:)

Thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter!

I'm glad you all enjoyed it and let me tell you how fun it was to finally write a kiss.

Oh! I saw an advert for this weeks Corrie this morning. Even though I knew that Peter comes back, I still cheered at my Tv screen when I saw him.

*Prays for a carter scene*

It was Sunday Morning, Carla and Michelle was sat in Roy's Rolls for breakfast. Carla was sat with the same silly grin on her face that she'd had since she'd woken up and when Michelle had started ranting about a client of hers, Carla still couldn't help but keep smiling.

Roy came over with their drinks and placed them onto the table, Carla gave him a very pleasant smile and said an equally pleasant,

"Ta very much Roy."

"So... How were the fireworks last night? Amy said you lot had a great time." Michelle asked, busy stirring sugar into her cup of coffee. She could tell by Carla's very cheery disposition that the night must have gone well.

"It were so much fun." Carla said still grinning like a Cheshire cat. Everything about last night, just made her want to smile idiotically. Simon and Santana and their first kiss, watching the fireworks with Peter and Tracy as if they were all a proper little family and obviously her impromptu kiss with Peter was playing a huge part in her good mood too. She lifted her coffee cup up to her lips and took a sip as Michelle did the same. She couldn't believe she hadn't told Michelle about it yet, they'd been sat together for a good fifteen minutes by now and from not being able to hold it in any longer Carla eventually blurted out "I kissed Peter last night."

"What?" Michelle cried, a little loudly and almost chocking on her coffee in the process, spraying it all over the table and almost all over Carla. Various people watched as Michelle had caused quite the scene with her outburst. Carla laughed as she handed Michelle some tissues so she could clean her self up. "Thanks." Michelle laughed as she took them off Carla so she could wipe her self down.

"Talk about an over reaction, I mean are you really that surprised?" Carla asked

"Well I always knew it would happen eventually, it's just I thought when it did I would ave to force the information out of ya."

"What you on about Chelle? I tell you pretty much everything?" Carla frowned, Michelle shook her head at her best friend and said

"Yeah eventually you do but you usually like to wind me up for about an hour or so before hand." Michelle said with a grin.

"Well that so won't be happening this time, Michelle I'm so happy, I've been finding it so hard not to run down the streets screaming about it." Carla said contentedly, still unable to remove the dopey look she had on her face,

"So go on then, what happened? I want every detail no matter how dirty." Michelle said excitedly as Roy brought over the bacon sandwiches they had both ordered too.

"Thanks again Roy." Carla said smiling at him gratefully, Michelle smiled too as he returned back to the kitchen.

"Go on then I'm all ears" Michelle said intrigued.

"Well we'd had the most magical evening..." Carla began dreamily

"Magical?" Michelle scoffed

"Don't laugh Chelle, it really were, the fireworks were amazing, we went on the rides and we met Simon's little girlfriend's family, It was honestly perfect." Carla said frowning at Michelle who still looked highly amused at Carla's choice of the word "Magical."

"Okay, I'm sorry… go on then, make with the kiss." Michelle said impatiently.

"Long story short, he walked me home and I'd kinda got the feeling that he'd been planning on kissing me all night but it was almost as if he were putting it off." Carla said, "So in the end I just went for it and kissed him instead, he were well surprised."

"So... Then what?" Michelle asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well we kissed again, then I went home, he went home and that's it." Carla said picking up her bacon sandwich and taking a huge bite. Michelle looked stunned as Carla swallowed down part of her sandwich.

"Seriously? You and Peter kissed... and that's it?" Michelle exclaimed, unable to imagine how either of them had left it there.

"We sure did, why what did you think had happened?" Carla asked, although she could tell what Michelle was thinking, all it took was one bit of eye contact before they both started laughing simultaneously at the thought.

"I'm not gonna lie Carla, I'm surprised that you didn't invite him up for some bedroom action, I mean this is you and Peter after all." Michelle said after they had eventually stopped laughing.

"Bedroom action?" Carla exclaimed "Honestly Michelle what kind of girl d'ya think I am?" She said shaking her head in disappointment, there was another raised eyebrow before Carla and Michelle had started laughing loudly again.

"So what does this all mean? Are you two back together then?"

"No… I don't… erm I don't think so." Carla said awkwardly, "I mean we never talked about anything like that."

"Well don't you think you should talk about it? I mean d'ya wanna get back together with him?" Michelle asked,

"I dunno." Carla shrugged half-heartedly

"You dunno?" Michelle said with an eyebrow raised "Carla come on…"

"I don't know Chelle, I mean half of me wants to run over to his place and get my husband back and the other half of me wants me and Peter to stay just as we are because we've been having the best time together and what if we get back together and it's not the same?"

"Not the same? Carla you are pretty much a couple as it is, I mean you practically see each other every day, you cuddle, you tell each other everything, you even kiss each other now… I guess the question you ave to ask your self is, do you trust him enough to get back with him?" Michelle said as Carla looked down at her bacon sandwich and fiddled with the crusts.

"I think so…"

"You think so, that isn't a yes Carla."

"Yeah well it's close enough right? I mean I'm not naïve enough to think that one kiss is gonna erase everything we've been through." She eventually said and then she looked back up at Michelle "I guess I'll never know how much I trust him unless I try though right?"

"That's true but I do think you both need to talk about this before you rush into anything, there's bound to be a lot of things that you both want to say to each other." Michelle said

"I hate talking about it though… any of it, it's too hard, why can't we just go with the flow y'know, see where this takes us?" Carla said although she knew that this probably wouldn't be the best way for her and Peter to do things. Michelle shook her head at her and sighed

"I don't think that will work but you know what it's your decision and I'm sure you know what your doing, I mean I'll give Peter his due, it's been six months since he's been back and every time I see the pair of you together, his attention is completely and utterly focused on you, he's totally besotted with you." Carla looked a little unconvinced by this comment so Michelle continued "I'm serious Carla, besides He hangs out with Steve a lot where else do you think I've got this information from?" She asked, Carla shrugged and ate some more of her sandwich before eventually looking at Michelle intently and asking her,

"Michelle… what do you think? Do you think we should give it another go? Do you think I'm moving too fast? Do you think we should just be friends… help me." Michelle chuckled at all of Carla's questions and shook her head at her,

"Look Carla, as I've already said, I definitely think the pair of you need to sit and talk all of this through." Michelle said then she smirked at Carla and said with a chuckle "I gotta say though, you two pretty much act like a couple anyway so you might as well get back together and get some good sex out of it." Although she had a little titter at it, Carla chose to ignore this comment of Michelle and after they had finished their breakfast, they spent the rest of her Sunday in the Rovers with chatting away with Liz about all sorts.

Carla had been hoping that Peter might have popped in but she'd later found out from Tracy that he and Ken had been on a trip to see some distant family member, by the end of the night Carla had decided she was going to just go with the flow, She didn't want to make any decisions about the future right now and she just wanted to have fun with Peter, just like she had been doing for the past six months.

Monday morning came and Carla still hadn't seen Peter, She called him up when she had got home last night, to wish him good luck for his first day at work and they said they would maybe meet later to talk. This didn't happen though as Peter stayed very late at his new job because there was a lot for him to learn and then he did the same on Tuesday and Wednesday as well. By Friday Carla and Peter still hadn't seen each other because Carla had also been extremely busy at the factory as they had two tight deadlines that they had to get done and it seemed as if all of her staff were on a go slow all week.

Carla and Peter had both kept in touch via their phones and text messages but it was beginning to feel as if someone was trying to keep them apart and neither of them had mentioned the kiss that they had shared last week either.

So on Friday morning Carla'd had enough, she got up extra early, put on her tightest black jeans and was at Number one Coronation Street by eight thirty am. Peter came out of his Dad's house shortly afterwards and found Carla practically on the doorstep, She was smiling at him adoringly and carrying a cup of coffee that she had got from Roy's.

"Hey Stranger…" She said amorously, as she handed him the cup of coffee.

"Hello." Peter said not knowing what to do with himself, He was thinking about maybe giving Carla a quick peck on the cheek but she started talking straight away anyway, not giving him much of a chance to do anything.

"I know I was on about you getting a job but if I'd ave known it would ave taken up so much of ya time I might have reconsidered." Carla joked as Peter took the lid of his coffee so he could take a sip.

"I know, it's only for this week though just while I get used to it all, I'm definitely gonna finish early today though." Peter said firmly because whilst he enjoyed his new job he was determined to get out of his office at a decent time tonight.

"So does that mean we are still on for tonight then?" Carla asked with her head on one side intently.

"Tonight?"

"Yes, We were going out to celebrate your new job? Remember?" Carla said a little peeved that Peter might had forgotten.

"Oh yeah tonight..." Peter said but he actually had remembered. He'd just kept quiet on the matter in case Carla had of been the one who had done the forgetting and then he would embarrassed himself with bringing it up. He was secretly delighted that Carla had remembered. "So what time is this shindig then?" Peter asked putting the lid back on his hot drink.

"Well I was thinking we could meet at that nice little Italian restaurant in town at around eight?" Carla said "Just me and you…" she smirked just in case Peter got the wrong idea

"Sounds good to me." he nodded "Hey, If it's just me and you does that make it a date?" he asked edging at little closer to her so that their faces were practically touching.

"No…" Carla said shaking her head but she was still smiling at him seductively "It's just two friends going out for a spot of dinner… but if those two friends end up going home together afterwards then... so be it." Carla said with a wicked grin. Peter nodded at her understandingly and said

"Oh I see." He was smiling at Carla alluringly, almost unable to control his excitement.

"Eight o clock then." Carla said and Peter nodded at her.

"Can't wait." Peter said leaning in as if her was going to kiss here right there and then, only at the very last moment as Carla went to close her eyes, Peter just took another sip of coffee instead, without taking his eyes off of Carla. She rolled her green eyes at him as he smirked smugly at her.

"Tease." She sighed frustratedly and she then began to walk off in the direction of the factory.

"Thanks for the coffee." Peter called after her. Carla turned and gave him a quick wave before continuing on her way to work.

Carla was glad that she had something to look forward to, as she knew the day ahead at work was going to be a difficult one. They still hasn't finished an order that was due that very same day and it all had to be packed and sent off with Kirk by at least three o clock in the afternoon so that he could get it there in time. There was far too much chatter and messing around in the factory for Carla's liking so she made sure that she laid down the law with her staff and said no one does anything but stitch until all the knickers were done, She'd even made Sally get on a sewing machine to help, much her disappointment.

It was a stressful day but they eventually got everything done in time and sent the boxes off with Kirk. They already had another order that they needed to start working on and Carla decided that there was no time like the present. By the time it got to five o clock everyone was glad to see the back of the factory including Carla. She set off home to get herself ready for her "non date" with Peter. She knew that they had both been kidding themselves with the whole friends thing now and that they had defiantly crossed that line with their kiss last week. She decided that if Peter wanted to talk properly about things then she would go through it, for his sake but if not, then she would just leave things as they are for now.

Carla called the restaurant to make reservations, She went to book herself a cab for half seven with Street Cars and then she went home. She'd had a long shower and then she pondered what to wear for almost an hour, She tried on and discarded almost a dozen outfits and in the end she chose a brand new khaki green fitted jumpsuit and some a pair of black heels that she had always loved. The jumpsuit had a rather low cut front and was clung to all the right places so Carla felt like it was more than appropriate for tonight. She definitely wanted to impress Peter but still wanted it to be a casual type of evening although she was beginning to get nervous the closer it got to leaving. It was only when she picked up her phone to call Michelle that Carla saw it was almost half seven.

"Crap!" she said texting Michelle instead as she didn't have time to talk and she was supposed to be meeting Peter at eight. The text said.

"I'm waiting for my cab, why the hell am I so nervous? HELP ME?"

Michelle had texted back almost straight away and said

"Babe don't be nervous, this is Peter Barlow… your husband, just try to relax for god's sake. xxx"

Carla took a deep breath, knowing that Michelle was right, She quickly ran a straightener over her long hair as her buzzer went and her cab was here. Carla sighed wishing that she hadn't spent so long choosing what to wear, She chucked her make up bag into her handbag so she could do it in the cab on the way into town. She was sure that Peter would have driven there and that they would have been going home together so it didn't make sense for her to drive as well which is way she had ordered a cab.

"Hi Steve." She said as she got outside putting her hooped earrings in as she spoke and got into his cab, Steve raised an eyebrow and smirked when he saw her.

"Hiya" he said and he looked at the address he had been given earlier "So... are you going to be meeting anyone special at this posh restaurant?" He asked although he had spoken to Peter earlier on and it was the first thing that came out of Peter's mouth.

"I might be..." Carla said as she got her make up bag out, She gave her face a quick powder and she hastily put some lip-gloss on her lips. She was overall quite satisfied about how she looked but she wished that she hadn't of had to rush so much as she actually had butterflies in her stomach now. She had no idea why she was nervous as she'd been out with Peter plenty of times since he had been back but when she thought about it they had never actually been alone in a restaurant since before they had broken up.

Whilst in the cab Carla received another text message from Michelle.

"I just wanted to say that I hope you've calmed down & that you and Peter ave a good time tonight xxx"

"Still nervous but thanks anyway, Oh btw your husband would ave to be me cab driver wouldn't he? The man has literally not stopped talking since I got in the car x"

"Ha ha, he just texted me actually, which he knows I hate, texting whilst driving. Anyways he said you look absolutely gorgeous and that you're gonna knock Peter's socks off, so please Carla don't even worry about a thing. xxx"

"Awww aint he sweet, He texted whilst at a red light if that makes it any better. Gotta go now we're almost there. Will fill you in on everything tomorrow. Love ya loads x"

"Tomorrow eh? Ha ha okay then. Love you too xxx"

Steve stopped outside the restaurant at almost five to eight. Carla put her phone away and glanced into the restaurant as it began to rain heavily, She took another deep sigh and rolled her eyes.

"Great, I avent even got me umbrella" She said miserably.

"Hey cheer up you, it's only a bit of rain." Steve said turning to her, "D'ya want to wait in ere until Peter arrives?"

"I don't think I actually said it was Peter that I was meeting?" Carla said grinning.

"Oh please, I saw him earlier and he couldn't wait to tell me about tonight and about Saturday night as well."

"And what exactly did he say about Saturday?" Carla asked intrigued

"Well he said a lot but the part he was most excited about was that you two kissed… It's about flamin time that's all I can say." Steve said smiling at Carla genuinely.

"I'll wait for him inside the restaurant." Carla said smiling back at Steve. Before she paid him and got out, she sent Peter a quick text

"I just arrived and it's pourin down so I'll be inside okay, can't wait to see you x"

Carla soon realised that she needn't have rushed so much because Peter was late. He arrived at the restaurant at half eight, leaving Carla stood in the lobby feeling like a right idiot. He came inside drenched, his hair and jacket completely soaked with no umbrella in sight. Carla tutted when she saw him she had been waiting for him for so long with out even a text message to say where he had been.

"What time do you call this?" she asked walking over to him furiously, "You're flamin lucky I'm still ere, I've been texting and calling you like crazy." Peter looked very apologetic as he took off his coat.

"I am so sorry Carla, I've literally had the worst time getting here, I was halfway here when I realised I forgot me wallet so I went back to get it and it was only when I'd almost got here again that I realised I left me phone at home as well, I didn't want to go home and get it and leave you waiting even longer." Peter said hating that he had already messed things up and they hadn't even got inside the restaurant yet. Carla shook her head at him, she was still slightly angry although she could tell he was seriously upset by the fact that he had turned up late.

"Peter I could ave paid y'know…"

"And what kind of man would I be if I let you do that?" Peter asked

"It's the twenty first century Peter, I think us women can handle paying for a meal or two, besides it were me who wanted to take you out to celebrate your new job." Carla looked at Peter's hair and frowned "How d'ya end up getting so wet?" she asked because he was literally dripping wet.

"I couldn't find anywhere to park so I had to park almost three roads from here." Peter said sighing as Carla wiped the rain drops off of his head, he took a proper look at her. "You look amazing" He said when she stopped wiping him, He wasn't sure if she was still mad at him for being late or not but she finally smiled at Peter and said,

"Come on then let's get in there before something else goes wrong."

They had to wait almost an hour for their table as the restaurant hadn't actually received Carla's reservations through their website, She suggested to Peter that they should just go somewhere else but he knew how much she loved it in there and insisted on staying to wait.

It soon became rather uncomfortable because they were sat at the bar where the bartender was making up various cocktails right in front of Peter. He tried his very best not to look and concentrate on Carla instead but she could see that he was getting more and more on edge with each cocktail that was made. She reached over and gave his hand a tight squeeze and started talking about Simon to try and lighten the mood.

Their table was ready at half past nine and by this point Carla and Peter were both starving hungry. A male waiter arrived at the table and asked if they were ready to order, Carla hadn't decided what she wanted yet but Peter had, She couldn't decide whether she wanted the lasagne or the spaghetti so Peter ordered them some starters and asked the waiter to come back in a little while. Carla continued to stare at the menu for a further five minutes,9 leading Peter to say

"Anytime tonight would be nice Car"

"What?" She said, looking up at him irately,

"I'm just saying you need to hurry up and pick something to eat that's all." Peter said cautiously.

"Well maybe if you had turned up on time we'd be eating already." Carla said with a hint of a smirk as she closed the menu.

"Hey I explained that already didn't I?" Peter said a little surprised at Carla's tone, She sighed and shook her head at Peter apologetically

"I'm sorry Peter, It's been one of those days that's all…" She said "The factory was like a madhouse today, we've had two really big orders this week and as Sean's been off sick, we've been a machinist down." Carla reached over and took Peter's hand "I'm so glad to be here with you though." She said, Peter was about to speak when someone interrupted and said

"Well isn't this nice…"

Carla and Peter both looked up to find Ann Mcintyre stood next to their table.

Ann Mcintyre was holding a huge glass of wine in her hand and was clearly already a little tipsy. She was glaring at Peter and Carla suddenly let go of his hand. Carla had no idea why she had let go of it so quickly but the way she had done it, had clearly effected Peter who looked back at Carla with so much hurt in his eyes that she couldn't quite bare it.

Neither of them could quite believe that Tina's mother had to be in the same restaurant at the same time as them. Peter swallowed nervously not knowing what to say.

"Carla, I must say, I thought you had more common sense than this." Ann said looking at Carla, although when she had said "this" she then glanced at Peter in disgust. He still didn't say anything so Carla took the lead.

"I realise that it must be a shock for you to see us here Ann but you really have no right to interrupt our meal like this." Carla said calmly, although all her instincts were telling her to kick off and yell at this woman who had totally ruined their evening with in the space of seconds.

Seeing Ann was not something that they would just be able to pass off as an awkward moment, seeing Ann had brought memories of Tina right to the surface and those memories would not just go away, not this time.

"Oh please, you aren't even eating anything yet, you've got plenty of time to back out." Ann slurred, taking a sip of wine from her glass, She swallowed the wine down as if it was water and then looked at Peter with hatred again.

"Ann look you're drunk and I think that maybe you should just leave." Carla said watching her as she swayed, unable to stand still or even upright.

"I saw you both come in and at first I thought I'd leave it but you ruined my daughters life and I will never ever forgive you for that." Ann spat towards Peter, Carla looked at Peter, pained. She couldn't understand why he was just sat there not saying anything. It was almost as if he had glazed over and Ann was getting more and more angry with him by the second "Are you not even going to have the decency to speak to me?" She cried, watching Peter, He knew he couldn't just sit there like that much longer and eventually said

"Ann I am so sorry about what happened to Tina…" Ann scoffed at him and shook her head.

"No you're not." She took another gulp of wine and she actually put her glass onto the table where Peter and Carla were sat. "And neither are you." She said looking at Carla "Your brother was the one that killed her and whilst you're sitting here, back together having a great time and where is my Tina? Dead and buried… How is that fair?" Ann cried, making quite the scene now, people were staring and it was obvious that the people who were sitting at nearby tables could hear exactly what was being said to Peter and Carla. "You should ave some more self respect Carla…" Ann spat picking her wine glass up for another swig. Carla shook her head, Peter's silence was really beginning to anger her too and she'd had just as much as she could take with this situation.

"Right…" She started "I am really really sorry for what happened to Tina, I truly am, but you really need to realise that she was no angel, She would sit round my flat and pretend she was a friend of mine whilst at the same time as she was banging my husband." Ann flinched and Peter looked at Carla, horrified by what she had just said.

"How dare you speak about my daughter like that, what kind of person are you?" Ann said with tears now in her eyes, Carla knew that Ann was drunk and that she should just sit down but she still continued.

"It's the truth" Carla said bluntly "Tina knew exactly what she was getting herself into, She knew that he was married and she still went after him, what kind of person did that make her?"

"Carla… just leave it." Peter said anxiously. Carla turned her head and stared at him in disbelief. What was he saying, why wasn't he helping, or trying to stick her for her? "Peter? You may be fine with this but I am not going to sit here and be harassed like this." She said shaking her head.

"He seduced her." Ann cried pointing at Peter in tears.

"Oh please, what would you even know about it? You never even saw the girl…" Carla exclaimed "Maybe that's what this is about, maybe you feel guilty because you didn't know anything the slightest thing about her and now she is dead."

"Carla please…" Peter said but no one paid any attention to him at all. The two women were both staring at each other, each of them, still in so much pain from something that happened so long ago now.

"If you kept him happy in the first place then maybe he wouldn't have strayed with Tina and she would still be here." Ann said and Peter knew that it had hit a nerve with Carla. She shot up out of her chair as a man came rushing over to the table.

"I am so sorry about this." He said apologetically, "Ann... I only went to the toilet, I told you not to do this." He said to her. Ann just shook her head at him and wiped the tears that had fallen down her cheeks.

"It's fine." Peter said quietly as the man took Ann by the arm and began to lead her away as quickly as he could. As the people in restaurant finally went back to concreting on their meals, Carla who had been staring at Ann, finally turned back to face Peter. Her eyes were stinging with tears

"How could you just sit there like that?" She asked, staring at him in total shock.

"Carla… why don't you sit down?" Peter said calmly, trying not to draw any more attention to them as the whole restaurant had been watching them as if they were some sort of trashy TV show.

"Answer me Peter…" Carla said, ignoring being asked to sit down.

"Carla what did you expect me to do? I was just as shocked as you were to see Ann but she has a right to be upset with us."

"Us?" Carla exclaimed, still unable to believe any of this was happening. "What did I ever do to that woman that justifies her coming up to me like that?"

"You shouldn't have said what you did about Tina." Peter said although he regretted it the moment it had come out of his mouth.

"Oh I only said the truth Peter, everyone always said what a lovely girl she was, no one seems to care that she was having it off with a married man." Carla said

"Yes but Carla what you said clearly upset Ann…" Peter said, he was trying to make her understand why he had kept so quiet but it was coming out all wrong.

"You shouldn't give a toss that she is upset!" Carla cried "You should care more about me, she made me upset and yet you just sat there and said nothing."

"Carla there is a time and a place though…"

"You should ave stuck up for me Peter! You should have said something, something other than practically telling me to be quiet." Carla cried

"She's still her mother Carla, how would you feel if someone said those things about your daughter?" Peter hadn't realised what he had actually said until Carla flinched, her face crumpling.

"Well I wouldn't know would I?" She said hoarsely, Tears forced their way down her cheeks as the waiter came over with their starters. She quickly wiped them away and took a deep breath trying her very best to keep her composure even though it was clear to Peter, the waiter and everyone else that Carla was truly wounded by what had just happened and by what Peter had just said

"Sit down Carla… please I didn't mean it like that." Peter begged again, praying that she would do as she was told, he soon realised that he should have thought better than that.

"No!" She said the waiter looked at her and then at Peter, he placed the dough balls and the bowl of parsley butter on the table and then said

"Should I come back and for your orders in a little bit?"

"Don't bother at all." Carla said directly as she picked up her bag that she had left on the floor.

"Carla..." Peter sighed

"This was a mistake…" Carla said regretfully as she left the table.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked anxiously after her. She stopped for a moment and said

"I'm going home and don't even think about following me." and with that Carla just left the restaurant and left Peter all alone.