I decided to skip the wedding as I really hate writing weddings. Here's the next chapter, there are a few trigger warnings in here it so just to warn you.
Michelle and Robert's wedding went on without a hitch and by the end of the day, they were married. They then jetted off into the sunset to enjoy their honeymoon in Spain. It was an amazing ceremony, Hayley and Emma were both bridesmaids as well as Kate, Maria, and Carla. Both Carla and Peter were so proud of their daughters for being well behaved they treated them to plenty of snacks during the reception.
A week later and things were getting back to normal. Carla and Aidan were working in the factory bossing their workers around and pumping out orders, the both of them getting on like a house on fire as well as teasing each other on a daily or sometimes hourly basis and Carla could definitely say that she was the happiest she had been in a long while.
Waking up next to Peter was something that she cherished forever, as well as Hayley and Emma strolling in at the crack of dawn for their morning cuddles. Today was no different, at six in the morning, Emma made her presence causing Carla to help her up onto the bed and then followed by Hayley an hour later. They all cuddled along with annoying Peter who really wasn't a morning person but he was eventually forced into wakefulness. As Carla had to deal with getting the girls ready and dropping Emma off at Gail's and Hayley at nursery, it was always left for Aidan to open the factory on time as this usually took a lot of time. So Carla did her drive, she drove into town and dropped Hayley off at nursery then drove back to the street and dropped Emma off at Gail's as well as frowning in confusion at all the workers waiting outside; Aidan obviously hadn't turned up.
"Is this some sort of strike?" Carla asks looking at all of her workers as well as Emma waving at them all
"No, Mr Connor hasn't turned up," Sarah says as Carla frowns in confusion "Do you want me to open up?"
"Yes please, Sarah" Carla smiles chucking her the keys "The code is 41114"
"Thank you" Sarah smiles as she goes to open the factory leaving Carla to stop Emma off at Gail's
"Oh, hello Carla"
"Look I can't stay and talk I'm in a bit of a rush, but all of her bits are in here and she has therapy with Jill at two," Carla says as Gail nods "Aidan hasn't opened up so I need to go and find him and find out what he's playing at"
"Right, you go. We'll have fun won't we Em?"
"Good" Carla smiles "Bye sweet pea"
Carla headed off to Aidan's flat in an attempt to get through to him on the intercom but her attempts were fruitless so she had no choice but to use the spare key. It was weird, she entered the flat and there were cardboard boxes littered everywhere which just confused her further, she knew Aidan was a bit odd but living out of cardboard boxes really was weird.
"Aidan!" Carla calls running through the flat and opening all the doors before coming across the bathroom door, it was already opened ajar "Aidan?"
"No" Carla gasps "No!" she cries kneeling down on the bathroom floor "What have you done?!" she weeps before shakily grabbing her phone and ringing an ambulance "Ambulance please"
The longest ten minutes occurred, she didn't want him to be alone, she sat there on the floor until there was a knock on the door, she left the room and went to answer it, holding the door open for the paramedics to go in. She thought no one would've seen her but of course, Peter saw the commotion and saw her; he made his way over.
"What happened?" Peter questions as Carla looks up at him with tears in her eyes "Carla? Speak to me, baby?"
"It's Aidan," Carla says as Peter brings her in for a hug "He's ended his life"
"Oh, love" Peter replies gently not knowing what to say to her "Do you need me to go and get anyone?"
"Can you…can you go and get Kate from the bistro and then tell Sarah to tell the girls or tell them with her so she's not alone"
"Yeah, I can do that if that's what you want?"
"Yes," Carla says as one of the paramedics approaches her as she snuggles into Peter
"We're going to need to call the police, he's gone"
"Ok," Carla says quietly before breaking down into tears, Peter enveloping her in a hug to comfort her "I can't believe he's gone"
"I know, how about you go up and I'll go and tell Kate, then pop into the factory" Peter suggests as Carla nods heading upstairs to sit on the sofa, the stillness was something that really felt eerie and so surreal
"How did he do it?"
"Overdose"
"Ok" Carla replies as Kate comes storming in the room "He's gone" she cries as Kate falls into her embrace
"How, where did you find him?" Kate stammers as Carla points to the bathroom "Why did he do it!?"
"I don't know, I really have no clue and I have no idea why he seemed so happy and so upbeat"
"It has to be a mistake!" Kate exclaims as they bring Aidan's body out "We didn't even get to say goodbye. How selfish could he have been!" she shouts as Carla brings her in for a hug, Peter walking into the flat
"It's not darlin', I found him in the bathroom, I called the ambulance because there might have been a chance" Carla reassures her now knowing she had to be the strong one
"We need to ring Michelle," Peter says as Carla nods glancing to Kate who nods as well "Do you want me to do it?"
"Ok, yeah" Carla nods "I couldn't face it"
"Me neither," Kate says as Peter grabs his phone and leaves the flat "None of this makes any sense. Something must've happened"
"I don't know" Carla response sadly before a police officer approaches her
"We're going to need you to go somewhere else as we need to do some forensics"
"It's suicide, not a murder!" Kate snipes as Carla sighs binging her in for a hug "Can we go back to yours?"
"Of course I'll get Peter to drive us," Carla says as Kate nods clinging onto her, both of them leaving the flat as Peter approaches her "Can you drive us home?"
"Yeah of course sweetheart" he whispers kissing her forehead "I couldn't get through to Michelle so I'll go and get the car"
Peter drove Kate and Carla back to the house, both of them sitting down in the living room whilst Peter made them a coffee. He didn't ask any questions as he felt like it wasn't his place, even though he was part of the family. Peter knew that this would his Carla hard and knew that she would throw herself straight into work and not grieve for her brother which worried him immensely but he had no choice but to push it to the back of his mind.
"Here," Peter says placing a tray of coffees on the table "Do you want me to try Michelle again?"
"Yeah, maybe used the landline?" Carla suggests taking one of the mugs as Peter nods leaving the room to make the class "We need to tell Johnny"
"He's going to be devastated," Kate says "He was his boy, he loved him so much"
"I know he did" Carla sighs, she really didn't know what to do for the best "We should phone the prison"
"I agree," Kate says grabbing her phone and finding the number "I'll do it, you've done enough"
"Ok," Carla says having no opinion on the matter watching as Kate makes the call, finishing it around "Oh god the nursery, Hayley I need to collect Hayley. Will you be ok, Kate?"
"Yeah, you go and collect her" Kate smiles as Carla nods grabbing her jacket and bag, before bumping into Peter
"We're late to collect Hayley," she says as Peter takes her by the shoulders and leads her into the living room causing her to frown "Did you not hear me?" she snaps
"Carla, I got my dad to collect her and Gail's dropping Emma off around four," Peter says as Carla sighs in relief "Just spend time with Kate" he smiles watching as Kate finishes the phone call
"They're going to tell him, they said that we can visit tomorrow, they'll do a private visit or something" Kate mutters as Carla nods slowly knowing they should probably visit Johnny "Maybe you should tell Hayley, she needs to know"
"Yeah, I might go and collect her anyway, will you be ok here? I kind of want Peter to come with me"
"I'll be fine, is it ok if I invite Rana over?" Kate questions as Carla nods slowly "You go and I'll give her a call"
"Ok," Carla says grabbing her bag and jacket as well as going to find Peter "I want to see Hayley before someone says something, can you come with me?"
"Of course" Peter smiles grabbing his phone, wallet and car keys "Come on then"
Peter drove Carla to the street and led her discreetly into Ken's who greeted her will all sincerity. They all spoke together whilst Hayley played upstairs with her toys, they talked about how it happened, why it happened and why he chose to do it all of these which were assumptions but soon after, Carla and Peter collected Hayley and put her in the car and drove back to the house whilst Hayley constantly nagged them as to why Ken picked her up from nursery and why her parents weren't saying anything. Kate briefly told Carla that Michelle had been in contact and that she explained everything to her, she also informed Carla that Michelle was getting on the next flight available to return to England.
"Come on, sweetheart," Carla says taking Hayley's jacket off "We need to have a chat upstairs"
"Why is Aunty Kate here?" Hayley whines as Carla sighs in response "Mummy what's going on?"
"Let's just go upstairs" Carla persists taking Hayley's hand and leading her upstairs along with Peter, both of them sitting on her bed "We need to speak to you about Uncle Aidan"
"What about Uncle Aidan?" Hayley interrogates as Peter glances to Carla who tries her best to compose herself; it was harder than she thought
"Uncle Aidan's no longer with us sweetheart," Carla says as Hayley frowns in confusion "He's gone away to somewhere very special, it's called heaven"
"Why?" Hayley persists as Carla smiles glancing to Peter who smiles at her reassuringly
"Well, up in the sky, there are people who are no longer with us, Uncle Aidan is no longer with us but that doesn't mean he won't be watching us"
"Like Simon's real mummy?" Hayley questions as Peter smiles slightly nodding "So I will never see Uncle Aidan again?"
"No you won't poppet, but here's in here," Carla says taking her daughter's hand and placing it on her heart "You will always remember him in here"
"I love you, mummy," Hayley says wrapping her mum up in a hug as Carla smiles glancing to Peter
"I love you too princess, we'll be ok, I promise you"