So here's the next chapter. It was either going to be really early or really late... so I went with the former. Enjoy!

Chapter 12.

Both Joey and Lauren had a restful night and when they woke in the morning Joey was cradling Lauren in his arms, her back to his chest. "This is the way to wake up every morning." He breathed in her ear and she giggled softly. "It's good to hear you laugh, babe."

"It's good to be able to." She admitted.

"What do you want to do today?" he asked her gently.

"Stay here... just like this." She told him.

"I think I can manage that."

Lauren turned in his arms and leant in to kiss his neck and jaw repeatedly. One hand climbed up his chest and curled around the other side of his neck, her fingers brushing through his hair. Her other hand moved in the other direction and slipped beneath the vest top he was wearing. Joey moaned slightly as her fingers brushed over his heated skin and she slowly lifted his top from his body.

Joey pulled away from her, "You don't have to do this, Lauren."

She felt her face begin to heat, "I just want to lie against your chest, like I did yesterday." She explained, "I liked it... a lot." A blush crept over her face and he kissed her forehead.

"Come here..." he whispered against her skin, pulling her tightly against him.

Lauren pressed her cheek against his chest, feeling the heat emanating from it and hearing the beat of his heart beneath where she lay. "So we're going to do this then?" she whispered, just needing to check one last time before she allowed herself to believe it.

His finger tilted her chin so she could see his face, "Yes, babe. We're going to do this." He watched her mouth lift into a smile and he kissed the tip of her nose, "There's something I want to tell you." He said gently.

"Is it something bad?" she asked.

"No, I don't think so. It's about the question you asked me yesterday."

"Which one?" She turned slightly so she could look at him properly, resting his chin on his chest.

"You asked me about the type of girl I usually go for."

"Oh yeah."

Joey didn't miss the way her face fell as she remembered his answer. "I didn't lie to you; what I said is the type of girl I have usually dated but I didn't tell you everything either."

"What do you mean?" she whispered.

"Yes, those girls are the type I've previously dated but I dated them because I knew it would never be anything serious. It was the kind of girl everyone my age went for when we were growing up. It just wasn't what I really wanted. It wasn't what I was searching for."

"What did you really want?"

"Someone who's got a brain; who will challenge me all the time. I want someone who's beautiful but not just on the surface beauty. I've been looking for this person the whole of my life and I never thought I'd find her," Joey took a deep breath, about to admit something he'd never said before, "but now I have. It's you, Lauren. You're who I've been looking for. I think a part of me knew as soon as I saw you that first day but I wouldn't admit it to myself because the fact you're my cousin confused the issue slightly for me."

"But we hardly know each other..." she whispered.

"I know the important stuff, right?"

"Like...?"

"I know you like me brushing my fingers through your hair; that it calms you down. I know you like sleeping in my bed," he smiled at her, "even when I'm not here." He added and she blushed again, "I know seeing you wear my clothes turns me on more than I thought it ever would. I know that you're beautiful; the most beautiful person I've ever seen. I know that you like me, hopefully as much as I like you. I know I love you." He kissed her softly as he finished speaking. "There are other little things too..."

"What sort of things?" she asked, not used to guys saying things like this to her.

"I know I've slept better in the last couple of nights than I ever have in my life." Joey told her, "I know that I want to wake up with you in my arms every day. I know I want to be the person you come to when you have a problem. I want you to know that I will keep you safe from everything; that I would die before I let anyone hurt you again." He pushed a bit of hair behind her ear, "I know I want us to forget about what the family will think about us being together; what's important about this is what we think. As long as we love each other we'll be okay." A tear ran down her face as she absorbed his words, "I know it hurts me to see you cry and I'm going to try my hardest to ensure I never have to see it again."

"How can you want to be with me... after what they did to me?"

"What they did to you was horrible and if I was left in a room alone with them, I would surely kill them for causing you that pain but it doesn't change you as a person, Lauren. Not for me anyway. Granted it makes me want to protect you even more than I did beforehand. You're still the person I fell in love with, babe. What they did can't change the way I feel about you. Yes, we'll take things slower than we would've done if it hadn't happened but not because of how I feel. I want you to be ready for us to take that step and at the moment I know you aren't. I don't want you to be frightened of me or not enjoy it."

"Would we still be in this situation if it hadn't happened, do you think?" she asked.

"You mean, would we still be together?" She nodded, "I'd hope so. I guess it might have taken longer for us to get to this stage than now. We've spent more time together since it happened and it's probably forced us to confront how we were feeling but I think we still would've ended up together. I hope we would've anyway."

"I do too."

"Can I ask you what type of guy you usually date?" he asked, suddenly unsure of himself.

"I've only ever really dated two guys. One was when I was at school and it never really came to be anything. The other one was Whitney's brother but that was over before it even really began."

"Two guys?" Joey asked.

She laughed when she saw his face, "I'm not a nun, Joey. Far from it in fact." She rested her head back on his chest, part of her not wanting to admit this to him. "Since I've started drinking heavily, let's just say my choice in men hasn't been that picky." She whispered. "I'm not a slag though." She said.

"Never said you were..." he said, his hand brushing through her hair.

"I've just made some poor decisions and they've pretty much all been one night stands."

Joey can clearly hear the self-loathing in her voice and he wants to put a stop to that right away, "Hey, babe. I'm no angel either. It's in the past now, we just need to focus on the future." He kissed the top of her hair, "So no particular type then?"

"No." She whispered.

He can tell there is something she isn't saying, "What is it babe?"

"I guess the only thing I was ever concerned about was whether they'd like me." She confessed, "It never really occurred to me whether I liked them at all. I was just glad they wanted to show me some affection."

"Is that why you drink?"

She shrugged, "It's not as simple as that..."

"Explain it to me." He whispered, "I won't judge you."

"It started with Bradley..." she said, her voice breaking at the mention of his name.

"Was he your first boyfriend?"

Lauren tilted her head back and looked at Joey's face, "He's my brother." She explained. She could see the confusion so she spoke again before he could ask the question, "He's dead. He died when I was fifteen." His hand caressed her face before she can say anything else, "The family fell apart after that. Dad saw him die and it changed him. I ended up going to a camp for the summer in America that year but I fell in with the wrong crowd there and got sent home for smoking cannabis. By that point I was drinking too and when I came back to the square, there was a birthday party for Bianca's brother, Billie. My present to him was some alcohol and in the morning he was dead, alcohol poisoning." She paused speaking and Joey moved his head so he could kiss her softly. "Mum and dad split up and both got together with other people. Mum got married to Greg and she seemed really happy but it was all a lie. It came out that mum and dad were having an affair with each other and the result of that was messy. Greg left mum and she pushed dad away as well. That was when he left Walford, I made him go," she whispered. "He went to stay with your dad in Manchester." She lowered her head to his chest and took a moment to compose herself. "I didn't think things could get worse after that but I was wrong because then mum told me she had cancer. I was the only person she told and it was really difficult to deal with because she swore me to secrecy. Then I started to drink because it was the only way I could hide the way I felt. It was the only way I could cope with the pressure of keeping the family going."

Joey wrapped his arms around her tighter, kissing her forehead, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. I'm sure it's been a lot to deal with." He felt her tears hitting his skin and he knew she needed to release these emotions and that she wasn't just crying about what she'd told him. "I'm here, babe," he told her gently.

*JL*JL*

"I'm sorry..." she whispered.

"What are you apologising for?" He asked confused by what she'd said.

"Freaking out like that..."

"Hey, there's nothing to be saying sorry for, babe."

"Yeah, right."

"Lauren, listen to me. I'm here for you to help you through anything you need. Being your shoulder to cry on is what I've signed up for. I like that you trust me enough to open up to me."

Lauren sat up in the bed and looked down at her best friend/boyfriend/cousin. "Joey Branning, what did I do to deserve you in my life?"

Joey smiled at her and then sat up so he could kiss her. It was a kiss that deepened at both of their request and he groaned as her tongue danced against his. They both took it further than either of them intended to and suddenly Lauren froze as she sat on his lap. Joey broke the kiss quickly, struggling for breath as much as she was, "I'm sorry." He told her, "I didn't mean it to go that far."

"It's okay." She replied, "It's as much my fault as it's yours."

"Please Lauren, this was definitely my fault. I just told you we weren't going to rush this and then within minutes I'm taking it too far."

TBC

A/N: So there you go. Joey's opened up to Lauren a bit more. And she told him about her drinking in return. Let me know what you thought... Back tomorrow.