"Peter, I'm pregnant and it's yours."

If there was a more straightforward and brutal way of confessing a pregnancy to the father, it would be hard to find. I think my statement had put him in shock as he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly like a bobbing fish, maybe I broke him. He continually stared at me in bewilderment not knowing what to say or do, he was confused, and I didn't blame him, he was having a normal morning until the woman who had been avoiding him for two months came out of nowhere to tell him that she was carrying his baby. Who knows how long we had been standing there in silence, as I let him process what I said to him, he deserved as much time as he needed. Peter was deep in his thoughts as a car sped past us making a lot of noise which scared him back to the present, finally finding the words to say to me.

"Are you – Are you sure?"

"I took a test last night and it came back as positive, I'm going to call the doctors later and hopefully get it confirmed."

"And it's mine?"

"I haven't slept with anyone else since, well… this totally isn't embarrassing, since we were married."

"Oh…"

Nothing else was being said and I almost pitied Peter for putting him in this situation and dumping this on him so early in the morning. A glance at my watch told me that I needed to get a move on and open up the factory, but I couldn't just leave Peter here like this.

"If the doctors do confirm that I am… you know… pregnant, I think I'm going to keep it, but that doesn't mean you have to be involved or I expect anything from you, Peter. It was a one-nightstand and I get it, but I thought you should know."

That seemed to get his attention as he finally looked me in the eye in confusion, did he really think I was going to demand he be involved? Instead, he started to look annoyed as he finally replied to me and we actually had a productive conversation.

"Of course, I want to be involved, that's my baby too. It was just a lot to wrap my head around Carla, give a man a minute."

"Right, yeah, of course, sorry."

"I mean if you definitely… you know… keep it, I want to be there every step of the way."

"Ok then."

"If you do get an appointment at the GP's I could come with you."

"Maybe, I could just text you instead, you can come to the hospital appointments, this is just them testing my pee."

"I know but – "

"Look Peter, I've got to go and open the factory I'll text you what the doctors say and let you know the next steps. I'll see you later."

Before he could reply or stop my departure, I walked back onto the main street and carried on straight to the factory, not wanting to be stopped by anyone else. I got to the door and unlocked it as I moved straight to the office and my desk, taking in this morning's events. My head was in my hands just giving myself a moment before the factory was filled with noise and movement. It wasn't long before workers started piling in and I knew I needed to call the doctors to hopefully get an appointment for today so that I knew all the answers. By the time the receptionist had answered from me being on hold, Sally walked in speaking loudly, greeting me, to which I put my hand up trying to silence her as I arranged my appointment.

"How can I help you today?"

"I was wondering if there was an appointment for today, any time."

"We can fit you in at eleven, this morning?"

"Sounds great."

"Ok, see you later Mrs. Connor."

I hung up feeling relieved and happy that my appointment was this morning rather than later so that I could hopefully have my mind clear for the rest of the day. Sally stared at me hoping that I would fill her in, but I glued my eyes to my computer and started to reply to some emails and arrange various meetings. My mind was trying hard to stay focused on my work as I sent Sally on various tasks around the factory so that I could stop hearing her voice and luckily time started to pass relatively quickly. The clock read half ten and I knew I should leave soon as I needed to be early at the doctors even if they were always late, when the door of the office knocked, and a sheepish Nick popped his head in.

"Hey, I was wondering if you were free for lunch later, I thought if I get to you early enough, you are more likely to be available."

"Oh, erm – "

"I have things I need to say to you."

I could see Alya behind him smiling at us coyly, but I was more distracted by the smile Nick was trying to hide as he was clearly extremely excited about what he was going to say to me. I waited, not knowing what to say as I didn't know if I actually wanted to go or not. So instead of accepting or rejecting him right now, I stood to put on my coat and grab my bag to start making my own exit.

"I would, but I have a doctor's appointment in a bit, and you never know how late they are running and then how long the appointments will take… then I have a meeting at two, so I don't know."

"Oh, you have an appointment today for…?"

His eyes glanced behind him to Alya and luckily kept his mouth shut, so I smiled at him and nodded before walking past him to avoid any more confusion and curiosity growing in my workforce. Nick followed quickly to catch up to me and was walking next to me as he started another conversation as my arm instinctively slipped through his.

"Are you going alone then?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's just to confirm if I'm actually pregnant or not, it's not anything serious yet."

"That's true."

We were practically at the doctor's office and Nick showed no sign of leaving, standing with me and still walking with me. As I approached the door of the office, I stopped confused that Nick still hadn't left.

"Well, thank you for escorting me Nicholas, but I think I know where I'm going now."

"I'm coming in with you."

"No, you are not."

"Yes, I am, you can argue all you want but I am not leaving, I will follow you in."

"Nick, I don't need – "

"You don't need anything; I just want to be there for you."

Noticing that he was being stubborn, I finally accepted his unwanted help and walked in letting him follow me as I checked in and sat in the waiting room. Nick took the chair next to me and kept occasionally smiling at me, to which I just rolled my eyes at him and he finally gave up getting out his phone to fiddle with. The doctors were only fifteen minutes late for my appointment and I walked in, glaring at Nick as I left to make sure that he didn't follow.

Walking back to Nick, he stood up eagerly, but I walked straight past him and out onto the street, he followed as quickly as I could and touched my shoulder as he caught up with me.

"What happened?"

I let a minute or so pass before I looked at him and denied his fears.

"I'm pregnant, he referred me to the maternity thing, you know the hospital."

"Oh wow."

Overwhelmed by too many emotions, I pulled him into a tight hug and couldn't help but smile, something about hearing the doctor's confirmation, it made me really happy. I was having a baby. Realising what I had just done, I pulled back in embarrassment.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine. But we do have time for an early lunch so…"

Before I replied, he pulled out his phone flashing the time in my face so that I couldn't use that as a rejection and seeing how persistent he seemed, I nodded and let him loop our arms again as he walked me to the bistro. He pointed me to a table as he walked over to the bar, talking to Leanne and got us two glasses of water as he came back to join me.

"So… -"

"Let me have a look at your menus then."

I grabbed one and started scanning it, hoping to avoid whatever awkward conversation that was bound to start any minute. After five minutes of blindly reading the pages, Nick got impatient, pulling it out of my hands and smiling at me.

"Ok, you've had enough time, the whole point was to talk to you not to be ignored with my menu."

"Ok sorry…"

We were both smiling at each other, the mood being light and cheery like It often was with us.

"What is it you would like to say to me, Nicholas?"

"Don't call me Nicholas."

"Whatever you say, Nicky."

"Stop it."

Just like that our playful banter was back and both of us still smiling and laughing softly at each other, it brought airiness and lightness to the situation that would otherwise be serious and broody. He waited, giving us a minute to enjoy the moment as he got ready to talk to me again and bring more seriousness to the moment.

"I spoke with Erica."

"Oh… ok."

"I told her that I wanted to be there for her and the baby, but I couldn't be there for her… you know… romantically".

"Oh ok, you broke up with her in a really weird way."

"What? No, well kind of, that's not the point, I was paraphrasing."

I was mocking him and teasing him to prolong the situation, I hadn't thought about Nick properly since the events of last night, my mind had been filled with the pregnancy and I didn't know what to do about Nick. Sure, I liked him, I liked him a lot and we definitely had great chemistry, there were so many things that were different now compared to when I was ready to take the leap a couple of months ago. I was getting ahead of myself; he could just be updating me on his life.

"I wanted to tell you because you are the most important person that needed to know."

His hands took mine in his and that seemed to be our new go-to movement, the best way he felt he could offer me comfort. It felt nice and I really enjoyed his hands over mine, I didn't think I would, but I liked it, I never wanted to stop feeling his hands over mine.

"Carla?"

"what Nicky?"

"You know why I wanted to tell you this, for God's sake even she knew that I wanted to tell you this and that you were the reason. I can't get you out of my head and do you know how annoying that is? I can't focus, I can't think straight until I see your face."

Wow.

What can a girl say to that? My immediate reaction was to scold him and tell him that it was two months too late to hear that my mouth stayed shut luckily. That wasn't how I was feeling, my stomach was filled with butterflies and I tried to conceal my smile as best as I could, but I knew I was failing. The first giveaway was the beaming smile I got from the man across from me that was currently confessing that he liked me. My hands took over and pulled from his and took over holding his, the words were at the edge of my tongue but before I could muster the strength to say anything, the door opened and my name was called, distracting me, and taking my attention.

"Carla?"

"Peter?"

"Can I have a word?"

"Erm… sure."

I was hesitant at first but the look of persistence from Peter was enough to drag me away from this situation, it was terrible timing, but I didn't want him to explode right in front of me as he looked like he was going to do. Nick looked confused as I moved away from the table and I mimed 'one minute' to him, refusing to give him more than that.

Peter walked straight out of the door and to an area of partially secluded privacy without looking back to see if I was following. I could tell by his tense shoulders that he was angry at something and I knew since it was me, he sought after me that his anger must be directed at me, but I was clueless as to why. I hadn't seen him since this morning when I told him, maybe he was mad that I was pregnant now that it had sat with him a while, maybe he was mad that I was keeping it. I didn't know anymore. When he turned to look at me, I couldn't help but slightly cower at the look of pure anger on his face as he scowled at me just before he jumped into his prepared monologue.

"Is this really my baby?"

"What? Yes of course, why the hell would I lie about that?"

His accusations made me furious, what did he think I had to gain from lying about something like this?

"It's not Nicks then?"

"No of course not, I've never slept with Nick, wouldn't I have told you if I was unsure of the dad?"

His anger started to fade at the presence of my disbelief and fury, some of it even started to get replaced by guilt, it didn't take long though to remember whatever motivation he had and snap back at me.

"But I couldn't come to the doctors with you?"

"What would have been the point, they were just confirming that I was pregnant, nothing special, you'll be coming to the hospital appointments right?"

"Then why did Nick go with you?"

I didn't even think how he knew that I went to the doctors and didn't question it until he mentioned Nick and I realised that he saw us, he saw me, and I hadn't texted him or got in touch, I hadn't had a moment to update him like I promised to. Now I could see the truth, he was hurt rather then angry, confused, and upset, he was masking it with anger, and I couldn't blame, I expressively told him, no but then he saw another man take his position where he wanted to be but wasn't allowed. I knew I needed to explain, I wanted a relatively easy pregnancy so that meant that Peter and I needed to get on, neither of us making life more difficult for the other.

"It wasn't planned, he came to visit me at the factory and walked across with me, he wouldn't leave. He sat in the waiting room and that was it, I promise. Nick is my friend, and he will be there during the pregnancy, but he won't be their dad, that will be you if you want to."

"Of course, I do, so you are really pregnant?"

It was the right thing to say to him as he smiled hesitantly and accepted everything I said. I needed him to know that Nick wasn't going anywhere because he was one of my best friends, he was a part of my life that I didn't want to let go of him any time soon. I reached out to Peter and put my hand on his shoulder, a way of grounding both of us, I probably needed it more than he did.

"Yes Peter Barlow, I am carrying your baby and I am being referred for an ultrasound. I will let you know when I get the appointment."

The news granted me a large smile as he pulled me in for a hug laughing as he did so, which made me laugh at his outburst, we were connecting both of us happy and I was still in shock, I guess. We weren't in private though and I needed to finish my lunch break with actually having lunch, so I pulled away and said goodbye.

"Look, I've got to get back, but you've got my number, and I've got yours so use it instead of hunting the street for me, ok?"

"Ok. Bye Carla."

"Bye Peter."

I took a breath and then finally walked away and back to the Bistro where Nick was fiddling nervously, looking like he hadn't moved since I left. If I wanted to eat here, which I kind of did, then I needed to sort things out with Nick I needed to finish the conversation whether I liked it or not. So, I walked back over to the table and sat down with a nervous smile as he waited for me to talk, but I didn't, so he did.

"So, what was that about with Peter."

"Nothing important, you know Peter, he's overdramatic and got the wrong end of the stick."

"Anything important?"

"No, not really."

He was nervous and trying not to make it too obvious to me, asking about Peter was to see if there was anything that would affect what he was trying to do. I couldn't blame him, if Leanne or Erica came in demanding to talk and he went that easily I would be a little jealous and worried.

"Oh, ok then."

More silence, I fancied the burger for lunch which meant I needed to get my order in as soon as possible and finish this conversation. I needed to make a decision, I needed to talk to my friend.

"Nick…"

Thank you so much for the reviews and positivity as this story is not in my comfort zone so it's nice to know I'm doing a good job.