Thank you all so much for the lovely comments; I thought I would post this update sooner than I had planned as they were all so nice. It really is lovely to hear you are enjoying this. A huuuuge thank you to madaboutcarla who let me know about the ratings on here. I'm not sure if any of you like M rated fictions but I have just posted a little introduction to one that I am planning. I am hoping to get the first part of it posted tonight. :-) As always, any comments you have time to leave are really appreciated. :-) Enjoy.

Part Nine.

Peter was sitting on his own in one of the hospital rooms while he waited for Carla to get back from getting a bath so that they could go down to the unit their son was in. Peter wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there when the door opened and at first he thought it was Carla but when a man walked through the door he frowned. "I think you've got the wrong room, mate."
"I'm here for my sister; do you know where room 9 is?"
"Who's your sister?"
"Carla Connor?"
"Oh, I think you might have the right room then."
Darren frowned "come again?"
"This is her room, I'm her boyfriend, and she's in the bathroom." Peter got up and held his hand out for the man in front of him to shake. "Peter"
Darren nodded and stepped in a little further; letting the door close behind him before he shook his hand "Darren" he introduced himself rather casually before speaking again. "how is she, is the baby alright?"
"He's in the Intensive Care Unit with him being so early, and Carla's fine."
"He?"
Peter nodded "yeah. Bailey..."
Darren nodded a little "congratulations."
"Cheers... Does she know you're here, she never mentioned anything?"
Darren shook his head "no, it was supposed to be a surprise, I've rented a flat near where she lives."
"Oh right, how did you find out we were here?"
"Michelle told me the score and I came straight up here to find out what was going on. One of the midwives told me which room you were in."
"She shouldn't be too long."
Darren nodded "how does it feel then? Being a dad?"
"Amazing. I just want to meet him now."
"They'll let you go down there soon won't they?" he frowned.
Peter nodded "yeah, I think we will go down there when Carla gets back."
"I might come back later then, will you let her know I was here."
Peter nodded "yeah, I'll let her know."
Darren nodded before turning on his heels to leave, as he got outside he took a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and after lighting one he dragged on it heavily, glad that he had been told Carla and the baby seemed to be alright.

It was moments after Darren had left that Carla was brought back into the room and she moved over gingerly to sit down on the edge of the bed. Carla gave a small smile as Peter moved over to her and ran his hand over her hair gently. She had changed into a pair of new peach pyjamas after a bath and had tied her hair up into a ponytail. Carla took Peter's hand in her own and kissed him gently on the lips before resting against his chest. Peter ran his hands over her back gently before securing them around her. He leant down to kiss the top of her head before speaking. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired, sore, rough. I just want to go and hold him."
"I know you do sweetheart, but we just have to wait for them to come and get us, if they're not here soon I'll go and ask them what's going on."
"Do you think he'll be alright?"
"I think he's a fighter like his mum..."
"How are you feeling anyway daddy?"
Peter smiled "I'm over the moon; I'm worried about him of course. But he's in the best hands and if anything had happened they'd have been up to tell us by now."
Carla nodded in agreement and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I love you."
"I love you too... I met your brother today..."
Carla frowned "how? When? You didn't say anything..."
"He's just come to the hospital for you"
"Where is he now?"
"He wasn't sure how long you were going to be so he left, he said he would try to get back later."
"How come he was here? How did he know I was here?"
"He's moved into a flat and he was going to find you and Michelle told him what had happened so he came down."
Carla nodded "so he went before I got back?"
Peter nodded "yeah, I think he'll come back though."
Before Carla got the chance to answer the midwife that had been with her throughout her labour walked through the door with a friendly smile adorning her features. "Hi Peter, Carla, how are you feeling?"
"I want to go and meet my son, can I?"
The midwife smiled and nodded at what he had said "that's what I've come here to tell you, we can take you now if you would like?"
Carla nodded "please..."

Carla made her way down to the unit where Bailey was going to be until the doctors were sure that he could come off the machines. After washing their hands with anti-bac gel, Carla was taken into the room and Peter followed her, standing to her side when she chair she was in was placed to the side of the incubator that Bailey was laid in. Carla gasped quietly and brought her hand up to her mouth, swallowing down unfallen tears as she tried her best to keep her emotions under control. One of the things that had worried her from the moment that she had found out she was pregnant was not being able to be a good mum. She wasn't sure of what the criterion was of being a good mum but she sure knew how not to be, after having so much personal experience with her own. The love that she felt for Bailey wasn't something that she could explain, and, on feeling it she wondered how her mum could have treated herself and Darren as she had done. When she had been handed Bailey in the special care unit she had finally understood what unconditional love was, and the overwhelming need to protect the little person that she'd had in her arms.

Peter also found himself choked on standing by the baby that to him was perfect; he fell in love with Bailey immediately and gave Carla's shoulder a gentle squeeze as comfort for her, as well as himself. Peter let a small smile pass his lips when he heard Carla whisper and hoped more than anything that Bailey would be alright.
"Hello baby boy..." Carla whispered, moving her hand through one if the gaps that was in the incubator, running her finger over his cheek gently.
"He's beautiful Carla..."
"He's so perfect..."
"He gets that from his mum."
Carla smiled, moving her hand to let it fall over Bailey's hand, she swallowed and turned around as the midwife made her way back over to them after talking to a doctor. "Can I hold him?"
The midwife nodded "we just need to be careful of the wires..."
Carla nodded at what she had said and Bailey was carefully taken from the incubator and given to Carla who wrapped a blanket around him to make sure he was warm, holding him close. When he had been picked up by the midwife he had begun crying, but on being taken by Carla he had fallen silent. Peter smiled as he spoke, sitting down in a chair beside Carla "I think he's a mummy's boy..."
Carla smiled "of course he is..."

-

It was around an hour later when Carla and Peter had been told that they needed to go back up to their room and although Carla had wanted to sit with Bailey for the rest of the night she had known that she needed to go and get some rest. On getting back to the room Carla had intended to go to bed but had found Darren sitting on it waiting for her, she offered a small smile and let the door close behind her before speaking. "You could have given me some warning you were going to turn up."
"Well, it didn't quite go to plan. I thought you might have been in the pub or at work but no, I turn up to find out that you're in hospital."
"Yeah, I went into labour just to complicate things for you."
He smirked "I'm glad I mean that much to you."
Carla shook her head before moving to sit on the bed beside him "you don't."
"How is he then? My nephew?"
Carla let a small smile flicker over her lips and nodded "he's alright, we are just hoping that the steroids they gave me will have helped with his breathing and stuff but we probably won't know that until they have run tests and things."
"When are they doing that?"
"Tomorrow I think."
"Can I meet him?"
Carla shook her head "not tonight, we've just been told to come back up here."

"I've got something for him…"

Carla raised her eyebrow a little "as long as it's not a football shirt."

Darren laughed before producing a baby blue coloured bear from a bag he had placed by the side of the bed "I know it's a bit predictable but it's the best I could do at short notice…"

Carla smiled "it's lovely, thank you."

"I got something for you too, so don't feel left out."

"My, you have been busy."

Darren handed her a box of chocolates and she smiled slightly more "I'm not sure whether they're still your favourite, but…"

Before Darren could finish, Carla answered him with a nod "they are."

Peter observed the exchange between Carla and Darren and he let a small smile pass his lips. Carla had never really mentioned him but they seemed to be fairly close, close enough for her to allow him into the room after she'd just had a baby anyway. She didn't seem to have any objections to him meeting their son so he guessed that things between them couldn't be that bad. Deciding that Carla needed time with her brother, Peter spoke up to excuse himself from the room. "I am just going to go for a cig… I think I'd better ring my dad and Diedre too, to let them know they have another grandson."
Carla gave a small smile and nodded "alright, bring a drink back for me would you?"
Peter nodded and kissed her on the forehead, and said bye to Darren before he made his way out of the room and down the corridor of the hospital.

When the door closed behind Peter, Darren spoke up "you seem quite calm..."
"How do you mean?"
"Well with Bailey being in intensive care I thought you might have been..." he shrugged "I don't know, I thought you might be on eggshells."
"I'm worried, of course I am, but they have told us not to get too worked up, there were no signs when they took him down that he wouldn't be alright. His lungs are under-developed with him being so early but they gave me stuff while I was in labour to help him and they have him on machines to make sure he doesn't struggle. They're doing everything they can to make sure he is going to be fine." Darren smiled and Carla frowned at the expression, shaking her head a little. "What?"
"You, it suits you."
"What does?"
"Being a mum..."
"Does it?"
Darren nodded with a small smile and Carla fell quiet, one thing that she didn't want was modelling what her mum was like with her. She always remembered her telling her that if she ever had kids she would treat them the same and Carla had always been adamant that she wouldn't. She sighed quietly as a day that seemed to be embedded in her mind came to the front of it again, it was something that she would have rather forgotten but like most things that Carla wanted to forget, it seemed almost impossible.

It was Friday night and a 12 year old Carla was sitting in front of the heater that was in her living room, her mum always went mad when she had it on as it made the meter run out doubly quick, but she was freezing after just having had a bath and was taking advantage of her mum not being there. As usual, Friday night meant getting drunk in the pub for Jackie, after pulling a few tricks that was. She usually sold more gear on a Friday too, which paid for her drinking her bodyweight in alcohol. Carla huddled around the small heater as she changed into her pyjamas. After doing so, she picked up the bar of chocolate she had gotten earlier that day and began eating it, the TV was on low and was playing cartoons, something which Carla hadn't grown out of finding amusing yet, and she had been so engrossed in the programme, she hadn't heard the front door open.

Jackie was annoyed when she walked through the door, a fight had kicked off between the two crowds that used her local, which had resulted in it shutting early, and due to this she was nowhere near as drunk as she would have liked. She tripped over something in the hall and cursed, which was when Carla became aware of her presence. She put the chocolate down to her side quickly and leaned over to turn the heater off, she had just scrambled to her feet intending to go and sit on the worn sofa that was one of the few possessions they had, when Jackie stood in the doorway and spoke, her tone harsh.

"Have you had that heater on?"

Carla shook her head, taking a step back from it "no…"

Jackie moved over to the heater, the noise of her heels against the floor seeming much louder to Carla than it was in reality. "Do not lie to me." Jackie snapped, shouting now and on finishing her sentence she hit Carla hard with the back of her hand. Carla lost her balance and fell with her back against the sofa; she swallowed hard and took a moment to get her bearings before getting up once more, only slower this time.

"Sod off to bed." Jackie snapped "I don't want you back down here until in the morning."

Carla moved quickly from the room and went upstairs to get into bed, her cheek still stinging. That night, she cried herself to sleep and dreamt of a life where she didn't have to beg her mum to put the heating on and where she didn't have to ask her brother to get food for the pair of them, which she knew to him translated as going to pinch some. The following morning Carla woke with a bruise on her cheek, and her mum didn't even so much as acknowledge it.

"I don't want to be like her…" she whispered after a lengthy pause.

Darren wrapped his arm around Carla gently and kissed the side of her head before he spoke. "You won't be anything like her Car; I think you'll be an amazing mum."
"I hope so, I really do..."