Thank you all for the lovely reviews, I'm working on some other things at the time of me writing this, so I'm planning to upload the remaining chapters in one go (obviously once I've written them) as it's getting near the end
I'm also working on another story called Milestones which will be published shortly after I've finished this one (just to tease y'all)
19th June 2023
It was the day of Carla's day release form the unit, she had made excellent progress this week from visits with the twins to genuinely working on her mental health and becoming more confident, Carla just wanted to spend her day release chilling at home with her family, maybe even going to the park. She didn't want Aidan there knowing he would get too attached so Johnny took him to see a film at the cinema, Peter thought this was probably best as he didn't want to deal with Aidan's tantrums of not being able to see his mum.
"Right then, are we ready?" Peter questions as Carla gives her room at the psychiatric unit one last check before sliding her shoes on and linking arms with Peter's
"If there's any problems or if you want to come back give us a ring and we'll get things sorted for you, whatever you need Carla" Ciara smiles as Carla nods waving goodbye and heading to the car with Peter
"So then, what do you want to do today?" Peter questions as Carla bites her lip
"Go home, spend time with the twins, I feel bad though…"
"Why?"
"I just feel it was mean of me not allowing Aidan to see me or lying to him, but I know the reasons behind it" she smiles as Peter nods slowly, starting the engine of the car as they begin the drive home
"It's so good to be out, I feel so free" Carla grins as Peter smiles glancing to her quickly before turning his attention back on the road as they near the street, Peter pulling the car up at the house
"Right, come on then" Peter smiles as Carla grins excitedly as they walk up to the house, Peter opening the door and being greeted by Luna
"Luna!" Carla grins bending down to pick her up, holding her close, the fluff of her fur hiding the massive smile which was plastered on her face
"Michelle's probably upstairs settling them both, it's around the time they sleep" Peter smiles as Carla nods, taking in the scent of her home
"I've missed this" Carla smiles as Peter nods bringing her into a hug stroking her hair as she kisses him on the lips gently before heading upstairs into the twins nursery
"Hey" Michelle whispers rocking Ava who was drifting off to sleep, Michelle feeding her as Carla smiles going up to see her
"She's so big now" Carla whispers stroking Ava's head as she sleeps in Michelle's arms, Michelle placing her in one of the cots
"Why don't we snuggle up in bed? Watch some movies and you can cuddle your girls?" Peter offers as Carla beams excitedly going into their bedroom and sliding into bed, Peter getting the nursing pillow for her and picking Isobel and Florence up and placing them on it
"Shift over" Michelle grins as Peter rolls his eyes, Carla raising an eyebrow, Isobel opening her eyes to look around Carla bending down to kiss her forehead the tickle of Carla's hair causing Isobel to grasp onto it
"You're not even one yet and you're going through the hair pulling phase" Carla tuts as Florence starts to cry Carla glancing at Peter tears filling her eyes
"Peter what does she want?" she panics as Peter smiles
"She just wants a feed" he replies as Carla nods pulling her top up, allowing Florence to start to feed, Carla thanking the gods that her milk didn't stop producing
"Oh dear" Carla grins as Florence pulls away to sneeze before starting to cry
"Come on Flo, don't let a sneeze get you down" Carla smirks as Florence continues to feed as Ava's cries ring out through the baby monitor
"Right lets get little miss Ava" Michelle rolls her eyes going to collect Ava and bringing her into the bedroom placing her down on the bed as she rolls onto her belly
"Hey! She can roll now?!" Carla exclaims as Michelle grins, Ava holding her head up to look at everyone
"She's growing up so fast…I'm so proud of her" Michelle beams tickling Ava's tummy as she squeals Carla laughing at her
"Is there any more information on the cousins meetup?" Carla questions tickling Isobel's feet laughing as her face scrunches up unhappily
"I don't know Johnny's looking to do it in August, that's all I know" Michelle shrugs as Carla nods slowly, Isobel starting to whimper, Carla looking around for a dummy
"Is there a dummy for her?" Carla questions as Peter nods grabbing it from the bedside table, handing it to Carla as she rubs the teat of it over Isobel's lips as she accepts it briefly before spitting it out and crying
"She probably wants changing" Carla bites her lip "Could I do it?"
"You don't need to ask sweetheart…do you want me to come with you?" Peter offers as Carla nods, Peter picking Florence up and placing her in the moses basket beside him, as Carla carries Isobel to the nursery to change her, transfixed on looking at the rocking chair
"You alright?" Peter prompts as Carla turns to face him, the memories coming to her mind, the empty rocking chair playing with her mind
"I don't know, I just feel confused all of a sudden" Carla sighs placing Isobel down on the changing table, going to change her
"Speak to me?" Peter questions as Carla sighs tearfully, finishing changing Isobel, putting her outfit back on as Isobel looks up at her, Carla glancing back to the rocking chair and sighing
"When I get out, can we get rid of the rocking chair?" Carla questions as Peter sighs now knowing the rocking chair was bringing back horrible memories for her
"We could, is it upsetting you?"
"I guess, it just makes me think of the time when I ran off, I never want to be reminded of a time I put my child in danger"
"Carla-"
"No, Peter. I don't want to be reminded about it, full stop"
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry"
"Could we order a takeaway pizza? The food is dire in the unit" Carla questions wrapping her arms around Peter's neck as he places his hands on her hips
"Of course, Aidan would be very jealous that I get to eat pizza and he doesn't" Peter reminds her as she bites her lip shrugging her shoulders nonchalently
"Well we'll have to hide the evidence wont we?" Carla grins as Peter nods taking his phone out of his pocket to ring the takeaway pizza place, Carla picking up Isobel rocking her gently as she opens her eyes looking at Carla
"Hey beautiful, you definitely have my eyes don't you?" Carla smirks as Peter rolls his eyes continuing his conversation with the pizza place, Carla walking off to the bedroom, Michelle playing with Ava on the bed, Ava smiling widely, Carla placing Isobel down on the bed on her back
"Thank you Michelle"
"For what?"
"Helping Peter out with these two, I really appreciate it thank you"
"We were really worried Carla, when you left" Michelle smiles bringing her in for a hug as Carla sighs glancing to Ava
"You child is beating my child up" Carla raises her eyebrows looking at Ava who was poking Isobel Michelle laughing, going to scoop Ava up
"Give us a hold" Carla smirks as Michelle hands Ava over to her "She's very bulky isn't she?" Carla questions as Michelle laughs
"Are you calling her fat?"
"No I'm just saying, Aidan was the same weight as her and he wasn't this bulky at like what 5 months?"
"Well, she's still beautiful" Michelle grins planting a kiss on Ava's head as she smiles
"She's a stunner, these three will be in the same year at school, how crazy is that?" Carla raises her eyebrows as Michelle nods in agreement holding onto one of Ava's hands
"They'll be the bestest of friends…like us ey?"
"Exactly, I'm dreading puberty, potty training and boyfriends, at least we can share the burden"
"I guess, bitching behind our children's back's, that's sure to cause a stir" Michelle grins as Carla rolls her eyes at the thought
"Sorry to interrupt but we need to think about getting you back after we've eaten these" Peter smiles as Carla sighs not wanting to return back to the unit, Peter blancing two boxes of takeaway pizza in his arms
"Do I have to go back yet?" Carla questions as Peter sighs nodding poking her on the nose as she scrunches her face up
"After you've eaten your pizza then we will have to get you back, you have a one to one session at one" Peter says as Carla rolls her eyes as Florence starts to cry, Carla going to pick her up and holding her close rocking her gently before going to feed her
"Feed me a slice" Carla asks as Peter rolls his eyes, Michelle snickering in the background bouncing Ava up and down dramatically as she squeals before breaking into a little laugh
"Oh my god!"
"What?" Carla questions as Michelle gasps
"She just laughed properly for the first time"
"Aww good job Ava" Carla grins as Florence feeds off her, Peter holding a slice of pizza to Carla's mouth as she accepts the food trying to make sure none of it dropped on Florence
"Is she usually this piggy with bottles?" Carla laughs
"She is, she's trying to catch up with Isobel who still weighs quite a bit more than her" Peter shrugs as Carla nods slowly, Florence finishing feeding, Carla picking her up and propping her up against her shoulder to burp her
"Thanks for the pizza at least I won't have to eat the horrid food in the unit" Carla groans as Peter laughs finishing off a slice of pizza, picking Isobel up off the bed, waving a cuddly toy in her face
"They're like in between that stage where they're interested but they're also not" Michelle laughs watching Peter tease Isobel with the cuddly toy
"Come on then, let's get you back" Peter smiles as Carla pouts in response wanting to stay
"Hey, I'll continue with the albums every week you're in there ok? The girls would want you to get better" Peter smiles as Carla sighs nodding knowing he was right, placing Florence in the moses basket, before taking Isobel off Peter to say goodbye, saying goodbye was always the hard part but she knew she and to do it
"Right you be good for your daddy" Carla coos kissing Isobel's cheek before grabbing her jacket and heading out to the car with Peter who was going to take her back, taking the drive to unit and signing Carla back in
"Hi Carla" Ciara smiles gently entering the room as Peter puts an arm around her shoulder
"Hi" Carla beams excitedly as Peter laughs at her eagerness
"It went well then?" Ciara questions as Carla grins nodding enthusiastically
"It was nice to be able to spend time with then girls on their own as well as my niece Ava as Michelle was there, we even had pizza and we snuggled up in bed and we're going to make some changes to the twins room" Carla explains as Ciara laughs at the enthusiasm
"What sort of changes?" Ciara asks intrigues as Carla bites her lip glancing to Peter who prompts her to continue knowing it would be a good idea for her to speak about what she wanted to change
"We're going to get rid of the rocking chair and get a new one as it brings back some not very nice memories" Carla explains looking at some of the photo's in the photo album, glancing up to Ciara every now and then in between flicking through the pages
"If you think it will help then I can't stop you from doing that, but overall were you ok, you can be honest it won't mean your possible discharge date won't get pushed back, it means we can work on the things which were difficult by the time your discharge date approaches"
"I guess knowing the girls' cries, I found that quite stressful not knowing if they need feeding or changing but Peter helped me with understanding what they wanted" Carla explains as Ciara nods writing notes on the notepad
"Ok, things are looking really positive Carla, I bet you didn't want to come back here?" Ciara laughs as Carla nods smirking at Peter
"She wanted to stay…well she was like that in Carlisle that time" Peter shakes his head as Carla grins taking one of the photos of Aidan out of the plastic wallets in the photo album, grabbing a piece of tape and sticking it to the wall next to her bed
"I'm going to push for a review as soon as possible to see if we could maybe do an overnight visit…if that's ok with you both?" Ciara questions as Carla beams excitedly knowing that if she was granted this she would be so close to leaving
"Yes" Carla replies eagerly as Peter raises his eyebrows at her excitement
"It's fine with me if it's fine with Carla…I'll make sure I get a new rocking chair for the nursery as well"
"But you're rubbish at décor" Carla narrows her eyes as Ciara laughs writing notes on her notepad
"Ok then, I'll bring some magazines in and you can choose then" Peter retorts as Carla grins giving him a hug
"Right how about Peter heads off because you have a one to one next don't you?" Ciara questions looking at Carla's timetable to double check "Yes you do"
"Alright, bye love"