A/N: So here is today's chapter, slightly later than I'd anticipated. Plenty of time to write today but once I started re-reading/editing, I just kept adding more to it, it's now become quite long. Oh well... Enjoy!

I should warn you though - it might be a tough read - although most of it is not new material, given it's Joey giving evidence, I've tried to add the emotional side of it (like with Lauren) and I've added a few new details here and there.

Chapter 19.

Lunch was a painful experience for the entire family. Joey tried to speak to Alice but she wouldn't listen to him. After about his third attempt she picked up her food and went to sit at another table. Jack and Sharon went with her so she wasn't alone.

"She'll come round, Joey." Max said, seeing the disappointment on his nephew's face.

Lauren reached over and squeezed his arm, watching him push his food around his plate, "I wanted to tell her what happened before it went to trial. What I'm going to say is going to hurt her. And I never wanted to do that." Joey said sadly as he looked at his sister across the room.

"Joey, however you tell her, it's going to hurt her." Max told him gently. "Maybe this is a blessing because she'll only have to hear it once. And once she's heard everything she might be more receptive to listening to you."

*JL*JL*

Joey took the stand as soon as the afternoon session began. As with Lauren, it was the prosecutions turn first but Joey knew it was going to be tough whichever side was asking him questions. "Joey, your statement says your father has physically and mentally abused you since you were a child. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"When was the first time he hit you?"

A flash of him sitting at the kitchen table with a birthday cake in front of him, four lit candles on the top ran through his mind before he answered, "My fourth birthday." Joey said quietly, closing his eyes, trying to erase the memory from his thoughts.

"Do you remember what caused him to hit you?"

Joey remembered kneeling on the chair and leaning on the table to blow out the candles but he lost his balance and the cup fell over, spilling all over the table. "I knocked over a cup of juice."

"And what exactly did Derek do when you knocked over the juice?"

He fell from the chair, stunned by the power of the hit. He could literally see stars. "He backhanded me, across the face. I was knocked off the chair, onto the floor. I ended up covered in bruises." There was a quiet murmur from the assembled jury after Joey said this.

"Can you remember how you felt after this?"

Joey could easily remember how he felt, as if it had been yesterday the pain he'd experienced was still there. "I was confused. I didn't understand what I'd done wrong. I thought maybe it was the way all dads were with their children."

"When did you realise that wasn't the case?"

"About a week later." Joey said quietly. "All week I'd been upset about angering him. So I tried to make it up to him. He got home for the day and I got him a drink."

"Why did you think that would make up for it?"

Joey winced as he thought about it, "I wanted him to love me and to be proud of me." Joey admitted quietly, "So I tried to get him a beer from the fridge. Once I had it I ran to take the bottle to him, so excited to be doing something for him," He could see it, him running from the kitchen towards his daddy, where he was sitting while he watched television, "but I tripped over my own feet and fell. The bottle smashed, creating an even bigger mess than I'd done a week earlier." The sound of smashing glass filled his ears and he flinched.

"How did your dad react?"

He was standing over him, his face red with anger, he was shouting at him and Joey had been so scared, "He was angry. It made the previous week look like nothing." Joey took a deep breath and looked at Lauren, she nodded her head to him once, smiling at him tenderly. "I was so scared, I wet myself and that just made it even worse." He saw his daddy looking down at him and then his dad had nudged him with his foot, screaming at him about how disgusted he was by him. Joey clenched both his fists and looked down at his lap as he sat in the witness box.

"In what way?"

Joey lifted his head and stared at the barrister, "I was upset with myself and embarrassed and I began to cry. He told me only girls and babies cried. He told me I was too old to be a baby so I must be a little girl. He then said I had to tidy up the mess and he left me alone in the house, locking me in." Joey was visibly upset by this admission, the whole room could see it and Lauren just wanted to go and comfort him, which she unfortunately couldn't do. Max squeezed his daughter's hand, his arm around her shoulder and he pulled her closer to him.

"I'm sorry, Joey. I know this is difficult for you to talk about. Can you tell the court what happened next?" Mr Wright said to his witness.

"I tried to clear up the mess, picking up the broken glass. I wasn't very good at it though because I cut my fingers open. I couldn't get the blood to stop. When he came back there was blood all over the place as well as beer and glass." Joey stopped talking and lifted the glass of water in his hand. His hand shook even worse than Lauren's had earlier and when he took a mouthful of water he choked on it, coughing harshly. He could hear Derek laughing quietly in the dock and it made him angry and ashamed all over again. He put the glass down and stared at his fingers, seeing the scars and getting a flash of the blood covering his hands. "He dragged me to my bedroom and ripped off the clothes I was wearing. He'd brought a dress for me to wear and he put it on me. He kept calling me a girl. This was repeated day after day. For days he called me Josephine. He'd make me wear the dress whenever mum and Alice were gone from the house. One Friday, a few weeks later my mum came home early and I ran up to my room to change back into my normal clothes. Dad didn't like that. He was irate." It was the first time Lauren could remember Joey referring to him as dad rather than Derek or his father. It showed her how upset he was becoming having to relive this again.

"What did he do then?" Was the tentative question.

"When mum put Alice to bed he came to my room and made me bend over his knee. He hit me with his belt. He told me I had to be a man and I wasn't allowed to cry. If I did, he'd just do it for longer. He kept telling me he was helping me become a man. A little while after he'd finished mum called me and I had to go downstairs for my tea." Joey could remember standing at the top of the stairs, his legs shaking as he gripped hold of the rail. He could only remember taking two steps down before everything faded away, "I blacked out going down the stairs and caught my head on the banister. I was in hospital overnight. Derek stayed with me at the hospital." He woke up, pain shooting through his head and he didn't know where he was. His dad appeared at his side, very similar to how he'd done in the hospital just over ten weeks earlier. His presence had scared Joey so badly he'd had a panic attack and a nurse had sedated him for the night but daddy had still be there when he opened his eyes the next morning. He was a man that scared Joey now, that made him want to hide under his bed and hope he would be gone when he came back out. Unfortunately that didn't happen for a very long time.

"Would you say that was when your relationship with your dad changed?"

"Yes. It was the first time I hated Derek and everything he did made me hate him more." He sagged slightly at what he was going to admit, "It was the last time I called him daddy."

The barrister paused after Joey's last statement, letting the jury absorb his words. Eventually he asked another question, "Was it just you he hit?"

"No he hit mum as well but not as frequently. As I got older if I could see when he was building up to hit mum and I'd do something to draw his focus on me. I did it to stop him hitting my mum. He didn't need too much encouragement to look in my direction anyway. Some of the time I just forced his hand so he'd hit me instead of mum."

"How often did your father... sorry Derek, hit you after that you came out of hospital that first time?"

"Frequently. Sometimes it was just slap here or there but there were worse times."

"Were there other times when he caused you more severe injuries by hitting you?"

"Yes." Joey said and both Lauren and Max tensed slightly, knowing what he was about to reveal. Both of them hoped Joey was strong enough to handle this and they wished their family could be protected from the reality of it.

"Can you tell us about these times, Joey?"

A silence fell over the court room, nobody moved, waiting for Joey to begin speaking again. Joey looked at his sister but could barely see her face through his blurred eyes, a sideways glance at Derek in the dock brought him back to the present with a start, fear written over his face as Derek sneered at him, he turned back to the barrister, taking a deep breath and then he started to answer the question, "When my parents were married Derek used to wear a signet ring. When I was six he punched me in the jaw and it broke the skin. I have a small scar." He took another sip of water, "A couple of months later he hit me so hard he broke my collar bone. It broke through the skin. I had to go to the hospital again. He stayed with me all night. That was when the nightmares started."

"Nightmares?" The barrister interrupted.

His voice was quiet when he answered, barely picked up by the microphone in front of him, "I have nightmares about what he's done to me. They started when I was six and became a regular feature of my life until he went to prison. They started again after I ended up in hospital three months ago."

"Are you still having them now?"

"Only about once a week." He admitted softly, hearing Derek chuckle.

"Can you tell me about any other bad injuries, Joey?"

Joey sighed and paused for a few seconds as he collected his thoughts. "He pushed me face first against a wall after I tried to fight him off."

"How old were you?"

"Ten."

"What injuries did you sustain?"

"There was a pipe sticking out of the wall. It broke when my face hit it and cut my face open." He paused, his memories shifting forward a few months of his life, to a time when a child should get excited, "In November of that year my mum asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I said I wanted a BMX bike. My friends at school either had one or were getting one. I asked for one too. My mum said she would see what she could do. Maybe Santa would be able to get one for her good little boy." Joey sighed. "That afternoon when mum and Alice were out at the shops he hit me with the belt again. He told me I had been a bad boy and I didn't deserve anything like that. Santa was just a gimmick that parents made up so their children were good throughout the year. He said I was about the worst child to have ever existed and he was ashamed of me. He got carried away when he was hitting me though. He was so caught up in what he was doing he went on much longer than he normally would. I have a scar across my back where the belt caught my skin over and over again."

"Did you get the bike?" the barrister asked, almost hopefully.

Joey laughed bitterly, "No." He paused, "Well, kind of. My mum got me one, she'd saved her wages but when she gave it to me on Christmas day, Derek slapped her across the face and he took the bike away from me before I even got to finish tearing off the wrapping paper. It was the last time we ever celebrated Christmas. Every year since then it was ruined for me. I never asked for anything else. It wasn't worth the pain."

The barrister looked slightly crestfallen, "Your parents separated just after that point, didn't they?"

"Yes."

"You must've been pleased. You wouldn't have to see your father anymore."

"I still saw him." Joey said quietly, knowing this wouldn't make sense to most of the room.

"Even though he was abusive?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"He got access after the divorce." He took a deep breath, "Alice still wanted to see him. I went with her."

"Why would you go to see your father, if you didn't have to?"

"I did have to." He glanced towards his family, "I couldn't let Alice go by herself."

"You're going to have to explain that a bit more, Joey."

"I didn't want him to hit Alice. Alice loved him. I didn't want her to see that side of him. I wanted to make sure he didn't hurt her." He paused, "I tried to tell her what he was like, not the details, just that he didn't deserve her loving him like she did but I don't think she believed me because we kept going, once a month for almost two years."

"So the abuse lessened?"

"In frequency but not intensity."

"How so?"

"We'd go over there for weekends. Alice and I shared a room. Because she was younger than me she went to bed earlier. Derek used the time after she was in bed to punish me."

"What for?"

"Anything he thought I'd done wrong. He'd count them up over the day and then make me pay for it." There was no hiding the emotion in his voice. His family watched in dismay seeing the normally confident young adult tearing himself apart as he spoke about the worst moments of his life. Unfortunately for them, they were about to hear about the worst kind of pain a child should ever have to suffer at the hands of their parents. Max and Lauren were unable to prepare them for it, barely able to get themselves ready to hear it again.

"Joey, I know this is difficult for you to talk about but can you tell the court what Derek did to you when you and your sister were visiting him?"

"It didn't really start until we'd be going for a few months. The first time was probably on about the eighth visit. Every time we went to see him, I tried my hardest to be good. I just wanted to keep the peace, the only reason I was there was to look after Alice. He still would hit me when we went there but on the eighth visit that all changed. He didn't just hit me. What he did was much worse than anything he'd ever done before." He cleared his throat and took another drink.

"Can you go into more detail?" the barrister asked hesitantly.

His voice was barely a whisper when he spoke this time, his fists were clenched on his lap and his whole body was tense, "He would hold his lit cigar against me. One count for each thing I'd done wrong. The length of each count varied depending on how angry he was. If I cried out it would last longer."

The barrister looked at Joey, sympathy written across his face. That didn't help Joey though; he didn't want his pity. He wanted this whole sordid mess to be over. "How many times did this happen, Joey?"

"Twelve times." Joey whispered. There was a collective gasp from the public gallery and the jury.

"Did you ever tell your mum about this abuse?"

"She knew about some of it when they were together. She couldn't stop it. She was scared of him. We both were. I didn't tell her about it but I think she knew what was going on. I definitely didn't tell her it continued after they'd split. I didn't want to upset her further. She was already annoyed by the fact they had joint custody of us. I didn't want to make matters worse." The scars on his back began to itch when he was speaking about this and he wanted to rip off his shirt and scratch at them.

"Was there anything else he did?"

"When I was twelve I tried to fight him back. I'd had a growth spurt and thought I could fight him off. I was wrong. On so many levels."

"In what way?"

"He was still bigger than me even though I'd grown a bit. What I didn't think was that he'd come prepared for his. He had a knife with him and he was more than ready to use it."

"And?"

"When I tried to fight him off, he stabbed me. In the hip. It must have nicked the edge of the bone. I was in so much pain, for just over three months. I never told anyone about what he'd done so I didn't get any treatment for it but from where the scar is and the pain I was in, I can only imagine that is what happened. That was the last time I saw him before he went to prison and he lost access to us."

"At this time, I'd like to enter into the record, exhibits 1 through to 14, your Honour. These are images of the various scars Joey has sustained throughout his childhood." The photos were passed to the jury and there was a general murmur among them. One woman even cried when she saw the photos of the array of burns on his back. After several minutes, he turned back to Joey. "So Joey, you said that you didn't see Derek after he went to prison but that changed earlier this year didn't it?"

"Yes. Alice made contact with him and although she didn't particularly like him after her first visit she did go to Walford and ended up meeting him again properly. She had an argument with my mum about it and went to live with him instead."

"Was that the reason you ended up in Walford?"

"Yes. I went to see her after the row when she said she was going to stay in Walford; living with him. I knew I couldn't leave. I had to stay to make sure nothing happened to her."

"You're very protective of your sister."

"Yes. It turns out it's the only thing Derek and I actually have in common. He's protective of her too. That's saved me a couple of times."

"What happened on the morning of 24th July?"

"I'd finished work in the early hours of the morning. It was about half three by the time I'd closed up and on my way home I stopped in the gardens in the middle of the square."

"Earlier this morning Lauren mentioned that you'd had an argument. Was she correct?"

"I'd say it was more of a disagreement but it was on my mind. I stopped in the gardens to think about what had happened." Joey took a deep breath. "Derek turned up after I'd been there for about twenty minutes, I guess. He was putting on this front. Some kind of show – not that there was anyone around to see it."

"Go on..."

"He said he was concerned about me. I asked him why. He'd never shown me any for the rest of my life. He said he was my father and that what father's do. It was like setting off a firework. In that second I hated him with all the anger I'd buried for more than ten years. I told him he was no father to me but that was the wrong thing for me to say. He punched me and it caught me by surprise, I didn't put up a fight because I was too stunned. I don't remember much after that before I blacked out. Lauren found me later that morning."

"The next time he threatened you was the day he was arrested, yes?"

"No. He was there the first night in the hospital. And just after I woke up from the surgery I'd had. The first time he wanted to see if I remembered anything about what happened. I lied to him and said I couldn't remember anything."

"Why did you do that?"

"I was scared of what he'd do to me if I said I knew it was him. I could barely move without being in agony, I wasn't sure I'd survive the next time he tried anything."

"Then he came back that night?"

"Yes, Alice was in the room then. She was asleep. That didn't stop him from trying something though. Alice had called him earlier that evening and she'd told him Uncle Max, Lauren's dad, had offered to let me stay with them when I was released from the hospital. I'd previously been living in a B&B, so Uncle Max said I should stay at theirs and they'd look after me while I recovered. Derek was angered by this. It wasn't helping with the perfect image of family he was trying to portray to everyone." Joey shifted in his seat, feeling uncomfortable with what he was about to admit. He'd heard Derek almost growling in the dock when living with Max had been mentioned and he hated how much that had scared him. How that sound made him feel like the four year old boy who'd first heard it all those years ago. "He tried to strangle me while I lay in the bed. I managed to get him to stop. His protectiveness of Alice was what saved me."

"How so?"

"I reminded him that if he did any further damage to me, it would be Alice that found me and I asked how it would make her feel. He left me alone after that."

"Did that confrontation affect you in any way?"

Joey nodded, "I was pretty upset. It made me feel like the four year old I used to be and I was scared." All those feelings were what Joey was currently experiencing again and he felt ashamed of this reaction to the man he was supposed to love; who was supposed to love him.

"Of what?" Mr Wright asked.

"Scared that next time he might not stop." He glanced at Max and Lauren. "Scared that if there was a next time it might be Lauren that was caught up in it all and I wasn't in any state to stop that from happening, I wouldn't be able to protect her. If he ever did anything to her, he might as well just kill me anyway."

Lauren bit her lip at his words. Max squeezed her hand gently. "It's nearly over now." He whispered to her softly.

"Derek's barrister tried to make a big thing about your relationship with Lauren earlier this morning."

"I remember." He bristled slightly at the reminder, angered by the way she'd laid into Lauren.

"I'd like to get your side of the story. Are you happy answering some questions about this?"

"I guess." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, very aware of Derek's hard eyes watching him.

"When was the first time you saw Lauren?"

"In the first few minutes of getting to Walford."

"What did you think of her?"

"What do you mean?"

"She's a pretty girl. You're a young man... I want to know what your reaction to her was when you saw her."

"I thought she was stunning. I liked her. I was attracted to her. More than anything I wanted to get to know her."

"Get to know her? So you had no idea she was your cousin at that point?"

"No. We didn't associate with Derek's side of the family when I was a child. Not when Derek was around because he never wanted us to and after he left, being a Branning wasn't something mum or I were interested in. So I didn't know who she was until she introduced herself."

"Did that change anything for you?"

"It didn't change the way I felt. My initial attraction to her was still there, I just didn't think anything would ever come of it."

"Would that have been a problem?"

"No. I'd have happily just been friends with her. I just wanted to know her. She intrigued me."

"When did you realise she felt the same way about you?"

"At the hospital, I guess." He looked at her, "Actually I think I always suspected it... but at the hospital was when she confirmed it."

"How?"

"She kissed me."

"Were you worried about anything when it came to your relationship?"

Joey nodded, "I was worried about a lot of things. I know a relationship between Lauren and I isn't usual. We're related but it's not illegal. I... was worried about how our family would take it. I didn't think they'd understand."

"Was there anything else?"

"I didn't want to hurt Lauren. That is the last thing I ever want to do. She means more to me than life itself."

"You said you were worried about how your family would react. Were there any particular people you were concerned about?"

"Yes. Derek was a big issue. I didn't really care what he thought about it but I was concerned he would do something to Lauren. Then there were Lauren's parents – my aunt and uncle – to consider. Family is more important to Lauren than it has ever been for me. I'd never want her to have to choose between me and them. Up until recently the only people who were important to me were my mum and Alice." He paused, hating what he had to say next but knowing it was the truth, "My mum isn't really an issue now because she's in trouble with the police as well. Alice was my main worry. I wasn't sure how she'd react about the two of us if Lauren and I got together."

"We know Derek didn't react well, we've heard testimony from the police officers who arrested him. What about your aunt and uncle?"

"My uncle was at the hospital quite a lot while I was there. We had a chance to talk to each other."

"What did you talk about?"

"Lauren mainly."

"Did you talk to him about your relationship?"

"Not initially but," Joey looked at Max and smiled, "it was him that brought it up. He could tell there was the beginning of something between the two of us. He told me he wasn't going to stand in the way of it. He just wanted her to be happy and if being with me made her happy then it was okay with him."

"Did that change at all after you came out of the hospital?"

"No. I thought it might but Uncle Max was fine."

"You must've been pleased about that?"

"Yes but really I was more shocked by it. I didn't expect anyone to trust me like that. Not with something so important to them."

"And what about your aunt?"

"I'm not sure she was as welcoming initially but she's been great after the first couple of days. She was just concerned about Lauren and her other children which I understand. And she doesn't exactly like Derek either, so that wasn't exactly in my favour."

"I would've thought that was something you had in common?"

"I'm his son. Isn't the phrase... the apple didn't fall very far from the tree. That's something I worried about when I first got to Walford and realised there was this whole side of the family I'd known nothing about. I didn't want them to judge me based on what they've experienced with him. I don't want to be anything like him."

The barrister pauses briefly, "So that just leaves your sister, Alice. How did she take it?"

Joey frowned. "Not well." He said softly. "She hasn't spoken to me since the first few days after I was released from hospital. Max and Tanya invited her around and the conversation turned to the relationship between me and Lauren. She told us it was wrong and then walked away. She avoids me now." Joey heard Derek laugh and it made him so angry.

"That must hurt..."

"It does. I've been close to her my whole life. I don't have a father... my mum is pretty much gone as well now so Alice was all I thought I had left." He glanced at her at the back of the court briefly but couldn't judge anything from her expression.

"Do you blame your sister for what's happened to you?"

"No. Never!" He said, his anger rising.

"But you've already admitted several times you were prepared to take your father's beatings so that he didn't do anything to your sister, so essentially she's the reason for a lot of the pain your father caused you."

"No!" He cried out. That was not the way he thought about it. "It was my decision and I stand by them. If I had to make the decisions I have again, knowing what he would do to me, I wouldn't change anything. Derek may have hurt me but it would have hurt a lot more if he hurt Alice. In the same way it would hurt if he was to do anything to Lauren."

"Your father's barrister tried to insinuate that you've taken advantage of Lauren."

"I'd never do that." He disputed.

"But your relationship is serious?"

"Yes. I've never felt this way about someone before. I love her." He looked at Lauren, holding her eyes. "I want to spend the rest of my life with her." Lauren beamed a smile back at him at his words. She felt very similar as he did.

"Some would say you seem to have fallen very hard, very fast, how can you know it's the real thing?"

Joey shrugged, "When you know, you know. Lauren is different from other girls I've gone out with. She takes me as I am, doesn't try to change me. She didn't judge me based on Derek. She cares for me. And I care for her. We work together as a team. It just works."

"It must have been difficult for you to hear her talking about her alcohol abuse."

"Yes." He said quietly, not sure even Lauren realised how he felt about this.

"Can you say why that his?"

"My dad drank. It scares me a little." He looked at Lauren and he can see she's upset. Max is comforting her after what he'd just said. That hurts him even more than the admission he's just made.

"You must be relieved she hasn't had a drink in the last few weeks."

"I am. Not for me though, for her and her parents. They've worried about her a lot. They don't need that pain anymore. It's better for Lauren as well. It's not healthy to drink the way she was doing so I'm glad she's stopped. But I'll be there for her through everything, even if she drank again. I'd do anything for her."

"Thank you, Joey. I have no more questions."

Joey looked relieved it was over. Then he remembered he still had the defence barrister to deal with. Miss Scott got to her feet and went to stand in front of Joey in the witness box. "Mr Branning... when you arrived in Walford what was the first thing you did?"

Joey looked up, slightly surprised by the question, "I punched Derek."

"So the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree after all, to use your own words."

"It wasn't like that..."

"You just said yourself that you punched him. Or was that wrong?"

"Your Honour, defence is badgering the witness..."

"I agree. Stop the verbal attacks now please, counsellor."

The barrister looked down at her notes, "Mr Branning, did your dad say anything to you before you punched him?"

"No... but..."

"So it was an unprovoked attack?"

"I guess..."

"Did your dad retaliate at all?"

Joey stared at the barrister. "Mr Branning, you're required to answer the question..." The judge said to him softly.

"Sorry sir... it's just she wasn't letting me answer any of her previous questions, I wasn't sure she was going to this time either."

"You're right, she didn't. So how about you answer some of my questions instead...?"

"Your honour, this is most irregular."

"Miss Scott, this is my court and I'm allowed to ask questions if I'd like. Maybe if you hadn't badgered the witness in such an aggressive manner earlier, I wouldn't have to take this unorthodox approach. Can it please be noted for the record that defence is opposed to my asking the witness some questions." The court scribe nodded to say she'd made the note. The judge turned back to Joey, "Now Joey, you said that you punched your father when you arrived in Walford?"

"Yes sir."

"Was there a reason for this?"

"Yes sir."

"Maybe you'd like to tell me and jury why you punched your father?"

"I punched Derek because he was threatening two girls, sir. That's something you just don't do in my book and I'd always stand up for someone who can't protect themselves."

"Who were the two girls?"

"I didn't know them at the time but it was Lauren and her best friend. I found out later that Derek had been blackmailing Lauren's friend, getting her to pay him money."

"And he didn't retaliate?"

"No sir." Joey looked down.

"Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know sir. I think you'd have to ask him that. If I had to guess, I think I took him by surprise. I don't think he expected me to do that. I think he was expecting me to be the twelve year old boy I was the last time I saw him."

"Thank you, Joey. I have no more questions for you." The judge turned his attention to the defence, "Miss Scott, do you have any more questions for this witness?"

She stood up, "No sir."

"Okay, then Joey, you're free to step down from the witness box. Go and join your family." He smiled at him and for a second Joey had hope this might not turn out too badly.

Joey got to his feet and walked back to his family. His focus was on Lauren as he walked to the back of the room. She got to her feet as he neared her and then he was in her arms. She pulled him against her and back into the seats. His senses were filled with Lauren and she was all he was interested in. He could feel her hands running through his hair. His face was pressing into her neck so she was all he could smell. His thoughts were assaulted by the reality of what he'd just revealed to the people who were his family but for the most part were essentially strangers. His heart was racing and his chest was tight and he could feel tears welling in his eyes. Then he was crying and he hated himself for it. He hated the fact he was showing a sign of weakness to them all and it just made him remember all the times Derek had punished him for doing what he was doing now. His whole body was shaking by now and he was vaguely aware of Lauren talking to him softly, whispering words in his ear but for the life of him he couldn't work out what she was saying.

Lauren could feel her mother next to her, could see her dad sitting behind Joey but all she was interested in was comforting the man she loved. She shared a look with her dad. Watching Joey give evidence had been heart wrenching for all of them but for Lauren it had been particularly painful. Her father was the only person who seemed to understand and it was because of him she hadn't intervened when Derek's barrister attacked Joey. Now she was holding him in her arms and trying to offer him some comfort. It didn't seem to be working though. He wasn't calming down, in fact if anything he was getting worse and Lauren was unravelling almost as quickly.

The courtroom was empty except for the Branning's and none of them had said anything since the judge had dismissed the court. Lauren wasn't sure if any of them knew what to say or how to react to what they'd heard. Apart from her dad, what had been said was news to them all.

Lauren glanced at her dad, hoping he could understand what she was trying to say to him. He nodded at her and then got to his feet. He placed his hand gently on Joey's back, wishing there was some way he could make all this go away. He bent down and kissed Lauren on the crown of her head, "We'll be outside when you're ready." He murmured to her. Lauren flashed a smile at him and he then silently ushered the rest of his family from the room.

"Did you know about this, Max?" Carol asked once they were outside, having left Joey and Lauren in the courtroom.

"I found out the day after he got out of hospital." He said quietly.

"And you didn't think you should tell us?" She shouted at him, furious with their eldest brother about how he'd treated his son and furious with Max for keeping them all in the dark.

Her words caused Max to see red. The last few months finally got to him and he lost it, taking his frustrations out on his assembled family. "No. I was thinking about the young boy whose father abused him for nigh on half his life. I was thinking of the fact he didn't want anyone to know this because he was ashamed of what he went through. Derek nearly killed him twice in the space of two days and he was scared, Carol." Max was angry for being second guessed about how he'd handled the situation. Tanya clutched his hand in hers and she brushed her hand on his arm to try and soothe him. "I did what I thought was best for Joey and for Lauren. He's a good kid and he hasn't deserved any of crap that's happened to him." He took a deep breath, turning so his back was to his brother and sister. When he spoke again, it was with resignation, "It wouldn't have made any difference if you'd known anyway, Carol. That was the third time I've heard him say all that and it was no easier to listen to today than it was the first time I heard it."

"Why didn't he ever say anything to me?" Alice asked.

"He was trying to protect you, Alice." Tanya said.

"Dad... he never treated me the way Joey described."

"Alice we saw him with our very own eyes." Jack said as he put his arm around her, "Derek had his arm pressing on Joey's throat. He was waving a lighter and cigar around. I don't think there's any doubt about the truth of what he said, however much you may want to believe your dad couldn't do such a thing."

"Alice, you haven't seen the scars. I was there when the police took the photos of them. I saw them all." Max said softly. "I saw the burns on his back." He told her softly. "I can't believe how wrong I was about Derek. Nobody should be allowed to do the things he did to anyone, never mind their son." Tears ran down Max's face. "He was younger than Oscar when it began, Alice. Four years old. I'm a father, I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I have never hit my children and I certainly wouldn't do that to a four-year old. A child that age, Christ, a child of any age should be loved, not used as his own personal punching bag." He shook off Tanya's arm. "I need some air." He said finally, needing to get away from the rest of his family for a few minutes.

*JL*JL*

"Joe..." she whispered to him. He'd fallen silent in the last few minutes. "I'm so proud of you, baby." She breathed in his ear.

"Lauren..." he croaked.

"I'm here, baby. Right where I said I'd be." She kissed his cheek, tasting the tears he'd shed. "I didn't leave you and I'm never going to. It's you and me forever, Joe." She smiled at him, "Don't think for a second I didn't hear you say that. I heard you and I'm going to hold you to it." She said to him gently. He lifted his head and looked at her, slightly wide-eyed. "Anyway it's on permanent record, so everyone will know," She kissed him urgently. As soon as her lips met his, he came alive, pulling her onto his lap so she straddled him. "I love you." She breathed against his mouth some time later.

"I love you too, baby." He told her softly.

"We should go outside. The others are waiting for us out there."

He looked around, "I didn't even see them go."

"It's okay, dad and I had your back."

Joey smiled at her, "Your dad's pretty great, you know."

"I know that." And she did know. Her dad had really stepped up since this all began. Whatever had happened in the past between them was now long forgotten as far as Lauren was concerned.

"Kind of wish he was mine." Joey joked, half meaning it.

"We can share him." Lauren whispered to him as she stared into his eyes, meaning every word completely. "I think he'd be pretty thrilled actually. He likes you a lot." She wiped her thumbs across his face, brushing away the tears he'd shed, "Shall we get out of this place?" she asked him softly.

"Yeah..."

They both stood and Lauren led him out of the room, his hand tightly held in hers. As she opened the door, the whole family looked up at them. Lauren scanned the room quickly, finding one person missing, "Where's dad?" She asked. She knew it had been as hard for him to hear Joey giving evidence as it had for her. She was worried how this would affect him, knowing how close he'd previously been to his eldest brother.

Tanya stepped forward, "He needed to go and get some air." She told them both, wrapping her arms around her daughter and nephew. "I'm very proud of you both." She said, trying to ignore the pain she felt when Joey had froze in her arms. She knew he didn't mean anything by it, it was just he wasn't used to getting this sort of affection from anyone apart from her eldest daughter but Tanya was determined she was going to be there for Joey in the future. He was part of their family now and she could see he needed to be mothered. She just had to convince him to let her be that to him.

It was Joey that pulled away from her first. "I'm going outside..." he said softly. Lauren looked at him and smiled gently. He stepped closer and kissed her deeply. "I love you, Miss Branning." He whispered in her ear before leaving the court house.

TBC

A/N2: So what did you think? Did you like it? Let me know in a review. There are only two chapters and an epilogue to go now so this should be done before the New Year. And yes, I'm writing two other stories too, hope to publish one of those soon as well.

Oh and yes, I've finally watched this weeks episodes. Heartbreaking... Glad to see they put some nice Lauren/Max moments in though... bout time they did that.