Chapter 37

Lauren hung up her coat and bag as she got in the apartment. Joey was right behind her, watching her every move, he could see she was upset and had an idea how he could try and change that. He hung his coat up too and went through to the bedroom. Lauren was already in there lying flat on her back on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

She felt the bed dip as Joey lay down next to her so he mirrored her position. He took her hand softly in his own and was playing gently with her fingers. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to say. I've just lost my relationship with my mother and to be quite honest I feel nothing." She turned and looked at him "I know you and your mum don't have the best relationship but if you were to lose your relationship with her you'd still be upset wouldn't you?"

"Well ye of course I would…I know deep down you feel the same Lauren, I know your upset" he told her and she shook her head.

"Deep down maybe I am, but in all honesty I'm angry more than anything. She can't see what he's like. He'll end up hurting her too…"

Joey squeezed her and smiled "Maybe that's just something your mum needs to learn ay?" she nodded gently "I was thinking that we could put the Christmas decorations up ?"

Her eyes lit up like a small child's, excitement running through her "Really?"

"Really. I've got several boxes of decorations, I doubt many have even been opened to be honest." He told her truthfully. Joey didn't really bother with decorations, there were just the creation of mess and wasted too much time, but he wanted it to be special for Lauren. He stood up and held his hand out to her "Come on then…"

*JL*JL*JL*

Joey dug around in the boxes that had been pushed as far back as possible in the cupboard that was referred to as the 'Junk cupboard' even Lauren had given up on trying to organise whatever it was in there. He came across several boxes of tinsel and baubles and lots and lots of glitter. He was sure he would emerge from the cupboard looking like a friend of Tinkerbell's.

"Would you hurry up with those boxes so we can decorate the tree already? I'm getting hungry" Lauren complained. They had put the tree up already and although she was disappointed it wasn't a real tree, she knew that all the pine needles and Hector wouldn't mix.

"There's this one thing I wanna find"

But he was cut off when Lauren squeezed in the gap beside him and grabbed the box, tearing it away from him. Joey sat on his heels surprised by her impatience. He quickly got up moved over to Lauren, the other boxes in his arms.

He placed the boxes down, moving hector out of the way as he began to scratch at the box. "Where do we start then babe?" he asked seeing Lauren examining the content of one of the boxes with a look of concentration in her face.

Lauren didn't particularly have good memories of Christmas, she loved the entire concept of a perfect Christmas but had never actually experienced one. She loved decorating the tree too but her mom would always take over and she didn't have the money to spare when she was living on her own. Joey on the other had never put up a tree himself. If he was lucky Alice would come round and do it for him.

"Well I'd normally start with fairly lights do you have any if those?" she asked routing through the boxes.

"Somewhere yes…" Joey opened several things and retrieved a box of lights. "Ha, got them babe!" he handed them to her and smiled seeing how happy she looked. He let Lauren sort the lights out and made them both a drink, taking some biscuits too. He could hear Lauren moaning about something and it was only when he turned around he saw why she was moaning. Lauren was in the middle of a standoff with Hector who was sitting With the end of the lights in his mouth. Lauren was trying (and failing) to get him drop them, it was highly amusing although it seemed Lauren wasn't finding it remotely funny.

"Hector, Drop it!" she tried but he just looked at her with his cute eyes. He was no longer a small puppy but he could still work the puppy eyes. "Drop it Hector!"

Joey laughed and placed the drinks down, he went to the kitchen again and got a dog treat out. The rustle of the bag had already caught Hectors attention and he was sat up straighter with his ears perked. Joey bent down on the floor near his fiancée and held the biscuits up to Hector "What's this Hector ?"

It took a few seconds but the biscuit seemed to win and Hector dropped the lights and plodded over to Joey. He was more interested in the biscuit then and went to the other end of the lounge and out of the way. Lauren looked at Joey and frowned with a slight smirk "That was bribery"

"Got you your lights didn't it? "

Once the lights were on the tree and were in compliance with Laurens standards, they began putting the baubles on, they were all in silvers and blues and looked beautiful on the tree. Joey had put some Christmas music on too, so they were dancing along and singing as they decorated. Joey moved over to the last box of things and found the item he was looking for earlier.

"What's that?" Lauren asked over his shoulder, she could see it was a small boxed item.

"This is what I was trying to find earlier. Open it" he handed her the box.

She did as he said and gasped when she saw the crystal figurine inside, it looked beautiful. "It's gorgeous Joey…"

"I brought it last Christmas, it was going to be your Christmas present as an apology but also as a way to show you what you meant to me." He took the figure from the box "It's a Swarovski crystal, called the Loving Magpies. It's meant to symbolise double happiness."

Lauren let out a small sniff as she pulled back tears "It's beautiful. It should go on display " Joey's arm went around her waist and held her close. He hissed her neck and jaw, breathing in her scent.

"It can go wherever you want it to baby…" he kissed her lips "It's yours"

Lauren shook her head "it's ours…and will take pride of place right… there" she placed the figure on top of one of the book shelves, it didn't stand out but you would see it if you looked.

*JL*JL*JL*

Joey was getting the last things from the box when Lauren joined him, she pulled out a couple of half-empty tubes of glitter that Alice had supposedly used the year previously to decorate paper chains with Martha. She smiled opening one carefully, when an idea came to her, she smirked mischievously. She backed up and stood behind Joey, watching the back of his head as he ruffled around in the box. Then, she took the open tube of glitter and shook half of what was left of it onto Joey 's back and into his hair. It fell over his head and his shoulders, covering his back and falling to the floor below him. He jumped up, quickly trying to brush it off.

"Lauren!" he groaned. "Glitter?!" he asked with a smirk one that was really really hard not to fall for.

She grinned cheekily "Much better. You look much more Christmassy now !" she laughed, still watching him trying to brush it off, but failing. It was stuck to his navy jumper, as well as his hair and most of his neck and face. He looked up, seeing her doubled over laughing. He couldn't help but smile at how much enjoyment she was getting out of watching him get drenched in glitter, the one thing that would take weeks to completely rid himself of.

While she was laughing, doubled over with her eyes closed, he reached down and grabbed the mostly full tube of glitter sitting at the top of the items in the box and carefully opened it. He then shook it in Lauren's direction, covering her in glitter even worse than he was. Hector was joining in the fun too… running around in the glitter, creating even more of a mess.

"Hey!" she cried out, her laughter cutting off quickly. She straightened up quickly, looking down at the glitter falling from her dark hair onto her top. She reached up and tried to dust it off of her head, but it only stuck stubbornly. Glitter sparkled on the sides of her face, as well as her shirt, well nearly all of her really.

"That's better. You're ready to be put on top of the tree now," Joey joked, grinning as he lifted her in his arms and lifted her as high as he could, she was pretty light so it was easy to get her higher up in the air. Lauren was giggling and telling him to put her down, as she did more glitter was falling from them both creating a glitter storm around them. Joey gently lowered her into his arms and held her bridal style. "You've got glitter on your face babe" he smirked

"Oh have I now?" she linked her arms around his neck smiling up at him.

"Yep… right here" He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly. "There's some here too…" he kissed down her neck and stopped at her collar bone.

"Joey… stop it, that tickles". She giggled hitting him half-heartedly. "Your all messy..." she said looking at him, rolling her eyes when he laughed. "Not like that…We're covered in glitter!" she chuckled. Joey placed her on the floor "This whole place is covered in glitter."

"We should clean it up really… and Hector" he sighed, Lauren nodding in agreement.

*JL*JL*JL*

It didn't take them too long with the clear up, a quick hoover and sweep and the living room was glitter free. It was Hector that was the problem… Joey and Lauren ended up bathing him several times which Hector though was brilliant. The bathroom was a complete mess after though.

Joey and Lauren stood back and admired their work, the tree looked perfect and it felt homely and cosy. "I'm going to have a shower baby… get rid of the rest of this glitter." Joey told her, kissing her cheek softly and moving to the main bathroom.

Lauren followed him and stood in the doorway watching as he got some clean towels. "Fancy some company?" He turned to face her and nodded with a smile.

"Always baby…"

*JL*JL*JL*

Lauren returned a few seconds later with some more towels, Joey had already turned on the shower and was letting the water warm up. He strode across the room to stand in front of her "Hi" he tucked her hair behind her ear, glitter falling from it as he did. Joey laughed softly and crushed his mouth to hers, taking one more step and pressing her body against the tiles. Lauren made fast work of removing his clothes and she threw them in the wash basket trying to limit the amount of glitter that fell. He was standing in front of her now in just his boxers. Lauren gripped his bicep, feeling the solid muscle ripple beneath her touch.

"Need you, Joe..." she whispered as he pushed her skirt down her legs and practically tore her tights and knickers from her. Her hands were working on his boxers and she was rolling on the condom before they'd even hit the floor. Joey pushed into her and lifted her in his arms. Stepping out of his boxers and pacing two steps into the shower. Her legs wound around his waist, pulling him into her as her ankles locked together. "So amazing Joey..." she breathed against the damp skin of his shoulder. She let out a little moan of surprise as her back hit the cold tiles of the shower and Joey's pace increased. The water was falling over them, cascading over their bodies as they continued at a relentless pace.

Lauren was moaning in pure pleasure as Joey's hands worked over her body and brought her to the edge, a couple more thrusts of his hips and Lauren was screaming his name, Joey moaning hers just seconds after. They stayed as they were, leaning breathless against the shower wall, the water starting to cool. Joey's lips searched for hers as he lowered her steadily to the floor. "I think your clean now" he smirked kissing her again and moving them both under the water.

They sexed again ? this is actually my favourite chapter of the story ! Is it yours too ? I could be persuaded to post again later it's a little time jump :) xxx