So, as requested – by a lot of you, here is another short taken from Carla's pregnancy. I was really surprised by the positive response I received on the last chapter and I'm glad that you all loved it as much as I loved writing it. I feel like this is a little unfinished, but I didn't really know where to go with the rest of this chapter and I didn't want to ruin it by carrying on too much, so I hope you can enjoy it with a not-so definitive ending!

Any suggestions for other chapters within the nine month time period will be gratefully accepted! Enjoy guys!

The alarm went off, ringing loud and clear in the room that had previously been filled with sleep. Carla and Peter, with Carla normally more than happy to claim being an early riser, felt annoyance and dread as the sound got louder and louder. The real world beckoned. With the baby due in around two months' time, the parents-to-be were enjoying all the sleep and time alone together that they could get, knowing that just less than eight weeks away, their baby would disrupt life as they knew it. Not that Carla minded, she was secretly more thrilled that she would care to admit to anyone, apart from Michelle and Peter. Her husband, slowly reached out and pressed the snooze button, before being the first one that dared speak.

"Good morning beautiful." He greeted, as he wrapped his arms around his wife, who was still half asleep.
"Morning." She smiled in response, before turning over to face the love of her life. He admired her beauty. It might have been half six on a school morning, she might have been seven months pregnant, but she looked as good as she ever had done, if not even not even better. It was at that point, that morning, that Peter understood why people say that pregnant women glow, he saw it first-hand.

Carla sat up in bed and placed her hands over her face. "You alright? Feeling sick?" He questioned as he sat up, almost immediately after Carla, placing his hand on her lower back.
"No, I'm fine." She chuckled. "Stop fussing." She told him, placing her hand on his cheek, smoothing her thumb over his cheekbone gently. "I'm telling you, you'll have a heart attack before the baby's even born if you keep on worrying so much. We're fine." She reassured him, placing her other hand on the bottom of her bump before catching his lips in a kiss.
"Come on then, I suppose I'd better have a shower before I keel over." Peter joked, pulling away gently from his wife, before getting up off the bed to start the day.
"Did you iron Simon's blazer last night?" Carla called, as Peter had just left the room.
"No love, I'll do it once I'm out the shower." He replied, continuing his journey to the bathroom. Carla smiled and sighed slightly, knowing that if she left it to him it wouldn't get done. So, immediately after getting dressed, she went into the living area of the flat and got the ironing board out. She took the blazer, from where it was hanging on the shelving unit and started to iron it. She had just about finished, when her half-dressed husband came out of the bathroom.

"You were quick." Carla commented as he came up behind where she was stood and placed his hands on her bump. "Yeah well, I thought you might like a bath before work, it might help your back, anyway, you shouldn't be doing this. I told you that I would do it after my shower." He told her, kissing her neck softly.
"What and leave Simon's blazer crumpled to bits on his first day at school, I don't think so." She smiled, as Simon appeared from his bedroom in his pyjamas.
"Morning." He said, looking nervous, as Peter released his wife from their embrace.
"Morning son, all ready for big school?" Peter asked, ruffling his son's hair as Carla had finished ironing the blazer and put it back on the hanger.
"I guess, is Mum coming to drop me off too?" He asked, as Peter stood in the kitchen, making himself and Carla cups of tea.
"I think so, she should be meeting us there." Carla told him, as Peter smiled, he never thought that Carla and Simon would be able to live amicably together, but it seemed to be working out alright so far. After Leanne and Nick split, her and Eva decided to rent the flat above the kebab shop, but it was too small for the three of them, so Simon had decided that he wanted to live with Carla and Peter, with Simon saying that he didn't mind moving out once the baby was born. But, Carla was having none of it. The couple were moving house in six weeks' time, into a four bedroom house five minutes away from Weatherfield, and she made it perfectly clear to him that he would always have a place with them, baby or no baby.

"What do you want for breakfast, Si?" She asked him, grabbing a loaf of bread and going towards the toaster.
"You sit down love, I can do that." Peter offered, taking the loaf of bread from Carla's hands.
"Peter, what did we discuss no earlier than half an hour ago." She warned him, jokingly sending him a glaring look as he handed her a cup of tea.
"Let me guess!" Simon chipped in. "Something along the lines of: stop fussing?" Simon suggested, as both Carla and Peter laughed at what the eleven year old had just said.
"Exactly." Carla told Peter, raising an eyebrow, as she went to sit on the sofa.
"Well, there's no harm in caring, is there?" Peter asked rhetorically, smiling softly at his wife.
"Can I have chocolate cereal?" Simon asked, looking at his dad, knowing he was pushing his luck, taking advantage of the fact that today was a special day.
"Go on then." Peter said, as he got a bowl out of the cupboard.

-CS-

It was later on that morning and Simon had gone into the gates of Weatherfield High and barely looked back. Upon seeing a few of his friends, it seemed as if he couldn't wait to start school. Peter and Carla had gone into the factory to work and it was obviously something that Peter didn't want Carla doing. It was becoming increasingly exhausting for her to manage the factory, help with Simon and organise the house move, as well as grow a baby. Despite this, Peter had already agreed to let Carla work up until the start of October, so there was little he could say or do on the matter.
Having been at work for little more than half an hour, Carla began to felt the baby kick and wriggle. She stopped typing out the email she was planning to send and sat back in her chair, placing her hand on her lower stomach and rubbing where the baby was kicking gently. She smiled softly, looking down at her growing stomach. There was no way that this time last year anyone could have imagined this scenario, Carla Connor seven months pregnant, and seemingly enjoying it.
"Baby kicking?" Peter asked, as he came into the office with a cup of tea for himself, with Carla having cut her caffeine intake.
"Yeah" She muttered. "Come feel." She added a beaming smile across her face, as he placed the mug down on the desk. Carla reached out for her husband's hand and sat up in her chair, placing his hand where her own was previously placed. Peter smiled, chuckling lightly, never taking the moments he felt his baby kick for granted. He'd missed out on so much of this when Lucy was pregnant, he was stupid back then. He certainly wasn't going to make any mistakes this time round.
"You still convinced it's a girl?" Carla asked softly, smiling up at her husband.
"Well, I mean, judging by the strength of those kicks love, it seems like you've got county playing a five aside in there." He told her, before kissing her softly and sitting back at his own desk. "But in all honesty, yeah, I am. It's going to be a girl." He told her, smiling as she began carrying on with the work she needed to get done.

"You know that the baby can hear everything we're saying." Carla told him, after a brief silence, as she was still typing her email.
"Yeah?" Peter smiled, hearing his wife talk about their baby is something that he'd never tire of hearing.
"Yeah, I read it online." She told him, as she shuffled uncomfortably on her seat, an obvious sign that her back was hurting her.
"Well, you know what else it says online." Peter told her, as Carla sighed, not wanting this lecture again, especially not today, she wasn't in the mood.
"Not this again, Peter." She told him, as he felt the need to tell her anyway.
"It says that if you have back pain you need to take it as a warning to slow down and relax." He said, in an unintentionally patronising way.
"You said I'd have until the start of October." She reminded him, matching his tone.
"We also weren't planning on Simon staying with us, and moving just two weeks after you go on maternity leave..." He began to list before being interrupted.
"Well, what do you want me to do about that Peter? Make the sellers move quicker? Tell Simon he has to sleep on Leanne's sofa? Go on maternity earlier? I tell you what, why don't I just go home now and start knitting?" She bit back, Peter struggling to get a word in edgeways.

Carla rose from her seat, making it clear that she wouldn't back down from this argument.
"Now, come on love..." He tried to reason, standing up almost immediately after her, before being cut off once more by his wife.
"No, don't. You promised me that you'd let this go - weeks ago, and here we are still discussing the matter. Am I doing anything to harm the baby? No. Am I drinking? No. Am I going to all the appointments? Yes. Am I eating properly? Yes. Has the baby come yet? No. Is the baby showing any signs that it wants to come yet? No, thank God." Carla said, placing her hand on her hip, her back still playing up. "I've already said that I wouldn't go to any more meetings, see any suppliers, leave the office for anything and don't you dare drag Simon into it!" She added, somewhat upset that he would drag his own son into their domestic like that. "That lad has been as good as gold. Peter, women work right up until their due date, and if you carry on with trying to get me to go on maternity leave earlier than I need to, I will as well." She warned him.
"Oh come on love, you don't mean that." Peter told her.
"Don't I? No, I have a better idea. You can go home and I'll stay here and work. I can manage fine here on my own." She told him.
"Carla..." He said, attempting to approach his wife and calm her down a bit.
"Peter, I mean it." She told him, stepping back and avoiding contact with him, not wanting to seem weak after he had been trying to convince her to take it easy. "I know what I'm doing. I promise you that if I felt like anything was wrong I would tell you, if everything wasn't ok then I would be the first one out of here, and either back home or on the way to the hospital. This baby matters as much to me as it does to you, I wouldn't do anything to put it in harm's way." She told him, her voice softer than it had been previously. Carla shifted uncomfortably where she was stood, placing her other hand on her bump.
"I know. I'm sorry love." Peter said, as she leant back on her desk. "Is your back still hurting?" He asked her, coming round to where she was perched and sitting next to her on the desk. Peter placed his hand on his wife's lower back, as she leant back slightly, letting him know that what he was doing was helping.
"It's killing me." She confessed.
"Just think, it'll all be over soon." He reassured her, as a small tear fell down her face. Carla wiped it away hastily, but not before Peter had seen that his wife had become emotional. "I love you so much." He told her, planting a kiss in her hair.
"Listen, I know that you want to keep on working until October, and I'm not going to argue with you, but I do think we should go home now. We can put Sally in charge, the factory will be fine for the rest of the day. There's not much to do here today anyway." He told her. "And if your back gets much worse, we can call the midwife, see if she has any advice." Peter suggested, as Carla looked him in the eye, nodding slightly.
"I love you." She told him, catching his lips in a soft kiss, before he rose and went to get their jackets and Carla's bag.
"I'll tell Sally we have an appointment." He told her, as she nodded, staying where she was leaning on the desk.

-CS-

Carla and Peter walked through the front door of the flat, with Peter still carrying Carla's bag. He was adamant that he would do all in his power to make sure that his wife was ok, or at least doing as well as she could be in her condition. He put her stuff down, as she took her jacket off, placing it on the sofa. Peter came and stood in front of his wife, planting a soft kiss in her hair.
"Do you want me to run you a bath love?" Peter asked, as he ran his hands down her back, as she leant into him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Can we just stay here for a bit?" She asked him, her voice obviously drained.
"Of course we can love." He told her, as he continued to massage her back. "Hey, why don't you try going on the ball?" Peter suggested, referring to the birthing ball that currently stood in their utility cupboard beside their kitchen.
"Yeah, I might do that." Carla sighed exhaustedly, standing up straight slowly, letting Peter go and get the ball. He brought it round to her, placing it in front of the sofa. Carla sat down carefully on it, with Peter sitting in front of her, offering her support.
"I didn't think it would be this hard." Carla admitted. "I knew it would be painful but I didn't think that the pain would be this bad until I went into labour." She added, with Peter immediately experiencing concern for his wife and unborn child.
"Do you think it might be labour?" He asked her, as the baby began to kick, and Carla reached out for his hands.
"No, definitely not." She replied, knowing that the baby didn't feel nearly ready enough to come yet, and she had a gut feeling the baby would be as stubborn as it's father, and would probably arrive late. "What I do know is, that this little one," Carla began, taking one of Peter's hands and placing it on her bump, "is going to be so worth it." She smiled as the baby continued to kick softly beneath it's father's hand. Peter smiled, giving Carla a soft kiss on her cheek, the pair basking in the natural silence that had now fallen upon them and enjoying just being together, knowing that their world would soon turn into a chaotic tornado of nappies and baby sick.
"Is the ball helping?" Peter asked, ending the silence after about a minute, as he stroked Carla's bump in an attempt to comfort both his wife and his unborn child.
"Yeah, it is actually." She told him, a small smile appearing on her face.
"That's good." He told her. "Can I get you anything?" He asked her, as she chuckled slightly, laughing at the fact that her husband was still, in her mind anyway, fussing far too much.
"No." She smiled. "You've already done enough anyway." She added.
"Well, it's my job to make sure that you're ok." He told her. "I love you so much, both of you." He confessed.
"I know, and we love you too." She replied, looking down at her bump and placing a hand on top of Peter's, before gazing into her husband's eyes. She caught his lips in a kiss, before he returned the affection.
His stressing over her and their unborn child might have been tiring Carla out, but she knew that it was better then him not caring at all. It showed how much he loved them both, and proved how much he really did want a family. It reassured her that he wasn't going anywhere. They were in it for the long-haul and at that moment, when she felt settled and safe, even amongst the pain she was experiencing, she had never felt so content.