Set now but the underworld roof collapse and Carla's psychosis never happened.
"Carla, are you even listening to me?" Peter grunts noticing Carla gazing ahead, motionless. She didn't even know Peter started speaking. "Carla!" He waves his hand in her face.
"Oh, Sorry." Carla mumbles, sitting up straight in her black leather chair at the factory.
"Are you alright?" He questions.
"I'm not feeling great." She rubs her head.
"Still?! How come?" He narrows his eyes.
"Probably just because I couldn't sleep last night. Actually, I've been up all week with this back pain. I just don't feel right, might be a bug."
"Well get yourself checked out if this carries on yeah? You were restless the whole night." He says as she nods. "Do you want to take the rest of the day off?"
"No I'm not going to leave you here alone with all the work we have to do." She sighs.
"I have Sarah."
"Nah...I'll be okay. And she's gone for an early lunch anyway."
"If you're sure." He narrows his eyes, watching her pale complexion worsen and her running a tired hand through her hair.
"Mm-hmm." She nods, smiling ever so softly as he places a kiss onto her forehead.
Later that day, it was clear no work was being done on Carla's side of the desk. She was sat hunched over, staring blankly. It looked as if she was in some sort of trance, not in reality.
Peter was typing away opposite her, regularly looking across at his lover. He was really worried about her and could tell she was getting more ill. The thought of it being anything serious did occur however Simon had a bug recently so he guessed she must've caught it from him.
"Car, are you okay?" He pipes up.
"I just want to get home and cuddle you for the evening to be honest." She replies, quietly. A dizzy spell washing over her.
"Your wish is my demand. We could get a takeaway too?"
"I haven't got an appetite. I feel like I could be sick at any moment."
"It's near enough the end of the day anyway. I'll send them home so we can lock up. Put your coat on."
"I need to go to the toilets first." She mutters, panicking to herself.
As Carla stood up, the dizziness she was currently experiencing got so much worse. She held onto the desk and took a series of deep breaths. Closing her eyes in distress, she tried to regulate her breathing that was so out of rythem.
Peter hasn't noticed the current state of his soulmate because he was too busy chatting to some of the machinist's whilst they packed away their stuff.
"Peter..." Carla whispers, dread washing over her as she was feeling worse by the second.
Peter didn't hear; too busy laughing at something Sean had said.
"Peter." She moans, louder yet still quietly.
"Hmm?" He spun around to face her. "Oh my god, you're chalk white. Are you alright?"
"I don't feel good." She replies, a hand coming up to her forehead. "Oh..."
"Sit down, sit down." He panics. "I'm taking you to the medical centre."
"Peter..." she breathes, eyes suddenly rolling back as she collapses in a heap on the floor. Peter tried to support her, to grab her arm but it was no use. Her body completely shut down beneath him.
"Carla!" He shouts, kneeling down and shaking her shoulders gently.
"What's happened to her?" Sean gasps, walking into the office.
"Sean, call an ambulance. Now!" Peter cries as he moves strands of raven hairs out of Carla's face.
"Is she responding, Peter?" Sean questions.
"N-no. She is completely still but she's breathing."
"She's unconscious but breathing." Sean talks on the phone. "Has she been feeling off all day?"
"Yeah...she's been pale and having no appetite, she is so weak."
"Okay..." Sean says. "Right, they're on there way. Is there anything else you want me to do?"
"Erm...can you get rid of the factory lot. Oh and call Michelle and Johnny." Peter replies.
Ten long minutes later, the ambulance crew arrive at Underworld. The staff had left and now the only people remain are Peter, Michelle and Johnny.
"Who've we got here then?" Mike, the main paramedic asks.
"Carla." Michelle informs him.
"How long has she been like this?" He asks.
"Erm...well she's been out cold for 10 or maybe 15 minutes...I don't know but it's been a while." Peter sighs.
"Has she been feeling off all day?"
"Yeah. She's been really weak and has been so fatigued but she's got a bad back which has kept her up. S-She said she had really bad nausea which was why she had no appetite." He explains.
"Okay." Mike looks down. "Has she been bleeding at all?"
"What? She didn't hit anything when she fell." Peter frowns.
"She was telling me a few days ago that she kept bleeding...down there. It wasn't that time of the month, in fact she'd just finished her period for that month. We presumed it was nothing." Michelle pipes up.
"But what's that got to do with anything?" Peter asks.
"Do you know if she was bleeding a huge amount? Whether it was on-going or not?" Mike prompts.
"I don't know. Why? Is that something to do with this?" Michelle shakes her head.
"She had a kidney transplant in 2018. She collapsed because of that." Johnny says.
"That's completely irrelevant, Johnny. Why is her bleeding an issue? All women have a period!" Peter says.
"Mm." A groan is heard.
"Carla?" Peter gasps. "Carla, it's me."
"Peter?" She whispers, groggily. "What happened?"
"You've collapsed. I'm Mike and I'm a paramedic. We're going to take you to hospital and see what's going on, okay? You're having so unusual symptoms to it's better to be safe than sorry." Mike explains, gently.
"Ugh..." She murmurs. "I want Peter."
"I'm here, baby. I'm here."
"He can come with you in the ambulance if you'd like him too." Mike smiles.
"What's going on?" She panics, "Peter, I'm scared."
"You'll be okay. You probably just fainted because you haven't eaten all day." Peter reassures her, squeezing her hand.
"My colleague is bringing in a stretcher and once we place you onto it, we'll be ready to go. Alright?"
"Mm." She closes her eyes in defeat, having no energy to even sit up.
Now at the hospital, Carla had various tests to try figure out what caused the collapse. They had a fair idea but nothing was certain until the tests came back. So in the meantime, Carla was put in a cubicle and lay exhaustedly in a bed. Peter was right beside her, holding her hand tightly.
"Why are they taking so long, Peter?" Carla sighs.
"They're going as quick as they can. Why don't you sleep?" He suggests, gently.
"I don't think I'll have the energy to get up again if I sleep now."
"But it might help you and make you feel better."
"I'll tell you what will make me feel better; sleeping in my own bed wrapped up in your arms." She rolls her eyes.
"You'll be home in a few hours. And I can get on the bed with you if you want? It'll be a squeeze but I don't mind." He smiles as Carla shuffles up slightly, leaving a small space for the male.
"Ah, there we are. Is that better?" He wraps an arm around her shoulders and she rests her head on his chest.
"Yeah." She whispers.
"Mrs Connor?" The nurse interrupts, opening the curtain with a clipboard in hand.
"Did you find anything?" Peter questions, immediately. "Is everything okay?"
"Calm down, Peter." Carla hushes him. "So...why did I collapse?"
"The cause of the collapse was as you'd guessed, not having enough glucose in your system and being dyhrated." She nods.
"See, I told you." Peter nudges Carla. "You have to eat, baby."
"But that's not what we're entirely concerned about."
"Ey?" Carla frowns.
"So you haven't had any appetite recently? How long for?" The nurse asks.
"Erm...all week but I just felt like I was going to throw up all through today." She replies.
"All you symptoms and what Mr Barlow has told us about, suggests that we need to run multiple other tests. Therefore, we're going to keep you in overnight and you can leave here tomorrow." She explains.
"What? I don't understand. What other tests? You said I collapsed due to not eating enough." Carla worries.
"Unfortunately Carla, we have reason to believe you have ovarian cancer. But that's the worst case scenario, it could be another medical condition with similar symptoms. They all do tick the boxes but we don't know until we run more tests. Try not to worry."
"Try not to worry? Are you being serious? You just told me that you think I have cancer!" Carla snaps, her eyes filling up with tears.
"What's the symptoms to make you think this then?" Peter questions.
"Fatigue, nausea, vaginal bleeding, back pain, weakness..."
"But that could mean anything." Carla shakes her head in denial.
"You're correct, it could mean various other things but we have to know for sure."
"Erm...do you really think it is...c-cancer?" Peter emotionally questions.
"Like I said, we won't know until we run more tests." The nurse sighs.
"In other words, yes she thinks it's cancer." Carla cries.
"Carla, don't think like that. We could be all worrying over nothing." Peter plants a kiss on her head, staying positive. It was slightly hypocritical though as he was absolutely petrified.
"We'll speak to you in the morning when we have the results." The nurse says, leaving the couple to digest the information.
"Peter..." Carla croaks.
"Don't, Carla. Everything will be fine." Peter mumbles, his lip wobbling.
I wanted to write a fanfiction which was similar to Sinead's and Daniels in the actual show but obviously, I wanted to write it a different way. So no pregnancies, a different form of cancer and things like that. It was originally just a one-shot I'd written about 4 months ago but I found it again a few days ago and thought I might make it into an actual story if anyone would be interested in reading it? I've done some research about it but I've never gone through it myself so I'm going to try and make it as realistic as possible through my knowledge. It won't be like 'Meant To Be' where there's lots of chapters going about there day; it'd be more based on milestones of what they're going through. Leave reviews! X
