Thank you to everyone who left the lovely comments. It's taken me longer than I thought to post this chapter but here goes. :-) I hope you enjoy it, please leave a comment if you have time. :-)

Part Eleven.

The following day, Carla had just had a bath and changed into a lemon colored pyjama's set and had bathed Bailey with Peter. She was sitting on the couch, cuddling Bailey close to her and she turned around when Peter spoke. "Car, do you mind if I go for a drink? Your Darren wants to go for a couple and I want to talk to him about the Bookies."
"I think you two have got a little bromance going on that you're just trying to play down in front of me."
Peter laughed "well there was something I needed to tell you."
Carla smiled and nodded "go in then, just don't be back too late."
"I won't be, you know I won't. I love you."
"I love you too..." she leaned up to kiss him and smiled when Peter placed a gentle kiss on Bailey's forehead. "Night night little man."
"Go on you soppy old sod."
"I have more than one problem with that comment."

"Why? It's all true."

"Apart from the old bit…"

Carla raised her eyebrow a little and shook her head. "I'm not sure about that one lover."

"At least pretend to be. I could get really touchy."

"I thought it was only women who were supposed to get touchy about their age?"

"No, us men can too, you know. I might be deeply sensitive about it…"
Carla laughed and kissed Peter once more before he picked up his leather jacket, ruffled her hair and walked out of the flat.

-

It was around twenty minutes later and Carla was sitting talking to Bailey on her own, making the most of having him home. "Where's daddy gone hey? I think he's off down the pub with Uncle Darren." she smiled and placed her finger in his hand gently, her smile growing wider when she felt him hold onto it. She had not long fed Bailey his bottle and gave him a dummy before rocking him gently as she waited for him to nod off. She silently wondered what she had done before she'd had him and found herself unable to imagine her life without him now. Carla was silently deciding what she should do when he went to bed, she was glad that Peter and Darren were getting on and though she'd had her doubts at first, she was glad that he had come back into her life. She ran her hand over Bailey's cheek gently as he began to nod off and turned with a small smile when she heard a key in the door, guessing Peter had changed his mind about going out. "Shhhh, Peter he's almost..." she stopped dead when Frank walked through the door and got up from the sofa quickly. Well, as quickly as she could with a tired baby in her arms. "How... What..." she stuttered, swallowing hard when she found her throat suddenly very dry. "Where did you get that from?" she questioned, referring to the key he had used.
"Be quiet Carla, you don't want to wake him up, do you?" Frank stated smugly, completely ignoring the question she had asked.
"Get out."
Frank laughed and shook his head, closing the door properly almost to emphasize his point. "No, you and I have things to talk about."
"No we don't, I want you to leave right now."
Frank shrugged "we don't always get what we want though, do we?" he stated, before walking around to sit down on the couch. "Go and put him to bed."
Carla had thought about arguing with him but she knew that it was pointless to do so. It would wake him up and that was something that she wanted to try and avoid. She sighed quietly and turned, walking into her room to put Bailey in his cot. Carla and Peter had decorated the nursery for him but they had decided for the first few weeks he would stay with them in their bedroom. Carla placed him down gently and made sure he was tucked in; she kissed him on the forehead and whispered that she loved him before turning around. On walking back out into the living area of the flat she folded her arms over her chest in a defensive manner and spoke once more, her told cold and sharp. "I don't want you here."
"Sit down."
"No."
"I'm not asking you Carla. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Carla hesitated for a moment before sitting down on the couch, making sure there was a large gap between her and Frank. "What do you want?"
"I want to know if he is my son."
"He isn't..."
"well you we're never going to admit it were you?"
"Peter is his dad."
"There is a 50% chance Peter is his dad."
Carla bit down on the inside of her mouth and shook her head a little, she knew it was daft but saying it out loud made it all the more real and she hated it. She hated the thought that Bailey could be Frank's and it killed her a little bit more on the inside every time it was mentioned. It was moments before Carla's walls went up and she smirked, scoffing as she shook her head a little before speaking. "No, he isn't so I suggest you get off my couch and out of my flat before I call your girlfriend and call Peter and tell them just what you're like and what's gone on." she snapped, getting up off the sofa. When Frank did the same Carla felt her heart rate speed up, she raised her eyebrow a little and he took it as a challenge, approaching her with two large steps he grabbed either one of her shoulders and she pushed him back roughly. "That was one thing I've always liked about you Carla, how feisty you are."
Carla shook her head a little and took a step away from him but was stopped when he grabbed hold of her arm. "If that kid is mine I want access."
"He isn't. I don't know how many times you want me to tell you." She shouted, and though she had tried to prevent it, the desperation that she felt was seeping through into her tone.
"You are going to go in there and get a swab from that child and give it to me."
"No, I'm not..."
"I am warning you, if you don't I will and I promise you if you make this anymore awkward for me you will regret it." he snapped, pushing her back against the kitchen counter harshly. "I'm just about sick of hearing you." Frank smirked and moved his hand lower before forcing it between her legs which caused Carla to gag, pushing against his chest to try and free herself from him, though it seemed as she was losing strength he was gaining it. Frank leaned closer, so close that Carla could feel his breath against her skin, causing her to wretch. "But I could shut you up in a second if I decided to. Now you and me both know that regardless of how much you threaten me you'll tell Peter, you won't. I'm not scared of your little boyfriend Carla, so if you want to ruin your relationship then you go ahead. I don't really care. What I am bothered about is whether I have a son. If not, we'll have to make sure that next time I do get one."
Carla was powerless to tears from cascading down her cheeks, terrified at the prospect of history repeating itself. After a few moments Carla managed to choke out a sentence though her voice was nowhere near as strong as she would have liked it to be. "Please, please don't..."
"Go and get the swab."
Carla nodded "I will just let go..."
Frank pushed her backwards and let go, running his hand over his hair before speaking up once again. "Go on then."
Carla gave a small nod before getting a cotton bud from the kitchen, walking through into her bedroom; she sat down on the edge of the bed and wanted to weep. She didn't in any way want Bailey to be Frank's, but what he had said and ringing in her ears making her feel sick to the stomach. She was so scared at the prospect she couldn't even put it into words, and she was silently wondering how much longer she could go on and keep it to herself. Carla decided she would rather take on Frank than to risk getting Bailey involved with him, she wanted to protect him as much as she could and it was with that a thought occurred to her. She turned to check that Frank was still in the living room and took a swab of her own DNA from inside of her cheek. Carla stood up on shaky legs to walk out of the bedroom, though was stopped when she found Frank in the doorway. "Here…"

"Do I have mug tattooed on my forehead?"

Carla shook her head "no…"

"Then don't treat me like one." He snapped, approaching her quickly before holding her chin tightly.

"Go and get another one of them and do it properly." He knocked the cotton bud from her hand roughly and threw her head back. Carla swallowed back sobs that were threatening to choke her before making her way out of the bedroom. After doing as he had told her she hurried back in, not wanting to leave him alone with Bailey for a moment longer than she had to. Carla stepped past him cautiously and leant down to take the DNA sample from her son. After she had done she had barely stood up when Frank snatched it from her and put it into a plastic bag and then into an envelope. Frank walked out of the bedroom and back into the kitchen, going through cupboards as Carla checked on Bailey once more. She heard Frank speak as soon as she stepped out of the bedroom, closing the door too once more.
"Why haven't you got any drinks in here?"
"Why would we, Peter doesn't drink."
"You do."
"Not in here." she sighed "you have what you want... Why don't you just go."
"Well I don't have everything I want..."
"Get out, Frank."
"Alright I'm going, I'm going. I'll let you know what the results say."
"Don't bother. I know what they're going to say."
Frank smirked "of course you do." he turned to leave and she spoke again, she wanted him out as soon as possible but at the same time she didn't want to risk anything like what was going on at that moment in time happening again. "Give me the key."
"No, I think I'll keep it a little longer. You know, just in case..."
Carla shook her head a little though she didn't say anything else, she knew that he would keep it if for nothing else than knowing that she wanted it. When the door closed she moved over as fast as was possible to make sure that the door was locked with her own key, and the chain was on. She pushed her hair back gently before sliding down to the floor with her back against the door. She had liked to think that she was strong but with the most recent events in her life she was beginning to think differently. The thought of telling Peter kept coming back to her and she was seriously considering it, she knew that if Bailey was Peter's she probably would. But, if he wasn't she knew that not only would it be harder to keep a secret, the more she would want to keep it a secret. Carla knew that in the end she would have had to have had a DNA test done on Bailey, but she had wanted to do it in her own time. She hadn't wanted Frank involved but he had made sure that neither of those things were going to become a reality for her. She had thought about lying about the test if she'd had it done and the result wasn't what she wanted and although Frank had made comments about her child being his, she had never thought he was going to follow them up. Taunt her with them, yes. But never had she imagined him telling her that he wanted access. Now thinking back she guessed it was naïve of her after everything else that he had done, but it was true and she knew she might be able to lie to the rest of the world, but not herself.

-

Carla went to bed not long after Frank had gone, she was unsure whether she would be able to settle, but knew sitting up going over and over what had happened would do her any good either. She had been in bed for around 20 minutes when she heard the door open once more and her heart went to her mouth. She turned around quickly and stepped to the doorway of the bedroom, making sure she was in the shadows. She waited for something else to happen but sighed in relief when she heard Peter's voice. "Carla? Open the door..."
Carla walked over to the front door and took the chain off before letting him in. She closed the door and locked it once more. "Why was the door locked love, is everything alright?"
Carla nodded "yeah, I must have just out the chain on without thinking."
"Did I wake you up?"
Carla shook her head "no I had just gone to bed."
"Is Bailey asleep?"
Carla nodded "are you coming to bed?"
Peter nodded and took hold of Carla's hand, walking through into their bedroom. It was only moments later that Carla climbed back into bed and Peter undressed down to his boxers before getting in beside her. Carla shuffled a little closer to Peter who wrapped his arms around her for a cuddle.
"You know, no matter what happens I love you, don't you?"
Peter frowned "why? What's going to happen?"
"I'm just saying..."
"I love you too." he smiled and kissed her on the top of the head, totally unaware of what was going on in Carla's head and the emotional turmoil that she was in.