Joey woke a few minutes later and saw Lauren asleep beside him, if it wasn't for his very urgent need to use the bathroom, he would have stayed where he was just watching her, he carefully untangled their fingers and he went to use the bathroom. When he came back he retook his seat. Lauren's hair had fallen over her face when she had moved in her seat, he smiled and he brushed it gently away and he kissed her forehead softly so he didn't wake her.

*FLASHBACK*

Joey was stretched out on the bed, with his hands behind his head waiting for Lauren to decide what she was going to wear to the beach. For some reason she had packed 10 different bikinis. Lauren had a towel wrapped around her as she studied the bikinis. She picked up a red one and held it against herself before tossing it aside, the yellow, green, black and orange got discarded. She frowned at sighed,

'Try the blue one' Joey had suggested. Lauren's eyes flicked to his briefly before she picked up the blue bikini and she held it against herself. 'You know you're not going to see if it looks good on unless you actually put it on' he told her 'Personally I think you are going to look great in it'

Lauren didn't look convinced, she picked up the bikini and she someone managed to put in on without removing the towel, Joey smiled shaking his head at her. Once the bikini was on she disappeared into the bathroom. Joey waited for her to return when she didn't he went into the bathroom and he saw her looking worriedly at her reflection.

'Wow you look great' he told her with a smile as he let his eyes wander over her body. 'It's very sexy. I like you in blue' he said as he slid his arms around her waist, resting his hands on her stomach and he kissed her shoulder and then her neck.

'You don't think it's too revealing?' she asked him 'You're not worried about other people looking at me?'

'Babe, you're gorgeous, people are going to look at you even if you wear a sack' he told her softly 'do you feel comfortable in it?'

She nodded her head 'Yeah I do but…'

'But what?' Joey asked her softly

'Are you sure that you're okay with me wearing it?' she asked him 'Because I have other suits that I can wear, I have an all in on suit too…' she told him

Joey frowned and he turned her around to face him 'You look amazing in this one. I don't care if other guys look at you' he said to her softly 'they can look but they can't touch' he added 'Because you are mine' he licked his lips and he moved forward and he kissed her softly 'You look perfect'

'You just want to get to the beach' Lauren said to him with a frown

'I want us to get to the beach' he replied with a smile 'you can wear what you want babe but I really like you in this one' he told her

Lauren smiled at him and she nodded 'Okay' she said

Joey kissed her one more time and let her go and she walked into the bedroom and picked up her sarong and tie it around her waist, she slipped her feet into her flip-flops and then reached for a lacy shawl, Joey smiled from the doorway. She spent a little time arranging it over her shoulders frowning when she couldn't get it right

'If you don't get a move on we won't be going anywhere' he said to her. Lauren turned to look at him, her face fell as she swallowed. Joey thought she looked a little frightened, he frowned as he crossed the room and slid his arms around her again, 'Because the more I look at you in that bikini the more I want to take it off and do rude things to you' he teased her as he kissed her neck, Lauren giggled

'You always want to do rude things to me'

'That's very true' he nodded his head 'I do' he smiled at her 'you do know it's like 88 degrees outside do you really think you need that shawl?' he asked her as he slid it off her shoulders and tossed it onto the bed. He picked up her bag and took her hand in his, 'so can we go to the beach now please? Please?' he asked her and he pouted.

Lauren rolled her eyes and she nodded 'Yes'

'Thank you' he replied.

Once they got to the beach and Joey had found a spot for them to sit, Lauren laid out the towels, she had pulled out the sunscreen lotion and once she had topped up his sunscreen, he took the bottle from Lauren and proceeded to massage the lotion into her skin, paying particular attention to her shoulders and her arms, her back and her legs before he paid special attention to her stomach and the top of her breasts, he suggested Lauren sunbathe topless and she looked at him in total horror as though he had suggested that she dye her hair purple, he let it drop and pressed a kiss to her shoulder before telling her was going to go and cool off in the sea for bit.

Joey wondered about the strange way she acted at numerous times during their trip, he had never noticed t before because they had never been in this situation before they had always just been friends. But now they were boyfriend and girlfriend, truth be told they were a lot more than that. He ducked under the water and swam a little. He suddenly had an idea about both of them snorkelling along the great barrier reef and added that to their "Things we have to do in Australia list" they had compiled one night in between sex. He broke the surface for air and he licked his lips, he trod water as he looked for Lauren on the beach, he found her and he smiled to himself, before frowning as he remembered what he was thinking about before he got distracted.

Lauren's moments of strange behaviour. There was the breakfast comment that she made on their second day in Australia. Then today there was the bikini incident, she seemed to be waiting for Joey to tell her what she could wear and then suggesting that she cover herself up. Lauren had a great figure, he didn't know why she didn't show it off. He remembered the look on her face when he said that if she didn't hurry up that they wouldn't be leaving the hotel room. He had thought that she looked at little scared of him for an instant at least.

Then there was the incident when he had come back from checking them out of the hotel when they had seen Ayers rock and when he came back it looked like a bomb had gone off in the bathroom.

'Lauren! What the hell happened in the bathroom' he called out as he peered at her through the door. She had been sitting cross legged on the floor looking through some of the pictures that they had taken and she had gotten developed.

She jumped up and raced to the bathroom 'Sorry! I was doing it and then I got distracted' she told him, she had then proceeded to hurriedly tidy everything away. 'Sorry, I'm sorry' she had told him and gave him a quick kiss and she ran her hands over his chest, 'Sorry. I'm sorry, It won't happen again' she had said again once she had finished. She had then acted skittishly around him for the rest of the day, every time he touched her she would jump, he had tried to talk to her about it but she had told him that she had seen a huge spider and she was a bit freaked out by the size of it and that she thought one was crawling on her. So he let it go.

There were other times when she had acted a little strangely too come to think of it. He frowned and he swam back to the shore and he walked towards her. When he reached her she was lying on her stomach, Joey smiled.

'Hi' he said softly as he lay down beside her, he reached over and he undid her bikini top 'you'll get tan lines babe' he told her softly and he kissed her shoulder, she turned her head to look at him

'You really don't mind?' she asked him again 'If I go topless?'

'No' he shook his head 'Half the beach is topless' he told her 'Hey you don't have to if you don't want to' he said.

'I want to' she said 'I just … I didn't want to upset you'

'Why would you upset me, I suggested you go topless in the first place' he told her 'Lauren you have a great body and you should show it off' he said 'I'm not saying that when we get back to Walford I'm expecting you to walk around in a bikini or topless' he laughed a little 'but we're on holiday babe' he told her

Lauren licked her lips and she pulled her bikini top off completely and dropped it by her towel. Joey smiled at her.

'You know at some point we're going to have to talk about things' he told her

Lauren licked her lips 'What things?' she asked him

'You have been acting a little….oddly at times' he said to her

'I have?' She frowned at him 'Odd how?'

*END OF FLASHBACK*

Joey was pulled out of his musings when Lauren woke suddenly yelling out something about Jellyfish, Joey laughed at her as she looked at him.

'There are no jellyfish on the plane babe' he told her and she pulled a face and smiled at him. 'You dreaming about them again?'

'Mmm' she nodded 'they were chasing me and then when they caught me they all climbed on me and they covered me from head to toe and then I turned into jelly'

Joey brushed her forehead lightly with his fingers 'You have the strangest dreams' he told her 'It's very busy in here'

Lauren nodded 'At times yeah' she said to him.

Her stomach rumbled and Joey smiled 'I'll order some food' he said to her.

'I'll just freshen up a little' she said and she reached forward and she kissed him. 'I love you Joseph Branning' she murmured against his lips.

He smiled as she walked away from him. He was glad that he had made her talk to him in Sydney, no matter how upsetting it was for the both of them, he was glad that everything was out in the open, and Lauren was no longer acting strangely. But if he ever saw Simon again… well he wasn't sure that he would be able to control himself. He prayed that he never crossed his path.

AN: Thanks for all your reviews as always R&R

Back later….

Are you all intrigued about Simon?