Over in the Rovers, Steve had dragged an angry Peter into the back room, followed by a confused Johnny.
"What's happened" Johnny asked whilst stood in the doorway "Where's Carla"
"Carla" Peter lowered his head in shame. Steve sat him on the sofa, whilst Johnny stood in the doorway so he couldn't get out "She is so upset"
"I should go to her" Peter attempted to stand but Steve pushed him back down.
"You are not going anywhere, you need to calm down" Steve told him.
"Can someone tell me what has happened?" Johnny demanded, taking a seat at the table.
"Nick, knew where Carla was when she was missing" Peter started "He put her in a hotel room"
Johnny screwed his face up "Why didn't he tell anyone"
Peter placed his head in his hands. He could not bare the thought but had to tell Johnny, he lifted his head to say "he would keep her there and sleep with her"
"WHAT" Johnny shouted angrily.
"That is not true surely" Steve said in shock, taking a seat on the sofa and placing a supportive arm on Peter's shoulder. This was partly to keep him calm and sat down and partly for support.
"He is the lowest of the low" Peter shook his head "so I beat him up"
"Peter" Johnny scolded "I don't like what he has done but was hitting him the right thing to do"
"Probably not Johnny, but he took advantage of Carla when she was most vulnerable" Peter closed his eyes at the image "so I saw red, Carla couldn't even stop me from hitting him"
"Where is she now?"
"I have no idea, Steve bought me in here"
"I'll go and find her" Johnny told them.
"No I will go" Peter stood up but Johnny placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Peter, no offence but she might not want to see you right now"
"Ok" Peter signed "but you text me when you have found her" Johnny nodded in response and then was gone out the door and on the lookout for Carla.
Carla was distraught at what she had just heard. She couldn't face Nick and she didn't want to see an angry Peter. The only person she wanted was not here. She walked to the park and sat on a beach. Whilst sobbing, she pulled out her phone and called Michelle.
It went straight to answer phone.
"Chelle, I need to talk to you… (she broke into tears and cried down the phone) I want my best friend back. Something has happened and I need your advice and help. Peter has just lost his mind (sobs can be heard down the phone) I don't know what to do. Phone me back please Chelle"
Carla hung up the phone. She was crying. She didn't really know how to feel about the whole situation.
She didn't know how long she was sitting there before Johnny approached.
"How did you find me?" Carla asked as Johnny took the seat next to her.
"I saw Amy, she told me you were walking in this direction"
Carla released some more tears.
"Oh love" Johnny said, pulling her into him, giving her a cuddle. She just cried into him, she didn't know how long for but she cried with the support of her father.
Over on the street, Nick made his way home with the support of Tim. Tim had no idea what had happened but that Nick needed help and it had something to do with Carla.
Leanne opened the door to a faint knock at it.
"OH my God" she screamed as she saw Nick leaning against Tim, covered in blood and cuts on his face "What happened?"
"Peter Barlow happened, I don't know what it was about but he was very angry" Tim told her as he walked Nick in, laying him on the sofa.
Nick winced in pain and held his ribs, causing Leanne to gasp "He got a few kicks in too" Tim told her.
"What on earth was it about?" Leanne asked.
"I don't know, but I have to go, Sally will be wondering where I am" Tim made his way to the door.
"Thank for you help, Tim"
"Listen, Peter was pretty angry and Carla was stood by the side distraught, I have no idea what happened but it seemed very serious"
"Thanks Tim" Leanne nodded at him and shut the door. She took a deep breath. She moved to the sofa and sat on the chair opposite Nick.
"Why Nick?"
"Leanne, can we not do this now?" he pleaded "I am in pain and just want to sleep"
"I think you need to explain and you need to explain right now" she demanded.
"I am not doing this now, Leanne I have just been attacked and I don't need to be attacked by you" he knew that Leanne would probably leave him over this so he didn't want to tell her. He knew she would find out eventually but he didn't want to lose her right now.
"Oh right, I am not important then, everyone else knows what happened but not me, what does this have to do with Carla, have you been having an affair"
"No of course not"
"Nick I mean it you need to tell me now if you have cheated on me"
"Leanne I can't do this right now"
"Ok, I will just have to find out from someone else then" just like that she was gone out the front door in search of answers.
She marched straight over to the pub where Peter was still with Steve in the back room. Johnny had not returned with Carla but he had texted Peter to tell him he had her.
Leanne burst through the back room door.
"I need you to tell me what's happened and I need to know now" she demanded. She saw Steve sitting next to Peter.
"He is still so angry Leanne, I don't think he needs this from you know" Steve told her. Peter had his head in his hands. He didn't know how to deal with this.
"Steve, I need to know"
Peter looked up, directly at Leanne "Nick took advantage of Carla whilst she was having her episode, he hid her in a hotel and didn't tell anyone where she was" Peter took a breath "he then went back for various sex sessions whilst she was vulnerable" Of course Peter didn't know that for sure, but he wanted to tell Leanne and he didn't care how bad it sounded.
Leanne stood there in shock, she placed her hand over her mouth.
"Does that answer your questions" Peter stood up "now if you don't mind I would like to go and find my distressed girlfriend and make sure she is ok"
"Peter…. I" Leanne started but Peter had already left the room.
"Leanne, I think you need to go and talk to Nick" Leanne nodded, leaving the room.
Steve sighed and took his leave.
Carla and Johnny remained on that bench for most of the evening. It began to get chilly.
"I think we should make a move, love" Johnny said to her, with his arm still wrapped supportively around her.
Carla nodded.
They made their way back to the Rovers, Carla remained quiet the whole time.
Whilst she was away Peter had gone to their room to phone her key worker Scott. He knew Carla would need to talk to someone and Scott was the best person to guide them.
Peter was interrupted when he heard Johnny's voice from downstairs.
Peter immediately jumped up from the bed and ran down the stairs. He got to the door and slowly pushed it open. He didn't want to alarm Carla.
When he entered the room he saw a tear stained Carla sat on the sofa with Johnny faffing over her.
"Carla" he said with his hushed voice. She looked up at him and broke into tears. He practically ran over to the sofa to join her. He pulled her into his chest and let her cry.
She was so angry at him but she was so upset about the situation she didn't know how to handle it. She couldn't cope with shouting at Peter right now.
An hour later Carla was asleep in bed, she had cuddled Peter until she fell asleep. Peter made his way downstairs to Johnny who was sitting in the back room in silence.
"I can't believe this" Johnny said as he noticed Peter entering the room.
"He got what he deserved, I would have hit him harder if Steve hadn't grabbed me"
"Peter, you need to stop being angry and concentrate on Carla, she is going to need you right now, she is very upset"
"I know" Peter said placing his hand through his hair "I am going to be here for her"
"That's all I need to know"
Over at Nick's, Leanne had got home to him asleep on the sofa. She thought about waking him but she didn't think she couldn't punch him right now and he didn't need that. She went straight through to bed, she would talk to him in the morning.
The next morning, Carla woke to Peter watching her sleep.
"You don't need to watch me"
"I want to make sure you are ok"
"You can do that whilst I'm asleep can you?" Peter noted the sarcasm.
Peter gave Carla a concerned look "Listen I just need some time and space to think about what has happened"
"Carla you need to talk about it, not bottle it up"
Carla nodded. She made her way to the bathroom to shower. Peter sighed, she was going to need all the help she could get.
Peter listened to what she said and left the room to give her some space. He knew she was going to have words with him about beating Nick up.
Johnny went up to check on her instead. Carla heard a knock on the door, followed by "It's Johnny"
"Come in"
"I thought I would come and see how you were doing"
"I am ok" Carla lied.
"How about me and you go for a walk today, get some fresh air"
"Yes, that would be nice"
Johnny smiled at her, still stood in the doorway "I will let you get ready and then you can meet me downstairs"
"Is Peter down there?" she asked.
"Yes"
"Please get him to go on a shift, I can't see him right now"
Johnny nodded. He knew Peter wasn't going to take this well but it was what she wanted.
"Peter" Johnny said on entry to the back room, where Peter was reading the newspaper on the sofa, waiting for Carla.
Peter looked up.
"She has told me to tell you to go to work"
"What"
"She wants some space, Peter"
"Well what is she going to do all day?"
"I have offered to take her for a walk to clear her head"
"Of course you have" Peter was very agitated that she didn't want him right now.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, look I will go because she wants me too but she will have to talk to me at some point, please tell her I love her"
Johnny nodded. He waited for Peter to leave, then called up the stairs "he's gone, love"
Whilst on their walk, Johnny was keen to get Carla to talk to him. He was worried about how quiet she had been about the situation. He thought he would start with Peter.
"How are you feeling about Peter?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well you didn't want to see him much today, so it leads me to believe that you have a problem with him"
"It's not so much a problem, you are going to think I am silly" Carla began.
"Try me"
"Well, I have technically cheated on Peter, with Nick" Carla lowered her head in shame "then I think how can I think about what he did to me, if I have done the same to him"
"Carla, the two situations are completely different"
"Yes, but I still cheated"
"Carla, Nick took advantage of you"
Carla shook her head. She didn't want to hear it or talk about it. She couldn't yet.
"Peter loves you, he doesn't think of it as cheating, I am sure of it"
After a nice long walk around the park and back, they made their way back to the Rovers. Whilst approaching Carla noticed a taxi pull up outside.
Out of the taxi a very familiar and very needed person got out of the car.
"Michelle" Carla yelled, pulling her best friend in for a hug "I have missed you"
"I have missed you too, when you left that message on my phone I just had to come home" she told Carla truthfully.
"Let's get you in then" Johnny said, giving her a hug. He took her bag from the driver and followed the women into the back room.
Once, alone the two women caught up. Carla told Michelle how happy her and Peter had been running the Rovers. She told her about hitting Toyah and then she told her about Nick. This was the biggest revelation.
"What a snake" Michelle said "He is totally disgusting" Michelle took hold of her hand "How do you feel about this Carla"
"I don't know, on one hand I am grateful to know what happened some of the time I was missing but the other half of me is numb"
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone keeps telling me I was vulnerable when me and Nick slept together"
Michelle nodded.
"And that he took advantage of me"
Again Michelle nodded.
"Well it brings back feelings from Frank"
"Oh Carla" squeezing her hand tight "It is bound to bring back some sort of feelings, both men took advantage of you and your body"
"But that is also the thing, Nick hasn't said anymore, he only nodded to Peter when he asked if he slept with me"
"So you are wondering how and when"
Carla nodded.
"It is natural, Carla, you need to know every detail" Michelle said as she watched a tear fall from Carla's eye. "Oh babe, come here" she pulled her in for a hug and let her cry.
Peter stood behind the door, feeling completely useless. He needed to support his girlfriend, but how could he do that if she didn't want to talk to him.