This is very AU! This is set a few months after Frank and Carla got married. Carla had a crush on Peter but realized that he would never leave Leanne and Simon. She quickly fell out of love when she realized that Peter was stringing her along. There would always be feelings there for the pair, but they are just friends. Leanne has somewhat forgiven her former friend.

Frank is less controlling than he was in the show, he is less paranoid, after he sat down with Carla and she told him everything. He decided that this might be his one shot at happiness and he couldn't let it disappear because Carla made a few mistakes, after all they both love each other.

Frank was still determined to have children with Carla, and she agreed, to make things a little bit easier, and to make up for the fact that she hadn't been honest with him.

This is very much a baby fic! It starts at the very start of the storyline, and gives no lead up, that's why I wrote a little intro here.

I don't know why, but I ship Frank and Carla. He was so nice until he turned nasty! They were very similar, so they bounced off each other well. I missed that!

Hope you enjoy guys!

Carla was feeling strange all day. She just assumed that it was down to the stress of the move and the fact that she and Frank hadn't had time to recover from the jet lag they both had from a recent trip to Paris.
"Carla?" Frank asked his wife, snapping her out of what seemed to be a trance.
"Yeah, sorry I was miles away." She answered him, her eyes glued to the computer screen in front of her.
"Are you ok?" He asked her, coming over to where she was sat and kissing her on the cheek. He had noticed over the past day or two Carla hadn't been herself. He had never seen her so withdrawn and it worried him a little.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled, dismissing him, still staring intently at her computer screen.
"Why don't you go home love, make sure you're ready for another night like the last?" Frank asked Carla, placing a hand on her shoulder, smirking. The couple had been trying for a baby for a short time now, and it was all that Frank seemed to care about.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Carla replied, honestly not knowing whether she could drive herself home. "Anyway, how will you get home?" She asked him, looking up at him and smiling softly to try and assure him that she was OK to stay at work.
"Fine, at least take a break. Go for some fresh air." He reasoned.
"Ok, I'll go and do that." She said standing up, feeling faint. Frank was still stood next to her, as he looked into her eyes, desperate for a signal or a sign that would tell him what the matter was. Although she said she was fine, Frank didn't believe his new wife.
"Babe..." Carla trailed off, as she collapsed into Frank's arms.
Frank slowly lowered Carla onto the floor, being very careful to not hurt her.
"Sally!" He called, loud enough so he could be heard through the closed office door.
"Mr Foster?" Sally asked, stepping into the office, before being shocked at what she saw in front of her.
"I need you to get me a glass of water." He told her, remaining completely calm, moving Carla's hair away from her face.
"Should I phone an ambulance?" She asked, still rooted to the spot.
"No, no." Carla mumbled.
"Now please, Sally." Frank instructed, as Sally rushed out into the kitchen.

"I'm going to take you home. Right now." Frank told Carla, as she sat up, next to Frank who was kneeling, holding her back for support.

"I'm fine honestly." She told him.

"Carla, you've just collapsed. Please, let me take you home." He asked, standing up and offering out his hand to help Carla up, and helping her over to her chair. Sally came back with a glass of water and handed it to Frank, before knowing to leave her bosses to it and leaving the office, closing the door, being careful to keep the door open a little so the staff on the factory floor could know what was going on.
Frank handed Carla the glass, and Carla took a sip.
"Listen." Frank said softly, sitting down in front of his wife on her desk. "If this is what trying for a baby is doing to you, then we can take a break for a while, I don't mind." Frank told her, as Carla almost hid behind the glass in her hand, not wanting to make eye contact with her husband. She nodded, knowing that if he wasn't so focused on getting her pregnant, it might take the pressure off her a little.
"Come on Princess, your carriage awaits." Frank told her, reaching over to his own desk and picking up the keys to his car. He wrapped his arm round Carla's waist as he led her out of the factory to where the car was parked. "Sally, you're in charge. No skiving you lot!" Frank shouted.

"What so she was actually out cold?" Sean asked quietly, watching the bosses vacate the building.
Sally nodded in response. "Maybe she caught something from abroad?" Julie speculated.
"What, from Paris?" Fiz asked sarcastically, following her comment with a small giggle.
"Could be jet lag I suppose." Sally suggested, as the door to the factory slammed shut.
"Either that or..." Sean added to the conversation, his voice a little louder and higher now that his employers had left. "Frank did say that they were going to try and have a family in his speech at the Wedding." Fiz told them all, catching Sean's drift.
"Surely not this soon though." Sally said. "They'll be some reasonable explanation and all of this speculation would have been for nothing knowing them two."

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Back at the house, Frank and Carla stood in their kitchen, with Carla slowly leaning over on to the side.

"I think you should go to the doctor." Frank suggested, knowing that his wife was quite ill. He had never seen her like this before.

"I'm fine." She lied, going over to the cupboard and getting a glass before going over to the sink and getting a glass of water. "I'm going to go to bed, maybe finish of some paperwork for the Bulmers order and then do a bit of online shopping." She told Frank.

He stood there, watching her, a certain look of worry spread across his face. "I'm alright, I promise you." She said, smiling at him.

"Well, I'm going to go back to work for a bit, then come home when everything's done. We can all have an early start to the weekend and I can take proper care of you." He said, going over and kissing Carla on the forehead. "I love you." He added.

"I love you too." She said, making her way towards the stair case. Frank sighed and shook his head as he watched his new wife walk away. He loved her more than anything and hated to see her like this.

As Carla reached the bottom of the staircase, she felt faint once more. She placed her glass down on to the banister before placing her left hand flat on the wall to try and steady herself. "Frank." She called out, a hint of worry and uncertainty in her voice, as if was softer than usual. Frank rushed from the kitchen to Carla.

"Carla, this really isn't healthy, let me take you to the doctor." He begged, holding her by the waist whilst noting she had gone paler in colour.

"I'm fine." Carla said, her voice becoming even softer, as Frank felt Carla becoming a dead weight.

"Carla?" He asked waiting for a response. Knowing that something was really up, he called their doctor. Frank's initial concern was whether she would be able to try for a baby in this state, but his worry had been shifted to his wife's health. Frank reached for his phone from his pocket and dialled the number as Carla regained consciousness. As she was becoming increasingly alert, Carla attempted to move, with Frank being careful to not let her move to suddenly. "Stay there, Carla." He told her softly.

"Hi Doctor Martin, it's Frank Foster. Carla is quite ill and I'm getting concerned, would you be able to make a house call?" He asked down the phone, as he felt Carla's forehead, noticing that she had developed a fever. "She's not been well all day, she's got a fever, she's white as a ghost and has collapsed twice." He explained to the doctor, as Carla had given up on trying to move, knowing that Frank wasn't going to let her move. "Just now, she's on the floor... yeah, I'm right next to her." He continued to explain as he took his wife's hand in comfort, smoothing his thumb over the back of her hand. "Alright, thank you." He said, graciously ending the call.

"Doctor Martin's coming around right away, he said when you feel ready to, we should try and get you on the sofa or a bed, somewhere comfy" Frank relayed. Carla nodded, as if to let him know that she wanted to get up then. "Are you still feeling faint?" He asked her, a serious tone in his voice. "No." Carla muttered softly, before Frank helped Carla into their living room and onto the sofa.

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"Hello Carla." The doctor greeted her, following Frank into the living room, as he sat down next to his wife.

"I don't know why he called you, I'm fine." Carla told him, smiling a little, fooling nobody.

"What I'm going to do is check your temperature and blood pressure and see if that gives us any clues to why you keep on collapsing." He explained, kneeling on the floor and opening his medical bag.

"Carla your blood pressure is extremely high, have there been any changes in your diet?" The doctor asked. "No." Carla said, looking at Frank for comfort. He came and sat next to her, taking her hand.

"Do you smoke or have an excessive alcohol intake?" He asked her. "I've been cutting down on alcohol." Carla told him. "Do you smoke?" He asked her. "No." She replied.

"Is there a chance you may be pregnant?" He asked her. Carla froze for a second, before turning to Frank.

"We've been trying for a few months now." Frank informed the doctor, taking Carla's hand for comfort.

"Ok," he replied, pulling a plastic bag containing a white stick out of his bag. "This will test to see whether you are pregnant, or not." He said, handing the stick to her. "You might want have a quick read of the instructions before you take the test itself."

Carla went to the bathroom, as Frank was getting excited at the thought of being a dad. "If she is pregnant, where would we go from there?" Frank asked, somehow keeping a straight face.

"In that case, I would refer her to a midwife and will check to see if mother and baby are in good health." The doctor explained.

"Would the blood pressure be an issue?" He asked, keeping a serious demeanour, however inside, he was thrilled at the prospect of finally becoming a father.

"Potentially," the doctor told Frank. "Your wife would need to be monitored." He added.

"All done." Carla said, handing the bag back to the doctor.

"Ok, I'm going to leave this for about a minute, then we'll be able to see the result." He explained to her, as Carla sat back down next to Frank on the sofa.

"How long have you been trying for a baby?" The doctor asked Carla.

"For three months now. But, I came off my birth control about six months ago." She replied, with Frank placing a reassuring hand on the small of his wife's back. He knew that it was difficult for her to think about having a family.

Just before the wedding they had spoken about having a family, with Carla talking to him about her fear of having a child because she thought she couldn't be a mum, as she felt unloved by her own mother as a child. Frank had reassured Carla, telling her that she would be nothing like her mum, she couldn't be. With some gentle persuasion, Carla agreed to have a baby with Frank, knowing that he wouldn't leave her alone with a baby, like her own dad had left her mother, and she could see that they wouldn't last long as a married couple if she didn't agree to the one thing that would make him the happiest man alive.

"Alright," Doctor Martin said, cutting a loving silence between the couple.

"What's the verdict them doc?" Frank dared to ask, smiling at Carla with a look of sheer joy as if he already knew the answer.

"This confirms that you are in fact, pregnant Carla, so what I'm going to do is pass your details on to a midwife, who will call you in the next few days to arrange a first appointment." He informed them.

"For now, I think that resting is the best course of action. The pair of you obviously lead a busy and stressful lifestyle that I think you would find useful to take a break from at this point, both of you." He added.

"Carla, if you collapse again however, I want either one of you to call me and I will try and get a midwife to come and see you, make sure that there isn't anything too serious going on." He finished.

"What do you think is causing her to keep on collapsing?" Frank asked. "It may be the changing level of hormones, or the higher blood pressure." He replied. "At the moment though, I would just see how things go, alright?" He asked, standing up and picking up his medical bag.

Carla remained silent, stunned at the fact that she was able to get pregnant so quickly. "Thank you so much, Doctor." Frank said, shaking the middle-aged man's hand, as he too stood up from the sofa, to show him out.

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"We've done it!" Frank beamed, coming into the living room. "I'm going to take such good care of you." He promised, offering his hand out, helping his wife off the sofa.

"You already do." She smiled, bouncing off his excitement a little.

"Are you happy?" He asked her, pulling her into him, kissing her on the forehead.

"Yeah." She said softly, giving a weak smile.

"Carla, the last thing I want is for you to be unhappy with this pregnancy. I know that you've had your doubts, but you'll be a fantastic mum and I'm here for you, whatever you need. Just name it." He told her reassuringly.

"A nice bottle red would be good." She joked, laughing a little.

"I love you so much." He told her, kissing her lightly. "I love you too."