'Chelle?'

'The one and only.'

'What are you doing here?'

'Well my bestie has had a baby, something I never thought would happen, how could I not come over?' She grins, walking over to the woman, radiating confidence. 'I can go, but I'm not Johnny.'

'Please don't. Why are you here?' She asks, suddenly looking very awake. 'I've missed you so much.'

'I got the first flight over; we've been shopping this morning.'

'Really?'

'Well I couldn't let Johnny and Peter do it on their own, could I? If you had left Peter to his own devices, you'd have a bunch of animal outfits and nothing else.'

'Animal outfits?' She raises her eyebrow, as the baby begins to stir.

'We went shopping and he became captivated with fluffy animal outfits.'

'They're really cute.' He argues, 'they are beautiful.'

'Not very practical. And he has no clue when it came to sizes.' She smirks, 'you'd have laughed.' She watches as Peter goes to pick up the baby, no regard for anyone else except the baby next to its mother.

'How are you?'

'I'm good, I think I should be asking you that. A baby, hey. I knew something was wrong. You had me worried, I know you played it off as menopause, but I didn't believe you.'

'I was hardly expecting a baby. I had no clue.'

'I don't think anyone was, love. But she's adorable.' Peter interjects, looking longingly at the baby in in his arms, she's sleeping, and he wonders if there is anything more beautiful than that.

'According to the woman in the shop, dads are more receptive to little girls.' Michelle tries, catching her friends' eye. 'They dote on them more, or something.'

'Hello, my beautiful little girl.' He coos, gently stroking her cheek, 'my precious little gem.'

'Really?'

'Apparently so. Look at him, he can't hear a word we say.' He proves her right by not even turning to face them. 'How are you feeling? Sounds like you gave everyone quite a scare.'

'I'm okay now, they caught it, so I should be okay. It's going to have an impact on my feeding her, though, apparently.'

'You're going to feed her?'

'Try, apparently it's the best thing for her. I've already failed once; I'm going to try that.' She meets her friends' eye, 'I take it everyone knows?'

'Yeah, Sarah Platt asked us. Peter confirmed it.'

'It had to come out at some point. It's not something that can be kept a secret, I just don't want people to judge me.'

'They won't. Sarah said to send her love, she said she knows how hard a surprise pregnancy can be.' She parrots back, receiving a chuckle in response. 'Now, can I get a cuddle?'

'With me?' She grins, 'I don't think these machines will allow it.'

'No, with her.'

'Peter.' Carla states, 'Peter, Peter.'

'Hm?'

'Chelle wants a cuddle with the baby, let her. You can have one later, Chelle is a visitor.' Truth be told, Carla hadn't thought she'd want to know near her, but if she's asking, she's hardly going to stop her having a cuddle.

'She's so soft.' Michelle notes, as the baby is put in her arms. She wonders how something can be so light, her mind flicking back to her baby. The pain, it hasn't gone, but holding her best friends' baby was fine, she really was pleased for her. It's not easy, but she's bitten the bullet now and it was okay, she was as okay as she could have been. 'How did mummy not know?'

'Amazing really.' Peter smiles, his eyes not leaving the bundle, almost as if he doesn't trust her with the baby.

'For you maybe' Carla states, 'but having to push a six-pound baby out, with no preparation, that wasn't fun.'

'I can't imagine it is, then there's everything that goes with it. The-'

'I think that's my cue to leave, I'm going to see Simon, he's here, and see how Ollie is.' He announces, deciding that the baby isn't going to be given to him anytime soon, so he might as well go and see his son, so he doesn't have to listen to this conversation.

'Okay, bye.' The pair watch him go off, both secretly pleased he's giving them time to talk. 'So, how was he when you went shopping?'

'Well he had no clue, but he was alright. He felt very out of place and someone mistook us for a couple, the poor woman was so embarrassed.'

'That's hilarious. Thank you for coming over. I know it was hard.'

'Carla, you're my best friend and you need me. I know what you're referring too, but I'm okay, I really am. She's your baby and she's beautiful. I'm just glad you're okay, it's you I was worried about, especially after that conversation. I knew I had to come out and see you. She looks like you, lucky thing.'

'You think so?'

'Yes, yes, she is. How are you feeling, though? It must have been a massive shock to the system. A baby is a lot.'

'I've not taken it in. When I do, I think it will hit me. I think it's all going to come and once and I don't know how I feel. I've met with both the renal consultant and the AMHS team, I'll see them both at some point. Everything is so sore and I'm so tired. I tried to take in what they were saying, but I just couldn't, I think I'm still in shock. Shock and tiredness.'

'I can go.'

'I mean bone tired, like everything hurts. I can't describe it. And the shock, it's been unreal.'

'I bet it has.'

'There's so much to-do and I just feel overwhelmed.'

'It's natural. It must be even worse for you because it's thrust upon you. You literally had nothing, no time to prepare.'

'Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she's here, but I just wonder what it would be like if I knew earlier.'

'Would you have had her? You know If you had the choice?'

'After the miscarriage, I ached for a baby in my arms.' She whispers, looking at her friend who knows too well what that feels like, she's trying to be sensitive because she knows how it hurts, 'I know I'd have kept her, but still.'

'Would you have wanted all the stuff that went along with it?'

'No, but I'd like to have had time to prepare, set up a nursery, the scans, all the cushy stuff. I feel sort of cheated.' She admits tearfully, 'I just wish I had that.'

'Hey, hey, it's okay.' Michelle starts, finding a pack of tissues to give her friend, 'that's normal. You're right, you were cheated.'

'Sorry, hormones. I must look a mess.'

'You don't, you don't even look like you've given birth.'

'One of the perks, I guess, I haven't put on baby weight, I'm still the same size.'

'See.' She jokes, 'there are some good things. Hey, don't cry, you'll get used to being a mum.'

'How do you do that?'

'What?'

'Get something out of your bag with the baby in your arms.' They both know it's not just that, its more the fact Michelle radiates maternal, being able to comfort her like she does, whereas Carla doesn't, she is trying to learn how to be maternal.

'Practice. You'll master the art.' She promises, 'it will come.'

'What did you get, when you went shopping?'

'Everything that I could think of, stuff for you and the nursery. I've brought a bag of stuff. When you get home the crib won't be there, but you have one of those co-sleeper things. She can sleep next to you, obviously you can change, but apparently that's the best way to protect from SIDS, when the baby sleeps next to it's mum.'

'Really? Am I going to have to learn this stuff?'

'Fraid so, it will come quicker than you expect.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, it will. It will become second nature before you know it.' The baby starts crying, Carla looking horrified, as if she wasn't expecting it to cry.

'I don't know what to-do.' She frets, panic evident in her eyes. 'I can't do this.'

'Carla, calm down. Right, you can tell she doesn't need to be changed; my best bet is that she's hungry.'

'Hungry?'

'Oh. How'd you know that?'

'You see the way she's turning into me? That's a sign.' She squeezes her eyes shut. 'Do you want me to get someone?'

'Please?' She places the baby in her mothers' arms, before going to find a midwife help her best friend. 'Chelle?'

'Yeah.'

'Stay, please.' She whispers, not wanting her friend to leave her sight, it's not like she hasn't seen it before. 'I don't want to be on my own.'

-CS-

'So, how is she?'

'Carla? Or the baby?'

'Both.'

'They're doing okay, obviously she's recovering from the postpartum haemorrhage.'

'The what? When did that happen? Why didn't anyone tell me?'

'Oh, she's fine now Johnny. She wasn't, but they sorted it out.' She reassures her cousin, she's tired but she promised to meet Ryan for a drink, plus she was staying with him.

'What even is it? It doesn't sound good.'

'Where you bleed too much. She's fine and the baby is good.'

'When can we visit?'

'Um, she'd rather wait until she's home, she's overwhelmed and they're strict on the ward.'

'They let you on it.' He points out, kind of disheartened he can't go and see his second granddaughter. That and check his daughter is okay.

'I'm her best friend.'

'I'm her dad.'

'And remind me, how many years did you deny she's yours?' That shuts him up, she knows she should apologise, but she's too tired. She felt bad going because she hasn't always been there when her friend needed her, she had awful to her when the factory collapsed, she just knew she had to be there for her.

'Do you have a picture? I've only got the ones on the chat.' He questions, 'I'm dying to see her.'

'Uh, yeah.' She smiles, unlocking her phone, 'this was her before I left. She's tiny.'

'She looks it. My God she looks like Carla. I thought she did, but that just highlights it even more.'

'I can see bits of Peter. Maybe she'll have his more laidback approach to life. You know, maybe not inherit her mother's control-freak trait.'

'Is he still there?'

'He'll stay still he's kicked out.'

'Oh, so it's true?' A rough voice comes up behind her, making her flinch a little.

'Is what true Beth?'

'That you're here and Carla had a baby. I didn't believe it; Mrs C didn't look pregnant. She should have been on one of those shows, I didn't know I was pregnant.'

'And there we all thought she was skiving. No one really wasn't to work on a Sunday.' Sean adds in, 'but no, she has a baby. I certainly wasn't expecting to hear that when I went into work this morning. How are they?'

'Good, good. Both a little shocked but they're going to be okay.'

'Does it have a name?'

'Not yet, I doubt we'll get one anytime soon. Most couples have months to decide, they've had less than 36 hours.'

'I think she should name it Beth.'

'I don't think they'll name her Beth. Maybe they'll name her after Hayley, though.'

'Or Sharon?' Johnny interjects, although he knows it's highly unlikely as he doesn't think he's ever heard Carla speak a kind word about her mother, not to him at least. Although, that could just because she resented him not being there, him denying her, making him feel bad. Then again, that really isn't her style.

'You really think he's going to name her after her neglectful mother?'

'Maybe not.'

'No, I don't know. She hasn't given any sort of idea as to what she likes, I think it will be her name choice, rather than Peters.'

'Will she bring the baby to work?'

'I don't think she's old enough to pack knickers' Johnny jokes, getting a few chuckles.

'No, I meant to let us see her.'

'Maybe, we aren't sure what's happening. She probably won't be out for a few days, maybe when the baby is a bit bigger and less suspectable to germs.'

'Germs?'

'Babies can get really sick if they pick up bugs.' Michelle points out, 'she'll have a really weak immune system.'

'It's like an early Christmas present.'

'I suppose.' Michelle chortles. 'She's certainly a surprise.'

A/N Thoughts? Thank you all for the lovely reviews, I'm glad you're all enjoying that.

Also, apparently, dads are more receptive to their daughters than their sons (something I didn't know).