Tracy POV

Life has a weird way of working out sometimes.

As a child I'd never have thought that I'd be here, qualified as a care worker, and living on my own.

My first experience of living alone hadn't gone well to say the least, but I'd grown a lot since then, and as I started a new chapter I knew I was ready for whatever life would throw at me next.

But still, my hand hovered over the button.

As brave as I was, and as tough the front I put on, there was always a little anxiety, tingling in the back of my mind.

I fought the urge and put my phone down: I'd only been here an hour, I didn't need to talk to him already.

I sat down on my new bed and looked around the room. It was strangely quiet. Cam's flat always had a bit more going on, and at Elm Tree it wasn't always this quiet even at night.

I felt alone.

I took a piece of paper out of my bag and looked at it, as I'd looked at it a hundred times. My new contract. I still couldn't believe I'd gotten the job, knowing I was still young and learning, but I guess my experience at Elm Tree had taught me well.

Elm Tree. My home, the place I'd grown up.

Suddenly I wasn't sure if I'd made the right decision.

I picked my phone back up and pressed the call button, butterflies in my stomach as it rang.

"Hello, Elm Tree House."

"Mike?"

"Tracy, what are you doing phoning? You only left this morning!"

I took a deep breath. "I, I want to come back. It feels wrong, now that I've left. I don't want to do it anymore."

Mike paused for a moment. "You can't come back, Trace."

I stopped. I'd expected Mike to leap for joy at the idea, like he had the first time I'd come back to my job. This wasn't right.

"Why not?" I asked, tears coming to my eyes.

Mike sighed. "Because you don't belong here anymore."

My head was beginning to spin. "What do you mean, I don't belong anymore?"

"It's time for you to move on," said Mike gently. "You did so much growing while you were here, and now you can hardly fit. You need to spread your wings and fly."

I took a moment to digest what Mike was saying. Deep down I knew he was right, I'd outgrown my place at the Dumping Ground, and it was the right time to move on. But at the same time, I didn't feel nearly ready enough.

"But what if I mess up?" I asked. "I won't have you or Gina there to help me."

Mike gave a small chuckle. "You don't need us anymore," he said. He paused for a moment, and I could almost hear the smile in his voice. "It's not like you listened to us most of the time anyway!"

I gave a small laugh of my own. Mike definitely wasn't wrong there!

"See?" Mike said. "You'll be absolutely fine." He paused for a moment. "And if you do need us at the end of a hard day, we're always on the end of the phone."

I smiled.

"Anyway," said Mike, changing the subject. "What's your new place like?"

I looked around. The room was fairly bland, white walls and cupboards, a brown carpet, a wooden chest of drawers in the corner next to the bed. I knew I'd soon make it my own though, so I didn't mind. There was only one thing that was bothering me.

"Quiet."

"I can imagine it's quieter than this place!" said Mike, laughing. "It must be nice to have a bit of space to think though."

"Yeah, I think I just need to get used to it," I said. "It's just a little strange."

"Change always is," said Mike. "It's a good thing though, makes life interesting."

I suddenly remembered Mike telling me the exact same thing when he'd left Stowey House, reminding me that change was natural in the world and something to be embraced, not feared.

"Yeah, it does," I said.

But the Dumping Ground certainly wasn't boring!

I smiled as I remembered my argument back to Mike a decade earlier.

"I think I'm going to be ok here."

"Of course you are," said Mike. "You've got your whole life ahead of you, and it's going to be glorious."

There was a pause.

"But make sure to come back and see us sometime, hey? Don't want you forgetting about us."

I shook my head. How could I ever forget them, especially Mike.

"Of course I will."

I waited a moment, looking around the room at all my bags. "Right, well I'd better get unpacking."

"I'll let you get on," said Mike. "Give me a call once you've settled in, let me know how you're doing."

"I will," I said. "Bye Mike."

"Bye Tracy."

And then the phone went silent.

I looked around the room again, sad now Mike was gone. But I knew I'd made the right decision: Mike was always right after all, and if he said I needed to spread my wings then this was where I needed to be.

However, as I looked round the room for a third time, I was now regretting another decision.

"Why on earth did I bring so much stuff?!"

A/N I was recently going through old stories and realised my A/Ns are like a tiny diary, so thought I'd write one here. I've left home, moved out into a little shared flat of my own with my dog. I was actually describing my room in that, it was a little bit empty when I got here (the landlady put a plant on the windowsill to give it a bit of life), but it's now so full of my stuff and it's great! I definitely brought too much with me too but oh well! Hope you all enjoyed a happy one-shot for a change! Please review :)