"Mum?" Hollie frowned at Nikki as the woman sat, deep in thought once they returned to the Premier Inn. "Mum?"

"We're moving." The woman said finally.

Her daughter blinked. "I'm sorry… what?"

"We're moving away from Greenock. We need a fresh start; you, me and the baby."

"Mum… are you mental? What are you even talking about?" Hollie demanded, thoroughly bemused by the turn of events. "We can't just move! I've got another year of school, you're pregnant, you've got no job to go to and we'd have to find a new house. Not to mention the whole Tom and Lorraine situation and the fact that I don't want to leave Kevin and my mates... even if they don't want to talk to me at the moment."

"This isn't up for discussion. There's nothing left here for us, Hollie. You hated being at school today and I won't watch you suffering like that anymore. I tried to be the head teacher and I failed. I lasted one day… I can't stay there now."

Staring as her mother stood up and started to make her into the en-suite bathroom, Hollie darted forwards and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back. Her eyebrows furrowed as she studied Nikki's face carefully. She could see the pain and uncertainty easily, but needed to know what was going on in her head.

"Mum… please? Talk to me…"

"Too much has happened since we got here… every shit thing that could have happened and more… I want a fresh start… I want us to be happy." Nikki almost whispered, reaching out for her daughter and cupping her face gently in her hands. "We can be happy."

"OK? Say we did leave… where would we go? What would you do?"

"South." Nikki informed her quickly, a small smile appearing on her face. "I accepted a job in a school in Shoreham after Jo told me they're moving to Brighton which is just down the road. I've been looking at houses..."

"You've… how long have you been planning this?" Her daughter demanded, frowning.

"A couple of weeks…" The woman admitted. "Since before we went to London for the trial; my application for the job went in a week before and that day I left you with Jo and Sam I went to the interview."

"So you agreed to take the head teacher job at Waterloo Road even though you were planning to leave in two weeks? Does Lorraine know you're going?"

Nikki shook her head. "Not yet. I thought… if I gave it a go and decided to take the job permanently we could stay. But I messed up. This new job, moving away from here… this is our chance to go somewhere new where no one knows what you went through; we can make a fresh start."

"Don't keep saying that!" Hollie ordered. "They have papers down South, you know! And Mum… that's not making a fresh start… that's running away. We can't just go! The baby… Tom's baby… you can't just…"

Shaking her head, the woman returned to the sofa and pulled Hollie down beside her. "I won't stop him seeing his child. And Josh is going to Chichester University next year if he gets the grades, isn't he? That's less than an hour away, so you'll be able to see him loads."

"Is… Is Tom coming with us?"

"Hol…" Nikki sighed. "I don't know. He doesn't want…"

"And Lorraine?"

"She's not talking to me. After I broke up with her and then quit as head and left her in the lurch…"

Squeezing her eyes closed, the teenager thought hard about what her mother was asking her to do. "Fine." She agreed, struggling to keep her tone even as tears threatened to spring to her eyes. "Fine, let's go."

Nikki hugged her tightly, pressing her face into the girl's hair and kissing her head. "Everything will be better, I promise you."

As Hollie sniffed and nodded, she sent her mother a weak smile. "So… these houses you've been looking at…"

Reaching down the back of the sofa, Nikki pulled out a wodge of papers and held them out. Taking one look at her, Hollie burst out laughing. The fact that she'd hidden her research like that was just funny. As the women blinked bemusedly, Hollie shook her head before explaining. Nikki joined in her laughter, the tension thankfully easing as they perused the details together.

The next two weeks, the last of the school year, were a blur. Hollie glanced around at her friends as she stood by the car in the Premier Inn car park. Nikki turned away, giving her some privacy to say her goodbyes, dialling Jo's number to inform her that they were leaving. The teenager felt tears welling in her eyes as she gazed around at the group in front of her; Scout, Zoe, Rhiannon, Imogen, Connor, Dynasty and Kevin. She bit her lip, not knowing what to say.

"We'll come and visit, right?" Scout announced, finally breaking the silence.

"Course." Hollie nodded. "All of you."

"As if you'd get away with us not coming." Rhiannon almost rolled her eyes.

Nodding, Hollie hugged each of them in turn, before they retreated a little and it was just the girl and her boyfriend. She smiled weakly at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest. Kevin put one hand on her waist and tangled the other in her hair, kissing her temple.

"I'll see you really soon, OK?" He promised. "I'm going to stay with Chalky for the summer, so I won't be far away. You can come and stay with us and I'll come to yours."

"Will we be OK?"

"Course we will." He told her with a grin. "We've dealt with more than being at opposite ends of the country. It's just one year, Hollie, then we can be together properly."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He agreed, kissing her softly. "As long as you promise to keep yourself out of trouble?"

Hollie laughed. "I'll do my best."

"Hol?" The teenager glanced over her shoulder as Nikki shot her an apologetic look and pointed at her watch, indicating that they needed to leave.

"I have to go." She sighed, kissing Kevin. "I love you."

"I love you too."

With a deep sigh, the girl beamed and squeezed her boyfriend's hand, before walking round to climb into the passenger's seat. Nikki put a hand on her thigh and squeezed it, sending her a small smile, before starting the engine and slowly pulling out into the road.

They hadn't even made it out of the car park before someone standing directly in their path caused Nikki to slam on the breaks, both women in the car staring wide-eyed at the individual holding their hands up and preventing them leaving.

Glancing at her daughter, Nikki reluctantly wound down her window as the figure approached, wondering what they could possibly have to say. Everything that had needed to be said had been and, as much as it pained her, the woman hadn't expected to see that face again so soon. She didn't want to fight anymore.

"I… I couldn't let you go. I know that we… you… but…" Her former lover said, leaning down to look through the window. One hand gently caressed Nikki's cheek as a small smile twisted their lips. "I want to come with you, if you'll have me?"

Glancing sideways at her daughter, who shrugged and grinned, the brunette turned back to the window and smiled at the face staring hopefully back at her. She nodded. "Did you need to ask?"

Leaning her head back against the head rest, Hollie let out a deep breath as the couple began discussing the logistics of the change in their plans. Things didn't always turn out the way they were expected to but, in the end, they managed to sort themselves out. Glancing sideways as she eyed the couple carefully, her smile broadened. This time last year her life had been totally different and now… now it was so, so much better than she had ever imagined.

She had a family.

A/N: OK, so I chickened out of making a decision over whether this was going to end up Tokki or Lorikki. I was really tempted to stick to Tom/Nikki, because that's how it originally started, but then Nikki/Lorraine are so cute! Anyway this way is better, right? You get to decide for yourselves and it could go either way!

Anyway, this is the end! My original last chapter vanished off the face of the earth when my laptop died and I had to re-write it. I'm not SOhappy with this version, but I've played around with it so many times I've given up! I really hope it's not too much of a let-down!

Thank you all for all of your support and sticking with this for so long! You're all absolutely fantastic! :D

As for those who asked about a sequel... not at the moment. I'm not promising that there will be one at any point, but right now I kinda just wanted to give it a definite ending - what's more definite than them leaving Waterloo Road completely? Never say never, though!

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