Nothing was ever simple and weeks on Liam and Carla were being their usual selves even after agreeing that they would be far from it. The endless teasing, the endless arguments even if they were just snapping for no reason and made up by the end of the day was entertaining enough so that time flew past whenever they were working together. Tony was still there supporting her and her health as well as the health of the baby even if the guilt kept eating Carla up when she was with him for everything that she did with Liam and the possibility of her baby not being Tony's. Carla's eyes glanced over to Liam in her thoughts, the way he caught her eye and they smiled at each other before she tore her gaze away at the sound of the office door going to reveal her husband.

"Why are you here again?" Carla hums slightly flicking through her diary, Liam rolls his eyes and shakes his head

"We have a scan after the doctor rang yesterday because of something showing up in your bloods," Tony says and Carla nods slowly "You don't seem that worried"

"I just don't see the point in worrying over nothing really if nothing's wrong" she says and Tony frowns, they were particularly told that something was up hence why they got called in, if he was honest he was sure she was just blocking out the reality of the situation "Plus I've had plenty of distractions in the form of Liam irritating me"

"Gee thanks" Liam rolls his eyes and Carla grins sarcastically at him "Don't worry I'll hold the fort for you"

"Hmm just like you're paid to do, who knew?" Carla shrugs grabbing her bag and turning her computer off, she links her arm through Tony's "Try not to burn the place down while I'm out"

"The money he's paying? Not a chance" Liam states and Carla rolls her eyes before leaving the office with her husband allowing Liam to let out a strained sigh at having to keep up the pretence around Tony, somehow it was getting harder by the day...


Carla was sitting with her hand in Tony's and the nerves suddenly hit at the prospect of something being wrong, she had tried to keep it out of her mind, focus on work, focus on winding up Liam so she didn't have to think about it but it was at the forefront of her mind now and she didn't know how to feel. The doctor called her in and explained that something came up in her blood tests and she nodded simply before sitting up on the examination bench so the doctor could give her a scan. Carla just looked at Tony but the more she did the more she wrongly wished Liam was there. Her head turned to the screen and she smiled slightly and the doctor looks at her and as soon as they heard the heartbeat relief washed over both Carla and Tony.

"Your baby has a nice strong heartbeat but there are some things I'm concerned about"

"Ok" Carla whispers with a small smile "What exactly?"

"Your baby hasn't grown much Carla, this means that the growth has stunted" the doctor explains and Carla nods slowly

"What does that mean for the baby and for Carla? Could it just be a small baby?" Tony asks as Carla just processes what she's heard

"The baby will most likely have a low birth weight, the growth of your baby could slow even more so we would like to monitor you much closer. There could be an increase in the possibility of stillbirth, perinatal mortality, they may struggle to breathe when they're born and the possibility of an early delivery"

"It's my fault," Carla says and Tony shakes his head watching the tears fill his wife's eyes "I wasn't taking care of myself, I was working and it's all down to me-"

"Carla this isn't your fault-"

"But it all contributes to it doesn't it?!" Carla exclaims and Tony sighs shaking his head knowing that wasn't necessarily true

"Carla sometimes these things just happen," the doctor says and Carla shakes her head before wiping her eyes "Don't blame yourself"

"I'm the one who's carrying the baby, this has to be down to me" she whispers and Tony takes both of her hands before shaking his head "It has to be..."

"Try not to think that," the doctor says and Carla just shakes her head before covering her mouth in shock "I'd like to see you in a couple of weeks time if that's ok?"

"I knew it was too good to be true, all of it. Me pretending that everything was ok and it's not, it's just fate isn't it!" Carla exclaims wiping her eyes, Tony brings her in for a hug and he holds her before they both jump at the sound of her phone

"It's Liam," Tony says and Carla shakes her head unable to deal with him right now so Tony declines the call "So what happens now?"

"We monitor you every two weeks to keep track of the baby's weight and growth on recurring appointments, when the baby starts moving and you can feel it we will ask you to record movements and if things don't improve then we will probably have to think about steroids to help the baby grow a bit more before we decide to deliver"

"Just do anything you can to help it I don't care what," Carla says and Tony kisses her on the side of the head "Anything at all, just do it, keep my baby safe"


Carla and Tony sat in the hospital car park in their car with Carla's hand in his as they just tried to process everything. She had three missed calls from Liam and she couldn't even tolerate speaking to him as her head was just full of ifs and maybes. Tony said that she should go home and rest but she couldn't even contemplate that so reluctantly he was forced to drop her off at the factory, she wouldn't get out of the car though. He tried to ask her how she was feeling but she ignored him, he suggested once more that he should just take her home but sharply, she declined before getting out and storming into the factory and knowing the mood she was in he decided it was probably best to let her get on with it and not follow her so he went back home to start on dinner knowing she would be back eventually, plus, she would take the majority of her anger out on Liam no doubt and then they would get somewhere with talking to each other when she came home that evening.

"There you are!" Liam exclaims as Carla walks into the office avoiding his gaze, she sits down at her computer "Maria came in with a cardboard letter thing, I think it's the results"

"Oh right" she mumbles watching him place them down in front of her, he goes to shut the blinds but when he notices her toss the letter in the bin he frowned

"What are you playing at?" Liam snaps grabbing the letter out of the bin, she sighs and closes her eyes "Open it-"

"No," she says and Liam frowns at her rather odd behaviour "Just, no, now's not the time"

"What do you mean by that? I thought you wanted to know, that's the whole reason we did this" he sighs in annoyance at the whole thing and the basic answers she was giving, no nerves or sarcasm "Carla?"

"It's the baby" she looks up at him

"What's happened?" Liam asks moving his chair over to her taking both of her hands into his but she removes them not wanting to get all emotional "Carla? What's happened?"

"The baby, it's not growing...normally?" she responds with a hint of confusion, not at the fact she didn't know what was wrong with her baby but it was more the fact that she had all this information she couldn't even process causing her an immense amount of confusion

"What's up with it?"

"Restriction of growth apparently, they picked it up in my blood test, I have them every month as part of Tony's private healthcare"

"Come here," Liam says bringing her in for a hug, she grips onto him and sobs into his shoulder and he just holds her "What are you doing at work?"

"I couldn't face going home and thinking over and over at the possibility of all the things that could be wrong with my baby and the outcomes of this pregnancy, it hurt too much"

"Oh Carla" he whispers kissing her on the side of the head "It's ok-"

"How can it be Liam? My baby could die, be born early, die inside of me and that is so far from ok"

"I'm sorry"

"I can't breathe because I'm so angry that my body can't do the most natural thing a woman should so" she spits shaking her head and Liam tries his best to soothe her "I just wanted everything to be ok and it isn't"

"I know darlin', I know"

"I don't know what to do for the best" she whispers and Liam nods listening to every word that she says, she reaches out and takes the envelope and sighs slightly

"We don't have to open that now, I can hold onto it and we can wait until you're in a better place to deal with it-"

"I can't deal with any more bombshells today Liam" she whispers and Liam nods, he totally understood that she had a big shock "Just look after it for me, please, I just need to get my head around this then I can get my head around that, after all, there might not be anything to tell"

"Whatever happens, I'll be there"

"Thanks but I have Tony," she says and Liam's heart breaks at the fact he may not be able to help her and that another man would be, one he wasn't particularly fond of and in a way it angered him at how he couldn't have the best of both worlds with her and Maria but somehow Carla just knew what he was thinking "Maybe I should ask why you want to help me?"

"How do you mean?"

"Well, you're always there arent you, going out of your way to speak to me, just why when you have your wife at home-"

"You know why" he comments briefly and she shakes her head "I know you don't think it can happen-"

"It can't" she snaps and Liam sighs knowing that everything was catching up with her and she was just trying to get her anger out over her current situation and if Liam was honest with himself he didn't know whether he should let her

"Look I'm not going to get into this with you, you've had a nasty shock-"

"Good because I don't need a shrink and more importantly I don't need you acting like one" she retorts grabbing her bag, she swipes the letter off the desk and puts it in there

"Don't you dare open that without me Carla, I mean it" he warns, if the situation was less delicate he would have forced her, borderline bullied her into opening it here but he wasn't going to be that person, not after everything she has been through today

"It's addressed to me, this is my baby, mine-"

"You're being selfish, ignoring the fact I could be the father of your unborn child, the list goes on really doesn't it?"

"Oh shut up Liam" she snaps and Liam groans in annoyance knowing she was out to pick an argument with him "This is my baby, it's growing inside of me-"

"Not very well" he snipes and she slaps him with such force it almost knocked him over, if she was honest she didn't know why they were arguing over something that would become conclusive anyway, it all seemed rather tasteless and stupid to know it wouldn't change anything as she wasn't going to leave Tony and Liam wasn't going to leave Maria if this baby turned out to be his, she just knew he wouldn't "You never change do you?"

"You should know" she bites back and Liam shakes his head at her behaviour unable to see that this was stemming from an awful hospital visit now as the anger was just so present with all of them, with Liam the desperate need to find out if he was the father morphing into undeniable anger at her reluctance and Carla, her horrible hospital visit where her baby could die "I'm going home-"

"If you open that...I will never forgive you" he warns once more and Carla just storms out of the office, her keys in hand as she heads to her car with Liam following her "Carla! Please!"

"Go back to your wife Liam" she snipes before driving off, he sighs in annoyance shaking his head at everything that occurred, it was obvious she was petrified, he knew her pretty well but right now that fear was represented in anger that he let her get it off her chest, the only problem now was that she was in control of finding out the paternity of her unborn child and he wasn't entirely sure he liked that and in time he just hoped that she would cool off and come to her senses...