"This is happening" Lucas breathes out as Michelle frowns walking up to the wardrobe and pulling out a casual jumper for him today

"You still look sexy even without the suit" she says dreamily, Lucas pulls a face causing her to snap back to reality "You'll be fine, we'll be fine"

"Toyah and Imran are going to freak"

"That's why we were told to get there thirty minutes later than them" she reminds him wrapping her arms around his middle

"I hope so"

Lucas and Michelle left to go to the children's centre where this meeting with Sammy was going to be taking place. Michelle could tell Lucas was nervous and she completely understood after all this was going to dictate their future. Somehow the niggling thoughts of Carla had been entering her head all too often causing her to worry about her friend even though she hated her for what she had done to Sammy. Putting herself in her friends shoes, she understood why Carla might have been scared all those years ago and the fear around being a mother for her, it must've been hard. The meeting went as well as it could have gone, luckily the social worker and both Toyah and Imran had prepared Sammy well for this occasion so he was confident.

"Are you ok?" Michelle questions Lucas leaning against the wall of the children's centre, he nods "You seem distant"

"I'm just thinking...about the future mainly"

"Do I feature in it?" she teases, he laughs slightly

"Yeah, you and Sammy both do" he confirms as Michelle breathes out and wraps her arms around his middle "We can be a proper family"

"Yeah, we can"

"You never learn do you?" Adam questions looking at Simon who rolls his eyes

"You think I have a choice?" he snaps back, Adam sighs and shakes his head "You know what I don't have to listen to this"

"You listen to me" Adam grabs his arm, Simon glares at him "You will stop this now otherwise I will go to the police don't forget I'm a solicitor"

"Don't forget I can tell your mum or dad everything"

"Yeah? Well if I get shopped to the police either way they're going to know so I guess we're even" Simon snaps back before storming off, Adam sighs rubbing his head and frowns bending down and picking up the bag of pills Simon had dropped, he stuffs them into his pocket and walks off…

The loneliness still crept up on her, she was left to believe that this was the way. No Peter once again, understandably it was all her fault but the man was dying. She felt cheeky asking him to fight because after all, she caused all of this with her lies. Rubbing her eyes as she was tired, unable to sleep because of that niggling pain in her back as the baby shifted around inside of her. She smiled at the thought of having her child to dote on but then that thought stuck in her head. What if her baby wasnt ok being born so early? What if she passed away? There was something that Carla promised to herself, after she lost her baby before unbeknownst to anyone else. An internal promise that could have the ability to change her life if she was to follow and agree to the morality of her promise. All of this made her rather thoughtful until she was interrupted by a shifty Michelle.

"I-I don-don't bite" Carla raises her eyebrows as Michelle sits down "Why a-are you here?"

"We met with Sammy today. I shouldn't be telling you but I thought you should know"

"I give you my b-blessing" Carla says, Michelle frowns "To be his mum"

"I didn't-"

"You didn't h-have to" she says quietly "I've been th-thinking myself"

"About?" Michelle questions not really knowing what she would think about considering everything seemed pretty solid and well planned with her

"Wheth-ther to ha-have the operation" she shrugs, Michelle frowns "I-I want my baby to have the best chance of survival"

"She'll have a sixty percent chance though, Peter told me"

"I-It just won't be one hundred" she shrugs "I just want my baby to b-be o-ok, I want her to be ready"

"Have you spoken to Peter?" Michelle questions, Carla shakes her head "Speak to him, he could be that baby's father"

"Yeah" she whispers closing her eyes, "You-you're right"

"You voice seems better" Michelle observes, Carla grins at her and nods

"Mo-more speech therapy, loads of it th-this week" she smiles, Michelle nods slowly "I am sorry"

"For?"

"The whole Lucas and Sammy thing" Carla sighs shaking her head "I-I just want to leave the past in the past"

"But it's likely you will have to see him everyday as me and Lucas are not moving away with him"

"I know that" Carla says quietly "That's why...I'm going to m-move away"

"What?!" she hisses looking at Carla in the eyes seeing that she was deadly serious "You do realise that this is completely stupid right? You need to recover Carla, you can't just swan off after having your child. You'll need people to help you"

"Th-That's why I plan on going to LA" she says slowly, Michelle bites her lip and nods slowly "I've been speak-speaking to Suzy and she said she wi-will help"

"You need to speak to Peter, if that baby is his you can't take her away from him. It will break him"

"You're right Michelle I will need help with the baby if I go to full term. I think ab-about the fut-future and I l-love my baby so much" she says quietly before sighing "I-I want her to-to have ev-everything I never had and th-that would mean her hav-having a good chan-chance of living by me going full-term"

"You've really thought about this haven't you?"

"Th-That's why I plan on giving her-her to Peter wh-when she's born," Carla says, Michelle's eyes widen

"So you're just leaving your baby with its father who might not even be her father and then jetting off to the states?"

"It-it's not li-like that" she rolls her eyes "I ha-have money saved up to have spec-special-list treatment out there. I would-d recover with Suzy the-then come back to England th-then raise her"

"This is crazy" Michelle pinches the bridge of her nose, Carla just shrugs thinking it was for the best

"It-it's for the best," she says quietly before looking up and seeing a frail-looking Peter standing in the doorway, she sighs "Peter"

"Can I speak to Carla alone Michelle?" Peter asks, Michelle nods leaving the room, Peter sits in her seat "I heard everything"

"Ok," she nods "Can't you see how i-it could work?"

"I hate to say this but the only way this will work is if you do a paternity test right now so we find out for sure"

"Ok" she nods "I'll do one"

"Seriously?"

"I'm t-trying to put everything right here," she says quietly "We all deserve to mo-move on from my lies"

She didn't know what to think. Michelle was so confused about the whole thing she just needed time to herself to put everything right in her head. Ultimately she was confused about Carla's decision and it made sense. Her recovery would be altered by having a baby to physically look after as looking after a baby takes so much time and dedication and she knew that Carla would find it easier if she was mobile and able to walk. Michelle also knew that she was trying to put all of the deception right and if Peter was that baby's father she was also fixing him, giving him a purpose once more after the transplant and somehow she felt herself supporting her friend's decision but unfortunately it wasn't the reasons above, it was because it would make her life, Lucas' life and Sammy's life much easier if Carla was out of the picture. There was so much resentment there, so much.

"You seem distant?" Lucas brushes his fingers through her hair, Michelle yawns

"It's been a long day" she shrugs biting her lip "And don't be mad I went to see Carla"

"I'm not mad" Lucas smiles, Michelle sighs shaking her head "Did something happen?"

"She's just made some rather well-thought-out decisions that's all for her and the baby"

"Such as?"

"Well she's going to give the baby to Peter to look after whilst she goes to LA to have treatment out there as she has money saved up. She's also thinking about not having the baby in a months time, she wants to go full term because she thinks that the baby will have a better chance of surviving which I guess is true in theory"

"Do you think it's what's best for her?"

"I don't know" Michelle shrugs biting her lip "I just hope that whatever decision she makes isn't for her but for the baby as that baby deserves to come first more so now after the whole thing with Sammy"

"She'll make the right decision" Lucas confirms, Michelle just nods "We should get to bed it's been one hell of a day"

"I don't have the heart to wa-wake him" Carla chuckles slightly looking at Peter who was sleeping on the armchair, she looks at the nurse "N-Not that I can"

"I'll help" the nurse laughs nudging Peter who wakes, he laughs slightly at Carla giggling into her blanket that was covering her face "I'll leave you to it"

"Sorry about that" he mumbles, Carla smiles

"Y-You look exhausted"

"Well my liver is failing" he mutters, she sighs and nods slowly "We didn't even talk about…"

"You heard ev-everything. T-Tell me what you think"

"I'm happy that you're going to find out about paternity," he nods slowly "And I want to get better for the baby. It's the only thing I'm holding onto, hope-wise. Are you sure about LA though?"

"Y-Yes" she confirms "Be-Before I become a mother I have to try and g-get b-better. If the ba-baby was there then it would just disrupt my recovery so I th-think its best I...get better before I become a mum so I can h-help my child"

"Well it's your body and if you think you're doing the right thing by postponing treatment knowing the consequences I can't stop you"

"Thank you f-for understanding"