The four Branning's came into the house laughing, most of them drunk laughing. All except for Lauren of course. Lauren had been twenty years sober now. Joey smiled at his wife and his twins as he locked up… Lauren teased their daughter, Eve, about her boyfriend, well he wasn't her boyfriend but she sure did want him to be. They had all been to the twins Eve and Lewis' 18th birthday party tonight and everyone had got pretty drunk, with the exception of Lauren.
"Daaaaaad!" Eve shouted, as Lauren burst into a fit of laughter with Lewis. Joey chuckled as Eve stormed over to him, the perfect frown in place. She was definitely the double of Lauren and she mirrored her personality too, Eve too was a drama queen… but she had a shy side too, especially when it came to boys. Lauren and Joey had figured she had a more shy side than Lauren did because Eve didn't have the same upbringing as Lauren had. Joey was loyal to Lauren and always proved his love to her, as she did to him too. There was no favouritism between Eve or Lewis…they had a stable home which is what every child needs.
"What's up babe?" Joey smirked at his daughter. "There doing it again" she frowned. Joey let his smirk fade, knowing it would only make Eve worse. "Come on sweetheart" he said, throwing his arm over her shoulder and walking them both into the living room. Joey connected eyes with Lauren and couldn't help but smile at her, causing an eye roll from Eve. "Right, no picking on Eve… I think she's suffered enough" Joey told them both. "Yeah wait till I get my hands on the little dick" Lewis angrily announced. Eve sighed to herself. "Don't Lew, if he wants to be with her then that's his choice" she said, with a simple shrug of the shoulders. Lauren and Joey watched their daughter in concern, they didn't realise how deep this went. "Still going to kill him for upsetting you" Lewis told her. Eve weakly smiled at her brother knowing this was a battle she would end up losing.
When it came to Eve, nobody hurt her. Lewis was very protective of his sister, something he had gained from his father. That is the only reason Lauren and Joey didn't worry about Eve too much, because they knew Lewis always looked out for her.
Eve looked down as the tears swelled in her eyes. Lauren's heart dropped as she watched Eve. She remembers when she used to feel like that over Joey. She made her way across to her and hugged her and Eve automatically clutched to her mum. "I'm sorry baby, I didn't realise how you felt… I would've never have teased you if I did" Lauren said, feeling guilty already.
"I know mum" Eve sighed, letting her tears fall. "You know he's either not worth it or he's pretty special… So whatever it is babe, you can tell him where to go or you fight for him" Lauren said. Eve was about to reply when all the lights went out. "You're kidding" Joey sighed. Lauren and Eve giggled at Joey. "Can we all camp out down here like we used to when we were little?" Eve asked. Joey imagined Eve had a cute face plastered on at the minute, as it was dark he couldn't see, so there was no way she could win him over. "No Eve" he chuckled. "Oh come on babe, don't be a spoil sport" Lauren giggled. "Yeah come on dad, it'll be a laugh" Lewis laughed along with his mum and sister. Joey sighed, feeling outnumbered before he let out a laugh. "Yeah okay… Lew help me bring the blankets down" Joey said. Lauren and Eve made their way over to the sofa as the boys went to get the stuff for their camping night.
"Thanks for tonight mum, it's been a great night" Eve said, leaning against Lauren. "Anything for my babies" Lauren told her. "Do you think granddad will be okay?" Eve giggled. "Yeah, he just needs to learn he can't handle his drink as much no more, uncle jack either" Lauren laughed. Joey and Lewis came back with all the blankets, setting them all on the floor while Lauren and Eve watched them. "Yeah it's alright ladies, we got this" Joey chuckled. "We thought you did" Lauren giggled. Joey looked up at Lauren and he could just make out her face in the dark. He watched her for a second, their children watching too. Lauren smiled at him and he winked at her, flashing his cheeky smile, causing Lauren to blush. It was amazing how he could still make her feel the same way as he did when they first met. "You too are adorable" Eve told them causing everyone to laugh.
"I think as our daughter, you're supposed to be grossed out by us babe" Joey laughed. "I'm not, I think your cute, all the kids at college, their parents have divorced, they've all got step parents but I haven't and I don't think it matters that you're cousins either because you guys are still madly in love after all this time" Eve said. "Aw Eve you are adorable sweetheart" Lauren told her, pulling her into a hug.
"Wasn't always smooth sailing though Eve, we had to fight for each other" Joey told her. "Yeah but it was worth it wasn't it dad? I mean after mum watched you leave at the tube and she went back to Jake… I bet you both thought that was it" she asked. "Yeah…" Joey sighed. "We'd both been through a lot by that point babe, I'd been through rehab because of my drinking, your dad had moved on and we just thought that was it" Lauren told her. Lauren and Eve got onto the floor once Lewis and Joey had finished making the beds up. Lauren sat between Joey's legs, her back to his chest, while their children sat across from them.
"Tell us again… how you worked it out" Eve giggled. Lauren and Joey smiled at their children. Lewis got himself comfy too, he may not admit it but he loved the story too. Joey tightened his arms around Laurens waist and she leant backwards against him. "Well, I heard your dad was leaving and I went after him, I was angrier than anything that he wasn't going to say goodbye" Lauren said. "I only wasn't going to say goodbye because I didn't think I would be able to" Joey sighed. "I know" Lauren smiled up at him. "After that, I wanted a drink so bad but I couldn't, I didn't want everyone to think I was a failure, so I went to see Jake" Lauren sighed. Joey tightened his hold on Lauren and she leant into him some more.
"Did you love him?" Lewis asked. "No, I didn't… I thought I did but I didn't. I just replaced one addiction with another, I used him as my new addiction instead of the alcohol" Lauren said. "But it didn't help did it?" Eve asked, already knowing the answer. "No it didn't, I was lying to myself… Jake wasn't what I wanted, your dad was" she said. Joey let himself smile into the air, knowing the others couldn't see him as it had grew darker now. "Why didn't you just go after dad once you got out of rehab?" Lewis asked. "Well I wanted too, but I was confused about a lot of things and we needed time to get our heads around everything, plus everyone wanted me to concentrate on staying sober, including your dad" Lauren said. "I blamed myself for a lot of it, I shouldn't have just left her alone when her drinking got worse, I should've stuck by her and helped her… so after that I didn't think I deserved another chance because she'd be happier with somebody else" Joey told them all. "So we stayed away from each other and did our best to move on" Lauren said. "But you couldn't?" Eve asked. Lauren laughed at her daughter's eagerness. "No babe we couldn't, so that's why I had to leave, I couldn't stick around and watch my girl be happy with someone else" Joey told her. "And, Auntie Alice got accused of murder so everything, in my eyes was falling apart" Joey sighed. "Yeah that Janine woman sounds right twisted" Lewis said. "She was but you're mum here and Auntie Whit saw straight through her didn't she? And they got that recording of her admitting she killed her husband" Joey said. "Auntie Alice is funny" Eve giggled. Lauren and Joey laughed too. Alice didn't take no crap of anyone since spending six months in prison, she stood up for what she believed in and she knew how to defend herself. Kathy, Joey and Alice's mum came to live in Walford as soon as Alice was found not guilty. She wanted to live near her kids where she could keep an eye on them, properly. She also wanted to meet Lauren, the girl she knew had her son's heart, also the girl who got her daughter her life back. So Kathy came to live with Alice who was by that point living with Lauren in her own house. They all got on like a house on fire and the only person missing was Joey.
"So after Nan came to live with mum and Auntie Alice, that's when you and dad got back together?" Eve asked. "Well not quite babe, I knew what their plans would be, my mum and Alice would sure try to interfere so I moved to the other side of London, I didn't think me and your mum being together was a good idea, I thought it'd be selfish of me to have her when I wasn't what she needed" Joey sighed. Lauren entwined their hands together and kissed the inside of his neck. "But I didn't realise I was what she needed, I thought she was off happy with Jake" he said. "I wasn't though, I was never happy with Jake, I was only with him because I thought I couldn't have you" Lauren told him, looking up at his face. "I know baby, you're mine now and that's all that matters" he said, leaning down and pressing his lips down onto hers. Eve smiled at them while Lewis pulled a disgusted face.
"So how did you two actually end up back together then?" Eve asked, smiling. "You know how we did Eve" Lauren giggled. "I know but just tell us" she laughed. "Alright, well Nan had been calling me and telling me about Lauren saying she was crying herself to sleep at night… she said Lauren had spoken to her about me and she still loved me and didn't understand why I didn't love her still" he said. "So I did the right thing for once in my life and I came back" Joey chuckled, Lauren blushing.
"Go on" Eve giggled, causing everyone else to laugh. "Well I came back for your mum didn't I? Hoping to god she wasn't with somebody else" Joey chuckled. "I came back late at night, so I could go over first thing in the morning and see her, but as I was coming through the square I saw her… she was out with Whitney and Alice, they looked like they'd just left the club" he said. "There was another guy" he said. Lauren cuddled into Joey some more feeling the cold get to her, she wasn't sure if it was goose pimples from hearing Joey explain his feelings after she knew how hard he used to find it to do that or if it was just the cold night. "Pass the blanket dude" Joey asked Lewis who was more than happy to do so. Lauren smiled up at Joey as he covered them both up in the blanket, his hands rubbing up and down her arms too, before leaning down and pecking her lips.
"I was going to walk away but I heard Alice telling this guy to leave Lauren alone because she wasn't interested" he said. "The guy was a total idiot and he wasn't taking no for an answer" Lauren sighed. "The next thing I knew, the guy was storming over to Lauren, clearly angry because she called him a, well we're not going to say what she called him" both Lauren and Joey laughed at this. "So I ran over, I pushed you mum behind me and I punched the guy" Joey said, smugly. "It was all a bit awkward after that, the guy ran off and I had your mum and Aunties staring at me" Joey chuckled. "Alice leaped on me, obviously I hadn't seen her in a while, and the last time was before she went to prison. When she broke the hug I noticed Lauren looked quite uncomfortable, Whitney noticed too because she practically dragged Alice away. "I made a complete fool of myself" Lauren laughed. Joey hugged Lauren into him laughing. "You didn't" he laughed. "I made eye contact with you and burst into tears" she laughed. "Hmm" Joey laughed, receiving an elbow in the ribs from Lauren. "What did you do dad?" Eve asked. "I was by her side in a second hugging her" he said. "After that we were pretty much together, your Nan wasn't in that night which was a bonus, and we talked through everything, there was a lot of tears" Lauren laughed. "We made a lot of promises to each other that night, it was clear to us both how much we still loved each other, so we decided it was worth the risk" Joey said. "Aww" Eve cooed, everyone laughing at her. "And then that's it, you were together" she smiled. "Well after makeup sex yeah" Joey smirked. "Eww dad! I think you guys are adorable but I don't need to know about the sex" She said. Lauren and Joey laughed at her, she was very dramatic. There was a knock on the door, breaking everyone from their thoughts. "Who's that? Its midnight" Lewis frowned. "I'm not answering the door in the dark" Eve announced. They all heard Zac's voice through the letterbox. Lewis got up to his feet, knowing exactly what he was going to do. "Lew sit down now!" Lauren snapped at him, he did a he was told and sat down just as the lights came back on. "I think that's fate baby" Lauren said. Eve's face broke out into a smile and she rushed to the front door. Lewis declared he was going to his own bed as he heard Zac confess his love for Eve, apparently the other girl was an ex who hadn't got over him yet and the only reason he had gone with her was to tell her he didn't want to be with her because he was in love with Eve.
Lauren smiled as she turned around in Joey's arms. "Just me and you baby" He said, tucking some lose hair behind her ear. "Always me and you" she told him, straddling him and pressing her lips onto his in a rough but passionate kiss. "I love you" Joey told her, Lauren mirroring his words just seconds later as things got a lot more heated under the covers.
So this is my one shot, I hope you liked it. Leave a review please. xx