The sequel to Life, will contain smut in later chapters just a heads up! Chapters may take longer as I want to put a lot of effort into this one
The memories of Devon circulated around Carla's head as she gazes down at her daughter which was wrapping up in a cream fleece blanket huddled in her best friends arms. She thought to herself how times had changed in the last 24 hours, she had a smooth birth and Peter had been by her side the whole time but she still felt empty, it was weird she didn't know what to do but right now all she could do was to be the mum her little girl deserved, this was her second chance and she was going to grab it with both hands.
"Love, she wants a feed"
It was those words which snapped Carla out of her thoughts, she took her daughter, who was still unnamed and fed her holding her close, yet she still felt somewhat empty
"Oh dear" Carla smiles slightly lifting her baby up to wind her rubbing her back affectionately, the alien concept of motherhood plaguing her mind, the doubt setting in as her phone went off, she frowned grabbing it off the side and holding it to her ear
"Oh Hi, who's speaking?...Right, I'm currently in Devon right now…Well the thing is I've just given birth literally a day ago…I know you need to follow your line of inquiries…well you need to tell me who's died…I don't know what to say, the soonest we could probably come up would be in a weeks' time…I know it's serious, ok we'll try and get up as soon as possible, bye"
And that was that, Carla broke down in tears, Peter taking his daughter off her as Carla cries into Michelle's shoulder, the hormones and general sadness mixing together creating an overwhelming sense of emotions
"What's happened Carla?" Michelle questions, her eyes wide in concern as Carla pulls at her hair taking a seat on the sofa next to Michelle as Peter sooths his daughter's cries
"Rana's died, the roof collapsed at Underworld" Carla says shakily as Peter places his daughter in the moses basket which was in the front room going to console Carla
"Oh Carla-"
"They need us to go back, something about inquiries I tried to stress to them that I'm in agony from giving birth but they wouldn't listen Peter" Carla says as Peter sighs stroking her hair gently as the baby starts to cry, causing Carla to groan in response
"She just wants a cuddle with her mummy" Peter says gesturing for Carla to hold her daughter, Peter holding her out but Carla just gets up and heads to the bathroom causing Peter to sigh glancing to Michelle who just shrugs in response
"Come on then little lady let's get you changed" Peter smiles kissing his daughter's forehead and heading upstairs to her nursery, placing her down on the changing table to change her soiled nappy, Carla hovering in the doorway with a small smile on her face going over to Peter and wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing him softly on the cheek
"Do you want to help?" Peter offers as Carla bites her lip glancing to her daughter who was waving her arms around, Carla grabbing a nappy from the pile they accumulated and glancing to Peter in need of assistance
"So what you do is you lift her legs up and grab a wipe and wipe her from front to back, open the nappy and place her bottom down on it-"
"What now?" Carla panics slightly as Peter smiles kissing her forehead gently as their daughter whimpers
"You pull the front through her legs, unhook the tabs and pull them to the front of the nappy" Peter explains as Carla concentrates making sure she does it right, biting her lip which made her look awfully cute from where Peter was standing
"Is that ok? It's not too tight?"
"That's perfect" Peter kisses her gently on the lips as Carla picks her daughter up rocking her gently which musters up a loud wail, Carla shaking her head and handing her to Peter
"Hey, it's ok, she's just being fussy that's all" Peter smiles holding the baby against his chest hoping that they rhythmic beat of his heart will settle her
"Sorry" she mumbles "It's a big change"
"I know but you won't bond with her unless you hold her" Peter compromises holding the baby out to her as she accepts it rocking her daughter slower than before as her eyes open, stuffing her hands into her mouth to suck on them causing Carla to head to the storage unit they had on their bed side table and grabbing one of the dummies Carla had stored there biting her lip and glancing to Peter who prompts her to place it in their daughter's mouth
"How?"
"Just rub it against her lips" Peter smiles as Carla nods doing what she was told, he baby accepting it into her mouth, sucking vigorously on it
"There you see" Peter smiles putting an arm around Carla's shoulders causing her to smile "Do you want to take her downstairs?"
"Hmm ok" Carla replies apprehensively as Peter smiles, Carla picking up the baby and holding her to her chest as they both go downstairs, Michelle smiling at Carla who was holding her daughter, the sight somewhat comforting. Carla sitting down on the soft with her legs outstretched, the baby snuggled on her chest, Peter grabbing a blanket to drape over them both
"She's very curious" Michelle observes as Carla hums in response looking at her daughter as her eyes dart across the room taking in her surroundings
"She keeps sucking on her hands though" Carla says as Michelle pouts her lips, the baby spitting the dummy out onto the floor returning to suck it's hands
"I'll get it, you look comfy" Michelle says grabbing the dummy and going to give it a wash handing it back to Carla who holds it to her lips again, her daughter letting out a loud wail
"For god's sakes, forever the drama queen-"
"Just like her mum then" Michelle retorts with her eyebrows raises causing Carla to glare in response rubbing her hand up and down the baby's back to settle her again, Peter handing her a cup of coffee
"Hmm I'm so glad I can finally drink this" Carla beams drinking her highly caffeinated coffee her tongue darting out and collecting the remains which were present on her lips
"We need to talk about what's going on back home I think" Peter says sitting in the arm chair, Carla groaning in response, she was enjoying being in Devon but she knew she had to go back at some point
"Well all the police said was that they wanted me to go back because they need information on the factory that's all" Carla shrugs as Peter sighs knowing she should be recuperating from her birth
"Ok, so what do you want to do? Go back-"
"Well I need to go back otherwise they I'll probably prosecute me for not helping with enquiries or summat" Carla says as Peter sighs nodding in agreement, he didn't want that for her but he also wanted her to take it easy and be a mum to her daughter, especially as she was struggling to bond with her
"Alright then, we'll go back…" Peter smiles as the baby starts to whimper again, Carla rubbing it's back gently to settle her but instead she just continues to whimper
"When?" Carla questions glancing to Peter who just shrugs not really knowing
"Next week?" Peter questions as Carla nods slowly smiling before something dawned on Peter, something that needed to make their family complete
"We need to think of a name for her as well, love" Peter smiles sitting on the floor beside Carla and his daughter to grab a closer look at her
"I have no clue"
"How about Michelle?" Michelle asks cheekily as Carla nudges her using her foot rolling her eyes
"Ok what about something simple like Lauren or Maisie?" Peter questions as Carla tilts her head to the side scrunching up her face at the suggestions as her daughter sneezes Carla laughing slightly at her as she rubs her eyes sleepily
"Nah, I don't like them"
"Ok something more unique then?" Peter questions as Carla grins nodding in response as her daughter stretches out across her chest, Carla kissing one of her hands
"You're going to need a book of baby names at this rate" Michelle mutters as Carla nods in agreement, Peter glaring at Michelle
"How about Nieve?" Peter questions as Carla shakes her head being stubborn over all the suggestions but not wanting to input her ideas
"You must have some ideas Carla?" Peter laughs as Carla blushes slightly, Peter grinning at her as she bites her lip
"You won't like my suggestion" Carla grins as Peter sighs in response, his daughter clinging onto one of his fingers, Peter smiling at Carla
"You never know…" Peter tempts her as she sighs in response causing Carla to glance down to the baby before glancing back to look at Peter
"Evie" Carla says as Peter smiles at her suggestions tilting his head to the side stroking his daughters hair gently
"Hmm Evie Barlow, I like it" Peter smiles as Carla grins back at him, Michelle rolling her eyes at the length it took to reach a decision
"So we good?"
"Yeah, any middle names anyone?" Peter questions with a laugh as Michelle grins slightly ready to input her name forward as a middle name
"Michelle" she grins as Carla rolls her eyes nodding in agreement, she didn't really care much about middle names
"Ok so we have Evie Michelle Barlow. Any more ideas anyone-"
"I feel like I'm at an auction for baby names here" Michelle drones as the baby starts to cry Carla sighing in response rubbing her back
"Oh sweetheart what's wrong?" Carla questions sitting up and supporting her daughter's head holding her in her arms rocking her gently as her cries become louder
"Try feeding her" Michelle inputs as Carla nods slowly lifting her top up ready to feed her daughter
"So are we settled on Evie Michelle Barlow?" Peter questions as Michelle beams, Carla cooing over her daughter
"Hmm yeah our little Evie" Carla says pointing to her lips puckering them for Peter to kiss her which he accepts Carla still holding Evie close to her chest as she finishes feeding
"Our little miracle"