When she was a child, her mother left her with her father and two brothers. Her eldest brother, Jimbo had cystic fibrosis a genetic disorder that caused great pain to his lungs. She had often witnessed him coughing blood. So she often helped around the house and took care of her younger brother Deano while her father focused on Jimbo's health.

Not having any woman figures in her life, Carly rarely ever did many girly things, her interests often strayed into car bonnets and she had chosen to become a mechanic. It had often opened her up to bullying in school which she ignored while flashing a glare at the bitchy school girls.

Being shorter than most, did not help either.

She had the occasional boyfriend but it wasn't until she met Nico Pappas that she thought she wanted to settle down.

Everyone had laughed at her. "Shall we call you Carly Pappas from now on, sis?" Deano would say flashing her, his adorable grin. "Mama Pappa? You're gonna confuse your kids"

"Oh shut up" she would say but unable to resist blushing slightly and ruffling her brother's hair.

"Gerroff!" he would grumble.

Her marriage had failed. Nico wanted to go to Cyprus with his family to start up a Greek restaurant and she wanted to stay in England where she had only just arrived. She spent a lifetime in New Zealand and she loved the lifestyle in London. In the end she ran to Albert Square where she knew her father was and threw herself weeping into his arms.

Just because he had focused on Jimbo and she had no mother, didn't mean she was unloved and uncared for. Kevin Wicks dropped everything for his daughter and once her divorce was finalised, he remained to keep an eye on her and her brother as they settled in with their Great Aunt, Pat Evans.

Carly fought for every right to be in Albert Square. She fought to prove herself as a capable mechanic to her boss, Phil Mitchell (who was very temperamental, rather narrow-minded and was pretty much a pig. However Carly knew deep down he could be a softy). She fought Gary, her sweet but desperate older co-worker off. She didn't fancy him and he needed to get it through his thick skull. She fought Dawn Miller (or Swan as the vain but beautiful woman preferred) for the right to be who she was. To both young women's surprise they had ended up being the closest of friends.

Practically a year in Albert Square had gone by without any major drama. Apart from her fling with Martin Fowler (another fight at first because of his overbearing mother, Pauline soon accepted her after she proved she could be a loving mother-like figure (though being a mother was the last thing she wanted)) which ended rather quickly and her father's involvement in the Fox family problems (little did she know she'll constantly be involved in the Fox family).

Her father and Denise Fox had dated and rather quickly snatched the whole family up for a family vacation with the Trumans. They met (but didn't know until later) their mother, Shirley Carter. When Carly found out, she was furious and refused to even acknowledge the woman. If she did it was usually to shout and fight with.

To find out that her father was not her biological father was heartbreaking. She was a result of a one-night stand and it burned. She refused to speak to Kevin properly for a long time and regretted it when he disappeared for weeks on end. But he came back and after a while managed to convince Denise to marry him.

To say that Carly didn't get on with her step-sister Chelsea was an understatement. They were supposed to share a room but the vain, selfish girl had made it unbearable. When Chelsea began to see the player Sean Slater, Carly was against it. Despite how annoying Chelsea was, Carly did care about her.

She didn't mean to end up having a very passionate and very hot fling with Sean.

Because of that fling Chelsea and Deano were very eager to set him up and almost put him in prison. And because of what they did, they ended up in prison themselves. Kevin trying his hardest to earn extra money to help both Chelsea and Deano – mostly Deano – for when they got out, ended up involved in dodgy business.

He died in an illegal motor with only Shirley there to hold his hand in his last moments.

31st December 2007 was the worst day of her life as she screamed and cried until she could no longer use her voice anymore. Her stepmother, held her and helped her dry her tears even though she was just as distraught, just as horrified and just as hurt as she was.

The clocks chimed for midnight and Carly knew 2008 would be the worst year of her life.

Little did she know how correct she was.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDW

She was upset, distraught and hurt. And it pissed her off that her father's funeral couldn't go smoothly as planned, that they were having the memorial before the actual funeral. Everyone stood there in the living room starring at her, in the group she could see her brother at the back, her mother in the middle behind Pat, Chelsea, Denise and Libby and she had Ian and Jane Beale practically next to her, she tried to ignore their whispers as she began to speak.

"Erm...err...I'm not much good at speaking in public" she admitted nervously. "Actually that would make my Dad laugh because he thought speaking in public – or shall I say shouting in public – was one of the things I did best" Pat made a little amused sound while smiling softly at her. "Please if you want to eat, eat now because it looks like we're going to wait for the funeral" she pushed back her fringe. "The thing about my Dad is that he was like just a normal bloke but he had this thing inside him that um..." she wiped some tears that were threatening to fall. "Sorry, that made him want to be somewhere else" her voice was getting high. "To be someone else. He shouldn't have been selling crappy cars in Walford. He should have been tramping up some mountain on, on the other side of the world, the thing is he never did" she was crying outright in public now, she hoped to finish this before she completely caved. "And um...the post arrived this morning and I opened it and there was a pair of erm...around the world tickets for my Dad and Dean and it was the trip he always dreamed off and...It made me really sad because I knew how much that trip meant to him. So Denise and I, we have decided that erm...we're going to go...and we're going to take his ashes with us and erm...we're going to go tomorrow...so I would really like you all to raise your glasses and make a toast to my wonderful dad, to Kevin Wicks, one of life's greatest travellers"

"To Kevin" the group chanted.

She took a gulp of her drink and watched her brother leave the room.

She knew she should get whatever confrontation that was needed out of the way now.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

"Damn him!" she snarled. "Damn him, the selfish bastard!" she punched against her mirror. "How could he only care about the damn holiday? How could he care only about himself being in that stinking prison? Our father is dead! We should be remembering him, mourning him, not caring about ourselves"

She let out a raged filled scream and bashed her fists against the glass as she cried angry tears. She rested her forehead against the cool glass and sighed heavily.

"I want my Dad" she whispered brokenly.

Her image rippled and twisted, turning into a brunette girl with amber gold eyes and a wicked grin. "Cheer up babes, you gotta stand your ground remember?" her voice whispered in her mind as the image winked.

Carly winked in unison as the girl and the image was instantly replaced with her own reflection.

And then her mind burned.

She staggered backwards as she blindly, mentally reached out for that little silver string of connection to someone.

Alex?

Help, I'm b-b-burning

Alex?

My head, it's killing me

Alex, where are you? What's happening, I can feel your pain, speak to me Alex!

Who...are...you?

ALEX ROSE?"

Everything went black as Carly landed on her bed in a faint.