Welcome to Weatherfield
It had only been four years since she had last been on the cobbles but Alex was happy to return to the streets of the Northwest. Not much had changed since her last stint in Weatherfield; the Rovers Return still stood proud, the Prima Doner Kebab shop and Street Cars all still in their rightful places on the street.
Alex stubbed her cigarette out on her heel before heading towards Roy’s Rolls for a cup of the all too familiar coffee she had spent the last three hours reminiscing about.
It was quiet on the street but she supposed it was because it was so early, there was only one other customer at the cafe; Eileen seemed to be the name coming to her mind. She paid no notice to her as she left the cafe, perhaps reintegrating to the tight knit community would not be as hard as she feared if no one knew who she was. Bleaching her hair from dark brown to blonde had also altered her appearance to an extent as well.
“Hey, may I get one coffee please. Just black”. She smiled up at Roy, he looked older but still well put together his shirt and cardigan combination bringing fond memories. Hayley had always had a soft spot for Alex despite her indiscretions and had often slipped her an extra biscuit or two when she had popped by. The cafe itself could have been a timepiece, Alex wasn’t sure if any of the artwork or frames had changed on the walls.
“Certainly. Are you new around here? Although I must say that your face looks somewhat familiar” Roy shuffled to get her coffee, his eyebrows arching in curiosity.
“I guess I just have one of those familiar faces. My name is Alex, quite literally just hopped off the train”. She tapped her card as she reached for her coffee.
Roy did not look particularly convinced but he put it down to the early morning and his deteriorating eyesight.
“Well, welcome to Weatherfield. Do I detect a slight accent?” Alex should have known her first stop being Roy Cropper would lead to a slight inquisition but it didn’t seem right to go anywhere else first.
“Sharp ears, I’m originally from just outside Birmingham but I have moved around a lot. Can I deduce that you are the Roy from Roy’s Rolls?” she smirked slightly to herself.
“A sharp deduction, Alex. Please, if you need any help finding your way around Weatherfield I would be more than happy to divulge all that I know”. He smiled at her politely.
“Thanks, appreciate it” she nodded her goodbyes before exiting the cafe.
Alex sat on the wall sipping on her coffee and staring at her new home, The Rovers Return. She’d seen the advert go up a few weeks ago with the untimely departure of the previous owner Daisy; it was the perfect way back into Weatherfield.
She was disturbed as one of the flat doors opened, Alex glanced across the street. A blonde woman exited along with a taller brunette. The pair bumped shoulders as they walked towards Underworld.
“Carla Barlow…” but who was she with?
“Carla?” Lisa called from the kitchen of their shared flat. Carla ran the brush through her hair one last time before exiting their bedroom.
“Yes love?” she smiled to herself as she noticed Lisa leaning against the kitchen counter texting. Carla wrapped her arms around Lisa’s waist pulling the woman into her. Lisa turned her head, placing a kiss softly on her cheek.
“Are you sure that you’re ready to go back to work?” she put her phone down, turning in Carla’s arms. “I’m sure Sarah can cope a bit longer without you”. Lisa looked up at her hopefully. She had really appreciated knowing Carla was home safe, despite Joel being dead she still didn’t enjoy Carla’s connections to the criminal world. It had also given Betsy an excuse to stay busy at home under the guise of looking after Carla rather than hanging around the precinct twenty-four-seven.
“I’m feeling much better love and as much as I’ve loved laying about on the sofa the last few weeks it’s time to get up off my backside I think”. Carla leant down kissing Lisa a few times.
“You had a kidney transplant Carla it’s hardly like you’ve been pulling a sickie” she rolled her eyes tucking a strand of Carla’s hair behind her ear. “And anyway I’ve quite liked having you at home”.
“Cleaning up after you and Betsy isn’t exactly my favourite full-time job” they shared another brief kiss.
“Ay, we’re not that bad thank you! I just meant it’s been nice to come home from work and you’re already here…”
“Dinner on the table and sat waiting pretty for the breadwinning wi-”
“Carla! Stop being dramatic, I just want you to be absolutely sure that you’re ready to go back”.
Carla paused, grateful for Lisa’s interruption as she feared she was about to put her big foot in it all over again. She still hadn’t returned Lisa’s ‘I love you’ so jesting about her being her wife would probably only start an argument.
“I’m ready, I promise. And if I get halfway through the day and realise I’m not you’ll be the first person I call”.
She smiled at her earnestly.
“Come on then, I guess I’ll walk you to the factory before I head off to work myself”.
Alex was still sat on the wall as Lisa walked past her. The blonde was engrossed in her phone paying Alex no mind. There was something familiar about her but Alex really could not place her. Coffee in hand she took the short walk over to the Rovers to meet her new flatmate.
“Hey, it’s Alex right? I’m Jenny” the older woman shook her hand.
“Nice to meet you Jenny. How are you?” Jenny gestured for her to follow her into the back of the Rovers.
“Grateful that someone took over the tenancy so quickly! Daisy basically up and left without a word left me right in the lurch!” They shared an awkward smile. “You wouldn’t be looking for a job as well?” Jenny laughed to herself.
“I would be actually, can’t say I have much bar experience other than drinking though…I mean, only if you’re being serious” Alex stood uneasily in the doorway.
“I’m sure I can find you some hours yeah, that would be no trouble”. The awkwardness shifted into genuinity. “So what brings you to Weatherfield? It’s just you’re not from round here and it’s quite rare we just get a new person on the street. Running away from something?” Her small laugh subsided quickly when Alex looked a little off.
“Not running, no. I guess I just needed a change, the pub was one of the first adverts I stumbled across”. She shrugged, hoping to seem indifferent to Jenny’s probing question.
“I mean Weatherfield certainly is a change, I’m surprised anyone outside of Greater Manchester would ever set foot here”. They had continued their walk up to the bedrooms of the pub. Jenny pointed at the door to the left. “It’s mainly just families here in Weatherfield, everyone has some ancient winding history”.
Alex smiled to herself knowingly. “We’ll have to have a brew and you’ll have to give me the four-one-one”.
Jenny laughed “It’ll take more than a brew for that” she was shaking her head “I’ll let you unpack and get settled, you can join me for a shift in the pub this afternoon”.
Carla sat at her desk nursing a headache. She had only been back two hours and already had to settle an argument between Sally and Betsy as well as had two difficult calls with the distribution team. Despite Sally’s frequent and overly lengthy updates she had failed to mention that they were being difficult in their contract renewal.
C: Tell me your day is going better than mine x
She fired off a text to Lisa and was surprised when the DS rang her immediately.
“Everything okay Carla? Do you not feel well?” Despite Lisa’s best efforts, the strain of worry in her voice was clear even through the phone.
“Yeah I’m feeling…okay. Just forgot how much these lot bicker including our Betsy” Carla cringed again at her use of ‘our’ when referring to Lisa’s daughter.
“What she done now? I told her not to give you a hard time with it being your first day back!” Lisa’s worry had quickly turned into irritation at her teenage daughter.
Carla couldn’t hide her displeasure down the phone “I’m not some flower Lisa I don’t need you mollycoddling me!” She rubbed her left temple with her free hand in frustration.
“No Carla, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry. I just meant that I know how difficult she can be” Lisa mirrored Carla’s action sat at her own desk. “What else is going wrong then?”
“The company that does our deliveries are trying to pull a fast one and practically double their earnings, I don’t think we can afford them. That and having to pay for the transplant…I think well…” Carla sounded defeated.
“We’ll figure it out I promise you Carla, we’ll figure it out together”. Lisa stared at the ceiling willing her voice to remain level. “Why don’t you take the afternoon off, I can come home early and make dinner?”
“I don’t need more time off Lisa, the factory has suffered enough without me being here. I’ve got a business to run and it’s currently running itself into the ground because of - because of-”
“You can say it Carla, because my daughter set you up. I know none of this would have ever happened if you didn’t get involved with me but I love you Carla, I want to make this right. Make this right so that we can have a beautiful life together”. Lisa scoffed seeing Kit enter the office space.
“What was that for?”
“No I was just-”
“Save it Lisa, honestly”. Carla hung up the phone.
A: I’m here, landed a job at the Rovers. Pop by soon.
Alex didn’t have a lot of possessions, the constant need to move place to place had taught her to only hold on to a few non-essentials. It had only taken her about an hour to unpack all of her things including her laptop and diary.
She spent most of the afternoon sorting through her finances ensuring that there was enough money in her current account for the first couple of months rent at the pub. Firing off a few emails to tie up loose ends back down in Birmingham.
The change from the Midlands had not been necessary but Alex had felt that the timing was right, it could be her fresh start now that the dust had begun to settle around Weatherfield.
I’ll see you around.
She wandered down the stairs into the pub. Jenny was leaning against the bar chatting to a bald man.
“Alex, this is Tim! Local cabby and window cleaner. Tim, this is Alex, new to Weatherfield and the Rovers new barmaid!”. Jenny was beaming looking between the two of them. It seemed a little forced but Alex was grateful all the same.
“Alright” Tim’s voice was a little gruff and he sounded tired.
“Pleasure to meet you Tim”. Another man of a similar age entered the pub making a beeline for Tim.
“Alright mate”
“Alright Steve”.
“Pint please Jenny” Alex waved her away and began to pour. “And who are you?” Steve accentuated each word with an odd gun finger point. Alex thought Steve had potentially dropped her off a few times in a cab all those years ago.
She smiled as Tim replied for her, passing the pint over the top of the bar.
“So, what are you? A Battersby? A Platt? I’m assuming you’re not another Barlow I never met”.
“What, just because she’s got blonde hair?”. Tim shook his head at Steve laughing. Alex vaguely remembered Sarah Platt, but she definitely remembered Leanne. Harvey had made sure of that.
“She’s a newbie this one” Jenny chimed in “not related to anyone she was telling me”.
Both men looked a little baffled, “saw the advert for the flat and just up and left”. Alex shrugged at them all.
“I mean there’s not much here to move to” Steve folded his arms across his chest.
“Sounds perfect to me then”. There were a few other tables in the pub but it wasn’t too busy considering it was a Friday afternoon. The pub door swung open, the blonde lady from the morning entered with a young blonde teenager.
“Vodka lemonade and a large red wine please Jenny” the teen smiled widely at her batting her eyelids. The lady next to her tutted.
“A lemonade and a large red wine thanks” much to the teenager's disappointment next to her. Alex busied herself making the drinks still trying to pinpoint where she knew the older woman from.
“Is Carla coming?”
“I don’t know love, I think she had a busy day so probably not”
“Is that code for you two have had an argument?” Both women wore matching expressions clearly annoyed by each other’s tone. “I’ll ask her to come then if everything is fine”.
“I just said she’s tired so leave her will you. Why can’t we just have a nice drink together?” The two stomped off to a nearby table leaving Alex pondering as to why they were connected to Carla Barlow.
Another woman entered, almost bounding over to Tim. Alex recognised her voice immediately, Sally.
“Oh hello, I’m Sally Metcalfe” the woman held an outstretched hand which Alex graciously took.
“Alex” she refrained from saying yeah I know you, well I knew Sophie. “May I get you a drink?”
“Just two small glasses of white wine, you can put them in the same glass to save on washing up” Alex blinked at her in confusion glancing at the two men who had pained smiles on their faces.
“Coming right up Sally, another Tim?”
“Please”.
The rest of the night passed by rather uneventfully and after last orders had long gone it left Alex and Jenny alone in the pub.
“You seem to be getting on well with everyone”. Alex again shrugged in response wanting to appear nonchalant.
“They all seem to be rather ordinary people so far, everyone seems really nice” they continued to clear glasses.
“You’re picking up the job quickly as well, it’s nice to have someone around that knows how to work”
“It’s in my nature I guess, work hard to keep above water and all that” Jenny checked that the doors were locked once again before they began to walk up the stairs.
“I can get along with that Alex, brew before bed?”
“Yeah, I’d like that”.
Lisa and Betsy returned to Carla’s flat only managing two drinks in their tense silence before Lisa conceded defeat. Lisa was surprised to see Carla sat at their kitchen table with her laptop still on.
“I’ll get going to bed then” Betsy stormed through the flat shutting the door a little bit too hard to her bedroom.
Lisa apologised for her opening the cupboard to search for a bottle of wine. She didn’t find any.
“Not drinking at the minute remember? Kidney transplant” Carla’s voice was cold. Almost dejected.
“Yeah, sorry. Force of habit”. She sat down meekly next to Carla twisting her fingers awkwardly with nerves. “I’m sorry. About earlier. Kit walked into the office and I just reacted”. Carla grunted in response.
Lisa put a hand on her shoulder only to be shaken off in response “Carla please can we talk”.
“Lisa. Look, I'm trying to save the factory can this wait?” Lisa sat back loosening her hair from her ponytail.
“Are we not important enough to talk about right now?”
Carla pinched the bridge of her nose. Taking a deep breath she turned to face Lisa.
“Yes love, of course. But I really need to sort this out otherwise there isn’t going to be any future. I need the factory to survive, -”
“You’ve got me, we can figure this out together” Carla shook her head.
“The factory has been my life for a long time before you Lisa, you have to understand how important it is to me”.
Carla reached out sweeping some of Lisa’s hair behind her ear. Smiling at her weakly. Lisa leant into her hand.
“So, what can I do to help?”
“Don’t suppose you want to drive around Manchester delivering knickers do you?”
“In my police car?” Lisa began to giggle.
“Yeah? Blue lights for the express delivery” the pair finally broke into laughter.
“We’ll sort this Carla I promise” Lisa stood to hug her from over the chair. “But you’ve had a long first day and I think we should go to bed”.
“Oh really DS Swain. Bed?”
“Yeah a nice early night for the both of us”.
“Come on then”.