Here it is - the second update! Enjoy, folks x
Peter had parked around the corner, leaving him and Carla to take a slow walk to Ken's.
"How are you feeling, love?" He asked softly, placing an arm around her shoulders.
"I don't know." She answered honestly, before someone caught her eye as she came around the corner of Coronation Street.
Peter knew that they should keep walking. The sooner they got home, the better. Carla was in shock and the last thing she needed at that moment in time was a confrontation.
"Murderer!" Kate shouted, as the couple walked past the pub. Kate followed them for a few steps, making it clear that she wasn't going to make it that easy for them both.
"Kate, can you just leave it?" Peter asked sympathetically, taking his arm from around Carla's shoulders and turning to face the enraged woman. As much as he felt for Kate, none of this was Carla's fault. She didn't deserve the hassle, especially not now.
"Why should I?" Kate questioned, her voice still raised. She couldn't believe Peter had the audacity to try and silence her. "She should be locked up after what she did to my wife." She added, nodding towards a defeated looking Carla. Kate was so consumed in anger that she didn't notice how her sister looked so drained.
"She didn't do anything." Peter tried, defending his girlfriend. Internally he was thinking that she shouldn't have had to. Why would the Connor's believe Gary? That man seemed to be a master manipulator. He knew that Carla would never do anything to put her staff at risk. She might have once been a cold-hearted business woman, but she wasn't negligent. She had looked after the factory as if her life depended on it.
"Can't speak for yourself?" Kate taunted, creeping further towards her older sister, still in such a rage, she couldn't see how ill looking she was.
Carla didn't know what to say. She simply couldn't muster up the energy. It was as if the lack of sleep, the effects of pregnancy and the shock she had received less than an hour ago had all crept up on her at once and she unable to defend herself. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Having noticed how unfair this was on Carla, and seeing that she wasn't going to respond in a hurry, Peter decided to jump in. "Leave it, love. Let's get you home." He told her softly, placing his hand on her back, guiding her to turn around and keep on walking.
"I'm talking to you." A grief-stricken Kate called, before grabbing Carla's shoulder and making her turn and face her. "Why won't you just admit it?" She cross-examined, staring at her older sister intently, not wanting to back down. A stark contrast to Carla, who just wanted to go home and digest the news she had just received. "Then, I can make sure you get locked up." Kate continued, taunting her sister for something she hadn't even done - not that Kate knew that.
"Kate, I never did anything." Carla tried to explain sincerely, tears clouding her eyes.
"Liar!" Kate shouted, launching herself at her sister. Peter's instinct well and truly kicked in, jumping between his lover and her sister just in time to protect Carla from a frenzied attack.
"That's enough!" He snapped back at the younger woman, although she was grieving, Peter had seen and heard more than enough from Kate. In his eyes, if she needed someone to blame, the last person on her list should have been Carla.
"Kate, why don't you come inside?" Johnny asked. He was standing outside of the pub, just feet away from where his daughters were stood. Peter hadn't noticed that he had been watching the drama unfold. He was appalled that Carla's own father hadn't thought to step in any sooner.
"Why are you siding with her?" Kate asked Johnny, turning round to face her dad. "She killed Rana!" She exclaimed, turning once again to face her sister, a look of nothing but venom in her eyes.
"I'm not siding with her, I just think that you should come in and let it go." Johnny explained rather diplomatically. Peter came to the conclusion in his own mind, that the only reason he had stepped in, was so that Kate didn't get into any trouble for assaulting Carla on the street.
"Not until she admits it. I want her to tell the truth for once." Kate replied, keeping her toxic gaze on her sister.
"She is." Peter insisted, defending Carla. He was still stood in front of her, determined to protect her. He was stood just slightly to the side, so that she could still see Kate, and Johnny standing at the front of the pub.
"I'm not talking to you." Kate told Peter.
"Let's go, love." He urged Carla, once again trying to lead her to number one. He knew that she didn't need the stress, and that her worry would be further heightened by the fact that she hadn't yet processed the news that they weren't just expecting one baby.
"Until she finally tells the truth, she's not going anywhere." Kate announced, attempting to push past Peter to get to Carla.
"Kate, that's enough now." Johnny warned, knowing that his daughter was spiralling out of control.
"Answer me!" The younger sibling boomed.
Carla turned to her sister, facing her with nothing but the deepest sincerity. "I didn't do it." She confessed. But she remained disbelieved by her sibling.
"Liar!" Kate screamed, as she launched herself at her older sister.
Peter, once again, stepped firmly in Kate's path, protecting his girlfriend from the emotional relative.
Kate continued screaming as she attacked the man. At first he tried to hold her at arms length, but he didn't want to hold her back so hard that he hurt her. In the end, after a couple of seconds, he let go of her, but still made sure that he was stood firmly in the way of his girlfriend. There was no way he was letting Kate get to her.
Johnny came and finally stepped in properly. He grabbed his youngest, and tried to get her to relent. She was determined. She was still hitting Peter, lashing out and using all available limbs. It's something that Peter would have gone through again in a heartbeat to keep Carla safe. The ambush didn't harm, nor hurt him, but it was something that shouldn't have happened.
The factory roof collapse, shouldn't have happened. Gary lying to the Connors, shouldn't have happened. Them believing it and Carla losing her family, definitely shouldn't have happened.
"Kate, stop it!" Johnny shouted, having finally managed to pull her away from the cabbie and attempting to make her listen over the noise she was making.
"No, dad! She killed Rana." She protested, wanting nothing more than to go back to the couple and get some sort of 'vengeance.'
"Then, she's not worth it." Johnny soothed Kate, as she nearly collapsed into her father's arms. He turned away from Peter and Carla without another word, and lead Kate back into the Rovers.
For Carla, hearing her father say those words felt like one million knifes through her heart. He didn't believe her, he had chosen to believe Gary and Kate. Carla struggled to contain her upset. She wanted to remain strong. She didn't want to seem weak, and she didn't want to get herself too worked up or stressed.
Finally, Peter managed to lead Carla into Ken's. As soon as they walked through the door, Carla knew that she had bigger things to worry about than her sister's abuse. She knew she needed a serious discussion with Peter, one that was uninterrupted and brutally honest.
"How did it go?" Ken asked as his son and the woman that was practically his daughter-in-law walked thought the front door. "Well?" He questioned, with Carla sitting on the sofa, Peter joining her after closing the door behind them.
"We found out what's making Carla so ill." Peter told his Dad, placing his hand on Carla's lower back.
"Is everything alright?" Ken asked, getting slightly concerned as the parents-to-be didn't seem quire as over the moon as he had hoped.
"It's twins." Carla revealed, as a beaming smile lit up Ken's face.
"Congratulations!" He told them.
"Yeah, thanks dad." Peter replied, looking at the expression on his wife's face, and realising that they needed to have a discussion about a few things. "Listen, there are a few things we need to talk about, so we're going to head upstairs." He told his Dad, as he rose from where he was sat and Carla followed his lead.
"Can you do us a favour though, Ken?" Carla asked, as Peter began to make his way out of the room.
"Name it." Ken smiled, still beaming with pride at the news that Carla and Peter were expecting again; being given a second chance after the tragedy that took place just five years ago.
"Don't tell anyone." Carla asked, with Ken taking Carla's hand in his two, wanting to reassure her that everything was going to be ok.
"The secret is safe with me." He smiled, as she placed her other hand over his, patting it gently as she gave him a small and uncertain smile in response.
"Thank you." She told him, before following Peter upstairs.
When Carla walked into bedroom, Peter was already sat on the edge of the bed. Carla still felt unwell, and the fact that she had just been told that she was expecting not just one, but two babies, was having an unwelcome impact on her emotionally, not just physically.
"Are you ok?" Peter asked her, noticing she looked paler than she had done that morning.
"What are we going to do?" She asked him exasperatedly as she sat next to him.
"I don't know." Peter told her honestly.
"One was enough to get our heads around, but two..." She began, trailing off.
"Don't worry." He tried to reassure her.
"How can I not?" She snapped back at him. "My family hate me, we're living with your Dad. I can't do it. I just can't do it." She revealed shaking her head. She was a mess, she didn't know what she was thinking, let alone what she was saying out loud.
"What are you saying?" He asked her. "You want to have an abortion?" He suggested, internally praying that wasn't what she had been building up to. They had come so far as a couple and now he'd had time to think about it properly he was excited about the prospect of becoming a father again, even if the news was far from expected. For him, being a twin and knowing what that bond felt like, it felt like a blessing. Although, from what it sounded like, his other half considered it more of a curse.
"Yes." She replied, running her hand through her hair and looking to the floor. "No." She backtracked, shaking her head. "I don't know." She told him indecisively, looking up at his face for a split second before putting her head in her hands. "Peter, this is such a big thing." She added, looking back at him.
"And so is saying that you want to get rid of our babies." He told her, disgruntled that her initial answer had been yes.
"Do you see any other way out of this?" Carla asked him exasperatedly. She was sick, tired and scared.
"Yeah, not having an abortion!" Peter shouted in response, rather childishly.
"Do you know what, if you can't talk about this like an adult, then I don't even want to have a conversation with you right now." Carla told him finally, storming out of the door and slamming it shut. Before he knew it, she was out of the front door too.
Rather than following her, Peter decided to give his partner some space. It sounded like they both needed it. This was a big decision, for each of them, and Peter knew he needed to consider all options. He also knew that at the end of the day, the decision was ultimately Carla's. It was her body - her choice to make. He sat on the end of his bed and sighed. Needing to do something, he went to the only person that would be rational and impartial, his father.
"Dad, it's all such a mess." Peter told Ken, coming into the living room.
"I heard you two upstairs." Ken sighed. "Surely, after everything you two have gone through, she doesn't really want a termination?" He asked. He had always thought that Carla would make an excellent mother, given half the chance.
"I don't think she does, she's just terrified." Peter answered, sitting on the sofa, placing his arms on his knees.
"Of what?" Ken asked, wondering if he could help in any way, if he knew what the issue was.
"Her family disowning her." He began, before sighing. "They pretty much already have. It's almost like because they blame her for Rana, she can't move on with her life because Kate can't." He told his Dad. Peter knew things were bad for Carla, and he regretted flying off the handle at her earlier. She was just scared. "It's being here, in Weatherfield. Her family are around every corner." He continued. "She was so worried at the hospital, you should have seen her, so concerned about the babies - both of them. Of course she doesn't really mean it. I just don't know what to do." Peter stressed, running a hand through his hair.
"Why don't you both have a fresh start?" Ken suggested casually, as if it was a simple decision to make. Deep down, Ken knew that Manchester was a toxic place for Peter, and it was bound to present the same issues for Carla
"How do we do that?" Peter asked, believing his father hadn't thought it through at all.
"Move away." He replied simply. "There are plenty of bad memories for you both here, and you said yourself Carla's family are giving her nothing but stress." He went on to explain. As he was talking, Ken noticed how his son was soaking up his words like a sponge. It was evident that Peter wanted to do right by Carla, and his unborn children. Knowing that it was less than likely that the couple could just up and leave, the pensioner made it easier for Peter. "Listen, I have some money saved..." He began.
"No Dad, we can't." Peter interjected, completely cutting his father off. He didn't want his dad bailing him out, it wasn't fair on him.
"At least humour me and mention it to Carla." He made Peter promise.
"If I can find her." He mumbled, looking to the floor. He regretted flying off the handle when Carla needed support the most.
"What are you waiting for?" Ken asked, which gave Peter the kick that he needed. He got up from the sofa and went off in a search to find his partner. He was going to make it up to her.
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