Joey smiled so big and walked over to her he wrapped his arms around her "Ah easy, easy!" she whined "Oh my god i'm sorry" he apologised "Miss me?" she smilled "Abi told me Tanya had devastating news-" Lauren nodded "Yeah, that was my idea I wanted to surprise you both" Joey smiled again "Well you did yeah...how are you by the way?" she smiled at his concern "Very sore, but the nurse told me that he didn't go in that far to kill me, the impact just put my body in shock which is why I wasn't really responding earlier on but i'm okay" Joey stared at her "I thought I lost you" Lauren walked towards him "You could never lose me" Joey tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled just then the door opened and Abi walked in Joey leaned back against the counter while Lauren stayed where she was "Joey do you-" she stared at him "I'm kind of in the middle of something Abi" he replied, smiling in Lauren's direction, Abi turned to the door and turned back to face Lauren. "What the hell?" she smiled "I was discharged, I told mum to play with you" she smiled "That is so evil!" Abi laughed hugging her "Careful!" she gasped "Sorry...I'll leave you alone" Abi smiled and walked out as the front door opened and Tanya and Cora walked in "I am not talking to you anymore" Abi laughed "I'm sorry darling, she made me lie" Lauren smiled and closed the door and smiled at Joey "What happened that night Lauren?" Lauren took a deep breath and stared at Joey "Sit down"
"Oh it's sit down serious?" he asked, Lauren smiled at him "That night was a rollercoaster Joey, you asked me to get your wallet and I came back and he was sitting in the living room I tried to walk back out the door but he shut it and then locked it, then I threatned to call the police and he threw my phone against that wall there, as you can see, he blamed me for Lucy's death, he said he wanted to kill me that night-"
"Lauren I am so sorry" he interrupted as he saw tears form in her eyes, he grabbed her hand "You can stop talking about it, I won't mention it again" Lauren stared at him and nodded he smiled at her "So, remember when I was taking you out for dinner, you want to still do that?" Lauren removed her hand from Joey's and stared "I'm supposed to be resting Joey" she replied "Oh, no that's okay you go and rest" Lauren stood up slowly, Joey cringed he couldn't imagine the amount of pain she was in "Want me to help?" he offered "I'll be fine Joey" she smiled he watched her walk away and up the stairs and sighed he then darted out the door.
Joey returned a while later with bag loads of items he placed them in the kitchen and walked into the living room "Joey, I didn't say hi to you" smiled Tanya standing up and hugging him "It's ok Tanya" he smiled "I was just talking to Abi about Lauren, seems she is doing so well since she came back" Joey stared at Abi and smiled, he was thrilled to learn Abi didn't tell Tanya about Jake spiking Lauren's drink "She's like a different girl" he smiled "I actually wanted to ask you a question, all of you" he continued walking inside and closing the door behind him "I want to do something for Lauren so, I was wondering if you guys could make yourselves scarce before 7?" he asked politely "Of course Joey" smiled Cora "Thank you" he walked out and back into the kitchen he wanted to make it up to Lauren, not just for breaking his promise of keeping her safe but for also thinking she began drinking again, he couldn't believe how stupid he was and regretted everything he told her that day.
As 7 neared the house was deserted, Joey changed into a shirt and ran downstairs to make sure the food was okay, he heard Lauren waking up and smiled he set the table and put the finishing touches to what he had planned, he walked out of the kitchen and guarded the door "What are you doing?" she quizzed "Nothing" he smiled "Why are you wearing that shirt?" Joey smiled "You're full of questions today" Lauren stared "I am not going out Joey" he took her arm "Please I promise we aren't going far" he smiled opening the door, Lauren stared around and smiled two candles were a light in the kitchen, laying in the middle of the table was a present, Lauren turned to him and hit him "Ow what?" he laughed "You know I don't like being fussed over"
"I thought tonight would be an exception" he smiled he pulled out her seat and ushered her over she sat down as he pushed her closer to the table, Lauren stared at the present it had a card attatched to it Joey put the plates on the table and sat down "You can open it" he smiled, Lauren took the card first and read it "I was an idiot please forgive me x Joey...of course I forgive you Joey" he smiled at her Lauren then took the present in her hand she un wrapped it "Joey, what the hell why did you buy me a new phone?" she asked "You needed one? don't worry it's second hand" he replied before laughing "You're an idiot" she replied "Only for you" he smiled "Joey i'm not sure if we should do this again" Joey frowned "What?"
"Everytime we get together something like this happens, not this extreme but a lot of bad things happen it's like a sign saying we shouldn't be together" she answered standing up and walking into the sitting room Joey sighed and followed her quickly "Please, look, maybe we weren't right back then babe, you know you with your alcohol problem and me with my Lucy problem, but both of them are non existent now, we have nothing to hold us back, Jake's in jail and Lucy, is sadly not here anymore, last year they were our distractions and now...we're free, we can breath babe" Lauren shook her head "I don't know Joey, Jake-"
"Jake's in jail babe, he won't be coming after you anytime soon and I swear I will keep you safe forever, please Lauren I love you so much!" he pleaded "I love you too" she smiled "You do?" he quizzed "Of course I do" Joey smiled at Lauren and tucked her hair behind her ear he leaned forward and kissed her, Lauren ran her hands through his hair as they walked back into the sitting room they broke apart and Joey smiled he finally had Lauren back and in that moment of time nothing else mattered.
N/A: That's it, thank you for reading this and as i said before I had so much fun writing this, it was so different for me, but of course I couldn't kill Lauren, the next story i'll be writing is "The Bitch is Back" the continuation of "I hate you, don't I?" so chapter one of that should be up sometime next week