"So where were you on the night of the attack." The investigator sat opposite the brunette woman, his gaze firmly on her.

"I was at home," Carla paused, inhaling deeply. "I felt unwell so I had a lay down."

"And where were you living at that time?"

"The Rovers Return." She replied.

"So a public place, did anyone witness this?" They asked.

"Well I don't know," She shrugged. "I was with Peter."

"Were you with Peter for the entire evening?"

At her silence, they speculated and repeated themselves...

"I said, were you with Peter Barlow for the rest of the evening?"

"No."

"What time did he go? Was he out for long?"

"I have no idea, officer. I'm not constantly checking the time when I'm relaxing."

"Answer the question, Mrs Connor." He said, sternly.

"He wasn't out for too long. He went to the shop."

"What was he like when he returned?"

"Completely normal. He was affectionate and didn't look stressed," She said before catching onto their questions. "Hold on...you're not accusing Peter of doing this are you? He would never do this. Adam is his nephew!"

"Calm down." They advised.

"No! Why should I? Peter is a good man and he would never do something like this."

"Is it true you and Adam Barlow had an affair?" He raised his eyebrows.

"A one night stand-..."

"But you had sexual intercourse with Adam Barlow whilst in a relationship with Peter Barlow?" He interrupted.

"Yes." She looked down, guiltily.

"I can imagine that would make Peter very angry."

"It wasn't as if he just found out the night Adam got hurt. He already knew at that point."

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but are you now expecting?" He glanced at her stomach, causing her to fold her arms across it, awkwardly.

"That is private." She shook her head.

"Nothing is private when you're getting questioned by the police. So I will ask you again, are you pregnant?"

"Yeah." She bit her lip.

"And do you know who the dad is?"

"I don't understand what any of this has to do with you. This has nothing to do with the investigation."

"Peter had the opportunity to be a dad with his girlfriend. Only to find out she slept with his nephew. And now anyone could be the babies dad. That's bound to make anyone angry."

Carla rubbed her lips together, holding back tears as she didn't trust herself to speak.

"And then impulsively, Peter decided to surprise you with a holiday. Tell us about that."

"He saw how much I was struggling with everything and suggested we got away for a bit. It wasn't like we were running away. We've come back, haven't we? Neither of us had a clue that Adam got attacked." She explained.

"When did he tell you about this holiday?"

"When, Erm, when he got back from the shop...the day Adam got hurt." She murmured.

"But you were feeling ill that day, as you previously said. So why were you suddenly up for a holiday? That's very stressful."

"Peter packed most of it and it wasn't necessarily stressful. I thought it would be good for us and for the baby." She explained, before loudly sighing. "Look, when will I be able to see Peter? You have kept me here long enough."

"You're free to go." He said, bluntly.

"What about Peter? Don't avoid my question."

"Look, I have just found out my nephew is hurt and I've been dragged here! I haven't even been able to see how he is! Let me go." Peter shouted, slamming his hand on the table.

"If you do not calm down Mr Barlow then we will have no other option but to keep you in." They warned him.

"I want to check on Carla! She is carrying my baby and you've kept her here all night." He cut them off, angrily.

"This is your last chance, Mr Barlow."

"When Adam wakes up, he'll be able to tell you that it wasn't me." Peter shrugged.

"If he wakes up."

"Is that how bad it is?" Peter whispered, aggressiveness instantly leaving his system at the thought of his nephew being so critical.

"It's bad enough that he's been in a coma for weeks now," The officer raised his eyebrows. "You must've been angry at him, Mr Barlow. You must've wanted to teach him a lesson after sleeping with your girlfriend. For getting your girlfriend pregnant."

"And he did when I found out, which was weeks before the attack! So why would I decide to punish him when it had all blown over." Peter replied.

"We are letting you go, Sir. For now. But this isn't the end."

"Is that a threat?" Peter smirked.

"We are letting you go pending further enquiries. We need to gather the statements from you and Mrs Connor and conjure more evidence. Providing Adam wakes up, we can take a statement from him too. But this is an ongoing investigation, you should understand that by now."

"Fine," Peter said, standing up. "I have nothing to hide. Have you let Carla out?"

"Ms Connor was released around half an hour ago."

As Peter nodded and left the room, he walked down the corridor and was greeted by an exhausted looking Carla who smiled weakly at him.

"Oh, there you are. Are you okay?" He rushed over to her, cupping her cheek in his palm and placing a soft kiss onto her lips.

"I'm fine. More importantly, how are you?" She asked, raking a hand through his short hair.

"Just a bit in shock. This was supposed to be a happy time and it's just been chaos. I can't believe this has happened." He exhaled.

"I know, I feel the same. I wish we stayed away now."

"Me too, love." Peter nodded. "Let's get out of here. You need rest."

"I've not even had time to process the fact everyone knows I'm pregnant." She said, as they walked out of the police station.

"That's the least of our worries right now."

"I know, but I hate to think about all the gossip going on in the street now. We're public enemy number one and you haven't even done anything wrong." She bit her lip, guiltily.

"And neither have you." He reassured her, pulling her body into his.

"I could be carrying his baby. One way or another, I'm to blame for all of this."

"Don't speak like that, love. This situation would have nothing to do with Adam's attack. If I didn't do it and you didn't do it, it was probably just bugulers."

"I really hope he'll be okay." She murmured tearfully, making Peter stop in his tracks as they neared the Rovers.

"Hey, let's not cry," He softly wiped away her tears. "We are gonna go inside and have a bath and a nap. Then we can figure out what to do next, okay? You need to take it easy with the baby."

"Carla! Peter!"

"Oh no." Carla groaned. quietly.

"You'll never guess all the gossip I've been hearing. I didn't even know you were back." Jenny yelled from across the street, jogging over.

As Carla wiped her eyes, Jenny recoiled as her eyes landed on her stomach.

"So it's true! I'm going to be a grandmother!" She screeched, grabbing Carla and hugging her tightly.

"I expect you know where we've been all night, Jenny? We're both knackered." Peter piped up.

"Of course," Jenny released Carla and nodded, before getting overpowered by excitement once more. "Congratulations though! This is amazing. Let's go and see your dad."

As the three of them walked into the Rovers, they felt everyone's eyes bore into them and it made the atmosphere extremely unsettling. At the sight of his daughter, Johnny's eyes lit up and he quickly ushered them into the back room.

"Why didn't you tell me, love?" Johnny asked, hugging his oldest daughter.

"We didn't get the chance. We didn't even mean to tell Peter's family yet but that didn't go to plan." Carla replied.

"Oh yeah. Adam..." Johnny shuffled.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Carla asked.

"I didn't want to ruin your time away. I didn't know the police were after you."

"They're not after us," Peter rolled his eyes. "They wanted to check if we knew anything. Procedure and all that."

As Carla's eyes awkwardly shifted to Peter, Jenny took the silence as her chance to ask more questions...

"Enough about that, how far along are you?"

"I'm seventeen weeks." Carla smiled, placing a hand onto her small bump.

"No way! You've kept that a secret for a long time." Johnny exclaimed.

"We just didn't want to tempt fate and I was already stressed out so it was the best decision for me and the baby."

"We'll be trying to find a new place to live too. I doubt you want a screaming baby here."

"Well, if you're sure but-..."

"I think that's a delightful idea." Jenny cut her husband off.

"Right, we're going to go and freshen up. Police stations aren't the nicest place to be at. You two would know." Peter said, excusing himself and Carla as they wandered upstairs.

"Are you alright, love?" Peter whispered, watching as Carla's eyelashes fluttered open and she croaked sleepily.

"Mmm," She rubbed her eyes before settling on his chest again. "How long were we sleeping?"

"About three hours, you must've needed it. I woke up about an hour ago but didn't have the heart to move you. You looked so peaceful." He smiled, placing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I definitely feel a lot more human now that's for sure." She muttered.

"How's our little one?" He asked, his hand slipping under the duvet and resting on her stomach.

"Good, I think."

"We have the next scan soon. We can finally find out the gender." He said, excitedly.

"Do you want to find out?" She questioned.

"Definitely. I think it'll make it so much more exciting. We can decorate it's room and stop calling the baby by 'it'" He chuckled.

"Mmm, I agree." She replied, distantly.

"You could try and sound more excited about it."

"It's scary looking into the future right now, Peter."

"Why? Because of the police?" He frowned.

"Obviously," She sighed. "What are we going to do? What if one of us gets sent down?"

"Like I said to Johnny earlier, it was just precaution. Stop worrying." He said.

"You and me both know that's not true. They're going to pin this on someone and you had a motive. I'm scared for you, Peter. I can't have you going to jail for this." She panicked.

"Do you think I did it?" He sat up, angrily.

"Of course not! But the police do. All they wanted to talk about was you in my interview."

"Now I think about it, they were putting all the blame on me." He groaned.

"I hope you didn't give them any reason to think you're guilty."

"No, I didn't. I just told them straight up that I had nothing to do with it." He shrugged.

"Yeah, but it's how you'd get that across that worries me, Peter. You didn't get angry, did you?"

"Of course I did! They were being ridiculous."

"For god sake." She mumbled.

"It doesn't matter anyway," He paused. "I'm going to see Adam tomorrow. To show that I care."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Can you think of anything else, Carla?" He snapped before softening. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice. But we've got to do this."

"I just don't want more fights, baby. I'm too exhausted." She exhaled.

"He's my nephew and even after what he's done, I care."

"I'd be worried if you didn't care, Peter. Fine, we'll go tomorrow."

"I love you, baby. Everything will be okay, I promise you." He reassured her.

"And I love you." She smiled.

Thought I'd make a change and update this story instead as it's been quite a while. Really exciting things ahead! Follow my twitter @Carlafanx for updates :)