"Do you want to go to the hospital to see Peter after work?" Michelle asked as Carla was sitting at her desk absentmindedly chewing the end of her pen. A couple of days had passed since the tram crash and Peter was still in hospital fighting for his life. She looked up and shook her head then said,

"No, not really." Michelle frowned at Carla's repsonse and moved herself closer to Carla.

"But I thought you two were friends." She said.

"He was only helping me get control of my drinking, it's not like we were best buddies or anything." She sighed.

"Oh right." Michelle said. "But maybe it would be nice to see him and tell him that we're thinking of him and that he gets better soon."

"You can, I'd rather not." Carla said as she then began to occupy her self by going through the paperwork on her desk and hoping Michelle would just back off.

There was then a knocking on the office door before Michelle could say anymore. It was Hayley asking if they wanted anything from the cake run. "I'm just popping out to get some cakes, would either of you like anything… It's just I think those lot need some cheering up out there." She said.

"No thanks, Hayley." Carla said and Michelle shook her head. Hayley soon closed the door behind her leaving Michelle and Carla to themselves.

"So that's a no, on coming to see Peter?" Michelle asked one last time.

"Correct… I just hate hospitals, okay and if I can avoid them, then I will." She added. It wasn't like Carla was a fan of hospitals but she made out it was worse than it actually was so she had some excuse to not go. If she was being honest she wanted to see Peter more than anything but she knew the sight of him would break her heart even more than it already was.

Once again the work day was over and Carla and Michelle popped into the Rover's. They ended up sitting at a table with Maria having a catch-up on the past few traumatic days. "They're having Ashley's wake in here next week." Maria said.

"He was too young." Michelle mused sadly.

"Life just isn't fair." Carla added as she sipped her orange juice.

"You never know when your last day is really going to be your last, do you?" Maria thought out loud. "Like, who knows when the last time you actually might speak to someone, I think life's too short to hold grudges and saying goodnight is always so important because tomorrow is never promised." She added.

Carla couldn't stop thinking about Peter. What if she never got to say goodbye to him? What if her last conversation with him was her being so angry at him. She knew he'd done wrong but just as Maria said, life is too short. "I think I'm going to go home and have an early night." Carla said as she stood up and picked up her handbag.

"I'll meet you in Roy's in the morning?" Michelle asked.

"Yeah, of course." Carla smiled. "Bye, Maria." She said as she made her way to the exit, gasping for some cold fresh air.

As she stood outside of the Rover's thinking over what Maria had just said, the knot in her stomach got that little bit tighter. "Oh, Uh… Carla." A voice called snapping her out of her thoughts she turned to see where the voice was coming from at it was Ken.

"Ken, is everything alright?" She asked hoping he wasn't about to tell her the worst possible news. Ken looked down sadly.

"There's not really much change with Peter but he has been talking and he mentioned your name." Ken said.

"Oh, what did he say?" Carla swallowed.

"He just said your name that's all… I'm assuming he wants to see you." Ken said.

"Um, okay." Carla said as Ken gave her a small smile before turning to enter number one.

Carla stood still for a moment. Maybe now was the time to go and see Peter. She knew that if the worst were to happen she would regret not seeing him one last time and maybe she'd be able to rid herself of some of the guilt she felt for being the way she was with him.

Before long Carla had hauled herself into a taxi and was on her way to the hospital. She wasn't sure what she was going to say to him but she did want to see him as much as she knew it would pain her to see him in this state. She'll never forget the look of Paul laying in a hospital bed fighting for his life and ultimately dying. She wasn't sure she could go through that again yet she did with Liam. Maybe it was her, maybe she was the problem that any man she would love would end up dead. She was certain at this point she must've been cursed, nobody else goes through this much heartbreak.

Carla soon arrived at the hositpal and was walking down the corridor to Peter's room. She felt sick to her stomach. As she opened the door to the room she could see him laying there, lots of tubes coming out of several parts of his body. She slowly walked closer to him to get a better look before tears spilled down her cheeks which she quickly wiped away. "Oh Peter." She said softly as she gently held onto his hand.

Peter eyes fluttered open and he quickly realised that Carla was standing in front of him with tear stained cheeks. "Carla." He swallowed. "You came." Carla nodded.

"I heard you'd been asking about me." She said. Peter did his best at nodding.

"I needed to see you." He said taking a breath. "I might die and I don't want out last conversation to be our last… I'm sorry, I'm sorry that I couldn't leave Leanne but please, please believe me when I say I love you." Peter said to the best of his ability.

"I'm sorry too-" Carl started.

"No, you don't have anything to be sorry for." He said slowly. "I just don't know how much more I can fight this and I wanted to apologise to you, just in case."

"Peter, you are so strong." Carla said as she wiped her eyes. "You are going to get out of here, marry Leanne and be a brilliant Dad to Simon, okay?… Just know I love you too but we were never going to work, were we? But thank you for being there for me with my drinking, I'm sure i'd be dead in a ditch somewhere if it wasn't for you." She said. She'd noticed that Peter had fallen back into a sleep state so decided it was probably best to leave him.

Carla eventually made her way back to her flat. A part of her felt some relief that her and Peter had that conversation. Her heart deeply ached inside. She couldn't help how much she loved him but she should've known from the start it would end in disaster… All her relationships did.

On December 9th 2010, Peter Barlow and Leanne Battersby got married. Peter had taken a turn for the worse and in the moment Leanne wanted nothing more than to marry him, just in case.

When Carla found out about this she wasn't sure what to feel exactly. So, Peter might've told her he loved her the other night but now he was a married man who's life was still not guaranteed. At this point, she didn't really care that he was married all she wanted was for him to survive this. She wanted nothing more than to go back in time where they were merely just friends and would briefly chat in the street or the pub most often with Leanne.

Carla would never forget that night she walked into that AA meeting and instantly recognised him. She was certain he would tell everyone and she'd be the talk of the street but he didn't, in fact he helped her, maybe a little bit too much. She fell for him, hard. He seemed to mend her broken heart to go on and break it once more. At first she was angry with him but now she just wanted him to be okay. What would she do if he doesn't make it?

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