18th April 2013. Here's tonight's installment. Enjoy!

Chapter 8.

Lauren and Joey walked downstairs forty minutes after being disturbed by Abi. They strolled into the kitchen and found the room empty. Lauren got them both some breakfast and they ate in relative silence. The front door opened and closed again as Lauren washed up the plates and tidied away the mess. Her dad walked into the kitchen, "You're up." He said with a smile, "How you feeling this morning, Joey?" he asked as he got himself a cup of coffee. "Well rested?"

Joey's face reddened slightly as he wondered what his uncle was trying to ask him. "Fine thanks, Uncle Max." He said.

"Where did Abi go?" Lauren asked.

"Her and your mum have gone to the cafe. Your mum wanted a chat with her... to discuss her attitude."

"What was all the shouting about?"

"Just your sister..." He paused, not sure how to phrase what he wanted to say.

"Being like me?" Lauren suggested with a smile.

"Well, yeah I guess." Max said, Joey chuckling as he sat on his chair.

"Hey, you!" Lauren said, moving over to Joey and sitting on his lap. Her openness about their closeness with each other was like a breath of fresh air. "Dad, Joey and I wanted a chat with you and mum sometime today. It's about Abi and what happened yesterday. We were hoping to do it before she got home this morning but I guess that ships sailed."

"She's planning on going to see Jay this afternoon. Your mum was going to stop her from going but I'll call her and tell her what you've just said." He pulled his mobile from his jacket and dialled the number, stepping out of the room to speak to his wife.

"Do you think your dad was trying to say something earlier?" Joey asked his girlfriend quietly.

"What? When he first walked in?" Joey nodded. "No. That's just dad. He really was just making sure you're okay. He cares about you and he knows you're important to me..."

"I thought maybe he was making some comment about what Abi walked in on." He breathed into her ear.

Lauren turned her head and kissed him softly, her fingers brushing into his hair and holding his head in place. "Don't worry so much, baby. My parents love you. If they didn't you wouldn't be here and we wouldn't be together."

"Okay." He murmured.

The kitchen door opened again and Max walked back in, "Your mum will be home shortly. We can talk about everything then. She's gone to speak to Sharon to see if she can collect Oscar from school this afternoon."

"Thanks dad."

Max sat at the table, looking at the couple, "I saw Derek this morning." He told them both. "As you can imagine, he's not very happy. Bianca must've mentioned that the two of you were seeing each other and he's..." he pauses, frowning slightly, "upset with me for letting it happen."

Joey laughed, "I'm sure he is." He said almost bitterly.

"We can talk about it more when your mum gets home, Lauren."

"Does he know Joey is here now?" Lauren asked, her hand clutching Joey's tightly, scared about what might happen if he did know.

"No." Max said with a smile at his daughter. "Why don't the two of you go into the lounge? We can talk in there when your mum gets home."

"Don't you need to be at the car lot?" Joey asked.

"Jack's over there. He said he could take care of things for a day. I wanted to be here. I knew we needed to discuss everything today."

Lauren got to her feet and kissed her dad softly on the cheek. She turned and held her hand out to Joey and they walked through to the lounge, both sitting on the couch.

*JL*JL*

Tanya found the three of them waiting for her when she got home and walked into the lounge. "Sorry, Sharon was busy with a delivery when I got there so I had to wait to speak to her."

"Where's Abi?" Lauren asked.

"She's gone to see Lola and then she's seeing Jay. She'll be home this afternoon and will do her homework then." Tanya sat on the arm of the armchair, her arm around Max's shoulders.

Lauren and Joey looked at each other for a few seconds and then Lauren turned back to her parents. Neither of them missed the way she was clutching Joey's hand that was in her lap. "Joe and I were talking about everything that happened yesterday. We wanted to hear your thoughts on it all... and we don't really know what happened after we took Oscar from the room."

"As I said earlier, Derek was angry that your mum was there, Joey. He calmed slightly when he saw Alice. Your mum was a little upset about the fact Alice was so pleased to see Derek but Jack looked after them and he took them home before anything really kicked off. They probably left only about five or ten minutes after you. Once they were gone, Derek reverted to type and became the threatening bully I now realise he is. Fortunately Fatboy and Tyler stepped in and stopped us from creating a real scene at your college." Max admitted. "Derek stormed off once the fight was broken up and Carol and Bianca went with him. I guess that was when they worked out who you were, Joey and Derek found out about your relationship."

"And Abi?" Lauren whispered.

"We brought her home," Tanya said. "And we spoke to her on the way home and told her how disappointed we were that she did what she did."

"And she didn't say why she did it?" Lauren said. Joey kissed the side of her head, hearing her emotions tingeing her voice.

"No she didn't." Tanya said. "I'm sorry, Lauren. I don't understand why she's behaving like this. She'd seemed okay in the last couple of months and then she did this. I'm so angry with her."

Lauren is silent for several minutes and her parents watch as a range of emotions filter over her face, "What are you thinking, babe?" Max finally said.

"I don't understand what I did that made her hate me..." she whispered.

"She doesn't hate you..." Tanya said.

"She must do, mum. Nobody who loves someone can do what she did. That was about the worst thing she could've done to me. You'd told her repeatedly that Derek wasn't to find out about me and Joey. You'd convinced him to go for the day and hadn't told him about my show... so she invites him." Lauren's voice is getting stronger as she speaks, "And you're wrong, mum. You may not have seen it but she hasn't been okay for the last couple of months. She's been a nightmare ever since I ended up in hospital in the New Year. She'd make odd snippy comments to me when no one else was around. She did something to my dress yesterday so I couldn't wear it."

"Why didn't you say anything to us?"

Lauren shrugged, "Most of the time I wasn't here anyway, so it was easier to ignore. I figured if I didn't rise to it, she'd get bored of it and go back to being the Abi she used to be. I guess that's not going to happen now." Lauren looked at Joey again and he kissed her forehead softly.

"What aren't you saying, Lauren?" Max asked.

"Joey's asked if I wanted to move in with him," Lauren whispered and she heard her mum gasp in shock. "I'm seriously considering it..." she added, unable to look at her parents after admitting that to them.

Max moved from his seat and crouched in front of his daughter, "Neither of us want you to leave, Lauren." He told her softly.

"I'm not sure I can stay here, daddy." She moved forward and hugged her father, tears flooding her eyes. When she pulled away, she spoke again, "I don't think I can live with all the stress Abi's going to cause and make no mistake she will be causing plenty of drama, I know it. And I don't want to be around Uncle Derek. It's too much pressure and," she glanced down and took a deep breath, "I don't want to make another mistake." She whispered. "If I stay here I won't be able to see Joe as much because he's not going to be able to come here. And I really need him with me if I'm going to deal with all this. I don't want to leave you both and Oscar and the rest of the family but I think I need to. I don't think I have a choice about this. And there's a part of me that wants to do this. I want to be with Joey all the time."

Tears were running down Lauren's face by this point and Max swept her back into a hug, "It's okay, princess. It's okay." He brushed his hand up and down her back as she continued to cry. After a good few minutes he released his hold on her. His hands grasped her head, pushing her hair back from her face and he wiped away her tears, "I understand why you want to do this. I can't say I like it because I'm going to miss having you around but you're old enough to make these decisions now. But Lauren, please remember, your mum and I are always here for you... and Joey. If you ever need us, you just need to call."

"There are some other things we want to discuss with you but we want my mum to be there as well. I'm going to speak to her later so maybe we can arrange something for the weekend?" Joey said softly, his hand resting on Lauren's back.

"Okay," Max said but you could see he was wondering what they wanted to talk about. "So when are you thinking of moving out, Lauren?"

"I don't know..." She said, "I wanted to speak to you first. It was only really something we discussed today as an option." She looked at her mum, "Are you okay, mum?" she asked.

Tanya came to her, hugging her tightly, "I can't believe my little girl is all grown up." She said to her softly. "You'll come and see us, won't you?"

"Yeah. You're not getting rid of me that easily." Lauren looked both her parents. "Can I tell Oscar? I want to try and explain it to him."

"Would you like us to be there too?" Tanya asked.

"If it's okay, I'd like it to just be me and Joey? Could we take him out for the day on Saturday? I don't want him to think he's never going to see me again."

"Of course you can, sweetheart. Just remember he's an energetic six years old and Joey's not fully fit." Tanya reminded her. "I wanted to thank you for looking after him yesterday too. I'm glad you were there for him and got him out of the room quickly."

"I will remember, mum and to be honest, Oscar came to me and when it started I wanted to get us all out of there. I didn't just do it for Oscar." Lauren said.

"We're grateful anyway, babe. If you decide when you're going, your mum and I can help you move. I'm sure Jack can be available to help as well." Max said.

"Thanks dad."

The front door opened and slammed shut and Lauren tensed slightly. She got to her feet and Joey followed her, turning to the door hand in hand as Abi walked through it. "Oh, you're here." She said. "I'm going upstairs to finish my homework." She turned to Lauren, "You won't be disturbing me, will you?"

"Don't worry, Abi. I won't get in your way. And it won't be an issue for much longer, so I'm sure that will please you."

"What?" She had a look on innocence on her face that made Lauren want to punch her.

"I'm moving out." Lauren spat at her sister, her anger from the last twenty four hours finally getting to her. "So Joey and I won't be in your way for much longer, will we? Excuse me, Joey and I are going out."

Abi moved to one side, letting her sister and cousin past. Lauren and Joey left the house a minute or so later. Abi stared at her parents for a few seconds, noticing they were visibly upset but not really caring. She turned and walked up to her room and got on with her work as if she had not a care in the world.

TBC

A/N: So trouble is brewing and it begins tomorrow night...