Hello Everyone! This is my first Corrie Fic, so I hope you enjoy it!
Set after the trial, that evening. So Frank is still alive.
Chapter One.
Carla and Peter finally get some time to themselves and chat about Leanne, Simon, and all sorts of other issues that they now have to face.
Peter followed Carla into her flat having just returned from the trial.
"Evil! Pure flamin' EVIL!" Peter shouted as he sat down on the sofa with a zebra printed blanket covering it. He was physically shaking he was so angry.
"Oh." Carla sighed. "Peter calm down will ya?" She asked, softly and tearfully, as she sat next to him, attempting to cradle her lover, but he shrugged her off in pure frustration.
"Peter please!" She cried as she struggled against his brute strength and eventually won the battle, hugging him tightly as she tried to stop him from shaking.
"I'm sorry…..I'm sorry baby, I just can't believe that he's been set free without so much as a warning!" Peter said, slightly calmer now, but still physically shaking.
"Heyyy, I know you're angry, I am too, but we just have to accept the fact that the Jury just didn't believe us. If I'm honest the affair didn't help us darlin'." Carla said calmly but truthfully.
"No. The affair wasn't the problem, it was Frank and Anne, and their scheming little plans to show us up that didn't help!" Peter ranted. "I mean, how could he do that to her? To Leanne of all people? Leanne's the innocent one in all of this. She hasn't done so much as hurt a fly yet she gets all this piled onto her. She doesn't deserve this Carla. Lee…..she's a good person…..she's….." Peter felt tears forming in his eyes as he paused. "She's amazing….." And it was at that moment that Peter couldn't take it anymore, he burst into tears and painfully cried his heart out. Carla held him closely as she tried to comfort him, and took the opportunity to think for a second.
"You still love her don't you?" Carla asked, keeping calm. She wouldn't blame Peter if he did still love Leanne. She had been the one who had been through everything with him. The drinking, the tram crash…..Leanne had pulled Peter through all of that mess, and Carla had to be grateful to her for that.
"Love's not the right word….." Peter trailed-off, trying to sniffle-in some of the tears.
"Well if you don't love her Peter then why are you getting so upset about everything?" Carla questioned.
"I still care about her ya know?" Peter reasoned.
"Oh of-course ya do darlin'." Carla responded, kissing the side of Peter's head as she did so.
Eventually, Peter drifted-off to sleep, giving Carla some time to think about the day that had just passed. She had just wrecked Peter's life, and Simon's, and Leanne's. The amount of guilt Carla was feeling at the moment wasn't healthy for her. She sat on the sofa, with Peter's head resting on her chest. She held him closely, gently stroking through his short but soft hair as he murmured uncomfortably in his sleep.
"It's okay baby." She whispered into his ear. "Everything's gonna be fine." She continued. Carla wished she could believe those words. Part of her felt that it should've been Peter comforting her and not vice-versa, but there was something that Carla found relaxing about comforting Peter. It was like comforting him, helped her to comfort herself.
"I love you…..ya know?" She said, placing a soft kiss into his hair, still gently stroking his head with her hand.
An hour had passed and Peter was just beginning to stir from his sleep, Carla was still sat with him, cradling his top-half as if he were a baby. Carla smiled sweetly as she watched her lover's eyes slowly open.
"Heyyy Lovely Man." She greeted him gently, kissing the side of his head again as his blurry vision cleared, and then focussed on Carla's face, particularly, her sweet smile.
"Hey You….." He said tiredly as he pulled himself away from Carla's grip, and she released him, allowing him to stretch in-order to wake-himself-up. "Listen, I'm sorry about earlier love….." He said as he woke-up. "You've just been through a rape trial, and all I did was cry over my ex-wife! When the only thing that should've been in my head…..Was you. I should've been comforting you not putting more pressure on you." Peter told her, feeling bad that he had been so selfish towards Carla.
"Peter, I don't just expect you to stop caring for Leanne just like that ya know? She was the love of your life until you met-me…..She's the perfect second-mother to little Simon, and she's helped you through everything. So don't feel bad about crying. It's okay to cry darlin'. I'd rather I was sat-up with you all night whilst you cry, then worry about what state you might be in when you get home if you were drunk….." Carla comforted Peter; she didn't want him to feel-bad just for caring.
"I suppose you're right, but how are you anyway?" Peter asked as he placed his hand onto Carla's knee.
"Oh. Me? Yeah I'm fine….." She trailed-off quietly.
"Carla. I don't believe that for one-second! Now come-on, tell me how you're really feeling….." He trailed-off, the question now becoming a command.
"It's gonna take time to get used to this Peter, I don't know what Frank's plans are, but even if he were to go, I'll still have Simon to get used to, and then there's Stella and all of Leanne's friends. They're all gonna hate-me."
"Don't say that. Why would they hate you?" Peter questioned cuddling-up to Carla.
"Because I tore Leanne's life apart, the heartless home-wrecker, remember? I've taken Simon's Mum away, Stella's daughter away, you're wife, the settled family home that you've longed to have for years and years…..It's all gone Peter…..And they're gonna hate-me for it!" Carla revealed to Peter, truthfully but tearfully.
"But Carla, there is always gonna be one-person there who will never hate you? Never ever!" Peter told-her.
"Oh is there really?" Who's that, Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny? Sorry Darlin' but I think you're wrong there….." Carla said as she tried to hold-back the tears.
"Carla love…..I meant Me. I love you Carla. I always have and I always will. The odd gossip or argument with someone on the street isn't gonna change that." Peter told-her sweetly.
A couple of tears fell from Carla's eyes as Peter spoke. "I love you too Peter." She told-him in tears as the couple hugged and then kissed each-other on the lips. "I love you too." She repeated in a whisper before the pair-kissed-passionately.
