He stared at her sleeping frame, the content look on her face as she lay on his chest. He wondered what she dreaming about; he read somewhere that pregnant people often have dreams about their child.
The longing he felt to have her back in his arms again; so he was overcome with so much joy that they lay there in his bedroom.
Her eyes fluttered open as she took a deep breath, alerting him to the fact she had woken up. He placed a soft kiss onto her forehead, causing her to look up and smile.
"Morning." She croaked, snuggling back down into his chest.
"Hey you." He smiled.
"Mmm, what time is it?"
"Nearly nine O'clock." Peter replied.
"I wish we could just lay here all day." She sighed.
"We can," He played with her hair. "How are you feeling today?"
"Not as sick as I usually do. Must be your charm." She smirked.
"It must be." He chuckled.
"More importantly, how are you?" She looked up.
"Better now that I'm with you. I know we've got a lot to work on but I do love you."
"And I love you," She whispered. "It's going to take time but we just need to be honest with each other about our feelings and take things slow."
Good morn-..." Ken was cut short as Carla followed Peter into the living room. "Carla, I didn't expect you here."
"Hi, Ken. I hope you don't mind." She smiled, awkwardly.
She was expecting the worst after what she'd done, and she hadn't seen him since the pair split.
"If it's okay with Peter?" He glanced at his son, narrowing his eyes.
Last time he'd heard, Peter was overpowered by pure hatred and hurt towards Carla. He thought that was the end of them, no coming back. So to see her back in their living room so soon was definitely a shock.
"Of course it is," Peter placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her to the table. "I thought it would be nice to all have breakfast together."
"Marvellous!" Ken's eyes lit up, as he walked into the kitchen to prepare food.
"I'm surprised I'm still welcome here." Carla muttered, anxiously.
"Adam was in the wrong just as much as you and he's still allowed here-..."
"Because he's family, Peter." Carla cut him off, quietly.
"So will you be when the baby comes." He whispered, causing Carla to playfully whack him and look around to see if Ken had overheard.
"Shh!"
"How would you like your egg, Carla?" Ken called out.
"Erm," She paused, the thought of egg was making her extremely nauseous. "I'll just have toast if that's okay."
"Of course."
After a few minutes, Ken brought through their breakfast as they sat in a companionable silence.
"I must ask and tell me if it's none of my business, but are you two back together?" Ken piped up, his eyes darting between the pair.
"Erm...No-" Carla began speaking but was interrupted...
"Yes. We've got a lot to work on but we are together." Peter stated, proudly, as he leant over to Carla and gave her a kiss.
She frowned; they'd not discussed this and she'd just assumed they were going to take things a lot slower but it seemed Peter had other ideas. It melted her heart that he was still so in love with her, and he wanted this on his own accord even after her betrayal. She knew she was never going to let him go again.
"I'm glad. I hope you two can identify where you've gone wrong in your relationship and communicate better." Ken advised.
Carla nodded. Although, she daren't let herself speak. The smell of their breakfast was making her want to hurl. She felt the nausea slowly rising as she tried to remain normal to not cause any questions.
"Definitely, dad." Peter said.
"Yeah," Carla muttered, shakily. "And I am really sorry, Ken. I've not had a chance to speak to you since everything but I just want to reassure you that I'll never do anything like that..."
Carla couldn't finish her sentence because the nausea that had threatened to overwhelm her, was now too much to handle. She silently gagged, and felt herself start sweating.
"Sorry..." She mumbled, a hand to her mouth as she dashed to the bathroom to throw up.
Oh god," Ken gasped. "Is she okay?"
"Ummm," Peter stood up. "I'll just check on her."
Peter left his concerned father sat at the table whilst he went to the bathroom and heard Carla heaving from the other side of the door.
"Car? Are you alright in there?"
She remained silent, the dryness in her throat preventing her from speaking up.
He went to get her a glass of water, before returning to the bathroom and slowly opening the door.
She was slumped on the toilet, her face very peaky and her eyes continued to water.
Passing her the water, he knelt down and began stroking her hair.
"Are you alright, love?" He asked, softly.
"Yeah," Carla whispered. "The smell of those eggs just set me off."
"At least we have an idea on what foods to avoid in future now." He placed a hand on her stomach, as she smiled weakly.
"I can't go back out there until those breakfasts are gone for good." She exhaled.
"I'll get my dad to sort it."
"Is he not catching on?"
"He's not said anything. I will just say you're coming down with something." He shrugged.
"We've told everyone that and this sickness will not subside anytime soon. We might have to just tell them."
"I like it being our secret for now." Peter stiffened up.
"I never had sickness this bad last time." She groaned, leaning back so she was in the comfort of Peter's arms.
"I hate not being able to do anything to make it better."
"Just you being here helps me." She croaked, offering him a weak smile.
"The stress of this place can't be helping." He sighed.
"I brought it all on myself," Carla muttered before standing up. "The sickness will go eventually, I just have to deal with it."
"Yeah." Peter murmured, deep in thought...
"Hey, Peter!" Adam shouted, jogging across the street to catch up with Peter who was stood outside of the kabin.
"I don't want to talk to you." Peter growled, walking away until Adam grabbed his arm.
"A craving of Carla's, is it?" Adam smirked, gesturing to the bag of fizzy sweets the older man was holding.
Peter bit his lip, stopping himself from snapping. He knew he'd regret it. It was his normal coping mechanism and it always did more bad than good. No, he had to be the bigger person for once.
"Get out of my face."
"Why don't you care about this, Peter? Carla could be carrying my baby, how can you even look her in the face?"
"Because I love her," Peter said. "She made a mistake-..."
"So you can forgive her but you can't even look at me? We're family." Adam cut him off.
"You're not family to me," Peter snapped, scarily low. "You stabbed me in the back, at least Carla had remorse. You're proud of it, aren't you? Proud that you took my missus when I was at my weakest."
"I don't want to fight with you," Adam sighed. "I am sorry, but she is to blame as well. She couldn't keep her hands off me-..."
"If I were you, I'd keep it shut." Peter interrupted.
"So what happens now then? Are you going to bring that baby up as yours?"
"Yeah," Peter nodded. "That's my child."
"But you don't know that. Why can't we do a paternity test?"
"I mean it, stay away from me and Carla. And the baby when it's here."
"I am going to be a part of that babies life if it's mine." Adam shouted, but was halted when Peter suddenly pinned him up at against the building.
"I won't tell you again..." Peter whispered, letting him go and walking off, leaving Adam to stand in shock as he adjusted his suit.
"Hey." Carla smiled from the sofa at the Rovers.
"Hi," Peter sat down beside her, sliding an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in so her head was resting against his chest, as he passed her the sweets. "Got you these."
"Aw, thank you baby. I've been craving them so bad."
"You're welcome," Peter paused. "So I've been thinking..."
"That's never a good sign." She joked.
"Why don't we go away for a bit?" He suggested.
"What? Where would we go? We said we were going to take things slow." She sat up right, facing him and frowning.
"Anywhere," He shrugged. "We could go to Southampton again or Portsmouth. I just want somewhere with no distractions, somewhere we can focus on our relationship."
"It sounds like bliss, baby, but why now? Has something happened?" She questioned, hesitantly.
"No," Peter lied, not wanting to stress Carla out with his altercation with Adam. "I'm sick of seeing reminders of how bad the past few months have been. You need to rest considering your carrying our little one, and this can help my cravings with the booze."
"Okay..." She nodded, deep in thought. "Okay, yeah. Let's do it."
Peter grinned, leaning forwards and kissing her.
"How long are we going to stay away for?" She asked.
"Let's just go with the flow, ey? However long it takes."
"Our families will be in for a shock when we return though. I mean, what if I've got a bump at that point?" She panicked.
"We'll think about that when it comes to it," He said. "I do love you, Carla Connor."
"And I love you, Peter Barlow. Now, let's go and pack." She stood up, excitedly.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she couldn't feel more grateful to have him back. It was like they were two puzzle pieces, they were meant to fit together. With him by her side, she knew she could do anything.