A/N I'm meant to be cleaning my room, but writing is way more interesting so I'm doing this instead. XD And I've planned for this chapter for a long time, so I'm very excited, so hopefully you'll like it. :-)

I forgot to thank people for reviewing in the last chapter (I did my A/N at the end rather than the beginning and just wanted to get it up), so thank you to Holly-leaves-in-winter for reviewing the last two chapters! Your reviews make me super happy, thank you! :-D

Tracy POV

It wasn't long before I felt better again. With Dennis finally gone, I was able to relax, and with the three days off Mike gave me I was back to my old self in no time.

I was now on my laptop at home, calling Cam, as I did every evening.

"Hi, Tracy," she said, coming onto the screen. "Good day at work?"

I nodded. "Yeah, everything's gone back to normal now Dennis has gone, thankfully. Charlotte was trying to teach Tee to dance, and got me to help. We weren't very good!"

Cam laughed. "She sounds like a good little dancer." She paused. "Have I told you about Alexia?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"Well, she works on reception on our floor," said Cam. She was telling me today she's got a daughter: I mentioned I'd been talking to you. And she's called Charlotte."

My eyes widened with shock for a moment, and I tried to remember what I'd read on Charlotte's file.

"What's her full name?" I asked.

"Alexia Hayes," said Cam.

"Oh, my..." I trailed off, smiling as I realised something. "I think I know where Charlotte is."

Cam looked puzzled, before her eyes widened in shock too. "You don't mean..."

I nodded. "Charlotte's at Elm Tree."

We talked for a little while longer, Cam telling me all about Alexia, and what Alexia had said about why she'd had to leave Charlotte, and I knew I had to let them see each other. I just hoped Mike would agree...

I walked into the office the next afternoon (I had a later shift that day), where Mike was sitting doing paperwork.

"Hiya," I said as I walked in. "Um, I was talking to Cam last night, and..."

"Is everything alright?" asked Mike, interrupting me.

"Yeah, no, no, nothing's wrong," I said quickly. "Anyway, she works with a woman called Alexia Hayes..." I trailed off, hoping Mike would get what I was getting at.

"And..." Mike prompted.

"She says she has a daughter called Charlotte, and..." I said.

"You think she might be Charlotte's mum," said Mike, interrupting me again. He paused. "Well, it's certainly possible, but we'll have to get social services involved, and..."

"Can she talk to Charlotte?" I asked. "I could call Cam on my laptop, and..."

"No," said Mike, quickly and firmly. "Absolutely not."

"But..." I began.

"No," said Mike. "And that's final."

I left the room, annoyed that I couldn't do anything to get Charlotte to see her mum.

And then I smiled.

I was going to do it anyway.

It was a stupid rule, and it deserved to be broken.

I ran into Charlotte's room excitedly, forgetting to knock.

"Hi, Tracy," she said.

"Charlotte," I said, sitting down on her bed. "I think I might have found where your mum is."

Charlotte's eyes widened. "Really?"

I nodded, smiling at her. "I'll bring my laptop up here, and then we'll try and talk to her, yeah?"

Charlotte nodded, huge smile on her face.

I smiled back, before I went to get my laptop.

I came back after a minute, coming back into Charlotte's room and sitting back on her bed. I turned on the laptop, and then patted the bed beside me for her to sit.

Charlotte was almost jumping with excitement, and she bounded over to the bed.

As I called Cam I crossed my fingers that she would be there. She would probably have just got into work, it being the morning in New York, so hopefully she would pick up.

Thankfully it only took a minute or so before Cam's face came onto the screen. She looked worried.

"Tracy?" she said. "Is everything alright? You don't usually call at this time."

I smiled. "Yeah, everything's fine." I looked down at Charlotte and gave her a smile, before I looked back at the screen. "This is Charlotte."

Cam smiled. "Hi, Charlotte," she said. "Tracy's told me all about you. You sound like a very good little girl."

Charlotte smiled.

"Is Alexia around?" I asked. "I was hoping Charlotte could see her."

"Yes, I just saw her, actually," said Cam. "I'll go and get her."

And with that she left.

We sat nervously for a minute, and then suddenly Charlotte shouted out: "Mum!"

The woman following Cam sat down, looking intently at the screen. "Charlotte? Oh Charlotte, it's you!"

Charlotte started to cry.

"No, Baby, don't cry," said Alexia. "I'm here now."

I put my arm around Charlotte, giving her a hug.

"That's Tracy, my daughter," said Cam. "She works at Elm Tree House, where Charlotte's living."

I gave Alexia a smile.

"You look after my little girl?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. She looks after me as well. You're a good girl, aren't you, Charlotte?"

Charlotte nodded. "We all look after each other. Everyone's really nice. Even Elektra, although she can be a bit mean sometimes. And Sapphire wasn't very nice to me when I took her room either."

I looked at Alexia anxiously, worried she'd think we weren't doing a good enough job to keep Charlotte out of trouble, but she just shook her head jokingly."

"Kids, eh?" she said.

Cam gave me a little look. "Oh no, Tracy was much worse than that!"

I pretended to be offended. "Oh, thanks, Cam!"

Cam laughed, and I gave her a look.

"Will I be able to talk to you every day?" asked Charlotte.

"Oh, Baby, I'd love that so much," said Alexia. "But I'm not sure if Tracy..."

"No, no, I'm fine with that," I said. I gave Cam a little smile, knowing I'd get to see her more often too.

"Tell me all about what you've been doing, Charlotte," said Alexia. "I haven't seen you for weeks!"

"Well, I..." began Charlotte. She stopped as the door opened, and a very angry Mike came in.

"Tracy," he said calmly. "Shut down your laptop please, and then come with me."

I swallowed nervously. "Charlotte, say goodbye," I said. "I'll see you tonight, Cam."

"Bye, Charlotte," said Alexia.

"NOOO!" wailed Charlotte, but it was too late. I closed the window, and then shut down my laptop.

Charlotte began to scream, clinging to me.

"Tracy, come with me, please," said Mike.

I let go of Charlotte, giving her hair a small stroke. "Just wait here, Charlotte, OK?"

Charlotte didn't reply, just carried on screaming.

I gave her one last look, before I got off the bed and followed Mike down to the office.

Mike POV

"What the hell were you doing?"

Tracy sat silently on a chair, looking down at the floor, obviously knowing she was in the wrong.

"I specifically told you not to let Charlotte talk to Alexia," I said. "And you did it anyway!"

Tracy stayed looking down at the floor, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"We have rules and procedures there for a reason," I said. "What if that hadn't have been Charlotte's mum? You could have put her in danger."

Tracy still didn't reply.

"Tracy, look at me," I said. When she still stayed looking at the floor, I felt my anger growing. "Look at me!"

Tracy looked up.

"When I tell you not to do something, you are not to do it," I said. "Is that understood?"

Tracy looked back to the floor.

"You could have put Charlotte in a lot of danger there, meeting up with a stranger," I said.

Tracy looked up. "But it was her mum!" she said. "She was just talking to her mum, who only left her because she couldn't afford to look after Charlotte properly. She was just trying to giver her a better life!"

"And it's up to the social worker, not us, to decide if they should be allowed to see each other," said Mike. "Now, if you know what you did was wrong I won't let you get into any trouble, but..."

"It's her mum!" Tracy yelled. "How would you like it if you couldn't see your mum?" She paused. "How do you think I would have coped, if I couldn't see Cam?"

Tracy had me there. I knew I would never even dream of taking Cam away from Tracy, not after the time she'd had recently.

But this was different.

"Charlotte is still not allowed to see her mum," I said. "And that's... Tracy, come back here!"

I called after her as Tracy ran out of the room. She returned mere seconds later with her laptop, and thrust it at me. "Take both our mums away, see if I care."

And then she was gone.

Tracy POV

I regretted what I'd done almost instantly.

I needed Cam.

But then again, Charlotte needed Alexia.

I was going to go up to Charlotte's room, but decided against it as tears ran down my cheeks. I went as fast as I could down to the kitchen and out to the garden, asking Tee to check on Charlotte as I passed.

As soon as I was outside I ran to the swing, kneeling down on the ground next to it, resting my arms on the swing and my head on them.

I knew what I'd done was wrong, but at the same time all I'd wanted to do was help Charlotte, as she'd helped me so many times when everything had got too much.

As I cried I could feel my breathing speeding up, and, knowing what it was, I tried not to panic.

It didn't work.

It felt like ages before I could breathe again, and then there was a fresh wave of tears.

I barely noticed Mike coming down the garden, gently placing his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me.

"Come inside, Trace," he said gently. "Charlotte's asking for you. She wants to know why you're crying. Tee told her, and me."

"Just leave me alone," I mumbled.

"At least come inside," said Mike. "Please? For me?"

I didn't respond.

Mike rubbed my shoulder a few more times, before he took his hand away and stood up. "Come in when you're ready."

And then he left me.

And then it started to rain.

Charlotte POV

I was still crying when Mike came back.

"Is Tracy alright?" asked Tee.

Mike sighed. "She will be, don't worry."

I could tell he was lying.

"Should I go and see her?" I asked.

Mike looked outside. There was a thunderstorm.

"She'll be alright," said Mike. "Just, wait until she gets inside."

"She's outside?" I said. I jumped off the bed and ran downstairs, until I got outside. I ran around the garden, trying to find Tracy.

She was sitting by the swing.

"Tracy?" I said. "Tracy, don't cry. It's not your fault."

Tracy looked at me. "Are you alright?"

I nodded.

I could see Tracy was trying to stop crying, but it wasn't working. I went up to her and gave her a hug.

Tracy hugged me back. "I'm sorry, Charlotte," she said. "I shouldn't have let you see your mum: Mike told me I wasn't allowed to."

"Did he stop you from seeing your mum?" I asked.

Tracy shook her head. "No." She paused. "But I did. I gave him my laptop."

I stood up. "Let's go and get it back, then."

"No, it's alright, I..." began Tracy.

"Come on," I said.

After a few more tries Tracy stood up, and we went inside.

Mike POV

I'd followed Charlotte down to the kitchen when she'd run off, but I'd stopped there. If she didn't come back in in ten minutes, I'd go after her then.

Just five minutes after I'd got down to the kitchen, Charlotte came in, holding Tracy's hand and leading her in.

They were both soaked.

As soon as Tracy saw me she let go of Charlotte's hand and walked past me.

"Mike," said Charlotte as I watched Tracy walk out of the room. "Can Tracy have her laptop back?"

"Did she ask you to ask that?" I asked.

"She misses her mum," Charlotte said simply.

"It's in the office," I said. I went to the office to fetch it, Charlotte following me.

When we got there, Gina was sitting at her desk.

"Is Tracy alright?" she asked. "She was in tears just now."

"Yes, she's, um..." I trailed off. "You wouldn't go and have a word with her, would you? I think she could do with it."

Gina smiled, before she left the office.

"Oh, Gina, wait!" I said.

Gina came back.

"Can you give her this?" I asked, passing her Tracy's laptop.

Gina looked a bit confused, but took the laptop all the same, before she went to go and see Tracy.

Tracy POV

I was lying on my side, in the same position I'd been in the quiet room last time, on the bed in the spare staff bedroom. I hadn't stopped crying since I'd come in, and I just wanted Cam.

There was a soft knock on my door, before it slowly opened and Gina came in. She gently put my laptop down on the bedside table, before she sat on the edge of the bed.

"You OK, babes?" she asked.

I nodded, closing my eyes, trying to stop the tears from flowing.

"Did Mike send you?" I asked.

Gina nodded. "Yes, he did. He's very worried about you, you know." She ran her hand over my hair. "And so am I."

"I'm fine," I said, using the same lie I had six weeks ago.

Things are just piling up, I guess.

Gina wasn't going buy it.

She gave me a look, but there was also sympathy and concern in her eyes.

I closed my eyes as more tears fell. "I miss Cam."

Even though I wasn't as panicky as I had been when Cam had first left me on my own, I still missed her.

A lot.

"Oh, babes," said Gina. "Of course you miss her: she's your mum."

As I began to cry properly Gina put her hand on my shoulder, gently rubbing it up and down. I gave her a small, grateful smile.

My sobs began to fade after a few minutes, but I still felt awful.

Just then there was another knock at the door, another soft knock, one I recognised.

Mike opened the door and came in, followed by Charlotte.

"You OK, lovely?" asked Mike.

I nodded.

"You're still feeling well?" asked Mike.

I nodded, even though I felt slightly sick. That was probably just everything that had happened, though.

"Can Tracy call her mum?" asked Charlotte.

"Yeah, Gina gave her her laptop back," said Mike.

"I wish I could call my mum," said Charlotte.

I looked hopefully at Mike, but he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Charlotte," he said. "I'll talk to your social worker, and then maybe she'll let you see her."

"But I want to see Mum now!" Charlotte shouted. "Tracy let me see her!"

"I know she did," said Mike. "But she shouldn't have done."

I looked away from him.

"But hopefully you'll see your mum soon, yeah?" said Mike.

Tears began to roll down Charlotte's cheeks. "That's so unfair!"

And with that she ran out of the room.

I sat up. "I'll talk to her."

I got off the bed, and then followed Charlotte out of the room.

Charlotte was crying when I got there, curled up on her bed in a ball, hey body shaking with sobs.

"Hey," I said, sitting down on the bed next to her, putting hand on her back. "You'll be able to see your mum soon."

"But I want to see her now!" said Charlotte.

"I know you do," I said.

There wasn't much else I could say. I couldn't get Charlotte to see her mum, because if I offered to let her I'd be in even more trouble, and Charlotte would just get more upset.

I did know how she felt though. When I'd been in care, I'd pined for my mum, sitting on the windowsill for hours, hoping she'd turn up.

She never did.

And now poor Charlotte couldn't see her mum either.

It was unfair.

I gave Charlotte a reassuring smile. "I know you miss your mum, but you've got me to look after you. And Mike, and Gina, and Tee, and everyone else."

Charlotte nodded, but she kept on crying.

The two of us were sitting there for about half an hour before Mike came in.

"Hi," he said he came though the door. "Gina's doing dinner, I just came to see how you were."

Charlotte mumbled something.

"She's not hungry," I said. I paused for a moment. "And neither am I."

Mike sighed. "Are you sure? I mean, you've got to eat something."

"I don't feel well," mumbled Charlotte.

I gave her back a comforting rub.

"Well, you can always come and get something later," said Mike. He gave Charlotte a concerned look, before he left, closing the door behind him.

"Why don't you feel well, Charlotte?" I asked.

"Because I can't see Mum!" said Charlotte.

I'd actually meant what was wrong with her, how she felt unwell, but it was so unfair on her.

I just hoped her social worker would agree with me...

A/N I actually managed to get a lot of words pretty quickly this time, and I've got ideas for next chapter and I think it'll all work out so I'm going to end it here. Hope you enjoyed it, please review! :-D