.'"
Michelle closed her eyes and sighed, "You heard that?"
Carla nodded, "Yeah." She remembered standing outside Michelle's bedroom, hearing her sister-in-law justify her leaving Weatherfield to her then boyfriend, feeling her heart rip in two at the prospect of being a burden on the family that she loved more than herself.
Michelle felt an overwhelming rush of guilt as she remembered Dean's death; how Paul and Liam were wrecks, unable to help comfort their sister and their nephew due to their own grief and guilt; both she and Carla had not known the crime her brothers had committed at the time. She remembered how it was Carla who never left her and Ryan's sides. She made sure they never had to worry about cooking, or doing the laundry. How even though she and Michelle used to snipe at each other long ago, their conflicts of the past were all but forgotten as Carla would stay with her long after they put Ryan to bed, hold her in her arms, and rock her softly as she cried and fell into a dreamless sleep. How she would awaken still lying in Carla's arms; how she felt so comforted and loved, and reassured that she would be able to pull through this horrible ordeal of losing Dean, all because she had someone there constantly to support her.
She remembered the first time she laughed after they buried him, not thinking it would ever be possible again: her parents finally went back to Ireland and Michelle and Ryan had sat down to dinner with her brothers and sister-in-law. The dinner looked and tasted delicious, and Paul began pestering his wife in the kitchen as she cleaned up to spill the beans on how she suddenly acquired decent cooking skills. Carla finally cracked under the pressure, pulling out the takeaway containers from under the sink and mumbling "well I didn't think anyone at this table needed food poisoning on top of everything else." Ryan snorted first, and Michelle let loose a heartfelt laugh. Paul simply shook his head and smiled, and a tearful Liam reached over and pulled Carla into his embrace, kissing the top of her head and whispering something in her ear that no one else could make out. But the way he looked at her, and the way she looked at him…how Michelle didn't see it then was beyond her now...
Then Paul died, and though the two women were there for each other in the beginning, Michelle selfishly wanted to deal with her own guilt and grief. She justified to herself that Carla was strong enough to ride out the suffering alone; forgetting just how hard it really was to say goodbye to the man you called your partner for years. Michelle would cry in her own room, not realizing that just next door Carla was doing the same; wishing to be comforted the same way she had comforted Michelle years prior; but no one ever came, and she was too proud to ask. Michelle didn't think twice about leaving Carla behind to go to Ireland with Ryan, forgetting that Liam had left as well and Carla would have literally no one around her to support her the way she was supported when Dean passed. She left her to cope on her own…and Michelle began to wonder if she ever really dealt with the loss at all.
"Funny enough, Steve was the only one who kept me going strong while you were away." Carla sniffled as she looked out the window, "I don't think I would be here if it weren't for him…I might have run away and never looked back: abandoned by the people I loved. The people that I just needed desperately to hold me…tell me everything would be alright; to prove that-" her bottom lip began to quiver and her voice cracked, "-that for once in my whole stinkin' life, I was actually part of a family that loved me." She let out a sob and furiously wiped the tears away with the back of her hand.
Michelle shuffled closer to her and pulled her close, "You are love," she cried into her hair, "We all love you to bits, and our Liam and Paul loved you so much! I'm so sorry for leaving you when you needed me. I just keep doing it don't I?" She planted a kiss on the top of the woman's head, "Well not anymore. I promise you I will never leave you again." She grasped either side of Carla's face and pulled it so she was looking into her eyes, "Do you hear me Car? I'm never leaving you again!"
And she had meant it. Everyone and their mother could see how fiercely protective of Carla she was since her return to Weatherfield. And while she almost did leave her to be with Ciaran, with Carla's blessing, she just couldn't bring herself to do it in the end. She remembered turning in the cab to see Carla and Maria standing together on the cobbles. Then as she told the cab driver to stop, her eyes darted immediately to the factory: and as the memories of Paul and Liam came rushing back to her, she remembered her promise. She wouldn't leave her again.
Michelle was startled back to the present as Carla made her way into the office with Sunita, her eyes watery, and her skin pale and clammy.
"Eh? What's happened?" Michelle practically screeched, leaping from her seat and helping Carla into her seat,
"I'm fine, 'Chelle," Carla stated, her voice shaky but firm. Michelle looked to Sunita
"Frank came into the shop. Apparently Dev refused his business, so before he left he got all up in Carla's personal space, and she were a bit sick when he left."
"That man never fails to empty me stomach, I'll give him that," Carla chuckled, as she dug through her purse for her makeup bag.
Michelle sighed at Carla's attempt at deflection, her sad eyes meeting Sunita's again
"We were going to get Peter, but Carla was adamant we didn't. I decided to walk her back myself and decided I would drop off some biscuits for your staff."
"That's kind of you Sunita, thanks." Michelle responded with a smile
"It's no problem," Sunita looked to Carla, "are you sure you don't want to me to nip out to the bookies?"
Carla rose her eyes to the shop owner, "No, please Sunita. I'll tell him later, 'cause if he finds out now..." her voice shook as the thought of Peter pummelling Frank into the ground and being arrested flashed across her mind
Sunita nodded, "I understand. Don't want to give Frank what he wants," With a smile she raised her carrier bag, "well, I'll drop these off to the staff then. Let us know if you need anything, Carla. I mean that."
"Cheers, love," Carla responded with a smile, "and thank Dev for me as well, please."
"Of course," With a nod to Michelle, Sunita headed out of the office.
"You okay?" Michelle asked, moving her chair to sit beside Carla, watching as her friend began touching up her makeup.
"Yeah, just a bit shaken but I'm fine. Best to get used to that, I suppose," she glanced across from her to Frank's desk, "I'm surprised he's not 'ere..."
Michelle scoffed, "Reckon he's trying to find a place that'll serve him around here. Might be a while..."
Carla popped one of the anti-nausea tablets in her mouth, washing it down with some coffee from Michelle's mug, before applying some more gloss to her lips.
"When is your meeting with Channing's?" Carla asked.
"Tomorrow morning," Michelle replied, "I'll probably stop in 'ere first, and then head out to meet them at theirs."
"Right," Carla stated as she stood up, grabbing the files from her desk, "I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to head to the Bistro and wait for Rory there."
Michelle nodded, before a smirk began pulling at her lips, "Eh, how long before Frank realizes we changed his passwords and restricted his access to the accounts?"
Carla's felt a heaviness in her stomach, "well when he gets here and reads the letter from my solicitor, he'll be ragin' that's for sure."
"Well like she said, we're perfectly within our rights to limit his access due to his breach of contract in attempting to push you out. The contract he, himself drew up."
"Yeah, I know," Carla exhaled and closed her eyes, "but he's not exactly a law abiding citizen, is he?" She opened her eyes and grasped Michelle's arm, "you promise me you will not be alone in this office with him when he gets back. Be out on that floor with the staff."
"Oh trust me Carla, I'm not stupid. In fact, I were going to log out of our computers and head out there now. I'd rather have witnesses around to catch him out of anything he might say."
Carla nodded, "Okay let's do that now, before I head out."
"Thanks for meeting me," Rory stated as he took a seat across from Carla an hour later, "I hope it's not too awkward for you, being back in here with me," he gestured around him.
Carla smiled warmly at him, "Not at all Rory, I'm glad you called and wanted to meet. I never really apologized for what happened last time - "
Rory leaned forward in his chair, "Don't," he interrupted her, "you don't apologize for what happened. It were a misunderstanding, but the only person who should apologize is me."
"Rory, you weren't to know," She whispered
"No, and I didn't," Rory said, sitting back, "and I'll admit I were taken aback by your reaction and I were angry and lashed out by pulling my business." His eyes softened and he pressed his lips together, his gaze really taking in the woman sat opposite him, "but when I did hear, it all started to make sense. I didn't reach out because I wasn't sure how you would react. And after the trial and hearing how Frank was back in the business, I didn't really want to be getting involved with him."
Carla nodded, a sinking feeling that she was about to lose Macnees as a client for good due to this mess with Frank, "I understand..."
"But I want to do business with you," Rory said, a smirk playing on his lips as Carla's eyes widened in surprise, "Hey, it's not often I get a reaction like that from you, is it?" he chuckled
Carla's lips tugged into a grin, "Really? You want to do business with Underworld?"
"If the price is right," Rory winked at her, before waving Nick over, "could I get a cappuccino, please, and ummm," he nodded to Carla
"Oh, a flat white, please Nick," She responded with a smile to the bistro owner, as she organized the files in front of her.
"Coming right up," Nick stated with a knowing look to Carla
Carla pulled out a piece of paper and placed it in front of Rory, as they both leaned forward, "'ave a look at this, then..."
Carla watched as Rory signed the contract, a large grin spreading across her face and oblivious to her phone flashing incessantly next to her, not vibrating or making a noise, as she had it silenced it for the meeting. "Well Carla, I'm really looking forward to working with you again," Rory said, "I'm glad we were able to put everything behind us."
"Me too," she said, as she slipped the files into her folder and her bag before reaching across the table and gently grasping his hand, "and really Rory, thank you, for being so understanding, and for looking past my reaction last fall -"
"Well isn't this a cozy little picture," Frank's voice sliced through the murmurs of diners behind her, and she jumped in shock, letting go of Rory's hand and knocking her cup off the table where it shattered into pieces on the Bistro floor, drawing the attention of all the customers, as well as the staff.
"What are you doing here?" Rory asked, his eyes flashing in anger at Frank.
"Well, I am part owner of Underworld, and whatever new business comes our way, I want to ensure everything is up to scratch." He placed both hands on Carla's shoulders and she flinched, but refused to move.
Rory's eyed dropped to Frank's hands and back up to Frank again, "we have it all under control, Frank. I prefer dealing with the organ grinder and not the monkey..."
Frank sneered slightly, but tried to maintain his composure under the eyes of all in the Bistro.
"Everything okay here?" Nick asked as he came to the table, his eyes also falling to Frank's hands on Carla's shoulders as his grip tightened and she winced in discomfort, "I think you best remove your hands," he warned as he pinned him with narrowing eyes
"Excuse me?" Frank asked,
"I said, remove your hands from her," Nick gritted out, "now." He felt Rory rise from his seat and stand next to him
"I'd do as he says, Foster."
Frank smirked, "or what, Rory? you'll pull your business?"
"Oh you would want that wouldn't you?" Rory sneered back, his eyes now lowering to Carla and offering her a hand, "Come on Carla, I'll walk you back to the factory."
As Carla went to stand up, Frank forcefully shoved her back down painfully into her seat, drawing the ire of Nick and Rory, "You're going to stay put, right where you are, darling..." he spat as she tried to keep her composure, but unable to stop the involuntary trembling that overtook her body, "I'm not even remotely finished with you yet..."
