The next day around lunch time, Carla was working in the office in the factory when Peter appeared in the doorway.

"Afternoon Mrs Connor"

"Hi Mr Barlow"

"How late do you keep your staff? I've been waiting on them to leave for about twenty minutes, it's nearly two o'clock, bit late for lunch"

"Yeah I know, they were behind on the order so I made them stay late to finish it. And anyway, you need to learn to be patient. She said, standing up and walking round to the other side of the desk. She sat up on the desk and Peter stood between her legs, leaning in and kissing her lips.

"I've waited for days to do that"

"So have I, you see, be patient and you'll get what you want" Carla said between kisses.

"I've been thinking" Peter said,

"Careful"

"Why don't we get away for a few days?"

"Where?"

"I don't know, wherever you want, we don't have to go now, but I just thought it would be nice to go away"

"Yeah that would be nice, I could be doing with a few days away from here"

"We'll have a think about where you'd like to go and we'll try and arrange something in a few weeks time"

"Yeah that sounds great. I think it would do us both good"

"Yeah it would. I need to go love, I've got another meeting with my solicitor and Leanne to go over the divorce settlement"

"Aww really? That's not fun, I would offer to come with you but I don't think it would help do you?"

"No, it'll probably just cause Leanne to kick off, thanks though"

"Let me know how it goes. I wish I could see you tonight but I'm meeting Frank."

"Why don't we have a night in tomorrow? I'll get my dad and Dierdre to look after Simon and we can get a takeaway and watch a movie?"

"Sounds perfect, can't wait"

"Okay, well I'll text you later"

Peter kissed Carla goodbye before heading into town for his meeting as Carla went back to work for the afternoon.

Later that day, around 4:30, Carla was on her way out of the factory, leaving Hayley to lock up when she saw Dierdre walking down the road with Simon.

"Carla!" Simon shouted, running across the street,

"Hi Simon" Carla said, hugging him, "you're late home from school today, did you stay for football?"

"No, my dad didn't pick my up so grandma Dierdre had to come"

"Oh", Carla immediately started to worry about Peter, wondering why he hadn't been there to pick up Simon.

"Simon, why don't you go back to my house, you're Grandad's home, you can tell him all about your day at school, I just need to speak to Carla"

"Okay grandma"

Simon ran off and Deirdre watched him as he crossed the street, making sure he got into the house okay before turning back to Carla. She knew Peter and Carla had became close friends recently and Peter would have told her about his meeting.

"Where's Peter?" Carla asked, "did his meeting run over?"

"I don't know, it might have" Deirdrr replied, thinking about where Peter might be.

"Well he did say he would let me know how it went and I haven't heard from him yet so he must still be in there"

Just at that moment, Carla and Deirdre saw Leanne walking out of the bistro.

"That must mean the meetings finished then" Deirdre said, "I'll go and ask Leanne."

"Leanne, when did your meeting finish?" Deirdre asked her,

"About an hour ago" Leanne said bluntly

"Right, you haven't any idea where Peter's gone?"

"No. I wouldn't be surprised if he's drowning his sorrows, I don't think he's very happy with the outcome of the meeting" she smirked,

"Why not? Did it not go well?"

"You best speak to Peter" Leanne said, before walking off.

Carla's heart sank at the thought of Peter drinking again, knowing how well he had done staying off it. And her mind was working overtime trying to work out what Leanne was on about and where Peter could be.

"Where on earth could he have gone?" Deirdre said, starting to panic.

"I don't know, but I'm sure everything will be fine, I'll help you find him"

"Are you sure? Haven't you got plans?"

"Nothing that can't be cancelled" Carla said, secretly relieved that she was getting out of dinner with Frank.

"Thank you" Deirdre said gratefully, "why don't we go back to mine and tell Ken what's happening and we'll decide what to do"

"Yeah, come on then" Carla said, as she followed Deirdre back to number one.

About half an hour later, Carla and Deridre had explained the situation to Ken when Carla suddenly remembered her and Peter's walk.

"Peter and I went a walk the other day, and he took me to this place where he says he sometimes goes to think, maybe he's gone there because he has a lot on his mind"

"Yeah maybe, do you know how to get there?"

"Yeah, it's not far"

"Do you want us to come with you?"

"I think it's best if just one of us goes, he might think we're ganging up on him and if he's already feeling under pressure then I think he'll find it easier to talk if it's just one person." Carla explained.

"Yeah I think you're right, it's best you go then, will you let us know when you get there and if you find him"

"Of course I will, I'll call you"

Carla left Ken and Deirdre's and headed towards the place that Peter had taken her a few nights before, hoping that he would be there. She got her phone out of her pocket and called Peter again, going straight to voicemail. She found Frank's number and pressed call to cancel dinner with him that night. Almost immediately Frank answered.

"Hello"

"Hi Frank, it's Carla"

"Hi Carla, how are you?"

"Not to good actually Frank, the thing is, something's come up and I'm going to have to cancel for tonight"

"Really?" Carla could hear the disappointment in his voice and got the feeling that he was a bit annoyed.

"Yeah I'm sorry, we can rearrange for another time though"

"What about tomorrow night?"

"I can't tomorrow night" Carla said, remembering she said she would have a night in with Peter. "Can you do this time next week, this next week is really busy for me, that's the soonest time that I'm free"

"Yeah that's fine, I'll see you next week then"

On the other side of Manchester, having just got off the phone to Carla, Frank was pacing the floor of his apartment, annoyed that he was no longer meeting Carla that night. His plan would have to be postponed until next week, much to his annoyance. He couldn't help but wonder, maybe Carla had got a better offer, maybe she was spending the night with the man she was in the pub with who he had learned was called Peter.

Back in Weatherfield, Carla had just arrived outside the abondoned building hoping that Peter was inside. She went in and climbed the stairs, reaching the steps just below the roof. She stepped on the piece of wood, wishing that she had Peter's hand to hold to help her up. Eventually, she managed to get herself up, stepped out onto the roof and saw Peter sitting with his back to her. She breathed a sigh of relief, so glad that she had found him. Getting closer she could hear muffled sobs as he sat with his head in his hands.

"Peter" she said quietly, getting his attention as he turned round, wiping his eyes. She noticed a cut on the side of his head and drops of blood on his shirt.

"What's wrong darling? Did the meeting not go well?"

He simply shook his head, a few more tears falling down his cheeks.

"What happened to your face?"

"I had a drink and got in a fight with some bloke in a park"

"Come here" she said, wrapping her arms around him hugging him tightly. "It's okay", she said, gently rubbing her hand in soothing circles on his back.

"Do you want to tell me what's happened?", she could tell he had been drinking, but from what she could tell he was no longer drunk and had sobered up a bit.

Peter composed himself, wiping his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"It's Leanne, she's going to try and get custody of Simon"

"You're kidding?! Can she do that?!" Carla asked, shocked at what Leanne was trying to do.

"The solicitor said she was entitled to apply for custody, it's just whether it gets accepted or not. I could lose my son Carla, hasn't she already taken enough from me?!" Peter said, getting upset again.

"Peter listen to me" Carla said, taking his face in her hands and lovingly stroking his cheek, "she is not going to get custody, they're not going to accept it, no way, you're an amazing dad and she can't take Simon away from you. I'm not going to let her. And anyway, Simon isn't going to want to live with Leanne, he's going to want to stay with his dad, that little boy loves you more than the world"

"But I'm a failure Carla, I'm an alcoholic, what chance have I got, they're just going to think in irresponsible and hand Simon over to Leanne"

"That's not going to happen, yes you have your problems but so does Leanne, she's hardly whiter than white is she, I mean she used to be a prostitite, that's hardly what I would call responsible."

"Yeah I suppose your right"

"I'll be with you every step of the way Peter, and I promise you she's not going to get Simon"

"Thank you. I don't deserve you"

"Of course you do, come on, we'll go back to mine and get you cleaned up and I'll make you a coffee"

Carla took his hand and lead him down from the roof, both of them heading back to Carla's flat hand in hand.

Both of them had arrived back at Carla's flat and Carla was making them both a hot choclolate.

"Here, this will make you feel better" she said, putting two mugs of hot choclolate with cream and marshmallows down on the table. "I'm going to clean that cut on your face, it looks sore.", Carla said, bringing over some cotton wool and a bowl of hot water.

"Come here" she said, gently wiping the dried blood off of his face, causing him to wince as the hot water made contact with his cut.

"Sorry" Carla apologised, finishing off and putting the water on the table. "There you go", she leaned in and placed the gentlest of kisses on his cheek, just below the cut. "Are you okay?"

"Much better now you're here" he said smiling, pulling her closer to him on the sofa. They both snuggled up together, Peter wrapping his arms around Carla and kissing the top of her head.

"How did you know where to find me?"

"You said you go there to think so I thought that's where you'd be if you have a lot on your mind. Try not to worry about everything, I know it's hard but everything will be fine, I promise"

"I hope so. Weren't you meant to be meeting Frank tonight?!" Peter said, suddenly remembering that Carla was meant to be somewhere.

"I was yeah, but you're more important"

"I'm so sorry, you had plans tonight but instead you're looking after me after I stupidly went out and had a drink"

"Peter it's fine, I've rescheduled and I didn't want to go anyway. Why don't you stay here tonight? You're dad and Deirdre said they would have Simon for the night and take him to school tomorrow"

"Is that okay?"

"Of course it is"

After a few hours of talking and just enjoying each other's company, Carla and Peter had both fallen asleep on the sofa in each other's arms.

Thank you so much for everyone who'a read and reveiwed! Hope you enjoyed that chapter!