Chapter 2

Carla could hear the faint voices of people around her but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't open her eyes. She could feel Peter hold her hand tightly and could hear a voice she thought was Ken's somewhere in the room. She was still in so much pain and her head was pounding. She then heard two unfamiliar voices enter the room who she assumed were paramedics as she had heard Peter call for an ambulance. She wanted to open here eyes, to squeeze Peter's hand, to do anything just to let him know she was okay but she couldn't move. She was lifted onto a stretcher and felt a sharp pain as a needle went into her hand to attach an IV drip. She could still feel Peter holding onto her hand as she was carried out into the ambulance.

Peter followed the paramedics out of the flat,
"I can only take one person in the ambulance" the paramedic said
"I'll go" Peter replied, "dad can you go and make sure Simon's okay, and someone needs to tell Michelle, she'll probably be wondering why Carla didn't go back to the factory"
"Yeah I'll go and let Michelle know now, keep me updated yeah?"
"Yeah I will, thanks dad"

The ambulance drove out of Coronation Street and towards the hospital as Ken headed towards the factory to see Michelle.

In Underworld, the sound of machines could be heard along with the continuous chatting of the workforce and the radio playing in the background.

"Wonder where Mrs C has got to" Sean said, "she'll be wanting to check this order before it's sent away and Kirk's due to leave in ten minutes"
"I'm sure Michelle can check it, she's maybe been held up in a meeting or something" Sally said
"Yeah probably" Sean agreed

"Michelle do you know where Carla is?" Fiz asked Michelle who appeared from the office looking stressed
"No I can't get hold of her, her phone keeps going straight to voicemail. She said she wanted to check that order before it went out" Michelle said, going over to check on the order. Just at that, Ken walked into the factory.
"Oh hiya Ken, what can I do for you?" Michelle smiled
"Michelle can I have a word?" Ken said, not wanting to be the one to have to tell Michelle what had happened to her best friend.
"Yeah sure, you haven't seen Carla have you? I've been trying to get hold of her all afternoon"
"Yeah, umm.. that's why I came here"
"Oh great, where is she then?" Michelle asked, confused when she relieved silence from Ken
The factory workers looked on in confusion wondering what was going on.
"Maybe we should take this somewhere more private" Ken said as Michelle lead him into the office away from the ears of the workers.
"Ken has something happened? Where's Carla?"
"Michelle, you better sit down"
"Ken just tell me what's going on?!" Michelle said, fearing the worst.
"Carla's been taken to hospital, I think she's been.. um.. attacked"
"What?!" Michelle gasped, as tears filled her eyes
"Peter came home from picking Simon up and found her unconscious, she's just been taken away in the ambulance, I'm really sorry Michelle"
"No.. this can't be happening! He did this to her didn't he, Frank Foster, please tell me he hasn't done it again"
Ken nodded sadly at Michelle who burst into tears. Ken pulled an upset Michelle into a comforting hug and let her cry on his shoulder.
"I'll kill him Ken, I'll flamin' kill him" she shouted, grabbing her bag and jacket, "I need to get to the hospital"
"Yeah of course, I'll get you a cab"

Michelle practically ran out of the office, her eyes red and her cheeks stained with tears.
"Right you lot, take the rest of the day off" Michelle said, make sure you're all here first thing tomorrow morning.
"Is everything okay Michelle?" Hayley asked looking worried, "is Mrs Connor alright?"
"Yeah, everything's fine" Michelle lied, knowing Carla wouldn't want people knowing her business, "can you lock up for us Hayley?" Michelle said as she ran out the door towards streetcars.
"Everything is definitely not fine" Beth said once Michelle was out of earshot
"No something is definitely going on" Izzy agreed as they all wondered what had happened.

Peter had been pacing the corridor of the hospital for the last hour, as soon as Carla was brought in she was taken away and Peter hadn't seen her since. He was waiting for a doctor to tell him what was happening and he was getting increasingly worried as time went on.
"Peter" he looked up to see Michelle running towards him with Steve following "what's going on? Is Carla alright?" She asked, tears once again falling down her cheeks
"I don't know Michelle, they haven't told me anything since they brought her in about an hour ago" Peter replied struggling to fight back his own tears.
"I'll kill him Peter, how dare he do this to her again"
"Come here babe, it's alright" Steve said hugging Michelle "I know your angry but you need to calm down for Carla's sake yeah?"
"Yeah you're right" Michelle said taking a deep breath and wiping her eyes, "she's gonna be alright, our Carla's a fighter, she's gonna get through this and that bastards gonna go to prison this time like he deserves"