Hello everyone. Thank you so much for the love on this one, I have got the motivation for this one back so please continue to read and review and hopefully more will be updated soon.

Peter was over the moon to have Carla home and with him. He loved her, that was always true.

Even when they were apart, he loved her. Watching her walk away from him was the hardest thing he had to do.

"DAD" Simon shouted, watching his dad walk around the corner.

Leanne rolled her eyes but let him go.

Simon bounded over to his dad and into his arms "I missed you" Simon told his dad.

"I missed you too, Si" Peter said, pulling his son in close.

"Why were you away for so long?" Simon asked, pulling away from his dad to look him in the eye.

"Si, we spoke about this, he was with Carla" Leanne told him.

"Oh" Simon shrugged his shoulders "her"

Peter looked at Leanne in anger. He had no doubt that Leanne was filling Simon's head with all sorts of things against Carla.

"Son, I had to clear my head and yes I was with Carla, but we are back now"

"We?" Leanne asked, raising an eyebrow.

Peter glared at her "yes, we" he answered.

"Great" Simon rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Listen, son why don't I take you out for the day tomorrow?" Peter asked.

"Really?" Simon asked excitedly, dropping his attitude.

"Yeah, wherever you want to go" Peter told him "as long as it's ok with your mum" Peter said, looking at Leanne.

"Well I can't say no now can I?" Leanne said, rolling her eyes.

'Yay" Simon said, jumping up and down.

Simon ran ahead to the shop.

"Leanne" Peter called.

"What is is Peter?" she asked.

"I am back with Carla and we are going to give it a real go" Peter told her "So I would appreciate it if you can lay off the tones and sarcasm when it comes to Carla, because she is not going anywhere and I would like this to be as easy as possible for Simon"

"Right"

"Wouldn't you like it to be easy for him?" Peter asked a little angrily.

"Of course, but I don't think she is good for him"

"Well I will be the judge of that" Peter remarked "Now will you lay off or what?"

"Fine" Leanne said, walking off to join Simon.

Peter watched as Leanne and Simon entered the shop. He wondered if his life would ever be easier on this street. He hoped it would be for Simon and Carla, they both deserved a drama free life.

When he got home to his flat, he took out his phone and texted Carla.

Peter: Hey baby, I hope you are settling in. I would love nothing more than to cuddle up to you right now but I know you need to settle. I am spending the day with Simon tomorrow, we are going to have a talk and hopefully things will get better. I love you xx

Carla was asleep when he sent this text so she didn't reply until the morning after a nice long night's sleep.

Carla: Hello, I am glad you are spending time with Simon, he needs you. I had an amazing night's sleep and I'm now getting ready to go into underworld to see how my little brother has done! I love you too xx

Peter: I will see you later then! Nothing too sexy with the outfit choice today I hope. I don't think I can cope with you back in office outfits just yet x

Carla: You are away for the day anyway, but I will dull it down just for you!x

Peter: Only until I see you later, then the sexy outfits can reappear x

Carla: Only for you x

Carla laughed at her phone. She loved Peter and was happy to be home, even if she wouldn't admit it. She wanted to get back to work, well she needed to as she tried to sell the factory but the price was ridiculous.

She needed to get back in there and sort things out. Rob was great at his job and with Michelle at his side she didn't think they could fail.

But the price she was given was actually a joke and an insult to her years of hard work.

Carla strolled into the office to see Rob and Michelle at their desks.

"Look what the cat dragged in" Rob said, smiling and raising from the desk to give his sister a hug.

"Hello little brother" Carla smiled into his hug. She was glad he was around again, especially with everything she had going on.

"How are you?" Rob asked Carla. He knew of her ordeal but she had never actually spoken to Rob about it personally.

Rob knew that she was struggling when her and Peter came back before Christmas so he was pleased to have her home where he could keep an eye on her, even if that meant watching her with Peter.

"I am ok, I really worked on myself over in LA which has made me feel so much better about being home"

"Good" Michelle answered.

"Obviously, I am not in the same flat which helps a lot" Carla told them, lowering her head.

"Well anything you need, you know where I am" Rob took her hand "even if it's just a chat"

"Thanks Rob" Carla smiled at him "but I want to know why I was offered such a low evaluation of my precious factory"

Rob glanced at Michelle and then back at Carla "beats me" he said. He then scrambled some pages around on his desk "anyway does it matter now, you are home and you are not selling"

"I am so glad I am" Carla watched and knew something was up but she couldn't put her finger on it. Michelle gave her the folder with ongoing contracts in which took Carla's mind off of Rob and back onto the job.

Peter had taken Simon to a local amusement park he liked to go too.

"This is so much fun dad" Simon told Peter as they walked around to find somewhere for lunch.

Peter smiled at his son. For a while Simon was so mad, so angry and so upset about the situation Peter had put him in and he would never forgive himself for it.

Peter and Leanne had a custody agreement made out so that each person knew when it was their turn with Simon. Peter knew he had to focus on Simon for the foreseeable future but he alway hoped that one day Carla could come with them.

Once they were sitting at the table Peter took this chance to talk to Simon about Carla.

"Si" Peter started, gathering his sons attention "I am so happy we are here today"

"Me too dad" Simon said with a big grin on his face.

"Good but I need to talk to you about Carla" Peter said to Simon, whose smile dropped from his face.

"What about her?"

"You know I am with Carla now don't you" Peter asked.

"Yes"

"How do you feel about that?"

"I hate her"

"Son"

"I hate her dad and you are not going to change my mind"

Peter dropped his head in sadness. Simon watched as his dad's emotion changed which made him feel slightly guilty.

"Ok son, but can you tell me why" Peter looked at his son, he prayed it would be a reason he could change.

"You won't like me if I say"

"Of course I will, I love you nothing will change that"

"Ok, I don't like Carla because she takes you away from me" Simon told him honestly "she took you away from mum and now I think she is going to do the same with me"

"Oh son" Peter said, taking his sons hand "you know nothing can take me away from you"

"But you went travelling for ages" Simon told him "that was with Carla and then you nearly went again with her"

Peter sighed "that wasn't for Carla, that was for me, you know that I struggle with my drinking and getting away the first time was so that I could come back and be a better dad for you"

"But Carla went with you"

"She came with me to help me son, not to take me away, I asked her to come and leave her family behind"

"She did that for you?" Simon asked.

Peter nodded "she helped me"

"But she was sad when you came back and made you want to go again"

Peter lowered his head, he knew exactly the moment he was talking about.

"That time Carla needed me to go with her to help her head but I didn't go with her though, I stayed here with you"

"But why not, if she helped you, you should have helped her" Simon said, confused.

"I know son, that's where I have just been this time" Peter told him.

"So she didn't make you go anywhere?" Simon asked.

Peter smiled at him "no son"

It was suddenly clear to Peter that Simon hadn't had anyone explain anything to him over the years. He had just seen what he thought he had seen and chose to hate Carla for it. Obviously she was the one that made Peter leave Leanne but everything else wasn't her fault.

After lunch they went on a few more rides. Peter was having a great time and so was Simon.

"Why was she sad?" Simon asked a little while later in a queue for the next ride.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked, unclear who she was talking about.

"Carla" Simon looked at him "she was sad when you got back from travelling"

Peter sighed. He couldn't tell Simon that she was sad because she returned to the place she was raped. A child wouldn't understand nor did he need too.

"She had something really bad happen to her which made it really hard for her to be on the street again after being away for so long"

"Oh" Simon replied.

Peter watched as his son was taking in all this information.

On the ride home Simon was quiet. Peter was driving but wanted to continue their conversations so he pulled over at the next service station for an ice cream.

Whilst sitting down on the nearest bench Peter asked Simon why he was quiet.

"I don't know"

"You know you can tell me anything don't you?" Peter asked.

Simon nodded "Are you and my mum going to get back together now you are home?"

"No son" Peter told him firmly.

"Why?"

"Because me and your mum don't love each other anymore"

"Is that because of Carla?" Simon asked.

"No, I am the reason me and your mum split up" Peter told him, he was trying to get Simon to like Carla and by telling him that Carla was mostly to blame for his parents splitting up would be the wrong way to go about it.

"But if Carla wasn't here would you be with her"

"Si, Carla has been gone for a while and I didn't get back with your mum"

"Yeah but"

"No buts I am not getting back with your mum but we both love you and both want to make you feel loved and safe"

"Ok"

"Ok?" Peter asked, ruffling Simon's hair.

Simon nodded "Ok"

"So when we go home you will be sleeping at mine and I will take you home to your mums tomorrow afternoon" Peter told him.

"Will Carla be at your flat?"

"No she is at her own flat" Peter told the young boy.

"Ok, maybe I will see her around the street"

"Maybe" Peter smiled. Was Simon warming up to Carla?

Carla had finished her day at the office. She had caught up with the orders that were ongoing at the moment and caught up with the girls. Most of them just wanted to know the gossip about Peter but she kept that out.

She got into her new flat and treated herself to a nice dinner for one. Michelle did offer to come over and keep her company but Carla told her she would be fine.

Carla watched a bit of her box set and fell asleep on the sofa. She was woken up by a phone call from Peter.

Hello

Hello love, how was your day at work?

It was ok, just getting back into it. How was Si?

Simon was great, we had a great day and a proper chat. Hey, I think someone is warming up to you.

Really?

Yes, he asked if he was going to see you at the flat and then said that he will see you around the street.

That might just mean that he doesn't want to see me

No we had a breakthrough today actually.

That's good.

I explained everything that happened and told him none of it was your fault.

Right.

He was blaming you for everything which is why he didn't want to be around you Carla.

But now he's ok with me?

Well we don't know that but its progress.

That's great baby.

Look I will let you sleep but I can't wait to see you tomorrow, i miss you

I miss you too Peter.

Love you

Love you too

And with that Peter was gone. He had Simon to see too. Carla sighed, she was alone again.

Maybe Simon was coming around but the other Barlows and Leanne were going to be harder than Simon.