Peter, Leanne, and Carla had been at the hospital all afternoon, and now it was nearing the evening. Simon had showed signs of consciousness, and had even opened his eyes a few times, but he was dopey, so Peter and Leanne had decided to let him sleep for now, they would talk to him in the morning.
After spending the majority of her time out of the way, Carla had decided to pop-into see how Simon was doing. "Hey." She said quietly as she popped her head around the door.
"Oh Hi." Peter replied with a whisper as she met Carla in the middle of the room and Carla reached her arms out to hug him tightly as Peter kissed her on the cheek.
"How's he doing?" Carla asked sensitively as she held Peter with the softest of touches.
"Well he's woken-up a few times, but then he just dozes back-off to sleep." Peter told Carla, as the tears returned to the surfaces of Peter's eyes.
"Ohhh Darlin'…..What have the Doctors said?" Carla continued to question Peter, but ever-so gently to make-sure that she didn't upset-him by doing-so.
"Not much, they've treated the cuts on his head…..10 Stitches…..He hasn't broken anything, but his right arm is all swollen, but they said that we'll have to wait for him to properly wake-up before we find-out whether he'll be able to move-it or not. At-least he's breathing on his own….." Peter told Carla truthfully as she squeezed his hands, trying to comfort him, as she could see that the love of her life was upset by all of this drama.
"Well I'm sure he'll be fine baby. He's a strong little lad." Carla re-assured Peter as Leanne looked-over at the pair of them, she had remained quiet throughout their conversation as she watched-over Simon's sleeping figure.
"Let's not get our hopes up ey?" Leanne suggested, but she couldn't be bothered to argue with Carla right now, she just didn't have the energy for it.
"Yeah she's right, we can't hope for too much, but we can look on the bright-side can't we eh? Listen, I'm gonna go back to the Street for a bit okay. I have got a factory to keep-open, and at the moment I just can't afford to even miss one-day of work, or we might loose-it again. But you just make-sure that ya ring-me, if there's any progress, or even if it's bad-news, you let me know okay? Because Ken and Deirdre will want to know what's happened alright?" Carla told Peter tenderly.
"Alright love." Peter replied quietly, he had been very-quiet ever-since he had found-out the news about Simon bein in a fight, and Carla was beginning to worry about-him, it was unlike Peter to stay quiet in awful situations like this, he usually completely kicked-off. This thought only made Carla all the more worried about her man.
"Okay, well I'll cya later then. I love you." Carla said. "I love you too." Peter replied as Carla kissed Peter on the lips, and he kissed back, before she walked towards the door and opened-it, and then she paused in her tracks. "Cya Leanne." She said kindly with a sympathetic smile before she then left the room.
Leanne didn't reply but instead she just looked at Peter. "Sorry you had to see that…..Ya know what I mean…..Ya know, us two together…..It can't have been easy for you….." Peter trailed-off.
"No it wasn't, but there's no point in us arguing over that anymore Peter. I guess you and Carla are together properly now, and despite what's happened in the past, I'm just gonna have to get-over you and move-on aren't I?" Leanne told Peter, on the verge of tears now.
"Yeah I'm afraid you are Leanne, but I truly hope that you find someone who you deserve, and also someone that deserves you. You were the perfect wife ya know? I wouldn't be where I am today without your help! And I'll never forget that. Without you I'd probably be led where Simon is right now with excessive liver poisoning because of the booze…..And yeah you could say that Simon wouldn't be hospital right now if I hadn't of cheated on you. But where would he be if it wasn't for you eh? A little kid with a dead Mum and diseased drunk for a Dad? He'd be a right thug wouldn't he ey? At least we've managed to give him a decent up-bringing, and I guess he's turned-out alright considering everything that's happened to him in his small little life so far…..I'll never forget everything you've done for Me and Simon, Lee, never." Peter told Leanne truthfully, letting all of his true and inner-feelings out in one long speech.
"Peter don't." Leanne said through the tears that were rolling-down her face in streams, Peter hadn't intended to upset Leanne, not this time around anyway. "Ya know I'll always love you Peter, no-matter how angry or frustrated I might seem, I don't think I'll ever get-over ya. Not ever. No, not you Peter Barlow." Leanne said in floods of tears.
Peter trusted his automatic caring-nature not to lead-into temptation this time around, and so he walked-over to Leanne and hugged-her. "Heyyy come-here. You'll find someone who loves you and who you love." He said as he rubbed her back in a soothing in manner.
"No I won't Peter. No-one is gonna want an ex-prostitute with marital issues and a step-kid on the side are they?" She cried into Peter's shoulder as she hugged him back.
"Leanne." Peter said, taking her face into his hands as she was forced to look him in the eyes. "You're beautiful. You're the most kind and caring woman I have ever-met in my entire-life. Of-course you're gonna find someone. You're amazing Leanne. And yeah I'm in love with Carla now, and yes, I want to be with Carla for the rest of my life, but that's not because you've stopped being any of those things. Ya can't help who ya fall in love with can ya?" Peter said with a slight-giggle as it reminded him of the song.
Leanne chuckled too as she released the hug from Peter. "Oh please don't start singing!" She joked as she playfully hit Peter's shoulder. There was obviously still a connection between the pair of them, but Leanne knew that Peter was in love with Carla now, and she could hardly try and win Peter back when she had spent all of this time being angry at him for cheating on her and then leaving-her for the woman he loved.
Back on the Street, Carla had text Michelle for an urgent meet-up. They met in Peter and now Carla's flat. When Michelle had finally arrived, she was always running-late, Carla buzzed-her-up, and then Carla let her in and informed her about what had happened with Simon.
"Oh my goodness, so how is he now?" Michelle asked.
"I don't know, I left Peter and Leanne to it…..I don't know if Peter has told Ken and Deirdre yet…..Because they'll want to know…..And…..I don't know…..I just don't know….." Carla trailed-off into a whisper, and Michelle could see that all Carla wanted to do right-now was cry.
"Hey it's alright, just calm-down will ya?" Michelle said as she gently rubbed Carla's arm. "He'll be okay. He's a fighter is Simon ya know?" Michelle said, before she paused. "How did Peter take the news?" She asked sensitively.
"He freaked-out, he was even sick a couple of times. He adores that little-boy 'Chelle! If anything happens to him….." Carla stopped, unable to finish the sentence as she couldn't bare to imagine how Peter would be if anything more drastic than what had already happened was to happen to Simon.
"Nothing is going to happen to him alright? Simon is gonna be absolutely fine okay? He'll enjoy being made a fuss-of at school if he's got a scar or two anyway….." Michelle said, forever the optimist in these kinds-of situations.
"Oh well I guess so, anyway Peter seemed to have calmed-down when I popped into say goodbye….." Carla trailed-off.
"Well surely that's good-news then ey?" Michelle suggested to Carla.
"I suppose so….." She replied.
Later that evening, having calmed-Carla down and re-assured her that Simon was going to be okay, she left Peter and Carla's flat, and headed-home. Home now being Carla's old-flat, she had decided to stay there when Carla had moved-in with Peter. The main-reason was that she didn't truly believe that Carla and Peter would last, so it was somewhere for Carla to come-back to when they split, but Michelle had been proved-wrong on that one. The new-romance on the street seemed to be working quite-well, and Michelle was just glad to see Carla truly happy for once in her life.
Carla decided to text Peter as she sat all-alone in the flat, on the sofa which she had recently-modernised after persuading Peter to allow her too, and boy did that man take some persuasion.
Carla: Hey. Any news? XxX.
Peter: Not really. The Doctors have popped-in a few-times, but they just keep sayin that he keeps slippin in n out of consciousness. I need to know more. X.
Carla: Just be patient darlin'. How r u holdin up? XxX.
Peter: I'm not the 1 led in a hospital bed am I? X.
Carla: Yeah I know that baby but u need 2 stay calm 4 Simon's sake don't ya? He's gonna want ya there when he wakes-up properly. XxX.
Peter: I spose so…..
Carla: Well anyway, I'm off to sleep. So I'll c u 2morrow. Sleep well. I Luv U Lots. Ring me if u need anything in the night. K Darlin? XxX.
Peter: K. Will Do. I Luv u 2. X.
And with that Carla shut her phone and then walked-into their bedroom with it. She left it on, putting it on loud as she placed it on her bedside-table just incase Peter needed her for anything in the night. She had decided to stay in her clothes for the night just incase she needed to rush-out to Peter for any-reason whatsoever, so she climbed into bed, finding it a little weird as she was used to having Peter led next to her, there for a cuddle if she felt uncomfortable or scared. So it was a bit strange for Carla as she slept-alone for the first-time in around 3 Months.
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Little Preview for the next chapter for you all. – So Peter and Leanne are growing-closer again as they re-build their friendship. Will Peter betray Carla as Leanne struggles to get-over her husband? And will Simon be okay when he finally wakes-up or will he be left with minor but partial-paralyses for the rest of his life?
