"What was that?" Peter wakes up, Carla's eyes widen as they hear crashing sounds from the kitchen "It's ok, don't worry"

"Hmm" she hums slightly sitting up against the headboard, Peter walks out into the kitchen and gasps

"Do you mind?" Peter questions as Michelle bites her lip looking at Lucas who had his arms secured around her "We're trying to sleep, Carla needs to rest"

"Sorry" Michelle slurs as Lucas kisses her "We'll be quiet"

"No we won't" Lucas scoffs, Michelle presses a finger to his lips

"Are you drunk?" Peter questions with a chuckle, Michelle shakes her head "I'll take that as a yes. Look just try and be quiet alright?"

"Sure" she nods dragging Lucas into her bedroom, Peter sighs and enters the bedroom once more seeing Carla sat up against the headboard, her eyes tired as she feels a dull ache in her back

"It was Michelle bringing that Lucas back"

Carla grimaces and settles back down into bed stifling a cry at her pain but lying down relieved it. Peter gets in beside her and drapes an arm around her body, he runs his hand over her bump and she hums. He gasps and she winces at a sharp pain in her back, the tears pricking her eyes as she breathes out to compose herself, luckily it was dark and Peter couldn't see.

"W-What?" she questions turning to face him, "P-Peter"

"The baby moved" he whispers "Didn't you feel it?"

She shakes her head sadly biting her lip, Peter takes her hand and places it on her tummy, she jumps slightly

"W-Wow" she smirks as he kisses her on the back of the head "L-Love you"

"I love you too"


They fell asleep for a while longer, both of them trying to block out the sounds of Michelle and Lucas but they did manage to get some more sleep. Carla woke up first and moved onto her wheelchair to go into the bathroom, she sighed about how she really would like a shower so she got back into her wheelchair and woke Peter who then helped her shower. It annoyed her to an extent as she wished she could just do things on her own but she knew it was a process, one which would take a whole lot of time and energy. They then ended up laying on the sofa together trying to get the baby to move but it was obvious that it wasn't going to but they just spent some time together until Michelle and Lucas surfaced from her bedroom.

"D-Dirt...y c-cow," Carla says looking at Michelle who chucks a tea towel at her

"What time did you two even get in last night?" Peter chuckles, Michelle bites her lip and shrugs "It was three in the morning I think"

"N-Naught-ty" Carla smirks, Peter kisses her on the back of the head "An-any...way"

"Don't use your voice love, it sounds exhausted" Peter whispers, Carla sighs and nods taking her phone

"Anyway what are you two going to do today?"

"I'm doing the day shift at the bistro and Peter's doing the streetcars night shift?"

"Correct" Peter nods with a small smile "Are you going to be ok with Michelle tonight?"

"Y-Yes" she nods with a small smile before picking up her phone

"Anyway I should probably get ready and you should go home and get changed as well" she smirks patting Lucas on the chest "Go on, I'll put a good word in for Nick"

"Hmm what would I do without her ey?" Lucas glances at Carla holding her gaze, she drops her gaze from his eyes and sighs "See you later babe"

"Bye" Michelle grins as Lucas leaves the flat "I'm so sorry about last night, we had one too many after you left. I had to call Debbie to lock up for us-"

"M-Michelle" Carla rolls her eyes picking up her phone

"This is your flat as much as it is ours, I don't care who you bring back"

"Anyway I'm going to hop in the shower" Michelle smiles planting a kiss on top of Carla's head "Be good"

"W-W-Will d-do" she nods watching her friend go into the bathroom, Carla picks up her phone

"We should do an announcement about this one"

She places her hand on her bump

"It's starting to get rather big now"

"I agree" he nods, "I say we call Simon around later as half of my family know, I guess we could just make a proper announcement in case...oh I don't know"

"Let's just go to your dads?"

"No they can come here" Peter suggests, Carla nods knowing it would be easier for her "It'll be fine, they'll be happy for us"

"H-Hope so"


"So you're just not going to speak to me?" Leanne questions, Simon glares at her

"Why did you have to go and speak to Carla" he spits "She doesn't need the stress-"

"Oh leave off, she's the one who gave you the bank card. Anyway I'm sorting this issue once and for all"

"And how are you going to do that?" Simon questions with a glare "Wave a magic wand, get out your crystal ball...this is my mess and my mess only, I'm sorting it"

"I've asked for my job back at the solicitors" Leanne states, Simon raises an eyebrow at how unlikely it was for her to do that "I've asked for an advance on my wages"

"And what are you going to use that money for?"

"To pay off these dealers you've been hanging around with-"

"Already done that, yet here we are still in the mess we're in now-"

"Hang on" Leanne pauses narrowing her eyes "How? We hardly have the money"

"Um it doesn't matter," Simon says biting his lip, Leanne gasps and raises a hand up to her mouth shaking her head

"You used Carla's money didn't you?" Leanne questions quietly, Simon just grabs his bag and storms out of the flat "Simon!"

It was too late, he was gone…


Lucas was making his way to the bistro in an attempt to spend some time with Michelle during her lunch break. He approached the bar and saw Debbie there causing him to frown. Of course, Debbie took in Lucas' appearance offering him a cheeky grin and took great pleasure in informing him that she had gone home for her lunch break as it was an emergency to do with Carla. He rushed to the flat wanting to be there to support his girlfriend and he saw an ambulance waiting outside of the flat, Michelle clocked Lucas and ran over to him, he immediately hugged her and held her.

"What's happened?"

"Carla she's been having pain again, her painkillers aren't working and they think it's something to do with her spine again" she responds briefly not really understanding what she was saying "And with the baby moving and everything it was putting pressure on her back and Peter's stressed, I'm stressed-"

"Woah hold up, Carla's pregnant?"

"Oh god, I wasn't meant to tell you that" Michelle states "Ignore me, sorry"

"No babe, this is important for you. I won't tell anyone" he says as an uncomfortable feeling rippled through his body

"I'm going to go with them" Peter rushes out "Could you pack a bag as they reckon she'll be in for some time"

"Yeah sure, I'll do that" Michelle confirms "Go with her, tell her I love her alright?"

"I will, thank you for the help" Peter sighs getting into the ambulance, Michelle looks up at Lucas who kisses her softly on the lips

"I should get a bag ready for her and take it to the hospital, sorry"

"It's ok, I'll come with you and then I'll give you a lift so you don't have to pay for car parking"

"Thanks," she whispers, taking his hand and leading him into Victoria Court with her…


"You're ok" he whispers kissing her on the forehead as she cries in complete pain "I know it hurts baby, I know"

"P-Pain" she cries, he hushes her and rubs her back for her "B-Burn"

"Burning pain, shooting pain?"

"Y-Yes" she nods letting more tears fall from her eyes "H-Hurts"

"Oh baby" he kisses her on the forehead, she yelps as Peter presses the call button, a nurse enters "You need to give her something, this is too painful for her"

"The doctor's on his way, he specialises in spinal injuries and complex ones. The midwife wants to do a scan as well to see if its the position of the baby which is causing you pain Carla"

"You didn't answer my question"

"All we can give Carla now is the intravenous paracetamol through her cannula until we know what's going on. We can try heat or cooling compresses if you want?"

"C-Cool," she says, the nurse nods leaving the room and returning with some icepacks, Peter presses them against her back

"Better?" Peter questions, Carla hums closing her eyes "I'll hold this here alright?"

"O-Ok" she hums as Michelle enters the room with a bag, she places it on the end of the bed

"Hey darlin'" Michelle whispers gently bending down in front of her and brushing her hair back "Are you still in pain?"

"Y-Yes" Carla cries, Michelle hushes her gently as Carla's doctor enters the room with the midwife

"Hello Carla" the midwife smiles, Carla just cries more "So I want to conduct a scan to see where the baby is positioned"

"Come on love" Peter whispers placing all the ice packs down on the bed so Carla could lie on them, he rolls her top up for her and the midwife quickly puts the gel on her tummy "Don't think about it, speak to me"

"L-Love you" she whispers cupping his cheek, Michelle holds Carla's hand as she squeezes it

"Let's have a look," the doctor says as the midwife turns the screen "Hmm so we were right before with the rate the baby grows the more strain it would put on her lower back"

"So what when the baby grows she's going to be in even more pain than this?" Peter questions as the midwife sighs taking measurements

"Hm" the midwife hums "The baby hasn't really grown that much in the last few weeks which is a concern"

"I've made sure she's had all of her vitamins and supplements"

"I don't think it's down to you and what you've been consuming" the midwife whispers looking at the screen "There's no reason as to why the baby wouldn't be the normal size it should be"

"Could it just be a small baby?"

"That's the only conclusion I can come to, it could be down to all the other factors, stress, the medication as well. There are just so many factors that it's hard to pinpoint one"

"So what are you going to do?" Michelle questions holding Carla's hand as she continues to cry "We can't leave her in this much pain"

"We want to keep her in, I would want to because of the stress on the baby, this way it can be easily monitored" the midwife smiles, Carla nods slowly

"By keeping her in we can give her intravenous drugs which work much quicker than normal tablets and they can be more efficient" the doctor smiles "I also say because of the amount of pain you're in Carla we think about doing a c-section sooner rather than later"

"I agree" the midwife smiles "We'll need to discuss with some more physicians but ideally we would want to get to the point of viability"

"Which is?"

"Twenty four weeks"

"That's almost two months away" Peter laments, the doctor sighs "So she'll have to be in here for another two months?"

"I'm sorry" the doctor sighs "We just want to reduce her pain and the only way we can do that right now is having her in here until the week of viability"

"Ok" Peter nods "Fine"

"I-It's o-ok...k Pet-ter," she whispers squeezing his hand "F-For t-the b-best"

"As long as you're sure, we can get carers-"

"That won't be possible," the doctor says quietly "Carla needs intravenous drugs now because her pain is too much, she needs to be here so we can monitor her. We'll leave you to it"

"Thank you," Michelle says as the midwife and doctor leaves the room "Are you ok sweetheart?"

"Y-Yes" she whispers tiredly, Michelle squeezes her hand passing Carla the phone,

"I just want the best for the baby and this is what's for the best"

"It'll be ok, it has Connor blood in it that means it's naturally strong" Michelle murmurs raising Carla's hand to her lips "Everything will be ok, me and Peter, we're going to make sure of it"

"Thats a promise" Peter smiles tilting his head to the side watching Carla sleep, he just hoped that everything would be ok, it had to be ok…


Carla kept drifting in and out of sleep throughout the night. Peter and Michelle left a short while ago and left her to get some sleep. It wasn't the same as being at home as she had the entertainment of both Michelle and Peter and if she was honest she really did hate it here but right now she knew she had to put the baby first as she had fallen in love head over heels with her unborn child. Secretly she had developed this connection with it after trying not to for many weeks due to the uncertainty of whether it would survive but now she was willing to bond with it. Carla opened her eyes as she needed a drink, she gasped and pressed a hand to her heart when she saw a figure sitting in the chair in the darkness until they leaned forward.

"L-Lucas" she breathes out "W-What?"

"We need a talk" he mumbles slightly leaning forward, Carla gulps "Congratulations by the way"

"W-What?"

"On the baby, you deserve happiness" he comments before breathing out, Carla picks up her phone

"Look what happened in the past, I don't want it being brought up now"

"Michelle knows you know"

"What?"

"Well not about your involvement" he comments with a smirk "I can say the word though, I have the proof remember?"

"You wouldn't dare"

"Try me" he comments leaning forward and looking into her eyes "You're weak Carla, here you are in the same position before and you're going ahead with it-"

"S-Stop" she grabs the remote ready to press the call button, Lucas takes it off her "W-Why?"

"Why are you doing this Lucas?"

"Because you need to realise that the past can't be forgotten that easily," he says, she gulps and blinks rapidly trying to control her tears "It's a ticking time bomb until the truth comes out and you know it now that I'm back"

"Don't tell him"

"I won't," he says "Doesn't mean I won't make it hard for you"

"Are you jealous because of what I have with Peter?"

"Jealousy doesn't come into it" Lucas snaps "Justice does though, and you know it. I hope you have a happy life Carla, I hope you do, knowing that somewhere out there...I will never forgive you"

"I'm sorry"

"Well so am I" he hisses, she closes her eyes and lets the tears fall "I don't know what people see in you half the time"

"L-Lucas-"

"I don't want to hear it" he cries before leaving the room, Carla lets out a sob pinching the bridge of her nose and wiping her eyes. All the guilt, all the pain and all the memories, she just hoped that the baby growing inside of her would replace them all to make fresh ones...