'Wait, she still sleeps in your bed?'

'Hm.' The woman looks up from her phone, catching a conversation between her partner and his sister.

'Peter, said that she still sleeps in your bed.'

'Well, yeah, she sleeps next to the bed. It's not like she's in the bed.'

'Why?'

'She just does.'

'But she's small. Don't you squash her?'

'Tracy, she doesn't lie in the bed.' Peter grins, tapping his daughters' nose, 'she has the cot thing, where she sleeps. She's six months, we're stupid but we aren't that stupid. No, no, we're not.' He adds, getting the baby's attention. 'Anyway, it's supposed to make her happier and healthier.' He grins, 'we read it on the internet.'

'You shouldn't always trust the internet.'

'It's not really worth it, setting up a crib when we're moving.' She tells them, shifting over slightly.

'When is that happening, again?'

'We get the keys this week.'

'Friday.' Peter confirms, 'then we've got stuff at the house to-do, but we want to be in before Christmas.'

'Don't stress yourself out.' Ken warns, looking at the trio, 'moving with a baby. It will be hard.'

'I still don't get why she stays in your bed; you could have put a crib up in your room.' Carla wonders how she got here but doesn't say anything.

'Does she look unhappy to you, Tracy?' Tracy has to admit defeat, turning the conversation to something besides her brother and niece. Not that Carla really minds, Tracy doesn't scare her. She certainly doesn't need parenting tips off her.

'How is Oliver?' Carla dares to ask, voice slow as if it's something that shouldn't be talked about. Maybe it shouldn't, but they sill need to have some idea of what's going on with him, even if it's just for Simons sake.

'No change.'

'Poor Leanne and Steve.' Carla hums, watching her partner play peek-a-boo with their daughter, who seems to be having a whale of a time. 'Well send them our love.'

'Are you going?' Daniel questions, 'it's only earlier.'

'Yeah, she's got to go to bed tomorrow and I'm doing a favour for Nick at the factory, so I want an early night.'

'Your working tomorrow?'

'Peter, it's hardly working. I've got a meeting.'

'You don't work there.' She pauses, doing up her jacket as they go to leave, not wanting to have this argument again, not in public. 'Whose looking after Dee?'

'Do you want me to have her?' A voice calls, as they're leaving number one, 'I can do.'

'Are you sure, Kate said she would.'

'No, it will be nice. It will give Bertie someone to play with.'

'Well if you're sure.' She grins, 'about 8:30?'

'Sounds good.'

'Bye Carla, Peter.'

-CS-

'Are you sure you want to work tomorrow?'

'Peter, it's not really working. It's a meeting.'

'You know how I feel.'

'I know I do.' She tells him, gently placing her legs on the stool in front of her. 'I know, but it's one meeting. She's not as dependant on my as she was.' She bites her lip, knowing that Peter probably could make a comment on the fact they were sitting here whilst she fed their daughter. That just screams that she's too dependant on her. 'People go back earlier.' She tries, 'I promise it's just the once. It's a one-time thing.'

'You promise?' She nods, gently tickling the baby's foot, like she was taught to when trying to get her to wake up, watching her kick it out.

'I don't want to leave her.' She confesses, stroking the fine hair on the top of her head, 'but it is important for jobs and job retention. Nick needs this to keep the factory.'

'You're doing it for him?' She can hear the venom in his voice, as she shakes her head.

'I'm doing this for the workers, for Sean, Beth, Sarah all of them. Without this order, underworld is in a more fragile state, I'm not doing it as a sordid favour to Nick. I promise, I'm doing it so that people have jobs. I am going to the meeting, get the contract and then I'm going home to spend the rest of the day with Dee.'

'I'm just worried about you.'

'Well you don't have to be, no he doesn't.' She turns to the baby that is falling asleep. 'Bedtime, I think.' She yawns, 'you coming?'

-CS-

'Don't you look nice.' Daniel wolf whistles, earning a slap from the older woman.

'I'll be four hours, max. You have my number. She's been fed, changed. Really all you'll have to-do is make sure she doesn't get herself into trouble. I've got everything she needs in that bag, milk and pureed stuff. Remember-'

'Carla, I've been here. I know. Put it in the fridge and go.' He teases, hearing a door open.

'Deeeee.' A small voice calls, coming out to greet the visitors at the door. It never fails to amaze her how grown up he is getting. 'Car'a.'

'Hello Bertie.' She grins, bending down to his level. Or as well as she can with a wriggly baby in tow. 'How are you?'

'Od.' He grins, shoving another piece of toast in his mouth.

'I have to go Daniel, I'm sorry.' He shakes his dead, taking the baby off of her, placing a kiss on her cheek. 'Bye, bye Bertie, Dee.'

-CS-

She can't help but feel incredibly guilty as she stops to chat when she goes into the factory, joining in with the idle chitchat. Some recycled gossip she'd heard from Jenny, listening to them talk about nothing. It made her feel bad.

Did she really need to have gone into the office before the meeting? Did she really need to check the facts and figures before she went in, she knew this stuff off the top of her head? Wheeling and dealing, this is what she did, but did she need to re-go over these facts, could she have spent an extra twenty minutes with Delilah?

Throughout the car journey, the same questions play in her head, as she places the baby seat in the boot of the car. She feels as though she's trying to hide the fact that she has a baby. She isn't, she tells herself it's just because she wants to help prevent a break in. It had been on the news, the other morning, that there had been a spell of them in the area.

She arrives ten minutes early, deciding to sit in the car and looking at herself in the mirror, judging herself.

She didn't usually feel self-conscious. When she looked at herself, it didn't matter too much about an odd couple of stretchmarks and a little bit of baby weight, not noticeable, Peter tells her. He told her as she was getting everything ready last night, fretting about what to wear.

Except it's not that, it's her. It's her that she's worried about. She tells herself she's probably done thousands of these, it's the same thing, the odd flirt, the lowcut top, the makeup. It's a game, where the prize is a contract. It's almost like she's pimping herself out for a contract. And it's always been fine.

Until today.

Its something about the way she just knows he's going to leer down her shirt, make it obvious he fancies her. His hands under the table will have a mind of their own, it's not like she'll have a drink to get through it. It's what they all do, it's very rarely that this doesn't happen, and it makes her nervous.

This is the first time she's done it, since she got pregnant, she'd chucked the job in when it became clear she was going to find it hard to cope with the factory and having a baby. Nick had been pissed, but when it came to light, he understood why she jacked the job in. And he couldn't blame her, but she had felt obliged to-do this.

In the past, she's convinced herself it's not anything sinister, using her "chest area" to get a contract, but now it seems wrong.

Maybe it's the fact she's a mum, she has her daughter. If she found out that her daughter was doing this, she'd be mortified and so worried. But since it was her, it was okay. Except, it wasn't really. And it was too late to back out, she notes as she spies their client parking up. She can't help it, but a wave of nerves fall over her as she goes to meet the client.

-CS-

'You haven't been here for a long time.' Mr Jefferies notes, twenty minutes into the meeting, 'all of a sudden you disappeared.' She knows he knows that she had a breakdown, at this point, everyone knows. And that's humiliating in itself, she doesn't want to discuss it, the meeting had been going so well.

'Well yeah.'

'I'm going to be totally honest with you, Carla.' She perks up at this, because usually this is a bad sign. If she didn't get this, she'd feel awful. She knows the tenterhooks that the factory is balancing on. 'I thought you'd disappeared.'

'Disappeared?'

'Obviously, everything that happened.' She tries not to raise her eyebrows, letting out a curt nod to tell him that she knows what he's saying. 'We thought you'd had another one.' He's looking at her face, she wonders if that was better than him ogling at her tits, because she feels so embarrassed, she wants to just slide under the table and never reappear. Except she can't, so she takes another sip of the cool water.

'Oh.'

'Then, a little birdie told me that you 'ad a baby.' This makes her sit up a little straighter, wanting to know where this was going. 'And that's why you stopped working at underworld.'

'I never really worked there, not last year.' She pauses, as he smiles at her. 'I was covering for a friend.' Can she call Nick a friend? He's not really, but she's done him a favour. 'I don't know how much you know about Nick Tilsley?'

'His son, he's ill.' She doesn't bother explaining it, because, essentially, that's what's happened.

'Yeah, well that's why I was working there, so that they could spend more time with him.' She pauses, 'I don't mean to be rude, but are you going to take the order?' He nods, as the food comes over.

'We are, I was going to send one of my delegates over, but then I heard it was you doing the meeting. I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce myself properly, we've met in the past, but it's been a while.'

'Really?' He nods, pulling something out of his bag.

'It was you I wanted to see. I have a proposition.'

'Proposition?'

'Yes, about a job.'

'Oh, I'm not-'

'Hear me out, please?' She nods, biting her lip. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go. She was supposed to get the contract and then go back home, to her daughter. That's what she wanted, she wanted to give her little girl a cuddle. Yet, something was drawing her to listening to the man. 'We need a new communications officer and I want you.'

'Me? I'm not looking for a job.'

'There's good perks.' He begins, 'here me out. The lady, Jess, she's not renewing her contract, but she's got another six months left.' He pauses, 'we do it on eighteen-month contracts, and we're looking for someone. I want you.'

'I'm flattered, I really am, but I'm not-' He cuts her off, shaking his head.

'You won't have to go back for another six months, the pay is good, it's contracted.' She can see the appeal, she really can, but she has a baby back home. One meeting was bad enough, but going back to work? It's a scary thought. The pub she could manage, Johnny and her family would be there. 'It's flexi-time, you can work at home.' He continues as this jobs sounds more and more appealing. The one thing stopping her is her daughter. She doesn't want to fall back into her own ways, she has to protect her daughter now. It was bad enough when it was just her, but at home, there was a little girl who depended on ger.

'I don't know.' She whispers, taking another bite of the brunch. 'It's really generous.'

'We want you.' He tells her, 'and we will do what we can to get you. You know that you are the best.' She shakes her head, she really isn't, but it's flattering.

'I'm sorry.' She whispers, 'can we just sort out this?' He nods, not pressing the matter further as they discuss contracts. She's pleased when he makes eye contact and his hands stay above the table.

'Carla.' He asks, just as she's turning to leave. 'Don't say no, have a think about it. It's negotiable.'

'How long do I have?' She asks, it hurting her chest to ask. She doesn't want to be the workaholic mum, but she is also acutely aware that she's "lost" herself. Her life is surrounded by Delilah, but she'll grow, and it won't be. She read somewhere, that she needs something for herself. As hard as it is, this might be that.

'Five months.'

'Okay.' She whispers, taking the package, 'I'll get back to you.'

A/N thoughts? You may get a second update today, not sure yet, I'm currently trying to distract myself from the fact that my cat is having a serious operation today and I'm worried… If I do, what do you want to read?