Chapter Ten

Lauren and Joey both overlaid the next morning, due particular activities the night before.

Tanya was the one to go and wake them up as she had heard Lauren at 3am in the morning enjoying some certain time with Joey.

She was pretty certain that they would still be naked under that blanket and she really didn't want Max to go in and find them in there together cuddled up together with no clothes on.

She tapped lightly on the bedroom door, hearing a groan come from joey. She walked into the bedroom and smiled at Lauren sprawled across Joey's chest.

She had never seen Lauren so happy in all of the eighteen years she had been alive to as happy as she had been these past few weeks with Joey.

Lauren flickered her eyes open looking straight at Tanya. She blushed deeply and shyly smiled at Tanya as Joey also styled an awkward look too.

"Morning loves, your late, we leave in an hour" Tanya told them. Lauren raised her head slightly before gasping.

"Err we'll be ready soon" she told Tanya, who smiled at her and left the room.

"Well that wasn't awkward at all" Joey said, releasing a breath, which he wasn't sure he'd been holding.

Lauren giggled and smiled at him, but Joey could see the smile didn't quite stretch that far.

"Don't worry about a thing okay? Everything will be alright and you got all us aint ya? Supporting you" Joey told her.

"Thank you" Lauren told him, kissing his lips softly. "Love you" she told him. "Love you more" he smirked as they both started to get dressed.

Lauren wore a black dress with tights and a black blazer while joey wore black trousers with a long sleeved white shirt tucked in.

"Wow look at you" Lauren giggled, standing behind joey, wrapping her arms around his neck as he looked at his appearance through the full length mirror.

"What?" he chuckled. "You look good in a white shirt babe" Lauren told him, biting her bottom lip.

Joey turned around in Lauren's arms, smirking at her as he laid his hands to rest on her waist.

"You look good in a dress babe and when this is all over, I'm gunna take you out on dates, I'll get to see you in a lot more dresses then" he said, throwing a cheeky wink.

Lauren giggled as Joey pressed his lips onto hers, they moved them together slowly before joey entered his tongue into Lauren's mouth.

The kiss turned passionate and before they knew it, Joey had Lauren pinned up against the bedroom door.

They were broke apart by Max calling their names from downstairs. They were breathless as they laid their foreheads against each other's.

"Don't even worry about a thing okay? Just think of today as a day you get away from your parents, you're so strong, I know you can do this" Joey told her, kissing her forehead.

"I love you" she told him. "I love you too baby a lot, come on" he said taking her hand and leading her down the stairs.

There was just Max at the bottom of the stairs, all the others were waiting outside in the car.

"You ready babe?" he asked her. Lauren sighed. "As ready as I'll ever be" she told him.

Joey squeezed Lauren's hand. "I'll give you two a minute yeah? I'll be in the car" Joey said, kissing her cheek. Lauren closed her eyes briefly as his lips touched her skin.

Max smiled at the couple and then watched as Joey made his way outside, Lauren's eyes following his every move.

"You love him, don't you?" Max asked. "Yeah I do" she smiled. "He loves you too, I can tell" he told her.

Lauren smiled softly at max. "Listen I just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done for me over the past couple of months, well everything you've done for me all my life really" Lauren said.

"Ay, you're saying it like this is goodbye" Max frowned. "Well it might be" she sighed.

"You don't get rid of me that easily, you're going nowhere trust me" he told her.

"I'm so scared" she told him, her voice breaking. Max pulled Lauren into a hug, she may not be one of his kids but she is his little girl, and she always would be.

"Ay it's okay to be scared" he told her as she cried. Lauren and Max made their way to the car five minutes later after they hugged it out.

Joey instantly saw that Lauren had been crying and she was hugging into him as soon as she was in the car.

The journey to the court was quiet and depressing, it got even more depressing when Lauren caught a glance of her parents through the car window, and they smirked at her which riled Max up.

All in all the case wasn't too bad Lauren thought, not as bad as she thought it would be anyway.

Joey hated every moment though, he saw Lauren's parents keep glaring and smirking at Lauren and he wanted to hurt them, he wanted to hurt them like they hurt Lauren.

Lauren looked at them once and she could tell they weren't sorry so she refused to make eye contact with them again after that.

Max and Joey were furious with Mary and Paul's judge, he really dug into Lauren.

Alice and Tanya had to shut Joey and Max up on several occasions before they got themselves kicked out of the court as they kept shouting at the judge and Max had even took it up on himself to shout insults at Mary and Paul too.

Abi had ran out of the court in tears when she saw Lauren crying and struggling to tell the judge what happened, Lauren had been part of Abi's life since she was born and Abi saw Lauren as her older sister even if that wasn't biologically true.

The judge called a break before the verdict was called and everyone sat outside in silence.

Lauren sat sobbing on Joeys lap in the corner for the whole time they were on break while the others sat just outside the doors talking to Laurens solicitor.

They were called back in and Lauren was hysterical, not wanting to go back in, she clung to Joey like a baby.

Lauren kissed Joey like there was no tomorrow. "I know this is goodbye" she whispered. "No this is not goodbye, now get yourself back in there and show them what your made of" Joey told her.

Lauren unwillingly walked back into the court room and took her place again, her parent at the opposite end of the room.

"All stand" the judge called. It all went in slow motion for Lauren, all she could hear was the judge's voice and all she could see was Joey.

She was shaking like a leaf and the tears were pouring down her cheeks. Joey didn't take his eyes off Lauren as the judge called his verdict.

Joey's lips were pouted and slightly apart. "I find the verdict guilty on all charges" he called out.

Lauren's eyebrows raised up quickly and she sobbed. Joey's eyes filled up too and he felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest while someone was constantly punching him in the stomach.

Max was on his chair with his head in-between his hands, also crying. Tanya and Alice's hands had flew up to cover the gasps escaping their mouths while Abi had ran out to be sick.

Lauren fell to the floor, sliding down the wall, sobbing hysterically as a uniformed security officer came and escorted her to her designated section.

Leave a review please. So what do you think happened and what's gonna happen to Lauren? … Xx