Chapter 5: Revelations

The shrill sound of Peter's phone went off and Carla immediately woke and opened her eyes that were stuck with the remnants of her makeup. She nudged Peter into wakefulness knowing he was such a deep sleeper, and he jumped out of his sleep and smiled at her before reaching blindly to find his phone. He answered and Peter bit his lip as he listened intently to the call, it was obvious that whoever was on the end of the call weren't happy with his disappearing act. Carla bit her lip feeling ultimately guilty for that.

"What?" she questions rubbing her eyes, he sighs dressing and shaking his head "Baby"

"It's Isabella, she has a fever. I need to go" he states, she gets up stark naked and stands in front of the door to the hotel room blocking him from leaving "Carla did you not hear me, I need to go-"

"I'm coming with you then" she states folding her arms across her chest, he sighs and shakes his head not wanting her to feel torn

"You don't have to, it won't be pretty-"

"Peter stop pushing me away, I'm coming with you" she states with a glare, Peter sighs and nods slowly watching her collect her clothes and dress, she quickly heads into the bathroom to correct her makeup before appearing again and shoving on her leather jacket "Right, here"

"Thanks," he says taking the helmet, she smiles picking hers up and they head out to the motorbike, she starts it and puts her helmet on, so does Peter and then they headed to the street parking up in front of number one, Peter gets off then opens number one to let them in and of course there were hoarse cries coming from the living room "Hey...it's ok sweetheart"

"She's really hot" Ken informs more focussed on his granddaughter he didnt even notice Carla who was taking in the scene in front of her

"We'll get you something princess, we will" he pecks his daughter on the head as she cries into his shoulder, he turns to Carla and then Ken eventually sees her and raises his eyebrows

"Carla?" Ken questions in disbelief, she smiles slightly as her gaze drops onto the baby, this was harder than she thought it would be if she was honest with herself

"Hi Ken," she says quietly looking at Peter who was trying to comfort his daughter, Carla just gulps knowing this could have been them all those years ago but the cries were irritating her "Give her here"

"What?" he questions, she rolls her eyes and takes the baby and holds her "Hey, settle down little one, it's ok your daddy's going to get you something for this horrible fever aren't you daddy?"

"Uh...yeah" he frowns watching Carla interacting with his daughter, it panged a stroke of sadness in his heart as she sat down on the sofa trying to comfort the small child, Peter leaves temporarily then returns with some medication "Here princess"

"You see this will make you feel all better" Carla whispers as Peter gives his child the medication, she eventually settles down and falls asleep against Carla

"I can take her if you want" he offers, she shakes her head knowing it wasn't worth waking the baby

"It's not worth waking her" she smiles slightly, he nods slowly taking in the scene in front of him, he smiles slightly and shakes his head "What?"

"I'm just...I dont know" he says sheepishly, Carla raises her eyebrows knowing Ken was in the room "Anyway thanks for settling her"

"No problem" she smiles slightly as Peter takes the child off her and holds her "Maybe I should go...she needs your attention right now-"

"No please," Peter says, Carla bites her lip and looks between Peter and his father "Stay"

"Peter-"

"Stay," he says, she sighs and nods sitting back down on the sofa, she bites her lip "We'll go upstairs dad, you don't need to excuse yourself, come on"

"What?"

"Come on," he says rolling his eyes taking her hand as they head up the stairs, they go into the bedroom and Peter places Isabella in her cot "We'll just have to whisper"

"Whatever" she mutters sitting up against the headboard, he sits up there with her and takes her hand "I really think you should be focussing on her"

"Carla please stop pushing," he says, she sighs and nods "I want you to stay, forever"

"Peter thats not fair, I have a life away from here now-"

"What?"

"I have a job, a career"

"You never said"

"This was about you," she says quietly, he sighs and nods slowly "This what about the way you felt not me, not about my life, I came here to see you and help you"

"And you being here is helping me," he says quietly as Carla nods slowly "I need you, we need you"

"We?" she questions, Peter nods slowly looking over to the cot "Peter I'm not going through what I went through with Simon again"

"Anna would want her to have a mum," he says, she shakes her head and looks at the baby sleeping in the cot "No custody battles, no nothing, she just needs love, there isnt any family left for her apart from me"

"Peter what you're asking is huge," she says, he looks at her in the eyes and it confirmed it all for her "I love you Peter but this is too far, I-I'm sorry"

"I need help Carla" he whispers, she nods slowly watching the tears fall down his face "I need you to help me baby, please"

"Peter," she says quietly unsure of what to say, her eyes focussed on the baby in the cot as she sleeps peacefully "How would it work?"

"We'd be together," he says "Happy I know you still love me and we'd raise her together, you'd be her mum or if not you'd be just Carla if you didnt feel comfortable with that. I know you love me Carla and I know you want me"

"I do but..." she trails off with a sad smile "Remember everything I went through?"

"Oh god..." he gasps as Carla hushes him watching him rub his face "I'm so sorry, Carla, oh my..."

"Peter it's ok" she whispers cradling his head, she holds him close as he cries she tries to shush him knowing he would wake the baby but it was too late Isabella was already awake and beginning to cry, Peter gets up and picks her up before sitting on the bed again and Isabella reaches her arms out to Carla who smiles "She looks like you"

"You think?" he questions as Isabella looks up at her father before breaking into tears again, she reaches her arms out to Carla "She wants to go to you I think"

"Um" she falters as this whole situation felt kind of foreign but she takes the baby anyway and holds her close "Hey poppet"

"You see, it could work," he says, she looks down at the baby who was looking up at her with her big brown eyes just like her father's "What do you say?"

"I say you're mad" she looks at Peter who was smiling at her, "I say that this is crazy and a huge decision for me to make"

"But the right one?"

"Maybe" she muses looking down at the baby again, she loved Peter but she was unsure that this was the right thing to do, Peter was still grieving and that was something she didn't know if she would get hurt over, granted he said that he was over Anna but Carla was unsure "On one condition"

"Name it"

"We dont stay here," she says, Peter frowns "We move away to get you out of this place where you can rebuild your life again, there are too many memories here and this will have to be a clean slate"

"What about Simon?"

"Peter I can't be here," she says quietly before going into her handbag and pulling out some contracts "I'm going to meet Nick, sign the rest of the factory over to him and then we have the money to fund this, you have one day to decide"

"But-"

"If you want this and I hate to give ultimatums but we need to do this with a fresh start, the last thing I want for that baby is for someone around here to say to her that I'm nothing to do with her, I know what that feels like and we would need to protect her, no messing around here"

"I understand" he looks down at his daughter who was sleeping peacefully in his arms finally "Give me a day to decide"

"Ok" she nods picking up her bag and pulling out the contracts, she puts her jacket on and smiles before leaving the room, Peter sighs looking down at his daughter who was fast asleep once more, maybe this was exactly what he needed?