A few days later, Peter was allowed home. Carla had sat Haisley down, a few days earlier, to tell her that Peter was poorly and in the hospital.
Haisley had spent all morning with Michelle making a welcome home and a get well soon banner for the flat. Carla was with Peter at the hospital signing paperwork and getting his medication.
"Sorry to interrupt" a police officer started as they walked through the door "we need to take a statement now"
"Oh ok" Peter said.
"Does he have to do this now?" Carla asked, a little angrily.
"Yes, this was a horrible attack, we would like to get every detail we can, I am sure you understand"
Carla nodded. She had dealt with the police a lot throughout her life so she was less than friendly with them.
"So Mr Barlow we are going to need you to tell us exactly what you remember" the DI said with his colleague by his side. They both got out their notepads.
"Ok I will try, everything is still a bit foggy" Peter said, pointing to his head.
"Anything you can remember will help" the officer told him.
"Ok so I was walking home…."
Peter was on his way home from work, his day was normal, a bit busy and with multiple groups to manage so he was glad to get home to Carla and Haisley. He was walking slowly down the street when he took a phone call from Simon.
Whilst on the phone he took a turn into the road by the park. It was dark and there was no one around. Peter had his guard down as he was concentrating on his phone call with Simon. Once he had finished his conversation he hung up his phone and placed it in his pocket.
Suddenly he felt a hard force on the back of his head and fell to the ground.
"That's all I remember, the next thing I know I wake up here looking at this beautiful women" Peter told them, smiling at Carla.
"Ok, thank you Mr Barlow, we will let you know how our investigation goes, but in the meantime please be careful, someone may be targeting you and we don't want this to happen again" the officer told them.
Once the officer was gone, Carla turned to Peter "I couldn't cope if this happened again"
Peter pulled her into him, placing a kiss onto her lips "nothing is going to happen, they took my wallet and my phone, someone just wanted to mug me that's all"
"You don't know that, even the police think it might happen again, besides they might have taken that to make it look like a mugging"
"Look at you, a right little columbo" Peter laughed.
"I mean it Peter you need to be careful"
"Carla" Peter started but she was still talking.
"I am not letting you out of my sight again"
"Can I have that in writing?" Peter smirked, winking at her.
Carla slapped him on the arm "I mean it Peter, I was so worried about you, I can't have this happen again"
"Come on, let's get home, I have missed my little girl so much"
Carla smiled at him "she has missed her daddy too"
Peter had been in hospital for a week total. He was unconscious for two days and has been coming around for the last three days. Carla didn't bring Haisley to the hospital as she didn't want to scare her daughter.
She knew that seeing Peter's face with bruises on and some cuts she would be scared that something bad happened but they would get to that when they got there.
On the way home Peter was quiet, too quiet for Carla's liking.
"What's wrong?" Carla asked him, pulling the car up outside their home.
"Nothing"
"It's me you're talking to, you can't lie to me" she placed her hand on his shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.
"I was just so happy with you and Haisley, then something like this happens"
"We are still happy Peter, Haisley has been waiting for you to come home"
"I know we are happy, I just want to stay happy"
"Hey, where is this coming from?" Carla asked "we are happy Peter and we have things to look forward too"
"I know, come on I need to see Haisley" Peter told her, wincing as he got out of the car. He had a few broken ribs and a sprained wrist.
Michelle and Haisley were sitting on the sofa, they had hung the banners on the wall, right where he could see them.
The door opened wide to reveal Peter standing in the doorway.
"DADDY" Haisley screamed. She ran off of the sofa straight up to Peter. Carla stopped her before she jumped on him.
"Remember baby, daddy is sore" Carla told her, holding her arm out.
"I want a cuddle" Haisley said as she began to cry.
"Princess, we can have a cuddle on the sofa" Peter told her, wiping her tears away. He took her hand, leading her to the sofa.
He sat down slowly, holding onto his ribs. He then tapped his lap. Haisley climbed on slowly.
"I have missed you so much princess" Peter told her, pulling her in for a cuddle.
"I missed you daddy, do you hurt?" she asked, noticing his face.
"Yes, I do but I will be ok"
"I was scared when you didn't come home" Haisley told him, still sitting on his lap with her head on his chest "mummy told me you were in hospital and the doctors were making you better"
"That is true the doctors made me better"
"So why are you still hurting?"
"I can come home to get even more better, because all I need is you and mummy to get me better"
"Me and mummy can be your doctors" Haisley told him, looking at him with a smile.
"Now that's an idea" Peter replied, looking directly at Carla "Mummy can be my nurse"
Carla shot him a look but was secretly excited at the idea.
"So how is he really?" Michelle asked Carla privately in the kitchen.
"I don't know to be honest, he was fine but then he went all quiet in the car"
"He was probably just overwhelmed" Michelle said "It's a lot for one person to go through"
"You are right, we can talk more later but I will be keeping my eye on him" Carla told her "I don't want him to struggle with this"
An hour later, Michelle had gone home leaving them as a family. Peter was asleep on the sofa, cuddled up with Haisley. They put a film on, which was of course Frozen.
Carla sat close to them, keeping her eye on Peter. Once the film finished Carla put Haisley to bed. She resisted her mother's attempts to put her to bed because she wanted Peter to do it.
Once her mother explained to her that Peter was too tired and needed the rest, Haisley agreed to let Carla do it.
"She go down ok?" Peter asked Carla when she reentered the room.
"She wanted you to put her to bed but in the end we got there" Carla said, taking the seat next to him on the sofa. She placed her arm over his chest and put her head on his shoulder.
"I love you" Peter said, kissing the top of her head.
"I love you too, I am so glad you are home" Carla smiled "Come on let's get you into bed"
"Now you are talking"
"Calm down Barlow, you are supposed to be resting, there will be none of that for a while" Carla told a disappointed Peter.
"Oh come on, there's nothing to look at besides hospital walls and food, maybe you could model me that nurse's outfit" Peter winked.
"Enough, we don't want you getting too excited" Carla laughed "we need to make sure everything still works"
"It works, trust me"
"Come on" Carla said, pulling Peter's arm to help him up.
The next morning, Carla walked an angry Haisley to nursery.
"I don't want to go" Haisley shouted, standing in the doorway of the flat.
"Haisley, I don't have time for this" Carla pleaded "I will come and get you early"
"No" Haisley shouted with her arms crossed.
"I need to look after daddy today and I thought you would be happier with your friends"
"No, I want to stay with daddy"
"Haisley, listen to your mum" Peter told her from the sofa.
"No daddy, I want to stay"
"No young lady, I am in charge and I need you to go to nursery for a few hours, whilst I do the food shop and check on the factory"
"You love that factory more than me" Haisleey shouted, stamping her foot and crossing her arms.
Peter got up off of the sofa after seeing Carla's face "Haisley you are going to nursery and then when we are finished we will come and get you"
"Fine" Haisley stamped her foot but released her arms.
"Come on" Carla said.
Haisley stamped most of her way there but ran in happily once she got there.
An exhausted Carla walked back through the front door and joined Peter on the sofa.
"She is a right madam" Carla said.
"She gets it from you" Peter joked.
Carla slapped Peter's arm "she does not, she just listens better to you, which really annoys me"
"She finds it easier to stand up to you because she's more comfortable with you, you both have a great relationship" Peter took her hand "you are an amazing mum"
"Thank you, but she loves you so much"
"Well I love you both of you so much" Peter replied.
A week later, Peter was feeling much better. He was more involved with Haisley and the day to day runnings of things.
Today Carla and Peter had a meeting with the police. They had made some developments into the case. Then after the meeting they had a family dinner in the bistro because Kate was home from her honeymoon.
"If you want to take a seat, DI Johnson will be with you shortly"
Carla and Peter took a seat in an interview room.
"This is familiar" Peter joked.
"That's not funny" Carla scolded "We have both seen to many of these"
"I know but nothing of our doing"
"I can't believe you got sent down for murder" Carla brought up.
"Carla, do we have too"
"Sorry"
"I almost died, no thanks to your brother"
Carla shook her head at him, before she could say anything the DI entered the room.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting" DI Johnson said.
"No problem, what can we help you with?" Peter asked.
"We have some CCTV of the incident, but we can't make out an identification" DI Johnson pulled out a disk "we would like you to watch to see if you can identify the attacker"
"I'm not sure that's a good idea" Carla said "I don't want to watch someone attack Peter"
"You don't have to, only one person does, there is a clear image of his face before he really attacks Mr Barlow so you don't see much" the DI said.
"I will do it"
"Peter think about it" Carla warned, still worried about his mental health.
"I want to know who did this to me"
"Ok, then I will watch too" Carla said, taking Peter's hand in hers.
After thinking things through and talking about it, they both decided to watch together.
The DI placed the disc into the tv and began the evidence.
Carla kept gasping and turning away, Peter's eyes were fixated on the screen.
"Coward, attacking me from behind, I could have taken him" the video cut out after the man hit Peter over the head.
"Peter, this isn't about whether you can take them or not" Carla said, sternly not wanting him to think he could fight this person.
"I know"
"Does anyone recognise this person" the DI paused the tv on the clearest shot of his face.
Both Carla and Peter took a good look but neither could recognise him.
"That is good news I suppose because it's no one we recognise" Carla said, trying to be positive.
"We will carry on investigating but if either of you remember this face or anything, however small, contact us" DI Johnson told them.
A little while later, with a very happy Haisley in tow, they made their way to the bistro.
"Welcome home" Carla said, approaching Kate with her arms open.
"Thank you sis, but what on earth happened?" Kate asked, noticing Peter's appearance.
"Oh come on, I don't look that bad" Peter joked, placing a kiss onto Kate's cheek.
"I will explain later, but right now I want to hear all the honeymoon details" Carla giggled, taking her sister in her arm and taking a seat.
"This is definitely something I shouldn't listen too, neither should our daughter" Peter said, taking Haisley to the other side of the table with the men as Carla rolled her eyes.
Since Peter had been home Haisley hadn't really left his side, so she was glad when Peter took her with him to the 'men's end' of the table.
"Hello grandad" Haisley said sweetly.
"Hello princess, are you looking after daddy?" Johnny asked, picking her up and placing her on his lap.
"Yes" she replied.
After the women had caught up, the table rejoined again and took their actual seats. Peter and Haisley sat next to Carla.
"I would like to say something" Aiden said, standing up with his glass in his hand "welcome home sis and Rana, we hope you will be very happy together" everyone raised their glasses before Aiden continued "Not to steal the spotlight but since you are all here, we need to tell you something"
"You're having a boy?" Johnny jumped in.
"No dad, but now we know what he wants" Aiden replied.
"Hey" Haisley shouted, receiving a laugh from her family.
"Me and Emma are getting married" Aiden told them all.
"Congratulations" Johnny said "Another Connor wedding"
"Congratulations" Carla said, raising her glass.
"Thank you, obviously we are going to have the baby first but we will be getting married afterwards" Aiden said, placing a kiss onto Emma's cheek.
"This is great news" Johnny shouted "let's celebrate" Johnny then ordered a few bottles of bubbles to share.
After a few drinks Peter was getting tired "Carla, I will take Haisley back, you stay and celebrate with your family"
"No, I will come with you" Carla said, gathering her bag.
"No please stay, you've been doing such a great job looking after me, I want you to enjoy yourself" Peter told her.
"Are you sure?" Carla questioned Peter, she wanted to go with them but she hadn't seen her whole family together for a while. And if she was honest she needed to breathe for a second.
Peter said his goodbyes and of course Haisley was all too happy to go with him. She said goodbye to her family and followed her father home.
"So how is Peter really?" Michelle asked.
"He is okay I think, much better" Carla told her.
"That is good news" Michelle answered. Carla filled Kate in on what had happened to him and Kate apologized for not being there for her.
"So how is the baby making going?" Kate asked "I am guessing there is no news yet"
"Kate" Carla scolded "he has been in hospital after being beaten"
"Yes, so he has been at home waiting for you each day, also he has been home for a while now" Kate laughed, winking at her.
Carla rolled her eyes but then said "We have been trying of course but we are seeing where things go, we are being careful as he is injured but you know what he is like" she smirked at the images.
"Even a beating won't stop him" Kate laughed, admittedly she had had a lot to drink.
The family then began talking about the old days and what the young Connor clan got up too back in the day.
They laughed and they got emotional as they spoke of Liam and Paul. Kate and Aiden spoke about the times they hung around with them but it was more like following them around.
The conversation stopped a little when Rob was mentioned.
"It's ok, we can't pretend he didn't exist" Carla told them.
"Yes, but it's always difficult to talk about" Michelle said, placing her hand on Carla's shoulder.
"He was my little brother, but now I have another little brother and a little sister, I can't pretend he doesn't exist so let's just talk about him like normal"
"Do you remember he used to follow us and Paul around all the time" Michele said.
"He used to copy Liam so he could try to fit in" Carla said "he didn't really have many friends of his own"
"Yeah he used to try to buy them" Michelle laughed "but he did have that one friend"
"Yeah" Carla said, going into her memories "there were three of them, that were inseparable when he was younger"
"Yeah, what were their names?" Michelle asked, struggling to remember.
"I can't remember, it was years ago" Carla shrugged.
After a few more stories down memory lane, Carla made her way home to Peter.
He was in bed asleep. She got in with him, snuggled up to him, shutting her eyes.
"TOM" Carla gasped, sat up and shouted.
Sorry I have left it on another cliffhanger. I will try to get the next chapter uploaded as quickly as possible. But as always your reviews mean a lot to me! Please Review