So it's safe to say that Joey is at a new low point since the attack... I doubt there is much lower he can go now... surely? There has been a little time jump since the last chapter but the gap will be filled in... so hopefully it will make sense... after the next few chapters...

Chapter 21.

Eleanor Sutcliffe sat across from her patient who was sitting uncomfortably on the sofa in front of her. This wasn't his first visit… not even his second one. And he'd still barely said a word to her. She looked down at the file she'd been given by SARCs. It contained the barest of information of what he had been through. She wanted him to fill in the gaps for her. Actually to be honest she'd currently just be happy to get him to say something… anything. She decided maybe they just needed to start with the basics and go on from there. She shut the file and instead put her blank pad of paper on top of it, sitting with her pen poised. She turned once more to her patient and studied him for a couple of minutes. "Joey…" she said softly. He didn't look at her but she could see he had tensed. "Tell me about yourself, Joey." She was sure he glanced at her briefly and she tried to take that as a positive sign. "I'd just like to get to know you, Joey… You know I've seen your file… I've seen the transcript of your interviews with the police…" he tensed further at her words and she hadn't expected anything less, "but none of that information tells me anything about you… I don't know about the person you are… so I'd like you to tell me." He looked at her silently, "I promise we won't talk about what happened… not today anyway… not until you're more ready to talk about it… I want you to tell me what you like… what you love…" She paused, staring at him, "to be honest, Joey… I just want you to talk… preferably to me… I'm paid for you to do that… it's what I'm here for." She stopped speaking now, knowing there was nothing else she could say to convince him. The ball was now firmly in his court.

Joey sat on the sofa and looked at his counsellor. She had been recommended by the SARCs team and also by a friend of Uncle Jack's and so far he'd been to see her three times, daily visits... all spent in stony silence. After what had happened with Lauren the other day Joey knew he needed to do something to get over this... he just wasn't sure this was it but currently he was willing to try just about anything. He looked at his counsellor again. She had asked him to call her Eleanor but he wasn't sure he was comfortable with that. He knew he was going to have to talk to her about what happened but there was no way he was ready for that. He didn't know her. He wasn't sure he trusted her. He wasn't sure he trusted himself. He could see she was making an effort though, so he decided he'd do so too. "What do you want to know?" he whispered.

"You start… tell me anything you want and I can ask you any questions that occur to me as we go along." She said, not wanting him to stop talking.

"My name is Joseph James Branning… but the only person who calls me Joseph is Derek… my father." Joey said softly. Eleanor made notes, wanting to keep a record of everything he told her. Some of it may help when they got to the more difficult conversations. "I've been Joey for everyone else since I was a baby… I was alright with that… Lauren calls me Joe though and I like it. I like it a lot."

He fell silent and that wasn't what she wanted so she decided to pick up the thread of his conversation. "Is Lauren the girl in the waiting room?" Eleanor asked him softly. "The girl who comes here with you every time?"

Joey nodded, "Yeah… she's my girlfriend… and my cousin." He told her. He looked at her but Eleanor didn't react to what he'd told her and he relaxed a little more. "She's why I'm here…" He stopped speaking, leaving her another opening.

"Why's that, Joey?" she asked carefully, not wanting to push him too hard and force him to close down again.

"We're… I'm… having issues…"

"Do you want to tell me what they are? I might be able to help…" she asked. Joey shook his head, turning his face towards the wall. "That's fine… we can talk about it another time. Tell me something else about yourself, Joey."

"I live with my mum… and Lauren…" he said softly.

"You're an only child?"

Joey shook his head, "No… I have a sister. She's living with Derek."

"So your parents aren't together anymore?"

"No. They split up when I was seven years old… fifteen years ago." He looked at her again and Eleanor didn't try and fill the silence that fell on the room. "Alice went to live with him a few months ago. It was because she did that I met Lauren." He said, "I went to Walford to take Alice home again. I saw Derek and we fought. Lauren patched me up." He smiled softly and Eleanor decided it was time to explore his relationship with Lauren a little more.

"You love her…" she said simply… more of a statement than a question.

"I do." He said but Eleanor could see strain on his face.

"And does she love you?"

He nodded, "I hope so. She left Walford to be with me… and she's still with me… even though…" He bit his lip and stopped talking.

Eleanor knew this was something he didn't want to talk about and she wasn't going to push him on it now. "You've not been going out for long… or known each other very long," she said.

"No… There was an attraction between us from the first moment we met…" he frowned softly. "Even after we found out we were cousins. I was in Walford for less than four days and I knew she was the one." He fell silent for a couple of minutes but Eleanor waited patiently, "It's never been like that for me before... I've never felt the way I feel about her with anyone else." He paused, biting his lip, "After… what happened…" he stopped again, "I needed her… I wanted her to be there for me."

"It sounds like it was a good thing you met her… she was there for you at the right time." She glanced at the time, "And that is the end of our session for today…" Joey got to his feet and headed to the door, relieved to be released from his latest form of hell. "Before you next come to see me, Joey… I'd like you to write a list of things that have changed about your life since… since one month ago." Joey glanced back at her and nodded once. He left her office.

A/N: So Joey is going for counselling, recommended by the friends of Uncle Jack's. After what he nearly did to Lauren he's realised he needs to start dealing with the situation. He scared himself as much as he scared Lauren. More from Lauren next time. SEND ME A REVIEW. Back tomorrow...