Thank you so much for reading and replying. Hope you like this part...

Part Two

She was on the ground, her whole body exploding with sharp pain that set her teeth on edge, but she was more concerned to why she was on the floor in an undignified heap. For a long time it hurt too much to move or to think so she stayed still on the damp rough ground and hoped the waves of agony would pass.

Then there was a metal clanging, sharp and loud and she would have covered her ears at the blinding pain it sent through her head but she was not quite conscious enough to move yet. And then someone was saying something, just one word and although she could not work it out she recognised something urgent in the noise. It took longer than it should for her to recognise her own name and she wished who ever was saying it would just leave her alone and just let her fall back into blissful unconsciousness.

With the hammering of feet running towards her she tried to force herself to sit up only to get halfway before a wave of dizziness forced her back down again. Movement felt as if someone had pushed hot pokers behind her eyes. It hurt so much that for a few seconds she forgot to breathe as she silently screamed for a release.

She must have passed out briefly because the next thing she remembered is blinking rapidly up at a figure that was crouched over her. There was a slight weight on her shoulder that must be a hand and with it the pieces finally start to fall back into place and she recognises the concerned dark eyes squinting down at her.

"Kevin." She tried to say instinctively as soon as her brain supplied a name that went with the face. Her voice sounded too weak to be her own, or her hearing was muddied so it did not seem as if the sounds had come from her mouth. And then she remembered another mans voice with a booming Scottish accent calling him Webster. Tony, she was thinking of Tony.

"You're all right love. Try not to move that was a nasty fall." She wanted to tell him that he mumbled too much and she struggled to hear and understand him but that felt like too much effort. And then she was too busy wondering what he meant by a fall.

"She alright Kev?" The new voice was even more irritating and she had no name to go with it. Only a mental flash of a potato that made her want to giggle like a school girl.

Kevin grunted his lack of answer to the question and she would have felt humiliated at being discussed like that but she was more concerned with the hands on her arms and legs patting her down. She groaned in annoyance and swiped the hands away when they went towards her ribs. As she moved a new stronger pain over took what had become a constant ache in her whole body besides the pounding in her head. The hands came into contact with a tender part of her side that sucked the air from her lungs, and one arm felt clumsy, a shooting pain shooting up to her shoulder when she moved it too much.

"Carla, calm down love. I just need to make sure you aint broken anything." She wanted to be angry. The panic was the sharpest thing to break through the fog in her mind; it was the only thing that helped make her eyes focus and her body move on command. But there was something in the gruff voice that she found just a little comforting and calming.

He had children; it stuck her suddenly and strangely. This was how a father talked to a child who had grazed its knees. Maybe later she would be conscious enough to be embarrassed at others witnessing her weakness.

For a while all she could do was blink stupidly as Kevin continued to check her over her fuzzy vision distorting his form. She tried her best not to cry out each time he finds a bruise or cut. Mr Potato Head hovered in the background but she tried to ignore him as it was too draining just focusing on the man in front of her. Why was she so tired? Maybe she had another night of restless sleep but she could not quite remember.

"I don't think anything is broken but I'm no doctor and those ribs seem a bit tender." The Kevin shape frowns as he speaks and she almost rolls her eyes. He opens his mouth to say some more but shuts it again at a sudden shrill ringing noise. For a moment she entertains the notion that the sound might have actually come from Kevin and even though it is painful to hear she wants to laugh at the silliness. The noise sent further spikes of pain through her tender head and she felt like she might be sick.

Then Kevin turned his head and looked just behind her. She turned following his gaze to see a phone, her phone and a few other random possessions sprawled across the pavement, her bag lying near by. It was her phone ringing. Her phone had been ringing before she had fallen.

And then the potato man lumbered over clumsily to pick the phone up, his hands slick with what looked like oil. "Says its Tony calling." He announced and stood there dumbly.

She groaned at the thought of holding a conversation, tipping her head forward and closing her eyes she felt something sticky dripping down the side of her face. "Course it is. Shut it off Ty." Kevin commanded.

The quiet was a relief as she brought her hand up automatically to wipe her face. Her fingers came into contact with something warm and wet bringing her hand to eye level she was met by the unmistakable shine of blood. No wonder her head felt so bad.

A gentle hand on her shoulder brought the world around her back into focus. "Careful you've got a nasty cut there. Do you remember what happened?"

She still hurt like hell and her vision refused to focus entirely but her brain was finally staring to work. She remembered being stressed and dizzy and at the top of the steps and her phone lost in the depths of her bag then there was pain.

"Most of it I think." She frowned and then immediately regretted it when a spot on her temple started to throb intensely. Her embarrassment becoming stronger, she wanted to get up and hide in her factory.

"That was possibly the worst place you could faint." Kevin sounded sympathetic but she could not help but get a little angry.

"I didn't faint." She insisted sharply without thinking. She tried to clench her hands into fists but her left arm was too painful to move, it felt sprained and she tucked it in gently to her side. Thankfully it was her rips on the opposite side that were causing her pain.

"I saw love. You just suddenly crumbled." He insisted gently.

"No," She did not even sound convinced to her own ears. Tears pricked at her eyes because she hated being so helpless. If only she could just leave or disappear into the cobbles. She would get up only she did not trust her legs to hold up and falling over would only add to her humiliation. "Can you just help me up please?"

"Kevin, you forgot your sandwiches again. Honestly I don't know why I bother making them."

A new voice from further down the street stopped her train of thought and they all turned to watch Sally approach, a plastic lunch box clutched in her hands. Sally stopped suddenly when she looked up and saw the scene in front of her.

"Kevin, what an earth is going on?" She asked her husband eyeing the woman he crouched over suspiciously and then Tyrone who stood clutching Carla's bag having picked up all her belongings.

"It's nothing Sally." Carla insisted very aware that there was blood dripping off her chin and probably staining her pale and expensive cardigan.

"She fainted and fell down the stairs." Tyrone explained at almost the same time.

Sally's hand went over her mouth with an almost comical gesture of shock. "Goodness, you look terrible Miss Connor. Should I call an ambulance?" She was already trying to balance Kevin's lunch in one hand while the other reached into her pocket before she received an answer.

"No Sally, there really is no need. Will someone just help me get up?" Carla pleaded quickly; ready to use threats or insults if they refused to listen to her. All she wanted was to get off the cold floor. She hated the way everyone had to look down at her.

"Are you sure? You could have something seriously wrong like a concussion or…"

Carla groaned and covered her ears as Sally talked. It felt better when she held her head, like she could hold the pain inside still enough that she could think clearly.

"Sal, I think she's made up her mind." Kevin cut in and Carla was insanely grateful. "Lets just get her off the ground and then we can decide if we need a doctor or anything."

"Honestly I don't know why you haven't done that already. Dressed like that she'll catch hypothermia down there." Sally snorted.

"What can I say I forgot my thermals." Carla snapped. "If you promise to just shut up I'll give you the rest of the day off." She closed her eyes hoping they would all disappear as much as she hoped the pain would end.

She did not have to open her eyes to see the offended expression on Sally's face. "Well it might be better if I run the factory for you for the rest of the day. You don't have to worry about a thing. Let my just find someone to help who is not covered in motor grease and round up all the girls."

"Sally…" Kevin started and Carla felt him move away towards his wife.

"Don't fuss Kevin. Miss Connor does not want that ravel see her like this. If I find them all I can keep control." She explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Carla opened her eyes to see the older woman already hurrying away.

"Could my day get any worse?" Carla whispered softly already dreading the answer.