'Well?' Hope said looking at him expectantly 'We're all here'

Joey took a breath and he let it out slowly 'Listen guys. Mum and I have had a fight' he told them as Sarah walked into the room

'Sorry….'

'No mum you better stay too' Joey said to her

'Lauren and I had a fight, a pretty big fight' he said to her and then he looked at his children's faces 'and we've decided that it's best if I move out for a while' he told them all

'No daddy!' Hope frowned at him 'you just apologise and she'll let you back in'

'I have apologised but your mum is upset and you all know how stubborn she can be' Joey said 'and right now she wants her space'

'But what about you what do you want?' she asked him 'Do you want to leave?'

'No of course I don't darling' he told them 'but that's what your mother wants and I need to respect that'

'It's your home too' Hope frowned 'she has no right to throw you out'

'Why did she throw you out?' Connor asked him

'That's between me and your mother' he told him 'just… give your mum support and help her out around the house all right?' he asked them all and he looked at Hope 'and do not give her a hard time. She's still not feeling well'

'Yeah well I'm not going back, I'm staying here with you'

'Hope, please do as I tell you' he told her 'She needs all of you'

'What about you?'

'Hope I'll be fine' he said and he looked at his mother 'When Lauren's calmed down she'll want to talk'

'All right kids, you heard what your dad said' Sarah told them 'Go on into the kitchen, get yourselves something to eat'

One by one the kids filed out and Sarah shut the lounge door behind him 'What happened?'

'Something and nothing' Joey told her 'I just told her that I was seeing someone else, a woman I met called Hannah, a drinks rep I met through the club, she's just a friend mum, nothing has happened between us, I told Lauren that nothing had happened between us but she freaked out' he told her 'I didn't do anything wrong and she's acting like I've been having an affair'

'How long have you been seeing her?'

'About four months' Joey said 'Lauren caught me coming back from seeing her'

'She didn't know that you had arranged to see her?'

'No, she didn't know about her' Joey said

'Why didn't you tell her?' Sarah frowned 'If there's nothing going on between you?'

'I don't know' he shook his head 'Hannah's made it clear that she wants more and I made it clear that I was happily married to Lauren…well I was'

'Joey, if there was nothing to hide you wouldn't have hidden it from Lauren. Do you have feelings for this other woman?'

'Yes' Joey nodded 'I do'

'And did you happen to tell Lauren that?'

'Yes, I was being honest with her' he replied and he looked at his wedding ring 'She asked me to stop seeing her and I told her I wouldn't'

Sarah took a deep breath 'Do you love Lauren?'

'Of course I do' Joey looked at her

'Are you still in love with her?'

'Yes' Joey nodded his head 'I would do anything for her. You know that, she knows that'

Sarah nodded 'Anything except to stop seeing the woman you have feelings for' Sarah said to him 'No wonder she's kicked you out, I would have done the same'

'What? Why?'

'Because you want to have your cake and eat it Joey' she told him 'Do you remember the part in your wedding vows where you promised to forsake all others?'

Joey frowned 'She's just a friend, I have fun with her, she makes me laugh and she makes me feel ….special'

'And Lauren doesn't?' she asked him 'Your wife doesn't'

'Of course she does, but it's different, new' he told her as he licked his lips

'Do you remember how you felt when you thought you had lost Lauren?' she asked him 'Hoe you felt as though your whole world had crumbled around your ears?'

'Yes of course I do' he told her

'Then you have an idea about how Lauren is feeling right now' she told him 'I'm not going to tell you what to do Joey, but you need to have a good long hard think about what it is that you want. Because right now, I'm not convinced that it's Lauren' she told him

Joey frowned at her 'Of course I want Lauren'

'Yeah? Then prove it' Sarah said with a sigh, 'Put yourself in her shoes. How would you be feeling right now if she had told you that she had been seeing another man behind your back and she had feelings for him?' she frowned at him 'You know that you wouldn't like it. You know that you would tell her to stop seeing him' she licked her lips 'you said that she wasn't feeling well?'

'She thinks she's going through the menopause' Joey told her

'At 39? That's highly unlikely' Sarah said to him 'has she been to the doctors?'

'She won't go' Joey said to her 'I've tried to get her to but she's too stubborn'

'What symptoms has she got?'

'She's been getting really bad headaches, she's having severe mood swings' Joey told her 'She's always tired. Can fall asleep at the drop of the hat but when she wakes up she's still tired. She's tearful most of the time, she's lost her appetite'

'Is she still having periods?'

'Yes but she says that they are light' he looked at his mother and saw her frowning 'What? What are you thinking?'

'And then you drop this on top of her?' Sarah frowned at him 'No wonder she doesn't want anything to do with you' she shook her head at him and she got up and left the room.

Lauren looked at herself in the mirror, she looked terrible. She showered and she dressed and she put on a little bit of makeup, she got into her car and she drove to Walford. She parked outside her parent's house, she sat in the car and she took a deep breath letting it out slowly. She checked her reflection in the mirror and then got out of the car and went in search of Tyler.

She couldn't find Tyler so went into the Vic and she saw Lucy and Peter. She brought a coke and carried t over to their table

'Do you mind if I join you?' she asked them

'Of course not' Peter said and Lucy shook her head. Lauren sat down and she took a sip of her coke and Lucy looked at her

'Are you okay?' she asked her

'No not really' she said shaking her head

'Do you want to talk about it?'

'To be honest I wouldn't know where to start' she told Lucy 'Listen, I know this is coming out of the blue, but do you want to go out tonight?' she asked Lucy 'We could go to dinner, or to the cocktail bar we used to go to?'

'Yeah I'd like that' Lucy nodded with a smile 'How about we go to the cocktail bar? They serve food there now'

Lauren nodded 'Okay great say about 8:00pm?' she asked

'8:00pm sounds great, do you want meet there?'

'Yeah' Lauren nodded 'So come on tell me what's happening in your lives?' she said

AN: Sarah told Joey a few home truths. How will he react?

Why does Lauren want to have dinner with Lucy? How will Joey react when he finds out?

More later

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