So there is a demand for the next chapter tonight... so here we are... and it starts from where the last chapter finished. The drama continues - and escalates.

Chapter 33: Made of Honour.

There was silence in the room, apart from the odd sniffle from Lauren. Joey kissed the top of her head tenderly, his arms tightening around her as he felt her cry harder. The front door opened and more people entered the house. None of them spoke as Abi and Alice walked into the room, both girls sensing the tension in the room. Derek, Jack and Carol all following behind them.

"What's going on?" Abi asked, frowning when she saw her sister crying.

"Your sister was just about to tell us..." Max growled.

"Lauren?" Abi whispered.

Jack knew instantly what had happened and he sighed, knowing that carnage had already happened and seeing the remnants of it being displayed by his niece. The fact his eldest brother was present to witness this would only cause even more pain to everyone involved.

Joey turned to Lauren's father and stood a little taller, his hand brushing up and down Lauren's back. "We're in love with each other." He said, staring his uncle in the eyes.

"But you're cousins..." Tanya said.

"We didn't mean it to happen but we couldn't fight it." Joey explained.

"Well it ends now..." Max said.

"Too bloody right, it does. We are not having this shame brought on our family!" Derek said.

"Del, leave it..." Jack said softly.

"No, I won't leave it. This is family. They are family. They shouldn't be dating each other..."

"And having sex with each other..." Cora muttered, dragging on her cigarette and staring around at the congregated family, some of the newcomers to the room looking at her in surprise.

"Mum... Not now." Tanya said.

"When then, eh? This needs to be stamped out now... before they're too involved with each other. This is wrong."

"Nice to see we agree about some things, Cora..." Derek said smugly.

"ENOUGH!" Joey shouted, drawing all focus back to him and Lauren. "We don't care what you all think. This isn't a onetime thing. We've been seeing each other for months and we love each other. There's nothing you can say or do to make us stop seeing each other." He told them firmly. He looked at Lauren and saw her shaking in his arms. He lifted her carefully off the floor and started to walk towards the doorway, several members of the family moving out of their way.

Jack stepped forward when Joey reached the hallway and turned towards the stairs. "Take these... go to my flat. You won't be disturbed there." He said softly as he passed his nephew the keys to his flat, his hand brushing Lauren's head softly, her face buried in Joey's neck.

"Thanks Uncle Jack." Joey whispered, changing direction and going to the front door instead. Jack opened the front door and watched as his nephew and niece went down the stairs and Joey started walking over to his flat.

*JL*JL*

Things in the Branning house descended even further into chaos after Joey and Lauren left. Most of the room had glared at Jack when he came back into the room. "You knew about this didn't you?" Max accused immediately.

"I knew how Lauren felt about Joey but I didn't know for definite that they'd started a relationship." He replied.

"And you didn't think to tell me or Tan?" Max said, striding over to his younger brother.

"There wasn't anything to tell..." he said.

"She told you she felt something for her cousin and you didn't think that was important enough to tell her parents? She said her feelings were stronger than she should be feeling about her cousin and you kept that a secret?"

Jack shook his head and laughed wryly at his brother, "Do you remember what she was like a couple of weeks ago?" he asked. "Do you remember how she would lose herself in the bottom of a bottle? How about the time she came home with bruises all over her face and she wouldn't tell you where they came from?" Jack asked them, seeing the look on his brother's face. He turned to Tanya, "You told me that Lauren had had a disagreement with Joey... she bumped into him at the shop and ran home really upset. She was fighting the way she felt about him... She was confused and she was putting the family before her own feelings and it was making her miserable. All I did was listen to her."

"That doesn't change the fact you should've told us what was going on..." Derek said.

"Lauren told me in confidence... she needed to speak to someone because her best friend... who is Joey by the way... was out of the question." He sighed and brushed his hand over his face, "I felt just as shocked as you all are when she first told me. I thought it was wrong for them to be together but I listened to her as she started talking about him and it was like she came alive. There was this sparkle in her eyes that I don't we've seen since she was about twelve; since all the shit this family laid on her shoulders first set in." Tanya was crying by this point and Max pulled her into his arms, staring at his brother.

"Uncle Jack's right." Abi said. "I've seen the differences in her in the last few weeks. She smiles so much more." She looked at her parents, "She's happy and I can't remember a time before when she's been that. Doesn't that say something?" she whispered.

"Abs..." Tanya said, "Can't you see why this is wrong?"

"No... All I can see is that I've had my sister back in the last few weeks. And I don't want to lose her again. If being with Joey makes her happy, then I think she should be with him."

"She's right. Joey's been happier too." Alice said. "He's never stood up for a girl like that before."

"Alice, darling... you don't know what you're talking about. Your brother is a player... he uses women and then drops them." Derek said, walking over to his daughter.

"No, dad. It's you who doesn't know what they're talking about. Joey isn't like that... not the real Joey. He's a nice guy... He looks after the people he loves... He protects them from getting hurt..." she said, her eyes widening as she realised what she was saying, "Like he did with Lauren tonight." She added. "He loves her. He really loves her."

"This is getting us nowhere. Let's all go home and we can talk about this properly in the morning... when you've all had a bit of time to think about it." Jack proposed.

"You can come back to ours, Jack," Carol said softly, knowing her brother had just given away the keys to his flat.

"Thanks Carol."

The family dispersed, thoughts running haywire as they tried to absorb everything that had just been revealed to them.

TBC

A/N: So what did you think? God bless, Uncle Jack. Next chapter is another favourite of mine... I think I say that quite a lot. Every chapter has something in it that I love... I get too emotionally involved with my stories. Talking of stories, I realised today that back in December, when I posted my first EastEnders story, I had posted 10 stories on this site... This story is my 29th story! Joey and Lauren have obviously inspired me a lot.

COMING SOON... TO A FAN FIC SITE NEAR YOU... TRUE ROMANCE