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After Peter's birthday, Carla got the ball rolling with the adoption process which meant letting a social worker building up a report of their daily life as well on Peter. It was a success and they had a date in court for the adoption to take place, it was in three months' time and it was very exciting as well as riddled with anxiety. Emma's progress had skyrocketed as well, she was now walking a bit on her own without assistant which made Carla and Peter both hopeful for the future.
Today both of them were going into town to pick up some new things for Emma's room now Simon had moved into the study. Carla was hoping that she might be able to get away with getting Emma a bed if they put bed rails on it. Carla and Peter were currently into town to achieve some paint for Emma's room and of course Carla wanted it all to match colourwise so Peter knew it was going to be a long trip.
"So what colours are you looking for?" Peter questions trying to seem interesting in the topic of choice; colour schemes
"Well, I want it to look classy, we're not turning the house into a rainbow playground" Carla reminds him as Peter raises an eyebrow in response as they look at pain "Maybe a warm grey and a light pink or purple?"
"Right," Peter says as they walk down an aisle with various cans of paint "What about this colour?" he says holding up a dark warm grey colour "This could be used for a feature wall, we could push her cot up against this?"
"I thought we were trying her with a bed?" Carla sighs in response as Peter smiles slightly "She needs to learn at some point"
"Ok, fine" Peter replies not so confidently as Emma was really used to her cot even if she was starting to outgrow it "We'll get her a bed"
"Good" Carla smiles "I also like that colour, do they do it in a lighter tone?"
"Hmm" Peter hums looking through the shelves of grey paint "There's this one"
"Yeah that's nice with this matt colour," Carla says holding up another can of paint "We could add something girly and pink such as her name above her bed with those letters, that way we can teach her?"
"Yeah that's a good idea" Peter nods as they place the cans of paint in the trolley before moving on to the furniture section "We're getting her a toddler bed aren't we?"
"Yeah I think that's best as she's still quite small" Carla replies as Peter smiles both of them looking at the beds which were on display, Carla's eyes lighting up at a matt grey bed frame "I like this one"
"Yeah?" Peter questions "It looks nice and it would go with the colour scheme"
"We can order online when we get back home can't we?"
"Ok" he grins "Oh we're going to need a chest of drawers as well as plenty of storage for all her sensory toys" Peter reminds Carla as she walks off to wear the storage units were "I love these," he says looking at a storage unit which had fabric drawers on it which were easy to pull out "They're easy to pull in and out"
"Yeah she'd love all the patterns on them as well" Carla nods as Peter smiles "I wonder if they do it in a darker colour? I would want this to be pushed up against one of the pink walls"
"They probably do" Peter says "She would need a bookshelf"
"No, we can just use the spare book rack which we didn't use for Hayley's room" Carla rolls her eyes as if it was obvious "We would need a rocking chair for her room as well or just an armchair?"
"Why don't we move the rocking chair from downstairs then get a new one for the living room as the colour would go better?"
"Oh yes that's true, the rocking chair downstairs would look good" Carla smiles as Peter grins "Good job, baby"
"You see I do have my uses" he smirks as Carla raises her eyebrows before leaning forward
"Hmm I think you have more than a few uses after last night" she murmurs wrapping her arms around his neck as well as kissing him "I hope I'm going to get a bit more of that tonight"
"Well, it all depends doesn't it?" Peter whispers as Carla raises an eyebrow "If you're a good girl and don't melt the credit card"
"I just have particular needs, I want Emma to have the best room" Carla reminds him as Peter rolls his eyes smacking her bum as she grins "Anyway I want some lights as well for around the rocking chair to give her some sensory stimulation"
"Ok," Peter smiles as he follows her to where the lighting section was watching as she looks through the variety of lights "Maybe colourful ones then she can point out the colours?"
"That's a good idea!" Carla beams having a look at some of the lights "Hmm they don't have much selection"
"They have the bulb ones, I guess style doesn't really matter does it as they would be for her sensory development"
"Yeah" Carla hums picking up a pack of multicoloured bulb lights and putting them in the trolley "We also need those wire hook things"
"Yeah and a ceiling light" Peter reminds her as Carla grins looking at some of the ceiling lights "Maybe something simple"
"Ok" Carla smiles picking out a simple grey ceiling light "This'll do"
"Ok then, that was easy" Peter chuckles as Carla grins in response, both of them walking around the store "A mirror?"
"Yeah, I kind of want a brown one to go on one of those pink walls" Carla smiles as Peter nods, both of them going to the mirror section and having a look "This one," she says holding up a mirror with a mahogany border and placing it in the trolley
"Alright" Peter sighs starting to get bored of this little shopping venture "So what else do we need?"
"Hm," Carla hums trying to think of things "We need a sound machine and maybe a light one but we can order those online, weighted blanket but we need to order that online. I think that's it"
"Ok then, let's go and pay for this"
After paying for their items Carla and Peter headed home and retrieved all the carpet protectors from the shed so that they could begin painting deciding it would be more fun if they did it all together and of course it ended up in a lot of innuendos thrown between the couple. Carla was more interested in painting Peter than painting the walls themselves so Peter suggested to let him get on and do it knowing the sooner they got it done the sooner they could start preparing Emma's room for her to move in to. In the meant time, Carla decided to do some finger painting with Emma in the kitchen whilst Hayley was at nursery.
"Paint," Carla says as Emma looks at her in utter confusion "Like this" she says dipping a couple of her fingers in the paint and dragging them across the paper "Here" she prompts taking Emma's hand and placing it in the paint and then onto the paper
"Mama!" Emma squeals patting the paper over and over before nervously putting her hand in the blue paint causing Carla to smile
"It's fine" Carla reassures her as Emma laughs dragging her hand across the paper, Carla handing her a paintbrush "Like this" she motions for her to hold it as Emma takes it off her and drags it through the paint "Well done!"
"No" Emma states as Carla gasps in response at Emma saying something without being prompted to
"Peter!" Carla calls running to the stairs as Peter appears holding his hands in the air to assure he didn't get paint everywhere "Emma just said no!"
"What?" Peter gasps as Carla nods "Without being prompted?"
"Yes!" Carla exclaims "She's learning!"
"Oh my, we'll have to try later!" Peter exclaims as Simon enters the house watching both Carla and Peter enthuse about Emma's progress
"What the…" Simon trails off slinging his bag down by the front door "What's happened?"
"Emma said no!" Carla exclaims as Simon shrugs not thinking it was a big deal as he walks into the kitchen "I need to get back to her before she's painted the whole of the kitchen-"
"Uh, Carla?" Simon calls as Carla frowns walking into the kitchen and gasping "Emma's used herself as a canvas…"
"For gods sakes!" Carla huffs in annoyance seeing the paint smothered over Emma's hands and her face and her clothes "I knew I shouldn't have left her!"
"I'm out of here" Simon laughs grabbing a snack and heading upstairs leaving Carla to deal with the mess
"Ok, I think we need to give you a bath little lady" Carla replies lifting Emma into her arms and holding her at arm's length and taking her into the bathroom upstairs and placing her in the bathtub so she didn't move anywhere whilst Carla washed her hands and collected the stuff for a bath "Come on then" she says placing Emma onto the changing mat and undressing her
"Oh" Peter laughs as Carla shoots him a look "It is kind of funny"
"Okay, maybe a little bit but the mess downstairs is not fun," Carla says as Peter chuckles before returning to painting the bedroom leaving Carla to give Emma a bath "Come on then, in we get"
"No!" Emma shouts as Carla groans in response knowing this was going to get annoying because Emma would be saying no to everything
"I know sweetheart, you're really clever" Carla laughs tipping all the bath toys into the bath as the doorbell goes off "Oh for gods sakes"
"I'll get it!" Simon says as Carla sighs in response continuing to clean Emma who was splashing around in the bath, Michelle appearing with tears flowing down her face
"'Chelle, what's happened?" Carla sigh bringing her in for a hug as Michelle cries "Hey?"
"It's over" Michelle whispers as Carla frowns in response "Me and Robert"
"Oh babe," Carla says soothingly "We'll talk in a minute yeah? I just need to clear Emma up"
"Why is the bathwater red?" Michelle chuckles tearfully as Carla rolls her eyes "And why does Emma look like a tomato?"
"Because we did some painting and I left her alone for five minutes so she decided to use herself as a canvas" Carla mutters as Michelle smiles in response sitting on the floor to help bath Emma "So what happened?"
"He wants a baby" Michelle states as Carla nods slowly knowing this was a conversation topic between the two of them
"Do you want a baby?" Carla questions as Michelle sighs; she didn't know what she wanted, she did want a baby with Robert but it would mean carrying one and she really didn't want to do that
"Yes" Michelle smiles closing her eyes thinking about having a baby with Robert
"But…you don't want to carry one?" Carla questions as Michelle nods sadly "Oh 'Chelle"
"Would I be replacing him? If I did carry a baby…would it happen again? I couldn't go through it so I had to end it if he wanted something different, I don't want him to resent me"
"Have you thought of other options? Such as adoption?"
"He has a criminal record, there's no way they'd let us" Michelle whispers grabbing the towel for Carla so she could dry Emma off
"Surrogacy?" Carla questions as Michelle shakes her head "It's worth looking at if it's both what you want"
"I guess" Michelle sighs "I've ended it now"
"Oh come on" Carla scoffs "He would have you back in a heartbeat if he could"
"I guess" Michelle mutters watching Carla change Emma "It's just the thought of things going wrong"
"It's your body, Michelle, don't force yourself to do something that you're uncomfortable with even if it is for someone you love" Carla says as Michelle rolls her eyes "It's obvious you're uncomfortable with the thought of pregnancy"
"I am. I wouldn't be able to enjoy it as I would be constantly paranoid of the fact I may lose a baby again"
"Why don't we all sit downstairs and we can do some research and think of a way forward?" Carla questions as Michelle nods helping her clean the bath up "But first I really need to clean up the mess downstairs"
"Is it bad?" Michelle chuckles as Carla groans in response handing Emma over to her "We can cuddle cant we Em?"
"Hmm yeah, my laptops on the coffee table" Carla smiles as they all walk downstairs together, Carla going into the kitchen to clean up the mess and Michelle sitting in the lounge to do some research; Carla joining her ten minutes later
"Right what have you found," she says sitting down next to Michelle as Emma waves at her "Hey Em"
"She's been saying no repetitively, is that a new word she's learnt or summat?" Michelle laughs as Carla rolls her eyes "I'll take that as a yes"
"She was shouting no in the bath but she doesn't really understand the meaning of it yet" Carla replies gently as Michelle laughs running her fingers through Emma's hair
"Don't you need to collect Hayley from nursery?"
"No, Ken's doing it as he wanted to spend some time with her" Carla grins as Michelle smiles "Stop diverting the subject and get researching"
"Ok mum" Michelle rolls her eyes loading up the internet as she begins tapping away looking at adoption "Look" she states looking at the page 'Requirements for adoption' "There is no way they'll let us"
"Ok fair point" Carla smiles having seen it in black and white "Surrogacy?"
"Fine" Michelle sighs googling surrogacy as Carla hands Emma a toy which she chucks on the floor before attempting to climb on Michelle's lap "Em, I need to do this sweetheart"
"Oh god" Carla bites her lip hoping it didn't impend a meltdown watching as Emma's lip quivered in response and the tears fill in her eyes "Don't cry, sweetheart how about you cuddle with me?" she suggests but it was too late Emma started to cry and screaming
"Did I do something wrong?" Michelle questions as Carla takes the laptop off her causing Emma to crawl onto her lap and cuddle Michelle "Oh"
"Yeah, there's a special way you have to talk to her otherwise she has a meltdown" Carla smiles as Michelle holds Emma close "Now we have to have quiet time don't we Em?"
"Which involves?" Michelle questions somewhat in awe with Carla's control over the situation
"This" Carla smiles picking up the box which was on the fireplace and handing it to Emma who immediately picks up her squishy ball which lit up "Good girl"
"So what does it say?" Michelle whispers as Carla hums glancing through the website
"Well there are loads of different types," Carla says as Michelle glances to the screen "It seems quite complicated so I think you should speak to Robert about it"
"Yeah you're probably right, I should go and see him and apologise for going off in a rage" Michelle smiles as Carla nods "Do you want to go to mummy Em?"
"Come on poppet," Carla says picking her up and holding her close "Give me an update yeah?"
"I will, thank you for putting my head straight" Michelle smiles kissing Carla on the forehead then kissing Emma as well "I'll see myself out"
"Bye, love" Carla calls as Emma clings onto her top "Shall we go and see daddy then baby or do you need some time with me eh?" she whispers running her fingers through Emma's hair as she whimpers quietly to herself "You're ok" she whispers lifting Emma onto her hip as she walks upstairs entering the bedroom "This looks amazing!"
"You think?" Peter questions as Carla nods "Oh are we having a bad day?"
"Yeah, we had a little bit of quiet time so we're ok now I think, still feeling a bit down" Carla responds pouting her lips slightly "But really you've done a good job"
"I'm glad you think so, I need to wait for this to dry then I'll do the second coat tomorrow" Peter smiles as Carla grins
"I'm just going to hold her in bed I think to see if we can calm down a bit more" Carla says looking at Emma who had buried her head in Carla's hair, "I think we need some one on one time"
"That's fine, I'll go and collect Hayley from my dad's," Peter says as Carla nods "I'll try and keep her entertained so she doesn't disturb you also did I hear Michelle?"
"Yeah, she split from Robert but then she didn't I'm a bit confused really but we spoke and I gave her some advice so she's going to speak to him I guess I'll find out sooner or later"
"Oh right" Peter smiles "I'm going to get changed, you get into bed with Em"
"Yeah" Carla whispers heading into the bedroom and sliding into bed allowing Emma to rest in her chest as well as watching Peter undress causing her to lick her lips subconsciously "I love you, you know that right?"
"I know. I love you too"