"Is there not another more upmarket place you're interested in?!" Carla questioned, her arms were folded across her chest as she looked around the 'Primark' store.

Rachel scoffed and inspected the Mickey Mouse tracksuit she had spotted, "scared you'll bump into someone you know?!" She asked knowingly before changing the subject, "I like this! It's looks well cosy!

Carla studied the girl's facial expression and found herself relaxing slightly. The look of glee on Rachel's face always made her feel at ease. "Put it in the basket. You need new socks and vests! They're this way!" Carla pointed in the direction of the kids section. "When we've got those, we'll be getting in the queue. I saw a wonderful boutique on the other side of the road. I'm sure they'll have something for both of us in there."

The eight year old rolled her eyes as she picked out some vests and socks, "ok but I'm starving! Is it almost time for lunch?!"

The brunette glanced at her watch briefly and sighed. She was normally the type to go for a quick liquid lunch before going back to the office for a bit of paperwork. That usually set her up until around five or six in the evening before she headed over to the Rovers for the evening - unless she had an after hours meeting with a client. However, this weekend - as well as the couple before that - had looked completely different as she attempted to settle Rachel into somewhat of a kid friendly routine.

"Ok. After we have a look in the boutique we'll grab a bite to eat. There's a good Italian somewhere in the precinct." Carla relented.

Rachel groaned and rolled her eyes, "I'm bored of posh food! Can't we have McDonalds? It's just down the high street!" It had been so long since anyone had indulged in her craving for fast food. Since being with Carla, she had either been given bistro food or an Indian or Chinese or had to endure Carla's attempts at home cooking. At that point, she could really do with a large quarter pounder cheese meal with a chocolate shake which was followed up with a hot apple pie or an icy Oreo McFlurry!

Carla gazed into Rachel's bright blue puppy dog eyes before sighing, "ok fine. But just this once. Now come on, let's go and find a decent spot in the line for the till!"

Rachel grinned and practically skipped along beside her informal carer, towards the common as muck queue in the precinct's Primark!

Life as she knew it had changed a lot indeed for the one and only Carla Connor!

XXX

"Next please!" The McDonald's employee called.

Carla and Rachel stepped forwards to place their order. "Yeah, I'll have a large quarter pounder cheese meal with a chocolate shake. Add an apple pie too!"

The fast food worker tapped at the screen in front of her before glancing between the smartly dressed woman and the young child. "Anything else?"

Rachel looked at Carla expectantly and the factory owner rolled her eyes. "I'll have a salad and a latte, please."

"Oh my god," Rachel groaned, "you are so embarrassing! Who orders a salad in McDonalds?!"

Carla ignored the girl as the clerk smirked to herself at Rachel's comment and announced the price of the order. Taking out a twenty pound note from her purse, Carla addressed Rachel, "Hush. You've got what you wanted. Why don't you go and find a table whilst I wait for the food?"

Rachel huffed and rolled her eyes before doing as she was told.

"Kids aye?!"

Carla glanced to her right only to see a random woman engaging in conversation with her. The business woman didn't know what to say but she was saved by the woman's next words directed towards her.

"Just be grateful you have just the one! I have three all under ten! Your little girl seems like a right handful though!"

Carla was almost gobsmacked at the casualness of the woman's words. On one hand, she was shocked at the woman's carefree attitude due to the fact she had so many kids under a certain age and was still able to seem somewhat sane. On the other hand, she resisted the automatic thing which was to deny being Rachel's mother but in the end she decided to go along with the woman's assumptions and stick up for the cheeky little girl in her care. No one was going to snidely badmouth that girl of hers!

"Ah. She probably gets that from me! I've taught her well!" Carla said, her tone filled with pride. Oh, Carla was aware that there was no way Rachel could have physically inherited anything from her. They hadn't even known each other long enough for Carla's own outspoken attitude to rub off on the girl. Nope, Rachel was just naturally a little gobby and Carla wouldn't have it any other way.

The woman scoffed. "As I said, just be glad you have just the one. I would love to see what your girl is like in her teen years though. I bet you'll be pulling your hair out! Watch this space!"

Carla was able to stop herself from biting back as her order number was called out, "yeah well at least my kid knows her twelve times tables. I bet your lot add two and two and come up with twelve!" She said somewhat smugly. It was true that Rachel seemed to be a little advanced in her maths skills. Of course, Carla was no expert in teaching but she was pretty sure that Rachel had - at this stage in her schooling - a gift for the aforementioned subject. The child must have gone through about twenty maths work sheets in the week previous!

The invasive woman gaped at Carla but before she could respond, Carla had collected her order and stalked off towards the table where Rachel was sat.

"What took so long?" Rachel whined as Carla sat down at the table she had picked out.

Carla rolled her eyes as she passed the girl her 'food'. "Listen, they might call this a fast food restaurant but there is seriously nothing 'fast' about it. Come on, eat up. That will be stone cold in a minute." She ranted lightheartedly at the girl and glanced at the fries and burger laid out before her charge. The business woman then began to tuck into her own food.

Rachel giggled and shook her head. "I still can't believe you chose to have that here! Why do old people like having salad for lunch? Who eats salad in McDonalds?!"

Carla almost gasped out loud and her mouth hung open in shock just as she was about to consume a forkful of lettuce and cucumber. Did the kid seriously just call her - Carla Connor - old?! "Eh, don't be cheeky! Who are you calling 'old'? You know I'm starting to think that lady has a point about you!" She scolded in a teasing tone of voice.

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, her food suddenly forgotten, "what lady?!"

"Oh, just some woman I was in the queue with. She basically said that you need to be brought down a peg or two." Carla shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't understand?" Rachel responded questioningly.

Carla shook her head and sighed, "don't worry. You are nothing like her kids. I think that's them over there." She said dismissively and gestured towards a group of kids who were running riot. Carla caught sight of the woman who had dared to try and trash talk Rachel and smugly as if to say 'my kid knows how to behave in public'. The mother of three looked as if though she was at the end of her tether. She felt her smirk widen and she raised a subtle eyebrow when she received an envious glare from the lady in question.

"CC?"

Carla's attention was immediately drawn away from the chaotic scene across the restaurant by the sound of Rachel's voice, "huh?"

Rachel smiled after taking a sip of her chocolate shake. "So I've watched the trailer for it and I've decided that I want to watch 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules'. It looks well funny!" Her eyes were shining with laughter as she thought back to the little snippets she had seen in the advert for the movie she had suggested.

Carla almost melted there and then at the carefree look on her mini companion's face. She just simply nodded as she replied with, "yeah. Whatever you want, darlin'."

Rachel clapped excitedly as she chewed on a French fry and Carla just knew that a little indulgence was good for a kid like the one under her supervision.

XXX

"Can we get snacks?" Rachel asked as she rocked back and forth excitedly besides Carla.

They were currently stood in the queue at the cinema as they waited their turn to buy their tickets for the movie Rachel had chosen. Carla glanced down at the girl and smiled, "of course! We can't watch a movie without any snacks can we?!" She then glanced up and saw that they had about another five or ten minute wait before she spotted the pick 'n' mix counter.

Carla took her purse out of her handbag and handed Rachel a twenty pound note. "Tell you what. Let's make things quicker. Why don't you go and pick the sweets whilst I wait here to get our tickets? Tell me what drink and the kind of popcorn you want and I will meet you by that poster just there." She said as she handed the girl the money and gestured to a movie poster of another kiddie film.

Rachel's eyes lit up with glee as she looked between the cash and Carla. "Thanks, CC! You're the best!"

Carla was almost knocked off her feet when Rachel flung herself at her and wrapped her arms tightly around her waist. For a moment, she was stunned but was quick to reciprocate the impromptu embrace. "You're welcome, sweetheart." She replied softly and planted a quick peck to the top of the child's head. "Now go on. Make sure you get plenty of those sour cola bottles! They're my favourite!"She then released them both from the hug and gently pushed Rachel in the general direction of the sweets and ice cream counter.

Ok, so maybe it wasn't the best idea to ply the kid with so much sugar all in one day but at that moment, Carla genuinely believed she would agree to anything if it meant Rachel had that permanent ecstatic lookin her eyes.

"Oh! I wanna see that!" Rachel exclaimed, practically bouncing in her seat.

Carla and the little girl had just sat down in their selected seats when the trailers had started. Since then, Rachel had insisted that she wanted to see every upcoming kids movie known to man. Instead of being irritated by the kid's antics, Carla was highly amused as she agreed that they would try and see every film Rachel had shown the slightest interest in.

After about fifteen minutes of adverts, the theatre lights dimmed as the audience were reminded to switch off all mobile phones and that talking excessively was prohibited. There were about two milliseconds of dead silence until the lights went out completely and the opening scene of the movie began. Carla was shocked when Rachel jumped out of her chair and planted herself on Carla's lap.

Without speaking, Carla wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulder and kissed the top of the child's head. "Hey, what's this about?" Carla questioned in soft whisper. Sure, the pair were known to have a cuddle often at bedtime or in front of the TV but it was never this out of the blue. Something was definitely bothering the young girl.

"I didn't know it was this dark and loud at the cinema." Rachel whispered as she clung onto Carla a little tighter. Carla hesitated as she thought over Rachel's words before the penny dropped.

"You mean you've never been to the pictures before?" She asked a little sad at the thought of what her girl had been deprived of. Rachel shook her head and chewed on her bottom lip nervously.

Carla sighed softly and rubbed Rachel's back soothingly. "Oh, darlin'. It's ok. If it's too much for you we can go. We can take our snacks with us and watch a DVD at the flat." She refused to call her apartment home in fear of giving the child false hope of staying with her forever.

Rachel shook her head adamantly and peaked up at the dark haired woman. "No! I want to stay. But...can I sit with you? Just for a bit?"

Carla smiled and brushed a piece of lose hair out of Rachel's eyes. "Of course. You know I love snuggles with my girl. Now shhh...I wanna watch the movie. This kid is proper weird!"

After that, Rachel settled down and seemed to focus more on the big screen before them. Carla - although somewhat engaged in the film - couldn't help but dwell on the revelation she had just been exposed to. If this was the first time Rachel had ever been to the cinema, what other childhood commodities had she been deprived of? She wasn't sure she wanted to find out but what she did know was that she was more than willing to give the girl some halfway decent childhood memories.

Even if their situation was purely temporary.

XXX

A couple of hours later and the credits of the movie began to roll. Carla, slightly stiff from being trapped in the same position for the entirety of the film, was a little confused as to why Rachel hadn't made a move to stand up. She glanced down at the girl on her lap and gaped when she realised that Rachel had fallen into a deep sleep, thumb in mouth and everything! This normally only happened if Rachel was extremely tired due to sleep deprivation caused by severe night terrors. Carla thought things had been going well between them but at that present moment she was starting to think otherwise.

Carla brushed off these worrying thoughts and rolled her eyes at the realisation that she had just sat through a kiddie movie practically on her own. What was going on with her life?

"Rachel, baby, the film's finished. It's time to go. Wake up, sweetheart." Carla roused the girl and smiled softly when Rachel sat up and stared at the cinema screen.

"I missed the ending!" Rachel whined out her disappointment.

Carla pouted sympathetically. "Don't worry, darlin'. It will be out on DVD soon. I'll buy it for you and that way you can watch it whenever you like." She reassured the girl. "Right, stand up. Let me just pack these snacks away and then we can head home. You look exhausted. Must be all that shopping we did!" Carla commented as she looked at the amount of bags they had.

Rachel did as told bus as soon as Carla rose to pack the left over popcorn and snacks into her designer handbag, the child promptly flopped backdown into the chair Carla had been sat in for the past two hours or so.

Carla had just decided to leave their unfinished drinks behind when she realised Rachel had once again dropped off to sleep. She sighed and shook her head in true Carla Connor fashion.

"Rach, come on. We have to go." Carla insisted and shook the girl in order to wake her up once more.

Rachel whined and lifted up her arms, "carry me?" She practically pleaded and refused to open her eyes.

Carla, a little unsure about what to do next, looked around and saw that the cinema staff were waiting for just her and Rachel to vacate the screen before they started to clean the auditorium. "Alright. Come on then." With very little effort - thankfully - Carla was able to lift the girl into her arms. For the second time in the past few weeks, the Underworld owner wondered if the girl's weight was something to be concerned about. She couldn't recall Simon or Amy being easily carried around by their parents.

Before she could dwell on this, Rachel buried her face into Carla's neck and mumbled. "Can we go now? I'm a bit sleepy."

Carla took one final glance around to ensure she had everything they needed. "Yeah. Let's make a move." She agreed as she made her way towards the exit ladened with their bags of shopping and her girl.

She just hopped that the taxi rank wasn't situated too far away from the cinema itself.