In Season 3, Peter becomes involved with a former girlfriend, Carla Reese, who soon becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a son, Reese Benton, who is born prematurely. It is later discovered that, possibly from complications from Reese's prematurity or his NICU treatment, the boy is deaf. Peter at first has difficulty accepting that his son is deaf and looks into surgeries to restore his ability to hear, but he later makes his peace with who Reese is, and he and Carla teach him to communicate through sign language. Later, Carla begins a new relationship with a man named Roger McGrath (which she clumsily, and unsuccessfully, tried to keep a secret from a non-plussed Peter) and eventually marries him. At the end of Season 5, Carla more or less tells Peter that her new marriage to Roger means she will be taking Reese with them to Roger's new job in Germany, and responds to Peter's shocked and angry response by saying "this WILL happen".