21st April 2013. So here's the continuation of their story for their friends. Enjoy!

Chapter 12.

About ten minutes after they left the front door slams open again, "Whit?" It's Tyler. "Babe... can you come and help?"

Whitney rushed to the front door and gasps when she sees them. "Ty, what happened?"

"We found him in the gardens." Fatboy said.

"Joey?" Lauren said, running to the door but freezing when she sees him. "Joe?" she whispers. "My phone... I need my phone." She tells them, getting more and more frantic as she tries to find it. Whitney passes it to her. "Daddy..." she says a few seconds after she gets it back. "Joey's been hurt..."

*JL*JL*

Max enters the house a couple of minutes after his daughter's call. Really, he was getting too old for this. He wasn't sure his heart would cope. "Joey, what happened to you, eh?" he said as he crouched in front of the couch where he now lay. "Talk to me, Lauren..." he asked her softly as he looked at his nephew.

"He went to the Minute Mart... he left a while ago but I didn't think much of it when he didn't return. He didn't want to be here when I told the others what had happened. I got upset though and called him. He didn't answer his phone and Ty and the guys went to look for him. They said they found him in the gardens." She looked at her dad, "Is he going to be okay? He's only just come out of hospital. Please tell me he doesn't have to go back...?" Her worry was evident in her voice.

Max looked at his nephew's face. He had the beginning of a black eye and a split lip but other than that it didn't seem anything too serious. "He should be okay." He turned to Tyler, "Can they stay here tonight? I don't think he should be going out again tonight and Lauren won't leave him."

"Yeah, that's fine. We've got a spare room..."

Max nodded, turning his attention back to his daughter, "Are you okay?" he asked her softly. She nodded absently, her focus still on Joey. "You stay here tonight with Joey, okay? I'll see you in the morning and we can speak to him about what happened." He brushed his hand down the side of her face and she looked up at him, "If he wakes up and he says he has a headache, you call me and then you call an ambulance. If you're worried, you call an ambulance, okay." He glanced at her friends, seeing the confusion on their faces, "Do you want me to get your mum to bring some things over for you?"

She knew he was asking if she needed her medication but she was okay, it was in her handbag, "We're fine." She whispered.

"Okay. See you in the morning, babe." Max kissed her softly on the forehead and walked from the house, shutting the door quietly behind him.

"What's going on, Lauren?" Lucy asked.

Lauren took a deep breath and grasped Joey's hand in hers, needing his physical presence to get through this conversation. "Joey had a brain haemorrhage when he collapsed back in January." She whispered, staring at her boyfriend as he lay on the couch, still unconscious. "The blood clot was really bad and they had to operate on him to remove it. He had a stroke before they could though. He was really sick. I thought he was going to die. He has to be careful with his head now. They operated on his brain and had to open his skull, so there's a weakness there. I was worried he might have to go back. He only got released from hospital yesterday, he's been there for months, since January."

"He had a stroke?" Whitney said.

"Yeah, brought on by binge drinking, high blood pressure, lack of food and sleep." She clutched Joey's hand in hers a little tighter and she reached over and brushed some of his hair off his face. "He's had to deal with so much since he eventually came out of the coma. He couldn't talk and he had partial paralysis of his legs. He still has problems with his left leg... the muscles were damaged during the stroke and the therapist doesn't think he's going to get full strength back in it but he's working really hard to beat it."

"We hadn't realised you'd gone through so much, Lauren..." Poppy said softly.

Lauren laughed, "You haven't heard the rest of it yet..." she said.

"What else is there?" Whitney asked.

"Me..." she whispered as she glanced at them. She saw the concern on their faces. "The doctor at the hospital referred me to a specialist after I had my stomach pumped. I told him I wanted help and he managed to get me an appointment with a friend of his that's a consultant. They ran loads of tests on me and I got the results a few months ago."

"They didn't find anything, right?" Fatboy asked.

Lauren looked at them, "They found stuff." She whispered. "My liver, pancreas and heart have all been affected by my drinking. He recommended some changes to me and I've pretty much reversed the damage I'd made to my liver since I made them. My pancreas is much better too."

"And your heart?" Lucy asked. Tears were running down her face at what Lauren was telling them.

"It's called alcoholic cardiomyopathy. They've caught it really early and when I had my three-month appointment a couple of weeks ago my doctor was really pleased with the results. It hadn't got any worse and the medication I'm taking is controlling the situation." She looked down at Joey's hand in hers and she squeezed it gently. "I didn't take it very well when I first found out. I thought it meant my life was over but Joey really helped me through it. My parents and Joey's mum have been amazing too, through everything. They told us they'd support us being together after they found out everything. And dad is helping us with Derek. They've all been so good."

"So your heart is better then?" Lucy asked.

"No, Luce." Lauren said softly. "It's not going to get better. It's a case of trying to ensure it doesn't get worse."

"And what if it does?" Poppy asked carefully.

"If the medication stops helping then they could fit a pacemaker. If it gets really bad, I'd go on the heart transplant list and have to hope a donor became available."

Whitney pulled Lauren in for a hug, soon joined by Lucy and Poppy. "Your mum never said anything when we came in to the hospital that time. And I didn't like to ask..." Poppy said quietly.

"You saw Lauren at the hospital and didn't mention it, Pops." Fatboy said, frowning at his girlfriend.

"Well she didn't look ill and I figured that if she wanted us to know, she'd have told us."

"I was planning on telling you all... after Christmas. About Joey I mean. I wanted to get Joey meeting the parents out of the way first." Lauren said. "But everything went wrong and then I had to focus on Joey and me. That was all that was important; I couldn't cope with anything else."

"So everything's okay now then, apart from your illnesses?" Tyler asked.

"I wish it was." Lauren said quietly. "Guys, there's something else I need to tell you and I don't think you're going to like it." She looked at them all for a second, "I'm leaving Walford." She whispered.

"What? Why?" Lucy cried out.

"I can't stay at the house. It's difficult with Derek being around as Joey can't come over here that easily and if he does, we're pretty much restricted to the house. I'm guessing you heard about what happened in the market earlier? Everyone knows about us being together now and the whole cousin thing. Even walking back to the house from the tube station this evening was horrific. Everyone was staring at us and gossiping about us. We can't live our lives like that. It might be easier to handle if being at my house wasn't so difficult."

"Why's it difficult?" Tamwar asked.

"In a word, Abi." Lauren brushed a couple of stray tears away from her face, "She's been off with me ever since I was released from hospital after I got drunk. It wasn't so bad when Joe was in hospital because I spent a lot of time there but even in the last day I know I can't live there. She bitches about me the whole time; answers back to mum and dad; creates drama. Her timing is appalling and well, to put it bluntly she acts like she hates me. I can't live in an atmosphere like that and more importantly, I don't want to. So I'm going to move in with Joey at his mum's. I don't really want to leave here. I'm going to miss mum, dad and Oscar so much but mum and dad are okay with it and they understand why I need to leave. Joe and I are telling Oscar tomorrow. We're taking him out for the day and are going to tell him. I don't want him to think it's anything he's done."

"Can't your parents speak to her and get her to stop?" Whitney asked.

"No. They've tried and it hasn't done anything. The fact we share a room is just making it even worse. And after what she did yesterday I'm not sure I can forgive her..."

"What do you mean?" Poppy asked.

"She told Derek about the show. Dad had suggested to him about going up to Manchester to see some friends, so he wasn't around for the show. I didn't want him there and dad knew Joey was going to come to the show to surprise me... so the last thing he wanted was Derek being there. Abi phoned him and told him about it and said he should surprise us. She did the one thing mum and dad had told her she mustn't do. I can never forgive her for that. Now she's opened up that whole can of worms and it's made everything even worse than they already were."

"So when do you go?" Whitney asked.

"The day after tomorrow." She told them softly.

"That quick?" Lucy gasped.

"I'll be back in the square often... I just can't live in that house."

"Why can't Abi move out?" Lucy said. "It's not fair you have to leave..."

"Luce, it's not just that though, is it? It's Derek; it's the square and everyone out there knowing. The last thing Joey or I need at the moment is stress. I'm still going to be around. I want to see my parents and Oscar so I'll be here. I'll keep in contact all the time, I promise." Joey moaned from the couch and Lauren turned her attention to him completely. "Baby, how are you feeling?"

"What happened?" he groaned.

"Don't you remember...?"

"Not really." She got the distinct impression he was lying to her.

"Are you in any pain?" she asked him softly, deciding she'd speak to him again in the morning about what happened.

"My head hurts... and my shoulders."

"How bad is your head? Do we need to get you to the hospital?"

"It's okay, baby girl. Just a dull ache, promise."

"Why don't the two of you go upstairs?" Whitney suggested. "It's getting late anyway."

"Huh?" Joey said, looking confused.

"Tyler said it was okay for us to stay here tonight, rather than go home." Lauren told him softly.

"What about your dad?" he whispered.

"He came over here after Tyler and the guys found you in the square. He said you needed to go to the hospital if your head was hurting badly. He asked Tyler if we could stay here."

"'kay." He whispered.

"Come on, baby... let's get you upstairs." She said softly, helping him sit up and then get to his feet.

"I'll show you up to the room." Whitney said.

"Thanks for your support tonight, guys." Lauren said to her friends, "And thanks for finding Joey..." she added. The two lovers walked up the stairs behind Whitney, Joey was leaning on Lauren quite heavily, his leg aching more than it usually did. Whitney opened the door and they walked into the room. "Thanks Whit." Lauren said softly.

Whitney hugged her, "I'm sorry you're leaving, Lauren. I'm going to really miss you."

"I'll be back." Lauren promised her.

TBC

A/N: So they now know everything. And Joey's been found. Another sweet moment between Lauren and her dad. So there will be another chapter later today... What a treat! I think you'll like it... :-)

Oh and can I just say that Jacqueline looks fucking hot in the magazine in The Sun today and she came across as a really nice and down to earth person too... I think I may have a bit of a girl crush on her...