Lauren woke late the next day. She got up and showered and dressed. After she had eaten breakfast she went towards the café. She saw Joey go in, she peered through the window and saw Lucy smiling at him. She frowned and she turned to go and then she saw Jason walking towards the café.

She was glad she wore a coat that covered her growing bump, she pretended to stumble and drop her bag and Jason came over to help her.

'You all right?' he asked her as she bent down to pick up her things

'Yeah I tripped over these bin bags' she lied and he looked at them. 'Thank you' she smiled t him as he gave her back her bag.

'No harm done hey?' he asked her with a smile 'I'm Jason. Jason Edwards' he held out his hand to her

'Lauren, Lauren Branning' she said 'I haven't seen you around here before' she told him

'I'm thinking about moving here' he told her

'That would make this place more interesting' she told him

'The place already got interesting' he replied with a smile. Lauren noticed that he was still holding her hand.

She smiled brightly at him 'If you like I can give you a guided tour of all the sights of Walford' she told him 'I don't have any plans today'

'Yeah?' he asked her and he glanced through the window.

'Yeah' she replied

He nodded 'I'd like that' he said 'I'll just get us a couple of coffees and then I'm all yours'

'Perfect' she beamed at him.

Lauren took him on a guided tour of the Square and then Walford. She managed to get his life history whilst avoiding any questions about her life. They ended up in the Silver Fox for lunch. Lauren's phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket and she saw it was Joey. She rejected the call and switched her phone off and put it back in her bag

'So' who is Joey? Boyfriend?' Jason asked her

'Cousin' Lauren replied as he handed her a coke and menu. 'Thanks. So, I know everything about you except why you're in Walford?'

'Why do you think?' he aksed her

'Well it's one of three things'

'Go on' he leant on the table and crossed his hands under his chin.

'Family, job or a girl' she said and she narrowed her eyes at him 'And I am thinking a girl' she told him.

'Maybe. Maybe 2 girls' he said with a smile. Lauren knew he was flirting with her, he had been all day. She smiled at him and she leaned closer to him

'Two girls?' she asked him 'So who's my competition?' she asked him

'Actually right now it's not much of a competition' he replied with a wink

'Oh…. Out of sight out of mind?' she asked him

'No not really. I've only been on one date with this girl' he said 'It's not like we're in committed relationship or anything' he replied

'So it's a girl from the square?' Lauren asked

'Yeah'

'Let me see, who's single….. Bianca?'

'Nope' he laughed

''Oaky… Alice?'

'Nope'

'Well that only leaves… no you couldn't be….'

'Couldn't be what?' Jason asked her

'The only person left is Lucy Beale. You couldn't be seeing her'

Jason frowned at her 'You know Lucy?'

'Who doesn't know Lucy' Lauren said and she picked up her drink and took a sip 'Well all I'm going to see is good luck and be careful' she told him and she opened her menu and pretended to read

'What? Hey you can't just leave it like that' he said to her

She peered up at him 'It wouldn't be fair for me to say anything' she told him

'She a friend of yours?'

'No. She doesn't actually have that many friends' Lauren said 'She's a bit of a bitch, but I'm sure that you'll find out for yourself'

'Now I'm intrigued' he said 'You have to tell me'

'No I couldn't' she said 'not if you really like her'

'Barely know her' he said 'Met her in a club R&R a few weeks ago' he told her 'We had a date last week and I went to see her last night, stayed at the B&B and I was supposed to be having lunch with her today but, well let's just say I got a better offer.'

Lauren smiled and looked down, pretending to be coy 'I couldn't'

'Oh come on please you have to' he said laughing now 'I'm going think the worst'

'You should the think the worst, worse than the worst' she told him 'why don't we order?' she asked him

'Sure' he nodded. He ordered the food at the bar and Lauren noticed that he also paid for it. 'Okay so spill' he said, Lauren smiled to herself and she licked her lips.

'Well….'

Jason and Lauren returned to the square and Lauren smiled at him 'Well it's been really nice meeting you Lauren Branning' he told her with a smile 'If I'm ever in Walford again I'll be sure to look you up'

'You do that' Lauren told him 'I had a really good day today. Thanks'

'You're welcome, maybe we could do it again sometime?' he asked her

'Yeah sure. If you can find me' she grinned at him. She watched him go into the B&B and she walked through the market. She saw Tyler and Whitney at Tyler's stall and she walked over to them.

'What are you grinning at?' Tyler asked her suspiciously

'That's for me know and Lucy to find out' she replied

'What have you been up to?' Tyler narrowed his eyes at him

'I could tell you but if I did …'

'You'd have to kill me' Tyler rolled his eyes with a sigh 'So what can I do for you?' he asked her

'Actually I came to see Whitney' Lauren said to him

'Oh, okay well, here she is' he said holding out his hand

'Do you want to come for a drink Whit?' Lauren asked her 'I thought maybe we could talk?'

Whitney gaped at her in surprise and Tyler nudged her Yeah, yeah I'd like that' she nodded.

The two girls went into the pub and they walked up to the bar. 'I'll get these' Whitney said 'What do you want?'

'White wine spritzer small' Lauren said to her 'I'll be back in sec I need to pee' she told her

'All right' she nodded.

When Lauren came back Whitney was seated at the table 'Thought you'd done a runner' she said to her

'Sorry, I swear that my jeans that fit me perfectly fine this morning have shrunk' Lauren told her 'Or I have gained more weight in the last 9 hours' she frowned 'is that possible?' she asked her

Whitney smiled and shook her head 'No I don't think so' she told her. Lauren picked up her drink and took a sip and smiled

'Mmm that's better' she said and she looked at Whitney 'Look. I know that you believed Lucy and yes you did try to apologise, and since I've forgiven Joey I'd be a bit of a hypocrite if I didn't forgive you too' Lauren told her

'I am really sorry Lauren, Lucy was just so convincing…..' Lauren told her 'and her phone was in your bag and …'

'It's in the past Whitney' Lauren said and she smiled at her 'I just hope that next time something happens that you will talk to me first, listen to my side of the story before you judge me' Lauren told her 'I mean if we all judged you after what happened with Tony without hearing your side of the story you probably wouldn't have any friends here' Whitney blinked in shock at Lauren's words

'Yeah, yeah I know' she frowned, she picked up her drink and swallowed

'And if I remember correctly I was there for you whilst Lucy was making snide comments behind your back and sometimes even to your face.' Lauren told her 'did you know that when you went away for a while after the trial that she tried to sleep with Tyler?'

'No' Whitney shook her head 'I didn't know that'

'Tyler knocked her back of course, that's when she was trying to convince you that Tyler had cheated on you'

'That sly little cow' Whitney snapped 'wait until I see her'

'I wouldn't give her the time of day Whit' Lauren said and she reached into her bag and she pulled out her mobile phone and she switched it on. It beeped 12 times and then rang instantly.

'Someone's popular' Whitney said

'It's Joey' Lauren replied and she pressed the reject button.

'You're not going to take it?' she frowned 'I thought that you and Joey were okay?'

'I switched it off earlier because he texts or calls me like every hour to make sure that I'm okay. Which is annoying so the 12 texts and oh 2 phone calls' she said as she rejected another call 'are to yell at me and ask me where I've been' she replied 'and besides I saw him talking to Lucy earlier so..' she shrugged.

'Things between you and Joey will be all right though won't they?' Whitney asked her 'I mean we all saw you kissing..'

'Things are different' Lauren said looking down 'I don't think things will ever be the same between us, not after everything that happened'

'You still love each other don't you?'

'Yes but sometimes love isn't enough' Lauren replied looking up at her 'You can be so in love with someone, think that they know you better than you know yourself, everything seems to be perfect and then like that…' she snapped her fingers together 'It's gone' Lauren explained

'But you and Joey will make it work thought right?'

'Maybe' Lauren said 'it's not going to happen overnight' she took another sip of wine, her phone rang again and she answered 'Yes Joey I'm fine and yes I know I turned my phone off but that's because you keep ringing me and texting me to ask me if I'm fine which I am' she snapped a him

'Usually it's polite to answer the phone with Hi or hello' he replied

'Hi' Lauren said

'I was just calling you to see if you wanted to do something tonight' he asked her 'maybe a movie or go to the Vic for a drink or dinner out?'

'I went out to dinner last night' Lauren said 'I don't fancy a movie and I'm already in the Vic with a drink' she replied 'but if you want you could come in?' she asked him 'Then you could see for yourself that I am fine and maybe you'd stop calling me and texting me because it's getting a little annoying'

'Who are at the Vic with?'

'Whitney' Lauren replied

'Are you talking?' he asked her

'Yes we've cleared the air' Lauren told him

'I don't want to interrupt' Joey told her 'Maybe I can see you later?'

'Aren't you working in the club?'

'Well yeah but I could stop over before or after' he said

'You want to wake me at 2am?' she asked him 'You do remember that I'm hormonal right?'

'Yeah I know… I just feel like I haven't seen you for days' he told her 'I miss you'

'We can maybe do something tomorrow?' she asked him 'If you're not coming to the Vic now'

'You and Whit need to spend some time together. I guess then I'll see you tomorrow?' he asked her

'Yeah I'll call you or text you' she replied

'I love you' Joey told her

'Yeah me too' she said and she hung up. She put the phone back in her bag and looked at Whitney

'You even sound different when you talk to him on the phone' Whit said

'He's annoyed me today' Lauren replied with a shrug.

'Do you think that you'll marry him?'

'I don't know. Not anytime soon, no' Lauren shook her head. 'So how are things with you and Tyler?' Lauren asked her.

AN: So what did Lauren tell Jason? And what will Lucy do/say when she finds out!

Why has Lauren suddenly decided to become friends with Whitney again? Is she trying to save her relationship to Tyler? Or is she playing games with her.

Lauren and Joey aren't seeing each other every day and things in their relationship aren't back to how they used to be. Has Lauren actually forgiven him or is she playing games with him too?

All will be revealed

Thank you for all your reviews, Please R&R

Later…

Oh and all the bay names guesses –no one has got it!