Most of the week had been fine with peter, we were on track with the orders, clients were connecting with him again and he wasn't irritating me, yet which was a nice thought. I honestly thought that by Wednesday I would have had enough of him and been round to apologise to Simon for firing his dad already, yet here we were on Friday with us both typing away and getting on with work being productive. The only comment I had heard from him today was that I was annoying by tapping the heel of my shoes on the floor repeatedly as I waited for something to load. Nick had been walking me to work every morning and as much as I wanted to believe it was because he wanted to spend time with me, I knew it was probably him staking his claim on me to Peter.

I had spent most of my free time with Michelle though, Nick hadn't done anything wrong, treating me like a possession, a trophy, been there done that and it was getting under my skin. I just needed time away from him so that I didn't unnecessarily snap, it wasn't that big of a deal, but my emotions have been crazy recently. If Nick had noticed the distance I put between us, he didn't say anything as we always saw each other in the morning and a couple of the evenings this week. I had missed Chelle as well, spending time with her always relaxed me, as long as I wasn't getting lectured and her upcoming wedding was a good reason to see her so often, as I was maid of honour.

Today though, I promised Nick that I would have lunch with him on the condition that Michelle joined us, which as I expected, he was fine with. I didn't need her there, I guess I just wanted her there, she had been pregnant before, she knew everything, and I was helping her finalise the flowers today. I had planned enough weddings to know good options. Peter's voice shook me out of my thoughts and tried to start a conversation in the office.

"So, anyone got any plans for the weekend?"

Recently I had learnt from these attempts at small talk that Alya was the person they were directed to, and she was always eager to answer. Once again, I was proven right.

"Not really, I'll probably just do some more work, maybe see some friends. What about you Peter?"

"Me? I'll probably just hang out with Si, probably at the Rovers with my lot. What about you Carla?"

My head whipped up at that point, I hadn't expected to be drawn into the conversation that quickly and I tried to rack my brain for an answer that wasn't completely boring.

"Oh, weekend plans? I'll probably help Chelle finish the wedding details and stuff."

I didn't have it in me to bring it down my explain that my use of the word stuff was to describe doing laundry, picking up the flat and browsing the internet for things I didn't need. Before they could reply to my boring answer a new voice joined us and I looked up to see Nick entering the office with Michelle closely following him.

"And don't forget hanging out with your amazing boyfriend."

I saw Peter look back down at his computer as Nick came over giving me a peck just before I began to question their appearance.

"What are you two doing here?"

"We thought we would come and get you for lunch, we're only a few minutes early…"

Glancing at the clock, I realised he was right, and just like always, I had let time get away from me. So, I locked my computer and gathered my bag to leave with them to the Bistro, as I got to the factory floor, I saw how messy the place was with material and bits all over the floor which was definitely a health and safety risk.

"Right, you lot, I'm letting you a few minutes early, but when you get back, you need to clean up this mess, it's a health and safety disaster, someone could get – "

As if to prove my point, I slipped on the material because my shoes had nothing to grip to and I fell backwards, landing on my butt, which still hurt. Everyone came running to me, Peter appearing from nowhere with his hand on my back and looking exceedingly worried. I know what he was thinking but I know that my stomach didn't get hurt in the fall, it wasn't even that bad, I just had a sore bum and damaged ego.

"Carla – are you ok? Are you hurt? What about the – "

"I'm fine, I fell on my backside, everything is ok."

I didn't want his emotions ruling him and he accidentally telling everyone about the secret I was physically carrying around. Nick pushed through the small crown and nudged Peter out the way so that he was next to me, glaring at Peter and helping me stand.

"I've got her Peter; I am her boyfriend. Maybe you should focus on making this factory safer."

"My factory Nick."

I was ignored as he carried on glaring and leading me out onto the street.

"Are you ok Carla? Is the baby, ok?"

"Yes Nick, I'm fine, we're fine. Where's Chelle."

Looking back at the door, I saw her jogging out with my bag and hooked her arm in mine smiling after I told her I was fine, and we walked to the Bistro. It was nice in the restaurant, not too busy but still a nice lunchtime rush, Nick sat with us in the more private area. As soon as I sat down, I felt the pain from my fall as I winced, which caused Michelle to laugh at my situation.

"Maybe we should get you one of those haemorrhoid cushions for support."

"Shut up."

My remark just had her laughing even more at me. She had a point, the whole situation was actually pretty funny, and I knew that if the roles were reversed, I would be mocking her probably more brutally. It was nice just to have this time, just relaxing, being here with Nick and Michelle, having time together before I went back to work, I felt like I needed this nice break. Nick was silent, brooding I guess as he scanned through his own menu that he definitely knew by heart. Whatever he was mulling over in his mind, I let him continue as Michelle and I picked out small bits from the menu for us to share so that she could get to the wedding details, sooner rather than later.

Nick must have been listening as we made our decisions as he got up and told us he would put our orders in, Michelle didn't say anything if she did notice his change in attitude. Chelle pulled out her overflowing folder and I was confused on how it hadn't broken yet as she showed me pictures, she had printed and roughly cut. I nodded or made a noise of agreement when appropriate, my eyes would gaze back to the kitchen door, waiting for Nick to return, waiting to see him again and try to read him.

When he did come back, the mood on his face didn't look any different from when he left, instead of coming straight back he waited and chatted with his staff. Before I could feel too upset and rejected, my phone chimed, and I tried to pull it out to check without alerting Michelle that my interest was definitely somewhere else. The text was from Peter, which I didn't expect, reading it also shocked me as I didn't expect it, I still didn't know what to think.

'Come back to the factory early, we need to talk.'

It wasn't a friendly text, it wasn't something nice, it didn't have any kisses at the end, it wasn't polite, it didn't even have a greeting like hi, it was formal, demanding and kind of rude. I definitely didn't know what to do with it, and I tried to think about what I had done to trigger such a reaction. While my mind was busy, I didn't notice Nick joining us until his arm fell around my shoulders. It caused me to lock my phone in guilt and smile up at him which he hesitantly returned. We fell back into a weird atmosphere and Chelle chatted our heads off with various details and we just listened, it was obvious that she had already made the decisions and was just testing the waters on what I thought. They were all good choices, so I just nodded and listened.

"Foods here."

Nicks's voice finally stopped Michelle and all three of us were staring at Steph as she carried over our various small plates and placed them in front of us. I dug into the plate that was right in front of me without waiting for anyone else, I was hungry, and I didn't want to wait for them to decide what they wanted or how to split it. Following my lead, the other two started to eat and Nick finally spoke, I hoped he would give away why he was so moody.

"How are you feeling after your fall?"

"Me? yeah I'm fine, I'll just kill those girls."

"I still can't believe how quickly Peter got there, like wasn't he still in the office?"

There it is, the reason he was annoyed was all about Peter, although he tried looking away like it wasn't a big deal, but I could tell. Even Michelle could tell that it was a bigger issue than what he was letting on and she was looking at me, practically telling me 'I told you so' with her eyes. I know I needed to think over my words carefully before responding, not wanting to dig myself a bigger hole.

"Yeah, I did too, I don't know how he got there so quickly."

"I don't even know why he raced over there, me and Michelle were there for you."

He had definitely been thinking this through for a while and I knew then that I should have gotten him to tell me what was wrong when I first noticed instead of giving him more time to think. He had had proper time to think things through and think about everything, what could I say that wasn't the truth that he ran over to me because I was carrying his baby?

"I don't know Nick; you'll have to ask him."

"Yeah maybe, did he say anything to you? I didn't hear everything he was saying."

"Nothing important, just asking if I was ok, you know stuff like that."

He wasn't completely pleased with my answer, but he gave up, even if I could see the annoyance on his face, knowing that he wasn't going to get anything more out of me than he wanted. He waited though for a few more minutes but then gave up and carried on eating more food as though it would stop him from interrogating me altogether. The air became tense, but I tried to pretend like it wasn't a big deal, like I didn't notice so that I didn't have to make up even more excuses. I hated lying but I was too far now to come clean, I know one day I would but today wasn't that day, I couldn't do it yet.

Luckily, Chelle and I filled the air with idle chit-chat that Nick occasionally joined in on, it gave me a nice atmosphere that I could finally relax in, even if it were only temporary, it was still enough for me right now. Nick even kissed me before Chelle and I left, as I walked into the factory, with the machines going, I realised that I hadn't forgotten about Peter's request, well demand, he hadn't, he was furious with me.

He was seated at his own desk, staring at the door, waiting for me, and silently seething at me for not fulfilling his demand. A large part of me felt immensely guilty but the other parts of me were annoyed at his attitude, expecting to do what he wants, when he wants was absurd, I didn't owe him anything. Sure, he could be frustrated that I didn't even reply, let alone show up, but he had no right to stare at me with such anger and hatred. Refusing to back down, I walked over to my desk with my head held high and confident, not to let him deter me, this was my factory.

Even as we all worked silently in the office, I felt his glare on me, it wasn't going to leave any time soon, it was starting to get on my nerves. I typed furiously, being filled with my own anger at his attitude and I knew the sound was annoying both Alya and Peter as the keys got louder with every word. Alya was a smart girl, she knew not to say anything, not to do anything as she could feel the atmosphere, she could sense how tense things were and she was the first to leave when the workday was over, probably desperate to leave.

"Carla…"

His voice was tight, and I didn't need to look up to know that his teeth were probably gritted together but my own anger had had a chance to grow and fester within me. I ignored him and continued typing, slamming each key down with as much force as I could, and held up a finger to signal to him that I needed a minute, which I knew would further infuriate him. Taking my type, I finally sent the email and then took even more time to finally look at him. If a person could physically turn red and steam out at the top of his head, it would be Peter right now.

"What?"

My tone showed him that I wasn't going to be pushed around and that he wasn't the only one angry, I wasn't get let him have his own way.

"I sent you a text, I know you saw it."

Being petty, I made a show of slowly pulling my phone out of my bag on the floor and dramatically scrolled to his text before giving him a reply.

"Oh, yeah, you did. What did you want?"

"Don't play dumb with me Carla."

"Me, play dumb? I don't think so, what did you want?"

He was being pushed to his limits, he stood angrily and began to pace to try and expel some of his anger, to get it out but I honestly didn't know what he actually wanted, he was just assuming that I knew which was infuriating to me.

"Do you know what? I never understood why you liked Nick, I thought maybe he had completely changed for you to be interested but no. I think the real reason you are dating him is to annoy me, make me mad, I wouldn't give a toss if you weren't carrying my baby Carla. You need to stop playing these stupid games."

"Well, that was quite a rant…"

His problem was with Nick then, he had created a whole situation and story in his head and was believing it, accusing me of things that I would never do. How dare he? As if I would date someone just to get to him, and what on earth led him to that thought? There must be something going on in that head of his that was spiralling him out of control, I just needed to figure out what it was.

"Peter… I'm not dating Nick to hurt you; I wouldn't do that…"

His pacing increased and I just watched for a few minutes as he processed what I said before finally stopping to lean on his desk chair, looking exhausted.

"I know… I know, I just… I don't know."

It honestly hurt looking at him in this state as he had clearly worked himself up about something, he went the wrong way about it so all I did was drive him further down. I got up and moved to him and put my hand on his arm to comfort him, I didn't want to see him like this.

"Peter, what is it?"

"Nick. I get it, he's, your boyfriend, but you are carrying my baby, I swear he is doing this just to get under my skin because I doubt, he knows I'm the dad."

I was still confused.

"Peter, I don't understand, what is he doing?"

He huffed, clearly frustrated that I hadn't understood what he was trying to tell me, and tried to back paddle himself.

"He walks you to work every single flipping day, he brings you breakfast to feed my baby, he pushed me out of the way when you fell even though my baby could have been hurt, he is trying to get a reaction."

There it was, Peter was feeling pushed out, he deserved to, he was my baby's dad and yet he couldn't act like it, Nick was filling that role for now. It was hard for him to see someone else take the role he should have, making sure me and the baby were fed and safe, but I didn't know what I could do to fix that. Nick didn't know that Peter was the dad, he would go mad, so why did it seem to Peter like he was doing it to get at him? I needed to be careful with my words.

"Peter, he doesn't know so he isn't trying to hurt you, he's just being protective because he loves me and he knows I love this baby. I promise I will tell him to back off a bit, give me some room so that you don't feel left out so – "

"That's not good enough."

"What -?"

"You tell Nick I'm the dad or I will."

Thank you guys so much for all the love, I really do appreciate it, it means a lot to know people are enjoying my stories