Apologies for the length between updates, I know I always say it but I really do mean it.

Please enjoy and review this chapter :)

Carla went and showered as quickly as she possible because she desperately wanted to get back down stairs.

Why? Because she really and truly wanted to spend more time with Peter… not that she would admit that to anyone of course.

Normally she'd arrive home with Bailey to an empty house, Normally Carla would spend quite a lot of time on her own during the day and whilst she had truthfully made her peace with that months ago, she couldn't help but adore that fact that today when she had returned from her jog, someone was there waiting for her… she especially adored that that someone was Peter.

Amongst everything that had happened between them, Carla genuinely felt at complete ease with Peter and at times, it really did feel as if they had never been apart.

The only downside to the situation was that Carla knew her joyful time with Peter was going to be short lived. She knew that he was planning to move back to Weatherfield soon to be with his son and even though the thought of it made Carla want to shed some tears, she also knew that Weatherfield was Peter's home... it was where he belonged.

As for Carla?

She wasn't exactly sure if Devon was where she belonged, all she knew right now is that she was happy there and right now that was enough.

After her shower she practically ran towards her bedroom to do her hair and get dressed, leaving Peter sat in the garden soaking up the glorious September sunshine.

Bailey sat at Peter's feet for a while and every so often Peter would bend down and give the cute puppy a stroke whilst he waited for Carla to come back downstairs.

It truly felt as if she had been gone for hours but eventually Carla reappeared in her luxurious garden, She had straightened her long hair and was wearing a fitted, grey t-shirt style dress as she walked outside with a pair of sunglasses in her hand.

She smiled as she approached Peter in her pretty casual outfit but it took him a few moments to smile back because he was far to busy trying to understand how such a simple outfit had him so transfixed.

Maybe it was because Carla looked so content and carefree in her knee length dress or maybe it was because now she was stood in front of him in a fitted dress, he was suddenly reminded just how good her body was.

Of course, it wasn't just Carla's physical appearance that had Peter in awe, he was also taken in by her incredibly endearing personality.

From the moment he'd run into her at an AA meeting all those years ago, Carla had really fascinated Peter. It was clear to him the moment she lied about why she was there, that she was not the woman he had thought she was and the more Peter learnt about just who Carla Connor was on the inside, the more infatuated he became.

"You alright there?" Carla asked, resting her sunglasses on the top of her brown hair.

"Yes." Peter nodded, grinning as he realised that he was probably staring at Carla in a rather foolish fashion.

"Get a move on then, we ave got places to go n all that." Carla said, nodding her head in the direction of her kitchen doors, she began walking and smiled quietly to herself whilst she had her back to Peter.

Bailey followed them both inside and for a second Carla though that her puppy would be joining them but Bailey then headed towards his basket and as he climbed inside, Carla looked at Peter and said,

"I'm guessing Bailey's staying ere then." She picked up her keys, which she had left on her kitchen counter and then she picked up her leather jacket as Peter nodded and said,

"See ya later Bailey." He sweetly waved in the dog's direction, which made Carla grin and as she pulled her jacket on, she knew she had to try and be careful.

She knew she had to make sure that she didn't get too used to Peter's presence because he'd probably be going sometime very soon and Carla also knew that she was going to be very sad to see him leave.

"You alright?" Peter then asked Carla. He had been watching her closely and had seen the cheerful expression on her face change into a sad one.

"Yeah course." Carla quickly said, putting a smile back on her face as she and Peter began to walk down her house, "I was just thinking about something that's all…"

"Oh yeah?" Peter asked casually as he and Carla left her house, "About what?" Carla didn't answer him at first as she closed her front door. She just walked down her drive mysteriously, which led Peter to smile smugly and then say, "If you don't tell me… I'll just ave to guess."

"Go ahead." Carla laughed, as she and Peter began walking up the road that she lived on.

Peter quickly began guessing all sorts of different things that Carla might have been thinking of and was wrong every single time. He went from serious topics to ridiculous ones and as they turned a corner on another quiet road, he went for one last and very brave guess.

"Were… you thinking about me?"

It was obvious from the moment Peter asked the question that he was right.

Carla's grin had faltered a little and her whole demeanour had shifted slightly as she and Peter walked down a road, which had a slight hill to it.

"I'm right aren't I?" Peter asked, half excited and half concerned because whilst he was thrilled to be occupying Carla's thoughts like she had been doing to his, he had remembered the look on her face earlier and she was definitely thinking about something negative.

"No you are not." Carla replied as plainly as she could even though she knew it was pointless and that Peter was on to her. Instead of talking, at first he just smiled at her in an amused fashion as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his packet of cigarettes.

He put one into his mouth, still smiling at Carla who was feeling incredibly sheepish even though she wasn't showing it and as he lit his cigarette Peter smirked and said,

"What exactly were you thinking about me then?"

"Oh give over Barlow." Carla smoothly replied, pulling her sunglasses of her head and putting them on as the sun had really began to shine strongly over where they were walking. "Honestly… I've already told ya that I wasn't thinking about you."

"Well I don't believe you Connor." Peter replied, even though in a perfect world he'd love to be calling her a Barlow too.

"Well that's because you've got a ridiculously sized ego." Carla expertly responded as Peter exhaled smoke from his mouth. She was glad she was wearing a pair of mirrored sunglasses because then she could sneak Peter as many looks as she wanted without being caught.

Peter however, wasn't so lucky to have his eyes hidden and each time he looked at Carla for longer than a quick glance he was caught.

"Come on Carla, you've got to tell me." Peter said, desperate to find out what had got her expression to change earlier.

"It's nothing Peter… honestly…" Carla began, knowing this wouldn't be a sufficient answer for Peter in the slightest. He frowned a little as he walked beside her and as he exhaled some more cigarette smoke he decided to change his approach and asked,

"Ave I done something?"

"You?" Carla exclaimed, "Like what?" She asked, watching Peter who had genuinely started to look worried that he might have accidentally done something to offend or upset her.

"I dunno… It's just… I saw your face earlier n one minute you looked happy n the next… Maybe I said something?" Peter said looking down at his feet as he and Carla got to the end of the road they were currently on.

"Course not." Carla said, stopping and taking off her sunglasses so she could see Peter completely clearly. "I was…" Carla paused, not sure if she was ready to admit how much she was going to miss Peter when he inevitably left.

Over the past twenty-four hours, Carla had already admitted so much to Peter about her life and her feelings but she wasn't sure she had it in her to tell him that she was worried about what was going to happen when he left.

"It's fine… you don't need to explain…" Peter said, almost poking out his bottom lip and looking so downright miserable that Carla couldn't be sure he was being entirely serious.

She watched Peter suspiciously for a moment to see if he was just messing with her and unfortunately, he wasn't able to keep his supposedly downhearted expression going for much longer.

"Nice try!" Carla cried, giving Peter a shove after she saw the corners of his mouth curl slightly upwards. Peter chuckled out loud as Carla shook her head at him and let out a laugh of her own because she was unable to believe that she'd almost fallen for his little act.

"I'm sorry Carla but not knowing what you were thinking about me is drivin me up the wall." Peter said, taking his cigarette out of his mouth as Carla put her head on one side and said,

"It was nothing bad… I promise…"

"You promise…" Peter said, he and Carla were still stood still as she nodded at him in amusement and said,

"Yes I said so didn't I?" She flicked some of her long hair over her shoulder as if she was flicking away the whole conversation and then said, "Now can we change the subject please?"

"Course we can…" Peter nodded, although he had a mischievous look on his face as he did so and after putting his cigarette back in his mouth, he said, "So… I'm guessing you didn't need my help in the shower then?"

Carla shook her head again at Peter but she unable to keep herself from smirking at his cheeky comment as she began walking again, she raised her sunglasses up to her head and she put them on as Peter began walking too. He knew he had to try and get the fact that he was obviously in Carla's head out of his head.

"Let's get on with this tour shall we?" Carla eventually said, turning and waiting for Peter to catch that little bit up with her, He nodded at Carla with a warm smile and began to listen as she began to tell him about the first place she was taking him on her tour.

Carla took Peter all around the town that she lived in, they first went to visit a few of the local landmarks, some of which surprised Peter as he had no idea that they were places Carla would be interested in. Some of those places included a historic and very exquisite church and another that was a cliff that showed a stunning view of the town that Carla lived in.

They had a lot of fun on the tour of Carla's new home and Peter throughly enjoyed the opportunity he had got to see places other than Portsmouth as he really didn't get away from there much.

One of the last stops on Carla's tour was rather an odd one and at first, Peter wasn't sure that it was a stop at all.

It was a small pub named The Dolphin which had a set of concrete steps leading up to it and for a while it had seemed like Peter and Carla was just on their way back into town until she stopped walking and stared at the pub ahead of her.

"Are we taking a break?" Peter asked, looking down at his watch and seeing that it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon and that he and Carla had been walking for hours.

"Nope…" Carla said shaking her head, "This is part of my tour." Peter looked at the pretty basic pub ahead of him and nodded slowly as he said,

"Okay…"

Carla, took her sunglasses off and gingerly rested them on her head as Peter then asked her,

"So is this pub important to the history of then town then?"

"Not really… but it's sort of important to me…" Carla said, shrugging her shoulders slightly before starting her story, "Now…" Carla paused and smiled at Peter with a raised eyebrow before she said, "This may surprise you Peter Barlow but when I first got ere… I wasn't a fan... quite frankly I were a bit… of a mess."

"Really?" Peter said sarcastically, playing up with Carla's jokey tone of voice. She nodded at him as she leant against a wall that was behind him and this time she looked more serious as she sighed and said,

"I just couldn't believe how everything turned out with Nick… I were gutted n I had no one ere to lean on so… when faced with adversity... I did what I do best." Carla nodded towards the pub as Peter leant against the wall next to her. He understood immediately and waited patiently for Carla to continue with her story. "I drank myself really stupid for the first few nights I were ere… n one night I ended up in The Dolphin. I really... really went for it… anyways on my way out, I slipped on those steps n I fell, I pretty much landed face down n ended up in the local hospital with concussion n a black eye to go with it."

"Ouch." Peter said, wincing as Carla nodded at him, almost cringing as she said,

"Yeah it were pretty humiliating." Carla said but she looked slightly pleased as she then said, "But I'm mighty glad it happened, loosing control like that, made me see I couldn't go on that way… I could ave got seriously hurt… or worse. Ending up in hospital made me see that I couldn't put myself in danger over the likes of Nick flamin Tilsley."

"Definitely not… He's so not worth it Carla… None of us men are." Peter replied softly, shaking his head at her slowly and watching as a tear ran down her cheek.

Carla sniffed and didn't even try to hide the tear that fell from her face to her leather jacket, she folded her arms as a gentle breeze blew some of her hair off her shoulder and then she shook her own head and said,

"I'm not cryin over Nick…" She looked at Peter and gave him a nod, which told him that she was telling the absolute truth, "I don't even know why I brought you ere… It's on our route back to mine n… well I just… I guess I just wanted you to know that it's not all been walks on the beach and puppies since I've been ere."

"I didn't think it was… I know it must ave been really hard for you starting over on your own… especially since you were supposed to move ere with… Nick." Peter said shaking his head at Carla who remained quiet for a moment as she stared ahead at the pub that was in front of them. "But for the record… I still think that you're doing amazing." Carla just shook her head modestly as she took one last look at the pub before looking at Peter again. "You really are." He insisted, smiling at Carla who tucked some hair behind her ears as he then said, "You ave to believe me Carla, I know I've said it before but most people would crumble in your position but ere you are, stronger than ever."

"I… wouldn't say that exactly..." Carla said quietly, sighing a little as she thought about when she had felt her strongest and as Peter watched her, he couldn't help but know exactly what she was thinking, "But thanks, Peter."

"You're more than welcome." Peter nodded, he then looked over the rather cosy looking pub and smiled at Carla as he then asked, "So… are we going to head in there for a drink then?"

"Errr no." Carla exclaimed, shaking her head adamantly and giving Peter a slight shove so that he'd start walking away from The Dolphin, He chuckled as she forcefully walked behind him with her hands pressed against his back and continued pushing him away, "I aint been back ere since that night I almost cracked me head open… the owner was the one who took me to the hospital, I were mortified when I realised that, there's no way I'm showing me face in there."

"Oh come on…" Peter laughed, all the while still being pushed away from the pub, "The owner's probably more than used to dealing with messy punters by now, they probably won't even remember you."

"Yeah well I remember them n that's enough for me to never step foot in the place again so keep walking Barlow." Carla said, giving Peter another playful push once they were a good enough distance from The Dolphin. She and Peter began walking companionably away from the little pub and for a while they walked side by side in a friendly silence.

"I've got a pub y'know." Peter said, as he and Carla were now well on the route back towards her home.

"A pub?" Carla asked, watching him as they walked next to each other, their arms were almost touching now as they walked up a narrow pavement and it was all that both Peter and Carla could do not to let their hands entwine every time they gently brushed against each other.

"Yeah… a pub like yours, somewhere where I realised that I was better and stronger than the self destructive path that I was starting to go on." Peter explained, Carla watched him, intrigued to hear more so she didn't speak. "When I first moved down to Portsmouth I struggled a lot, I'd just come out of prison… and honestly I wasn't over the fact that you didn't give me another chance." Carla went to say something but Peter very quickly shook his head and said, "You were totally right not to give me another chance by the way, I know that I really do but still... I was gutted Carla… I was in proper feel sorry for meself mode and after a few really rough days I ended up sat in some random pub with a glass of whisky in front of me."

On the inside, Carla actually felt herself begin to panic at the thought of Peter drinking again and even though she knew this story he was telling her was something that had happened ages ago and even though she truly felt as if he had been strong enough to resist the drink, she couldn't help but feel her heart start to race.

On the outside, Carla thought she was doing a good job of staying calm and collected but when Peter turned to look at her he smiled and said,

"Don't worry… I didn't drink it in the end."

"I didn't think you did." Carla replied almost instantly, "It's just scary how easy it is to end up in that place again... That place where you think that alcohol is the only answer."

"It sure is." Peter agreed, nodding as he and Carla turned a corner and were now opposite a large entrance to what looked like a park. "Anyways, long story short, I sat in front of that glass of whisky for about two hours n eventually I just got up n walked away from it."

"Just like that?" Carla asked, impressed and also pleased for Peter at the same time.

"Just like that." He nodded, "Something inside of me pulled me up off that stool and right out of that pub… I must ave got some right weird looks though because I'd been in there for hours n not only did I not drink but I didn't speak to anyone… it's safe to say I aven't been back there since."

"Oh really?" Carla smirked, "But the owner probably won't remember you… they're probably used to broody punters like that." She nudged Peter in a jokey fashion as they crossed the road and he laughed before he nodded and said,

"Yeah yeah… I know but in my defence that pub I was in wasn't me local for a start, it was a right dive n I mean the sticky floor, broken fruit machine n dodgy landlord type of dive… I wouldn't want to be seen dead in there if I'm honest, it wasn't as nice as The Dolphin looked."

"The Dolphin isn't my local." Carla said, shaking her head, "There's loads of pubs closer to home, besides why on earth would I go drinking in a pub when I own a perfectly good bar of me own eh?"

"That's very true." Peter nodded as Carla happily began walking towards the park.

"Come on, we can cut through ere." She called cheerfully which made Peter follow her through the entrance.

It was still a beautiful day in Devon and the sun continued to blaze over Carla and Peter as they strolled past wooden benches, freshly mown grass and extremely tall trees that were beginning to loose their leaves.

They followed a concrete path which had been paved right though the middle of the vast park and there were lots of large areas grass which had been adorned by some newly planted Primroses and Poppies.

Carla and Peter spent their time engrossed in delightful chit chat and were so focused on what the other was saying that they almost crashed into a few people who were also on walks in the park.

"Sorry." They both spluttered and as they continued to walk through the bustling park, They continued catching up on the stuff they had missed since being apart.

They were both in the middle of a conversation about which TV shows they were currently obsessed with, when the soft acoustic sounds of some sort of music were then heard and as they got closer, it soon became clear that there must have been someone nearby singing.

"Where's that coming from?" Peter asked but Carla seemed to know exactly where the soft voice was coming from, she smiled excitedly and yet also mysteriously at Peter as she began walking faster, she led the way and soon enough, she and Peter were headed towards a small crowd of people, also the music was a lot louder now due to the fact that Peter and Carla were pretty much right in front of where it was coming from.

"He's back." Carla said softly, pointing at a tall blonde man, who must have been in his early twenties. He was stood strumming on a guitar and he had just started singing a song called Delicate that was instantly familiar to Peter who said,

"Ahh I love this song." Carla nodded as the man who was surrounded by quite a seizable crowd people, continued to sing and gently play the guitar he had strapped over his shoulder.

"His name is Miles I think..." Carla said quietly, so she didn't interrupt the singing too much for the people who were also stood watching. "He always sings in this park at this time of day but he wasn't ere at all last week… I wonder where he was."

"He's really good." Peter replied, equally as quiet as Carla.

"He really is, he gets huge crowds ere sometimes, especially on the weekends." Carla said, nodding along to the singer who had reached the first chorus of the Damien Rice song.

"And you said Devon was borin." Peter whispered as he leant towards Carla who was standing right next to him, watching Miles sing in awe.

"I said it were good boring." Carla smiled as she felt her cheeks grow hot at the feeling of Peter's warm breath on her skin and when she turned to look at him she saw a cheeky expression on his face, one that she had seen many times before. "What?" She asked, knowing that he was obviously up to something.

"Well… y'know what you said yesterday about how you never swim in the sea?" Peter said, almost with a glint in his brown eyes as he stood before Carla.

"Yeah…" She nodded slowly, not exactly sure what Peter was getting at at first, He smiled even more as he moved just that little bit closer to Carla and said,

"I bet you never dance either." He nodded in the direction of Miles who was still singing the first chorus of the song and then smirked at Carla who raised both eyebrows and said,

"No I don't…" She knew exactly where Peter was going with this by now and she simply couldn't help but add, "Well, not when I'm on me own anyway…"

"You're not on your own are you?" Peter said, almost nervously now because he had been joking at first and now he actually had the opportunity to dance with Carla… even if it was in front of a load of strangers.

There was a moment of silence between them for a moment.

Carla and Peter both stood and listened to Miles as he started on the next verse of the song and it was then that Peter decided he'd have to bite the bullet before one of his favourite songs was about to be over.

"Come on…" He said, reaching out and taking Carla's hand, she didn't resist but laughed as Peter pulled her over to a place where they would have enough room to dance with each other.

"Peter…" Carla said, as he pulled her right up close to him, closer than they had been since last night, even when they had "accidentally" kissed, in fact their bodies were pressed right up against each other with no room in between for the first time in years.

"Yes…" He practically whispered with one hand resting on the back of Carla's spine, whilst she had a hand rested on his shoulders.

"People are watching us…" She replied, not wanting to look back at the eyes she could feel watching her and Peter in their sudden, yet extremely comfortable embrace.

Peter just shrugged at Carla in a casual fashion, not at all bothered that they had some rather amused strangers watching them because if he was being truthful all he could see right now was Carla, so Instead of talking, He just reached out and took hold of her free hand with his and that was it.

They slowly and rhythmically began moving to the music and Carla rapidly forget that they were being watched by a load of people she had never met.

She relaxed as they almost effortlessly swayed together, back and forth and perfectly in time with the soft and mellow music, both with ridiculous smiles on their faces as they did so but as the song began to pick up a little, Peter suddenly let go of Carla's back and spun her sideways which made her laugh out loud and say,

"Someone's been watching a little too much of Strictly aven't they?" Peter laughed too as Carla moved towards him once again and placed a hand around the back of neck instead where it had casually been on his shoulder.

This simple movement from Carla meant that her head was even closer to Peter's and their captivating eye contact didn't cease as their bodies were close once again.

As he sang into a microphone on a stand, Miles the guitarist smiled at the sight of Carla and Peter dancing together. It wasn't often that people would full on dance to his singing and he couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle when he reached the end of his second chorus because once again, Peter had spun Carla around again and as she turned underneath one of his arms, it wasn't just the guitarist that was smiling.

Many passers by and some of the people who were stood nearby watching the singer watched in an amused fashion as Carla and Peter continued to dance rather gracefully given the fact that none of this situation had been rehearsed.

After one more spin, Carla came rushing back towards Peter and when she stopped in front of him, she rested her forehead gently against his.

Miles was singing the last few words of Delicate as Carla and Peter both smiled sheepishly as their dancing came to a natural stop and for one supremely magical moment, they both closed their eyes, even though they might have felt slightly foolish for doing so.

Suddenly, the well deserved but criminal sound of applause made Carla and Peter's eyes open and as they turned to look at Miles he leant towards his microphone and said,

"That's the end of today's set so thank you for listening, I want to give a special shout out to the couple at the back, your dancing has actually made my day."

Even though they weren't a couple, both Carla and Peter couldn't help but grin in an embarrassed fashion as the crowd of people turned to look at them both.

"No, thank you, mate…" Peter grinned towards Miles and then gave a little bow to the members of the crowd who were still watching him and Carla.

"Uh you are such a show off." Carla said, giving Peter a nudge as he began saluting the crowd.

Peter's jokey behaviour plus Carla's only slightly unimpressed reaction, made the audience smile even more at them both and as Miles began to start packing up his equipment, Carla then said, "Honestly, anyone would think you were the one with the microphone."

"I can't help it if they enjoyed our work too." Peter said with a grin as he turned back to face Carla, she shook her head at him slowly and admiringly grinned back as she said,

"You seriously are a pillock."

"Yeah… but where would ya be without me eh?" Peter joked, nodding at Carla who then looked utterly sincere as she shrugged her shoulders and said,

"I honestly ave no idea."

Carla stood and thought about how the past two days might have gone without Peter by her side and whilst she knew that it would have been really hard without him, she couldn't quite picture him not being there with her Devon.

"You alright?" Peter asked, watching Carla who looked like she was deep in thought.

"Yeah…" She nodded but she knew her facial expression had changed once again and this time, she wasn't going to lie. After there joyous dance in front of a whole load of strangers, Carla felt as if she could tell Peter anything so she came straight out with is and said, "I'm… just gonna miss you when you go back to Portsmouth that's all."

"Oh…" Peter said, not expecting Carla to have said that, he stood quietly for a moment, thinking about the fact that leaving Devon hadn't even crossed his mind.

Even though Peter knew he would eventually have to go, he hadn't thought about leaving Carla behind and now that she was endearingly standing in front of him in the blinding sunshine, he wasn't quite sure he'd be able to do it.

"N that was what I was thinking about earlier too, just in case it's still drivin you up the wall." Carla said, watching Peter who was still a little stumped for words.

"Well… not that I've even begun to think about… going but…" Peter began, clearing his throat a little, "I'll miss you too."

"I know you will." Carla preened, before smiling once again and leaving Peter stood on the spot, she only walked just under a foot away from him before she stopped and looked back at Peter who looked as if he was still slightly shocked to hear that Carla was going to miss him. "In your own time." She called after Peter, making him smile at her and ask,

"Where are we headed next then?"