"Gotta say, I'm relieved to not have to face Johnny and the clan today." I yawn as I walk out of the bedroom and am met by Nick, who is sat on the sofa, texting on his phone. "You in work today?"

"Supposed to be." He shrugs and I immediately pick up on his mood. He was distant, for a reason beyond my imagination because when he had got out of bed, kissing me and telling me he was off to make breakfast, he certainly wasn't like this. I hesitate before going to sit down next to him. He doesn't move, staring blankly at his phone screen.

"Nickyy..." I whine, moving closer to him. This was my way of getting forgiveness. I acted like a child because he found it endearing, which would help in this situation. "What's the matter?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" He suddenly mutters and I frown, trying to grasp what he was on about.

"...Tell you what?" I suddenly retract from his gaze. He sighs before putting his phone down on the table, pulling a pregnancy test out of his pocket. Oh shit.

"I found this in the bathroom bin." He raises his eyebrows at me and I was relieved to see that perhaps he wasn't as mad at me as I originally thought he was.

"...You know..." I cough. "I've peed on that thing and it doesn't have a lid on it so-"

"Carla?" He cuts me off and I see his eyes, full of concern and warmth. I freeze for a moment until his face breaks into a smile as the silence confirms it for him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just... Didn't know how." I bite my lip and he shakes his head at me. I take the test off him and shudder slightly at the two red lines that appear. I had tried to shut it out my mind until now. I knew I had to tell him at some point and I hadn't wanted him to find out like this.

"How long have you known?" He asks me, taking my spare hand in his. "No, how far gone are you?"

"Twenty questions Nicholas." I try and grin but my voice is shaky, which he picks up on as I put the test down on the coffee table.

"Hey." He rests a finger under my chin and gently tilts my head upwards to place a kiss on my lips. Then he bends his forehead so it's level with mine.

"I've known for two weeks." I whisper. "But I don't know how long I've been pregnant for because I've been too scared to think about it."

"You don't have to be scared." The words escape his mouth because he knows how much I need to hear them. "So you haven't told anyone? Not even Chelle?"

"Not even Chelle." I confirm, which I'm glad about because at least he was the first person to know. "...I just thought, after last time, it..."

He just nods, holding out his arms for me so that I could curl into his side. He wraps them around me and we lie there for a while, thinking about the situation we were in.

"I'm glad you know." I mumble into him.

"So... What do you want to do?" He dares to ask and I look at him.

"I don't know!" I exclaim, suddenly, as it's the question I have been contemplating constantly for the past two weeks.

"Ok, ok."" He soothes, laughing slightly at my response as I cuddle back into him.

"You know last time?" I quietly whisper into him, hating to bring up the topic of my miscarriage. "I didn't want children... Until I knew... Her."

"I know." He nods. It was a subject we had talked about many times in our darkest hours, as he knew exactly how I felt.

"She grew inside me..." I continue and he just held me tighter as I spoke, tears escaping every now and then and rolling down my cheeks. "I saw her on the screen... The midwife was pointing out her head, her hand, her leg... She was my baby girl."

"I'm sorry sweetheart." Nick kisses me on the forehead, rocking me gently as he lets me cry. Never had I encountered a man as genuine and appreciative as he was. I didn't deserve him, at all, but for some reason he hadn't given up on me. "I always wanted children."

"I remember you saying." I am easing a bit now, feeling the safety of him around me.

"Do you know what you replied with?" He asks me and I don't even need to think about this.

"You'll have them." I respond and the following words escape my mouth before I could stop them. "Bet you weren't thinking you'd have them with me though."

"I was." He replies, and it shocks me because it was not what I was expecting. I frown before tilting my head to look at him. He blushes slightly at this as he studies the confusion in my eyes. I was expecting him to back track, make up some excuse but he doesn't. "I remember sitting with you at the table in the bistro. It broke my heart to hear you talking about... Her and how you felt. I remember thinking how perfect we would be together and the life we could make..."

"Nick." I let out a quiet whimper, staring up at him, my eyes wide. He had never told me this before and it filled my heart with warmth to hear him say it. To hear how much he appreciated me. How much he thought of me.

"You probably think that's stupid." He suddenly snaps back to reality and I shake my head, giving him the reassurance to continue. "You know what?"

"What?" I reply, linking my hand with his.

"I think I fell in love with you then." He admits. "When I heard how much you'd been through, how much pain and suffering you'd experienced. I admired you for getting through it. In fact, it motivated me to do the same with our miscarriage... I just wanted to hold you and say it would be ok and that you would have been the best mother in the world."

I don't have anything to respond this. Partly because I was lost for words and partly because I didn't have anything more beautiful to follow it.

"But you will be, you know." He tells me and in that second I believe it. Hearing the words come out of his mouth made me understand, realise that I could be a mother.

"Are we going to do this?" I stare at him straight as he places a kiss into my hair.

"Are we?" He smiles at me, gently rubbing his hand on my stomach and I place mine in top of his.

"You know what?" I repeat his earlier question and he grins. "I couldn't imagine anything I would want more."

"I love you." He finalises.

"I love you too." I say, and it's the truth, and I've never meant it more than I do in this moment, right now. "...Now can you make me that breakfast you promised because junior and I are starving!"