Hope was the first one up in the house. She pulled on her robe and she walked downstairs and she smiled when she saw her parents wrapped in each other's arms on the floor by the fire. She went into the kitchen and she made her brothers and sisters lunch and then she got the breakfast dishes ready, she put on some coffee for her parents and made some pancake mix for breakfast for her and her parents.

She heard Lauren wake up and she climbed up out of the makeshift bed from the floor and pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa, wrapping it around herself and she walked into the kitchen, she was surprised that Hope was already up.

'Morning mum how do you feel?' she asked her as she stopped what she was doing to look at her

'A little better' Lauren nodded, which was true she did feel better 'Dad and I talked last night and we cleared a few things up'

'That's good. Do you want some coffee?'

'Please' Lauren nodded as she slid onto a stool, Hope made her a coffee and passed it to her.

'I heard you and dad talking last night' she said to her 'I wasn't eavesdropping or anything I was thirsty and I came down to get some milk and I heard you and dad….'

'What did you hear?' Lauren asked her as Hope poured herself a coffee and sat down next to Lauren

'I heard you tell dad that you were scared, that you didn't want to leave him or us' Hope said and she licked her lips 'The tumour…it's worse than you told us isn't it?' she asked her 'Please mum I want to know, I promise that I won't tell the others' she told her 'I want to help support you and dad' Lauren looked at her and she sighed and she nodded her head

'The truth is that we don't know' Lauren told her softly 'I can't have the normal scans and tests because it's too dangerous for the baby. We don't know how big it is or how fast it's growing or even how slowly. There's a lot of things that we don't know' she told her eldest daughter. 'Your father and I have a lot of decisions to make'

'What kind of decisions' Hope asked her

'Normally, I would have the scans and they would do surgery to remove the tumour or I could have some medication to help with the symptoms. But I can't have surgery whilst I'm pregnant and the medication could be harmful to the baby, it could cause me to miscarry or the baby to be still born or not develop properly and she could be disabled or brain damaged' Lauren explained to her

'So all the while that you are pregnant this thing is just growing inside of you?'

'Yes' Lauren nodded 'and it means that my symptoms could get worse or I could develop new ones'

'What kind of new ones?'

'To be honest I wasn't really listening when the doctors told me, I was kinds of reeling from the news that I was 5 months pregnant with a brain tumour' Lauren shrugged casually 'It was kind of a lot to take in' she said 'Dad and I are going back to the hospital to talk through the options and then we will make out decisions and go from there'

Hope nodded 'So this tumour it makes you think what?'

'It's on my pituitary gland which is someone at the base of my brain at the back, it controls hormone levels'

'So is that why you didn't know that you are pregnant?' she asked her

'Yes, I haven't had any symptoms, no morning sickness, no cravings. I'm still having periods, although they are light. I thought I was going through the menopause' she told her daughter 'in some respects I wish that I was' she told her softly

Hope reached over and she took her mums hand in hers 'If you need to talk to me…..I know I'm only 17 but I can listen'

'I know you can… there is something that you can do for me though?'

'What's that?'

'Talk to Sophie'

'Sophie why?'

'She took your advice about sex' Lauren told her, Hope's face paled 'She thought she was pregnant. She thought that she would be cool to be grown up like you' she told her 'The others look up to you Hope, they watch the way that you act, the way that you talk, dress and they want to be like you' Lauren told her 'They will come to you for advice and to talk and you need to tell them the truth not spin a mouthful of lies about how much sex you're having and how great it is' she said 'And then they think well if Hope's doing it I'll do it too'

'I'm sorry' Hope said 'She kept asking me about sex and wouldn't shut up about it, I think dickhead was pressuring her' she told her 'I told her to talk to you about it but she wouldn't' she told her

'Are you having sex Hope? Please tell me if you are having a lot of sex and loving it that you are at least being careful. The last think you want to be at your age is pregnant. Trust me on this one'

Hope blushed bright red. 'I'm not having sex' she told her mother, both of them were unaware that Joey was awake.

'Good' Lauren said to her 'There's no rush to have sex Hope, Sex complicates things especially when you are not ready for it' she told her 'And it's not a bad a thing not to have had sex at 17, I wish that I would have waited before I had sex'

'Was dad your first?'

'No' Lauren shook her head 'He wasn't even my seventh or eighth' she said 'Or my fourteenth or fifteenth'

'How many people did you have sex with before dad?'

'A lot' Lauren told her softly 'More than I care to remember and not all of those were the most pleasant of times. But when you find the right person, sex with them is amazing' Lauren told her 'So it's okay to wait' Lauren told her softly 'There's no rush'

Hope nodded 'There's no one that I want to have sex with anyway' she told her truthfully 'maybe when I'm older ….how do you know when you found the right person?'

'You just do' Lauren said 'It's hard to explain but you'll just know'

'Did you know with dad?'

'Yes' Lauren nodded and she smiled 'and I fancied him like crazy' she told her daughter 'He was "off limits" so that just made me want him more'

'What do you mean?'

'He was dating my best friend Lucy' Lauren said 'And there were other reasons that we couldn't…shouldn't be together. It was complicated'

'Complicated, because you're cousins?' Hope asked her

Lauren narrowed her eyes at her daughter 'Just exactly how much did you hear when you weren't purposefully eavesdropping?' Lauren asked her, Hope blushed again

'Are you and daddy cousins?'

'Yes' Lauren nodded 'his father was my dad's brother' she explained to her

'So … did you parents try to stop you being together?' Hope asked her

Lauren licked her lips 'At first some of them did' Lauren nodded 'And we fought our feelings for a while until we couldn't do it anymore' she said and she smiled as she remembered 'I'd already fallen in love with him and all he'd done was kiss me twice'

'I seem to recall that I only kissed you once' Joey piped up from the lounge 'and you kissed me first'

'What is it with this family and eavesdropping on private conversations?' Lauren teased as Joey got up

'You kissed daddy first?'

'Yeah I did' Lauren nodded 'but only because I was drunk'

'Thanks' Joey said as he poured himself a coffee

'I meant my courage was borrowed'

'And what did you do?' Hope asked Joey

'Oh he took off' Lauren said 'me kissing him made him leave Walford'

'And then dad came back and kissed you and then what happened?' Hope asked

'He took off again' Lauren said to her 'once again leaving Walford' Lauren replied 'and then when he came back after his father died, we had a reunion at Christmas and he said that he was sorry and wanted to be with me, and then he took off again' she said to Hope

'Your mother is being a drama queen' Joey said as he sat on the stool the other side of Lauren

'Your father is being a dick' Lauren told Hope. Hope looked at them both and she smiled.

'I came to Walford a few days …maybe a week or two after I spent some time with mum and Lauren and I eventually got together'

'Eventually?'

'I made him work' Lauren grinned 'But we did eventually get together'

'What happened with everyone?' Hope asked them

'I think that's enough of the prying into your parent's early relationship' Lauren told her with a smile

'But you will tell me .. I want to know'

'There was a lot of sex' Joey said causing Hope to blush

'Eeeew!' Hope grimaced 'I don't need to hear that part' she scolded them both

'We have actually had sex more than four times' Joey continued to tease his daughter 'we're probably in treble figures if not four figures' he looked at Lauren for confirmation.

'Yeah I haven't been keeping score babe' Lauren said softly shaking her head 'you're embarrassing your first born'

Joey grinned 'I know' he laughed

'Do you still fancy dad?' Hope asked Lauren

Lauren turns to look at Joey and she smiled at him 'Yeah I do' she nodded, Joey smiled at her

'And I fancy your mother like crazy' Joey replied and he moved forward and he kissed Lauren softly

'Please do you mind I haven't eaten my breakfast yet' Hope scolded them teasingly

'You started it!' Lauren said, they heard the other kids moving around upstairs.

'Not a word to the others Hope' Lauren reminded her

'Promise' Hope said

'You can take my car, I'm not going to be needing it for a while'

'But what about my punishments?' Hope asked her

'You're still grounded' Joey said 'You can have your phone back though'

'Thanks, I'm going to be better, and I will talk to Sophie' she looked at Lauren

'Thank you' Lauren said with a smile

'Right pancakes for breakfast' she told them both

'Yummy' Joey and Lauren said together

Hope giggled as she went to the stove.

AN: Lauren and Hope had a mother and daughter talk and she told Hope the truth about her condition, or as much as she knows anyway.

Thanks for all your reviews

R&R as always