"A word" Michelle waltzes into Carla's hospital room with Lucas, she narrows her eyes suspiciously

"H-Hi" Carla looks at Lucas and it became apparent to her rather quickly that Lucas had spilt the beans "Y-You k-know t-then?"

"Of course I know" Michelle snaps "How could you keep that from us all? Let me guess it's because he wasn't Peter. The only man you want to have children with huh?"

Carla picks up her phone

"I don't have to answer you"

"No, but you'll answer to social services though won't you?" Michelle chuckles thrusting the papers towards her friend, Carla reads them

"What do you want me to say?"

"Did you know your son is currently being fostered by none other than Toyah Battersby?" Michelle questions, Carla frowns

"W-Wh-what?"

"Sammy's being fostered by Toyah" Lucas pipes up eventually, Carla sighs slightly shaking her head and showing no emotion

"Wh-Why a-are you h-here?" Carla asks knowing there had to be a reason they were both here hounding her

"He wants custody"

"Really?"

Carla laughs slightly closing her eyes

"Well I'm hardly going to stop you, am I? I mean I'm in here and you're probably a much more suitable candidate than me aren't you?"

"You never wanted him anyway, you fled as soon as he was born!" Lucas snaps, Carla just rolls her eyes

"To get better, I did have kidney failure, remember?"

"Yeah I remember" he retorts glaring at her "You left our son fighting for his life in the flamin' neonatal unit Carla. He needed you and you just left! You never wanted him be honest, you just regretted that positive pregnancy test because it wasnt Peter-"

"En-Enough!" she exclaims as the tears fill her eyes

"Go on you cry, do it" Lucas snaps back, her lip trembles "Just like our son was crying out for you in the NICU"

"What's going on?" Peter questions, Michelle pinches her nose "And why are you having a go at my fiancee?"

"L-Leave i-it" Carla states pleading with Michelle using her eyes, Michelle shakes her head feeling utterly disgusted with Carla's behaviour

"You heard her," Peter says quietly "She doesn't need the stress"

"Tell him" Michelle pipes up, Carla pleads with her "He's going to know eventually"

"No," Carla says defiantly, the tears falling down her face

"I'll help you," Lucas says quietly, Carla shakes her head "Your perfect fiancee is a fraud Peter, she already has a kid in the form of Toyah and Imran's foster child"

"Are you deluded?" Peter laughs slightly looking at Michelle who had her teeth clamped over her lip, she avoids his gaze "Carla?"

"S-Sorry" she whispers closing her eyes, Peter closes his eyes and falls into the chair rubbing his face with his hands

"Who?"

"Me, who do you think?" Lucas exclaims exasperatedly "She left her son high and dry in the intensive care unit didn't you, Carla, whilst you fled up here to get better, never bothered to return to see how he was, did ya? No, because you were so wrapped up in yourself in your tiny little mind"

"G-Go" Carla demands, Lucas just tuts and storms out of the room, Michelle follows him causing Carla to dare to look at Peter "P-Peter"

"I don't want to hear it" he silences her "How could you?"

"I was scared that I would die. I didn't want to put him through that, both of them through that"

"So you thought you'd just leave your child who was fighting for his life?!"

"You can't sit there on the moral high ground Peter"

"You cheated on me" he snaps back, her lip quivers and she closes her eyes "Are you going to do the same? From what I can see you're in the exact same position as before here Carla. If that baby isn't mine are you just going to leave it to suffer, you're ill, you might not walk again it's the same concept and you know it"

"I-I know!" she cries "I-I'm sorry"

"Sometimes sorrys dont make it better Carla" Peter spits, she just sobs into her hands "I really thought we were past all the secrets Carla, I really did think that we were getting somewhere. I've tried to be honest with you, but this is too far now"

"P-Peter p-please" she begs, he shakes his head as the tears fall from his eyes

"Carla you lied to everyone in your family, to me" he shakes his head in disbelief, she nods slowly "How could you do that? Over your son of all people?"

"I-I" she gulps "D-Don't know"

"I'm sorry I just… I don't know what to do for the best here"

"D-Don't g-give u-up on m-me"

"You have a nerve" he shakes his head before sighing "We're over"

"P-Peter, please" she begs, he grabs his jacket and shakes his head before storming out of the room, she sobs into her hands wishing things were different, wishing she had the ability to be honest…


The way he felt the betrayal of her ways, it hurt him so much to think she had done all of this to him, to them. He really had trusted her and maybe it was naive of him to assume that they would be able to change the deceit in their relationship. It would always be Carla though and there had to be a reason. He knew she was scared when she was ill, she had mentioned it a few times to him but the fact there was another child crawling out of the woodworks stung entirely. How would he be able to walk down the street and see Toyah and Imran there holding the hand of Carla's not-so-secret son? If there was ever the time he needed a drink it would be now.

"Hey" Michelle enters the flat with a frown, she hears a grumble "Oh my god! Peter are you ok?"

She rushes to bend down in front of him, the blood pouring out of his mouth, her eyes fall on a bottle of whiskey. Panicking she rang Daniel unable to figure out what to do, she didn't want to cause a stir within the Barlows by ringing an ambulance, so she waited,

"What's happened?" Daniel questions entering the flat, Michelle raises a hand to her mouth "Ok, right we need to call an ambulance"

"No" Peter grumbles, Daniel sighs dramatically watching Peter chuck up more blood

"Peter the amount of blood!" Daniel exclaims taking his phone out and taking control of the situation, Michelle grabs some more tea towels

"F-Fine" he mutters as Michelle places Peter's head on the tea towel whilst Daniel speaks to the paramedics

"Right don't turn over onto your back" Daniel orders as Peter grumbles, Michelle bites her lip, the buzzer goes off and Michelle lets the paramedics up "He's a recovering alcoholic, now relapsed…"

"Thank you," the paramedic says moving Peter onto a stretcher

"Thanks for the call, we're trying to keep this lowkey" Daniels smiles at Michelle who nods "It might be worth telling Carla"

"Uh yeah" she nods biting her lip knowing she would probably have to do that especially if Daniel said as there was no getting out of it really "Just go with him"

"Thanks," Daniel says before following the paramedics out, Michelle sighs pinching the bridge of her nose wishing this nightmare would just go away


"You summoned me" Simon huffs sitting down in the seat, Carla examines him before picking up her phone

"You look like you have the weight of your world on your shoulders"

"Yeah well…" Simon shrugs nonchalantly "How are you?"

"Getting there. I had a visitor who was worried about you"

"I've told my dad to leave it" Simon mutters, Carla tilts her head to the side "Not that he knows the extent of…"

"It wasn't your dad"

"Then who?"

"That girlfriend of yours, she's worried about you Si and the things she said to me makes me worried about you. Speak to me if you don't want to speak to your dad or Leanne"

"And then what?" he questions incredulously "Everything just magically goes back to the way it was? I'm in deep Carla there's no getting out of this which reminds me here's your bank card as I won't be needing it"

"Simon don't push me away"

"I'm not," he says quietly placing the bank card on the bedside table "It's time I fix this myself"

"You don't have to do it alone though"

"I do, Oliver would want me to do this, fix it all"

"Simon you need help to fix this"

"Maybe I don't want to fix it" he snaps back, Carla narrows her eyes "Maybe I want this Carla have you ever thought of that?"

"So you want to be used for drug runs do you? The possibility of being beaten up? Is that what you want?"

"It's what I deserve isnt it for getting myself into this mess"

"You don't deserve to live your life like that Simon"

"Tough" he shrugs picking up his bag and walking out of the room, Carla sighs in response before wincing and pressing a hand to her bump, she breathes out before yelping once more and keeling over on the bed

"No" she whispers reaching out for the remote she presses all the buttons as a nurse rushes in, she immediately helps Carla out

"Carla are you ok?"

"B-Baby" she whimpers, the nurse nods springing into action, Carla leans forward and gasps "No, no…"

"Ok, we're going to get an ultrasound machine" the midwife assures her noticing the amount of blood that was there "Try and stay calm, do you need me to call anyone?"

"N-No" Carla shakes her head tilting it up and seeing Michelle standing at the window with her mouth up in shock "B-Back"

"Your back?" the nurse confirms, Carla nods as a doctor enters the room with an ultrasound machine

"Can I?" another nurse smiles, Carla nods allowing her to conduct the scan "Let's see what's going on"

"Do you need pain relief Carla?" the nurse questions offering her the controller for the pain relief, Carla uses it actively in an attempt to stop the pain in her back

"I-Is th-the bab-y-y ok?" Carla asks, the nurse smiles turning the screen around

"Your placenta has moved slightly causing the bleeding luckily you're in here and we can monitor it and the pain was likely because of the baby moving" the nurse smiles "We'll update your notes, they'll check you over again at the anatomy scan in a couple of weeks"

"Hey" Michelle enters the room, Carla drops her gaze "What's happened?"

"Carla's suffering from placenta previa which is when the placenta covers the cervical opening, it can cause heavy bleeding. She's in here so we can continue to monitor it closely and hopefully, the placenta will shift back into position as the baby grows"

"Right" Michelle nods biting her lip "But the baby is ok?"

"Perfectly healthy, a regular heartbeat. I can't really say much more as I'm not really a midwife" the nurse smiles, Michelle nods "I'll leave you to it"

"T-Thanks" Carla nods placing a hand on her bump, she sighs slightly "Sh-Shower"

"Yeah I'll help you" the other nurse smiles as Carla moves onto the wheelchair to allow the nurse to move her to the bathroom so she could shower, the nurse moving the drip into the bathroom, Carla returns around fifteen minutes later to Michelle who was looking rather sheepish

"Do you need anything else, Carla?"

"N-No" she shakes her head getting back into bed, the nurse nods and leaves the room "W-What?"

"I went back to the flat and Peter was lying there, drunk, blood spewing out of his mouth" Michelle informs her, Carla sighs slightly shaking her head "Sorry"

"My-My fault," she says with a shrug "H-He lec-lectured me a-a-about hon-honesty"

"I think he has a right to do that don't you?"

Carla just shrugs picking up her phone

"Do you hate me?"

"I'm annoyed at you but I could never hate you"

"Do you love Lucas?"

"Yes" she admits, Carla smiles slightly "Crazy really isn't it?"

"You look good together. He deserves someone who can love him, I could never give him that"

"You couldn't give your son it either-"

"D-Don't" Carla warns, Michelle leans forward before letting out a weary sigh

"I just want to know why Carla, why did you leave your son?"

"F-Fear" she says quietly before picking up her phone

"I didn't know if I was going to die Michelle. For all I knew was that I was living a life sentence and me having that relationship with my baby was a no-go I didn't want him to have a lifetime of regret and I just wanted to be free as horrible as it sounded"

"Why didn't you have a termination then?"

"Because by the time I found out I was too far along"

"Lucas said you kept it from him"

Carla sighs,

"Ok fine, I knew early on and I kept it from him. For good reason as I was not ready to be a mother"

"Because he wasn't Peter"

"No, because I was gravely ill"

"And because of Peter"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I love Lucas and he wants answers" Michelle snaps, Carla sighs in annoyance and pinches the bridge of her nose

"Lucas knows deep down the reasons why. He was never able to admit them to himself. Maybe now you two are together you can help him understand"

"You really are twisted aren't you?"

"Think what you like Michelle. I need to focus on this baby"

"I never knew what Paul saw in you" Michelle shakes her head in disbelief at Carla's attitude "I just thought you should know that Lucas and I we're going for custody of his son and you won't stop us"

"I don't intend to"

"So you're just giving up?"

"I'm hardly a suitable candidate, am I? Never will be, never was"

"Fine, there's no getting through to you when you're like this. Either way me and Lucas we're going to do this and you're not stopping us"

"Do what you like"

Michelle tuts and shakes her head before storming out of the room, Carla sighs quietly and closes her eyes. Somehow the regret never filled her system for some unknown reason…


Sleep was never a welcome thing, all she wanted was to feel free and she didn't feel like that right now she felt ever so trapped and sinned upon. Carla closed her eyes and she always seemed to let out a few stray tears which hurt her immensely. She tried her best to stretch her limbs but with the limited movement in her legs, it became another failed attempt. As she couldn't sleep she was just watching some film on her laptop, her hand sitting on top of her bump as she smiles slightly at the baby shifting gently inside of her. Soon her attention was brought away from the laptop by someone entering the room. She flipped the lid of her laptop down and tilted her head to the side watching as they placed a black rose in the cup.

"You remember the first time you saw these right?"

"Hmm" Carla smiles slightly with a soft frown

"Are you ok?"

"N-No" she shakes her head with a sigh, dropping her gaze "Ev-Every-th-thing's a mess"

"I'm sure it isn't" he smiles at her, Carla grins slightly "I'm here for you"

"A-At le-least some-someone is," she says quietly before yawning, she looks up into his eyes and smirks, his eyes falling to her left hand "I-It's o-over"

"I'm sorry"

"N-Not your-your fault"

"Even so, it feels like it" he shrugs leaning forward and taking her hand "Anything I can help you with?"

Carla picks up her phone and bites her lip

"You know at the conference?"

"What about it?"

"Thank you"

"For what?"

"You know what, for keeping me safe"

"You don't need to thank me," he says quietly dropping his gaze, she squeezes his hand "What happened after…"

"That doesn't matter"

"Hey," he says softly "Did something happen?"

"It doesn't matter"

She confirms looking into his eyes giving him a sincere look,

"You're playing with fire you know that?"

"I know but I need to prove that...you know what"

"This will backfire you know that right?"

"Even so you deserve a second chance"

"I was the one who left"

"Even so you're better now. I'll keep doing what you want ok?"

"Thanks"

She says as a nurse enters the room with a grin

"You should be resting, you've had a hectic day," the nurse says glancing at Carla who nods gently "Ten more minutes, we had a deal remember?"

"Fine"

Carla smirks watching the nurse leave,

"That's you told"

"I'll leave you to it, I wouldn't want your recovery to suffer," he says standing up and grinning at her "Just remember Carla, you're not as bad as you think you are"

"Th-Thank you Lucas" she smiles up at him, he grins at her and plants a kiss on her forehead "Y-You get h-him b-back f-for m-e"

"He needs to be safe, if Michelle can provide that and you then so be it"

"Always, forever and always" he nods as Carla smirks watching him leave, she lets out a sigh and opens her purse pulling out a photo of herself holding a baby and tilting her head to the side

At least now she knew if the real truth was outed then there would be hell to pay...