Nick's POV
"As we have you all gathered here me and Carla would like to make an announcement." I said as I looked down at my new wife, I placed my hand at the back of her head and began to play with her hair, I knew it would calm her nerves. I knew she'd find comfort from my touch. I understood why she was scared to tell everyone, especially after what happened last time. But this time was different. This time I was going to make sure everything went okay. I wasn't going to let anything break her, not after I'd fixed her.
"Me and Carla are expecting our first baby." As the words emitted from my mouth I saw the tears of happiness form in her big emerald eyes, the eyes I once saw pain and torture in but now only saw love and warmth. I pulled her body into mine and placed a kiss on the side of her head before wiping away the tears that now lay on her rosy cheeks.
"Congratulations mate." Aiden said as he held his hand out in front of me, "I can't believe I'm going to be an uncle." Carla and Aiden had become very close throughout the past year, they both shared the same views on Johnny and they both wanted to move on with their lives, neither of them wanted to look back at the past. Carla couldn't bear to think about her childhood and every time Aiden thought of his mum his heart broke a little bit more. The happier the memory the bigger the tear, a tear that couldn't be mended but only plastered over.
Suddenly darkness swallowed the room, I felt Carla's grip tighten on my arm as the lights went out. I knew she was scared, not scared of the situation. Scared of the darkness. The place that held all her memories, the place that was in her nightmares. I turned towards her and placed a kiss on her cheek, "You're safe." I whispered into her skin so quietly only she could hear, I knew she didn't want everyone knowing she was scared of the dark, I knew she didn't want to look weak.
Michelle stood up beside me and rested her hand on Carla's shoulder causing her to jump, "Right everyone come to the Rovers whilst Nick sorts this." She picked up her bag and placed a kiss on Carla's cheek.
"Can't you stay, can't Liz watch everyone?" Carla pleaded as tears began to fill in her eyes, "Nick will be sorting the electrics and I don't want to be alone." She whispered. Michelle nodded her head contently and sat back down beside her.
I stood up and looked around the room, I couldn't see everybody only people that were at arms length, "I'll go and sort it now, everyone go with Liz and I'll ring her when everything is up and running." I rubbed my hand up and down Carla's arm and placed a kiss on her hair before walking over to the door to let the guests leave.
As I walked back into the restaurant I paced around before going to enter the kitchen, as sound as I placed my hand on the kitchen door the Bistro doors swung open, "EVERYONE DOWN ON THE GROUND!" Two men ran through the door and began to swing a big metal bat in the air, as they stopped at beside Carla and Michelle, I gasped. My heart broke at what I was witnessing. I knew she'd be terrified. I knew she needed me to run over and protect her. This was suppose to be the happiest day of our lives and it was about to be ruined.
He smashed the bat down on the table causing all of the glasses to shatter, the sound of broken glass made my skin crawl. The crashing of the bat hitting the table made my head go numb and my ears ache.
"WHERES THE MONEY!" Silence filled the room, no one responded. Me, Michelle and Carla froze, No body knew what to say or do. He grabbed Carla by her hair and lifted her body so she was standing, Michelle grabbed her wrist and attempted to pull her back down before he hit the metal bat around the top of her head, her lifeless body on the floor Carla began to scream.
"She'll be fine shut up." He shouted as he pulled her face closer to his. She didn't say a word. I couldn't watch this any longer. I couldn't watch her go through all this pain... I had to protect her. I had to protect our baby.
"Let go of her, it's all here look." I held my hands in the air as I walked over to the till and began to type in the pin, he threw her fragile body down onto the glass covered floor beside Michelle. I could hear her cries of pain, that's how I knew something was wrong. Carla Connor would never give up a fight this easily. Especially if they'd caused harm to Michelle. She was like a sister to her.
As he walked over to me I felt the anger burning inside of me, I wanted to teach him a lesson for hurting my wife and the woman she loved as much as she loved me, but I couldn't, I needed this to be over as quick as possible so I could comfort her and make sure her, Michelle and our baby were okay.
"Where's the safe?" He sniped as he placed all of the money out of the till into the black bag his companion was holding, I looked them both up and down and laughed. The thought of giving them money made my stomach churn, the thought of them being able to ruin the happiest day of my life and get money out of it made me feel sick. I looked over at Carla and sighed, I knew she wouldn't want me to give in. I knew she'd want me to fight. However I also knew that she needed me, she needed me to hold her. She needed me to tell her it was all going to be alright.
"You're not getting any more." I said as I slammed the till shut and walked past him to go over to Carla, she was now sat up on the floor with tears streaming down her face and holding Michelle's body in her arms, her dress now covered in Michelle's blood. The day was officially ruined.
As I barged past him he grabbed my arm and pined my body against the side of the bar, his face so close to mine I could feel his breath against my skin. Now I knew how Carla felt. How it felt to be weak and have overpowered, I couldn't do anything or he'd harm her and I couldn't live with out her. Even the thought of it brought tears to my eyes.
"Get her." He commanded, his eyes were full of hatred and anger I'd never seen anything like it, as the man dressed head to toe in black walked over to Carla and dragged her over by her hair, my body felt numb at the thought of not being able to help her. But I knew that I was fighting a losing battle and the only thing that would come from fighting was even more misery.
He held her timid body up tight against the wall by her throat, tears streaming down her face and soaking his hand she stood in silence. He tighten his grip on her neck and looked over at me, I could see the fear in her eyes, I could see that she couldn't breath. I looked over at her and she began to shake her head, "Don't you dare." She whispered as she sobbed uncontrollably. You could hear the struggle in her voice, you could hear the heartbreak and the disappointment. All she wanted was for this day to be special but she couldn't even have that.
"SHUT UP!" His spit hit my face as he screamed, he let go of my body and walked over towards them, he pushed the other man off of her and grabbed her face. She inhaled a deep breath and relaxed her body on the wall, "Tell him to tell me where it is." He whispered as he began to run his fingers in her hair, "TELL HIM!" He pulled her to the floor and leant his body over hers, her body curled into a ball, she wrapped her arms round her stomach as she let out a groan. That was when I realised why she wasn't fighting. It was the baby.
I ran over to her as fast as I possibly could, as I knelt down beside her he pushed my body to the floor and began to place kicks into my stomach. Each kick harder than the last I gave in to the pain. I should of never gave in. I should of fought for what I loved. With Michelle down and now me it was only Carla left standing. The only one that had something to lose. Our baby. I just had to hope and pray that she'd give in, which knowing her wasn't very likely to happen.
Carla's POV
As Nick's body lay beside mine I realised it was time to give up, but my pride was too thick to swallow. He grabbed my wrists and pulled me off of the floor, "So now it's just us." He whispered as he began to place kisses onto my bruised neck. As his lips came into contact with my skin tears fell down my cheeks simultaneously. I couldn't let this happen again. I had to fight.
He pulled my body against the table and began to force me down as he ran his hands up and down my waist, as the back of my head hit the table I tried to push his body off of mine but I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough. I reached out my free hand and began to search for something beside me to defend myself with. But there was nothing there. Only shards of glass that cut my fingers when I attempted to pick them up.
He lifted my fragile body into his arms and threw me down on a bigger table, again I reached out for something. Anything that could help me. Suddenly I could feel the knife that was meant to cut our wedding cake, but we never got chance. I attempted to pull in into my grasp but it was just too far, only my finger tips could reach it.
As he looked across at my hand, he saw the sharp blade sparkling. The thing I nearly had. The thing that could of changed everything. He grabbed it and passed it to his peer who was stood beside me grinning, he found pleasure out of seeing me weak. Out of seeing me powerless. You could see by the look in his eyes that he didn't regret a thing.
I began to kick and scream, hoping and praying that Nick would get up and help me. But he didn't. He was still on the floor just like Michelle, both the people I loved the most. Potentially dying. I knew Michelle was bleeding out and I knew that Nick more than likely had internal bleeding from how hard he continuously kicked him. All I needed was for one of them to wake up.
Suddenly I heard a chair fall over in the distance. Someone had woken, as the footsteps came closer and closer, I could see Michelle's small figure in the distance, she picked up the metal bat that lay on the table and hit it around his head causing his body to fall on top of mine, I screamed at the top of my lungs, I couldn't get him off of me. His blood dripping down onto my neck. I freed my hands and covered my face. I couldn't watch any more.
Michelle pushed his body off of mine and pulled me into her warm, comforting embrace. I let out a sigh of relief as I cried into her blood covered shoulder, when suddenly I felt a sharp pain enter my back, that painful I could barely feel it. But I knew exactly what it was.
I rested my head on Michelle's shoulder as my body fell forwards and into her arms, I heard the Bistro doors shut. He'd got away. I could feel the cold blood dripping down my spine. He'd stabbed me. He'd stabbed me in the back. I could feel the air getting thicker as it became harder and harder to breath. My lungs now empty I knew I was going to die.
She slowly placed my body down on the floor and held me in her arms as she held the wound tightly. She placed kisses in my hair as she rocked me back and forth. She then pulled out her phone and dialled for the ambulance, but I knew it was too late. I could fell my soul being dragged away from my body.
"I need-" I paused and took a deep breath, "I need to say goodbye to Nick." I whispered as tears stopped rolling down my face.
Michelle began to shake her head sternly, "No you're not saying goobye. You're not going anywhere. You're Carla Connor. You can't die." She cried as she placed her forehead against mine, she knew deep down I was going to die. "I can't lose you Car." She said as she wiped her tears away.
"Please Chelle just… Just see if you can wake him." The air was getting thicker and thicker by the second, I knew I only had a couple of minute's left to live, left to say everything I needed to say. She nodded her head and moved away from my lifeless body.
She returned and shook her head in sorrow, "He's not conscious Car." As the words emitted from her dry mouth I realised I wasn't going to be able to say goodbye, I realised I wasn't going to die in his arms.
"Give me some paper." I said so quietly you could hardly hear my voice, she handed me one of the wedding invitations and a pen. If I wasn't going to say it face to face I had to tell him another way.
Dear My Nicky,
Nick I know that I'm about go and I'm never going to be able to tell you how much you mean to me ever again, how much I love you, how much I wanted to have a family with you. You made me so happy Nick, you gave me everything I dream of and more. You made me feel at home in the world. You made me part of a family and I can't begin to explain how grateful I am for that. You never gave up on me and I know you never will. But I need you to promise me that you'll be happy without me. That you'll move on and have a family of your own. I can't bear to think of you unhappy. You can still have the little boy that you dreamed of, that you spoke to me about. You can get over me, you can get better than me, somebody who's not a roller-coaster. Somebody that won't leave you.
I love you Nicky Tilsley,
Forever and Always, Carla Tilsley.
The pen dropped out of my hand as my eyes began to close, it was time. As Michelle's lips hit my forehead I could no longer open my eyes. I was gone.