Thank you so much to all of you who left comments for me or favourited this story. :-) I think this has taken me longer to update than previous chapters, so I hope you are still interested. Comments are appreciated if you have time to leave one, so yeah, I hope you enjoy. :-)

Part Seven.

Two weeks later and Carla and Peter were standing in the nursery that they had just finished decorating for their baby. The room was white and the cot was in the right hand corner of the room, it was a tatty teddy one and it had blankets in it to match. There was a white chest of drawers filled with all sorts of clothes that Carla had bought and she had bought a tatty teddy to sit on the top of them. By the cot was a cushioned rocking chair and although Carla had initially thought that she was getting old before her time in buying it, she knew that both her and Peter might be glad of somewhere comfortable to sit when they are knackered and they have a screaming baby to deal with.

Beside the chest of drawers was the Moses basket that Carla had bought, she had planned to have the baby's name in either pink or blue on the wall depending on what she had. Carla smiled when Peter walked over and wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissing her shoulder once. "You have good taste I've got to say."
"Well I'm with you aren't I..."
"So you have good taste in partners and interior design then."
Carla laughed "I'm not sure everyone would agree with that."
Peter shrugged "who cares about everyone else?"
Carla laughed quietly "I suppose you're right yeah... How did Simon like his room, I meant to get back but I had to re-arrange a deal for today. If we get this I'm hoping it will be the boost that we need."
"He loved it, thanks for helping with it; I know he's not giving you the easiest time of it lately."
"He just needs time Peter..."
"He's had enough time, he needs to get used to it. I think she's in his ear when he's at home and if I find out she is..."
Carla held his chin and made him turn to her "hey, you won't do anything. You go storming in there and that just tells him I'm behind it. He just needs a bit more time that's all, and he's better than he was. At least he eats the food I make now, rather than flinging it at me."
"Did he?"
Carla laughed "no, but he wanted to. Besides, he's as good as gold compared to some of the things I did. So, I'm not really one to talk."
Peter took Carla's hand and led her over to the chair, sitting down before he pulled her down gently into his lap. Peter wrapped his arms around Carla as he spoke up once again "tell me more."
"Do you really want to know?" she raised an eyebrow a little.
Peter nodded.

-
In a scruffy, run down council house, a raven headed girl of 12 was sitting at the top of the stairs as she heard her mum, a loud brass and drug dealer, shout at her new bloke to make sure he went to pay the gas. The new bloke was a drunk and Carla would have been surprised if he could manage to remember his own name in the stupor that he was in, let alone manage to pay the gas bill. It was with this thought that she smirked. Ever since he had arrived he had been horrible to her and her brother, her brother often went out but she was stuck in while he stumbled around the house and treated the place as his own. He was leeching off her mum and she had wanted rid of him for a long time, she knew that her mum was getting sick of him, and as Carla moved from the landing into her bedroom, she decided that today might just be her day to get what she wanted.

As the door slammed Carla checked out of the window that her mum had left the house and smiled on finding she had. After pulling her hair back she headed downstairs and smirked when the found the money was still on the table that her mum had left Dave the drunk, as she and Darren had named him. Carla checked the living room and on noticing that he was almost passed out, she took the money and slipped outside and got a few of the empty cans to put down with the others that were strewn across the living room floor. Although her mum did two different kinds of work, both illegal, they always seemed strapped for cash and even though £20 to some people was nothing, to them it was quite the opposite. After slipping the note into her pocket, she smirked and knew that when her mum got back to find the money gone and the extra cans there she would immediately put two and two together.

A few hours later, Carla had been napping when she woke to the sound of something smashing, she sat up slightly and it was then she heard the shouting coming from downstairs. Carla got out of bed quietly and tip-toed across the landing to the stairs, listening to what was being said. "you didn't pay it Dave; I've checked." was the shout Carla heard first.
"There was no money; I can't pay with thin air."
"There was money that I left on the table."
"I am telling you there was none there, Jackie."
As Carla's mum stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room she folded her arms over her chest as she turned back to Dave and prodded him in the chest and shouted once again. "You've spent it on booze again haven't you?" she screeched and Carla sighed, knowing that if her mum found out what she had done she would break every one of her fingers. She jumped when the door opened and Darren stepped through it, she hesitated for a moment before getting up, dashing across the landing as he took the stairs two at a time and grabbed her jumper within seconds. She struggled with him as he nudged her into her room and closed the door.
"What's going on?"
"They're fighting..."
"I think I managed to work that one out for myself, Car. I'm going to need a little bit more detail..."
"...Dave hasn't paid the gas."
"Right?"
Carla nodded.
"But that's not all, is it? There's something that you're not telling me..."
"She left him money but it disappeared…" Carla smirked and Darren raised his eyebrows before laughing. "You?"
She nodded and he wrapped his arm around her as she spoke "I never liked him, and that'll teach him for selling my bike."
"Get your coat, we're going out."
"Where? Where are we going?"
"Anywhere you want? The arcades?"
Carla smiled and nodded before heading out of the house with Darren, glad in the knowledge that by the time they got back her mum's latest fella should be gone for good.

Peter laughed as Carla finished telling him one of the stories from her childhood and ran his fingers over her back gently as he answered. "You were a sneaky little beggar; at least we'll know where the baby gets it from if that crops up. Only two months now..." Carla nodded, but fell quiet and it caused Peter to frown "are you alright love?"
Carla hesitated for a moment before whispering "I'm scared..."
"What of?"
"The birth, being a mum, what if I can't do it?"
Peter sat up a little and ran his thumbs over her cheeks gently, "Carla I think you will be the best mum this baby could wish for..."
Carla swallowed hard and tried desperately not to let unfallen tears escape, there was so much more she needed to tell him that she couldn't, she felt like it was going to choke her. It was a few moments before she managed to speak up with an answer "you will be there won't you?"
"I'll be with you every step of the way. This is normal you know, I think all women feel a bit like this the nearer it gets, don't get upset sweetheart." he kissed the top of her nose gently and Carla wrapped her arms around him for a cuddle. "Listen, I know we've had my dad and Deidre in the shop quite a lot but after the next couple of days they both have stuff on and aren't going to be able to take care of everything, and I really don't want to have to be working all of the time especially if you're feeling like this. So, I'm going to tell Frank he can buy 40% of the business."
Carla sat up a little and sniffed quietly before shaking her head "no... No don't do that Peter."
Peter frowned and shook his head a little in confusion "why not?"
"I've sorted it out..."
"oh, how?"
"I went to meet someone a couple of weeks ago and they agreed to take care of the shop for as long as we wanted. I know they can be trusted and they don't have a job so we are doing them a favour as much as they are doing us one..."
"Who is it?"
"Darren... My brother."
"Your brother who was in prison?"
Carla nodded "it was just a stupid mistake though and that's why he's finding it so hard to get work so I thought we could help him..."
"Even if I agreed to this, how come it's taken you until now to tell me?"
"well at first I didn't know if he would be able to and now he has agreed he's trying to find a flat or something to move closer to us, but he hasn't yet so I didn't think there was much point in saying until I knew for sure he could start."
"Well why doesn't he just stay here until he finds somewhere?"
Carla frowned "what?"
"Well if it's just going to be temporary, until he finds somewhere else and he's doing it to help us out then surely he could just stay on the couch or something? I want him to help sooner rather than later and if that means him staying here for a while then so be it. Besides, if he is going to be running my business for me I think it's only right that we get to know each other..."
"So, what you're saying is that I can call him and tell him the news and you will call Frank and tell him?"
Peter nodded "that's about the long and short of it yeah."
Carla smiled "thank you... I know I probably should have told you sooner. I've got loads on today with this meeting and everything but I will try and get around to calling him. If I don't I'll try and do it tomorrow and you can let him know what he needs to do while he's in charge."
Peter smiled and raised his hand to the back of Carla's neck to bring her closer for a kiss.

-

Frank had been in Underworld when he got a call on his phone from Peter asking him to meet him in The Rovers for a drink and after telling Hayley he would be out for an hour, he had gone over to road to meet his cousin. On getting into the pub Frank had found Peter sitting down at one of the tables having already got him a beer and himself an orange juice. After sitting down Frank had a mouthful of the drink before speaking "alright mate, what was so urgent?"

"It wasn't really that urgent but we've made a decision so I thought I would tell you straight away rather than leave it until later."

I'm guessing this is about the bookies?"

Peter nodded "yeah, we really appreciate the offer but, Carla's brother is struggling for work so she's told him he can run it for us as a way of getting back into things and it's not like you're strapped for cash, is it?" Peter joked, and Frank laughed along with him though inside his blood was boiling.

"I didn't know she had a brother."

Peter nodded once again "yeah he's not long out of the nick…"

"Oh, what was he there for?"

"Armed robbery I think, I'm not sure though. He was in Strangeways for about 7 years though so it's not for stealing penny sweets, is it?"

"I guess not… Do you really want him working there though? An ex-convict?"

"Well if it was anyone else I wouldn't but he's her brother and she thinks we can trust him, so I think the least I can do is give it a trial run."

"Well I hope it goes well for you mate I really do, the offer is still there is you need anything…"

Peter smiled and Frank nodded at him. "I've only got half an hour before I need to get back and I've got to go and speak to my dad so I'll catch you later yeah?"

Frank nodded "yeah catch you later mate."

Peter put his now empty glass onto the bar as he walked out and crossed over to go and speak to Ken before he needed to get back to work. In The Rovers, going back to work was the last thing that Frank felt doing and it was the last thing he had any intention of doing. He knew who was behind Peter decision to decline his offer of buying into the bookies and he was going to make sure that she regretted it. If Carla wanted to go out of her way to make things awkward then do would he, if she thought that things up until then were bad, he decided that they were a walk in the park compared to what would happen from then on.

After having a conversation with Peter in the pub, Frank had drunk a couple more Whiskey's before making his way out himself. He wasn't sure where he intended going or what he intended doing, but when Carla walked out of the factory and got into her car he smirked. He knew she'd had a meeting that morning and with her working less and less he was pretty sure that she would be going back to the flat. It took him only a millisecond to silently decide that he was going to have it out with Carla and let her know just what a big mistake she had made by making things awkward for him.

As far as Frank was concerned it was his way or no way and Carla was going to find that out. As far as he was concerned he hadn't done anything wrong, Carla had tried to make a fool of him and he had made sure that she hadn't. Although he was over the limit it didn't stop him from getting into his car and follow Carla, making sure there were a few cars between them so that he wasn't directly behind her.

On arriving at the apartment block Carla got out of the car and after locking it she walked to the main door, putting in the number to open them before walking on up to her flat. She let herself in, with no idea that she had been followed or who by. Carla closed the door behind her and leaned against it gently before putting her bag into the chair that was in the living area of her flat, placing her coat over it. She found that the further she was getting into her pregnancy the more quickly she was getting tired and the less she was getting done. She could have quite easily stayed in bed all day long, though she had kept that little thought to herself. When there was a knock at the door, Carla turned around and let a small smile pass her lips, guessing that it was Peter who had forgotten his key, she opened it and on finding Frank she pushed the door closed. However, she was stopped from closing it properly when he put his foot against it to stop her. Frank pushed the door hard and knocked Carla off balance a little, taking advantage of it as he stepped through not the flat as he closed the door behind him. Carla took a step back and swallowed hard before she spoke. "You shouldn't be here, get out."
"I think me and you need to talk."
"No we don't. Now leave."
"do you think that you're being clever, Carla."
"Am I supposed to know what you're talking about or are you going to give me a clue?"
"Peter, the bookies, me buying it, you twisting my cousin around your little finger."
"I haven't done that at all... He turned down your offer, get over it."
"For your brother, so don't try and make out like you had nothing to do with it."
Carla raised her eyebrow a little "did you really think I was going to back that little idea so you could worm your way in even further?"
"You better change his mind."
Carla shook her head "no way"
Frank stepped closer and Carla took a step back "I'm not asking you, Carla."
"Get away from me..." the strength that she had been trying so hard to muster up seemed to drain away as he approached her and she knew that he was well aware of what he was doing. Whenever he approached her she was taken back to that night and although it had happened more times than she would have liked to admit, the memory was never any less terrifying.
Frank shrugged "or what?"
Before Carla could answer her breath was quite literally taken away when a pain ripped through her stomach. Carla put her hand to her side and Frank smirked, if he didn't have the upper hand before, he knew he did now.