So you've heard what everyone was thinking after the shock news of Lauren and Joey's relationship... so I guess now it's time for them to face the music. Enjoy!

Chapter 35: Love Happens.

Joey walked up behind her and bent down, kissing the top of Lauren's head as she sat on the couch in Jack's flat. Beside her was the bag that had been filled with clothes for them to change into when Joey found it on the doorstep of the flat this morning. Joey had been wondering what they were going to wear but he'd got a text from Jack telling him to look outside the flat. "Things will be okay, baby." He said to her gently.

"You don't know that, Joe." She whispered.

"Let's go and talk to your parents... We can make them understand."

"Can't we just stay here?" she asked, looking at him.

Joey could see the pain and fear in her eyes. He moved around the couch and knelt in front of her so he could look her in the eyes, "They know about us now so we can't pretend this isn't happening. We can't hide from this, Lauren, much as we may want to." His hand brushed her cheek, "Now I know Uncle Jack is cool with this but even I think he will draw the line at letting us camp on his couch indefinitely, especially if he knew what we did on it last night." He smirked at her reddening face, "You've got a home to get back to, Lauren."

"I'm scared..." she whispered.

"I won't let them hurt you baby... I'll look after you." He said softly.

She slid off the couch and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, "What would I do without you, Joe." She whispered to him.

"You wouldn't be in this mess in the first place if I wasn't here, babe." He replied, his arms pulling her against him when he felt her tense.

"Don't even say those words... I never want to think about that, Joe."

"Let's go back to the house..." he said.

*JL*JL*

Joey and Lauren walked into the house, Lauren clutching Joey's hand tightly. Joey dropped their bag on the floor and they moved to the lounge doorway, surprised to find most of the family gathered there, waiting for them. The only person missing from the night before was Derek. Lauren's hand gripped Joey's just a little tighter as she ran her eyes around the room.

"Maybe the two of you should sit down?" Lauren's dad said.

"Oscar, why don't you and Denny go up to your room for a little while? I'll call you down when it's lunch time." Tanya said.

Oscar and Denny got to their feet and left the room, Oscar paused to hug Lauren tightly as he walked past her. She squeezed him against her and turned to watch the pair disappear up the stairs.

Lauren looked at her uncle and she relaxed slightly when she saw him smile at her, gesturing towards the couch. The couple walked into the room and sat next to each other. Nobody missed the way Lauren was gripping tightly to Joey's hand.

"We've all had a chance to think about what you told us last night and we've talked about it this morning," Max said, "And we've come to a decision..."

Joey thought that Lauren was going to throw up, she'd gone very pale as soon as her dad started talking and her hands were definitely becoming clammy. "It's okay, baby." He whispered, his arm wrapping around her shoulders so he could pull her against him.

"Before we go into it, I want to know how this started."

"You really want to know?" Lauren said. Her dad nodded, "I'm pretty sure you won't."

"She's right, Max." Jack said. "You don't want to know."

Max turned on his brother, staring at him incredulously, "So you know?" He hissed.

"Yes, Lauren told me when she told me about how she felt." Jack admitted.

"So she can tell you but she can't tell me...?" he asked indignantly, getting more irate.

"Max, this isn't supposed to be about you or me. It's about your daughter and Joey."

Lauren could see things were starting to get out of hand. Again. "It was about sex, okay!" she said loudly, managing to silence the room instantly. "Shit..." she whispered as practically the whole room turned their eyes to her, a whole range of looks on their faces. She glanced at Joey, "Sorry." She whispered to him. He winked at her and squeezed her hand. She didn't miss the slight smirk on his face.

"It was what?" Max said.

Lauren turned back to look at her dad, not quite able to meet his eyes, "Please don't make me say it again, dad." She whispered.

"Why would you do that with your cousin?" Tanya asked, speaking for the first time since Oscar had left the room.

"It was just supposed to be fun... someone to turn to if we were lonely. And both of us was lonely. Neither of us thought we wanted a long-term relationship but we didn't want a series of one night stands with strangers either. This seemed like the perfect solution." She said softly, hoping her parents would understand. They didn't.

"Sleeping with your cousin seemed like the perfect solution?" Max shouted.

"Dad!" Abi cried out, trying to calm him down.

"It wasn't like that, dad." Lauren said softly, trying to explain but not doing a very good job apparently. "It didn't feel like we were cousins. It's never felt like we were cousins. Joey had only been here for just over a month when this began. We were friends and we became closer friends because of this."

"I would say so." Cora muttered. Lauren looked at her sharply and flinched when she saw the disdain on her Nan's face.

"Mum!" Tanya said, seeing Lauren's face pale further, "Stop that..."

"I don't mean like that," Lauren explained, "We spent a lot of time together, just getting to know each other. You don't know what it's been like for me for the last year. All of my friends are involved with someone. If we all went out together, it starts off great but it would usually end up with them all pairing off and I'd be left on my own. I know they didn't mean to but I was lonely. Really lonely." She shrugged her shoulders. "Joey was too so it seemed the ideal solution, better than just copping off with random strangers anyway. At least we knew each other and trusted each other. It was an arrangement between friends. It wasn't supposed to be anything serious."

"How long did that last?" Tanya asked.

"Probably longer than it should've done." Lauren glanced at Joey and he nodded his head slightly. "I think both of us realised we felt more than we should but the arrangement didn't end until after we came back from Spain."

"It was Debbie, wasn't it?" Alice asked softly.

Lauren nodded, "I thought he was getting back together with her so I stepped aside. I was trying to do the right thing. I said some things I didn't mean and it went downhill from there."

"When did you get back together?" Abi asked, "And was it for real this time?"

"It was the day before the snowstorm," Lauren whispered, leaning against Joey heavily as her thoughts once again turned to one of the worst moments in her life. "Joey told me how he felt but I told him I needed to think about it... I told him I'd tell him the next day and then the storm hit and I nearly never got a chance to tell him."

"Baby..." Joey whispered, ignoring the rest of the family and turning to his girlfriend. Her body was shaking and he pulled her into a hug, her face burying in his neck so no one could see her. All the walls she usually kept in place had shattered as she spoke about that day. She hated that her family could see her when she was so weak. The only person she wanted to see her like that was Joey. The room fell silent for several minutes, only broken by the soft murmur of Joey talking to Lauren, his voice too quiet for anyone other than Lauren to hear.

"You don't have much to say for yourself, Joey..." Carol said about five minutes later, drawing Joey's attention back to the gathered family.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, his hand continuing to brush Lauren's back in comfort. "I said everything I needed to last night." He told them but paused, "Actually there are a few things I want to say. Firstly, I fell in love with Lauren a long time ago. I think I've possibly always loved her, since the first day I met her but I didn't realise what those feelings were and it took me a long time to admit, even to myself, what I was feeling. Lauren is my best friend. I plan to look after her for the rest of my life. It's as simple as that." He turned his attention to Lauren's parents. "I don't think you realise how much you hurt Lauren. None of you do." He glanced at the whole room before turning his attention back to Max and Tanya, "You both go on at Lauren about the fact she doesn't do anything with her life but you never try to encourage her to do something about it or help her decide what she wants to do."

"That's not true. We tell her she should get herself a job..." Tanya said.

"What about encouraging her to try and doing something more with her life?" Joey said. He glanced at Lauren and she nodded her head, smiling at him slightly, "Lauren's going to apply to go to Art College. She wants to draw and she's really good. We got a form the other day from a college and she's going to send it off next week."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, sweetheart?" Tanya asked, "College is a lot of pressure to put on yourself..." Joey scowled at her, shaking his head in disgust as he squeezed Lauren's hand. "What?" she asked him.

"I can't believe you doubt her so much..." Joey said.

"Lauren doesn't cope well with pressure..." Max said.

"That's one way of putting it..." Cora muttered.

"You think she'll bow under the pressure and get drunk?" he asked but none of them responded. Most of them thought it was a foregone conclusion, "Apart from one glass of champagne the other night, Lauren hasn't had a drink in weeks." Joey told them. "She doesn't really drink anymore. Sure, there was a bit of a blip when we had our misunderstanding but the rest of the time she's pretty much been sober since we've been together."

"So she didn't drink in Spain?" Tanya asked, having heard from Poppy and Lauren's other friends about their nights out clubbing.

"I was drinking water..." Lauren whispered. "The others may have thought I was on the vodka but I wasn't. It was just water."

"That's why you didn't have a hangover..." Alice whispered. Joey smiled at his sister softly, seeing the acceptance of their relationship on her face.

"I don't need to drink when I'm with Joey. The only reason I really drank before we got together was because I had nothing else to do. I was alone with my thoughts too much so I drank to try and forget them." Lauren admitted.

"Are you going to tell us what you've decided?" Joey asked, getting fed up of having to reveal their personal relationship to the whole family.

"We're willing to accept the two of you being together but Tanya and I want to set some ground rules for the two of you... especially while you're both living in this house." Max told them.

"We can live with that." Joey said, squeezing Lauren's hand. He knew this was what Lauren wanted but he still felt a little bit of resentment when his uncle said they were willing to accept them. How big of them.

"We'll speak to you later about the rules." Tanya said.

Lauren got to her feet and went to hug her parents, proving to Joey just how much their acceptance meant to her. The rest of the family began to leave after that. Both Alice and Abi hugged their siblings, wishing them well and offering their support. Joey and Lauren asked them not to mention anything about their relationship to either of their boyfriends... wanting the news to come from them rather than anyone else.

Finally the two of them were alone again. Joey pulled Lauren onto his lap and hugged her tightly. "Thanks Joe..." she whispered to him, kissing him lightly.

"I only told them the truth, baby." He said lovingly. His hand brushed into her hair and tucked it behind her ear, his thumb brushing across her cheek as he kissed her, it deepening easily. "So you've made your mind up about college then?"

"There's no harm in applying is there?" she said softly.

"You'll be fine... I've seen your drawings and you're very talented."

Lauren smiled and snuggled into his chest. "It'll be nice to be able to do this without having to hide it all the time, Joe." She whispered.

"Assuming it doesn't break one of your parent's rules." He murmured, a slight hint of resentment in his voice.

Lauren lifted her head and looked at his face, "Well, we've never been very good at following the rules, babe, have we?" She smiled and he returned it.

TBC

A/N: 'We've never been very good at following the rules...' - probably the biggest understatement ever! What did you think then?

COMING SOON... TO A FAN FIC SITE NEAR YOU... SAY ANYTHING... Yep, we're going Old School... back to the eighties!

JUST FIVE CHAPTERS TO GO GUYS!