It was a Monday morning. It wasn't early in the morning - Phillip Schofield was on the television, so it was practically late enough to be considered lunchtime, so when Carla heard a knock at the door, she assumed it was Nick, coming back from the supermarket. But is wasn't.
Getting up from where she was sat in the living room, Carla laughed slightly. In the time since they had moved away from Weatherfield, Nick had forgotten to take his keys with him almost once a week. It was becoming a bit of a habit, but Carla seemed to find it funny, it was almost a running joke between the pair.
Carla shut her laptop down, in attempt to conceal what she had been looking at online, wanting to show Nick later on, when he had a bit more time to give to it.
She walked into the hallway, and was a little confused when she didn't see her husbands face through the window at the top of the door. She thought maybe he'd taken a step back, maybe he had gone to get the post from the post box that stood on the gate at the front of the driveway. But when she opened the heavy wooden door, she was shocked to find that instead of her husband, she found her sixteen year-old niece.
"Hey Auntie Carla!" She greeted, as Carla noted that Bethany had a full duffle bag next to her, on the step. "Is Uncle Nick in?" She asked, as the older woman signalled for her niece to come into the house, not wanting her to be outside for too long. She looked cold. She had a jacket on, but it looked less than fit for purpose. It was more of a fashion statement than a conscious effort to shield herself from the cold.
"He's not in, love, but he should be back soon." She told the teen, as she noted that Bethany looked chirpy, almost too chirpy, and Carla recognised her façade all too well – the young girl was putting on a front.
Carla shut the door, as not to let any heat out of the house, and took Bethany's bag off of her, and placed it by the stairs. "Sit down in the kitchen and I'll make you a nice brew." The Aunt offered, as she lead Bethany into the room at the back of the house.
The kitchen, was plain and simple, and had a large window that revealed the couple's massive garden. "What do you want, tea, coffee, hot chocolate?" Carla listed, as she got two mugs from the cupboard above the kettle, looking round to Bethany, who had sat at a stool by the kitchen's island. "Cup of tea please." She asked, as she took her jacket off, placing it beside her on another stool as Carla made drinks for them both; flicking the kettle on and placing a tea bag in both of the cups before going over to the fridge and getting the milk from the door.
"I thought you drank coffee." Bethany remarked, using the drink making process as a distraction for her mind, and noting that her aunt was making two cups of tea.
"I do, I just fancy a bit of a change." Carla told her, coming and standing on the other side of the island, facing Bethany. "I've had far too much caffeine already this morning!" She joked, as the girl smiled back. Carla had wondered why Bethany had turned up here, how she had reached Devon on her own, and seemingly at her own accord, but Carla decided to wait until Nick got home to tackle any issues, she didn't want it to seem like she was poking her nose into the Platt's business, she didn't want to cause any upset in the family, she didn't want to contribute to any issues.
The hot drinks had just been made, and Carla handed Bethany her mug, before hearing another knock at the door. "That'll be your Uncle." Carla stated, before walking out of the room. This had to be Nick, unless Max, or even Lily had decided to follow their cousin on her trip.
Carla went to answer the door, and left Bethany to her own devices in the Kitchen. Nick was stood at the door, carrying bags of food from the supermarket. "Are you OK?" Nick asked, as she stepped aside to let him into the house. "Is everything alright with..." He began, as he was cut off by his wife. "We have a visitor." She told him, as she took him into the kitchen.
"Bethany?" He asked in surprise and confusion.
"Surprise!" She exclaimed, rather sheepishly, sensing her Uncle's confusion. Nick too had taken note of the duffle bag and immediately questioned his niece's motives.
"What are you doing here?" He asked her, as the young girl sighed.
"Is it too much to ask for a girl to want to spend some time with her Uncle and Aunt?" She asked him sarcastically in response.
"Yes. Especially when her Uncle and Aunt live two hundred and fifty miles away." Nick answered, matching Bethany's sarcastic tone. "How did you get here on your own?" Nick asked her, in a much softer tone of voice.
"I got two coaches, and walked from there." She answered, as Nick sighed and shook his head.
"Do you know how dangerous that is? Travelling on your own like that?" He asked her, his worry for the teen turning into a slight anger.
"I got from Florence to Weatherfield, didn't I?" She reminded him, as she looked to the floor.
"Does your mum know you're here?" Carla asked, stepping in, and making sure that the relationship between the pair stayed reasonable. "Yeah. She said once I'd finished my exams, I could go on holiday." Bethany told them, smiling slightly.
"And you did them all?" Carla asked, clueless of when the exams were.
"She finished her last one on Friday." Nick told his wife.
"Here, do you want me to put the shopping away and you two can go and talk?" Carla offered.
"No, it's fine, I'll do it. You both go into the living room. Leave me to put all of this away." He told her, as he kissed her softy on the cheek, before she grabbed her mug and lead Bethany into the living room.
"He's really mad at me, isn't he?" Bethany asked Carla worriedly, just after the pair had sat on the sofa in the living room. Carla turned the television off, sensing this probably wasn't the best moment to have a phone-in about family struggles in the background of their conversation.
"No, of course he's not. He's really happy to see you, he's just worried. You could have asked us to come and pick you up, from the coach station, from your house, wherever. He doesn't like the thought of you travelling so far on your own. Anything could have happened." Carla explained, as she placed her hand over the Bethany's, in reassurance.
"No?" She questioned. "Then why didn't he want to come and sit in here with me?" She asked.
"Someone has to put the shopping away." Carla smiled, confused as to where Bethany's point was going.
"But you could have done it, I could have helped. It wasn't exactly the family reunion I was hoping for." She frowned.
"You know that your Uncle is pretty OCD about these things." Carla joked, nudging her niece slightly, making her smile for all of about a second, before her face fell once more. "And, I'm sorry that this hasn't lived up to your expectations, so how about tonight, we'll order in a takeaway and just have a nice night in?" She suggested, as she was met by a small laugh by the teen. "What?" Carla asked her, wondering what was making her giggle.
"A takeaway?" Bethany questioned. "A night in?" She followed. "I thought you guys were like 'the IT couple.' Could we not go out somewhere posh for tea?" She asked.
"Why, where were you thinking?" Carla asked her in response, as Bethany thought for a second.
"I don't know what's around here." The girl stated. "You have a restaurant up here, don't you?" She remembered, after gathering her thoughts.
"Yeah. So, you want to go there tonight?" Carla checked, taking a drink from her mug.
"It depends. Is it a nice place?" Bethany asked cheekily.
"I suppose you're going to have to wait and see, aren't you?" Carla teased.
"I suppose so." She answered back, taking a sip of her drink, as the pair were joined by Nick.
"What's going on tonight?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, and sitting on an arm chair opposite to where the others were sat.
"I'm going to come to your place." Bethany stated.
"You're already here." Nick reminded her, chuckling slightly.
"No, your other place." She told him sarcastically. "The restaurant." She added, almost with a smile of anticipation.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Nick told her. "Why not?" His niece asked, confused as to why her Uncle didn't approve. "Well, it has a bar, and I don't think it would be massively appropriate." He told her, leaving Bethany perplexed.
"The bistro had a bar." She reminded him.
"Just not tonight." He told her, putting an end to the conversation. Bethany had decided not to push her luck, she knew she was going to get nowhere.
An hour since Bethany had arrived, the trio had done nothing more than sit around and talk about nothing very important. They were content catching up, finding out how well Bethany thought she did on her exams, which turned out to be a sore subject, and turning onto other subjects like how much Nick and Carla were enjoying life out of Weatherfield. "Why don't we go to the beach?" Bethany suggested it. "Gail said you took her to a really nice one." She added, as Carla glanced over at Nick for approval at what seemed like a good idea.
Gail had been down to visit the couple, as promised, and to be honest, it was pleasant to have her down there staying with them. She wasn't trying to impress Carla, or annoying them both. They had a good time. Gail brought a sense of home and family to Devon, something that the pair didn't realise they were missing while they were up there, and although Bethany went about it the wrong way, it was lovely to have her up with them too.
"I think we should go to the beach, it might be nice to just clear our heads?" Carla suggested, knowing that Nick couldn't really argue his way out of this one – he had already wriggled his way out of going out for dinner this evening.
"It'll be cold." Nick warned Carla, as she smiled at him softly, knowing exactly what he was trying to do.
"Fine then." Nick relented, getting up from his chair. "Let's go to the beach." Nick announced, trying to sound enthusiastic.
Nick was right. The beach was cold. It had been raining, and despite it being the middle of May, it was really windy. Nick and Carla had wrapped up warm, and Carla had leant Bethany a coat, so she wouldn't end up freezing in that little jacket she had worn earlier.
When at the beach, Bethany naturally seemed to walk ahead, with the couple just behind her, walking at a slower pace. Nick had automatically felt his hand slip into Carla's and if it wasn't for all the little worries that chipped away at them, it would have been a leisurely stroll at what was fast becoming one of their favourite places. "What do you think this is really all about?" Carla asked Nick, noticing that the youngster seemed to have a lot on her mind.
"I have no clue. She definitely isn't herself." He mused. "Just as long as you're fine with having her here." Nick checked with his wife, as she laughed slightly at his worry.
"It's fine." Carla told him. "It might even give us a distraction from everything else that's going on." She added.
"Are you sure though?" He double checked. "You're not long out of hospital, and I don't want you back there for at least another three months." He added.
"I hate to break it to you darling, but we've got to go there in three days-time for a check-up." She reminded him, as she nonchalantly placed a hand on her stomach, before reminding herself of Bethany's presence and taking it away again.
"I'm serious, Carla." He began, as the couple stopped walking to turn and face each other. "The other day was terrifying..." He added, before being stopped by his missus.
"I thought the other day was just a bit of fun!" She replied sarcastically, her voice harsher as Nick bowed his head slightly. Regretting the harshness of her tone, Carla made it softer, as she spoke once more. "I know that what happened the other day was scary." She began, as she took his other hand in her remaining one. "It could have easily ended up being one of the worst nights of my life..." She continued, before being stopped.
"And mine." Nick interrupted.
"You've been amazing, and I know the doctor said to rest, but I've done plenty of that Nick, and I'm climbing the walls." She told him. "Not literally obviously. No strenuous activity involved." She dared to joke, before turning her attention to her niece. "It might do us good to have a distraction." She added, as Nick turned to Bethany, noticing how thoughtful she looked.
"Well, I mean, as much as I am intrigued to find out what is going on back home, I'm not too sure I want a distraction from you and the little one." He smiled, increasing the closeness between himself and his wife, before carefully placing his hand on her stomach before kissing her softly on the lips.
"Nick, Bethany could see." She reminded him, smirking as she took his hand away from her small bump. "Even though we do have to tell people at some point." Carla reminded him, her smile growing wider.
"I thought we'd just wait until the baby is born and surprise my mum!" Nick joked. "Can you imagine?" Carla laughed, as the couple naturally began to walk in the direction of their niece. "I'll call Sarah in a bit, see when she wants Bethany home, and I suppose we can go up there, drop her off and see family at the same time?" He suggested, as Carla hummed in response. "As long as it's after the appointment." She told him.
The three ended up walking to the restaurant, after Carla reminded Nick that the doctor told them to continue as normal. They were sat at the table, when Carla decided to play Poirot. "So what were you thinking about, missus?" Carla asked Bethany over the dinner table.
"Nothing much." She replied, taking a sip from her drink. "I like it down here. It's peaceful." Bethany told her Aunt and Uncle, changing the subject. "Don't change the subject." Nick told her, his voice firm and concerned.
"Me and Mum had a row." She revealed.
"So she doesn't know you're here?" Nick asked, his voice getting slightly louder in concern.
"Well, not exactly." She mumbled, looking down at her knife and fork.
"I've got to call Sarah." Nick told Carla. She nodded in understanding as he stood up and walked into his office.
"What was this row about?" Carla asked softly, knowing that if she was to speak as harsh as her husband, she wouldn't get anywhere with the teen.
"She was having a go at me for my grades, and I know that I shouldn't have, but I might have told her some home truths..." Bethany trailed off.
"What home truths?" Carla asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, she didn't exactly get good grades, and nowadays it's all about Harry, I never spend time with her. The only time she speaks to me is when she wants to have a go." Bethany explained, as her face fell.
"I'm sure it's not like that, darling." She told her niece. "Your mum loves you, I'm sure she just wants what's best for you." She added, leaning forward slightly and resting her elbows on the table.
"Yeah, but it's not all about grades, is it?" Bethany asked, knowing that Carla would probably see her side of things, knowing that she never went to College herself.
"No, it's not. Life is all about family though." She told the girl wisely. "You only get one of them." She added, before sitting up, pushing her chair out and standing up. "Come on, come and speak to your Mum, she's probably really worried." Carla persuaded, reaching her hand out for Bethany to take. Before long, Bethany was being lead to the office.
The pair walked into the office and stood by the door, seeing that Nick was on the phone to Sarah. "What do you mean you hadn't realised she was gone?" Nick raged, not realising that the pair had walked in, as he held his phone to his ear. Nick noticed the presence of his wife and niece as Bethany's face dropped. Carla put her arms around her shoulders, leading her to the sofa that sat opposite the desk.
She let Bethany sit down, before going over to Nick, placing a soft hand on his chest, a reminder not to get too worked up. "We've said that she can stay here for a few days, get her head cleared, and right now, I don't think that's a bad idea." Nick informed his sister, in a calmer manner than his previous sentence. As the couple stood pretty much in the corner of the office, Bethany couldn't help but notice some photos on the desk. There was one of Nick and Carla on their wedding day, and the other was a scan photo. Bethany instantly grinned like the Cheshire cat at the thought of he Aunt and Uncle having a baby, but she didn't want to mention it at the moment.
Gail had once told her that Carla had lost a baby in the past, and she knew that Erica had miscarried her Uncle's baby. Maybe the scan photo was an old one, one of a baby that either one of them had lost. But excitement was still brewing over the fact that she could have another cousin. A cousin she wouldn't have to live with or constantly keep watch over. Bethany's mind cast back to that conversation with Gail, and how she told Bethany that she never thought that Nick and Carla would have a baby. It was something that she hoped for, but not something that she saw happening. Bethany told her that they definitely would, she had every faith that once the couple had moved away, they would have a baby, and it looked as if her comment on the issue may have been right. Bethany found the thought of Nick and Carla having a baby a welcome distraction from the phone call that her Uncle was currently on. Carla glanced over at the desk, before realising that the photo stood on the desk. She went over and carefully put the picture face down, she didn't want to risk Bethany finding out...
After a couple more minutes on the phone to Sarah, Nick had promised to come back up to Weatherfield with Bethany in three days time. This provided just enough time for Sarah to have a break, and give Beth a break from having to deal with her mum, who seemed to have far too much going on to even notice her own daughter had gone missing.
"How about we go back home, eh?" Nick suggested, with Bethany nodding. She wasn't feeling very hungry anymore, or in the mood for talking over a table.
Once at home, Nick took Bethany's duffle bag upstairs into one of the spare rooms. Carla had remained downstairs, starting to make some dinner for the three of them - she was determined to learn how to cook properly before the baby came along.
Once in the room, Nick placed then teen's bag down at the foot of the bed, before sitting with her on the edge of the bed. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Nick asked her, looking to his niece. He was soft with her, obviously knowing that things had kicked off with her and Sarah, but having a lot more empathy for the young girl after discovering that Sarah didn't even realise her own daughter had absconded.
"I had a row with Mum, I told Carla about it. I'm fine now." Bethany reassured him, before turning to face her uncle. "Can I ask you a question?" She asked him quite innocently.
"Ask away." He replied, his voice cheerier. Although he wasn't too happy about leaving the situation with Bethany and Sarah like this, as long as she had talked to Carla, he would find out what it was all about later.
"Is Carla pregnant?" She asked him, as he looked at her in shock that she knew. Carla had been doing her best to hide the pregnancy, and had so far managed it successfully. Nick wondered how she could tell.
"Right listen, you don't tell anyone: family, friends, next door neighbours cat, got it?" He warned her, as she nodded, wondering what her Uncle was being so secretive for.
"Come downstairs with me." He told her, sighing, as the duo made their way to the kitchen, where Carla was standing over the stove.
"She knows." Nick revealed, with Carla immediately clocking what her husband meant.
"Did you tell her?" Carla asked Nick accusingly, placing her hand on her hip.
"No, she guessed!" Nick exclaimed in defence.
"It's fine, I won't tell anyone." Bethany assures them, sitting on one of the island stools, making herself comfortable.
"Make sure that you don't." Nick warned her, raising his eyebrows in authority.
"I won't!" She confirmed, her voice getting higher in tone. "You must not be very far gone if you haven't told anyone." Bethany stated. "So, how many weeks are you?" Bethany asked excitedly.
"Twenty six." Carla told her, as Bethany's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
"Twenty six!" She repeated in disbelief. "You don't look that far gone!" Bethany exclaimed, prompting Carla to smile towards Nick. "Why aren't you telling everyone?" She asked. "Have you told Gran yet?" Beth added. "Was it unexpected? Is that why you don't want to say anything?" The teen interrogated, as Carla laughed slightly. Nick came over to check on the dinner, and make sure that nothing was burning. This gave Carla the opportunity to face the teen, as the Aunt lent against the work surface.
"No, we haven't told Gail yet and this baby was one hundred percent planned, thank you very much." Carla told her, smiling, as she turned to face Nick who was stood inches away from her. Carla was, in part, relieved that she was finally able to place her hand on her stomach, something which she had been longing to do since her niece arrived.
"So why don't you tell everyone?" Bethany asked as if it were that easy. Carla once again glanced towards her husband, who looked back at her in response. He immediately sensed his wife's fear at admitting that anything had gone wrong in the pregnancy.
"Because we don't want to, not yet anyway." Nick jumped in.
"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" She asked, as Carla took Nick's place at the stove.
"Yes, you are." Nick confirmed, before opening a kitchen drawer. "The table needs laying." He told her, indicating to the drawer filled with various bits of cutlery. Bethany sighed, but did as she was told.
She went into the couples dining room and laid the knives and forks nicely, before looking at the bookcases that stood in the corner. She went over to it, she never would have thought that Carla and Nick were massive book worms. She looked at the titles of the books, some were catalogues and books of designs from the factory, a few various cookbooks, some looked like folders full of important documents, but nearly the entire middle shelf had been dedicated to every sort of baby book shops sell. She knew that her Uncle and Aunt would be great parents and the fact that they cared so much made her heart burst.
Carla came in to the room and over to Bethany. She placed a hand on her shoulder as the teen continued to look at the titles on the shelf. "Anything taking your fancy?" Carla joked, as she went to sit down on one of the seats at the table.
"Why aren't you telling people? I know that Gran would be thrilled, more than thrilled." Bethany asked, sitting on the chair next to Carla. "Gran told me once that she really wanted you to have a baby, but she didn't see it happening." She informed her, as Carla smiled.
"Neither did we, for a while!" Carla remarked back, a slight laugh in her voice. "She told me that you'd lost a baby too, like Uncle Nicky." She said softly, not wanting to cause any upset, but just wanting to know why it seemed Nick and Carla were keeping this to themselves for seemingly no reason.
"Bethany, that's enough." Nick warned softly, coming into the room with plates of food for the ladies.
"No, it's OK Nick. It's not a big secret, is it? All of Weatherfield know." She told him, smiling confidently at him, as he headed back into the kitchen to get his food. "I lost a baby a few years ago, I was about sixteen weeks at the time and I lost it because I was stressed - there was a lot going on in my life back then." Carla revealed.
"I'm sorry." Bethany apologised, worrying that she had upset her Aunt by getting her to talk about something so private. "If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to and I'm sorry that I found out about the baby, I shouldn't have been so nosey." Bethany added, sighing slightly.
"Between you and me, it's nice to have someone else know about baby, apart from people at the hospital and me and your Uncle. It's nice to finally be able to talk about it." Carla smiled, making Bethany smile in response.
"Do you know the gender yet?" She asked, as Nick walked back into the room, with his plate this time.
"What is this, with the one million questions?" Nick asked her, as he sat down next to his wife.
"So you do know?" She asked, her eyes lighting up, making Carla chuckle.
"No, we don't." Nick answered. "We wanted to keep it a surprise." He added, placing a hand on Carla's thigh under the table, a sign of reassurance.
"What do you want it to be?" Bethany asked excitedly.
"A healthy and happy baby." Carla told her.
"Yeah, but you must have a preference?" Beth continued.
"Trust me when I say, we really don't!" Carla confirmed, as Bethany took the hint and began to tuck into her food.
Later on in the evening the three of them were sat on the sofa. It felt strangely natural to have Bethany around. She wasn't being her typical cheeky self, which worried Nick, although he tried not to think about it too much. Carla and the baby were still his number one priority. The last week had been a stressful one for the couple, and the last thing that he wanted was for Carla to feel like she had to look after Bethany, or have her around for his sake. It had gone ten, and as a film that they had been watching came to it's conclusion, Carla decided to go to bed. "I'm going to head up to bed." She announced, getting up from the sofa.
"OK, I'll be up in a minute." He smiled, as he watched her walk out of the room.
"Are you OK?" He asked his niece, turning to face the teen.
"Yeah. I just hate Weatherfield. I'd love to be able to do what you two did and get away from it all." She replied. "Nothing ever goes right down there, and it's not like me and mum actually get on anymore." Bethany added, a glum look overtaking her face.
"Bethany, she loves you. Despite how she acts sometimes." He reminded her.
"You're going to be a great dad." She smiled, as her Uncle did too. "And, I'm sorry for getting in your way. If I'd have known Carla was pregnant, I wouldn't have just come down here unannounced with all my problems." She added, with a small frown. The last thing she intended to do was put added pressure on either of them.
"You know we're always going to be here for you, no matter what." He reassured her. "But, yes. In the future, I think some warning would come in handy!" He joked, making Bethany chuckle slightly. "Go on then, you better go up to bed as well." Nick instructed.
"Alrighty uncle Nick nack." She chimed, getting up from the sofa.
"You can stop that right now." He jokingly warned, knowing that she was pushing it now. Which in some ways he was glad, it meant that she might be feeling slightly better.
"Night." She called, walking out of the room and heading up the stairs.
"Night night." He replied, softly.
Sitting in the now empty living room, Nick wasn't entirely sure what to do. He knew he needed to do something to try and resolve the situation between Bethany and Sarah, but he couldn't help but wonder if this had been brewing for years. Sighing, he decided to stand up before making his way up to Carla. Tomorrow would be another day, and hopefully a slightly less eventful one.