Chapter 37.

Joey and Lauren walked back into Eleanor's office the next morning. They sat on the couch and Eleanor could already see things seemed brighter between the couple, "So I can tell that things are a little bit better for you both today. I take it my idea helped the situation."

Joey and Lauren shared a look and Joey reached for Lauren's hand, taking it in his and squeezing it gently. "Kind of…" he said, smiling at Lauren. "We tried your idea… Lauren moved into Alice's room… for a couple of nights anyway." Eleanor's eyebrow rose in query. "Neither of us was happy… in fact Lauren was really miserable and she was struggling to sleep…"

"So Joey asked me to go back into his room…" Lauren said softly, gazing at Joey in adoration.

"Our room, babe…" he whispered and Lauren's smile grew.

Eleanor watched curiously as Lauren rested her head on Joey's shoulder. Something had changed between the two of them since her last session with them. She wasn't exactly sure what it was but she was pleased to see her patient smiling. She looked at Lauren instead and saw some slight strain on her face, especially around her eyes. "Is everything okay now then, Lauren?" Eleanor asked.

"Yes, thank you Eleanor…" she said softly. She could see that the counsellor was waiting for her to supply more information. "I have a problem with alcohol… I stopped drinking when I first met Joey… he convinced me I was strong enough to stop and he helped me." Lauren told her softly, "I've gone through some stuff growing up and things got really bad at the beginning of the year."

"And the last few nights… when you weren't in the same room as Joey?" Eleanor prodded.

"I was feeling pretty low and I was tempted to drink again…"

"Tempted?"

"I found a bottle of wine at Joey's house and I wanted to drink it."

"She didn't though…" Joey said and Eleanor could hear the pride in his voice.

"Were there any other effects for you, Lauren?"

"I couldn't sleep… apart from last night…"

"When you were back together?" Eleanor checked. Lauren nodded. "And Joey… how have your… issues been?" she asked carefully.

Joey smiled at her, "Okay."

"What does that mean exactly?" Eleanor asked.

Joey blushed slightly and Lauren kissed him softly on the cheek. "We didn't do anything last night, apart from a little kissing and then we fell asleep in each other's arms." He looked away from her face briefly and Eleanor saw him blush. "When I woke up this morning I was hard…" he said softly. "It went pretty much as soon as I realised but it was there…"

"That's really good news, Joey… I'm pleased for you… for you both." She studied them both for a minute or two, "I don't want you to think that everything is solved now, Joey." She said, not wanting him to get his hopes up. "I have some leaflets you can take… things that you and Lauren should try… when you're ready but not before though… If things continue to improve and as long as you're happy we can reduce the frequency of our appointments, but only when you're feeling in a better place than you are now. You are still going to have bad days, Joey… and I will try and help you come up with some things you can do to help you cope with those days." She got to her feet and walked around to her desk, finding some leaflets she had found for her patient but hadn't expected to need to give to him today. She passed them to Lauren and she slipped them in her handbag. "I'd like to see you again next week, Joey… just you this time… and we can talk about coping mechanisms for the future."

"Thank you." Joey said. They left her office after arranging an appointment with her for four days' time which would be after his appointment at the SARCs clinic. Once back out on the pavement Joey tugged on Lauren's hand and pulled her back towards him. He released hold of her hand and cupped both sides of her face, kissing her tenderly, pouring as much passion into it as he could. "I love you, Lauren Branning… we can beat this… I'm not going to let them spoil what we have…" he whispered to her. She smiled up at him, her whole face lighting up. "There's that smile I fell in love with the first day I met you…" he told her, kissing her gently again.

THE END.

A/N: So clearly that isn't the end of the story… but it is the end of Hidden Truths… HOWEVER you'll be pleased to know that there is a second part to this story… and it's called Disclosed Flaws… and I'll start posting it right here... And if I get 15 reviews to this chapter, I'll post the first chapter tonight... SO DON'T FORGET TO SEND ME A REVIEW…

Thank you to everyone who's reviewed this story... especially the guest reviewers that I'm unable to reply to. Keep sending them because it makes me want to keep writing. xx