Chapter 2- Dancing in the Moonlight

Laurens POV

Joey and I had been engaged for three weeks now, and we'd decided today we were going to tell our friends, we'd also be able to tell them what the babies were. We'd got out 5 month scan later which we'd been eagerly awaiting for weeks. Joe and I had both decided we wanted to know what we were having, partly because we wanted to be able to get the nursery ready and partly because I was getting really irritated at the fact they kept getting referred to as Baby A and Baby B. At least this way we could use "he or she" depending. I knew Joe was routing for one boy at least, Zoe wasn't exactly fond of a football or Boxing gloves much to Joey's disappointment. So a boy would just be the icing on the cake, but as long as they were healthy and growing , which by the size of me they definitely were, we would be happy with whatever we were having.

"Daddy said be quick" Zoe came bounding into the bedroom and clambered into the chair in the corner. She smiled and watched me in fascination as I finished getting ready. I could see her watching me through the mirror, her head tilting every so often so she could get a better look and study my actions as I plaited my hair. She was such a good kid, I noticed now she was talking more, she was coming into her own. She'd got a few little habits, which I knew she'd got from me, especially the sighing and the pout. Joey definitely wasn't happy about those two, He said she was cute enough and didn't need encouraging with my habits he could fall for too. I guess we made a pretty useful team when it came to ganging up on Joey- not that he ever really needed much convincing.

"All done" I turned round and picked up my bag. Zoe running off in front of me "Don't run down the stairs baby, I don't want you to fall" she nodded and slowed down holing tight to the hand rail as she climbed down them step by step. Joey was standing waiting for us as we reached the bottom. "She's just sat for the last 5 minutes watching me get dressed"

"Ye she does it all the time, I've noticed her, she copies you later on, acts out what you're doing cute little weirdo" he said nonchalantly, I slapped him across the arm frowning and locked the front door.

"Joey you can't say that, you'll make he think she's not normal" he looked at me and raised his eyebrow as he stepped into the driver's side. Zoe had mastered her own seatbelt now and because she no longer needed a proper car seat, only a booster seat, she felt even more independent.

"Buckled in?" I turned and asked her stretching the seatbelt over my rather burgeoning bump.

"Yep" She nodded and turned to look out the window.

"You only say watching people isn't weird because you do it, it's where she's got it from, you always do it, and you don't realise you do" Joey smirked as he drove off. It was some time before I tuned into what Joey was saying again, obviously I'd just proved him exactly right. I'd completely got lost just looking at the passers-by. "Lauren?"

"Hmmm?" I turned to look at him, hands resting on the babies.

"We're here, you kinda zoned out, everything alright?"

"Mummy you funny sotime" Zoe giggled from the back and started to climb from her seat.

"Hey Mrs your meant to be on my side" I teased as Joey helped me down from the car. A Land Rover always seemed a brilliant idea before, it was spacious, good to drive and it was cost effective. But now, it seemed quite the opposite. When you are 5 months pregnant, with twins, are the size of a house already and have to climb down from said Land Rover, it seemed like a very bad idea. Joey was literally lifting me out every time. It appeared pregnancy proved a disadvantage when it came to manoeuvring. "Ye I'm fine, guess I do like to watch people" I said smirking.

"I'm always right" He took Zoe's hand as we walked towards the hospital.

"Granddad!" Zoe ran towards my dad jumping into his arms as she reached him. He lifted her spinning her around and then holding her on his hip. Dad had said he'd meet us at the hospital before the scan, he was having Zoe for the weekend so me and Joey got some alone time and Zoe finally got to go to the Zoo she had been desperate to go to since discovering 64 zoo lane on the TV.

"Hi there little Lady, are you ready to go see the animals?"

"Ye…lions and pengins and nelephants" she screamed excitedly wrapping her arms around him. I loved to see them like this. He didn't care she wasn't biologically mine, he really didn't. He loved her like she was and that's all that mattered to Zoe. She loved calling him Granddad and made a point of telling everyone about him.

"Right we best be off then…make a full day of it" He placed Zoe on the floor and held to her hand before turning to Me and Joey. "Drop her back Sunday morning?"

"Ye thanks Dad...right Madam Give me hug please" As always she was willing to comply and hugged me tightly giving me a few kisses too before doing the same with Joey. Joey passed her backpack of things across and smiled reaching for my hand "Have fun with Granddad" They walked off towards Dads car but Zoe rand back over a big grin on her face.

She stood on her tiptoes and put her hand to my stomach "Bye Bye" her whispering voice so soft and sweet. Her big brown eyes looked up to mine "Forgot the babies…bye Mummy" she ran back to Dad waving at us "Bye Daddy". Joey chuckled behind me and waved back to her, kissing my cheek and pulling me into the hospital.

"Stop it" I felt his hand drop to my knee applying slight pressure to stop me from Jigging it.

"Stop what?" I questioned

"Your knee it's bouncing like a pogo stick babe" I fidgeted nervously and looked towards Joey. He was like an air of calm and I was a bloody nervous wreck, I had no idea why, we'd had a scan a month ago and I didn't feel like this. Maybe It was a little excitement. "Everything will be fine" he said as if it was a definite. I was about to respond when the door opened and my Nurse walked in.

"Miss Branning, nice to see you again… How are you feeling?" my nurse was a lovely woman, very motherly and really reassuring. She'd noticed the first time around how nervous I was and had gone out of her way to ease my mind.

"Ye we're doing really good, they're moving about quite a bit now, no huge kicks but lots of movement, Baby A I think is more active" I was sure A was lying on the left so, they were definitely kicking more than B.

"Well let's get you on the bed and we can take a look"... With help from Joey I managed to get onto the bed. "Getting harder ay?" the nurse smiled.

"You have no idea" I laughed, Joey held my hand tightly at the side of the bed as the nurse gelled my stomach and began to prod about with the scanner. I released a long breathe as the welcome sound of the heartbeats filled my ears. She remained quite a while jotting things down and pressing about on the computer. " Is everything Ok?" I asked a little nervously

"Absolutely perfect." She replied turning the screen to face us. "Baby A is still slightly bigger but is exactly what we expect with Twins, their perfectly happing in there Lauren. Now you mentioned last time that you wanted to know what they were?"

I looked at Joey who nodded and smiled, assuring me he still wanted to find out "Yes please… if you can see that is…"

"Lets take a look shall we?" She moved the scanner "Well it looks like Baby B- the smaller one Is A little girl and Baby A is a little Boy...congratulations" she pointed to the screen indicating the anatomy of each baby.

"Baby" Joey said through a laugh "One of each, ay?" I nodded as the nurse printed a few pictures off. "Are they both ok and Lauren …no problems ?" Joey was asking the questions now, knowing I was pretty much absorbed in the image on the screen.

"Like I said-perfect. Your measuring at 22 weeks Lauren which makes your due date about November 20th but with twins we'll expect you to be early anyway… so your all done here, as always just book your next appointment at the desk and if there's any problems in the meantime you give me a call"

As soon as we were out the door joey somehow, lifted my off my feet and spun me around. "This is one happy Daddy" he smiled placing me down. "A boy and a girl" his hands drifted to my bump resting gently either side of my belly button "Nice work baby". I giggled at him and kissed his very desirable lips. "Hmmm back to the Square? Spread the news"

"can we go shopping first ?" I questioned sweetly Joey groaning as he helped me into the car. I was in desperate need for some more clothes, it was getting warmer and I still had another month at least of warm weather, so I needed clothes. "Please?" I pouted fluttering my lashes several times.

Joey pulled at my lip with his thumb "Don't do that…it makes me want to do things that would be totally inappropriate to do in a car with a pregnant woman" I did it again, completely dismissing his previous comment, I wouldn't have minded him doing whatever he had planned. "Yes fine, we can go shopping, but we're back home by 4 that gives you 2 hours"

"Deal" I said sealing it with a kiss. Joey shook his head and drove off towards the shopping centre up west.

I shifted in Joey's arms as we lay on the sofa after shopping. I had been wrong in thinking I could handle shopping in the way I used to. After an hour I had to admit defeat and tell joey I wanted to go. Obviously he was extremely smug all the way home, but soon shut up when I'd shown him my new purchases, in the form of new underwear. I was surprised you could actually get maternity ware that was remotely sexy, I wasn't completely strung on it but Joey seemed to appreciate it and had been more than willing to show me how much when we got home, if you get my drift.

"Joey, can you reach my mobile?" He leaned across to the table passing my phone over. "It's from Whit… She and Ty are having a BBQ at theirs; she wants to know if we want to go? " I was so up for a BBQ and I knew Joey had the weekend off, it sound like the perfect plan.

"I'm up for that baby…what time?" I quickly sent a message back to her and waited for a reply.

"She said any time after 6"

"Well it's half 5 now…we best get ready"

By the time we were ready and walking to Whit's it was about 7ish, it was still light out and rather warm too, which was both a pain and a god send, the heat meant I didn't have to layer up but it also mean I was very uncomfortable. As we neared, you could hear everyone in the garden: music thudding, the general hum of chit chat and laughing. It made me smile at how lucky we were to have things like this around us. We made our way around to the back gate opening it to see the party in full swing.

"Lauren!" Whit called over "Oh my god look at you… you look amazing babe" she hugged me tight as Ty came over.

"Alright Joe…Wow Lauren Your huge!" I was slightly offended but couldn't really say anything; he was literally stating the truth. I was huge, but I was now in nice new clothes that fitted and showed off my bump perfectly so I didn't mind as much. I knew it meant my babies were growing well too.

"At least I can blame mine on Babies…you have no excuse" I said putting his stomach. Joey and Whitney both Laughed "Come on I need food…babies are hungry"

Tyler and Joey met up with Fats, Jay and peter, it was good to see how well Joe had integrated into their group. I looked around and saw him showing them the scan from today, his face washed with Pride as the lads Man hugged him and shook his hand. I watched on, feeling content and relaxed- I was a lucky girl to have him. "So how are the twins doing?" Whitney came to sit next to Me, Poppy and Abi, Dexter and Lola having mysteriously disappeared, one guess as to what they'd be doing.

"Our son and Daughter are doing perfectly" They all gasped and swarmed me, hugging me tightly and screeching. "Ok guys can't breathe" I giggled handing them a scan to look at from my bag.

"Are you exited …I bet your excited, I'd be excited…you've got to be excited" Poppy babbled in her usual ditzy manor. There was a cough behind me and I moved to see Joey smirking, Perfect timing, I was just about to be bombarded with Baby everything.

"Can I steal my beautiful fiancée away from you all for a bit?" he asked the girls who all swooned at him. He helped me stand and lead me to the other end of the garden where people were dancing. He started to sway me gently. "Dance with me?" he whispered against my ear as he kissed me.

"I thought you'd never ask" I took my hands and looped them around his neck, his hands settling on my waist as we swayed to the music.

"You look beautiful baby…I definitely approve of these new clothes" I smiled and leaned my head onto his chest. This was the perfect ending to a more then perfect day.

Thank you everyone for tuning in for the sequel :) its time for their journey to start... see you tomorrow :) xx