Just wanted to say that I am majorly sorry about my lack of updates recently. I've been very ill and actually ended up in hospital. I'm much better now and will be getting my updates back in order.

Also thanks to everyone who has reviewed this so far.

Peter Barlow tragically died almost seven days ago.

Two days after the horrific accident that he had been in.

He was doing really well at first.

Smiling, joking around and acting as if nothing was wrong.

Carla had kept to her word and hadn't let him out of her sight once, apart from when visiting time finished and they had to leave of course but they were back the next day as soon as it started again.

Other than all the obvious injuries that were on the outside, it genuinely looked as if Peter was going to be absolutely fine.

He was even up and about at one point too. He could only walk to the toilet and back but all the signs were pointing to a complete recovery.

Then it came.

The pain.

The dizziness.

It all happened so quickly, it was really no wonder that Carla didn't have a proper grip on reality.

One minute Peter was sat chatting away, his hand in Carla's, when he started to feel very light headed.

He had guessed it was because he hadn't eaten much over the past few days and that was all.

He didn't think it was anything serious.

The next minute or so, Peter felt his head was hurting but again he didn't pay any mind to it.

He thought it was just a headache and that it would go away in time.

The pain didn't go away and shortly after wards, Peter lost consciousness.

It wasn't for very long, it was a few minutes if that.

But it was long enough to scare the life out of his loved ones.

He woke up to find a sobbing Carla and Simon clutching each other tightly and his Dad and Tracy were stood watching, just as concerned.

The Doctor who had been called into the room, explained that Peter would have to have some more tests and that it might be possible that he had some bleeding on the brain, which he did.

The tests confirmed it and the Doctor said that they were going to rush Peter into surgery as soon as possible so that they could try and fix it.

The Doctor also explained that with any brain surgery came risks and that they should all be prepared… Just in case.

"Just in case."

Well it's one thing nodding along to the doctors advice and it's another actually taking it.

How on earth do you prepare your self for the death of a loved one?

Well the Barlow's all responded differently.

Ken was brave. He was petrified at the though of losing his son but said that Peter was in the best place and that the Doctors knew exactly what they were doing.

Tracy was scared. She said that she didn't want to lose her big brother and told him to fight his hardest to stay alive.

Simon cried. He said that his Dad couldn't die, that his Dad wasn't allowed to die, that he was sorry for the way he had been behaving recently and that he would change.

Carla...

Well Carla seemed to think that there was absolutely nothing to worry about. She said that Peter would be fine and that everyone was getting into a state for nothing.

Peter was prepped for surgery and taken down to the operating theatre within the next hour.

He hugged all his family and asked them all not to worry about and that he'd see them all soon.

Carla left a kiss on his cheek and nodded at his words, truly believing that he would be back in no time and that he would be fine.

He had to be fine.

This was Peter Barlow, a man who had been in hospital loads of times before and a man who had always come out shortly afterwards.

He was going to be okay.

He had to be.

Carla sat and told herself all of this as Peter was wheeled away in his hospital bed, he even gave them all a cheeky wink before going into the lift.

Peter wasn't fine.

He went down to surgery at five thirty pm and was pronounced dead at six twenty four pm.

The bleeding had become so severe in such a short amount of time and the doctors did everything that they could.

It was just not enough.

Ken, Tracy, Simon and Carla were all sat in the waiting area as they awaited news on Peter's surgery.

Time had really only just started to go on when Carla was finally starting to show how frightened she was about Peter.

Ken put an arm around her and told her not to worry but it was when Carla saw the surgeon that they were introduced to earlier, that she truly began to lose it.

She got up from her chair and shook her head in despair as he approached them.

She didn't know much about surgery but she knew that a Craniotomy, Which was the procedure that Peter was meant to be having, should take a hell of a lot longer than an hour.

Seeing Peter's neurosurgeon walk towards them so soon and with an apologetic expression on his face only meant one thing.

Carla doesn't actually remember what happened next.

If you were to ask her, she'd shake her head and say that she can't recall what happened from there on out.

Ken remembers though, so does Tracy and Simon.

As the Doctor uttered the words,

"I'm sorry... we did everything that we could." It was as if Carla's brain just stopped working and that her heart suddenly took her over.

Ken took a utterly distraught Simon into his arms whilst Tracy burst into a fit of tears but Carla remained rooted to the spot, almost in a complete blackout.

She didn't cry, scream, shout or do anything at first.

At first she just shook her head slowly.

She shook her head until the Doctor apologised once again and said that once the surgeons had cleared him up, they could see Peter if they wanted to.

It was a heart wrenching decision but they all agreed to see Peter together.

Even though she was in a state of complete shock, Carla nodded and when it was time she followed them all to see Peter for one last time.

Seeing Peter was what made Carla lose that tiny little smidgen of control that she'd had left on the situation.

She had barley made it into the room before she started howling inconsolably.

She hadn't even looked at him properly before she stated screaming,

"No! No! No!" over and over again.

She couldn't be stopped at first.

In the end, Ken and Tracy had to call a Doctor to see if they could calm Carla down.

Everyone was beginning to get a little worried but eventually Carla stopped shrieking.

It was Simon that did it, he went and put an arm around her and then she stopped. It was as if her voice just gave out and instead she just trembled in her step son's arms.

After they all said their goodbyes to Peter, The Barlow's were all lost as to what they should do next.

They hopelessly hung around the hospital for a bit.

Ken, Tracy and Simon were all as equally as distressed as Carla, they just showed it in different ways.

Simon didn't speak. He only said a few words when he absolutely had to and just stared into the space in front of him.

Tracy found herself bursting into tears uncontrollably at the most random times.

Ken, although he was utterly devastated, was once again the bravest.

He was the one who gathered everyone together. He was the one who drove to Peter's flat and he was the one who decided that they had to organise things.

He knew that there were processes that they had to go through in Portsmouth but also that they needed to go back home and sort out a funeral first, So after another night in Portsmouth they decided to go back to Manchester and sort out Peter's belongings another time.

Simon said that he wanted to take something with him, something of his Dad's to remember him by, he searched for a while and eventually he took Peter's favourite C.D's so that he could listen to his Dad's favourite songs, he also took an old T-Shirt as well.

Ken and Tracy both decided to take a few little things with them also and Simon watched as Carla stared at the walls in Peter's flat. She just shook her head and couldn't even bear to touch the items that surrounded her, so Simon decided that he'd choose something for her.

He was sure she'd regret not taking something and he didn't want that.

He scanned the room and then saw it.

He quickly picked up his Dad's leather jacket, which was over the side of the sofa and he decided to take it back to Weatherfield with them.

The journey back up north was silent.

Carla sat in the back seat, next to the window and also next to Simon.

Neither one of them spoke but when Carla heard Simon sniff hard, she reached out and took hold of his hand.

She gave it a little squeeze and they stayed sat that way until they returned back home.

Upon returning home, The Barlow's had gotten out of the car to find Michelle stood with Leanne. Simon ran towards his Mother and threw his arms around her.

"Oh... Si... I am so so sorry." Leanne cried as he sobbed into her arms. They embraced lovingly whilst Carla just stood still, shivering although it wasn't even cold.

She was almost in a daze as Michelle and Leanne gave their condolences to Ken and Tracy.

Carla was stood motionless in front of them but Simon suddenly let go of Leanne and handed Carla something.

"I… know you said that you didn't want something but I took this… for you." He said, holding his Dad's leather jacket out to Carla.

"Really?" She said, her throat dry so she had to cough once or twice after speaking. "I thought you took it for you... don't you want it?"

"No... I think you should ave it... I know you always loved it… I thought you'd want it." Simon said nervously. Carla nodded down at the leather jacket that was now between her fingers and as she stroked the soft leather, tears began to fall from her eyes once again. She then felt Simon's arms go around her as he said, "I think me Dad would ave wanted you to have it."

Carla nodded sadly and hated how much she had fallen apart over the past few days.

She hated that Simon was the one who was doing all the comforting and yet he was the one who had lost his Dad.

He should have been the one losing all control and even though he was clearly broken by the loss of his Father, he still seemed to have a sense of calmness about everything.

"Thank you Simon." Carla sobbed, as he held her close, he was crying now too and it was too much for Michelle and Leanne to bear as Tracy and Ken then started tearing up as well.

The pavement outside of Ken's house had now become a place of mourning.

After some more sympathetic words and sobs, Ken, Tracy, Leanne and Simon decided to go into Number one and get away from prying eyes. They invited Carla to come too but she said no.

Ken didn't like the sound of Carla's no, it worried him and he insisted that she come too but she just continued to shake her head and say that she'd be fine.

Ken wondered if she was maybe going to go and see Nick, so he left Carla too it and after one more hug he made sure that he said,

"Carla… you are always welcome here… anytime okay." Carla nodded at him as gratefully as she could and as he walked into his building, Michelle took Carla's hand gently.

"Carla… I'm…" She began but Carla just shook her head and said,

"I... don't want to talk about it... I just want to be alone… Chelle."

Michelle didn't want to leave Carla alone... at all but she also didn't want to force her way in, so she let her go up and into her flat alone.

Carla walked past various people from her building as she trudged up the stairs to her front door, they watched her as tears ran down her cheeks. They had heard what had happened and tried to offer up their sympathies but Carla just didn't hear them.

She just continued to walk towards her front door and when she was finally back inside the four walls of her building, she just threw her self onto the floor.

She had her head in her hands and her back up against her front door when she first saw Peter.

Or... when she thought she saw Peter again.

The sight of him standing in front of her, gave her the strength to stand up and wipe her eyes.

She was confused at first, wondering if this was maybe a bad dream or if she was starting to really and truly lose her mind but by the time Michelle had phoned that night, Carla was convinced that Peter was really there and in her flat with her.

"Carla… what can I say?" Michelle began, "I am so so sorry about Peter."

"It's fine Chelle… I'm with him right now… he's fine." Carla said, her tone was so convincing that it shocked and frightened Michelle both at the same time.

"Carla… what do you mean?"

"I mean he's sat ere… on my sofa."

"Carla… he's… dead." Michelle said, she was trying to be delicate about things but she soon found that being delicate with Carla did nothing.

"No… Michelle… I told you, he's sat right next to me." Carla insisted.

"No he's not Carla!" Michelle cried, attracting the attention of her husband Steve. "He's dead… you're in shock, you're obviously just seeing things."

"I'm not..." Carla said but Michelle was starting to panic now.

"Yes! Yes you are Carla! He died, he died in Portsmouth and he is not there with you!"

That was when Carla hung up.

She didn't want to hear anything else that Michelle had to say because as far as she was concerned, Peter Barlow was okay.

He was there, in her flat.

That was all that mattered...

Seven days later and Carla had finally taken in the fact that Peter was well and truly gone.

Michelle just sat and held her close. Her arms were around Carla protectively and she held on for dear life as she sobbed.

Michelle wasn't sure how long they were both sat there for.

She wasn't sure how long it took Carla to speak again but what Michelle did know was that when Carla did speak again, it was going to be incredibly hard to know what to say to her.

Michelle felt slightly useless, she didn't know how to comfort her.

How do you comfort someone who has lost the love of his or her life?

It was silent for a very long time and Michelle was beginning to wonder if Carla was asleep... but she wasn't.

"Do you believe in ghosts Chelle?" She eventually said. Breaking the long silence as she sat up straight and wiped her sore eyes.

Michelle shrugged nervously at her best friend and said,

"I… I dunno babe."

Carla nodded slowly and bit down on her bottom lip. She looked completely and utterly exhausted and like she was in desperate need of some sleep as she started to speak again.

"I was the same… I never believed… until I saw him."

"Are you sure he was a ghost Car…? I mean… you could ave just been imagining him." Michelle said awkwardly, not wanting to make Carla feel like she was judging her.

"He wasn't just in me head Chelle… he couldn't ave been… he was here… I felt him Chelle... It was like I could actually feel him touching me. I could feel his kisses, his breath on my skin... he was here Chelle... I know it." Carla said with a sad sniff, before laying back with her head rested on her best friends shoulder.

Michelle let out an exasperated breath, still not knowing what else to say to Carla right now.

She felt like such a terrible friend.

She felt utterly useless as Carla sat before her.

Michelle didn't realise that she wasn't useless at all, in fact she was almost the opposite.

Her presence was enough.

It was enough for Carla to feel slightly at ease.

"Carla… I'm finding it hard to know what to say to you... You were so great when Dean died and I'm just... rubbish." Michelle eventually began, Carla looked back up at her with tears in her green eyes and shook her head.

"Chelle… you don't have to say anything… and you're not rubbish... just sit with me eh?" Carla said softly, Michelle nodded as Carla leaned against her and they sat alone together in silence.

They sat there until much to Michelle's relief, Carla had finally fallen asleep.

Michelle got up and slowly and as quietly as she could so that she didn't wake Carla up and ran straight over to her phone, which she had left on the kitchen counter.

She didn't hesitate to call Nick.

"Hi." Nick answered gruffly, sounding like he was tired himself.

"Hi…" Michelle breathed, "Nick it's... happened."

"What's happened?" Nick asked, sounding this time as if he was holding his breath, sounding as if he hope he knew what had finally happened but not wanting to take any chances.

"She knows… she knows that he's dead." Michelle whispered as Carla started to stir on the sofa. She didn't wake up though and Michelle took a sigh of relief because she wanted Carla to get as much sleep as possible.

"Really?" Nick asked, "How?... Michelle how did you make her see?"

"It wasn't me… she said Peter's left her… that he told her it was time to go." Michelle explained.

"Oh… wow." Nick said, not knowing what to say to this news.

"She thinks she saw his ghost." Michelle told Nick down the phone.

"His Ghost." Nick repeated,

"Yes… she seems pretty sure of it." said Michelle.

"Well… who are we to say she didn't." Nick said with a sigh. "I'm just glad that she's finally understood what's gone on ere… has she… mentioned me… at all?" He asked hopefully and feeling slightly selfish as well but he couldn't help it.

"No… no she hasn't." Michelle said, almost hearing how disappointed Nick sounded in the breath that he'd let out on the other end of the phone. "Look… she's only just realised that Peter died… she's still processing all of this."

"I know… I know." Nick insisted. "Thanks for calling me Michelle and letting me know, I really appreciate it."

"No problem…" Michelle nodded, then she paused. "She's fast asleep right now, which is good but when she wakes… I'm thinking of giving her the..."

"Don't" Nick interrupted, his tone harsh now. "It's too soon..."

"Is it though?" Michelle asked, "Maybe it's the right time… maybe it's just what she needs to try and move on from this."

"Michelle we don't even know what it says… what if what's inside it upsets her?" Nick said worriedly.

"Nick… I really don't think there is anything bad in there… besides, she can't any more upset than she is now can she?" Michelle said, going into her handbag and pulling out a white envelope.

"I suppose not." Nick said with a sigh.

"I'll see how she goes when she wakes up… I wont give it to her unless I know she can handle it." Michelle said, knowing that Nick wouldn't totally agree with her but also knowing that he would be powerless to stop her.

"Fine." Nick said, although everything was far from fine.

In fact it looked as if things would never be fine again.

"Nick… as soon as she mentions you… I'll tell her you're desperate to be ere for her. Okay?" Michelle then added.

"Okay. Thank you Michelle… for everything." Nick said and then they hung up.

Michelle took a deep breath as she looked down at the envelope that was in her hand.

The envelope with a letter inside.

A letter, which was for Carla… from Peter.