Spanner In The Works.

Chapter 3- Light Them Up.

Jake saw to Emily's head and brought her a glass of water and painkillers, sitting beside her.

"What did you say to Lauren, Emily?" He asked, sighing loudly.

"Why do you automatically think the worse in me?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow, pretending it hurt and lifted a hand to her head.

"Emily, you are my daughter and your grandma has filled me in on your antics, now tell me what you said" He replied. She sighed. She wasn't ready to tell him what she knew, it didn't serve her greater agenda.

"I may of commented on the age difference" She quickly commented, shrugging causally.

"I don't even wanna know" He said, sighing and stood up, grabbing his jacket and left the flat.

Lauren paced the square before deciding to go home, sighing as she opened the door.

"Lauren, you're home, that's good. You okay? You look stressed" Abi said, walking towards to her.

"Stressed doesn't cover it" Lauren replied, taking her coat off "Jake has a daughter and she is complete brat"

"Oppose to you then?" Abi questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know how but she knows about Joey and she said if I don't play by her rules, she's gonna tell Jake everything!" Lauren proclaimed, hanging her coat up.

"Lauren, you might wan-"

"What am I supposed to do, Abi? That's a part of my life I've locked away and rather forget and that kid is threatening to bring it up. How do I explain that to Jake?" Lauren asked, sighing, taking her shoes off.

"Lauren.."

"Abi, just tell me, am I supposed to go by what she says or let her expose that. I don't want Jake to know. He won't understand" Lauren exclaimed, loudly.

"Joey's in the living room" Abi whispered, pointing to the living room. Lauren's eyes widened at this and groaned.

"What's he doing here?" She hissed loudly, placing her head in her eyes.

"Don't know. Go and ask him!" Abi replied, before heading upstairs. Lauren groaned again, took a deep breath and walked into the living room to find Joey sat on the sofa. He gave her a small smile.

"You wasn't supposed to hear that" She said, quickly defending herself.

"It's fine. I understand. I do" He replied, standing up.

"You do?" She questioned, her eyes going soft as she looked at him.

"It's okay. You moved on, I respect that. I had selfishly thought it would be me who moved on first or hoped it would be but it's fine, I just need more time" He told her, walking towards her. She sighed and wanted to tell him she hadn't move on, she had just set her walls up so high to prevent further heartbreak and wanted control but he denied her that.

"Joey..."

"Just let me say what I want to say, please, Lauren. I will always love you. I will never feel that for another girl but it's time to accept what has happened. I need to be in your life though. Can we at least be friends?" He asked, his eyes locked with hers. She was only one who knew this calmer, more emotional side of him existed. It was the side she loved the most. She mentally slapped herself for it.

"Joey, I can't.." Her voice trailed off, as her eyes swam with tears. She could never just be friends with him.

"It's okay, babe, it's okay. I'll go" He said, sighing, turning to leave but stopped, moving forward and kissed her forehead.

"I will always love you" Joey said, quietly before leaving. He opened the door and saw Jake about to knock. He sighed and moved aside, letting Jake inside. They didn't exchange any words and Jake closed the front door as Joey walked down the stairs, looking back at the house and saw the front room curtain twitched. He sighed and walked home, his hands in his pockets, the October air cold on his face, as he fought back tears.

"Lauren, what was your cousin doing here?" Jake asked, as he walked into living room and as she sat down.

She looked up at him, wanting to screaming at him that Joey wasn't her cousin, he was so much more but she couldn't do it because she was back in her dark place, out of control.

"He wanted to see if I was alright with Emily's arrival" She quickly lied, sighing.

"Yeah, about her, she told me why you hit her" He replied. She stared at him, standing up.

"Jake, what you need to under-"

"What's to not understand? She's just being brat about our age difference" He said, holding his hands up. Lauren realised Emily had lied for but she knew it didn't mean anything. She sighed and nodded, hugging him.

Emily looked out across the square and saw Joey sat on the wall outside one of the house. She smirked to herself as she poured herself a glass of Jack Daniels which she had sneaked into her bag and made herself a plan. She downed the glass, hiding the bottle back in her bag before heading out over to the square to where Joey was.

"You okay? You look upset about something" She asked, as she walked towards him.

"Emma? No, Emily isn't it?" He asked, looking up at her.

"Don't do the cool guy thing where you pretend you can't remember my name and go through the ones that was similar to it. You remember my name. Deal with it" She said, laughing jumping and sat on the wall beside.

"Lucky for you, I'm just good with names. What happened to your head?" He asked, pointing to it. She bit her tongue as she about to tell him it was Lauren but again it didn't serve her greater agenda.

"Walked into a door. I'm fitting the blonde stereotype a little too much" She replied, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, you might wanna break that soon to be honest" He said, laughing despite of himself. She sighed as she saw her father leave what she amused was Lauren's house.

"Emily, back to the flat, now!" Jake shouted to her, angrily.

"I'm okay here thanks" Emily replied, rolling her eyes at Joey.

"So this is your thing is it? Hanging with guys 10 years older then you? Not on my watch!" Jake told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her away.

"Age is just a number, Dad. Get of me!" She exclaimed, trying to pull away.

"You might wanna let go of her, Jake. She may have concussion from her head and you're just gonna make it worse" Joey said, walking forward, happy to annoy Jake even more. Jake stared at him, narrowing his eyes, pushing Emily behind him and stared at Joey.

"Stay away from my girlfriend and my daughter. Don't think you can use my daughter to get over your sick obsession with Lauren" Jake said, his eyes cold.

"Again, with the sick obsession accusations, Jake? If you only knew the half of it" Joey replied, smiling. Emily smirked behind her dad's back.

"Lauren did say you'll try and make it sound like more then a one sided thing. Just stay away or I'll be calling the cops for a restraining order" Jake warned him, pointing his finger. Emily rolled her eyes as her father turned away, towards her.

"See you around, Joey!" She said, smiling.

"Yeah, see you around, Emily" He replied, smiling back at her.

"See! You do know my name" She laughed, as her father put a hand on her back, pushing her inside.

"Remember what I said, Joseph. Stay away" Jake sighed as he walked with Emily back into the flat, she happy that her plan had began to make process.