Hi everyone, this is my first ever fanfic so I hope you enjoy it. In this story, Peter and Carla currently have no feelings for each other and are just friends. Leanne and Peter are married. Leanne had slept with Paul and was ultimately responsible for his death so Carla and Leanne are not on speaking terms as Carla was not able to forgive Leanne for what happened. Also, Simon is a bit younger then what he is in corrie and is 7. Peter is still an alcoholic but Carla does not have a drinking problem. This is a set around 2010 when Rob had not yet arrived on coronation street and Carla is still best friends with Michelle, who is working in the Rovers.

Hope you enjoy and if you read, please review and let me know what you think. Open to criticism as long as it's constructive, this is my first time writing on here so please don't be too harsh :)

I'll Stand By You

"Leanne how could you?!" Peter asked, shocked at what he had just seen in the Bistro.

"Peter it's not what it looks like!" Leanne exclaimed, slightly out of breath after chasing Peter from the Bistro back to their flat after he had left in a rage

"Oh really Leanne? What was it then? Care to explain?" Peter raged

"He kissed me, I swear I tried to get him to stop but he just came onto me, I didn't kiss him back Peter"

Tears were now brimming in Leanne's eyes as Peter glared at her, "don't stand their and lie to my face Leanne, I know what I saw! How long has this been going on?!" Leanne remained silent, not wanting to admit the truth to her husband. "Tell me Lea! How long?!" Just at that moment the buzzer rang. Leanne let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding as Peter went over and picked up the buzzer.

"Hello"

"Hi Peter, it's Dierdre, just dropping Simon off"

"Oh.. Erm.. Yeah, come up"

"It's Dierdre, Peter said quite bluntly, opening the flat of the door allowing her to enter with Simon.

"Hi dad!"

"Hiya mate, did you have a good day with grandma and grandad?"

"Yeah it was wicked, grandad took me round the red rec and we fed the ducks!"

"Well that sounds like you had great fun, listen mate" Peter said, crouching down to Simon's level, "can you go into your room for me and close the door please, Leanne and I need to talk about some grown up things okay?"

"Okay" Simon replied, making his way towards his bedroom

"Good boy, and make sure you close your door all the way for me"

Dierdre sensed the awkward atmosphere in the flat and hovered awkwardly by the doorway. "I'll erm.. get going" she trailed off

"Yeah thanks Dierdre, sorry about this, there's just something we have to talk about" Peter said, showing her out

"Okay, well if you need anything, you know where I am"

"Yeah thanks Dierdre"

"Peter I am so sorry, we can make this work" Leanne said, her voice a lot quieter than before, not wanting Simon to hear of what she had done.

"You haven't answered my question" Peter said, desperate for an answer

"A few months" Leanne said timidly, awaiting Peter's reaction

"A few months?!" Peter shouted, repeating Leanne's words,

"Peter it's you that I love I promise"

"You love me? You don't know he meaning of the word." Peter's voice was laced with sadness

"we can make this work Peter, you can learn to trust me again? What about Simon, we owe it to him to try and work things out"

"Don't you DARE bring my son into this Leanne, this was your fault, so it's your fault that our marriage is over, you're the one having an affair not me!" Peter shouted, tears escaping his eyes.

Just at that moment Simon burst into the room in tears, obviously having overheard their argument. "I hate you!" Simon screamed at Leanne through his tears before running towards the door and down the stairs, out of the flat. "Simon! Come back!" Leanne called after him, "please!"

"No!" Peter shouted, "you leave him alone, I think you've caused enough damage don't you?" Peter said before leaving the flat and going after his son.

By the time Peter had got outside, Simon was nowhere to be seen. "Simon!" Peter called helplessley, beginning to search the street for him.

At underworld, Carla was hard at work in her office, finishing the huge pile of paperwork she had been doing for the last 4 hours. She finally filed the last piece of paper in the pile when Hayley popped her head round the door,

"Would you like a coffee Mrs Connor?"

"No thanks Hayley, I'm going to pop out for a bit, can you hold the fort for an hour or so please? I've got a bit of a headache I'm going to go for a walk, clear my head a bit"

"Of course Mrs Connor, take as long as you need"

Carla smiled gratefully at her employee before picking up her coat and heading outside. As she made her way out of coronation street she could see Peter in the distance banging on the door of Ken and Dierdre's. She wondered if something had happened and if he was okay but decided it wasn't really any of her business and walked on. It was probably something to do with Leanne she thought, not something she wanted to get involved with remembering everything that had happened between her and Leanne in the past.

After about twenty minutes of walking, Carla had arrived on the red rec. She smiled as she watched all the families out for a walk on the sunny Thursday afternoon, parents walking hand in hand with their young children and pushing babies in prams. The smile faded from her face when she saw a little boy sat on a bench, his knees pulled up close to his chest and his head hidden. As she got closer, Carla could hear the gentle sobs of the little boy and as she got closer still, she recognised his red school jumper and his curly hair. She gently approached the young boy, sitting next to him on the bench.

"Simon?" She said softly, trying not to startle him. He slowly looked up, tears rolling down his face, his cheeks flushed and his eyes red from crying. Suddenly she realised that Peter must have been looking for Simon earlier when she saw him at Ken and Dierdre's.

"What you doing here sweetheart? Are you okay?" Carla asked gently, placing her hand on his shoulder as a comforting gesture.

"My- my dad an- and Leanne were shouting so I- I ran away"

"Does your dad know where you are Simon?"

He shook his head before yet again more tears fell from his eyes. Carla's heart broke for the little boy, deciding it was best to take him to Peter, from what she could understand Peter and Leanne had had a huge row.

"My dads really sad an- and it's all Leanne's fault" Simon sobbed, frantically trying to wipe the tears that continued to fall down his cheeks.

"Come here my darling" Carla said pulling him into a hug to try and stop his tears. She felt his little arms wrap round her shoulders as he eventually calmed down.

"Why don't you come with me and we'll go and find your dad yeah?"

Simon nodded, sniffling and wiping his eyes as he stood up and took Carla's outstretched hand and she lead him back towards Coronation Street.

As they arrived back on the street, Carla rang the buzzer to Peter's flat and he franticaly came running to the door.

"Look who I found" Carla said, stepping aside to allow Simon to come into Peter's view from where he was stood behind her.

"Simon!", Peter lifted the young boy up into his arms and hugged him tightly, "you had me worried there mate"

"Sorry dad"

"That's alright, I'm just glad your back safe and sound, I was going out of my mind worrying about you."

Peter put Simon down and turned his attention to Carla as Simon ran upstairs into the flat.

"Carla thank you so much, I was so worried, I was about to phone the police"

"It's no problem, glad I could help"

"Where was he?"

"On the red rec, I was out a walk and saw him sat there on the bench in tears, so I brought him back here"

"Thank you, he ran out earlier because Leanne and I had a bit of a fall out and by the time I went after him he was nowhere to be seen"

"Yeah he did mention you and Leanne had fallen out. I know I'm not Leanne's biggest fan, nor am I hers, but whatever it is, I hope you can sort it out"

"Oh no there's no going back from this" Peter said sadly, looking down at his wedding ring still on his finger.

"Oh.. Well.. I'm sorry to hear that Peter" Carla said, feeling sorry for the man stood in from of her who was obviously devastated by the days events.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be offloading my problems on you, you've probably got things to do. Anyway, thanks for bringing Simon home"

"It's okay, see you around. Take care of yourself yeah?"

"Yeah, thanks Carla" Peter smiled gratefully, "bye then"

Carla said goodbye and walked back over towards the factory, suddenly feeling a great deal of sympathy and desire to help Peter, after all, she knew what it was like to be cheated on and for Leanne to be involved..