Lauren sat in her car for twenty minutes sobbing her heart out.

She had got there too late.

Joey had married Lucy.

He had actually gone ahead and married Lucy.

She hoped that he was happy.

She had to see if he was happy.

She had to see it for her own eyes and then she would leave, she would go to Australia and she would put Joey behind her and she would start afresh in a new country, in a new continent. Maybe in time it would hurt less and she and Joey would be able to be friends again. She didn't know how much time it would take or if she would even be ready to be friends with him again. She started the car and she drove towards the Mayfair Hotel. She pulled into the car park and she looked at her reflection again in the mirror. She frowned when she saw her face. She routed around in her bag for the tissues and pulled them out. She wiped her face clean and then pulled out her compact and put some powder on. She knew that she didn't need much make up, her father had said she was a natural beauty, she looked at herself in the mirror again and satisfied that she looked less of a mess than she did before, she climbed out of the car.

She made her way to the main doors of the hotel and she looked around, she walked to the front desk.

'Excuse me can you tell me where the Beale/Branning reception is please?'

'Yes of course. Just through your double doors to your right, follow the corridor down to your left and they are in the Sunset Ballroom'

'Of course they are' Lauren sighed 'Thank you' she gave the clerk a smile and she went to find the room. It didn't take her long to find the Sunset ballroom. She didn't go inside, the doors were closed but she could just about see through the frosted window. She looked around, she saw one of the bridesmaids, and she thought that it might be Whitney. She saw her dad and then she scanned the room and she saw Joey standing at the bar, next to Derek and Rose, she turned to go and saw a couple of wedding guests, she froze as she heard them talking

'They looked so happy….' one of them said

'She looked so beautiful in her dress….' the other said as they opened the door and went inside the ballroom.

Lauren licked her lips and she felt her eyes fill with tears again, she wiped them away with the back of her hand and she turned and she fled for the exit, unaware that she had been seen by her father, and Joey's parents.

She made her way out to her car and she felt her tears rising again, she frowned and ran her fingers through her hair and a piece of confetti fell out. She started the car and she started to drive. She drove back to Walford and parked outside her flat, she grabbed her suitcases and she carried them down to the car, she got them in the boot and she locked up her flat and she drive towards the airport. The next flight to Australia was at 7:00pm, she checked the clock on the wall, and she had an hour to wait. She checked in and had her luggage scanned and she put her cases on the conveyor belt for them to be loaded onto the plane and she sat down and she waited for the flight to be called.

Lauren pulled out her phone and she dialled a number that she knew by heart, the call went to voicemail.

She closed her eyes as she heard his voice, her heart breaking 'Hi this is Joey, please leave a message'

'Joey it's me' she said 'I..I know that I shouldn't be doing this, not after you married Lucy, but I need to tell you and maybe that's selfish of me I don't know, but you need to know that I came to the church, I came to tell you that I was sorry for being so stubborn, but I was too late, I was too late to tell you ….. To tell you that I love you Joseph Branning. I love you.. I'm sorry I… I shouldn't have called…I'm sorry' she hung up and she closed her eyes and she let the tears roll down her cheeks.

"Flight 667 to Australia is boarding at gate 9' she heard her flight being called. She got up and pulled out her boarding pass and she picked up her carry-on bag. She looked around to see where gate 9 was and once she had found it she walked towards it. She joined the queue to board the plane, she was about to hand her documents over when she heard her name over the PA system.

'Lauren Branning can you please go to the red courtesy phone, Lauren Branning can you please go the red courtesy phone' she heard. Lauren frowned and she asked the man behind the counter where the nearest red courtesy phone was. He pointed over her shoulder, she nodded and she stepped out of the line and she walked over to it.

'Hello? Lauren Branning speaking'

'Lauren! Thank god!' she heard her father's voice on the phone

'Dad! What's wrong?' she asked him 'Is mum okay?' she frowned when she heard muffled voices in the background

'Yes, yeah you're mum is fine' he said 'I thought I might have missed you. You didn't answer your phone'

'I'm just about to board the plane dad' she told him 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing's wrong, I just… I didn't want you to go without talking to you.' He told her 'you know how much I am going to miss you' he said to her

'I know dad' she said softly, 'I'm going to miss you too'

'You know they have spiders over there a big as your hand…. I bet you will be on the next flight home when you see one of them'

'I'm not the one afraid of spiders dad that's you' she smiled

'These ones you will be, they're big enough to tie you up and drag you off to the outback'

'I'm going to Melbourne dad' she said smiling and shaking her head

'There still some outback near there' he told her, she heard voices in the back ground again.

'Who's that?'

'Your mother she wants me to tell you to make sure that you put on a lot of sunscreen and to wear a hat. She wants you to say hello to her mother for her'

'Tell mum I will and tell her to stop worrying' she said 'And tell Oscar I'll bring him back a toy Koala and toy Kangaroo'

'You are planning on coming back then?' he asked her, she fell quiet and she sighed

'Not for a while' she replied

'So longer than the two weeks you told us then?'

'A few months at least' she said to him. This time Max went quiet 'dad?'

'I love you, you know that right?'

'Yes I know. I love you too dad' she said through her tears

Her flight was announced again 'Is that your flight?' he asked her 'Gate 9 huh, you know what they say about gate 9'

'Dad, now is not the time for one of your jokes about planes. Not when I have to be on for over 20 hours'

'Yeah yeah you're right' he said and he laughed softly. 'You have a safe flight okay? You call us when you land and again when you get to Cora's. She is picking you up from the airport isn't she?'

'Yes dad she is' she said 'I've got to go'

'Okay darling. You take care and we'll see you soon, talk to you sooner?'

'Yeah I will and I promise as soon as I land I will call you' she said to him 'Bye dad

'Bye Lauren' he said softly, she hung up the phone and she took a deep breath and for what seemed like the millionth time that day she wiped the tears from her face. She turned and she walked back to gate 9. She joined the back of the queue, she checked her handbag for her boarding pass and frowned when she couldn't find it. She knew that she had it when she was here the first time, she knew she had it when she was on the phone.

'Shit' she swore under her breath. She must have left it on the side when she was talking to her dad, she turned and made her way back to the phone and she saw someone was standing there, their back was to Lauren, and they were leaning on her boarding pass with their elbow. She reached out and tried to tug it out from under their arm, but she was afraid of ripping it.

'Excuse me' she said softly, she got no response, 'Excuse me' she said a little louder this time.

Her eyes widened as they turned around and she saw who had been leaning on her boarding pass.

'What are you doing here?' she frowned

AN: Do you think Lauren was right in leaving that message for Joey? Knowing that he had just got married? Was that selfish? Should she have just let it go and leave him be?

Who's leaning on her boarding pass?

Want to know who it is? Well you are going to have to wait for the next chapter to find out aren't you?

Thank you for you all your reviews so far.

As always R&R.