A/N: Thanks you so so much again for all the reviews to the last chapter. I'm glad you all liked it. As a thank you for all the reviews and your kind words, here's chapter 7. Enjoy :)
Chapter 7: Home
Lauren hadn't been able to get his voice out of her head the entire previous week. Or for the entire flight duration home.
Lauren's P.O.V.
Joey. He was at my house. Of course he was. It was my Dad's birthday; the whole family had probably been there. But didn't my Dad hate Joey? I couldn't face trying to ring again just in case he answered again. Just hearing his voice made my stomach drop, heart start racing and send me into a total panic with my head going into complete overdrive. Plus, being pregnant, my hormones were going crazy or to put it bluntly, I was horny as hell for him! Hearing his voice only made me want, need, him even more to satisfy these bloody urges. I now understood why some women get so worked up over needing sex, with an increased sex drive; craving sex even, not just food cravings.
"We are now arriving at London Heathrow Airport. Please remain seated until the plane stops. Once again we thank you for flying with ..." I tuned out the familiar airplane announcement. I was almost home. And truth be told, I was scared as hell about being back.
End Lauren P.O.V.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Lauren jumped off the train at the familiar train station. Stepping out of the station, nothing felt different about Walford. It was exactly the same as the day she had left. Taking a deep breath, she picked up her bags and walked into the cool spring night air. It was late so it was fairly quiet around, only a faint sound of music beating in the background.
Walking past R&R, her mind instantly went to the male who was most likely in there; Joey. Was he even still working there? Deciding not to linger for fear of seeing someone she recognised, she continued towards the familiar pub and square before her home appeared in her view. Feeling a sigh of relief knowing she was so close to home, she made the last few steps and lifted her exhausted arm to knock the door and ring the bell (her keys were at the bottom of her full handbag). Strangely, there was no reply. It didn't make sense. Where were they at this time of night? It was going on close to eleven. Hearing loud voices and music as the Queen Vic doors opened, some people leaving and headed off in the opposite direction back towards the train station, causing Lauren to avert her gaze. It looked and sounded like something was going on in the Vic.
Suddenly, feeling very overwhelmed at what she was doing, Lauren could feel a panic attack coming on. She couldn't face all these people!
Lauren's P.O.V.
What was I thinking coming back? Running back down the steps, well more like waddled with this bump and my tiredness, I hurried as fast as I could back towards the train station with my bags when some very familiar faces stepped out the Queen Vic.
"Lauren?" I groaned internally hearing the shocked voice.
"Mum." I answered turning around. The shock on Mum's, Dad's Abi's, Alice's and finally Joey's faces was obvious. I pulled my black leather jacket closer together to try and conceal my bump; my jacket was getting a bit small for my present form. However, I knew it was too late as all eyes had already landed on my protruding stomach.
I felt my heart racing even quicker and my breath was becoming staggered as my eyes locked with Joey's. Not knowing what to do, I gave in and let my body do the only thing it felt like doing, my legs gave way and I passed out.
End Lauren P.O.V.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Everyone stood still in shock seeing Lauren turn around, her baby bump obvious for all to see. It didn't make sense. How was she still pregnant? She had had an abortion?
"LAUREN!" Abi screamed as Lauren suddenly fell sideways to the ground before anyone had chance to grab her, her head banging on the concrete floor.
Joey, who was the first to react as he saw her collapse, shook his jacket off and gently placed it under and against her bleeding head; a de ja vu coming over him remembering the day Lauren collapsed in the Vic and the day they found out she was pregnant.
"Lauren, babe, wake up." Joey whispered, stroking her cheek.
Tanya bent down next to him, searching for her daughter's pulse. Max was on the phone to the ambulance services while Alice held a shocked Abi as other residents started filtering out of the Queen Vic; Jack who had just stepped out was soon holding and trying to comfort his two nieces, Abi and Alice, Carole standing next to Max.
"Max, tell them to hurry; her pulse is racing and I dread to think what the impact of the fall might have done to the baby."
Joey felt physically sick as he held his hand to Lauren's head, applying pressure to her bleeding head, his mind unable to comprehend everything. Lauren was still pregnant. How? They had seen the empty tablet packaging. Had the pill not worked? He thought he had would never see Lauren again but yet here she was, back in the square and within minutes already in trouble again (completely living up to her drama queen label he thought). Joey looked up to see Tanya trying to get Lauren to show any response signs as he heard the sirens approaching. Joey swore to himself that there was no way he was leaving Lauren's side; not again. Seeing her, he knew in an instant, he still loved her and she was the only person he wanted.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
A few hours later and they were all still waiting for news on Lauren who had failed to regain consciousness. Jack had taken Abi and Alice home from the hospital after a while and Sharron was looking after Oscar after collecting him from Cora's.
"What's taking so long?!" Joey exclaimed, exasperated before pacing up and down the corridor.
"Look, Joe, why don't you go? We will call if there is any news." Max offered, confused slightly at how distressed his nephew seemed over his daughter. Tanya looked sadly at Joey, his pain etched over his face.
"No. I'm not going anywhere until I know Lauren and the baby are ok." Joey stated stubbornly. Tanya couldn't help the smile that crept on her face at Joey's response.
"Look, I'm not forcing you but you heard the nurse before; it'll be a while before we can see Lauren or she wakes up. They are running a few more tests but they said they expect them to be all ok so she will be fine, Joe." Max told him sternly.
"I'm not leaving. Not again; not after what happened last time."
"Why are you so interested in Lauren and this baby, Joey? You two obviously weren't exactly the best of friends before she left. She's just your cousin, Joey." Tanya knew Max was pushing Joey's buttons, unbeknownst to him.
"Max, just leave it. He wants to stay." Tanya didn't know what she was sticking up and rooting for Joey after everything that had happened, and she certainly still didn't fully support his relationship with her daughter, but right now, they needed to focus on Lauren and she could understand his need to know his baby was ok.
"No, Tan, I won't just drop it. I want to know why Joey here is so interested. What you hoping to get her in more trouble again? I want you gone. Lauren doesn't need you in her life causing her more harm, trouble or hurt. She's got enough on her plate including obviously having to raise a flaming baby as a single parent." Max's frustration was growing.
"Well she doesn't have to be." Joey scoffed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Max and Joey were right in each other's faces.
"Joey." Tanya warned, giving him a look. "Both of you, in fact, just drop it."
"No, what do you mean 'she doesn't have to be'? I don't see the father around."
"Actually you're looking right at him, Uncle Max. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be by Lauren's side the whole time, whether she wants me or not." Joey sounded smug as the words left his mouth.
Max paled as Joey's words sunk in. Tanya closed her eyes knowing this wasn't what Lauren would want. Without saying anything, Max punched Joey in the face, knocking the younger Branning to the floor, after being caught off guard.
"Get up!" Max said. Joey was already back up on his feet before he spoke as Max grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pinned him against the wall in the corridor. "You slept with my daughter? Your cousin? What, are you that desperate for a bit of skirt you'll even sleep with your own flesh and blood? You took advantage of my daughter." Tanya managed to pull Max off Joey.
"Max, enough." Max turned to Tanya as it dawned on him by her lack of reaction.
"You knew, didn't you? You knew about them?"
Tanya sighed. "Lauren told me after the accident."
"I love her, Uncle Max." Max scoffed.
"Excuse me." The three turned to a nurse who looked at them apprehensively. "Lauren's awake." Max walked off as Tanya gave Joey a half smile before leading him in the direction Max had gone, down the corridor a few feet to Lauren's room door.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Lauren woke up with a splitting headache. In the background a constant beeping could be heard. As she opened her eyes, she looked around the room startled. This wasn't her room at Bella's; this was a hospital. Suddenly all the previous actions and events from that night flooded back into her mind, her hand going straight to her stomach as she remembered how she felt just before she passed out.
"Lauren." Lauren turned to the left and saw her Dad entering her room. Tears prickled her eyes as he embraced her carefully. For the first time in a while she broke down, letting her Dad hold her close, just as he had done hundreds of times before when she was just a small child. "Shh, everything is ok, Lauren. I'm here." Max rubbed her back soothingly as he rocked her slightly.
After calming down, Lauren pulled back to see her Mum and Joey by the door. Her Mum gave her a reassuring welcoming smile as she let her gaze move to Joey. He looked so defeated as they allowed their eyes to remain connected to each others, so much hurt in both their eyes.
"Dad, can you give Joey and I a few minutes, please?" Lauren was fully unaware that Max now knew about almost everything apart from the crash and Derek's blackmail.
"Lauren." His voice sounded like a warning.
"Dad, please." Max sighed, defeated as he stood up, placing a kiss on his daughter's forehead not wanting to argue with her now or cause her anymore distress. He walked out but not before giving Joey a glaring look. Tanya followed suit, leaving the two cousins alone. "Joey."
Joey walked towards Lauren, sitting down on the edge of her bed, the two remaining in silence for a few moments. Before either could speak, they were interrupted by a nurse; breaking the atmosphere in the room which had changed as soon as Tanya and Max left the room.
"Right, sorry to interrupt but I've got the ultrasound for us to check up again on this little one. Would you mind..." The nurse turned hinting at Joey to leave.
Lauren instead spoke up, "Actually, is it ok if he stays?"
The nurse smiled, "Sure, if that's what you want. And is this..."
"He's the father, yes." It was the first time throughout the whole of the pregnancy so far that Lauren had actually referred to him as the father in front of Joey.
Both stayed silent as the nurse prepared the machine. The nurse plugged in the machine while Joey's eyes never once left Lauren. His mind was going crazy; what was going to happen now between him and Lauren? What would everyone else say or do once they knew of their relationship? More importantly, what did he want to happen?
"Joey?" Lauren whispered as he broke his train of thoughts. It was clear to the nurse how much these two wanted each other and how in love they were. "You ok?"
Managing to raise a smile, he nodded. "Yeah."
He noted the nurse looked ready to start and Lauren's t-shirt had been lifted, her once flat stomach now exposing her growing bump. And to Joey, he couldn't remember a time when she had looked so beautiful.
"Right, Lauren, let's see how this baby is doing." The nurse placed the probe on her stomach, pushing down a little before moving it slowly side to side.
A few moments later, she turned the monitor screen towards Lauren and Joey, "Here's your little one. Everything seems ok. You can hear a nice steady, healthy and strong heartbeat; it's back to normal again as earlier we were a little worried. The baby is still a little on the small side for where you are in your pregnancy but not to the point for any major concern yet; normally your baby would be about twenty two centimetres but this one is only eighteen. We'll keep an eye over the next few weeks but everything else is fine. If you look, you can see their ear and their nose is now starting to develop. If you were to hold them at this size, this little one would fit into the palm of your hand." Lauren felt overwhelmed. When she first got to America, Bella's family forced her to get a check up where they carried out an ultrasound but nothing could really be seen, just a small dot really. Since then, with everything else going on, Lauren had failed to consider getting regular check-ups so now seeing her baby, a real little human being, so clearly on screen she felt even more love for her child. Suddenly she broke eye contact with the screen when she felt a warm hand slip into hers as Joey squeezed her hand. As she moved from their intertwined hands to his face, she felt a tear leave her eye.
"Why don't I give you two a few moments? I'll go speak to the doctor and print the sonogram for you to keep."
As soon as the nurse exited, Joey moved to the bed again and sat down on the edge, closer to Lauren this time, as he held her close as she buried her face in his chest and cried.
"I'm so sorry, Joey." He heard her mumble.
"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. Yeah we have got a lot to talk about but I'm not going anywhere." Joey kissed the top of her head.
She sniffled. "I just couldn't do it." He knew instantly what she was referring to. "I couldn't kill out baby, Joey. I can't believe I even considered it and came so close to doing so." Her voice was full of regret.
"I wish you would have told me but what's happened, it's happened. I'm just glad you're back and all I want to do is just be there for you and our baby, if you'll let me. Nothing else matters right now." Joey lifted her chin so she was looking at him, her head still leaning on his shoulder for comfort.
"I need to know one thing. Why did you break up with me after you told me you loved me? Did you ever really love me?" Joey sighed as Lauren held herself closer to him; she was so confused emotionally because part of her wanted to put some space between them but an overwhelming part of her needed to be close to him right now.
"I did," Joey paused and corrected himself, "I do, love you. But I didn't exactly have much of a choice because I had to protect you."
Lauren lifted her head again and looked at him confused. "What do you mean protect me? I don't understand."
"Derek didn't give me much of a choice. It killed me to do it but I thought it was for the best. I know I did the right thing because, Lauren, if Derek had of told the Police you would've gone to prison, I got away with a warning and few hours of community service which was fine, and our baby wouldn't og had the chance to get to know just how great their Mummy."
Lauren smiled at the last part of his sentence but mentally slapped herself at Joey's initial response. Of course Derek was behind it all. He always is. Why did her Uncle always have to screw people's lives up? It was then she realized Joey was holding something else back.
"Joey, what is it? What else do I need to know?"
Running his hand through her black tresses but avoiding her cut, he finally answered her question. "I may have just told your Dad that the baby is mine."
Lauren paled. They were dead. Double dead. But wait, why hadn't her Dad said anything before? Why was she only just noticing the small cut on Joey's lip that was bleeding. "How are you, we, still alive?"
Joey laughed. "I'm not quite sure yet."
"He punched you though, didn't he?"
"Yeah but I probably deserved it. I was acting smug when I told him." Lauren rolled her eyes.
Before they could continue, the nurse returned. "Lauren, I've spoken to the Doctor and as long as you take it easy and are under constant supervision for twenty four hours with that head injury, he's happy to let you go. You will need to come back in next week to check that head wound is healing ok."
"Thank you." Lauren smiled.
"I'll just go get your release forms and inform Mom and Dad."
Joey took the sonogram pictures of their baby from the nurse before she left the room again. "Guess we should get you ready then?"
Lauren bit her lip and nodded as they broke their contact. "Can you pass my shoes, please?"
Joey passed her up her converse but noted she seemed to struggle a bit over her bump; she seemed worried in case she squashed the baby. He moved to sit further down the bed, taking her feet in his lap and pushed her hands away. "You are gonna have to get used to people doing things for you."
Lauren cursed him with her eyes but was secretly grateful. As she sat up and leaned off the bed, she felt her exhaustion creeping up on her again, a yawn escaping her mouth. "Joey, thanks."
"What for?"
"For not pushing me. I promise we can talk more about everything but I think right now I'm ready to go home and collapse in bed." She told him as he took her hand in his again.
"Lauren, I already told you, I'm not going anywhere." He repeated, looking her straight in the eye. She smiled as her parents walked in.
"You two ready?" Tanya asked, Max not acknowledging the pair. "We've signed all the forms and got the painkillers for the headaches". Lauren nodded as Joey held her jacket for her to slide her arms into before he helped her off the bed. She wobbled at first but Joey grabbed her to stop her falling. "You sure you feel well enough to go home, Lauren?"
"I'm fine, Mum, just exhausted. It's been a long day and night." Tanya smiled as she took Lauren's bag from Joey so he could focus on helping her.
"I'm gonna go bring the car round." Max said, speaking for the first time.
"Ok, I'll come with you. Joey, can you manage?" Tanya asked, her eyes noting Joey's every touch on Lauren; it was delicate and soft, loving really.
Joey smiled. "We'll be fine. Probably just a bit slow by the look of it."
Tanya nodded and left with Max as Joey wrapped his arm around Lauren's waist, his hand touching the side of her stomach, Lauren's arm then going around his shoulders so he could help take some of her weight for now. The two walked slowly towards the exit, Joey carefully helping Lauren into the car when they reached it before climbing in and sitting on the back seat next to her.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Max pulled up outside number 5 a short while later. Joey looked down at Lauren who was asleep on his shoulder.
"I'll carry her up to save waking her." Joey said, breaking the awkward silence in the car.
Max just ignored him and went to open the front door while Tanya opened the back door of the car. Joey managed to slide Lauren into his arms and carefully got out. Upon reaching the top of the steps, Max finally spoke. "You can leave her on the sofa to save you carrying her up to her room."
"I don't mind taking her up." Joey offered.
"You sure you can manage?" Max asked, deadpanned.
"I'd never do anything to risk hurting her; if I couldn't manage I wouldn't."
Max sighed. "All right, you know where her room is."
Joey walked through the house and up the stairs. He pushed open the bedroom door with his foot as he knew Abi was staying at their Uncle Jack's with Alice tonight.
Placing Lauren in bed, he removed her shoes before pulling her quilt up over her. Lauren stirred slightly, making him crouch down just in front of her.
"Shh, go back to sleep; you're home now. I'll come see you tomorrow." Joey pushed her hair back behind her ear, gently stroking her cheek.
"Thank you."
"Night, Lauren." Joey kissed her forehead and she fell back into a deep slumber.
Closing her door behind him, he headed back downstairs to Max and Tanya.
"She's asleep."The younger Branning looked exhausted to the elder two.
"Joey," Tanya started, "go home and get some rest. I promise if there is anything, I'll call you, but she's safe now. She's finally home." The blonde reassured him.
Max looked at his nephew and sighed. "Look, go home, get some sleep; later on today, you can come back over when you're ready and we can discuss everything if Lauren's up to it." Max proposed as his wife gave him a warning look not to start anything now.
"Ok but if you need me for anything, or Lauren does, just call me." The two adults nodded as the worn out, physically and mentally, twenty three year old Branning walked out and headed back to his flat.
The only thought running through Joey's mind was he was grateful that his Lauren was finally home.
A/n: Hope this chapter makes up for the last two short filler chapters. No more updates tonight. Would love to hear more of your thoughts again :)
