Usually update this on a Tuesday but I'm aiming for a Fade Into The Background update tomorrow so...

Peter woke up at eight am and he knew straight away that he wasn't on his Dad's old sofa. He was on one that was much comfier and one with a sweet scent that he instantly recognised. It was a scent full of love and one that he couldn't get enough of. He rubbed his eyes before opening them to see that he was in Carla's flat.

He was laying with his head rested on a pillow and he couldn't be one hundred percent but he was sure that Carla had stayed in his arms the entire night.

He remembered waking up in the early hours and kissing her on the forehead, thinking that she was asleep but then he felt her move against him and noticed that her hand had become entwined with his. He sat up properly as the sound of Carla's shower echoed through the flat and as he checked his phone, there were no new messages considering he'd been out the entire night and his Dad was the only one he had told that he was at Carla's.

It was a few minutes of so before Peter heard the sound of the shower stop and then another few minutes before Carla appeared with damp hair wrapped in a pale blue towel. She smiled sheepishly at him as she closed the bathroom door behind her and said,

"I'm not gonna lie… I were kinda hoping that if I stayed in there long enough, you might ave gone by now." She was slightly hung-over and slightly embarrassed from her antics from the day before and even though Peter had seen it all before, she was suddenly very aware that she was half naked in his presence.

"What and miss this?" Peter smirked, pointing at her almost naked form. "No way." Carla giggled at him and held on to her towel to make sure that it stayed right up and didn't make things any more embarrassing than they were already.

"Look... I'm really sorry about last night Peter…" She said, walking over to him but not sitting down on the sofa, where Peter was sat in awe of her almost glistening skin that was still wet from the shower. "It were probably the last thing you needed what with today being… today." Carla then felt a huge pang of sadness at the thought of what today was going to bring.

The past week and a half had been such a blur and everyone was still coming to terms with Deirdre's death, let alone the fact that today was her funeral.

"Honestly… I welcome the distraction." Peter said softly, his eyes totally stuck on Carla. He was worried about how he was going to get through today, especially as the wake was being held in The Rover's and there would be a hell of a lot of alcohol around.

"I really appreciate you coming over." Carla said with a guilty expression, "I can't help but think that you should probably ave been with your family last night though, I mean weren't they worried?" Carla asked with a guilty expression. She didn't blame Peter for staying with her last night, she knew from the moment that he had turned up at her place that he would have probably ended up staying there to take care of her.

He used to do it before they got together so now they were apart, why would things be different?

"I spoke to me Dad last night… he knew I were here. In fact he insisted I stay and make sure that you were alright." Peter assured as Carla stood still in front of him. "Are ya alright?"

"Well other than the fact that me boyfriend is a cheating son of a bitch..." Carla began but then she realised her problems were nothing compared to those of The Barlow's. "I'll be fine Peter... how are you doing?"

"Terrible." Peter said pointedly, There was a sad silence before Peter tried to get off the subject about today and asked, "So… d'ya remember much of last night then?" he asked, remembering how Carla had kissed him and how she had told him all about Nick and Leanne.

"Oh yeah…" Carla nodded, finally going to sit next to Peter on the sofa and not feeling so shy. "I remember everything… I weren't actually that drunk if I'm honest… even so, I apologise for drunkenly throwing myself at you like that last night."

"You don't have to apologise Carla…" Peter began but Carla shook her head adamantly and continued.

"Yes I do Peter… I ave to because as I said, it was probably the last thing you needed. The taste of alcohol being thrown at ya like that… It were selfish of me..." Carla said regretfully at first and then she smirked at Peter slightly, "Although you did sort of kiss me back before rejecting me."

Peter chuckled and nodded at her as

"Well can ya blame me?" Peter chuckled, looking Carla up and down again, smiling at her as she looked sheepish again. She couldn't understand why she was all of a sudden so shy in front of Peter, like being dressed only in a towel made her feel totally vulnerable. There suddenly an air of seriousness to the conversation when Peter stopped smiling at her. "It wouldn't have been right Carla…" he began but she shook her head at him again and said,

"Nuff said Peter… Honestly. I've had worse rejections."

"Oh please, you don't get rejections." Peter said as Carla gave him a reminiscent smile.

"Oh but I do… especially from you." She said, looking down at her hands, letting her damp hair fall in front of her face, thinking about the first time she had told Peter about her feelings for him, how he had gracefully rejected her and somehow not made her feel about two centimetres small at the same time.

Peter was also thinking about that night, that situation in fact was sort of similar to the one they were in now, Only Carla was the one with the partner this time and a hell of a lot had changed since then.

"Yeah well I've learnt from me mistakes…" Peter said reaching out and gently moving the hair that was now in front of eyes, away from her face. "Last night wasn't a rejection Carla… You were drunk... it was just a stalling tactic."

Carla looked up at Peter as he softly tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Was it now…" She said quietly as she leant in and met Peter's lips with a tender kiss.

He kissed her back without any hesitation this time.

She wasn't drunk and she wasn't as off limits as she had been before.

Even though she was technically still with Nick, it seemed like her heart truly wasn't with him and as he had been stupid enough to cheat on Carla, Peter felt like it wasn't a complete and utter crime to be kissing her like this.

This kiss was probably the first one they had shared since he had got back which he didn't feel guilty about.

Their embrace intensified as Carla moved closer to Peter and as his hand went softly around her neck, she was very aware that she was still dressed in a towel and a towel only and also that she technically still had a boyfriend as well.

Her feelings for Peter may not had changed since he had left but her ethics certainty had and even though she was planning to end things with Nick, she really didn't want to cheat on him with Peter.

"Peter…" She said, pulling away from him slightly and opening her eyes.

"Sorry." Peter said instantly, now feeling guilty for maybe thinking that this was what Carla wanted. He was trying so hard to ignore what was supposed to be happening today but as Carla had know pulled away from him, the reality of today was rushing back to him.

"No don't say sorry… I were the one who kissed you remember." Carla began and then she was interrupted by a knock on her door. She sighed and got up too see who it was. When she looked through the viewfinder she saw Nick looking anguished and stood in a black suit. She turned to look at Peter and rolled her eyes, she hadn't realised that Peter was near to tears and was breathing rigidly.

"Who is it?" he asked but Carla took him by the hand.

"Shhhhh!" She said, tugging him towards her bedroom.

"Are you just gonna leave him out there?" Peter asked as Carla closed her bedroom door as if she was closing Nick right out of her life.

"He only lives upstairs Peter, it's not like he's got far to go." Carla said assuming that Peter's intense stare was because he was waiting for an explanation. "I don't want to talk to him… not now." Peter wasn't really listening to her and was gazing around her bedroom. It was like he was in some sort of daydream. "Bet you never thought you'd get in ere again." She grinned but then her face dropped, as if she was finally catching onto his gaze. His body was shaking and he took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. "Peter…" Carla said, knowing that today's events were finally starting to sink in with him.

"I'm fine." He lied as a tear dribbled down his cheek.

"Oh darlin come ere." Carla said, offering her arms out to give Peter a hug. He sniffed hard as he walked over to Carla and let her put her arms around him.

"I still can't believe any of this is happening." Peter sobbed, his head rested on Carla's shoulder.

"I know… me neither." Carla said, her own voice getting croaky as Peter held her tight.

"I really don't think I can do this." he said clutching on to Carla for dear life.

"You can Peter...You ave to..." Carla said quietly, "We'll get through it together... just like we ave done all week."

There was another knock on her front door but neither of them heard it. After a while they both sat down on Carla's bed and she put her arm back around him and wiped his cheek with her other hand,

"I wonder how me Dad is coping." Peter said quietly, feeling guilty that he wasn't at home with his Dad and sister, helping them prepare for this horrid day. "And Tracy..."

"You should go to em Peter… go on." Carla said with a nudge, feeling bad that Peter was sat there, caught up in her drama with Nick instead of with his family.

"What about Nick? What if he is still there?" Peter said hoarsely genuinely thinking of Carla instead of himself.

"Oh don't worry about him." Carla sighed, getting up off her bed and pulling Peter up with her. "Come on... you're needed at home... If Nick is there n he starts questioning ya, just tell him that I don't want to see him."

"He's not going to be happy if he sees me come out of ere at this time of the morning is he?" Peter said as Carla opened her bedroom door. He imagined what Nick would be thinking if he saw him coming out of Carla's flat and even though he deserved it, Peter hoped that Nick wasn't out there when he left.

"Well he should have thought about that before he cheated on me shouldn't he." Carla said as she walked into her kitchen and put her kettle on. Peter nodded at her and amongst everything remembered that he had seen Nick and Leanne kiss a good few days before Carla had done and that she still didn't know about it. He knew that he should tell her, that he had to tell her, he really wanted to tell her and he really did try.

"Listen Carla I…" he began but he couldn't finish, he couldn't finish because he had a feeling that Carla would not be best pleased to find out that he kept it from her. He had a feeling she might kick off big time and he couldn't have that today.

Today he really needed her by his side. He wasn't sure how he was going to get through it without her, which is why when Carla turned and looked at him he changed tack said,

"Erm… think there is some space for you in the car… y'know if you wanted to come with us to the church." There was a car picking up The Barlow's and it had space for six, It was going to be Ken, Peter, Tracy, Amy and Simon so there really was room for another and Peter couldn't think of anyone else who deserved to be in that car more than Carla.

"I were going to go with Chelle but… yeah… If that's okay with your Dad I'd be honoured to go with you." Carla said, a little taken aback by what Peter had just said to her. She really did feel honoured and had to swallow hard to stop herself from crying because she didn't want to set Peter off again.

Unfortunately Peter was already on the verge of tears again and as he nodded at Carla, he felt another tear drip down his cheek. He tried to stop it but another one fell down Carla walked back towards him.

"Peter..."

"I'll be okay in a minute... I promise." he said, trying his absolute hardest to keep it together.

"I'm gonna talk to Nick later." Carla said nervously, "After the wake maybe... once I've done that n once today is done and dusted… maybe we could talk about us… a little bit."

Peter nodded dumbfounded, because he was unable to say anything. It was like his lips and brain weren't connecting like they should.

He had to just replay what Carla had just said to him in his head, just to make sure he had heard it right.

He couldn't quite believe that she was actually using the word "Us" to describe them again and as she smiled sadly at him and kissed him lovingly on the cheek all he could do was nod again and say,

"The car is coming to me Dad's at twelve."

"Okay…" Carla nodded, a little disappointed at Peter's reaction to the fact that she was even considering such a conversation with him. She then remembered that he probably had a whole load of other things on his mind and that she really shouldn't be so selfish. "I'll see you at twelve then."

"See you then." Peter said, and after another heartfelt hug he opened the door to Carla's flat so that he could go home and attempt to get ready for the day ahead. He was glad to see that Nick was nowhere to be seen and that he had obviously given up on Carla for now.

Peter didn't think he had the strength to put up with Nick's foolishness today and was sure that if he saw him right now, without anyone there to stop him from doing something stupid that the first thing he would do, would be something involving his fist.

Carla made herself a cup of strong coffee and took two painkillers and she typed out a text message that she intended to send to Nick.

She wasn't tacky enough to break up with him via text, no matter how much he had hurt her but she needed him to know that he couldn't approach her, not this afternoon, not until she was ready.

She had put it several different ways and almost gave up but after a while she settled on...

Nick… I really have to speak to you at some point but there is something else that I need to do first. I need to say goodbye to Deirdre so until I've done that... I just need you to give me some space. Carla

Carla seemed pretty satisfied with this message, it didn't say that things were over but it prepared Nick for a serious talk and as she pressed send, she hoped that he would really pay attention to what she had written.

She hoped that Nick would give her the space that she needed because today…

Today was going to be extremely difficult.