Prologue I

This is Peter, sorry I didn't answer. Feel free to leave a message and I'll get back to you.

"When are you coming home Peter?" her voice was quiet, her body tired of waiting up all hours wondering when he would come back to her "Please just come home...I need you"

Carla winced as another wave of pain shot through her body, she groaned softly and shook her head before breathing out and attempting to rub her own back. Her hand reached out and took her phone again, she tried to call Peter again but nothing apart from his irritating voicemail message. She leaves another one.

"Peter please..." she breathes out, a flash of pain across her abdomen causing her to groan softly and continue with the message, "I think I'm in labour...please just get back as soon as you can, please"

She shook her head and managed to move over to the wall where she managed to slide her shoes on. Carla smiled softly at the hospital bag sitting by the door, she tries to pick it up but groans softly again before gasping at a trickle of fluid trailing down her leg.

"No" she shakes her head and breathes out, she walks to pick up her phone to call Peter again "This can't be happening"

This is Peter, sorry I didn't answer. Feel free to leave a message and I'll get back to you.

"Screw you, Barlow, I'll drive myself" she mutters and walks to grab her keys, she slings the hospital bag onto her shoulder and walks out of the house, just as she was about to approach her car she winces at extremely bright headlights pulling onto her drive

Out leapt Peter, he looked at her with utter concern before she groaned, he looks at her and shakes his head before plucking the keys right out of her hands. On her face was a weak smile before her expression contorted with pain.

"I'll tell you something, you don't half choose your moments don't you-"

"Blame this bloody child of yours inside of me" she snaps and he chuckles slightly before taking her arm and leading her to his car, "What took you so long anyway?"

"I had some loose ends to tie up" he kisses her on the head, she shakes her head before groaning softly "And I did hear all of your voicemails through the handsfree so I sped down the motorway to be with you"

"Can we please just get to the bloody hospital Peter" she snaps and groans softly, he holds her hand before releasing it to get into the driver's seat "I swear to God I am never doing this again"

"I'm not asking you to" he sighs and reverses off her drive, she grabs hold of the door and breathes out "How's the pain-"

"Do not even go there" she says quietly "No therapeutic whale noises or whatever either"

"You know I already have people on to me-"

"How's your dad?" she looks at him briefly, somehow speaking about his problems distracted her from the pain she was in

"Don't ask" he whispers "Just focus on you"

"Oh god" she shakes her head, he places his hand on her leg so she could squeeze it, she offers a weak smile "I need my head testing-"

"You definitely need that," he says before driving into the hospital, he parks up "I'll go and get a wheelchair"

He wheeled her up to maternity, he was holding her hand all the time with the bag on his shoulder. They wheeled her into a private room so she could just relax as she was stressed. Peter told her to calm down, she snapped at him before going to get changed causing him to sigh and send a text off to Tracy saying he wouldnt be back for a while - Carla needed him now, she was as equally as important as his dad. When she returned he smiled at her. She had her hair scraped up in a bun, her face scrubbed free of makeup causing him to walk over to her and rub her back.

She groaned softly as she leaned against the wall, she was reluctant to take up the offer of the gas and air insisting it wasn't that bad. All Peter could do was let her take the lead, this was her body and her choice, and everything had been her choice. The nursery, how she didn't want to find out the gender and the most important thing of keeping their relationship a secret as soon as she found out she was pregnant. Not that they were together at that point but soon enough they were after she told him.

"Overdue" she shakes her head, he laughs "Pregnant for almost three more weeks than I should have been"

"It was just cosy in there"

"Too cosy for my liking, now it's probably going to be an eight-pound baby or even worse" she sighs as he rubs her back, he smiles at her and she smiles up at him "Michelle's going to go ballistic when she finds out-"

"Same with my family"

"I just want it over with" she rests her forehead against the wall whilst he continues to rub her back "What do I even do?"

"What do you mean?" he asks, she takes his hand and squeezes it as she groaned softly "Breathe"

"I know how to breathe Peter" she snaps and he raises an eyebrow before noticing her apologetic look "Sorry"

"It's ok" he rubs her back for her again, she huffs and looks at him "What's bothering you?"

"Do I do it in the pool? Do I do it on the bed? Do I do it upright?" she stresses, he holds her in his arms as his nails scratch up and down her back

"Just do what feels right for you," he says quietly as the midwife comes into the room, Carla huffs and allows him to hold her

He helped move her to the pool, she was grateful for the warm water soothing her pain so Peter was grateful for enforcing that decision as she was hellbent on him making the decisions for her in this situation. Carla was holding his hand in hers, she was groaning softly with every pain whilst he told her how well she was doing. She rolled her eyes at his limited vocabulary. Peter looked to the midwife who nodded and Carla grabbed hold of both his hands and looked at him in the eyes as she continued to labour in the pool.

Eventually, she went with the flow and relaxed a lot more, he was grateful that she had stopped stressing herself out over this situation and allowed the midwife to guide her through the process and Peter to press a cool damp cloth against her head.

"Do you need to push?" he brushes a stray piece of her hair behind her ear, she nods so Peter smiles at her as she followed the midwife's instructions

"Well that hurts" she responds bluntly as she pushes, he lets her squeeze his hands before gasping as she catches her breath "Never again"

"Alright" he chuckles, she huffs and closes her eyes before groaning softly as she pushes again "You never know you might get the hang of it and want to push another out before you're fifty-"

"Shut up Barlow" she snaps, he snorts as she whimpers "Oh god, ow, ow, ow!"

"Here was me thinking the swear words would come out-"

"Oh ha, ha!" she rolls her eyes before sighing slightly and taking Peter's hand, she shakes her head and pushes again and he looks at her, she was beautiful "Ow!"

"You can scream louder if it helps" he jokes, she shoots him a withering look before huffing slightly and pushing again "Think of your worst enemies-"

"Yeah your sister" she snaps and he laughs slightly before she gasps and shifts back slightly, the tears spilling over her eyes as the midwife lifts the baby up into Carla's arms causing her to sob "Peter"

"Oh love," he says quietly as she moves over to him, he kisses her on the forehead then looks down at his child, the child he shared with the woman he loved "Welcome the to world little 'un"

"A boy" she looks at him, he kisses her on the head "We have a son"

"We do..." he says quietly, she looks up at him with tears in her eyes before looking down at their son "And he's beautiful...just like you"