The next couple of months passed and Lauren started to feel worse. She had a vague idea what was wrong with her but she hadn't been to the doctors to have it officially diagnosed. She had googled it though and she had a few of the symptoms. Mood swings, loss of libido, fatigue, dizziness, really light periods and headaches. Lauren knew that she had to face up to things, that she was going through the change, and both her and Joey were working hard and were both tired when they came home from work and so their sex life had gone from healthy to non-existent, which if Lauren was honest she didn't really mind, she hadn't been in the mood for over a month anyway.

The fatigue made her tired before she even got out of bed in the mornings. She found that she was now prone to dozing off in the middle of the day, which she had done today at her desk in her office in the Gallery. She had woken up at 5:00pm and realised that she was late to pick the kids up from their school trip. She groaned and picked up her phone and found she had six missed calls. Five from Joey and one from Hope. She gathered up her things and locked up the gallery and made her way home.

She let herself into the house and saw a very unimpressed Joey waiting for her and her four kids sitting round the table with their dinner.

'I'm sorry' Lauren said to him 'I didn't realise the time' she told him deciding to miss out the part where she had slept for a little over four hours.

'That's just great Lauren' Joey said to her tossing the dish cloth on the breakfast bar with a frown 'You couldn't answer your phone?'

'I had it on silent. I was just trying to concentrate on the new artwork that Dean Grants sent over to me. I'm sorry Joey'

'I had a really important meeting Lauren that I got called out of because our children were left waiting for their mother to pick them up. That's really irresponsible Lauren'

'See this wouldn't have happened if I was allowed to have the car' Hope piped up from the table 'I could have picked everyone up' she said

'Well maybe if you hadn't have swiped the keys when I said no you could have had the car' Lauren replied testily

'You know Hope is right' Joey told her 'This wouldn't have happened if she had the car' he looked at Lauren and then he turned and looked at his eldest daughter 'you know what honey, the grounding is over, the punishment is finished' he said to her 'your mother will give you back your phone and you can share the car again but only when your mother isn't using it!' he told her firmly 'If your mother says no then you leave the car here' he told her

'Yes daddy' Hope said with a squeal and she leapt up and she hugged him tightly 'I love you daddy. So does this mean I can take the car and go out tonight?' she asked him

'Yes' Joey told her with a nod looking at Lauren, she grinned at him and she kissed his cheek. She gave a Lauren a "screw you" look as she poked her tongue out at her and before she went back to the table.

Lauren glared at Joey, furious at him for undermining her punishments again and for chastising her like a child in front of the kids.

'Well I'm here now why you don't get back to your meeting?' Lauren frowned at him

'It's a little late for that now' Joey frowned at her and he took a deep breath and he let it out slowly 'look I've made dinner, why don't you sit down and I'll fix you a plate'

'I'm not hungry' Lauren told him and she started to walk to the stairs

'Mum your car keys' Hope sprung up and she held her hand out for them. Lauren begrudgingly got them out of her pocket and dropped them on the floor. Hope blinked at her as Lauren disappeared through the door.

'Lauren! Hey Lauren!' Joey called after her. Lauren put her purse on the bed and she sat down with a sigh 'That was really immature Lauren' he told her

'Well I thought since you were treating me like one of the kids I'd starting acting like one' she looked up at him, Joey noticed she was rubbing her forehead again

'Have you got another headache?' she asked her in concern 'Maybe you should go to the doctors'

'You know what would help me not have a headache? You? Undermining me yet again Joey!' Lauren snapped at him 'She had two more months of being grounded of being punished and you revoke it. You always want to be the fucking good guy all the time and leave me to be the bad guy. And since when was your businesses more important than mine?' she frowned at him 'if it wasn't for me you wouldn't have even have had the money to be able to start up in the first place' Joey flinched as though she had slapped him, but Lauren wasn't finished 'and when was the last time that you were actually home before 8:30pm Joey? When was the last time that you picked the kids up from school or took them to their friends, when was the last time you went grocery shopping? Or took your own fucking dry cleaning to the laundrette hey? When was the last time other than tonight that you have actually cooked dinner for the kids, or for me?'

'Lauren…babe..' Joey said reaching for her

'Don't! Don't touch me!' she snapped at him, slapping his hands away from her, she walked into their bathroom and she closed the door and locked it behind her.

'Lauren please open the door babe' he asked her

'Fuck off Joey!' she yelled through the door.

Joey sighed knowing that Lauren would stay locked in the bathroom for as long as he tried to coax her out 'Look when you've calmed down come down stairs and have some dinner. I'll save you some' he told her softly she heard him leave the room and close the bedroom door behind him.

He re-joined the kids downstairs, 'Isn't mum coming down?' Connor asked him

'No, she had a headache, she'll be down later' Joey said to him 'Eat your dinner' he told him. 'Sophie, James it's your turn to do the dishes tonight'

'It's Hope's turn' Sophie said 'we did it last night because Hope said she couldn't be arsed and mum wasn't feeling well'

'All right then Hope you can clean up tonight'

'Oh but daddy I wanted to go out'

'And you can, after you have cleaned up' he told her and he walked out of the room and poured himself a scotch. Joey's phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID and rejected the call, he made a quick call to Jamie to tell him that he was in charge again for a few days, he heard a text come in as he spoke to James, when the call ended he turned off the phone without reading the text message.

Lauren took a shower and she pulled on a pair of Joey's boxer shorts and one of his old t-shirts that she used to sleep in and she climbed into the bed. She heard the kids come to bed one by one. All except Hope. No doubt she would come home in the early hours of the morning, pushing her boundaries yet again.

Lauren heard Joey come into the room a few minutes later. She felt the bed dip as he sat down on it briefly, obviously taking his clothes off. He went into the shower and cleaned his teeth and then came back into the bedroom, Lauren felt in get in behind her

'Are you asleep babe?' he asked her softly, she didn't reply. She knew that Joey knew that she was awake. 'I'm sorry' he said softly 'I love you' he whispered to her in the darkness. Lauren was too angry to reply to him. He thought that "I'm sorry" and "I love you" fixed everything, and yes, usually they did. But not this time. Lauren waited until Joey was asleep and she climbed out of bed and crept downstairs. She made herself a toasted cheese sandwich and she took it into the lounge and she sat down on the sofa to eat it. She thought about the leaflets that she had picked up from the chemist to read about the menopause, she was at the time of her life when she would no longer be able to bear children. She was 39 years old and she was going through the change. She cried for the babies that she lost, for the babies that would now never have. She curled up on the sofa and for the first time in a long time she cried herself to sleep.

Hope frowned when she saw a faint light in the lounge. She crept into the house quietly, expecting to find that her mother had waited up for her to give her mouthful for breaking curfew and impose another punishment on her. Instead when she peered into the lounge on her way passed she saw that her mother was asleep. She frowned. She knew that her parents had argued tonight. But never before had they not slept in the same bed. She licked her lips and she crept further into the room and she pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and she draped it over her mother carefully so that she didn't wake her. Even though she was asleep, Hope could see that she had been crying. She swallowed and kissed her mother on the forehead and went up to her room.

The next morning Lauren woke up with a groan, she felt awful and stiff. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was 10:00am. She leapt off the sofa and wave of dizziness came over her, she sat back down and took slow deep breaths, putting her head between her knees. When the light headedness had gone she got up and she walked into the kitchen. There was a note on the bar waiting for her.

"Lauren,

Kids are at school, I've gone grocery shopping.

Be back soon.

Love Joey xx"

She screwed up the note and left it on the bar and set about making herself some coffee. She took it up to the bedroom and she took a shower and dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-strap t-shirt. She changed the sheets on the bed and gathered up the washing from the rest of the house and went down stairs and sorted out a load for the washing machine, she put it on and poured another coffee, grabbed a bin bag and went upstairs to clean out the rubbish in the bins upstairs.

When Joey came back downstairs he found his wife sitting at the breakfast with a coffee cup and a white stick like object in front of her.

He carried the groceries in 'I missed you last night' he told her softly, 'this morning when I woke up and you weren't there'

'I slept on the sofa' she replied

'I know that, I saw you there when I got up. The kids had questions'

'Well I'm sure you answered them all fully' Lauren replied and she took a sip of her coffee 'I take it Hope has the car?'

'Yes' Joey said 'Did you need it today?'

'Doesn't matter if I did or didn't now does it, it's not here for me to use'

'Look I've been thinking about that, maybe we can get Hope a car of her own?' Joey asked her 'For her birthday?' he asked her

Lauren sighed and rolled her eyes 'And what kind of message does that give her Joey?' Lauren asked him with a frown 'that she plays up and I punish her and daddy buys her a car'

Joey sighed and he went back outside to get some more bags. A bouquet of pink carnations was put down on the bar in front of her 'I'm sorry' Joey said to her softly 'I shouldn't have undermined you with Hope and I shouldn't have yelled at you in front of the kids' he said to her 'I'll tell Hope the punishment is reinstated'

'Oh yeah great give her another reason to hate me' Lauren said 'What do you think she is going to say when you tell her that you've changed your mind about the punishment? She's immediately going to think that you and I have had a conversation and I've put my foot down again. And it's little too late to take it back now don't you think?'

'Babe, I'm trying here' he told her, he sat down beside her and he saw the pregnancy test in front of her. He licked his lips and he frowned. 'What's this? Are you pregnant?'

'No for that to happen we would actually need to have sex' Lauren said with a sigh 'I found it in one of the girl's bin' she told him

'What? Whose?' Joey exclaimed

'Sophie's'

'It is negative?' Joey picked it up too look at it 'What does half a blue line mean?'

'It means that our 15 year old daughter could be pregnant' Lauren said and she picked up her coffee and took a sip

'Sophie?' Joey frowned 'What do we do? I didn't know she had a boyfriend'

'Shaun Silvers, he's in the year above her at school' Lauren replied

'And they're having sex?'

'Apparently' Lauren looked at the stick in Joey's hand she felt her eyes fill with tears and she inexplicably burst into tears. 'You know I thought this would happen to Hope not Sophie. Sophie was always the one that I never would have thought would have got herself into this situation. She's not irresponsible'

'Don't cry' Joey said softly

'It's not fair!' Lauren said 'she's 15 years old. Do you think she wants to have this baby? Do you think she's ready to have this baby? Do you think she can cope with the responsibility of taking care of a baby?' Lauren frowned and dashed her tears angrily away with the back of her hand. 'All the times we tried to have more and we couldn't...' she trailed off

'Lauren….hey come here' he tried to pull her into his arms but she wouldn't let him, she got off the stool and moved to the groceries and she started to unpack them, blindly putting them away. Joey watched her 'Lauren, I know that we wanted more children, but we both made the decision not to try again' he told her softly 'Not after Scott…babe if you want to try again…'

'I can't' she told him 'it's too late'

'Of course it isn't' Joey said to her 'Lots of women your age have babies. If it's that what you want then we can try' he told her and he stood up and walked over to her 'Babe, stop. Stop. Look at me' he told her and she sighed and she turned to look at him 'Do you want to try to have another baby?' he asked her softly, she nodded her head and Joey cupped her face in his hands and he wiped her tears away with his thumbs, 'then we try' he said softly

'We can't' Lauren shook her head

'Yes we can' Joey said 'I want to try to have another baby too' he said to her 'Just imagine having a tiny little baby to hold, to take care off' he said 'To go through all that again, I remember how incredibly sexy you looked when you were pregnant' he told her with a smile, he was shocked when Lauren cried harder

'You want to have another baby?' she asked him

He nodded 'Yes, isn't that what we're talking about?' he asked her

'Well if you want to have another baby then you'll have to find someone else to do it with because I can't' she told him

Joey frowned at her 'I don't understand I thought you just said that you wanted to have another baby, I thought we just agreed that we were going to try' he told her

'It's too late to try Joey' Lauren frowned at him 'I can't have any more children. I'm going through the menopause' she told him and she ran out of the room crying. He heard the bedroom door slam as he stared after her.