I'll spare you lot the apologies about how long it's been... I hope you are all still reading and let me know what you thought of this chapter.

:)


Peter had never run so fast in his entire life.

With dripping wet hair and a towel around his damp waist, the short dash from his bathroom back to his sofa only took Peter a few mere seconds and yet somehow, it felt like it took a lot longer than that.

He rushed towards his sofa and frantically reached for his mobile phone in an instant.

Peter didn't even look at the screen to see who was calling either.

After all it could have been anyone on the other end, it could have been one of his worried family members as they had been contacting him non-stop since last night, just to check he was "okay" but Peter knew what they were really checking on and that was that he wasn't sat there in front of a bottle of alcohol.

Peter knew that his family meant well of course and he really did appreciate each and every phone call he received from his Dad or Tracy or Steve but in this moment, he just closed his eyes… closed his eyes and hoped that it wouldn't be a family member on the other end of his phone.

In fact he practically prayed that it would be someone else calling him.

"Hello…" He panted, the moment he tapped on the answer button, which was on the screen and raised his phone to his ear.

"Daddy!" Came Jada's adorable reply in the next second and it immediately made Peter well up.

It had only been twenty seven or so hours since he had last heard the sweet and innocent sound of his two-year-old daughters voice and yet his brown eyes were full of tears as he said,

"Jada… it's so good to hear your voice, Sorry I took so long to answer, Daddy was in the shower."

"Okay Daddy." Jada giggled, the sound of her precious laughter made a tear run down Peter's already damp cheek, he was so overwhelmed that at first all he could do was stand in the same spot in his living room and not move.

It wasn't long before Jada then began chatting away about how she had jumped in loads of muddy puddles on the way home and as she happily shared her experience, Peter sniffed hard and ran a free hand through his damp hair.

"Wow…" He said, taking a deep breath as he finally sat down on the sofa. "It sounds like you really had fun in the rain, darlin." Peter replied when Jada stopped talking, he swallowed hard, trying his very best to make it sound as if he wasn't crying because he didn't want his smart little girl to think anything was wrong with him, Peter then waited desperately to hear the sound of that other voice.

A voice that he was as anxious to hear as much as his daughter's one, a voice that belonged to someone who hadn't spoken since he had answered the phone because she was far too busy thinking about everything she and Peter had said to each other at the airport.

Peter's words echoed around her mind and as she pictured his face when she had left him stood there at Security, Carla couldn't help the tears that gathered behind her eyes.

"Mummy…" Peter then heard Jada say, almost as if she was able to read her Dad's mind all the way from Los Angeles. "Mummy talk to Daddy."

Jada stared up at her Mum with those bright green eyes of hers and also with a huge smile on her face. She then gave Carla a gentle push on the arm as she waited for her to finally say something and giggled as she said,

"Mummy not talking."

"Carla…" Peter eventually managed to get out after a moment of silence and hoping that Carla would be the one to talk first, he too was thinking about their emotional last conversation at the airport.

He was thinking about how he had told Carla that he loved her and it especially hurt because she hadn't actually said it back.

"Are you there love?" Peter asked, desperate to hear Carla say something, anything.

"Yeah…" She said quietly, her heart really starting to ache as she heard Peter call her love. She knew she couldn't put off talking for much longer and swallowed before she took a deep breath. "I'm… I'm ere."

"Oh… good." Peter replied, sounding relived and he wasn't the only one who was feeling that way either.

All sorts of horrible thoughts had flown through Carla's mind when Peter didn't answer his phone the first time around.

She'd had visions of him being sat with a bottle of whisky or brandy and Carla had already convinced herself that if Peter had of turned out to be sat drinking, it would have all been down to her decision to leave Weatherfield once again.

There was an awkward silence for a moment and at first, Carla was starting to regret that she had called but then as Jada began singing her own version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star down the phone, she knew that she was doing the right thing by finally calling Peter.

"That was beautiful singing Jada." Peter said, smiling from ear to ear even though he still had a large amount of tears in his eyes, He waited to see if Jada was going to start singing again but when she didn't, Peter bit his bottom lip and said, "Carla?"

"Yes?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Carla… you ave to know… all that stuff that happened at the airport, I really don't blame you for... leaving." Peter said with a lump in the back of his throat. "You don't ave to say anything either… I just wanted to say that n get it out the way, we really don't need to talk about this in front of Jada."

A tear spilled out of one of Carla's light eyes as she sat next to Jada and even though she knew that she should really say something, She was glad that Peter had said that she didn't have to.

There was absolutely nothing Carla could think to say to Peter that could possibly make him feel better and as she quickly wiped away the rogue tear, Peter then said,

"I'm just so glad you've called."

"This is the second call we've made…" Her voice sounded croaky, like she was genuinely upset, which she hated, she closed her eyes and shook her head as she quickly added, "It was just a moment before this one n we got your voicemail, I didn't just want to leave a message…" Carla didn't even let Peter speak because she was too nervous about what he was going to say next so she quickly started speaking again and said, "I'm sorry, Peter. I know we should ave called earlier than this I just…" Carla paused and tried not to let her self get too worked up in front of Jada who was practically beaming towards the phone. "Honestly, I just wasn't sure when the right time was."

"Carla…" Peter said in the next moment she took a breath, "Don't. You don't need to apologise." He suddenly felt very bad for thinking that Carla had forgotten about calling him, he could tell by the sound of her voice that she had only been putting it off because she found it just as difficult as he would have done had he been in her shoes. "You must ave been so busy what with unpacking n looking after Jada n stuff."

"Yeah…" Carla said quietly, wondering what Peter had been doing since she'd left him behind in Manchester, "We ave been busy aven't we Jada?" Jada nodded at her Mum and left both of her parents in silence as she leant towards the phone and then began babbling away about the Airplane she went on yesterday.

Jada was so busy talking about how she was a really good girl that it was rather okay that both Carla and Peter were now a little lost for words.

The truly ridiculous part of this excruciating situation that Carla and Peter were currently in was that there was so many different things that they could say to each other right now.

Had Carla and Peter had the courage they could probably talk to each other on that phone all night long, however now that there was five thousand plus miles between them, both Peter and Carla knew that it was far too late to start saying the sorts of things that they really should have said before now, things they should have said before yesterday… before a couple of weeks ago in fact.

"Jada and Mummy buyed a Christymas tree." Jada then said, once she had ran out of steam talking about the flight back to Los Angeles and once she had looked back at her Mum who was still sat in silence.

"Did you?" Peter asked, smiling sadly now because he knew how excited Jada probably was about Christmas and how excited she must be to get started on the tree that Carla had bought earlier.

He then remembered how enthusiastic she had been about decorating the tree he currently had in his flat and how she had made Carla turn a piece of tinsel into a snazzy belt.

Another tear ran down Peter's cheek as he turned to look at his own Christmas tree. It almost killed him to know that Jada and Carla wouldn't be around for Christmas this year and it was especially frustrating for Peter as at one point he had foolishly let himself imagine what Christmas with Jada, Simon and Carla might be like.

Peter imagined that Christmas Eve would have been spent getting those last minute presents sorted and watching old Christmas movies with his two children and Carla all squashed up on the sofa with him.

He imagined Simon telling Jada all about Father Christmas and helping her leave a mince pie and a carrot out for him and the reindeers.

Peter then imagined the both of them being up ridiculously early the next day and he imagined him and Carla both watching them open up all their presents and as Peter then imagined the four of them having a perfect Christmas dinner together in his flat, he felt himself start to well up again.

Peter decided he had to stop torturing himself because he knew it could lead into self destruction and he quickly turned back to look at his television. As he sniffed hard and tried not to cry again, it was then that he heard Jada asked,

"You there Daddy?"

"Yeah course." Peter said quickly, "I love talking to you and Mummy."

"And Simba." Jada said, looking down at Simba the lion and thrusting him towards the phone, she then began roaring into it pretending to be Simba for her Dad.

"Simba too, Hi Simba." Peter said, shaking his head and laughing silently at his daughter. Jada beamed after hearing her Dad talk to her most favourite toy and at first, Carla smiled at Jada too because she just couldn't help but return the delightful grin she saw but then, as Jada began trying to explain to her Dad all about the ginormous tree they had rested against the wall opposite her, Carla felt her smile begin to dramatically fade.

Hearing the sweet exchange between Jada and her Dad was starting to get more painful than Carla had ever imagined and she had to bite down on her bottom lip hard to make sure that she didn't cry out loud.

Carla had tried to prepare herself for this situation many times since leaving Weatherfield but thinking about what it might be like to talk to Peter again was nothing compared to what it actually felt like.

As Jada began talking about the Christmas Tree again, Carla looked over at it not sure she even wanted to start decorating it, as the last tree she had decorated was with Peter and Simon and as the pretty joyful memory of it circled her brain, Carla wondered just how much of that day Jada remembered.

Even though Carla had promised to talk about Weatherfield and everyone who lived there to Jada she knew that she couldn't remember to mention everything and she wondered which precious memories she might forget to tell Jada all about now they were back home.

"We gonna put a princess on the tree." Jada said, sitting up on her knees with Simba on her lap as she spoke into the phone, she then looked up at Carla who had tried to pay more attention to the conversation than she had done so far.

"Not a princess, baby, She's an Angel… a Christmas Angel." Carla said, looking over at the box of Christmas decorations she had bought whilst out earlier on, in it amongst the hanging decorations and tinsel, was a stunning Angel in a clear which Jada had picked out specially in the shop.

The Angel was made beautifully and had a white dress with glitter on it with matching wings. It had a simple yet lovely face and long blonde hair which Jada marvelled at before saying that she thought her Mummy should buy that one, Carla had been looking at a star for the top of the tree at first as she always deemed the type of Angels you could get to put on trees to be tacky but when she actually looked at the Angel her little girl had chosen, Carla knew she had to buy it.

"Oooh an Angel…" Peter said, nodding through his tears whilst goose bumps ran all over his bare torso, half to do with the fact that it was December and that he was sitting in his flat half naked and the other half to do with the fact that he was still overcome with emotions about Jada and Carla leaving. "Tell you what though Jada, if Mummy did need a Princess for the tree she could just put you on top couldn't she?"

"No Daddy." Jada giggled loudly and oh so sweetly, "That silly, I too big." Jada raised both arms in the air as she said too big and the sound of Peter's glorious laughter practically echoed through Carla's phone.

It was a laugh that was so infectious that Carla joined in and for a moment, it truly seemed like her, Peter and Jada were just three normal family members having a simple phone call, but as Carla bent down and kissed Jada softly on the head she couldn't help but feel like someone was missing from the conversation.

"Where's Simon?" Carla asked, licking her lips nervously because she wasn't exactly sure that Simon would want to talk to her right now.

"Simon!" Jada cried, looking wide eyed because she had been so caught up in talking to her Dad that she had totally forgotten about her big brother. "Daddy where Simon gone?"

"He's in his room." Peter said, standing up in his towel.

Simon had gone into his bedroom almost three hours ago having only had left it for meal times and for a bit in the afternoon when he and his Dad had visitors.

Breakfast time was the tensest time of the day for Peter and Simon. After a excruciating night of tossing and turning neither of them were in the mood for heavy conversation. They both buttered toast in silence and any conversation that they miraculously managed to have had seemed strained.

Even though both Simon and Peter knew that the other had probably been up all night in pain, neither of them knew just what to say to comfort the other as they were both in the same boat.

"Si…" Peter said, gently knocking on Simon's bedroom door, whilst Carla and Jada sat on the other end of the phone. He waited for a moment, just in case Simon went to answer and then he softly pushed the door open to find that Simon was sprawled across his bed, on his back with his eyes closed.

Simon had a headphone in each ear and as Peter walked closer to his son's bed, he heard the sounds of deep breathing over the soft music that came from the headphones and it was clear that Simon had managed to fall asleep.

"Peter." Carla said, leaning even closer to the phone after a bit of silence from Peter's end, "Is everythin alright?"

"Si's just asleep that's all." Peter said, quietly, hearing the sound of panic in Carla's voice, he knew things weren't exactly alright and was sure they probably wouldn't be alright for the longest time but he still went and said, "Everything's fine."

Peter then pondered on whether to wake Simon up or not because he knew that his son desperately needed this rest but he also knew that his son would want to speak to his sister and Carla as well and that he had also been anticipating a phone call from them all day.

"Oh… well don't wake him, it must be late n he's got school tomorrow." Carla said, shaking her head although she knew full well that Peter wouldn't be able to see her to do so, "I knew I should have called earlier." She sighed feeling guilty and shook her head in disappointment as an eager Jada suddenly slid off the sofa and walked over to a white toy chest that was in one corner of the room, she began delving into it as Carla then said, "I'm so sorry Peter, I should ave called a few hours ago at least."

"No…" He whispered, "Don't, Si's probably been asleep for ages anyway, he were up all night…" Peter trailed off knowing that saying all of this would probably make Carla feel even worse about the situation and then he shut his eyes, mentally cursing him self for being so stupid.

"How about you?" Carla asked, watching Jada who was still sat in front of a group of her toys, looking as if she was trying to find something. "How did you sleep?"

"Erm…" Peter said, turning and walking out of Simon's bedroom as quietly as he could, he gently shut the door behind him as Carla then said,

"Be honest with me Peter… please." Carla knew full well that Peter was about to pretend as if he'd had a perfect night of sleep just so that she didn't have to feel bad and she continued to watch Jada whilst she waited patiently for Peter to answer her.

"I didn't sleep well... not at all…" Peter said awkwardly, knowing this wasn't going to make the situation better at all but also wanting to respect Carla's wishes for him to be honest. "But please don't blame yourself."

"Oh yeah?" Carla said with another sigh, "Who should I blame eh?" She knew that all of this hurt and upset was all down to her and she couldn't help but wonder if she really did make a bad decision by choosing to return to California.

"No one." Peter said quietly and adamantly, "It's just… the way things are right now that's all… I'm sure we'll get used to it n I'm sure your night in L.A wasn't all fine n dandy, was it?"

"No…" Carla said, unable to not smile as Jada triumphantly pulled out the microphone that Peter had bought her for her birthday,from the box. Jada turned the microphone on and started singing into it as she began scrambling through the box once again. "I was up for most of it too… n not because of jetlag either."

Another silence came and it was Peter who decided that he'd try to slightly change the subject before the deafening silence lasted too long, so he quickly asked,

"How's LA then?" Carla took a look out of her very wide glass window, it was still pouring with rain and she couldn't help but shake her head in disbelief because the weather truly seemed to match her mood.

"It's alright, I spose." Carla eventually said, "It's bucketing down like there's no tomorrow, so much for being in the sunshine eh? I reckon that comment Chelle made before we left for the airport has jinxed us." Jada suddenly stood up from her toy chest with a grin and now she had a pair of pink sunglasses in hand along with her new microphone, which currently had blue and purple lights flashing from it.

"Mummy look." Jada called, putting the microphone down by her feet next to Simba before placing the pink sunglasses on her face only she'd done it wrong so the sunglasses were comically upside down.

"Baby you've got them on wrong." Carla said, shaking her head amused as Jada picked the microphone back up and began singing into it loudly.

As Jada began to belt out a rather hilarious rendition of Baa Baa Black Sheep, Carla laughed once more as the microphone made Jada's voice echo robotically around her living room.

"Can you hear that?" Carla asked Peter, "I still can't believe you bought the crazy kid a microphone, as if she needs one, Jada's loud enough as it is."

"That is true… I mean she is your daughter after all." Peter said, grinning as he heard the sounds of Jada's singing getting louder because she had come back to the sofa, with her upside sunglasses on and her microphone in hand.

"Oi!" Carla said, as Jada then began swaying from side to side, Carla heard Peter's light chuckle on the other end of the phone whilst Jada changed her song choice to Miss Polly Had A Dolly and somehow, Jada's dramatic singing plus more laughter made both Carla and Peter feel at ease.

Slowly but surely the conversation between them started to feel more like an old one they might have had.

Peter asked Carla how she had found the long flight back to California and she spoke about it freely although she left the part out about her being in tears for a lot of it of course.

Carla then asked Peter what he had done throughout his day and he explained about Ken and everyone else coming over although he left the part about how he and Simon had barley spoken.

Then Peter asked what Carla might do with the rest of her day and she explained that Susie was going to come over again and that maybe would decorate the tree they had just bought.

In between these spontaneous conversations, Jada sang songs and was involved in some of the chitchat and time seemed to fly by quicker than either Peter and Carla had realised.

"It's a shame Simon's asleep, he's missing all your lovely singing." Peter said once Jada sat down on the sofa again to take a break from her songs, which had recently ventured into the Disney Genre.

"Simon sleeping... wake him up Daddy." Jada said, looking out the window and even though it was still raining where she was, Jada knew that it was daytime, "It not night time."

"It is where Daddy and Simon are." Carla explained, "It's night time n it's very late, Simon's in bed, he has to go to school tomorrow, we'll speak to him tomorrow I promise." Jada nodded but she looked confused at the thought of it being night time and day time at the same time, she still had her bright pink sunglasses on upside down as Carla said, "It's okay if we call you tomorrow right, Peter?"

"Of course, as long as you're not busy." Peter replied, looking at the clock and seeing that it was almost eleven pm, hating the fact that it seemed like this conversation was maybe coming to an end.

"Too busy to talk to you and Simon? Of course not, We'll call in the mornin… our morning…" Carla said, chewing on her thumbnail as Jada sat next to her, "So your time it will maybe be around four, five, if that's alright."

"Sounds perfect." Peter said, nodding although perfect would be to stay on the phone all night to Carla and Jada… Actually perfect would actually be having Carla and Jada with him in Manchester right now but Peter knew that would never happen, so he sighed and then said, "I'll tell Si in the morning, it will give him something to look forward too during his second last day of school."

"Okay..." Carla said, as she looked down dejectedly, thinking about Simon having to go to school tomorrow with all of this on his plate.

"Mummy put Daddy face on." Jada said as she stabbed a finger at the screen which was black and it was then that Carla realised Jada wanted to video call her Dad so she could see him face to face.

"We're going to call Daddy back tomorrow Jada… I'll do it then..." Carla began, not sure if she was quite ready to see Peter again… even if it was through a phone screen.

"No Mummy now." Jada wined, poking at the phone again and then standing up on the sofa with a frown on her face.

"Jada we'll see Daddy and Simon tomorrow." Carla said, shaking her head and moving the phone away from her adamant daughter, who still looked entertaining with her upside down shades on.

"Now!" Jada cried, showing off a bossy temper that she had definitely got from her mother.

"It's alright Jada…" Peter said, "It's probably a good idea that we talk later, I've just got out the shower so I'm not wearing any clothes, you don't want to end up seeing Daddy naked do ya?" This question changed Jada's mood considerably and she giggled again before she sat down. She picked up her microphone with a smile on her face as Carla shook her head and said,

"Honestly Jada, you look ridiculous, you should see her Peter... I'm gonna send you a picture of her."

"Make sure you do." Peter said, thankfully "Can't wait to see it."

"Right well…" Carla began, her voice sounding slightly croaky again as she prepared to hang up on Peter, "I guess we'll... speak tomorrow then… Tell Simon and everyone I said Hi."

"Will do." Peter said, nodding as he sat alone on his sofa, he smiled sadly to himself whilst Carla replied,

"Okay, Jada say goodbye to Daddy."

"See later Daddy." Jada said, leaning towards the phone and then kissing it.

"Bye Jada." Peter said heartfelt, he paused for a slight moment before he then said, "Bye Carla, thanks for calling."

"Bye Peter... n don't mention it." Carla said quietly and then that was it.

She very quickly pressed the end call button before she lingered on the phone for too long because she knew hanging about would only make things worse. She took a deep breath before looking at Jada and said,

"Right stand up Jada let's take a picture of you for Daddy." Jada stood up with her microphone in hand and her upside down sunglasses still on and smiled her most cheesy smile whilst her Mum took a few photos. Carla swiftly sent them to Peter and hoped that he would appreciate the fact that she had sent a few different ones to him and then she put her phone down next to her on the sofa. She kept quiet for a moment, thinking about the phone call she and Jada had just had with Peter.

In Weatherfield, he received his photos within the same minute as Carla had sent them and he grinned widely as he swiped through them all, he was pleased to see that Jada was so happy in Los Angeles and as he went back and forth he simultaneously had the same thought as Carla.

That now they'd had that first awkward call out the way... now that their first day without each other was out of the way... maybe things would start to get better.