A/N: Looks like I'm back...here's another carter babyfic for you all x

The bitter chill of the air made her shiver, her eyes scanning the night sky smiling at the stars above. Carla pulled her jacket around her tighter in an attempt to keep warm, her hands ached from the cold so she shoved them into her pockets to keep them warm, her hand fumbling around inside of one, fingers wrapping around something now cold to the touch. Her head turned when Peter walked around the corner, she stared at him as he stumbled towards the door. He looked at her, expecting her to say something but she just stood there, stoic, her eyes boring into him because she just knew whatever she said wouldn't help anything here. She saw the bottle of whisky in his hand, fingers wrapped around the neck of the bottle and all she did was stare, she didn't say a word, in fact, she didn't bat an eyelid.

"Nothing to say for once?" he slurred, she blinked at him and then looked up at the night sky again "Suit yourself"

She watched him stumble inside, she closed her eyes and let the tears pool there for just a moment before a gust of bitter air hit her bringing her right back down to reality.

She walked back inside and sighed in annoyance at Johnny's stare, she shook her head and walked upstairs but he grabbed her wrist.

"What?" she looked at him, annoyed, she just wanted to put her head down and take a moment to just think "If this is about Peter-"

"I really don't think he should be here, love" Johnny said quietly, he couldn't look her in the eye "He's an alcoholic-"

"Wow how observant of you" Carla muttered "I don't want to hear this"

She snapped her wrist free and glared at him.

She went upstairs and Johnny shook his head, Jenny appeared behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder as he watched his daughter scale the stairs with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"She'll come around"

"I don't even think she needs to" Johnny smiled sadly "I think she's already there she just doesn't want to admit it"

Jenny squeezed both of his shoulders with her hands and then went back out to the bar.

Carla sat on the edge of the bed, her head in her hands as she took a moment to revel in the mistakes of her life, everything was so far-fetched and twisted, that searing pain in her chest at Peter's words. God, she wanted to cry more than she ever had. She turned her head and watched as Peter stumbled into the room, faceplanting into the bed, soft snores soon echoing around the room. She grabbed a blanket, smiled a little and covered him over with it, her hand placed against his shoulder blades until he shrugged her off.

She padded out of the room and down to the bar, opting to show her face and hide the way she felt because she didn't want anyone to have to deal with that. Jenny watched her like a hawk as she just went about doing anything other than talking about how she felt. When Johnny came back with a takeaway pizza, Jenny shook her head a little and he nodded, passing the pizza to her and then walking over to Carla to help her clean up some glasses.

"I'm worried about you"

"Well it's a shame my boyfriend didn't worry about me sooner isn't it?" she looked at him with a shrug, shoving a tea towel into the glass, she scrubbed it dry with this hint of anger

"But Adam..."

"Can you please just shut up!" Carla hissed under her breath, he nodded and breathed out, he placed a hand on her back but she flinched away "I don't need to go over my mistakes here, I do that enough inside of my head"

"I'm really worried about you Carla, and Peter too-"

"You don't get to do this" Carla told him, she shook her head "You don't..."

"But, love-"

"Please Johnny, let me deal with this my way" Carla dropped her gaze, she shook her head and placed the glass on the bar, she walked off and grabbed her coat

She walked right out of that place because she couldn't deal with the questions.

Tiredness washed over her in an instant now her mind was free from the pressure of Johnny's questions. She pulled out her phone and sighed softly at a message from her father apologising for whatever. There was no way she was facing that right now. Nick walked past and frowned at her sitting there, he paused and walked over to her and sat down next to her, she looked up at him and offered a small smile before getting up but Nick grabbed her wrist, she frowned and sat back down, a part of her wondering if this was about work. Maybe she was just naïve to think that though. Her phone went off and she saw Peter's number flash up on the screen, she ignored it, putting her phone back into her pocket because she couldn't be dealing with that right now.

"Why did you ignore it?"

"That Nicholas is none of your business" she smirked a little, he laughed and shook his head "Why are you out here in the cold anyway? Don't you have to entertain your child that crawled out of the woodwork?"

Nick snorted and shook his head.

"You have such a way with words"

"You know me" she muttered and closed her eyes, she breathed out and rubbed her head "I should get back to the pub"

"But you don't want to?"

Carla shrugged.

"Peter's there and I just can't face him at the moment, I need a break"

"There's no shame in admitting it, especially after everything you did" Nick shrugged and Carla smiled up at him "Adam, seriously Carla?"

"Not you as well" she huffed in annoyance "It was a mistake, a stupid one and the things Peter said to me...I will always remember those"

"If you want my advice-"

"I don't"

"If you can see a future with Peter don't give up on it, and don't deny yourself happiness" Nick stood up and Carla smiled up at him "Fight for what you want, do anything to get it"

He walked off and Carla smiled to herself, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, she found Peter's number and called it.

No answer.

Maybe that was fate.

Carla got back to the pub late, she snuck through the back door and padded upstairs, slipping into the bathroom and breathing out. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, how she was a shadow of her former self. She reached into her pocket and looked down at the plastic-wrapped unused pregnancy test, her fingers tapping against it before she tore it open and stared at the white stick in her hands.

It was so different this time, no Michelle, no support on tap, it was just her and the possibility of that life she always craved to have ever since she lost it so tragically before.

This time that wasn't going to happen, she was putting herself first.

Carla washed her hands before sinking down on the floor, leaning against the bathtub as she picked at her nails, she breathed out and threw her head back, closing her eyes as she had a small smile on her face thinking of all the things she could have done differently and all of the things she could do.

Carla reached for that pregnancy test, she smiled slightly at the result and nodded, her hand slipping to rest across her belly.

"We'll get through this you and me" she whispered softly, a small smile on her face "I'll always put you first, you and me, we can do this baby..."

The only problem was it didn't stop the ache in her chest at the recurrent pain in her life, yet here she was, that little bit of hope shining through.