19th May 2013. Another short chapter... but I quite like it. Enjoy!

Chapter 57.

Lauren was in their car a couple of weeks later. Joey was taking her over to Walford before going to a meeting with a supplier; she was spending the day with her dad. Joey's car pulled up outside the car lot and he got out of the car quickly. He opened the passenger door and helped Lauren to her feet. Her movements were much slower now and if you asked her she was still huge. That wasn't quite true though, the baby's growth had definitely slowed down and it was something her doctor was watching closely. In counterpoint to that Lauren's heart had improved in function over the last month so they were both happy about that.

Max came out of the car lot and smiled as he saw his daughter and son-in-law. "Hey babe," he said as he walked up to his daughter and kissed her on the forehead and put his arm around her waist. "You look beautiful today." Lauren rolled her eyes but said nothing, knowing that any remark from her would just be met with a heap more compliments from them both.

"See you later, baby girl." Joey said, squeezing her hand. "Have a nice day with your dad. Call me if you want me to bring anything over when I come back later."

"See you later, Joe." She whispered. Father and daughter watched Joey drive away and then Max led Lauren into the portacabin, helping her sit in the chair. She pulled a sketch pad out of her bag and began to draw in it while her dad worked.

"Did you and Joe get the nursery finished?" he asked after half an hour or so.

"Yeah. We finished it a couple of days ago. You and mum should come over at the weekend and see it."

"We will." Max said. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Lauren shrugged, "A bit unsure, I guess. Worried about the fact bump isn't growing fast enough. Joey keeps telling me it's going to be fine but... I just want it to be healthy and everything when it's born. If it's too small, that may not be the case."

"What does your doctor say?" he asked.

"She's not as worried as I thought she'd be. She says the baby's still growing, it's just a little bit smaller than it should be."

"You've got to remember, babe... you're quite petite yourself. You don't want a huge baby either."

"I know..." Lauren whispered. And he was right, she really didn't want a big baby... in her opinion bump was already big enough. She brushed her hand over bump tenderly as she thought about it.

"What did you decide to paint on the nursery walls in the end?" he asked, reverting back to a safer subject. Little did he realise he'd accidentally just stumbled onto what had been a potential minefield between his daughter and her husband. It was a topic which had led to several heated discussions between Lauren and Joey over a period of several weeks. Lauren said it was brought on by the hormones and Joey had suffered the consequence of one almighty mood swing just over a week ago and after a few hours of silence Lauren had won the 'row'.

She smiled in delight as she now told her dad, "Teddy bears..." she told him.

"And does Joey like it?"

"He does. He agrees it was the better idea. I was not going to paint clowns on the wall. It would give bump nightmares for years." Lauren shifted in the chair.

"You okay?" he asked her in concern.

"Yeah, just Braxton Hicks." She said softly.

"Sure?"

"Yeah... don't worry dad. Joe had a freak out about it when they started last week and insisted on taking me to the clinic to get checked out. He'd pretty much decided I was in labour. It was really embarrassing when the doctor had to send us home again. It's just Braxton Hicks... they'll go soon."

"And all your tests have been fine?"

"Yes, dad." She smiled at him, "No gestational diabetes. No pre-eclampsia. Only thing I have to worry about is my poppy seed sized bladder. Talking of which... I need to go."

Max helped her to her feet and they took a quick(ish) stroll over to the Vic. Kat was good enough to help Lauren through to the toilets and then help her back out afterwards. Max ordered them some food while he waited. As Lauren made her way to their table Ray brought the food out. She began to eat, another thing she couldn't rush or she'd just get heartburn. Really, a lot of this pregnancy thing was starting to be a pain as far as Lauren could tell. She was pretty sure she would only be doing this once in her lifetime. Regardless of how much she loved her husband.

"Wow, luscious Lauren... you're huge." Fatboy said as he walked into the bar.

Lauren knew he hadn't meant anything by his words but they still brought tears to her eyes and her dad passed her his hankie so she could wipe them away. Poppy, who had heard him speak, slapped his arm, "You can't say that, you idiot." She turned to Lauren, "Oh, Lauren... I'm sorry for my stupid boyfriend... he doesn't always think before he speaks." She said, glaring at the guilty party as she hugged the crying girl gently. "How are you feeling?"

"Huge..." Lauren whispered and Fatboy looked even more guilty.

"Max, can I borrow your daughter for a couple of hours?" Poppy asked.

"I think that will be okay, Poppy." He said with a smile.

"You are coming back to Booty with me and I'm going to give you a manicure and pedicure to make up for my stupidly insensitive boyfriend." She told her, "And I'll give you a hand and foot massage too."

"Thanks Pops. That will be great." Lauren said.

"We'll leave you in peace, Lauren. Sorry for earlier." Fatboy said.

"It's fine." Lauren said and the couple walked over to the bar.

"You alright?" Max checked.

"Yeah... just a bit sensitive about my size. I'm not really feeling much like me anymore, you know what I mean? It takes me at least twice as long to do anything and most things I can't do on my own anymore. And when I look at myself..." Her words faded as another bout of tears beckoned... Stupid hormones!

"It's only for a little while longer..." he reminded her gently.

"I know... but that feels like a bloody long time right now."

They ate the rest of their food in silence then Max walked Lauren over to Poppy at the bar. Poppy and Lauren walked slowly over to Booty.

"Sweetheart?" Tanya said in concern as they walked into the salon. "I thought you were with your dad today?"

"She was... My stupid boyfriend made her cry at lunchtime, so I'm giving her a manicure and pedicure to apologise, if that's okay?" Poppy explained.

"Fatboy made you cry?"

"He said I was huge..." Lauren whispered.

"Of course, it's fine, Poppy." Tanya knew what a touchy subject this was for her daughter and hugged her gently. "I'm sure he just meant that you were bigger than the last time he saw you."

"Not helping mum," Lauren said with a watery smile. Lauren sat at the nail bar and Poppy began to massage her hands, then doing a manicure. Twenty minutes (and three toilet breaks) later her hands were done. Lauren shifted uncomfortably in the chair again and spotted her mum watching her. "Just Braxton Hicks, mum. I'm fine."

"I know, darling." She said softly, "Doesn't mean I can't worry about my baby, does it?" she added with a smile.

Poppy moved to Lauren's feet and began to massage them for her. "You have no idea how good that feels, Pops." Lauren moaned. "My feet are killing me these days. Joey has to give me a foot rub every night now or I can't sleep because of the pain." She tells them. "I want to thank you for showing him what to do by the way. He's certainly mastered it now. Not only does it help with the pains in my feet, it actually helps me get to sleep. He brought this book about acupressure and has been reading up on the right points to press. I'm seriously thinking he should insure his hands... they're miracle workers." Tanya and Poppy giggled at her words, seeing her relax in the chair as Poppy continued to manipulate her feet. By the time the pedicure was done, involving a couple more toilet breaks, Lauren was sitting with her eyes closed, almost asleep in the chair. Lauren opened her eyes wearily and found her mum sitting beside her.

"Have you sorted out your antenatal classes yet, Lauren?"

"Yeah. They do them at the clinic. The first one is on Friday."

"And Joey's going to them with you?" Tanya asked.

"Yeah... although I think he's a bit unsure of what they're going to entail."

"What about your birth plan?"

"I've decided to have bump at the clinic... their birthing room looks really nice and my doctor and consultant are sorting out the details if anything goes wrong. I've said I don't want to know about it... as long as they can tell me there's a plan in place, that's enough for me to know. I don't need to know... it'll just stress me out." She smiled at her mum, "Of course, Joe thinks I'm mad not wanting to know. He thinks I should know every detail but to be honest, if something goes wrong, I'm not going to be in any position to control anything, so I'm happy to relinquish control of it now. I trust the doctors to do what is best for me and bump."

"And you've got the rest of your birth plan sorted?"

"Mostly. They've got a birthing pool in there which I think I'd like to try and I'm planning on starting with just gas and air. I've also said I want as natural a birth as I can manage but I'm prepared to change my viewpoint on that at the time. There was one thing though..." She stopped speaking and Tanya looked at her daughter in concern.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, Joe's going to be there with me for the birth but I'd really like it if you were there too, mum. If you want to be, that is?"

"You want me there?" Tanya said softly.

"Yes... please." Lauren whispered.

"I would be delighted to be there, sweetheart." Tanya said as she hugged her daughter.

TBC

A/N: Just a small chapter... a bit of a filler really but I thought there were some sweet moments in there. Back tomorrow...