Lying awake at night seemed much more welcoming then sleep itself. Of course, Peter didn't return home that was obvious for her that he was sulking off somewhere and she couldn't help but to think that she was too harsh on him. Carla very much knew that grief liked to overtake her body and that there wasn't anything she could do about it when caught up in the moment and it just happened that Peter was on the receiving end and the thing is that she didn't know whether she slaughtered him with her words on purpose or not, maybe it was just a case of the fact he was there so she let rip into him.

Fiddling with the ultrasound photo in her hands she glanced to her phone yet again for the twentieth time that night to see if she had any messages from him but nothing as usual. It let her with this sinking feeling in her heart, a feeling which she always had when they argued and now it just felt worse especially with the grief from her miscarriage looming over her on top of this.

Sliding out of bed she grabbed her hoody and wrapped it around her body then made her way quietly downstairs and out the back door of the Rover's, she padded along Rosamund Street then down Victoria Street to sit in the community gardens to give her a sense of freedom and a breather from her worry. Carla couldn't help but let all of the tears fall from her eyes as she pulled her legs up to her chest and rest her forehead on her knees.

"Carla?"

"Oh, hi" she sniffles wiping her eyes before frowning "I didn't know you went running?"

"You best not tell anyone, plus I always need to look this good" he smirks causing Carla to roll her eyes at his arrogance "Are you ok?"

"No not really, me and Peter kind of argued and then he ran off, we just said some really hurtful things. I dont suppose you've seen him?"

"No sorry" he sighs sitting down next to her "I'm sure he'll be fine"

"You think?" she questions really unsure of the situation, he nods "Why do you care so much, Adam?"

"Why do I care?"

"Mhm"

"You're family," he remarks, she nods slowly slightly unsure of this "Aunty Carla" he nudges her in the side and her eyes widen

"Shut it you make me sound old"

"You are"

"The cheek of it" she responds usually causing him to laugh "I might just have to tell Sarah I saw you running this morning-"

"Dont you dare otherwise I will kill you" Adam responds seriously she giggles causing him to smile "You look cold"

"Yeah well looking for the phantom alcoholic does involve coldness and tiredness" she responds sadly, Adam smiles slightly taking her hand and dragging her up off the swinging seat which was in the gardens "What are you doing?"

"Well I highly doubt you want to go home so why dont you come to my flat, you can have a coffee and just relax without Johnny or Jenny hounding you"

"Hmm that does sound appealing" she whispers closing her eyes and thinking of the calmness she would experience "Go on then, one coffee then I must get back before Johnny sends out the search party"

"Alright then" he offers her his arm which she links hers through as they head to Adam's flat...

Upon entering his flat it was pristine very modern and in a way she was jealous of a solicitors wages at the end of the day. She wandered around the place and made herself at home on the sofa, he eventually placed a coffee down on the coffee table which she raised an eyebrow at him before standing up and walking over to the fridge and looking through it and pulling out a couple of beers which he raises his eyebrows at as if he was questioning her choice, she passes one to him not caring it was early morning.

"Its a bit early isn't it?"

"You can look at it the other way and say its a bit late" she smirks, he nods slightly allowing her to use the bottle opener on his bottle, she then does the same to hers

"When did you start drinking anyway?"

"Since now" she smirks drinking her beer, the alcohol entering her body a welcome thing in her mind "So tell me what's going on between you and Sarah"

"You really want to know?"

"Mhm"

"I dont know to be honest with you it's so confusing at least with you and Peter it's a bit more black and white I would kill to be in your position"

"I dont think you would, losing your unborn child then an alcoholic on the loose and having no idea where to find him, that's exhausting, I would count yourself lucky if I was you"

"What did you two say to each other then?"

"He apologised, we hugged then I noticed he smelt of booze-"

"He actually relapsed?" Adam's eyes widen, she nods sadly

"I dont know maybe I pushed him to it"

"Dont say that" he whispers taking her hand, she smiles sadly linking her fingers with his "Then what happened?"

"We cried together, he was still holding me then he said he couldn't stop drinking and said that he failed me and the baby" she whispers trying to hold it together, she lets the tears fall "Then I said that I hated myself for losing our baby that I should have run away and had the baby then come back when he was out of me...anyway he said dont blame yourself after I rambled on about the miscarriage and then he said to blame him which I didn't want because then it would be another excuse for him to drink himself to death which is something I really didn't want for obvious reasons because I cant live without him"

"Oh Carla, I'm so sorry" Adam whispers bringing her in for a hug which she sighs at as well as wipe her eyes

"He then said all these things before about me being mentally stable that I was in it to fix him, all these hopeful things so he could go and have a drink, they hurt so I let rip into him saying that I would be happy if I never saw him again but I didn't mean it, I still love him"

"I know" Adam reassures her, "I think I need to ring my Grandad about him because he could die Carla"

"I'm sorry"

"No, it's not your fault" he reassures her, she shakes her head "You look tired, there's a bed through there why dont you have a sleep then I will try and find him yeah?"

"Ok, yeah, maybe dont ring Ken because that will worry him, try Daniel maybe?"

"Yeah and I won't tell Tracy either she has enough to deal with" Adam mutters, Carla nods standing up and walking into the bedroom, he sighs slightly following her and grabbing some clothes to change into "Just try and get some sleep I'll try to think of something"

2Thanks" she responds sadly snuggling down into the warmth of the bed, he smiles closing the door and leaving the flat on a mission to find his alcoholic uncle...

Adam called at Daniels and asked him for help, but the only thing was that he couldn't find Bertie a babysitter and they were both worried about Peter tremendously. Daniel suggested that they drop Bertie off with Carla but Adam wasn't sure considering Carla had just miscarried and he didn't want to inflict that sort of pain onto her so Adam gave her a call and she said that she would look after him if no one else could so they rushed back to the flat and dropped Bertie off there for Carla before trying to find Peter which didn't take them very long as they found him slumped against a wall under the fire escape on Victoria Street.

"Come on" Adam states firmly grabbing Peter by the arm, Daniel grabs his other arm and they both manage to get him to stand up "Right you're coming with me and Daniel to his flat where we're going to sober you up"

"No I'm not" he slurs "I'm going for another drink. Do you want to join?"

"No we dont" Adam drones exasperatedly putting Peter in the back seat of his car he drives him to Daniel's flat "Come on out you get lets sober you up"

"I want a drink" he slurs as Daniel and Adam try to get him up the stairs into the flat which they do eventually with great difficulty and sit him down on the sofa

"Get him a coffee," Adam says as Adam nods going to the kettle and making him a coffee "You need to get a grip otherwise you will kill yourself"

"Oh shut up" Peter groans as Daniel thrusts the coffee in front of him

"Drink it" Adam states as Peter rolls his eyes and drinks the coffee "Maybe we should take him to the hospital to be on the safe side"

"Will Carla be ok looking after Bertie for the night though?"

"You go with him and then I will free Carla from babysitting duties" Adam suggests as Daniel nods watching as Peter falls asleep on the sofa "Peter wake up"

"Shut up"

"We're going to the hospital Peter you need to wake up" Adam states giving him a shove which wakes him, Daniel and Adam both take Peter down to the car ready to go to the hospital...

Adam dropped both Peter and Daniel off at the hospital and waited until they were both signed in, he then went back to the flat where Carla was sitting on the armchair with Bertie on her lap, both of them having a nap, he smiled at the sight and he really didn't have the heart to wake the both of them instead he just got on with doing the mundane household chores which he hated and that soon woke Carla who was rather delirious over the whole thing.

"How long were I asleep for?"

"I dont know I've been here an hour" Adam shrugs bending down in front of her and taking Bertie off him "Peter's been taken to hospital, I dont know if you want to go or?"

"Yeah I will, let me just go home and freshen up" she smiles slightly, Adam nods "Are you ok with him I can take him back to Daniel if you want?"

"No, I'll have him then when Peter's discharged from hospital I'll take him back" he smiles, Carla nods picking up her jacket "Take care yeah?"

"I will, and thank you for last night, probably best not to tell Peter about me having a drink-"

"Your secrets safe with me"

Carla went home and freshened up, she had a shower then she went to the hospital and directed herself around the maze which was the hospital corridors. She eventually got to the place where she needed to be and then she approached the reception and asked for Peter only to be told that he discharged himself an hour ago which left her panicky and riddled with anxiety, she phoned Adam then Daniel but neither of them had heard from him but they offered to keep a lookout for her so all she could really do was either go into work or go home and she chose the latter. When she entered the backroom of the Rover's she gasped as Peter was there sitting with a vase filled with a colourful arrangement of flowers which piqued her interest not really knowing what was going on.

"What's going on?" she questions, he sighs slightly shaking his head and bending down in front of her and neatly brings out a ringbox from his pocket and opens it to reveal what was inside

"Carla Connor, will you marry me?"