Chapter 15.

Lauren and Jack walked up the steps to the front door of number 5 and Lauren knocked on the door. There was the sound of approaching footsteps and then the door opened and her dad was standing there. "Lauren, babe?" he said in shock. "Come in…" he said, opening the door wider and letting her and his brother into the house. "Jack?" Max said.

"Can I talk to you and mum, dad?" Lauren said softly.

"Sure… I'll go and get your mum…" Max replied. "Why don't you go into the lounge? Maybe Uncle Jack can take Abs and Oscar out for a little while…?" he suggested.

Lauren looked at her uncle quickly, fear on her face. "Actually I said I'd be here when Lauren spoke to you both…" he told his brother. "Maybe Abs can take Oscar to the park for a little while…" he said.

Max nodded, surprised by what Jack had said but not going to create a stir right now. He went upstairs and spoke to Abi first; telling her Lauren was here and asking her to take Oscar out so they could talk to her sister. Abi agreed and then went to get Oscar ready. The three of them walked downstairs and Max's two youngest children rushed to their sister, hugging her and kissing her when they saw her. He watched for a few seconds, seeing the three reunite but then turned and walked into the kitchen, finding Tanya finishing clearing up after breakfast.

"Who was at the door?" she asked.

"Lauren and Jack… she wants to speak to us…" he said.

Tanya paused what she was doing, staring blankly at the side. "Is she back to stay?" she whispered.

"I don't know, babe… she doesn't have her bags with her." Max said. "Abi is going to take Oscar to the park for a little while so the four of us can talk…"

"Four of us?"

"Jack told Lauren he would be here when she spoke to us…"

Tanya frowned and stared at her husband, "Is he going to back us up, do you think? Try and push her to come home again?"

"I have no idea, Tan… we both know Jack has a soft spot for Lauren… he always has done."

"Maybe I should speak to Sharon… see if she can tell us what's going on…"

"Why don't we just talk to Lauren, Tan?"

"Fine…" she said with a hint of disdain in her voice.

*JL*JL*

The two parents walked into the lounge and saw their three children sitting on the sofa. Oscar was sitting on his big sister's lap and Abi was sitting next to the pair. They were talking to each other while Jack watched them. "Do you want a drink, Lauren?" Tanya asked.

Lauren tensed at her mum's possibly innocent question. "I'm fine, thanks…" she said. She looked at her sister, "Are you going to go to the park with Abi, Oscar?" she asked her brother.

He nodded his head, "Are you going to come too?" he asked.

"Not this time… but I think if you ask Abs really nicely, she'll push you high on the swings like I do…" Lauren told him softly, kissing the side of his head tenderly. "You should go and put your coat on, Oscar…" she said, lifting him from her knee and setting him on the floor.

"Will you still be here when I get back?" he asked, his bottom lip quivering as he looked up at the girl he had missed so much.

"I don't know, little man…" Lauren said softly, lifting her hand and tapping the end of his nose with a finger.

"Can you read me a bedtime story tonight?" he asked, "Please Lolly… I want you to read it cos you do all the voices… no one else does that…" his last words sounded so sad and they broke Lauren's heart.

"I can't make any promises, Oscar…" Lauren whispered. "Why don't you go to the park now, eh?" she said.

His bottom lip jutted out in a pout but he said nothing more, walking out to the hall and stretching up for his jacket. Abi followed after him, squeezing Lauren's hand before she went, "Good luck…" she whispered to her sister and Lauren smiled back at her.

"Thanks Abs," Lauren said to her, thanking her for more than just her support now.

*JL*JL*

No one spoke in the lounge until after the two youngest Branning's had left the house. Lauren looked at her uncle and he smiled at her in support. "Why don't we all sit down…?" he said, standing up and holding a hand out towards Lauren, helping her to her feet. They walked over to the dining room table and sat down side by side. After a brief pause Max and Tanya sat at the table opposite them.

There was silence for some time as they each waited for someone else to start.

Lauren sighed, "Do you still believe the lies that Derek told you both?" she eventually asked, knowing the ball was in her court.

"Uncle Derek…" her mum said, stressing the first word, "was just telling us about his son…"

"He was lying!" Lauren said loudly.

"How do you know that?" her mum asked. "You weren't there when it was supposed to have happened, were you?" she snapped.

"Nor was Uncle Derek," Lauren replied, "and yet you were more than ready to believe him."

"How dare you talk to me that way…? Treat me with respect... I'm your mother, Lauren…" Tanya cried out, her hand slamming on the table.

"Tan…" Max said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it softly in an effort to calm her down.

"You're my mother?" Lauren said, laughing harshly. "You're having a laugh, right?" she said, "You know nothing about respect… you haven't treated me with respect for most of my life…" she told them both angrily. She brushed at her face, wiping away the tears that had fallen. "You have no idea of the pain you've caused me over the years, do you?" she told them both. "You think the reason I left was because of my relationship with Joey? Well I guess it was… I love him… and I will always love him…" she stated. "I know you don't believe me… and you think I'm too young to know what that means but I'm the same age you were when you first met dad, mum… the same age… and you were pregnant at that age too."

"Please don't tell me you're pregnant?" Tanya muttered.

"No, mum… do you think that little of me that I would let myself get in that situation?" she said, "I may be your daughter but I do not make the same mistakes you do…" she added sharply. "I'm with Joey because we have a future together and I want to be there for him now because he needs me..."

"Oh, please, Lauren… you're a stupid immature little girl, trying to play at being a grown up." Tanya smirked at her eldest daughter, seeing the tell-tale flush of her cheeks and knowing she had got to her. "You thought you could run off with the first boy that's shown you any real attention since Peter Beale and now you've run back here with your tail between your legs because you've realised he's damaged goods?" Lauren blinked once at her mum's attack, her bottom lip quivering slightly. Tanya picked up on the look on her face and she knew she'd hit her mark again, which pleased her quite a bit. "I'm right, aren't I?" she asked her daughter, glee practically audible in her voice. "You thought you could fix Joey… but all you've done is make him worse… just like you do to everything you touch… you've made it worse…"

"Tan…" Max said, reaching for his wife, hating the way she was attacking their daughter. This was not the way to get her to return home. This was not how he'd wanted this to go.

Tanya shook off her husband, focussed completely on her wayward daughter now, "He's not interested in you, is he? Hey?" she accused, noticing how crestfallen Lauren now appeared. "If you were a boy on the other hand, I'm sure things would be a little different, wouldn't they?" she added and Lauren literally wilted before her. Jack pulled his niece into his arms, hugging her tightly as she sobbed into his chest.

"That's enough, Tanya…" he said harshly, disgusted with his sister-in-law and disappointed with his brother for not doing more to stop her attack. "Let's take you home, babe?" he said to Lauren, feeling her nod against his chest. "This was clearly a mistake…" he added. He got to his feet and lifted his niece in his arms, carrying her towards the front door and then over to his flat. He wished he'd realised how they were going to treat their daughter earlier. He would've stopped it from happening because the last thing he wanted for Lauren right now was for her to be in anymore pain. She'd already been through enough.

A/N: Well that didn't go well at all, did it? What do you think about Tanya's reaction to her daughter? Pretty harsh, right? How cute was little Oscar though? And Abi is still backing her sister up... SEND ME A REVIEW. Back tomorrow...