The night was long enough in itself, they watched a couple of films and then straight into bed to continue where they left off on their honeymoon before waking up the next day, getting changed and then going into work. Liam called late last night to tell them both that the meeting went well and the client wanted to place an order, Tony immediately thanked him and Carla narrowed her eyes in suspicion causing her husband to hum thoughtfully at her frosty exterior towards her ex-brother-in-law. With that said and ungracious thank yous exchanged Carla was more than happy to go to work with Tony that morning, both of them sitting in the office with Rosie who was just getting her head down and doing her work. Funnily enough, no words were exchanged between Carla and Tony leaving Rosie to think something was going on but as soon as Leanne walked into the office Carla perked up.

"So how was the honeymoon?" Leanne grins and Carla raises her eyebrows "Come on you didn't think I could wait until you finally decided to tell me yourself"

"It was great, the best experience of my life by far" Carla smirks towards Tony who smirks back "We had a great time didn't we?"

"The best time" Tony confirms turning back to his computer screen "You can go and talk all things honeymoon if you want I'll handle everything here?"

"As long as you're sure?"

"Of course, you go" Tony smiles and Carla nods picking up her bag "Enjoy, rather you than me Leanne"

"I don't know if I want all the gory details yet-"

"Leanne" Carla chastises, her cheeks flushing red immediately "Rosie does not need to hear this about her boss, sorry Rosie"

"It's ok" Rosie responds awkwardly "I'm just going to pop to the toilet anyway"

"You see what you've done?" Carla nudges her friend and Leanne grins "I'll be back later Tony"

"You take your time" Tony smiles and Carla nods slowly linking her arm through Leanne's as they head out of the factory, Leanne immediately pulls her into the ginnel beside Underworld

"I guess this isn't about the honeymoon then?"

"No it's not and you know it, I can't believe you went through with it then had the audacity to ignore me throughout the wedding ceremony and reception. More to the point I can't believe you married him when Liam was in the room, are you deluded or something? I thought he was the one!"

"It's not as simple as you may think" Carla sighs pinching the bridge of her nose "I have a banging headache Leanne I really can't be doing with this. Throughout my whole honeymoon, I was thinking about Liam, every little thing was reminding me of him, it even got to the point where I was internalising stress at the fact I was comparing Tony to Liam"

"Then why did you marry him?"

"Maria"

"Carla..." Leanne shakes her head "It won't last you know that right? Not if Liam loves you and you love him, how can you both be happy seeing each other get on with your lives separately, not joined-"

"Leanne please" Carla huffs slightly "Liam will always run back to Maria, even if we did get together because she is carrying his baby, one look at that kid and he would be doe-eyed and run back into her bed to play happy families when I could have been somewhat happy with Tony. I've made my decision"

"You're insane!" Leanne cries and Carla sighs leaning against the wall "I saw the look on his face when you were saying your vows"

"So?"

"So get yourself together and speak to him, tell him how you feel!"

"After I tell him I didn't love him, it's that simple is it?"

"Yes!" Leanne exclaims and Carla just bites her lip "Look you're your own person after all-"

"Yeah I am and I don't need your advice about it, I'm happy with the way things are right now"

"As long as you are" Leanne backs down sensing there was something else eating Carla up "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Just tired down to that plane journey yesterday, I'll be fine" Carla nods and Leanne smiles slightly placing a hand on her shoulder "Thanks for everything Leanne"

"I'm not done yet" Leanne states and Carla frowns slightly "I still want to hear all the gory details about your honeymoon either way so I say we grab a drink at the pub?"

"Hm alright then, beats work I suppose" Carla grins as they step out from the ginnel, they link arms and head to the pub


Of course, Carla kept the details tame causing numerous poking and prodding from Leanne who wanted more and Carla just knew she was going to analyse it and compare Tony to Liam which is something she didn't need as it would fuel the endless questions in her head. Michelle joined them and Carla was forced into then telling her everything about her honeymoon leaving her in a foul mood by the end of it so Tony then had the wrath of her awful snappiness all afternoon. To unwind Tony suggested that they headed to the pub, Carla relented and once more found herself in the Rover's with her glass of red handy. Then of course Liam came into the pub hand in hand with Maria and they propped themselves up at the bar leaving Carla to distantly gaze into her wine glass.

"I'm just going to get some air" Carla removes herself from the situation causing a slight frown from Maria

"Is she ok?" Maria asks Tony and he just smiles at her "Usually she guzzles that stuff down by the bucketload, never seen her like that before"

"We're both very tired, it was a long flight" Tony explains and Maria nods slowly "I'm just going to see if she's ok"

"Alright" Maria shrugs looking at Liam who also shrugs "Wonder what that was all about?"

"Oh who knows, probably their petty domestic they had yesterday, I'll tell you something my darlin' their relationship is so far from the sunshine and roses ours is"

"Married a few weeks and already having problems, usually I wouldn't pity Carla in the slightest but it's obvious how much she cares about Tony, I hope they work it out"

"After everything Carla's been through she deserves this" Michelle smiles and Maria nods glancing to the door

"Oh look here they come" Maria mumbles and Liam's eyes catch Carla's and she offers him a small smile and he returns it

"We're going to head off guys, we're just shattered" Tony explains and Maria nods sadly "It was nice seeing you all but we could do with a quiet night in"

"Oh well, we must think about doing this again, it would be stupid for all of us not to get on now" Maria smiles and Tony nods "Take care and get some well-deserved rest"

"Thank you Maria" Tony nods before smiling at Carla, she doesn't say a word and walks out of the pub and he follows before his phone goes off

"Who is it?" Carla yawns and Tony sighs "Tony?"

"It's business-"

"At this time?" she responds with a blank expression, Tony nods "Alright, you go...I'll just head home, catch up on some sleep"

"I'll be with you as soon as I can," Tony says and Carla nods with a small smile, she leans up to kiss him softly on the lips and he smiles "I'll see you later"

"Yeah...see ya"


Carla went home and got straight into bed to see if she could shake this tiredness off. Her eyes were glued shut to the point where she didnt even hear Tony enter the flat last night let alone him climb into bed with her. The next morning came and she felt slightly more refreshed but there was definitely a sense of lingering tiredness and Tony noticed the dark bags under her eyes wondering to himself if she got any sleep at all but from what he gathered she was out like a light. It got to quarter to nine and Carla hadn't moved from the sofa, he frowned and sat beside her and she eventually looked at the time and gasped.

"Oh god, I'm going to be late!"

"Why don't you take the day off?" Tony suggests and Carla pauses turning to look at him with a questioning look "Take it easy for a bit?"

"Why would you suggest that?"

"You still look tired"

"I'm not-"

"You could have fooled me, Carla, you were practically falling asleep into your coffee" Tony chuckles and Carla sighs "You stay here and get some more rest, the factory is something I can cope with-"

"Are you sure-"

"Yeah, I'm sure, go on get some rest" Tony smiles and Carla nods with a small smile before padding back into the bedroom, Tony gathers his bag and then leaves the flat

"Tony, wait, your...phone" Carla sighs holding it in her hand, she sighs slightly and shakes her head before fiddling with it, somehow intrigue got the better of her and she looked through it seeing the messages between Tony and Liam causing worry to spark in the pit of Carla's tummy so immediately she rings Leanne "Leanne, I need to see you, please, it's urgent, come as soon as you can...its Carla by the way"

A voicemail would just have to do...


Carla waited and waited and eventually, the buzzer went off, glancing at the clock she realised she only had an hour before Tony would be back so she let Leanne in hastily. They were sitting on the sofa and Carla didn't know where to start, she was sure she was being silly and she wasn't exactly great at reading between the lines but it was plain as day that something was going on between her ex-lover and husband, a misunderstanding at that. Carla showed Leanne the messages and she was quick to jump in and reassure Carla that nothing was probably going on but Carla was convinced, she had it in her head now and there was no getting it out of there.

"What if he knows Leanne..."

"He would have said, Tony strikes me as the type of guy who would" Leanne assures her and Carla shakes her head "Carla try not to worry"

"Well I do worry I want this work, it has to work because if it doesn't I'll be left pining after Liam"

"Then tell Liam how you feel-"

"No" Carla jumps in and Leanne sighs knowing this was going around in circles "I can't do that to him, not with Maria being pregnant"

"Have you had something to eat?" Leanne says going to the kitchen, Carla shakes her head "I'll make you something-"

"I'm too worried to eat" Carla states and Leanne groans in annoyance at Carla's behaviour "What if he knows Leanne, then what?"

"I really do think you're worrying for nothing Carla if Tony knew you'd know about it ok? I really don't think there's nothing to worry about"

"This is too stressful"

"Well only you can sure this stress, I'll support you, either way, you know that but this whole back and forth thing is doing my head in, you either choose Liam or Tony"

"I choose Tony"

"So you have nothing to worry about then do you? And even if he did know just explain it was ages ago then beg for forgiveness, that's all you can do-"

"And if he doesn't accept that?"

"I don't know, at least you can say that you tried" Leanne shrugs pouring herself a coffee, she sits down beside Carla "You look rather peaky if you don't mind me saying"

"I'm fine" Carla frowns "Just tired"

"Liam said that yesterday, he's noticed it as well"

"Oh stop going on about Liam, you're doing that to wind me up into submission and it's not going to happen" Carla snaps causing Leanne to chuckle slightly at how touchy she was, both heads turn as they hear the lock twist in the door

"Oh, hi Leanne" Tony smiles and then walks over to Carla, she raises his phone up "Oh I was wondering where that got to"

"I was going to bring it in but I felt rather peaky and I do not look great, I was going to call you but then I fell asleep before being rudely awakened by this one spamming the buzzer"

"Guilty as charged" Leanne jokes and Tony smiles slightly "I'll leave you both to it"

"It was nice talking to you Leanne" Carla smiles and Leanne nods letting herself out of the flat "How was work?"

"Good yeah" Tony nods slowly taking his phone and putting it in his pocket "If you don't mind me saying Carla you're looking rather peaky-"

"Am I?" she almost jumps down his throat "I'm fine, just tired"

"As long as you're sure," Tony says with a small smile "Liam popped into the factory today?"

"I hope you told him to do one as he doesn't work there" Carla rolls her eyes knowing he was probably looking for her

"He wanted his cheque for his time and I gave it to him, he asked after you"

"Did he now?" Carla sighs and Tony narrows his eyes as she walks into the kitchen

"Has something happened between the both of you that I need to know about?" Tony tries but Carla just turns around with a soft frown on her face and a shake of her head "Are you sure-"

"Yes" she snaps and Tony frowns at her strange behaviour "Sorry...for being snappy, my head's pounding"

"Maybe we should get you to a doctor-"

"Not needed it's probably my body trying to adjust to a different time zone, I'll be perfectly fine in a week or so"

"It was just a suggestion" Tony responds and Carla smiles slightly turning away from him so he narrows his eyes suspiciously as she heads into the bedroom, he stops her by calling her name, "Carla?"

"Yes?"

"You would tell me if somethings up wouldn't you?"

"Of course," she nods "I'm going to have a bath before you start on dinner if that's ok?"

"That's fine" he smiles "Enjoy your bath"

"I'll try" she smiles before heading into the bedroom and shutting the door, Tony walks up to the door and hears the door of her ensuite close so he heads out onto the balcony and reaches into his pocket pulling out two phones of the same model and smirking as he reads the fake texts he was sending back to his fake contact named 'Liam' at least with her odd behaviour and the way Liam was besotted with Maria as she was pregnant, Carla wouldn't dare go near him now that he had planted the seeds of doubt in her head, all he had to do was make it watertight...