After all, a leopard never changes its spots and that left Liam kicking himself entirely. Narrowing his eyes at her from across the table he weakly relented and then agreed to it. This way Carla still had him under her control and she couldn't be happier considering everything she had done. Her life which had quickly revolved around Liam was falling into place and she went home extremely pleased with herself and Tony was creeped out by her mood. In all honesty, she couldn't believe Liam agreed to handing her ten per cent of his shares, at least her business portfolio was shaping up nicely. Tony watched Carla uncharacteristically grin into the soup she was making for herself and he was bemused at what had made her so happy considering their predicament, in a way it made him warm at the thought of her getting over this pregnancy not that he would ever try to get her to change her mind, this was her choice and he understood it completely, either way, he was confused though.

"What's got you so happy?"

"Me?" she frowns pausing her movements "Nothing..."

"No seriously, what's made you so happy?" Tony asks and Carla shrugs whilst she thinks of a cover story "Are you changing your mind about the termination-"

"No way, we cant do this Tony, run multiple businesses and be parents, it's just not practical-"

"That's what nannies and babysitters are for" he proposes and Carla pauses before frowning at him "What?"

"Are you changing your mind?" she throws the question back at him and Tony shakes his head "You see, we both think the same-"

"Why are you so happy then?"

"Am I not allowed to be happy because I'm aborting a child next week?" she raises her eyebrows and Tony rolls his eyes at her words "Was that too harsh?"

"It's just you're a completely different person from this morning, from quiet to overly cheery. Makes me think something's going on with you"

"Nothing's going on with me Tony" Carla chuckles and Tony just narrows his eyes "I promise you"

"I believe you" Tony smiles even if he did have doubts, Carla smiles back at him "How are you feeling?"

"Yeah, ok" she nods and Tony smiles at her "How are you?"

"Yeah, good" Tony nods back and Carla smiles at him "I was thinking maybe we could go away this weekend?"

"Hmm maybe" she shrugs and Tony looks at her expectantly "Depends where you're planning on taking me?"

"Well normally I would suggest Paris but I don't think that's ideal in your condition-"

"I'm not dying Tony" she snaps and he sighs slightly knowing it would touch a nerve, if he was honest he didn't know why he said it "It's not a condition it's just a pregnancy, an unwanted one at that"

"I keep saying the wrong thing don't I?"

"No, I'm sorry" she assures him and Tony sighs "I'm as much to blame, I just don't know what to say and do that's all or know what should be said"

"Same" Tony smiles and Carla nods with a yawn "Why don't I finish this off and you have a nice relaxing bath?"

"You know what that sounds amazing" she admits and Tony brings her in for a hug, he rubs his hand gently up and down her back "Thank you, for everything"

"You don't need to thank me, I love you"

"And I love you too," she says quietly and Tony smiles at her "Really I do"

"I hope so," he says and Carla kisses him on the lips softly before heading into the bathroom...


After very little confrontation and the usual day to day life was even more draining considering her predicament. As the days went on the petty excuses came as Carla demanded more of a stake in the business from Tom and Liam, of course, her ex-lover was finding it particularly hard to come up with a time and a place of when they could do the deal but eventually she trapped him and over a part of his shares went with cash in hand that Carla was carrying around with her like some sort of seedy criminal. Soon the dreaded day came, one which she wasn't entirely looking forward to, Leanne was supporting her and advising her but to Carla's friend's surprise she still hadn't told Liam she was up the stick and it caused a slight rift in their friendship as Liam needed to know according to Leanne. After all, Carla could be none the wiser over who's baby she would be aborting and the guilt of that was seeping into her blood faster than she could control it. Could she really let Tony think that she could be aborting someone else's baby? It was all ifs and maybes, all she wished for were definites.

"We need to head off soon," Tony says and Carla smiles and nods before placing her glass on the bar "It takes a while to get there you see"

"Hmm," she says quietly and stands up, Tony puts his arm around her shoulders as they leave the pub and of course, Leanne comes marching over "Is everything ok Leanne?"

"I need a word with you, it's important" Leanne states and Tony narrows his eyes before sighing and looking at Carla expectantly "Please Carla"

"Leanne I need to be somewhere," Carla says looking at Tony who still had a protective arm around her shoulders "Ok fine-"

"Carla" Tony drones and she sighs in annoyance and glares at him "We need to go otherwise we will be late"

"Just five minutes, it's not going to make a difference, just go and get the car" Carla states and Tony rolls his eyes before heading off to get the car "What do you want Leanne?"

"I can't let you do this, not without telling Liam, I'm sorry-"

"Leanne this isn't any of your business" Carla states before pinching the bridge of her nose "I'm not telling Liam. I'm not having him persuade me in either way. Tony, he gets it and as soon as Liam hears that I could be up the stick with his kid then there's no stopping what he would do"

"I just don't get it, Carla, not long ago you were saying that you loved Liam, couldn't live without him and now you're a shadow of your former self pandering to Tony's needs-"

"Look I need to go, I'm sorry, I just...I can't do what you're asking of me" Carla whispers as Tony pulls the car up beside her, she jumps into the passenger seat "Let's head off"

"Everything ok?" he asks pushing the handbrake down, Carla places her hand over his and smiles at him

"It will be"


The wait was awful, Carla was nervous and she felt extremely judged and out of place. No doubt there were people here who would kill for a child but for her, she just didn't have those instincts in her, either that or they were just so dormant she couldn't imagine them coming to the front and centre of her life. With Tony placing his hand on her leg she was brought back into reality, a gentle sigh escaping her lips before she flashed a smile at her husband. Then and then Leanne's words hit her and her mind teleported to Liam, she laughed internally at the child growing inside of her being created out of love, which it was, at least that was something. She didn't know why she felt regret and guilt all of a sudden and her head flicked upwards as some woman came out of one of the consultation rooms in floods of tears before being enveloped in the arms of her husband. It made Carla shudder at the thought that could be her in a matter of minutes.

"Carla Gordon?"

"Is it ok if I go in on my own?" she looks to Tony before looking at the doctor

"It's policy anyway, you have to be on your own" Tony says quietly and Carla nods before heading into the room with the doctor, somehow it felt wrong leaving him out there and she questioned why he had to even take her here if he wasn't allowed in

"Please take a seat," the doctor says quietly and Carla sits down "I understand you're here for a termination?"

"Yeah" Carla gulps looking around the room "It was accidental, we're not ready for a kid yet, we've only been married a matter of weeks-"

"I'm not here to judge Mrs Gordon" the doctor smiles passing her a clipboard "As indicated from your husband on the phone, we understand you don't know how far along you are?"

"No I don't," she says quietly and the doctor nods passing her a pen "So what will happen?"

"We'll need to give you a scan just in case we need to do a surgical abortion and you're further along than we think," the doctor says and Carla nods "You don't have to look at the scan when I'm conducting it either, I can turn it away from you if that's what you prefer"

"Ok thank you" Carla nods passing the clipboard back after she signed it, the doctor guides her to the scan and she sits up on the examination bench and rolls her top-up

"This will be cold," the doctor says and Carla nods closing her eyes as the gel was smeared all over her stomach, she opens her eyes "From what I see you're almost 10 weeks"

"Could I see?" she asks quietly and the doctor nods turning the screen around, she gulps and closes her eyes "It's actually real, sorry, that's a stupid thing to say-"

"Not at all" the doctor assures her and Carla just sighs lightly "You're open to change your mind at whatever time you'd like, this is your choice, Carla"

"Is that why you don't allow the husbands in?" she jokes and the doctor flashes her a smile before watching her eyes dart to the screen again "I just didn't think this would ever be a possibility"

"You'd be surprised at how many women feel the same as you"

"Hmm," she hums and closes her eyes "Is it ok though?"

"The baby's fine, it's about the size of a fig" the doctor smiles and Carla gulps and nods slowly "It often helps people put it into perspective"

"Yeah" Carla hums thoughtfully and the doctor smiles "Does it move in there, at that size even...?"

"The baby can stretch its spine, you see there, it did it" the doctor points to the screen and with that Carla choked up

"That's amazing," she says quietly and the doctor smiles at her as they both look at the screen, somehow the thoughts of the baby's paternity drifted away just like that...


Time went by slower than Carla could ever imagine, it almost reached two hours with the time that she spent talking to this doctor about the predicament she was in and eventually she came out of the room and Tony brought her in for a hug, the smallest yet timid smile on her face as they left the doctors and headed back to the car. Neither of them said a word and Carla just let Tony drive her back to the flat. As soon as they got in Tony boiled the kettle and Carla sat on the sofa and pulled a cushion onto her lap as she bit her lip at the coffee Tony placed down on the coffee table for her. He sat beside her and then kissed her on the head, she dropped her gaze to the cushion on her lap and he frowned at her behaviour, if he was honest he didn't know what to do so he brought out the takeaway menus.

"What do you want for dinner, I think we should order in as none of us are really in the mood to cook" Tony explains his reasoning and Carla nods slowly "Or I can cook, I don't mind, or we don't have to eat if you're still trying to process-"

"I'm pregnant still" she looks up at him and he frowns taking her hand "I couldn't go through with it"

"W-What?" he says and Carla offers him the smallest of smiles "You're still pregnant?"

"Yeah," she says and Tony covers his mouth in shock, she bites her lip unsure of what to say or understand what he was feeling "Say something?"

"What made you change your mind?" he says gently and Carla hums slightly knowing this was coming "Not because I think it's the wrong decision but I'm just curious as to why?"

"So you're ok with it?" she questions and Tony nods cupping her face in his hands, he presses his lips gently against hers and kisses her fully on the lips before she pulls away and smiles up at him

"Carla, what you're doing...this is amazing" he whispers and Carla chokes up and nods

"As soon as they scanned me and I saw that baby on the screen, I felt like this overwhelming emotion, I don't know how to describe it but then I saw its heartbeat and...I guess you don't think that it's alive in there and when I saw it move around I couldn't...I just couldn't do it"

"And here we were thinking you were a heartless cow" he smiles cupping her cheek, Carla nods and smiles "I love you, Carla"

"And I love you too," she says quietly, Tony brings her in for a hug "We can make this work, can't we?"

"Yeah, yeah we can" he confirms and Carla smiles to herself "If you think we can then we can cant we?"

"Are you finally admitting that I wear the trousers in this relationship?" she raises an eyebrow at him and he laughs into her head "It'll be ok, I'm sure of it"


With Tony fussing over her she knew she would have to get used to it and it would become very much prominent in her life. Unfortunately, they couldn't really settle down that evening, apparently, there was a business emergency that Tony needed to deal with considering he got back frpm Scotland after Carla called him back, it was obvious stuff went down and Carla felt selfish because of it so she let him go back up to Glasgow to sort out this emergency. He made her promise that she would take it easy and she agreed knowing she would need to take care of herself now even if that was the last thing on her mind as she was so work orientated at the moment. Her eyes were focussed on the TV and she sighed at how much she wanted to keep a low profile at the moment until her pregnancy was out in the open so she rang Tony and put her suggestion forward and he got working on it. The desire to be at work dwindled for her so if Tony could help her out and relieve stress by appointing a manager again then so be it. It got past eleven and Carla was getting ready for bed, she frowned as the buzzer went off, to her surprise it was Liam so she let him up internally worried that Leanne had spilt the beans over where she and Tony had been today.

"What do you want?"

"Why is Tony asking me to manage the factory again?" he demands and Carla frowns in response, she goes over to the sink and pours herself a glass of water

"Because I'm not very well and he cant manage all of Gordon's stuff as well as Underworld on his own" Carla sighs tiredly "Do you have a problem with that?"

"You don't look ill?to me"

"Looks can be deceiving" Carla retorts and Liam narrows his eyes "Look Liam I've had a day of it ok? I don't need you coming in here and asking me questions I don't have the answers to"

"Why can't you work from home?"

"It's hardly the same, is it? If I was at home then no work would be done would it? We wouldn't get orders out on time which is why Tony is trying to find a manager"

"You know we're busy with Lad Rags-"

"For god's sakes Liam It's self-sufficient ok?" she drones and Liam narrows his eyes "I can sort that from home if need be now that I am majority shareholder, that's easy to do but Underworld is a different kettle of fish and you know it"

"So what? I have to bow down to the superior Gordon clan?"

"You choose what you want to do" Carla sighs slightly and shakes her head "I don't have the energy for this Liam"

"He's offering me a hefty sum of money"

"He's desperate that's why, he's been called up to Glasgow for a few days on an emergency something to do with investors"

"Right" Liam narrows his eyes as she sits down on the sofa, he follows her and she groans in annoyance "What's up with you then?"

"We went to the doctors today and I have a viral infection, they said it will clear up in a couple of weeks, don't worry I'm not contagious"

"And Tony left you here? Alone?"

"He has to work, we are still trying to pay off the wedding"

"Money's tight then?" Liam raises an eyebrow and Carla just looks at him with a raised eyebrow "Maybe I can help?"

"No, Liam, you're not helping, no way, we're getting ourselves through the other side" Carla confirms and Liam smiles at her "There was something I was meant to ask you, it was about Christmas-"

"Um...was it to do with presents?"

"Speaking of that..." Carla mumbles and Liam nods "Are we doing them or not?"

"Nah let's not bother" Liam confirms and Carla flashes him a smile "I'll tell Michelle, how about I get the crackers, make it stress-free as possible for you and Tony?"

"Yeah that would be great, we're just so rushed off our feet" Carla whispers before getting up and heading to the kitchen to put her glass in the sink "Are you going to accept Tony's job or not?"

"Yeah probably, the extra money is very handy especially at this time of year" Liam shrugs and Carla nods sort of unsure why he was still here considering everything she had done "I'm going to head off-"

"Bye Liam" she lets him leave without a second of doubt, gingerly she places her hand over the bottom of her tummy and shook her head at the undesirable thoughts of him being her baby's father...