Carla's Point Of View:

"Carla, are you okay? Did he hurt you?" His voice was soft and gentle, just as it was when he'd been there before. When he'd been there the last time I was damaged, mentally and physically damaged by a man over powering me.

"I um," I said, my voice was quiet and cracked; my hands were still shaking and my chest felt tight.

"Do you want me to get Nick?" He asked, he didn't come close to me because he knew that would freak me out. He remembered how to deal with me, how to deal with this. But then Peter always did remember everything about me, everything I needed, everything that made me feel safe.

"No, um could you um just get my bag and my coat?" I asked, I didn't want Nick to know because he'd be so logical about it, he'd say we had to tell the police but that was the last thing I wanted. I couldn't go through that again, being called a liar, being humiliated, I just couldn't do it.

"Yeah of course," Peter smiled and he walked so carefully past me, I remained standing by the door despite the fact the winter weather was causing goose bumps to appear on my bear arms; I stayed there because it was safe and I could see everything, I could see everyone and no one would sneak in. No one would get me.

"Here," Peter said handing me my belongings and then taking a step back, "What are you going to do?"

"Go home," I sighed, "Have a drink, sleep. Pretend it never happened."

"Did he yanno?" Peter said awkwardly but I knew what I meant. I shook my head.

"No, nearly but no," I said as I place my coat around my shoulders and took the keys out my bag.

"Are you going to be okay? Are you sure you don't want me to get Nick?" Peter asked, there was concern laced in his voice.

"I really don't want Nick to know about this," I warned, I sounded a little harsher than I'd intended to, "But um you could walk me home," I suggested still feeling vulnerable and on edge.

"Yeah, yeah of course I will."

Peter's Point Of View:

I walked into 'The Bistro' it was fairly quiet but it wasn't empty. I hadn't been in here since, well since before I cared to remember. So much had happened since then, so much bad but so much good.

"Is Si alright?" Leanne asked as she spotted me in the door way.

"Um yeah he's with Dad, Is Nick about?" I asked awkwardly knowing it was an unusual question for me to ask.

"Yeah, he's in the office. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just need to ask him something. Is it okay if I go through?"

"Hang on, I'll get him to come out," Leanne said, she walked to the office door and put her head around it. I could hear her conversing with Nick before he appeared in the doorway and looked at me with a confused expression.

"What do you want?" He asked, his dislike for me clear. I didn't blame him, I didn't blame anyone for disliking me after the way I'd behaved in the past.

"Could we have a chat?" I asked, trying not to show that I felt slightly uncomfortable.

"Yeah, talk away," Nick said as he leant against the office door frame.

"It's um kind of private," I told him, "It's about Carla, something's happened." As soon as I said those words Nick stood up straight, his hands left his pockets and his face was suddenly full of concern.

"Uh, come in," Nick said after a few moments of thought.

"What's happened, is Carla okay?" Was the first thing he asked me, it made me happy in a way, happy that Carla had found someone like Nick. Someone who loved her more than they loved themselves.

"She well, she didn't want me to tell you," I sighed knowing Carla wouldn't be pleased with my decisions, she'd only see the bad side to it, she'd never see that I was doing it out of care.

"She went for a meeting, nothing bad could've happened," Nick said I think more to himself than me.

"Well, I was on a walk and I could hear shouting from the factory and the door was slightly open so I went up to it," I began and Nick already looked unsettled, as if he already knew what I was going to say. "I went up to the door and Carla was kind of half out the door and he was there, the bloke from the other night. Callum is it?"

Nick nodded and took an intake of breath, "Yeah, yeah he's been pestering Carla for weeks, well months probably."

"He left pretty quickly when he saw me," I told Nick, "Carla was shaken up, I asked if she wanted you and she said no. I asked if he'd yanno, um touched her, um taken advantage," luckily Nick nodded knowing what I was trying to say.

"Please tell me he didn't," Nick pleaded, his voice sounded as if it was full of pain, full of worry.

"No he didn't, Carla said he almost did but he didn't," Nick took a deep sigh of relief as the words left my mouth, "I asked her what she wanted to do and she said she wanted to go home. She asked me to walk her back and I did then I came straight here."

"Is she at the flat now?" Nick asked as he took his coat from the back of the sofa that was in the office.

"Um yeah, that's where I took her back to," I said with a nod, "Look Nick, she didn't want you to know-"

"Yeah she'll shout and cry and push and put up a front," Nick smiled at me weakly and I mirrored it, "Thank you for telling me Peter and thank you for helping her."

Carla's Point Of View:

My hand was still shaking as it grasped the half empty wine glass that sat on the worktop. My gaze fell to the empty bottle, the bottle that had helped me try and forget. But I couldn't forget. Now a days it took more and more wine to get me in the state of denial, more of the liquid that slowly poisoned me to help me forget who I was and what had happened.

My body slouched off the kitchen stool and I walked over to the fire, the fire that was atheistically pleasing to me. My glass was secure in my hand as I looked at the flames intensely, I looked at the shapes and the colours, the reds and the oranges, I tried to notice every single detail of the fire to forget.

The sound of the door opening made me jump, my breathing quickened slightly as the door then shut again.

"Hey," It was Nick, his voice was calm and gentle.

"You want one?" I said gesturing to the glass in my hand. He shook his head then his eyes focused on the empty bottle.

"I think you've had enough," He sighed walking over to me and removing the glass from my hand, normally I'd fight him for it but I had no energy.

"Good day?" I asked as a silence fell over us, Nick stood not far from me and his eyes were full of concern.

"Yeah, yeah it was good. How was your meeting?"

"Um yeah, fine," I said crossing my arms across my body as a protection, a guard.

"Did you get the order?" Nick asked taking a step closer to me.

"I um, well I'll find out once they've had a think," I lied, I knew Nick knew I was lying to but I hoped he'd just ignore it.

"Carla," He sighed, "What happened?"

"The meeting wasn't great but they said they'd think about it," I told him, my eyes were fixed to the ground as I spoke knowing if I looked at Nick I'd break down. I'd break down because he cared so much and he kept me safe, no matter what happened Nick was there.

"You didn't have a meeting today," Nick said, I panicked slightly – how did he know?

"I, I um-"

"Carla, Peter's told me," Nick said as he lifted my chin with his finger, just as Callum had done hours before. I flinched and stepped back.

"Don't touch me," I whispered, "Please."

"Sorry," He sighed, "Please, talk to me Carla. What happened?"

"Look it's done with now, it's fine," I insisted walking back over to the kitchen, I opened the cupboard to find another bottle of wine, I don't think it needed to even be wine; I just wanted something to help me to forget.

"Carla come here," Nick said, his voice full of concern, as I got increasingly wound up because I couldn't reach the bottle, the only bottle left was a nice one we'd put at the back for special occasions. It was ironic how this occasion was anything but special.

"I don't want to talk about it!" I snapped, I didn't want to push Nick away, I needed Nick but I couldn't help it. How else was I supposed to cope?

"We don't have to talk, we can just sit and watch some TV," Nick said with a small smile.

"I thought it was going to happen again," I said quietly about half way through the film. Nick reached for the remote and turned it down slightly.

"Why did you meet him?" Nick asked and I couldn't answer in a way that seemed logical, in a way that was good enough.

"I, I just was curious," I started to play with the bracelets on my wrist as I became more nervous and panicked as I spoke of the day's events, "It was an unknown number and I wanted to know who it was, why they wanted me."

"Living so close to Norris, it's made you nosey ey," Nick joked making me smile slightly, I was grateful he was being calm and accepting of the time I was taking to tell him.

"He came in and kept asking me to pull out of the court thing, I told him I couldn't and I didn't want to," I began to explain and Nick listened, really listened. Despite the fact I wasn't looking at him, instead at my hands, I could feel his gaze upon me. It wasn't awkward though, it was comforting.

"Then he got angry, he was holding my wrists and threatening me and I wasn't strong enough to get away from him," I took a deep breath, "He was holding my chin up with his hand and I was so scared."

"Hey, hey stop if you need to," Nick said calmly as a tear fell down my face. I wiped it away before giving him a grateful smile.

"Once he let me go he was sat on a desk so I walked past. I told him he'd never changed my mind and I went to the door. I went to the door because I was going to kick him out," My breath was caught in my throat as I struggled to continue.

"Carla, you don't have to," Nick said as he placed his hand over mine, I was cautious to his touch at first but the relaxed as his thumb stroked over my knuckles.

"He pinned me against the door and it all happened so quickly. He was trying, he was trying to touch me and I opened the door but I was struggling to keep it open. He kept pushing me further into the door and touching me, his hands were cold, really cold. Then Peter came and he left." I didn't notice I was crying till Nick gently brushed his thumb over my cheeks in turn getting rid of the tears.

"You should tell someone," Nick told me, it was the one thing I didn't want to hear.

"I know but not now, I'm tired," I said, it wasn't all a lie, I was tired. I was tired but I wasn't ever going to willingly tell anyone what had happened. I couldn't face it.

"Okay, thank you for telling me," Nick said in a soft voice, "Do you want to go through to bed if you're tired?"

"I'd um like a cuddle," I said nervously, I wasn't scared to ask, I was just wary after being so jumpy previously.

"Come here," Nick smiled and I moved into his arms. His arms that immediately wrapped around me and although I took a while to relax, I was safe and comfy and with Nick. His hand gently stroked my hair which I think eventually sent me to sleep. I fell asleep knowing I had to be strong and it was going to be hard but I fell asleep knowing I had Nick and no matter what Nick was my constant.

Greatest apologies for the ending as it wasn't that great. Also, please let me know if you like it in different people's point of view or if you preferred it in third person.

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