Thank you for the reviews. This is kind of a filler chapter, I don't know if I want to do the wedding as I really detest writing them. I'm also debating the whole situation with Aidan as well so I think I'll just do what I think is best for the story. However, if you do want me to write the wedding I can...
A couple of weeks passed and the wedding was back on. Michelle and Robert were going to be getting married this month and Carla couldn't be happier for them both knowing they were meant to be together. They had agreed to pursue the route of surrogacy after the wedding and honeymoon but in the meantime, they decided to just enjoy being in each other's company.
Today was Michelle's hen night and Carla was hosting at her house, all the girls using the hot tub and Michelle staying overnight knowing the wedding was tomorrow. Peter was restricting himself to upstairs with Emma and Hayley as he couldn't find a babysitter for the evening leaving the girls to enjoy their hen-night. He just hoped that Carla didn't get too drunk because the implications would not be good on her kidney.
"That'll be Michelle and the girls, do you need anything else?" Carla questions going to the door as Peter hums in response
"No I don't, we should be fine, they've been fed so we'll just chill upstairs" Peter smiles as Carla nods letting Michelle, Maria and Kate in
"Hello!" Michelle beams dragging her wedding dress in as Carla smiles "We're not early are we?"
"No, I'm banishing myself upstairs so you guys can enjoy yourselves" Peter smiles before trudging up the stairs leaving Carla to it knowing this situation wasn't really his cup of tea
"Right what are we starting on?" Michelle questions as Carla leads all the girls into the kitchen, cocktails already made for them and a glass of red for Carla and Michelle
"Cocktails for Maria and Kate and just a glass of red for me and you as we can't drink that much," Carla says handing Michelle a glass of red, everyone picking up their glasses "To Michelle and Robert?"
"Michelle and Robert!"
"Right let's get our swimming costumes on and we can chill in the tub?" Carla questions as everyone nods, all of them taking it in turns to use the bathroom to get changed
"I still can't believe you have a hot tub" Maria cackles as Carla rolls her eyes knowing Peter did spoil her rotten with it "So then Michelle, you're not going to be a Connor anymore?"
"No, I'm going to be Michelle Preston" Michelle beams excitably as Carla smiles at her "Still a Connor by blood though"
"Can we go somewhere?" Maria pouts her lips as Michelle rolls her eyes not wanting to repeat what happened at her hen do when marrying Steve
"No, we're staying here," Carla says firmly as Kate groans in annoyance "Ok let's play snog marry avoid" she beams as everyone's eyes light up
"Oh, can I go first?" Michelle sniggers as Carla hums in response "Maria you have to choose between…Dev, Steve and…hmm Kevin"
"Oh god," Maria complains before thinking long and hard about it "I would snog Steve…marry Kevin and avoid Dev"
"I would do the same" Carla nods as Michelle giggles in response "Ok my turn. Michelle, you have to choose between your exes, Steve, Ciaran and Peter"
"Just to clarify me and Peter only had a brief fling"
"Well I couldn't think of anyone else, you've been with half of Manchester" Carla mutters causing Michelle to splash her, then Carla to splash her back
"I'm not as bad as you!" she scoffs as Michelle shrugs in response "Answer my question"
"Ok if I were to choose…I would snog Peter, marry Ciaran and avoid Steve" Michelle says thoughtfully
"Or you'd just have them all" Kate says as Carla and Maria laugh hysterically "Please don't do men for me"
"Ok, so" Michelle smiles evilly causing Kate to groan "If these people were lesbian, Sinead, Rosie and Beth"
"Ok well I would avoid Beth," Kate says as everyone nods in agreement "Snog Rosie and marry Sinead"
"Really?" Carla hums "I would've swapped the last two around you know"
"I was thinking that but I feel Rosie's a bit bland" Kate nods as Carla hums seeing where she was coming from as Maria's eyes light up
"Hey get this, Rosie used to be Carla's PA" Maria giggles as Carla shoots her a look "Come on, it was hilarious"
"Yeah and then she got on the wrong side of me, I threatened to make her into a handbag" Carla grins as Kate bursts out laughing as well as Michelle
"So then Michelle, why are you marrying Robert?" Maria questions as Michelle hums in awe causing Carla to nudge her as she was taking her time
"Well, he's fit, he's loving and he cares so much about me and I love him" Michelle smiles as Carla pouts her lips as well as causing everyone to smile
"I'm just going to pop to the loo" Carla smiles getting out of the hot tub "I'll bring back more booze"
"Good!" Kate exclaims as Carla grins walking into the house and hearing Emma's cries; it was obvious it was going to be a bad night so Carla dried herself off and headed upstairs
"What's going on?" Carla says as Peter bounces Emma up and down trying to settle her "Oh baby girl" she whispers taking her off Peter
"She wouldn't go to bed so she had a meltdown then we had quiet time but it doesn't seem to be working" Peter explains as Carla nods bouncing Emma up and down
"Come on sweetheart," Carla says as Emma just continues to cry as well as burying her head into Carla's hair "Ok, I'm here, I won't leave you"
"Why don't you get her dressed into her swimming costume and take her down with you?" Peter suggests as Carla nods taking Emma into her newly decorated bedroom and placing her down on the changing mat so she could change her and put her in her swimming costume
"There we go" Carla smiles as Emma begins to cry more "It's ok baby, you can spend time with mummy, I'm sure the girl's wont mind"
"Have fun with mummy princess" Peter whispers kissing her on the back of her head "And be good?" he says kissing Carla on the lips as she heads back downstairs
"There's been a change of plan, sorry girls" Carla sighs entering the garden "We're going to have to let Emma join us as she's playing up a bit"
"That's fine" Michelle smiles as Carla gets into the hot tub again arms with a bottle of Sambuca for them all "Hey Em"
"No!" Emma says as Carla rolls her eyes holding her close
"I know baby" Carla whispers as Emma clings onto her "You're ok," she says running a hand through her hair Michelle holding Emma's hand
"Does she like her new room?" Michelle questions as Emma squirms to get away from her before bursting into a fit of tears
"Oh Em," Carla says as Emma continues to cry into her chest "She likes it I think, we childproofed it so if she does get up in the middle of the night she won't injure herself"
"That's good" Maria smiles as Emma continues to cry "Maybe we should get off as she looks like she could do with some time with her mum"
"You don't mind?" Carla questions as Maria and Kate shake their heads "Why don't you go with them 'Chelle? You can come back later? I feel bad as it's meant to be your hen night…"
"Don't be daft, I'll make up for it tomorrow, we can stay and have a chat?" Michelle says as Kate and Maria collect their stuff "Bye guys"
"See you tomorrow 'Chelle" Kate smiles as Maria waves, both of them leaving the house
"Come on then, shall we get changed again Em?" Carla questions as Emma bursts into more tears "I know sweetheart, why don't we go and look at your lights?"
"I'll come with you" Michelle whispers as Carla gets out the hot tub and turns it off letting Michelle pull the cover over as both women head upstairs "I'll just get changed" she smiles as Carla nods heading into her bedroom
"Can you just take her quick whilst I get changed?" Carla says as Peter nods placing his book down on the bedside table so Carla could get changed into some pyjamas "Oh Emma" she replies as Emma continues to cry "It's ok beautiful girl"
"We really are unhappy tonight arent we?" Peter says as Emma reaches her arms out to be held by Carla who accepts
"Come on then, let's go and cuddle in your bedroom," Carla says as Michelle appears "Hey" she smiles both of them heading into Emma's room, Michelle sitting on her bed and Carla sitting with her in the rocking chair "Could you turn the lights off for me?"
"Of course" Michelle smiles turning the lights off and shutting the curtains "Is that ok?"
"Yeah" Carla smiles turning on the light machine and holding Emma so her head was rested in the crook of her arm "Is that better?"
"Ma!" Emma exclaims reaching her arms out to Michelle who smiles
"Here, she wants you to hold her" Carla smiles as Michelle grins taking Emma off Carla
"What do I do?" Michelle questions as Carla smiles watching her sit in the rocking chair
"Just let her rest her head in the crook of your arm then she'll watch all the lights" Carla smiles sitting on the bed as Michelle does what she's told allowing Emma to see all the different patterns cascading over the ceiling "All nice and calm"
"I don't get how you balance everything," Michelle says as Carla smiles tilting her head to one side "Seriously, you amaze me"
"I wouldn't be able to do it on my own, Peter has been amazing," Carla says as Michelle glances down to Emma who was gripping onto her pyjama top and her eyes closed "Is she asleep?"
"Yeah" Michelle smiles as Carla raises an eyebrow "I'll put her into bed then we can just talk yeah?"
"Ok," Carla says watching Michelle place Emma into bed and cover her over with the duvet "Goodnight Em"
"Night beautiful" Michelle mumbles kissing her forehead as they both leave the room "She's a good girl really"
"Yeah, she just struggles with the concept of things and understanding things, it'll just take her time to get there but her progress is going in the right direction"
"That's good" Michelle agrees as they both head downstairs and sit together in the living room "So, you're ok driving me to the wedding tomorrow?"
"Yeah, of course, anything for you," Carla says as Michelle grins "Are you excited?"
"Nervous as well but I'm glad we were able to move forward after the baby thing," Michelle says quietly as Carla nods slowly
"So what's going on with the whole baby situation?" Carla asks gently knowing it was a sensitive subject, Michelle humming in response
"Well, we're waiting until after the honeymoon and then I think we're going to take the route of surrogacy, it's just finding a surrogate which doesn't judge Robert's criminal past if that makes sense?"
"I get you" Carla smiles as Michelle sighs in response "You do want a baby though?" With Robert?"
"Yeah of course I do, I would actually love nothing more," Michelle says gently as Carla smiles "I just wish I had the confidence to carry one on my own"
"I know" Carla whispers "But you need to do what's right for you"
"I agree" Michelle grins as Hayley appears in the doorway "Carla" she nods to the door as Carla groans in response
"Hey, baby, what's up?" Carla says as Hayley runs over to her with tears in her eyes "What's happened eh?"
"Nightmare" Hayley says, her little voice laced with fear as Carla holds her close Michelle smiling at the union
"What was it about?" Carla presses as Hayley shakes her head clinging onto her mother "It's ok, why don't you go and see daddy and he'll read you another story?"
"He'll be mad though" Hayley panics as Carla shakes her head "He will"
"No he won't baby, just say that mummy told him to read you a story," Carla says as Hayley nods sliding off the sofa and heads upstairs "You'll have all this to come"
"I can't wait, it's been years since our Ryan was a kid" Michelle beams as Carla chuckles "Anyway, I guess we should think about heading off to bed"
"Yeah, you're in Simon's room, there's an ensuite and I've changed the sheets as he's staying with Leanne" Carla smiles as Michelle nods, both of them heading upstairs "Night 'Chelle"
"Night, love"