The Other Branning ~ Eastenders

Carter Surprise

Lee was clearing the glasses from tables in the Vic. He had locked up an hour earlier, he was finding it hard to sleep so thought he would make a start on clearing up. Grace came downstairs, it was three in the morning and Lee still hadn't gone up to bed. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his back. "Ollie's going to be ok, you know? He's safe now. The doctors know what they're doing." She comforted him. Lee turned around, and perched on the table closest to him, he placed his hands on Grace's waist, her arms balanced around his neck.

"I hope so." Lee sighed. "He's so young, he shouldn't have to go through this."

"Ssh, Ollie's a fighter, he's already proved us of that. He's your little brother and your family give him the strength to pull through it. He did it when he was born, and I for one am certain that he can do it again." Grace smiled at him with sympathy. "Let's go visit him tomorrow, I'm sure your parents could do with the company." She suggested.

"Yeah, I'd like that, he's my baby brother, he needs me." Lee admitted as someone started banging on the door. Lee gave Grace a confused look and went to unlock the door, opening it.

A boy of about twenty walked in, he had dark hair that was slightly ginger, and green eyes. He was followed in by another boy, about the same age, with dark, almost black hair and brown eyes. They looked like a couple as they stood close together and held hands, the ginger boy looked familiar to Grace.

"Johnny!" Lee threw his arms around his little brother and hugged him. Grace then realised who he was, and that the other boy was Johnny's boyfriend, Gian Luca. Johnny had been travelling for well over a year, Grace wasn't even sure he knew what had been going on with the Carter family. "This is my fiancée, Grace." Lee introduced them. Johnny held out his hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you." He smiled enthusiastically. "What happened with Whitney?" Johnny looked to Lee, a little confused.

"A lot's happened while you've been gone." Lee sighed. "I'll start with the good news first, eh? "Grace and me got engaged about a month ago. We've been together around six months now. Whitney wasn't the girl for me, at all. Grace is, for sure." Lee grinned. "But, erm, Ollie's in hospital. Nancy pushed me into his highchair a few days ago. Ollie had a seizure yesterday and ended up in hospital." Lee explained.

"But he's going to be fine, Linda told us earlier." Grace added.

Johnny sat down on one of the bar stools. "Jesus Christ. Is Mum and Dad ok?" He asked. "As if they haven't been through enough. Yes, Lee, I know about Dean. It was all over the news." Johnny revealed. "Luca and I saw it all."

"Mum was afraid to tell you. She didn't want you to think that you had to come back from your travels. She didn't want to be the one to bring you back and make you unhappy again." Lee sympathised with him, he went back over to lock the door again, he still had to be safe even if his brother had just turned up out of the blue. Grace started to clear up the rest of the beer glasses for Lee, so he could spend some quality time with Johnny.

"So, you had fun on your travels? Where was the best place you went? The most extraordinary thing you saw?" Grace was interested, she always had wanted to travel.

"Well my favourite place to be was in Italy, with Luca's family. It was just like this whole new lifestyle. It was amazing. I hear that you and Lee are going travelling soon?" Johnny enquired. "You should join us at some point. I'm home for about two months though."

"Yeah, that'd be cool. Plus, if your back for two months it means you'll be home for our wedding. It's almost all sorted, it'll go ahead providing Ollie's ok by that time. If not, most likely we'll postpone, I don't think we could go ahead without Ollie." Grace chatted to Johnny, he began to help her clear up the glasses.

"I've missed this place. It's what I call home. Feels weird without Dad and Mum here though, are they blaming Lee and Nance for what happened to Ollie?" Johnny whispered to Grace as Lee and Luca were talking about football.

"Mick's blaming Nancy, but not Lee. Linda's not blaming either of them. Lee feels really guilty about it though." Grace told him, sighing.

The next morning, Lee was up by ten to make a welcome home breakfast for Johnny. Grace was helping him before going to see her Dad. Johnny and Luca woke up, making their way into the kitchen. Mick had just gotten home, and Johnny and Mick saw each other as Mick was making his way up the stairs and Johnny saw his Dad as he was coming out of his bedroom. Before they could say anything, Johnny was embraced in Mick's arms, Mick had tears in his eyes. He had one of his boys back, Johnny couldn't have come home at a worse time. Him and Linda were so busy with Ollie that they would barely have time for Johnny.

"How's Ollie, Dad?" Lee popped his head around the door. "Grace and me have just made pancakes, you want some?"

"Boy, you are a star. I'm hungry as hell. Ollie's getting better, slowly but surely. It's gonna be a rough couple of weeks. And Johnny? It's good to have you back, son." Mick smiled at him. "I don't say it enough, but I love both you boys."

"You don't have to say it, Dad. We know without it being said." Johnny told him. "Me and Lee were gonna go up and see him later, and Mum."

"Your Mum would like that, she doesn't even know your back yet." Mick tried his best to smile, even though he was in so much pain over his son being in hospital. He couldn't bring himself to tell Johnny and Lee that their baby brother coud have brain damage.