Michelle Connor stood nervously outside her best friends flat. She had keys to let herself in, keys that Nick had given her that had once belong to him but she didn't want to just barge right in.

She wasn't sure how Carla would react to her bursting in unannounced.

She felt ridiculous for standing there and feeling so nervous but she just didn't know what to do.

She wasn't equipped to handle a situation like this but then again... who was?

It was about nine thirty am and she had decided to bring over a few bacon rolls for breakfast and see if she could maybe make some sort of amends.

She knew why Carla had been ignoring her calls, they'd had words the first night she had got back from Portsmouth and Michelle had been very harsh with her.

She wished she had given Carla some more time to deal with things properly but it was too late do any thing about it now.

Sometimes you just have to be cruel to be kind.

Michelle eventually forced herself to knock on Carla's door. She chewed her bottom lip and breathes heavily as her first knock when unanswered.

This didn't surprise Michelle though, she thought that Carla would ignore it... Or maybe that she'd be in bed.

"Carla it's Michelle... I've got keys... If you don't let me in I'll just let me self in."

No answer.

Michelle didn't know what to do, she had warned Carla but she still didn't want to just open the door and let herself in.

She knocked on the door again, Carla answered it after three more knocks and was stood in a white vest and matching white shorts.

Her hair was looking rather on the wild side and she looked as if she hadn't slept for days.

"Hi." Carla said awkwardly, she had been ignoring all of Michelle's calls for days now and their first interaction in days was something that she didn't really know how to handle.

"Can I come in?" Michelle asked anxiously, hating what this Peter situation had done to her and her best friend.

This was probably the longest they hadn't spoken and it killed Michelle to know that she couldn't help Carla in the slightest, although when Michelle had thought about it some more she realised that no one could... Carla had to sort this out herself.

"If you want…" Carla shrugged, moving aside so that Michelle could enter her flat properly.

As Michelle walked inside she gazed around at the state of Carla's flat. There were empty pizza boxes on the counter alongside a lot of empty glasses and plates, there was also a pile of clothes that were sat next to her washing machine and there were boxes of Peter's stuff sat in the corner.

"Wow…" Michelle gasped as Carla closed the door behind her.

"What?" Carla said defensively, knowing that her place was untidy but pretending otherwise for Michelle's sake.

"I just… Don't think I've ever seen your flat so messy before." Michelle said as Carla walked past her and went into her kitchen.

"Yeah well… I've had more important things on me mind avent I?" Carla said, putting some of the empty glasses and mugs into her sink, trying to make things look a little tidier. "Besides its not like Peter can help me is it?"

"No I suppose not…" Michelle said, gazing around the flat and then biting her lip. "Where is he?"

"Alseep." Carla said, nodding towards her bedroom, where she had left Peter snoozing.

"Oh right…" Michelle sighed, she watched as Carla calmly tidied up her kitchen slightly. "I bought you some breakfast over for ya?" She said, holding up the bag of bacon rolls that she had got from Roy's.

"Thanks." Carla said as she filled up her sink with water and as Michelle put the bacon rolls down on her work surface.

"So… I heard Nick came over yesterday." Michelle began,

"Yeah he did." Carla swallowed, not looking at Michelle as she spoke. "It were well uncomfortable."

"Yeah... I can imagine." Michelle replied, wondering if Carla would talk about Nick some mor but she didn't. She just carried on pretending to tidy up.

Michelle sighed and closed her eyes for a moment and shook her head, not knowing what to say or do. She was thankful that Carla had let her in and that she was talking to her but Michelle didn't know how long she could dance around the subject of Peter for.

His leather jacket was draped over the side of Carla's sofa and as Carla came over to it, she saw that Michelle was looking at it. Carla picked it up and clung onto it as Michelle opened her eyes and said,

"Carla… ave you been out today?"

"Yes…" Carla nodded, looking down at Peter's jacket. "I went to the café… It were horrible Chelle… I mean I only went in there for a coffee, People were all staring at me and judging me… So in the end I just walked back out."

"I don't think that they are judging you babe… I just think they are finding it hard to know what to say." Michelle said softly.

"Well I don't want em to say anything… I want em all to mind their own business." Carla sighed, shaking her head and sitting down next to Michelle.

"What about the factory? Ave you been there?" Michelle asked.

"No… Not yet… It's not like they need me, Aidan and Johnny ave it covered." Carla sighed, she yawned as Michelle stared at the dark circles that were underneath her eyes.

"Babe you look exhausted." She sighed, rubbing Carla sympathetically on the leg.

"That'll be cause I am Chelle… Looking after Peter is hard work and he barley gets any sleep because he's still in so much pain… So I like to stay up n be with him y'know." Carla said with a soft smile, thinking about the past few nights where she had stayed up chatting with Peter.

They talked about anything and everything…

Well not everything but the things that they didn't talk about were subjects that Carla definitely didn't want to talk about anyway.

Michelle worriedly watched her best friend smile like the situation that she was in was completely normal and decided that maybe it was time to try and talk some sense into her.

"Carla I know that you've had a shock… The accident and stuff but I really think that you need to sit down and rethink this… All of this."

"Rethink what?" Carla cried, shaking her head at Michelle.

"I just don't want you to get into this too deep…" Michelle began but Carla got up and threw Peter's jacket back down on the sofa.

"You know what Michelle I really really don't need to hear this, I heard it all with Nick and that were bad enough, if you can't be happy for me then leave." Carla said as Michelle stood up.

"I want to speak to Peter." Michelle said, breathing heavily and deciding that talking to Carla was still useless.

"No… No you can't, I told you he is asleep." Carla said, walking over to her bedroom door and standing in front of it as if she was guarding it with her life.

"So? Wake him up." Michelle said firmly, standing her ground.

"What? No way Michelle, the man has been in a car crash in case you ave forgotten! I told you he's been finding it hard to sleep… Leave him be." Carla cried.

"Carla… You n me both know the reason that you don't want me to see Peter… Deep down you know this can't last forever." Michelle cried back, earning a hard shove from Carla.

"That's it Chelle, Get out!" She cried, pushing Michelle again, "Go on… Leave now!"

"Carla please…" Michelle begged but she could see how distressed Carla had become and she knew that she was really going to get nowhere.

She really didn't want to leave but she knew the longer she stayed and the more she said about Peter, the angrier Carla would get.

She knew that today had been a break through, that being allowed in to Carla's flat was progress and that if she wanted to keep making progress then she needed to be on Carla's good side.

So… eventually, Michelle nodded. She began to walk away from Carla's bedroom door and towards the door of her flat instead.

"I'm gonna go because I can see how me being ere is getting to you… Just know that... When ever you're ready to talk about this properly… I'll be ere… Any time... any day… I'll come." Michelle said quietly and with that she left, she had no choice.

Hours later... Carla was sat at her dinning table tucking in to that bacon roll from Roy's that Michelle had given her.

She had a mouth full of food when Peter emerged from her bathroom in a white T-Shirt and jeans.

"Hey... What are you doing dressed?" Carla asked, getting up off her chair and walking over to him.

"Well as much as you would like me to… I can't stay naked forever." Peter grinned, walking slowly over to the table and meeting Carla's lips for a kiss.

"Why not?" Carla giggled, sitting back down on her chair and going back to her bacon roll. Peter looked at it and the one that she had set out on a plate for him and then asked,

"Where did they come from? Did you go out?" He asked, sitting down carefully as he spoke. Carla watched him sympathetically wondering how much pain he was still in from the crash and wondering how long it would take for it to go away properly. "Carla did you go out and get these?" Peter asked again.

"No…" Carla said shaking her head and looking down at her food. "Michelle brought em for us."

"Michelle?" Peter asked,

"Yep." Carla nodded,

"Ahhh that's nice of her…" Peter begun, "But I wish you'd go out n get some fresh air."

"Balcony." Carla said, nodding towards it smugly.

"Carla you know what I mean... you've hardly been out since we got back."

"Well that's where your wrong Barlow, because I went out this morning whilst you were still in bed actually."

"Really?" Peter asked his tone laced with suspicion.

"Yes really, I went to Roy's…" Carla said, chewing on some bacon.

"Oh yeah? n how did it go?" Peter asked, Carla sighed at him and shook her head.

"Awful... I could tell that everyone was looking at me and thinking that I'm a complete bitch for ending it with Nick." She said.

"I don't think that's what they were thinking darlin." Peter said guiltily.

"Well... What ever they are thinking... It doesn't matter. I don't need em... I don't need any of em." Carla said firmly, trying her hardest to show Peter that she really didn't care about what the people around her were saying.

"Yes you do... You do need em Carla." Peter sighed.

"Look... I just think we all just need some time to get used to things that's all... anyways, I can't go out too much can I? You're not up to going out yet and like I told you, I am not letting you out of my sight." Carla said.

"And who said I'm not up to going out yet?" Peter asked with his head on one side.

Carla ignored his question as she picked up the plate she had put his bacon roll on and handed it to him.

"Eat."

"Nah…" Peter said, "I still don't ave much of an appetite at the moment."

"See you're turning down bacon…" Carla said, shaking her head at Peter, with a grin. "That is how I know you're not well enough to go out yet." Peter chuckled at her as she bit back into her own roll.

Peter smiled affectionately at Carla as she ate.

After everything that had happened to him recently, a simple thing like watching Carla eat was suddenly a real privilege to Peter, Her being sat opposite him wearing next to nothing was a sight he'd never thought he'd see again but it also reminded him that it was a sight that he wasn't going to be able to see forever.

Soon it would be time for him to leave..

He knew it would upset her… No it would devastate her.

He knew it wouldn't be easy in fact it would probably be the hardest thing he ever had to do but he also knew that it was something that sooner or later had to happen.

He had to go... He had to go for Carla's sake.